Songs of A Wayfarer By William Davies |
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| CCXXV. | CCXXV. MAY. |
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 | Songs of A Wayfarer |  |
CCXXV. MAY.
O May, with all thy flowres and thy green,
Right welcome be thou, fairè, freshè May!
Chaucer.
Right welcome be thou, fairè, freshè May!
Chaucer.
The stock-dove coos within the wood
Beyond the milkwhite thorn;
The lark is singing clear and loud
Above the springing corn.
Beyond the milkwhite thorn;
The lark is singing clear and loud
Above the springing corn.
No cloud upon the pure blue sky;
No stain upon the stream;
Peace everywhere:—I seem to walk
As in a heavenly dream.
No stain upon the stream;
Peace everywhere:—I seem to walk
As in a heavenly dream.
Fresh daisies open at my feet;
The pensile hyacinth droops;
Each bank and meadow gilded with
Bright yellow buttercups.
The pensile hyacinth droops;
Each bank and meadow gilded with
Bright yellow buttercups.
All Nature, as a book unclaspt,
Before me seems to lie,
Wherein the shadows of the Past
Are open to my eye.
Before me seems to lie,
Wherein the shadows of the Past
Are open to my eye.
197
With friendly tenderness she beams
In sympathetic grace;
And smiles, as though she beckoned me
To come to her embrace.
In sympathetic grace;
And smiles, as though she beckoned me
To come to her embrace.
My morn of life rains lightly down
Its silvery dews of dawn:
That daisy, glittering like a star,
Lights up the same green lawn.
Its silvery dews of dawn:
That daisy, glittering like a star,
Lights up the same green lawn.
I hear the gurgling of the brook,
The cuckoo in the glen;
The sunshine sparkles as it shone
About the coppice then.
The cuckoo in the glen;
The sunshine sparkles as it shone
About the coppice then.
I walk in early years once more
The long-familiar fields,
And every flower about my path
An ancient influence yields:
The long-familiar fields,
And every flower about my path
An ancient influence yields:
And every tree, new-clothed in green,
Looks as it looked of yore,
As still and grand as if those were
The very leaves it wore.
Looks as it looked of yore,
As still and grand as if those were
The very leaves it wore.
The simplest things I knew, imprest
By many a serious hour,
Renewed through added forces, stand
In monumental power.
By many a serious hour,
Renewed through added forces, stand
In monumental power.
198
So tranquilly the shadows lie
Along the verdant plain,
That I would hardly wish to call
My childhood back again.
Along the verdant plain,
That I would hardly wish to call
My childhood back again.
Some loss the fleeting years may bring
Through changes and decay;
Yet sure I am that they bestow
More than they take away:—
Through changes and decay;
Yet sure I am that they bestow
More than they take away:—
The tenderness of thoughtful hours;
Firm joy; abiding calm;
Deep sympathies and lofty hopes;
Fond Memory's soothing balm;
Firm joy; abiding calm;
Deep sympathies and lofty hopes;
Fond Memory's soothing balm;
The tempered fires; the strengthened will;
The fruit of toil and pain;
Pure consecrations falling like
Still showers of summer rain.
The fruit of toil and pain;
Pure consecrations falling like
Still showers of summer rain.
Thus, though harsh winter with his storms
The blossomed dell bereaves,
The pale green frond again appears
Above the withered leaves
The blossomed dell bereaves,
The pale green frond again appears
Above the withered leaves
Ere summer yet the tiny throat
Hath plumed and taught to sing,
Or called the timid nestling forth
To flap a fluttering wing.—
Hath plumed and taught to sing,
Or called the timid nestling forth
To flap a fluttering wing.—
199
So blest the time, each rising wish
Breathed on the limpid air
Seems wafted backwards to the soul,
A richly answered prayer.
Breathed on the limpid air
Seems wafted backwards to the soul,
A richly answered prayer.
Even parted friends come back again
In quiet hours like these:
I hear their voices through the pines,
Their breath is in the breeze.
