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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77817-0.txt b/77817-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1c30f7 --- /dev/null +++ b/77817-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1277 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77817 *** + + + + + ESCAPE + AND FANTASY + + + + + [Illustration] + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS + ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO + + MACMILLAN & CO., LIMITED + LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA + MELBOURNE + + THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. + TORONTO + + + + + ESCAPE + AND FANTASY + + Poems + + BY + GEORGE ROSTREVOR + + New York + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + 1919 + _All rights reserved_ + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919, + BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. + + Set up and printed from type. Published February, 1919. + + + Norwood Press + J.S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co. + Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. + + + + + TO + MARION + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + THE CHANGE 9 + + ORPHEUS 11 + + THE RIVER 16 + + MOMENTS 17 + + THOUGHTS 19 + + TIDAL, KING OF NATIONS 20 + + THE VOICE (AN ECSTASY) 23 + + SPRING RAIN IN LONDON 35 + + LOTUS EATERS 36 + + THE GREY BIRD 37 + + ELYSIUM 40 + + ETERNITY 41 + + THE SEA-MAID 43 + + THE CELL 47 + + THE ASCETICS 48 + + CONSPIRACIES 50 + + A RHYME OF FAITH 52 + + THE SHINING POND 53 + + THE HAUNTED STREET 56 + + + + +THE CHANGE + + + All the daytime I belong + To the solemn-coated throng + Who with grave, stupendous looks + Study cash and ledger books, + Or who go, + Staid and slow, + On sad business to and fro. + + But when twilight comes, I range + Over topics new and strange, + Wasting all my leisure hours + On fay birds and phantom flowers, + Or I sing + Some mad fling + Through the impish evening. + + Yes, and when the moon goes by + Rocking in a foamy sky, + Then I swear I’m more akin + To the laughing Cherubin + Than to those grave men who go, + To and fro, to and fro, + On sad business to and fro. + + + + +ORPHEUS + + + Hush, thou noisy nightingale, + Let thy sorrowful song be mute. + Orpheus, with his lute, + Sings to the vale. + + Weather-smitten, travel-worn, + Fever-eyed and frail is he, + Orpheus, Orpheus, the forlorn + Of Eurydice. + + Trembling like a crazy shadow + When a gust is in the trees, + Phantom-like he flees + Over mere and meadow. + + Twinkle on the lute his fingers. + Hark! a ghostly music swings, + Echoes, falls, echoes, lingers, + Orpheus sings:-- + + To-day, to-morrow, + There is sorrow, + But when Night, + Holy Night, + Putteth on + Her sober gown, + Then is there delight. + + Take thy fill + Of rest, rest, + O separate will,-- + Wayward, wayward, wayward will + Of each wild creature, take thy rest + Lulled on the breast + Of the cool dark hill. + + Very deep, + O baffled will, + Be thy sleep + On the sombre hill. + But heart of the world, awake, awake, + For Orpheus’ sake! + + Hungry lion, do not howl! + Supple tiger tawny-barred, + Chattering monkey, chequered snake, + Privy wolf and spotted pard, + Creatures that do use to prowl + Through the forest, let you lie,-- + Not a sound, not a cry,-- + Soothèd by my lullaby. + + Cease, unquiet owl, to moan, + Folded keep thy stealthy wings; + Nightjar, stay thy monotone, + Listen, listen, Orpheus sings. + Shut you every wakeful eye + Soothèd by my lullaby. + + Very deep + Be thy sleep, + Cruel, cruel, cruel will, + Very deep + Be thy sleep + On the sombre hill. + + But, O heart, awake, awake, + Wake and leap for Orpheus’ sake! + Heart of all the world, awake + For Orpheus’ sake! + + Cloudy waters of the sky + Flow no longer; listening stars + Stop their silver-wheelèd cars, + Conquered by my lullaby. + Each one, smitten by my spell, + Holds him like a sentinel. + + Beauty on the brow of Night + So complete is that despair, + Gazing like a statue there, + Changes to a grave delight. + Never hath the swart Night been + So unparalleled a queen. + + Very deep + Is thy sleep, + Wayward, wayward, wayward will, + Very deep + Is thy sleep + On the sombre hill. + But the heart, the heart is awake, + Beating high for Orpheus’ sake, + Everywhere awake, awake, + For Orpheus’ sake. + + + + +THE RIVER + + + Why, O River, on thy breast, + Why do the trees so sweetly rest? + + Why so royal does the black barge sail + On thy water smooth and pale? + + Why does the rough-tongued river-man sing + Like a minstrel to a king? + + Why, O quiet River, do I + See in thee so clear a sky? + + + + +MOMENTS + + + I’ve seen the rich dark earth fling up + Cuckoo-flower and buttercup, + I’ve heard the meadows burst with song + Of thrush and blackbird all day long, + I’ve seen the burning sun go by + With a pomp of cloud in the roofless sky, + I’ve heard the wind whistle and shout + And toss the tallest oaks about, + I’ve seen, I’ve heard the flash and the call + Of the distant thundering waterfall ... + + My soul turns back to me again + At twilight. All the day like rain + It has scattered itself in drops and flashes + And moments of colour, and sudden splashes, + Has flown and mixed with the single notes + Quick-pouring from the song-birds’ throats, + Losing itself and multiplying, + Living a thousand lives and dying. + + My busy eyes at the fall of day + I close: I shut the world away. + Now no star may pierce the gloom + Of my fragile-curtained room, + But flowers more wonderful and trees more tall + Bloom in the dark there; sweet dews fall; + Silence cries with the ghost of sound; + Flashes of colour and tune are found + Linked in one. I hear, I hear + The voice of Spring cry out to me there, + And the voice of Spring is the voice of Love + Crying below, around, above, + While--in the dark of my body--his eyes + Burn more deep than star-flushed skies. + + + + +THOUGHTS + + + If in a giant brain + The thoughts of the world could lie, + How darkly would each cell be lit, + What phantoms pale would people it, + Flocking, flocking by: + Thoughts of things that jerk or leap, + Things that flit in the sky or creep + In the atomy dust, or swarm in the deep, + Leviathan or fly! + + Fugitive, feeble, vain-- + The giant would fall asleep, + And they in millions would be gone + For ever to oblivion, + Far down deep: + Thought of toad and thought of lark, + Crab and crocodile and shark, + Armadillo, aard-vark, + Terrapin and sheep. + + + + +TIDAL, KING OF NATIONS + + ... _and Tidal, king of nations_-- + + GENESIS xiv + + + Tidal, King of Nations, + Sent a proclamation forth + To the tribes of the South + And the clans of the North; + + His word flew and travelled + Quick as a gathering flame, + The far-off people shook + At the rumour of his name. + + Tidal, King of Nations, + Thy name is for thee, + Shadowy and vast, + An immortality. + + * * * * * + + Tidal, King of Nations-- + Lo, at the sound + Terrible armies leap + Crying from the ground. + + High in the midst, on + A white throne is He, + Set as a firm rock + In the surge of the sea. + + Clear as the moon his brow is, + But in his secret eyes + Shadow within shadow dark + The future lies. + + In his hand glitters + The phantom of a sword; + The warring peoples cry + And hail him for lord: + + But within his dark eyes + Where future time grows + Are gentleness, mercy, + Peace and repose. + + The nations bow and tremble, + They do not understand, + They only see the gleam + Of the wrath in his hand. + + * * * * * + + Tidal, King of Nations, + Thy name is for thee,-- + Oh, far-off brotherhood!-- + An immortality. + + + + +THE VOICE + +(AN ECSTASY) + + +I + +_The Prelude_ + + I saw the regal sun look down + And crown the earth with a golden crown: + I saw his bright embraces fill + The valley and assail the hill; + I saw him kiss the hill I knew + Where matted gorse and heather grew. + + I heard a child go whistling by + To school--I heard the ploughmen cry + To their horses--in the yard + A bantam-cock was crowing hard-- + A pensive and complacent hen + Began to drawl .. drawl ... drawl .... and then + A puppy yapping with delight + Chased and hustled her in flight. + + I took me to a tangled lane + Hoping for quietness--in vain; + I only in the world was mute. + The blackbird laughed upon his flute, + And starlings talked in wayward wise + On creaking boughs, and up the skies + The trembling, quick, delirious lark + Sang until my soul was dark. + + So morning, noon and all day long + The world was multiplied with song + And I, distracted, could not sing; + At length, toward the evening, + I climbed the little hill I knew + Where matted gorse and heather grew. + + Slowly, + Slowly, + Slowly at last the evening fell; + Slowly beneath her drowsy spell + The teeming brain of the world was quieted: + The noise of day was dead. + + Now might a single human thought + Flying out, keen-wrought, + Usurp dominion of the sky, and fill + The void of the world with a chant of love, and move it to one will. + + So from my ingathered soul + Softly sang I to my Love-- + Softly, yet I heard the whole + Shining world, beneath, above, + Echo me and ring and ring + Through the quiet evening. + + First I sang how she doth dwell + Carven so within my mind + That her tokens I do spell + And her vital beauty find + Paining me, oh everywhere + Phantom-bright upon the air. + + Morning winds with liquid tune + Her abounding joy express; + Azure-folded deeps of June + Tell me of her tenderness; + Laughingly the waterbrooks + Mirror her untainted looks. + + Trembling shadows wake in me + Sense of the outflowing tide + Of her hidden rarity, + Till I dream her at my side,-- + And her prayed-for kisses rain + Through and through me, sharp with pain. + + Hushed the melody I sang, + Earth around me rang and rang. + + +II + +_The Ecstasy_ + + Quick a current of delight + Through my body laughed and leapt, + Took the dazzle from my sight, + From the earth my senses swept; + Through the ringing air I sped, + Loosened as from bars of lead. + + And my singing soul became + Infinite; the sea, the sky, + Were my flesh, the mighty frame + Of the Universe was I; + Mystic voices in me stirred, + And I cried, and I heard. + + Crying how my Lady shone + Fairer than the dawn upon + Snowy-crested Himalay; + How she fed with golden fire + Red lamps of the Earth’s desire, + White lamps of the Milky Way. + + Crying how, if she must die, + Sudden from the naked sky + Star and sun must fade and fall, + And from every naked tree + Foliage drop, and her death be + Earth’s and Heaven’s funeral. + + So did I her glory sing + Through the quiet evening. + Every note and echo fell + Crystal as a chiming bell, + Strong and singular of beat, + Gay and simple, clear and sweet, + Gentle, yet with even sound + Calling to the southern bound + Of the world, and crying forth + Undiminished to the north. + + And in those harmonious skies + All tempestuous energies + To such equipoise were wrought + Never a jarring atom fought. + There was neither jolt nor strain, + Shock, nor weight, nor clash, nor pain, + But I saw great Saturn float + Buoyant as a wandering mote + On a sunbeam, or like down + Of thistle indolently blown. + + And I felt the deepening night + Saturated so with light + That the very darkness seemed + Light that more intensely dreamed; + And the light was filled with sense + Of Being and Omnipotence,-- + Gathered now at instant will + To a single point, until + I was conscious of each bird, + Beast or creeping thing that stirred + In a lane or covert. Then + Consciousness would flow again + Evenly, and life would be + From all separation free: + Only my Belovèd shone,-- + She and I, complete, alone. + + And looking down with happy eyes + From my kingdom of the skies, + I saw my lady stoop and give + Glorious life for the world to live. + + I saw how from the lullèd earth + Meeting her gaze the darkness fell + And light celestial sprang to birth, + And flowers changed the path of hell; + And to her lips she lifted up + Th’ essential world, created new, + And drank and drained the sacred cup + As sunfire drinks the morning dew. + + From meadows of the noble dead, + From fields where baffled and forlorn + The conqueror lays his uncrowned head, + The very life of peace was born: + And in my lady’s heart of love + So soft, so dim that peace was felt + As when dusk enters a deep grove + Where, all day long, shadows have dwelt. + + From lives of sick men, clean with pain, + She drew a virtue like the rare + Odour of windflowers washed with rain + Afloat upon the sensitive air; + And sick men felt in their hot room + The cooling garden-breezes blow, + And heaven pierce the fading gloom + With javelins of silver snow. + + I saw the sere ungarnished tree + A treasury of green unlock, + And pastures crown the foaming sea, + And flame enliven the dull rock; + And frozen rivers were unsealed, + And waters through the desert ran, + And like a meteor shone revealed + The mystic in the common man; + + Whose soul enchanted, winged with dream + And eyed with splendour, thrust her course + Rapid upon the darkling stream, + Sped by her own unconscious force,-- + Content at last, content to ride + Free from the well-loved daily bond + Of time and place, on the full tide + Of Oceans unexplored beyond. + + And there was song from every land, + In every tongue, in every key, + And every tiny lyric spanned + The chasms of infinity: + Yet I the Lover sang alone + To my Belovèd: all the throng + Of praising voices made but one + Hushed undercurrent of my song: + + “O thou Belovèd of the Lover, thou, + Health-giver, Purifier, Strengthener, + Fountain, and spring, and river of the Sun. + O thou Belovèd of the Lover, strong + As morning or the full inflowing tide, + Calm as the evening sky above a lake. + Thou who art one and changeless, O Belovèd, + O thou Belovèd who art calm and strong. + O calm Belovèd, where all passion lies + Too deep to stir, and strong, O thou Belovèd + In frailty that shatters force. O Love! + Belovèd of the Lover, everlasting, + Beyond all Death, all Change, O Love Belovèd, + Be with the Lover