IHow grandly glow the baysPurpureally enwoundWith those rich thorns, the browsHow infinitely crownedThat now thro' Death's dark houseHave passed with royal gaze:Purpureally enwoundHow grandly glow the bays.IISweet, sweet and three-fold sweet,Pulsing with three-fold pain,Where the lark fails of flightSoared the celestial strain;Beyond the sapphire heightFlew the gold-wingèd feet,Beautiful, pierced with pain,Sweet, sweet and three-fold sweet;IIIAnd whereIs notandIsAre wed in one sweet Name,And the world's rootless vineWith dew of stars a-flameLaughs, from those deep divineImpossibilities,Our reason all to shame—This cannot be, but is;IVInto the Vast, the DeepBeyond all mortal sight,The Nothingness that conceivedThe worlds of day and night,The Nothingness that heavedPure sides in virgin sleep,Brought out of Darkness, light;And man from out the Deep.VInto that MysteryLet not thine hand be thrust:Nothingness is a worldThy science well may trust ...But lo, a leaf unfurled,Nay, a cry mocking theeFrom the first grain of dust—I am, yet cannot be!VIAdventuring un-afraidInto that last deep shrine,Must not the child-heart seeIts deepest symbol shine,The world's Birth-mystery,Whereto the suns are shade?Lo, the white breast divine—The holy Mother-maid!VIIHow miss that Sacrifice,That cross of Yea and Nay,That paradox of heavenWhose palms point either way,Through each a nail being drivenThat the arms out-span the skiesAnd our earth-dust this dayOut-sweeten Paradise.VIIIWe part the seamless robe,Our wisdom would divideThe raiment of the King,Our spear is in His side,Even while the angels singAround our perishing globe,And Death re-knits in prideThe seamless purple robe.* * * *IXHow grandly glow the baysPurpureally enwoundWith those rich thorns, the browsHow infinitely crownedThat now thro' Death's dark houseHave passed with royal gaze:Purpureally enwoundHow grandly glow the bays.
I
How grandly glow the baysPurpureally enwoundWith those rich thorns, the browsHow infinitely crownedThat now thro' Death's dark houseHave passed with royal gaze:Purpureally enwoundHow grandly glow the bays.
II
Sweet, sweet and three-fold sweet,Pulsing with three-fold pain,Where the lark fails of flightSoared the celestial strain;Beyond the sapphire heightFlew the gold-wingèd feet,Beautiful, pierced with pain,Sweet, sweet and three-fold sweet;
III
And whereIs notandIsAre wed in one sweet Name,And the world's rootless vineWith dew of stars a-flameLaughs, from those deep divineImpossibilities,Our reason all to shame—This cannot be, but is;
IV
Into the Vast, the DeepBeyond all mortal sight,The Nothingness that conceivedThe worlds of day and night,The Nothingness that heavedPure sides in virgin sleep,Brought out of Darkness, light;And man from out the Deep.
V
Into that MysteryLet not thine hand be thrust:Nothingness is a worldThy science well may trust ...But lo, a leaf unfurled,Nay, a cry mocking theeFrom the first grain of dust—I am, yet cannot be!
VI
Adventuring un-afraidInto that last deep shrine,Must not the child-heart seeIts deepest symbol shine,The world's Birth-mystery,Whereto the suns are shade?Lo, the white breast divine—The holy Mother-maid!
VII
How miss that Sacrifice,That cross of Yea and Nay,That paradox of heavenWhose palms point either way,Through each a nail being drivenThat the arms out-span the skiesAnd our earth-dust this dayOut-sweeten Paradise.
VIII
We part the seamless robe,Our wisdom would divideThe raiment of the King,Our spear is in His side,Even while the angels singAround our perishing globe,And Death re-knits in prideThe seamless purple robe.
* * * *
IX
How grandly glow the baysPurpureally enwoundWith those rich thorns, the browsHow infinitely crownedThat now thro' Death's dark houseHave passed with royal gaze:Purpureally enwoundHow grandly glow the bays.
IHigh on the mountains, who stands proudly, clad with the light of May,Rich as the dawn, deep-hearted as night, diamond-bright as day,Who, while the slopes of the beautiful valley throb with our muffled treadWho, with the hill-flowers wound in her tresses, welcomes our deathless dead?IIIs it not she whom he sought so long thro' the high lawns dewy and sweet,Up thro' the crags and the glittering snows faint-flushed with her rosy feet,Is it not she—the queen of our night—crowned by the unseen sun,Artemis, she that can see the light, when light upon earth is none?IIIHuntress, queen of the dark of the world (no darker at night than noon)Beauty immortal and undefiled, the Eternal sun's white moon,Only by thee and thy silver shafts for a flash can our hearts discern,Pierced to the quick, the love, the love that still thro' the dark doth yearn.IVWhat to his soul were the hill-flowers, what the gold at the break of dayShot thro' the red-stemmed firs to the lake where the swimmer clove his way,What were the quivering harmonies showered from the heaven-tossed heart of the lark,Artemis, Huntress, what were these but thy keen shafts cleaving the dark?VFrost of the hedge-row, flash of the jasmine, sparkle of dew on the leaf,Seas lit wide by the summer lightning, shafts from thy diamond sheaf,Deeply they pierced him, deeply he loved thee, now has he found thy soul,Artemis, thine, in this bridal peal, where we hear but the death-bell toll.
