Kind leaves of his covert, The waves, unashamèd, Firmly draw, firmly drive, "Sea, earth, air, sound, silence, Plant, quadruped, bird, By one music enchanted, Night veileth the morning, "The babe by its mother Lies bathed in joy; Glide its hours uncounted, The sun is its toy; Without cloud, in its eyes; And the sum of the world In soft miniature lies. "But man crouches and blushes, He creepeth and peepeth, Jealous glancing around, He poisons the ground.' "Out spoke the great mother, At the sound of her accents I heard a poet answer Aloud and cheerfully, "Say on, sweet Sphinx! thy dirges Are pleasant songs to me. Deep love lieth under These pictures of time; They fade in the light of Their meaning sublime. "The fiend that man harries Is love of the Best; Yawns the pit of the Dragon, Can't trance him again, Whose soul sees the perfect, Which his eyes seek in vain. "To vision profounder, Man's spirit must dive; His aye-rolling orb At no goal will arrive; The heavens that now draw him Once found, for new heavens He spurneth the old.. "Pride ruined the angels, Their shame them restores ; Lurks the joy that is sweetest In stings of remorse. Have I a lover Who is noble and free?— I would he were nobler Than to love me. "Eterne alternation Now follows, now flies; Love works at the centre, Heart-heaving alway; Forth speed the strong pulses "Dull Sphinx, Jove keep thy five wits; Thy sight is growing blear; Rue, myrrh and cummin for the Sphinx, Her muddy eyes to clear!" The old Sphinx bit her thick lip, Said, "Who taught thee me to name? I am thy spirit, yoke-fellow; Of thine eye I am eyebeam. "Thou art the unanswered question; ' Couldst see thy proper eye, Alway it asketh, asketh ; And each answer is a lie. Uprose the merry Sphinx, And crouched no more in stone; She silvered in the moon; She flowed into a foaming wave: She stood Monadnoc's head. Thorough a thousand voices Spoke the universal dame; "Who telleth one of my meanings Is master of all I am." ALPHONSO OF CASTILE I, ALPHONSO, live and learn, |