Songs Old and New ... Collected Edition [by Elizabeth Charles] |
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MAY SONG. |
 | Songs Old and New |  |
322
MAY SONG.
All the world is up and stirring,
Birds are warbling, insects whirring,
Striving in harmonious strife
Which can catch and drink the more
Of the crystal fount of life
Which around is bubbling o'er.
Birds are warbling, insects whirring,
Striving in harmonious strife
Which can catch and drink the more
Of the crystal fount of life
Which around is bubbling o'er.
For May came by upon a day
When the Earth, spell-bound in sleep,
Like the Sleeping Beauty lay,
Sunk in magic slumbers deep;
Came and kissed her marble cheek,
And the icy spell was broken:
Words which ages could not speak
In this burst of life are spoken;
And the Palace, still so long,
Breaks into a flood of song.
When the Earth, spell-bound in sleep,
Like the Sleeping Beauty lay,
Sunk in magic slumbers deep;
Came and kissed her marble cheek,
And the icy spell was broken:
Words which ages could not speak
In this burst of life are spoken;
And the Palace, still so long,
Breaks into a flood of song.
Air around and skies above
Seem one flood of life and love;
Every flower and leaf a sense,
Drinking life and rapture thence:
Nature all one glorious Psalm,
We all nerve responsive thrilling;
She a tree of Gilead's balm,
Into weary hearts distilling;
She all light and melody,
We all sense to hear and see.
Seem one flood of life and love;
323
Drinking life and rapture thence:
Nature all one glorious Psalm,
We all nerve responsive thrilling;
She a tree of Gilead's balm,
Into weary hearts distilling;
She all light and melody,
We all sense to hear and see.
With a fresh and happy sound
Forth the infant river wells,
Striking on the pebbles round
Merry peals of fairy bells;
Leaping up in showers of spray,
Parts the pure uncoloured light
Into many a threadlet bright;
Broidering its garments white,
Flashing gems from every ray.
Perfumes fresh and soft and clear
Sail along the limpid air;
Birds are singing, fish are springing,
Grass is growing, water flowing,
All the world awake and stirring;
And shall I be idly hearing,
While my heart thus glows with love,
And my soul o'erflows with life,
And my spirit yearns to prove
She could bravely strive her strife?
Music only in my heart;
Lord, give me some choral part!
Give this lisping heart a word—
Word that may be felt and heard;
I would rise and praise thee too—
Lord, let me go forth and do!
Forth the infant river wells,
Striking on the pebbles round
Merry peals of fairy bells;
Leaping up in showers of spray,
Parts the pure uncoloured light
Into many a threadlet bright;
Broidering its garments white,
Flashing gems from every ray.
Perfumes fresh and soft and clear
Sail along the limpid air;
Birds are singing, fish are springing,
Grass is growing, water flowing,
All the world awake and stirring;
And shall I be idly hearing,
While my heart thus glows with love,
And my soul o'erflows with life,
324
She could bravely strive her strife?
Music only in my heart;
Lord, give me some choral part!
Give this lisping heart a word—
Word that may be felt and heard;
I would rise and praise thee too—
Lord, let me go forth and do!
Then an answer silver clear
Fell upon my inward ear:—
“Hush, impatient heart, be still;
Restless waters break the light,
Shivering faith's deep mystery
Into fancy's prisms bright;
Breaking that by which we see
To a show for vulgar sight.
See that deep blue violet flower
Bend the quickening waters o'er;
Eagerly they sparkle up,
Dropping in her open cup,
While she in her quiet eye
Drinks the colours of the sky.
Such the faithful heart should be,
Feeding on Nature silently,
Drinking her spring-tide light and song;
That holy food shall make it strong—
On earth a heavenly star to shine,
True mirror of the life divine.
So thy life shall be a voice,
Speaking words best heard above,
Bidding weary souls rejoice,
Waking palsied hearts to love.”
Fell upon my inward ear:—
“Hush, impatient heart, be still;
Restless waters break the light,
Shivering faith's deep mystery
Into fancy's prisms bright;
Breaking that by which we see
To a show for vulgar sight.
See that deep blue violet flower
Bend the quickening waters o'er;
Eagerly they sparkle up,
Dropping in her open cup,
While she in her quiet eye
Drinks the colours of the sky.
Such the faithful heart should be,
Feeding on Nature silently,
325
That holy food shall make it strong—
On earth a heavenly star to shine,
True mirror of the life divine.
So thy life shall be a voice,
Speaking words best heard above,
Bidding weary souls rejoice,
Waking palsied hearts to love.”
May 1846.
| Songs Old and New | |