The Collected Poems of Arthur Edward Waite, Vol 1
The Collected Poems of Arthur Edward Waite, Vol 1
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2008
IVIicrosoft
Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/collectedpoemsof01wait
VOL.
I.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Strange Houses of Sleep, 1906. A Book of Mystery and Vision, 1902. LucASTA Parables and Poems, 1889 A Soul's Comedy, 1887.
:
ISRAFEL,
1886, 1894.
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I'y
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CONTENTS
VOL.
Portrait of the Author
I
Frontispiece
man
self^
he
is
forthwith impelled
the greater
to
his sleeps
tations thereto
and lesser also^ with the manifesbelongings and it is in this manner that he
to
becomes
Herein therefore
which
to
of his dreams. of the dream-life^ including certain vestiges^ which are memories^ of all that
the
dedicated
interpretation
thesis
is
the general
is
without
it.
It
is
in this
way
that
man awakens
the first sense of the quest. Being thus already in part illuminated^ he puts in order several plans for the improve-
ment of
first
He
of the sacramental life., through which the rivers of sleep may become to him even as fountains of refreshment^ and his environment as a Promise of May.
shining
There
is
torpor
and
suggestions of states that have rewards beyond the dreams One is in effect already a Postulant at the of avarice.
When man
of the
operate. Herein is the consideration in full palmary messages promulgated by the outside world.
yet of illumination.
Man
is
also visited
by
Dream
the mediation of Human Love and the offices of daughters He enters, of desire, even as by the Spirit and the Bride.
therefore,
after another manner, into the essence of the sacramental system, which determines true inferences on These are Mysteries of Seeking, validity and quest. Mirrors of Knighthood, the first Elevation of the Host in the Church Visible of the natural world, the first consciousness of Many Presences. They are also certain Legends of the way of the Cross. The Rosary is here recited in a loud voice after new Matins, with the Little Office of the Virgo Intacta. But the days are rogation days. D. Legends of the Great Mystery. We pass through grades and ministries of the worWs legends, which are fables of sleeping men, stories of lights that fail, yet in their manner ceremonies of initiation ; the philosophy of sleep stated ; the mysteries of expiation and dejection, ending : " / must have Thee.^^ These are hauntings of the places of quest phantoms of vision ; and in this grade man is the Master of Ceremonies, rather than a Master Here also are Legends of the Soul and certain of the House. Propers of Saints.
E. Exalted Doctrines. The man of election is in Jine visited by the high ministries of doctrine, pearls of the Dreamer^ s Faith ; the music of many spheres sounds him to the advance. He is exalted and drenched with the
vi
Contents
greatness
and
He
is
conscious of a
cloud
of
witnesses.
He
becomes
Mysteries.
The Work
of our Hands
of the
Ground-Plan
House of
Life.
5
Alternation
An
excuse
to
Neophytes.
....
.
Lesser Ecstasy.
. .
.10
.12
-13
it is
A proper
time of ascent
is
here
also hereafter.
....
14
Great Silences
The ends are not less certain because they are hidden and far away.
Viaticum
16
17
the
Hallow for
House of
vii
Loss.
Hemlock
The path
But
of Poisoned Flowers
this does not
is also
i8
a true path.
mean
At the End
from
of Things
.....
-jarest.
20
'The Voice of
Death
22
The great
At that Door
Some houses are inhibited because
the the place
23
and
way
IllLUMI NATION
An Aurea Catena
A Dream
A
Free
of June
....... ......
Hermetica.
cover us.
Place.
24
27
Shadows of Roses.
Way
29
Of Wings which
Seasons
.....
Piece
also are
30
31
Watchers.
Waking
of all Hallows
is
31
in the need of
The opportunity
our enchantment.
viii
Conte7its
PAGE
32
better refuge
and a guidance.
.
. .
Of Consummation
Abstinence
is
-33
not
after the
manner
is
In any Garden
^his also
is
-place of the
The
King's Secret
34
35
35
a?id Respojise.
36
of Charity
that of the Union.
Law
37
Dreams of Death
38
Of one who
Worlds of Dream
Of Pageant and
Reality.
The Swooning
Castle
Mysteries of Vigil.
How
it
testifies in
dream.
40
41
43
More than
journey.
A Grey World
Beyond
the
Burdens of Babylon
Loss
is
the
All
Onward
PAGE
45
47
is
49
That which
not so
much
-peace as the
Gabriel
49
An
52
A Ladder
of Life
to
Of going up
Seven Watchers
The world
Looking Westward
The place
possible.
of the heights
Man
Of the Deep
Seas
Mysteries of Sorrow.
The Wider
Of
Prospects
Heart
of the King.
54
57
is
that which
is
always
57
it
is
59
61
Joys of Life
.......
of Life
of
Conte7its
PAGE
63
64
it.
The Palace
The
sleep
man
somnambulism.
The
Secret Garden
But
from
all.
hidden path of
Rite of Exaltation
There
is
64
?wt
without
certain
6^
68
the
Temple
is
the most
70
to
the
Holy Palace.
72
Play-Scenes
The
few
Absolution
72
is
The word
the
word in chief of
Veils of
75
also desires to be unclothed.
But Nature
Insufficiency
.......
xi
75
Confidence
Gifts of prophecy are of
eve^its which are certain beforehand^ and these the soul knows.
75
How IT
IS
...
77
Nature also opens upon the Great Mystery, which is for this reason that all keys are
within
us.
Plumes of Sable
But
in the end the light comes into the secret world, and the secret world shall know of it.
79
The Interlocutory
Discourse
it
....
to
80
is
Grounds of Union
//
it
......
this
it is ;
83
were possible for God to be absent, would mean that the heart grew fonder.
Theophany
85
certain that in the
but this
is
also in
Of Faith and
The apology
Vision
of those
87
who
see nothing.
The Path
It
is
88
is
that
Divine Union.
Vale
xii
90
Contents
VISION
93
upon the threshold, as one who He looks in a glass darkly, discenmig things inverted and out of their true
has been restored
sight recently.
proportion, hut he is
among
new
order
and
indeed renewed in light. Arrived at another degree of life and song, the instrument of vision will have become adapted to the sacramental objects.
is
PART
encompassed by sacraments and parables, and the living language of Nature is not beyorid his mastery. The universe expands with his growth and marks the Mali's destifiy is to comprehend limits of his advance. Other orders of sacramentalism may await him Nature. beyond these preserit veils, and he has no doubt been a There is a?i inner as zuell recipient of prior ministries. and true goal is within. our When man as an outer world, sacraments the universe, that zuhich has received all the of and that within, have become as which is is without will the depth and the height will meet at the centre of his
is
Man
rest.
But
Divine manifest
within man.
xiii
....
99
The multitude of external quests and voyages of which we read in history, which are witnessed also, and daily, in so many circles, impelled by so many designs, might offer a7i occasion of wonder, seeing that a much simpler
and more requiting mode of travel is within our reach. But the stimulus of such wonder is individual to the few only who have taken out the roots of their nature from the earth of those interests which are about us. The external quests are part of the ever-present hindThe way of the inward life is rances of daily life. the one true way of quest, and could we be liberated from the compulsory contracts into which we have been drawn by our first education., this fact would emerge It is now a longer journey on account of these ; clearly. we embark with difficulty, sail perforce slowly and know At the same time, the beacons not whither we are going. start up everywhere, and we set forth amidst the subdued
plaudits of all the natural world.
TRANSCRIPTS
loi
There is no such thing as common life ; the convention The key of under which we regard it is alone common. all things round us, but the great mysteries lies hidden in
the perplexities of the convention hinder us
The
gift
of understanding
read the
worWs
is within us, language if we dared, but the inherited the centuries to a first-hand experience
effectual
check
on
the
attempt.
The
inclination of the axis of the soul places us outside the direct line of vision ; that inclination can be rectified,
essentially
difficult,
hut
it
xlv
Contents
ECSTASIES
103
The instruction of the teaching church of 'Nature offers a substantial intellectual guarantee not alone for some of the conceded aspirations^ hut also for those which most persons in the present social order must imply rather than express through all their life. Any aspect of Nature provides this instruction and comprehends this warrant. It is the unceasing grind and jar of the social mechanism which blunts the hearing and darkens or embarrasses the
evidence.
WINGS OF FIRE
in its aspects., that
106
The sacramental life of Nature is often so encouraging we are inclined to regard it as the only veil which separates us from the Divine. And yet there are other of its aspects which hint at unknown forms of
sacramentalism behind it, some of which interpenetrate our own, at least intermittently. 'There are iridic ations also of the interference of lower sacramental orders quite distinct from the presence of moral evil in the world. While it is the souV s end to rise above all the cosmic systems, it may be doubted whether this is attainable except through the pomp and adornment of several sacramental lives. What follows is therefore the expression of the souVs desire to be dissolved. Things that look near are sometimes very
far away
iri the tropics of the physical world, so in certain torrid "zones of supersensual thought.
as
108
sacraments is necessarily never wrong, so only if it be the construction This of eternity, withi?t the measures of our comprehension. One holds also in the order of the instituted sacraments.
imperfect,
it is
XV
of the most endearing remembrances which must follow us in the mystic life^ often so far removed from all instituted
ceremonial and all stipdated system, is the recognition of sacramentalism by some of the great churches. It is impossible to deny that they communicate substantially to many believers, and there can be no grade of spiritual ascent from which the Church and her ministry will not be regarded with loving te7iderness, or the attempt to restrict
that ministry,
and
to
despoil
the
instituted
sacraments^
HOUSE FANTASTIC
istry of
109
Certain sources of imperfection are traceable in the minwhich man is the recipient. Some bear the marks The instruments of of inherence and some of introduction. communication from the noumenal must, in the nature of things, fall short of that Absolute which it would impart, and hence zve should not si?i against the light by holding that the instrument may improve. We at least are not proIt may even be that the leader perly adjusted thereto. of the sacramental universe rectifies continually, and thus leads us, in the symbolic language of the poem, into a perfect harmony.
.113
The ministry between man and man is the most saving ministry of all, and is so great that in a certain sense we might be exempted from the continued regard of all others.
Herein is the whole mystery of love, and the sweet reason For the rest, it would seem impossible of the inward way.
that man should ever become intelligible to himself except in the universal mode of his intelligence that is to say, in the Divi?ie Union. How far or how near this may rest
life
we cannot
xvi
Contents
115
of the saintly men of old, the attract us magnetically, and yet mystics of all the creeds^ seem that the light of glory which would It fail to satisfy.
they communicate
is
is also
derived. They shew forth certain transfigurations, as a garden shews forth in the moonlight, when there are eyes to see. But
is not large enough for the soul. sense of deficiency /or his man, nor the Imitatio in the high by some travellers ex-perienced and restriction is
Al-ps,
and
so also there is
i?i
the records of those spiritual travellers who have returned from the secret Carmel. They have not encompassed the
An omnipresent manhood whole man in their pilgrimage dust nations that we press is not the dead It fills Nature. of potentiality living humanities but the the beneath our feet, of broken branch can cry out like which supports us. The a7id the eyes the wounded man, by of many animals we know root is in our root, that they also are led by a that their sacramental ministry, and that, like us, they will be brought Man has a special ministry of forth in their due time. the sacraments to some of these lesser brethren, and there is more than one sense in which we are saviours of men, since man is universal in Nature.
.
IN
THOSE HEIGHTS
The
sense of loneliness
118
which
is
inseparable
from
the
great quests of the soul is to some extent illusory, or is at least initial. Many watchers protect us from every side.
But
it is the fear of this isolation which has often hindered and betrayed the high experiments. The inward world might not be less known at this day than the world without, which we have taken such pains to extend by our explor-
VOL.
I.
xvii
A
ations,
Other imfedirdents have been of uncomfanioned research. mentioned. The seven senses of mystic Nature should not
be understood according
it is
to
the Church are ari economy., summarising the kind of ministry which goes with man in his journey.
121
Many
witness
to
records
of Eucharistic
grace
the true inwardness of the experience mentioned What the Vision is and why
questions which are therefore answered simply. It is the awaking of our consciousness The rest is of that to an Eternal Presence within itself. kind which is at the source of activity, namely, the rest of A certain recognition of the state^ which is like the centre. a land that is very far away, may be attained by removing
the mind the conception of location or environment, of time, by presenting to ourselves, as ourselves, the simple notion of activity functio?iing by an inherent
necessity.
is
from and
The
vehicle
an intense
light,
tension
may
be lost
who are sufficiently self-instructed to make the picture inward and not objective to the mind's eye, as the mind will invariably do with a fatal facility unless there
is
to
126
Following from what has been said, one may even dare among all the sacraments of Nature, that which most shews forth the source and term of the soul is the pageant
hint that
xviii
Contents
It brings with it a recognition of of a vortex of flame. rest and attainment, of delight at the heart of dread, which is offered by no other symbol among the forces of the universe.
This recognition may be taken, from very close at the roots of all experience.
its
intentness, to be
HOW
128
The sea is the most boundless, most catholic, most ascertainable and obvious of all the natural sacraments, and it is in this sense that they are said in the foem to originate from and return to it. Unlike fire, it does not convey a
sense of rest, but rather one of actio?i mifi?iished, and it is For therefore here typified as the course of all our quest.
same reason it is the most eloquent of all the and that which most nearly touches on the
the
state.
sacramefits,
translatable
rise
It does not seem impossible that a great poet might The the sea's rendering.
least of us
its
margin.
133
There should be no need to say that the sacraments are Their explanation is the ministrant and not explanatory. call of the prophet, who is also the poet, and, as said formerly,
no elucidation can be more than experimental and approxiIt is mate. In the last resource the mystery always rests. the same with the dark or averse sacraments, the ministry And this is why faith is the most abiding seal of evil.
There is a very real sense of man's life in the universe. in which the whole life of man is a recurring act of faith,
by and in which he
experience,
of faith is in kind of testimony is also recurrent incessa^itly in the diurnal life of the ages, it has vast fields of untried investigation, some of which have been entered partly, as we know by the annals of sanctity.
is alive.
The warrant
and although
this
xix
Vtsio7i
PART
OF THINGS
II
The spirit of man has worshipped at many shrines and We hear within us the has dwelt in many gardens of being. perpetuated memories of several natures from which we have emerged successively. We were doubtless in exile then and
we are now in exile. But whence we came first., in so far a past., we stood in no need of education., and we are here as by the last sequence of events in a long series. We are now
under the yoke of education for no other reason than our return. We have not perchance learned the final lessons.,
143
man
is like
a product of sorcery.
External things are communicated to us by virtue of their adjustment with the faculties which express us in just that measure., and possessing that correspondence between the appearance and the reality., which suggests the idea of magic, and herein is the mystery of all the sacraments. The transformation of the Magic of Nature into the Divine Magic This transformation takes place in is the great secret. virtue of another adjustment between the mind quicke^ied by a saving light and the exterrial ministry., which thus becomes sacramental. By yielding implicitly to the enchantment of the first sense of Nature., we condone our exile and abide in a continued illusion, though no doubt it remains benevolent and offers a delectable ministry. Such enchantment dissolves under the consciousness of another citizenship.
XX
Contents
INCENSE
147
Besides the sorcery of Nature there is the instituted Nature really sorcery of the conventions of human life. opens up her secret at all points, and the unknown surges in
through the
fissures,
our restriction has been brought about, we are not intended The occasional contact with this as yet to escape from it.
unknown, which has its physical evidences, is salutary as an assurance of the impermanence of the present sacramental order ; hut our cortex of convention has so addicted us to what can be discerned through it, and has so encompassed us with a reputed and artificial knowledge, that it is seldom,
and as if by accident, that we obtain the brief experiences which are otherwise possible. Convention necessitates convention, and we attain experience now more readily by an
instituted process.
151
that
good on a time
for the sacramentalist to renounce all interpretation, and enjoy for a little the beauty and melody of the outward
signs.
152
of experience, and the sense of dependence is necessary if we are to he taught and led, hut to this passive condition must be added a
strenuous activity
in the maintenance of the souV s life. tongues of men and angels, all power in signs and miracles, all missions and high destinies are surely, apart
The
from
this,
but the
of the outward
life,
and
from
these higher
considerations^ even the simple love of personal independence is an error of enthusiasm^ and the toil which secures it is
but arrogance.
see
To keep
God,
A PORTION OF MY INHERITANCE
and among
157
All highest things appear unpractical to the lesser man^ others the intimations of sacramental life. They are passed over, therefore, by those who regard the admitted
business of existence as of the only moment. That business is Even the material welfare of nations of no moment in itself.
of no consequence apart from eternity : nations must pass. These are hard words to the outward sense. So also when Faith, Hope and the higher Charity call forth a soul, this great election is to simple sense a matter of dole and delusion. It is the result of a bewrayment, as when fairies call forth a maiden to follow some unending quest. few obey the call
is
all
expectations, on one
whom
these
sleep of sunshine.
LA VIE INTIME
Far beneath
legend,
161
and they penetrate sometimes into the sub-conscious In truth we know not all that we abysses of the soul. have passed upon our way, or what mutations are possible to us. Legend says that the sex of a body is changed by The soul in her fantasy underpassing under the rainbow. goes many metamorphoses, and strange gateways of existence The sense of these experiences and their open before her. in terrible prehistoric myths. perpetuated memory are Over
the border-line constituted by the convention or adjustment
between
man and
to stretch
Contents
which the mind differentiates most easily by the ideas of upward and downward^ hut both are really within us. There is a way within the soul by steep -paths into the Divine Uniori ; it might be further than the stars if it were a journey made in space but it is there. There is a way withi?i the soul to a phantasmal under world which
puts on
many
it.
partake
may
lie
in
vestures of the life of sense, but does not really The source of many physical aberrations these stagnant tarns and still pools of our
still
make
possible
many
unsanctified
171
A
Among
ifi
Transcript
imperfectly distinguished.
the universal
life,
the veiled memories of the soul two kinds are One is of the souVs participation
and
sparkles,
welling up
from deeps
surface of our
of water, there may rise upon the consciousness strange sensations of kinship
with clouds, birds, the sunlight on a golden vane, and the These also have I been. But it is : really a fictitious impression which mistakes the present
kinship of all being for psychological identity. The true memory is more usually awakened, among external objects,
by the opening of vast distances, and the soul knows thereby how far she has travelled ; she knows also the vast dista^ices that are within her ; she knows, amidst the twilight of our life, that once the King-Spirit dwelt within her, till the great wars and devastations began, and how then the King went forth. Yet he returns surely to enlighten the city She dreams even that he tarries in the engirding of the soul. secret lands, or that he moves slowly through the outskirts and mean places of the suburbs of the city of man. But
she looks certainly for his entrance.
xxiii
The Quest of
the
Goldeti
Gate
178
HOW
outward sense we lose consciousness of spiritual life, something has in a real manner passed away from us which is beyond all price
ardently pursuing the
life
When
of
of recovery
is
often
hard and dolorous, haunted by a sense of misery which is for us in its realisation greater than the dereliction of Judas Yet the sense of loss is or the timeless want of Lucifer.
the pledge of recovery, and the soul returns into her heritage, as a priest passing into a temple, and saves all her genera-
But the divine must be manifested tions and peoples. within us, and the work is not accomplished until we can say in the symbolism of the poem : Ite, missa est.
VALETE
Having contemplated
all external things,
all
183
these
joyful,
sorrowful
and and
and activity
of all outward humanity, are but lights arid messages pointing us to another path, these measures end
with a certain sense of fulness and accomplishment. As the rendering of a part of that part which reflects the whole, their close, in the seer^s mi?id, is not without summonses and warnings beforehand of other tidings.
the channel of the Divine Voice, and in a certain secret manner he brings God into activity, effectu-
Man
alone
is
ating at all points the latent conformities and correspondences which compose the bond of relationship between the human
and
the Divine.
The
call of grace in
each one of us
is
like
xxiv
Contents
a message from man to man, and it follows us with a sense Man is at the heart of the of human companionship.
universe.
VISTAS OF COMPASSION
191
As
human
life
demonstration, so there are within us many concealed depths which exceed our powers of expression. The sense of them is frequently awakened in an all-mastering maimer by simple
192
T^he rest of Nature is in man, and Nature shares his is like the quest, for she is the line of his limitatioji.
He
sea,
and she
is like
which contains
it.
TO YOU
IN ABSENCE
194
do not see Nature as she is, for we behold too much Beyond these there the exhibition of our own limitations. is the fuller man, the higher truth, the greater beauty and
the undeclared reality.
We
FOUNDATIONS OF SAPPHIRE
196
illuminator of Nature, and i?i She has meanings only because of him, sacraments because he is in need of them, beauty because he can discern it. He responds to all her prophecies with a complete assurance and realises all her yearnings.
his light does she behold light.
.198
the mystic
consciousness of the sleep of Nature is ever present and is explicable by the fact that man, her
XXV
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
informant, is himself in a condition of dream, as indeed is made evident by the grotesque phantasmagoria of accented
human
interests.
many
aspects
of lightfiess that a simple kiss might, we feel, awaken us. Such a kiss is not necessarily that of the death-angel. Prior to this some of us have been awakened wonderfully,
while
many
MIRRORS OF LIFE
200
look through many glasses of Nature, and if at the sacraments do not seem to minister, great parables times
still
We
speak amidst the melodies. The message of every parable, the deeps of every mirror, proffer to us an universal warrant for all our hopes. And this is so of necessity, because the height is reflected in the depth, and the depth
exhales
to
the height.
203
man, which are not of great interest and are then His wings beat restlessly over many full of precious speech. seas and shew forth the souVs great research through the cosmos. But it should he remembered that the soul is not outward bound in reality ; it is rather on a journey to
activities of
intrinsically, convert naturally into parables
Many
the centre.
205
can be made of a paper currency. In a bankrupt nation that currency is valueless, and though it may continue in circulation for a time, it must come to nothing But if there is a treasury where the notes may in the end. xxvi
human
life is to liken it to
Contents
he converted, into that for which they stand as tokens^ then the -pa-per currency is worth the face-value which it bears. That which gives value to temporal life is its convertibility itito life eternal, separated
from which
it is
worthless,
man makes
evident.
.207
when he
is
man is imperfect in his ever on the point of true speaking, and uttered forth she will answer.
inarticulate because
is
He
PHASES
210
The proper study of "Nature is in its infancy. That study which has been so successful, though from another point of view it is so hopeless, in the hands of material
science, increases
the temporal providence and comfort by which man is conditioned more favourably for the attainment of his true end, for which a certain fulness of ease is
desirable
may
God
be re-
duced.
Were
way
to
should
be easier in the castle than the cottage, and in purple and In such a fine linen, rather than in coarse garments.
quest
to
we should
do well
to
be given, that
we may
super-substantial bread.
vestigation of Nature is less important than the study of her symbols, so that we may wrest from her their withdrawn secrets, as storm and darkness shew forth the light
of the end.
211
may
evolution of man is not of much consebe true in the temporal order ; but his
xxvii
him through
the quest.
BE \T COMFORTED
212
;
Do
within
let us
rather take
it
have received its full communication we shall know of that which is beyo7id it. In this way environment is transcended. It may he, as we have seen, that there are other and larger forms of limitation awaiting us, hut God is within and without, as we shall find at length when all the outward orders are for us dissolved.
When we
214
As there is an outward Nature, so there is an external man, and this also must be dissolved. It is indeed one process. To this Nature aspires blindly, hut man knows seeks. what he
216
resource
we can
and must
therefore wait on
that at length
He will manifest
hand
;
the measure of eternity. What is slow is our gift of conscious attainment ; but the deep goes 07i calli?ig to the
deep,
and
LOOK TO
SEE:
A SONG OF VISION
all that
.218
We
saying what
we mean, thinking
from we would
far
Contents
possessing as
we
feel that
we
is
we
are seen.
We
to
feel and.
to
know.,
of triumph.
AT PASSING
222
.....
of regeneration
is
PAGE
225
There are times when the darkness of Nature testifies more profoundly than her splendours., as her silence says more than her speech.
Of
necessity the
Entrancement
The beauty
ture,
...... .......
way
it.
226
through
227
and
which
of
of this world is one of the gates of rapthis is the mode of its glory does not pass away, for the spirit
carries
Whither
The
?........
at Sea
man
228
stars know.
A Dirge
228
Loss and Gain are both precious, hut both can be appraised falsely
Mysteries of Exile
229
Beyond the false lights is a place of sacraments, and that place is a sanctuary.
In Aridity
// we can chant the anthems. Nature will never
fail
to
229
make
the responsions.
xxix
A
Flight
.
.231
-231
Many
akvays at hand
to
of the Infifiite.
Great Expectations
It happens in the providence of things that they create valid titles.
233
To You
Love
IN
is
Glory
both path
233
and
term.,
hut
it is
called sanc-
tity.
The
Blessed Life
234
is purity.,
The
first
gate
and Paradise
is
return
thereto.
Sea Prophecy
234
The
The Invocation
But
and
it is
of the Soul
....
....
found everywhere.,
235
236
The Sea-Fowl
Life
is
.......
XXX
to erect it.
237
bond
not broken.
Contents
PA.GB
Paths of Pilgrimage
All that
is
238
is
visible
the
evidence
of things
unseen.
....
the
239
Beauty
Titles of Nobility
......
and
is also
Holy Place.
239
Symbols of the outward journey^ in search of that which is taken back ifito the Union.
242
The Sanctuary
is
Stella
Rover's
......... .......
at the great height.
man
is
remade
244
Hymn
is
245
When
that which
is
which
within,
thither.
Vision of Stars
248
The
state of attainment is pictured after many manners, because it is not given unto the simple heart of man to understand what " God hath prepared for those who love
Him.''
251
the shadows to reality, and in the world of reality we shall remember, it may be, the shadows, for these have also served. xxxi
A
a
Wherefore, Courage
Dejection has also
'perfect end.
its
252
ministers^
who lead
it
to
Manifestation
Life
is a time of wooing
253
death is mystery a of the bridal night.
;
thereafter
it is
The Reaper
The work of salvation is the great work of man, and those who would go back whence they came must remember that this journey is
not taken alone.
253
254
they
too
are
Doom
Intimations of quest and term.
255
Foundation of Hope
Amidst all member
deviations,
.....
is
257
it
something
to
re-
the path.
The Rosy
Cross
257
All true gods are in our likeness, and at the term of all it is ?nafi who attaints himself.
In Excelsis
Them a
'258
259
is
within
us.
AuRELiA
"
The
Spiritual Chrysalis
man and
beast.''"'
xxxii
Contents
PACK
The Invocation
In the great
-palaces
261
of the universe there are
many
Azalea
hierarchies.
264
That which has left us returns after many days, if it have truly a part in us.
Distraction
For which reason we prepare
to
266
depart in peace.
Immanence
All pageants signify the
268
One
Presence.
The
Soul's Lineage
269
to
a bond of union.
269
is
Love
is also justified ;
yet
many ways.
270
way
of salvation.
Fragmentum
The most difficult and his soul.
Witnesses of Silence
of all trysts is that of a
271
man
272
The
Key, and
if this
hidden
it is
lost.
We
273
life.
A Hard
An
Saying
indirection concerning Divine Love.
274
of
Paths of Zi ion
PAGE
Other Manhoods
All
life is
humanity in one of
The Poet
Speaks
......
Ship.
its processes.
275
Lessons of the
Lunar
PATHS OF ZION
Ministries of Grace
......
and, their virtue
I
279
PART
Holy Place.
I.
In Civitate Dei
Magna
II.
Eidolon
III.
IV. To Other Ends V. And so Forward Nature Helps VI. VII. Master-Building VIII. The End Crowns IX. With Harp and Crown
How
293 295
of the Soul.
Proemium
II.
....
xxxiv
299 300
Contents
III.
Worlds of Ministry
,
301
IV. Great Sacraments V. Choirs made Visible VI. To Isles of Light VII. An Image of the World VIII. For thy Marriage IX. Talismanic Magic
303 305
at
Mass and
also to serve
it,
not-
withstanding those reservations which have been read into all the missals, making many nncanonical rubrics. Herein
is
House which
is
called the
House of
God.
Greater Disillusion
The Voice of the Beloved Le Moyen de Parvenir And so Onward The Secret Name The Cause Pleaded The Other Way
Foundations of Victory For the Crown and the Kingdom The Last End Purgation An Opening of the Gates The Gate and the Way
.
319 320
321 321
The
Secret of Success
Consummation
Ascetic Life
326 326
327 328 329 330
331 331
On
the
Way
to Jerusalem
.
Expression
Thou Only
Venite Probation
.
Vessels of Election
Interdiction Unities Misfits Journeys in the Blue Distance Restoration Secret Song. Mirrors of Manhood Facilis Ascensus Nunc Dimittis
The
Manner
.
To Other Ends
Dies Venit
.
Of
Priestcraft
352 353
XXXVl
VOL.
I.
SctenlJiim est
iifta
ftjitur,
liona omiua,
I'n
quifatis
nostra
cansistit,
sarramcntis
eitcrnfs
tccta ac
mbohita
Speculum
Domini
Joannis^ Rusbrochii
in the
Home
for
name.
Although with
By need impell'd he builds him in the waste Rude inns and falling houses of his hands
To overlook the melancholy lands And all his shrouded, sad environment.
When
About
from Life Divine, to exile he wrought body fitted to the halting thought
first,
sent,
those who slowly yield to fever'd sleep. Praying, if long, it may be also deep. Yet counting scarcely on a true repose. Since strife in place of peace such slumber knows. And then, because that frame was frail and cold, He built him other tenements to hold His nakedness, lamenting in the gloom Tent, temple, palace ere, in fine, the tomb. But though the body, warm'd by hearth and bed, Came through some makeshifts to be comforted.
Of
His haunted
Still cried
soul,
aloud that
fate
vacant faces of a spectral horde. the soul built with shame the House of Lust, " -" Here is also dust Where hands emblazon And though strange voices crying "Come away!" Sound in the darkness, to this latest day The transient buildings round about us rise. One bond connects them in fantastic wise Houses of Sleep they are, to anxious dreams Devoted semblances of thinors and themes. Dim images derived from otherwhere. Yea, this is also true the House of Prayer Is part and parcel of that mystic trance Through which our Momus pageantries advance, And no one wakes of all whom sense enrings.
The
And
secret things Bears witness in us of a kindling hour Through all strange seizures still it speaks with power, And those most conscious of their sleeping state Are haply drawing to the waking gate. Peace on the Houses of their trance Unfold,
;
!
Great Dawn, on tarnish'd eyes, thy wells of gold And past all melancholy, clouded lands Bring tidings of the House not built with hands.
Alte7''nation
ALTERNATION
Thou
One
But another window looks Over marshes and their brooks And thy garden paths, between Brooks and window, intervene
When
Hear
II
Lest the great, insistent sea Day and night adjuring thee
By the secret word it sings. Take too far from human things
For
a little space apart,
Hear
the singing in
if
my
heart
And
things beyond thee make So much music for thy sake. Hearken, from thy seat above,
love
THE SECOND
Renew d for
For every eye that
SENSE
;
are the meanings which they hear Like limpid depths of lakes and water-brooks^ Does each who reads discern his image there.
And many
Nature and
In
still
some can charm it thence purports deep by which the soul is stirr'd Lurk seldom in the manifested word. As many intimations darkly shew, Suggesting higher search to those who know. Far in ourselves the secret meaning lies. And till we read therein with our own eyes miss those heights we dream of and grow lean Through famish'd longing after things unseen Divined, not held.
cool wells, and
The
We
Symbolic
give that meaning shapes such signs the force escapes. take the letter of life's Word our wit. In strange metathesis, we wear on it And so all trace of any point expel. We say, the Word is lost but who shall tell ? few fond souls proclaim And who has found ^ Their mission to make known its scope and aim O vain assurance of the heart As if Earth's wisest speak, except in hieroglyph, The deep Or offer more than images Gives these up ; from still tarns of silence leap Visions and voices, but the things discern'd Are neither new nor those for which we yearn'd. One testifies " The dead in Him abide. And His forgiveness sets all wrath aside."
We
in
We
One
So leave
I
it
therefore, friends
it
:
also leave
lies
Which
with one last word thus the sense unheard for ever those bright veils behind
Of
all
Mind,
Eluding
approximating
God known truly of the heart. did I start in mountain or abyss, 1 could not choose but end at last in this From wayside taverns turning should behold That this one key unlocks all towers of gold Or rising fever'd out of beds of sin Most truly feel it and to speak begin ;
Shall yield to
art,
Nor more
That
this
in cloisters praying
is
could recall
end of end and all in all. If things so many underneath the sun Thus lead me ever to the arms of One,
Ye who do likewise deeply crave, forgive Turn to this last again and, turning, live.
So much, without distortion or offence, man may venture towards the second sense. All pools heaven rains in and all seas untrod Go on reflecting heaven beyond is God ;
And And
Great is the ministry of books^ and, great Their consolation in our mean estate ; But hearts^ whose aches prolong with every beat^ Find them, like Nature's breathings, incomplete.
CUPS
THAT
PASS IN
THE NIGHT
Great were the taverris where we used to dwells Fired by strong cufs which we could drain of yore ; The stories great which once we used to tell And maxims^ now repeated never more ; Could any scribe have follow'' d us how great Were truths we found in cups at early hours arid late.
And
Sees
He, dipping deeply in a vintage rare. it is his own body lying there. And, in confusion, calls on ghosts without As boon companions in his watch to share
sorry rout.
So chaos moved, distracted in the night, Conceiving horror of its depth and height.
Saw
Till that
Made
light appear.
Then all great forces strove its rays to reach As travellers at an inn the cups of each And Tohu held with Bohu orgie high From which creation, full of silver speech,
Sprang by and bye.
8:
tn
the
Night
;
Then did the morning stars together sing, As feasting princes who their glasses ring The Dionysian chorus swell'd above
Joy's shout was lifted
upon
transport's wing,
As
love
lifts
love.
And
As
still
the uplifted cup holds blood-red wine And still the Cosmos, in its Moenad dance,
From
age to age, with eyes that brighter shine, Spins into trance.
'
We
From earth's quintessence shaped to make us man, And that which Nature sketches in first place
We
raise
through purlieus
Towards
of grace.
Like chaos once, we dwelt, old friend, alone. And drank with cold hearts, foreign to our own, Or, in our solitude, perchance with none So to true life were dead as any stone
Or
We
Do each in each reflect with love, not fear And when the heart withm us cries for light
We,
What
morning stars, together sing. time in unison our glasses ring, With cosmic minds matured in vintage fine. Exalting ever upon rapture's wing iEonian wine.
like the
And
on some purpose bent, grandly forward, fill'd with high content, Moves down the road of years withdrawn. We, slowly each tavern where Note from the night is spent Each breaking dawn.
as creation,
a vintage song.
is
!
good, though ways be long Strange cups pass too among the stars encrown'd The ecstasy is great, the wine is strong
:
What
Or waking, as of eyes in earthly ways, Under the crimson splendours of the morn.
But something greater which from both
is
born
And
That Madeline of white and red Now, list Rose-blooms was wrought, who doubts ? The wise
!
have said And the gold hair, assuredly, of her Shone once upon the King-Sun's royal head. As all the speaking parables aver, Whence sunshine loves so well to brood thereon But all of scarlet was the Flying Swan lO
And
Saying
so commission'd over starry tides, Dear heart, have courage, a rest abides
:
Now
thus
it is
Of heaven's
great space
upon
his flight
he keeps
upon the
Scarlet Swan,
Pours floods of light, and ever and anon, Athwart his path, the comets with a crash
Hurtle, the falling meteors seethe and flash Dark worlds, bereft of all the fire within, Blind in the void about him feebly spin
;
And
where
in
Shew myriad
flies.
For deep rest indeed ? dreaming of the waters cool, The clear brown stillness of some shaded pool, A nest engirded by a world of reed ? I know at least, with keen eyes fix'd before. And fiU'd with frighten'd longing, evermore He labours night and day to reach his end On Madeline, of Mary's gift, alone, As legends tell, for help his wings depend, Lest he faint somewhere on his paths unknown.
The Scarlet Swan to Mary's gift With her it rests that he shall
is
bound
;
:
When she on earth is full of goodness found, Strength and high purpose to his heart ascend. When Mary's gift aspires to Mary's throne, And with the will of heaven unites her own, Asleep on dreaming wings he softly glides And towards his end is drawn by silent tides But when from maiden grace and fair estate She stoops awhile, sad is the wanderer's fate
;
II
and
stress
;
Of
and
With
Alone,
desolating shrieks his heart appal St. Mary's gift ; what weariness
Now, therefore, Madeline shall, inly stirr'd By this most faithful legend's secret word.
That
Reflect for ever in her heart thereon. so all grace and strength the Scarlet
Swan
is
May
and sleep be
till
his,
With winds
O joy
that favour,
he reach where
Spirit under crown, After such struggles, shall God applaud the pains, Dear heart, be welcome peace remains Saying
Stars,
and a thousand
stars,
and
lilac lift
God
IN SILENCE
;
SPACE of sleep vouchsafe the Lords of love To wake at length they grant who reign above Meanwhile, but substitutes for rest their schemes
;
Dispense,
till
sh:ill
move
To
They
free us
swoon
so well
Alone can break the bars and bonds of spell But surely comes the wakening at last, When each to each of his strange toils shall As of old dangers past. 12
tell
We
shall
in sleep
With
summer sky
Thy
What
gleams high up on yonder distant hill. This moment brought in view The white road Great soul, to stand upon that soaring peak And feel the wind of heaven on either cheek
.^
But
And
that which
there aside
Wide uplands slope upon the left and right. The trees grow denser towards the airy height.
Freshens the wind advancing. We shall pass furlong's space over the light lawn-grass The quickset hedge will part, the path will take
Our steps a little into bower and brake, Then into forest shade and mystery.
So, if
we
we
What revelations may, in glades conceal'd And sudden clearings, be to eye reveal'd What shapes of beauty down green vistas wait And who sings sweetly at the farmyard gate
;
Or, when those distant bells' sweet jangles cease. Feel what it is which gives the woodland peace,
13
The peak again invites the climber's feet. So we who have explored the green retreat.
And
something of
its
moment
turn'd,
rest to climb
To-day, to-morrow, or
in after time.
nuptials,
and
know
can learn of unions here below ; But the soul, coming from some far-off place. Beholds not now the Royal Bridegroom^ s face.
What flesh
And
Give up, O void of voids, the marriage-song ! Above eartFs jarring measures and their noise.
Call us "
i?i
Whom God
room
:
for
^ that none can put asunder But seeing that two lovers in one bed So Love itself will teach Seem parted each from each. As star from star is parted overhead, This question still recurs
Whom
hath
God
14
join'd
.^
Of True and
Whom
False Marriages
Think you, his flesh to hers stratagem from other arms purloin'd, And she not surely first, nor he the last While simple passion is so quickly past Or courts remain to utter their decrees ? But think you any marriage of the flesh ? True, they shall part not when their earth is dead Who, few and rarely, in their souls are wed. Past doubt, eternity, assuming these, Transfigures the old bonds or welds afresh But their true souls how few on earth have found, Much less with others have their own been bound, And skin-deep v/edlock with the joys it brings Scarce counts among indissoluble things.
;
Alas, the souls which once God join'd, through Deep-seated mischief, to divorce have come
some
And
it is
From From
Or
only when desires within height exceeding height some lustre vnw space-immensities of winter's clime
Naked we
are,
And conscious only of what pain attends The isolation on our course imposed. The bar on prospects from all points disclosed
Yea, on the nuptial night
man
lies
alone
And
own
Of such
are
Of loving kindness seek the healing touch, And let us deal with those who share our lot
As
if all
Keep,
if
mercy were, all judgment not we may, through this life's stormy weather,
.''
join'd together. did God join Man to the star he seeks. Sea to the soul to which the sea-deep speaks } But here are also types symbols fair.
