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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..748a6d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #55178 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55178) diff --git a/old/55178-0.txt b/old/55178-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fb9d00c..0000000 --- a/old/55178-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6542 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetical Works of Robert Bridges (Volume 2), by -Robert Bridges - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Poetical Works of Robert Bridges (Volume 2) - -Author: Robert Bridges - -Release Date: July 23, 2017 [EBook #55178] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Les Galloway and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - POETICAL WORKS - - of - - ROBERT BRIDGES - - Volume II - - [Illustration] - - London - Smith, Elder & Co - 15 Waterloo Place - 1898 - - - - - OXFORD: HORACE HART - PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY - - - - -_POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES_ - - -_VOLUME THE SECOND CONTAINING_ - - _SHORTER POEMS_ _p._ 5 - - _NEW POEMS_ 209 - - _NOTES_ 291 - - _INDEX OF FIRST LINES_ 295 - - - - -LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS - - -_SHORTER POEMS._ - - 1. _Bks. I-IV. Clarendon Press. Geo. Bell & Sons, Oct. 1890. - Reprinted, Nov. 1890, 1891, 1894._ - - 2. _Bks. I-V. Private Press of H. Daniel. Oxford, 1894._ - - 3. _Do._ _do._ _Clarendon Press. George Bell & Sons, 1896._ - - 4. _Cheap issue of 3. 1899. Reprinted, 1899._ - - -_NEW POEMS._ - - _Collected here for the first time._ - - * * * * * - -_For account of earlier issues of first four books of Shorter Poems, -and of some of the poems contained in the New Poems, see notes at end -of this volume._ - - - - - THE - SHORTER - POEMS - - IN FOUR BOOKS - - - - - SHORTER POEMS - - - BOOK I - - - DEDICATED TO - - H. E. W. - - - - -BOOK I - - -I - -ELEGY - - - Clear and gentle stream! - Known and loved so long - That hast heard the song, - And the idle dream - Of my boyish day; - While I once again - Down thy margin stray, - In the selfsame strain - Still my voice is spent, - With my old lament - And my idle dream, - Clear and gentle stream! - - Where my old seat was - Here again I sit, - Where the long boughs knit - Over stream and grass - A translucent eaves: - Where back eddies play - Shipwreck with the leaves, - And the proud swans stray, - Sailing one by one - Out of stream and sun, - And the fish lie cool - In their chosen pool. - - Many an afternoon - Of the summer day - Dreaming here I lay; - And I know how soon, - Idly at its hour, - First the deep bell hums - From the minster tower, - And then evening comes, - Creeping up the glade, - With her lengthening shade, - And the tardy boon, - Of her brightening moon. - - Clear and gentle stream! - Ere again I go - Where thou dost not flow, - Well does it beseem - Thee to hear again - Once my youthful song, - That familiar strain - Silent now so long: - Be as I content - With my old lament - And my idle dream, - Clear and gentle stream. - - - - -2 - -ELEGY - - - The wood is bare: a river-mist is steeping - The trees that winter’s chill of life bereaves: - Only their stiffened boughs break silence, weeping - Over their fallen leaves; - - That lie upon the dank earth brown and rotten, - Miry and matted in the soaking wet: - Forgotten with the spring, that is forgotten - By them that can forget. - - Yet it was here we walked when ferns were springing, - And through the mossy bank shot bud and blade:— - Here found in summer, when the birds were singing, - A green and pleasant shade. - - ’Twas here we loved in sunnier days and greener; - And now, in this disconsolate decay, - I come to see her where I most have seen her, - And touch the happier day. - - For on this path, at every turn and corner, - The fancy of her figure on me falls: - Yet walks she with the slow step of a mourner, - Nor hears my voice that calls. - - So through my heart there winds a track of feeling, - A path of memory, that is all her own: - Whereto her phantom beauty ever stealing - Haunts the sad spot alone. - - About her steps the trunks are bare, the branches - Drip heavy tears upon her downcast head; - And bleed unseen wounds that no sun staunches, - For the year’s sun is dead. - - And dead leaves wrap the fruits that summer planted: - And birds that love the South have taken wing. - The wanderer, loitering o’er the scene enchanted, - Weeps, and despairs of spring. - - - - -3 - - - Poor withered rose and dry, - Skeleton of a rose, - Risen to testify - To love’s sad close: - - Treasured for love’s sweet sake, - That of joy past - Thou might’st again awake - Memory at last. - - Yet is thy perfume sweet; - Thy petals red - Yet tell of summer heat, - And the gay bed: - - Yet, yet recall the glow - Of the gazing sun, - When at thy bush we two - Joined hands in one. - - But, rose, thou hast not seen, - Thou hast not wept - The change that passed between, - Whilst thou hast slept. - - To me thou seemest yet - The dead dream’s thrall: - While I live and forget - Dream, truth and all. - - Thou art more fresh than I, - Rose, sweet and red: - Salt on my pale cheeks lie - The tears I shed. - - - - -4 - -THE CLIFF-TOP - - - The cliff-top has a carpet - Of lilac, gold and green: - The blue sky bounds the ocean - The white clouds scud between. - - A flock of gulls are wheeling - And wailing round my seat; - Above my head the heaven, - The sea beneath my feet. - - - THE OCEAN. - - Were I a cloud I’d gather - My skirts up in the air, - And fly I well know whither, - And rest I well know where. - - As pointed the star surely, - The legend tells of old, - Where the wise kings might offer - Myrrh, frankincense, and gold; - - Above the house I’d hover - Where dwells my love, and wait - Till haply I might spy her - Throw back the garden-gate. - - There in the summer evening - I would bedeck the moon; - I would float down and screen her - From the sun’s rays at noon; - - And if her flowers should languish, - Or wither in the drought, - Upon her tall white lilies - I’d pour my heart’s blood out: - - So if she wore one only, - And shook not out the rain, - Were I a cloud, O cloudlet, - I had not lived in vain. - - [_A cloud speaks._ - - - A CLOUD. - - But were I thou, O ocean, - I would not chafe and fret - As thou, because a limit - To thy desires is set. - - I would be blue, and gentle, - Patient, and calm, and see - If my smiles might not tempt her, - My love, to come to me. - - I’d make my depths transparent, - And still, that she should lean - O’er the boat’s edge to ponder - The sights that swam between. - - I would command strange creatures, - Of bright hue and quick fin, - To stir the water near her, - And tempt her bare arm in. - - I’d teach her spend the summer - With me: and I can tell, - That, were I thou, O ocean, - My love should love me well. - - - * * * * * - - But on the mad cloud scudded, - The breeze it blew so stiff; - And the sad ocean bellowed, - And pounded at the cliff. - - - - -5 - - - I heard a linnet courting - His lady in the spring: - His mates were idly sporting, - Nor stayed to hear him sing - His song of love.— - I fear my speech distorting - His tender love. - - The phrases of his pleading - Were full of young delight; - And she that gave him heeding - Interpreted aright - His gay, sweet notes,— - So sadly marred in the reading,— - His tender notes. - - And when he ceased, the hearer - Awaited the refrain, - Till swiftly perching nearer - He sang his song again, - His pretty song:— - Would that my verse spake clearer - His tender song! - - Ye happy, airy creatures! - That in the merry spring - Think not of what misfeatures - Or cares the year may bring; - But unto love - Resign your simple natures, - To tender love. - - - - -6 - - - Dear lady, when thou frownest, - And my true love despisest, - And all thy vows disownest - That sealed my venture wisest; - I think thy pride’s displeasure - Neglects a matchless treasure - Exceeding price and measure. - - But when again thou smilest, - And love for love returnest, - And fear with joy beguilest, - And takest truth in earnest; - Then, though I sheer adore thee, - The sum of my love for thee - Seems poor, scant, and unworthy. - - - - -7 - - - I will not let thee go. - Ends all our month-long love in this? - Can it be summed up so, - Quit in a single kiss? - I will not let thee go. - - I will not let thee go. - If thy words’ breath could scare thy deeds, - As the soft south can blow - And toss the feathered seeds, - Then might I let thee go. - - I will not let thee go. - Had not the great sun seen, I might; - Or were he reckoned slow - To bring the false to light, - Then might I let thee go. - - I will not let thee go. - The stars that crowd the summer skies - Have watched us so below - With all their million eyes, - I dare not let thee go. - - I will not let thee go. - Have we not chid the changeful moon, - Now rising late, and now - Because she set too soon, - And shall I let thee go? - - I will not let thee go. - Have not the young flowers been content, - Plucked ere their buds could blow, - To seal our sacrament? - I cannot let thee go. - - I will not let thee go. - I hold thee by too many bands: - Thou sayest farewell, and lo! - I have thee by the hands, - And will not let thee go. - - - - -8 - - - I found to-day out walking - The flower my love loves best. - What, when I stooped to pluck it, - Could dare my hand arrest? - - Was it a snake lay curling - About the root’s thick crown? - Or did some hidden bramble - Tear my hand reaching down? - - There was no snake uncurling, - And no thorn wounded me; - ’Twas my heart checked me, sighing - She is beyond the sea. - - - - -9 - - - A poppy grows upon the shore, - Bursts her twin cup in summer late: - Her leaves are glaucous-green and hoar, - Her petals yellow, delicate. - - Oft to her cousins turns her thought, - In wonder if they care that she - Is fed with spray for dew, and caught - By every gale that sweeps the sea. - - She has no lovers like the red, - That dances with the noble corn: - Her blossoms on the waves are shed, - Where she stands shivering and forlorn. - - - - -10 - - - Sometimes when my lady sits by me - My rapture’s so great, that I tear - My mind from the thought that she’s nigh me, - And strive to forget that she’s there. - And sometimes when she is away - Her absence so sorely does try me, - That I shut to my eyes, and assay - To think she is there sitting by me. - - - - -11 - - - Long are the hours the sun is above, - But when evening comes I go home to my love. - - I’m away the daylight hours and more, - Yet she comes not down to open the door. - - She does not meet me upon the stair,— - She sits in my chamber and waits for me there. - - As I enter the room she does not move: - I always walk straight up to my love; - - And she lets me take my wonted place - At her side, and gaze in her dear dear face. - - There as I sit, from her head thrown back - Her hair falls straight in a shadow black. - - Aching and hot as my tired eyes be, - She is all that I wish to see. - - And in my wearied and toil-dinned ear, - She says all things that I wish to hear. - - Dusky and duskier grows the room, - Yet I see her best in the darker gloom. - - When the winter eves are early and cold, - The firelight hours are a dream of gold. - - And so I sit here night by night, - In rest and enjoyment of love’s delight. - - But a knock at the door, a step on the stair - Will startle, alas, my love from her chair. - - If a stranger comes she will not stay: - At the first alarm she is off and away. - - And he wonders, my guest, usurping her throne, - That I sit so much by myself alone. - - - - -12 - - - Who has not walked upon the shore, - And who does not the morning know, - The day the angry gale is o’er, - The hour the wind has ceased to blow? - - The horses of the strong south-west - Are pastured round his tropic tent, - Careless how long the ocean’s breast - Sob on and sigh for passion spent. - - The frightened birds, that fled inland - To house in rock and tower and tree, - Are gathering on the peaceful strand, - To tempt again the sunny sea; - - Whereon the timid ships steal out - And laugh to find their foe asleep, - That lately scattered them about, - And drave them to the fold like sheep. - - The snow-white clouds he northward chased - Break into phalanx, line, and band: - All one way to the south they haste, - The south, their pleasant fatherland. - - From distant hills their shadows creep, - Arrive in turn and mount the lea, - And flit across the downs, and leap - Sheer off the cliff upon the sea; - - And sail and sail far out of sight. - But still I watch their fleecy trains, - That piling all the south with light, - Dapple in France the fertile plains. - - - - -13 - - - I made another song, - In likeness of my love: - And sang it all day long, - Around, beneath, above; - I told my secret out, - That none might be in doubt. - - I sang it to the sky, - That veiled his face to hear - How far her azure eye - Outdoes his splendid sphere; - But at her eyelids’ name - His white clouds fled for shame. - - I told it to the trees, - And to the flowers confest, - And said not one of these - Is like my lily drest; - Nor spathe nor petal dared - Vie with her body bared. - - I shouted to the sea, - That set his waves a-prance; - Her floating hair is free, - Free are her feet to dance; - And for thy wrath, I swear - Her frown is more to fear. - - And as in happy mood - I walked and sang alone, - At eve beside the wood - I met my love, my own: - And sang to her the song - I had sung all day long. - - - - -14 - -ELEGY - -ON A LADY, WHOM GRIEF FOR THE DEATH OF HER -BETROTHED KILLED - - - Assemble, all ye maidens, at the door, - And all ye loves, assemble; far and wide - Proclaim the bridal, that proclaimed before - Has been deferred to this late eventide: - For on this night the bride, - The days of her betrothal over, - Leaves the parental hearth for evermore; - To-night the bride goes forth to meet her lover. - - Reach down the wedding vesture, that has lain - Yet all unvisited, the silken gown: - Bring out the bracelets, and the golden chain - Her dearer friends provided: sere and brown - Bring out the festal crown, - And set it on her forehead lightly: - Though it be withered, twine no wreath again; - This only is the crown she can wear rightly. - - Cloke her in ermine, for the night is cold, - And wrap her warmly, for the night is long, - In pious hands the flaming torches hold, - While her attendants, chosen from among - Her faithful virgin throng, - May lay her in her cedar litter, - Decking her coverlet with sprigs of gold, - Roses, and lilies white that best befit her. - - Sound flute and tabor, that the bridal be - Not without music, nor with these alone; - But let the viol lead the melody, - With lesser intervals, and plaintive moan - Of sinking semitone; - And, all in choir, the virgin voices - Rest not from singing in skilled harmony - The song that aye the bridegroom’s ear rejoices. - - Let the priests go before, arrayed in white, - And let the dark-stoled minstrels follow slow, - Next they that bear her, honoured on this night, - And then the maidens, in a double row, - Each singing soft and low, - And each on high a torch upstaying: - Unto her lover lead her forth with light, - With music, and with singing, and with praying. - - ’Twas at this sheltering hour he nightly came, - And found her trusty window open wide, - And knew the signal of the timorous flame, - That long the restless curtain would not hide - Her form that stood beside; - As scarce she dared to be delighted, - Listening to that sweet tale, that is no shame - To faithful lovers, that their hearts have plighted. - - But now for many days the dewy grass - Has shown no markings of his feet at morn: - And watching she has seen no shadow pass - The moonlit walk, and heard no music borne - Upon her ear forlorn. - In vain has she looked out to greet him; - He has not come, he will not come, alas! - So let us bear her out where she must meet him. - - Now to the river bank the priests are come: - The bark is ready to receive its freight: - Let some prepare her place therein, and some - Embark the litter with its slender weight: - The rest stand by in state, - And sing her a safe passage over; - While she is oared across to her new home, - Into the arms of her expectant lover. - - And thou, O lover, that art on the watch, - Where, on the banks of the forgetful streams, - The pale indifferent ghosts wander, and snatch - The sweeter moments of their broken dreams,— - Thou, when the torchlight gleams, - When thou shalt see the slow procession, - And when thine ears the fitful music catch, - Rejoice, for thou art near to thy possession. - - - - -15 - -RONDEAU - - - His poisoned shafts, that fresh he dips - In juice of plants that no bee sips, - He takes, and with his bow renown’d - Goes out upon his hunting ground, - Hanging his quiver at his hips. - - He draws them one by one, and clips - Their heads between his finger-tips, - And looses with a twanging sound - His poisoned shafts. - - But if a maiden with her lips - Suck from the wound the blood that drips, - And drink the poison from the wound, - The simple remedy is found - That of their deadly terror strips - His poisoned shafts. - - - - -16 - -TRIOLET - - - When first we met we did not guess - That Love would prove so hard a master; - Of more than common friendliness - When first we met we did not guess. - Who could foretell this sore distress, - This irretrievable disaster - When first we met?—We did not guess - That Love would prove so hard a master. - - - - -17 - -TRIOLET - - - All women born are so perverse - No man need boast their love possessing. - If nought seem better, nothing’s worse: - All women born are so perverse. - From Adam’s wife, that proved a curse - Though God had made her for a blessing, - All women born are so perverse - No man need boast their love possessing. - - - - - SHORTER POEMS - - BOOK II - - - TO - - THE MEMORY OF - - G. M. H. - - - - -BOOK II - - -1 - - - MUSE. - - Will Love again awake, - That lies asleep so long? - - - POET. - - O hush! ye tongues that shake - The drowsy night with song. - - - MUSE. - - It is a lady fair - Whom once he deigned to praise, - That at the door doth dare - Her sad complaint to raise. - - - POET. - - She must be fair of face, - As bold of heart she seems, - If she would match her grace - With the delight of dreams. - - - MUSE. - - Her beauty would surprise - Gazers on Autumn eves, - Who watched the broad moon rise - Upon the scattered sheaves. - - - POET. - - O sweet must be the voice - He shall descend to hear, - Who doth in Heaven rejoice - His most enchanted ear. - - - MUSE. - - The smile, that rests to play - Upon her lip, foretells - What musical array - Tricks her sweet syllables. - - - POET. - - And yet her smiles have danced - In vain, if her discourse - Win not the soul entranced - In divine intercourse. - - - MUSE. - - She will encounter all - This trial without shame, - Her eyes men Beauty call, - And Wisdom is her name. - - - POET. - - Throw back the portals then, - Ye guards, your watch that keep, - Love will awake again - That lay so long asleep. - - - - -2 - -A PASSER-BY - - - Whither, O splendid ship, thy white sails crowding, - Leaning across the bosom of the urgent West, - That fearest nor sea rising, nor sky clouding, - Whither away, fair rover, and what thy quest? - Ah! soon, when Winter has all our vales opprest, - When skies are cold and misty, and hail is hurling, - Wilt thóu glíde on the blue Pacific, or rest - In a summer haven asleep, thy white sails furling. - - I there before thee, in the country that well thou knowest, - Already arrived am inhaling the odorous air: - I watch thee enter unerringly where thou goest, - And anchor queen of the strange shipping there, - Thy sails for awnings spread, thy masts bare: - Nor is aught from the foaming reef to the snow-capped, grandest - Peak, that is over the feathery palms more fair - Than thou, so upright, so stately, and still thou standest. - - And yet, O splendid ship, unhailed and nameless, - I know not if, aiming a fancy, I rightly divine - That thou hast a purpose joyful, a courage blameless, - Thy port assured in a happier land than mine. - But for all I have given thee, beauty enough is thine, - As thou, aslant with trim tackle and shrouding, - From the proud nostril curve of a prow’s line - In the offing scatterest foam, thy white sails crowding. - - - - -3 - -LATE SPRING EVENING - - - I saw the Virgin-mother clad in green, - Walking the sprinkled meadows at sundown; - While yet the moon’s cold flame was hung between - The day and night, above the dusky town: - I saw her brighter than the Western gold, - Whereto she faced in splendour to behold. - - Her dress was greener than the tenderest leaf - That trembled in the sunset glare aglow: - Herself more delicate than is the brief, - Pink apple-blossom, that May showers lay low, - And more delicious than’s the earliest streak - The blushing rose shows of her crimson cheek. - - As if to match the sight that so did please, - A music entered, making passion fain: - Three nightingales sat singing in the trees, - And praised the Goddess for the fallen rain; - Which yet their unseen motions did arouse, - Or parting Zephyrs shook out from the boughs. - - And o’er the treetops, scattered in mid air, - The exhausted clouds, laden with crimson light - Floated, or seemed to sleep; and, highest there, - One planet broke the lingering ranks of night; - Daring day’s company, so he might spy - The Virgin-queen once with his watchful eye. - - And when I saw her, then I worshipped her, - And said,—O bounteous Spring, O beauteous Spring, - Mother of all my years, thou who dost stir - My heart to adore thee and my tongue to sing, - Flower of my fruit, of my heart’s blood the fire, - Of all my satisfaction the desire! - - How art thou every year more beautiful, - Younger for all the winters thou hast cast: - And I, for all my love grows, grow more dull, - Decaying with each season overpast! - In vain to teach him love must man employ thee, - The more he learns the less he can enjoy thee. - - - - -4 - -WOOING - - - I know not how I came, - New on my knightly journey, - To win the fairest dame - That graced my maiden tourney. - - Chivalry’s lovely prize - With all men’s gaze upon her, - Why did she free her eyes - On me, to do me honour? - - Ah! ne’er had I my mind - With such high hope delighted, - Had she not first inclined, - And with her eyes invited. - - But never doubt I knew, - Having their glance to cheer me, - Until the day joy grew - Too great, too sure, too near me. - - When hope a fear became, - And passion, grown too tender, - Now trembled at the shame - Of a despised surrender; - - And where my love at first - Saw kindness in her smiling, - I read her pride, and cursed - The arts of her beguiling. - - Till winning less than won, - And liker wooed than wooing, - Too late I turned undone - Away from my undoing; - - And stood beside the door, - Whereto she followed, making - My hard leave-taking more - Hard by her sweet leave-taking. - - Her speech would have betrayed - Her thought, had mine been colder: - Her eyes distress had made - A lesser lover bolder. - - But no! Fond heart, distrust, - Cried Wisdom, and consider: - Go free, since go thou must;— - And so farewell I bid her. - - And brisk upon my way - I smote the stroke to sever, - And should have lost that day - My life’s delight for ever: - - But when I saw her start - And turn aside and tremble;— - Ah! she was true, her heart - I knew did not dissemble. - - - - -5 - - - There is a hill beside the silver Thames, - Shady with birch and beech and odorous pine: - And brilliant underfoot with thousand gems - Steeply the thickets to his floods decline. - Straight trees in every place - Their thick tops interlace, - And pendant branches trail their foliage fine - Upon his watery face. - - Swift from the sweltering pasturage he flows: - His stream, alert to seek the pleasant shade, - Pictures his gentle purpose, as he goes - Straight to the caverned pool his toil has made. - His winter floods lay bare - The stout roots in the air: - His summer streams are cool, when they have played - Among their fibrous hair. - - A rushy island guards the sacred bower, - And hides it from the meadow, where in peace - The lazy cows wrench many a scented flower, - Robbing the golden market of the bees: - And laden barges float - By banks of myosote; - And scented flag and golden flower-de-lys - Delay the loitering boat. - - And on this side the island, where the pool - Eddies away, are tangled mass on mass - The water-weeds, that net the fishes cool, - And scarce allow a narrow stream to pass; - Where spreading crowfoot mars - The drowning nenuphars, - Waving the tassels of her silken grass - Below her silver stars. - - But in the purple pool there nothing grows, - Not the white water-lily spoked with gold; - Though best she loves the hollows, and well knows - On quiet streams her broad shields to unfold: - Yet should her roots but try - Within these deeps to lie, - Not her long reaching stalk could ever hold - Her waxen head so high. - - Sometimes an angler comes, and drops his hook - Within its hidden depths, and ’gainst a tree - Leaning his rod, reads in some pleasant book, - Forgetting soon his pride of fishery; - And dreams, or falls asleep, - While curious fishes peep - About his nibbled bait, or scornfully - Dart off and rise and leap. - - And sometimes a slow figure ’neath the trees, - In ancient-fashioned smock, with tottering care - Upon a staff propping his weary knees, - May by the pathway of the forest fare: - As from a buried day - Across the mind will stray - Some perishing mute shadow,—and unaware - He passeth on his way. - - Else, he that wishes solitude is safe, - Whether he bathe at morning in the stream: - Or lead his love there when the hot hours chafe - The meadows, busy with a blurring steam; - Or watch, as fades the light, - The gibbous moon grow bright, - Until her magic rays dance in a dream, - And glorify the night. - - Where is this bower beside the silver Thames? - O pool and flowery thickets, hear my vow! - O trees of freshest foliage and straight stems, - No sharer of my secret I allow: - Lest ere I come the while - Strange feet your shades defile; - Or lest the burly oarsman turn his prow - Within your guardian isle. - - - - -6 - -A WATER-PARTY - - - Let us, as by this verdant bank we float, - Search down the marge to find some shady pool - Where we may rest awhile and moor our boat, - And bathe our tired limbs in the waters cool. - Beneath the noonday sun, - Swiftly, O river, run! - - Here is a mirror for Narcissus, see! - I cannot sound it, plumbing with my oar. - Lay the stern in beneath this bowering tree! - Now, stepping on this stump, we are ashore. - Guard, Hamadryades, - Our clothes laid by your trees! - - How the birds warble in the woods! I pick - The waxen lilies, diving to the root. - But swim not far in the stream, the weeds grow thick, - And hot on the bare head the sunbeams shoot. - Until our sport be done, - O merry birds, sing on! - - If but to-night the sky be clear, the moon - Will serve us well, for she is near the full. - We shall row safely home; only too soon,— - So pleasant ’tis, whether we float or pull. - To guide us through the night, - O summer moon, shine bright! - - - - -7 - -THE DOWNS - - - O bold majestic downs, smooth, fair and lonely; - O still solitude, only matched in the skies: - Perilous in steep places, - Soft in the level races, - Where sweeping in phantom silence the cloudland flies; - With lovely undulation of fall and rise; - Entrenched with thickets thorned, - By delicate miniature dainty flowers adorned! - - I climb your crown, and lo! a sight surprising - Of sea in front uprising, steep and wide: - And scattered ships ascending - To heaven, lost in the blending - Of distant blues, where water and sky divide, - Urging their engines against wind and tide, - And all so small and slow - They seem to be wearily pointing the way they would go. - - The accumulated murmur of soft plashing, - Of waves on rocks dashing and searching the sands, - Takes my ear, in the veering - Baffled wind, as rearing - Upright at the cliff, to the gullies and rifts he stands; - And his conquering surges scour out over the lands; - While again at the foot of the downs - He masses his strength to recover the topmost crowns. - - - - -8 - -SPRING - -ODE I - -INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY - - - Again with pleasant green - Has Spring renewed the wood, - And where the bare trunks stood - Are leafy arbours seen; - And back on budding boughs - Come birds, to court and pair, - Whose rival amorous vows - Amaze the scented air. - - The freshets are unbound, - And leaping from the hill, - Their mossy banks refill - With streams of light and sound: - And scattered down the meads, - From hour to hour unfold - A thousand buds and beads - In stars and cups of gold. - - Now hear, and see, and note, - The farms are all astir, - And every labourer - Has doffed his winter coat; - And how with specks of white - They dot the brown hillside, - Or jaunt and sing outright - As by their teams they stride. - - They sing to feel the Sun - Regain his wanton strength; - To know the year at length - Rewards their labour done; - To see the rootless stake - They set bare in the ground, - Burst into leaf, and shake - Its grateful scent around. - - Ah now an evil lot - Is his, who toils for gain, - Where crowded chimneys stain - The heavens his choice forgot; - ’Tis on the blighted trees - That deck his garden dim, - And in the tainted breeze, - That sweet spring comes to him. - - Far sooner I would choose - The life of brutes that bask, - Than set myself a task, - Which inborn powers refuse: - And rather far enjoy - The body, than invent - A duty, to destroy - The ease which nature sent; - - And country life I praise, - And lead, because I find - The philosophic mind - Can take no middle ways; - She will not leave her love - To mix with men, her art - Is all to strive above - The crowd, or stand apart. - - Thrice happy he, the rare - Prometheus, who can play - With hidden things, and lay - New realms of nature bare; - Whose venturous step has trod - Hell underfoot, and won - A crown from man and God - For all that he has done.— - - That highest gift of all, - Since crabbèd fate did flood - My heart with sluggish blood, - I look not mine to call; - But, like a truant freed, - Fly to the woods, and claim - A pleasure for the deed - Of my inglorious name: - - And am content, denied - The best, in choosing right; - For Nature can delight - Fancies unoccupied - With ecstasies so sweet - As none can even guess, - Who walk not with the feet - Of joy in idleness. - - Then leave your joyless ways, - My friend, my joys to see. - The day you come shall be - The choice of chosen days: - You shall be lost, and learn - New being, and forget - The world, till your return - Shall bring your first regret. - - - - -9 - -SPRING - -ODE II - -REPLY - - - Behold! the radiant Spring, - In splendour decked anew, - Down from her heaven of blue - Returns on sunlit wing: - The zephyrs of her train - In fleecy clouds disport, - And birds to greet her reign - Summon their silvan court. - - And here in street and square - The prisoned trees contest - Her favour with the best, - To robe themselves full fair: - And forth their buds provoke, - Forgetting winter brown, - And all the mire and smoke - That wrapped the dingy town. - - Now he that loves indeed - His pleasure must awake, - Lest any pleasure take - Its flight, and he not heed; - For of his few short years - Another now invites - His hungry soul, and cheers - His life with new delights. - - And who loves Nature more - Than he, whose painful art - Has taught and skilled his heart - To read her skill and lore? - Whose spirit leaps more high, - Plucking the pale primrose, - Than his whose feet must fly - The pasture where it grows? - - One long in city pent - Forgets, or must complain: - But think not I can stain - My heaven with discontent; - Nor wallow with that sad, - Backsliding herd, who cry - That Truth must make man bad, - And pleasure is a lie. - - Rather while Reason lives - To mark me from the beast, - I’ll teach her serve at least - To heal the wound she gives: - Nor need she strain her powers - Beyond a common flight, - To make the passing hours - Happy from morn till night. - - Since health our toil rewards, - And strength is labour’s prize, - I hate not, nor despise - The work my lot accords; - Nor fret with fears unkind - The tender joys, that bless - My hard-won peace of mind, - In hours of idleness. - - Then what charm company - Can give, know I,—if wine - Go round, or throats combine - To set dumb music free. - Or deep in wintertide - When winds without make moan, - I love my own fireside - Not least when most alone. - - Then oft I turn the page - In which our country’s name, - Spoiling the Greek of fame, - Shall sound in every age: - Or some Terentian play - Renew, whose excellent - Adjusted folds betray - How once Menander went. - - Or if grave study suit - The yet unwearied brain, - Plato can teach again, - And Socrates dispute; - Till fancy in a dream - Confront their souls with mine, - Crowning the mind supreme, - And her delights divine. - - While pleasure yet can be - Pleasant, and fancy sweet, - I bid all care retreat - From my philosophy; - Which, when I come to try - Your simpler life, will find, - I doubt not, joys to vie - With those I leave behind. - - - - -10 - -ELEGY - -AMONG THE TOMBS - - - Sad, sombre place, beneath whose antique yews - I come, unquiet sorrows to control; - Amid thy silent mossgrown graves to muse - With my neglected solitary soul; - And to poetic sadness care confide, - Trusting sweet Melancholy for my guide: - - They will not ask why in thy shades I stray, - Among the tombs finding my rare delight, - Beneath the sun at indolent noonday, - Or in the windy moon-enchanted night, - Who have once reined in their steeds at any shrine, - And given them water from the well divine.— - - The orchards are all ripened, and the sun - Spots the deserted gleanings with decay; - The seeds are perfected: his work is done, - And Autumn lingers but to outsmile the May; - Bidding his tinted leaves glide, bidding clear - Unto clear skies the birds applaud the year. - - Lo, here I sit, and to the world I call, - The world my solemn fancy leaves behind, - Come! pass within the inviolable wall, - Come pride, come pleasure, come distracted mind; - Within the fated refuge, hither, turn, - And learn your wisdom ere ’tis late to learn. - - Come with me now, and taste the fount of tears; - For many eyes have sanctified this spot, - Where grief’s unbroken lineage endears - The charm untimely Folly injures not, - And slays the intruding thoughts, that overleap - The simple fence its holiness doth keep. - - Read the worn names of the forgotten dead, - Their pompous legends will no smile awake; - Even the vainglorious title o’er the head - Wins its pride pardon for its sorrow’s sake; - And carven Loves scorn not their dusty prize, - Though fallen so far from tender sympathies. - - Here where a mother laid her only son, - Here where a lover left his bride, below - The treasured names their own are added on - To those whom they have followed long ago: - Sealing the record of the tears they shed, - That ’where their treasure there their hearts are fled.’ - - Grandfather, father, son, and then again - Child, grandchild, and great-grandchild laid beneath, - Numbered in turn among the sons of men, - And gathered each one in his turn to death: - While he that occupies their house and name - To-day,—to-morrow too their grave shall claim. - - And where are all their spirits? Ah! could we tell - The manner of our being when we die, - And see beyond the scene we know so well - The country that so much obscured doth lie! - With brightest visions our fond hopes repair, - Or crown our melancholy with despair; - - From death, still death, still would a comfort come: - Since of this world the essential joy must fall - In all distributed, in each thing some, - In nothing all, and all complete in all; - Till pleasure, ageing to her full increase, - Puts on perfection, and is throned in peace. - - Yea, sweetest peace, unsought-for, undesired, - Loathed and misnamed, ’tis thee I worship here: - Though in most black habiliments attired, - Thou art sweet peace, and thee I cannot fear. - Nay, were my last hope quenched, I here would sit - And praise the annihilation of the pit. - - Nor quickly disenchanted will my feet - Back to the busy town return, but yet - Linger, ere I my loving friends would greet, - Or touch their hands, or share without regret - The warmth of that kind hearth, whose sacred ties - Only shall dim with tears my dying eyes. - - - - -11 - -DEJECTION - - - Wherefore to-night so full of care, - My soul, revolving hopeless strife, - Pointing at hindrance, and the bare - Painful escapes of fitful life? - - Shaping the doom that may befall - By precedent of terror past: - By love dishonoured, and the call - Of friendship slighted at the last? - - By treasured names, the little store - That memory out of wreck could save - Of loving hearts, that gone before - Call their old comrade to the grave? - - O soul, be patient: thou shalt find - A little matter mend all this; - Some strain of music to thy mind, - Some praise for skill not spent amiss. - - Again shall pleasure overflow - Thy cup with sweetness, thou shalt taste - Nothing but sweetness, and shalt grow - Half sad for sweetness run to waste. - - O happy life! I hear thee sing, - O rare delight of mortal stuff! - I praise my days for all they bring, - Yet are they only not enough. - - - - -12 - -MORNING HYMN - - - O golden Sun, whose ray - My path illumineth: - Light of the circling day, - Whose night is birth and death: - - That dost not stint the prime - Of wise and strong, nor stay - The changeful ordering time, - That brings their sure decay: - - Though thou, the central sphere, - Dost seem to turn around - Thy creature world, and near - As father fond art found; - - Thereon, as from above - To shine, and make rejoice - With beauty, life, and love, - The garden of thy choice, - - To dress the jocund Spring - With bounteous promise gay - Of hotter months, that bring - The full perfected day; - - To touch with richest gold - The ripe fruit, ere it fall; - And smile through cloud and cold - On Winter’s funeral. - - Now with resplendent flood - Gladden my waking eyes, - And stir my slothful blood - To joyous enterprise. - - Arise, arise, as when - At first God said LIGHT BE! - That He might make us men - With eyes His light to see. - - Scatter the clouds that hide - The face of heaven, and show - Where sweet Peace doth abide, - Where Truth and Beauty grow. - - Awaken, cheer, adorn, - Invite, inspire, assure - The joys that praise thy morn, - The toil thy noons mature: - - And soothe the eve of day, - That darkens back to death; - O golden Sun, whose ray - Our path illumineth! - - - - -13 - - - I have loved flowers that fade, - Within whose magic tents - Rich hues have marriage made - With sweet unmemoried scents: - A honeymoon delight,— - A joy of love at sight, - That ages in an hour:— - My song be like a flower! - - I have loved airs, that die - Before their charm is writ - Along a liquid sky - Trembling to welcome it. - Notes, that with pulse of fire - Proclaim the spirit’s desire, - Then die, and are nowhere:— - My song be like an air! - - Die, song, die like a breath, - And wither as a bloom: - Fear not a flowery death, - Dread not an airy tomb! - Fly with delight, fly hence! - ’Twas thine love’s tender sense - To feast; now on thy bier - Beauty shall shed a tear. - - - - - SHORTER POEMS - - BOOK III - - - TO - - R. W. D. - - - - -BOOK III - - -1 - - - O my vague desires! - Ye lambent flames of the soul, her offspring fires: - That are my soul herself in pangs sublime - Rising and flying to heaven before her time: - - What doth tempt you forth - To drown in the south or shiver in the frosty north? - What seek ye or find ye in your random flying, - Ever soaring aloft, soaring and dying? - - Joy, the joy of flight! - They hide in the sun, they flare and dance in the night; - Gone up, gone out of sight: and ever again - Follow fresh tongues of fire, fresh pangs of pain. - - Ah! they burn my soul, - The fires, devour my soul that once was whole: - She is scattered in fiery phantoms day by day, - But whither, whither? ay whither? away, away! - - Could I but control - These vague desires, these leaping flames of the soul: - Could I but quench the fire: ah! could I stay - My soul that flieth, alas, and dieth away! - - - - -2 - -LONDON SNOW - - - When men were all asleep the snow came flying, - In large white flakes falling on the city brown, - Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying, - Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town; - Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing; - Lazily and incessantly floating down and down: - Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing; - Hiding difference, making unevenness even, - Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing. - All night it fell, and when full inches seven - It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness, - The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven; - And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness - Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare: - The eye marvelled—marvelled at the dazzling whiteness; - The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air; - No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling, - And the busy morning cries came thin and spare. - Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling, - They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze - Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing; - Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees; - Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder, - ’O look at the trees!’ they cried, ’O look at the trees!’ - With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder, - Following along the white deserted way, - A country company long dispersed asunder: - When now already the sun, in pale display - Standing by Paul’s high dome, spread forth below - His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day. - For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow; - And trains of sombre men, past tale of number, - Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go: - But even for them awhile no cares encumber - Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken, - The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber - At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the - charm they have broken. - - - - -3 - -THE VOICE OF NATURE - - - I stand on the cliff and watch the veiled sun paling - A silver field afar in the mournful sea, - The scourge of the surf, and plaintive gulls sailing - At ease on the gale that smites the shuddering lea: - Whose smile severe and chaste - June never hath stirred to vanity, nor age defaced. - In lofty thought strive, O spirit, for ever: - In courage and strength pursue thine own endeavour. - - Ah! if it were only for thee, thou restless ocean - Of waves that follow and roar, the sweep of the tides; - Wer’t only for thee, impetuous wind, whose motion - Precipitate all o’errides, and turns, nor abides: - For you sad birds and fair, - Or only for thee, bleak cliff, erect in the air; - Then well could I read wisdom in every feature, - O well should I understand the voice of Nature. - - But far away, I think, in the Thames valley, - The silent river glides by flowery banks: - And birds sing sweetly in branches that arch an alley - Of cloistered trees, moss-grown in their ancient ranks: - Where if a light air stray, - ’Tis laden with hum of bees and scent of may. - Love and peace be thine, O spirit, for ever: - Serve thy sweet desire: despise endeavour. - - And if it were only for thee, entrancèd river, - That scarce dost rock the lily on her airy stem, - Or stir a wave to murmur, or a rush to quiver; - Wer’t but for the woods, and summer asleep in them: - For you my bowers green, - My hedges of rose and woodbine, with walks between, - Then well could I read wisdom in every feature, - O well should I understand the voice of Nature. - - - - -4 - -ON A DEAD CHILD - - - Perfect little body, without fault or stain on thee, - With promise of strength and manhood full and fair! - Though cold and stark and bare, - The bloom and the charm of life doth awhile remain on thee. - - Thy mother’s treasure wert thou;—alas! no longer - To visit her heart with wondrous joy; to be - Thy father’s pride;—ah, he - Must gather his faith together, and his strength make stronger. - - To me, as I move thee now in the last duty, - Dost thou with a turn or gesture anon respond; - Startling my fancy fond - With a chance attitude of the head, a freak of beauty. - - Thy hand clasps, as ’twas wont, my finger, and holds it: - But the grasp is the clasp of Death, heartbreaking and stiff; - Yet feels to my hand as if - ’Twas still thy will, thy pleasure and trust that enfolds it. - - So I lay thee there, thy sunken eyelids closing,— - Go lie thou there in thy coffin, thy last little bed!— - Propping thy wise, sad head, - Thy firm, pale hands across thy chest disposing. - - So quiet! doth the change content thee?—Death, - whither hath he taken thee? - To a world, do I think, that rights the disaster of this? - The vision of which I miss, - Who weep for the body, and wish but to warm thee and awaken thee? - - Ah! little at best can all our hopes avail us - To lift this sorrow, or cheer us, when in the dark, - Unwilling, alone we embark, - And the things we have seen and have known and - have heard of, fail us. - - - - -5 - -THE PHILOSOPHER TO HIS MISTRESS - - - Because thou canst not see, - Because thou canst not know - The black and hopeless woe - That hath encompassed me: - Because, should I confess - The thought of my despair, - My words would wound thee less - Than swords can hurt the air: - - Because with thee I seem - As one invited near - To taste the faery cheer - Of spirits in a dream; - Of whom he knoweth nought - Save that they vie to make - All motion, voice and thought - A pleasure for his sake: - - Therefore more sweet and strange - Has been the mystery - Of thy long love to me, - That doth not quit, nor change, - Nor tax my solemn heart, - That kisseth in a gloom, - Knowing not who thou art - That givest, nor to whom. - - Therefore the tender touch - Is more; more dear the smile: - And thy light words beguile - My wisdom overmuch: - And O with swiftness fly - The fancies of my song - To happy worlds, where I - Still in thy love belong. - - - - -6 - - - Haste on, my joys! your treasure lies - In swift, unceasing flight. - O haste: for while your beauty flies - I seize your full delight. - Lo! I have seen the scented flower, - Whose tender stems I cull, - For her brief date and meted hour - Appear more beautiful. - - O youth, O strength, O most divine - For that so short ye prove; - Were but your rare gifts longer mine, - Ye scarce would win my love. - Nay, life itself the heart would spurn, - Did once the days restore - The days, that once enjoyed return, - Return—ah! nevermore. - - - - -7 - -INDOLENCE - - - We left the city when the summer day - Had verged already on its hot decline, - And charmed Indolence in languor lay - In her gay gardens, ’neath her towers divine: - ’Farewell,’ we said, ’dear city of youth and dream!’ - And in our boat we stepped and took the stream. - - All through that idle afternoon we strayed - Upon our proposed travel well begun, - As loitering by the woodland’s dreamy shade, - Past shallow islets floating in the sun, - Or searching down the banks for rarer flowers - We lingered out the pleasurable hours. - - Till when that loveliest came, which mowers home - Turns from their longest labour, as we steered - Along a straitened channel flecked with foam, - We lost our landscape wide, and slowly neared - An ancient bridge, that like a blind wall lay - Low on its buried vaults to block the way. - - Then soon the narrow tunnels broader showed, - Where with its arches three it sucked the mass - Of water, that in swirl thereunder flowed, - Or stood piled at the piers waiting to pass; - And pulling for the middle span, we drew - The tender blades aboard and floated through. - - But past the bridge what change we found below! - The stream, that all day long had laughed and played - Betwixt the happy shires, ran dark and slow, - And with its easy flood no murmur made: - And weeds spread on its surface, and about - The stagnant margin reared their stout heads out. - - Upon the left high elms, with giant wood - Skirting the water-meadows, interwove - Their slumbrous crowns, o’ershadowing where they stood - The floor and heavy pillars of the grove: - And in the shade, through reeds and sedges dank, - A footpath led along the moated bank. - - Across, all down the right, an old brick wall, - Above and o’er the channel, red did lean; - Here buttressed up, and bulging there to fall, - Tufted with grass and plants and lichen green; - And crumbling to the flood, which at its base - Slid gently nor disturbed its mirrored face. - - Sheer on the wall the houses rose, their backs - All windowless, neglected and awry, - With tottering coins, and crooked chimney stacks; - And here and there an unused door, set high - Above the fragments of its mouldering stair, - With rail and broken step led out on air. - - Beyond, deserted wharfs and vacant sheds, - With empty boats and barges moored along, - And rafts half-sunken, fringed with weedy shreds, - And sodden beams, once soaked to season strong. - No sight of man, nor sight of life, no stroke, - No voice the somnolence and silence broke. - - Then I who rowed leant on my oar, whose drip - Fell without sparkle, and I rowed no more; - And he that steered moved neither hand nor lip, - But turned his wondering eye from shore to shore; - And our trim boat let her swift motion die, - Between the dim reflections floating by. - - - - -8 - - - I praise the tender flower, - That on a mournful day - Bloomed in my garden bower - And made the winter gay. - Its loveliness contented - My heart tormented. - - I praise the gentle maid - Whose happy voice and smile - To confidence betrayed - My doleful heart awhile: - And gave my spirit deploring - Fresh wings for soaring. - - The maid for very fear - Of love I durst not tell: - The rose could never hear, - Though I bespake her well: - So in my song I bind them - For all to find them. - - - - -9 - - - A winter’s night with the snow about: - ’Twas silent within and cold without: - Both father and mother to bed were gone: - The son sat yet by the fire alone. - - He gazed on the fire, and dreamed again - Of one that was now no more among men: - As still he sat and never aware - How close was the spirit beside his chair. - - Nay, sad were his thoughts, for he wept and said - Ah, woe for the dead! ah, woe for the dead! - How heavy the earth lies now on her breast, - The lips that I kissed, and the hand I pressed. - - The spirit he saw not, he could not hear - The comforting word she spake in his ear: - His heart in the grave with her mouldering clay - No welcome gave—and she fled away. - - - - -10 - - - My bed and pillow are cold, - My heart is faint with dread, - The air hath an odour of mould, - I dream I lie with the dead: - I cannot move, - O come to me, love, - Or else I am dead. - - The feet I hear on the floor - Tread heavily overhead: - O Love, come down to the door, - Come, Love, come, ere I be dead: - Make shine thy light, - O Love, in the night; - Or else I am dead. - - - - -11 - - - O thou unfaithful, still as ever dearest, - That in thy beauty to my eyes appearest, - In fancy rising now to re-awaken - My love unshaken; - - All thou’st forgotten, but no change can free thee, - No hate unmake thee; as thou wert I see thee, - And am contented, eye from fond eye meeting - Its ample greeting. - - O thou my star of stars, among things wholly - Devoted, sacred, dim and melancholy, - The only joy of all the joys I cherished - That hast not perished, - - Why now on others squand’rest thou the treasure, - That to be jealous of is still my pleasure: - As still I dream ’tis me whom thou invitest, - Me thou delightest? - - But day by day my joy hath feebler being, - The fading picture tires my painful seeing, - And faery fancy leaves her habitation - To desolation. - - Of two things open left for lovers parted - ’Twas thine to scorn the past and go lighthearted: - But I would ever dream I still possess it, - And thus caress it. - - - - -12 - - - Thou didst delight my eyes: - Yet who am I? nor first - Nor last nor best, that durst - Once dream of thee for prize; - Nor this the only time - Thou shalt set love to rhyme. - - Thou didst delight my ear: - Ah! little praise; thy voice - Makes other hearts rejoice, - Makes all ears glad that hear; - And short my joy: but yet, - O song, do not forget. - - For what wert thou to me? - How shall I say? The moon, - That poured her midnight noon - Upon his wrecking sea;— - A sail, that for a day - Has cheered the castaway. - - - - -13 - - - Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy, where dost thou dwell? - Upon the formless moments of our being - Flitting, to mock the ear that heareth well, - To escape the trainèd eye that strains in seeing, - Dost thou fly with us whither we are fleeing; - Or home in our creations, to withstand - Blackwingèd death, that slays the making hand? - - The making mind, that must untimely perish - Amidst its work which time may not destroy, - The beauteous forms which man shall love to cherish, - The glorious songs that combat earth’s annoy? - Thou dost dwell here, I know, divinest Joy: - But they who build thy towers fair and strong, - Of all that toil, feel most of care and wrong. - - Sense is so tender, O and hope so high, - That common pleasures mock their hope and sense; - And swifter than doth lightning from the sky - The ecstasy they pine for flashes hence, - Leaving the darkness and the woe immense, - Wherewith it seems no thread of life was woven, - Nor doth the track remain where once ’twas cloven. - - And heaven and all the stable elements - That guard God’s purpose mock us, though the mind - Be spent in searching: for his old intents - We see were never for our joy designed: - They shine as doth the bright sun on the blind, - Or like his pensioned stars, that hymn above - His praise, but not toward us, that God is Love. - - For who so well hath wooed the maiden hours - As quite to have won the worth of their rich show, - To rob the night of mystery, or the flowers - Of their sweet delicacy ere they go? - Nay, even the dear occasion when we know, - We miss the joy, and on the gliding day - The special glories float and pass away. - - Only life’s common plod: still to repair - The body and the thing which perisheth: - The soil, the smutch, the toil and ache and wear, - The grinding enginry of blood and breath, - Pain’s random darts, the heartless spade of death; - All is but grief, and heavily we call - On the last terror for the end of all. - - Then comes the happy moment: not a stir - In any tree, no portent in the sky: - The morn doth neither hasten nor defer, - The morrow hath no name to call it by, - But life and joy are one,—we know not why,— - As though our very blood long breathless lain - Had tasted of the breath of God again. - - And having tasted it I speak of it, - And praise him thinking how I trembled then - When his touch strengthened me, as now I sit - In wonder, reaching out beyond my ken, - Reaching to turn the day back, and my pen - Urging to tell a tale which told would seem - The witless phantasy of them that dream. - - But O most blessèd truth, for truth thou art, - Abide thou with me till my life shall end. - Divinity hath surely touched my heart; - I have possessed more joy than earth can lend: - I may attain what time shall never spend. - Only let not my duller days destroy - The memory of thy witness and my joy. - - - - -14 - - - The full moon her cloudless skies - Turneth her face, I think, on me; - And from the hour when she doth rise - Till when she sets, none else will see. - - One only other ray she hath, - That makes an angle close with mine, - And glancing down its happy path - Upon another spot doth shine. - - But that ray too is sent to me, - For where it lights there dwells my heart: - And if I were where I would be, - Both rays would shine, love, where thou art. - - - - -15 - - - Awake, my heart, to be loved, awake, awake! - The darkness silvers away, the morn doth break, - It leaps in the sky: unrisen lustres slake - The o’ertaken moon. Awake, O heart, awake! - - She too that loveth awaketh and hopes for thee; - Her eyes already have sped the shades that flee, - Already they watch the path thy feet shall take: - Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake! - - And if thou tarry her,—if this could be,— - She cometh herself, O heart, to be loved, to thee; - For thee would unashamèd herself forsake: - Awake to be loved, my heart, awake, awake! - - Awake, the land is scattered with light, and see, - Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and tree: - And blossoming boughs of April in laughter shake; - Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake! - - Lo all things wake and tarry and look for thee: - She looketh and saith, ’O sun, now bring him to me. - Come more adored, O adored, for his coming’s sake, - And awake my heart to be loved: awake, awake!’ - - - - -16 - -SONG - - - I love my lady’s eyes - Above the beauties rare - She most is wont to prize, - Above her sunny hair, - And all that face to face - Her glass repeats of grace. - - For those are still the same - To her and all that see: - But oh! her eyes will flame - When they do look on me: - And so above the rest - I love her eyes the best. - - Now say, [_Say, O say! saith the music_] who likes my song?— - I knew you by your eyes, - That rest on nothing long, - And have forgot surprise; - And stray [_Stray, O stray! saith the music_] as mine will stray, - The while my love’s away. - - - - -17 - - - Since thou, O fondest and truest, - Hast loved me best and longest, - And now with trust the strongest - The joy of my heart renewest; - - Since thou art dearer and dearer - While other hearts grow colder, - And ever, as love is older, - More lovingly drawest nearer: - - Since now I see in the measure - Of all my giving and taking, - Thou wert my hand in the making, - The sense and soul of my pleasure; - - The good I have ne’er repaid thee - In heaven I pray be recorded, - And all thy love rewarded - By God, thy master that made thee. - - - - -18 - - - The evening darkens over. - After a day so bright - The windcapt waves discover - That wild will be the night. - There’s sound of distant thunder. - - The latest sea-birds hover - Along the cliff’s sheer height; - As in the memory wander - Last flutterings of delight, - White wings lost on the white. - - There’s not a ship in sight; - And as the sun goes under - Thick clouds conspire to cover - The moon that should rise yonder. - Thou art alone, fond lover. - - - - -19 - - - O youth whose hope is high, - Who dost to Truth aspire, - Whether thou live or die, - O look not back nor tire. - - Thou that art bold to fly - Through tempest, flood and fire, - Nor dost not shrink to try - Thy heart in torments dire: - - If thou canst Death defy, - If thy Faith is entire, - Press onward, for thine eye - Shall see thy heart’s desire. - - Beauty and love are nigh, - And with their deathless quire - Soon shall thine eager cry - Be numbered and expire. - - - - - SHORTER POEMS - - BOOK IV - - - TO - - L. B. C. L. M. - - - - -BOOK IV - - -1 - - - I love all beauteous things, - I seek and adore them; - God hath no better praise, - And man in his hasty days - Is honoured for them. - - I too will something make - And joy in the making; - Altho’ to-morrow it seem - Like the empty words of a dream - Remembered on waking. - - - - -2 - - - My spirit sang all day - O my joy. - Nothing my tongue could say, - Only My joy! - - My heart an echo caught— - O my joy— - And spake, Tell me thy thought, - Hide not thy joy. - - My eyes gan peer around,— - O my joy— - What beauty hast thou found? - Shew us thy joy. - - My jealous ears grew whist;— - O my joy— - Music from heaven is’t, - Sent for our joy? - - She also came and heard; - O my joy, - What, said she, is this word? - What is thy joy? - - And I replied, O see, - O my joy, - ’Tis thee, I cried, ’tis thee: - Thou art my joy. - - - - -3 - - - The upper skies are palest blue - Mottled with pearl and fretted snow: - With tattered fleece of inky hue - Close overhead the stormclouds go. - - Their shadows fly along the hill - And o’er the crest mount one by one: - The whitened planking of the mill - Is now in shade and now in sun. - - - - -4 - - - The clouds have left the sky, - The wind hath left the sea, - The half-moon up on high - Shrinketh her face of dree. - - She lightens on the comb - Of leaden waves, that roar - And thrust their hurried foam - Up on the dusky shore. - - Behind the western bars - The shrouded day retreats, - And unperceived the stars - Steal to their sovran seats. - - And whiter grows the foam, - The small moon lightens more; - And as I turn me home, - My shadow walks before. - - - - -5 - -LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY, 1890 - - - Hark to the merry birds, hark how they sing! - Although ’tis not yet spring - And keen the air; - Hale Winter, half resigning ere he go, - Doth to his heiress shew - His kingdom fair. - - In patient russet is his forest spread, - All bright with bramble red, - With beechen moss - And holly sheen: the oak silver and stark - Sunneth his aged bark - And wrinkled boss. - - But neath the ruin of the withered brake - Primroses now awake - From nursing shades: - The crumpled carpet of the dry leaves brown - Avails not to keep down - The hyacinth blades. - - The hazel hath put forth his tassels ruffed; - The willow’s flossy tuft - Hath slipped him free: - The rose amid her ransacked orange hips - Braggeth the tender tips - Of bowers to be. - - A black rook stirs the branches here and there, - Foraging to repair - His broken home: - And hark, on the ash-boughs! Never thrush did sing - Louder in praise of spring, - When spring is come. - - - - -6 - -APRIL, 1885 - - - Wanton with long delay the gay spring leaping cometh; - The blackthorn starreth now his bough on the eve of May: - All day in the sweet box-tree the bee for pleasure hummeth: - The cuckoo sends afloat his note on the air all day. - - Now dewy nights again and rain in gentle shower - At root of tree and flower have quenched the winter’s drouth: - On high the hot sun smiles, and banks of cloud up-tower - In bulging heads that crowd for miles the dazzling south. - - - - -7 - - - Gáy Róbin is seen no more: - He is gone with the snow, - For winter is o’er - And Robin will go. - In need he was fed, and now he is fled - Away to his secret nest. - No more will he stand - Begging for crumbs, - No longer he comes - Beseeching our hand - And showing his breast - At window and door:— - Gay Robin is seen no more. - - Blithe Robin is heard no more: - He gave us his song - When summer was o’er - And winter was long: - He sang for his bread and now he is fled - Away to his secret nest. - And there in the green - Early and late - Alone to his mate - He pipeth unseen - And swelleth his breast; - For us it is o’er:— - Blithe Robin is heard no more. - - - - -8 - - - Spring goeth all in white, - Crowned with milk-white may: - In fleecy flocks of light - O’er heaven the white clouds stray: - - White butterflies in the air; - White daisies prank the ground: - The cherry and hoary pear - Scatter their snow around. - - - - -9 - - - My eyes for beauty pine, - My soul for Goddës grace: - No other care nor hope is mine; - To heaven I turn my face. - - One splendour thence is shed - From all the stars above: - ’Tis namèd when God’s name is said, - ’Tis Love, ’tis heavenly Love. - - And every gentle heart, - That burns with true desire, - Is lit from eyes that mirror part - Of that celestial fire. - - - - -10 - - - O Love, my muse, how was’t for me - Among the best to dare, - In thy high courts that bowed the knee - With sacrifice and prayer? - - Their mighty offerings at thy shrine - Shamed me, who nothing bore: - Their suits were mockeries of mine, - I sued for so much more. - - Full many I met that crowned with bay - In triumph home returned, - And many a master on the way - Proud of the prize I scorned. - - I wished no garland on my head - Nor treasure in my hand; - My gift the longing that me led, - My prayer thy high command, - - My love, my muse; and when I spake - Thou mad’st me thine that day, - And more than hundred hearts could take - Gav’st me to bear away. - - - - -11 - - - Love on my heart from heaven fell, - Soft as the dew on flowers of spring, - Sweet as the hidden drops that swell - Their honey-throated chalicing. - - Now never from him do I part, - Hosanna evermore I cry: - I taste his savour in my heart, - And bid all praise him as do I. - - Without him noughtsoever is, - Nor was afore, nor e’er shall be: - Nor any other joy than his - Wish I for mine to comfort me. - - - - -12 - - - The hill pines were sighing, - O’ercast and chill was the day: - A mist in the valley lying - Blotted the pleasant May. - - But deep in the glen’s bosom - Summer slept in the fire - Of the odorous gorse-blossom - And the hot scent of the brier. - - A ribald cuckoo clamoured, - And out of the copse the stroke - Of the iron axe that hammered - The iron heart of the oak. - - Anon a sound appalling, - As a hundred years of pride - Crashed, in the silence falling: - And the shadowy pine-trees sighed. - - - - -13 - -THE WINDMILL - - - The green corn waving in the dale, - The ripe grass waving on the hill: - I lean across the paddock pale - And gaze upon the giddy mill. - - Its hurtling sails a mighty sweep - Cut thro’ the air: with rushing sound - Each strikes in fury down the steep, - Rattles, and whirls in chase around. - - Beside his sacks the miller stands - On high within the open door: - A book and pencil in his hands, - His grist and meal he reckoneth o’er. - - His tireless merry slave the wind - Is busy with his work to-day: - From whencesoe’er, he comes to grind; - He hath a will and knows the way. - - He gives the creaking sails a spin, - The circling millstones faster flee, - The shuddering timbers groan within, - And down the shoot the meal runs free. - - The miller giveth him no thanks, - And doth not much his work o’erlook: - He stands beside the sacks, and ranks - The figures in his dusty book. - - - - -14 - - - When June is come, then all the day - I’ll sit with my love in the scented hay: - And watch the sunshot palaces high, - That the white clouds build in the breezy sky. - - She singeth, and I do make her a song, - And read sweet poems the whole day long: - Unseen as we lie in our haybuilt home. - O life is delight when June is come. - - - - -15 - - - The pinks along my garden walks - Have all shot forth their summer stalks, - Thronging their buds ’mong tulips hot, - And blue forget-me-not. - - Their dazzling snows forth-bursting soon - Will lade the idle breath of June: - And waken thro’ the fragrant night - To steal the pale moonlight. - - The nightingale at end of May - Lingers each year for their display; - Till when he sees their blossoms blown, - He knows the spring is flown. - - June’s birth they greet, and when their bloom - Dislustres, withering on his tomb, - Then summer hath a shortening day; - And steps slow to decay. - - - - -16 - - - Fire of heaven, whose starry arrow - Pierces the veil of timeless night: - Molten spheres, whose tempests narrow - Their floods to a beam of gentle light, - To charm with a moon-ray quenched from fire - The land of delight, the land of desire! - - Smile of love, a flower planted, - Sprung in the garden of joy that art: - Eyes that shine with a glow enchanted, - Whose spreading fires encircle my heart, - And warm with a noon-ray drenched in fire - My land of delight, my land of desire! - - - - -17 - - - The idle life I lead - Is like a pleasant sleep, - Wherein I rest and heed - The dreams that by me sweep. - - And still of all my dreams - In turn so swiftly past, - Each in its fancy seems - A nobler than the last. - - And every eve I say, - Noting my step in bliss, - That I have known no day - In all my life like this. - - - - -18 - - - Angel spirits of sleep, - White-robed, with silver hair, - In your meadows fair, - Where the willows weep, - And the sad moonbeam - On the gliding stream - Writes her scattered dream: - - Angel spirits of sleep, - Dancing to the weir - In the hollow roar - Of its waters deep; - Know ye how men say - That ye haunt no more - Isle and grassy shore - With your moonlit play; - White-robed spirits of sleep, - All the summer night - Threading dances light? - - - - -19 - -ANNIVERSARY - - - What is sweeter than new-mown hay, - Fresher than winds o’er-sea that blow, - Innocent above children’s play, - Fairer and purer than winter snow, - Frolic as are the morns of May? - —If it should be what best I know! - - What is richer than thoughts that stray - From reading of poems that smoothly flow? - What is solemn like the delay - Of concords linked in a music slow - Dying thro’ vaulted aisles away? - —If it should be what best I know! - - What gives faith to me when I pray, - Setteth my heart with joy aglow, - Filleth my song with fancies gay, - Maketh the heaven to which I go, - The gladness of earth that lasteth for aye? - —If it should be what best I know! - - But tell me thou—’twas on this day - That first we loved five years ago— - If ’tis a thing that I can say, - Though it must be what best we know. - - - - -20 - - - The summer trees are tempest-torn, - The hills are wrapped in a mantle wide - Of folding rain by the mad wind borne - Across the country side. - - His scourge of fury is lashing down - The delicate-rankèd golden corn, - That never more shall rear its crown - And curtsey to the morn. - - There shews no care in heaven to save - Man’s pitiful patience, or provide - A season for the season’s slave, - Whose trust hath toiled and died. - - So my proud spirit in me is sad, - A wreck of fairer fields to mourn, - The ruin of golden hopes she had, - My delicate-rankèd corn. - - - - -21 - - - The birds that sing on autumn eves - Among the golden-tinted leaves, - Are but the few that true remain - Of budding May’s rejoicing train. - - Like autumn flowers that brave the frost, - And make their show when hope is lost, - These ’mong the fruits and mellow scent - Mourn not the high-sunned summer spent. - - Their notes thro’ all the jocund spring - Were mixed in merry musicking: - They sang for love the whole day long, - But now their love is all for song. - - Now each hath perfected his lay - To praise the year that hastes away: - They sit on boughs apart, and vie - In single songs and rich reply: - - And oft as in the copse I hear - These anthems of the dying year, - The passions, once her peace that stole, - With flattering love my heart console. - - - - -22 - - - When my love was away, - Full three days were not sped, - I caught my fancy astray - Thinking if she were dead, - - And I alone, alone: - It seemed in my misery - In all the world was none - Ever so lone as I. - - I wept; but it did not shame - Nor comfort my heart: away - I rode as I might, and came - To my love at close of day. - - The sight of her stilled my fears, - My fairest-hearted love: - And yet in her eyes were tears: - Which when I questioned of, - - O now thou art come, she cried, - ’Tis fled: but I thought to-day - I never could here abide, - If thou wert longer away. - - - - -23 - - - The storm is over, the land hushes to rest: - The tyrannous wind, its strength fordone, - Is fallen back in the west - To couch with the sinking sun. - The last clouds fare - With fainting speed, and their thin streamers fly - In melting drifts of the sky. - Already the birds in the air - Appear again; the rooks return to their haunt, - And one by one, - Proclaiming aloud their care, - Renew their peaceful chant. - - Torn and shattered the trees their branches again reset, - They trim afresh the fair - Few green and golden leaves withheld the storm, - And awhile will be handsome yet. - To-morrow’s sun shall caress - Their remnant of loveliness: - In quiet days for a time - Sad Autumn lingering warm - Shall humour their faded prime. - - But ah! the leaves of summer that lie on the ground! - What havoc! The laughing timbrels of June, - That curtained the birds’ cradles, and screened their song, - That sheltered the cooing doves at noon, - Of airy fans the delicate throng,— - Torn and scattered around: - Far out afield they lie, - In the watery furrows die, - In grassy pools of the flood they sink and drown, - Green-golden, orange, vermilion, golden and brown, - The high year’s flaunting crown - Shattered and trampled down. - - The day is done: the tired land looks for night: - She prays to the night to keep - In peace her nerves of delight: - While silver mist upstealeth silently, - And the broad cloud-driving moon in the clear sky - Lifts o’er the firs her shining shield, - And in her tranquil light - Sleep falls on forest and field. - Sée! sléep hath fallen: the trees are asleep: - The night is come. The land is wrapt in sleep. - - - - -24 - - - Ye thrilled me once, ye mournful strains, - Ye anthems of plaintive woe, - My spirit was sad when I was young; - Ah sorrowful long-ago! - But since I have found the beauty of joy - I have done with proud dismay: - For howsoe’er man hug his care - The best of his art is gay. - - And yet if voices of fancy’s choir - Again in mine ear awake - Your old lament, ’tis dear to me still, - Nor all for memory’s sake: - ’Tis like the dirge of sorrow dead, - Whose tears are wiped away; - Or drops of the shower when rain is o’er, - That jewel the brightened day. - - - - -25 - - - Say who is this with silvered hair, - So pale and worn and thin, - Who passeth here, and passeth there, - And looketh out and in? - - That useth not our garb nor tongue, - And knoweth things untold: - Who teacheth pleasure to the young, - And wisdom to the old? - - No toil he maketh his by day, - No home his own by night; - But wheresoe’er he take his way, - He killeth our delight. - - Since he is come there’s nothing wise - Nor fair in man or child, - Unless his deep divining eyes - Have looked on it and smiled. - - Whence came he hither all alone - Among our folk to spy? - There’s nought that we can call our own, - Till he shall hap to die. - - And I would dig his grave full deep - Beneath the churchyard yew, - Lest thence his wizard eyes might peep - To mark the things we do. - - - - -26 - - - Crown Winter with green, - And give him good drink - To physic his spleen - Or ever he think. - - His mouth to the bowl, - His feet to the fire; - And let him, good soul, - No comfort desire. - - So merry he be, - I bid him abide: - And merry be we - This good Yuletide. - - - - -27 - - - The snow lies sprinkled on the beach, - And whitens all the marshy lea: - The sad gulls wail adown the gale, - The day is dark and black the sea. - Shorn of their crests the blighted waves - With driven foam the offing fleck: - The ebb is low and barely laves - The red rust of the giant wreck. - - On such a stony, breaking beach - My childhood chanced and chose to be: - ’Twas here I played, and musing made - My friend the melancholy sea. - He from his dim enchanted caves - With shuddering roar and onrush wild - Fell down in sacrificial waves - At feet of his exulting child. - - Unto a spirit too light for fear - His wrath was mirth, his wail was glee:— - My heart is now too fixed to bow - Tho’ all his tempests howl at me: - For to the gain life’s summer saves, - My solemn joy’s increasing store, - The tossing of his mournful waves - Makes sweetest music evermore. - - - - -28 - - - My spirit kisseth thine, - My spirit embraceth thee: - I feel thy being twine - Her graces over me, - - In the life-kindling fold - Of God’s breath; where on high, - In furthest space untold - Like a lost world I lie: - - And o’er my dreaming plains - Lightens, most pale and fair, - A moon that never wanes; - Or more, if I compare, - - Like what the shepherd sees - On late mid-winter dawns, - When thro’ the branchèd trees, - O’er the white-frosted lawns, - - The huge unclouded sun, - Surprising the world whist, - Is all uprisen thereon, - Golden with melting mist. - - - - -29 - - - Ariel, O,—my angel, my own,— - Whither away then art thou flown - Beyond my spirit’s dominion? - That makest my heart run over with rhyme, - Renewing at will my youth for a time, - My servant, my pretty minion. - - Now indeed I have cause to mourn, - Now thou returnest scorn for scorn: - Leave me not to my folly: - For when thou art with me is none so gay - As I, and none when thou’rt away - Was ever so melancholy. - - - - -30 - -LAUS DEO - - - Let praise devote thy work, and skill employ - Thy whole mind, and thy heart be lost in joy. - Well-doing bringeth pride, this constant thought - Humility, that thy best done is nought. - Man doeth nothing well, be it great or small, - Save to praise God; but that hath savèd all: - For God requires no more than thou hast done, - And takes thy work to bless it for his own. - - - - - SHORTER POEMS - - BOOK V - - - TO - - M. G. K. - - - - -BOOK V - - -1 - -THE WINNOWERS - - - Betwixt two billows of the downs - The little hamlet lies, - And nothing sees but the bald crowns - Of the hills, and the blue skies. - - Clustering beneath the long descent - And grey slopes of the wold, - The red roofs nestle, oversprent - With lichen yellow as gold. - - We found it in the mid-day sun - Basking, what time of year - The thrush his singing has begun, - Ere the first leaves appear. - - High from his load a woodman pitched - His faggots on the stack: - Knee-deep in straw the cattle twitched - Sweet hay from crib and rack: - - And from the barn hard by was borne - A steady muffled din, - By which we knew that threshèd corn - Was winnowing, and went in. - - The sunbeams on the motey air - Streamed through the open door, - And on the brown arms moving bare, - And the grain upon the floor. - - One turns the crank, one stoops to feed - The hopper, lest it lack, - One in the bushel scoops the seed, - One stands to hold the sack. - - We watched the good grain rattle down, - And the awns fly in the draught; - To see us both so pensive grown - The honest labourers laughed: - - Merry they were, because the wheat - Was clean and plump and good, - Pleasant to hand and eye, and meet - For market and for food. - - It chanced we from the city were, - And had not gat us free - In spirit from the store and stir - Of its immensity: - - But here we found ourselves again. - Where humble harvests bring - After much toil but little grain, - ’Tis merry winnowing. - - - - -2 - -THE AFFLICTION OF RICHARD - - - Love not too much. But how, - When thou hast made me such, - And dost thy gifts bestow, - How can I love too much? - Though I must fear to lose, - And drown my joy in care, - With all its thorns I choose - The path of love and prayer. - - Though thou, I know not why, - Didst kill my childish trust, - That breach with toil did I - Repair, because I must: - And spite of frighting schemes, - With which the fiends of Hell - Blaspheme thee in my dreams, - So far I have hoped well. - - But what the heavenly key, - What marvel in me wrought - Shall quite exculpate thee, - I have no shadow of thought. - What am I that complain? - The love, from which began - My question sad and vain, - Justifies thee to man. - - - - -3 - - - Since to be loved endures, - To love is wise: - Earth hath no good but yours, - Brave, joyful eyes: - - Earth hath no sin but thine, - Dull eye of scorn: - O’er thee the sun doth pine - And angels mourn. - - - - -4 - -THE GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER - - - Now thin mists temper the slow-ripening beams - Of the September sun: his golden gleams - On gaudy flowers shine, that prank the rows - Of high-grown hollyhocks, and all tall shows - That Autumn flaunteth in his bushy bowers; - Where tomtits, hanging from the drooping heads - Of giant sunflowers, peck the nutty seeds; - And in the feathery aster bees on wing - Seize and set free the honied flowers, - Till thousand stars leap with their visiting: - While ever across the path mazily flit, - Unpiloted in the sun, - The dreamy butterflies - With dazzling colours powdered and soft glooms, - White, black and crimson stripes, and peacock eyes, - Or on chance flowers sit, - With idle effort plundering one by one - The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms. - - With gentle flaws the western breeze - Into the garden saileth, - Scarce here and there stirring the single trees, - For his sharpness he vaileth: - So long a comrade of the bearded corn, - Now from the stubbles whence the shocks are borne, - O’er dewy lawns he turns to stray, - As mindful of the kisses and soft play - Wherewith he enamoured the light-hearted May, - Ere he deserted her; - Lover of fragrance, and too late repents; - Nor more of heavy hyacinth now may drink, - Nor spicy pink, - Nor summer’s rose, nor garnered lavender, - But the few lingering scents - Of streakèd pea, and gillyflower, and stocks - Of courtly purple, and aromatic phlox. - - And at all times to hear are drowsy tones - Of dizzy flies, and humming drones, - With sudden flap of pigeon wings in the sky, - Or the wild cry - Of thirsty rooks, that scour ascare - The distant blue, to watering as they fare - With creaking pinions, or—on business bent, - If aught their ancient polity displease,— - Come gathering to their colony, and there - Settling in ragged parliament, - Some stormy council hold in the high trees. - - - - -5 - - - So sweet love seemed that April morn, - When first we kissed beside the thorn, - So strangely sweet, it was not strange - We thought that love could never change. - - But I can tell—let truth be told— - That love will change in growing old; - Though day by day is nought to see, - So delicate his motions be. - - And in the end ’twill come to pass - Quite to forget what once he was, - Nor even in fancy to recall - The pleasure that was all in all. - - His little spring, that sweet we found, - So deep in summer floods is drowned, - I wonder, bathed in joy complete, - How love so young could be so sweet. - - - - -6 - -LARKS - - - What voice of gladness, hark! - In heaven is ringing? - From the sad fields the lark - Is upward winging. - - High through the mournful mist that blots our day - Their songs betray them soaring in the grey. - See them! Nay, they - In sunlight swim; above the furthest stain - Of cloud attain; their hearts in music rain - Upon the plain. - - Sweet birds, far out of sight - Your songs of pleasure - Dome us with joy as bright - As heaven’s best azure. - - - - -7 - -THE PALM WILLOW - - - See, whirling snow sprinkles the starvèd fields, - The birds have stayed to sing; - No covert yet their fairy harbour yields. - When cometh Spring? - Ah! in their tiny throats what songs unborn - Are quenched each morn. - - The lenten lilies, through the frost that push, - Their yellow heads withhold: - The woodland willow stands a lonely bush - Of nebulous gold; - There the Spring-goddess cowers in faint attire - Of frightened fire. - - - - -8 - -ASIAN BIRDS - - - In this May-month, by grace - of heaven, things shoot apace. - The waiting multitude - of fair boughs in the wood, - How few days have arrayed - their beauty in green shade - - What have I seen or heard? - it was the yellow bird - Sang in the tree: he flew - a flame against the blue; - Upward he flashed. Again, - hark! ’tis his heavenly strain. - - Another! Hush! Behold, - many, like boats of gold, - From waving branch to branch - their airy bodies launch. - What music is like this, - where each note is a kiss? - - The golden willows lift - their boughs the sun to sift: - Their sprays they droop to screen - the sky with veils of green, - A floating cage of song, - where feathered lovers throng. - - How the delicious notes - come bubbling from their throats! - Full and sweet how they are shed - like round pearls from a thread! - The motions of their flight - are wishes of delight. - - Hearing their song I trace - the secret of their grace. - Ah, could I this fair time - so fashion into rhyme, - The poem that I sing - would be the voice of spring. - - - - -9 - -JANUARY - - - Cold is the winter day, misty and dark: - The sunless sky with faded gleams is rent; - And patches of thin snow outlying, mark - The landscape with a drear disfigurement. - - The trees their mournful branches lift aloft: - The oak with knotty twigs is full of trust, - With bud-thronged bough the cherry in the croft; - The chestnut holds her gluey knops upthrust. - - No birds sing, but the starling chaps his bill - And chatters mockingly; the newborn lambs - Within their strawbuilt fold beneath the hill - Answer with plaintive cry their bleating dams. - - Their voices melt in welcome dreams of spring, - Green grass and leafy trees and sunny skies: - My fancy decks the woods, the thrushes sing, - Meadows are gay, bees hum and scents arise. - - And God the Maker doth my heart grow bold - To praise for wintry works not understood, - Who all the worlds and ages doth behold, - Evil and good as one, and all as good. - - - - -10 - -A ROBIN - - - Flame-throated robin on the topmost bough - Of the leafless oak, what singest thou? - Hark! he telleth how— - ’Spring is coming now; Spring is coming now. - - Now ruddy are the elm-tops against the blue sky, - The pale larch donneth her jewelry; - Red fir and black fir sigh, - And I am lamenting the year gone by. - - The bushes where I nested are all cut down, - They are felling the tall trees one by one, - And my mate is dead and gone, - In the winter she died and left me lone. - - She lay in the thicket where I fear to go; - For when the March-winds after the snow - The leaves away did blow, - She was not there, and my heart is woe: - - And sad is my song, when I begin to sing, - As I sit in the sunshine this merry spring: - Like a withered leaf I cling - To the white oak-bough, while the wood doth ring. - - Spring is coming now, the sun again is gay; - Each day like a last spring’s happy day.’— - Thus sang he; then from his spray - He saw me listening and flew away. - - - - -11 - - - I never shall love the snow again - Since Maurice died: - With corniced drift it blocked the lane, - And sheeted in a desolate plain - The country side. - - The trees with silvery rime bedight - Their branches bare. - By day no sun appeared; by night - The hidden moon shed thievish light - In the misty air. - - We fed the birds that flew around - In flocks to be fed: - No shelter in holly or brake they found. - The speckled thrush on the frozen ground - Lay frozen and dead. - - We skated on stream and pond; we cut - The crinching snow - To Doric temple or Arctic hut; - We laughed and sang at nightfall, shut - By the fireside glow. - - Yet grudged we our keen delights before - Maurice should come. - We said, In-door or out-of-door - We shall love life for a month or more, - When he is home. - - They brought him home; ’twas two days late - For Christmas day: - Wrapped in white, in solemn state, - A flower in his hand, all still and straight - Our Maurice lay. - - And two days ere the year outgave - We laid him low. - The best of us truly were not brave, - When we laid Maurice down in his grave - Under the snow. - - - - -12 - -NIGHTINGALES - - - Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come, - And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom - Ye learn your song: - Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there, - Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air - Bloom the year long! - - Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams: - Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams, - A throe of the heart, - Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound, - No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound, - For all our art. - - Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men - We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then, - As night is withdrawn - From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May, - Dream, while the innumerable choir of day - Welcome the dawn. - - - - -13 - - - A song of my heart, as the sun peered o’er the sea, - Was born at morning to me: - And out of my treasure-house it chose - A melody, that arose - - Of all fair sounds that I love, remembered together - In one; and I knew not whether - From waves of rustling wheat it was, - Recoveringly that pass: - - Or a hum of bees in the queenly robes of the lime: - Or a descant in pairing time - Of warbling birds: or watery bells - Of rivulets in the hills: - - Or whether on blazing downs a high lark’s hymn - Alone in the azure dim: - Or a sough of pines, when the midnight wold - Is solitary and cold: - - Or a lapping river-ripple all day chiding - The bow of my wherry gliding - Down Thames, between his flowery shores - Re-echoing to the oars: - - Or anthem notes, wherever in archèd quires - The unheeded music twires, - And, centuries by, to the stony shade - Flies following and to fade: - - Or a homely prattle of children’s voices gay - ’Mong garden joys at play: - Or a sundown chaunting of solemn rooks: - Or memory of my books, - - Which hold the words that poets in many a tongue - To the irksome world have sung: - Or the voice, my happy lover, of thee - Now separated from me. - - A ruby of fire in the burning sleep of my brain - Long hid my thought had lain, - Forgotten dreams of a thousand days - Ingathering to its rays, - - The light of life in darkness tempering long; - Till now a perfect song, - A jewel of jewels it leapt above - To the coronal of my love. - - - - -14 - -FOUNDER’S DAY. A SECULAR ODE ON THE NINTH JUBILEE OF ETON COLLEGE - - - Christ and his Mother, heavenly maid, - Mary, in whose fair name was laid - Eton’s corner, bless our youth - With truth, and purity, mother of truth! - - - O ye, ’neath breezy skies of June, - By silver Thames’s lulling tune, - In shade of willow or oak, who try - The golden gates of poesy; - - Or on the tabled sward all day - Match your strength in England’s play, - Scholars of Henry, giving grace - To toil and force in game or race; - - Exceed the prayer and keep the fame - Of him, the sorrowful king, who came - Here in his realm a realm to found, - Where he might stand for ever crowned. - - - Or whether with naked bodies flashing - Ye plunge in the lashing weir; or dashing - The oars of cedar skiffs, ye strain - Round the rushes and home again;— - - Or what pursuit soe’er it be - That makes your mingled presence free, - When by the schoolgate ’neath the limes - Ye muster waiting the lazy chimes; - - May Peace, that conquereth sin and death, - Temper for you her sword of faith; - Crown with honour the loving eyes, - And touch with mirth the mouth of the wise. - - Here is eternal spring: for you - The very stars of heaven are new; - And aged Fame again is born, - Fresh as a peeping flower of morn. - - For you shall Shakespeare’s scene unroll, - Mozart shall steal your ravished soul, - Homer his bardic hymn rehearse, - Virgil recite his maiden verse. - - Now learn, love, have, do, be the best; - Each in one thing excel the rest: - Strive; and hold fast this truth of heaven— - To him that hath shall more be given. - - - Slow on your dial the shadows creep, - So many hours for food and sleep, - So many hours till study tire, - So many hours for heart’s desire. - - These suns and moons shall memory save, - Mirrors bright for her magic cave; - Wherein may steadfast eyes behold - A self that groweth never old. - - O in such prime enjoy your lot, - And when ye leave regret it not; - With wishing gifts in festal state - Pass ye the angel-sworded gate. - - - Then to the world let shine your light, - Children in play be lions in fight, - And match with red immortal deeds - The victory that made ring the meads: - - Or by firm wisdom save your land - From giddy head and grasping hand: - IMPROVE THE BEST; so shall your sons - Better what ye have bettered once. - - Send them here to the court of grace - Bearing your name to fill your place: - Ye in their time shall live again - The happy dream of Henry’s reign: - - - And on his day your steps be bent - Where, saint and king, crowned with content, - He biddeth a prayer to bless his youth - With truth, and purity, mother of truth. - - - - -15 - - - The north wind came up yesternight - With the new year’s full moon, - And rising as she gained her height, - Grew to a tempest soon. - Yet found he not on heaven’s face - A task of cloud to clear; - There was no speck that he might chase - Off the blue hemisphere, - Nor vapour from the land to drive: - The frost-bound country held - Nought motionable or alive, - That ’gainst his wrath rebelled. - There scarce was hanging in the wood - A shrivelled leaf to reave; - No bud had burst its swathing hood - That he could rend or grieve: - Only the tall tree-skeletons, - Where they were shadowed all, - Wavered a little on the stones, - And on the white church-wall. - - —Like as an artist in his mood, - Who reckons all as nought, - So he may quickly paint his nude, - Unutterable thought: - So Nature in a frenzied hour - By day or night will show - Dim indications of the power, - That doometh man to woe. - Ah, many have my visions been, - And some I know full well: - I would that all that I have seen - Were fit for speech to tell.— - - And by the churchyard as I came, - It seemed my spirit passed - Into a land that hath no name, - Grey, melancholy and vast; - Where nothing comes: but Memory, - The widowed queen of Death, - Reigns, and with fixed, sepulchral eye - All slumber banisheth. - - Each grain of writhen dust, that drapes - That sickly, staring shore, - Its old chaotic change of shapes - Remembers evermore. - And ghosts of cities long decayed, - And ruined shrines of Fate - Gather the paths, that Time hath made - Foolish and desolate. - Nor winter there hath hope of spring, - Nor the pale night of day, - Since the old king with scorpion sting - Hath done himself away. - - * * * * * - - The morn was calm; the wind’s last breath - Had fal’n: in solemn hush - The golden moon went down beneath - The dawning’s crimson flush. - - - - -16 - -NORTH WIND IN OCTOBER - - - In the golden glade the chestnuts are fallen all; - From the sered boughs of the oak the acorns fall: - The beech scatters her ruddy fire; - The lime hath stripped to the cold, - And standeth naked above her yellow attire: - The larch thinneth her spire - To lay the ways of the wood with cloth of gold. - - Out of the golden-green and white - Of the brake the fir-trees stand upright - In the forest of flame, and wave aloft - To the blue of heaven their blue-green tuftings soft. - - But swiftly in shuddering gloom the splendours fail, - As the harrying North-wind beareth - A cloud of skirmishing hail - The grievèd woodland to smite: - In a hurricane through the trees he teareth, - Raking the boughs and the leaves rending, - And whistleth to the descending - Blows of his icy flail. - Gold and snow he mixeth in spite, - And whirleth afar; as away on his winnowing flight - He passeth, and all again for awhile is bright. - - - - -17 - -FIRST SPRING MORNING - -A CHILD’S POEM - - - Look! Look! the spring is come: - O feel the gentle air, - That wanders thro’ the boughs to burst - The thick buds everywhere! - The birds are glad to see - The high unclouded sun: - Winter is fled away, they sing, - The gay time is begun. - - Adown the meadows green - Let us go dance and play, - And look for violets in the lane, - And ramble far away - To gather primroses, - That in the woodland grow, - And hunt for oxlips, or if yet - The blades of bluebells show: - - There the old woodman gruff - Hath half the coppice cut, - And weaves the hurdles all day long - Beside his willow hut. - We’ll steal on him, and then - Startle him, all with glee - Singing our song of winter fled - And summer soon to be. - - - - -18 - -A VILLAGER - - - There was no lad handsomer than Willie was - The day that he came to father’s house: - There was none had an eye as soft an’ blue - As Willie’s was, when he came to woo. - - To a labouring life though bound thee be, - An’ I on my father’s ground live free, - I’ll take thee, I said, for thy manly grace, - Thy gentle voice an’ thy loving face. - - ’Tis forty years now since we were wed: - We are ailing an’ grey needs not to be said: - But Willie’s eye is as blue an’ soft - As the day when he wooed me in father’s croft. - - Yet changed am I in body an’ mind, - For Willie to me has ne’er been kind: - Merrily drinking an’ singing with the men - He ’ud come home late six nights o’ the se’n. - - An’ since the children be grown an’ gone - He ’as shunned the house an’ left me lone: - An’ less an’ less he brings me in - Of the little he now has strength to win. - - The roof lets through the wind an’ the wet, - An’ master won’t mend it with us in’s debt: - An’ all looks every day more worn, - An’ the best of my gowns be shabby an’ torn. - - No wonder if words hav’ a-grown to blows; - That matters not while nobody knows: - For love him I shall to the end of life, - An’ be, as I swore, his own true wife. - - An’ when I am gone, he’ll turn, an’ see - His folly an’ wrong, an’ be sorry for me: - An’ come to me there in the land o’ bliss - To give me the love I looked for in this. - - - - -19 - - - Weep not to-day: why should this sadness be? - Learn in present fears - To o’ermaster those tears - That unhindered conquer thee. - - Think on thy past valour, thy future praise: - Up, sad heart, nor faint - In ungracious complaint, - Or a prayer for better days. - - Daily thy life shortens, the grave’s dark peace - Draweth surely nigh, - When good-night is good-bye; - For the sleeping shall not cease. - - Fight, to be found fighting: nor far away - Deem, nor strange thy doom. - Like this sorrow ’twill come, - And the day will be to-day. - - - - - NEW - - POEMS - - - - -NEW POEMS - - -ECLOGUE I - -THE MONTHS - - -_BASIL AND EDWARD_ - - Man hath with man on earth no holier bond - Than that the Muse weaves with her dreamy thread: - Nor e’er was such transcendent love more fond - Than that which Edward unto Basil led, - Wandering alone across the woody shires - To hear the living voice of that wide heart, - To see the eyes that read the world’s desires, - And touch the hand that wrote the roving rhyme. - Diverse their lots as distant were their homes, - And since that early meeting, jealous Time - Knitting their loves had held their lives apart. - - But now again were these fine lovers met - And sat together on a rocky hill - Looking upon the vales of Somerset, - Where the far sea gleam’d o’er the bosky combes, - Satisfying their spirits the livelong day - With various mirth and revelation due - And delicate intimacy of delight, - As there in happy indolence they lay - And drank the sun, while round the breezy height - Beneath their feet rabbit and listless ewe - Nibbled the scented herb and grass at will. - - Much talked they at their ease; and at the last - Spoke Edward thus, ’'Twas on this very hill - This time of the year,—but now twelve years are past,— - That you provoked in verse my younger skill - To praise the months against your rival song; - And ere the sun had westered ten degrees - Our rhyme had brought him thro’ the Zodiac. - Have you remembered?’—Basil answer’d back, - ’Guest of my solace, how could I forget? - Years fly as months that seem’d in youth so long. - The precious life that, like indifferent gold - Is disregarded in its worth to hold - Some jewel of love that God therein would set, - It passeth and is gone.’—’And yet not all’ - Edward replied: ’The passion as I please - Of that past day I can to-day recall; - And if but you, as I, remember yet - Your part thereof, and will again rehearse, - For half an hour we may old Time outwit.’ - And Basil said, ’Alas for my poor verse! - What happy memory of it still endures - Will thank your love: I have forgotten it. - Speak you my stanzas, I will ransom yours. - Begin you then as I that day began, - And I will follow as your answers ran.’ - - -JANUARY - - _ED._ The moon that mounts the sun’s deserted way, - Turns the long winter night to a silver day; - But setteth golden in face of the solemn sight - Of her lord arising upon a world of white. - - -FEBRUARY - - _BA._ I have in my heart a vision of spring begun - In a sheltering wood, that feels the kiss of the sun: - And a thrush adoreth the melting day that dies - In clouds of purple afloat upon saffron skies. - - -MARCH - - _ED._ Now carol the birds at dawn, and some new lay - Announceth a homecome voyager every-day. - Beneath the tufted sallows the streamlet thrills - With the leaping trout and the gleam of the daffodils. - - -APRIL - - _BA._ Then laugheth the year; with flowers the meads are bright; - The bursting branches are tipped with flames of light: - The landscape is light; the dark clouds flee above, - And the shades of the land are a blue that is deep as love. - - -MAY - - _ED._ But if you have seen a village all red and old - In cherry-orchards a-sprinkle with white and gold, - By a hawthorn seated, or a witchelm flowering high, - A gay breeze making riot in the waving rye! - - -JUNE - - _BA._ Then night retires from heaven; the high - winds go - A-sailing in cloud-pavilions of cavern’d snow. - O June, sweet Philomel sang thy cradle-lay; - In rosy revel thy spirit shall pass away. - - -JULY - - _ED._ Heavy is the green of the fields, heavy the trees - With foliage hang, drowsy the hum of bees - In the thundrous air: the crowded scents lie low: - Thro’ tangle of weeds the river runneth slow. - - -AUGUST - - _BA._ A reaper with dusty shoon and hat of straw - On the yellow field, his scythe in his armës braw: - Beneath the tall grey trees resting at noon - From sweat and swink with scythe and dusty shoon. - - -SEPTEMBER - - _ED._ Earth’s flaunting flower of passion fadeth fair - To ripening fruit in sunlit veils of the air, - As the art of man makes wisdom to glorify - The beauty and love of life born else to die. - - -OCTOBER - - _BA._ On frosty morns with the woods aflame, down, down - The golden spoils fall thick from the chestnut crown. - May Autumn in tranquil glory her riches spend, - With mellow apples her orchard-branches bend. - - -NOVEMBER - - _ED._ Sad mists have hid the sun, the land is forlorn: - The plough is afield, the hunter windeth his horn. - Dame Prudence looketh well to her winter stores, - And many a wise man finds his pleasure indoors. - - -DECEMBER - - _BA._ I pray thee don thy jerkin of olden time, - Bring us good ice, and silver the trees with rime; - And I will good cheer, good music and wine bestow, - When the Christmas guest comes galoping over the snow. - - - Thus they in verse alternate sang the year - For rabbit shy and listless ewe to hear, - Among the grey rocks on the mountain green - Beneath the sky in fair and pastoral scene, - Like those Sicilian swains, whose doric tongue - After two thousand years is ever young,— - _Sweet the pine’s murmur, and, shepherd, sweet thy pipe_,— - Or that which gentle Virgil, yet unripe, - Of Tityrus sang under the spreading beech - And gave to rustic clowns immortal speech, - By rocky fountain or on flowery mead - Bidding their idle flocks at will to feed, - While they, retreated to some bosky glade, - Together told their loves, and as they played - Sang what sweet thing soe’er the poet feigned: - But these were men when good Victoria reigned, - Poets themselves, who without shepherd gear - Each of his native fancy sang the year. - - - - -ECLOGUE II - -GIOVANNI DUPRÈ - - -_LAWRENCE AND RICHARD_ - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - Look down the river—against the western sky— - The Ponte Santa Trinità—what throng - Slowly trails o’er with waving banners high, - With foot and horse! Surely they bear along - The spoil of one whom Florence honoureth: - And hark! the drum, the trumpeting dismay, - The wail of the triumphal march of death. - - - _RICHARD_ - - ’Twill be the funeral of Giovánn Duprè - Wending to Santa Croce. Let us go - And see what relic of old splendour cheers - The dying ritual. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - They esteem him well - To lay his bones with Michael Angelo. - Who might he be? - - - _RICHARD_ - - He too a sculptor, one - Who left a work long to resist the years. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - You make me question further. - - - _RICHARD_ - - I can tell - All as we walk. A poor woodcarver’s son, - Prenticed to cut his father’s rude designs - (We have it from himself), maker of shrines, - In his mean workshop in Siena dreamed; - And saw as gods the artists of the earth, - And long’d to stand on their immortal shore, - And be as they, who in his vision gleam’d, - Dowering the world with grace for evermore. - So, taxing rest and leisure to one aim, - The boy of single will and inbred skill - Rose step by step to academic fame. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - Do I not know him then? His figures fill - The tympana o’er Santa Croce’s gate; - In the museum too, his Cain, that stands - A left-handed discobolos.... - - - _RICHARD_ - - So great - His vogue, that elder art of classic worth - Went to the wall to give his statues room; - And last—his country’s praise could do no more— - He cut the stone that honoured good Cavour. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - I have seen the things. - - - _RICHARD_ - - He, finding in his hands - His life-desire possest, fell not in gloom, - Nor froth’d in vanity: his Sabbath earn’d - He look’d to spend in meditative rest: - So laying chisel by, he took a pen - To tell his story to his countrymen, - And prove (he did it) that the flower of all, - Rarest to attain, is in the power of all. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - Yet nought he ever made, that I have learn’d, - In wood or stone deserved, nay not his best, - The Greek or Tuscan name for beautiful. - ’Twas level with its praise, had force to pull - Favour from fashion. - - - _RICHARD_ - - Yet he made one thing - Worthy of the lily city in her spring; - For while in vain the forms of beauty he aped, - A perfect spirit in himself he shaped; - And all his lifetime doing less than well - Where he profess’d nor doubted to excel, - Now, where he had no scholarship, but drew - His art from love, ’twas better than he knew: - And when he sat to write, lo! by him stood - The heavenly Muse, who smiles on all things good; - And for his truth’s sake, for his stainless mind, - His homely love and faith, she now grew kind, - And changed the crown, that from the folk he got, - For her green laurel, and he knew it not. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - Ah! Love of Beauty! This man then mistook - Ambition for her? - - - _RICHARD_ - - In simplicity - Erring he kept his truth; and in his book - The statue of his grace is fair to see. - - - _LAWRENCE_ - - Then buried with their great he well may be. - - - _RICHARD_ - - And number’d with the saints, not among them - Who painted saints. Join we his requiem. - - - - -ECLOGUE III - -FOURTH OF JUNE AT ETON - - -_RICHARD AND GODFREY_ - - - _RICHARD_ - - Beneath the wattled bank the eddies swarm - In wandering dimples o’er the shady pool: - The same their chase as when I was at school; - The same the music, where in shallows warm - The current, sunder’d by the bushy isles, - Returns to join the main, and struggles free - Above the willows, gurgling thro’ the piles: - Nothing is changed, and yet how changed are we! - —What can bring Godfrey to the Muses’ bower? - - - _GODFREY_ - - What but brings you? The festal day of the year; - To live in boyish memories for an hour; - See and be seen: tho’ you come seldom here. - - - _RICHARD_ - - Dread of the pang it was, fear to behold - What once was all myself, that kept me away. - - - _GODFREY_ - - You miss new pleasures coveting the old. - - - _RICHARD_ - - They need have prudence, who in courage lack; - ’Twas that I might go on I looked not back. - - - _GODFREY_ - - Of all our company he, who, we say, - Fruited the laughing flower of liberty! - - - _RICHARD_ - - Ah! had I my desire, so should it be. - - - _GODFREY_ - - Nay, but I know this melancholy mood: - ’Twas your poetic fancy when a boy. - - - _RICHARD_ - - For Fancy cannot live on real food: - In youth she will despise familiar joy - To dwell in mournful shades; as they grow real, - Then buildeth she of joy her far ideal. - - - _GODFREY_ - - And so perverteth all. This stream to me - Sings, and in sunny ripples lingeringly - The water saith ’Ah me! where have I lept? - Into what garden of life? what banks are these, - What secret lawns, what ancient towers and trees? - Where the young sons of heav’n, with shouts of play - Or low delighted speech, welcome the day, - As if the poetry of the earth had slept - To wake in ecstasy. O stay me! alas! - Stay me, ye happy isles, ere that I pass - Without a memory on my sullen course - By the black city to the tossing seas!’ - - - _RICHARD_ - - So might this old oak say ’My heart is sere; - With greater effort every year I force - My stubborn leafage: soon my branch will crack, - And I shall fall or perish in the wrack: - And here another tree its crown will rear, - And see for centuries the boys at play: - And ’neath its boughs, on some fine holiday, - Old men shall prate as these.’ Come see the game. - - - _GODFREY_ - - Yes, if you will. ’Tis all one picture fair. - - - _RICHARD_ - - Made in a mirror, and who looketh there - Must see himself. Is not a dream the same? - - - _GODFREY_ - - _Life is a dream._ - - - _RICHARD_ - - And you, who say it, seem - Dreaming to speak to a phantom in a dream. - - - - -4 - -ELEGY - -THE SUMMER-HOUSE ON THE MOUND - - - How well my eyes remember the dim path! - My homeing heart no happier playground hath. - I need not close my lids but it appears - Through the bewilderment of forty years - To tempt my feet, my childish feet, between - Its leafy walls, beneath its arching green; - Fairer than dream of sleep, than Hope more fair - Leading to dreamless sleep her sister Care. - - There grew two fellow limes, two rising trees, - Shadowing the lawn, the summer haunt of bees, - Whose stems, engraved with many a russet scar - From the spear-hurlings of our mimic war, - Pillar’d the portico to that wide walk, - A mossy terrace of the native chalk - Fashion’d, that led thro’ the dark shades around - Straight to the wooden temple on the mound. - There live the memories of my early days, - There still with childish heart my spirit plays; - Yea, terror-stricken by the fiend despair - When she hath fled me, I have found her there; - And there ’tis ever noon, and glad suns bring - Alternate days of summer and of spring, - With childish thought, and childish faces bright, - And all unknown save but the hour’s delight. - - High on the mound the ivied arbour stood, - A dome of straw upheld on rustic wood: - Hidden in fern the steps of the ascent, - Whereby unto the southern front we went, - And from the dark plantation climbing free, - Over a valley look’d out on the sea. - That sea is ever bright and blue, the sky - Serene and blue, and ever white ships lie - High on the horizon steadfast in full sail, - Or nearer in the roads pass within hail - Of naked brigs and barques that windbound ride - At their taut cables heading to the tide. - - There many an hour I have sat to watch; nay, now - The brazen disk is cold against my brow, - And in my sight a circle of the sea - Enlarged to swiftness, where the salt waves flee, - And ships in stately motion pass so near - That what I see is speaking to my ear: - I hear the waves dash and the tackle strain, - The canvas flap, the rattle of the chain - That runs out thro’ the hawse, the clank of the wind - Winding the rusty cable inch by inch, - Till half I wonder if they have no care, - Those sailors, that my glass is brought to bear - On all their doings, if I vex them not - On every petty task of their rough lot - Prying and spying, searching every craft - From painted truck to gunnel, fore and aft,— - Thro’ idle Sundays as I have watch’d them lean - Long hours upon the rail, or neath its screen - Prone on the deck to lie outstretch’d at length, - Sunk in renewal of their wearied strength. - - But what a feast of joy to me, if some - Fast-sailing frigate to the Channel come - Back’d here her topsail, or brought gently up - Let from her bow the splashing anchor drop, - By faint contrary wind stay’d in her cruise, - The _Phaethon_ or dancing _Arethuse_, - Or some immense three-decker of the line, - Romantic as the tale of Troy divine; - Ere yet our iron age had doom’d to fall - The towering freeboard of the wooden wall, - And for the engines of a mightier Mars - Clipp’d their wide wings, and dock’d their soaring spars. - The gale that in their tackle sang, the wave - That neath their gilded galleries dasht so brave - Lost then their merriment, nor look to play - With the heavy-hearted monsters of to-day. - - One noon in March upon that anchoring ground - Came Napier’s fleet unto the Baltic bound: - Cloudless the sky and calm and blue the sea, - As round Saint Margaret’s cliff mysteriously, - Those murderous queens walking in Sabbath sleep - Glided in line upon the windless deep: - For in those days was first seen low and black - Beside the full-rigg’d mast the strange smoke-stack, - And neath their stern revolv’d the twisted fan. - Many I knew as soon as I might scan, - The heavy _Royal George_, the _Acre_ bright, - The _Hogue_ and _Ajax_, and could name aright - Others that I remember now no more; - But chief, her blue flag flying at the fore, - With fighting guns a hundred thirty and one, - The Admiral ship _The Duke of Wellington_, - Whereon sail’d George, who in her gig had flown - The silken ensign by our sisters sewn. - The iron Duke himself,—whose soldier fame - To England’s proudest ship had given her name, - And whose white hairs in this my earliest scene - Had scarce more honour’d than accustom’d been,— - Was two years since to his last haven past: - I had seen his castle-flag to fall half-mast - One morn as I sat looking on the sea, - When thus all England’s grief came first to me, - Who hold my childhood favour’d that I knew - So well the face that won at Waterloo. - - But now ’tis other wars, and other men;— - The year that Napier sail’d, my years were ten— - Yea, and new homes and loves my heart hath found: - A priest has there usurped the ivied mound, - The bell that call’d to horse calls now to prayers, - And silent nuns tread the familiar stairs. - Within the peach-clad walls that old outlaw, - The Roman wolf, scratches with privy paw. - - - - -5 - - - O Love, I complain, - Complain of thee often, - Because thou dost soften - My being to pain: - - Thou makest me fear - The mind that createth, - That loves not nor hateth - In justice austere; - - Who, ere he make one, - With millions toyeth, - And lightly destroyeth - Whatever is begun. - - An’ wer’t not for thee, - My glorious passion, - My heart I could fashion - To sternness, as he. - - But thee, Love, he made - Lest man should defy him, - Connive and outvie him, - And not be afraid: - - Nay, thee, Love, he gave - His terrors to cover, - And turn to a lover - His insolent slave. - - - - -6 - -THE SOUTH WIND - - - The south wind rose at dusk of the winter day, - The warm breath of the western sea - Circling wrapp’d the isle with his cloke of cloud, - And it now reach’d even to me, at dusk of the day, - And moan’d in the branches aloud: - While here and there, in patches of dark space, - A star shone forth from its heavenly place, - As a spark that is borne in the smoky chase; - And, looking up, there fell on my face— - Could it be drops of rain - Soft as the wind, that fell on my face? - Gossamers light as threads of the summer dawn, - Suck’d by the sun from midmost calms of the main, - From groves of coral islands secretly drawn, - O’er half the round of earth to be driven, - Now to fall on my face - In silky skeins spun from the mists of heaven. - - Who art thou, in wind and darkness and soft rain - Thyself that robest, that bendest in sighing pines - To whisper thy truth? that usest for signs - A hurried glimpse of the moon, the glance of a star - In the rifted sky? - Who art thou, that with thee I - Woo and am wooed? - That robing thyself in darkness and soft rain - Choosest my chosen solitude, - Coming so far - To tell thy secret again, - As a mother her child, in her folding arm - Of a winter night by a flickering fire, - Telleth the same tale o’er and o’er - With gentle voice, and I never tire, - So imperceptibly changeth the charm, - As Love on buried ecstasy buildeth his tower, - —Like as the stem that beareth the flower - By trembling is knit to power;— - Ah! long ago - In thy first rapture I renounced my lot, - The vanity, the despondency and the woe, - And seeking thee to know - Well was’t for me, and evermore - I am thine, I know not what. - - For me thou seekest ever, me wondering a day - In the eternal alternations, me - Free for a stolen moment of chance - To dream a beautiful dream - In the everlasting dance - Of speechless worlds, the unsearchable scheme, - To me thou findest the way, - Me and whomsoe’er - I have found my dream to share - Still with thy charm encircling; even to-night - To me and my love in darkness and soft rain - Under the sighing pines thou comest again, - And staying our speech with mystery of delight, - Of the kiss that I give a wonder thou makest, - And the kiss that I take thou takest. - - - - -7 - - - I climb the mossy bank of the glade: - My love awaiteth me in the shade. - - She holdeth a book that she never heedeth: - In Goddës work her spirit readeth. - - She is all to me, and I to her: - When we embrace, the stars confer. - - O my love, from beyond the sky - I am calling thy heart, and who but I? - - - Fresh as love is the breeze of June, - In the dappled shade of the summer noon. - - Catullus, throwing his heart away, - Gave fewer kisses every day. - - Heracleitus, spending his youth - In search of wisdom, had less of truth. - - Flame of fire was the poet’s desire: - The thinker found that life was fire. - - - O my love! my song is done: - My kiss hath both their fires in one. - - - - -8 - - - To my love I whisper, and say - Knowest thou why I love thee?