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diff --git a/old/rnbtr10.txt b/old/rnbtr10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa7668c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rnbtr10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3061 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Rainbow And The Rose, by E. Nesbit +#11 in our series by E. Nesbit + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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VALENTINE'S DAY +CHAGRIN D'AMOUR +BRIDAL EVE +LOVE AND LIFE +FROM THE ITALIAN + +IV. + +"OUT OF THE FULNESS OF THE HEART" +SUMMER SONG +THE LOWER ROOM +SONG +MAY SONG + +V. + +TO IRIS +TO A CHILD +BIRTHDAY TALK FOR A CHILD +TO ROSAMUND +FROM THE TUSCAN +MOTHER SONG: FROM THE PORTUGUESE + +VI. + +THE ISLAND +POSSESSION +ACCESSION +THE DESTROYER +THE EGOISTS +THE WAY OF LOVE +TO ONE WHO PLEADED FOR CANDOUR IN LOVE +THE ENCHANTED GARDEN +THE POOR MAN'S GUEST +IN THE SHALLOWS +"AND THE RAINS DESCENDED AND THE FLOODS CAME" +THE STAR + +VII. + +THE PRODIGAL SON +DESPAIR +THE TEMPTATION +SECOND NATURE +DE PROFUNDIS + +VIII. + +AT THE GATE +VIA AMORIS +RETRO SATHANAS +THE OLD DISPENSATION +THE NEW DISPENSATION +THE THREE KINGS + +IX. + +AFTER DEATH +CHLOE +INVOCATION +THE LAST BETRAYAL +A PRAYER FOR THE KING'S MAJESTY +TRUE LOVE AND NEW LOVE +DEATH +IN MEMORY OF SARETTA DEAKIN +A PARTING + + + + + +I. + +THE THINGS THAT MATTER. + +NOW that I've nearly done my days, +And grown too stiff to sweep or sew, +I sit and think, till I'm amaze, +About what lots of things I know: +Things as I've found out one by one-- +And when I'm fast down in the clay, +My knowing things and how they're done +Will all be lost and thrown away. + +There's things, I know, as won't be lost, +Things as folks write and talk about: +The way to keep your roots from frost, +And how to get your ink spots out. +What medicine's good for sores and sprains, +What way to salt your butter down, +What charms will cure your different pains, +And what will bright your faded gown. + +But more important things than these, +They can't be written in a book: +How fast to boil your greens and peas, +And how good bacon ought to look; +The feel of real good wearing stuff, +The kind of apple as will keep, +The look of bread that's rose enough, +And how to get a child asleep. + +Whether the jam is fit to pot, +Whether the milk is going to turn, +Whether a hen will lay or not, +Is things as some folks never learn. +I know the weather by the sky, +I know what herbs grow in what lane; +And if sick men are going to die, +Or if they'll get about again. + +Young wives come in, a-smiling, grave, +With secrets that they itch to tell: +I know what sort of times they'll have, +And if they'll have a boy or gell. +And if a lad is ill to bind, +Or some young maid is hard to lead, +I know when you should speak 'em kind, +And when it's scolding as they need. + +I used to know where birds ud set, +And likely spots for trout or hare, +And God may want me to forget +The way to set a line or snare; +But not the way to truss a chick, +To fry a fish, or baste a roast, +Nor how to tell, when folks are sick, +What kind of herb will ease them most! + +Forgetting seems such silly waste! +I know so many little things, +And now the Angels will make haste +To dust it all away with wings! +O God, you made me like to know, +You kept the things straight in my head, +Please God, if you can make it so, +Let me know something when I'm dead. + +THE CONFESSION. + +I HAVEN'T always acted good: +I've taken things not meant for me; +Not other people's drink and food, +But things they never seemed to see. +I haven't done the way I ought +If all they say in church is true, +But all I've had I've fairly bought, +And paid for pretty heavy too. + +For days and weeks are very long +If you get nothing new and bright, +And if you never do no wrong +Somehow you never do no right. +The chap that daresent go a yard +For fear the path should lead astray +May be a saint--though that seems hard, +But he's no traveller, any way. + +Some things I can't be sorry for, +The things that silly people hate: +But some I did I do deplore, +I knew, inside, they wasn't straight. +And when my last account is filed, +And stuck-up angels stop their song, +I'll ask God's pardon like a child +For what I really knew was wrong. + +If you've a child, you'd rather see +A bit of temper, off and on, +A greedy grab, a silly spree-- +And then a brave thing said or done +Than hear your boy whine all day long +About the things he musn't do: +Just doing nothing, right or wrong: +And God may feel the same as you. + +For God's our Father, so they say, +He made His laws and He made me; +He'll understand about the way +Me and His laws could not agree. +He might say, "You're worth more, My son, +Than all My laws since law began. +Take good with bad--here's something done-- +And I'm your God, and you're My man." + +WORK. + +WHEN I am busying about, +Sewing on buttons, tapes, and strings, +Hanging the week's wet washing out +Or ironing the children's things, +Sweeping and dusting, cleaning grates, +Scrubbing the dresser or the floors, +Washing the greasy dinner plates, +Scouring the brasses on the doors-- + +I wonder what it's all about, +And when did people first begin +To keep the dirt and wornness out +And keep the wholesome comfort in: +How long it is since women bore +This round of wash and make and mend, +And what God makes us do it for +And whether it will ever end! + +When God began to do His work +He made a new thing every day-- +Even now He is not one to shirk, +But makes things, always some new way +He made the earth, and sky, and sun, +The creatures of the sea and wood, +And when his first week's work was done +He saw that it was very good. + +But He--for all He worked so fast +To finish air, and wave, and shore, +Knew that this work of His would last +For ever and for evermore. +On Saturday night He was content, +He knew that Monday would not bring +Need for another firmament, +Another set of everything. + +But though my work is easier far +Than making sky and sea and sun, +It's harder than God's labours are, +Because my work is never done. +I sweep and churn, save and contrive, +I bake and brew, I don't complain, +But every Monday morning I've +Last Monday's work to do again. + +I'm good at work--I work away; +Always the same my work must go; +The flowers grow different every day, +That's why I like to see them grow. +If, up in Heaven, God understood +He'd let me for my Paradise +Make all things new and very good +And never make the same thing twice! + +THE JILTED LOVER TO HIS MOTHER. + +You needn't pray for me, old lady, I don't want no one's prayer, +I'm fit and jolly as ever I was--you needn't think I care. +When I go whistling down the road, when the warm night is falling, +She needn't think I'm whistling her, it's another girl I'm calling. + +If I pass her house a dozen times, or fifty times a day, +She needn't think I think of her, my work lies out that way. +If they should tell her I've grown thin (for that is what they've told me) +This cursed weather counts for that, and not the girl who sold me. + +And if they say I'm off my feed I still can tip a can; +If I get drunk what's that to her? I am not her young man. +I know I've had a lucky let-off--she ain't no class, she ain't, +For all she looked like a bush o' roses and talked like a story book saint. + +I never give a thought to her. Don't worry your old head, +I've quite forgot her pretty ways and the cruel things she said, +There's lots of other gals to be had as any chap can see, +So you cheer up, you've got no call to go and pray for me. +But all the same, if you want to pray, you'd best pray God take care of them, +For if I catch them two together, by hell! I'll swing for the pair of them. + +THE WILL TO LIVE. + +SINCE Faith is a veil that has nothing behind it, +And Hope wanders lost where no mortal can find it, +Since Love is a mirror we break in a minute +In snatching the image our soul has cast in it, +What is the use of the Summers and Springs, +The wave of the woods and the waft of the wings-- +Since all means nothing, and good things and ill +Make madness,--a mirage tormenting us still? + +Since all the fighting, the ardent endeavour, +The heart cast bleeding to feed the Ideal, +Are vain, vain, vain, and the one thing real +Is that all's vain, for ever and ever; +Why then, be a man and stand back from the strife, +Fall by the sword, but keep out of the snare; +Will but to be--and be willing to bear +All that the gods may lay on your of life! + +In the far East, where light ever dawns first, +There has man learned how the Fates may be cheated, +How by our craft may their strength be defeated, +Though all our best be no match for their worst! +Kill the desire that they set in your bosom, +Long not for fruit when you gaze on the blossom, +Dream not of flowers when you gaze on the bud, +Kill all the rebels that shout in your blood. +Sorrow and sickness, disease and decay-- +These toll the hours of Life's desolate day; +Hopes unfulfilled and forbidden delight +These are the dreams of Life's treacherous night. +So let me image an infinite peace +Touched with no joy but the ease of release. +Out of the eddies I climb and I cease +Keeping, in change for this man's soul of me, +Something which, by the eternal decree, +Is as like Nothing as Something can be! + +Not to desire, to admit, to adore, +Casting the robe of the soul that you wore +Just as the soul casts the body's robe down. +This is man's destiny, this is man's crown. +This is the splendour, the end of the feast; +This is the light of the Star in the East. + +So, Silence reconciles Life's jarring phrases +Far in the future, austere and august: +Meanwhile, the buds of the poplars are falling, +Spring's on the lawn, and a little voice calling: +"Daddy, come out! Daddy darling, you must! +Daddy come out and help Molly pick daisies!" +And, since one's here, and the Spring's in the garden +(How many lives hence will that thought earn pardon?) +Since one's a man and man's heart is insistent, +And, since Nirvana is doubtful and distant, +Though life's a hard road and thorny to travel-- +Stones in the borders and grass on the gravel, +Still there's the wisdom that wise men call folly, +Still one can go and pick daisies with Molly! + +THE BEATIFIC VISION. + +OH God! if I do my duty +And walk in the thorny way, +Will you pay me with heavens of beauty, +Millions of lives away? +Will you give me the music of heaven, +And the joy that none understands, +In place of what life would have given +If I had held out my hands? + +I have lived in a narrow prison, +I have writhed 'neath a bitter creed, +And I dare to say that no heaven can pay +The renounced dream and deed, +But when