Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments By Frederic W. H. Myers: Edited by his Wife Eveleen Myers |
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| POEMS FROM “FRAGMENTS OF PROSE AND POETRY” |
 | Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments |  |
323
POEMS FROM “FRAGMENTS OF PROSE AND POETRY”
325
RETROSPECT
I
Alas, the darkened vault of day!The fading stars that shine no more!—
Alas, mine eyes that cloud with grey
That beauty lucid as before!
Alone on some deserted shore,
Forgetting happy hope, I stand,
And to my own sad self deplore
The stillness of the empty land.
II
And I am he who long ago,—(How well my heart recalls it yet!)—
Beheld an early sun and low
In fields I never shall forget;
The roses round were bright and wet
And all the garden clear with dew,
In pleasant paths my steps were set
And life was young and love was new.
326
III
How changed is this from that estate!How vexed with unfamiliar fears!
And from that child more separate
Than friend from friend of other years,
Who strains quick sight and eager ears
Forgiveness from the dead to win,
But only sees the dark, and hears
A soundless echo of his sin.
327
VENICE
NEC ME MEA CURA FEFELLIT
Not vainly that Venetian Master set
'Twixt Doge and Doge the guardian Margaret
While from a soft and whirling glory smiled,
For Venice' sake, the Maiden with her Child,
And one great word the lords of Venice wist:—
“My peace be with Thee, Mark Evangelist!”—
Till for the grave enraptured kneeling man,
Grimani, or Priuli, or Loredan,
Thro' that clear vision fades, remotely fair,
The imperial City of all his earthly care,
Whose few last arches glimmer,—and all the rest
Whelmed in that thronging welcome of the Blest.
'Twixt Doge and Doge the guardian Margaret
While from a soft and whirling glory smiled,
For Venice' sake, the Maiden with her Child,
And one great word the lords of Venice wist:—
“My peace be with Thee, Mark Evangelist!”—
Till for the grave enraptured kneeling man,
Grimani, or Priuli, or Loredan,
Thro' that clear vision fades, remotely fair,
The imperial City of all his earthly care,
Whose few last arches glimmer,—and all the rest
Whelmed in that thronging welcome of the Blest.
Ay, faithful heart! Thy saints were with thee then;
The race of angels is the race of men;
Their vanished light is on our vision shed,
Nor even their joy without us perfected;
Hold thou to these; on thee their grace shall flow;
They count thy coming and thy fates foreknow,—
Yea, as of old the deathless yearning share,
Love as of old, and as of old are fair.
The race of angels is the race of men;
328
Nor even their joy without us perfected;
Hold thou to these; on thee their grace shall flow;
They count thy coming and thy fates foreknow,—
Yea, as of old the deathless yearning share,
Love as of old, and as of old are fair.
How sleeps that City now! and far is fled
Her tale of fights outfought and Doges dead.
The flying Fames ring round her still; but she
Dreams in her melted Pearl of sky and sea.
For me too dreaming let the sunset fire
Shade the dark dome and pierce the pillared spire!
Let night and peace the cosmic promise pay,
And even the Soul's self dream into the day!
Her tale of fights outfought and Doges dead.
The flying Fames ring round her still; but she
Dreams in her melted Pearl of sky and sea.
For me too dreaming let the sunset fire
Shade the dark dome and pierce the pillared spire!
Let night and peace the cosmic promise pay,
And even the Soul's self dream into the day!
329
[In dreams the heart is waking]
In dreams the heart is waking,
With dreams a dream she came,
The scattered dewdrops shaking
From hair that waved like flame.
O sweet! O woman-hearted!
O name I dare not say!
O face desired, departed,
And dreams that mock the day!
With dreams a dream she came,
The scattered dewdrops shaking
From hair that waved like flame.
O sweet! O woman-hearted!
O name I dare not say!
O face desired, departed,
And dreams that mock the day!
How many another maiden
I fain had loved again!
How sighed the heart o'er-laden
For rest and pause of pain!
O loves my Love forsaking,
Could these be tried or true?
I knew not always waking,
But when I dreamt I knew.
I fain had loved again!
How sighed the heart o'er-laden
For rest and pause of pain!
O loves my Love forsaking,
Could these be tried or true?
I knew not always waking,
But when I dreamt I knew.
For still, 'mid fleeting fancies,
Herself, a vision, came;
The same aerial glances,
The woman-ways the same.
Alas, the waking lonely!
The hours that slowly roll!
That flying form was only
The shadow of her soul.
Herself, a vision, came;
The same aerial glances,
The woman-ways the same.
Alas, the waking lonely!
The hours that slowly roll!
That flying form was only
The shadow of her soul.
330
Ah, how could dreams discover
How dear a thing was this,—
No name of love or lover,
No thought of clasp or kiss:
But heart on heart was closing
As folded flowrets close,
And eyes on eyes reposing
Were dumb as rose with rose.
How dear a thing was this,—
No name of love or lover,
No thought of clasp or kiss:
But heart on heart was closing
As folded flowrets close,
And eyes on eyes reposing
Were dumb as rose with rose.
O Night! but send another
Of dreams that then I knew!
O sleep! thy true twin-brother
Must make the vision true!
Alas to find and choose her,—
To meet and miss her so!
Awake, awake to lose her,—
In dreams, in dreams to know!
Of dreams that then I knew!
O sleep! thy true twin-brother
Must make the vision true!
Alas to find and choose her,—
To meet and miss her so!
Awake, awake to lose her,—
In dreams, in dreams to know!
[O God, no proper place I see]
O God, no proper place I see,
No work that I can do,
Myself I offer unto thee,
A sacrifice anew.
No work that I can do,
Myself I offer unto thee,
A sacrifice anew.
If Thou with clear sign from on high
Wilt mark me as Thine own,
How soon, how gladly would I die,
Unhonoured and unknown.
Wilt mark me as Thine own,
How soon, how gladly would I die,
Unhonoured and unknown.
331
[Thro' what new world, this happy hour]
Thro' what new world, this happy hour,
What wild romance, what faery bower,
Are Nelly's fancies flown?
The dreamy eyes, the eager mind,
Of all imagined homes shall find
None sweeter than her own.
What wild romance, what faery bower,
Are Nelly's fancies flown?
The dreamy eyes, the eager mind,
Of all imagined homes shall find
None sweeter than her own.
The best is truest; that was best
When Nelly, heart and soul at rest,
Knelt at the vesper-prayer;
No poet's dream, methought, could shed
O'er that unconscious childly head
So high a light and fair.
When Nelly, heart and soul at rest,
Knelt at the vesper-prayer;
No poet's dream, methought, could shed
O'er that unconscious childly head
So high a light and fair.
For innocence is Eden still;
Round the pure heart, the loving will,
Heaven's hosts encamped abide;
A Presence that I may not name
Thro' souls unknowing guilt or shame
Walks in the eventide.
Round the pure heart, the loving will,
Heaven's hosts encamped abide;
A Presence that I may not name
Thro' souls unknowing guilt or shame
Walks in the eventide.
332
DVM MEMOR IPSE MEI
“How clean forgotten, how remote and dead,Those days and dreams that were of old so dear!
How lost and nought and wholly vanished
The prayers and joys, the passion and the fear!
O soul at gaze! as with sun-litten head
The emergent diver scans the darkling mere;
Or aëronaut descries and scorns outspread
On pigmy scale the enormous planisphere.”
“Nay, nay,” I cried,—“one streak of cinnabar,
One note of bird,—so waked the world for me!
O Life that listened, Love that called from far,
Man-heart that trembled at the bliss to be!
When earth's poor orb presaged the extremest star,—
Love from one drop divining all his sea.”
333
ODE TO NATURE
I
O Mother gravely mild,Soul of the waste and wild,
Behold me compassed in thine icy calm!
Athirst, alone, again
I call thee and complain;—
Here in thy temple raise my solitary psalm.
II
Athirst;—yet not as thoughThy fountains of the snow
Could quench me, raving headlong from the hill;
Let other longings cease
With plenty and with peace;
Athirst to the end is he whom only love can fill.
III
The light loves blush and bloom;They perish; they perfume
A flying hour, and make a slight hurt whole:
334
Hath heaven revealed to me
In secret long ago, in sabbaths of the soul.
IV
When winds the Alpine horn,More than itself reborn
Peals in the magic answer of the hill;
Afresh, afar, afloat,
A new majestic note
From other lips is blown, in other airs is still.
V
Such was the love I sought;So to the hidden thought
Might flash the unspoken answer of the eyes;
No need of kiss or speech
When, each inmixt in each,
Thy heart in hers will call, and hers in thine replies.
VI
O hope too fond and fair!O angel in the air!
O dying dream, which yet to dream was joy!
Prayed longest, followed most
Of all that heavenly host
Who lured from child to man the visionhaunted boy.
335
VII
Sometimes the flying flameWas Fortune and was Fame;
Thro' cloudy rifts a wildering clarion rang;—
Oftener an Orphic crown,
From deep heaven fluttering down,
Lit on a poet's head, and sweet the poet sang.
VIII
But first and last and best,Most longed-for, least confest,
One form unknown descended as a dove;
Low in my soul I heard
One new melodious word,
And all the boy's frame trembled at the touch of Love.
IX
They melt, they fail, they fade,Those shapes in air arrayed,—
Love with the rest; ah, Love, the heavenly friend!
Only this Mother mild,
Guileless as unbeguiled,
Here in her holy place endureth to the end.
X
O fast and flying shroud!Cold Horns that cleave the cloud!
Uplifted Silence unaware of man!
336
Slide softly, thundering snow!
Let all in darkness end, as darkly all began!
XI
Hence, hence I too had birth,One soul with the ancient Earth,
Beyond this human ancestry of pain:—
My soul was even as ye;—
She was,—and she would be;—
O Earth, and Night, and Nought, enfold her once again!
