The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell Part 76

'Three roots bear up Dominion: Knowledge, Will,-- These twain are strong, but stronger yet the third,-- Obedience,--'tis the great tap-root that still, Knit round the rock of Duty, is not stirred, Though Heaven-loosed tempests spend their utmost skill. 60

'Is the doom sealed for Hesper? 'Tis not we Denounce it, but the Law before all time: The brave makes danger opportunity; The waverer, paltering with the chance sublime, Dwarfs it to peril: which shall Hesper be?

'Hath he let vultures climb his eagle's seat To make Jove's bolts purveyors of their maw?

Hath he the Many's plaudits found more sweet Than Wisdom? held Opinion's wind for Law?

Then let him hearken for the doomster's feet! 70

'Rough are the steps, slow-hewn in flintiest rock, States climb to power by; slippery those with gold Down which they stumble to eternal mock: No chafferer's hand shall long the sceptre hold, Who, given a Fate to shape, would sell the block.

'We sing old Sagas, songs of weal and woe, Mystic because too cheaply understood; Dark sayings are not ours; men hear and know, See Evil weak, see strength alone in Good, Yet hope to stem G.o.d's fire with walls of tow. 80

'Time Was unlocks the riddle of Time Is, That offers choice of glory or of gloom; The solver makes Time Shall Be surely his.

But hasten, Sisters! for even now the tomb Grates its slow hinge and calls from the abyss.'

'But not for him,' I cried, 'not yet for him, Whose large horizon, westering, star by star Wins from the void to where on Ocean's rim The sunset shuts the world with golden bar, Not yet his thews shall fail, his eye grow dim! 90

'His shall be larger manhood, saved for those That walk unblenching through the trial-fires; Not suffering, but faint heart, is worst of woes, And he no base-born son of craven sires, Whose eye need blench confronted with his foes.

'Tears may be ours, but proud, for those who win Death's royal purple in the foe-man's lines; Peace, too, brings tears; and mid the battle-din, The wiser ear some text of G.o.d divines, For the sheathed blade may rust with darker sin. 100

'G.o.d, give us peace! not such as lulls to sleep, But sword on thigh, and brow with purpose knit!

And let our s.h.i.+p of State to harbor sweep, Her ports all up, her battle-lanterns lit, And her leashed thunders gathering for their leap!'

So cried I with clenched hands and pa.s.sionate pain, Thinking of dear ones by Potomac's side; Again the loon laughed mocking, and again The echoes bayed far down the night and died, While waking I recalled my wandering brain. 110

TWO SCENES FROM THE LIFE OF BLONDEL

AUTUMN, 1863

SCENE I.--_Near a castle in Germany._

'Twere no hard task, perchance, to win The popular laurel for my song; 'Twere only to comply with sin, And own the crown, though s.n.a.t.c.hed by wrong: Rather Truth's chaplet let me wear, Though sharp as death its thorns may sting: Loyal to Loyalty, I bear No badge but of my rightful king.

Patient by town and tower I wait, Or o'er the bl.u.s.tering moorland go; 10 I buy no praise at cheaper rate, Or what faint hearts may fancy so; For me, no joy in lady's bower, Or hall, or tourney, will I sing, Till the slow stars wheel round the hour That crowns my hero and my king.

While all the land runs red with strife, And wealth is won by pedler-crimes, Let who will find content in life And tinkle in unmanly rhymes; 20 I wait and seek; through dark and light, Safe in my heart my hope I bring, Till I once more my faith may plight To him my whole soul owns her king.

When power is filched by drone and dolt, And, with canght breath and flas.h.i.+ng eye, Her knuckles whitening round the bolt, Vengeance leans eager from the sky, While this and that the people guess, And to the skirts of praters cling, 30 Who court the crowd they should compress, I turn in scorn to seek my king.

Shut in what tower of darkling chance Or dungeon of a narrow doom, Dream'st thou of battle-axe and lance That for the Cross make cras.h.i.+ng room?

Come! with hushed breath the battle waits In the wild van thy mace's swing; While doubters parley with their fates, Make thou thine own and ours, my king! 40

O strong to keep upright the old, And wise to b.u.t.tress with the new, Prudent, as only are the bold, Clear-eyed, as only are the true, To foes benign, to friends.h.i.+p stern, Intent to imp Law's broken wing, Who would not die, if death might earn The right to kiss thy hand, my king?

SCENE II.--_An Inn near the Chateau of Chalus_.

