'%:'^^' iy-m ILIBIURYOFCONGRESS.I #f,>«S IcrpgrigW |o | J7^. '// ,..S.3. J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA j IDOTHEA. IDOTHEA; THE DIVINE IMAGE. A POEM, BY JOSEPH SALYARDS Parea dinanzi a fne, con Vali aperte, La hella image, che^ nel dolce frui, Liete fa^eva Vanime conserte. ^^v ^vrt NEW MARKET, VA. : Henkel, Calvekt & Co., Peinteks.^ ^ 1874. T5 ^m .^3 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, By JOSEPH SALYARDS, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. PREFACE. Your authoh, my little book, has experienced more hesitation ihiin diffieiilty in preparinjr you for the vicissi- tudes of life. At last he ventures to comnieml you to wide communities of men and Avomen. His own lot forbade him to try the world under as favorable auspices as he expects you to try it. He sends you now to the Pj'thian plain. With a smile on your face, you must gird yourself for the contest, and acquit yourself nobly. Then you must visit different lands ; enter the stately mansion as well as the humble cottage; approach the young, the old, the unfortunate, the happy, the gay, the gloomy, the intelligent peasant, the eloquent statesman, lords, and ladies, even the palaces of kings, wherever knowledge and virtue are seeking an abode. You have a glad, magnificent message to convey, — this wondrous Creation of mind and matter interwoven. It becomes you to feel the weight of your message and the dignity of your audience. He wishes you to seek the very best society ; assured that if they cannot admire you, they may not feel disposed hastily to cut your acquaintance; and if you cannot secure their applause, your manners, at least, will not be corrupted by evil communications. In the obscurity of a private career, he has found this 6 PREFACE. world an abode sufficieiitly pleasant; he has felt or heard ; but one subject of serious complaint against the intelli-' gence of his fellow men, — that the^' should seek glory in the horrors of war, and blot out the footsteps of improve-) ment almost as soon as made. He has taught you to consider this very unwise ; and still he cherishes the hope tliat he has made you worthy of a gracious reception. He bids you go, therefore, with his blessing; and may you share, among the orders of mankind, that felicity which he trusts you know how to promote. He has sought to purify you, as far as possible, from blem- ishes both literary and moral ; and he believes you will make all Avith whom you commune, more cheerful, more ho|>eful, more intelligent, j)enetrated . with a deeper reverence for whatever is divine or holy, and radiant with brighter anticipations for human destiny. New Market, Va,, ) August 1, 1874. ; Iljeneral I IDOTHEA. I. THE BEAUTY OF TRUTH. Ipos I. — Trutli in Man. Idos II. — Trutli in Nature. Idos in.— Truth in Revelation. IDOTHEA. II. GOOD AND EVIL. Idyl i. — Euda-'monia. Idyl ii.— Nemesis. Idyl hi.— Voices of "Hilltop." Idyl iv. — Waif of Kosendale, Idyl v. — Pride and Providence Idyl vi. — The Wranglei-s. Idyl vii — Kalonimata. Idyl viii. — Passing Away. Idyl ix.— Behind the Veil. IDOTHEA. III. YONDER ! El'IDCtS 1.- Epidos ii.- EpIDOS III. Uranothen. -At Home Again. — Uranonde. IDOIEEA. THE BEAUTY OF TRUTH, Plato B /' nVEOI^E LIG-IiTI The verge, the verge of all we know ; New ni>'steries rise, old mysteries go ; Tlie tlashes of Ithiiriel's wand, The dawn of something still beyond,— Behind the seal, behind the seal, Brief gleams of hidden Truth reveal, All beauteous as the bow of heaven, Yet snatched away as soon as given, The spiritual within the blue. The radiant region of the True. I see soft fingers, pure and whit(% Half draw the curtains from the Light, Where down each immaterial groove. New thoughts immortal live and move. I well may deem it lovely there :— O, when will Genius make it clear ! Whence hope looks in from shades afar, To woo me, like a loving star ; Where some I love have gone to find The transports of a wider mind. Thou dear unknown ! The breath I draw Is warm with some mysterious awe ! Oh, lend the hand I yet shall see, And lift me to felicity ! There once again the Muses dwell On sunny slopes of asphodel. MORE LIGHT f And Orphic lines and leaves ideal Shall make us realize the Real ; Shall make us see. if we can see, The foibles of our infancy ; The blinding meteor in the haze, Illusive f ormultB of praise ; And gifts, and glories, creeds, and crimes. The iron bands of iron times ; Our dreams of Power and Majesty, Dim ripples on a summer sea. E'en now the gold-tipped clouds betray The rosy dawn of brighter day, . When men shall know and nations see A glorious range of destiu}^ ; When fate shall widen as we go, The lucid sweep of mind beloAV, And show, without the light of suns, The path progressive Nature runs ; When Faith shall worship something true. With wiser, nobler deeds to do. And give the heart and head to trace The hopes of an immortal race. Ye central suns ! revolve, revolve, And ripen Nature's vast resolve. IfiOIHEi. THE BEAUTT OF TRUTH jj)0^ I.— TRUTH JN MAK adovra (f £i 7] lie raves some footprint on the plain For man to trace, and man to tread again, Enduring image of creativ(^ Mind, To field, and mart, and monument consign'd ; An Indian arrow, or the Parthenon, Ye seize and say,— So far the race hath run. Enough for these. — The hoary heads withdraw ; A younger race may find a higlier law. The Eldest-born, — the elements — repair From grain, and drop, from leaf, and light, and air, And from the Plenum, viewless, undefined, Leaps the glad /Eon, darts the deathless mind. Lo ! on the vale, the hill, proceed again A fresh supply of hand, and heart, and brain ; They toil, they feel as once their fathers felt, llocks rift before them, and the metals melt. The strata forms, the forest grows fyr this ; No leaf is lost, no atom moves amiss. That wandering mote is on its way to sense ; Tliat sleeping germ shall grasp intelligence ; Creation's anthem ever must be sung, Each grain of dust is waiting for a tongue. " And mine the boon with joyful haste to bring The feast of Reason, as ye leai-n to sing. The light ethereal fresh upon my brow, 1 fly, I come, with tuneful voice, as now, Upon my arm a mazy wreath divine. Of braided symbol, interwoven sign, Of form, relation, fluid force, and law — Your moving myriads hail the sign with awe. D 26 ID O THE A. [I. The braids untwine, the genial odors flow, And throbbing pulses feel the bliss to know. From vale and woodland sated sense retires, Man's spirit glows with more refined desires, Glad to forego the breezy shade of noon, With Summer wanderings underneath the moon, Dahlcarlia's maidens, chanting on the hills, And all the sweets the Hyblian bee distils. Imagination folds her sunlit wings, Tho' warm the beam and sweet the breeze she brings, Her visionary temples fade away ; Adieu to Fiction; — Reason rules the daj' I Lo ! purer, fairer intuitions beam, Than Fiction feigned, or Fancy strove to dream. I speak to all.: — no arbitrary choice; — All hear the sound, and all shall heed the voice : Forever peals the word, the voice I give ; The dead shall hear, and all that hear shall live. Lovers of Beauty, prophets of the True, A charm unearthly cleaves the starry blue ; They feel again the airs of Eden blow, — Remembered flowers, remembered sweets below ; — ' They see a light, beyond created light ; They hear the roar of chaos on the height ; Thej'' taste, redeemed from sin's primeval curse. The drop that binds tlie crystal universe. "Then all obedient to the sweet control. Dissolves the mute divinity of soul ; A glad belief, a full, responsive trust. Warms, kindles all j-our palpitating dust; A gentle, sweet, involuntary thrill Pervades the heart, illuminates the will. Idos I.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 37 Contend no more, — the wise contend no more, — In Church or State for hoarj-- creeds of yore ; Vain creeds that boast the sanction of a name Upheld for pride, and oft nphekl in shame, — Pride in a list of lineal heads so long, Shame of a world that loves to rail at wrong ; The pride of Islam and the shame of Boodh, IVfaintain a servile, not a faithful brood ; — Who says his faith transcends all reason's height, Be sure his passion circumscribes his sight. Faith kindles, lives but on the light I lend ; Can soar no wider than my gifts extend. Faith is reflex, — a sparkling on the wave ; False lights may shine, but one alone can save ; And naught but Reason, naught but Light divine, Can make you know the spurious light from mine. I am the Light, in love and mercy sent. To cheer the darkness of your banishment. True Faith and I, reciprocal in this, — AVe cheer with proofs and promises of bliss; Our voices swell in waves of harmony, I sing my love, and Faith responds to me. Ye see the sun, with delegated power. Call out to life, and beautify the flower ; Ye see, as morning moves in light along, How all the woodland opens into song, And still she widens o'er the streams and isles, The ripples laugh, the branches break in smiles ; Thus am I sent in beauty, light, and love. The spiritual light that cometh from above ; From world to w^orld, in living radiance brought, I tip with glory all the heights of thought. 28 ID O THE A. [1. Thon gonial hnvs and systems rule again, And smiling Freedom walks the happy plain. Till Faith, enlightened, need no more disown Sweet a.lunibratious dawning from the Throne. I raise the veil before the Good, the Just. And let their beauty warm your smiling dust ; There shine the lieights your virtue must achieve ; There smiles your native home I Behold, believe!" Spirit of Truth I I tremble, — not with fear: I know it is the voice of Love I hear : This strange, voluptuous rush of thoughts unknown. With fearful sweetness agitates mine own I love thee, Spirit I cannot disbelieve I — That voice remembered would not now deceive I From days primeval never all unheard, — Genius in Greece ; in Solyma, the Word. O, THor must be most beautiful and wise I I see thee only as I see the skies ! Away I Ye lovely of the earth, away ! True, ye are lovely, but your charms decay I Charms of UKn-tality, no more for me, — Ye fading tictions of felicity I Xo more within the forms of shadow bound. The (.Trace, the Touch triumphivnt, I have found. Kneel, glad Devotion, lo I thy shrine is here, Pure, bright, ethereal, beautiful, sincere, Here sweet repose, fruition in the mind. The restless wish, the burning hope may find. Pillow ed in rest and rapture on the True, With Nature's apotheosis in view I '♦Soft, mortal, soft! Thyself a child of dust! Revere thv brethren : love them, and be just ! [Idos T. be a UTY of TR UTIL 29 Faith in the soul, and Reason in the mind, And free their own felicity to find, They act a part ; — not all of mortal clay ; Witliin the jewel lives the solar ray. Behold the lustre, in sweet lines of love, On smiling cheek, on radiant brow above, — Those garlands of divinity entwined Around the temple of ethereal mind. They act a part, and shall, with liand and brain. One day, their forfeit Paradise regain. Your laws of .optics are no laws to me, I look around the world's rotundity. Through light and shade, all climes at once I view, Spring, Summer, Autumn, — kindling, fading hue ; Forever sounds the busy hand of man ; I shape the purpose, hint, improve the plan ; Illume the thought, invigorate the will. Add skill to labor, truthfulness to skill. Beneath the stars, I hover o'er his dreams ; I lure, I lead him by the summer streams. As in the shell, beside the ocean found, Primordial fountains in his spirit sound ! That spirit kindles, — looks, and sighs, and sees Ethereal beauties leaning from the trees. '* In ages gone, thus oft my whispers stole Along the chambers of his listening soul ; A charm ethereal o'er his visions came. His brow dilated. Freedom swelled his frame. I breathed desire of something still unknowi:, Refined his speech, gave music to his tone. Displayed the azure mirror of his mind, The world in lovely miniature designed, — 30 IDOTUEA. [I The skies, the seas, the fields, the gardens there. And human faces more divinely fair. The wilderness relenting to the light. Broke into garden spots, from height to height. And peaceful cot and consecrated dome, And vows of love, and holj^ joys of home, And sweeter smiles enhance his youthful bloom, And tenderer tears, and memories of the tomb. n With fruits and flowers the vales began to shine. He saw the light, and knew that light divine. Joy, admiration, into worship grew ; His fruits he offered, and his victims slew ; With liquid tones, he cull'd me loveliest name, And Rhea, Isis, Ceres, Vala came, Witli sacred orgies through the starry night. With service solemn and mysterious rite ; The glad enthusiast, kindling as he knelt. The pencil seized, and fixed the charms he felt ; Through 3'ears of patient, deep devotion woo'd Celestial Beauty from her solitude. And o'er the canvass, in the marble wrought Fond traceries of his dear ideal thought. " I tuned his raptures to the Dorian mood, In Orphic hymns that charmed the solitude ; Wild creatures hurried from their wild domain. Around to worship, and repay the strain. Kind heaven has woven with harmonious sound. In generous souls, a sympathy profound ; Joy, love, devotion, courage, hope, desire. Are chords S3'mphonious to the tuneful lyre. Terpander fired, Timotheus ruled the heart. And Orpheus knew each tuneful touch of arl. [Idos I. L'EA UTY OF TR UTII. 31 But Haydn now, in varied strain sublime, Transjwrts the soul beyond the birth of time^ And o'er the surge of forming worlds afai;, Notes the first anthem of the morning star. I suatclied a measure from an angel's lyre, And touched his spirit with the heavenly fire,. Her trembling chords, responsive to the thrill,- Man's proudest domes with joyful echoes fill. " I am the Muse, invoked when poets sing ; The living thought, the deathless word I bring. The bard whose soul is nearest the Divine, Finds, where he wanders to commune with mine, A shining sea, whose truthful depth reveals Each purer ray the starry height conceals, Where golden clouds, of golden light en wrought. Are but the vesture of immortal thought. Fond child of w^onder I hist^the joy to tell The beauteous forms in which a thought may dwell •: How Life, and Love, and Hope, and Faith, may glow In spirit-shapes invisible below, His words are vestures of the bright unseen, With golden hours, and golden hopes between; The Infinite, the Possible, the Pure, Where bliss is Being, and where Joys endure ; Said, but unspoken; felt, but unreveal'd ; No form discloses, as no form conceal'd. Modes, manners, customs, morals, passions, seals, Need revelation, and his Word reveals. SuGh was the bard Maeonian, Hesiod such, And Pindar, with his sweet, religious touch ; Such ^schylus, and tender Sophocles, And later minstrels, musical as these. 