 | Preludes and Romances |  |
1
I
PRELUDE: ON BEACHY HEAD
Town-dwellers think that Spring begins in May;
We of the country know a certain day
In February, when the shy young year
Dreams her first dream of love. The skies appear
Not cloudless with the steely gleam of frost,
But tender, by soft-footed armies crossed,
Vaunt-couriers of Queen Spring. The sleeping earth
Remembers the green things that wait for birth
In her wide bosom; and the thrushes stir
To rouse the laggard morning earlier.
We of the country know a certain day
In February, when the shy young year
Dreams her first dream of love. The skies appear
Not cloudless with the steely gleam of frost,
But tender, by soft-footed armies crossed,
Vaunt-couriers of Queen Spring. The sleeping earth
Remembers the green things that wait for birth
In her wide bosom; and the thrushes stir
To rouse the laggard morning earlier.
On such a day, on such a happy day,
A sevenfold party went on holiday
Along the broad Downs looking o'er the sea
From Bourne to Beauchef and the Charles' three,
The Titans' turrets, on whose grassy knees
Far down the curled red foxes sleep at ease,
And though they hear far off the huntsman's hallo,
Heed nothing, for they know no hound can follow.
A sevenfold party went on holiday
Along the broad Downs looking o'er the sea
From Bourne to Beauchef and the Charles' three,
2
Far down the curled red foxes sleep at ease,
And though they hear far off the huntsman's hallo,
Heed nothing, for they know no hound can follow.
There coming, on the grassy edge they stayed,
Thrilled with the glory of the ocean, laid
A sapphire floor beneath them, and the gleam
Of snowy cliffs to westward, where the stream
Of Cuckmere stealeth to her lover's bed
Betwixt the Seven Cliffs and Seaford Head.
Silent they stood awhile, and watched the rise
Of two great falcons wheeling up the skies
In Babylonian gyres. And watched the mew
Float from the grass-edge on to the void blue,
Quietly spreading noiseless plumes of snow
To join the unseen screaming flock below.
Then one brake silence with a wistful sigh:
“Ten years of life for one day's wings to fly!
Ah, the delights, consider! Ah, the joys!
One moment to stand thus; the next to poise
On the invisible unresisting air
Empty and deep beneath you, and not care!”
Echoed another: “Aye, what loss is ours
That Man, with all his thoughts and works and powers,
Who might of wingèd kind have taken birth,
Has ris'n among the beasts of middle earth!
Glorious he were, if his long heritage,
His ancestry of poet, hero, sage,
His dreams, ambitions, raptures and desires,
Had sprung and passed to him from eagle sires.
What touch diviner his great words had ta'en,
Truth, Freedom, Honour, Love, from tongue and brain
Bred to the fearless mastery of wings,
'Mid clouds and snows and all ethereal things!
What dreams had poets dreamed! and priests what prayer
Uplifted! In his songs what sweetness were!
A Lucifer unfallen Man had been,
And none were ape-like, mischievous, or mean.”
“Ah, think you,” cried a third, “that such a choice
Were ever his? Had creature ever voice
So infinitely fateful for his kind?
Some first of creeping monsters, dumb and blind,
Made he some great refusal, whence began
The inveterate vulgarity of Man?”
Then one, a poet: “I have found for you
A history most fond and yet most true,
Much to this purpose, for the tale is hight
‘The Choice of Adam.’ Hidden long from sight
Within the pale leaves of a palimpsest,
Ev'n as a ghost not wholly laid to rest
Moves shadowy in a house of living men,
So the blurred script may now be read again
Athwart the faded lines of later writ.
Deciphered thus, I have re-shapen it,
Turning harsh Latin to an English lay.”
Thrilled with the glory of the ocean, laid
A sapphire floor beneath them, and the gleam
Of snowy cliffs to westward, where the stream
Of Cuckmere stealeth to her lover's bed
Betwixt the Seven Cliffs and Seaford Head.
Silent they stood awhile, and watched the rise
Of two great falcons wheeling up the skies
In Babylonian gyres. And watched the mew
Float from the grass-edge on to the void blue,
Quietly spreading noiseless plumes of snow
To join the unseen screaming flock below.
Then one brake silence with a wistful sigh:
“Ten years of life for one day's wings to fly!
Ah, the delights, consider! Ah, the joys!
One moment to stand thus; the next to poise
On the invisible unresisting air
Empty and deep beneath you, and not care!”
Echoed another: “Aye, what loss is ours
That Man, with all his thoughts and works and powers,
3
Has ris'n among the beasts of middle earth!