I
High on the mountains, who stands proudly, clad with the light of May,Rich as the dawn, deep-hearted as night, diamond-bright as day,Who, while the slopes of the beautiful valley throb with our muffled treadWho, with the hill-flowers wound in her tresses, welcomes our deathless dead?
II
Is it not she whom he sought so long thro' the high lawns dewy and sweet,Up thro' the crags and the glittering snows faint-flushed with her rosy feet,Is it not she—the queen of our night—crowned by the unseen sun,Artemis, she that can see the light, when light upon earth is none?
III
Huntress, queen of the dark of the world (no darker at night than noon)Beauty immortal and undefiled, the Eternal sun's white moon,Only by thee and thy silver shafts for a flash can our hearts discern,Pierced to the quick, the love, the love that still thro' the dark doth yearn.
IV
What to his soul were the hill-flowers, what the gold at the break of dayShot thro' the red-stemmed firs to the lake where the swimmer clove his way,What were the quivering harmonies showered from the heaven-tossed heart of the lark,Artemis, Huntress, what were these but thy keen shafts cleaving the dark?
V
Frost of the hedge-row, flash of the jasmine, sparkle of dew on the leaf,Seas lit wide by the summer lightning, shafts from thy diamond sheaf,Deeply they pierced him, deeply he loved thee, now has he found thy soul,Artemis, thine, in this bridal peal, where we hear but the death-bell toll.
As earth, sad earth, thrusts many a gloomy capeInto the sea's bright colour and living glee,So do we strive to embay that mysteryWhich earthly hands must ever let escape;The Word we seek for is the golden shapeThat shall enshrine the Soul we cannot see,A temporal chalice of EternityPurple with beating blood of the hallowed grape.Once was it wine and sacramental breadWhereby we knew the power that through Him smiledWhen, in one still small utterance, He hurledThe Eternities beneath His feet and saidWith lips, O meek as any little child,Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
As earth, sad earth, thrusts many a gloomy capeInto the sea's bright colour and living glee,So do we strive to embay that mysteryWhich earthly hands must ever let escape;The Word we seek for is the golden shapeThat shall enshrine the Soul we cannot see,A temporal chalice of EternityPurple with beating blood of the hallowed grape.
Once was it wine and sacramental breadWhereby we knew the power that through Him smiledWhen, in one still small utterance, He hurledThe Eternities beneath His feet and saidWith lips, O meek as any little child,Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Where is the scholar whose clear mind can holdThe floral text of one sweet April mead?—The flowing lines, which few can spell indeedThough most will note the scarlet and the goldAround the flourishing capitals grandly scrolled;But ah, the subtle cadences that needThe lover's heart, the lover's heart to read,And ah, the songs unsung, the tales untold.Poor fools-capped scholars—grammar keeps us close,The primers thrall us, and our eyes grow dim:When will old Master Science hear the call,Bid us run free with life in every limbTo breathe the poems and hear the last red roseGossiping over God's grey garden-wall?
Where is the scholar whose clear mind can holdThe floral text of one sweet April mead?—The flowing lines, which few can spell indeedThough most will note the scarlet and the goldAround the flourishing capitals grandly scrolled;But ah, the subtle cadences that needThe lover's heart, the lover's heart to read,And ah, the songs unsung, the tales untold.
Poor fools-capped scholars—grammar keeps us close,The primers thrall us, and our eyes grow dim:When will old Master Science hear the call,Bid us run free with life in every limbTo breathe the poems and hear the last red roseGossiping over God's grey garden-wall?
Once more I hear the everlasting seaBreathing beneath the mountain's fragrant breast,Come unto Me, come unto Me,And I will give you rest.We have destroyed the Temple and in three daysHe hath rebuilt it—all things are made new:And hark what wild throats pour His praiseBeneath the boundless blue.We plucked down all His altars, cried aloudAnd gashed ourselves for little gods of clay!Yon floating cloud was but a cloud,The May no more than May.We plucked down all His altars, left not oneSave where, perchance (and ah, the joy was fleet),We laid our garlands in the sunAt the white Sea-born's feet.We plucked down all His altars, not to makeThe small praise greater, but the great praise less,We sealed all fountains where the soul could slakeIts thirst and weariness."Love" was too small, too human to be foundIn that transcendent source whence love was born:We talked of "forces": heaven was crownedWith philosophic thorn."Your God is in your image," we cried, but O,'Twas only man's own deepest heart ye gave,Knowing that He transcended all ye know,While we—we dug His grave.Denied Him even the crown on our own brow,E'en these poor symbols of His loftier reign,Levelled His Temple with the dust, and nowHe is risen, He is risen again,Risen, like this resurrection of the year,This grand ascension of the choral spring,Which those harp-crowded heavens bend to hearAnd meet upon the wing."He is dead," we cried, and even amid that gloomThe wintry veil was rent! The new-born dayShowed us the Angel seated in the tombAnd the stone rolled away.It is the hour! We challenge heaven aboveNow, to deny our slight ephemeral breathJoy, anguish, and that everlasting loveWhich triumphs over death.
Once more I hear the everlasting seaBreathing beneath the mountain's fragrant breast,Come unto Me, come unto Me,And I will give you rest.
