A life in song

Front matter

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SoNd i ;!:ilE

Contents

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Prelude i

First Note 8

II. Every thing in art or nature, robed in rich or rude

attire.

Gains in beauty while it gains in power to lure a

pure desire.

Surface claims may charm the senses, but the spirit

from its throne Waives away all other suitors for what charms itself

alone.

Thus we find that, while they long to see the scenes

of which they sing, Blind or banish'd poets conjure forms more fair than

sight could bring.

Thus we find, where evening shadows lie reclined

at close of day.

All the world grows more attractive, veil'd in twilight's guise of gray ; For, in dim relief, its outlines woo our wonder and

surmise.

While the stars like sparks that linger where the fire

of sunset dies Kindle oft our aspirations, which, as grandly they

evolve.

Light the brow of meek conjecture with the flush of

bold resolve.

N

III. Is it Strange, that such an evening, when my days

were filled with strife, Such an evening, far and hazy, seems the sweetest

of my life ?

Is it strange that memory, gazing back through

many a year's expanse.

Now recalls the scenes I saw then, clad in grave

significance ?

IV

On that eve, for once, my soul, set free from toil, had just been brought,

Through a fairy realm of fiction, near the life for which I sought.

Then I turn'd and watch'd the sunset, with emotions vague and wild,

Till I seem'd a thing scarce human, strange as mystery's very child.

Not of earth nor heaven appear'd I. I was one with that mild light.

Which had veil'd in awe the hills before the hush'd approach of night ;

And through all the clouds that floated rose the forms of angels fair.

And L seem'd to heed their whispers in the movements of the air.

Far adown the west I track'd them, till there met my wondering gaze

Mountains in the sky that fring'd a sky-set sea begirt with haze, —

Haze from shore-sand bright as gold-dust blown to clouds by winds of noon ;

But across the sea's blue depth appear'd to sail the crescent moon.

Scarce I saw this, when beyond it I descried with pleasure great

Outlines of a heavenly port illumed as for a heavenly fete.

Ah, how wondrous was that city, reared amid the

cloud-land bright, Where that sunset capt the climax of the day's

completed light.

How the wall that coil'd around it glow'd along its

winding way !

And how flash'd the floods of flame that in the

moat before it lay !

What though underneath their splendor stretch'd a

storm-cloud black and long ? 'T was a bass-note held beneath that sweeter o'er it

made the song.

For, above, as if aspiring toward the heaven's enkindled fires,

Toward the sky in countless numbers, press'd the

domes and pierc'd the spires ; Domes, high arch'd, with tints to rival rainbows in

their every hue, Join'd with spires from darkness pushing, till their

peaks effulgent grew ; Spires like prayers that start from anguish, aim'd

for where all blessings are, Spires like hope that falters never while above it

shines a star.

Then — and how my gaze prof an 'd them ! — what

retreats for bliss appear'd In those fair illumined mansions that along the

streets were rear'd ! — Streets like shafts of light far shooting, fading like

the sun from view, Back of trees with leaves like autumn's, when life's

fires have burned them through.

In my soul I half believed I then should leave this

earthly star, Gazing like the seer on Pisgah, toward that promised land afar.

VI. After this, my thoughts, returning back to earth

thus :

"Five years — it is long to languish with no teacher but desire

In these hours of stolen study, snatch'd from toil in sweat and mire.

Wherefore was I left an orphan, and the ward, without a joy,

Of a man who into manhood thinks to keep me still a boy.

Keep me back from needed knowledge, like a weakling soon to die.

Who, if train'd in-doors, might fail to make my friendship with the sky !

Why should he so crush and curse me, dashing water on my fire —

Quenching with a hiss each spark that gleams to show my soul's desire ?

VII. " Ah ! how oft, released from labor, when day's

heat and dust were stay'd, By the calm, cool fires of starlight, I have dream'd

and hoped, and pray'd ; And of things divine had visions, all so complex

and so vast, That my mind could comprehend but parts of them,

the while they pass'd ; Parts that yet so charm'd and thrill'd me, that, with

all its might and main,

Thought would soar on high to match them, but

would soar and soar in vain, Till, to my bewilder'd yearning, in the distance all

would fade, Where their long-drawn trains of splendor slowly

left the world in shade.

Why should mortals be becalm'd amid the earthly

darkness here, While the lights from countless havens throng the

heavens far and near !

Surely sails, wide spread to woo them, heaven's fair

winds cannot forsake : That which moves to right moves onward, tho' but

slowly grows its wake.

Surely, souls, if but persistent in the search of

truth long sought.