32 IDOTHEA. "These are the media of my love to mau ; The symbols of an undeveloped plan ; — For symbols are the autograph of God, The sands of Eden M'liich his feet have trod, Your poets sing, your orators proclaim ; They both transmit, not constitute, the flame. I breathe around a warm, intense control ; I pour the urns of wisdom on the soul. They feel a viewless river rolling through. Lit with the light and beauty of the True ; Their eyes with rapt astonishment expand ; They utter thoughts, snd learn to understand, Lo ! there he stands, in majesty of mien. His form erect, his shining brow serene ; His swelling height, his reaching arms embrace The heavenly streams that flow upon his face. His voice .to moving modulation strung, Eternal mandates burning on his tongue ; With liberal hand he sows upon the throng The light inductions as they breathe along ; Persuasion wakens, wins the yielding breast ; The Truth, triumphant, and the people blest. " I led my votary to the ocean wave ; I sat beside him in his lonely cave ; I bade him cull the sweet, the simple grace, The living light of Nature's honest face ; I bade him learn the lore of every Muse, Interpret man in all his forms and hues ; Power, principle, affection, passion, pride ; I taught him how to mold them, how to guide ; To prompt no vain, no visionary hope. With turgid phrase, declamatory trope. £Idos I. BBA UTY OF TR UTH. 33 With barren point and pitiful conceit, But watcli the height where Truth and Beaut}^ meet. Men haste to hear him from the Attic plains, Women of Ida, and Arcadian swains. They lean ; they drink the wisdom of his tongue. His glory ripen'd, and the ages rung. "That glor}^ fed from streams that never dry. The grave Historian and the Sage supply. Industrious Memory swept the ages past, And bade the wisdom, bade the lesson last. Far up the clouded stream of time she flew Thence teeming fields of rich instruction drew ,. Here, gray Experience weighs the shining lore, Compares, arranges, sifts the treasure o'er ; To each event its parent cause assigns ; The end of law and government defines ; And as the glass divides the solar ray. Sets this to virtue's, that to passion's sway. When righteous aims the patriot's arm attend, When Justice weeps, and Factions re-ascend, He lifts on high the mirror of each mind, A warning light, a beacon for mankind. He lifts on high the virtues that combine To rear a state, or shield it from decline ; By honest toil and independence fired, By faith, and fame, and liberty inspired. In all its aims and purposes sincere, No power offended and no power to fear, Its wealth, its arts enlighten all the land, Its wings of Commerce o'er the seas expand ; Its rulers, men of honor, wise, serene. Untaught to truckle, witless to be mean ; E 34 ID O THE A. [1. Wealth, splendor, power, prosperity increase, Repose awhile in glory apd in peace ; Till luxury, intemperance, and pride. With gradual force the towering frame elide ; It rots, it ruins, hollow with decay. And human glory creeps in smoke away ! Behold ! at noon the fleecy vapors rise, Like lambs of lieaven, disporting in the skies ; One little cloud attracts the rest around ; It spreads, it widens, darkens o'er the ground ; The lightnings glare, the rifting thunders play, It breaks in torrents, and dissolves away ; Cloud parts from cloud, along the ethereal plain, And light and beauty smile on earth again. " Why grows an empire? Grows it but to fall? Ask Thales, Plato,— ask the sages all. Why grows, declines the body of a man ? To muse, discover, build, remodel, plan. To live, and love, and work beneath the sun ; The body crumbles, but the work is done. His tomes of science, monuments of art, Remain in Nature, and become a part. Thou wast not born a savage in the wild ; The sire has made a cradle for the child. States, kingdoms, empires, organons of power. Supply conditions potent for the hour ; Perform the work no single hand can do, Decline, dissolve, and leave a work for you. Decline, dissolve, obedient to a law Which wisdom gave, and patriot sages saw ; For this is true philosophy, to know. Not WHAT you see, but why you see it so. IdosI.] beauty of truth. 35 Life is succession. Shall a -tree ascend, Invade the clouds, grow on, and never end ? What grows on earth, cannot forever grow ; Still change eternal is the law below. The tides advancing hear the seas recall, The very height precipitates the fall. This sum of things in wondrous wisdom made, To rise, to bloom, implies to fall, to fade. All but the Centre moves, by thee unseen ; No changeless state, no permanence between ; Life's strong activities abrade the mold ; Incessant throbbing makes the heart grow old; These co-eflicients of eternal change. If form'd to alter, umst at last derange. Thus nations rise ; thus flourish, fade, decay : The foaming mead will burst the cup of clay ; The blooming cheek can only bloom awhile ; Excess of glory lights the funeral pile. " Beyond the frail expedient of an hour, Beyond utility exists a Power, Beyond the diadem's precarious light, — The Power to see and venerate the Right. The righteous man admiring millions call To mold the manners and the fate of all. Disdains to deem utility a power ; Disdains the mean expedients of the hour ; Reveres the Teue, the Good, the Just, the Rmnx,— Eternal verities from worlds of light ; From these, from these alone, he loves to draw His righteous edicts, fundamental law ; Keeps ever near the lamp of Time to see, What Wisdom's path and policy may be, 36 ID THE A. P A jMentor's prudei:ce in hm soul, to lay His thread of life along the narrow way : The eloquence of Ithaca, to show The narrow path his jx'ople ought to go. " I love to sit with Doctors in the law, Propose nice questions, quaint distinctions draw. In Forum, Court, in Legislative Hall, To Diets, Thrones, dictate the good of all : To talk of Justice, Freedom, Duty, Right ; I feel as in my native realms of Light. With Solon thus I passed the midnight hour. Taught Numa thus to hold the reins of power, Taught Nerva, Trajan, Antoniue to see, That Truth, Right, Justice make felicity. A mortal clothed in purple robes of state, With Truth, Experience stationed at his gate ; Whose Conscience, quick to every generous thrill. Sits close in cordial whispers with his Will ; Whose firm resolve is still on virtue's side, Though Fate oppose, and factious foes deride ; To flatter}' deaf, undazzled by a name. With vieAvs as large, enlightened as his aim ; Whose soul, unsoiled by low cupidity, Adored by millions makes the millions free ; That soul becomes an Idolon divine. The loftiest, purest in this world of thine ; Your central Sun, with radiant glor}- crowned, Outweighing all the subject suns around. One soul, endowed this moral height to soar, Gives light and orbit to a million more. Those sacred heights with fires of Freedom shine ; There law is love, and human life divine ; IdosL] beauty of truth. 37 There Pandects. Codes, are but a needful chart To mark your Edens, few and far apart. How sweet to labor when we love the cause ! When glad obedience waits on genial laws. — The proud barbarian boasts the name of Rome, When cave or castle makes a genial home. I show the world an Image, now and then, — The bliss of man when ruled by noble men. "Around the world, in spirit, haste to see What men have been, and nations sought to be ; Where antique piles and moldering ruins cast Thy heart beneath the shadows of the Past. Wouldst taste the transport of a holy fear ? Lo I Zion, yonder! Pause a moment there. Those glittering steeples ! there a broken wall ! Mosque, minaret, arcade, monastic hall ! Come, pass the Kedron, linger by Siloam ; There gleams a bastion, here a sacred dome ! With speechless awe, by flowery Carmel stray ; Tliose columns wreathed with silver braid efurvey. Away, by Tadmor, — o'er Persepolis : Have mortals lived, and toiled, and strove for this ! Away, to Hellas, — round the Cyclades ! Come, muse amid the thoughts of Pericles ! Eleusis here, and there the Delphic shrine ; Grace, Beauty, Taste, Sublimity divine ! Oh ! thou art shivering with emotion ! — Why ? — But haste, we must not linger, — thou and I ! Baths, columns, arches, — hail ! imperial Rome ! The tomb of Adrian ! Lo ! a Tuscan dome ! Pillars of porphyry I roofs ablaze with gold ! The Coliseum ! voiceless now ! Behold ! 38 IDOTUEA. p The Vatican !— Its walls alive Avitli art! These statues seem from marble tombs to start ! Grace, Beauty, Taste, Sublimity divine ! Hail, glorious Image ! Is it yours or mine ? The rich Agalma of some glorious thought. From climes untrod, in glad devotion brought ; Some living Icon, bi-ight, but undefined, Snatched from beyond, to lure the longing Mindy When human hands the classic bliss conveyed To tomb and tower, to wall and colonnade. You pass the Desert, pass the Plains, and know- That men were there in ages long ago ; And through the ashes of your buried race, An Image of celestial life you trace ; But know, — the life of one Good Man I call The most celestial image of them all." A glorious world ! They say Prometheus stole The fire of heaven to grace the human soul. We see, Erasmus, on the shore and hill, That heavenly essence burns with Beauty still. Adore the blessing, and no more repine ; For man has been,, and yet may be, divine. ^'My golden youth might deem the world to be Great, good, enlightened, virtuous, happy, f i-ee ; But I have seen, e'en in my budding years, Some human misery, seen some human tears. Man might be great and happy, if he would, Some few enlightened, many might be good, The bard of Mantua tells his country so, Alas ! he proves them happier than they know. We lose the image of a life divine. We eat the dust, and grovel with the swine, [Idos L be a UTY of TR UTII. 39 Our heart is false, our warmth, a morbid heat, Our hate instinctive, and our love, deceit ; We barter beauty, waste the bliss we win, We rage or riot, roll in sloth or sin. We fight for factions, cringe to pride and power^ And petty tyrants train us to the hour. Art shapes the column, decorates tiie hall ; Yet wields the sabre, wings the minnie ball. Our history is a list of battle-fields ; Our glory means the meeting of -our shields. We talk of justice, learning, liberty ; Yet millions die that conquerors may be free. Lords boast the work their groaning vassals did : Slaves rear the column, build the pyramid ; Those marble pavements please the passing eye -; The toil is over, and the tears are dry. Cries, imprecations, scourges, curses sound, Those gorgeous halls and palaces around. Pale Memory reads on pillars high and cold, The records red of agonies untold. We form the Court, erect the Senate hall, Laws, Constitutions ;— violate them all ; Belie the Lord of JNature in his face, And what we do not disbelieve, disgrace. A world of truth, philosophy, and light, With Bruno's fagot flashing on the sight ! Of Tasso's dungeon how we love to read ! We burn the martyr, then adopt the creed ! A world that boasts the Beautiful, the True, With broken arch, and battered wall in view. Still rolls the wheel of Juggernaut around A world of science and of arts profound, 40 . ID O THE A, fl. That boasts its tombs of marble and of sod, And builds its temples on the grave of God 1 A world that prays the Lord of love and life, To draw his sword, and join the field of strife ! Where gelid Altai rises cold and Avhite, A sliivering train descends the frozen height, Through burning Gobi takes its arid w^ay. To fall beneath a baby's feet, and pray ! How long shall pity blush with shame to see The rites of Boodh, the horrors of Pooree? The abject pilgrim crawls from shore to shore To feed the tlames of Kali Avith his gore : Sarmanian hordes to storni}^ Baikal flock, Kneel by the wave, and venerate a rock, While fancy sees the watery Garan sweep From wave to wave, along the mystic deep ! "Away! away I I see no form divine. Truth, Beauty lives, but man is not the shrine ; To mountains high, to oceans deep I go. To brooks that murmur, to the Avinds that blow. The rocks beneath, the stars that roll above. May teach me Beauty, teach me Truth and Love ; Adieu the glory and the gates of men ! The rainbow i^ests upon the mountain glen." il THE BEAUTY OF TRUTH. TDOIS TL— TRUTH IN XATURE. Ne duhita^ nam Vera vides, — YlRCIIL i:wq)M ss.-^Ty'^i,^^]:^, I\ I ;r\s. ^'Enquiry renewed :— First Excursus, among THE TRIBES OF FLOOD, FOREST, AND FIELD ;— ALL TRUE TO THEIR INSTINCTS, TRUE TO THEIR CLIMATES AND SEASONS, THEIR ECONOMY, THEIR LOVES, THEIR EN- .10YMENTS, TllEIR DESTINY. Second Excursus,^^the Ancient Earth,^its reces- ses, History, Surfaces of Life, Mausolea ;— Pro- gression. Third Excursus : — Planetary Systems, — true to THEIR ASPECTS AND ORBITS', SuNS OF FIRST OrDER ; — Suns of second Order ; — Nebulae ; — Central Sun OF tHiRD Order ; — Enquiries, — System, — Universe, Creation,— =-Sky over all* THE BEAUTY OF TRUTH. Idos II. This Summer night in starry silence brings The far-off murmur of the mountain springs ; High rolls the moon amid her golden day, And down our darkness bends the solar ray. Through depths serene, a sea of silver white Flows from the sky, and mingles with the night, Blent, sober'd, soften'd; were the truth unknown, I must believe this lustre all her own. So, man, enlighten 'd as he trims the vale, Transmits an Image, cold, indeed, and pale. The bright conceptions, spirit-wing'd and fleet, Approach our clay, and darken as they meet : Our fallen powers of heart and brain impure, Refract, distort them, intercept, obscure ; And some, whose souls the Primal Light revere, See no reflection of the heavenly here. What were this world, if all that man has done Were still renew'd, resplendent in the sun ! Each busy street, each port, and peopled mart, Each tome of thought, each monument of art ! Ah ! noon is night ! Heaven opens seal by seal ; Earth heaves her bosom, and her cities reel. Fire, inundation, tempest, lava, rain, With mausolea strew the rolling plain ; 44 ID THE A. \\. Tlie waste of yearp, the Nemesis of Time, Dissolves the solid, levels the sublime ; The thirst of emph-e, odious love of war. Allure, impel barbarians from afar ; O'er heaving pavements, rolling-eyed and tall. The demon Discord stalks the senate hall. The hail of Odin, winds of Ahriman, Emerge from Gothland, darken from Touran. Tro}', Ealbee, Sidon, Memphis, Nineveh, Have glitter'd, triumph'd, totter'd, pass'd away. The torch of Thais fired the ]\ragian dome. But Thais, kneeling, fed voracious Rome ; Rome falls before the Goth, the Vandal, Hun : Her purples clothe the race of Edecon. Art, Genius, Empire, burning and unblest, In fading fragments, waver down the West. The Prophet and his Caliphs, in the East, Devour Arabia, ravage, ruin, feast ; The Turkman, Tartar, Seljuk, Mogul sweep O'er nations buried in inglorious sleep ; And dread Alp- Arslan, heartless Tamerlane, Pile up Avith human pyramids the plain ; Art, Genius, Empire, trembkd, totter'd, fell. And floating fragments till'd the Dardanelles. Alas ! the Moslem, pausing at Mann, Alp-Arslan's moral may no more construe ! And here, e'en here, our native glades around, Our swains unconscious plough the Indian Mound ! And such, alas ! the dynasties of earth. Birth feeds extinction, death evolves a birth. The mystic curve, what calculus may find ? Ah ! who may write the Iliads of mankind ? iuosl.