Sympathy
You came when grief had crushed me to the earth,
And filled with pure compassion, made me wise
To feel how through such human sympathies
Faith in our kind, and hopefulness have birth;
And though I cannot know again the mirth
Of those old days of Love’s unclouded skies,
Strong from my sorrowful weakness I arise
To find Love is, and life has joy and worth.
You came, I think God sent you, and I pray
He still will bless and keep your healing power
To touch the wounded heart, and fill with light
Eyes that for tears had well-nigh lost their sight,
To banish winter’s grief, bid April flower
And give to soul forlorn the hope of May.
‘Not with the passionate impulse of the Spring’
Not with the passionate impulse of the Spring
When the blood riots, and the fancies rove
Hither and thither do I offer love;
Rather to you a nobler gift I bring
Love strong by use, and pure by suffering,
Love, that no change of season e’er can move
Love, that so long has walked the heights above
I cannot creep on earth – a mortal thing.
And though the dark inevitable hour
Fall, and God-called we silent go apart,
At least the memory of true love shall stay
To be companion of a lonely way,
And this new joy I plant within your heart
Shall bloom with ineradicable power.
‘The mist is heavy on the land’
The mist is heavy on the land
The trees are stark and bare,
But with your heart within my hand
I have not any care.
Some-day the trees will break to leaf,
And birds will mate and sing
Then why should I give way to grief
To me too comes the spring.
‘Take thou my heart and let it be’
Take thou my heart and let it be
Poor wounded thing, a joy to thee
And know thou healer of its smart
At least it is a grateful heart.
On a Journey
I board the train, I wave farewell
And how it is I cannot tell
Go fast or slow or stop, I find
I cannot leave your heart behind.
On as I journey mile on mile
I hear your voice, I see you smile.
And lo! at every halting-place
You stand before me face to face.
The very hedge-rows seem to share
Like living things my love and care,
The poles and wires that catch the sun
Back with my heart to you will run,
And only memory serves to stay
Companion of my lonely way.
Till at the long day’s journey end
You come to welcome and befriend.
Dear heart beat on whate’er betide
With thought and memory at my side
So shall dark sorrow melt away
And my December turn to May.
‘How can I help but love thee, seeing love feeds’
How can I help but love thee, seeing love feeds
On all of loveliness she left behind,
How can I help but love thee, knowing I find
In thee the joy of her unselfish deeds,
And in thy simple faith her creed of creeds,
That Goodness, Truth, and Beauty all combined
Are unto us the mirror of God’s mind
The sure fulfilment of all earthly needs.
So dear, to her thro’ thee I homage bring
For she has gone away to Paradise
And thou art on this earth her counterpart,
Wherefore in thee as pure, unselfish, wise
I needs must find my soul’s companioning
Long as God wills – go with thee hand and heart.
The Larger Love
Whence did it come this wondrous gift of love,
Not from the earth, for earth is winter-bound
Nor from high heaven for only stars are found
Flower in that empyrean vault above;
Nor was it nurtured in some ocean cove
Child of the storm and ever murmuring sound,
Nay rather in the pure souls garden ground
From angel-hands have I this treasure-trove,
And being a flower of transcendental birth
It will not vanish when the seasons change
But rather to eternity will grow,
Till when our hearts cease beating here below
Our souls in Heaven will take a wider range
Companions still with all we loved on earth.
May Day (1917)
The first of May! Long winter past and gone!
Through the hown wood she moves, & with her spells
Wakens the leaf. In all the sun-lit dells
Calls forth the blue-bells; for her orison
The cuckoo cries, and till the day be done
The chaffinch pipes, tits sound their silver bells,
While warblers from their top-most citadels
Trill out their welcome with triumphant tone.
The starry martins dance about her ways,
Larks shower upon her head their ecstasy
And hark! the ring-dove woos her in the grove,
But not for these alone fair May I praise,
Rather for this that earth and radiant sky
Proclaim she brings for all the gift of Love.
‘To age from earliest days of youth’
To age from earliest days of youth
She grew a spirit rare
All good, all beauty, all truth
Were her unselfish care.
She rest beneath the grassy sod
Her pains & sorrow cease
May all her joys be joys of God
And all her ways be peace.
‘We climbed the hills to Heather cove’
We climbed the hills to Heather cove,
And in that solitary place
We told each other of our love
And kissed dear face to face.
There was no thing that listened near
But quiet fern and silent stone,
And God Himself – we could not fear –
The gift was His alone.
But when we saw the gate flung wide
That opened to the rosy west
‘Tho glorious are these heights we cried
‘Love’s mountain-top’ is best’.
A Guiding Star
When heart has been so near to heart
How sweet to stay, how sad to part;
And I who go from my delight
To darkening hills and falling night,
Feel like a wanderer lost, and need
A voice to guide a hand to lead.
Then turning back I see afar
Your love burn steady as a star,
And as the mariner of the deep
Welcomes the light-house on the steep
And steers through reef and treacherous shoal
Stout-hearted on toward his goal,
So, through a world of mist and fear
And the long sorrow of the year
I lit by your remembered grace
Steer on to Hope’s abiding place.
‘September’s gold is on the fern’
September’s gold is on the fern
And gold in wood and fell and mere,
But to the finer gold I turn
The gold within your heart my dear.
