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There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013345743 THE qUEEN AND OTHER POEMS BT THE SAME AUTHOR DANTE, PETRARCH, CAMOENS, CXXIV. Sonnets rendered in English. Crown 8vo. THE QUEEN AND OTHER POEMS BY RICHARD GARNETT, C.B. ' '/ , JOHN LANE ■ THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON AND NEW YORK MCMI ADVER TISEMENT The four sonnets on the death of Queen Victoria, linked together by the repetition of the last line so as to form a continuous poem, from which this little volume takes its title, appeared in " Literature " for February 2, 1901, The sonnet immediately succeed- ing, '•'■At a City Feast," was printed privately at the time of its composition, and also appeared in the ^'■Illustrated London News." That on the Kaiser'' s visit was published in the " Times " of February 5. Twentyfive of the fifty miscellaneous sonnets which follow appeared in the authors '■'■Poems" 1893, now out of print. The remainder have been written since. Some have appeared in magazines or newspapers. Two poems relating to events connected with the Royal Family have been added from the volume of 1893. CONTENTS The Queen At a Citv Feast Veni, Vidi, Vici The Century A Welcome . Fifty Sonnets 1. Sparta and Rhodes ■ II. To Dante III. Age IV. The Sands of Time • V. On Revisiting Lichfield Cathedral • VI. Shadows Before VII. Time and Change VIII. To America ■ II. Garibaldi's Retirement X. Bismarck and Moltke XI. President Kruger XII. " Fas est et ab Hoste Doceri " • XIII. Bunyan and Spinoza XIV. To a Reactionary XV. Helen's Tower XVI. To a Favoured Poet • XVII. An Old Peruvian Book XVIII. The Viol to the Musiciaa XIX. A Doubtful Prospect PAGE I 4 5 6 lO 13 Vlll CONTENTS XX. Joy XXI. Caesar Borgia's Sword XXII. Land and Sea XXIII. Sea-Pageantry XXIV. The Vessel of the State XXV. The Taper XXVI. A Letter from Afar XXVII. Songs of Sion XXVIII. The Sonnet-Concert XXIX. Dante XXX. Petrarch XXXI. Camoens XXXII. Camoens in Banishment XXXIII. Shelley XXXIV. Robert Louis Stevenson XXXV. Symonds, Pater, Hamerton, Stevenson XXXVI. Small Poets and Great Pessimists XXXVII. Justice xxxviii. An Emblem of Translation XXXIX. Torches of Love and Death XL. Passion xLi. Video Meliora XLii. The Siren xLiii. The World and the Sea XLiv. Of One in Russia XLV. The Star of Love XLVi. Brevity XLvii. Endymion XLviii. The Laggard Knight XLix. Dian's Ways L. Written in Miles' " Poets of the Century " THE QUEEN The Century that to the grave is gone, Whose birth was fear, confusion, and lament. Parted in joy, beholding ere it went High jubilee of happy Albion. Another step of Time's long stair is won ; O'er widening life an ampler prospect lent ; New morning streams o'er isle and continent ; Where is the glorious Light that was our Sun ? Yet, Britain mine, though chiefly o'er thy coasts The all-eclipsing shade broods dim and blind. And tears more sad from springs more sacred flow, Thine is but one among the mourning hosts. Thy sorrow is the sorrow of mankind. And the wide world is darker for thy woe. Yea, the wide world is darker for thy woe ! What blast of all the many-roaming gales But speeds or thwarts some errand of thy sails, And waves thy Empire's banner to and fro .■' A THE QUEEN Where the brief sun shines dim on mounded snow, Where luxury of summer never pales. Where frost with fire is poised in even scales, Hearts beat to bleed, eyes ope to overflow. The great confederate Land decree divine Dissevered from her Mother, so to lend Thy language and thy laws yet wider reach. Droops, what to foe did never yet incline. Her constellated flag ; and sighings send The swarthy nations, skilless of our speech. Ill The swarthy nations, skilless of our speech. Where 'neath the starry Cross the suppliant throng Sue for thy sword to remedy their wrong. And rule humane and equal right beseech : — Or where late laurel veils the baleful breach Where Gordon died, and speed of Nilus strong Rolls on rich wave the liquid life along Thy science stores, thy care divides for each : — Or where from Comorin to Cashmere reigns The British Peace, and fly to gloomy lair The fiends of Plague and Famine overthrown : — Or where new drops for their decrepid veins The dateless empires from thy fount would share : — By these for theirs is thy bereavement known. THE QUEEN IV By all for theirs is thy bereavement known ! Around earth's circle tolls the heavy bell ; In thousand tongues the thousand nations tell Of orphaned multitude and stricken Throne : And prudent Kings and counsellors grey-grown New writing on the wall discern, and spell The silent sign and script irrevocable, And reason of the things that shall be shown. But lost is a nobility from Life Not soon restored, for Time by Time repairs Slowly a cedar-crest of Lebanon. More gravely garbed, with moodier musings rife, The youthful Age upon its journey fares Than that which to the sepulchre is gone. AT A CITY FEAST (saddlers' company. January 20, 1896) As camping hosts at trump of battle blown, All to their feet by common impulse rise ; " The Queen ! " the ruler of the banquet cries, And all with thundering cheer acclaim the Throne. But one far guest/ whose hand had harvest sown Maturing then 'neath blaze of