Classic Poem

1.

Through the wood when I am wandering
In the dusky eventide,
Goes a dainty form in silence
Always closely by my side.

Is not this thy veil, the white one?
This the gentle face I love?
Is it merely moonlight breaking
Through the gloomy firs above?

Is that sound the sound of weeping
From mine own eyes welling deep?
Or dost thou, beloved, truly
Walk to-night by me and weep?

2.

Through the clouds the moon is breaking;
Hushed, the shore is lying under;
On the waves the night has fallen,
And they whisper and they wonder:

" Is yon man some silly creature,
Or a prey to lovers' madness,
That his mien should be so merry,
And withal so marred with sadness? "

But the moon, she laughs and answers —
Answers clear: " If you must know it,
He is both in love and silly,
And, what's more, he is a poet. "

3.

Tis a white and lonely sea-gull
That flaps against the sky,
Far over the darkling waters;
The moon in heaven is high.

From the waves the shark and the rayfish
Snap upward where they lie;
The sea-gull is mounting, falling;
The moon in heaven is high.

Dear soul, that so terror-driven
And fearfully dost fly,
The water is too near thee,
The moon in heaven is high!

4.

The sea lies hushed beneath the moon;
The waves are murmuring low;
I think upon a sad old tune,
And my heart is full of woe; —

On the sad old song, and how it sings
Of the cities lost and fair,
Whence, upward from the deep, there rings
The sound of bell and prayer.

But neither prayer nor bell will save
Those cities doomed of yore,
For what is buried in the grave
Returns again no more.

Although I knew you loved me:
For long had known it clear:
When at the last you told me,
My heart was filled with fear.

I walked upon the mountain,
And sang aloud for glee,
And, when the sun was sinking,
I wept beside the sea.

My heart is like the sun now,
That flames in fire above;
It sinks, as great and golden,
In a boundless sea of love.

6.

How curiously the sea-gull
Looks down and tries to guess
Why, on your lips, my ear thus
So warm and close I press.

What from your mouth you pour, love,
Is what she fain would hear:
Whether with words or kisses
You fill my asking ear.

Ah, knew my soul itself, dear,
What murmurs there so kind!
The words are with the kisses
So strangely intertwined!

7.

She fled before me like a roe
That swiftly makes for cover:
With hair that streamed upon the wind,
Flew up the crags and over.

But, where the cliffs fall downward sheer,
I found her, following fleetly;
And wooed, until her heart was mild,
With words of sweetness, sweetly.

And there we sat so heaven-high,
And glad with heaven's wonder;
Below us, in the dusky sea
The sun went slowly under.

Below us, in the dusky sea
The sun went down and darkened;
The waves, for rapture, tossed and sang,
And shouted where we hearkened:

Ah, mourn him not: he is not dead
'Neath yonder billows hoary;
Within my heart he's lying hid,
And flames in all his glory.

8.

The Church of the third New Testament
Upon this rock we build,
That, founded strong, it may endure;
Grief's measure is fulfilled.

The difference betwixt us twain
No more shall fool and sever;
The stupid torment of the flesh
Is ended, and forever.

Dost hear how God in yonder sea
Speaks with a thousand voices? —
How God above us, in His stars,
His thousand stars, rejoices?

God dwells in light, and has His home
Within the dark abysses;
For everything that is, is God —
Yea, God is in our kisses.

9.

All the little stars are shining,
Grey with night the waves are falling;
Long-resounding, through the darkness
I can hear the waters calling.

With the lusty, naked billows
Plays the north wind rude and hoary;
And they trip and swell and clamour,
Like an organ-peal of glory.

Pagan, Christian notes are mingled
In that song the waves are voicing,
And it mounts to heaven, surging,
Till the stars can hear, rejoicing:

Till they hear, and grow for gladness
In their golden-clustered places,
And each star, a sun for splendour,
Treads the void, eternal spaces:

Till they circle to the music,
Whirl and dance the maddest measure,
And a nightingale each star is,
Singing loud and sweet for pleasure.

In a vast, tumultuous chorus
Sea and sky together thunder,
And a giant-rapture fills me,
And my heart is big with wonder.

10.

Shadow-love and shadow-kisses,
Shadow-life — the whole how strange!
Dost thou think, sweet fool, that this is
Only true, and will not change?

All we hold was made for losing,
Swift as dreams we cannot keep;
Hearts forget without their choosing,
And the eyes, they fall asleep.

11.

Beside the sea the maiden
Stood sighing deep for woe;
Her heart was heavy-laden,
The sunset moved her so.

Dear maid, there's naught to grieve you,
'Tis an ancient trick. You'll find
Though the sun in front may leave you,
He'll rise again behind.

12.

With sails of black my ship I sail
Over the stormy sea;
Thou knowest well how sad I am,
And how thou grievest me.

Thy heart is faithless as the wind
That flutters loose and free;
With sails of black my ship I sail
Over the stormy sea.

13.

How bad thy deed and shameful,
Though from men I may withhold it,
I have sailed away to the open sea,
And to the fishes told it.

Although on land untarnished
I choose to leave thy name,
Away, in the whole wide ocean,
They have been told thy shame.

14.

The waves roll in and thunder,
With crash and roar;
They swell, and break asunder
Upon the shore.

They surge and mount unceasing:
Tumultuously spend
Their passionate increasing —
And to what end?

15.

The Runic stone from the sea rears high,
Where I sit and dream and ponder;
The winds, they pipe; the sea-gulls cry;
The billows foam and wander.

Oh, many a maiden loved have I,
With many a lad gone roaming. —
Where are they now? The winds, they sigh;
The billows wander foaming.

16.

The sea is shining in the sun,
As if he were of gold;
When I am dead, my brothers,
Bury me in the sea.

For I have always loved the sea;
His healing waves of old
Have cooled my heart so often!
Good friends were I and he.