s: In the heat of the midday the houses stood with shut doors.


s: An old man came out with his bag of gold.


s: He pondered and said, "I will hire you with my money."


s: He weighed his coins one by one, but I turned away.


s: It was evening.  The garden hedge was all aflower.


s: The fair maid came out and said, "I will hire you with a smile."


s: Her smile paled and melted into tears, and she went back alone


s: The sun glistened on the sand, and the sea waves broke waywardly.


s: He raised his head and seemed to know me, and said, "I hire you


s: From thenceforward that bargain struck in child's play made me a


s: Bid me and I shall gather my fruits to bring them in full baskets


s: For the season grows heavy with its fulness, and there is a


s: Bid me and I shall set sail on the river.


s: The March wind is fretful, fretting the languid waves into


s: The garden has yielded its all, and in the weary hour of evening


s: the call comes from your house on the shore in the sunset.


s: My life when young was like a flower--a flower that loosens a


s: petal or two from her abundance and never feels the loss when the


s: Now at the end of youth my life is like a fruit, having nothing


s: to spare, and waiting to offer herself completely with her full


s: Is summer's festival only for fresh blossoms and not also for


s: Is the song of the sea in tune only with the rising waves?


s: Does it not also sing with the waves that fall?


s: are patient clods waiting to be touched by his feet.


s: Few are the wise and the great who sit by my Master, but he has


s: taken the foolish in his arms and made me his servant for ever.


s: I woke and found his letter with the morning.


s: I do not know what it says, for I cannot read.


s: I shall leave the wise man alone with his books, I shall not


s: trouble him, for who knows if he can read what the letter says.


s: Let me hold it to my forehead and press it to my heart.


s: When the night grows still and stars come out one by one I will


s: The rustling leaves will read it aloud to me, the rushing stream


s: will chant it, and the seven wise stars will sing it to me from


s: I cannot find what I seek, I cannot understand what I would


s: learn; but this unread letter has lightened my burdens and turned


s: A handful of dust could hide your signal when I did not know its


s: Now that I am wiser I read it in all that hid it before.


s: It is painted in petals of flowers; waves flash it from their


s: foam; hills hold it high on their summits.


s: I had my face turned from you, therefore I read the letters awry


s: In the wide water, in the blue sky there is no line of a track.


s: The pathway is hidden by the birds' wings, by the star-fires, by


s: And I ask my heart if its blood carries the wisdom of the unseen


s: Alas, I cannot stay in the house, and home has become no home to


s: me, for the eternal Stranger calls, he is going along the road.


s: The sound of his footfall knocks at my breast; it pains me!


s: The wind is up, the sea is moaning.  I leave all my cares and


s: doubts to follow the homeless tide, for the Stranger calls me, he


s: Be ready to launch forth, my heart! and let those linger who


s: For your name has been called in the morning sky.


s: The desire of the bud is for the night and dew, but the blown


s: Burst your sheath, my heart, and come forth!


s: When I lingered among my hoarded treasure I felt like a worm that


s: I care not to haunt the mouldy stillness, for I go in search of


s: everlasting youth; I throw away all that is not one with my life


s: I run through time and, O my heart, in your chariot dances the


s: You took my hand and drew me to your side, made me sit on the


s: high seat before all men, till I became timid, unable to stir and


s: should tread upon any thorn of their disfavour.


s: The blow has come, the drum of insult sounded, my seat is laid


s: My wings are full of the desire of the sky.


s: I go to join the shooting stars of midnight, to plunge into the


s: I am like the storm-driven cloud of summer that, having cast off


s: its crown of gold, hangs as a sword the thunderbolt upon a chain


s: In desperate joy I run upon the dusty path of the despised; I


s: The child finds its mother when it leaves her womb.


s: When I am parted from you, thrown out from your household, I am


s: It bruises me when on my neck, it strangles me when I struggle to


s: It grips my throat, it chokes my singing.


s: Could I but offer it to your hand, my Lord, I would be saved.


s: Take it from me, and in exchange bind me to you with a garland,


s: Far below flowed the Jumna, swift and clear, above frowned the


s: Hills dark with the woods and scarred with the torrents were


s: Govinda, the great Sikh teacher, sat on the rock reading


s: scriptures, when Raghunath, his disciple, proud of his wealth,


s: came and bowed to him and said, "I have brought my poor present


s: Thus saying he displayed before the teacher a pair of gold


s: The master took up one of them, twirling it round his finger, and


s: Suddenly it slipped from his hand and rolled down the bank into


s: "Alas," screamed Raghunath, and jumped into the stream.


s: The teacher set his eyes upon his book, and the water held and


s: The daylight faded when Raghunath came back to the teacher tired


s: He panted and said, "I can still get it back if you show me where


s: The teacher took up the remaining bangle and throwing it into the


s: It is to sing to the falling of your feet.


s: He whom your breath touches does not glide by the shelter of the


s: He spreads a reckless sail to the wind and rides the turbulent


s: He who throws his doors open and steps onward receives your


s: He does not stay to count his gain or to mourn his loss; his


s: heart beats the drum for his march, for that is to march with you


s: My portion of the best in this world will come from your hands:


s: Therefore your light glistens in my tears.


s: I fear to be led by others lest I miss you waiting in some road


s: I walk my own wilful way till my very folly tempts you to my


s: For I have your promise that my portion of the best in this world


s: Your speech is simple, my Master, but not theirs who talk of you.


s: I understand the voice of your stars and the silence of your


s: I know that my heart would open like a flower; that my life has


s: Your songs, like birds from the lonely land of snow, are winging


s: to build their nests in my heart against the warmth of its April,


s: They knew the way and went to seek you along the narrow lane, but


s: I was not schooled enough to be afraid of you in the dark,


s: therefore I came upon your doorstep unaware.


s: The wise rebuked me and bade me be gone, for I had not come by


s: I turned away in doubt, but you held me fast, and their scolding


s: I brought out my earthen lamp from my house and cried, "Come,


s: The night was still dark when I returned, leaving the road to its


s: No: it is not yours to open buds into blossoms.


s: Shake the bud, strike it; it is beyond your power to make it


s: Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew them


s: Ah! it is not for you to open the bud into a blossom.


s: He who can open the bud does it so simply.


s: He gives it a glance, and the life-sap stirs through its veins.


s: At his breath the flower spreads its wings and flutters in the


s: Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays a


s: Sudâs, the gardener, plucked from his tank the last lotus left by


s: There he met a traveller who said to him, "Ask your price for the


s: Sudâs said, "If you pay one golden _mâshâ_ it will be yours."


s: At that moment the king came out and he wished to buy the flower,


s: would be a fine thing to lay at his feet the lotus that bloomed


s: When the gardener said he had been offered a golden mâshâ the


s: king offered him ten, but the traveller doubled the price.


s: The gardener, being greedy, imagined a greater gain from him for


s: whose sake they were bidding.  He bowed and said, "I cannot sell


s: In the hushed shade of the mango grove beyond the city wall Sudâs


s: and whose eyes beamed peace like the morning star of the


s: Sudâs looked in his face and put the lotus at his feet and bowed


s: Buddha smiled and asked, "What is your wish, my son?"


s: Sudâs cried, "The least touch of your feet."


s: Make me thy poet, O Night, veiled Night!


s: There are some who have sat speechless for ages in thy shadow;


s: Take me up on thy chariot without wheels, running noiselessly


s: from world to world, thou queen in the palace of time, thou


s: Many a questioning mind has stealthily entered thy courtyard and


s: roamed through thy lampless house seeking for answers.


s: From many a heart, pierced with the arrow of joy from the hands


s: of the Unknown, have burst forth glad chants, shaking the


s: Those wakeful souls gaze in the starlight in wonder at the


s: Make me their poet, O Night, the poet of thy fathomless silence.


s: I will meet one day the Life within me, the joy that hides in my


s: life, though the days perplex my path with their idle dust.


s: I have known it in glimpses, and its fitful breath has come upon


s: me, making my thoughts fragrant for a while.


s: I will meet one day the Joy without me that dwells behind the


s: screen of light--and will stand in the overflowing solitude where


s: This autumn morning is tired with excess of light, and if your


s: songs grow fitful and languid give me your flute awhile.


s: I shall but play with it as the whim takes me,--now take it on my


s: But in the solemn evening stillness I shall gather flowers, to


s: deck it with wreaths, I shall fill it with fragrance; I shall


s: Then at night I shall come to you and give you back your flute.


s: You will play on it the music of midnight when the lonely


s: The poet's mind floats and dances on the waves of life amidst the


s: Now when the sun has set and the darkened sky draws upon the sea


s: like drooping lashes upon a weary eye it is time to take away his


s: The night is dark and your slumber is deep in the hush of my


s: Wake, O Pain of Love, for I know not how to open the door, and I


s: The hours wait, the stars watch, the wind is still, the silence


s: Wake, Love, wake! brim my empty cup, and with a breath of song


s: Whence has he word of the morning before the morning breaks, and


s: when the dragon night still holds the sky in its cold black


s: Tell me, bird of the morning, how, through the twofold night of


s: the sky and the leaves, he found his way into your dream, the


s: The world did not believe you when you cried, "The sun is on his


s: Bare your forehead, waiting for the first blessing of light, and


s: sing with the bird of the morning in glad faith.


s: The beggar in me lifted his lean hands to the starless sky and


s: cried into night's ear with his hungry voice.


s: His prayers were to the blind Darkness who lay like a fallen god


s: The cry of desire eddied round a chasm of despair, a wailing bird


s: But when morning dropped anchor at the rim of the East, the


s: "Blessed am I that the deaf night denied me--that its coffer was


s: He cried, "O Life, O Light, you are precious! and precious is the


s: Sanâtan was telling his beads by the Ganges when a Brahmin in


s: rags came to him and said, "Help me, I am poor!"


s: "My alms-bowl is all that is my own," said Sanâtan, "I have given


s: "But my lord Shiva came to me in my dreams," said the Brahmin,


s: Sanâtan suddenly remembered he had picked up a stone without


s: price among the pebbles on the river-bank, and thinking that some


s: He pointed out the spot to the Brahmin, who wondering dug up the


s: The Brahmin sat on the earth and mused alone till the sun went


s: down behind the trees, and cowherds went home with their cattle.


s: Then he rose and came slowly to Sanâtan and said, "Master, give


s: me the least fraction of the wealth that disdains all the wealth


s: And he threw the precious stone into the water.


s: Time after time I came to your gate with raised hands, asking for


s: You gave and gave, now in slow measure, now in sudden excess.


s: I took some, and some things I let drop; some lay heavy on my


s: hands; some I made into playthings and broke them when tired;


s: till the wrecks and the hoard of your gifts grew immense, hiding


s: you, and the ceaseless expectation wore my heart out.


s: Shatter all from this beggar's bowl: put out this lamp of the


s: importunate watcher: hold my hands, raise me from the


s: still-gathering heap of your gifts into the bare infinity of


s: You have set me among those who are defeated.


s: I know it is not for me to win, nor to leave the game.


