Part 4

Gone south, it may be, rudderless, astray, Gone where the winds and ocean currents bore, Out of all tracks along the sea’s highway This many a day, To some far shore Where never wild seas break, or any fierce winds roar.

For there are lands ye never recked of yet Between the blue of stormless sea and sky, Beyond where any suns of yours have set, Or these waves fret; And loud winds die In cloudless summertide, where those far islands lie.

They will not come! for on the coral shore The good ship lies, by little waves caressed, All stormy ways and wanderings are o’er, No more, no more! But long sweet rest, In cool green meadow-lands, that lie along the West.

Or if beneath far fathom depths of waves She lies heeled over by the slow tide’s sweep, Deep down where never any swift sea raves, Through ocean caves, A dreaming deep Of softly gliding forms, a glimmering world of sleep.

Then have they passed beyond the outer gate Through death to knowledge of all things, and so From out the silence of their unkown fate They bid us wait, Who only know That twixt their loves and ours the great seas ebb and flow.

THEORETIKOS.

A THOUGHT OF DARWIN.

He dwelt unblinded with eternal truth, Through long communion perfected, not once Did he misdeem the prelude for the song, And looking onward, to his ample view That long to-come when he should be no more Outweighed the moment of his passing here. And he was happy, and his peace was full, Having outlived the struggle--not as those Who take the world on faith, and rest content With the old verdicts, question, wonder not, But feeling trusting loving are at peace. He sought and found one little germ of truth, Made pure his spirit of all chance and change, Held fast on things abiding, learned to stand On ever loftier summits-till at last TI is brow grew starry and his searching eyes Blue with the mirrored distance, and he heard The everlasting music, Time and space Were part with every heart-beat, and almost God seemed to whisper in his listening ear. What need for him of all your wonder world? He made the wonder visible--enough This little handful of the common clay A seed to sow therein, and then to watch The hidden forces quicken into life, Till leaf by leaf some flower-star unfolds, One flower of all the flowers, because the sun Is in the skies, one sun of all the suns. Search but the structure of one daisy’s heart Your lore has no such miracle as this!-- And look at all the infinite device, The texture of the leaves of all the trees-- Is there not marvel here enough? And yet Ye crave new signs and wonders to convince And wander lost upon your devious ways. Ye will but gaze upon a part, and grow In little wisdom overwise, therefore Your partial grasp is barren to conceive The thought Infinity, Time wilders yet Because ye measure with your finite gauge, And Motion maddens through your own unrest. He let the world go gladly, hand in hand He walked with Reason, till thought strained away And God grew nearer,--so he built his mind A bridge to span from sun to sun of all The starry systems;--like a faint far dream The changing pageant of men’s lives unrolled, And he stood by serenely,--but with him The calm was struggle in a lordlier way, Absorbed and dwelling with eternal truth, Whose star o’ershone him; till it seemed that life And death were one, and from the throbbing brow The craving died away,--and now he rests With that fair choir from many times whose souls Have earned the right of knowledge after death.

ROME.

I.--FROM THE HILL OF GARDENS.

The outline of a shadowy city spread Between the garden and the distant hill-- And o’er yon dome the flame-ring lingers still, Set like the glory on an angel’s head: The light fades quivering into evening blue Behind the pine-tops on Ianiculum; The swallow whispered to the swallow “come!” And took the sunset on her wings, and flew.

One rift of cloud the wind caught up suspending A ruby path between the earth and sky; Those shreds of gold are angel wings ascending From where the sorrows of our singers lie; They have not found those wandering spirits yet, But seek for ever in the red sunset.

Pass upward angel wings! Seek not for these, They sit not in the cypress-planted graves; Their spirits wander over moonlit waves, And sing in all the singing of the seas; And by green places in the spring-tide showers, And in the re-awakening of flowers.

Some pearl-lipped shell still dewy with sea foam Bear back to whisper where their feet have trod; They are the earth’s for evermore; fly home! And lay a daisy at the feet of God.

II.--IN THE COLISEUM.

Night wanes; I sit in the ruin alone; Beneath, the shadow of arches falls From the dim outline of the broken walls; And the half-light steals o’er the age-worn stone From a midway arch where the moon looks through A silver shield in the deep, deep blue.

This is the hour of ghosts that rise;-- Line on line of the noiseless dead-- The clouds above are their awning spread; Look into the shadow with moon-dazed eyes, You will see the writhing of limbs in pain, And the whole red tragedy over again.

