s: seest my wish, and in order to hear thee quickly, I do not tell


s: Sometimes an animal, which is covered up, so stirs, that his


s: desire must needs become apparent through the corresponding


s: movement which that which wraps him makes; and in like manner the


s: it came to do me pleasure. Then it breathed, "Without its being


s: uttered to me by thee, I better discern thy wish, than thou


s: whatever thing is most certain to thee; because I see it in the


s: truthful mirror which makes of Itself a likeness of other tbings,


s: hear how long it is since God placed me in the lofty garden where


s: was a delight to my eyes; and the proper cause of the great


s: wrath; and the idiom which I used and which I made. Now, my son,


s: the tasting of the tree was not by itself the cause of so long an


s: Lady moved Virgil, I longed for this assembly during four


s: thousand three hundred and two revolutions of the sun; and while


s: I was on earth I saw him return to all the lights of his path


s: nine hundred and thirty times. The tongue which I spoke was all


s: extinct long before the people of Nimrod attempted their


s: unaccomplishable work; for never was any product of the


s: reason (because of human liking, which alters, following the


s: heavens) durable for ever. A natural action it is for man to


s: speak; but, thus or thus, nature then leaves for you to do


s: according as it pleases you. Before I descended to the infernal


s: anguish, the Supreme Good, whence comes the gladness that swathes


s: that must needs be, for the custom of mortals is as a leaf on


s: a branch, which goes away and another comes. On the mountain


s: which rises highest from the wave I was, with pure life and


s: sinful, from the first hour to that which, when the sun changes


s: All things are seen in God as if reflected in a mirror; but


s: nothing can reflect an image of God. "In the eternal Idea, as in


s: a glass, the works of God are more perfectly seen than in


s: themselves. . . . But it is impossible for a thing created to


s: represent that which is increated."--John Norton, The Orthodox


s: Speech, a product of human reason, changes according to the


s: pleasure of main, which alters from time to time under the


s: God was known in the primitive language by the sacred and


s: mystical symbol I or J, the Hebrew letter Jod; afterwards by the


s: term El: the first answering to Jehovah, the second to Elohim.


s: Such change in the name was inevitable, because of the


s: Adam's stay in the Earthly Paradise on the summit of the


s: mount of Purgatory was thus a little more than six hours; the sun


s: CANTO XXVII. Denunciation by St. Peter of his degenerate


s: successors.--Dante gazes upon the Earth.--Ascent of Beatrice and


s: Dante to the Crystalline Heaven.--Its nature.--Beatrice rebukes


s: "To the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit be glory," all


s: which I was seeing seemed to me a smile of the Universe; for


s: my inebriation was entering through the hearing and through the


s: sight. O joy! O ineffable gladness! O life entire of love and of


s: peace! O riches secure, without longing!


s: Before my eyes the four torches were standing enkindled, and that


s: had come first began to make itself more vivid, and in its


s: came such as Jove would become, if be and Mars were birds, and


s: interchange feathers. The Providence which here apportions


s: office, had imposed silence on the blessed choir on every


s: side, when I heard, "If I change color, marvel not; for, while I


s: thou shalt see all these change color. He who on earth usurps my


s: my place, my place, which is vacant in the presence of the Son of


s: has made of my burial-place a sewer of blood and of stench,


s: Perverse One who fell from here above, below there is placated."


s: With that color which, by reason of the opposite sun, paints the


s: cloud at evening and at morning, I then saw the whole Heaven


s: overspread. And like a modest lady who abides sure of herself,


s: and at the fault of another, in bearing of it only, becomes


s: timid, even thus did Beatrice change countenance; and such


s: eclipse I believe there was in heaven when the Supreme Power


s: Then his words proceeded, in a voice so transmuted from itself


s: that his countenance was not more changed; "The Bride of Christ


s: was not nurtured on my blood, on that of Linus and of Cletus, to


s: be employed for acquist of gold; but for acquist of this glad


s: life Sixtus and Pius and Calixtus and Urban shed their blood


s: after much weeping. It was not our intention that part of the


s: Christian people should sit on the right hand of our successors,


s: and part on the other; nor that the keys which were conceded to


s: me should become a sign upon a banner which should fight against


s: those who are baptized; nor that I should be a figure on a


s: seal to venal and mendacious privileges, whereat I often redden


s: and flash. In garb of shepherd, rapacious wolves are seen from


s: here-above over all the pastures: O defence of God, why dost thou


s: still! To drink our blood Cahorsines and Gascons are making


s: good beginning, to what vile end behoves it that thou fall! But


s: Providence which with Scipio defended for Rome the glory of the


s: will succor speedily, as I conceive. And thou, son, who because


s: mortal weight wilt again return below, open thy mouth, and


s: A reference to the war which Boniface VIII. waged against the


s: John XXII., who came to the Papacy in 1316, was a native of


s: Cahors; his immediate predecessor, Clement V., 1305-1314, was a


s: Gascon. The passage is one of those which shows that this portion


s: In midwinter, when the sun is in Capricorn.


s: Even as our air snows down flakes of frozen vapors, when the horn


s: aether become adorned, and flaked with the triumphant vapors


s: that had made sojourn there with us. My sight was following their


s: pre. vented it from passing further onward. Whereon my Lady, who


s: disengaged from upward heeding, said to me, "Cast down thy sight,


s: Since the hour when I had first looked, I saw that I had moved


s: through the whole are which the first climate makes from its


s: middle to its end; so that I saw beyond Cadiz the mad track of


s: Ulysses, and near on this side the shore on which Europa


s: became a sweet burden. And more of the site of this little


s: threshing-floor would have been discovered to me, but the sun was


s: From Dante's first look downward from the Heavens, at the end


s: of Canto XXII, to the present moment, he had moved over the arc


s: which the first climate describes from its middle to its end. The


s: climates, by circles parallel to the equator. The first climate


s: extended twenty degrees to the north of the equator. The sign of


s: the Gemini, in which Dante was revolving in the Heaven of the


s: Fixed Stars, is in the zone of the Heavens corresponding to the


s: first climate. As each climate extended on the habitable


s: hemisphere for one hundred and eighty degrees, the arc from its


s: middle to its end would be of ninety degrees, comprised between


s: Jerusalem and Cadiz, and the time required for passing through it


s: The shore of Phoenicia, whence Europa was carried off by


s: The Sun in Aries was separated by Taurus from Gemini; hence


s: not all of the hemisphere of the earth seen from Gemini was


s: illuminated by the sun, which was some three hours in advance.


s: My enamoured mind, that ever dallies with my Lady, was more than


s: ever burning to bring back my eyes to her. And if nature has made


s: in order to possess the mind, all united would seem naught


s: compared to the divine pleasure which shone upon me when I turned


s: indulged me, tore me from the fair nest of Leda, and impelled


s: From Gemini, the constellation of Castor and Pollux, the twin


s: Its parts, most living and lofty, are so uniform that I cannot


s: tell which of them Beatrice chose for a place for me. But she,


s: who saw my desire, began, smiling so glad that God seemed to


s: rejoice in her countenance, "The nature of the world which


s: quiets the centre, and moves all the rest around it, begins here


s: as from its, starting-point. And this heaven has no other Where


s: than the Divine Mind, in which the love that revolves it is


s: kindled, and the virtue which it rains down. Light and love


s: enclose it with one circle, even as this does the others, and of


s: cincture He who girds it is the sole Intelligence. The motion


s: heaven is not marked out by another, but the others are measured


s: this, even as ten by a half and by a fifth. And how time can


s: hold its roots in such a flower-pot, and in the others its


s: The Angelic Intelligences move the lower Heavens, but of the


s: Empyrean God himself is the immediate governor.


s: The reversal of magnitudes makes this image obscure. The


s: motion of the Crystalline Heaven, the swiftest of all, determines


s: five and two divide ten. The fixed unit of time is the day which


s: is established by the revolution of the Primum Mobile.


s: "O covetousness, which whelms mortals beneath thee, so that no


s: one has power to withdraw his eyes from out thy waves! Well.


s: blossoms the will in men, but the continual rain converts the


s: into wildings. Faith and innocence are found only in children;


s: fly away ere yet the cheeks are covered. One, so long as he


s: fasts, who afterward, when his tongue is loosed, devours whatever


s: under whatever moon; and one, while stammering, loves his mother


s: listens to her, who, when speech is perfect, desires then to see


s: buried. So the skin of the fair daughter of him who brings


s: leaves evening, white in its first aspect, becomes black. Do


s: order that thou make not marvel, reflect that on earth there is


s: who governs; wherefore the human family is gone astray. But ere


s: be all un-wintered by that hundredth part which is down there


s: neglected, these supernal circles shall so roar that the storm


s: is so long awaited shall turn the sterns round to where the prows


s: that the fleet shall run straight, and true fruit shall come


s: The connection of the ideas presented in what precedes with


s: this denunciation of covetousness, or selfishness, is not at


s: first apparent. But the transition is not unnatural, from the


s: consideration of the Heaven which pours down Divine influence, to


s: selfish and transitory ends, in which they are blinded to


s: Both the order of the words and the meaning of this sentence


s: Before January falls in spring, owing to the lack of


s: correctness in the calendar, by which the year is lengthened by


s: about a day in each century. It is as if the poet said,--Before


s: a thousand years shall pass; meaning,--Within short while.


