III. THE UNDISCOVERED WORLD

drop-cap

O ina living stream to batheThat runs its course from spring to sea!And O to cast this aching meshOf iron bands that starkly swatheLimbs that labour, neck to knee!To feel the wind upon the flesh,Wind that was before man was,Blowing out of blue divine;Feel the feet on morning grassLightly firm, and body bareOver-showered with beams so fineAs cleanse the very heart of care!Sages, had you found but thisFor the mind, so it could useWhat the body knows of blissWhen all thought it loves to loseMerely poising in the sun,Sure of powers a-spring within itRippling out to leap and run,—Like for memory’s waiting earSilence, ere the music win it:—When unreasoned joy aloneBrims the body, itself its ownInfinity unquestioning;Careless, Life is O so near,Death a legendary thing,Breath and blood like bells that ring;—Sages, had you art to findSuch a glory for the mind,Not with eyes that are too wiseBut the lover’s wonder-visionSeeing far and seeing nearAs within one radiant sphereAll things living, joined and whole,Bloomed with light of Paradise;Sages then—but who has taughtSuch an end for labouring thought,Such a nakedness of soul;—What but probing, doubting, and division?Hark, on iron iron’s endless clamour!The hours, the hours, drive swifter than we strain—Earth changes not, but who has changed us,As if a Fury with a shadowy hammerNailed the nails into the fiery brain?Who has estranged us?What dark enemy withinMakes of Earth an enemy?Is it not he who sought of oldSecrets of her wealth to win,Hot with greed and overbold,Aching to possess her? he,Searching labyrinthine veins,Thirsted for yet rarer gains,And through patient nights perusedEach divided element,Curious of that pregnant dustWhich with intent hand he bruised;Crucibled in fire the grainsThat should subtly be cajoledIn the end to yield his lustFeasts of gold—a continentMolten into dazzling gold!(Were not heard the Sirens thenDeriding the poor dreams of men?)Nay, but he would scrutinizeEven Night’s deep-ordered scheme,And spell his own proud destiniesIn scripture of the starry stream.Coveting what power those skiesMight enthrone, he sought a charmThat should warp them and should woo.To his use, and by such aidTo disimperil of one harmThis brief body, would undoA universe. And he arrayedIn a constellated robeHis heaven-projected effigy,Because his spirit was afraidOf its nakedness, nor daredTerrors of the truth to probe;Rather chose itself to enskyIn a dream. But no night baredTo him her grandeur, swerved no spheresTo the wrench of human fears.Earth and Night to crave of lustYield but fruitlessness and dust;Dust to lust, to greed a weed!Mockers rise from those forgotten years:‘This is he, the self-dupe, still the sameVaunter of a world of his defiling!Claiming heavens, with only will to maim.Who is this to own an earth’s empire,In whose blood is mud, and this avilingSqualor of desire?’Lo, with feet on fiery ashesEarth’s foiled master casts his eyesRound his world-abode. Time’s heir,Freed by blood of martyrs, wiseWith myriad lives of thought and care,Into Doubt’s dim future gropes,Black with omen, lit with flashes!Lo, beneath his heaven of hopesFalling palaces of dream,Proudly pillared; regions wreckt,Peopled with stray flames that seemHot greeds from his burning brainAnd the very earth infect.Lo, like bodies for his fearShadowy shapes of force insaneMenacing in murk appear,Primed with energy to kill,—Engines of his intellect,Incarnations of his will!Those old siren-songs of airChange into a song abhorred,Chanting softly, Revel, Lord!Triumph, Master! This you sought!This your own proud hands have wrought!Now the lover’s loathing tasteComes on him for what he burnedSo imperiously to clutch.Where is now the bliss embraced,Where the conquest? At a touchAll’s to desolation turned.Is it he, or Earth, betrays?She that seemed to sting him onTo possession, once possessed,Dispossesses him. Her breastStony grows, and hard her gaze.—Yet, oh, could she again be wooedIn her own, her chosen ways,Shall she not transform her mood,Glorify with truth his quest,Give, as lovers give, entireBody to body, mind to mind,Ay, and more than these can find,—Spirit to spirit? Beauty of Desire,Beauty beyond possession still is breathing,Beauty in us defaced!O secret spring eternal, muddied here,Soiled and sunken, troubled into seething!Torrent of Desire, by greed and fearSpilled into waste!

O ina living stream to bathe

That runs its course from spring to sea!

And O to cast this aching mesh

Of iron bands that starkly swathe

Limbs that labour, neck to knee!

