Legends and Lyrics. Part 1

VERSE: A LITTLE LONGER

A little longer yet – a little longer,Shall violets bloom for thee, and sweet birds sing;And the lime branches where soft winds are blowing,Shall murmur the sweet promise of the Spring!A little longer yet – a little longer,Thou shalt behold the quiet of the morn;While tender grasses and awakening flowersSend up a golden mist to greet the dawn!A little longer yet – a little longer,The tenderness of twilight shall be thine,The rosy clouds that float o’er dying daylight,Nor fade till trembling stars begin to shine.A little longer yet – a little longer,Shall starry night be beautiful for thee;And the cold moon shall look through the blue silence,Flooding her silver path upon the sea.A little longer yet – a little longer,Life shall be thine; life with its power to will;Life with its strength to bear, to love, to conquer,Bringing its thousand joys thy heart to fill.A little longer yet – a little longer,The voices thou hast loved shall charm thine ear;And thy true heart, that now beats quick to hear them,A little longer yet shall hold them dear.A little longer yet – joy while thou mayest;Love and rejoice! for time has nought in store;And soon the darkness of the grave shall bid theeLove and rejoice and feel and know no more.* * *A little longer still – Patience, Belovèd:A little longer still, ere Heaven unrollThe Glory, and the Brightness, and the Wonder,Eternal, and divine, that waits thy Soul!A little longer ere Life true, immortal,(Not this our shadowy Life,) will be thine own;And thou shalt stand where winged Archangels worship,And trembling bow before the Great White Throne.A little longer still, and Heaven awaits thee,And fills thy spirit with a great delight;Then our pale joys will seem a dream forgotten,Our Sun a darkness, and our Day a Night.A little longer, and thy Heart, Belovèd,Shall beat for ever with a Love divine;And joy so pure, so mighty, so eternal,No creature knows and lives, will then be thine.A little longer yet – and angel voicesShall ring in heavenly chant upon thine ear;Angels and Saints await thee, and God needs thee:Belovèd, can we bid thee linger here!

VERSE: GRIEF

An ancient enemy have I,And either he or I must die;For he never leaveth me,Never gives my soul relief,Never lets my sorrow cease,Never gives my spirit peace —For mine enemy is Grief!Pale he is, and sad and stern;And whene’er he cometh nigh,Blue and dim the torches burn,Pale and shrunk the roses turn;While my heart that he has piercedMany a time with fiery lance,Beats and trembles at his glance:Clad in burning steel is he,All my strength he can defy;For he never leaveth me —And one of us must die!I have said, “Let ancient sagesCharm me from my thoughts of pain!”So I read their deepest pages,And I strove to think – in vain!Wisdom’s cold calm words I tried,But he was seated by my side: -Learning I have won in vain;She cannot rid me of my pain.When at last soft sleep comes o’er me,A cold hand is on my heart;Stern sad eyes are there before me;Not in dreams will he depart:And when the same dreary visionFrom my weary brain has fled,Daylight brings the living phantom,He is seated by my bed,Bending o’er me all the while,With his cruel, bitter smile,Ever with me, ever nigh; —And either he or I must die!Then I said, long time ago,“I will flee to other climes,I will leave mine ancient foe!”Though I wandered far and wide —Still he followed at my side.And I fled where the blue watersBathe the sunny isles of Greece;Where Thessalian mountains riseUp against the purple skies;Where a haunting memory livethIn each wood and cave and rill;But no dream of gods could help me —He went with me still!I have been where Nile’s broad riverFlows upon the burning sand;Where the desert monster broodeth,Where the Eastern palm-trees stand;I have been where pathless forestsSpread a black eternal shade;Where the lurking panther hidingGlares from every tangled glade;But in vain I wandered wide,He was always by my side!Then I fled where snows eternalCold and dreary ever lie;Where the rosy lightnings gleam,Flashing through the northern sky;Where the red sun turns againBack upon his path of pain; —But a shadowy form was with me —I had fled in vain!I have thought, “If I can gazeSternly on him he will fade,For I know that he is nothingBut a dim ideal shade.”As I gazed at him the more,He grew stronger than before!Then I said, “Mine arm is strong,I will make him turn and flee:”I have struggled with him long —But that could never be!Once I battled with him soThat I thought I laid him low;Then in trembling joy I fled,While again and still againMurmuring to myself I said,“Mine old enemy is dead!”And I stood beneath the stars,When a chill came on my frame,And a fear I could not name,And a sense of quick despair,And, lo! mine enemy was there!Listen, for my soul is weary,Weary of its endless woe;I have called on one to aid meMightier even than my foe.Strength and hope fail day by day;I shall cheat him of his prey;Some day soon, I know not when,He will stab me through and through;He has wounded me before,But my heart can bear no more;Pray that hour may come to me,Only then shall I be free;Death alone has strength to take meWhere my foe can never be;Death, and Death alone, has powerTo conquer mine old enemy!