s: I shall plunge into the pool although but to sink to the bottom.


s: I shall stake all I have and when I lose my last penny I shall


s: stake myself, and then I think I shall have won through my utter


s: A smile of mirth spread over the sky when you dressed my heart in


s: She went from door to door, and many a time when her bowl was


s: At the end of the weary day she came to your palace gate holding


s: up her pitiful bowl, and you came and took her hand and seated


s: "Who among you will take up the duty of feeding the hungry?"


s: Lord Buddha asked his followers when famine raged at Shravasti.


s: Ratnâkar, the banker, hung his head and said, "Much more is


s: needed than all my wealth to feed the hungry."


s: Jaysen, the chief of the King's army, said, "I would gladly give


s: my life's blood, but there is not enough food in my house."


s: Dharmapâal, who owned broad acres of land, said with a sigh, "The


s: Then rose Supriyâ, the mendicant's daughter.


s: She bowed to all and meekly said, "I will feed the hungry."


s: "How!"  they cried in surprise.  "How can you hope to fulfil that


s: "I am the poorest of you all," said Supriyâ, "that is my


s: strength.  I have my coffer and my store at each of your houses."


s: My king was unknown to me, therefore when he claimed his tribute


s: I was bold to think I would hide myself leaving my debts unpaid.


s: I fled and fled behind my day's work and my night's dreams.


s: But his claims followed me at every breath I drew.


s: Thus I came to know that I am known to him and no place left


s: Now I wish to lay my all before his feet, and gain the right to


s: When I thought I would mould you, an image from my life for men


s: to worship, I brought my dust and desires and all my coloured


s: When I asked you to mould with my life an image from your heart


s: for you to love, you brought your fire and force, and truth,


s: "Sire," announced the servant to the King, "the saint Narottam


s: has never deigned to enter your royal temple.


s: "He is singing God's praise under the trees by the open road.


s: "They flock round him like bees round the white lotus, leaving


s: The King, vexed at heart, went to the spot where Narottam sat on


s: He asked him, "Father, why leave my temple of the golden dome and


s: "Because God is not there in your temple," said Narottam.


s: The King frowned and said, "Do you know, twenty millions of gold


s: went to the making of that marvel of art, and it was consecrated


s: "Yes, I know it," answered Narottam.  "It was in that year when


s: thousands of your people whose houses had been burned stood


s: "And God said, 'The poor creature who can give no shelter to his


s: "And he took his place with the shelterless under the trees by


s: "And that golden bubble is empty of all but hot vapour of pride."


s: The King cried in anger, "Leave my land."


s: Calmly said the saint, "Yes, banish me where you have banished my


s: Come, fighters, carrying your flags, and singers, with your


s: Come, pilgrims of the march, hurrying on your journey!


s: The trumpet lies in the dust waiting for us.


s: I was on my way to the temple with my evening offerings, seeking


s: for a place of rest after the day's dusty toil: hoping my hurts


s: would be healed and the stains in my garment washed white, when I


s: Was it not the hour for me to light my evening lamp?


s: Had not the night sung its lullaby to the stars?


s: O thou blood-red rose, my poppies of sleep have paled and faded!


s: I was certain my wanderings were over and my debts all paid when


s: suddenly I came upon thy trumpet lying in the dust.


s: Strike my drowsy heart with thy spell of youth!


s: Let my joy in life blaze up in fire.  Let the shafts of awakening


s: I have come to raise thy trumpet from the dust.


s: Sleep is no more for me--my walk shall be through showers of


s: Some shall run out of their houses and come to my side--some


s: Some in their beds shall toss and groan in dire dreams.


s: For to-night thy trumpet shall be sounded.


s: From thee I have asked peace only to find shame.


s: Now I stand before thee--help me to put on my armour!


s: Let hard blows of trouble strike fire into my life.


s: Let my heart beat in pain, the drum of thy victory.


s: My hands shall be utterly emptied to take up thy trumpet.


s: When, mad in their mirth, they raised dust to soil thy robe, O


s: I cried to thee and said, "Take thy rod of punishment and judge


s: The morning light struck upon those eyes, red with the revel of


s: night; the place of the white lily greeted their burning breath;


s: the stars through the depth of the sacred dark stared at their


s: carousing--at those that raised dust to soil thy robe, O


s: Thy judgment seat was in the flower garden, in the birds' notes


s: in springtime: in the shady river-banks, where the trees muttered


s: O my Lover, they were pitiless in their passion.


s: They prowled in the dark to snatch thy ornaments to deck their


s: When they had struck thee and thou wert pained, it pierced me to


s: the quick, and I cried to thee and said, "Take thy sword, O my


s: A mother's tears were shed on their insolence; the imperishable


s: faith of a lover hid their spears of rebellion in its own wounds.


s: Thy judgment was in the mute pain of sleepless love: in the blush


s: O Terrible, they in their reckless greed climbed thy gate at


s: night, breaking into thy storehouse to rob thee.


s: But the weight of their plunder grew immense, too heavy to carry


s: Thereupon I cried to thee and said, Forgive them, O Terrible!


s: Thy forgiveness burst in storms, throwing them down, scattering


s: Thy forgiveness was in the thunder-stone; in the shower of blood;


s: Upagupta, the disciple of Buddha, lay asleep on the dust by the


s: Lamps were all out, doors were all shut, and stars were all


s: Whose feet were those tinkling with anklets, touching his breast


s: He woke up startled, and the light from a woman's lamp struck his


s: pale-blue mantle, drunk with the wine of her youth.


s: She lowered her lamp and saw the young face, austerely beautiful.


s: "Forgive me, young ascetic," said the woman; "graciously come to


s: my house.  The dusty earth is not a fit bed for you."


s: The ascetic answered, "Woman, go on your way; when the time is


s: Suddenly the black night showed its teeth in a flash of


s: The storm growled from the corner of the sky, and the woman


s: The branches of the wayside trees were aching with blossom.


s: Gay notes of the flute came floating in the warm spring air from


s: The citizens had gone to the woods, to the festival of flowers.


s: From the mid-sky gazed the full moon on the shadows of the silent


s: The young ascetic was walking in the lonely street, while


s: overhead the lovesick _koels_ urged from the mango branches


s: Upagupta passed through the city gates, and stood at the base of


s: What woman lay in the shadow of the wall at his feet, struck with


s: The ascetic sat by her side, taking her head on his knees, and


s: moistened her lips with water and smeared her body with balm.


s: "Who are you, merciful one?"  asked the woman.


s: "The time, at last, has come to visit you, and I am here,"


s: This is no mere dallying of love between us, my lover.


s: Again and again have swooped down upon me the screaming nights of


s: Again and again the banks have burst, letting the flood sweep


s: away my harvest, and wailing and despair have rent my sky from


s: This have I learnt that there are blows of pain in your love,


s: The wall breaks asunder, light, like divine laughter, bursts in.


s: With your flashing sword cut in twain the tangle of doubt and


s: Come, you who are terrible in your whiteness.


s: O Light, your drum sounds in the march of fire, and the red torch


s: O fire, my brother, I sing victory to you.


s: You are the bright red image of fearful freedom.


s: You swing your arms in the sky, you sweep your impetuous fingers


s: across the harp-string, your dance music is beautiful.


s: When my days are ended and the gates are opened you will burn to


s: My body will be one with you, my heart will be caught in the


s: whirls of your frenzy, and the burning heat that was my life will


s: The Boatman is out crossing the wild sea at night.


s: The mast is aching because of its full sails filled with the


s: Stung with the night's fang the sky falls upon the sea, poisoned


s: The waves dash their heads against the dark unseen, and the


s: The Boatman is out, I know not for what tryst, startling the


s: night with the sudden white of his sails.


s: I know not at what shore, at last, he lands to reach the silent


s: courtyard where the lamp is burning and to find her who sits in


s: What is the quest that makes his boat care not for storm nor


s: Ah, no, the Boatman brings with him no treasure, but only a white


s: It is for her who watches alone at night with her lamp burning.


s: She dwells in the wayside hut.  Her loose hair flies in the wind


s: The storm shrieks through her broken doors, the light flickers in


s: Through the howl of the winds she hears him call her name, she


s: It is long since the Boatman sailed.  It will be long before the


s: The drums will not be beaten and none will know.


s: Only light shall fill the house, blessed shall be the dust, and


s: All doubts shall vanish in silence when the Boatman comes to the


s: I cling to this living raft, my body, in the narrow stream of my


s: I leave it when the crossing is over.  And then?


s: I do not know if the light there and the darkness are the same.


s: You muse and weep for the days that are done, poor heart!


s: It is time for you to take the parting of the ways!


s: His face will be unveiled once again and you shall meet.


s: Over the relic of Lord Buddha King Bimbisâr built a shrine, a


s: There in the evening would come all the brides and daughters of


s: the King's house to offer flowers and light lamps.


s: When the son became king in his time he washed his father's creed


s: The autumn day was dying.  The evening hour of worship was near.


s: Shrimati, the queen's maid, devoted to Lord Buddha, having bathed


s: white blossoms, silently raised her dark eyes to the queen's


s: The queen shuddered in fear and said, "Do you not know, foolish


s: girl, that death is the penalty for whoever brings worship to


s: Shrimati bowed to the queen, and turning away from her door came


s: and stood before Amitâ, the newly wed bride of the king's son.


s: A mirror of burnished gold on her lap, the newly wed bride was


s: braiding her dark long tresses and painting the red spot of good


s: Her hands trembled when she saw the young maid, and she cried,


s: "What fearful peril would you bring me! Leave me this instant."


s: Princess Shuklâ sat at the window reading her book of romance by


s: She started when she saw at her door the maid with the sacred


s: Her book fell down from her lap, and she whispered in Shrimati's


s: ears, "Rush not to death, daring woman!"


s: Shrimati walked from door to door.  She raised her head and


s: cried, "O women of the king's house, hasten!


s: "The time for our Lord's worship is come!"


s: Some shut their doors in her face and some reviled her.


s: The last gleam of daylight faded from the bronze dome of the


s: Deep shadows settled in street corners: the bustle of the city


s: was hushed: the gong at the temple of Shiva announced the time of


s: In the dark of the autumn evening, deep as a limpid lake, stars


s: throbbed with light, when the guards of the palace garden were


s: startled to see through the trees a row of lamps burning at the


s: They ran with their swords unsheathed, crying, "Who are you,


s: "I am Shrimati," replied a sweet voice, "the servant of Lord


s: The next moment her heart's blood coloured the cold marble with


s: And in the still hour of stars died the light of the last lamp of


s: The day that stands between you and me makes her last bow of


s: The night draws her veil over her face, and hides the one lamp


s: Your dark servant comes noiselessly and spreads the bridal carpet


s: My night has passed on the bed of sorrow, and my eyes are tired.


s: My heavy heart is not yet ready to meet morning with its crowded


s: Draw a veil over this naked light, beckon aside from me this


s: Let the mantle of tender darkness cover me in its folds, and


s: cover my pain awhile from the pressure of the world.


