Richard Henry Horne

“ The human spirit is a mounting thing,
But ere it reach the constellated thrones,
It may attain, and on mankind bestow,
Substance, precision, mastery of hand,
Beauty intense, and power that shapes new life.
So shall each honest heart become a champion,
Each high-wrought soul a builder beyond Time—
The ever-hunted, ne'er o'ertaken Time,
For whom so many youthful hours are slain
Vainly: (the grave's brink shews we have been deceived,
And still the aged God his flight maintains!) ”

“ To lose themselves in bliss, which memory
Alone can find, so to renew their life.
Thou couldst not ever thus enjoy, thus give
Thy nature fully up; thine attributes,
Whate'er of loveliness or high estate
They owned, surrendering all before Love's feet,
And in his breath to melt. How shall we name
Thy passion,—ice-pure, self-entire, exacting
All worship, for a limited return? ”

“ In whose sweet smile these stars shall ever melt,
All human beauty perfected in thee,
Divine with human blending. In my heart
Bared full before thee, to the essence fine
Wherewith, by whisperings of my Maker's breath,
These stars of my new life are now inspired—
In this pure essence shall thy treasured love
Receive my adoration; and the thoughts
Of thee shall open ever in my mind
Like the bland meads in flower when thou appear'st. ”

“ And sun-set forced its beams through strangling boughs,
Gilding green shadows, till it blazed athwart
The giant-caves, and touched with watery fires
The heavy foot-marks which had plashed the sward
On vacant paths, through foliaged vistas steep,
Where gloom was mellowing to a grand repose.
At intervals, as from beneath the ground,
Far in the depth of these primeval cells,
Low respirations came. There, in great shade,
The giants sleep. Lost sons are they of Time.
⁠There is no hour when rest is sacred held
By him who works and builds ”

“ In your direct communion with the earth
And heavens, find sympathy with this branched frame
I bear, thus shaken; yet unlike your storm
Which may be wholesome, coming from without,
And from the operative round of things,
While mine is centred in myself, and rends
But does not remedy. Let me then shun
The baleful haunts of men—worse than the beasts
Whom I have exiled, and to shadows changed—
Savage as beasts with less of open force;
As wily, with less skill and promptitude;
As little reasoning, save for selfish ends;
Less faithful, true, and honest, than the dog ”

“ To yet more queenly grace, the shaft she placed
Within her burnished quiver, and the bow
A Nymph unstrung, while with averted face—
As gazing down the woodland vista slopes,
Which oft her bright orb silvered through black shades
When midnight throbbed to silence—Artemis asked,
"And who are these thy brothers of the cave,
And why dost with the Cyclops hold consort?"
⁠"My wood-friends, all of ancestry renowned,
Claim for their sires heroes, or kings, or gods;
And two of them have seen the ways of men;" ”

“ And Sylvans, who, half Faun, half shepherd, lead
A grassy life, with cymbals in each hand
Pressed cross-wise on the breast, waiting the sign;—
Attendant round a pale gold chariot moved:
By two large-antlered milk-white stags 't was drawn,
Their sleek hides 'neath the fine dews quivering,
In delicate delight. Above them rose
The fair-haired Goddess, onward softly gliding,
As though erect she stood on wafted clouds.
She smiled not; but the crescent on her brow
Gleamed with a tender light. He knew 't was love. ”

“ Who on him gazed in ecstasy! He strove
To rise—to speak—in vain. Yet still she gazed,
And still he strove; till a voice cried in his ear,
"Depart from Artemis!—she loves thee not—
Thou art too full of earth! " He started awake! ”

“ The worker ever comes to thee cast down!
Who with alacrity would frame, toil, build,
If he had wisdom in results, like thee?
Would Strength life's soil upheave, though close it clung,
And heavy, like a spade that digs in clay,
Therein to plant roots certain not to grow? ”

“ But Harpax quick rejoined,
"I, for myself, would have this Merope,
And force Œnopion render up his crown,
If ye will aid me." "We will give our aid,"
Autarces cried—"and yet methinks this love
Affecting doubly, as by the self-same blow,
Might from some spells in the orgie-fumes arise?
Ye marked, wise Akinetos would not move."
"Doubtless 't was wise," Encolyon said, "More care
Befits our steps." They rose and strode away.
⁠There is a voice that floats upon the breeze
From a heathed mountain ”

“ Which owns no thought nor action, yet comprises
Life's sole excuse for what seems worthiest hate—
Extremes and maddened self-opposing springs—-
Not always thus excused,—O Zeus! receive
Our prayers, and chiefly mine, which pardon sue,
Besides the dear request. Grant that the life
Of him these hands, once dazzling white, have slain,
May be to earth restored." More had she said,
But the dark pile of cloud shook with the voice
Of Zeus, who answered: "He shall be restored;
But not returned to earth. His cycle moves
Ascending!" The deep sea the announcement heard ”