337
TO LADY MOUNT TEMPLE
State mixt with sweetness; all things chosen and fairOne aim subserving, swayed in one consent;
The fountain's glory with the sunshine's blent;
Silence, and Eden's spring-tide in the air;—
Yet 'mid all these a yearning guardian care
Continually on earth's waste places sent;
High hearts joy-brimmed, nor yet with joy content
Were aught unsoothed which saddest hearts may bear.—
Is this thine earthly house or heavenly goal,
Lady, which these poor words to paint have striven?
Nay, both; no vampires of the world control
That spirit's way to whom such wings are given;
The soul's own Prayer is answer for the soul;
Her Loves indwelling are her present Heaven.
338
ON A WINDOW IN DONINGTON CHURCH
“How blest, if they but knew it, how blest are they,The husbandmen, for whom the months conspire,—
The springing seasons melt into the May,
The genial winter comes with feast and fire!”—
More blest God's labourers, who day by day
From holier husbandry nor turn nor tire,
On whose sweet shepherding has fallen alway
From heaven a satisfied and new desire.
All winter long their happy flocks they guide
Thro' pastures green, thro' vales tha laugh and sing;
All winter long they pluck on every side
Fruit that endures and flowers not withering;
For fields like theirs each month is harvesttide,
And for such sowers all the year is spring.
339
IAMQVE VALE
Dim in the moon wide-weltering Humber flowed;
Shone the rare lights on Humber's reaches low;
And thou wert waking where one lone light glowed
Whose love made all my bliss, whose woe my woe.
Borne as on Fate's own stream, from thine abode
I with that tide must journey sad and slow;
In that tall ship on Humber's heaving road
Dream for the night and with the morning go.
Shone the rare lights on Humber's reaches low;
And thou wert waking where one lone light glowed
Whose love made all my bliss, whose woe my woe.
Borne as on Fate's own stream, from thine abode
I with that tide must journey sad and slow;
In that tall ship on Humber's heaving road
Dream for the night and with the morning go.
Yet thro' this lifelong dimness desolate,
O love, thy star within me fades not so;
On that lone light I gaze, and wondering wait
Since life we lost, if death be ours or no;
Yea, toward thee moving on the flood of Fate,
Dream for the night, but with the morn will go.
O love, thy star within me fades not so;
On that lone light I gaze, and wondering wait
Since life we lost, if death be ours or no;
Yea, toward thee moving on the flood of Fate,
Dream for the night, but with the morn will go.
340
SLEEP
How greatly good to fall outspread
Full length at last upon my bed
And bid the world farewell!
Without a sound, without a spark,
Immersed and drowned in pitchy dark
And silence audible!
Full length at last upon my bed
And bid the world farewell!
Without a sound, without a spark,
Immersed and drowned in pitchy dark
And silence audible!
One living breath thro' the utter gloom,
Let pure Night's presence in the room
Keep cool the voiceless hours:—
Black Night's inodorous airs austere,
More searching and more strongly dear
Than Zephyr on the flowers!
Let pure Night's presence in the room
Keep cool the voiceless hours:—
Black Night's inodorous airs austere,
More searching and more strongly dear
Than Zephyr on the flowers!
Then from my wearied brain decay
The feverous fragments of the day,
The thoughts that dance and die;
From life's exhausted cells they flow,
They throng and wander, whirl and go,
And what is left am I.
The feverous fragments of the day,
The thoughts that dance and die;
From life's exhausted cells they flow,
They throng and wander, whirl and go,
And what is left am I.
There leave me softly to regain
The spent secretion of the brain
From fountains darkly deep:
O come not! speak not! let me be,
Till from the heaven of heavens on me
Descend the angel Sleep!
The spent secretion of the brain
From fountains darkly deep:
O come not! speak not! let me be,
Till from the heaven of heavens on me
Descend the angel Sleep!
341
FEROR INGENTI CIRCUMDATA NOCTE
No sound or sight, no voice or vision came
When that fulfilled itself which was to be,—
The crash that whelmed mine inner world in flame
And rolled its rivers backward from the sea.
Nay, many a fjeld and fjord of ancient name
Lay that long night without one sign for me;
Gudvangen, Vossevangen, slept the same,
And dream was on the woods of Oiloë.
When that fulfilled itself which was to be,—
The crash that whelmed mine inner world in flame
And rolled its rivers backward from the sea.
Nay, many a fjeld and fjord of ancient name
Lay that long night without one sign for me;
Gudvangen, Vossevangen, slept the same,
And dream was on the woods of Oiloë.
Yet surely once thou camest! and the whole
Dark deep of heaven sighed thy tale to tell;
Lost like Eurydice's thy spirit stole
Wildered between the forest and the fell;—
Only mine eyes were holden, and my soul
Too roughly tuned to feel thy last farewell.
Dark deep of heaven sighed thy tale to tell;
Lost like Eurydice's thy spirit stole
Wildered between the forest and the fell;—
Only mine eyes were holden, and my soul
Too roughly tuned to feel thy last farewell.
342
FROM ALFRED DE MUSSET
I have lost my life, I have lost my strength
And joy, and hope that lingered long,
And, losing all, have lost at length
The spirit and the pride of song.
And joy, and hope that lingered long,
And, losing all, have lost at length
The spirit and the pride of song.
How quickly spent a man's desire
Falls from the mistress of his youth!
And so I loved, and so I tire
Of my last mistress, ay, of Truth.
Falls from the mistress of his youth!
And so I loved, and so I tire
Of my last mistress, ay, of Truth.
And yet she is immortal; they
Who, ere they know her, pass away,
Have wasted foolish years:
My God, Thy creature answers Thee;
One only good remains with me,—
The memory of tears.
Who, ere they know her, pass away,
Have wasted foolish years:
My God, Thy creature answers Thee;
One only good remains with me,—
The memory of tears.
343
[Oh, when thro' all the crowd she came]
Oh, when thro' all the crowd she came,
My child, my darling, glad and fair,
How seemed she like a flying flame
That parts at eve the dusk of air!
How leapt my heart, regarding there
Her ways in coming, softly fleet,
Her starry aspect, shining hair,
The light grace of her eager feet!
My child, my darling, glad and fair,
How seemed she like a flying flame
That parts at eve the dusk of air!
How leapt my heart, regarding there
Her ways in coming, softly fleet,
Her starry aspect, shining hair,
The light grace of her eager feet!
But when from those blue deeps divine
The tender glory quivering shone,
And her eyes' ardour met in mine
The love she loved to look upon;—
Then rainy mist or crowded floor
Became as heaven for her and me,
The London whirlwind, London roar,
As sighing of an enchanted sea.
The tender glory quivering shone,
And her eyes' ardour met in mine
The love she loved to look upon;—
Then rainy mist or crowded floor
Became as heaven for her and me,
The London whirlwind, London roar,
As sighing of an enchanted sea.
344
[O waving veil of shade and sun!]
O waving veil of shade and sun!
O dawns of dream and dew!
When life was high and heaven was one
With earth, and I with you!
O dawns of dream and dew!
When life was high and heaven was one
With earth, and I with you!
When spring's primroses lit the wood,
Her hyacinths the glen,
And deep at heart we understood
The chief concerns of men:
Her hyacinths the glen,
And deep at heart we understood
The chief concerns of men:
For oft a fire from heaven will fall,
And oft the Soul replies,
And oft the unspoken Hope will call
From innocent blue eyes.
And oft the Soul replies,
And oft the unspoken Hope will call
From innocent blue eyes.
345
MADEIRA
How strangely on that haunted morn
Was from the West a vision born,
Madeira from the blue!
Sweet Heavens! how fairy-like and fair
Those headlands shaped themselves in air,
That magic mountain grew!
Was from the West a vision born,
Madeira from the blue!
Sweet Heavens! how fairy-like and fair
Those headlands shaped themselves in air,
That magic mountain grew!
I clomb the hills; but where was gone
The illusion and the joy thereon,
The glamour and the gleam?
My nameless need I hardly wist,
And missing knew not what I missed,
Bewildered in a dream.
The illusion and the joy thereon,
The glamour and the gleam?
My nameless need I hardly wist,
And missing knew not what I missed,
Bewildered in a dream.
And then I found her; ah, and then
On amethystine glade and glen
The soft light shone anew;
On windless labyrinths of pine,
Seaward, and past the grey sea-line,
To isles beyond the view.
On amethystine glade and glen
The soft light shone anew;
On windless labyrinths of pine,
Seaward, and past the grey sea-line,
To isles beyond the view.
'Twas something pensive, 'twas a sense
Of solitude, of innocence,
Of bliss that once had been;—
Interpretress of earth and skies,
She looked with visionary eyes
The Spirit of the scene.
Of solitude, of innocence,
Of bliss that once had been;—
346
She looked with visionary eyes
The Spirit of the scene.
Oh not again, oh never more
I must assail the enchanted shore,
Nor these regrets destroy,
Which still my hidden heart possess
With dreams too dear for mournfulness,
Too vanishing for joy.
I must assail the enchanted shore,
Nor these regrets destroy,
Which still my hidden heart possess
With dreams too dear for mournfulness,
Too vanishing for joy.
347
“FAERY LANDS FORLORN”
From Aalesund at midnight northward seen
Clear purple promontories fade in grey;
On Aalesund lies long the unearthly sheen
Of evening mixt with morning, day with day.
Ah, friend, beneath that heaven-high vault serene
What isles unnamed in gulfs unvoyaged lay!
How desolately calm those capes between
The slow wave swept the unending winding way!
Clear purple promontories fade in grey;
On Aalesund lies long the unearthly sheen
Of evening mixt with morning, day with day.
Ah, friend, beneath that heaven-high vault serene
What isles unnamed in gulfs unvoyaged lay!
