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the complete poetical works-第22部分

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Thou turnest round

With quick and questioning eyes;

Like one; who; in a foreign land;

Beholds on every hand

Some source of wonder and surprise!

And; restlessly; impatiently;

Thou strivest; strugglest; to be free;

The four walls of thy nursery

Are now like prison walls to thee。

No more thy mother's smiles;

No more the painted tiles;

Delight thee; nor the playthings on the floor;

That won thy little; beating heart before;

Thou strugglest for the open door。



Through these once solitary halls

Thy pattering footstep falls。

The sound of thy merry voice

Makes the old walls

Jubilant; and they rejoice

With the joy of thy young heart;

O'er the light of whose gladness

No shadows of sadness

From the sombre background of memory start。



Once; ah; once; within these walls;

One whom memory oft recalls;

The Father of his Country; dwelt。

And yonder meadows broad and damp

The fires of the besieging camp

Encircled with a burning belt。

Up and down these echoing stairs;

Heavy with the weight of cares;

Sounded his majestic tread;

Yes; within this very room

Sat he in those hours of gloom;

Weary both in heart and head。



But what are these grave thoughts to thee?

Out; out! into the open air!

Thy only dream is liberty;

Thou carest little how or where。

I see thee eager at thy play;

Now shouting to the apples on the tree;

With cheeks as round and red as they;

And now among the yellow stalks;

Among the flowering shrubs and plants;

As restless as the bee。

Along the garden walks;

The tracks of thy small carriage…wheels I trace;

And see at every turn how they efface

Whole villages of sand…roofed tents;

That rise like golden domes

Above the cavernous and secret homes

Of wandering and nomadic tribes of ants。

Ah; cruel little Tamerlane;

Who; with thy dreadful reign;

Dost persecute and overwhelm

These hapless Troglodytes of thy realm!

What! tired already! with those suppliant looks;

And voice more beautiful than a poet's books;

Or murmuring sound of water as it flows。

Thou comest back to parley with repose;

This rustic seat in the old apple…tree;

With its o'erhanging golden canopy

Of leaves illuminate with autumnal hues;

And shining with the argent light of dews;

Shall for a season be our place of rest。

Beneath us; like an oriole's pendent nest;

From which the laughing birds have taken wing;

By thee abandoned; hangs thy vacant swing。

Dream…like the waters of the river gleam;

A sailless vessel drops adown the stream;

And like it; to a sea as wide and deep;

Thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep。



O child! O new…born denizen

Of life's great city! on thy head

The glory of the morn is shed;

Like a celestial benison!

Here at the portal thou dost stand;

And with thy little hand

Thou openest the mysterious gate

Into the future's undiscovered land。

I see its valves expand;

As at the touch of Fate!

Into those realms of love and hate;

Into that darkness blank and drear;

By some prophetic feeling taught;

I launch the bold; adventurous thought;

Freighted with hope and fear;

As upon subterranean streams;

In caverns unexplored and dark;

Men sometimes launch a fragile bark;

Laden with flickering fire;

And watch its swift…receding beams;

Until at length they disappear;

And in the distant dark expire。



By what astrology of fear or hope

Dare I to cast thy horoscope!

Like the new moon thy life appears;

A little strip of silver light;

And widening outward into night

The shadowy disk of future years;

And yet upon its outer rim;

A luminous circle; faint and dim;

And scarcely visible to us here;

Rounds and completes the perfect sphere;

A prophecy and intimation;

A pale and feeble adumbration;

Of the great world of light; that lies

Behind all human destinies。



Ah! if thy fate; with anguish fraught;

Should be to wet the dusty soil

With the hot tears and sweat of toil;

To struggle with imperious thought;

Until the overburdened brain;

Weary with labor; faint with pain;

Like a jarred pendulum; retain

Only its motion; not its power;

Remember; in that perilous hour;

When most afflicted and oppressed;

From labor there shall come forth rest。



And if a more auspicious fate

On thy advancing steps await

Still let it ever be thy pride

To linger by the laborer's side;

With words of sympathy or song

To cheer the dreary march along

Of the great army of the poor;

O'er desert sand; o'er dangerous moor。

Nor to thyself the task shall be

Without reward; for thou shalt learn

The wisdom early to discern

True beauty in utility;

As great Pythagoras of yore;

Standing beside the blacksmith's door;

And hearing the hammers; as they smote

The anvils with a different note;

Stole from the varying tones; that hung

Vibrant on every iron tongue;

