Dramatic Scenes With Other Poems, Now First Printed. By Barry Cornwall [i.e. Bryan Waller Procter]. Illustrated |
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QUESTIONS TO A SPIRITUAL FRIEND. |
 | Dramatic Scenes |  |
313
QUESTIONS TO A SPIRITUAL FRIEND.
When we met, do you remember,
In the lane?
When our murmuring school was over,
All its toils, its lessons vain,
All its pain?
In the lane?
When our murmuring school was over,
All its toils, its lessons vain,
All its pain?
314
Since those half-forgotten hours,
You and I
Have trod our distant paths, asunder;
Meeting once,—you to die,
I to sigh.
You and I
Have trod our distant paths, asunder;
Meeting once,—you to die,
I to sigh.
In your home beyond Orion
Do you feel,—
Do you mark what stirs within us,
Strongest in the common weal?
Gold? or steel?
Do you feel,—
Do you mark what stirs within us,
Strongest in the common weal?
Gold? or steel?
Love? or hate?—Alas, all passions
Make or mar!
Even my life's at best a struggle,
Gaining, whether in peace or war,
Many a scar.
Make or mar!
Even my life's at best a struggle,
Gaining, whether in peace or war,
Many a scar.
But You!—you whose journey's over?
In my ear
Whisper,—are you happier? wiser?
Better? than when you dwelt here
Without a fear?
In my ear
Whisper,—are you happier? wiser?
Better? than when you dwelt here
Without a fear?
Does the Spirit disembodied
Think?—the Mind,
Dragged no longer down from Heaven,
Soar at will upon the wind,
Unconfined?
Think?—the Mind,
Dragged no longer down from Heaven,
Soar at will upon the wind,
Unconfined?
315
Shine they now whose light on earth
Was quenched or hid?
What of those who dwelt in darkness?
What of those who only did
As they were bid?
Was quenched or hid?
What of those who dwelt in darkness?
What of those who only did
As they were bid?
What of men who had great virtues
And great sins?
Show me just the point and turning
Where no longer Virtue wins,
And Vice begins!
And great sins?
Show me just the point and turning
Where no longer Virtue wins,
And Vice begins!
Do you love the hearts that loved you?
See and scan
Our poor world, which is so pleasant,
When unto his neighbour man
Does all he can.
See and scan
Our poor world, which is so pleasant,
When unto his neighbour man
Does all he can.
Which of all our wants and passions
Cling to clay?
Tell me which you carry with you
To the realms of endless day,
Far away.
Cling to clay?
Tell me which you carry with you
To the realms of endless day,
Far away.
Divès, who so long oppressed you,
Do you hate?
Love you still our crumbling customs,
As when you argued, early and late,
For Church and State?
Do you hate?
Love you still our crumbling customs,
As when you argued, early and late,
For Church and State?
316
Homer—Dante—world-wise Shakespere—
Sons of Light!
Do they stand in power as princes?
Or lose lustre, and take flight
To endless night?
Sons of Light!
Do they stand in power as princes?
Or lose lustre, and take flight
To endless night?
Light and Dark, and Good and Evil,
Heat and Cold,
Pain and Pleasure, Poor and Wealthy,
Power of Virtue, Power of Gold,—
All unfold!
Heat and Cold,
Pain and Pleasure, Poor and Wealthy,
Power of Virtue, Power of Gold,—
All unfold!
| Dramatic Scenes | |