How desolately calm those capes between
The slow wave swept the unending winding way!
Thence gazing awestruck in that pause of Fate,
My years, far from her, vision-like I viewed;
Unearthly calms, and hopes that wane and wait,
Life with one cold unchanging gleam imbued;—
Far firths of Sorrow spread disconsolate,
And Joy's low islets lit in solitude.
My years, far from her, vision-like I viewed;
Unearthly calms, and hopes that wane and wait,
Life with one cold unchanging gleam imbued;—
Far firths of Sorrow spread disconsolate,
And Joy's low islets lit in solitude.
348
SILVIA
I
From calm beyond our inmost thoughtCame the girl-spirit, childly-wise;
From spaces of the blue she brought
This earnest candour of her eyes;
From heavenly fields her soul uprose,
By fateful impulse urged to roam,—
Looked on the wheeling worlds, and chose
Our love her magnet, Earth her home.
II
Awhile, awhile these years shall flow,In these soft limbs her soul be pent,
Till Earth the lore of love and woe
Hath taught, and left her innocent:
Then fairer yet, then yet more dear
We hold our child in surer stay;—
What else was Love that lit us here
But glimmering dawn of deathless day?
349
TO ALICE'S PICTURE
Unconscious child, fair pictured Phantasy!
More than thy song I from those lips have heard,
More than thy thought have guessed in look and word,
More than thyself mine eyes adore in thee!
Thou art the promise of Earth's joy to be,—
Days to our days by Fate how far preferred!
By stranger loveliness more softly stirred,
By purer passions taught tranquillity.
More than thy song I from those lips have heard,
More than thy thought have guessed in look and word,
More than thyself mine eyes adore in thee!
Thou art the promise of Earth's joy to be,—
Days to our days by Fate how far preferred!
By stranger loveliness more softly stirred,
By purer passions taught tranquillity.
Nay, hoped I not thro' Death's swift-soaring ways
Mine own poor self some glory unknown to know,—
If, slowly darkening from delightful days,
I to mere night must gird myself and go,—
Then on thy face I should not dare to gaze
For wild rebellion and for yearning woe.
Mine own poor self some glory unknown to know,—
If, slowly darkening from delightful days,
I to mere night must gird myself and go,—
Then on thy face I should not dare to gaze
For wild rebellion and for yearning woe.
350
[“Soul, that in some high world hast made]
I
“Soul, that in some high world hast madePre-natal unbewailing choice,
Thro' Earth's perplexities of shade
Sternly to suffer and rejoice;—
Breathe in me too thine ardent aim;
Let me too seek thy soaring goal:—
However severed, still the same
My hope with thine, O kindred Soul!
II
“Yet pause. The roaring North has drivenBeyond our ken his foamy car;
Serener than the height of heaven
This summer sea lies near and far;
And flecked with flying shade and shine
Heaves a dove-green, dove-purple breast,
And shimmers to the soft sky-line
Thro' faery solitudes of rest.
III
“No fruit has Ocean's tumult found;His wave-battalions blindly ran;—
Hushed after all that storm and sound
Old Ocean ends as he began:—
351
Oh, not for naught thy skies were wild!
Thine Angel marked them, measuring well
The storms that should not slay his child.
IV
“Thine eager youth they could not dim;They left thee slender, left thee fair;
Left the soft life of voice and limb,
The blue, the gold, of eyes, of hair.
Within a sterner change they wrought,—
Beset thy Will with surging wrong,
Smote on the citadels of Thought,
And found thee ready, left thee strong.
V
“Thy worst is over. Pause and hark!Thine inmost Angel whispers clear,
‘We leave the blackness and the dark;
The end is Love, the end is near.’
Lift then anew the lessening weight;
Fight on, to men and angels dear!
Fare forth, brave soul, from fate to fate;—
Yet ah—one moment linger here!”
352
GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES
Would that a single sigh could fall
From lips so still so long,
Float o'er the sea and tell thee all,
More inwardly than song!
From lips so still so long,
Float o'er the sea and tell thee all,
More inwardly than song!
A breath enchanted and intense
From faint impassioned hours,
Hesperian with an odorous sense
Of Orotava's flowers!
From faint impassioned hours,
Hesperian with an odorous sense
Of Orotava's flowers!
On hair and eyes 'twould sink and rise,
Soft on thy lips would die,
And whisper in the speech of sighs,
“Oh wise one! thou and I!
Soft on thy lips would die,
And whisper in the speech of sighs,
“Oh wise one! thou and I!
“Not winds alone, my love, my own,
Not only sea disparts,
But Life and Fate, the loves too late,
The twin divided hearts.
Not only sea disparts,
But Life and Fate, the loves too late,
The twin divided hearts.
“And day by day,” the sigh would say,
With scarce surviving breath,
“Near and more near, a Form, a Fear:—
Oh darling, is it Death?”
With scarce surviving breath,
“Near and more near, a Form, a Fear:—
Oh darling, is it Death?”
353
[When in late twilight slowly thou hast strayed]
When in late twilight slowly thou hast strayedThro' wet syringas and a black-green shade,
With one communing so, that each with each
Knew not the interludes of ebbing speech,
Marked not the gaze which thro' the dimness fell
On beauty in the daylight loved so well:—
Since in that hour the still souls held as nought
The body's beauty or brain's responsive thought,
Content to feel that life in life had grown
Separate no longer, but one life alone;
Ay, and they guessed thereby what life shall be
When Love world-wide has shown his mystery.
[She wears her body like a veil]
She wears her body like a veil,And very life is shining through;
Her voice comes ringing on a gale
Of spirit-passion wild and new;
O soul without a mate or name,
Divine and mortal, maid and boy,
Shine out, and with a cry proclaim
The unguessed infinity of joy!
354
[And all is over; and again I stand]
And all is over; and again I stand,
O Love, alone on our remembered strand!
And hills and waters all the dreamy day
Melt each in each thro' silvery haze and grey,
And Jaman takes the sunset, Jura knows
Beyond the liquid plains the morning rose.
O Love, alone on our remembered strand!
And hills and waters all the dreamy day
Melt each in each thro' silvery haze and grey,
And Jaman takes the sunset, Jura knows
Beyond the liquid plains the morning rose.
Lake of the lone, the exiled, the oppressed,
What sighs have wandered o'er thy sea-blue breast!
What gaze has watched the suns that could not save
Flame from thy hills and fade upon thy wave!
Great men and fallen upon thy shores have shed
Their few slow tears for fame and fortune fled;
Sad men and wise have been content to see
In thy cold calm their last felicity.
And now thy sunlit vault, these walls of thine,
Seem an unroofed and angel-haunted shrine,
Fair as my love, bright with her vanished bloom,
Stilled with her woe and sacred as her tomb.
What sighs have wandered o'er thy sea-blue breast!
What gaze has watched the suns that could not save
Flame from thy hills and fade upon thy wave!
Great men and fallen upon thy shores have shed
Their few slow tears for fame and fortune fled;
Sad men and wise have been content to see
In thy cold calm their last felicity.
And now thy sunlit vault, these walls of thine,
Seem an unroofed and angel-haunted shrine,
Fair as my love, bright with her vanished bloom,
Stilled with her woe and sacred as her tomb.
355
For here she stood, and here she spoke, and there
Raised her soft look thro' the evening's crimsoned air;
And all she looked was lovely; all she said
Simple, and sweet, and full of tears unshed;
And my soul sprang to meet her, and I knew
Dimly the hope we twain were called unto.
Raised her soft look thro' the evening's crimsoned air;
And all she looked was lovely; all she said
Simple, and sweet, and full of tears unshed;
And my soul sprang to meet her, and I knew
Dimly the hope we twain were called unto.
356
IN THE WOLSEY CHAPEL, WINDSOR
Prince well-beloved! true heart and presence fair!
High o'er the marble of thy carved repose
From Windsor's keep the Flag of England blows;
A thousand years float in the storied air.
There sleeps thy Sire; and often gently there
Comes one who mourns with steadfast eyes, and strows
The rhododendron round thee and the rose;
Love is her silence and her look is prayer.
High o'er the marble of thy carved repose
From Windsor's keep the Flag of England blows;
A thousand years float in the storied air.
There sleeps thy Sire; and often gently there
Comes one who mourns with steadfast eyes, and strows
The rhododendron round thee and the rose;
Love is her silence and her look is prayer.
Nor now that Banner's broad-flung triumphings,
Nor spirit whispering to the sons of kings
Of strong continuance, age-long empery;—
But that one woman's gaze the promise brings
To thee that sleepest of eternal things,
Realms yet unreached, and high love still to be.
Nor spirit whispering to the sons of kings
Of strong continuance, age-long empery;—
But that one woman's gaze the promise brings
To thee that sleepest of eternal things,
Realms yet unreached, and high love still to be.
357
[O rock and torrent, lake and hill]
O rock and torrent, lake and hill,
Halls of a home austerely still,
Remote and solemn view!
O valley, where the wanderer sees
Beyond that towering arch of trees
Helvellyn and the blue!
Halls of a home austerely still,
Remote and solemn view!
O valley, where the wanderer sees
Beyond that towering arch of trees
Helvellyn and the blue!
Great Nature! on our love was shed
From thine abiding goodlihead
Majestic fostering;
We wondered, half-afraid to own
In hardly-conscious hearts upgrown
So infinite a thing.
From thine abiding goodlihead
Majestic fostering;
We wondered, half-afraid to own
In hardly-conscious hearts upgrown
So infinite a thing.
Within, without, whate'er hath been,
In cosmic deeps the immortal scene
Is mirrored, and shall last:—
Live the long looks, the woodland ways,
That twilight of enchanted days,—
The imperishable Past.
In cosmic deeps the immortal scene
Is mirrored, and shall last:—
Live the long looks, the woodland ways,
That twilight of enchanted days,—
The imperishable Past.
