NAY, fold your arms, beloved Friends, Above the hearts that vainly beat! Or catch the rainbow where it bends, And find your darling at its feet; Or fix the fountain's varying shape. The sunset-cloud's elusive dye. The speech of winds that round the cape Make music to the sea and sky: So may you summon from the air The loveliness that vanished hence, And Twilight give his beauteous hair, And Morning give his countenance, And Life about his being clasp Her rosy girdle once again: -- But no! let go your stubborn grasp On some wild hope, and take your pain! For, through the crystal of your tears, His love and beauty fairer shine; The shadows of advancing years Draw back, and leave him all divine. And Death, that took him, cannot claim The smallest vesture of his birth, -- The little life, a dancing flame That hovered o'er the hills of earth, -- The finer soul, that unto ours A subtle perfume seemed to be, Like incense blown from April flowers Beside the scarred and stormy tree, -- The wondering eyes, that ever saw Some fleeting mystery in the air, And felt the stars of evening draw His heart to silence, childhood's prayer! Our suns were all too fierce for him; Our rude winds pierced him through and through: But Heaven has valleys cool and dim, And boscage sweet with starry dew. There knowledge breathes in balmy air, Not wrung, as here, with panting breast: The wisdom born of toil you share; But he, the wisdom born of rest. For every picture here that slept, A living canvas is unrolled; The silent harp he might have swept Leans to his touch its strings of gold. Believe, dear Friends, they murmur still Some sweet accord to those you play, That happier winds of Eden thrill With echoes of the earthly lay; That he, for every triumph won, Whereto your poet-souls aspire, Sees opening in that perfect sun, Another blossom's bud of fire! Each song, of Love and Sorrow born, Another flower to crown your boy, -- Each shadow here his ray of morn, Till Grief shall clasp the hand of Joy! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE ITINERANT POET'S ROAD SONG by KAREN SWENSON OLNEY HYMNS: 9. THE CONTRITE HEART by WILLIAM COWPER THE KINGFISHER by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THE LUNCH by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH STANZAS TO A FRIEND by BERNARD BARTON |