Poem: Humanitad

上海龙凤shlf最新地址It is full winter now:  the trees are bare,

Save where the cattle huddle from the cold

Beneath the pine, for it doth never wear

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The autumn's gaudy livery whose gold

Her jealous brother pilfers, but is true

To the green doublet; bitter is the wind, as though it blew

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From Saturn's cave; a few thin wisps of hay

Lie on the sharp black hedges, where the wain

Dragged the sweet pillage of a summer's day

From the low meadows up the narrow lane;

Upon the half-thawed snow the bleating sheep

Press close against the hurdles, and the shivering house-dogs creep

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From the shut stable to the frozen stream

And back again disconsolate, and miss

The bawling shepherds and the noisy team;

And overhead in circling listlessness

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The cawing rooks whirl round the frosted stack,

Or crowd the dripping boughs; and in the fen the ice-pools crack

Where the gaunt bittern stalks among the reeds

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And flaps his wings, and stretches back his neck,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And hoots to see the moon; across the meads

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Limps the poor frightened hare, a little speck;

And a stray seamew with its fretful cry

Flits like a sudden drift of snow against the dull grey sky.

Full winter:  and the lusty goodman brings

His load of faggots from the chilly byre,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And stamps his feet upon the hearth, and flings

The sappy billets on the waning fire,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And laughs to see the sudden lightening scare

His children at their play, and yet, - the spring is in the air;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Already the slim crocus stirs the snow,

And soon yon blanched fields will bloom again

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With nodding cowslips for some lad to mow,

For with the first warm kisses of the rain

The winter's icy sorrow breaks to tears,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And the brown thrushes mate, and with bright eyes the rabbit peers

From the dark warren where the fir-cones lie,

And treads one snowdrop under foot, and runs

Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly

Across our path at evening, and the suns

Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see

Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Dance through the hedges till the early rose,

(That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The little quivering disk of golden fire

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which the bees know so well, for with it come

Pale boy's-love, sops-in-wine, and daffadillies all in bloom.

Then up and down the field the sower goes,

While close behind the laughing younker scares

With shrilly whoop the black and thievish crows,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And then the chestnut-tree its glory wears,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And on the grass the creamy blossom falls

In odorous excess, and faint half-whispered madrigals

Steal from the bluebells' nodding carillons

Each breezy morn, and then white jessamine,

That star of its own heaven, snap-dragons

With lolling crimson tongues, and eglantine

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In dusty velvets clad usurp the bed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And woodland empery, and when the lingering rose hath shed

Red leaf by leaf its folded panoply,

And pansies closed their purple-lidded eyes,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Chrysanthemums from gilded argosy

Unload their gaudy scentless merchandise,

And violets getting overbold withdraw

From their shy nooks, and scarlet berries dot the leafless haw.

O happy field! and O thrice happy tree!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Soon will your queen in daisy-flowered smock

And crown of flower-de-luce trip down the lea,

Soon will the lazy shepherds drive their flock

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Back to the pasture by the pool, and soon

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Through the green leaves will float the hum of murmuring bees at

noon.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Soon will the glade be bright with bellamour,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The flower which wantons love, and those sweet nuns

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Vale-lilies in their snowy vestiture

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Will tell their beaded pearls, and carnations

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With mitred dusky leaves will scent the wind,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And straggling traveller's-joy each hedge with yellow stars will

bind.

Dear bride of Nature and most bounteous spring,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That canst give increase to the sweet-breath'd kine,

And to the kid its little horns, and bring

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The soft and silky blossoms to the vine,

Where is that old nepenthe which of yore

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Man got from poppy root and glossy-berried mandragore!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址There was a time when any common bird

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Could make me sing in unison, a time

上海龙凤shlf最新地址When all the strings of boyish life were stirred

To quick response or more melodious rhyme

上海龙凤shlf最新地址By every forest idyll; - do I change?

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Or rather doth some evil thing through thy fair pleasaunce range?

Nay, nay, thou art the same:  'tis I who seek

To vex with sighs thy simple solitude,

And because fruitless tears bedew my cheek

Would have thee weep with me in brotherhood;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Fool! shall each wronged and restless spirit dare

To taint such wine with the salt poison of own despair!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Thou art the same:  'tis I whose wretched soul

Takes discontent to be its paramour,

And gives its kingdom to the rude control

Of what should be its servitor, - for sure

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Wisdom is somewhere, though the stormy sea

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Contain it not, and the huge deep answer ''Tis not in me.'

To burn with one clear flame, to stand erect

In natural honour, not to bend the knee

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In profitless prostrations whose effect

Is by itself condemned, what alchemy

Can teach me this? what herb Medea brewed

Will bring the unexultant peace of essence not subdued?

