p. vCONTENTS

PAGE

TO J. M.,

Let Fate or Insufficiency provide

1

LINES TO A FRIEND VISITING AMERICA,

Now farewell to you! you are

2

TIME AND SENTIMENT,

I see a fair young couple in a wood,

11

LUCIFER IN STARLIGHT,

On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose

12

THE STAR SIRIUS,

Bright Sirius! that when Orion pales

12

SENSE AND SPIRIT,

The senses loving Earth or well or ill

13

EARTH’S SECRET,

Not solitarily in fields we find

13

INTERNAL HARMONY,

Assured of worthiness we do not dread

14

GRACE AND LOVE,

Two flower-enfolding crystal vases she

14

APPRECIATION,

Earth was not Earth before her sons appeared,

15

THE DISCIPLINE OF WISDOM,

Rich labour is the struggle to be wise

15

THE STATE OF AGE,

Rub thou thy battered lamp: nor claim nor beg

16

p. viPROGRESS,

In Progress you have little faith, say you:

16

THE WORLD’S ADVANCE,

Judge mildly the tasked world; and disincline

17

A CERTAIN PEOPLE,

As Puritans they prominently wax,

17

THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS,

That Garden of sedate Philosophy

18

A LATER ALEXANDRIAN,

An inspiration caught from dubious hues

18

AN ORSON OF THE MUSE,

Her son, albeit the Muse’s livery

19

THE POINT OF TASTE,

Unhappy poets of a sunken prime!

19

CAMELUS SALTAT,

What say you, critic, now you have become

20

CONTINUED,

Oracle of the market! thence you drew

20

MY THEME,

Of me and of my theme think what thou wilt:

21

CONTINUED,

’Tis true the wisdom that my mind exacts

21

ON THE DANGER OF WAR,

Avert, High Wisdom, never vainly wooed,

22

TO CARDINAL MANNING,

I, wakeful for the skylark voice in men,

23

TO COLONEL CHARLES,

An English heart, my commandant,

24

TO CHILDREN: FOR TYRANTS,

Strike not thy dog with a stick!

27

p. viiPoems and Lyrics of the Joy of Earth

THE WOODS OF WESTERMAIN,

Enter these enchanted woods,

33

A BALLAD OF PAST MERIDIAN,

Last night returning from my twilight walk

48

THE DAY OF THE DAUGHTER OF HADES,

He who has looked upon Earth

49

THE LARK ASCENDING,

He rises and begins to round,

67

PHOEBUS WITH ADMETUS,

When by Zeus relenting the mandate was revoked,

71

MELAMPUS,

With love exceeding a simple love of the things

75

LOVE IN THE VALLEY,

Under yonder beech-tree single on the greensward,

80

THE THREE SINGERS TO YOUNG BLOOD,

Carols nature, counsel men,

88

THE ORCHARD AND THE HEATH,

I chanced upon an early walk to spy

90

EARTH AND MAN,

On her great venture, Man,

92

A BALLAD OF FAIR LADIES IN REVOLT,

See the sweet women, friend, that lean beneath

100

Ballads and poems of Tragic Life

THE TWO MASKS,

Melpomene among her livid people,

115

ARCHDUCHESS ANNE,

116

I.

In middle age an evil thing

II.

Archduchess Anne sat carved in frost

III.

Old Kraken read a missive penned

p. viiiTHE SONG OF THEODOLINDA,

Queen Theodolind has built

133

A PREACHING FROM A SPANISH BALLAD,

Ladies who in chains of wedlock

139

THE YOUNG PRINCESS,

144

I.

When the South sang like a nightingale

II.

The lords of the Court they sighed heart-sick,

III.

Lord Dusiote sprang from priest and squire;

IV.

The soft night-wind went laden to death

KING HARALD’S TRANCE,

Sword in length a reaping-hook amain

154

WHIMPER OF SYMPATHY,

Hawk or shrike has done this deed

158

YOUNG REYNARD,

Gracefullest leaper, the dappled fox-cub

159

MANFRED,

Projected from the bilious Childe,

160

HERNANI,

Cistercians might crack their sides

161

THE NUPTIALS OF ATTILA,

Flat as to an eagle’s eye,

162

ANEURIN’S HARP,

Prince of Bards was old Aneurin;

180

MEN AND MAN,

Men the Angels eyed;

186

THE LAST CONTENTION,

Young captain of a crazy bark!