VERSE: THE TRIUMPH OF TIME

The tender delicate Flowers,I saw them fanned by a warm western wind,Fed by soft summer showers,Shielded by care, and yet, (oh Fate unkind!)Fade in a few short hours.The gentle and the gay,Rich in a glorious Future of bright deeds,Rejoicing in the day,Are met by Death, who sternly, sadly leadsThem far away.And Hopes, perfumed and bright,So lately shining, wet with dew and tears,Trembling in morning light;I saw them change to dark and anxious fearsBefore the night!I wept that all must die —“Yet Love,” I cried, “doth live, and conquer death – ”And Time passed by,And breathed on Love, and killed it with his breathEre Death was nigh.More bitter far than allIt was to know that Love could change and die —Hush! for the ages call“The Love of God lives through eternity,And conquers all!”

VERSE: A PARTING

Without one bitter feeling let us part —And for the years in which your love has shedA radiance like a glory round my head,I thank you, yes, I thank you from my heart.I thank you for the cherished hope of years,A starry future, dim and yet divine,Winging its way from Heaven to be mine,Laden with joy, and ignorant of tears.I thank you, yes, I thank you even moreThat my heart learnt not without love to live,But gave and gave, and still had more to give,From an abundant and exhaustless store.I thank you, and no grief is in these tears;I thank you, not in bitterness but truth,For the fair vision that adorned my youthAnd glorified so many happy years.Yet how much more I thank you that you toreAt length the veil your hand had woven away,Which hid my idol was a thing of clay,And false the altar I had knelt before.I thank you that you taught me the stern truth,(None other could have told and I believed,)That vain had been my life, and I deceived,And wasted all the purpose of my youth.I thank you that your hand dashed down the shrine,Wherein my idol worship I had paid;Else had I never known a soul was madeTo serve and worship only the Divine.I thank you that the heart I cast awayOn such as you, though broken, bruised and crushed,Now that its fiery throbbing is all hushed,Upon a worthier altar I can lay.I thank you for the lesson that such loveIs a perverting of God’s royal right,That it is made but for the Infinite,And all too great to live except above.I thank you for a terrible awaking,And if reproach seemed hidden in my pain,And sorrow seemed to cry on your disdain,Know that my blessing lay in your forsaking.Farewell for ever now: – in peace we part;And should an idle vision of my tearsArise before your soul in after years —Remember that I thank you from my heart!

VERSE: THE GOLDEN GATE

Dim shadows gather thickly round, and up the misty stair they climb,The cloudy stair that upward leads to where the closèd portals shine,Round which the kneeling spirits wait the opening of the Golden Gate.And some with eager longing go, still pressing forward, hand in hand,And some with weary step and slow, look back where their Belovèd stand —Yet up the misty stair they climb, led onward by the Angel Time.As unseen hands roll back the doors, the light that floods the very airIs but the shadow from within, of the great glory hidden there —And morn and eve, and soon and late, the shadows pass within the gate.As one by one they enter in, and the stern portals close once more,The halo seems to linger round those kneeling closest to the door:The joy that lightened from that place shines still upon the watcher’s face.The faint low echo that we hear of far-off music seems to fillThe silent air with love and fear, and the world’s clamours all grow still,Until the portals close again, and leave us toiling on in pain.Complain not that the way is long – what road is weary that leads there?But let the Angel take thy hand, and lead thee up the misty stair,And then with beating heart await, the opening of the Golden Gate.

VERSE: PHANTOMS

Back, ye Phantoms of the Past;In your dreary caves remain:What have I to do with memoriesOf a long-forgotten pain?For my Present is all peaceful,And my Future nobly planned:Long ago Time’s mighty billowsSwept your footsteps from the sand.Back into your caves; nor haunt meWith your voices full of woe;I have buried grief and sorrowIn the depths of Long-ago.See the glorious clouds of morningRoll away, and clear and brightShine the rays of cloudless daylight —Wherefore will ye moan of night?Never shall my heart be burthenedWith its ancient woe and fears;I can drive them from my presence,I can check these foolish tears.Back, ye Phantoms; leave, oh leave meTo a new and happy lot;Speak no more of things departed;Leave me – for I know ye not.Can it be that ’mid my gladnessI must ever hear you wail,Of the grief that wrung my spirit,And that made my cheek so pale?Joy is mine; but your sad voicesMurmur ever in mine ear:Vain is all the Future’s promise,While the dreary Past is here.Vain, oh worse than vain, the VisionsThat my heart, my life would fill,If the Past’s relentless phantomsCall upon me still!

