s: For thou, when most his sultry influence glares,


s: Refreshing shade, and cooling draughts shalt yield


s: To all the flocks, that thro' the valley stray,


s: And to the wearied steers, unyok'd at closing day.


s: Now dear to Fame, sweet Fountain, shalt thou flow,


s: Since to my lyre those breathing shades I sing


s: That crown the hollow rock's incumbent brow,


s: From which thy soft, loquacious waters spring.


s: To vie with streams Aonian be thy pride,


s: As thro' Blandusia's Vale thy silver currents glide!


s: sacrifice, and vinous libations, poured from goblets crowned with


s: And who shall strew the blooming flowers;


s: And when shall smile these gloomy skies,


s: Would stint us to their number, _three_.


s: Thou say'st I rave;--and _true_ thou say'st,


s: Our lively strains shall muttering hear,


s: From themes, that wake the powers of mind,


s: That Mirth approves, tho' Wisdom spurns.


s: Telephus, who was a Greek, appears to have been a Youth of noble


s: recollected it in the gravest of Pope's Poems,


s: “Destroy all creatures for thy sport and _gust_;


s: Then cry, If Man's unhappy God's unjust.”      ESSAY ON MAN.


s: If thou thy virgin hands shalt suppliant raise,


s: If primal fruits are on thy altars pil'd,


s: And incense pure thy duteous care conveys,


s: To sooth the LARES, when the moon adorns,


s: With their first modest light, her taper horns;


s: And if we pierce the throat of infant swine,


s: Of the moist South shall blast our tender vine;


s: Nor shall the lambs sink in untimely death


s: When the unwholesome gales of Autumn blow,


s: And shake the ripe fruit from the bending bough.


s: Beneath their stately holme, and spreading oak,


s: The Steer, whose blood on _lofty_ Shrines shall smoke!


s: Red may it stain the Priest's uplifted knife,


s: And glut the higher Powers with costly life!


s: Thou on our household Gods, with decent care


s: Art gently placing; and they will not frown;


s: No _stern_ demand is theirs, that we prepare


s: Rich Flocks, and Herds, at Duty's solemn call,


s: And, in the pomp of slaughter, bid them fall.


s: O! if an _innocent_ hand approach the shrine,


s: The crackling salt, that makes the altar shine,


s: Flung on the cheerful sacrificial blaze,


s: To the mild LARES shall be grateful found


s: As the proud Steer, with all his garlands crown'd.


s: Not he, O MUSE! whom thy auspicious eyes


s: Shall victor in the Isthmian Contest rise;


s: Impetuous steeds his kindling wheels shall roll,


s: Gay in th' Olympic Race, and foremost at the goal.


s: For Cities storm'd, and vaunting Kings o'erthrown;--


s: But Tibur's streams, that warbling flow,


s: And groves of fragrant gloom, resound his strains,


s: Whose sweet Æolian grace high celebration gains.


s: Now that his name, her noblest Bards among,


s: That proud distinction guards his rising song,


s: In sullen silence now she hears his praise,


s: Nor sheds her canker'd spots upon his springing bays.


s: The softest note harmonious Sorrow brings,


s: When the expiring Swan her own sad requiem sings.


s: Thine be the praise, that pointing Romans guide


s: That well he note the Man, whom Crowds decide


s: Ah! when I charm, if still to charm be mine,


s: Nymph of the warbling shell, be all the glory THINE!


s: The snows dissolve, the rains no more pollute,


s: Green are the sloping fields, and uplands wide,


s: And green the trees luxuriant tresses shoot,


s: And, in their daisied banks, the shrinking rivers glide.


s: Beauty, and Love, the blissful change have hail'd,


s: While, in smooth mazes, o'er the painted mead,


s: Aglaia ventures, with her limbs unveil'd,


s: Light thro' the dance each Sister-Grace to lead.


s: But O! reflect, that Sport, and Beauty, wing


s: Th' unpausing Hour!--if Winter, cold and pale,


s: Flies from the soft, and violet-mantled Spring,


s: Summer, with sultry breath, absorbs the vernal gale.


s: When mellow Autumn shakes her golden sheaves;


s: While she, as Winter reassumes his sway,


s: Speeds, with disorder'd vest, thro' rustling leaves.


s: But a short space the Moon illumes the skies;


s: Silvers the vault of Night;--but no supplies,


s: To feed their wasting fires, the lamps of Life obtain.


s: When our pale Form shall pensive vigils keep


s: Or quiet with the Despot, JOHNSON, sleep,


s: In that murk cell, the Body's final home,


s: To senseless dust, and to a fleeting shade


s: Changes the life-warm Being!--Ah! who knows


s: If the next dawn our eye-lids may pervade?


s: Darken'd and seal'd, perchance, in long, and last repose!


s: When vivid Thought's unceasing force assails,


s: It shakes, from Life's frail glass, the ebbing sands;


s: Their course run out, ah! what to us avails


s: Our fame's high note, tho' swelling it expands!


s: Reflect, that each convivial joy we share


s: Amid encircling Friends, with grace benign,


s: Escapes the grasp of our rapacious Heir;--


s: Pile then the steaming board, and quaff the rosy wine!


s: Illustrious HAYLEY!--in that cruel hour,


s: When o'er thee Fate the sable flag shall wave,


s: Not thy keen wit, thy fancy's splendid power,


s: Knowledge, or worth, shall snatch thee from the grave.


s: Not to his MASON's grief, from Death's dim plains


s: Was honor'd GRAY's departed form resign'd;


s: No tears dissolve the cold Lethean chains,


s: That, far from busy Life, the mortal semblance bind.


s: Then, for the bright creations of the brain,


s: O! do not thou from health's gay leisure turn,


s: Lest we, like tuneful MASON, sigh in vain,


s: And grasp a timeless, tho' a LAUREL'D URN!


s: For fleeting graces, and for waning powers;


s: Leaves, that rude winds have scatter'd on the ground;


s: That not one hue in wonted lustre glows;


s: In her charm'd sight each blooming grace,


s: And will no more her heart's proud triumph feed;


s: Then the chang'd Maid, with secret shame,


s: Swell'd this coy bosom with disdainful pride?


s: The ice dissolv'd, that scorn congeal'd,


s: Why, vanish'd BEAUTY, com'st not _thou_ again?


s: Our numerous fires are quivering bright,


s: That ne'er, with anxious heart, explores


s: Exempt from all the din, the toil, the care,


s: That Cities for their busy Sons prepare;


s: And emulation vain of all their pomp and state.


s: When thro' the straining cords the Tempest shrieks;


s: Swift at the summons flies the wilder'd dream,


s: And up he springs alert, to meet the orient beam.


s: And cautious prunes the weak, the useless shoot,


s: Engrafting healthier boughs, that promise fruit.--


s: Marks, as the fertile valley winds away,


s: His Flocks and lowing Herds, in ample numbers stray.


s: And sees his shelter'd hives in even row,


s: And hears their hum mix with the linnet's lay.


s: In them, from all the waxen cells to drain


s: The fragrant essence rich of flow'ry dale and plain.


s: Their curl'd and snowy fleece he shears;


s: But when, 'mid laughing fields diffusive spread,


s: How gladly from the trees, that loaded stand,


s: Shakes he the ripen'd pears, engrafted by his hand.


s: Such precious gifts his grateful cares supply


s: Beneath your favoring power he little cares


s: Who wields the Lictor's rod, or who the fasces bears.


s: Hears down the steeps the white rills dashing play,


s: Till under the long grass they purl away;


s: And the sweet stock-dove, the thick boughs among,


s: His dewy slumber courts with her complaining song.


s: While o'er the earth, from dim and thicken'd skies,


s: The flaky snows in white profusion fall,


s: The gnashing Boar!--Flies he, or stands at bay,


s: Into the circling toils the staunch dogs drive the prey.


s: When thro' the clear, and sparkling air,


s: Or, plac'd with silent heed, the wily snares,


s: To lure the stranger-cranes, and timid hares.


s: In those convivial hours the Heart forgets


s: Its vain tumultuous hopes, and all its fond regrets.


s: But, if yet dearer joys supply the void,


s: That, even there, will sometimes intervene


s: When days are cold, and nights are long,


s: Should an endearing faithful _Wife_ be seen,


s: With the warm light of love she chases gloomy spleen.


s: Draws the clean vestment o'er the little limbs,


s: And, when the tearful eye of passion swims,


s: Anxious she weeds the infant heart betimes,


s: Ere ill propension thrive, and ripen into crimes.


s: Her vessels pure the frothing milk receive,


s: As from swell'd udders its full streams descend.


s: O'er the dim vale to see her Husband come,


s: With tir'd, yet willing step, to his warm, happy home.


s: Her sparkling wine from their own vintage press'd;


s: From their own stores her grateful viand dress'd;


s: When earth, and air, and seas, have been explor'd


s: For those expensive meats, that pile the Consul's board.


s: Nor luscious product of the eastern flood,


s: Driven by the stormy winds upon our coast;


s: Can with more poignant zest his senses meet


s: Than the love-kneaded cates of this unpurchas'd treat.


s: Then round the primal lamb's sweet flesh is seen


s: The crisp salubrious herbage of the green;


s: These form the dainties of his festal day,


s: When every heart expands, and every face is gay.


s: Come bleating homeward o'er the russet plain;


s: While slow, with languid neck, the weary Steers


s: Then, round his smiling Household-Gods, surveys


s: A numerous, menial Group, the proof of prosperous days.


s: Oppressive foe beneath the name of friend!


s: But on the Calends, lo! with anxious pain,


s: On the same interest vast, he sends them forth again.


s: By force of habit lord it o'er the Soul,


s: And stifle e'en Conviction's powerful voice.


s: With Gold to purchase _that_, which Gold can never buy!


s: festal, gay, and picturesque Religion, cannot surely be presented


s: circumstances of startling interest, by exalted sentiment,


s: MATTER, as defined above, is capable of being transfused into any


s: _predominant_ feature, and the Poet can only make his image, or


s: therefore does not strongly impress the Imagination; but when he


s: adds--“to see the _weary Oxen dragging, with languid neck, the


s: produce Wines of the most exquisite flavor.


s: 'T was night--the moon, upon her sapphire throne,


s: High o'er the waning stars serenely shone,


s: When thou, false Nymph, determin'd to prophane


s: Them, and each Power that rules the earth, and main,


s: As thy soft, snowy arms about me twin'd,


s: Close as round oaks the clasping ivies wind,


s: Swore, while the gaunt wolf shall infest the lea,


s: While gales shall fan Apollo's floating locks,


s: That shed their golden light o'er hills and rocks,


s: So long thy breast should burn with purest fires,


s: With mutual hopes, and with unchang'd desires.


s: Perjur'd Neaēra! thou shalt one day prove


s: The worth, the vengeance of my slighted love;


s: For O! if Manhood steels, if Honor warms,


s: Horace shall fly, shall scorn thy faithless charms;


s: Seek some bright Maid, whose soul for him shall glow,


s: Nor art, nor pride, nor wandering wishes know.


s: Then should'st thou languish, sigh, and weep once more,


s: And with new vows his injur'd heart implore,


s: Nor sighs, nor vows, nor tears shall he regard


s: Cold as the snow and as the marble hard.


s: And THOU, triumphant Youth, so gay, so vain,


s: Tho' on thy hills the plenteous Herd should feed,


s: For thee tho' Science ope the varied store,


s: Ere long shalt thou, while wrongs like these degrade,


s: Droop with my woes, and with my rage upbraid;


s: See on a Rival's brow thy garlands worn,


s: And, with her falsehood, bear my jocund scorn.


s: Why gleams afar the late-sheath'd sword?


