Astrophel and Other Poems | Page 8

guard and smite, to scatter and to
save,?We to whom the south-west wind is dear as Athens held the north. He for her waged war as thou for us against all powers defiant, Fleets full-fraught with storm from Persia, laden deep with death
from Spain:?Thee the giant god of song and battle hailed as god and giant, Yet not his but ours the land is whence thy praise should ring
and rain;?Rain as rapture shed from song, and ring as trumpets blown for
battle,?Sound and sing before thee, loud and glad as leaps and sinks the
sea:?Yea, the sea's white steeds are curbed and spurred of thee, and
pent as cattle,?Yet they laugh with love and pride to live, subdued not save of
thee.?Ears that hear thee hear in heaven the sound of widening wings
gigantic,?Eyes that see the cloud-lift westward see thy darkening brows
divine;?Wings whose measure is the limit of the limitless Atlantic, Brows that bend, and bid the sovereign sea submit her soul to
thine.
III
Twelve days since is it--twelve days gone,?Lord of storm, that a storm-bow shone?Higher than sweeps thy sublime dark wing,?Fair as dawn is and sweet like spring?
Never dawn in the deep wide east?Spread so splendid and strange a feast,?Whence the soul as it drank and fed?Felt such rapture of wonder shed.
Never spring in the wild wood's heart?Felt such flowers at her footfall start,?Born of earth, as arose on sight?Born of heaven and of storm and light.
Stern and sullen, the grey grim sea?Swelled and strove as in toils, though free,?Free as heaven, and as heaven sublime,?Clear as heaven of the toils of time.
IV
Suddenly, sheer from the heights to the depths of the sky and the
sea,?Sprang from the darkness alive as a vision of life to be Glory triune and transcendent of colour afar and afire, Arching and darkening the darkness with light as of dream or
desire.?Heaven, in the depth of its height, shone wistful and wan from
above:?Earth from beneath, and the sea, shone stricken and breathless with
love.?As a shadow may shine, so shone they; as ghosts of the viewless
blest,?That sleep hath sight of alive in a rapture of sunbright rest, The green earth glowed and the grey sky gleamed for a wondrous
while;?And the storm's full frown was crossed by the light of its own deep
smile.?As the darkness of thought and of passion is touched by the light
that gives?Life deathless as love from the depth of a spirit that sees and
lives,?From the soul of a seer and a singer, wherein as a scroll unfurled Lies open the scripture of light and of darkness, the word of the
world,?So, shapeless and measureless, lurid as anguish and haggard as
crime,?Pale as the front of oblivion and dark as the heart of time, The wild wan heaven at its height was assailed and subdued and made More fair than the skies that know not of storm and endure not
shade.?The grim sea-swell, grey, sleepless, and sad as a soul estranged, Shone, smiled, took heart, and was glad of its wrath: and the
world's face changed.
V
Up from moorlands northward gleaming?Even to heaven's transcendent height,?Clothed with massive cloud, and seeming?All one fortress reared of night,?Down to where the deep sea, dreaming?Angry dreams, lay dark and white,?White as death and dark as fate,?Heaving with the strong wind's weight,?Sad with stormy pride of state,?One full rainbow shone elate.
Up from inmost memory's dwelling?Where the light of life abides,?Where the past finds tongue, foretelling?Time that comes and grace that guides,?Power that saves and sways, compelling?Souls that ebb and flow like tides,?Shone or seemed to shine and swim?Through the cloud-surf great and grim,?Thought's live surge, the soul of him?By whose light the sun looks dim.
In what synod were they sitting,?All the gods and lords of time,?Whence they watched as fen-fires flitting?Years and names of men sublime,?When their counsels found it fitting?One should stand where none might climb--?None of man begotten, none?Born of men beneath the sun?Till the race of time be run,?Save this heaven-enfranchised one?
With what rapture of creation?Was the soul supernal thrilled,?With what pride of adoration?Was the world's heart fired and filled,?Heaved in heavenward exaltation?Higher than hopes or dreams might build,?Grave with awe not known while he?Was not, mad with glorious glee?As the sun-saluted sea,?When his hour bade Shakespeare be?
VI
There, clear as night beholds her crowning seven,?The sea beheld his likeness set in heaven.?The shadow of his spirit full in sight?Shone: for the shadow of that soul is light.?Nor heaven alone bore witness: earth avowed?Him present, and acclaimed of storm aloud.?From the arching sky to the ageless hills and sea?The whole world, visible, audible, was he:?Each part of all that wove that wondrous whole?The raiment of the presence of his soul.?The sun that smote and kissed the dark to death?Spake, smiled, and strove, like song's triumphant breath; The soundless cloud whose thunderous heart was dumb?Swelled, lowered, and shrank to feel its conqueror come. Yet high from heaven its empire