Chapter 18

When I had shut the book, I said, "Now, as for me, my dreams upon my bed Are not like Jacob's dream; Yet I have got it in my life; yes, I, And many more: it doth not us beseem, Therefore, to sigh. Is there not hung a ladder in our sky? Yea; and, moreover, all the way up on high Is thickly peopled with the prayers of men. We have no dream! What then? Like wingéd wayfarers the height they scale (By Him that offers them they shall prevail),-- The prayers of men. But where is found a prayer for me; How should I pray? My heart is sick, and full of strife. I heard one whisper with departing breath, 'Suffer us not, for any pains of death, To fall from Thee.' But O, the pains of life! the pains of life! There is no comfort now, and naught to win, But yet,--I will begin."

I.

"Preserve to me my wealth," I do not say, For that is wasted away; And much of it was cankered ere it went. "Preserve to me my health." I cannot say, For that, upon a day, Went after other delights to banishment.

II.

What can I pray? "Give me forgetfulness"? No, I would still possess Past away smiles, though present fronts be stern. "Give me again my kindred?" Nay; not so, Not idle prayers. We know They that have crossed the river cannot return.

III.

I do not pray, "Comfort me! comfort me!" For how should comfort be? O,--O that cooing mouth,--that little white head! No; but I pray, "If it be not too late, Open to me the gate, That I may find my babe when I am dead.

IV.

"Show me the path. I had forgotten Thee When I was happy and free, Walking down here in the gladsome light o' the sun; But now I come and mourn; O set my feet In the road to Thy blest seat, And for the rest, O God, Thy will be done."

DOMINION.

When found the rose delight in her fair hue? Color is nothing to this world; 'tis I That see it. Farther, I have found, my soul, That trees are nothing to their fellow trees; It is but I that love their stateliness, And I that, comforting my heart, do sit At noon beneath their shadow. I will step On the ledges of this world, for it is mine; But the other world ye wot of, shall go too; I will carry it in my bosom. O my world, That was not built with clay! Consider it (This outer world we tread on) as a harp,-- A gracious instrument on whose fair strings We learn those airs we shall be set to play When mortal hours are ended. Let the wings, Man, of thy spirit move on it as wind, And draw forth melody. Why shouldst thou yet Lie grovelling? More is won than e'er was lost: Inherit. Let thy day be to thy night A teller of good tidings. Let thy praise Go up as birds go up that, when they wake, Shake off the dew and soar. So take Joy home, And make a place in thy great heart for her, And give her time to grow, and cherish her; Then will she come, and oft will sing to thee, When thou art working in the furrows; ay, Or weeding in the sacred hour of dawn. It is a comely fashion to be glad,-- Joy is the grace we say to God. Art tired? There is a rest remaining. Hast thou sinned? There is a Sacrifice. Lift up thy head, The lovely world, and the over-world alike, Ring with a song eterne, a happy rede, "THY FATHER LOVES THEE."

I.

Yon mooréd mackerel fleet Hangs thick as a swarm of bees, Or a clustering village street Foundationless built on the seas.

II.

The mariners ply their craft, Each set in his castle frail; His care is all for the draught, And he dries the rain-beaten sail.

III.

For rain came down in the night, And thunder muttered full oft, But now the azure is bright. And hawks are wheeling aloft.

IV.

I take the land to my breast, In her coat with daisies fine; For me are the hills in their best, And all that's made is mine.

V.

Sing high! "Though the red sun dip, There yet is a day for me; Nor youth I count for a ship That long ago foundered at sea.

VI.

"Did the lost love die and depart? Many times since we have met; For I hold the years in my heart, And all that was--is yet.

VII.

"I grant to the king his reign; Let us yield him homage due; But over the lands there are twain, O king, I must rule as you.

VIII.

"I grant to the wise his meed, But his yoke I will not brook, For God taught ME to read,-- He lent me the world for a book."

FRIENDSHIP.

ON A SUN-PORTRAIT OF HER HUSBAND, SENT BY HIS WIFE TO THEIR FRIEND.

Beautiful eyes,--and shall I see no more The living thought when it would leap from them, And play in all its sweetness 'neath their lids?

Here was a man familiar with fair heights That poets climb. Upon his peace the tears And troubles of our race deep inroads made, Yet life was sweet to him; he kept his heart At home. Who saw his wife might well have thought,-- "God loves this man. He chose a wife for him,-- The true one!" O sweet eyes, that seem to live, I know so much of you, tell me the rest! Eyes full of fatherhood and tender care For small, young children. Is a message here That you would fain have sent, but had not time? If such there be, I promise, by long love And perfect friendship, by all trust that comes Of understanding, that I will not fail, No, nor delay to find it. O, my heart Will often pain me as for some strange fault,-- Some grave defect in nature,--when I think How I, delighted, 'neath those olive-trees, Moved to the music of the tideless main, While, with sore weeping, in an island home They laid that much-loved head beneath the sod, And I did not know.

I.

I stand on the bridge where last we stood When young leaves played at their best. The children called us from yonder wood, And rock-doves crooned on the nest.

II.

Ah, yet you call,--in your gladness call,-- And I hear your pattering feet; It does not matter, matter at all, You fatherless children sweet,--

III.

It does not matter at all to you, Young hearts that pleasure besets; The father sleeps, but the world is new, The child of his love forgets.

IV.

I too, it may be, before they drop, The leaves that flicker to-day, Ere bountiful gleams make ripe the crop, Shall pass from my place away:

V.

Ere yon gray cygnet puts on her white, Or snow lies soft on the wold, Shall shut these eyes on the lovely light, And leave the story untold.

VI.

Shall I tell it there? Ah, let that be, For the warm pulse beats so high; To love to-day, and to breathe and see,-- To-morrow perhaps to die,--

VII.

Leave it with God. But this I have known, That sorrow is over soon; Some in dark nights, sore weeping alone, Forget by full of the moon.

VIII.

But if all loved, as the few can love, This world would seldom be well; And who need wish, if he dwells above, For a deep, a long death knell.

IX.

There are four or five, who, passing this place, While they live will name me yet; And when I am gone will think on my face, And feel a kind of regret.

WINSTANLEY.

_THE APOLOGY._

_Quoth the cedar to the reeds and rushes, "Water-grass, you know not what I do; Know not of my storms, nor of my hushes. And--I know not you."

Quoth the reeds and rushes, "Wind! O waken! Breathe, O wind, and set our answer free, For we have no voice, of you forsaken, For the cedar-tree."

Quoth the earth at midnight to the ocean, "Wilderness of water, lost to view, Naught you are to me but sounds of motion; I am naught to you."

Quoth the ocean, "Dawn! O fairest, clearest, Touch me with thy golden fingers bland; For I have no smile till thou appearest For the lovely land."_

_Quoth the hero dying, whelmed in glory "Many blame me, few have understood; Ah, my folk, to you I leave a story,-- Make its meaning good."

Quoth the folk, "Sing, poet! teach us, prove us Surely we shall learn the meaning then; Wound us with a pain divine, O move us, For this man of men."_

* * * * *

Winstanley's deed, you kindly folk, With it I fill my lay, And a nobler man ne'er walked the world, Let his name be what it may.

The good ship "Snowdrop" tarried long, Up at the vane looked he; "Belike," he said, for the wind had dropped, "She lieth becalmed at sea."

The lovely ladies flocked within, And still would each one say, "Good mercer, be the ships come up?" But still he answered "Nay."

Then stepped two mariners down the street, With looks of grief and fear: "Now, if Winstanley be your name, We bring you evil cheer!

"For the good ship 'Snowdrop' struck,--she struck On the rock,--the Eddystone, And down she went with threescore men, We two being left alone.

"Down in the deep, with freight and crew, Past any help she lies, And never a bale has come to shore Of all thy merchandise."

