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From all sweet art; and out of all old rhyme;
Thine eyes and lips are light and song to me;
The shadows of the beauty of all time;
In song or story are but shapes of thee;
Alas; the shadowy shapes! ah; sweet my dear;
Shall life or death bring all thy being near?
LOST IN HADES。
I dreamed that somewhere in the shadowy place;
Grief of farewell unspoken was forgot
In welcome; and regret remembered not;
And hopeless prayer accomplished turned to praise
On lips that had been songless many days;
Hope had no more to hope for; and desire
And dread were overpast; in white attire
New born we walked among the new world's ways。
Then from the press of shades a spirit threw
Towards me such apples as these gardens bear;
And turning; I was 'ware of her; and knew
And followed her fleet voice and flying hair; …
Followed; and found her not; and seeking you
I found you never; dearest; anywhere。
A STAR IN THE NIGHT。
The perfect piteous beauty of thy face
Is like a star the dawning drives away;
Mine eyes may never see in the bright day
Thy pallid halo; thy supernal grace;
But in the night from forth the silent place
Thou comest; dim in dreams; as doth a stray
Star of the starry flock that in the grey
Is seen; and lost; and seen a moment's space。
And as the earth at night turns to a star;
Loved long ago; and dearer than the sun;
So in the spiritual place afar;
At night our souls are mingled and made one;
And wait till one night fall; and one dawn rise;
That brings no noon too splendid for your eyes。
A SUNSET ON YARROW。
The wind and the day had lived together;
They died together; and far away
Spoke farewell in the sultry weather;
Out of the sunset; over the heather;
The dying wind and the dying day。
Far in the south; the summer levin
Flushed; a flame in the grey soft air:
We seemed to look on the hills of heaven;
You saw within; but to me 'twas given
To see your face; as an angel's; there。
Never again; ah surely never
Shall we wait and watch; where of old we stood;
The low good…night of the hill and the river;
The faint light fade; and the wan stars quiver;
Twain grown one in the solitude。
ANOTHER WAY。
Come to me in my dreams; and then;
One saith; I shall be well again;
For then the night will more than pay
The hopeless longing of the day。
Nay; come not THOU in dreams; my sweet;
With shadowy robes; and silent feet;
And with the voice; and with the eyes
That greet me in a soft surprise。
Last night; last night; in dreams we met;
And how; to…day; shall I forget;
Or how; remembering; restrain
Mine incommunicable pain?
Nay; where thy land and people are;
Dwell thou remote; apart; afar;
Nor mingle with the shapes that sweep
The melancholy ways of Sleep。
But if; perchance; the shadows break;
If dreams depart; and men awake;
If face to face at length we see;
Be thine the voice to welcome me。
HESPEROTHEN
By the example of certain Grecian mariners; who; being safely
returned from the war about Troy; leave yet again their old lands
and gods; seeking they know not what; and choosing neither to abide
in the fair Phaeacian island; nor to dwell and die with the Sirens;
at length end miserably in a desert country by the sea; is set
forth the VANITY OF MELANCHOLY。 And by the land of Phaeacia is to
be understood the place of Art and of fair Pleasures; and by
Circe's Isle; the place of bodily delights; whereof men; falling
aweary; attain to Eld; and to the darkness of that age。 Which
thing Master Francoys Rabelais feigned; under the similitude of the
Isle of the Macraeones。
THE SEEKERS FOR PHAEACIA。
There is a land in the remotest day;
Where the soft night is born; and sunset dies;
The eastern shore sees faint tides fade away;
That wash the lands where laughter; tears; and sighs
Make life; … the lands below the blue of common skies。
But in the west is a mysterious sea;
(What sails have seen it; or what shipmen known?)