We have destroyed the Temple and in three daysHe hath rebuilt it—all things are made new:And hark what wild throats pour His praiseBeneath the boundless blue.
We plucked down all His altars, cried aloudAnd gashed ourselves for little gods of clay!Yon floating cloud was but a cloud,The May no more than May.
We plucked down all His altars, left not oneSave where, perchance (and ah, the joy was fleet),We laid our garlands in the sunAt the white Sea-born's feet.
We plucked down all His altars, not to makeThe small praise greater, but the great praise less,We sealed all fountains where the soul could slakeIts thirst and weariness.
"Love" was too small, too human to be foundIn that transcendent source whence love was born:We talked of "forces": heaven was crownedWith philosophic thorn.
"Your God is in your image," we cried, but O,'Twas only man's own deepest heart ye gave,Knowing that He transcended all ye know,While we—we dug His grave.
Denied Him even the crown on our own brow,E'en these poor symbols of His loftier reign,Levelled His Temple with the dust, and nowHe is risen, He is risen again,
Risen, like this resurrection of the year,This grand ascension of the choral spring,Which those harp-crowded heavens bend to hearAnd meet upon the wing.
"He is dead," we cried, and even amid that gloomThe wintry veil was rent! The new-born dayShowed us the Angel seated in the tombAnd the stone rolled away.
It is the hour! We challenge heaven aboveNow, to deny our slight ephemeral breathJoy, anguish, and that everlasting loveWhich triumphs over death.
IThe young moon is white,But the willows are blue:Your small lips are red,But the great clouds are grey:The waves are so manyThat whisper to you;But my love is onlyOne flight of spray.IIThe bright drops are many,The dark wave is one:The dark wave subsides,And the bright sea remains!And wherever, O singingMaid, you may run,You are one with the worldFor all your pains.IIIThough the great skies are dark,And your small feet are white,Though your wide eyes are blueAnd the closed poppies red,Tho' the kisses are manyThat colour the night,They are linked like pearlsOn one golden thread.IVWere the grey clouds not madeFor the red of your mouth;The ages for flightOf the butterfly years;The sweet of the peachFor the pale lips of drouth,The sunlight of smilesFor the shadow of tears?VLove, Love is the threadThat has pierced them with bliss!All their hues are but notesIn one world-wide tune:Lips, willows, and waves,We are one as we kiss,And your face and the flowersFaint away in the moon.
I
The young moon is white,But the willows are blue:Your small lips are red,But the great clouds are grey:The waves are so manyThat whisper to you;But my love is onlyOne flight of spray.
II
The bright drops are many,The dark wave is one:The dark wave subsides,And the bright sea remains!And wherever, O singingMaid, you may run,You are one with the worldFor all your pains.
III
Though the great skies are dark,And your small feet are white,Though your wide eyes are blueAnd the closed poppies red,Tho' the kisses are manyThat colour the night,They are linked like pearlsOn one golden thread.
IV
Were the grey clouds not madeFor the red of your mouth;The ages for flightOf the butterfly years;The sweet of the peachFor the pale lips of drouth,The sunlight of smilesFor the shadow of tears?
V
Love, Love is the threadThat has pierced them with bliss!All their hues are but notesIn one world-wide tune:Lips, willows, and waves,We are one as we kiss,And your face and the flowersFaint away in the moon.
IYoichi Tenko, the painter,Dwelt by the purple sea,Painting the peacock islandsUnder his willow-tree:Also in temples he paintedDragons of old Japan,With a child to look at the pictures—Little O Kimi San.Kimi, the child of his brother,Bright as the moon in May,White as a lotus lily,Pink as a plum-tree spray,Linking her soft arm round himSang to his heart for an hour,Kissed him with ripples of laughterAnd lips of the cherry flower.Child of the old pearl-fisherLost in his junk at sea,Kimi was loved of TenkoAs his own child might be,Yoichi Tenko the painter,Wrinkled and grey and old,Teacher of many disciplesThat paid for his dreams with gold.IIPeonies, peonies crowned the May!Clad in blue and white arrayCame Sawara to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-tree,All to learn of Tenko!Riding on a milk-white mule,Young and poor and proud was he,Lissom as a cherry spray(Peonies, peonies, crowned the day!)And he rode the golden wayTo the school of Tenko.Swift to learn, beneath his handSoon he watched his wonderlandGrowing cloud by magic cloud,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:Kimi watched him, young and proud,Painting by the purple sea,Lying on the golden sandWatched his golden wings expand!(None but Love will understandAll she hid from Tenko.)He could paint her tree and flower,Sea and spray and wizard's tower,With one stroke, now hard, now soft,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:He could fling a bird aloft,Splash a dragon in the sea,Crown a princess in her bower,With one stroke of magic power;And she watched him, hour by hour,In the school of Tenko.Yoichi Tenko, wondering, scannedAll the work of that young hand,Gazed his kakemonos o'er,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:"I can teach you nothing more,Thought or craft or mystery;Let your golden wings expand,They will shadow half the land,All the world's at your command,Come no more to Tenko."Lying on the golden sand,Kimi watched his wings expand;Wept.