always, calm and strong.” + + +III + +_The Return_ + + So did I in Heaven sing, + And the lilac evening + Deeper, deeper, deeper shone. + Fairer yet and yet more fair + Burned my kingdom of the air. + + So I sang--or _did_ I sing? + I, who still was listening. + So I sang--yet _was_ it mine, + The Song, the Singing Voice divine? + + Sudden, in a fit of mirth, + I that was so mighty grown + Bent me low to see the Earth + And the little hill I knew + Where the gorse and heather grew. + + Then I cried and Heaven cried + Loud with laughter, for I spied + How my puny body lay + In a coat of sombre grey + Six foot long amid the heather + With its two arms locked together, + With its pinpoint eyes that burned + Motionless and solemn turned + In a brave unconscious stare + On the diamonded air. + + Still I looked, and in a while + Saw the growing of a smile + On the lips and then a yawn, + Then a difficult breath long-drawn-- + One deep breath, and then an arm + Stretched out, and, as if alarm + Seized it, the whole body shook. + + Then could I no longer look, + For I felt my limbs and knew + I was narrowed down again + To my body, and I grew + Quiet, fearing the disdain + Of the stars who looked on me + Fallen from their company. + + But I heard no sound of scorn, + Only a far echo borne + Of the Voice whose singing moves + And quickens every thing that loves. + + + + +SPRING RAIN IN LONDON + + + Hardly awake, I saw in the street + The shining raindrops pelt; + And lulled by their quick monotonous beat + I let my languid eyes half close. I felt + + The tinkle of a rivulet + Bubbling lazily down a hill, + Where the turf was a couch for dark violet + And flame-eyed tormentil. + + I saw the sun leaping through a cloud-- + Apollo shooting at the bladed corn-- + And the lark, a dizzy fanatic, hailing loud + The golden god reborn. + + + + +LOTUS EATERS + + + I grew so quiet as I walked along, + My mind so much a mirror to the wood, + So passively open to the colour and song + And the whole company of solitude + + That past time fell from me, and time to come + No longer drew me with its magnet power: + My whole self lazily to a bee’s low hum + Listened, and watched him fumble at a flower. + + The present held me. I was just aware + Of the ripple and stir of muscles where my hand + Lay slack against my side. I sucked live air, + And drew sweet moisture from the clayey sand. + + Now do I know how horses live, and cows, + Minute to minute of the shining day, + Solemn with gaze contented as they browse + Finding their lotus in the fields of May. + + + + +THE GREY BIRD + + + The wind blows + Heavy with spice. + Among macaws and birds of paradise + With plumage grey he goes. + + Silence hangs like a cloud; + Yet lives innumerable teem. + The wild eyes of the crowd + Of watching creatures with a sullen gleam + The forest haunt. + The birds flaunt + Their vivid hues, and scream, + Yet leave the smothering silence still supreme. + + And the bird with the grey wing + Unnoticed flies. No finery or glow + Has he to show, + Nor in this land unhallowed will he sing. + But in the tropic heat, + When March is ablaze, + Strange instincts beat + In his breast. + He is full of amaze, + He suffers a sweet unrest, + And though + Unheeded still he flutter to and fro, + Yet in foreknowledge of a gentle Spring + He turns and fondles oft in his warm throat + The pure, the lovely note + He soon shall sing-- + When, in a land of the West, + In England, over the foam, + After long voyage his tired wings come to rest + And his glad heart finds home. + + Then hark how he shall spill + His liquid miracle, + Hark to the thrill + Of the secret song, + The gay tune hid so long! + See on a twig scarce bent, + Mid leafage cool + Of oak or birch + Or willow-fringe about a reedy pool, + How he shall choose his perch + And make wild music out of souls content. + How he shall love! + How he shall sing! + How he shall rove + With a careless wing! + How in this Isle + Of Splendid Voice, + Home from exile + He shall rejoice! + How his golden song shall be spent + Forgetting the foul, fierce continent! + + + + +ELYSIUM + + + Hushed their feet fall + On the dewy grass: + In robe rhythmical + Shining they pass: + + Lovers who for bliss + Grave and rare and deep + Need no clasp, or kiss, + Or lovers’ sleep. + + + + +ETERNITY + + + Men who are wise in secret lore + Well argue and avow + That fugitive Time shall be no more-- + No change, no after, no before, + But one eternal Now. + + Yet I will dream Eternity + Only a nobler Time, + Where all the past shall gathered be + And hours all of memory + In each new hour chime: + + Triumphing easily over Death; + Showing the sign of power + Of one who goes with even breath, + Who hurrieth not nor lingereth, + Harmonious with his hour: + + A march, full-speed, from thought to thought, + A music more sublime + Than holy poet ever caught + From magic choirs, and tuned and wrought + In miracle of rhyme. + + + + +THE SEA-MAID + + + I heard an immortal, under the sea, + Singing the beauty of change and death. + Oh lovelier than light was she, + And Araby was in her breath. + + She lay in a hollow of stainless air + Roofed and walled with a crystal gleam; + No light wind stirred to quiver her hair + Or loose from her eyes the banded dream. + + Her voice was the piping voice of a child, + Shrill, pathetic. I do not know + Whether I wept or whether I smiled + To hear her chant of curious woe. + + The sea-maid sang, + “Never shall I die. + The evil eye, + The spine, the fang + + Have not any power,-- + No spell, no charm + May wither or harm + My beauty’s flower. + + For, I suppose, + I am fair, more fair + Than any rose + Or earth-bloom rare, + + Or maid of the earth, + Or, faint and far, + Heaven’s dark birth + Of a radiant star. + + And yet they are crowned + With a joy not mine, + With a light divine + Who have found, have found + + The secret of change,-- + They are born, they grow, + They are dark, they glow, + They are new, wild, strange. + + But I remain + Immortal, I + Who am fain, oh fain + To change or die. + + * * * * * + + Once was a time + I found the wreck + Of a ship sublime + With a masted deck: + + I peeped through the hull + And what should it hold + But shimmering gold + And a shining skull + + And broken glass + And twisted steel, + And a steering-wheel + Of oak and brass. + + I loved them and watched them day by day, + I watched their beautiful slow decay. + I watched them soften and break and rust, + And thicken with weeds and fall to dust. + + But when they were crumbled quite, there came + The fish that are centuries-through the same, + Their lifted lids that ought to be wise + Arching high over vacant eyes. + + With gaping mouth and sloping chin, + And face fixed hard in a solemn grin, + They softly murmured, _The passing hour + Over our beauty has no power_. + + I turned. I looked in my crystal glass. + My splendour was bright as ever it was. + And I wept, and I weep, that I should remain + Immortal, unchanging, without a stain.” + + + + +THE CELL + + + When from the hush of this cool wood + I go, Lord, to the noisy mart, + Give me among the multitude, + I pray, a lonely heart. + + Yea, build in me a secret cell + Where quietness shall be a song: + In that green solitude I’ll dwell. + And praise Thee all day long. + + + + +THE ASCETICS + + + Ages long the hills have stood + A solitary brotherhood, + Ages long with sinews bare + They have shouldered the keen air, + They have wrestled with the skies + Hiddenly for a dark prize. + + Merry Spring with her wanton train + Tiptoes, tiptoes by in vain; + Ye, O hills, never behold + Her brave dust of green and gold + Flashing by, the pride, the mirth, + The myriad fluttering of the earth. + + This wild magic ye have lost-- + Tell me, at so bitter cost, + What the guerdon ye have won? + “Speech with the moon, speech with the sun; + Valiancy to meet unbowed + The challenge of the thundercloud, + And, to quicken us for fresh wars, + Gay communion with the stars.” + + + + +CONSPIRACIES + + + The valley seemed a single throat + Singing when the blackbird sang, + So true complete and pure his note, + And through so clean an air it rang: + Trees in a golden rapture stood + Unshaken; their dark shadows fell + And lay locked by the river-flood + In level quiet: blackbird’s bell + And hollow-shining air and tree + And river made conspiracy + And cast on me a spell. + + Deep in my heart the holy stream, + The stream of quietude, was born, + Whose waters wandering clouds of dream + And marvellous idle shapes adorn; + My breath was like the breath of a child + Asleep,--yet rooted in repose, + Multitudinous swift and wild + My branching, flowering thoughts arose. + So heart, breath, mind, while I spoke no word, + Conspired. Suddenly I heard + My song with the blackbird’s close. + + + + +A RHYME OF FAITH + + + Say ye “Lo the heavens frown, + Soon the thundercloud shall burst, + Towering faith shall be flung down. + We--thank God--expect the worst.” + + Cowardly blasphemers, hark! + _Credo_ shall my motto be, + _Credo_--all the sky is dark-- + _Quia Impossibile_. + + + + +THE SHINING POND + + + Against the sky’s pale rim + The cottage and the trees stood dim. + But in the glow, + More tense, + Of the little shining pond that lay below, + The darkened outlines were drawn clear, + Sharp to my sense. + + And gazing there + My vision became + Empty and passive, no more than a frame + For the silver water that burned and burned .... + + At last, when I turned, + My soul was a mirror, on whose surface lay + Without a flaw + Each momentary thing I saw,-- + Then slipped away. + + And I heard + Each faint noise, + Hardly listening. + + I heard + The noise of the cockchafers around me,-- + Not only the sound + As they boomed in their flight, + Above, in the dim light, + But as they busily stirred + Loosening + Heavy body and horny wing, + Blundering free + Out of the thicket of the may-tree. + + I saw the flower look up pale-eyed + From the tangled grass, + And the pale moth climb up, half awake, with quivering wing, + And still to the side + Of the sedges cling,-- + Then like a ghost through the brown air pass. + + And nowhere, + Everywhere, + The fall, + Hollow and clear, + Of the cuckoo’s sounding call. + + And yet so quiet ... every tree + (But most the poplar tree, + Shooting up + Confidently + To the sky’s white cup) + Appeared eternal. + + Suddenly, out beyond + The dark, I heard a chime. + It told of eternity, not of time, + It told that the quiet hour was one + With the quiet ages gone, + With the quiet hours to be + Eternally. + + Shadow crept over the shining pond. + I fell into a deep + Trance, an illumined sleep. + + + + +THE HAUNTED STREET + + + Only the faint-echoing fall of my feet + Sounded in the empty street, + Where noisily an hour or so ago + The townpeople wandered--men, all sorts and types, + Swinging leisurely to and fro, + Laughing and lounging, pulling at their pipes; + Big-featured women; boys with caps aslant + To hint them men of the world; slim girls with scant + White summer dresses that in dubious light + Fluttered and gleamed to the sight + Like pallid moth-wings. + Now the populous street + Was empty: not a phantom lingered there, + Not a ghost of sound on the air + Save, as I passed, for my echoing feet. + + The moon was hidden; hardly a candle shone + At any upper window, and the stars + Were dim as candles: from the shops and bars + The glimmer of light was gone. + A few arc-lamps at intervals threw + Mock moonlight on the mimic waterway + Of the wheel-burnished road; + And the road lay + Cool and rejoicing, lightened of its load + Of travelling life--as a tired face may lie + Smooth of its furrows, the unquiet day + Forgotten, the importunity + Of thought and emotion folded away + And shuttered off by Sleep. + + Only my footsteps sounded in the road. + + Suddenly I stopped. For I felt a faint light creep + Up to me and touch me, and lo, behind a cloud-veil + The harvest Moon gradually climbing the ascent + To the open firmament! + The vapours like lit foam + Dripped and glittered, as I watched her battle against the tide, + Then huddled again more close and strove to hide + Her scattering silver with dull monochrome; + Yet with a final stroke did she prevail, + Unflinching out of the stormy water sail, + Astonish the dark night, and roam + Splendid in triumph on her ocean-home. + + And, as I watched, it seemed + My eyes were nothing but hollows filled to the brim with light, + And my body was unsubstantial, and the flood unearthly streamed + Through and through me, body and soul, immovable, absorbed in sight. + + Along the sombre rank + Of ordinary houses the lustre spread + Until their level surfaces showed blank + And staring-white, and dead. + No longer now as images of Sleep + Could I feel them, folding away + In recesses deep + The voices and the passing feet of day: + Rather I felt them solid, cold, intense, + Shining on the glass of my moonlit sense + Like naked tombstones. They seemed to me + The only reality: + My conscious being + Was from its centre all + Diverted to its outward wall, + From the thinking and willing soul to the touching, seeing, + Receptive surface. I lost + All sense of separation. I was one + With the tomblike stone. + The bar of my humanity I crossed, + Drawn outward as the houses drew more near, + Till they and I for body had only a gleaming wall, + For spirit a vague fear. + + The pulse of Time stopped. + + There was no sound + Anywhere, + No motion in the street around, + In my soul’s eclipse I could not stir. + + Yet some hidden impulse suddenly broke the spell, + For inward, inward, struggling through the barrier + Of my dumb sense I drove. I smote the silent bell + At the door of my heart angrily, bidding it answer me + With a semblance of actual sound. Driven by the tyranny + Of tangible outward horror into my soul I fought, + Striving to win the images that dwell + In the quiet inmost rooms of intricate-carven thought. + + There I conjured a vision of summer’s ripe content, + Gold corn in the valley, gold gorse on the hill, + The gold sun shining, the air full of scent, + The common turf paved with gold tormentil; + The air basking