To feel the wind upon the flesh,

Wind that was before man was,

Blowing out of blue divine;

Feel the feet on morning grass

Lightly firm, and body bare

Over-showered with beams so fine

As cleanse the very heart of care!

Sages, had you found but this

For the mind, so it could use

What the body knows of bliss

When all thought it loves to lose

Merely poising in the sun,

Sure of powers a-spring within it

Rippling out to leap and run,—

Like for memory’s waiting ear

Silence, ere the music win it:—

When unreasoned joy alone

Brims the body, itself its own

Infinity unquestioning;

Careless, Life is O so near,

Death a legendary thing,

Breath and blood like bells that ring;—

Sages, had you art to find

Such a glory for the mind,

Not with eyes that are too wise

But the lover’s wonder-vision

Seeing far and seeing near

As within one radiant sphere

All things living, joined and whole,

Bloomed with light of Paradise;

Sages then—but who has taught

Such an end for labouring thought,

Such a nakedness of soul;—

What but probing, doubting, and division?

Hark, on iron iron’s endless clamour!

The hours, the hours, drive swifter than we strain—

Earth changes not, but who has changed us,

As if a Fury with a shadowy hammer

Nailed the nails into the fiery brain?

Who has estranged us?

What dark enemy withinMakes of Earth an enemy?Is it not he who sought of oldSecrets of her wealth to win,Hot with greed and overbold,Aching to possess her? he,Searching labyrinthine veins,Thirsted for yet rarer gains,And through patient nights perusedEach divided element,Curious of that pregnant dustWhich with intent hand he bruised;Crucibled in fire the grainsThat should subtly be cajoledIn the end to yield his lustFeasts of gold—a continentMolten into dazzling gold!(Were not heard the Sirens thenDeriding the poor dreams of men?)Nay, but he would scrutinizeEven Night’s deep-ordered scheme,And spell his own proud destiniesIn scripture of the starry stream.Coveting what power those skiesMight enthrone, he sought a charmThat should warp them and should woo.To his use, and by such aidTo disimperil of one harmThis brief body, would undoA universe. And he arrayedIn a constellated robeHis heaven-projected effigy,Because his spirit was afraidOf its nakedness, nor daredTerrors of the truth to probe;Rather chose itself to enskyIn a dream. But no night baredTo him her grandeur, swerved no spheresTo the wrench of human fears.Earth and Night to crave of lustYield but fruitlessness and dust;Dust to lust, to greed a weed!Mockers rise from those forgotten years:‘This is he, the self-dupe, still the sameVaunter of a world of his defiling!Claiming heavens, with only will to maim.Who is this to own an earth’s empire,In whose blood is mud, and this avilingSqualor of desire?’

What dark enemy within

Makes of Earth an enemy?

Is it not he who sought of old

Secrets of her wealth to win,

Hot with greed and overbold,

Aching to possess her? he,

Searching labyrinthine veins,

Thirsted for yet rarer gains,

And through patient nights perused

Each divided element,

Curious of that pregnant dust

Which with intent hand he bruised;

Crucibled in fire the grains

That should subtly be cajoled

In the end to yield his lust

Feasts of gold—a continent

Molten into dazzling gold!

(Were not heard the Sirens then

Deriding the poor dreams of men?)

Nay, but he would scrutinize

Even Night’s deep-ordered scheme,

And spell his own proud destinies

In scripture of the starry stream.

Coveting what power those skies

Might enthrone, he sought a charm

That should warp them and should woo.

To his use, and by such aid

To disimperil of one harm

This brief body, would undo

A universe. And he arrayed

In a constellated robe

His heaven-projected effigy,

Because his spirit was afraid

Of its nakedness, nor dared

Terrors of the truth to probe;

Rather chose itself to ensky

In a dream. But no night bared

To him her grandeur, swerved no spheres

To the wrench of human fears.

Earth and Night to crave of lust

Yield but fruitlessness and dust;

Dust to lust, to greed a weed!

Mockers rise from those forgotten years:

‘This is he, the self-dupe, still the same

Vaunter of a world of his defiling!

Claiming heavens, with only will to maim.

Who is this to own an earth’s empire,

In whose blood is mud, and this aviling

Squalor of desire?’

