 | The Judgment of Prometheus |  |
1
OLD LANDS AND NEW.
I.
The sea-sand who shall number,
Or tell the wasted store
Of fallen leaves that cumber
The wintry forest floor?
Or tell the wasted store
Of fallen leaves that cumber
The wintry forest floor?
So dense, so all unthought for,
Drop down in lane and den
From wretched life they wrought for
The dying throngs of men.
Drop down in lane and den
From wretched life they wrought for
The dying throngs of men.
Down drop they bruised and breathless,
Forget at last to feel:
Above the dead men deathless
Fate drives her iron wheel.
Forget at last to feel:
Above the dead men deathless
Fate drives her iron wheel.
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No ray for these arisen
Had pledged a glimpse of day;
To break their sunless prison
This was the only way.
Had pledged a glimpse of day;
To break their sunless prison
This was the only way.
II.
Blow strong, blow sweet, O Ocean wind,
As o'er the Ocean waves we flee!
Sweep forth the old life from our mind,
Inspire the life to be!
As o'er the Ocean waves we flee!
Sweep forth the old life from our mind,
Inspire the life to be!
There Nature shares her godlike moods,
Stars in a clearer heaven are there;
The glory of the flaming woods,
The glory of the air.
Stars in a clearer heaven are there;
The glory of the flaming woods,
The glory of the air.
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The elder lands that seemed so wide,
Now all too straitly, sorely pen,
Too close for kindness, side by side,
The jostling lives of men.
Now all too straitly, sorely pen,
Too close for kindness, side by side,
The jostling lives of men.
Behind us, lo, the landward light,
Choked by the mist, forlorn and grey,
Has paled and past, forsaking quite
The portals of the day.
Choked by the mist, forlorn and grey,
Has paled and past, forsaking quite
The portals of the day.
But yonder, lo, the fervid skies
Flood with their fire the western brine;
'Tis there our spirits' sun shall rise,
Some unknown day divine.
Flood with their fire the western brine;
'Tis there our spirits' sun shall rise,
Some unknown day divine.
20
HERMES WITH THE CHILD BACCHUS.
From the dim North, from Danube's stream unknown,
Behind the blast of winter, where abide
The Hyperborean folk, a mystic land,
Came Heracles, and bare the silvery bough
To shade the plain beside Alpheus' bed,
And be a crown of valiance evermore.
Behind the blast of winter, where abide
The Hyperborean folk, a mystic land,
Came Heracles, and bare the silvery bough
To shade the plain beside Alpheus' bed,
And be a crown of valiance evermore.
Therefore through all the golden prime of Earth,
When her best race was glad beneath the day,
Endured that praise; and as of stars the Sun
Is first, and Gold of metals, as of all
Earth's primal gifts to man is Water best,
So he who spake for understanding ears
Words of divine assignment, crowns of song,
Of all fair feasts the Olympic deemed most fair.
When her best race was glad beneath the day,
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Is first, and Gold of metals, as of all
Earth's primal gifts to man is Water best,
So he who spake for understanding ears
Words of divine assignment, crowns of song,
Of all fair feasts the Olympic deemed most fair.
Here was the home of Zeus, the shrines were here
Of Gods and sons of Gods, his lineage high,
So many ages worshipt where they dwelt,
So many ages after, all forgot;
Whether their carven forms by robber hands
Were rapt beyond the sea, or ground to dust,
Or whether in the kindly breast of Earth
Patient they slept, even as dead bones of men.
Sleeping or dead alike they sank from sight,
And through the ages no man recked to mourn
For their mild brows and presence tutelar,
Similitude divine, divinely wrought.
But now once more with keen remorseful eyes,
And hunger of the heart for beauty dead,
Men seek them sorrowing, and with painful hands
Upturn the sacred soil till, maimed and rare,
Strange clouded fragments of the ancient glory,
Late lingerers of the company divine,
Arise, like glimmering phantoms of a dream.
Yet even in ruin of their marble limbs
They breathe of that far world wherefrom they came,
Of liquid light and harmonies serene,
Lost halls of Heaven and large Olympian air.
Thus slept He long, thus hath He risen so late,
Of Gods and sons of Gods, his lineage high,
So many ages worshipt where they dwelt,
So many ages after, all forgot;
Whether their carven forms by robber hands
Were rapt beyond the sea, or ground to dust,
Or whether in the kindly breast of Earth
Patient they slept, even as dead bones of men.
Sleeping or dead alike they sank from sight,
And through the ages no man recked to mourn
For their mild brows and presence tutelar,
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But now once more with keen remorseful eyes,
And hunger of the heart for beauty dead,
Men seek them sorrowing, and with painful hands
Upturn the sacred soil till, maimed and rare,
Strange clouded fragments of the ancient glory,
Late lingerers of the company divine,
Arise, like glimmering phantoms of a dream.
