Feda with Other Poems Chiefly Lyrical. By Rennell Rodd ... With an Etching by Harper Pennington |
 |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| 13. |
| 14. |
|
AT WORST. |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
 | Feda with Other Poems |  |
155
AT WORST.
TO—
Parceque nous avons le donte en nous.
—V.H.
—V.H.
Christmas night, and tears of rain
Beating on my window pane,
Tears of rain as though in pity
On the dreary-lighted city:
Friend, and I have need of thee—
It is not as it used to be!
Beating on my window pane,
Tears of rain as though in pity
On the dreary-lighted city:
Friend, and I have need of thee—
It is not as it used to be!
Fainter now the younger years
Die along that mist of tears,
Darker lies the way before,
And the clouds are more and more;
I am standing here alone
Seeking help and finding none,
Crying out this Christmas night
Who will make my burden light?
Like a lost child in the rain
Crying loud, and all in vain,
For the old guide back again!
Die along that mist of tears,
Darker lies the way before,
And the clouds are more and more;
I am standing here alone
Seeking help and finding none,
Crying out this Christmas night
Who will make my burden light?
Like a lost child in the rain
Crying loud, and all in vain,
For the old guide back again!
156
I have read my brother's face,
Earth is not a merry place;
Children laugh, but never after
Rings again our childhood's laughter;
Surely with increase of sorrow
Wisdom grows from morn to morrow,
And we burden life with pain
Hope may not unlearn again.
Earth is not a merry place;
Children laugh, but never after
Rings again our childhood's laughter;
Surely with increase of sorrow
Wisdom grows from morn to morrow,
And we burden life with pain
Hope may not unlearn again.
This was ever so, the best
Sought not pleasure, sought not rest;
Thinkest thou their lives were dear
Whom thou lovest to revere,
Bard, philosopher, and seer?
What was life to these who wrought
For a world that heeded not,
Wrought and taught and strove and fell
By the hands they loved too well!
Sought not pleasure, sought not rest;
Thinkest thou their lives were dear
Whom thou lovest to revere,
Bard, philosopher, and seer?
What was life to these who wrought
For a world that heeded not,
Wrought and taught and strove and fell
By the hands they loved too well!
This at least is stern and true,
They have shown thee what to do!
Follow thou, account it gain
Though thine happiness be pain!
They have shown thee what to do!
Follow thou, account it gain
Though thine happiness be pain!
157
Then there broke a little light
Down the dreariness of night:
Courage, courage, hast thou seen
Faith and doubt are near akin!
Were the future clear as day
None but fools could go astray,
None but fools could choose the gloom,
March in blindness into doom;
Little merit were it then
To be worthy, to be men!
Down the dreariness of night:
Courage, courage, hast thou seen
Faith and doubt are near akin!
Were the future clear as day
None but fools could go astray,
None but fools could choose the gloom,
March in blindness into doom;
Little merit were it then
To be worthy, to be men!
Only in a drifting sea
Still to struggle manfully,—
Little love where once we loved,
Changing hearts and friends disproved,
Though the olden hopes ring hollow,
Though ye dream effacement follow
On the brink where men despond
Seeing all so dim beyond,
Hoping little, asking less,
Full of human weariness,
Doubting—still to be as true
To the highest light we knew,
Still to choose the bitter rood,
Cling to what thy soul sees good,
Still to suffer and forbear
Doubting, this were worthy here
Still to struggle manfully,—
Little love where once we loved,
Changing hearts and friends disproved,
Though the olden hopes ring hollow,
Though ye dream effacement follow
On the brink where men despond
Seeing all so dim beyond,
Hoping little, asking less,
Full of human weariness,
Doubting—still to be as true
To the highest light we knew,
158
Cling to what thy soul sees good,
Still to suffer and forbear
Doubting, this were worthy here
Then I knew a little star
Rose and glimmered, faint and far,
And a feeble light was cast
Up the shadows of the past.