s: Their crimson tides have _sparely_ pour'd?


s: Is not our scorn of safety, health, and ease,


s: Shewn by devasted climes, and blood-stain'd seas?


s: Those scowling brows, those lifted spears,


s: Bend they against the threat'ning towers


s: That her fierce Sons, yet free from hostile sway,


s: May pass in chains along our SACRED WAY?


s: May quickly blast these far-famed Walls;


s: _Accomplish'd_ when, with direful force,


s: When Foes no more her might resistless feel,


s: Who ne'er, like you, assault their kind!


s: Silent, and pale ye stand, with conscious sighs,


s: Your struck soul louring in your down-cast eyes!


s: The blood our rising walls that stain'd,


s: Bid kindred Blood in dread profusion flow


s: Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by


s: Mid floating curls and sumptuous braids,--


s: The tone was proud--her cheek turned pale;


s: The strong man's cheek grew white as death


s: You waved, nay, kissed your hand to me."


s: With your small hands so soft and fair."]


s: Her voice was deep, the words were light,


s: The hands upheld were small and white,--


s: From yonder strand,--such passion, strife


s: They scorched her heart, and seared the spot


s: From heart to heart throughout the world;


s: One trunk, one bark, one sap, one tree--


s: "Let sharp steel cleave that circling rind,


s: Who gazed where, down that track of flame


s: Both little hands were still--'twas true


s: And, hopeless, westward waved her hand."]


s: Turned to the shore, but faltered, fell--


s: "Too late!" she heard it rise and swell,


s: Rung through her heart, "too late!" "too late!"


s: "The ship went down!" such message crossed


s: "Turning her white cheek from the light,


s: Clasping her small hands fiercely tight!"]


s: Some months had passed--it was not long--


s: Clasping her small hands fiercely tight!


s: Than he whose love she lost through pride.


s: His praise whose name she dared not speak.


s: That their two hearts had pulsed as one;


s: So the world called her cold and changed;


s: Friends thought her haughty and estranged.


s: Dared through her folly, feared too late,


s: Nod their green plumes o'er slumberous seas;


s: Warm, amorous deeps! whose crystal calms


s: As severed hearts through love made one.


s: Kissing the slumb'rous waves--made sweet


s: Still white her cheek, as shells that lie


s: Writ on her heart's warm shore for years,


s: In Eastern shells, with pearls are filled.


s: The creeping tide swells, shot with flame,


s: Like forms of sculptured bronze revealed


s: Their shudd'ring breaks the ghastly sleep


s: On her young life--whose faith and strength


s: They turned, and sauntered towards the cove;


s: She stirred not till their eyes had met,


s: Down wastes of absence, grief, and gloom--


s: Of Hope's lost violets through the snow,


s: With sunset fire, looked drifts of snow.


s: Long lines of moonlight paved the green.


s: "You thought me dead--I thought you lost;


s: Our hearts have both been tempest tossed,


s: In strong, pure bliss from heart to home,


s: The author desires to thank the editors of Appleton's Magazine,


s: As in a rose-jar filled with petals sweet


s: Blown long ago in some old garden place,


s: Mayhap, where you and I, a little space,


s: Drank deep of love and knew that love was fleet--


s: Or leaves once gathered from a lost retreat


s: Her silent footsteps--one, whose gentle face


s: Of time and death. Nor aught can take from me


s: The haunting fragrance that still lingers here--


s: Whose marge the wistful waves lap listlessly--


s: An isle of rest for those who used to be.


s: For ne'er an echo wakes that towering wall,


s: Whose blackened crags answer none other call


s: Save the lone ocean's rhythmic rise and fall.


s: Only the song the sea sings as she laves


s: That sleep-bound shore with sad caressing waves,


s: The while the dead sleep sweeter in their graves.


s: 'Tis oh! so still they sleep within each tomb,


s: Cool in long shadows of the cypress gloom,


s: Breathing in death the moon-flower's rank perfume.


s: They know not when slow barges on the mere


s: Enter the portals of that place austere--


s: Whose marge e'er wistful waves lap listlessly,


s: Over the hills where the pine-trees grow,


s: With a laugh to answer the wind at play.


s: And Spring's first scarlet breasts are seen


s: Then come fair fragrant dreams as though


s: "You will find the heart of the world some day


s: You will see the grief of the yea and nay


s: "And upon your lute you will weave a theme


s: You will speak the meaning within a dream


s: You will never have of the things you play,


s: And throughout your life you will go for aye,


s: Throughout the vale again Narcissus cries


s: While Zephyr heavy-laden with the sweet,


s: Fresh scent of blooms across the pasture hies;


s: Matched by the lure unto the wandering feet


s: That e'er must go ere Spring could be complete


s: To the green wood where laughing Eros lies.


s: O April lover, hear the pipes that call,


s: They call to you and me, and he who hears


s: Must ever after be Young April's thrall--


s: The Islands of the Blest between the Spheres!


s: Who quite forgot the while that moments fly;


s: Nor ever dreamed that they could pass away,


s: Yet, just because that hour was long ago


s: And seems to me so near--well, this I know


s: That sometime I shall clasp your hand and say:


s: 'Twas just at sundown, when the leaves were wet


s: But for a moment, deep among the flowers


s: I saw her--loved her--and as April showers


s: Shall e'er I see that face where violets grow,


s: Yet no one comes save night, with wild regrets


s: Did we not meet with the blood's best play


s: The lash of the winds and the rain that stung,


s: Did we not drink the last drop that clung


s: To the golden bowl with its glowing fire,


s: That made up for all and a world of clay


s: As a still brook within the woodland's green


s: Sings softly to itself the live-long day,


s: Knowing not how in all that wild demesne,


s: Beshadowed places that it flows between;


s: So your dear love, a simple forest stream,


s: Bearing the wealth of all that life can hold,--


s: Nor ever dreaming of the worth that lies


s: Deep in your heart--why, you have made it seem


s: That every empty hour is wrought of gold


s: Burning with fire and flashing every shade;


s: While round the dim horizon, wide displayed


s: The clouds pile up their largess tenderly


s: A horn's faint echo through the dusk-hour's veil


s: Frail shallops will flit by and mermaids pale


s: Will lure us back to fairy-land once more!


s: Wave, wave sweet blooms of May and on your wings


s: To some far twilight land where steals a stream


s: From out the cool and soundless groves of Dream.


s: For in the Spring is such a bitter smart


s: Even the thought of it will break my heart,


s: Where I shall dream and dream you are not dead!


s: Though they say Jove laughs at the lover's vow--


s: At the lover's vow that must break some day--


s: Still we smiled as we loved in a distant May


s: When the blooms were heavy upon the bough.


s: O, the mocking difference of then and now!


s: It isn't a thought that will make one gay,


s: At the lover's vow that must break some day.


s: Yet, perhaps, the god knows the best way how


s: For down in his heart there's a knife, I trow,


s: Though they say Jove laughs at the lover's vow.


s: When now hears one the woodland elves at play,


s: Or angry dryads where tall tree-tops toss.


s: No more they lightly tread the dewy moss


s: As danced they through cool haunts in ecstasy;


s: But rank and lost the paths in lone decay


s: Where fairy footsteps once were wont to cross.


s: O, happy Greeks, who knew the gods so well,


s: Whereby to find the slopes of asphodel--


s: For there the gods find the world again,


s: How still they sleep within the city moil


s: In their old church-yard with its sighing trees,


s: Where sometimes through the din a twilight breeze


s: Makes one forget the busy streets of toil;


s: But they have little thought of worldly spoil


s: Their hopes, their dreams, are cold and dead as these


s: Quaint, time-worn gravestones crumbling on the soil.


s: Yet they once lived and struggled years ago;


s: Their hearts beat madly as these hearts of ours--


s: And now is all undone in dreamless rest?


s: See, a great city stands against the glow--


s: Their city, they who here beneath the flowers


s: Have known so long God's gift of peace, most blest!


s: Glad roads of Spring--O lanes of laughing May


s: As fleeting as the shadow-clouds at play


s: With sunbeams rife upon the grassy green;


s: O golden lanes--through roads that lie between


s: Amid what darkened sweep lost I the way?


s: Or was't the stripling Youth, whose roundelay


s: And changed to gladness all the world's dull mien,


s: Apart I stand, distraught with lone dismay,


s: No more Youth's gladsome biddings to obey,


s: No more with him Love's strewings lost to glean;


s: We passed along the high-road, you and I,


s: Though I remember not the place nor when;


s: Perhaps 'twere better that I went alone,


s: You might not e'er have loved me had you known,


s: Against the roof when all the night is still,


s: Save for the wind beneath the window-sill,


s: Crooning its homely, comforting refrain,--


s: And listening feels that neither joy nor pain


s: Can trouble now--only the faint sweet thrill


s: The barque glides softly into sleep's domain;


s: Between high garden-walls that hide the sun,


s: Hear sometimes on the breeze a simple strain


s: Of an old song you once were wont to sing--


s: Who listens spell-bound to the summer rain.


s: Of hours that have too soon slipped past,


s: Could they withstand the storm-cloud's gust,


s: Your love, which dreamed not e'er to die.


s: Yet with what wonder those last moments blest


s: Crown all with the chaste kiss of sweet content;


s: For nature's minstrels sing a carol pent


s: With the soft music of the spheres suppressed


s: In one great strain--the while upon night's breast


s: The dying day sinks down in languishment.


s: And in those last faint breaths as 'twere in sooth


s: Of purest gold streams through the darkened sky,


s: A light more wondrous than the dawn of youth--


s: For 'tis a flame cleft out the veil of night


s: From that eternal dawn that ne'er can die!


s: These trees, this south-wind and this dreary day


s: But you are gone, so mourning they with me


s: Sometimes from out the rush of pulsing days,


s: These days whose poetry was lost in prose


s: Far childhood paths--yet, sometimes from the haze


s: Of half-forgotten years, fall on our ways


s: Now drear, a strain of song, a June-blown rose.


s: Ah, sweet, so sweet unto a heart that knows


s: How the heart quaffs the draught that thrills and thrills


s: Its soul, finding again youth's mysteries.


s: Today the stillness of the sun-lit hills


s: To you, dear heart, whom I have never known


s: That sometime you may hear,--the sweet atone


s: For all the years and years of search alone--


s: That sometime you may hear and come to me.


s: With ne'er a thought of all the journey past,


s: For this I know--that on one perfect day


s: When everything is, oh, so glad and gay,


s: You'll hear and come and claim your own, at last.


s: When twilight falls and all the land is still,


s: The purple shadows steal across the hill,


s: And one lone star above a pine-tree's crest


s: Shines ever brighter, while from out its nest


s: There breaks the low cry of the whip-poor-will.


s: E'en winds list o'er the fields of daffodil


s: They all day wafted,--'tis so sweet to rest


s: Let not one drop of this rare nectar spill,


s: But with the beryl wine your goblet fill.


s: Drink with me, Love, the golden of the west,


s: For all is made for love and love is best,--


s: And, oh, the wonder of the moment's thrill


s: For one great Queen who sits in majesty,


s: Untouched, austere, upon a golden throne,


s: The like whose loveliness was never known


s: Rife with rich stains of every color-tone


s: Yet, should this Queen of Beauty lift her arm


s: And take your broidered web,--ah, then the prize,


s: The vast reward of all the scars and shame,


s: The cloth is changed to porphyry, and lies


s: He never knew the golden thrall of youth,


s: The ringing step, the rumpled wind-tossed hair,


s: The reckless laugh untouched of pain or ruth,--


s: Not his the swift lithe strength that ever slays,


s: Like some young god adown immortal ways,


s: Crushing the blossoms 'neath unheeding feet.