358
WIND, MOON, AND TIDES
Look when the clouds are blowing
And all the winds are free,
In fury of their going
They fall upon the sea:
But though their blast is frantic
And though the tempest raves
The deep immense Atlantic
Is still beneath the waves.
And all the winds are free,
In fury of their going
They fall upon the sea:
But though their blast is frantic
And though the tempest raves
The deep immense Atlantic
Is still beneath the waves.
Then while the Zephyrs tarry,
Or when the frost is nigh,
The maiden none can marry
Will beckon from the sky:—
Then with a wild commotion,
Then with a rush and roar,
The whole enormous ocean
Is flung upon the shore.
Or when the frost is nigh,
The maiden none can marry
Will beckon from the sky:—
Then with a wild commotion,
Then with a rush and roar,
The whole enormous ocean
Is flung upon the shore.
359
SOLOMON
Stands the great king regarding as he stands
The bright perfected labour of his hands:
Then with no doubtful voice or trembling tone
Calls to the Presence he has made his own:
“All gold within and gilded
This house that I have builded,
It is ready for a king in his array:
Behind the curtain's hiding
The Highest is abiding;
We have found Him, He is with us from to-day.”
The bright perfected labour of his hands:
Then with no doubtful voice or trembling tone
Calls to the Presence he has made his own:
“All gold within and gilded
This house that I have builded,
It is ready for a king in his array:
Behind the curtain's hiding
The Highest is abiding;
We have found Him, He is with us from to-day.”
But we grown wiser than the wise and made
For all our wisdom all the more afraid,—
Each man of each despairingly enquires
For God whom with despairing he desires:
“Have ye for all your duty
Beheld Him in His beauty?
Are there others who have known Him otherwhere?
The days around us darken,
He hears not nor will hearken,
He is gone into the infinite of air.”
For all our wisdom all the more afraid,—
Each man of each despairingly enquires
For God whom with despairing he desires:
“Have ye for all your duty
Beheld Him in His beauty?
Are there others who have known Him otherwhere?
The days around us darken,
He hears not nor will hearken,
He is gone into the infinite of air.”
360
[And thou too knew'st her, friend! thy lot hath been]
And thou too knew'st her, friend! thy lot hath been
To watch her climb thro' walnut-shadows green,
List in the woodways her light step, and see
On the airy Alp those eyes of Arcady.
To watch her climb thro' walnut-shadows green,
List in the woodways her light step, and see
On the airy Alp those eyes of Arcady.
I need not fear, then, 'twas my heart alone
Forged an enchanting image of its own;—
That starlight on the upland lawns had shed
Illusive rays about her starry head;—
That from those shadowed lakes in soft sunrise
I had drawn the depth, the blueness of her eyes;—
And dream was all her look, and whispering stir
Of winds in pines was all the voice of her.
Forged an enchanting image of its own;—
That starlight on the upland lawns had shed
Illusive rays about her starry head;—
That from those shadowed lakes in soft sunrise
I had drawn the depth, the blueness of her eyes;—
And dream was all her look, and whispering stir
Of winds in pines was all the voice of her.
Ah, when thou knew'st her, was her face still gay
With that child-wonder of her early day?
So Lippi's maiden angels softly drawn
On vistas daisy-gemmed of dewy lawn,
Stand with fair feet and rosy and rounded bloom
By martyr's prison-house or Virgin's tomb;
Or, clasped in flying circlet, float and mix
Their lily-stems with thorn and crucifix;—
Yet on those sorrowing scenes their looks are bent
Half unconcerned, and with a still content;
Since souls are these that have not yet been born
To pain and passion of our earth forlorn,
Not yet have strayed from heaven, nor yet they know
The upbuilding strength of life and love and woe.
Thus heedless they their childly arts employ,
By their own being taught that the end is joy.
With that child-wonder of her early day?
So Lippi's maiden angels softly drawn
On vistas daisy-gemmed of dewy lawn,
361
By martyr's prison-house or Virgin's tomb;
Or, clasped in flying circlet, float and mix
Their lily-stems with thorn and crucifix;—
Yet on those sorrowing scenes their looks are bent
Half unconcerned, and with a still content;
Since souls are these that have not yet been born
To pain and passion of our earth forlorn,
Not yet have strayed from heaven, nor yet they know
The upbuilding strength of life and love and woe.
Thus heedless they their childly arts employ,
By their own being taught that the end is joy.
Then, when I last looked on her, her face was still
As one on earth, but past all earthly ill;
One whose last tear was wept, sighed her last sigh,
And dead already all that in her could die.
As one on earth, but past all earthly ill;
One whose last tear was wept, sighed her last sigh,
And dead already all that in her could die.
362
A CHILD OF THE AGE
I
Oh for a voice that in a single songCould quiver with the hopes and moan the fears
And speak the speechless secret of the years,
And rise, and sink, and at the last be strong!
O for a trumpet call to stir the throng
Of doubtful fighting-men, whose eyes and ears
Watch till a banner in the east appears
And the skies ring that have been still so long!
O age of mine, if one could tune for thee
A marching music out of this thy woe!
If one could climb upon a hill and see
Thy gates of promise on the plain below,
And gaze a minute on the bliss to be
And knowing it be satisfied to know!
II
I thought to stand alone upon a heightAbove the waters where my kinsmen lie;
363
I dreamed I saw a dawning in the sky:
I said, “For you, for you, with keener sight,
I watch till on the waves the dawn be nigh”:
I said, “While these men slumber, what delight
That we two should be waking, God and I!”
Ah me! the deathful waters climb and creep,
Far off the melancholy deep to deep
Murmurs a tidal infinite reply:
“Oh fool, oh foolish prodigal of sleep,
Remains, remains but with the waves to weep,
Or in the darkness with the dead to die.”
364
[What heart with waiting broken]
What heart with waiting broken
Shall speak the word unspoken,
And who by tears betoken
The wisdom he has won?
Or say to him that grieveth,
“The hope thy soul believeth
Perchance, perchance, deceiveth,
But other hope is none.
Shall speak the word unspoken,
And who by tears betoken
The wisdom he has won?
Or say to him that grieveth,
“The hope thy soul believeth
Perchance, perchance, deceiveth,
But other hope is none.
“Ay, deep beyond thy telling
A bitter fount is welling,
Far off a bell is knelling
The ruin of thy youth:
Hide, hide the future's rising
With dreams and thin disguising,—
Can any man's devising
Be sadder than the truth?”
A bitter fount is welling,
Far off a bell is knelling
The ruin of thy youth:
Hide, hide the future's rising
With dreams and thin disguising,—
Can any man's devising
Be sadder than the truth?”
Then I with hope undying
Will rise and make replying,—
Will answer to his sighing
In speech that is a sigh:—
“The chains that fix and fetter,—
That chafe the soul and fret her,—
What man can know them better,
O brother-men, than I?
Will rise and make replying,—
Will answer to his sighing
In speech that is a sigh:—
“The chains that fix and fetter,—
That chafe the soul and fret her,—
What man can know them better,
O brother-men, than I?
365
“And yet—my burden bearing,
The Five Wounds ever wearing,
I too in my despairing
Have seen Him as I say:
Gross darkness all around Him
Enwrapt Him and enwound Him,—
O late at night I found Him
And lost Him in the day.
The Five Wounds ever wearing,
I too in my despairing
Have seen Him as I say:
Gross darkness all around Him
Enwrapt Him and enwound Him,—
O late at night I found Him
And lost Him in the day.
“But bolder grown and braver
At sight of One to save her,
My soul no more shall waver
With wings no longer furled,
But, cut with one decision
From doubt and men's derision,
That sweet and vanished vision
Shall follow thro' the world.”
At sight of One to save her,
My soul no more shall waver
With wings no longer furled,
But, cut with one decision
From doubt and men's derision,
That sweet and vanished vision
Shall follow thro' the world.”
366
SUNRISE
Look, O blinded eyes and burning,
Think, O heart amazed with yearning,
Is it yet beyond thine earning,
That delight that was thy all?—
Wilful eyes and undiscerning,
Heart ashamed of bitter learning,
It is flown beyond returning,
It is lost beyond recall.
Think, O heart amazed with yearning,
Is it yet beyond thine earning,
That delight that was thy all?—
Wilful eyes and undiscerning,
Heart ashamed of bitter learning,
It is flown beyond returning,
It is lost beyond recall.
Who with prayers has overtaken
Those glad hours when he would waken
To the sound of branches shaken
By an early song and wild,—
When the golden leaves would flicker,
And the loving thoughts come thicker,
And the thrill of life beat quicker
In the sweet heart of the child?
Those glad hours when he would waken
To the sound of branches shaken
By an early song and wild,—
When the golden leaves would flicker,
And the loving thoughts come thicker,
And the thrill of life beat quicker
In the sweet heart of the child?
Yet my soul, tho' Thou forsake her,
Shall adore Thee, till Thou take her,
In the morning, O my Maker,
For Thine Oriflamme unfurled:
For the lambs beneath their mothers,
For the bliss that is another's,
For the beauty of my brothers,
For the wonder of the world.
Shall adore Thee, till Thou take her,
In the morning, O my Maker,
For Thine Oriflamme unfurled:
367
For the bliss that is another's,
For the beauty of my brothers,
For the wonder of the world.
From above us and from under,
In the ocean and the thunder,
Thou preludest to the wonder
Of the Paradise to be:
For a moment we may guess Thee
From Thy creatures that confess Thee
When the morn and even bless Thee,
And thy smile is on the sea.
In the ocean and the thunder,
Thou preludest to the wonder
Of the Paradise to be:
For a moment we may guess Thee
From Thy creatures that confess Thee
When the morn and even bless Thee,
And thy smile is on the sea.