lazily, full of the sound of bees, + And a slow stream washing the boughs of trailing willow-trees. + + There I found a garden where tall hollyhocks + And double-flowered larkspurs towered side by side, + Groups of slender columbine and crimson-hearted phlox, + Old-fashioned lavender and pink and London pride: + And in that close and quiet garden did I find + The faces of my dearest friends, intimate and kind. + + But a hurry of other faces like a shadow-show, + Faces remote and strange, crowded unbidden before me, + Faces at first I did not know ... + Yet some of them bore me + Manifest hate or love,--gazing on me + As a familiar friend or enemy. + Gradually I felt the answering passions stir + And days forgotten from a buried past rise; + Gradually + Like objects with pale outlines whitening the gloom + Of a dark room, + Out of a misty blurr + The faces grew familiar to my eyes. + + And yet, as I dimly knew + With a dazed, half-conscious knowing, + These images coming and going,-- + These faces old and young + That grew + In a moment, unfolded + And faded,--out of a past that never was mine were sprung: + Not mine, although they so remoulded me + Under their strong control + That memory seemed to be slowly drawn up out of my soul + To join them and make them a part + Of my own years, + Linking them to the passions of my heart, + Old hopes and old fears. + + In a while shone out + Distinct among them all, beneath a rout + Of dusky hair, one face + Of quick eager impulsive grace; + And memory arose in me till I burned + With a full-kindled fire + Of worship and love, seeing no failure, no flaw + In her loveliness.... + then memory turned, + Memory and the strength of desire, + To hate, fierce hate, hate fiercer for a memory of shame, + Of a wrong that I had done to her. I saw + With different eyes her beauty and I hated it. + Darkness and agony were in me: I shook: I bit on my lip; there was dew + Of sweat on my hand, on my forehead; I knew + My soul no longer was mine but lit with the flame + Of alien passions, possessing me, driving me ... + + Emptily, + Emptily on either side the motionless line + Of tomblike houses gaped upon me-- + Their emptiness spoke, they gave me an answer, they told + That only the cold + Bodies of those who slept + Lay in their hold: + The hot unsleeping passions were abroad + Thronging the white road, + Pressing around me, into me. They had crept + Deep into me more subtle than sleep; + My soul was strangled: I could not shake them off: I struggled in vain ... + + But with a saving throb of pain + The power of motion came to me again, + And down the length of that echoing street of dread, + While the beautiful mockery of the white moon still looked down + On the sleeping town, + Quick in the stillness I fled. + + +Printed in the United States of America. + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + + +The Sea-Maid: quote marks in the poem have been left as-is. + +The use of ellipsis has been edited to match the original book. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77817 *** diff --git a/77817-h/77817-h.htm b/77817-h/77817-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..26c7b1d --- /dev/null +++ b/77817-h/77817-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2056 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + Escape and Fantasy | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; 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+ font-size: x-large; + font-weight: bold; +} +.transnote { + margin-left:17.5%; + margin-right:17.5%; +} + +/* Conventional dropcaps */ +p.dropcap { + text-indent: 0em; +} +p.dropcap:first-letter { + float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 250%; + line-height: 0.85em; +} +.x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { + float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; +} + + +.upper-case +{ + text-transform: uppercase; +} + +.oldenglish {font-family: "Old English Text MT", + "Engravers Old English BT", + "Old English", + "Collins Old English", + "New Old English", + serif; +} + +div.box { + border-width: thin; + border-style: solid; + padding: 1em; + width: 80%; + margin: auto; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + +.x-ebookmaker .ep2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.x-ebookmaker .ep4 {margin-top: 4em;} +.x-ebookmaker .ep6 {margin-top: 6em;} + +p#pg1 { display: none; } +.x-ebookmaker p#pg1 { display: block; } + + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1.0em;} +.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0.0em;} +.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1.0em;} +.poetry .indent12 {text-indent: 3.0em;} +.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4.0em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5.0em;} + + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp20 {width: 20%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77817 ***</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + + +<p id="pg1" class="center ep6"> +ESCAPE<br> +AND FANTASY +</p> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> + + +<figure class="figcenter illowp20 ep6" id="colophon" style="max-width: 8em;"> + <img class="w100" src="images/colophon.png" alt="" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<p class="center" style="font-size: small;">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br> +<span style="font-size: x-small;">NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS<br> +ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO</span></p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: small;">MACMILLAN & CO., <span class="smcap">Limited</span><br> +<span style="font-size: x-small;">LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA<br> +MELBOURNE</span></p> + +<p class="center" style="font-size: small;">THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class="smcap">Ltd.</span><br> +<span style="font-size: x-small;">TORONTO</span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> + + +<h1 class="ep4">ESCAPE<br> +AND FANTASY</h1> + +<p class="center oldenglish">Poems</p> + +<p class="center p2"><span style="font-size: small;">BY</span><br> +GEORGE ROSTREVOR</p> + +<hr class="r5" style="margin-top: 4em;"> + +<p class="center oldenglish p4">New York</p> +<p class="center"><span style="font-size: small;">THE MACMILLAN COMPANY<br> +1919<br></span> +<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>All rights reserved</i></span></p> +</div> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> +<p class="center ep6" style="font-size: small;"> + <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1919,</span><br> + <span class="smcap">By</span> THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.<br> +</p> +<hr class="r5"> +<p class="center" style="font-size: small;"> + Set up and printed from type. Published February, 1919. +</p> +<p class="center p6" style="font-size: small;"> + <span class="oldenglish">Norwood Press</span><br> + J.S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.<br> + Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. +</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> +<p class="center ep4" style="line-height: 1.5;"> + <span style="font-size: small;">TO</span><br> + MARION +</p> + +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[Pg 7]</span></p> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS"> + CONTENTS + </h2> +</div> + + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr> +<th class="tdl"> +</th> +<th class="tdr"> +PAGE +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE CHANGE +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_9">9</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +ORPHEUS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_11">11</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE RIVER +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_16">16</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +MOMENTS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_17">17</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THOUGHTS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_19">19</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +TIDAL, KING OF NATIONS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_20">20</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE VOICE (AN ECSTASY) +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_23">23</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +SPRING RAIN IN LONDON +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_35">35</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +LOTUS EATERS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_36">36</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE GREY BIRD +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_37">37</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +ELYSIUM +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_40">40</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +ETERNITY +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_41">41</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE SEA-MAID +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_43">43</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE CELL +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_47">47</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE ASCETICS +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_48">48</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +CONSPIRACIES +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_50">50</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +A RHYME OF FAITH +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_52">52</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE SHINING POND +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_53">53</a> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +THE HAUNTED STREET +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +<a href="#Page_56">56</a> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a><a id="Page_9"></a>[Pg 9]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CHANGE"> + THE CHANGE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">All</span> the daytime I belong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the solemn-coated throng</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who with grave, stupendous looks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Study cash and ledger books,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or who go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Staid and slow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On sad business to and fro.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But when twilight comes, I range</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over topics new and strange,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wasting all my leisure hours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On fay birds and phantom flowers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or I sing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some mad fling</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the impish evening.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yes, and when the moon goes by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rocking in a foamy sky,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Then I swear I’m more akin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the laughing Cherubin</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than to those grave men who go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To and fro, to and fro,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On sad business to and fro.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ORPHEUS"> + ORPHEUS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hush</span>, thou noisy nightingale,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let thy sorrowful song be mute.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Orpheus, with his lute,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sings to the vale.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Weather-smitten, travel-worn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fever-eyed and frail is he,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Orpheus, Orpheus, the forlorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Eurydice.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Trembling like a crazy shadow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When a gust is in the trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Phantom-like he flees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over mere and meadow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Twinkle on the lute his fingers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hark! a ghostly music swings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Echoes, falls, echoes, lingers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Orpheus sings:—</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To-day, to-morrow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is sorrow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when Night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Holy Night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Putteth on</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her sober gown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then is there delight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Take thy fill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of rest, rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O separate will,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wayward, wayward, wayward will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of each wild creature, take thy rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lulled on the breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the cool dark hill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Very deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O baffled will,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be thy sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the sombre hill.