Yet even in ruin of their marble limbs
They breathe of that far world wherefrom they came,
Of liquid light and harmonies serene,
Lost halls of Heaven and large Olympian air.
The Son of Maia: that the earth no more
Holds him in night sepulcral, this to him
Is nought, or eyes of gazers; his own world
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Yet haply if thou gaze upon the God
In reverent silence, even to thee shall flow
From that high presence of the unconscious form
Some effluent spell, whereby thy calmëd soul
Shall be indrawn to that diviner world
Wherein his soul hath being, fair and free.
Unharmed of chance and ruin, lo, his head
Bends with half-smile benign above his charge,
The little child, the son of Semele,
Snatched from the fierce tongues of celestial fire,
The insupportable blaze of very Zeus,
His mother's doom; but from his baby soul
The terror of that night hath passed away,
And left him blithe on his mild brother's arm,
His tender hand on that strong shoulder prest.
Hermes, was this thy gift? Yet well thou knewest
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The God of frenzied brain and blood afire,
Fired howsoe'er divinely: yea, but thou
Could'st turn these too to glory and delight,
Spirit more pure and loftier life of man.
For thou into man's teeming thoughts pent up,
And inarticulate fancies, didst inbreathe
Voice like thine own; and passion's tuneless storm
Sweeping therethrough made sudden melodies,
The sweeter for its frenzy, for from thee
Came spells of song and speech, from thee the lyre.
And where the pillared city's festal folk
In sunny mart or shadowed portico
Were met for converse, or where athlete youth
In emulous games honoured the all-giving Gods,
And native Earth, and immemorial power
Of quickening Rivers that right well had reared
Their growing manhood, thy grave smile was there.
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Not all thy gifts, though plenteous; nay, though these
Be very good, yet one, the best, remains.
For thou, fair lord, thou also, having filled
Man's little life so full with act and thought,
Leadest him lastly down the darkling road
To that dim realm where griefs and gains are dead,
Or live as dreams dreamed by a dream-like shade.
Were they indeed aught more beneath the noon
Of this brave Sun that must himself wax cold?
Who knoweth? Come, dear Guardian, Guide divine;
For this thou art arisen out of earth
That held thee there in Elis sleeping well.
Give thou the babe to Rhea; she no less,
Mysterious Mother of an elder Heaven,
Hath store of spells to heal the coming gust
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And gather to thee those thy subject souls
Born out of due time in an alien world,
To whom are given, in toil or in repose,
So rare, so faint, thine advent and thine aid.
They shall not shrink or flutter, as the ghosts
Of those impure the avenging arrows slew,
But follow firmly on, until they come
To some fair congress of the noble dead,
Set free from flying pain and flying joy,
There find their home, and rest for ever there.
37
MAZZINI AND GARIBALDI.
Immortal Brethren, saviour spirits fair,
Ye were not born to your dear land alone;
Earth's golden book enrolls you as her own,
And of your honour all the world is heir.
For in an age sunk deep in sordid care
Ye still had ears to list a nobler tone,
Ye called to loyal hearts, and led them on,
Loyal to love, disdainful of despair.
Ye were not born to your dear land alone;
Earth's golden book enrolls you as her own,
And of your honour all the world is heir.
For in an age sunk deep in sordid care
Ye still had ears to list a nobler tone,
Ye called to loyal hearts, and led them on,
Loyal to love, disdainful of despair.
The earthquake and the thunder and the fire,
These in your godlike struggle clothed you o'er,
And clouds confused of lurid vapour dire.
Now in the firmament's untroubled floor
Shine your twin stars whereto our souls aspire,
Moved with the moving heaven for evermore.
These in your godlike struggle clothed you o'er,
And clouds confused of lurid vapour dire.
Now in the firmament's untroubled floor
Shine your twin stars whereto our souls aspire,
Moved with the moving heaven for evermore.
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ON THE DEATH OF JAMES SPEDDING
Farewell, benignant spirit, mild and wise,
That wert like some still lake among the hills
Of thy fair home ancestral, fed by rills
That stir unseen its deep translucencies.
Beneath the patient gaze of those calm eyes
The inveterate crust of errors and of ills
That clings around the past, and clinging kills,
Fell off, and earth through thee had fewer lies.
That wert like some still lake among the hills
Of thy fair home ancestral, fed by rills
That stir unseen its deep translucencies.