Glorious he were, if his long heritage,
His ancestry of poet, hero, sage,
His dreams, ambitions, raptures and desires,
Had sprung and passed to him from eagle sires.
What touch diviner his great words had ta'en,
Truth, Freedom, Honour, Love, from tongue and brain
Bred to the fearless mastery of wings,
'Mid clouds and snows and all ethereal things!
What dreams had poets dreamed! and priests what prayer
Uplifted! In his songs what sweetness were!
A Lucifer unfallen Man had been,
And none were ape-like, mischievous, or mean.”
“Ah, think you,” cried a third, “that such a choice
Were ever his? Had creature ever voice
So infinitely fateful for his kind?
Some first of creeping monsters, dumb and blind,
Made he some great refusal, whence began
The inveterate vulgarity of Man?”
Then one, a poet: “I have found for you
A history most fond and yet most true,
Much to this purpose, for the tale is hight
‘The Choice of Adam.’ Hidden long from sight
4
Ev'n as a ghost not wholly laid to rest
Moves shadowy in a house of living men,
So the blurred script may now be read again
Athwart the faded lines of later writ.
Deciphered thus, I have re-shapen it,
Turning harsh Latin to an English lay.”
Well suited this their mood of holiday
And dreams of Springtide; and they sought a place
Sun-warmed and windless on the chalk-cliff face.
There is a hold, like a high gallery, hung
Below the cliff-top, where a rock, down-flung
From breaking scars, has rested and grown hoar.
Above, the white walls tower; and before,
Green-breasted Beauchef bows on naked knees
O'er snowy feet kissed by the fawning seas.
And dreams of Springtide; and they sought a place
Sun-warmed and windless on the chalk-cliff face.
There is a hold, like a high gallery, hung
Below the cliff-top, where a rock, down-flung
From breaking scars, has rested and grown hoar.
Above, the white walls tower; and before,
Green-breasted Beauchef bows on naked knees
O'er snowy feet kissed by the fawning seas.
Rich is the eye-feast from that eagle-nest;
Ruin of earth's foundations, crumbling crest
And turret toppling, ledge o'erleaning ledge,
Rampart and rock-face, till a far-off edge,
Sheer as a bastion built of giant hands,
Unruinous beyond the ruin stands.
A passage, narrow as a turret-stair,
Leads downward to this refuge whoso dare
Face footless crags and white-lipped waves below.
Thither one led them with sure foot and slow;
And seated, quiet as a small grey flock
Of sunning sea-birds on a lonely rock,
In glad tranquillity they heard this tale,
Like new bright fire kindled from ashes pale.
Ruin of earth's foundations, crumbling crest
And turret toppling, ledge o'erleaning ledge,
Rampart and rock-face, till a far-off edge,
Sheer as a bastion built of giant hands,
Unruinous beyond the ruin stands.
A passage, narrow as a turret-stair,
Leads downward to this refuge whoso dare
5
Thither one led them with sure foot and slow;
And seated, quiet as a small grey flock
Of sunning sea-birds on a lonely rock,
In glad tranquillity they heard this tale,
Like new bright fire kindled from ashes pale.
7
THE CHOICE OF ADAM
Perfected lay the green world wonderful
'Neath the Creator's eye, the blue air full
Of wings and voices, and the solid ground
Flushed all with flowers, while living creatures round
Girdled the habitable globe—the whole
Fair to the sense and fairer to the soul.
So were the five days ended, the great days
Of God that are long æons in man's gaze;
And in the hush and rest-time of creating
There seemed an expectation and a waiting,
Seen in the flower and hearkened in the song,
Felt in the unrest of the four-foot throng.
And the Creator, reckoning every kind,
Where were best lodging for the living Mind,
And in what mortal the immortal strain
Implanted fullest stature might attain,
Out of the void compelled that dreaming spirit
Which, bodied, should this five-days' world inherit,
And be the living crown of things, a flower
To nurse the seed of the creating Power;
And to the cloudy spirit, knowing not
As yet its own existence or the lot
Destined, the Lord God gave in vision-wise
Judgment, and hearing ears and seeing eyes,
And bound the light thing to the winds, to bear
A visitor of earth and sea and air;
And, all things seen, and to his hand returned
The bird-like spirit, questioned what was learned.
Dominus Deus
'Neath the Creator's eye, the blue air full
Of wings and voices, and the solid ground
Flushed all with flowers, while living creatures round
Girdled the habitable globe—the whole
Fair to the sense and fairer to the soul.
So were the five days ended, the great days
Of God that are long æons in man's gaze;
And in the hush and rest-time of creating
There seemed an expectation and a waiting,
Seen in the flower and hearkened in the song,
Felt in the unrest of the four-foot throng.