s: After she who imparadises my mind had disclosed the truth counter


s: him the truth, and sees that it accords with it as the note with


s: its measure; I thus my memory recollects that I did, looking


s: into the beautiful eyes, wherewith Love made the cord to ensnare


s: me. And when I turned, and mine were touched by that which is


s: apparent in that revolving sphere whenever one gazes fixedly on


s: its gyration, I saw a Point which was raying out light so keen


s: that the sight on which it blazes must needs close because of its


s: a moon if placed beside it, as star with star is placed. Perhaps


s: as near as a halo seems to girdle the light which paints it, when


s: this was by another circumcinct, and that by the third, and the


s: third then by the fourth, by the fifth the fourth, and then by


s: the sixth the fifth. Thereon the seventh followed, so spread now


s: in compass that the messenger of Juno entire would be narrow


s: to contain it. So the eighth and the ninth; and each was moving


s: more slowly, according as it was in number more distant from the


s: first. And that one had the clearest flame from which the Pure


s: Spark was least distant; I believe because it partakes more of


s: It. My Lady, who saw me deeply suspense in doubt, said, "On that


s: Point Heaven and all nature are dependent. Gaze on that circle


s: which is most conjoined to It, and know that its motion is so


s: swift because of the burning love whereby it is spurred." And I


s: to her, "If the world were set in the order which I see in those


s: wheels, that which is propounded to me would have satisfied me;


s: but in the world of sense the revolutions may be seen so much the


s: if my desire is to have end in this marvellous and angelic


s: temple, which has for confine only love and light, I need yet to


s: hear why the example and the exemplar go not in one fashion,


s: because I by myself contemplate this in vain." "If thy fingers


s: are insufficient for such a knot, it is no wonder, so hard has it


s: "Take that which I shall tell thee, if thou wouldest be


s: satisfied, and make subtle thy wit about it. The corporeal


s: circles are wide and narrow according to the more or less of


s: virtue which is spread through all their parts. Greater goodness


s: must make greater welfare; the greater body, if it has its parts


s: equally complete, contains greater welfare. Hence this one,


s: which sweeps along with itself all the rest of the universe,


s: corresponds to the circle which loves most, and knows most.


s: Therefore, if thou compassest thy measure round the virtue, not


s: round the seeming of the substances which appear circular to


s: thee, thou wilt see in each heaven a marvellous agreement with


s: its Intelligence, of greater to more and of smaller to less."


s: As the note of the song with the measure of the verse.


s: The eyes of Beatrice reflected, as a mirror, the light which


s: The full circle of Iris, or the rainbow.


s: These circles of fire are the nine orders of Angels.


s: The planetary spheres partake more of the divine nature, and


s: move more swiftly, in proportion to their distance from the


s: The greater heaven corresponds to the angelic circle of the


s: Intelligences which love God most and know most of Him; the


s: smaller to that of those which love and know least.


s: As the hemisphere of the air remains splendid and serene when


s: Boreas blows from that cheek wherewith he is mildest, whereby


s: the mist which first troubled it is cleared and dissolved, so


s: that the heaven smiles to us with the beauties of all its flock,


s: so I became after my Lady had provided me with her clear answer,


s: and, like a star in heaven, the truth was seen.


s: When Boreas blows the north wind more from the west than from


s: And after her words had stopped, not otherwise does molten iron


s: throw out sparks than the circles sparkled. Every scintillation


s: followed its flame, and they were so many that their number,


s: was of more thousands than the doubling of the chess. I heard


s: Hosaimah sung from choir to choir to the fixed Point that holds


s: them, and will forever hold them, at the Ubi in which they


s: have ever been. And she, who saw the dubious thoughts within my


s: mind, said, "The first circles have shown to thee the Seraphim


s: and the Cherubim. Thus swiftly they follow their own bonds, in


s: order to liken themselves to the Point so far as they can, and


s: they can so far as they are exalted to see. Those other loves,


s: which go round about them, are called Thrones of the divine


s: aspect, because they terminated the first triad. And thou


s: shouldst know that all have delight in proportion as their vision


s: grace and good will bring forth, is the measure of this seeing;


s: thus is the progress from grade to grade.


s: The innumerable sparks each moved in accord with the gyration


s: of its flaming circle. The doubling of the chess alludes to the


s: story that the inventor of the game asked, as his reward from the


s: board, two for the second, and so on to the last or sixty-fourth


s: square. The number reached by this process of duplication extends


s: The course of their respective circles to which they are


s: "Throni elevantur ad hoc quod Deum familiariter in seipsis


s: "The next triad that thus buds in this sempiternal spring which


s: the nightly Aries despoils not, perpetually sing their spring


s: song of Hosannah with three melodies, which sound in the three


s: orders of joy wherewith it is threefold. In this hierarchy are


s: the three Divinities, first Dominations, and then the Virtues;


s: the third order is of Powers. Then, in the two penultimate


s: dances, the Principalities and Archangels circle; the last is


s: wholly of Angelic sports. These orders are all upward gazing, and


s: contemplate these orders, that he named and divided them, as I.


s: But Gregory afterward separated from him; wherefore, so soon


s: as he opened his eyes in this Heaven, he smiled at himself. And


s: if a mortal proffered on earth so much of secret truth, I would


s: not have thee wonder, for he who saw it hereabove disclosed it


s: to him, with much else of the truth of these circles."


s: At the autumnal equinox, the time of frosts, Aries is the


s: The Pope, St. Gregory, who differs slightly from Dionysius in


s: St. Paul, supposed to have communicated to his disciple the


s: knowledge which he gained when caught up to Heaven. See 2 Cor.,


s: CANTO XXIX. Discourse of Beatrice concerning the creation and


s: nature of the Angels.--She reproves the presumption and


s: When both the children of Latona, covered by the Ram and by the


s: Scales, together make a zone of the horizon, as long as from


s: the moment the zenith holds them in balance, till one and the


s: other, changing their hemisphere, are unbalanced from that


s: girdle, soloing, with her countenance painted with a smile, was


s: Beatrice silent, looking fixedly upon the Point which had


s: overcome me. Then she began: "I speak, and I ask not what thou


s: wishest to hear, for I have seen it where every WHERE and every


s: WHEN are centred. Not for the gain of good unto Himself, which


s: cannot be, but that His splendor might, in resplendence, say,


s: Subsisto; in His own eternity, outside of time, outside of every


s: other limit, as pleased Him, the Eternal Love disclosed Himself


s: in new loves. Nor before, as if inert, did He lie; for the going


s: forth of God upon these waters had proceeded neither before nor


s: after. Form and matter, conjoined and simple, came forth to


s: existence which had no defect, as three arrows from a


s: three-stringed bow; and as in glass, in amber, or in crystal a


s: ray shines so that there is no interval between its coining and


s: its complete existence, so the triform effect rayed forth from


s: its Lord into its. existence all at once, without discrimination


s: of beginning. Order was concreate, and established for the


s: substances, and those were top of the world in which pure act was


s: such a bond unites potency with act, that it is never unbound.


s: Jerome has written to you of the Angels, created a long tract of


s: centuries before the rest of the world was made. But this


s: truth is written on many pages by the writers of the that Holy


s: Spirit: and thou wilt thyself discover it, if thou watchest well


s: for it; and even the reason sees it somewhat, for it would not


s: admit that the motors could be so long without their


s: perfection. Now thou knowest where and when these loves were


s: elected, and how; so that three flames of thy desire are already


s: When at the spring equinox, the sun being in the sign of


s: Aries or the Ram, and the moon in that of Libra or the Scales,


s: opposite to each other on the horizon, the one just rising and


s: the other setting, they seem as if held for a moment in a balance


s: In eternity there is no before or after; time had no


s: existence till the creation, and has relevancy only to created


s: Pure form, pure matter, and form conjoined with matter.


s: The substances created purely active, to exercise action upon


s: The substances purely passive, capable potentially only of


s: submitting to the action of others, are the material things


s: The substances in which potency and act are united are the


s: creatures endowed with bodies and souls.


s: The truth here set forth (contrary to Jerome's assertion),


s: the creation of the Angels was contemporaneous with that of the


s: creation of the rest of the Universe of which they were the


s: Without scope for their action as movers of the spheres.


s: One would not reach to twenty, in counting, so quickly as a part


s: of the Angels disturbed the subject of your elements. The rest


s: remained and began this art which thou beboldest, with such great


s: fall was the accursed pride of him whom thou hast seen opprest by


s: modest in grateful recognition of the goodness which had made


s: them ready for intelligence so great; wherefore their vision was


s: exalted with illuminant grace and with their merit, so that they


s: have full and steadfast will. And I wish that thou doubt not, but


s: "Henceforth, if my words have been harvested, thou canst


s: contemplate sufficiently round about this consistory without


s: other assistance. But because on earth it is taught in your


s: schools that the angelic nature is such that it understands, and


s: remembers, and wills, I will speak further, in order that thou


s: mayest see the truth pure, which there below is mixed, through


s: the equivocation in such like teaching. These substances, from


s: the time that they were glad in the face of God, have not turned


s: their sight from it, from which nothing is concealed. Therefore


s: they have not their vision interrupted by a new object, and


s: therefore do not need because of divided thought to recollect.


s: So that there below men dream when not asleep, believing and not


s: believing to speak truth; but in the one is more fault and more


s: shame. Ye below go not along one path in philosophizing; so


s: much do the love of appearance and the thought of it transport


s: you; and yet this is endured hereabove with less indignation than


s: Men think not there how much blood it costs to sow it in the


s: world, and how much he pleases who humbly keeps close to its


s: side. Every one strives for appearance, and makes his own


s: inventions, and those are discoursed of by the preachers, and the


s: passion of Christ and interposed herself, so that the light of


s: the sun reached not down; and others that the light hid itself of


s: the year long from the pulpits, on every side; so that the poor


s: flocks, who have no knowledge, return from the pasture fed with


s: wind; and not seeing the harm does not excuse them. Christ did


s: not say to his first company, 'Go, and preach idle stories to


s: the world,' but he gave to them the true foundation; and that


s: alone sounded in their cheeks, so that in the battle for kindling


s: only there is a good laugh the cowl puffs up, and nothing more is


s: that if the crowd should see it, they would see the pardon in


s: which they confide; through which such great folly has grown on


s: earth, that, without proof of any testimony, men would flock to


s: every indulgence. On this the pig of St. Antony fattens, and


s: others also, who are far more pigs, paying with money that has no


s: The angels, looking always upon God, to whom all things are


s: Many of the doctrines of men on earth axe like dreams,


s: because they have no foundation in truth; and while some honestly


s: Common nicknames in Florence; Lapo is from Jacopo, Bindo from


s: "But because we have digressed enough, turn back thine eyes now


s: toward the straight path, so that the way be shortened with the


s: time. This nature so extends in number, that never was there


s: speech or mortal concept that could go so far. And if thou


s: considerest that which is revealed by Daniel thou wilt see that


s: in his thousands a determinate number is concealed. The primal


s: light that irradiates it all is received in it by as many modes


s: as are the splendors with which the light pairs itself.


s: Wherefore, since the affection follows upon the act that


s: conceives, in this nature the sweetness of love diversely glows


s: and warms. Behold now the height and the breadth of the Eternal


s: Goodness, since it has made for itself so many mirrors on which


s: it is broken, One in itself remaining as before."


