The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 1

brilliant around a crescent moon, hanging half-way between the mountain and the zenith. Below lies a sea of vapour. Beyond rises a loftier pinnacle, across which is stretched a...

A gloomy and a windy day! No sunny spot is bare; Dull vapours, in uncomely play, Go weltering through the air: If through the windows of my mind I let them come and go, My thoug...

_Julian_. Evening again slow creeping like a death! And the red sunbeams fading from the wall, On which they flung a sky, with streaks and bars Of the poor window-pane that let...

candle on the table; a child asleep in a little crib_. JULIAN _sits by the table, reading in a low voice out of a book. He looks older, and his hair is lined with grey; his eyes...

I, knowing better, part with love unspoken; And find the unknown world not all unknown: The bonds that held me from my centre broken, I seek my home, the Saviour's homely throne.

_Julian_. I thank thee. Thou hast comforted me, thou, To whom I never lift my soul, in hope To reach thee with my thinking, but the tears Swell up and fill my eyes from the full...

_Lily_. Will you go, mother? Then I'll go and cry Till father comes. He'll take me on his knee, And tell such lovely tales: you never do-- Nor sing me songs made all for my own...

_Lilia_. You have done this, My noble Julian! I will go with you To sunset, if you will. My father gone! Julian, there's none to love me now but you. You _will_ love me, Julian?...

He reads it, turns deadly pale, and leans his arms and head on the table, almost fainting. This lasts some time; then starting up, he paces through the room, his shoulders sligh...

I am so tired! Think I should like to go Down to the warm place that the flowers come from, Where all the little boys and girls are lying In little beds--white curtains, and whi...

crucifix. Her back only is seen, for the Poet dares not look on her face. On a chair beside her lies a book, open at CHAPTER VIII. Behind her stands an Angel, bending forward, a...

_Julian_. The light comes feebly, slowly, to the world On this one day that blesses all the year, Just as it comes on any other day: A feeble child he came, yet not the less Bro...

_Julian_. I wish she would come home. When the child wakes, I cannot bear to see her eyes first rest On me, then wander searching through the room, And then return and rest. And...

[_Lies down on the floor_.] Where's Lilia? I cannot find her. She is here, I know. But oh these endless passages and stairs, And dreadful shafts of darkness! Lilia! Lilia! wait...

_Lord S_. How the white roses cluster on the trellis! They look in the dim light as if they floated Within the fluid dusk that bathes them round. One could believe that those fa...

_Julian_. Though I am lonely, yet this little child-- She understands me better than the Twelve Knew the great heart of him they called their Lord. Ten times last night I woke i...

_Stephen_ (_speaking across the table_). You see, my friend, it will not stand to logic; Or, if you like it better, stand to reason; For in this doctrine is involved a _cause_ W...

_Julian_. And so all growth that is not toward God Is growing to decay. All increase gained Is but an ugly, earthy, fungous growth. 'Tis aspiration as that wick aspires, Towerin...

_Julian_. O soft place of the earth! down-pillowed couch, Made ready for the weary! Everywhere, O Earth, thou hast one gift for thy poor children-- Room to lie down, leave to ce...

_Julian_. And there are mountains on the earth, far-off; Steep precipices laved at morn in wind From the blue glaciers fresh; and falls that leap, Springing from rock to pool ab...

Love me, beloved; the thick clouds lower; A sleepiness filleth the earth and air; The rain has been falling for many an hour; A weary look the summer doth wear: Beautiful things...

_Lilia_. Oh, it is dreary, dreary! All the time My thoughts would wander to my dreary home. Through every dance, my soul walked evermore In a most dreary dance through this same...

_Julian_. I think she sleeps. Would God it be so; then She will do well. What strange things she has spoken! My heart is beating as if it would spend Its life in this one night,...

_Hostess_. I cannot tell; He left, I know, before it was discovered. In the middle of the storm, like one possessed, He rushed into the street, half tumbling me Headlong down st...

_Bernard_. I went to call on Seaford, and was told He had gone to town. So I, as privileged, Went to his cabinet to write a note; Which finished, I came down, and called his val...

_Nurse_. After you left, Her eyelids half unclosed; she murmured once: _Where am I, mother_?--then she looked at me, And her eyes wandered over all my face, Till half in comfort...

_Julian_. How shall I manage it? I have her father's leave, but have not dared To tell her all; and she must know it first! She fears me half, even now: what will she think To s...

_Lady Gertrude_. And leave you ill? No, you are not so cruel. Believe me, father, I am happier In your sick room, than on a glowing island In the blue Bay of Naples.

_Robert_. One comfort is, he's far away by this. Perhaps this comfort is my deepest sin. Where shall I find a daysman in this strife Between my heart and holy Church's words? Is...

_Lady Gertrude_. How kind of you to come! And you will stay And be my beautiful nurse till I grow well? I am better since you came. You look so sweet, It brings all summer back...

_Julian_. Nembroni? Count Nembroni?--I remember: A man about my height, but stronger built? I have seen him at her father's. There was something I did not like about him:--ah! I...

_Julian_. The light of setting suns be on thee, child! Nay, nay, my child, the light of rising suns Is on thee! Joy is with thee--God is Joy; Peace to himself, and unto us deep...

_Julian_. I would not give these days of common toil, This murky atmosphere that creeps and sinks Into the very soul, and mars its hue-- Not for the evenings when with gliding k...

_Lilia_. The first pale star! braving the rear of Day! And all heaven waiting till the sun has drawn His long train after him! then half creation Will follow its queen-leader fr...

