Poems (Dorr)/The Fallow Field
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Was his soul's best blossoming,
Knew the thought he could not hold
Shrined his spirit's purest gold.
Look!"
Where rose the city's gate
In majestic, sculptured state,
From a far-off battle-plain,
Through the javelins' silver rain
Bearing buckler, lance, and shield,
And their standard's glittering field,
Eager, yet with shout nor din,
Came a great host trooping in.
Burned their eyes with martial fire,
And the glow of proud desire,
Such as gods and hero's filled
When their mighty souls were thrilled
By old Homer's golden lyre!
Knew the thought he could not hold
Shrined his spirit's purest gold.
Look!"
Where rose the city's gate
In majestic, sculptured state,
From a far-off battle-plain,
Through the javelins' silver rain
Bearing buckler, lance, and shield,
And their standard's glittering field,
Eager, yet with shout nor din,
Came a great host trooping in.
Burned their eyes with martial fire,
And the glow of proud desire,
Such as gods and hero's filled
When their mighty souls were thrilled
By old Homer's golden lyre!
Under dim cathedral arches
Pacing sad, pacing slow,
As to beat of funeral marches
Or to music's rhythmic flow—
With their solemn brows uplifted,
And their hands upon their breasts,
Where the deepest shadows drifted,
One by one pale phantoms pressed.
Lost in dreams of heights supernal,
Mystic dreams of Paradise,
Or of woful depths infernal,
Slow they passed before mine eyes.
Oh, the vision's pallid splendor!
Oh, the grandeur of their mien—
Kin, by birthright proud and tender,
To the matchless Florentine!
In stately solitude,
Whereon might none intrude—
Majestic, grand and calm,
And bearing each the palm;
Dwelling, serene and fair,
In most enchanted air,
Where softest music crept
O'er harp-strings deftly swept,
And organ-thunders rolled
Like storm-winds through the wold,
They stood in strength sublime
Beyond the bounds of time—
They who had been a part
Of Milton's mighty heart!
Pacing sad, pacing slow,
As to beat of funeral marches
Or to music's rhythmic flow—
With their solemn brows uplifted,
And their hands upon their breasts,
Where the deepest shadows drifted,
One by one pale phantoms pressed.
Lost in dreams of heights supernal,
Mystic dreams of Paradise,
Or of woful depths infernal,
Slow they passed before mine eyes.
Oh, the vision's pallid splendor!
Oh, the grandeur of their mien—
Kin, by birthright proud and tender,
To the matchless Florentine!
In stately solitude,
Whereon might none intrude—
Majestic, grand and calm,
And bearing each the palm;
Dwelling, serene and fair,
In most enchanted air,
Where softest music crept
O'er harp-strings deftly swept,
And organ-thunders rolled
Like storm-winds through the wold,
They stood in strength sublime
Beyond the bounds of time—
They who had been a part
Of Milton's mighty heart!
And where, mysterious ones,
Are Shakespeare's princely sons,
Bearing in lavish hands
The spoil of many lands?
From castles lifted far
Against the evening star,
Where royal banners float
O'er rampart, tower, and moat,
And the white moonlight sleeps
Upon the Donjon keeps;
From fairy-haunted dells
Among the lonely fells;
From banks where wild thyme grows
And the blue violet blows;
From caverns grim, and caves
Lashed by the deep sea-waves;
From darkling forest shade,
From busy haunts of trade,
From market, court, and camp,
Where folly rings her bells,
Or sorrow tolls her knells,
Or where in cloister cells
The scholar trims his lamp—
Wearing the sword, the gown,
The motley of the clown,
The beggar's rags, the dole
Of the remorseful soul,
The wedding-robe, the ring,
The shroud's white blossoming,
O myriad-minded man,
Thus thine immortal clan
Passed down the endless ways
Of the eternal days!
Are Shakespeare's princely sons,
Bearing in lavish hands
The spoil of many lands?
From castles lifted far
Against the evening star,
Where royal banners float
O'er rampart, tower, and moat,
And the white moonlight sleeps
Upon the Donjon keeps;
From fairy-haunted dells
Among the lonely fells;
From banks where wild thyme grows
And the blue violet blows;
From caverns grim, and caves
Lashed by the deep sea-waves;
From darkling forest shade,
From busy haunts of trade,
From market, court, and camp,
Where folly rings her bells,
Or sorrow tolls her knells,
Or where in cloister cells
The scholar trims his lamp—
Wearing the sword, the gown,
The motley of the clown,
The beggar's rags, the dole
Of the remorseful soul,
The wedding-robe, the ring,
The shroud's white blossoming,
O myriad-minded man,
Thus thine immortal clan
Passed down the endless ways
Of the eternal days!