—Nay: - Nay, she saith; O tell me again.— - - When in her ear the secret I tell, - She smileth with joy incredible— - - Ha! she is vain—O Nay— - Then tell us!—Nay, O nay. - - - But this is in my heart, - That Love is Nature’s perfect art, - And man hath got his fancy hence, - To clothe his thought in forms of sense. - - - Fair are thy works, O man, and fair - Thy dreams of soul in garments rare, - Beautiful past compare, - Yea, godlike when thou hast the skill - To steal a stir of the heavenly thrill: - - But O, have care, have care! - ’Tis envious even to dare: - And many a fiend is watching well - To flush thy reed with the fire of hell. - - - - -9 - - - My delight and thy delight - Walking, like two angels white, - In the gardens of the night: - - My desire and thy desire - Twining to a tongue of fire, - Leaping live, and laughing higher; - - Thro’ the everlasting strife - In the mystery of life. - - - Love, from whom the world begun - Hath the secret of the sun. - - Love can tell, and love alone, - Whence the million stars were strewn, - Why each atom knows its own, - How, in spite of woe and death, - Gay is life, and sweet is breath: - - This he taught us, this we knew, - Happy in his science true, - Hand in hand as we stood - Neath the shadows of the wood, - Heart to heart as we lay - In the dawning of the day. - - - - -10 - -SEPTUAGESIMA - - - Now all the windows with frost are blinded, - As punctual day with greedy smile - Lifts like a Cyclops evil-minded - His ruddy eyeball over the isle. - - In an hour ’tis paled, in an hour ascended - A dazzling light in the cloudless grey. - Steel is the ice; the snow unblended - Is trod to dust on the white highway. - - The lambkins frisk; the shepherd is melting - Drink for the ewes with a fire of straw: - The red flames leap at the wild air pelting - Bitterly thro’ the leafless shaw. - - Around, from many a village steeple - The sabbath-bells hum over the snow: - I give a blessing to parson and people - Across the fields as away I go. - - Over the hills and over the meadows - Gay is my way till day be done: - Blue as the heaven are all the shadows, - And every light is gold in the sun. - - - - -11 - - - The sea keeps not the Sabbath day, - His waves come rolling evermore; - His noisy toil grindeth the shore, - And all the cliff is drencht with spray. - - Here as we sit, my love and I, - Under the pine upon the hill, - The sadness of the clouded sky, - The bitter wind, the gloomy roar, - The seamew’s melancholy cry - With loving fancy suit but ill. - - We talk of moons and cooling suns, - Of geologic time and tide, - The eternal sluggards that abide - While our fair love so swiftly runs, - - Of nature that doth half consent - That man should guess her dreary scheme - Lest he should live too well content - In his fair house of mirth and dream: - - Whose labour irks his ageing heart, - His heart that wearies of desire, - Being so fugitive a part - Of what so slowly must expire. - - She in her agelong toil and care - Persistent, wearies not nor stays, - Mocking alike hope and despair. - - —Ah, but she too can mock our praise, - Enchanted on her brighter days, - - Days, that the thought of grief refuse, - Days that are one with human art, - Worthy of the Virgilian muse, - Fit for the gaiety of Mozart. - - - - -12 - - - Riding adown the country lanes - One day in spring, - Heavy at heart with all the pains - Of man’s imagining:— - - The mist was not yet melted quite - Into the sky: - The small round sun was dazzling white, - The merry larks sang high: - - The grassy northern slopes were laid - In sparkling dew, - Out of the slow-retreating shade - Turning from sleep anew: - - Deep in the sunny vale a burn - Ran with the lane, - O’erhung with ivy, moss and fern - It laughed in joyful strain: - - And primroses shot long and lush - Their cluster’d cream: - Robin and wren and amorous thrush - Carol’d above the stream: - - The stillness of the lenten air - Call’d into sound - The motions of all life that were - In field and farm around: - - So fair it was, so sweet and bright, - The jocund Spring - Awoke in me the old delight - Of man’s imagining, - - Riding adown the country lanes: - The larks sang high.— - O heart! for all thy griefs and pains - Thou shalt be loth to die. - - - - -13 - -PATER FILIO - - - Sense with keenest edge unusèd, - Yet unsteel’d by scathing fire; - Lovely feet as yet unbruisèd - On the ways of dark desire; - Sweetest hope that lookest smiling - O’er the wilderness defiling! - - Why such beauty, to be blighted - By the swarm of foul destruction? - Why such innocence delighted, - When sin stalks to thy seduction? - All the litanies e’er chaunted - Shall not keep thy faith undaunted. - - I have pray’d the sainted Morning - To unclasp her hands to hold thee; - From resignful Eve’s adorning - Stol’n a robe of peace to enfold thee; - With all charms of man’s contriving - Arm’d thee for thy lonely striving. - - Me too once unthinking Nature, - —Whence Love’s timeless mockery took me,— - Fashion’d so divine a creature, - Yea, and like a beast forsook me. - I forgave, but tell the measure - Of her crime in thee, my treasure. - - - - -14 - -NOVEMBER - - - The lonely season in lonely lands, when fled - Are half the birds, and mists lie low, and the sun - Is rarely seen, nor strayeth far from his bed; - The short days pass unwelcomed one by one. - - Out by the ricks the mantled engine stands - Crestfallen, deserted,—for now all hands - Are told to the plough,—and ere it is dawn appear - The teams following and crossing far and near, - As hour by hour they broaden the brown bands - Of the striped fields; and behind them firk and prance - The heavy rooks, and daws grey-pated dance: - As awhile, surmounting a crest, in sharp outline - (A miniature of toil, a gem’s design,) - They are pictured, horses and men, or now near by - Above the lane they shout lifting the share, - By the trim hedgerow bloom’d with purple air; - Where, under the thorns, dead leaves in huddle lie - Packed by the gales of Autumn, and in and out - The small wrens glide - With a happy note of cheer, - And yellow amorets flutter above and about, - Gay, familiar in fear. - - And now, if the night shall be cold, across the sky - Linnets and twites, in small flocks helter-skelter, - All the afternoon to the gardens fly, - From thistle-pastures hurrying to gain the shelter - Of American rhododendron or cherry-laurel: - And here and there, near chilly setting of sun, - In an isolated tree a congregation - Of starlings chatter and chide, - Thickset as summer leaves, in garrulous quarrel: - Suddenly they hush as one,— - The tree top springs,— - And off, with a whirr of wings, - They fly by the score - To the holly-thicket, and there with myriads more - Dispute for the roosts; and from the unseen nation - A babel of tongues, like running water unceasing, - Makes live the wood, the flocking cries increasing, - Wrangling discordantly, incessantly, - While falls the night on them self-occupied; - The long dark night, that lengthens slow, - Deepening with Winter to starve grass and tree, - And soon to bury in snow - The Earth, that, sleeping ’neath her frozen stole, - Shall dream a dream crept from the sunless pole - Of how her end shall be. - - - - -15 - -WINTER NIGHTFALL - - - The day begins to droop,— - Its course is done: - But nothing tells the place - Of the setting sun. - - The hazy darkness deepens, - And up the lane - You may hear, but cannot see, - The homing wain. - - An engine pants and hums - In the farm hard by: - Its lowering smoke is lost - In the lowering sky. - - The soaking branches drip, - And all night through - The dropping will not cease - In the avenue. - - A tall man there in the house - Must keep his chair: - He knows he will never again - Breathe the spring air: - - His heart is worn with work; - He is giddy and sick - If he rise to go as far - As the nearest rick: - - He thinks of his morn of life, - His hale, strong years; - And braves as he may the night - Of darkness and tears. - - - - -16 - - - Since we loved,—(the earth that shook - As we kissed, fresh beauty took)— - Love hath been as poets paint, - Life as heaven is to a saint; - - All my joys my hope excel, - All my work hath prosper’d well, - All my songs have happy been, - O my love, my life, my queen. - - - - -17 - - - When Death to either shall come,— - I pray it be first to me,— - Be happy as ever at home, - If so, as I wish, it be. - - Possess thy heart, my own; - And sing to the child on thy knee, - Or read to thyself alone - The songs that I made for thee. - - - - -18 - -WISHES - - - I wish’d to sing thy grace, but nought - Found upon earth that could compare: - Some day, maybe, in heaven, I thought,— - If I should win the welcome there,— - - There might I make thee many a song: - But now it is enough to say - I ne’er have done our life the wrong - Of wishing for a happier day. - - - - -19 - -A LOVE LYRIC - - - Why art thou sad, my dearest? - What terror is it thou fearest, - Braver who art than I - The fiend to defy? - - Why art thou sad, my dearest? - And why in tears appearest, - Closer than I that wert - At hiding thy hurt? - - Why art thou sad, my dearest, - Since now my voice thou hearest? - Who with a kiss restore - Thy valour of yore. - - - - -20 - -ΕΡΟΣΕΡΟΣ - - - Why hast thou nothing in thy face? - Thou idol of the human race, - Thou tyrant of the human heart, - The flower of lovely youth that art; - Yea, and that standest in thy youth - An image of eternal Truth, - With thy exuberant flesh so fair, - That only Pheidias might compare, - Ere from his chaste marmoreal form - Time had decayed the colours warm; - Like to his gods in thy proud dress - Thy starry sheen of nakedness. - - Surely thy body is thy mind, - For in thy face is nought to find, - Only thy soft unchristen’d smile, - That shadows neither love nor guile, - But shameless will and power immense, - In secret sensuous innocence. - - O king of joy, what is thy thought? - I dream thou knowest it is nought, - And wouldst in darkness come, but thou - Makest the light where’er thou go. - Ah yet no victim of thy grace, - None who e’er long’d for thy embrace, - Hath cared to look upon thy face. - - - - -21 - -THE FAIR BRASS - - - An effigy of brass - Trodden by careless feet - Of worshippers that pass, - Beautiful and complete, - - Lieth in the sombre aisle - Of this old church unwreckt, - And still from modern style - Shielded by kind neglect. - - It shows a warrior arm’d: - Across his iron breast - His hands by death are charmed - To leave his sword at rest, - - Wherewith he led his men - O’ersea, and smote to hell - The astonisht Saracen, - Nor doubted he did well. - - Would wé could teach our sons - His trust in face of doom, - Or give our bravest ones - A comparable tomb: - - Such as to look on shrives - The heart of half its care; - So in each line survives - The spirit that made it fair; - - So fair the characters, - With which the dusty scroll, - That tells his title, stirs - A requiem for his soul. - - Yet dearer far to me, - And brave as he are they, - Who fight by land and sea - For England at this day; - - Whose vile memorials, - In mournful marbles gilt, - Deface the beauteous walls - By growing glory built: - - Heirs of our antique shrines, - Sires of our future fame, - Whose starry honour shines - In many a noble name - - Across the deathful days, - Link’d in the brotherhood - That loves our country’s praise, - And lives for heavenly good. - - - - -22 - -THE DUTEOUS HEART - - - Spirit of grace and beauty, - Whom men so much miscall; - Maidenly, modest duty, - I cry thee fair befal! - - Pity for them that shun thee, - Sorrow for them that hate, - Glory, hath any won thee - To dwell in high estate! - - But rather thou delightest - To walk in humble ways, - Keeping thy favour brightest - Uncrown’d by foolish praise; - - In such retirement dwelling, - Where, hath the worldling been, - He straight returneth telling - Of sights that he hath seen, - - Of simple men and truest - Faces of girl and boy; - The souls whom thou enduest - With gentle peace and joy. - - Fair from my song befal thee, - Spirit of beauty and grace! - Men that so much miscall thee - Have never seen thy face. - - - - -23 - -THE IDLE FLOWERS - - - I have sown upon the fields - Eyebright and Pimpernel, - And Pansy and Poppy-seed - Ripen’d and scatter’d well, - - And silver Lady-smock - The meads with light to fill, - Cowslip and Buttercup, - Daisy and Daffodil; - - King-cup and Fleur-de-lys - Upon the marsh to meet - With Comfrey, Watermint, - Loose-strife and Meadowsweet; - - And all along the stream - My care hath not forgot - Crowfoot’s white galaxy - And love’s Forget-me-not: - - And where high grasses wave - Shall great Moon-daisies blink, - With Rattle and Sorrel sharp - And Robin’s ragged pink. - - Thick on the woodland floor - Gay company shall be, - Primrose and Hyacinth - And frail Anemone, - - Perennial Strawberry-bloom, - Woodsorrel’s pencilled veil, - Dishevel’d Willow-weed - And Orchis purple and pale, - - Bugle, that blushes blue, - And Woodruff’s snowy gem, - Proud Foxglove’s finger-bells - And Spurge with milky stem. - - High on the downs so bare, - Where thou dost love to climb, - Pink Thrift and Milkwort are, - Lotus and scented Thyme; - - And in the shady lanes - Bold Arum’s hood of green, - Herb Robert, Violet, - Starwort and Celandine; - - And by the dusty road - Bedstraw and Mullein tall, - With red Valerian - And Toadflax on the wall, - - Yarrow and Chicory, - That hath for hue no like, - Silene and Mallow mild - And Agrimony’s spike, - - Blue-eyed Veronicas - And grey-faced Scabious - And downy Silverweed - And striped Convolvulus: - - Harebell shall haunt the banks, - And thro’ the hedgerow peer - Withwind and Snapdragon - And Nightshade’s flower of fear. - - And where men never sow, - Have I my Thistles set, - Ragwort and stiff Wormwood - And straggling Mignonette, - - Bugloss and Burdock rank - And prickly Teasel high, - With Umbels yellow and white, - That come to kexes dry. - - Pale Chlora shalt thou find, - Sun-loving Centaury, - Cranesbill and Sinjunwort, - Cinquefoil and Betony: - - Shock-headed Dandelion, - That drank the fire of the sun - Hawkweed and Marigold, - Cornflower and Campion. - - Let Oak and Ash grow strong, - Let Beech her branches spread; - Let Grass and Barley throng - And waving Wheat for bread; - - Be share and sickle bright - To labour at all hours; - For thee and thy delight - I have made the idle flowers. - - But now ’tis Winter, child, - And bitter northwinds blow, - The ways are wet and wild, - The land is laid in snow. - - - - -24 - -DUNSTONE HILL - - - A cottage built of native stone - Stands on the mountain-moor alone, - High from man’s dwelling on the wide - And solitary mountain-side, - - The purple mountain-side, where all - The dewy night the meteors fall, - And the pale stars musically set - To the watery bells of the rivulet, - - And all day long, purple and dun, - The vast moors stretch beneath the sun, - The wide wind passeth fresh and hale, - And whirring grouse and blackcock sail. - - Ah, heavenly Peace, where dost thou dwell? - Surely ’twas here thou hadst a cell, - Till flaming Love, wandering astray - With fury and blood, drove thee away.— - - Far down across the valley deep - The town is hid in smoky sleep, - At moonless nightfall wakening slow - Upon the dark with lurid glow: - - Beyond, afar the widening view - Merges into the soften’d blue, - Cornfield and forest, hill and stream, - Fair England in her pastoral dream. - - To one who looketh from this hill - Life seems asleep, all is so still: - Nought passeth save the travelling shade - Of clouds on high that float and fade: - - Nor since this landscape saw the sun - Might other motion o’er it run, - Till to man’s scheming heart it came - To make a steed of steel and flame. - - Him may you mark in every vale - Moving beneath his fleecy trail, - And tell whene’er the motions die - Where every town and hamlet lie. - - He gives the distance life to-day, - Rushing upon his level’d way - From man’s abode to man’s abode, - And mocks the Roman’s vaunted road, - - Which o’er the moor purple and dun - Still wanders white beneath the sun, - Deserted now of men and lone - Save for this cot of native stone. - - There ever by the whiten’d wall - Standeth a maiden fair and tall, - And all day long in vacant dream - Watcheth afar the flying steam. - - - - -25 - -SCREAMING TARN - - - The saddest place that e’er I saw - Is the deep tarn above the inn - That crowns the mountain-road, whereby - One southward bound his way must win. - - Sunk on the table of the ridge - From its deep shores is nought to see: - The unresting wind lashes and chills - Its shivering ripples ceaselessly. - - Three sides ’tis banked with stones aslant, - And down the fourth the rushes grow, - And yellow sedge fringing the edge - With lengthen’d image all arow. - - ’Tis square and black, and on its face - When noon is still, the mirror’d sky - Looks dark and further from the earth - Than when you gaze at it on high. - - At mid of night, if one be there, - —So say the people of the hill— - A fearful shriek of death is heard, - One sudden scream both loud and shrill. - - And some have seen on stilly nights, - And when the moon was clear and round, - Bubbles which to the surface swam - And burst as if they held the sound.— - - ’Twas in the days ere hapless Charles - Losing his crown had lost his head, - This tale is told of him who kept - The inn upon the watershed: - - He was a lowbred ruin’d man - Whom lawless times set free from fear: - One evening to his house there rode - A young and gentle cavalier. - - With curling hair and linen fair - And jewel-hilted sword he went; - The horse he rode he had ridden far, - And he was with his journey spent. - - He asked a lodging for the night, - His valise from his steed unbound, - He let none bear it but himself - And set it by him on the ground. - - ’Here’s gold or jewels,’ thought the host, - ’That’s carrying south to find the king.’ - He chattered many a loyal word, - And scraps of royal airs gan sing. - - His guest thereat grew more at ease - And o’er his wine he gave a toast, - But little ate, and to his room - Carried his sack behind the host. - - ’Now rest you well,’ the host he said, - But of his wish the word fell wide; - Nor did he now forget his son - Who fell in fight by Cromwell’s side. - - Revenge and poverty have brought - Full gentler heart than his to crime; - And he was one by nature rude, - Born to foul deeds at any time. - - With unshod feet at dead of night - In stealth he to the guest-room crept, - Lantern and dagger in his hand, - And stabbed his victim while he slept. - - But as he struck a scream there came, - A fearful scream so loud and shrill: - He whelm’d the face with pillows o’er, - And lean’d till all had long been still. - - Then to the face the flame he held - To see there should no life remain:— - When lo! his brutal heart was quell’d: - ’Twas a fair woman he had slain. - - The tan upon her face was paint, - The manly hair was torn away, - Soft was the breast that he had pierced; - Beautiful in her death she lay. - - His was no heart to faint at crime, - Tho’ half he wished the deed undone. - He pulled the valise from the bed - To find what booty he had won. - - He cut the straps, and pushed within - His murderous fingers to their theft. - A deathly sweat came o’er his brow, - He had no sense nor meaning left. - - He touched not gold, it was not cold, - It was not hard, it felt like flesh. - He drew out by the curling hair - A young man’s head, and murder’d fresh; - - A young man’s head, cut by the neck. - But what was dreader still to see, - Her whom he had slain he saw again, - The twain were like as like can be. - - Brother and sister if they were, - Both in one shroud they now were wound,— - Across his back and down the stair, - Out of the house without a sound. - - He made his way unto the tarn, - The night was dark and still and dank; - The ripple chuckling neath the boat - Laughed as he drew it to the bank. - - Upon the bottom of the boat - He laid his burden flat and low, - And on them laid the square sandstones - That round about the margin go. - - Stone upon stone he weigh’d them down, - Until the boat would hold no more; - The freeboard now was scarce an inch: - He stripp’d his clothes and push’d from shore. - - All naked to the middle pool - He swam behind in the dark night; - And there he let the water in - And sank his terror out of sight. - - He swam ashore, and donn’d his dress, - And scraped his bloody fingers clean; - Ran home and on his victim’s steed - Mounted, and never more was seen. - - But to a comrade ere he died - He told his story guess’d of none: - So from his lips the crime returned - To haunt the spot where it was done. - - - - -26 - -THE ISLE OF ACHILLES - -(FROM THE GREEK) - - Τὸν φίλτατόν σοι παῖδ’ ἐμοί τ’, Ἀχιλλέα - ὄψει δόμους ναίοντα νησιωτικοὺς - Λευκὴν κατ’ ἀκτὴν ἐντὸς Εὐξείνου πόρου. - - Eur. And. 1250. - - - Voyaging northwards by the western strand - Of the Euxine sea we came to where the land - Sinks low in salt morass and wooded plain: - Here mighty Ister pushes to the main, - Forking his turbid flood in channels three - To plough the sands with which he chokes the sea. - - Against his middle arm, not many a mile - In the offing of black water is the isle - Named of Achilles, or as Leukê known, - Which tender Thetis, counselling alone - With her wise sire beneath the ocean-wave, - Unto her child’s departed spirit gave, - Where he might still his love and fame enjoy, - Through the vain Danaan cause fordone at Troy. - Thither Achilles passed, and long fulfill’d - His earthly lot, as the high gods had will’d, - Far from the rivalries of men, from strife, - From arms, from woman’s love and toil of life. - Now of his lone abode I will unfold - What there I saw, or was by others told. - - There is in truth a temple on the isle; - Therein a wooden statue of rude style - And workmanship antique with helm of lead: - Else all is desert, uninhabited; - Only a few goats browse the wind-swept rocks, - And oft the stragglers of their starving flocks - Are caught and sacrificed by whomsoe’er, - Whoever of chance or purpose hither fare: - About the fence lie strewn their bleaching bones. - - But in the temple jewels and precious stones, - Upheapt with golden rings and vials lie, - Thankofferings to Achilles, and thereby, - Written or scratch’d upon the walls in view, - Inscriptions, with the givers’ names thereto, - Some in Romaic character, some Greek, - As each man in the tongue that he might speak - Wrote verse of praise, or prayer for good to come, - To Achilles most, but to Patroclus some; - For those who strongly would Achilles move - Approach him by the pathway of his love. - - Thousands of birds frequent the sheltering shrine, - The dippers and the swimmers of the brine, - Sea-mew and gull and diving cormorant, - Fishers that on the high cliff make their haunt - Sheer inaccessible, and sun themselves - Huddled arow upon the narrow shelves:— - And surely no like wonder ere hath been - As that such birds should keep the temple clean; - But thus they do: at earliest dawn of day - They flock to sea and in the waters play, - And when they well have wet their plumage light, - Back to the sanctuary they take flight - Splashing the walls and columns with fresh brine, - Till all the stone doth fairly drip and shine, - When off again they skim asea for more - And soon returning sprinkle steps and floor, - And sweep all cleanly with their wide-spread wings. - - From other men I have learnt further things. - If any of free purpose, thus they tell, - Sail’d hither to consult the oracle,— - For oracle there was,—they sacrificed - Such victims as they brought, if such sufficed, - And some they slew, some to the god set free: - But they who driven from their course at sea - Chanced on the isle, took of the goats thereon - And pray’d Achilles to accept his own. - Then made they a gift, and when they had offer’d once, - If to their question there was no response, - They added to the gift and asked again; - Yea twice and more, until the god should deign - Answer to give, their offering they renew’d; - Whereby great riches to the shrine ensued. - And when both sacrifice and gifts were made - They worship’d at the shrine, and as they pray’d - Sailors aver that often hath been seen - A man like to a god, of warrior mien, - A beauteous form of figure swift and strong; - Down on his shoulders his light hair hung long - And his full armour was enchast with gold: - While some, who with their eyes might nought behold, - Say that with music strange the air was stir’d; - And some there are, who have both seen and heard: - And if a man wish to be favour’d more, - He need but spend one night upon the shore; - To him in sleep Achilles will appear - And lead him to his tent, and with good cheer - Show him all friendliness that men desire; - Patroclus pours the wine, and he his lyre - Takes from the pole and plays the strains thereon - Which Cheiron taught him first on Pelion. - - These things I tell as they were told to me, - Nor do I question but it well may be: - For sure I am that, if man ever was, - Achilles was a hero, both because - Of his high birth and beauty, his country’s call, - His valour of soul, his early death withal, - For Homer’s praise, the crown of human art; - And that above all praise he had at heart - A gentler passion in her sovran sway, - And when his love died threw his life away. - - - - -27 - -AN ANNIVERSARY - - - _HE_ - - Bright, my belovèd, be thy day, - This eve of Summer’s fall: - And Autumn mass his flowers gay - To crown thy festival! - - - _SHE_ - - I care not if the morn be bright, - Living in thy love-rays: - No flower I need for my delight, - Being crownèd with thy praise. - - - _HE_ - - O many years and joyfully - This sun to thee return; - Ever all men speak well of thee, - Nor any angel mourn! - - - _SHE_ - - For length of life I would not pray, - If thy life were to seek; - Nor ask what men and angels say - But when of thee they speak. - - - _HE_ - - Arise! The sky hath heard my song, - The flowers o’erhear thy praise; - And little loves are waking long - To wish thee happy days. - - - - -28 - -REGINA CARA - -JUBILEE-SONG, FOR MUSIC, 1897 - - - Hark! The world is full of thy praise, - England’s Queen of many days; - Who, knowing how to rule the free, - Hast given a crown to monarchy. - - Honour, Truth and growing Peace - Follow Britannia’s wide increase, - And Nature yield her strength unknown - To the wisdom born beneath thy throne! - - In wisdom and love firm is thy fame: - Enemies bow to revere thy name: - The world shall never tire to tell - Praise of the queen that reignèd well. - - O FELIX ANIMA, DOMINA PRAECLARA, - AMORE SEMPER CORONABERE - REGINA CARA. - - - - - NOTES - - - - -NOTE - - -The poems contained in Book I are my final selection from a volume -published in 1873. Those of Book II are from a pamphlet published in -1879. Some of all these are in places corrected. Book III is made up of -poems from a pamphlet published in 1880; to which are added others of -about the same date. Some of these have already appeared in a volume -printed for me by my friend the Rev. C. H. Daniel, in 1884. No. 6 was -written to a tune by Dr. Howard. No. 19 is a pretty close translation -of a poem by Théophile Gautier, which is itself a translation from -the English by Thomas Moore in _The Epicurean_. All the poems in Book -IV are now printed for the first time. No. 9 is a translation from a -madrigal by Michael Angelo (No. VIII in _Guasti_). It is from my Comedy -’The Humours of the Court,’ in which also No. 16 occurs. No. 11 is -from a Sicilian nona rima stanza, the first poem in Trucchi’s _Poesie -Italiane inedite_. No. 3 is but the initial fragment of a poem which -took another shape. - - 1890. - - -NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION - -Book V was printed by Mr. Daniel in 1893 and published -contemporaneously with an American edition, according to the -requirements of the international copyright law. In passing the proofs -of this edition I have altered the first line of No. 10: which being -actually descriptive of a robin’s song, now appears as such. It was -first printed ’Pink-throated linnet.’ I have also written ’and’ for -’or’ in two lines of V. 17, and amended I. 5. - - 1894. - - -NOTE TO PRESENT VOLUME - -In revising my ’shorter poems’ for this edition I have corrected a -few misprints which seem to have run through the earlier editions; -and, though I have refrained from the vanity of trying to improve old -work which has been so often printed, I have amended one or two lines -which seemed peculiarly bad. I hope that the ’new poems’ which I have -gathered to fill this second volume up to the size of the first, may -be found in some respects better than the old. Eclogues 2 and 3 have -already appeared in the _Cornhill Magazine_, and the poems numbered -severally 6, 14, 15 and 21, in Mr. Elkin Mathews’ _Shilling Garland_, -No. II. 1896. The rest are printed here for the first time: they are of -various dates, some of them were written this year for this volume. - - R. B., Sept. 1899. - - - - - INDEX - - - - -INDEX OF FIRST LINES - - - PAGE - A cottage built of native stone 272 - - Again with pleasant green 61 - - All women born 40 - - An effigy of brass 262 - - Angel spirits of sleep 145 - - A poppy grows upon the shore 26 - - Ariel, O,—my angel, my own 165 - - A song of my heart 191 - - Assemble, all ye maidens 34 - - Awake, my heart, to be loved 113 - - A winter’s night with the snow about 101 - - - Beautiful must be the mountains 189 - - Because thou canst not see 93 - - Behold! the radiant Spring 66 - - Beneath the wattled bank 223 - - Betwixt two billows 169 - - Bright, my belovèd, be thy day 287 - - - Christ and his Mother 194 - - Clear and gentle stream 9 - - Cold is the winter day 183 - - Crown Winter with green 160 - - - Dear lady, when thou frownest 22 - - - Fire of heaven, whose starry arrow 143 - - Flame-throated robin 185 - - - Gay Robin is seen no more 131 - - - Hark! the world is full 289 - - Hark to the merry birds 128 - - Haste on, my joys 95 - - His poisoned shafts 38 - - How well my eyes 227 - - - I climb the mossy bank 237 - - I found to-day out walking 25 - - I have loved flowers that fade 80 - - I have sown upon the fields 267 - - I heard a linnet courting 20 - - I know not how I came 50 - - I love all beauteous things 123 - - I love my lady’s eyes 115 - - I made another song 32 - - I never shall love the snow again 187 - - In the golden glade 201 - - In this May-month 181 - - I praise the tender flower 99 - - I saw the Virgin-mother 48 - - I stand on the cliff 89 - - I will not let thee go 23 - - I wish’d to sing thy grace 258 - - - Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy 108 - - - Let praise devote thy work 160 - - Let us, as by this verdant bank 57 - - Long are the hours the sun is above 28 - - Look down the river 218 - - Look! look! the spring is come 203 - - Love not too much 172 - - Love on my heart from heaven fell 137 - - - Man hath with man 211 - - My bed and pillow are cold 103 - - My delight and thy delight 241 - - My eyes for beauty pine 134 - - My spirit kisseth thine 163 - - My spirit sang all day 124 - - - Now all the windows 243 - - Now thin mists temper 175 - - - O bold majestic downs 59 - - O golden Sun, whose ray 77 - - O Love, I complain 232 - - O Love, my muse 135 - - O my vague desires 85 - - O thou unfaithful 104 - - O youth whose hope is high 119 - - - Perfect little body 91 - - Poor withered rose 14 - - - Riding adown the country lanes 247 - - - Sad, sombre place 71 - - Say who is this with silvered hair 158 - - See, whirling snow 180 - - Sense with keenest edge unusèd 249 - - Since thou, O fondest and truest 117 - - Since to be loved endures 174 - - Since we loved 256 - - Sometimes when my lady sits by me 27 - - So sweet love seemed 178 - - Spirit of grace and beauty 265 - - Spring goeth all in white 133 - - - The birds that sing on autumn eves 150 - - The cliff-top has a carpet 16 - - The clouds have left the sky 127 - - The day begins to droop 254 - - The evening darkens over 118 - - The full moon from her cloudless skies 112 - - The green corn waving in the dale 139 - - The hill pines were sighing 138 - - The idle life I lead 144 - - The lonely season 251 - - The north wind came up 198 - - The pinks along my garden walks 142 - - The saddest place 275 - - The south wind rose 234 - - There is a hill 53 - - There was no lad handsomer 205 - - The sea keeps not 245 - - The snow lies sprinkled on the beach 161 - - The storm is over 154 - - The summer trees are tempest-torn 149 - - The upper skies are palest blue 126 - - The wood is bare 12 - - Thou didst delight my eyes 106 - - To my love I whisper 239 - - - Voyaging northwards 282 - - - Wanton with long delay 130 - - Weep not to-day 207 - - We left the city when the summer day 96 - - What is sweeter than new-mown hay 147 - - What voice of gladness 179 - - When Death to either shall come 257 - - When first we met 39 - - When June is come 141 - - When men were all asleep 87 - - When my love was away 152 - - Wherefore to-night so full of care 75 - - Whither, O splendid ship 46 - - Who has not walked upon the shore 30 - - Why art thou sad 259 - - Why hast thou nothing 260 - - Will Love again awake 43 - - - Ye thrilled me once 157 - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber's Notes - -Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations -in hyphenation, spelling, accents and punctuation remain unchanged -except where in conflict with the index. - -Italics are represented thus _italic_. - -There are many small decorative illustrations within the book. These -have not been indicated - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetical Works of Robert Bridges -(Volume 2), by Robert Bridges - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES *** - -***** This file should be named 55178-0.txt or 55178-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/1/7/55178/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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Volume II, by Robert Bridges. - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -/* Headings*/ - -h1 -{ - margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; - text-align: center; - font-size: x-large; - font-weight: normal; - line-height: 1.6; -} - - h2,h3{ - text-align: center; - clear: both; - } - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} - -.half-title { - margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; - text-align: center; - font-size: large; - font-weight: normal; - line-height: 1.3; - } - - -/* Paragraphs */ - -p { - margin-top: .75em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - } - - -.spaced {margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 4em;} -.space-above {margin-top: 6em;} -.space-below {margin-bottom: 3em;} -.speaker {text-align: center; font-size: small; - margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: .2em;} - -.hang1 { - text-align: justify; - padding-left: 2.75em; - text-indent: -1.75em; - } - - -.blocktext { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - width: 20em;} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.tb {width: 40%; margin-left: 30%; margin-right: 30%;} -hr.spec {width: 70%; margin-left:15%; margin-right: 15%; - margin-top:.3em; margin-bottom: .3em;} - - -/* Tables */ - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - visibility: hidden; - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - - -.right {text-align: right;} -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.xs {font-size: x-small;} -.small {font-size: small;} - -.xl {font-size: x-large;} - - -/* Images */ - -img {border: none; max-width: 100%} - - -.figcenter { - margin: 1em auto; - text-align: center; - } - - -/* Poetry */ - - .poetry-container { - text-align: center; - margin: -1em 0; - } - - .poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; - } - -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - -.poetry .verse { - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em; - } - -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} -.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1em;} -.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0em;} -.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1em;} -.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2em;} -.poetry .indent12 {text-indent: 3em;} -.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4em;} -.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7em;} -.poetry .indent28 {text-indent: 11em;} - - - -@media handheld { - .poetry { - display: block; - margin-left: 1em; - } - } - - -/* Transcriber's notes */ - -.transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; - } -div.content {max-width: 50em;} - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetical Works of Robert Bridges (Volume 2), by -Robert Bridges - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Poetical Works of Robert Bridges (Volume 2) - -Author: Robert Bridges - -Release Date: July 23, 2017 [EBook #55178] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Les Galloway and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="content"> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="Title Page" /> -</div> - -<h1> -<span class="smcap"><small>Poetical Works</small></span><br /> - -<small>of</small><br /> - -ROBERT BRIDGES</h1> - -<p class="center">Volume II</p> - - -<p class="center space-below">London<br /> -Smith, Elder & Co<br /> -15 Waterloo Place<br /> -1898</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - - - -<p class="center spaced xs"> -OXFORD: HORACE HART<br /> -PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY -</p> - -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_003.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<p class="half-title"><i>POETICAL WORKS OF<br /> -ROBERT BRIDGES</i></p> - -<hr class="spec" /> -<p class="half-title"><i>VOLUME THE SECOND<br /> -CONTAINING</i></p> -<hr class="spec" /> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr> - <td align="left"><i>SHORTER POEMS</i></td> - <td align="right"><i>p.</i></td> - <td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left"><i>NEW POEMS</i></td> - <td></td> - <td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left"><i>NOTES</i></td> - <td></td> - <td align="right"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left"><i>INDEX OF FIRST LINES</i></td> - <td></td> - <td align="right"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> -</tr> -</table></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_003.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> -<div class="center small"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td>Links added by the transcriber.</td></tr> -<tr><td><i>BOOK</i></td> -<td><a href="#BOOK_I"><i>I</i></a></td> -<td><a href="#BOOK_II"><i>II</i></a></td> -<td><a href="#BOOK_III"><i>III</i></a></td> -<td><a href="#BOOK_IV"><i>IV</i></a></td> -<td><a href="#BOOK_V"><i>V</i></a></td> -</tr> -</table></div> - -<div class="chapter"></div> -<p class="center space-above">LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS</p> - - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_004.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> -<div class="blocktext"> -<p><i>SHORTER POEMS.</i></p> - -<div class="hang1"> - -<p>1. <i>Bks. I-IV. Clarendon Press. Geo. Bell & Sons, -Oct. 1890. Reprinted, Nov. 1890, 1891, 1894.</i></p> - -<p>2. <i>Bks. I-V. Private Press of H. Daniel. Oxford, -1894.</i></p> - -<p>3. <i>Do.</i> <i>do.</i> <i>Clarendon Press. George Bell & Sons, -1896.</i></p> - -<p>4. <i>Cheap issue of 3. 1899. Reprinted, 1899.</i></p></div> - - -<p><i>NEW POEMS.</i></p> - -<div class="hang1"> - -<p><i>Collected here for the first time.</i></p></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_004.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p><i>For account of earlier issues of first four books of -Shorter Poems, and of some of the poems contained in the -New Poems, see notes at end of this volume.</i></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="half-title"> -THE<br /> -SHORTER<br /> -POEMS</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_001a.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> -<p class="center">IN FOUR BOOKS -</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_001a.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_001b.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p class="center space-above"> -SHORTER POEMS</p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> -<h2 id="BOOK_I">BOOK I</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - - - - -<p class="center space-above"> -<small>DEDICATED TO</small><br /> - -H. E. W. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" > -<img src="images/book1.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<h3>1<br /> -ELEGY</h3> - - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">Clear</span> and gentle stream!</div> - <div class="verse">Known and loved so long</div> - <div class="verse">That hast heard the song,</div> - <div class="verse">And the idle dream</div> - <div class="verse">Of my boyish day;</div> - <div class="verse">While I once again</div> - <div class="verse">Down thy margin stray,</div> - <div class="verse">In the selfsame strain</div> - <div class="verse">Still my voice is spent,</div> - <div class="verse">With my old lament</div> - <div class="verse">And my idle dream,</div> - <div class="verse">Clear and gentle stream!</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Where my old seat was</div> - <div class="verse">Here again I sit,</div> - <div class="verse">Where the long boughs knit</div> - <div class="verse">Over stream and grass</div> - <div class="verse">A translucent eaves:</div> - <div class="verse">Where back eddies play</div> - <div class="verse">Shipwreck with the leaves,</div> - <div class="verse">And the proud swans stray,</div> - <div class="verse">Sailing one by one</div> - <div class="verse">Out of stream and sun,</div> - <div class="verse">And the fish lie cool</div> - <div class="verse">In their chosen pool.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Many an afternoon</div> - <div class="verse">Of the summer day</div> - <div class="verse">Dreaming here I lay;</div> - <div class="verse">And I know how soon,</div> - <div class="verse">Idly at its hour,</div> - <div class="verse">First the deep bell hums</div> - <div class="verse">From the minster tower,</div> - <div class="verse">And then evening comes,</div> - <div class="verse">Creeping up the glade,</div> - <div class="verse">With her lengthening shade,</div> - <div class="verse">And the tardy boon,</div> - <div class="verse">Of her brightening moon.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Clear and gentle stream!</div> - <div class="verse">Ere again I go</div> - <div class="verse">Where thou dost not flow,</div> - <div class="verse">Well does it beseem</div> - <div class="verse">Thee to hear again</div> - <div class="verse">Once my youthful song,</div> - <div class="verse">That familiar strain</div> - <div class="verse">Silent now so long:</div> - <div class="verse">Be as I content</div> - <div class="verse">With my old lament</div> - <div class="verse">And my idle dream,</div> - <div class="verse">Clear and gentle stream.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>2<br /> - -ELEGY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The wood is bare: a river-mist is steeping</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The trees that winter’s chill of life bereaves:</div> - <div class="verse">Only their stiffened boughs break silence, weeping</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Over their fallen leaves;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">That lie upon the dank earth brown and rotten,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Miry and matted in the soaking wet:</div> - <div class="verse">Forgotten with the spring, that is forgotten</div> - <div class="verse indent8">By them that can forget.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet it was here we walked when ferns were springing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And through the mossy bank shot bud and blade:—</div> - <div class="verse">Here found in summer, when the birds were singing,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">A green and pleasant shade.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Twas here we loved in sunnier days and greener;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And now, in this disconsolate decay,</div> - <div class="verse">I come to see her where I most have seen her,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And touch the happier day.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For on this path, at every turn and corner,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fancy of her figure on me falls:</div> - <div class="verse">Yet walks she with the slow step of a mourner,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Nor hears my voice that calls.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So through my heart there winds a track of feeling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A path of memory, that is all her own:</div> - <div class="verse">Whereto her phantom beauty ever stealing</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Haunts the sad spot alone.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">About her steps the trunks are bare, the branches</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drip heavy tears upon her downcast head;</div> - <div class="verse">And bleed unseen wounds that no sun staunches,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">For the year’s sun is dead.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And dead leaves wrap the fruits that summer planted:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And birds that love the South have taken wing.</div> - <div class="verse">The wanderer, loitering o’er the scene enchanted,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Weeps, and despairs of spring.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>3</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Poor withered rose and dry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Skeleton of a rose,</div> - <div class="verse">Risen to testify</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To love’s sad close:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Treasured for love’s sweet sake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That of joy past</div> - <div class="verse">Thou might’st again awake</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Memory at last.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet is thy perfume sweet;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy petals red</div> - <div class="verse">Yet tell of summer heat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the gay bed:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet, yet recall the glow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the gazing sun,</div> - <div class="verse">When at thy bush we two</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Joined hands in one.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But, rose, thou hast not seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou hast not wept</div> - <div class="verse">The change that passed between,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst thou hast slept.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To me thou seemest yet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dead dream’s thrall:</div> - <div class="verse">While I live and forget</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dream, truth and all.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thou art more fresh than I,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rose, sweet and red:</div> - <div class="verse">Salt on my pale cheeks lie</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tears I shed.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4<br /> - -THE CLIFF-TOP</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The cliff-top has a carpet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of lilac, gold and green:</div> - <div class="verse">The blue sky bounds the ocean</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The white clouds scud between.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A flock of gulls are wheeling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wailing round my seat;</div> - <div class="verse">Above my head the heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sea beneath my feet.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker">THE OCEAN.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Were I a cloud I’d gather</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My skirts up in the air,</div> - <div class="verse">And fly I well know whither,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rest I well know where.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">As pointed the star surely,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The legend tells of old,</div> - <div class="verse">Where the wise kings might offer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Myrrh, frankincense, and gold;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Above the house I’d hover</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where dwells my love, and wait</div> - <div class="verse">Till haply I might spy her</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Throw back the garden-gate.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There in the summer evening</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I would bedeck the moon;</div> - <div class="verse">I would float down and screen her</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the sun’s rays at noon;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And if her flowers should languish,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or wither in the drought,</div> - <div class="verse">Upon her tall white lilies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I’d pour my heart’s blood out:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So if she wore one only,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shook not out the rain,</div> - <div class="verse">Were I a cloud, O cloudlet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I had not lived in vain.</div> -</div></div></div> - - -<p class="right"> -[<i>A cloud speaks.</i><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> - <p class="speaker">A CLOUD.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But were I thou, O ocean,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I would not chafe and fret</div> - <div class="verse">As thou, because a limit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To thy desires is set.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I would be blue, and gentle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Patient, and calm, and see</div> - <div class="verse">If my smiles might not tempt her,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My love, to come to me.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I’d make my depths transparent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And still, that she should lean</div> - <div class="verse">O’er the boat’s edge to ponder</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sights that swam between.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I would command strange creatures,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of bright hue and quick fin,</div> - <div class="verse">To stir the water near her,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tempt her bare arm in.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I’d teach her spend the summer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With me: and I can tell,</div> - <div class="verse">That, were I thou, O ocean,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My love should love me well.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But on the mad cloud scudded,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The breeze it blew so stiff;</div> - <div class="verse">And the sad ocean bellowed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And pounded at the cliff.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I heard a linnet courting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His lady in the spring:</div> - <div class="verse">His mates were idly sporting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor stayed to hear him sing</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His song of love.—</div> - <div class="verse">I fear my speech distorting</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His tender love.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The phrases of his pleading</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were full of young delight;</div> - <div class="verse">And she that gave him heeding</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Interpreted aright</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His gay, sweet notes,—</div> - <div class="verse">So sadly marred in the reading,—</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His tender notes.