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But heart of the world, awake, awake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Orpheus’ sake!</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hungry lion, do not howl!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Supple tiger tawny-barred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chattering monkey, chequered snake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Privy wolf and spotted pard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Creatures that do use to prowl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the forest, let you lie,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not a sound, not a cry,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soothèd by my lullaby.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cease, unquiet owl, to moan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Folded keep thy stealthy wings;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nightjar, stay thy monotone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Listen, listen, Orpheus sings.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shut you every wakeful eye</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soothèd by my lullaby.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Very deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be thy sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cruel, cruel, cruel will,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Very deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be thy sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the sombre hill.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O heart, awake, awake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wake and leap for Orpheus’ sake!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heart of all the world, awake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Orpheus’ sake!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cloudy waters of the sky</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flow no longer; listening stars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stop their silver-wheelèd cars,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conquered by my lullaby.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each one, smitten by my spell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Holds him like a sentinel.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beauty on the brow of Night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So complete is that despair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gazing like a statue there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Changes to a grave delight.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never hath the swart Night been</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So unparalleled a queen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Very deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is thy sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wayward, wayward, wayward will,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Very deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is thy sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the sombre hill.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the heart, the heart is awake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beating high for Orpheus’ sake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Everywhere awake, awake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Orpheus’ sake.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_RIVER"> + THE RIVER + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Why</span>, O River, on thy breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why do the trees so sweetly rest?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why so royal does the black barge sail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On thy water smooth and pale?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why does the rough-tongued river-man sing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like a minstrel to a king?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, O quiet River, do I</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See in thee so clear a sky?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="MOMENTS"> + MOMENTS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">I’ve</span> seen the rich dark earth fling up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cuckoo-flower and buttercup,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve heard the meadows burst with song</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thrush and blackbird all day long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve seen the burning sun go by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a pomp of cloud in the roofless sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve heard the wind whistle and shout</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And toss the tallest oaks about,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve seen, I’ve heard the flash and the call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the distant thundering waterfall ...</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul turns back to me again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At twilight. All the day like rain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It has scattered itself in drops and flashes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And moments of colour, and sudden splashes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has flown and mixed with the single notes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quick-pouring from the song-birds’ throats,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Losing itself and multiplying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Living a thousand lives and dying.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My busy eyes at the fall of day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I close: I shut the world away.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now no star may pierce the gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my fragile-curtained room,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But flowers more wonderful and trees more tall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bloom in the dark there; sweet dews fall;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Silence cries with the ghost of sound;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flashes of colour and tune are found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Linked in one. I hear, I hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The voice of Spring cry out to me there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the voice of Spring is the voice of Love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crying below, around, above,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While—in the dark of my body—his eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Burn more deep than star-flushed skies.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THOUGHTS"> + THOUGHTS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">If</span> in a giant brain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The thoughts of the world could lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How darkly would each cell be lit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What phantoms pale would people it,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flocking, flocking by:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thoughts of things that jerk or leap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Things that flit in the sky or creep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the atomy dust, or swarm in the deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leviathan or fly!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fugitive, feeble, vain—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The giant would fall asleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they in millions would be gone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ever to oblivion,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far down deep:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thought of toad and thought of lark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crab and crocodile and shark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Armadillo, aard-vark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Terrapin and sheep.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="TIDAL_KING_OF_NATIONS"> + TIDAL, KING OF NATIONS + </h2> +</div> + +<p class="center"> + ... <i>and Tidal, king of nations</i>—<br> + <span class="smcap">Genesis</span> xiv +</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Tidal</span>, King of Nations,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sent a proclamation forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the tribes of the South</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the clans of the North;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His word flew and travelled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quick as a gathering flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The far-off people shook</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the rumour of his name.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tidal, King of Nations,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy name is for thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shadowy and vast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An immortality.</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span></p> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tidal, King of Nations—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo, at the sound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Terrible armies leap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crying from the ground.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">High in the midst, on</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A white throne is He,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Set as a firm rock</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the surge of the sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Clear as the moon his brow is,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in his secret eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shadow within shadow dark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The future lies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In his hand glitters</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The phantom of a sword;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The warring peoples cry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hail him for lord:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But within his dark eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where future time grows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are gentleness, mercy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Peace and repose.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The nations bow and tremble,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They do not understand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They only see the gleam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the wrath in his hand.</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Tidal, King of Nations,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy name is for thee,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, far-off brotherhood!—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An immortality.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_VOICE"> + THE VOICE + <br> + (<span class="smcap">An Ecstasy</span>) + </h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I</h3> + + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="indent0"><i>The Prelude</i></div> + <div class="stanza" style="margin-top: 0;"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">I saw</span> the regal sun look down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And crown the earth with a golden crown:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw his bright embraces fill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The valley and assail the hill;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw him kiss the hill I knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where matted gorse and heather grew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I heard a child go whistling by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To school—I heard the ploughmen cry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To their horses—in the yard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A bantam-cock was crowing hard—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A pensive and complacent hen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Began to drawl .. drawl ... drawl .... and then</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A puppy yapping with delight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Chased and hustled her in flight.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I took me to a tangled lane</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hoping for quietness—in vain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I only in the world was mute.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The blackbird laughed upon his flute,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And starlings talked in wayward wise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On creaking boughs, and up the skies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The trembling, quick, delirious lark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sang until my soul was dark.