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The minor chord which ends the harmony,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And for its answering brother waits in vain

Sobbing for incompleted melody,

Dies a swan's death; but I the heir of pain,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址A silent Memnon with blank lidless eyes,

Wait for the light and music of those suns which never rise.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The quenched-out torch, the lonely cypress-gloom,

The little dust stored in the narrow urn,

The gentle XAIPE of the Attic tomb, -

Were not these better far than to return

To my old fitful restless malady,

Or spend my days within the voiceless cave of misery?

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Nay! for perchance that poppy-crowned god

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Is like the watcher by a sick man's bed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Who talks of sleep but gives it not; his rod

Hath lost its virtue, and, when all is said,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Death is too rude, too obvious a key

To solve one single secret in a life's philosophy.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And Love! that noble madness, whose august

And inextinguishable might can slay

The soul with honeyed drugs, - alas! I must

From such sweet ruin play the runaway,

Although too constant memory never can

Forget the arched splendour of those brows Olympian

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which for a little season made my youth

上海龙凤shlf最新地址So soft a swoon of exquisite indolence

That all the chiding of more prudent Truth

Seemed the thin voice of jealousy, - O hence

Thou huntress deadlier than Artemis!

Go seek some other quarry! for of thy too perilous bliss.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址My lips have drunk enough, - no more, no more, -

Though Love himself should turn his gilded prow

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Back to the troubled waters of this shore

Where I am wrecked and stranded, even now

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The chariot wheels of passion sweep too near,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Hence!  Hence!  I pass unto a life more barren, more austere.

More barren - ay, those arms will never lean

Down through the trellised vines and draw my soul

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In sweet reluctance through the tangled green;

Some other head must wear that aureole,

For I am hers who loves not any man

Whose white and stainless bosom bears the sign Gorgonian.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let Venus go and chuck her dainty page,

And kiss his mouth, and toss his curly hair,

With net and spear and hunting equipage

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let young Adonis to his tryst repair,

But me her fond and subtle-fashioned spell

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Delights no more, though I could win her dearest citadel.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ay, though I were that laughing shepherd boy

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Who from Mount Ida saw the little cloud

Pass over Tenedos and lofty Troy

And knew the coming of the Queen, and bowed

In wonder at her feet, not for the sake

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of a new Helen would I bid her hand the apple take.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Then rise supreme Athena argent-limbed!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And, if my lips be musicless, inspire

上海龙凤shlf最新地址At least my life:  was not thy glory hymned

By One who gave to thee his sword and lyre

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Like AEschylos at well-fought Marathon,

And died to show that Milton's England still could bear a son!

And yet I cannot tread the Portico

And live without desire, fear and pain,

Or nurture that wise calm which long ago

The grave Athenian master taught to men,

Self-poised, self-centred, and self-comforted,

To watch the world's vain phantasies go by with unbowed head.

Alas! that serene brow, those eloquent lips,

Those eyes that mirrored all eternity,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Rest in their own Colonos, an eclipse

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Hath come on Wisdom, and Mnemosyne

Is childless; in the night which she had made

For lofty secure flight Athena's owl itself hath strayed.

Nor much with Science do I care to climb,

Although by strange and subtle witchery

上海龙凤shlf最新地址She drew the moon from heaven:  the Muse Time

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Unrolls her gorgeous-coloured tapestry

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To no less eager eyes; often indeed

In the great epic of Polymnia's scroll I love to read

How Asia sent her myriad hosts to war

Against a little town, and panoplied

In gilded mail with jewelled scimitar,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址White-shielded, purple-crested, rode the Mede

Between the waving poplars and the sea

Which men call Artemisium, till he saw Thermopylae

Its steep ravine spanned by a narrow wall,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And on the nearer side a little brood

Of careless lions holding festival!

And stood amazed at such hardihood,

And pitched his tent upon the reedy shore,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And stayed two days to wonder, and then crept at midnight o'er

Some unfrequented height, and coming down

The autumn forests treacherously slew

What Sparta held most dear and was the crown

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of far Eurotas, and passed on, nor knew

上海龙凤shlf最新地址How God had staked an evil net for him

上海龙凤shlf最新地址In the small bay at Salamis, - and yet, the page grows dim,

Its cadenced Greek delights me not, I feel

With such a goodly time too out of tune

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To love it much:  for like the Dial's wheel

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That from its blinded darkness strikes the noon

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Yet never sees the sun, so do my eyes

Restlessly follow that which from my cheated vision flies.

O for one grand unselfish simple life

To teach us what is Wisdom! speak ye hills

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of lone Helvellyn, for this note of strife

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Shunned your untroubled crags and crystal rills,

Where is that Spirit which living blamelessly

Yet dared to kiss the smitten mouth of his own century!

