MELAMPUS.

I.Withlove exceeding a simple love of the thingsThat glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck;Or change their perch on a beat of quivering wingsFrom branch to branch, only restful to pipe and peck;Or, bristled, curl at a touch their snouts in a ball;Or cast their web between bramble and thorny hook;The good physician Melampus, loving them all,Among them walked, as a scholar who reads a book.II.For him the woods were a home and gave him the keyOf knowledge, thirst for their treasures in herbs and flowers.The secrets held by the creatures nearer than weTo earth he sought, and the link of their life with ours:And where alike we are, unlike where, and the veinedDivision, veined parallel, of a blood that flowsIn them, in us, from the source by man unattainedSave marks he well what the mystical woods disclose.III.And this he deemed might be boon of love to a breastEmbracing tenderly each little motive shape,The prone, the flitting, who seek their food whither bestTheir wits direct, whither best from their foes escape:For closer drawn to our mother’s natural milk,As babes they learn where her motherly help is great:They know the juice for the honey, juice for the silk,And need they medical antidotes find them straight.IV.Of earth and sun they are wise, they nourish their broods,Weave, build, hive, burrow and battle, take joy and painLike swimmers varying billows: never in woodsRuns white insanity fleeing itself: all saneThe woods revolve: as the tree its shadowing limnsTo some resemblance in motion, the rooted lifeRestrains disorder: you hear the primitive hymnsOf earth in woods issue wild of the web of strife.V.Now sleeping once on a day of marvellous fire,A brood of snakes he had cherished in grave regretThat death his people had dealt their dam and their sire,Through savage dread of them, crept to his neck, and setTheir tongues to lick him: the swift affectionate tongueOf each ran licking the slumberer: then his earsA forked red tongue tickled shrewdly: sudden upsprung,He heard a voice piping: Ay, for he has no fears!VI.A bird said that, in the notes of birds, and the speechOf men, it seemed: and another renewed: He movesTo learn and not to pursue, he gathers to teach;He feeds his young as do we, and as we love loves.No fears have I of a man who goes with his headTo earth, chance looking aloft at us, kind of hand:I feel to him as to earth of whom we are fed;I pipe him much for his good could he understand.VII.Melampus touched at his ears, laid finger on wrist:He was not dreaming, he sensibly felt and heard.Above, through leaves, where the tree-twigs thick intertwist,He spied the birds and the bill of the speaking bird.His cushion mosses in shades of various green,The lumped, the antlered, he pressed, while the sunny snakeSlipped under: draughts he had drunk of clear Hippocrene,It seemed, and sat with a gift of the Gods awake.VIII.Divinely thrilled was the man, exultingly full,As quick well-waters that come of the heart of earth,Ere yet they dart in a brook are one bubble-poolTo light and sound, wedding both at the leap of birth.The soul of light vivid shone, a stream within stream;The soul of sound from a musical shell outflew;Where others hear but a hum and see but a beam,The tongue and eye of the fountain of life he knew.IX.He knew the Hours: they were round him, laden with seedOf hours bestrewn upon vapour, and one by oneThey winged as ripened in fruit the burden decreedFor each to scatter; they flushed like the buds in sun,Bequeathing seed to successive similar rings,Their sisters, bearers to men of what men have earned:He knew them, talked with the yet unreddened; the stings,The sweets, they warmed at their bosoms divined, discerned.X.Not unsolicited, sought by diligent feet,By riddling fingers expanded, oft watched in growthWith brooding deep as the noon-ray’s quickening wheat,Ere touch’d, the pendulous flower of the plants of sloth,The plants of rigidness, answered question and squeeze,Revealing wherefore it bloomed uninviting, bent,Yet making harmony breathe of life and disease,The deeper chord of a wonderful instrument.XI.So passed he luminous-eyed for earth and the fatesWe arm to bruise or caress us: his ears were chargedWith tones of love in a whirl of voluble hates,With music wrought of distraction his heart enlarged.Celestial-shining, though mortal, singer, though mute,He drew the Master of harmonies, voiced or stilled,To seek him; heard at the silent medicine-rootA song, beheld in fulfilment the unfulfilled.XII.Him Phoebus, lending to darkness colour and formOf light’s excess, many lessons and counsels gave,Showed Wisdom lord of the human intricate swarm,And whence prophetic it looks on the hives that rave,And how acquired, of the zeal of love to acquire,And where it stands, in the centre of life a sphere;And Measure, mood of the lyre, the rapturous lyre,He said was Wisdom, and struck him the notes to hear.XIII.Sweet, sweet: ’twas glory of vision, honey, the breezeIn heat, the run of the river on root and stone,All senses joined, as the sister PieridesAre one, uplifting their chorus, the Nine, his own.In stately order, evolved of sound into sight,From sight to sound intershifting, the man descriedThe growths of Earth, his adored, like day out of night,Ascend in song, seeing nature and song allied.XIV.And there vitality, there, there solely in song,Resides, where Earth and her uses to men, their needs,Their forceful cravings, the theme are: there is it strong,The Master said: and the studious eye that reads,(Yea, even as Earth to the crown of Gods on the mount),In links divine with the lyrical tongue is bound.Pursue thy craft: it is music drawn of a fountTo spring perennial; well-spring is common ground.XV.Melampus dwelt among men: physician and sage,He served them, loving them, healing them; sick or maimed,Or them that frenzied in some delirious rageOutran the measure, his juice of the woods reclaimed.He played on men, as his master, Phoebus, on stringsMelodious: as the God did he drive and check,Through love exceeding a simple love of the thingsThat glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck.