With coasts enchanted where the Sirens be;
With islands where a Goddess walks alone;
And in the cedar trees the magic winds make moan。
Eastward the human cares of house and home;
Cities; and ships; and unknown gods; and loves;
Westward; strange maidens fairer than the foam;
And lawless lives of men; and haunted groves;
Wherein a god may dwell; and where the Dryad roves。
The gods are careless of the days and death
Of toilsome men; beyond the western seas;
The gods are heedless of their painful breath;
And love them not; for they are not as these;
But in the golden west they live and lie at ease。
Yet the Phaeacians well they love; who live
At the light's limit; passing careless hours;
Most like the gods; and they have gifts to give;
Even wine; and fountains musical; and flowers;
And song; and if they will; swift ships; and magic powers。
It is a quiet midland; in the cool
Of the twilight comes the god; though no man prayed;
To watch the maids and young men beautiful
Dance; and they see him; and are not afraid;
For they are neat of kin to gods; and undismayed。
Ah; would the bright red prows might bring us nigh
The dreamy isles that the Immortals keep!
But with a mist they hide them wondrously;
And far the path and dim to where they sleep; …
The loved; the shadowy lands; along the shadowy deep。
A SONG OF PHAEACIA。
The languid sunset; mother of roses;
Lingers; a light on the magic seas;
The wide fire flames; as a flower uncloses;
Heavy with odour; and loose to the breeze。
The red rose clouds; without law or leader;
Gather and float in the airy plain;
The nightingale sings to the dewy cedar;
The cedar scatters his scent to the main。
The strange flowers' perfume turns to singing;
Heard afar over moonlit seas:
The Siren's song; grown faint in winging;
Falls in scent on the cedar trees。
As waifs blown out of the sunset; flying;
Purple; and rosy; and grey; the birds
Brighten the air with their wings; their crying
Wakens a moment the weary herds。
Butterflies flit from the fairy garden;
Living blossoms of flying flowers;
Never the nights with winter harden;
Nor moons wax keen in this land of ours。
Great fruits; fragrant; green and golden;
Gleam in the green; and droop and fall;
Blossom; and bud; and flower unfolden;
Swing; and cling to the garden wall。
Deep in the woods as twilight darkens;
Glades are red with the scented fire;
Far in the dells the white maid hearkens;
Song and sigh of the heart's desire。
Ah; and as moonlight fades in morning;
Maiden's song in the matin grey;
Faints as the first bird's note; a warning;
Wakes and wails to the new…born day。
The waking song and the dying measure
Meet; and the waxing and waning light
Meet; and faint with the hours of pleasure;
The rose of the sea and the sky is white。
THE DEPARTURE FROM PHAEACIA。
The Phaeacians。
Why from the dreamy meadows;
More fair than any dream;
Why seek ye for the shadows
Beyond the ocean stream?
Through straits of storm and peril;
Through firths unsailed before;
Why make you for the sterile;
The dark Kimmerian shore?
There no bright streams are flowing;
There day and night are one;
No harvest time; no sowing;
No sight of any sun;
No sound of song or tabor;
No dance shall greet you there;
No noise of mortal labour
Breaks on the blind chill air。
Are ours not happy places;
Where gods with mortals trod?
Saw not our sires the faces
Of many a present god?
The Seekers。
Nay; now no god comes hither;
In shape that men may see;
They fare we know not whither;
We know not what they be。
Yea; though the sunset lingers
Far in your fairy glades;
Though yours the sweetest singers;
Though yours the kindest maids;
Yet here be the true shadows;
Here in the doubtful light;
Amid the dreamy meadows
No shadow haunts the night。
We seek a city splendid;
With light beyond the sun;
Or lands where dreams are ended;
And works and days are done。
A BALLAD OF DEPARTURE。 (3)
Fair white bird; what song art thou singing
In wintry weather of lands o'er sea?
Dear white bird; what way art thou winging;
Where no grass grows; and no green tree?
I looked at the far…off fields and grey;
There grew no tree but the cypress tree;
That bears sad fruits with the flowers of May;
And whoso looks on it; woe is he。
And whoso eats of the fruit thereof
Has no more sorrow; and no more love;
And who sets the same in his garden stead;
In a little space he is waste and dead。
THEY HEAR THE SIRENS FOR THE SECOND TIME。
The weary sails a moment sl