my life's portal closes, +If you have no heaven to spare +God! give me a garden of roses, +And some one to walk with there. + + + + + + +II. + + + + + +MUMMY WHEAT. + +LAID close to Death, these many thousand years, +In this small seed Life hid herself and smiled; +So well she hid, Death was at least beguiled, +Set free the grain--and lo! the sevenfold ears! + +Warmed by the sun, wooed by the wind's soft word, +Under blue canopy they hold their state: +For this, ah, was it not worth while to wait +Through all the centuries of hope deferred? + +What could they know who laid the seed with Death +Of this Divine fruition fixed and planned? +Love--since Life parts us--lend my hand your hand +And look with me into the eyes of faith. + +For here between your hand and mine there lies +A little seed we trust to Death to keep +Through unimagined centuries of sleep +Until the day when Life shall bid it rise. + +Our harvest waits us. Who knows where or how, +What worlds away, wrapped in what coil of pain? +But Life shall bid us pluck gold sevenfold grain +Grown from the love she bids us bury now. + +THE BEECH TREE. + +MY beautiful beech, your smooth grey coat is trimmed +With letters. Once, each stood for all things dear +To foolish lovers, dead this many a year, +Whose lamp of lighted love so soon was dimmed. +You have seen them come and go, +And heard their kisses and vows +Under your boughs, +The pitiful vows they swore, +Have seen their poor tears flow, +Have seen them part; to meet, and to return, no more! + +And in old winters, through your branches bare, +The north wind drove the blue home-scented smoke +That on the glowing Christmas hearth awoke +Where the old logs, with eager flicker and flare, +Sang their low crackling song +Of peace and of good will. +The old song is still, +The old voices have died away, +The hearth has been cold so long, +And the bright faces dimmed and covered up with clay. + +And summer after summer wakes to glow +The ordered pleasance with the clipped box-hedge, +The drooping lilac by the old moat's edge, +The roses, that throw you kisses from below, +The orchard pink and white, +The sedge's whispered words, +The nesting birds, +All these return to revel round your feet. +And in the untroubled night +The nightingale still sings, the jasmine still is sweet. + +My beautiful beech, I carve upon you here +The master-letter which begins her name +Through whom, to me, the royal summer came, +And nightingale and rose, and all things dear. +And, in some far-off time, +I shall come here, weary and old, +When the hearth in my heart is cold +And the birds that nest there flown; +I will remember this summer in all its prime +And say, "There was a day-- +Thank God, the Giver, an unforgotten day, +When I walked here, not alone, +--O God of pity and sorrow, not alone!" + +IN ABSENCE. + +WAKE, do you wake in the dark in the strange far place, +Window and door not set like the ones we knew, +Leaning your face through the dark for another face, +Stretching your arms to the arms that are far from you, +Even as I, through the depth of this darkness, do? + +Sleep, do you sleep in the house in the lonely land? +In the lonely room do you hear no steps draw near? +Do you miss in the darkness the hand that implores your hand, +See through the darkness your last dream disappear, +And weep, as I weep, in the outer darkness here? + +Dream, do you dream? Nay, never a dream will stay, +Never a phantom is fond, or a vision kind. +Your dreams elude you and fly through the dark my way, +My dreams fly forth to you whom they may not find; +And we in the darkness weep, we weep and are left behind. + +SILENCE. + +So silent is the world to-night +The lamp gives silence out like light, +The latticed windows open wide +Show silence, like the night, outside: +The nightingale's faint song draws near +Like musical silence to mine ear. + +The empty house calls not to me, +"Here, but for fate, were thou and she--" +Its gibe for once is checked. To-night +Silence is queen in grief's despite, +And even the longing of my soul +Is silent 'neath this hour's control. + +RAISON D'ETRE. + +O WEARY night, O weary day, +When heart's delight is far away! + +What is the day? A frame of blue +The vacant-glaring sun grins through. +What is the night? A sable veil +Through which the moon peers tired and pale. + +O weary day! O weary night! +How far away is heart's delight! + +Love hung the sun in his high place +To give me light to see her face, +And love spread out the veil of night +To hide us two from all men's sight. + +O kindly night, O pleasant day, +Your use is gone--why should ye stay? +My heart's delight is far away, +O weary night, O weary day. + +THE ONLOOKER. + +If I could make a pillow for your head, +Soft, pleasant, filled with every pretty thought; +If I could lay a carpet where you tread +Of all my life's most radiant fancies wrought, +And spread my love as canopy above you, +Your sleep, your steps should know how much I love you. + +But--as life goes, to the old sorry tune-- +I stand apart, I see thorns wound your feet, +Your sleeping eyes resenting sun and moon, +Your head lie restless on a breast unmeet-- +And say no word, and suffer without moan, +Lest you should guess how much you are alone. + +THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE. + +I PLUCKED the blossoms of delight +In many a wood and many a field, +I made a garland fair and bright +As any gardens yield. + +But when I sought the living tree +To make new earth and Heaven new, +I found--alas for you and me-- +Its roots were set in you. + +Oh, dear my garden, where the fruit +Of lovely knowledge sweetly springs, +How jealously you guard the root +Of all enlightening things! + +AT PARTING. + +AND you could leave me now-- +After the first remembered whispered vow +Which sings for ever and ever in my ears-- +The vow which God among His Angels hears-- +After the long-drawn years, +The slow hard tears, +Could break new ground, and wake +A new strange garden to blossom for your sake, +And leave me here alone, +In the old garden that was once our own? + +How should I learn to bear +Our garden's pleasant ways and pleasant air, +Her flowers, her fruits, her lily, her rose and thorn, +When only in a picture these appear-- +These, once alive, and always over-dear? +Ah--think again: the rose you used to wear +Must still be more than other roses be +The flower of flowers. Ah, pity, pity me! + +For in my acres is no plot of ground +Whereon could any garden site be found, +I have but little skill +To water weed and till +And make the desert blossom like the rose; +Yet our old garden knows +If I have loved its ways and walks and kept +The garden watered, and the pleasance swept. + +Yet--if you must--go now: +Go, with my blessing filling both your hands, +And, mid the desert sands +Which life drifts deep round every garden wall, +Make your new festival +Of bud and blossom--red rose and green leaf. +No blight born of my grief +Shall touch your garden, love; but my heart's prayer +Shall draw down blessings on you from the air, +And all we learned of leaf and plant and tree +Shall serve you when you walk no more with me +In garden ways; and when with her you tread +The pleasant ways with blossoms overhead +And when she asks, "How did you come to know +The secrets of the ways these green things grow?" +Then you will answer--and I, please God, hear, +"I had another garden once, my dear". + +SONG. + +I HEAR the waves to-night +Piteously calling, calling +Though the light +Of the kind moon is falling, +Like kisses, on the sea +That calls for sunshine, dear, as my soul calls for thee. + +I see the sea lie gray +Wrinkling her brows in sorrow, +Hear her say:-- +"Bright love of yesterday, return to-morrow, +Sun, I am thine, am thine!" +Oh sea, thy love will come again, but what of mine? + +RENUNCIATION. + +ROSE of the desert of my heart, +Moon of the night that is my soul, +Thou can'st not know how sweet thou art, +Nor what wild tides thy beams control. + +For all thy heart a garden is, +Thy soul is like a dawn of May. +And garden and dawn might both be his, +Who from them both must turn away. + +Oh, garden of the Spring's delight! +Oh, dewy dawn of perfect noon! +I will not pluck thy roses white +Or warm thy May-time into June. + +I can but bless thee, moon and rose, +And journey far and very far +To where the night no moonbeam shows, +To where no happy roses are! + + + + + + +III. + + + + + +THE VEIL OF MAYA. + +SWEET, I have loved before. I know +This longing that invades my days; +This shape that haunts life's busy ways +I know since long and long ago. + +This starry mystery of delight +That floats across my eager eyes, +This pain that makes earth Paradise, +These magic songs of day and night-- + +I know them for the things they are: +A passing pain, a longing fleet, +A shape that soon I shall not meet, +A fading dream of veil and star. + +Yet, even as my lips proclaim +The wisdom that the years have lent, +Your absence is joy's banishment, +And life's one music is your name. + +I love you to my heart's hid core: +Those other loves? how should one learn +From marshlights how the great fires burn? +Ah, no! I never loved before! + +SONG. + +THE sunshine of your presence lies +On the glad garden of my heart +And bids the leaves of silence part +To show the flowers to your dear eyes, +And flower on flower blooms there and dies +And still new buds awakened spring, +For sunshine makes the garden wise, +To know the time for blossoming. + +Night is no time for blossoming, +Your garden then dreams otherwise, +Of vanished Summer, vanished Spring, +And how the dearest flower first dies. +Yet from your ministering eyes +Though night hath drawn me far apart +On the still garden of my heart +The moonlight of your memory lies. + +TO VERA, WHO ASKED A SONG. + +IF I only had time! +I could make you a rhyme. +But my time is kept flying +By smiling and sighing +And living and dying for you. +The song-seed, I sow it, +I water and hoe it, +But never can grow it. +Ah, traitress, you know it! +What is a poor poet to do? + +Ah, let me take breath! +I am harried to death +By the loves and the graces +That crowd where your face is +That lurk in your laces and throng. +Call them off for a minute, +Once let me begin it +The devil is in it +If I can not spin it +As sweet as a linnet, your song! + +THE POET TO HIS LOVE. + +ALL the flight of thoughts here, shy, bold, scared, intrusive, +Fluttering in the sun, between the green and blue, +Wheeling, whirling, poising, lovely and elusive, +How to cage the flying thoughts, my winged delight, for you? + +Set a springe of rhyme, and hope to catch them in it? +Strew my love as grain to lure them to the snare? +Watch the hours built up, slow minute piled on minute? +Still the wide sky guards their