—He could not understandWhy she wept, said Tenko.IIISo, in her blue kimono,Pale as the sickle moonGlimmered thro' soft plum-branchesBlue in the dusk of June,Stole she, willing and waning,Frightened and unafraid,—"Take me with you, Sawara,Over the sea," she said.Small and sadly beseeching,Under the willow-tree,Glimmered her face like a foam-flakeDrifting over the sea:Pale as a drifting blossom,Lifted her face to his eyes:Slowly he gathered and held herUnder the drifting skies.Poor little face cast backward,Better to see his own,Earth and heaven went past themDrifting: they two, aloneStood, immortal. He whispered—"Nothing can part us two!"Backward her sad little face wentDrifting, and dreamed it true."Others are happy," she murmured,"Maidens and men I have seen;You are my king, Sawara,O, let me be your queen!If I am all too lowly,"Sadly she strove to smile,"Let me follow your footsteps,Your slave for a little while."Surely, he thought, I have paintedNothing so fair as thisMoonlit almond blossomSweet to fold and kiss,Brow that is filled with music,Shell of a faery sea,Eyes like the holy violetsBrimmed with dew for me."Wait for Sawara," he whispered,"Does not his whole heart yearnNow to his moon-bright maiden?Wait, for he will returnRich as the wave on the moon's pathRushing to claim his bride!"So they plighted their promise,And the ebbing sea-wave sighed.IVMoon and flower and butterfly,Earth and heaven went drifting by,Three long years while Kimi dreamedUnder the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko,Steadfast while the whole world streamedPast her tow'rds Eternity;Steadfast till with one great cry,Ringing to the gods on high,Golden wings should blind the skyAnd bring him back to Tenko.Three long years and nought to say"Sweet, I come the golden way,Riding royally to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-treeClaim my bride of Tenko;Silver bells on a milk-white mule,Rose-red sails on an emerald sea!" ...Kimi sometimes went to prayIn the temple nigh the bay,Dreamed all night and gazed all dayOver the sea from Tenko.Far away his growing fameLit the clouds. No message cameFrom the sky, whereon she gazedUnder the silvery willow-treeFar away from Tenko!Small white hands in the temple raisedPleaded with the Mystery,—"Stick of incense in the flame,Though my love forget my name,Help him, bless him, all the same,And ... bring him back to Tenko!"Rose-white temple nigh the bay,Hush! for Kimi comes to pray,Dream all night and gaze all dayOver the sea from Tenko.VSo, when the rich young merchantShowed him his bags of gold,Yoichi Tenko, the painter,Gave him her hand to hold,Said: "You shall wed him, O Kimi."Softly he lied and smiled—"Yea, for Sawara is wedded!Let him not mock you, child."Dumbly she turned and left them,Never a word or cryBroke from her lips' grey petalsUnder the drifting sky:Down to the spray and the rainbows,Where she had watched him of oldPainting the rose-red islands,Painting the sand's wet gold,Down to their dreams of the sunset,Frail as a flower's white ghost,Lonely and lost she wanderedDown to the darkening coast;Lost in the drifting midnight,Weeping, desolate, blind.Many went out to seek her:Never a heart could find.Yoichi Tenko, the painter,Plucked from his willow-treeTwo big paper lanternsAnd ran to the brink of the sea;Over his head he held them,Crying, and only heard,Somewhere, out in the darkness,The cry of a wandering bird.VIPeonies, peonies thronged the MayWhen in royal-rich arrayCame Sawara to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-tree—To the school of Tenko!Silver bells on a milk-white mule,Rose-red sails on an emerald sea!Over the bloom of the cherry spray,Peonies, peonies dimmed the day;And he rode the royal wayBack to Yoichi Tenko.Yoichi Tenko, half afraid,Whispered, "Wed some other maid;Kimi left me all aloneUnder the silvery willow-tree,Left me," whispered Tenko,"Kimi had a heart of stone!"—"Kimi, Kimi? Who is she?Kimi? Ah—the child that playedRound the willow-tree. She prayedOften; and, whate'er I said,She believed it, Tenko."He had come to paint anewThose dim isles of rose and blue,For a palace far away,Under the silvery willow-tree—So he said to Tenko;And he painted, day by day,Golden visions of the sea.No, he had not come to woo;Yet, had Kimi proven true,Doubtless he had loved her too,Hardly less than Tenko.Since the thought was in his head,He would make his choice and wed;And a lovely maid he choseUnder the silvery willow-tree."Fairer far," said Tenko."Kimi had a twisted nose,And a foot too small, for me,And her face was dull as lead!""Nay, a flower, be it white or red,Isa flower," Sawara said!"So it is," said Tenko.VIIGreat Sawara, the painter,Sought, on a day of days,One of the peacock islandsOut in the sunset haze:Rose-red sails on the waterCarried him quickly nigh;There would he paint him a wonderWorthy of Hokusai.Lo, as he leapt o'er the creamingRoses of faery foam,Out of the green-lipped cavernsUnder the isle's blue dome,White as a drifting snow-flake,White as the moon's white flame,White as a ghost from the darkness,Little O Kimi came."Long I have waited, Sawara,Here in our sunset isle,Sawara, Sawara, Sawara,Look on me once, and smile;Face I have watched so long for,Hands I have longed to hold,Sawara, Sawara, Sawara,Why is your heart so cold?"Surely, he thought, I have paintedNothing so fair as thisMoonlit almond blossomSweet to fold and kiss...."Kimi," he said, "I am wedded!Hush, for it could not be!""Kiss me one kiss," she whispered,"Me also, even me."Small and terribly driftingBackward, her sad white faceLifted up to SawaraOnce, in that lonely place,White as a drifting blossomUnder his wondering eyes,Slowly he gathered and held herUnder the drifting skies."Others are happy," she whispered,"Maidens and men I have seen:Be happy, be happy, Sawara!The other—shall be—your queen!Kiss me one kiss for parting."Trembling she lifted her head,Then like a broken blossomIt fell on his arm. She was dead.VIIIMuch impressed, Sawara straight(Though the hour was growing late)Made a sketch of Kimi lyingBy the lonely, sighing sea,Brought it back to Tenko.Tenko looked it over crying(Under the silvery willow-tree)."You have burst the golden gate!You have conquered Time and Fate!Hokusai is not so great!This is Art," said Tenko!
