The Project Gutenberg eBook of A vision of life This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: A vision of life Poems Author: Darrell Figgis Contributor: G. K. Chesterton Release date: June 14, 2024 [eBook #73826] Language: English Original publication: London: John Lane Credits: Jamie Brydone-Jack, Joeri de Ruiter and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A VISION OF LIFE *** A VISION OF LIFE A VISION OF LIFE POEMS. BY DARRELL FIGGIS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMIX WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, LTD. PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH TO MY WIFE For nigh four years now have these poems sought to snuff the open breeze, returning ever to me broken and disappointed. What bitterness was in this--how deep you alone know!--was yours also; but I alone knew that rarer bounty of your instant and unfailing comfort. Therefore, dear, these poems are dedicate to you beyond my power to alter or avert; and it lies for me now but to confirm the finding of the years. INTRODUCTION BY G. K. CHESTERTON There are signs of a certain stirring in English poetry, a minor Renaissance of which Francis Thompson may be regarded as the chief ensign and example. It is partly the Elizabethan spirit, that permanent English thing working its way again to the surface; but, of course, like every Renaissance, it is in many ways unlike its origin and model. It is as true in art as it is in religion, that when a man is born again, he is born different. And the latest Elizabethanism has differed not only from the actual Elizabethan work, but from other revivals of it. The great romantic movement which was at its height about the beginning of the nineteenth century, the movement of which Coleridge is perhaps the most typical product, this movement was and even claimed to be a return to the Elizabethan inspiration. This, of course, it was in its revolt against the rhymed rationalism of Pope, in its claim that poetry was a sort of super-sense which Pope would have called nonsense. But there were two elements in the Coleridge and Wordsworth movement which prevented it, splendid as it was, from being perfectly Elizabethan. The first was a certain craze for simplicity, even for a somewhat barbaric simplicity; a craze which was much connected with the growing influence of Germany and the purely Northern theory of our national origin. People were trying to be Anglo-Saxon instead of English. In style and diction this produced an almost pedantic plainness and love of Teutonic roots which, whatever else it was, was utterly antagonistic to the spirit of the Elizabethans. This business of the plain Saxon speech is entirely appropriate as eulogy on certain suitable things, such as the translation of the Bible; it is permissible as eulogy, but it is intolerable as condemnation. It is certainly part of the beauty of Bunyan’s work that it is built out of plain words, just as it is part of the beauty of Westminster Cathedral that it is built out of plain bricks. But as for saying that no building shall be built out of stone or marble or timber, that is quite another matter, and quite an unreasonable one. Coleridge, in the _Ancient Mariner_, did frequently manage strange and fine effects with the bald words of a ballad. But because I will not go without-- “They fixed on me their stony eyes That in the moon did glitter,” is no reason at all why I should go without-- “Re-visits thus the glimpses of the moon.” The richness and variegation of the old Elizabethan style permitted peculiar and poignant effects which the Wordsworthian ballad, and even the Tennysonian lyric, did not attempt to revive. The principal objection to writing Anglo-Saxon instead of English is, after all, a very simple one: it is that the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary is one of the smallest in the world, while the English vocabulary is one of the largest. Mr. Darrell Figgis is one of those who give this impression of a latter-day return to the Elizabethan spirit; that is, to the real Elizabethan spirit which the romantic movement omitted--the spirit of Elizabethan enrichment and involution. The element to which I refer is already sufficiently well known in the work of Francis Thompson, in whom it could be, and indeed has been, called, not only Elizabethan complexity, but even Elizabethan affectation. The work of Mr. Darrell Figgis is less elaborate than that extreme though triumphant example; but it has the same essential qualities of sustained and systematic metrical style, of line linked with line in a process requiring the reader’s attention, and remote in its very nature from the startling simplicity of the old romantic ballad. If this kind of poetry prevails, people will have to listen to it rather as they listen to good and rather difficult music, not as they listen to scattered brilliancies in a speech by Mr. Bernard Shaw. Mr. Figgis is even Elizabethan (as was Francis Thompson also) in attempts at abrupt lyric metres, not always easy to achieve. But there was, indeed, another respect in which the early nineteenth century failed to be fully renaissant of the Renaissance. I mean that taste of sickness and aimless revolt which dominated Byron and even Shelley, and discoloured the moods of Coleridge. I am well aware of how much of strong art, of mercy, and egalitarian justice there was in the revolt, and those men in England who were its essential and spiritual enemies (such as Gifford in literature and Castlereagh in politics) are now covered with a contempt which can never be wiped away. Yet, when all is said, the weakness of the indispensable Revolution was in its artistic voices, in their notes of negation, of license, and of despair. When all is said, the Revolution succeeded in France, because it was chiefly an affair of soldiers; the Revolution failed in England, because it was chiefly an affair of poets. If any twopenny placeman could call it mere anarchy, if any tenth-rate Tory can say that it hated God and man, the blame does not lie with the stoical religion of Robespierre or the enormous common sense of Danton; it lies with Byron or Shelley or their belated brother Swinburne. In this connection it is pleasant to feel that the new stirrings of the old influence are without any recurrence to the mere sentiment of ruin. In this respect the rising men rather follow Browning, who had the hope and heartiness of the Elizabethans, as well as their mystification and elaborate wit; indeed, he had everything of the Elizabethans, except their ease. Francis Thompson spoke from a secure tower of faith. Mr. Darrell Figgis is on the side of the angels. Nothing is more satisfying in his poetry, apart from its many incidental beauties, than the evidence it offers of a certain return to right feeling and faith in life, not as an early