187

PERIANDER,

How died Melissa none dares shape in words.

190

p. ixSOLON,

The Tyrant passed, and friendlier was his eye

195

BELLEROPHON,

Maimed, beggared, grey; seeking an alms; with nod

197

PHAÉTHÔN,

At the coming up of Phoebus the all-luminous charioteer,

200

A Reading of Earth

SEED-TIME,

Flowers of the willow-herb are wool;

209

HARD WEATHER,

Bursts from a rending East in flaws

211

THE SOUTH-WESTER,

Day of the cloud in fleets! O day

215

THE THRUSH IN FEBRUARY,

I know him, February’s thrush,

220

THE APPEASEMENT OF DEMETER,

Demeter devastated our good land,

226

EARTH AND A WEDDED WOMAN,

The shepherd, with his eye on hazy South,

231

MOTHER TO BABE,

Fleck of sky you are,

234

WOODLAND PEACE,

Sweet as Eden is the air,

235

THE QUESTION WHITHER,

When we have thrown off this old suit,

236

OUTER AND INNER,

From twig to twig the spider weaves

237

p. xNATURE AND LIFE,

Leave the uproar: at a leap

239

DIRGE IN WOODS,

A wind sways the pines,

240

A FAITH ON TRIAL,

On the morning of May,

241

CHANGE IN RECURRENCE,

I stood at the gate of the cot

260

HYMN TO COLOUR,

With Life and Death I walked when Love appeared,

261

MEDITATION UNDER STARS,

What links are ours with orbs that are

265

WOODMAN AND ECHO,

Close Echo hears the woodman’s axe,

268

THE WISDOM OF ELD,

We spend our lives in learning pilotage,

270

EARTH’S PREFERENCE,

Earth loves her young: a preference manifest:

270

SOCIETY,

Historic be the survey of our kind,

271

WINTER HEAVENS,

Sharp is the night, but stars with frost alive

271

NOTES

272

p. 1TO J. M.

Let Fate or Insufficiency provide Mean ends for men who what they are would be: Penned in their narrow day no change they see Save one which strikes the blow to brutes and pride. Our faith is ours and comes not on a tide: And whether Earth’s great offspring, by decree, Must rot if they abjure rapacity, Not argument but effort shall decide. They number many heads in that hard flock: Trim swordsmen they push forth: yet try thy steel. Thou, fighting for poor humankind, wilt feel The strength of Roland in thy wrist to hew A chasm sheer into the barrier rock, And bring the army of the faithful through.

p. 2LINES TO A FRIEND VISITING AMERICA

I

Now farewell to you! you are One of my dearest, whom I trust: Now follow you the Western star, And cast the old world off as dust.

II

From many friends adieu! adieu! The quick heart of the word therein. Much that we hope for hangs with you: We lose you, but we lose to win.

III

The beggar-king, November, frets: His tatters rich with Indian dyes Goes hugging: we our season’s debts Pay calmly, of the Spring forewise.

IV

We send our worthiest; can no less, If we would now be read aright,— To that great people who may bless Or curse mankind: they have the might.

p. 3V

The proudest seasons find their graves, And we, who would not be wooed, must court. We have let the blunderers and the waves Divide us, and the devil had sport.

VI

The blunderers and the waves no more Shall sever kindred sending forth Their worthiest from shore to shore For welcome, bent to prove their worth.

VII

Go you and such as you afloat, Our lost kinsfellowship to revive. The battle of the antidote Is tough, though silent: may you thrive!

VIII

I, when in this North wind I see The straining red woods blown awry, Feel shuddering like the winter tree, All vein and artery on cold sky.

IX

The leaf that clothed me is torn away; My friend is as a flying seed. Ay, true; to bring replenished day Light ebbs, but I am bare, and bleed.

p. 4X

What husky habitations seem These comfortable sayings! they fell, In some rich year become a dream:— So cries my heart, the infidel! . . .

XI

Oh! for the strenuous mind in quest, Arabian visions could not vie With those broad wonders of the West, And would I bid you stay? Not I!

