In My Lady's Praise Being Poems, Old and New: Written to the Honour of Fanny, Lady Arnold and Now Collected for her Memory: By Sir Edwin Arnold |
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15
F.
[Fire-opals, Fanny, from the magic cell!]
Fire-opals, Fanny, from the magic cell!
First of my alchemy, but not its best—
Let me lay these upon your hands, and tell
Why they seem not unworthy there to rest.
First of my alchemy, but not its best—
Let me lay these upon your hands, and tell
Why they seem not unworthy there to rest.
For since God chained, in nether rock and bluff,
Those radiant, sinful Angels, rebel found,
Were ever—in the midst of dead dull stuff—
Such burning, flashing beams of glory bound?
Those radiant, sinful Angels, rebel found,
Were ever—in the midst of dead dull stuff—
Such burning, flashing beams of glory bound?
I think a broken rainbow would look so,
If we could come at it, and steal a tittle
When the Arch-Architects of air forego
Their work, and leave it drifting loose a little.
If we could come at it, and steal a tittle
When the Arch-Architects of air forego
Their work, and leave it drifting loose a little.
I pray you gaze a while on these lit stones
By fancy fetched from Australasian steeps,
Where moony pearl sets blazing scarlet tones,
And pale gold melts to green, and amber leaps
By fancy fetched from Australasian steeps,
Where moony pearl sets blazing scarlet tones,
And pale gold melts to green, and amber leaps
16
To bloomy violets; and celestial blues
Flicker to rose and ruby. You shall turn
Nowise these jewels, but their shifting hues
To some new brilliancy will swiftly burn.
Flicker to rose and ruby. You shall turn
Nowise these jewels, but their shifting hues
To some new brilliancy will swiftly burn.
So shall true lady bend no faithful love
Toward some new need, but from its patient heart
Rays of an unexpected light will move,
And richer colours from its spirit start.
Toward some new need, but from its patient heart
Rays of an unexpected light will move,
And richer colours from its spirit start.
Mark, also, when the “noble opal” feels
Your palm's warm glow, its dancing beauties brighten:
Breathe on this Hydrophane—the rose-tint steals
From point to point; and sea-green flashes lighten
Your palm's warm glow, its dancing beauties brighten:
Breathe on this Hydrophane—the rose-tint steals
From point to point; and sea-green flashes lighten
The sleeping flint! Or, lay this Hyalite
One instant 'mid the laces of your dress,
Then note its sudden splendours! So, 'tis right
Love's colours be drawn forth by tenderness.
One instant 'mid the laces of your dress,
Then note its sudden splendours! So, 'tis right
Love's colours be drawn forth by tenderness.
Yet, here is why I prize the shifting gem,
And why I lay it on that dear right hand,
Of all earth's common things the core of them
Is humblest: Sweetheart! pray you understand!
And why I lay it on that dear right hand,
Of all earth's common things the core of them
Is humblest: Sweetheart! pray you understand!
17
Mean rubbish of the road-heaps; silicates
Which gather in chalk-hollows, where, sea-bred,
Millions of billons, tubes and tunicates
Laid down their limy shells, Nature's small dead.
Which gather in chalk-hollows, where, sea-bred,
Millions of billons, tubes and tunicates
Laid down their limy shells, Nature's small dead.
Who would have thought there should be use, or other
Service, for such lost Atoms of the main
When, sinking through the seas, they give the Mother
Their tiny life-garbs, to lay up again?
Service, for such lost Atoms of the main
When, sinking through the seas, they give the Mother
Their tiny life-garbs, to lay up again?
But She,—who hastes not, wastes not, scorns not—takes it,
Each relic of her nameless children gone,
Stores her sea-oozes with their spoil, and makes it
Chalk down, or marble vein, or quarry-stone.
Each relic of her nameless children gone,
Stores her sea-oozes with their spoil, and makes it
Chalk down, or marble vein, or quarry-stone.
Till ages thence-of ruined nummulites,
Pharaohs their pyramids majestic build;
And Pheidias, from a tomb of trilobites,
Calls Pallas forth, radiant with helm and shield!
Pharaohs their pyramids majestic build;
And Pheidias, from a tomb of trilobites,
Calls Pallas forth, radiant with helm and shield!
So this fair wonder; 'tis the draff of rock
Melted in fires of under-world, or broken
From snow-swept crag, or shorn in earthquake-shock;
Of storm, and stress, and wreck the splintered token.
Melted in fires of under-world, or broken
From snow-swept crag, or shorn in earthquake-shock;
Of storm, and stress, and wreck the splintered token.
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And yet, because Day's white rays evermore
Find their way back into such flinty things,
They glow like Seraphs' feathers. None is poor!
None mean! Heaven's light can make them mates for kings!
Find their way back into such flinty things,
They glow like Seraphs' feathers. None is poor!
None mean! Heaven's light can make them mates for kings!
| In My Lady's Praise | |