s: The time is past when I could repay her for all that I received.


s: Her night has found its morning and thou hast taken her to thy


s: arms: and to thee I bring my gratitude and my gifts that were for


s: For all hurts and offences to her I come to thee for forgiveness.


s: I offer to thy service those flowers of my love that remained in


s: I found a few old letters of mine carefully hidden in her box--a


s: few small toys for her memory to play with.


s: With a timorous heart she tried to steal these trifles from


s: time's turbulent stream, and said, "These are mine only!"


s: Ah, there is no one now to claim them, who can pay their price


s: with loving care, yet here they are still.


s: Surely there is love in this world to save her from utter loss,


s: even like this love of hers that saved these letters with such


s: Bring beauty and order into my forlorn life, woman, as you


s: brought them into my house when you lived.


s: Sweep away the dusty fragments of the hours, fill the empty jars,


s: Then open the inner door of the shrine, light the candle, and let


s: The pain was great when the strings were being tuned, my Master!


s: Begin your music, and let me forget the pain; let me feel in


s: beauty what you had in your mind through those pitiless days.


s: The waning night lingers at my doors, let her take her leave in


s: Pour your heart into my life strings, my Master, in tunes that


s: In the lightning flash of a moment I have seen the immensity of


s: your creation in my life--creation through many a death from


s: I weep at my unworthiness when I see my life in the hands of the


s: unmeaning hours,--but when I see it in your hands I know it is


s: too precious to be squandered among shadows.


s: I know that at the dim end of some day the sun will bid me its


s: Shepherds will play their pipes beneath the banyan trees, and


s: cattle graze on the slope by the river, while my days will pass


s: This is my prayer, that I may know before I leave why the earth


s: Why her night's silence spoke to me of stars, and her daylight


s: Before I go may I linger over my last refrain, completing its


s: music, may the lamp be lit to see your face and the wreath woven


s: What music is that in whose measure the world is rocked?


s: We laugh when it beats upon the crest of life, we shrink in


s: But the play is the same that comes and goes with the rhythm of


s: You hide your treasure in the palm of your hand, and we cry that


s: But open and shut your palm as you will, the gain and the loss


s: At the game you play with your own self you lose and win at once.


s: I have kissed this world with my eyes and my limbs; I have wrapt


s: it within my heart in numberless folds; I have flooded its days


s: and nights with thoughts till the world and my life have grown


s: one,--and I love my life because I love the light of the sky so


s: If to leave this world be as real as to love it--then there must


s: be a meaning in the meeting and the parting of life.


s: If that love were deceived in death, then the canker of this


s: deceit would eat into all things, and the stars would shrivel and


s: The Cloud said to me, "I vanish"; the Night said, "I plunge into


s: The Pain said, "I remain in deep silence as his footprint."


s: "I die into the fulness," said my life to me.


s: The Earth said, "My lights kiss your thoughts every moment."


s: "The days pass," Love said, "but I wait for you."


s: Death said, "I ply the boat of your life across the sea."


s: Tulsidas, the poet, was wandering, deep in thought, by the


s: Ganges, in that lonely spot where they burn their dead.


s: He found a woman sitting at the feet of the corpse of her dead


s: husband, gaily dressed as for a wedding.


s: She rose as she saw him, bowed to him, and said, "Permit me,


s: Master, with your blessing, to follow my husband to heaven."


s: "Why such hurry, my daughter?"  asked Tulsidas.  "Is not this


s: "For heaven I do not long," said the woman.  "I want my husband."


s: Tulsidas smiled and said to her, "Go back to your home, my child.


s: The woman went back with glad hope.  Tulsidas came to her every


s: day and gave her high thoughts to think, till her heart was


s: When the month was scarcely over, her neighbours came to her,


s: asking, "Woman, have you found your husband?"


s: "In my heart is my lord, one with me," said the woman.


s: You came for a moment to my side and touched me with the great


s: mystery of the woman that there is in the heart of creation.


s: She who is ever returning to God his own outflowing of


s: sweetness; she is the ever fresh beauty and youth in nature; she


s: dances in the bubbling streams and sings in the morning light;


s: she with heaving waves suckles the thirsty earth; in her the


s: Eternal One breaks in two in a joy that no longer may contain


s: itself, and overflows in the pain of love.


s: Who is she who dwells in my heart, the woman forlorn for ever?


s: I wooed her and I failed to win her.  I decked her with wreaths


s: A smile shone in her face for a moment, then it faded.


s: "I have no joy in thee," she cried, the woman in sorrow.


s: gem-studded; I made her a bed on a bedstead of gold.


s: There flickered a gleam of gladness in her eyes, then it died.


s: "I have no joy in these," she cried, the woman in sorrow.


s: I seated her upon a car of triumph and drove her from end to end


s: Conquered hearts bowed down at her feet, and shouts of applause


s: Pride shone in her eyes for a moment, then it was dimmed in


s: "I have no joy in conquest," she cried, the woman in sorrow.


s: I asked her, "Tell me whom do you seek?"


s: She only said, "I wait for him of the unknown name."


s: Days pass by and she cries, "When will my beloved come whom I


s: Yours is the light that breaks forth from the dark, and the good


s: that sprouts from the cleft heart of strife.


s: Yours is the house that opens upon the world, and the love that


s: Yours is the gift that still is a gain when everything is a loss,


s: Yours is the heaven that lies in the common dust, and you are


s: When the weariness of the road is upon me, and the thirst of the


s: sultry day; when the ghostly hours of the dusk throw their


s: shadows across my life, then I cry not for your voice only, my


s: There is an anguish in my heart for the burden of its riches not


s: Put out your hand through the night, let me hold it and fill it


s: and keep it; let me feel its touch along the lengthening stretch


s: The odour cries in the bud, "Ah me, the day departs, the happy


s: day of spring, and I am a prisoner in petals!"


s: Do not lose heart, timid thing! Your bonds will burst, the bud


s: will open into flower, and when you die in the fulness of life,


s: The odour pants and flutters within the bud, crying, "Ah me, the


s: hours pass by, yet I do not know where I go, or what it is I


s: Do not lose heart, timid thing! The spring breeze has overheard


s: your desire, the day will not end before you have fulfilled your


s: Dark is the future to her, and the odour cries in despair, "Ah


s: me, through whose fault is my life so unmeaning?


s: "Who can tell me, why I am at all?"  Do not lose heart, timid


s: thing! The perfect dawn is near when you will mingle your life


s: with all life and know at last your purpose.


s: She runs about your palace and plays, and tries to make of you a


s: She heeds not when her hair tumbles down and her careless garment


s: She falls asleep when you speak to her and answers not--and the


s: flower you give her in the morning slips to the dust from her


s: When the storm bursts and darkness is over the sky she is


s: sleepless; her dolls lie scattered on the earth and she clings to


s: She is afraid that she may fail in service to you.


s: But with a smile you watch her at her game.


s: The child sitting in the dust is your destined bride; her play


s: "What is there but the sky, O Sun, that can hold thine image?"


s: "I dream of thee, but to serve thee I can never hope," the


s: dewdrop wept and said, "I am too small to take thee unto me,


s: "I illumine the limitless sky, yet I can yield myself up to a


s: tiny drop of dew," thus the Sun said; "I shall become but a


s: sparkle of light and fill you, and your little life will be a


s: Not for me is the love that knows no restraint, but like the


s: foaming wine that having burst its vessel in a moment would run


s: Send me the love which is cool and pure like your rain that


s: blesses the thirsty earth and fills the homely earthen jars.


s: Send me the love that would soak down into the centre of being,


s: and from there would spread like the unseen sap through the


s: branching tree of life, giving birth to fruits and flowers.


s: Send me the love that keeps the heart still with the fulness of


s: The sun had set on the western margin of the river among the


s: The hermit boys had brought the cattle home, and sat round the


s: fire to listen to the master, Guatama, when a strange boy came,


s: and greeted him with fruits and flowers, and, bowing low at his


s: feet, spoke in a bird-like voice--"Lord, I have come to thee to


s: be taken into the path of the supreme Truth.


s: "Blessings be on thy head," said the master.


s: "Of what clan art thou, my child? It is only fitting for a


s: Brahmin to aspire to the highest wisdom."


s: "Master," answered the boy, "I know not of what clan I am.  I


s: Thus saying, Satyakâma took leave, and wading across the


s: shallow stream, came back to his mother's hut, which stood at the


s: The lamp burnt dimly in the room, and the mother stood at the


s: door in the dark waiting for her son's return.


s: She clasped him to her bosom, kissed him on his hair, and asked


s: "What is the name of my father, dear mother?"  asked the boy.


s: "It is only fitting for a Brahmin to aspire to the highest


s: The woman lowered her eyes, and spoke in a whisper.


s: "In my youth I was poor and had many masters.  Thou didst come to


s: The early rays of the sun glistened on the tree-tops of the


s: The students, with their tangled hair still wet with their


s: morning bath, sat under the ancient tree, before the master.


s: He bowed low at the feet of the sage, and stood silent.


s: "Tell me," the great teacher asked him, "of what clan art thou?"


s: "My lord," he answered, "I know it not.  My mother said when I


s: asked her, 'I had served many masters in my youth, and thou hadst


s: There rose a murmur like the angry hum of bees disturbed in their


s: Master Guatama rose from his seat, stretched out his arms, took


s: the boy to his bosom, and said, "Best of all Brahmins art thou,


s: my child.  Thou hast the noblest heritage of truth."


s: May be there is one house in this city where the gate opens for


s: ever this morning at the touch of the sunrise, where the errand


s: The flowers have opened in hedges and gardens, and may be there


s: is one heart that has found in them this morning the gift that


s: has been on its voyage from endless time.


s: Listen, my heart, in his flute is the music of the smell of wild


s: flowers, of the glistening leaves and gleaming water, of shadows


s: The flute steals his smile from my friend's lips and spreads it


s: You always stand alone beyond the stream of my songs.


s: The waves of my tunes wash your feet but I know not how to reach


s: This play of mine with you is a play from afar.


s: It is the pain of separation that melts into melody through my


s: I wait for the time when your boat crosses over to my shore and


s: Suddenly the window of my heart flew open this morning, the


s: I wondered to see that the name by which you know me is written


s: in April leaves and flowers, and I sat silent.


s: The curtain was blown away for a moment between my songs and


s: I found that your morning light was full of my own mute songs


s: unsung; I thought that I would learn them at your feet--and I sat


s: You were in the centre of my heart, therefore when my heart


s: wandered she never found you; you hid yourself from my loves and


s: hopes till the last, for you were always in them.


s: You were the inmost joy in the play of my youth, and when I was


s: too busy with the play the joy was passed by.


s: You sang to me in the ecstasies of my life and I forgot to sing


s: When you hold your lamp in the sky it throws its light on my face


s: When I hold the lamp of love in my heart its light falls on you


s: and I am left standing behind in the shadow.


s: O the waves, the sky-devouring waves, glistening with light,


s: dancing with life, the waves of eddying joy, rushing for ever.