s: A twisted back, a face year-scarred and grim,


s: These were the only birthright given him,--


s: What should he know, except of ugliness?


s: But in his fettered heart in longing pent


s: A wealth of tenderness and, stranger too,


s: Youth full of pity,--ah, the wonderment,--


s: He never knew, and yet how well he knew!


s: And all the dreams that ne'er came true,


s: I know a quiet vale where faint winds blow


s: And ne'er another sound comes drifting by


s: Save where the stream's cool waters softly flow;


s: Their perfume recklessly, the while on high


s: Great snowy clouds pillow the smiling sky


s: And cast frail shadows on the grass below.


s: All is the same, the summer stillness dreams


s: The wind has gone to sleep within the trees--


s: Yet we once laughed at what the years might bring,


s: And the clouds are flying before the wind,


s: The leaves fall fast in a ghostly rain,--


s: And left behind the long nights of June,


s: When the lights were soft in the waters' shine--


s: Softer your lips when they first met mine--


s: And oh, for the warmth of your arms again!_


s: Within your hands you hold the wealth of years,


s: Old Time,--yes, all the gold of yesterday,


s: All of love's sunshine and the bitter gray


s: Of tears--oh, the great multitude of tears;


s: For everything is yours within the spheres


s: To give or take, or break, or keep for aye,


s: Nor heed you e'en one wild cry of dismay,


s: Yet love is sweet and we are not so old,


s: For each,--I must not dream it is too late


s: How far would I have wandered wistfully alone,


s: Whose theme is wrought of laughter and of tears


s: The winds may blow, the sleet may dash the pane


s: And all our lonely road be clothed in gray,


s: Yet what care we how dark may be the way,


s: On shall we journey through the stinging rain,


s: Learned long ago in one great, joyous day,


s: When we first knew we had not lived in vain.


s: We two have lived, we drank the ruddy wine


s: And felt the wonder of its burning kiss--


s: Let come what may there is no earthly power


s: Can take away that rapture, yours and mine.


s: Others may weep, who would give all for this,


s: To find what we have found--the golden hour!


s: It did not look so far, and yet, and yet,


s: For now without your hand to guide, it seems


s: 'Neath wind-blown leaves rustling in harmonies,


s: I clasp your hand beyond these years, why still


s: There is one guide the path of life along--


s: A fleeting end of dream-remembered song.


s: Where the winds low list and the leafless trees


s: Stand gaunt and gray 'gainst the sullen sky,


s: Of days once glad that are gone forever,


s: Of lips once true that will answer never,


s: Dead leaves of Autumn grown withered and dry.


s: But a spirit haunts in the moon's pale glow


s: And all is changed as she sings a strain,


s: While the night winds hearken and lightly blow


s: And bear her song to the distant closes,


s: Ah, that song 'tis sweet as the pipes of Pan,


s: Through the purple dawn,--yea, far sweeter than


s: The music that wafts from a Southern sea!


s: Beneath its spell the wastes bloom in flowers,


s: Who bore me gifts of attar and of myrrh,


s: Sprung from a garden-close in far Cathay;


s: While I, unheeding, let them pass their way


s: Nor cared for all the gifts they might confer,


s: Who never dreamed adown my path to stray.


s: Where echoes drearily the ceaseless tread


s: Of stranger footsteps, slow and burdensome--


s: Yet still I wait for you who never come.


s: Perchance those broken chords with my own meet,


s: Though quite imperfect, yet but thus to try


s: Not the broad high-roads which you would have trod,


s: Still, spirit mine, the by-paths that I plod


s: Of those fair deeds which you hoped to pursue--


s: Low blowing winds from out a midnight sky,


s: The falling embers and a kettle's croon--


s: These three, but oh what sweeter lullaby


s: And oft we've heard together that old tune--


s: The falling embers and a kettle's croon.


s: Of eventide steals softly through the trees


s: Like rosy petals falling, and the breeze


s: Grows hushed until it sings a love-song, low


s: And sweet and tender, then I seem to know


s: You too are somewhere near and watching these


s: Last wondrous sights of day--God's mysteries


s: Fills all my soul, as if a wandering breath


s: From that high heaven had wafted down to me--


s: And knew you to be waiting e'er in death,


s: Copyright 1893, by L. Y. PINNEY AND E. N. PIERCE


s: Our hearts were glad, our spirits light,


s: Where rides the good "St. George" to-day.


s: Care'st thou, that some, who pass thee by,


s: Like some sweet bird whose plaintive cry


s: Our eyes then sought, thro' changing light,


s: While, neath its brow fair valleys bloom,


s: For ferns, and flowers, and mosses rare;


s: Hath paused to start, with whirring sound


s: On speeds our bark with quickening bounds


s: LIKE some pure thought, by unknown lips let fall,


s: Which grows, and bears abroad, rich truths for all,


s: And, like a giant young, who smiling lies,


s: Nor heeds the dormant powers, so soon to rise--


s: A score of years, then forth a city came,


s: And cast aside its quaint old Spanish name


s: And, like the saint whose name it proudly boasts,


s: A friend to all who come within its posts--


s: When dust-stained, "desert ships" came halting in,


s: Her gates swung wide, and friendly welcome gave


s: While ocean ships, wind-tossed around Cape Horn,


s: Oft refuge found within her harbor calm,


s: The warning heard, and steered with care


s: There skimming low, now swift, now slow,


s: They sought their mates among the trees,


s: And joined their notes with whispering breeze.


s: Through leafy woods, o'er hill and vale.


s: "Thou'rt Oakland," said the winsome queen;


s: Fair Berkeley! nestling 'neath the hills


s: Fair bowers--fit shrines for wisdom's queen.


s: 'Twas near the close of that bright day,


s: Perfume of flowers, and birds' songs low


s: From these Greek heights and this great sea;


s: Not far along lies Arcady."--_Joaquin Miller._


s: The while the scenes that charmed our view


s: These isles, these shores, this mount and vale


s: The greater part of this poem was delivered before the Harvard


s: Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in June, 1911; several


s: passages from it have appeared in _Poetry_, and others in _The


s: How shall it be fulfilled and perfected?...


s: "He who finds beauty here, shall find it there."


s: Again when Celia laughed, I doubted her and said:


s: We stand together on our lake's edge, and the mystery


s: Is nothing more austere, more starry, or more deep to understand


s: Strangers are travelling, each with particular


s: And unkind preference like ours, with privacy


s: Like ours. Celia, Celia, why should there be


s: Distrust between ourselves and them, disunity?


s: To trim this little circle that we tread,


s: To strangers and forbid them!--Are they not as we,


s: How can we shut them out and let stars in?"


s: She looked along the lake. And when I heard her speak,


s: The sun fell on the boy's white sail and her white cheek.


s: "I touch them all through you," she said. "I cannot know them now


s: Here between us, binding and interweaving us,


s: That does not bind these others to our care."


s: The sunlight fell in glory on her hair....


s: And then said Celia, radiant, when I held her near:


s: "They who find beauty there, shall find it here."


s: With peace and oceans echoed glories in her ear


s: To guide the lonely and uplift the weak.


s: "Record it all," she told me, "more than merely this,


s: More than the shine of sunset on our heads, more than a kiss,


s: More than our rapt agreement and delight


s: Watching the mountain mingle with the night....


s: And welcome for them, as a solitary star


s: The solitary star came out.... So on some night


s: "Where are you bound, O solemn voyager?"


s: She laughed one day and asked me in her mirth:


s: .... The questions beat like tapping of a drum;


s: This was the song that she herself had taught me how to sing:


s: On their continual ships out of the past,


s: From all the bitter corners of the earth.


s: And I have ears to hear the westward wind blowing


s: And I have eyes to look beyond the scope Of sea


s: I look toward life and all that it shall hold,


s: .... "The unseen shall become the seen....


s: .... Yet will they listen, poet? Will they sail with you?


s: Will they not call you dreamer of a dream?


s: Will they not laugh at you, because you seem


s: Concerned with words that people often say


s: The bright sails of my caravel shook seaward in reply:


s: She interceded: "How impatient, how unkind


s: Age comes with keen and accurate advance


s: All hearts."... My answer was the song forever sung:


s: In you, in me, in everyone, we join God's growing mind.


s: For in no separate place or time, or soul, we find


s: We journey toward that soul, through circumstance,


s: "And what of all the others," Celia said,


s: "Who ventured brave as you? What of the dead?"


s: And said: "The dead sail forward, hid behind


s: This wave that we ourselves must mount to find


s: Their guesses of the port, more numerous and blind


s: Than their unnumbered and forgotten faces.


s: And with a quicker heart I have beheld again


s: Over the pasture and the valley, to the New Hampshire town....


s: With the pulsing of its engine over the sway of time,


s: Yes, every state and city, every village, every farm,


s: And every heart and everyone's right arm.


s: Or anyone in any field or street, hold out your hand--


s: And I can see it pulse the massive climb


s: On other ships, even the ancient ships of Greece,


s: Have other immigrants set sail for peace.


s: But these are my own shipmates whom I see


s: Whom have you called your shipmates? You were wrong!


s: Than any one man's country could provide,


s: There is no other ship among the stars than this.


s: Of every immigrant, as upon yours and mine--


s: "My shipmates are as many as eternity is long:


s: The unborn and the living and the dead--


s: I walked alone by the white lake--yet with a vanished race


s: And with a race to come. To walk with dead men is to pray,


s: To walk with men unborn--to find the way.


s: I have seen many days. That night I watched them all.


s: Of life; a friend's unfrightened dying face.


s: Anger from fools, falsehood from sycophants,


s: (My fear, my lips, my anger, my disgrace)


s: Though I have held a golden cup and tasted rust,


s: Of making only coin and lives to count it in,


s: His cheek was hardy and his mouth was frail


s: For sweetness, and his eyes were opening wild


s: As with wonder at an unseen figure carrying a grail.


s: Perhaps he faced, as I did in his glance,


s: The spirit of the living dead who, having ranged


s: Through long reverses, forward without fail


s: Because all three of us were immigrants,


s: Of a marvellous morning, while she spoke


s: Of the sun, the dew, the wonder, in a child:


s: Beneath his own degree degrades himself,


s: To build and share a tenement of stars."


s: "To share all beauty as the interchanging dust,


s: "But to what goal?" I wondered. And I heard her happy speech:


s: "It is my faith that God is our own dream


s: The source of God is sending the same stream.


s: It is my peace that when my life is whole,


s: God's life shall be completed and supreme."


s: About America, she warned me: "Be not faint


s: Of heart, but bold to see the soul's advance.


s: Face beauty," Celia said, "then beauty faces you."


s: And under all things her advice was true.


s: A multitude or in a mother's unregarded grace


s: Seek out the single spirit, face to face,


s: And know that something pure and exquisite,


s: I said to Celia. Over the world the morning-dew


s: Moved like a hymn and sang to us: "Go now, fulfill


s: Each in the other, both in that Italian boy,


s: ... She was the nearness of imperfect God


s: My share, I asked her for His blessing and His nod--


s: "But, Celia, Celia, tell me what to be,"


s: But establish it in persons and exalt it in the state."


s: Challenge to poets who, with tinkling tricks,


s: Wide the new world had opened its bright gates.


s: And a woman who had heard of the new world


s: All her life long and had saved her pence


s: In the free home, came eagerly in nineteen seven


s: In a large handkerchief--but with a heart


s: Too rich to be contained, for she had done her part:


s: Seized on the immigrant. And so she took her pence


s: Safe in her handkerchief, to a government cashier--


s: A clerk in the post-office. (And he relates


s: She had brought with her a thin-faced lad


s: Her handkerchief and poured the heap of coins out of her hand,


s: To be used no matter how, you understand' ...