XII

The strange experimental land Where men continually dare take Niagara leaps;—unshattered stand ’Twixt fall and fall;—for conscience’ sake,

XIII

Drive onward like a flood’s increase;— Fresh rapids and abysms engage;— (We live—we die) scorn fireside peace, And, as a garment, put on rage,

XIV

Rather than bear God’s reprimand, By rearing on a full fat soil Concrete of sin and sloth;—this land, You will observe it coil in coil.

p. 5XV

The land has been discover’d long, The people we have yet to know; Themselves they know not, save that strong For good and evil still they grow.

XVI

Nor know they us. Yea, well enough In that inveterate machine Through which we speak the printed stuff Daily, with voice most hugeous, mien

XVII

Tremendous:—as a lion’s show The grand menagerie paintings hide: Hear the drum beat, the trombones blow! The poor old Lion lies inside! . . .

XVIII

It is not England that they hear, But mighty Mammon’s pipers, trained To trumpet out his moods, and stir His sluggish soul: her voice is chained:

XIX

Almost her spirit seems moribund! O teach them, ’tis not she displays The panic of a purse rotund, Eternal dread of evil days,—

p. 6XX

That haunting spectre of success Which shows a heart sunk low in the girths: Not England answers nobleness,— ‘Live for thyself: thou art not earth’s.’

XXI

Not she, when struggling manhood tries For freedom, air, a hopefuller fate, Points out the planet, Compromise, And shakes a mild reproving pate:

XXII

Says never: ‘I am well at ease, My sneers upon the weak I shed: The strong have my cajoleries: And those beneath my feet I tread.’

XXIII

Nay, but ’tis said for her, great Lord! The misery’s there! The shameless one Adjures mankind to sheathe the sword, Herself not yielding what it won:—

XXIV

Her sermon at cock-crow doth preach, On sweet Prosperity—or greed. ‘Lo! as the beasts feed, each for each, God’s blessings let us take, and feed!’

p. 7XXV

Ungrateful creatures crave a part— She tells them firmly she is full; Lost sheared sheep hurt her tender heart With bleating, stops her ears with wool:—

XXVI

Seized sometimes by prodigious qualms (Nightmares of bankruptcy and death),— Showers down in lumps a load of alms, Then pants as one who has lost a breath;

XXVII

Believes high heaven, whence favours flow, Too kind to ask a sacrifice For what it specially doth bestow;— Gives she, ’tis generous, cheese to mice.

XXVIII

She saw the young Dominion strip For battle with a grievous wrong, And curled a noble Norman lip, And looked with half an eye sidelong;

XXIX

And in stout Saxon wrote her sneers, Denounced the waste of blood and coin, Implored the combatants, with tears, Never to think they could rejoin.

p. 8XXX

Oh! was it England that, alas! Turned sharp the victor to cajole? Behold her features in the glass: A monstrous semblance mocks her soul!

XXXI

A false majority, by stealth, Have got her fast, and sway the rod: A headless tyrant built of wealth, The hypocrite, the belly-God.

XXXII

To him the daily hymns they raise: His tastes are sought: his will is done: He sniffs the putrid steam of praise, Place for true England here is none!

XXXIII

But can a distant race discern The difference ’twixt her and him? My friend, that will you bid them learn. He shames and binds her, head and limb.

XXXIV

Old wood has blossoms of this sort. Though sound at core, she is old wood. If freemen hate her, one retort She has; but one!—‘You are my blood.’

p. 9XXXV

A poet, half a prophet, rose In recent days, and called for power. I love him; but his mountain prose— His Alp and valley and wild flower—

XXXVI

Proclaimed our weakness, not its source. What medicine for disease had he? Whom summoned for a show of force? Our titular aristocracy!

XXXVII

Why, these are great at City feasts; From City riches mainly rise: ’Tis well to hear them, when the beasts That die for us they eulogize!

XXXVIII

But these, of all the liveried crew Obeisant in Mammon’s walk, Most deferent ply the facial screw, The spinal bend, submissive talk.

XXXIX

Small fear that they will run to books (At least the better form of seed)! I, too, have hoped from their good looks, And fables of their Northman breed;—

p. 10XL

Have hoped that they the land would head In acts magnanimous; but, lo, When fainting heroes beg for bread They frown: where they are driven they go.