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 45 What if the rich magnificence no more, In pristine beauty decorates the shore ? If barbarous men and unrelenting Time, Have soil'd the lovely, level'd the sublime ? If only gleam, through shadows of the Past, Pale fragments of the beautiful and vast ? They still are fragments of sublimity. And gleams of heaven, and lofty mind you see, If ivrapp'd in ruins, on the vale or hill, We find a jewel, 'tis a jewel still ; The spark hath come through some immortal soul. Though Ruin swell around it to the pole. Whence came the thought, so beautiful, so pure ? And whence the art that makes that thought endure? And ^here the Source, the Fountain, the Supreme ? This sparkling gem is but the last extreme. Does Nature shed from starry vault, or fiower, This bright conception, this immortal power ? In bird, or beast, or mountain, shall we find. The source of thought, the antetype of mind ? Oh ! there is Beauty in the blooming flower. The mountain minstrel, and the vocal bower, The sea, the stream, the sunbeam, and the star, The cloud careering on its golden car ; The lambent lightning, and the mystic play Of gliding meteor down the Milky Way ! Earth, heaven, is grace, sublimity around ; The roar of Ocean, in his caves profound ; The loud volcano thundering at the sky ; Yon azure tent, so limitless and high ; The thunder rolling on the clouded height, The rush of storm, and majesty of night, 46 IDOTHEA. [I. From these, perchance, the musing soul may draw Thought, Genius, Impulse, Inspiration, Law ; And these, perchance, may be the first extreme. — The Centre, Source, the Primitive, Supreme. No fresher did this bright Agalma shine. When Homer, Phidias felt the thrill divine. Ah ! over all a living Love must, rise. And meet the Spirit in the earth and skies. And if amid the ruins of mankind. Be lost the Light that thrill'd the ancient mind. From star and sky, this silent Summer night. Comes not the g'lory of that ancient Light ? Hail, Light divine ! Adieu, the barren shore I A nearer, holier vision, if no more ! ' " Trust no illusion ! Stricken and subdued. To thee I fly from thought and solitude ; I seek again the friendly gates of men, — The rainbow rests upon a monster's den, I sought to find one summer day's retreat From toil, and strife, and traflSc, and deceit, From rant of rapture, thoughtlessness of thought. From fears of fog, and hopes that end in naught. Vile mockeries of mercy, justice, truth, The games of age, the frolic crimes of youth, From altar, victim, sacrifice, and shrine, And all the trumpery we call divine. An hour among the meads and lanes I stray 'd ; A rill comes winding down a mountain glade. Its banks all fragrant with the bloom of June, Its waters sparkling underneath the moon. An open pasture, redolent and wide ; A woody slope ascending at each side ; IdosL] beauty of truth 47 The grass}' level, narrowing on the view, Winds in the Massanutten lil?;e a screw. There flocks lay slumbering on the grassy vale ; And herds, hoarse-breathing in theiustre pale, With dusky bulks, half seen between the trees, Lay on the slopes, reclined on bended knees. I clomb among them from the pastoral lawn. And met the sweet serenity of dawn. A freshness, soothing to the brow, was there. And yet no sound, no movement of the air. "The fading stars reluctantly withdrew Their keen regard, and dark the coppice grew; A fleecy paleness overspread the moon. And orient airs began their whispers soon, And far the tall oracular pines above. Passed something like the first faint smile of love; xVnd something seem'd to \vhisper down from heaven, " Awake, my sweetest minstrel of the seven I Te hapivy tenants of the wood and lawn. Arise, my loves, and drink the joys of dawn !" Long, misty lines, of dim, uncertain liue Reach'd forth, divergent, underneath the blue, Suffused the stars, and, sloping down the West, ^Set rose and ruby in the lunar crest. Earth leau'd to meet the coming Deity, And mountains hurried from the West to see. The orient lines are misty now no more ; The golden reins are flashing at the door; The gate unfolds,— Time's ancient songs begin.; The king of glory and of day comes in ! Hail, Beauty, Light, Sublimity divine ! This, thiis is Morning ! Guida, what is thine v 48 IDOTHEA. \ " A mossy seat beneath an oak I found ; The golden sunbeams waver'd, danced around ; For amorous airs were whispering in the trees, And shadows pass'd of motes, and birds, and bees. I sat and view'd the j^layful biwn below, The slope beyond, all radiant in the glow : The skipping lamb that knew the name of "Ma," The young ewe, nodding with responsive kaa ; The calv(>s and cattle, winding down the hill. The bounding roe that came to sip the rill ; While wide above the thrush, the linnet, jay. In choral joy, attun'd their morning lay ; The woodland Orpheus, learned in the score Of mountain minim and mimetic lore ; The royal eagle, mounting to tiie sky. With poising pinion, and undazzled e^^e. The social crow convened from rock and lea His black convention on the old dr}- tree ; There built the State, reformed, rei)ealed the law. Their longest speech the archetypal caw. The glancing robin, with his breast of red. Kept tiitting near to treasure what was said : The pheasant, with hereditary drum, Drumm'd the old log, and told the rain to come. While turtles coo'd, in cooler shades alone. Their bars of mellow, melancholy tone : The bee, the tly, untaught their joys to sing, Buzzd out the bliss, with green and golden wing. And insects, creeping from their holes of clay, Crawled in the sheen, and di-ank the balm of day. And here, 1 say, the laws of JNature reign, Pure, unaflected, genial, simple, plain ; 1 s)Of5 T I . ] n EA TIT r O F TR UTII . A\) The conscious hcait of sonic unlirmtcd nice. Pulsates with joy each living incli of space. E'eii marsh malaria, oozing in the heat, Ilegalca a sense that finds malaria sweet. There Nature, true to season, tide, and time, Fills, feeds, adapts, adorns the teeming dime. Abyss of Wonder! mystery divine I Blind, mindless Nature, can the work he thine ': See order, system, rank, gradation, plan. From moss to oak, from polypus to man ; A vast, complex economy of joy. Transmitting life as still the years destro}-. Love, lieauty, liapture I — Which is most divine? Who mix'd a joy in all the beams that shine? Airs might have breath'd, the^un, the star have; shone, Still bliss, love, beauty, been to earth unknown. Birds might have built the nest, piirvey'd the meal, Unfelt the joys that tendei- parents f( el ; Yet son\ething plann'd the tran8i)orts of a heart. With kindest, sweetest, most end(>aring art ; And something brings these y^ons from the sky. To live in dust, and leave that dust to die. I see not how the lifeless mote could know The force, or weight of luxury or woe ; How rock, or tree, or fountain gets the mind To feel a pain, or hasten to be kind ; llow Kindness, Pain, Delight, Affection start In circling atoms, beating with a heart. Ah! no! — the Pain, the Love, the Transport spring Beyond the sphere; of each mateiial thing, — A boon of heaven, an Image all divine, Inwrought, inwoven with the beams that shine; (> 50 IDOTHEA. fl. Tlic sparkliui;- drops of superscnsutil Jew, Born in the depths of unapparent blue, That kkss the dust, and, kissing, still exalt ; Then bound, undying, to their native vault. ''The ani'ient eustotns still direct the grove : There rival fashions, Hirting never strove. Cosnieties, cushions, flounces, frills unknown, Tiiey live content with Nature's charms alone ; Secure to please, no artful guise they seek, JNo paints or patches for a faded cheek ; No polish'd plate of steel, or brass, to show The tinge of rouge, or lit of furbelow. Or, if a stream their graceful forms display, None, like Narcissus, gaze and pine away. Unsandal'd still tluw roam the hill, the nioor. Nor purchase slaves to lay a marble tl(^or. Their carpets green the airs of heaven perfun\e. They nt>ed no labors of Edonian loom. There all unknown duplicity of soul. The secret poniard, or the pt)isoned bowl. These build no bonfires, light no banquet hall. Nor, red with slaughter, raise a Fancy Ball. No gambU^r here infests the heath or hill. No fiery fluid issues from the still. No prisons here, no pyramids, no towers. Their home the hills, their citadel the bowers. Unstudied here the waltz and serenade. Not e'en a fox conceives a masquerade. Armorial ensigns, shields, no less obscure, Though long their lineage, and that lineage pure. Star, garter, ribbon, coronation, cross, Uncurrent here for grass, or fragrant moss. I iK)s 11.1 Ji ^^'-'l UTY U /'' TR U T 1 J. T) 1 No cells moiiiistic, coiivcnls, shrines liave they, No beads to reckon, and no tithes to pay. "No day condenni'd to penance, prayer, or fast; They ninjjje Ww plains, and lind a I'ree repasl. Tiieir faith is one, no iierelics you see, No rite or ritual, pope or papacy, Vet heaven's regard and Nature's wealth they share, Nor saint, nor sas;-e, can fmd an atheist there. •' No :- true, obedient to a pulse within. They live, n'joice, nor deem that joy a sin ; They live, they love, and feel that love secure, A law of Nature, and like Nature, pure ; A ujrace consi,!;ned like a/ure to the sky. Warmth lo the ray, or vision to the eye. "Kapt with the Muse, I lost the sense of sound. And timefnl sonj^s were, heard no more ai(»un(l. *'And what," I asked, " ar(! happiness and love? Are they of dust, or v.oww they from above ? A breez-e, a breath from summit, plain, abyss. Warm Inspirations from yon worlds to this? The waves of life all sparkle as they How, And every sparkle is a joy below. For Homethin";- warm, benevolent, and sweet. Weds Life and Li,i;ht in rapture, vvluiu they nu'ct. This nameless something;,- is it not divine, Tile touch of (Jod, the g'lory of I)esi;j,n ? Truth, Ileason, Wisdom, Kupercosmal cause, Commission'd, moved in these mjUerial laws. And something more than Intellect can show : The smiles of Cioodness i)ernu'ate below, And make the chords of sentient Life respond To high, mysterious harmonies beyond. 52 ID THE A, I]. Fair is the blade that waves upon the gi'een^ And fair the leaf that shades the sylvan scene, The drop that falls, the limpid rill that flows, The flower that blooms, the whispering air that blows, Sounds sweetly murmur in the genial breeze. Sweet buds adorn, sweet fruits enrich the trees. And sweet, ethereal is the shining ray. That comes at morn, and gives the golden daj^. Ok ! bliss to bound in freedom o'er the plain ! Wben day is done, to rest — to sleep again ; With Love on earth and Guardians in the sky. To live is bliss ; it may be bliss to die ! Carol, ye birds ; ye lambs, exult below ! ^ Lo ! ye are happy, happier than ye know ; Go, friendly bee, go, sip the balmy dews. And leave me here to banquet with the Muse. "If Beauty be the vesture of the True, Life, Love, Enjoyment, Goodness, what are you ? Are those the old divinities I see ? The Dryad maidens peeping from the tree ? Indeed, it seems the gnomes and Naiads fair, The Nereids, Nymplis sport in the wave, the air : And Nomas hasten from the sacred well. With m-ns divine from Hela, where they dw^ell. And bathe the roots of Igdralsil below. Till mountains sing, and dust begins to grow. Ho ! every mote that wanderest in the ray, Come to the waters; — Nature feasts to-day ! Clothe thee in flesh, rejoice, and sing, and shine. For life is bliss, and Beauty is divine ! What millions crowd the little space I see ! The blade, the leaf, the rill, the rock, the tree ! Idos II.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 53 All glad and grateful for the boundless store ; The cups are tilled they just have drain'd before. They drink the fountains, still the fountains How, They seize the berries, and new berries grow! Grass turns to flesh, to life the limpid wave ; These feast in turn, and taste the bliss they gave !" I learn each form of insect, bird, or beast. Which now exults, and shares the common feast, Is woven all of atomies unseen. Won from the airs, the waters, and the. green. I ask this grain that glitters in my hand, " Canst thou behold me, canst thou understand? Canst thou rejoice, or taste the sweets of love. Or learn the melody of lark or clove! O, bright Accession ! drop, or breath, or ray. Infuse, inform this voiceless grain with day I Come, now, commission'd from the courts above. And fill this grain, with song, and joy, and love !" Ah, me ! They wait a mightier voice than mine ; They hide, they mock me, — deep in the Divine ; I fashion, mold this atom as I may ; I call for Joy, but Joy will not obey." "Warm'd with the gladness of each living thing. Voluptuous Fancy spread her purple wing. I pass'd the lakes, the rivers, and the seas ; 1 heard new songs of rapture in the breeze ; Drawn from the depths of bright and breaking waves, I drank the murmurs of the emerald caves ; All motion, rapture, animation, love, The Joy below leap'd to the Joy above ; O'er silent Siwah, and the gardens fair Of Irem, groves of Indian spices rare. 04 IDOTIIEA [I i breathed awhHe Arabian airs of balnu Pass'd Arctic, 'rr()i>ic. and the Groves of I'ahn, Where olives, citrons, tigs, bananas liiow, Wliere lit'e and h)ve in warn\er cnrrinits tiow, •• O, lieaven I" 1 cried, " is this a worUl of .in 'f With blessiniis rare, and raptnres Inird to win? Zones, islands, oceans, continents of feast, Witli blevdiniic victim, dei>recatinir priest ? Milk, Nectar, Eden, for the lips, the eyes, With altars fnniinir to avenging skies ? Bright seas: green islands I — Where doi^s W(X^ begin"; Where terrors, tortnri^s. wrath, destrnction, sinl Arc these, too, Symbols of that nameless Power, Who sends the sunbeam and the genial slnnver? And still the new interrogation woke From sea and summit, mountain pine and oak : And golden hours in dreamy lapse withdrew, 1 look'd ! The h.eavens were robed in sable luu' ; My dreunv was o'er. The winds wrre all unbound :. The lightnings quiver'd in the glens profound, ^lysterious change I The summits waved and bow'd. The growling thunder mutter'd in the clouil. The f« rest roar'd, the herds had all withdrawn, .Vnd darkness lay recmmbeut in the lawn. 1 slielt< red, where the herdsmen sheltered oft, — A co\ eri rude, —and scann'd the clouds aloft. An angry blackness; up the sky Ihey came. Each mon\ent seamed with heaven-avenging tlame. The vengeance came. Down to the root was cleft- By one red bolt, the oak I just had left ; And hurlM, unbreathing\ at my covert door, Fell tl\e poor dove that «^m>\1 an horn- before 1 li.osiT-i UEAUTY OF Turrn. Tm What liad slic done ? Alas ! Wliat could she .io / Why had she lived, or wh}'^ been faiij^ht to coo i* The rain was down. Tne tempest broke away. And stnigglin<; throuii;h, shone-out the closinir day. The morning rill, an evening torrent grown. Tumbled and foamed to drown a mother's moan : The heartiess waters, pitiless of pain. Had seized a lamb, and swept it from the i)]aiii. In tears and horror, through the dusk I Hew, Olad to regain niy native vale, and yon.'' The flood, the bolt have brcMigiit two atoms more. To integrate the eharnel vaults of yore : Two deaths, to make the miles of death eleven. From crystal g'-auite to the crystal lieaven. For this, the torrent sweeps the lanib away : For this, the ligiitning leaps tiie hills, to slay .- Mild ministers of Nature's wise behest, They stop the breath, they j)ut the heart to rest : They fossili/e our planetary criust : Restore to dust the revenue of dust. A thousand ^ons hav(; they marr'd and made, HuiU tribes of clay, and tribes in ruin laid; Wind, water, fire, their willing tribute pay, i-'repared to bless, nor less prepared to shu', f.ife, death distribute down the hills afar. And change eternal speeds his bickering (-ar. Ah I dreams are memories, — fragments of tlie 'I'm*-: The Titans rear their Babel's to the blue ; And Yotuns streamed from Yotunheim indeed. When milodons went crashing through tlie yi^M\\ I Ah I thunders in the nether halls of fire, Have echoed Ions'-, have muttered hoarse and dire: 56 IDOTHEA. [I. And hail, and flame, and avalanche have done Bold deeds of death beneath the gazing sun : Siroccos swept tlie continents of green, And earthquakes heaved in hills the level scene. Thou didst not hear the thunders of the deep, When Old Creatif)ns stagger'd into sleep ; Thou hast not traced the torrent tierce and red. By flaming homes and hamlets of the dead. When hundred-handed Briareus again, Unbar'd the rocks, and heaved the boiling main : AVhen waters redden'd in the molten deep. And trees, unsmoking, vanish'd from the steep. And fiery oceans, roll'd upon the shore, Submerge, restore a continent, — no more I The Andes tower, the Alleglianies spread Their social summits, flaming still and red ; The gleaming porphyry, cooling on the height, Sheds o'er the vales a melancholy light ; The vales are filled with monsters of the deep. Boiled, mangled, piled, in everlasting sleep! When columns, gleaming like a Gothic spire, Assailed the clouds, with hungry tongues of fire. And busy lightnings gleam'd in laughter round. With thunders pealing under, o'er the ground : Then came afar, froni out the lurid blue, The breathing Infinite, with cooling dew. Moved o'er the deep, repressed the surging flame, Barr'd the mad tumult down in granite frame : On high, obedient thunders pealing loud, To streaming torrents melt the yielding cloud. The yellow floods descend the rocky steep. And Nereus built his palace in the deep. Tdos IL] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 57 The power infused, new law^s of Okdek reiffn.