“ Which yet must have some office, rightly used,
Man hath a secret source, for some great end,
Which by delay seems wasted. Ignorance
Chokes us, and time outwits us."—On he passed.
"That soul hath greater cause for grief than I,"
Orion thought—yet not the less was sad.
⁠Away disconsolate the giant went,
Now clambering forest slopes, now hurrying down
Precipitous brakes, tearing the berried boughs
For food, scarce tasted, and oft gathering husks,
Or wind-eggs of strange birds dropt in the fens,
To toss them in some rapid brook, and watch
Their wavering flight. ”

“ Through which departed truth and bliss have fled;
But high communion, and a rapturous sense
Of passion's element, whereof all life
Is made ; and therefore life should ne'er attain
A mastery o'er its pure creative light. ”

“ Darting on all sides, diving, nestling, leaping,
Swift as a mullet coursing the sea hare,
And strong, as when within the shore-hauled net
It searches, like a keen hound, to and fro,
And no gap finding, bounds o'er the high-drawn line:
One leaps—all follow, like a flock of sheep
Over a wattle. ”

“ With tender consciousness; and, hand in hand,
Turning, they saw slow rising from the sea
The luminous Giant clad in blazing stars,
New-born and trembling from their Maker's breath,—
Divine, refulgent effluence of Love. ”

“ Struggled, and bounded onward to the goal.
⁠Her beauty awed the common race of men.
Hers was a shape made for a serpent dance,
Which charmed to stillness and to burning dreams,
But she herself the illusive charm o'er-ruled
As doth an element, merging for a time,
Ne'er lost; and none could steadily confront
Her sphynx-like bosom, and high watchful head. ”

“ Flashed torch and spear, while reed-pipes deeper blew
Sonorous dirgings and melodious storm,
And timbrels groaned and jangled to the tones
Of high-sustaining horns,—then round the blaze,
Their shadows brandishing afar and athwart
Over the level space and up the hills,
Six giants held portentous dance, nor ceased
Till one by one in bare Bacchante arms,
Brim-full of nectar, helplessly they rolled
Deep down oblivion. Sleep absorbed their souls.
⁠Region of Dreams! ye seething procreant beds
For germs of life's solidities and power ”

“ Good speed made he with his well-practised hand;
The Harpies slew; the eastward trees hewed down;
And laid the temple open to the morn,
With all her genial beams. Then Eos first
Felt doubt; and trembled as she saw the fane
Gleam with her presence, glancing like the light
Within an angry eye-ball. A keen breeze
Now whistled all around, and as it rose
The high green corn, like rapids tow'rds a fall,
Flowed, wave on wave, before the strenuous wind. ”

“ I know that thou art blest.
Our inmost powers—fresh winged shall soar and dream
In realms of honey-dew, whose air—light—flowers,
Will ever be—though vague, most fair—most sweet—
Better than memory.⸻Look yonder, love! ”

“ Flushed deeper pink beneath the sacred touch,—
But with a penetrating influence
And front austere, as suiting best the Queen
Of maiden immortality. His soul
Strove hard to ascend and leave the earth behind ”

“ So from faint nebulæ bright worlds are born;
So worlds return to vapour. Dreams design
Most solid lasting things, and from the eye
That searches life, death evermore retreats.
⁠The shadowy chase has vanished; round the swell
Of the near mountain sweeps a bounding stag—
Round whirls a god-like Giant close behind—
O'er a fallen trunk the stag with slippery hoofs
Stumbles—his sleek knees lightly touch the grass—
Upward he springs—but in his forward leap,
The Giant's hand hath caught him fast beneath
One shoulder tuft, and lifted high in air,
Sustains! ”

“ The sea-wide corn fields, smiled in golden waves.
⁠The last, would need Poseidon's trident hand,
Which, fervent prayers and filial offerings
Would fail not to obtain; whereby a blow,—
Such as had lifted out of the frothed sea
Delos,—Kalliste, with its fathomless bay,—
Mountains, and coral rocks,—repeated oft,
Might many mountains cause at once to rise,
Higher and higher, till their summits kissed
The clouds. ”

“ Work in the night, thou sage, while Mammon's brain
Teems with low visions on his couch of down;—
Break, thou, the clods while high-throned Vanity,
Midst glaring lights and trumpets, holds its court;—
Sing, thou, thy song amidst the stoning crowd,
Then stand apart, obscure to man, with God. ”

“ Sylvans and Fauns at full length cast them down,
And cooled their flame-red faces in the grass,
Or o'er a streamlet bent, and dipped their heads
Deep as the top hair of their pointed ears;
While Nymphs and Oceanides retired
To grots and sacred groves, with loitering steps,
And bosoms swelled and throbbing, like a bird's
Held between human hands. The hounds with tongues,
Crimson, and lolling hot upon the green,
And outstretched noses, flatly crouched; their skins
Clouded or spotted, like the field-bean's flower,
Or tiger-lily, painted the wide lawns. ”

