Verses (Baughan)/A Northern Mænad
A NORTHERN MÆNAD
Comrade! Comrade!
Pinetrees, have you seen my Comrade?
Have ye seen him, gentle beeches?
In and out the lonely woodland
Still I follow, still he flies.
Wherefore fly
Heart of hearts? Ah, Face of faces,
Wherefore wilt thou hide? Yet, hidden,
Look upon my face—it withers,
And my heart it dies, for thee!
The brown bracken
Droops; the bark falls off the branches;
Crush the moss, my feet! For crushen,
Cast-off, dead, I wander; unsought,
Undesir’d, not recognised!
Yet, with low moss
Heavenly dews do house, bright sunbeams
Swim i’ the bark, yea, winds the faded
Bracken woo. But me—Ah, Death, Death,
In my hand even thine lies loose!
Ah, but once!—
The Spring dawn . . . the touch . . . the whisper . . .
Oh, the dread! and tears a many,
Blinding—till the leafy branches
Quiver’d yet, but thou wast flown!
Ah, once more!
The blue summer-night, . . . the woodward
Chamber singing to the passing
Of thy wing! . . . I burst the dream-webs,
Up I sprang! . . . But thou wast flown!
. . . Died the leaves.
Sleep I slew for thee, and for thee
Drain’d the tear-wells dry. Then said I,
“I shall see him now!” not knowing,
Then, my speed was but thy spur.
(The Wind blows.) Hark! The sad Sea
Moans...Nay, winds do walk the tree-tops ...
Nay . . . what? what? . . . Footsteps! Feet running
Hither, hither at last! Belovéd,
Here (Heaven shield me!), I am here!
(It passes.) Gone!
Past!... Not seen!...Begone! I hate thee!—
Ah, no, no! . . . Yet see, yon dead leaves
Rise, and with a voice of piping
Dance behind thy dancing feet:
(The setting sun shines out.) Yon grave pines,—
Oh, the glamour, the bright glory
Vesting them! . . . thou passest! Pity,
O mere wood, O leaves I trampled,
Ye, the vision’d, me, the blind!
—Wilt thou mock me
As the village youths, and all the
Maidens? (Ah, how much less cruel
They, outcast who do but call me,
Call me, have not made me, mad!)
Mock me, then!
Weeps at home my Mother, and the
Cold fog crawls. But thou didst seek me
Once! I seek thee, Comrade, Comrade,
Till I find, or till I die!