 | Studies from the Antique and Sketches from Nature |  |
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PROTEUS.
Alone upon the melancholy shore,
Between the ebb and flow
Rolling and surging evermore,
Sat Proteus on a jutting rock
Cushioned with tangle and sea-hair—
And listened to the moan and shock
Of crested billows, white as snow,
That flashed upon the sand-reach, smooth and bare,
Their serried armour bright,
Like mail-clad horsemen keen for fight,
And mastery of the unoffending land;
He sat, with chin supported on his hand,
And mused on mysteries dim-seen,
Even of immortal eyes—to men unknown—
The mighty riddle what the world might mean:
Silent he sat, and all alone.
Between the ebb and flow
Rolling and surging evermore,
Sat Proteus on a jutting rock
Cushioned with tangle and sea-hair—
And listened to the moan and shock
Of crested billows, white as snow,
That flashed upon the sand-reach, smooth and bare,
Their serried armour bright,
Like mail-clad horsemen keen for fight,
And mastery of the unoffending land;
He sat, with chin supported on his hand,
And mused on mysteries dim-seen,
Even of immortal eyes—to men unknown—
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Silent he sat, and all alone.
And as he dreamed, his thoughts took bodily shape,—
Fresh, fair, and buxom on the beach,
Their fragile hands linked each in each—
All happy to escape
From buffeting and thraldom of the waves,
And twilight of their ocean caves,
The Oceanides came forth to play,
Bare-footed in the light of day,
And float their loose robes on the gale
That bulged far off the home-returning sail.
Fresh, fair, and buxom on the beach,
Their fragile hands linked each in each—
All happy to escape
From buffeting and thraldom of the waves,
And twilight of their ocean caves,
The Oceanides came forth to play,
Bare-footed in the light of day,
And float their loose robes on the gale
That bulged far off the home-returning sail.
He heard the music of their dance,
He saw their shiny feet upon the sand,
Then wearied, he dismissed them with a glance
And motion of his hand,
And summoned in their stead,
In her immortal loveliness—sea-born,
A thousand odours round her shed,
Great Aphrodite, rosier than the morn,
Richer than summer, sweeter than the spring,
Brighter than day, kinder than gods or men;
With love that held all nature in its ken,
And overflowed on every living thing.
He saw their shiny feet upon the sand,
Then wearied, he dismissed them with a glance
And motion of his hand,
And summoned in their stead,
In her immortal loveliness—sea-born,
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Great Aphrodite, rosier than the morn,
Richer than summer, sweeter than the spring,
Brighter than day, kinder than gods or men;
With love that held all nature in its ken,
And overflowed on every living thing.
And with her came each Muse and Grace,
Radiant from Heaven—with clear cerulean eyes—
And he beheld them face to face,
And spake to them of mysteries—
Of Love, the Regent of the skies,
Lord paramount of all beneath the moon,
Whom gods obey, and men adore,
Whose praise Earth sings to sea and shore,
While all the stars repeat the eternal tune,
Love Paramount and Love for evermore.
Radiant from Heaven—with clear cerulean eyes—
And he beheld them face to face,
And spake to them of mysteries—
Of Love, the Regent of the skies,
Lord paramount of all beneath the moon,
Whom gods obey, and men adore,
Whose praise Earth sings to sea and shore,
While all the stars repeat the eternal tune,
Love Paramount and Love for evermore.
Anon he summoned by his voiceless will,
There on the sea-beach salt and chill,
Dodona's groves and odoriferous gloom,
And Tempe's vale with all its wealth of bloom,
Boeotia with its pastures green,
Areadia with its mountain screen,
Gardens and orchards, bosks and lawns,
And joyous Pan, with all his nymphs and fauns.
There on the sea-beach salt and chill,
Dodona's groves and odoriferous gloom,
And Tempe's vale with all its wealth of bloom,
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Areadia with its mountain screen,
Gardens and orchards, bosks and lawns,
And joyous Pan, with all his nymphs and fauns.
Loud o'er the wave their laughter rang,
The wild deer gambolled, and the blithe birds sang,
Till Proteus shut his eyes and waved them off
From the denuded sands and bare sea trough;
For he had communed with the gods too long,
And his heart wearied with a yearning strong,
For converse and companionship of mind,
With erring, suffering, struggling human-kind.
The wild deer gambolled, and the blithe birds sang,
Till Proteus shut his eyes and waved them off
From the denuded sands and bare sea trough;
For he had communed with the gods too long,
And his heart wearied with a yearning strong,
For converse and companionship of mind,
With erring, suffering, struggling human-kind.