In quiet hours like these:
I hear their voices through the pines,
Their breath is in the breeze.
The sounds that soothe my listening soul
Are echoes of their bliss:
The shadows of that other world
Are sunshine upon this.
Are echoes of their bliss:
The shadows of that other world
Are sunshine upon this.
The symbols of material things
Reveal their hidden sense;
And for their evanescence bring
Enduring recompence:
Reveal their hidden sense;
And for their evanescence bring
Enduring recompence:
A sublimated essence which
Can never see decay,
Centred within a purer life
That will not pass away:
Can never see decay,
Centred within a purer life
That will not pass away:
Clear fountain of ethereal joy,
Fine source of visions rare,
The sister splendours of whose grace
Are bred in heavenly air.
Fine source of visions rare,
The sister splendours of whose grace
Are bred in heavenly air.
200
To him whose apprehensions grow
With Love and Truth allied
This world becomes an Eden, by
The spirit sanctified.—
With Love and Truth allied
This world becomes an Eden, by
The spirit sanctified.—
Half hid amongst the dewy elms,
The rooks resounding quire,
Smit by the morning, rises up
The pointed village-spire.
The rooks resounding quire,
Smit by the morning, rises up
The pointed village-spire.
Though I have heard delicious strains,
Yet in my heart there dwells
No dearer echo than the sound
Of those clear sabbath-bells:
Yet in my heart there dwells
No dearer echo than the sound
Of those clear sabbath-bells:
For sometimes in my troubled moods
A gentle calm they yield
Blent with the honeyed odour of
The purple clover field:
A gentle calm they yield
Blent with the honeyed odour of
The purple clover field:
And sometimes through my waking dreams
They seem to fall and die,
As though their pealing floated from
Some region of the sky:
They seem to fall and die,
As though their pealing floated from
Some region of the sky:
And oft in pensive hours, their round
Aerial whispers brings,
Mixed with the vague sweet murmurs of
Life's undiscovered springs—
Aerial whispers brings,
Mixed with the vague sweet murmurs of
Life's undiscovered springs—
201
Mysterious motions lightly borne
From shadowy realms of thought,
Where all that is seems but the show
Of something that is not.
From shadowy realms of thought,
Where all that is seems but the show
Of something that is not.
They tremble o'er the willowy stream;
They reach the distant town;
When stars come out at evening
They fling their music down,
They reach the distant town;
When stars come out at evening
They fling their music down,
About those dim green hillocks where,
Beneath the yew tree's arms,
The slumbering dead are laid in peace,
Secure from life's alarms.—
Beneath the yew tree's arms,
The slumbering dead are laid in peace,
Secure from life's alarms.—
Through all our search for happiness
We know not what is best:
But surely they must be content
Who find so hushed a rest.
We know not what is best:
But surely they must be content
Who find so hushed a rest.
Blow, gentle breeze, around them blow
Thy blossom-scented breath:
If still their blessèd souls may know
Thy sweetness, locked in death,
Thy blossom-scented breath:
If still their blessèd souls may know
Thy sweetness, locked in death,
Their angels leaning from the spheres
Might turn them from their bliss,
And drink a dear past memory
Breathed through thy balmy kiss,
Might turn them from their bliss,
And drink a dear past memory
Breathed through thy balmy kiss,
202
And find blest recollections in
The clacking of the mill,
That floats in airy circles, blown
About the echoing hill.
The clacking of the mill,
That floats in airy circles, blown
About the echoing hill.
No: do not let us think that all
Within this world is vain
To those whose weary souls have left
Its sorrows and its pain:
Within this world is vain
To those whose weary souls have left
Its sorrows and its pain:
Nor those warm hearts whose deep-set love
Fond memories intertwined
Could leave their earthly homes below
And never look behind.
Fond memories intertwined
Could leave their earthly homes below
And never look behind.