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And when he ceased, the hearer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Awaited the refrain,</div> - <div class="verse">Till swiftly perching nearer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sang his song again,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His pretty song:—</div> - <div class="verse">Would that my verse spake clearer</div> - <div class="verse indent6">His tender song!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ye happy, airy creatures!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That in the merry spring</div> - <div class="verse">Think not of what misfeatures</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or cares the year may bring;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">But unto love</div> - <div class="verse">Resign your simple natures,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">To tender love.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Dear lady, when thou frownest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And my true love despisest,</div> - <div class="verse">And all thy vows disownest</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sealed my venture wisest;</div> - <div class="verse">I think thy pride’s displeasure</div> - <div class="verse">Neglects a matchless treasure</div> - <div class="verse">Exceeding price and measure.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But when again thou smilest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And love for love returnest,</div> - <div class="verse">And fear with joy beguilest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And takest truth in earnest;</div> - <div class="verse">Then, though I sheer adore thee,</div> - <div class="verse">The sum of my love for thee</div> - <div class="verse">Seems poor, scant, and unworthy.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">Ends all our month-long love in this?</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Can it be summed up so,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Quit in a single kiss?</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">If thy words’ breath could scare thy deeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">As the soft south can blow</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And toss the feathered seeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Then might I let thee go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">Had not the great sun seen, I might;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Or were he reckoned slow</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To bring the false to light,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Then might I let thee go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">The stars that crowd the summer skies</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> - <div class="verse indent4">Have watched us so below</div> - <div class="verse indent4">With all their million eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I dare not let thee go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">Have we not chid the changeful moon,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Now rising late, and now</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Because she set too soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And shall I let thee go?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">Have not the young flowers been content,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Plucked ere their buds could blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To seal our sacrament?</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I cannot let thee go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">I will not let thee go.</div> - <div class="verse">I hold thee by too many bands:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Thou sayest farewell, and lo!</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I have thee by the hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And will not let thee go.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I found to-day out walking</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The flower my love loves best.</div> - <div class="verse">What, when I stooped to pluck it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could dare my hand arrest?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Was it a snake lay curling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the root’s thick crown?</div> - <div class="verse">Or did some hidden bramble</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tear my hand reaching down?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There was no snake uncurling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And no thorn wounded me;</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas my heart checked me, sighing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She is beyond the sea.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A poppy grows upon the shore,</div> - <div class="verse">Bursts her twin cup in summer late:</div> - <div class="verse">Her leaves are glaucous-green and hoar,</div> - <div class="verse">Her petals yellow, delicate.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Oft to her cousins turns her thought,</div> - <div class="verse">In wonder if they care that she</div> - <div class="verse">Is fed with spray for dew, and caught</div> - <div class="verse">By every gale that sweeps the sea.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She has no lovers like the red,</div> - <div class="verse">That dances with the noble corn:</div> - <div class="verse">Her blossoms on the waves are shed,</div> - <div class="verse">Where she stands shivering and forlorn.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sometimes when my lady sits by me</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My rapture’s so great, that I tear</div> - <div class="verse">My mind from the thought that she’s nigh me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And strive to forget that she’s there.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sometimes when she is away</div> - <div class="verse">Her absence so sorely does try me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That I shut to my eyes, and assay</div> - <div class="verse">To think she is there sitting by me.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Long are the hours the sun is above,</div> - <div class="verse">But when evening comes I go home to my love.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I’m away the daylight hours and more,</div> - <div class="verse">Yet she comes not down to open the door.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She does not meet me upon the stair,—</div> - <div class="verse">She sits in my chamber and waits for me there.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">As I enter the room she does not move:</div> - <div class="verse">I always walk straight up to my love;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And she lets me take my wonted place</div> - <div class="verse">At her side, and gaze in her dear dear face.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There as I sit, from her head thrown back</div> - <div class="verse">Her hair falls straight in a shadow black.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Aching and hot as my tired eyes be,</div> - <div class="verse">She is all that I wish to see.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And in my wearied and toil-dinned ear,</div> - <div class="verse">She says all things that I wish to hear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Dusky and duskier grows the room,</div> - <div class="verse">Yet I see her best in the darker gloom.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When the winter eves are early and cold,</div> - <div class="verse">The firelight hours are a dream of gold.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And so I sit here night by night,</div> - <div class="verse">In rest and enjoyment of love’s delight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But a knock at the door, a step on the stair</div> - <div class="verse">Will startle, alas, my love from her chair.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">If a stranger comes she will not stay:</div> - <div class="verse">At the first alarm she is off and away.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And he wonders, my guest, usurping her throne,</div> - <div class="verse">That I sit so much by myself alone.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Who has not walked upon the shore,</div> - <div class="verse">And who does not the morning know,</div> - <div class="verse">The day the angry gale is o’er,</div> - <div class="verse">The hour the wind has ceased to blow?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The horses of the strong south-west</div> - <div class="verse">Are pastured round his tropic tent,</div> - <div class="verse">Careless how long the ocean’s breast</div> - <div class="verse">Sob on and sigh for passion spent.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The frightened birds, that fled inland</div> - <div class="verse">To house in rock and tower and tree,</div> - <div class="verse">Are gathering on the peaceful strand,</div> - <div class="verse">To tempt again the sunny sea;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Whereon the timid ships steal out</div> - <div class="verse">And laugh to find their foe asleep,</div> - <div class="verse">That lately scattered them about,</div> - <div class="verse">And drave them to the fold like sheep.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The snow-white clouds he northward chased</div> - <div class="verse">Break into phalanx, line, and band:</div> - <div class="verse">All one way to the south they haste,</div> - <div class="verse">The south, their pleasant fatherland.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">From distant hills their shadows creep,</div> - <div class="verse">Arrive in turn and mount the lea,</div> - <div class="verse">And flit across the downs, and leap</div> - <div class="verse">Sheer off the cliff upon the sea;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And sail and sail far out of sight.</div> - <div class="verse">But still I watch their fleecy trains,</div> - <div class="verse">That piling all the south with light,</div> - <div class="verse">Dapple in France the fertile plains.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I made another song,</div> - <div class="verse">In likeness of my love:</div> - <div class="verse">And sang it all day long,</div> - <div class="verse">Around, beneath, above;</div> - <div class="verse">I told my secret out,</div> - <div class="verse">That none might be in doubt.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I sang it to the sky,</div> - <div class="verse">That veiled his face to hear</div> - <div class="verse">How far her azure eye</div> - <div class="verse">Outdoes his splendid sphere;</div> - <div class="verse">But at her eyelids’ name</div> - <div class="verse">His white clouds fled for shame.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I told it to the trees,</div> - <div class="verse">And to the flowers confest,</div> - <div class="verse">And said not one of these</div> - <div class="verse">Is like my lily drest;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Nor spathe nor petal dared</div> - <div class="verse">Vie with her body bared.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I shouted to the sea,</div> - <div class="verse">That set his waves a-prance;</div> - <div class="verse">Her floating hair is free,</div> - <div class="verse">Free are her feet to dance;</div> - <div class="verse">And for thy wrath, I swear</div> - <div class="verse">Her frown is more to fear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And as in happy mood</div> - <div class="verse">I walked and sang alone,</div> - <div class="verse">At eve beside the wood</div> - <div class="verse">I met my love, my own:</div> - <div class="verse">And sang to her the song</div> - <div class="verse">I had sung all day long.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>14<br /> - -ELEGY</h3> - -<p class="center small">ON A LADY, WHOM GRIEF FOR THE DEATH OF HER -BETROTHED KILLED</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Assemble, all ye maidens, at the door,</div> - <div class="verse">And all ye loves, assemble; far and wide</div> - <div class="verse">Proclaim the bridal, that proclaimed before</div> - <div class="verse">Has been deferred to this late eventide:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">For on this night the bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The days of her betrothal over,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leaves the parental hearth for evermore;</div> - <div class="verse">To-night the bride goes forth to meet her lover.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Reach down the wedding vesture, that has lain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet all unvisited, the silken gown:</div> - <div class="verse">Bring out the bracelets, and the golden chain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her dearer friends provided: sere and brown</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Bring out the festal crown,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And set it on her forehead lightly:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though it be withered, twine no wreath again;</div> - <div class="verse">This only is the crown she can wear rightly.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Cloke her in ermine, for the night is cold,</div> - <div class="verse">And wrap her warmly, for the night is long,</div> - <div class="verse">In pious hands the flaming torches hold,</div> - <div class="verse">While her attendants, chosen from among</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Her faithful virgin throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">May lay her in her cedar litter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Decking her coverlet with sprigs of gold,</div> - <div class="verse">Roses, and lilies white that best befit her.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sound flute and tabor, that the bridal be</div> - <div class="verse">Not without music, nor with these alone;</div> - <div class="verse">But let the viol lead the melody,</div> - <div class="verse">With lesser intervals, and plaintive moan</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Of sinking semitone;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And, all in choir, the virgin voices</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rest not from singing in skilled harmony</div> - <div class="verse">The song that aye the bridegroom’s ear rejoices.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Let the priests go before, arrayed in white,</div> - <div class="verse">And let the dark-stoled minstrels follow slow,</div> - <div class="verse">Next they that bear her, honoured on this night,</div> - <div class="verse">And then the maidens, in a double row,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Each singing soft and low,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And each on high a torch upstaying:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unto her lover lead her forth with light,</div> - <div class="verse">With music, and with singing, and with praying.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Twas at this sheltering hour he nightly came,</div> - <div class="verse">And found her trusty window open wide,</div> - <div class="verse">And knew the signal of the timorous flame,</div> - <div class="verse">That long the restless curtain would not hide</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Her form that stood beside;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">As scarce she dared to be delighted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Listening to that sweet tale, that is no shame</div> - <div class="verse">To faithful lovers, that their hearts have plighted.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But now for many days the dewy grass</div> - <div class="verse">Has shown no markings of his feet at morn:</div> - <div class="verse">And watching she has seen no shadow pass</div> - <div class="verse">The moonlit walk, and heard no music borne</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Upon her ear forlorn.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In vain has she looked out to greet him;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He has not come, he will not come, alas!</div> - <div class="verse">So let us bear her out where she must meet him.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Now to the river bank the priests are come:</div> - <div class="verse">The bark is ready to receive its freight:</div> - <div class="verse">Let some prepare her place therein, and some</div> - <div class="verse">Embark the litter with its slender weight:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The rest stand by in state,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And sing her a safe passage over;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While she is oared across to her new home,</div> - <div class="verse">Into the arms of her expectant lover.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And thou, O lover, that art on the watch,</div> - <div class="verse">Where, on the banks of the forgetful streams,</div> - <div class="verse">The pale indifferent ghosts wander, and snatch</div> - <div class="verse">The sweeter moments of their broken dreams,—</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Thou, when the torchlight gleams,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">When thou shalt see the slow procession,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when thine ears the fitful music catch,</div> - <div class="verse">Rejoice, for thou art near to thy possession.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>15<br /> - -RONDEAU</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His poisoned shafts, that fresh he dips</div> - <div class="verse">In juice of plants that no bee sips,</div> - <div class="verse">He takes, and with his bow renown’d</div> - <div class="verse">Goes out upon his hunting ground,</div> - <div class="verse">Hanging his quiver at his hips.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He draws them one by one, and clips</div> - <div class="verse">Their heads between his finger-tips,</div> - <div class="verse">And looses with a twanging sound</div> - <div class="verse indent14">His poisoned shafts.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But if a maiden with her lips</div> - <div class="verse">Suck from the wound the blood that drips,</div> - <div class="verse">And drink the poison from the wound,</div> - <div class="verse">The simple remedy is found</div> - <div class="verse">That of their deadly terror strips</div> - <div class="verse indent14">His poisoned shafts.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>16<br /> - -TRIOLET</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When first we met we did not guess</div> - <div class="verse">That Love would prove so hard a master;</div> - <div class="verse">Of more than common friendliness</div> - <div class="verse">When first we met we did not guess.</div> - <div class="verse">Who could foretell this sore distress,</div> - <div class="verse">This irretrievable disaster</div> - <div class="verse">When first we met?—We did not guess</div> - <div class="verse">That Love would prove so hard a master.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>17<br /> - -TRIOLET</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All women born are so perverse</div> - <div class="verse">No man need boast their love possessing.</div> - <div class="verse">If nought seem better, nothing’s worse:</div> - <div class="verse">All women born are so perverse.</div> - <div class="verse">From Adam’s wife, that proved a curse</div> - <div class="verse">Though God had made her for a blessing,</div> - <div class="verse">All women born are so perverse</div> - <div class="verse">No man need boast their love possessing.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_040.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="center"> -SHORTER POEMS</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<h2 id="BOOK_II">BOOK II</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> - - - - - -<p class="center small spaced"><small>TO<br /> -THE MEMORY OF</small><br /> - -G. M. H.</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" > -<img src="images/book2.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> -<h3>1</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="speaker">MUSE.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">Will</span> Love again awake,</div> - <div class="verse">That lies asleep so long?</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">POET.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O hush! ye tongues that shake</div> - <div class="verse">The drowsy night with song.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">MUSE.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">It is a lady fair</div> - <div class="verse">Whom once he deigned to praise,</div> - <div class="verse">That at the door doth dare</div> - <div class="verse">Her sad complaint to raise. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">POET.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She must be fair of face,</div> - <div class="verse">As bold of heart she seems,</div> - <div class="verse">If she would match her grace</div> - <div class="verse">With the delight of dreams.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">MUSE.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Her beauty would surprise</div> - <div class="verse">Gazers on Autumn eves,</div> - <div class="verse">Who watched the broad moon rise</div> - <div class="verse">Upon the scattered sheaves.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">POET.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O sweet must be the voice</div> - <div class="verse">He shall descend to hear,</div> - <div class="verse">Who doth in Heaven rejoice</div> - <div class="verse">His most enchanted ear.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">MUSE.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The smile, that rests to play</div> - <div class="verse">Upon her lip, foretells</div> - <div class="verse">What musical array</div> - <div class="verse">Tricks her sweet syllables. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">POET.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And yet her smiles have danced</div> - <div class="verse">In vain, if her discourse</div> - <div class="verse">Win not the soul entranced</div> - <div class="verse">In divine intercourse.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">MUSE.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She will encounter all</div> - <div class="verse">This trial without shame,</div> - <div class="verse">Her eyes men Beauty call,</div> - <div class="verse">And Wisdom is her name.</div> -</div> -<p class="speaker">POET.</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Throw back the portals then,</div> - <div class="verse">Ye guards, your watch that keep,</div> - <div class="verse">Love will awake again</div> - <div class="verse">That lay so long asleep.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>2<br /> - -A PASSER-BY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Whither, O splendid ship, thy white sails crowding,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leaning across the bosom of the urgent West,</div> - <div class="verse">That fearest nor sea rising, nor sky clouding,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whither away, fair rover, and what thy quest?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah! soon, when Winter has all our vales opprest,</div> - <div class="verse">When skies are cold and misty, and hail is hurling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wilt thóu glíde on the blue Pacific, or rest</div> - <div class="verse">In a summer haven asleep, thy white sails furling.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I there before thee, in the country that well thou knowest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Already arrived am inhaling the odorous air:</div> - <div class="verse">I watch thee enter unerringly where thou goest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And anchor queen of the strange shipping there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy sails for awnings spread, thy masts bare:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Nor is aught from the foaming reef to the snow-capped, grandest</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Peak, that is over the feathery palms more fair</div> - <div class="verse">Than thou, so upright, so stately, and still thou standest.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And yet, O splendid ship, unhailed and nameless,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I know not if, aiming a fancy, I rightly divine</div> - <div class="verse">That thou hast a purpose joyful, a courage blameless,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy port assured in a happier land than mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But for all I have given thee, beauty enough is thine,</div> - <div class="verse">As thou, aslant with trim tackle and shrouding,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the proud nostril curve of a prow’s line</div> - <div class="verse">In the offing scatterest foam, thy white sails crowding.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>3<br /> - -LATE SPRING EVENING</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I saw the Virgin-mother clad in green,</div> - <div class="verse">Walking the sprinkled meadows at sundown;</div> - <div class="verse">While yet the moon’s cold flame was hung between</div> - <div class="verse">The day and night, above the dusky town:</div> - <div class="verse">I saw her brighter than the Western gold,</div> - <div class="verse">Whereto she faced in splendour to behold.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Her dress was greener than the tenderest leaf</div> - <div class="verse">That trembled in the sunset glare aglow:</div> - <div class="verse">Herself more delicate than is the brief,</div> - <div class="verse">Pink apple-blossom, that May showers lay low,</div> - <div class="verse">And more delicious than’s the earliest streak</div> - <div class="verse">The blushing rose shows of her crimson cheek.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">As if to match the sight that so did please,</div> - <div class="verse">A music entered, making passion fain:</div> - <div class="verse">Three nightingales sat singing in the trees,</div> - <div class="verse">And praised the Goddess for the fallen rain;</div> - <div class="verse">Which yet their unseen motions did arouse,</div> - <div class="verse">Or parting Zephyrs shook out from the boughs.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And o’er the treetops, scattered in mid air,</div> - <div class="verse">The exhausted clouds, laden with crimson light</div> - <div class="verse">Floated, or seemed to sleep; and, highest there,</div> - <div class="verse">One planet broke the lingering ranks of night;</div> - <div class="verse">Daring day’s company, so he might spy</div> - <div class="verse">The Virgin-queen once with his watchful eye.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And when I saw her, then I worshipped her,</div> - <div class="verse">And said,—O bounteous Spring, O beauteous Spring,</div> - <div class="verse">Mother of all my years, thou who dost stir</div> - <div class="verse">My heart to adore thee and my tongue to sing,</div> - <div class="verse">Flower of my fruit, of my heart’s blood the fire,</div> - <div class="verse">Of all my satisfaction the desire!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">How art thou every year more beautiful,</div> - <div class="verse">Younger for all the winters thou hast cast:</div> - <div class="verse">And I, for all my love grows, grow more dull,</div> - <div class="verse">Decaying with each season overpast!</div> - <div class="verse">In vain to teach him love must man employ thee,</div> - <div class="verse">The more he learns the less he can enjoy thee.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4<br /> - -WOOING</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I know not how I came,</div> - <div class="verse">New on my knightly journey,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To win the fairest dame</div> - <div class="verse">That graced my maiden tourney.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Chivalry’s lovely prize</div> - <div class="verse">With all men’s gaze upon her,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Why did she free her eyes</div> - <div class="verse">On me, to do me honour?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah! ne’er had I my mind</div> - <div class="verse">With such high hope delighted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had she not first inclined,</div> - <div class="verse">And with her eyes invited.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But never doubt I knew,</div> - <div class="verse">Having their glance to cheer me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until the day joy grew</div> - <div class="verse">Too great, too sure, too near me.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When hope a fear became,</div> - <div class="verse">And passion, grown too tender,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now trembled at the shame</div> - <div class="verse">Of a despised surrender;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And where my love at first</div> - <div class="verse">Saw kindness in her smiling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I read her pride, and cursed</div> - <div class="verse">The arts of her beguiling.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Till winning less than won,</div> - <div class="verse">And liker wooed than wooing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Too late I turned undone</div> - <div class="verse">Away from my undoing;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And stood beside the door,</div> - <div class="verse">Whereto she followed, making</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My hard leave-taking more</div> - <div class="verse">Hard by her sweet leave-taking.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Her speech would have betrayed</div> - <div class="verse">Her thought, had mine been colder:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes distress had made</div> - <div class="verse">A lesser lover bolder.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But no! Fond heart, distrust,</div> - <div class="verse">Cried Wisdom, and consider:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go free, since go thou must;—</div> - <div class="verse">And so farewell I bid her.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And brisk upon my way</div> - <div class="verse">I smote the stroke to sever,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And should have lost that day</div> - <div class="verse">My life’s delight for ever:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But when I saw her start</div> - <div class="verse">And turn aside and tremble;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah! she was true, her heart</div> - <div class="verse">I knew did not dissemble.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There is a hill beside the silver Thames,</div> - <div class="verse">Shady with birch and beech and odorous pine:</div> - <div class="verse">And brilliant underfoot with thousand gems</div> - <div class="verse">Steeply the thickets to his floods decline.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Straight trees in every place</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Their thick tops interlace,</div> - <div class="verse">And pendant branches trail their foliage fine</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Upon his watery face.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Swift from the sweltering pasturage he flows:</div> - <div class="verse">His stream, alert to seek the pleasant shade,</div> - <div class="verse">Pictures his gentle purpose, as he goes</div> - <div class="verse">Straight to the caverned pool his toil has made.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His winter floods lay bare</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The stout roots in the air:</div> - <div class="verse">His summer streams are cool, when they have played</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Among their fibrous hair.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A rushy island guards the sacred bower,</div> - <div class="verse">And hides it from the meadow, where in peace</div> - <div class="verse">The lazy cows wrench many a scented flower,</div> - <div class="verse">Robbing the golden market of the bees:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And laden barges float</div> - <div class="verse indent4">By banks of myosote;</div> - <div class="verse">And scented flag and golden flower-de-lys</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Delay the loitering boat.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And on this side the island, where the pool</div> - <div class="verse">Eddies away, are tangled mass on mass</div> - <div class="verse">The water-weeds, that net the fishes cool,</div> - <div class="verse">And scarce allow a narrow stream to pass;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Where spreading crowfoot mars</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The drowning nenuphars,</div> - <div class="verse">Waving the tassels of her silken grass</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Below her silver stars.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But in the purple pool there nothing grows,</div> - <div class="verse">Not the white water-lily spoked with gold;</div> - <div class="verse">Though best she loves the hollows, and well knows</div> - <div class="verse">On quiet streams her broad shields to unfold:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Yet should her roots but try</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Within these deeps to lie,</div> - <div class="verse">Not her long reaching stalk could ever hold</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Her waxen head so high.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sometimes an angler comes, and drops his hook</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Within its hidden depths, and ’gainst a tree</div> - <div class="verse">Leaning his rod, reads in some pleasant book,</div> - <div class="verse">Forgetting soon his pride of fishery;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And dreams, or falls asleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">While curious fishes peep</div> - <div class="verse">About his nibbled bait, or scornfully</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Dart off and rise and leap.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And sometimes a slow figure ’neath the trees,</div> - <div class="verse">In ancient-fashioned smock, with tottering care</div> - <div class="verse">Upon a staff propping his weary knees,</div> - <div class="verse">May by the pathway of the forest fare:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">As from a buried day</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Across the mind will stray</div> - <div class="verse">Some perishing mute shadow,—and unaware</div> - <div class="verse indent4">He passeth on his way.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Else, he that wishes solitude is safe,</div> - <div class="verse">Whether he bathe at morning in the stream:</div> - <div class="verse">Or lead his love there when the hot hours chafe</div> - <div class="verse">The meadows, busy with a blurring steam;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Or watch, as fades the light,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The gibbous moon grow bright,</div> - <div class="verse">Until her magic rays dance in a dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And glorify the night.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Where is this bower beside the silver Thames?</div> - <div class="verse">O pool and flowery thickets, hear my vow!</div> - <div class="verse">O trees of freshest foliage and straight stems,</div> - <div class="verse">No sharer of my secret I allow:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Lest ere I come the while</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Strange feet your shades defile;</div> - <div class="verse">Or lest the burly oarsman turn his prow</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Within your guardian isle.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6<br /> - -A WATER-PARTY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Let us, as by this verdant bank we float,</div> - <div class="verse">Search down the marge to find some shady pool</div> - <div class="verse">Where we may rest awhile and moor our boat,</div> - <div class="verse">And bathe our tired limbs in the waters cool.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Beneath the noonday sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Swiftly, O river, run!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Here is a mirror for Narcissus, see!</div> - <div class="verse">I cannot sound it, plumbing with my oar.</div> - <div class="verse">Lay the stern in beneath this bowering tree!</div> - <div class="verse">Now, stepping on this stump, we are ashore.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Guard, Hamadryades,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Our clothes laid by your trees!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">How the birds warble in the woods! I pick</div> - <div class="verse">The waxen lilies, diving to the root.</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> - <div class="verse">But swim not far in the stream, the weeds grow thick,</div> - <div class="verse">And hot on the bare head the sunbeams shoot.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Until our sport be done,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">O merry birds, sing on!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">If but to-night the sky be clear, the moon</div> - <div class="verse">Will serve us well, for she is near the full.</div> - <div class="verse">We shall row safely home; only too soon,—</div> - <div class="verse">So pleasant ’tis, whether we float or pull.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To guide us through the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">O summer moon, shine bright!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7<br /> - -THE DOWNS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O bold majestic downs, smooth, fair and lonely;</div> - <div class="verse">O still solitude, only matched in the skies:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Perilous in steep places,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Soft in the level races,</div> - <div class="verse">Where sweeping in phantom silence the cloudland flies;</div> - <div class="verse">With lovely undulation of fall and rise;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Entrenched with thickets thorned,</div> - <div class="verse">By delicate miniature dainty flowers adorned!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I climb your crown, and lo! a sight surprising</div> - <div class="verse">Of sea in front uprising, steep and wide:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And scattered ships ascending</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To heaven, lost in the blending</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Of distant blues, where water and sky divide,</div> - <div class="verse">Urging their engines against wind and tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And all so small and slow</div> - <div class="verse">They seem to be wearily pointing the way they would go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The accumulated murmur of soft plashing,</div> - <div class="verse">Of waves on rocks dashing and searching the sands,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Takes my ear, in the veering</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Baffled wind, as rearing</div> - <div class="verse">Upright at the cliff, to the gullies and rifts he stands;</div> - <div class="verse">And his conquering surges scour out over the lands;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">While again at the foot of the downs</div> - <div class="verse">He masses his strength to recover the topmost crowns.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8<br /> - -SPRING</h3> - -<p class="center small">ODE I</p> - -<p class="center small">INVITATION TO THE COUNTRY</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Again with pleasant green</div> - <div class="verse">Has Spring renewed the wood,</div> - <div class="verse">And where the bare trunks stood</div> - <div class="verse">Are leafy arbours seen;</div> - <div class="verse">And back on budding boughs</div> - <div class="verse">Come birds, to court and pair,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose rival amorous vows</div> - <div class="verse">Amaze the scented air.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The freshets are unbound,</div> - <div class="verse">And leaping from the hill,</div> - <div class="verse">Their mossy banks refill</div> - <div class="verse">With streams of light and sound:</div> - <div class="verse">And scattered down the meads,</div> - <div class="verse">From hour to hour unfold</div> - <div class="verse">A thousand buds and beads</div> - <div class="verse">In stars and cups of gold.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Now hear, and see, and note,</div> - <div class="verse">The farms are all astir,</div> - <div class="verse">And every labourer</div> - <div class="verse">Has doffed his winter coat;</div> - <div class="verse">And how with specks of white</div> - <div class="verse">They dot the brown hillside,</div> - <div class="verse">Or jaunt and sing outright</div> - <div class="verse">As by their teams they stride.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They sing to feel the Sun</div> - <div class="verse">Regain his wanton strength;</div> - <div class="verse">To know the year at length</div> - <div class="verse">Rewards their labour done;</div> - <div class="verse">To see the rootless stake</div> - <div class="verse">They set bare in the ground,</div> - <div class="verse">Burst into leaf, and shake</div> - <div class="verse">Its grateful scent around.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah now an evil lot</div> - <div class="verse">Is his, who toils for gain,</div> - <div class="verse">Where crowded chimneys stain</div> - <div class="verse">The heavens his choice forgot;</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis on the blighted trees</div> - <div class="verse">That deck his garden dim,</div> - <div class="verse">And in the tainted breeze,</div> - <div class="verse">That sweet spring comes to him.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Far sooner I would choose</div> - <div class="verse">The life of brutes that bask,</div> - <div class="verse">Than set myself a task,</div> - <div class="verse">Which inborn powers refuse:</div> - <div class="verse">And rather far enjoy</div> - <div class="verse">The body, than invent</div> - <div class="verse">A duty, to destroy</div> - <div class="verse">The ease which nature sent;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And country life I praise,</div> - <div class="verse">And lead, because I find</div> - <div class="verse">The philosophic mind</div> - <div class="verse">Can take no middle ways;</div> - <div class="verse">She will not leave her love</div> - <div class="verse">To mix with men, her art</div> - <div class="verse">Is all to strive above</div> - <div class="verse">The crowd, or stand apart.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thrice happy he, the rare</div> - <div class="verse">Prometheus, who can play</div> - <div class="verse">With hidden things, and lay</div> - <div class="verse">New realms of nature bare;</div> - <div class="verse">Whose venturous step has trod</div> - <div class="verse">Hell underfoot, and won</div> - <div class="verse">A crown from man and God</div> - <div class="verse">For all that he has done.—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">That highest gift of all,</div> - <div class="verse">Since crabbèd fate did flood</div> - <div class="verse">My heart with sluggish blood,</div> - <div class="verse">I look not mine to call;</div> - <div class="verse">But, like a truant freed,</div> - <div class="verse">Fly to the woods, and claim</div> - <div class="verse">A pleasure for the deed</div> - <div class="verse">Of my inglorious name:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And am content, denied</div> - <div class="verse">The best, in choosing right;</div> - <div class="verse">For Nature can delight</div> - <div class="verse">Fancies unoccupied</div> - <div class="verse">With ecstasies so sweet</div> - <div class="verse">As none can even guess,</div> - <div class="verse">Who walk not with the feet</div> - <div class="verse">Of joy in idleness.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then leave your joyless ways,</div> - <div class="verse">My friend, my joys to see.</div> - <div class="verse">The day you come shall be</div> - <div class="verse">The choice of chosen days:</div> - <div class="verse">You shall be lost, and learn</div> - <div class="verse">New being, and forget</div> - <div class="verse">The world, till your return</div> - <div class="verse">Shall bring your first regret.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9<br /> - -SPRING</h3> - -<p class="center small">ODE II</p> - -<p class="center small">REPLY</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Behold! the radiant Spring,</div> - <div class="verse">In splendour decked anew,</div> - <div class="verse">Down from her heaven of blue</div> - <div class="verse">Returns on sunlit wing:</div> - <div class="verse">The zephyrs of her train</div> - <div class="verse">In fleecy clouds disport,</div> - <div class="verse">And birds to greet her reign</div> - <div class="verse">Summon their silvan court.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And here in street and square</div> - <div class="verse">The prisoned trees contest</div> - <div class="verse">Her favour with the best,</div> - <div class="verse">To robe themselves full fair:</div> - <div class="verse">And forth their buds provoke,</div> - <div class="verse">Forgetting winter brown,</div> - <div class="verse">And all the mire and smoke</div> - <div class="verse">That wrapped the dingy town.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Now he that loves indeed</div> - <div class="verse">His pleasure must awake,</div> - <div class="verse">Lest any pleasure take</div> - <div class="verse">Its flight, and he not heed;</div> - <div class="verse">For of his few short years</div> - <div class="verse">Another now invites</div> - <div class="verse">His hungry soul, and cheers</div> - <div class="verse">His life with new delights.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And who loves Nature more</div> - <div class="verse">Than he, whose painful art</div> - <div class="verse">Has taught and skilled his heart</div> - <div class="verse">To read her skill and lore?</div> - <div class="verse">Whose spirit leaps more high,</div> - <div class="verse">Plucking the pale primrose,</div> - <div class="verse">Than his whose feet must fly</div> - <div class="verse">The pasture where it grows?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">One long in city pent</div> - <div class="verse">Forgets, or must complain:</div> - <div class="verse">But think not I can stain</div> - <div class="verse">My heaven with discontent;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor wallow with that sad,</div> - <div class="verse">Backsliding herd, who cry</div> - <div class="verse">That Truth must make man bad,</div> - <div class="verse">And pleasure is a lie.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Rather while Reason lives</div> - <div class="verse">To mark me from the beast,</div> - <div class="verse">I’ll teach her serve at least</div> - <div class="verse">To heal the wound she gives:</div> - <div class="verse">Nor need she strain her powers</div> - <div class="verse">Beyond a common flight,</div> - <div class="verse">To make the passing hours</div> - <div class="verse">Happy from morn till night.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Since health our toil rewards,</div> - <div class="verse">And strength is labour’s prize,</div> - <div class="verse">I hate not, nor despise</div> - <div class="verse">The work my lot accords;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor fret with fears unkind</div> - <div class="verse">The tender joys, that bless</div> - <div class="verse">My hard-won peace of mind,</div> - <div class="verse">In hours of idleness.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then what charm company</div> - <div class="verse">Can give, know I,—if wine</div> - <div class="verse">Go round, or throats combine</div> - <div class="verse">To set dumb music free.</div> - <div class="verse">Or deep in wintertide</div> - <div class="verse">When winds without make moan,</div> - <div class="verse">I love my own fireside</div> - <div class="verse">Not least when most alone.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then oft I turn the page</div> - <div class="verse">In which our country’s name,</div> - <div class="verse">Spoiling the Greek of fame,</div> - <div class="verse">Shall sound in every age:</div> - <div class="verse">Or some Terentian play</div> - <div class="verse">Renew, whose excellent</div> - <div class="verse">Adjusted folds betray</div> - <div class="verse">How once Menander went.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Or if grave study suit</div> - <div class="verse">The yet unwearied brain,</div> - <div class="verse">Plato can teach again,</div> - <div class="verse">And Socrates dispute;</div> - <div class="verse">Till fancy in a dream</div> - <div class="verse">Confront their souls with mine,</div> - <div class="verse">Crowning the mind supreme,</div> - <div class="verse">And her delights divine.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">While pleasure yet can be</div> - <div class="verse">Pleasant, and fancy sweet,</div> - <div class="verse">I bid all care retreat</div> - <div class="verse">From my philosophy;</div> - <div class="verse">Which, when I come to try</div> - <div class="verse">Your simpler life, will find,</div> - <div class="verse">I doubt not, joys to vie</div> - <div class="verse">With those I leave behind.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10<br /> - -ELEGY</h3> - -<p class="center small">AMONG THE TOMBS</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sad, sombre place, beneath whose antique yews</div> - <div class="verse">I come, unquiet sorrows to control;</div> - <div class="verse">Amid thy silent mossgrown graves to muse</div> - <div class="verse">With my neglected solitary soul;</div> - <div class="verse">And to poetic sadness care confide,</div> - <div class="verse">Trusting sweet Melancholy for my guide:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They will not ask why in thy shades I stray,</div> - <div class="verse">Among the tombs finding my rare delight,</div> - <div class="verse">Beneath the sun at indolent noonday,</div> - <div class="verse">Or in the windy moon-enchanted night,</div> - <div class="verse">Who have once reined in their steeds at any shrine,</div> - <div class="verse">And given them water from the well divine.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The orchards are all ripened, and the sun</div> - <div class="verse">Spots the deserted gleanings with decay;</div> - <div class="verse">The seeds are perfected: his work is done,</div> - <div class="verse">And Autumn lingers but to outsmile the May;</div> - <div class="verse">Bidding his tinted leaves glide, bidding clear</div> - <div class="verse">Unto clear skies the birds applaud the year.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lo, here I sit, and to the world I call,</div> - <div class="verse">The world my solemn fancy leaves behind,</div> - <div class="verse">Come! pass within the inviolable wall,</div> - <div class="verse">Come pride, come pleasure, come distracted mind;</div> - <div class="verse">Within the fated refuge, hither, turn,</div> - <div class="verse">And learn your wisdom ere ’tis late to learn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Come with me now, and taste the fount of tears;</div> - <div class="verse">For many eyes have sanctified this spot,</div> - <div class="verse">Where grief’s unbroken lineage endears</div> - <div class="verse">The charm untimely Folly injures not,</div> - <div class="verse">And slays the intruding thoughts, that overleap</div> - <div class="verse">The simple fence its holiness doth keep.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Read the worn names of the forgotten dead,</div> - <div class="verse">Their pompous legends will no smile awake;</div> - <div class="verse">Even the vainglorious title o’er the head</div> - <div class="verse">Wins its pride pardon for its sorrow’s sake;</div> - <div class="verse">And carven Loves scorn not their dusty prize,</div> - <div class="verse">Though fallen so far from tender sympathies.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Here where a mother laid her only son,</div> - <div class="verse">Here where a lover left his bride, below</div> - <div class="verse">The treasured names their own are added on</div> - <div class="verse">To those whom they have followed long ago:</div> - <div class="verse">Sealing the record of the tears they shed,</div> - <div class="verse">That ’where their treasure there their hearts are fled.’</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Grandfather, father, son, and then again</div> - <div class="verse">Child, grandchild, and great-grandchild laid beneath,</div> - <div class="verse">Numbered in turn among the sons of men,</div> - <div class="verse">And gathered each one in his turn to death:</div> - <div class="verse">While he that occupies their house and name</div> - <div class="verse">To-day,—to-morrow too their grave shall claim.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And where are all their spirits? Ah! could we tell</div> - <div class="verse">The manner of our being when we die,</div> - <div class="verse">And see beyond the scene we know so well</div> - <div class="verse">The country that so much obscured doth lie!</div> - <div class="verse">With brightest visions our fond hopes repair,</div> - <div class="verse">Or crown our melancholy with despair;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">From death, still death, still would a comfort come:</div> - <div class="verse">Since of this world the essential joy must fall</div> - <div class="verse">In all distributed, in each thing some,</div> - <div class="verse">In nothing all, and all complete in all;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Till pleasure, ageing to her full increase,</div> - <div class="verse">Puts on perfection, and is throned in peace.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yea, sweetest peace, unsought-for, undesired,</div> - <div class="verse">Loathed and misnamed, ’tis thee I worship here:</div> - <div class="verse">Though in most black habiliments attired,</div> - <div class="verse">Thou art sweet peace, and thee I cannot fear.</div> - <div class="verse">Nay, were my last hope quenched, I here would sit</div> - <div class="verse">And praise the annihilation of the pit.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Nor quickly disenchanted will my feet</div> - <div class="verse">Back to the busy town return, but yet</div> - <div class="verse">Linger, ere I my loving friends would greet,</div> - <div class="verse">Or touch their hands, or share without regret</div> - <div class="verse">The warmth of that kind hearth, whose sacred ties</div> - <div class="verse">Only shall dim with tears my dying eyes.