Beneath the patient gaze of those calm eyes
The inveterate crust of errors and of ills
That clings around the past, and clinging kills,
Fell off, and earth through thee had fewer lies.
To serve one honoured Shade thy life was planned,
Riches past by, the noise of fame unheard;
For this not over-rashly may we dare
To rank thee with the royal-hearted band
Upon whose brows is writ the undying word:
Not hate but love this soul was born to share
Riches past by, the noise of fame unheard;
For this not over-rashly may we dare
To rank thee with the royal-hearted band
Upon whose brows is writ the undying word:
Not hate but love this soul was born to share
41
THE BAY OF LERICI.
Leap, wildly leap, Ligurian sea,
Where Shelley on his wandering way,
Ere thy embraces set him free,
Made his last halt in earthly day.
Where Shelley on his wandering way,
Ere thy embraces set him free,
Made his last halt in earthly day.
Low on the beach I see it stand,
Flecked by the flying shreds of foam,
A mourner on that magic strand,
Shut up and sealed, his lonely home.
Flecked by the flying shreds of foam,
A mourner on that magic strand,
Shut up and sealed, his lonely home.
Beyond the headland to and fro
Italia's mail-clad navies glide;
Their gallant crews nor reck nor know
That here a poet dwelt and died.
Italia's mail-clad navies glide;
Their gallant crews nor reck nor know
That here a poet dwelt and died.
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Yet if they knew it, might they own
Some debt, howe'er remote, to one
Whose voice with sterner voices blown
About the world, beneath a sun
Some debt, howe'er remote, to one
Whose voice with sterner voices blown
About the world, beneath a sun
Mocked evermore by human night,
Called to the slaves of sloth and fear
To wake, to strive, for lo, the light,
Unseen, unhoped for, drew anear.
Called to the slaves of sloth and fear
To wake, to strive, for lo, the light,
Unseen, unhoped for, drew anear.
No throne of intellectual state
Held him from men apart, above;
Nor thought nor art nor life could sate
That soul whose longing was for love.
Held him from men apart, above;
Nor thought nor art nor life could sate
That soul whose longing was for love.
Earth's ill could cloud but not deform
His spirit born for gentler air,
As even now a transient storm
Marred this bright bay, divinely fair.
His spirit born for gentler air,
As even now a transient storm
Marred this bright bay, divinely fair.
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But lo, the drifted clouds divide,
The glad spring sunlight glimmering through,
The hurrying waves forget to chide,
A rainbow fades into the blue.
The glad spring sunlight glimmering through,
The hurrying waves forget to chide,
A rainbow fades into the blue.
Ah haply, far from wrath and wrong,
Finds he, where never loves grow dim,
That answer to his Ariel-song
No earthly voice might render him?
Finds he, where never loves grow dim,
That answer to his Ariel-song
No earthly voice might render him?
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The Kingdom of Love.
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II. AN ANNIVERSARY.
Sweet heart, this day a year ago our lives for ever blended,
We knelt beneath the ancient rite, we vowed the ancient vow:
Now joyful hope is merged in joy, and dream by deed transcended,
The spring that welled so brightly then, runs a bright river now.
We knelt beneath the ancient rite, we vowed the ancient vow:
Now joyful hope is merged in joy, and dream by deed transcended,
The spring that welled so brightly then, runs a bright river now.
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That day, from inmost heaven sent, a Spirit stood before us,
His wings were lit with rainbow light, and on his brow a star:
A wand with dews of Eden wet he bare, and waved it o'er us,
At his sweet summons forth we went, and followed him afar.
His wings were lit with rainbow light, and on his brow a star:
A wand with dews of Eden wet he bare, and waved it o'er us,
At his sweet summons forth we went, and followed him afar.
Through wondrous ways, by earthly guides untrodden, undiscovered,
He led us on, in trust and joy still following hand in hand:
A thousand happy mated birds amid the wood-land hovered,
The very earth with gladness heaved, and gleamed with golden sand.
He led us on, in trust and joy still following hand in hand:
A thousand happy mated birds amid the wood-land hovered,
The very earth with gladness heaved, and gleamed with golden sand.
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Sometimes within those fairy glades, those dreamy deep recesses,
Almost thy gentle heart had failed, so strangely fair they seemed,
But evermore new faith grew up to meet new-found caresses,
And still within the magic shade the star benignant beamed.
Almost thy gentle heart had failed, so strangely fair they seemed,
But evermore new faith grew up to meet new-found caresses,
And still within the magic shade the star benignant beamed.
It paused amid the pine-forest; we lay in awe and wonder;
The birds were hushed; a silence fell; we listened long and long:
Then softly through that holy place, around, above, and under,
Came murmuring on a solemn sound, the pine-wood's secret song.