And the Creator, reckoning every kind,
Where were best lodging for the living Mind,
And in what mortal the immortal strain
Implanted fullest stature might attain,
Out of the void compelled that dreaming spirit
Which, bodied, should this five-days' world inherit,
8
To nurse the seed of the creating Power;
And to the cloudy spirit, knowing not
As yet its own existence or the lot
Destined, the Lord God gave in vision-wise
Judgment, and hearing ears and seeing eyes,
And bound the light thing to the winds, to bear
A visitor of earth and sea and air;
And, all things seen, and to his hand returned
The bird-like spirit, questioned what was learned.
Hast thou beheld the world I made to be
A throne, a temple, and a school for thee?
Spiritus Adami
Lord God Almighty, I have seen it all.
Marvellous are Thy works in great and small.
Dominus Deus
Hast thou beheld the rivers and the seas,
The lakes, and all that lives and moves in these?
9
Lord, at Thy word I pierced the ocean's sleep,
And saw the strange lamp-bearers of the deep;
Around me, shuddering, monstrous shapes did swim;
(What use of beauty in a day so dim?)
Then rising from that thick unlighted grave
Saw a faint emerald trembling through the wave,
And knew of happier creatures who above
In lighted waters play, and feel Thy love
In sunlight and soft kisses of the wind;
Which on the surface wanton with their kind,
Or lie on sunny rocks afar from foes.
All these I saw, and fairer things than those,
Of mail-clad monsters and the silver flight
Of wing-fish from the water; I had sight
Of pink-sailed argosies on purple seas,
And in rock-caverns found anemones
Brighter than mountain flowers. All these I saw
Living and moving by Thy changeless law.
Dominus Deus
Hast thou beheld the nobler lives that fare
On earth and breathe the thin ethereal air?
10
Unseen amid the multitudes I strayed,
No more affrighting than a light cloud's shade.
The gross-limbed monsters of the river-bed,
The dainty dappled herd, the cavern-bred
Carnivorous cruelties, the flying feet
Of striped veldt-rangers, woolly flocks that bleat
From crag to echoing crag, and chattering things
That flit among the tree-tops without wings;
These have I seen, innumerable in kind,
Visible thoughts of Thy creating mind,
Made, and unmade, and made again more fair,
A thousand dying till one perfect were.
Dominus Deus
And hast thou followed, nearer to my feet,
The aery warbler and the eagle fleet?
Spiritus Adami
In every bush I heard a living voice;
From every tree one called to me Rejoice!
About each cliff a thousand wings of snow
Light-floated o'er the mirror sea below;
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Mounted, resistless as a falling thing;
In dusky forests like a flash of flame
The screaming rainbow-creatures went and came;
Or, like a cloud, down lighted in the groves
The chattering starlings and wing-rustling doves;
And over stream and meadow restlessly
Like leaves in whirlwind went the swallows by.
No seas they fear, but, cradled on the wind,
Leave winter and the deadly frost behind;
Of all Thy creatures these are happiest,
Of water, earth, and air alike possessed.”
Then spake the Father: “I have given thee,
Spirit of Man, the power to hear and see—
Thyself yet formless—every creature formed;
That Reason in thee, perfectly informed,
Might choose her habitation, where to find
Fittest enthronement for the o'erlording Mind
In creature of the water, earth, or air.
Consider thou what shape of these should wear
One that shall be God's viceroy, governing
By laws of Heaven every living thing;
What strength or speed of limb, what grace of features,
What gifts for help or judgment of all creatures.
For I will give thee as thy racial right
To live not only for thine own delight,
Nor labour only for self-pleasing ends,
As do the rest of creatures, who are friends
To their own kindred, to all others foes.
This gift I give thee, that is not in those:
Justice to know and righteousness to seek,
To give their own to warlike or to weak,
And in the world, where blind self-love prevails,
As officer of God to hold the scales.
Therefore consider, ere desire be born
With thy new body, and thy soul be torn
Betwixt the god-like and the fleshly will!
While reason in thee, pure of passion still,
Can pass a selfless judgment, weigh the thing;
And say what powers of fin or foot or wing
Thou choosest to fulfil thy needs and Mine,
Who made thee to complete the plan divine.”
Spirit of Man, the power to hear and see—
Thyself yet formless—every creature formed;
That Reason in thee, perfectly informed,
Might choose her habitation, where to find
Fittest enthronement for the o'erlording Mind
In creature of the water, earth, or air.
Consider thou what shape of these should wear
One that shall be God's viceroy, governing
By laws of Heaven every living thing;
12
What gifts for help or judgment of all creatures.