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11<br /> - -DEJECTION</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Wherefore to-night so full of care,</div> - <div class="verse">My soul, revolving hopeless strife,</div> - <div class="verse">Pointing at hindrance, and the bare</div> - <div class="verse">Painful escapes of fitful life?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Shaping the doom that may befall</div> - <div class="verse">By precedent of terror past:</div> - <div class="verse">By love dishonoured, and the call</div> - <div class="verse">Of friendship slighted at the last?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">By treasured names, the little store</div> - <div class="verse">That memory out of wreck could save</div> - <div class="verse">Of loving hearts, that gone before</div> - <div class="verse">Call their old comrade to the grave?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O soul, be patient: thou shalt find</div> - <div class="verse">A little matter mend all this;</div> - <div class="verse">Some strain of music to thy mind,</div> - <div class="verse">Some praise for skill not spent amiss.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Again shall pleasure overflow</div> - <div class="verse">Thy cup with sweetness, thou shalt taste</div> - <div class="verse">Nothing but sweetness, and shalt grow</div> - <div class="verse">Half sad for sweetness run to waste.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O happy life! I hear thee sing,</div> - <div class="verse">O rare delight of mortal stuff!</div> - <div class="verse">I praise my days for all they bring,</div> - <div class="verse">Yet are they only not enough.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12<br /> - -MORNING HYMN</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O golden Sun, whose ray</div> - <div class="verse">My path illumineth:</div> - <div class="verse">Light of the circling day,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose night is birth and death:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">That dost not stint the prime</div> - <div class="verse">Of wise and strong, nor stay</div> - <div class="verse">The changeful ordering time,</div> - <div class="verse">That brings their sure decay:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Though thou, the central sphere,</div> - <div class="verse">Dost seem to turn around</div> - <div class="verse">Thy creature world, and near</div> - <div class="verse">As father fond art found;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thereon, as from above</div> - <div class="verse">To shine, and make rejoice</div> - <div class="verse">With beauty, life, and love,</div> - <div class="verse">The garden of thy choice,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To dress the jocund Spring</div> - <div class="verse">With bounteous promise gay</div> - <div class="verse">Of hotter months, that bring</div> - <div class="verse">The full perfected day;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To touch with richest gold</div> - <div class="verse">The ripe fruit, ere it fall;</div> - <div class="verse">And smile through cloud and cold</div> - <div class="verse">On Winter’s funeral.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now with resplendent flood</div> - <div class="verse">Gladden my waking eyes,</div> - <div class="verse">And stir my slothful blood</div> - <div class="verse">To joyous enterprise.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Arise, arise, as when</div> - <div class="verse">At first God said <span class="smcap">Light be</span>!</div> - <div class="verse">That He might make us men</div> - <div class="verse">With eyes His light to see.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Scatter the clouds that hide</div> - <div class="verse">The face of heaven, and show</div> - <div class="verse">Where sweet Peace doth abide,</div> - <div class="verse">Where Truth and Beauty grow.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Awaken, cheer, adorn,</div> - <div class="verse">Invite, inspire, assure</div> - <div class="verse">The joys that praise thy morn,</div> - <div class="verse">The toil thy noons mature:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And soothe the eve of day,</div> - <div class="verse">That darkens back to death;</div> - <div class="verse">O golden Sun, whose ray</div> - <div class="verse">Our path illumineth!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I have loved flowers that fade,</div> - <div class="verse">Within whose magic tents</div> - <div class="verse">Rich hues have marriage made</div> - <div class="verse">With sweet unmemoried scents:</div> - <div class="verse">A honeymoon delight,—</div> - <div class="verse">A joy of love at sight,</div> - <div class="verse">That ages in an hour:—</div> - <div class="verse">My song be like a flower!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I have loved airs, that die</div> - <div class="verse">Before their charm is writ</div> - <div class="verse">Along a liquid sky</div> - <div class="verse">Trembling to welcome it.</div> - <div class="verse">Notes, that with pulse of fire</div> - <div class="verse">Proclaim the spirit’s desire,</div> - <div class="verse">Then die, and are nowhere:—</div> - <div class="verse">My song be like an air!</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Die, song, die like a breath,</div> - <div class="verse">And wither as a bloom:</div> - <div class="verse">Fear not a flowery death,</div> - <div class="verse">Dread not an airy tomb!</div> - <div class="verse">Fly with delight, fly hence!</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas thine love’s tender sense</div> - <div class="verse">To feast; now on thy bier</div> - <div class="verse">Beauty shall shed a tear.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_040.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a><br /><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="center"> -SHORTER POEMS</p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<h2 id="BOOK_III">BOOK III</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="center spaced"><small>TO</small><br /> - -R. W. D.</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" > -<img src="images/book3.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h3>1</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">O my</span> vague desires!</div> - <div class="verse">Ye lambent flames of the soul, her offspring fires:</div> - <div class="verse">That are my soul herself in pangs sublime</div> - <div class="verse">Rising and flying to heaven before her time:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What doth tempt you forth</div> - <div class="verse">To drown in the south or shiver in the frosty north?</div> - <div class="verse">What seek ye or find ye in your random flying,</div> - <div class="verse">Ever soaring aloft, soaring and dying?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Joy, the joy of flight!</div> - <div class="verse">They hide in the sun, they flare and dance in the night;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Gone up, gone out of sight: and ever again</div> - <div class="verse">Follow fresh tongues of fire, fresh pangs of pain.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ah! they burn my soul,</div> - <div class="verse">The fires, devour my soul that once was whole:</div> - <div class="verse">She is scattered in fiery phantoms day by day,</div> - <div class="verse">But whither, whither? ay whither? away, away!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Could I but control</div> - <div class="verse">These vague desires, these leaping flames of the soul:</div> - <div class="verse">Could I but quench the fire: ah! could I stay</div> - <div class="verse">My soul that flieth, alas, and dieth away!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>2<br /> - -LONDON SNOW</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When men were all asleep the snow came flying,</div> - <div class="verse">In large white flakes falling on the city brown,</div> - <div class="verse">Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;</div> - <div class="verse">Deadening, muffling, stifling its murmurs failing;</div> - <div class="verse">Lazily and incessantly floating down and down:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Silently sifting and veiling road, roof and railing;</div> - <div class="verse">Hiding difference, making unevenness even,</div> - <div class="verse">Into angles and crevices softly drifting and sailing.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All night it fell, and when full inches seven</div> - <div class="verse">It lay in the depth of its uncompacted lightness,</div> - <div class="verse">The clouds blew off from a high and frosty heaven;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all woke earlier for the unaccustomed brightness</div> - <div class="verse">Of the winter dawning, the strange unheavenly glare:</div> - <div class="verse">The eye marvelled—marvelled at the dazzling whiteness;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ear hearkened to the stillness of the solemn air;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> - <div class="verse">No sound of wheel rumbling nor of foot falling,</div> - <div class="verse">And the busy morning cries came thin and spare.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then boys I heard, as they went to school, calling,</div> - <div class="verse">They gathered up the crystal manna to freeze</div> - <div class="verse">Their tongues with tasting, their hands with snowballing;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or rioted in a drift, plunging up to the knees;</div> - <div class="verse">Or peering up from under the white-mossed wonder,</div> - <div class="verse">’O look at the trees!’ they cried, ’O look at the trees!’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With lessened load a few carts creak and blunder,</div> - <div class="verse">Following along the white deserted way,</div> - <div class="verse">A country company long dispersed asunder:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When now already the sun, in pale display</div> - <div class="verse">Standing by Paul’s high dome, spread forth below</div> - <div class="verse">His sparkling beams, and awoke the stir of the day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For now doors open, and war is waged with the snow;</div> - <div class="verse">And trains of sombre men, past tale of number,</div> - <div class="verse">Tread long brown paths, as toward their toil they go:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But even for them awhile no cares encumber</div> - <div class="verse">Their minds diverted; the daily word is unspoken,</div> - <div class="verse">The daily thoughts of labour and sorrow slumber</div> - <div class="verse">At the sight of the beauty that greets them, for the charm they have broken.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>3<br /> - -THE VOICE OF NATURE</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I stand on the cliff and watch the veiled sun paling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A silver field afar in the mournful sea,</div> - <div class="verse">The scourge of the surf, and plaintive gulls sailing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At ease on the gale that smites the shuddering lea:</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Whose smile severe and chaste</div> - <div class="verse indent2">June never hath stirred to vanity, nor age defaced.</div> - <div class="verse">In lofty thought strive, O spirit, for ever:</div> - <div class="verse">In courage and strength pursue thine own endeavour.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ah! if it were only for thee, thou restless ocean</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of waves that follow and roar, the sweep of the tides;</div> - <div class="verse">Wer’t only for thee, impetuous wind, whose motion</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Precipitate all o’errides, and turns, nor abides:</div> - <div class="verse indent10">For you sad birds and fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or only for thee, bleak cliff, erect in the air;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Then well could I read wisdom in every feature,</div> - <div class="verse">O well should I understand the voice of Nature.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But far away, I think, in the Thames valley,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The silent river glides by flowery banks:</div> - <div class="verse">And birds sing sweetly in branches that arch an alley</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of cloistered trees, moss-grown in their ancient ranks:</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Where if a light air stray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Tis laden with hum of bees and scent of may.</div> - <div class="verse">Love and peace be thine, O spirit, for ever:</div> - <div class="verse">Serve thy sweet desire: despise endeavour.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And if it were only for thee, entrancèd river,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That scarce dost rock the lily on her airy stem,</div> - <div class="verse">Or stir a wave to murmur, or a rush to quiver;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wer’t but for the woods, and summer asleep in them:</div> - <div class="verse indent10">For you my bowers green,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My hedges of rose and woodbine, with walks between,</div> - <div class="verse">Then well could I read wisdom in every feature,</div> - <div class="verse">O well should I understand the voice of Nature.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4<br /> - -ON A DEAD CHILD</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Perfect little body, without fault or stain on thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With promise of strength and manhood full and fair!</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Though cold and stark and bare,</div> - <div class="verse">The bloom and the charm of life doth awhile remain on thee.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thy mother’s treasure wert thou;—alas! no longer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To visit her heart with wondrous joy; to be</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Thy father’s pride;—ah, he</div> - <div class="verse">Must gather his faith together, and his strength make stronger.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To me, as I move thee now in the last duty,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dost thou with a turn or gesture anon respond;</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Startling my fancy fond</div> - <div class="verse">With a chance attitude of the head, a freak of beauty.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thy hand clasps, as ’twas wont, my finger, and holds it:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the grasp is the clasp of Death, heartbreaking and stiff;</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Yet feels to my hand as if</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas still thy will, thy pleasure and trust that enfolds it.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So I lay thee there, thy sunken eyelids closing,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go lie thou there in thy coffin, thy last little bed!—</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Propping thy wise, sad head,</div> - <div class="verse">Thy firm, pale hands across thy chest disposing.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So quiet! doth the change content thee?—Death, whither hath he taken thee?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To a world, do I think, that rights the disaster of this?</div> - <div class="verse indent10">The vision of which I miss,</div> - <div class="verse">Who weep for the body, and wish but to warm thee and awaken thee?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ah! little at best can all our hopes avail us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To lift this sorrow, or cheer us, when in the dark,</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Unwilling, alone we embark,</div> - <div class="verse">And the things we have seen and have known and have heard of, fail us.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5<br /> - -THE PHILOSOPHER TO HIS MISTRESS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Because thou canst not see,</div> - <div class="verse">Because thou canst not know</div> - <div class="verse">The black and hopeless woe</div> - <div class="verse">That hath encompassed me:</div> - <div class="verse">Because, should I confess</div> - <div class="verse">The thought of my despair,</div> - <div class="verse">My words would wound thee less</div> - <div class="verse">Than swords can hurt the air:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Because with thee I seem</div> - <div class="verse">As one invited near</div> - <div class="verse">To taste the faery cheer</div> - <div class="verse">Of spirits in a dream;</div> - <div class="verse">Of whom he knoweth nought</div> - <div class="verse">Save that they vie to make</div> - <div class="verse">All motion, voice and thought</div> - <div class="verse">A pleasure for his sake:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Therefore more sweet and strange</div> - <div class="verse">Has been the mystery</div> - <div class="verse">Of thy long love to me,</div> - <div class="verse">That doth not quit, nor change,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor tax my solemn heart,</div> - <div class="verse">That kisseth in a gloom,</div> - <div class="verse">Knowing not who thou art</div> - <div class="verse">That givest, nor to whom.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Therefore the tender touch</div> - <div class="verse">Is more; more dear the smile:</div> - <div class="verse">And thy light words beguile</div> - <div class="verse">My wisdom overmuch:</div> - <div class="verse">And O with swiftness fly</div> - <div class="verse">The fancies of my song</div> - <div class="verse">To happy worlds, where I</div> - <div class="verse">Still in thy love belong.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Haste on, my joys! your treasure lies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In swift, unceasing flight.</div> - <div class="verse">O haste: for while your beauty flies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I seize your full delight.</div> - <div class="verse">Lo! I have seen the scented flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose tender stems I cull,</div> - <div class="verse">For her brief date and meted hour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Appear more beautiful.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O youth, O strength, O most divine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For that so short ye prove;</div> - <div class="verse">Were but your rare gifts longer mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye scarce would win my love.</div> - <div class="verse">Nay, life itself the heart would spurn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did once the days restore</div> - <div class="verse">The days, that once enjoyed return,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Return—ah! nevermore.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7<br /> - -INDOLENCE</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">We left the city when the summer day</div> - <div class="verse">Had verged already on its hot decline,</div> - <div class="verse">And charmed Indolence in languor lay</div> - <div class="verse">In her gay gardens, ’neath her towers divine:</div> - <div class="verse">’Farewell,’ we said, ’dear city of youth and dream!’</div> - <div class="verse">And in our boat we stepped and took the stream.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">All through that idle afternoon we strayed</div> - <div class="verse">Upon our proposed travel well begun,</div> - <div class="verse">As loitering by the woodland’s dreamy shade,</div> - <div class="verse">Past shallow islets floating in the sun,</div> - <div class="verse">Or searching down the banks for rarer flowers</div> - <div class="verse">We lingered out the pleasurable hours.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Till when that loveliest came, which mowers home</div> - <div class="verse">Turns from their longest labour, as we steered</div> - <div class="verse">Along a straitened channel flecked with foam,</div> - <div class="verse">We lost our landscape wide, and slowly neared</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> - <div class="verse">An ancient bridge, that like a blind wall lay</div> - <div class="verse">Low on its buried vaults to block the way.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then soon the narrow tunnels broader showed,</div> - <div class="verse">Where with its arches three it sucked the mass</div> - <div class="verse">Of water, that in swirl thereunder flowed,</div> - <div class="verse">Or stood piled at the piers waiting to pass;</div> - <div class="verse">And pulling for the middle span, we drew</div> - <div class="verse">The tender blades aboard and floated through.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But past the bridge what change we found below!</div> - <div class="verse">The stream, that all day long had laughed and played</div> - <div class="verse">Betwixt the happy shires, ran dark and slow,</div> - <div class="verse">And with its easy flood no murmur made:</div> - <div class="verse">And weeds spread on its surface, and about</div> - <div class="verse">The stagnant margin reared their stout heads out.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the left high elms, with giant wood</div> - <div class="verse">Skirting the water-meadows, interwove</div> - <div class="verse">Their slumbrous crowns, o’ershadowing where they stood</div> - <div class="verse">The floor and heavy pillars of the grove:</div> - <div class="verse">And in the shade, through reeds and sedges dank,</div> - <div class="verse">A footpath led along the moated bank.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Across, all down the right, an old brick wall,</div> - <div class="verse">Above and o’er the channel, red did lean;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Here buttressed up, and bulging there to fall,</div> - <div class="verse">Tufted with grass and plants and lichen green;</div> - <div class="verse">And crumbling to the flood, which at its base</div> - <div class="verse">Slid gently nor disturbed its mirrored face.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Sheer on the wall the houses rose, their backs</div> - <div class="verse">All windowless, neglected and awry,</div> - <div class="verse">With tottering coins, and crooked chimney stacks;</div> - <div class="verse">And here and there an unused door, set high</div> - <div class="verse">Above the fragments of its mouldering stair,</div> - <div class="verse">With rail and broken step led out on air.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond, deserted wharfs and vacant sheds,</div> - <div class="verse">With empty boats and barges moored along,</div> - <div class="verse">And rafts half-sunken, fringed with weedy shreds,</div> - <div class="verse">And sodden beams, once soaked to season strong.</div> - <div class="verse">No sight of man, nor sight of life, no stroke,</div> - <div class="verse">No voice the somnolence and silence broke.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then I who rowed leant on my oar, whose drip</div> - <div class="verse">Fell without sparkle, and I rowed no more;</div> - <div class="verse">And he that steered moved neither hand nor lip,</div> - <div class="verse">But turned his wondering eye from shore to shore;</div> - <div class="verse">And our trim boat let her swift motion die,</div> - <div class="verse">Between the dim reflections floating by.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I praise the tender flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That on a mournful day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bloomed in my garden bower</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And made the winter gay.</div> - <div class="verse">Its loveliness contented</div> - <div class="verse indent4">My heart tormented.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">I praise the gentle maid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose happy voice and smile</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To confidence betrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My doleful heart awhile:</div> - <div class="verse">And gave my spirit deploring</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Fresh wings for soaring.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The maid for very fear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of love I durst not tell:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> - <div class="verse indent2">The rose could never hear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though I bespake her well:</div> - <div class="verse">So in my song I bind them</div> - <div class="verse indent4">For all to find them.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A winter’s night with the snow about:</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas silent within and cold without:</div> - <div class="verse">Both father and mother to bed were gone:</div> - <div class="verse">The son sat yet by the fire alone.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He gazed on the fire, and dreamed again</div> - <div class="verse">Of one that was now no more among men:</div> - <div class="verse">As still he sat and never aware</div> - <div class="verse">How close was the spirit beside his chair.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Nay, sad were his thoughts, for he wept and said</div> - <div class="verse">Ah, woe for the dead! ah, woe for the dead!</div> - <div class="verse">How heavy the earth lies now on her breast,</div> - <div class="verse">The lips that I kissed, and the hand I pressed.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The spirit he saw not, he could not hear</div> - <div class="verse">The comforting word she spake in his ear:</div> - <div class="verse">His heart in the grave with her mouldering clay</div> - <div class="verse">No welcome gave—and she fled away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My bed and pillow are cold,</div> - <div class="verse">My heart is faint with dread,</div> - <div class="verse">The air hath an odour of mould,</div> - <div class="verse">I dream I lie with the dead:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">I cannot move,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">O come to me, love,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Or else I am dead.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The feet I hear on the floor</div> - <div class="verse">Tread heavily overhead:</div> - <div class="verse">O Love, come down to the door,</div> - <div class="verse">Come, Love, come, ere I be dead:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Make shine thy light,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">O Love, in the night;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Or else I am dead.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O thou unfaithful, still as ever dearest,</div> - <div class="verse">That in thy beauty to my eyes appearest,</div> - <div class="verse">In fancy rising now to re-awaken</div> - <div class="verse indent12">My love unshaken;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All thou’st forgotten, but no change can free thee,</div> - <div class="verse">No hate unmake thee; as thou wert I see thee,</div> - <div class="verse">And am contented, eye from fond eye meeting</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Its ample greeting.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O thou my star of stars, among things wholly</div> - <div class="verse">Devoted, sacred, dim and melancholy,</div> - <div class="verse">The only joy of all the joys I cherished</div> - <div class="verse indent12">That hast not perished,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why now on others squand’rest thou the treasure,</div> - <div class="verse">That to be jealous of is still my pleasure:</div> - <div class="verse">As still I dream ’tis me whom thou invitest,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Me thou delightest?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But day by day my joy hath feebler being,</div> - <div class="verse">The fading picture tires my painful seeing,</div> - <div class="verse">And faery fancy leaves her habitation</div> - <div class="verse indent12">To desolation.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Of two things open left for lovers parted</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas thine to scorn the past and go lighthearted:</div> - <div class="verse">But I would ever dream I still possess it,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">And thus caress it.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thou didst delight my eyes:</div> - <div class="verse">Yet who am I? nor first</div> - <div class="verse">Nor last nor best, that durst</div> - <div class="verse">Once dream of thee for prize;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor this the only time</div> - <div class="verse">Thou shalt set love to rhyme.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou didst delight my ear:</div> - <div class="verse">Ah! little praise; thy voice</div> - <div class="verse">Makes other hearts rejoice,</div> - <div class="verse">Makes all ears glad that hear;</div> - <div class="verse">And short my joy: but yet,</div> - <div class="verse">O song, do not forget.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">For what wert thou to me?</div> - <div class="verse">How shall I say? The moon,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> - <div class="verse">That poured her midnight noon</div> - <div class="verse">Upon his wrecking sea;—</div> - <div class="verse">A sail, that for a day</div> - <div class="verse">Has cheered the castaway.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy, where dost thou dwell?</div> - <div class="verse">Upon the formless moments of our being</div> - <div class="verse">Flitting, to mock the ear that heareth well,</div> - <div class="verse">To escape the trainèd eye that strains in seeing,</div> - <div class="verse">Dost thou fly with us whither we are fleeing;</div> - <div class="verse">Or home in our creations, to withstand</div> - <div class="verse">Blackwingèd death, that slays the making hand?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The making mind, that must untimely perish</div> - <div class="verse">Amidst its work which time may not destroy,</div> - <div class="verse">The beauteous forms which man shall love to cherish,</div> - <div class="verse">The glorious songs that combat earth’s annoy?</div> - <div class="verse">Thou dost dwell here, I know, divinest Joy:</div> - <div class="verse">But they who build thy towers fair and strong,</div> - <div class="verse">Of all that toil, feel most of care and wrong.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Sense is so tender, O and hope so high,</div> - <div class="verse">That common pleasures mock their hope and sense;</div> - <div class="verse">And swifter than doth lightning from the sky</div> - <div class="verse">The ecstasy they pine for flashes hence,</div> - <div class="verse">Leaving the darkness and the woe immense,</div> - <div class="verse">Wherewith it seems no thread of life was woven,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor doth the track remain where once ’twas cloven.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And heaven and all the stable elements</div> - <div class="verse">That guard God’s purpose mock us, though the mind</div> - <div class="verse">Be spent in searching: for his old intents</div> - <div class="verse">We see were never for our joy designed:</div> - <div class="verse">They shine as doth the bright sun on the blind,</div> - <div class="verse">Or like his pensioned stars, that hymn above</div> - <div class="verse">His praise, but not toward us, that God is Love.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">For who so well hath wooed the maiden hours</div> - <div class="verse">As quite to have won the worth of their rich show,</div> - <div class="verse">To rob the night of mystery, or the flowers</div> - <div class="verse">Of their sweet delicacy ere they go?</div> - <div class="verse">Nay, even the dear occasion when we know,</div> - <div class="verse">We miss the joy, and on the gliding day</div> - <div class="verse">The special glories float and pass away.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Only life’s common plod: still to repair</div> - <div class="verse">The body and the thing which perisheth:</div> - <div class="verse">The soil, the smutch, the toil and ache and wear,</div> - <div class="verse">The grinding enginry of blood and breath,</div> - <div class="verse">Pain’s random darts, the heartless spade of death;</div> - <div class="verse">All is but grief, and heavily we call</div> - <div class="verse">On the last terror for the end of all.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then comes the happy moment: not a stir</div> - <div class="verse">In any tree, no portent in the sky:</div> - <div class="verse">The morn doth neither hasten nor defer,</div> - <div class="verse">The morrow hath no name to call it by,</div> - <div class="verse">But life and joy are one,—we know not why,—</div> - <div class="verse">As though our very blood long breathless lain</div> - <div class="verse">Had tasted of the breath of God again.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And having tasted it I speak of it,</div> - <div class="verse">And praise him thinking how I trembled then</div> - <div class="verse">When his touch strengthened me, as now I sit</div> - <div class="verse">In wonder, reaching out beyond my ken,</div> - <div class="verse">Reaching to turn the day back, and my pen</div> - <div class="verse">Urging to tell a tale which told would seem</div> - <div class="verse">The witless phantasy of them that dream.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But O most blessèd truth, for truth thou art,</div> - <div class="verse">Abide thou with me till my life shall end.</div> - <div class="verse">Divinity hath surely touched my heart;</div> - <div class="verse">I have possessed more joy than earth can lend:</div> - <div class="verse">I may attain what time shall never spend.</div> - <div class="verse">Only let not my duller days destroy</div> - <div class="verse">The memory of thy witness and my joy.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>14</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The full moon her cloudless skies</div> - <div class="verse">Turneth her face, I think, on me;</div> - <div class="verse">And from the hour when she doth rise</div> - <div class="verse">Till when she sets, none else will see.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">One only other ray she hath,</div> - <div class="verse">That makes an angle close with mine,</div> - <div class="verse">And glancing down its happy path</div> - <div class="verse">Upon another spot doth shine.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But that ray too is sent to me,</div> - <div class="verse">For where it lights there dwells my heart:</div> - <div class="verse">And if I were where I would be,</div> - <div class="verse">Both rays would shine, love, where thou art.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>15</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Awake, my heart, to be loved, awake, awake!</div> - <div class="verse">The darkness silvers away, the morn doth break,</div> - <div class="verse">It leaps in the sky: unrisen lustres slake</div> - <div class="verse">The o’ertaken moon. Awake, O heart, awake!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She too that loveth awaketh and hopes for thee;</div> - <div class="verse">Her eyes already have sped the shades that flee,</div> - <div class="verse">Already they watch the path thy feet shall take:</div> - <div class="verse">Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And if thou tarry her,—if this could be,—</div> - <div class="verse">She cometh herself, O heart, to be loved, to thee;</div> - <div class="verse">For thee would unashamèd herself forsake:</div> - <div class="verse">Awake to be loved, my heart, awake, awake!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Awake, the land is scattered with light, and see,</div> - <div class="verse">Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and tree:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> - <div class="verse">And blossoming boughs of April in laughter shake;</div> - <div class="verse">Awake, O heart, to be loved, awake, awake!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lo all things wake and tarry and look for thee:</div> - <div class="verse">She looketh and saith, ’O sun, now bring him to me.</div> - <div class="verse">Come more adored, O adored, for his coming’s sake,</div> - <div class="verse">And awake my heart to be loved: awake, awake!’</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>16<br /> - -SONG</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I love my lady’s eyes</div> - <div class="verse">Above the beauties rare</div> - <div class="verse">She most is wont to prize,</div> - <div class="verse">Above her sunny hair,</div> - <div class="verse">And all that face to face</div> - <div class="verse">Her glass repeats of grace.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For those are still the same</div> - <div class="verse">To her and all that see:</div> - <div class="verse">But oh! her eyes will flame</div> - <div class="verse">When they do look on me:</div> - <div class="verse">And so above the rest</div> - <div class="verse">I love her eyes the best. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now say, [<i>Say, O say! saith the music</i>]</div> - <div class="verse indent4">who likes my song?—</div> - <div class="verse">I knew you by your eyes,</div> - <div class="verse">That rest on nothing long,</div> - <div class="verse">And have forgot surprise;</div> - <div class="verse">And stray [<i>Stray, O stray! saith the music</i>]</div> - <div class="verse indent4"> as mine will stray,</div> - <div class="verse">The while my love’s away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>17</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since thou, O fondest and truest,</div> - <div class="verse">Hast loved me best and longest,</div> - <div class="verse">And now with trust the strongest</div> - <div class="verse">The joy of my heart renewest;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since thou art dearer and dearer</div> - <div class="verse">While other hearts grow colder,</div> - <div class="verse">And ever, as love is older,</div> - <div class="verse">More lovingly drawest nearer:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since now I see in the measure</div> - <div class="verse">Of all my giving and taking,</div> - <div class="verse">Thou wert my hand in the making,</div> - <div class="verse">The sense and soul of my pleasure;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The good I have ne’er repaid thee</div> - <div class="verse">In heaven I pray be recorded,</div> - <div class="verse">And all thy love rewarded</div> - <div class="verse">By God, thy master that made thee.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>18</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The evening darkens over.</div> - <div class="verse">After a day so bright</div> - <div class="verse">The windcapt waves discover</div> - <div class="verse">That wild will be the night.</div> - <div class="verse">There’s sound of distant thunder.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The latest sea-birds hover</div> - <div class="verse">Along the cliff’s sheer height;</div> - <div class="verse">As in the memory wander</div> - <div class="verse">Last flutterings of delight,</div> - <div class="verse">White wings lost on the white.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There’s not a ship in sight;</div> - <div class="verse">And as the sun goes under</div> - <div class="verse">Thick clouds conspire to cover</div> - <div class="verse">The moon that should rise yonder.</div> - <div class="verse">Thou art alone, fond lover.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>19</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O youth whose hope is high,</div> - <div class="verse">Who dost to Truth aspire,</div> - <div class="verse">Whether thou live or die,</div> - <div class="verse">O look not back nor tire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thou that art bold to fly</div> - <div class="verse">Through tempest, flood and fire,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor dost not shrink to try</div> - <div class="verse">Thy heart in torments dire:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">If thou canst Death defy,</div> - <div class="verse">If thy Faith is entire,</div> - <div class="verse">Press onward, for thine eye</div> - <div class="verse">Shall see thy heart’s desire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Beauty and love are nigh,</div> - <div class="verse">And with their deathless quire</div> - <div class="verse">Soon shall thine eager cry</div> - <div class="verse">Be numbered and expire.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a><br /><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> - - - -<p class="center"> -SHORTER POEMS</p> -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<h2 id="BOOK_IV">BOOK IV</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> - - -<p class="center spaced"> -<small>TO</small><br /> - -L. B. C. L. M.</p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" > -<img src="images/book4.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h3>1</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">I love</span> all beauteous things,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I seek and adore them;</div> - <div class="verse">God hath no better praise,</div> - <div class="verse">And man in his hasty days</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is honoured for them.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I too will something make</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And joy in the making;</div> - <div class="verse">Altho’ to-morrow it seem</div> - <div class="verse">Like the empty words of a dream</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Remembered on waking.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>2</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My spirit sang all day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy.</div> - <div class="verse">Nothing my tongue could say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Only My joy!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My heart an echo caught—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy—</div> - <div class="verse">And spake, Tell me thy thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hide not thy joy.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My eyes gan peer around,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy—</div> - <div class="verse">What beauty hast thou found?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shew us thy joy.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My jealous ears grew whist;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy—</div> - <div class="verse">Music from heaven is’t,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sent for our joy?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She also came and heard;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy,</div> - <div class="verse">What, said she, is this word?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What is thy joy?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And I replied, O see,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O my joy,</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis thee, I cried, ’tis thee:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou art my joy.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>3</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The upper skies are palest blue</div> - <div class="verse">Mottled with pearl and fretted snow:</div> - <div class="verse">With tattered fleece of inky hue</div> - <div class="verse">Close overhead the stormclouds go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Their shadows fly along the hill</div> - <div class="verse">And o’er the crest mount one by one:</div> - <div class="verse">The whitened planking of the mill</div> - <div class="verse">Is now in shade and now in sun.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The clouds have left the sky,</div> - <div class="verse">The wind hath left the sea,</div> - <div class="verse">The half-moon up on high</div> - <div class="verse">Shrinketh her face of dree.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She lightens on the comb</div> - <div class="verse">Of leaden waves, that roar</div> - <div class="verse">And thrust their hurried foam</div> - <div class="verse">Up on the dusky shore.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Behind the western bars</div> - <div class="verse">The shrouded day retreats,</div> - <div class="verse">And unperceived the stars</div> - <div class="verse">Steal to their sovran seats.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And whiter grows the foam,</div> - <div class="verse">The small moon lightens more;</div> - <div class="verse">And as I turn me home,</div> - <div class="verse">My shadow walks before.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5<br /> - -LAST WEEK OF FEBRUARY, 1890</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Hark to the merry birds, hark how they sing!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Although ’tis not yet spring</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And keen the air;</div> - <div class="verse">Hale Winter, half resigning ere he go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Doth to his heiress shew</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His kingdom fair.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In patient russet is his forest spread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All bright with bramble red,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">With beechen moss</div> - <div class="verse">And holly sheen: the oak silver and stark</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sunneth his aged bark</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And wrinkled boss.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But neath the ruin of the withered brake</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Primroses now awake</div> - <div class="verse indent4">From nursing shades:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> - <div class="verse">The crumpled carpet of the dry leaves brown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Avails not to keep down</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The hyacinth blades.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The hazel hath put forth his tassels ruffed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The willow’s flossy tuft</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Hath slipped him free:</div> - <div class="verse">The rose amid her ransacked orange hips</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Braggeth the tender tips</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Of bowers to be.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A black rook stirs the branches here and there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Foraging to repair</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His broken home:</div> - <div class="verse">And hark, on the ash-boughs! Never thrush did sing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Louder in praise of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">When spring is come.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6</h3> - -<p class="center">APRIL, 1885</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Wanton with long delay the gay spring leaping cometh;</div> - <div class="verse">The blackthorn starreth now his bough on the eve of May:</div> - <div class="verse">All day in the sweet box-tree the bee for pleasure hummeth:</div> - <div class="verse">The cuckoo sends afloat his note on the air all day.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now dewy nights again and rain in gentle shower</div> - <div class="verse">At root of tree and flower have quenched the winter’s drouth:</div> - <div class="verse">On high the hot sun smiles, and banks of cloud up-tower</div> - <div class="verse">In bulging heads that crowd for miles the dazzling south.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Gáy Róbin is seen no more:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He is gone with the snow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For winter is o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Robin will go.</div> - <div class="verse">In need he was fed, and now he is fled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Away to his secret nest.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No more will he stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Begging for crumbs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No longer he comes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beseeching our hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And showing his breast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At window and door:—</div> - <div class="verse">Gay Robin is seen no more.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Blithe Robin is heard no more:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He gave us his song</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When summer was o’er</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And winter was long:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> - <div class="verse">He sang for his bread and now he is fled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Away to his secret nest.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And there in the green</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Early and late</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alone to his mate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He pipeth unseen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And swelleth his breast;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For us it is o’er:—</div> - <div class="verse">Blithe Robin is heard no more.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Spring goeth all in white,</div> - <div class="verse">Crowned with milk-white may:</div> - <div class="verse">In fleecy flocks of light</div> - <div class="verse">O’er heaven the white clouds stray:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">White butterflies in the air;</div> - <div class="verse">White daisies prank the ground:</div> - <div class="verse">The cherry and hoary pear</div> - <div class="verse">Scatter their snow around.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My eyes for beauty pine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My soul for Goddës grace:</div> - <div class="verse">No other care nor hope is mine;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To heaven I turn my face.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">One splendour thence is shed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From all the stars above:</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis namèd when God’s name is said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Tis Love, ’tis heavenly Love.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And every gentle heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That burns with true desire,</div> - <div class="verse">Is lit from eyes that mirror part</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of that celestial fire.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O Love, my muse, how was’t for me</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Among the best to dare,</div> - <div class="verse">In thy high courts that bowed the knee</div> - <div class="verse indent4">With sacrifice and prayer?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Their mighty offerings at thy shrine</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Shamed me, who nothing bore:</div> - <div class="verse">Their suits were mockeries of mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I sued for so much more.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Full many I met that crowned with bay</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In triumph home returned,</div> - <div class="verse">And many a master on the way</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Proud of the prize I scorned.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I wished no garland on my head</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Nor treasure in my hand;</div> - <div class="verse">My gift the longing that me led,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">My prayer thy high command,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My love, my muse; and when I spake</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Thou mad’st me thine that day,</div> - <div class="verse">And more than hundred hearts could take</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Gav’st me to bear away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Love on my heart from heaven fell,</div> - <div class="verse">Soft as the dew on flowers of spring,</div> - <div class="verse">Sweet as the hidden drops that swell</div> - <div class="verse">Their honey-throated chalicing.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now never from him do I part,</div> - <div class="verse">Hosanna evermore I cry:</div> - <div class="verse">I taste his savour in my heart,</div> - <div class="verse">And bid all praise him as do I.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Without him noughtsoever is,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor was afore, nor e’er shall be:</div> - <div class="verse">Nor any other joy than his</div> - <div class="verse">Wish I for mine to comfort me.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The hill pines were sighing,</div> - <div class="verse">O’ercast and chill was the day:</div> - <div class="verse">A mist in the valley lying</div> - <div class="verse">Blotted the pleasant May.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But deep in the glen’s bosom</div> - <div class="verse">Summer slept in the fire</div> - <div class="verse">Of the odorous gorse-blossom</div> - <div class="verse">And the hot scent of the brier.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A ribald cuckoo clamoured,</div> - <div class="verse">And out of the copse the stroke</div> - <div class="verse">Of the iron axe that hammered</div> - <div class="verse">The iron heart of the oak.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Anon a sound appalling,</div> - <div class="verse">As a hundred years of pride</div> - <div class="verse">Crashed, in the silence falling:</div> - <div class="verse">And the shadowy pine-trees sighed.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13<br /> - -THE WINDMILL</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The green corn waving in the dale,</div> - <div class="verse">The ripe grass waving on the hill:</div> - <div class="verse">I lean across the paddock pale</div> - <div class="verse">And gaze upon the giddy mill.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Its hurtling sails a mighty sweep</div> - <div class="verse">Cut thro’ the air: with rushing sound</div> - <div class="verse">Each strikes in fury down the steep,</div> - <div class="verse">Rattles, and whirls in chase around.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Beside his sacks the miller stands</div> - <div class="verse">On high within the open door:</div> - <div class="verse">A book and pencil in his hands,</div> - <div class="verse">His grist and meal he reckoneth o’er.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His tireless merry slave the wind</div> - <div class="verse">Is busy with his work to-day:</div> - <div class="verse">From whencesoe’er, he comes to grind;</div> - <div class="verse">He hath a will and knows the way.