Austral skies. The high health hails ; then, soft 'twixt words and sighs, " God bless her," breathes, so low, I hear alone. Than all the plaudits that with plaudits vied. As shout on shout beneath the rafter rung. Be rather. Queen, that whispering prayer thy choice. Worth, Honour, Wisdom trained and Valour tried Spoke in that clamour, but the heart and tongue Of all thy Empire in the still small voice. ■ The Hon. Mr Reid, member of the Legislative Council of Victoria. VENI, VIDI, VICI ON THE KAISER S VISIT The message by its brevity so great. Summing in three thrice-memorable words The lightning of the sudden Latin swords, And ruin of base son of Mithridate ; This History now, with Fame confederate, Rescribes, old phrase with modern deed accords. Nor lesser than the Roman's praise awards To helmsman of the ship of German State. Compeers in action swift, in vision sure : But widening world and vaster issues bring To Kaiser than to Caesar nobler part. Old glory by the recent beams obscure : Caesar came, saw, and smote a Pontic king ; Kaiser in triumph leads a people's heart. THE CENTURY ODE ON THE ROYAL MARRIAGE July 6, 1893 Faint with the weary way Of nine long decades travelled since her prime, The ancient Century grey Looks backward to survey Her record on the unfolded scroll of Time. Such battle-music's beat Ne'er rang around a new, defenceless birth, Since sword and shield did meet Clashing where caves of Crete Concealed the infant Lord of heaven and earth. And still, as she did grow. Loud and more loud the warrior din became. Red ran Rhine, Danube, Po ; Vast Russia's sheet of snow Crimsoned with smoking blood and surging flame. THE CENTURY 7 What gush of golden morn Purges Earth's purple blot and lurid hue ? Meek in the bowing corn, Glad in the grape reborn. The dead arise to mantle her anew. Scornful of shattered yoke. Swift Commerce speeds where Plenty's way hath lain. Strength to the hammer's stroke ! Hail to the heart of oak Charged with the floating treasure of the main ! What new unlooked-for page Turns sudden in the book of Destiny .-• What spell of Seer or mage. Thou wan expiring age, E'er summoned up a Power like theirs who bend to thee ? Behold yon vapoury sign Of fire and flood's inimical embrace : The jarring powers combine. The fleeing strength confine, Then laugh at dwindled Time and shrivelled Space. As yawns the riven hill. As force elastic whirls the train along, A swifter Spirit still Stands waiting on thy will. And Steam is now man's arm, and Lightning now his tongue. 8 THE CENTURY Hail ! Powers divinely lent As magic mail for mortal denizen ; Not plaything or portent, But Wisdom's instrument Wide lands to weld in one, and fashion Man from men. As in old days divine Ere all Night's arch to glowing stars was given, A space was left to shine For prince and heroine Exalted at Jove's beck, and planted in his heaven : So, though some vein that ran With human life in every floweret smiles. For westward-wending man Remains the prairie's span. And sea's uncounted multitude of isles. O ye by brains and hearts Elected shapers of the coming State, Not mines alone, nor marts. But let laws, manners, arts, Approve ye Fortune's friends, and worthy of your fate ! And thou who glidest by With step unstayed, departing Century ; Lives no divining eye The issue to descry Of this great stream whose fount arose in thee ? THE CENTURY Not Studious lamp, or blaze Of altar deep Futurity illume ; Nor doth the golden maze Of winding starry ways Throb with the secret of the coming doom. Yet Heaven's allotment dread Haply may be by gentlest signs foreshown ; As by each herb we tread Some riddle may be read. And somewhat of Earth's mystery be known. Be then the maiden's brow With scented wreaths of southern blossom crowned ; And let the bridal vow, Serenely said, and low, Be heard, though nations' plaudits peal around. Be homes of men to-night With glowing globes and flaming cressets gay : And be men's memories bright With the auguster light That streams from fifty years of stainless sway. Frail though these omens be As the sea-rainbow flying with the foam ; Yet part in peace and glee, Thou fading Century ; The bow is in the cloud, thou bear'st a promise home. A WELCOME Whose bark from Baltic isles to ours Do friendly breezes bring ? 'Tis hers, companion of the flowers, Forerunner of the spring. On our soil her foot is set With the firstling violet. Mid happy trees displaying Themselves in new arraying. Spring's bird, that with adventurous flights Thy ocean way dost trace, Mark where the herald footstep lights, And follow to the place. Through our isles' fair compass be Made the merry melody Of sky and air repeating The gladness of our greeting. All hail ! fair stranger, gentle bride. Before whose face this day A mourning robe is cast aside, A cloud is rolled away. A WELCOME II Come with birds and blossoms bright, Genial warmth and lengthening light, And round thy path assemble All things thou dost resemble ! Fd. 1863. FIFTY SONNETS SPARTA AND RHODES " Spartam nactus es, hanc orna." " Hie Rhodus, hie salta." Sonnet, as diamond of mine or dew Perfect in form and purity and light. Wherefore, though more aspiring Muse incite, Walk I content among thy retinue ? Veiled