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diff --git a/39797.txt b/39797.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 940cc2a..0000000 --- a/39797.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,660 +0,0 @@ - A PRELUDE - - - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost -no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license. - - - -Title: A Prelude -Author: Francis Sherman -Release Date: June 02, 2013 [EBook #39797] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRELUDE *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - A PRELUDE - - - Francis Sherman - - - - _Privately Printed_ - _at Christmas_ - _1897_ - - - - - A Prelude - - - Watching the tremulous flicker of the green - Against the open quiet of the sky, - I hear my ancient way-fellows convene - - In the great wood behind me. Where I lie - They may not see me; for the grasses grow - As though no foot save June's had wandered by; - - Yet I, who am well-hidden, surely know, - As I have waited them, they yearn for me - To lead them whither they are fain to go. - - Weary as I, are they, O Time, of thee! - Yea, we, who once were glad only of Spring, - Gather about thy wall and would be free! - - With wounded feet we cease from wandering, - And with vain hands beat idly at thy gate; - And thou,--thou hast no thought of opening, - And from thy peace are we still separate. - - - Yet, comrades, though ye come together there, - And search across the shadows for my face, - Until the pines murmur of your despair, - - I think I shall not tell my hiding-place, - For ye know not the path ye would pursue, - And it is late our footsteps to retrace. - - Too weak am I, and now not one of you-- - So weary are ye of each ancient way-- - Retaineth strength enough to seek a new; - - And ye are blind--knowing not night from day; - Crying at noontime, "Let us see the sun!" - And with the even, "O for rest, we pray!" - - O Blind and fearful! Shall I, who have won - At last this little portion of content, - Yield all to be with you again undone? - - Because ye languish in your prisonment - Must I now hearken to your bitter cry? - Must I forego, as ye long since forewent, - - My vision of the far-off open sky? - Nay! Earth hath much ungiven she yet may give; - And though to-day your laboring souls would die, - From earth my soul gaineth the strength to live. - - - O covering grasses! O Unchanging trees! - Is it not good to feel the odorous wind - Come down upon you with such harmonies - - Only the giant hills can ever find? - O little leaves, are ye not glad to be? - Is not the sunlight fair, the shadow kind, - - That falls at noon-time over you and me? - O gleam of birches lost among the firs, - Let your high treble chime in silverly - - Across the half-imagined wind that stirs - A muffled organ-music from the pines! - Earth knows to-day that not one note of hers - - Is minor. For, behold, the loud sun shines - Till the young maples are no longer gray, - And stronger grow their faint, uncertain lines - - Each violet takes a deeper blue to-day, - And purpler swell the cones hung overhead, - Until the sound of their far feet who - - About the wood, fades from me; and, instead, - I hear a robin singing--not as one - That calls unto his mate, uncomforted-- - But as one sings a welcome to the sun. - - - Not among men, or near men-fashioned things, - In the old years found I this present ease, - Though I have known the fellowship of kings - - And tarried long in splendid palaces. - The worship of vast peoples has been mine, - The homage of uncounted pageantries. - - Sea-offerings, and fruits of field and vine - Have humble folk been proud to bring to me; - And woven cloths of wonderful design - - Have lain untouched in far lands over-sea, - Till the rich traffickers beheld my sails. - Long caravans have toiled on wearily-- - - Harassed yet watchful of their costly bales-- - Across wide sandy places, glad to bear - Strange oils and perfumes strained in Indian vales, - - Great gleaming rubies torn from some queen's hair, - Yellow, long-hoarded coin and golded dust, - Deeming that I would find their offerings fair. - - --O fairness quick to fade! Ashes and rust - And food for moths! O half-remembered things - Once altar-set!--I think when one is thrust - - Far down in the under-world, where the worm clings - Close to the newly-dead, among the dead - Not one awakes to ask what gift she brings. - - The color of her eyes, her hair outspread - In the moist wind that stifles ere it blows, - Falls on unwatching eyes; and no man knows - The gracious odors that her garments shed. - - - And she, unwearied yet and not grown wise, - Follows a little while her devious way - Across the twilight; where no voice replies - - When her voice calls, bravely; and where to-day - Is even as yesterday and all days were. - Great houses loom up swiftly, out of the gray. - - Knocking at last, the gradual echoes stir - The hangings of unhaunted passages; - Until she surely knows only for her - - Has this House hoarded up its silences - Since the beginning of the early years, - And that this night her soul shall dwell at ease - - And grow forgetful of its ancient fears - In some long-kept, unviolated room. - And so the quiet city no more hears - Her footsteps, and the streets their dust resume. - - - But what have I to do with her and death - Who hold these living grasses in my hands,-- - With her who liveth not, yet sorroweth? - - (For it shall chance, however close the bands - Of sleep be drawn about her, nevertheless - She must remember alway the old lands - - She wandered in, and their old hollowness.) - --Awaiting here the strong word of the trees, - My soul leans over to the wind's caress, - - One with the flowers; far off, it hears the sea's - Rumor of large, unmeasured things, and yet - It has no yearning to remix with these. - - For the pines whisper, lest it may forget, - Of the near pool; and how the shadow lies - On it forever; and of its edges, set - - With maiden-hair; and how, in guardian-wise, - The alder trees bend over, until one - Forgets the color of the unseen skies - - And loses all remembrance of the sun. - No echo there of the sea's loss and pain; - Nor sound of little rivers, even, that run - - Where with the wind the hollow reeds complain; - Nor the soft stir of marsh-waters, when dawn - Comes in with quiet covering of rain: - - Only, all day, the shadow of peace upon - The pool's gray breast; and with the fall of even, - The noiseless gleam of scattered stars--withdrawn - From the unfathomed treasuries of heaven. - - - And as the sea has not the strength to win - Back to its love my soul, O Comrades, ye-- - In the wood lost, and seeking me therein-- - - Are not less impotent than all the sea! - My soul at last its ultimate house hath won, - And in that house shall sleep along with me. - - Yea, we shall slumber softly, out of the sun, - To day and night alike indifferent, - Aware and unaware if Time be done. - - Yet ere I go, ere yet your faith be spent, - For our old love I pass Earth's message on: - "In me, why shouldst thou not find thy content? - - "Are not my days surpassing fair, from dawn - To sunset, and my nights fulfilled with peace? - Shall not my strength remain when thou art gone - - "The way of all blown dust? Shall Beauty cease - Upon my face because thy face grows gray? - Behold, thine hours, even now, fade and decrease, - - "And thou hast got no wisdom; yet I say - This thing there is to learn ere thou must go: - _Have no sad thoughts of me upon the way_ - - "_Thou takest home coming; for thy soul shall know_ - _The old glad things and sorrowful its share_ - _Until at last Time's legions overthrow_ - _The House thy days have builded unaware._" - - - Now therefore am I joyful who have heard - Earth's message plain to-day, and so I cry - Aloud to you, O Comrades, her last word, - - That ye may be as wise and glad as I, - And the long grasses, and the broad green leaves - That beat against the far, unclouded sky: - - _Who worships me alway, who alway cleaves_ - _Close unto me till his last call rings clear_ - _Across the pathless wood,--his soul receives_ - _My peace continually and shall not fear._ - - - - - A PRELUDE WRITTEN BY FRANCIS - SHERMAN IS PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR - HIM AND FOR HERBERT COPELAND - AND F. H. DAY AND THEIR FRIENDS - CHRISTMAS M D CCC XCVII - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRELUDE *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39797 - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one -owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and -you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission -and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the -General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and -distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) electronic works to protect the -Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a -registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, -unless you receive specific permission. If you do not charge anything -for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. 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