dream of transcendentalism, but as an ultimate result of experience. The thing which tired people call optimism is growing in many as a matter of mere fair-mindedness, and the fact is that at last a man of the world may be permitted to admire the world. I will not deny that much of my pleasure in Mr. Figgis’ work arises from a sympathy with his serious and sincere enjoyment of beauty and the great things that life begets. I should like to have quoted more than one line from his _Vision of Life_. But, after all, the ground of my gratitude and mental kinship is mostly in this: that it really is a vision of life, and not merely a vision of destruction. G. K. CHESTERTON. CONTENTS PAGE A VISION OF LIFE 3 TO A THRUSH 50 MULTUM IN PARVO 56 “FRIENDS VANISH AT MY FACE” 62 “A FANCY FAIR COMES FLOATING ON MY THOUGHT” 63 “AS IS THE SILVER NIGHT” 64 “BELOVED, HAST PERCEIVED A THROSTLE TUNE” 66 EXILE 68 “OH, I HAVE THEE, ASTHORE” 69 “EACH HATH THE TYPE OF BLISS WITHIN HIS THOUGHT” 71 A WORD TO THE CZAR 72 VIKING-THROES 74 “SENTENTIOUS” 77 AN IDYLL OF THE BROADS 80 TO A “CANTERBURY BELL”! 83 THE GOLDEN MUSICIAN 87 TO ---- 99 A VISION OF LIFE A VISION OF LIFE I sat brewing awhile, one even’s close, Life’s Destiny and Purpose. In the grate A flickering fire shone, Withered and wan, Dishevelled as a hectic Autumn rose. So, as I sate, With elfish toe leaping the shrinking embers A spiritous Presence passed, and on my thought Visions of faded days, paled friendships, dreams Of rapturous Mays smitten to drear Decembers, In evanescent postures wrought From forth the flickering gleams. So death-still ranged the Night athwart the gloom Icy and cavernous, that the embers’ tune Spake sharp and sudden, chasing the shade and flame In elfish gambol round the sombre room. So stepped the Night’s high noon; While Time, steady of sinew and of brow Implacable, upwound upon its spool The fitful hours of innocence and shame. Nor solitary, Night in its high rule, Reigned, for from forth the frosty bowers Deft messengers of airy fashion came The rude Earth to endow With heavenly mysteries of flowers. So sat I, and my mood grew calm and still: Irk fretted away; care, soilure, and distress, The smutch of strife, at the gaunt Night’s caress Unruffled into lofty peace. A will Ineffable, previsionary, swelled My thought to something of a twilit mood. Earth faded awhile; the frame of sensible things Obliviously smote my sensitive touch; The populous warm walls, the grate that held Ashes and smoulderings, The frore behoof, and all of fashion such, Transmuted were unto the larger scope Of visionary aspect. Thus on wings Of guideless flight, and thought I fain would cope, A Vision fared on me whate’er I would. Then seemed the twilight heavy with filmy glows: Forth from before my sight two several ways In opposite invitation rose, Oweing no kith, diverse of hue as aim. Darkling the Right ran, thro’ a drear amaze Craggy and barren, fulfilled of sloughs and mire; Most straitly was it limned, and oft each side Fell sheer to plumbless horror steep, that swept Spaceless, in ebon vastiness awide. Surmounted it thus dizzily; o’erleapt Fell chasms perilously athwart; abysms gaunt, Remorseless bracken tarns, the desert’s haunt, Each slippery spiss and slough, it overcame, Winding and wending ever higher and higher Tortuous yet steady-sure. Even so, despite I could not see Aught goal, withal its callow brow to daunt The hazardous soul, it bore a subtle lure Touching the deepest founts of high desire. Stretched on my Left, thus did it seem to me, Broadly a rich demesne lay, liberal And affluent, in spacious festival Arrayed. Mirth and the wealth of song Swelled thro’ its gaily caparisoned cope, Whose portals swung wide ope-- Falling upon my ears in ribaldry And merry laughter lewd: Nowhither led it seemingly; soft and strong Giddily sprang its mirth and ultimate hope. Yet scarce could I resolve it, for its air Quivered and scintillated glamours dense, A palpable mist of golden vapour, whence, On my amazing sight, there flitted nude The flash of forms voluptuous and rare, Whose ruby lips soft ruddy juices woo’d. Pondering I hovered; each the several ways Touched its responsive motion: this, that wound Whither I knew not, travail amid and stain, Awoke the fount of thought; that, the sheer gain Of liberal ecstasy, of flowing days And nightless hours forgetful, bound around Of irkless ease: this spake Olympus found, Endeavour’s glowing thew, Achievement high; That struck all blood to fever, till I fain Had slipped the leash. Perplexedly sat I. Then from the mirth and ribaldry outstept Beauty her very self: Of motion free, In grace voluptuous she swam on me, Her pursed lips murmurous of a mellow strain. Soft as the stars at evenfall Smiled her rare eyes from forth the shimmering air Hanging about her yet--her veriest pall, Save that an all-exuberant tide of hair Entwound her soft and sensuous flesh. So swept She, gracious; I her other-heedless thane. Rare love, mellow voluptuous love, Shone from her wondrous eyes, fell from her tongue Melodious, dwelt on the delicate bloom Of her seductive limbs: munificence Of love rioted in her wayward hair Falling heedlessly, and clung Ecstatic in the tremulous air’s perfume. Visionary I gazed; my mutinous blood, Each drop particularly fraught with so Complete an ecstasy, coursed thro’ my sense With populous colloquy, pouring a vast flood Of dizzy whispers on my ears awhile. Invitingly oped she her arms; a smile Broke her soft lips; then, rapturously and low, Fluted this murmurous music thro’ the air, In woven assonances, liquid measures, Her blissful syllables spelling the pleasures Her wares that were. “Sweet, come with me; learn out my rare requite! Sweet, come to me, so shall I be to thee A passionate delight! Let us enwrap us in the robes of Pleasure; Owe no confining marge, but full and free Hold Love’s exultant measure. Claim lordship on these lips; make this embrace Of strenuous limbs thine to the tilth of days; The exquisitry of this face, If so to thee, scan with thine eager eyes: Flash linking flash, all in a wondering gaze, Twin in our ecstasies. The fragrant largess of this liberal hair Shall twine us twain about as we shall twine Hid in Love’s secret lair; Or mantle down thy shoulder as I lay This peach-soft bloom of loveliness on thine And Love’s low message say. Then come to me; yea, let me be to thee Love’s veriest scope of all; in these soft eyes Spell thine Eternity. Ah, wherefore hesitant hang? These plenteous halls Hunger for thee, as I, with full surmise: Lords be we all, not thralls!” So ceased she: flashing from her challenging eyes Arch invitations, boldly coy. The air, Loth to let slip such bliss, Clung to its echoing whispers, murmurous-wise, In passionate ecstasy. And yet, howe’er Each swollen vein of mine with knotted strain Stood high, content for one celestial