VERSE: THANKFULNESS

My God, I thank Thee who hast madeThe Earth so bright;So full of splendour and of joy,Beauty and light;So many glorious things are here,Noble and right!I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast madeJoy to abound;So many gentle thoughts and deedsCircling us round,That in the darkest spot of EarthSome love is found.I thank Thee more that all our joyIs touched with pain;That shadows fall on brightest hours;That thorns remain;So that Earth’s bliss may be our guide,And not our chain.For Thou who knowest, Lord, how soonOur weak heart clings,Hast given us joys, tender and true,Yet all with wings,So that we see, gleaming on high,Diviner things!I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast keptThe best in store;We have enough, yet not too muchTo long for more:A yearning for a deeper peace,Not known before.I thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls,Though amply blest,Can never find, although they seek,A perfect rest —Nor ever shall, until they leanOn Jesus’ breast!

VERSE: HOME-SICKNESS

Where I am, the halls are gilded,Stored with pictures bright and rare;Strains of deep melodious musicFloat upon the perfumed air: -Nothing stirs the dreary silenceSave the melancholy sea,Near the poor and humble cottage,Where I fain would be!Where I am, the sun is shining,And the purple windows glow,Till their rich armorial shadowsStain the marble floor below: -Faded Autumn leaves are trembling,On the withered jasmine tree,Creeping round the little casement,Where I fain would be!Where I am, the days are passingO’er a pathway strewn with flowers;Song and joy and starry pleasuresCrown the happy smiling hours: -Slowly, heavily, and sadly,Time with weary wings must flee,Marked by pain, and toil, and sorrow,Where I fain would be!Where I am, the great and nobleTell me of renown and fame,And the red wine sparkles highest,To do honour to my name: -Far away a place is vacant,By a humble hearth, for me,Dying embers dimly show it,Where I fain would be!Where I am, are glorious dreaminess,Science, genius, art divine;And the great minds whom all honourInterchange their thoughts with mine: -A few simple hearts are waiting,Longing, wearying, for me,Far away where tears are falling,Where I fain would be!Where I am, all think me happy,For so well I play my part,None can guess, who smile around me,How far distant is my heart —Far away, in a poor cottage,Listening to the dreary sea,Where the treasures of my life are,Where I fain would be!

VERSE: WISHES

All the fluttering wishesCaged within thy heartBeat their wings against it,Longing to depart,Till they shake their prisonWith their wounded cry;Open wide thy heart to-day,And let the captives fly.Let them first fly upwardThrough the starry air,Till you almost lose them,For their home is there;Then, with outspread pinions,Circling round and round,Wing their way, whereverWant and woe are found.Where the weary stitcherToils for daily bread;Where the lonely watcherWatches by her dead;Where with thin weak fingers,Toiling at the loom,Stand the little children,Blighted ere they bloom.Where, by darkness blinded,Groping for the light,With distorted conscienceMen do wrong for right;Where, in the cold shadow,By smooth pleasure thrown,Human hearts by hundredsHarden into stone.Where on dusty highways,With faint heart and slow,Cursing the glad sunlight,Hungry outcasts go:Where all mirth is silenced,And the hearth is chill,For one place is empty,And one voice is still.Some hearts will be lighterWhile your captives roamFor their tender singing,Then recal them home;When the sunny hoursInto night depart,Softly they will nestleIn a quiet heart.

VERSE: THE PEACE OF GOD

We ask for Peace, oh Lord!Thy children ask Thy Peace;Not what the world calls rest,That toil and care should cease,That through bright sunny hoursCalm Life should fleet away,And tranquil night should fadeIn smiling day; —It is not for such Peace that we would pray.We ask for Peace, oh Lord!Yet not to stand secure,Girt round with iron Pride,Contented to endure:Crushing the gentle stringsThat human hearts should know,Untouched by others’ joyOr others’ woe; —Thou, oh dear Lord, wilt never teach us so.We ask Thy Peace, oh Lord!Through storm, and fear, and strife,To light and guide us on,Through a long struggling life:While no success or gainShall cheer the desperate fight,Or nerve, what the world calls,Our wasted might: -Yet pressing through the darkness to the light.It is Thine own, oh Lord,Who toil while others sleep;Who sow with loving careWhat other hands shall reap:They lean on Thee entranced,In calm and perfect rest:Give us that Peace, oh Lord,Divine and blest,Thou keepest for those hearts who love Thee best.