s: The stars rock upon them, thoughts of every tint are cast up out


s: of the deep and scattered on the beach of life.


s: Birth and death rise and fall with their rhythm, and the sea-gull


s: The joy ran from all the world to build my body.


s: The lights of the skies kissed and kissed her till she woke.


s: Flowers of hurrying summers sighed in her breath and voices of


s: The passion of the tide of colours in clouds and in forests


s: flowed into her life, and the music of all things caressed her


s: She is my bride,--she has lighted her lamp in my house.


s: The spring with its leaves and flowers has come into my body.


s: The bees hum there the morning long, and the winds idly play with


s: A sweet fountain springs up from the heart of my heart.


s: My eyes are washed with delight like the dew-bathed morning, and


s: life is quivering in all my limbs like the sounding strings of


s: Are you wandering alone by the shore of my life, where the tide


s: is in flood, O lover of my endless days?


s: Are my dreams flitting round you like the moths with their


s: And are those your songs that are echoing in the dark eaves of my


s: Who but you can hear the hum of the crowded hours that sounds in


s: my veins to-day, the glad steps that dance in my breast, the


s: clamour of the restless life beating its wings in my body?


s: My bonds are cut, my debts are paid, my door has been opened, I


s: They crouch in their corner and weave their web of pale hours,


s: they count their coins sitting in the dust and call me back.


s: But my sword is forged, my armour is put on, my horse is eager to


s: It was only the other day that I came to your earth, naked and


s: To-day my voice is glad, while you, my lord, stand aside to make


s: Even when I bring you my songs for an offering I have the secret


s: hope that men will come and love me for them.


s: You love to discover that I love this world where you have


s: Timidly I cowered in the shadow of safety, but now, when the


s: surge of joy carries my heart upon its crest, my heart clings to


s: I sat alone in a corner of my house thinking it too narrow for


s: any guest, but now when its door is flung open by an unbidden joy


s: I walked upon tiptoe, careful of my person, perfumed, and


s: adorned--but now when a glad whirlwind has overthrown me in the


s: dust I laugh and roll on the earth at thy feet like a child.


s: The world is yours at once and for ever.


s: And because you have no want, my king, you have no pleasure in


s: It is as though it were naught.  Therefore through slow time you


s: give me what is yours, and ceaselessly win your kingdom in me.


s: Day after day you buy your sunrise from my heart, and you find


s: your love carven into the image of my life.


s: To the birds you gave songs, the birds gave you songs in return.


s: You gave me only voice, yet asked for more, and I sing.


s: You made your winds light and they are fleet in their service.


s: You burdened my hands that I myself may lighten them, and at


s: last, gain unburdened freedom for your service.


s: You created your Earth filling its shadows with fragments of


s: There you paused; you left me empty-handed in the dust to create


s: To all things else you give; from me you ask.


s: The harvest of my life ripens in the sun and the shower till I


s: reap more than you sowed, gladdening your heart, O Master of the


s: Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless


s: Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain but for the heart to


s: Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield but to my own


s: Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved but hope for the


s: Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling your mercy in my


s: success alone; but let me find the grasp of your hand in my


s: You did not know yourself when you dwelt alone, and there was no


s: crying of an errand when the wind ran from the hither to the


s: I came and you woke, and the skies blossomed with lights.


s: You made me open in many flowers; rocked me in the cradles of


s: many forms; hid me in death and found me again in life.


s: I came and your heart heaved; pain came to you and joy.


s: But in my eyes there is a film of shame and in my breast a


s: flicker of fear; my face is veiled and I weep when I cannot see


s: Yet I know the endless thirst in your heart for sight of me, the


s: thirst that cries at my door in the repeated knockings of


s: You, in your timeless watch, listen to my approaching steps while


s: The nearer I draw to you the deeper grows the fervour in the


s: Your world is a branching spray of light filling your hands, but


s: your heaven is in my secret heart; it slowly opens its buds in


s: I will utter your name, sitting alone among the shadows of my


s: I will utter it without words, I will utter it without purpose.


s: For I am like a child that calls its mother an hundred times,


s: I feel that all the stars shine in me.  The world breaks into my


s: The flowers blossom in my body.  All the youthfulness of land and


s: things plays on my thoughts as on a flute.


s: When the world sleeps I come to your door.


s: The stars are silent, and I am afraid to sing.


s: I wait and watch, till your shadow passes by the balcony of night


s: Then in the morning I sing by the roadside;


s: The flowers in the hedge give me answer and the morning air


s: The travellers suddenly stop and look in my face, thinking I have


s: Keep me at your door ever attending to your wishes, and let me go


s: Let me not sink and disappear in the depth of languor.


s: Let not my life be worn out to tatters by penury of waste.


s: Let not those doubts encompass me,--the dust of distractions.


s: Let me not pursue many paths to gather many things.


s: Let me not bend my heart to the yoke of the many.


s: Let me hold my head high in the courage and pride of being your


s: The call midst the fire-floods and poisonous clouds


s: --The Captain's call to the steersman to turn the ship to an


s: For that time is over--the stagnant time in the port--


s: Where the same old merchandise is bought and sold in an endless


s: Where dead things drift in the exhaustion and emptiness of truth.


s: The clouds have blotted away the stars--


s: Who is there then can see the beckoning finger of the day?


s: They run out with oars in hand, the beds are emptied, the mother


s: There is a wail of parting that rises to the sky,


s: And there is the Captain's voice in the dark:


s: "Come, sailors, for the time in the harbour is over!"


s: All the black evils in the world have overflowed their banks,


s: Yet, oarsmen, take your places with the blessing of sorrow in


s: Whom do you blame, brothers? Bow your heads down!


s: The heat growing in the heart of God for ages--


s: The cowardice of the weak, the arrogance of the strong, the greed


s: Like a ripe pod, let the tempest break its heart into pieces,


s: Stop your bluster of dispraise and of self-praise,


s: And with the calm of silent prayer on your foreheads sail to that


s: We have known sins and evils every day and death we have known;


s: They pass over our world like clouds mocking us with their


s: Suddenly they have stopped, become a prodigy,


s: "We do not fear you, O Monster! for we have lived every day by


s: "And we die with the faith that Peace is true, and Good is true,


s: If the Deathless dwell not in the heart of death,


s: If glad wisdom bloom not bursting the sheath of sorrow,


s: If sin do not die of its own revealment,


s: If pride break not under its load of decorations,


s: Then whence comes the hope that drives these men from their homes


s: Shall the value of the martyrs' blood and mothers' tears be


s: utterly lost in the dust of the earth, not buying Heaven with


s: And when Man bursts his mortal bounds, is not the Boundless


s: My Master has bid me while I stand at the roadside, to sing the


s: song of Defeat, for that is the bride whom He woos in secret.


s: She has put on the dark veil, hiding her face from the crowd, but


s: She is forsaken of the day, and God's night is waiting for her


s: with its lamps lighted and flowers wet with dew.


s: She is silent with her eyes downcast; she has left her home


s: behind her, from her home has come that wailing in the wind.


s: But the stars are singing the love-song of the eternal to a face


s: The door has been opened in the lonely chamber, the call has


s: sounded, and the heart of the darkness throbs with awe because of


s: Those who walk on the path of pride crushing the lowly life under


s: Let them rejoice, and thank thee, Lord, for the day is theirs.


s: But I am thankful that my lot lies with the humble who suffer and


s: For every throb of their pain has pulsed in the secret depth of


s: thy night, and every insult has been gathered into thy great


s: O Sun, rise upon the bleeding hearts blossoming in flowers of the


s: "_Tales of the Mermaid Tavern_" where certain poets and


s: discoverers of another kind were brought together round a central


s: endeavoured to follow the torch of science to its own deep-set


s: boundary-mark in that immense darkness of Space and Time.


s: At noon, upon the mountain's purple height,


s: Above the pine-woods and the clouds it shone


s: No larger than the small white dome of shell


s: Left by the fledgling wren when wings are born.


s: By night it joined the company of heaven,


s: And, with its constant light, became a star.


s: A needle-point of light, minute, remote,


s: It sent a subtler message through the abyss,


s: Held more significance for the seeing eye


s: Than all the darkness that would blot it out,


s: Alive with all the thoughts, and hopes, and dreams


s: That darkness once again, and win new worlds.


s: To-morrow night they hoped to crown the toil


s: War had delayed them. They had been drawn away


s: "To-morrow night"--so wrote their chief--"we try


s: Our great new telescope, the hundred-inch.


s: Your Milton's 'optic tube' has grown in power


s: Talked with him, in that prison, of the sky.


s: We creep to power by inches. Europe trusts


s: And now our hundred-inch . . . I hardly dare


s: To think what this new muzzle of ours may find.


s: Come up, and spend that night among the stars


s: Here, on our mountain-top. If all goes well,


s: Then, at the least, my friend, you'll see a moon


s: Stranger, but nearer, many a thousand mile


s: Than earth has ever seen her, even in dreams.


s: As for the stars, if seeing them were all,


s: Three thousand million new-found points of light


s: Is our rough guess. But never speak of this.


s: You know our press. They'd miss the one result


s: To flash 'three thousand millions' round the world."


s: To-morrow night! For more than twenty years,


s: They had thought and planned and worked. Ten years had gone,


s: One-fourth, or more, of man's brief working life,


s: Before they made those solid tons of glass,


s: Their hundred-inch reflector, the clear pool,


s: The polished flawless pool that it must be


s: And, even now, some secret flaw--none knew


s: Until to-morrow's test--might waste it all.


s: Where was the gambler that would stake so much,--


s: Time, patience, treasure, on a single throw?


s: The cost of it,--they'd not find that again,


s: Either in gold or life-stuff! All their youth


s: Once in a lifetime to the man of science,


s: Despite what fools believe his ice-cooled blood,


s: For fresh beginnings. Other men, no doubt,


s: Years hence, will use the footholes that he cut


s: In those precipitous cliffs, and reach the height,


s: The light words of that letter seemed to hide


s: The crowning moment of its hope and fear.


s: Next day, through whispering aisles of palm we rode


s: Up to the foot-hills, dreaming desert-hills


s: That to assuage their own delicious drought


s: Had set each tawny sun-kissed slope ablaze


s: Along the thin white trail that wound and climbed


s: And zig-zagged through the grey-green mountain sage,


s: The car went crawling, till the shining plain


s: Below it, like an airman's map, unrolled.


s: Houses and orchards dwindled to white specks


s: In midget cubes and squares of tufted green.


s: Once, as we rounded one steep curve, that made


s: The head swim at the canyoned gulf below,


s: We saw through thirty miles of lucid air


s: Elvishly small, sharp as a crumpled petal


s: Blown from the stem, a yard away, a sail


s: Up for nine miles along that spiral trail


s: Slowly we wound to reach the lucid height


s: Above the clouds, where that white dome of shell,


s: No wren's now, but an eagle's, took the flush


s: Of dying day. The sage-brush all died out,


s: And all the southern growths, and round us now,


s: Firs of the north, and strong, storm-rooted pines


s: Exhaled a keener fragrance; till, at last,


s: They towered like giants round us. Darkness fell


s: Before we reached the mountain's naked height.