What
Off with these bonds Over the great abyss The far-off hope proclaims what union is. And all that cannot rest in man's vast deep Till it returns to God and there finds sleep Has since creation in our inmost cried
:
What God
hath join'd
who
v/as
it
dared divide
GREAT SILENCES
Ah,
Ah, trees that know not rest sighing grass All life of earth, pressing to ends afar. Heart's flight of man and hurry of every star Where ends your quest What go ye forth to find
!
'^.
i6
Viat icum
VIATICUM
He who He who
Leave
hath made it will mend began it must end it
it.
it to
Him.
foor thou art. Weak of purpose and frail in heart Thy hopes are vague and dim.
Stretch forth a hand and try If thou canst touch the sky ; Lift up thine eyes and see How far ^tis over thee Over all reach ! Quit then the hour is late Leave unto Him, to fate ; Great may take care of great. Each star of each I
Weary and
Those books, my friend, you purchased yester Though treating faithfully a certain art.
Contain not that you fondly
(Brother, a
little
eve,
while
and we depart
now
believe
!)
This habitation by the mere and stream. For wood-shade peace, self-promised long ago. Will not afford the rest of which you dream (Come, lock up house, my friend, and leave it so
:
!)
The
wealth which took you hand in hand with sin stand knocking at a certain gate, golden key to let you in no forge Will (Make haste, one further step, the hour is late !)
When you
VOL.
I.
17
What
!
Stifle the unseemly stir (Toll slowly horror falls upon the house of loss
mine
which soon
treasures
!)
Be In
still,
HEMLOCK
You know
It
all,
matters scarcely how the light may fall, stars in the night their beacons lift. So little also brings the morning's gift
Or what
We
Of
late or early
Nature
stir,
idly
how
it
When
all
in the
at
Or how
noon her children take their fill the good which warmth in brightness
so
brings.
Who
Having
much, unmurmuring,
behind
.?
Of all the morning splendours of the mind And all life's midway majesty and pride
One great detachment puts the soul aside From the fair outward fields which Nature owns.
Since
some time sadly seeking certain thrones, Remember'd ever through a world of wrong.
The soul went forth. She, having journey'd long Amidst the sorrows of secluded tracts.
Among
Above the common zones of human thought, One burden of sad knowledge thence has brought That in such altitudes all stars look thin.
So, 'twixt the throne
Hemlock
And
that last dizzy peak of precipice to stand, the great abyss
silently.
Now, hence it is that though the With sight herein it is not satisfied. Nor is the ear by hearing occupied,
eye
may
see,
And
nothing ministers of
all
things round.
For as the man who looking to be crown'd Amidst high pageantry at eve, if left
Outside the palace, of all state bereft. Would little comfort find that Western skies Shew over wide meads phantom pageantries. And though the stars might shine in all their state Would still keep knocking at the Palace Gate So, dedicated unto larger things Than all solicitudes of earthly kings. And having strongly striven to ascend Where great gods are, but having miss'd our end, By reason of the gulfs which intervene
:
We
this is desolation ; hemlock here drink henceforth through all the aching void, Taking the cross of our fair hope destroy'd, No longer with the scheme of things in touch. But lest our mingled cup should over-much
And
Embitter us, and those whom thought intense Has worn, seem ravaged by the work of sense, Like any worldling underneath the sun We still remember that which once was done.
On
We
that last dizzy peak of precipice were held only by the great abyss
19
Or
most may turn from mortal things longing for unearthly wings,
at the
Still in
the chaplet which fame attends But the great deep's voice in the distance dim Said Peace, it is well ; they are seeking Him.
:
And some on
I heard that all the world was questing, look'd for a palmer's staff and found. By a reed-fringed pond, a fork'd hazel-wand On a twisted tree, in a bann'd waste-ground But I knew not then what the sounding strings Of the sea-harps say at the end of things.
When
I
told me, world, you were keen on seeking around for a scrip to hold Such meagre needs as the roots of weeds
I
They
;,
cast
Yet
All weeds, but one with a root of gold I knew not then how the clangs ascend When the sea-horns peal and the searchings end.^
;
An
With twelve
old worn wallet was that they gave me. old signs on its seven old skins
a star
I
And
good of my soul, Lest the darkness came down on my sins For I knew not who in their life had heard
stole for the
Of the
20
At
I
the
End
of Things
While
follow'd the false ways far and wide, thousand cheats in the lanes and streets Offer'd that wavering crowd to guide But what did they know of the sea-reed's speech When the peace-words breathe at the end for each
a
Which
The fools fell down in the swamps and marshes The fools died hard on the crags and hills The lies which cheated, so long repeated,
Deceived, in spite of their
evil wills.
Some knaves themselves at the end of all Though how should they hearken when sea-flutes
But me the
I
call ?
scrip
and the
;
staff
had strengthen'd
me
The
As
a
Do
clamour of voices heard in sleep, Come shouts through the dark on the shrouded deep.
Now
The
it is
noon
Pipes, harps
sea,
fall
conceding my star's true leading. In tongues sublime at the end of all Gives resonant utterance far and near " Cast away fear ;
:
Be
of good cheer
is here^
He
And now
Even
Is here I''
I
know
that
sought
Him
I
as child,
when
for flowers
only sought
In the sins of youth, as in search for truth. To find Him, hold Him alone I wrought. The knaves too seek Him, and fools beguiled
So speak to them
also, sea-voices
mild
21
my
thought
Who
men.
His brothers, by the haste of eager days Distracted, in due season, if in part. fair world before me now Interpret.
But yet not more than commonly removed, And, strong and sweet, God's voice moves over
In winds which freshen
;
it
in the burnish'd
sky
The
Autumn
winds
His eyes
What
if in
the South
Some dark clouds roll, and, gather'd in the West Below great banks, of black, foreboding mien, Far droop long tendrils down of angry light ? These hold some other mystery of God Behind them and a pearl is in the mist
;
On
At my
feet.
O'er all this down, the heath's dark green and rich Now it breaks Begins to burst with blossom. Yes, breaks the sunshine forth ; all heaven looks out, Earth strips all shades to greet me. Like a voice. The beauty round me calls on every side " Awake Arise " And broad on farther slopes 22
:
At
that
Door
The road ascends, while all the loose brown earth Of fields plough'd newly glows with amber hues.
Fair sleeps the vale between us
pastures rich,
Speech
in the
winds indeed-
An
too eloquence of silence, in the holds Of solemn shadow such a frequent hint Of high intelligence, on secret things So wisely brooding ; by our doors, our hearts. On every side the earth puts forth a bridge. Or lifts a ladder, or a path makes smooth From less to more, till earth of all the worlds Is nighest thing to heaven and star to man.
still life
but in the
Hereof
is
When something learn'd in silence fills the heart And finds the kindred message spell'd without.
AT THAT DOOR
In the late night
I
full
stood by mine
White mists
roll'd
The house was lock'd, and desolate and void, The forecourt wild and damp without The rose was scatter'd and the vine destroy'd
Loose
tiles
From ragged eaves the stealthy moisture dripp'd The moss upon the steps was green The foot along the reedy pathways slipp'd
;
On
No link was set within the time-worn sconce, No lamp in porch to shew the way;
Cypress and yew
To
No loving hand was there to let me in, No voice behind the portal spoke,
But
at the knocker's
hall's
The
And
yet,
meseem'd,
But
still
The moon leans sideways from the sky. And in the dark East speaks no saffron cloud Of morrow's morning nigh.
Ah, what distress Acold beside its
!
dumb
And
If
ILLUMINATION
With
his old snake-heart within does not lay his outward form aside. Yet can his old life from his new divide.
Man
24
Illumination
II
simple words which follow shall direct Right well and pleasantly all hearts elect, And little children of the world to come ; But unto others be in meaning dumb Vague voices which delight on inward seas in cryptic images All storm and wrath May hearts that read these maxims sweetly reach the truths exceeding speech Late, if not soon
The
Ill
What makes us say that underneath the sun The toil we call our own is toil undone
Finds work, when others
sleep, for
hand and
heart,
repose shapes obstacles to art ? It is the sense of trust which burdens thought In these wild ways, ungovern'd and untaught.
And from
We
But
came some solemn purpose to fulfil. till encompass'd in its whole extent
cannot prove that we indeed were sent, yet be sure we do the Master's will.
IV
We
Nor
And
Something has gone before us in the past. something more must follow at the last.
Man
With
enters
VI
dwelt in darkness ere his birth occurr'd oft in darkness still his strife is heard. Toiling a higher title to attain His throes are those of being born again.
He
And
25
The
Such earthly
on him
as
Nature knows,
wells
;
And sustenance is his from brimming Of its white sacraments and parables
Through
all its veils
Of greater
Which
orders
passing
VIII
When
The The
come down into this world they take of the books, their thirst to slake spirit in the Temple's place conferr'd Is in the inmost Temple only heard ; And that which darkness doth from dawn divide Renders it always night, the soul outside.
souls
letter
IX
As every
No
Save in that shrine which earth's eye never sees, The place withdrawn of the Great Mysteries. Subject and object there Plotinus found United truly on a common ground. What place is that } Ye neophytes it lurks Deep in the heart of these external works
High
Only
can dispense
And
The
can at most in empty hearts arouse hunger for the beauty of the House.
26
A
Now,
last,
life
Dream
XI
of yune
remember that which none denycan enter into sanctity, And yet no mere morality shall gain That vision which the pure in heart attain.
Clean
XII
But what is raised magnetically draws All things to reach it this is law of laws.
:
XIII
A golden
Which open
A DREAM OF JUNE A
SPLENDID pageantry of sunset takes
The dreamer forth along this winding road, What time the dew-fall in the roses makes,
silently, its night abode time the hedge-rose lifts a coral cup. About the dew's cool treasure closing up. Now sunset roses o' er the wintry way Alone recall the rose of yesterday.
;
Descending
What
With fragile petals delicate of hue The sweetest flower that in our country blooms
This wayside
rose, 'neath heaven's imperial blue. Dispenses its ineffable perfumes, While dying daylight's gold and scarlet flood With sudden glory tinges leaf and bud. The snow-drift quenches now the dying beam Rose and dee-p rose of sunset both a dream.
27
floral chalice,
May
on the hedge so high, gentle rains, that soothe the thirsty land,
!
Refresh thy blossom from a gracious sky May thorns for ever from the rustic hand Thine elfin beauties jealously defend, And thy last petal to its latest end May dark December s bleak and dreary stress Be soothed with memories of thy loveliness !
!
temper'd winds about thy spaces green Breathe light in modulated music low May golden bees, when thy full bloom is seen, Extract its mellow sweets to overflow The deep recesses of their tree-built homes, To fill with winter stores their honeycombs And in mans image-haunted hives of thought Not all in vain may thy June sweets be sought
!
May
Those Ariel children, born of summer's bliss, The moths that flit through fruitful fields beyond, With wings of azure, where thy beauty is For ever hover in a silence fond And, with deep rapture all the day long ringing. May thy fair world ne'er want a lark's blithe singing The leaves of thought which thy sere 'petals hold
! !
O may
Through all night's calm and visionary space, In glow-worm haunted thicket, or deep vale,
Abide
at hand, musician of thy grace
;
And
With
all
rapture ravish, by delight control Soft falls the snow from leaden lift above
Soft in our hearts re-pose^
O flower
of love !
28
A
The
Investing
all in
Free
Way
sky
?
poet's benediction
Was that thy blush upon the western Was that thy beauty over field and fell
gorgeous panoply
all
?
things here,
Thy
fragrance
proclaims that thou art near! with us under Christmas snows^ For us the Rose ne'er dies long live the Rose !
still
And
every utterance sadly sets towards close The shadow of life itself has ceased to fall Ferment and sap of life no longer work All the quick light is still'd in shroud of murk Yet it is daylight shortly^ torrid sun ; thousand Roses in the -place of one I
A FREE WAY
The
green hedge grows by the dull wayside,
And, for no sweet reason or artful sense. But merely a landmark, rises the fence, While a gate in that fence stands wide.
Close
on the further
side
random foot-way
Its
falters
narrow track in the woodland screening. The hedge is ragged, the shoots spring high Through gaps and breaches one sees the sky You would doubt if even a dreamer's eye Could clothe it with secret meaning Nor seems that twig, from the rest up-rising Twelve inches straight in the air or more, 29
;
A guide-post pointing an
For Yet on
a
unknown
shore
good stout
heart's emprizing.
when the moon is late certain nights In front of the moon's disc, dark and straight, With a single leaf will the twig stand clear, Moved by the night-wind's hand unseen And a still small voice in the dreamer's ear Begins to murmur and keen. Very softly there, very sadly here, Sway'd South or North by the viewless hand, " The leaf says " Here it is Faerie Land
: !
TAnd
then,
more
plainly
that looks further is searching vainly never so near Near, near The gate is open, the path is free " It is now, if ever, to hear and see
"
He
And
see for
one
through
a leaf
this
message coming
In the midst of the dusk night's drowsy hummingThat to him who can hear and understand this is the entrance of Faerie Land,
Why
May
impart
Some secrets hidden in Nature's heart. Hence I conclude that the end of things
Exceeds not the sweep of an angel's wings. And, by these spread widely from base to marge, We know He has given His angels charge.
SEASONS
For
ever the
autumn and
spring
And
Summer which
But oh for the cleansing fount, Dear heart, of the Holy Mount, For which ever the true heart yearns 30
Of
Sleeping
and Waking
A NIGHT PIECE
On
On
At
that one boat
the drench'd sands and shallow, windless sea, which rocks, with one bare mast,
And
anchor, on a hundred naked groynes. on the desolate and sinking house, With crumbling turrets facing towards the tide, There falls, like stillness on the close of Time the sad, grey night. In soft and mournful mist
stirr'd
with the questing word, Which would the hidden mystery reveal And the King's hurts and all the country heal. Therefrom the woe wax'd greater, more and more. So also we, who our sad state deplore. Of hidden oracle and holy lips Ask secret lights, the passwords and the grips
lips that
;
And
moved not
from the veil replies Sleep falls full heavy on our souls and eyes. And, whatsoe'er is spoken or withheld.
vision
nothing to our senses spell'd. Knight of Arthur's court, after great stress You saw the hallows which could heal and bless May we in time our long enchantment break And to the word of life from sleep awake
It utters
31
LOSS
AND GAIN
We lost We know
Which
Wore,
as
long ago ; we dream not how, The spirit with a brow not where. high thoughts hallow'd, full of peace in them
it
some
diadem
is.
But crowns
and
this
or a symbol
What,
therefore, did
we
lose
?
and why
Was
our home beyond the far blue sky But home is only where the soul, above
These anxious ways, finds sleep of perfect love, While the same heaven which draws our hearts, we know, Extends not more above us than below. Whence, therefore, this so dimly understood Yet haunting sense within us of the good Wherein we once rejoiced which evermore Through mournful ways of life we now deplore ? Ah, if the heart could learn, the heart might find Or, at least, less inhibited and blind. Move on more conscious where the ways direct. What to avoid aware and what expect.
;
!
Here
is
One gain is theirs who thus in dark advance As best they can, peering with hoodwink'd eyes
more splendid, and surprise The sweeter, for the gloom and its dismay, When night in fine and hoodwinks pass away A hand has guided and a hand shall lead
Light comes
at last
perchance
32
Of Consummation
OF CONSUMMATION
Wise,
heart,
is
Not
the pains.
The
is
it
the
Wise
are
lips
which have
learn'd
lips
For that which our fain mouths burn to kiss and loving arms to embrace Has never been given to lips or arms in the world of time and space.
Wise
all, is
he
who
is
does not
service ot
swerve aside.
But knows
earth denied
Who,
least things asking of flesh and blood, and less than the least of rest. Goes on demanding the perfect good and disdaining the
second
best.
After
Shall
toil
in
his
starry tracks,
come
to
VOL.
I.
33
light
cries
can
IN
ANY GARDEN
in a garden when noon was past. thyme-sweet bank reclining Half dream'd, half thought of the peace unbroken After the breeze to the rose has spoken, And ere it rises, where light so still is. To breathe of love to the shining lilies. Over the bower was the bindweed twining. And beyond the lily's last white cup Life's mystery yielded its secret up So the end seem'd clear at last As in any garden, when noon is past.
I
dream'd
a
On
II
Thought,
my
steps attend.
And
the
first is
named
Way
End
is
sought
soul.
Now
But
I
as to the third, I
have search'd
my
not well, for His face is dim. If love can divine the great name of Him, Yet I dream that His name is The Goal
Say, have
know
Have you
\vi
also by these been taught } not seen them, from first to last, any garden, when noon is past }
you
34
THE
Kept well Few quests
That
KING'S SECRET
closely kept
too
or so
it
seems
Long since in the first garden of the world, Withdrawn to-day in the most secret place
Of all concealment, baffles reason's search. God veils His glory from our questing eyes We know not why few claims are ours to press
;
But still the longing and the hope remain. Poor baffled reason in the end perchance
Finds her spent forces unto new give place.
While
The
in the soul at length, from all apart, glory dawns, and in the depths thereof still voice breathes the Secret of the King.
Our
35
HAUNTINGS
From
Drives
life's first
dawn
till
now, when
life's
new
stress
things swifter into consciousness, Earth has been full of those strange secret things
all
Which we touch sometimes in our quickenings. So in the veils which commonly divide From what we vaguely term the further side,
Rent or thin place makes possible to see That which encompasses so pressingly. There is no man, however steep'd in sense. But can recall some such experience. When dusk or dark or daylight dimly gave
Suggestions which are deeper than the grave,
Till soul in
body for
moment
felt
Contact with souls that in no flesh have dwelt. 'Tis then we know there is a houseless host Of incomplete humanities, of ghost And spectral people, who, from dregs and lees And depths of stagnant and unconscious seas Exhaled, their evolution's course begin, But, though remote, are still our kith and kin, And by the process of the years advanced Shall reach, like us, their share of light enhanced. You cannot draw your blinds at eventide And not leave thousands in the dark outside You cannot fling the windows wide at morn But there are thousands, as on sunbeams borne Sad is their lot, midst all their crowds alone. To none responding and by all unknown.
;
:
And
For
By
human heart great travail, of which theirs solidarity of all things here.
yet the pity in the
life's
is
part.
souls, so far
36
Ah
pity, tenderness
And
the Great
God
with a mighty cry I need thee, eye to eye mortal life she set
:
Aside thereat and, featly, came virgin soul of purest flame Their deep eyes met.
:
From out
He
From
mortal
and bond.
They left their bodies side by side The blessed bridegroom and the bride
And
The And
soar'd beyond.
paths of light their presence own zones beyond the starry zone light outshining suns for them Is granted as a diadem And, where no mortal steps have trod. They follow the high quest of God.
;
37
DREAMS OF DEATH
In stormy in darkness and in stress^ In languor and deef weariness^ What wonder if^ o'er life's dark deep That tossing sea which dare not sleep
From time
to
An
home?
troubled sleep of man endures, it seems, too long laid waste with evil dreams not even with his latest breath, And sad and lonely are the dreams of death. May those who did with sleep of sense inbind Vouchsafe, compassioning, to free the mind. For heavy vapour doth the heart enring I, more than all, should pray for wakening These many years in mortal slumber kept. What if, indeed, my time is overstept And the great hour I should have known is past, So that the only tenant in the vast And silent place of sleep, in vain I beat
The
Wings
weariful and weary hands and feet Against the gates, with clamour and ado But there is no more hope of passing through
If morn will come Long seem'd it never
!
It is
so long to wait
When
forth
toil,
an image fix'd, come to hearten me. love should and eve Till
38
Dreams
But
I
of
Death
went forth one morning when the free Spring breath found ambush in her sunny hair,
Which opulence of
Standing so statue-tall, as saints might, crown'd. And the child with her in the garden ground. Where heavy scent of hyacinths abode. Hard by the dusty tumult of the road, That artless picture shone in equal grace With any sacrament of angel's face ;
And
in
my
it
stirr'd
The solemn rumours of that secret word Which Nature must not utter lest she cease.
So as I pass'd abroad, with inward peace. All suddenly methought that it was long Betwixt the Matins-time and Evensong Then, midst a strange confusion in the mind At many cries before me and behind, I knew that I should go back never more That never gate should open as before, Nor door swing back, nor scented dusk reveal The eyes which welcome and the hands which heal Being by sad calamity or sin Absorb'd for ever by the gulf within ; And, disinherited of earthly shape, Doom'd self in self to find, nor e'er escape Even by plunging deeper in the gloom Such is the unlighted secret of my tomb.
;
Long have
is
found,
And my
Amidst the purblind air and vapours dim For it seems idle now to call on Him
Who
Is
as
have
said,
my sole hope of waking from the dead And all the ghostly semblances which fill
With
their
own dread
39
O
At
but
least to
pray that I may find some track my old life directing back,
And
The The
arms may there enfold shared with me the sleep of old, little child whose innocence and mirth Seem'd newly waken'd in the life of earth Rather than aught which play'd in dreams of sleep.
that
my dreaming
wife
who
an anthem full of meaning deep thought from souls entranced could drive, And save from phantoms of the night alive There is a promise which from old has said How rest from labour on the blessed dead In peace descends Give me their balm once more, And they, perchance, repeated o'er and o'er, Shall yet become to me a gospel word. With grace to die hereafter in the Lord.
is
There
Which
evil
Ah^
let
us rest
as
much
as
men may
do
Those faithful homes within where hearts are true^ Because without the darkness and the cold
Hide
laidly shapes
And
hard
it
and monstrous growths from view^ fares with those who shall behold I
WORLDS OF DREAM
sun descended in a flaming mist God's world beneath it wide, waste downs. Blue sky, serene and beautiful, and thou. Half-shrouded sea, mysterious, with smooth, Far-reaching bay, for miles and miles the land Embracing steep'd therein, divinely glow'd Through deepening orange clouds ... sudden
The
And
all
change,
40
Land upon my
;
right,
with towns and towers therein. Enchanted, dreaming on the left, this world. Which sober'd sadly towards a single tint As night fell down thereon. It did not sleep. It did not wake, but ever as the wind
capes and
cliffs,
With
Grew
keener, utter'd
life.
its
disquietude,
Sole sign of
Of
reality
a start
tremulous heart. In the dark of the night rose I Had a voice unknown of a day to break Utter'd some warning cry } But the East was cold, and the thin white fold
a
.
And
Of a light mist up to the windows roll'd. And the leaves by the windows wept.
'Tis a
mournful thing,
at a
time so dead.
To wake uncall'd and with stealthy tread And the hush'd breath inward kept
From room
Pass,
To
darken'd lamp and pass'd There was none in the house that slept so fast As he who wallc'd in his sleep. Over the stairs I peer'd and found, With head to breast, by his lantern's side, On the porter's bench was the porter bound, I knew not whether in sleep or swound, While heavy-eyed by the doorway wide Lay drowsy henchman and dreaming hound.
It carried a
:
the latch
thatch,
and stall and stye, But I never came on an open eye. For the roosting fowl, that crow'd unbidden. Slept with his beak in his plumage hidden. Far and sad, in a world of reeds, A shoal brook slipp'd through the marsh and meads, With no more sound than the dark lagoon.
visited stable
Dead
still,
moon
The moon on
her side in the mist lay red Green leaves, but they stirr'd not overhead
of kin
a grhost has cried
when
My
By
heart with
its
yearning drew
me
back.
42
How
In an upper
it
room of
That
a light
may whiten
thoughts, I brood watch but I feel that they watch me too, The unseen ones, sitting this long night through Near, as it may be, though out of reach Till sleepers shall waken to life and speech At the end of this sorrowful spell. And since high up in the belfry tower There hangs a listless bell, Some voice may bid me proclaim the hour
Sleep being out of
;
my
And
mood I gain not wholly vain. Shall I not, seeing the Rising Sun, when night is done Cry: " Look; It is Morning " fell end slumber deep, If I at the into good news in my sleep. I should call out such
comfortless
vigil
HOW
The
air
IT FALLS
BY
THE
SEA
was cool, the wind was fresh, the sky Before him violet, westward tinged with deep And angry red. Behind him, loose and black, Great clouds roU'd up a church, impending, loom'd He pass'd with awe beneath its tower of stone Square, tall and grey the graveyard cross'd in haste And reach'd the wood ; beyond its gentle slope Far stretch'd a plain and there thin, early mists Had gather'd ; from the orange in the West A dull glow fell on quiet pool and pond The lamps in scatter'd hamlets there and here Began to glisten. All his later way The scarlet sunset and the stormy South
;
43
pale,
Translucent vault of heaven was thinly sown With gleaming stars ; while, above sea, the pure Unclouded moon her white and crescent disc Reveal'd, suffusing light sky-wandering clouds
And
By the shore waters washing at his feet, But far through distance, mingling with the wind, And turning then. Giving forth solemn sounds. One mile or more, against keen breeze he kept
He
paused,
still'd
His
And
By his path the wan shrinking silverweed, midst stones, maintain'd mile or more, sea-waves struggling life. Charm'd him with music, moon on moon look'd down Mirror'd in trembling bosom of the deep.
set face steadfast.
mile or more, he watch'd their communing it, till there shew'd alone One pallid phantom. Then the sun burst forth.
Till thin clouds stay'd
Glory of storm-fill'd wonder, light on dark Of formless cloud, crying to melt in light. He stood heaven's blaze upon his cheek and brow Smote him. One moment every field and tree Great haystacks, fragrant hedges and the thatch Of cottages shone in that gorgeous light As things transfigured. Suddenly the sun Beneath grim ruins of empurpled cloud the twilight over hills behind Fell swift And low champaign in utter gloom devolved.
;
Awhile the waning glory of the West Its broken pageant and fire-shards thereof
He
watch'd
lurid
;
Grew Were
leaden vapours far away stain'd with blood ; but here and there the sky Laid bare far depths of melancholy blue.
44
A
The boy
Straight
Grey World
He He
turn'd northward, down a lane which led Beside some stunted elms sea. paused ; the darkness chill'd him ; far and near heard loud chafing of incessant waves,
from the
As suddenly
a violet dark involved Their vast expanse, and he, more lone than they.
Knew
well
how
He
Broke forth from covert. The wind died and But darkness deepening on the early wheat,
Left every green blade visible his path Wound pale before him waver'd stars above And still the phantom of the moon behind Mourn'd at him as he pass'd into the night.
:
A GREY WORLD
The
horse
is
warm
in his stalls
Warm
Heard from afar, is the angels' hymn. Turn horse in stall and churl on bed ;
Angels of Issa, bend the head : Let all waif-children be comforted
I
These
I,
;
But they rest with me till I die And ever the pity grows in my heart For all earth's stray'd ones, her counterpart.
the child was striving where great downs rose, And about those downs did the steep hills close ; Peak above peak, with a frozen crown,
Now,
hills
look'd down.
45
was wretched, the child was bare. And, for greater horror, was lonely there No single face in that stricken zone Had bent in kindness to meet her own
The
child
of a helping hand. For no man dwelt in the dreadful land ; And the tender heart of a woman had not
None
Sweeten'd or lighten'd her orphan lot. It seem'd that since the beginning of things Such feet came less than an angel's wings. And the kind, sweet angels, it is known, Only encircle a great white throne, Or if below them they turn their faces, 'Tis not to gaze on accursed places.
She went on trying some goal to reach. As a lost child strives who has none to teach But she knew not whence she had come, nor whither Tended the path which had brought her thither. While fear which is worse than a frozen track Through an ice-world stretching, at front and back Forbade the pulses of thought to stir And wither'd the poor little heart of her One thing only, by waste and hill Something drove her to hasten still, Lest cross more dreadful and greater woes. In that v/orld's unrest, should befall repose.
;
Over the waste, through the mist so wan. The tortuous path went on and on 46
Burdens of Babylon
purpose serving exceeded wit there light at the end of it ? And after all, in the scheme of things, Is the child protected by unseen wings ? Or is this only a show which seems? Shall the waif wake up from uneasy dreams On a bed of down, where bright rays are falling, To hear the voice of her mother calling, Saying "Sweet maid, it is late, so late, And out in the garden your sisters wait
Say,
is
:
What
To
In the morning shine, while the bells begin usher my dear one's birthday in ?
The
lift
And the child enters a great snow-drift The sharp flakes stifle her wailing cry, The peaks are lost in a blank of sky. If God is behind this doom and wrath,
She
will haply issue on smoother path, But I know not, granting all crowns of For what good end it is ruled like this
bliss,
While
the horse
is
warm
in his stalls
And
ivarm in his hut lies the thrall And, a high chant filling the heavens says thus : ''But ThoUy O Lord, have mercy on us/'''' Angels of Issa, how the head,
Till all waij-children are comforted.
BURDENS OF BABYLON
When
the stars cease to speak to thee
;
when
all
The silent messages which softly fall From liquid skies, over dark groves, have said Their final word when ministries are dead,
;
47
When winds are voiceless and, from distance brought, Sea-sounds give up no more the forms of thought Then faded Nature, once in life so glad, Wears sadder mien than ever mourner had And if one utterance in the world is yet, 'Tis but the burden of a vain regret.
with a melancholy, helpless trend. slowly into silent end, Then the soul also, fickle and deranged, Too weak for action and from peace estranged. If ofFer'd straightway an immortal cup Might lack the power of hand to lift it up Then hearts no longer struggle to get breath, But through deep lethargy subside towards death And underneath the swooning moon or sun There comes no help from any, no not one While of all things that are of least avail, Love, which we lean'd on, seems the first to fail. Yet, signs and sacraments of death, bereft Of death's bleak graces, is there nothing left }
All
settles
;
When
inexpressible O deeps forlorn wild clouds, collocated eve and morn eyes, imparting through their glooms a sense Of vast abysses of impenitence, With gulfs behind of sorrow unreveal'd And bitter springs of loss in gulfs unseal'd Say, is there nothing ? Do ye hold at length Far off suggestions of some fount of strength Far as the stars of peace o'er stars of strife. And far as life is from the life of life
O O O
.^
Wrecks on
the tide-ways, wrecks upon the sea Black frozen heights, wherein no breath can be Hearts that have broken, hearts in ardent heat To ashes burnt vain ways and vain conceit 48
Gabriel
Yet, through immeasurable loss and need,
Come hints of One still strong to intercede, And to the prostrate soul in poison'd lands
Comes
grip of the unseen, uplifting hands.
ONWARD
Beyond
the breakers
lies
the free,
;
Unfathomable space of sea Beyond the sea some harbour far And that beyond new countries are. From cliff to hill, from hill to plain. We pass and find a further main Until we reach where time is not, Brothers! But then beyond it what? Peace, doubting heart which questions thus-
Do not all things answer us ? they speak not, all and each, Silence gives deeper hints than speech.
Peace
if
!
Or
GABRIEL
Do
you remember, wheresoe'er you keep
Your sponsion with eternity, asleep Or waking, but at least transported now
Beyond
all
And so, I trust, set free from time and Do you remember his unearthly face,
Shining so softly in the temple's band ? If I spoke riddles, you would understand are intelligence unmix'd I pray But even then, on secret graces fix'd, VOL. I. 49
Who
You
birth,
While
And
corruptions of the heart Pursuing a peculiar path of quest, Shunn'd am I or forgotten by the rest.
As
When
your ear then, plainly let me tell first it was we look'd on Gabriel, At mass or vespers, guarded, earnest, blythe,
in
white-robed, censer-bearing acolythe ; a face amidst an incense cloud Silent within the chants which swell'd so loud. Lovely he was, as human beauty goes The lily's lustre, the faint blush of rose,
Only
Met in his face his lips were chaste and fair Like a dim nimbus was his auburn hair While his deep eyes had caught, as in a net. All the dark glories of the violet. Youth though he was, in our two hands we could
;
Have
But on his earthly presence had come down So high a sense of vision and of crown, 50
Gabriel
place where lovers lean whisper, he, with his uplifted mien, So bright uprose that, like the ground he trod. knew him seal'd and set apart to God.
And
We
As Dante
standing
his blest
in
the market-ways,
days,
Who
saw
Madonna many
But did, continually spell'd, defer Each opportunity of speech with her We with the boy adored the Sacred Host But challenged not that spiritual ghost
This day, perchance,
Until at length his apparition ceased. a consecrated priest.
He
The
and stoled.
holy mass at which he served of old. Well, you are dead, and God is strong to save ; But certain secret matters to my grave I carry heavily concerning you. Who were through all so good and more than true
your heart make them a safe retreat. you can do so, at the judgment-seat. But through the sorrows of your later years. That boy's face hallow'd you for purer spheres 'Mid derelictions of my longer road. So has it also with myself abode.
Still in
If
Still in It
shines so white.
And
Some of
who
fall in
Christ asleep.
Old friend, whate'er our early verse may tell, Here is the mystery of Gabriel But the rare seeds sown thus in earth of ours Once gave us many miracles of flowers Fair fruits too promised what of these to say Oh, you are dead, and he has gone away
51
A LADDER OF LIFE
From
The
age to age in the public place,
the under steps in view,
passes through.
With
And
Tet the Word of the King says zuell^ That the heart of the King is unsearchable.
Of the upmost steps there are legends grand. And far stars shine as they roll But, of child or man in the wonderful land. Is there one who has scaled the whole
?
Tet the great hope stirs, Though His thoughts as yours Are not, since the first man fell For the heart of the King is unsearchable.
But no,
for
Of thy
The star is kin To our soul within God orders His world so well Tet the heart of the King is
unsearchable.
52
A
They
Ladder of Life
come down,
saints ascend,
Thereby do the
And that God's light shining from God's own Town May be seen at the stairway's end
:
For
good,
and
ill
May
he
mixd
at will^
The false shew true by a spell, But the heart of the King is unsearchable.
Now,
About
And
the stairway stands by the noisy mart the stairway stands by the sea
it
And
pulses the world's great heart the heart of yourself and me.
We may
And
For
Since the
a
read a?niss
this.
well
is
unsearchable*
few steps here and a few steps there with our voices loud, But above these slumbers the silent air And the hush of a dreaming cloud.
It is fill'd
In
the strain
and
stress
Of
that silentness.
Our
But
may
is
swell
King
unsearchable.
Some few of us, fill'd with a holy The Cross and the Christ have
fire,
kiss'd
We
By mass and
Of step
I can bring down word. And you on the fifth may dwell Yet the heart of the King is unsearchable.
And
It
Who
have
-pass'd so
far
They have never return d to tell And the heart of the King is unsearchable.
Some glimpse
at least
Of
For
stretch as
may through
all spaces
They
man
And
with
as well
is
Kings,
unsearchable.
SEVEN WATCHERS
springs,
From
Withdrawn
undetermined altitude.
;
fragments of his splendid dreams Vocations shadow'd forth by ardent schemes And haunting insights pondering alone. But the height's secrets are a world unknown, And though we recognise in these our rest. That which we look to find has heart express'd Save in the glowing symbols of the heart ? Therefore the quest seems vague, and far apart
On many
54
Seven Watchers
Desire stands, vainly reaching towards its end So deeper glooms than with the night descend Fell on the soul of that aspiring Son.
:
Thereat, a
little
Who
" Perchance
He
will'd
;
To
"
But there are earthly gifts and these are Fame And Wealth and Honour and all high estate."
I
soul's true
aim
also enter'd
by that barren gate," of Heaven replied, " and surely found strange sorrows is ambition crown'd,"
I
endured
as well,"
these a third came in, made visible By shining eyes and spake " The ways of Love Are to be counted, as I deem, above All other paths, and he who enters them Has life in fulness and the diadem." The Son made answer " Hast thou counted Loss ? "
To
sorrow is my crown and cross The tears of Loss are bitter as the sea, And, sword in heart, behold I wait with thee."
But he
"
My
Then
silence follow'd, till a fourth broke in, " I am Sin, Flush'd from the revel, singing And I have known all raptures and the bliss Of shame which meets with shame, to mix and kiss." Then said the Son of the Desire which lifts The heart in search of the unearthly gifts " What wages, brother, doth thy rapture earn } " " From death they come and unto death return," The child of Bacchus and the Moenads cried, " And many deaths in life my soul has died ;
:
55
evermore."
"Kings of the
Had May
earth," said one, who through the door enter'd suddenly, " and crowns of such, haply melt to ashes at a touch,
And Wisdom's
But Knowledge treasures still its proud estate, shining grows from less to great." " O fair, sweet friend! What therefore knowest thou.-*" Spake the First Watcher. But with bended brow The other answer'd yea, with eyes which burn'd " That dust for ever has to dust return'd
And
sight, perchance
is
nigh."
fail.
said
"
Though
avail."
all
things
still
"Yea,"
we indeed
believe.
;
The
star
But the
may
fall."
A
So
hall,
And gloom was on the watchers, while the Of hurried passers died along the street.
all
feet
Some pray'd within them sobbingly, some wept, As they that melt towards prayer, and other some Through windows look'd to see if morn would come.
But the air gave up at the darkest hour sudden sense of presence and of power, And where the six had waited through the night. There stood a Seventh with a guiding light Who said " May peace be with you I have been Through the great gates of death, and I have seen That which I testify as surely true. Give me your hands, for I am made as you. And look into mine eyes, and speak my Name." Whereat the Watchers cried with one acclaim 56
The
End
:
which Crowns
" Master of All, for Thee we waited long Who to enlighten and to save art strong." He answer'd " Watch with me a little space
"
!
But they stood raptured, gazing on His face, So that the world and all therein went by. And from the eastern heaven the sun rose high.
LOOKING WESTWARD
W^ORLDS beyond worlds of sunset pageantry Wild West the spirit with a yearning deep
:
Springs forth to thee Like ripples are thy long Low lines of violet cloud all dreams, all hopes Seem possible within these earthly bounds Which heaven enrings and thy bright marge of lightSet in cerulean circle, jewel-wise.
!
;
:
That which
Stern silence
longs to say
now indraws
Was
Once and for all to speak the heart has striven Once and for all the heart has failed therein. The word and music of the word begin. But cannot finish yet the soul shall see
;
the soul shall dawn, that light shall be Extended surely through the great domain, Nor towards the summits turn her eyes in vain Far end, perchance, but still she sees the end. Clouds intervene indeed and veils extend. But gifted inly by those ardent rays Clouds and the veils thereof before the gaze
Light
in
57
That which is hidden from the fleshly eye, The end and high significance of things.
Of old, great Plato said the soul has wings, And deem not thou that ne'er the soul has risen,
Flame-wing'd, above the ramparts of her prison. Think not with bolts and bars she strives in vain. Who can at need the path of stars attain Yet it remains that, stars and heights explored, Or wheresoe'er the soul has plunged and soar'd, In deep abysses or on holy hill. The secret baffles and eludes her still.
Made
subject
now
the outward, not the inward place. She chiefly shares the public pomps and shows
Drawn by
Therein no star as star that secret knows, Nor sun divines it. Earth has mighty themes To guard our sleeping and our waking dreams The peaks have ravishment ; the great sea-deep Has other mysteries, to yield or keep Those which we lack, the meaning and the goal. Exceed their depth and height. And hence the soul, By outward witcheries encompass'd, sees The glory and the glamour which are these She listens, she divines as best she can. And gathers something of the cosmic plan. While from the snatches of the secret caught Beyond the limit of the world of thought Withdrawn in regions of which none can tell She fashions answers in an oracle And burning prophecies which inly stir She fashions answers, nothing answers her.
