MISTRESS and slave of the sun, Dancer with shining feet, Gladly thou springest to greet The year that is new begun. Huntress who fliest with fleet Hounds of the glittering air, Again thou risest to chase the phantom year to its lair. Long ere the threescore and ten Pass us, the sum of our years, Empty their pageant appears, Old to the children of men. April with laughter and tears Tells a monotonous tale, Winds of the Autumn in vain wildly and solemnly wail. Thou whom the ages bereave Autumn on Autumn, behold, Thou art not weary or cold; Eagerly dost thou receive Sunshine and rain as of old, Comest again as a bride Crowned with immortal delight, dead to the years that have died. Hear, O ye planets, her voice! The vast and jubilant strain Mountain and ocean and plain Utter when she doth rejoice. Surely the sound shall attain Through sunless spaces afar, Till it touch the silver heart of some high enthroned star. No—for thyself is the tale, But for thine own hast thou sung. Often the meadows among, Laid by the stream in the frail Shadow of April, there rung Round me the voice of delight, Murmur immense of the Earth joying alone in her might. Once like a lover I heard, Once like a lover I pressed Kiss after kiss on thy breast, Once all the rapture that stirred, Streamed from the South and the West, Flamed from the field and the sky, Seemed for my heart to exult, seemed to my soul to reply. Ah, could one bosom, one brain Half of thine ecstasy hold? Lifetime of mortal unfold One of thy mysteries? Vain, Vain was the dream. As of old Messengers worn with the way Fell at the Delphian's gate, fall I before thee to-day. Hark how the Pythoness cries! Priest to interpret is none, Never a word to be won Out of the rushing replies Echoes pursue ere they're done. Only I know 'twas a song Passed me, escaped ere it taught me too the joy of the strong. Well mayst thou, Mother, be glad, Great in a quenchless belief, Well may we grow in our brief Journey indifferent or sad. Witnessing often the leaf Broaden and wither, we see Never the full up-shoot and branching growth of the tree. Thou hearest the giant heart Of a forest beating low In the seed that faint winds sow On an island far apart; And thou canst measure the slow Lapse of the glittering sea, Where it falls and clings round the land like a robe at a bather's knee. Yea, thou hast witnessed the whole Age-long upbuilding of things; Through the ephemeral Springs One indestructible soul, Sleepless, unwearied that brings Order from chaos at length, Out of the fading and weak infinite splendour and strength. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPELT FROM SIBYL'S LEAVES by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE BLOOD HORSE by BRYAN WALLER PROCTER THE BIRTH SONG OF CHRIST by EDMUND HAMILTON SEARS AMORETTI: 68 by EDMUND SPENSER THE AFFLICTION OF MARGARET by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH FANCY AND IMAGINATION by BERNARD BARTON AULD ROBIN FORBES by SUSANNA BLAMIRE |