Where hills austerely solemn frowned And men were molded by the hills, Matthew Earnest Emery -- Who thought a thrush's limpid trills Were echoes of the Devil's psalm, And life a dismal testing-place By rigor bound and stern decree -- With serious purpose bred a race. In faithful poring on the Book He wore his eyes to needle-points Albeit sure he owned a place Among the chosen Christ anoints. The cedars of lost Lebanon Transcended in his pious sight The pine that whispered by his door In the stillness of the night. His patriarchal lips breathed prayers, But not the slightest hint of song Lent rhythm to his axe's blows That rang, hill-echoed, all year long. The bluish wisp of smoke that told Of homely comforts, bed, and wife, Was sheerly blotted from the mind That peered beyond this earthly life. Three centuries have rolled away Into the limbo of past time, And I, the latest of the race, Act in the universal mime. I, latest of the unbroken race That proudly brings the heritage Of Hampshire hills into this land Of alkali and sand and sage. But by some ludicrous mistake I cannot play a tragic part, I cannot feel that sin is pumped Through all my arteries by my heart. Nor yet am I resigned to sit In cloistered goodness, there to wait The happy moment when my soul At length unlocks the life-barred gate. For visions at the dead of noon, When waves of heat like phantoms dance, And swoon, and swirl again to sigh Forbidden syllables, I'd chance My prayer-bench in heaven's nave, And then forego the poignant light, The visions, for agnostic loves Discreet beneath the cowl of night. But even in these hallowed moments, Even when I question so, @3Thou Shalt Not@1 flashes on my brain And burns with unremittent glow. And then I know that I am born Of one who scorned a thrush's trills Where hills austerely solemn frowned, And men were molded by the hills. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EPIGRAM: EHEU FUGACES by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM NIGHT, FR. SONGS OF INNOCENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE WHEN THE GREAT GRAY SHIPS COME IN [AUGUST 20, 1898] by GUY WETMORE CARRYL SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 2. IN CHURCH by THOMAS HARDY BEETHOVEN'S THIRD SYMPHONY by RICHARD HOVEY EPIGRAM: 59. ON SPIES by BEN JONSON THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE LAMENTATION OF THE OLD PENSIONER (2) by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS |