Poems by George Meredith - Volume 2

TO J. M.
Let Fate or Insufficiency provide

Mean ends for men who what they are would be:
Penned in their narrow day no change they see

Save one which strikes the blow to brutes and pride.
Our faith is ours and comes not on a tide:

And whether Earth's great offspring, by decree,
Must rot if they abjure rapacity,

Not argument but effort shall decide.
They number many heads in that hard flock:

Trim swordsmen they push forth: yet try thy steel.
Thou, fighting for poor humankind, wilt feel

The strength of Roland in thy wrist to hew
A chasm sheer into the barrier rock,

And bring the army of the faithful through.
LINES TO A FRIEND VISITING AMERICA

I
Now farewell to you! you are

One of my dearest, whom I trust:
Now follow you the Western star,

And cast the old world off as dust.
II

From many friends adieu! adieu!
The quick heart of the word therein.

Much that we hope for hangs with you:
We lose you, but we lose to win.

III
The beggar-king, November, frets:

His tatters rich with Indian dyes
Goes hugging: we our season's debts

Pay calmly, of the Spring forewise.
IV

We send our worthiest; can no less,
If we would now be read aright, -

To that great people who may bless
Or curse mankind: they have the might.

V
The proudest seasons find their graves,

And we, who would not be wooed, must court.
We have let the blunderers and the waves

Divide us, and the devil had sport.
VI

The blunderers and the waves no more
Shall sever kindred sending forth

Their worthiest from shore to shore
For welcome, bent to prove their worth.

VII
Go you and such as you afloat,

Our lost kinsfellowship to revive.
The battle of the antidote

Is tough, though silent: may you thrive!
VIII

I, when in this North wind I see
The straining red woods blown awry,

Feel shuddering like the winter tree,
All vein and artery on cold sky.

IX
The leaf that clothed me is torn away;

My friend is as a flying seed.
Ay, true; to bring replenished day

Light ebbs, but I am bare, and bleed.
X

What husky habitations seem
These comfortable sayings! they fell,

In some rich year become a dream:-
So cries my heart, the infidel! . . .

XI
Oh! for the strenuous mind in quest,

Arabian visions could not vie
With those broad wonders of the West,

And would I bid you stay? Not I!
XII

The strange experimental land
Where men continually dare take

Niagara leaps;--unshattered stand
'Twixt fall and fall;--for conscience' sake,

XIII
Drive onward like a flood's increase; -

Fresh rapids and abysms engage; -
(We live--we die) scorn fireside peace,

And, as a garment, put on rage,
XIV

Rather than bear God's reprimand,
By rearing on a full fat soil

Concrete of sin and sloth;--this land,
You will observe it coil in coil.

XV
The land has been discover'd long,

The people we have yet to know;
Themselves they know not, save that strong

For good and evil still they grow.
XVI

Nor know they us. Yea, well enough
In that inveterate machine

Through which we speak the printed stuff
Daily, with voice most hugeous, mien

XVII
Tremendous:- as a lion's show

The grand menagerie paintings hide:
Hear the drum beat, the trombones blow!

The poor old Lion lies inside! . . .
XVIII

It is not England that they hear,
But mighty Mammon's pipers, trained

To trumpet out his moods, and stir
His sluggish soul: HER voice is chained:

XIX
Almost her spirit seems moribund!

O teach them, 'tis not she displays
The panic of a purse rotund,

Eternal dread of evil days, -
XX

That haunting spectre of success
Which shows a heart sunk low in the girths:

Not England answers nobleness, -
'Live for thyself: thou art not earth's.'

XXI
Not she, when struggling manhood tries

For freedom, air, a hopefuller fate,
Points out the planet, Compromise,

And shakes a mild reproving pate:
XXII

Says never: 'I am well at ease,
My sneers upon the weak I shed:

The strong have my cajoleries:
And those beneath my feet I tread.'

XXIII
Nay, but 'tis said for her, great Lord!

The misery's there! The shameless one
Adjures mankind to sheathe the sword,

Herself not yielding what it won:-
XXIV

Her sermon at cock-crow doth preach,
On sweet Prosperity--or greed.

'Lo! as the beasts feed, each for each,
God's blessings let us take, and feed!'

XXV
Ungrateful creatures crave a part -

She tells them firmly she is full;
Lost sheared sheep hurt her tender heart

With bleating, stops her ears with wool:-
XXVI

Seized sometimes by prodigious qualms
(Nightmares of bankruptcy and death), -

Showers down in lumps a load of alms,
Then pants as one who has lost a breath;

XXVII
Believes high heaven, whence favours flow,

Too kind to ask a sacrifice
For what it specially doth bestow; -

Gives SHE, 'tis generous, cheese to mice.
XXVIII

She saw the young Dominion strip
For battle with a grievous wrong,

And curled a noble Norman lip,
And looked with half an eye sidelong;

XXIX
And in stout Saxon wrote her sneers,

Denounced the waste of blood and coin,
Implored the combatants, with tears,

Never to think they could rejoin.
XXX

Oh! was it England that, alas!
Turned sharp the victor to cajole?