in the vast and visionary blue This song should soar, companion of their flight Whose pinions effortless unchallenged smite Aerial void where eagle never flew. Epic or tragic laurel would I share. Or his, whose soul streams forth in lyric odes ; But yoke of public and of private care With daily lassitude the spirit loads. And to the earth remands her from the air, " Behold thy Sparta," saying, " and thy Rhodes." .895. II TO DANTE " Poet, whose unscarred feet have trodden Hell, By what grim path and red environing Of fire couldst thou that dauntless footstep bring And plant it firm amid the dolorous cell Of darkness where perpetually dwell The spirits cursed beyond imagining ? Or else is thine a visionary wing. And all thy terror but a tale to tell ? " " Neither and both, thou seeker ! I have been No wilder path than thou thyself dost go. Close masked in an impenetrable screen. Which having rent I gaze around, and know What tragic wastes of gloom, before unseen. Curtain the soul that strives and sins below." Ill AGE I WILL not rail or grieve when torpid eld Frosts the slow-journeying blood, for I shall see The lovelier leaves hang yellow on the tree, The nimbler brooks in icy fetters held. Methinks the aged eye that first beheld Pale Autumn in her waning pageantry, Then knew himself, dear Nature, child of thee, Marking the common doom, that all compelled. No kindred we to thy beloved broods. If, dying these, we drew a selfish breath ; But one path travel all their multitudes, And none dispute the solemn voice that saith : " Sun to thy setting ; to your autumn, woods ; Stream to thy sea -, and man unto thy death ! " IV THE SANDS OF TIME Camest thou from the desert or the sea, Slow-raining sand, whose lapse of gleaming brown. Stealing the glassy horologe adown, Arrayeth Time with visibility ? Helpmate in either hath he had in thee. Tombing the pride of temple or of town, Or withering with salt waste the herbless down. As willed the varying wind's inconstancy. Thou, joyless load on earth for ever laid. Yet plaything of all breezes as they pass, Recordest here what thou depictest well : — The thing like thee of streaming atoms made. Singly a nothing, measureless in mass, Mutation all, and yet unalterable ! ON REVISITING LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL The triple spire springs heavenward as of old ; The bordering limes stand touched by no decay Save Autumn's ; still the gathered people pray ; And ancient chants through ancient aisles are rolled. Yet hath not Time even here, his wings to fold, Paused ; the hoar fane is full of yesterday ; New blazonries dye sunlight ; new array Of kings and saints the storied niches hold. Pilgrim, that hither stealest to behold The spot of thy departure on Life's way. Clings a like garland to thy temples grey ? Is a like record of thy travel told ."" Rich in the new, nor rifled of the old, Seek'st thou these precincts fortunate as they ? Sift. 23, 1887. VI SHADOWS BEFORE What vague enchantment fascinates my breast ? What lure unseen decoys my steps along ? What spell of utterance faint, of influence strong. Persuades the soul to some sublimer quest ? By what new rapture shall she be possest ? Ennobled how amid the human throng ? Darling of Fortune ? minister of Song ? Or in Love's arms more exquisitely blest ? Not with the augur's science have I spied To scan what this fair mystery may mean : Knowing what Spirit ever at my side Hath stood through various life's disordered scene. Meekly I follow that divinest Guide, Led by his hand as I have ever been. VII TIME AND CHANGE Affrighted at his owa eternity. Time Change begot, to soothe with curious show Disquiet of uneasy soul below. Bewildered with its being's mystery. Hail, world-renewing Mutability, By whom the unimprisoned waters flow. And the great vault doth darkle or doth glow, And light and shadow course upon the sea ! Though worlds arise and pass, like drift of spray Or flake of billow flung upon the shore. And dying suns like dying brands decay : Yet of all change not any change so sore As this the daunted spirit should affray ; If Time were ever still, and Change no more. VIII TO AMERICA (after reading some ungenerous criticisms) What though thy Muse the singer's art essay With lip now over-loud, now over-low ? 'Tis but the augury that makes her so Of the high things she hath in charge to say. How shall the giantess of gold and clay, Girt with two oceans, crowned with Arctic snow, Sandalled with shining seas of Mexico, Be pared to trim proportion in a day ? Thou art too great ! Thy million-billowed surge Of life bewilders speech, as shoreless sea Confounds the ranging eye from verge to verge With mazy strife or smooth immensity. Not soon or easily shall thence emerge A Homer or a Shakespeare worthy thee. IX GARIBALDI'S RETIREMENT Not that three armies thou didst overthrow, Not that three cities oped their gates to thee, I praise thee, Chief, not for this royalty Decked with new crowns, that utterly laid low : For nothing of all thou didst forsake to go And tend thy vines amid the Etrurian Sea, Not even that thou didst this — though history Retread two thousand selfish years to show Another Cincinnatus ! Rather for this. The having lived such life, that