Withlove exceeding a simple love of the things

That glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck;

Or change their perch on a beat of quivering wings

From branch to branch, only restful to pipe and peck;

Or, bristled, curl at a touch their snouts in a ball;

Or cast their web between bramble and thorny hook;

The good physician Melampus, loving them all,

Among them walked, as a scholar who reads a book.

II.For him the woods were a home and gave him the keyOf knowledge, thirst for their treasures in herbs and flowers.The secrets held by the creatures nearer than weTo earth he sought, and the link of their life with ours:And where alike we are, unlike where, and the veinedDivision, veined parallel, of a blood that flowsIn them, in us, from the source by man unattainedSave marks he well what the mystical woods disclose.

II.

For him the woods were a home and gave him the key

Of knowledge, thirst for their treasures in herbs and flowers.

The secrets held by the creatures nearer than we

To earth he sought, and the link of their life with ours:

And where alike we are, unlike where, and the veined

Division, veined parallel, of a blood that flows

In them, in us, from the source by man unattained

Save marks he well what the mystical woods disclose.

III.And this he deemed might be boon of love to a breastEmbracing tenderly each little motive shape,The prone, the flitting, who seek their food whither bestTheir wits direct, whither best from their foes escape:For closer drawn to our mother’s natural milk,As babes they learn where her motherly help is great:They know the juice for the honey, juice for the silk,And need they medical antidotes find them straight.

III.

And this he deemed might be boon of love to a breast

Embracing tenderly each little motive shape,

The prone, the flitting, who seek their food whither best

Their wits direct, whither best from their foes escape:

For closer drawn to our mother’s natural milk,

As babes they learn where her motherly help is great:

They know the juice for the honey, juice for the silk,

And need they medical antidotes find them straight.

IV.Of earth and sun they are wise, they nourish their broods,Weave, build, hive, burrow and battle, take joy and painLike swimmers varying billows: never in woodsRuns white insanity fleeing itself: all saneThe woods revolve: as the tree its shadowing limnsTo some resemblance in motion, the rooted lifeRestrains disorder: you hear the primitive hymnsOf earth in woods issue wild of the web of strife.

IV.

Of earth and sun they are wise, they nourish their broods,

Weave, build, hive, burrow and battle, take joy and pain

Like swimmers varying billows: never in woods

Runs white insanity fleeing itself: all sane

The woods revolve: as the tree its shadowing limns

To some resemblance in motion, the rooted life

Restrains disorder: you hear the primitive hymns

Of earth in woods issue wild of the web of strife.

V.Now sleeping once on a day of marvellous fire,A brood of snakes he had cherished in grave regretThat death his people had dealt their dam and their sire,Through savage dread of them, crept to his neck, and setTheir tongues to lick him: the swift affectionate tongueOf each ran licking the slumberer: then his earsA forked red tongue tickled shrewdly: sudden upsprung,He heard a voice piping: Ay, for he has no fears!