flight, and still the cage is bare. + +Gleam of hovering feathers, brushing me to flout me! +Wings, be weary! Rest! Who loves you more than I? +Caught? Oh fluttering pinions whitening air about me! +Rustling wings, and distant flight, and empty cage and sky! + +THE MAIDEN'S PRAYER. + +SPRING, pretty Spring, what treasure do you bring to me? +Green grass and buttercups, cherry-bloom and may? +Sunshine to be glad with me, and little birds to sing to me? +Warm nests to call me along the woodland way? + +Spring, happy Spring, what wonder will you do for me? +Light the tulip lanterns, and set the furze a-fire? +Fill your sky with sails of cloud on waves of living blue for me? +Show me green cornfields and budding of the briar? + +Spring, darling Spring, my days will not return to me, +You who see them fleeting, you, all time above, +You who move the whole world's heart, ah move one heart to turn to me, +--Bring me a lover, and teach me how to love! + +SONG. + +"LOVE me little, love me long," +Is the burden of my song, +And if nothing more may be +Little shall suffice for me. + +But if you could crown with flowers +All my radiant, festal hours, +And console for hours of sorrow +Love me more with each to-morrow. + +And if you would turn my days +To one splendid hymn of praise, +And set hopes like stars above me +Love me much, and always love me! + +THE MAGIC FLOWER. + +THROUGH many days and many days +The seed of love lay hidden close; +We walked the dusty tiresome ways +Where never a leaf or blossom grows. +And in the darkness, all the while, +The little seed its heart uncurled, +And we by many a weary mile +Travelled towards it, round the world. + +To the hid centre of the maze +At last we came, and there we found-- +O happy day, O day of days! +--Twin seed-leaves breaking holy ground. +We dropped life's joys, a garnered sheaf, +And spell-bound watched, still hour by hour, +Magic on magic, leaf by leaf, +The unfolding of our love's white flower. + +LA DERNIERE ROBE DE SOI. + +OH, silken gown, all pink and pretty, +Bought, quite a bargain, in the City, +Your ill-trained soul full false has played me-- +No Paris gown would have betrayed me. + +You knew, my pretty silken treasure, +I must not wed for love or pleasure, +But for a settlement and title; +Yet you encouraged his recital! + +He said--oh, faithless gown, you listened +While on your sheen two tear drops glistened-- +He said . . . let love to music set it, +I'll never speak it--nor forget it! + +"No, no!" I cried, I tried to save you-- +False gown, you showed the tears I gave you! +You looked discreet when first I found you. +How could you let his arm go round you? + +You darling dress--I'll smooth your creases, +I'll wear you till you drop to pieces; +But poor men's wives wear cotton only-- +Dear gown--I hope you won't feel lonely! + +THE LEAST POSSIBLE. + +DEAR goddess of the shining shrine +Where all my votive tapers burn, +Where every gold-embroidered thought +And all my flowers of life are brought +--With many, alas! that are not mine-- +What will you give me in return? + +The bow in Bond Street--in the Park +The smile all worship on your lips, +The courteous word at dinner--dance-- +But never a blush--a conscious glance; +At most, at Henley, in the dark, +Your fleet mistaken finger-tips? + +Ah, just for once, once only, be +An altar-server--stoop and set me +Upon the altar richly wrought +Of your most secret flower-sweet thought: +One nightlight's flicker burn for me +Before you sleep and quite forget me. + +EN TOUT CAS. + +WHEN I am glad I need your eyes +To be the stars of Paradise; +Your lips to be the seal of all +The joy life grants, and dreams recall; +Your hand, to lie my hands between +What time we walk the garden green. + +But most in grief I need your face +To lean to mine in the desert place; +Your lips to mock the evil years, +To sweeten me my cup of tears, +Your eyes to shine, in cloud's despite, +Your hands to hold mine through the night. + +APPEAL. + +Daphnis dearest, wherefore weave me +Webs of lies lest truth should grieve me? +I could pardon much, believe me: +Dower me, Daphnis, or bereave me, +Kill me, kill me, love me, leave me-- +Damn me, dear, but don't deceive me! + +ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. + +THE South is a dream of flowers +With a jewel for sky and sea, +Rose-crowns for the dancing hours, +Gold fruits upon every tree; +But cold from the North +The wind blows forth +That blows my love to me. + +The stars in the South are gold +Like lamps between sky and sea; +The flowers that the forests hold +Like stars between tree and tree; +But little and white +Is the pale moon's light +That lights my love to me. + +In the South the orange grove +Makes dusk by the dusky sea, +White palaces wrought for love +Gleam white between tree and tree, +But under bare boughs +Is the little house +Warm-lit for my love and me. + +CHAGRIN D'AMOUR. + +IF Love and I were all alone +I might forget to grieve, +And for his pleasure and my own +Might happier garlands weave; +But you sit there, and watch us wear +The mourning wreaths you wove: +And while such mocking eyes you bear +I am not friends with Love. + +Withdraw those cruel eyes, and let +Me search the garden through +That I may weave, ere Love be set, +The wreath of Love for you; +Till you, whom Love so well adorns, +Its hidden thorns discover, +And know at last what crown of thorns +It was you gave your lover. + +BRIDAL EVE. + +GOOD-NIGHT, my Heart, my Heart, good-night-- +Oh, good and dear and fair, +With lips of life and eyes of light +And roses in your hair. + +To-morrow brings the other crown, +The orange blossoms, Sweet, +And then the rose will be cast down +With lilies at your feet. + +But in your soul a garden stands +Where fair the white rose blows-- +God, teach my foolish clumsy hands +The way to tend my rose. + +That in the white-rose garden still +The lily may bloom fair +God help my heart and soul and will +To keep the lily there. + +LOVE AND LIFE. + +LOVE only sings when Love is young, +When Love is young and still at play, +How shall we count the sweet songs sung +When Love and Joy kept holiday? +But now Love has to earn his bread +By lifelong stress and toil of tears, +He finds his nest of song-birds dead +That sang so sweet in other years. + +For Love's a man now, strong and brave, +To fight for you, for you to live, +And Love, that once such bright songs gave, +Has better things than songs to give; +He gives you now a lifelong faith, +A hand to help in joy or pain, +And he will sing no more, till Death +Shall come to make him young again! + +FROM THE ITALIAN. + +AS a little child whom his mother has chidden, +Wrecked in the dark in a storm of weeping, +Sleeps with his tear-stained eyes closed hidden +And, with fists clenched, sobs still in his sleeping, + +So in my breast sleeps Love, O white lady, +What does he care though the rest are playing, +With rattles and drums in the woodlands shady, +Happy children, whom Joy takes maying! + +Ah, do not wake him, lest you should hear him +Scolding the others, breaking their rattles, +Smashing their drums, when their play comes near him-- +Love who, for me, is a god of battles! + + + +IV. + + +"OUT OF THE FULNESS OF THE HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKETH." + +In answer to those who have said that English Poets +give no personal love to their country. + +ENGLAND, my country, austere in the clamorous council of nations, +Set in the seat of the mighty, wielding the sword of the strong, +Have we but sung of your glory, firm in eternal foundations? +Are not your woods and your meadows the core of our heart and our song? +O dear fields of my country, grass growing green, glowing golden, +Green in the patience of winter, gold in the pageant of spring, +Oaks and young larches awaking, wind-flowers and violets blowing, +What, if God sets us to singing, what save you shall we sing? +Who but our England is fair through the veil of her poets' praises, +What but the pastoral face, the fruitful, beautiful breast? +Are not your poets' meadows starred with the English daisies? +Were not the wings of their song-birds fledged in an English nest? +Songs of the leaves in the sunlight, songs of the fern-brake in shadow, +Songs of the world of the woods and songs of the marsh and the mere, +Are they not English woods, dear English marshland and meadow? +Have not your poets loved you? England, are you not dear? + +Shoulders of upland brown laid dark to the sunset's bosom, +Living amber of wheat, and copper of new-ploughed loam, +Downs where the white sheep wander, little gardens in blossom, +Roads that wind through the twilight up to the lights of home. +Lanes that are white with hawthorn, dykes where the sedges shiver, +Hollows where caged winds slumber, moorlands where winds wake free, +Sowing and reaping and gleaning, spring and torrent and river, +Are they not more, by worlds, than the whole of the world can be? + +Is there a corner of land, a furze-fringed rag of a by-way, +Coign of your foam-white cliffs or swirl of your grass-green waves, +Leaf of your peaceful copse, or dust of your strenuous highway, +But in our hearts is sacred, dear as our cradles, our graves? +Is not each bough in your orchards, each cloud in the skies above you, +Is not each byre or homestead, furrow or farm or fold, +Dear as the last dear drops of the blood in the hearts that love you, +Filling those hearts till the love is more than the heart can hold? +Therefore the song breaks forth from the depths of the hidden fountain +Singing your least frail flower, your raiment of seas and skies, +Singing your pasture and cornfield, fen and valley and mountain, +England, desire of my heart, England, delight of mine eyes! +Take my song too, my country: many a son and debtor +Pays you in praise and homage out of your gifts' full store; +Life of my life, my England, many will praise you better, +None, by the God that made you, ever can love you more! + +SUMMER SONG. + +THERE are white moon daisies in the mist of the meadow +Where the flowered grass scatters its seeds like spray, +There are purple orchis by the wood-ways' shadow, +There are pale dog-roses by the white highway; +And the grass, the grass is tall, the grass is up for hay, +With daisies white like silver and buttercups like gold, +And it's oh! for once to play thro' the long, the lovely day, +To laugh before the year grows old! + +There is silver moonlight on the breast of the river +Where the willows tremble to the kiss of night, +Where the nine tall aspens in the meadow shiver, +Shiver in the night wind that turns them white. +And the lamps, the lamps are lit, the lamps are glow-worms light, +Between the silver aspens and the west's last gold. +And it's oh! to drink delight in the lovely lonely night, +To