I
Yoichi Tenko, the painter,Dwelt by the purple sea,Painting the peacock islandsUnder his willow-tree:Also in temples he paintedDragons of old Japan,With a child to look at the pictures—Little O Kimi San.
Kimi, the child of his brother,Bright as the moon in May,White as a lotus lily,Pink as a plum-tree spray,Linking her soft arm round himSang to his heart for an hour,Kissed him with ripples of laughterAnd lips of the cherry flower.
Child of the old pearl-fisherLost in his junk at sea,Kimi was loved of TenkoAs his own child might be,Yoichi Tenko the painter,Wrinkled and grey and old,Teacher of many disciplesThat paid for his dreams with gold.
II
Peonies, peonies crowned the May!Clad in blue and white arrayCame Sawara to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-tree,All to learn of Tenko!Riding on a milk-white mule,Young and poor and proud was he,Lissom as a cherry spray(Peonies, peonies, crowned the day!)And he rode the golden wayTo the school of Tenko.
Swift to learn, beneath his handSoon he watched his wonderlandGrowing cloud by magic cloud,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:Kimi watched him, young and proud,Painting by the purple sea,Lying on the golden sandWatched his golden wings expand!(None but Love will understandAll she hid from Tenko.)
He could paint her tree and flower,Sea and spray and wizard's tower,With one stroke, now hard, now soft,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:He could fling a bird aloft,Splash a dragon in the sea,Crown a princess in her bower,With one stroke of magic power;And she watched him, hour by hour,In the school of Tenko.
Yoichi Tenko, wondering, scannedAll the work of that young hand,Gazed his kakemonos o'er,Under the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko:"I can teach you nothing more,Thought or craft or mystery;Let your golden wings expand,They will shadow half the land,All the world's at your command,Come no more to Tenko."
Lying on the golden sand,Kimi watched his wings expand;Wept.—He could not understandWhy she wept, said Tenko.
III
So, in her blue kimono,Pale as the sickle moonGlimmered thro' soft plum-branchesBlue in the dusk of June,Stole she, willing and waning,Frightened and unafraid,—"Take me with you, Sawara,Over the sea," she said.
Small and sadly beseeching,Under the willow-tree,Glimmered her face like a foam-flakeDrifting over the sea:Pale as a drifting blossom,Lifted her face to his eyes:Slowly he gathered and held herUnder the drifting skies.
Poor little face cast backward,Better to see his own,Earth and heaven went past themDrifting: they two, aloneStood, immortal. He whispered—"Nothing can part us two!"Backward her sad little face wentDrifting, and dreamed it true.
"Others are happy," she murmured,"Maidens and men I have seen;You are my king, Sawara,O, let me be your queen!If I am all too lowly,"Sadly she strove to smile,"Let me follow your footsteps,Your slave for a little while."
Surely, he thought, I have paintedNothing so fair as thisMoonlit almond blossomSweet to fold and kiss,Brow that is filled with music,Shell of a faery sea,Eyes like the holy violetsBrimmed with dew for me.
"Wait for Sawara," he whispered,"Does not his whole heart yearnNow to his moon-bright maiden?Wait, for he will returnRich as the wave on the moon's pathRushing to claim his bride!"So they plighted their promise,And the ebbing sea-wave sighed.
IV
Moon and flower and butterfly,Earth and heaven went drifting by,Three long years while Kimi dreamedUnder the silvery willow-treeIn the school of Tenko,Steadfast while the whole world streamedPast her tow'rds Eternity;Steadfast till with one great cry,Ringing to the gods on high,Golden wings should blind the skyAnd bring him back to Tenko.
Three long years and nought to say"Sweet, I come the golden way,Riding royally to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-treeClaim my bride of Tenko;Silver bells on a milk-white mule,Rose-red sails on an emerald sea!" ...Kimi sometimes went to prayIn the temple nigh the bay,Dreamed all night and gazed all dayOver the sea from Tenko.
Far away his growing fameLit the clouds. No message cameFrom the sky, whereon she gazedUnder the silvery willow-treeFar away from Tenko!Small white hands in the temple raisedPleaded with the Mystery,—"Stick of incense in the flame,Though my love forget my name,Help him, bless him, all the same,And ... bring him back to Tenko!"