:
Therefore of how it shall at length befall. The hidden meaning and the end of all
58
Of
Life's
the
Deep Seas
are hidden
crown therein
from the
soul,
Which gleans in part but cannot grasp the Some voices truly at her door have sung,
But
in
whole.
an unintelligible tongue sometimes from her centre strike Which seem to shew her what the end is like, As if the centre and the end were there. Such lesson haply might her labours spare That which can answer nothing, or, if heard, Only some unintelligible word, Serving for presage in divining art. May after all have little to impart But in the soul herself, if deeply sought. Will come an answer to our inmost thought.
And
flashes
Let therefore music fail from harps of gold Let words be kept within the heart untold And let the soul no longer use her wings For ranging through the outward scheme of things, But inward turn the light of shining eyes Be sure, the end is there, the meaning wise.
;
Granting tears at length are dried, All the cares which mar life's pages. From the heirship of the ages, Cast, and once for all, aside.
Take
Those
the heights and the abysses, great spaces which are past,
And
Strange Houses
oj
Sleep
Surely joy, with all its keenness, Haunts too narrow grooves of change, On the common sense of pleasure
to serve as measure
Of
Morning
stars
may
sing together,
Sons of
God
for joy
may shout
:
But beyond the choric pasan Spreads the stillness empyrean There the anthem falters out.
If
It
we came and passed like summer, Short of sight though joy would be. might help us towards forgetting,
rising
Twixt our
and our
setting,
What
a moth's-flight space
had we.
But confronting
And
With
Joy must perish and light laughter Waver on the lips of man.
Life
so far past searching.
strings so frail.
is
all
So
That
must question
us,
All the keys of doom are there ; But if more with gladness blended Than dejections deep attended,
first
declare.
Highest ends with strength achieve, Hold that life is best expounded By the faith in goodwill grounded So go forward, so believe.
Unto
meads,
as
smooth
Rooks
swarm
with
with
screams Discordant rise and circle high in air God's splendour brightens now their peaceful To giant elms returning dizzy nests, Poised in the air triumphant.
flight.
Here my road Reveals the open country. I see slopes Of verdant green, wide fields and marshy lands Low-lying I see misty hills against
;
The
long blue line. The land is dark with trees. Far and away beyond me winds the road, Ascending as I follow, evermore The prospect widens round me hills and hills, And round me all things in the clear, sweet air Give back the sunset light. Soft winds are held
;
of silence.
The whole earth Seems mine, and shortly will all heaven put forth Methinks, this road so broad, Stars o'er my path. So brown, so pleasant, like the rover's life. Goes on for ever it is steep, it curves, it follows all the vale. It leaps and dips
; ;
Then
Here
A A
amidst a world of downs. willows in the evening wind Begin to stir ; by hedges do the oaks Rich foliage rustle ; on the open mead brown horse browses, while in one beyond with black and burnish'd sides stalwart beast Draws on the loaded wain to reach the track
So to be
silver
As I walk at that bend he gains it. Behind, a dry and subtle incense fills The cool air round me but I hasten now And see the farm before me so mine eyes At every turn are met by something new Which gratifies the senses and the mind.
;
:
And
air is
changed
it is
To
And The
mist about
me
chill
reach
To
mark,
Thrown on
first star.
!
With lamp enkindled in the South so high To mark it and to worship. Now the moon. Out from bleak vapours of the East, aglow, With not one touch of sadness, o'er the marsh Her orb uplifts. How fair, how sweet, how blue.
Looks the high
zenith, with faint clouds involved
!
62
Joys of Life
And
as the
summer
breeze,
Turns
to a resonant
soft,
Among
the echoing
hills,
my
transient
mood
night is strong, of the night Speak to deep wells within the heart of man, I, at least, Till the deep wells make answer. Walking in summer on the winding road, With downs about me, with the moon above With the bright moon which, as it rises, pours
light increasing
through the
lilac
sky
to height.
Amidst the wine-like fragrance of the air, Hear depth to depth make answer, height
JOYS OF LIFE
That
Those
light
we know
to be only
seeming
;
dream looking down on dreaming Blank space which cheats us quick time which Thin ghosts of wines which deride our yearning Pale shadows of love which leave us burning
stars in
;
slips
To
The
Hope's light too faint on a bleak existence AH ways too many for ends in doubt But though perplex'd by disorder'd courses One strength call'd up from the soul's resources Still to go on and to do without
63
WATERS OF CREATION
Thou
greater speculation
We
Above
dost reflect alone the changeful skiesfills our eyes are thy masters, for, exceeding thee, thy wildest storm the mind can rise,
:
Strong
sea,
great sea
THE PALACE OF
Man's
sacramental house has
LIFE
halls
many
And
Down
And
quiet corridors
Wherein the guests and menials daily tread. Sad rooms are set for watchers by the dead.
secret alcoves, plann'd on lonely stairs, Open, wherein fond lovers unawares Are seldom taken by the stealthy spy. There also towers and turrets are built high, Where those ascend whom solitary thought Has inward contemplation's sweetness taught. Halls of convention may be found and vast Saloons for banqueting and music last,
;
There, too, are chapels of a thousand creeds. By hearts devoted to the greater needs. And solemn places more remote than these
Wherein adepts
Now, howsoe'er
man
64
dome
alone
;
Can knowledge or mere rumour make his own Yet in that house are casements opening
On vistas of the strange and unknown thing Which spreads without humanity's abode. Where lead the paths therein ? Where leads the road What lies beyond the fastness and the fell, Or the great deeps of sea which surge and swell ?
desperate days and nights without repose There is no man that knoweth, save a dream Shall hint him somewhat of the clouded scheme Or voices equally unknown outseek The watcher on his balcony, and speak
!
O O
message in his shrinking ear, about joy or sorrow that is stored without. Thereafter visions and the power of song. With deep prophetic tongues, to him belong Or, by desirable and awful things O'erwhelm'd, his body from the house he flings, When in a twinkling of the eye he learns The all or nothing, but at least returns Into the mansion of mankind no more.
The
has seemingly no public door for going ; here the dead Sleep in the vaults beneath with easy head ; Or if their souls into the unpierced space Go forth, the watcher cannot see their face And if at times against the windows press
The house
The
full of dreariness, horror of the eyes for those within Cuts off the sympathy of kith and kin.
Now
From
VOL.
this
is,
I.
65
To
say
some open
Or one which can be open'd by the hand, For easy entrance in the unknown land That Nature high-exalted then is seen That dead men greet us with a front serene That when the secret mazes have been trod The mind may feel itself alone with God, And can see truth and beauty with pure eyes. In sooth we know not which way beauty lies. Or on what heights and in what wells and deeps Truth, which is also beauty, wakes or sleeps.
;
Much
less
of
how
it
In this place or in that to find the All. But not denying that a door may be Set back by him who hath its master-key, Let one who, ere the ending of his days. Has much endured and travail'd in strange ways. Exhort his brothers not in life's short span
To
Or
What
it may feel like when with God alone. Our sacramental house has veils undrawn And curtains never raised at eve or dawn
It
And
We
burns alone the instituted lights all that shews therein are only rites. know indeed the soul with her strong
;
fires
Beyond these human ministries aspires In spirit and in truth to reach her end But not in vain do veils the soul defend Nor yet in vain do Nature, Grace and Art,
;
Their ceremonial formulas impart And not in vain does God His glory dim By many clouds, that we can gaze on Him. A time may come v/hen He shall put them by And, standing lip to lip and eye to eye, From all conventions sign the soul's release, With true Pax tecum and with kiss of peace 66
More
Great
is
There
is
from our abode, But not by ways from vantage points descried Through desert places of the world outside. Open it lies for those to walk therein Who having put away the life of sin, With the long quest of their desire and gain, Do in their own souls seek and so attain The individual knowledge of their end. Peace on those paths for the elect attend May the great universe expand for them Through many kingdoms to their diadem And underneath the white light of their crown May those who go to God find God come down,
in a sense leads forth
!
Which
Who came from Him from Him did never But howsoe'er encompass'd by the hosts This is the life of life and not of ghosts. Nor does it lie beyond the walls of each.
Hard
part.
And
The Too
Yet
is this path to learn of, hard to reach few there are that seek it, or can teach rending of the veils that guard it here
it lies
too near.
rest
is
dream
scheme
And,
steep'd awhile in
magnetic trance,
The souls that slumber may in sleep advance And something still behold through their smoked
lens
^ic salve^
Domine omnipotens
67
And
fragrant
grand on mountains, in the glow And mystery of moonlight ; but for me One place reserve, of all the world I know
While night
and
all
fain to rest,
a secret in
my
breast
Where sweeter
And
secret
more than
My
far than Araby the blest spikenard giveth forth the fumes thereof.
groves
Of immemorial melody. A storm Of choral praise, unprefaced, with a crash Burst on me then, the language of dead gods. And drew me back amidst a Temple's types
Sign-words and sacraments of mystery. So to the end it held me, magnet-wise, 68
Back
to
the l^ancl
;
and hierophants But when the darken'd Fane reserved alone The secret god, I follow'd from afar Behind a veil into the vestibule, And saw grey ashes of the charcoal fire
Shew one
faint spark ; the open window shew'd, All bent and twisted through the floral wilds, woodland path whence myrrh-like odours rose Low voices came from violets and faint Song-bursts of birds invisible.
Through such
High
offices,
the heart,
Follows election,
As Nature
speaks
has taken
To
Of days.
More eloquent, of greater testaments, The heart takes counsel with the sanctuary And finds the Holy of the Holies, past All Holy Places, yet at times looks forth. Where all the chancels of the world without Which after their own manner sang of old Do now in likeness of One Voice intone. The chancel walls, expanding thereupon. Take Nature in exalting Nature gives At every point upon the Temple's gates
;
;
And
Her The
if
the
fires
and
fires,
lights
lights,
offices
her
And
No
psaltery
wanting
in
the world.
69
A RITE OF EXALTATION
I
THOUGHT
human
love
from the things above Which had so long drawn on my life of thought
offer refuge
Might
and so put on
kind.
find
Once more the huddled vesture of my Then the unearthly beauties, which to
I strove so long, for me seem'd now to strive ; Their tincture haunted all things here alive. Suggesting ends desired that were not they And that which in the height was far away On earthly eyes seem'd momently to loom Clamour of triumph seized, glorious doom. And in the place of stillness, brooding deep On frozen summits, or the awful sleep Which can the soul amidst the heights infold, All that which beats within the chains of gold And iris prison of the public things,
Through mystic
music,
its
invisible wings,
Amidst the outward melodies, began To speak as Nature never spoke to man. 70
A
I testify
Rite of Exaltation
mere sense alone
that past
Experience spreads her more exalted zone That past the common range of human mind
stretch the royal regions undivined, undiscover'd country which if trod Seems to lead backward and be lost in God. There is a door, which, when we find its key,
There
An
Opens therein from our humanity. So forth on roof and parapet at times Stealing, I saw what none can speak in rhymes But never came the message to mine ear. Or saw the visionary eye so near As when, reluctantly, its potent spell
Breaking,
And
The
I turn'd from the invisible brought the light of all that dwells withdrawn. glory of the spiritual dawn,
These
who dwelt within the gate dreams, nor ever question'd these, But rather, awestruck, from realities Had surely shrunk, if face to face with them. Yet beauty wore she as a diadem, And shone in innocence a radiant star Gentle and mild was she, as maidens are Whose souls are subtly llnk'd with things above By sanctified capacities of love. Her from the sons and daughters of the race
Now,
there was one
Of outward
1 chose, to lift up from her lonely place Amidst the crowd which sees not where it goes I wrought love's work on her, and now she knows.
:
What
follows
This
Those who have dwelt in light can bring that To something more than isolated fruit Within themselves, and can at will transmute
71
of heart,
Making an altar set from earth apart, Whereon is kindled an eternal flame,
And
Is utter'd.
Or
Name
!
all
symbols
set aside
Learn, simple woman can be deified when one, of light possess'd, I shew this truth the task address'd. nature to his Has all and love's the call is love's work Know too the
While love
is
And
end such union comes at length As to the worker brings another strength
at the
Those heights forsaken once again to dare. Those realms discover which await him there. With consciousness of ends beyond them still
The holy
PLAY-SCENES
Nature is pantomime some force bestirs The antic struggles of her characters,
;
And
imparts to each. gift of speech. Some mask unknown stands at the stage's wings And for each mimic actor speaks or sings.
semblances of
life
While in the galleries and stalls we sit But do not rightly catch one word of it.
ABSOLUTION
Here
to me, friends
!
Have
would
72
wrong'd you
with
Come
to
me more
That which
forestall,
than
all
my
lips
utter,
tenderer
lips
Absolution
that the wardens who watch'd me, breaking the guard they kept (Passion and pride) permit me (dry-eyed, among those that have wept, No longer) to share in your weeping set free in a
Now
sense
Human
So that
The wand
amidst the human, not as a rock of offence. has smitten the rock and a plenteous water
heart
is
springs,
my
things.
Ye
that are
I
Rest
human, pardon If any I need forgive. wish them and joy, with the life that a
!
man
would
live
Who,
Knows
in
spite
sky,
well
that
Saviour
liveth
and redemption
draweth nigh.
Ye
that
in
secret,
skins,
and
sins
I
and
cries,
for
Ye
love, the
know.
Warm
If
I
be the sunshine about you, soft the winds as they blow ; have wrong'd you it may be come ye also
forgive
The
life
of
all life
may
also live
73
Nature, gracious
of reach.
In part
I
in
part you
have
also,
learn'd
So far
as
wrong'd you
surely
:
pray you
forgive
Some one
and
wounded you
may you
be heal'd
live
Grace, from a world pour'd down which I knew in the times of old. Or ever my star was barter'd, or ever my birthright sold ; Surely I loved thee always, wherever my steps have stray'd;
To
For
Till
leave
all
is
still
!
to love thee
betray'd
my
fills,
empty
of
heart.
it
life
the
life
my
Yet
if
man and
!
Nature spurn
me
back,
track
I
know
in
;
my
up
trod
I
will take
my
heart in
last,
my
I
my God
I
come
to
Thee
but
come
;
they
is
fail'd
me
in all
the strife
Those
I
here
the end of
my
me
life.
find
O
74
last
;
and
first in
the wide
And empty
aside
Thou
Insuficiency
Yet hearts which are ofFer'd to anything under the sun Are not for long rejected, at least by Nature for one And though the hands which are wise, high gifts may
;
We
Man
The
hold for a space. not defrauded long of all communion with Grace never truly waited, if man could ease him a smart rudest beast of the field responds to the human
are
heart
cry,
" O,
my
darling
" with
great
Are
little less
that
is
my
gospel word
VEILS OF
Nature
is
ISIS
naked
until man's
own mind
:
her form assign'd ; And she in turn provides his garments dim Say, who shall robe her when his hands unbind. Who unclothe him ?
to
all
INSUFFICIENCY
Thou, having
seen
it,
art
thou
satisfied
That platform of the morning bulges wide Above the purple gorges, in the dim. Exalted light. Far down the sea-mews swim
Far down the breakers on the crags expend Their strength in gulfs where never men descend And thou, awhile from sea and shore aloof. Art as one issued on a palace-roof In Esclair-Monde, from its exalted tiers Gazing serenely down on moving spheres,
75
Nor
scarce another thine experience teach, can thy brain, by wonders overwrought. Shape as thou wouldst the higher course of thought.
Can
do thoughts most come So pass the moods of ecstasy to some More temper'd state, which knows not throne or crown, And at the last thou goest slowly down, With weaker steps, along the arduous slope, Somewhat disorder'd with thy former hope A little dazed but conscious on the whole
Since in reflection's hush
!
That these high places cannot fill the soul That Nature's peaks, which few before have Do not specifically lead to God,
trod,
And
Only when
may
From quiet ways, up the precipitous track. Where safFron morning o'er the sea spreads fair, And know that the soul's ends are everywhere.
A CONFIDENCE
That
which you seek for
in
That which transcends both Nature and the Arts Great beyond conscious grasp of human mind. But ever as the rest and goal Acknowledged by your secret soul Brother, 1 promise, you shall surely find.
76
How
And The
if
it
is
you ask me knowing it so great ground on which 1 dare to state That you shall certainly attain at length Learn that beyond the things which seem
solid
I
And
also
Have
courage, therefore
Keep your
daily road,
And after your own individual mode Do that which comes to hand the
For failures sometimes made as such Be not concern'd too much Fear not yourself I have no fear for you.
HOW
Now
this
is
IT
IS
ATTAINED IN THE
SUNSET
Is sometimes held in such a high suspense As might a man be, ravish'd from the ground The world beneath him spinning round and round-
Who
length permitted to descend. some far end, should be thatch his the runnel by And where sea. of an open Hears the loud organ
finds, at
Of such
suspension hear a
little
in
When
the time-limits fixing life and thought, Like landmarks storm-effaced, to nothing brought, Permit that in the circle of a dream There slips, unnoticed by, a century's scheme. Or, twixt the lark's last note and swift descent.
That
77
Of spikenard
Through umbrage
An
above the plain, some crest Attain'd, confronted by the burning West.
hundred
feet
Scarlet
And
and gold, how vividly, had met. gulfs beyond all gulfs of violet
;
:
Open'd behind above was snowy fleece Of stainless vapour glory, one with peace,
Was
Till
blazon'd there.
it
The
heart of solar
fire
Outdrew me by
That
I
ineffable desire.
And
Through
the light only could my spirit reach. Deep, deep, I gazed, till deeps within me yearn'd Deep, till that light to other splendours turn'd Deep, till those splendours to a point drew in,
the eye's sense alone I lived within Lived, from the flesh set free, the soul upcaught Far past the heaven of stars, the heaven of thought. And the soul died, but something greater still Leap'd flame-like into me, her place to fill I was keen spirit, from the soul made free. Which is, which hath been, and through all will be, And then once more I was an eye which sees Into unutterable mysteries. While undifFused, yet limitless, thereon The searching point of naked splendour shone dreadful rapture rending through and through
And
As
was known
therein,
also
knew.
78
Plumes of Sable
Yes, in the light, I knew, with all made one By the same law which poises star and sun For moving systems marks a single track Which sends forth pilgrim souls and draws them back From out of One the multiple evolves And then the many in the One dissolves. That when the end which is no end shall fall Nothing be lost, but God be all in all.
Out of all time, in that great day's decline, All love, all knowledge, for a space were mine, But holy words are wanting to declare And at the fine thereof, returning where Five hundred feet above the plain that crest I found, confronted by the burning West Lo, scarlet gold how vividly had met And deeps beyond all deeps of violet, While sinking in the lowland at my feet The lark his brown wings hid in meadow-sweet.
PLUMES OF SABLE
Waste,
waste, waste,
!
but
is
the sea
The
I
And
a
the
know where
the deep
wider,
know of
when
gloom
more dread
the waste and the night of the heart, from the heart has fled
!
the star
79
Forth on
How
fares
it
.?-
How
to get on
the
lesson all
must
learn
By open ways if possible to earn Their high success, if not by ways unknown. All ends worth seeking, say, from star to stone, 80
We
but those which earthly hearts rejoice Look'd scarcely worth life's dedicated span, Nor did some greater aims pursued by man
likely to avail him in the end Such signal triumphs as on art attend The crowns in paths of progress seized at times The laurel wreaths of rhymers and their rhymes Devotion's guerdon for a country's weal Due lauds we gave them, owning their appeal. But did with blessing true their claim dismiss. Full long we ponder'd, weighing that with this, Nor did the humbler walks of life disdain But in the end we found that trades were vain, And all the crowded ways where men compete That e'en the daily bread which all must eat 'Twere better, if it might be, to forego Than daily bread for our sole object know That wealth and luxury and social place, And seats among the mighty of the race.
Was made
Seem
May
But
in
How, therefore, truly to get on \ said we Then paused a moment, since it seem'd to
be small achievement that, with hearts content, could from public interests dissent And from all competitions stand aside.
No
We
But presently we found that ere he died Each son of man saw vanity in these, And now, as then, the saint their contact flees. What true end, therefore, over and before All these remains \ O knowledge, evermore Follow'd and worshipp'd O ye lights of mind
Ye secrets of the deeps all deeps behind Ye hidden forces Man his height, his deep Ways of the waking world and world asleep
!
VOL.
I.
8l
we invoked on
left
all
who
these pursued
:
For us we
them
to their solitude
?
How
And
we
said.
came
With glimpses of
a causeway seldom trod, something told us that our end was God. Thereat we blest, as paths already tried, The grand old faiths, but put their claims aside, And forth upon our varied course we went What weary days on God's attainment bent
When
Of many men did you perchance inquire, To saint and sage spurr'd on by one desire, And over all the world did learn of all.
But whatsoever did your days
befall,
The circle of that world has brought you round Unto the starting point and how much found } How much, how little ? I inquired of none Of One alone by One to seek the One, For me at least avail'd. Absorb'd in mind,
By
I
From
sleep of midnight, watch of noon and dawn sought the vision out of these withdrawn ; And me the circle of the deeps has brought Back to the starting point but how much taught } Leastways one lesson both for me and you Ours is the way of the attainment true No better end than that we tvv^o divine Has shone upon your pathway or on mine. All paths attempting where all lights have shone. And ours the only way for getting on. So forward, therefore somewhere lurks the end All in good time His time that's best, my friend
82
Grounds of Union
GROUNDS OF UNION
There is no need to To touch thy lips,
take thy hand,
or thee to greet
Nor must I say in what far land, Out of all time, we first did meet As in this russet hour we stand,
That which
has parted us
A
Or,
If
curtain in
aching scheme of things. like these delude, yearning towards thee, taking wings. Doth ever in the past intrude From such dim halls thy picture brings, And since it sees thee everywhere Can skry no world but thou art there.
in this
memories
My
not speak of love to thee, For, having look'd in eyes like thine. Past love's inscrutable mystery,
will
Something more
sacred,
more
I
divine
And
see
And what
Taught
Finds task-work in my forms of speech But, looking on thy chasten'd face, All hast thou learn'd which I would teach By thy tired eyes and tortured grace, Surely when forming thee God sigh'd Thou art so wan, so mortified.
83
They
Win
The knots which bind our souls are such As earthly ties would strain and start
Each would not hold
in
each so much,
That once the ways we walk should touch For consolation, not for need. That which is merciful decreed.
Let then those ways divide, not they
Shall now conjoin or disconnect Thou wilt not fail me on a day. Nor I from love's sheer height deflect
By reaching towards thy house of clay But when that day for me and thee Comes, at the end, remember me
;
\
For
Knowing
of union, thou wilt wait. follow on thy feet. And I will pause, if thou be late, little at the mercy-seat Till God shall make us one in Him,. Hide under wings of seraphim.
rites
I
84
Theophany
THEOPHANY
Too
long unmindful of the great concern, did from errors of our way return, From strange side-issues and from paths involved.
We
Thenceforth on reasonable life resolved. Our sins fell from us and unloosed with these Were many morganatic marriages,
;
Which
life
Who
Full
many
plans
we
Nor
men
Uncertain of the ends to which they lead ; But there was little for the greater need Which on the Sons of Kings full sadly falls, Hearing their former country's far off calls.
now with steadfast feet in these new ways, What quest might glorify our later days Whose hearts so high were fix'd on things above
Set
Ah,
friends
What
could we seek herein to hear or see its mystery Of Him who shall at length our crown restore Some faint reflections on this earthly shore }
And
so it fell that from the dream we kept Within our hearts, a flame of ardour leapt. Till we, drawn forth to seek in every place The tidings of His presence and His grace. Did in the end, by golden legends led, A realm of mystery and wonder tread, Chosen from all the places of the earth, To see God manifest by human birth.
85
Was
And,
man
melancholy seas, The silent keepers of the mysteries ; Met in their crowds upon that haunted ground
far across the
And
The pontiffs with illuminated eyes. Or those who, secretly instructed, knew
How
came the shepherds from the hills, And he who sows the ground and he who tills
There
From noisy marts the merchants flock'd in Came too the lawless rovers of the waste
haste
And from the city hied the child of sin To see God born and a new life begin
To make
refreshment
in a
weary world.
So round about the holy place were furl'd The nations' banners peace on nations fell. And the long strife of creeds was ended well. The spirit of the world its pride gave up. And kiss'd the hallows and the holy cup
;
The The
it
died
And
who
86
Of
Faith
and
Vision
life,
perfect, free
and undivided
love,
seers have loved for ever ; have abode In any conscious gloom of heart or mind Unwillingly ; have ever into day.
We
And when we
and clamour of aspiration, sprung found true sunlight we were blest. We have not scorn'd the simpler gifts of faith, Yet sought in knowledge, with the soul's clear sight. That lucid world, its scatter'd rays of grace Receiving and reflecting but when those Were granted not, we held to faith and hope And any beam diffused along the dark, Though less than nothing to the world at large,
strife
;
With
Our
And
As
counting
all
things well
;
His speech Keeping His silence with the same brave heart Which, bidden, would have trumpeted His word For ever waiting on that word by Him Withheld for ever. To the end of all Approaching now, we fail but do not faint
grateful for
silence as
.
.
His
He
The
consolation of His messengers. have not heard His voice ; we have not work'd. His miracles, nor stood before His world And testified that we indeed were sent But we have loved the light, and here and now, Before the antechamber of the tomb Yea, underneath the quiet wings of death Faith helps us still, amidst true calm of soul,
We
87
To
say
We
still
quest is broken for a while, and, whether life or death, ; desire the vision and the truth.
The
Bid therefore, Lord, Thy servants pass in peace, Beholding Thy salvation with their eyes
THE PATH
Seeing that
Is, in
all which lives beneath the sun the last resource, explain'd by One That every will which works or star which sings In fine goes back into the font of things That by a final gathering of force
The soul of man shall, to complete its course, With a great rush return from whence it came The last and first can differ but in name.
And
one beginning and one end. How then these varied interests defend Which now distract and dissipate the soul, Leading it daily further from the whole Wherein we know there lies our only good Ah, we have heard but have not understood From the confessions of our lips the heart, Untouch'd and unconvinced, has stood apart, So that mere words have trick'd us over long. But, when the soul is search'd, the soul proves strong Zenith and Nadir and the Sacred Hill Shew nothing keener than the human will. Directed wisely unto wisdom's term. Let us be therefore bold, and here affirm That one strong wrench and this alone man needs To set himself apart from evil deeds
there
is
'^.
And
The
if in
ceasing utterly
lies,
from these
all
true Path
then are 88
mysteries
The Path
So well within the circle of his days That if, forsooth, there sounds a seraph's
praise
About the white light of a central throne, Not to the end shall angels serve alone. Man's voice with theirs may join, he stand with them, Nor fail at last of any diadem Which can crown souls in any place unknown, Nor if the stars have thrones lose star and throne.
All
this,
however,
its
is
lip-confessions
soul
when
But up that steep incline which once we trod, When we came down we know not why from God,
We
Nor
know
indeed that none to climb begin. dare, until they cast away their sin.
is it
hard for man to sin no more ? all which drew aside before, Henceforth for him, is of its lure bereft, That to go upward is the one course left Bear with me, friends, if what I know full well, Of all evasions free, for once I tell This is not hard to any heart resolved. Since in the soul's bent is one change involved. One simple reconstruction of the will Then from the soul shall pass the lust of ill.
Now,
To
say that
.?
end attain Know that what does not to that end belong Is folly always, if not open wrong Fix this before you, and you shall not err Nothing shall tempt you, nothing shall deter. These are plain words, but their high sense enrings The solemn secret of acquiring wings, 89
that
wills can to the
:
Think Think
is
vain
who
And from
a complex to a simple mode Can bring the soul, so that it knows the road
How
VALE
Good-night the hour is late, the house is cold. The fires have smoulder'd down, the lamps are
;
spent,
And
Sleep
which
it
all
also need
:
doth now
long before we meet Beyond the fells, the fastness, the abyss ? O ways too far for over-weary feet O heart uncertain what the true goal is Somehow, somewhere, in darkness or rich gleam, Yet shall we meet Till then good-night, sweet dream
Late, late
grows
how
90
A BOOK OF
"ilHuIta
inijisibih's
qniticm
5unt
gacramenta
aliquo
nt
gratia signo
faiBtfaili
pra=
staretur."
S.
Bernardi Abbatis, In
Cana
Domini Sermo.
Book of
full
of
omen and
part
sign, impell'd
reflecting, in
conjecture
catch faint words of the language which the world speaks far and wide And the soul withdrawn in the deeps of man from the
birth of each
I
man
is
has cried.
know
that a sense
in
we
the tones that are scarcely heard ; While life pulsating with secret things has
to speak,
And
that which evades, with a quailing heart, we feel is the sense we seek Scant were the skill to discern a few where the countless
:
To
symbols crowd, render the easiest reading, catch the cry that
is trite
and loud.
Wistfully therefore, a mage, I come, but the records that here I bring Are light-tongued rumours and hints alone of the songs
I
had hoped to
sing,
93
A
Of
runes
to
render through
Only
as mystery's scribe
make my
which seem
And
this
book
in a
is
book of the
who
Has walk'd
The common
life
world enswathed
in the
dreamless
swoon of
sense.
And
I, recounting the moods therein, for an hour of waking wait Triumphant then through the light derived shall light from the centre blaze, And that be known which we glimpse alone through the moon-sweet mist and haze. How will it come to us, that great day What will
.''
at the
94
PART
"
princfpium pri'mt
F.
finis
Basilii
Valentini
Practica
de
Lap'tde
Sapientum,
Worlds of Vesture
WORLDS OF VESTURE
Far
spreads a mind-world full of gleam and
pomp.
shallow music, on a Discoursing lightly to external sense, But, void of vital meaning, leaving souls Untouch'd and unawaken'd. Beauty here Is specious only ; to the heart it brings No message which can penetrate or bind Here lights false fantasy, a moon fuU-orb'd. Akin to this, there spreads a wider world Of sensible impressions and of joys Bereft of depth or height what restless crowd As earth of mother earth. Is surging there For inspiration pure, for genius true, Hold thou these worlds with all their paths
:
: !
And
and
ways
All ye
who would
be saved,
And
in the
Word Divine shall welcome you password there he needs who keeps within One sacred truth, that man is compass'd now By many sacraments and parables. By speaking likenesses and shows which shew Rich depths for inquisition. Close about They press, they minister and dimly limn The infinite behind them. By a quest Which does not take too far or ask too much We can achieve their meanings, know the grace Which lies within, their living language learn,
Surely the
No
And
Far into
VOL.
I.
vision, far
In splendid pageantries of holy sea, As in the mellow hush of moonless nights, And in the grandeur of that starry vault,
Dare to confess the ministries of deep And many-sided emblems which unfold To man alone, developing for him Resources in the measure of his need, His insight, inquest and experiment.
All speculation's penetrant research Toil-conquer'd tracts of knowledge and the vast Beyond ungain'd the solemn sense of things Immeasurable glimpses scarcely caught Of new worlds glimmering on an utmost verge x\nd precipice of being ; these are fonts Of true suggestion ; these awake, uplift
;
therein
Find proper end and first reality. Thus, by the glass of the astronom.er,
Man
And
by the flights of theosophic thought He gauges further and surveys himself; While in proportion with the mind's advance Great Nature widens, for the silver links Which form the mystic chain of hidden things Are multiplied by counting ; the divine And visionary universe expands At every bolder plunge of mind therein.
The goal is still within ourselves alone. The dream is also there, its meaning there The outer world All in a sense within. Marks but one era of the human soul's
Advance, developing her infinite. O blessed promise of the time to come
At each succeeding
wider world
stage
significance
98
the
Venture
The
And
soul attains, from every type set free, supra-conscious life of pure repose unveil'd vision into God, the All.
Press forward
early, late
Thus
I,
also serve,
'Tis said,
Who
Do
v/ait to
As I, By this great
stand and wait hear the Master's charge, that pause and rest
restless ocean's
:
who
marge,
quest
all,
As ships brave storm and stress. Nor e'er did greater hap befall
In old sea voyages For, compass'd in the flight of thought What has been or shall be,
1
wrought
The
of mind
all his
Indies gleam;
western world, retain Thine Inca's secret wealth untold And thou, far southern main, Fold all thy jewell'd shores in mist From Cape to austral pole With brilliant, topaz, amethyst. Tempt eyes but not the soul
! :
Those sea-kings
Set forth
Which future ages shew. The secret of the poles lay bare. The flight of men with wings.
And
beyond.
W^hich hold man's higher soul in bond Will frozen zones allure ? Nay, nor the eagle's wings uplift. Nor stars, nor suns extend.
Though past all starry paths we The lights of our great end.
drift,
So therefore days and nights dissolve By this low-breathing sea, While here I pause and still revolve Voyage and venture free Dim main, through all my dream intone And far through paths untrod. Sung on by all life's voices, lone
!
Transcripts
I
know
I
not
I
seek,
true,
Ah,
I
life's end, if I only knew, should know all life's doom Light of the endless East and West, Shine on me here as there The signs at least of this great quest Are round me everywhere
!
TRANSCRIPTS
Spurr'd
Boots
it
Life's gospel,
now unheard,
mountain peak of bird ? too shall hear it speak That lost, that only Word.
to take the
flight
sought
it
long,
seek
I
it
yet,
Nor
Art to
own
And
I
With longing
a thousand leaves dying light The Word for which my spirit grieves On grass and moss they write There too the blessed zephyr weaves The Blessed Word of might.
The shadows of
Dance
in this
lOI
rare,
stare
Who
And
deep in waking dream immersed Seems ever on the verge Where very life and light shall burst, To hallow and asperge.
Him
To
the true
life
escapes,
and
reconstruct again
flash
comes
oft to beautify,
And
yet
in all
the
omens found
Through life and time abide They take me far through haunted ground
And far through ways untried Lost Word, thy transcripts still abound On every country side
!
Then,
in those
When
Through Nature's
gates,
I02
And
Comes
secret sense
And God
And all His worlds restore Methinks that Word of peace and
:
rest
o'er.
and Last Word, far and long, through the closing gate, Heard Dies the dim echo of thy song Soul, is it dark and late ? Vast is the void, though hope is strong
Lost
!
Word
We
Yes,
languish, but
we
I
wait.
we
are waiting,
and you
The white Kings v/ait enthroned And life's pale outcasts languish too,
;
Till that
Dishonour'd and disown'd, Word searching through and throughBe suddenly intoned.
ECSTASIES
KNOW When
And
The
moon
all
gold
rapture of clearness, the air is keen is cold ; The stars dissolve in the Artemisian sheen But gather and cluster and crowd in the quarters
air is
And
the air
four.
103
Twist bending branches, high tops that sway and soar In the search and swathe of a viewless tide. It rises up on a sudden with shout and roar, Latent strength of the storm and eager rush, Or sinks with the soft and languorous sigh of a
summer
breeze.
in
Swooning, crooning, soft the midnight hush So passes the world aside.
:
the
mystic
arms of
know
When
the shadows lie so rich, so slant, so long, Over the close-cropp'd lawn which else is white with
dew,
Where
To
the misty vistas shine, and the winding paths go through thickets beyond the garden-ground and a secret
bird in song.
tall.
moon-mist
nimbus,
dim
with
leaves the
thick dews
rise
and fall And the musk-rich scents of the garden To the overshadowing fringe Of their gorgeous, golden eyes.
I
know
When
The
at last the
lily,
uttermost
laurel
stir
stillness steeps
Rose and
and
where the ash-tree weeps. The topmost twig of the yew and the cypress sleeps Like the box of the garden edge.
Solemnly, sweet, serene,
fills
104
And
The
Hence
these Ecstasies
palaces sacramental and high-roof 'd halls In the haunted place of incense, the wondrous place
Earth and its crown between an unvoiced solemn promise of boundless grace. over the East's red ramparts, gateways and cloudy walls, And over a thousand changeful turrets and towers, The morning glory of heaven blooms over and calls To morning glories of earth in a thousand bowers.
With High
know
That
the high emprize of the life of quest Traces the pathway slowly which leads to
a glorious
end.
Clambers
winding
stairway
which
takes
to
the
wondrous
goal
:
height,
makes
for a shining
starry
promise
which
haunts
the
human
soul.
And
Or
never the hope which holds so high each head up-turn'd to the light. the great desire which swells and pants in the
breast,
we have dared to dream in the loftiest flight Is only the rumour and noise of a greater gain Out of all mind and sight That if one tittle of all we fail, as it seems, to attain.
That
all
:
It is never because the dream in the heart was fond. But because of the height which still soars over the
height.
105
WINGS OF FIRE
Springs to the West
a scarlet bird o'erhead,
Then
swift
and straight
as if a spirit
sped
The
On
splendid clouds about her burn and glow, liquid gold she glides, purple crests floats buoyant, or below Sinks deep in lilac tides.
Through
What
Iris cliffs
White
argent, crumble
down,
'i
And
So
scatter shards
One gems
all
eager wings address'd, She merges past man's sight into the blue Beyond the blazing West.
With
whom
perdure,
They may
in
Thy
!
splendour pure
Thy rumours
hall,
We O
Thy
call
Through
all life's
close caress.
speak incessantly in clouds and veils Speak, we have heard through these We know what message of all life exhales In Thy sweet August breeze. io6
Wings of Fire
blossoms in Thy breath ; the red Lies richer on the rose ; Earth yields up fragrant incense where we tread
;
The almond
severally sanctified
all
And And
sanction'd
our days,
priestly chrism
And
But
bridal kiss, Eucharistic feasts are dighted where Thy board of plenty is.
If
Which
brings
Thy
life
Some
Thy
tears.
True joy
transfigured
The dead
Our
All's light
return in
knows no Thee
sense of loss,
by no cross
from
sea to sea.
Ah, one thing more, last gift and best, we wait Beyond all type and sign, Teach us to issue out of Nature's gate On Thine unveil'd Divine.
Pipes on the mountain shrilling, stars supreme Calling along the height,
Lift us, uplift us, out of this high
dream
Into true
waking
light
107
Book of Mystery
and
Vision
THE EXTREME
Man
SENSE
treads a path with signs and lights ablaze, Yet scarce conceives of sacrament or sign
;
And
To When
shine.
Nature's mystic life at first unfolds, False sacraments he makes, of veils unclean The open'd eye but part beholds. Misreads inverted types and tales Between.
And at the best we catch some hints alone, The cypher characters in part translate And then, our powers at fault compell'd
More
insight with dejected heart
to own,
Await.
Man
can but place, in his most lofty dreams, Constructions on the signs which best accord With signifying Nature's schemes And broader gifts to life repress'd AfFord.
Nor saint, nor priest, nor poet can reveal The true construction which, obscure and
Life's sacramental depths conceal
grand,
At hand.
io8
House Fantastic
It falls
round us everywhere, blazon'd far and wide with dew through evening air,
it is
It glitters,
Peace
Silence
we have heard
it fills
it
understanding not
The heart knew once, the heart forgot, And yet again the heart recalls
:
God,
recall
it
in
Thy morning
light
HOUSE FANTASTIC
Stood the house where I was born In a garden made of old There the heavy, scented flowers Lay in wait to trap the hours.
;
And
the
moons
in
mazes
fold.
Permeating vast and fair Vaulted heights of heavy air, Held the netted sunbeams there In that mansion, ah, how old
In the house where
I was born Mystic echoes waking told, In a legend-haunted tongue. As of viols half unstrung, Of the days when life was young, Pulsing through that mansion old 109
where
On
I was born, Overlooking weir and wold, Heirs of Kings who once held sway Mourn'd for grandeur pass'd away. Fortunes now in such decay As o'ertook that mansion old.
was born,
Would
That
To
In the house where I was born. Long by mystic rites ensoul'd. That spinet with ghostly tone,
By one melody unknown, Could the Genius call alone Watching o'er this mansion
old.