be young before the heart grows old! + +THE LOWER ROOM. + +How soft the lamplight falls +On pictures, books, +And pleasant coloured walls +And curtains drawn! +How happily one looks +On glowing flame and ember; +Ah, why should one remember +Dew and dawn! + +Here age and wisdom sit +Calm and discreet, +Life and the fruit of it +Are here in truth, +Whose gathering once was sweet-- +Wisdom and age! Well met! +Yet neither can forget +Folly and youth! + +SONG. + +THE summer down the garden walks +Swept in her garments bright; +She touched the pale still lily stalks +And crowned them with delight; +She breathed upon the rose's head +And filled its heart with fire, +And with a golden carpet spread +The path of my desire. + +The larkspurs stood like sentinels +To greet her as she came, +Soft rang the Canterbury bells +The music of her name. +She passed across the happy land +Where all dear dreams flower free; +She took my true love by the hand +And led her out to me. + +MAY SONG. + +BIRDS in the green of my garden +Blackbirds and throstle and wren, +Wet your dear wings in the tears that are Spring's +And so to your singing again! +Birds in my blossoming orchard, +Chaffinch and goldfinch and lark, +Preen your bright wings, little happy live things; +The May trees grow white in the park! + +Birds in the leafy wet woodlands, +Cuckoo and nightingale brown, +Sing to the sound of the rain on green ground-- +The rain on green leaves dripping down! +Fresh with the rain of the May-time, +Rich with the promise of June, +Deep in her heart, where the little leaves part, +Love, like a bird, sings in tune! + + + + + + +V. + + + + + +TO IRIS. + +IF I might build a palace, fair +With every joy of soul and sense, +And set my heart as sentry there +To guard your happy innocence-- +If I might plant a hedge so strong +No creeping sorrow could writhe through, +And find my whole life not too long +To give, to make your hedge for you-- + +If I could teach the wandering air +To bring no sounds that were not sweet, +Could teach the earth that only fair +Untrodden flower deserved your feet: +Would I not tear the secret scroll +Where all your griefs lie closely curled, +And give your little hand control +Of all the joys of all the world? + +But ah! I have no skill to raise +The palace, teach the hedge to grow; +The common airs blow through your days, +By common ways your dear feet go. +And you must twine of common flowers +The wreath that happy women wear, +And bear in desolate darkened hours +The common griefs that all men bear. + +The pinions of my love I fold +Your little shoulders close about: +Ah--could my love keep out the cold +And shut the creeping sorrows out! +Rough paths will tire your darling feet, +Gray skies will weep your tears above, +While round you still, in torment, beat +The impotent wings of mother-love. + +TO A CHILD. +(Rosamund.) + +The fairies have been busy while you slept; +They have been laughing where the sad rain wept, +They have taught Beauty to the ignorant flowers, +Set tasks of hope to weary wind-torn bowers, +And heard the lessons learned in school-rooms cold +By seedling snapdragon and marigold. +At dawn, while still you slept, I grew aware +How good the fairies are, how many and fair. + +The fairy whose delightful gown is red +Across a corner of our garden sped, +And, where her flying raiment fluttered past, +Its roseate reflection still is cast: +Red poppies by the rhododendron's side, +Paeonies gorgeous in their summer pride, +And red may-bushes by the old red wall +Shower down their crimson petals over all. + +Then she whose gown is gold, and gold her hair, +Swept down the golden steep straight sunbeam-stair, +She lit the tulip-lamps, she lit the torch +Of hollyhock beside the cottage porch. +She dressed the honeysuckle in fringe of gold, +She gave the king-cups fairy wealth to hold, +She kissed St. John's wort till it opened wide, +She set the yarrow by the river side. + +Then came the lady all whose robes are white: +She made the pale buds blossom in delight, +Set silver stars upon the jasmine's hair, +And gave the stream white lily-buds to wear. +She painted lilies white, and pearl-white phlox, +White poppies, passion-flowers and gray-leaved stocks. +Her pure kind touch redeemed the most forlorn, +And even the vile petunia smiled, new-born. + +The dearest fairy of all--green is her gown-- +She kissed the plane-trees in the tiresome town, +She smoothed the pastures and the lawn's pale sheen, +She decked the boughs with hangings fresh and green, +She showed each flower the one and only way +Its beauty of shape and colour to display; +She taught the world to be a Paradise +Of changing leaf and blade, for tired eyes. + +Then, one and all, they came where you were laid +In your strait bed, my little lovely maid; +The red-robed fairy kissed your lips, your face, +The white-robed made your heart her dwelling-place. +Into your eyes the green robed fairy smiled; +The golden fairy touched your dreams, my child, +And one, not named, but mightiest, made my Dear +The innermost rose of the re-flowered year. +May, 1898. + +BIRTHDAY TALK FOR A CHILD. +(IRIS.) + +DADDY dear, I'm only four +And I'd rather not be more: +Four's the nicest age to be-- +Two and two, or one and three. + +All I love is two and two, +Mother, Fabian, Paul and you; +All you love is one and three, +Mother, Fabian, Paul and me. + +Give your little girl a kiss +Because she learned and told you this. + +TO ROSAMUND. + +AND it is fair and very fair +This maze of blossom and sweet air, +This drift of orchard snows, +This royal promise of the rose +Wherein your young eyes see +Such buds of scented joys to be. +A gay green garden, softly fanned +By the blythe breeze that blows +To speed your ship of dreams to the enchanted land. + +But I--beyond the budding screen +Of green and red and white and green, +Behind the radiant show +Of things that cling and grow and glow +I see the plains where lie +The hopes of days gone by: +Gray breadths of melancholy, crossed +By winds that coldly blow +From that cold sea wherein my argosy is lost. + +FROM THE TUSCAN. + +WHEN in the west the red sun sank in glory, +The cypress trees stood up like gold, fine gold; +The mother told her little child the story +Of the gold trees the heavenly gardens hold. + +In golden dreams the child sees golden rivers, +Gold trees, gold blossoms, golden boughs and leaves, +Without, the cypress in the night wind shivers, +Weeps with the rain and with the darkness grieves. + +MOTHER SONG. + +_From the Portuguese._ + +HEAVY my heart is, heavy to carry, +Full of soft foldings, of downy enwrapments-- +And the outer fold of all is love, +And the next soft fold is love, +And the next, finer and softer, is love again; +And were they unwound before the eyes +More folds and more folds and more folds would unroll +Of love--always love, +And, quite at the last, +Deep in the nest, in the soft-packed nest, +One last fold, turned back, would disclose +You, little heart of my heart, +Laid there so warm, so soft, so soft, +Not knowing where you lie, nor how softly, +Nor why your nest is so soft, +Nor how your nest is so warm. +You, little heart of my heart, +You lie in my heart, +Warm, safe and soft as this body of yours, +This dear kissed body of yours that lies +Here in my arms and sucks the strength from my breast, +The strength you will break my heart with one of these days. + + + + + + +VI. + + + + + +THE ISLAND. + +DOES the wind sing in your ears at night, in the town, +Rattling the windows and doors of the cheap-built place? +Do you hear its song as it flies over marsh and down? +Do you feel the kiss that the wind leaves here on my face? +Or, wrapt in a lamplit quiet, do you restrain +Thoughts that would take the wind's way hither to me, +And bid them rest safe-anchored, nor tempt again +The tumult, and torment, and passion that live in the sea? + +I, for my part, when the wind sings loud in its might, +I bid it hush--nor awaken again the storm +That swept my heart out to sea on a moonless night, +And dashed it ashore on an island wondrous and warm +Where all things fair and forbidden for ever flower, +Where the worst of life is a dream, and the best comes true, +When the harvest of years was reaped in a single hour +And the gods, for once, were honest with me and you. + +I will not hear when the wind and the sea cry out, +I will not trust again to the hurrying wind, +I will not swim again in a sea of doubt, +And reach that shore with the world left well behind; +But you,--I would have you listen to every call +Of the changing wind, as it blows over marsh and main, +And heap life's joys in your hands, and offer them all, +If only your feet might touch that island again! + +POSSESSION. + +THE child was yours and none of mine, +And yet you gave it me to keep, +And bade me sew it raiment fine, +And wrap my kisses round its sleep. + +I carried it upon my breast, +I fed it in a world apart, +I wrapped my kisses round its rest, +I rocked its cradle with my heart. + +When in mad nights of rain and storm +You turned us homeless from your door, +I wrapped it close, I kept it warm, +And brought it safe to you once more. + +But the last time you drove us forth, +The snow was wrapped about its head, +That night the wind blew from the North, +And on my heart the child was dead. + +The child is mine and none of yours, +My life was his while he had breath, +What of your claim to him endures, +Who only gave him birth and death? + +ACCESSION. + +ONCE I loved, and my heart bowed down, +Subject and slave, for Love was a King; +He sat above with sceptre and crown, +Turning his eyes from my sorrowing. +The laugh of a god on his lips lay light-- +His lips victorious that mocked my pain, +And I mourned in the cold and the outer night, +And my tears and my prayers were vain. + +Now the old spell is over and done, +Myself I wear the ermine and gold, +My brows are crowned, I ascend the throne, +I have taken the sceptre and orb to hold. +I smile victorious, set far above +The music of voices that moan and pray, +My feet are wet with the tears of love, +And I turn my eyes away. + +THE DESTROYER. + +ACROSS the quiet pastures of my soul +The invading army marched in splendid might +My few poor forces fled beyond control, +Scattered, defeated, hidden in the night. + +My fields were green, their hedges white with May, +With gold of buttercups made bright and fair, +The careless conquerors did not even stay +To gather one of all the blossoms there. + +Only when they had passed, the fields were brown, +The grass and blossoms trampled in the mud: +The flowering hedges withered and torn down, +And no one richer by a single bud. + +THE EGOISTS. + +TWO strangers, from opposing poles, +Meet in the torrid zone of Love: +And their desire seems set above +The limitation