Rose-white temple nigh the bay,Hush! for Kimi comes to pray,Dream all night and gaze all dayOver the sea from Tenko.
V
So, when the rich young merchantShowed him his bags of gold,Yoichi Tenko, the painter,Gave him her hand to hold,Said: "You shall wed him, O Kimi."Softly he lied and smiled—"Yea, for Sawara is wedded!Let him not mock you, child."
Dumbly she turned and left them,Never a word or cryBroke from her lips' grey petalsUnder the drifting sky:Down to the spray and the rainbows,Where she had watched him of oldPainting the rose-red islands,Painting the sand's wet gold,
Down to their dreams of the sunset,Frail as a flower's white ghost,Lonely and lost she wanderedDown to the darkening coast;Lost in the drifting midnight,Weeping, desolate, blind.Many went out to seek her:Never a heart could find.
Yoichi Tenko, the painter,Plucked from his willow-treeTwo big paper lanternsAnd ran to the brink of the sea;Over his head he held them,Crying, and only heard,Somewhere, out in the darkness,The cry of a wandering bird.
VI
Peonies, peonies thronged the MayWhen in royal-rich arrayCame Sawara to the schoolUnder the silvery willow-tree—To the school of Tenko!Silver bells on a milk-white mule,Rose-red sails on an emerald sea!Over the bloom of the cherry spray,Peonies, peonies dimmed the day;And he rode the royal wayBack to Yoichi Tenko.
Yoichi Tenko, half afraid,Whispered, "Wed some other maid;Kimi left me all aloneUnder the silvery willow-tree,Left me," whispered Tenko,"Kimi had a heart of stone!"—"Kimi, Kimi? Who is she?Kimi? Ah—the child that playedRound the willow-tree. She prayedOften; and, whate'er I said,She believed it, Tenko."
He had come to paint anewThose dim isles of rose and blue,For a palace far away,Under the silvery willow-tree—So he said to Tenko;And he painted, day by day,Golden visions of the sea.No, he had not come to woo;Yet, had Kimi proven true,Doubtless he had loved her too,Hardly less than Tenko.
Since the thought was in his head,He would make his choice and wed;And a lovely maid he choseUnder the silvery willow-tree."Fairer far," said Tenko."Kimi had a twisted nose,And a foot too small, for me,And her face was dull as lead!""Nay, a flower, be it white or red,Isa flower," Sawara said!"So it is," said Tenko.
VII
Great Sawara, the painter,Sought, on a day of days,One of the peacock islandsOut in the sunset haze:Rose-red sails on the waterCarried him quickly nigh;There would he paint him a wonderWorthy of Hokusai.
Lo, as he leapt o'er the creamingRoses of faery foam,Out of the green-lipped cavernsUnder the isle's blue dome,White as a drifting snow-flake,White as the moon's white flame,White as a ghost from the darkness,Little O Kimi came.
"Long I have waited, Sawara,Here in our sunset isle,Sawara, Sawara, Sawara,Look on me once, and smile;Face I have watched so long for,Hands I have longed to hold,Sawara, Sawara, Sawara,Why is your heart so cold?"
Surely, he thought, I have paintedNothing so fair as thisMoonlit almond blossomSweet to fold and kiss...."Kimi," he said, "I am wedded!Hush, for it could not be!""Kiss me one kiss," she whispered,"Me also, even me."
Small and terribly driftingBackward, her sad white faceLifted up to SawaraOnce, in that lonely place,White as a drifting blossomUnder his wondering eyes,Slowly he gathered and held herUnder the drifting skies.
"Others are happy," she whispered,"Maidens and men I have seen:Be happy, be happy, Sawara!The other—shall be—your queen!Kiss me one kiss for parting."Trembling she lifted her head,Then like a broken blossomIt fell on his arm. She was dead.
VIII
Much impressed, Sawara straight(Though the hour was growing late)Made a sketch of Kimi lyingBy the lonely, sighing sea,Brought it back to Tenko.Tenko looked it over crying(Under the silvery willow-tree)."You have burst the golden gate!You have conquered Time and Fate!Hokusai is not so great!This is Art," said Tenko!