Lo, with feet on fiery ashesEarth’s foiled master casts his eyesRound his world-abode. Time’s heir,Freed by blood of martyrs, wiseWith myriad lives of thought and care,Into Doubt’s dim future gropes,Black with omen, lit with flashes!Lo, beneath his heaven of hopesFalling palaces of dream,Proudly pillared; regions wreckt,Peopled with stray flames that seemHot greeds from his burning brainAnd the very earth infect.Lo, like bodies for his fearShadowy shapes of force insaneMenacing in murk appear,Primed with energy to kill,—Engines of his intellect,Incarnations of his will!Those old siren-songs of airChange into a song abhorred,Chanting softly, Revel, Lord!Triumph, Master! This you sought!This your own proud hands have wrought!Now the lover’s loathing tasteComes on him for what he burnedSo imperiously to clutch.Where is now the bliss embraced,Where the conquest? At a touchAll’s to desolation turned.Is it he, or Earth, betrays?She that seemed to sting him onTo possession, once possessed,Dispossesses him. Her breastStony grows, and hard her gaze.—Yet, oh, could she again be wooedIn her own, her chosen ways,Shall she not transform her mood,Glorify with truth his quest,Give, as lovers give, entireBody to body, mind to mind,Ay, and more than these can find,—Spirit to spirit? Beauty of Desire,Beauty beyond possession still is breathing,Beauty in us defaced!O secret spring eternal, muddied here,Soiled and sunken, troubled into seething!Torrent of Desire, by greed and fearSpilled into waste!

Lo, with feet on fiery ashes

Earth’s foiled master casts his eyes

Round his world-abode. Time’s heir,

Freed by blood of martyrs, wise

With myriad lives of thought and care,

Into Doubt’s dim future gropes,

Black with omen, lit with flashes!

Lo, beneath his heaven of hopes

Falling palaces of dream,

Proudly pillared; regions wreckt,

Peopled with stray flames that seem

Hot greeds from his burning brain

And the very earth infect.

Lo, like bodies for his fear

Shadowy shapes of force insane

Menacing in murk appear,

Primed with energy to kill,—

Engines of his intellect,

Incarnations of his will!

Those old siren-songs of air

Change into a song abhorred,

Chanting softly, Revel, Lord!

Triumph, Master! This you sought!

This your own proud hands have wrought!

Now the lover’s loathing taste

Comes on him for what he burned

So imperiously to clutch.

Where is now the bliss embraced,

Where the conquest? At a touch

All’s to desolation turned.

Is it he, or Earth, betrays?

She that seemed to sting him on

To possession, once possessed,

Dispossesses him. Her breast

Stony grows, and hard her gaze.

—Yet, oh, could she again be wooed

In her own, her chosen ways,

Shall she not transform her mood,

Glorify with truth his quest,

Give, as lovers give, entire

Body to body, mind to mind,

Ay, and more than these can find,—

Spirit to spirit? Beauty of Desire,

Beauty beyond possession still is breathing,

Beauty in us defaced!

O secret spring eternal, muddied here,

Soiled and sunken, troubled into seething!

Torrent of Desire, by greed and fear

Spilled into waste!

III. 2

Be still! Wash out this dull roar from the earThat fevers Time; be emptied the hot brainOf clamorous, intricately-teasing toil.Let spiritual Silence brim againThe mind’s well to a mirror virgin-clear;All these invented cares smoothe and uncoil.Contemplate Silence; the wild Silence, ereMusic or word was; waste, unshapen sound;Crying of wind; moaning of sea; stammer of storm;Gropings as for a being nowhere found;Mateless desires, frustrated throbs of air,Without home, without form.They sought a lodge in haunted flesh, they soughtThe inward tingling sense’s touched accord;To be delivered, to be born perfectOn shapes of lips, a breathed, a living word,A flower that seeds its riches, thought from thought,Incarnate sound, mysterious and elect.Contemplate Silence! The unwithered wombOf all music infinite as desire;All words, releasing tears and bliss; all song,That wins at last a universe for choir,And there the enlarged spirit has full room,There its desires and its delights belong.All speech, all song, all music still unborn,Waits there for its futurity of mindTo become human; yet it holds some toneDrawn from a something vaster than mankind,As from profounder heart-strings torn,And yet complete in man alone;As if behind him travailing, the wholeDark world were seeking in this eloquent fleshSome other self, and sighing here to beBorn afresh, born afresh;To win a world yet undiscovered in the soul:‘O Voice,’ it cries, ‘utter; O Hands, deliver me!’With such a dark quest in desirous eyes,From the ancient East, as through a silent gateIn the mind’s city and labyrinth of thought,Those Magian Kings, of knowledge satiate,Of riches satiate, and forlornly wise,Down desert gorges broughtGifts for the Unknown: nay, but Earth from farIn yearning sent them, her ambassadors.Rocks opened veins of gold, trees oozed their blood,Spices sighed, gems burned up from cavern-floors,The very Night had made Desire a star,That over against them, strange and certain, stood;And thither laden with Earth’s hope and want,Her symbol’d sighs and riches of her pain,Down separate passes of the mountain streamingWound onward each amid his marvelling train,Those sages drawn from towers of midnight hauntBy their prophetic dreaming;And trumpet thrilled to trumpet thro’ the night,And torches told of glistering strange attire,Where met those three kings on one errand led.What image shaped they of the World’s Desire,What presence throned in majesty and might,As they went musing, deep in hope and dread,And under vast cope of the wheeling skiesFound but a naked child, a child new-born?Wisdom resigned the crown of her enthroning;All her impassioned question was forsworn:In wonder she saw all things with new eyes.Then, there were songs of joy; now, sound of a world groaning.

