上海龙凤shlf最新地址Poem: Humanitad

It is full winter now:  the trees are bare,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Save where the cattle huddle from the cold

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Beneath the pine, for it doth never wear

The autumn's gaudy livery whose gold

Her jealous brother pilfers, but is true

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To the green doublet; bitter is the wind, as though it blew

From Saturn's cave; a few thin wisps of hay

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Lie on the sharp black hedges, where the wain

Dragged the sweet pillage of a summer's day

From the low meadows up the narrow lane;

Upon the half-thawed snow the bleating sheep

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Press close against the hurdles, and the shivering house-dogs creep

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From the shut stable to the frozen stream

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And back again disconsolate, and miss

The bawling shepherds and the noisy team;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And overhead in circling listlessness

The cawing rooks whirl round the frosted stack,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Or crowd the dripping boughs; and in the fen the ice-pools crack

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where the gaunt bittern stalks among the reeds

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And flaps his wings, and stretches back his neck,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And hoots to see the moon; across the meads

Limps the poor frightened hare, a little speck;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And a stray seamew with its fretful cry

Flits like a sudden drift of snow against the dull grey sky.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Full winter:  and the lusty goodman brings

His load of faggots from the chilly byre,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And stamps his feet upon the hearth, and flings

The sappy billets on the waning fire,

And laughs to see the sudden lightening scare

上海龙凤shlf最新地址His children at their play, and yet, - the spring is in the air;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Already the slim crocus stirs the snow,

And soon yon blanched fields will bloom again

With nodding cowslips for some lad to mow,

For with the first warm kisses of the rain

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The winter's icy sorrow breaks to tears,

And the brown thrushes mate, and with bright eyes the rabbit peers

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From the dark warren where the fir-cones lie,

And treads one snowdrop under foot, and runs

Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Across our path at evening, and the suns

Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Dance through the hedges till the early rose,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址(That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose

The little quivering disk of golden fire

Which the bees know so well, for with it come

Pale boy's-love, sops-in-wine, and daffadillies all in bloom.

Then up and down the field the sower goes,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址While close behind the laughing younker scares

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With shrilly whoop the black and thievish crows,

And then the chestnut-tree its glory wears,

And on the grass the creamy blossom falls

In odorous excess, and faint half-whispered madrigals

Steal from the bluebells' nodding carillons

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Each breezy morn, and then white jessamine,

That star of its own heaven, snap-dragons

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With lolling crimson tongues, and eglantine

In dusty velvets clad usurp the bed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And woodland empery, and when the lingering rose hath shed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Red leaf by leaf its folded panoply,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And pansies closed their purple-lidded eyes,

Chrysanthemums from gilded argosy

Unload their gaudy scentless merchandise,

And violets getting overbold withdraw

From their shy nooks, and scarlet berries dot the leafless haw.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址O happy field! and O thrice happy tree!

Soon will your queen in daisy-flowered smock

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And crown of flower-de-luce trip down the lea,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Soon will the lazy shepherds drive their flock

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Back to the pasture by the pool, and soon

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Through the green leaves will float the hum of murmuring bees at

noon.

Soon will the glade be bright with bellamour,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The flower which wantons love, and those sweet nuns

Vale-lilies in their snowy vestiture

Will tell their beaded pearls, and carnations

With mitred dusky leaves will scent the wind,

And straggling traveller's-joy each hedge with yellow stars will

bind.

Dear bride of Nature and most bounteous spring,

That canst give increase to the sweet-breath'd kine,

And to the kid its little horns, and bring

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The soft and silky blossoms to the vine,

Where is that old nepenthe which of yore

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Man got from poppy root and glossy-berried mandragore!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址There was a time when any common bird

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Could make me sing in unison, a time

When all the strings of boyish life were stirred

To quick response or more melodious rhyme

By every forest idyll; - do I change?

Or rather doth some evil thing through thy fair pleasaunce range?

Nay, nay, thou art the same:  'tis I who seek

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To vex with sighs thy simple solitude,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And because fruitless tears bedew my cheek

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Would have thee weep with me in brotherhood;

Fool! shall each wronged and restless spirit dare

To taint such wine with the salt poison of own despair!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Thou art the same:  'tis I whose wretched soul

Takes discontent to be its paramour,

And gives its kingdom to the rude control

Of what should be its servitor, - for sure

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Wisdom is somewhere, though the stormy sea

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Contain it not, and the huge deep answer ''Tis not in me.'

To burn with one clear flame, to stand erect

In natural honour, not to bend the knee

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In profitless prostrations whose effect

Is by itself condemned, what alchemy

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Can teach me this? what herb Medea brewed

Will bring the unexultant peace of essence not subdued?