Then from something seen or heard,
Whether forests softly stirred,
Or the speaking of a word,
Or the singing of a bird,
Cares and sorrows cease:
For a moment on the soul
Falls the rest that maketh whole,
Falls the endless peace.
Whether forests softly stirred,
Or the speaking of a word,
Or the singing of a bird,
Cares and sorrows cease:
For a moment on the soul
Falls the rest that maketh whole,
Falls the endless peace.
O the hush from earth's annoys!
O the heaven, O the joys
Such as priest and singing-boys
Cannot sing or say!
There is no more pain and crying,
There is no more death and dying,
As for sorrow and for sighing,—
These shall flee away.
O the heaven, O the joys
Such as priest and singing-boys
Cannot sing or say!
There is no more pain and crying,
There is no more death and dying,
As for sorrow and for sighing,—
These shall flee away.
368
[Oh stars in heaven that fade and flame]
Oh stars in heaven that fade and flame,
Oh whispering waves below,
Was heaven or earth or I the same
A year, a year ago?
Oh whispering waves below,
Was heaven or earth or I the same
A year, a year ago?
The stars here kept their home on high,
The waves their wonted flow,
The love is lost that once was I,
A year, a year ago.
The waves their wonted flow,
The love is lost that once was I,
A year, a year ago.
[I wailed as one who scarce can be forgiven]
I wailed as one who scarce can be forgiven,But the good God had pity from afar,
And saw me desolate, and hung in heaven
The signal of a star.
369
BRIGHTON
I
Her brave sea-bulwarks builded strongNo tides uproot, no storms appal;
By sea-blown tamarisks the throng
Of idlers pace her broad sea-wall;
Rain-plashed the long-lit pavements gleam;
Still press the gay groups to and fro;
Dark midnight deepens; on they stream;
The wheels, the clattering horses go.
II
But that wave-limit close anear,Which kissed at morn the children's play,
With dusk becomes a phantom fear,
Throws in the night a ghostly spray:—
O starless waste! remote despair!
Deep-weltering wildness, pulsing gloom!
As tho' the whole world's heart was there,
And all the whole world's heart a tomb.
III
Eternal sounds the waves' refrain;“Eternal night,”—they moan and say,—
370
Press close upon your dying day.
Who, who at once beyond the bound,
What world-worn soul will rise and flee,—
Leave the crude lights and clamorous sound,
And trust the darkness and the sea?”
371
HAROLD AT TWO YEARS OLD
Open your gates for him
Eager and new!
All the world waits for him;
What will he do?
Eager and new!
All the world waits for him;
What will he do?
Dear incompletenesses
Blossoming hours!
Feed him with sweetnesses!
Heap him with flowers!
Blossoming hours!
Feed him with sweetnesses!
Heap him with flowers!
See how he crumbles them,
Shouts like a man!
Tosses and tumbles them
Wide as he can!
Shouts like a man!
Tosses and tumbles them
Wide as he can!
Vain is admonishment,
Sermons in vain;—
Gleeful astonishment!
At it again!
Sermons in vain;—
Gleeful astonishment!
At it again!
Wildness of babyhood!
Passion of play!
Who but a gaby would
Wish it away?
Passion of play!
Who but a gaby would
Wish it away?
372
Rapt from the Mystery,
Reft from the whole,
Hast thou a history,
Innocent soul!
Reft from the whole,
Hast thou a history,
Innocent soul!
Gaze we with wondering,
Baby, on thee;—
Sped o'er what sundering
Strait of the sea?
Baby, on thee;—
Sped o'er what sundering
Strait of the sea?
Borne to us hitherward,
Ah! from what shore?
Voyaging whitherward,
Child, evermore?
Ah! from what shore?
Voyaging whitherward,
Child, evermore?
Little he'll tell for us!
Nothing he knows!
Clear like a bell for us
Laughs as he goes!
Nothing he knows!
Clear like a bell for us
Laughs as he goes!
Powers supersensible
Breathe thro' the boy
Incomprehensible
Promise of joy!
Breathe thro' the boy
Incomprehensible
Promise of joy!
373
ASHRIDGE
On this great home if change must fall,
Let change itself come soft and fair;
Leave these cloud-feathery skies, and all
The abandonment of upland air;
Leave ancient forest, ancient lawn,
Historic ash-trees, beechen shade;
Still let the slanted shafts of dawn
Light the low fern from glade to glade.
Let change itself come soft and fair;
Leave these cloud-feathery skies, and all
The abandonment of upland air;
Leave ancient forest, ancient lawn,
Historic ash-trees, beechen shade;
Still let the slanted shafts of dawn
Light the low fern from glade to glade.
No more the Churchmen, sad and slow,
Chaunt in dim dusk their crooning song;
Nor captive queen thro' lattice low
Views a wild realm of wrath and wrong:
To these Inheritors belong
A sure dominion, master art;
For moat and wall they choose the strong
Ascendant of the nobler heart.
Chaunt in dim dusk their crooning song;
Nor captive queen thro' lattice low
Views a wild realm of wrath and wrong:
To these Inheritors belong
A sure dominion, master art;
For moat and wall they choose the strong
Ascendant of the nobler heart.
And if sometimes that heart should quail,
Half doubtful of high task begun;
Beholding hallowed landmarks fail,
Dear hopes evanish one by one;—
Yet best shall lead who best have led;—
Those thro' our chaos surest steer
Whose fathers' bygone deeds have bred
Imperious Honour, flouting Fear.
Half doubtful of high task begun;
Beholding hallowed landmarks fail,
Dear hopes evanish one by one;—
374
Those thro' our chaos surest steer
Whose fathers' bygone deeds have bred
Imperious Honour, flouting Fear.
“By her own strength can Virtue live?
Self-poised can Hope wide-winging soar?”
List! for our deepening age shall give
Some answer surer than of yore;—
Stand fast, high hearts, thro' woe and weal;
Watch thro' the night, if watch ye may;
Wait, till the rifted heavens reveal
Unheard-of morning, mystic day.
Self-poised can Hope wide-winging soar?”
List! for our deepening age shall give
Some answer surer than of yore;—
Stand fast, high hearts, thro' woe and weal;
Watch thro' the night, if watch ye may;
Wait, till the rifted heavens reveal
Unheard-of morning, mystic day.
[Not even in death thou diest; so strong to save]
Not even in death thou diest; so strong to saveIs He who walked unharmed the stormy wave;
Thy life from earth by hurrying surges driven
Wakes unbewildered in the courts of heaven;
Youth's bloom is flown; youth's fairer fruit up-stored
Is ripening in the garden of the Lord.
375
[Let each alone with timely thought]
Let each alone with timely thought
Recall the days grown dim,
And ask those days whereby they brought
His happiness to him;
Recall the days grown dim,
And ask those days whereby they brought
His happiness to him;
He finds it was not in the set
Delights resolved before,
Nor any eager wish, nor yet
The wish fulfilled and more,
Delights resolved before,
Nor any eager wish, nor yet
The wish fulfilled and more,
But dreams he scarcely will confess,
And momentary play,
And unconsidered gleefulness
That sprang beside the way.
And momentary play,
And unconsidered gleefulness
That sprang beside the way.
376
[Love, they said, is faint and dying]
I
Love, they said, is faint and dying;Love, they said, is worn and old,—
Chained with custom, bought with gold;—
Hark! I heard his voice replying,
“Though ye flout him, what are ye?
Love is master; Love is free!”
II
Love, they said, not long will linger,—Slights his chosen, leaves his own;—
Woe's the heart whence Love has flown,
Touched in spring with autumn's finger!
—Nay, your doubts have done him wrong,
Love is deathless, Love is strong!
III
Love can bind with lightest tetherHeart to heart and soul to soul;—
Nay, what law but Love's control
Links our life and death together?—
Perfect Love has banished fear;
Love is heaven, and Love is here!
377
FREDERIC TEMPLE
I
Is there one man in disenchanted daysWho yet has feet on earth and head in heaven?
One viceroy yet to whom his King has given
The fire that kindles and the strength that sways?
Is there a wisdom whose extremest ways
Lead upward still? for us who most have striven,
Made wise too early and too late forgiven,
Our prudence palsies and our seeing slays.
We are dying; is there one alive and whole,
A hammer of the Lord, a simple soul,
Man with the men and with the boys a boy?
We are barren; let a male and conquering voice
Fill us and quicken us and make rejoice,
Even us who have so long forgotten joy.
378
II
And as I prayed, I heard him; harshly clearThro' the full house the loud vibration ran,
And in my soul responded the austere
And silent sympathy of man with man;
For as he spake I knew that God was near
Perfecting still the immemorial plan,
And once in Jewry and for ever here
Loves as He loved and ends what He began.
Wait, therefore, friends, rejoicing as ye wait
That 'mid faiths fallen and priests emasculate
For men to follow such a man should be;
To whom the waves shall witness with a roar,
Wild Marazion and Tintagel's shore,
And all the Cornish capes and Cornish sea.
379
IMMORTALITY
I
So when the old delight is born anewAnd God re-animates the early bliss
Seems it not all as one first trembling kiss
Ere soul knew soul with whom she has to do?
“O nights how desolate, O days how few,
O death in life, if life be this, be this!
O weighed alone as one shall win or miss
The faint eternity which shines therethro'!
Lo all that age is as a speck of sand
Lost on the long beach when the tides are free,
And no man metes it in his hollow hand
Nor cares to ponder it, how small it be;
At ebb it lies forgotten on the land
And at full tide forgotten in the sea.”
II
Yet in my hid soul must a voice replyWhich knows not which may seem the viler gain,
380
The blank repose or drear eternity.
A solitary thing it were to die
So late begotten and so early slain,
With sweet life withered to a passing pain,
Till nothing anywhere should still be I.