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So morning, noon and all day long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world was multiplied with song</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I, distracted, could not sing;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At length, toward the evening,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I climbed the little hill I knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where matted gorse and heather grew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Slowly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slowly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slowly at last the evening fell;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slowly beneath her drowsy spell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The teeming brain of the world was quieted:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The noise of day was dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now might a single human thought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flying out, keen-wrought,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Usurp dominion of the sky, and fill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The void of the world with a chant of love, and move it to one will.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So from my ingathered soul</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Softly sang I to my Love—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Softly, yet I heard the whole</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shining world, beneath, above,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Echo me and ring and ring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the quiet evening.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">First I sang how she doth dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Carven so within my mind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That her tokens I do spell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And her vital beauty find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Paining me, oh everywhere</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Phantom-bright upon the air.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Morning winds with liquid tune</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Her abounding joy express;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Azure-folded deeps of June</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Tell me of her tenderness;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laughingly the waterbrooks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mirror her untainted looks.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Trembling shadows wake in me</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sense of the outflowing tide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of her hidden rarity,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Till I dream her at my side,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her prayed-for kisses rain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through and through me, sharp with pain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">Hushed the melody I sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Earth around me rang and rang.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="indent0"><i>The Ecstasy</i></div> + <div class="stanza" style="margin-top: 0;"> + <div class="verse indent0">Quick a current of delight</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Through my body laughed and leapt,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Took the dazzle from my sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From the earth my senses swept;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the ringing air I sped,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loosened as from bars of lead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And my singing soul became</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Infinite; the sea, the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were my flesh, the mighty frame</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of the Universe was I;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mystic voices in me stirred,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I cried, and I heard.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Crying how my Lady shone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fairer than the dawn upon</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Snowy-crested Himalay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How she fed with golden fire</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Red lamps of the Earth’s desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">White lamps of the Milky Way.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Crying how, if she must die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sudden from the naked sky</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Star and sun must fade and fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from every naked tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Foliage drop, and her death be</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Earth’s and Heaven’s funeral.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So did I her glory sing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the quiet evening.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Every note and echo fell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crystal as a chiming bell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strong and singular of beat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gay and simple, clear and sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gentle, yet with even sound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Calling to the southern bound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the world, and crying forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Undiminished to the north.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And in those harmonious skies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All tempestuous energies</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> <div class="verse indent0">To such equipoise were wrought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never a jarring atom fought.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There was neither jolt nor strain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shock, nor weight, nor clash, nor pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I saw great Saturn float</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Buoyant as a wandering mote</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On a sunbeam, or like down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thistle indolently blown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I felt the deepening night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Saturated so with light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That the very darkness seemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Light that more intensely dreamed;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the light was filled with sense</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Being and Omnipotence,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gathered now at instant will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To a single point, until</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I was conscious of each bird,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beast or creeping thing that stirred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a lane or covert. Then</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Consciousness would flow again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Evenly, and life would be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From all separation free:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Only my Belovèd shone,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She and I, complete, alone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And looking down with happy eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From my kingdom of the skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw my lady stoop and give</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glorious life for the world to live.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw how from the lullèd earth</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Meeting her gaze the darkness fell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And light celestial sprang to birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And flowers changed the path of hell;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to her lips she lifted up</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Th’ essential world, created new,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And drank and drained the sacred cup</div> + <div class="verse indent4">As sunfire drinks the morning dew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From meadows of the noble dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">From fields where baffled and forlorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The conqueror lays his uncrowned head,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The very life of peace was born:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> <div class="verse indent0">And in my lady’s heart of love</div> + <div class="verse indent4">So soft, so dim that peace was felt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As when dusk enters a deep grove</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where, all day long, shadows have dwelt.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From lives of sick men, clean with pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">She drew a virtue like the rare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Odour of windflowers washed with rain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Afloat upon the sensitive air;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sick men felt in their hot room</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The cooling garden-breezes blow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And heaven pierce the fading gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With javelins of silver snow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw the sere ungarnished tree</div> + <div class="verse indent4">A treasury of green unlock,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pastures crown the foaming sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And flame enliven the dull rock;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And frozen rivers were unsealed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And waters through the desert ran,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And like a meteor shone revealed</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The mystic in the common man;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose soul enchanted, winged with dream</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And eyed with splendour, thrust her course</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rapid upon the darkling stream,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sped by her own unconscious force,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Content at last, content to ride</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Free from the well-loved daily bond</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of time and place, on the full tide</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of Oceans unexplored beyond.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And there was song from every land,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In every tongue, in every key,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And every tiny lyric spanned</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The chasms of infinity:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet I the Lover sang alone</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To my Belovèd: all the throng</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of praising voices made but one</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Hushed undercurrent of my song:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“O thou Belovèd of the Lover, thou,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Health-giver, Purifier, Strengthener,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fountain, and spring, and river of the Sun.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou Belovèd of the Lover, strong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As morning or the full inflowing tide,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Calm as the evening sky above a lake.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou who art one and changeless, O Belovèd,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O thou Belovèd who art calm and strong.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O calm Belovèd, where all passion lies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too deep to stir, and strong, O thou Belovèd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In frailty that shatters force. O Love!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Belovèd of the Lover, everlasting,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond all Death, all Change, O Love Belovèd,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be with the Lover always, calm and strong.