Poems (Greenwell)/VII
VII."The Heart is a Clock that gives warning before its Hour strikes."
Before they met they loved; Their souls fore-felt each other: passing through This life's dim treasure-caverns, on them grew A whisper, clearer as they onwards moved; "There is a Sesame that opens to Yet richer chambers," so like Him who drew The perfect circle of our globe, and proved, That waiting for him on its margin (whereHe knew not yet), A World in summer air And muffling leaves and greenest quiet slept Until he came to wake it, they were 'ware Of this bright realm, this Virgin of the Sun, This bride unsought, unwooed that should be won. But of the luxury, the wealth it kept In store, its gorgeous wilds, its solitude Instinct with life, its tropic shade and glow Alternating, they knew not, nor could know. Yet, as they neared that shore, the deep was strown With drifts of fragrant things,—and seawards-blown, Strange birds with sunshine warm upon them, clung About their masts, while evermore, like tales So vague and sweet that spoken language fails To catch their music-meaning, gentlest gales Curled up the waves before their prow, and sung And whistled clear within their fluttering sails, To lure them to the country whence they sprung.
So when they met they loved; They took not counsel of the Eye or Ear; These are but erring vassals, and the clear Soul-region in its rarer atmosphere Needs not their failing witness. This was June, The noon of Life,—the heart was at its noon; A noon by Summer lulled to sleep, and hid Beneath its leaves, half-stirring to a tune Self sung in happy dreams; while sunshine slid Adown the hill's steep side, and overtook And meshed within its golden net, each nook O'ershadowed with dark growths, and filled each cleft,And thunder-splintered chasm storms had left; When these two mounted on a blissful tide, Sailed each within the other's soul—no oar Flashed light along their way, no canvas wide Impelled them; but a steadfast current bore Them o'er the level champaign, till they neared A Palace, where, through open gate and door, They gazed together on the land that lay Before them, glittering peak and gleaming bay,As on a country known to them before, Though unbeheld; and even as a King Upon his crowning day new robes will fling On all around him, so each common thing Stood forth in light apparelled, and took Its hue and semblance even from the look They cast upon it; yet, thus venturing, I speak not wisely,—nay, these only took Their pristine hues—their colour that forsook And fled, when Man with Death upon his track Went woful forth from Eden's gate, came back When Eden's tongue was spoken! and the smile That Nature 'neath her Mother's brow of care Hides in her loving eyes, dawned bland and fair To see her children's gladness; so the while They sat beneath one crown, upon one throne;And wrapped within the purple, o'er their own Stretched forth the sceptre; never dial flung Its warning shadow, never iron tongue Knelled forth the busy hours;[1] they took no heed Of Time or of his flight, nor had they need: For they together with the world were young, And ever would be! Life in very deed Held back for them no Future, and the Past Lay calm before them in a mirror glassed To feed sweet fancies, showing how it led To this bright now; so all things ministered And wrought their bidding; here they deemed it well,Like her who said, "I sit a Queen," to dwell In joy for evermore; but change befell.
They parted but they loved; How could these part? what sword could be in life To sever hearts like these? Methinks its strife Should but have proved the furnace in whose glow The fiery bars of metal fuse, and grow More close together welded; even so. But in this world of ours the heart, though strong And armed and watchful, never holdeth long Its own in peace; for sure as to the moon The Ocean rises, here a steadfast law Doth hold or rend asunder hearts that draw Together, restless till they meet, then soon Divided, and for ever; it would seem That God hath made these loving hearts and bold, For Him and for His world that lies a-cold For lack of generous fuel, not to fold Their warmth within each other, but to stream Afar and wide, with broader, purer gleam. How this may be I know not, but I know That never more within our hearth-light's glowThese sat together; never, gazing through One lattice, watched the sky; but when they knew Their paths were severed, rising, on their way Went forth before the breaking of the day,And parted on Life's cross-road,—not before Each lifted up a voice of weeping sore. And blessed the other's journey! So they moved (In tents abiding) through new lands that bore No likeness to the country where of yore They dwelt together: other scenes and looks Grew round them; other hearts became the books They read and mused in; other trials proved, And other blessings gladdened, yet they loved.
They parted, yet they love; And shall these spirits in an air serene, Where nought can shadow, nought can come between, Meet once again, and to the other grow More close and sure than could have been below?Or will that State, that blissful Commonweal, Leave, each of all possessing, room to feel For other bliss than merges in the flow Of Love's great ocean, whence these drops did steal To Earth of old, and wandered to and fro?—I know not of this now, but I shall know.