robert falconer-第87节
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Others will live in peace; and thou be fain
To bargain with despair; and in thy need
To make thy meal upon the scantiest weed。
These palaces; for thee they stand in vain;
Thine is a ruinous hut; and oft the rain
Shall drench thee in the midnight; yea the speed
Of earth outstrip thee pilgrim; while thy feet
Move slowly up the heights。 Yet will there come
Through the time…rents about thy moving cell;
An arrow for despair; and oft the hum
Of far…off populous realms where spirits dwell。
TO * * * *
Speak; Prophet of the Lord! We may not start
To find thee with us in thine ancient dress;
Haggard and pale from some bleak wilderness;
Empty of all save God and thy loud heart:
Nor with like rugged message quick to dart
Into the hideous fiction mean and base:
But yet; O prophet man; we need not less;
But more of earnest; though it is thy part
To deal in other words; if thou wouldst smite
The living Mammon; seated; not as then
In bestial quiescence grimly dight;
But thrice as much an idol…god as when
He stared at his own feet from morn to night。8
THE WATCHER。
》From out a windy cleft there comes a gaze
Of eyes unearthly which go to and fro
Upon the people's tumult; for below
The nations smite each other: no amaze
Troubles their liquid rolling; or affrays
Their deep…set contemplation: steadily glow
Those ever holier eye…balls; for they grow
Liker unto the eyes of one that prays。
And if those clasped hands tremble; comes a power
As of the might of worlds; and they are holden
Blessing above us in the sunrise golden;
And they will be uplifted till that hour
Of terrible rolling which shall rise and shake
This conscious nightmare from us and we wake。
THE BELOVED DISCIPLE。
I
One do I see and twelve; but second there
Methinks I know thee; thou beloved one;
Not from thy nobler port; for there are none
More quiet…featured; some there are who bear
Their message on their brows; while others wear
A look of large commission; nor will shun
The fiery trial; so their work is done:
But thou hast parted with thine eyes in prayer
Unearthly are they both; and so thy lips
Seem like the porches of the spirit land;
For thou hast laid a mighty treasure by;
Unlocked by Him in Nature; and thine eye
Burns with a vision and apocalypse
Thy own sweet soul can hardly understand。
II
A Boanerges too! Upon my heart
It lay a heavy hour: features like thine
Should glow with other message than the shine
Of the earth…burrowing levin; and the start
That cleaveth horrid gulfs。 Awful and swart
A moment stoodest thou; but less divine
Brawny and clad in ruin!till with mine
Thy heart made answering signals; and apart
Beamed forth thy two rapt eye…balls doubly clear;
And twice as strong because thou didst thy duty;
And though affianced to immortal Beauty;
Hiddest not weakly underneath her veil
The pest of Sin and Death which maketh pale:
Henceforward be thy spirit doubly dear。9
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY。
There is not any weed but hath its shower;
There is not any pool but hath its star;
And black and muddy though the waters are;
We may not miss the glory of a flower;
And winter moons will give them magic power
To spin in cylinders of diamond spar;
And everything hath beauty near and far;
And keepeth close and waiteth on its hour。
And I when I encounter on my road
A human soul that looketh black and grim;
Shall I more ceremonious be than God?
Shall I refuse to watch one hour with him
Who once beside our deepest woe did bud
A patient watching flower about the brim。
'Tis not the violent hands alone that bring
The curse; the ravage; and the downward doom
Although to these full oft the yawning tomb
Owes deadly surfeit; but a keener sting;
A more immortal agony; will cling
To the half…fashioned sin which would assume
Fair Virtue's garb。 The eye that sows the gloom
With quiet seeds of Death henceforth to spring
What time the sun of passion burning fierce
Breaks through the kindly cloud of circumstance;
The bitter word; and the unkindly glance;
The crust and canker coming with the years;
Are liker Death than arrows; and the lance
Which through the living heart at once doth pierce。
SPOKEN OF SEVERAL PHILOSOPHERS。
I pray you; all ye men; who put your trust
In moulds and systems and well…tackled gear;
Holding that Nature lives from year to year
In one continual round because she must
Set me not down; I pray you; in the dust
Of all these centuries; like a pot of beer;
A pewter…pot disconsolately clear;
Which holds a potful; as is right and just。
I will grow clamorousby the rood; I will;
If thus ye use me like a pewter pot。
Good friend; thou art a toper and a sot
I will not be the lead to hold thy swill;
Nor any lead: I will arise and spill
Thy silly beverage; spill it piping hot。
Nature; to him no message dost thou bear;
Who in thy beauty findeth not the power
To gird himself more strongly for the hour
Of night and darkness。 Oh; what colours rare
The woods; the valleys; and the mountains wear
To him who knows thy secret; and in shower
And fog; and ice…cloud; hath a secret bower
Where he may rest until the heavens are fair!