kiss To cheapen Life and Thought, a distant pain Fettered me with disturbed uncertainty. Hesitant I glanced away; held of a doubt; Tost ’twixt passion and fear: tentatively My eye shot roundabout, Each freighting all my venture on a thought. Then from the silvery glooms, a wizardry, fraught With an imperative touch, fell on my soul, Drawing all my thought thither with harsh control. So, as I glowered upon its portals, wan, Gaunt, lofty, lifting up a parlous height Of shadowy phantasy, before its brink Palely the air shivered, and its atoms shone Pregnant with waking light. Unknowing what its purport, what to think Scarce dared I hazard--gazing, smote to trance, Riveted there with every thought and glance. The pallid atoms, hither-thither mazed, Smitten with iridescent rigours, shaped As to an outline--gaunt and leanly draped With flowing vesture, bony arms upraised Talon-befingered. Its Visage all was wan, Harrowed and sexless, like some skeleton Draped o’er with lifeless skin. Its Brow, or what Seemed like to Brow, hungered the heavy skies. Its glittering eyes Gleamed coldly in great orbs. ’Twas steely-lipped. Its Trunk, Its ruinous Midst--oh, tell it not! Most like ’twas to a livid dream forgot, And waked to horror at fell Memory’s whims! A sweaty Terror sat upon my limbs; My natural Fell awoke to life, and stood Erect with palpable horror; and all my blood Crowded its mart of motion, fear-begot, Thither to escape. Then from the Phantom chill Upon the palpitant air these measures dripped In numbers ill. “Mortal, be not deceived! Despise these cloying measures, they are false! Withhold imagination from the calls Of sensuous privilege. Straightway be cleaved Thence, and away! And hearken now to me. Heed these rare strictures! Prize not thy frail self: Strive for a larger Weal; Felicity Foots only thus. Perplex thy brain for Man, And his complacent peace: eschew the pelf Of isolate happiness; so shall thy span Compound the highest achievement. Manacles Spell subtler bliss than liberty; in sooth Are veriest liberty; yet if not so, Thine the dear joy of conning out the cells Of worthier constraint. Scan virtuous Truth; Search out her compeers with a quickening throe Of ecstasied thought. Love Justice. Knowledge sue And track, following on tho’ dark disruth Dog all thy painful way. Think nobly true; Compassionately soothe the sick of soul, Life’s troubled children. Learn a high control, And abdicate thyself, Love’s grace to woo. Let Equity thine equal fingers turn On low and lofty, sleek and lean alike, Achievement’s sons and whoso hungering yearn: Discriminate not ’twixt, for all are one And indivisible. Base passions shun And flee: strike not at all; yet if thou strike, Strike for the high and meritorious claim, As thou may’st judge: let not thy wrath Abide the twilight fall; nor let thy shame Of liverous passions issue forth On days that step not yet, sullying thy thought And others’ peace--weightier these than thine! Be kind, be true, be sweet, to all and aught. Ponder these principles; deep at thy soul Will commendation leap in greeting; lo, Even now bestirs thy thought. Arise, divine Life as a loftier scroll To trace thy character on, come weal or woe. Passion is soon be-charred; but elevate thought Strews an increasing largess. Turn aside Yon ruddy Whore mellisonant; malign She and her subtle craft are, howsoe’er Deceit encompasses her feverous lair. This thy true lot of life, withal ’tis fraught With hardihood and hazard so: abide Its mandate to thee, tread it dauntlessly. ’Tis its abundant recompense; and a court All-continent. As is my tongue allied With thy quick thought, so hearken thou to me, Fearful of nought!” Joint with its utterance so, Twisting, It thrust Its talon fingers thro’ The misty portals, spare and gaunt. Below Fearfully sat I then, tho’ less of fear Shook o’er my limbs; for thought had spurned the soil, Touched by the words, and broken on my ear A callow incongruity betwixt The lips that uttered what the words did woo. The pale air drank the silence, as the coil Of tortuous precepts ceased. Then, intermixt, Dizzy, as was each thought and riotous sense, There unwound thence Vivid upon my soul this nucleus clear: So forth I uttered:-- “Tell, tell me thy Name! Who art thou that so bidd’st me? Whence thy claim: Wherefrom derives it? Whither its purport high? Art thou thine own? If so, declare me now What rare enfranchisement shall bondage ply At thy behest? Else, forth produce thy script; Unwind thy high commission, whereto bow Perforce I need, heedless of pleasures clipt, Or purple rapture, on yon path awry To attempt a hazardous snare!” Toward me then turned It; and with baneful stare Struck chill my mood defiant. Irked with thought, Fear, and the lees of passion, sat I thus; While the dim Spectre touched Its answer, wrought Icily dolorous. “I am Duty: I Sway all the lot of man. His tentative life Steps subtly to my measures; in fine deed Is my attenuate speech:--at very strife His tongue invokes mine arm. I ratify His hesitant counsels, troublous thoughts, with thrall And edict; or annul his querulous creed. Evanishment were very loss of all: It would evacuate the World of what Coheres its several elements; social peace, Concord and Amity, the common lot Of neighbourly calm, would rot and palter. Cease Rebellious queries; heed my formulate call: Strip to it, and proceed!” Then borne upon a breath Melodious, swept a wonder-wealth of song Vivifying all the air. Again my blood It wrought to populous utterance, hot as strong In riotous desire. Were it to Death, My passion mouthed no bit, but in a flood Tumultuous had swept me on its wide Revelry high, out to the perilous Main Lawless as limnless, save that the Spectral Bane Fettered me helpless. So once more My tongue uprose: “Show me thy script!” I cried, Poised ’twixt the blushing ecstasy, and the frore Spectre of ruinous side. “What is’t to me, this social affluence, The agglomerate frame of peace, when ecstasy Raps loudly at my soul? What gain hast thou? Yon dismal gloom, barren and dim and chill, Say, what felicity Commensurate with this Lady’s exquisite sense Bestows it? Utter thy delightful fill Alternate for my choice; hereafter, now, Or how thou wilt! Yet if not so, declare Thy dread commission, bounden upon my soul! Expound me aught for iridescent goal Whereto this region stretches! Do I fall, Pale Ogre, how shall large omnipotence Brace thy lean thew? Oh, speak! I conjure thee, speak! If on a bleak Perilous pivot swung; if in the abyss Of Failure clutched, while subtle whispers hiss Sinuous about me--say, what benison fair Awakes to comfort from thy callow thrall? If Ill and Sorrow rear Spectral athwart my eyes, and this hued cheek Fall ashen like thine own, what then thy cheer, Grim Apparition? what thy comfort then, Dim Spectre? Hold tho’; have enough of this! Fearless I ask