Now sleeping once on a day of marvellous fire,

A brood of snakes he had cherished in grave regret

That death his people had dealt their dam and their sire,

Through savage dread of them, crept to his neck, and set

Their tongues to lick him: the swift affectionate tongue

Of each ran licking the slumberer: then his ears

A forked red tongue tickled shrewdly: sudden upsprung,

He heard a voice piping: Ay, for he has no fears!

VI.A bird said that, in the notes of birds, and the speechOf men, it seemed: and another renewed: He movesTo learn and not to pursue, he gathers to teach;He feeds his young as do we, and as we love loves.No fears have I of a man who goes with his headTo earth, chance looking aloft at us, kind of hand:I feel to him as to earth of whom we are fed;I pipe him much for his good could he understand.

VI.

A bird said that, in the notes of birds, and the speech

Of men, it seemed: and another renewed: He moves

To learn and not to pursue, he gathers to teach;

He feeds his young as do we, and as we love loves.

No fears have I of a man who goes with his head

To earth, chance looking aloft at us, kind of hand:

I feel to him as to earth of whom we are fed;

I pipe him much for his good could he understand.

VII.Melampus touched at his ears, laid finger on wrist:He was not dreaming, he sensibly felt and heard.Above, through leaves, where the tree-twigs thick intertwist,He spied the birds and the bill of the speaking bird.His cushion mosses in shades of various green,The lumped, the antlered, he pressed, while the sunny snakeSlipped under: draughts he had drunk of clear Hippocrene,It seemed, and sat with a gift of the Gods awake.

VII.

Melampus touched at his ears, laid finger on wrist:

He was not dreaming, he sensibly felt and heard.

Above, through leaves, where the tree-twigs thick intertwist,

He spied the birds and the bill of the speaking bird.

His cushion mosses in shades of various green,

The lumped, the antlered, he pressed, while the sunny snake

Slipped under: draughts he had drunk of clear Hippocrene,

It seemed, and sat with a gift of the Gods awake.

VIII.Divinely thrilled was the man, exultingly full,As quick well-waters that come of the heart of earth,Ere yet they dart in a brook are one bubble-poolTo light and sound, wedding both at the leap of birth.The soul of light vivid shone, a stream within stream;The soul of sound from a musical shell outflew;Where others hear but a hum and see but a beam,The tongue and eye of the fountain of life he knew.

VIII.

Divinely thrilled was the man, exultingly full,

As quick well-waters that come of the heart of earth,

Ere yet they dart in a brook are one bubble-pool

To light and sound, wedding both at the leap of birth.

The soul of light vivid shone, a stream within stream;

The soul of sound from a musical shell outflew;

Where others hear but a hum and see but a beam,

The tongue and eye of the fountain of life he knew.

IX.He knew the Hours: they were round him, laden with seedOf hours bestrewn upon vapour, and one by oneThey winged as ripened in fruit the burden decreedFor each to scatter; they flushed like the buds in sun,Bequeathing seed to successive similar rings,Their sisters, bearers to men of what men have earned:He knew them, talked with the yet unreddened; the stings,The sweets, they warmed at their bosoms divined, discerned.

IX.

He knew the Hours: they were round him, laden with seed

Of hours bestrewn upon vapour, and one by one

They winged as ripened in fruit the burden decreed

For each to scatter; they flushed like the buds in sun,

Bequeathing seed to successive similar rings,

Their sisters, bearers to men of what men have earned:

He knew them, talked with the yet unreddened; the stings,

The sweets, they warmed at their bosoms divined, discerned.

X.Not unsolicited, sought by diligent feet,By riddling fingers expanded, oft watched in growthWith brooding deep as the noon-ray’s quickening wheat,Ere touch’d, the pendulous flower of the plants of sloth,The plants of rigidness, answered question and squeeze,Revealing wherefore it bloomed uninviting, bent,Yet making harmony breathe of life and disease,The deeper chord of a wonderful instrument.