s: "Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand


s: times ten thousand stood before him."--Daniel, vii. 10.


s: No two angels are precisely alike in their vision of God.


s: Since love follows on knowledge through vision.


s: CANTO XXX. Ascent to the Empyrean.--The River of Light.--The


s: celestial Rose.--The seat of Henry VII.--The last words of


s: The sixth hour is glowing perhaps six thousand miles distant from


s: some one star loses its show so far as to this depth; and as


s: the brightest handmaid of the sun comes farther on, so the heaven


s: otherwise the Triumph, that plays forever round the Point which


s: vanquished me, seeming enclosed by that which it encloses, little


s: nothing, and my love constrained me to turn with my eyes to


s: Beatrice. If what has been said of her so far as here were all


s: included in a single praise, it would be little to furnish out


s: this turn. The beauty which I saw transcends measure not only by


s: us, but truly I believe that its Maker alone can enjoy it all.


s: When it is noon,--the sixth hour,--six thousand miles away


s: from us to the east, it is about daybreak where we are; the


s: shadow of the earth lies in the plane of vision, and with the


s: growing light the stars one after another become invisible at


s: Losing itself in the light which streams from the Divine


s: By this pass I concede myself vanquished more than ever comic or


s: tragic poet was overcome by crisis of his theme. For as the sun


s: does to the sight which trembles most, even so remembrance of the


s: following with my song has not been interrupted for me, but now


s: needs must my pursuit desist from further following her beauty in


s: Such, as I leave her to a greater heralding than that of my


s: trumpet, which is bringing its arduous theme to a close, with act


s: forth from the greatest body to the Heaven which is pure


s: light: light intellectual full of love, love of true good, full


s: of joy; joy which transcends every sweetness. Here thou shalt see


s: aspects which thou shalt see at the Last Judgment."


s: The Primum Mobile, the greatest of the material spheres of


s: The spirits of the redeemed who fought against the


s: temptations of the world, and the good angels who fought against


s: the rebellious; and here the souls in bliss will be seen in their


s: As a sudden flash which scatters the spirits of the sight so that


s: thus a vivid light shone round about me, and left me swathed with


s: "The Love which quieteth this Heaven always welcomes to itself


s: with such a salutation, in order to make the candle ready for its


s: comprehended that I was surmounting above my own power; and I


s: rekindled me with a new vision, such that no light is so pure


s: that my eyes had not sustained it. And I saw light in form of a


s: river, bright with effulgence, between two banks painted with a


s: marvellous spring. Out of this stream were issuing living sparks,


s: rubies which gold encompasses. Then, as if inebriated by the


s: odors, they plunged again into the wonderful flood, and as one


s: "The high desire which now inflames and urges thee to have


s: concerning that which thou seest, Pleases me the more the more it


s: but thou must needs drink of this water before so great a thirst,


s: be slaked." Thus the Sun of my eyes said to me; thereon she


s: stream, and the topazes which enter and issue, and the smiling of


s: herbage, are foreshadowing prefaces of their truth; not that


s: things are in themselves immature, but there is defect on thy


s: The stream, the sparks, the flowers are not such in reality


s: as they seem to be; they are but images foreshadowing the truth.


s: The things show themselves as they are, but the eyes cannot


s: There is no babe who so hastily springs with face toward the


s: milk, if he awake much later than his wont, as I did, to make


s: better mirrors yet of my eyes, stooping to the wave which flows


s: in order that one may be bettered in it. And even as the eaves of


s: become round. Then as folk who have been under masks, who seem


s: other than before, if they divest themselves of the semblance not


s: the sparks were changed into greater festival, so that I saw both


s: O splendor of God, by means of which I saw the high triumph of


s: the true kingdom, give me power to tell how I saw it!


s: Light is thereabove which makes the Creator visible to that


s: creature which has its peace only in seeing Him; and it is


s: extended in a circular figure so far that its circumference would


s: which therefrom takes its life and potency. And as a hill mirrors


s: round and round about, on more than a thousand seats, I saw


s: mirrored all who of us have returned on high. And if the lowest


s: row gather within itself so great a light, how vast is the spread


s: the quality of that joy. There near and far nor add nor take


s: away; for where God immediately governs the natural law is of no


s: Into the yellow of the sempiternal rose, which spreads wide,


s: rises in steps, and is redolent with odor of praise unto the Sun


s: that makes perpetual spring, Beatrice, like one who is silent and


s: convent of the white stoles! See our city, how wide its


s: circuit! See our benches so full that few people are now awaited


s: here. On that great seat, on which thou holdest thine eye because


s: this wedding feast will sit the soul (which below will be


s: imperial) of the high Henry who, to set Italy straight, will come


s: made you like the little child who dies of hunger, and drives


s: away his nurse. And such a one will then be prefect in the divine


s: road; but short while thereafter shall he be endured by God in


s: the holy office; for he shall be thrust down for his deserts,


s: there where Simon Magus is, and shall make him of Anagna go


s: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white


s: The Pope Clement V. ostensibly supported the Emperor Henry


s: him. He died in 1314, eight months after the death of Henry.


s: Beatrice here condemns him to the third bolgia of the eighth


s: circle of Hell, whither he was to follow Boniface VIII.,--him of


s: Anagna,--and push him deeper in the hole where the simoniacal


s: CANTO XXXI. The Rose of Paradise.--St. Bernard.--Prayer to


s: Beatrice.--The glory of the Blessed Virgin.


s: In form then of a pure white rose the holy host was shown to me,


s: which, in His own blood, Christ made His bride. But the other,


s: which, flying, sees and sings the glory of Him who enamours it,


s: and the goodness which made it so great, like a swarm of bees


s: which one while are among the flowers and anon return to the


s: place where their work gets its savor, were descending into the


s: great flower which is adorned with so many leaves, and thence


s: rising up again to where their love always abides. Their faces


s: all were of living flame, and their wings of gold, and the rest


s: so white that no snow reaches that extreme. When they descended


s: into the flower, from bench to bench, they imparted somewhat of


s: the peace and of the ardor which they acquired as they fanned


s: their sides. Nor did the interposing of such a flying plenitude


s: between what was above and the flower impede the sight and the


s: splendor; for the divine light penetrates through the universe,


s: according as it is worthy, so that naught can be an obstacle to


s: it. This secure and joyous realm, thronged with aneient and with


s: modern folk, had all its look and love upon one mark.


s: O Trinal Light, which in a single star, scintillating on their


s: sight, so satisfies them, look down here upon our tempest!


s: If the Barbarians, coming from a region such that every day it is


s: when they beheld Rome and her arduous work, were wonderstruck,


s: what time Lateran rose above mortal things, I, who to the


s: divine from the human, to the eternal from the temporal, had


s: come, and from Florence to a people just and sane, with what


s: amazement must I have been full! Surely what with it and the joy


s: I was well pleased not to hear, and to stand mute. And as a


s: pilgrim who is refreshed in the temple of his vow in looking


s: round, and hopes now to report how it was, so, journeying through


s: down, and now circling about. I saw faces persuasive to love,


s: beautified by the light of Another and by their own smile, and


s: The nymph Callisto or Helice bore to Zeus a son, Arcas; she


s: was metamorphosed by Hera into a bear, and then transferred to


s: Heaven by Jupiter as the constellation of the Great Bear, while


s: her son was changed into the constellation of Aretophylax or


s: Bootes. In the far north these constellations remain always above


s: When Rome was mistress of the world, and the Lateran the seat


s: My look had now comprehended the general form of Paradise as a


s: whole, and on no part yet my sight was fixed; and I turned me


s: with re-enkindled wish to ask my Lady about things concerning


s: which my mind was in suspense. One thing I was meaning, and


s: another answered me; I was thinking to see Beatrice, and I saw an


s: were overspread with benignant joy, in pious mien such as befits


s: a tender father. And, "Where is she?" on a sudden said I. Whereon


s: and if thou lookest up to the third circle from the highest step,


s: allotted to her." Without answering I lifted up my eyes, and saw


s: her as she made for herself a crown, reflecting from herself the


s: eternal rays. From that region which thunders highest up no


s: mortal eye is so far distant, in whatsoever sea it loses itself


s: the lowest, as there from Beatrice was my sight. But this was


s: naught to me, for her image did not descend to me blurred by


s: From the highest region of the air to the lowest depth of the


s: "O Lady, in whom my hope is strong, and who, for my salvation,


s: didst endure to leave thy footprints in Hell, of all those things


s: the grace and the virtue. Thou hast drawn me from servitude to


s: liberty by all those ways, by all the modes whereby thou hadst


s: the power to do this. Guard thou in me thine own magnificence so


s: that my soul, which thou hast made whole, may, pleasing to thee,


s: be unloosed from the body." Thus I prayed; and she, so distant,


s: smiled, as it seemed, and looked at me; then turned to the


s: And the holy old man, "In order that thou mayest complete


s: perfectly," he said, "thy journey, whereto prayer and holy love


s: sent me, fly with thy eyes through this garden; for seeing it


s: will prepare thy look to mount further through the divine


s: radiance. And the Queen of Heaven, for whom I burn wholly with


s: love, will grant us every grace, because I am her faithful


s: St. Bernard, to whom, because of his fervent devotion to her,


s: the Blessed Virgin had deigned to show herself during his life.


s: As is he who comes perchance from Croatia to see our Veronica,


s: who is not satisfied by its ancient fame, but says in thought,


s: while it is shown, "My Lord Jesus Christ, true God, now was your


s: semblance like to this?" such was I, gazing on the living charity


s: The likeness of the Saviour miraculously impressed upon the


s: kerchief presented to him by a holy woman, on his way to Calvary,


s: religiously preserved at Rome, and shown at St. Peter's, on


s: "Son of Grace, this glad existence," began he, "will not be known


s: look on the circles even to the most remote, until thou seest


s: upon her seat the Queen to whom this realm is subject and


s: devoted." I lifted up my eyes; and as at morning the eastern


s: parts of the horizon surpass that where the sun declines, thus,


s: as if going with my eyes from valley to mountain, I saw a part on


s: even as there where the pole which Phaeton guided ill is


s: awaited, the flame is brighter, and on this side and that the


s: light grows less, so that pacific oriflamme was vivid at the


s: middle, and on each side in equal measure the flame slackened.


