"I left thee last, a child at heart,A woman scarce in years.I come to thee, a solemn corpseWhich neither feels nor fears.I have no breath to use in sighs;They laid the dead-weights on mine eyesTo seal them safe from tears."Look on me with thine own calm look:I meet it calm as thou.No look of thine can changethissmile,Or break thy sinful vow:I tell thee that my poor scorned heartIs of thine earth—thine earth, a part:It cannot vex thee now."But out, alas! these words are writBy a living, loving one,Adown whose cheeks, the proofs of lifeThe warm quick tears do run:Ah, let the unloving corpse controlThy scorn back from the loving soulWhose place of rest is won."I have prayed for thee with bursting sobWhen passion's course was free;I have prayed for thee with silent lips,In the anguish none could see:They whispered oft, 'She sleepeth soft'—But I only prayed for thee."Go to! I pray for thee no more:The corpse's tongue is still,Its folded fingers point to heaven,But point there stiff and chill:No farther wrong, no farther woeHath license from the sin belowIts tranquil heart to thrill."I charge thee, by the living's prayer,And the dead's silentness,To wring from out thy soul a cryWhich God shall hear and bless!Lest Heaven's own palm droop in my hand,And pale among the saints I stand,A saint companionless."
"I left thee last, a child at heart,A woman scarce in years.I come to thee, a solemn corpseWhich neither feels nor fears.I have no breath to use in sighs;They laid the dead-weights on mine eyesTo seal them safe from tears.
"Look on me with thine own calm look:I meet it calm as thou.No look of thine can changethissmile,Or break thy sinful vow:I tell thee that my poor scorned heartIs of thine earth—thine earth, a part:It cannot vex thee now.
"But out, alas! these words are writBy a living, loving one,Adown whose cheeks, the proofs of lifeThe warm quick tears do run:Ah, let the unloving corpse controlThy scorn back from the loving soulWhose place of rest is won.
"I have prayed for thee with bursting sobWhen passion's course was free;I have prayed for thee with silent lips,In the anguish none could see:They whispered oft, 'She sleepeth soft'—But I only prayed for thee.
"Go to! I pray for thee no more:The corpse's tongue is still,Its folded fingers point to heaven,But point there stiff and chill:No farther wrong, no farther woeHath license from the sin belowIts tranquil heart to thrill.
"I charge thee, by the living's prayer,And the dead's silentness,To wring from out thy soul a cryWhich God shall hear and bless!Lest Heaven's own palm droop in my hand,And pale among the saints I stand,A saint companionless."
V.Bow lower down before the throne,Triumphant Rosalind!He boweth on thy corpse his face,And weepeth as the blind:'Twas a dread sight to see them so,For the senseless corpse rocked to and froWith the wail of his living mind.VI.But dreader sight, could such be seen,His inward mind did lie,Whose long-subjected humannessGave out its lion-cry,And fiercely rent its tenementIn a mortal agony.VII.I tell you, friends, had you heard his wail,'Twould haunt you in court and mart,And in merry feast until you setYour cup down to depart—That weeping wild of a reckless childFrom a proud man's broken heart.VIII.O broken heart, O broken vow,That wore so proud a feature!God, grasping as a thunderboltThe man's rejected nature,Smote him therewith i' the presence highOf his so worshipped earth and skyThat looked on all indifferently—A wailing human creature.IX.A human creature found too weakTo bear his human pain—(May Heaven's dear grace have spoken peaceTo his dying heart and brain!)For when they came at dawn of dayTo lift the lady's corpse away,Her bier was holding twain.X.They dug beneath the kirkyard grass,For born one dwelling deep;To which, when years had mossed the stone,Sir Roland brought his little sonTo watch the funeral heap:And when the happy boy would ratherTurn upward his blithe eyes to seeThe wood-doves nodding from the tree,"Nay, boy, look downward," said his father,"Upon this human dust asleep.And hold it in thy constant kenThat God's own unity compresses(One into one) the human many,And that his everlastingness isThe bond which is not loosed by any:That thou and I this law must keep,If not in love, in sorrow then,—Though smiling not like other men,Still, like them we must weep."
V.
Bow lower down before the throne,Triumphant Rosalind!He boweth on thy corpse his face,And weepeth as the blind:'Twas a dread sight to see them so,For the senseless corpse rocked to and froWith the wail of his living mind.
VI.
But dreader sight, could such be seen,His inward mind did lie,Whose long-subjected humannessGave out its lion-cry,And fiercely rent its tenementIn a mortal agony.
VII.
I tell you, friends, had you heard his wail,'Twould haunt you in court and mart,And in merry feast until you setYour cup down to depart—That weeping wild of a reckless childFrom a proud man's broken heart.
