(I told you that he had his golden hour), And such a feast, ill-suited as it seem'd To such a time, to Lionel's loss and his, And that resolved self-exile from a land But rich as for the nuptials of a king. And stranger yet, at one end of the hall Two great funereal curtains, looping down, Parted a little ere they met the floor, And just above the parting was a lamp; So the sweet figure folded round with night Seem'd stepping out of darkness with a smile. Well then- our solemn feast - we And might the wines being of such He falling sick, and seeming close on Weigh'd on him yet-but warming as | About him, look'd, as he is like to prove, When Julian goes, the lord of all he saw. he went, Glanced at the point of law, to pass it by, Affirming that as long as either lived, By all the laws of love and gratefulness, The service of the one so saved was due All to the saver adding, with a smile, The first for many weeks- -a semi-smile As at a strong conclusion body and soul And life and limbs, all his to work his will." Then Julian made a secret sign to me To bring Camilla down before them all. And crossing her own picture as she came, And looking as much lovelier as herself Is lovelier than all others - -on her head A diamond circlet, and from under this A veil, that seemed no more than gilded air, Flying by each fine ear, an Eastern gauze With seeds of gold so, with that grace of hers, Slow-moving as a wave against the wind, That flings a mist behind it in the sun And bearing high in arms the mighty babe, The younger Julian, who himself was crown'd With roses, none so rosy as himself - As for a solemn sacrifice of love - -- But Julian, sitting by her, answer'dall: "She is but dumb, because in her you see That faithful servant whom we spoke about, Obedient to her second master now; Which will not last. I have here to night a guest So bound to me by common love and loss --What shall I bind him more? in his behalf, Shall I exceed the Persian, giving him That which of all things is the dearest to me, Not only showing? and he himself pronounced That my rich gift is wholly mine to give. "Now all be dumb, and promise all of you Not to break in on what I say by word Or whisper, while I show you all my heart." And then began the story of his love Past thro' his visions to the burial; thence Down to this last strange hour in his own hall; And then rose up, and with him all his guests Once more as by enchantment; all but he, Lionel, who fain had risen, but fell again, And sat as if in chains to whom he said: Then taking his dear lady by one hand, And bearing on one arm the noble babe, He slowly brought them both to Lionel. And there the widower husband and dead wife Rush'd each at each with a cry, that rather seem'd For some new death than for a life renew'd; Whereat the very babe began to wail; At once they turn'd, and caught and brought him in To their charm'd circle, and, half killing him With kisses, round him closed and claspt again. But Lionel, when at last he freed himself From wife and child, and lifted up a face All over glowing with the sun of life, And love, and boundless thanks - the sight of this So frighted our good friend, that, turning to me And saying, “It is over: let us go". There were our horses ready at the doors We bade them no farewell, but mounting these He past forever from his native land; And I with him, my Julian, back to mine. DE PROFUNDIS. TWO GREETINGS. I. From that great deep before our world begins Whereon the Spirit of God moves as he will OUT of the deep, my child, out of the Out of the deep, my child, out of the deep, Where all that was to be in all that was Whirl'd for a million æons thro' the vast Waste dawn of multitudinous-eddying light Out of the deep, my child, out of the deep, Thro' all this changing world of changeless law, And every phase of ever-heightening life, And nine long months of antenatal gloom, With this last moon, this crescent- her dark orb Touch'd with earth's light-thou comest, darling boy; Our own; a babe in lineament and limb Perfect, and prophet of the perfect man; Whose face and form are her's and mine in one, Indissolubly married like our love; men deep, From that true world within the world we see, Whereof our world is but the bounding shore In space And shatter'd phantom of that infinite finite-infinite time - our mortal veil Who made thee unconceivably thyself One, Out of His whole World-self and all in all Live thou, and of the grain and husk, the grape And ivyberry, choose; and still depart From death to death thro' life and life, and find Nearer and ever nearer Him who wrought Out of the deep, my child, out of the With power on thine own act and on the deep, world. |