even this deed Of stress heroic natural seems as is Calm night, when glorious day it doth succeed ; And we, forewarned by surest auguries. The amazing act with no amazement read. \%6o. BISMARCK AND MOLTKE Fire falters yet in the fatigued eyes : And now the slow blood stirs with sudden leap, And angry thunder daunts the spies that peep Exploring if the Lion lives or dies. But cold upon the sand his-fellow lies, The far-flung shadow of whose dawnless sleep The many-nationed world doth over-creep ; Not solely where Rhine's torrent seaward hies. Day darkens, and uneasy Night must wake 'Neath her blue vault, new sown with baleful stars. And chains of Slav and Gaul spontaneous shake ; As anciently at birth of Latin wars. Eager their appetite for blood to slake, Rome's weapons rattled in the fane of Mars. April 1 891. XI PRESIDENT KRUGER Mt wont it ever was the head to bow When foot of fallen Greatness wended near ; Oft sprang into the eye the sudden tear. And the wrung heart bled sympathy — but now ? Craft, weaving grimy webs in hoary brow, Pride's vaunting tongue. Presumption's stubborn ear. And Guile and Greed in sanctities austere Profanely draped, sweet Pity disallow. Unchivalrous ! thy penury of worth Rivets the hand reluctant to thy throat. And Victory cheats of exquisite reward ; To raise, encircled by the arm that smote, The enemy low laid on gory earth. With balmy salve for gashes of the sword. Decemhtr 1 900. XII "FAS EST ET AB HOSTE DOCERI" If doubtful of thy country thou hast beea, And shunned at her commandment to inscribe Her patriot roll, regard the hostile tribe, And read her quarrel's justice in their mien. If such her foes, well may she smile serene ! Jew-baiter, anarch, cleric, hireling scribe. The Fenian vitriol and the Brussels bribe : — An ark for every beast, except the clean. Yet, from the seething venom canst thou strain Some wholesome drop, be, Briton, not too nice. Dreading with slime thy finger to distain : Romans to tripes resorted for advice ; And well for Egypt had her Pharaoh ta'en Hints from the frogs and lessons from the lice. XIII BUNYAN AND SPINOZA (after dr jowett's sermon) Together, Prophets, have ye trodden earth, Happy that neither might the other know : Else what so huge as the Homeric flow Of the great Hebrew's rich compassionate mirth At the great Tinker's frenzy ? save the dearth Of Bunyan's charity for Heaven's foe, Spilth of the Patmian's seven-vialled woe, A living death ! an inauspicious birth ! Now are the souls wrought of such diverse woof. Twin sons and saints of God acknowledged, each Straight in his love and in his scorn awry. Truer, be sure, is Verity's own speech Affirmative, than thunder of reproof; Truest, if listening Love stand smiling by >«93- XIV TO A REACTIONARY Unblest, whom tartness of unmellowed eld Doth from thy day's accumulating dower Of thought and lore estrange, which, hadst thou power. Thou wouldst efface, unheard and unbeheld. Warped from her wont, hath Nature then withheld From thee the quickening sun, the tempering shower ; Fragrance denied to full expanded flower ; Nor with the flagoned vine the vat excelled ? Old poet-preacher, deemest thou that Truth, Triumphal treading on her trophied way, Will turn her round to dance unto thy pipe ? Not Glods but stones attend Amphion's lay. Intolerance is comedy in youth ; But 'tis most tragic to be sour and ripe. XV HELEN'S TOWER (erected bt the marquis of dufferin in memory of his mother, a^a3 celebrated by tennyson and browning) Love low in earth thy sure foundation laid ; Song thy aspiring head with honour crowned ; And the green wood rejoicing came around ; And the broad sea was thy bright mirror made. Yet not yon restless blue or slumbering shade, Or Scotland's coast in distant purple drowned, Or various Erin's many-tinctured ground, — Thousandfold beauty to one glance displayed — Not these, or laurelled lyres, that, as of old The stars of morning, pealed thy natal lay, Exalt thee most, but choicest praise is thine ; That we who this fair Paradise behold Would yield for thy rude granite, scarred with spray. Prospect of earth and sky, and sea divine. XVI TO A FAVOURED POET Minstrel, if I like thee found place and time In field and grove to meditate my lays. Where spinning leaf with whirling eddy plays Feeding the thirsty ear with fluent chime ; Or, where thick bees besiege the towering lime, Or the long wood in one green billow sways. With harp attuned might court Apollo's praise. Sight, scent, and sound embalming in sweet rhyme : Not, haply, then should I to thee consign This lonely note like plunging pebble flung Where thy full river widens to the sea. As works her web the spider, I have wrung An arduous music from my bosom ; thine Besets thy daily path, as flowers the bee. XVII AN OLD PERUVIAN BOOK (printed at a mission station in the ANDES, l6l2 BOUGHT BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM) Screened in the shadows Cordilleras fling, Where straining breast scarce breathes, and straining eye Sees nought 'twixt lifted sight and silent sky Save the huge Condor hung on heavy wing : — Small skill, great love, there made me, light to bring Where, sunk beneath the mountain far as I Had birth aloft, the Indian's misery Plied toil