Collected Works (Vol. III)

LIBER PRIMUS VEL CARMINUM 155 Long called to in the forest, on the mountain, Reached after in the fountain, Grasped in the slumberous sea, And yet, ever, aye, ever! escaping me! g But here where the wise pen And silver cadences outrunning song, And clear sweet clean-chiselled English, sharp and strong, Of the one man! among the latter men Who lived with Nature, saw her face to face, And died not : here in this consummate place, Immortal now, though the Antarctic sent Its mightiest coldest wave and rose and rent The coral and annihilated land, Or though the swarthy hand Or foot misshapen of the Hephaestian, (Hating the air-breathing man, In such sweet love as dwells, above all other places Ilere, in our hearts and faces, Nature’s and man’s) if his coarse hand or foot, The implacable forceful brute, Shifted towards the bellows, and one blast Blew through all the air aghast And in one vast ‘Vitanic war, Almighty avenging roar, Oahu flung skywards blown in dust—and was no more— Even then immortal stands This loveliest of all lands, Lovelier even than they Know in Elysian paths, heroic bands Treading dim gardens brighter than the day, Even in his voice who is passed, and shall no pass away ! Here therefore I know Nature ; I am filled With dew not earth-distilled As I have prayed in vain, not vainly willed. Now all the earth is stilled ; But ever the monotonous sea Keeps solemn symphony, Tuning my lyre to her own melody, Not understandable in colder lands Where no man understands 1 R, L. Stevenson. More than the mart ; the raucous ironshod Feet, smashing verses ; the hard heavy hands Of time: the hateful laugh where whoredom trod ; The savage snarl of man against his friend :— Howshould he (such an one) perceive the end, Or listen to the voice of Nature, know it for the voice of God ? EPODE. NATURE. Lo ! in the interstellar space of night, Clothed with deep darkness, the majestic spaces Abide the dawn of deity and light, Vibrate before the passionless pale faces Shrined in exceeding glory, eremite. The tortoise skies in sombre carapaces Await the expression and the hour of birth In silence through the adamantine girth. I rose in glory, gathered of the foam. The sea's flower folded, charioting me risen Where dawn’s rose stole from its pearl- glimmering home, And heaven laughed, and earth: and mine old prison, The seas that lay beneath the mighty dome, Shone with my splendour. Light did first bedizen Earth with its clusters of fiery dew and spray, When I looked forth and cried ‘‘ It is the day !” The stars are dewdrops on my bosom’s space ; The sun and moon are glances through my lashes, Long, tender, rays of night; my subtle face Burns through the sky-dusk, lightens, fills, and flashes With solemn joy and laughter of love; the grace Of all my body swaying stoops and dashes Swift to the daisy’s dawn of love: and swiftest, O spirit of man, when unto me thou liftest !