II remember—a breath, a breathBlown thro' the rosy gates of birth,A morning freshness not of the earthBut cool and strange and lovely as deathIn Paradise, in Paradise,When, all to suffer the old sweet painClosing his immortal eyesWonder-wild an angel liesWith wings of rainbow-tinctured grainWithering till—ah, wonder-wild,Here on the dawning earth againHe wakes, a little child.III remember—a gleam, a gleamOf sparkling waves and warm blue skyFar away and long ago,Or ever I knew that youth could die;And out of the dawn, the dawn, the dawn,Into the unknown life we sailedAs out of sleep into a dream,And, as with elfin cables drawnIn dusk of purple over the glowingWrinkled measureless emerald sea,The light cloud shadows larger farThan the sweet shapes which drew them on,Elfin exquisite shadows flowingBetween us and the morning starChased us all a summer's day,And our sail like a dew-lit blossom shoneTill, over a rainbow haze of sprayThat arched a reef of surf like snow—Far away and long ago—We saw the sky-line rosily engrailedWith tufted peaks above a smooth lagoonWhich growing, growing, growing as we sailedCurved all around them like a crescent moon;And then we saw the purple-shadowed creeks,The feathery palms, the gleaming golden streaksOf sand, and nearer yet, like jewels of fireStreaming between the boughs, or floating higherLike tiny sunset-clouds in noon-day skies,The birds of Paradise.IIIThe island floated in the air,Its image floated in the sea:Which was the shadow? Both were fair:Like sister souls they seemed to be;And one was dreaming and asleep,And one bent down from ParadiseTo kiss with radiance in the deepThe darkling lips and eyes.And, mingling softly in their dreams,That holy kiss of sea and skyTransfused the shadows and the gleamsOf Time and of Eternity:The dusky face looked up and gaveTo heaven its golden shadowed calm;The face of light fulfilled the waveWith blissful wings and fans of palm.Above, the tufted rosy peaksThat melted in the warm blue skies,Below, the purple-shadowed creeksThat glassed the birds of Paradise—A bridal knot, it hung in heaven;And, all around, the still lagoonFrom bloom of dawn to blush of evenCurved like a crescent moon.And there we wandered evermoreThro' boyhood's everlasting years,Listening the murmur of the shoreAs one that lifts a shell and hearsThe murmur of forgotten seasAround some lost Broceliande,The sigh of sweet EternitiesThat turn the world to fairy-land,That turned our isle to a single pearlGlowing in measureless waves of wine!Above, below, the clouds would curl,Above, below, the stars would shineIn sky and sea. We hung in heaven!Time and space were but elfin-sweetRock-bound pools for the dawn and evenTo wade with their rosy feet.Our pirate cavern faced the West:We closed its door with screens of palm,While some went out to seek the nestWherein the Phœnix, breathing balm,Burns and dies to live for ever(How should we dream we lived to die?)And some would fish in the purple riverThat thro' the hills brought down the sky.And some would dive in the lagoonLike sunbeams, and all round our isleSwim thro' the lovely crescent moon,Glimpsing, for breathless mile on mile,The wild sea-woods that bloomed below,The rainbow fish, the coral caveWhere vanishing swift as melting snowA mermaid's arm would wave.Then dashing shoreward thro' the sprayOn sun-lit sands they cast them down,Or in the white sea-daisies layWith sun-stained bodies rosy-brown,Content to watch the foam-bows fleeAcross the shelving reefs and bars,With wild eyes gazing out to seaLike happy haunted stars.IVAnd O, the wild sea-maidenDrifting through the starlit air,With white arms blossom-ladenAnd the sea-scents in her hair:Sometimes we heard her singingThe midnight forest through,Or saw a soft hand flingingBlossoms drenched with starry dewInto the dreaming purple cave;And, sometimes, far and far awayBeheld across the glooming waveBeyond the dark lagoon,Beyond the silvery foaming bar,The black bright rock whereon she layLike a honey-coloured starSinging to the breathless moon,Singing in the silent nightTill the stars for sheer delightClosed their eyes, and drowsy birdsIn the midmost forest sprayTook their heads from out their wings,Thinking—it is Ariel singsAnd we must catch the witching wordsAnd sing them o'er by day.VAnd then, there came a breath, a breathCool and strange and dark as death,A stealing shadow, not of the earthBut fresh and wonder-wild as birth.I know not when the hour beganThat changed the child's heart in the man,Or when the colours began to wane,But all our roseate island layStricken, as when an angel diesWith wings of rainbow-tinctured grainWithering, and his radiant eyesClosing. Pitiless walls of greyGathered around us, a growing tombFrom which it seemed not death or doomCould roll the stone away.VIYet—I remember—a gleam, a gleam,(Or ever I dreamed that youth could die!)Of sparkling waves and warm blue skyAs out of sleep into a dream,Wonder-wild for the old sweet pain,We sailed into that unknown seaThrough the gates of Eternity.Peacefully close your mortal eyesFor ye shall wake to it againIn Paradise, in Paradise.
I
I remember—a breath, a breathBlown thro' the rosy gates of birth,A morning freshness not of the earthBut cool and strange and lovely as deathIn Paradise, in Paradise,When, all to suffer the old sweet painClosing his immortal eyesWonder-wild an angel liesWith wings of rainbow-tinctured grainWithering till—ah, wonder-wild,Here on the dawning earth againHe wakes, a little child.
II
I remember—a gleam, a gleamOf sparkling waves and warm blue skyFar away and long ago,Or ever I knew that youth could die;And out of the dawn, the dawn, the dawn,Into the unknown life we sailedAs out of sleep into a dream,And, as with elfin cables drawnIn dusk of purple over the glowingWrinkled measureless emerald sea,The light cloud shadows larger farThan the sweet shapes which drew them on,Elfin exquisite shadows flowingBetween us and the morning starChased us all a summer's day,And our sail like a dew-lit blossom shoneTill, over a rainbow haze of sprayThat arched a reef of surf like snow—Far away and long ago—We saw the sky-line rosily engrailedWith tufted peaks above a smooth lagoonWhich growing, growing, growing as we sailedCurved all around them like a crescent moon;And then we saw the purple-shadowed creeks,The feathery palms, the gleaming golden streaksOf sand, and nearer yet, like jewels of fireStreaming between the boughs, or floating higherLike tiny sunset-clouds in noon-day skies,The birds of Paradise.