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He gives the creaking sails a spin,</div> - <div class="verse">The circling millstones faster flee,</div> - <div class="verse">The shuddering timbers groan within,</div> - <div class="verse">And down the shoot the meal runs free.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The miller giveth him no thanks,</div> - <div class="verse">And doth not much his work o’erlook:</div> - <div class="verse">He stands beside the sacks, and ranks</div> - <div class="verse">The figures in his dusty book.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>14</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When June is come, then all the day</div> - <div class="verse">I’ll sit with my love in the scented hay:</div> - <div class="verse">And watch the sunshot palaces high,</div> - <div class="verse">That the white clouds build in the breezy sky.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She singeth, and I do make her a song,</div> - <div class="verse">And read sweet poems the whole day long:</div> - <div class="verse">Unseen as we lie in our haybuilt home.</div> - <div class="verse">O life is delight when June is come.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>15</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The pinks along my garden walks</div> - <div class="verse">Have all shot forth their summer stalks,</div> - <div class="verse">Thronging their buds ’mong tulips hot,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And blue forget-me-not.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Their dazzling snows forth-bursting soon</div> - <div class="verse">Will lade the idle breath of June:</div> - <div class="verse">And waken thro’ the fragrant night</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To steal the pale moonlight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The nightingale at end of May</div> - <div class="verse">Lingers each year for their display;</div> - <div class="verse">Till when he sees their blossoms blown,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">He knows the spring is flown.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">June’s birth they greet, and when their bloom</div> - <div class="verse">Dislustres, withering on his tomb,</div> - <div class="verse">Then summer hath a shortening day;</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And steps slow to decay.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>16</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Fire of heaven, whose starry arrow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pierces the veil of timeless night:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Molten spheres, whose tempests narrow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their floods to a beam of gentle light,</div> - <div class="verse">To charm with a moon-ray quenched from fire</div> - <div class="verse">The land of delight, the land of desire!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Smile of love, a flower planted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sprung in the garden of joy that art:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eyes that shine with a glow enchanted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose spreading fires encircle my heart,</div> - <div class="verse">And warm with a noon-ray drenched in fire</div> - <div class="verse">My land of delight, my land of desire!</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>17</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The idle life I lead</div> - <div class="verse">Is like a pleasant sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">Wherein I rest and heed</div> - <div class="verse">The dreams that by me sweep.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And still of all my dreams</div> - <div class="verse">In turn so swiftly past,</div> - <div class="verse">Each in its fancy seems</div> - <div class="verse">A nobler than the last.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And every eve I say,</div> - <div class="verse">Noting my step in bliss,</div> - <div class="verse">That I have known no day</div> - <div class="verse">In all my life like this.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>18</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Angel spirits of sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">White-robed, with silver hair,</div> - <div class="verse">In your meadows fair,</div> - <div class="verse">Where the willows weep,</div> - <div class="verse">And the sad moonbeam</div> - <div class="verse">On the gliding stream</div> - <div class="verse">Writes her scattered dream:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Angel spirits of sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">Dancing to the weir</div> - <div class="verse">In the hollow roar</div> - <div class="verse">Of its waters deep;</div> - <div class="verse">Know ye how men say</div> - <div class="verse">That ye haunt no more</div> - <div class="verse">Isle and grassy shore</div> - <div class="verse">With your moonlit play;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> - <div class="verse">White-robed spirits of sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">All the summer night</div> - <div class="verse">Threading dances light?</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>19<br /> - -ANNIVERSARY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What is sweeter than new-mown hay,</div> - <div class="verse">Fresher than winds o’er-sea that blow,</div> - <div class="verse">Innocent above children’s play,</div> - <div class="verse">Fairer and purer than winter snow,</div> - <div class="verse">Frolic as are the morns of May?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—If it should be what best I know!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What is richer than thoughts that stray</div> - <div class="verse">From reading of poems that smoothly flow?</div> - <div class="verse">What is solemn like the delay</div> - <div class="verse">Of concords linked in a music slow</div> - <div class="verse">Dying thro’ vaulted aisles away?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—If it should be what best I know!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What gives faith to me when I pray,</div> - <div class="verse">Setteth my heart with joy aglow,</div> - <div class="verse">Filleth my song with fancies gay,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Maketh the heaven to which I go,</div> - <div class="verse">The gladness of earth that lasteth for aye?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—If it should be what best I know!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But tell me thou—’twas on this day</div> - <div class="verse">That first we loved five years ago—</div> - <div class="verse">If ’tis a thing that I can say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though it must be what best we know.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>20</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The summer trees are tempest-torn,</div> - <div class="verse">The hills are wrapped in a mantle wide</div> - <div class="verse">Of folding rain by the mad wind borne</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Across the country side.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His scourge of fury is lashing down</div> - <div class="verse">The delicate-rankèd golden corn,</div> - <div class="verse">That never more shall rear its crown</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And curtsey to the morn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There shews no care in heaven to save</div> - <div class="verse">Man’s pitiful patience, or provide</div> - <div class="verse">A season for the season’s slave,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Whose trust hath toiled and died.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So my proud spirit in me is sad,</div> - <div class="verse">A wreck of fairer fields to mourn,</div> - <div class="verse">The ruin of golden hopes she had,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">My delicate-rankèd corn.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>21</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The birds that sing on autumn eves</div> - <div class="verse">Among the golden-tinted leaves,</div> - <div class="verse">Are but the few that true remain</div> - <div class="verse">Of budding May’s rejoicing train.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Like autumn flowers that brave the frost,</div> - <div class="verse">And make their show when hope is lost,</div> - <div class="verse">These ’mong the fruits and mellow scent</div> - <div class="verse">Mourn not the high-sunned summer spent.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Their notes thro’ all the jocund spring</div> - <div class="verse">Were mixed in merry musicking:</div> - <div class="verse">They sang for love the whole day long,</div> - <div class="verse">But now their love is all for song.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now each hath perfected his lay</div> - <div class="verse">To praise the year that hastes away:</div> - <div class="verse">They sit on boughs apart, and vie</div> - <div class="verse">In single songs and rich reply:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And oft as in the copse I hear</div> - <div class="verse">These anthems of the dying year,</div> - <div class="verse">The passions, once her peace that stole,</div> - <div class="verse">With flattering love my heart console.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>22</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When my love was away,</div> - <div class="verse">Full three days were not sped,</div> - <div class="verse">I caught my fancy astray</div> - <div class="verse">Thinking if she were dead,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And I alone, alone:</div> - <div class="verse">It seemed in my misery</div> - <div class="verse">In all the world was none</div> - <div class="verse">Ever so lone as I.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I wept; but it did not shame</div> - <div class="verse">Nor comfort my heart: away</div> - <div class="verse">I rode as I might, and came</div> - <div class="verse">To my love at close of day.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The sight of her stilled my fears,</div> - <div class="verse">My fairest-hearted love:</div> - <div class="verse">And yet in her eyes were tears:</div> - <div class="verse">Which when I questioned of,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O now thou art come, she cried,</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis fled: but I thought to-day</div> - <div class="verse">I never could here abide,</div> - <div class="verse">If thou wert longer away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>23</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The storm is over, the land hushes to rest:</div> - <div class="verse">The tyrannous wind, its strength fordone,</div> - <div class="verse">Is fallen back in the west</div> - <div class="verse">To couch with the sinking sun.</div> - <div class="verse">The last clouds fare</div> - <div class="verse">With fainting speed, and their thin streamers fly</div> - <div class="verse">In melting drifts of the sky.</div> - <div class="verse">Already the birds in the air</div> - <div class="verse">Appear again; the rooks return to their haunt,</div> - <div class="verse">And one by one,</div> - <div class="verse">Proclaiming aloud their care,</div> - <div class="verse">Renew their peaceful chant.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Torn and shattered the trees their branches again reset,</div> - <div class="verse">They trim afresh the fair</div> - <div class="verse">Few green and golden leaves withheld the storm,</div> - <div class="verse">And awhile will be handsome yet.</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> - <div class="verse">To-morrow’s sun shall caress</div> - <div class="verse">Their remnant of loveliness:</div> - <div class="verse">In quiet days for a time</div> - <div class="verse">Sad Autumn lingering warm</div> - <div class="verse">Shall humour their faded prime.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But ah! the leaves of summer that lie on the ground!</div> - <div class="verse">What havoc! The laughing timbrels of June,</div> - <div class="verse">That curtained the birds’ cradles, and screened their song,</div> - <div class="verse">That sheltered the cooing doves at noon,</div> - <div class="verse">Of airy fans the delicate throng,—</div> - <div class="verse">Torn and scattered around:</div> - <div class="verse">Far out afield they lie,</div> - <div class="verse">In the watery furrows die,</div> - <div class="verse">In grassy pools of the flood they sink and drown,</div> - <div class="verse">Green-golden, orange, vermilion, golden and brown,</div> - <div class="verse">The high year’s flaunting crown</div> - <div class="verse">Shattered and trampled down.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The day is done: the tired land looks for night:</div> - <div class="verse">She prays to the night to keep</div> - <div class="verse">In peace her nerves of delight:</div> - <div class="verse">While silver mist upstealeth silently,</div> - <div class="verse">And the broad cloud-driving moon in the clear sky</div> - <div class="verse">Lifts o’er the firs her shining shield,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> - <div class="verse">And in her tranquil light</div> - <div class="verse">Sleep falls on forest and field.</div> - <div class="verse">Sée! sléep hath fallen: the trees are asleep:</div> - <div class="verse">The night is come. The land is wrapt in sleep.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>24</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ye thrilled me once, ye mournful strains,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye anthems of plaintive woe,</div> - <div class="verse">My spirit was sad when I was young;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah sorrowful long-ago!</div> - <div class="verse">But since I have found the beauty of joy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I have done with proud dismay:</div> - <div class="verse">For howsoe’er man hug his care</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The best of his art is gay.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And yet if voices of fancy’s choir</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Again in mine ear awake</div> - <div class="verse">Your old lament, ’tis dear to me still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor all for memory’s sake:</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis like the dirge of sorrow dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose tears are wiped away;</div> - <div class="verse">Or drops of the shower when rain is o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That jewel the brightened day.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>25</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Say who is this with silvered hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So pale and worn and thin,</div> - <div class="verse">Who passeth here, and passeth there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And looketh out and in?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">That useth not our garb nor tongue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And knoweth things untold:</div> - <div class="verse">Who teacheth pleasure to the young,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wisdom to the old?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">No toil he maketh his by day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No home his own by night;</div> - <div class="verse">But wheresoe’er he take his way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He killeth our delight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since he is come there’s nothing wise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor fair in man or child,</div> - <div class="verse">Unless his deep divining eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have looked on it and smiled.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Whence came he hither all alone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Among our folk to spy?</div> - <div class="verse">There’s nought that we can call our own,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till he shall hap to die.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And I would dig his grave full deep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath the churchyard yew,</div> - <div class="verse">Lest thence his wizard eyes might peep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To mark the things we do.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>26</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Crown Winter with green,</div> - <div class="verse">And give him good drink</div> - <div class="verse">To physic his spleen</div> - <div class="verse">Or ever he think.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His mouth to the bowl,</div> - <div class="verse">His feet to the fire;</div> - <div class="verse">And let him, good soul,</div> - <div class="verse">No comfort desire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So merry he be,</div> - <div class="verse">I bid him abide:</div> - <div class="verse">And merry be we</div> - <div class="verse">This good Yuletide.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>27</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The snow lies sprinkled on the beach,</div> - <div class="verse">And whitens all the marshy lea:</div> - <div class="verse">The sad gulls wail adown the gale,</div> - <div class="verse">The day is dark and black the sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shorn of their crests the blighted waves</div> - <div class="verse">With driven foam the offing fleck:</div> - <div class="verse">The ebb is low and barely laves</div> - <div class="verse">The red rust of the giant wreck.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">On such a stony, breaking beach</div> - <div class="verse">My childhood chanced and chose to be:</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas here I played, and musing made</div> - <div class="verse">My friend the melancholy sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He from his dim enchanted caves</div> - <div class="verse">With shuddering roar and onrush wild</div> - <div class="verse">Fell down in sacrificial waves</div> - <div class="verse">At feet of his exulting child.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Unto a spirit too light for fear</div> - <div class="verse">His wrath was mirth, his wail was glee:—</div> - <div class="verse">My heart is now too fixed to bow</div> - <div class="verse">Tho’ all his tempests howl at me:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For to the gain life’s summer saves,</div> - <div class="verse">My solemn joy’s increasing store,</div> - <div class="verse">The tossing of his mournful waves</div> - <div class="verse">Makes sweetest music evermore.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>28</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My spirit kisseth thine,</div> - <div class="verse">My spirit embraceth thee:</div> - <div class="verse">I feel thy being twine</div> - <div class="verse">Her graces over me,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">In the life-kindling fold</div> - <div class="verse">Of God’s breath; where on high,</div> - <div class="verse">In furthest space untold</div> - <div class="verse">Like a lost world I lie:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And o’er my dreaming plains</div> - <div class="verse">Lightens, most pale and fair,</div> - <div class="verse">A moon that never wanes;</div> - <div class="verse">Or more, if I compare,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Like what the shepherd sees</div> - <div class="verse">On late mid-winter dawns,</div> - <div class="verse">When thro’ the branchèd trees,</div> - <div class="verse">O’er the white-frosted lawns,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The huge unclouded sun,</div> - <div class="verse">Surprising the world whist,</div> - <div class="verse">Is all uprisen thereon,</div> - <div class="verse">Golden with melting mist.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>29</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ariel, O,—my angel, my own,—</div> - <div class="verse">Whither away then art thou flown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond my spirit’s dominion?</div> - <div class="verse">That makest my heart run over with rhyme,</div> - <div class="verse">Renewing at will my youth for a time,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My servant, my pretty minion.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now indeed I have cause to mourn,</div> - <div class="verse">Now thou returnest scorn for scorn:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Leave me not to my folly:</div> - <div class="verse">For when thou art with me is none so gay</div> - <div class="verse">As I, and none when thou’rt away</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was ever so melancholy.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>30<br /> - -LAUS DEO</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Let praise devote thy work, and skill employ</div> - <div class="verse">Thy whole mind, and thy heart be lost in joy.</div> - <div class="verse">Well-doing bringeth pride, this constant thought</div> - <div class="verse">Humility, that thy best done is nought.</div> - <div class="verse">Man doeth nothing well, be it great or small,</div> - <div class="verse">Save to praise God; but that hath savèd all:</div> - <div class="verse">For God requires no more than thou hast done,</div> - <div class="verse">And takes thy work to bless it for his own.</div> -</div></div></div> - - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p> - - - - -<p class="center"> -SHORTER POEMS</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_007.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<h2 id="BOOK_V">BOOK V</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_096.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span></p> - - - -<p class="center spaced"> -<small>TO</small><br /> - -M. G. K.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span></p> - - -<div class="figcenter" > -<img src="images/book5.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - - - -<h3>1<br /> - -THE WINNOWERS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">Betwixt</span> two billows of the downs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The little hamlet lies,</div> - <div class="verse">And nothing sees but the bald crowns</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the hills, and the blue skies.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Clustering beneath the long descent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And grey slopes of the wold,</div> - <div class="verse">The red roofs nestle, oversprent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With lichen yellow as gold.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">We found it in the mid-day sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Basking, what time of year</div> - <div class="verse">The thrush his singing has begun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere the first leaves appear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">High from his load a woodman pitched</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His faggots on the stack:</div> - <div class="verse">Knee-deep in straw the cattle twitched</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweet hay from crib and rack:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And from the barn hard by was borne</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A steady muffled din,</div> - <div class="verse">By which we knew that threshèd corn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was winnowing, and went in.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The sunbeams on the motey air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Streamed through the open door,</div> - <div class="verse">And on the brown arms moving bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the grain upon the floor.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">One turns the crank, one stoops to feed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hopper, lest it lack,</div> - <div class="verse">One in the bushel scoops the seed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One stands to hold the sack.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">We watched the good grain rattle down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the awns fly in the draught;</div> - <div class="verse">To see us both so pensive grown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The honest labourers laughed:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Merry they were, because the wheat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was clean and plump and good,</div> - <div class="verse">Pleasant to hand and eye, and meet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For market and for food.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">It chanced we from the city were,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And had not gat us free</div> - <div class="verse">In spirit from the store and stir</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of its immensity:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But here we found ourselves again.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where humble harvests bring</div> - <div class="verse">After much toil but little grain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Tis merry winnowing.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>2<br /> - -THE AFFLICTION OF RICHARD</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Love not too much. But how,</div> - <div class="verse">When thou hast made me such,</div> - <div class="verse">And dost thy gifts bestow,</div> - <div class="verse">How can I love too much?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though I must fear to lose,</div> - <div class="verse">And drown my joy in care,</div> - <div class="verse">With all its thorns I choose</div> - <div class="verse">The path of love and prayer.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Though thou, I know not why,</div> - <div class="verse">Didst kill my childish trust,</div> - <div class="verse">That breach with toil did I</div> - <div class="verse">Repair, because I must:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And spite of frighting schemes,</div> - <div class="verse">With which the fiends of Hell</div> - <div class="verse">Blaspheme thee in my dreams,</div> - <div class="verse">So far I have hoped well.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But what the heavenly key,</div> - <div class="verse">What marvel in me wrought</div> - <div class="verse">Shall quite exculpate thee,</div> - <div class="verse">I have no shadow of thought.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What am I that complain?</div> - <div class="verse">The love, from which began</div> - <div class="verse">My question sad and vain,</div> - <div class="verse">Justifies thee to man.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>3</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since to be loved endures,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To love is wise:</div> - <div class="verse">Earth hath no good but yours,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brave, joyful eyes:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Earth hath no sin but thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dull eye of scorn:</div> - <div class="verse">O’er thee the sun doth pine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And angels mourn.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4<br /> - -THE GARDEN IN SEPTEMBER</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Now thin mists temper the slow-ripening beams</div> - <div class="verse">Of the September sun: his golden gleams</div> - <div class="verse">On gaudy flowers shine, that prank the rows</div> - <div class="verse">Of high-grown hollyhocks, and all tall shows</div> - <div class="verse">That Autumn flaunteth in his bushy bowers;</div> - <div class="verse">Where tomtits, hanging from the drooping heads</div> - <div class="verse">Of giant sunflowers, peck the nutty seeds;</div> - <div class="verse">And in the feathery aster bees on wing</div> - <div class="verse">Seize and set free the honied flowers,</div> - <div class="verse">Till thousand stars leap with their visiting:</div> - <div class="verse">While ever across the path mazily flit,</div> - <div class="verse">Unpiloted in the sun,</div> - <div class="verse">The dreamy butterflies</div> - <div class="verse">With dazzling colours powdered and soft glooms,</div> - <div class="verse">White, black and crimson stripes, and peacock eyes,</div> - <div class="verse">Or on chance flowers sit,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> - <div class="verse">With idle effort plundering one by one</div> - <div class="verse">The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">With gentle flaws the western breeze</div> - <div class="verse">Into the garden saileth,</div> - <div class="verse">Scarce here and there stirring the single trees,</div> - <div class="verse">For his sharpness he vaileth:</div> - <div class="verse">So long a comrade of the bearded corn,</div> - <div class="verse">Now from the stubbles whence the shocks are borne,</div> - <div class="verse">O’er dewy lawns he turns to stray,</div> - <div class="verse">As mindful of the kisses and soft play</div> - <div class="verse">Wherewith he enamoured the light-hearted May,</div> - <div class="verse">Ere he deserted her;</div> - <div class="verse">Lover of fragrance, and too late repents;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor more of heavy hyacinth now may drink,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor spicy pink,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor summer’s rose, nor garnered lavender,</div> - <div class="verse">But the few lingering scents</div> - <div class="verse">Of streakèd pea, and gillyflower, and stocks</div> - <div class="verse">Of courtly purple, and aromatic phlox.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And at all times to hear are drowsy tones</div> - <div class="verse">Of dizzy flies, and humming drones,</div> - <div class="verse">With sudden flap of pigeon wings in the sky,</div> - <div class="verse">Or the wild cry</div> - <div class="verse">Of thirsty rooks, that scour ascare</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> - <div class="verse">The distant blue, to watering as they fare</div> - <div class="verse">With creaking pinions, or—on business bent,</div> - <div class="verse">If aught their ancient polity displease,—</div> - <div class="verse">Come gathering to their colony, and there</div> - <div class="verse">Settling in ragged parliament,</div> - <div class="verse">Some stormy council hold in the high trees.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So sweet love seemed that April morn,</div> - <div class="verse">When first we kissed beside the thorn,</div> - <div class="verse">So strangely sweet, it was not strange</div> - <div class="verse">We thought that love could never change.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But I can tell—let truth be told—</div> - <div class="verse">That love will change in growing old;</div> - <div class="verse">Though day by day is nought to see,</div> - <div class="verse">So delicate his motions be.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And in the end ’twill come to pass</div> - <div class="verse">Quite to forget what once he was,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor even in fancy to recall</div> - <div class="verse">The pleasure that was all in all.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His little spring, that sweet we found,</div> - <div class="verse">So deep in summer floods is drowned,</div> - <div class="verse">I wonder, bathed in joy complete,</div> - <div class="verse">How love so young could be so sweet.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6<br /> - -LARKS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">What voice of gladness, hark!</div> - <div class="verse indent12">In heaven is ringing?</div> - <div class="verse indent10">From the sad fields the lark</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Is upward winging.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">High through the mournful mist that blots our day</div> - <div class="verse">Their songs betray them soaring in the grey.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">See them! Nay, they</div> - <div class="verse">In sunlight swim; above the furthest stain</div> - <div class="verse">Of cloud attain; their hearts in music rain</div> - <div class="verse indent20">Upon the plain.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">Sweet birds, far out of sight</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Your songs of pleasure</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Dome us with joy as bright</div> - <div class="verse indent12">As heaven’s best azure.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7<br /> - -THE PALM WILLOW</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">See, whirling snow sprinkles the starvèd fields,</div> - <div class="verse indent10">The birds have stayed to sing;</div> - <div class="verse">No covert yet their fairy harbour yields.</div> - <div class="verse indent12">When cometh Spring?</div> - <div class="verse">Ah! in their tiny throats what songs unborn</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Are quenched each morn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The lenten lilies, through the frost that push,</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Their yellow heads withhold:</div> - <div class="verse">The woodland willow stands a lonely bush</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Of nebulous gold;</div> - <div class="verse">There the Spring-goddess cowers in faint attire</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Of frightened fire.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8<br /> - -ASIAN BIRDS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In this May-month, by grace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">of heaven, things shoot apace.</div> - <div class="verse">The waiting multitude</div> - <div class="verse indent2">of fair boughs in the wood,</div> - <div class="verse">How few days have arrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">their beauty in green shade</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What have I seen or heard?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">it was the yellow bird</div> - <div class="verse">Sang in the tree: he flew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">a flame against the blue;</div> - <div class="verse">Upward he flashed. Again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">hark! ’tis his heavenly strain.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Another! Hush! Behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">many, like boats of gold,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> - <div class="verse">From waving branch to branch</div> - <div class="verse indent2">their airy bodies launch.</div> - <div class="verse">What music is like this,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">where each note is a kiss?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The golden willows lift</div> - <div class="verse indent2">their boughs the sun to sift:</div> - <div class="verse">Their sprays they droop to screen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">the sky with veils of green,</div> - <div class="verse">A floating cage of song,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">where feathered lovers throng.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">How the delicious notes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">come bubbling from their throats!</div> - <div class="verse">Full and sweet how they are shed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">like round pearls from a thread!</div> - <div class="verse">The motions of their flight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">are wishes of delight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Hearing their song I trace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">the secret of their grace.</div> - <div class="verse">Ah, could I this fair time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">so fashion into rhyme,</div> - <div class="verse">The poem that I sing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">would be the voice of spring.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9<br /> - -JANUARY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Cold is the winter day, misty and dark:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sunless sky with faded gleams is rent;</div> - <div class="verse">And patches of thin snow outlying, mark</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The landscape with a drear disfigurement.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The trees their mournful branches lift aloft:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The oak with knotty twigs is full of trust,</div> - <div class="verse">With bud-thronged bough the cherry in the croft;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The chestnut holds her gluey knops upthrust.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">No birds sing, but the starling chaps his bill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And chatters mockingly; the newborn lambs</div> - <div class="verse">Within their strawbuilt fold beneath the hill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Answer with plaintive cry their bleating dams.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Their voices melt in welcome dreams of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Green grass and leafy trees and sunny skies:</div> - <div class="verse">My fancy decks the woods, the thrushes sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Meadows are gay, bees hum and scents arise.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And God the Maker doth my heart grow bold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To praise for wintry works not understood,</div> - <div class="verse">Who all the worlds and ages doth behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Evil and good as one, and all as good.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10<br /> - -A ROBIN</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Flame-throated robin on the topmost bough</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the leafless oak, what singest thou?</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Hark! he telleth how—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Spring is coming now; Spring is coming now.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now ruddy are the elm-tops against the blue sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pale larch donneth her jewelry;</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Red fir and black fir sigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I am lamenting the year gone by.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The bushes where I nested are all cut down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They are felling the tall trees one by one,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">And my mate is dead and gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the winter she died and left me lone.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">She lay in the thicket where I fear to go;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For when the March-winds after the snow</div> - <div class="verse indent8">The leaves away did blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She was not there, and my heart is woe:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And sad is my song, when I begin to sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As I sit in the sunshine this merry spring:</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Like a withered leaf I cling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the white oak-bough, while the wood doth ring.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Spring is coming now, the sun again is gay;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each day like a last spring’s happy day.’—</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Thus sang he; then from his spray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He saw me listening and flew away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I never shall love the snow again</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Since Maurice died:</div> - <div class="verse">With corniced drift it blocked the lane,</div> - <div class="verse">And sheeted in a desolate plain</div> - <div class="verse indent10">The country side.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The trees with silvery rime bedight</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Their branches bare.</div> - <div class="verse">By day no sun appeared; by night</div> - <div class="verse">The hidden moon shed thievish light</div> - <div class="verse indent10">In the misty air.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">We fed the birds that flew around</div> - <div class="verse indent10">In flocks to be fed:</div> - <div class="verse">No shelter in holly or brake they found.</div> - <div class="verse">The speckled thrush on the frozen ground</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Lay frozen and dead.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">We skated on stream and pond; we cut</div> - <div class="verse indent12">The crinching snow</div> - <div class="verse">To Doric temple or Arctic hut;</div> - <div class="verse">We laughed and sang at nightfall, shut</div> - <div class="verse indent12">By the fireside glow.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet grudged we our keen delights before</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Maurice should come.</div> - <div class="verse">We said, In-door or out-of-door</div> - <div class="verse">We shall love life for a month or more,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">When he is home.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They brought him home; ’twas two days late</div> - <div class="verse indent12">For Christmas day:</div> - <div class="verse">Wrapped in white, in solemn state,</div> - <div class="verse">A flower in his hand, all still and straight</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Our Maurice lay.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And two days ere the year outgave</div> - <div class="verse indent12">We laid him low.</div> - <div class="verse">The best of us truly were not brave,</div> - <div class="verse">When we laid Maurice down in his grave</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Under the snow.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12<br /> - -NIGHTINGALES</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Ye learn your song:</div> - <div class="verse">Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Bloom the year long!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">A throe of the heart,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">For all our art.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">As night is withdrawn</div> - <div class="verse">From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dream, while the innumerable choir of day</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Welcome the dawn.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A song of my heart, as the sun peered o’er the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Was born at morning to me:</div> - <div class="verse">And out of my treasure-house it chose</div> - <div class="verse indent6">A melody, that arose</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Of all fair sounds that I love, remembered together</div> - <div class="verse indent6">In one; and I knew not whether</div> - <div class="verse">From waves of rustling wheat it was,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Recoveringly that pass:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or a hum of bees in the queenly robes of the lime:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Or a descant in pairing time</div> - <div class="verse">Of warbling birds: or watery bells</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Of rivulets in the hills:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or whether on blazing downs a high lark’s hymn</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Alone in the azure dim:</div> - <div class="verse">Or a sough of pines, when the midnight wold</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Is solitary and cold:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or a lapping river-ripple all day chiding</div> - <div class="verse indent8">The bow of my wherry gliding</div> - <div class="verse">Down Thames, between his flowery shores</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Re-echoing to the oars:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or anthem notes, wherever in archèd quires</div> - <div class="verse indent8">The unheeded music twires,</div> - <div class="verse">And, centuries by, to the stony shade</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Flies following and to fade:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or a homely prattle of children’s voices gay</div> - <div class="verse indent8">’Mong garden joys at play:</div> - <div class="verse">Or a sundown chaunting of solemn rooks:</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Or memory of my books,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Which hold the words that poets in many a tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To the irksome world have sung:</div> - <div class="verse">Or the voice, my happy lover, of thee</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Now separated from me.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A ruby of fire in the burning sleep of my brain</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Long hid my thought had lain,</div> - <div class="verse">Forgotten dreams of a thousand days</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Ingathering to its rays,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The light of life in darkness tempering long;</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Till now a perfect song,</div> - <div class="verse">A jewel of jewels it leapt above</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To the coronal of my love.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>14<br /> - -FOUNDER’S DAY. A SECULAR ODE<br /> -ON THE NINTH JUBILEE OF<br /> -ETON COLLEGE</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Christ and his Mother, heavenly maid,</div> - <div class="verse">Mary, in whose fair name was laid</div> - <div class="verse">Eton’s corner, bless our youth</div> - <div class="verse">With truth, and purity, mother of truth!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">O ye, ’neath breezy skies of June,</div> - <div class="verse">By silver Thames’s lulling tune,</div> - <div class="verse">In shade of willow or oak, who try</div> - <div class="verse">The golden gates of poesy;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or on the tabled sward all day</div> - <div class="verse">Match your strength in England’s play,</div> - <div class="verse">Scholars of Henry, giving grace</div> - <div class="verse">To toil and force in game or race;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Exceed the prayer and keep the fame</div> - <div class="verse">Of him, the sorrowful king, who came</div> - <div class="verse">Here in his realm a realm to found,</div> - <div class="verse">Where he might stand for ever crowned.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Or whether with naked bodies flashing</div> - <div class="verse">Ye plunge in the lashing weir; or dashing</div> - <div class="verse">The oars of cedar skiffs, ye strain</div> - <div class="verse">Round the rushes and home again;—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or what pursuit soe’er it be</div> - <div class="verse">That makes your mingled presence free,</div> - <div class="verse">When by the schoolgate ’neath the limes</div> - <div class="verse">Ye muster waiting the lazy chimes;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">May Peace, that conquereth sin and death,</div> - <div class="verse">Temper for you her sword of faith;</div> - <div class="verse">Crown with honour the loving eyes,</div> - <div class="verse">And touch with mirth the mouth of the wise.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Here is eternal spring: for you</div> - <div class="verse">The very stars of heaven are new;</div> - <div class="verse">And aged Fame again is born,</div> - <div class="verse">Fresh as a peeping flower of morn.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For you shall Shakespeare’s scene unroll,</div> - <div class="verse">Mozart shall steal your ravished soul,</div> - <div class="verse">Homer his bardic hymn rehearse,</div> - <div class="verse">Virgil recite his maiden verse.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now learn, love, have, do, be the best;</div> - <div class="verse">Each in one thing excel the rest:</div> - <div class="verse">Strive; and hold fast this truth of heaven—</div> - <div class="verse">To him that hath shall more be given.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Slow on your dial the shadows creep,</div> - <div class="verse">So many hours for food and sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">So many hours till study tire,</div> - <div class="verse">So many hours for heart’s desire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">These suns and moons shall memory save,</div> - <div class="verse">Mirrors bright for her magic cave;</div> - <div class="verse">Wherein may steadfast eyes behold</div> - <div class="verse">A self that groweth never old.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O in such prime enjoy your lot,</div> - <div class="verse">And when ye leave regret it not;</div> - <div class="verse">With wishing gifts in festal state</div> - <div class="verse">Pass ye the angel-sworded gate.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Then to the world let shine your light,</div> - <div class="verse">Children in play be lions in fight,</div> - <div class="verse">And match with red immortal deeds</div> - <div class="verse">The victory that made ring the meads:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Or by firm wisdom save your land</div> - <div class="verse">From giddy head and grasping hand:</div> - <div class="verse"><span class="smcap">Improve the best</span>; so shall your sons</div> - <div class="verse">Better what ye have bettered once.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Send them here to the court of grace</div> - <div class="verse">Bearing your name to fill your place:</div> - <div class="verse">Ye in their time shall live again</div> - <div class="verse">The happy dream of Henry’s reign:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">And on his day your steps be bent</div> - <div class="verse">Where, saint and king, crowned with content,</div> - <div class="verse">He biddeth a prayer to bless his youth</div> - <div class="verse">With truth, and purity, mother of truth.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>15</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The north wind came up yesternight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the new year’s full moon,</div> - <div class="verse">And rising as she gained her height,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grew to a tempest soon.</div> - <div class="verse">Yet found he not on heaven’s face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A task of cloud to clear;</div> - <div class="verse">There was no speck that he might chase</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Off the blue hemisphere,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor vapour from the land to drive:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The frost-bound country held</div> - <div class="verse">Nought motionable or alive,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That ’gainst his wrath rebelled.</div> - <div class="verse">There scarce was hanging in the wood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A shrivelled leaf to reave;</div> - <div class="verse">No bud had burst its swathing hood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That he could rend or grieve:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Only the tall tree-skeletons,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where they were shadowed all,</div> - <div class="verse">Wavered a little on the stones,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And on the white church-wall.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">—Like as an artist in his mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who reckons all as nought,</div> - <div class="verse">So he may quickly paint his nude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unutterable thought:</div> - <div class="verse">So Nature in a frenzied hour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By day or night will show</div> - <div class="verse">Dim indications of the power,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That doometh man to woe.</div> - <div class="verse">Ah, many have my visions been,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And some I know full well:</div> - <div class="verse">I would that all that I have seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were fit for speech to tell.—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And by the churchyard as I came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It seemed my spirit passed</div> - <div class="verse">Into a land that hath no name,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grey, melancholy and vast;</div> - <div class="verse">Where nothing comes: but Memory,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The widowed queen of Death,</div> - <div class="verse">Reigns, and with fixed, sepulchral eye</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All slumber banisheth.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Each grain of writhen dust, that drapes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sickly, staring shore,</div> - <div class="verse">Its old chaotic change of shapes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Remembers evermore.</div> - <div class="verse">And ghosts of cities long decayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ruined shrines of Fate</div> - <div class="verse">Gather the paths, that Time hath made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Foolish and desolate.</div> - <div class="verse">Nor winter there hath hope of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor the pale night of day,</div> - <div class="verse">Since the old king with scorpion sting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hath done himself away.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The morn was calm; the wind’s last breath</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had fal’n: in solemn hush</div> - <div class="verse">The golden moon went down beneath</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dawning’s crimson flush.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>16<br /> - -NORTH WIND IN OCTOBER</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In the golden glade the chestnuts are fallen all;</div> - <div class="verse">From the sered boughs of the oak the acorns fall:</div> - <div class="verse">The beech scatters her ruddy fire;</div> - <div class="verse">The lime hath stripped to the cold,</div> - <div class="verse">And standeth naked above her yellow attire:</div> - <div class="verse">The larch thinneth her spire</div> - <div class="verse">To lay the ways of the wood with cloth of gold.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Out of the golden-green and white</div> - <div class="verse">Of the brake the fir-trees stand upright</div> - <div class="verse">In the forest of flame, and wave aloft</div> - <div class="verse">To the blue of heaven their blue-green tuftings soft.