Equinoctial Grieve to let go The day. Lovely thy tarrying, lovely too is night: Pass thou away. Pass, thou wild heart, Wild heart of youth that still Hast half a will To stay. I grow too old a comrade, let us part: Pass thou away. William Watson (1858 EQUINOCTIAL THE SUN of life has crossed the line; The summer-shine of lengthened light Faded and failed, till, where I stand, 'Tis equal day and equal night. One after one, as dwindling hours, Youth's glowing hopes have dropped away, And soon may barely leave the gleam I am not young; I am not old; The flush of morn, the sunset calm, Paling and deepening, each to each, Meet midway with a solemn charm. One side I see the summer fields, Flame the first tints of frosty sheen. Ah, middle-point, where cloud and storm 367 I bow me to the threatening gale: "BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF YEARS" From "Atalanta in Calydon" BEFORE the beginning of years, There came to the making of man Time, with a gift of tears; Grief, with a glass that ran; Pleasure, with pain for leaven; And life, the shadow of death. And the high gods took in hand And froth and drift of the sea; And dust of the laboring earth; And bodies of things to be In the houses of death and of birth; And death beneath and above, For a day and a night and a morrow, That his strength might endure for a span, With travail and heavy sorrow, The holy spirit of man. Man From the winds of the north and the south They gathered as unto strife; They filled his body with life; A time to serve and to sin; And love, and a space for delight, And night, and sieep in the night. In his heart is a blind desire, In his eyes foreknowledge of death; Sows, and he shall not reap; His life is a watch or a vision Between a sleep and a sleep. 369 Algernon Charles Swinburne [1837-1909] MAN WEIGHING the steadfastness and state Of some mean things which here below reside, Where bees at night get home and hive, and flowers, Rise with the sun, and set in the same bowers; I would, said I, my God would give Yet Solomon was never dressed so fine. Man hath still either toys, or care; He hath no root, nor to one place is tied, But ever restless and irregular About this earth doth run and ride; He knows he hath a home, but scarce knows where; He says it is so far, That he hath quite forgot how to go there. He knocks at all doors, strays and roams; Nay, hath not so much wit as some stones have, And passage through these looms God ordered motion, but ordained no rest. Henry Vaughan [1622–1695] THE PULLEY WHEN God at first made Man, Having a glass of blessings standing by— So strength first made a way, Then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honor, pleasure: For if I should (said He) Bestow this jewel also on My creature, Yet let him keep the rest, But keep them with repining restlessness; George Herbert [1593-1633] Ode on the Intimations of Immortality 371 ODE ON THE INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY FROM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more. II The Rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the Rose; The Moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. III Now, while the Birds thus sing a joyous song, As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: The Cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep: |