 | Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson |  |
A DREAM
To Edgar Jepson.
Ah, you will not hear! Alone
I must agonize, and keep
Mine own conscience all mine own:
Yet, to sleep the eternal sleep,
Knowing this thing to all unknown!
I must agonize, and keep
Mine own conscience all mine own:
Yet, to sleep the eternal sleep,
Knowing this thing to all unknown!
I shall shudder in the shade
At a fainter shade astir
There, within the gray: some strayed
Melancholy wanderer
Through the misty barricade.
At a fainter shade astir
There, within the gray: some strayed
Melancholy wanderer
Through the misty barricade.
Nought to him were shadowy bounds;
Nought, his far off resting place,
Where the willowed water rounds
Each dim point with gentle grace,
Filled with windy, willow sounds.
Nought, his far off resting place,
Where the willowed water rounds
Each dim point with gentle grace,
Filled with windy, willow sounds.
He would lie there in his dream:
Parted lips, and wandering hands
Plucking pale blooms; down the stream,
Far against the sad, gray lands,
The soft eyes would gaze and gleam.
Parted lips, and wandering hands
Plucking pale blooms; down the stream,
Far against the sad, gray lands,
The soft eyes would gaze and gleam.
168
Ah, so softly! No more wild,
Than a flame of gracious fire
On the altar: like a child,
Would he play with light desire,
Born of fancy, sweet and mild.
Than a flame of gracious fire
On the altar: like a child,
Would he play with light desire,
Born of fancy, sweet and mild.
All the willow land to him
But a place of echoes were:
Philomel's melodious hymn,
Flowing through the evening air;
The wood doves' faint voices dim.
But a place of echoes were:
Philomel's melodious hymn,
Flowing through the evening air;
The wood doves' faint voices dim.
For dull Lethe, for the blind
Poppy of Oblivion,
Hush, and lull, and thrall his mind:
Deeper memories are undone;
What he would, he cannot find.
Poppy of Oblivion,
Hush, and lull, and thrall his mind:
Deeper memories are undone;
What he would, he cannot find.
Cannot find forthwith: but yet,
As the visions veer and fall,
Rapture now, and now regret:
He will feel it, though not all;
Half remember, half forget.
As the visions veer and fall,
Rapture now, and now regret:
He will feel it, though not all;
Half remember, half forget.
Half remember, dreaming ghost,
Her, whose heart I stole to break:
Her, who should have loved him most:
Her, whose soul I laughed to make
Ugly, miserable, lost.
Her, whose heart I stole to break:
Her, who should have loved him most:
Her, whose soul I laughed to make
Ugly, miserable, lost.
He remembers! The lone eyes
Wake to fire: the smiling lips
Clench to iron, cold as ice:
Dropped its flowers, the thin hand grips,
Where no venging weapon lies.
Wake to fire: the smiling lips
Clench to iron, cold as ice:
169
Where no venging weapon lies.
This a dreamer in the haunt,
The still haunt, of willow rills!
But a dreamer like to daunt
Death, upon the naked hills
Dight for battle, grim and gaunt!
The still haunt, of willow rills!
But a dreamer like to daunt
Death, upon the naked hills
Dight for battle, grim and gaunt!
The gray precincts water-worn
Shiver at a sundering flame,
On a vehement whirlwind borne
Into the drear home of shame,
From the home of souls lovelorn.
Shiver at a sundering flame,
On a vehement whirlwind borne
Into the drear home of shame,
From the home of souls lovelorn.
He, love's melancholy saint
Cloistered by the innocent plains
Willow-bowered for true love's plaint!
He, to dare the place of pains:
He, to bear the fiery taint!
Cloistered by the innocent plains
Willow-bowered for true love's plaint!
He, to dare the place of pains:
He, to bear the fiery taint!
Fainter shade, said I? But nay!
Strong and strenuous with wrath,
Striding toward my dismal day,
He will front me on the path,
Where my tortured feet shall stray.
Strong and strenuous with wrath,
Striding toward my dismal day,
He will front me on the path,
Where my tortured feet shall stray.
Then a thunder, then a storm,
Then a light of rousing Gods!
Justice in her haughtier form,
Vengeance with her living rods:
I, with stricken face deform.
Then a light of rousing Gods!
Justice in her haughtier form,
Vengeance with her living rods:
I, with stricken face deform.
170
There, supreme in Hell's thrilled hall,
He, the angelic challenger!
Hark! he speaks: Before you all
Come I, your petitioner:
Justice! Vengeance! Hear me call:
He, the angelic challenger!
Hark! he speaks: Before you all
Come I, your petitioner:
Justice! Vengeance! Hear me call:
Love and Death denounce this man!
Silence in the courts of Hell,
Silence for a fearful span:
Such, as ere Gomorrha fell,
And the ruining thunder ran.
Silence in the courts of Hell,
Silence for a fearful span:
Such, as ere Gomorrha fell,
And the ruining thunder ran.
I can die. To quit the light,
Hide my misery in gloom,
Well indeed! But in that night,
At his voice, to meet my doom!
And Death's Angels, who may fight?
Hide my misery in gloom,
Well indeed! But in that night,
At his voice, to meet my doom!
And Death's Angels, who may fight?
1887.
| Poetical Works of Lionel Johnson | |