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But swiftly in shuddering gloom the splendours fail,</div> - <div class="verse">As the harrying North-wind beareth</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> - <div class="verse">A cloud of skirmishing hail</div> - <div class="verse">The grievèd woodland to smite:</div> - <div class="verse">In a hurricane through the trees he teareth,</div> - <div class="verse">Raking the boughs and the leaves rending,</div> - <div class="verse">And whistleth to the descending</div> - <div class="verse">Blows of his icy flail.</div> - <div class="verse">Gold and snow he mixeth in spite,</div> - <div class="verse">And whirleth afar; as away on his winnowing flight</div> - <div class="verse">He passeth, and all again for awhile is bright.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>17<br /> - -FIRST SPRING MORNING</h3> - -<p class="center small">A CHILD’S POEM</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">Look! Look! the spring is come:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">O feel the gentle air,</div> - <div class="verse">That wanders thro’ the boughs to burst</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The thick buds everywhere!</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The birds are glad to see</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The high unclouded sun:</div> - <div class="verse">Winter is fled away, they sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The gay time is begun.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">Adown the meadows green</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Let us go dance and play,</div> - <div class="verse">And look for violets in the lane,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And ramble far away</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To gather primroses,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That in the woodland grow,</div> - <div class="verse">And hunt for oxlips, or if yet</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The blades of bluebells show:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">There the old woodman gruff</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Hath half the coppice cut,</div> - <div class="verse">And weaves the hurdles all day long</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Beside his willow hut.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">We’ll steal on him, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Startle him, all with glee</div> - <div class="verse">Singing our song of winter fled</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And summer soon to be.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>18<br /> - -A VILLAGER</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There was no lad handsomer than Willie was</div> - <div class="verse">The day that he came to father’s house:</div> - <div class="verse">There was none had an eye as soft an’ blue</div> - <div class="verse">As Willie’s was, when he came to woo.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To a labouring life though bound thee be,</div> - <div class="verse">An’ I on my father’s ground live free,</div> - <div class="verse">I’ll take thee, I said, for thy manly grace,</div> - <div class="verse">Thy gentle voice an’ thy loving face.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Tis forty years now since we were wed:</div> - <div class="verse">We are ailing an’ grey needs not to be said:</div> - <div class="verse">But Willie’s eye is as blue an’ soft</div> - <div class="verse">As the day when he wooed me in father’s croft.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet changed am I in body an’ mind,</div> - <div class="verse">For Willie to me has ne’er been kind:</div> - <div class="verse">Merrily drinking an’ singing with the men</div> - <div class="verse">He ’ud come home late six nights o’ the se’n.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">An’ since the children be grown an’ gone</div> - <div class="verse">He ’as shunned the house an’ left me lone:</div> - <div class="verse">An’ less an’ less he brings me in</div> - <div class="verse">Of the little he now has strength to win.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The roof lets through the wind an’ the wet,</div> - <div class="verse">An’ master won’t mend it with us in’s debt:</div> - <div class="verse">An’ all looks every day more worn,</div> - <div class="verse">An’ the best of my gowns be shabby an’ torn.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">No wonder if words hav’ a-grown to blows;</div> - <div class="verse">That matters not while nobody knows:</div> - <div class="verse">For love him I shall to the end of life,</div> - <div class="verse">An’ be, as I swore, his own true wife.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">An’ when I am gone, he’ll turn, an’ see</div> - <div class="verse">His folly an’ wrong, an’ be sorry for me:</div> - <div class="verse">An’ come to me there in the land o’ bliss</div> - <div class="verse">To give me the love I looked for in this.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>19</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Weep not to-day: why should this sadness be?</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Learn in present fears</div> - <div class="verse indent6">To o’ermaster those tears</div> - <div class="verse indent6">That unhindered conquer thee.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Think on thy past valour, thy future praise:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Up, sad heart, nor faint</div> - <div class="verse indent6">In ungracious complaint,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Or a prayer for better days.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Daily thy life shortens, the grave’s dark peace</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Draweth surely nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">When good-night is good-bye;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">For the sleeping shall not cease.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Fight, to be found fighting: nor far away</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Deem, nor strange thy doom.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Like this sorrow ’twill come,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And the day will be to-day.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a><br /><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> - - -<h2><a name="NEW_POEMS" id="NEW_POEMS">NEW</a><br /> - -POEMS</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_001b.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a><br /><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> - - - -<p class="half-title">NEW POEMS</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_219.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<h3>ECLOGUE I<br /> - -THE MONTHS</h3> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_211.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - - -<p class="center"><i>BASIL AND EDWARD</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><span class="xl smcap">Man</span> hath with man on earth no holier bond</div> - <div class="verse">Than that the Muse weaves with her dreamy thread:</div> - <div class="verse">Nor e’er was such transcendent love more fond</div> - <div class="verse">Than that which Edward unto Basil led,</div> - <div class="verse">Wandering alone across the woody shires</div> - <div class="verse">To hear the living voice of that wide heart,</div> - <div class="verse">To see the eyes that read the world’s desires,</div> - <div class="verse">And touch the hand that wrote the roving rhyme.</div> - <div class="verse">Diverse their lots as distant were their homes,</div> - <div class="verse">And since that early meeting, jealous Time</div> - <div class="verse">Knitting their loves had held their lives apart.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But now again were these fine lovers met</div> - <div class="verse">And sat together on a rocky hill</div> - <div class="verse">Looking upon the vales of Somerset,</div> - <div class="verse">Where the far sea gleam’d o’er the bosky combes,</div> - <div class="verse">Satisfying their spirits the livelong day</div> - <div class="verse">With various mirth and revelation due</div> - <div class="verse">And delicate intimacy of delight,</div> - <div class="verse">As there in happy indolence they lay</div> - <div class="verse">And drank the sun, while round the breezy height</div> - <div class="verse">Beneath their feet rabbit and listless ewe</div> - <div class="verse">Nibbled the scented herb and grass at will.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Much talked they at their ease; and at the last</div> - <div class="verse">Spoke Edward thus, ’'Twas on this very hill</div> - <div class="verse">This time of the year,—but now twelve years are past,—</div> - <div class="verse">That you provoked in verse my younger skill</div> - <div class="verse">To praise the months against your rival song;</div> - <div class="verse">And ere the sun had westered ten degrees</div> - <div class="verse">Our rhyme had brought him thro’ the Zodiac.</div> - <div class="verse">Have you remembered?’—Basil answer’d back,</div> - <div class="verse">’Guest of my solace, how could I forget?</div> - <div class="verse">Years fly as months that seem’d in youth so long.</div> - <div class="verse">The precious life that, like indifferent gold</div> - <div class="verse">Is disregarded in its worth to hold</div> - <div class="verse">Some jewel of love that God therein would set,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> - <div class="verse">It passeth and is gone.’—’And yet not all’</div> - <div class="verse">Edward replied: ’The passion as I please</div> - <div class="verse">Of that past day I can to-day recall;</div> - <div class="verse">And if but you, as I, remember yet</div> - <div class="verse">Your part thereof, and will again rehearse,</div> - <div class="verse">For half an hour we may old Time outwit.’</div> - <div class="verse">And Basil said, ’Alas for my poor verse!</div> - <div class="verse">What happy memory of it still endures</div> - <div class="verse">Will thank your love: I have forgotten it.</div> - <div class="verse">Speak you my stanzas, I will ransom yours.</div> - <div class="verse">Begin you then as I that day began,</div> - <div class="verse">And I will follow as your answers ran.’</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">JANUARY</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> The moon that mounts the sun’s deserted way,</div> - <div class="verse">Turns the long winter night to a silver day;</div> - <div class="verse">But setteth golden in face of the solemn sight</div> - <div class="verse">Of her lord arising upon a world of white.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">FEBRUARY</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> I have in my heart a vision of spring begun</div> - <div class="verse">In a sheltering wood, that feels the kiss of the sun:</div> - <div class="verse">And a thrush adoreth the melting day that dies</div> - <div class="verse">In clouds of purple afloat upon saffron skies.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center">MARCH</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> Now carol the birds at dawn, and some new lay</div> - <div class="verse">Announceth a homecome voyager every-day.</div> - <div class="verse">Beneath the tufted sallows the streamlet thrills</div> - <div class="verse">With the leaping trout and the gleam of the daffodils.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">APRIL</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> Then laugheth the year; with flowers the meads are bright;</div> - <div class="verse">The bursting branches are tipped with flames of light:</div> - <div class="verse">The landscape is light; the dark clouds flee above,</div> - <div class="verse">And the shades of the land are a blue that is deep as love.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">MAY</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> But if you have seen a village all red and old</div> - <div class="verse">In cherry-orchards a-sprinkle with white and gold,</div> - <div class="verse">By a hawthorn seated, or a witchelm flowering high,</div> - <div class="verse">A gay breeze making riot in the waving rye!</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">JUNE</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> Then night retires from heaven; the high</div> - <div class="verse">winds go</div> - <div class="verse">A-sailing in cloud-pavilions of cavern’d snow.</div> - <div class="verse">O June, sweet Philomel sang thy cradle-lay;</div> - <div class="verse">In rosy revel thy spirit shall pass away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center">JULY</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> Heavy is the green of the fields, heavy the trees</div> - <div class="verse">With foliage hang, drowsy the hum of bees</div> - <div class="verse">In the thundrous air: the crowded scents lie low:</div> - <div class="verse">Thro’ tangle of weeds the river runneth slow.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">AUGUST</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> A reaper with dusty shoon and hat of straw</div> - <div class="verse">On the yellow field, his scythe in his armës braw:</div> - <div class="verse">Beneath the tall grey trees resting at noon</div> - <div class="verse">From sweat and swink with scythe and dusty shoon.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">SEPTEMBER</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> Earth’s flaunting flower of passion fadeth fair</div> - <div class="verse">To ripening fruit in sunlit veils of the air,</div> - <div class="verse">As the art of man makes wisdom to glorify</div> - <div class="verse">The beauty and love of life born else to die.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">OCTOBER</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> On frosty morns with the woods aflame, down, down</div> - <div class="verse">The golden spoils fall thick from the chestnut crown.</div> - <div class="verse">May Autumn in tranquil glory her riches spend,</div> - <div class="verse">With mellow apples her orchard-branches bend.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center">NOVEMBER</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>ED.</i> Sad mists have hid the sun, the land is forlorn:</div> - <div class="verse">The plough is afield, the hunter windeth his horn.</div> - <div class="verse">Dame Prudence looketh well to her winter stores,</div> - <div class="verse">And many a wise man finds his pleasure indoors.</div> -</div></div></div> - - - -<p class="center">DECEMBER</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>BA.</i> I pray thee don thy jerkin of olden time,</div> - <div class="verse">Bring us good ice, and silver the trees with rime;</div> - <div class="verse">And I will good cheer, good music and wine bestow,</div> - <div class="verse">When the Christmas guest comes galoping over the snow.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thus they in verse alternate sang the year</div> - <div class="verse">For rabbit shy and listless ewe to hear,</div> - <div class="verse">Among the grey rocks on the mountain green</div> - <div class="verse">Beneath the sky in fair and pastoral scene,</div> - <div class="verse">Like those Sicilian swains, whose doric tongue</div> - <div class="verse">After two thousand years is ever young,—</div> - <div class="verse"><i>Sweet the pine’s murmur, and, shepherd, sweet thy pipe</i>,—</div> - <div class="verse">Or that which gentle Virgil, yet unripe,</div> - <div class="verse">Of Tityrus sang under the spreading beech</div> - <div class="verse">And gave to rustic clowns immortal speech,</div> - <div class="verse">By rocky fountain or on flowery mead</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Bidding their idle flocks at will to feed,</div> - <div class="verse">While they, retreated to some bosky glade,</div> - <div class="verse">Together told their loves, and as they played</div> - <div class="verse">Sang what sweet thing soe’er the poet feigned:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But these were men when good Victoria reigned,</div> - <div class="verse">Poets themselves, who without shepherd gear</div> - <div class="verse">Each of his native fancy sang the year.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>ECLOGUE II<br /> - -GIOVANNI DUPRÈ</h3> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_211.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<p class="center"><i>LAWRENCE AND RICHARD</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Look down the river—against the western sky—</div> - <div class="verse">The Ponte Santa Trinità—what throng</div> - <div class="verse">Slowly trails o’er with waving banners high,</div> - <div class="verse">With foot and horse! Surely they bear along</div> - <div class="verse">The spoil of one whom Florence honoureth:</div> - <div class="verse">And hark! the drum, the trumpeting dismay,</div> - <div class="verse">The wail of the triumphal march of death.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Twill be the funeral of Giovánn Duprè</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Wending to Santa Croce. Let us go</div> - <div class="verse">And see what relic of old splendour cheers</div> - <div class="verse">The dying ritual.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">They esteem him well</div> - <div class="verse">To lay his bones with Michael Angelo.</div> - <div class="verse">Who might he be?</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">He too a sculptor, one</div> - <div class="verse">Who left a work long to resist the years.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">You make me question further.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">I can tell</div> - <div class="verse">All as we walk. A poor woodcarver’s son,</div> - <div class="verse">Prenticed to cut his father’s rude designs</div> - <div class="verse">(We have it from himself), maker of shrines,</div> - <div class="verse">In his mean workshop in Siena dreamed;</div> - <div class="verse">And saw as gods the artists of the earth,</div> - <div class="verse">And long’d to stand on their immortal shore,</div> - <div class="verse">And be as they, who in his vision gleam’d,</div> - <div class="verse">Dowering the world with grace for evermore.</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> - <div class="verse">So, taxing rest and leisure to one aim,</div> - <div class="verse">The boy of single will and inbred skill</div> - <div class="verse">Rose step by step to academic fame.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Do I not know him then? His figures fill</div> - <div class="verse">The tympana o’er Santa Croce’s gate;</div> - <div class="verse">In the museum too, his Cain, that stands</div> - <div class="verse">A left-handed discobolos....</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">So great</div> - <div class="verse">His vogue, that elder art of classic worth</div> - <div class="verse">Went to the wall to give his statues room;</div> - <div class="verse">And last—his country’s praise could do no more—</div> - <div class="verse">He cut the stone that honoured good Cavour.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I have seen the things.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">He, finding in his hands</div> - <div class="verse">His life-desire possest, fell not in gloom,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor froth’d in vanity: his Sabbath earn’d</div> - <div class="verse">He look’d to spend in meditative rest:</div> - <div class="verse">So laying chisel by, he took a pen</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> - <div class="verse">To tell his story to his countrymen,</div> - <div class="verse">And prove (he did it) that the flower of all,</div> - <div class="verse">Rarest to attain, is in the power of all.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yet nought he ever made, that I have learn’d,</div> - <div class="verse">In wood or stone deserved, nay not his best,</div> - <div class="verse">The Greek or Tuscan name for beautiful.</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas level with its praise, had force to pull</div> - <div class="verse">Favour from fashion.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">Yet he made one thing</div> - <div class="verse">Worthy of the lily city in her spring;</div> - <div class="verse">For while in vain the forms of beauty he aped,</div> - <div class="verse">A perfect spirit in himself he shaped;</div> - <div class="verse">And all his lifetime doing less than well</div> - <div class="verse">Where he profess’d nor doubted to excel,</div> - <div class="verse">Now, where he had no scholarship, but drew</div> - <div class="verse">His art from love, ’twas better than he knew:</div> - <div class="verse">And when he sat to write, lo! by him stood</div> - <div class="verse">The heavenly Muse, who smiles on all things good;</div> - <div class="verse">And for his truth’s sake, for his stainless mind,</div> - <div class="verse">His homely love and faith, she now grew kind,</div> - <div class="verse">And changed the crown, that from the folk he got,</div> - <div class="verse">For her green laurel, and he knew it not.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ah! Love of Beauty! This man then mistook</div> - <div class="verse">Ambition for her?</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">In simplicity</div> - <div class="verse">Erring he kept his truth; and in his book</div> - <div class="verse">The statue of his grace is fair to see.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>LAWRENCE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Then buried with their great he well may be.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And number’d with the saints, not among them</div> - <div class="verse">Who painted saints. Join we his requiem.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3><a name="ECLOGUE_III" id="ECLOGUE_III">ECLOGUE III</a><br /> - -FOURTH OF JUNE AT ETON</h3> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_211.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - - -<p class="center"><i>RICHARD AND GODFREY</i></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Beneath the wattled bank the eddies swarm</div> - <div class="verse">In wandering dimples o’er the shady pool:</div> - <div class="verse">The same their chase as when I was at school;</div> - <div class="verse">The same the music, where in shallows warm</div> - <div class="verse">The current, sunder’d by the bushy isles,</div> - <div class="verse">Returns to join the main, and struggles free</div> - <div class="verse">Above the willows, gurgling thro’ the piles:</div> - <div class="verse">Nothing is changed, and yet how changed are we!</div> - <div class="verse">—What can bring Godfrey to the Muses’ bower?</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">What but brings you? The festal day of the year;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> - <div class="verse">To live in boyish memories for an hour;</div> - <div class="verse">See and be seen: tho’ you come seldom here.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Dread of the pang it was, fear to behold</div> - <div class="verse">What once was all myself, that kept me away.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">You miss new pleasures coveting the old.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">They need have prudence, who in courage lack;</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas that I might go on I looked not back.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Of all our company he, who, we say,</div> - <div class="verse">Fruited the laughing flower of liberty!</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Ah! had I my desire, so should it be.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Nay, but I know this melancholy mood:</div> - <div class="verse">’Twas your poetic fancy when a boy.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For Fancy cannot live on real food:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> - <div class="verse">In youth she will despise familiar joy</div> - <div class="verse">To dwell in mournful shades; as they grow real,</div> - <div class="verse">Then buildeth she of joy her far ideal.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And so perverteth all. This stream to me</div> - <div class="verse">Sings, and in sunny ripples lingeringly</div> - <div class="verse">The water saith ’Ah me! where have I lept?</div> - <div class="verse">Into what garden of life? what banks are these,</div> - <div class="verse">What secret lawns, what ancient towers and trees?</div> - <div class="verse">Where the young sons of heav’n, with shouts of play</div> - <div class="verse">Or low delighted speech, welcome the day,</div> - <div class="verse">As if the poetry of the earth had slept</div> - <div class="verse">To wake in ecstasy. O stay me! alas!</div> - <div class="verse">Stay me, ye happy isles, ere that I pass</div> - <div class="verse">Without a memory on my sullen course</div> - <div class="verse">By the black city to the tossing seas!’</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So might this old oak say ’My heart is sere;</div> - <div class="verse">With greater effort every year I force</div> - <div class="verse">My stubborn leafage: soon my branch will crack,</div> - <div class="verse">And I shall fall or perish in the wrack:</div> - <div class="verse">And here another tree its crown will rear,</div> - <div class="verse">And see for centuries the boys at play:</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> - <div class="verse">And ’neath its boughs, on some fine holiday,</div> - <div class="verse">Old men shall prate as these.’ Come see the game.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yes, if you will. ’Tis all one picture fair.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Made in a mirror, and who looketh there</div> - <div class="verse">Must see himself. Is not a dream the same?</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>GODFREY</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"><i>Life is a dream.</i></div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>RICHARD</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20">And you, who say it, seem</div> - <div class="verse">Dreaming to speak to a phantom in a dream.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>4<br /> - -ELEGY</h3> - -<p class="center small">THE SUMMER-HOUSE ON THE MOUND</p> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">How well my eyes remember the dim path!</div> - <div class="verse">My homeing heart no happier playground hath.</div> - <div class="verse">I need not close my lids but it appears</div> - <div class="verse">Through the bewilderment of forty years</div> - <div class="verse">To tempt my feet, my childish feet, between</div> - <div class="verse">Its leafy walls, beneath its arching green;</div> - <div class="verse">Fairer than dream of sleep, than Hope more fair</div> - <div class="verse">Leading to dreamless sleep her sister Care.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There grew two fellow limes, two rising trees,</div> - <div class="verse">Shadowing the lawn, the summer haunt of bees,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose stems, engraved with many a russet scar</div> - <div class="verse">From the spear-hurlings of our mimic war,</div> - <div class="verse">Pillar’d the portico to that wide walk,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> - <div class="verse">A mossy terrace of the native chalk</div> - <div class="verse">Fashion’d, that led thro’ the dark shades around</div> - <div class="verse">Straight to the wooden temple on the mound.</div> - <div class="verse">There live the memories of my early days,</div> - <div class="verse">There still with childish heart my spirit plays;</div> - <div class="verse">Yea, terror-stricken by the fiend despair</div> - <div class="verse">When she hath fled me, I have found her there;</div> - <div class="verse">And there ’tis ever noon, and glad suns bring</div> - <div class="verse">Alternate days of summer and of spring,</div> - <div class="verse">With childish thought, and childish faces bright,</div> - <div class="verse">And all unknown save but the hour’s delight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">High on the mound the ivied arbour stood,</div> - <div class="verse">A dome of straw upheld on rustic wood:</div> - <div class="verse">Hidden in fern the steps of the ascent,</div> - <div class="verse">Whereby unto the southern front we went,</div> - <div class="verse">And from the dark plantation climbing free,</div> - <div class="verse">Over a valley look’d out on the sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sea is ever bright and blue, the sky</div> - <div class="verse">Serene and blue, and ever white ships lie</div> - <div class="verse">High on the horizon steadfast in full sail,</div> - <div class="verse">Or nearer in the roads pass within hail</div> - <div class="verse">Of naked brigs and barques that windbound ride</div> - <div class="verse">At their taut cables heading to the tide.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There many an hour I have sat to watch; nay, now</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> - <div class="verse">The brazen disk is cold against my brow,</div> - <div class="verse">And in my sight a circle of the sea</div> - <div class="verse">Enlarged to swiftness, where the salt waves flee,</div> - <div class="verse">And ships in stately motion pass so near</div> - <div class="verse">That what I see is speaking to my ear:</div> - <div class="verse">I hear the waves dash and the tackle strain,</div> - <div class="verse">The canvas flap, the rattle of the chain</div> - <div class="verse">That runs out thro’ the hawse, the clank of the wind</div> - <div class="verse">Winding the rusty cable inch by inch,</div> - <div class="verse">Till half I wonder if they have no care,</div> - <div class="verse">Those sailors, that my glass is brought to bear</div> - <div class="verse">On all their doings, if I vex them not</div> - <div class="verse">On every petty task of their rough lot</div> - <div class="verse">Prying and spying, searching every craft</div> - <div class="verse">From painted truck to gunnel, fore and aft,—</div> - <div class="verse">Thro’ idle Sundays as I have watch’d them lean</div> - <div class="verse">Long hours upon the rail, or neath its screen</div> - <div class="verse">Prone on the deck to lie outstretch’d at length,</div> - <div class="verse">Sunk in renewal of their wearied strength.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But what a feast of joy to me, if some</div> - <div class="verse">Fast-sailing frigate to the Channel come</div> - <div class="verse">Back’d here her topsail, or brought gently up</div> - <div class="verse">Let from her bow the splashing anchor drop,</div> - <div class="verse">By faint contrary wind stay’d in her cruise,</div> - <div class="verse">The <i>Phaethon</i> or dancing <i>Arethuse</i>,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Or some immense three-decker of the line,</div> - <div class="verse">Romantic as the tale of Troy divine;</div> - <div class="verse">Ere yet our iron age had doom’d to fall</div> - <div class="verse">The towering freeboard of the wooden wall,</div> - <div class="verse">And for the engines of a mightier Mars</div> - <div class="verse">Clipp’d their wide wings, and dock’d their soaring spars.</div> - <div class="verse">The gale that in their tackle sang, the wave</div> - <div class="verse">That neath their gilded galleries dasht so brave</div> - <div class="verse">Lost then their merriment, nor look to play</div> - <div class="verse">With the heavy-hearted monsters of to-day.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">One noon in March upon that anchoring ground</div> - <div class="verse">Came Napier’s fleet unto the Baltic bound:</div> - <div class="verse">Cloudless the sky and calm and blue the sea,</div> - <div class="verse">As round Saint Margaret’s cliff mysteriously,</div> - <div class="verse">Those murderous queens walking in Sabbath sleep</div> - <div class="verse">Glided in line upon the windless deep:</div> - <div class="verse">For in those days was first seen low and black</div> - <div class="verse">Beside the full-rigg’d mast the strange smoke-stack,</div> - <div class="verse">And neath their stern revolv’d the twisted fan.</div> - <div class="verse">Many I knew as soon as I might scan,</div> - <div class="verse">The heavy <i>Royal George</i>, the <i>Acre</i> bright,</div> - <div class="verse">The <i>Hogue</i> and <i>Ajax</i>, and could name aright</div> - <div class="verse">Others that I remember now no more;</div> - <div class="verse">But chief, her blue flag flying at the fore,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> - <div class="verse">With fighting guns a hundred thirty and one,</div> - <div class="verse">The Admiral ship <i>The Duke of Wellington</i>,</div> - <div class="verse">Whereon sail’d George, who in her gig had flown</div> - <div class="verse">The silken ensign by our sisters sewn.</div> - <div class="verse">The iron Duke himself,—whose soldier fame</div> - <div class="verse">To England’s proudest ship had given her name,</div> - <div class="verse">And whose white hairs in this my earliest scene</div> - <div class="verse">Had scarce more honour’d than accustom’d been, —</div> - <div class="verse">Was two years since to his last haven past:</div> - <div class="verse">I had seen his castle-flag to fall half-mast</div> - <div class="verse">One morn as I sat looking on the sea,</div> - <div class="verse">When thus all England’s grief came first to me,</div> - <div class="verse">Who hold my childhood favour’d that I knew</div> - <div class="verse">So well the face that won at Waterloo.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But now ’tis other wars, and other men;—</div> - <div class="verse">The year that Napier sail’d, my years were ten—</div> - <div class="verse">Yea, and new homes and loves my heart hath found:</div> - <div class="verse">A priest has there usurped the ivied mound,</div> - <div class="verse">The bell that call’d to horse calls now to prayers,</div> - <div class="verse">And silent nuns tread the familiar stairs.</div> - <div class="verse">Within the peach-clad walls that old outlaw,</div> - <div class="verse">The Roman wolf, scratches with privy paw.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>5</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O Love, I complain,</div> - <div class="verse">Complain of thee often,</div> - <div class="verse">Because thou dost soften</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My being to pain:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou makest me fear</div> - <div class="verse">The mind that createth,</div> - <div class="verse">That loves not nor hateth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In justice austere;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Who, ere he make one,</div> - <div class="verse">With millions toyeth,</div> - <div class="verse">And lightly destroyeth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whatever is begun.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">An’ wer’t not for thee,</div> - <div class="verse">My glorious passion,</div> - <div class="verse">My heart I could fashion</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To sternness, as he.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But thee, Love, he made</div> - <div class="verse">Lest man should defy him,</div> - <div class="verse">Connive and outvie him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And not be afraid:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, thee, Love, he gave</div> - <div class="verse">His terrors to cover,</div> - <div class="verse">And turn to a lover</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His insolent slave.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>6<br /> - -THE SOUTH WIND</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The south wind rose at dusk of the winter day,</div> - <div class="verse">The warm breath of the western sea</div> - <div class="verse">Circling wrapp’d the isle with his cloke of cloud,</div> - <div class="verse">And it now reach’d even to me, at dusk of the day,</div> - <div class="verse">And moan’d in the branches aloud:</div> - <div class="verse">While here and there, in patches of dark space,</div> - <div class="verse">A star shone forth from its heavenly place,</div> - <div class="verse">As a spark that is borne in the smoky chase;</div> - <div class="verse">And, looking up, there fell on my face—</div> - <div class="verse">Could it be drops of rain</div> - <div class="verse">Soft as the wind, that fell on my face?</div> - <div class="verse">Gossamers light as threads of the summer dawn,</div> - <div class="verse">Suck’d by the sun from midmost calms of the main,</div> - <div class="verse">From groves of coral islands secretly drawn,</div> - <div class="verse">O’er half the round of earth to be driven,</div> - <div class="verse">Now to fall on my face</div> - <div class="verse">In silky skeins spun from the mists of heaven.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Who art thou, in wind and darkness and soft rain</div> - <div class="verse">Thyself that robest, that bendest in sighing pines</div> - <div class="verse">To whisper thy truth? that usest for signs</div> - <div class="verse">A hurried glimpse of the moon, the glance of a star</div> - <div class="verse">In the rifted sky?</div> - <div class="verse">Who art thou, that with thee I</div> - <div class="verse">Woo and am wooed?</div> - <div class="verse">That robing thyself in darkness and soft rain</div> - <div class="verse">Choosest my chosen solitude,</div> - <div class="verse">Coming so far</div> - <div class="verse">To tell thy secret again,</div> - <div class="verse">As a mother her child, in her folding arm</div> - <div class="verse">Of a winter night by a flickering fire,</div> - <div class="verse">Telleth the same tale o’er and o’er</div> - <div class="verse">With gentle voice, and I never tire,</div> - <div class="verse">So imperceptibly changeth the charm,</div> - <div class="verse">As Love on buried ecstasy buildeth his tower,</div> - <div class="verse">—Like as the stem that beareth the flower</div> - <div class="verse">By trembling is knit to power;—</div> - <div class="verse">Ah! long ago</div> - <div class="verse">In thy first rapture I renounced my lot,</div> - <div class="verse">The vanity, the despondency and the woe,</div> - <div class="verse">And seeking thee to know</div> - <div class="verse">Well was’t for me, and evermore</div> - <div class="verse">I am thine, I know not what.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">For me thou seekest ever, me wondering a day</div> - <div class="verse">In the eternal alternations, me</div> - <div class="verse">Free for a stolen moment of chance</div> - <div class="verse">To dream a beautiful dream</div> - <div class="verse">In the everlasting dance</div> - <div class="verse">Of speechless worlds, the unsearchable scheme,</div> - <div class="verse">To me thou findest the way,</div> - <div class="verse">Me and whomsoe’er</div> - <div class="verse">I have found my dream to share</div> - <div class="verse">Still with thy charm encircling; even to-night</div> - <div class="verse">To me and my love in darkness and soft rain</div> - <div class="verse">Under the sighing pines thou comest again,</div> - <div class="verse">And staying our speech with mystery of delight,</div> - <div class="verse">Of the kiss that I give a wonder thou makest,</div> - <div class="verse">And the kiss that I take thou takest.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>7</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I climb the mossy bank of the glade:</div> - <div class="verse">My love awaiteth me in the shade.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She holdeth a book that she never heedeth:</div> - <div class="verse">In Goddës work her spirit readeth.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She is all to me, and I to her:</div> - <div class="verse">When we embrace, the stars confer.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O my love, from beyond the sky</div> - <div class="verse">I am calling thy heart, and who but I?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Fresh as love is the breeze of June,</div> - <div class="verse">In the dappled shade of the summer noon.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Catullus, throwing his heart away,</div> - <div class="verse">Gave fewer kisses every day.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Heracleitus, spending his youth</div> - <div class="verse">In search of wisdom, had less of truth.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Flame of fire was the poet’s desire:</div> - <div class="verse">The thinker found that life was fire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O my love! my song is done:</div> - <div class="verse">My kiss hath both their fires in one.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>8</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">To my love I whisper, and say</div> - <div class="verse">Knowest thou why I love thee?—Nay:</div> - <div class="verse">Nay, she saith; O tell me again.—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When in her ear the secret I tell,</div> - <div class="verse">She smileth with joy incredible—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ha! she is vain—O Nay—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then tell us!—Nay, O nay.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But this is in my heart,</div> - <div class="verse">That Love is Nature’s perfect art,</div> - <div class="verse">And man hath got his fancy hence,</div> - <div class="verse">To clothe his thought in forms of sense.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Fair are thy works, O man, and fair</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Thy dreams of soul in garments rare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beautiful past compare,</div> - <div class="verse">Yea, godlike when thou hast the skill</div> - <div class="verse">To steal a stir of the heavenly thrill:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But O, have care, have care!</div> - <div class="verse">’Tis envious even to dare:</div> - <div class="verse">And many a fiend is watching well</div> - <div class="verse">To flush thy reed with the fire of hell.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>9</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">My delight and thy delight</div> - <div class="verse">Walking, like two angels white,</div> - <div class="verse">In the gardens of the night:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My desire and thy desire</div> - <div class="verse">Twining to a tongue of fire,</div> - <div class="verse">Leaping live, and laughing higher;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Thro’ the everlasting strife</div> - <div class="verse">In the mystery of life.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse"> - -<hr class="tb" /></div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Love, from whom the world begun</div> - <div class="verse">Hath the secret of the sun.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Love can tell, and love alone,</div> - <div class="verse">Whence the million stars were strewn,</div> - <div class="verse">Why each atom knows its own,</div> - <div class="verse">How, in spite of woe and death,</div> - <div class="verse">Gay is life, and sweet is breath:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">This he taught us, this we knew,</div> - <div class="verse">Happy in his science true,</div> - <div class="verse">Hand in hand as we stood</div> - <div class="verse">Neath the shadows of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse">Heart to heart as we lay</div> - <div class="verse">In the dawning of the day.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>10<br /> - -SEPTUAGESIMA</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Now all the windows with frost are blinded,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As punctual day with greedy smile</div> - <div class="verse">Lifts like a Cyclops evil-minded</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His ruddy eyeball over the isle.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In an hour ’tis paled, in an hour ascended</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dazzling light in the cloudless grey.</div> - <div class="verse">Steel is the ice; the snow unblended</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is trod to dust on the white highway.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The lambkins frisk; the shepherd is melting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Drink for the ewes with a fire of straw:</div> - <div class="verse">The red flames leap at the wild air pelting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bitterly thro’ the leafless shaw.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Around, from many a village steeple</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sabbath-bells hum over the snow:</div> - <div class="verse">I give a blessing to parson and people</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across the fields as away I go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Over the hills and over the meadows</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gay is my way till day be done:</div> - <div class="verse">Blue as the heaven are all the shadows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every light is gold in the sun.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>11</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The sea keeps not the Sabbath day,</div> - <div class="verse">His waves come rolling evermore;</div> - <div class="verse">His noisy toil grindeth the shore,</div> - <div class="verse">And all the cliff is drencht with spray.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Here as we sit, my love and I,</div> - <div class="verse">Under the pine upon the hill,</div> - <div class="verse">The sadness of the clouded sky,</div> - <div class="verse">The bitter wind, the gloomy roar,</div> - <div class="verse">The seamew’s melancholy cry</div> - <div class="verse">With loving fancy suit but ill.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We talk of moons and cooling suns,</div> - <div class="verse">Of geologic time and tide,</div> - <div class="verse">The eternal sluggards that abide</div> - <div class="verse">While our fair love so swiftly runs,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Of nature that doth half consent</div> - <div class="verse">That man should guess her dreary scheme</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Lest he should live too well content</div> - <div class="verse">In his fair house of mirth and dream:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose labour irks his ageing heart,</div> - <div class="verse">His heart that wearies of desire,</div> - <div class="verse">Being so fugitive a part</div> - <div class="verse">Of what so slowly must expire.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She in her agelong toil and care</div> - <div class="verse">Persistent, wearies not nor stays,</div> - <div class="verse">Mocking alike hope and despair.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">—Ah, but she too can mock our praise,</div> - <div class="verse">Enchanted on her brighter days,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Days, that the thought of grief refuse,</div> - <div class="verse">Days that are one with human art,</div> - <div class="verse">Worthy of the Virgilian muse,</div> - <div class="verse">Fit for the gaiety of Mozart.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>12</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Riding adown the country lanes</div> - <div class="verse indent4">One day in spring,</div> - <div class="verse">Heavy at heart with all the pains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of man’s imagining:—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The mist was not yet melted quite</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Into the sky:</div> - <div class="verse">The small round sun was dazzling white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The merry larks sang high:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The grassy northern slopes were laid</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In sparkling dew,</div> - <div class="verse">Out of the slow-retreating shade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turning from sleep anew:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Deep in the sunny vale a burn</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Ran with the lane,</div> - <div class="verse">O’erhung with ivy, moss and fern</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It laughed in joyful strain:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And primroses shot long and lush</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Their cluster’d cream:</div> - <div class="verse">Robin and wren and amorous thrush</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Carol’d above the stream:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The stillness of the lenten air</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Call’d into sound</div> - <div class="verse">The motions of all life that were</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In field and farm around:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So fair it was, so sweet and bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The jocund Spring</div> - <div class="verse">Awoke in me the old delight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of man’s imagining,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Riding adown the country lanes:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The larks sang high.—</div> - <div class="verse">O heart! for all thy griefs and pains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou shalt be loth to die.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>13<br /> - -PATER FILIO</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sense with keenest edge unusèd,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet unsteel’d by scathing fire;</div> - <div class="verse">Lovely feet as yet unbruisèd</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the ways of dark desire;</div> - <div class="verse">Sweetest hope that lookest smiling</div> - <div class="verse">O’er the wilderness defiling!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why such beauty, to be blighted</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the swarm of foul destruction?</div> - <div class="verse">Why such innocence delighted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When sin stalks to thy seduction?</div> - <div class="verse">All the litanies e’er chaunted</div> - <div class="verse">Shall not keep thy faith undaunted.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I have pray’d the sainted Morning</div> - <div class="verse">To unclasp her hands to hold thee;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> - <div class="verse">From resignful Eve’s adorning</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stol’n a robe of peace to enfold thee;</div> - <div class="verse">With all charms of man’s contriving</div> - <div class="verse">Arm’d thee for thy lonely striving.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Me too once unthinking Nature,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—Whence Love’s timeless mockery took me,—</div> - <div class="verse">Fashion’d so divine a creature,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yea, and like a beast forsook me.</div> - <div class="verse">I forgave, but tell the measure</div> - <div class="verse">Of her crime in thee, my treasure.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>14<br /> - -NOVEMBER</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The lonely season in lonely lands, when fled</div> - <div class="verse">Are half the birds, and mists lie low, and the sun</div> - <div class="verse">Is rarely seen, nor strayeth far from his bed;</div> - <div class="verse">The short days pass unwelcomed one by one.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Out by the ricks the mantled engine stands</div> - <div class="verse">Crestfallen, deserted,—for now all hands</div> - <div class="verse">Are told to the plough,—and ere it is dawn appear</div> - <div class="verse">The teams following and crossing far and near,</div> - <div class="verse">As hour by hour they broaden the brown bands</div> - <div class="verse">Of the striped fields; and behind them firk and prance</div> - <div class="verse">The heavy rooks, and daws grey-pated dance:</div> - <div class="verse">As awhile, surmounting a crest, in sharp outline</div> - <div class="verse">(A miniature of toil, a gem’s design,)</div> - <div class="verse">They are pictured, horses and men, or now near by</div> - <div class="verse">Above the lane they shout lifting the share,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> - <div class="verse">By the trim hedgerow bloom’d with purple air;</div> - <div class="verse">Where, under the thorns, dead leaves in huddle lie</div> - <div class="verse">Packed by the gales of Autumn, and in and out</div> - <div class="verse">The small wrens glide</div> - <div class="verse">With a happy note of cheer,</div> - <div class="verse">And yellow amorets flutter above and about,</div> - <div class="verse">Gay, familiar in fear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And now, if the night shall be cold, across the sky</div> - <div class="verse">Linnets and twites, in small flocks helter-skelter,</div> - <div class="verse">All the afternoon to the gardens fly,</div> - <div class="verse">From thistle-pastures hurrying to gain the shelter</div> - <div class="verse">Of American rhododendron or cherry-laurel:</div> - <div class="verse">And here and there, near chilly setting of sun,</div> - <div class="verse">In an isolated tree a congregation</div> - <div class="verse">Of starlings chatter and chide,</div> - <div class="verse">Thickset as summer leaves, in garrulous quarrel:</div> - <div class="verse">Suddenly they hush as one,—</div> - <div class="verse">The tree top springs,—</div> - <div class="verse">And off, with a whirr of wings,</div> - <div class="verse">They fly by the score</div> - <div class="verse">To the holly-thicket, and there with myriads more</div> - <div class="verse">Dispute for the roosts; and from the unseen nation</div> - <div class="verse">A babel of tongues, like running water unceasing,</div> - <div class="verse">Makes live the wood, the flocking cries increasing,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Wrangling discordantly, incessantly,</div> - <div class="verse">While falls the night on them self-occupied;</div> - <div class="verse">The long dark night, that lengthens slow,</div> - <div class="verse">Deepening with Winter to starve grass and tree,</div> - <div class="verse">And soon to bury in snow</div> - <div class="verse">The Earth, that, sleeping ’neath her frozen stole,</div> - <div class="verse">Shall dream a dream crept from the sunless pole</div> - <div class="verse">Of how her end shall be.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>15<br /> - -WINTER NIGHTFALL</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The day begins to droop,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its course is done:</div> - <div class="verse">But nothing tells the place</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the setting sun.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The hazy darkness deepens,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And up the lane</div> - <div class="verse">You may hear, but cannot see,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The homing wain.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">An engine pants and hums</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the farm hard by:</div> - <div class="verse">Its lowering smoke is lost</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the lowering sky.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The soaking branches drip,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all night through</div> - <div class="verse">The dropping will not cease</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the avenue.