Yet if for evermore I must convey
These weary senses thro' an endless day
And gaze on God with these exhausted eyes,
I fear that howsoe'er the seraphs play
My life shall not be theirs nor I as they,
But homeless in the heart of Paradise.
381
PALLIDA MORTE FUTURA
I
This is not shame in her courageous eyes,Nor on those lids the glitter of a tear,—
Nay, but a rapt seclusion of surprise
After such woe to find an end so near:—
How lorn in heaven the hurrying winds arise!
How black the slow waves sway upon the pier!
On the edge of death her haunting memory flies,
And the utmost marvel has not place for fear.
O waves that ebb, O shadowy airs that err,
With you she speaks, with you she would confer,
Demanding dumbly what it is to die:
Yet hush ye winds, nor let the billows stir,
I with a single look shall answer her,
For death knows death and what she is am I.
382
II
For even so forlorn and so forsaken,So shut and severed from all homes that are,
While in the vault the auroral glories waken,
False flames, and dying ere the morning star,
My soul in solitude her post has taken,
Between the two seas, on the narrowing bar,—
Sees on each hand the stormful waters shaken,
The twin Eternities unite afar.
There 'mid faiths slain and idols shattered low,
And many a fallen friend and fallen foe,
She waits by night the flooding tides to be;
And only to herself, and hushed, and slow,
Makes hidden melodies and wails her woe,
Till roar meet roar and sea be mixt with sea.
383
FROM BRUTE TO MAN
Through such fierce hours thy brute forefather wonThy mounting hope, the adventure of the son:
Such pains astir his glooming heart within
That nameless Creature wandered from his kin;
Smote his broad breast, and, when the woods had rung
To bellowing preludes of that thunderous tongue,
With hopes half-born, with burning tears unshed,
Bowed low his terrible and lonely head;
With arms uncouth, with knees that scarce could kneel,
Upraised his speechless ultimate appeal;—
Ay, and heaven heard, and was with him, and gave
The gift that made him master and not slave;
Even in that stress and horror of his fate
His thronging cry came half articulate,
And some strange light, past knowing, past control,
Rose in his eyes, and shone, and was a soul.
384
A COSMIC HISTORY
Come then, poor worm at war with Fate,—
(What inward Voice spake stern and low?)
Come, paltry Life importunate,
Enough of truth thou too shalt know;
Since man's self-stirred out-reaching thought
Hath seen in vision sights of awe;
Hath from a darker Sinai brought
Damnations of a vaster Law.
(What inward Voice spake stern and low?)
Come, paltry Life importunate,
Enough of truth thou too shalt know;
Since man's self-stirred out-reaching thought
Hath seen in vision sights of awe;
Hath from a darker Sinai brought
Damnations of a vaster Law.
From dust, they told thee, man was born?—
The Cosmos' self from dust began,
In days that knew not eve nor morn,
Nor brooding Spirit nor breathing man;
See first-begot from Nought and Night
The gathering swarms, the flamy gale!
That cold, that low, that fitful light
Showed in the void an iron hail.
The Cosmos' self from dust began,
In days that knew not eve nor morn,
Nor brooding Spirit nor breathing man;
385
The gathering swarms, the flamy gale!
That cold, that low, that fitful light
Showed in the void an iron hail.
Then lone in space the comet hung;
Then waxed the whorls of cloudy glow;
Then each on other swept and swung
Enormous eddies, formless flow;
One Law, one Force and manifold,
Bestrewed high heaven with sparkling fire,
Burned in Orion's belt of gold,
And lit the Dragon and the Lyre.
Then waxed the whorls of cloudy glow;
Then each on other swept and swung
Enormous eddies, formless flow;
One Law, one Force and manifold,
Bestrewed high heaven with sparkling fire,
Burned in Orion's belt of gold,
And lit the Dragon and the Lyre.
Cooled the great orbs, and whirling flew
Their planet-offspring outward thrown;
On wheeling planets strangely blew
A breath unbidden and unknown;
No Mind creating watched alone,
Nor bade the emergent minds begin;
To weltering waters, senseless stone,
The seed of Life had entered in.
Their planet-offspring outward thrown;
On wheeling planets strangely blew
A breath unbidden and unknown;
No Mind creating watched alone,
Nor bade the emergent minds begin;
To weltering waters, senseless stone,
The seed of Life had entered in.
And first a glimmering ease they had,
And creatures bound in dream benign,
Obscurely sentient, blindly glad,
Felt the dim lust of shower and shine;
Then works the unresting Power, and lo!
In subtler chain those germs combine,
Thro' age-long struggle shaping slow
This trembling Self, this Soul of thine.
And creatures bound in dream benign,
Obscurely sentient, blindly glad,
Felt the dim lust of shower and shine;
Then works the unresting Power, and lo!
In subtler chain those germs combine,
Thro' age-long struggle shaping slow
This trembling Self, this Soul of thine.
386
Rash striving into sad estate!
From anguished brutes the plaint began,
Sighed in man's soul articulate,
And breathes from Beings more than man;—
Ye have called them good, ye have called them great,
But whom have these for hope or prayer?
Nay, with what cry their end await
But silence and a God's despair?
From anguished brutes the plaint began,
Sighed in man's soul articulate,
And breathes from Beings more than man;—
Ye have called them good, ye have called them great,
But whom have these for hope or prayer?
Nay, with what cry their end await
But silence and a God's despair?
Ye have called them gods, ye have called them kings;—
Too well their impotence they know,
Forth-gazing on the waste of things
With stern philosophies of woe:
Isled in their Sirius, Titan-strong,
They watch his warmth how slowly fail;
He fades, he freezes; long and long
Drives on the dead the iron hail.
Too well their impotence they know,
Forth-gazing on the waste of things
With stern philosophies of woe:
Isled in their Sirius, Titan-strong,
They watch his warmth how slowly fail;
He fades, he freezes; long and long
Drives on the dead the iron hail.
Then all is silence; all in one
The exhausted orbs have crashed and sped;
Cold to the core is every sun,
And every heart that loved is dead:
The Night of Brahm lies deep and far,
The Night of Brahm, the enduring gloom;
One black, one solitary star,
The Cosmos is the cosmic tomb.
The exhausted orbs have crashed and sped;
Cold to the core is every sun,
And every heart that loved is dead:
The Night of Brahm lies deep and far,
The Night of Brahm, the enduring gloom;
One black, one solitary star,
The Cosmos is the cosmic tomb.
387
Nor yet thereby one whit destroyed,
Nor less for all that life's decay,
Thro' the utter darkness, utter void,
Sweeps the wild storm its ancient way:
Still fresh the stones on stones are hurled;
Their soulless armies shall not fail;—
Beyond the dooms of world and world
Drives in the night the iron hail.
Nor less for all that life's decay,
Thro' the utter darkness, utter void,
Sweeps the wild storm its ancient way:
Still fresh the stones on stones are hurled;
Their soulless armies shall not fail;—
Beyond the dooms of world and world
Drives in the night the iron hail.
On the hypothesis here illustrated, the gradual aggregation of cosmic dust (practically known to us in the shape of meteoric stones and iron) forms comets and nebulae; the nebula of our solar system becomes a sun and planets; life appears on the cooling planets; and they are ultimately merged again in the sun. Higher beings than man are evolved elsewhere, presumably on large and slowly-cooling orbs; but although we men may imagine such beings as divine, they themselves recognise their powerlessness in face of a universe which is as inscrutable to them as to us. The suns of our stellar system crash together, evolve heat, and repeat the cosmic process; but ultimately lose heat into space and are agglomerated into one cold and dark mass, from which the last life disappears. A night of indefinite duration sets in—such as that imagined by Hindoo cosmogonists between successive self-manifestations of the universe; and in this night the cosmic dust alone is conceived as still speeding through infinite space.
388
A COSMIC OUTLOOK
I
Backward!—beyond this momentary woe!—Thine was the world's dim dawn, the prime emprize;
Eternal æons gaze thro' these sad eyes,
And all the empyreal sphere hath shaped thee so.
Nay! all is living, all is plain to know!
This rock has drunk the ray from ancient skies;
Strike! and the sheen of that remote sunrise
Gleams in the marble's unforgetful glow.
Thus hath the cosmic light endured the same
Ere first that ray from Sun to Sirius flew;
Ay, and in heaven I heard the mystic Name
Sound, and a breathing of the Spirit blew;
Lit the long Past, bade shine the slumbering flame
And all the Cosmorama blaze anew.
389
II
Onward! thro' baffled hope, thro' bootless prayer,With strength that sinks, with high task half begun,
Things great desired, things lamentable done,
Vows writ in water, blows that beat the air.
On! I have guessed the end; the end is fair.
Not with these weak limbs is thy last race run;
Not all thy vision sets with this low sun;
Not all thy spirit swoons in this despair.
Look how thine own soul, throned where all is well,
Smiles to regard thy days disconsolate;
Yea; since herself she wove the worldly spell,
Doomed thee for lofty gain to low estate;—
Sown with thy fall a seed of glory fell;
Thy heaven is in thee, and thy will thy fate.
III
Inward! ay, deeper far than love or scorn,Deeper than bloom of virtue, stain of sin,
Rend thou the veil and pass alone within,
390
Nay! in what world, then, Spirit, wast thou born?
Or to what World-Soul art thou entered in?
Feel the Self fade, feel the great life begin,
With Love re-rising in the cosmic morn.
The inward ardour yearns to the inmost goal;
The endless goal is one with the endless way;
From every gulf the tides of Being roll,
From every zenith burns the indwelling day;
And life in Life has drowned thee and soul in Soul;
And these are God, and thou thyself art they.