Then said I to my spirit:
"These are they who wore the crown3
Well the king's sons may inherit
All his glory and renown.
Where are they—the songs unsung
By the humbler bards whose lyres
Through earth's lowly vales have rung,
Like the notes of woodland choirs?
They whose silver-sandalled feet
Never climbed the clouds to meet?"
"These are they who wore the crown3
Well the king's sons may inherit
All his glory and renown.
Where are they—the songs unsung
By the humbler bards whose lyres
Through earth's lowly vales have rung,
Like the notes of woodland choirs?
They whose silver-sandalled feet
Never climbed the clouds to meet?"
Where?—The air grew full of laughter
Low and sweet, and following after
Came the softest breath of singing
As if lily bells were ringing;
And from all the happy closes,
Crowned with daisies, crowned with roses,
Bearing woodland ferns for palm-boughs in their hands,
From the dim secluded places,
Through the wide enchanted spaces,
With their song-illumined faces
Swept the shadowy minstrel bands!
Low and sweet, and following after
Came the softest breath of singing
As if lily bells were ringing;
And from all the happy closes,
Crowned with daisies, crowned with roses,
Bearing woodland ferns for palm-boughs in their hands,
From the dim secluded places,
Through the wide enchanted spaces,
With their song-illumined faces
Swept the shadowy minstrel bands!
Songs unsung, the high and lowly,
Songs, the holy and unholy,
In that purest air grown wholly
Clean from every spot and stain!
And I knew as endless ages
Still were turning life's full pages,
Each should find his own again—
Find the song he could not sing,
As his soul's best blossoming!
Songs, the holy and unholy,
In that purest air grown wholly
Clean from every spot and stain!
And I knew as endless ages
Still were turning life's full pages,
Each should find his own again—
Find the song he could not sing,
As his soul's best blossoming!
QUESTIONING A ROSE
It was fair, it was sweet,
And it blossomed at my feet.
"O thou peerless rose!" I said,
"Art thou heir to roses dead—
Roses that their petals shed
In the winds of long ago?
Who bequeathed to thee the glow
Of thy perfect, radiant heart?
What proud queen of fire and snow
Lived to make thee what thou art?
And it blossomed at my feet.
"O thou peerless rose!" I said,
"Art thou heir to roses dead—
Roses that their petals shed
In the winds of long ago?
Who bequeathed to thee the glow
Of thy perfect, radiant heart?
What proud queen of fire and snow
Lived to make thee what thou art?
"Who gave thee thy nameless grace
And the beauty of thy face,
Touched thy lips with fragrant wine,
Pledging thee in cups divine?
On some long-forgotten day,
When earth kept glad holiday,
One bright rose was born, I think,
Dewy, sweet, and soft and pink—
Born, more blest than others are,
To be thy progenitor!
And the beauty of thy face,
Touched thy lips with fragrant wine,
Pledging thee in cups divine?
On some long-forgotten day,
When earth kept glad holiday,
One bright rose was born, I think,
Dewy, sweet, and soft and pink—
Born, more blest than others are,
To be thy progenitor!
"Oh, the roses that have died.
In the unremembered Junes!
Oh, the roses that have sighed
Unto long-forgotten runes!
Dost thou know their secrets dear?
Have they whispered in thine ear
Mysteries of the rain and dew,
And the sunshine that they knew?
Have they told thee how the breeze
Wooed them, and the amorous bees?
In the unremembered Junes!
Oh, the roses that have sighed
Unto long-forgotten runes!
Dost thou know their secrets dear?
Have they whispered in thine ear
Mysteries of the rain and dew,
And the sunshine that they knew?
Have they told thee how the breeze
Wooed them, and the amorous bees?
"Silent, art thou? Thy repose
Mocks me, yet I fain would know
Art thou kin to one rare rose
Of a summer long ago?
It was sweet, it was fair;
Someone twined it in my hair,
When my young cheek, blushing red,
Shamed the roses, someone said.
