The poetical works of George MacDonald Volume I Part 70

A pale green sky is gleaming; The steely stars are few; The moorland pond is steaming A mist of gray and blue.

Along the pathway lonely My horse is walking slow; Three living creatures only, He, I, and a home-bound crow!

The moon is hardly shaping Her circle in the fog; A dumb stream is escaping Its prison in the bog.

But in my heart are ringing Tones of a lofty song; A voice that I know, is singing, And my heart all night must long.

II.

Over a s.h.i.+ning land-- Once such a land I knew-- Over its sea, by a soft wind fanned, The sky is all white and blue.

The waves are kissing the sh.o.r.es, Murmuring love and for ever; A boat gleams green, and its timeful oars Flash out of the level river.

Oh to be there with thee And the sun, on wet sands, my love!

With the s.h.i.+ning river, the sparkling sea, And the radiant sky above!

III.

The autumn winds are sighing Over land and sea; The autumn woods are dying Over hill and lea; And my heart is sighing, dying, Maiden, for thee.

The autumn clouds are flying Homeless over me; The nestless birds are crying In the naked tree; And my heart is flying, crying, Maiden, to thee.

The autumn sea is crawling Up the chilly sh.o.r.e; The thin-voiced firs are calling Ghostily evermore: Maiden, maiden! I am falling Dead at thy door.

IV.

The waters are rising and flowing Over the weedy stone-- Over it, over it going: It is never gone.

Waves upon waves of weeping Went over the ancient pain; Glad waves go over it leaping-- Still it rises again!

_A DREAM SONG_.

I dreamed of a song--I heard it sung; In the ear of my soul its strange notes rung.

What were its words I could not tell, Only the voice I heard right well, For its tones unearthly my spirit bound In a calm delirium of mystic sound-- Held me floating, alone and high, Placeless and silent, drinking my fill Of dews that from cloudless skies distil On desert places that thirst and sigh.

'Twas a woman's voice, deep calling to deep, Rousing old echoes that all day sleep In cavern and solitude, each apart, Here and there in the waiting heart;-- A voice with a wild melodious cry Reaching and longing afar and high.

Sorrowful triumph, and hopeful strife, Gainful death, and new-born life, Thrilled in each note of the prophet-song.

In my heart it said: O Lord, how long Shall we groan and travail and faint and pray, Ere thy lovely kingdom bring the day!

1842.

_AT MY WINDOW AFTER SUNSET_.

Heaven and the sea attend the dying day, And in their sadness overflow and blend-- Faint gold, and windy blue, and green and gray: Far out amid them my pale soul I send.

For, as they mingle, so mix life and death; An hour draws near when my day too will die; Already I forecast unheaving breath, Eviction on the moorland of yon sky.

Coldly and sadly lone, unhoused, alone, Twixt wind-broke wave and heaven's uncaring s.p.a.ce!

At board and hearth from this time forth unknown!

Refuge no more in wife or daughter's face!

Cold, cold and sad, lone as that desert sea!

Sad, lonely, as that hopeless, patient sky!

Forward I cannot go, nor backward flee!

I am not dead; I live, and cannot die!

Where are ye, loved ones, hither come before?

Did you fare thus when first ye came this way?

Somewhere there must be yet another door!-- A door in somewhere from this dreary gray!

Come walking over watery hill and glen, Or stoop your faces through yon cloud perplext; Come, any one of dearest, sacred ten, And bring me patient hoping for the next.

Maker of heaven and earth, father of me, My words are but a weak, fantastic moan!

Were I a land-leaf drifting on the sea, Thou still wert with me; I were not alone!

I am in thee, O father, lord of sky, And lord of waves, and lord of human souls!

In thee all precious ones to me more nigh Than if they rus.h.i.+ng came in radiant shoals!

I shall not be alone although I die, And loved ones should delay their coming long; Though I saw round me nought but sea and sky, Bare sea and sky would wake a holy song.

They are thy garments; thou art near within, Father of fathers, friend-creating friend!

Thou art for ever, therefore I begin; Thou lov'st, therefore my love shall never end!

Let loose thy giving, father, on thy child; I pray thee, father, give me everything; Give me the joy that makes the children wild; Give throat and heart an old new song to sing.

Ye are my joy, great father, perfect Christ, And humble men of heart, oh, everywhere!

With all the true I keep a hoping tryst; Eternal love is my eternal prayer.

1890.

_A FATHER TO A MOTHER_.