Poor may be rich, and rich go bare
For all the autumn largesse given
Unless with reverent soul they share
The gift of gold as sent from Heaven.
But I a nobler treasure find
The gift of love you gave to me
For deep within its soul enshrined
The gold of God’s own love I see.
‘Is it not best to be apart?’
Is it not best to be apart?
Seeing I hold you in my heart,
And to that sanctuary you glide
And we can shut the world outside;
Better than for a little space
To be outside and face to face,
For then we cannot know how deep
The Love whose treasure-house we keep
Inviolate to all things that jar
Now we can know where true joys are.
‘Gladlier now I fall asleep’
Gladlier now I fall asleep
Knowing well the hours that run,
Swiftlier so will over-leap
Space ’twixt mid-night and the sun.
Knowing that awake once more
I shall find some message sent
Giving from your own heart’s core
Strength and hope and sweet content.
When I sleep to waken never
And you kiss a pale cold face,
Trust me distance will not sever,
Love can leap all bounds, all space.
‘What is love? We cannot know’
What is love? we cannot know
Only tis the overflow
Of all Heaven to earth,
Making barren hearts to spring
Deaf to hear, and dumb to sing,
Giving sadness mirth.
Love the wakener from the dead
Gift God the Fountain head
To the parched and dry,
Coming like the tide to make
Idle keels from sleep to wake
Where they helpless lie.
Oh God Lord, not only wake me
But as trusted captain take me
Out across the bar
Fill my sails with wind of love
For the harbourage above
Where true lovers are.
‘The days are dull and dreary’
The days are dull and dreary
And all ways upward wind
But Love is never weary
When Love makes up its mind.
So up or down go cherry!
Love nothing wrong can find,
For love is love my dearie
Tho’ wise men say he’s blind.
‘The sun-set glories of the wood’
The sun-set glories of the wood
Do ill befit a lover’s mood,
So said my heart today,
For him all months the flowers do spring
All through the year the sweet birds sing
With him ’tis always May.
The winds may blow, the leaves may fall,
The wood-birds fly beyond recall,
But changeless and serene
Is that fair wood-land, where the Dove
Of God has built a home for love
Whose leaves are ever-green!
In April
When that a lover seeks his love
How full of sun the landscape shines,
How bright the fragrant larchen grove
How green the tufted eglantines
Earth, air and Heaven bear a part
To fill with joy the lover’s heart.
What if a sudden wind arise
And drifts of rain bring distance near,
Not way-ward as the April skies
His heart is fixed, he has no fear
One Heaven he knows is blue above
The Heaven of Faith in constant love.
‘Dearest in your eyes I see’
Dearest in your eyes I see
Worlds till now unknown to me,
With discoverer’s joy I find
Glimpses of a hidden mind
For within those eyes there dwell
Angels that sweet tidings tell,
Tell of love most pure and good,
Tell of tender womanhood
That instinctively can say
Which is judgment’s better way;
Tell of passion for the truth
Fresh as at the fount of youth,
Tell of beauty of this earth
Cared for, sought and stored from birth;
Dearest keep those windows wide
So the soul that dwells inside
May confederate with mine own
Make God’s gift to man be known.
‘It is not good the Scriptures say’
It is not good the Scriptures say
For mortal man to be alone,
That truth I knew not till the day
She who companioned me had gone.
Her sweet companionship of love
Made this dark void your heart can fill,
God’s pity smiles from Heaven above
Upon our vow for good or ill.
Light in the Darkness
When in some dim cathedral winter gloom
So closes in, our hearts can scarcely pray,
Sudden, our eyes uplifted seem to say
“For doubt, for sorrow, here, there is no room
Pray on, the sun still shines, and flowers still bloom,”
And lo! the great east windows rich inlay
Hangs like a curtain for some festal day
Fresh woven in some magic eastern loom.
Even so, I, sorrowful and sore depress’d
Look up, and in my dim heart’s inner shrine
Is sudden radiance. There before mine eyes
New light is splintered to a thousand dyes,
By flower of hope and beauty I am bless’d
And know this gift of Love is wholly thine.
A Prayer
Holy Spirit this I pray
Be with my beloved today
Guide her in the Heavenly way!
Give her hands the grace of skill
Give her heart the grace of will
All things generous to fulfill.
Let whoever meets her find
Breathings of a gentle mind
Sympathy with human kind.
May the mood of fells and skies
Find reflection in her eyes
Fresh with every hour’s surprise.
Let her wise in thought and deed,
Give her help to all in need
Scatter from fair Love her seed.
So by all occasions blest
Following still the true, the best
Lead her Lord to evening rest.
The Bird’s Nest
The leaves are whirling in the air
The woodlands feel October’s blight,
The avenue is bleak and bare,
The birds that sang have taken flight.
“Ah who can love where no birds sing?”
I cried! Then sudden spied a nest
A delicate deserted thing
That once by Love had been possess’t.
But for those leaves upon the ground
These winds that smite the woodland sere,
That house of love I had not found
Nor guessed the joy that harboured there.
Me thought, tho’ winds of sorrow blow
And strip us naked with their pain,
At least they teach our hearts to know
Love built, and it will build again.
The leaves may fall, but fuller light
Thro’ all the barren wood can run,
Love still in Heaven is burning bright,
Bereft and bare I feel the sun.
