A. B. S. Tennyson

“ Else must I die alone,
My heart is like a stone.
The Song of Kisses.
I have no skill in Love's soft war,
Nor am I bold to woo
In the same sort that conquerors are
When they are lovers too.
Tho' passion thunders in my brain
Like ocean on a beach,
My tongue is bounden with a chain
And manacled my speech. ”

“ I was alone, alone, alone
With the mountains and the sky.
"It is a timeless land and still;
The heavens slowly like a wheel
Revolve themselves around;
There are two rulers in that place;
Eternity sits throned by space;
Their law is without sound.
"Ho! you folk, such feats I did
On the world's roof the snow amid,
Ho! such an one as I—
I matched the wild goat in my race,
And underneath the long wise face
I pulled the beard awry. ”

“ There came no sound—tho' he listened long—
From the darkened moaning sea.
The Knight and the Witch.
A voice cried over the Hills
"Follow the strange desire.
Oh! follow, follow, follow,
The world is on fire.
Day burns on funeral bed
In flame of sky and sea,
And, black against that red,
Is the tower where dwelleth she
And gazeth, white foot pressed
On bruisèd heaps of bloom,
O'er the sea which cannot rest
And sounds thro' her room.
Murmurs in her room
Thro' a casement open wide
The sea which is a tomb
For mariners of pride. ”

“ They are soft, they are kind, they are wise."
"Heart of my hungry heart
My hero whose hand is in mine
If we fall let it be to the pit,
For to-day we have touched the divine.
Time has stood still to-day....
This day which has squandered its sun.
It has been all glory and gold
All perfect days in this one."
"Light of my life, my love,
My lady of dreams, lie near,
The evening sighs thro' the pines,
Hark! do you feel no fear?
The light of love flashes out.... ”

“ And tho' I sorrowed to leave him
My heart was ready to sing,
So first in praise of the gods
I made for an offering
(Even as does a shepherd
His rustic altar of sods)
Bright forms larger than human
As mortals dream of the gods. ”

“ Who sweats for his hungry brood,
Has a deeper knowledge than I
Of our mortal evil and good.
Oh! gods, if ever I sought you,
And found you, terrible lords,
Zeus in the rattling thunder,
Ares in din of swords;
And thou, wise grey-eyed lady,
Who lovest the sober mean,
Reason and grave discourses,
A tempered mind and serene,
You have I duly honoured—
Yet one have I kept apart,
(Lean, misshapen, and ugly
No toy for a maiden's heart) . ”

“ Heart of my singing heart,
My lover, my lord, all hail!
Fear shall be underfoot,
I feel that we shall not fail.
In the shadowy land we leave
The grim wolves raven and bark,
But our hearts are steadfast at length
And our faces turn from the dark. ”

“ Hurrah! we have found a prey
But we seek another on land."
Ah! shivering fisherwife in your shawl,
Perhaps they have found a prey
Who leap and shout in the bay,
And you will weep for the grief of it all
For many and many a day.
IX
All night the moon peered wan and pale
Thro' rifts in a scudding storm-rent veil
O'er a moving mountainous waste.
All night did the climbers rear and roar
And fall with a crash upon the shore,
League on league of them coming in haste
Till they broke and leapt no more,
Leaping and shouting until they broke
Upon the screaming shore. ”

“ In his insupportable terror.
Then the Spirit pointed again,
And wheeled the might of his horses
And shouted ... and down they fell,
As a pebble drops in a well,
Thro' the worlds and the roar of their courses. ”

“ We are enamoured which we most do lack.
So he, fantastic out of human guise,
Bent, broken, bowed, small, apish, humped of back,
Marred in the mint, perfection's contrary,
To sweet perfection found his marred life thrall,
And—the great artist without jealousy—
Knew beauty more than all. ”

“ Suffer sickness, plague, or dearth,
Living in a golden climate
In the fairest place on earth,
Living thus thro' endless summers
And half-summers hardly colder,
Growing, tho' they hardly guessed it,
Very gradually older. ”

“ Tho' the mortar of life may grind them.
They were like swimmers breasting the waves
In the troughs of a stormy channel,
They are silent now in their lonely graves,
But the world has become the panel. ”

“ Tho' it existed not—lived never—only came
From some vast depth of dateless woe and shame
Striving to give its high desire a name,
The glory dies not; leaves us tired and still;
We cannot follow, even if we will ”

“ Not actual, from afar,
Fairer than hope or thought,
More beautiful than a star.
Courage, oh! Adeimantus,
Lay strength and strength to your soul.
You shall fashion surely a part
Tho' you may not grasp the whole. ”

“ Thus, oh! my dreams, you grow not old,
No process dims you, leaves you cold,
Immortal, bright, you come,
And if you come not, I am wise,
I have my trusted old allies,
Tobacco, beer, and rum. ”

“ And wailed for the warm blood flowing.
Out of the dark I return;
(Ye are baffled, Oh! Dead) ;
Lost hopes, lost hearts, lost loves,
Hollow-eyed, hollow-cheeked are your droves,
I drew my sword and ye vanished. ”

“ And, if she pleased, the swart and twisted gnome
Gave her a white, white rose.
To an Elephant.
Lord of the trunk and fan-like ears,
Wisest and mightiest next to man,
I see thee hence a million years
Ruling the earth with milder plan.
Dwellers above, beneath the ground,
Shall live contented in that time;
No subtle growths shall e'er confound
Their natural joy and instinct prime.
Not such as those who planned to nought
And groped (wise fools!) ”

“ And, finding thus his own ideal
In things dissevered from the real,
Be happier than he seems?
"Ah! who could praise or who could blame,
Tho' glimmers all my way the same,
Like a dyke-road thro' a fen. ”

“ Whereat my spirit grieves."
"Not such as you, Oh! ancient man,
Our joyous Satyrs here:
Old men are they all laughter-mad
Who wallow in good cheer.
Amid lush grasses soft and cool
They make their feasting ground,
With smilax and with bryony
Their rosy pates are crowned.
You see them thro' the forest trunks
Great rolling gladsome shapes,
Who prop themselves on skins of wine
By purple piles of grapes.
Their huge brown bellies quake with mirth,
Their ancient eyes are bright,
And there they sit and roar old tales
Far, far into the night. ”

“ So ... pray you to a painted bird,
Or green snake in the grass?"
"Rash Thing, beware," the Hermit cried,
Like agates were his eyes,
"The God I serve you do not know
A strong God, just and wise. ”

“ And the boy took heart and smiled,
For the voice was tender and mild,
And then half sadly it said,
"Oh! ye who have called me the Master,
The Teller of Truth, and the Wise,
Oh! ye who have strayed in the dark
Give ear to my saying and mark,
For I give you a pearl of price,
"A dark saying, and a hard saying
To those who read it aright—
This natural, whom ye see,
Is wiser, Oh! blind ones, than ye,
And thus have I learned in the night."
DIALOGUES.
The Parting of Lancelot and Guinevere. ”

“ The mighty rivers roar unbridged
The hungry tiger seek his food,
Save for thy bidding, privileged,
Where (weary subtle growths) we bore
Our burden of humanity;
For conscious mind shall work no more
And man himself have ceased to be.
SONGS. ”

“ Cried Hasan in great surprise.
"Son," replied the ancient person,
"Tho' a miser is disgraced,
Even in a wealthy household
Monstrous is the crime of waste,
Strong and shapely is the basket
Much hath held and more will take ”