Classic Poem

I built a hut beside the Mere,
A lowly hut of turf and stone;
Therein I thought from year to year
To dwell in silence and alone,
Watching the lights of heaven chase
The phantoms on the water's face.

The world of men was far away;
There was no sound, no speech, no cry;
All desolate the dark Mere lay
Under the mountains and the sky —
A sullen Mere, where sadly brood
Dark shadows of the solitude.

" It is an evil world," I said;
" There is no hope, my doom is dark."
And in despair of soul I fled
Where not another eye might mark
My silent pain, my heart's distress,
And all my spirit's weariness.

And when I came unto the Mere,
It lay and gleam'd through days of gloom.
The livid mountains gather'd drear
All round, like stones upon a tomb;
Around its margin rusted red
The dark earth crumbled 'neath my tread.

I said, " It is a godless place —
Dark, desolate, and curst, like me.
Here, through all seasons, shall my face
Behold its image silently."
And from that hour I linger'd there
In protestation and despair.

For mark, the hills were stone and sand,
Not strewn with scented red or green —
All empty as a dead man's hand,
And empty lay the Mere between.
No flocks fed there, no shepherd's cry
Awoke the echoes of the sky.

And through a sullen mist I came,
And beast-like crept unto my lair;
And many days I crouched in shame
Out of the sunshine and sweet air.
I heard the passing wind and rain,
Like weary waves within the brain.

But when I rose and glimmer'd forth,
Ghost-wise across my threshold cold,
The clouds had lifted west and north,
And all the peaks were touch'd with gold.
I smiled in scorn; far down beneath
The waters lay as dark as death.

I said, " Go by, O golden light!
Thou canst not scatter darkness here .
In two sad bosoms there is night,
In mine and in the lonely Mere;
Light thou thy lamps, and go thy way."
It went, and all the heavens grew grey.

And when the lamps of heaven were lit,
I did not raise mine eyes to see,
But watch'd the ghostly glimmers flit
On the black waters silently.
I hid my face from heaven, and kept
Dark vigil when the bright sun slept.

And ever when the daylight grew
I saw with joy the hills were high;
From dawn to dark, the live day through,
Not lighting as the sun went by;
Only at noon one finger-ray
Touch'd us, and then was drawn away.

I cried, " God cannot find me now;
Done now am I with praise or pain.
Beside the Mere, with darken'd brow,
I walk'd as desolate as Cain.
I cried, " Not even God could rear
One seed of love or blessing here!"

'Twas Spring that day; the air was chill;
Above the heights white clouds were roll'd,
The Mere below was blue as steel,
And all the air was chill and cold,
When suddenly from air and sky
I heard a solitary cry.

Ah me! it was the same sweet sound
That I had heard afar away;
Sad echoes waken'd all around
Out of the rocks and caverns grey,
And looking upward, weary-eyed,
I saw the gentle bird that cried.

Upon a rock sat that sweet bird,
As he had sat on pale or tree,
And while the hills and waters heard,
He named his name to them and me.
I thought, " God sends the Spring again,
But here at least it comes in vain!"

From rock to rock I saw him fly,
Silent in flight, but loud at rest;
And ever at his summer cry
The mountains gladden'd and seem'd bless'd,
And in the hollows of them all
Faint flames of grass began to crawl!

Some secret hand I could not see
Was busy where I dwelt alone;
It touched with tender tracery,
Faint as a breath, the cliffs of stone;
Out of the earth it drew soft moss,
And lichens shapen like the Cross.

Some secret hand I could not see
Was busy where I dwelt alone;
It touched with tender tracery,
Faint as a breath, the cliffs of stone;
Out of the earth it drew soft moss,
And lichens shapen like the Cross.

I hated every sight and sound;
I hated most that happy cry,
I saw the mountains glory-crown'd,
And the bright heavens drifting by;
I felt the earth beneath my tread,
Now kindling quick, that late was dead!

I hated every sight and sound;
I hated most that happy cry,
I saw the mountains glory-crown'd,
And the bright heavens drifting by;
I felt the earth beneath my tread,
Now kindling quick, that late was dead!

" We will not smile nor utter praise;
He made us dark, and dark we brood.
Sun-hating, desolate of days,
We dwell apart in solitude.
Let Him light lamps for all the land;
We darken and elude His hand."

Scarce had I spoken in such wise,
When as before I heard the bird,
And lo! the Mere beneath mine eyes
Was deeply, mystically stirred:
A sunbeam broke its gloom apart,
And Heaven trembled in its heart;

There, clustering in that under-gloom,
Like rising stars that open dim,
Innumerable, leaf and bloom,
I saw the water-lilies swim,
Still 'neath the surface dark to sight,
But creeping upward to the light.

As countless as the lights above,
Stirring and glimmering below,
They gather'd; and I watched them move,
Till on the surface, white as snow,
One came, grew glad, and open'd up,
A pinch of gold in its white cup!

Then suddenly within my breast
Some life of rapture open'd too,
And I forgot my bitter quest,
Watching that glory as it grew;
For, leaf by leaf and flower by flower,
The lilies opened from that hour.

And soon the gloomy Mere was sown
With oiled leaves and stars of white;
The trumpet of the wind was blown
Far overhead, from height to height,
And lo! the Mere, from day to day,
Grew starry as the Milky Way.

I could not bear to dwell apart
With so divine and bright a thing;
I felt the dark depths of my heart
Were stirring, trembling, wakening;
I watched the Mere, and saw it shine,
E'en as the eye of God on mine.

As one that riseth in his tomb,
I rose and wept in soul's distress;
I had not fear'd His wrath and gloom;
But now I fear'd His loveliness.
I craved for peace from God, and then
Crept back and made my peace with men!