章节正文
And rules the sea and thunder,
Caught up the satyr by the heels,
And tore his skirts asunder.
Page: 120
While Arcas of the glittering plumes
Took Ladon's daughter lightly,
And set her in the gracious glooms
That mix with moon-mist nightly.
And touched her lips with wild-flower wine;
And changed her body slowly,
Till, in soft reeds of song and shine
Her life was hidden wholly.
Page: 121
ON THE PAROO.
AS when the strong stream of a wintering sea
Rolls round our coast, with bodeful breaks of storm,
And swift salt rain, and bitter wind that saith
Wild things and woeful of the White South Land
Alone with God and Silence in the cold -
As when this cometh, men from dripping doors
Look forth, and shudder for the mariners
Abroad, so we for absent brothers looked
In days of drought, and when the flying floods
Swept boundless: roaring down the bald, black plains
Beyond the farthest spur of western hills.
For where the Barwon cuts a rotten land,
Or lies unshaken, like a great blind creek,
Between hot mouldering banks, it came to this,
All in a time of short and thirsty sighs,
That thirty rainless months had left the pools
And grass as dry as ashes: then it was
Our kinsmen started for the lone Paroo,
Page: 122
From point to point, with patient strivings, sheer
Across the horrors of the windless downs,
Blue-gleaming like a sea of molten steel.
But never drought had broke them: never flood
Had quenched them: they with mighty youth and health,
And thews and sinews knotted like the trees -
They, like the children of the native woods,
Could stem the strenuous waters, or outlive
The crimson days and dull dead nights of thirst
Like camels! yet of what avail was strength
Alone to them - though it was like the rocks
On stormy mountains - in the bloody time
When fierce sleep caught them in the camps at rest,
And violent darkness gripped the life in them
And whelmed them, as an eagle unawares
Is whelmed and slaughtered in a sudden snare.
All murdered by the blacks! smit while they lay
In silver dreams, and with the far faint fall
Of many waters breaking on their sleep!
Yea, in the tracts unknown of any man
Save savages - the dim-discovered ways
Of footless silence or unhappy winds -
The wild men came upon them, like a fire
Of desert thunder; and the fine firm lips
Page: 123
That touched a mother's lips a year before,
And hands that knew a dearer hand than life,
Were hewn like sacrifice before the stars,
And left with hooting owls, and blowing clouds,
And falling leaves, and solitary wings!
Aye, you may see their graves - you who have toiled,
And tripped and thirsted, like these men of ours;
For verily I say that not so deep
Their bones are that the scattered drift and dust
Of gusty days will never leave them bare.
O dear, dead, bleaching bones! I know of those
Who have the wild strong will to go and sit
Outside all things with you, and keep the ways
Aloof from bats, and snakes, and trampling feet
That smite your peace and theirs - who have the heart
Without the lusty limbs to face the fire,
And moonless midnights, and to be indeed,
For very sorrow, like a moaning wind
In wintry forests with perpetual rain.
Because of this - because of sisters left
With desperate purpose and dishevelled hair,
And broken breath, and sweetness quenched in tears -
Because of swifter silver for the head,
And furrows for the face - because of these
That should have come with Age, that come with Pain,
Page: 124
O Master! Father! sitting where our eyes
Are tired of looking, say for once are we -
Are we to set our lips with weary smiles
Before the bitterness of Life and Death,
And call it honey, while we bear away
A taste like wormwood?
Turn thyself, and sing -
Sing, Son of Sorrow! Is there any gain
For breaking of the loins, for melting eyes,
And knees as weak as water? - any peace,
Or hope for casualbreath, and labouring lips,
For clapping of the palms, and sharper sighs
Than frost; or any light to come for those
Who stand and mumble in the alien streets
With heads as grey as Winter? - any balm
For pleading women, and the love that knows
Of nothing left to love?
They sleep a sleep
Unknown of dreams, these darling friends of ours.
And we who taste the core of many tales
Of tribulation - we whose lives are salt
With tears indeed - we therefore hide our eyes
And weep in secret lest our grief should risk
The rest that hath no hurt from daily racks
Of fiery clouds and immemorial rains.
Page: 125
FAITH IN GOD.
HAVE faith in God. For whosoever lists
To calm conviction in these days of strife,
Will learn that in this steadfast stand exists
The scholarshipsevere of human life.
This face to face with Doubt! I know how strong
His thews must be who fights, and falls, and bears,
By sleepless nights, and vigils lone and long,
And many a woeful wraith of wrestling prayers.
Yet trust in Him! not in an old Man throned
With thunders on an everlasting cloud,
But in that awful Entity, enzoned
By no wild wraths nor bitter homage loud.
When from the summit of some sudden steep
Of Speculation you have strength to turn
To things too boundless for the broken sweep
Of finer comprehension, wait and learn
Page: 126
That God hath been ``His own interpreter''
From first to last;-So you will understand
The tribe who best succeed when men most err
To suck through fogs the fatness of the land.