Obedient to his call
Came lovely women in their joyous youth,
Brave men, and sages who had died for Truth,
Or lived to plant its banner on the wall;
Came little children, ruddy as the rose,
Came young Ambition with its brain of fire,
Came old Ambition, withered in desire,
But fresh for vengeance on opposing foes;
Came jesters with their arrowy tongues gall-tipped,
And grave buffoons, large paunched and heavylipped,
Came kings and Pharaohs weary of their crowns,
Envious of ploughmen who could sleep,
Envious—but yet ashamed to weep
At better fortune of contented clowns;
Came beggars leaning on their staves;
Came careless, uncomplaining slaves,
And slaves in whose hot blood the slavery ran
Like maddening poison—goading all the man
To quick revolt;—came Misery, gaunt and bare,
Full of remorseful secrets;—came Despair,
Silent or querulous, or moaning low;—
Came lovers laden with deep joy or woe;
Came rich men, weary that they should endure
Evils as many as the wearier poor;
Came Youth that longed for death, and Age forlorn
That clung to life—yet grieved that it was born.
Came lovely women in their joyous youth,
Brave men, and sages who had died for Truth,
Or lived to plant its banner on the wall;
Came little children, ruddy as the rose,
Came young Ambition with its brain of fire,
Came old Ambition, withered in desire,
But fresh for vengeance on opposing foes;
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And grave buffoons, large paunched and heavylipped,
Came kings and Pharaohs weary of their crowns,
Envious of ploughmen who could sleep,
Envious—but yet ashamed to weep
At better fortune of contented clowns;
Came beggars leaning on their staves;
Came careless, uncomplaining slaves,
And slaves in whose hot blood the slavery ran
Like maddening poison—goading all the man
To quick revolt;—came Misery, gaunt and bare,
Full of remorseful secrets;—came Despair,
Silent or querulous, or moaning low;—
Came lovers laden with deep joy or woe;
Came rich men, weary that they should endure
Evils as many as the wearier poor;
Came Youth that longed for death, and Age forlorn
That clung to life—yet grieved that it was born.
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And Proteus saw and loved them, all and each,
Imbibing knowledge from their pain,
As trees fruition from the rain.
And all that human agony could teach,
Or human joy impart,
He studied with full mind and fuller heart,
Till he became a world, all worlds containing,
And bore the heavy burden uncomplaining,
And thought the thoughts, that throb and burn
In all the planets as they turn,
Thoughts immortal — universal — perfect as the spheres above,
Death in Life—but Life for ever—and Eternity of Love.
Imbibing knowledge from their pain,
As trees fruition from the rain.
And all that human agony could teach,
Or human joy impart,
He studied with full mind and fuller heart,
Till he became a world, all worlds containing,
And bore the heavy burden uncomplaining,
And thought the thoughts, that throb and burn
In all the planets as they turn,
Thoughts immortal — universal — perfect as the spheres above,
Death in Life—but Life for ever—and Eternity of Love.
The wondering people gathered on the shore
And watched the pageant as it rolled,
Projected from his mind, and said, “Behold
The many shapes he taketh evermore!
He is not one, but many. Let us cry
Aloud to rouse him where he sitteth dumb,
And bid him speak to us, and prophesy
Of glooms and glories of the days to come.”
And watched the pageant as it rolled,
Projected from his mind, and said, “Behold
The many shapes he taketh evermore!
He is not one, but many. Let us cry
Aloud to rouse him where he sitteth dumb,
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Of glooms and glories of the days to come.”
But Proteus, when he saw they would intrude
Upon the full heart of his solitude,
Gathered the vagrant mists around his face,
And clad himself in cloud, and disappeared;
And when again they looked upon his place,
Watching the vapours as they curled and cleared,
They saw him not; but heard, far off, at sea,
A voice that said, “Oh, men! ye know not me,
And never can. What I may tell, I tell;—
But seek not you to pierce the inscrutable:
God's secrets are His own.”;Humbled and sad,
They went their way, while from the white sea-rim,
And all the shore, echoed a choral hymn
Of mingled grief and joy. That song sublime
Fills all true poets' souls; and shall till end of Time.
Upon the full heart of his solitude,
Gathered the vagrant mists around his face,
And clad himself in cloud, and disappeared;
And when again they looked upon his place,
Watching the vapours as they curled and cleared,
They saw him not; but heard, far off, at sea,
A voice that said, “Oh, men! ye know not me,
And never can. What I may tell, I tell;—
But seek not you to pierce the inscrutable:
God's secrets are His own.”;Humbled and sad,
They went their way, while from the white sea-rim,
And all the shore, echoed a choral hymn
Of mingled grief and joy. That song sublime
Fills all true poets' souls; and shall till end of Time.
| Studies from the Antique and Sketches from Nature | |