A Hidden Life and Other Poems | Page 4

stormy days that intervened Called forth his strength, and songs that quelled their force; Nor how in winter-time, when thick the snow Armed the sad fields from gnawing of the frost, And the low sun but skirted his far realms, And sank in early night, he took his place Beside the fire; and by the feeble lamp Head book on book; and lived in other lives, And other needs, and other climes than his; And added other beings thus to his. But I must tell that love of knowledge grew Within him to a passion and a power; Till, through the night (all dark, except the moon Shone frosty o'er the lea, or the white snow Gave back all motes of light that else had sunk Into the thirsty earth) he bent his way Over the moors to where the little town Lay gathered in the hollow. There the man Who taught the children all the shortened day, Taught other scholars in the long fore-night; And youths who in the shop, or in the barn, Or at the loom, had done their needful work, Came to his schoolroom in the murky night, And found the fire aglow, the candles lit, And the good master waiting for his men. Here mathematics wiled him to their heights; And strange consent of lines to form and law Made Euclid like a great romance of truth. The master saw with wonder how the youth All eagerly devoured the offered food, And straightway longed to lead him; with that hope Of sympathy which urges him that knows To multiply great knowledge by its gift; That so two souls ere long may see one truth, And, turning, see each others' faces shine. So he proposed the classics; and the youth Caught at the offer; and for many a night, When others lay and lost themselves in sleep, He groped his way with lexicon and rule, Through ancient deeds embalmed in Latin old, Or poet-woods alive with gracious forms; Wherein his knowledge of the English tongue (Through reading many books) much aided him-- For the soul's language is the same in all. At length his progress, through the master's word, Proud of his pupil, reached the father's ears. Great joy arose within him, and he vowed, If caring, sparing would accomplish it, He should to college, and should have his fill Of that same learning.
So to school he went, Instead of to the plough; and ere a year, He wore the scarlet gown with the close sleeves.
Awkward at first, but with a dignity That soon found fit embodiment in speech And gesture and address, he made his way, Not seeking it, to the respect of youths, In whom respect is of the rarer gifts. Likewise by the consent of accidents, More than his worth, society, so called, In that great northern city, to its rooms Invited him. He entered. Dazzled first, Not only by the brilliance of the show, In lights and mirrors, gems, and crowded eyes; But by the surface lights of many minds Cut like rose-diamonds into many planes, Which, catching up the wandering rays of fact, Reflected, coloured, tossed them here and there, In varied brilliance, as if quite new-born From out the centre, not from off the face-- Dazzled at first, I say, he soon began To see how little thought could sparkle well, And turn him, even in the midst of talk, Back to the silence of his homely toils. Around him still and ever hung an air Born of the fields, and plough, and cart, and scythe; A kind of clumsy grace, in which gay girls Saw but the clumsiness; while those with light, Instead of glitter, in their quiet eyes, Saw the grace too; yea, sometimes, when he talked, Saw the grace only; and began at last, As he sought none, to seek him in the crowd (After a maiden fashion), that they might Hear him dress thoughts, not pay poor compliments. Yet seldom thus was he seduced from toil; Or if one eve his windows showed no light, The next, they faintly gleamed in candle-shine, Till far into the morning. And he won Honours among the first, each session's close.
And if increased familiarity With open forms of ill, not to be shunned Where youths of all kinds meet, endangered there A mind more willing to be pure than most-- Oft when the broad rich humour of a jest, Did, with its breezy force, make radiant way For pestilential vapours following-- Arose within his sudden silent mind, The maiden face that smiled and blushed on him; That lady face, insphered beyond his earth, Yet visible to him as any star That shines unwavering. I cannot tell In words the tenderness that glowed across His bosom--burned it clean in will and