The Poems Of Henry Kendall Part 37

On a Spanish Cathedral

-- * Every happy expression in these stanzas may fairly be claimed by the Hon. W. B. Dalley (_Author's note_).

Deep under the spires of a hill, by the feet of the thunder-cloud trod, I pause in a luminous, still, magnificent temple of G.o.d!

At the steps of the altar august--a vision of angels in stone-- I kneel, with my head to the dust, on the floors by the seraphim known.

No father in Jesus is near, with the high, the compa.s.sionate face; But the glory of G.o.dhead is here--its presence transfigures the place!

Behold in this beautiful fane, with the lights of blue heaven impearled, I think of the Elders of Spain, in the deserts--the wilds of the world!

I think of the wanderers poor who knelt on the flints and the sands, When the mighty and merciless Moor was lord of the Lady of Lands.

Where the African scimitar flamed, with a swift, bitter death in its kiss, The fathers, unknown and unnamed, found G.o.d in cathedrals like this!

The glow of His Spirit--the beam of His blessing--made lords of the men Whose food was the herb of the stream, whose roof was the dome of the den.

And, far in the hills by the sea, these awful hierophants prayed For Rome and its temples to be--in a temple by Deity made.

Who knows of their faith--of its power?

Perhaps, with the light in their eyes, They saw, in some wonderful hour, the marvel of centuries rise!

Perhaps in some moment supreme, when the mountains were holy and still, They dreamed the magnificent dream that came to the monks of Seville!

Surrounded by pillars and spires whose summits shone out in the glare Of the high, the omnipotent fires, who knows what was seen by them there?

Be sure, if they saw, in the noon of their faith, some ineffable fane, They looked on the church like a moon dropped down by the Lord into Spain.

And the Elders who shone in the time when Christ over Christendom beamed May have dreamed at their altars sublime the dream that their fathers had dreamed, By the glory of Italy moved--the majesty shining in Rome-- They turned to the land that they loved, and prayed for a church in their home; And a soul of unspeakable fire descended on them, and they fought And laboured a life for the spire and tower and dome of their thought!

These grew under blessing and praise, as morning in summertime grows-- As Troy in the dawn of the days to the music of Delphicus rose.

In a land of bewildering light, where the feet of the season are Spring's, They worked in the day and the night, surrounded by beautiful things.

The wonderful blossoms in stone--the flower and leaf of the Moor, On column and cupola shone, and gleamed on the glimmering floor.

In a splendour of colour and form, from the marvellous African's hands Yet vivid and shining and warm, they planted the Flower of the Lands.

Inspired by the patience supreme of the mute, the magnificent past, They toiled till the dome of their dream in the firmament blossomed at last!

Just think of these men--of their time-- of the days of their deed, and the scene!

How touching their zeal--how sublime their suppression of self must have been!

In a city yet hacked by the sword and scarred by the flame of the Moor, They started the work of their Lord, sad, silent, and solemnly poor.

These fathers, how little they thought of themselves, and how much of the days When the children of men would be brought to pray in their temple, and praise!

Ah! full of the radiant, still, heroic old life that has flown, The merciful monks of Seville toiled on, and died bare and unknown.

The music, the colour, the gleam of their mighty cathedral will be Hereafter a luminous dream of the heaven I never may see; To a spirit that suffers and seeks for the calm of a competent creed, This temple, whose majesty speaks, becomes a religion indeed; The pa.s.sionate lights--the intense, the ineffable beauty of sound-- Go straight to the heart through the sense, as a song would of seraphim crowned.

And lo! by these altars august, the life that is highest we live, And are filled with the infinite trust and the peace that the world cannot give.

They have pa.s.sed, have the elders of time-- they have gone; but the work of their hands, Pre-eminent, peerless, sublime, like a type of eternity stands!

They are mute, are the fathers who made this church in the century dim; But the dome with their beauty arrayed remains, a perpetual hymn.

Their names are unknown; but so long as the humble in spirit and pure Are worshipped in speech and in song, our love for these monks will endure; And the lesson by sacrifice taught will live in the light of the years With a reverence not to be bought, and a tenderness deeper than tears.

Rover

No cla.s.sic warrior tempts my pen To fill with verse these pages-- No lordly-hearted man of men My Muse's thought engages.

Let others choose the mighty dead, And sing their battles over!

My champion, too, has fought and bled-- My theme is one-eyed Rover.

A grave old dog, with tattered ears Too sore to c.o.c.k up, reader!-- A four-legged hero, full of years, But st.u.r.dy as a cedar.

Still, age is age; and if my rhyme Is dashed with words pathetic, Don't wonder, friend; I've seen the time When Rove was more athletic.

He lies coiled up before me now, A comfortable crescent.

His night-black nose and grizzled brow Fixed in a fashion pleasant.

But ever and anon he lifts The one good eye I mention, And tries a thousand doggish shifts To rivet my attention.

Just let me name his name, and up You'll see him start and patter Towards me, like a six-months' pup In point of speed, but fatter.

He pokes his head upon my lap, Nor heeds the whip above him; Because he knows, the dear old chap, His human friends all love him.

Our younger dogs cut off from hence At sight of lash uplifted; But Rove, with grand indifference, Remains, and can't be shifted.

And, ah! the set upon his phiz At meals defies expression; For I confess that Rover is A cadger by profession.

The lesser favourites of the place At dinner keep their distance; But by my chair one grizzled face Begs on with brave persistence.

His jaws present a toothless sight, But still my hearty hero Can satisfy an appet.i.te Which brings a bone to zero.

And while Spot barks and p.u.s.s.y mews, To move the cook's compa.s.sion, He takes his after-dinner snooze In genuine biped fashion.

In fact, in this, our ancient pet So hits off human nature, That I at times almost forget He's but a dog in feature.

Between his tail and bright old eye The swift communications Outstrip the messages which fly From telegraphic stations.

And, ah! that tail's rich eloquence Conveys too clear a moral, For men who have a grain of sense About its drift to quarrel.

At night, his voice is only heard When it is wanted badly; For Rover is too cute a bird To follow shadows madly.

The pup and Carlo in the dark Will start at crickets chirring; But when we hear the old dog bark We know there's _something_ stirring.

He knows a gun, does Rover here; And if I c.o.c.k a trigger, He makes himself from tail to ear An admirable figure.

For, once the fowling piece is out, And game is on the _tapis_, The set upon my hero's snout Would make a c.o.c.kle happy.

And as for horses, why, betwixt Our chestnut mare and Rover The mutual friendship is as fixed As any love of lover.

And when his master's hand resigns The bridle for the paddle, His dogship on the gra.s.s reclines, And stays and minds the saddle.

Of other friends he has no lack; Grey p.u.s.s.y is his crony, And kittens mount upon his back, As youngsters mount a pony.