Dust and ashes though it be,
Still its soul lives on in thee."
Mocks me, yet I fain would know
Art thou kin to one rare rose
Of a summer long ago?
It was sweet, it was fair;
Someone twined it in my hair,
When my young cheek, blushing red,
Shamed the roses, someone said.
Dust and ashes though it be,
Still its soul lives on in thee."
THE FALLOW FIELD
The sun comes up and the sun goes down;
The night mist shroudeth the sleeping town;
But if it be dark or if it be day,
If the tempests beat or the breezes play,
Still here on this upland slope I lie,
Looking up to the changeful sky.
The night mist shroudeth the sleeping town;
But if it be dark or if it be day,
If the tempests beat or the breezes play,
Still here on this upland slope I lie,
Looking up to the changeful sky.
Naught am I but a fallow field;
Never a crop my acres yield.
Over the wall at my right hand
Stately and green the corn-blades stand,
And I hear at my left the flying feet
Of the winds that rustle the bending wheat.
Never a crop my acres yield.
Over the wall at my right hand
Stately and green the corn-blades stand,
And I hear at my left the flying feet
Of the winds that rustle the bending wheat.
Often while yet the morn is red
I list for our master's eager tread.
He smiles at the young corn's towering height,
He knows the wheat is a goodly sight,
But he glances not at the fallow field
Whose idle acres no wealth may yield.
I list for our master's eager tread.
He smiles at the young corn's towering height,
He knows the wheat is a goodly sight,
But he glances not at the fallow field
Whose idle acres no wealth may yield.
Sometimes the shout of the harvesters
The sleeping pulse of my being stirs,
And as one in a dream I seem to feel
The sweep and the rush of the swinging steel,
Or I catch the sound of the gay refrain
As they heap their wains with the golden grain,
The sleeping pulse of my being stirs,
And as one in a dream I seem to feel
The sweep and the rush of the swinging steel,
Or I catch the sound of the gay refrain
As they heap their wains with the golden grain,
Yet, O my neighbors, be not too proud,
Though on every tongue your praise is loud.
Our mother Nature is kind to me,
And I am beloved by bird and bee,
And never a child that passes by
But turns upon me a grateful eye.
Though on every tongue your praise is loud.
Our mother Nature is kind to me,
And I am beloved by bird and bee,
And never a child that passes by
But turns upon me a grateful eye.
Over my head the skies are blue;
I have my share of the rain and dew;
I bask like you in the summer sun
When the long bright days pass, one by one,
And calm as yours is my sweet repose
Wrapped in the warmth of the winter Snows.
I have my share of the rain and dew;
I bask like you in the summer sun
When the long bright days pass, one by one,
And calm as yours is my sweet repose
Wrapped in the warmth of the winter Snows.
For little our loving mother cares
Which the corn or the daisy bears,
Which is rich with the ripening wheat,
Which with the violet's breath is sweet,
Which is red with the clover bloom,
Or which for the wild sweet-fern makes room.
Which the corn or the daisy bears,
Which is rich with the ripening wheat,
Which with the violet's breath is sweet,
Which is red with the clover bloom,
Or which for the wild sweet-fern makes room.
Useless under the summer sky
Year after year men say I lie.
Little they know what strength of mine
I give to the trailing blackberry vine;
Little they know how the wild grape grows,
Or how my life-blood flushes the rose.
Year after year men say I lie.
Little they know what strength of mine
I give to the trailing blackberry vine;
Little they know how the wild grape grows,
Or how my life-blood flushes the rose.
Little they think of the cups I fill
For the mosses creeping under the hill;
Little they think of the feast I spread
For the wild wee creatures that must be fed:
Squirrel and butterfly, bird and bee,
And the creeping things that no eye may see.
For the mosses creeping under the hill;
Little they think of the feast I spread
For the wild wee creatures that must be fed:
Squirrel and butterfly, bird and bee,
And the creeping things that no eye may see.
Lord of the harvest, thou dost know
How the summers and winters go.
Never a ship sails east or west
Laden with treasures at my behest,
Yet my being thrills to the voice of God
When I give my gold to the golden-rod.
How the summers and winters go.
Never a ship sails east or west
Laden with treasures at my behest,
Yet my being thrills to the voice of God
When I give my gold to the golden-rod.