Be still! Wash out this dull roar from the ear

That fevers Time; be emptied the hot brain

Of clamorous, intricately-teasing toil.

Let spiritual Silence brim again

The mind’s well to a mirror virgin-clear;

All these invented cares smoothe and uncoil.

Contemplate Silence; the wild Silence, ereMusic or word was; waste, unshapen sound;Crying of wind; moaning of sea; stammer of storm;Gropings as for a being nowhere found;Mateless desires, frustrated throbs of air,Without home, without form.

Contemplate Silence; the wild Silence, ere

Music or word was; waste, unshapen sound;

Crying of wind; moaning of sea; stammer of storm;

Gropings as for a being nowhere found;

Mateless desires, frustrated throbs of air,

Without home, without form.

They sought a lodge in haunted flesh, they soughtThe inward tingling sense’s touched accord;To be delivered, to be born perfectOn shapes of lips, a breathed, a living word,A flower that seeds its riches, thought from thought,Incarnate sound, mysterious and elect.

They sought a lodge in haunted flesh, they sought

The inward tingling sense’s touched accord;

To be delivered, to be born perfect

On shapes of lips, a breathed, a living word,

A flower that seeds its riches, thought from thought,

Incarnate sound, mysterious and elect.

Contemplate Silence! The unwithered wombOf all music infinite as desire;All words, releasing tears and bliss; all song,That wins at last a universe for choir,And there the enlarged spirit has full room,There its desires and its delights belong.

Contemplate Silence! The unwithered womb

Of all music infinite as desire;

All words, releasing tears and bliss; all song,

That wins at last a universe for choir,

And there the enlarged spirit has full room,

There its desires and its delights belong.

All speech, all song, all music still unborn,Waits there for its futurity of mindTo become human; yet it holds some toneDrawn from a something vaster than mankind,As from profounder heart-strings torn,And yet complete in man alone;

All speech, all song, all music still unborn,

Waits there for its futurity of mind

To become human; yet it holds some tone

Drawn from a something vaster than mankind,

As from profounder heart-strings torn,

And yet complete in man alone;

As if behind him travailing, the wholeDark world were seeking in this eloquent fleshSome other self, and sighing here to beBorn afresh, born afresh;To win a world yet undiscovered in the soul:‘O Voice,’ it cries, ‘utter; O Hands, deliver me!’

As if behind him travailing, the whole

Dark world were seeking in this eloquent flesh

Some other self, and sighing here to be

Born afresh, born afresh;

To win a world yet undiscovered in the soul:

‘O Voice,’ it cries, ‘utter; O Hands, deliver me!’

With such a dark quest in desirous eyes,From the ancient East, as through a silent gateIn the mind’s city and labyrinth of thought,Those Magian Kings, of knowledge satiate,Of riches satiate, and forlornly wise,Down desert gorges brought

With such a dark quest in desirous eyes,

From the ancient East, as through a silent gate

In the mind’s city and labyrinth of thought,

Those Magian Kings, of knowledge satiate,

Of riches satiate, and forlornly wise,

Down desert gorges brought

Gifts for the Unknown: nay, but Earth from farIn yearning sent them, her ambassadors.Rocks opened veins of gold, trees oozed their blood,Spices sighed, gems burned up from cavern-floors,The very Night had made Desire a star,That over against them, strange and certain, stood;

Gifts for the Unknown: nay, but Earth from far

In yearning sent them, her ambassadors.