The minor chord which ends the harmony,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And for its answering brother waits in vain

Sobbing for incompleted melody,

Dies a swan's death; but I the heir of pain,

A silent Memnon with blank lidless eyes,

Wait for the light and music of those suns which never rise.

The quenched-out torch, the lonely cypress-gloom,

The little dust stored in the narrow urn,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The gentle XAIPE of the Attic tomb, -

Were not these better far than to return

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To my old fitful restless malady,

Or spend my days within the voiceless cave of misery?

Nay! for perchance that poppy-crowned god

Is like the watcher by a sick man's bed

Who talks of sleep but gives it not; his rod

Hath lost its virtue, and, when all is said,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Death is too rude, too obvious a key

To solve one single secret in a life's philosophy.

And Love! that noble madness, whose august

And inextinguishable might can slay

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The soul with honeyed drugs, - alas! I must

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From such sweet ruin play the runaway,

Although too constant memory never can

Forget the arched splendour of those brows Olympian

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which for a little season made my youth

So soft a swoon of exquisite indolence

That all the chiding of more prudent Truth

Seemed the thin voice of jealousy, - O hence

Thou huntress deadlier than Artemis!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Go seek some other quarry! for of thy too perilous bliss.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址My lips have drunk enough, - no more, no more, -

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Though Love himself should turn his gilded prow

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Back to the troubled waters of this shore

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where I am wrecked and stranded, even now

The chariot wheels of passion sweep too near,

Hence!  Hence!  I pass unto a life more barren, more austere.

More barren - ay, those arms will never lean

Down through the trellised vines and draw my soul

In sweet reluctance through the tangled green;

Some other head must wear that aureole,

For I am hers who loves not any man

Whose white and stainless bosom bears the sign Gorgonian.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let Venus go and chuck her dainty page,

And kiss his mouth, and toss his curly hair,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With net and spear and hunting equipage

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let young Adonis to his tryst repair,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址But me her fond and subtle-fashioned spell

Delights no more, though I could win her dearest citadel.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ay, though I were that laughing shepherd boy

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Who from Mount Ida saw the little cloud

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Pass over Tenedos and lofty Troy

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And knew the coming of the Queen, and bowed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In wonder at her feet, not for the sake

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of a new Helen would I bid her hand the apple take.

Then rise supreme Athena argent-limbed!

And, if my lips be musicless, inspire

At least my life:  was not thy glory hymned

By One who gave to thee his sword and lyre

Like AEschylos at well-fought Marathon,

And died to show that Milton's England still could bear a son!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And yet I cannot tread the Portico

And live without desire, fear and pain,

Or nurture that wise calm which long ago

The grave Athenian master taught to men,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Self-poised, self-centred, and self-comforted,

To watch the world's vain phantasies go by with unbowed head.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Alas! that serene brow, those eloquent lips,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Those eyes that mirrored all eternity,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Rest in their own Colonos, an eclipse

Hath come on Wisdom, and Mnemosyne

Is childless; in the night which she had made

For lofty secure flight Athena's owl itself hath strayed.

Nor much with Science do I care to climb,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Although by strange and subtle witchery

上海龙凤shlf最新地址She drew the moon from heaven:  the Muse Time

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Unrolls her gorgeous-coloured tapestry

To no less eager eyes; often indeed

In the great epic of Polymnia's scroll I love to read

How Asia sent her myriad hosts to war

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Against a little town, and panoplied

In gilded mail with jewelled scimitar,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址White-shielded, purple-crested, rode the Mede

Between the waving poplars and the sea

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which men call Artemisium, till he saw Thermopylae

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Its steep ravine spanned by a narrow wall,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And on the nearer side a little brood

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of careless lions holding festival!

And stood amazed at such hardihood,

And pitched his tent upon the reedy shore,

And stayed two days to wonder, and then crept at midnight o'er

Some unfrequented height, and coming down

The autumn forests treacherously slew

上海龙凤shlf最新地址What Sparta held most dear and was the crown

Of far Eurotas, and passed on, nor knew

How God had staked an evil net for him

In the small bay at Salamis, - and yet, the page grows dim,

Its cadenced Greek delights me not, I feel

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With such a goodly time too out of tune

To love it much:  for like the Dial's wheel

That from its blinded darkness strikes the noon

Yet never sees the sun, so do my eyes

Restlessly follow that which from my cheated vision flies.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址O for one grand unselfish simple life

To teach us what is Wisdom! speak ye hills

Of lone Helvellyn, for this note of strife

Shunned your untroubled crags and crystal rills,

Where is that Spirit which living blamelessly

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Yet dared to kiss the smitten mouth of his own century!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Speak ye Rydalian laurels! where is he

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Whose gentle head ye sheltered, that pure soul

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Whose gracious days of uncrowned majesty

Through lowliest conduct touched the lofty goal

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where love and duty mingle!  Him at least

The most high Laws were glad of, he had sat at Wisdom's feast;

But we are Learning's changelings, know by rote

The clarion watchword of each Grecian school

And follow none, the flawless sword which smote

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The pagan Hydra is an effete tool

Which we ourselves have blunted, what man now

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Shall scale the august ancient heights and to old Reverence bow?