The birds were hushed; a silence fell; we listened long and long:
Then softly through that holy place, around, above, and under,
Came murmuring on a solemn sound, the pine-wood's secret song.
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We left the glen, we sought the sun; but that high hour had brought us
A charm through all our lives to live, an undersong sublime:
For Love our lord, our spirit-guide, his master-spell had taught us,
The spell he knows and he alone, the spell that conquers Time.
A charm through all our lives to live, an undersong sublime:
For Love our lord, our spirit-guide, his master-spell had taught us,
The spell he knows and he alone, the spell that conquers Time.
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III. DAWN.
How soft thy rosy fingers fall,
Fair Dawn, upon the happy eyes
Where Love their lord, their all in all,
Dwells and makes glad his votaries;
Fair Dawn, upon the happy eyes
Where Love their lord, their all in all,
Dwells and makes glad his votaries;
A steadfast Love, with folded wings
That spread to flee no more, no more,
But fan with mystic murmurings
The deathless flame whose seed they bore.
That spread to flee no more, no more,
But fan with mystic murmurings
The deathless flame whose seed they bore.
How mild the sounds of morning come,
Whether around some rural bower,
Or even the city's gathering hum
Is hallowed by the magic hour.
Whether around some rural bower,
Or even the city's gathering hum
Is hallowed by the magic hour.
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Her fairy head has felt the Dawn,
And stirs, unwakened, till it rest,
By sweet unconscious impulse drawn,
On the broad pillow of my breast.
And stirs, unwakened, till it rest,
By sweet unconscious impulse drawn,
On the broad pillow of my breast.
Ah, gladness pure as moorland dew!
What golden word might e'er express
The still deep joy that thrills me through,
Unfathomable tenderness?
What golden word might e'er express
The still deep joy that thrills me through,
Unfathomable tenderness?
Two wingëd presences divine
Above our guarded rest maintain
Their interwoven watch benign,
To link the hours with charmëd chain.
Above our guarded rest maintain
Their interwoven watch benign,
To link the hours with charmëd chain.
We feel amid the silence deep
Their brooding plumage gently move;
Love laid us on the wings of Sleep,
And Sleep has borne us back to Love.
Their brooding plumage gently move;
Love laid us on the wings of Sleep,
And Sleep has borne us back to Love.
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IV. THE ROSE.
A rose I bear close-cherished in my breast,
Nurtured on earth, but all her being fair
So bathed in dews of heaven and heavenly air
That of sweet magic is she grown possest,
In new unfolding petals ever drest,
And ever breathing some new fragrance rare;
Whereto my heart must fondly still repair
To feed my inmost life and tenderest.
Nurtured on earth, but all her being fair
So bathed in dews of heaven and heavenly air
That of sweet magic is she grown possest,
In new unfolding petals ever drest,
And ever breathing some new fragrance rare;
Whereto my heart must fondly still repair
To feed my inmost life and tenderest.
Yet through all varying charm my starry rose
Denies no whit her dear identity.
One peerless perfume hers, one crimson flame
Through infinite new birth of beauty glows;
Through all love past and all sweet love to be,
Changeless in change, for evermore the same.
Denies no whit her dear identity.
One peerless perfume hers, one crimson flame
Through infinite new birth of beauty glows;
Through all love past and all sweet love to be,
Changeless in change, for evermore the same.
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V. THE RIVER OF LOVE.
Lo the River from the blue hills welling,
Stream of Love that ever stronger rolls,
Stronger, sweeter, higher and higher swelling,
Bears for ever our entwinëd souls.
Stream of Love that ever stronger rolls,
Stronger, sweeter, higher and higher swelling,
Bears for ever our entwinëd souls.
Close embraced in bonds no shock can sunder
Fare we, well content whate'er befall:
Let the changeful skies or smile or thunder:
Storm and sunshine—we have heart for all.
Fare we, well content whate'er befall:
Let the changeful skies or smile or thunder:
Storm and sunshine—we have heart for all.
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Somewhere, well we know, in ambush lying
Right athwart our River, near or far,
Gorged with hopes engulfed, our hope defying,
Death, the sandbank, rears his gloomy bar.
Right athwart our River, near or far,
Gorged with hopes engulfed, our hope defying,
Death, the sandbank, rears his gloomy bar.
Then shall our brave River, swiftlier sweeping,
Burst the bar and o'er it bear us free,
Out and onward to the Ocean leaping,
Out and on to Love's eternal sea.
Burst the bar and o'er it bear us free,
Out and onward to the Ocean leaping,
Out and on to Love's eternal sea.
| The Judgment of Prometheus | |