s: And at that mid part I saw more than a thousand jubilant Angels


s: with wings outspread, each distinct both in brightness and in


s: act. I saw there, smiling at their sports and at their songs, a


s: Beauty which was joy in the eyes of all the other saints. And


s: if I had such wealth in speech as in imagining, I should. not


s: dare to attempt the least of its delightfulness. Bernard, when he


s: with such affection to it, that he made mine more ardent to gaze


s: Where the chariot of the sun is about to rise.


s: CANTO XXXII. St. Bernard describes the order of the Rose, and


s: points out many of the Saints.--The children in Paradise.--The


s: angelic festival.--The patricians of the Court of Heaven.


s: Fixed in affection upon his Delight, that contemplator freely


s: assumed the office of a teacher, and began these holy words: "The


s: at her feet is she who opened it and who pierced it. Beneath her,


s: Beatrice, as thou seest. Sara, Rebecca, Judith, and she who


s: was great-grandmother of the singer who, through sorrow for his


s: sin, said Miserere mei, thou mayest see thus from step to step


s: in gradation downward, as with the name of each I go downward


s: through the rose from leaf to leaf. And from the seventh row


s: downwards, even as down to it, Hebrew women follow in succession,


s: wall by which the sacred stairways are separated according to the


s: Christ about to come. On the other side, where the semicircles


s: are broken by empty spaces, are those who turned their faces on


s: Christ already come. And as on this side the glorious seat of


s: the Lady of Heaven, and the other seats below it, make so great a


s: holy, endured the desert and martyrdom, and then Hell for two


s: years; and beneath him Francis and Benedict and Augustine and


s: others are allotted thfis to divide, far down as here from circle


s: other aspect of the faith will fill this garden equally. And know


s: divisions, they are seated for no merit of their own, but for


s: that of others, under certain conditions; for all these are


s: spirits absolved ere they had true election. Well canst thou


s: perceive it by their looks, and also by their childish voices, if


s: thou art perplexed, and in perplexity art silent; but I will


s: loose for thee the strong bond in which thy subtile thoughts


s: fetter thee. Within the amplitude of this realm a casual point


s: can have no place, any more than sadness, or thirst, or


s: hunger; for whatever thou seest is established by eternal law, so


s: this folk, hastened to true life, is not sine causa more and


s: less excellent here among itself. The King through whom this


s: realm reposes in such great love and in such great delight that


s: no will is venturesome for more, creating all the minds in His


s: own glad aspect, diversely endows with grace according to His own


s: and clearly noted for you in the Holy Scripture in those twins


s: who, while within their mother, had their anger roused.


s: Therefore, according to the color of the hair of such grace,


s: it behoves the highest light befittingly to crown them. Without,


s: then, merit from their modes of Efe, they are placed in different


s: Thus in the fresh centuries the faith of parents alone sufficed,


s: together with innocence, to secure salvation. After the first


s: ages were, complete, it was needful for males with their innocent


s: time of grace had come, without perfect baptism in Christ, such


s: The circle of the Rose is divided in two equal parts. In the


s: one half, the saints of the Old Dispensation, who believed in


s: Christ about to come, are seated. The benches of this half are


s: full. In the other half, the benches of which are not yet quite


s: full, sit the redeemed of the New Dispensation who have believed


s: on Christ already come. On one side the line of division between


s: the semicircles is made by the Hebrew women from the Virgin Mary


s: downwards; on the opposite side the line is made by St. John


s: Baptist and other saints who had rendered special service to


s: Christ and his Church. The lower tiers of seats all round are


s: The two years from the death of John to the death of Christ


s: and his descent to Hell, to draw from the limbus patrum the souls


s: The perplexity was, How can there be difference of merit in


s: the innocent, assigning them to different seats in Paradise?


s: No least thing can here be matter of chance.


s: Without attempt to account for it, to seek the wherefore of


s: The crown of light and the station in Paradise axe allotted


s: according to the diversity in the endowment of grace, which is


s: like the diversity in the color of the hair of men.


s: "Look now upon the face which most resembles Christ, for only its


s: I saw raining upon her such great joy borne in the holy minds


s: created to fly across through that height, that whatsoever I had


s: seen before had not rapt me with such great admiration, nor shown


s: descended there, in front of her spread wide his wings, singing


s: "Ave, Maria, gratia plena." The blessed Court responded to the


s: divine song from all parts, so that every countenance became


s: "O holy Father, who for me submittest to be below here, leaving


s: the sweet place in which thou sittest through eternal allotment,


s: who is that Angel who with such jubilee looks into the eyes of


s: our Queen, so enamoured that he seems of fire?" Thus I again


s: had recourse to the teaching of him who was made beautiful by


s: Mary, as the morning star by the sun. And he to me, "Confidence


s: and grace as much as there can be in Angel and in soul, axe all


s: in him, and so we would have it be, for he it is who bore the


s: palm down to Mary, when the Son of God willed to load Himself


s: "But come now with thine eyes, as I shall go on speaking, and


s: note the great patricians of this most just and pious empire.


s: Those two who sit there above, most happy through being nearest


s: to the Empress, are, as it were, the two roots of this rose. He


s: who on the left is close to her is the Father through whose rash


s: taste the human race tastes so much bitterness. On the right thou


s: entrusted the keys of this lovely flower. And he who saw before


s: his death all the heavy times of the beautiful bride, who was won


s: alongside the other rests that leader, under whom the ingrate,


s: fickle and stubborn people lived on manna. Opposite Peter thou


s: seest Anna sitting, so content to gaze upon her daughter, that


s: she moves not her eyes while singing Hosannah; and opposite the


s: eldest father of a family sits Lucia, who moved thy Lady, when


s: thou didst bend thy brow to rush downward.


s: "But because the time flies which holds thee slumbering, here


s: will we make a stop, like a good tailor who makes the gown


s: according as he has cloth, and we will direct our eyes to the


s: First Love, so that, looking towards Him, thou mayst penetrate so


s: needful that grace be obtained by prayer; grace from her who has


s: the power to aid thee; and do thou follow me with thy affection


s: so that thy heart depart not from my speech."


s: This is the single passage in which Dante implies that his


s: CANTO XXXIII. Prayer to the Virgin.--The Beatific Vision.--The


s: "Virgin Mother, daughter of thine own Son, humble and exalted


s: more than any creature, fixed term of the eternal counsel, thou


s: art she who didst so ennoble human nature that its own Maker


s: disdained not to become His own making. Within thy womb was


s: rekindled the Love through whose warmth this flower has thus


s: blossomed in the eternal peace. Here thou art to us the noonday


s: torch of charity, and below, among mortals, thou art the living


s: fount of hope. Lady, thou art so great, and so availest, that


s: whoso wishes grace, and has not recourse to thee, wishes his


s: desire to fly without wings. Thy benignity not only succors him


s: who asks, but oftentimes freely foreruns the asking. In thee


s: mercy, in thee pity, in thee magnificence, in thee whatever of


s: goodness is in any creature, are united. Now doth this man, who,


s: from the lowest abyss of the universe, far even as here, has seen


s: for virtue such that he may be able with his eyes to uplift


s: himself higher toward the Ultimate Salvation. And I, who never


s: for my own vision burned more than I do for his, proffer to thee


s: all my prayers, and pray that they be not scant, that with thy


s: prayers thou wouldest dissipate for him every cloud of his


s: mortality, so that the Supreme Pleasure may be displayed to him.


s: Further I pray thee, Queen, who canst whatso thou wilt, that,


s: after so great a vision, thou wouldest preserve his affections


s: sound. May thy guardianship vanquish human impulses. Behold


s: Beatrice with all the Blessed for my prayers clasp their hands to


s: In the Second Nun's Tale Chaucer has rendered, with great


s: The eyes beloved and revered by God, fixed on the speaker, showed


s: Eternal Light were they directed, on which it is not to be


s: believed that eye so clear is turned by any creature.


s: And I, who to the end of all desires was approaching, even as I


s: ought, ended within myself the ardor of my longing. Bernard


s: was beckoning to me, and was smiling, that I should look upward;


s: but I was already, of my own accord, such as he wished; for my


s: sight, becoming pure, was entering more and more through the


s: radiance of the lofty Light which of itself is true.


s: The ardor of longing ceased, as was natural, in the


s: Thenceforward my vision was greater than our speech, which yields


s: As is he who dreaming sees, and after the dream the passion


s: remains imprinted, and the rest returns not to the mind, such am


s: I; for my vision almost wholly fails, while the sweetness that


s: was born of it yet distils within my heart. Thus the snow is by


s: the sun unsealed; thus on the wind, in the light leaves, was lost


s: O Supreme Light, that so high upliftest Thyself from mortal


s: conceptions, re-lend a little to my mind of what Thou didst


s: appear, and make my tongue so powerful that it may be able to


s: leave one single spark of Thy glory for the future people; for,


s: by returning somewhat to my memory and by sounding a little in


s: these verses, more of Thy victory shall be conceived.


s: I think that by the keenness of the living ray which I endured, I


s: And it comes to my mind that for this reason I was the more hardy


s: O abundant Grace, whereby I presumed to fix my eyes through the


s: Eternal Light so far that there I consumed my sight!


s: In its depth I saw that whatsoever is dispersed through the


s: universe is there included, bound with love in one volume;


s: substance and accidents and their modes, fused together, as it


s: were, in such wise, that that of which I speak is one simple


s: Light. The universal form of this knot I believe that I saw,


s: because in saying this I feel that I more at large rejoice. One


s: instant only is greater oblivion for me than five and twenty


s: centuries to the emprise which made Neptune wonder at the shadow


s: This union of substance and accident and their modes; the


s: The mysteries of God vanish in an instant from memory, but


s: the larger joy felt in recording them is proof that they were


s: Thus my mind, wholly rapt, was gazing fixed, motionless, and


s: intent, and ever with gazing grew enkindled. In that Light one


s: becomes such that it is impossible he should ever consent to turn


s: object of the will is all collected in it, and outside of it that


s: Now will my speech be shorter, even in respect to that which I


s: remember, than an infant's who still bathes his tongue at the


s: breast. Not because more than one simple semblance was in the


s: Living Light wherein I was gazing, which is always such as it was


s: Within the profound and clear subsistence of the lofty Light


s: appeared to me three circles of three colors and of one


s: dimension; and one appeared reflected by the other, as Iris by


s: Iris, and the third appeared fire which from the one and from


s: As one arch of the rainbow by the other.