s: More than in mound or marble, in the living live the dead.


s: The past has done its reproductive part.


s: Hear now the cry of beauty's present needs,


s: Of comrades levelling a thousand creeds,


s: In conflict, selfishness, hardness of heart!


s: But otherwise shake their wise heads and smile--


s: Protesting that one man can no more move the mass


s: By tying torches to a wheel and rolling it downhill.


s: But not the wet circumference of the seas


s: Can quench the living light in even these,


s: Of some one man, through other men birth after birth,


s: Yet they are news of which all time has need.


s: If they be lies, tell them yourselves and heed


s: How poets' twice-told lies become the truth!


s: There was a poet Celia loved who, hearing all around


s: His name is writ in his blood, mine and yours.


s: She said, "how can Americans worth their salt


s: But listen to the wavesong on their shores,


s: And hear the windsong over rock and wood,


s: And let the mansong enter at their gates


s: Walt Whitman, by his perfect friendliness


s: Together making God, are gradually creating whole


s: His head is lifted. When his brave mouth speaks,


s: My lips contain his word. And when his rocker creaks


s: Ghostly in Camden, there I sit in it and watch my hand grow old


s: And take upon my constant lips the kiss of younger truth....


s: That I, in all the world and him, youth after youth


s: There is a vision, Celia, in your face....


s: And withdrawn prophetess, in Greece had set her pace


s: And a singing maiden, pitched her purple tents


s: In Bethlehem to nurse a son of God upon her breast


s: And learned the tender loneliness of tears,


s: And then of a sudden she had run forth from her hiding-place,


s: Of fire in her hand, her tresses crowned


s: With liberty, her purpose bold and bound


s: And then she wept for France.... But once more clad


s: In stars, she beckons to America, the land


s: With her bright finger scorning armaments


s: And on her lips the unconquerable common sense


s: Of love calling the world to challenge and confound


s: Beauty forever dares to widen and retrace


s: Her way, singing the marches of democracy,


s: With heavier weapons and with weary-waking head


s: Though sons, whose fathers fought in other ages


s: For fame, bear in their hearts today the scar


s: And rousing him with masterly inquiry where he keeps


s: Though all the cunning coil of trade appear a baser thing


s: O trace through time the orbit of this troubled star!


s: ... See, from afar off, how the valiant few


s: But on the prostrate stillness of the multitude!


s: Even their knightliest prowess they must rear,


s: Tamerlane, Alexander, Arthur, every king,


s: Upon the common clay from which they spring.


s: For see how slaves, on whom war falls, renew


s: Into the earth--fulfilling it to form and bear


s: And watch where every man fastens the electric wing


s: Upon his foot, that he may leave his little sod


s: He knows himself and other men as the winged self of God!


s: The times are gone when only few were fit


s: When for the rest an altar-rail sufficed


s: Have found that lordly Christ apocryphal


s: While Christ the comrade comes again--no wraith


s: To share with all men the upspringing sod,


s: But a man who proved man's unused worth--


s: Once you had listened, Celia, to a stream


s: And lain a long time, silent as a sleeper.


s: And then your word arrived as from beyond


s: Your body, bending with its breath the frond


s: Of a fern. You whispered to the listening stream:


s: Your voice to say in mine that word!--to sing


s: Time cannot bury what the blest have thought,


s: Often it seems as though a single day had brought


s: When we who hugged awhile the golden bowl


s: A dead man's voice, by living men renewed


s: To self-respect: "Open the lands! Let mankind share


s: Then not in vain have the poor known distress,


s: Little by little we, whose fathers fought


s: Little by little from the wondering land


s: And while there grows a fellowship of unshed blood


s: Woman assumes her part. Her pity in a flood


s: Holding a child more dear than property,


s: That the many perish to empower the few,


s: (Your heart is beating, Celia, like a song!)


s: Not merely of the lips that kiss and hands that feed


s: Let him release her tenderness, to make him strong,


s: Birthrights and countries, would constrain


s: The traitors who unfurled them, shall remain


s: Whom shall I fight and who shall be my enemy


s: Let me have done with that old God outside


s: Who watched with preference and answered prayer,


s: Can God be God, till we ourselves are whole.


s: While the sun smouldered in a great ravine,


s: For fire, there came a moan; the voice of one in hell.


s: I turned. Across the car were two young men,


s: And one was moaning on the other's breast.


s: What words he said, half English and half French. I only knew


s: Both men were suffering, not one but two.


s: Gaunt and unshaved, with shadows and wild eyes,


s: A face of madness and of desolation. And his cries,


s: And tears ran down the stubble of his cheek.


s: The other face was younger, clean and sad


s: With the manful stricken beauty of a lad


s: .... The touch of his compassion, like a mother's,


s: Pitied the madman, soothed him and caressed.


s: The maniac screamed--struck out and fell


s: Across his brother's arm. Love could not quell


s: Brought down his handcuffs toward his brother's face--


s: But his hands were pinned below his waist,


s: By a burly, silent sheriff, and some hideous thing was bound


s: "Seigneur! Le createur du ciel et de la terre!


s: Repulsed him: "Non! Détache-moi! I don't care


s: For you. Non! Tu es l'homme qui m'a trahi!


s: But as often as that stricken mind would fill


s: With the great anguish and the rush of hate,


s: To the other's pain and hold that haunted face close to his face


s: .... The gleam! and then the blinded stare,


s: My reason. And I do not know my brothers....


s: Closer than mother, father, daughter, son,


s: Away, leaving illumination. Within everyone


s: Toward some loved life and toward the soul


s: Perceived therein: the elemental ache to be made whole


s: Within the very blood and being of my dear,


s: Mingled and indissoluble. And I have felt a mortal tear


s: Smart on my lids, when I had been so near


s: Yet the day returned between us and the sky


s: To us and we were two again that had been almost one.


s: Almost of life, upon my mother's heart--the great content


s: Who looked about him, smiled and took to me,


s: Held out his arms and chose me among men


s: If it were solid and worth touching. When he died,


s: I too was dead ... and yet I hear him say,


s: And having lived your years, this will I do,


s: And so, from birth to death, out of confusion


s: Communion is the cause and the conclusion


s: I know a fellow in a steel-mill who, intent


s: Upon his labours and his happiness, had meant


s: Success. And then he loved and married. And his bride,


s: If I might comfort him. The comfort came to me.


s: "David," I said, "under the temporary ache


s: There is unwonted nearness with the dead."


s: Forged in the mills. He told me that his tears were shed


s: Before her breath went. After that, instead


s: Of grief, she came herself. He felt her slip


s: His need of her.--"And in the night I wake


s: .... We have each other more, much more,"


s: But she is touching you--and laughs with me because I cried


s: But something in what you said made me bold


s: Had faced in death and understood in his young wife,


s: Yet shines across her white-remembered ways


s: As the nearness of a light across the snow....


s: And still I hear among New Hampshire trees


s: Of friends from adversaries and of peace from pain:


s: .... Well I recall how she explained to me


s: When last we looked, as many times before,


s: Over those hundred foothills rolling like the sea.


s: And leaves no difference in my heart," she said,


s: Not only Celia, speaking, taught me these


s: The tenets of her beauty; but her life was such


s: Not better nor more learned nor more wise


s: Not less bereaved than others of my friends,


s: Her heart of love assembles and transcends


s: Often I start and look beside me for the stir


s: Some dear-remembered sentence in her voice.


s: Seeing a light in a window, sings to the sun,


s: On a path where thrushes wake--called Celia's Way--


s: And always when I pass again our chosen pine


s: Soft pressure of an unseen web and brush


s: Wide-eyed into the mountains' windy hush,


s: With her and afternoon and twilight. She is always there


s: We are together still in the deep solitude


s: Of presences, the dawn chanting with birds, the trees


s: Is well aware--and so through her am I--


s: The morning-hymn we heard: "Ye shall fulfill


s: Each in the other, both in that Italian boy


s: She said to me one day, where a hill renewed its flowers,


s: Our hearts with it and know that they who hate


s: And strike become by their own blow the stricken!"...


s: "A stranger might be God," the Hindus cry.


s: Almost the body leads the laggard soul; bidding it see


s: The beauty of surrender, the tranquillity


s: Of fusion with the earth. The body turns to dust


s: But oftentimes anticipates and, entering flowers and trees


s: Hark in the wind--the word of silent lips!


s: Look where some subtle throat, that once had wakened lust,


s: Lies clear and lovely now, a silver link


s: With many kindred who were seeming dead.


s: Of earth for other souls to journey through,


s: Of incompleteness, when the end explains


s: And greatly go!--the wind upon your face!


s: Grieve not for the invisible transported brow


s: On which like leaves the dark hair grew,


s: Nor for the lips of laughter that are now


s: More ways of swiftness than the swallow dips


s: Among ... and find more winds than ever blew


s: A sudden music, Celia, through a poplar-bough,


s: Comes laughing and goes hastening like you.


s: Beauty is more than hands or face or eyes


s: Of sun among the birds, more than the oar that plies


s: Under the moon for lovers, more than a tune that buys


s: Pennies from time. Vision and touch comprise


s: Poured upon beauty and no heart is broken


s: Assemble stars, the light of hopeful eyes,


s: And daily brood on the communal breath--


s: Nothing is lost. Nothing I have of loveliness


s: Of my own loveliness when it shall be fulfilled


s: With Celia's and all loveliness that lies


s: And the beginning, the bewildering guess


s: Each soul of all souls, till one soul remains


s: Touches more stars than any height I know.


s: For there the whole earth--like a single being--fills


s: To watch Monadnock and the miles that met


s: She said: "When I am here, I find release


s: And blown away. And there remains a single debt


s: She said, "and many crucifixions on the hills,


s: We all shall tread; and as he died to give


s: Himself to us, we too shall die--and live."


s: "Though slowly knowledge comes, yet in the birth


s: The clear and clouded beauty of the earth.


s: .... This I forget in cities. For cities are a great


s: Of tumult. But by mountains and by seas I gain


s: Not for the eye but for the soul to see.


s: And when at last, among the oaks, we came


s: Blindly we listened to the singer and the single strain


s: And then the voice was still and all the world and we--


s: Till "Run," she said, "and bring him back to me!"


s: I ran, I called ... but in the nearing rain,


s: Had made a prophet of some wandering boy,


s: Prompting him in that instant to rejoice


s: Afterward Celia said: "That voice we heard


s: Singing among the oak-leaves, and then still,


s: We cannot answer how it sings or how it comes and goes....


s: Within us both, in ways no voice has told.


s: .... So let me be to you. When night has drawn its fold


s: Take then my love, my beauty! Hear me still


s: A hill-path rising sudden on a city-street,


s: .... Celia, I hear you on the hill of hills,


s: Will see with me your beauty who are dead,


s: Will hear with me your voice and what it said!


s: With your whole-heartedness as with the sun,


s: Your touch to younger and yet younger hands,


s: That they shall carry beauty through more lands


s: The immigrants arriving from the ships....


s: Their steps are light and exceedingly fleet:


s: From the white-flecked alp the hill winds blow--


s: Back to the land of the great white stills:


s: Is it only the wind that comes down from the hills?


s: That whispered a gay little rhyme to me?


s: Or a gnome that lives in the heart of a stone


s: And dances at dawn around Cameron's Cone?


s: Did the haunting laugh of the Maid of the Corn,


s: Or soft did the Navajo Shell-Woman speak


s: As she passed with a hymn for the great white peak?


s: They touch me light with their finger tips


s: And lay little snatches of song on my lips,


s: And swift I am gone where the hill-streams flow,


s: Where the pit-lark soars and the gentians blow.


s: The tapers of blossoms flame under the tree


s: The gardens and cloisters and shrines of the Steep.


