Thomas Burbidge

“ Shall the stars mourn in heaven, that happy throng,
Their sinful sister long?
I watched the Pleiads one serenest night
(The flowers were shut—a solitary bird
Was in that silence heard) ,
Pellucid, soft, and bright,
They seemed methought to share
The tender pleasure of the earth and air,
They clung and clustered happily—methinks they did not mourn! ”

“ SO HELP ME, LOVE.
For the credit of great Love I must be brave!
For else will they take senseless leave to scoff
Who venture nought for Love, and nothing have,
And boldly boast they are the better off. ”

“ What do not thy pale cheeks, child, thy puny limbs impart
Of the feeble girl who overcame thy father's lusty heart?
Beautiful to see and think how the power of heart and mind
Can lead the lion passions and the savage pulse of kind!
How the weak subdues the strong, yea, the foolish bends the wise
By the might of a pure nature, or a pair of pretty eyes? ”

“ And that night the Young-man, lying silent by his bride,
Blasphemes the sacred fire of youth, that would not be denied:
Cursing Nature, hating Love, creeps to Beauty's breast the brave,
Whispering wildly, "Yet be fruitless,—son me never with a slave." ”

“ O patience, restless spirit!
Resist not, nor repine;
My peace thou shalt inherit,
The promises are thine!
If thou with sin and weakness
No more wouldst walk below,
Be patient, and learn meekness,
And thou shalt be let go. ”

“ Which Thought and Patience strove in vain to find,
Just when Despair and Doubt were swallowing all,
Hath dropped into the heart without a call,
Conspicuous as a Fire, and sweet as Youth,
An everlasting stronghold to the mind. ”

“ Beauty is common, and the triumph poor
That treads upon the sense, not on the will;
At best its empire partial and unsure,
For some men are born blind, and some see ill.
But to be peerless through a peerless soul,
Sending through flesh its pure transpicuous ray ”

“ Where walks by day the peaceful Eve?
In Heaven's own gardens, believe,
She gathers the delight
Which, hoarded up from hour to hour
In her sweet breast, the faithful Power
Brings down to earth at night. ”

“ Lay no weight heavier than a light surprise;
His tresses soft, like silver undefiled,
Hung on his sunbright face, or in a floating wreath
Clouding his lips, moved mildly with his breath.
A Rock long-bearded with cold weeds marine,
In whose wet womb the ocean-creatures sleep,
Should it uplift its scalp above the deep,
Were likest to that hellish Woman seen ”

“ It passed, methought,—but passed away.
The entrancement of that time is o'er,
A calmer, freer soul is here;
I dream not as I dreamed of yore,
Awake to sin, awake to fear;
I own the earth,—I see, I hear,
I feel;—may I dream no more! ”

“ Still before you lies your treasure, coffered in your careful eyes.
On the road the snuffing carman drives indolently past.
On the shore the sturdy fisherman stands and delays his cast.
Good neighbour, sack your treasure, take home what yet you may,
But the leaves are all that you can keep, the scent will fly away.
Now, friend Tobacco-farmer, shall I tell thee what I see,
That makes an image in my mind not much unlike to thee? ”

“ A Hero's bride, by Nature made!
— Yet rather who hath stood,
And with a hero's soul obeyed
A vision pure of blood.
Ah me! what bliss—if it could be—
Acknowledged by thy love,
To breast the world below with thee,
To scale the world above! ”

“ Like clouds that take its colour from the rose,
Which, knowing not the darkness of the air,
But its own sadness knows.
Youth grew in strength—to bear a stronger chain;
In knowledge grew—to know itself a slave ”

“ Lies hot before me, wearisome and bare,
And no green garland, twined among my hair,
Will guard, as it was wont, my tortured eyes,
What then? The sweeter after this stripped earth
Will be the shady rest of Paradise. ”

“ Terror to the eye and to the shrinking ear,
So in some thoughtful hours may we stand here,
While Time takes voice, and shrieking as in pain
Fly hour and day, and many a shock and strain
Torments the awful spindle of the Year. ”

“ A vigorous arm, a faultless eye,
—Dear Father, whose but yours?
And whose but yours the wit that flies
In richest sparkles round,
Wit that is wisdom in disguise,
Sense that disports in sound.
But stay! the visions throng too fast! ”

“ Think not at all, think not, but kneel and ask!
O friend, by thought was never creature freed
From any sin, from any mortal need:
Be patient! not by thought canst thou devise
What course of life for thee is right and wise ”

“ Hope tells how we may one day looking down
Point out where such and such a grace was given,
And where at length the beatific crown.
O Friend, what jubilant outcry will go forth
Among the stars when we this place espy
Where (God's best gift!) we first received each other:
O fellow Soul! O brother more than brother! ”

“ No deed to praise, no sight to bless
Comes out, but he is there.
Is he alive in truth, or dead and dull
And lost, for ever lost to mortal eye?
O friend, so noble and so beautiful
While earth is fair, to me thou canst not die! ”

“ And straight like thunder (silent till the fire
Which caused it dies) , thy soul's majestic voice
Is rolling o'er the wonder-smitten land;
And Truth, that sate in drought, dares to rejoice,
Marking that all admire, some understand. ”

“ Away, away from seats so pure and fair,
Ye Heathen Hosts, too long usurpers there!
The time disowns you, and the sacred fire
Of Christian fancy doth those fields require,
Our heart expands, we have no room to spare. ”

“ Speak it no more—no more with words profane
What only for the language of the eye
Is fit—what only can be told thereby!
The heart has tones which words cannot contain,
And feelings which to speak is to restrain. ”