391
TO THE QUEEN
I
To her beneath whose stedfast starFrom pole to pole in lusty play,
Her English wander, forcing far
Their world-ingathering way;—
Outsoar the Cæsar's eagle flight,
Outrun the Macedonian reign,
Flash from the flamy Northern night
Speech to the Austral main;—
II
To her whose patient eyes have seenMan's knowledge wax thro' ebb and flow,
Till some have felt these bars between
Wind of the Spirit blow;—
Tho' some, heart-worn with doubt and strife
Would bid the doomful thunder fall,
Bind as with hands the cosmic Life,
And dream the end of all:—
392
III
Beyond, beyond their wisdom's boundThro' fairer realms the Queen shall roam,
Till soul with soul the Wife hath found
Her mystic-wedded home:—
While her long-rumoured glories stir
The blue tide's earth-engirdling wave,
With love, with life, her Prince and her
The All-Father shield and save!
January 1898.
393
THE SAINT
And one there was whose face was softly set
To find the light which lighteneth from above,
Who in all anguish never should forget
The dear face of his love:
Nay, nor that hour, instinct with holy fear,
What time, but not with sleep, his eyes were dim,
While in the dead night, till the dawn was near,
She fought with God for him.
Yet how by thought her presence to renew?
What pale reflection of the glory fled?
To whom can I compare her? whereunto
Shall she be likened?
To find the light which lighteneth from above,
Who in all anguish never should forget
The dear face of his love:
Nay, nor that hour, instinct with holy fear,
What time, but not with sleep, his eyes were dim,
While in the dead night, till the dawn was near,
She fought with God for him.
Yet how by thought her presence to renew?
What pale reflection of the glory fled?
To whom can I compare her? whereunto
Shall she be likened?
With such a look methinks in such a prayer,
On sacred walls the sweet Sebastian stands,
To cruel arrows offering his bare
White breast and holy hands:
Or so with earnest eyes and brow serene,
By some great painter grandly pictured,
S. Roderic the Martyr waits between
The living and the dead.
Yea, ere his feet have fallen or eye be dim
Stands the death-smitten saint, his service done:
And high from heaven an angel holds to him
The crown which he has won.
On sacred walls the sweet Sebastian stands,
To cruel arrows offering his bare
White breast and holy hands:
Or so with earnest eyes and brow serene,
By some great painter grandly pictured,
S. Roderic the Martyr waits between
The living and the dead.
394
Stands the death-smitten saint, his service done:
And high from heaven an angel holds to him
The crown which he has won.
Or such a spirit theirs, nor yet forgot,
Of whom in simple speech their legends tell
That those weak virgins also chose their lot
In evil ages well:
Who in stern oath had terribly decreed,
If by all effort anywise they can,
With leaguered enterprise to intercede
For fallen fates of man:
Nor ever for a moment found they rest,
Nor sank at any time from fierce desire,
Not ever failed from some consuming breast
The flame of sacred fire:
Of whom in simple speech their legends tell
That those weak virgins also chose their lot
In evil ages well:
Who in stern oath had terribly decreed,
If by all effort anywise they can,
With leaguered enterprise to intercede
For fallen fates of man:
Nor ever for a moment found they rest,
Nor sank at any time from fierce desire,
Not ever failed from some consuming breast
The flame of sacred fire:
But whether solemn chaunt they celebrate
To Father and to Son and Holy Ghost,
Or silently with settled eyes await
The showing of the Host:
Or whether sacred service of the dead
In mindful music carefully they keep,
Or haply on their eyes hath lightened
The short repose of sleep:
Always in sure succession night and day
Uplifting tireless hands before the throne,
One woman, strongly confident to pray,
Besought the Lord alone.
To Father and to Son and Holy Ghost,
Or silently with settled eyes await
The showing of the Host:
Or whether sacred service of the dead
In mindful music carefully they keep,
Or haply on their eyes hath lightened
The short repose of sleep:
395
Uplifting tireless hands before the throne,
One woman, strongly confident to pray,
Besought the Lord alone.
And one wail trembled thro' the holy trance,
And the same sigh thro' that enduring prayer:
“Have pity, O God! on Thine inheritance,
Christ my Redeemer, spare!”
Behold she prayeth: and the crimson beams
Of sad declining day have vanished soon,
And coldly clearly thro' the casement streams
The silence of the moon:
And sometimes ere the watch be wholly done
Her spirit swooneth for a little space,
And sometimes in her agony the nun
Hath fallen upon her face:
And the same sigh thro' that enduring prayer:
“Have pity, O God! on Thine inheritance,
Christ my Redeemer, spare!”
Behold she prayeth: and the crimson beams
Of sad declining day have vanished soon,
And coldly clearly thro' the casement streams
The silence of the moon:
And sometimes ere the watch be wholly done
Her spirit swooneth for a little space,
And sometimes in her agony the nun
Hath fallen upon her face:
Yea, when the sense of earth is rapt and gone,—
No dream nor vision nor spirit nor any ghost,
A solemn Presence seems to light upon
The wafer of the Host.
Then surely from her trance she would not fall
Were bolts on thunderbolts about her hurled,
Nor in her ecstasy would heed at all
The blazing of the world:
But when the last, the day of days, shall come
And by strange hosts the space of air is trod,
And Christ the Lord descends to gather home
His saints, elect of God:
Then shalt Thou find that woman waiting there,
And with Thine own hands wake her wonderfully,
And lift her from her last most precious prayer
To Thee, my God, to Thee.
No dream nor vision nor spirit nor any ghost,
A solemn Presence seems to light upon
The wafer of the Host.
Then surely from her trance she would not fall
Were bolts on thunderbolts about her hurled,
Nor in her ecstasy would heed at all
The blazing of the world:
396
And by strange hosts the space of air is trod,
And Christ the Lord descends to gather home
His saints, elect of God:
Then shalt Thou find that woman waiting there,
And with Thine own hands wake her wonderfully,
And lift her from her last most precious prayer
To Thee, my God, to Thee.
397
[I knew a man in early days]
I knew a man in early daysWhom now I will not blame nor praise,
So dark his life, so foul his sin,
But such a human heart within.
Hard words to him I often said,
And would have killed, if words could kill,
But none the less, alive and dead,
I loved him, and I love him still.
[Oh fair and fleet with eager feet]
Oh fair and fleet with eager feetThe Greek his races ran,
Nor lost the boy his early joy
But triumphed into man:
Then tall and wise with graver eyes
He sought around, above,
Above, around, he sought and found
No sweeter thing than love.
398
[O bear it, bear it, lonely heart]
O bear it, bear it, lonely heart,
As men have borne before;
A little while alive thou art,
And then shalt ache no more.
As men have borne before;
A little while alive thou art,
And then shalt ache no more.
Behold I bear it as I may,
Mine eyes refuse me tears,
I suffer in a single day
The misery of years.
Mine eyes refuse me tears,
I suffer in a single day
The misery of years.
Down the deep vale, as one who dreamed,
Thro' the dim dusk I ran;
And strangely to myself I seemed
A God-forsaken man.
Thro' the dim dusk I ran;
And strangely to myself I seemed
A God-forsaken man.
No human voice the valley knows,
No trump that calls the kine,
But thunder of the sliding snows
And silence of the pine.
No trump that calls the kine,
But thunder of the sliding snows
And silence of the pine.
So many vows, so many sighs,
So great delight forgot!
O answer, sweet accustomed eyes,—
Alas, they answered not.
So great delight forgot!
O answer, sweet accustomed eyes,—
Alas, they answered not.
399
O friend who hearest, hast thou known
The death that love can die?
And hast thou once been not alone,
And then alone as I?
The death that love can die?
And hast thou once been not alone,
And then alone as I?
400
[In that still home, while Tyne went murmuring by]
In that still home, while Tyne went murmuring by
The old man's days were confident and calm,
Like organ-notes that close melodiously
The marches of a psalm.
The old man's days were confident and calm,
Like organ-notes that close melodiously
The marches of a psalm.
Yet to the end it pleased him to dispense
The gathered harvest of a long increase,
From his wise words, benign intelligence,
And from his presence, peace.
The gathered harvest of a long increase,
From his wise words, benign intelligence,
And from his presence, peace.
And sometimes on his brow would seem to be
The hint and dawn of an immortal grace,
And some impalpable expectancy
Would settle in his face:
The hint and dawn of an immortal grace,
And some impalpable expectancy
Would settle in his face:
So standeth one by night whose purgèd ears
Hark for a secret which the stars shall tell,
So hears the wondering child, or scarcely hears,
The sighing of the shell.
Hark for a secret which the stars shall tell,
So hears the wondering child, or scarcely hears,
The sighing of the shell.
401
O show us the arousal and uprise
Which crowns and pays the waiting of the past!
O Father, tell us if those wistful eyes
Are satisfied at last!
Which crowns and pays the waiting of the past!
O Father, tell us if those wistful eyes
Are satisfied at last!
“They on the Lord that wait,” He answereth,
“As mounting eagles shall their strength renew,
How safe the souls whom God encompasseth!
Their wants are very few.”
“As mounting eagles shall their strength renew,
How safe the souls whom God encompasseth!
Their wants are very few.”
402
[Nay, would'st thou know her? let thine hid heart declare]
Nay, would'st thou know her? let thine hid heart declare
Thine own most loved, most fair;
Call the dear dream, and from thy best divine
Dimly that best of mine;
List the still voice when votive Memory sings
Untold and holy things.
Remember how she looked that very day
Which stole thy soul away;
Think in her soft eyes what a glory grew
When love's first word was new.
Ah, friend, and was she lovely? seemed she then
The light and life of men?
Seemed she a creature from high heaven come down
For thine eternal crown?
Nay, canst thou feel it surely and know it well,
Without her heaven were hell,
And her one heart, whate'er God's heaven may be,
Were heaven enough for thee?
Thine own most loved, most fair;
Call the dear dream, and from thy best divine
Dimly that best of mine;
List the still voice when votive Memory sings
Untold and holy things.