Love the Light-Giver
Men say that Love is blind, but this I know
I see more clearly with love-lighted eyes;
There is a promise in the sunset glow
And sorrow in that golden glory dies.
What was before so dark is filled with light
Tho’ winter comes I feel the Spring afar,
And as I wander lonely in the night
Bright o’er my head behold the morning star.
A Morning Prayer
Aroused again and fresh from sleep
Into Thy presence Lord we come
Guide all our thoughts this day, & keep
Our hearts’ content and bless our home.
We thank Thee for the grace of Love
True friendships, and earth’s beauteous store
Food, raiment, and all gifts above
The knowledge of Thee, more and more.
Let us not turn again to rest
Unless our conscience be assured
That we today have done our best
Some wrong made right, some evil cured.
And lead us in the way of those
Who following Thy divinest plan
Would comfort sorrow, banish woes
And strive to help our brother man.
Love Knows No Bounds
The lamps of God were all alight
As forth I walked into the night,
Low in the North the great Plough shone
To bid the farm-folk labour on,
The Swan and bright-eyed Charioteer
Gave to our air-men word of cheer,
And great Orion with his blade
Bade fighting men be unafraid.
But better than all call to war
Was message sent by every star
That God designed Hs world for peace
That strife must end, and warfare cease.
For silent and unrivalling
Around them sun and planets swing,
And as I gazed was message given
Of larger mind and wider Heaven:
I who before was cooped on earth
Felt wings of nobler range have birth
I seemed to envy all the dead
Who with a fuller vision tread
Empyrean courts, and thence may scan
This puny prison-house of man;
But a voice chided me and said
“Contented be with courts you tread
For Love is given – so new – so strange
To bed your feet have wider range,
And he who loves can claim to rove
Heaven’s widest bounds for God is Love
And he who once with Love has trod
Earth’s little span, can walk with God”.
Love Reborn
Beloved I love you none the less
Because I love her well,
Your constant truth in her I bless
In her your counsels tell,
Your love of all earth’s loveliness
Has woven the secret spell.
I hold your hand when I hold hers,
She speaks, I hear your voice.
It is to you my heart defers
Whene’er she makes a choice,
When she is glad my spirit stirs
I know that you rejoice.
Come back in human form to earth
My loneliness befriend
Let sorrow fade, and sober mirth
Part earth part heaven attend
Your love in her have second birth
And help me to the end.
The Sharing of Love
Tho’ the clouds are low and dreary
Sunlight shines above the pall
Hope alone can keep us cheery
Dawn shall follow even-fall,
Wherefore let your sunlight dearie
Shine, for Love is Lord of all.
All the world is wrapped in sadness
Doubt cries loud, “no God above!”
War is king and war is madness
As our travailing earth can prove,
Love alone can bring us gladness
Therefore dear one! give me love.
Give me love, but dear one take it
Sharing is high Heaven’s design,
They alone who share can make it
Make and keep it thing divine.
Keep it! She who would forsake it
May be fair, but is not mine.
True Love
Love is no uncertain fire
Flaming up with fierce desire,
True love ever burns the same
Bright with an unwavering flame,
Love is not of word or lip
Love is full companionship,
Love of body as the shrine
Of an essence more divine,
Spirit of the Holy Ghost
Dweller in the innermost,
Love of body, love of soul
Blended to harmonious whole.
Love that in all good delights
Ever walking on the heights
Joy of God to mortals given
Marriage here, but made in Heaven.
A Welcome Home
When to the great uncharted land
At last as traveller tired I come,
I know that you will understand
And meet and greet me hand in hand
To lead me to my home.
Beloved one, you will leave the height
To which you have attained through grace,
And in compassion infinite
Will guide my wandering soul aright
Until I see Christ’s face.
And you will ask ‘who led you here
Through night-time to our glorious dawn?’
Then I shall answer ‘Love sincere
Your love enshrined in heart most dear
Your pity ne’er with-drawn.
Your truest lover’s love it was
That did so selflessly befriend
Thro’ vale of tears, despond’s morass
O’er bitter sorrow stormy pass
It helped me to the end’.
Then shall I hear your sweet lips bless
That dear companion, angel guide
And we shall mourn her heart’s distress
And comfort her in loneliness
Till she is at our side.
Love the All-Embracing
I saw high up the ravens pair
I said ‘now Love is in the air!’
I saw two happy lovers go
By hedges white with starry sloe;
I felt that Love again had birth
In Heaven above us, and on earth.
Now all the world could cease from pain
And hope of good return again.
And as I pondered on the thought
It seemed a miracle was wrought
The breath of God came down to thrill
The hazel bower, the daffodil,
And all the sorrel pearls began
To joy with raven and with man;
The Palm shed gold, the alders shook
Their crimson tassels o’er the brook.
Bit little had I dared to dream
I was included in the scheme,
I could not guess That mighty Hand
Which showered its largesse on the land
Of bud and flower, and made the pair
Of Ravens merry in mid-air –
In pity for my loneliness
Had given sweet love to soothe and bless.
Love in May
Come along
Hark the song
All the world is May
Blackbird, thrush,
In every bush,
Warblers all the way.
Chaffinch bright,
His delight
Telling o’er and o’er,
Cuckoo crying,
Wood wrens flying,
Twangling tits galore.
Happy flowers
Again are ours,
Now each leaf is green,
Swallows glance
And lambkins dance
On the daisied green.
