The professor and other poems by Arthur Christopher Benson |
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 | The professor and other poems |  |
9
4
BY THE FIRE
Strange spirits are abroad to-night;
They shadow my contented mood;
The hearth is clean, the lamp is bright,
Yet nought seems equable or good.
They shadow my contented mood;
The hearth is clean, the lamp is bright,
Yet nought seems equable or good.
The sighing spirit sits alone,
And dreams her dearest hope is vain.
With dumb unreasonable moan
She brims and drains the bowl of pain.
And dreams her dearest hope is vain.
With dumb unreasonable moan
She brims and drains the bowl of pain.
As he that in some ancient fray,
Far off, in legendary years,
Flung hauberk, shield, and helm away,
And gathered in a hundred spears.
Far off, in legendary years,
Flung hauberk, shield, and helm away,
And gathered in a hundred spears.
10
She sees the end of every quest
Is weariness and little good;
And all she dreamed of loveliest
A phantom of the leaping blood.
Is weariness and little good;
And all she dreamed of loveliest
A phantom of the leaping blood.
Decay or swift disease may seal
These vivid senses, one by one;
These windows, whence the soul can feel
The moving air, the steady sun.
These vivid senses, one by one;
These windows, whence the soul can feel
The moving air, the steady sun.
Meanwhile in some sequestered cell
The dumb and sightless soul is pent;
Inly immured, and guarded well
In dreamless, passionless content.
The dumb and sightless soul is pent;
Inly immured, and guarded well
In dreamless, passionless content.
This body dies to rise again
In other forms, in beast and tree;
But where at length, when nerve and brain
Are wasted, shall the spirit be?
In other forms, in beast and tree;
But where at length, when nerve and brain
Are wasted, shall the spirit be?
| The professor and other poems | |