Classic Poem

The clear wave's tender green, the purple skies,
Take all their colour as the soul's deep eyes
Regard them day by day.
Nought, save as we regard it, has one shade
Of colour. Our thought gilds the autumn glade
And tints the rainbow spray.

Is any soul in love? The groves assume
That heart's high radiance, and they steep their bloom
In that heart's tender light.
If our hearts quite were sinless, we should know
How streamed each fiery sunset's golden glow
O'er Eden's every height.

If our hearts quite were pure, and quite were fair,
What wondrous raiment would the spring-meads wear,
Outdoing all their past!
With what gold crownals would the kingcups reign!
The orange lily at our doors would gain
Its marriage-robes at last.

If our souls saw with conquering sinless eyes
The heights and depths, the sacred sunlit skies,
The moon's orb silver-fringed,
All things would be transfigured. Eden waits
To ope to mortal its immortal gates:
On our will all is hinged.

Who conquers self, shall for the first time see
The marvel of a snowdrop's purity,
Inhale the violet's breath.
Who conquers self, shall wholly understand
The solemn meaning of the sea and land,
The laws of life and death.

Who conquers self, shall understand the whole
And with the cleanséd eyesight of the soul
Observe all things anew.
The new-born emerald mountain-slopes shall gleam
With all the light and richness of a dream,
Sparkling with morning dew.

The soul shall rise triumphant, and shall say,
“The wonder of this rhododendron spray
Is wholly new to me.
In all old days the tossing tides I saw
Were dark and turbulent. With love and awe
I watch my first blue sea.”