again, Art uttered of another; or art weak, Continent in thyself? Comest thou with bliss For largess? Else, declare thy peerless script, Disclose thy high commission, Ogre blear, Thou talon-fingered Horror, steely-lipped!” Doubtfully ceased I: wound amid my frame Raged complicated elements. Aerial thought On metaphysic pinion soared aloft; While tremulous passion struck my blood, and wrought Sensual within me, fell and subtly soft. Fear, anger, scorn and doubt, in complex claim Tost all disorderly. Yet most to cleave Decision knew I then, whate’er might be, Out from the tangled elements. So I turned Whither the Shape let fall Its jaw to weave Its chill articulation passionlessly. Ill-eeriely fell Its speech, as tho’ It spurned Life’s various intonation, to answer me What in high mien I sought. “Mortal, not mine Scripts to declare; neither attorneys high To sate thy heart wherewith. My voice proceeds Swift to thy nobler self. Didst thou apply Reason thereto, or thought deliberative, What hesitancy were there? Loftier than creeds Is my transcendent Word; that yet doth twine Rooted amid thy need. They that supine Wallow in fell lasciviousness, are brutes Trivial, corporeal; their weary bliss, Blinding their very selves, I say, despise: Esteem not that they misesteem. Rare fruits, Self-generative, of elevate thought, and mind Delicately poised, I proffer thee. Be wise; Set up on high thy pleasure: so to live Were to be quit of chance.--That thou amiss Shouldst cast thy fluttering days were piteous-blind, Seeing they are all, and veriest all: fulfil Thy days, then, with a high felicity. Too soon shall Death sweep up thy militant will; And bind thee in the dark. Yet heed thou this: Tho’ thou snuff out; a thing that was; yet still, The texture of thy thought, the workmanship Of hand or utterant lip, Thy heart’s aroma, personality In sooth, shall flourish yet, for good or ill, Upon the broad Earth’s face. So take my voice, And, knowing it true, utterly cast thy choice! I am thine Ultimate Good, Supreme, and Free, Nothing above me in the wide Universe.” Then from my lips broke there a bitter curse. Glib the words struck with subtle irony Traverse athwart my hope. Vivid and strong My thought had stood dilate, passionately Grappling amid the eternal verities, Touched to it by the conflict; and seemed now Clutching the air. A whelming sense of wrong Flushed all my mood. As one who sees All things, and nothing clearly, fearless of brow I shook my answer free. “My nobler Self! Mine ultimate Good! Trickster with subtle speech! What nobler self have I, what high, what low, Contradistinguished, save what thou wouldst teach Arbitrary of choice? What ultimate good, But as my heart dictates, throbbing to know The exquisite peak of pleasure, if the deep Swallow me utterly up? But what I would That should I, if thou art the ultimate All, And I no more than this! Thou Thing unkempt, Pallid of tongue and hue, so wouldst thou tempt My feet from blushful sweets aside? So charm My hazardous soul to climb Yon dizzy pinnacle, that hath no prime Nor cause of being, with this riotous balm,-- To sweat, to stint, to travail, and to fall Sheer out of time in night. Begone, thou Gloom! Away, thou Shape of ill! Come when the tomb, ’Twixt this and that omnipotent time Each tottering moment shall be packed with twice Its fraught of pleasures; or come surfeit, to illume The shadow of joy, shall every rare device Rivet the transient hour. Tread yon dread way? Nay, that I will not! Unto thee I turn, Vision ecstatic, tangible withal, From thee to learn All the soft wonders of thy disarray.” So, fearless, turned I: yet ere thought to deed Quickened my members, swift upon the air Luxuriously this song sped, deft and rare, Beckoning me to speed. “Come, my love, to love me; come! Life is but the tangled sum Of thy being’s bitter hum. Tarry not, the days flit by; Soon thy bloom shall wither: I Proffer fruits that never fly. Never; for thy brief decree Folds in all eternity: Nought survives thee; so to me Come, to taste the liberal treasure I bestrew whose name is Pleasure; Share mine overflowing measure. Ah! come to me; then will I show All that thine utmost heart would know: Laughter loud, and whispers low, Ruddy joy, soft lips and kisses, Opening out Life’s raptest blisses. This thy Heaven; yea, whoso misses This, shall slip the rarest worth Possible to his strenuous girth, In the delicious garden of Earth. So come to me, dear love, my sweet, Time and the Hours are all too fleet; Quaff my goblet, rarely meet For superb humanity. Confines spurn; be large, be free; ’Tis thy true Felicity! What is Duty’s blatant call? I am Duty, I am All; I am Beauty: none may fall On aught supremer arm than mine; I am God, I am divine; Life’s uttermost largess is my shrine. Wouldst thou live to wander wan? Dearest, never! freedom con, And share my fearless halcyon. Life is all thy tangled sum, Then hold not so, fearful and numb, But come to me, dear husband, come, Come!” Wildered I hearkened; held my tremulous limbs Awhile, and heard, impassioned. From her eyes Soft messages flashed o’er their lidded brims Coyly upon me. Throwing forth her arms She yearned on me, her hair’s luxuriant guise Falling carelessly and free, while she her charms Spun, threading in her woof of thought. The air, Murmuring her music yet, hung over me As heaving breast to breast we stood, surmise Holding me feeble and faint, ecstatically. Then did I burst away Restraint; tossing off wrinkled Care I strode toward the dear Angel of my Dream. Nigh had I touched her palm; when, swift and clear, Loud with the trumpet’s tongue, imperative, Dulcent to hear, A Voice of awful import thundered-- “Stay!” Sudden I reared. As doth revulsion give Thought interwound with thought, so did it seem I hung halting. Furtively, distractedly, I cast my gaze about, so to divine Whence the high edict sprang. The Ogre blear Was gone: fled with its eye malign As it had never been. Far up the course Precipitous and steep I seemed to see, Anew upon my eyes, a burning dome Scintillating, radiating from its source A hesitant gleam adown the path. Entranced I hung upon the sight. Then fear fell on me; for from thence did come, Stately, magnificent, tenfold more bright Than the sun’s vivid noontide, crystal-clear, A Shape surpassing loveliness. On my thought Paled all things else save that transcendent Fear. Steadily it advanced: From small to great, from great unreckonable, Stately, deliberative, supreme, of port Serene and lofty, steadily so it came Sweeping the callow path. Struck with its spell I burned with aching eyes. Subtly a Flame Encircled it, of silver and of gold, Sardine and jasper iridescent, blue, Purple and exquisite scarlet, all inwrought To one pure hue too vivid to behold. So as it nearer swept I threw My face upon the dust, and thrust my eyes Upon my veiling palms, dizzy