For I will give thee as thy racial right
To live not only for thine own delight,
Nor labour only for self-pleasing ends,
As do the rest of creatures, who are friends
To their own kindred, to all others foes.
This gift I give thee, that is not in those:
Justice to know and righteousness to seek,
To give their own to warlike or to weak,
And in the world, where blind self-love prevails,
As officer of God to hold the scales.
Therefore consider, ere desire be born
With thy new body, and thy soul be torn
Betwixt the god-like and the fleshly will!
While reason in thee, pure of passion still,
Can pass a selfless judgment, weigh the thing;
And say what powers of fin or foot or wing
Thou choosest to fulfil thy needs and Mine,
Who made thee to complete the plan divine.”
But on the soul of Adam fell a fear
Of his high fate; and joy of eye and ear,
Lent but to prove him, ev'n by this had grown
Desirable, a thing to make his own;
And he had seen a thousand glories, heard
A hundred raptures, loves of beast and bird,
Fierce ecstasies of battle or of lust.
He sought how he might hold that splendid trust,
Yet keep the license of the unreasoning beast,
And, ruling, share full measure of the feast.
And thus he answered: “Wider are the seas
Than the dry lands, and hugest forms are these
That swim resistless in the yielding waves,
East, West, North, South, or downward to dark caves.
But these are farthest from the Father's care;
Perchance Thou wilt forget Thy creature there,
Forget Thy kindness and Thy love to him,
Leave him unheld, unholpen, darkling, dim.
Let me live rather 'neath the open skies,
Hid but by passing clouds from Heaven's eyes.
Yet if I choose the empire of the air,
Haply some son of mine, too bold, shall dare
To mount ev'n to Thy throne, to vaunt his soul
Thine equal; then, flung downward from the pole,
Ruin and wrath on all his kindred call.
Or, should he shun so dread a rise and fall,
Yet every weakness of his flesh, each sin,
Little enough 'mid creatures kind and kin,
So near Thy throne in Heaven's full light displayed,
Shall seem a law tremendous disobeyed,
And Man live 'neath a deprecated frown,
Fearing each word may call Thy thunders down.
Safest it were on middle earth to go,
Neither presumptuous nor ignobly low.
Stronger the will is, more the self-control,
Rarer the fine perfection of the soul,
For ordered lives that move but in one plane,
Not up and down in gnat-dance free but vain.
Ringed by the near horizon these discern
The truths of Law and Limit, and return
To half-browsed feeding-grounds, like sheep in pen,
Using to utmost all that comes in ken.
There are a thousand shapes, fair, strong, and fleet,
That move upon the solid ground with feet,
Yet on the water's face will sometimes fare,
Or climb high hills to drink ethereal air.
Let such a place be mine, where I may hold
All creatures of earth, sea, and air controlled.
Yet would I ask, not as the rest to be,
But walk with head uplifted, that with Thee
I may hold converse as Thine honoured one,
Of all Thy children chief and favoured son.”
Of his high fate; and joy of eye and ear,
13
Desirable, a thing to make his own;
And he had seen a thousand glories, heard
A hundred raptures, loves of beast and bird,
Fierce ecstasies of battle or of lust.
He sought how he might hold that splendid trust,
Yet keep the license of the unreasoning beast,
And, ruling, share full measure of the feast.
And thus he answered: “Wider are the seas
Than the dry lands, and hugest forms are these
That swim resistless in the yielding waves,
East, West, North, South, or downward to dark caves.
But these are farthest from the Father's care;
Perchance Thou wilt forget Thy creature there,
Forget Thy kindness and Thy love to him,
Leave him unheld, unholpen, darkling, dim.
Let me live rather 'neath the open skies,
Hid but by passing clouds from Heaven's eyes.
Yet if I choose the empire of the air,
Haply some son of mine, too bold, shall dare
To mount ev'n to Thy throne, to vaunt his soul
Thine equal; then, flung downward from the pole,
Ruin and wrath on all his kindred call.
Or, should he shun so dread a rise and fall,
14
Little enough 'mid creatures kind and kin,
So near Thy throne in Heaven's full light displayed,
Shall seem a law tremendous disobeyed,
And Man live 'neath a deprecated frown,
Fearing each word may call Thy thunders down.
Safest it were on middle earth to go,
Neither presumptuous nor ignobly low.
Stronger the will is, more the self-control,
Rarer the fine perfection of the soul,
For ordered lives that move but in one plane,
Not up and down in gnat-dance free but vain.
