Poems (Greenwell)/To a Distant Friend
TO A DISTANT FRIEND.
INSCRIBED TO D. E. L.
"There are wonders in true affection."
Religio Medici.
Religio Medici.
I knew not ye were sad,
Dear distant friends of mine! Across the sea
Ye sent me only tidings making glad,
And all was gladness round; for Life to me
Had grown a summer's day, whose very air
Was luxury to breathe, and on Love's fair
Smooth forehead lurked no folded plait of care;
Yet, borne I knew not whence, a sadness stole,
Disquieting the music of my soul
With dreary change; as one that, feasting high
At some great banquet, feels a tremor chill
Pass o'er him, and, grown sudden pale and still,
Sets down his brimming goblet with a sigh,
So all the wine of my felicity
Was mixed with tears! oh, strange that now the cup
Should shrink within itself, and narrow up
For fulness poured within it! dark distrust
Was this of God, and servile fear, unjust
To Love's ungrudging sunshine: I would pray,
And so this heaviness should pass away;
But when your names arose that ever there
Are nearest to my spirit, all my prayer
Was stayed upon their sound, as when a strain
Recurring oft unbidden, will enchain
The sense to track its cadence, I must pause
Upon these words that ever on my way
O'erlook me urgent, "Pray yet longer, pray
For them thou lovest,—is there not a cause?"
Dear distant friends of mine! Across the sea
Ye sent me only tidings making glad,
And all was gladness round; for Life to me
Had grown a summer's day, whose very air
Was luxury to breathe, and on Love's fair
Smooth forehead lurked no folded plait of care;
Yet, borne I knew not whence, a sadness stole,
Disquieting the music of my soul
With dreary change; as one that, feasting high
At some great banquet, feels a tremor chill
Pass o'er him, and, grown sudden pale and still,
Sets down his brimming goblet with a sigh,
So all the wine of my felicity
Was mixed with tears! oh, strange that now the cup
Should shrink within itself, and narrow up
For fulness poured within it! dark distrust
Was this of God, and servile fear, unjust
To Love's ungrudging sunshine: I would pray,
And so this heaviness should pass away;
But when your names arose that ever there
Are nearest to my spirit, all my prayer
Was stayed upon their sound, as when a strain
Recurring oft unbidden, will enchain
The sense to track its cadence, I must pause
Upon these words that ever on my way
O'erlook me urgent, "Pray yet longer, pray
For them thou lovest,—is there not a cause?"
And even then ye wept;
And even then o'er Desert and o'er Sea
Were deathful tidings speeding on to me,
That knew them through a steadfast pulse that kept
Its pace with yours; I needed but to tear
My festal robes to show the sackcloth bare
They hid; and even with the iron tongue
That knelled your loss, a warning presage flung
Across my path the shadow of your care!
And even then o'er Desert and o'er Sea
Were deathful tidings speeding on to me,
That knew them through a steadfast pulse that kept
Its pace with yours; I needed but to tear
My festal robes to show the sackcloth bare
They hid; and even with the iron tongue
That knelled your loss, a warning presage flung
Across my path the shadow of your care!
And quickly hath this keen
Vibration brought us to the other near,
Because the air betwixt us was serene;
And calm as when on mountain summits clear,
We count distinct the fall of distant bells,
So is there stillness round the soul that dwells
In Love! The spirit loosened from the jar
Of earthly turbulence, can hear afar
Belovèd footsteps stir, and thus we prove
Through very pain the comforting of Love.
For we have parted at a wrench from all
The things we held in common, so that now
One wears the rose of joy, while on some brow
Or in some bosom best-beloved, the thorn
Is rankling deep; for now we may not press
Each other's hand or lip, we do but guess
At one another's faces far withdrawn.
And one is crowned and robed, while one forlorn
Doth sit upon the ground; our lots are cast
So wide, upon the waste your whisper dies,
And while we tell you of our smile it flies.
For even while we speak with you—so fast
Life's golden sands are fleeting—unto Past
Our Present darkens! Yet- the heart hath set
Its calm Eternal Dial to a Sun
That changes not.
Oh, friends, we had not met
E'en when together; heart when drawn to heart
Most near, had shrunk and shivered, held apart
By chillness from within—more blank, more keen
Than seas that roll, than winds that sweep between,
Except for Him who holdeth even yet
Our souls in one. Oh, Love, that doth o'ersweep
The gulfs of Time and Space, and o'er our sleep
And o'er our waking brood, if dear and near
Are one in thy blest language even here,
How may it fare with them that on a shore
Where none are parted, none are troubled more,
A little farther from us dwell, set free
From bonds that fetter here.—And may there be
In heavenly harps a chord that vibrates still
In swift yet painless unison with ill
That mars not perfect music?Yet I cast
My plummet down a mystery too vast
For mortal line to fathom. Deep to deep
Doth call, yet wake no answer. Love will keep
This sweetest of its secrets till the last!
Vibration brought us to the other near,
Because the air betwixt us was serene;
And calm as when on mountain summits clear,
We count distinct the fall of distant bells,
So is there stillness round the soul that dwells
In Love! The spirit loosened from the jar
Of earthly turbulence, can hear afar
Belovèd footsteps stir, and thus we prove
Through very pain the comforting of Love.
For we have parted at a wrench from all
The things we held in common, so that now
One wears the rose of joy, while on some brow
Or in some bosom best-beloved, the thorn
Is rankling deep; for now we may not press
Each other's hand or lip, we do but guess
At one another's faces far withdrawn.
And one is crowned and robed, while one forlorn
Doth sit upon the ground; our lots are cast
So wide, upon the waste your whisper dies,
And while we tell you of our smile it flies.
For even while we speak with you—so fast
Life's golden sands are fleeting—unto Past
Our Present darkens! Yet- the heart hath set
Its calm Eternal Dial to a Sun
That changes not.
Oh, friends, we had not met
E'en when together; heart when drawn to heart
Most near, had shrunk and shivered, held apart
By chillness from within—more blank, more keen
Than seas that roll, than winds that sweep between,
Except for Him who holdeth even yet
Our souls in one. Oh, Love, that doth o'ersweep
The gulfs of Time and Space, and o'er our sleep
And o'er our waking brood, if dear and near
Are one in thy blest language even here,
How may it fare with them that on a shore
Where none are parted, none are troubled more,
A little farther from us dwell, set free
From bonds that fetter here.—And may there be
In heavenly harps a chord that vibrates still
In swift yet painless unison with ill
That mars not perfect music?Yet I cast
My plummet down a mystery too vast
For mortal line to fathom. Deep to deep
Doth call, yet wake no answer. Love will keep
This sweetest of its secrets till the last!