Not unsolicited, sought by diligent feet,

By riddling fingers expanded, oft watched in growth

With brooding deep as the noon-ray’s quickening wheat,

Ere touch’d, the pendulous flower of the plants of sloth,

The plants of rigidness, answered question and squeeze,

Revealing wherefore it bloomed uninviting, bent,

Yet making harmony breathe of life and disease,

The deeper chord of a wonderful instrument.

XI.So passed he luminous-eyed for earth and the fatesWe arm to bruise or caress us: his ears were chargedWith tones of love in a whirl of voluble hates,With music wrought of distraction his heart enlarged.Celestial-shining, though mortal, singer, though mute,He drew the Master of harmonies, voiced or stilled,To seek him; heard at the silent medicine-rootA song, beheld in fulfilment the unfulfilled.

XI.

So passed he luminous-eyed for earth and the fates

We arm to bruise or caress us: his ears were charged

With tones of love in a whirl of voluble hates,

With music wrought of distraction his heart enlarged.

Celestial-shining, though mortal, singer, though mute,

He drew the Master of harmonies, voiced or stilled,

To seek him; heard at the silent medicine-root

A song, beheld in fulfilment the unfulfilled.

XII.Him Phoebus, lending to darkness colour and formOf light’s excess, many lessons and counsels gave,Showed Wisdom lord of the human intricate swarm,And whence prophetic it looks on the hives that rave,And how acquired, of the zeal of love to acquire,And where it stands, in the centre of life a sphere;And Measure, mood of the lyre, the rapturous lyre,He said was Wisdom, and struck him the notes to hear.

XII.

Him Phoebus, lending to darkness colour and form

Of light’s excess, many lessons and counsels gave,

Showed Wisdom lord of the human intricate swarm,

And whence prophetic it looks on the hives that rave,

And how acquired, of the zeal of love to acquire,

And where it stands, in the centre of life a sphere;

And Measure, mood of the lyre, the rapturous lyre,

He said was Wisdom, and struck him the notes to hear.

XIII.Sweet, sweet: ’twas glory of vision, honey, the breezeIn heat, the run of the river on root and stone,All senses joined, as the sister PieridesAre one, uplifting their chorus, the Nine, his own.In stately order, evolved of sound into sight,From sight to sound intershifting, the man descriedThe growths of Earth, his adored, like day out of night,Ascend in song, seeing nature and song allied.

XIII.

Sweet, sweet: ’twas glory of vision, honey, the breeze

In heat, the run of the river on root and stone,

All senses joined, as the sister Pierides

Are one, uplifting their chorus, the Nine, his own.

In stately order, evolved of sound into sight,

From sight to sound intershifting, the man descried

The growths of Earth, his adored, like day out of night,

Ascend in song, seeing nature and song allied.

XIV.And there vitality, there, there solely in song,Resides, where Earth and her uses to men, their needs,Their forceful cravings, the theme are: there is it strong,The Master said: and the studious eye that reads,(Yea, even as Earth to the crown of Gods on the mount),In links divine with the lyrical tongue is bound.Pursue thy craft: it is music drawn of a fountTo spring perennial; well-spring is common ground.

XIV.

And there vitality, there, there solely in song,

Resides, where Earth and her uses to men, their needs,

Their forceful cravings, the theme are: there is it strong,

The Master said: and the studious eye that reads,

(Yea, even as Earth to the crown of Gods on the mount),

In links divine with the lyrical tongue is bound.

Pursue thy craft: it is music drawn of a fount

To spring perennial; well-spring is common ground.

XV.Melampus dwelt among men: physician and sage,He served them, loving them, healing them; sick or maimed,Or them that frenzied in some delirious rageOutran the measure, his juice of the woods reclaimed.He played on men, as his master, Phoebus, on stringsMelodious: as the God did he drive and check,Through love exceeding a simple love of the thingsThat glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck.

XV.

Melampus dwelt among men: physician and sage,

He served them, loving them, healing them; sick or maimed,

Or them that frenzied in some delirious rage

Outran the measure, his juice of the woods reclaimed.

He played on men, as his master, Phoebus, on strings

Melodious: as the God did he drive and check,

Through love exceeding a simple love of the things

That glide in grasses and rubble of woody wreck.

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