Classic Poem

I DWELT within a city of old days,
Beside a river; — all who dwelt therein
Feared God, and served him, and obeyed his voice,
And listened for it, and abode in peace
There was no thought of poverty or wrong
Between us, and our prayers rose day by day
In harmony, and all the days were fair;
Yet hope of something fairer ever kept
The stirring of a live flame at the heart.
And in those days a new portent was seen
In heaven; — for in that city night by night
All read the stars, — having no other book,
And knowing them by name, and loving them
As living lights along the mortal way
But now amid the white familiar host
Would suddenly break forth some unknown star,
Or sometimes many stars, of splendour strange,
And mystic message from the lords of life.
At even or at midnight or towards dawn
The vision came, and in the depths of heaven
The new stars shone, and this was in their power —
One only could behold them, and that one
Who saw them, him they called and drew away,
So that he might but follow, east or west,
As the sky held them; and he passed the gate
With his eyes fixed upon them, following
Their glory, else invisible to all.
But none of all who passed returned again,
Nor could they speak aright the semblances
Of what they saw, nor that whereby their star
Differed from other stars; but most the light
On their own faces told us of some joy
Hidden from us, and incommunicate

Now over all the city sweet and still
Brooded a shadow of mysterious hope,
Unmixed with fear, for heaven and man were friends;
Yet not on every night the signs appeared,
But often far between, — or yet again
On some auspicious hours they crowded in,
Fast following, or together: therefore all
Watched the blue skies and waited their own turn,
Each praying for this favour of the spheres;
And as the sun set and the twilight grew,
The footfalls of the multitude would pass
And murmur of their voices through the streets
And twilight deepened, and the echoes spread,
Until some happy eyes beheld at length
Their own, their star, in heaven! Then thrilled the throngs
With but the shadow of the gift unseen;
But they, the seers, departed, leaving those
Behind them, still uplifted with desire;
And some would watch all night unsatisfied

The sun had set — the Evening Star shone clear
In a clear sky, and a half-moon arose;
The roofs lay low on the horizon line,
And wide between the river and the street
Stretched the embankment, to and fro of which
I wandered with the rest; — the air was cool;
Upon the moving faces out of doors
Dimness began to fall, and through the dusk
Thickened the stream of voices and of feet.
When lo! it was there before me — mine alone,
My star! — I knew it, and my heart stood still.
O glory greater than believed before!
There throbbing through the depths electrical,
Not one but seven, a constellation hung
Low down in the violet North, in ordered sign,
Large golden-globed like lamps, and in their light
Burned words and utterance greater than all words;
While round about me buzzed the rumour caught
Of my preferment in the grace of heaven,
And all the eyes were straining after mine
To share the opened treasure — but in vain.
But I no longer knew of aught save joy,
And a quick pulse of measureless desire
Close to the height of its accomplishment; —
Whither, O whither? Stay! I come, I come!

I know not now if there was any one
Or anything to leave: I had no care
But to press onward through the golden door.
Kind hands and voices bade farewell to me,
Wistful and yet not envious, and I went
Out of the gates alone; — I crossed the bridge;
And on to meet the heavenly messengers
Moved through the night; there floated scents of hay
And dewy honeysuckle as I trod
The river-meadows deep in folded flowers
Cool to the feet; but still those burning stars
Burned in my heart, and held my eyes apart
From all the under-world. I scarcely knew
Whether I passed by bush or brake or bower;
The flutterings of the young birds in the nests,
The stirrings of small wild things in the grass,
The whirring past of dusky wings awoke
The silence of the shadows round the way;
But music visible was awake in heaven,
And all my spirit, awake and answering,
Moved to its measure without speech or sound.
O golden lights, how stedfastly ye glow!