Spy new worlds arise where clouds had coursed but

watery wastes of thought,"

VIII

Thus with varying moods I sat there, till each radiant sunset cloud.

Like some living form, seem'd buried in a gently gather'd shroud.

Yet my thought still rested on it : naught, oh, naught of good so dies :

It but disappears, anon, to don a resurrection guise.

DREAMING. ly

Blessings grieve us, when they leave us ; but they

leave no sunless gloom.

Everywhere new life may spring up, everywhere

new beauty bloom.

So for me, as died that sunset, all at once there

came a change ; — For I slept, and dreamt the sky there flew apart

with flashing strange, O'er which clouds abruptly gather'd, as if thus to

screen from me Thrice ten thousand flames that lit a path more

deep than space could be.

Wonder then my brain bewilder'd : reasoning all to

rapture flew. *' Surely," thought I, "joy celestial crowns the light

with halo new.

It may be an angel-greeting to some saint ! " then

futile quite, This attempt of reason left me, for behold ! a

stranger sight : Swift from flash to flash augmenting, as a torrent

seeks the sea.

All those flames that rose and fell appear'd to start

and flow toward me.

Then my soul within me fluttered. Here was what

I long had sought.

" Farewell now to earthly fetters ! Yes, they burst,

they burst ! " I thought.

Ere they did so, all my spirit grew more calm ; for, far away,

Rose a song with words revealing what the light could not convey.

Sweet it was as if the heavens would all their sweet store shower below ;

And by one flood quench forever all the thirst of mortal woe ;

And my moods were swept before it in a spell resistless bound,

As a sailor, sinking softly, where the deep sea laps him round.

But can I recall the song now ? — Better bid yon meadow nook

Hold the whole great rain that blest it on its journey down the brook.

IX. Ay, when men who would direct you onward toward

the realms of truth, Where exhaustless wells of wisdom quench desires

of endless youth.

In their efforts falter, blunder, and with phrases

vague and blind, Void of close and clear expression, leave their

meaning hard to find.

Blame them not : their case is human : themes and

aims as grand as these

Overflow the burden'd words that bear our lesser

thoughts with ease.

Many guiding views beyond us loom but dimly understood : Many schemes are hatch'd that famish where our

imperfections brood.

O how oft when stirr'd to rescue those we love

from threaten'd woe, Or to point them toward the pathways, where in

safety men may go, Our own lack of tact or temper has equipt advice

amiss, Veil'd like truth with features hid behind a warp of

prejudice.

Ay, how often, when the light that guided us has

gleam'd within.

We have wish'd that our reflections might enlighten

then our kin, But though brighter minds might aid them, ours, at

least, were dull as night, Striving ever, failing ever, half our views to mirror

right.

Foremost of our best possessions, faith fails not

that can but feel ; Yet how blest are they who know and can their

grounds of faith reveal.

They alone, amid the shades, where men who move

toward mystery

Long to know what joy or woe is yet to be their destiny,

They alone, with heaven-lit torches, flashing light the darkness through,

Can disclose beyond the gloom the looming outlines of the true.

X. Power like their's, and more were needed, to recall

what thrill'd me there In that music flowing round me, as if fountain'd in

the air.

All the tones appear'd spontaneous ; yet, beyond

all discord sweet, By divine and inner impulse made to blend in

chords complete.

Somehow thus the phrases ran, and roll'd, and

echoed through the night ; And the changes that they rang were all to praise

the Source of Light : —

XI. Hail, hail, hail

Eternal Glory hail !

Ye powers of light, high o'er the night

Where only gloom had lain, Began your sway, ere dawn'd a day,

And evermore shall reign.

Before one star had flash'd afar

Light fill'd creation's throne,

And, ere the birth of air or earth, In growing splendor shone.

Gleam, gleam, gleam, And ever brighter beam,

And far away through endless day Forever onward stream.

Hail, hail, hail.

Infinite Goodness, hail !

From heavenly height through day, through night.

And down to deepest hell, From central throne to circling zone,

Where'er a world can dwell.

The hosts of right their shafts of light

Hurl onward through the sky ; And rear their bow o'er rain below,

And routed clouds that fly.

Shine, shine, shine.

The universe is thine ; In blackest hell, burst full and fell, Like lightning, flame divine !

Hail, hail, hail,

Almighty Truth prevail !

At thy command, in every land,

O'er haunts of lust and lies The stars, a band of guardsmen, stand ;

And dawn with ardor hies.

The lightning bounds and thunder sounds,

And fire and air enroll,

And all that live allegiance give

To their supreme control.

Wail, vv^ail, wail ;

Ye powers of darkness, quail ; And flee until the wrong be still,

And right may drop its mail.

