 | Love-Songs |  |
100
GOD AND BEAUTY.
What is the meaning of it all?
Surely God did not create
Souls of His people in hate,
Handing to instruments of fate,
Binding in bitterness of thrall,
His children; giving us gall,
Surely God did not create
Souls of His people in hate,
Handing to instruments of fate,
Binding in bitterness of thrall,
His children; giving us gall,
Gall to eat, vinegar to drink;
We who long for the eyes
Of Beauty, and look to the prize
That in arms of endurance lies,
Neither from fires do we shrink;
Heart of not one of us flies.
We who long for the eyes
Of Beauty, and look to the prize
That in arms of endurance lies,
Neither from fires do we shrink;
Heart of not one of us flies.
If God is strong to succeed,
Then we can trust and abide,
Rest in the shadow of His side,
Trust in the God we have tried,
Careless, ready to bleed;
If He is strong to succeed.
Then we can trust and abide,
Rest in the shadow of His side,
Trust in the God we have tried,
Careless, ready to bleed;
If He is strong to succeed.
Nothing we care for but this,
That in harmony God shall bring
Out of each of us some good thing,
Tuning our voices to sing;
Beauty is one thing and bliss;
Nothing we care for but this.
That in harmony God shall bring
Out of each of us some good thing,
Tuning our voices to sing;
Beauty is one thing and bliss;
Nothing we care for but this.
101
Why did He give to us love,
Only to take it away?
Love the light of a day,
That lasts but the spring of a spray
Beneath the feet of a dove;
Why did He give to us love?
Only to take it away?
Love the light of a day,
That lasts but the spring of a spray
Beneath the feet of a dove;
Why did He give to us love?
Love we have seen, and we know,
Yea, we know she is fair;
Yea, we have woven her hair
In our hands, and who shall compare
To her limbs the new-fallen snow?
Love we have seen, and we know.
Yea, we know she is fair;
Yea, we have woven her hair
In our hands, and who shall compare
To her limbs the new-fallen snow?
Love we have seen, and we know.
God we know not, neither see;
Neither in heaven, nor on earth;
News was there once of His birth,
Men shook hands in their mirth,
Women laughed in their glee;
Where now, tell us, is He?
Neither in heaven, nor on earth;
News was there once of His birth,
Men shook hands in their mirth,
Women laughed in their glee;
Where now, tell us, is He?
One thing we know, we are sad;
Yet the face we have seen
Of Beauty, and hands of our Queen,
And light of her eyes between
Dark clouds and mists we have had,
And sight of her garments' sheen.
Yet the face we have seen
Of Beauty, and hands of our Queen,
And light of her eyes between
Dark clouds and mists we have had,
And sight of her garments' sheen.
If God loves her as we,
And with His power (as they say,
Strong as the might of the day)
Brings her to pass as we pray,
Souls of us calm can be;
If so He loves her as we.
And with His power (as they say,
Strong as the might of the day)
Brings her to pass as we pray,
Souls of us calm can be;
If so He loves her as we.
102
We who love but the scent
Of the wave of her hair in the way
As the flowers the dawn of the day,
Love her more than our words can say,
And towards the road that she went
Would fall on our knees and pray.
Of the wave of her hair in the way
As the flowers the dawn of the day,
Love her more than our words can say,
And towards the road that she went
Would fall on our knees and pray.
We who have given up all
To be unto her as the dew
To the sun; who have sworn to be true;
We who are glad in the blue,
But beneath the grey skies fall
As a song-bird struck right through.
To be unto her as the dew
To the sun; who have sworn to be true;
We who are glad in the blue,
But beneath the grey skies fall
As a song-bird struck right through.
If God cares for her face
Then we love Him, and stand
Ready to cling to His hand,
To be led of Him up to the land
Of promise, His own fair place,
A gladsome, a wished-for strand.
Then we love Him, and stand
Ready to cling to His hand,
To be led of Him up to the land
Of promise, His own fair place,
A gladsome, a wished-for strand.
If God cares for her not,
Neither is willing to bring
Beauty in everything
To be, let pale priests sing!
Faces with tears we blot,
Fingers of wailing we wring.
Neither is willing to bring
Beauty in everything
To be, let pale priests sing!
Faces with tears we blot,
Fingers of wailing we wring.
But one hope yet avails;
That out of the smoke and the dust
Blossom a rose-tree must;
This is the sole strong trust
To close up a mouth that rails;
This one hope yet avails.
That out of the smoke and the dust
Blossom a rose-tree must;
This is the sole strong trust
To close up a mouth that rails;
This one hope yet avails.
103
Hope that if we are cast down,
All unable to stand,
If our faces are fanned
By fires of hell, and the land
Is dark, yet God's is the crown
And mighty His strong right hand.
All unable to stand,
If our faces are fanned
By fires of hell, and the land
Is dark, yet God's is the crown
And mighty His strong right hand.
Yea, if He treads upon us,
Beautiful souls to make,
Let us not tremble nor quake,
Let us not quaver nor shake;
Little let God heed us,
If Beauty our Queen is at stake!
Beautiful souls to make,
Let us not tremble nor quake,
Let us not quaver nor shake;
Little let God heed us,
If Beauty our Queen is at stake!
She whom of all we adore;
Loving the feathers of her wings,
Breath of the air where she sings,
Sound of the motion she brings
As she shakes the ethereal floor,
And the light that about her clings.
Loving the feathers of her wings,
Breath of the air where she sings,
Sound of the motion she brings
As she shakes the ethereal floor,
And the light that about her clings.
Loving the light of her eyes
As the bird the breath of the morn,
As the hound the lilt of the horn,
As the sun the beauty of dawn,
The face of his bride in the skies
By the mists of night from him torn.
As the bird the breath of the morn,
As the hound the lilt of the horn,
As the sun the beauty of dawn,
The face of his bride in the skies
By the mists of night from him torn.
As the sailors watching at night
The first faint flush in the air
Of the streaks of the wind-waved hair
Of Aurora, and fingering fair
Of the clouds touching in fresh light,
As a sign to us all she is there.
The first faint flush in the air
Of the streaks of the wind-waved hair
Of Aurora, and fingering fair
Of the clouds touching in fresh light,
As a sign to us all she is there.
104
As a man tired-out through the day
The first fresh fall of the dews
That give to a worker the news
That at last he may cast off the shoes
Of fatigue, and hasten away,
Nor longer his rest refuse.
The first fresh fall of the dews
That give to a worker the news
That at last he may cast off the shoes
Of fatigue, and hasten away,
Nor longer his rest refuse.
As a lover who has not seen
For a weary sighing of years,
For a long outpouring of tears,
For a manifold mist of fears,
The face of a maiden, a queen,
Is glad, when her footstep nears.
For a weary sighing of years,
For a long outpouring of tears,
For a manifold mist of fears,
The face of a maiden, a queen,
Is glad, when her footstep nears.
As a mother, who longs for her son
Gone to the fire of the wars,
Gone as it were to the stars
So the distance seems, that mars
His features, is like to run
To the sound of home-coming cars.
Gone to the fire of the wars,
Gone as it were to the stars
So the distance seems, that mars
His features, is like to run
To the sound of home-coming cars.
As all these love, we too
Are in love with the face of our Queen,
We poets; we who have seen
Her glory, the light of the sheen
Of her raiment; only a few
In the print of her passing have been.
Are in love with the face of our Queen,
We poets; we who have seen
Her glory, the light of the sheen
Of her raiment; only a few
In the print of her passing have been.
1870.
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