The Englishman and Other Poems | Page 4

me means one -
Just you.
REFLECTION
Twice have I seen God's full reflected grace.
Once when the wailing of a child at birth
Proclaimed another soul
had come to earth,
That look shone on, and through the mother's face.
And once when silence, absolute and vast,

Followed the final indrawn mortal breath,
Sudden upon the
countenance of death
That supreme glory of God's grace was cast.
SONGS OF LOVE AND THE SEA
I
When first we met (the Sea and I),
Like one before a King,
I stood in awe; nor felt nor saw
The sun,
the winds, the earth, the sky
Or any other thing.
God's Universe, to me,
Was just the Sea.
When next we met, the lordly Main
Played but a courtier's part;
Crowned Queen was I; and earth and sky,

And sun and sea were my domain,
Since love was in my heart.
Before, beyond, above,
Was only Love.
II
Love built me, on a little rock,
A little house of pine,
At first, the Sea
Beat angrily
About that house of mine;
(That dear,
dear home of mine).
But when it turned to go away

Beyond the sandy track,
Down o'er its wall
The house would call,
Until the Sea came back;

(It always hurried back).
And now the two have grown so fond,
(Oh, breathe no word of this),
When clouds hang low,
And east winds blow,
They meet and kiss
and kiss:
(At night, I hear them kiss).
III
No man can understand the Sea, until
He knows all passions of the
senses; all
The great emotions of the heart; and each
Exalted aspiration of the soul.
Then may he sit beside the sea and say:

'I, too, have flung myself against the rocks,
And kissed their flinty
brows with no return;
And fallen spent upon unfeeling sands.
I, too, have gone forth
yearning, to far shores,
Seeking that something which would bring
content;
And finding only what I took away;
And I have looked up, through
the veil of skies,
When all the world was still, and understood
That
I am one with Nature and with God.'
IV
The Dawn was flying from the Night;
Swift as the wind she sped;
Her hair was like a fleece of light;
Her cheeks were warm and red.

All passion pale, the Night pursued;
She fled away, away;
And in her garments, rainbow hued,
She gained the peak of day.
And then, all shaken with alarms,
She leaped down from its crest;
Into the Sea's uplifted arms,
And swooned upon his breast.
ACQUAINTANCE
Not we who daily walk the City's street;
Not those who have been
cradled in its heart,
Best understand its architectural art,
Or realise
its grandeur. Oft we meet
Some stranger who has stayed his passing
feet
And lingered with us for a single hour,
And learned more of
cathedral, and of tower,
Than we, who deem our knowledge quite
complete.
Not always those we hold most loved and dear,
Not always those who
dwell with us, know best
Our greater selves. Because they stand so
near
They cannot see the lofty mountain crest,
The gleaming
sun-kissed height, which fair and dear
Stands forth--revealed unto the
some-time guest.
IN INDIA'S DREAMY LAND
In India's land one listens aghast
To the people who scream and bawl;

For each caste yells at a lower caste,
And the Britisher yells at
them all.
RANGOON
Just a changing sea of colour
Surging up and flowing down;
And
pagodas shining golden, night and noon;
And a sun-burst-tinted

throng
Of young priests that move along
Under sun-burst-hued
umbrellas through the town.
That's Rangoon.
THOUGHTS ON LEAVING JAPAN
A changing medley of insistent sounds,
Like broken airs, played on a
Samisen,
Pursues me, as the waves blot out the shore.
The trot of
wooden heels; the warning cry
Of patient runners; laughter and
strange words
Of children, children, children everywhere:
The clap
of reverent hands, before some shrine;
And over all the haunting
temple bells,
Waking, in silent chambers of the soul,
Dim memories
of long-forgotten lives.
But oh! the sorrow of the undertone;
The wail of hopeless weeping in
the dawn
From lips that smiled through gilded bars at night.
Brave little people, of large aims, you bow
Too often, and too low
before the Past;
You sit too long in worship of the dead.
Yet have
you risen, open eyed, to greet
The great material Present. Now salute

The greater Future, blazing its bold trail
Through old traditions.
Leave your dead to sleep
In quiet peace with God. Let your concern

Be with the living, and the yet unborn;
Bestow on them your
thoughts, and waste no time
In costly honours to insensate dust.

Unlock the doors of usefulness, and lead
Your lovely daughters forth
to larger fields,
Away from jungles of the ancient sin.
For oh! the sorrow of that undertone,
The wail of hopeless weeping in
the dawn
From lips that smiled through gilded bars at night.
ON SEEING THE DIABUTSU--AT KAMAKURA, JAPAN
Long have I searched, cathedral shrine, and hall,
To find a symbol,
from the hand of art,
That gave the full expression (not a part)
Of

that ecstatic peace which follows all
Life's pain and passion. Strange
it should befall
This outer emblem of the inner heart
Was