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<h3>III</h3> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="indent0"><i>The Return</i></div> + <div class="stanza" style="margin-top: 0;"> + <div class="verse indent0">So did I in Heaven sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the lilac evening</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deeper, deeper, deeper shone.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fairer yet and yet more fair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Burned my kingdom of the air.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So I sang—or <i>did</i> I sing?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, who still was listening.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So I sang—yet <i>was</i> it mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Song, the Singing Voice divine?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sudden, in a fit of mirth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I that was so mighty grown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bent me low to see the Earth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the little hill I knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the gorse and heather grew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Then I cried and Heaven cried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loud with laughter, for I spied</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How my puny body lay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a coat of sombre grey</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Six foot long amid the heather</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With its two arms locked together,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With its pinpoint eyes that burned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Motionless and solemn turned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a brave unconscious stare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the diamonded air.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Still I looked, and in a while</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Saw the growing of a smile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the lips and then a yawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then a difficult breath long-drawn—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One deep breath, and then an arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stretched out, and, as if alarm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seized it, the whole body shook.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Then could I no longer look,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For I felt my limbs and knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I was narrowed down again</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To my body, and I grew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quiet, fearing the disdain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the stars who looked on me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fallen from their company.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But I heard no sound of scorn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Only a far echo borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the Voice whose singing moves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And quickens every thing that loves.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="SPRING_RAIN_IN_LONDON"> + SPRING RAIN IN LONDON + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hardly</span> awake, I saw in the street</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The shining raindrops pelt;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lulled by their quick monotonous beat</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I let my languid eyes half close. I felt</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The tinkle of a rivulet</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Bubbling lazily down a hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the turf was a couch for dark violet</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And flame-eyed tormentil.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw the sun leaping through a cloud—</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Apollo shooting at the bladed corn—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the lark, a dizzy fanatic, hailing loud</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The golden god reborn.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="LOTUS_EATERS"> + LOTUS EATERS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">I grew</span> so quiet as I walked along,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My mind so much a mirror to the wood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So passively open to the colour and song</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the whole company of solitude</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">That past time fell from me, and time to come</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No longer drew me with its magnet power:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My whole self lazily to a bee’s low hum</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Listened, and watched him fumble at a flower.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The present held me. I was just aware</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of the ripple and stir of muscles where my hand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lay slack against my side. I sucked live air,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And drew sweet moisture from the clayey sand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now do I know how horses live, and cows,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Minute to minute of the shining day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Solemn with gaze contented as they browse</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Finding their lotus in the fields of May.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GREY_BIRD"> + THE GREY BIRD + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The</span> wind blows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heavy with spice.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among macaws and birds of paradise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With plumage grey he goes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Silence hangs like a cloud;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet lives innumerable teem.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wild eyes of the crowd</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of watching creatures with a sullen gleam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The forest haunt.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The birds flaunt</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their vivid hues, and scream,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet leave the smothering silence still supreme.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And the bird with the grey wing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unnoticed flies. No finery or glow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has he to show,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor in this land unhallowed will he sing.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span> <div class="verse indent0">But in the tropic heat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When March is ablaze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strange instincts beat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In his breast.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is full of amaze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He suffers a sweet unrest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And though</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unheeded still he flutter to and fro,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet in foreknowledge of a gentle Spring</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He turns and fondles oft in his warm throat</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pure, the lovely note</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He soon shall sing—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When, in a land of the West,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In England, over the foam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After long voyage his tired wings come to rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And his glad heart finds home.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Then hark how he shall spill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His liquid miracle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hark to the thrill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the secret song,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gay tune hid so long!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See on a twig scarce bent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mid leafage cool</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of oak or birch</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Or willow-fringe about a reedy pool,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How he shall choose his perch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And make wild music out of souls content.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How he shall love!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How he shall sing!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How he shall rove</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a careless wing!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How in this Isle</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of Splendid Voice,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Home from exile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He shall rejoice!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How his golden song shall be spent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgetting the foul, fierce continent!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ELYSIUM"> + ELYSIUM + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Hushed</span> their feet fall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On the dewy grass:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In robe rhythmical</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shining they pass:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lovers who for bliss</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Grave and rare and deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Need no clasp, or kiss,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or lovers’ sleep.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="ETERNITY"> + ETERNITY + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Men</span> who are wise in secret lore</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Well argue and avow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That fugitive Time shall be no more—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No change, no after, no before,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But one eternal Now.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet I will dream Eternity</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Only a nobler Time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where all the past shall gathered be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hours all of memory</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In each new hour chime:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Triumphing easily over Death;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Showing the sign of power</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of one who goes with even breath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who hurrieth not nor lingereth,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Harmonious with his hour:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A march, full-speed, from thought to thought,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">A music more sublime</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Than holy poet ever caught</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From magic choirs, and tuned and wrought</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In miracle of rhyme.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SEA-MAID"> + THE SEA-MAID + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">I heard</span> an immortal, under the sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Singing the beauty of change and death.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh lovelier than light was she,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And Araby was in her breath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She lay in a hollow of stainless air</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Roofed and walled with a crystal gleam;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No light wind stirred to quiver her hair</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or loose from her eyes the banded dream.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Her voice was the piping voice of a child,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shrill, pathetic. I do not know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whether I wept or whether I smiled</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To hear her chant of curious woe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">The sea-maid sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">“Never shall I die.</div> + <div class="verse indent12">The evil eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">The spine, the fang</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">Have not any power,—</div> + <div class="verse indent12">No spell, no charm</div> + <div class="verse indent12">May wither or harm</div> + <div class="verse indent8">My beauty’s flower.