Not with the rest of slumber; but the trance
Of onward movement steady and serene;
Where oft in struggle and in contest keen
His eyes will opened be; and all the dance
Of life break on him; and a wide expanse
Roll upward through the void; sunny and green。
TO JUNE。
Ah; truant; thou art here again; I see!
For in a season of such wretched weather
I thought that thou hadst left us altogether;
Although I could not choose but fancy thee
Skulking about the hill…tops; whence the glee
Of thy blue laughter peeped at times; or rather
Thy bashful awkwardness; as doubtful whether
Thou shouldst be seen in such a company
Of ugly runaways; unshapely heaps
Of ruffian vapour; broken from restraint
Of their slim prison in the ocean deeps。
But yet I may not; chide: fall to thy books;
Fall to immediately without complaint
There they are lying; hills and vales and brooks。
WRITTEN ABOUT THE LONGEST DAY。
Summer; sweet Summer; many…fingered Summer!
We hold thee very dear; as well we may:
It is the kernel of the year to…day
All hail to thee! Thou art a welcome corner!
If every insect were a fairy drummer;
And I a fifer that could deftly play;
We'd give the old Earth such a roundelay
That she would cast all thought of labour from her
Ah! what is this upon my window…pane?
Some sulky drooping cloud comes pouting up;
Stamping its glittering feet along the plain!
Well; I will let that idle fancy drop。
Oh; how the spouts are bubbling with the rain!
And all the earth shines like a silver cup!
ON A MIDGE。
Whence do ye come; ye creature? Each of you
Is perfect as an angel; wings and eyes
Stupendous in their beautygorgeous dyes
In feathery fields of purple and of blue!
Would God I saw a moment as ye do!
I would become a molecule in size;
Rest with you; hum with you; or slanting rise
Along your one dear sunbeam; could I view
The pearly secret which each tiny fly;
Each tiny fly that hums and bobs and stirs;
Hides in its little breast eternally
》From you; ye prickly grim philosophers;
With all your theories that sound so high:
Hark to the buzz a moment; my good sirs!
ON A WATERFALL。
Here stands a giant stone from whose far top
Comes down the sounding water。 Let me gaze
Till every sense of man and human ways
Is wrecked and quenched for ever; and I drop
Into the whirl of time; and without stop
Pass downward thus! Again my eyes I raise
To thee; dark rock; and through the mist and haze
My strength returns when I behold thy prop
Gleam stern and steady through the wavering wrack
Surely thy strength is human; and like me
Thou bearest loads of thunder on thy back!
And; lo; a smile upon thy visage black
A breezy tuft of grass which I can see
Waving serenely from a sunlit crack!
Above my head the great pine…branches tower
Backwards and forwards each to the other bends;
Beckoning the tempest…cloud which hither wends
Like a slow…laboured thought; heavy with power;
Hark to the patter of the coming shower!
Let me be silent while the Almighty sends
His thunder…word along; but when it ends
I will arise and fashion from the hour
Words of stupendous import; fit to guard
High thoughts and purposes; which I may wave;
When the temptation cometh close and hard;
Like fiery brands betwixt me and the grave
Of meaner thingsto which I am a slave
If evermore I keep not watch and ward。
I do remember how when very young;
I saw the great sea first; and heard its swell
As I drew nearer; caught within the spell
Of its vast size and its mysterious tongue。
How the floor trembled; and the dark boat swung
With a man in it; and a great wave fell