Ringed by the near horizon these discern
The truths of Law and Limit, and return
To half-browsed feeding-grounds, like sheep in pen,
Using to utmost all that comes in ken.
There are a thousand shapes, fair, strong, and fleet,
That move upon the solid ground with feet,
Yet on the water's face will sometimes fare,
Or climb high hills to drink ethereal air.
Let such a place be mine, where I may hold
All creatures of earth, sea, and air controlled.
Yet would I ask, not as the rest to be,
But walk with head uplifted, that with Thee
15
Of all Thy children chief and favoured son.”
Then spake the Almighty: “Thou hast chos'n the Mean,
The midway path, the kingdom of Between;
And as thy choice shall be thy character,
Clinging to earth, yet claiming to prefer
Heaven, and pure thought and love, the boons of Heaven.
Thus in thy noblest need to be forgiven
Shall burn instead of joy in nobleness;
Instead of song and glad light-heartedness,
In every temple Sorrow's self shall house;
Smoke of the sacrifice shall pay thy vows;
And bodies lean and eyes with watching dim
More righteous seem than health and pride of limb.
Oh, hadst thou known thy good, and dared to be
Lord of the air, a creature winged and free!
Thou hadst been god-like then, Microuranos
Instead of Micro-kosmos. Yea, thy loss
Is great, and greater earth's, and greatest Mine.
O marred impression of the stamp divine,
Unperfect image of the sculptor's thought,
A vessel of the potter badly wrought;
Tyrant of earth, destroyer, ravisher,
That shouldst have been an angel blessing her!
Where'er thou walkest, scarred shall be the sod,
That should have shown green footprints as of God.
This is thy curse, self-called upon thy head.
Yet see, lest thou be all uncomforted,
Within thy breast I plant a seed of fire,
Which kindle thou and feed with full desire,
And it shall serve thee in the stead of wings
To prompt thee ever to the higher things,
And raise thee by slow steps and heights hard won
Till thy race win the crown thou hast foregone.
Only beware! In thine own hands is fate,
To strain to higher or fall to lower state.
A small thing is it to remelt the wax
And strike again to perfect that which lacks.
A small thing to the sculptor 'tis to fling
His casting to the flames for bettering.
A small thing to the potter 'tis to take
Another lump and a new vessel make.
And from the myriad myriad lives of earth
A small thing were it to call up to birth
A new, more perfect Man of grander mould,
And in the slough self-chosen leave the old.”
The midway path, the kingdom of Between;
And as thy choice shall be thy character,
Clinging to earth, yet claiming to prefer
Heaven, and pure thought and love, the boons of Heaven.
Thus in thy noblest need to be forgiven
Shall burn instead of joy in nobleness;
Instead of song and glad light-heartedness,
In every temple Sorrow's self shall house;
Smoke of the sacrifice shall pay thy vows;
And bodies lean and eyes with watching dim
More righteous seem than health and pride of limb.
Oh, hadst thou known thy good, and dared to be
Lord of the air, a creature winged and free!
Thou hadst been god-like then, Microuranos
Instead of Micro-kosmos. Yea, thy loss
Is great, and greater earth's, and greatest Mine.
O marred impression of the stamp divine,
Unperfect image of the sculptor's thought,
A vessel of the potter badly wrought;
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That shouldst have been an angel blessing her!
Where'er thou walkest, scarred shall be the sod,
That should have shown green footprints as of God.
This is thy curse, self-called upon thy head.
Yet see, lest thou be all uncomforted,
Within thy breast I plant a seed of fire,
Which kindle thou and feed with full desire,
And it shall serve thee in the stead of wings
To prompt thee ever to the higher things,
And raise thee by slow steps and heights hard won
Till thy race win the crown thou hast foregone.
Only beware! In thine own hands is fate,
To strain to higher or fall to lower state.
A small thing is it to remelt the wax
And strike again to perfect that which lacks.
A small thing to the sculptor 'tis to fling
His casting to the flames for bettering.
A small thing to the potter 'tis to take
Another lump and a new vessel make.
And from the myriad myriad lives of earth
A small thing were it to call up to birth
A new, more perfect Man of grander mould,
And in the slough self-chosen leave the old.”
17
Darkness on Eden fell; and beast and bird
Unnamed, unmastered slept. With dawn was heard
A new compelling voice that thrilled the glade;
And all the creatures, flocking, saw new-made
Their white-limbed lord; and to his order came
To own their fealty and receive a name.
Unnamed, unmastered slept. With dawn was heard
A new compelling voice that thrilled the glade;
And all the creatures, flocking, saw new-made
Their white-limbed lord; and to his order came
To own their fealty and receive a name.
| Preludes and Romances | |