III
The island floated in the air,Its image floated in the sea:Which was the shadow? Both were fair:Like sister souls they seemed to be;And one was dreaming and asleep,And one bent down from ParadiseTo kiss with radiance in the deepThe darkling lips and eyes.
And, mingling softly in their dreams,That holy kiss of sea and skyTransfused the shadows and the gleamsOf Time and of Eternity:The dusky face looked up and gaveTo heaven its golden shadowed calm;The face of light fulfilled the waveWith blissful wings and fans of palm.
Above, the tufted rosy peaksThat melted in the warm blue skies,Below, the purple-shadowed creeksThat glassed the birds of Paradise—A bridal knot, it hung in heaven;And, all around, the still lagoonFrom bloom of dawn to blush of evenCurved like a crescent moon.
And there we wandered evermoreThro' boyhood's everlasting years,Listening the murmur of the shoreAs one that lifts a shell and hearsThe murmur of forgotten seasAround some lost Broceliande,The sigh of sweet EternitiesThat turn the world to fairy-land,
That turned our isle to a single pearlGlowing in measureless waves of wine!Above, below, the clouds would curl,Above, below, the stars would shineIn sky and sea. We hung in heaven!Time and space were but elfin-sweetRock-bound pools for the dawn and evenTo wade with their rosy feet.
Our pirate cavern faced the West:We closed its door with screens of palm,While some went out to seek the nestWherein the Phœnix, breathing balm,Burns and dies to live for ever(How should we dream we lived to die?)And some would fish in the purple riverThat thro' the hills brought down the sky.
And some would dive in the lagoonLike sunbeams, and all round our isleSwim thro' the lovely crescent moon,Glimpsing, for breathless mile on mile,The wild sea-woods that bloomed below,The rainbow fish, the coral caveWhere vanishing swift as melting snowA mermaid's arm would wave.
Then dashing shoreward thro' the sprayOn sun-lit sands they cast them down,Or in the white sea-daisies layWith sun-stained bodies rosy-brown,Content to watch the foam-bows fleeAcross the shelving reefs and bars,With wild eyes gazing out to seaLike happy haunted stars.
IV
And O, the wild sea-maidenDrifting through the starlit air,With white arms blossom-ladenAnd the sea-scents in her hair:Sometimes we heard her singingThe midnight forest through,Or saw a soft hand flingingBlossoms drenched with starry dewInto the dreaming purple cave;And, sometimes, far and far awayBeheld across the glooming waveBeyond the dark lagoon,Beyond the silvery foaming bar,The black bright rock whereon she layLike a honey-coloured starSinging to the breathless moon,Singing in the silent nightTill the stars for sheer delightClosed their eyes, and drowsy birdsIn the midmost forest sprayTook their heads from out their wings,Thinking—it is Ariel singsAnd we must catch the witching wordsAnd sing them o'er by day.
V
And then, there came a breath, a breathCool and strange and dark as death,A stealing shadow, not of the earthBut fresh and wonder-wild as birth.I know not when the hour beganThat changed the child's heart in the man,Or when the colours began to wane,But all our roseate island layStricken, as when an angel diesWith wings of rainbow-tinctured grainWithering, and his radiant eyesClosing. Pitiless walls of greyGathered around us, a growing tombFrom which it seemed not death or doomCould roll the stone away.
VI
Yet—I remember—a gleam, a gleam,(Or ever I dreamed that youth could die!)Of sparkling waves and warm blue skyAs out of sleep into a dream,Wonder-wild for the old sweet pain,We sailed into that unknown seaThrough the gates of Eternity.
Peacefully close your mortal eyesFor ye shall wake to it againIn Paradise, in Paradise.
IHeart of my heart, the world is young;Love lies hidden in every rose!Every song that the skylark sungOnce, we thought, must come to a close:Now we know the spirit of song,Song that is merged in the chant of the whole,Hand in hand as we wander along,What should we doubt of the years that roll?IIHeart of my heart, we cannot die!Love triumphant in flower and tree,Every life that laughs at the skyTells us nothing can cease to be:One, we are one with a song to-day,One with the clover that scents the wold,One with the Unknown, far away,One with the stars, when earth grows old.IIIHeart of my heart, we are one with the wind,One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea,One in many, O broken and blind,One as the waves are at one with the sea!Ay! when life seems scattered apart,Darkens, ends as a tale that is told,One, we are one, O heart of my heart,One, still one, while the world grows old.
I
Heart of my heart, the world is young;Love lies hidden in every rose!Every song that the skylark sungOnce, we thought, must come to a close:Now we know the spirit of song,Song that is merged in the chant of the whole,Hand in hand as we wander along,What should we doubt of the years that roll?
II
Heart of my heart, we cannot die!Love triumphant in flower and tree,Every life that laughs at the skyTells us nothing can cease to be:One, we are one with a song to-day,One with the clover that scents the wold,One with the Unknown, far away,One with the stars, when earth grows old.
III
Heart of my heart, we are one with the wind,One with the clouds that are whirled o'er the lea,One in many, O broken and blind,One as the waves are at one with the sea!Ay! when life seems scattered apart,Darkens, ends as a tale that is told,One, we are one, O heart of my heart,One, still one, while the world grows old.