— The fair cosniothesis of grain with grain. The solid rocks obey the voice of Fate ; Attract, repel, combine, disintegrate ; The crystal spreads in beds of dolomite, The coral climbs, and coils the ammonite ; Opposing powers, commingled fire and snow ; Swift Ariels here, grim IiiTephalira below ; -O'er breezy dales, subsiding from the strife, The breathing Ruah drops the seeds of life : Then first the fern, the moss, the calamite, Wave on the rock, and w®o the genial light ; Then first the green, outspread beneath the blue^ From sun and showier its stores of progress drew • The plant and molusk, first declining, gave A holy grace — the memories of a grave ; Then Death evoked from shell, and fern, and reed, Eich fields of growth, arwi mines for human need. "Descend the Trappa of this fossil quire, €lay, slate, coal, marble, porphyry, granite, fire ; From rock to flesh, from vertebra to mind, Retrace the ages, dim and undefined ; Review the races which from stone began, sShell, Saurian, Coral, Bird, Leviathan; Death locks them all with shalj bar and line. In beds bituminous, and Parian mine ; Death, faithful Treasurer of Life and Fate, Imbeds, embalms whate'er the Powers create. Life does the work which naught but Life can do, Death strews the bed which Death alone can strew,— The vital plain, whence nobler forms shall spring. Till Death, advancing, round a nohler ring, H 58 IDOTHEA. [I. And rising powers of intellect shall date Still brigliter rings of life, and death, and fate. "Ah, me ! we find no Terra Firma here ! Our hull of rock is not for us to steer ; Our keel of granite swims on seas of flame. And nether thunders rock its stony frame ; And breathing instinct long has learned to know The throbbings of its fiery heart beloM'. Our decks, forever scooped by flood and rain, Ere long shall bowl the restless seas again ; These vales embower the creatures of the deep, And watery monsters scale the watery steep. Thus, ever thus, our waving film vibrates, Sinks, swells, declines beneath the molding Fates, While star and sun, with unremitting ray, See greener fields still rising to the day, And glad Improvement steps from sea to shore, And hermit Hope sits waiting still for more. " Ah ! drear the day, and drear the starless night , Ere granite lobes enshrined the trilobite ; Ere earth and heaven were linked in mutual love, The finite here, the infinite above ; Distinct, yet blended, wedded, yet unbound, Revealed in life, and blooming from the ground : That ever fleeting, growing but ungrown ; This, changeless, radiant, limitless, unknown ; That, ever rounding into forms that live. This, hovering, whispering, life and love to give ; That, bound in worlds, in elements combined. This, felt in Truth, and worshiped in the mind ; That, of progression, order, rank, the source. This, of sensation, motion, feeling, force. IdosII.] beauty of truth. 59 "Is it an evil to be called away From huts of mud and tenements of clay, (E'en if we leave our rotten rags behind,) To lighted halls and banquets of the mind ? The conscious life which till'd the hapless lamb, Shall fill again the virgin clay with balm, In. fairer form shall walk the flowery plain, Endued with joys that triumph over pain. That spark of life, escaped the smitten dove, Shall light a brow with lineaments of love. And syllable along the vocal tongue. Bright thoughts that never had been felt or sung. The form we love, and dress with gaudy care, And wipe our mirrors, to behold how fair, Turn'd, view'd, admir'd, with all the zest of pride, Is ripe for Nature when it shall have died. "From darkness, dust, the germ begins to grow, Warm'd from above, and suckled rfrom below ; The genial powers of sun, and rain, and air, To foster, feed, from cloud and sky repair. The living thing, in green, expanding pride. Inhales the breeze, inhales the golden tide. In radiant tiers its branching arms extend, Reach out for life, with graceful curve and bend ; A thousand leaves with spiracles besprent. Breathe, waver, feed, beneath the azure tent. The luscious treasures of each year secured, Enwrap the bole, in snowy vest matured ; And ages come, and human ages go. The oak endures, the bole and branches grow. Then comes, at last, up from the nether sea, That voice which chill'd the young Antigone : 60 IDOTHEA, [L '•Ho I (Edipns, why linger we to go? Thou, thou hast long been wanted here below." And hungry Death with gi'im, obedient toil, Secures the wealth, and lays the dark bi'own soil.. In darkness, too, the embryon life unfolds, When plastic law his third creation molds. Wrought, knit, inwoven, veiD, and nerve^ and bone. With e^'es to see, and feet to move alone ; Green earth receives it, and it treads the plain ; It feels a current warm in eveiy vein, A throbbing heart is beating at its side; It looks, and lo ! a ^vorld of verdure wide- In crowds of kindred, visitors around, It leaps, it runs, it gambols o'er the ground. In balmy sleep its night revolves away, In feast and fun, its warm, voluptuous day. Strange Alchemist ! — a miracle divine. Flowers change to flesh, as water changed to wine, A giant mass of muscle, nerve, and bone, Stalks the savannas, built of gi-ass alone. Wild, strange emotions thrill the moving franae. Sweet loves attract, and jealousies inflame ; Till old and huge, in flesh and frame mature, It carries all that Nature w^ould secure ; And Nature's voice, the sacred voice of Death, Arrests the mass, and draws the giant's breath ; — "Thou too hast long been w\anted here below^; Ho I (Edipus, why linger we to go ?" Thus Life and Death, divine, congenial powers, Improve, adorn this rolling world of ours, They serve, they work with consentaneous toil. Enrich the quarry, fertilize the soil. IdosIL] beauty of truth. 61 But man, a wanderer, steps upon the scene ; He finds, he feels liimself a link between, A link between the fossil links below, And golden links, he hopes some day to know ; A restless searcher, toss'd from hope to fear, If destined yonder, or if bounded here. He cannot see that gifts of heart and head, Would form a strata, when his race is dead ; That P^iith and Hope, pure Reason, Thought divine, Would crystallize, and build some Parian mine. The frame he feeds of vein, and nerve, and bone, By Death secured, may crj^stallize to stone, He cannot see what Nature meant to do With lofty Thought, Conceptions of the True ; With blissful visions and immortal song, With tomes of logic, codes of right and wrong ; Elysian fancies, and the happy Isles, Where Virtue dwells, celestial Wisdom smiles ; With treasured systems of the True, the Fair, With Reason throned amid the treasures there. With all the stores his brain can make or find, The rich Principia of laborious Mind ; Stores, gather'd not from rain, or rock, or light. Of heavenly source, of empyrean height ; With all that tongue can mold in mortal breath, Can these be wanted for the vaults of Death ? And yet he sees Creation's onward aim, For all that live, fowall that Death may claim ; Till old and musing, half afraid to go. He hears a whisper stealing down below, He hears a far-off whisper in the sky : " Ho ! Oildipus, why linger we to fly 1" 62 IDOTHEA, p "Thy words are healing, balmj^ as the breeze, When Summer evening hives the wand'ring bees. I should be silent, grateful, satisfied, Though gentle ones, and beautiful have died. We half believe that which we must believe ; I only grieve to see much cause to grieve. I own the high benevolence, to give A shrub, a shell, prerogative to live. I grant it better as a shell to die. Than ever senseless as a rock to lie ; To flower the mead, to greet the hills awhile^ Than lost forever in some granite pile. . "I, too, can read a Goodness, Power divine. In faded flower, in stony coralline ; Bright images of Deity I see In beds of stone, in dust of fallen tree. Oh ! deeper, colder, drearier far the gloom, To see a lifeless world without a tomb ! We live among the sepulchres of old ; To me the grave endears the rocky wold. The dust of Adam at my feet is spread ; The air is sweet with memories of the dead, And sweeter, lovelier is the world to me, For all the dear memorials I see. But I would love a Deity all love, All light, benevolence, below, above ; A God of power and prescience to express His love in worlds of lasting happiness ; I love the bright progression, which hath run From mite to milodon, from mote to sun ; I greet Improvement, rising up in air, From rock to reed, from mine to city fair. IdosIL] beauty of truth. 03 But why Progression, why Improvement grow From nerves of pain, and tenements of woe ? Here thrills a discord, grates a jarring sound, With all the heavenly harmonies around. " How glad I feel, at Summer eve to choose Some moonlit summit, spirit-tuned, to muse, With pencil, paper, mold my formuke Df sign and symbol, by the silver ray, Mass, motion, centre, limit, fluxion, rate, Of fluent orbit and co-ordinate ! This spot I take my zero-point to be •Of radius, angle, weight, velocity. Curve, axis, function, increment, I bind In pregnant hieroglyphics of the mind. Lo ! plastic reciprocities dilate ; . The yielding forms beneath my hand equate ,- The generous powers, obedient as I mold, Expand, develop, integrate, unfold. I see fair images, unseen before, Lurk, hiding, smiling, in my woven lore : Young, rosy cherubs, — truths and laws of art,— Like playful Dryads, from the forest start ; Long-hidden vSprings, and principles divine, From Nature's bosom, rise in term and sign ; The social ties of comet, planet, sun, — The Olams run, the harmonies to run. All Nature's genial, bright Economy, Unveiling here, in anaglyphs I see. No piers sustain, no granite walls secure. Yet systems roll, and central suns endure, I touch with awe this slowly throbbing heart ; The pulses come, and tranquilly depart ; • 64 IDOTUEA. L] Each vital heave scarce stirs the lightest dew, Yet distant -worlds are speeding up the blue ; The largest profit with the smallest cost ; No vain exaction, no exertion lost. One centre keeps its unimpeded course, With conservation of the living force, And Avilling, glad velocities afar, Absorb the weight of planet, system, star!" Thy plan, my son, is Nature's modest plan ; Truth comes alone in Images to man ; Too bright and bashful for the mortal eye. She drops her shadow, as she hurries by. No mortal sees a ray of light direct ; We see alone what cloud and sky reflect. And if from rule or formula of thine, Thou hast evoked one Image thus divine. Look up, behold a formula on high. Not idly drawn to decorate the sky ; Look up, and, reading, learn a deeper lore ; Truth loves to smile on whom she smiled before. " I love to look ; far more to speed away, Not uninvited, yet with some dismay ; A youthful stranger, too untaught to roam, Should find his fitting pupilage at home. Bat feeling I can make myself to be Uncoiled by flesh, unchained by gravity ; While resting here my passive limbs remain, I step from earth, and tread the solar plain, A wider stratum, more resplendent field, Than all your beds of shifting ocean yield. "O, bliss I unbound by breathing dust, to -skim, Free, swift as thought, these paths and spaces dim I luos II .] B EA UT Y O F TR UTIl . {\r, To meet the wiuged spirits of tlie nky, In level phalanx, as they wander by ; Meet light out-flowing on the worlds, in gold, Life, throbbing, thrilling, as the clouds unfold, ]\[ysterious powers, thr.t clothe the world in green 8treain from the sun, ami hasten by unseen. His radiant arms o'er subject worlds extend, Reach, touch their orbits, and the orbits bend. Each comet brings fi'om systems, suns, afar, Legations high, on perihelion car. Thrones, powers, dominions crowd his flaming courts. Reveal their missions, lay their sage reports, Secure, extend the sacred ties of old, With shining cords, and brighter chains of gold. O'er all the plain, sage Senators appear. From orb, and ring, and silver moon, and sphere. Afar from hall and planetary dome, Swift cars traverse the blazing hippodrome. Interpreter and wanded vestiare. In royal state, around the king repair. Ah ! swarming Themes, in robes of radiant white. Throng, cluster, crowd the echoing halls of light. I hoped to reach his Audience Room alone. And lay my one dark question at his throne : "Oh ! tell me why, celestial Lord of life, Thy blessings all are mix'd with toil and strife ? O, Sun ! what Image of the Good is there. In limbs that bleed, and burning hearts that sear?" " Nor may I find a full solution here ; For other realms, and brighter suns appear ; A thousand centres, beaming light and life To subject worlds, no doubt of toil and strife, I 68 ID THE A. I.] A tlionsantl galleries of transcendent art, Foil'd by the augiiisli of some bursting heart ; yublinie displays of Goodness, Wisdom, Power, To multiply the parting, dying hour I Oh I tiy I must I On wings of wonder fly To every sun that blazes in the sky ; From plain to plain, from zone to azure zone, In wild amazement, plead at ever}' throne : "Is there no hol}^ Narthex in the throng Of rolling Fires, these azure plains along. No sacred Vestry, no Triclinium far In deep abysses of some triple star. Where triple orbs reciprocal diffuse On blooming worlds their complemental hues ? Why rear this august city in the sky, Foi- hearts to sunder, and for loves to die ? Why swell with Hope a shivering soul to see This blazing segment of Inflnit}', Broad, rounded strata, plain o'er shining plain, Of sun, and moon, and land, and rolling main, Of zone and tropic, pole and Milky- Way, ; The Base, the Crown, that make a JNebula, If woo'd to gaze, and warm'd with life to love The fair, the fond, that bloom below, above. That bursting soul, when hopes begin to bloom, :Mi\st lay its Bliss and Beauty in the tomb I " "The suns are silent, — heartlessly^ they shine ; They hear no question, heed no plea of mine ! Oh : cruel suns ! be not so proud of light ! Ye have no shadows, but ye make the night. In what sweet region is my lost Elaine ? No word, — no whisper I Need I ask again ? J DOS 11.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 07 "No horoscope or (Icf'crciit I try. * Aspect, nor dini nativity on liigli, Nor ii;auge your trine ascendencies, to know The fate of nations, fate of kings below. I may be dazzled with excess of light ; But systems still arc rolling on the sight ; A gleaming universe of countless suns, Its day of days, its age of ages runs. Where is the bright, the strong Hyperion, where? That shapes its seasons, rules its mighty year? I must away, where system, sun shall be One twinkling point of purity to me. On wings of thought, from steep to steep I soar : Sun, systIil<'ii p:illis and t'liicydi's twiin*; 'Plicsc, uiuin[)l()r('il, Iroin ujivo ami wooillaiul sliow TIic Miss they clicrislu and the tnitlis they know. I would not press tlu> dark iiuiulry here, or limbs that bleed, and buriiiiiu: hearts that sear. It nuist be joy, o'er beanties sneh lo siiih ; It must be bliss, in such a world lo die I *' In silent wonder, let nie pause to scan The boundless splendors of this glorious plan : This dual centre of a dual franie. This Delphie shrine with some immortal name, (Jroui)s, {'lusters, systems, tields of liuht serene. With bliu> aiul I'earCid distances between. (N)uhl souls that lisp their nyllables in sound, Oitine the lofty, fathom the pr'ofouml. And wrap the \ ast Conception in a. word, 'I'o eartii unknown, l)y human ears unheard. Thai Word would make its orI)it in the mind. And shine ft)reYer to redcHMu mankind. Ah ! here are toni!:ues, \\\\\\ joy fid trust 1 feel ; New nn)des of sp(>eeh which nniy that uord reveal ^Ieloilit)Us tonji'ues, beyond the pall and bier. Which pious ears and hinnblc hearts nuiy hear: And truslin-i- still, content in fi'cble lay, I jia/.e, eon(\'ive, and name it Nebula ; I sound the dej^th.