 | Reverberations |  |
97
PALINGENESIS.
Through the orb of endless Wonder,
Through the flying dance of Change,
In the silence, in the thunder,
Form must pass and function range.
Nothing that has lived shall perish,
Fading life draws nobler breath;
Powers of dread and mildness cherish
The young germs of life in death.
Through the flying dance of Change,
In the silence, in the thunder,
Form must pass and function range.
Nothing that has lived shall perish,
Fading life draws nobler breath;
Powers of dread and mildness cherish
The young germs of life in death.
In the morning of creation,
Nurslings of the cloud and sky,
Rose the graceful generation
Of the Titan ferns on high.
Fairy reed and pine gigantic
Waved where earth's young breezes blew,
Sea-beasts played with gnome-like antic,
Where the lovely sea-flowers grew.
Nurslings of the cloud and sky,
Rose the graceful generation
Of the Titan ferns on high.
Fairy reed and pine gigantic
Waved where earth's young breezes blew,
Sea-beasts played with gnome-like antic,
Where the lovely sea-flowers grew.
Wondrous forms, with wondrous features,
Through the ancient oceans ran,
Plated fishes, hornèd creatures,
Ere the earth was fit for man.
From an insect world departed,
Dust-like shapes returned to dust,
Eagle-eyed and lion-hearted,
Rises Paris the August.
Through the ancient oceans ran,
98
Ere the earth was fit for man.
From an insect world departed,
Dust-like shapes returned to dust,
Eagle-eyed and lion-hearted,
Rises Paris the August.
Lovely forms and noble races
From the mother earth have past:
Fabled fauns and fabled graces,
Own your prototypes at last!
Palm and fern that grew colossal,
Beast from field and bird from glen,
Now as dust, and now as fossil,
Meet the wondering eyes of men.
From the mother earth have past:
Fabled fauns and fabled graces,
Own your prototypes at last!
Palm and fern that grew colossal,
Beast from field and bird from glen,
Now as dust, and now as fossil,
Meet the wondering eyes of men.
In the infinite creation
Lies no dead, unmeaning fact,
But eternal revelation,
Endless thought in endless act—
Life that works and pauses never,
Death that passes into life,
Rest that follows motion ever,
Peace that ever follows strife.
Lies no dead, unmeaning fact,
But eternal revelation,
Endless thought in endless act—
Life that works and pauses never,
Death that passes into life,
Rest that follows motion ever,
Peace that ever follows strife.
From the dark and troubled surges
Of the roaring sea of time,
Evermore a world emerges,
Solemn, beautiful, sublime.
So of old, from Grecian water,
'Mid the music and the balm,
Rose the dread Olympian's daughter,
Floating on the azure calm.
Of the roaring sea of time,
Evermore a world emerges,
Solemn, beautiful, sublime.
99
'Mid the music and the balm,
Rose the dread Olympian's daughter,
Floating on the azure calm.
Evermore the worlds are fading,
Evermore the worlds will bloom,
To refute our weak upbraiding,
To throw brightness on the gloom.
Ever the imperfect passes,
But the perfect ever grows;
Forests sink to drear morasses,
Fairer landscapes to disclose.
Evermore the worlds will bloom,
To refute our weak upbraiding,
To throw brightness on the gloom.
Ever the imperfect passes,
But the perfect ever grows;
Forests sink to drear morasses,
Fairer landscapes to disclose.
All the beauty, all the splendour,
Of the ancient earth and sky,
Graceful form and person tender,
All have past in silence by.
Man the fairest, man the youngest,
Man the darling of the gods,
With the weakest, with the strongest,
Travels to the still abodes.
Of the ancient earth and sky,
Graceful form and person tender,
All have past in silence by.
Man the fairest, man the youngest,
Man the darling of the gods,
With the weakest, with the strongest,
Travels to the still abodes.
All his brothers, unlamenting,
To the eternal plan conform,
Fall unquailing, unrepenting,
In the calm and in the storm.
Man, too, with a quiet bearing,
With brave heart and steadfast eye,
Undisturbed and undespairing,
Yea, with noble joy, must die.
Has he shared what Nature proffered?
Gladly taken what she gave?
Now the one last gift is offered,
Let him take that gift—the grave.
With a grand renunciation,
Let him leave to earth and sun,
For another generation,
All the good that he hath done.
To the eternal plan conform,
Fall unquailing, unrepenting,
In the calm and in the storm.
Man, too, with a quiet bearing,
With brave heart and steadfast eye,
100
Yea, with noble joy, must die.
Has he shared what Nature proffered?
Gladly taken what she gave?
Now the one last gift is offered,
Let him take that gift—the grave.
With a grand renunciation,
Let him leave to earth and sun,
For another generation,
All the good that he hath done.
Knowing that the laws eternal
Never, never can deceive,
Raised above the sphere diurnal,
And too noble, far, to grieve.
Glad that he has been the agent
Of the universal heart,
That in life's majestic pageant
He has played no worthless part.
Never, never can deceive,
Raised above the sphere diurnal,
And too noble, far, to grieve.
Glad that he has been the agent
Of the universal heart,
That in life's majestic pageant
He has played no worthless part.
So a great and holy feeling
Shall sustain his human soul,
And a silent strength revealing,
He, a part, shall join the whole.
Through the orb of endless Wonder,
Through the flying dance of Change,
In the silence, in the thunder,
Form shall pass and function range.
Shall sustain his human soul,
And a silent strength revealing,
He, a part, shall join the whole.
Through the orb of endless Wonder,
Through the flying dance of Change,
In the silence, in the thunder,
Form shall pass and function range.
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