to death, Sick with amaze; when a most mellow breath Softly outspake, “Frail child of Man, arise! For I would speak with thee!” No choice had I Save to obey that voice imperative; However it seemed to me to look and live Crost opposite elements. Dazedly I cast Upward a timorous glance, encountered by So mellow a gaze; wherein which very beam I touched sustaining succour. Towering vast He stood dilate with wonder; and did seem To crowd the heavens with majesty, tho’ within My wandering vision. Neath his snowy hair, Lit with intrinsic brilliance, shone his eyes, Where loomed long mysteries of eternity. His misty brow domed firmamental-wise, Swelling beneath its locks. ’Twas wondrous fair: Fair unto tottering thought! His very robes, Like the unblemished snow, thrice-purged, wherein Flowed his proportions spacious, moved and shone Instinct with sinuous life. Hesitantly I stammered-- “Stranger fair, thy Name! Forgive My curious temper! Yield me strength to live!” He bent on me twin eyes: and spake. Then did the whirling stars and heavenly globes, The ravenous winds, awake, And hang in poise ecstatic. Sweet upon My aching ears, incontinent of such bliss Celestial, there awoke a halcyon Of various, high, mellifluous harmony: In measures like to this: “Wouldst thou my Name, Mortal immortal; wouldst acquaint thy thought With my Renown? How shall I tell it thee? Speech may not utter it, for words are wrought Empirical, in the stout smithy of life. Couldst thou envisage its supremacy Then were toil done; and the pure spirit’s strife, Tempering the thew withal, wrought purposeless And cheap. Considerest thou not Man’s Aim, The Ages down, to utter Loveliness, Or to plumb Truth, to measure Equity, Or Justice poise; affixing phrases so Unto what trailing robes he sees. These all Am I, one and complete. When he shall know Freedom, deck on a larger life, each thrall Corporeal shudder off, standing superb, Munificent, then shall he see me face To spiritous face: till then must I disturb His manifold sense, to win him worthy of me. Before his soul awoke was I: nay, more, I touched his thought to life. From forth of nought I bad him issue, setting my seal thereon:-- So doth the veriest hind of all his race Grope tentative after me. Then when he bore Manhood erect, unparagoned, upon Earth’s lucent air I woke the soul of song Choired by the sons of morning. All the court Of glittering Heaven, in the dread womb of Night; The stately march celestial; throng on throng Wheeling from gloom to gloom, in perilous flight Over the unsearched deeps; the air; the seas; The bountiful Earth;--my handiwork were these In the wide crucibles of steady Time. Withal, tho’ such I seem to be, Yet am I not at all: the voiceless clod Owns substance more than I. Spaceless, sublime, I am the Breath Divine; the Voice of God; His concentrate Radiation: thence wend I, Thither to trend again, dependently; Aerial, effulgent, winging the formless deeps. Ecstatic Wisdom called they me awhile Who touched my billowy robes. Yet, tho’ I ply Authoritative edict, bidding thee Heed, as my fount is high, my voice o’erleaps Articular creed, swift to thy resonant soul Brooding deliberative. Well knowest thou That evanescent languors do beguile The soul’s high bent. Wherefore,--save that thine eye Hath glimpsed a billowy Vision, subtly spun, Floating upon thy thought, of high control Fashioning a peerless state, noble and pure, Whose stately essence not the clammy brow Of Death shall dissipate? Thou dreamest this: And this I utter now. That thou wouldst not Forego the Tempter’s vivid lure, Most truly tell I, Pleasure is not one But twain, nor think licentious libertine bliss Befits the splendour of thy soul, begot Divine, bred for eternal pride. Above Each fell delight, debased upon the soil, Soars a pure counterpart, winging the air: Thou canst but lust upon the one; but Love Impassioned doth the other wake. ’Tis toil; I cloak it not; yet ’tis a joy that bides, Swelling the more the hoarier, till Day dawn And shadows flit away. Decide thee then! Cast thy free choice! These portals lead thee where, Soul-plumed, new realms upon thy flight are borne. Brace up thy thew! Tread out this path, that guides Whither pure bliss shall rock thy dizzy ken, And end thy weary coil!” Wondering the Angel bound me; scarce a glance Turned I away upon yon Harlot nude, Chasteless and brazen, touching my coarser sense Distastefully; not wholly impotent. In visionary mood Hung I, swoll’n on the flow of eloquence To thought on thought. Nor less did ravishment, Exhaling music on its wing, uplift my soul, Gazing upon that beauteous Eminence. Enthralled so was I held. Then as my trance Bated awhile, I searched my tongue’s control. “Ecstatic Flame!” I broke, “yet would I know Further one thing. Truly I bow before thee! I yield my due of homage; I adore thee, Eternal Radiance from on high! Thou bright Image immortal! Yet, do I tempt the throe Of yon steep way, what strength shall flush my thew Sinking amid its steeps? Yea, as I woo Its delicate largess, if my feeble might Fail of its scintillant goal, what then? What deed, What earnest, decks my quest, so to exchange For problematical bliss the vivid range Of present sweets. Fool I to chance the meed Of dusk futurity for the portion sprung Flashing upon my sight! Forgive this tongue Imperious, recalcitrant; yet sure, I utter freely, speaking as I read Diverse each several lure.” Tranquil, immovable, in a mien that won Me wholly out, respondent it begun:-- “The choice thine own; cast as thou wilt: ’tis mine But to declare the Truth. Who shall assign Aright his lot, him shall I flush with strength, Leaping from might to might. Each vision true Opens to wider bliss: each vanquished thrall Touches to larger freedom; lea on lea Bounding to vision to Life’s uttermost length. I woo not, but am woo’d; and yet withal Woo I; imperative my lineaments woo For sheer vitality. Thus shall I thee. Think’st thou the end shall fail? Who perseveres Assuredly shall clasp the ultimate goal; If ultimate goal there be, for bliss shall roll Boundless before thy view. I say not fears Shall cease, that strife shall vanish, or that all Conjured rhapsodical, dispassionately Shall swim in peace. Nay, all thy passionate days Shall reach from peak to peak, trial amid, Gainsayers athwart, waking Life’s deepest zest. Yet shall the goal gleam rare before thy gaze; And if upon thy quest, Sinking dispirited, the goal be hid Wrapt in a gloomy mist, ’twill pass awhile, And thou be all thy strenuous self again. Ally Thyself to me, nor seek thee to beguile Idly the transient hours, and all that I Have shown before thy sight fulfilled shall be. I say ’t; and am its earnest eternally.” And then methought I stood on quaking limb, Forth to proceed upon that wizard way. Heaven-high the portals towered above me; dim Stretched the precipitous