s: And borne away to the great white stills?


s: Where the long trees lean in a twilight trance,


s: And oh, the white-flowered miracle grown


s: Out of the broad gray breast of a stone!


s: Little plant, did you guess that when I heard


s: You whisper your one sweet rune-telling word,


s: And the Heart of the Sky leaned down to me?


s: Before earth's dawn hour thought to wane,


s: Where Paradise leaned over Iran's plain,


s: He saw her first in the Cashmere's danks,


s: Where the long grass leaned to her, ranks on ranks,


s: For a god may not wed with a maid of men--


s: Till the river-maid's hand shall scatter and pour


s: The seeds of the little blue flowers she wore,


s: From the happy lintels of heaven's own door


s: The Great Steep's Garden is musked and fair:


s: Did the long miles fret or the red suns beat?


s: Did the great stones tear at her little white feet?


s: Did the storm winds harry with stinging sleet,


s: When the woman-heart needs make atoning and wait:


s: She has led him back to the crystal gate,--


s: The Great Steep's Garden is musked today:


s: For Love's handmaiden has passed this way,


s: On the summit place where the wind-torn pine


s: In the trappings of battle and unafraid,


s: Painted and feathered in hostile design,


s: Crouching out of the great storm's path:


s: The last tree flees from the arctic wrath,


s: And the wide land reaches beyond our eyes,


s: Patterned with cities the great web lies,


s: Rolls in the tide and the cloud waves toss,


s: Where the still white surges part and cross


s: Of a lost land under the waves of a sea.


s: O summit flower, what strange waves toss


s: Happy Heart coming home from the far, far hills,


s: How the primrose flamed in the arctic chills!


s: And you heard the flutes of the summit birds:


s: You will keep forever their sky-lost words,


s: _First Complete Edition printed September 1890.


s: One lesson, Nature, let me learn of thee,


s: One lesson which in every wind is blown,


s: Though the loud world proclaim their enmity--


s: Of labour, that in lasting fruit outgrows


s: Far noisier schemes, accomplish'd in repose,


s: Too great for haste, too high for rivalry!


s: Yes, while on earth a thousand discords ring,


s: Man's fitful uproar mingling with his toil,


s: Still do thy sleepless ministers move on,


s: Their glorious tasks in silence perfecting;


s: Still working, blaming still our vain turmoil,


s: Labourers that shall not fail, when man is gone.


s: Who prop, thou ask'st, in these bad days, my mind?--


s: He much, the old man, who, clearest-soul'd of men,


s: And Tmolus hill, and Smyrna bay, though blind.


s: Much he, whose friendship I not long since won,


s: Taught Arrian, when Vespasian's brutal son


s: Clear'd Rome of what most shamed him. But be his


s: My special thanks, whose even-balanced soul,


s: From first youth tested up to extreme old age,


s: Business could not make dull, nor passion wild;


s: Who saw life steadily, and saw it whole;


s: Others abide our question. Thou art free.


s: We ask and ask--Thou smilest and art still,


s: Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,


s: Planting his steadfast footsteps in the sea,


s: Making the heaven of heavens his dwelling-place,


s: Spares but the cloudy border of his base


s: And thou, who didst the stars and sunbeams know,


s: Self-school'd, self-scann'd, self-honour'd, self-secure,


s: Didst tread on earth unguess'd at.--Better so!


s: All pains the immortal spirit must endure,


s: All weakness which impairs, all griefs which bow,


s: Find their sole speech in that victorious brow.


s: That thou canst hear, and hearing, hold thy way!


s: Hast thou no lip for welcome?"--So I said.


s: Man after man, the world smiled and pass'd by;


s: As though one spake of life unto the dead--


s: Scornful, and strange, and sorrowful, and full


s: Of bitter knowledge. Yet the will is free;


s: Strong is the soul, and wise, and beautiful;


s: The seeds of godlike power are in us still;


s: Gods are we, bards, saints, heroes, if we will!--


s: So men, unravelling God's harmonious whole,


s: Rend in a thousand shreds this life of ours.


s: Vain labour! Deep and broad, where none may see,


s: Spring the foundations of that shadowy throne


s: Where man's one nature, queen-like, sits alone,


s: And rays her powers, like sister-islands seen


s: Or cluster'd peaks with plunging gulfs between


s: Whereo'er the chariot wheels of life are roll'd


s: Because thou hast believed, the wheels of life


s: Not by their hands, who vex the patient ground,


s: Moved only; but by genius, in the strife


s: Urged; and to feed whose movement, spinning sand,


s: The feeble sons of pleasure set their hand;


s: Hast labour'd, but with purpose; hast become


s: For this, thy track, across the fretful foam


s: Of vehement actions without scope or term,


s: Call'd history, keeps a splendour; due to wit,


s: Which saw one clue to life, and follow'd it.


s: "In harmony with Nature?" Restless fool,


s: Who with such heat dost preach what were to thee,


s: To be like Nature strong, like Nature cool!


s: Know, man hath all which Nature hath, but more,


s: And in that _more_ lie all his hopes of good.


s: Nature is stubborn, man would fain adore;


s: Nature is fickle, man hath need of rest;


s: Nature forgives no debt, and fears no grave;


s: Man would be mild, and with safe conscience blest.


s: Man must begin, know this, where Nature ends;


s: Nature and man can never be fast friends.


s: Fool, if thou canst not pass her, rest her slave!


s: Artist, whose hand, with horror wing'd, hath torn


s: From the rank life of towns this leaf! and flung


s: Say, what shall calm us when such guests intrude


s: Shall breathless glades, cheer'd by shy Dian's horn,


s: Cold-bubbling springs, or caves?--Not so! The soul


s: Breasts her own griefs; and, urged too fiercely, says:


s: "Why tremble? True, the nobleness of man


s: To pain, to death, the bent of his own days.


s: Know thou the worst! So much, not more, he _can_."


s: God knows it, I am with you. If to prize


s: Those virtues, prized and practised by too few,


s: But prized, but loved, but eminent in you,


s: (And for such doing they require not eyes);


s: If sadness at the long heart-wasting show


s: Wherein earth's great ones are disquieted;


s: If thoughts, not idle, while before me flow


s: If these are yours, if this is what you are,


s: Then am I yours, and what you feel, I share.


s: Yet, when I muse on what life is, I seem


s: Rather to patience prompted, than that proud


s: Prospect of hope which France proclaims so loud--


s: France, famed in all great arts, in none supreme;


s: Seeing this vale, this earth, whereon we dream,


s: Is on all sides o'ershadow'd by the high


s: Sparing us narrower margin than we deem.


s: When, bursting through the network superposed


s: All difference with his fellow-mortal closed,


s: Shall be left standing face to face with God.


s: Children (as such forgive them) have I known,


s: On his own swarming thoughts, an interest own--


s: Do thou, whom light in thine own inmost soul


s: (Not less thy boast) illuminates, control


s: What though the holy secret, which moulds thee,


s: Mould not the solid earth? though never winds


s: Have whisper'd it to the complaining sea,


s: Nature's great law, and law of all men's minds?--


s: To its own impulse every creature stirs;


s: Live by thy light, and earth will live by hers!


s: "Not by the justice that my father spurn'd,


s: Not for the thousands whom my father slew,


s: Cold hearts and thankless tongues, where thanks are due;


s: Fell this dread voice from lips that cannot lie,


s: Stern sentence of the Powers of Destiny.


s: "I will unfold my sentence and my crime.


s: My crime--that, rapt in reverential awe,


s: Of youth, self-govern'd, at the feet of Law;


s: Ennobling this dull pomp, the life of kings,


s: "My father loved injustice, and lived long;


s: Crown'd with gray hairs he died, and full of sway.


s: I loved the good he scorn'd, and hated wrong--


s: I look'd for life more lasting, rule more high;


s: And when six years are measured, lo, I die!


s: Man's justice from the all-just Gods was given;


s: A light that from some upper fount did beam,


s: Some better archetype, whose seat was heaven;


s: A light that, shining from the blest abodes,


s: Did shadow somewhat of the life of Gods.


s: "Mere phantoms of man's self-tormenting heart,


s: Which on the sweets that woo it dares not feed!


s: Vain dreams, which quench our pleasures, then depart,


s: When the duped soul, self-master'd, claims its meed;


s: When, on the strenuous just man, Heaven bestows,


s: Crown of his struggling life, an unjust close!


s: "Seems it so light a thing, then, austere Powers,


s: To spurn man's common lure, life's pleasant things?


s: Seems there no joy in dances crown'd with flowers,


s: Love, free to range, and regal banquetings?


s: Bend ye on these, indeed, an unmoved eye,


s: "Or is it that some Force, too wise, too strong,


s: Even for yourselves to conquer or beguile,


s: Sweeps earth, and heaven, and men, and gods along,


s: Like the broad volume of the insurgent Nile?


s: And the great powers we serve, themselves may be


s: "Or in mid-heaven, perhaps, your golden cars,


s: Where earthly voice climbs never, wing their flight,


s: And in wild hunt, through mazy tracts of stars,


s: Sweep in the sounding stillness of the night?


s: Or in deaf ease, on thrones of dazzling sheen,


s: Drinking deep draughts of joy, ye dwell serene?


s: "Oh, wherefore cheat our youth, if thus it be,


s: Of one short joy, one lust, one pleasant dream?


s: Stringing vain words of powers we cannot see,


s: Lost labour! when the circumambient gloom


s: But hides, if Gods, Gods careless of our doom?


s: "The rest I give to joy. Even while I speak,


s: My sand runs short; and--as yon star-shot ray,


s: Hemm'd by two banks of cloud, peers pale and weak,


s: Blotting this six years' space, which yet is mine.


s: "Six years--six little years--six drops of time!


s: Yet suns shall rise, and many moons shall wane,


s: And old men die, and young men pass their prime,


s: And languid pleasure fade and flower again,


s: And the dull Gods behold, ere these are flown,


s: Revels more deep, joy keener than their own.


s: "Into the silence of the groves and woods


s: I will go forth; though something would I say--


s: Something--yet what, I know not; for the Gods


s: The doom they pass revoke not, nor delay;


s: And prayers, and gifts, and tears, are fruitless all,


s: And the night waxes, and the shadows fall.


s: Of the great Gods is plain; and ye must bring


s: Ill deeds, ill passions, zealous to fulfil


s: Their pleasure, to their feet; and reap their praise,


s: The praise of Gods, rich boon! and length of days."


s: --So spake he, half in anger, half in scorn;


s: Broke from his sorrowing people; so he spake,


s: And turning, left them there; and with brief pause,


s: Girt with a throng of revellers, bent his way


s: To the cool region of the groves he loved.


s: There by the river-banks he wander'd on,


s: From palm-grove on to palm-grove, happy trees,


s: Their smooth tops shining sunward, and beneath


s: Burying their unsunn'd stems in grass and flowers;


s: Where in one dream the feverish time of youth


s: Might fade in slumber, and the feet of joy


s: Might wander all day long and never tire.


s: Here came the king, holding high feast, at morn,


s: Rose-crown'd; and ever, when the sun went down,


s: A hundred lamps beam'd in the tranquil gloom,


s: From tree to tree all through the twinkling grove,


s: Flush'd guests, and golden goblets foam'd with wine;


s: While the deep-burnish'd foliage overhead


s: Splinter'd the silver arrows of the moon.


s: It may be that sometimes his wondering soul


s: From the loud joyful laughter of his lips


s: Might shrink half startled, like a guilty man


s: Who wrestles with his dream; as some pale shape


s: Gliding half hidden through the dusky stems,


s: Would thrust a hand before the lifted bowl,


s: Whispering: _A little space, and thou art mine!_


s: Dwelt with mere outward seeming; he, within,


s: Took measure of his soul, and knew its strength,


s: And by that silent knowledge, day by day,


s: Was calm'd, ennobled, comforted, sustain'd.