Speak ye Rydalian laurels! where is he

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Whose gentle head ye sheltered, that pure soul

Whose gracious days of uncrowned majesty

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Through lowliest conduct touched the lofty goal

Where love and duty mingle!  Him at least

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The most high Laws were glad of, he had sat at Wisdom's feast;

But we are Learning's changelings, know by rote

The clarion watchword of each Grecian school

And follow none, the flawless sword which smote

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The pagan Hydra is an effete tool

Which we ourselves have blunted, what man now

Shall scale the august ancient heights and to old Reverence bow?

One such indeed I saw, but, Ichabod!

Gone is that last dear son of Italy,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Who being man died for the sake of God,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And whose unrisen bones sleep peacefully,

O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower,

Thou marble lily of the lily town! let not the lour

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of the rude tempest vex his slumber, or

The Arno with its tawny troubled gold

上海龙凤shlf最新地址O'er-leap its marge, no mightier conqueror

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Clomb the high Capitol in the days of old

When Rome was indeed Rome, for Liberty

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Walked like a bride beside him, at which sight pale Mystery

Fled shrieking to her farthest sombrest cell

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With an old man who grabbled rusty keys,

Fled shuddering, for that immemorial knell

With which oblivion buries dynasties

Swept like a wounded eagle on the blast,

As to the holy heart of Rome the great triumvir passed.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址He knew the holiest heart and heights of Rome,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址He drave the base wolf from the lion's lair,

And now lies dead by that empyreal dome

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which overtops Valdarno hung in air

By Brunelleschi - O Melpomene

Breathe through thy melancholy pipe thy sweetest threnody!

Breathe through the tragic stops such melodies

That Joy's self may grow jealous, and the Nine

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Forget awhile their discreet emperies,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Mourning for him who on Rome's lordliest shrine

Lit for men's lives the light of Marathon,

And bare to sun-forgotten fields the fire of the sun!

O guard him, guard him well, my Giotto's tower!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Let some young Florentine each eventide

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Bring coronals of that enchanted flower

Which the dim woods of Vallombrosa hide,

And deck the marble tomb wherein he lies

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Whose soul is as some mighty orb unseen of mortal eyes;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Some mighty orb whose cycled wanderings,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Being tempest-driven to the farthest rim

Where Chaos meets Creation and the wings

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of the eternal chanting Cherubim

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Are pavilioned on Nothing, passed away

Into a moonless void, - and yet, though he is dust and clay,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址He is not dead, the immemorial Fates

Forbid it, and the closing shears refrain.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Lift up your heads ye everlasting gates!

Ye argent clarions, sound a loftier strain

For the vile thing he hated lurks within

Its sombre house, alone with God and memories of sin.

Still what avails it that she sought her cave

That murderous mother of red harlotries?

上海龙凤shlf最新地址At Munich on the marble architrave

The Grecian boys die smiling, but the seas

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which wash AEgina fret in loneliness

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Not mirroring their beauty; so our lives grow colourless

For lack of our ideals, if one star

Flame torch-like in the heavens the unjust

Swift daylight kills it, and no trump of war

Can wake to passionate voice the silent dust

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which was Mazzini once! rich Niobe

For all her stony sorrows hath her sons; but Italy,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址What Easter Day shall make her children rise,

Who were not Gods yet suffered? what sure feet

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Shall find their grave-clothes folded? what clear eyes

Shall see them bodily?  O it were meet

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To roll the stone from off the sepulchre

And kiss the bleeding roses of their wounds, in love of her,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Our Italy! our mother visible!

Most blessed among nations and most sad,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For whose dear sake the young Calabrian fell

That day at Aspromonte and was glad

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That in an age when God was bought and sold

One man could die for Liberty! but we, burnt out and cold,

See Honour smitten on the cheek and gyves

Bind the sweet feet of Mercy:  Poverty

Creeps through our sunless lanes and with sharp knives

Cuts the warm throats of children stealthily,

And no word said:- O we are wretched men

Unworthy of our great inheritance! where is the pen

Of austere Milton? where the mighty sword

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Which slew its master righteously? the years

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Have lost their ancient leader, and no word

Breaks from the voiceless tripod on our ears:

While as a ruined mother in some spasm

Bears a base child and loathes it, so our best enthusiasm

Genders unlawful children, Anarchy

Freedom's own Judas, the vile prodigal

Licence who steals the gold of Liberty

And yet has nothing, Ignorance the real

One Fraticide since Cain, Envy the asp

That stings itself to anguish, Avarice whose palsied grasp

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Is in its extent stiffened, moneyed Greed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For whose dull appetite men waste away

Amid the whirr of wheels and are the seed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Of things which slay their sower, these each day

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Sees rife in England, and the gentle feet

Of Beauty tread no more the stones of each unlovely street.