I was born Gentle maidens, masters bold, To search out the secret brought Happy faces, eager thought, And grew old there as they wrought, Perish'd in that mansion old.
no
House Fantastic
O'er the house where
I
was born
Many
With
Unattempted melody,
Pouring through the mansion
In the house where
I was born Forth the glorious measures
old.
roll'd,
And
There was moaning, there was maying In the resonant mansion old.
In the house where
I
was born
Came the abbot, coped and stoled. Came the censers, came the lights
Lovers
lost their bridal nights
;
Rock'd the bases, cried the heights Answer'd all the mansion old
Singing oj the splendid Quest, Nature's secret end confessed ;
Type and
sign
;
How
The
How
May
Solemn call and sacred mission ; And beyond the seeing sense ; And yet beyond the Vision.
In the house where I was born That which hinders yet will hold All the songs to silence ran,
As when
first the dole began For the anthem and the man Tarries still that mansion
:
old.
Ill
born,
This old tale of song and art Of the mystery is part And the instrument man's heart, Waiting in that mansion old
In the house where I was born, Till the gifted hand unfold
living, music rare, long-sought forgotten air Sleeping latent everywhere, As within that mansion old.
Music
The
The Vindication
In the house where I was born Let the newer tale be told
;
Open
But more
And
In the musicy in the rhymes^ Tripping stave and jarring tone, Intimate percha^ice that He, Hidden in the mystery. Artist oj the ways unknown.
Also seeks the perfect key For the cosmic melody.
112
Ma?tifestatio?i
BEHELD
a scarlet
its
pageant
in a
dream of night
Spread wide
Now my
By
waking eyes are tinctured by the sheen and show, the glory and the glister and the gorgeous glow.
:
I hold this truth unquestion'd from its sources deep Comes something into waking out of worlds of sleep, And like a golden lamp at night held up in garden
Hence
closes.
at
Now
That
And
Is
because you are a dreamer I may hint to you the world of common eyesight as a veil is true. by certain tinctures vested in a light divine,
lifted
sometimes
sign.
We
Is
But the
and the fullest in the mystic plan the sacramental mystery of man to man.
richest
is
sign to each
;
Of a
By
Do we
The The
its
form unknown
message from the world within. The fever and the scarlet of the sign of sin. H VOL, I, 113
A
at sea.
is ion
unconscious or lost children's cries, all signs, remote as white spume out
will be.
Now
this, I
life
life to mere day's length of shadow-life impart Such sacramental flowers unfold in fair soul-gardens then As Carmel and Assisi never gave to men.
Would
of
But, symbols to each other, to ourselves we are light reflected only, not itself the star Ah, therefore shine within us, thou sad moon of mind, To the day-star and the noon-tide and the goal assign'd
seem
more than
all
The
O, hold we
As
all our sacraments till that great day consecrated altar-lights which shine alway, And on the sign where God Divine may dwell, of man unseen. Let saving dread forbid the print of any mouth unclean
!
I have dwelt among the tokens, and in types expound Some fragments of the secrets which our ways surround,
And
The
that you can interpret, as the veils allow, bright dream-tincture tells me on your lips and
brow.
114
yam
Noli Tardare
art close
inward, transcendental
Glory canst at need let in Lights engird the chosen head From no sun of Nature shed.
And
Need we
Past the flashing suns revolving, Onward to the furthest star ? Are they thinner, think you, friend.
Where
Undetermined
Fill
with joy your paths unknown But to catch the inward graces Needs the inward sight alone Meanest places hold the spell
:
Of unfathom'd
miracle.
Hence when any hour invites you. Whether seemly eve's repose,
Or,
if
Night august or hush'd moon-close Best where best your charm is found Pass into your garden-ground.
There
On
the
fall,
And
all
Grass and glebe and grove expound Thin-veil'd secrets latent round.
115
Visio7t
wondrous tale be told, But in wild ways meek and lowly, Beds of burning marigold
Shall the
:
Most betwixt
the
lilies
straight
Not devoid of dream if blended Are the windflowers and the docks,
For myself
I love a splendid Place of purple hollyhocks, And my fancy knows great powers Which lie rich in the sunflowers.
could
set
you
in
my
closes.
sense endow'd,
as the rose
is.
And
the bird's
lilt,
But
for
you
a place
of wonder
be
;
'Twixt the trees that you stand under, Seeing what is yours to see
In my garden, seen aright. All is scarlet and white light.
Of
all flowers the bloom and splendour Backward, forward sweep and swing. Light as pampas grass and slender. Fringe the edge of the world's ring As the wind-tides round them lave. Cups and patens flame and wave. ii6
(Many moons have haunted there, As the witchcraft pomp devises), They are virgins very fair,
In ecstatic motion driven
Towards the
each exhaling
ascends.
dim enchanted veiling, Eastward as the dew descends Hence conceal'd in all that seems,
Truly human nature teems.
Yes,
all
For some
word
directing
to yield
Word
Then if man through far creation Must the secret meaning make.
Fountain, centre, destination. Let that secret soul awake, And present the inmost plan
Man
in all
and
God
in
man
While the Word of Words reposes Far beyond the lip's control,
Till the fitting time discloses. In the garden of the soul.
117
Word of power lifted, Nature, transmuted Then Shall confess the crowning hour Putting weed and vesture by.
May
discern the
Shall unveil
humanity
IN
THOSE HEIGHTS
And
Stars
light
Who
Where thou
Of thy
soul taught
forfeit
terrific
The
infinite
is
domain
That
It lies
thine end.
to find
In
those Heights
Dissemble not the joy of this great quest Yet know that all of earthly bliss Thou hast agreed to miss, All human rest.
What others prize, on that thou dost not What others mean is nought to thee
But hopes they dare not Rise up and beckon.
Believe not thou that sense
see
reckon,
through
all
repining-
That
The
is
dead
No
But
none disclose
By
All things are merged into the sense unspoken, And up through depths their prize concealing
dim
It lies
Still
with thine own will to penetrate further in that daring field What shall the seventh sense yield
;
gorgeous
state
When all the shining seas are travell'd, And all the maze-drawn paths unravell'd
Be thou our goal
119
A
O
Book of Mystery
and
Vision
man
Have we not follow'd in the height and deep The uttermost abstruse invention
Of
Waking,
Thou
is
dumb,
world we move
Demanding
And
if,
The
Make
hearts afraid
men
So
shall
we not
life's
When
Who knowbeyond
What
I20
seeing
Out of
The
the Fuhiess
;
And
scan thy mystic pages, More lone midst all the sages Than they in crowd
we,
who
Because if adorations mount Past common worship's fount Shine no gods' faces.
places,
To
simple sense,
whom
This world her sacraments dispenses, But oft starves out the senses
Which
signs discern.
On
And
Her
Therefore be with us as thou canst defending Light through thine echoing halls we are,
;
Beyond these
Call'd
regions, far
!
and ascending
These make
vain to
121
arms
moonlight, praise These poems for their charms. To him attribute bays Who holds her virgin grace
in
With maid
Can none
in
truth discern,
Nor
embrace
Howe'er his ardours burn. Yea, though she yielding lies, She from his grasp has fled
'Midst secret mysteries
Of body and
bridal bed.
Will she that heart's spouse greet By terms to mine akin. Who does not dream how sweet
The
matron's household ground ardours could I stir By mystic songs profound. Too sad and strange for her } She reigns how calm, how safe, star above the wild, moon, where waters chafe.
On
What
mild.
own hand,
she leads,
Strong for the moment's needs But life's eternal sense Ranks in her sober head
bed.
Out
of the Fulness
fate
A
The
rise, a
discount-rate
Toil all human flesh Scourges, to keep alive. Why squander time and breath ? Who can, that wills, take heed Life is all whirl, and death. If that be rest, God speed E'en thou, O priest, content In thy peculiar school To class each sacrament
!
And
Is
With
skill to
From
My
secret
song disclose
;
Where
How O
partake at will tidings then ? Stars speak to st?rs, but thou, priest-voice, leading men,
all
sound
my
And
this voice
mingle
how
123
Sun
in his flaming course. All the world's lights, and all Darkness and tempest's force, Thrill me with frequent call.
Biar
no tidings true all might hear and Plain Nature, simple view
I
Which
learn,
And
little
child discern
How
As
Of
daily life
is
is
lent,
For each
In
With marks
Wall
Street dare
of sacrament. we say
An office God disowns? Why, angels pass that way. As by the masters' thrones The keen winds sweeping there
Do proud hosannas sing Yea, even as in the fair, White City of the King.
But ah those signs august, For ever far and nigh Through all life's fume and dust,
!
The sacrament
124
of high,
Out of
Aspiring
the Fulness
love,
human
one White Throne above, There poised undimm'd, undazed. And ah most blessed feast
To
Of wonder,
to behold
The sacraments no priest Has ever bought or sold. Nor saints alone dispense.
Ah
utterly to feel
Hence
to myself
speak,
;
Some
brothers of
my
kind.
Who
Of
my
mystic tongue
They know
Set to a sacred
Perform'd within the soul 'Midst incense, pomp and light. I know what stars have shone To soothe what seas unblest
I fix
my
faith
upon
I rest.
The
Vision, and
125
Book of Mystery
and
Vision
dial
the days which have been and are, mystic procession on-flowing,
star from the East follows star ? have come through the past from afar, Yet the vistas stretch solemn and straight Can the mind forecall, at the term of all What things may befall and wait ?
I
As
O
It
ever as heaven
moves round
thee.
slow shade forward steals tells of the days and their sequence But nought of their source reveals.
Thy
Nor
yet
what
their
end conceals
At a pageant of days, in a mystic haze, Thou dost stand and gaze, between.
Therefore thou art as our symbol, As if in man's image art thou For looking before and after. We know not of whence nor how. Nor whither our trending now But the space between, with itsgroves andfiov/ers, But the gloom and glance of the time's advance. These are thine with their chance, and ours.
;
Here then
And
With
I
in the copse and woodland here in the glade, besprent a glory of scarlet tulips,
For
take thy sacrament I see, with a heart content. That the signs decreed by the
are
Which
some think
vainly,
The type of a wing's swift rush. The sweep of a flood-tide passing, The vortex and the crush,
But the solemn throb and the hush Of the great durations which ne'er diminish, And for evermore are behind, before.
And
What
then
is
some cloud of
in
moment
?
ghostly hand
summer
;
To
a thirsty and panting land Herald at most of the storm and grand Ravage of battle on plain and hill Yet brief is the space ere a moon's bright face Shall the height and the base make still
in the
?
darkness
Of star
The
or
moon
record
light of all brightness only Writes on thy mystic board Pass, Light withdrawn and restored Yet may the infinite, perfect beam, Intransitory, adorn thy story With more than glory of dream
!
And
time with its changes noting Dost stand from both apart Like the inmost human heart.
One truth confessing 'midst all that shews. The depth and height of the splendour bright.
When
the light of
127
Visio7t
What unto
1
Dial of God's great sun thee shall be darkness, When darkness is over and done
!
hours run hint of the haunting of souls, involved Where the light rays beat, and the centres meet.
seize
as the soft
HOW
A
VOICE
in the dark imploring, sweet flute play'd in the light. An organ pealing and pouring Through the world's cathedral heightAnd again the charge and the flight,
The
clash and hurtle of fight. thou art grand, thou art lonely, In thy melody, in thy moan, With the sense of a world unknown Filling the known world only 128
How I Came
to
the Sea
Great voice, which invokes and urges The strenuous souls to strive, Gather thy waves, thy surges Thy breakers heap and drive Thy long tides marshal and lead.
;
ripple shall plead whispers on golden sand And further out on the rocky strand, Where white crests crumble and white spume scourges, Thy drums and tocsins and horns shall blow. Thy long reverberant beats shall come and go, From where thy surf-line in sky-line merges To where, by sounding buffet and blow Blare of peans and muffle of dirges
little
The
In
little
Capes which crumble and torn cliffs know strength and stress of thine ebb and flow Waste and know thee and thee confess. We do not know thee, we own, we know But our soul's might in thy might rejoices, Our hearts respond to thy wild vast voices Thought with its fleetness swift wings from the course of thee Tongues in the speech of thee Hope at the source of thee Fire from the gleams of thee, strength from the force of thee Width through the reach of thee ; Depth from thy deepness, unfathom'd by plummet. And height from thy night-sky's impervious summit Omen and sign These have we drawn from thee, these do we bring to
The
thee
Nature's great sacraments rise from and spring to thee. All other ministries sun, when 'tis shrouded,
Moon
in the
morning
light
meagre and
pallid,
Stars overclouded
129
A
Thy
sacramental
Thine are the words of the mystery Grand- Word and Pass-Word and Number thine. Grades and Degrees to the height advancing, And the golden dawn and the glory glancing Far and away to the secret shrine
!
II
There
shall be
no more
sea,
they say,
On Nature's great coronation day. When the Bridegroom comes to the Bride. Shall earth then lose her sacraments of tide Motion, measures tremendous, echoing far and long Glister, sparkle and glow, ring of an endless song ?
words prophetic, ye princes and priests attend This is the Quest's end promised, the marvellous end Of all our voyage and venture since time began. To the Quest for ever the sea's voice calleth man And this in a mystery-world, by only the side-light broken That a Quest there is and an end is the single secret spoken All over that vibrant main Of the Quest for ever it tells, of the ends and dooms to
;
;
gain.
1 I
rise in
the half-light early, I vest myself in haste ; pass over highway and byway, the fielded land and the
waste
As much
as a
man may
prosper,
all
eager
climb and go
receive
down. For this day surely meseems that the Quest may
a
crown.
130
How I Came
To
and fro
narrate
to
the
Sea
me
What means
Not
this fever,
know of
And
Stop
Is
others,
my
brothers, the
me and
ask.
What news
?
anything doing
in a star.
some
watchword utter'd from over the harbour bar? And above the light swift music of all its fleeting joys The world spreads daily through length and breadth, the great Quest's rumour and noise. Who sought it first, who longest, and who has attain'd almost ? All this in town and in village its heralds proclaim and
post
Or
But the sun goes down and the night comes on for a space to quench endeavour. While star after star through the spaces far shew the track of the Quest for ever
!
Ill
But
still,
stand, even
I,
And
me
with
deep unrest, For it speaks of the Quest, of the Quest With a torrent of tongues in a thousand tones
And
a far-off
murmur
Amen,
131
A
To
Visio7t
found
Or
So plainly.
Then
way
;
lies
And
man
Yet not on the surface surely seen with eyes, For thence the swallow has come and thereon the
sea-
mew
And And
Or
flies
sails,
we
learn,
hover, pass to their place and return ; over the wastes thereof the tempests ravage and burn. the sea-spouts spin.
But not of these is the Quest In the deep, in the deep it lies
Ah,
let
me plunge
therein
silent,
and the
halls
of the
Not there is the clarion bird Or the wind's loud organ heard
No
hill.
seaman, sailing East and West And a horse for the rover when he goeth over the dappled down and road But a man may better remain in his own abode Who is vow'd to the wonderful end which crowns the Quest For sail and compass, and coach and steed and the rest, The king's highway, and the beaten track, and the great
sail,
sea-road
Are
these the
way of
the Quest
132
know
stand on the marge and wait. that the deep, with its secret,
is
sacramental
hymn.
Enough
me vaguely
with meanings
Enough
that
its
withheld
While, far through the depth and the echoing halls of the soul Reply to the roar and the roll. Themselves in the mystery-tongue, All the world over sung.
darkness, the
As
from dream
In oracles hints at the theme That has never been spoken or spell'd.
Am
133
A
My
Through
path
God's omens
glitter'd
Deep meaning and high promise, which At once all avenues of sense. I held
All wonder sacred, and, as flame in
flint,
Sought God conceal'd in every mystery-hint. Too soon, as if on moonless nights like this. All the right order of the world we miss
as a
man
his
way,
;
storm surprises in the waste astray Black aspects of the sacramental scheme Are thrust in roughly on our mystic dream,
Whom
And
midst the sacred ministries proclaim and a sign of shame ; That in the great hierarchic chant of things,
baleful presence
One
And when
To
Are
thee,
own woe,
I
reserved,
know.
!
And many
set for
worship as a sign of grace baptisms of water and of fire. Thine ordinations and thine unctions dire Hast thou, and efficacies strange subsist, With a rare savour, in thy Eucharist, Where lying latent, under semblance dim. Thou dost win entrance and abide in him Who Cometh, kneeling by thine altar rail. Thou too hast many priests within the pale Of thy communion, licensed to dispense Thy mystic treasures ; and when men go hence, All seal'd and fortified with thy last rites. How oft they pass expecting thy delights, And the good things which thou hast stored to see Longing they look and fall asleep in thee.
Thy
134
How
in those
Is like a wall
about
us,
everywhere
With life our life environs, and in them. As the hills stand around Jerusalem, God hidden, in all ages and all lands, With a great power about his people stands,
this invasion of the evil sign ? Prophets shew forth in vain and seers divine The old-world legends dimly strive to tell And the lone thinkers on the problem dwell. Break up the answering words and form again. We must confess where no one can explain We must confess at least who speak in song We know that mischief and misrule and wrong Befell the garden of the soul's content. We know not what laid waste its fair extent, What fill'd the springs with bitterness, or broke The music up, and to such sad-eyed folk, Haunted with memories of some former sin, Turn'd those who once abode in joy therein.
; ;
Came
Yet many
fruits
are left.
Nor
is
the garden of
Sacred to incense
And
garden sound Nor, Master, yet so densely intervene The flaming clouds of any sunset scene. That cloud or light can veil Thee or make known So being mindful of our star and throne All attestations of desire and awe. Thy words flame-written on the soul, her law And that great longing wherewith all are bent To get behind the veil of sacrament We do believe, past every veil and gate.
psalters also in the
That
to the centre
yields
we
shall penetrate.
Which
And
no form, nor is by form expressed. that this centre is our end and rest.
^?>S
PART
II
"
appatmtium,
ati
finEmn0SttumpErfectum,inluminEeiincrat0,
in mpsterio signato iiutCaiile."
De
Concordia
Dei
et
Animtt.
faint the
enamouring word.
And enfolds broider'd vestments or far-flashing gems Of pontiff's tiaras and king's diadems. The cups of the tall-springing lilies confuse
With white maidens' faces, moist-eyed, while the dews Shine ghostlike and pallid on mist-breathing grass.
Where pearl-sprinkled sandals fall light as they pass. The maid's trailing garments glide softly and raise
light stir as June in her slumberous days Permits to low zephyrs, with pauses between Lest they wanton too long with the leaf's silver sheen Some cooing dove murmurs in languorous elms Of the dream and the dreamer in reverie's realms.
Such
willow-sweet maidens What maidens are these, in the moonlight and honey-lipp'd breeze Old voices grow faint, from the summit they fall Your measures enchant me, I come at your call. faint grow the tocsin, the trumpet, the drum Enswathe me, enclose me ; white maidens, I come
!
Curd-white
Ah,
stay
me
with
lilies,
The
nearness and warmth of your mystic embraces, Dissolving the sacred, inviolate state
Which I shared with the dwellers outside of your By a superincession fantastical, sweet,
1
gate
am merged
in the
maids of
this
shadow'd retreat
one. the fount of the sun.
they, neither
many nor
the
warmth from
139
Book of Mystery
and
Visio?i
The King
Sleeps
Within the charm'd walls is a place of delight, And a world from its windows shines strange to the sight, In the pomp of deep night and high glory of day, Where the long golden prospects stretch shining away. With pennons and banners the pageants pass by, And the crash of their music goes up to the sky The centre and shrine is this paradise fair, And crown'd midst his maidens the monarch is there.
:
about by a ministry blest And the intimate sense of the garden of rest, How vague are the legends, the memories dim Of the King's distant country surviving for him But a hint in the stars, but a voice in the wind, An echo of canticles lost to the mind. Welling up from the depths in the sea's organ voice, Bear witness how far he has err'd in his choice.
wrapp'd
all
In the garden are stairways and turrets and towers; 'Twas spring when he enter'd, and sweet were the flowers The maidens sang ballads, how blithe to the heart
All bells rang the nuptials of Nature and Art And the world to the walls in high carnival came. Bright eyes full of rapture, bright faces aflame. But what of that moaning when music is still'd That ache in the pause which no pageant has fiU'd
The garden
has hill-tops, the stars live above It is summertide now and the earth is all love Those maids in full chorus sing jubilant odes ;
A O
glory abides in the vistas and roads. high the emprizes and high the renown, But the King hath his maidens, the King hath his crown Now, what of the whispers which hint in his sleep Do hearts never sorrow ? Do eyes never weep ?
.?
140
A
The
the time
rich
in
autumn
all
gold,
Round maids
But
mournful envelopes them oft the wave on the strand far through the land Cold sleet against windows beats heavy and drives On the overblown blooms and the bees' ravish'd hives. All voice in that garden dies down in a dirge, And the King hath his sorrow to crown him and scourge. Far, far through the windows his vision is strain'd The young have grown old, and the old have not gain'd Save in sense of illusion and measureless loss So the weary wayfarer goes dragging his cross
a mist looking
;
;
hills
out of reach.
Where storms
ominous speech. 'Mid the ghosts of the maidens, in vain let him roam, And remember at last how he strayed from his home
utter faintly their
Deep
The King is a-cold, with the snows on his head Through the rime on the windows forth-looking sees The dearth and the dark when the glory should be. Where now are the stars and the altitude keen.
;
he
in the shining
demesne,
With fellowships lofty, reserved to adorn That secret pageant and state inborn } The heart cannot dream it, though hearts may Nor a way of attainment the eye discern
;
yearn,
But
King in his garden, of all bereft, Knows that which was priceless for this was left For a paradise fated with time to end, The Place of that Vision whence Kings descend. So over the desolate, lonely road Dim thoughts strain forth from his waste abode, And hope for a herald with tidings sent From the land withdrawn of the soul's content
the
141
A
For
a
beacon speaking the darkness through light beyond and the further blue Past all sea-cries, for a distant tone From the royal realm which was once his own.
Of the
The
When
? Come they now clouded brow ? The wasting garden is moist and wan Far has the King of the garden gone Whither he travels and what may chance
will they
come
him
Falls there a
gleam on
his
Whether Whether
restored
from the
lifelong trance,
Where
Who
The
shall acquaint us
He
that
knows
one true place for a King's repose. And, long though he travel the outward track, That the King came forth and the King goes back.
CLAVIS ylBSCONDITORUM
Therefore, perchance, at a time assign'd Some key to the mystery Kings may find. Why maidens five in a garden dwell And Kings delude by their potent spell. Peace on the King through his ways attend ; Ail things lead him to reach his end Stars be his pathway and suns his track, For the King comes forth and the King goes back
Epilogue
Ballad of maidens white to see, All are spelling thy mystery ; Faint is the music and low the tone
Lead
us
still,
lead us
to
reach our
own
142
THE
may
In song
fail,
and
psalter
the
:
numbers
falter
yet
hint
a losing quest,
dream'd of rest, And there had thought to remain But a lone star rose on the heart's repose, And it drew me to quest again.
Proem
Short the distance and smooth the road, Not too far from a man's abode Seek, you shall find it ; far and nigh
Stretches the
Land of
Sorcery.
The Prose
Where never
a sense
On
But to
sense in bond.
;
And,
delight deludes
Where
Past what eyes discern. Or far in some land remote Perchance unfriendly, at least unknown Picture the bliss and the vision alone Here let me anchor a stranded boat,
;
143
A
And
taste the
my
sails are
rent
is
The mast
I
splinter'd
the rudder
bent.
On
But
turret or
I
Found
Seized
the known world's end, window or hand extended none when the quest was ended,
icy blast o'er the pathless track
While an
me and
toss'd
me
back.
is heavy with spells sky overflowing the soft charm spills loving litany breathes round wavering hills And faintly chimes in the bosks from floral bells. Or sighs in a veil on the surface of tarns and wells.
Here
the air
a
From
Through
Suspire and yearn, purple splendour, flicker and burn, vistas of trees prolong'd and the musk-dark
shadows
Of haunted
Far
ofl^
dells.
How
And And
Or
far,
the glister of shining surf looks white ; how soften'd comes the roll of the open sea
is
hush'd as a wind
may
be.
The amber
is
caught
thickets and
traps which
mazy
name
leaves
But the nameless mystic people It moves in tongues of fire on vane and steeple, On crumbling towers in pageants of auburn flame. 144
Hark
lawn,
The
wain by a silent team with its harvest-load is drawn. Though the road may rise or fall And only shadow'd figures slip past through the ravish'd
silent
;
land,
For ever wearing the dreamful eliin look And ever the wondering guise of him who has heard the
faerie call.
But
yet,
theme
uplifted.
With subtle, mastering melody suddenly fills the air From the midst of a secret centre, suddenly rifted, The penetrant vibrant music pulses everywhere Through every leaf and blade of grass is sent. As over the strings of its instrument Sweeping, sweeping, sweeping. The earth, with
;
its
volume
Is a
stored.
quivering sounding-board,
shore.
And
The
of
women
are
faces
of strange
enchanted
flowers.
Giving forth fragrance of incense and sounds of flutes on the deep. In the sweetest, stillest, and gravest charm of the tardy hours And the children are blossoms in bud, which smile in the light, and sleep. White lilies, pallid and pure, in a shimmering cloud of
;
pearls.
Are the
VOL.
I.
145
There are royal, ruddy roses of eager and splendid boys, Heavy, yet lissom of limb, tan-faced, full of glories and joys. Their moist lips full and intense. Well over with rippling speech Yet a strange transfusion of sex and form and sense Swims undeveloped in each
;
;
And
all
the
men
in
the land,
if
men
be a part of the
in vision
and
O
Is
Haunted
Life in the
Land of
Sorcery
Will
not dwell in these ways for evermore } Breathe harps and all ye strings in a world of strings. With every voice in a world of voice and choir. Breathe over sea and shore Lowly and faintly and fading far away. With a sudden tremor and hint of all unspeakable things. As of dusk in the heart of the fire Lowly and faintly and fading far away. Over the senses breathe till the senses swim Chant in the dells and dingles, among the groups so dim, anthem, litany, hymn Standing at footpath ends Of the world's delight, from the pleasant rite In the missal of Faerie
I
; ;
The anthems swell and never a chord is lost. The light of the Vision floats for ever around.
And
by an anxious thought
is
uncross'd
Of the
Blessed Life
mist
in
found.
falls in a
Of
On
fields
Land of Sorcery.
How
At evening
One Offered
Envoy
Inceitse
the light of a lone star fell through the lilac gloaming and gloom, But a voice fell with it, meseem'd, in the midst of that choric spell, on the sorcery craft and bloom, And, stilling the pulse of a thousand strings, Said Sails may fail thee, but wings take wings Then suddenly out of the land withdrew The savour, the music, the scent, the hue curtain of darkness droop'd from the sky On the Blessed Life of Sorcery. That star in the distance sings and sings I have burn'd my ships, but I come with wings
:
O'er the wall at the world's end, eyes of pity Shine on the quest for the Mystic City.
HOW ONE
Just where the
OFFERED INCENSE
towards
its
forest thins
edge.
On
Or
Is a clearing
wide,
a glade, if
you
will.
And beyond
But this is Over the hillside climbs the wheat In the August sun like a golden tide It washes over the whole hillside. Except for a narrow and tortuous track
Left for the passage of hardy feet. Far down a little bridge looks black. Spanning a stream which chimes and tinkles. Leaps in the sunlight, sparkles and twinkles. Rolls its smooth white pebbles, and sprinkles Crisp green turf upon either hand. Further again is the rising land,
147
Book of Mystery
and
Visioit
Draped in the sunlight gorgeously But climb you over that further slope, For a splendid stretch of the sky's blue cope Bends to the West, and the breeze comes thence. Over the low plain, keen and intense Rife with rumour of riot and rout Salted and strong from the sea far out.
To
watch the sunset smoulder and burn Over the surf-line, churn'd and creamy To see the mists on the plain assemble, The dotted lamps of the inns dissemble Their fullest light
Till
it's
really night
To see the sky turn mauve and dreamy And so many stars in the dark a-tremble To hear the anthem roll of the main
And
Take your
But for
the strong response of a seawind's strain stand on the further height
real
And
magic 'twixt eve and night, and deep From the inmost heart of the house of sleep, At a fitting hour the hills forsake For the edge of the woodland cover and brake. Over the clearing, high and far.
a speculation strange
You shall see only a single star Trees, in the dubious light convoked. Stand, like mystas muffled and cloak'd And lone in the midst of the lonely glade To the cubical stone which no hand has made, Shalt thou in the border twilight bring If thou hast the gift of soul to bear glimpse of the secrets of earth and air
As an outward
Thy And
little
parcel of sacred
How
May
One Offered
Inceitse
he who has offer'd his incense tell Of something which follows this kind of spell
Say that the smoke will rise and spread, Making a nimbus round one's head, While glade and bush through the vaporous mist Take shapes uncertain, which writhe and twist. The sky looks marshlike, the star is dim, And the air, which haply is moist and damp.
Seems to
swim
The
And
the moss-grown altar-stone, unbidden Passing into the cloud, is hidden. change comes over the face of things, And twixt the sense of a soul alone And the subtle hint of invisible wings, Tense expectation thrills and swings Till suddenly welling and surging round, Down from the welkin and up from the ground.
sight
and sound
sense of a thing which is all unknown Shapes in a moment and pierces thee.
The
is
done
one by one
the downward way Note how the wheat-ears bend and sway Get with haste to the village and choose The tavern which most the yokels use Or hang on the bridge till one comes near
You
a light step and a listening ear. have touch'd as close as one rite may reach To that which lies undeclared behind The things of Nature and things of mind Out of vision, exceeding speech And it isn't intended that men should get fuller glimpse of the secret yet.
With
149
A
Than
Meanwhile it shews you that this life's scheme Has more of omen and siQ[n and dream
enters into the hearts of those cannot the inner eyes unclose And that after all the life of man Is shaped on a sacramental plan That all the light which he gets is clouded Because of the manifold veils between ; The truth which he seeks to clasp is shrouded And thus the beauty he longs for seen. Yet truth and beauty and light exist,
Who
And
the sign
is
umbrage
mist.
at times,
Gleams from beyond do at times emerge Meaning of sorrow and sense of song.
second import of runes and rhymes, seed of right at the core of wrong, And in many legends and mystic tales rumour of what is behind the veils.
The The
NoTA Bene
Is surely good as a charcoal fire And the hearty I think that zve all
may own^
;
Is as
much an
may
well
Be
And for
With
And
Vve
been telling.
150
word
evasive hidden,
which stand for a sense unseen signs and the worlds they mean But an arch so old and a sward so green, And the sudden flight in a tawny light Of doves through that arch unbidden.
signs
Of
The
little
beams so bright. of the amber beam Gleam, dream, glory and gleam The honey-bee hums in the hawthorn hedge. The wild rose slumbers on plinth and ledge, And over the wide world's sapphire edge The rich ripe corn of the world is roU'd,
Gay, so gay,
In the
in the
warm
rich stream
As rocks
burning gold. whirr of the wings of the doves goes by. a singing bird hangs in the flame of the sky is the scent of the wheat and dry sinking slowly and circling down
in its laver the
petal falls
from the
rose's
crown
Soft on the soft sward falls and reposes. As a gentle breath stirs the swooning roses. But the doves come forth and the doves go in
Here in a low flight circle and spin Over and under the arch and out,
And
out and over the arch and in, circle and plunge about. Sweet and warm is the air they stir. And pleasant the chirp of the grasshopper Motion, melody, scent are kin, And the doves come forth and the doves go
Wheel and
in.
151
A
The
second sense on a day like this, Meseems, a moment the mind may miss, Midst incense, music and lights content With the outward grace of the sacrament. Therefore for once of mere doves in flight The rhymes shall end as the rhymes begin Of the full rich light upon wings so white, As the doves come forth and the doves go
in.
within, going forth and the coming i^i Oj doves through an arch unbidden ? Do I not know that the whence ajid where
Why
hint so
Of the
0/
But
the life of man may he symbolVd there ? in light so bright and on sward so jair
let
what
is
hidden he hidden
all
goodly aims,
Too grandly built to crumble or incline The soul baptizing gave them holy names They flourish'd, they were mine.
my schemes I took world for glory's praise In camps and courts and colleges I shook. With sounding feet, all ways.
first,
At
And
glorified the
And
silence fall on every quest, on ambition's peak I paused and heard voice unbidden utter in my breast One vapid, vacant word 152
The
tinctured flame, and the trump offame rose and the star shall fall!
cried, a refuge for the heart
but the
Perchance,
Is
found
life
in
beauty
And my
soul, in
art,
her
All
So
became an
life,
artist,
begotten but not made, to fill The world with beauty and the canvas taught Beauty, and teaches still.
Strange
Rich wert thou, world, in that imperial time. By art transfigured and that art mine own But far withdrawn I found one frozen clime Within me, bleak and lone.
Soul
bless' d is soul
expressed
lonely
when
He
lived only
thereoj
the U7iiverse !
Dirge-laden winds along the waters sweep ; E'en storms are chanted when the light flows back Light leaps the carol zephyr, and the deep Follows a flute-note's track.
;
So up creation's scale the seeker takes His search, and music's rapture fills the world But discord inly finds a thousand snakes
In those sweet
numbers
curl'd.
Bowl
oj ill, slowly fill ; acrid cup he filVdl vacant glance in a tongueless trance!
And
the
empty
soul is stilVd !
^53
there are towers which ghosts will not frequent, And marshes where the bittern will not cry,
And seas accursed where never And wastes which know not
But
if to utter
if relief
tide
is
sent,
sky
And
Free breath
what wonder
space
?
relief.
for
work,
grief
in the
word of
The word
So
in the revolutions
Then
all the outward life of man and beast, Transmuting, turn'd to something " rich and strange "
Till a
new Eos
rose in a
new
East,
The Blessed Vision at the gates abode The pageant pass'd in every leafy lane The Quest was heard upon the open road
Strange galleons swept the main.
look'd within, but there no haunted room Where ghostly presences sit throned and veil'd An empty place which never in the gloom One form divine exhaled.
1
Cross comes
loss
comes
thus
is
if the soul he
A A
to bless,
The
Saving Host
raised.
154
Lord Christ
All
men saw angels tarrying in the street, The rush of white wings over all the land
where the wicked city's pulses beat The Kingdom was at hand.
as
And
But
from lonely
fortress, high-erect,
wastes unmeasured, lone and grey, And acrid further waters scarcely fleck'd With cruel points of spray ;
1
Commanding
soul's
Kingdom
stretch within.
Where
pass'd
sin.
Or
chrism to consecrate.
soul,
it
Dark
So
let
hark !
dead
without'-;
wrap
made myself
sea,
the
air,
And men
The
said
it is
He
Fell on deliver'd nations bending low All Nature chanted for her heart's release
Grand Antiphons
in
O.
:
Great state and golden age and glorious dower No King of Kings had ever reign'd till then ; Yet I alone, in that tremendous hour, mendicant of men
Visio7t
Quail not, Jail not, Soul, in thy rayless room ! Fair whe7i they rise are the shapes and eyes, as the
faces -pass in the gloom !
Come
Who
No
own dread
disease
is left
Much didst thou manifest be now withdrawn Much didst thou brighten now thyself inweave
; ; ;
Still in
is
scarlet
dawn,
Nor
Open, ye
gates,
and open,
!
portals, wide,
!
Let the dreamer through Green world and sea-world, past all shore and tide Sky-world, beyond the blue
So
became
Mine
Stars in
a prince in Faerie Land ; the weird rite and mine the potent spell,
lilies in
my crown and
feet
my
hand.
And
I
on asphodel.
was the Vision and the Eye that sees, The blazon'd symbol and its inmost drift. The Quest, the Seeker and the Bourne of these, The Giver and the Gift.
1 look'd within, the soul was blind. tattered and the place unkempt pageant The follow'd, by no path defined. ill quests Vague Gifts with no grace to tempt.
But when
Sink
all
must he night
and. storm ;
To
and flowers
into
and form.
156
A
So thence
Portion of
My
Inheritance
I pass'd, outside all elfin reach, snatch prerogatives and powers which yield, Far past the compass of theurgic speech,
To
Worlds of
1
all
dread conceal'd.
saw the gods which Julian saw of eld, And after others which we name not now Except with incense-worship, and beheld Light on the Father's brow.
Ah, woe
is
me
To
see
O'er Christ's white throne bend down, yet not to die And the great masters in the Holy Place
How
this dim world restored, By temple doors I stand, a man reprieved The broken bread, which kindly hands accord, With bended head received.
;
God
and the gifts make blest, sacrament withheld before, Deliver'd hardly from a life's unrest, soul is dead no more.
bless the givers
this
For by
My
A PORTION OF MY INHERITANCE
One
day agone, one weariful.
chill'd
Of blister'd bloom and blight May-day, fay-day, all the world was bright
Till they lured
my
lady fond
A
A
night agone the stars have shed All light in tears if that be dew, 'Tis meet, since she bewray'd is fled, That light of verdure follow too venom in the damp distils
!
One
The
An
acrid
odour
hemlock
;
fills
The wingless air it dulls and stills The busy murmur of the vales, The quicken'd sense which haunts the hills And in the mystic thicket kills With beldam fumes the nightingales.
Ave^ Ave !
no
light
is
The
sun
Softness and
Till
all is
from May to
May
deeper haze when June is near. May-day, fay-day, all the spring turn'd sere When they brought to Esclairmonde
And
Smoking
censers
from beyond.
with tinkling
bells,
Poi-'tion
;
of
My
;
Inheritance
One year agone and Nature bleeds The sap of life from every vein The mould is over-rich the seeds Have rotted an unwholesome stain Makes lepers of the strongest weeds The hemlock only blooms again,
; ;
And sickly, fungous growths possess The monstrous boles of pining trees
The
nightshade at the air's caress Feeds with more poison these.
all
Lightly, brightly,
light,
Pomp
of elfin, pomp of fay, Blazon'd banners' soothing sway, Draw thy dreaming soul away
Through
I
so
vow
makes the heart divine. That three maidens, Esclairmonde, Coming from the bourne beyond. In the dusk and ghostly mean
Better
Eventide and night between Thy sweet face v/as peering forth From the window facing North,
Wipes the
tears
And though
never
that
human
art
;
elfin heart
And no words
Shall
man
159
can spell
hell,
Far beyond Choir and incense gone before And the banners evermore Dripping with the dreary mist.
They who draw thee know They are lonely, they persist
not
why
When
Seldom human
Follow
fast
They
And
Not
woe
is
me,
!
And
to share thy long unrest Esclairmonde, O Esclairmonde Homeless, haunted, pass'd beyond, Wraiths are in the world alone Where thy steps no more are known.
!
Thus,
mournful ghost,
take
of mine from bower to brake, From brake to sodden mead, and see, Evermore escaping me, Choir and incense gone before And the banners evermore. With fantastic plunge and twist.
Woe
blest,,
60
La
And
Vie In time
dim
lands beyond
far into
The march of muffled music steals The incense vista curls and reels The low chant dieth far beyond
;
Far die the ghostly censer bells, Confused amid a world of spells. A ghost behind, a ghost before, Falls woe on both for evermore, O Esclairmonde O Esclairmonde
!