path, tortuous and grey, Leaping from crag to crag. Then all the gloom Seized fast about me, as with hesitant stride I took its edge initiative. Yet on Went I, holding a dauntless pride Steady within me; on and on, upon The slippery crags, amid the dunes and meres, Poised oft o’er bottomless pits, turning beside Pitiless tarns, brackish with mortal tears. As forth I strode, fairer and yet more fair Shone the horizon; rarer did illume Its scintillant goal my passage lofty and strait. And my high Mentor, steady before my eye, Shone so exceeding beauteous, more and more, Increasing so in clarity, scope, and air, That a wild ecstasy possessed my thought, Riotous and fervid in me. Steadily So followed I, with resolute thew where’er It led me forth, casting no glance away: Thus on, yet on; waning and waxing on. Yet, as I sped, methought a dizzy shore Beguiled my feet aside, so to descry What depths the abysm held. Pallid and wan Shrank my Instructor on my curious eye. Treading its perilous edge I did essay To plumb the gulf, with darkness doubly fraught; When, gazing with profound intent, a wind Broke with an awful triumph up its steep Embankments jagged forth on me. All terror-strick’n upstarted I, to find ’Twas but the embers crumbling in the grate, Loud on the icy Night. Awakened so Musing I stood to recollect, and lo! My lips had formed to prayer.-- Then thro’ the gloom I gat me to my sleep. TO A THRUSH Singing one Spring morn ’mid deepest fog Throstle-bird! I have heard This thy voice of cheer, As I lay In the sway Of a waking fear; And its message dropt me peace, From its rapt career. Yet, say how Thou may’st now Every note prolong! Doth the fog Never clog Never still thy song? Doth thy music ever rise Mellow, sweet, and strong? Ho! when Morn Doth adorn Shuddering Mother Earth, Jocund Day Swelling gay, Kingly in his girth, I may something understand This so mellow mirth. But when morn Rises worn, As on gloomy wing; When in murk Light doth lurk Like some callow thing, Tell me, throstle, how thou then Cheerily canst sing? Oftentime Peace sublime, ’Mid the fairest day, Flickers wan And is gone Phantom on its way, Then a sudden gloom enshrouds Hearts within its sway. Then the smile Fades awhile, Then the laugh is still, Then the tune Falters, hewn By the touch of Ill, Then Life’s music flutters low Sorrow to fulfil. Ill-content To be pent Out of aught, griefs come All unbid Right amid Spirits frolicsome: Ah! then lips attuned to praise Press each other dumb! Yet, sweet bird, Nought has blurred These most wondrous throes: Melody Rapt and free Out the midst of woes; May I turn to thee to learn What thy spirit knows! That when gloom Like a doom Blots the azure sky, I may learn Blight to spurn, And the Day descry, Howsoe’er the Word of Ill Spells the Earth awry. Smirk and smutch May I touch To a loftier scheme, Irk and Doubt Ravelling out In a song supreme; As, rare bird, thy spirits turn Sturdily thy theme. MULTUM IN PARVO Baby-child, Mystery of mysteries, Com’st thou from the starry skies Pleased to don Life’s motley guise Dark and wild? Frail and slight, Hardly uttered of the Womb, Lov’st thou Sorrow, Want and Gloom So to exchange for song and bloom Sin and blight? Swaddled thus, What a Wonder may’st thou be Touched by mystic Destiny, Oh, trite Possibility Marvellous! Drowsy so, Doth a mighty Spirit brace Earthy thews anew; to trace Deeds that mock at Time and Place, Bond and throe? Baby-fists, Shall they clutch the flashing blade, Touch the use of politic aid, Tilt with sinew undismayed In Life’s lists? Chubby things, Shall they stretch a loving hand Unto such on Life’s rough strand As may never understand Sheltering wings? Baby-feet, Scarce distinguishable forms, Must they foot amid Life’s storms Lonely; none to soothe its qualms, None to weet? Wearied, sore, Hardly shall they seek to run Up the passes where begun All is strife till strife is done Evermore? Baby-face, Shall it wear the print of Time, Woven o’er with hoary rime: Or shall Death in sunnier clime Pallor trace? As years wend, Shall its lineaments tell the sage Scarred with honourable age, Ere Life turn its latest page For the End? Liquid eyes, Whence outpeers the wizard soul, Shall its lustre spell control Calm, impregnable and whole, Firm and wise? Flame and flash Only when a careless foot Tramples thro’ Life’s cruel bruit Heedless, heartless, then to shoot Hates that slash! Be it so! Shall they wizard wonders see In the wrapt Futurity, Whither, swathing shackles free, Time must go? Aerial ships, Searching out the vasty blue, Darting whither to endue Peace with beauty, Warfare’s new Scathing whips? Brotherhood: Twining men of every race, Knowing neither high nor base, Spurning pomp and pride of place, One of brood? Howe’er ’tis, Baby, shun no Duty’s call, Fear thy God, love peoples all, Then whatever shall befall, Thine is bliss! * * * * * Lovely child, Smiling with such heedless eyes, Com’st thou from the starry skies So to search Life’s enterprise Dark and wild? Friends vanish at my face; yet, as they fly, Swoll’n with the sombre mood of conjured schism, I hear thee say thou whom the holy chrism Has sealed as mine eternal--“Dear, do I Outweigh the scales; if this one form be nigh, Shall that suffice thee in this dark abysm?” Ah, think, Belov’d! did some great cataclysm Fierce-swoop upon to enshroud the midnight sky, Did gulf the multitudinous stars but one, Some Betelgeuse, in beauty-flame of love Gleaming and twinkling in the lowly mart Of tremulous darkness, how ’twould swell upon The vaults of Heaven; how rare so poised above! Even so in lone magnificence thou art! A Fancy fair comes floating on my thought When on the wildering trammels I am caught Of pensive studies; as the surrounding scheme Fades and dissolves, and coming Hours gleam Visionary the musing realms athwart: That thou and I, all our keen battles fought, Serene and hoar, past touch of withering aught, Shall yet enkindle love, and kiss, and dream A Fancy _fair_. My Dearest, be this so! Let us be wrought So to a unity as the Hours, full-fraught With Blight and Bloom, slip by; let us esteem The other in our loves so high-supreme, That thus, Dear Heart, this Vision may be not A _Fancy_ fair. As is the silver night Upon the sombre sea, In ecstasy of might Art thou to me. As are the stars beyond Aught compass or control, As glittering diamond, So thy pure soul. As doth the throstle tell His mystery complete, Such is thy subtle spell, Yet oh! how sweet! So cam’st thou unto me Love’s mystic wand to wield; Then I, who would be free, Did gladly yield. Belovëd, hast perceived a throstle tune His liberal wealth of song, ’Mid the leafy coverts, all a lucent noon, Where Audience none had he, yet, desolate, He fluted keen and strong Appreciated only by his mate? Even so sing I, sequestered and alone. No World’s large ear to woo My measures all upon thy