Rocks opened veins of gold, trees oozed their blood,

Spices sighed, gems burned up from cavern-floors,

The very Night had made Desire a star,

That over against them, strange and certain, stood;

And thither laden with Earth’s hope and want,Her symbol’d sighs and riches of her pain,Down separate passes of the mountain streamingWound onward each amid his marvelling train,Those sages drawn from towers of midnight hauntBy their prophetic dreaming;And trumpet thrilled to trumpet thro’ the night,And torches told of glistering strange attire,Where met those three kings on one errand led.What image shaped they of the World’s Desire,What presence throned in majesty and might,As they went musing, deep in hope and dread,

And thither laden with Earth’s hope and want,

Her symbol’d sighs and riches of her pain,

Down separate passes of the mountain streaming

Wound onward each amid his marvelling train,

Those sages drawn from towers of midnight haunt

By their prophetic dreaming;

And trumpet thrilled to trumpet thro’ the night,

And torches told of glistering strange attire,

Where met those three kings on one errand led.

What image shaped they of the World’s Desire,

What presence throned in majesty and might,

As they went musing, deep in hope and dread,

And under vast cope of the wheeling skiesFound but a naked child, a child new-born?Wisdom resigned the crown of her enthroning;All her impassioned question was forsworn:In wonder she saw all things with new eyes.Then, there were songs of joy; now, sound of a world groaning.

And under vast cope of the wheeling skies

Found but a naked child, a child new-born?

Wisdom resigned the crown of her enthroning;

All her impassioned question was forsworn:

In wonder she saw all things with new eyes.

Then, there were songs of joy; now, sound of a world groaning.

III. 3

Mystery of Dawn, ere yet the glory streamsRisen over earth, and pauses in that hushWhen far, as from an ecstasy, clouds flush,And hills lift up their pureness into dreamsOf light that not yet colours the cold flower,And the earth-clasping, heaven-desiring treeTrembles in virginal expectancy—What breath of the unknown PowerIs this that, spirit to spirit, as with a spousal kissComes seeking us, even us, through shadow and dew,—Seeking in this soiled flesh what undiscovered worldBeyond tears, beyond bliss, beyond wisdom, beyondTime? what recaptured harmony of earth and heaven?What world made new?A world so strange, the spirit thrills to flame,Transfigured in a wonder of release!A world so near, it has no other nameThan light and breath! Where lost we, then, this peace?Wanting what charm to cleanseOur eyes? To see; is this the last of gifts,That, as the scales drop, the heart so uplifts?O world where no possession is of men’s,Where the will rages not with fever to destroyDiffering wills, or warp another life to its use,But each lives in the light of its own joy!In one wide vision all have share, and we in all,Infinitely companioned with the stars, the dust,Beasts of the field, and stones, and flowers that fall!This body that we use seems in that airMarvellous; secret from ourselves; a powerWithout which were no speech, nor deed done anywhere,Nor could thought range and tower,Nor seed be sown for the unborn time to reap;Whose natural motion was ordained to beBeautiful as a wave out of a seaBoundless as mind asleep;So passionately shaped, in every part perfect,Universes are wounded in its abasement,Crying from stone to star;The unimagined height, the immeasurable deep,Hungers, abysses, heavens, millions of ghosts from farMeet in this body born to laugh and weep.Weep; not for the endured, ancestral ill,Perils and plagues, that ambush all our ways,Time’s injury, and pain’s deep-wandered maze;These need not eyes to see, but only flesh to feel.But of the eternal vision to partake,And see what we have done, and what refused,To what accepted blindness we grow used,And what marred shapes of one another make,This is to weep such tears as no flesh-throes have cost,Weep for our loves, our loves, that we ourselves have slain,The powers of loveliness that we have left forlorn.Eyes we had and saw not, ears and we did not hear!Ah, when the heart, full-visioned, breaks in shame and pain,Then is the world’s hope born.The cry of desolation turns to praise.If falsehood first enchant the eager mind,And if desire be cruel, being blind,Each by its own infirmity betrays,And some profounder, more imperious needDrives through all smart, whatever world to lose,The pure vision to choose,And tho’ Truth kill, there in the end be freed.Open, open, gates of deliverance, open!See, liberated spirits, see, victorious ones,For testimony of us from homes of glory shine,Vindicators of this brief flesh, they mingle us,—Soiled and despoiled,—with beauty and with felicity,And sting us from afar with the Divine.Hands of men stretched out in so dark a craving!Baffled heart, clouded vision; filled with acheTo know you have maimed the world you sought to makeYour instrument and minister, enslavingPowers of earth and air—Hands that have wroughtSo glorious things, the thoughts of joy to house!Heart that has pulsed so ardent for its vow’sAccomplishment,—O heart so hardly taught!O stretched-out hands! of you Eternity has need.Give but your sacred passion and your shaping art,The hunger of Eternity is there,—Barren else, barren: chaos and a wildernessOf feud and everlasting greed devouring greed,The unshapen dream’s despair!Spirit of Man, dear spirit, sore opprestWith self-estrangement, and mis-choosing will,And all satiety of gainful skill,—Possession that was never yet possessed,—You that have been so great a lover, givingIn innocency all for sacrifice;Whom neither Time nor earth’s regions suffice—You too are sought, where still your dream is living.Over the secret oceans of uncharted mindWho knows what voyagers, what sails invisiblyPress on, for all the lost, the foundered hopes untrue?Who knows, through ignorant mists and storm upon that seaWhat Lover, what unweariable Adventurer,Makes still his quest of you?O world that is within us, yet must stillOut of the eternal mystery be wooedEre it be ours and, breathing in the blood,Live in its beauty, as the miracleOf the divine colour of flowers in nightWas not, and is not of themselves aloneNor of the dawn-beam, but of both made one,—A marriage-mystery of earth and light!O undiscovered world that all about us liesWhen spirit to Spirit surrenders, and like young Love seesHeaven with human eyes!World of radiant morning! Joy’s untravelled region!Why lies it solitary? and O why tarry we?Why daily wander out from Paradise?