LA VIE INTIME
THE FIRST SCROLL
A BOW OF PROMISE
O
So
BRIGHT between the South and West That wonder fled before
!
heart, thy
rest
The woof
spurr'd my russet steed ; disclosed a thousand eyes Now grope I, dark in need.
I
rode upon a palfrey white. white than milk was he And his white garments gave strange light Of golden broidery.
He
More
fill'd
the glade
Rain spangles, hung from leaf and blade, Shook bells at every word. L VOL. I. i6i
O
!
see the
ways divide
lead to convent walls,
leads on to
mine
The casements
And when
For
this
is
mouth and
pass.
And
To
all knightly life of earth, the gold key in thy hand Magic measures, music, mirth, Quests and gestes of Faerie Land
Farewell
With
Farewell the wassail and the bowl, When the gold cup is drain'd To quench the thirst it brings the soul Hath never man attain'd.
!
gaze
And
Which
watch the steep upwinding ways lead from a world of sin 162
;
La
Vie Intiine
From the world of sin and joy they lead, By a fasting waste without Through ways of weed, from the green sweet mead.
To
And
How
of Paradise
When
And
With At
shut at the
word of God.
sheen
is
fair in
ends
Faerie.
the ways divide in the saffron light flame in the West leap'd red. And the Key from the rainbow burnish'd brightSlipp'd out, as the rainbow fled.
Where
holy place,
The witch-boy
round The witch-boy croon'd and the witch-boy keen'd We sprang into faerie ground.
He
drew
my
With
-
the sudden shot of a shaft, the bow Sprang over and spilt its dyes.
a
And
Ye
Forth leap'd
wist
I
knew what
lips
My
Nor
birth-cross saved
me
there
A
O
On
the light, light play of the naked face and limbs transform'd,
In the glowing dawn of a red desire, As the pulse-beats swelter'd and swarm'd.
At
The
nameless
rites
of an
elfin
bed
man
In the veins of the mother that bore And only the soul of the open sea
me
ran,
Dwelt
in
my
And
look'd me, a young child, in the face. Till all the natural world became pageant unstable as smoke and flame. Sunsets faded and stars went out. But, pressing me closer round and about Than the common modes by which man is fenced, Another order and rite commenced.
market town
Strange processions went up and down In dusky corners and rooms secluded Warm arms encircled and lips intruded Stealthy tortuous corridors stirr'd With the whisper of an unearthly word. In the very bed where my mother placed me Strange, trembling creatures cried and embraced me.
;
164
Or
if in
summer
kiss'd
plunged therein
like sin Something bless me to lift could never which And hands caress me. came to depths cool the Up through astray, world of the edge Over the How swift I pass'd from the world away To see those sights of glory and joy,
me which seem'd
Alike forbidden to man or boy, In a place so pale with an eye so dim, Had never the fairies come to him. Yet the light had something of autumn's shine. And the blush of the leaf in its last decline, But the sights if seen by an angel's eyes
Had
lost
him
And
was I taken from Nature's arms. taught so early on secret charms To nourish the innocent heart's desire ^ To fan the flame of a fervent fire Under the eyes, at the lips of those Whose kisses are more than Nature knowi.. Whose arts far down in the scale of things Are sweets full of poison and mortal stings
Why
Ah, but a melody faint at times Drown'd for a little those drowsy rhymes Which the nameless loves of that world unknown Over the nuptial bowers intone.
Where
man
been seen
!
Poppies and wormwood slipp'd between O eyes unsated and grey with want O hearts inhuman, of fire the font O shameless bodies and eager faces. With human sex to your scarlet graces 165
A
E'en
of
bliss
denied
Who
was the bridegroom and who the bride He who hath seen your arms extended Shall know of a hunger and need unended.
but in Faerie I heard the call Heard and hearken'd, and over all Heart and body and mind and eye Fell the great longing to reach your cry Not under Nature's rule returning. Forth I went and carried my yearning. For he that strays from her realm in vain May seek therein to return again But somehow, some time the place to reach Where dwelt that singer of mystic speech, Chanting clearly how far, how high So blythe, so sacred a litany if the natural world to nought Brings what the heart and the eyes have sought. That have look'd on things to our eyes forbidden, Surely a place of peace is hidden Surely that mystic voice which sings Of the Sacred City and its secret things, Not in vain on the mountains far, Nor taken vainly from star to star, Forth from the great delusion leading. Carries the heart with a hope exceeding, Where, in the light of all light descried, One shall be bridegroom and one the bride
!
i66
La
Vie
I71 time
Ah
Of
whither
now
shall
one bewray'd.
Through
listless
longing, duU'd but not allay'd, Descry the true way back ?
The
mists about
folds,
Warm
And
The swooning
Landscape and seascape far and near Are voiceless, void and grey Thought sets as moon, if moon were here, Where two eves make one day.
;
This pallid screen, which hangs between All-kindling heaven and earth, Can bring no purpose fair and clean to birth. In sodden light
worn way and the lorn way. And the way that never ends,
the the light is as the night But never night descends
!
Where
is,
The shapes of all things form and fade, With outlines vague and strange
;
Where
167
And the male rose blooms like the maiden rose And the maid like the man appears Is it night or noon in the sky God knows
?
tears
Body and ghost are spectres pale, Shadow and substance fuse in one,
The back-view
Who
knoweth of
fail
Mind cannot think, nor sad heart dream, Maim'd by the dreary spell, Whence none can issue, by road or stream Take the woodland, try the dell
Try the Take
ghostly,
moaning mere,
weed
? ?
Who shall sail and who shall steer Who shall spur the flagging steed
for a bolt
from heaven to
fall.
For
The
1
yearn for the rainbow's farther side I dream of the golden key
!
The
And
The convent
I
gate and the heights untrod In a silent world of ice ask but to gaze on the hand of God
!
As
it
shuts
me from
i68
Paradise.
La
A A A A A
O
By
faint light shining for a space breath of wind upon the face ; stirring in the mist ; a sigh ; sense of distance, height and skv little wave of melody but how beautiful to see
!
The light leaf dance upon the tree, The bloom upon a hedgerow stirr'd
transport of a singing bird,
And The
and eclipse sun upon the sails of ships, All up and down the dancing sea O but how beautiful to hear A little whisper in the ear, smaller voice than note of bird, A still small voice, a mighty word, A whisper in the heart to say
after darkness
!
That God is not so far away And when the torpid soul is
stirr'd,
The And
The
come and
bliss,
kiss
While joy of new-found life and hours Bursts everywhere into dews and flowers
Dews and flowers and fragrance sweet, month of May, with her light feet The promise of fuller scent and tune Under the florid lips of June
In the
;
And
All
among
The
When August
Out of darkness and sorcery, Out of the spell and the mystery, As a mother with accents mild,
Nature has
call'd
From
She has taken him for a little while Into the refuge of her smile, Until from one of her far-off heights Peak that glisters or gleaming star Some hand shall kindle the greater lights, Shall point to a pathway leading straight, As it might seem, to the convent gate. And into a different world of spell, As it might be, led by a convent bell Gently over the hill-tops ringing. From the star and over the peak. And over the peak and beyond the star, Comes voice, or chorus, or cosmos singing Of one thing needful which, time out of mind, All worlds over, the nations seek, And past all worlds shall the nations find. By which also, restored to sight. From the hells of sense and the spells of
night.
And taking humbly, as best I may. To the convent gate my pilgrim way
If by a chance that key should slip
From
And
the Mystic
Cup
be placed to
my
lip,
one fervent grip, And O where else be the thirst allay 'd Or having the key of the convent door, Will I not stand on that sacred floor,
shall loosen
what
.''
170
Up
But
height
know
way
shall be
that over the void untrod found for the soul with wings,
When the last true path to the summit brings, And far though they shine from the peaks of ice,
Shall glister the gates of Paradise,
God
THE
KING'S
RENDERING
A TRANSCRIPT
the great Telesma of the sun flame inform'd the torrid zone, And summer's heavy heat possess'd the air With spells successively of rapture, great day of bland Strange longing, ardour dim,
And happy
With
My
Into the splendid sacramental world. Where, all the sacramental veils dissolved. Shone midst the light flamboyant and flaming heat
The Corpus
and
sea.
So holy follow'd
When
Have Now,
lips
of
spirit
upon
spirit lips
kiss'd
and tasted rapture, unity. the hush'd night other morn has broken
;
171
Book of Mystery
;
and
Vision
Hath surely pass'd without that house of dreams Midmost within the city 1 pause, and know
What wonder
All dream Stands at He then shall hear who will a rich device The quest and pageant of the coming King
all
the world
is
done
All
tower that crowns the Church, Hear ye the pleasant bells which stir in sleep With muffled cadences and whisper'd chimes
in
the
little
through
That
All tremulous, as
For
And
night we rode to save the town. overtaking ever and anon Belated market-waggons, saw, aroused And wonderstruck, how yokels heavy-eyed
in the
scared
in vision
go by,
;
Fair horses plunging, steaming in the light Vast banners streaming, swirling, taken past
By Gilead winds
So
in
the King of
hail'd
all
the world
my
heart
my
Rex quo7idam
futurus rex Riding his great white horse with reverend mien Behind the holy vessel, set about With sweetness and with savour. Next in place, Of mien erect but still an ancient man, The King's sword-bearer came ; Excalibur Lay keen in sheath, the sharp quick light thereof, Like unto thirty torches, the red gold
ille et
Inscription
round
it,
172
The King
And And
all
Refidermg
haft transfigured.
Where crooked willows trembled, crouch'd and The windy rookery swaying in the old
;
Elm-tops the narrow bridge a shallow pool Below it shining faintly and across The little remnant of the open heath Dotted with pointed tents all white and ghostly Past old decaying houses shrouded deeply In ivy thicker than the walls which bore it Past windows dim, with dainty blinds drawn close and past the creaking sign In little villas Whereby the great roads enter from the West
;
An
eastward, where the bridge and as we drew to this train of waggons, steaming slowly, shew'd Forth-hanging guards and drivers eager-eyed, Awestruck and crying.
place
;
;
Of that mute
still
Thereat
I fell
to
dream
What wonder
in the city
of the King,
:
When the King came into his own Among the common people, when
Stood manifest
: :
the
what poets should come out To meet him with what lights should altars blaze What flowers be strewn what bells and bells peal
:
forth
What merchants, councillors and princes haste To proffer homage and what peace in all What putting by of sorrow and of shame What goodness raised to sanctity what sins
:
: :
what wounds made whole What sudden change in heart and hope of all.
By pardon
purified
173
A
The
Thereafter pass'd the pictures of the quest inception's fever and high colouring Kindled its fires within me, going out From the great city through those long green lanes, By a free way, far stretch'd into the West. Came too the pain of doubt, the questioning. The aching sense of loneness and of loss. Faring through mournful marshes where the mist At sunset flamed with a dull ruddy light, Which after ever in the moonlight turn'd To rolling seas. Again, distraught, I heard. Through smoke and smoulder of the sunset-time, The plaint of plovers heard the bitterns cry Strangely, with breasts and wings incarnadined. Flocking and flying towards the falling sun. And further still, descending steep hillsides, I saw below me the forest tree-tops sweep. Bending and crashing before the risen wind, Spelling out wild reverberant messages.
Through fields of bearded barley, fields of rye. Through winding byways all among tall ripe wheat, Still faring forward many a morning after;
Betwixt the teeming
life
of lush hedgerows,
ditch,
The
rich disorder'd
Right in the drowsy heat and harvest wealth of early autumn sunshine Scented and songful By circling, gaudy moths, the birr and buzz Of bees, dove-croonings, splendid heavy flight Of armour'd dragon-flies by lonely wells Disused and the forgotten source of springs By open roads scored white on breezy hills And white and brown through miles of lilting vales And worlds embower'd of pool and meeting stream Past apple-orchards, russet, green and red the questing restless waste So to the sea
Of
How
it
cried
174
moonlight terribly
how broke
Chafing beyond the bar, broke and reform'd, Toss'd high, toss'd higher, where the beacon-lampsSet in tide-isolated light-house towers Seem'd to flash watchwords through the infinite
!
But
after, in the
morning glory's
pearl
convolvulus and rose Bell-like, far-echoing, caroll'd along the coast Sea voices taking shape, as soul's take flesh, Scatter'd light music, breath'd between the songs Sweet little words of prophecy, soft words Of promise, high resounding words of hope.
shell, pale pink,
Of
Then
all the landscapes and the seascapes merged In world of dream, the hills abode in light
;
Down streaming from the gold-bright city above All visible realities assumed richer tincture, an uplifted type And in the human side of earthly things higher magic confessed its mystery Even in cottage homes and humble farms.
A
A
So swept the path of quest into a place Of very sacrament and mystery. Vested in samite strange ships glided down
Sea-ways, full-tided, swirling, glisterful The odour and the spicery of the world Hung over all the shore ; high mystic chants Swept and re-echoed through the haunted air, Telling of Aromat and the Holy Cup. There fell the subtle hint of perilous quests
On turrets dimly seen between old trees, On moated manors mouldering far away
From all frequented roads. Unlook'd for Of strange encounter open'd out in bosks,
175
glades
A
Old
Where steaming summer draws rich humid From yielding leaf-mould; in waste places
chapels,
rose
set therein
Were less for worship than for vision's gifts The reverence of high feasting rang throughout The sparged and censed extent of castle halls
Pavilions rose
White doves
In bills anointed, from their choric wings Spread wide expanding measured melody Children in sacred vestments went before,
With From
That
men
those far countries which are reached by none traverse sea or land.
In such a place
The path of quest and promise was closed about With eager faces on the faces fell The white light shining from the Holy Graal. even I a man unclean I saw them The faces shone of angels and of men The face of Galahad, of Perceval, The face of Lancelot sanctified by woe And seal'd by priesthood. More than all I saw The fair uncover'd visage of the King, The King's face in his splendour, as the King Came out of Avalon, in the morning glory
;
Passing with royal train along the coast, the light sea scatter'd foam and song. Fair orchards ripen'd in the mellow sun
Whereon
white road ran behind his horse's hoofs bridges, over the hills, and all Through fields of barley, miles of wheat and rye; Out of the West, far forth into the East, By secret paths for many and many a day All reverend riding behind the Holy Graal, Amidst all manner of sweetness and of savour.
The
Over the
176
The King
Reitdering
And reaching now the lion-guarded gates Of that old convent-house and school of saints
Which,
I
Descries the
saw the vision of a pallid nun, quivering aureole, watching on her knees And praying. Then I knew the mourning queen
With
Had And
look'd again upon her master's face. must come to pass as I was warn'd Already in my quest. The glorious train Swept by ; there fell a hush among the stars, stir in streets, a spell upon the wind And whereabouts the silent highway flows Beneath the rude arch of a formless bridge,
all
Some homeless
Lifting his bare head from his ragged knees, Scream'd worship as an angel's broider'd hem The twelfth fair master in a scarlet cope
And
white dalmatic
feet.
His naked
In that
a light
Began to kindle
faintly in the
The
In
scatter'd stars
many-hued
at
Was now
Leap
in
hand
;
the
stir
human
life
Must soon
begin
whereat
felt
my
heart
my
Which
As I rode every man should witness. palfrey humbly far behind the train. The narrow street which skirts the water-side
My
at early inns
And
Stared as in dream, stone-turn'd for wonderment. So pass'd the pageant ; on the hush thereof An awestruck sob ensued, a stir spread wide
Through
VOL.
I.
all
many
voices,
177
Over all Clatter of doors and casements. That shoeless urchin shriek'd, and beat the air With yearning hands, fast following. Below The bridge, a whistle of some early steamer Blew keenly in the thin keen morning air, As first we enter'd on the smoother ways
And And
broader streets, where life awaited light light of life unlook'd for thus drew nigh.
a
hundred
;
feet
of Middlesex, In the old again us enveloped cloud Again the kept back choice own his invisible rode ; King, of the revelation The blessed Because the Holy Graal must first be set For worship on the minster's altar high,
We
Midmost within the city. Whatsoe'er Wild rumours of some unknown mystery
Run The
Shall
from
all
wake once more, on common toil intent. Nor know what must betide it. ... I alone, Foreseeing all, steal hurriedly and close
My
And
The The
house of dreams
away,
riding thence in haste to reach betimes minster shrine, hereby proclaim to all
HOW
When
petals from the scarlet flowers Dropp'd through the empty hall
178
How
And, betwixt
A] over the
1
also sa72g
and moan,
Mass
a shriek
floors
of stone
Or the scented ivory floors, The wind of the world outside Took and scatter'd them wide
through the open doors of the sunlight broke. Like smouldering Are and smoke,
far
And
When
a shaft
the painted windows lifting high Their forest of tangled tracery And over the dunes, through the brushwood maze, The cries which echoed all day drew ofi^ afar. Towards the holocaust fire of the sunset and the long drawn under-haze Forth I issued alone, and heard The final note of the day's last fountain-hearted
;
Through
bird
first star.
Thereat
at length
my
heart sustain'd
The
that first ghostly lawn I gain'd Like one who drags his cross. Thereon as over a mountain ledge At the South horizon's terminal edge. Where the ragged road of that restless place Suddenly seems to fall into space, I saw how the pageant, rank by rank. Paused on the brink, there gleam'd and sank. So took they, 'twixt the day and the night. My wonder forth on her palfrey white, And the whole world's dissolving spell Mutter'd and moan'd confused farewell. Then life fell suddenly dead and cold, While over the terrace and through the gate, And far through the woodland and farther over the open wold,
And
still,
all
179
A
With
Forth
Sang,
I
a vacant heart
will,
hurried
but
on the
crest
bird
which
hill.
tarried so late
To
I
will
The
not dwell on this night's eclipse, all the world's woes came secret want with shrouded lips. The grief too deep for name.
When
They found a name to ease their grief, They shew'd their wounds to win relief.
And
Crying
No
sorrow
is
like to thine,
all in
One
also
said
Who
my Crown
world, besprent valleys, made white my star of old. Deep is my loss and far my lapse, but further is thy descent Yes, I know by thine eyes of doom That I rise from the curse and gloom, And the glory of morning blossoms, as lights in the heart unfold.
Another from the marshes rose, With dripping cloak and hood Wolf-eyes that had not found repose Through years, nor look'd on good
long dead. loathing earth refused a bed, Empty and yet compell'd to be O weary of all the skies was he And from his neck what load of pain
aspect of a
With
man
Whom
There hung
How
From the By which
For
also
sang Mass
wrought
Christs and Kings have been sold and bought. a little space he gazed, then cried,
stretch'd, like one that
is
Hands
crucified
and woe, but an end of woe With a hope at end, as a light in darkness born Because it is given to gaze at length on a face from every face distinguished here below By mine own sorrow and loss. Yet deeper is scored thy cross. As the pit than the grave is deeper, O thou of all
forlorn
Woe
So therefore as the night of murk Drew towards a morning chill As light began like a yeast to work Nameless, stealthy and still And a torpid shuddering life to stir. It seem'd that the burden of Lucifer, With the twelve stars dark in his crown. And of Judas the chain'd fell down, While those twain over the steep hill trod, Like souls set free that return to God. But forth abroad through the day's bright heart, God's hand under, I moved apart And a Borgia poison as I went
Pass'd into every sacrament.
The The
vision
star
went out
absinthos
and
wormwood,
hissing,
into
all
sweet waters fell The chrism destroy'd the dying man, as Nature the honey-bee And with heavy feet, as I fared, I straiten'd the road and prepared path, meseems, for the world to take, going down to the gates of hell. i8i
;
A
How
on this middle deep and dark Should light and joy be rain'd ? Ah, by what process hard, remark, Redemption's height is gain'd Hence, over the marsh and over the sky And the unclaim'd wastes, I testify That the morning comes, howe'er delay'd. Till the saddest feet through a glory wade, While the aching head cannot fail to lift, Eyes turn where the white cloud-splendours drift. And when the eyes behold what gem Is set in the great world's diadem. There is no soul in the deep abyss But shall remember crown and bliss. Yea, the light behind is the light before, O'erflowing the wreck and the ravage, suffusing the day's deep wells The light without is for ever and evermore The sacro-saintly joy of all light within ; High over the cross and the loss the sun-clouds circle and spin And the bane from the soul uplifted its curse from the
!
earth expels.
So therefore
in those softer hours soothe the close of all, I stood as one midst lights and flowers By an altar fair and tall And in priestly vestments even I
Which
Intoned the mystical liturgy. Yea, with unearthly and shining eyes, I, even I, offer'd sacrifice. And uttered the kingly and terrible terms Which, veils assuming, the King confirms. The painted windows lifted high Their forest of tangled tracery 182
;
Valete
And
Through
When
Saw
As God
light
flash
through His
was seen.
By this do I testify That the soul of itself can die, Yet in death is He strong to crown and height.
save,
since
have
seen.
SUMMA
Now
Over
a world's
TOTIUS MYSTERII
wonder white
This also surely is thine own loss, And, because of the crown, like me Thou must partake of the curse and cross Till a mass shall be sung by thee. But that which was taken is not confess'd Betwixt introibo and m'lssa est Say therefore, as man and his angels do,
Worlds over, refugium meiim es tu ; Though, for myself, on that great day I cried a Tu Auteni^ Domine.
VALETE
heart of the woodland Gives range to the rover. Each broad tidal ocean To ships that come over And some on the mountain, And some in the hollow, Are free, as it bids them, Their fancy to follow. 183
The
Visio7t
them,
them unheeded, Since, more than new accent, The new theme is needed. If woods could be greener
leave
Must
And
More
seas
might be broader,
Transmuting existence
The
If
wings should be granted. Like doves, for swift flying, And sight, as an eagle's Sun-bathed, for descrying ; Still v/ings would droop downward.
Ah, ye that go outward. Where cold lie the snows on The track up those mountains 'Tis death to repose on Ye too that go outward. Where winds with their moaning In spume on the tost seas
!
Your dirge are intoning ; All ye that go outward Where dryads have hidden Snake-fangs in the forests For hunters unbidden ; Hath dream
in the brightness,
Valete
On
splendours unclouded,
ways unfrequented, Eluding detection, 1 found you, I enter'd. One day of election And, lo through what regions,
!
The
spirit,
unbonded
advances
!
By
vision,
beautiful outward
inward Divine is Your ray on the outward. Now each of them mine is What secrets, what meanings, Informing, uplighting This life's common story
!
!
beauty
A
And
liffht is
shed
is
down
new
on.
While thought
all is
vestured.
;
its crown on romance, from The green leaf's light flutter To strong spirit music Which tongue cannot utter.
briorhtness
CD
the glory,
vision
book of
And
Some
part have
striven
To
Which
" ISenetiictus
OrtJntabit."
WtuQ
i)ec
sua saptcntfa
nu'rabi'Ittfr
Sca/a Philosophorum.
The Quest of
WOODLAND
The
Came
the
Golden Gate
MYSTICS
Blessed Master from the world beyond in the morning redness of my life He singled me from all my name and race For ministry in secret through the world, And I have never left Him, night or day, Through all the lonely wanderings and ways. Great is the enterprise, the end is sure
:
came
You
ask
how
first
came
When
Of
first
my
How
What other likeness could He wear but ours ? man of men, of royal aspect He By just so much as man, aspiring, shapes The Ends Divine and them in heart conceives Do those Great Ends assume the man himself, And so as man the Blessed Master came.
Where met the Master and the friend He loves ? Where should they meet but in familiar scenes ? The cotter need not look beyond his gate, Nor woodman fare beyond the fallen tree, Nor any turn the corner of a street
;
189
The Quest of
In East or
the
Golden Gate
him not
West
or Zenith seek
is
Blessed Master, he
here and
now
To me
at eve the Blessed Master came haply call'd He with the morn's first bird Thee And other some at middle night or noon With Nature round, to me at eve He came.
:
The sunset's scarlet heart had fix'd mine eyes. And when they moved, intincted mist and flame Seem'd rolling round me a majestic shape,
:
Dilated in it, suddenly I saw Beside me, and my spirit by His voice
The
The
was
inly thrill'd.
He
1
bade
cross'd
my mind
moon As I cross'd
paused.
Through naked boughs look'd at us. The crumbling stile, a minute's space For who had stood there set apart so
\\\ all
far
the world,
From mine old house had ever maid or youth. At the star-promise of Thy word most true,
Gone
forth at night to follow far on Thee,
And
paused, as
late
I,
and early on my face the moon Had look'd so oft, which would not know me more, Yet all its woodland mystics spell the same In calm and wind, while I was call'd away The hallov/'d bound of all man's life to win
Where
^.
Venerable Master, pausing there. What marvel is it if my human heart Shall keep the memory of that dreaming copse, In yellow moonlight lying, fresh for ever. Though over stars exalted }
190
V istas
O
long ago
!
of Compassion
I
And
still
With Thee,
from the old roof-tree leans. For death and change have been at work in all But still that woodland spells its mystic speech In calm and wind, and all its speech I know
the old house
:
And
my human
heart.
at eve,
came
That dreaming
Bears witness
How
in
VISTAS OF COMPASSION
LULLABY heard
in a sunlit glade
And a voice in a forest bower The tender tones of a youth or maid. And the wistful want of the world display'd
Comes over
the heart with power.
Their message of hunger and aching deep No tongue can in words translate
But pity flows over for paths so steep. For the dreadful height where the white worlds sweep
And
voice,
on the huntsman
!
call
A O
Who
all }
knows,
who knows,
The
secret
measure of
191
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
Enough thou singest in a pearl-grey sky The still'd sea rimpling on the hush'd sea-sand
Pauses
in sunlight
. .
And
Ever in a dream at noon Lie lake-like, croon upon the crimpled shore And languish, shallow sea There shall not fail Slow flights of solan geese with flashing wings. And round the fosses, over dykes and meads
listens.
.
!
The
And
doleful mew, shall call. So still wash on With mazy melodies of winds and birds
Life-breathing tract,
Amidst composing magic of a faint. Ethereal haze, upon that silent verge
with the silent sky O lambent blue Blue of the ocean, glass'd from heaven above, Still draw the soul, alike on marsh and height, Where the mole burrows, where the eagle soars On bleak, high crests, on the precipitous crests, Whence torrents plunge to meet thee, draw the soul. Amid the lonely walks of daily life. Right on the summits of exalted thought, Attract her still, and give the wild, white wings Which o'er thee bear thy furthest-flighted bird. Then in some vastness of thine underworld She shall abide with thee till twilight falls. Possess thy splendour, thine immensity, And compass all thy bounds in loving thought Yea, in adoring thought shall so awhile 192
Mix
Knowing Thy
Be
satisfied
Likeness
and deem at length she rests, one with being which is vast as her's. Yet thou shalt fail, for twilight shuts thee in Thy strong spell utterly dissolves ; thy voice Grows hoarse and ominous, cold vapours brood About the shining beauty of thy breast.
Made
shifting
a vain
;
Thy
bitter discontent
;
of brooding depths
madness passes through the on rocks, the beach, Thy anguish-tost. passionful and Thou ragest, then, yet peace is far from thee Grand art thou But when the startled moon among the clouds Begins to scurry, and with fitful rays Thine eager waste illumines, dire thou art. With wretchedness full-voiced in all thy waves And then we know thee in the want thou hast. O for the footsteps of the Prince of Peace To still thy tumult, for His voice to still There is no help in thee Our stormy hearts Our need is thine ; and what, O sea, thou art, All Nature is, a message to the soul, Assuagement sometimes and some ministry.
barren nature
!
Spumes upward
Yet in the sweet peace of a day to come There shall be no more sea of storm and But splendid calm, lucidity and depth.
pain,
With gladness
in
immensity
v/e hail
like thine,
royal ocean
whom
and love
VOL.
I.
193
TO YOU
IN
ABSENCE
!
When I have seen thy sunset smoke, How I have long'd for thee
When
and light A deeper heart of light and fire Has open'd from the infinite, Deep as that void was my desire O heart of light O heart of fire Thy very self to feel and see In ecstasy of sense and sight In nuptials of the depth and height Beyond the outward beauty's show. The evanescent gleam and glov/, Ah, thee to know, ah, thee to know through the
fire
! !
We
do but see thy painted face. Symbol and vesture of thy grace
The long-drawn forests trail and bend, The great paths wind and have no end. The swimming floods their founts pour The tides of the mysterious sea
That writhing vastness turns about. And all draw out our souls to thee.
out,
When
Only unfolds
darkness on the earth and ocean the sense of motion, Sound, and the echo of all sound, Surging sharpen'd senses round.
a closer contact
There seems
made
!
Than when
thy features stand display'd But oh, not thee, ah no, not thee The portrait of a face conceal'd, An absent person's picture shining And we before it stand divining What thou art like and where art thou. Does the light fall thus on thy brow }
194
To You in Absence
And do thy sweet eyes glance like this ? Thy lips seem as the lips we kiss, And has thy voice, to cheer and bless.
Our
music's dulcet tenderness
?
We
It
know thy picture well, ah well From out the blazon'd frame of things
almost steps at times to tell close our heart's imaginings, Beata Pulchra, reach to thee About thy country's shrouded sphere Gather we tidings far and near
How
And
star,
Through all the fields of space afar. Through long-drawn fire of light which The openings beyond the hills,
fills
We pass
O
in flight
all
of thought to see
fair.
antitype of
things
thou
art there
And
surely we shall reach thy place must be meant to see thy face Who also from afar have come,
We
With
is
now,
!
other than our looks appear know not how, we know not how While still we tarry far away. And still pursue the anxious quest. In beauty let thy picture stay,
And
We
Throughout
long dream-haunted day and sea. Long haunted with the dreams of thee
this
On
And
till
fail,
thou
in absence, thee
we
hail
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
FOUNDATIONS OF SAPPHIRE
keeper's stray shot suddenly divides This evening's silence, then the dogs respond, And up the steep hill's moist and rutted road Hardly the waggon horses toil and strain. An ancient beech is by me, broad of girth And all about its roots enrich'd with moss, While through the wooded vista of the slope Only the bush makes dark the rover's way.
Now
In
dim recesses spread their brown expanse. While East and South the spell of sunset light
Has
visibly transfigured
and enrich'd
Those golden
Her priestly function so the soul assumes Here the peace without Invoking, praising. Makes peace within ; the peace profound within Sheds deeper peace without than Nature knows. Save in the mystic equipoise of man's Immortal part with her essential life. Exalting both then both repose therein. In common bliss dependent each on each,
;
And
unified.
Sweet Spirit of the sky So speaks the Soul, vibrating, brimm'd with songMay peace of God o'er all thy broad expanse May thy roving clouds. Be spread for ever Which carry coolness and life-yielding showers. From zone to zone, to freshen every field, To swell the streams and seas, thyself invest
!
With
beauties
new
May
196
Fou?idatio?7s
of Sapphire
From one new star, more bright than all before, Enrich thy gem-set crown with silver gleam, Thy lucid spaces purify and fill As with the lenity and grace of God may thy peace and beauty's broad increase On hearts distil in other showers and dew May all bright eyes beneath thy glance uplifted Be with thine azure, with thine argent rays, Suffused, and melted towards love's mildest mood, Yet thy full joy reflect in every glance
!
Ascending
1
still this
thy gentle blue to golden green. Like shapes in sleep, transfigure. Then it seems Thine answer comes thy splendour passing down Invests the soul and blesses in return; Man's love for Nature on himself devolves In lucid gifts he sees, he feels, he knows. And inspiration to a throne of thought Uplifts him. Take, sweet Nature, take thy child Speak in the winds of evening, speak in mists. Speak in the revelation of the stars And in the tremor of the midnight hush, Wherein the lone sea washes far away. Reveal and speak " So art thou child no more "
see
; ;
!
!
This mystic Nature utters to the soul "But, one in essence, thou art old like me, Yet ever young, for ever changed and born, As through the pageant of created things Thou passest slowly towards the utmost point And all my light goes with thee, all my hopes Spread wings before thee, while the end, the end,
Is
not so distant but its glory streams Far and away, not from the East or West O not from star or sun far and away,
!
Where
all in
197
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
;
Truth-light and love-light, splendour of over-soul, Making the soul a splendour and my form, Which is the circle of created things, Glows in thy glory, in thy change transmutes. For what divides us, whether dark or day ? What makes our union ? Ever that which joins " The God encompassing to thee within
!
And in the fading splendour of the West, When spent larks drop, when waters merge
in mist,
Who
And The
read this message of God's light find already in his inmost self first faint gleams of that effulgence shine.
wills
may
when
And
a
the sea on
its
shore
winding highway broad and brown Which clambers the crest of the hill Or as moonshaft struck through a cloven cloud To repose on a mist impearl'd, Where slips some stream through a valley of dream, Is the song of the sleeping world
!
still
sleeps
when
And
At As
the heart of Nature fails the bolt's reply to the moaning blast,
the scattering storm assails
stir
Sleeps in the
new
!
birth
the joyous
Is a
word of
A
And
As
Song of
is
the
Sleeping
World
All Nature
moves in a dreamer's round, those that walk in their sleep, with sense And soul unconscious to sight and sound ; At times to the waking point approaching, Sinks she again into slumber deep ; An earthquake rends or a star descends She stirs or cries in her sleep.
strangely
man alone, in a world of spell. Wakes or believes that he wakes and More than this tremulous pendant bell,
It is
sees
Rock'd
in the
More than that rack of a sea, distraught As a dreamer's vision, of darkness born
He
Sleep that has kiss'd us too long, too long, Where is the prince with the kiss that wakes What will he bring to us, sorrow or song ? What more sad than the sleep he takes ?
Mournfully, smouldering sunset, fade, Mournfully kindle, O morning blue But a day is at hand for the sea and land, And a day for the soul is due
! !
When
shall
it
come with
trumpet's blare,
drum.
?
Tramp of cavalcades filling the air. And the prince of all in the morning come Come in the morning or come in the night. Whence we know not, O Lord of bliss Come at our call, and the lips of all Will be life of life to Thy kiss
! !
199
The Quest of
Wake
;
the
Go /den Gate
: :
we sleep, but we dream of Thee us Dreams, we have known them at board and bed Sleep and its rest on the earth or sea
To the heart of Thy heart are wed And hark through the wide earth, flushing and
!
stirr'd,
A
And
whisper, a rumour, a hint goes by, the breeze falls soft, as Thy lips shall oft
kiss us then lest
we
die
Burden
For that light is the gleam of Thine eye, And waking, as yet we must wake, how bright Is the light in which we shall see Thy light I
MIRRORS OF LIFE
Night deepen'd round me on those upland slopes The phosphor dome of heaven diffused its green And failing glow yet all the ghostly hills Loom'd through the dusk distinctly. On the loose
; ;
And
yielding soil of some fresh-furrow'd field. Uncertain, lost, I fared, then, stricken, paused; For, lo, the dread arc of a flaming disc Rose o'er the hill, as if an angry eye Unfolded, loom'd unradiating, red
And
My
doubting steps
Unwittingly
thought
Here have I stepp'd perchance on ghostly ground, And now some presence of the phantom scene Comes with accusing front. My steps intrude 200
Mirrof^s of Life
One moment more Then will I fly
!
Advancing there, I met moon, who raised her weeds of mist And sweetly turn'd a bright, benignant brow
The
lifting
To
greet me.
Prevail,
is
And, Man,
in her abyss of very dread. Bares thee a midmost heart of pure goodwill
The setting sun, an orb of lurid fire Enring'd with golden mist, stood clear below A sea-born cloud, with loose serrated fringe And purple folds, involving heaven in gloom, While on the earth the patter of the rain sudden rainbow spann'd Fell audibly. Both sea and sky, then as in dream dissolved, While slowly round, to join the train of night, With twilight mixing, moved that sombre cloud, And pass'd at length left bare the heaven o'erheadlucid lilac soon with stars besprent. Once more there rose a huge and angry form, Like that which first came up out of the sea With front appalling, ask'd, it seem'd, of earth Some vanish'd brother but the world was mute. Whereat the rended inmost heart sent forth scream'd a riven oak ; Its shaft of lightning Then, shorn of strength, the vapour-pile dissolved In gentle tears, and, merged with evening dews, Call'd forth nev/ lives to compensate for life
Destroy'd.
So ever out of wrath and wreck which abides in all Still reconstructs the plastic house of life There is no loss, no waste, rejection none. 20I
The
living spirit
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
!
Pass to the height, Soul, pass to the height But in the dregs and depth of very death The very life shall find and work in thee.
of sound confused zenith of the sky clear and blue ; but hazy vapour dwelt Along the soft horizon and above The ocean eastward rose fantastic heaps Of livid haze. Mine eyes were fixed thereon. When in the midmost heart began to glow ruddy point of light. The sinking moon, September's crescent moon, her golden horn On a wall I lean'd ; Protruded, brightening. in terrace built above a Its base was The loud, besieging sea. With reverend gaze I watch'd the pregnant struggle in the sky Of moon descending and of mist which strove To quench that slanting gift of light, to earth So welcome, and those eager, moaning waves. O ever and anon the golden arm. Again thrust upward, for the queen of stars
Combining, made
The
;
Made passage, who emerged at times to fair And so, with varying chance, But hasty view This war endured, until the wearied orb
!
foe.
The shallow water shimmer'd in the light Of harbour lamps, and evermore the main, From out the depth and vastness of the dark.
Brought voices wild which stirr'd within the soul All heights, all depths which spoke and speaketh stillOne message to the future as the past,
;
202
To Come
into
;
Thy Presence
and there are none
Nay, man's heart
The The
And all the dread and strident trumpet-roar Of the storm-stricken water's waste distress
;
For there
is
midst thereof
secret of a
hope ungain'd.
But very sure. The moon shall shine once more. All clouds shall melt, the light shall fill the world, The summer glow lead on to rosy dawn And rosy dawn to perfect noon of bliss While this most bright procession of the world But dimly limns, O soul, thine own romance Not only we to reach our end in God Are moving on, but the divine great ends Make flight towards us on eager wings of time,
;
!
And somewhere
meet and
join.
For the soul is free and the sail is Slipping through many a mystic zone
free
On the light curl'd crests of the sea. In the lightsome arms of the wind On the dancing waves of the fancy-sea, At the will of the wings of mind.
203
The Quest of
the
Golde?!
!
Gate
shrouded,
;
ahoy Blythely the voyage begins Shout to the ships with their sails
Safely
all
moor'd in the harbour wide and beyond the buoy, bar the Over
Hail to the
craft, with its canvas crowded, turn of the tuneful tide the Taking many ships in the roadstead ride
!
How
Tarry who
will
till
Over the great sea, hearts of joy. Over the ocean far and wide
Some
For convoy
From point to point of the shining shore Some will perchance to destruction come
Where, black
Or not
out on the sand-banks ground ; But sail we further and dare we more. Where never the dripping lead took sound,
far
distant shore.
!
Who strives to follow our viewless Who watches for tidings of how
One God-speed
track
? ?
we
fare
bid us, and so good-bye For this is the voyage, whence none comes back, To the other side of the world so fair. cleave the main and we cleave the sky.
We
And we
follow the tide of the starry track, the shining isles of the stars so high us we turn not back befalls whatever But lest we die back not turn we O
Through
We
And
hurry in front of the speeding vv^orld. our flight transcends all flights of time. For our quest is the end of all.
204
clime
call,
And
With
linger
we
there at a port of
the flush and rush of the quest on all Till at length we have lost the speeding world, Till somehow slipping from space and time,
We
are
moor'd
at the
end of
all.
Swift sky, over our heads run past Swift sea, under our keels slide through
We
Swift worlds, circle about, away cannot travel too fast, too fast.