Well, the whole thing is over, and here I sit With one arm in a sling and a milk-score of gashes, 50 And this flagon of Cyprus must e'en warm my wit, Since what's left of youth's flame is a head flecked with ashes.

I remember I sat in this very same inn,-- I was young then, and one young man thought I was handsome,-- I had found out what prison King Richard was in, And was spurring for England to push on the ransom.

How I scorned the dull souls that sat guzzling around And knew not my secret nor recked my derision!

Let the world sink or swim, John or Richard be crowned, All one, so the beer-tax got lenient revision. 60 How little I dreamed, as I tramped up and down, That granting our wish one of Fate's saddest Jokes is!

I had mine with a vengeance,--my king got his crown, And made his whole business to break other folks's.

I might as well join in the safe old _tum, tum_: A hero's an excellent loadstar,--but, bless ye, What infinite odds 'twixt a hero to come And your only too palpable hero _in esse!_ Precisely the odds (such examples are rife) 'Twixt the poem conceived and the rhyme we make show of, 70 'Twixt the boy's morning dream and the wake-up of life, 'Twixt the Blondel G.o.d meant and a Blondel I know of!

But the world's better off, I'm convinced of it now, Than if heroes, like buns, could be bought for a penny To regard all mankind as their haltered milch-cow, And just care for themselves. Well, G.o.d cares for the many; For somehow the poor old Earth blunders along, Each son of hers adding his mite of unfitness, And, choosing the sure way of coming out wrong, Gets to port as the next generation will witness. 80

You think her old ribs have come all cras.h.i.+ng through, If a whisk of Fate's broom snap your cobweb asunder; But her rivets were clinched by a wiser than you.

And our sins cannot push the Lord's right hand from under.

Better one honest man who can wait for G.o.d's mind In our poor s.h.i.+fting scene here though heroes were plenty!

Better one bite, at forty, of Truth's bitter rind, Than the hot wine that gushed from the vintage of twenty!

I see it all now: when I wanted a king, 'Twas the kings.h.i.+p that failed in myself I was seeking,-- 90 'Tis so much less easy to do than to sing, So much simpler to reign by a proxy than _be_ king!

Yes, I think I _do_ see; after all's said and sung, Take this one rule of life and you never will rue it,-- 'Tis but do your own duty and hold your own tongue And Blondel were royal himself, if he knew it!

MEMORIAE POSITUM

R.G. SHAW

I

Beneath the trees, My lifelong friends in this dear spot, Sad now for eyes that see them not, I hear the autumnal breeze Wake the dry leaves to sigh for gladness gone, Whispering vague omens of oblivion, Hear, restless as the seas, Time's grim feet rustling through the withered grace Of many a spreading realm and strong-stemmed race, Even as my own through these. 10

Why make we moan For loss that doth enrich us yet With upward yearning of regret?

Bleaker than unmossed stone Our lives were but for this immortal gain Of unstilled longing and inspiring pain!

As thrills of long-hushed tone Live in the viol, so our souls grow fine With keen vibrations from the touch divine Of n.o.ble natures gone. 20

'Twere indiscreet To vex the shy and sacred grief With harsh obtrusions of relief; Yet, Verse, with noiseless feet, Go whisper: '_This_ death hath far choicer ends Than slowly to impearl to hearts of friends; These obsequies 'tis meet Not to seclude in closets of the heart, But, church-like, with wide doorways, to impart Even to the heedless street.' 30

II

Brave, good, and true, I see him stand before me now.

And read again on that young brow, Where every hope was new, _How sweet were life!_ Yet, by the mouth firm-set, And look made up for Duty's utmost debt, I could divine he knew That death within the sulphurous hostile lines, In the mere wreck of n.o.bly pitched designs, Plucks heart's-ease, and not rue. 40

Happy their end Who vanish down life's evening stream Placid as swans that drift in dream Round the next river-bend!

Happy long life, with honor at the close, Friends' painless tears, the softened thought of foes!

And yet, like him, to spend All at a gush, keeping our first faith sure From mid-life's doubt and eld's contentment poor, What more could Fortune send? 50

Right in the van, On the red rampart's slippery swell, With heart that beat a charge, he fell Foeward, as fits a man; But the high soul burns on to light men's feet Where death for n.o.ble ends makes dying sweet; His life her crescent's span Orbs full with share in their undarkening days Who ever climbed the battailous steeps of praise Since valor's praise began. 60