VERSE: LIFE IN DEATH AND DEATH IN LIFE

IIf the dread day that calls thee hence,Through a red mist of fear should loom,(Closing in deadliest night and gloomLong hours of aching dumb suspense,)And leave me to my lonely doom.I think, belovèd, I could seeIn thy dear eyes the loving lightGlaze into vacancy and night,And still say, “God is good to me,And all that He decrees is right.”That, watching thy slow struggling breath,And answering each imperfect sign,I still could pray thy prayer and mine,And tell thee, dear, though this was death,That God was love, and love divine.Could hold thee in my arms, and layUpon my heart thy weary head,And meet thy last smile ere it fled;Then hear, as in a dream, one say,“Now all is over, – she is dead.”Could smooth thy garments with fond care,And cross thy hands upon thy breast,And kiss thine eyelids down to rest,And yet say no word of despair,But, through my sobbing, “It is best.”Could stifle down the gnawing pain,And say, “We still divide our life,She has the rest, and I the strife,And mine the loss, and hers the gain:My ill with bliss for her is rife.”Then turn, and the old duties take —Alone now – yet with earnest willGathering sweet sacred traces stillTo help me on, and, for thy sake,My heart and life and soul to fill.I think I could check vain weak tears,And toil, – although the world’s great spaceHeld nothing but one vacant place,And see the dark and weary yearsLit only by a vanished grace.And sometimes, when the day was o’er,Call up the tender past again:Its painful joy, its happy pain,And live it over yet once more,And say, “But few more years remain.”And then, when I had striven my best,And all around would smiling say,“See how Time makes all grief decay,”Would lie down thankfully to rest,And seek thee in eternal day.IIBut if the day should ever rise —It could not and it cannot be —Yet, if the sun should ever see,Looking upon us from his skies,A day that took thy heart from me;If loving thee still more and more,And still so willing to be blind,I should the bitter knowledge find,That Time had eaten out the coreOf love, and left the empty rind;If the poor lifeless words, at last,(The soul gone, that was once so sweet,)Should cease my eager heart to cheat,And crumble back into the past,And show the whole a vain deceit;If I should see thee turn away,And know that prayer, and time, and pain,Could no more thy lost love regain,Than bid the hours of dying dayGleam in their mid-day noon again;If I should loose thy hand, and knowThat henceforth we must dwell apart,Since I had seen thy love depart,And only count the hours flowBy the dull throbbing of my heart;If I should gaze and gaze in vainInto thine eyes so deep and clear,And read the truth of all my fearHalf mixed with pity for my pain,And sorrow for the vanished year;If not to grieve thee overmuch,I strove to counterfeit disdain,And weave me a new life again,Which thy life could not mar, or touch,And so smile down my bitter pain;The ghost of my dead Past would riseAnd mock me, and I could not dareLook to a future of despair,Or even to the eternal skies,For I should still be lonely there.All Truth, all Honour, then would seemVain clouds, which the first wind blew by;All Trust, a folly doomed to die;All Life, a useless empty dream;All Love – since thine had failed – a lie.But see, thy tender smile has castMy fear away: this thought of mineIs treason to my Love and thine;For Love is Life, and Death at lastCrowns it eternal and divine!

VERSE: RECOLLECTIONS

As strangers, you and I are here;We both as aliens stand,Where once, in years gone by, I dweltNo stranger in the land.Then while you gaze on park and stream,Let me remain apart,And listen to the awakened soundOf voices in my heart.Here, where upon the velvet lawnThe cedar spreads its shade,And by the flower-beds all around,Bright roses bloom and fade;Shrill merry childish laughter rings,And baby voices sweet,And by me, on the path, I hearThe tread of little feet.Down the dark avenue of limes,Whose perfume loads the air,Whose boughs are rustling overhead,(For the west wind is there,)I hear the sound of earnest talk,Warnings and counsels wise,And the quick questioning that broughtSuch gentle calm replies.Still the light bridge hangs o’er the lake,Where broad-leaved lilies lie,And the cool water shows againThe cloud that moves on high; —And one voice speaks, in tones I thoughtThe past for ever kept;But now I know, deep in my heartIts echoes only slept.I hear, within the shady porch,Once more, the measured soundOf the old ballads that were read,While we sat listening round;The starry passion-flower stillUp the green trellice climbs;The tendrils waving seem to keepThe cadence of the rhymes.I might have striven, and striven in vain,Such visions to recall,Well known and yet forgotten; nowI see, I hear, them all!The Present pales before the Past,Who comes with angel wings;As in a dream I stand, amidstStrange yet familiar things!Enough; so let us go, mine eyesAre blinded by their tears;A voice speaks to my soul to-dayOf long forgotten years.And yet the vision in my heart,In a few hours more,Will fade into the silent past,Silently as before.