s: It may be; but not less his brow was smooth,


s: And his clear laugh fled ringing through the gloom,


s: And his mirth quail'd not at the mild reproof


s: Sigh'd out by winter's sad tranquillity;


s: Nor, pall'd with its own fulness, ebb'd and died


s: In the rich languor of long summer-days;


s: Nor wither'd when the palm-tree plumes, that roof'd


s: With their mild dark his grassy banquet-hall,


s: Bent to the cold winds of the showerless spring;


s: No, nor grew dark when autumn brought the clouds.


s: So six long years he revell'd, night and day.


s: And when the mirth wax'd loudest, with dull sound


s: Sometimes from the grove's centre echoes came,


s: To tell his wondering people of their king;


s: In the still night, across the steaming flats,


s: Mix'd with the murmur of the moving Nile.


s: Steeds are neighing, gallants glittering;


s: Hark! the game's on foot; they scatter!--


s: God! the Duke lies stretch'd beside him,


s: "--'Tis my lord come back from hunting--"


s: On his coat were leaves and blood-stains,


s: There she sate, and watch'd the builders,


s: Round the tomb the carved stone fretwork


s: The hills are clothed with pines sun-proof;


s: 'Mid bright green fields, below the pines,


s: The churchyard wall that clips the square


s: You hear the white-robed priest say mass,


s: And praise the chisell'd broideries rare--


s: So rest, for ever rest, O princely Pair!


s: In your high church, 'mid the still mountain-air,


s: Where horn, and hound, and vassals, never come.


s: From the rich painted windows of the nave,


s: On aisle, and transept, and your marble grave;


s: Where thou, young Prince! shall never more arise


s: From the fringed mattress where thy Duchess lies,


s: On autumn-mornings, when the bugle sounds,


s: And ride across the drawbridge with thy hounds


s: To hunt the boar in the crisp woods till eve;


s: And thou, O Princess! shalt no more receive,


s: Thou and thy ladies, in the hall of state,


s: The jaded hunters with their bloody freight,


s: So sleep, for ever sleep, O marble Pair!


s: Or if ye wake, let it be then, when fair


s: On the carved western front a flood of light


s: Streams from the setting sun, and colours bright


s: Prophets, transfigured Saints, and Martyrs brave,


s: And on the pavement round the Tomb there glints


s: A chequer-work of glowing sapphire-tints,


s: Your eyelids on the stone where ye repose,


s: And from your broider'd pillows lift your heads,


s: And rise upon your cold white marble beds;


s: And, looking down on the warm rosy tints,


s: Which chequer, at your feet, the illumined flints,


s: Say: _What is this? we are in bliss--forgiven--_


s: _Behold the pavement of the courts of Heaven!_


s: Or let it be on autumn nights, when rain


s: Doth rustlingly above your heads complain


s: On the smooth leaden roof, and on the walls


s: The moon through the clere-story windows shines,


s: And the wind washes through the mountain-pines.


s: Then, gazing up 'mid the dim pillars high,


s: The foliaged marble forest where ye lie,


s: _This is the glimmering verge of Heaven, and these_


s: And, in the sweeping of the wind, your ear


s: The passage of the Angels' wings will hear,


s: They are gone--all is still! Foolish heart, dost thou quiver?


s: Nothing stirs on the lawn but the quick lilac-shade.


s: Far up shines the house, and beneath flows the river--


s: Here lean, my head, on this cold balustrade!


s: Ere he come--ere the boat by the shining-branch'd border


s: Of dark elms shoot round, dropping down the proud stream,


s: Let me pause, let me strive, in myself make some order,


s: Ere their boat-music sound, ere their broider'd flags gleam.


s: Last night we stood earnestly talking together;


s: She enter'd--that moment his eyes turn'd from me!


s: Fasten'd on her dark hair, and her wreath of white heather--


s: Their love, let me know, must grow strong and yet stronger,


s: Their passion burn more, ere it ceases to burn.


s: They must love--while they must! but the hearts that love longer


s: Are rare--ah! most loves but flow once, and return.


s: I shall suffer--but they will outlive their affection;


s: I shall weep--but their love will be cooling; and he,


s: As he drifts to fatigue, discontent, and dejection,


s: Will be brought, thou poor heart, how much nearer to thee!


s: For cold is his eye to mere beauty, who, breaking


s: The strong band which passion around him hath furl'd,


s: Disenchanted by habit, and newly awaking,


s: Looks languidly round on a gloom-buried world.


s: Through that gloom he will see but a shadow appearing,


s: Perceive but a voice as I come to his side--


s: But deeper their voice grows, and nobler their bearing,


s: Whose youth in the fires of anguish hath died.


s: So, to wait!----But what notes down the wind, hark! are driving?


s: 'Tis he! 'tis their flag, shooting round by the trees!


s: --Let my turn, if it _will_ come, be swift in arriving!


s: Ah! hope cannot long lighten torments like these.


s: Hast thou yet dealt him, O life, thy full measure?


s: World, have thy children yet bow'd at his knee?


s: Hast thou with myrtle-leaf crown'd him, O pleasure?


s: --Crown, crown him quickly, and leave him for me!


s: Youth dreams a bliss on this side death.


s: _Calm's not life's crown, though calm is well._


s: Was it a dream? We sail'd, I thought we sail'd,


s: Martin and I, down a green Alpine stream,


s: Border'd, each bank, with pines; the morning sun,


s: On the wet umbrage of their glossy tops,


s: On the red pinings of their forest-floor,


s: Drew a warm scent abroad; behind the pines


s: The mountain-skirts, with all their sylvan change


s: Of bright-leaf'd chestnuts and moss'd walnut-trees


s: And the frail scarlet-berried ash, began.


s: Swiss chalets glitter'd on the dewy slopes,


s: And from some swarded shelf, high up, there came


s: Ranged, diamond-bright, the eternal wall of snow.


s: Upon the mossy rocks at the stream's edge,


s: Back'd by the pines, a plank-built cottage stood,


s: Bright in the sun; the climbing gourd-plant's leaves


s: Muffled its walls, and on the stone-strewn roof


s: Lay the warm golden gourds; golden, within,


s: Under the eaves, peer'd rows of Indian corn.


s: We shot beneath the cottage with the stream.


s: On the brown, rude-carved balcony, two forms


s: Came forth--Olivia's, Marguerite! and thine.


s: Clad were they both in white, flowers in their breast;


s: Straw hats bedeck'd their heads, with ribbons blue,


s: Which danced, and on their shoulders, fluttering, play'd.


s: They saw us, they conferr'd; their bosoms heaved,


s: And more than mortal impulse fill'd their eyes.


s: Their lips moved; their white arms, waved eagerly,


s: Flash'd once, like falling streams; we rose, we gazed.


s: One moment, on the rapid's top, our boat


s: Hung poised--and then the darting river of Life


s: (Such now, methought, it was), the river of Life,


s: Loud thundering, bore us by; swift, swift it foam'd,


s: Black under cliffs it raced, round headlands shone.


s: Soon the plank'd cottage by the sun-warm'd pines


s: Faded--the moss--the rocks; us burning plains,


s: Bristled with cities, us the sea received.


s: Heard the hoarse boughs labour in the wind.


s: With blown tresses, and with beckoning hands?


s: Stream all day through your enchanted lawn.


s: And came heap'd with myrtles to your throne.


s: Seeking ceiled chambers and a palace-hall!


s: These vext branches and this howling sky?...


s: And yon whitening bone-mounds do not grow.


s: "Come," you say, "the hours were dreary;


s: Yet this glean'd, when Gods were speaking,


s: Crowning moments with the wealth of years?"


s: Droop'd, unbraided, on your listless arms.


s: And the hungry thought, that must be fed!


s: For those mimic raptures you had won....


s: Scent, and song, and light, and flowers!


s: Let your broad lamps flash the brightness


s: Through black depths of serried shadows,


s: Drop, with mine, adown life's latter days?


s: Spreads its cold light wider all that while?


s: See, the white east, and the morning rays!


s: And your scents have shed their sweetness,


s: Loveless, rayless, joyless you shall stand!


s: Stands, at daybreak, weeping by my side?


s: On the wild whirling waves, mournfully, mournfully,


s: Fall on the throbbing brow, fall on the burning breast,


s: On the lifeless margin of the sparkling Ocean;


s: A wild rose climbing up a mouldering wall--


s: A gush of sunbeams through a ruin'd hall--


s: Like wanderers from the world's extremity,


s: Those melancholy tones so sweet and still.


s: Those lute-like tones which in the bygone year


s: Blew such a thrilling summons to my will,


s: Made my tost heart its very life-blood spill,


s: When I shall be divorced, some ten years hence,


s: From this poor present self which I am now;


s: When youth has done its tedious vain expense


s: Shall I not joy youth's heats are left behind,


s: And breathe more happy in an even clime?--


s: And all its thwarting currents of desire;


s: Then I shall praise the heat which then I lack,


s: And call this hurrying fever, generous fire;


s: And sigh that one thing only has been lent


s: To him address'd who would recast her new,


s: Not from herself her fame of strength she took,


s: But from their weakness who would work her rue.


s: "Behold," she cries, "so many rages lull'd,


s: So many fiery spirits quite cool'd down;


s: Look how so many valours, long undull'd,


s: After short commerce with me, fear my frown!


s: "Thou too, when thou against my crimes wouldst cry,


s: Let thy foreboded homage check thy tongue!"--


s: The world speaks well; yet might her foe reply:


s: "Are wills so weak?--then let not mine wait long!


s: Keener to slay thee, lest thou poison me!"


s: Hungry, and barren, and sharp as the sea--


s: Life's voyage done, his heavenly Friend,


s: Could ever yet dare tell him fearlessly:


s: "I have kept uninfringed my nature's law;


s: To guide me, I have steer'd by to the end"?


s: Let us not fret and fear to miss our aim,


s: If some fair coast have lured us to make stay,


s: Or some friend hail'd us to keep company.


s: Weakness! and worse, weakness bestow'd in vain


s: Winds from our side the unsuiting consort rive,


s: We rush by coasts where we had lief remain;


s: Man cannot, though he would, live chance's fool.


s: On either side the black deep-furrow'd path


s: Cut by an onward-labouring vessel's prore,


s: We stem across the sea of life by night,


s: The joys which were not for our use design'd;--


s: The friends to whom we had no natural right,


s: The homes that were not destined to be ours.


s: Who taught this pleading to unpractised eyes?


s: Who hid such import in an infant's gloom?


s: Who lent thee, child, this meditative guise?


s: Who mass'd, round that slight brow, these clouds of doom?


s: Lo! sails that gleam a moment and are gone;


s: The swinging waters, and the cluster'd pier.


s: Wafts not from thine own thoughts, nor longings vain,


s: Nor weariness, the full-fed soul's annoy--


s: Thou, drugging pain by patience; half averse


s: From thine own mother's breast, that knows not thee;


s: With eyes which sought thine eyes thou didst converse,


s: And that soul-searching vision fell on me.


s: Glooms that go deep as thine I have not known:


s: Moods of fantastic sadness, nothing worth.


s: Thy sorrow and thy calmness are thine own:


s: Glooms that enhance and glorify this earth.


s: What mood wears like complexion to thy woe?


s: His, who in mountain glens, at noon of day,


s: Sits rapt, and hears the battle break below?


s: --Ah! thine was not the shelter, but the fray.


s: Some exile's, mindful how the past was glad?