One such indeed I saw, but, Ichabod!

Gone is that last dear son of Italy,

Who being man died for the sake of God,

And whose unrisen bones sleep peacefully,

O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower,

Thou marble lily of the lily town! let not the lour

Of the rude tempest vex his slumber, or

The Arno with its tawny troubled gold

O'er-leap its marge, no mightier conqueror

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Clomb the high Capitol in the days of old

When Rome was indeed Rome, for Liberty

Walked like a bride beside him, at which sight pale Mystery

Fled shrieking to her farthest sombrest cell

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With an old man who grabbled rusty keys,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Fled shuddering, for that immemorial knell

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With which oblivion buries dynasties

Swept like a wounded eagle on the blast,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址As to the holy heart of Rome the great triumvir passed.

He knew the holiest heart and heights of Rome,

He drave the base wolf from the lion's lair,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And now lies dead by that empyreal dome

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which overtops Valdarno hung in air

By Brunelleschi - O Melpomene

Breathe through thy melancholy pipe thy sweetest threnody!

Breathe through the tragic stops such melodies

That Joy's self may grow jealous, and the Nine

Forget awhile their discreet emperies,

Mourning for him who on Rome's lordliest shrine

Lit for men's lives the light of Marathon,

And bare to sun-forgotten fields the fire of the sun!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let some young Florentine each eventide

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Bring coronals of that enchanted flower

Which the dim woods of Vallombrosa hide,

And deck the marble tomb wherein he lies

Whose soul is as some mighty orb unseen of mortal eyes;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Some mighty orb whose cycled wanderings,

Being tempest-driven to the farthest rim

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where Chaos meets Creation and the wings

Of the eternal chanting Cherubim

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Are pavilioned on Nothing, passed away

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Into a moonless void, - and yet, though he is dust and clay,

He is not dead, the immemorial Fates

Forbid it, and the closing shears refrain.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Lift up your heads ye everlasting gates!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ye argent clarions, sound a loftier strain

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For the vile thing he hated lurks within

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Its sombre house, alone with God and memories of sin.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Still what avails it that she sought her cave

That murderous mother of red harlotries?

At Munich on the marble architrave

The Grecian boys die smiling, but the seas

Which wash AEgina fret in loneliness

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Not mirroring their beauty; so our lives grow colourless

For lack of our ideals, if one star

Flame torch-like in the heavens the unjust

Swift daylight kills it, and no trump of war

Can wake to passionate voice the silent dust

Which was Mazzini once! rich Niobe

For all her stony sorrows hath her sons; but Italy,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址What Easter Day shall make her children rise,

Who were not Gods yet suffered? what sure feet

Shall find their grave-clothes folded? what clear eyes

Shall see them bodily?  O it were meet

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To roll the stone from off the sepulchre

And kiss the bleeding roses of their wounds, in love of her,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Our Italy! our mother visible!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Most blessed among nations and most sad,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For whose dear sake the young Calabrian fell

That day at Aspromonte and was glad

That in an age when God was bought and sold

上海龙凤shlf最新地址One man could die for Liberty! but we, burnt out and cold,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址See Honour smitten on the cheek and gyves

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Bind the sweet feet of Mercy:  Poverty

Creeps through our sunless lanes and with sharp knives

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily,

And no word said:- O we are wretched men

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Unworthy of our great inheritance! where is the pen

Of austere Milton? where the mighty sword

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which slew its master righteously? the years

Have lost their ancient leader, and no word

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Breaks from the voiceless tripod on our ears:

上海龙凤shlf最新地址While as a ruined mother in some spasm

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Bears a base child and loathes it, so our best enthusiasm

Genders unlawful children, Anarchy

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Freedom's own Judas, the vile prodigal

Licence who steals the gold of Liberty

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And yet has nothing, Ignorance the real

One Fraticide since Cain, Envy the asp

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That stings itself to anguish, Avarice whose palsied grasp

Is in its extent stiffened, moneyed Greed

For whose dull appetite men waste away

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Amid the whirr of wheels and are the seed

Of things which slay their sower, these each day

Sees rife in England, and the gentle feet

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of Beauty tread no more the stones of each unlovely street.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址What even Cromwell spared is desecrated

By weed and worm, left to the stormy play

Of wind and beating snow, or renovated

By more destructful hands:  Time's worst decay

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Will wreathe its ruins with some loveliness,

But these new Vandals can but make a rain-proof barrenness.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where is that Art which bade the Angels sing

Through Lincoln's lofty choir, till the air

Seems from such marble harmonies to ring

With sweeter song than common lips can dare

To draw from actual reed? ah! where is now

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The cunning hand which made the flowering hawthorn branches bow

For Southwell's arch, and carved the House of One

Who loved the lilies of the field with all

Our dearest English flowers? the same sun

Rises for us:  the seasons natural

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Weave the same tapestry of green and grey:

The unchanged hills are with us:  but that Spirit hath passed away.