VERSE: ILLUSION

Where the golden corn is bending,And the singing reapers pass,Where the chestnut woods are sendingLeafy showers upon the grass,The blue river onward flowingMingles with its noisy strife,The murmur of the flowers growing,And the hum of insect life.I, from that rich plain was gazingTowards the snowy mountains high,Who their gleaming peaks were raisingUp against the purple sky.And the glory of their shining,Bathed in clouds of rosy light,Set my weary spirit piningFor a home so pure and bright!So I left the plain, and weary,Fainting, yet with hope sustained,Toiled through pathways long and drearyTill the mountain top was gained.Lo! the height that I had taken,As so shining from below,Was a desolate, forsakenRegion of perpetual snow.I am faint, my feet are bleeding,All my feeble strength is worn,In the plain no soul is heeding,I am here alone, forlorn.Lights are shining, bells are tolling,In the busy vale below;Near me night’s black clouds are rolling,Gathering o’er a waste of snow.So I watch the river windingThrough the misty fading plain,Bitter are the tear-drops blinding,Bitter useless toil and pain —Bitterest of all the findingThat my dream was false and vain!

VERSE: A VISION

Gloomy and black are the cypress trees,Drearily waileth the chill night breeze.The long grass waveth, the tombs are white,And the black clouds flit o’er the chill moonlight.Silent is all save the dropping rain,When slowly there cometh a mourning train,The lone churchyard is dark and dim,And the mourners raise a funeral hymn:“Open, dark grave, and take her;Though we have loved her so,Yet we must now forsake her,Love will no more awake her:(Oh, bitter woe!)Open thine arms and take herTo rest below!“Vain is our mournful weeping,Her gentle life is o’er;Only the worm is creeping,Where she will soon be sleeping,For evermore —Nor joy nor love is keepingFor her in store!”Gloomy and black are the cypress trees,And drearily wave in the chill night breeze.The dark clouds part and the heavens are blue,Where the trembling stars are shining through.Slowly across the gleaming sky,A crowd of white angels are passing by.Like a fleet of swans they float along,Or the silver notes of a dying song.Like a cloud of incense their pinions rise,Fading away up the purple skies.But hush! for the silent glory is stirred,By a strain such as earth has never heard:“Open, oh Heaven! we bear her,This gentle maiden mild,Earth’s griefs we gladly spare her,From earthly joys we tear her,Still undefiled;And to thine arms we bear her,Thine own, thy child.“Open, oh Heaven! no morrowWill see this joy o’ercast,No pain, no tears, no sorrow,Her gentle heart will borrow;Sad life is past;Shielded and safe from sorrow,At home at last.”But the vision faded and all was still,On the purple valley and distant hill.No sound was there save the wailing breeze,The rain, and the rustling cypress trees.

VERSE: PICTURES IN THE FIRE

What is it you ask me, darling?All my stories, child, you know;I have no strange dreams to tell you,Pictures I have none to show.Tell you glorious scenes of travel?Nay, my child, that cannot be,I have seen no foreign countries,Marvels none on land or sea.Yet strange sights in truth I witness,And I gaze until I tire,Wondrous pictures, changing ever,As I look into the fire.There, last night, I saw a cavern,Black as pitch; within it layCoiled in many folds a dragon,Glaring as if turned at bay.And a knight in dismal armourOn a wingèd eagle came,To do battle with this dragon;And his crest was all of flame.As I gazed the dragon faded,And, instead, sate Pluto crowned,By a lake of burning fire;Spirits dark were crouching round.That was gone, and lo! before me,A cathedral vast and grim;I could almost hear the organPeal alone the arches dim.As I watched the wreathèd pillars,Groves of stately palms arose,And a group of swarthy IndiansStealing on some sleeping foes.Stay; a cataract glancing brightly,Dashed and sparkled; and besideLay a broken marble monster,Mouth and eyes were staring wide.Then I saw a maiden wreathingStarry flowers in garlands sweet;Did she see the fiery serpentThat was wrapped about her feet?That fell crashing all and vanished;And I saw two armies close —I could almost hear the clarions,And the shouting of the foes.They were gone; and lo! bright angels,On a barren mountain wild,Raised appealing arms to Heaven,Bearing up a little child.And I gazed, and gazed, and slowlyGathered in my eyes sad tears,And the fiery pictures bore meBack through distant dreams of years.Once again I tasted sorrow,With past joy was once more gay,Till the shade had gathered round me —And the fire had died away.