 | Leaves of life |  |
121
THE PIXIES' GARDEN.
Sleepless I lay, though softly rocked
Upon the bosom of the night;
The steadfast stars looked down and mocked
My waking dreams of dead delight,
They everlastingly as bright
As when her hand in mine was locked.
Upon the bosom of the night;
The steadfast stars looked down and mocked
My waking dreams of dead delight,
They everlastingly as bright
As when her hand in mine was locked.
The moon swept out through deeps of sky,
Dim trailing clouds she left behind;
‘Come out,’ she said, ‘all clouds pass by;
Thou for thy soul shalt solace find.
These fevers of a tortured mind
My light will soothe—or sanctify.’
Dim trailing clouds she left behind;
‘Come out,’ she said, ‘all clouds pass by;
Thou for thy soul shalt solace find.
These fevers of a tortured mind
My light will soothe—or sanctify.’
I rose and passed where hawthorns grow
Beside the path where, glad and gay,
I and my sweetheart used to go
By meadows wreathed with new-mown hay;
Through fields by moonlit dew made gray,
I and my heart went, sad and slow.
Beside the path where, glad and gay,
122
By meadows wreathed with new-mown hay;
Through fields by moonlit dew made gray,
I and my heart went, sad and slow.
I reached the garden where the hops
Make fairy garlands everywhere,
From each tall pole a dream-wreath drops,
And strong keen scent fills all the air.
I saw the pixies dancing there
Their magic dance that never stops.
Make fairy garlands everywhere,
From each tall pole a dream-wreath drops,
And strong keen scent fills all the air.
I saw the pixies dancing there
Their magic dance that never stops.
Around the poles in circling rings
From dawn of moon till dawn of day,
With dewy cobwebs for their wings,
They glide and gleam and swing and sway,
And mortal lips may never say
The song that every pixy sings.
From dawn of moon till dawn of day,
With dewy cobwebs for their wings,
They glide and gleam and swing and sway,
And mortal lips may never say
The song that every pixy sings.
And rainbows day has never seen
With unnamed colours make them fair.
Their feet are shod with Spring's first green,
Green gems of glow-worms deck their hair
That floats upon the moonlit air,
Like golden webs on silver sheen.
With unnamed colours make them fair.
Their feet are shod with Spring's first green,
Green gems of glow-worms deck their hair
That floats upon the moonlit air,
Like golden webs on silver sheen.
123
Their dance goes on through all the years,
But those who see it, few they be.
Only by eyes which many tears
And vigils have made clear to see
Are they beholden: and wishes three
Are his to whom that dance appears.
But those who see it, few they be.
Only by eyes which many tears
And vigils have made clear to see
Are they beholden: and wishes three
Are his to whom that dance appears.
My first wish? Ah! what room for doubt?
The wish that eats me night and day:
‘Would she were here!’ No thought about
The other wishes came my way;
For round my neck her dear arms lay,
And all the world was well shut out.
The wish that eats me night and day:
‘Would she were here!’ No thought about
The other wishes came my way;
For round my neck her dear arms lay,
And all the world was well shut out.
How glad each was of each, and how
Life blossomed then, one heart records;
I shall remember that, I know,
When life is withered up past words,
And, shrunken, slips through earth's loose cords:
I shall remember then as now.
Life blossomed then, one heart records;
I shall remember that, I know,
When life is withered up past words,
And, shrunken, slips through earth's loose cords:
I shall remember then as now.
Lost dream, too perfect not to break!
Yet here I might have held her now,
And so for ever—but she spake
(O my soul's voice, divinely low!)
‘Ah, might we but our future know!’
And I wished with her, for Love's sake.
Yet here I might have held her now,
124
(O my soul's voice, divinely low!)
‘Ah, might we but our future know!’
And I wished with her, for Love's sake.
And lo! a sea of blackness broke
About us, and we knew our fate.
Close, close we clung, and neither spoke,
So widely, wildly desolate
The destiny we could not wait
For time to seal or to revoke.
About us, and we knew our fate.
Close, close we clung, and neither spoke,
So widely, wildly desolate
The destiny we could not wait
For time to seal or to revoke.
Yet to my heart hers beat, although
It beat in fear and not in bliss.
O fool, to court a deeper woe—
Together we had conquered this:
No woe could live beneath the kiss
That joined our souls an hour ago.
It beat in fear and not in bliss.
O fool, to court a deeper woe—
Together we had conquered this:
No woe could live beneath the kiss
That joined our souls an hour ago.
‘Would that we two were dead!’ I cried,
‘And in the quiet churchyard laid;
We should sleep sweetly side by side,
Of past and future unafraid,
By never a hope or fear dismayed,
Together, still, and satisfied.’
‘And in the quiet churchyard laid;
We should sleep sweetly side by side,
Of past and future unafraid,
By never a hope or fear dismayed,
Together, still, and satisfied.’
125
And as I wished it, she was gone!
For that one gift no pixies give.
I only woke, and woke alone,
As I henceforth must wake and live,
Must serve and suffer, strain and strive,—
And in my eyes the sunlight shone.
For that one gift no pixies give.
I only woke, and woke alone,
As I henceforth must wake and live,
Must serve and suffer, strain and strive,—
And in my eyes the sunlight shone.
| Leaves of life | |