Golden dawn,
And slow, withdrawn,
Golden eventide,
Hearts once sad
Now are glad
Love is at our side.
Come then Love!
Hear the dove
Cooing from its home
“Love is best
Build and nest”
Wherefore dear one, come.
Love the Rose-Maker
Dearest, wheresoe’er I rove
All is rosier for your love,
Rosier all the apple bowers,
Lovelier gleam the wild rose flowers,
Brighter with their sorrel shine
Valley fields incarnadine.
With a miracle of light
All the fruited thorns are bright.
Ruddier now the mountains burn
With their fire of frosted fern,
Ruddier glows the robin’s breast,
And when tired birds seek their nest
With more glorious new surprise
Overhead are roseate skies.
Dearest wheresoe’er I rove
All is rosier for your love.
The Post
When comes my morning budget, why
Do I so eagerly espy
If any letter comes from you?
I know whatever Love has writ
Of dreams, or thought, inside of it,
Doth tell me tidings old – not new!
Is it that I can hear your voice
Speaking each sentence of your choice,
To tell me of your dear intent;
Or is it that though miles apart
I feel the throbbing of your heart
Within the letter sent.
The Spinning Wheel
Life is the wheel, & thought the line
Fate puts her feet upon the treadle
What shall be spun may none divine
Save one, Beware lest mortals meddle.
Eyes lit by longing see the wheel,
Ears trained by Heaven can hear its humming
But only they who love can feel
Winter is past, and springtime coming.
Ah! give it gloss, dear hands that hold
The thread you draw from heart’s recesses,
Till every strand be perfect gold
Fit for the web for angel’s dresses.
Companionship
Dearest, when we walked apart
Without touch of hand and heart,
Pleasant was the summer air
Fells in August haze were fair.
Now altho’ the cold winds blow
And the fells are wrapped in snow,
Still in soul I feel the sun
Feel new summer thro’ me run.
I am warm, who else was cold,
I am young, who else was old,
All my springs of being more
Blyther for the gift of Love.
Wherefore, dearest one, I pray
‘Be companion of my way,
Never let us walk apart
Ever be one, hand and heart.’
Play, Work, and Weep
Come along and play Love,
Do not miss the day Love,
Play is for the young of heart, working hours will come,
Play & join the dance of it,
Play and take the chance of it,
Manhood will remember well playing times at home.
Come along and work Love,
Shame on all who shirk Love,
Work attunes the soul to God, rest will come anon,
Work, & feel the joy of it
Hand and head employ in it,
Old age will look back with pride, bless the work-time gone.
Come away and weep Love
Love in balm can steep – Love.
Even tears and bitter pain; sorrow soon will cease
Play & work & tears, Love,
This is what endears, Love.
Life, till Play, & Work, & Tears, end in Death in Peace.
Love of the Highest
Once alone is birth, love
Once has childhood mirth, love
Once alone . . . for manhood’s prime, Love’s all golden dream,
Ah but with cold health, love
Once alone comes Death, love
When are tested all things that immortal seem.
Love the highest, best[?], love
Things that stand the test, love
Faith with utter faithfulness for beauty, good & truth
Love the thoughts that seek, love
Help for all the weak, love
Sympathy with oldest age, joyousness with youth
Love in Youth and Age
Love in youth has rage dear
Like the torrent streams,
Love is calm in age, dear
As a tarn that dreams.
Love in youth may feed of
Warmth in cheek and lip,
Love in age has need of
Soul-companionship.
Wherefore take my arm love
Till the daylight end,
Give me all your charm love
Counsellor and friend.
Going Home
The sky is gold o’er Coniston
Right to the zenith green,
And homeward as I journey on
The hills rise up between.
But there’s one star no mountains hide
That shines all hills above,
That journeys ever at my side
It is the star of love.
White mists from out the valley rise
The fields are ghostly grey,
But the glad sunlight of your eyes
Is with me all the way.
The darkness grows. I have no fear
What fate may hold in store
For when the pass of Death I near
Love’s star will go before.
An Anniversary
When full [fill] the drear inexorable night
And I went forth in utter loneliness
Your voice remained with silver charm to bless
And your dear smile made darkness to be light.
But though the voice still sounds, and still is bright
The memory of that smile to soothe distress,
I walk alone; nor can my soul express
Longing to hold you, agony for sight:
Yet have I much to make my courage strong
The thought of your brave spirit freed from pain
Glad for new beauty – joy that sure attends
The sweet up-gathered bliss of parted friends.
All the fresh added powers that angels gain
And vision of the Christ you served so long.
‘The snow-white planet in the west’
The snow-white planet in the west
Shone bright o’er Silverhow
It seemed to cheer the lover’s guest
And join the lover’s vow,
Wray woods were ebon, black with gloom
Wray field was ghostly grey,
But candle-light in one small room
Turned darkness into day!
The latched gate geld me for a space
My heart was half annoyed,
But when I saw you face to face
That heart was over-joyed.
Silent you smiled, but eyes sincere
Made all of Heaven my home
You only said ‘My dear, my dear
Thank God that you have come.’
‘Love me not part but love me whole’
Love me not part but love me whole
Love me for body and for soul,
Body mysteriously combined
With spirit-power, and power of mind;
Soul that in calmness still abides.
