the complete poetical works-第130节
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I look down over the farms;
In the fields of grain I see
The harvest that is to be;
And I fling to the air my arms;
For I know it is all for me。
I hear the sound of flails
Far off; from the threshing…floors
In barns; with their open doors;
And the wind; the wind in my sails;
Louder and louder roars。
I stand here in my place;
With my foot on the rock below;
And whichever way it may blow
I meet it face to face;
As a brave man meets his foe。
And while we wrestle and strive
My master; the miller; stands
And feeds me with his hands;
For he knows who makes him thrive;
Who makes him lord of lands。
On Sundays I take my rest;
Church…going bells begin
Their low; melodious din;
I cross my arms on my breast;
And all is peace within。
THE TIDE RISES; THE TIDE FALLS
The tide rises; the tide falls;
The twilight darkens; the curlew calls;
Along the sea…sands damp and brown
The traveller hastens toward the town;
And the tide rises; the tide falls。
Darkness settles on roofs and walls;
But the sea in the darkness calls and calls;
The little waves; with their soft; white hands;
Efface the footprints in the sands;
And the tide rises; the tide falls。
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls
Stamp and neigh; as the hostler calls;
The day returns; but nevermore
Returns the traveller to the shore;
And the tide rises; the tide falls。
SONNETS
MY CATHEDRAL
Like two cathedral towers these stately pines
Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones;
The arch beneath them is not built with stones;
Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines;
And carved this graceful arabesque of vines;
No organ but the wind here sighs and moans;
No sepulchre conceals a martyr's bones。
No marble bishop on his tomb reclines。
Enter! the pavement; carpeted with leaves;
Gives back a softened echo to thy tread!
Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds;
In leafy galleries beneath the eaves;
Are singing! listen; ere the sound be fled;
And learn there may be worship with out words。
THE BURIAL OF THE POET
RICHARD HENRY DANA
In the old churchyard of his native town;
And in the ancestral tomb beside the wall;
We laid him in the sleep that comes to all;
And left him to his rest and his renown。
The snow was falling; as if Heaven dropped down
White flowers of Paradise to strew his pall;
The dead around him seemed to wake; and call
His name; as worthy of so white a crown。
And now the moon is shining on the scene;
And the broad sheet of snow is written o'er
With shadows cruciform of leafless trees;
As once the winding…sheet of Saladin
With chapters of the Koran; but; ah! more
Mysterious and triumphant signs are these。
NIGHT
Into the darkness and the hush of night
Slowly the landscape sinks; and fades away;
And with it fade the phantoms of the day;
The ghosts of men and things; that haunt the light;
The crowd; the clamor; the pursuit; the flight;
The unprofitable splendor and display;
The agitations; and the cares that prey
Upon our hearts; all vanish out of sight。
The better life begins; the world no more
Molests us; all its records we erase
From the dull common…place book of our lives;
That like a palimpsest is written o'er
With trivial incidents of time and place;
And lo! the ideal; hidden beneath; revives。
L'ENVOI
THE POET AND HIS SONGS
As the birds come in the Spring;
We know not from where;
As the stars come at evening
From depths of the air;
As the rain comes from the cloud;
And the brook from the ground;
As suddenly; low or loud;
Out of silence a sound;
As the grape comes to the vine;
The fruit to the tree;
As the wind comes to the pine;
And the tide to the sea;
As come the white sails of ships
O'er the ocean's verge;
As comes the smile to the lips;
The foam to the surge;
So come to the Poet his songs;
All hitherward blown
From the misty realm; that belongs
To the vast unknown。
His; and not his; are the lays
He sings; and their fame
Is his; and not his; and the praise
And the pride of a name。
For voices pursue him by day;
And haunt him by night;
And he listens; and needs must obey;
When the Angel says: 〃Write!〃
***********
IN THE HARBOR
BECALMED
Becalmed upon the sea of Thought;
Still unattained the land it sought;
My mind; with loosely…hanging sails;
Lies waiting the auspicious gales。
On either side; behind; before;
The ocean stretches like a floor;
A level floor of amethyst;
Crowned by a golden dome of mist。
Blow; breath of inspiration; blow!
Shake and uplift this golden glow!
And fill the canvas of the mind
With wafts of thy celestial wind。
Blow; breath of song! until I feel
The straining sail; the lifting keel;
The life of the awakening sea;
Its motion and its mystery!
THE POET'S CALENDAR
JANUARY
Janus am I; oldest of potentates;
Forward I look; and backward; and below
I count; as god of avenues and gates;
The years that through my portals come and go。
I block the roads; and drift the fields with snow;
I chase the wild…fowl from the frozen fen;
My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow;
My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men。
FEBRUARY
I am lustration; and the sea is mine。
I wash the sands and headlands with my tide;
My brow is crowned with branches of the pine;
Before my chariot…wheels the fishes glide。
By me all things unclean are purified;
By me the souls of men washed white again;
E'en the unlovely tombs of those who died
Without a dirge; I cleanse from every stain。
MARCH
I Martius am! Once first; and now the third!
To lead the Year was my appointed place;
A mortal dispossessed me by a word;
And set there Janus with the double face。
Hence I make war on all the human race;
I shake the cities with my hurricanes;
I flood the rivers and their banks efface;
And drown the farms and hamlets with my rains。
APRIL
I open wide the portals of the Spring
To welcome the procession of the flowers;
With their gay banners; and the birds that sing
Their song of songs from their aerial towers。
I soften with my sunshine and my showers
The heart of earth; with thoughts of love I glide
Into the hearts of men; and with the Hours
Upon the Bull with wreathed horns I ride。
MAY
Hark! The sea…faring wild…fowl loud proclaim
My coming; and the swarming of the bees。
These are my heralds; and behold! my name
Is written in blossoms on the hawthorn…trees。
I tell the mariner when to sail the seas;
I waft o'er all the land from far away
The breath and bloom of the Hesperides;
My birthplace。 I am Maia。 I am May。
JUNE
Mine is the Month of Roses; yes; and mine
The Month of Marriages! All pleasant sights
And scents; the fragrance of the blossoming vine;
The foliage of the valleys and the heights。
Mine are the longest days; the loveliest nights;
The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;
I am the mother of all dear delights;
I am the fairest daughter of the year。
JULY
My emblem is the Lion; and I breathe
The breath of Libyan deserts o'er the land;
My sickle as a sabre I unsheathe;
And bent before me the pale harvests stand。
The lakes and rivers shrink at my command;
And there is thirst and fever in the air;
The sky is changed to brass; the earth to sand;
I am the Emperor whose name I bear。
AUGUST
The Emperor Octavian; called the August;
I being his favorite; bestowed his name
Upon me; and I hold it still in trust;
In memory of him and of his fame。
I am the Virgin; and my vestal flame
Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;
Sheaves are my only garlands; and I claim
The golden Harvests as my heritage。
SEPTEMBER
I bear the Scales; where hang in equipoise
The night and day; and when unto my lips
I put my trumpet; with its stress and noise
Fly the white clouds like tattered sails of ships;
The tree…tops lash the air with sounding whips;
Southward the clamorous sea…fowl wing their flight;
The hedges are all red with haws and hips;
The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night。
OCTOBER
My ornaments are fruits; my garments leaves;
Woven like cloth of gold; and crimson dyed;
I do not boast the harvesting of sheaves;
O'er orchards and o'er vineyards I preside。
Though on the frigid Scorpion I ride;
The dreamy air is full; and overflows
With tender memories of the summer…tide;
And mingled voices of the doves and crows。
NOVEMBER
The Ce