“ Around their listless bodies thoughtfully.
"Three giants slain outright by Phoibos' beams,—
Now hath a dead sleep fallen on my friends.
'T was wise in Akinetos not to move."
An earthquake would not wake them. Artemis
Rejoices, and the hopes of Merope,
To whom the news a breathless shepherd bore,
Throbbed fearfully suspended o'er the brink
Of this event. Not long Orion paused:
"Though all may fail, the utmost shall be tried:
Secure is he who on himself relies." ”

“ The man who for his race might supersede
The work of ages, dies worn out—not used,
And in his track disciples onward strive,
Some hairs'-breadths only from his starting point:
Yet lives he not in vain; for if his soul
Hath entered others, though imperfectly,
The circle widens as the world spins round,—
His soul works on while he sleeps 'neath the grass. ”

“ Dependent, nor on will and wayward moods
Of others; 't is self-centred as a star,
And in the music of the conscious nerves,
Finds bliss, which e'en the slightest touch or look
Of this magnetic passion can create,
And render perfect. ”

“ Who with change-hating eyes, fixed on the earth,
Discoursed, and to Orion's anxious looks
Thus made reply. "We have resolved to give
Our utmost aid—or aid that may suffice,—
In furtherance of thy task, which many days
Rightly requires." "Six days," Orion said,
And turned to go; when Harpax interposed:
"Be it then six, but our conditions hear.
Take Merope, thy prize; the rest be ours. ”

“ To drive the ships, sent from the neighbouring isles,
Forth from his port, or sink the grain they brought:
Else would his people, over-fed, grow slothful,
Rude, and importunate with new conceits,
And soon degenerating in their race,
Neglect their proper island, and their King. ”

“ And emulate his wisdom; ever right
In never moving, more than absolute need.
Thus shall I find my solace in disdain
Of earth's inhabitants, whom through city and field
I've found sheer clay, save in the visions bright,
Of Goddess, and of Nymph,⸻O Merope! ”

“ Great in herself by self-dependent power."
⁠To this the King gave ear, and on the shore
He, with Encolyon, for an omen prayed;
And soon along the horizontal line
Rising, they saw a threatening rack of clouds,
Black as the fleet from Aulis 'gainst doomed Troy,—
In after-time well known. Encolyon cried
"Behold propitious anger on the isle,
For its wrong doings!" Wherefore all the grain
From friendly islands they, with scorn, sent back.
A famine soon in Ithaca spread wide,
And hungry people prowled about at night,
Then clamoured, and took arms—their war-cry "bread!" ”

“ Plumed helms, and swords, two chieftains lay aside,
Then stoop, and softly creep tow'rds him who sleeps;
While o'er their heads the long protecting spears
Are held by seven, who noiselessly and slow
Follow their stealthy progress. Step by step
The deadly crescent moves behind the twain,
Who, flat as reptiles, and with face thrust out,
Breathless, all senses sharpen. Now!—'t is done!
The poison falls upon the dreamer's lids. ”

“ Break down high tops of trees, and weave their boughs
In barrier walls, and fix sharp stakes on mounds
And river banks. When they were gone, a yell,
Mocking the wild beasts doomed to be destroyed,
Harpax sent forth. "Mine be the task," he said,
"To ravage the King's pastures—slay his bulls—
And into our own woods and meadows drive
His goats and stags." "Rather collect alive,"
Autarces interposed, "with strong-meshed nets,
All the mad beasts, and loose them suddenly
Within Œnopion's palace! That were sport
Worthy our toil ”

“ Till his o'ersatisfied existence drooped;
Like fruit-boughs heavily laden above a stream,
In which they gaze so closely on themselves,
That, touching, they grow drowsy, and submerge,
Losing all vision. ”

“ Silently all assented. "See, the light
Of day spreads warmly down the valley slopes!"
Orion cried. Now Phoibos through the cave
Sent a broad ray! Harpax arose, and then,—
Pondering on rules for safest monarchy,—
Encolyon heavily. ”

“ Puts forth bright sprigs of gold,—which soon expanding
In saffron, thence pure golden shines the morn;
Uplifts its clear bright fabric of white clouds,
All tinted, like a shell of polished pearl,
With varied glancings, violet gleam and blush;
Embraces Nature ”

“ Within—none knew where—then rolled tow'rds the sea.
⁠There underneath the boughs, mark where the gleam
Of sun-rise through the roofing's chasm is thrown
Upon a grassy plot below, whereon
The shadow of a stag stoops to the stream
Swift rolling towards the cataract, and drinks deeply. ”