Above the flow of passion’s tides
For how without this body’s dress
Could I for you my love express,
And how your joy of body find
Without the spirit there enshrined?
With the Gift of a Hazel Tassel
This tassel grey will turn to gold
Its gold will pass away
Before the time to have and hold
For life, for death, for hot or cold!
As happy souls, we say.
But let it say the thing to you
That now it sings to me
The earth unto Love’s sun is true
And dusty March shall have its due
And marriage-time shall be.
In the Track of Love
Long ere the snow had fled
I saw the paths she took
Beside the frozen brook
Thence to the garden shed.
It seemed as if her feet
So warm with love had made
The earth with snow o’er laid
Her warmth of heart repeat.
And I who followed on
The track by which she went
Felt in my heart content
That I such love had won.
For now thro’ days of cold
I know that at her side
Winter can never bide
And summer ne’er grow old.
Where’er she treads will rise
Promise of happier hours
And Spring with Hope’s new flowers
Shall make earth Paradise.
A Hard Walk & the End of It
Wild was the wind, and bitter was the weather
Across the frozen lake blew gusty snow,
But as I walked my soul with yours together
I felt my deepest being all aglow.
The wind grew wilder & the snow lay deeper
And limbs that seldom ached were sorely tired
The drifts more frequent came, the hills seemed steeper
But I pressed on, by thought of welcome fired.
I saw in fancy by the fireside sitting
One who at touch of latch would rise and say
“Better than wisest book, or patient knitting,
Is one companion who has come to stay.”
‘Nay love me not for form or eye’
Nay love me not for form or eye,
The body bows, the eye grows dim,
That stealthy Time who passes by
Is thief as he is slim
He steals the gold from off my head
And rots my lips of coral red.
Nay rather love me for that I
Within this tabernacle bear
A spirit that can Time defy,
And all earth’s changes will outwear;
Spirit that in its quest for good
Found thee, pure perfect womanhood.
The Return Journey
How swiftly went the train that day
When we were side by side!
So much to think, so much to say
From hearts so sure allied.
Today the train pants hard, and slow,
Time goes with feet of stone,
I sudden turn your smile to know
And find myself alone.
I needs must envy railway track
And confluent hedge and tree,
To thee my love they all run back
Run back my love, to thee!
Love, the Music of the Spheres
It was the time when black as night
The woods dropped down from Hammar scar
And with its signal lamp alight
Shone forth the evening star,
Symbol of love, I felt its cheer,
I who the ways of grief had trod;
With Love to guide no night is drear
And I – I thanked my God.
From off the solitary moor
With beating heart, and swifter tread
I passed toward your valley door
Nor lifted up my head.
Then looking up I saw the Cross
And close beside it Lyra shine,
The thought, for all my bitter loss
Her melody was mine.
The woodland stream beside the road
Made heavenly sound within mine ears
And all my thoughts to you that flowed
Seemed music of the spheres.
Fair Venus faded from my sight,
The Lyre dropped down behind the hill,
But making melody and light
Your love was round me still.
Love in the Ingle Nook
We dare not speak nor dream of love
Like darkened hearths that show no flame
Till some thing stirs us from above
And names his holy name.
Then as we feel the pleasant cheer
We watch the flames with golden tongue
Telling a tale old hearts may hear
And once again grow young.
The darkness falls, but rosy red
The firelight warms the ensuing gloom,
The forms of the beloved dead
Steal gently to the room.
Jan, 29th In Mem:
I walk alone in sadness
The clouds are lying low
I think upon the gladness
I had long years ago,
But I know the heavens will lighten
And the stars above will brighten
And one other thing I know.
I know above the brightness
Of the sun, where angels dwell
Walks the soul of all up-rightness,
And she cries that all is well
And along the Bratha river
Where we pledged our hearts for ever
I can hear a marriage bell.
For one on earth in union
With one I loved of yore,
Has granted me communion
With her spirit’s secret store,
And that one I love in Heaven
Thro’ my love on earth, has given
Peace of heart for evermore.
At a Railway Junction
We come from east, we come from west
And meeting take the self-same line,
But why I may not well divine
I only trust that Love knows best.
There at The Junction we shall find
A crowd of great, a crowd of small,
For us will be no crowd at all
We have no need of other kind.
And this will go to London Town
And that will seek some mountain high;
But where we journey, you and I
That hidden secret is our own.
For we no terminus can know
On on we speed by sea and shore
For love the pilgrim asks for more
Than any joy this earth will show.
On on, from better still to best
Dissatisfied it seeks abode
Till in the bosom of our God
It finds its home, eternal rest.
Love in a Mist
The world is shut to narrow room
No lake, no mountain, wood or tree,
But there is light within the gloom
That makes a wider world for me.
For somewhere still rolls on the sun
In light and glory holds his race,
And thro’ this mirk my thoughts can run
To you, & to your happy face.
What matter tho’ the churlish mist
Blot earth and heaven, and blur the day,
Our souls can keep th’appointed tryst
Our feet pursue love’s joyful way.
Love’s Clue
They say that Love is blind
I gravely doubt it,
To you how could I find
My way without it.
You who disdained the calls
Of natural passion,
Imprisoned by the walls
Of use and fashion.
You maidenly so shy,
In bash fulnesses,
With feet so swift to fly
All love’s addresses.