One thing is surer than the autumn tints
We saw last week in yonder river bend -
That all our poor expression helps and hints,
However vaguely, to the solemn end
That God is Truth. And if our dim ideal
Fall short of fact - so short that we must weep,
Why shape specific sorrows, though the real
Be not the song which erewhile made us sleep?
Remember, Truth draws upward! This, to us,
Of steady happiness should be a cause
Beyond the differential calculus
Or Kant's dull dogmas and mechanic laws.
A man is manliest when he wisely knows
How vain it is to halt, and pule, and pine,
Whilst under every mystery haply flows
The finest issue of a love divine.
Page: 127
MOUNTAIN MOSS.
IT lies amongst the sleeping stones,
Far down the hidden mountain glade;
And past its brink the torrent moans
For ever in a dreamy shade:
A little patch of dark-green moss,
Whose softness grew of quiet ways,
(With all its deep, delicious floss,)
In slumb'rous suns of summer days.
You know the place? With pleasant tints
The broken sunset lights the bowers;
And then the woods are full with hints
Of distant, dear, voluptuous flowers!
Page: 128
'Tis often now the pilgrim turns
A faded face towards that seat,
And cools his brow amongst the ferns:
The runnel dabbling at his feet.
There fierce December seldom goes,
With scorching step and dust and drouth;
But, soft and low, October blows
Sweet odours from her dewy mouth.
And Autumn, like a gipsy bold,
Doth gather near it grapes and grain,
Ere Winter comes, the woodman old,
To lop the leaves in wind and rain.
O, greenest moss of mountain glen,
The face of Rose is known to thee;
But we shall never share with men
A knowledge dear to Love and me!
For are they not between us saved,
The words my darling used to say;
What time the western waters laved
The forehead of the fainting Day?
Page: 129
Cool comfort had we on your breast
While yet the fervid noon burned mute
O'er barley field and barren crest,
And leagues of gardens flushed with fruit.
Oh! sweet and low, we whispered so;
And sucked the pulp of plum and peach:
But it was many years ago,
When each, you know, was loved of each.
Page: 130
THE GLEN OF ARRAWATTA.
A SKY of wind! And while these fitful gusts
Are beating round the windows in the cold,
With sullen sobs of rain, behold I shape
A settler's story of the wild old times:
One told by camp-fires when the station-drays
Were housed and hidden, forty years ago;
While swarthy drivers smoked their pipes, and drew,
Caught up the satyr by the heels,
And tore his skirts asunder.
Page: 120
While Arcas of the glittering plumes
Took Ladon's daughter lightly,
And set her in the gracious glooms
That mix with moon-mist nightly.
And touched her lips with wild-flower wine;
And changed her body slowly,
Till, in soft reeds of song and shine
Her life was hidden wholly.
Page: 121
ON THE PAROO.
AS when the strong stream of a wintering sea
Rolls round our coast, with bodeful breaks of storm,
And swift salt rain, and bitter wind that saith
Wild things and woeful of the White South Land
Alone with God and Silence in the cold -
As when this cometh, men from dripping doors
Look forth, and shudder for the mariners
Abroad, so we for absent brothers looked
In days of drought, and when the flying floods
Swept boundless: roaring down the bald, black plains
Beyond the farthest spur of western hills.
For where the Barwon cuts a rotten land,
Or lies unshaken, like a great blind creek,
Between hot mouldering banks, it came to this,
All in a time of short and thirsty sighs,
That thirty rainless months had left the pools
And grass as dry as ashes: then it was
Our kinsmen started for the lone Paroo,
Page: 122
From point to point, with patient strivings, sheer
Across the horrors of the windless downs,
Blue-gleaming like a sea of molten steel.
But never drought had broke them: never flood
Had quenched them: they with mighty youth and health,
And thews and sinews knotted like the trees -
They, like the children of the native woods,
Could stem the strenuous waters, or outlive
The crimson days and dull dead nights of thirst
Like camels! yet of what avail was strength
Alone to them - though it was like the rocks
On stormy mountains - in the bloody time
When fierce sleep caught them in the camps at rest,
And violent darkness gripped the life in them
And whelmed them, as an eagle unawares
Is whelmed and slaughtered in a sudden snare.
All murdered by the blacks! smit while they lay
In silver dreams, and with the far faint fall
Of many waters breaking on their sleep!
Yea, in the tracts unknown of any man
Save savages - the dim-discovered ways
Of footless silence or unhappy winds -
The wild men came upon them, like a fire
Of desert thunder; and the fine firm lips
Page: 123
That touched a mother's lips a year before,
And hands that knew a dearer hand than life,
Were hewn like sacrifice before the stars,
And left with hooting owls, and blowing clouds,
And falling leaves, and solitary wings!