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">For, I suppose,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">I am fair, more fair</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Than any rose</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Or earth-bloom rare,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">Or maid of the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Or, faint and far,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Heaven’s dark birth</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Of a radiant star.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">And yet they are crowned</div> + <div class="verse indent12">With a joy not mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">With a light divine</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Who have found, have found</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">The secret of change,—</div> + <div class="verse indent12">They are born, they grow,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">They are dark, they glow,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">They are new, wild, strange.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">But I remain</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Immortal, I</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Who am fain, oh fain</div> + <div class="verse indent12">To change or die.</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">Once was a time</div> + <div class="verse indent12">I found the wreck</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Of a ship sublime</div> + <div class="verse indent12">With a masted deck:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">I peeped through the hull</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And what should it hold</div> + <div class="verse indent12">But shimmering gold</div> + <div class="verse indent8">And a shining skull</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent8">And broken glass</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And twisted steel,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And a steering-wheel</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Of oak and brass.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I loved them and watched them day by day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I watched their beautiful slow decay.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I watched them soften and break and rust,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thicken with weeds and fall to dust.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But when they were crumbled quite, there came</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fish that are centuries-through the same,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their lifted lids that ought to be wise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Arching high over vacant eyes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With gaping mouth and sloping chin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And face fixed hard in a solemn grin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They softly murmured, <i>The passing hour</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Over our beauty has no power</i>.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I turned. I looked in my crystal glass.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My splendour was bright as ever it was.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I wept, and I weep, that I should remain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Immortal, unchanging, without a stain.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CELL"> + THE CELL + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">When</span> from the hush of this cool wood</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I go, Lord, to the noisy mart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give me among the multitude,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I pray, a lonely heart.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yea, build in me a secret cell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where quietness shall be a song:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that green solitude I’ll dwell.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And praise Thee all day long.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_ASCETICS"> + THE ASCETICS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Ages</span> long the hills have stood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A solitary brotherhood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ages long with sinews bare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They have shouldered the keen air,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They have wrestled with the skies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hiddenly for a dark prize.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Merry Spring with her wanton train</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tiptoes, tiptoes by in vain;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye, O hills, never behold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her brave dust of green and gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flashing by, the pride, the mirth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The myriad fluttering of the earth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This wild magic ye have lost—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tell me, at so bitter cost,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What the guerdon ye have won?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> <div class="verse indent0">“Speech with the moon, speech with the sun;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Valiancy to meet unbowed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The challenge of the thundercloud,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, to quicken us for fresh wars,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gay communion with the stars.”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONSPIRACIES"> + CONSPIRACIES + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">The</span> valley seemed a single throat</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Singing when the blackbird sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So true complete and pure his note,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And through so clean an air it rang:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trees in a golden rapture stood</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Unshaken; their dark shadows fell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lay locked by the river-flood</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In level quiet: blackbird’s bell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hollow-shining air and tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And river made conspiracy</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And cast on me a spell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep in my heart the holy stream,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The stream of quietude, was born,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose waters wandering clouds of dream</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And marvellous idle shapes adorn;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> <div class="verse indent0">My breath was like the breath of a child</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Asleep,—yet rooted in repose,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Multitudinous swift and wild</div> + <div class="verse indent4">My branching, flowering thoughts arose.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So heart, breath, mind, while I spoke no word,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Conspired. Suddenly I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent4">My song with the blackbird’s close.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="A_RHYME_OF_FAITH"> + A RHYME OF FAITH + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Say</span> ye “Lo the heavens frown,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Soon the thundercloud shall burst,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Towering faith shall be flung down.</div> + <div class="verse indent4">We—thank God—expect the worst.”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cowardly blasphemers, hark!</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Credo</i> shall my motto be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Credo</i>—all the sky is dark—</div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Quia Impossibile</i>.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SHINING_POND"> + THE SHINING POND + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Against</span> the sky’s pale rim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cottage and the trees stood dim.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But in the glow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">More tense,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the little shining pond that lay below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The darkened outlines were drawn clear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sharp to my sense.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And gazing there</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My vision became</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Empty and passive, no more than a frame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the silver water that burned and burned ....</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At last, when I turned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul was a mirror, on whose surface lay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without a flaw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each momentary thing I saw,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then slipped away.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each faint noise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hardly listening.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The noise of the cockchafers around me,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not only the sound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As they boomed in their flight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Above, in the dim light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But as they busily stirred</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Loosening</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heavy body and horny wing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blundering free</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out of the thicket of the may-tree.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw the flower look up pale-eyed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the tangled grass,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the pale moth climb up, half awake, with quivering wing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And still to the side</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the sedges cling,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then like a ghost through the brown air pass.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And nowhere,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Everywhere,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hollow and clear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the cuckoo’s sounding call.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet so quiet ... every tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(But most the poplar tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shooting up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Confidently</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the sky’s white cup)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Appeared eternal.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Suddenly, out beyond</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dark, I heard a chime.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It told of eternity, not of time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It told that the quiet hour was one</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the quiet ages gone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the quiet hours to be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eternally.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Shadow crept over the shining pond.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I fell into a deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trance, an illumined sleep.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_HAUNTED_STREET"> + THE HAUNTED STREET + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Only</span> the faint-echoing fall of my feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sounded in the empty street,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where noisily an hour or so ago</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The townpeople wandered—men, all sorts and types,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Swinging leisurely to and fro,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laughing and lounging, pulling at their pipes;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Big-featured women; boys with caps aslant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hint them men of the world; slim girls with scant</div> + <div class="verse indent0">White summer dresses that in dubious light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fluttered and gleamed to the sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like pallid moth-wings.