Yet in my hand the clue
Round and around
The maze I hunted you
But had not found.
Then light in darkness flamed
God held the line
Naked and unashamed
Your soul was mine.
Love’s Treasure-Trove
I give you but a bruised heart
And you will make its trouble whole
For you with your compassionate soul
Know well its bitter smart.
For when my loved one could not stay
She left on earth a heart of gold
You found it, and for ever hold
Its treasure stored away.
But since the heart I loved and lost
Is safely treasured in your own,
I hear again its music’s tone
That sooths my sorrow most.
Dear Keeper of this treasure-trove,
Unbar the doors and let me come
To find where pity has its home
There dwells a double love.
Retrospect and Prospect
I who have passed the vale of Tears
Find sun is shining still
And hold a memory that endears
My retrospect of ill.
For in your love for her I found
Compassion, that could feel,
Swift sympathy to soothe my wound
And comfort that could heal.
And since we both loved her so well
Our hearts together drawn
Learned love’s revivifying spell
The Hopefulness of dawn.
And since our souls are so allied
We walk with her in Heaven
And know, like dew at eventide,
Her love is back re-given.
Now hand in hand we forward go
Towards her being’s goal
And in her radiant smile we know
The greatness of her soul.
The Giver of Spring
The Spring was in the old earth’s blood
Sun lay on lake and lea,
The throstle carolled from the wood
The blue-tit on the tree,
But all my heart was sorrowful
T’was winter still for me.
For she I loved had gone away
She had not any choice,
No word of comfort could she say
I could not hear her voice;
And Spring-time seemed a mockery
To bid my soul rejoice.
But in a sudden pause I heard
A voice that put to shame
My thanklessness for sun and bird
And crocuses aflame,
And with a gift of spring-tide hope
And deathless joy, you came.
The Path of Love
Across a field with February grey
I saw a little track an emerald line,
And from the vivid path I could divine
The feet of man had travelled off that way;
It seemed upon the path such blessing lay
That though all else with winter-tide must pine
Here ever shone the green in storm or fine
And ever here the hope of Spring must stay.
Then I remembered, I had heard a tale
How thro’ that field a lover once had strayed
Early and late toward his loved one’s door,
And his most constant love did so avail
That at the last he won the haughty maid
And all the fields were glad for evermore.
Love’s Experience
Dearest I love you not as when
I walked a youth amongst young men
For I who lost my treasure-trove
Have learnt the inwardness of Love,
And know that love ’twixt man and wife
Is deep as death and dear as life.
That love is bond of soul and soul
With God the giver of Love for goal,
And in that union it can find
The power of Love’s immortal mind,
Can see with eyes that more and more
Grow clear, the secret at the core,
And realize companionship
Is not the touch of hand or lip
But the deep trust beyond all speech
For mutual solace each with each,
In that communion of the heart
That bids us never walk apart
But calls us each to share the load
Of life upon the upward road;
Till having climbed to mountain crest
We know the truth of what we guessed
And find that Love on earth was given
To fit the soul for home in Heaven.
‘Say Farewell, but tho’ we part’
Say Farewell, but tho’ we part
Still I hold you in my heart
Over land and over sea
Your sweet presence still with me.
Ever joyful at my side
Morn and noon and eventide,
When I wake or go to rest
Still of you I am possest.
Say farewell, for who could fare
Ill, encompassed by your care;
And when death’s dark angel stands
Beckoning with relentless hands
That dread journey I shall take
Bravely for your comfort’s sake.
You will then, as now you are,
Be my bright and guiding star
Till I enter Heaven and prove
Earth’s best thing was deathless Love.
What is Love?
What is Love? ’Tis not the elf
Haunting lip and laughing eye!
Love is that sub-conscious self
Whom to know we needs must die.
Wherefore let me day by day
Die, that surely I may know
What is love’s more perfect way
How alone true love can grow.
Die [thy]self, and dying find
Conscious and subconsciously
Love is mingled mind with mind
Here and for eternity.
The Two Streams
Hence forth – from separate fountains come –
These streams as one shall be,
Unanimous to seek their home
The far mysterious sea.
This gold with peat, that grey with snow
Commingling they shall glide
With fuller joyfulness to know
The deep eternal tide.
So as they pass the vale along
With gift of morning dew,
The birds remember last year’s song
The trees their leaf renew,
Charmed by the solace of the streams
Their fresh continuous store
The future less uncertain seems
The old are sad no more.
Infected by their strenuous mood
Young men who loiterers are
Feel the swift life within their blood
And leap to do and dare.
And we, my Love, together go
Adown the vale of years
– Two streams as one – to solace woe
And bring the help that cheers.
Let flowers of Duty where we move,
Let songs of joy abound,
Till in His deeps of Life and Love
Our souls with God are found.
At Allan Bank
High on this sunny slope of meadowland
I not possessor but as steward stand,
Ready to share with all who come along
Its gift of rock and tree, and flower and song.
Its precious memory of the dead to share
With those who for the thought of England care,
Who could I better share it with than thee
So soon the mistress of my home to be?
Seeing with tender sympathy most wise
You feel with heart, and see with prescient eyes,
And loving all the valley, hold most dear
The fairy changes of the passing year.