s: Over us, like some great cathedral dome,


s: And the dark mountain with its headlong gulfs


s: For all those cloudless throngs of glittering stars


s: And all those glimmerings where the abyss of space


s: Is powdered with a milky dust, each grain


s: Of its own darkling planets,--all those lights


s: Met, in a darker deep, the lights of earth,


s: Lights on the sea, lights of invisible towns,


s: Trembling and indistinguishable from stars,


s: In those black gulfs around the mountain's feet.


s: Then, into the glimmering dome, with bated breath,


s: Uptowering like the shaft of some huge gun


s: With naked arms, the crew that all day long


s: Had sweated to make ready for this night


s: With elfin lamps of white and red, and keys


s: Whence, at a finger's touch, that monstrous tube


s: Moved like a creature dowered with life and will,


s: The clock-machine that slowly, throb by throb,


s: Timed to the pace of the revolving earth,


s: Fixed to the chosen star that else would glide


s: Balanced against the wheel of time, it swung,


s: Or rested, while, to find new realms of sky


s: The dome that housed it, like a moon revolved,


s: So smoothly that the watchers hardly knew


s: They moved within; till, through the glimmering doors,


s: They saw the dark procession of the pines


s: Like Indian warriors, quietly stealing by.


s: Then, at a word, the mighty weapon dipped


s: Its muzzle and aimed at one small point of light


s: Mounting the ladder, while we held our breath,


s: His thanks to God, and hide it in a jest.


s: "What do you mean?"--"It's moving," cried the chief,


s: They laughed again, and watched his glimmering face


s: High overhead against that moving tower.


s: And, though each laughed as he returned to earth,


s: And saw that insignificant spark of light


s: Touched with new meaning, beautifully reborn,


s: A swimming world, a perfect rounded pearl,


s: Poised in the violet sky; and, as I gazed,


s: I saw a miracle,--right on its upmost edge


s: Then, like an exquisite seed-pearl, swung quite clear


s: And swam in heaven above its parent world


s: Than mortal eyes had seen before from earth,


s: O, beautiful and clear beyond all dreams


s: Was that one silver phrase of the starry tune


s: _"Jupiter stands in heaven and will stand


s: Though all the sycophants bark at him,"_ he cried,


s: Hailing the truth before he, too, went down,


s: Whelmed in the cloudy wreckage of that dream.


s: So one by one we looked, the men who served


s: Urania, and the men from Vulcan's forge.


s: A beautiful eagerness in the darkness lit


s: The swarthy faces that too long had missed


s: Of labour on this blind earth, but found it now.


s: Hopelessly far above, it gave their toil


s: There, with dark-smouldering eyes and naked throats,


s: Blue-dungareed, red-shirted, grimed and smeared


s: With engine-grease and sweat, they gathered round


s: The foot of that dim ladder; each muttering low


s: As he came down, his wonder at what he saw


s: To those who waited,--a picture for the brush


s: Above them, where the giant muzzle thrust


s: Out through the dim arched roof, and slowly throbbed,


s: Against the slowly moving wheel of the earth,


s: Perched on the side of that dark slanting tower


s: The Italian mechanician watched the moons,


s: American, English, French, and Dutch, they climbed


s: To see the wonder that their own blind hands


s: To adjust the clock-machine, I wandered out


s: The silence? On that lonely height I heard


s: Whence almost all the lights had vanished now,


s: The whole dark mountain seemed to have lost its earth


s: And to be sailing like a ship through heaven.


s: All round it surged the mighty sea-like sound


s: Of soughing pine-woods, one vast ebb and flow


s: Of absolute peace, aloof from all earth's pain,


s: So calm, so quiet, it seemed the cradle-song,


s: Over its youngest child, the soul of man.


s: O you, that on your loftier mountain dwell


s: And move like light in light among the thoughts


s: This long dark fight for truth? Not one to touch


s: With beauty this long battle for the light,


s: This little victory of the spirit of man


s: Doomed to defeat--for what was all we saw


s: To that which neither eyes nor soul could see?--


s: Climbing its nine miles nearer to the stars.


s: Wars we have sung. The blind, blood-boltered kings


s: Move with an epic music to their thrones.


s: Have you no song, then, of that nobler war?


s: Of those who strove for light, but could not dream


s: Even of this victory that they helped to win,


s: Prisoners and exiles, martyrs of the truth


s: Who handed on the fire, from age to age;


s: Of those who, step by step, drove back the night


s: And struggled, year on year, for one more glimpse


s: Among the stars, of sovran law, their guide;


s: Of those who searching inward, saw the rocks


s: To build and to unbuild our solid world;


s: Of those who conquered, inch by difficult inch,


s: The freedom of this realm of law for man;


s: Dreamers of dreams, the builders of our hope,


s: The healers and the binders up of wounds,


s: Who, while the dynasts drenched the world with blood,


s: Would in the still small circle of a lamp


s: With ultimate light, the glimmer of that great dawn


s: Which over our ruined altars yet shall break


s: From darker dreams than even Lucretius knew


s: To vision of that one Power which guides the world.


s: How should men find it? Only through those doors


s: Which, opening inward, in each separate soul


s: Give each man access to that Soul of all


s: Living within each life, not to be found


s: Or known, till, looking inward, each alone


s: And there was one that moved like light in light


s: Before me there,--Love, human and divine,


s: That can exalt all weakness into power,--


s: Whispering, _Take this deathless torch of song_...


s: Whispering, but with such faith, that even I


s: Through love, though all the wisdom of the world


s: To every shaft, then, so that Love be still


s: Of those who caught the pure Promethean fire


s: One from another, each crying as he went down


s: To one that waited, crowned with youth and joy,--


s: _Take thou the splendour, carry it out of sight


s: Into the great new realm I must not tread_.


s: The neighbours gossiped idly at the door.


s: His little throng of friends, with startled eyes,


s: Whispered together, in that dark house of dreams,


s: From which by one dim crevice in the wall


s: From Nuremberg at last; but who would dare


s: Though Rome approved in full, this preface, look,


s: Declares that his discoveries are a dream!"--


s: "He has asked a thousand times if it has come;


s: That was the priest's voice in the room above.


s: May set his mind at rest, and bring him peace."--


s: Then, stealing quietly to that upper door,


s: Who made our world a world without an end.


s: There, in that narrow room, they saw his face


s: Grey, seamed with thought, lit by a single lamp;


s: Closing, that once had looked beyond the spheres


s: And seen our ancient firmaments dissolve


s: Two women, like bowed shadows. At his feet,


s: An old physician watched him. At his head,


s: The cowled Franciscan murmured, while the light


s: The fragrance of the wine was like faint flowers,


s: The first breath of those far celestial fields....


s: Then, like a dying soldier, that must leave


s: His last command to others, while the fight


s: Copernicus whispered, in a fevered dream,


s: "Yes, it is Death. But you must hold him back,


s: There, in the doorway, for a little while,


s: Use all your weapons, doctor. I must live


s: Have they not brought it yet?--from Nuremberg.


s: I could die then. My use would be fulfilled.


s: What has delayed them? Will not some one go


s: And tell them that my strength is running out?


s: Tell them that book would be an angel's hand


s: You see, I hid its struggling light so long


s: Of life's brief day, I could not see the need


s: As now I see it, when the night shuts down.


s: The lights that guide us for the souls of men.


s: And take what daylight shows us for the truth.


s: Then we discover, in some midnight grief,


s: How all day long the sunlight blinded us


s: To depths beyond, where all our knowledge dies.


s: That's where men shrink, and lose their way in doubt.


s: Then, last, as death draws nearer, comes a night


s: So, all my life I pondered on that scheme


s: Which makes this earth the centre of all worlds,


s: Lighted and wheeled around by sun and moon


s: And that great crystal sphere wherein men thought


s: Myriads of lesser stars were fixed like lamps,


s: Each in its place,--one mighty glittering wheel


s: Night after night, with even pace they moved.


s: Year after year, not altering by one point,


s: Their order, or their stations, those fixed stars


s: Still pointed to the Pole. Fixed in their sphere,


s: How else explain that vast unchanging wheel?


s: How, but by thinking all those lesser lights


s: By so immense a gulf that, if they moved


s: Ten thousand leagues an hour among themselves,


s: It would not seem one hair's-breadth to our eyes.


s: And yet we daily kneel to boundless Power


s: This did not daunt me, then. Indeed, I saw


s: Light upon chaos. Many discordant dreams


s: For what could be more baffling than the thought


s: That those enormous heavens must circle earth


s: Swiftness to which the lightning flash would seem


s: A white slug creeping on the walls of night;


s: It was our moving selves that made the sky


s: In life, thought, art? Men think, at every turn


s: Of their own souls, the very heavens have moved.


s: Light upon chaos, light, and yet more light;


s: For--as I watched the planets--Venus, Mars,


s: Appeared to wax and wane from month to month


s: As though they moved, now near, now far, from earth.


s: Earth could not be their centre. Was the sun


s: Their sovran lord then, as Pythagoras held?


s: Was this great earth, so 'stablished, so secure,


s: Around the sun? If this were true, my friends,


s: Not that blind maelstrom where imperial Rome


s: Went down into the dark, could so engulf


s: All that we thought we knew. We who believed


s: In our own majesty, we who walked with gods


s: As younger sons on this proud central stage,


s: Round which the whole bright firmament revolved


s: That darkness lightly. I withheld my book


s: And Rome approved me--have they not brought it yet?--


s: That this tremendous music could not drown


s: Or quench the light that shone when Christ was born.


s: For who, if one lost star could lead the kings


s: To God's own Son, would shrink from following these


s: We know, the soul of man can soar through heaven.


s: It is our own wild wings that dwarf the world


s: Take courage, then. If its own thought be true,


s: No. This new night was needed, that the soul


s: To its full stature. So, in face of death,


s: I saw that I must speak the truth I knew.


s: Have they not brought it? What delays my book?


s: I am afraid. Tell me the truth, my friends.


s: At this last hour, the Church may yet withhold


s: Her sanction. Not the Church, but those who think


s: They would do well. If the poor light we win


s: Confuse or blind us, to the Light of lights,


s: A greater Darkness, where the one true Church


s: And many an age of doubt, perhaps, to come,


s: See this processional host of splendours burn


s: I caught the fire from those who went before,


s: The bearers of the torch who could not see


s: The goal to which they strained. I caught their fire,


s: And carried it, only a little way beyond;


s: But there are those that wait for it, I know,


s: I dare not fail them. Looking back, I see


s: Those others,--fallen, with their arms outstretched


s: With those dark funnels pointing to the north,


s: Through which the Pharaohs from their desert tombs


s: Gaze all night long upon the Polar Star,


s: Some wandering Arab crept from death to life


s: Led by the Plough across those wastes of pearl....


s: Long, long ago--have they not brought it yet?