s: O how short is the telling, and how feeble toward my conception!


s: and this toward what I saw is such that it suffices not to call


s: O Light Eternal, that sole dwellest in Thyself, sole


s: understandest Thyself, and, by Thyself understood and


s: understanding, lovest and smilest on Thyself! That circle,


s: which, thus conceived, appeared in Thee as a reflected light,


s: being somewhile regarded by my eyes, seemed to me depicted within


s: was wholly set upon it. As is the geometer who wholly applies


s: himself to measure the circle, and finds not by thinking that


s: principle of which he is in need, such was I at that new sight. I


s: has its place therein; but my own wings were not for this, had it


s: To my high fantasy here power failed; but now my desire and my


s: will, like a wheel which evenly is moved, the Lovee was turning


s: which moves the Sun and the other stars.


s: I       I thought once how Theocritus had sung


s: II      But only three in all God's universe


s: III     Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!


s: IV      Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor


s: V       I lift my heavy heart up solemnly


s: VI      Go from me.  Yet I feel that I shall stand


s: VII     The face of all the world is changed, I think


s: VIII    What can I give thee back, O liberal


s: IX      Can it be right to give what I can give?


s: X       Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed


s: XI      And therefore if to love can be desert


s: XII     Indeed this very love which is my boast


s: XIII    And wilt thou have me fashion into speech


s: XIV     If thou must love me, let it be for nought


s: XV      Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear


s: XVI     And yet, because thou overcomest so


s: XVII    My poet thou canst touch on all the notes


s: XVIII   I never gave a lock of hair away


s: XIX     The soul's Rialto hath its merchandize


s: XX      Beloved, my beloved, when I think


s: XXI     Say over again, and yet once over again


s: XXII    When our two souls stand up erect and strong


s: XXIII   Is it indeed so?  If I lay here dead


s: XXIV    Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife


s: XXV     A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne


s: XXVI    I lived with visions for my company


s: XXVII   My own Beloved, who hast lifted me


s: XXVIII  My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!


s: XXIX    I think of thee!--my thoughts do twine and bud


s: XXX     I see thine image through my tears to-night


s: XXXI    Thou comest! all is said without a word


s: XXXII   The first time that the sun rose on thine oath


s: XXXIII  Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear


s: XXXIV   With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee


s: XXXV    If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange


s: XXXVI   When we met first and loved, I did not build


s: XXXVII  Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make


s: XXXVIII First time he kissed me, he but only kissed


s: XXXIX   Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace


s: XL      Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!


s: XLI     I thank all who have loved me in their hearts


s: XLII    My future will not copy fair my past


s: XLIII   How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways


s: XLIV    Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers


s: Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,


s: To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:


s: And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,


s: I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,


s: The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,


s: Those of my own life, who by turns had flung


s: A shadow across me.  Straightway I was 'ware,


s: Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;


s: And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,--


s: "Guess now who holds thee!"--"Death," I said, But, there,


s: The silver answer rang, "Not Death, but Love."


s: Have heard this word thou hast said,--Himself, beside


s: Thee speaking, and me listening! and replied


s: One of us . . . that was God, . . . and laid the curse


s: My sight from seeing thee,--that if I had died,


s: The death-weights, placed there, would have signified


s: Less absolute exclusion.  "Nay" is worse


s: From God than from all others, O my friend!


s: Men could not part us with their worldly jars,


s: Nor the seas change us, nor the tempests bend;


s: Our hands would touch for all the mountain-bars:


s: And, heaven being rolled between us at the end,


s: We should but vow the faster for the stars.


s: Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!


s: Our ministering two angels look surprise


s: Their wings in passing.  Thou, bethink thee, art


s: A guest for queens to social pageantries,


s: Than tears even can make mine, to play thy part


s: Of chief musician.  What hast thou to do


s: With looking from the lattice-lights at me,


s: A poor, tired, wandering singer, singing through


s: The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree?


s: The chrism is on thine head,--on mine, the dew,--


s: And Death must dig the level where these agree.


s: Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor,


s: Most gracious singer of high poems! where


s: The dancers will break footing, from the care


s: Of watching up thy pregnant lips for more.


s: And dost thou lift this house's latch too poor


s: For hand of thine? and canst thou think and bear


s: The bats and owlets builders in the roof!


s: That weeps . . . as thou must sing . . . alone, aloof.


s: What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,


s: And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn


s: Through the ashen greyness.  If thy foot in scorn


s: Could tread them out to darkness utterly,


s: It might be well perhaps.  But if instead


s: Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow


s: The grey dust up, . . . those laurels on thine head,


s: That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred


s: The hair beneath.  Stand further off then! go!


s: Go from me.  Yet I feel that I shall stand


s: Without the sense of that which I forbore--


s: Thy touch upon the palm.  The widest land


s: Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine


s: With pulses that beat double.  What I do


s: And what I dream include thee, as the wine


s: Must taste of its own grapes.  And when I sue


s: God for myself, He hears that name of thine,


s: And sees within my eyes the tears of two.


s: The face of all the world is changed, I think,


s: Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul


s: Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole


s: Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink,


s: Was caught up into love, and taught the whole


s: Of life in a new rhythm.  The cup of dole


s: God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink,


s: And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear.


s: The names of country, heaven, are changed away


s: For where thou art or shalt be, there or here;


s: And this . . . this lute and song . . . loved yesterday,


s: Because thy name moves right in what they say.


s: And princely giver, who hast brought the gold


s: And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold,


s: And laid them on the outside of the wall


s: Ungrateful, that for these most manifold


s: High gifts, I render nothing back at all?


s: Not so; not cold,--but very poor instead.


s: Ask God who knows.  For frequent tears have run


s: The colours from my life, and left so dead


s: And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done


s: Can it be right to give what I can give?


s: To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears


s: As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years


s: Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live


s: That this can scarce be right!  We are not peers


s: That givers of such gifts as mine are, must


s: Be counted with the ungenerous.  Out, alas!


s: I will not soil thy purple with my dust,


s: Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,


s: Nor give thee any love--which were unjust.


s: Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed


s: And worthy of acceptation.  Fire is bright,


s: Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light


s: Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:


s: And love is fire.  And when I say at need


s: I love thee . . . mark! . . . I love thee--in thy sight


s: With conscience of the new rays that proceed


s: Out of my face toward thine.  There's nothing low


s: In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures


s: Who love God, God accepts while loving so.


s: And what I feel, across the inferior features


s: Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show


s: How that great work of Love enhances Nature's.


s: As these you see, and trembling knees that fail


s: This weary minstrel-life that once was girt


s: To pipe now 'gainst the valley nightingale


s: To these things?  O Beloved, it is plain


s: I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!


s: From that same love this vindicating grace


s: To live on still in love, and yet in vain,--


s: To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.


s: Indeed this very love which is my boast,


s: And which, when rising up from breast to brow,


s: To draw men's eyes and prove the inner cost,--


s: This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,


s: I should not love withal, unless that thou


s: When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,


s: And love called love.  And thus, I cannot speak


s: Of love even, as a good thing of my own:


s: Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,


s: And placed it by thee on a golden throne,--


s: And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)


s: And wilt thou have me fashion into speech


s: The love I bear thee, finding words enough,


s: And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,


s: Between our faces, to cast light on each?--


s: From myself--me--that I should bring thee proof


s: In words, of love hid in me out of reach.


s: Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,


s: And rend the garment of my life, in brief,


s: By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,


s: Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.


s: If thou must love me, let it be for nought


s: Except for love's sake only.  Do not say


s: "I love her for her smile--her look--her way


s: Of speaking gently,--for a trick of thought


s: That falls in well with mine, and certes brought


s: A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"--


s: For these things in themselves, Beloved, may


s: Be changed, or change for thee,--and love, so wrought,


s: May be unwrought so.  Neither love me for


s: Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,--


s: A creature might forget to weep, who bore


s: Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!


s: But love me for love's sake, that evermore


s: Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.


s: Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear


s: Too calm and sad a face in front of thine;


s: For we two look two ways, and cannot shine


s: With the same sunlight on our brow and hair.


s: On me thou lookest with no doubting care,


s: Since sorrow hath shut me safe in love's divine,


s: And to spread wing and fly in the outer air


s: Were most impossible failure, if I strove


s: To fail so.  But I look on thee--on thee--


s: Beholding, besides love, the end of love,


s: Because thou art more noble and like a king,


s: Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling


s: Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow


s: Too close against thine heart henceforth to know


s: How it shook when alone.  Why, conquering


s: May prove as lordly and complete a thing


s: And as a vanquished soldier yields his sword


s: To one who lifts him from the bloody earth,


s: Here ends my strife.  If thou invite me forth,


s: Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth!


s: My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes


s: And strike up and strike off the general roar


s: Of the rushing worlds a melody that floats


s: Mankind's forlornest uses, thou canst pour


s: From thence into their ears.  God's will devotes


s: Thine to such ends, and mine to wait on thine.


s: How, Dearest, wilt thou have me for most use?


s: Sad memory, with thy songs to interfuse?


s: A shade, in which to sing--of palm or pine?


s: A grave, on which to rest from singing?  Choose.


s: I ring out to the full brown length and say


s: "Take it."  My day of youth went yesterday;


s: My hair no longer bounds to my foot's glee,


s: Nor plant I it from rose- or myrtle-tree,


s: Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,


s: Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside


s: Through sorrow's trick.  I thought the funeral-shears


s: Would take this first, but Love is justified,--


s: Take it thou,--finding pure, from all those years,


s: The kiss my mother left here when she died.


s: Receive this lock which outweighs argosies,--


s: As purply black, as erst to Pindar's eyes


s: The dim purpureal tresses gloomed athwart


s: The nine white Muse-brows.  For this counterpart, . . .


s: The bay crown's shade, Beloved, I surmise,


s: Still lingers on thy curl, it is so black!


s: Thus, with a fillet of smooth-kissing breath,


s: I tie the shadows safe from gliding back,


s: And lay the gift where nothing hindereth;


s: Here on my heart, as on thy brow, to lack


s: No natural heat till mine grows cold in death.


s: And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink


s: No moment at thy voice, but, link by link,


s: Went counting all my chains as if that so


s: Struck by thy possible hand,--why, thus I drink


s: Of life's great cup of wonder!  Wonderful,


s: Never to feel thee thrill the day or night


s: With personal act or speech,--nor ever cull


s: Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white


s: Thou sawest growing!  Atheists are as dull,


s: Who cannot guess God's presence out of sight.