The fern – now summer-green, now russet-red –
That clothes Stone Arthur, climbs to Fairfield head,
The grey old rocks, the woodland’s western screen
The larch, or squirrel-brown, or tender green –
The morning glory, and the lights that wake
The glow of evening on the tranquil lake,
But most, dear partner of my life, I know
In this sweet home from you will ever flow
The same sure wish, its restfulness to share
With all who seeking thought with hither fare;
With all who in this Paradise may find
The Love & Grace of the Eternal mind.
Love is Coming
Spring is coming! quick quick! hear hear hear!
So the thrush from every bush
Sings, the earth to cheer.
Spring is coming, Bees are humming
With the promise of the year.
Love is coming! quick quick! hear hear hear!
So the heart that goes apart
Says our soul to cheer,
Love is coming, Hope is homing
And our wedding-day draws near.
An Invitation
Tho’ sallow buds have lost their white
Nor yet have gathered gold,
The oak tree saplings burnished bright
Their winter glory hold.
But she I loved has gone away,
No throstle can she hear
Or Rothay singing blythe & gay
To join the Rydal mere.
Come bring her sympathetic eyes
And bring her heart to feel
The wonders of this Paradise
Grey rock and lake of steel.
Then climb with me the mountain stair
Unto cottage home
And share, as she rejoiced to share,
The joy of Spring to come.
When pure souls pass they leave behind
In hearts that love them well,
A portion of their heavenly mind
With power on earth to dwell.
And you, my dearest, loved her so
That wheresoe’er you move
Her sympathy of soul you know
And show forth of her love.
The Garments of Love
Your heart is as a lily scroll
Whereon the angels stoop to write,
Then wherefore should you dress in white
Who have such whiteness in your soul.
Rather because you live and move
A rose amongst all women rare
Let roseate garments be your wear
For rose-red colours image Love.
On Silverhow
April 3rd 1918
A sheepdog barked to herd his flock,
A runlet tinkled from the rock,
And all the streamlet seemed to say
Was – ‘Life flows ever, Love will stay.’
I turned, and found you at my side
One day to be my gracious bride,
And still the streamlet seemed to say
Life flows for ever, Love will stay.
Then wherefore, though my youth be past
And tho’ grey hairs are gathering fast
Should I repine! Life flows away
Flows fast – yet Love I know will stay.
The Return of Spring
Wray Ghyll
How pleasant when the buds are green
And this full-hearted April thing
Comes down among the daffodils.
To sit and hear its water sing
And bless the Heavenly power that wills
So much of life and joy serene.
We are such creatures of the earth
That stream, bud, flower our brothers be,
We cannot break the golden chain
Which binds us to Eternity,
For dust and water we remain
One from His Hands who gave us birth.
And long as Love shines like the sun
To quicken all for light that yearn,
Tho’ frost of age and winter’s grief
May numb us, Spring-tide joys return,
Hope blossoms bravely into leaf
And thro’ our hearts new life powers run.
In the Vale of Love
A bitter Helm from out the East
It blew all night, it blew all day,
Wind neither good for man or beast
So mountain shepherds say.
It silenced Robin on the tree
Forbade the sloe her starry dower
Closed every daisy on the lea
And dulled the colt’s foot flower.
No lambs in valley meads were seen
The rooks ceased clamours in the wood
The larch impatient to be green
Sullen & tawny stood.
A steady bar from end to end
Above Helvellyn lay the cloud
While searching wind that had no friend
Poured from it roaring loud.
But somewhere in enchanted ground
Where still I heard sweet voices sing
Was April hope of May time found
And all the world seemed Spring.
No storm-cloud brooding hung above
That happy land nor winds blew chill
There shone the sun of deathless love
All hurricanes were still.
An Invitation
Come dear one dead – for now is May
And all the leaves are bright
Where’er in Paradise you stray
You have no fairer sight.
The cuckoo calls from every hill
The lambs are on the lea,
The willow warbler shakes his trill
For you, my love, and me.
Then heard I accents silver-clear
‘Rejoice! and hand in hand
Walk with the love you hold so dear
For well I understood.
Back to fair Earth I too have come
To speed you on your way,
Within her heart I have my home
From May-tide unto May.
The Lady of My Love
Come walk within my garden grove
And I will tell you of my Love,
She is too shy for men to know
But all the gentle flowers that grow
The rowan bright beside the rill
Primrose & bluebell, daffodil
The first white daisies in the grass
Look for her feet when e’er they pass,
And not a cherry in the wood
But brightened where in thought she stood.
While every foxglove in the dell
And every canterbury bell
And every rose that blushes red
Opened to hear her tender tread
While timid things that field-ward creep
When all but owls are sound asleep
The hedgehog and the dancing fawn
That prinks the dew up on the lawn.
These saw her pass and had no fear
When Lady Eleanor came near.
Spirit of mere & fell & grove
She is so close to all who love
The beasts that run, the birds that fly
Feel happier when she passes by.
This is my love done, This is she
Whom nature has made one with me.
And in her sympathy I find
More joy in all created kind.
May 9. 1918
Foul Step
May 21. 1918
When last we climbed this arduous way
The trees were bare, no birds were singing
But now from every hawthorn spray
I hear the garden warbler ringing.
But though the scene was winter-drear
The way seemed short that was so long,
And since beloved one you were near
Bare trees were full of leaf and song.