</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Now the populous street</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was empty: not a phantom lingered there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not a ghost of sound on the air</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Save, as I passed, for my echoing feet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The moon was hidden; hardly a candle shone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At any upper window, and the stars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were dim as candles: from the shops and bars</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span> <div class="verse indent0">The glimmer of light was gone.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A few arc-lamps at intervals threw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mock moonlight on the mimic waterway</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the wheel-burnished road;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the road lay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cool and rejoicing, lightened of its load</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of travelling life—as a tired face may lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smooth of its furrows, the unquiet day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgotten, the importunity</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of thought and emotion folded away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And shuttered off by Sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only my footsteps sounded in the road.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Suddenly I stopped. For I felt a faint light creep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Up to me and touch me, and lo, behind a cloud-veil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The harvest Moon gradually climbing the ascent</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the open firmament!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The vapours like lit foam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dripped and glittered, as I watched her battle against the tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then huddled again more close and strove to hide</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Her scattering silver with dull monochrome;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet with a final stroke did she prevail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unflinching out of the stormy water sail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Astonish the dark night, and roam</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Splendid in triumph on her ocean-home.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, as I watched, it seemed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My eyes were nothing but hollows filled to the brim with light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And my body was unsubstantial, and the flood unearthly streamed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through and through me, body and soul, immovable, absorbed in sight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Along the sombre rank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of ordinary houses the lustre spread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Until their level surfaces showed blank</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And staring-white, and dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No longer now as images of Sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I feel them, folding away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In recesses deep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The voices and the passing feet of day:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rather I felt them solid, cold, intense,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shining on the glass of my moonlit sense</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Like naked tombstones. They seemed to me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The only reality:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My conscious being</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was from its centre all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Diverted to its outward wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From the thinking and willing soul to the touching, seeing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Receptive surface. I lost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All sense of separation. I was one</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the tomblike stone.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bar of my humanity I crossed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drawn outward as the houses drew more near,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till they and I for body had only a gleaming wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For spirit a vague fear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The pulse of Time stopped.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There was no sound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Anywhere,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No motion in the street around,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my soul’s eclipse I could not stir.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet some hidden impulse suddenly broke the spell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For inward, inward, struggling through the barrier</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my dumb sense I drove. I smote the silent bell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the door of my heart angrily, bidding it answer me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a semblance of actual sound. Driven by the tyranny</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of tangible outward horror into my soul I fought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Striving to win the images that dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the quiet inmost rooms of intricate-carven thought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There I conjured a vision of summer’s ripe content,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gold corn in the valley, gold gorse on the hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gold sun shining, the air full of scent,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The common turf paved with gold tormentil;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The air basking lazily, full of the sound of bees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And a slow stream washing the boughs of trailing willow-trees.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There I found a garden where tall hollyhocks</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And double-flowered larkspurs towered side by side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Groups of slender columbine and crimson-hearted phlox,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Old-fashioned lavender and pink and London pride:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And in that close and quiet garden did I find</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The faces of my dearest friends, intimate and kind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But a hurry of other faces like a shadow-show,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Faces remote and strange, crowded unbidden before me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Faces at first I did not know ...</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet some of them bore me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Manifest hate or love,—gazing on me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As a familiar friend or enemy.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gradually I felt the answering passions stir</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And days forgotten from a buried past rise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gradually</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like objects with pale outlines whitening the gloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a dark room,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Out of a misty blurr</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The faces grew familiar to my eyes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet, as I dimly knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a dazed, half-conscious knowing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These images coming and going,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These faces old and young</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That grew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a moment, unfolded</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And faded,—out of a past that never was mine were sprung:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not mine, although they so remoulded me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Under their strong control</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That memory seemed to be slowly drawn up out of my soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To join them and make them a part</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of my own years,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Linking them to the passions of my heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Old hopes and old fears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In a while shone out</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Distinct among them all, beneath a rout</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of dusky hair, one face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of quick eager impulsive grace;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And memory arose in me till I burned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With a full-kindled fire</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Of worship and love, seeing no failure, no flaw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In her loveliness....</div> + <div class="verse indent16">then memory turned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Memory and the strength of desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To hate, fierce hate, hate fiercer for a memory of shame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of a wrong that I had done to her. I saw</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With different eyes her beauty and I hated it.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Darkness and agony were in me: I shook: I bit on my lip; there was dew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sweat on my hand, on my forehead; I knew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul no longer was mine but lit with the flame</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of alien passions, possessing me, driving me ...</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Emptily,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Emptily on either side the motionless line</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of tomblike houses gaped upon me—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their emptiness spoke, they gave me an answer, they told</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That only the cold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bodies of those who slept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lay in their hold:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> <div class="verse indent0">The hot unsleeping passions were abroad</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thronging the white road,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pressing around me, into me. They had crept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep into me more subtle than sleep;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My soul was strangled: I could not shake them off: I struggled in vain ...</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But with a saving throb of pain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The power of motion came to me again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And down the length of that echoing street of dread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the beautiful mockery of the white moon still looked down</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the sleeping town,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quick in the stillness I fled.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<hr class="r5" style="margin-top: 4em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-size: small;">Printed in the United States of America.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="transnote"> + <p class="ph2"> + TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES + </p> + + +<p><a href="#THE_SEA-MAID">The Sea-Maid</a>: quote marks in the poem have been left as-is.</p> + +<p>The use of ellipsis has been edited to match the original book.</p> + +<p class="x-ebookmaker-drop">Half-title page on page 1 was removed in this desktop HTML version.</p> +</div> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77817 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/77817-h/images/colophon.png b/77817-h/images/colophon.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0987231 --- /dev/null +++ b/77817-h/images/colophon.png diff --git a/77817-h/images/cover.jpg b/77817-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c085f8e --- /dev/null +++ b/77817-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, 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. 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