Chapter III

Back to your sun-path now you run
And on with wing of bird and flight of sun.
Your youth upon its golden way
Forgets it ever asked for rest,
Forgets my desolated day.
To me you left your tears,
Your fears a-tremble,
And hunger in mine eyes for you.
And I? I leave you free.

RAVELLO

_A Recollection of the Garden in which Wagner composed “Parzival”_

Words glimmering like candles in the dusk
You tell your golden tale of Italy,--
Ravello and its starlit, tranquil sea
Among massed trees sleep-hung with jewelled fruit;
Antiquity against a shadowed sky,
And everywhere old gardens where men loved
So long ago, and the moon rose on vows
And thirsty human lips aching to meet;
And the moon set on darkling ivory-petalled rows
Of lilies and on hands dim with loneliness:--
Below, Amalfi’s campanile plays
Its even-song, full chant and antiphon,
A wish, a hope, a call from star to star.

O, Compassionate One, night-long with you I hark
The travelling of that music lost in space,
The echoing of those faithful feet of men,
And touch the blurred chalcedony of tears,
And breathe those candle-lighted thoughts, faint musk
Of old days vanished in silence now!
Night-long I dream your face pressed close to mine
Is lily of Ravello in its sleep,
Touched with some ancient sorrow gardens keep,--
An ivory-petalled dream whose ghostly passions shine
Like fingers in the dark struggling with fears:--
O, set your love for me, my Own, my Sweet,
The whiteness of your breast and brow aglow
With God, like candleshine before my feet!

CHESTER-ON-THE DEE

Sleep, little town, your moonlit walls
Are hushed with long-ago!
Night, like your river, brings to you
Forgetfulness of woe.

Peace, little town! Grave sleep is this
That aches in love and tears,
With singing stream, with shining dream,
With sense of other years.

THE RIVER SEIONT

_At Carnarvon in North Wales_

Where the salt sea winds her sleeping path
Up the River Seiont in summer time,
And daisies flush the aftermath
Of stubble corn; and heavy cows
Wait by the water’s edge,
While cloud-capped Snowdon hills grow dim,
And fading Anglesey a crystal rim,--
Then
Your spirit comes,
A tidal sea,
Winding,
Up the River Seiont,
Past the purple hill;
Winding,
Past the Castle wall,
Winding;--
Then
Your spirit comes,
Winding,
Up the River Seiont
To me.

GOLD AND IVORY

They lie beside me all the night,
They crowd up close to me;
And when I turn, they turn;
And when I sigh, they cry.
Says one: “I am the love you sought
Now wrinkled to an afterthought.”
The other whispers in my ear:
“You coveted:
Behold, I lie here dead!”
These are the gifts sleep brings to me,--
My dreams of gold and ivory!

STEPS

I

There is a stair to climb
That--Christ you keep!--
Men stumble there
It is so steep.

II

Its steps give scarce foothold,
Yet, pilgrim-shod,
Hungry, athirst,
Men climb to God.

BESIDE THE WAY

I

O, little wind of every day,
O, little wind of hope,
Bring to me love
Beside the way,
O, little wind of every day!

II

There’s vexing work for scanty keep,
With tears for daily drink,
And but this cup
To bring me sleep,
This cup of golden love dream-deep.

III

O, little wind of every day,
O, little wind of hope,
Bring to me love
Beside the way,
O, little wind of every day!

WAIT AWHILE

I

If you would know my mother-heart,
Then wait awhile, be still;
Watch for the settling dusky light,
The silence, on the hill;
And wait awhile, be still.

II

Love, heed the clap of little hands,
Of leaves upon my trees;
And hear the travelling of the wind,
The moving of the seas;
Then wait awhile, be still.