With thought still chiding the long delay Deep sea's greenness and far sky's blue,
When
will
true,
Out of the night time and out of the day, Which, when the worlds and their light are past,
To
EVEN
One
LIFE FOR
EVERMORE
:
inward hope reads import into life wholly die, our best persists. And we therein are of eternity. Seek, it will yield not, through the ample range Of circumstance, some perfect end of mind Which man achieving, may desist, and say Should I die now and wholly cease to be, I count it blessed to have lived. Is time foreword of eternity Is that
We
shall not
.?
Which men call life some transitory mode Assumed by conscious and eternal truth Of real being Then are all things good. Does the soul live Then is there nothing mean Or void of worth. Eternity abides
.?
.?
205
issues passing
utters forth the watchwords of the soul, Lies in the dark place of our mystery, Then life is nothing, for behold it ends
Which
And And
Is
nothing, for that ends with put up for others' weal folly at white heat. little while
love
is
life
sacrifice
And
While
made
'^.
What
}
then
And what
Is
shall profit
To
nothing, serves no purpose at the close For in a little age the race itself Will also vanish when the stars shall fall And, drawn into the red sun's flaming font. This earth shall feed her father and shall end.
Bold minds may face it, striving to extract Some ghost of joy from very woe thereof.
But
all is artifice
and counterfeit
Black frost binds hard and holds the waste of life No phantom sun can warm it. Ah, perchance There shall be morning on the hills light Ail-proudly bursting from the eternal sun No frost is then too black to melt therein. Nay, mark, it glistens that is rime alone. And all the bulbs and buds of blessed spring Are waiting only the descending ray To burst and blossom It is here, the light Which draws the tender plant of rising life Up from some dark but serviceable soil Wherein the sower's hand hath planted it
!
And
earth no
more
is
barren
206
A
A
With
On
So also
mind
begin
And all our seeds of hope and thought To germinate the wilderness becomes
;
And
planted ground which fructifies and blooms. this is presently a paradise Wherein the soul descends, whose angel rule Draws all the bitter order of the world Full sweetly round into a perfect way.
not in vain shall man, forsaking sense, in the domain of mind And not in vain shall soaring mind ascend The solemn summits of uplifted thought There is the mead of souls. The crown is there. No quest can fail whereof the end is this Wings shall not want when weary feet give way. Angels shall bear us when our pinions tire, And if the angels falter in the white Flame of the holy place. One shall be there, And under us the Everlasting Arms.
Then
Abide by choice
murmurs and
the ways
With sound
The hoofs of horses clatter and resound, Waking reverberations strange and deep
Is
the dead of night Nature ever stirring in her sleep, And the sea, far and near.
in
E'en
With
stress
The Quest of
The winds
the
Golden
Gate
take up the message and repeat O'er far-off meadows peals their anthem sweet. thousand cries
Are round us
ever,
when
hush succeeds,
moving
skies
Float whispers down, and upon flowers and weeds Not without murmur does the dew descend.
O O
chants and litanies intoned so loud, medley'd minstrelsy of pain and mirth,
And
Ascending a confused crowd echoing from end to end Of all the resonant earth Some spell upon your music lies, As hangs enchantment upon drooping eyes, And howsoe'er your founts are stirr'd There issues not the saving Word The music's volume and the organ's roll In place of voice, that melody of soul. Stars seem to strive at speech and birds at rhyme, And pregnant rumours pass at even-time,
!
The
While out on the tremendous main surges break and shout, and break again We seem to wait For ever at the opening gate
reach.
When
in the higher
moments of
the soul,
Of
Yet comes
can
own
A
Of base
How How
may
fall
A
The
So?tg of
Sound and of
Silence
So ever on profounder meaning's brink oracles back into vagueness sink, And wanting the true Word, or dispossess'd, Nature is consolation but not rest
Maintaining
still
solemn
state
And
pageant, inarticulate
widely resonant span. the Word is ours, Though not in all the fulness of its powers And in the great concerted plan Perchance thy strings and tones are lent As an accompanying instrument By man alone interpreted. And from his voice and speech, in tone and string, Reflected meaning borrowing. Sound to us therefore as we dream and drift, Thou who dost aid the soul her voice to lift, By her unseen conductor taught and led And when time's gates flow open, still prolong Great Leader, past these measures her supernal song!
Thy
Howe'er
this be,
we know
VOL.
I.
209
PHASES
Wintry
and wild and wasting and above All winds in woe, out of a bleak grey sky, With sharp-tooth'd wings, it blows the eastern windAnd like a two-edged sword that sleety breath Cuts and drives through. The bitter sea beneath Assumes a kindred mood, and, wrought thereby, Responds in fury, raging on the rocks All quiet coves, where sunny shallows smiled, And plash'd and rippled, in a milder mood, Pause and watch Filling with savage voices. The troubled morning ripen far across Those spuming billows ; through this lifting mist The lone and dreadful ocean shews no life Of bird or boat. One presence on the peak Of yon sea-splinter'd spur, with bony arms Incites all winds and waters on to war She only calm, the foe of peace and man, Bids strife and tempest still possess the world. An elemental battle, as of old, Deepens about her. Who shall break her spells.? bid the baleful fury hold henceforth The shafts and fatal watchwords of the fight }
Who
An
There
is in the East of strife comes the Lord Day Comes splendid Sun, dispersing dark and cloud The driven mists before his rays dissolve.
:
answer comes
the Rose
at the source
The phantom flees, a sudden stillness steeps The weary space of air the ocean springs
;
Lightsome and gladsome, blue beneath the blue Clear depth and lucent height. O dark and storm, O peace and glow, your phases haunt the soul, 2IO
There
And from May learn
this
and Here
within himself!
pageantry of Nature
we
the mystic lesson of the East Whence first the darkness comes, first comes the light Whence bitter winds, the morning's fragrant joy And so the desolation and the gloom Obscure of souls are visitants of God,
From the same world unknown of that dread will Which brings His morning beam of life and grace
To
on the aspirations of our heart darkness falls and, all her aids withdrawn. No comfort comes to cheer thee, lonely soul, God is not with thee less in dark than light So in aridity and drought discern His ministry and one true way to Him little while He leaves thee, to return ah. He leaves thee not In fuller sweetness His consolation, not His ward or watch. Withdraws awhile, and thus He leads thee on, That thou through dereliction and great pain
When
into felicity.
God
As
And
waits the sun to gladden earth and sea bitter winds, possessing all the East, Can hinder not nor darkness bar the way.
sudden
pomp
of mystic names
Shines burnish'd everywhere Far out of sight a lark proclaims That what we seek is there.
211
The Quest of
The sward
Those
the
Golden Gate
"
!
:
dingles, full of
dim
retreat,
!
Murmur
The
Forward
still
cannot seek in vain Beyond the hollow and the hill " I hear and hear again The flood cries " That resistless will
! :
You
Draws
all
my
springs amain
"
!
The
away Beyond the bay and bar, Alone moans ever night and day " For ever far and far " And yet beyond the spume and spray
ocean, hurtling far
:
!
Hope
brightens in the
star.
BE YE COMFORTED
every man the tangled skein of life Betrays one leading thread, one Gordian knot Secures that clue ; but howsoe'er we strive. Twine and untwine the labyrinthine mesh, Its grand Tantalian maze and mystery, Line upon line, to more fantastic shape Baffled ingenuity Is twisted. Returns upon itself, a vain expense For still the leading thread that Fate assign'd At each one's birth remains within his hands, Unused the knot which ties it is himself.
For
Say,
is
212
Be Ye Comforted
He
ventures
down
Has
own mystery ?
sit
Mournful
And spell the doubtful message of the stars To place what vague construction best appeals On half-caught voices speaking in the wind
to wait until a wiser hand the knot, or lets the mesh fall down. Unties us patience ; lift upon the wind teach Stars,
Mournful
Your Take
unseen and thou. Emancipated, wing'd, forth and raise into the light Thou shalt come The guiding line which somehow led thee on Where mazes end, where oracles declare Their purport, where the light speaks clear and loud.
voices, ministers
;
heart,
Soul
To-day perchance, to-morrow is not Yet at an age's end, nigh is the time
long.
But order now the temple of the mind. the hour arrives And let no crookedness or twist within
Prevent the correspondence of the soul With the best order that the soul has dream'd. O be we inly rectified and right, And stand we clear before the mystery. And open we in all to gain our sun But if the light should tarry, be we still Patient and purged, and not a day too late The cords may want some pulling at the end To straighten them the parting veil may need
!
Some happy
violence to cast
it
quite
Aside for ever ; the high light beyond Ask something from the boldness of the eye Which meets it first. And if indeed there be God's wisdom latent in life's parables. Then all the unsolved problem of ourselves, 213
The Quest of
the
Goide?t
Gate
Subtended by the sapience of God, Is sacred through the presence of the King There dwells His secret, there His rumours
;
stir,
And
first
Proclaim the great arcanum over which We dream and brood. O long and dolorous way, O life-long search, Thine end is all within Thy crown is there O light of all desired, There art thou shrouded, there wilt manifest O God, our end, if we can meet with Thee In any place apart from all the world, It is there only, and abiding there. Waiting for Thee, our mystic comfort comes That none shall lose Thee who makes search within, If, O our God, Thou art
! !
And
Speaks in the depths of man and testifies Prophets may fail us and the Christs may die. And many Calvaries and Golgothas Be waiting still the saviours of the race But never has the sibyl soul adjured Made any answer from her oracle. Save God is with me, and within me God
The
from
strife
and
stress
know
White mists
In the windless night to a sacred height Aspires, and the light afar.
214
End
blusters,
know
that the
Send thoughts
woods wind-driven
The
But
The
Wild waters
As they Though
But thou
roll,
seeking.
;
And
Thou hast sought in the city and desert Thou hast sought in the height and deep Though the goal to win is not found therein
;
Yet
'Twixt space and time, gives issue By a wonderful path and lone, Leading keen and straight to a mystical gate, And beyond the gate it is known.
It is
vision
Which
And
the North cannot tell it, nor the sweet South But the end of that path is rest.
The high thoughts reel and waver. And sense in that realm untrod Has bonds unbelted and cinctures melted, But the end of the path is God
!
215
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
hear beyond
of mortal
man
!
art far
away
We
And
Thee with
uplifted heads
Our straiten'd natures, bursting bar and bond, From all of self set free, by yearning's strength
the fierce energy of consuming will, Divide this blackness of the night of sense The mystic night obscure which parts the Soul, Ascending Carmel's mount, from her true Spouse. So upward, upward ; seems there light at hand The darkness whitens, morning comes apace Faint shines already on her straining sight The Blessed Master's hills and fair demesne And soon in bush or bower or garden close. In dighted hold or chamber shall we meet The Blessed Spouse and Master face to face.
!
!
One
We
end cannot reach Thee, till Thou come to us. Nor dwell with Thee, till Thou abide in us,
Nor see Thee, till Thou art reveal'd in us. Nor any way, till Thou art known in us. Can we Thy saving beauty's fulness know But we must reach Thee, know Thee and possess
!
Thou art our nature's one necessity, And whatsoe'er we lose, in life or death,
No
part in us of body, mind, or soul Renounces Thee, All good which works 216
in us,
And Thou
We
So
call
we Thee,
therefore
Thy
And
of the eternal hills. of strength. Spirit of counsel, come. come, O holy God Come, Prince of Peace
!
Lo, we are saint-like, and we call on Thee, Wasteful and wanton, but the more we call
Whatever good
The time hath come when Thou must all Amen, it shall be so we will not wait Maker of all desire. Thou knowest this, Thou knowest us. We do not call alone The voice of Antichrist and Lucifer,
:
:
be ours.
With every
And Thou, O
Thou
part again, nor offer type and sign, But Thou wilt wholly give Thy gracious self. So all our need shall cease, for Thine are we, Father and Mother of the gods and men 217
!
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
LOOK TO SEE
A SONG OF VISION
When
the twilight of
autumn
falls,
the brightness
The
mist,
from
the
vague
ground
exhaling,
some
To
zephyr's breath urges form in the hollows, in meadows, midst muffled dead
here
;
banner
un-
furl'd
There
pennon,
all
the ghosts of
the world
'Twixt the trees gather'd watching ; a man, though the footway is known In the broad road ends yonder uncertain, impress'd by
the lone
And
some
light
Looks forward, not lost nor distress'd, guessing well where the glimmer must be
As he
looks
without
pausing,
so
to
sure ends of
existence,
look to see
shall await
him
white bird
shall
From
in the coppice
unthought of
2x8
/
With
flight that
is
LiOok
to
See
o'er
meadow and
tempt
brake,
Him who
and
sought but
till
home
shall take
On
the chase,
the moonset
may
find
him
astray by
high walls
Of a
Then
chantment and
thralls.
is
One maid of
man
in the
magical hour So bent upon far-shining ends, pressing on where they gleam. By some path unexpected, perchance what was dream'd not by me I shall reach in my longing, and that overstanding all
dream
O
The thought
still
look to see
in
its
flight
may
follow
of my art is remote. Where the keen star broods over the hill, Where the dark clouds hang out, flashes flame, the red flame o'er the storm-driven deep, Where the winds have their caverns, 'tis far, but longer
The Word
the
way
is
must keep.
is
The
heart that
is
weary
bent
Where
The
the Thought with the the day is far spent, night comes when no
circle
Word
man
is
is
united
and
albeit
can labour
see,
eve
a
219
The Quest of
effect
the
Golden Gate
its
union
'Midst the strings and the horns and the organs, and, bent on the knee, Shall the great CEcumenical Council confess it ; so
therefore erect
Do
look to see
love,
We
And
shadow of
which
is
longing and
each, and our separate life Intervenes like a wall in all nuptials ; no woman is wife, Nor ever call'd any man husband, save only in sign ; But because of the want and the longing, the strong flame which burns in the shrine And feeds on the heart that sustains it, I know, beyond
sense,
know my Redeemer
intense.
in
is
living
that
keen and
By some change
divine.
To
which
of
And
our blind motions reach out, shall the ends longing decree ; that out of the flesh I shall gaze on the love which
all
all
is
mine
So
I
look to see
The
darkness falls over the waste the great deep in the darkness roars But the shores, it would seem, have no sea, or the sea in the dark has no shores The God-light falls lost, if it shine, on the eye unre;
that
would
see hath
no
light, as
we
tread
/ Look
Who
The
knows what
battle-call
?
;
to
us
See
forward midst
fall, shall
is
urging
if
shrill
we
tell ?
we
we
lie
can
our
as
we
fall
through a world of
all
Our
false-seeming and wraith, trust may be cold and half-hearted, but yet
trust
is
in thee. fields
And
of dissension
!
because of
Do To
look to see
We
hear and to see and to know, and, immersed where the lights never fail. Confess that at length we have truly transcended the world of the veil have pass'd through the region of omen, and enter'd a land of sight. thanks be to God for the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night The voice in the cloud and the burning bush and the holy places trod For the soften'd grace of the shaded face and the back of the Lord our God For the shadow'd home and the light beyond, for the
By
secret pulses stirr'd the parable dim and the mystic hymn and the first sense of the Word for the end and the vision, beyond the gate and But the way.
!
The The
light
veils
picture,
repose
in
activity free
of the world are about me, sad dreams of the night and the day.
But
look to see
221
The Quest of
the
Golden Gate
AT PASSING
When
the day begins to break
life and light Leaving sweetly now we take
Call us back to
And
Short or long
so,
good night
we do not know,
the night-space seems
leave
it
:
Dark
at least
;
so.
!
Wish
Who, committing
At
rest
would
be.
And
to keep us free
from
pain,
With the eye's light in the eye, Thus we pray thee Come again
:
Till then,
good-bye
Sense of
all
Utter trust dissolves alarms Thus with lips against thy lips And arms
in
arms
222
" Esetafaitut
tieserta
ct
inbta,
ct
eisultabtt
Bolitutio, et floreiit
quasi liltum."
V.
I.
Prophetia
IsAIiE, cap.
XXXV.,
Garden of
Spiritual Flowers
WATCHES OF THE NIGHT
All day
The
I've tarried in the
burning
fields,
Awaiting Night.
The sun
has tann'd
my
skin,
heat has sapp'd my strength, an eager thirst Consumes me. Minister in cooling dew,
In gentle rain, in vivifying wind ; Most in the shelter of thy plumage soft,
The hallow'd refuge of thy bridal breast, Receive and hide me now. Supernal Queen Bid all thy plaintive nightingales begin In vale and thicket Droop thy mighty wings. And quench that sudden burst of western light Which through thy sea-born panoply of clouds Has torn so strangely. Now the splendour fades Where art thou now ^ Stoop, beautiful and grand Unbind thy tresses let them fall on me Diffuse thine odours round With thy bright eyes Thy beautiful, innumerable eyes While I adore thee, gaze So thrill me through With crooning whispers in the wind and trees. How wonderful, how mystical thou art, How deep thy secrets are Thy tenderness Surpasses all ; thus am I lost in thee Thy cool, unconscious kisses on my mouth Are pattering in aromatic rain Lean over, press me, breathe into my mouth H VOL. I. 225
! !
A
I
And
With
IJ esprit
se revete
pour descendre
et se depouille
pour monter.
Folds of
flesh henceforth enwind thee, Earthly veils thy form conceal, Five restricted senses bind thee Dimly wails our vain appeal.
Wings of those that loved and knew thee Round about thy house may throng,
But the charm of earth which drew thee Holds thee by a spell too strong.
Soul of sweetness, thus forsaking True life's light and love divine, When the witch-spell fails, awaking Light and life and love be thine.
So the walls of sense entomb thee, So we leave thee born of men May thy sisters' hands assume thee Born in death to life again.
226
Entrancefnent
ENTRANCEMENT
I
SEE,
my
is is
There There
God, thy scarlet sun descend no shadow on that blazing orb, no mist about it magnified.
Still-glowing, rayless
so
it
sinks in silence
!
Behold the burning circle broken now There is no wind on land, no wave at sea Behind this meadow, with the mill beside, The day-god's head devolves A lark's last song. High in the lavender and opal sky, To grey refined, through summer silence rings,
;
!
And
Thy
night
is
held thereby
waits.
Ascend, thou voice ring on thy parent doth The aspiration of her evening fragrance After thy flight direct And I too stand I stand a humble, image-haunted man. Who in that melody and madness loses The dreamlike, rippled cadence of the sea, Who loses earth and sea, whose soul ascends,,'
!
And,
beat the
air,
wild bird,
it
dies
227
WHITHER
The moon
Nor
does not
tire in
the sky,
it
that star
quail
In the paths that are high Do they know where they go,
While we faint and we fail ? For we know not, ah, no Sure light, that has lighted from time out of mindFrom what moon, from what star ? As we look from our place
!
grace
A DIRGE AT SEA
Well
Thy
'Tis
who
all
resting place
O,
it
!
By
in
is
Bereft thereof all stony coasts would stretch As bleak and barren as the wilted moon. Which has no life but that which dwells in deep
Desire of soul, which vainly strives to steal, earth, thy soul away
The
in its
;
blue
there thy lips
shall glisten
;
groves of coral
all
the white
228
In Aridity
delicate frame dissolving shall become portion of its being. So the thought The sacred thought of thee shall still keep fresh That calm, vast heart.
And
The
To
deep sea temples, there with mystic rites Perform thine obsequies. To its true home The flesh returns thy spirit to its place Is render'd too throughout all days to come That soul to mine inseparably join'd,
;
:
With
light
and beauty,
Shall all
my
MYSTERIES OF EXILE
One
life
way
to reach
:
But many substitutes and ghosts of each Lord, lest the false lights moving round and round Too long bewray, do Thou, with secret speech, Direct us truly unto stable ground
IN ARIDITY
The
It
road
is
brown
shade and music round it. Heaven has rain'd Through all the morn, but now the August sun
Is
Make
warm and
hills are
brilliant,
Far
229
A
And
The
distant churches glow. ... I gaze on all manifested beauties of the world, And have not lost that vivid sense of charm Which all can weave. The power of speech is mine, The strength of love why seems the tide of song
Thou inspiring God, Arrested in me By bard and prophet commonly invoked, One in thy varied names, on Thee I call Abide in song with me Forsake me not The grace of inspiration still vouchsafe One soul in all I see reveal'd beneath This constant flux and sheen of outward things. I stand by hedges, where the fern and oak With modest hawthorn interweave and blend Sun-metamorphosed tints of greenery And there the gnat, which buzzes in the air busy message of continual life ; The cool fresh wind, which stirs in flower and frond, In leaf and twig, in every blade of grass Which tempers summer at its thirsting noon These wake some random thought to bless my life. As dews bless eve. Descend once more on me Descend ; I summon in the name of all Which soothes and vivifies thou fire of God Thou inner sense of sight, Transform the world
.''
Transform
Is
my
;
soul
The
open'd
now
the speech
azure sky,
to stain
does descend
cries
virgin depths.
!
The Poet
His
the Priest of Nature puts vestments on, the prophet's mantle wears,
offers praise again.
And
thousand trees
Take up
Those
the message ; may the winds prolong all is song!] distant hills re-echo
230
Fro7n
Lane
to
Coast
FLIGHT
I
SOOTHED
a bird
Why
tell.
Safe in a
bower he was
is
set to rest
What
He
was
tell.
O
The
sweet bird-singer
Thou
bird flew out through a
his
canst not
door
ajar
Where flies
High sounds
song
at the
!
evening star
not
tell.
voice of freedom
Thou canst
But why the rose has a scent so sweet And where all secrets of beauty dwell When souls go up from this dim retreat Through gates left open The soul shall tell.
231
A
Above
Far winds the path before me. If an elm the hedge should rise, in the soft warm air branches scarcely seem to move, lightest Its soothing green of either bank the And on rests thankful. There the starwort shines, The sight
spreads
its
graceful sprays,
golden head.
When
some mead
stand,
Enring'd by clover scent, a stream mayhap Winds by, with willows on the banks thereof And may-trees all in blossom. Then I see, Amidst its ancient elms, some ancient church Facing the bright West with embattled tower And red-tiled roof all glowing. O'er the stream I lean to watch the dancing swarm of gnats. And hear far off upon the broad high-road The beat of horses' hoofs, or sounding horn Before some thatch'd, old-fashion'd wayside inn And then so long as any bird will sing One sings all day no more I ask than this.
But when from some strait road as here to-night Forth on the lonely sea, with eager steps,
Alone
I issue,
when
stand thereby.
And
About me
the
winnowing of wings
wings;
When
all
Expands before me there no sail in sight, With faces ruddy in the glare of evening Forth come the shrimpers with their shoulder'd nets To dredge the shallows then my heart no more Can rest contented. Suddenly reveal'd,
scope of life my nature longs For some broad sphere of action, speech and thought, And, " Seek it, seek it now," calls the Sea's voice.
The ample
232
To You
i7t
Glory
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Beyond
the turning in the lane
To
on the wind-swept plain ; Across the plain to see from far How white, how high the mountains are
issue
Above
watch the royal light, which spills Such boundless glory on the grand Expanses of the sea and land
;
To
Then
TO YOU
O
1
IN
GLORY
void
!
starless
Smiles
I
dov/n
:
on
me through
this
world's
gathering
gloom
cannot look, at thee, I yearn and stretch These eager hands to reach thine own in vain. Gulfs are between us, an eternal sea,
an
infinite abyss.
!
cross
star
How
I
fares
it
with thee in
Gentle and kind and true, of light and joy. thy Home of Rest ?
In every
and
in
;
Thy maiden blushes where thou art is beauty, And wheresoe'er is beauty there art thou When my cleansed soul shall shine with noble deeds,
233
A
I
As thou
with thy virginity unstain'd, with thee in thy glory bright Till then be thou beside me in my dreams, Till then when dream and waking shall be oneThou always, day and night
shall be
THE BLESSED
For
LIFE
Cool shade, cool shelter and a fountain cool Swan of the snow-white breast, I see thy plumage shining, white as wool
A SEA PROPHECY
infinite shimmer on the open sea To cross thee now, thousand, thousand lights And ever ever ever sail away. Till with thy vastness, with the mighty vault Which rounds thine urgent being, I am one One with the stellar ministers of night Who throng the splendid spaces of the air Above thy breezy bosom, one with her Whose path of pure, illuminated state. Through all the three-fold phases of her reign, Is eve and night with blanch'd, transfigured face, Perform'd in silent ecstasy with these
An
To
unify existence
Stars, Sea,
mystic thought Wrap me, ye Winds, away to some wild place, Where, in the centre of a surging world Of crested billows, full of stormy speech. My sea-dream bark is spell'd, awaiting me,
all
Moon
Mother of
am
yours,
234
There There
But
tones
I go to seek the threshold of my doom. Thereon the crests and surges and sea-winds. There all the echoing voices of the sea,
Break and dissolve in melody, lute-speech Which wins towards subtle silence, then the deep And utter stillness of the anchor'd state. White peace of sleeping sails in harbour furl'd
!
The waxing
That dormant Soul magnetically drew, As two fond eyes through waters gazing down Draw mild Undine to her lover's view
From depth to height, of all her bondage freed, High aims lead on the Soul to starry crown.
On lonely coasts I issued. Once at eve, When stormy clouds involved a splendid
The
Right up the sky, suffusing With angry red, and where
all its
it
West,
path
melted
in the zenith.
beheld
In mine
own mind,
!
as in a
magic
glass,
The
I
" It is well spectacle of Nature. cried, " Sufficient There is rest in this.
!
"
Her
Achieve, O soul, the light in the waste alone refuge sought, there dwelt and ponder'd there
!
Was
main
Which on my
refuge
in
And on my solitude, my silence there. On life and death reveal'd, did break at length ? It drew me forth I cross'd the meads and mounts,
;
roved by woods and waters, till I reach'd The coast once more. I saw the vast sky stretch Above the vast sea to unearthly height,
I
236
The Sea-Fowl
West, beyond all dream remote, sunset paled. Thither my soul Her flight pursued, with eagle wings essay'd That stormy path, dared winds, dared ocean deep. Dared lightnings there. The solemn night profound, A thousand voices speaking in the night. Did strengthen her, the searching cold inform'd, And more than all the mystic hope upheld Till, lo, the flight achieved from West to East, A still green land, bright morning breaking round
in the
And
A saffron
Have
The
ye not visited, in dreams at least. hush'd, deep place of life and peace in
God
THE SEA-FOWL
Across the wide and high Vault of the evening sky One sea-fowl wings his solitary flight
!
Or wilt thou journey West, Where yonder sun descends and clouds burn
can compare with thee. rover of the sea, So valiant-hearted } Lo, thy breast is bare To the wild wind, and thou. With thine undaunted brow, Darest the dangers of the sea and air
shine those white wings of thine. thou dost voyage o'er the salt sea-foam In port for wind and tide
bright
What Thou
On
As
Thou
assail,
This, this supports thee On one purpose true Its energies unspent
And
so thou soarest
the blue.
Thou
tire,
A
Is
subtle inward
in
burning
While mine
My
Which follow in thy wake thoughts alone pursue thee o'er the main.
Now
art
thou
lost at
length
!
God give thy pinions strength Fair flight be thine, sweet rest on distant shore Thou cam'st I know not whence,
Thou
In
life
and time
may
But
The
Have depths and heights unknown They change but still must
And
And
PATHS OF PILGRIMAGE
Thou lurest, ocean grey Dim, clouded sky, thy white waves roll in. Break over me eternal blue come forth Dame Nature calls and ballad-voice of Spring ; Sweet mistress, mother of the life of man,
:
How
238
Titles
of Nobility
And
gentle maid who dost the world renew, Behold, I come hundred stars unveil, The clouds have vanish'd, the supernal vault, glass of vision and of ecstasy, The Moon therein Its burnish'd surface spreads. Doth, like a spirit from the seering glass. In light pass off; and here, like angel's wings, The winds of night among the ancient trees Thy trees, O God pass in a storm of sound.
!
THE
O
WELL
beauty,
POVv^ER
for those
And
For
grace
whom
jflies
Love
also
on.
And
well
when God
onward by
To them nine choirs of angels at dawn And words of peace at vesper time
With
proclaim evangels
through channels
Of
such as thou ; glory on the lowly from holy place and holy altar chaste, for shining placed one radiant vestal
brow
TITLES OF NOBILITY
The
High With
generations of immortal soul, soul irradiating earthly veils virginal translucence
.
. .
Does it come And sweet in each mutation From orchards nigh me, from the garden close, Or clover meadows ... It is evening breath Of Nature, lapsing towards her night's repose.
?
Right royally invested. Expands within it, and Deep, deep it drinks.
.
How
is
. .
all life
!
bathed therein
What
What
I float
cryptic springs of
melody unseal
serenely up life's lucent stream I see thy soul Into the furthest past. Serenely dwelling in its fontal home spiritual mansion bright and blest, phoenix-home of immortality And morning joy. The golden rule of
A A
life
Evolves from out the pure, subjective state, portion of thy nature into form. The inner essence, taking outward shape
Of
visible,
accords
With that divine and individual thought Eternal Cause had consciously express'd
To To
I
bring thee into being. ... Is call thee fair, to say thy mien
it
well
is
high
.?
see thy perfect, superhuman mode, Like poetry in happy music clothed. But thine unbonded, quintessential part
thought. I sense thy presence in the sphere of mind. Yet know not what thou art ; I call on thee. And thou respondest in the brightest shape Supreme imagination pictures, based On human types. I see thy haunting eyes.
for
human
Like evening's grey from Heaven's eternal hills View'd in a holy trance. Their deeps unfold. Like fragrant spaces. Poised on eager wings, I see thy timeless origin express'd
240
Titles
of Nobility
In spiritual symbols a pure spark In the electric ocean of God's light. Support the dreamer now, ye mighty downs, Thou scarlet sunset, draped in formless cloud ; Pinewoods and wilderness and windy peaks ; Ye shadow-haunted prospects far prolong'd ; Thou, deep'ning night! An inner impulse prompts
.
.
above the burning sea Lifting itself, a radiant globe it grows. And down creation's stream of forming life So glimmers into outward consciousness. At first one thought intent, through ages long. Revolves about itself; the depths and heights
light
;
That point of
Of
its
own
While contacts forni'd with God at either end, Pulse and vibrate therein. The tide of thought Turns outward now sense-music charms it on,
;
Desire and will unite ; a secret change Gives psychic shape, and in a world of souls Diaphanously draped, with wide, white wings,
One
torch-like star,
Diffusing light
In rainbow ripples
Still
law,
And
towards the circle of material things It draws thy nature down the mighty tide. Thou enterest the generating world narrow passage with a door of night At either end, a golden hope beyond. Cross, combat, victory and crown betwixt.
veils,
SPIRIT IN
THE HOUSE
7vinter morn,
When all within the church was shadow-dim^ And in some pauses of the pries fs deep chant
Thy
voice divine, o^er all the choir behind
Pre-eminent, rang out like MichaeVs voice. But when the mist bega?i to lift without And all the windows whiten d, thy pure face, Thy saintly face, through clouds of incense shone,
And
o''er
Calming
So shone thy virgin beauty there supreme One form divine o^er all adoring there
Then dream''d I
town
thus.
thousands down sun, with blazing eye, the long day And all Burn'd in a brazen sky There was no wind in any lane or street.
Its
;
The
fervid heat
;
Of flints and And after sun-down, terrible to mark, The baleful comet smoulder'd in the dark.
; ;
At length it sank that spell which held the breeze Was broken then a shiver through the trees As through a dreamer pass'd The storm's wild spirit o'er the panting town. Through welcome clouds, long pray'dfor,nowlook'ddown; And, in brief pauses of a rising blast. The sultry rain fell fast;
In vivid flashes leap'd and danced on high The steel-blue lightning through the broken sky.
242
A
Through
all
Spirit
week
i7t
the
House
unstain'd
that
And
Heaven's shining height The cold, clear air restored by slow degrees Man's vanish'd vigour, and the dread disease Ceased in a single night. So I went forth one morning in the sun, Through cleansed and shining streets again went A bracing wind was blowing from the North, The Plague was done.
forth,-
My
The
Assembled there, Thank'd God for life, still trembling on their knees But in the chancel, serving, there wast thou. With the same light upon thy pale, broad brow, The same calm face, the same collected mien.
All in thy white array'd.
There was no trouble in thy face, thine eyes, Still on thy book directed, neither turn'd To left nor right there was no motion seen
In thy mild lips
Alone
thee no fever burn'd The stricken victim's cries. in the open road, dreadful silence where the pest abode,
in thee
;
.
.
desolation and long reign of death, Pass'd like a horror of the night alone
Before thy modest mien reserved and stately Sweet incense rose, no more the Plague's foul breath. I heard God's silver Mass-Bell sweetly ringing, A heart-felt Credo that the choir was singing.
No more the death-bell's tone, No more the voice of mourning heard so lately And for the spotted, drawn and fever'd cheek.
The shrunken
body, as an infant's weak,
243
A
A
Erect I saw thee in thy wonted place, youth in vigour and a maid in grace, With auburn hair, with visage smooth and fair, And faintly bloom'd the Rose of Beauty there.
Immortal Nature, what is pure like thee know is wedded to Eternity I know such spirits through the starry spaces
Subsist for ever with increasing graces
!
ever thus do thou, reserved apart, Thy chaste thoughts cherish in thine inmost heart, May they, though stain'd, who love to see thee pure.
For that be pardon'd and in that endure May he that sought betimes the House of Prayer And found thee serving when the Plague was there. Thy gentle picture ever keep within To save his spirit from the Plague of Sin
! !
STELLA
The
mystic singer to a certain Star
!
... Be thy secret name In salutation Inscribed upon the Palace of the King, And on the white apocalyptic stone I paced at night Engraved indelibly
!
The
an inspiration came ; And, like a tempest, suddenly it strove With all my being. To thyself it bore mighty message, until now retain'd That from the sacred heart of sylvan things,
City's streets
;
From woods and forests, from eternal downs, From water-sides, the Golden Word might come-
Assured
244
Rover
Hymn
It bids me first recall thy nature's depths, The heights thereof, and then those sacred arts With whose exalted themes thy longing holds
Impassion'd correspondence. These are proofs That things undream'd await thee. In thy hands The future lies conceive what end thou wilt. And, on the honour of the angel bands,
;
Thou
shalt attain
it,
soul is set upon an endless quest span the bounds of being ; on the heights, Towards which my face is set, behold, I swear To greet thy spirit, be it late or soon Forth to the Light Forth to the height of God The tocsin call comes from the Infinite All Nature taking voice, her organ tone Has culminated in a single cry Of clamorous accordance, urging on Speed on The arrow to the Star ascends Through mortal channel comes immortal speech.
My
To
The
A ROVER'S HYMN
Once
I
Thoughts
Now
in their soaring ; the soul-flights rarely rise Further than thy dear grey eyes There my fervours pouring.
Follow'd
245
Through
dreams, both day and night, Round about one only light, Shining where thy grace is.
it
Now
for
darksome
forest haunts.
danger daunts,
Where the Kraken lies asleep. Where the last star quivers. Where the message of existence Through the darkness and the distanceLife to void delivers
Then beyond
all space and time. speech or rhyme, transcending Far dimension. thought's Out of to win point midmost That one
Which By a
all secrets
centre
in,
soul- ascension.-
May
me
"
these
Nature's " primal sanities And high Truth's unfolding In such dreams my life exhaled. Till thy tender form unveil'd Unto my beholding.
246
A
Then
Rover
Hymn
the light of rose and gold Gather'd up from vale and wold, From the sky descended, Drifted off the open sea. Came and draped thy symmetry In a garment splendid.
At
its first
appearing.
Melody of merle
in copse,
How
brightness,
!
And
absorbs
it
straightway
Now the sunset lights may kindle, Now the mild moon wax and dwindle,
Voice of winds keep calling. While the Alpine hills point o'er me. While the long paths wind before me,
Falling, rising, falling.
is
o'er
Through
the outer world no Roving and exploring Past the beauty of thy face
more
Do
247
Lost the vista, lost the vision, Sinking all the sense of mission In the sense or loving ?
Nay, thou art an open sea. And a green world fair and free
Meet
Souls
may
sink or rise
in.
my
guide
There the ravish'd thinker wanders Ever there the rover ponders Voyaging and venture.
A VISION OF STARS
Behold in Star-Land None found to fill it
stood a vacant throne. On a lonely height Raised up, the world commanding, he beheld, Who reign'd thereon, the plane of time and change Far reach below him. Passion and anguish there Play parts, but the illuminated soul From such great height with steadfast eyes unmovedIn silence watch'd, the issues and the end
!
To
him
reveal'd, the
it
;
Thus was
A
The
Its ancient seat
;
Vision of Stars
he, with anxious
mind, wide his sacred rule, The Great Star-King, most solemn council held With messengers and heralds from afar. But not from out his own divine estate, Nor realms beyond, was suppliant known whose eyes Unflinching view'd the vast and varied charge,
and
Who
The
lonely
life,
Then
Tremendous King, by angels bright at length Sent tidings down to Star-Land, and the Great
Star-King rose joyful from his throne sublime Long prayer was answer'd found a soul unstain'd It dwelt on earth To fill that empty seat Not all unconscious of its destiny, But, dedicate to ministries most high. though half defined in yearnings vague In hopes By sacred impulse prompted aye to seek The Source of Light, at least to gifted eyes
Made evident its origin divine Thy shining soul, my white one, my
dear,
my
dove
The Star-King paused at hearing, mused a space. Then pass'd in silence through his lonely hall. Its pavement vast as ocean, and its dome As heaven remote. Upon the gleaming wall Of that most awful temple there was hung
Magic Glass ; invoking power of will Constrain'd all souls to manifest within Its lucent crystal. There he fix'd awhile His eyes illuminated, clear, profound. And soon a thin flame started, light and pure, In brilliance, beauty waxing, till thy self
In semblance perfect shone reflected there.
249
Presence that niform'd the place Breathed once thereon, then answer'd " It is well His phantom shews no blemish." There was now The hour of earthly sunset sank day's god. A stealthy, secret whisper of the wind Among the leaves and grass had call'd me forth. And I went musing into meads and down Dark cypress groves. Therein my thoughts were wrapp'd Beyond the sphere of time. One Voice of Brightness, When this creation's furthest star was pass'd. Still call'd me onward, through unnumber'd ranks
The Mighty
I paused Before that veil which hides the Holy Place The light unbearable in mercy hides. This veil was moved by agency within stream of flame and scorching heat intense Was pourM in shafts upon me, and my soul Beneath it shrivell'd like an autumn leaf, Till one word sounding in the light made strong My failing nature by its power divine. Thy destiny surpassing strange, supreme, Thy star ascending in the house of life, With light and glory through the infinite, That mystic word impress'd on heart and mind. It lives in sense of mission and of high Election, but the awful sound is lost For flesh-confined intelligence no more May dare to formulate, nor human speech Express it, nor this element too gross
;
priests
Of
It
But in dreams and still by dreams my soul Is lifted into Star-Land ; there I see Thy vacant throne await thee on that height
Give
searches
250
A
Of
earth to yEther
!
Wraith-JVay
God
About
the
man
it
leads in spite of
self,
sense of mission circles all my life ; herald of the stern, primeval, strong Star-King, I gather for thy crowning day
The
All gentle souls together, all pure souls. The silent spaces round thy lonely throne To people with intelligence and love. Behold, my thought that chosen band depicts Above the world exalted, vow'd to thee
. .
My
And
spirit in eternity's
most
vast,
God-haunted regions
loses life
and thought
own
mount
There
Mount, mine eagle, Translucent, tranquil. Thy light supreme, thy lone, uplifted state,
I
see reveal'd
starry prince
infinity receives
Over
By
Is
the bridge and athwart the stream. path that I call my own
another land that I visit in dream. And dreamers term it the world unknown. The paths are clouded, the hollows are dim, But a pallid and misty host Is moving there with a vacant air. For this is the Land of Ghost.