of their souls. + +This is the trap; this is the snare, +This is the false, enchanting light, +And when it smoulders into night, +How can each know the other is there? + +They own no bond of common speech; +Each, from far shores by wild winds brought, +Gropes for some cord of common thought +To draw the other within reach. + +Each when the dark tide drowns their star, +Cries out, "Thou art not one with me: +One flesh we seemed when eyes could see, +But now, how far thou art! How far!" + +Each calling, "Come! be mine! be wise!" +Stands obstinately in his place, +How can these two come face to face, +Till light spring from their meeting eyes? + +Could both but once cry, "Far thou art, +But I am coming!" How the beat +Of waves that part them would retreat, +Resurge and find them, heart to heart! + +THE WAY OF LOVE. + +THE butterfly loves the rose, +He flutters around her bed, +Till the soft curled leaves unclose, +And she raises her darling head. + +He whispers of dawn and of dew, +Of love, and the heart of love, +Of worship, timid and true, +And she takes no joy thereof. + +But when, through the noon's blind heat, +The arrogant bee flaunts by, +She yields him her heart's hid sweet, +And he leaves her alone, to die. + +The depth of her dying bliss +Her grief-white butterfly knows: +And the bee laughs low in the kiss +Of another, a redder rose. + +TO ONE WHO PLEADED FOR CANDOUR IN LOVE. + +HERE is the dim enchanted wood +Your face, a mystery divine, +But half revealed, half understood, +Appears the counterpart of mine. + +Beyond the wood the daylight lies; +Cruel and hard, it lies in wait +To steal the magic from your eyes +And from your lips the thrill of fate. + +Ah, stay with me a little while +Here, where the magic shadows rest, +Where all my world is in your smile +And all my heaven on your breast. + +Ah no!--cling close, what need to move, +What need to advance or explore? +We came here blindly, led by love, +Who will not lead us any more. + +Thank God that here we two have stood, +Thank God this shade was ours to win; +Time with his axe has marked our wood +And he will let the daylight in. + +THE ENCHANTED GARDEN. + +OH, what a garden it was, living gold, living green, +Full of enchantments like spices embalming the air, +There, where you fled and I followed--you ever unseen, +Yet each glad pulse of me cried to my heart, "She is there!" + +Roses and lilies and lilies and roses again, +Tangle of leaves and white magic of blossoming trees, +Sunlight that lay where, last moment, your footstep had lain-- +Was not the garden enchanted that proffered me these? + +Ah, what a garden it is since I caught you at last-- +Scattered the magic and shattered the spell with a kiss: +Wintry and dreary and cold with the wind of the past, +Ah that a garden enchanted should wither to this! + +THE POOR MAN'S GUEST. + +ONE came to me in royal guise +With banners flying fair and free +But many griefs had made me wise +And I refused to bow the knee. + +Then one drew near who bore the flower +Of all the flowers of June and May; +But many griefs had lent me power +And I was strong to turn away. + +Then came a beggar to my gate +With shoulders bowed to sorrow's pack, +So weary and so desolate +I had no heart to turn him back. + +I let him share my board, my bed, +I warmed him in my shrinking breast, +I gave him all I had, and said: +"You, only you, have been my guest. + +"Love passed in many a fair disguise +But never could an entrance win, +But you came in such piteous wise, +Poor friend, I could but let you in." + +Low laughed my guest: "Kind friend!" said he, +And dropped the rags he was weary of; +And I, betrayed, saw over me +The terrible face of outraged Love. + +IN THE SHALLOWS. + +AMONG the shallows where the sand +Is golden and the waves are small, +I love to lie, and to my hand +How many little treasures fall! +What shells and seaweed grace the shore, +What happy birds on happy wings, +And for companions, what a store +Of humble, happy, living things! + +Yet the sea's depths are also mine, +And in the old days I used to dive +Into the caves, where corals shine +And where the shimmering mer-folk live. +I am the master of the sea +In deeps where fairy flowers uncurl; +That treasure-house belongs to me, +Those amber halls, those stairs of pearl. + +But now thereto I go no more, +Because of all the argosies, +Deep sunk upon the ocean floor, +Where all the world's lost treasure lies. +Where loveless laughter curls the lips +Of wild sea creatures at their sport +About the bones of noble ships, +My ships, that never came to port. + +"AND THE RAINS DESCENDED AND THE FLOODS CAME." + +NOW the far waves roll nearer and more near, +The wind's awake, the pitiless wind's awake, +It shrieks the menace that I dare not hear, +Soon at my feet the angry waves will break +In desolating wrath--and here I stand +Helpless my house is built upon the sand. + +O you, whose house upon a rock is set, +Laugh, safe and sure, at threatening wave and wind. +You chose the better part and yet--and yet, +There was no other ground that I could find, +And I was weary and I longed to raise +A house to guard my shivering nights and days. + +And it was pleasant in the house I made, +While still the floods and winds were held asleep. +I blessed it at the dawn, at night I prayed +As though its dear foundations had been deep +Sunk in the rock. I whispered in surmise, +"What if winds never wake, floods never rise?" + +And now the waves are near and very near, +And here I wait and wonder which may be +The wave in which my house will disappear, +My little house that loved and sheltered me, +Where joy still sings, her garland in her hand, +Built on the sand, oh God, built on the sand! + +THE STAR. + +I HAD a star to sing by, a beautiful star that led, +But when I sang of its splendour the world in its wisdom said: +"Sweet are your songs, yet the singer sings but in madness when +He hymns but stars unbeholden of us his fellows of men; +Glow-worms we see and marshlights; sing us sweet songs of those +For the guerdons we have to give you, laurel and gold and rose; +Or if you must sing of stars, unseen of your brother man, +Go, starve with your eyes on your vision; your star may save if it can!" + +So I said, "If I starve and die I never again shall see +The glory, the high white radiance that hallows the world for me; +I will sing their songs, if it must be, and when I have golden store, +I will turn from the marsh and the glow-worms, and sing of my star once more." +So I walked in the warm wet by-ways, not daring to lift my eyes +Lest love should drive me to singing my star supreme in the skies, +And the world cried out, "We will crown him, he sings of the lights that are, +Glories of marshlight and glow-worms, not visions vain of a star!" + +I said, "Now my brows are laurelled, my hands filled full of their gold, +I will sing the starry songs that these earthworms bade withhold. +It is time to sing of my star!" for I dreamed that my star still shone, +Then I lifted my eyes in my triumph. Night! night! and my star was gone. + + + + + + +VII. + + + + + +THE PRODIGAL SON. + +COME home, come home, for your eyes are sore +With the glare of the noonday sun, +And nothing looks as it did before, +And the best of the day is done. + +You have played your match, and ridden your race, +You have fought in your fight--and lost; +And life has set its claws in your face, +And you know what the scratches cost. + +Out there the world is cruel and loud, +It strikes at the beaten man; +Come out of the press of the stranger crowd +To the place where your life began. + +The best robe lies in the cedar chest, +And your father's ring is here; +You have known the worst, come home to the best-- +You will pay for it, never fear! + +In every kiss of your sister's mouth, +In each tear from your mother's eyes, +You will pay the price of the days in the South +Where the far-off country lies. + +DESPAIR. + +SMILE on me, mouth of red--so much too red, +Shine on me, eyes which darkened lashes shade, +Turn, turn my way, oh glorious golden head, +My soul is lost, then let the price be paid! +Amid rich flowers your rosy lamplight gleams, +Amid rich hangings pass your scented hours, +And woods and fields are green but in my dreams, +And only in my dreams grow meadow-flowers. + +I have forgotten everything but you-- +The apple orchard where the whitethroat sings, +The quiet fields, the moonlight, and the dew, +The virgin's bower that in wet hedgerow clings. +I have forgotten how the cool grass waves +Where clean winds blow, and where good women pray +For happy, honest men, safe in their graves; +And--oh, my God! I would I were as they! + +THE TEMPTATION. + +YOU bring your love too late, dear, I have no love to buy it, +I spent my love on worthless toys, at fairs you do not know; +I am a bankrupt trader--dear eyes, do not deny it, +I could have bought your love, dear, but that was long ago. + +My soul has left me widowed, my heart has made me orphan, +Leave me--all good things, dear, have left me--leave me too! +For here is ice no tears of yours, no smiles of yours can soften: +Leave me, leave me, leave me, I have no love for you! + +I have no flowers to give you, they grow not in my garden; +I have no songs to sing you, my songs have all been sung; +I have no hope of heaven, no faith in any pardon, +I might have loved you once, dear, when I was good and young. + +I will not steal, nor cheat you; take back the heart you lent me. +O God, whom I have outraged, now teach me how to pray, +That love come never again so near me to torment me, +Lest I be found less faithful than, by Thy grace, to-day. + +SECOND NATURE. + +WHEN I was young how fair the skies, +Such folly of cloud, such blue depths wise, +Such dews of morn, such calms of eve, +So many the lure and the reprieve-- +Life seemed a toy to break and mend +And make a charm of in the end. + +Then slowly all the dew dried up +And only dust lay in the cup; +And since, to slake his thirst, man must, +I sought a cup that had no dust, +And found it at the Goat and Vine-- +Mingled of brandy, beer and wine. + +The goat-cup, straight, drew down the skies +And lit them in lunatick wise: +What had been rose went scarlet red, +And the pearl tints grew like the dead. +And the fresh primrose of the morn +Was the wet red of rain-spoiled corn. + +Now, with a head that aches and nods +I hold weak hands out to the gods; +And oh! forgiving gods and kind, +They give me healing to my mind, +And show me once again the lawn +Green and clear-gemmed with dews of dawn. + +O gods, who look down from above +Upon our tangle of lust and love, +And, in your purity, perceive +The worth of what our follies leave: +Give us but this, and sink the rest-- +To know that dew and dawn are best. + +DE PROFUNDIS. + +NOW I am cast