unblest for Europe's profiting. The silver that his labour sunward drew Now buys me, haply, in this foreign mart Where Love and Skill and Labour bartered are. And it and I have interchanged our part : Homeward it journeys to remote Peru, Leaving me here beneath the Northern Star. XVIII THE VIOL TO THE MUSICIAN (playing on an instrument made in 1525) What time the Friar of Wittenberg was bold To wed his vestal, shaped was I and strung, And wail of vanquished France around me rung For captive King and ranks in ruin rolled. Skill subtler grown, Device of daintier mould. Thrust me aside, in halls of stillness hung. Till touch of Genius came, and I had tongue To tell of love and ruth and triumphs old. O give me life as I shall give thee praise. And mates be we through memorable years By Destiny assigned thee, as I trust. But when the hand the soul no more obeys. And from the stage the artist disappears. Lay me by too, and let me fall to dust. XIX A DOUBTFUL PROSPECT Is then the haven of my heart so near ? Or doth illusive fancy bid me mark The cot embowered beside the ample park. To me by triple pledge made triply dear ? September's scale suspends the waning year ; With mists the heights are grey, the valleys dark ; The shrouded sun seems shrunken to a spark ; And distances in dimness disappear. Nor am I rightly ware what eyes survey. Not of this region a familiar ; Yet with the eye the heart hath taken way. Both overbrimmed ; and blessing from afar I call, and to the dubious inmates say. Be ye most fortunate, whoe'er ye are ! XX JOY Joy is there made for all, transparent tide Of earth-embathing air, sun's general light, Sea, legioned stars, fields variously bright, And in a common country common pride : And joy to human multitudes denied. But solitary meed of soul of might. Pacing in lone content the silent height. Save by his own thought unaccompanied : Joy, too, not made for many or for one ; Flashing, as when the flying iron rings Sharp on smit stone beside the paven way, As Love to Ix)ve in exultation springs : As fades the star of morn in morning's sun, All rosiest rapture to such joy is grey. XXI CtESAR BORGIA'S SWORD AUT C^SAR AUT NIHIL Well has the graver traced thee, sword of mine ! Here Caesar by the Rubicon's slow deeps Ponders, here resolute to empire leaps, And far and near the smitten waters shine. The vanquished train's interminable line Wends with his wheels up Capitolian steeps ; And round the interlacing legend creeps, Casar or nothing, saith Duke Valentine. And did I bare thee to the sun, my Blade, Fired at the flash all Italy should thrill, And many a city quake and province bow. Yet is a drop within this phial stayed. That should the might of marching armies still, And stainless sheathe ten thousand such as thou. XXII LAND AND SEA (after MRS C. MURA's " IDYLL " IN THE ROYAL academy) A BIGHT of Grecian waters sapphirine, "Where woody slopes shelve gently to the seas. And Satyrs ambushed by Oreades Peep forth astonied from the screening pine. For foaming furrows blanch the azure brine Where Tritons plunge and Nereids wheel at ease ; And fain the admiring Fauns would be as these, Who would for earth the watery realm resign. Sometimes a Satyr, to the margin crept. Pelts a near-gliding nymph with shell or sand. Or trump of Triton peals an Oread's praise. But Law is Deity, and will be kept ; Foot travels not the sea, or fin the land ; And scaly folk and sylvan pause at gaze. XXIII SEA-PAGEANTRY Not now doth Triton blow his wreathed horn, Reining his dolphin steed in mounting tide ; Not now, emergent Nereids beside. In pearly car is Amphitrite borne ; Sea moans of ancient pageant all forlorn ; "Winds, clouds, and fowls of ocean companied Solely her recent severed from my side. Bleeding with bonds of tenderness uptorn. Methinks antique Poseidon and his train Of scaly seeming were terrene at heart, From cove and bight irresolute to stray ; And now that man hath sounded every main. In fear and jealousy they move apart. Perceiving he hath grown more great than they. XXIV THE VESSEL OF THE STATE I AM the Vessel of the State, and hence, When sudden from the helm the steersman fails, 'Twere meet some sighs were given to the gales, Which, as in duty bound, I here dispense. Yet other sentiment have I, immense Relief from prow to poop through spars and sails. Which whirlwinds, haply, yet may wreck, or whales. But not the pilot's gross incompetence. Hath he gone down to nether regions dim .'' No matter, so not longer here he be ; But, monarch of the fallen Seraphim, Vast ruth and mighty dole have I of thee ; For thou must needs be intimate with him, Whence ruin of thy empire I foresee. XXV THE TAPER This little light is not a little sign Of duteous service innocent of blame, Contented with obscurity till came Mandate that as a star her beam should shine. On sickness did she wait, or scribe, or shrine. The law of her beneficence the same. Somewhat to sunder from her fragile frame. Something of her own being to resign. So wasted now, that, let the lustre be Resummoned but once more, the fuel dies ; Yet virtues six adorn her brevity. Singly too seldom met of mortal eyes ; Discretion, faithfulness, frugality, Purity, vigilance, self-sacrifice. XXVI A LETTER FROM AFAR My thought of thee was sadness, as beseems Remembrance of old amity descried Through veils of Time and Space, as through the tide Of sea's abyss a sunken jewel gleams. 