The Ascent of Man Part 6

Through the crash of wave on wave gigantic, Through the thunder of the hurricane, My wild heart in breaking shrilled with frantic Exultation--"Chaos come again!

Yea, let earth be split and cloven asunder With man's still acc.u.mulating curse-- Life is but a momentary blunder In the cycle of the Universe.

"Yea, let earth with forest-belted mountains, Hills and valleys, cataracts and plains, With her clouds and storms and fires and fountains, Pa.s.s with all her rolling sphere contains, Melt, dissolve again into the ocean, Ocean fade into a nebulous haze!"

And I sank back without sense or motion 'Neath the blank Moon's mute Medusa face.

Moments, years, or ages pa.s.sed, when, lifting Freezing lids, I felt the heavens on high, And, innumerable as the sea-sands drifting, Stars unnumbered drifted through the sky.

Rhythmical in luminous rotation, In daedalian maze they reel and fly, And their rushing light is Time's pulsation In his pa.s.sage through Eternity.

Constellated suns, fresh lit, declining, Were ignited now, now quenched in s.p.a.ce, Rolling round each other, or inclining Orb to orb in multi-coloured rays.

Ever showering from their flaming fountains Light more light on each far-circling earth, Till life stirred crepuscular seas, and mountains Heaved convulsive with the throes of birth.

And the n.o.ble brotherhood of planets, Knitted each to each by links of light, Circled round their suns, nor knew a minute's Lapse or languor in their ceaseless flight.

And pale moons and rings and burning splinters Of wrecked worlds swept round their parent spheres, Clothed with spring or sunk in polar winters As their sun draws nigh or disappears.

Still new vistas of new stars--far dwindling-- Through the firmament like dewdrops roll, Torches of the Cosmos which enkindling Flash their revelation on the soul.

Yea, One spake there--though nor form nor feature Shown--a Voice came from the peaks of time:-- "Wilt thou judge me, wilt thou curse me, Creature Whom I raised up from the Ocean slime?

"Long I waited--ages rolled o'er ages-- As I crystallized in granite rocks, Struggling dumb through immemorial stages, Glacial aeons, fiery earthquake shocks.

In fierce throbs of flame or slow upheaval, Speck by tiny speck, I topped the seas, Leaped from earth's dark womb, and in primeval Forests shot up shafts of mammoth trees.

"Through a myriad forms I yearned and panted, Putting forth quick shoots in endless swarms-- Giant-hoofed, sharp-tusked, or finned or planted Writhing on the reef with pinioned arms.

I have climbed from reek of sanguine revels In Cimmerian wood and th.o.r.n.y wild, Slowly upwards to the dawnlit levels Where I bore thee, oh my youngest Child!

"Oh, my heir and hope of my to-morrow, I--I draw thee on through fume and fret, Croon to thee in pain and call through sorrow, Flowers and stars take for thy alphabet.

Through the eyes of animals appealing, Feel my fettered spirit yearn to thine, Who, in storm of will and clash of feeling, Shape the life that shall be--the divine.

"Oh, redeem me from my tiger rages, Reptile greed, and foul hyaena l.u.s.t; With the hero's deeds, the thoughts of sages, Sow and fructify this pa.s.sive dust; Drop in dew and healing love of woman On the bloodstained hands of hungry strife, Till there break from pa.s.sion of the Human Morning-glory of transfigured life.

"I have cast my burden on thy shoulder; Unimagined potencies have given That from formless Chaos thou shalt mould her And translate gross earth to luminous heaven.

Bear, oh, bear the terrible compulsion, Flinch not from the path thy fathers trod, From Man's martyrdom in slow convulsion Will be born the infinite goodness--G.o.d."

Ceased the Voice: and as it ceased it drifted Like the seash.e.l.l's inarticulate moan; From the Deep, on wings of flame uplifted, Rose the sun rejoicing and alone.

Laughed in light upon the living ocean, Danced and rocked itself upon the spray, And its shivered beams in twinkling motion Gleamed like star-motes of the Milky Way.

And beside me in the golden morning I beheld my shrouded phantom-guide; But no longer sorrow-veiled and mourning-- It became transfigured by my side.

And I knew--as one escaped from prison Sees old things again with fresh surprise-- It was Love himself, Love re-arisen With the Eternal shining through his eyes.

POEMS OF THE OPEN AIR.

"Therefore all seasons shall be sweet to thee, Whether the summer clothe the general earth With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch."

S. T. COLERIDGE.

_THE SOWER._

The winds had hushed at last as by command; The quiet sky above, With its grey clouds spread o'er the fallow land, Sat brooding like a dove

There was no motion in the air, no sound Within the tree-tops stirred, Save when some last leaf, fluttering to the ground, Dropped like a wounded bird:

Or when the swart rooks in a gathering crowd With clamorous noises wheeled, Hovering awhile, then swooped with wranglings loud Down on the stubbly field.

For now the big-thewed horses, toiling slow In straining couples yoked, Patiently dragged the ploughshare to and fro Till their wet haunches smoked.

Till the stiff acre, broken into clods, Bruised by the harrow's tooth, Lay lightly shaken, with its humid sods Ranged into furrows smooth.

There looming lone, from rise to set of sun, Without or pause or speed, Solemnly striding by the furrows dun, The sower sows the seed.

The sower sows the seed, which mouldering, Deep coffined in the earth, Is buried now, but with the future spring Will quicken into birth.

Oh, poles of birth and death! Controlling Powers Of human toil and need!

On this fair earth all men are surely sowers, Surely all life is seed!

All life is seed, dropped in Time's yawning furrow, Which with slow sprout and shoot, In the revolving world's unfathomed morrow, Will blossom and bear fruit.

_A SPRING SONG._

Dark sod pierced by flames of flowers, Dead wood freshly quickening, Bright skies dusked with sudden showers, Lit by rainbows on the wing.

Cuckoo calls and young lambs' bleating Nimble airs which coyly bring Little gusts of tender greeting From shy nooks where violets cling.

Half-fledged buds and birds and vernal Fields of gra.s.s dew-glistening; Evanescent life's eternal Resurrection, bridal Spring!

_APRIL RAIN._

The April rain, the April rain, Comes slanting down in fitful showers, Then from the furrow shoots the grain, And banks are fledged with nestling flowers; And in grey shaw and woodland bowers The cuckoo through the April rain Calls once again.

The April sun, the April sun, Glints through the rain in fitful splendour, And in grey shaw and woodland dun The little leaves spring forth and tender Their infant hands, yet weak and slender, For warmth towards the April sun, One after one.

And between shower and shine hath birth The rainbow's evanescent glory; Heaven's light that breaks on mists of earth!

Frail symbol of our human story, It flowers through showers where, looming h.o.a.ry, The rain-clouds flash with April mirth, Like Life on earth.

_THE SLEEPING BEAUTY._

There was intoxication in the air; The wind, keen blowing from across the seas, O'er leagues of new-ploughed land and heathery leas, Smelt of wild gorse whose gold flamed everywhere.

An undertone of song pulsed far and near, The soaring larks filled heaven with ecstasies, And, like a living clock among the trees, The shouting cuckoo struck the time of year.

For now the Sun had found the earth once more, And woke the Sleeping Beauty with a kiss; Who thrilled with light of love in every pore, Opened her flower-blue eyes, and looked in his.

Then all things felt life fluttering at their core-- The world shook mystical in lambent bliss.

_APPLE-BLOSSOM._

Blossom of the apple trees!

Mossy trunks all gnarled and h.o.a.ry, Grey boughs tipped with rose-veined glory, Cl.u.s.tered petals soft as fleece Garlanding old apple trees!

How you gleam at break of day!