s: My book?--I finished it one summer's night,


s: And felt my blood all beating into song.


s: I meant to print those verses in my book,


s: Which darkens all our knowledge. Then I thought


s: Those verses, Elsa? They would pass the time.


s: How happy I was the night I wrote that song!"


s: Then, one of those bowed shadows raised her head


s: And, like a mother crooning to her child,


s: Murmured the words he wrote, so long ago.


s: A shadow moved towards him from the door.


s: Copernicus, with a cry, upraised his head.


s: Put out the lamp, now. Draw those curtains back,


s: And let me die with starlight on my face.


s: An angel's hand in mine . . . yes; I can say


s: My _nunc dimittis_ now . . . light, and more light


s: In that pure realm whose darkness is our peace."


s: They thought him a magician, Tycho Brahe,


s: Who lived on that strange island in the Sound,


s: The Mermaid Inn the year that Shakespeare died.


s: Fynes Moryson had brought his travellers' tales


s: Of Wheen, the heart-shaped isle where Tycho made


s: His great discoveries, and, with Jeppe, his dwarf,


s: And flaxen-haired Christine, the peasant girl,


s: Dreamed his great dreams for five-and-twenty years.


s: For there he lit that lanthorn of the law,


s: With Pegasus flying above its loftiest tower,


s: While, in its roofs, like wide enchanted eyes


s: Watching, the brightest windows in the world,


s: Nine miles from Elsinore, with all those ghosts,


s: There's magic enough in that! But white-cliffed Wheen,


s: Six miles in girth, with crowds of hunchback waves


s: Crawling all round it, and those moonstruck windows,


s: Held its own magic, too; for Tycho Brahe


s: Had so enriched the soil, that when the king


s: Of England wished to buy it, Denmark asked


s: A price too great for any king on earth.


s: "Give us," they said, "in scarlet cardinal's cloth


s: Enough to cover it, and, at every corner,


s: Then all that kings can buy of Wheen is yours.


s: Only," said they, "a merchant bought it once;


s: And, when he came to claim it, goblins flocked


s: All round him, from its forty goblin farms,


s: And mocked him, bidding him take away the stones


s: That he had bought, for nothing else was his."


s: These things were fables. They were also true.


s: They thought him a magician, Tycho Brahe,


s: The astrologer, who wore the mask of gold.


s: Perhaps he was. There's magic in the truth;


s: And only those who find and follow its laws


s: From that strange year in boyhood when he heard


s: The great eclipse foretold; and, on the day


s: Beheld the weirdly punctual shadow creep


s: Across the sun, bewildering all the birds


s: Of thick red hair, thrusting his freckled face


s: Out of his upper window, holding the piece


s: Of glass he blackened above his candle-flame


s: "So it is true. By searching in the heavens,


s: Below him, throngs were babbling of the plague


s: To make himself the master of that deep art


s: Of Stadius, with his tables of the stars.


s: Night after night, among the gabled roofs,


s: Climbing and creeping through a world unknown


s: Save to the roosting stork, he learned to find


s: The constellations, Cassiopeia's throne,


s: The Plough still pointing to the Polar Star,


s: The sword-belt of Orion. There he watched


s: The movements of the planets, hours on hours,


s: All this he did in secret, for his birth


s: Was noble, and such wonderings were a sign


s: Of low estate, when Tycho Brahe was young;


s: And all his kinsmen hoped that Tycho Brahe


s: Would live, serene as they, among his dogs


s: Let the superfluous glory flow from fields


s: Where blood might still be shed; or from those courts


s: Where statesmen lie. But Tycho sought the truth.


s: So, when they sent him in his tutor's charge


s: To Leipzig, for such studies as they held


s: More worthy of his princely blood, he searched


s: The Almagest; and, while his tutor slept,


s: Measured the delicate angles of the stars,


s: His only instrument. Even with this rude aid


s: He found so many an ancient record wrong


s: That more and more he burned to find the truth.


s: One night at home, as Tycho searched the sky,


s: Upon some loftier star, a ripple of laughter


s: Startled him, from the garden walk below.


s: He lowered his compass, peered into the dark


s: And saw--Christine, the blue-eyed peasant girl,


s: With bare brown feet, standing among the flowers.


s: She held what seemed an apple in her hand;


s: And, in a voice that Aprilled all his blood,


s: The low soft voice of earth, drawing him down


s: From those cold heights to that warm breast of Spring,


s: A natural voice that had not learned to use


s: The false tones of the world, simple and clear


s: As a bird's voice, out of the fragrant darkness called,


s: "I saw it falling from your window-ledge!


s: I thought it was an apple, till it rolled


s: Of purple across one small arched glistening foot.


s: And plucked the stain off. "Only a petal, see."


s: Or Tycho failed to catch that slippery sphere.


s: The ripe red lips that parted as she laughed,


s: And those deep eyes where all the stars were drowned.


s: At the third time he caught it; and she vanished,


s: Waving her hand, a little floating moth,


s: Between the pine-trees, into the warm dark night.


s: He turned into his room, and quickly thrust


s: For the door opened, and the hot red face


s: Of Otto Brahe, his father, glowered at him.


s: Limped to the bedside, pulled the mystery out,


s: And stared upon the strangest apple of Eve


s: That ever troubled Eden,--heavy as bronze,


s: And delicately enchased with silver stars,


s: The small celestial globe that Tycho bought


s: This moon-struck 'pothecary's-prentice  work,


s: Would damn the mother of any Knutsdorp squire,


s: And crown his father like a stag of ten.


s: Quarrel on quarrel followed from that night,


s: Till Tycho sickened of his ancient name;


s: And, wandering through the woods about his home,


s: Found on a hill-top, ringed with fragrant pines,


s: A little open glade of whispering ferns.


s: Thither, at night, he stole to watch the stars;


s: And there he told the oldest tale on earth


s: To one that watched beside him, one whose eyes


s: Shone with true love, more beautiful than the stars,


s: A daughter of earth, the peasant-girl, Christine.


s: They met there, in the dusk, on his last night


s: They stood knee-deep among the whispering ferns,


s: "And shame them for their folly, who would set


s: Their pride above the stars, Christine, and you.


s: More chances and more knowledge. All those worlds


s: Are still to conquer. We know nothing yet;


s: The books are crammed with fables. They foretell


s: Here an eclipse, and there a dawning moon,


s: But most of them were out a month or more


s: Whereby the stars are steered, and so to read


s: And that's to watch them, watch them, and record


s: The truth we know, and not the lies we dream.


s: Dear, while I watch them, though the hills and sea


s: Divide us, every night our eyes can meet


s: Among those constant glories. Every night


s: Your eyes and mine, upraised to that bright realm,


s: Can, in one moment, speak across the world.


s: I shall come back with knowledge and with power,


s: In silence, with the starlight of her eyes.


s: He watched the skies at Wittenberg. The plague


s: Drove him to Rostoch, and he watched them there;


s: But, even there, the plague of little minds


s: His noble countryman, Manderup, who asked,


s: With mocking courtesy, whether Tycho Brahe


s: At country fairs. The guests, and Tycho, laughed;


s: Whereat the swaggering Junker blandly sneered,


s: "If fortune-telling fail, Christine will dance,


s: Thus--tambourine on hip," he struck a pose.


s: "Her pretty feet will pack that booth of yours."


s: They fought, at midnight, in a wood, with swords.


s: And not a spark of light but those that leapt


s: Blue from the clashing blades. Tycho had lost


s: His moon and stars awhile, almost his life;


s: For, in one furious bout, his enemy's blade


s: Dashed like a scribble of lightning into the face


s: Of Tycho Brahe, and left him spluttering blood,


s: Groping through that dark wood with outstretched hands,


s: Seared as by fire, between the frank blue eyes


s: And firm young mouth where, like a living flower


s: Upon some stricken tree, youth lingered still,


s: He'd but one thought, Christine would shrink from him


s: In fear, or worse, in pity. An end had come


s: Worse than old age, to all the glory of youth.


s: Yet, as the days went by, to face the world,


s: And silver, shaped like those that minstrels wear


s: Disguising its disguise of mortal flesh,


s: Wooes as a nameless prince from far away.


s: And when this world's day, with its blaze and coil


s: Was ended, and the first white star awoke


s: In that pure realm where all our tumults die,


s: Ringed by the pine-trees on that distant hill,


s: A small white figure, lost in space and time,


s: Yet gazing at the sky, and conquering all,


s: Height, depth, and heaven itself, by the sheer power


s: A love that shared the constancy of heaven,


s: And spoke to him across, above, the world.


s: Not till he crossed the Danube did he find


s: Among the fountains and the storied eaves


s: Of Augsburg, one to share his task with him.


s: Paul Hainzel, of that city, greatly loved


s: To talk with Tycho of the strange new dreams


s: Move? Was the sun the centre of our scheme?


s: And Tycho told him, there is but one way


s: To know the truth, and that's to sweep aside


s: And watch and learn that moving alphabet,


s: Each smallest silver character inscribed


s: Upon the skies themselves, noting them down,


s: In phrases, with a meaning; and, at last,


s: The hard-won beauty of that celestial book


s: "Hainzel," he said, "we have no magic wand,


s: But what the truth can give us. If we find


s: Even with a compass, through a bedroom window,


s: That half the glittering Almagest is wrong,


s: Think you, what noble conquests might be ours,


s: Quivering with eagerness, his first rude plan


s: For that great quadrant,--not the wooden toy


s: In its divisions as any goldsmith's work.


s: "It could be built," said Tycho, "but the cost


s: Would buy a dozen culverin for your wars."


s: Then Hainzel, fired by Tycho's burning brain,


s: Answered, "We'll make it We've a war to wage


s: On Chaos, and his kingdoms of the night."


s: They chose the cunningest artists of the town,


s: And, setting them all afire with Tycho's dream,


s: Within a month his dream was oak and brass.


s: Its beams were fourteen cubits, solid oak,


s: Banded with iron. Its arch was polished brass


s: Whereon five thousand exquisite divisions


s: Were marked to show the minutes of degrees.


s: So huge and heavy it was, a score of men,


s: Could hardly drag and fix it to its place


s: Tycho and Hainzel, out of that maze of flowers,


s: Charted the stars, discovering point by point,


s: How all the records erred, until the fame


s: Of this new master, hovering above the schools


s: Like a strange hawk, threatened the creeping dreams


s: To set their mouse-holes twittering "Tycho Brahe!"


s: Then Tycho Brahe came home, to find Christine.


s: Up to that whispering glade of ferns he sped,


s: In shadow, under the darkest pine, to hide


s: He wondered, will she shrink from me in fear


s: And, as he wondered, like a light she moved


s: Playing a jest upon you. It's only a mask!


s: Do not be frightened. I am here behind it."


s: Her red lips parted, and between them shone,


s: The little teeth like white pomegranate seeds.


s: Her arms went round him, and her eyelids closed.


s: Lying against his heart, she set her lips


s: Against his lips, and claimed him for her own.