s: Say over again, and yet once over again,


s: That thou dost love me.  Though the word repeated


s: Should seem a "cuckoo-song," as thou dost treat it,


s: Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain


s: Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed.


s: By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt's pain


s: Cry, "Speak once more--thou lovest!"  Who can fear


s: Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,


s: Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?


s: Say thou dost love me, love me, love me--toll


s: The silver iterance!--only minding, Dear,


s: To love me also in silence with thy soul.


s: When our two souls stand up erect and strong,


s: Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,


s: Until the lengthening wings break into fire


s: At either curved point,--what bitter wrong


s: Can the earth do to us, that we should not long


s: Be here contented?  Think!  In mounting higher,


s: Into our deep, dear silence.  Let us stay


s: Rather on earth, Beloved,--where the unfit


s: With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.


s: Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?


s: And would the sun for thee more coldly shine


s: Because of grave-damps falling round my head?


s: Thy thought so in the letter.  I am thine--


s: But . . . so much to thee?  Can I pour thy wine


s: While my hands tremble?  Then my soul, instead


s: Of dreams of death, resumes life's lower range.


s: Then, love me, Love! look on me--breathe on me!


s: As brighter ladies do not count it strange,


s: I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange


s: My near sweet view of heaven, for earth with thee!


s: Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife


s: In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm,


s: And let us hear no sound of human strife


s: After the click of the shutting.  Life to life--


s: Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife


s: Their blossoms from their roots, accessible


s: Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer;


s: Growing straight, out of man's reach, on the hill.


s: God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.


s: Of all those natural joys as lightly worn


s: As the stringed pearls, each lifted in its turn


s: By a beating heart at dance-time.  Hopes apace


s: Were changed to long despairs, till God's own grace


s: Could scarcely lift above the world forlorn


s: My heavy heart.  Then thou didst bid me bring


s: Deep being!  Fast it sinketh, as a thing


s: While thine doth close above it, mediating


s: Betwixt the stars and the unaccomplished fate.


s: And found them gentle mates, nor thought to know


s: But soon their trailing purple was not free


s: Of this world's dust, their lutes did silent grow,


s: Their vanishing eyes.  Then thou didst come--to be,


s: Beloved, what they seemed.  Their shining fronts,


s: Their songs, their splendours, (better, yet the same,


s: Because God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.


s: From this drear flat of earth where I was thrown,


s: And, in betwixt the languid ringlets, blown


s: A life-breath, till the forehead hopefully


s: Shines out again, as all the angels see,


s: Before thy saving kiss!  My own, my own,


s: Who camest to me when the world was gone,


s: And I who looked for only God, found thee!


s: I find thee; I am safe, and strong, and glad.


s: Looks backward on the tedious time he had


s: In the upper life,--so I, with bosom-swell,


s: Make witness, here, between the good and bad,


s: That Love, as strong as Death, retrieves as well.


s: My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!


s: Against my tremulous hands which loose the string


s: And let them drop down on my knee to-night.


s: This said,--he wished to have me in his sight


s: Once, as a friend: this fixed a day in spring


s: To come and touch my hand . . . a simple thing,


s: Yet I wept for it!--this, . . . the paper's light . . .


s: Said, Dear I love thee; and I sank and quailed


s: As if God's future thundered on my past.


s: This said, I am thine--and so its ink has paled


s: With lying at my heart that beat too fast.


s: And this . . . O Love, thy words have ill availed


s: If, what this said, I dared repeat at last!


s: I think of thee!--my thoughts do twine and bud


s: About thee, as wild vines, about a tree,


s: Put out broad leaves, and soon there's nought to see


s: Except the straggling green which hides the wood.


s: I will not have my thoughts instead of thee


s: Who art dearer, better!  Rather, instantly


s: Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should,


s: Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare,


s: And let these bands of greenery which insphere thee,


s: Drop heavily down,--burst, shattered everywhere!


s: Because, in this deep joy to see and hear thee


s: And breathe within thy shadow a new air,


s: I do not think of thee--I am too near thee.


s: I see thine image through my tears to-night,


s: May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,


s: On the altar-stair.  I hear thy voice and vow,


s: Perplexed, uncertain, since thou art out of sight,


s: As he, in his swooning ears, the choir's amen.


s: Beloved, dost thou love? or did I see all


s: The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when


s: For my soul's eyes?  Will that light come again,


s: As now these tears come--falling hot and real?


s: Thou comest! all is said without a word.


s: In the noon-sun, with souls that tremble through


s: Yet prodigal inward joy.  Behold, I erred


s: In that last doubt! and yet I cannot rue


s: The sin most, but the occasion--that we two


s: By a mutual presence.  Ah, keep near and close,


s: Thou dove-like help! and when my fears would rise,


s: With thy broad heart serenely interpose:


s: Brood down with thy divine sufficiencies


s: These thoughts which tremble when bereft of those,


s: Like callow birds left desert to the skies.


s: The first time that the sun rose on thine oath


s: To love me, I looked forward to the moon


s: To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon


s: And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.


s: Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;


s: And, looking on myself, I seemed not one


s: For such man's love!--more like an out-of-tune


s: To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,


s: Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.


s: A wrong on thee.  For perfect strains may float


s: 'Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,--


s: And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.


s: Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear


s: The name I used to run at, when a child,


s: From innocent play, and leave the cowslips plied,


s: To glance up in some face that proved me dear


s: With the look of its eyes.  I miss the clear


s: Fond voices which, being drawn and reconciled


s: Call me no longer.  Silence on the bier,


s: While I call God--call God!--so let thy mouth


s: Gather the north flowers to complete the south,


s: And catch the early love up in the late.


s: Yes, call me by that name,--and I, in truth,


s: With the same heart, will answer and not wait.


s: With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee


s: As those, when thou shalt call me by my name--


s: Lo, the vain promise! is the same, the same,


s: Perplexed and ruffled by life's strategy?


s: I dropped my flowers or brake off from a game.


s: To run and answer with the smile that came


s: At play last moment, and went on with me


s: Through my obedience.  When I answer now,


s: I drop a grave thought, break from solitude;


s: Yet still my heart goes to thee--ponder how--


s: Not as to a single good, but all my good!


s: That no child's foot could run fast as this blood.


s: If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange


s: Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss


s: That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,


s: Of walls and floors, another home than this?


s: Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is


s: Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change


s: That's hardest.  If to conquer love, has tried,


s: To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove,


s: For grief indeed is love and grief beside.


s: Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.


s: Yet love me--wilt thou?  Open thy heart wide,


s: And fold within, the wet wings of thy dove.


s: When we met first and loved, I did not build


s: Upon the event with marble.  Could it mean


s: Sorrow and sorrow?  Nay, I rather thrilled,


s: Distrusting every light that seemed to gild


s: A finger even.  And, though I have grown serene


s: And strong since then, I think that God has willed


s: A still renewable fear . . . O love, O troth . . .


s: Lest these enclasped hands should never hold,


s: This mutual kiss drop down between us both


s: As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.


s: And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,


s: Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold.


s: Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make


s: Of all that strong divineness which I know


s: Formed of the sand, and fit to shift and break.


s: It is that distant years which did not take


s: Have forced my swimming brain to undergo


s: Their doubt and dread, and blindly to forsake


s: Thy worthiest love to a worthless counterfeit.


s: As if a shipwrecked Pagan, safe in port,


s: Should set a sculptured porpoise, gills a-snort


s: And vibrant tail, within the temple-gate.


s: First time he kissed me, he but only kissed


s: The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;


s: And ever since, it grew more clean and white.


s: Slow to world-greetings, quick with its "O, list,"


s: When the angels speak.  A ring of amethyst


s: I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,


s: Than that first kiss.  The second passed in height


s: The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,


s: Half falling on the hair.  O beyond meed!


s: That was the chrism of love, which love's own crown,


s: In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,


s: I have been proud and said, "My love, my own."


s: Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace


s: To look through and behind this mask of me,


s: (Against which, years have beat thus blanchingly,


s: With their rains,) and behold my soul's true face,


s: The dim and weary witness of life's race,--


s: Because thou hast the faith and love to see,


s: Through that same soul's distracting lethargy,


s: In the new Heavens,--because nor sin nor woe,


s: Nor God's infliction, nor death's neighbourhood,


s: Nor all which others viewing, turn to go,


s: Nor all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed,--


s: Nothing repels thee, . . . Dearest, teach me so


s: To pour out gratitude, as thou dost, good!


s: Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!


s: I will not gainsay love, called love forsooth:


s: I have heard love talked in my early youth,


s: And since, not so long back but that the flowers


s: Then gathered, smell still.  Mussulmans and Giaours


s: Throw kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruth


s: For any weeping.  Polypheme's white tooth


s: Slips on the nut if, after frequent showers,


s: The shell is over-smooth,--and not so much


s: Will turn the thing called love, aside to hate


s: Or else to oblivion.  But thou art not such


s: Through sorrow and sickness, to bring souls to touch,


s: And think it soon when others cry "Too late."


s: I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,


s: With thanks and love from mine.  Deep thanks to all


s: Who paused a little near the prison-wall


s: Ere they went onward, each one to the mart's


s: But thou, who, in my voice's sink and fall


s: When the sob took it, thy divinest Art's


s: Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot


s: To harken what I said between my tears, . . .


s: Instruct me how to thank thee!  Oh, to shoot


s: My soul's full meaning into future years,


s: That they should lend it utterance, and salute


s: Love that endures, from life that disappears!


s: I wrote that once; and thinking at my side


s: To the white throne of God, I turned at last,


s: And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied


s: To angels in thy soul!  Then I, long tried


s: By natural ills, received the comfort fast,


s: While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim's staff


s: Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.


s: I seek no copy now of life's first half:


s: Leave here the pages with long musing curled,


s: New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!


s: How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.


s: I love thee to the depth and breadth and height


s: My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight


s: Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.


s: I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;


s: I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.


s: In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.


s: I love thee with a love I seemed to lose


s: With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,


s: Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,


s: I shall but love thee better after death.


s: Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers


s: Plucked in the garden, all the summer through,


s: And winter, and it seemed as if they grew


s: In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.


s: So, in the like name of that love of ours,


s: Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,


s: And which on warm and cold days I withdrew


s: From my heart's ground.  Indeed, those beds and bowers


s: And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,


s: Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.