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A tall man there in the house</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Must keep his chair:</div> - <div class="verse">He knows he will never again</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Breathe the spring air:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His heart is worn with work;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He is giddy and sick</div> - <div class="verse">If he rise to go as far</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As the nearest rick:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He thinks of his morn of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hale, strong years;</div> - <div class="verse">And braves as he may the night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of darkness and tears.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>16</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Since we loved,—(the earth that shook</div> - <div class="verse">As we kissed, fresh beauty took)—</div> - <div class="verse">Love hath been as poets paint,</div> - <div class="verse">Life as heaven is to a saint;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All my joys my hope excel,</div> - <div class="verse">All my work hath prosper’d well,</div> - <div class="verse">All my songs have happy been,</div> - <div class="verse">O my love, my life, my queen.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>17</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">When Death to either shall come,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I pray it be first to me,—</div> - <div class="verse">Be happy as ever at home,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If so, as I wish, it be.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Possess thy heart, my own;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sing to the child on thy knee,</div> - <div class="verse">Or read to thyself alone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The songs that I made for thee.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>18<br /> - -WISHES</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I wish’d to sing thy grace, but nought</div> - <div class="verse">Found upon earth that could compare:</div> - <div class="verse">Some day, maybe, in heaven, I thought,—</div> - <div class="verse">If I should win the welcome there,—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There might I make thee many a song:</div> - <div class="verse">But now it is enough to say</div> - <div class="verse">I ne’er have done our life the wrong</div> - <div class="verse">Of wishing for a happier day.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>19<br /> - -A LOVE LYRIC</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why art thou sad, my dearest?</div> - <div class="verse">What terror is it thou fearest,</div> - <div class="verse">Braver who art than I</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fiend to defy?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why art thou sad, my dearest?</div> - <div class="verse">And why in tears appearest,</div> - <div class="verse">Closer than I that wert</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At hiding thy hurt?</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why art thou sad, my dearest,</div> - <div class="verse">Since now my voice thou hearest?</div> - <div class="verse">Who with a kiss restore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy valour of yore.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>20<br /> - -ΕΡΟΣΕΡΟΣ</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Why hast thou nothing in thy face?</div> - <div class="verse">Thou idol of the human race,</div> - <div class="verse">Thou tyrant of the human heart,</div> - <div class="verse">The flower of lovely youth that art;</div> - <div class="verse">Yea, and that standest in thy youth</div> - <div class="verse">An image of eternal Truth,</div> - <div class="verse">With thy exuberant flesh so fair,</div> - <div class="verse">That only Pheidias might compare,</div> - <div class="verse">Ere from his chaste marmoreal form</div> - <div class="verse">Time had decayed the colours warm;</div> - <div class="verse">Like to his gods in thy proud dress</div> - <div class="verse">Thy starry sheen of nakedness.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Surely thy body is thy mind,</div> - <div class="verse">For in thy face is nought to find,</div> - <div class="verse">Only thy soft unchristen’d smile,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> - <div class="verse">That shadows neither love nor guile,</div> - <div class="verse">But shameless will and power immense,</div> - <div class="verse">In secret sensuous innocence.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">O king of joy, what is thy thought?</div> - <div class="verse">I dream thou knowest it is nought,</div> - <div class="verse">And wouldst in darkness come, but thou</div> - <div class="verse">Makest the light where’er thou go.</div> - <div class="verse">Ah yet no victim of thy grace,</div> - <div class="verse">None who e’er long’d for thy embrace,</div> - <div class="verse">Hath cared to look upon thy face.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>21<br /> - -THE FAIR BRASS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">An effigy of brass</div> - <div class="verse">Trodden by careless feet</div> - <div class="verse">Of worshippers that pass,</div> - <div class="verse">Beautiful and complete,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Lieth in the sombre aisle</div> - <div class="verse">Of this old church unwreckt,</div> - <div class="verse">And still from modern style</div> - <div class="verse">Shielded by kind neglect.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">It shows a warrior arm’d:</div> - <div class="verse">Across his iron breast</div> - <div class="verse">His hands by death are charmed</div> - <div class="verse">To leave his sword at rest,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Wherewith he led his men</div> - <div class="verse">O’ersea, and smote to hell</div> - <div class="verse">The astonisht Saracen,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor doubted he did well.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Would wé could teach our sons</div> - <div class="verse">His trust in face of doom,</div> - <div class="verse">Or give our bravest ones</div> - <div class="verse">A comparable tomb:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Such as to look on shrives</div> - <div class="verse">The heart of half its care;</div> - <div class="verse">So in each line survives</div> - <div class="verse">The spirit that made it fair;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">So fair the characters,</div> - <div class="verse">With which the dusty scroll,</div> - <div class="verse">That tells his title, stirs</div> - <div class="verse">A requiem for his soul.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet dearer far to me,</div> - <div class="verse">And brave as he are they,</div> - <div class="verse">Who fight by land and sea</div> - <div class="verse">For England at this day;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Whose vile memorials,</div> - <div class="verse">In mournful marbles gilt,</div> - <div class="verse">Deface the beauteous walls</div> - <div class="verse">By growing glory built:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Heirs of our antique shrines,</div> - <div class="verse">Sires of our future fame,</div> - <div class="verse">Whose starry honour shines</div> - <div class="verse">In many a noble name</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Across the deathful days,</div> - <div class="verse">Link’d in the brotherhood</div> - <div class="verse">That loves our country’s praise,</div> - <div class="verse">And lives for heavenly good.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>22<br /> - -THE DUTEOUS HEART</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Spirit of grace and beauty,</div> - <div class="verse">Whom men so much miscall;</div> - <div class="verse">Maidenly, modest duty,</div> - <div class="verse">I cry thee fair befal!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Pity for them that shun thee,</div> - <div class="verse">Sorrow for them that hate,</div> - <div class="verse">Glory, hath any won thee</div> - <div class="verse">To dwell in high estate!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But rather thou delightest</div> - <div class="verse">To walk in humble ways,</div> - <div class="verse">Keeping thy favour brightest</div> - <div class="verse">Uncrown’d by foolish praise;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In such retirement dwelling,</div> - <div class="verse">Where, hath the worldling been,</div> - <div class="verse">He straight returneth telling</div> - <div class="verse">Of sights that he hath seen,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Of simple men and truest</div> - <div class="verse">Faces of girl and boy;</div> - <div class="verse">The souls whom thou enduest</div> - <div class="verse">With gentle peace and joy.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Fair from my song befal thee,</div> - <div class="verse">Spirit of beauty and grace!</div> - <div class="verse">Men that so much miscall thee</div> - <div class="verse">Have never seen thy face.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>23<br /> - -THE IDLE FLOWERS</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I have sown upon the fields</div> - <div class="verse">Eyebright and Pimpernel,</div> - <div class="verse">And Pansy and Poppy-seed</div> - <div class="verse">Ripen’d and scatter’d well,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And silver Lady-smock</div> - <div class="verse">The meads with light to fill,</div> - <div class="verse">Cowslip and Buttercup,</div> - <div class="verse">Daisy and Daffodil;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">King-cup and Fleur-de-lys</div> - <div class="verse">Upon the marsh to meet</div> - <div class="verse">With Comfrey, Watermint,</div> - <div class="verse">Loose-strife and Meadowsweet;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And all along the stream</div> - <div class="verse">My care hath not forgot</div> - <div class="verse">Crowfoot’s white galaxy</div> - <div class="verse">And love’s Forget-me-not:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And where high grasses wave</div> - <div class="verse">Shall great Moon-daisies blink,</div> - <div class="verse">With Rattle and Sorrel sharp</div> - <div class="verse">And Robin’s ragged pink.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thick on the woodland floor</div> - <div class="verse">Gay company shall be,</div> - <div class="verse">Primrose and Hyacinth</div> - <div class="verse">And frail Anemone,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Perennial Strawberry-bloom,</div> - <div class="verse">Woodsorrel’s pencilled veil,</div> - <div class="verse">Dishevel’d Willow-weed</div> - <div class="verse">And Orchis purple and pale,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Bugle, that blushes blue,</div> - <div class="verse">And Woodruff’s snowy gem,</div> - <div class="verse">Proud Foxglove’s finger-bells</div> - <div class="verse">And Spurge with milky stem.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">High on the downs so bare,</div> - <div class="verse">Where thou dost love to climb,</div> - <div class="verse">Pink Thrift and Milkwort are,</div> - <div class="verse">Lotus and scented Thyme;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And in the shady lanes</div> - <div class="verse">Bold Arum’s hood of green,</div> - <div class="verse">Herb Robert, Violet,</div> - <div class="verse">Starwort and Celandine;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the dusty road</div> - <div class="verse">Bedstraw and Mullein tall,</div> - <div class="verse">With red Valerian</div> - <div class="verse">And Toadflax on the wall,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Yarrow and Chicory,</div> - <div class="verse">That hath for hue no like,</div> - <div class="verse">Silene and Mallow mild</div> - <div class="verse">And Agrimony’s spike,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Blue-eyed Veronicas</div> - <div class="verse">And grey-faced Scabious</div> - <div class="verse">And downy Silverweed</div> - <div class="verse">And striped Convolvulus:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Harebell shall haunt the banks,</div> - <div class="verse">And thro’ the hedgerow peer</div> - <div class="verse">Withwind and Snapdragon</div> - <div class="verse">And Nightshade’s flower of fear.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And where men never sow,</div> - <div class="verse">Have I my Thistles set,</div> - <div class="verse">Ragwort and stiff Wormwood</div> - <div class="verse">And straggling Mignonette,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Bugloss and Burdock rank</div> - <div class="verse">And prickly Teasel high,</div> - <div class="verse">With Umbels yellow and white,</div> - <div class="verse">That come to kexes dry.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Pale Chlora shalt thou find,</div> - <div class="verse">Sun-loving Centaury,</div> - <div class="verse">Cranesbill and Sinjunwort,</div> - <div class="verse">Cinquefoil and Betony:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Shock-headed Dandelion,</div> - <div class="verse">That drank the fire of the sun</div> - <div class="verse">Hawkweed and Marigold,</div> - <div class="verse">Cornflower and Campion.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Let Oak and Ash grow strong,</div> - <div class="verse">Let Beech her branches spread;</div> - <div class="verse">Let Grass and Barley throng</div> - <div class="verse">And waving Wheat for bread;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Be share and sickle bright</div> - <div class="verse">To labour at all hours;</div> - <div class="verse">For thee and thy delight</div> - <div class="verse">I have made the idle flowers.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But now ’tis Winter, child,</div> - <div class="verse">And bitter northwinds blow,</div> - <div class="verse">The ways are wet and wild,</div> - <div class="verse">The land is laid in snow.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>24<br /> - -DUNSTONE HILL</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A cottage built of native stone</div> - <div class="verse">Stands on the mountain-moor alone,</div> - <div class="verse">High from man’s dwelling on the wide</div> - <div class="verse">And solitary mountain-side,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The purple mountain-side, where all</div> - <div class="verse">The dewy night the meteors fall,</div> - <div class="verse">And the pale stars musically set</div> - <div class="verse">To the watery bells of the rivulet,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And all day long, purple and dun,</div> - <div class="verse">The vast moors stretch beneath the sun,</div> - <div class="verse">The wide wind passeth fresh and hale,</div> - <div class="verse">And whirring grouse and blackcock sail.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, heavenly Peace, where dost thou dwell?</div> - <div class="verse">Surely ’twas here thou hadst a cell,</div> - <div class="verse">Till flaming Love, wandering astray</div> - <div class="verse">With fury and blood, drove thee away.—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Far down across the valley deep</div> - <div class="verse">The town is hid in smoky sleep,</div> - <div class="verse">At moonless nightfall wakening slow</div> - <div class="verse">Upon the dark with lurid glow:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Beyond, afar the widening view</div> - <div class="verse">Merges into the soften’d blue,</div> - <div class="verse">Cornfield and forest, hill and stream,</div> - <div class="verse">Fair England in her pastoral dream.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">To one who looketh from this hill</div> - <div class="verse">Life seems asleep, all is so still:</div> - <div class="verse">Nought passeth save the travelling shade</div> - <div class="verse">Of clouds on high that float and fade:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Nor since this landscape saw the sun</div> - <div class="verse">Might other motion o’er it run,</div> - <div class="verse">Till to man’s scheming heart it came</div> - <div class="verse">To make a steed of steel and flame.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Him may you mark in every vale</div> - <div class="verse">Moving beneath his fleecy trail,</div> - <div class="verse">And tell whene’er the motions die</div> - <div class="verse">Where every town and hamlet lie.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He gives the distance life to-day,</div> - <div class="verse">Rushing upon his level’d way</div> - <div class="verse">From man’s abode to man’s abode,</div> - <div class="verse">And mocks the Roman’s vaunted road,</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Which o’er the moor purple and dun</div> - <div class="verse">Still wanders white beneath the sun,</div> - <div class="verse">Deserted now of men and lone</div> - <div class="verse">Save for this cot of native stone.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">There ever by the whiten’d wall</div> - <div class="verse">Standeth a maiden fair and tall,</div> - <div class="verse">And all day long in vacant dream</div> - <div class="verse">Watcheth afar the flying steam.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>25<br /> - -SCREAMING TARN</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The saddest place that e’er I saw</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is the deep tarn above the inn</div> - <div class="verse">That crowns the mountain-road, whereby</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One southward bound his way must win.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Sunk on the table of the ridge</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From its deep shores is nought to see:</div> - <div class="verse">The unresting wind lashes and chills</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its shivering ripples ceaselessly.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Three sides ’tis banked with stones aslant,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And down the fourth the rushes grow,</div> - <div class="verse">And yellow sedge fringing the edge</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With lengthen’d image all arow.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Tis square and black, and on its face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When noon is still, the mirror’d sky</div> - <div class="verse">Looks dark and further from the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than when you gaze at it on high.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">At mid of night, if one be there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">—So say the people of the hill—</div> - <div class="verse">A fearful shriek of death is heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One sudden scream both loud and shrill.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">And some have seen on stilly nights,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when the moon was clear and round,</div> - <div class="verse">Bubbles which to the surface swam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And burst as if they held the sound.—</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Twas in the days ere hapless Charles</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Losing his crown had lost his head,</div> - <div class="verse">This tale is told of him who kept</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The inn upon the watershed:</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He was a lowbred ruin’d man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whom lawless times set free from fear:</div> - <div class="verse">One evening to his house there rode</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A young and gentle cavalier.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">With curling hair and linen fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And jewel-hilted sword he went;</div> - <div class="verse">The horse he rode he had ridden far,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he was with his journey spent.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He asked a lodging for the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His valise from his steed unbound,</div> - <div class="verse">He let none bear it but himself</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And set it by him on the ground.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Here’s gold or jewels,’ thought the host,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’That’s carrying south to find the king.’</div> - <div class="verse">He chattered many a loyal word,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scraps of royal airs gan sing.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His guest thereat grew more at ease</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And o’er his wine he gave a toast,</div> - <div class="verse">But little ate, and to his room</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Carried his sack behind the host.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">’Now rest you well,’ the host he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But of his wish the word fell wide;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor did he now forget his son</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who fell in fight by Cromwell’s side.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Revenge and poverty have brought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Full gentler heart than his to crime;</div> - <div class="verse">And he was one by nature rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Born to foul deeds at any time.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">With unshod feet at dead of night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In stealth he to the guest-room crept,</div> - <div class="verse">Lantern and dagger in his hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stabbed his victim while he slept.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But as he struck a scream there came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A fearful scream so loud and shrill:</div> - <div class="verse">He whelm’d the face with pillows o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lean’d till all had long been still.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Then to the face the flame he held</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To see there should no life remain:—</div> - <div class="verse">When lo! his brutal heart was quell’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas a fair woman he had slain.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">The tan upon her face was paint,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The manly hair was torn away,</div> - <div class="verse">Soft was the breast that he had pierced;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beautiful in her death she lay.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">His was no heart to faint at crime,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ half he wished the deed undone.</div> - <div class="verse">He pulled the valise from the bed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To find what booty he had won.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He cut the straps, and pushed within</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His murderous fingers to their theft.</div> - <div class="verse">A deathly sweat came o’er his brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He had no sense nor meaning left.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He touched not gold, it was not cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It was not hard, it felt like flesh.</div> - <div class="verse">He drew out by the curling hair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A young man’s head, and murder’d fresh;</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">A young man’s head, cut by the neck.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But what was dreader still to see,</div> - <div class="verse">Her whom he had slain he saw again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The twain were like as like can be.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Brother and sister if they were,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Both in one shroud they now were wound,—</div> - <div class="verse">Across his back and down the stair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Out of the house without a sound.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He made his way unto the tarn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The night was dark and still and dank;</div> - <div class="verse">The ripple chuckling neath the boat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Laughed as he drew it to the bank.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Upon the bottom of the boat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He laid his burden flat and low,</div> - <div class="verse">And on them laid the square sandstones</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That round about the margin go.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Stone upon stone he weigh’d them down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until the boat would hold no more;</div> - <div class="verse">The freeboard now was scarce an inch:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He stripp’d his clothes and push’d from shore.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">All naked to the middle pool</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He swam behind in the dark night;</div> - <div class="verse">And there he let the water in</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sank his terror out of sight.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">He swam ashore, and donn’d his dress,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scraped his bloody fingers clean;</div> - <div class="verse">Ran home and on his victim’s steed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mounted, and never more was seen.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">But to a comrade ere he died</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He told his story guess’d of none:</div> - <div class="verse">So from his lips the crime returned</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To haunt the spot where it was done.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>26<br /> - -THE ISLE OF ACHILLES</h3> - -<p class="center small">(FROM THE GREEK)</p> -<blockquote> -<p> -<small>Τὸν φίλτατόν σοι παῖδ’ ἐμοί τ’, Ἀχιλλέα<br /> -ὄψει δόμους ναίοντα νησιωτικοὺς<br /> -Λευκὴν κατ’ ἀκτὴν ἐντὸς Εὐξείνου πόρου.</small></p> -<p class="right"> -<small>Eur. And. 1250.</small></p></blockquote> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Voyaging northwards by the western strand</div> - <div class="verse">Of the Euxine sea we came to where the land</div> - <div class="verse">Sinks low in salt morass and wooded plain:</div> - <div class="verse">Here mighty Ister pushes to the main,</div> - <div class="verse">Forking his turbid flood in channels three</div> - <div class="verse">To plough the sands with which he chokes the sea.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Against his middle arm, not many a mile</div> - <div class="verse">In the offing of black water is the isle</div> - <div class="verse">Named of Achilles, or as Leukê known,</div> - <div class="verse">Which tender Thetis, counselling alone</div> - <div class="verse">With her wise sire beneath the ocean-wave,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Unto her child’s departed spirit gave,</div> - <div class="verse">Where he might still his love and fame enjoy,</div> - <div class="verse">Through the vain Danaan cause fordone at Troy.</div> - <div class="verse">Thither Achilles passed, and long fulfill’d</div> - <div class="verse">His earthly lot, as the high gods had will’d,</div> - <div class="verse">Far from the rivalries of men, from strife,</div> - <div class="verse">From arms, from woman’s love and toil of life.</div> - <div class="verse">Now of his lone abode I will unfold</div> - <div class="verse">What there I saw, or was by others told.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There is in truth a temple on the isle;</div> - <div class="verse">Therein a wooden statue of rude style</div> - <div class="verse">And workmanship antique with helm of lead:</div> - <div class="verse">Else all is desert, uninhabited;</div> - <div class="verse">Only a few goats browse the wind-swept rocks,</div> - <div class="verse">And oft the stragglers of their starving flocks</div> - <div class="verse">Are caught and sacrificed by whomsoe’er,</div> - <div class="verse">Whoever of chance or purpose hither fare:</div> - <div class="verse">About the fence lie strewn their bleaching bones.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But in the temple jewels and precious stones,</div> - <div class="verse">Upheapt with golden rings and vials lie,</div> - <div class="verse">Thankofferings to Achilles, and thereby,</div> - <div class="verse">Written or scratch’d upon the walls in view,</div> - <div class="verse">Inscriptions, with the givers’ names thereto,</div> - <div class="verse">Some in Romaic character, some Greek,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> - <div class="verse">As each man in the tongue that he might speak</div> - <div class="verse">Wrote verse of praise, or prayer for good to come,</div> - <div class="verse">To Achilles most, but to Patroclus some;</div> - <div class="verse">For those who strongly would Achilles move</div> - <div class="verse">Approach him by the pathway of his love.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Thousands of birds frequent the sheltering shrine,</div> - <div class="verse">The dippers and the swimmers of the brine,</div> - <div class="verse">Sea-mew and gull and diving cormorant,</div> - <div class="verse">Fishers that on the high cliff make their haunt</div> - <div class="verse">Sheer inaccessible, and sun themselves</div> - <div class="verse">Huddled arow upon the narrow shelves:—</div> - <div class="verse">And surely no like wonder ere hath been</div> - <div class="verse">As that such birds should keep the temple clean;</div> - <div class="verse">But thus they do: at earliest dawn of day</div> - <div class="verse">They flock to sea and in the waters play,</div> - <div class="verse">And when they well have wet their plumage light,</div> - <div class="verse">Back to the sanctuary they take flight</div> - <div class="verse">Splashing the walls and columns with fresh brine,</div> - <div class="verse">Till all the stone doth fairly drip and shine,</div> - <div class="verse">When off again they skim asea for more</div> - <div class="verse">And soon returning sprinkle steps and floor,</div> - <div class="verse">And sweep all cleanly with their wide-spread wings.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">From other men I have learnt further things.</div> - <div class="verse">If any of free purpose, thus they tell,</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> - <div class="verse">Sail’d hither to consult the oracle,—</div> - <div class="verse">For oracle there was,—they sacrificed</div> - <div class="verse">Such victims as they brought, if such sufficed,</div> - <div class="verse">And some they slew, some to the god set free:</div> - <div class="verse">But they who driven from their course at sea</div> - <div class="verse">Chanced on the isle, took of the goats thereon</div> - <div class="verse">And pray’d Achilles to accept his own.</div> - <div class="verse">Then made they a gift, and when they had offer’d once,</div> - <div class="verse">If to their question there was no response,</div> - <div class="verse">They added to the gift and asked again;</div> - <div class="verse">Yea twice and more, until the god should deign</div> - <div class="verse">Answer to give, their offering they renew’d;</div> - <div class="verse">Whereby great riches to the shrine ensued.</div> - <div class="verse">And when both sacrifice and gifts were made</div> - <div class="verse">They worship’d at the shrine, and as they pray’d</div> - <div class="verse">Sailors aver that often hath been seen</div> - <div class="verse">A man like to a god, of warrior mien,</div> - <div class="verse">A beauteous form of figure swift and strong;</div> - <div class="verse">Down on his shoulders his light hair hung long</div> - <div class="verse">And his full armour was enchast with gold:</div> - <div class="verse">While some, who with their eyes might nought behold,</div> - <div class="verse">Say that with music strange the air was stir’d;</div> - <div class="verse">And some there are, who have both seen and heard:</div> - <div class="verse">And if a man wish to be favour’d more,</div> - <div class="verse">He need but spend one night upon the shore;</div><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> - <div class="verse">To him in sleep Achilles will appear</div> - <div class="verse">And lead him to his tent, and with good cheer</div> - <div class="verse">Show him all friendliness that men desire;</div> - <div class="verse">Patroclus pours the wine, and he his lyre</div> - <div class="verse">Takes from the pole and plays the strains thereon</div> - <div class="verse">Which Cheiron taught him first on Pelion.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">These things I tell as they were told to me,</div> - <div class="verse">Nor do I question but it well may be:</div> - <div class="verse">For sure I am that, if man ever was,</div> - <div class="verse">Achilles was a hero, both because</div> - <div class="verse">Of his high birth and beauty, his country’s call,</div> - <div class="verse">His valour of soul, his early death withal,</div> - <div class="verse">For Homer’s praise, the crown of human art;</div> - <div class="verse">And that above all praise he had at heart</div> - <div class="verse">A gentler passion in her sovran sway,</div> - <div class="verse">And when his love died threw his life away.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>27<br /> - -AN ANNIVERSARY</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> - <p class="speaker"><i>HE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Bright, my belovèd, be thy day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This eve of Summer’s fall:</div> - <div class="verse">And Autumn mass his flowers gay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To crown thy festival!</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>SHE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">I care not if the morn be bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Living in thy love-rays:</div> - <div class="verse">No flower I need for my delight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Being crownèd with thy praise.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>HE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">O many years and joyfully</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This sun to thee return;</div> - <div class="verse">Ever all men speak well of thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor any angel mourn! -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>SHE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">For length of life I would not pray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If thy life were to seek;</div> - <div class="verse">Nor ask what men and angels say</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when of thee they speak.</div> -</div> - <p class="speaker"><i>HE</i></p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Arise! The sky hath heard my song,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The flowers o’erhear thy praise;</div> - <div class="verse">And little loves are waking long</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To wish thee happy days.</div> -</div></div></div> -</div> -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> - - - -<h3>28<br /> - -REGINA CARA</h3> - - -<div class="poetry-container"><div class="poetry"> -<p class="center small">JUBILEE-SONG, FOR MUSIC, 1897</p> -<div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Hark! The world is full of thy praise,</div> - <div class="verse">England’s Queen of many days;</div> - <div class="verse">Who, knowing how to rule the free,</div> - <div class="verse">Hast given a crown to monarchy.</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">Honour, Truth and growing Peace</div> - <div class="verse">Follow Britannia’s wide increase,</div> - <div class="verse">And Nature yield her strength unknown</div> - <div class="verse">To the wisdom born beneath thy throne!</div> -</div><div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse">In wisdom and love firm is thy fame:</div> - <div class="verse">Enemies bow to revere thy name:</div> - <div class="verse">The world shall never tire to tell</div> - <div class="verse">Praise of the queen that reignèd well.</div> -</div> -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">O felix anima, Domina praeclara,<br /> -Amore semper coronabere<br /> -Regina cara.</span></p> -</div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_073b.jpg" alt="Decoration" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a><br /><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> - - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> -<h2 id="NOTES">NOTES</h2> - - - - -<h3>NOTE</h3> - - -<p>The poems contained in Book I are my final -selection from a volume published in 1873. Those -of Book II are from a pamphlet published in 1879. -Some of all these are in places corrected. Book III -is made up of poems from a pamphlet published in -1880; to which are added others of about the same -date. Some of these have already appeared in a -volume printed for me by my friend the Rev. C. H. -Daniel, in 1884. No. 6 was written to a tune by -Dr. Howard. No. 19 is a pretty close translation -of a poem by Théophile Gautier, which is itself -a translation from the English by Thomas Moore -in <i>The Epicurean</i>. All the poems in Book IV are -now printed for the first time. No. 9 is a translation -from a madrigal by Michael Angelo (No. VIII -in <i>Guasti</i>). It is from my Comedy ’The Humours of -the Court,’ in which also No. 16 occurs. No. 11 is -from a Sicilian nona rima stanza, the first poem in -Trucchi’s <i>Poesie Italiane inedite</i>. No. 3 is but the -initial fragment of a poem which took another shape.</p> - -<p class="right"> -1890.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>NOTE TO FOURTH EDITION</h3> - -<p>Book V was printed by Mr. Daniel in 1893 and -published contemporaneously with an American -edition, according to the requirements of the international -copyright law. In passing the proofs of this -edition I have altered the first line of No. 10: which -being actually descriptive of a robin’s song, now -appears as such. It was first printed ’Pink-throated -linnet.’ I have also written ’and’ for ’or’ in two -lines of V. 17, and amended I. 5.</p> - -<p class="right"> -1894.</p> - - -<h3>NOTE TO PRESENT VOLUME</h3> - -<p>In revising my ’shorter poems’ for this edition -I have corrected a few misprints which seem to have -run through the earlier editions; and, though I have -refrained from the vanity of trying to improve old -work which has been so often printed, I have -amended one or two lines which seemed peculiarly -bad. I hope that the ’new poems’ which I have -gathered to fill this second volume up to the size of -the first, may be found in some respects better than<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> -the old. Eclogues 2 and 3 have already appeared in -the <i>Cornhill Magazine</i>, and the poems numbered -severally 6, 14, 15 and 21, in Mr. Elkin Mathews’ -<i>Shilling Garland</i>, No. II. 1896. The rest are printed -here for the first time: they are of various dates, -some of them were written this year for this volume.</p> - -<p class="right"> -R. B., Sept. 1899.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"></div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span></p> - - - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> -<p class="half-title">INDEX</p> - - - - -<h2 id="INDEX">INDEX OF FIRST LINES</h2> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr> - <td align="left"></td> - <td align="right">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">A cottage built of native stone</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_272'>272</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Again with pleasant green</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">All women born</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">An effigy of brass</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_262'>262</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Angel spirits of sleep</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_145'>145</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">A poppy grows upon the shore</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_26'>26</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Ariel, O,—my angel, my own</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_165'>165</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">A song of my heart</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_191'>191</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Assemble, all ye maidens</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Awake, my heart, to be loved</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_113'>113</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">A winter’s night with the snow about</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_101'>101</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Beautiful must be the mountains</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Because thou canst not see</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_93'>93</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Behold! the radiant Spring</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Beneath the wattled bank</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_223'>223</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Betwixt two billows</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_169'>169</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Bright, my belovèd, be thy day</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_287'>287</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Christ and his Mother</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_194'>194</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Clear and gentle stream</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Cold is the winter day</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_183'>183</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Crown Winter with green</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Dear lady, when thou frownest</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_22'>22</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Fire of heaven, whose starry arrow</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_143'>143</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Flame-throated robin</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_185'>185</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Gay Robin is seen no more</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Hark! the world is full</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_289'>289</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Hark to the merry birds</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_128'>128</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Haste on, my joys</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_95'>95</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">His poisoned shafts</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">How well my eyes</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_227'>227</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I climb the mossy bank</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_237'>237</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I found to-day out walking</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_25'>25</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I have loved flowers that fade</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_80'>80</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I have sown upon the fields</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_267'>267</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I heard a linnet courting</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I know not how I came</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I love all beauteous things</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_123'>123</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I love my lady’s eyes</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_115'>115</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I made another song</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_32'>32</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I never shall love the snow again</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_187'>187</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">In the golden glade</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_201'>201</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">In this May-month</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_181'>181</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I praise the tender flower</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_99'>99</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I saw the Virgin-mother</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_48'>48</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I stand on the cliff</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I will not let thee go</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_23'>23</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">I wish’d to sing thy grace</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_258'>258</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Joy, sweetest lifeborn joy</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_108'>108</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Let praise devote thy work</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Let us, as by this verdant bank</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Long are the hours the sun is above</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Look down the river</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Look! look! the spring is come</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_203'>203</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Love not too much</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_172'>172</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Love on my heart from heaven fell</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_137'>137</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Man hath with man</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">My bed and pillow are cold</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_103'>103</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">My delight and thy delight</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_241'>241</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">My eyes for beauty pine</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_134'>134</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">My spirit kisseth thine</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_163'>163</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">My spirit sang all day</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_124'>124</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Now all the windows</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_243'>243</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Now thin mists temper</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O bold majestic downs</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_59'>59</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O golden Sun, whose ray</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_77'>77</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O Love, I complain</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_232'>232</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O Love, my muse</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_135'>135</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O my vague desires</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_85'>85</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O thou unfaithful</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">O youth whose hope is high</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_119'>119</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Perfect little body</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Poor withered rose</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_14'>14</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Riding adown the country lanes</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_247'>247</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Sad, sombre place</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_71'>71</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Say who is this with silvered hair</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">See, whirling snow</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Sense with keenest edge unusèd</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_249'>249</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Since thou, O fondest and truest</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_117'>117</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Since to be loved endures</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Since we loved</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_256'>256</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Sometimes when my lady sits by me</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">So sweet love seemed</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_178'>178</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Spirit of grace and beauty</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_265'>265</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Spring goeth all in white</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_133'>133</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The birds that sing on autumn eves</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_150'>150</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The cliff-top has a carpet</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_16'>16</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The clouds have left the sky</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_127'>127</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The day begins to droop</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The evening darkens over</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The full moon from her cloudless skies</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_112'>112</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The green corn waving in the dale</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_139'>139</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The hill pines were sighing</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_138'>138</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The idle life I lead</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The lonely season</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_251'>251</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The north wind came up</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The pinks along my garden walks</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The saddest place</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_275'>275</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The south wind rose</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_234'>234</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">There is a hill</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">There was no lad handsomer</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_205'>205</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The sea keeps not</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_245'>245</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The snow lies sprinkled on the beach</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_161'>161</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The storm is over</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The summer trees are tempest-torn</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_149'>149</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The upper skies are palest blue</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">The wood is bare</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_12'>12</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Thou didst delight my eyes</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">To my love I whisper</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_239'>239</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Voyaging northwards</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_282'>282</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Wanton with long delay</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_130'>130</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Weep not to-day</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_207'>207</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">We left the city when the summer day</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">What is sweeter than new-mown hay</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_147'>147</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">What voice of gladness</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_179'>179</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">When Death to either shall come</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_257'>257</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">When first we met</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_39'>39</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">When June is come</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_141'>141</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">When men were all asleep</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_87'>87</a> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">When my love was away</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Wherefore to-night so full of care</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_75'>75</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Whither, O splendid ship</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Who has not walked upon the shore</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_30'>30</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Why art thou sad</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_259'>259</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Why hast thou nothing</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_260'>260</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Will Love again awake</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_43'>43</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td align="left">Ye thrilled me once</td> - <td align="right"><a href='#Page_157'>157</a></td> -</tr> -</table></div> - -<div class="transnote"> - -<h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations -in hyphenation, spelling, accents and punctuation remain unchanged -except where in conflict with the index.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Poetical Works of Robert Bridges -(Volume 2), by Robert Bridges - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES *** - -***** This file should be named 55178-h.htm or 55178-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/5/1/7/55178/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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