s: There, in its most familiar patch of blue,


s: Where Cassiopeia's five-fold glory burned,


s: An unknown brilliance quivered, a huge star


s: To heavens unchangeable, as the world believed,


s: Night after night he watched that miracle


s: White at the first, and large as Jupiter;


s: And, in the third month, yellow, and larger yet;


s: And larger even than Lyra. In the seventh,


s: Bluish like Saturn; whence it dulled and dwined


s: Little by little, till after eight months more


s: But, while it blazed above him, Tycho brought


s: Those delicate records of two hundred nights


s: To Copenhagen. There, in his golden mask,


s: Dancey, the French Ambassador, rainbow-gay


s: In satin hose and doublet, supple and thin,


s: Brown-eyed, and bearded with a soft black tuft


s: Neat as a blackbird's wing,--a spirit as keen


s: And swift as France on all the starry trails


s: His wine-cup, brimming--they thought--with purple dreams;


s: And bade them drink to their triumphant Queen


s: Of all the Muses, to their Lady of Light


s: Thinking the young astrologer's golden mask


s: Said Tycho Brahe, "and we have eyes to see.


s: Put out your candles. Open those windows there!"


s: The colder darkness breathed upon their brows,


s: And Tycho pointed, into the deep blue night.


s: There, in their most immutable height of heaven,


s: Beyond all planets, red as Mars it burned,


s: Pratensis gasped; then, clutching the first straw,


s: Not where the comets, not where the _Rosae_ bloom


s: And fade, but in that solid crystal sphere


s: Must know all this," cried Dancey. "You must print it."


s: "Print it?" said Tycho, turning that golden mask


s: On both his friends. "Could I, a noble, print


s: They'd hound me out of Denmark! This disgrace


s: Of work, with hands or brain, no matter why,


s: No matter how, in one who ought to dwell


s: Fixed to the solid upper sphere, my friends,


s: In mute amazement, but that mask of gold


s: Outstared him, sphinx-like, and inscrutable.


s: Soon through all Europe, like the blinded moths,


s: Among the mouldering tapestries of thought,


s: Weird fables woke and fluttered to and fro,


s: And wild-eyed sages hunted them for truth.


s: The Italian, Frangipani, thought the star


s: The lost Electra, that had left her throne


s: Among the Pleiads, and plunged into the night


s: Like a veiled mourner, when Troy town was burned.


s: The German painter, Busch, of Erfurt, wrote,


s: A poisonous mist, touched by the wrath of God


s: To fire; from which there would descend on earth


s: All manner of evil--plagues and sudden death,


s: His grim black gown, and vowed it was the Star


s: To mark the world's end and the Judgment Day.


s: Then, in this hubbub, Dancey told the king


s: Of Denmark, "There is one who knows the truth--


s: Your subject Tycho Brahe, who, night by night,


s: Watched and recorded all that truth could see.


s: It would bring honour to all Denmark, sire,


s: And print these great discoveries in a book,


s: Received a letter in the king's own hand,


s: Urging him, "Truth is the one pure fountain-head


s: Of all nobility. Pray forget your rank."


s: To please His Majesty and ourselves, forget


s: "Your reasoning has convinced me. I will print


s: My book, '_De Nova Stella._' And to prove


s: All you have said concerning temporal rank


s: And this eternal truth you love so well,


s: I marry, to-day,"--they foamed, but all their mouths


s: Were stopped and stuffed and sealed with their own words,--


s: "I marry to-day my own true love, Christine."


s: They thought him a magician, Tycho Brahe.


s: Perhaps he was. There's magic all around us


s: In rocks and trees, and in the minds of men,


s: The rock aright, may find them where he will.


s: There was a prince in Denmark in those days;


s: And, when he heard how other kings desired


s: He said, "This man, in after years, will bring


s: He is a Dane. Give him this isle of Wheen,


s: And let him make his great discoveries there.


s: Let him have gold to buy his instruments,


s: And build his house and his observatory."


s: Whispering with wizardry; and, in its heart,


s: He lighted that strange lanthorn of the law,


s: And built himself that wonder of the world,


s: And twenty feet in thickness at the base.


s: Its angles pointed north, south, east and west,


s: With gates and turrets; and, within this wall,


s: Were fruitful orchards, apple, and cherry, and pear;


s: And, sheltered in their midst from all but sun,


s: A garden, warm and busy with singing bees.


s: There, many an hour, his flaxen-haired Christine,


s: Sang to her child, her first-born, Magdalen,


s: Or watched her playing, a flower among the flowers.


s: Dark in the centre of that zone of bliss


s: Two of them had great windows in their roofs


s: Opening upon the sky where'er he willed,


s: He sank a well, so deep, that Jeppe declared


s: He had tapped the central fountains of the world,


s: And drew his magic from those cold clear springs.


s: This was the very well, said Jeppe, the dwarf,


s: Where Truth was hidden; but, by Tycho Brahe


s: And his weird skill, the magic water flowed,


s: Through pipes, uphill, to all the house above:


s: The kitchen where his cooks could broil a trout


s: The garrets for the students in the roof;


s: The guest-rooms, and the red room to the north,


s: The study and the blue room to the south;


s: The small octagonal yellow room that held


s: And Magdalen, with her happy dreams, at night;


s: Then, facing to the west, one long green room,


s: The ceiling painted like the bower of Eve


s: With flowers and leaves, the windows opening wide


s: Through which Christine and Tycho Brahe at dawn


s: Could see the white sails drifting on the Sound


s: He built a printing house for noble books,


s: Poems, and those deep legends of the sky,


s: A workshop for his instruments. To the south


s: A low thatched farm-house rambled round a yard


s: Alive with clucking hens; and, further yet


s: A great house for his larger instruments,


s: And called it Stiernborg, mountain of the stars.


s: And, on his towers and turrets, Tycho set


s: Statues with golden verses in the praise


s: Of famous men, the bearers of the torch,


s: Then, in that storm-proof mountain of the stars,


s: He set in all their splendour of new-made brass


s: His armouries for the assault of heaven,--


s: Revolving zodiacs with great brazen rings;


s: Quadrants of solid brass, ten cubits broad,


s: Brass parallactic rules, made to revolve


s: In azimuth; clocks with wheels; an astrolabe;


s: And that large globe strengthened by oaken beams


s: But Denmark had a prince in those great days;


s: And, in his brain, the dreams of Tycho Brahe


s: Tycho the Lord of sundry lands and rents,


s: And Keeper of the Chapel where the kings


s: "To whom could all these kings entrust their bones


s: More fitly than to him who read the stars,


s: And though a mortal, knew immortal laws;


s: And paced, at night, the silent halls of heaven."


s: There, on his island, for a score of years,


s: He watched the skies, recording star on star,


s: For any history, sons and daughters rose,


s: A little clan of love, around Christine;


s: And Tycho thought, when I am dead, my sons


s: And yet a doubt would trouble him, for he knew


s: The children of Christine would still be held


s: Young-eyed and swift, the bearers of the torch


s: And Tycho Brahe received them like a king,


s: And bade them light their torches at his fire.


s: The King of Scotland came, with all his court,


s: And dwelt eight days in Tycho Brahe's domain,


s: Asking him many a riddle, deep and dark,


s: Whose answer, none the less, a king should know.


s: What boots it on this earth to be a king,


s: To rule a part of earth, and not to know


s: The worth of his own realm, whether he rule


s: As God's vice-gerent, and his realm be still


s: This earth itself be moving, a lost grain


s: For this would dwarf all glory but the soul,


s: In king or peasant, that can hail the truth,


s: The king became a subject for eight days.


s: But, in the crowded hall, when he had gone,


s: Jeppe raised his matted head, with a chuckle of glee,


s: Quiet as the gurgle of joy in a dark rock-pool,


s: When the first ripple and wash of the first spring-tide


s: Flows bubbling under the dry sun-blackened fringe


s: Of seaweed, setting it all afloat again,


s: In magical colours, like a merman's hair.


s: "Jeppe has a thought," the gay young students cried,


s: Thronging him round, for all believed that Jeppe


s: Was fey, and had strange visions of the truth.


s: Croaked Jeppe. "But I have made myself a song."


s: "Silence," they cried, "for Jeppe the nightingale!


s: Before the fire, with deep dark eyes, he crooned:


s: Can this uncharted boundless realm of ours


s: Drone thro' the sky, with leagues of struggling sea,


s: Forests, and hills, and towns, and palace-towers?"


s: Her far dark rim uplift against the sky;


s: But, while earth soars, men say the stars  go down;


s: And, while earth sails, men say the stars go by."


s: That's why his eyes look fey; for, chuckling deep,


s: Heels over head amongst the stars he goes,


s: As all men go; but most are sound asleep.


s: Act as this miracle touched them not at all.


s: They are borne, undizzied, thro' the rushing blue,


s: And build their empires on a sky-tossed ball.


s: What of my realm? O, what shall now stand sure?"


s: "Naught," said the dwarf, "in all this world, but love.


s: All else is dream-stuff and shall not endure.


s: Our shadowy earth and fleeting heavens no stay,


s: But that deep inward realm which each can enter,


s: Even Jeppe, the dwarf, by his own secret way."


s: "Here," said the dwarf, and music echoed "here."


s: "This infinite circle hath no line to bound it;


s: Therefore that deep strange centre is everywhere.


s: Let the earth soar thro' heaven, that centre abideth;


s: Or plunge to the pit, His covenant still holds true.


s: In the heart of a dying bird, the Master hideth;


s: Princes and courtiers came, a few to seek


s: In wonder at Tycho's gold and silver mask;


s: Or when they saw the beauty of his towers,


s: The small grey cloud upon the distant sky,


s: Lifting his shaggy head beside the fire,


s: When guests like these had gone, "Master, beware!"


s: And Tycho of the frank blue eyes would laugh.


s: Even when he found Witichius playing him false


s: Died on the dreaming deep; for Tycho Brahe


s: Turned to a nobler riddle,--"Have you thought,"


s: He asked his young disciples, "how the sea


s: Is moved to that strange rhythm we call the tides?


s: He that can answer this shall have his name


s: I was delayed three hours or more to-day


s: By the neap-tide. The fishermen on the coast


s: Are never wrong. They time it by the moon.


s: _Post hoc_, perhaps, not _propter hoc_; and yet


s: Through all the changes of the sky and sea


s: That old white clock of ours with the battered face


s: The sailors on the coast of Sweden sing,


s: I have often pondered it. Your courtly poets


s: Upbraid the inconstant moon. But these men know


s: The moon and sea are lovers, and they move


s: In a most constant measure. Hear the words


s: And tell me, if you can, what silver chains


s: Bind them together." Then, in a voice as low


s: And rhythmical as the sea, he spoke that song:


s: But not so great that he could read the heart


s: King Frederick died, the young Prince Christian reigned;


s: And, round him, fool and knave made common cause


s: Against the magic that could pour their gold


s: Had grown too proud. He held them in contempt,


s: So they believed; for, when he spoke, their thoughts


s: Crept at his feet like spaniels. Junkerdom


s: Felt it was foolish, for he towered above it,


s: Gold that a fool could spend as quickly as he?