And yet perchance it may be better so,

For Tyranny is an incestuous Queen,

Murder her brother is her bedfellow,

And the Plague chambers with her:  in obscene

And bloody paths her treacherous feet are set;

Better the empty desert and a soul inviolate!

For gentle brotherhood, the harmony

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of living in the healthful air, the swift

Clean beauty of strong limbs when men are free

And women chaste, these are the things which lift

Our souls up more than even Agnolo's

Gaunt blinded Sibyl poring o'er the scroll of human woes,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Or Titian's little maiden on the stair

White as her own sweet lily and as tall,

Or Mona Lisa smiling through her hair, -

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ah! somehow life is bigger after all

Than any painted angel, could we see

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The God that is within us!  The old Greek serenity

Which curbs the passion of that level line

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of marble youths, who with untroubled eyes

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And chastened limbs ride round Athena's shrine

And mirror her divine economies,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And balanced symmetry of what in man

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Would else wage ceaseless warfare, - this at least within the span

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Between our mother's kisses and the grave

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Might so inform our lives, that we could win

Such mighty empires that from her cave

Temptation would grow hoarse, and pallid Sin

Would walk ashamed of his adulteries,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And Passion creep from out the House of Lust with startled eyes.

To make the body and the spirit one

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With all right things, till no thing live in vain

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From morn to noon, but in sweet unison

With every pulse of flesh and throb of brain

The soul in flawless essence high enthroned,

Against all outer vain attack invincibly bastioned,

Mark with serene impartiality

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The strife of things, and yet be comforted,

Knowing that by the chain causality

All separate existences are wed

Into one supreme whole, whose utterance

Is joy, or holier praise! ah! surely this were governance

Of Life in most august omnipresence,

Through which the rational intellect would find

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In passion its expression, and mere sense,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ignoble else, lend fire to the mind,

And being joined with it in harmony

上海龙凤shlf最新地址More mystical than that which binds the stars planetary,

Strike from their several tones one octave chord

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Whose cadence being measureless would fly

Through all the circling spheres, then to its Lord

Return refreshed with its new empery

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And more exultant power, - this indeed

Could we but reach it were to find the last, the perfect creed.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ah! it was easy when the world was young

To keep one's life free and inviolate,

From our sad lips another song is rung,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址By our own hands our heads are desecrate,

Wanderers in drear exile, and dispossessed

Of what should be our own, we can but feed on wild unrest.

Somehow the grace, the bloom of things has flown,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And of all men we are most wretched who

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Must live each other's lives and not our own

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For very pity's sake and then undo

上海龙凤shlf最新地址All that we lived for - it was otherwise

上海龙凤shlf最新地址When soul and body seemed to blend in mystic symphonies.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址But we have left those gentle haunts to pass

With weary feet to the new Calvary,

Where we behold, as one who in a glass

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Sees his own face, self-slain Humanity,

And in the dumb reproach of that sad gaze

Learn what an awful phantom the red hand of man can raise.

O smitten mouth!  O forehead crowned with thorn!

O chalice of all common miseries!

Thou for our sakes that loved thee not hast borne

上海龙凤shlf最新地址An agony of endless centuries,

And we were vain and ignorant nor knew

That when we stabbed thy heart it was our own real hearts we slew.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Being ourselves the sowers and the seeds,

The night that covers and the lights that fade,

The spear that pierces and the side that bleeds,

The lips betraying and the life betrayed;

The deep hath calm:  the moon hath rest:  but we

Lords of the natural world are yet our own dread enemy.

Is this the end of all that primal force

Which, in its changes being still the same,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From eyeless Chaos cleft its upward course,

Through ravenous seas and whirling rocks and flame,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Till the suns met in heaven and began

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Their cycles, and the morning stars sang, and the Word was Man!

Nay, nay, we are but crucified, and though

The bloody sweat falls from our brows like rain

Loosen the nails - we shall come down I know,

Staunch the red wounds - we shall be whole again,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址No need have we of hyssop-laden rod,

That which is purely human, that is godlike, that is God.