(_In a low tone_.) Slip down, my Lilia; lie at full length In the bottom of the boat; your dress is white, And would return the torches' glare. I fear The damp night-air will hu...

_Julian_. I see her as I saw her then. She sat On a low chair, the child upon her knees, Not six months old. Radiant with motherhood, Her full face beamed upon the face below, B...

[Monk _goes_.] Said I well, That prayer would burgeon into pomp for me? That God would hear his own elect who cried? Now for a shrine, so glowing in the means That it shall draw...

_Julian_. Once more I tread thy courts, O God of heaven! I lay my hand upon a rock, whose peak Is miles away, and high amid the clouds. Perchance I touch the mountain whose blue...

_Stephen_. Not a footprint! not a trace that a blood-hound would nose at! But Stephen shall be acknowledged good dog and true. If I had him within stick-length--mind thy head, b...

_Julian_. To love you seems So much a thing of mere necessity! I can refrain from loving you no more Than keep from waking when the sun shines full Upon my face.

_Lord S_. She is gone. She had An urgent message to go home at once. But, Gertrude, now you seem so well, why not Set out to-morrow? You can travel now; And for your sake the so...

I come to thee, and, lying on thy breast, Father of me, I tell thee in thine ear, Half-shrinking from the sound, yet speaking free, That thou art not enough for me, my God. Oh,...

_Man_. Remember, wife, What she has been. Trouble like that throws down The common folk like us all of a heap: With folks like her, that are high bred and blood, It sets the met...

O beauteous devil, tempt me, tempt me on, Till thou hast won my soul in sighs; I'll smile with thee upon thy flaming throne, If thou wilt keep those eyes.

[LILY _looks long in her mother's face, as if wondering what the song could be about; then turns away to the closet. After a little she comes running with a box in her hand_.]

Ah! she has fainted. That is well. I hope It will not pass too soon. It is not far To the half-hidden door in my own fence, And that is well. If I step carefully, Such rain will...

_Steward_. I did, my lord; and have conveyed the money, Putting all things in train for his release, Without appearing in it personally, Or giving any clue to other hands. He se...

_Julian_. So lies my journey--on into the dark! Without my will I find myself alive, And must go forward. Is it God that draws Magnetic all the souls unto their home, Travelling...

_Bernard_. Have you seen Seaford lately? _Gentleman_. No. In fact, He vanished somewhat oddly, days ago. Sam saw him with a lady in his cab; And if I hear aright, one more is mi...

_Lilia_. He grows more moody still, more self-withdrawn. Were it not better that I went away, And left him with the child; for she alone Can bring the sunshine on his cloudy fac...

1_st Gentleman_. Henry, what dark-haired queen is that? She moves As if her body were instinct with thought, Moulded to motion by the music's waves, As floats the swan upon the...

You have not then heard the news about yourself? Such interesting echoes reach the last A man's own ear. The public has decreed You and the countess run away together. 'Tis cert...

_Waggoner_. No, not for many a day. His steward, honest man, I know is doubtful Whether he be alive; and yet his land Is better farmed than any in the country.

The youth looked on the mirror, And he went not too nigh; And yet he rued his error, With a tear-filled, sleepless eye; For he could not be a sharer In what he there did spy.

_3rd St_. You see angels always, Where others, less dim-sighted, see but mortals. She is a pretty child. Her eyes are splendid. I wonder what the old fellow is about. Some craze...

_Hostess_. Paces about the room, or sits at the window. I sometimes make an errand to the cupboard, To see what he's about: he looks annoyed, But does not speak a word. _Host_....

_Julian_. Now I can leave thee safely to thy sleep; Thou wilt not wake and miss me, my fair child! Nor will they, for she's fair, steal this ewe-lamb Out of this fold, while I a...

_Lilia_. Now I have told him all; no word kept back To burn within me like an evil fire. And where I am, I have told him; and I wait To know his will. What though he love me not...

_Julian_. With what profusion her white fingers spend Delicate motions on the insensate cloth! It was so late this morning ere she came! I fear she has been ill. She looks so pa...

_Julian_. Plague on the lamp! 'tis gone--no, there it flares! I wish the wind would leave or blow it out. Heavens! how it thunders! This terrific storm Will either cow or harden...

_Abbot_. Now for a shrine to house this rich Madonna, Within the holiest of the holy place! I'll have it made in fashion as a stable, With porphyry pillars to a marble stall; An...

And should the twilight darken into night, And sorrow grow to anguish, be thou strong; Thou art in God, and nothing can go wrong Which a fresh life-pulse cannot set aright. That...

Oh, my love is a flower with a purple glow, And a purple scent all day! But a black spot lies at the heart below, And smells all night of clay.

AND do not fear to hope. Can poet's brain More than the Father's heart rich good invent? Each time we smell the autumn's dying scent, We know the primrose time will come again;...

_Stephen_. Try one plan till it failed; then try another; Try half-a-dozen plans at once; keep eyes And ears wide open, and mouth shut, my lord: Your bull-dog sometimes makes th...

Go thou into thy closet; shut thy door; And pray to Him in secret: He will hear. But think not thou, by one wild bound, to clear The numberless ascensions, more and more, Of sta...

And weep not, though the Beautiful decay Within thy heart, as daily in thine eyes; Thy heart must have its autumn, its pale skies, Leading, mayhap, to winter's dim dismay. Yet d...

_1st Serv_. Heavens, what a cloud! as big as Aetna! There! That gust blew stormy. Take Juno by the head, I'll stand by Neptune. Take her head, I say; We'll have enough to do, if...