Mystery of Dawn, ere yet the glory streams

Risen over earth, and pauses in that hush

When far, as from an ecstasy, clouds flush,

And hills lift up their pureness into dreams

Of light that not yet colours the cold flower,

And the earth-clasping, heaven-desiring tree

Trembles in virginal expectancy—

What breath of the unknown Power

Is this that, spirit to spirit, as with a spousal kiss

Comes seeking us, even us, through shadow and dew,—

Seeking in this soiled flesh what undiscovered world

Beyond tears, beyond bliss, beyond wisdom, beyond

Time? what recaptured harmony of earth and heaven?

What world made new?

A world so strange, the spirit thrills to flame,Transfigured in a wonder of release!A world so near, it has no other nameThan light and breath! Where lost we, then, this peace?Wanting what charm to cleanseOur eyes? To see; is this the last of gifts,That, as the scales drop, the heart so uplifts?O world where no possession is of men’s,Where the will rages not with fever to destroyDiffering wills, or warp another life to its use,But each lives in the light of its own joy!In one wide vision all have share, and we in all,Infinitely companioned with the stars, the dust,Beasts of the field, and stones, and flowers that fall!This body that we use seems in that airMarvellous; secret from ourselves; a powerWithout which were no speech, nor deed done anywhere,Nor could thought range and tower,Nor seed be sown for the unborn time to reap;Whose natural motion was ordained to beBeautiful as a wave out of a seaBoundless as mind asleep;So passionately shaped, in every part perfect,Universes are wounded in its abasement,Crying from stone to star;The unimagined height, the immeasurable deep,Hungers, abysses, heavens, millions of ghosts from farMeet in this body born to laugh and weep.

A world so strange, the spirit thrills to flame,

Transfigured in a wonder of release!

A world so near, it has no other name

Than light and breath! Where lost we, then, this peace?

Wanting what charm to cleanse

Our eyes? To see; is this the last of gifts,

That, as the scales drop, the heart so uplifts?

O world where no possession is of men’s,

Where the will rages not with fever to destroy

Differing wills, or warp another life to its use,

But each lives in the light of its own joy!

In one wide vision all have share, and we in all,

Infinitely companioned with the stars, the dust,

Beasts of the field, and stones, and flowers that fall!

This body that we use seems in that air

Marvellous; secret from ourselves; a power

Without which were no speech, nor deed done anywhere,

Nor could thought range and tower,

Nor seed be sown for the unborn time to reap;

Whose natural motion was ordained to be

Beautiful as a wave out of a sea

Boundless as mind asleep;

So passionately shaped, in every part perfect,

Universes are wounded in its abasement,

Crying from stone to star;

The unimagined height, the immeasurable deep,

Hungers, abysses, heavens, millions of ghosts from far

Meet in this body born to laugh and weep.