s: Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,


s: And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.


s: disturbing issues he faced in many of these early poems.


s: As of old Phoenician men, to the Tin Isles sailing


s: Straight against the sunset and the edges of the earth,


s: Chaunted loud above the storm and the strange sea's wailing,


s: Legends of their people and the land that gave them birth--


s: Sang aloud to Baal-Peor, sang unto the horned maiden,


s: Sang how they should come again with the Brethon treasure laden,


s: Sang of all the pride and glory of their hardy enterprise,


s: How they found the outer islands, where the unknown stars arise;


s: And the rowers down below, rowing hard as they could row,


s: And the merchants and the masters and the bondsmen all together,


s: Dreaming of the wondrous islands, brought the gallant ship along;


s: In my coracle of verses I will sing of lands unknown,


s: Flying from the scarlet city where a Lord that knows no pity,


s: Mocks the broken people praying round his iron throne,


s: Sing about the Hidden Country fresh and full of quiet green.


s: Sailing over seas uncharted to a port that none has seen.


s: To thwart your fantasy's new-born treason.


s: Long leagues on either hand the trenches spread


s: And all is still; now even this gross line


s: The pale, green moon is riding overhead.


s: The jaws of a sacked village, stark and grim;


s: Out on the ridge have swallowed up the sun,


s: And in one angry streak his blood has run


s: To left and right along the horizon dim.


s: There comes a buzzing plane: and now, it seems


s: Flies straight into the moon. Lo! where he steers


s: Across the pallid globe and surely nears


s: In that white land some harbour of dear dreams!


s: False mocking fancy! Once I too could dream,


s: And she's a stone that catches the sun's beam.


s: And speech of fellow-brutes that once were men


s: Our throats can bark for slaughter: cannot sing.


s: Through the meadows, through the valleys


s: Roland is dead, Cuchulain's crest is low,


s: The battered war-rear wastes and turns to rust,


s: And Helen's eyes and Iseult's lips are dust


s: And dust the shoulders and the breasts of snow.


s: The faerie people from our woods are gone,


s: No Dryads have I found in all our trees,


s: The ancient songs they wither as the grass


s: All poets have been fools who thought to mould


s: For these decay: but not for that decays


s: The yearning, high, rebellious spirit of man


s: From striving with red Nature and her ways.


s: Now in the filth of war, the baresark shout


s: That they who watch the ages may not doubt.


s: Though often bruised, oft broken by the rod,


s: Yet, like the phoenix, from each fiery bed


s: Higher the stricken spirit lifts its head


s: If filled of evil drink in a wizard's hand;


s: Till you almost think that a clearer eye could see


s: Some shape come up of a demon seeking apart


s: Of Balor, or the man with the face of clay,


s: With never a wind to blow the mists apart,


s: Bitter and bitter it is for thee. O my heart,


s: Looking upon this land, where poets sang,


s: Even as it lies for ever upon her coasts


s: Making them dim and dreamy lest her sons should ever arise


s: Lonely desire and many words and brooding and never a deed.


s: Last night I dreamed that I was come again


s: And I stood out beneath the drenching rain


s: And all the street was bare, and black with night,


s: But in my true love's house was warmth and light.


s: That I was killed long since and lying dead--


s: Only a homeless wraith that way had passed.


s: So thus I found my true love's house again


s: And the lamp burned within, a rosy light,


s: And the wet street was shining in the rain.


s: To lighten hearts beneath this present curse


s: And build a heaven of dreams in real hell,


s: Go you to them and speak among them thus:


s: "There were no greater grief than to recall,


s: Down in the rotting grave where the lithe worms crawl,


s: Green fields above that smiled so sweet to us."


s: Is it good to tell old tales of Troynovant


s: Or praises of dead heroes, tried and sage,


s: Brynhild and Maeve and virgin Bradamant?


s: How should I sing of them? Can it be good


s: To think of glory now, when all is done,


s: Has brought us this-and not the thing we would?


s: All these were rosy visions of the night,


s: The loveliness and wisdom feigned of old.


s: But now we wake. The East is pale and cold,


s: Woe unto you, ye sons of pain that are this day in earth,


s: Now cry for all your torment: now curse your hour of birth


s: And the fathers who begat you to a portion nothing worth.


s: And Thou, my own beloved, for as brave as ere thou art,


s: Bow down thine head, Despoina, clasp thy pale arms over it,


s: Lie low with fast-closed eyelids, clenched teeth, enduring heart,


s: The sky above is sickening, the clouds of God's hate cover it,


s: Body and soul shall suffer beyond all word or thought,


s: That fiercer still and heavier with sharper lightnings fraught


s: Shall pour red wrath upon us over a world deform.


s: Thrice happy, O Despoina, were the men who were alive


s: In the great age and the golden age when still the cycle ran


s: On upward curve and easily, for them both maid and man


s: And beast and tree and spirit in the green earth could thrive.


s: But now one age is ending, and God calls home the stars


s: And looses the wheel of the ages and sends it spinning back


s: Amid the death of nations, and points a downward track,


s: And madness is come over us and great and little wars.


s: He has not left one valley, one isle of fresh and green


s: Where old friends could forgather amid the howling wreck.


s: It's vainly we are praying. We cannot, cannot check


s: The Power who slays and puts aside the beauty that has been.


s: Yet I too have been mad in the hour of bitter paining


s: And lifted up my voice to God, thinking that he could hear


s: The curse wherewith I cursed Him because the Good was dead.


s: But lo! I am grown wiser, knowing that our own hearts


s: Have made a phantom called the Good, while a few years have sped


s: Over a little planet. And what should the great Lord know of it


s: Who tosses the dust of chaos and gives the suns their parts?


s: And here he builds a nebula, and there he slays a sun


s: And works his own fierce pleasure. All things he shall fulfill,


s: And O, my poor Despoina, do you think he ever hears


s: The wail of hearts he has broken, the sound of human ill?


s: He cares not for our virtues, our little hopes and fears,


s: Ah, sweet, if a man could cheat him! If you could flee away


s: Into some other country beyond the rosy West,


s: To hide in the deep forests and be for ever at rest


s: From the rankling hate of God and the outworn world's decay!


s: And weariness of thought, O Mother Night,


s: Come with soft kiss to soothe our care away


s: And all our little tumults set to right;


s: Most pitiful of all death's kindred fair,


s: Riding above us through the curtained air


s: On thy dusk car, thou scatterest to the earth


s: Sweet dreams and drowsy charms of tender might


s: And lovers' dear delight before to-morrow's birth.


s: Thus art thou wont thy quiet lands to leave


s: And pillared courts beyond the Milky Way,


s: While unsubstantial dreams before thee weave


s: A foamy dance, and fluttering fancies play


s: Of some far, moony globe. But when the hour,


s: The long-expected comes, the ivory gates


s: Open on noiseless hinge before thy bower


s: With magic steeds. Thou from the fronting rim


s: Bending to urge them, whilst thy sea-dark hair


s: Falls in ambrosial ripples o'er each limb,


s: With beautiful pale arms, untrammelled, bare


s: For horsemanship, to those twin chargers fleet


s: Dost give full rein across the fires that glow


s: In the wide floor of heaven, from off their feet


s: Scattering the powdery star-dust as they go.


s: Come swiftly down the sky, O Lady Night,


s: Fall through the shadow-country, O most kind,


s: Shake out thy strands of gentle dreams and light


s: For chains, wherewith thou still art used to bind


s: With tenderest love of careful leeches' art


s: I will find out a place for thee, O Sleep--


s: A hidden wood among the hill-tops green,


s: Full of soft streams and little winds that creep


s: Where nothing rough, nor loud, nor harsh shall be,


s: But woodland light and shadow interlaced


s: There in the fragrant twilight I will raise


s: Due sacrifice of his own drowsy flowers,


s: Round which through all forgotten days and hours


s: So may he send me dreams of dear delight


s: And draughts of cool oblivion, quenching pain,


s: And sweet, half-wakeful moments in the night


s: That he may lead me friendly on that way


s: With leagues on leagues of stars above it,


s: Dead things that neither hate nor love it


s: Who shall remember? Who shall care for it?


s: Come let us curse our Master ere we die,


s: The good is dead. Let us curse God most High.


s: Four thousand years of toil and hope and thought


s: Wherein man laboured upward and still wrought


s: New worlds and better, Thou hast made as naught.


s: We built us joyful cities, strong and fair,


s: Knowledge we sought and gathered wisdom rare.


s: And all this time you laughed upon our care,


s: And suddenly the earth grew black with wrong,


s: Our hope was crushed and silenced was our song,


s: The heaven grew loud with weeping. Thou art strong.


s: Come then and curse the Lord. Over the earth


s: Gross darkness falls, and evil was our birth


s: The ancient hope that still will rise again--


s: Of a just God that cares for earthly pain,


s: Yet far away beyond our labouring night,


s: He wanders in the depths of endless light,


s: Our dungeons and deep cells can smite along,


s: And Thou art nearer. Thou art very strong.


s: For thou art Lord and hast the keys of Hell.


s: Yet I will not bow down to thee nor love thee,


s: For looking in my own heart I can prove thee,


s: And know this frail, bruised being is above thee.


s: Our love, our hope, our thirsting for the right,


s: Our mercy and long seeking of the light,


s: Shall we change these for thy relentless might?


s: Laugh then and slay. Shatter all things of worth,


s: Heap torment still on torment for thy mirth--


s: Thou art not Lord while there are Men on earth.


s: I am the Lord your God: even he that made


s: Material things, and all these signs arrayed


s: Of mankind, who forget their Father's face


s: And even while they drink my light of day


s: Even tho' their sin shall slay them. For which cause,


s: Dreams dreamed in vain, a never-filled desire


s: A thirst for good their kind shall not attain,


s: A loathing for the life that I have given,


s: Between their will and mine-such lot I give


s: White still in my despite the vermin live.


s: They hate my world! Then let that other God


s: And from this castle I have built on Night


s: Steal forth my own thought's children into light,


s: He walks the airy fields of endless day,


s: And my rebellious sons have called Him long


s: And vainly called. My order still is strong


s: Whither the mammoth went this creature too shall go.


s: Bore home the Colchian witch to Greece--


s: The bishop's brought her strongest spell


s: So heavy weighs the long, material chain


s: From cause to cause, too merciless for hate,


s: The nightmare march of unrelenting fate,


s: There came a sudden glimpse of spirit faces,


s: A fragrant breath to tell of flowery places


s: From which the hearts of men are always sore.