'Tis I, not it, behold ! have dwelt with dreams. Anew, fond soul, in friend and fate confide ; And favourable deep be glorified. And work of Love wrought from the world's extremes. So lamp of Love in Sestian turret lit. Beamed, though Love's planet sank beneath the main. Boldness on young Leander cleaving it. The wizard so, last birth of Shakespeare's brain. The ship " three glasses since we gave out split," Winged with brave sails to breast the seas again. XXVII SONGS OF SION My harp upon the willows is not hung ; Else had I anguish, dreading to forget The melody that soundeth sweetly yet, Albeit in idle hearing idly sung. Soul, if thou skillest aught of Sion's tongue. The more thou chide at Babylon's vain fret, The more thou Salem's strain must rebeget. For Sion lives where Sion's lyre is strung. To willowed brook or transitory breeze Trust nothing ; not on such impends the weight Of duty on thyself divinely bound ; Thy Mother's songs, of old thy lullabies, Not only to revere but renovate, Not only to remember but resound. XXVIII THE SONNET-CONCERT Sonnet, not darling of one Muse alone. Not to a single art did Art enchain Thee, miniature of Poetry's domain ; Song, Dance, and Music woo thee for their own. First is the majesty of Music shown. Reverberate in resonant quatrain, In fourfold note reduplicate again Repeated by rebounding antiphone. These fail, and sudden, paired or tripleted. Dance forward sisters six, each, fleeting by. With warbling lip the arrested strain prolongs. Giving to sight the viewless melody In poetry of motion shaped and sped By poetry of rhythms and of songs. XXIX DANTE (prefixed to a translation of his sonnets) Thou who like Dian hast in Heaven domain And hell, and worlds that intermediate roll, This slender tribute summed in tiny scroll Seemeth it not thy grandeur to profane ? Not so, such offering thou wouldst ne'er disdain. Aware that not from deeper springs of soul Burst the great song the centuries extol Than these clear notes heard once and yet again : Which, if among the spirits unforgiven Thou wentest, or where smites the healing rod. Or didst the path of Paradise essay, Borne in the heart where'er the feet took way, Gave witness that thou hadst already trod Love's land, that comprehendeth Hell and Heaven. XXX PETRARCH (prefixed to a translation of his sonnets) Laurel in right of Laura thou didst claim, Which wreath Apollo with his bay enwound ; Nature with flower and Wit with diamond crowned ; Thine were the wind, the dawn, the star, the flame. First ever thou, no second comes or came. Worship not fellowship with them is found Whose lyres by rills of Castaly resound. Enkindled and disheartened by thy fame. What first ? what last ? such lauds unnumbered throng Upon the thought intent to honour thee. That silent panegyric fears to wrong. Yet first, the clear and golden suavity Wherethrough the soul inhabiting the song Is seen, as sitting in her sanctuary. XXXI CAMOENS (prefixed to a translation of his sonnets) What singles my Camoens from the rest ? Not gliding flood of silver eloquence ; Or phrase of nicest choice ; or affluence Of thought severe to one strong line comprest : Not music aye attending at his hest On lute or trump as suits the various sense : All these he hath ; but laurel gathered hence Crowns every bard inscribed among the best. But that with lyric vehemence was fraught, Sonnet, by him thy fair amenity. The perfect form perturbing not in aught, But teaching how the flight might fierier be. Tagus yet pealeth with the passion caught From the wild cry he flung across the sea. XXXII CAMOENS IN BANISHMENT (eLEGIA III.) Tagus, afloat between whose noble shores Swim the proud barks for Indian seas designed. Moving with motion of the gentle wind, Or showering crystal drops from cleaving oars ; Say, is there one among the band deplores The glorious peril Destiny assigned To plough the lonely azure unconfined, Parting the bitter flood that ocean pours ? I, too, whom links of bondage here constrain. In like resolved mood would wend with thee. Bound for Love's deep so sunny and so drear : But, since the body cannot now be free, Abandon it, bright river, to its chain, And speed the soul, incarnate in my tear. XXXIII SHELLEY Eagle of Song, whence came such strength to thee. On spacious air launched forth with strenuous wing Thus effortless to glide on voyaging O'er earth's domain and the unfooted sea ? Or from Light's portal inaccessibly The lyric torrent of thy soul to fling, With music of the skies discomfiting Earth's little choristers of lawn and lea ? Phoebus unfold, for surely not without Some gracious aid it pleased thee to extend, To altitude so vast did Shelley rise. I hope so, says Apollo, but I doubt. Myself in rivalry a lay have penned, But have not published, and therein was wise. XXXIV ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Wondrous as though a star with twofold light Should fill her lamp for either hemisphere, Piercing cold skies with scintillation clear, And glowing on the sultry Southern night ; "Was miracle of him who