s: Were there not great estates bestowed upon him


s: In wisdom's name, that from the dawn of time


s: Had been the natural right of Junkerdom?


s: And would he not bequeath them to his heirs,


s: The children of Christine, an unfree woman?


s: "Why you, sire, even you," they told the king,


s: "He has made a laughing-stock. That horoscope


s: He read for you, the night when you were born,


s: Printed, and bound it in green velvet, too,--


s: Read it The whole world laughs at it. He said


s: That Venus was the star that ruled your fate,


s: And Venus would destroy you. Tycho Brahe


s: Inspired your royal father with the fear


s: That kept your youth so long in leading-strings,


s: The fear that every pretty hedgerow flower


s: Would be your Circe. So he thought to avenge


s: Our mockery of this peasant-girl Christine,


s: To whom, indeed, he plays the faithful swine,


s: Knowing full well his gold and silver nose


s: One seeming happy day, when Tycho marked


s: The seven-hundredth star upon his chart,


s: The chancellor, knocked at Tycho's eastern gate.


s: "We are sent," they said, "to see and to report


s: What use you make of these estates of yours.


s: Your alchemy has turned more gold to lead


s: Show us the uses of this work of yours."


s: Then Tycho showed his tables of the stars,


s: Seven hundred stars, each noted in its place


s: Of watching heaven for five-and-twenty years.


s: Some ground for damning him. The truth alone


s: Would serve them, as it seemed. For these were men


s: When shall we reap the fruits of all this toil?


s: Said Tycho Brahe, "perhaps a hundred years,


s: Perhaps a thousand, when our own poor names


s: Are quite forgotten, and our kingdoms dust,


s: On one sure certain day, the torch-bearers


s: Will, at some point of contact, see a light


s: Their eyes shall see the kingdom of the law,


s: Our undiscovered cosmos. They shall see it--


s: Disjointed notes of some supernal choir.


s: All we can gather. In that far-off time,


s: A people that we have not known shall hear them,


s: They could not understand: this life that sought


s: And so they made report that all the dreams


s: Of Tycho Brahe were fruitless; perilous, too,


s: Since he avowed that any fruit they bore


s: Would fall, in distant years, to alien hands.


s: His rents from Tycho Brahe, accusing him


s: Of gross neglects. The Chapel at Roskilde


s: He must rebuild the Chapel. All the gifts


s: That Frederick gave to help him in his task,


s: Were turned to stumbling-blocks; till, one dark day,


s: He called his young disciples round him there,


s: Lit by the dying sunset, poured his heart


s: And mind before them, bidding them farewell.


s: Through the wide-open windows as he spoke


s: They heard the sorrowful whisper of the sea


s: "An end has come," he said, "to all we planned.


s: Your Alma Mater now must close her gates


s: On you, her guests; on me; and, worst of all,


s: On one most dear, who made this place my home.


s: For you are young, your homes are all to win,


s: And you would all have gone your separate ways


s: In a brief while; and, though I think you love


s: Your college of the skies, it could not mean


s: All that it meant to those who called it 'home.'


s: You that have worked with me, for one brief year,


s: This room, the sunset gilding all those books,


s: The star-charts and that old celestial globe,


s: The long bright evenings by the winter fire,


s: The talk that opened heaven, the songs you sung,


s: Yes, even, I think, the tricks you played with Jeppe,


s: Will somehow, when yourselves are growing old,


s: Be hallowed into beauty, touched with tears,


s: For you will wish they might be yours again.


s: These have been mine for five-and-twenty years,


s: And more than these,--the work, the dreams I shared


s: With you, and others here. My heart will break


s: To leave them. But the appointed time has come


s: Have watched too many constant stars to dream


s: That heaven or earth, the destinies of men


s: Or nations, are the sport of chance. An end


s: Comes to us all through blindness, age, or death.


s: If mine must come in exile, it stall find me


s: Bearing the torch as far as I can bear it,


s: Until I fall at the feet of the young runner,


s: Who takes it from me, and carries it out of sight,


s: Into the great new age I shall not know,


s: Into the great new realms I must not tread.


s: Come, then, swift-footed, let me see you stand


s: Waiting before me, crowned with youth and joy,


s: At the next turning. Take it from my hand,


s: Something I have achieved, yes, though I say it,


s: In centuries to come, with more of dread


s: Than my destroyers, it is because this work


s: Will be of use, remembered and appraised,


s: Not the blind rumour, the glory or fame of it.


s: These observations of seven hundred stars


s: Are little enough in sight of those great hosts


s: Which nightly wheel around us, though I hope,


s: Yes, I still hope, in some more generous land


s: Little enough, I know,--a midget's work!


s: The men that follow me, with more delicate art


s: May add their tens of thousands; yet my sum


s: Will save them just that five-and-twenty years


s: Of patience, bring them sooner to their goal,


s: That kingdom of the law I shall not see.


s: We are on the verge of great discoveries.


s: Will see them. In that day you will recall


s: And how I told you that this work of ours


s: Would lead to victories for the coming age.


s: The victors may forget us. What of that?


s: Theirs be the palms, the shouting, and the praise.


s: Ours the delight of giving, the deep joy


s: Of labouring, on the cliff's face, all night long,


s: Cutting them foot-holes in the solid rock,


s: Whereby they climb so gaily to the heights,


s: And gaze upon their new-discovered worlds.


s: You will not find me there. When you descend,


s: Of those high cliffs, under the drifted leaves.


s: That's where we hide at last, we pioneers,


s: For we are very proud, and must be sought


s: Before the world can find us, in our graves.


s: There have been compensations. I have seen


s: In darkness, more perhaps than eyes can see


s: When sunlight blinds them on the mountain-tops;


s: Guessed at a glory past our mortal range,


s: And only mine because the night was mine.


s: May yet be proven false. We yet may find


s: This earth of ours is not the sovran lord


s: Of all those wheeling spheres. Ourselves have marked


s: Are moving round the sun, if we can trust


s: Our years of watching. There are stranger dreams.


s: Of whom I often talked with you, declares


s: Ail of these movements can be reconciled,


s: That this huge earth, so 'stablished, so secure


s: This leap of thought is yet too great for me.


s: Some of his planets move around the sun.


s: In some things. But the planets we have watched


s: Still wander from the course that he assigned.


s: Therefore, my system, which includes the best


s: This earth of ours, as Jeppe declared one day,


s: So simply that we laughed, is 'much too big


s: To move,' so let it be the centre still,


s: And let the planets move around their sun;


s: But let the sun with all its planets move


s: Accords with all we know, and saves mankind


s: From that enormous plunge into the night;


s: Saves them from voyaging for ten thousand years


s: Through boundless darkness without sight of land;


s: That darkness lightly. If at last you find


s: The proven facts against me, take the plunge.


s: Launch out into that darkness. Let the lamps


s: Of heaven, the glowing hearth-fires that we knew


s: Die out behind you, while the freshening wind


s: Blows on your brows, and overhead you see


s: The stars of truth that lead you from your home.


s: Hazel-wood, brook, and fish-pond; every bough


s: To die here. But it is not chance, I know,


s: That sends me wandering through the world again.


s: The tears upon his face. He bowed his head


s: And left them silent in the darkened room.


s: Tycho, Christine, and all their children, left


s: Their island-home for even In their ship


s: They took a few of the smaller instruments,


s: And that most precious record of the stars,


s: His legacy to the future. Into the night


s: They vanished, leaving on the ghostly cliffs


s: Only one dark, distorted, dog-like shape


s: To watch them, sobbing, under its matted hair,


s: "Master, have you forgotten Jeppe, your dwarf?"


s: And yet his magic, under changing skies,


s: Could never change his heart, or touch the hills


s: Of those far countries with the tints of home.


s: He came to Prague; and, though with open hands


s: Rodolphe received him, like an exiled king,


s: (For so they called him), none could heal the wounds


s: That bled within, or lull his grief to sleep


s: With that familiar whisper of the waves,


s: Doggedly still he laboured; point by point,


s: Crept on, with aching heart and burning brain,


s: Until his table of the stars had reached


s: The thousand that he hoped, to crown his toil.


s: But Christine heard him murmuring in the night,


s: "The work, the work! Not to have lived in vain!


s: I thought to find him standing by the way,


s: Waiting to seize the splendour from my hand,


s: The swift, young-eyed runner with the torch.


s: Let me not live in vain, let me not fall


s: Before I yield it to the appointed soul."


s: And yet the Power that made and broke him heard:


s: Or that invisible hand which guides the world.


s: He asked him, as the runner with the torch


s: Alone could ask, asked as a natural right


s: For Tycho's hard-won life-work, those results,


s: His tables of the stars. He gave his name


s: And yet unconscious that he told; a name


s: Not famous yet, though truth had marked him out


s: Wrote Kepler, not long after, "for I asked


s: Unheard-of things, and yet he gave them to me


s: As if I were his son. When first I saw him,


s: We seemed to have known each other years ago


s: In some forgotten world. I could not guess


s: That Tycho Brahe was dying. He was quick


s: Of temper, and we quarrelled now and then,


s: Only to find ourselves more closely bound


s: Simply of heartache for his native land.


s: For though he always met me with a smile,


s: Or jest upon his lips, he could not sleep


s: Odd little whispered phrases on his lips


s: As if he talked to himself, in a kind of dream.


s: Yet I believe the clouds dispersed a little


s: Around his death-bed, and with that strange joy


s: Which comes in death, he saw the unchanging stars.


s: Christine was there. She held him in her arms.


s: I think, too, that he knew his work was safe.


s: An hour before he died, he smiled at me,


s: And whispered,--what he meant I hardly know--


s: A fragment of some old familiar thought,


s: And yet I seemed to know. It haunts me still:


s: _'Come then, swift-footed, let me see you stand,


s: Waiting before me, crowned with youth and joy;


s: This is the turning. Take it from my hand.


s: John Kepler, from the chimney corner, watched


s: His wife Susannah, with her sleeves rolled back


s: The thick tufts of his black rebellious hair


s: Brushed into sleek submission; his trim beard


s: Between the white wings of his fan-shaped ruff


s: (His best, with the fine lace border) spoke of guests


s: Expected; and his quick grey humorous eyes,


s: His firm red whimsical pleasure-loving mouth,


s: And all those elvish twinklings of his face,


s: Were lit with eagerness. Only between his brows,


s: Perplexed beneath that subtle load of dreams,


s: Sir Henry Wotton's letter breathed a hint


s: He muttered. "Then, if Austria damns it too,


s: Susannah mine, we may be forced to choose


s: Between the truth and exile. When he comes,


s: He'll tell me more. Ambassadors, I suppose,


s: Can only write in cipher, while our world


s: Is steered to heaven by murderers and thieves;


s: But, if he'd wrapped his friendly warnings up


s: In a verse or two, I might have done more work


s: "What beautiful hearts of lettuce! Tell me now


s: How shall I mix it? Will your English guest


s: As crisp and young as these? They've just the tang