Interludes and Undertones, or, Music at Twilight By Charles Mackay |
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| CXXXI. | CXXXI. MILTON IN THE PORCH.
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 | Interludes and Undertones, or, Music at Twilight |  |
175
CXXXI. MILTON IN THE PORCH.
[_]
(Milton in his old age, and after the publication of the “Paradise Lost,” was scarcely known to his contemporaries. The popular poets of the day were “the matchless Orinda” (one Mrs. Arabella Philips) and “the incomparable Cowley.” Where is their fame now? Or whose fame, except that of Shakspeare, surpasses Milton's?)
Blind, old, and poor, the bosom-friend of Sorrow,
Threefold encompassed by malicious Fortune,
I sit alone beneath th' o'er-arching roses
Threefold encompassed by malicious Fortune,
I sit alone beneath th' o'er-arching roses
That shade my cottage porch,—to breathe the odours
That load the breezes of the summer morning,
And catch the earliest sunshine on my forehead.
That load the breezes of the summer morning,
And catch the earliest sunshine on my forehead.
And as I sit, I hear the great world's echoes
Come floating like the blare of distant trumpets
Sounding the names that men hold most in honour:
Come floating like the blare of distant trumpets
Sounding the names that men hold most in honour:
Names of the prosperous, the rich, the mighty,
Names of successful knaves and winning gamesters,
Names of buffoons who tickle fools to laughter:
Names of successful knaves and winning gamesters,
Names of buffoons who tickle fools to laughter:
Names of the silly bards who rhyme for pastime,
But have no strength to utter thoughts for thinkers,
Or tell the Time one truth that's worth the knowing.
But have no strength to utter thoughts for thinkers,
Or tell the Time one truth that's worth the knowing.
176
And then I sigh, with lingering human weakness,
That I, who once, like lark to Heaven upsoaring,
Flooded the fields with music and rejoicing,
That I, who once, like lark to Heaven upsoaring,
Flooded the fields with music and rejoicing,
Find listeners no more, that smaller voices,
Attuned to pettier themes, find larger audience,
And that great thoughts offend a little people;—
Attuned to pettier themes, find larger audience,
And that great thoughts offend a little people;—
Bards of the hour, that pile the ready guineas,
And say, “The age is ours, we teach it wisdom,
And wisdom is rewarded of its scholars.”
And say, “The age is ours, we teach it wisdom,
And wisdom is rewarded of its scholars.”
While I, alas! must fight with sordid sorrow,
Slave of the poverty that holds me captive,
And binds me to its mud-bespattered chariot.
Slave of the poverty that holds me captive,
And binds me to its mud-bespattered chariot.
Yet tell me, O my conscience! O my spirit!
And thou, my secret heart! have I not striven,
Through long, brave years of effort and endurance,
And thou, my secret heart! have I not striven,
Through long, brave years of effort and endurance,
To use my gifts of song to noblest purpose,
To cheer the sad, to comfort the afflicted,
And from the good to prophesy the better?
To cheer the sad, to comfort the afflicted,
And from the good to prophesy the better?
Have I not? Wherefore ask? God knows His children,
To-day is not to-morrow; and to-morrow
Hath its own creed, and utters its own judgments.
To-day is not to-morrow; and to-morrow
Hath its own creed, and utters its own judgments.
Hush, Disappointment! raise thy head, meek Patience!
Why should I rail at what hard Fortune brings me
When I have that within which masters Fortune?
Why should I rail at what hard Fortune brings me
When I have that within which masters Fortune?
Though beggared, yet a king! mine is the Future,
My words and thoughts are shrined in Time's safe keeping,
And if they're worthy, they shall be immortal.
My words and thoughts are shrined in Time's safe keeping,
And if they're worthy, they shall be immortal.
| Interludes and Undertones, or, Music at Twilight | |