into the serpent pit +And, catching difficult breath +From the writhing, loathsome, ceaseless stir of it, +The venomous whispers of curling, clasping Death, +I lift my soul out of the pit to Thee +And reaching with my soul to where Thou art +Look down, seeing with free heart +The beast God gave my soul for company +Lie with companions fit; +And bid, with a good will, +The serpent-fangs of ill +Take their foul fill +Of the foul fell it wore. +Though a thousand serpent heads were raised to slay, +A thousand twisting coils writhed where it lay, +There lies the beast, there let it lie for me +And agonize and rave; +For Thou has raised my soul, Thy soul, to Thee! +Thy soul, dear Lord, Thou hast been strong to save! + + + + + + +VIII. + + + + + +AT THE GATE. + +THE monastery towers, as pure and fair +As virgin vows, reached up white hands to Heaven; +The walls, to guard the hidden heart of prayer, +Were strong as sin, and white as sin forgiven; +And there came holy men, by world's woe driven; +And all about the gold-green meadows lay +Flower-decked, like children dear that keep May-holiday. + +"Here," said the Abbot, "let us spend our days, +Days sweetened by the lilies of pure prayer, +Hung with white garlands of the rose of praise; +And, lest the World should enter with her snare-- +Enter and laugh and take us unaware +With her red rose, her purple and her gold-- +Choose we a stranger's hand the porter's keys to hold." + +They chose a beggar from the world outside +To keep their worldward door for them, and he, +Filled with a humble and adoring pride, +Built up a wall of proud humility +Between the monastery's sanctity +And the poor, foolish, humble folk who came +To ask for love and care, in the dear Saviour's name. + +For when the poor crept to the guarded gate +To ask for succour, when the tired asked rest, +When weary souls, bereft and desolate, +Craved comfort, when the murmur of the oppressed +Surged round the grove where prayer had made her nest, +The porter bade such take their griefs away, +And at some other door their bane and burden lay. + +"For this," he said, "is the white house of prayer, +Where day and night the holy voices rise +Through the chill trouble of our earthly air, +And enter at the gate of Paradise. +Trample no more our flower-fields in such wise, +Nor crave the alms of our deep-laden bough; +The prayers of holy men are alms enough, I trow." + +So, seeing that no sick or sorrowing folk +Came ever to be healed or comforted, +The Abbot to his brothers gladly spoke: +"God has accepted our poor prayers," he said; +"Over our land His answering smile is spread. +He has put forth His strong and loving hand, +And sorrow and sin and pain have ceased in all the land. + +"So make we yet more rich our hymns of praise, +Warm we our prayers against our happy heart. +Since God hath taken the gift of all our days +To make a spell that bids all wrong depart, +Has turned our praise to balm for the world's smart, +Fulfilled of prayer and praise be every hour, +For God transfigures praise, and transmutes prayer, to power." + +So went the years. The flowers blossomed now +Untrampled by the dusty, weary feet; +Unbroken hung the green and golden bough, +For none came now to ask for fruit or meat, +For ghostly food, or common bread to eat; +And dreaming, praying, the monks were satisfied, +Till, God remembering him, the beggar-porter died. + +When they had covered up the foolish head, +And on the foolish loving heart heaped clay, +"Which of us, brothers, now," the Abbot said, +"Will face the world, to keep the world away?" +But all their hearts were hard with prayer, and "Nay," +They cried, "ah, bid us not our prayers to leave; +Ah, father, not to-day, for this is Easter Eve". + +And, while they murmured, to their midst there came +A beggar saying, "Brothers, peace, be still! +I am your Brother, in our Father's name, +And I will be your porter, if ye will, +Guarding your gate with what I have of skill". +So all they welcomed him and closed the door, +And gat them gladly back unto their prayers once more. + +But, lo! no sooner did the prayer arise, +A golden flame athwart the chancel dim, +Then came the porter crying, "Haste, arise! +A sick old man waits you to tend on him; +And many wait--a knight whose wound gapes grim, +A red-stained man, with red sins to confess, +A mother pale, who brings her child for you to bless". + +The brothers hastened to the gate, and there +With unaccustomed hand and voice they tried +To ease the body's pain, the spirit's care; +But ere the task was done, the porter cried: +"Behold, the Lord sets your gate open wide, +For here be starving folk who must be fed, +And little ones that cry for love and daily bread!" + +And, with each slow-foot hour, came ever a throng +Of piteous wanderers, sinful folk and sad, +And still the brothers ministered, but long +The day seemed, with no prayer to make them glad; +No holy, meditative joys they had, +No moment's brooding-place could poor prayer find, +Mid all those heart to heal and all those wounds to bind. + +And when the crowded, sunlit day at last +Left the field lonely with its trampled flowers, +Into the chapel's peace the brothers passed +To quell the memory of those hurrying hours. +"Our holy time," they said, "once more is ours! +Come, let us pay our debt of prayer and praise, +Forgetting in God's light the darkness of man's ways!" + +But, ere their voices reached the first psalm's end, +They heard a new, strange rustling round their house; +Then came the porter: "Here comes many a friend, +Pushing aside your budding orchard boughs; +Come, brothers, justify your holy vows. +Here be God's patient, poor, four-footed things +Seek healing at God's well, whence loving-kindness springs." + +Then cried the Abbot in a vexed amaze, +"Our brethren we must aid, if 'tis God's will; +But the wild creatures of the forest ways +Himself God heals with His Almighty skill. +And charity is good, and love--but still +God shall not look in vain for the white prayers +We send on silver feet to climb the starry stairs; + +"For, of all worthy things, prayer has most worth, +It rises like sweet incense up to heaven, +And from God's hand falls back upon the earth, +Being of heavenly bread the accepted leaven. +Through prayer is virtue saved and sin forgiven; +In prayer the impulse and the force are found +That bring in purple and gold the fruitful seasons round. + +"For prayer comes down from heaven in the sun +That giveth life and joy to all things made; +Prayer falls in rain to make broad rivers run +And quickens the seeds in earth's brown bosom laid; +By prayer the red-hung branch is earthward weighed, +By prayer the barn grows full, and full the fold, +For by man's prayer God works his wonders manifold." + +The porter seemed to bow to the reproof; +But when the echo of the night's last prayer +Died in the mystery of the vaulted roof, +A whispered memory in the hallowed air, +The Abbot turned to find him standing there. +"Brother," he said, "I have healed the woodland things +And they go happy and whole--blessing Love's ministerings, + +"And, having healed them, I shall crave your leave +To leave you--for to-night I journey far. +But I have kept your gate this Easter Eve, +And now your house to heaven shines like a star +To show the Angels where God's children are; +And in this day your house has served God more +Than in the praise and prayer of all its years before. + +"Yet I must leave you, though I fain would stay, +For there are other gates I go to keep +Of houses round whose walls, long day by day, +Shut out of hope and love, poor sinners weep-- +Barred folds that keep out God's poor wandering sheep-- +I must teach these that gates where God comes in +Must not be shut at all to pain, or want, or sin. + +"The voice of prayer is very soft and weak, +And sorrow and sin have voices very strong; +Prayer is not heard in heaven when those twain speak, +The voice of prayer faints in the voice of wrong +By the just man endured--oh, Lord, how long?-- +If ye would have your prayers in heaven be heard, +Look that wrong clamour not with too intense a word. + +"But when true love is shed on want and sin, +Their cry is changed, and grows to such a voice +As clamours sweetly at heaven to be let in-- +Such sound as makes the saints in heaven rejoice; +Pure gold of prayer, purged of the vain alloys +Of idleness--that is the sound most dear +Of all the earthly sounds God leans from heaven to hear. + +"Oh, brother, I must leave thee, and for me +The work is heavy, and the burden great. +Thine be this charge I lay upon thee: See +That never again stands barred thy abbey gate; +Look that God's poor be not left desolate; +Ah me! that chidden my shepherds needs must be +When my poor wandering sheep have so great need of me. + +"Brother, forgive thy Brother if he chide, +Thy Brother loves thee--and has loved--for see +The nails are in my hands, and in my side +The spear-wound; and the thorns weigh heavily +Upon my brow--brother, I died for thee-- +For thee, and for my sheep that are astray, +And rose to live for thee, and them, on Easter Day!" + +"My Master and my Lord!" the Abbot cried. +But, where that face had been, shone the new day; +Only on the marble by the Abbot's side, +Where those dear feet had stood, a lily lay-- +A lily white for the white Easter Day. +He sought the gate--no sorrow clamoured there-- +And, not till then, he dared to sink his soul in prayer. + +And from that day himself he kept the gate +Wide open; and the poor from far and wide, +The weary, and wicked, and disconsolate, +Came there for succour and were not denied; +The sick were healed, the repentant sanctified; +And from their hearts rises more prayer and praise +Than ever the abbey knew in all its prayer-filled days. + +And there the Heavenly vision comes no more, +Only, each Easter now, a lily sweet +Lies white and dewy on the chancel floor +Where once had stood the beloved wounded feet; +And the old Abbot feels the nearing beat +Of wings that bring him leave at last to go +And meet his Master, where the immortal lilies grow. + +VIA AMORIS. + +I. + +IT is not Love, this beautiful unrest, +This tremor of longing that invades my breast: +For Love is in his grave this many a year, +He will not rise--I do not wish him here. +It is not memory, for your face and eyes +Are not reflected where that dark pool lies: +It is not hope, for life makes no amends, +And hope and I are long no longer friends: +It is a ghost out of another Spring +It needs but little for its comforting-- +That I should hold your hand and see your face +And muse a little in this quiet place, +Where, through the silence, I can hear you sigh +And feel you sadden, O Virgin Mystery, +And know my thought has in your thought begot +Sadness, its child, and that you know