Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

"SO JOY AFTER JOY MAY GO SWEEPING OVER THE ANCIENT PAIN-(GEORGE MACDONALD)

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

SIR LARK AND KING SUN: A PARABLE.

JOOD morrow, my lord!" in the sky alone,
Sang the lark as the sun ascended his throne.
"Shine on me, my lord; I only am come,
Of all your servants, to welcome you home.
I have flown right up, a whole hour, I swear,
To catch the first shine of your golden hair."

BREAKS COMMON LIFE ASUNDER."-GEORGE MACDONALD.

279

DROWNED IN WAVES AND WAVES OF WEEPING, IT WILL RISE AGAIN."-GEORGE MACDONALD.

"THE TONGUES OF WHISPERING TREES TO HEAR, THE SERMON OF THE SILENT STONE;

["To catch the first shine of your golden hair."]

"Must I thank you then," said the king, "Sir Lark,

For flying so high and hating the dark?

You ask a full cup for half a thirst:

Half was love of me, and half love to be first.

SHOWS PRINTS OF SAVING FEET, BOTH OLD AND NEW."-G. MACDONALD.

[ocr errors]

GOD, IN THE DREARIEST PATHS THAT MEN HAVE TROD,- MACDONALD)

[merged small][merged small][graphic]

TO READ IN BROOKS THE LESSON DEAR OF NATURE WORKING ALL ALONE."-MACDONALD.

FINDS MORE IN ANY HUMAN FACE, BECLOUDED ALL WITH WRONG AND DOUBT,-GEORGE MACDONALD)

"HE WHOSE HEART IS FULL OF GRACE

SIR LARK AND KING SUN: A PARABLE.

There's many a bird makes no such haste,
But waits till I come: that's as much to my taste."

And King Sun hid his head in a turban of cloud,

And Sir Lark stopped singing, quite vexed and cowed;

[ocr errors]

But he flew up higher, and thought, Anon

The wrath of the king will be over and gone;
And his crown, shining out of its cloudy fold,
Will change my brown feathers to a glory of gold."

So he flew with the strength of a lark he flew ;
But, as he rose, the cloud rose too;
And not one gleam of the golden hair
Came through the depths of the misty air;
Till, weary with flying, with sighing sore,
The strong sun-seeker could do no more.

His wings had had no chrism of gold;
And his feathers felt withered and worn and old;
He faltered, and sank, and dropped like a stone.
And there on his nest, where he left her, alone
Sat his little wife on her little eggs,
Keeping them warm with wings and legs.

Did I say alone? Ah, no such thing!
Full in her face was shining the king.

"Welcome, Sir Lark! You look tired," said he ;
'Up is not always the best way to me.

66

While you have been singing so high and away,
I've been shining to your little wife all day."

He had set his crown all about the nest,

And out of the midst shone her little brown breast:

And so glorious was she in russet gold,

That for wonder and awe Sir Lark grew cold.

TO BROTHERS, SISTERS, ROUND ABOUT,

281

THAN SHINES IN NATURE'S HOLIEST PLACE, WHERE MOUNTAINS DWELL AND STREAMS RUN OUT."-MACDONALD.

"FOR VIRTUOUS ACTS AND HARMLESS JOYS THE MINUTES WILL NOT STAY."-DR. CHARLES MACKAY.

[ocr errors]

282

IF WRONG YOU DO, IN SUMMER AMONG the flowers,-(MACKAY)

DR. CHARLES MACKAY.

He popped his head under her wing, and lay

As still as a stone, till King Sun was away.

[The foregoing extracts are from "The Disciple, and Other Poems," published in 1867.]

Dr. Charles Mackay.

in

[CHARLES MACKAY, a lyrist of no common power, and a poet of considerable fertility of fancy and a wide and varied range of musical expression, was born at Perth in 1814. He published a small volume of poems 1834, which led to his engagement on the Morning Chronicle, then a newspaper of great influence and popularity. In 1840 appeared his "Hope of the World," followed by the airy and graceful Rosicrucian romance of "The Salamandrine" in 1842. From 1844 to 1847 Dr. Mackay (he received the distinction of LL.D. from the University of Glasgow) edited the Glasgow Argus; after which, returning to London, he contributed leading articles to the Illustrated London News for a period of years. He has also acted as special correspondent for the Times. His principal works, in addition to those already mentioned, are:-"Legends of the Isles, and Other Poems" (1845); "Voices from the Mountains" (1846); "Town Lyrics" (1847); "Egeria" (1850); "The Lump of Gold" (1855); "Under Green Leaves" (1857); "A Man's Heart" (1860); "Studies from the Antique" (1864); and the prose works of "The Thames and its Tributaries" (1840); and "Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions."]

"O PIETY, O HEAVENLY PIETY! SHE IS NOT RIGID AS A FANATIC'S DREAM."-DR. CHARLES MACKAY.

LOUISE ON THE DOOR-STEP.
ALF-PAST three in the morning,

And no one in the street

But me, on the sheltering door-step
Resting my weary feet;

Watching the rain-drops patter

And dance where the puddles run,
As bright in the flaring gaslight

As dew-drops in the sun.

YOU MUST ATONE IN WINTER AMONG THE SHOWERS."-MACKAY.

"BUT YET THE WORLD GOES ROUND AND ROUND, AND THE GENIAL SEASONS RUN;

66 WHAT MIGHT BE DONE IF MEN WERE WISE,—(MACKAY)

LOUISE ON THE DOOR-STEP.

283

There's a light upon the

pavement

It shines like a magic glass,
And there are faces in it

That look at me and pass.
Faces-ah! well remembered
In the happy long ago,

When my garb was as light as lilies,
And my thoughts as pure as snow.

Faces! ah, yes! I see them-
One, two, and three-and four-
That come in the gust of tempests,
And go on the winds that bore.
Changeful and evanescent,
They shine 'mid storm and rain,
Till the terror of their beauty
Lies deep upon my brain.

One of them frowns ;-I know him,
With his thin long snow-white hair,—
Cursing his wretched daughter
That drove him to despair.
And the other with wakening pity
In her large tear-streaming eyes,
Seems as she yearned towards me,
And whispered "Paradise."

They pass, they melt in the ripples,
And I shut mine eyes, that burn,
To escape another vision

That follows where'er I turn

The face of a false deceiver

That lives and lies; ah, me!

Though I see it in the pavement,
Mocking my misery!

AND CEASED THEIR SCORN FOR ONE ANOTHER!"-MACKAY.

AND EVER THE TRUTH COMES UPPERMOST, AND EVER IS JUSTICE DONE."-MACKAY.

« ZurückWeiter »