Pass not too soon, O Night! Keep close awhile
The folded secret of thy solemn skies!
Let not the full light stream from open doors
So golden glorious as to overpower
The silver silence of these hours of thine!
O passionate and overcoming spell,
Sweeping with measured strokes to the unknown,
— Whether more sweet than music of a dream,
Whether more terrible than trump of doom, —
Can that once known be once or evermore
So precious as this shadowy suspense?
O over-swift and over-exquisite
Passage of unfulfilled expectancy,
Lengthen out all thy limits to the last!
What can the whole heaven give to me when gained
More than this fleeting rapture of the way?
For I am coming, coming at your call,
Immortal! yours I am whose motions sway
All worlds in unity, and with their own
Measure and rule the motions of my blood; —
Whose waves of fire sweep down the fretted chords
Through all the heights and depths of cosmic change
In the illimitable fountain stream,
Downward in dissolution slow and sad,
Upward in rushing resurrection flame;
Who, through the uttermost deeps invisible,
Spirit to spirit make the music sound
That endlessly unites and re-unites
In breathless chain without an interval,
That reaches to you in the conscious will,
That quickens to you in the blind desire,
Bursting the cerecloth of the buried seed,
Stirring the young life in the orbed shell
To tender flutter under brooding wings; —
One of your kingdom, signed and sealed to you
By visible bond and token, even mine,
The question of your face is turned on me,
And all my life incorporate with yours
Springs upward in one answer, home to you!

Deepen, O darkness of the hollow blue
Around me! crowded with the quivering plumes
That in pale flame invisible shoot up,
Opening and shutting, to the highest arch
Of palpitating heaven; that fan the night
With airs whose fulness steals the soul away
To the unseen dominions whence they breathe.
Float ever thinner, veils of filmy light,
Drawn from refulgence of another sphere,
That hath in it no heat or heart of fire,
Yet whose illumining is as a robe
Surrounding soul and sense with outward joy,
And an investiture of wings supreme
O pause in heaven, ye stars! and grudge me not
The minutes of this priceless wandering!
Once yours, I never can be here again
Part of this earth whereon I still set foot,
And all her works and ways that mix in me,
And make this message that I have of you
A something strange and new and wonderful
Whereof I am not wholly yet possest.
The mystery of your undeciphered scroll
Beats in my heart, a joy too great to hold,
And at the threshold of your palaces
I linger long on every crystal stair
Bridging the fathomless gulfs of ecstasy;
And tremble as before the temple doors,
While from within them sweeps a breeze of sound
Dissolving heaven with sweetness, and the soul
Swoons, and is changed within it, and forgets;
And lift no hand in haste toward the veil,
Lest the unutterable splendour strike
This starry purple into distance cold.

The heart of heaven is open everywhere,
Hearkening in infinite hush of ravishment,
And in the midst my soul, stayed in her flight,
Hovers in the clear darkness of suspense,
Listening intent and saying, Not yet, not yet;
Be not too quick in coming; leave me still
The shadowy glories of the unfulfilled,
The faint far snatches echoing worlds away.
I ask not whither ye are leading me,
For, filled with the delight of following,
No room is left me to desire the end.

I am in the open, many miles away,
High on the slope of a long shelving down,
And under me the wide and waving weald
Grows wider with each upward step I take.
The lapsing hours have changed the starry face
Of the clear sky, and up to regnant height
The sovereign moon has floated through the midst;
And fronting still, still level to my eyes
Those seven fair faces shining full on me
All silent, in a calm and raptured dream
Slumbers the earth, lying with upturned face
All one white rippling smile, that far away
In bosoming woods and fields and villages
Sinks to the ring of shadowy under-world.
Stretching in long uninterrupted light,
Low at my feet the delicate hillside turf
Glitters in threads of silver all the way.
All the wide world is empty, save of peace
And utter radiance of the heavenly height;
And the cool air that wavers fitfully
Across the flood of glory golden-white
Breathes through me with a rapture swift and strong
The thrill of that disclosure presently.
Above me, to the vanishing of space,
Heaven beyond heaven arises, thronging through,
Ready to bear the winged soul away;
While earth enlarges her horizon bound,
And grows more lovely and more lustrous pale
For every instant of the blissful night.

I know I am all alone on the white down;
My eyes are to the stars, and following them
My feet are half forgetful that they climb;
But something sudden on the smooth ascent
Draws my looks downwards in a moment's pause,
And there I see a flower felicitous
Spread to the moon — spread low, a coronal
Of pointed leaves, and in the midst one stalk
Of starry faces, the auricula.
In the strong moonlight all their open eyes,
The dusky richness of their velvet hues,
Startle me with distinctness, and I stand
Amazed and lost in a new wonderland
Of strange delight. What mystic influence
Already has begun to change for me
The surface of the world? — for never yet
A flower like this was seen on hills like these.
And stooping down to pluck it I perceive
That in a moment all the grass has grown
Alive with springing of them everywhere,
Full-blown and wide-awake; I cannot step
For fear of treading on them strewn so thick;
They almost speak, they look up in my face,
As the clustered stars look down. — Ah! what is this?