Something surely time can save
From the silence of the grave,
Surely, though for days to come
Wail of prophecy be dumb,
Yet prophetic are those years
In the writing of their tears:
Something clearer now we know
Dark to wisdom long ago;
Beauty lives and truth survives,
Harvested from fleeting lives,
More and more new day by day
Olden sorrows wane away,
Nothing sinks from good to worse
In the Ordered Universe.
Rose and glimmered, faint and far,
And a feeble light was cast
Up the shadows of the past.
Something surely time can save
From the silence of the grave,
Surely, though for days to come
Wail of prophecy be dumb,
Yet prophetic are those years
In the writing of their tears:
Something clearer now we know
Dark to wisdom long ago;
Beauty lives and truth survives,
Harvested from fleeting lives,
More and more new day by day
Olden sorrows wane away,
Nothing sinks from good to worse
In the Ordered Universe.
159
Brighter burns the little star,
Brighter light, but not less far;
Watch and watch and hold it fast,
Hope may turn to faith at last.
Brighter light, but not less far;
Watch and watch and hold it fast,
Hope may turn to faith at last.
Therefore this is stern and true,
Well thou knowest what to do,
Labour on, and be thy fear
Not to read thy duty clear.
Wouldst thou rest upon the way,
Waste in sleep thy little day,
Murmur that the road is rough!
Time for sleep is long enough.
Up and do thy little best,
Soon thou canst not choose but rest!
Well thou knowest what to do,
Labour on, and be thy fear
Not to read thy duty clear.
Wouldst thou rest upon the way,
Waste in sleep thy little day,
Murmur that the road is rough!
Time for sleep is long enough.
Up and do thy little best,
Soon thou canst not choose but rest!
Thou hast seen and thou must choose,
Only cowards dare refuse,
Choose, enough for thee to know,
Garnered from the long ago
Beauty lives, and Truth survives,
Harvest of unnumbered lives:
Therefore trebly fool to lie,
With thyself shall falsehood die!
Folly shall be dumb with thee
Down the dumb eternity!
Only cowards dare refuse,
Choose, enough for thee to know,
Garnered from the long ago
Beauty lives, and Truth survives,
Harvest of unnumbered lives:
160
With thyself shall falsehood die!
Folly shall be dumb with thee
Down the dumb eternity!
Brighter beacons that sure Star
Where the hopes of ages are,
Plainer grows the upward road
Where the feet we follow trod!
Look what have they to oppose
In the stronghold of our foes!
We at least can suffer long
Whom that Star of Hope makes strong!
In the shadow dead and past
They shall all be lost at last.
Where the hopes of ages are,
Plainer grows the upward road
Where the feet we follow trod!
Look what have they to oppose
In the stronghold of our foes!
We at least can suffer long
Whom that Star of Hope makes strong!
In the shadow dead and past
They shall all be lost at last.
Yet the wall must be assailed
Where 'tis hardest to be scaled,
Where the fight goes man for man
Plant thy foot-hold in the van!
Wide the fosses ridge to ridge,
Fallen bodies build a bridge,
Stand or fall, heed not thy loss,
Surer feet shall win across!
Where 'tis hardest to be scaled,
Where the fight goes man for man
Plant thy foot-hold in the van!
Wide the fosses ridge to ridge,
Fallen bodies build a bridge,
161
Surer feet shall win across!
Friend, how many storms together
You and I have yet to weather!
—We who once in clouded youth
Tried to find the Star of Truth—
Arm by arm and knee by knee
In the foremost of the free,
Till the fight of years be done,
And the Quiet Rest is won,
Till the new dawn gather fast,
Moonless night be overpast,
And the light break through at last.
You and I have yet to weather!
—We who once in clouded youth
Tried to find the Star of Truth—
Arm by arm and knee by knee
In the foremost of the free,
Till the fight of years be done,
And the Quiet Rest is won,
Till the new dawn gather fast,
Moonless night be overpast,
And the light break through at last.
1882.
| Feda with Other Poems | |