As
Land of Ghost is the Land of Soul Wraiths of the viewless bourne Do you hear, as I hear, the waters roll In the rain of the tears of those who mourn 251
a
i"
A
The
darkness deepens, the darkness spreads shrink from the downward track Which far through the hollow takes those who follow, For who that descends comes back ?
We
But there
falls a night, or a
day
will
dawn.
withdrawn
cold.
;
hold.
Over the grey lawns shrouded and Over the brook by the bridge we go,
still'd
behind
But dole or laughter, who knows what Or what of the end assign'd ?
after,
Who
knows
Who
knows
From
Perchance on a spectral host, Far over a resonant, splendid tide. Back we shall gaze on a Land of Ghost For a Land of Ghost is this land of life. With its phantom joys and woes From a great true dream upon pomps which seem, We shall gaze at that last who knows ?
:
WHEREFORE, COURAGE
Along
the grey and saturated shore grey sea creeps. There is no wave in sight With gentle ripple and with sad, faini sound. wind from shore The evening tide flows in. Blows cool by fits ; dark clouds about the West Take angry colours and the blue looks dim. When o'er the sea that pale blue light looms forth. Will not one star above the waters shine But, see, the moon High over tide and coast of light slender line The moon late born a Shews faintly towards the West, 'twixt stormy clouds.
.?
252
The Reaper
MANIFESTATION
A
A
within the chair not previously there voice spoke in the darkness then More subtly than the voice of men The message in the ear it spell'd Was one great secret long withheld And while I live, or when I die, O Grave where is thy mystery ?
sat
FIGURE
Which was
THE REAPER
In simple dreams, I see thy shy blue eyes Upraised to scan thy sphere of earthly work, Which spreads like fields all ripe with corn and wheat. The harvest waits, be thou the reaper there ; The barns of God stand empty, fill them thou There is a sickle in thy strong right hand
!
Reap
well, reap
all,
that
lie
when
. .
.
bound
;
No
In
I
single grain
may
to rot without
The days go by rain and cold. mellow moon in the starless South Her magic disc increase. ... Is thy work done ? Hard hast thou toil'd, thou hast not thought of self;
autumn
see the
The priest of labour thou, by toil made Thy work accomplished is thy sacrifice.
priest.
The wind
To
begins across the naked fields breathe and stir, among a thousand sheaves Lo, the moon hath set It laps and lingers. faint uncertain light about the East Spreads slowly round ; on thy pale face it falls
!
253
A
And on
The And
thy prostrate form ; shines keen and blue well-used sickle ; at thy side it lies thy right arm about the latest sheaf This night has stiffen'd. Now, the morning breaks They bear the harvest in ; the barns are closed ; The grain is reckon'd ; there is none left out. Thy spirit voice repeats the festal hymn In God's great harvest home
!
Turning out a lilting verse Here a flash of fancy caught, There an artful image wrought Could be better, might be worse
Easy comes and easy goes
The
too
light, fantastic
rhyme
:
Who
Saving grace, or pleasing wit Jingling for the hour it can Something miss'd and something hitHe that runs may read in it, Vex not thou its transient plan
!
it organ songs of old Peal from out the ages gone Other times shall yet behold Singers come with mouths of gold
Leave
it
babble on.
254
D oom
DOOM
dreadful, most exalted doom future waits. soul is taken hence And set full often by a stormy sea
I
KNOW some
My
My
The
desolation of whose terrible voice Arrests the inward being. There are clouds Heap'd by some wild art of a winter wind In wild confusion. There is saffron light Through lurid rifts. The verge is tooth'd by waves. The whole sky torn by tempest. There are sharp And bulging headlands, promontories bleak, And melancholy miles of winding coast, With stones and seaweed strewn. No sea-mew cries ; I stand, wind-wrapp'd, and dream deep dreams thereby, Or wander aimless, waiting, hush'd and white, Some fierce convulsion in the boding sky. Mine eyes are fixed upon the raving waste Of whi^-ling waves, and, utterly apart From sympathy or voice of man, I face The mysteries of being. I accept The doom. spirit has been tested there But has not fail'd. An inspiration comes From wretchedness in desolation, strength ; Through Nature in convulsed, terrific moods, The secret hidden by external things, I know this terrible and rendino; scene Is threshold of revealment. That rent sky Will open suddenly, in depths serene sunset all of majesty and light Revealing; clouds transfigured, grouping round,
My
255
A
A
Will lead imagination on from world To world of thoughts ineffable. Some ray Will fall full redly on the restless sea And soothe its tortured surges, smoothing out path of magical and mystic light all its length Salt breeze and rosy splendour My soul, uplifted in a mighty trance. With faculties made clean, with tranquil step, Will swiftly traverse. ... To the Land of Light The prospects open wide ; Go, favour'd Soul Dream preludes vision like a flower of flame, Unfolds high vision into truth attain'd
:
!
Thy
pinions bear thee to ecstatic rest, In quiet seas of spiritual space magnet draws thee on ; Profoundly lapp'd. ... of mind ; world the in awaken'd Thou art life perfect of hierarchies Where blessed sphered at length poised and thee, Are gleaming round
The
supersensual things Prolong their vistas. Thou art taught thereby Thou art inspired ; an end of all is seen
heights
unknown of
The
I
my
The whole
significance of outward things Unrolls before me, as a scroll unwinds, And in the hyaline and crystal depths Of her unspotted spirit do I read Infinities of meaning.
256
T^he
Rosy Cross
A FOUNDATION OF HOPE
A
A
shall then
be strong
go.
?
To And
little
my
Life
so short
ah,
no
THE ROSY
I
CROSS
;
SAW before me loom an ancient house One portal there, with mystic words inscribed,
Had
in its centre
Ascending
Which
ruled by none, Divine 'Tis made for ever to itself a law Thy burning star, dread, potent Pentagram
Law
Before that threshold in the morn's first light. In wonder lost, in ecstasy of joy, Thou spirit to the end attain'd. I stood Thou crown'd adept, thy long probation done. Was that the Temple of the Rose and Cross ? Speak, hierophant Who stands in starry white ? Who leads me in ? Smooth gleams his golden hair.
:
With comely
those
features mortified and mild. Cheeks tinged with flower-pale pink Whose eyes are
!
Which
Elsewhere
He
sunshine seem like golden grey, deep ? His mien is high bears the fragrance of the morning rose
in the
as violets
Round
VOL.
all his
I.
form
his
hand 257
is
raised to bless.
A
About
Whene'er
look up all heaven looks down path the snowdrop sprouts in spring, Burst buds in blossom upon thorn and tree ;
his
His voice
all
And
Fills
all
His name is Spring with melodious souls. His name is Eos, born of dews and light His are a thousand names in one contain'd. Before the Threshold of the Mysteries, Before the Temple of the Rose and Cross, Before the secret, sacred, inmost shrine. In white refulgent, as he wont, array'd. He stands in beauty and with open hands He welcomes in "The Light of Christus " cries, "Eternal Truth!" And ranged in lines behind, I see the sages and the scalds of old, thousand pontiffs and a thousand kings Shines Moses there, and Plato brightly shines And I see the Hermes of the Burning Belt, The " thrice great Hermes," stand with Enoch there
:
IN EXCELSIS
THEMA
Voice that blesses, eyes that light, Vision on the vestal height, Bright One,
258
Aurelii
Mystic mountains all untrod We shall pass, with patience shod
Featly,
Sweetly,
Lead to God
AURELIA
THE SPIRITUAL CHRYSALIS
So idly sailing on an August sea From zone to zone of dream, I look'd and saw, Through the mauve spaces of litten air at noon, Some sudden land-breeze bear a frighten'd moth Far and away, its frail wings beating vainly. Could my stretch'd hand have reach'd it, I had borne That blithesome insect gladly back to shore It pass'd, blown onward, in the sunlight lost And distance. Like a death-trap gleam'd the bay Beneath it, and the dancing waves drew down As magnets draw those drooping, wearied wings. I will not say the creature sank indeed. For anchor'd boats rock'd softly far and near,
:
Where
Might
I
though not return to shore think the sea received it, those light wings Were bruised and buffeted and broken there.
hold for
this the
;
He
My
On
That
feeble shape and beat in fancy there, every wind dependent ; watch'd with awe
259
A
The
Garden of
Spii^itual Flowers
;
And And
cold sea-spray her tiny wings benumb sinking, shrinking, saw those shining waves Leap up to meet her ; while the death therein
life
With
all
man's
spirit
And I Of stormy
see eastward
sable
fill
The high grey sea beats sullenly, its crests Of seething foam a white, weird light give out. As now that sea swells, on the wide beach chafing, The heart expands within me, and the roar
Of breakers
Wakes,
in
Which
surging on the sand and stones the deeps within, an answering voice. speaks behind the soul, is clear, is loud.
may
be progress
made
;
:
But
believe,
beyond
That death
Friends, if the martyr's pangs lifts life. Exalt beyond our measure and enthrone
The
Shall
stedfast spirit,
through
its
tortures true.
we not hold that hard, untimely deaths. In some peculiar, undetermined way. May compensate the natures wrung thereby ^ Who proves it error ^ Does the bird whose nest
Is scorch'd about her in a burning wood, Yet who'll not leave the five white eggs within. No new sense Win nothing from endurance From that new, terrible and splendid scene Unfolding round her? The bird's soul (believe it !) Goes forth inform'd from those singed plumes of hers,. With some new sense indelibly endow'd And greaten'd by it. The drown'd insect too. Did that win nothing from the shining waste 260
.?
The I?ivocation
Of waves about it ? Lord of life, thereon The sun-born creature faced immensity One aspect of the vast and awful truth Of solemn life intense this wind's light toy Faced once and perish'd. From the sea-drench'd The quicken'd essence issues forth enlarged.
I
shell
Who
From
howe'er minute or mean, But multiplies its nature in the flesh And individual strength by death renews That every crevice of the earth is fill'd With plenitude of being, which indeed May strive and suffer, but it grows through all. Beyond each turn of life springs life again Face death then calmly, be it thine or mine ; Look onward, upward, both for beast and man Aye, even this sea-drifted butterfly
That no
THE INVOCATION
By
the
By the starlight's silver sheen, By the Moon-Queen's mystic light, By this hush of holy night, By the zephyr's twice-v/eaved spell,
Ho ye powers invisible, Leet of Elfin, Iris Throng, Unto whom these groves belong And by laws of ancient date, Found in scrolls of Faerie Fate, Stream and font are dedicate Wheresoe'er your wings may gleamVistas on the verge of dream, 261
!
Hearts and hearths of human kind Better suit the elfin mind. We adjure you, keep no more Homeless state on splendid shore, But with spells of magic birth
Here
in
Ye may
Can ye wish for softer bed Than the moss that here is spread Here the mavis' voice is heard, Every late and early bird Here the tendril's slender string
;
;
Deftly hangs, a faerie swing Purling brooks and founts that play Make sweet music night and day
;
And
The blown
lilies
waiting
float,
Who
Linger,
not
the woods are dark and lonely There the throstle calleth only There alone the throstle calleth
Still
As
the silent twilight falleth. All the old mage-spells are broken, All the ancient charms unspoken
:
262
'The
htvocation
Who
tongues shall teach That forgotten sylphid speech By whose aid the weirds of old Did with Nature commune hold ?
to
'Tis the darken'd human heart Whence the Elfin Lords depart Ye who now this loss deplore, All who would their reign restore,
human
Seek from mystic gifts of sight Hallows for the heart of night Seek for depths of thoughts serene Soften'd through the deeps of green,.
For the open eye which looks Further than the life of books, And in any stone discerns What a heart of wonder burns, Finding all about it lie Brimming wells of sorcery. Virgin thoughts are brightest chrism
In the mystical baptism. Which, to those elected duly. Lifts all veils, revealing truly Elfin worlds in rapt clairvoyance.
Elfin marvels. Elfin joyance,
Elfin vistas. Elfin vision,
Glamour
all
and gramarye.
Where
wing
Worlds of pure imagining Then where wonder rules the heart Thence shall fairies ne'er depart
263
AZALEA
Our
The
sleep
is
over
now
all its length, by winds inform'd, worshipful and spiritual night, Has in this daylight disillusion grey Been sadly merged. The prose of life on earth And here I stand alone Begins to speak. One billow broke upon the bay far out This moment pass'd ; it flash'd a seething crest, Then fell. What space for inspiration now What message in the sea What magic left The once bright-shining moon is bleak and white And burnt to cinders. When the trees were draped By solemn darkness, in their mien was awe,
Moon-haunted
.?
.?
.?
Their aspect majesty, their rustling leaves Dodonian prophecy they were mighty thoughts. Now their spell shatters as a part once more
Of vegetative nature, they stand stripp'd Of poetry and meaning. The lark's song
Is some mere singing of a morning lark That engine's drawn out, melancholy shriek
;
And drowns
!
its
golden
close.
bitterness There is no human word Which gives expression to the craving depth Of desolation foss'd in human hearts
Choke sympathy by commonizing grief. 1 made by magic in a winter month An Eden-garden full of holy bloom
:
The
blessed lotus in
its
lakes abode
264
Azalea
With stately swans, and all its paths were lined By lustrous lilies. Thine azaleas filled The consecrated air with grateful light, From myriad blooms. Thou hadst no care therein
spent the strength of spirit on thy dreams To crowd the sacred hush of mystic sleep With all high-speaking images. I search'd The world of mind to build thy maiden bed, In amaranthine bowers, with purple blooms
I
Of dim, inviolable violets Their scented heads received thy psychic limbs And soften'd moss beneath. But morning broke Then was a latch upon the garden gate Uplifted by thy voluntary hand And from the aureate place of our dream-light Thou didst go forth thy beauty's human grace
:
Has chosen
earth.
Above
A blush of morning bursts dim and wavering line of downs Far flashing sanguine glory up the sky That lofty and immeasurable arch Transforms from grey to lavender, and fills With sudden ecstasy of morning birds ....
the
The charm arrested leaves thee clay once more Thou art not wholly false nor wholly true The world, God knows, may leaven thee. But me The dream shall hearten the earth's part dissolves,
; ;
God's part remains, whilst thou hast fallen short Of immortality and beatitude. There was no height beyond the power of soul To scale for thee. There was no height beyond Those heights to which my spirit should itself
Have
lifted thee.
And
1 see thee deck'd with pearls turquoise rings; the splendours brought from East
265
A
With
And West
invest thy body. Thou art clothed earthly wealth instead of phantasy. sole and only truth of deathless mind, And dreadful lapse from starry heaven of thought
To
lov^er riches Can J wish thee bless'd In these, or mated unto man of earth, Ascribe thee true beatitude therein }
!
Thou
wast a
spirit in these
arms' embrace.
And
As
transfigured in thine own had dwelt god beside thee, deified thereby.
I
How
art
thou
fallen,
Lucifera
So upward ever To the endless height, Which meets the bottomless, abysmal depth In the infinite circle of Eternity Light for thee still O somewhere, somewhere LightIf I eclipse thee in my angelhood, O thou too pure e'er to be wholly false, I'll clothe thee in the mantle of my soul. And on my shoulders raise thee past myself To heights beyond me
!
DISTRACTION
Shall
a poet whose office is high For the heights, say, a moment unapt, Descend some distraction to try
And
adapt
itself gives a
touch
266
Distractio?i
'Tis
assumed he must cleave to his part But may seek with conventions to toy,
if
See
And Phyllis well-favour'd may seem When the pipes of a Colin give ease
In his dream.
There's not much in this, as we know Shall he turn with an amorous gaze.
Of a
courtlier mistress or so
Singing praise
A
We
may doubt if distraction in these Can be won from his call overlong. Or that ways which are beaten will please For his song.
For the things which
are
It is true, in a different
way
is
And
the ends which are far out of reach, Green earth and the sky that is blue Exceeding, please most for our speech Me and you.
Leave, therefore, the lambs to their fold And the sheep to the shepherds who tend,
Since the themes which are old will be old To the end.
267
To
go
there.
IMMANENCE
The
down and cliff, Pause with me, But here is By this rude stile ; and, through those mellow browns Of autumn bushes on the broken slopes. Behold the sea below, the vault above,
wind without
is
wild on
perfect shelter.
The
I
scarce seen
!
count it good to stand, as now we stand. This resonant September afternoon. And, past the twisted shapes of elm and beech. To see the low, slow, sounding waves far down Churn'd on the rocks and stain'd by yellow sand
Advance
incessantly.
!
Now
cool
glen's
marshy slope
stress
the
stir
and
from
blazing
autumn
The
Are flaming
coastguard's cottage windows, facing West, strangely. Now the night descends
At once the turf looks cold, forlorn and grey Once more the hill we climb Our steps retrace
!
is the world ablaze Green, orange, crimson The churn'd sea burning ? Are those loose black
.?
clouds.
Which, with the wind, pass off from North to East, The smoke thereof.? It is the sunset see Confess the Presence watch, but speak no more 268
Suspirium
THE
According
SOUL'S LINEAGE
to our measure and extent, Despite long exile in these regions dim,
We
soul's descent,
Him
alone
is
bent,
And must
in that
SUSPIRIUM
Where
Where ? Speak to me once divide art thou ? Cold grave and dark, This dreadful hush of death Did that hold anything of her I love Soul-adjuration and heart-agony Should vitalise the remnants into life Thou dost not sleep So should I hear of thee In the wide measures of eternity Thou art av^^ake, abroad but where art thou ? Give me a sign upon the sky to know
!
Or
let
thy tears
fall, light as
softest
down
if tears
be thine.
lady, thou didst once, a moon at night Shine burnish'd with a pale and psychic grace. An argent beauty, toned and soften'd down From all hard outlines of reality Into a face of dream, which melted all And the waste world about thee fill'd with love. As thy soul's magic fill'd the sphere of life
!
Oh
269
A
And
And
a vague and dreary day, moon, dying in the mist distraught, Turns to a pallid shadow thou didst wane And hence the mercy of all-patient God Was written in agony through my grey youth. But thou wast martyr'd more who now art crown'd.
So for thy sufferings' sake, my love, my loss And the long dereliction of my days, I swore to wear thenceforth a life unstain'd, That none should suffer who environ'd me So did a heart of pity and pure love With leaping pulses fill the chords of life And there is none that I have wrong'd not one.
:
Therefore, I pray thee, let this exile end In thy clean hands the spirit I have kept Pure for thy sake, I place. Let the still air Give up the soft light of thine eyes and come Come in thy mildness or, that boon denied. Strong in my yearning, bid me go to thee
: ; ;
!
That poor ambition and unwise content, Which, in the midst of veil and semblance,
left
And
mind
Whereby
270
Fragmentum
FRAGMENTUM
I LOOK behind on all my former life, The masque of strange succession in events, The weirds unfinish'd, the impending dooms,
Whereon, with even mind, with chosen speech, I muse this day while, sunk in deepest thought,
;
Thou
Leaf-blinds are drawn ; the late sun shines without On wide green meadows ; all this bower is fiU'd With things familiar. Thou, reserved and cold. Dost hear my tale ; setting and atmosphere How formal, friend, and yet what secret things
What
thoughts
!
What
more
sudden flash, before the eyes of mind Passing at times, takes all our heart away, As rapture caught Elias we are lost
:
To
As
some
place of dream.
warden of the
castle walls,
How How
What
So
how
speaks of sea beyond than our landscapes know, Yon ocean splendour, past all fair romance. Interprets its bright pictures to the heart By words no more, but living images. Once, from the realms thereof, we drew that light. Exalting Nature but the thoughts, my friend The dark, dread thoughts the deeps behind the gleam, And in those depths abysses, gloom unpierced
in light richer
;
Now
is
pass'd,
271
A
Take
Is steep to
The road slopes after ; its descent reach the streamlet, and with stones Made rough to save the horses. Do you mark That little bridge which spans the burn ? Our path Goes over it. Before us to the left An old church looms ; a growth of ivy there Shews in the evening light its splendid green
breath.
On
dial all the day tower and nave. southern side. the on in silence Tells time did you catch water ; the shallow Here swirls curl'd round, hole this See, in That flashing fin.? reach So we sleeping. speckled eel is The long white-fronted house. Who dwells therein The water on a single side Patience Washes the ample lawn at brink thereof. Wide spreads the walnut-tree, a stately growth, Its broad, rich leaves above the waters drooping.
here
is
Perchance things lesser in the end shall save Things greater, and the least is also first.
WITNESSES OF SILENCE
Man's
heart
is
for himself a
volume
writ
In cipher, having no true key to it And other hearts discourse on every side
Language, to which no
lips
have
e'er replied.
272
Hard
Saying
A HARD SAYING
Unselfish love, which would true aims fulfil, Must be what men call mean, must make unask'd
first advances, and a cold response, Rebuffs and misconceptions overlook, To prosecute its end, which is to give, For love's best reasons, unrequited, all Love's heart and life's devotion.
The
This confess'd,
Some
From thought
from
all
great ends whereto, since early days Elected, souls must strive and, striving, see
Of those
New fields of labour opening far beyond Then, Love, awhile, Into the infinite. Such heights forsaking, unto some green place, Like this, in vernal hours or in the soft Luxuriant summer prime, from high degrees Exemption find or take the grade of peace.
Renouncing not. With all our doom foreseen, Such respite gives the greater strength to bear. Puts by the sense of whole unworthiness, Or lifts it up into our aid unask'd
Who cannot choose but deem our souls unmeet, O Love of all, for love of thine and thee
!
us,
and
Our
meet to hold,
!
love beyond
VOL.
I,
273
ONE REFUGE
When
old convention's sad calamity
issue
Shall, after
weary days, our path permit undeterr'd and free What then remains ? Forest and woodland ^yorld, the green,
To
Far-sparkling plains
Or
fair
Romance
it
if
The soul alone would be Of old we trod, With shackled limbs, a thousand ways of care What profits freedom till it ends in God ?
OTHER MANHOODS
Be sure that, ever from the birth thereof. Both earth and sea are sentiently alive And in the cosmic harmony perform
Sounding at times an individual note through the starry hymn Conceived within them Which Ave^ ave ! high creation chants. The leaf which shrivels in the hand can feel, Though it be feebly, and the bud which lifts Its head to catch the sunlight or the dew Here something in us prompts and forces faith Discerns, though dimly, moisture, light and heat As life and health and happiness. Through all That lives some form of consciousness pulsates
274
And
.?
With
.^
Almost content
Our
PATHS OF ZION
"
.
^mor
. .
'Umare
est."
Confess.
AuGusTiNi, Lib.
cap. lO.
Paths of Zion
MINISTRIES OF GRACE
Gates of the grace of God a thousand gates Lie open round us ; neither bar nor lock Prevails and there is nothing in the world Which asks to keep its secrets in the heart All are set forth for worship. Nature's scrolls Lie written and over-written everywhere Without, within the hidden meanings sing, Great symbols shout, till knowledge fills the soul. Not into gold and gems are common things Changed suddenly the precious metal shines. The jewel, native to the heart of each.
; ; ;
Shall any
Bear witness, Sons of Song, that not in vain man with God's true gift of eyes Explore the windings of a bosky road, Hedge-bound by spring-time green or summer's wealth Through elms and oaks behold in holt or chase A quiet homestead ; watch in welkin light While rooks round windy nests in circles wheel And by the symmetry of motion shame Their own discordant notes or contemplate The gracious fusion of a beechen grove With ancient, sombre, solitary firs. From grass to star, whatever lives lays bare Its virtues and an infinite behind.
The
For evermore with seeing till an eye Turns inward, looking for the God within. 279
Paths of Zion
Yet each and all of these, or kindred boons, Reward our sight and thanks are therefore due Alike for object and for instrument Till God's transcendence swallows up in fine God's immanence.
;
My
;
praise
is
render'd
now
For that white mare on pasture grazing yonder, Her one white foal beside, with one white star for the scent inhaled Seal'd on its forehead This evening early in the month of June, From hawthorn hedge-fence and from new-mown hay,
Just after rain, ascending.
.
Here
cross
country-stile and suddenly take note Above that stretch of level sward and bush
mist leaves bare the downs beyond Once and again, while twilight closes round, How in the shadow of this old church-porch, Old tombs beside me I can hear, far off, The solemn washing of an open sea, As if the voice of everness spoke out
lifting
How
In time,
news giving of
home
;
for souls.
Word
for ever
timeless sense
sense of time
into the great and good things that are end then therefore, save in man himself That gate which ever, in the least and most. Swings open Godward ? Listen, Sons of Song Whoever on the grace of youth or maid Dwells with pure eyes, heart-fiU'd and moved to prayer. Has kiss'd with worship a responding mouth, Give me still Lays treasures for the heart up The end heroic and the term sublime All these may lead thereto ; love most is path And makes most also of the mountain-ways. End, and an end in God His end and ours O crown us at that last for evermore
Through
an issue found
!
How
280
PART
I^e sits
pure
i^iti
Iigf)t,
Amongst
STijis
kintJulJ serapljs,
from men
?12Eitljliraliin
in burning nimbus.
TO^at remains ?
QTa
lift
IN CIVITATE DEI
The
city is dusty
^
MAGNA
dim
;
And
But, ah
fHVd with a thought oj thee. As the church with the chanted hymn. It is fiird with the memories bright of thee,
As
Comes
Thy
Sounds there a voice that is sweet and low, I know thy voice is near ; Gleams there a face that is fair to see.
Wherever thy form may dwell, I know it is thou by the zvhite, white brow, Thou spirit of Israfel
0, I shall stand in a moment more Where oft thy feet have trod,
Which now
That leads
the
Mount
of
God I
As
way
There falls on the pilgrim'' s face beam more bright of the wondrous light
That shines
in the
Holy Place.
283
Paths of Zion
II
EIDOLON
No
As
eye but mine
is
poised upon this steep cliff's utmost rim Many times I watch the world of waters. Have I thank'd God for that most perfect line
Wherewith the still sky rings the restless deep For passing ships for tides which come and go For cultivated fields with ample curves
;
Sloping and sweeping shoreward for the glare Day long on rough white chalk ; for silent caves For shelter'd coves and shallows known to few For waste and lonely places unenclosed, Which ocean peoples with a thousand voices. But now my soul is moved by deeper thoughts One face transmuted in a light of mind Is o'er the shadow'd prospects of my life Exalted sacredly, like Dian's horn, When out of mists, from mead and marsh escaping She soars and finds the zenith.
; ;
:
Israfel,
That
stand and think of thee. Till thought evokes thine image it is poised In glory above these waters. To the sky
face
is
thine.
Thy
The
turn'd, thy holy hands are clasp'd,wind gently lifts and floats thy hair. White vestures also by the wind are trail'd
face
is
light
; ;
Surrounds thy body and its waist is girdled With white and fragrant lilies ... I have clothed A human form in dreams with angel-hood, And evermore a spirit in my heart It dwells. Transfigur'd, thou hast pass'd from earth 284
The stature of immortal life is thine. Exempt from passion, weakness, pain and
Dost thou
Translated
live ever a reserved,
life.
change.
remote,
And
having
lifted thee
Above this world's modalities, meseems That this most blessed vision beyond all thought By my dream fashion'd is most truly thou. It was thy human nature prompted it
The meekness, modesty and grace thereof Have nourish'd and enhanced it. Thou alone
Didst prompt the vision, and all light thereof Is shrined in thee. That manifested life. Before earth-eyes presented, has reveai'd
An
more than
fleshly
form
Is thine,
thou.
Thou art not yet perchance In full fruition of that nobler part, For in these daily ways the man divine Holds chiefly from the lesser self aloof Some beams shine o'er it and in warmth does love Descend thereon, to link the flesh therewith ;
But perfect union of the twain on earth
compass'd rarely. When the heart is cleansed. heart draws toward it when mere life of sense Sinks down subdued and unimpeded mind In conquest towers, then mind and vesture both
Is
The
Abide transfigured in the light thereof. For flesh when order'd v/ell can also shine.
such light art dwelling, and thy face to my inward eyes Reveai'd the nobler self I see thy god. I see thee stately, stedfast, pure of heart. While earth-born natures with the meaner man And mundane things contented have so far
Thou
Has
in
like a mirror
From
To
true self lapsed that no ray enters in beautify the temple's outer courts,
285
Paths of Zion
Which
never therefore to pellucid sight Reveal the brilliant spectrum of that high,
part.
I
Undying
Waves
swell,
wind
an
autumn night
And as that moon doth, when the darkness deepens, Her own face brighten more, thy face grows fairer
Thy
Amidst the inward darkness of the world. nature alters, towards the self supreme
;
Ascending daily
With thy
great love suffused, by a most strong. Immortal love of thee suffused, transform'd. I look to see thee, in the world beyond.
wide sea denote what fills with strength. The orb'd moon witness that which cheers and leads, Descending night portray the veils that hide All paths henceforth but those which lead to heights
this
May May
with
God
Untravell'd May it hide all tarnish'd love, To perfect state exalting love for thee May that my spirit sanctify and seal. And for thy love may I the world itself
!
By mine own labours seal and sanctify. Then make the guerdon of that sacred task One new star shining in thy crown of life
My
saint,
my
light,
my
symbol,
Israfel
Ill
in thee
And
priestly vigils
God knows, my saint, I might have held with thee The human intercourse of friend and friend Speech might have pass'd between us, our warm hands Have clasp'd at greeting and at parting time.
;
dost thou watch thine eyes and mine Does thy heart also swell ? Soars all thy nature upward, gazing there gracious communings, Pure soul, high soul ?
:
rising
Are
Strong love of friend and friend, by me renounced. That in a mirror of the mind preserved Thy sacred semblance should be free from stain true reward is with me here and now, For, like a spirit from the sea's white spume At eve ascending, lo, thy Symbol rose And draws me on for ever, Moon of Faith, The potent sign Vision of Christ unseen Such spells evoked pours down its light on thee This is no dream ; it draws thy human self;
!
My
It
Thou
and shifting sea, far down Thine eyes behold the flux of mortal things A restless waste below thee toss perturb'd. Still on the sacred height thy glorious moon Of spirit manifest in lambent flame Shall glow for ever before the veil of God.
Till, like a cold
Poise,
happy moon,
for ever
in the cold
!
And
Behold, as shadows on the road, are cast Our meaner selves behind us. Earth and sea Are in thy light transfigured vistas bright And paths that end not tempt us sweetly forth; thousand lofty hopes inspire the heart
;
287
Paths of Zion
Which from
Thou
a lonely zenith of the soul pourest downward, as the moon her beams, Mystic Moon, enthroned in heaven of mind
IV
TO OTHER ENDS
He
Lux
glides before us with the torch of Christ,
On
Or
his
Dwells
and passionless,
His beauty
lifts its
I
utters
apocalypse.
a
In such depths soul-born glow Has fallen on its pages all the words Of that close-written volume take a fresh, Unlook'd for meaning. Evermore betwixt The lines of its enigmas shall I read His gracious message and the peace thereof. His creed of hope. I hear it even now. Though this be dream. The opal twilight falls. And in the silentness of mere and mead church-bell summons to the vesper-hymn. Is that thy voice which bids me also forth Is that the music of thy heart most pure Which in the pauses of the whirl of thought Sends forth its summons like a bell to me.? I will not stay to take up staff and scrip. To count the things I leave or bid farewells. Behold, I come Mine empty hands can bear Whatever burdens may seem well to thee.
read man's
life
glass of vision.
anew
.?
288
heights of
altitudes
sky
beyond them.
I
Is calling,
nothing
behold of thee
voice alone
calls
Which
road is steep and wild I come no less I will not faint nor pause. Ascend, bright spirit, with the speech of God heart is strong to follow and achieve But when those vision'd peaks of life I win, Return into some greater height above And lead me thus for ever still remote,
: :
and
The
'^
My
Which
and
calls.
AND
O WONDROUS
SO
V FORWARD
mountain snow.
lustre of the
By sacred morning's light of gold inform'd, By golden morning's blessed light illumed, By magian light on all the airless crests Whatever storms may vex the world below, Whatever clouds may darken earth and sea
On
all
and
all
illumed
on such
hills
The weeping
angels watch with straining eyes, While Christ still tarries in the House of Death Break, Rose of Morning, break in bright array Thy fragrance fills the spaces of the air.
:
Thy
VOL.
And, meseems,
T
289
Paths of Zion
It
life
for evermore
The
Light, beauty, lead
start
is
made
thou hand of God ; Call earth and sky calls mystic sea profound Life calls and death. The shining Crown of Life
and
lead,
And
My
thine uplifted nature's secret heights strengthen'd spirit to achieve sets out,
Saint Israfel
VI
HOW NATURE
I
HELPS
thy transient opal shines amethyst and opal deep. Thou sky of God, and all thy West aflame Ensanguined clouds across that gleaming vault Sail in the wind of sunset. Splendours bright. Your tinctures perish while I watch, but one Shines in achievement, in lone beauty shines.
blue
The world
Is
unfolds in front, now cloud-involved moon within the mist Which I see southward, like a phantom light. Hang in a rainy sky ? Chirps one weak bird From wold and woodland, as in dream, the day The bleak wind stirs pallid death withdraws. Complaining trees. Far winds the path I take It is one voice invites, one star which leads,
that the early
:
the
stretch
Are bursting
forth
And I shall see thy face Because the dream supports me, I shall see Thy face once more. Thou wilt not fail me, nay, The quest shall finish as it starts perchance This sun descending now with vapours veil'd Spreads light on miles of mead and marsh, immersed In April floods. The hedges and the trees Which out of waters rise cast lengthening shades Along the gleaming surface all around I hear the gentle lapse of little brooks, While not more cool than fragrant turns awhile The South's soft air.
VII
MASTER-BUILDING
Green
earth
is
so
sea
full, so bright,
so fair
As
a child breathing
is
There
on the beach it lies, on the breast asleep. no limit to the golden hopes
lamps, the future's floral paths.
far,
Which
There
light, like
is
Paths of
Zio7i
No
height beyond thee thou art strong for all And all in turn renouncest land and sea, Youth's kingship, youth's inheritance therein, And towards the perfect, hidden life in God Directest only thy desiring eyes May thy high soul be throned o'er space and time Be thine the Secret Name, the Morning Star
:
Like Michael soaring from celestial strife, through surging mists of sense I watch thee rise Thy strong right arm put forth, thy shapely head With striving face upturn'd and streaming hair
;
All light itself, into the light ascends. The rainbow-splendour of unspotted mind Invests thee now ; so sinks the flesh subdued Thine earnest lips the grace of soul invoke, The secret eye which sees and searches all. The word of spirit in the soul itself Declared. But now, with modest eyelids droop'd, With even pulse, with cool and indrawn mien, I see thee stand, still in thy white array'd. Thou speakest not this is thy victory, Who hast, triumphant by the strength of will, Compass'd thine end. Henceforth the voice of God Teaches within, the spirit of Christ inspires.
:
So dost thou issue from thy house of thought, With hands uplifted thou art priest and king. What dost thou seek among thy weaker kind
:
'^.
The
For man
to offer in the
.
. .
cause divine.
In whose eyes shines the troth of other worlds. Reveals a perfect law, the Food Divine
292
My
Thy
call is
coming out of realms unseen The work is done. Put off thy garments now. The lapse and wash of an eternal sea Stirs in the twilight hush. So pass therein The waters once above thy form will close, But when thy head divides their surface calm Comes light, comes warmth of the eternal day. I ask no inspiration now from earth,
Or
human terms
A
I
former nature magnified, lead, in worlds unknown. Most saintly missions, of thy progress born Of God's deep counsels born for evermore.
And now
Be
to
Him Who
May May
noble acts these, ascending in a scale divine, The scope of action and of life enlarge, Till life with Him be one
!
gives us space to dream from our dreams and us be food for dreams still nobler
in
VIII
293
Paths of Zion
all things dark before it, pass and die But on the pure, regenerated, free Ascending mind of man, on life's new age. shed thy beams Shine, mellow moon unwaning Of mildness, mercy and intelligence Symbolic Moon, may God light man in thee
Pass
that remains
Wherewith we
And
that
By which thy spirit is to God led up, O human nature of our emblem pure, With whom may God remain in light and In life immortal and the Crown of Life
!
love,
with meanings deep, in thy face, O man, shine in beauty Take it, gentle world Be worthy thou ; fulfil what wants in me So as the moon, new-born in month of May, Shall wax each night, this lamp of thine and mine Will amplify its purport. Should it prove
I
set
my
Symbol,
fill'd
To To
That
in far years
Remember him who set a beacon-torch On his own heights to burn, and greaten
Peace
fill
more.
go faring
forth,
My
If
part to act.
May
all
from an apex past all dream I cry. Believe the news I send of realms unknown My friends, my lovers, and judge me worthy you
294
IX
Our
I
swear,
And
Deep in Lead on
He
stands erect
among
frankincense clouds,
of melody ; his saffron hair as he moves in grace Is a cloud of harpstrings And ministers, the ground beneath his feet Quivers in music, like a sounding-board The parted air about him slowly streams
pillar
; ;
In God's Holy Place Into faint flute-notes. He wears himself the aspect of a god
:
Has
With companies of martyrs and of saints Has lips which shape man's language to divine
And voice it past the common range To traverse God's infinity as prayer
of sound.
Has ears wherein celestial harmonies Find passage through wide galleries of soul, Wherein they circulate and amplify, As in white sea-shells tinged with coral pink All ocean's vastness hollowly resounds 295
Paths of Zion
Has hands
to sanctify by service meet
Among
Has
And
with
God
296
PART
II
FLOWERS OF PARADISE
"
^mor
ttansfoimat amanttm
interiora
m amatum, factt
et e
amantem mtrar rQ
lit nitfil
amati
contra,
Doctor
Flowers of Paradise
PROEMIUM
GATES OF LOVE
thy voice which, deep in haunted glades, the passion of the nightingale ? Is that thy smile which on these Kentish cliffs Pours mellow warmth o'er miles of waving wheat Is that thine eyes' light on the gleaming sea ? Is that the flower-sweet fragrance of thy breath In hyacinthine dingles, deeply sunk,
Is that
Expounds
Is it
thou
Whose beauty's morn, in amaranthine blue And glory draped, looks down on joyful earth
And
From such unmeasured distance ? Hast thou won Thy dimpled whiteness from the sea-gull's wings. Thy splendour ravish'd from a raptured sky. Thy freedom's grace from fountains, from the depths Of brooding ocean such unsearchable
Profundity of spirit-speaking eyes ? dost thou lend thy nature's secret wealth To garnish and intinct the world without ?
Or
Sons of the Voice and Everlasting Peers, Who look to see the Bridegroom and the Bride, I bring you once again a little book Of transformation on the psychic plane
;
And may
Lucasta's love-born litanies Be counted as a prophecy or pledge Of more resplendent exploits still to come
art.
Paths of Zion
I look to see most mighty things of God Accomplish'd in the land of living men. The unprepared but pure hypostasis
Is
one fair-shining maid's simplicity sacramental type of hidden truth, Reality and beauty which transcend are born with faces veil'd Expression. As Moses' was, to hide the god within May one translucid veil by Horeb's light Be here transfigured, earth and heaven be join'd In high Hermetic Marriage, which transmutes
We
The world
to gold.
The
letter
all
and the
spirit that
Be then
magian
gifts,
Peace, inspiration, pure imagining, Laurel and sacred palm and crown of
life.