- the len<;th, the heiii'ht exj^lore. Anil lind there mi sr be still one centre more. This double Sun hath found an orbit too; It rolls, revolvi's Avith all its retinue. *. oust luet ion in coustiuetion, Avide and vast; <)ne iH'UIre more Creation makes, the last. Idos II.] Jir.AUTVOFTUITII. 0!) Sonu' Miiul Supreme luitli (i.\(Hl tlic lii,i;h (Iccrcc, The mystic, strong' necessities of Thkkk ! Sliall I desist, retrace my (liii'inj^ vviiy, Back to the sliadows and tlu; dreams of clay ? Shall I i)resnme, on reverent win;;' to try Those primal, deep n!(X'sses of tiu^ sky, VVHiere all these systems, g-alaxies siudl Ix^ One dim and distant Nebula to me? "(), vain to linger! Lo ! 1 worship there I I hear no sound ; 1 lireatiu^ no vital air ; I feel a warmth, but not the warmth I felt When weary oft by Lynville stream I knelt. Visions of dreamy prophecy and song". And Lov(\ and TiHith, and Virtue's sainted thiong, And Peace, and Ijiberty, and sacred Home, \Vlu!r(; souls i"(Hleem'(l forever ceas(! to roam ; Of distant exile, memories sad and sweet, Ofljife, and Death, and loves that longed to met;!, Of parting' hours, and verdant graves afar, in many a world, bedew'd by many a star, Dear visions all, tlnsy conii^ as I Ixshold This primitive; oukation, wall'd with gold ; And look away, and see above, below, Itesplendent lieings come, aiul pass, and go. Far to that distant N(!bula of ours, Tlie new dominion of more ren-ent powers. And lo ! four thousand Nebulje 1 see, Dim on tlu; bosom of Immensity ; New (Irmanunits with countless suns bestrown, Th(; Sti'reoma of the KUk'St 'fhrone. I feel a voice pervade me through and through ! " Be faithful ever ! All is right -All Tru(! ! 70 ID O THE A. I Life, never-dying, toil, and death, and cliange Transmit the soul, and elevate its range." The Lord of Nature loves the number three ; The symbol of his own Inmiensity, No air-drawn Image, fanciful and fond ; Man's true ideal — none may reach beyond ; State, kingdom, empire, puissant or small ; And Nature makes the last encompass all, Kill, river, ocean, feeding and re-fed ; Untwist the light— the yellow, blue, and red. Creation, cluster, system — wheel in wheel. Inwoven with an everlasting Seal ; But take the wise, the living head away. State, Kingdom, Empire— what abstractions they ? What blind, meclianic power, in space inane, { 'Ould poise creation's adamantine chain ? Tlie Great Sebastos sits serene above. Molds, moves, illumines, animates witli love, Directs, restrains, with unopposed command. Rolls clusters round, and holds them in his hand. " And hence a truth we t\'ros learn to trace, "Three lines the least that may inclose a space." Lo, system, cluster. Universe we see Created, bound to Orders, Centres tliree. To each he gave, in Time's [u-imeval hour. Its own paternal, yet dependent power. Throne, Power, Dominion, — sun controlling sun, — He called ; they rose. He spake, and it was done. His first Idoliou — Eldest Born of light, Emerged, an1 stood rejoicing in his sight ; With weight, and warmth, and majesty endued. To rule thj te;.'mlng, w'ild Intiriitude. iDoslL] BEAUTY OF TRUTU, 71 From age to age, repleuisb'd. reimproved ; • All winding, moving,— yet itself unmoved. Thence dual Orbs, in radiant lines appear. With clustering clouds of rolling system, sphere ; Each sphere a sun, amid a choral shower ; Tiie Third in glory, as the last in power ; With new creations, rising, rolling far, In system, cluster, dual Orb, and Star, And bound and basking in the blended ray, Of solar, medial, empyreal day ; With inward laws, expanding year by year. To clothe, improve, remodel every sphere. That man may see, and wondering seraphs know. Whatever grows, has once begun to grow ; That mind may soar, and soaring, learn to find The hidden Light of uncreated Mind, ''Oft have I seen the Sunmier cloud distil Its radiant treasure on the woody hill ; The golden drops divide the evening beam. And build an arch of Beauty o'er the stream. And strange, I thought, that things unseen and small, Could form an arch, by harmony of all ! Lo I here I see the radiant worlds descend, In paths of light, that interweave and blend, That wreathe, and curve, and harmonize, and twine Around the throne of Truth and Love divine. There is a sky, expanding over all, 8un, system, sign— the measureless, the small ; Creation lifts her stereoma there, A blue and beauteous tent for every sphere ; And harmless lightning plays along the plains, With golden clouds and unavenging rains ; 73 ID O THE A. [I. And sun, and star, and worlds of every hue, To people space, are dropping from the Blue, And still the Infinite, as ages loom. Smiles in the boundless charity of room. IMIfllL BEAUTY OF TRUTH. ID OS TIL— TRUTH IN T^UVELATIOK, Plato. TJic<7f desirest Trvth in ih^ Tmrard PartH. Ktxg David, Ts©m ^ii:'^—j^m^'iiji<''Mz^a UKERKTTJ.NKSS, SeNSK. InTUITION .ThE SeNSUALIST. — The Mystic, — The Skeptic, — Pagan World, — Temples and Oracles, — Oracles of Truth, — Prophets, — Beautv oe their Revelations, — Pure Spirit, — Idea of Power, Wisdom, Goodness: — Attributes of Truth, — The Word; — Incarnation of Truth. Hui\iANrrY exalted. Immortality, — Empire of Trfth, — Voice of Wisdom. BEAUTY OF TRUTH. IDOS III. When social embers tranij^ the coming snow, And languid Time sits dozing in tlMi glow ; When silent maidens, ranged the hearth around, Gaze on the coals, and know the boding sound ; When broken pauses lull the distant mill, And howling Winter roars upon the hill, The pulse of Nature, lingering at the heart. To cheek and eye a sober gloom impart. But why, Erasmus, why that pallid brow. When generous Nature breathes and smiles as now ? Lo ! sadness wraps thee, like a garment round, While flowers and fruits are laughing from the ground. The meads are dreaming of the coming day : How sweet they rest, and wait the morning ray ! For fresher gales, and brighter blooms, they know, Will spring the hills, and spread the vales below. Soft underneath the hushed, incumbent air, They press the moonbeams to their bosoms fair. And drink the light of starry skies above, In Nature's ecstacy, and Nature's love. Oh! share the bliss ! The bounty all is thine ; The day is human, but the night divine ; Or say why Goodness, more tlian man can weigh, Can make thy brow no grateful thought betray 'J 76 IDOTUEA. "Ah I mc I though tindiiig- what I seek to tiiid, My heart recedes ; okl shtulows chihn the mhul. Last night, you know, my hopes wei-e k'd agahr, From sun to sun, from jiltiin to starry phihi; Amid the tlaming vortices I saw The Ancient Shrine of universal hiw ; Presumed to stand by Nature's Eklest Fire, Saw worlds advance, revolving suns retire ; And through that First of shining magnitudes, Where storm, nor flood, nor avalanche intrudes ; Where land aud sk}', and living thing, and sea. Lie uuconvulsed in rich maturity : Transmitted there one most benignant Face, Shone smiling from the blue, ethereal space. Of that dear Face, in childhood's golden hour. Oft had my heart relenting felt the power. I may not tell the beaming love and grace Forever bright on that maternal Face. "But here, alas! I find my heart again ; The visit)n gone — that smile I seek in vain : And with it faded, mid the stars away, The world, the vision brighter than the day. Aud naught is here but unsubstantial show, A dreamy, cheating, everlasting flow Of falling, fading, fleeting sound and hue, Cold link by link still gliding from the view. I And no living joy, to heed or hear, No God to worship, and no fate to fear; To me all Truth, and Faith, and Friendship seem, The meteor lights and figments of a dream. My vision fled, I can no more discern A life to hope, a sacred Truth to learn ; J uos III.] B EA UTY OF TR UTIT. Ti Suns, worlds there are, and Bein<,^s wise and free, lUitlivhii^ Author, Fathyr, none for me ; Cold, heartless Fate, forever grindini^, -^jroiind. Lives, dies, revives, and chills creation round." O leave, my son ! the rolling heavens above ; Behold within a world of truth and love. The living mind— a moving, shining sea, "With streams inflowing from Immensity. Air, light, electric agencies supply The touch, tlie taste, the curious ear, the eye, Calm, conscious si)reads the Intellect below, Receives, secures the riches as they flow ; We tread the i)lain, we climb the rocky steep. And Time and Nature fill the inward deep. Each glimpse, '->r murmur, swells the growing store, Each year we count, and find the treasure more. Fact, image, gathered from the world of sense. The growing store we call Expericnice. The work of Nature, work of man we know, And learn what is the work of chance below. We class, arrange, distinguish, understand. The sign of Nature, sign of human hand ; Imagination molds creations too, All fictions these, and those we call the True. But lo ! around, above that living sea, A lustre shines from climes of purity ; No door it needs, no window of the soul ; It comes unsought, and kindles up the Avhole. Exalted, sparkling underneath the glow. The troubled waters heave and move below ; In love and trust, each intellectual wave Roils to the light, and leaves its silent cave, 78 IDOTIIEA. [I, Aud, blessin*^, hails the blessing;- from above, iSo warm willi life, so luminous with love. Men calk'tl it Wisdom in Idumean ("lime, '•The Logos! " crietl the sage of Olden Tune, But we, in lisping elements uncouth, Have named the Light, Eternal Reason— Truth. JJright Revelations from the workl unseen, We need not climb, or i\)unt the steps between; They come, they pour tlieir lustre on the deep, Wiiere shadow}' forms in dim reflection sleep. Disposed in brief triplicities, we And Celi'stial Truths evolved from laws of mind ; Term under term, we may alVun\, ileny, One formed in Nature, one beyond the sky. Now l)otl» compared, the gift of sense may be, Now both revealed, comi)lete the mystic Three; — And all we learn, and all we seek to know, Three combinations bring to man below. In vain we plunge th(> vortices among, 'Vo suns ri'mote, and mysteries unsung, And climb, and soar the Universe around, To lind an Lnage which is ever found. 'I'he true, tlu> fair, the spiritual, the pure, llhuue the mind, and mak(> its liglit endure. A radiance tills the intellectual eye, — ]?right inward organ, with its inward sky ; It warms the soul, it lifts the bounding heart. In all the heavens, of which we are a part. Thus Reason, Sense, the inward store supply, This from the world, that from beyond the sky ; Truth, Right, and Wrong the conscious soul conceives, Aud Fancy paints, aud reverent Faith believes. Fdos [IT.] BE A UTY OF TR II TIL 7i) We fondly dccin tliat Beauty, JuHticc, Love, I^elon,!; to ciirtli, we sco tlioin not above. Witli rollii\i5 Nature reels affrij^hted Seiis(!, And Reason whispers, "Hail Onniipotenee !'' Light, Beauty, Onh'r, (ioodness from above, And Reason bnnithes, "Omnipotence is Love !" Green all the meads and blue tlie vaulted skies, I heafwithin, "Onuiipotenee is Wise." 8on_u:, gladness, plenty till the ticjld, the Wood, I hear again, "Omnipotence is Good." I hear from all that Duty calls to do, The inward voice. " The Holy is the True." "Enough ! enough.' I feel that siuile again. Warm from tlu; deep, invisible domain, A stream of light renews Its sweet control ; The radiA,nt visions swe(^p my kindling soul. Lnearthly forms in sliining rol)es ai)i)ear, And he avenly sounds and syniplioi,ii'S I hcai'. I see the pure, ethereal shapes of thought, 8tand forth with beaming lineaments inwrought. I should have known no sun, or centre, far ]n fadeless lustre of abyssmal star. Reveals that Face in vestments of tlie True, More l)eauteous than a shining drop of dew. And yet the grand, the beautiful, the bright. May stir the niward through the outward sight. From worlds, so long in majesty mature. The soul may reach the Perfect and the Pure." May ifEACn ! and here the fond illusion lies ; Ma}-^ reach some orbless region of the skies! May elevate the soaring soul to see The Absolute in his Eternity ; 89 IDOTHEA. [I AYhere ang-elssing and blissful spirits dwell, Forever lulled on beds of asphodel ; The blest abode of some Aonian race, In radiant height of Empyreal space ! As if the Good, the Absolute, the True, Did not descend and dwell among us too ; As if this earth, a home to Adam given, Were not a mansion and a part of heaven ; As if the soul must wander far away, To find and feel the genial light of day ! Here Reason, Sense their antinomies find, The shades and phantoms of imprisoned mind ; From age to age the same illusions play. And this would nail, and that would woo away. We soar aloft, and say we understand ; We count the stars when we should count the sand. Fair Reason shines, revealing everywhere ; We live, and move, and have our being there. Ye faithful stars 1 still watching as ye burn. Time-honored dust in many a sacred urn, Ye saw that dust, in dreamless slumber now, Grow to be man, and crumble from his brow. Y'e saw him tread the vale, the moonlit hill, Y'e caw him pause, and start, and wonder still ; Raise his blue eyes to your ethereal flame, And muse, and count, and kindle into fame. If on the brow of CaUnhmian height. He passed alone the thoughtful summer night; Or in Ionia, or in Doris strayed. Or far away by Indian hills delayed; Y'e saw him turn, and chase, and turn again, Some fond ideal on his native plain. Inos III.] BEA UTY OF TR UTIl, §1 Form, mold the mind of his believing age ; Ye see the dust of him we call, ^'The-Sage." In thought profound, one meditates alone; His world within, the world he calls his own ; Beholds, reversed, the fa^e of Nature tiiere,— Rocks, waters, woods, the sea, the crystal air. There knowledge si)rings, liei-e P^aith and Hope begin. The daughters, seam prevail, And seasons cliange, and passing storms assail. A shadowy realm of light and darkness here, Is all he sees, not all he finds to fear. Prom youth to age, he gathers seed by seed. Round, shadowy grains for Faith and Hope to feed, And says, within this frame of breathing clay, Tliought, feeling. Truth, can come no other way ; A frame of dust, a soul of air and fire, j\Iaterial all, and all alike expire ; Since dissolution is the stern decree Of fates that change, and fat«s that set us free,- Back to material elements we go, Nor wake to feast, nor sleep to dream below. Truth is the daughter of Experience, Wrought into form from little seeds of sense ; And Wisdom but the weight of grain and gra'n. That meet and swell, like mist in drops of i-ain. For time and tide abrade the rolling dust, Refine the heart and make the conscience just. Tlie soul of Numa, smooth about, above, Harmonious atoms, rounded into love, V\\\\ build the state, ancj make his people know That Beauty is proportion here below ; K 82 ID O THE A. []. That tUart'st friendships, sympathies of heart, Are atoms meeting atomies apart ; Joy, hope, remorse, devotion, love, desire, Are radiant sparkles of commingling fire ; And Gods, if Gods exist in climes unknown, Like earthly men, are made of flesh and bone ; Some Yolcan sledge the nail of Nature drove ; Some peak Olympic props the throne of Jove. This Universe is one eternal fall Of raining atoms from the Crown of all. Devoid of object, reason, aim, design ; No hand beyond, no molding Will divine ; A hungr}^ monstrous, moving, living mass. Inhaling space, as we inhale a gas. Enjoy, O man 1 the sweets of land and sea ; Thy heaven is sense, and earth is sense to thee. Balmy the fragrant breeze of evening blows, Luxurious Nature loves a soft repose. Soft Lydian airs, ^Eolian voices sing To every breath sweet thrills of pleasure cling. Lo I wanton Beauty walks the flowery vale, Voluptuous joys are beckoning in the dale ; Fly to the shades, the summer shades of love, The earth is green, and heaven is warm above. Or mount at dawn the flashing car of Time, And catch the bliss that pours from every clime. If long the night, the pause of pleasure long, Ijead up the dance, or drink the wanton song. Or spread the feast, or drain the foaming bowl, Falerian drops will warm the frigid soul. Lo ! Nature bares her teeming breast to thee ; This world is Venus, and thy heart is free ! 