s: It lies beyond endeavour; neither prayer


s: Nor fasting, nor much wisdom winneth there,


s: Have sought for it and still returned again


s: With hope undone. But only the strange power


s: Can build a bridge of light or sound or form


s: To lead you out of all this strife and storm;


s: Till from its very glory's midmost heart


s: Into our souls. All things are seen aright


s: Seven times more true than what for truth we hold


s: That flows so calm, aloft from all distress


s: To sport and swim for ever in its deep--


s: Our vision still. One moment was enough,


s: We know we are not made of mortal stuff.


s: And we can bear all trials that come after,


s: The hate of men and the fool's loud bestial laughter


s: And Nature's rule and cruelties unclean,


s: For we have seen the Glory-we have seen.


s: Who shall cross over for us the bridge of fears


s: And pass in to the country where the ancient Mothers dwell?


s: For he rejoiceth not in the ocean's might,


s: Shall call his feet to wander in the haunted forest lawn.


s: He shall no more rise suddenly in the dawn


s: When mists are white and the dew lies pearly


s: The opening flower and the westward shadow,


s: And scarcely can he dream of laughter and love,


s: And the sad, aching head that nods above


s: O leave the labouring roadways of the town,


s: The shifting faces and the changeful hue


s: Of markets, and broad echoing streets that drown


s: The heart's own silent music. Though they too


s: Sing in their proper rhythm, and still delight


s: The friendly ear that loves warm human kind,


s: Yet it is good to leave them all behind,


s: Beyond those solemn hills that we have seen


s: Into their cloudy peaks when day was done--


s: Beyond them till we find the ocean strand


s: With the waste song whose melodies I'd follow


s: Born of the vaulted breakers arching hollow


s: Before they flash and scatter into spray,


s: Where, with their ragged walls, the stately rocks


s: Shunt in smooth courts and paved with quiet sand


s: To silence dedicate. The sea-god's flocks


s: Have rested here, and mortal eyes have seen


s: Buried beneath her dark and dripping locks.


s: Three golden months while summer on us stole


s: I have read your joyful tale another time,


s: Breathing more freely in that larger clime


s: And learning wiselier to deserve the whole.


s: Your Spirit, Master, has been close at hand


s: And guided me, still pointing treasures rare,


s: Thick-sown where I before saw nothing fair


s: Barren once thought because my eyes were dim.


s: Like one I am grown to whom the common field


s: And often-wandered copse one morning yield


s: Falls the weird spirit of unexplained delight,


s: In every whispering tree a nameless grace,


s: New rapture on the windy seaward height.


s: To savour all these sweets that lie to hand


s: In wood and lane about this pleasant land


s: Though it be not the land where I would dwell.


s: The stars come out; the fragrant shadows fall


s: About a dreaming garden still and sweet,


s: Among the ghostly moths their hunting call,


s: And twinkling glow-worms all about me crawl.


s: For slumbers deep as death, a faultless sheet,


s: Cool, white and smooth. So may I reach the hall


s: With poppies strewn where sleep that is so dear


s: Or twelve and make them naught. Why not a year,


s: Why could a man not loiter in that bower


s: And hover and fall with deafening thunder


s: Striving to wake because I feared the flood.


s: There is a house that most of all on earth I hate.


s: Though I have passed through many sorrows and have been


s: In bloody fields, sad seas, and countries desolate,


s: Yet most I fear that empty house where the grasses green


s: Grow in the silent court the gaping flags between,


s: And down the moss-grown paths and terrace no man treads


s: Where the old, old weeds rise deep on the waste garden beds.


s: Like eyes of one long dead the empty windows stare


s: And I fear to cross the garden, I fear to linger there,


s: For in that house I know a little, silent room


s: Where Someone's always waiting, waiting in the gloom


s: To draw me with an evil eye, and hold me fast--


s: Yet thither doom will drive me and He will win at last.


s: And think in well-worn grooves of thought,


s: (The clock's still ticking on the shelf).


s: O Dwellers at the back of the North Wind,


s: What have we done to you? How have we sinned


s: Wandering the Earth from Orkney unto Ind?


s: With many deaths our fellowship is thinned,


s: Our flesh is withered in the parching wind,


s: Wandering the earth from Orkney unto Ind.


s: Back to the world and all her fruitless pain,


s: Having once sought the land where ye remain.


s: Some say ye are not. But, ah God! we know


s: That somewhere, somewhere past the Northern snow


s: Waiting for us the red-rose gardens blow:


s: --The red-rose and the white-rose gardens blow


s: In the green Northern land to which we go,


s: Surely the ways are long and the years are slow.


s: We have forsaken all things sweet and fair,


s: We have found nothing worth a moment's care


s: Because the real flowers are blowing there.


s: Land of the Lake from whence all rivers run,


s: Land where the hope of all our dreams is won!


s: Shall we not somewhere see at close of day


s: The green walls of that country far away,


s: And hear the music of her fountains play?


s: So long we have been wandering all this while


s: By many a perilous sea and drifting isle,


s: We scarce shall dare to look thereon and smile.


s: Yea, when we are drawing very near to thee,


s: Our hearts will faint with mere felicity:


s: But we shall wake again in gardens bright


s: Sleeping beneath the solemn mountains white,


s: While from the flowery copses still unseen


s: Sing out the crooning birds that ne'er have been


s: Touched by the hand of winter frore and lean;


s: And ever living queens that grow not old


s: Whisper a wild, sweet song that first was told


s: And in those gardens we shall sleep and play


s: Ah, Dwellers at the back of the North Wind,


s: What have we done to you? How have we sinned,


s: That yes should hide beyond the Northern wind?


s: When shall your hidden, flowery vales be won


s: Very far we have searched; we have even seen


s: The Scythian waste that bears no soft nor green,


s: And near the Hideous Pass our feet have been.


s: We have heard Syrens singing all night long


s: Beneath the unknown stars their lonely song


s: In friendless seas beyond the Pillars strong.


s: Nor the vale of the Devil's head we have feared to pass,


s: Scouring the earth from Orkney unto Ind,


s: Tossed on the seas and withered in the wind,


s: We seek and seek your land. How have we sinned?


s: Bidding us walk these ways with blinded eyes


s: That somewhere still, beyond the Northern snow


s: Waiting for us the red-rose gardens blow.


s: To the heathery hills in the morning grey.


s: In a field where the dew lay cold and deep


s: I stroked his nose and I tickled his ears,


s: And spoke soft words to quiet his fears.


s: With a heart that is glad no less than mine?


s: "For, brother, the depth of your gentle eyes


s: "What are the thoughts that grope behind,


s: "And words of the lips that all things know


s: "God send you peace and delight thereof,


s: And all green meat of the waste you love,


s: Who'd put you back in the shafts again."


s: So he twitched his fair ears up and down


s: And turned to nuzzle his shoulder brown.


s: Where, through the stately towers I rear


s: The wandering stars begin to swoon. . . .


s: That charmed them out of life and kissed


s: It is well that there are palaces of peace


s: Lest we forget that we were born divine,


s: Pains of the beast 'gainst bestial solace set.


s: That was not built for gross, material gains,


s: Sharp, wolfish power or empire's glutted feast.


s: A clean, sweet city lulled by ancient streams,


s: A place of visions and of loosening chains,


s: A refuge of the elect, a tower of dreams.


s: But out of all men's yearning and all prayer


s: The Spirit's stronghold-barred against despair.


s: We need no barbarous words nor solemn spell


s: To raise the unknown. It lies before our feet;


s: There have been men who sank down into Hell


s: And some there are that in their daily walks


s: Have met archangels fresh from sight of God,


s: Or watched how in their beans and cabbage-stalks


s: I catch a sight of lands beyond the wall,


s: And some day this work will work upon me so


s: I shall arise and leave both friends and home


s: Seeking the last steep edges of the earth


s: Whence I may leap into that gulf of light


s: Wherein, before my narrowing Self had birth,


s: I heard the swallow sing in the eaves and rose


s: All in a strange delight while others slept,


s: And down the creaking stair, alone, tip-toes,


s: The house was dark with silly blinds yet drawn,


s: But outside the clean air was filled with light,


s: And underneath my feet the cold, wet lawn


s: The cobwebs hung from every branch and spray


s: Gleaming with pearly strands of laden thread,


s: And long and still the morning shadows lay


s: At that pure hour when yet no sound of man,


s: Stirs in the whiteness of the wakening earth,


s: Till I had found the open mountain heath


s: Yellow with gorse, and rested there and stood


s: --That little wood of hazel and tall pine


s: And youngling fir, where oft we have loved to see


s: Through the denser wood there's many a pool


s: Of deep and night-born shadow lingers yet


s: Where the new-wakened flowers are damp and cool


s: In the sweet heather long I rested there


s: With a live crown of birds about his head,


s: Singing and fluttering, and his fiery hair,


s: Streamed like a rippling torch upon the breeze


s: Of his own glorious swiftness: in the grass


s: He bruised no feathery stalk, and through the trees


s: But when I followed him beyond the wood,


s: I stand on the windy uplands among the hills of Down


s: With all the world spread out beneath, meadow and sea and town,


s: And ever across the rolling land to the far horizon line,


s: I see them dip in the valleys and vanish and rise and bend


s: A place uplifted towards the midnight sky


s: A treeless waste of rocks and freezing cold,


s: Where the dead, cheerless moon rode neighbouring by--


s: And in the midst a silent tarn there lay,


s: A narrow pool, cold as the tide that flows


s: Where monstrous bergs beyond Varanger stray,


s: Rising from sunless depths that no man knows;


s: Thither as clustering fireflies have I seen


s: At fixed seasons all the stars come down


s: To wash in that cold wave their brightness clean


s: And win the special fire wherewith they crown


s: The wintry heavens in frost. Even as a flock


s: Of falling birds, down to the pool they came.


s: Of stars engulfed with hissing of faint flame--


s: Or earliest beast. Yet I was still the same


s: That now remember, knowing not where or when.


s: And the murmuring of the woods is drowned


s: Love, there is a castle built in a country desolate,


s: On a rock above a forest where the trees are grim and great,


s: Blasted with the lightning sharp-giant boulders strewn between,


s: And the mountains rise above, and the cold ravine