could unite Pine and the purple harbour of the deer With palm-plumed islets that sequestered hear The far-off wave their zoning coral smite. Still roars the surf, still bounds the herd, but where Is one to see and hear and tell again ? As dancers pause on an arrested air Fail the fast-thronging figures of the brain ; And shapes unshapely huddle in dim lair, Awaiting ripe vitality in vain. XXXV SYMONDS, PATER, HAMERTON, STEVENSON Child of the great Rebirth, who most of men Didst steep in Italy the English soul : Thou, Phidias of discourse, who couldst control Speech to Form's purity by shaping pen : Thou who all Art didst learn to teach again : And thou whose Art was Nature : — from the scroll Of Life how swiftly blotted : — golden toll Cast to the oarsman of the Stygian fen ! Of you who had not said, " Behold in these The strenuous growth Time mellows to endure, More rich, more fair, for annual season found ? " O dupes and scoffs of hollow auguries ! Still flourishes the weed, the tree mature With stem and bough and fruitage loads the ground. XXXVI SMALL POETS AND GREAT PESSIMISTS Fleas are not Lobsters. — Peter Pindar. " Oysters and whelks avaunt ! and all sea-fry Of ignominious brood unapt to smell The sulphur of a lobster-spirit's hell, Viewing the kitchen with prophetic eye ! There what avail my sable panoply .'' Or giant claw whose grinding gripe might well Enforce the Lord of Myrmidons to yell, Till silver Thetis to his succour fly .'' " " If, brother, thou dost rightly diagnose Thy rank in Nature's scheme, so must it be : Even now the light flame leaps, the furnace glows, The cauldron hisses on the hob for thee : But can the Power like tragedy propose, That made thee not a lobster, but a Flea .■' " XXXVII JUSTICE When Deities from earth departure made, Justice I found in attitude to soar : No bandage veiled her eyes, no blade she bore, Nor in her hand her wonted balance swayed. Goddess, I cried with tongue and look dismayed, Bereft of thee and thine, how any more Shall Hope allure, or Gratitude adore, Or Faith on "Wisdom's prophecy be stayed ? Fear not, she said, though far I seem to wend. Who omnipresent am, and whose award Hath course by automatic Law sublime. My bandage blinds the vulgar ; on my sword The malefactor falls : my scales depend In nicest balance from the hand of Time. XXXVIII AN EMBLEM OF TRANSLATION Not of one growth the solemn forests are ; Not solely is the stately alley made Of towers of foliage and tents of shade, Sturdy, deep-rooted, massy, secular. But briar astray, and bines that ramble far. And cup and crown of Bacchus blend and braid, With all that creeps disabled or afraid To mount by its own might toward sun and star. A lowly birth ! yet lovely even so, Through brake and bush it serpenting doth wend. Vagrant with baffled rovings to and fro. Till soaring stem or stooping bough befriend ; Then high the vine shall as the cedar grow. And from his summit shall her fruit depend. XXXIX TORCHES OF LOVE AND DEATH To him, who symbol of his empire shows By the inverted brand's declining flame, Love, spent with wayfaring, in twilight came, And said, I weary, and would taste repose. Do thou, whose vigilant eye must never close. Governing thy viewless shafts' incessant aim, Guard me, and from thy brother's realm reclaim When bathed in orient light my planet throes. And so it was. Love slumbered and arose. But, parting, bore his comrade's torch away ; Soon in Death's numbing hand his own expired : Now earth is empty of his joys and woes. And in her sages' lore, and poets' lay. Sweet Love is disesteemed, and Death desired. XL PASSION This flame of Passion that so high in air, By spice and balsam of the spirit fed. With fire and fume vast heaven hath overspread. And blots the stars with smoke, or dims with glare : Soon shall it droop, and radiance pure and fair Again from azure altitudes be shed ; And we the murky grime and embers red Shall sift, if haply dust of Love be there. Gather his ashes from the torrid mould. And, quenched with cups of Bacchic revelry, Yield to the Stygian powers to have and hold ; And urn Etrurian let his coffin be. For this was made to store the dead and cold. And is a thing of much fragility. XLI VIDEO MELIORA 'Tis not that witchery of Sin hath sway, But that the rock of Will is crumbling sand : The dungeons of the soul so open stand, Well might she issue by her entering way. Heart, thou art not so trodden into clay That ever must thou cower, where once trepanned ; Torpor not palsy numbs the inactive hand, And shrouded eye sleeps dreaming of the day. Enough of wooing of estranged delight, Enough of crouching fear and wistful care, And banquet with all sauce but appetite : Leave, Spirit, leave these reptiles to their lair, And rise rejoicing to the golden light Thou canst not miss, for it is everywhere. XLII THE SIREN Young moon and firstling star and rising tide Gave Sirens being ; for a spell had sway In music of the many-tinted bay, And eve's horizon doubtfully espied, Sea's spirit from sea's body to divide, And shape a tender form from snowy spray. Luring with melody of magic lay Enchanted lover to enamoured bride. Enticing distance swallowed up in night. And silver cadences made roaring noise. Legend begot in human soul anew. Men said, the Siren's arms have strangling might. Her kiss consumes, her song to death decoys, And bones of youths devoured her cave bestrew. XLIII THE WORLD AND THE SEA The mighty world is like the mighty surge ; Billow on billow rises and retreats, Yet each the others' countenance repeats. Or doth in magnitude alone diverge. The caverned Siren tarries to emerge ; Past unattempted shores the seaman fleets ; The timorous sail in shallows tacks and beats ; The sail adventurous lessens to the verge. 