The secret of the sounding wire。

And formed the seven…chorded lyre。



Enough! I will not play the Seer;

I will no longer strive to ope

The mystic volume; where appear

The herald Hope; forerunning Fear;

And Fear; the pursuivant of Hope。

Thy destiny remains untold;

For; like Acestes' shaft of old;

The swift thought kindles as it flies;

And burns to ashes in the skies。







THE OCCULTATION OF ORION



I saw; as in a dream sublime;

The balance in the hand of Time。

O'er East and West its beam impended;

And day; with all its hours of light;

Was slowly sinking out of sight;

While; opposite; the scale of night

Silently with the stars ascended。



Like the astrologers of eld;

In that bright vision I beheld

Greater and deeper mysteries。

I saw; with its celestial keys;

Its chords of air; its frets of fire;

The Samian's great Aeolian lyre;

Rising through all its sevenfold bars;

From earth unto the fixed stars。

And through the dewy atmosphere;

Not only could I see; but hear;

Its wondrous and harmonious strings;

In sweet vibration; sphere by sphere;

From Dian's circle light and near;

Onward to vaster and wider rings。

Where; chanting through his beard of snows;

Majestic; mournful; Saturn goes;

And down the sunless realms of space

Reverberates the thunder of his bass。



Beneath the sky's triumphal arch

This music sounded like a march;

And with its chorus seemed to be

Preluding some great tragedy。

Sirius was rising in the east;

And; slow ascending one by one;

The kindling constellations shone。

Begirt with many a blazing star;

Stood the great giant Algebar;

Orion; hunter of the beast!

His sword hung gleaming by his side;

And; on his arm; the lion's hide

Scattered across the midnight air

The golden radiance of its hair。



The moon was pallid; but not faint;

And beautiful as some fair saint;

Serenely moving on her way

In hours of trial and dismay。

As if she heard the voice of God;

Unharmed with naked feet she trod

Upon the hot and burning stars;

As on the glowing coals and bars;

That were to prove her strength; and try

Her holiness and her purity。



Thus moving on; with silent pace;

And triumph in her sweet; pale face;

She reached the station of Orion。

Aghast he stood in strange alarm!

And suddenly from his outstretched arm

Down fell the red skin of the lion

Into the river at his feet。

His mighty club no longer beat

The forehead of the bull; but he

Reeled as of yore beside the sea;

When; blinded by Oenopion;

He sought the blacksmith at his forge;

And; climbing up the mountain gorge;

Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun。



Then; through the silence overhead;

An angel with a trumpet said;

〃Forevermore; forevermore;

The reign of violence is o'er!〃

And; like an instrument that flings

Its music on another's strings;

The trumpet of the angel cast

Upon the heavenly lyre its blast;

And on from sphere to sphere the words

Re…echoed down the burning chords;

〃Forevermore; forevermore;

The reign of violence is o'er!〃







THE BRIDGE



I stood on the bridge at midnight;

  As the clocks were striking the hour;

And the moon rose o'er the city;

  Behind the dark church…tower。



I saw her bright reflection

  In the waters under me;

Like a golden goblet falling

  And sinking into the sea。



And far in the hazy distance

  Of that lovely night in June;

The blaze of the flaming furnace

  Gleamed redder than the moon。



Among the long; black rafters

  The wavering shadows lay;

And the current that came from the ocean

  Seemed to lift and bear them away;



As; sweeping and eddying through them;

Rose the belated tide;

And; streaming into the moonlight;

  The seaweed floated wide。



And like those waters rushing

  Among the wooden piers;

A flood of thoughts came o'er me

  That filled my eyes with tears。



How often; oh; how often;

  In the days that had gone by;

I had stood on that bridge at midnight

  And gazed on that wave and sky!



How often; oh; how often;

  I had wished that the ebbing tide

Would bear me away on its bosom

  O'er the ocean wild and wide!



For my heart was hot and restless;

  And my life was full of care;

And the burden laid upon me

  Seemed greater than I could bear。



But now it has fallen from me;

  It is buried in the sea;

And only the sorrow of others

  Throws its shadow over me。



Yet whenever I cross the river

  On its bridge with wooden piers;

Like the odor of brine from the ocean

  Comes the thought of other years。



And I think how many thousands

  Of care…encumbered men;

Each bearing his burden of sorrow;

  Have crossed the bridge since then。



I see the long procession

  Still passing to and fro;

The young heart hot and restless;

  And the old subdued and slow!



And forever and forever;

  As long as the river flows;

As long as the heart has passions;

  As long as life has woes;



The moon and its b

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