VALDEMAR
333
But a strange tale is in the wind
Of an old man whose life has been
Shut up wild solitudes within.
On Alpine mountains. He has found.
What I have sought the world around.
A learned, godly man, he knows.
How the full tide of being flows;
And he, in some mysterious way,
Makes, if he cannot find, the clay.
He will his secret share with me—
I go to him, Hermione!"
Of an old man whose life has been
Shut up wild solitudes within.
On Alpine mountains. He has found.
What I have sought the world around.
A learned, godly man, he knows.
How the full tide of being flows;
And he, in some mysterious way,
Makes, if he cannot find, the clay.
He will his secret share with me—
I go to him, Hermione!"
"But, Valdemar," she cried, "time flies,
And while you dream, the vision dies!
And look! Our children suffer lack;
There is no coat for Claudio's back;
Theresa's little feet, unshod,
Are torn by shards on which they trod;
And Marcius cried but yesterday
When the lads mocked him at their play.
The very house is crumbling down;
The broken hearth-stone needs repair;
The roof is open to the air—
It wakes the laughter of the town!
O Valdemar! if you must go
Up to those trackless fields of snow,
Mould first from yonder common clay
Something to keep the wolf away—
A Virgin for some humble shrine,
A soldier clad in armor fine,
Or even such toys as Andrefels
To laughing, wondering children sells."
And while you dream, the vision dies!
And look! Our children suffer lack;
There is no coat for Claudio's back;
Theresa's little feet, unshod,
Are torn by shards on which they trod;
And Marcius cried but yesterday
When the lads mocked him at their play.
The very house is crumbling down;
The broken hearth-stone needs repair;
The roof is open to the air—
It wakes the laughter of the town!
O Valdemar! if you must go
Up to those trackless fields of snow,
Mould first from yonder common clay
Something to keep the wolf away—
A Virgin for some humble shrine,
A soldier clad in armor fine,
Or even such toys as Andrefels
To laughing, wondering children sells."
"Now murmur not, Hermione,
But be thou patient," answered he.
But be thou patient," answered he.