The Two Greetings
I. — Salve !
S CARCE from the void of shadows taken,
We hail thine opening eyelids, boy!
Be welcome to the world! Awaken
To strength and beauty, and to joy!
Within those orbs of empty wonder
Let life its starry fires increase,
And curve those tender lips asunder
With faintest smiles of baby peace.
Sealed in their buds, the beauteous senses
Shall gladden thee as they unfold:
With soft allurements, stern defences,
Thy riper being they shall mould.
Far-eyed desires and hopes unbounded
Within thy narrow nest are furled:
Behold, for thee how fair is rounded
The circle of the sunlit world!
The oceans and the winds invite thee,
The peopled lands thy coming wait:
No wreck nor storm shall long affright thee,
For all are parts of thine estate.
Advance to every triumph wrested
By plough and pencil, pen and sword,
For, with thy robes of action vested,
Though slaves be others, thou art lord!
Thy breath be love, thy growth be duty,
To end in peace as they began:
Pre-human in thy helpless beauty,
Become more beautiful, as Man!
II. — V ALE !
Now fold thy rich experience round thee,
To shield therewith the sinking heart:
The sunset-gold of Day hath crowned thee:
The dark gate opens, — so depart!
What growth the leafy years could render
No more into its bud returns;
It clothes thee still with faded splendor
As banks are clothed by autumn ferns.
All spring could dream or summer fashion,
If ripened, or untimely cast.
The harvest of thy toil and passion —
Thy sheaf of life — is bound at last.
What scattered ears thy field encloses,
What tares unweeded, now behold;
And here the poppies, there the roses,
Send withered fragrance through the gold.
Lo! as thou camest, so thou goest,
From bright Unknown to bright Unknown,
Save that the light thou forward throwest,
Was, fainter then behind thee thrown.
Again be glad! through tears and laughter,
And deed and failure, thou art strong:
Thy Here presages thy Hereafter,
And neither sphere shall do thee wrong!
To mother-breasts of nurture fonder
Go, child! — once more in beauty young:
And hear our Vale! echoed yonder
As Salve! in a sweeter tongue!
S CARCE from the void of shadows taken,
We hail thine opening eyelids, boy!
Be welcome to the world! Awaken
To strength and beauty, and to joy!
Within those orbs of empty wonder
Let life its starry fires increase,
And curve those tender lips asunder
With faintest smiles of baby peace.
Sealed in their buds, the beauteous senses
Shall gladden thee as they unfold:
With soft allurements, stern defences,
Thy riper being they shall mould.
Far-eyed desires and hopes unbounded
Within thy narrow nest are furled:
Behold, for thee how fair is rounded
The circle of the sunlit world!
The oceans and the winds invite thee,
The peopled lands thy coming wait:
No wreck nor storm shall long affright thee,
For all are parts of thine estate.
Advance to every triumph wrested
By plough and pencil, pen and sword,
For, with thy robes of action vested,
Though slaves be others, thou art lord!
Thy breath be love, thy growth be duty,
To end in peace as they began:
Pre-human in thy helpless beauty,
Become more beautiful, as Man!
II. — V ALE !
Now fold thy rich experience round thee,
To shield therewith the sinking heart:
The sunset-gold of Day hath crowned thee:
The dark gate opens, — so depart!
What growth the leafy years could render
No more into its bud returns;
It clothes thee still with faded splendor
As banks are clothed by autumn ferns.
All spring could dream or summer fashion,
If ripened, or untimely cast.
The harvest of thy toil and passion —
Thy sheaf of life — is bound at last.
What scattered ears thy field encloses,
What tares unweeded, now behold;
And here the poppies, there the roses,
Send withered fragrance through the gold.
Lo! as thou camest, so thou goest,
From bright Unknown to bright Unknown,
Save that the light thou forward throwest,
Was, fainter then behind thee thrown.
Again be glad! through tears and laughter,
And deed and failure, thou art strong:
Thy Here presages thy Hereafter,
And neither sphere shall do thee wrong!
To mother-breasts of nurture fonder
Go, child! — once more in beauty young:
And hear our Vale! echoed yonder
As Salve! in a sweeter tongue!
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