What even Cromwell spared is desecrated

上海龙凤shlf最新地址By weed and worm, left to the stormy play

Of wind and beating snow, or renovated

By more destructful hands:  Time's worst decay

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Will wreathe its ruins with some loveliness,

But these new Vandals can but make a rain-proof barrenness.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Where is that Art which bade the Angels sing

Through Lincoln's lofty choir, till the air

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Seems from such marble harmonies to ring

With sweeter song than common lips can dare

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To draw from actual reed? ah! where is now

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The cunning hand which made the flowering hawthorn branches bow

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For Southwell's arch, and carved the House of One

Who loved the lilies of the field with all

Our dearest English flowers? the same sun

Rises for us:  the seasons natural

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Weave the same tapestry of green and grey:

The unchanged hills are with us:  but that Spirit hath passed away.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And yet perchance it may be better so,

For Tyranny is an incestuous Queen,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Murder her brother is her bedfellow,

And the Plague chambers with her:  in obscene

And bloody paths her treacherous feet are set;

Better the empty desert and a soul inviolate!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址For gentle brotherhood, the harmony

Of living in the healthful air, the swift

Clean beauty of strong limbs when men are free

And women chaste, these are the things which lift

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Our souls up more than even Agnolo's

Gaunt blinded Sibyl poring o'er the scroll of human woes,

Or Titian's little maiden on the stair

上海龙凤shlf最新地址White as her own sweet lily and as tall,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Or Mona Lisa smiling through her hair, -

Ah! somehow life is bigger after all

Than any painted angel, could we see

The God that is within us!  The old Greek serenity

Which curbs the passion of that level line

Of marble youths, who with untroubled eyes

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And chastened limbs ride round Athena's shrine

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And mirror her divine economies,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And balanced symmetry of what in man

Would else wage ceaseless warfare, - this at least within the span

Between our mother's kisses and the grave

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Might so inform our lives, that we could win

Such mighty empires that from her cave

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Temptation would grow hoarse, and pallid Sin

Would walk ashamed of his adulteries,

And Passion creep from out the House of Lust with startled eyes.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址To make the body and the spirit one

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With all right things, till no thing live in vain

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From morn to noon, but in sweet unison

上海龙凤shlf最新地址With every pulse of flesh and throb of brain

The soul in flawless essence high enthroned,

Against all outer vain attack invincibly bastioned,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Mark with serene impartiality

The strife of things, and yet be comforted,

Knowing that by the chain causality

All separate existences are wed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Into one supreme whole, whose utterance

Is joy, or holier praise! ah! surely this were governance

Of Life in most august omnipresence,

Through which the rational intellect would find

In passion its expression, and mere sense,

Ignoble else, lend fire to the mind,

And being joined with it in harmony

上海龙凤shlf最新地址More mystical than that which binds the stars planetary,

Strike from their several tones one octave chord

Whose cadence being measureless would fly

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Through all the circling spheres, then to its Lord

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Return refreshed with its new empery

And more exultant power, - this indeed

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Could we but reach it were to find the last, the perfect creed.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Ah! it was easy when the world was young

To keep one's life free and inviolate,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址From our sad lips another song is rung,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址By our own hands our heads are desecrate,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Wanderers in drear exile, and dispossessed

Of what should be our own, we can but feed on wild unrest.

Somehow the grace, the bloom of things has flown,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And of all men we are most wretched who

Must live each other's lives and not our own

For very pity's sake and then undo

上海龙凤shlf最新地址All that we lived for - it was otherwise

上海龙凤shlf最新地址When soul and body seemed to blend in mystic symphonies.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址But we have left those gentle haunts to pass

With weary feet to the new Calvary,

Where we behold, as one who in a glass

Sees his own face, self-slain Humanity,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址And in the dumb reproach of that sad gaze

Learn what an awful phantom the red hand of man can raise.

O smitten mouth!  O forehead crowned with thorn!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址O chalice of all common miseries!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Thou for our sakes that loved thee not hast borne

An agony of endless centuries,

And we were vain and ignorant nor knew

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That when we stabbed thy heart it was our own real hearts we slew.

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Being ourselves the sowers and the seeds,

The night that covers and the lights that fade,

The spear that pierces and the side that bleeds,

The lips betraying and the life betrayed;

上海龙凤shlf最新地址The deep hath calm:  the moon hath rest:  but we

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Lords of the natural world are yet our own dread enemy.

Is this the end of all that primal force

Which, in its changes being still the same,

From eyeless Chaos cleft its upward course,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Through ravenous seas and whirling rocks and flame,

Till the suns met in heaven and began

Their cycles, and the morning stars sang, and the Word was Man!

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Nay, nay, we are but crucified, and though

The bloody sweat falls from our brows like rain

上海龙凤shlf最新地址Loosen the nails - we shall come down I know,

Staunch the red wounds - we shall be whole again,

No need have we of hyssop-laden rod,

上海龙凤shlf最新地址That which is purely human, that is godlike, that is God.