VIII.
O broken heart, O broken vow,That wore so proud a feature!God, grasping as a thunderboltThe man's rejected nature,Smote him therewith i' the presence highOf his so worshipped earth and skyThat looked on all indifferently—A wailing human creature.
IX.
A human creature found too weakTo bear his human pain—(May Heaven's dear grace have spoken peaceTo his dying heart and brain!)For when they came at dawn of dayTo lift the lady's corpse away,Her bier was holding twain.
X.
They dug beneath the kirkyard grass,For born one dwelling deep;To which, when years had mossed the stone,Sir Roland brought his little sonTo watch the funeral heap:And when the happy boy would ratherTurn upward his blithe eyes to seeThe wood-doves nodding from the tree,"Nay, boy, look downward," said his father,"Upon this human dust asleep.And hold it in thy constant kenThat God's own unity compresses(One into one) the human many,And that his everlastingness isThe bond which is not loosed by any:That thou and I this law must keep,If not in love, in sorrow then,—Though smiling not like other men,Still, like them we must weep."
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FOOTNOTES:[A]The entry in the Parish Register of Kelloe Church is as follows:— Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett, daughter and first child of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, of Coxhoe Hall, native of St James's, Jamaica, by Mary, late Clarke, native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was born, March 6th, 1806, and baptized 10th of February, 1808.[B]Adam recognizes inAquarius, the Water-bearer, andSagittarius, the Archer, distinct types of the man bearing and the man combating,—the passive and active forms of human labour. I hope that the preceding zodiacal signs—transferred to the earthly shadow and representative purpose—of Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Capricornus, and Pisces, are sufficiently obvious to the reader.[C]Her maternal instinct is excited by Gemini.[D]"His angels he charged with folly."—Jobiv. 18.
[A]The entry in the Parish Register of Kelloe Church is as follows:— Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett, daughter and first child of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, of Coxhoe Hall, native of St James's, Jamaica, by Mary, late Clarke, native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was born, March 6th, 1806, and baptized 10th of February, 1808.
[A]The entry in the Parish Register of Kelloe Church is as follows:— Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett, daughter and first child of Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, of Coxhoe Hall, native of St James's, Jamaica, by Mary, late Clarke, native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was born, March 6th, 1806, and baptized 10th of February, 1808.
[B]Adam recognizes inAquarius, the Water-bearer, andSagittarius, the Archer, distinct types of the man bearing and the man combating,—the passive and active forms of human labour. I hope that the preceding zodiacal signs—transferred to the earthly shadow and representative purpose—of Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Capricornus, and Pisces, are sufficiently obvious to the reader.
[B]Adam recognizes inAquarius, the Water-bearer, andSagittarius, the Archer, distinct types of the man bearing and the man combating,—the passive and active forms of human labour. I hope that the preceding zodiacal signs—transferred to the earthly shadow and representative purpose—of Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Capricornus, and Pisces, are sufficiently obvious to the reader.
[C]Her maternal instinct is excited by Gemini.
[C]Her maternal instinct is excited by Gemini.
[D]"His angels he charged with folly."—Jobiv. 18.
[D]"His angels he charged with folly."—Jobiv. 18.
Transcriber's Notes:The author's punctuations have been kept, except on page 221,a fullstop added to the end of the poem (thee for weeping.).On page xx (Contents), page number "155" for Epilogue corrected to be "150."All apparent printer's errors and variable spellings retained. This includes:The use of both modern and archaic spellings of the same word, for example: "corpse" and "corse;" "like" and "liker;" "obtain" and "obtayne;"The variable use of accent in the same word, for example: "Aphrodité" and "Aphroditè;" "Heré" and "Herè;" "wailèd" and "wailed;"The use of phrases with and without hyphen, for example: "full-length" and "full length;" "God-light" and "Godlight;" "red-clay" and "red clay."
The author's punctuations have been kept, except on page 221,a fullstop added to the end of the poem (thee for weeping.).
The author's punctuations have been kept, except on page 221,a fullstop added to the end of the poem (thee for weeping.).
On page xx (Contents), page number "155" for Epilogue corrected to be "150."
On page xx (Contents), page number "155" for Epilogue corrected to be "150."
All apparent printer's errors and variable spellings retained. This includes:The use of both modern and archaic spellings of the same word, for example: "corpse" and "corse;" "like" and "liker;" "obtain" and "obtayne;"The variable use of accent in the same word, for example: "Aphrodité" and "Aphroditè;" "Heré" and "Herè;" "wailèd" and "wailed;"The use of phrases with and without hyphen, for example: "full-length" and "full length;" "God-light" and "Godlight;" "red-clay" and "red clay."
All apparent printer's errors and variable spellings retained. This includes: