Astrophel and Other Poems Part 14

TO A CAT

I

Stately, kindly, lordly friend, Condescend Here to sit by me, and turn Glorious eyes that smile and burn, Golden eyes, love's l.u.s.trous meed, On the golden page I read.

All your wondrous wealth of hair, Dark and fair, Silken-s.h.a.ggy, soft and bright As the clouds and beams of night, Pays my reverent hand's caress Back with friendlier gentleness.

Dogs may fawn on all and some As they come; You, a friend of loftier mind, Answer friends alone in kind.

Just your foot upon my hand Softly bids it understand.

Morning round this silent sweet Garden-seat Sheds its wealth of gathering light, Thrills the gradual clouds with might, Changes woodland, orchard, heath, Lawn, and garden there beneath.

Fair and dim they gleamed below: Now they glow Deep as even your sunbright eyes, Fair as even the wakening skies.

Can it not or can it be Now that you give thanks to see?

May not you rejoice as I, Seeing the sky Change to heaven revealed, and bid Earth reveal the heaven it hid All night long from stars and moon, Now the sun sets all in tune?

What within you wakes with day Who can say?

All too little may we tell, Friends who like each other well, What might haply, if we might, Bid us read our lives aright.

II

Wild on woodland ways your sires Flashed like fires; Fair as flame and fierce and fleet As with wings on wingless feet Shone and sprang your mother, free, Bright and brave as wind or sea.

Free and proud and glad as they, Here to-day Rests or roams their radiant child, Vanquished not, but reconciled, Free from curb of aught above Save the lovely curb of love.

Love through dreams of souls divine Fain would s.h.i.+ne Round a dawn whose light and song Then should right our mutual wrong-- Speak, and seal the love-lit law Sweet a.s.sisi's seer foresaw.

Dreams were theirs; yet haply may Dawn a day When such friends and fellows born, Seeing our earth as fair at morn, May for wiser love's sake see More of heaven's deep heart than we.

HAWTHORN d.y.k.e

All the golden air is full of balm and bloom Where the hawthorns line the shelving d.y.k.e with flowers.

Joyous children born of April's happiest hours, High and low they laugh and lighten, knowing their doom Bright as brief--to bless and cheer they know not whom, Heed not how, but washed and warmed with suns and showers Smile, and bid the sweet soft gradual banks and bowers Thrill with love of sunlit fire or starry gloom.

All our moors and lawns all round rejoice; but here All the rapturous resurrection of the year Finds the radiant utterance perfect, sees the word Spoken, hears the light that speaks it. Far and near, All the world is heaven: and man and flower and bird Here are one at heart with all things seen and heard.

THE BROTHERS

There were twa brethren fell on strife; Sweet fruits are sair to gather: The tane has reft his brother of life; And the wind wears owre the heather.

There were twa brethren fell to fray; Sweet fruits are sair to gather: The tane is clad in a cloak of clay; And the wind wears owre the heather.

O loud and loud was the live man's cry, (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "Would G.o.d the dead and the slain were I!"

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O sair was the wrang and sair the fray,"

(Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "But liefer had love be slain than slay."

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O sweet is the life that sleeps at hame,"

(Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "But I maun wake on a far sea's faem."

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"And women are fairest of a' things fair,"

(Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "But never shall I kiss woman mair."

And the wind wears owre the heather.

Between the birk and the aik and the thorn (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) He's laid his brother to lie forlorn: And the wind wears owre the heather.

Between the bent and the burn and the broom (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) He's laid him to sleep till dawn of doom: And the wind wears owre the heather.

He's tane him owre the waters wide, (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) Afar to fleet and afar to bide: And the wind wears owre the heather.

His hair was yellow, his cheek was red, (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) When he set his face to the wind and fled: And the wind wears owre the heather.

His banes were stark and his een were bright (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) When he set his face to the sea by night: And the wind wears owre the heather.

His cheek was wan and his hair was grey (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) When he came back hame frae the wide world's way: And the wind wears owre the heather.

His banes were weary, his een were dim, (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) And nae man lived and had mind of him: And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O whatten a wreck wad they seek on land"

(Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "That they houk the turf to the seaward hand?"

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O whatten a prey wad they think to take"

(Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "That they delve the d.y.k.es for a dead man's sake?"

And the wind wears owre the heather.

A bane of the dead in his hand he's tane; Sweet fruits are sair to gather: And the red blood brak frae the dead white bane.

And the wind wears owre the heather.

He's cast it forth of his auld faint hand; Sweet fruits are sair to gather: And the red blood ran on the wan wet sand.

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O whatten a slayer is this," they said, (Sweet fruits are sair to gather) "That the straik of his hand should raise his dead?"

And the wind wears owre the heather.

"O weel is me for the sign I take"