Weep; not for the endured, ancestral ill,Perils and plagues, that ambush all our ways,Time’s injury, and pain’s deep-wandered maze;These need not eyes to see, but only flesh to feel.But of the eternal vision to partake,And see what we have done, and what refused,To what accepted blindness we grow used,And what marred shapes of one another make,This is to weep such tears as no flesh-throes have cost,Weep for our loves, our loves, that we ourselves have slain,The powers of loveliness that we have left forlorn.Eyes we had and saw not, ears and we did not hear!Ah, when the heart, full-visioned, breaks in shame and pain,Then is the world’s hope born.

Weep; not for the endured, ancestral ill,

Perils and plagues, that ambush all our ways,

Time’s injury, and pain’s deep-wandered maze;

These need not eyes to see, but only flesh to feel.

But of the eternal vision to partake,

And see what we have done, and what refused,

To what accepted blindness we grow used,

And what marred shapes of one another make,

This is to weep such tears as no flesh-throes have cost,

Weep for our loves, our loves, that we ourselves have slain,

The powers of loveliness that we have left forlorn.

Eyes we had and saw not, ears and we did not hear!

Ah, when the heart, full-visioned, breaks in shame and pain,

Then is the world’s hope born.

The cry of desolation turns to praise.If falsehood first enchant the eager mind,And if desire be cruel, being blind,Each by its own infirmity betrays,And some profounder, more imperious needDrives through all smart, whatever world to lose,The pure vision to choose,And tho’ Truth kill, there in the end be freed.Open, open, gates of deliverance, open!See, liberated spirits, see, victorious ones,For testimony of us from homes of glory shine,Vindicators of this brief flesh, they mingle us,—Soiled and despoiled,—with beauty and with felicity,And sting us from afar with the Divine.

The cry of desolation turns to praise.

If falsehood first enchant the eager mind,

And if desire be cruel, being blind,

Each by its own infirmity betrays,

And some profounder, more imperious need

Drives through all smart, whatever world to lose,

The pure vision to choose,

And tho’ Truth kill, there in the end be freed.

Open, open, gates of deliverance, open!

See, liberated spirits, see, victorious ones,

For testimony of us from homes of glory shine,

Vindicators of this brief flesh, they mingle us,—

Soiled and despoiled,—with beauty and with felicity,

And sting us from afar with the Divine.

Hands of men stretched out in so dark a craving!Baffled heart, clouded vision; filled with acheTo know you have maimed the world you sought to makeYour instrument and minister, enslavingPowers of earth and air—Hands that have wroughtSo glorious things, the thoughts of joy to house!Heart that has pulsed so ardent for its vow’sAccomplishment,—O heart so hardly taught!O stretched-out hands! of you Eternity has need.Give but your sacred passion and your shaping art,The hunger of Eternity is there,—Barren else, barren: chaos and a wildernessOf feud and everlasting greed devouring greed,The unshapen dream’s despair!

Hands of men stretched out in so dark a craving!

Baffled heart, clouded vision; filled with ache

To know you have maimed the world you sought to make

Your instrument and minister, enslaving

Powers of earth and air—Hands that have wrought

So glorious things, the thoughts of joy to house!

Heart that has pulsed so ardent for its vow’s

Accomplishment,—O heart so hardly taught!

O stretched-out hands! of you Eternity has need.

Give but your sacred passion and your shaping art,

The hunger of Eternity is there,—

Barren else, barren: chaos and a wilderness

Of feud and everlasting greed devouring greed,

The unshapen dream’s despair!

Spirit of Man, dear spirit, sore opprestWith self-estrangement, and mis-choosing will,And all satiety of gainful skill,—Possession that was never yet possessed,—You that have been so great a lover, givingIn innocency all for sacrifice;Whom neither Time nor earth’s regions suffice—You too are sought, where still your dream is living.Over the secret oceans of uncharted mindWho knows what voyagers, what sails invisiblyPress on, for all the lost, the foundered hopes untrue?Who knows, through ignorant mists and storm upon that seaWhat Lover, what unweariable Adventurer,Makes still his quest of you?

Spirit of Man, dear spirit, sore opprest

With self-estrangement, and mis-choosing will,

And all satiety of gainful skill,—

Possession that was never yet possessed,—

You that have been so great a lover, giving

In innocency all for sacrifice;

Whom neither Time nor earth’s regions suffice—

You too are sought, where still your dream is living.

Over the secret oceans of uncharted mind

Who knows what voyagers, what sails invisibly

Press on, for all the lost, the foundered hopes untrue?