feet are thrown. My Mate thou art, my single Audience thou, Thence never do I sue Vainly for plaudit: is not this enow? Ah, if that throstle glimpsed a Vision clear, A Vision seeming Truth; If unto him, from Life’s encrusting sphere, An iridescent Beauty had out-twirled, In yon sequestered booth How would he chafe his soul to reach the World! EXILE I awake from dreams of thee, From the unquiet realms of sleep; I awake from Felicity, I awake to thoughts that keep Their bitterness hid and deep. I awake from dreams of love Ecstatic, so pure, so sweet; I awake--’tis only to prove That the midday sun shall beat On my lonely lips and feet. Oh, I have thee, Asthore: deep at this heart Thy presence is a fragrance subtly-rare, As blooms exhale the midnight hour. Whate’er I do, will, dream, aspire, achieve, thou art My Aim, my End. Nay, more, the absolute part Of my Soul’s life! Should hollow-eyed Despair Clutch on me it is only that I fare Forth thro’ the day, and barter at Life’s mart, Yet fail to win thee home. When Truth to woo me Comes, she arrays her in thy form; and those Assimilate twins, Beauty and Duty, to me Are thee and thy soft word. In toil, repose, Asleep, awake, thy spirit whispers thro’ me; Nor boast I hours thou dost not ope and close. Each hath the Type of bliss within his thought That utters for him all his Life would be: The summit of his soul’s felicity, The consummation wherein should be wrought In deft attainment all his spirit bought Awhile in fervent hope--whose roundest fee ’Twas good to pay. ’Tis so: enough! For me, Be it amiss or be it fitly sought, This would I crave--that mine and thy full soul May touch their mutual deep content, howe’er Life twists its tortuous course; may still control Their Individuality, yet fare So subtly each on each, that as one whole They might stretch to their goal in God’s pure air. A WORD TO THE CZAR (_Penned on “Vladimir’s Day” January 22, 1905._) Thou great Usurper of the Liberty Of hapless Men and Maids, this gory shame Shall wrap thee in a livid Cloak of Flame Ere days have swoll’n to years. We who are free, Who owe no fouling bond of Tyranny, We look at Thee, and execrate thy Name: Nor in our Vision art thou quit of blame That by the hand of him who stood for thee This bloody deed was done. Across the Years, And from the lips of peoples one and all, A mighty curse rolls on, to reach His ears Who silently surveys thy hastening fall:-- Soon may His Might pluck from thy reeking Hand Thy Batôn of a self-usurped command! VIKING-THROES Life’s a Battle, full of stress, Full of Change, Struggle, Combat, Weariness, Circling range-- Be limbs and heart sore heavy, yet Foe on foe is set. Give me fingers for the Fight Keen and strong; Give a Mind that swerves no mite ’Mid the Throng; Beget me Valour, stiffly-grown, Hewn to stand alone. Grant such Virtue so to be So to dare, That tho’ all may faint or flee --Howsoe’er The Fight may turn--I yet shall stand Firm in Eye and Hand. Let some Purpose thro’ my tears Gleam and glow, Ah! let not the ruining Years, Full of woe, Engulf then in their dim embrace That high spectral Grace. Yet, all Boon of boons above, This I crave, Let a tender ample Love My Spirit save Forth from the harsh ungentle chains Fight so oft attains. “SENTENTIOUS” Heard I a Preacher loud and high, With speech mellifluous, Who deftly wove before mine eye Doctrines circuitous. I heard him, ay, I gladly heard, Heard all he had to tell-- Thinking full many a prettier bird Warbled a tithe as well. Then thought I: Friend, full sweet to hear, Yet say, were I in need, Were all about dim and drear, What then might be your deed? Full glibly do the lips relate Expressions that the heart Never hath gripped, whose pomp and state Of utterance dwell apart. And what their Worth? Barren and bald If it be that the Hand Wakes not so ready, whene’er called, To make request command! To speak, to speech, to vaunt and preach, How passing easy ’tis! But to stretch forth a loving hand To souls in Ill’s abyss,-- Such is the noblest part of Life; Ay, well to know it deep! For Speech, ’mid daily Stress and Strife Oft rocks the Deed asleep! AN IDYLL OF THE BROADS As on a river fair I sped,-- My boat beneath mine oars nigh flew,-- Amazed I saw a Scotsman’s head Whose form and visage well I knew. He hailed me by my name, and I, Astonied thus to see him near, My scudding craft did thither hie With gladness, mixt withal with fear. For with immense accoutrement He fished for fishes merrily: Elaborate, magnificent, A very king of fishers he! His line was of the best, his rod Superb, as likewise was his float; And, scorning by his mother sod, He stood upon a varnished boat. His mien was mighty, seriousness Lit o’er his stedfast countenance; He grasped his rod with firm caress, Anxiety in every glance. His son lay by to render aid When salmon carried off his bait, Or whales, maybe, who nought afraid Cared nothing for his sombre state. With reverence and thrilling throe I drew anear with slow approach;-- Yet need I not have quivered so, For all that river held was roach! TO A “CANTERBURY BELL”! Rare lovely Bloom! dear sweet simplicity, Nodding beneath the Heavens thy delicate lure! Thine exquisite sculpture doth upcall on me The realms of wonder, visionary and pure! I gaze on thee, thou waxen delicate, Until the World and all its strutting pelf Fade wanly hence, and an ecstatic scene Of fauns and goblins, decked in legend state, Steps faintly forth, to bear my dizzy self Within their tripping circles, nought between. There, ’mid the hedgerow’s tortuous garlands, fair And blithe thou droop’st thy lovely brow; and thence Thy zephyry fragrance, delicate and rare, Steals with a dewy breath upon my sense. Eager I seek thee out then, to behold Thy bell upon the vesper breezes toll Pomp’s knelling requiem with solemn nod, Thou purest Joy, ’mid teeming fold on fold Of prodigal waywardness, is this thy dole, Simplicity that boasts no touch save God? The Honeysuckle’s heavily-laden breath Floats on the balmy winds in languid fumes; The Nightshade breathes its careless boon of death To lips that tamper lightly with its blooms; The Meadow-sweet with carved tiaras deft; The Poppy-petal’s crumpled charactery; The tangly ramified Convolvulus;-- All of their several virtues are bereft At the soft touch of thy Simplicity, Simplicity of peace voluptuous. Oh, exquisite marvel, whither shall I turn To sate the thirstings thou hast spoken up? My soul with vast inquietude doth burn. Rare drafts are there within thy luscious cup That I may put my lips upon its brim, And, sloughing off Earth’s smutch and soilure, quaff Deeply the secrets of eternal ease? Or sway’st thou merely as a transient whim, Idle, capricious, windward-driven chaff? Yet surely, surely thou art more than these! Or very All, or very Nothing: why Hast thou upspoken thirst for what is not If thou and I