Aye, you may see their graves - you who have toiled,
And tripped and thirsted, like these men of ours;
For verily I say that not so deep
Their bones are that the scattered drift and dust
Of gusty days will never leave them bare.
O dear, dead, bleaching bones! I know of those
Who have the wild strong will to go and sit
Outside all things with you, and keep the ways
Aloof from bats, and snakes, and trampling feet
That smite your peace and theirs - who have the heart
Without the lusty limbs to face the fire,
And moonless midnights, and to be indeed,
For very sorrow, like a moaning wind
In wintry forests with perpetual rain.
Because of this - because of sisters left
With desperate purpose and dishevelled hair,
And broken breath, and sweetness quenched in tears -
Because of swifter silver for the head,
And furrows for the face - because of these
That should have come with Age, that come with Pain,
Page: 124
O Master! Father! sitting where our eyes
Are tired of looking, say for once are we -
Are we to set our lips with weary smiles
Before the bitterness of Life and Death,
And call it honey, while we bear away
A taste like wormwood?
Turn thyself, and sing -
Sing, Son of Sorrow! Is there any gain
For breaking of the loins, for melting eyes,
And knees as weak as water? - any peace,
Or hope for casualbreath, and labouring lips,
For clapping of the palms, and sharper sighs
Than frost; or any light to come for those
Who stand and mumble in the alien streets
With heads as grey as Winter? - any balm
For pleading women, and the love that knows
Of nothing left to love?
They sleep a sleep
Unknown of dreams, these darling friends of ours.
And we who taste the core of many tales
Of tribulation - we whose lives are salt
With tears indeed - we therefore hide our eyes
And weep in secret lest our grief should risk
The rest that hath no hurt from daily racks
Of fiery clouds and immemorial rains.
Page: 125
FAITH IN GOD.
HAVE faith in God. For whosoever lists
To calm conviction in these days of strife,
Will learn that in this steadfast stand exists
The scholarshipsevere of human life.
This face to face with Doubt! I know how strong
His thews must be who fights, and falls, and bears,
By sleepless nights, and vigils lone and long,
And many a woeful wraith of wrestling prayers.
Yet trust in Him! not in an old Man throned
With thunders on an everlasting cloud,
But in that awful Entity, enzoned
By no wild wraths nor bitter homage loud.
When from the summit of some sudden steep
Of Speculation you have strength to turn
To things too boundless for the broken sweep
Of finer comprehension, wait and learn
Page: 126
That God hath been ``His own interpreter''
From first to last;-So you will understand
The tribe who best succeed when men most err
To suck through fogs the fatness of the land.
One thing is surer than the autumn tints
We saw last week in yonder river bend -
That all our poor expression helps and hints,
However vaguely, to the solemn end
That God is Truth. And if our dim ideal
Fall short of fact - so short that we must weep,
Why shape specific sorrows, though the real
Be not the song which erewhile made us sleep?
Remember, Truth draws upward! This, to us,
Of steady happiness should be a cause
Beyond the differential calculus
Or Kant's dull dogmas and mechanic laws.
A man is manliest when he wisely knows
How vain it is to halt, and pule, and pine,
Whilst under every mystery haply flows
The finest issue of a love divine.
Page: 127
MOUNTAIN MOSS.
IT lies amongst the sleeping stones,
Far down the hidden mountain glade;
And past its brink the torrent moans
For ever in a dreamy shade:
A little patch of dark-green moss,
Whose softness grew of quiet ways,
(With all its deep, delicious floss,)
In slumb'rous suns of summer days.
You know the place? With pleasant tints
The broken sunset lights the bowers;
And then the woods are full with hints
Of distant, dear, voluptuous flowers!
Page: 128
'Tis often now the pilgrim turns
A faded face towards that seat,
And cools his brow amongst the ferns:
The runnel dabbling at his feet.
There fierce December seldom goes,
With scorching step and dust and drouth;
But, soft and low, October blows
Sweet odours from her dewy mouth.
And Autumn, like a gipsy bold,
Doth gather near it grapes and grain,
Ere Winter comes, the woodman old,
To lop the leaves in wind and rain.
O, greenest moss of mountain glen,
The face of Rose is known to thee;
But we shall never share with men
A knowledge dear to Love and me!
For are they not between us saved,
The words my darling used to say;
What time the western waters laved
The forehead of the fainting Day?
Page: 129
Cool comfort had we on your breast
While yet the fervid noon burned mute
O'er barley field and barren crest,
And leagues of gardens flushed with fruit.
Oh! sweet and low, we whispered so;
And sucked the pulp of plum and peach:
But it was many years ago,
When each, you know, was loved of each.
Page: 130
THE GLEN OF ARRAWATTA.