Who knows, through ignorant mists and storm upon that sea

What Lover, what unweariable Adventurer,

Makes still his quest of you?

O world that is within us, yet must stillOut of the eternal mystery be wooedEre it be ours and, breathing in the blood,Live in its beauty, as the miracleOf the divine colour of flowers in nightWas not, and is not of themselves aloneNor of the dawn-beam, but of both made one,—A marriage-mystery of earth and light!O undiscovered world that all about us liesWhen spirit to Spirit surrenders, and like young Love seesHeaven with human eyes!World of radiant morning! Joy’s untravelled region!Why lies it solitary? and O why tarry we?Why daily wander out from Paradise?

O world that is within us, yet must still

Out of the eternal mystery be wooed

Ere it be ours and, breathing in the blood,

Live in its beauty, as the miracle

Of the divine colour of flowers in night

Was not, and is not of themselves alone

Nor of the dawn-beam, but of both made one,—

A marriage-mystery of earth and light!

O undiscovered world that all about us lies

When spirit to Spirit surrenders, and like young Love sees

Heaven with human eyes!

World of radiant morning! Joy’s untravelled region!

Why lies it solitary? and O why tarry we?

Why daily wander out from Paradise?

III. 4

World-besieging Storm, from horizon heaped and menacingRear up the walls of thunder, till they towerShattering over earth, and from heart to heart reverberate,Lancing that bright fear through the ruin-shower!Revel, Winds, severing the bough of leafy promisesWith rages from returning chaos sent!Mockers and Destroyers, come; here is Man, predestinateTo all your arrows at his bosom bent.Strip him of his splendours, of his conquests and dominions,His secure boast to be earth’s lord enthroned,Humble him: he stands forth greater in his nakednessThan in the wealth and safety that he owned.He that has so loved peril in all experience,He that has gone with Sorrow all her way,Will not now refuse or shrink; prove him to the innermost,With worse than worst confront him: come what may,Lo, you awake, O Trumpets of Calamity,Some fragment of old Darkness in his breast;Lo, to him fraternal is the stony and the terrible place:His stricken Genius out of deeps unguessedRises up, grappling his reality to reality,And still the secret in himself explores,Bound beyond fear, the discovered and discoverer,And in his own soul touches farthest shores.Though he be stript of all, Powers from far replenish him,Powers of the streaming worlds that through him stream.O throbbing heart, O lifted arms, O tenderness,O only capable of grief supreme!O earth for ever mingled with unearthlinessBecause the eternal with the brief is twined!Wonder of breath that is momentary and tremulousSuffices him who breathes eternal mind.Vision that dawns beyond knowledge shall deliver himFrom all that flattered, threatened, foiled, betrayed.Lo, having nothing, he is free of all the universe,And where light is, he enters unafraid.

World-besieging Storm, from horizon heaped and menacing

Rear up the walls of thunder, till they tower

Shattering over earth, and from heart to heart reverberate,

Lancing that bright fear through the ruin-shower!

Revel, Winds, severing the bough of leafy promises

With rages from returning chaos sent!

Mockers and Destroyers, come; here is Man, predestinate

To all your arrows at his bosom bent.

Strip him of his splendours, of his conquests and dominions,

His secure boast to be earth’s lord enthroned,

Humble him: he stands forth greater in his nakedness

Than in the wealth and safety that he owned.

He that has so loved peril in all experience,

He that has gone with Sorrow all her way,

Will not now refuse or shrink; prove him to the innermost,

With worse than worst confront him: come what may,

Lo, you awake, O Trumpets of Calamity,

Some fragment of old Darkness in his breast;

Lo, to him fraternal is the stony and the terrible place:

His stricken Genius out of deeps unguessed

Rises up, grappling his reality to reality,

And still the secret in himself explores,

Bound beyond fear, the discovered and discoverer,

And in his own soul touches farthest shores.

Though he be stript of all, Powers from far replenish him,

Powers of the streaming worlds that through him stream.

O throbbing heart, O lifted arms, O tenderness,

O only capable of grief supreme!

O earth for ever mingled with unearthliness

Because the eternal with the brief is twined!

Wonder of breath that is momentary and tremulous

Suffices him who breathes eternal mind.

Vision that dawns beyond knowledge shall deliver him

From all that flattered, threatened, foiled, betrayed.

Lo, having nothing, he is free of all the universe,

And where light is, he enters unafraid.

THE END

Back to Index Next