The ghostly galleys ride out and meet, The Cæsar sits in his golden chair, His fingers toy with his women’s hair, The water is blood-red under his feet,-- Till the owl’s long cry dies down with the night, And one star waits for the dawning light.

III.--IN A CHURCH.

This was the first shrine lit for Queen Marie; And I will sit a little at her feet, For winds without howl down the narrow street And storm-clouds gather from the westward sea.

Sweet here to watch the peasant people pray, While through the crimson shrouded-window falls Low light of even, and the golden walls Grow dim and dreamful at the end of day.

Till from these columns fades their marble sheen, And lines grow soft and mystical,--these wraiths That watch the service of the changing faiths, To Mary mother from the Cyprian queen.

But aye for me this old-word colonnade Seems open to blue summer skies once more, These altars pass, and on the polished floor I see the lines of chequered light and shade;

I seem to see the dark-browed Lybian lean To cool the tortured burning of the lash, I see the fountains as they leap and flash, The rustling sway of cypress set between.

And now yon friar with the bare feet there, Is grown the haunting spirit of the place; Ah! brown-robed friar with the shaven face, The saints are weary of thy mumbled prayer.

From matins’ bell to the slow day’s decline He sits and thumbs his endless round of beads, Draws out the dreary cadence of his creeds, And nods assent to each familiar line.

But she the goddess whose white star is set, Whose fane was pillaged for this sombre shrine, Could she look down upon those lips of thine, And hear thee mutter, would she still regret?

There came a sound of singing on my ear, And slowly glided through the far-off door A glimmer of grey forms like ghosts, they bore A dead man lying on his purple bier.

Some poor man’s soul, so little candle smoke Went curling upwards by the uncased shroud, And then a sudden thunder-clap broke loud, And drowned the droning of the priest who spoke.

So all the shuffling feet passed out again To lightnings flashing through the wet and wind, And while I lingered in the gate behind The dead man travelled through the storm and rain.

SEA PICTURES--FRANCE.

I. SUNSET.

One autumn evening from the west-most steep I watched the daylight passing o’er the deep;-- Down from the setting sun the great waves rolled Along its seaward path of molten gold, All the dark ocean rocks like capes of brass Gleamed where the foam had washed them, and the grass Grew glorious with that light, and the long swell Line after line that followed, rose and fell And shattered into frosted gold, the sky Arched splendour over splendour,--isles that lie Of crimson cloudland in pale seas of blue Red bars of flame with one star peeping through, Silent for glory; and the sea’s monotone Grew part with silence;--the great world rolled on And the sun watched along the waves, until The glow died upwards on the western hill, And the shade saddened over all the sea Reaching away, starward away from me Into the twilight and Eternity.

II. TWILIGHT.

Late evening now, and overclouded skies To-night we shall not see the young moon rise; The twilight deepens, and on either hand The cliffs are lost in mystic shadowland. Only low sound of breakers as they die Pale shimmer of waters and a pale still sky Where darkness gathers on the moving sea, And yet the child laughs light of heart with me!

Still deeper now;--one little brown-sailed bark Glides past us seaward, drifting into dark, The only light is on the white sea-foam And the lamp by the crucifix: Come home!

III. STORM.

Night grows on the heaving ocean With its ominous white foam flakes, And the dizzy eternal motion Where the crest of the wave line breaks, With surge and swirl on the shingle Blown on by the keen sea wind, Surf waves that recoil and mingle With the hurrying surf behind.

Low over the sea line yonder The gathering cloud-ranks form, With a gleam of the sunset under The fringe of the boding storm. Along the dim cliffs hollows The voice of the water moans, Where the wave as it follows follows Tears on at the yielding stones.

The last day gleam departed, Wild gusts of a storm blast came, And out of the cloud gloom darted The flash of the lightning flame,

And the pale, pale sea grew haggard A moment under the flash, And the line of the dark rocks staggered And reeled from the thunder-crash:

Long loudly sullenly pealing It died in the cliffs afar,-- And I saw that a woman was kneeling At the cross by the harbour bar.

A LAST WORD.

Time now to close these pages, far away And fainter the old hills of childhood fade, The very graves where the young dreams are laid Are hidden deep in autumn leaves to-day.

It may be they have brought thee nearer truth, These hasting years, but fain wouldst thou have stayed In the old land where trust was unbetrayed, And love was honest in the eyes of youth.

And now it’s winter, and the moon of snow Blind mists of doubt, and chill unfriendly rain, But somewhere, sometime in the year, we know It must be spring and flowertime again. Do thou but keep, though winter days be long, Thy young love loyal, and thy young faith strong.

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