it not. + +II. + +If this were Love, if all this bitter pain +Were but the birth-pang of Love born again, +If through the doubts and dreams resolved, smiled +The prophetic promise of the holy child, +What should I gain? The Love whose dream-lips smiled +Could never be my own and only child, +But to Love's birth would come, with the last pain, +Renunciation, also born again. + +III. + +If this were Love why should I turn away? +Am I not, too, made of the common clay? +Is life so fair, am I so fortunate, +I can refuse the capricious gift of Fate, +The sudden glory, the unhoped-for flowers, +The transfiguration of my earthly hours? + +Come, Love! the house is garnished and is swept, +Washed clean with all the tears that I have wept, +Washed from the stain of my unworthy fears, +Hung with the splendid spoils of wasted years, +Lighted with lamps of hope, and curtained fast +Against the gathered darkness of the past. + +I draw the bolts! I throw the portals wide, +The darkness rushes shivering to my side, +Love is not here--the darkness creeps about +My house wherein the lamps of hope die out. +Ah Love! it was not then your hand that came +Beating my door? your voice that called my name? + +IV. + +"It is not Love, it is not Love," I said, +And bowed in fearful hope my trembling head. +"It is not Love, for Love could never rise +Out of the rock-hewn grave wherein he lies." +But as I spake, the heavenly form drew near +Where close I clasped a hope grown keen as fear, +Upon my head His very hand He laid +And whispered, "It is I, be not afraid!" + +V. + +And this is Love, no rose-crowned laughing guest +By whom my passionate heart should be caressed, +But one re-risen from the grave; austere, +Cold as the grave, and infinitely dear, +To follow whom I lay the whole world down, +Take up the cross, bind on the thorny crown; +And, following whom, my bleeding pilgrim feet +Find the rough pathway sure and very sweet. +The august environment of mighty wings +Shuts out the snare of vain imaginings, +For by my side, crowned with Love's death-white rose, +The Angel of Renunciation goes. + +RETRO SATHANAS. + +"REFUSE, refrain: for this is not the love +The Annunciation Angel warned you of; +This is the little candle, not the sun; +It burns, but will not warm, unhappy one!" + +"But ah! suppose the sun should never shine, +Then what an anguish of regret were mine +To know that even from this I turned away! +Candles may serve, if there should be no day." + +"Nay, better to go cold your whole life long +Than do the sun, than do your soul such wrong: +And if the sun shine not, be life's the blame +And yours the pride, who scorned the meaner flame." + +THE OLD DISPENSATION. + +O THOU, who, high in heaven, +To man hast given +This clouded earthly life +All storm and strife, +Blasted with ice and fire, +Love and desire, +Filled with dead faith, and love +That change is master of-- + +O Thou, who mightest have given +To all Thy heaven, +But who, instead, didst give +This life we live-- +Who feedest with blood and tears +The hungry years-- +I make one prayer to Thee, +O Great God! grant it me. + +Some day when summer shows +Her leaf, her rose, +God, let Thy sinner lie +Under Thy sky, +And feel Thy sun's large grace +Upon his face; +Then grant him this, that he +May not believe in Thee! + +THE NEW DISPENSATION. + +OUT in the sun the buttercups are gold, +The daisies silver all the grassy lane, +And spring has given love a flower to hold, +And love lays blindness on the eyes of pain. + +Within are still, chill aisles and blazoned panes +And carven tombs where memory weeps no more. +And from the lost and holy days remains +One saint beside the long-closed western door. + +Outside the world goes laughing lest it weep, +With here and there some happy child at play; +A mother worshipping the babe asleep, +Or two young lovers dreaming 'neath the May. + +Within, the soul of love broods o'er the place; +The carven saint forgotten many a year +Still lifts to heaven his rapt adoring face +To pray, for those who leave him lonely here, + +That once again the silent church may ring +With songs of joy triumphant over pain-- +Ah! God, who makest the miracle of spring +Make Thou dead faith and love to rise again. + +THE THREE KINGS. + +WHEN the star in the East was lit to shine +The three kings journeyed to Palestine; + +They came from the uttermost parts of earth +With long trains laden with gifts of worth. + +The first king rode on a camel's back, +He came from the land where the kings are black, + +Bringing treasures desired of kings, +Rubies and ivory and precious things. + +An elephant carried the second king, +He came from the land of the sun-rising, + +And gems and gold and spices he bare +With broidered raiment for kings to wear. + +The third king came without steed or train +From the misty land where the white kings reign. + +He bore no gifts save the myrrh in his hand, +For he came on foot from a far-off land. + +Now when they had travelled a-many days +Through tangled forests and desert ways, + +By angry seas and by paths thorn-set +On Christmas Vigil the three kings met. + +And over their meeting a shrouded sky +Made dark the star they had travelled by. + +Then the first king spake and he frowned and said: +"By some ill spell have our feet been led, + +"Now I see in the darkness the fools we are +To follow the light of a lying star. + +"Let us fool no more, but like kings and men +Each get him home to his land again!" + +Then the second king with the weary face, +Gold-tinct as the sun of his reigning place, + +Lifted sad eyes to the clouds and said, +"It was but a dream and the dream is sped. + +"We dreamed of a star that rose new and fair, +But it sets in the night of the old despair. + +"Yet night is faithful though stars betray, +It will lead to our kingdoms far away." + +Then spake the king who had fared alone +From the far-off kingdom, the white-hung throne: + +"O brothers, brothers, so very far +Ye have followed the light of the radiant star, + +"And because for a while ye see it not +Shall its faithful shining be all forgot? + +"On the spirit's pathway the light still lies +Though the star be hid from our longing eyes. + +"To-morrow our star will be bright once more +The little pin-hole in heaven's floor-- + +"The Angels pricked it to let it bring +Our feet to the throne of the new-born King!" + +And the first king heard and the second heard +And their hearts grew humble before the third. + +And they laid them down beside bale and beast +and their sleeping eyes saw light in the East. + +For the Angels fanned them with starry wings +And the waft of visions of unseen things. + +And the next gold day waned trembling and white +And the star was born of the waxing night. + +And the three kings came where the Great King lay, +A little baby among the hay, + +The ox and the ass were standing near +And Mary Mother beside her Dear. + +Then low in the litter the kings bowed down, +They gave Him gold for a kingly crown, + +And frankincense for a great God's breath +and Myrrh to sweeten the day of death. + +The Maiden Mother she stood and smiled +And she took from the manger her little child. + +On the dark king's head she laid His hand +And anger died at that dear command. + +She laid His hand on the gold king's head +And despair itself was comforted. + +But when the pale king knelt in the stall +She heard on the straw his tears down fall. + +And she stooped where he knelt beside her feet +And laid on his bosom her baby sweet. + +And the king in the holy stable-place +Felt the little lips through the tears on his face. + + * * * * * * * + +Christ! lay Thy hand on the angry king +Who reigns in my breast to my undoing, + +And lay thy hands on the king who lays +The spell of sadness on all my days, + +And give the white king my soul, Thy soul, +Of these other kings the high control. + +That soul and spirit and sense may meet +In adoration before Thy feet! + +Now Glory to God the Father Most High, +And the Star, the Spirit, He leads us by. + +And to God's dear Son, the Babe who was born +And laid in the manger on Christmas morn! + + + + + + +IX. + + + + + +AFTER DEATH. + +IF we must part, this parting is the best: +How would you bear to lay +Your head on some warm pillow far away-- +Your head, so used to lying on my breast? + +But now your pillow is cold; +Your hands have flowers, and not my hands, to hold; +Upon our bed the worn bride-linen lies. +I have put the death-money upon your eyes, +So that you should not wake up in the night. +I have bound your face with white; +I have washed you, yes, with water and not with tears,-- +Those arms wherein I have slept so many years, +Those feet that hastened when they came to me, +And all your body that belonged to me. +I have smoothed your dear dull hair, +And there is nothing left to say for you +And nothing left to fear or pray for you; +And I have got the rest of life to bear: +Thank God it is you, not I, who are lying there. + +If I had died +And you had stood beside +This still white bed +Where the white, scented, horrible flowers are spread,-- +I know the thing it is, +And I thank God that He has spared you this. +If one must bear it, thank God it was I +Who had to live and bear to see you die, +Who have to live, and bear to see you dead. + +You will have nothing of it all to bear: +You will not even know that in your bed +You lie alone. You will not miss my head +Beside you on the pillow: you will rest +So soft in the grave you will not miss my breast. +But I--but I--Your pillow and your place-- +And only the darkness laid against my face, +And only my anguish pressed against my side-- +Thank God, thank God, that it was you who died! + +CHLOE. + +NIGHT wind sighing through the poplar leaves, +Trembling of the aspen, shivering of the willow, +Every leafy voice of all the night-time grieves, +Mourning, weeping over Chloe's pillow. + +Chloe, fresher than the breeze of dawn, +Fairer than the larches in their young spring glory, +Brighter than the glow-worms on the dewy lawn, +Hear the dirge the green trees sing to end your story:-- + +"Chloe lived and Chloe loved: she brought new gladness, +Hope and life and all things good to all who met her; +Only, dying, wept to know the lifelong sadness +Willed, against her will, to those who can't forget her." + +INVOCATION. + +COME to-night in a dream to-night, +Come as you used to do, +Come in the gown, in the gown of white, +Come in the ribbon of blue; +Come in the virgin's colours you wear, +Come through the dark and the dew, +Come with the scent of the night in your hair, +Come as you used to do. + +Blue and white of your eyes and your face, +White of your gown and blue, +Will you not come from the happy place, +Come as you used to do? +Tears so many, so many tears +Where there were once so