1 DOS III.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 83 " Abstain !" I hear the good Aureliau say, "False smiles delude, and kisses will betray. If every sense be but an inward sign, Some floating phantom in that brain of thine ; If nerve and nature bring successive tides (^f watery vapor, where the soul i-esides ; If naught approach tliat deep, secluded throne, But shadowy images of things unknown, Why seek the bed, the board, the dance, the bowl ? What are these phantoms that beset the soul ? What all tl^is M'hirling, warm, voluptuous scene, These shades of Summer, and these vales of green? Can these of bliss perennial fountains be ? You never taste them, and you cannot see. Is pleasure but the thrilling of a nerve ? Why, then, a ueeiUe or a knife may serve. How know that yonder smiling Fair is fair ? Where is the Image ? In the brain, or there ? How can you know this Massic cup is sweet? Can bowls, or beauties, reach the soul's retreat? How vain the sounds, the sweets, the pleasures all, Tlie hands that beckon, and the smiles that call, Green Summer vale, and warm, voluptuous sky, 4 And rosy lip, and passion-pleading eye ! Illusive dreams, from sun to shining sea. Not blessed to be, they only seem to be I Thy soul, amid the phantoms of a brain. Allured to ruin, but allured in vain, For even allurement is mere power to seem, And ruin but an evanescent dream. Dispel these Siren shadows that obtrude. And reign the monarch of thy solitude. 84 inOTlIKA. [1. Thy lu'art is thine; exort supr«'iiK' (.'ontrol, Hlcst at;ir;i\ia of impassivo soul. rain, pli'asiMc, si'nst> art" all dclusivt^ \A\\\ ; Chaso, mortal, cluisi' those tMnpty Uroanis aNvay 1 Assert thy i>ron»l pioroijative. anil Ix' Tlu' worthy shrine of lone lu^ility. Involved \vith misty in)ages within. l")«)r»T dares to lioubt, yet tears it n^ay he sin. Probes nerve, probt's brain, Avith keen and lurious eyt% Proves faith a cheat, eternal Truth a \\v ; (\)n fused. perpU>\ed, for homi'less thought to lind A friemlly roof in matter or in mind ; And now Idea from impression sprinixs, Now swells from nauiiht, and makes the sum of thing's. Vain visions all. for mere delusion shown. Pi^wer, substanei', eause. reality, uid\no\vn ; Tn nature now, and ni)vv within the brain, Man seeks, pursues the dim abixle in vain. A spark the sun I one deeujs them Innh the same, A tluttering dream : a moth around the llame- In vain the meads their aroma diifuse ; An inward phantL)m, not tho uieaJ, he views ; The nuHMi eonnnands the -worship of the main. The reual sun revt>lves the world in vain ; Moon, oeean, sun, a visitMiaiy whin\, A power imseen, ean be no pi^wir to him. Faith spins a eirele. Truth an endless ehain, Kaeh proof proposed dt^mandinir proof a^ain. Lo : Uight and ^Vr(mi^^ lo 1 Good and Evil claim Coeijual ln>nors in this polar frame. No side espouse ; seek neither that nor this ; V^iir At.iraxia takes the uenial bliss : I i.os 111.] /; EA UTY OF TK UTll. 85 Man, I^iiturc, (l«nl, of ihoiMmI visions \vi()iiL;lit, ISImi, Nnturc, (Jod, cviipoiiilc in tli()iij;lil,, And Scxtus, Kiclitc, llmiic, niul llcji'd ^ucct, Four nuliimt tli<)U^i;iilH, (•(iiivciicd in spacd to j;r({'t. "A penile youth hiMt term to Sydney came ; The Dean and Proetoi'H seemed to dread his name, lO'en staich ProfeHsoiH stid'ened in their prose, \\'hen Mihon's eye shone lhi(>n!;ii the lisleninu;; rows. Vet he was mlhl, obedient, 1)1 and to all ; Assiduous, anh'Ut, i)rompt at every call ; llo "took the Hoard," — he drew tiie diai!;ran>, Air ever modest, brow forever cahn ; There as he stood, with black and beaming" c\ye, \\v saw the wall, but he Ix'held the sky ; \Vith ease instineiive, undelayed (o learn, I lis cusps and spirals knew which way to tuin. We read Alcestis, and his part alone. Was made in tone, and word, and thou,!j,ht his own. One day lie nuuh' us shiver, as he read The (Jrecian llenx^'s mission to tlu^ dead : ''Within tlie sunless mansions I will <;•() ( >r Kora, and the salilc hint;' below ! And I will plead, persuade tin; kinji; to s(^n(l Alcestis to my hospitable friend, The noblest nuin of this Thessalian land, And I will places her bloominj;- in his hand ; For, bein;^ nobl',', never shall \w say, lie servod a man too worthless to rejiay." We Bccmed to hear the Hero in tiie youth, His voico so breathed tlu; ;i;loiy of a Trnlh. "Alone we wandered many a starry hour; I loved him for his stram;-e untuloicd power. m ifH)Tni':A. [ And ourv he >^i\'u\, when other Ihrnics wtTo dom*, "1 s;iw von rcailitiii" tlic Misopoiion- Kr.Msnms, cajit'tl in tlicsc nnitcrinl days, \Vc snciM at .Iniian and tho Orpliic lays ; lU-ru\(> WW. friend, benesitli these forms we si'e, Shines all unseen tlie vast Iveality. 'IMiis worUl is bnt a type of what \ve tind. l>eyoiid tlie ranu'C of sens\ialistie mind. •I know what holy eonten\i>lations d.o ; I have explored n»ysterii)us reiiions too ; Propitious hours of dee\), abslendons thonuht. The V(m1 have lifted, auvl the visions hnnmht. These mortal w alls, attenuati> and thin. Like iTossamer. have let the lustre in : And ulorious hues inv»>st the world around ; A tone unearthly thrills in every sound. The trees, the hills approach n»e. anil n-tire, Tt) endless a/.ure rmis the tianple spire. TluMi lirst enuriio in all the voeal air SymphtMiious hymns, expostulation, prayer: Winds, waters, woiils. beeome articulate; I'aeh motion minnmrs words of fearful wei-ihl. .\ pause <'iis\u s, a pau^e of strange deliirht. With all the lisinii- universe in siiiht ; Oreads, and i;ntMnes, and sylphs, — a da/./lini: train. (.'omo cirt'llnir round me, visible and plain. And tlumiih 1 lack the wiMlom to cimimand,' They wait, they vanish, reappear, disband. Yet still 1 lei>l this breathinii' coil of clay ; 1 see the human paii'cantvS of the day : The [vnvcMs of mind still hold a sliuht i>ontrol, Kestrain, repress, incarcenitc the soul, IlM.S 111. nh'Airy or rinrii. N7 Hilt rri'c 111, lll^*l, hIic Iciips llic inoilnl Ixiimd, S|)iiiif;'M lo llic Moiids of Mcstiicy pioloiiiid. 'riicn \vi(ltiiroas tales of liberty to tell , She strives to climb the golden ray iu vain, Picks every cranny, tries each chink again. Ah! could the soul frcnn mortal boi ds elope, Run up the ray, and clear the azure cope, Pierce, unadvised, the immaterial sphere. Where spirits wo rship, and the 'Jbds appear What were she but a hun.an soul at best, A naked stranger startling all the Blest ? A speckled sprite of images and forms. Of shower and sunshine, inundations, storms. Of clouds and shadow, mountains, islands, seas; Of wailing winds, and sighing symphonies ! How, as her wings the silent realm explore. Assimilate her lore with angel lore I Down from the steep, I see her look and sigh, "My home 1 my earth! Away in yonder sky ? I lived in heaven, yet deemed I lived below. From God and angels, dooni'd to hopeless woo ! Ah, me ! is not that ray tiie evening beam. Warm, glowing, glancing from my native stream ? Oh, heaven ! within that quarter of the sky, What lovely vales of dear remembrance lie ! Familiar paths, with smiling Truth before, 1 measured oft, and shall I tread no more ? Sure Nature holds no titter spot to see The charms of Beauty, smiles of Deity. Let me return, regain my native si)here ; I see that heaven, that God is everywhere. Let me return, with glad obedience wait ; The laws of Nature are the laws of Fate. L {)() I DO THE A. I Sweet Resignation is the boon of bliss Presmiiption blindly dares the last abyss. The Father's house, a wide creation, calls. His sons to meet anil banquet in the halls. The hand of Death will kindly lift the veil; Some door for me will open to the gale. Enough for me, if wafted to the shore, I ma}' again the gems of Truth explore. In frame of earthly or celestial mold, Enough to see new mysteries unfold. Two living sjiheres inwoven make thi' whole ; — The Sire of all, the never-dying soul. Pure spirit that, and this a mingled state. This prone to Evil, that Immaculate. Let subject spirits in their functions know Supreme above, subordinate below ; That matter rounds the surface of the sphere. In which all less than Intiuite appear. Celestial bodies are but bodies still. Devised by Wisdom, fashioned by a Will ; And all impassable the void between The forn\s material and the Ens unseen. Beyond the void, blue veiling as the sky. The sacred Fields of Intuition lie ; Thence, Power Divine creates, pervades the whole, (xives form to matter, consciousness to soul. Soul free, immortal, rational, divine. If finite, bound in some material shrine. Tlie robes of Psyche ever tioat within The vaults of night, and avenues of sin. But who may tell how tine the Fates ma}- draw The threa^ls of Ilvle. ere thev break her law. I DOS HI.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 1)1 Witliin, tlic sense of Miii^cl and ol" man, Must pi'obc, expc^riencc, not kkmoi-d tlw plan, Thoiiu;-]! spi'lnklini;- drops of Hcvclation How J3ri,s2;ht from the Throne, refreshinn- worlds below. Knou<;h, to ran<;-e the visible and see Th(! radiant Inia«;-e of a I)(.'il y ; Enough, thou<^'h titiite, {;hained, inunurcd, alone, To feel the Logos beaming from the Tiirone ; P^nough, to know the liight, to find tlie True, The Inlinite in glory, HJiining through; Enough to see, and seeing, learn to know Eternal Jieauty mirrored all below; Enough, to live and worship in the light Of nameless Beauty, in the ui)per height ; With jjove, and Truth, and ^''ransport in the soul, To see within an Image of the Whole. Thus Plato saw, and found the voice; to tell The living waters of this inward well. And though within the bounds of space and time, Tlie soul must rise to reach the; true sublime ; Though ever, as unceasing ages ilow, A body binds and holds it down below ; Though all of pure, of liciavenly, of divine, Must ]ms8 a niedium, and reflected shine, Triumi)hant soul ! uncircumscribed in this, Tliou art divine, (;anst liav(; a taste of bliss! Innnortal Essence, sigh no more to roam ! Behold how wide the universal home! Thou hast the high, cc^lestial boon to be ; Thy bosom draws the breath of Deity : These waters murmur symphoni(!s divine. Sweet spirit tones in harmony with thine ; m WOT UFA. [i. Di'lic'ious fruits ;\ro toeining from the earth, On evoiy side a new, mysterious birtli. The ros(^ still sheds its fragrance ou the g-ale. The seeds of Eden bloom in every vale. Truth, beauty, love, and hope, and memory dear. And pressing hands, and kindred lK>arts are here. The love, the truth, tlie sympathy the same. As once, rejoicing, from the Father came ; All swell thy being with the light to know. That he'iven above has made a lieaven below. Why seek Creation's central hre to find. Some world of light congenial with the mind : Why range the gatliering galaxies remote. In shadowy realms impalpable to tloat ? Why, even tluM-e, in supercosmal day, Thou hast the tinge and temperament of clay. Why, even there, on impious wing decoyed. Thou hast no pinion for the senseless void ; There unapproached, the Absolute unknown, Throbs through the veil of images alone. Fanatic Pnest, whose star is in the brain, Thy hrec explore Futurity in vain I Blind Flamen, leave thy visionary shrine. No victim slain can pass the bourne divine : No savory odor reach the viewless shore. No bleeding virgin bear tin' message o'er. What miracles believing souls might do. Could faith in system make the system true! Thou hast believed ; and mountain, river, sea, Have teemed with wrangling deities for thee ; Strange exultations sAvelled thy heaving frame. And clouds withdrew, and tones prophetic came ; Tdos 1 1 T.] be a UT Y of TR UTU. 1);3 Old Earth unbarred her stony gates below, Avernian groves, and myrtle shades of woe ; Styx, Phlegethon, and lakes of penal fire, Disease, and Age, and Shapes, and Gorgons dire, And Deatli, and Dlseord Avild, and Toil, and Fear, And Letlu^ there, and dread Cocytus here; The Elm of Dreams, a dream to every leaf, And vengeful Cares, and iron-beds of Grief, With distant vision of Elysian plains. Beyond the pools of penalties and pains. Thine altai-s, temples, Pythian shrines I see, The world is all one Pantheon for thee ; Priest, Pontiff, Augur, awe the timid throng. And mystic Sybils bear tliy books along; The sacred Vestals guard thy fadeless fire ; The victim bleeds, the holocausts aspire ; The veil is drawn, and lo ! the coming years, The looming fate of centuries appears ; The vital streams of hecatombs nuist How, If heaven may flourish, or tlui gods may grow. In far Judea drops a viewless seed ; A change invades the spirit of thy creed ; A Power unseen reforms the atmosphere-; Thy altars fall, thy temples disappear ; Thy impious axe administers the blow ; The cheek of huge Serapis rings below. E'en thou, recoiling in the breach between The past Belief and Destiny unseen, Didst hold thy hand, a moment pause to see If Jove or Christ be Lord of land and sea. Then came the songs of Zion down the vale ; The deserts rang ; the mountains breath'd the tale ; i^4 ID O THE A. (_!. New tciiiplcs rose, new iintlicnis tilled the air, And lone recesses uttered jiraise and prayer. The gods were gone ; the land, the sky were tree ; And hermit Truth sat by the hearth w ith thee. Alas, for thee ! Alas, for Truth divnie ! The stoinis ar(.' creatures of the beams that shine; And tliou didst ereej), with all thy holier lights, Through lilthy cells, to frame moniislie rites; To tiream dark dreams, fantastic visions tell, And liquify a drop of blood, to sell ; To light thy tapers in tlu; bla/e of day ; To scrape white bones, and kneel at tombs to pray ; Thy vigils, fasts, conventicles to hold ; Thy walls to hang with eyes and feet of gold, Till oUl Didona and the Pythian shrine, Might sneer at worship so debased as thine, And jarring Synods find it hard to say, If Grace hail come, or Truth been chased away. Alas ! if Truth, the heavenly and the pure, Could dwell with councils and with priests secure! Is there no shrine within the a/ure sphere, ]So tempered brain, no loving heart sincere. Whence sacred stretuns from age to age may flow. Nor meet nor mingh' with the mire below ? The gem matures its lustre in the mine. Though rayless mass and muculence confine. The shell reposes fadeless in the sea; Why not, () man, the shining Truth in thee? Alas, for man, the IJard hath lived and sung. With drops of glory (lripi>ing (m his tongue ; Hath seen the living wheels that roll afar, From Nature's God to Nature's eldest star ; li)OslIl.