XLI

Good health, my friend! and may your lot Be cheerful o’er the Western rounds. This butter-woman’s market-trot Of verse is passing market-bounds.

XLII

Adieu! the sun sets; he is gone. On banks of fog faint lines extend: Adieu! bring back a braver dawn To England, and to me my friend.

November 15th, 1867.

p. 11TIME AND SENTIMENT

I see a fair young couple in a wood, And as they go, one bends to take a flower, That so may be embalmed their happy hour, And in another day, a kindred mood, Haply together, or in solitude, Recovered what the teeth of Time devour, The joy, the bloom, and the illusive power, Wherewith by their young blood they are endued To move all enviable, framed in May, And of an aspect sisterly with Truth: Yet seek they with Time’s laughing things to wed: Who will be prompted on some pallid day To lift the hueless flower and show that dead, Even such, and by this token, is their youth.

p. 12LUCIFER IN STARLIGHT

On a starred night Prince Lucifer uprose. Tired of his dark dominion swung the fiend Above the rolling ball in cloud part screened, Where sinners hugged their spectre of repose. Poor prey to his hot fit of pride were those. And now upon his western wing he leaned, Now his huge bulk o’er Afric’s sands careened, Now the black planet shadowed Arctic snows. Soaring through wider zones that pricked his scars With memory of the old revolt from Awe, He reached a middle height, and at the stars, Which are the brain of heaven, he looked, and sank. Around the ancient track marched, rank on rank, The army of unalterable law.

THE STAR SIRIUS

Bright Sirius! that when Orion pales To dotlings under moonlight still art keen With cheerful fervour of a warrior’s mien Who holds in his great heart the battle-scales: Unquenched of flame though swift the flood assails, Reducing many lustrous to the lean: Be thou my star, and thou in me be seen To show what source divine is, and prevails. Long watches through, at one with godly night, I mark thee planting joy in constant fire; And thy quick beams, whose jets of life inspire Life to the spirit, passion for the light, Dark Earth since first she lost her lord from sight Has viewed and felt them sweep her as a lyre.

p. 13SENSE AND SPIRIT

The senses loving Earth or well or ill Ravel yet more the riddle of our lot. The mind is in their trammels, and lights not By trimming fear-bred tales; nor does the will To find in nature things which less may chill An ardour that desires, unknowing what. Till we conceive her living we go distraught, At best but circle-windsails of a mill. Seeing she lives, and of her joy of life Creatively has given us blood and breath For endless war and never wound unhealed, The gloomy Wherefore of our battle-field Solves in the Spirit, wrought of her through strife To read her own and trust her down to death.

EARTH’S SECRET

Not solitarily in fields we find Earth’s secret open, though one page is there; Her plainest, such as children spell, and share With bird and beast; raised letters for the blind. Not where the troubled passions toss the mind, In turbid cities, can the key be bare. It hangs for those who hither thither fare, Close interthreading nature with our kind. They, hearing History speak, of what men were, And have become, are wise. The gain is great In vision and solidity; it lives. Yet at a thought of life apart from her, Solidity and vision lose their state, For Earth, that gives the milk, the spirit gives.

p. 14INTERNAL HARMONY

Assured of worthiness we do not dread Competitors; we rather give them hail And greeting in the lists where we may fail: Must, if we bear an aim beyond the head! My betters are my masters: purely fed By their sustainment I likewise shall scale Some rocky steps between the mount and vale; Meanwhile the mark I have and I will wed. So that I draw the breath of finer air, Station is nought, nor footways laurel-strewn, Nor rivals tightly belted for the race. Good speed to them! My place is here or there; My pride is that among them I have place: And thus I keep this instrument in tune.

GRACE AND LOVE

Two flower-enfolding crystal vases she I love fills daily, mindful but of one: And close behind pale morn she, like the sun Priming our world with light, pours, sweet to see, Clear water in the cup, and into me The image of herself: and that being done, Choice of what blooms round her fair garden run In climbers or in creepers or the tree She ranges with unerring fingers fine, To harmony so vivid that through sight I hear, I have her heavenliness to fold Beyond the senses, where such love as mine, Such grace as hers, should the strange Fates withhold Their starry more from her and me, unite.