 | Benoni |  |
90
LETHE.
Not always with the summer air
Blend the faint whispers of the birds:
Not always the pure soul of Prayer
Incarnate grows in words:
Blend the faint whispers of the birds:
Not always the pure soul of Prayer
Incarnate grows in words:
Not always doth fair Music give
Her inspirations unto sound—
Her sweetest lays within her live,
All voiceless and profound.
Her inspirations unto sound—
Her sweetest lays within her live,
All voiceless and profound.
So thro' the soul not always march
The serried thoughts in dense array,
Nor echoes ring thro' Memory's arch
When they have pass'd away;
The serried thoughts in dense array,
Nor echoes ring thro' Memory's arch
When they have pass'd away;
But oft the yielding spirit sleeps
Entranced in some unconscious bliss—
Swooning within ecstatic deeps
Where only silence is:
Entranced in some unconscious bliss—
Swooning within ecstatic deeps
Where only silence is:
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Or if there ripple o'er the lake
Dim shades of things once thought or spoken,
The outer calm may thrill and break—
The inner is unbroken.
Dim shades of things once thought or spoken,
The outer calm may thrill and break—
The inner is unbroken.
Sometimes too, colourless and blind,
And almost to itself unknown,
Dwells the dull chaos of the mind
All silent and alone;
And almost to itself unknown,
Dwells the dull chaos of the mind
All silent and alone;
And in that vacant gloom, untaught
To watch its heavings or reveal,
Forgets the quiet pulse of thought,
And what it is to feel.
To watch its heavings or reveal,
Forgets the quiet pulse of thought,
And what it is to feel.
Is this, O holy Mournfulness—
Companion of the falling leaves
And all that wears an Autumn dress—
The state of one who grieves?
Companion of the falling leaves
And all that wears an Autumn dress—
The state of one who grieves?
Perhaps thy timid sorrowing heart
The dimness of thine eyes would hide,
And e'en the knowledge that thou art,
Beneath that ‘sullen void:’
The dimness of thine eyes would hide,
And e'en the knowledge that thou art,
Beneath that ‘sullen void:’
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Ah, let us feel that this is so,
By some deep sigh, or sob, or tear,
Which to the doubting heart may show
She is not insincere!
By some deep sigh, or sob, or tear,
Which to the doubting heart may show
She is not insincere!
| Benoni | |