s: --No exile's dream was ever half so sad,


s: Is the calm thine of stoic souls, who weigh


s: Life well, and find it wanting, nor deplore;


s: Stand mute, self-centred, stern, and dream no more?


s: Or do I wait, to hear some gray-hair'd king


s: Whose mind hath known all arts of governing,


s: Mused much, loved life a little, loathed it more?


s: Down the pale cheek long lines of shadow slope,


s: Which years, and curious thought, and suffering give.


s: --Thou hast foreknown the vanity of hope,


s: Foreseen thy harvest--yet proceed'st to live.


s: Whose sureness gray-hair'd scholars hardly learn!


s: What wonder shall time breed, to swell thy strain?


s: What heavens, what earth, what sun shalt thou discern?


s: Ere the long night, whose stillness brooks no star,


s: Match that funereal aspect with her pall,


s: I think, thou wilt have fathom'd life too far,


s: Have known too much----or else forgotten all.


s: The Guide of our dark steps a triple veil


s: Betwixt our senses and our sorrow keeps;


s: Hath sown with cloudless passages the tale


s: Of grief, and eased us with a thousand sleeps.


s: Not daily labour's dull, Lethæan spring,


s: Of the soil'd glory, and the trailing wing.


s: And though thou glean, what strenuous gleaners may,


s: In the throng'd fields where winning comes by strife;


s: And though the just sun gild, as mortals pray,


s: Some reaches of thy storm-vext stream of life;


s: Though that blank sunshine blind thee; though the cloud


s: That sever'd the world's march and thine, be gone;


s: Though ease dulls grace, and Wisdom be too proud


s: To halve a lodging that was all her own--


s: Once, ere the day decline, thou shalt discern,


s: Oh once, ere night, in thy success, thy chain!


s: Ere the long evening close, thou shalt return,


s: Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men.


s: Dreams dawn and fly, friends smile and die


s: We count the hours! These dreams of ours,


s: Do we go hence and find they are not dead?


s: The sacred world; and by procession sure


s: From those still deeps, in form and colour drest,


s: The long-mused thought to north, south, east, and west,


s: O waking on a world which thus-wise springs!


s: Betwixt thy waking and the birth of things


s: Ages or hours--O waking on life's stream!


s: By lonely pureness to the all-pure fount


s: (Only by this thou canst) the colour'd dream


s: Thin, thin the pleasant human noises grow,


s: Rare the lone pastoral huts--marvel not thou!


s: The solemn peaks but to the stars are known,


s: But to the stars, and the cold lunar beams;


s: But, if the wild unfather'd mass no birth


s: In the blank, echoing solitude if Earth,


s: Ceases not from all time to heave and groan,


s: Unfruitful oft, and at her happiest throe


s: O seeming sole to awake, thy sun-bathed head


s: Round thy still dreaming brother-world outspread!


s: O man, whom Earth, thy long-vext mother, bare


s: (Such happy issue crown'd her painful care)--


s: Thy brother-world stirs at thy feet unknown,


s: Who hath a monarch's hath no brother's part;


s: Yet doth thine inmost soul with yearning teem.


s: --Oh, what a spasm shakes the dreamer's heart!


s: Why," you say, Critias, "be debating still?


s: Long since the world hath set its heart to live;


s: Do adverse voices fall on the world's ear.


s: A white-robed slave stole to the Great King's side.


s: Shall draw to swell that shouldering herd.


s: To the words, "Hope, Light, Persistence,"


s: Scarf'd with the cross, who watch'd the miles


s: Of dust which wreathed their struggling files


s: Through which the groaning Danube strains


s: Where they stood once, to them were pain;


s: Past straits, and currents long steer'd through.


s: Hath made, or birth hath found, resign'd--


s: To await their march; and when appear'd,


s: Through the cold gloom, with measured race,


s: All past! and through the trees we glide,


s: Through the deep noontide heats we fare;


s: Skims, now and then, the shining ground;


s: There springs the brook will guide us down,


s: Parch'd and road-worn, we made that day;


s: We bathed our hands with speechless glee,


s: Here, where the brook shines, near its head,


s: In its clear, shallow, turf-fringed bed;


s: Here, whence the eye first sees, far down,


s: Capp'd with faint smoke, the noisy town;


s: Lie strewn, it seems, where then they lay;


s: (You crush them!) the blue gentians gleam.


s: Are scarce more changed, in truth, than they.


s: Where, though long wanderings intervene,


s: In dark knots crouch round the wild flame


s: Their children, as when first they came;


s: Move, browsing, up the gray-wall'd lane.


s: Signs are not wanting, which might raise


s: They must live still--and yet, God knows,


s: Though he move mountains, though his day


s: Though he hath loosed a thousand chains,


s: Toil ended, through the shining streets,


s: Pale, dew-drench'd, half-shut roses gleam;


s: But, where the farther side slopes down,


s: Make, whistling, tow'rd his mist-wreathed flock--


s: The wet, flower'd grass heaves up its head.


s: That general life, which does not cease,


s: The life of plants, and stones, and rain,


s: Fate gave, what chance shall not control,


s: Wash'd, eddying, from this bank, their home.


s: _Those gipsies_, so your thoughts I scan,


s: _They feel not, though they move and see;_


s: _He leaves his kind, o'erleaps their pen,_


s: Remorse, grief, joy;--and were the scope


s: Nay, and since death, which wipes out man,


s: Blame thou not, therefore, him who dares


s: Who treads at ease life's uncheer'd ways--


s: No gifts from chance, have conquer'd fate.


s: Whence, equally, the seas of life and death are fed.


s: This pomp of worlds, this pain of birth;


s: The strange-scrawl'd rocks, the lonely sky,


s: And the first grey of morning fill'd the east,


s: And the fog rose out of the Oxus stream.


s: But all the Tartar camp along the stream


s: Was hush'd, and still the men were plunged in sleep;


s: Sohrab alone, he slept not; all night long


s: He had lain wakeful, tossing on his bed;


s: But when the grey dawn stole into his tent,


s: He rose, and clad himself, and girt his sword,


s: And took his horseman's cloak, and left his tent,


s: Through the dim camp to Peran-Wisa's tent.


s: Through the black Tartar tents he pass'd, which stood


s: Clustering like bee-hives on the low flat strand


s: Of Oxus, where the summer-floods o'erflow


s: When the sun melts the snows in high Pamere;


s: Through the black tents he pass'd, o'er that low strand,


s: From the stream's brink--the spot where first a boat,


s: Crossing the stream in summer, scrapes the land.


s: The men of former times had crown'd the top


s: With a clay fort; but that was fall'n, and now


s: The Tartars built there Peran-Wisa's tent,


s: A dome of laths, and o'er it felts were spread.


s: And Sohrab came there, and went in, and stood


s: Upon the thick piled carpets in the tent,


s: And found the old man sleeping on his bed


s: Of rugs and felts, and near him lay his arms.


s: And Peran-Wisa heard him, though the step


s: Was dull'd; for he slept light, an old man's sleep;


s: And he rose quickly on one arm, and said:--


s: "Who art thou? for it is not yet clear dawn.


s: Speak! is there news, or any night alarm?"


s: But Sohrab came to the bedside, and said:--


s: Sleep; but I sleep not; all night long I lie


s: Tossing and wakeful, and I come to thee.


s: Thy counsel, and to heed thee as thy son,


s: And I will tell thee what my heart desires.


s: Thou know'st if, since from Ader-baijan first


s: I have still served Afrasiab well, and shown,


s: At my boy's years, the courage of a man.


s: This too thou know'st, that while I still bear on


s: The conquering Tartar ensigns through the world,


s: And beat the Persians back on every field,


s: I seek one man, one man, and one alone--


s: Rustum, my father; who I hoped should greet,


s: Should one day greet, upon some well-fought field,


s: Come then, hear now, and grant me what I ask.


s: Will challenge forth the bravest Persian lords


s: Old man, the dead need no one, claim no kin.


s: Where host meets host, and many names are sunk;


s: But of a single combat fame speaks clear."


s: Of the young man in his, and sigh'd, and said:--


s: Canst thou not rest among the Tartar chiefs,


s: And share the battle's common chance with us


s: Who love thee, but must press for ever first,


s: That were far best, my son, to stay with us


s: Unmurmuring; in our tents, while it is war,


s: And when 'tis truce, then in Afrasiab's towns.


s: But, if this one desire indeed rules all,


s: To seek out Rustum--seek him not through fight!


s: Seek him in peace, and carry to his arms,


s: But far hence seek him, for he is not here.


s: But now he keeps apart, and sits at home,


s: Whether that his own mighty strength at last


s: Feels the abhorr'd approaches of old age,


s: Or in some quarrel with the Persian King.


s: There go!--Thou wilt not? Yet my heart forebodes


s: Danger or death awaits thee on this field.


s: Fain would I know thee safe and well, though lost


s: To us; fain therefore send thee hence, in peace


s: To seek thy father, not seek single fights


s: In vain;--but who can keep the lion's cub


s: From ravening, and who govern Rustum's son?


s: Go, I will grant thee what thy heart desires."


s: So said he, and dropp'd Sohrab's hand, and left


s: His bed, and the warm rugs whereon he lay;


s: And o'er his chilly limbs his woollen coat


s: He pass'd, and tied his sandals on his feet,


s: And threw a white cloak round him, and he took


s: In his right hand a ruler's staff, no sword;


s: And on his head he set his sheep-skin cap,


s: Black, glossy, curl'd, the fleece of Kara-Kul;


s: And raised the curtain of his tent, and call'd


s: His herald to his side, and went abroad.


s: The sun by this had risen, and clear'd the fog


s: From the broad Oxus and the glittering sands.


s: And from their tents the Tartar horsemen filed


s: The host, and still was in his lusty prime.


s: From their black tents, long files of horse, they stream'd;


s: As when some grey November morn the files,


s: In marching order spread, of long-neck'd cranes


s: Stream over Casbin and the southern slopes


s: Or some frore Caspian reed-bed, southward bound


s: For the warm Persian sea-board--so they stream'd.


s: The Tartars of the Oxus, the King's guard,


s: First, with black sheep-skin caps and with long spears;


s: Large men, large steeds; who from Bokhara come


s: And Khiva, and ferment the milk of mares.


s: Next, the more temperate Toorkmuns of the south,


s: And those from Attruck and the Caspian sands;


s: Light men and on light steeds, who only drink


s: The acrid milk of camels, and their wells.


s: And then a swarm of wandering horse, who came


s: From far, and a more doubtful service own'd;


s: And close-set skull-caps; and those wilder hordes


s: Who roam o'er Kipchak and the northern waste,


s: Kalmucks and unkempt Kuzzaks, tribes who stray


s: Nearest the Pole, and wandering Kirghizzes,


s: These all filed out from camp into the plain.


s: And on the other side the Persians form'd;--


s: First a light cloud of horse, Tartars they seem'd,


s: The royal troops of Persia, horse and foot,


s: Marshall'd battalions bright in burnish'd steel.


s: Threading the Tartar squadrons to the front,


s: And with his staff kept back the foremost ranks.


s: And when Ferood, who led the Persians, saw


s: He took his spear, and to the front he came,


s: And check'd his ranks, and fix'd them where they stood.


s: Betwixt the silent hosts, and spake, and said:--


s: "Ferood, and ye, Persians and Tartars, hear!


s: Let there be truce between the hosts to-day.


s: But choose a champion from the Persian lords


s: To fight our champion Sohrab, man to man."


s: When the dew glistens on the pearled ears,


s: A shiver runs through the deep corn for joy--


s: So, when they heard what Peran-Wisa said,


s: A thrill through all the Tartar squadrons ran


s: Of pride and hope for Sohrab, whom they loved.