| BF.AUTV OF TRUTH. {. Until ciuin-ht the ,i;-l(')iiiis of Iinmaiu'iicc supreme. Like veins in marble, |)iercini2; throuj^h iiis dream ; Oelestiul white with opal lines l)eHi)r(!nt,- Eternal Truth and earthly shadows blent. Yes, all beneatii that river of the True, Whence Homer, Burns, their inspiration drew, 8weet lievelations float in lij^ht aloni;- The murmurinir curves and cadences of song. Till Homer, Hums, in ccstacy would start, With burninfi' raptures Hashing; through the heart ; Till l)ards and men, in di'eamy lapsci forget. The drop Divine in forms material set. Nor these alone have sigh'd or sung in vain ; The Prophet sounds the living Word again. The open visions rise and re-appear : Strange invocations rouse the dreaming Seer, And Shiloh hears the child's reluctant tale. With tingling ears and melancholy wail. A l*ro[)het walks the plains of Palestine, His forehead lighted fi-om the world unseen, And fiery tongues of inspiration still. Pervade Esdiacdon and its holy hill. Through the brown copses, down the smoky dale, The Proi)het hastens, trend)ling, liaggard, jude ; The burden of the Infinite he feels; The thunder talks melodious peals on peals ; And speaking winds, and hum of weeping leaves. And cloud that rolls, ard mountain toi) that heaves. Upon his lii) descends the living coal ; Tlu! Urim of tlie Lord within his soul ; He asks of heaven no serai)h wing to lly Above the gates that open to his eye ; 96 ID O THE A. \l. The Hol}^ One descends upon the hill; He swims the Glory, as the valleys till ; Within his breast, the fountains of a well, Gush up in judgments wiiich his tongue must tell ; And frantic with the burden of his love, He utters wisdom onl}^ known above. He sees the tents of Cushan in distress, The Lord revealing from the wilderness. The mountains scatter and the vales expand ; The curtains wave along the ]Midian land. The voiceful waters lift their hands on high, The sun in worship, pauses in the sky, The prophet's footstep on the sands we see ; His y.oice is still ; but read his legacy, God's Truth that fiash'd in liglitning thro' his heart; We kiss, adorn, parade her for tlie mart I Oh, Faith ! is faith a mocker}-, or a dream ? Do we believe and worship, or blaspheme ? Does Symbol, Creed, Analogy deceive This formal, cold belief that we believe? A tritie is it ? I have power to know This Masorah of wisdom sent below ! This Seed prophetic of celestial green ; This Arc, expanding into skies unseen. Whence hopes immortal plume their wings to soar The endless Spiral that I'eturus no more I The Prophet meets me, and amazed I see, His words unfolding into history. Dim grows the sunlight, dim the starry ray. They pale to mingle with my locks of gray ; But rays I tind within this holy page. Whose lustre dances on the brow^ of aiie. IdosIIL] beauty of TRUTIJ. 1)7 Bathed in the Light, I too become a Seer ; Deep visions from tlie Inner Slirine appear. And tliough I may not tear myself away Fi'om shapes, and forms, and miages of clay ; And though forever o'er my head expand Tlie shadow and the terror of a Hand, I bless the teiror, hide me in the Love ; I know a Light (iclestial shines above. If dust abused the power to disobey, I know that Mercy took the boon away ; That man, unfaithful, lost the link divine. And tore fiom Nature all his tainted line ; That Justice weighed, and jNIerc}^ wept to gain Annihilation for eternal pain ; That JNature thundered, deep, from sky to sky; '•The soul that sinneth, dying, it shall die," And from the day, and from the soul untrue. The tainted boon of Endless Life withdrew ; I hear a Voice through Nature's dark domain,— -'JVIy Life, a ransom, Man shall live again I" A soft, w^arm bosom folds Eternal Truth ; Eternal Wisdom springs to golden youth ; Dark Nature feels through all her glad domain The living pulse of Deity again. The soul refilled, as morning fills the dew, Wakes with its own eternity in view ; The Dead obey the voice of God within The murmui-ing tombs and catacombs of sin ; The blushing dust with life begins to burn ; It feels the glad Divinity return. First dew of Light untreasured by the sun. Beneath the vaidts of pleading Nature won, M t)8 IDOTHEA. [1. Ami Natuiv tVi'ls the First-Out-sluiiinu- r>t!uu Lii>;ht on the hills, tlie ocean, and the streain. He breathed the air;— the air hath life to give lie touched the Nva\e, and all the waters live. Floats all abroad the garment of the King ; The earth e.\ults, the heavens responsive ring. Ethereal verdure walks the vales along ; I hear the mountains breaking into song : The soul rewakens to [>rimeval love. Renewed, reborn from elements above, And feels her immortality again Rekindling down the uniN"ersal chain. •'Oil, listen, fatlu'i-.' — We are not alone ; Some voice beguih'S the pauses of your own : Like evening airs among ^Eoliau pines, A soft, voluptuous mystery entwines, And moves in mazy iteration sweet. Along the sacred wonders you repeat." I hear it often ; hapny now to see Tliat other ears may drink the symphony. It seems some chord of music in the brain : You speak a truth ; it speaks that truth again : Its breathings gush like fountains in a well. Without, within the soul, you cannot tell. Now in the cloud, now in the cave profound : You feel the truilv before you hear the sound. It speaks sweet mysteries, destinies unknown, And yet the tone, the language seems your own. I hear it now. I kneel, melodious Power ! Kneel! my Erasmus. Holy is the h^ uri Idos III.] nEA UTY OF TR UTIL THE VOICE : His ways of old the Lord reveals to man His ways of old, before tlie world began ! • I heard his voice awake the dewy morn, I went beside him wlien the day was born. Before the spirit brooded the abyss, I was anointed in the realms of bliss ; Before the gray antiquity of Time, I meted all tlu; limited sublime. I went before him, like an only child, When Love and Truth imparadised the Wild. I drew the Plan ye have not failed to see. This cubic poise of order and degree. I rule the play of agent, element, Make true the centre, mass, eciuipolent, Till kindling sun and rolling world became, A tiling of glory ; one harmonious frame, And Nature sent her Elldest Born to try. The spiral paths and orbits of the sky. To fill my plan in regions far away. New worlds are made, and systems framed to day And long ago, did angels hail the birth, Of sun and moon, and your maternal earth. I stood before him, day, celestial day, As Beauty came, and chaos passed away; I saw his hand the winds and waves prepare, Unwrap the Harapliel of land and air, Ensphere the light, and raise the azure hill. And send abroad the riv(>r and the rill. I tuned the air to sweetest melody, I twined the morninsj; beam of colors three; 100 WOT HE A. [1. I t'dgrd the clouds with ii'okl and crimson Inie, 1 robed the vales with green, the sky with blue, ]5adt fountains gush from ever}- mountain side, To lawn and vale the living streams supjilied. Then vernal bloom and sylvan glories came, An.l blushing buds of every hue and name, And fruits delicious, clustering on the tree, A thousand forms of fresh fertility. (), had you trod my primitive domains, "Where fruits spontaneous load the teeming plains. Where all in jieace and i)urity around, Progie>sive Nature verges to her bounil, — Those ancient heavens 1 saw him first prepare, Where nobler beings breathe maturer air. Ye might discern, could dust endure to see The scope of Nature's glorious destiny. There sweeping flood and central tire have done, Their last behest for satellite and sun ; Pacific waters feel the storm no more, Nor fierce convulsions heave the peopled shore. There cultured hills in gentle slope ascend, Sweet islands bloom, and continents extend. And greener meads rejoice with fairer flowers. And woodland raptures always All the bowers, And wholesome airs immortal fragrance bring. And spirits meet you, on the friendly wing. For worlds mature, their elements reflned, Receive high souls, to riper climes assigned, And forms celestial, wrought of holier clay, ;May tread the plain, or wing the golden day. Thus Nature rises, regions thus designed To feed, to fill the glad, immortal mind ; Idos III.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 101 Thrones, Powers, Dominions, down to distant Man ; For this the sims, for tbis the worlds began. Love, Beauty, Truth, the elements supply, But every false, unfaithful soul must die. From imi)ious hearts I take the Truth away. And all their Beauty and their Love decay ; With these I sow the air, the earth, the main, xVnd living dust is made to breathe again ; Till, gathering life fi'om breeze, and stream, and ray. The new-born Essence takes some nobler way. No drop descends upon tlie hills in vain, All Nature labors through her vast domain ; No idle grain is swept into the sea, No leaf unpurposed trembles on the tree ; These atoms all shall reach the distant goal, In proud delight to incarnate a soul, Till raptured Beings, deep in bliss shall find, The aim of Matter passing into Mind ; Till all the dust of all the worlds shall be Refined, relumed with immortality. Life, Death, the Good, the Evil, all conspire, To fill the Anthem, harmonize the Choir. All are my servants ; — I have taught them all ; I speak, they go ; they hasten when I call. I see, I hear, in this stupendous frame. Each earnest soul ; I know each humble name. The vast procession widens on my view. From Nature's heart, to Nature's faintest blue. They I'ise through perils, toil through pains to learn The Love, the Truth that makes the Seraph burn. Each rising, leaves his dust at every stage. To robe the spirit of some wiser age. 103 IDOTHEA. Elijah thus liis vestments left behind ; A wiser Pioj^het walked among mankind. They study Truth and Virtue as they go ; What friendship is, what sympatliy, they know ; And toiling long, they reach the i)lains serene, To add tlie Avisdom which they found between. Priest, Poet, Prophet, led from spliere to sphere, "Who learned their elements of wisdom here. Grasp now with ease far visions of the True, And i)lay with mysteries undream 'd by you. Seers, sages, sovereigns, from the worlds afar, Whose morning Sun was your remotest star, Till deep \vith blissful Ivedoshim we soar, Where dust dissolves and sorrows flow no more. Where they can gaze on sky and central suir, And taste the bliss of glorious labor done. We treasure tliere the Truth ye cannot sec; That pain is handmaid of felicity ; That tears are jewels; Death the silken veil Which hides the angel till the mortal fail ; That soul must, in the powers of Nature, till Nine Avatars alternate Good and 111, Ere tried, refined, in thought and feeling pure, She find her Immortality secui-e. Most sweet is jo}- when sorrow lingers still ; Ye cannot know the Good without the 111. The heavens are bluest wh(^n the storm is by ; I uiake the gulf, to make you love the sky ; And nurtured thus, this moral world within The forms of clay, vicissitude, and sin. In bright procession, moves from height to height, From Nature's verffe to Nature's Central Lisiht. ! DOS III.] BEAUTY OF TRUTH. 10;} All finite souls are limited to see The partial Truth, witliin tlieir own iless, Virtue, Patience, Love, Though shadows here, are verities above ; That every soul must see the Plan complete. Where Hope and ^Memory, Truth and IMerey meet ; That Nature hath no funeral pile to fear ; That heaven's last thunder none shall ever hear. IDOIHEA GOOD AND EVIL. Plain. Tfu- True, the Good, exuHting «,< aUnbut^s, imply the existence of a Necessary Being. In the Infinite they become identical. A positive variable Attribute, pass- ing through the Infinite, becomes a negative lieality. Hence, in finit'i Experience', much that /,v False and Evil inuat be found. Some of them traced and com- pared. MORE LOVE! "Let there be light."— That light was Love, Unfolded from the gates above ; For Love was but the Light unborn, Till Darkness opened into Morn. Before Hyperion's golden flame, From heaven the rosy Eros came, — The Dove divine,— the Grace to give This dust to breathe, this heart to live ;. The harmony of heart with heart, The whole encompassing the part, Tlie part embosomed in the Whole, And all pulsating with a soul. Responsive, throbbing— breast to breast ; The Dove that blesses and is blest ; The Love that lives within the Light, With dear delights of sound and sight ; That paints the plain, that vaults the sky. Attunes the ear, enchants the eye. And calls the kindling soul to be A living, leaping ecstasy, Forever panting for the More Which Alls the Lord's celestial store. Then Beauty— Daughter of the True, Stooped to the range of mortal view, And Love, benevolent, divine. First taught these beauteous worlds to shine. The flowers to wear ethereal hue, The vale be green, the mountains blue, 108 MORE LOVE/ Aud Venus tiew from cloud to wave, Uejoiciug in t.lu' bliss she gave ; Up spruug the pulse of Love and Feeling-, With voice and tongue to dust appealing : "Be wise, be vigilant, be true ; Love may diverge to Hate in you ; Pride, glory, power, wealth, passion, strife, May steep in Crime the Good of life. And Evil— Eblis of the Crime, Embitter all the streams of time. And clashing tongues shall writhe with hate. And bleeding bosoms talk of Fate, And fetters stained with blood shall be The bitter prize of Pnrity." "1 have not loved the world, '—and why ? The wounded heart bedims the eye. And o'er the Grace of Nature throws The gory drapery of its woes. Oh ! haste the day, devolving Fate, When man shall tind no crime to hate : My Love, my Dove, come haste away : Bring from the hills the brighter day. When Love, the complement of Law, Shall yield no troth and trust for awe. Lo ! now tlu? paths of God are straight : The heart, with angels at the gate. Shall feel the Love which makes the Fair, Warm in the universal air. And crime, remorse, and hate shall be The fading verge of Memory. GOOD AND EVIL. Idyl I.— Eud^^monia. Up yondek slope ascending from the stream, Whose pearly eddies lave its verge of gray, To hail the rosy n.oruing ou the steep. Where furze and hazel copses teem around, And willows broad, tall sycamores extend Their leafy boughs, like arms, athwart the Smith, How sweet to wander when the heart was calm. And Peace and Virtue dwelt amid our homes.! The lovely Smith, how smooth the limpid flow, Meandering as he moves along, and darts His sparkling glances, quickly dancing round. In joy to meet the morning's temper'd ray. And, stealing through the foliage green and glad ; The sylvan waves with glittering gems of gold, Haste onward to the briny sea afar! A little further up the growing green. An humble cottage stands between the herds Bovine, stout, bulky, fat among the trees : A cottage meek as that of Bethany ; Where far from busy life, in sweet content, How oft we sat, to see the sun go down, And laugh to hear the zealous whippoorwill ! How oft we strayed yon devious forest walk, Along the path where parasitics creep, And saw Apollo rising from his couch To give the glory of a new-born day ! no inoTiiEA. II. The brii^htcniiVi;- cloiuls sVood^Wiiitiiiij: at his throne, Abashed and blushing till they stole away. The early songsters tried their hymns again, In eestaoy to luiil the Lord of life ; And bails, and leaves, and flowers of countless hues. With deeper tints imbibed, awoke and smiled. We fed no fonil illusions. On the Past We often museil, when hill and narrow plain. And sunny slope, that shields us from the storm, A hunting-ground for savages remained. E'en from the echoing shore of old Atlantic, Would Fancy lea 1 us o'er the wilds to tread The rocky coast Balboa scaled with toil, And stood amazed, as like an endless sheet. The watery Eden spread before his gaze. All this, by Natun^'s hand in native wealth Arrayed, stot)d waiting for the plow. These breezy valleys, slopes, and mountain sides, With fragrance sweet, of deep-hued vernal bk)om, Which would have charmed the muse of Solomon, When chanting her voluptuous song of U)ve, She hovered t)'er the consecrated V ale Of Sharon. In those early days, a vast Unpenetrated Night of forest shade Was here the haunt of howling monsters still. Yonder sparkling rill, which dances fairy-like Along the sunny vale, with laughing glance, Whispering to Touch-me-nots and Cresses green, — ''Refresh yourselves, and beautify my path," — In joyous freedom glides along in light, To bear its wavy tribute to the sea. But then unseen, it wound its sunless path. fi.Yi. I. GOOD AND EVIL. Ill Leaping tlic deep ravine with gurglinjjf speed, And hurrying round the clifP plunged in the vale. Its darksome way moR! lazily discerned, It drank tlu^ secrets of the vocal oaks, As to the clouds and Western winds Ihey sighed ; There lingering in the quiet solitude, Till glad again it caught the sky-lark's notes. As echoing through the foliage dense they rose And towered in warbling cadence o'er the nu)or .