The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite in two volumes ... With a Portrait |
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 | The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite |  |
PER SCALAS RERUM NATURALIUM
But I fared forth in thought o'er summer seas,
I paused on mountains in the morning light,
And out from forests in the night and wind
On lonely coasts I issued. Once at eve,
When stormy clouds involved a splendid West,
The sun, departing, drove one blazing shaft
Right up the sky, suffusing all its path
With angry red, and where it smote dispersing
The thin far scatt'ring phantoms of the storm;
Then glancing onward to the blue serene
It melted in the zenith. I beheld
In mine own mind, as in a magic glass,
The spectacle of Nature. “It is well!”
I cried, “Sufficient! There is rest in this,
But light I seek! Achieve, O soul, the light!”
So then my spirit in the waste alone
Her refuge sought, there dwelt and ponder'd there . . .
I paused on mountains in the morning light,
And out from forests in the night and wind
On lonely coasts I issued. Once at eve,
When stormy clouds involved a splendid West,
The sun, departing, drove one blazing shaft
Right up the sky, suffusing all its path
With angry red, and where it smote dispersing
The thin far scatt'ring phantoms of the storm;
Then glancing onward to the blue serene
It melted in the zenith. I beheld
In mine own mind, as in a magic glass,
The spectacle of Nature. “It is well!”
I cried, “Sufficient! There is rest in this,
But light I seek! Achieve, O soul, the light!”
So then my spirit in the waste alone
Her refuge sought, there dwelt and ponder'd there . . .
Was that the hoarse voice of the far-off main
Which on my refuge in the sandy rock,
And on my solitude, my silence there,
On life and death reveal'd, did break at length?
It drew me forth; I cross'd the meads and mounts,
I roved by woods and waters, till I reach'd
The coast once more. I saw the vast sky stretch
Above the vast sea to unearthly height,
And in the West, beyond all dream remote,
A saffron sunset paled. Thither my soul
Her flight pursued, with eagle wings essay'd
That stormy path, dared winds, dared ocean deep,
Dared lightnings there. The solemn night profound,
A thousand voices speaking in the night,
Did strengthen her, the searching cold inform'd,
And more than all the mystic hope upheld;
Till, lo, the flight achieved—from West to East,
A still green land, bright morning breaking round!
Which on my refuge in the sandy rock,
And on my solitude, my silence there,
On life and death reveal'd, did break at length?
It drew me forth; I cross'd the meads and mounts,
I roved by woods and waters, till I reach'd
The coast once more. I saw the vast sky stretch
Above the vast sea to unearthly height,
237
A saffron sunset paled. Thither my soul
Her flight pursued, with eagle wings essay'd
That stormy path, dared winds, dared ocean deep,
Dared lightnings there. The solemn night profound,
A thousand voices speaking in the night,
Did strengthen her, the searching cold inform'd,
And more than all the mystic hope upheld;
Till, lo, the flight achieved—from West to East,
A still green land, bright morning breaking round!
Have ye not visited, in dreams at least,
The hush'd, deep place of life and peace in God?
The hush'd, deep place of life and peace in God?
| The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite | |