Dew and rain fall everywhere, Harvests ripen, flowers are fair, And the whole round earth is bare To the moonshine and the sun;And the live air, fanned with wings, Bright with breeze and sunshine, brings Into contact distant things, And makes all the countries one.
Let us wander where we will, Something kindred greets us still;Something seen on vale or hill Falls familiar on the heart;So, at scent or sound or sight, Severed souls by day and night Tremble with the same delight -Tremble, half the world apart.
TO MESDAMES ZASSETSKY AND GARSCHINE
THE wind may blaw the lee-gang way And aye the lift be mirk an' gray, An deep the moss and steigh the brae Where a' maun gang -There's still an hoor in ilka day For luve and sang.
And canty hearts are strangely steeled.
By some dikeside they'll find a bield, Some couthy neuk by muir or field They're sure to hit, Where, frae the blatherin' wind concealed, They'll rest a bit.
An' weel for them if kindly fate Send ower the hills to them a mate;They'll crack a while o' kirk an' State, O' yowes an' rain:
An' when it's time to take the gate, Tak' ilk his ain.
- Sic neuk beside the southern sea I soucht - sic place o' quiet lee Frae a' the winds o' life. To me, Fate, rarely fair, Had set a freendly company To meet me there.
Kindly by them they gart me sit, An' blythe was I to bide a bit.
Licht as o' some hame fireside lit My life for me.
- Ower early maun I rise an' quit This happy lee.
TO MADAME GARSCHINE
WHAT is the face, the fairest face, till Care, Till Care the graver - Care with cunning hand, Etches content thereon and makes it fair, Or constancy, and love, and makes it grand?
MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA
FOR some abiding central source of power, Strong-smitten steady chords, ye seem to flow And, flowing, carry virtue. Far below, The vain tumultuous passions of the hour Fleet fast and disappear; and as the sun Shines on the wake of tempests, there is cast O'er all the shattered ruins of my past A strong contentment as of battles won.
And yet I cry in anguish, as I hear The long drawn pageant of your passage roll Magnificently forth into the night.
To yon fair land ye come from, to yon sphere Of strength and love where now ye shape your flight, O even wings of music, bear my soul!
Ye have the power, if but ye had the will, Strong-smitten steady chords in sequence grand, To bear me forth into that tranquil land Where good is no more ravelled up with ill;Where she and I, remote upon some hill Or by some quiet river's windless strand, May live, and love, and wander hand in hand, And follow nature simply, and be still.
From this grim world, where, sadly, prisoned, we Sit bound with others' heart-strings as with chains, And, if one moves, all suffer, - to that Goal, If such a land, if such a sphere, there be, Thither, from life and all life's joys and pains, O even wings of music, bear my soul!
FEAR NOT, DEAR FRIEND, BUT FREELY LIVE YOUR DAYSFEAR not, dear friend, but freely live your days Though lesser lives should suffer. Such am I, A lesser life, that what is his of sky Gladly would give for you, and what of praise.
Step, without trouble, down the sunlit ways.
We that have touched your raiment, are made whole From all the selfish cankers of man's soul, And we would see you happy, dear, or die.
Therefore be brave, and therefore, dear, be free;Try all things resolutely, till the best, Out of all lesser betters, you shall find;And we, who have learned greatness from you, we, Your lovers, with a still, contented mind, See you well anchored in some port of rest.
LET LOVE GO, IF GO SHE WILL
LET love go, if go she will.
Seek not, O fool, her wanton flight to stay.
Of all she gives and takes away The best remains behind her still.
The best remains behind; in vain Joy she may give and take again, Joy she may take and leave us pain, If yet she leave behind The constant mind To meet all fortunes nobly, to endure All things with a good heart, and still be pure, Still to be foremost in the foremost cause, And still be worthy of the love that was.
Love coming is omnipotent indeed, But not Love going. Let her go. The seed Springs in the favouring Summer air, and grows, And waxes strong; and when the Summer goes, Remains, a perfect tree.
Joy she may give and take again, Joy she may take and leave us pain.
O Love, and what care we?
For one thing thou hast given, O Love, one thing Is ours that nothing can remove;And as the King discrowned is still a King, The unhappy lover still preserves his love.
I DO NOT FEAR TO OWN ME KIN
I DO not fear to own me kin To the glad clods in which spring flowers begin;Or to my brothers, the great trees, That speak with pleasant voices in the breeze, Loud talkers with the winds that pass;Or to my sister, the deep grass.
Of such I am, of such my body is, That thrills to reach its lips to kiss.
That gives and takes with wind and sun and rain And feels keen pleasure to the point of pain.
Of such are these, The brotherhood of stalwart trees, The humble family of flowers, That make a light of shadowy bowers Or star the edges of the bent:
They give and take sweet colour and sweet scent;They joy to shed themselves abroad;
And tree and flower and grass and sod Thrill and leap and live and sing With silent voices in the Spring.
Hence I not fear to yield my breath, Since all is still unchanged by death;Since in some pleasant valley I may be, Clod beside clod, or tree by tree, Long ages hence, with her I love this hour;And feel a lively joy to share With her the sun and rain and air, To taste her quiet neighbourhood As the dumb things of field and wood, The clod, the tree, and starry flower, Alone of all things have the power.
I AM LIKE ONE THAT FOR LONG DAYS HAD SATEI AM like one that for long days had sate, With seaward eyes set keen against the gale, On some lone foreland, watching sail by sail, The portbound ships for one ship that was late;And sail by sail, his heart burned up with joy, And cruelly was quenched, until at last One ship, the looked-for pennant at its mast, Bore gaily, and dropt safely past the buoy;And lo! the loved one was not there - was dead.