“ Nor, while within thine arms the dear one rests,
With overstooping kisses to awake
The little Love asleep between her breasts.
The true philosopher is he whose eye
Reads truly nature, God's appointed plan—
He who obeys her rule instinctively,
Or wittingly, or not, the genuine man. ”

“ Nor few the nosegays to be wrought
In honour of the day,
For in that household none was thought
Too humble to be gay.
And what sweet eves come slanting bright
Across the emerald floor!
What voices rise, like founts of light! ”

“ Of universal nature I can feel
No love, nor, for at least the moment, steal
My hard heart from the tumult and the press!
The sun delights the winter's wounds to heal;
The rain is busy to support and bless ”

“ Fair walks and alleys green!
—Yet let me go where humbler ground
Lets Nature's will be seen.
We imitate—'tis wisely done,
Yet ofttimes do we find,
With all her features fairly won,
We have not caught her mind. ”

“ Yet will I keep them, fruitless though they be;
And in that arbour of cold Memory
Take oft my pleasure when the wind is low,
And winter strong, and the tired world runs slow,
And with my soul the outer things agree. ”

“ He builds on Nature who to genuine Art
Entrusts his bold foundation: not alone
Is the soil Earth, but whatsoe'er is grown
Out of the genial vigour of Earth's heart:
The loftiest Alp which scruples not to dart
Into another world its flying cone
Springs from the humble Earth and is her own ”

“ Affection is no standing pool;
The living fountain of true love
Metes not its jet by line and rule.
Like all that is of truth and life,
Love plays, is free and hath a will,
Nor ever, trust me, without strife
Was tamed to turn a mill. ”

“ The murmuring Muse draws near, and with a voice
That might, here heard among these shady trees,
Be taken for thy voice, silent Spring,
Bids me rejoice aloud!
More foreign lands,
quiet Spring, than in a summer's length
Thou bringest bubbles from thy secret cell
To disappear in daylight, have my eyes ”

“ In supplication crouching, or defence?
Huddled in fear, or in a grim pretence?
Scarred, thorny, with a tigrine stoop he stands,
Briarean dwarf!—and every way commands
A thousand armless palms against offence. ”

“ And viewless realms above it
Envelops thee—and I stand by
And fear it while I love it.
O Minnie, which are thy true charms,
The heavenly or the human?
O shall I fold thee in my arms,
An Angel or a Woman? ”

“ Thou hast undone thy power
For me, by singing joyfully
In this ungenial hour.
Fond creature, if thou couldst but know
The charm thou dost destroy!
May nothing in the world below
Belong alone to joy? ”

“ Thy minstrelsy!—a humble quire,
Yet joyful as the festive lyre
If but the heart can hear.
High delegate of Heaven's own rest!
If man's impure and anxious breast
Thy loveliness despise,
How thankful is the innocent earth! ”

“ Of darkness seem to see the light.
Yes, sweet is home, and sweet is love,
And pity is the right of boys,
How weak soe'er! but he employs
My praise, him now I best approve
Who makes the happiness he enjoys. ”

“ One tapestried fall of meadow pride,
Of lady smock and daffodil.
How soon, how soon adown a rocky stair,
And slips no longer smooth as they are sweet,
Shall I, with backward-streaming hair,
Outfly my bleeding feet? ”

“ Came not upon me—from the solid earth,
That, still unseen, swelled to my warmer sole,
Grew up, and through my frame spread cordial life,
That left not my heart empty. Not by sight
Man lives (my hope grew lusty) but by faith. ”

“ His happy lips they rise and fall;
Stirred by the breath that loves in play
Those rosy gates to swing apart,
Or waving with the motions gay
Of dreams that flutter round his heart.
What makes his dreams? ”

“ Even by the mortal torture unreleased.
In such an emblem doth the rock unfold
A story not to fade!
How to a stranger for a stranger's gold
The chance of life and life's delight was sold,
And when 'twas forfeit, faithfully was paid. ”

“ SI MODO.
—No, not on earth can such love be!
Though fondest friends that bear the name,
Yet must our deeds by Praise and Blame
Be ruled; to sovran Right and Wrong
Our feelings and our thoughts belong. ”

“ Assault the day's decline!
The lamp within shines more and more,
The chimes are jangling nine!
Confusion on thee, drudging clock!
We only own to-day
Time vaulting with the shuttlecock
That leads our joyful play. ”

“ Your thickets Arno loves to glide,
A river silent in his pride,
—A lively creature from his source
He springs, and noisy as a horse
Flings up the pebbles as he strides
Adown the clamouring mountain sides ”

“ A teacher above recompense.
And what for childhood's opening heart,
Perceptions ever growing,
What might not such a fount impart,
Perpetually flowing,
Besprinkling field and rock and lane
With wisdom of this English strain? ”

“ On those white plains?"———Art not afraid?
'Twere but to leap a thought even now! sand holds this sea;
By paper is confined this fire: beware!
Myself I honour, while I honour thee;
In every act of thine is held a double care. ”

“ And then, upon her wondering still,
I poured the warm breath of a man;
And so in Lilie's soul the thrill
Of woman's life began.
There's many a tale shall say and prove,
How some are ruined by their charms ”

“ If I would bow to deft hypocrisy.
But thanks to Thee, O Lord, who dost enslave
The conquered ill to serve against its kind,
Me from this trial even my pride might save;
I scorn in any lie to be confined. ”

“ Darkly thy naked summit spears the dome,
Yet still unchallenged. Sovereign dost thou sway
All eyes, all hearts! True dignity is theirs
Whose foreheads fit the glory if it come,
Nor seem to need it, should it pass away. ”