- Then stealing softly through the coi)ses dark. With the hard i)el)l)les paused in colloquies. With patient hunger the king-fisher gazed. Sustained by hope, its crystal bosom through. And peered, iind waited for his evening prey. And now Ihe blue-jay pipes his glad return With puny trumpet o'er the echoing hills. From Selvas of the sunny laud of birds. The golden robin flashed his nimble glance Like lightning flickering in the caverns deep ; And traced the brook, as babbling on it went. Down by Akosas wickei- lodge it passed. And turned abruptly by a crumbling trunk. Then creeping round in search of some egrens. It caught within the mirror of its breast Two images and gently held them there : Sweet treasure, happy pair ! two dusky loves, Transi)orted, buoyant in each other's joy. Though rustic as the log on which they sat. Wild as the rugged cliffs and rocks they roam'd. But true as Nature's faithful law could he. Each word poetic, naked, unadorned. Unvarnished talk, no doubting (;loud between, II J IDOTHEA, II As tlu' sweet lore (tf ardent feclinj^s breathed Into her timid ear. Tlie bree/e that fann'd Her bhishin.i>- eheek less (bileet than her breatli ; Her heart uiitiekle as the (h'wy star. Now sMiilini; llir()n,t2;h the net i)f tan«;h'd boujijhH, Ahinuj tlie eddy twinl\h'd its assent; Conlidinji; as the infant on tlie breast, Fair Iiioguoia accepted the embrace Of W'AWA'rAM, nor doubteil he the pU'd^ije. With them deceit and falsehood had no name ; nuplieity and j2;Mih' had never tondied Their arth'st* souls. Simplicity was love. As Adam wakinj; from his lonely dream. With joy (>cstatic ran to meet the spouse, His other self, the queen of Paradise, So Wawatam, his lofty brow elate, CMasped to his heart the lovely Iuoquois. How often, in the nii::ht of crustt'd snow. When bent beneath his load of mountain tjame. His locks of jet all frosted with the storm. His stalwart limbs (xhaustcd in the chase. Did Wawapam. the monarch of the wild. Pursue his ]>athless way alonu; the hills. And as his sti'p .u;rew heavier, awell'd his soul With cheerful thou,ij:hts of home. High beat his heart, For soon beneath his sacred wii^ker roof, Ueside the i;lowiui2: embers, prince-like, him Ket^alini;- with his calumet, his We- weens all. Would throni:; around with smiling eye and face. Kcclinini:; there in ma,i!;istcrial case. He bids his faithful luogcois prepare The rich repast with tlns^ers swift for joy. h.vc I (1001) AND KVfL. 118 IFc sees liy, Mark(Ml by old Piuebus, on his daily toil ; Adown the W<'st he hastens to his couch. And dips into tlu; distant wea of blu(?. TIh^ golden clouds with (uimson l>lush('s <;l(\w('d. Amid i\w radiance of his hallovv'd brow, llun<^ (»'(M- his st(!ep deseiMit, and i^a/(Ml alar, Watchinj; to see him u;reet tlu; (>C(!an IhIch, Then old Sylvanus huslKid the cliorist(!r, The pious vv()od-(;hoirs their Sopratjos ceased, And the plain, humble dwelUu's of tlie pond, With jarrinj; forc(; tlKiir croaking orj^ans tried. And now 'twas in the; tim(; of golden grain, We saw tlu; jx'asants hasten o'c^r tlu; li(!ld. How pleasing, when tl»(^ HeajxTs of the day With faithful toil have dress'd the harv(!st (ield, 'I'hat each may S(H'k a home of (pii('t rest, And nu^et the gre(!ting of a happy facsophy, with kindlinj;" fjiee, Leau'd niusinu; of himself. And tlu're He sat. That liifteil man, moving them to Ins will. His friends were mine, and thi'V were noble friends, Fit for a sjul as ardent as his own. But Yesterday, they were in jovial mooil ; To day they sleep, and when will tliey awake 1 Oh I there is now a deep anil oonseious want, A pain of emptiness within these walls! As musiui^thus, one night b.'ueath the moon, H ilf- Irv'amini;: F.iuins uDrhi.l witii r.'givr,, Lent lips ajul lannuaj2:e to tlu' dear old walls : "Time tlies, .Mus;eus! Sail behest of F.ate, To ileal to man and earth eternal ehani!;e. Uare walls, and benches, silence, stirless air. Alone were mine, until a Bion came. And tilled me with his friends. For he was kind : All are not thus. He left, I know not why. It may be Envy calleil her hideous brood Whii^li stand like shadows in the lanes of life. It nmy be yellow, worthless dross that gave Regret to me, and silence to my friends. Oh I 1 could wish these rugged walls away I But let me watch his glorious treasures here. Ami wait in patience for his glad return." Then silence fell, ami with it sadness came Upon my spirit, as I deeply niuseil ; Perchance, mv frieml had reason to be grave. Idyl I. GOOJ) AND K VIL. 1 1 7 Since pliiasure lost, is hut u kind of puin. niON. Fond of mutation ; dreanilny; of the Moi-e, I find n»e here amid these (juiet liomes. And now each morn first opens to my view A chistering circle of retired abodes — A fairy ranjj^e of nut-brown cottages— 1 tread forgott(ui patliH, and feel once more, Fresli ties, with softness of the silken cord, Linlving my heart with strangers. (), to me A friendly greeting is a boon divine ; To mark, as liere, warm sunlight on the brow ; To clasp the ready hand, and read the smile Of kindly welcome beaming on the day. (Jold Stoic! This a world so full of gloom? I see, I see! — long may the bliss endure, — From field below to golden cloud above, IJlest radiance of the iieautiful abroad : The rosy jMorn that lifts her crimson lid. Kissing yon hill in whispers with the sky; 'I'he copse, the corry, mead, and level lawn. With all their garniture of grass and leaf ; The gilded spire, the glittering dome below : Westward the mass of human dwellings looms, Marshall'd in broad diversity around. Each sheltering there rich stores of home-felt joy, Some tie invisible of love untold, Hopes, wishes, tears, refined beatitudes, Those; charms unseen that cluster round the hearth, Which knit our souls, and link them with the skies. There cheerful mothers smile contentment round, And blooming damsels grace the gay saloon ; 118 IDOTIIEA. yVnd brii^ht-eyeil boys, aiul rosy laugliinj^ girls, !!?port in tlu' halls ami throng the corridors. Lo, yonder I on that sunlit summit fair. Midst gladsome beams and zephyrs stealing by, — Those whispering Ariels who commune with man, If man's impetuous heart would pause to learn, — There stand the stately walls [ hope to fill With spirits ardent for the Sage's crown ; Young, soft, immortal bosoms, formed to feel The genial thrill of universal Truth, — That warm pulsation, which with spirit force. Cleaves the abysmal solitudes of space, Teaching far earth deep mysteries of life. Come, generous youth I aspiring genius, coinel Let us await thee, with the hallow'd ray. Of star-born science, and the lore of Eld. Come, let me intertwine, with new delight. Her radiance with the garlands of thy brow. Come, let us reason ; and each tingling nerve Shall feel each day the touch Ithuriel. Come, share this reciprocity of bliss, Which lends the soul development of power. Sensation, Fancy, llojison, Taste refined. Shall come in streams of loveliness and light. O'er all our lucid lapse of studious hours. O, come, ani'tiuini2: H<'!iutv, Ooodncss, .luHlicc, Law. The Wisdom, in thin universe of thin«!fs, l<\)rev(!r steal in<>' from the rolliniij spheres. In hini»iuii»v not of earthly syllables; Hut dropping, like an elemental smile, From soul to soul in kisses of sweet joy? GOOD AND EVIL. Idyl II. — Nemesis. Briglit Sumiiuu- m'et the melancholy wail Of piteous, plaintive nightingale, til-fated mourner, will she call : But frantic shrieks of wild despair, And rendings of the hoary hair. And blows that on the bosom fall. Far better in the friendly grave, To hide from every eye secure, Than in illusions thus to rave. With mockeries that must endure. The harvest of the Grecian host, Whose many toils the IVIuses boast, The noble son of noble sire : His native passions all astray, JNo longer keep their bright array, But wander, burning with a fire. Idyi. 11. GOOD AND EVIL. 127 Ah I wrt'tchcd sire, a dirge of woe, A tale of ruin waits thee here ; 8oon thou, alas ! must learn to know A weight of terror, thrill of fear. Oh I never yet in lapse of time, Vicissitudes of war and crime, Against the old .zEacidte, Ilatli Envy drawn, or Hatred spun, A blacker thread for hire and son, A thread of darker destiny ! 3— Mothers of AuaoH.—Uurlpides, I pray thee, with these lips of age, 1 pray thee, falling at thy knee ; Thy gracious prayers 1 would engage, To free my sous from infamy. Exposed their lifeless bodies lie, To mountain beasts that wander by ; Behold these piteous streams of grief ; Behold these withered hands that wreak Vain torture on this bleeding cheek : Thy prayer alone may bring relief. Thou askest why? — Ah ! woe to me ! Their bodies home I may not bear, The mound of earth I may not see, Above their mouldering corses there ! O, gentle lady, much revered. Thy bridal couch thou hast endeared, — A son has blessed thy Lord from thee ; Thy generous sympathy impart ; A son thou hast — a mother's heart, Tiiou may'st conceive my agony. 128 WO THE A. Imploie thy son, whom we implore. To C(mie to Ismenus with aid ; His hand to mine my son's resto^'e, And let the solemn rites be paid. From dire necessity I call ; Before these fires— thy knees, I fall : These mothers round your altars plead. Our cause is holy, — be it won ! Thou art all potent in thy son. And Argos will revere the deed. Companions of my gloomy way, Ye aged partners of my pain, Your beaten breasts, your groans betray. Our speechless sorrow for the slain. The hand of black misfortune led, Your feet with mine, to gain the dead ; And gloomy Hades smiles below. Haste, join our consecrated band ; Oh ! tear th^. cheek ! Oh ! smite the hand These, these the offerings of our woe. The rock that breaks the foaming sea Sheds drop by droplet back again ; Relief unspeakable to me, These drops of anguish for the slain. Our noble sons have ceased to live, — We have but sighs and tears to give,— These tears— our luxury of woe. O, w^ould each pang, each bleeding breast, Each throbbing heart forever rest, Oblivious in the grave below ! Idyi. II. GOOD AND EVIL. 120 4. — Verzweifelung.— il'o/^eftt/i'. What am I Lord ! what meant to be ? Allied to tigers, or to apes ? What aim, what plan hath God with me, Among these wild ferocious shapes ? Are mortal walls of anguish rung. With feeble voice and lisping tongue, Sweet hallelujahs in his ear ? His offspring, writhing in his sight ; My groans, my tears his chief delight 1 Why born to sense and sorrow here ? Hush on I rush on ! remorseless storm ; These tender limbs, ye flames, consume ! Lo ! what am I ? — A trampled worm. And joyous tf) the skies my doom ! Come, hungry vultures of the blast ; I sink, — I spread a sweet repast. This quivering flesh no stinted spoil ; I moulder here, because I must, Preytared to feast you with my dust. When all is o'er — my pain, my toil. His angel did the Sike Supreme, His loftiest minister depute ? *'Go, fly from this to that extreme,' To each some wise endowment suit. Behold thy younger brethren there ; A shield of life for each prepare ; Give angels m(!S8ages from me. The lion mane, the fish its scales. Give shells to turtles, muscles, snails, Down for the bird, bark for the tree." Q 130 ID THE A. II. Alas ! alas ! celestial bate ! He passed his youngest brother o'er I Exposed the helpless thing to fate, Unclad, unkempt, defenceless, poor! But Reason's raj'- he gave instead To mock the heart, delude the bead, And Pride to dare forbidden climes : False hopes and fears— a restless tide, A lust to gain, a shame to bide, And bitter consciousness of crime. With bland complacency of face, Tray takes his bone, and sprawls alon* Nor studies rules of time and place, Nor dubious laws of riglit and wrong. But ever conscious of his fate, Man, man alone is doomed to wait, And eat his crust, prepared to die : His dreams alarm, his doubts obscure. But Revelation makes him sure,— r His doom is spoken from the sky ! Am I my Maker's toy to-day. The dupe of pleasure, slave of pain. Of hope the sport,' of fear the prey. Then crumbled back to dust again ? This breathing frame, a curious shell, In which the sounds of Ocean dwell, And every sound a mystery ; A thinking coil, which knows it will. Be found a fossil on the hill, As years approach eternity ? Idyl II. GOOD AND EVIL. 131 () bright result of gifts divine ! Of towering hopes, of thoughts that soar ! Pride, asi)iratiou, aim, design, Of Reason, Faith, Belief of more I This blaze — a false, delusive beam ; This joy of life — a poet's dream, A meteor fading in the sea ! This Earth, with all her charms, at last, A painted mausoleum vast. For panting, proud humanity ! Pride finds a mighty gulf between The human, and each breathing race ; But who has truly, clearly seen Which hath inherited the grace ? When first it scents the breeze's balm, Around its mother leaps the lamb. Responsive to the thrill of life ; But man must learn to walk, to eat, To shun extremes of cold and heat, Precarious years of pain and strife ! Poor, crawling ape of rule and rote, Forever climbing for the far ; To-day with pap in mouth and throat. To-morrow measuring sun and star ! Forever dreaming of the height ; Stark blind, but conscious of a light, And making what he cannot find ; He ponders, muses, overleaps The wall that guards forbidden steeps, And dares Eternity behind. i;i2 iDoriiKA. Mail, only man, matiirc>s to feel Tlu' i^iiilty pains of love ami liato. The flame of private, party zeal, Tlje stress and tyranny of state. Green jealousies, ami envy pale. Low lusts, cupidities, assail. And ev(M'-durin2: dread of death ; Hot thirst of jxlory, thirst of power. Remorse that haunts the midniujlU hour, Keveniit' that heats the daily breath. Witii Nature's mail — tooth, talon, claw. Brutes roam the hills, without appeal ; But man mu>^t ii'uard his life, his law, \Vith arms and arsenals of steel. He tries the softest silk display, .\nd jewels of the richest ray, '1\> win the louii' reluctant fair; But Inippier I'reatures coo and sino;. And meet and marry every Sprinjr, Nor rank, nor i^-old, unites the pair. Behold yon fathei', full of days ; Go read his latest scroll of life ; How nuiny years in idle plays I How many years in bootless strife! One- fourth a century in sleep, And when lie waked, he waked to wei'p. And whoa he smiled, he feared to smile For envious Fate was standiui;- niiih. And voices i-ame from earth ami sky, Tlie pall' horse chami^iny; at the stile. 1 1 ) V 1 , 1 1 . a ()()/) A iV/) hi VI h . 1 83 O, vjuiity ! or vvliiit avuil, 'V\u\ Ix'atin,!;' licarl llui t.ln-()hl)iiii>' vdin ! i'rcsli sprlniijH of liojx' that alwa^-s r.-iil, Sweet HiiiilcM tliali luiver Hinile a.^aiii ! 'IMic morn— a breadth of feeble ericH; Hit!,!! noon -a, bhize of burninj^ akles, With (Usa{)|)()intv mankind my spirit too ; "Tiie rich," says Plato, "night and ilay. Will i)iosper still in all they do." Let treason stalk from cot to tower, Get rank, get riches, fame, and power, And drovAu the dirge of Virtue fair ; Before the Judge let Flattery stand. With lying lip and golden hand ; Let Justice, Mercy, Truth, despair 1 DYi. 11. GOOD AND EVIL. 135 (Jo, (Jciicrous souls of •••ol(l<'ii mold,