‘Dear woman whom I love as life’
Dear woman whom I love as life
So soon to be my helpful wife,
The ash tree tho’ it long delayed
Is not less beautiful dear maid
Because when woods are darkest green
It shines out late in tenderest sheen.
And your dear love tho’ late it came
To feel the spring-tides happy flame
Is not less sweet, nay doubly dear
To me who feel its promise near,
For tho’ the oaks have lain aside
Their gold, and larches lost their pride
Of individual springtide grace
And sycamores with solemn face
Put on their sombre woodland dress,
You still with looks of Spring can bless
And make me know Love’s summer still
Can work thro’ you his buoyant will.
May 30
To Edith, on the Eve of Our Wedding
Dear one! whom absence only makes more dear!
Look down from your exalted heavenly place,
And shine upon us with the untroubled face
Of Saints who dwell with Love that sees more clear
Than ever on earth, how all true hearts revere
The memory of your goodness and your grace,
Whose kindness always with your will kept pace
For all of Beauty, Good, and Truth sincere.
Smile on us! bless our pure companioning
Towards that great goal to which your spirit leads
To which your feet have surely gone before;
Wiser than we you know our several needs
To shield us both your prayers about us fling
Who for each other’s [others’] love must love you more.
May 31 1918
Off to the South
Off to the south in heart’s content
Thro’ meads of cloth of gold we went.
The Blackbird welcomed in the June,
The Cuckoo had not changed his tune;
Tall ash-trees stood in feathery sheen
To match the cornfields tender green,
And hawthorns shook their latest showers,
Above the purple cranesbill flowers;
But better than all sunshine ran
Thro’ soul of woman and of man
The surety, warmth of heart would last
When June with all its joy was past,
The moons might wax, the moons might wane
But Love’s long summer would remain.
June 1. 1918
A Month of Love’s Pilgrimage (Tintagel)
A month ago our troth
We pledged with prayer and ring,
And we remember both
We heard our neighbours sing.
*Beseeching God, whose will
From mother's knees had blest,
To be our Guardian still
And guide us to our rest.
And we have found Him near,
To be of Love the stay
To comfort and to cheer
Our journey day by day;
And pray Him still to make
Us helpers of our kind,
And for His dear Son’s sake
To give us of His mind.
June 29th. 1918
*Now thank we all our God
In Train for London. July 15th 1918
Dearest tho’ I leave behind
All of life but peace of mind,
Still at Allan Bank my heart
Feels itself of you a part;
Distance cannot dispossess
Memory of your tenderness,
Nor these miles on miles destroy
Recollection of our joy.
‘O Thou, who all prayer hearest’
O Thou, who all prayer hearest
Keep Eleanor my dearest,
She is on earth my nearest
My solace and my stay.
My joy, my help, my pleasure,
Her worth I cannot measure
But for tis constant treasure
I thank Thee day by day.
27 April. 1919
An Anniversary. June 1st 1919
Warblers warble round about
Cushats coo, and cuckoos shout.
Taps the woodpecker his drum
Blue tits twangle, wild bees hum,
And the blackbird sings all day
For his gladness in the May.
But I hear a sweeter tune
May draws on to leafy June.
Hark! o’er lake and up the fells
Joy of happy marriage bells,
Telling with triumphant sound
First of June again comes round.
June the giver of a wife
Guardian-angel, hope of life,
Healer of my bitter smart,
Strength of home and peace of heart,
All of love and help and good
Shrined in noble womanhood.
An Anniversary. June 1. 1919
Now is the ending of May
Comes the great gladness of June,
Now all the gardens are gay
Now all the birds are in tune,
Warbler and chaffinch and thrush,
Lovers in lovers’ employ
Filling each tree and each bush
Full of exuberant joy.
Peace over land and on sea
Peace from the heights of the heaven,
Peace for my loved one and me,
Heart’s peace so graciously given.
Still on the lake, up the fells
Echo the tidings of peace,
Sound of the sweet marriage bells
Lingering – not ever to cease.
Wherefore beloved one today
Thank we the Heavenly Powers,
Now is the ending of May
June with its blessing is ours!
[There is a handwritten note in pencil at the end of this poem which reads: On June 1st 1920 HDR’s body was laid to rest in Xthwaite Cu yard]
On the Occasion of the Gift of a Village Testimonial to Eleanor F. Simpson.
May 28
Friends we shall pass one day & be as dust
But this kind token of your friendly trust,
Shall live and shall abide
To prove how village-love our path had sanctified.
For what are we who walk this common earth
But men who shame the reason of our birth
And wander in unrest
If by our fellow men we, blessing, are not blest!
He, only he, defeats the heaven-sent plan
Who turns his back upon his fellow man
And sullen, from his kind
Shuts himself close in churlish isolation blind.
Ah! not by wealth, nor lands, nor power of brain
We here as helpers of our time remain,
But by the constant love
That binds us in gold chains to God’s goodwill above.
Wherefore we, met today, we have no choice
But to lift up our hearts and cry ‘rejoice’!
To think how rich and poor
Have vowed by common gift one memory shall endure.
Her memory – she so soon to be a wife –
Who to this village still will give her life
With help of heart and hand
To cheer by thought and deed her well-loved Westmorland.
Pray for us friends! we both have need of prayer
Who climb henceforth as one the upward stair,
Pray we may never miss
Love of our fellow men, earth’s greatest joy, Heaven’s bliss.
H.D.R.