"For cloth o' gold and comely frieze," Winstanley said, and sighed, "For velvet coif, or costly coat, They fathoms deep may bide.

"O thou brave skipper, blithe and kind, O mariners, bold and true, Sorry at heart, right sorry am I, A-thinking of yours and you.

"Many long days Winstanley's breast Shall feel a weight within, For a waft of wind he shall be 'feared And trading count but sin.

"To him no more it shall be joy To pace the cheerful town, And see the lovely ladies gay Step on in velvet gown."

The "Snowdrop" sank at Lammas tide, All under the yeasty spray; On Christmas Eve the brig "Content" Was also cast away.

He little thought o' New Year's night, So jolly as he sat then, While drank the toast and praised the roast The round-faced Aldermen,--

While serving lads ran to and fro, Pouring the ruby wine, And jellies trembled on the board, And towering pasties fine,--

While loud huzzas ran up the roof Till the lamps did rock o'erhead, And holly-boughs from rafters hung Dropped down their berries red,--

He little thought on Plymouth Hoe, With every rising tide, How the wave washed in his sailor lads, And laid them side by side.

There stepped a stranger to the board: "Now, stranger, who be ye?" He looked to right, he looked to left, And "Rest you merry," quoth he;

"For you did not see the brig go down, Or ever a storm had blown; For you did not see the white wave rear At the rock,--the Eddystone.

"She drave at the rock with sternsails set; Crash went the masts in twain; She staggered back with her mortal blow, Then leaped at it again.

"There rose a great cry, bitter and strong, The misty moon looked out! And the water swarmed with seamen's heads, And the wreck was strewed about.

"I saw her mainsail lash the sea As I clung to the rock alone; Then she heeled over, and down she went, And sank like any stone.

"She was a fair ship, but all's one! For naught could bide the shock." "I will take horse," Winstanley said, "And see this deadly rock."

"For never again shall bark o' mine Sail over the windy sea, Unless, by the blessing of God, for this Be found a remedy."

Winstanley rode to Plymouth town All in the sleet and the snow, And he looked around on shore and sound As he stood on Plymouth Hoe.

Till a pillar of spray rose far away, And shot up its stately head, Reared and fell over, and reared again: "'Tis the rock! the rock!" he said.

Straight to the Mayor he took his way, "Good Master Mayor," quoth he, "I am a mercer of London town, And owner of vessels three,--

"But for your rock of dark renown, I had five to track the main." "You are one of many," the old Mayor said, "That on the rock complain.

"An ill rock, mercer! your words ring right, Well with my thoughts they chime, For my two sons to the world to come It sent before their time."

"Lend me a lighter, good Master Mayor, And a score of shipwrights free, For I think to raise a lantern tower On this rock o' destiny."

The old Mayor laughed, but sighed alsó; "Ah, youth," quoth he, "is rash; Sooner, young man, thou'lt root it out From the sea that doth it lash.

"Who sails too near its jagged teeth, He shall have evil lot; For the calmest seas that tumble there Froth like a boiling pot.

"And the heavier seas few look on nigh, But straight they lay him in dead; A seventy-gun-ship, sir!--they'll shoot Higher than her mast-head.

"O, beacons sighted in the dark, They are right welcome things, And pitchpots flaming on the shore Show fair as angel wings.

"Hast gold in hand? then light the land, It 'longs to thee and me; But let alone the deadly rock In God Almighty's sea."

Yet said he, "Nay,--I must away, On the rock to set my feet; My debts are paid, my will I made, Or ever I did thee greet.

"If I must die, then let me die By the rock and not elsewhere; If I may live, O let me live To mount my lighthouse stair."

The old Mayor looked him in the face, And answered, "Have thy way; Thy heart is stout, as if round about It was braced with an iron stay:

"Have thy will, mercer! choose thy men, Put off from the storm-rid shore; God with thee be, or I shall see Thy face and theirs no more."

Heavily plunged the breaking wave, And foam flew up the lea, Morning and even the drifted snow Fell into the dark gray sea.