II
DIVINE MISSION
Imagination, vesting mortal form
With shadows
by Deity, be thou Immortal Mind, proclaim Magician of the Will, Thy true intent Directing both, and thou, uplifted soul Of inspiration and of poesy, A holy task is yours with power descend A life is put into your priestly hands To lead by lone and consecrated paths From realm to realm of ideality.
cast
My
minister
The panorama of
this outward world. Before mine eyes transfigured in a breath, Is supernaturally glorified.
300
Flowers of Paradise
high entrancement dwells on earth and sky, pageantry that flash proclaiming open sea other selt-ness or my heritage. So one thing more to beautify and bless One human soul to deify one maid To fill with immortality one deep, Illuminating, infinite dream of love
My
thank Thee for this bracing mountain-air Which rectifies all faculties of soul, I yearn, I yearn, to Thee. Thou mighty God
!
My
To meet Thy majesty, Thy tranquil Another beingr in these arms I bear.
Baptize her beauty in benignant beams, Invest her with the freedom's perfect gift Of Thine illuminated and elect.
Ill
WORLDS OF MINISTRY
There
About
But
is
no peace, no beauty
low, relaxing
in
the glare
life's
meadow
lands
And
From
things
common,
To To
Across the threshold of thy glorious eyes I gaze and see thy soul.
Nor
Exclude me
a
not.
1
chosen priest
Paths of Zion
Send forth innumerable voices high From thy four quarters, multiply above Worshipful, I take Thy solar pageants
!
And
Thy
fair breast
All light, all beauty, like the face I love Exhales an efflorescence of thyself. Thy grandeur, depth and mastery. Her height, Thy deeps, thy vastness, seem as phases three Of one unfathom'd wonder. Her I see Who, distant in a city of darkling ways, Will tarry, prayers upholding, till I come. Here in the vigour of this morning wind I stand, self-poised, upon a peak of rock, While all thy glistering and gladsome pomp Of hasty tide about me swirls and swells While every shallow on the shingled shore Is like a boy's voice, meeting careful life With blithesome laughter but the distant tracks Speak as with tidings of a mission'd man, Who from the heart and centre of all things Ascends with revelation. Thou art nigh When in the haunted city of darkling ways I stand, absorb'd in speculation deep Before my vestal's shrine.
Grey eyes Madonna sacramental world Immeasurable main of mighty soul There is no sea, no sky, no fruitful earth That is no lark which sings, no summer breeze That laves and censes it is thou in each
:
Absorb'd
stand.
Thou variously, inscrutably reveal'd And plunged for ever in a trance of love,
;
lose myself,
melt,
merge
:
in thee.
moon, with
spiritual
beams
Some
night-sea soothing
thou art
moon and
sun,
302
Flowers of Paradise
While in illimitable ocean thou Assumest other majesty and form.
beech ; noon, Beneath some maple lays his languid limbs, And the broad, rumour-full, benignant leaves Give shadow-shelter in a torrid time. And drooping low with lissome whispering
is
in acacia
and
in
thy lover
in a lane at
Fan
adream
Recite dryadic rhymes and roundelays It is the providence of thy pure love
Which
closes
round him.
all
On
thy lap he
lies
Thy
The
zephyrs,
And
of eternity.
IV
GREAT SACRAMENTS
One
dainty, soft and fruitful shower of rain and clarified the fragrant air purged Has God-favour'd evening, late in spring. this On
It
To
every
stir
Its cool, translucent particles respond By tremulous emotions far prolong'd. The seething murmurs of the shifting sea Melt in the pleasance of a mood of dreams The temper'd merriment and melody
Of
church-bells ringing in the distance seem benediction of thy beautiful voice Which lifts my soul into eternity.
303
Paths of Zion
There
falls a
Nor blue, nor grey it shines with thine eyes' light. God bless the wonder of those waters deep God bless thine eyes their beauty fills my life God bless that lark his frenzy haunts the sky God bless thy voice its modulated tones Have spell'd full often many a waste of waves
And oft Astarte bound through formless nights When tempests scream'd to pour her peaceful On riven landscapes of the inner world. God bless the ripples of thy music, all
rays
nature lifting to love's mantic heights, spiritual quests of life and thought God bless thee ever and in all thy ways
My
High
stand this night upon a lofty down The dreaming city by a dreaming sea Beneath me spreads, bewitch'd in dreaming Round me are solitude and wilderness. I call God's rain of benediction down
I
;
air
To
water all the Paradise of thy soul Descend, celestial and deific dew Rise, Eden-incense, and thy virtue sweet
Diffuse around thee, as the clover
fills
These
fields uplifted
with
its
teeming scent.
And,
like a loving mouth lo, the darkness Parts in the utterance of a bell-sweet name The stars stand close around, the trees incline From every quarter of the open world One mystic word Madonna softly breathes,
!
With meanings
May the strong influence of wind-swept Of aromatic odours brought from far
downs.
Descending fill the shining veils of her. So made a porcelain vessel for the night's All-sacred myrrh and essences of nard
!
304
Flowers of Paradise
V
CHOIRS
The
MADE
VISIBLE
and elusive charm. my Lady's eyes, Dilating gently as a soul expands By noble thought diffuse the tender light Of hallow'd human love. Descending dew So long desired distil thy purest drops These scatter'd tresses cool, irradiate. My nature quickens in a pool of love Which spreads toward all mankind ; great Nature drinks The sacred, deifying soma-draught Of dews and moonlight, then in every leaf, In each light breath that stirs her magic sleep. Vaticinates about us, pouring forth Pontifical consecrations. These in turn Enthrone my spirit, as its pulses beat By thee, most blessed while a virtue falls In broad vibrations, from the trembling beams, Diffused, of this orb'd moon aureoline.
opal's pallid
To
Here too
in twilight-hush
An
unimaginable splendour fills spirit with prophecy, and sight therein So in the floral future of the world
My
stand translated
in that sanctity
The
House of God,
u
Paths of Zion
Most
This
perfect
is
Temple of Humanity.
Our
the bright and everlasting day Lord hath made ; it is the day of Christ.
Strike, harps of kings; strike, lo Evohe With choral chants proclaim the coming age
VI
TO
Blest be
Increase
this
ISLES
!
OF LIGHT
May
rain
undergrowth
!
and dew
Which after cooling showers has crept across From dark, rich downs that ring the country round
Blest too this sky of June, like April's seen Glory of sapphire blue, glory of cloud
! :
it still
And
The
I
quiet spirit into trance ascends reach that world where all things dream'd If by sublimity and virtue they Can urge a claim on life. I seek therein That process, hidden in the psychic plane,
may be
Whereby
the beauty of a maid elect with the glory of essential light Be inwardly emblazon'd ... I have found I know the perfect way secret path Through which the stream of spiritual life Flows down to re-create the hearts of men.
May
The
take thee hence ; I lead and lead thee on aspiration, the desire, the will Thou art no more of earth; Uplift us both.
306
Flowers of Paradise
The
troubled cosmos of created things Remotely gleams and glimmers. O the wings Which bear us now, that other dawn which breaks Sword-guarded Eden and those gardens bright, Those shadow-palaces, those haunted mosques are in thee Irem, the wandering city Henceforth the high possession of my soul.
VII
with the ocean's voice. As lone sea-caves are fill'd or haunt thy brain With singing winds and clamour of joyful birds Thine eyes of trust and love In heaven afloat. Transfigure with an ardent violet
thy
spirit
;
From
Now
To
bloom of
speech day-long melody of summer-months life's harp-harmonies Is modulated all the movements of thy limbs. mellow'd Have thee with thy hair unbound face Behold, I magic of the a moon at full To meet the beloved, the crown'd, praise of Dian, High
;
The lanes and gardens, full of floral scents. Make thy white robes magnolian. Now thy
The plenteous queen, has drawn her tawny light To make thy nimbus. Now the choir of stars Has tranquillised the waters of thy soul.
and hallow'd and subdued. Behind the veils of matter and of time. The secret beauty shines, and that within Thy gracious sacrament of outward form 307
Till thou art hush'd
Paths of Zion
Makes answer, With parabolic
leaping toward the actual bursts of melody.
So shine that age when every maid and youth Shall equal glories wear, such crowns assume. And in the mystic city of the blest No sun shall set, nor moon shall need to rise. But there the Christ-light of the human soul In house and street abide
!
VIII
rise
Which Which
White
Such splendour bursts e'en now O sky of grey, veils ineffable dyes and sundown gold, O lonely lanes and vistas in the wood,
:
with mystery Wan star, pure font of trembling light O deep, adorable, ecstatic hush, Which fills my soul with longing for the far. The unattainable, the sky-bound verge, Profounder hush and higher mystery
twilight
fills
!
308
Flowers of Paradise
IX
TALISMANIC MAGIC
Heart's truth, the moon above a hidden Above those silent waters, merged in mist
sea
Uplifts the splendour of her perfect disc, With hay-time halo ring'd, and fills the sky
When
The
Turn thy speaking eyes on some lofty ridge, which faces North, cool and fresh, wind-tide beats about us
. .
.
New
The
life
infusing
Expands
my faculties the length and breadth, glory and resources of this world, But when with patient, fond, I realise. dream-spell'd on thee. Discerning thoughts I gaze Thy nature's possibilities unfold, As with resplendent blossoms all adorn'd In everlasting May-time of the mind.
God be praised, Who made thy And under sacramental veils abides
So
Bless'd Bless'd
all all
gentle soul,
who love thee and are loved by thee Be thy true lover in thy beauty bless'd His heart's ideal taking shape in thee.
In thee attain'd.
The Daughter of the Voice Bath-kol, the mystic Daughter of the Voice Makes answer through the infinite Amen.
:
309
Wi})tn so mucf)
aj^Ic,
S{)tri all
tf}cn btc;
anb
trotJ
grrcn
t{)n
ltf
W^]}nt
nmains ?
appeal to
ffiotJ.
tfjc (Jri)urcl)cs
vlTfje
xm
i)eig]^ts.
soul descries,
l)atn
^secnt
IS
possible at
proiFer'lJ
tljat tlie
iriill
for all
OSljo bo no
2lnb seeing
3:s tf)at
graces bisaboto.
intenbeb for
abbancc,
&^z
to ttie (C|urrl)
it
Plaplg
iffnters
on intonrb
tlje letter
t\)z
of prauer
espite
anb
Sljall fi'nb
The Poor
Brother's
Mass-Book
OR A DEVOUT METHOD OF ASSISTING AT THE HOLY SACRIFICE FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE NOT OF THIS WORLD. ITEM AN IMPLIED MANNER OF SERVING, FOR CLERKS OF THE HOLY ASSEMBLIES.
:
WHEN
PASSING
THE THRESHOLD OF
outward Churchy to partake of its moment a second best, which are supernal.
THE TEMPLE
The postulant
ministry^ as one
enters the
who
Greater Disillusion
Behold we
stand from
us,
all
deceit apart
:
nothing can betray We have reckon'd up all vanities and seek True life alone, asking for God through all, Having outgrown some sacraments and types
Nothing misleads
to their ministry,
As
noon
And
Odours of
While men may happen
in.
it
are seeking for truth with many clamoiirs, that God opens the door of the heart and
comes
Mass-Book
WHEN TAKING
The Postulant assumes
ing the Voice
conformity, under obedience
to
SEAT
with perfect
and
the
Word.
of the Beloved
The Voice
That
Speak
which we heard of old, and long to hear, once more, or, far and near, Amidst the rushing winds reverberate In the sea's music, mother of thought profound And deepest feeling, let the tidings sound ; Most in thought's silent ways, early and late
in the floods
;
not
less
the
House of God
is
So
the Presence
whether It
is
realised or not.
Ill
THE
The
FIRST RECOLLECTION
advance in the
several grades of the Lesser and Greater Mysteries are in a certain sense narrow, arid few enter the Gate which
Le Moyen de Parvenir
Straight
To
as the path which leads in distant days the large issues of the narrow gate, Be our life shaped in all its ways and aims. And let all high intent the heart upraise
till we can meet all claims, Or, with the chance of service, stand and wait
314
Prefatory Meditatmi
It is with the great matters of religion as it is zoith the business of life ; if we looked for time and, opportunity, we should do hut little in the latter, and if we tarried in the
we should 7iever go hack to might be written that we shall be worthy when we enter into the Divine Union.
other to increase worthiness,
God.
It
IV
A PREFATORY MEDITATION
light,
The sun rises in the East to restore the and another sun, rising in the soul
blessing of day-
of man, brings
And
Through
Maintain their
strife
so
Onward
and the
flesh
within
but our
life's star
Illumines still the intellectual air, Strength, beauty, brilliance gathering as it moves. Till slowly upward soars man's nobler self
to zeniths of the mind Necessary helps vouchsafed Our weakness strengthen most, O mighty sea, Thy vastness and thy voices, strength with strength And ye too, ye lonely roads. Enduing Ye thickets only by the fox and bird P>equented, and ye populous human haunts One whole gigantic heart, throbbing with life Ye also help in your own high degree But when these fail us, as our last resource, The House of God remains to take us in And if to hearts inhibited at times
Mass-Book
Place
Holy
Seem voided, know, the Master of the House, With signs of presence, shall at need invest Both inward chancel and external nave.
We
who has
man
is
approaching God
we must hope
that
may
still
he a latent capacity of
Names, by the way of that substitution which summary, the whole mission of the Church, being the reverent and orderly communication of great auguries and tokens which stand for things not manifest e.g. the In Nomine which opens the Mass.
the Divine
of the
Name we
books
long to learn
Are found
Yet we
in sacred
at every turn,
in vain those characters may trace. with our eyes their outward sense discern For the Great Name itself, our saving grace, Is utter'd only in the Holy Place.
disinterest,
The atmosphere of the Divine Secret abides in a great and yet that secret is nearest of all things.
316
good
to
enter the
Path which takes the Seeker to the down to the soul which cannot
We
Thy And
have confess'd Thee since our days began, law discern'd in all creation's plan,
yet unprofitable servants
still
Remain, so distant from Thy holy hill, Conscious of nothing like the dreadful want And void within us full of rumours dark Waiting Thy manifested covenant, The refuge of Thine Altar and Thine Ark.
is is
the
VII
We
And shew
the true
deathless flowers.
Proclaim with
and
in
Thy
love
make whole
of the great dis-
The
tance
;
soul is sad
but this
VIII
THE CONFESSION
The Sanctum Sanctorum and wretched is he who waits
he has recourse
to is
to
God.
Foundations of Victory
A
Or
LITTLE while
One
little life
possibly
in the
ways unknown
to find
lives
fill
the
mind
Nor have
I fear'd
to stand alone
The
I
false lights came and the false lights went did not tarry for these The dreadful sense of a heart unfit Through its native earth how I fought with it, And the knowledge of days mis-spent In face of the mysteries
If once, but once, I have sunk and said " Yield, soul " or, " The dream is done,
: !
Because alone the untainted heart Wins crowns I work for " Then, Hope, depart But 'twas up with the stricken head. Still looking to meet the sun
! !
318
The Indulgence
Therefore I trust that a soul on fire For weal has the wine-press trod,
And though my
sins
upon
either hand,
me
stand,
They shall waste not my heart's desire, Which out of them leaps to God. As
time goes
;
on.,
we
it
walls of Salem
but
should he
Eternal City
is
within.
IX
THE INDULGENCE
There are greater
benedictions.^
and
be always -presupposed in virtue of that supernatural love which casts out fear, there is still the mal-ease of the soul
in the peopled darkness and the purlieus, where the commerce of wickedness drives its several trades.
Our hopes are Thine to Thee our ends converge And all of will within us, long transferr'd,
;
Waits on the fiat of Thine utter'd word. Speak in the silence speak in the storm of sound From which, to reach Thy silence, we emerge Here on this holy ground ; Speak in the Rites that bless Thee ; on the verge Of all things manifest in things unseen In our longing we shall find no rest Speak. Until we know what all Thy portents mean.
; ;
Speak
we
shall hear
Thee
best
319
Mass-Book
:
With aching souls, we grieve the life of wrong Which has from Thy life sever'd us so long Take us, do with us as Thou wilt The sad mischances of our days forgive From those dark paths wherein we mate with Redeem us, Saviour teach us how to live.
;
:
guilt
secret consists.
WHEN THE
The search
is
PRIEST ASCENDS
TO THE
which
itself
ALTAR
after
God
is
a counsel of the search, hut the satisfaction of a craving impelled by the spur of necessity.
the strife and wearying contact with the great true thing, points the term of all will that be such
all
For the long disillusions and sharp sting ? But yes God save us its most distant touch Thrills our heart's instrument in every string.
God,
and
320
The Introit
XI
AUFER A NOBIS
Man
is
Purgation
LITTLE space of daylight and of gloom, pain and dim delight, and then the tomb. Whereat the whole is over and is gone Those scenes forget us where of old we toil'd Sad is it surely ; but the soul assoil'd Its path appointed takes, and still goes on. Now, therefore, where Thy Holy Place begins, Bid us, we pray Thee, pause, and purge our sins
Of
Let us seek
enter
to
remember that
we
must.
XII
THE INTROIT
It is the
concealment of
life.
God
in
humanity which
causes-
An Opening
Open Thy
;
of the Gates
!
behold we open ours gates have destroy'd our earthworks, broken down All roofs and battlements our Babel towers Are rent to fragments. Give us entrance now Within the holy precincts of Thy town X VOL. I. 321
We
The Poor
Br o theft's Mass-Book
We
have been far enough from Thee apart, exiled from Thy palace and Thy throne Let us behold Thy face, and teach us how The wondrous secret of the world is known By the ineffable glory of Thy crown And in the life eternal of Thy heart.
Long
XIII
it
is
pleasa?it, but
is
unbending road, sudden gorges, and a load Of sadness through the solitary track One comfort only to our own abode The one way back And since we needs must reach Thee, why and how Esteeming little, shew us mercy, Thou
gate, a straight,
NARROW
Bleak
hill-tops,
It is not
322
The
Collect
XIV
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS
T^he places of -peace are also those of exaltation.
The Secret
Peace
;
of Success
in high places on the peaks supreme, Far over passion's mists, deep peace of love Light of true light, the glory and the gleam Far over troubled sleep, what worlds of dream Give space for souls yes, there is room above
;
is
a certain
this at
dream
is
and
itsli?iductio7i is initiation.,
XV
THE COLLECT
The
consolatio7i
is
that, seeing
Consummation
Fear not
But
Far
frustration of our
fear the feeble
What by
Do
the
Word
say,
God
!
is
meant
He
that fulfils
them deceive us
323
XVI
THE SUBSTITUTED
The way
oj
EPISTLE
way
oj sorrow.
compassion
is also
the
Ascetic Life
The
Is
Of
end of self-denial not to rack the flesh, needless pain in heart and brain
yet burdens fresh.
Adding
It is
How
patience
meek through
all
all
must
;
seek,
And
yet through
dispense
Must look
Not
Yet must we
strive,
provided
on earth of each Must nurse no doubt but still hold out To reach what's out of reach.
fail
To
The
lesser
the greater,
in
still
need.
324
unfolds her treasures but does not stay O'er secret parts of human hearts It yearns, but moves away.
Perchance
its
goal awaits
it
We
If
see
Task, do
say
What
spirit
pause on things of earth, Did bright and clear that star appear
Would
Whence
all
our
stars
draw
birth
To
act as if with
knowledge
lot,
Is
And
One
know
certain only
to find
live
Earth cannot give for this to Dares not the man of mind.
And
so by self-denial
shall school his less,
lift
His great
no bar
bless.
who
labour
eat,
And God
who
fast,
The Path of the Cross is the Path of the Mystical Rose, though Rose and Cross are joined. That which they form together ceases to he a path of sorrow.
325
XVII
THE GRADUAL
Great are the heights and great
also are the
deep
the
cohorts of witnesses are numberless ; but beyond all is the -place of benediction, and to this we look for the power and
Benison
Thou Who
Before
all
Whom
testify
we
bless,
hereby
men,
and
That by Thy grace alone I look to live That Thy dear gifts above the crowns of earth Are precious and are mine by right of birth.
;
So here
freely take, as
Thou
dost give.
There is a certain confusion of thought concerning the Divine complacency in the dedication of our human love. Even in the spheres that we seek for, it is not entirely a
question of complacency, but of the natural conjunction of things which from the- beginning were meant for one
another.
XVIII
it is
impossible
to
meet the messenger divine, Standing serene in some uplifted place, On which the stars shed influence, whereon Do moon and sun concur. His hands shall hold
yet shall
We
The shining stone inscribed with secret words. Which hallow lips for prophecy and give
Not only
tidings true but sense thereof.
Man is native to the heights^ and the burden of his normal life is a difficulty of respiration in the deeps to which he does not belong by his origin.
XIX
THE
It
near.
is
FIRST GOSPEL
therefore only on the moimtains that the feet of when he brings glad tidings
On the Way
to Jerusalem
splendours of the life above life of earth might dawn on us, With shafts of sacred light and two-edged beams Refracted up and down from rocks and peaks Of spiritual precipice, to rend This temple's veil, this temple built by flesh To flesh for the soul's bondage and dark night
IF the
This turbid
And
Some path
follow'd
;
hills,
till it
ends
son,
327
Mass-Book
How
And
far,
across
life's
questing waters
turbid, unanneai'd
breathe we hail thee now, Suspiring towards thee. And thy gospel bells
Proclaim new heights, where souls, redeem'd by God, Shall gaze abroad, commanding life and time, And calm in conscious strength the crown await.
Salem
xity.
is
it is
a s-piritual
XX
THE CREDO
also
those
Inexpressible
let us here in secret, as if drawn Together in some holy place apart To welcome in the day-star ere it dawn.
Now,
Nay,
Declare the hidden matter heart to heart it eludes the thought, however high,
And
words
still fail
testify.
Master, we came from Thee Thou knowest when unto Thee return the time and mode Are in Thy hands. There is a reason why. And this we feel. Keep clear, we pray, the road Apart from Thee nothing can satisfy Lead, and still lead the trembling hearts of men. This is our faith in Thee, our strong defence Do Thou fulfil it in experience
And
328
The Offertory
test
is one issue Jor everything and one can be judged does ?iot interfere with the other fact that there is more than one answer to most
The fact
that there
it
by which alone
questions, or that
and
We
continue,
all
therefore,
say
that follows
thereafter
Credo with
in
unum Deum
a heart of holy
as-piration.
XXI
THE OFFERTORY
It is a little thing to renounce extrinsic goods, having renounced ourselves already, the better to attain ourselves.
True Possessions
does he gain who much dispenses; want him not a constant stream of wealth From him who meanly hoards Is round him drawn. His own, is true wealth taken. What in one Centres alone is lost, and every gift Not in the man inherent whether brought
Shall reach
;
Much
From God
directly or
from Nature
shared.
Returns to the dispenser we attain All things in giving and conceding them.
With the things which are of real value we have never been asked to part, but only with those tokens which are of temporal convenience, some of which become encumbrances
and even burdens.
329
Mass-Book
XXII
THE OBLATION
a reason why silence envelopes us within^ notthe clamours that are without ; yet the expression of the higher soul is the only clean offerings and. this is imposed upon us.
There
is
zuithstanding
Expression
All
that once
we meant
to say,
Deep within
Rests unutter'd.
When
shall
man have
soul.
Deeper sinks the depth within, All horizons melt from sight, Till life's mighty waters win
Union with
the infinite.
so
rest
shall be
The
The need
prescribed.
of expression arises
is essential
For the same reason the burden of sin is of grace is native and so also
In Spiritu Humilitatis
XXIII
the centre
may
The imion
man
goes on.
Thou Only
Eternal
Priest of Mysteries Divine,
hast purified our human part quicken'd that which lieth cold and dead, like this mystic bread Place on Thine Altar Our hearts, to Thy most healthful service given And pour Thy spirit, as supernal wine. On the inconstant waters of our soul Make us partakers of Thy substance thus And in such mode shalt Thou partake of us, Our heart united to Thy sacred heart And by Thy saving virtue so made whole, Our life shall ever be withdrawn in Thine, Thy life make heaven in us, O Lord of Heaven
When Thou
And
Watchman,
XXIV
IN SPIRITU
The and the way.
HUMILITATIS
'power of arbitration in man is between the heights deeps, but the place of peace is not in the middle
Vessels of Election
The
heart
is
Thou
didst require
Received them.
is turn'd to Thee them at our hands Thou hast At the steps of Thy White Throne
:
331
Mass-Book
We placed them, with a just and holy awe That they could serve Thy purpose. Kings below, To Thee, the King of all, that which we are
Is offer'd.
And uncondition'd giving Of his end Thou hast made each the arbiter it lies
;
it Thine, purpose of his world fulfil. keys of death and immortality, With every dole and crown to these attach'd. We hold, and yield them to Thy mastership. Count therefore this the spirit and the term Of our condign humility, who come
Between
so
may make
And The
all
With
Yet
made worthy Thee, need for us are masters still, Nor into misery and abjectness Can ever lapse, but great in Thee through all Must issue forth triumphant in the end
contrite souls to be
in
Thy
It is not a matter of importance that the victory should he ultimately with ourselves, hut the great ends must prevail,
us.
XXV
IN
THE
//
is
BLESSING OF BREAD
God
in
AND WINE
elements.
possible to receive
many
Venite
Weary
of walking
in
in
many
332
The Incensing of
the
Altar
XXVI
and even
the
manna
in
Probation
For
Of many elements combined, we plead Thy great blessing to assuage our need
God
We
In this wide world of dreams grant that, issuing at last from these, shall unlock, with certain secret keys.
!
Life's
galleries,
!
Where
The
insfiration.
work of
XXVII
Interdiction
The
To
Then dry days follow for a space, That learners may their souls dispose
walk
at
Mass-Book
Say therefore not that grace is dead, Say not that inspiration's fount,
Henceforth to flow
Is seal'd
inhibited,
up
:
in the sacred
mount
rich
Say rather
silence full
and
In its still depths prepares the ground For other wells of mercy, which
In later torrents shall abound
!
The soundings
the senses.
XXVIII
ACCENDAT
hut
it
IN NOBIS
The Unities
Diverse our
Much
passions, yet but one desire smoke, much smouldering, one cleansing
fire
Concerns unnumber'd which are little blest. Only one rest. One travail that is worthy of the hire This labour, that heart's burning and the dumb,
:
Unspoken longing for the King to come And His great kingdom to be manifest
Most of us perhaps can do little to promote its advent in the world, hit we can cherish it secretly in the heart.
334
Suscipe^ Sa7tcta
Trinitas
XXIX
BEFORE THE LAVABO
It
is
to
well go
thing
guilty
to wash with the innocent, but it is a greater through the cleansing fires ivhich 'purge the
from
their sins.
Misfits
'Tis scarcely true that souls
To
take abode up in this earthly town, Or naked pass all that they wear denied
We
And we take with us much that by and May prove no easy task to put aside.
by
We We
Cleanse therefore that which round about us clings, pray Thee, Master ; ere Thy sacred halls enter, strip from us redundant things And meetly clothe us in pontificals
of
The House
God
is
the
XXX
SUSCIPE,
The
first
SANCTA TRINITAS
is to
Journeys
in
And
in, and a little space for sleep, then a space more narrow for repose that is more deep;
335
With room
for
men
God.
to
walk
in
who go
forth to
find their
We offer up ourselves and Thine are made All other bonds our wills at least evade But do Thou give us of Thyself, and thus clean oblation shall be made by us Thou dost not need our offerings, but we Transmuting need, to make us gold for Thee.
:
The
time or space.
XXXI
SECRETA
So long as
we are
exiled
scarcely
escape sin.
Restoration
I
CAME
I left
put off
And
I
at Thy bidding white robes and shining crown came into this world for love of Thee.
Thee
my
have lived in the grey light for love of Thee, In mean and darken'd houses The scarlet fruits of knowledge and of sin Have stain'd me with their juice for love of Thee.
could not choose but sin for love of Thee, From Thee so sadly parted ; I could not choose but put away my sin And purge and scourge those stains for love of Thee.
I
Sursum Corda
My
soul
is sick,
with
life
Nothing can
ease or
fill
me
Restore me, past the frozen baths of death, crown and robes, desired for love of Thee
My
And
take
me
to
My
But Thou must need me since I need Thee so, Crying through day and night for love of Thee
of the dove would not carry us into rest, for a the same relation to 'progress that a sandhears bird's flight Salvatch in the Pyrenees. Mont to castle hears
The wings
XXXII
SURSUM CORDA
The exaltation
gations.
many pur-
Secret Song
SAD
not understand
art
thou And thou dost soothe, we know not how. Perchance thy low refrain reveals, In sorrow's deeps, the well which heals.
and sweet
great pity must surge for ever in the soul of the illuman towards all motions and yearnings of Nature, so full of impassioned endeavour, so full of the sense of loss
minated
and
i?iability.
VOL.
I.
337
XXXIII
THE PREFACE
Nature
itself is
made
in our
own
likeness.
Mirrors of Manhood
Man's And
its own speech discerns in every tone All Nature voices what he is and was And will be equally in star or stone.
Man
gives its parable to every stream ; If " running brooks " are books, he writes, he reads
And
with himself
in these
he speaks, he pleads.
No
tongue but his was ever heard stood till he, an exile, came. Nature Still echoes of an older word dim Bringing of a now unutter'd name. And fragments
living
;
For though he speaks and speech imparts to all, That which he would he cannot hear or say,
And
pale reflections of his own long call Tortures, to draw their inward sense to day.
fills
And down
his
own
Perchance the still profundities explain That which exceeds all words, however wise.
338
The Canon
speech withdrawn from things outside, resounding caverns hush'd within, That which the clamours from his soul divide May to draw nigh and to commune begin.
Perchance
his
And
all
a long watch to the morning, hut it is also a sure one. The powers a7id the glories are with us in the great vigil, and the darkness of the night intervening is no ground for doubt in the heart.
It
is
XXXIV
THE CANON
All the greater laws are made in the course of our advancement.
Facilis Ascensus
What
is
The
official i^iterpretations
confused sanctuary.
voices
of great
winds surging
about
secret
339
Mass-Book
XXXV
COMMEMORATION OF THE
Inhere
is
is
LIVING
in front.
Nunc Dimittis
How
perfect
is
high course outrun ; Who looking back on his past track Can proudly lift his head And truly claim for every aim This is consummated.
Of some
In
spite of our
begun to touch the reality in this life^ because the sacramental body of man is the sum of all physical perfection which it is possible for us here to conceive.
XXXVI
guilty than
From
the
first
With many
All
me
fed
Beyond those
which
bless
men
with manna
in the wilderness
340
To
take with spiritual lips, Thou didst sustain, its angel-peers amidst. Then at Thy board I sat, all sane and whole, Clothed in the proper garment of my soul
My soul
Then
A A
in the liturgies and rites which make rapture in Thy presence, did I take
With
But
most
clear conception of
Thy
will.
after, for
down
And
I
Thine eternal town know not why, who had not tired of Thee
precincts fair of
scarce could falter in
eyes' light,
And
Thy
ministry.
with such graces lent, But I went. Sufficing, efficacious. And since that time, which is earth's time outside, Far as my paths might from Thy throne divide,
Under Thine
Deep
as the gulfs might be which I plunged Conduits and cesspools of the House of Sin In the strange tavern and the stranger's bed, I do remember still Thy wine and bread.
in
Thus having
So that
I cannot look up to. Thy gate Having withal too dim and sad an eye
To
see the
Thou
dost administer
have been long content Thy hands to bless For any manna in the wilderness But, though all gifts within Thy hands are good, My soul now turns and loathes the lighter food
341
And
need has bade me from the broken meat And brings me, crying, at Thy board to eat But, since all bridal garments here I lack, I call on Thee to give those vestments back Wherein I served in such uplifted state Ere I was put forth from Thy palace-gate Still through all straits I keep my claim on them And the bright shining of my diadem.
:
My
Perchance
I fell
fault
Yet am
temple-vault Perhaps, for Thine own purpose, Thou hast seen Fit to reduce me from my primal mien But be my guilt in Thine eyes less or more Now matters not I pray Restore, restore And having given, as Thou needs must give, To one who naked can no longer live, The proper garments of the soul, I know That to Thy banquet hall I then shall go. Saying "High Master, I have fasted long Give me man's meat and wine of vintage strong." Whereat, with fitting benison and grace. They shall set down true bread before my place And to my lips Thy pages shall lift up For deep, free drinking an eternal cup.
I
native to
Thy
Therefore, by all who hear these high words said In the King's sense be they interpreted.
can always he sure of our commentaries, short as they fall of -perfection, by uniting their intention with God.
We
342
The Co?nmemoration of
the
Dead
XXXVII
Restoration
As by his own fireside, in his own man slips gently into sleep, and
up awake once more
in his
chair,
there
Starts
own room.
:
Recalling all things in the glow and gloom So when the draught of death in sleep he takes, Perchance all suddenly the man awakes
familiar place
for
life's little
space.
not
known
is
that which
we have forgotten.
IBID.
We are so much on the verge of the Union that almost impossible we should escape it.
In
it
seems
the Elegiac
crisps
Manner
in
;
Now Autumn
Long
Death
and
brief
.''
mask,
343
And, vacant
Trite epitaphs
to stay"
his
Let fools
inscribe.
Who
knows?
end
Convention tolls its bell with mournful sound, Convention plumes the hearse which bears the Convention cries that hearts in hallow'd ground Embalm remembrances that ne'er decay.
clay,
Or that Some
in chapels
little
memory burns
the silent halls
follies
Down
And
If
you
the long avenues that soul has pass'd ; have strength, refrain from useless calls
To
other meetings
what
if this
were
last
.?
Augustan mood,
his soul,
We
great reservation must he taken into the grade ne plus ultra oj death.
344
T^he
C o^nmemoratioi^
of
the
Dead
IBID.
Those who have gone before us are Union.
so
much
the nearer
to the
To Other Ends
forth no more where bindweeds creep About thy lattice bars, And move no more where waters sweep
Look
Entranced by musing
stars
Thy
peace be
full,
New
is dark, on ours who weep, Sweet Life, fill other skies That which God join'd to make thy wonder, For Heaven's gain, thus He puts asunder.
While night
The great
IBID.
We
spoils.
look at the
to
return
its
Dies Venit
Now
heralds, passing through desponding Hades, Proclaim " Sahete, O my Lords and Ladies Here ends the penance, here unbars the prison
:
He
is
risen
"
!
The Hades
world, which
into
keeps
many
those
345
Mass-Book
The Mystery of the which been slain from the that Lamb has of the mysteries is one things foundation of of the unseen. of died and rose., but the material that Christ not doubt do
that are ostensibly sharing our exile.
We
Jerusalem and the conventional holy fields have no heritage The true Golgotha and Calvary are not seen therein. with eyes of flesh., nor yet is the rock-hewn Sepulchre or the
Mountain
of Ascension.
XXXVIII
NOBIS
The
bridges.
QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS
work in the
zuorld
is
greatest
that of building
De Profundis
Though
Yet
I
oft I have fallen by the way, Mother mine, have not turn'd my face aside from Thee
And Father, loving Father, in the v/orld that is Thine Thy great white light of glory I have look'd to see. Take me then, for I am weary, I beseech Thee, And I do not dread the gulfs or wastes between Lift me upward, being merciful, to reach Thee,
;
If
But even
mercy.
346
Pater Noster
XXXIX
PATER NOSTER
The invocation of the ravishment.
Kingdom
is also
the invocation of
The Kingdom
O O O O
Salem, City on the mountain-top promised land of honey and of milk Aden, Eden, land of holy dream
! ! !
House of God With all its gardens girt, Far shines the mystic City of the Soul, City of Dream, City of our Desire, And all who look thereon do evermore Carry strange longings in their haunted eyes. O Temples, palaces for chosen souls
!
prophetic trees visionary voices the long days And nights enchanting of thy streams, thy birds O purple dreamland, infinite ecstasy
floral
!
O O
emblems
The food
is also
347
XL
LIBERA NOS, QUAESUMUS
When man
comes.
enters into the
Holy Place,
the
Kingdom
Fellowship
When
When
When
darkness
falls
upon
the
life
of mind;
us in the solitude. Set therefore free the soul and let her cease From evil, knowing what is right and wrong
And seeing that her days in Thine are long Grant that her endless days be also peace
!
He who
is
never alone.
XLI
AGNUS DEI
Both the emissary and the imputation are in one sense embroideries of pontifical vestments. symbolical the
Presages
On common
Has man
in
348
Domine yesu
And
Christe
still
under thin disguise they hold him But to the body and its varied need His signs and presages alone give heed, Leaving those deeper symbols all unread
menaced by surpassing ill. Fear not malignant stars which may control The outward fortunes fear those stars within
soul
is
;
Which The
say
The
soul
is
is
dead.
Which on the wide horizon of the soul With baleful rays illume the night of
sin.
But that dread most which lets our evil plight Restrain the clamour after all God's light Whate'er I am, whatever yet may be. Master of all, I keep the quest of Thee. Save me from these old stains I care not how Then one thing more I need but that is Thou
XLII
in things below,
:
EUCHARISTICA
Poor,
foolish penitent,
He
lives
Take comfort
He
Thou
Beyond
hast received
Him
in
thy sacrament.
fields of faith.
349
Mass-Book
Misdirection
We
We
have falter'd
in the
way
Who
set us first to
walk
in the true
way
have palter'd with the truth which they expected should set so high before us, And the banners that are o'er us Are the ensigns of a nation gone astray.
We
This notwithstanding^
all roads
may
lead
to
the spiritual
Rome, for all converge, at one point or another, in the true and only path.
XLIV
ITE, MISSA
EST
way
is long,
if it is
Stars of Empire
From
At many
Halts
by the way to
feast,
Resumes her load and painful progress makes Back to the East.
350
XLV
Wisdom
with
its
trumpet word
In a myriad volumes heard ; All which unto love belongs Chanted in uncounted songs, Up and down the endless ages Things divine in sacred pages As the sands of the seashore Taught with tongues of gold of yore When to-morrow is to-day, What can still remain to say ? One thing look'd for one unheard ;
And
All our spoken words enrich, shall yet, with clarion call, Alter and transmute them all.
is itself
a mystery^
rites.
2S^
Mass-Book
XLVI
DEO GRATIAS
There
is
is
weariness
but so long as
we
go forward,
Gratias Agimus
The
We
It is
Thy peace is the place of a perfect light. have thank'd Thee, O Lord, in the night For the night and the splendid day meet in the depth of the darkness and meet on the
place of
Thy
peace,
Grant, at
For the glory which does not cease And the star which fades not away. the end of all, we may give Thee our thanks
The
Thy
light
Et
?>S'^
Valedictory Aspiration
XLVII
A VALEDICTORY ASPIRATION
Let us fray, in fine, for those truly sacred offices which are not in reality conferred by any right of succession, but do at times impose themselves.
Of Priestcraft
Could God have given me my desire, Or if God would grant it now and here, One boon, I wot,
Should wreathe
my
lot
As
the star is wreathed by a fire Fair aim, high purpose, but far,
fear
would put
Vain
my making
of songs aside
;
what can't be said And it should be mine The bread and wine, By mighty mass-words deified, To change in substance from wine and bread.
strife to utter
And
Or
With
a soul contrite,
altar's
From
I
height
angels' meat.
353
Mass-Book
yet,
is
mine
know
Holy and grand though the Church may be, The types it mixes with things foreshewn.
mundane
Yet may I hope, is it over bold t Somehow, somewhere it shall come to pass. While I still live, That my King shall give To me, Hke Lancelot, Knight of old, Grace, and a twelvemonth to sing my Mass.
END OF VOL.
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