And black and muddy though the waters are
We may not miss the glory of a flower,
And winter moons will give them magic power
To spin in cylinders of diamond spar;
And everything hath beauty near and far,
And keepeth close and waiteth on its hour!
And I, when I encounter on my road
A human soul that looketh black and grim,
Shall I more ceremonious be than God?
Shall I refuse to watch one hour with him
Who once beside our deepest woe did bud
A patient watching flower about the brim?
I batter with the thicknessOf the swathing, blinding shroud:Oh, let me see thy face,The only perfect graceThat thou canst show thy child.0 father, being-giver,Take off the sickness-cloud;Saviour, my life deliverFrom this dull body-shroud:Till I can see thy faceI am not full of grace,I am not reconciled.
Light came fast and faster-My light did not come!I waited all the daylight,All through noon’s hot flame:In the evening’s gray light,Lo, the Master came!
Plunge into yonder gulf?A golden beaker I fling in it-there!The black mouth swallows it like a wolf!Who brings me the cup again, whoever,It is his own-he may keep it for ever!’‘Tis the king who speaks. He flings from the browOf the cliff, that, rugged and steep,Hangs out o’er the endless sea below,The cup in the…
Sir Philip Sidney’sArcadiaTo L.P.M.D.Receive thine own; for I and it are thine.Thou know’st its story; how for forty days-Weary with sickness and with social haze,(After thy hands and lips with love divineHad somewhat soothed me, made the glory shine,Though with a watery lustre,) more delaysOf blessedness forbid-I took my waysInto a solitude, Invention’s mine;There thought…
She lost, indeed-why, most things,As if they had been sand!She said, ‘But I must use them,And can’t look after all!Indeed I did not lose them,I only let them fall!’That’s how she lost her thimble,It fell upon the floor:Her eyes were very nimbleBut she never saw it more.And then she lost her dolly,Her very doll of…
Now we cross a belt of Night,Now a strip of shining Day!Now it is a month of June,Now December’s shivering hour;Now rides high loved memories’ Moon,Now the Dark is dense with power!Summers, winters, days, and nights,Moons, and clouds, they come and go;Joys and sorrows, pains, delights,Hope and fear, andyesandno.All is well: come, girls and boys,Not…
