LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      As rivers seek the sea,

       Much more deep than they,

      So my soul seeks thee

       Far away:

      As running rivers moan

      On their course alone

       So I moan

       Left alone.

      As the delicate rose

       To the sun's sweet strength

      Doth herself unclose,

       Breadth and length:

      So spreads my heart to thee

      Unveiled utterly,

       I to thee

       Utterly.

      As morning dew exhales

       Sunwards pure and free,

      So my spirit fails

       After thee:

      As dew leaves not a trace

      On the green earth's face;

       I, no trace

       On thy face.

      Its goal the river knows,

       Dewdrops find a way,

      Sunlight cheers the rose

       In her day:

      Shall I, lone sorrow past,

      Find thee at the last?

       Sorrow past,

       Thee at last?

NOBLE SISTERS.

      "Now did you mark a falcon,

       Sister dear, sister dear,

      Flying toward my window

       In the morning cool and clear?

      With jingling bells about her neck,

       But what beneath her wing?

      It may have been a ribbon,

       Or it may have been a ring."--

       "I marked a falcon swooping

       At the break of day:

       And for your love, my sister dove,

       I 'frayed the thief away."--

      "Or did you spy a ruddy hound,

       Sister fair and tall,

      Went snuffing round my garden bound,

       Or crouched by my bower wall?

      With a silken leash about his neck;

       But in his mouth may be

      A chain of gold and silver links,

       Or a letter writ to me."--

       "I heard a hound, high-born sister,

       Stood baying at the moon:

       I rose and drove him from your wall

       Lest you should wake too soon."--

      "Or did you meet a pretty page

       Sat swinging on the gate;

      Sat whistling, whistling like a bird,

       Or may be slept too late:

      With eaglets broidered on his cap,

       And eaglets on his glove?

      If you had turned his pockets out,

       You had found some pledge of love."--

       "I met him at this daybreak,

       Scarce the east was red:

       Lest the creaking gate should anger you,

       I packed him home to bed."--

      "O patience, sister. Did you see

       A young man tall and strong,

      Swift-footed to uphold the right

       And to uproot the wrong,

      Come home across the desolate sea

       To woo me for his wife?

      And in his heart my heart is locked,

       And in his life my life."--

       "I met a nameless man, sister,

       Who loitered round our door:

       I said: Her husband loves her much.

       And yet she loves him more."--

      "Fie, sister, fie, a wicked lie,

       A lie, a wicked lie;

      I have none other love but him,

       Nor will have till I die.

      And you have turned him from our door,

       And stabbed him with a lie:

      I will go seek him thro' the world

       In sorrow till I die."--

       "Go seek in sorrow, sister,

       And find in sorrow too:

       If thus you shame our father's name

       My curse go forth with you."

       SPRING.

      Frost-locked all the winter,

      Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,

      What shall make their sap ascend

      That they may put forth shoots?

      Tips of tender green,

      Leaf, or blade, or sheath;

      Telling of the hidden life

      That breaks forth underneath,

      Life nursed in its grave by Death.

      Blows the thaw-wind pleasantly,

      Drips the soaking rain,

      By fits looks down the waking sun:

      Young grass springs on the plain;

      Young leaves clothe early hedgerow trees;

      Seeds, and roots, and stones of fruits,

      Swollen with sap, put forth their shoots;

      Curled-headed ferns sprout in the lane;

      Birds sing and pair again.

      There is no time like Spring,

      When life's alive in everything,

      Before new nestlings sing,

      Before cleft swallows speed their journey back

      Along the trackless track,--

      God guides their wing,

      He spreads their table that they nothing lack,--

      Before the daisy grows a common flower,

      Before the sun has power

      To scorch the world up in his noontide hour.

      There is no time like Spring,

      Like Spring that passes by;

      There is no life like Spring-life born to die,--

      Piercing the sod,

      Clothing the uncouth clod,

      Hatched in the nest,

      Fledged on the windy bough,

      Strong on the wing:

      There is no time like Spring that passes by,

      Now newly born, and now

      Hastening to die.

Скачать книгу