A SKY of wind! And while these fitful gusts
Are beating round the windows in the cold,
With sullen sobs of rain, behold I shape
A settler's story of the wild old times:
One told by camp-fires when the station-drays
Were housed and hidden, forty years ago;
While swarthy drivers smoked their pipes, and drew,
- gracious [´greiʃəs]
a.和蔼可亲的；任慈的 (初中英语单词) - hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
- absent [´æbsənt, əb´sent] a.不在的 vt.使缺席 (初中英语单词)
- western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- fierce [fiəs] a.残忍的；强烈的 (初中英语单词)
- violent [´vaiələnt] a.强暴的；猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
- unhappy [ʌn´hæpi] a.不幸的；不快乐的 (初中英语单词)
- thunder [´θʌndə] n.雷 vi.打雷 vt.吼出 (初中英语单词)
- desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
- breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
- darling [´dɑ:liŋ] n.爱人 a.亲爱的 (初中英语单词)
- therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
- conviction [kən´vikʃən] n.定罪；确信，信服 (初中英语单词)
- severe [si´viə] a.严厉的；苛刻的 (初中英语单词)
- solemn [´sɔləm] a.严肃的；隆重的 (初中英语单词)
- mechanic [mi´kænik] n.技工 a.手工的 (初中英语单词)
- mystery [´mistəri] n.神秘；秘密；故弄玄虚 (初中英语单词)
- sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
- delicious [di´liʃəs] a.美味的，可口的 (初中英语单词)
- sunset [´sʌnset] n.日落；晚霞 (初中英语单词)
- forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
- barren [´bærən] a.贫瘠的；不生育的 (初中英语单词)
- shudder [´ʃʌdə] n.&vi.震颤；发抖 (高中英语单词)
- rotten [´rɔtn] a.腐烂的；腐朽的 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- crimson [´krimzən] a.&n.深(紫)红(的) (高中英语单词)
- solitary [´sɔlitəri] a.独居的；孤独的 (高中英语单词)
- theirs [ðeəz] pron.他们的 (高中英语单词)
- perpetual [pə´petʃuəl] a.永恒的；终身的 (高中英语单词)
- sweetness [´swi:tnis] n.甜蜜；芳香；亲切 (高中英语单词)
- bitterness [´bitənis] n.苦味；辛酸；苦难 (高中英语单词)
- casual [´kæʒuəl] a.偶然的；临时的 (高中英语单词)
- everlasting [,evə´lɑ:stiŋ] a.永久的，无尽的 (高中英语单词)
- homage [´hɔmidʒ] n.敬意，尊敬 (高中英语单词)
- summit [´sʌmit] n.顶(点)；绝顶 (高中英语单词)
- speculation [,spekju´leiʃən] n.思索，推测；投机 (高中英语单词)
- comprehension [,kɔmpri´henʃən] n.理解；领悟 (高中英语单词)
- specific [spi´sifik] a.具体的；特有的 (高中英语单词)
- wisely [´waizli] ad.明智地，聪明地 (高中英语单词)
- amongst [ə´mʌŋst] prep.其中之一 =among (高中英语单词)
- torrent [´tɔrənt] n.奔流，激流，洪流；迸发 (高中英语单词)
- pilgrim [´pilgrim] n.旅行者；香客 (高中英语单词)
- barley [´bɑ:li] n.大麦 (高中英语单词)
- sullen [´sʌlən] a.不高兴的 (高中英语单词)
- drought [draut] n.旱灾；干旱 (英语四级单词)
- boundless [´baundlis] a.无边无际的 (英语四级单词)
- farthest [´fɑ:ðist] ad.&a.最远(的) (英语四级单词)
- molten [´məultən] melt的过去分词 (英语四级单词)
- strenuous [´strenjuəs] a.费力的；奋发的 (英语四级单词)
- verily [´verili] ad.真实的；肯定地 (英语四级单词)
- mumble [´mʌmbəl] v.咕哝 n.咕噜 (英语四级单词)
- scholarship [´skɔləʃip, ´skɑlər-] n.学术成就；学问 (英语四级单词)
- vaguely [´veigli] ad.含糊地，暖昧地 (英语四级单词)
- wintry [´wintri] a.冬天的；荒凉的 (英语六级单词)
- immemorial [,imi´mɔ:riəl] a.太古的，极古的 (英语六级单词)
- steadfast [´stedfɑ:st, -fæst] a.坚定的，不动摇的 (英语六级单词)
- sleepless [´sli:pləs] a.失眠的；寂静的 (英语六级单词)
- dreamy [´dri:mi] a.心不在焉的；朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
- softness [´sɔftnis] n.柔软；柔和；温柔 (英语六级单词)
- woodman [´wudmən] n.伐木工 (英语六级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲；搅打；失败 (英语六级单词)
- swarthy [´swɔ:ði] a.黑皮肤的，黝黑的 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:名著
章节正文
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