s: That vast sky-neighbouring mountain of milk snow;


s: Crossing so high, that, as they mount, they pass


s: Long flocks of travelling birds dead on the snow,


s: Choked by the air, and scarce can they themselves


s: Slake their parch'd throats with sugar'd mulberries--


s: In single file they move, and stop their breath,


s: For fear they should dislodge the o'erhanging snows--


s: So the pale Persians held their breath with fear.


s: And to Ferood his brother chiefs came up


s: And Feraburz, who ruled the Persian host


s: These came and counsell'd, and then Gudurz said:--


s: "Ferood, shame bids us take their challenge up,


s: Yet champion have we none to match this youth.


s: He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart.


s: But Rustum came last night; aloof he sits


s: And sullen, and has pitch'd his tents apart.


s: The Tartar challenge, and this young man's name.


s: Haply he will forget his wrath, and fight.


s: Stand forth the while, and take their challenge up."


s: So spake he; and Ferood stood forth and cried:--


s: "Old man, be it agreed as thou hast said!


s: Let Sohrab arm, and we will find a man."


s: He spake: and Peran-Wisa turn'd, and strode


s: Back through the opening squadrons to his tent.


s: But through the anxious Persians Gudurz ran,


s: And cross'd the camp which lay behind, and reach'd,


s: Out on the sands beyond it, Rustum's tents.


s: Of scarlet cloth they were, and glittering gay,


s: Just pitch'd; the high pavilion in the midst


s: Was Rustum's, and his men lay camp'd around.


s: And Gudurz enter'd Rustum's tent, and found


s: Rustum; his morning meal was done, but still


s: The table stood before him, charged with food--


s: A side of roasted sheep, and cakes of bread,


s: And dark green melons; and there Rustum sate


s: Listless, and held a falcon on his wrist,


s: And play'd with it; but Gudurz came and stood


s: Before him; and he look'd, and saw him stand,


s: And with a cry sprang up and dropp'd the bird,


s: And greeted Gudurz with both hands, and said:--


s: "Welcome! these eyes could see no better sight.


s: What news? but sit down first, and eat and drink."


s: But Gudurz stood in the tent-door, and said:--


s: "Not now! a time will come to eat and drink,


s: The armies are drawn out, and stand at gaze;


s: For from the Tartars is a challenge brought


s: To pick a champion from the Persian lords


s: To fight their champion--and thou know'st his name--


s: Sohrab men call him, but his birth is hid.


s: O Rustum, like thy might is this young man's!


s: He has the wild stag's foot, the lion's heart;


s: And he is young, and Iran's chiefs are old,


s: Or else too weak; and all eyes turn to thee.


s: Come down and help us, Rustum, or we lose!"


s: He spoke; but Rustum answer'd with a smile:--


s: "Go to! if Iran's chiefs are old, then I


s: Am older; if the young are weak, the King


s: Errs strangely; for the King, for Kai Khosroo,


s: Himself is young, and honours younger men,


s: And lets the aged moulder to their graves.


s: Rustum he loves no more, but loves the young--


s: The young may rise at Sohrab's vaunts, not I.


s: For what care I, though all speak Sohrab's fame?


s: And not that one slight helpless girl I have--


s: A son so famed, so brave, to send to war,


s: And I to tarry with the snow-hair'd Zal,


s: And clip his borders short, and drive his herds,


s: And he has none to guard his weak old age.


s: There would I go, and hang my armour up,


s: And with my great name fence that weak old man,


s: And spend the goodly treasures I have got,


s: And rest my age, and hear of Sohrab's fame,


s: And leave to death the hosts of thankless kings,


s: And with these slaughterous hands draw sword no more."


s: He spoke, and smiled; and Gudurz made reply:--


s: "What then, O Rustum, will men say to this,


s: When Sohrab dares our bravest forth, and seeks


s: Thee most of all, and thou, whom most he seeks,


s: Hidest thy face? Take heed lest men should say:


s: _Like some old miser, Rustum hoards his fame,_


s: _And shuns to peril it with younger men._"


s: And, greatly moved, then Rustum made reply:--


s: "O Gudurz, wherefore dost thou say such words?


s: Thou knowest better words than this to say.


s: What is one more, one less, obscure or famed,


s: But who for men of nought would do great deeds?


s: Come, thou shalt see how Rustum hoards his fame!


s: But I will fight unknown, and in plain arms;


s: Let not men say of Rustum, he was match'd


s: He spoke, and frown'd; and Gudurz turn'd, and ran


s: Back quickly through the camp in fear and joy--


s: Fear at his wrath, but joy that Rustum came.


s: But Rustum strode to his tent-door, and call'd


s: His followers in, and bade them bring his arms,


s: And clad himself in steel; the arms he chose


s: Were plain, and on his shield was no device,


s: Only his helm was rich, inlaid with gold,


s: And, from the fluted spine atop, a plume


s: Of horsehair waved, a scarlet horsehair plume.


s: So arm'd, he issued forth; and Ruksh, his horse,


s: Follow'd him like a faithful hound at heel--


s: Ruksh, whose renown was noised through all the earth,


s: A colt beneath its dam, and drove him home,


s: And rear'd him; a bright bay, with lofty crest,


s: Dight with a saddle-cloth of broider'd green


s: Crusted with gold, and on the ground were work'd


s: All beasts of chase, all beasts which hunters know.


s: So follow'd, Rustum left his tents, and cross'd


s: The camp, and to the Persian host appear'd.


s: And all the Persians knew him, and with shouts


s: Hail'd; but the Tartars knew not who he was.


s: Of his pale wife who waits and weeps on shore,


s: Plunging all day in the blue waves, at night,


s: Having made up his tale of precious pearls,


s: Rejoins her in their hut upon the sands--


s: So dear to the pale Persians Rustum came.


s: And Rustum to the Persian front advanced,


s: And Sohrab arm'd in Haman's tent, and came.


s: Down through the middle of a rich man's corn,


s: And on each side are squares of standing corn,


s: And in the midst a stubble, short and bare--


s: So on each side were squares of men, with spears


s: Bristling, and in the midst, the open sand.


s: His eyes toward the Tartar tents, and saw


s: Sohrab come forth, and eyed him as he came.


s: Eyes through her silken curtains the poor drudge


s: Who with numb blacken'd fingers makes her fire--


s: At cock-crow, on a starlit winter's morn,


s: When the frost flowers the whiten'd window-panes--


s: And wonders how she lives, and what the thoughts


s: Of that poor drudge may be; so Rustum eyed


s: The unknown adventurous youth, who from afar


s: All the most valiant chiefs; long he perused


s: His spirited air, and wonder'd who he was.


s: For very young he seem'd, tenderly rear'd;


s: Like some young cypress, tall, and dark, and straight,


s: Which in a queen's secluded garden throws


s: Its slight dark shadow on the moonlit turf,


s: By midnight, to a bubbling fountain's sound--


s: So slender Sohrab seem'd, so softly rear'd.


s: And beckon'd to him with his hand, and said:--


s: "O thou young man, the air of Heaven is soft,


s: And warm, and pleasant; but the grave is cold!


s: Heaven's air is better than the cold dead grave.


s: And tried; and I have stood on many a field


s: Of blood, and I have fought with many a foe--


s: Never was that field lost, or that foe saved.


s: O Sohrab, wherefore wilt thou rush on death?


s: Be govern'd! quit the Tartar host, and come


s: There are no youths in Iran brave as thou."


s: So he spake, mildly; Sohrab heard his voice,


s: Sole, like some single tower, which a chief


s: Hath builded on the waste in former years


s: Against the robbers; and he saw that head,


s: Streak'd with its first grey hairs;--hope filled his soul,


s: And he ran forward and embraced his knees,


s: And clasp'd his hand within his own, and said:--


s: "O, by thy father's head! by thine own soul!


s: Art thou not Rustum? speak! art thou not he?"


s: But Rustum eyed askance the kneeling youth,


s: And turn'd away, and spake to his own soul:--


s: "Ah me, I muse what this young fox may mean!


s: False, wily, boastful, are these Tartar boys.


s: For if I now confess this thing he asks,


s: And hide it not, but say: _Rustum is here!_


s: He will not yield indeed, nor quit our foes,


s: But he will find some pretext not to fight,


s: And praise my fame, and proffer courteous gifts


s: A belt or sword perhaps, and go his way.


s: And on a feast-tide, in Afrasiab's hall,


s: 'I challenged once, when the two armies camp'd


s: To cope with me in single fight; but they


s: Shrank, only Rustum dared; then he and I


s: Changed gifts, and went on equal terms away.'


s: So will he speak, perhaps, while men applaud;


s: Then were the chiefs of Iran shamed through me."


s: And then he turn'd, and sternly spake aloud:--


s: "Rise! wherefore dost thou vainly question thus


s: Of Rustum? I am here, whom thou hast call'd


s: By challenge forth; make good thy vaunt, or yield!


s: Is it with Rustum only thou wouldst fight?


s: Rash boy, men look on Rustum's face and flee!


s: For well I know, that did great Rustum stand


s: Before thy face this day, and were reveal'd,


s: There would be then no talk of fighting more.


s: Either thou shalt renounce thy vaunt and yield,


s: Or else thy bones shall strew this sand, till winds


s: Bleach them, or Oxus with his summer-floods,


s: He spoke; and Sohrab answer'd, on his feet:--


s: "Art thou so fierce? Thou wilt not fright me so!


s: Yet this thou hast said well, did Rustum stand


s: Here on this field, there were no fighting then.


s: But Rustum is far hence, and we stand here.


s: Begin! thou art more vast, more dread than I,


s: And thou art proved, I know, and I am young--


s: But yet success sways with the breath of Heaven.


s: And though thou thinkest that thou knowest sure


s: Thy victory, yet thou canst not surely know.


s: For we are all, like swimmers in the sea,


s: Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate,


s: Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.


s: And whether it will heave us up to land,


s: Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death,


s: We know not, and no search will make us know;


s: Only the event will teach us in its hour."


s: He spoke, and Rustum answer'd not, but hurl'd


s: His spear; down from the shoulder, down it came,


s: As on some partridge in the corn a hawk,


s: That long has tower'd in the airy clouds,


s: Drops like a plummet; Sohrab saw it come,


s: And sprang aside, quick as a flash; the spear


s: Hiss'd, and went quivering down into the sand,


s: Which it sent flying wide;--then Sohrab threw


s: In turn, and full struck Rustum's shield; sharp rang,


s: The iron plates rang sharp, but turn'd the spear.


s: And Rustum seized his club, which none but he


s: Could wield; an unlopp'd trunk it was, and huge,


s: Still rough--like those which men in treeless plains


s: To build them boats fish from the flooded rivers,


s: By their dark springs, the wind in winter-time


s: And strewn the channels with torn boughs--so huge


s: The club which Rustum lifted now, and struck


s: One stroke; but again Sohrab sprang aside,


s: Lithe as the glancing snake, and the club came


s: Thundering to earth, and leapt from Rustum's hand.


s: And Rustum follow'd his own blow, and fell


s: To his knees, and with his fingers clutch'd the sand;


s: And now might Sohrab have unsheathed his sword,


s: And pierced the mighty Rustum while he lay


s: Dizzy, and on his knees, and choked with sand;


s: But he look'd on, and smiled, nor bared his sword,


s: But courteously drew back, and spoke, and said:--


s: "Thou strik'st too hard! that club of thine will float


s: Upon the summer-floods, and not my bones.


s: But rise, and be not wroth! not wroth am I;


s: No, when I see thee, wrath forsakes my soul.


s: Thou say'st, thou art not Rustum; be it so!


s: Who art thou then, that canst so touch my soul?


s: Have waded foremost in their bloody waves,


s: And heard their hollow roar of dying men;