The Poetical Works of George Barlow In Ten [Eleven] Volumes |
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| II. |
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| AUGUST BLOSSOMS:
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| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
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| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
 | The Poetical Works of George Barlow |  |
253
AUGUST BLOSSOMS:
SEVEN SONNETS (1882)
255
SONNET I
AUGUST BLOSSOMS
These are late August blossoms. Spring's glad days
Lie far behind us; early dreams have fled.
Not for us flames the golden crocus-bed:
No tender snowdrops lift their gentle gaze.
Roses are round us still,—and lily-sprays
Their fierce white fragrance on the warm airs shed;
Not all the flowers of sunburnt fields are dead,
Though dead is all the bloom that once was May's.
Lie far behind us; early dreams have fled.
Not for us flames the golden crocus-bed:
No tender snowdrops lift their gentle gaze.
Roses are round us still,—and lily-sprays
Their fierce white fragrance on the warm airs shed;
Not all the flowers of sunburnt fields are dead,
Though dead is all the bloom that once was May's.
Across the years, across the weary years,
Alice, sweet early love, I look to thee,
And, gazing through a gathering mist of tears,
I watch the flower-crowned cliff, the sun-crowned sea:
Robed in strange light, thy girlish form appears,
And thine eyes draw and thine hand beckons me.
Alice, sweet early love, I look to thee,
And, gazing through a gathering mist of tears,
I watch the flower-crowned cliff, the sun-crowned sea:
Robed in strange light, thy girlish form appears,
And thine eyes draw and thine hand beckons me.
256
SONNET II
FIRST LOVE
Hath anything been ever quite so fair
As first love, though the lengthening years have brought
Result of labour, red-ripe fruit of thought,
And new glad summers full of fragrant air?
The swift years pass us. Doth each swift year bear
Our spirits nearer to the goals we sought?
Though we have wrestled, suffered, toiled and fought,
Doth any aureole rest upon our hair?
As first love, though the lengthening years have brought
Result of labour, red-ripe fruit of thought,
And new glad summers full of fragrant air?
The swift years pass us. Doth each swift year bear
Our spirits nearer to the goals we sought?
Though we have wrestled, suffered, toiled and fought,
Doth any aureole rest upon our hair?
The sweetest crown of all the crowns life brings
Is just to feel love very close indeed:
Love, the true God who lives within each creed
And folds around the whole world guardian wings.
As towards new hills and blossomless we speed
It is not hope, 'tis memory that sings!
Is just to feel love very close indeed:
Love, the true God who lives within each creed
And folds around the whole world guardian wings.
As towards new hills and blossomless we speed
It is not hope, 'tis memory that sings!
257
SONNET III
VENUS
What do they tell thee of me,—that I sing
Of white-armed Venus? that in English air
I find alone the old Greek visions fair?
That love-gifts towards the old dead gods I bring?
Oh, thou art Venus! Linger ever there,
Where the wind touches with light-kissing wing
Thy beautiful brown unforgotten hair:
Be thou the goddess of the world's first spring!
Of white-armed Venus? that in English air
I find alone the old Greek visions fair?
That love-gifts towards the old dead gods I bring?
Oh, thou art Venus! Linger ever there,
Where the wind touches with light-kissing wing
Thy beautiful brown unforgotten hair:
Be thou the goddess of the world's first spring!
Venus was goddess in the old sweet days,
And through the sunlit foam of Grecian bays
Shone radiant and divine her tender limbs.
So thou art goddess of the days when I,
Greek-souled and ardent, laughed to see the sky
So blue, and sang to it with marriage-hymns.
And through the sunlit foam of Grecian bays
Shone radiant and divine her tender limbs.
So thou art goddess of the days when I,
Greek-souled and ardent, laughed to see the sky
So blue, and sang to it with marriage-hymns.
258
SONNET IV
GOD'S MESSAGE
And have they told thee that I've ceased to hold
The faith in God,—that deadliest war I wage
With creeds and Churches in this struggling age,
And sing the future's song with lips made bold?
Oh, by the sea, and by the sunset's gold,
And by the summer fields of far-spread flowers,
And by grey wintry rocks and soft green bowers
By Nature's wealth unmeasured and untold,
By all these things, I charge thee, have no fear!—
Is God the less a strong God unto me
Because my soul would have him very near,
And would be crowned with wild air of the sea—
Would in no stifling church his message hear,
But where his stars shine and his winds are free?
259
SONNET V
OMNIPRESENT LOVE
Though thou art bound, and canst not love me now
Save only in spirit, can they stay my song?
Can it not find thee when night-hours are long
And print a far-off soft kiss on thy brow?
Can it not lurk within the hazel bough?
Can it not shine amid the starry throng?
Fulfil thy life's task: be thou glad and strong:
But this true homage further and allow!
Save only in spirit, can they stay my song?
Can it not find thee when night-hours are long
And print a far-off soft kiss on thy brow?
Can it not lurk within the hazel bough?
Can it not shine amid the starry throng?
Fulfil thy life's task: be thou glad and strong:
But this true homage further and allow!
Art thou asleep, love? Then my soul is there,
Watching. Dost thou the wakeful moments count?
Then am I with thee. At this crystal fount
My song speaks to thee from the maiden-hair.
I am in this blue gentian on the mount:
I am around, and over,—and everywhere.
Watching. Dost thou the wakeful moments count?
Then am I with thee. At this crystal fount
My song speaks to thee from the maiden-hair.
I am in this blue gentian on the mount:
I am around, and over,—and everywhere.
260
SONNET VI
NATURE'S MESSENGERS
Birds, flowers, and foliage of the summer days
And skies above us lordly and serene
And forests measureless and deep and green
And blue glad billows bounding through the bays
And hyacinths and honeysuckle-sprays
And roses that against the window lean
Take ye my song, and bear it to my queen:
Teach her to understand my love and lays!
And skies above us lordly and serene
And forests measureless and deep and green
And blue glad billows bounding through the bays
And hyacinths and honeysuckle-sprays
And roses that against the window lean
Take ye my song, and bear it to my queen:
Teach her to understand my love and lays!
As the past lengthens, far intenser grow
All noble love and passion. Love that fades
Was never love. Now the tall tree-tops throw
A longer shadow down the silent glades
But sunset soon will gild their colonnades:
Long love and passion must grow golden so.
All noble love and passion. Love that fades
Was never love. Now the tall tree-tops throw
A longer shadow down the silent glades
But sunset soon will gild their colonnades:
Long love and passion must grow golden so.
261
SONNET VII
ALONE
The world is waxing old and grey for me.
When I see roses now, I wonder why
They are as red as ever,—why the sky
Is still as blue as ever, and the sea.
Some friends forsake us,—other loved ones die;
Like dreams a thousand golden fancies flee:
Love of the young years, is it so with thee?
Yes? Then our lonely hearts are drawn more nigh.
When I see roses now, I wonder why
They are as red as ever,—why the sky
Is still as blue as ever, and the sea.
Some friends forsake us,—other loved ones die;
Like dreams a thousand golden fancies flee:
Love of the young years, is it so with thee?
Yes? Then our lonely hearts are drawn more nigh.
We are alive yet, and have work to do;
Through stormy skies still climbs the unconquered sun.
Brave hearts are faithful and strong souls are true
To life, till death the nobler bride be won.
Still every morning brings us labour new
Nor at the sunset is our task quite done.
Through stormy skies still climbs the unconquered sun.
Brave hearts are faithful and strong souls are true
To life, till death the nobler bride be won.
Still every morning brings us labour new
Nor at the sunset is our task quite done.
| The Poetical Works of George Barlow | |