Behold her features in the glass:
A monstroussemblance mocks her soul!

XXXI
A false majority, by stealth,

Have got her fast, and sway the rod:
A headless tyrant built of wealth,

The hypocrite, the belly-God.
XXXII

To him the daily hymns they raise:
His tastes are sought: his will is done:

He sniffs the putrid steam of praise,
Place for true England here is none!

XXXIII
But can a distant race discern

The difference 'twixt her and him?
My friend, that will you bid them learn.

He shames and binds her, head and limb.
XXXIV

Old wood has blossoms of this sort.
Though sound at core, she is old wood.

If freemen hate her, one retort
She has; but one!--'You are my blood.'

XXXV
A poet, half a prophet, rose

In recent days, and called for power.
I love him; but his mountain prose -

His Alp and valley and wild flower -
XXXVI

Proclaimed our weakness, not its source.
What medicine for disease had he?

Whom summoned for a show of force?
Our titular aristocracy!

XXXVII
Why, these are great at City feasts;

From City richesmainly rise:
'Tis well to hear them, when the beasts

• volume [´vɔlju:m, ´vɑljəm] n.卷；书籍；体积；容量 (初中英语单词)
• argument [´ɑ:gjumənt] n.辩论；争论；论证 (初中英语单词)
• faithful [´feiθfəl] a.忠实的；可靠的 (初中英语单词)
• farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
• western [´westən] a.西的；西方的 (初中英语单词)
• indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
• calmly [´kɑ:mli] ad.平静地；无风浪地 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• garment [´gɑ:mənt] n.衣服，外衣 (初中英语单词)
• planet [´plænit] n.行星 (初中英语单词)
• firmly [´fə:mli] ad.坚固地，稳定地 (初中英语单词)
• bestow [bi´stəu] vt.(把...)赠给；使用 (初中英语单词)
• generous [´dʒenərəs] a.慷慨的；丰盛的 (初中英语单词)
• cheese [tʃi:z] n.干酪，乳酪 (初中英语单词)
• prophet [´prɔfit] n.预言家；先知；提倡者 (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• weakness [´wi:knis] n.虚弱；弱点，缺点 (初中英语单词)
• riches [´ritʃiz] n.房地产；丰富 (初中英语单词)
• mainly [´meinli] ad.主要地；大体上 (初中英语单词)
• barrier [´bæriə] n.栅栏；屏障；障碍 (高中英语单词)
• kindred [´kindrid] n.亲属关系；同源关系 (高中英语单词)
• continually [kən´tinjuəli] ad.不断地，频繁地 (高中英语单词)
• onward [´ɔnwəd] ad.&a.向前(的) (高中英语单词)
• mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
• trumpet [´trʌmpit] n.喇叭；小号 (高中英语单词)
• manhood [´mænhud] n.人格；男子气概 (高中英语单词)
• sermon [´sə:mən] n.说教；训诫；讲道 (高中英语单词)
• specially [´speʃəli] ad.专门地；特别地 (高中英语单词)
• dominion [də´miniən] n.主权；统治权；领地 (高中英语单词)
• monstrous [´mɔnstrəs] a.怪异的；庞大的 (高中英语单词)
• tyrant [´taiərənt] n.暴君；霸主；专制君主 (高中英语单词)
• artery [´ɑ:təri] n.动脉；干线 (英语四级单词)
• strenuous [´strenjuəs] a.费力的；奋发的 (英语四级单词)
• experimental [ik,speri´mentl] a.实验的 (英语四级单词)
• prodigious [prə´didʒəs] a.惊人的；巨大的 (英语四级单词)
• bankruptcy [´bæŋkrʌptsi] n.破产 (英语四级单词)
• whence [wens] ad.从何处；从那里 (英语四级单词)
• grievous [´gri:vəs] a.痛苦的；严重的 (英语四级单词)
• victor [´viktə] n.&a.胜利者(的) (英语四级单词)
• semblance [´sembləns] n.外表；伪装；相似 (英语四级单词)
• fireside [´faiəsaid] n.炉边；家；家庭生活 (英语六级单词)
• sluggish [´slʌgiʃ] a.呆滞的；偷懒的 (英语六级单词)
• hypocrite [´hipəkrit] n.伪善者；伪君子 (英语六级单词)