Hail, hail, hail,

Unchanging Promise, hail !

O'er all that jars the world, the stars

Burn on the long night through.

The comet cleaves the blue.

The sun and breeze from beds of ease

The scatter'd fogs pursue.

From land and sky the shadows fly.

Awaking, winks the dew ;

Speed, speed, speed.

With light sow every mead ; And haste the time when every clime

Shall glow as grows the seed.

XII. Ere the echoes that rehears'd it learn'd the tones of

half the lay Those who hymn'd it hove in view from out a

cloud of golden spray.

Such a sight has oft allured me, rous'd by morn's

first herald-gleam,

Floating up the edge of slumber in a just awaking

dream.

Angel forms, no man could number, circled in a

band of light Round a chariot framed of splendor, drawn bysteeds of dazzling white.

Softly sped they o'er the vapors ; and, with wings

of texture rare.

Woke low throbs of murmuring music, as they

lightly struck the air.

And the chariot bore a Being with a smile so

sweetly bright, One could better paint, than it, the fragrance of

that summer night.

XIII

" How could mortal dare to face her ? " thought I ;

"nay, it should not be."

And like veils my eyelids fell to screen my soul she

should not see.

Then at once my dream had shifted. Down below

me met my sight, As of old, the farm and cattle. Turn'd away from

all that light, Once again my form seem'd staggering through a

task too hard and mean.

While my very soul was trembling lest my lack of

strength were seen.

" Cruel fate ! " cried I, despairing ; "none on earth

so curst as I ! " — Then my eyes, above me glancing, saw that fair

one still draw nigh.

On she came, until she reached me, bade those

angel-bands depart, And, with accents fill'd with love that thrill'd my

very spirit's heart, " Come," she said, " and sit beside me " ; and I

rose, I wist not how, And within her car I found me ; nor had known of

bliss till now.

Up from earth and through the sky, and over land

and lake it springs, Lightly drawn and gently guided by the white

steeds' beating wings.

Then along the long horizon sudden forms would

flash in view, And like suns our skies illumine, as we by them

swiftly flew.

XIV

Soon my spirit yearn'd to ask her what these wondrous things could be.

But, while still I dared not do it, she, who knew what stirr'd in me,

Said, as if she heard me question : " Mortal homes are fix'd in stars.

We have left the bounds of matter ; here are burst

the prison bars, Out from which, with powers contracted and a

weary sense of strife.

Souls, like convicts through their grating, steal ?

luring glimpse of life.

Here are regions where the spirit, freed from fettering time and space, Wings her flight through scenes eternal, reading

thought as face reads face.

Here the good reveal their goodness, and the wise

their wisdom show ; And from open minds about them souls learn all

that souls can know."

XV. "All they learn," I thought; "learn all things?"

and my dream had changed again ; And my master stood before me, and I dared to tell

him then, Till his dark face loom'd like smoke round eyes in

which fierce anger burn'd ; — Tell him that the heavens had shown me 't was my

right for which I yearn'd.

At my words he sprang to strike me — struck — and

lo ! it seem'd the world Stagger'd like some drunken giant, while I to the

ground was hurl'd.

"All is ended now," I thought— when, like a

mother's voice in youth.

Rose my guide's : " God's children," said she, " have

a right to know God's truth.

In the world brains mould to bodies, but across its

border-line Royal minds must share their purple, slaves with

kings become divine.

XVI. "O if but a spirit's vision once could reach a

mortal's eyes.

In it he might more discover than he else could e'en

surmise.

Hold, my steeds — while men are slumbering, we

may note their dreams to-night.

Note, my child, while passing through them, scenes

that greet angelic sight.

These augment by all the fancies forged in all these

burning spheres.

From the Pole-star past the Lion, far as where the

Cross appears ; Conjure them like minds that muse them, varied as

their interests ; Add completed recollection, and all thought that

each suggests ; Then conceive a soul's emotions, while such visions

loom in sight —

You have only dream'd a dream of one short night of heaven's delight."

XVII. While she spoke, from out the distance, rose in

view what seem'd a grove ; But beneath its boughs a dreamland, like a labyrinth, unwove.

There were paths like those of Eden. There were

mountains high and grand.

Hung to wild, fantastic fortunes o'er a dizzy dearth

of land.

There were lakes all diamond-dappled ; there were

streams that rushed at meres Arch'd by bridges, rainbow-girdled, where the high

spray leapt their piers.

There were flowers that flush'd through vistas,

where alternate floods of sheen.

Rich as tides of amber, flow'd through shaded

banks of evergreen.