few-- +Can they not wash the gray of the years +From the white of your gown and blue? + +THE LAST BETRAYAL. + +AND I shall lie alone at last, +Clear of the stream that ran so fast, +And feel the flower roots in my hair, +And in my hands the roots of trees; +Myself wrapt in the ungrudging peace +That leaves no pain uncovered anywhere. + +What--this hope left? this way not barred? +This last best treasure without guard? +This heaven free--no prayers to pay? +Fool--are the Rulers of men asleep? +Thou knowest what tears They bade thee weep, +But, when peace comes, 'tis thou wilt sleep, not They. + +A PRAYER FOR THE KING'S MAJESTY. + +22nd January, 1901. + +THE Queen is dead. God save the King, +In this his hour of grief, +When sorrow gathers memories in a sheaf +To lay them on his shoulders as he stands +Inheriting her glories and her lands-- +First gain of his at which his Mother's voice +Has not been first to bless and to rejoice-- +A man, set lonely between gain and loss. +(O words of love the heart remembereth, +O mighty loss outweighing every gain!) +A Son whose kingdom Death's arm lies across, +A King whose Mother lies alone with Death +Wrapped in the folds of white implacable sleep. +O God, who seest the tears Thy children weep, +O God, who countest each sad heart-beat, see +How our King needs the grace we ask of Thee! +Thou knowest how little and how vain a thing +Is Empire, when the heart is sick with pain-- +God, save the King! +The Queen is dead. The splendour of her days, +The sorrow of them both alike merge now +In the new aureole that lights her brow. +The clamour of her people's voice in praise +Must hush itself to the still voice that prays +In the holy chamber of Death. Tread softly here, +A mighty Queen lies dead. +Her people's heart wears black, +The black bells toll unceasing in their ear, +And on the gold sun's track +The great world round +Like a black ring the voice of mourning goes, +Till even our ancient foes +With eyes downbent, and brotherly bared head, +Keep mourning watch with us. This is the hour +When Love lends all his power +To speed grief's arrows from the bow of Death, +When sighs are idle breath, +When tears are fountains vain. +She will not wake again, +Not now, not here. +O great and good and infinitely dear, +O Mother of your people, sleep is sweet, +No more Life's thorny ways will wound your feet. + +O Mother dear, sleep sound! +When you shall wake, +Your brows freed from the crown that made them ache +So many a time, and wear the heavenly crown, +Then, then you will look down +On us who love you, and, remembering, +The love of earth will breathe with us our prayer, +Our prayer prayed here, joined to your prayer prayed there: +Who knows what radiant answer it may bring? +"God save the King!" + +The Queen is dead. God save the King! +From all ill thought and deed, +From heartless service and from selfish sway, +From treason, and the vain imagining +Of evil counsellors, and the noisome breed +Of flatterers who eat the soul away, +God save the King! + +From loss and pain and tears +Such as her many years +Brought her; from battle and strife, +And the inmost hurt of life, +The wounds that no crown can heal, +No ermine robes conceal, +God save the King! + +God, by our memories of his Mother's face, +By the love that makes our heart her dwelling-place, +Grant to our sorrow this desired grace: +God save the King! + + * * * * * * * * * + +The Queen is dead. God save the King. +This is no hour when joy has leave to sing; +Only, amid our tears, we are bold to pray, +More boldly, in that we pray sorrowing, +In this most sorrowful day. +God, who wast of a mortal Mother born, +Who driest the tears with which Thy children mourn, +God, save the King! + +Look down on him whose crown is wet with tears +In which its splendour fades and disappears-- +His tears, our tears, tears out of all her lands. +The Queen is dead. +God! strengthen the King's hands! +God, save the King! + +TRUE LOVE AND NEW LOVE. + +OVER the meadow and down the lane +To the gate by the twisted thorn: +Your feet should know each turn of the way +You trod so many many a day, +Before the old love was put out of its pain, +Before the new love was born. + +Kiss her, hold her and fold her close, +Tell her the old true tale: +You ought to know each turn of the phrase,-- +You learned them all in the poor old days +Before the birth of the new red rose, +Before the old rose grew pale. + +And do not fear I shall creep to-night +To make a third at your tryst: +My ghost, if it walked, would only wait +To scare the others away from the gate +Where you teach your new love the old delight, +With the lips that your old love kissed. + +DEATH. + +NEVER again: +No child shall stir the inmost heart of her +And teach her heaven by that first faint stir; +No little lips shall lie against her breast +Save the cold lips that now lie there at rest; +No little voice shall rouse her from her sleep +And bid her wake to pain: +Her sleep is calm and deep, +Call not! refrain. + +Close in her arm +As though even death drew back before the face +Of Motherhood in this white stilly place, +The gathered bud lies waxen white and cold, +As ever a flower your winter gardens hold. +She bore the pain, she never wore the crown, +She worked the bitter charm, +But all she won thereby is here laid down +Renounced--for good or harm. + +Dream? Feed your soul +With dreams, while we must starve our hearts on clay, +Dream of a glorious white-winged sun-crowned day +When you shall see her once more face to face +Beside Christ's Mother in the blessed place! +But while you dream, they carry her from here, +The black bells toll and toll. +Oh God! if only she cannot see or hear, +Not hear those ghoul-like bells that crowd so near, +Not see that cold clay hole. + +IN MEMORY OF + +SARETTA DEAKIN. + +_Who Died on October 25th_, 1899. + +THERE was a day, +A horrible Autumn day, +When from her home, the home she made for ours +And that day made a nightmare of white flowers +And folk in black who whispered pityingly, +They carried her away; +And left our hearts all cold +And empty, yet with such a store to hold +Of sodden grief the slow drops still ooze out, +And, falling on all fair things, they wither these. +Tears came with time--but not with time went by. + +And still we wander desolate about +The poor changed house, the garden and the croft, +Warm kitchen, sunny parlour, with the soft +Intolerable pervading memories +Of her whose face and voice made melodies, +Sweet unforgotten songs of mother-love-- +Dear songs of all the little joys that were. +We see the sun, and have no joy thereof, +Because she gathered in her dying hands +And carried with her to the fair far lands +The flower of all our joy, because she went +Out of the garden where her days were spent, +And took the very sun away with her. + +The cross stands at her head. +Over her breast, that loving mother-breast, +Close buds of pansies purple and white are pressed. +It seems a place for rest, +For happy folded sleep; but ah, not there, +Not there, not there, our hardest tears are shed, +But in the house made empty for her sake. +Here, in the night intolerable, wake +The hungry passionate pains of Love still strong +To fight with death the bitter slow night long. +Then the rich price that poor Love has to pay +Is paid, slow drop by drop, till the new day +With thin cold fingers pushes back night's wings, +And drags us out to common cruel things +That sting, and barb their stings with memory. +O Love--and is the price too hard to give? +Thine is the splendour of all things that live, +And this thy pain the price of life to thee-- +The sacrament that binds to the beloved, +The chain that holds though mountains be removed, +The portent of thine immortality. + +So, in the house of pain imprisoned, we +Endure our bondage, and work out our time, +Nor seek from out our dungeon walls to climb-- +Bondsmen, who would not, if we could, be free. +Thank God, our hands still hold Love's cord--and she-- +Do not her hands still clasp the cord we hold, +Drawing us near, coiling bright fold on fold, +Till the far day when it shall draw us near +To the sight of her--her living hands, her dear +Tired face, grown weary of watching for our face? +And we shall hold her, in the happy place, +And hear her voice, the old same voice we knew-- +"Ah! children, I am tired of wanting you!" + +Or, in some world more beautiful and dear +Than any she ever even dreamed of here, +Where time is changed, does she await the day +She longed for, and so little a while away, +When all the love we watered with our tears +Shall bloom, transplanted by the kindly years? +Dreaming through her new garden does she go, +Remembering the old garden, long ago, +Tending new flowers more fair than those that grow +In this sad garden where such sad flowers blow; +And, fondly touching bud and leaf and shoot, +Training her flowers to perfect branch and root, +Does she sometimes entreat some darling flower +To wait a little for its opening hour? +Can you not hear her voice: "Ah, not to-day, +While my dear flowers, my own, are far away. +Be patient, bud! to-morrow soon will come: +Ah! blossom when my little girl comes home!" + +But now. But here. +The empty house, the always empty place-- +The black remembrance that no night blots out, +The memories, white, unbearable, and dear +That no white sunlight makes less cruel and clear? +The resistless riotous rout +Of cruel conquering thoughts, the night, the day? +Love is immortal: this the price to pay. +Worse than all pain it would be to forget-- +On Love's brave brow the crown of thorns is set. +Love is no niggard: though the price be high +Into God's market Love goes forth to buy +With royal meed God's greatest gifts and gain, +Love offers up his whole rich store of pain, +And buys of God Love's immortality. + +FOR DOROTHY, 18th August, 1900. + +A PARTING. + +I WILL not wake you, dear; no tears shall creep +To chill the still bed where you lie asleep; +No cry, no word, shall break the sanctity +Of the great silence where God lets you lie. +I will not tease your grave with flower or stone; +You are tired, my heart; you shall be left alone. +And even the kisses that my lips must lay +Upon the mould of the triumphant clay +Shall be so soft--like those a mother lays +Upon her sleeping baby's little face-- +You will not feel my kisses, will not hear; +You are tired: sleep on, I will not wake you, dear! +But when the good day comes, you will hear me cry, +"Ah, make a little place where I can lie!" +And half awakened, you will feel me creep +Into the folds of your familiar sleep, +And draw them round us, with a tender moan, +"How could you let me sleep so long alone?" + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of The Rainbow And The Rose, by E. Nesbit + |