By Still Waters

The Project Gutenberg EBook of By Still Waters, by George William Russell
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: By Still Waters
Lyrical Poems Old and New
Author: George William Russell
Release Date: August 29, 2005 [EBook #16615]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
? START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BY STILL WATERS ***
Produced by David Starner, Sankar Viswanathan, and the?Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
BY STILL WATERS, LYRICAL
POEMS OLD AND NEW BY A.E.

THE DUN EMER PRESS
DUNDRUM
MCMVI

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prelude?A Summer Night?Creation?Dusk?Night?Dawn?Day?Dana?Remembrance?The Hour of the King?The Winds of Angus?Reflections?The Dawn of Darkness?Natural Magic?In the Womb?Forgiveness?A Woman's Voice?Parting?A Prayer?The Heroes?Recall?Blindness?Brotherhood?A New Being?The Man to the Angel?Endurance?The Vesture of the Soul?The Twilight of Earth?The Dream?The Parting of Ways?Song?The Virgin Mother
The Manager of the Dun Emer Press has to thank Mr. John Lane for permission to reprint ten poems from Homeward Songs by the Way and nine poems from The Earth Breath, also Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for permission to reprint seven poems from The Divine Vision.
Oh, be not led away,?Lured by the colour of the sun-rich day.?The gay romance of song?Unto the spirit life doth not belong:?Though far-between the hours?In which the Master of Angelic powers?Lightens the dusk within?The holy of holies, be it thine to win?Rare vistas of white light,?Half parted lips through which the Infinite?Murmurs her ancient story,?Harkening to whom the wandering planets hoary?Waken primeval fires,?With deeper rapture in celestial choirs?Breathe, and with fleeter motion?Wheel in their orbits through the surgeless ocean.?So hearken thou like these,?Intent on her, mounting by slow degrees,?Until thy song's elation?Echoes her multitudinous meditation.
A SUMMER NIGHT
Her mist of primroses within her breast?Twilight hath folded up, and o'er the west,?Seeking remoter valleys long hath gone,?Not yet hath come her sister of the dawn.?Silence and coolness now the earth enfold:?Jewels of glittering green, long mists of gold,?Hazes of nebulous silver veil the height,?And shake in tremors through the shadowy night.?Heard through the stillness, as in whispered words,?The wandering God-guided wings of birds?Ruffle the dark. The little lives that lie?Deep hid in grass join in a long-drawn sigh?More softly still; and unheard through the blue?The falling of innumerable dew,?Lifts with grey fingers all the leaves that lay?Burned in the heat of the consuming day.?The lawns and lakes lie in this night of love,?Admitted to the majesty above.?Earth with the starry company hath part;?The waters hold all heaven within their heart,?And glimmer o'er with wave-lips everywhere?Lifted to meet the angel lips of air.?The many homes of men shine near and far;?Peace-laden as the tender evening star,?The late home-coming folk anticipate?Their rest beyond the passing of the gate,?And tread with sleep-filled hearts on drowsy feet.?Oh, far away and wonderful and sweet?All this, all this. But far too many things?Obscuring, as a cloud of seraph wings?Blinding the seeker for the Lord behind,?I fall away in weariness of mind,?And think how far apart are I and you,?Beloved, from those spirit children who?Felt but one single Being long ago,?Whispering in gentleness and leaning low?Out of its majesty, as child to child.?I think upon it all with heart grown wild.?Hearing no voice, howe'er my spirit broods.?No whisper from the dense infinitudes,?This world of myriad things whose distance awes.?Ah me; how innocent our childhood was!
CREATION
As one by one the veils took flight,?The day withdrew, the stars came up:?The spirit issued dark and bright,?Filling thy beauty like a cup.
Sacred thy laughter on the air,?Holy thy lightest word that fell,?Proud the innumerable hair?That waved at the enchanter's spell.
Oh Master of the Beautiful,?Creating us from hour to hour,?Give me this vision to the full?To see in lightest things thy power!
This vision give, no heaven afar,?No throne, and yet I will rejoice,?Knowing beneath my feet a star,?Thy word in every wandering voice.
DUSK
Dusk wraps the village in its dim caress;?Each chimney's vapour, like a thin grey rod,?Mounting