There were trees whose broad, high branches cradled

all the stars o'erhead.

There were lawns whose tender grasses could not

stand a fairy's tread.

Orchards, gardens, halls, and temples fill'd the

fields : and in them seem'd

Every creature, of which fancy, past or present, e'er

had dream'd, — Birds and beasts of all conditions, dancing, dozing,

forward, shy, Strown, as if on isles that throng'd an endless

ocean in the sky.

XVIII. "Can it be that heaven," I ask'd, "is fill'd with

thoughts of things like these ? "

" In the heaven's blue vault about us, where earth

floats in cloud and breeze.

All are held," she said, " that earth holds ; nor

would past their borders pour Were the opening voids about them fill'd with infinitely more." *' Can it be that heaven," I cried, "can care for

beasts that work the field ? — Then for him who works beside them ! " — and with

this my dream reveal'd At my feet the well-turn'd furrows where I trudg'd

behind my plow — Only now it flew before me, speeded on I knew not

how, Only now it drew me upward, — then was not a

plow at all, But the chariot where my guide sat. " Heaven,"

she said, "deems nothing small."

XIX

Then, anon, she bade me note rare nixes' forms,

whose golden hair Flow'd about their sunny faces, fair as clouds in

sunset air.

Then those clowns that mask and romp she pointed

out, — Shedeem and Jinn ; Then, at flower-beds, peris giddy with their fragrance long drunk in.

Near them flitted timid wights, and, where high

cliffs half hid the light, Dodg'd the goldsmith-duergar, dragging all their

gleaming stores from sight.

In a stream were necks and kelpies, pressing down

a plump stromkarl ; Near them, gulf'd in water-lilies, dracs who made a

he hammered well.

Where his quick blows fell more soft than raindrops on the fairy-bell Then we met with monster-deeves, a korred with

her shaggy head.

Trolls and trows in gay green jackets, topt by

fiery caps of red.

And a crowd of sly hobgoblins lugging off some

cellar's ware ;

And an old-time nis and lutin. All of Bedlam now

seem'd there : Brownies proud of plaids and thistles, kobolds

flushed with too much beer, Boggart -snobs astride a lion, roaring so the deaf

could hear, And frail elves, like smoke in whirlwinds, dancing,

while the hogfolk sung ; Or, detected, swiftly skulking toward the leaves

they hid among.

XX. Then I saw a stranger marvel : — smaller than each

mate so small, Floated near the weest wonder one could ever see

at all.

First it seem'd a passing snow-flake ; then repaid

my steadfast gaze With the outlines of a skiff there, fill'd with cheery,

film-like fays ; And up through the shifting atoms of the air that

parted us Oozed in tiny tones a ditty, ; and the lines were worded thus :

XXI

To-night, to-night, my fairies white, The fair sweet air we sail.

But first a tune to tease the moon

That tempts us toward the vale : — Who cares to go where roses glow

In sheen the moonlight sheds, And globes of dew are sparkling through

The tent the spider spreads ?

Your moonstruck fay may dance away And crush the rose-leaves all to hay —

Who cares ? — I don't ! — Do you ?

But note you there that maiden fair —

Ha, ha, a dainty bit !

She dreams a dream of love I deem. —

Queen Mab 's a wicked wit !

Come, come, a jump; and down we '11 thump;

And dance about her heart. 'T will beat and beat — aha, how sweet

The thrills we there shall start ! We '11 tickle her neck, and tickle her toes, And tickle her little lips under her nose —

Who cares ? — I don't ! — Do you ?

And then we '11 huff that mourner gruff,

Till he unknits his brow.

We '11 whiz and whiz about his phiz,

And pinch his lips, I vow ; Then hide and seek in hair so sleek,

And down each wrinkle spare ; And ply his eye, if dry, too dry ;

And slide the lashes there ; And when big drops begin to flow.

Oh, how we '11 dodge the flood, oh ho !— «■

Who cares ? — I don't ! — Do you ?

The moon may keep the earth asleep —

We '11 twist things ere we go.

The beau shall toss a baby cross,

The belle shall beat her beau ; The men be boys ; and boys the toys

Of girls that at them scream ; And when they wake, oh, how they '11 shake

To find it all a dream !

They '11 think of wind and fly and flea ; But not of you, and not of me. —

Who cares ? — I don't ! — Do you ?

XXII. Charmed at this, I bent me nearer ; but dismay !

off dodged the toy, Shaken like a note of laughter from the bounding

breath of joy.

" Cruel thing," I cried, provoked then ; ** weazen'd

witchery of delight, Far too fine for eyes to find you, why should you

have crossed their sight ! "