 | Sursum Corda |  |
84
OLD DREAMS.
Where are thy footsteps I was wont to hear,
O Spring, in pauses of the blackbird's song?
I hear them not: the world has held mine ear
With its insistent sounds too long, too long!
O Spring, in pauses of the blackbird's song?
I hear them not: the world has held mine ear
With its insistent sounds too long, too long!
The footfall and the sweeping robes of Spring,
How once I hailed them as life's full delight!
Now little moved I hear the blackbird sing,
As blind men wake not at the sudden light.
How once I hailed them as life's full delight!
Now little moved I hear the blackbird sing,
As blind men wake not at the sudden light.
Nay, not unmoved! But yestereve I stood
Beneath thee, throned, queen songstress, in the beech;
And for one moment Heaven was that green wood,
And the old dreams went by, too deep for speech.
Beneath thee, throned, queen songstress, in the beech;
And for one moment Heaven was that green wood,
And the old dreams went by, too deep for speech.
85
One moment: it was passed: the gusty breeze
Brought laughter and rough voices from the lane;
Night like a mist clothed round the darkening trees,
And I was with the world that mocks again.
Brought laughter and rough voices from the lane;
Night like a mist clothed round the darkening trees,
And I was with the world that mocks again.
So near is Eden, yet so far! It lies
No angel-guarded gate beyond our sight;
We breathe, we touch it; yet our blinded eyes
Still seek it every way except the right.
No angel-guarded gate beyond our sight;
We breathe, we touch it; yet our blinded eyes
Still seek it every way except the right.
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