'Tis wreck, if any drift of worth be spied ; If aught of verdure, 'tis but drift of weed, Disrooted in the ocean's stormy whirl. Three blissful fare the barrenness beside ; The eye that watches till the wave recede. The heart that knows, the hand that grasps the pearl. XLIV OF ONE IN RUSSIA Dove that of old, fraught with the olive-spray, Toldest of Earth arisen from the flood. And how the grove in ancient station stood. And badest man take courage and be gay : Vain for green leaf this January day To search the savage waste of Scythian wood. Yet thither wend, of Clara's ill or good Bringing back tidings on thy westering way. Tell her the flame the brand should blithely fling Dies on the hearth in ashes chill and drear, And season vainly lengthens unto Spring Since she forsook the love that held her here. Sorrow and dread and many a joyless thing Leaving in place of her that was so dear. Jan. 18, 1894. XLV THE STAR OF LOVE Star, whose fair light doth more and more excel As light grows dimmer, but at birth of sun, O'ertaken by the flame thou didst forerun, Fadest as things obscure grow visible : Men call thee Star of Love, and name thee well. Thinking on tenderness of Love begun 'Neath throbbing Hesper, or in dawn undone At beckoning Phosphor's sign inexorable. And light of Love is like the light of thee. Paired not with peer among the immortal host. Or partner with a less transcendent flame ; Brightest when all around him darkens most ; Throned o'er the land and bosomed in the sea ; For from Sea's bosom anciently he came. XLVI BREVITY Windows in heaven, lakes of transparency ; Eve's waning hour, of light not all undrest ; The distant river's mimicry of rest ; Gleams for a moment given to the sea ; The passing face that snares thee innocently ; Unbidden tears ; proud sob with pride represt ; Unlooked for look of Love ; these bring Life zest Savoury with the salt of brevity. Briefness of life doth life to Life endear ; One mortal heart for all the Gods hath room -, Restriction moulds and rolls the suns aright ; By circumscription of compacted sphere Welding to orbs that kindle and illume. The beamless dust of spaces infinite. XLVII ENDYMION He slept on Latmian pinnacle upraised 'Neath amethystine skies uncrost by cloud ; No ripple rose on sea ; no blade was bowed ; Sole in the purple void Love's sapphire blazed. Selene came, stooped, rose ; he woke amazed In Moonland's fiery silence, where nor loud Or low breathes hovering wind, or billows crowd Booming from beds of oceans long erased. The sun with undeflected arrow seared The flameless crater's swart and torrid wall ; The silver raiment shrouded Earth afar : Yet nought Endymion's spirit could appal ; For nought beheld he in that desert weird Save Dian's eyes, more sweet than moon or star. XLVIII THE LAGGARD KNIGHT Too late ! The mighty Dragon's crest of gold Lies cloven on the cavern's sparry floor ; And flameless now the throat whence never more Shall blighting fume on blast of fire be rolled. But he, my Friend, lies lifeless — in his hold The venomed tongue his dying valour tore For triumph's token — with the monster's gore Sanguine, and stifled in its scaly fold. And diamond and emerald lie blent The ruby and the amethyst amid ; And treasury is mine more opulent Than catacomb e'er stored, or pyramid ; But ah ! the deed illustrious I meant Rebukes the deed inglorious I did. XLIX DIAN'S WAYS Blest who unwinds the woodland's sunny maze Dappled with lights and glooms diversified, Where beams in creviced leafage sport and glide, Turning transparent green to tender blaze. But suddenly the covert shakes and sways. And swift through crashing boughs the deer hath hied, Shunning her shaft whose eye of startled pride Launches the brighter bolt that speedier slays. Her dart the deer, her mood ungentle stays Suit that the smitten spirit should have sighed, If Body found but tongue to plead or praise. Or Soul saw not that suit must be denied. Whence then, chaste votary of Dian's ways. This little faun that trippeth at thy side ? WRITTEN IN MILES' " POETS OF THE CENTURY" I SAW the youthful singers of my day To sound of lutes and lyres in morning hours Trampling with eager feet the teeming flowers, Bound for Fame's temple upon Music's way : A happy band, a folk of holiday : But some lay down and slept among the bowers ; Some turned aside to fanes of alien Powers ; Some Death took by the hand and led away. Now gathering twilight clouds the land with grey, Yet, where last light is lit, last pilgrims go. Outlined in gliding shade by dying glow. And fain with weary fortitude essay The last ascent. The end is hid, but they Who follow on my step shall surely know. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.