shall clutch the gloom, and die, Life but a tangled boon, a vicious blot, Spun by the sightless Powers? Nay, shalt not thou, Elate, clad in eternal Vestiture, Greet me upon the eternal Marge? Yea, then, Shall not I, ageless Wisdom on my brow, Spell out thy charm occult? Sweet Mystery pure, So shall I search thy secrets yet again! THE GOLDEN MUSICIAN Melodious Bird, thy winsome word Falls sweetly on my ear! Stupendous Song, ’tis borne along, Mellow and deft and clear, Till each soul-nook with music shook Rings back with merry cheer! What vivid change will it so range! Swiftly ’twill follow after A pensive chirp with gay “stoup-stirp” Ringing with merry laughter, Until its chime in resonant rime Echoes from roof and rafter. The livelong day, come gloom or grey, Always and ever singing; Be ’t bliss or ill so singing still, Cheerily, merrily ringing, Thou upon us in music thus Spray of delight art flinging. Is it a strand, a vagrant hand, From Love’s exalted treasure, So bearing us voluptuous Rare peals of delicate pleasure, Thrilling the soul, tho’ vast and whole Its fullness mocks all measure? ’Tis as a word inwardly stirred, As Memory subtly lingers O’er Hours fled by the Noon, that lie Past touch of confident fingers, Yet that upcall the bowered hall, The voice of silent singers. Then say, oh Mage of antique age, These, are they gifts of olden And lovelit days whereto in praise I utter back beholden?-- See, see, thy throat trilling each note Throbs like a zephyr golden. There--as I gaze in rapt amaze-- Swollen with rare emotion, Fervid of joy, scorning alloy, Spurning a base devotion To shackled earth, it trips a mirth All of a heavenly potion. A murmurous note doth freely float Like waves of rippling water; Then a high song doth course along To Sorrow uttering slaughter, Commanding forth in merry wrath Bliss and her jocund daughter. Attenuate heights in perilous flights, Soaring in eagle fashion, Thou seekest out, from whence about On aching ears there flash on Rhythms unwrought, delights unthought, Echoes of ageless passion. Oh, this divine rare lay of thine Rings like a heavenly lyric, Lulling each sense, wafting me hence, Bidding the World’s Empiric Fade on my ear awhile, to hear Thy cadence full and spheric. Thy splendid boon of glorious Tune Hath tongues of fire cloven; Each diverse part with subtle art, Each period rich and proven, To touch to one theme till ’tis spun Of texture interwoven. Ecstatic Dreams, are these thy themes? Stung by thy wondrous lyre, So wilt thou go with quickening glow, On wings of flameless fire, From light to light in fearless flight Of music ever higher?-- Till every cloud in passion proud Mightily burst asunder, Display a new translunar view With its own soul of wonder:-- Be ’t as it may, a wizard lay, Or ecstasy of thunder? For every sphere thy song’s career So bursts upon to capture, Amply is strewn with rhythmic tune, Whereunto to adapt your Melodious Verse and then rehearse Once more its delicate rapture. Hardly content with music pent In melodies once given Wilt thou again repeat the strain, Till on by passion driven, That every clause may peal applause Of harmony twice striven? Oh, that the Muse would touch to use This lyre as thine ’tis using! Then might I rise with mystical eyes, Swoll’n with the theme of musing, Soaring athirst my song to burst With utterance scarce of choosing. So Song would scorn corporeal bourne; Dilated so pursuing With eager breast its passionate quest, All transient worth eschewing, Pausing its lute awhile when, mute, Life’s towering Vasts reviewing. How then ’twould wear a rapture rare, An other-worldly glory; In rich array each simple lay Decking Life’s thought or story; Still dew-impearled were all the world Sombre and blear and hoary. On Wonder’s wing ’twould featly bring Exultant exaltation To all that foot amid the bruit Of daily lot and station, In uttering such clear dreams as touch Doubt unto Adoration, So shall the Balm--oh winsome charm!-- Of her rhapsodic madness Keep blithe and young the World’s wild tongue; Its trick of gloom and sadness Banish away from the light of day With an unquestioning Gladness. The spiritous reign of Song’s domain Eternity embowers: Ere faulty Man his Hour began ’T had rung the heavenly towers With echoing shaft-peals, that now waft Earth with ecstatic showers. With hesitant ruth we ponder Truth, Thou sing’st as thou dost know it-- Beholding it all wonder-writ, Then unto us to show it In sweeping tune, unwrought, pure-hewn, Dear never-halting Poet! Yet our frail Song ’twixt Right and Wrong Ofttimes will pierce unwitting; As were the gleams of Poet’s dreams Fair beams of Beauty flitting Whence Reason ne’er snuffed thro’ the air Wooing Time’s proud permitting. No longer with pard, kin or kith, Stranger, so wilt thou wander A murky isle, in splendid style Ecstatic Song to squander On such as fain would turn again Thy source of Song to ponder? Not thine to greet the Sun’s high beat On Freedom’s pinions soaring! Nor thine the rich rapt melody which Thy woody tribes are pouring! But all apart with tuneful art Spiritual realms exploring! Within the gloom o’ a dusky room, All in a dusky City Callow and wan, so tun’st thou on High anthem and soft ditty? Scarce thine the mood and attitude Waking a captive’s pity! What reckest thou if leafy bough Or plaster palanquin thee! Howe’er thou yearn for the Noons that burn Not gloom nor bars may win thee From the clear Joy pure of alloy Exquisitely strung within thee. Then sing thou on, while I upon The flight of thy pure Vision Am borne aloft on pinions soft, Perceiving no elision, Thither whence Life and Toil and Strife Are Pity and Derision. Yet, that I might pursue the flight, Purer and swifter travel Past blame or praise, till Life’s Amaze Shall dwindle and unravel, Sweetly to shine like this of thine, Rare Beauty, scarce a cavil. TO ---- A Stranger, and thou took’st me in. Great Heart! It fits not well my temper to high-trape My woes before a listless world, or drape With melancholy habit each grim part Life bad me to, for with a sovereign art She did it so, my stubborn thought to shape. Yet, tho’ I lightly scorn wide mouths agape, ’Twere worthy of high record, in this mart Of barter and exchange, how I to thee Came, all my prospect waste and spilt, A Stranger, and with what unquestioning air Thou took me in, and sought to succour me: Forget it thou may’st; likeliest is thou wilt; But not so I who found a heart so rare. Transcriber’s Notes Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within the text and consultation of external sources. Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained. The following corrections have been applied to the text (before/after): (p. 72) Penned on “Valdimir’s Day” ... Penned on “Vladimir’s Day” ... (p. 88) Be’t bliss or ill ... 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