Remember how she looked that very day
Which stole thy soul away;
Think in her soft eyes what a glory grew
When love's first word was new.
Ah, friend, and was she lovely? seemed she then
The light and life of men?
Seemed she a creature from high heaven come down
For thine eternal crown?
Nay, canst thou feel it surely and know it well,
Without her heaven were hell,
And her one heart, whate'er God's heaven may be,
Were heaven enough for thee?
Friend, if such life hath beat thy breast within,
We have loved, we are akin.
We have loved, we are akin.
403
THE GENESIS OF A MISSIONARY
Stung with the sharp pang of that evil day,
Too short occasion did all life afford,
If anywise at last he should repay
A white soul to the Lord.
Too short occasion did all life afford,
If anywise at last he should repay
A white soul to the Lord.
Thenceforth to labour, strong in stedfast zeal
And faithful furtherance of a mighty plan,
In noble language labour to reveal
His Maker unto man:
And faithful furtherance of a mighty plan,
In noble language labour to reveal
His Maker unto man:
“I with great violence have entered in,
Storm ye with force the golden gates of heaven:
Oh freed from agony! oh safe from sin!
I also am forgiven!”
Storm ye with force the golden gates of heaven:
Oh freed from agony! oh safe from sin!
I also am forgiven!”
Therefore on many a coast his cry was heard,
On many ears that earnest warning broke,
Yea, with his utterance he strangely stirred
The hearts of many folk:
On many ears that earnest warning broke,
Yea, with his utterance he strangely stirred
The hearts of many folk:
Fast chained he kept them in divine surprise,
Deep things of God he wisely spake and well;
Strange glory on his face, but in his eyes
The memory of Hell.
Deep things of God he wisely spake and well;
Strange glory on his face, but in his eyes
The memory of Hell.
404
A WHITE WITCH
I
Eyes that the morning star outshine,Veiled with their arching shade!
Eyes from whose amorous deeps divine
Looks forth a stainless maid!
Eyes that the painter's art in vain
Erewhile had burnt upon my brain,—
No longer look on mine, or nevermore refrain!
II
Turn, turn that lustrous gaze away,Enchantress innocent!
No angers in those lightnings play,
No willing bolts are sent;—
All childly-free those glances fly,—
Nor yet the less must droop and die
The heart lost unaware, and won unconsciously.
405
FINAL PERSEVERANCE
Say is it true that if a soul up-springing
Once,—for I know not nor it matters when,—
Plainly hath heard the seraphs at their singing,
Clearly hath looked upon the Light of men,—
Once,—for I know not nor it matters when,—
Plainly hath heard the seraphs at their singing,
Clearly hath looked upon the Light of men,—
Say ye that afterward tho' fast and faster
Downward she travel, daily she decline,
Marred with defeat and broken with disaster,
Filled with the earth, forgetting the divine,
Downward she travel, daily she decline,
Marred with defeat and broken with disaster,
Filled with the earth, forgetting the divine,
Yet shall the fiend not utterly undo her,
Cannot constrain her living in the grave,—
God at the last shall know her as he knew her,
Come as he came and as he sought shall save?
Cannot constrain her living in the grave,—
God at the last shall know her as he knew her,
Come as he came and as he sought shall save?
Yes! tho' the darts exasperate and bloody
Fell on the fair side of Sebastian faint,
Think ye the round wounds and the gashes ruddy
Scar in God's house the beauty of the saint?
Fell on the fair side of Sebastian faint,
Think ye the round wounds and the gashes ruddy
Scar in God's house the beauty of the saint?
406
Who were the Lord to mock him and imprison,
Cheat with an endless agony of breath,
Bid him arise, and in his body risen
Carry the trouble and the pains of death?
Cheat with an endless agony of breath,
Bid him arise, and in his body risen
Carry the trouble and the pains of death?
No! if he wake it is a king's awaking,
Fresh from the night and fairer for his rest:
Aye and the soul, to resurrection breaking,
Springs in her flower and blossoms at her best.
Fresh from the night and fairer for his rest:
Aye and the soul, to resurrection breaking,
Springs in her flower and blossoms at her best.
Then tho' the man with struggle and with straining
Find not the faith and passion of the boy,
Yet shall he march upon the years remaining
Clad with a bitter and courageous joy;—
Find not the faith and passion of the boy,
Yet shall he march upon the years remaining
Clad with a bitter and courageous joy;—
Morn after morn renewing the endeavour,
Eve after eve regretting: it is vain!
Ah, the sea-snake! a demi-god forever
Smote it and slew it and it was not slain.—
Eve after eve regretting: it is vain!
Ah, the sea-snake! a demi-god forever
Smote it and slew it and it was not slain.—
So, while the great deep round the king and under
Rose to the blowing, bellowed to the roar,
Fierce in the storm and fearless in the thunder
Sought he a sweet and visionary shore.
Rose to the blowing, bellowed to the roar,
Fierce in the storm and fearless in the thunder
Sought he a sweet and visionary shore.
407
Once, as they say, in seeking it he found it,
Found in the sunset, lost it in the foam,
Westward and north and past it and around it
Fared in the homeless passion of a home.
Found in the sunset, lost it in the foam,
Westward and north and past it and around it
Fared in the homeless passion of a home.
Then with great heart amid the sailors craven
Spake he: “I leave you, be at rest again,
Sail without me for harbour and for haven,
Sail happy-hearted for your loves and Spain.”
Spake he: “I leave you, be at rest again,
Sail without me for harbour and for haven,
Sail happy-hearted for your loves and Spain.”
So to the waves he leapt, but ere his leaping
Cried, “Yet a hope! there is a hope for me,
Soon shall my corse upon that isle be sleeping,
Washed by the welter of the friendly sea.”
Cried, “Yet a hope! there is a hope for me,
Soon shall my corse upon that isle be sleeping,
Washed by the welter of the friendly sea.”
408
FRIENDSHIP AND HOPE
Living and loved and delicate and lowly,
Rich in all blessing that thy God can send,
Take yet a gift, the simple and the holy
Gift of the faith and honour of a friend.
Rich in all blessing that thy God can send,
Take yet a gift, the simple and the holy
Gift of the faith and honour of a friend.
Sweet were the woods thro' which we went together,—
Gladly thou wentest and one glad with thee,—
Drowned in the glow and glory of the weather,
Kissed with the breath of summer and the sea.
Gladly thou wentest and one glad with thee,—
Drowned in the glow and glory of the weather,
Kissed with the breath of summer and the sea.
There the great home, above the shadows sleeping,
Rises and reddens in the sunset-fires,
There the brave saint, a warrior-vigil keeping,
Crowns with his crest the forest of the spires.
Rises and reddens in the sunset-fires,
There the brave saint, a warrior-vigil keeping,
Crowns with his crest the forest of the spires.
Often the moon above the moorland gleaming
Lovely and silent on the mere shall shine,
Oft shall the sweet air thro' the twilight streaming
Moan in the sombre spaces of the pine.
Lovely and silent on the mere shall shine,
409
Moan in the sombre spaces of the pine.
Oh from the hush and dying of the splendour
Take thou a patience and a comfort then!
Oh let thine eyes be satisfied and tender,
Knowing the common brotherhood of men!
Take thou a patience and a comfort then!
Oh let thine eyes be satisfied and tender,
Knowing the common brotherhood of men!
Children of God! and each as he is straying
Lights on his fellow with a soft surprise,
Hearkens, perchance, the whisper of his praying,
Catches the human answer of his eyes.
Lights on his fellow with a soft surprise,
Hearkens, perchance, the whisper of his praying,
Catches the human answer of his eyes.
Then having met they speak and they remember
All are one family, their sire is one,
Cheers them with June and slays them with December,
Portions to each the shadow and the sun.
All are one family, their sire is one,
Cheers them with June and slays them with December,
Portions to each the shadow and the sun.
Therefore His children hold to one another,
Speak of a hope and tarry till the end,
Strong in the bond of sister and of brother,
Safe in the fellowship of friend and friend.
Speak of a hope and tarry till the end,
Strong in the bond of sister and of brother,
Safe in the fellowship of friend and friend.
410
PRAYER
God, God, how oft in what assault of prayerMust man subdue the soul and bend the knee,
How often in the infinite of air
Must hurl the litanies that cry for thee,
And look to heaven, and tell himself that there
No voice hath been and yet a voice shall be :—
O say how often, till the last despair
Seize him and madden, as it maddens me?
But who contends with God? it is in vain:
How should a sinner of the Just complain?
From the Almighty shall a man be free?
Nay, till I die must I beseech again,
Yea, till I die the pulses of my pain
Beat with the flow and falling of the sea.
411
[O God, how many years ago]
O God, how many years ago,
In homes how far away,
A people I shall never know
Have humbled them to pray!
In homes how far away,
A people I shall never know
Have humbled them to pray!
Not once or twice we cry to thee,
Not once, or now and then,—
Wherever there is misery,
Wherever there are men.
Not once, or now and then,—
Wherever there is misery,
Wherever there are men.
[O that the sorrowful joy, that the fears and the tumult of loving]
O that the sorrowful joy, that the fears and the tumult of lovingAll could have vent in the one passionate sigh of a prayer!
All that my tongue could pronounce, that my eyes and my tears could betoken,
All that could never be told, God, let me tell it to Thee!
412
[I am tired of all the years can give]
I am tired of all the years can give,
I am weary of all these things;
Tho' men should ask, I would not live
The life of seers or kings.
I am weary of all these things;
Tho' men should ask, I would not live
The life of seers or kings.
I care no more to learn or teach,
I love no more my breath,
And all but silence is my speech,
My life is all but death.
I love no more my breath,
And all but silence is my speech,
My life is all but death.
| Collected Poems: With Autobiographical and Critical Fragments | |