Who is there that has loved and lived
His life's delight to mourn,
Who, sometime, may have never felt
The parted one's return:—
His life's delight to mourn,
Who, sometime, may have never felt
The parted one's return:—
A thin-drawn vision wafted by,
A low-breathed whispering,
A tender touch, the flutter of
A spiritual wing;
A low-breathed whispering,
A tender touch, the flutter of
A spiritual wing;
The shadow of a smile that once
Would light the beauteous face
Which lies beneath the grass and flowers,
Hid in death's narrow place:—
Would light the beauteous face
Which lies beneath the grass and flowers,
Hid in death's narrow place:—
203
Abiding links that still enchain
Sweet friends to those they miss
With kisses that will linger still
On lips too cold to kiss?—
Sweet friends to those they miss
With kisses that will linger still
On lips too cold to kiss?—
Ah, well: our earthly state is fixed;
Such is the mortal doom;
Our frames but make a little dust
From which a rose may bloom.
Such is the mortal doom;
Our frames but make a little dust
From which a rose may bloom.
But who shall touch the soul's high throne,
And bid it there expire?
Can death within his icy grasp
Crush out the spirit's fire?
And bid it there expire?
Can death within his icy grasp
Crush out the spirit's fire?
Even here good men retain their life,
Though vanished from the sense,
And breathe through high-toned spirits their
Exalted influence.
Though vanished from the sense,
And breathe through high-toned spirits their
Exalted influence.
The greatness that ambition seeks
May grasp its diadem;
But what a loftier destiny
To live and grow with them!
May grasp its diadem;
But what a loftier destiny
To live and grow with them!
The splendours of imperial pomp,
The pride of human power,
High birth and name and fame are but
The playthings of an hour.
The pride of human power,
High birth and name and fame are but
The playthings of an hour.
204
It is not marble makes man great
Or noble with his kind,
Nor costly blazonry; but those
Good deeds he leaves behind.
Or noble with his kind,
Nor costly blazonry; but those
Good deeds he leaves behind.
No epic honours they will crave,
No noisy praise their lot:
But just to live a grand, true life,
And then to be forgot.
No noisy praise their lot:
But just to live a grand, true life,
And then to be forgot.
And only wish their names be writ,
For angel eyes to scan,
Amongst those heroes noted in
God's history of man.
For angel eyes to scan,
Amongst those heroes noted in
God's history of man.
By monumental effigies
Uncrushed, at last, to lie
Beneath a little patch of flowers
And God's unbounded sky.—
Uncrushed, at last, to lie
Beneath a little patch of flowers
And God's unbounded sky.—
For me, I only ask to share,
Away from worldly noise,
The tender love of gentle hearts;
Their troubles and their joys:
Away from worldly noise,
The tender love of gentle hearts;
Their troubles and their joys:
To read on Nature's ample page
The message that it brings;
The wonders of Eternal Power
Expressed in simple things:
The message that it brings;
The wonders of Eternal Power
Expressed in simple things:
205
To trace within a painted flower
The mighty Hand that laid
The earth's profound foundations when
The universe was made;
The mighty Hand that laid
The earth's profound foundations when
The universe was made;
Whose chariot is the roaring storm,
His coursers snow and hail;
Who sows the gulfs of space with stars,
And sees them grow and fail.
His coursers snow and hail;
Who sows the gulfs of space with stars,
And sees them grow and fail.
Who dwells within pure halls of light,
And hears the mighty hymn
That bursts creation's mighty bounds,
And thunders under Him:
And hears the mighty hymn
That bursts creation's mighty bounds,
And thunders under Him:
A strain to bear the raptured soul
Where footstep never trod,
From world to world until it stands
In presence of its God.
Where footstep never trod,
From world to world until it stands
In presence of its God.
Thus let me live, secure, content,
Through life's soon passing day,
And in my spirit's freshness find
An everlasting May.
Through life's soon passing day,
And in my spirit's freshness find
An everlasting May.
| Songs of A Wayfarer | |