The Dwale Bluth Hebditch's Legacy and Other Literary Remains of Oliver Madox-Brown ... Edited by William M. Rossetti and F. Hueffer: With a Memoir and Two Portraits |
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| TO ALL ETERNITY. |
 | The Dwale Bluth |  |
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TO ALL ETERNITY.
Incutiens blandum per pectora amarum.
Ah me!
My own grows chill within me! There's no standard
In heaven above or hell beneath, o'er which
A woman's soul may not predominate—
May not aspire to—or degrade itself!
My own grows chill within me! There's no standard
In heaven above or hell beneath, o'er which
A woman's soul may not predominate—
May not aspire to—or degrade itself!
Once she was almost beautiful. Her eyes
Shone glittering; twin stars plucked from the abyss
Of God's most fathomless soul; twin mysteries,
So deep your drowned brain whirled in them, so bright
That even their colour seemed a mystery—
Whence the emotional keen spirit flashed forth
Its scintillant electricities. Her eyes
Kindled and shone like flames blown in the wind
That day when first we met—For [[OMITTED]] they made
A boy's soul luminous, where now they burn
The grown man's soul to death!
Shone glittering; twin stars plucked from the abyss
Of God's most fathomless soul; twin mysteries,
So deep your drowned brain whirled in them, so bright
That even their colour seemed a mystery—
Whence the emotional keen spirit flashed forth
Its scintillant electricities. Her eyes
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That day when first we met—For [[OMITTED]] they made
A boy's soul luminous, where now they burn
The grown man's soul to death!
Ah love! love! love!
Whose unintelligible promptings lure
Earth's mightiest nerves to thraldom—whose deep magic,
Too swift for timorous afterthought, too deep
For present doubt, makes blind the brain—whose hands
Mould this man's heaven from that man's hell—whose gaze
Infatuates—whose wind-shod feet resume
The joys its hands disperse—whose yearnings storm
Heaven with their high intentions, ere God paves
Hell's wildest depths with them! Oh love! love! love!
My soul and thine were even as one with hers
When first that glance met mine.
Whose unintelligible promptings lure
Earth's mightiest nerves to thraldom—whose deep magic,
Too swift for timorous afterthought, too deep
For present doubt, makes blind the brain—whose hands
Mould this man's heaven from that man's hell—whose gaze
Infatuates—whose wind-shod feet resume
The joys its hands disperse—whose yearnings storm
Heaven with their high intentions, ere God paves
Hell's wildest depths with them! Oh love! love! love!
My soul and thine were even as one with hers
When first that glance met mine.
That day the sun
Smote round our ivy-clad old hall till all
Its redolent green turned grey. The floodland meadows
Sultry and odorous sickened me, and I,
Tired of the sunlight too, with all my brain
Plunged in some nameless ecstasy, sought refuge
Deep in the sheltered hollows of a wood
Full of melodious silence and soft whispers
Of wind-lent life among still boughs, that fringed
The foot of the hills beyond . . .
Smote round our ivy-clad old hall till all
Its redolent green turned grey. The floodland meadows
Sultry and odorous sickened me, and I,
Tired of the sunlight too, with all my brain
Plunged in some nameless ecstasy, sought refuge
Deep in the sheltered hollows of a wood
Full of melodious silence and soft whispers
Of wind-lent life among still boughs, that fringed
The foot of the hills beyond . . .
The stillness grew
So deep at last that I could hear my heart
Throb like an echoing footfall. Once a thrush
Broke through the brambles with wild amorous cries;
And as I marked its startled flight, the trees
Reeled in my sight till all their foliage
Seemed whirling in a dream.
So deep at last that I could hear my heart
Throb like an echoing footfall. Once a thrush
Broke through the brambles with wild amorous cries;
And as I marked its startled flight, the trees
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Seemed whirling in a dream.
How long I wandered
Dreaming my soul out thus, I know not; only
I think a sudden rustle underfoot
Broke up my reverie at last, and I
Stepped back o' the instant. Stretched across my path
Swift-striped and sibilant-fanged a viper crawled
From one stone to another, and disappeared
Even as I watched it.
Dreaming my soul out thus, I know not; only
I think a sudden rustle underfoot
Broke up my reverie at last, and I
Stepped back o' the instant. Stretched across my path
Swift-striped and sibilant-fanged a viper crawled
From one stone to another, and disappeared
Even as I watched it.
Oh my God! had I
Only but known that sign for what it meant!
But that same instant a low tremulous sound
Passed like a sigh in the wind—which faltering
(Like to the first drops of an April shower)
Died quite away: only to recommence,
Until at last its sweetness reached a pitch
So sweet—so incommunicably sweet,
That all my blood turned fire within my veins,
And my heart sank within me. Then I knew
It was a woman's voice that sang.
Only but known that sign for what it meant!
But that same instant a low tremulous sound
Passed like a sigh in the wind—which faltering
(Like to the first drops of an April shower)
Died quite away: only to recommence,
Until at last its sweetness reached a pitch
So sweet—so incommunicably sweet,
That all my blood turned fire within my veins,
And my heart sank within me. Then I knew
It was a woman's voice that sang.
The wood
Grew thinner thereabouts—for presently
I broke into a glade where the warm sun
Pierced through at random, and, just slipping round
The weather-beaten trunk of a huge oak,
Stepped out into the light. How shall I tell
What happened there? For first I stood half dazed
In one great blaze of sunlight. Then there came
A sharp stroke on my side, and I reeled back
Breathless and stupefied; whilst a shrill scream
Rang in mine ears. Just hovering past my face
I saw the suspended figure of a girl
Nigh grown to womanhood mount high i' the air
Some moments yet ere she could stay herself.
She had been swinging as she sang, her rope
Fast to the boughs o'erhead; and I it seemed
Had stepped before her unawares, her song
Still on her lips low-lingering; till it changed
Into that frightened scream.
Grew thinner thereabouts—for presently
I broke into a glade where the warm sun
Pierced through at random, and, just slipping round
The weather-beaten trunk of a huge oak,
Stepped out into the light. How shall I tell
What happened there? For first I stood half dazed
In one great blaze of sunlight. Then there came
A sharp stroke on my side, and I reeled back
Breathless and stupefied; whilst a shrill scream
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I saw the suspended figure of a girl
Nigh grown to womanhood mount high i' the air
Some moments yet ere she could stay herself.
She had been swinging as she sang, her rope
Fast to the boughs o'erhead; and I it seemed
Had stepped before her unawares, her song
Still on her lips low-lingering; till it changed
Into that frightened scream.
And now she stopped,
Sprang to the earth, and disappeared ere I
Could gain my feet again; I only caught
One brief glance of her face—then she was gone.
Sprang to the earth, and disappeared ere I
Could gain my feet again; I only caught
One brief glance of her face—then she was gone.
| The Dwale Bluth | |