The Vision of Sir Launfal Part 5

I thought, these men will carry hence Promptings their former life above.

And something of a finer reverence For beauty, truth, and love, 20

G.o.d scatters love on every side, Freely among his children all, And always hearts are lying open wide, Wherein some grains may fall.

There is no wind but soweth seeds 25 Of a more true and open life, Which burst unlocked for, into high-souled deeds, With wayside beauty rife.

We find within these souls of ours Some wild germs of a higher birth, 30 Which in the poet's tropic heart bear flowers Whose fragrance fills the earth.

Within the hearts of all men lie These promises of wider bliss, Which blossom into hopes that cannot die, 35 In sunny hours like this.

All that hath been majestical In life or death, since time began, Is native in the simple heart of all, The angel heart of man. 40

And thus, among the untaught poor, Great deeds and feelings find a home, That cast in shadow all the golden lore Of cla.s.sic Greece and Rome.

O, mighty brother-soul of man. 45 Where'er thou art, in low or high, Thy skyey arches with, exulting span O'er-roof infinity!

All thoughts that mould the age begin Deep down within the primitive soul, 50 And from the many slowly upward win To one who grasps the whole.

In his wide brain the feeling deep That struggled on the many's tongue Swells to a tide of thought, whose surges leap 55 O'er the weak thrones of wrong.

All thought begins in feeling,--wide In the great ma.s.s its base is hid, And, narrowing up to thought, stands glorified, A moveless pyramid. 60

Nor is he far astray, who deems That every hope, which rises and grows broad In the world's heart, by ordered impulse streams From the great heart of G.o.d.

G.o.d wills, man hopes; in common souls 65 Hope is but vague and undefined, Till from the poet's tongue the message rolls A blessing to his kind.

Never did Poesy appear So full of heaven to me, as when 70 I saw how it would pierce through pride and fear, To the lives of coa.r.s.est men.

It may be glorious to write Thoughts that shall glad the two or three High souls, like those far stars that come in sight 75 Once in a century;--

But better far it is to speak One simple word, which now and then Shall waken their free nature in the weak 80 And friendless sons of men;

To write some earnest verse or line Which, seeking not the praise of art.

Shall make a clearer faith and manhood s.h.i.+ne In the untutored heart.

He who doth this, in verse or prose, 85 May be forgotten in his day, But surely shall be crowned at last with those Who live and speak for aye.

HEBE

I saw the twinkle of white feet.

I saw the flash of robes descending; Before her ran an influence fleet, That bowed my heart like barley bending.

As, in bare fields, the searching bees 5 Pilot to blooms beyond our finding, It led me on, by sweet degrees Joy's simple honey-cells unbinding.

Those Graces were that seemed grim Fates; With nearer love the sky leaned o'er me; 10 The long-sought Secret's golden gates On musical hinges swung before me.

I saw the brimmed bowl in her grasp Thrilling with G.o.dhood; like a lover I sprang the proffered life to clasp;-- 15 The beaker fell; the luck was over.

The Earth has drunk the vintage up; What boots it patch the goblet's splinters?

Can Summer fill the icy cup, Whose treacherous crystal is but Winter's? 20

O spendthrift Haste! await the G.o.ds; Their nectar crowns the lips of Patience; Haste scatters on unthankful sods The immortal gift in vain libations.

Coy Hebe flies from those that woo, 25 And shuns the hands would seize upon her; Follow thy life, and she will sue To pour for thee the cup of honor.

TO THE DANDELION

Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, First pledge of blithesome May, Which children pluck, and, full of pride, uphold, High-hearted buccaneers, o'er joyed that they 5 An Eldorado in the gra.s.s have found, Which not the rich earth's ample round.

May match in wealth--thou art more dear to me Than all the prouder summer-blooms may be.

Gold such as thine ne'er drew the Spanish prow 10 Through the primeval hush of Indian seas, Nor wrinkled the lean brow Of age, to rob the lover's heart of ease; 'T is the Spring's largess, which she scatters now To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand, 15 Though most hearts never understand To take it at G.o.d's value, but pa.s.s by The offered wealth with unrewarded eye.

Thou art my tropics and mine Italy; To look at thee unlocks a warmer clime; 20 The eyes thou givest me Are in the heart, and heed not s.p.a.ce or time: Not in mid June the golden-cuira.s.sed bee Feels a more summer-like, warm ravishment In the white lily's breezy tent, 25 His fragrant Sybaris, than I, when first From the dark green thy yellow circles burst.

Then think I of deep shadows on the gra.s.s,-- Of meadows where in sun the cattle graze, Where, as the breezes pa.s.s, 30 The gleaming rushes lean a thousand ways,-- Of leaves that slumber in a cloudy ma.s.s, Or whiten in the wind, of waters blue That from the distance sparkle through Some woodland gap, and of a sky above, 35 Where one white cloud like a stray lamb doth move.

My childhood's earliest thoughts are linked with thee; The sight of thee calls back the robin's song, Who, from the dark old tree Beside the door, sang clearly all day long, 40 And I, secure in childish piety, Listened as if I heard an angel sing With news from Heaven, which he could bring Fresh every day to my untainted ears, When birds and flowers and I were happy peers. 45

Thou art the type of those meek charities Which make up half the n.o.bleness of life, Those cheap delights the wise Pluck from the dusty wayside of earth's strife: Words of frank cheer, glances of friendly eyes, 50 Love's smallest coin, which yet to some may give The morsel that may keep alive A starving heart, and teach it to behold Some glimpse of G.o.d where all before was cold.

Thy winged seeds, whereof the winds take care, 55 Are like the words of poet and of sage Which through the free heaven fare, And, now unheeded, in another age Take root, and to the gladdened future bear That witness which the present would not heed, 60 Bringing forth many a thought and deed, And, planted safely in the eternal sky, Bloom into stars which earth is guided by.

Full of deep love thou art, yet not more full Than all thy common brethren of the ground, 65 Wherein, were we not dull, Some words of highest wisdom might be found; Yet earnest faith from day to day may cull Some syllables, which, rightly joined, can make A spell to soothe life's bitterest ache, 70 And ope Heaven's portals, which are near us still, Yea, nearer ever than the gates of Ill.

How like a prodigal doth nature seem, When thou, for all thy gold, so common art!

Thou teachest me to deem 75 More sacredly of every human heart, Since each reflects in joy its scanty gleam Of Heaven, and could some wondrous secret show, Did we but pay the love we owe, And with a child's undoubting wisdom look 80 On all these living pages of G.o.d's book.

But let me read thy lesson right or no, Of one good gift from thee my heart is sure: Old I shall never grow While thou each, year dost come to keep me pure 85 With legends of my childhood; ah, we owe Well more than half life's holiness to these Nature's first lowly influences, At thought of which the heart's glad doors burst ope, In dreariest days, to welcome peace and hope. 90

MY LOVE

Not as all other women are Is she that to my soul is dear; Her glorious fancies come from far, Beneath the silver evening-star, And yet her heart is ever near. 5

Great feelings hath she of her own, Which lesser souls may never know; G.o.d giveth them to her alone, And sweet they are as any tone Wherewith the wind may choose to blow. 10

Yet in herself she dwelleth not, Although no home were half so fair; No simplest duty is forgot, Life hath no dim and lowly spot That doth not in her suns.h.i.+ne share. 15