Winstanley chose him men and gear; He said, "My time I waste," For the seas ran seething up the shore, And the wrack drave on in haste.

But twenty days he waited and more, Pacing the strand alone, Or ever he sat his manly foot On the rock,--the Eddystone.

Then he and the sea began their strife, And worked with power and might: Whatever the man reared up by day The sea broke down by night.

He wrought at ebb with bar and beam, He sailed to shore at flow; And at his side, by that same tide, Came bar and beam alsó.

"Give in, give in," the old Mayor cried, "Or thou wilt rue the day." "Yonder he goes," the townsfolk sighed, "But the rock will have its way.

"For all his looks that are so stout, And his speeches brave and fair, He may wait on the wind, wait on the wave, But he'll build no lighthouse there."

In fine weather and foul weather The rock his arts did flout, Through the long days and the short days, Till all that year ran out.

With fine weather and foul weather Another year came in; "To take his wage," the workmen said, "We almost count a sin."

Now March was gone, came April in, And a sea-fog settled down, And forth sailed he on a glassy sea, He sailed from Plymouth town.

With men and stores he put to sea, As he was wont to do; They showed in the fog like ghosts full faint,-- A ghostly craft and crew.

And the sea-fog lay and waxed alway, For a long eight days and more; "God help our men," quoth the women then; "For they bide long from shore."

They paced the Hoe in doubt and dread: "Where may our mariners be?" But the brooding fog lay soft as down Over the quiet sea.

A Scottish schooner made the port, The thirteenth day at e'en; "As I am a man," the captain cried, "A strange sight I have seen:

"And a strange sound heard, my masters all, At sea, in the fog and the rain, Like shipwrights' hammers tapping low, Then loud, then low again.

"And a stately house one instant showed, Through a rift, on the vessel's lee; What manner of creatures may be those That build upon the sea?"

Then sighed the folk, "The Lord be praised!" And they flocked to the shore amain; All over the Hoe that livelong night, Many stood out in the rain.

It ceased, and the red sun reared his head, And the rolling fog did flee; And, lo! in the offing faint and far Winstanley's house at sea!

In fair weather with mirth and cheer The stately tower uprose; In foul weather, with hunger and cold, They were content to close;

Till up the stair Winstanley went, To fire the wick afar; And Plymouth in the silent night Looked out, and saw her star.

Winstanley set his foot ashore; Said he, "My work is done; I hold it strong to last as long As aught beneath the sun.

"But if it fail, as fail it may, Borne down with ruin and rout, Another than I shall rear it high, And brace the girders stout.

"A better than I shall rear it high, For now the way is plain, And tho' I were dead," Winstanley said, "The light would shine again.

"Yet, were I fain still to remain, Watch in my tower to keep, And tend my light in the stormiest night That ever did move the deep;

"And if it stood, why then 'twere good, Amid their tremulous stirs, To count each stroke when the mad waves broke, For cheers of mariners.

"But if it fell, then this were well, That I should with it fall; Since, for my part, I have built my heart In the courses of its wall.

"Ay! I were fain, long to remain, Watch in my tower to keep, And tend my light in the stormiest night That ever did move the deep."

With that Winstanley went his way, And left the rock renowned, And summer and winter his pilot star Hung bright o'er Plymouth Sound.

But it fell out, fell out at last, That he would put to sea, To scan once more his lighthouse tower On the rock o' destiny.

And the winds woke, and the storm broke, And wrecks came plunging in; None in the town that night lay down Or sleep or rest to win.

The great mad waves were rolling graves, And each flung up its dead; The seething flow was white below, And black the sky o'erhead.

And when the dawn, the dull, gray dawn,-- Broke on the trembling town, And men looked south to the harbor mouth, The lighthouse tower was down.

Down in the deep where he doth sleep, Who made it shine afar, And then in the night that drowned its light, Set, with his pilot star.

_Many fair tombs in the glorious glooms At Westminster they show; The brave and the great lie there in state: Winstanley lieth low._

END OF VOL. I.