| |
| “CURSE thee, Life, I will live with thee no more! |
|
| Thou hast mocked me, starved me, beat my body sore! |
|
| And all for a pledge that was not pledged by me, |
|
| I have kissed thy crust and eaten sparingly |
|
| That I might eat again, and met thy sneers |
5 |
| With deprecations, and thy blows with tears,— |
|
| Aye, from thy glutted lash, glad, crawled away, |
|
| As if spent passion were a holiday! |
|
| And now I go. Nor threat, nor easy vow |
|
| Of tardy kindness can avail thee now |
10 |
| With me, whence fear and faith alike are flown; |
|
| Lonely I came, and I depart alone, |
|
| And know not where nor unto whom I go; |
|
| But that thou canst not follow me I know.” |
|
| |
| Thus I to Life, and ceased; but through my brain |
15 |
| My thought ran still, until I spake again: |
|
| |
| “Ah, but I go not as I came,—no trace |
|
| Is mine to bear away of that old grace |
|
| I brought! I have been heated in thy fires, |
|
| Bent by thy hands, fashioned to thy desires, |
20 |
| Thy mark is on me! I am not the same |
|
| Nor ever more shall be, as when I came. |
|
| Ashes am I of all that once I seemed. |
|
| In me all’s sunk that leapt, and all that dreamed |
|
| Is wakeful for alarm,—oh, shame to thee, |
25 |
| For the ill change that thou hast wrought in me, |
|
| Who laugh no more nor lift my throat to sing! |
|
| Ah, life, I would have been a pleasant thing |
|
| To have about the house when I was grown |
|
| If thou hadst left my little joys alone! |
30 |
| I asked of thee no favor save this one: |
|
| That thou wouldst leave me playing in the sun! |
|
| And this thou didst deny, calling my name |
|
| Insistently, until I rose and came. |
|
| I saw the sun no more.—It were not well |
35 |
| So long on these unpleasant thoughts to dwell, |
|
| Need I arise to-morrow and renew |
|
| Again my hated tasks, but I am through |
|
| With all things save my thoughts and this one night, |
|
| So that in truth I seem already quite |
40 |
| Free and remote from thee,—I feel no haste |
|
| And no reluctance to depart; I taste |
|
| Merely, with thoughtful mien, an unknown draught, |
|
| That in a little while I shall have quaffed.” |
|
| |
| Thus I to Life, and ceased, and slightly smiled, |
45 |
| Looking at nothing; and my thin dreams filed |
|
| Before me one by one till once again |
|
| I set new words unto an old refrain: |
|
| |
| “Treasures thou hast that never have been mine! |
|
| Warm lights in many a secret chamber shine |
50 |
| Of thy gaunt house, and gusts of song have blown |
|
| Like blossoms out to me that sat alone! |
|
| And I have waited well for thee to show |
|
| If any share were mine,—and now I go! |
|
| Nothing I leave, and if I naught attain |
55 |
| I shall but come into mine own again!” |
|
| Thus I to Life, and ceased, and spake no more, |
|
| But turning, straightway, sought a certain door |
|
| In the rear wall. Heavy it was, and low |
|
| And dark,—a way by which none e’er would go |
60 |
| That other exit had, and never knock |
|
| Was heard thereat,—bearing a curious lock |
|
| Some chance had shown me fashioned faultily, |
|
| Whereof Life held content the useless key, |
|
| And great coarse hinges, thick and rough with rust, |
65 |
| Whose sudden voice across a silence must, |
|
| I knew, be harsh and horrible to hear,— |
|
| A strange door, ugly like a dwarf.—So near |
|
| I came I felt upon my feet the chill |
|
| Of acid wind creeping across the sill. |
70 |
| So stood longtime, till over me at last |
|
| Came weariness, and all things other passed |
|
| To make it room; the still night drifted deep |
|
| Like snow about me, and I longed for sleep. |
|
| |
| But, suddenly, marking the morning hour, |
75 |
| Bayed the deep-throated bell within the tower! |
|
| Startled, I raised my head,—and with a shout |
|
| Laid hold upon the latch,—and was without.
. . . . . . |
|
| |
| Ah, long-forgotten, well-remembered road, |
|
| Leading me back unto my old abode, |
80 |
| My father’s house! There in the night I came, |
|
| And found them feasting, and all things the same |
|
| As they had been before. A splendour hung |
|
| Upon the walls, and such sweet songs were sung |
|
| As, echoing out of very long ago, |
85 |
| Had called me from the house of Life, I know. |
|
| So fair their raiment shone I looked in shame |
|
| On the unlovely garb in which I came; |
|
| Then straightway at my hesitancy mocked: |
|
| “It is my father’s house!” I said and knocked; |
90 |
| And the door opened. To the shining crowd |
|
| Tattered and dark I entered, like a cloud, |
|
| Seeing no face but his; to him I crept, |
|
| And “Father!” I cried, and clasped his knees, and wept. |
|
| Ah, days of joy that followed! All alone |
95 |
| I wandered through the house. My own, my own, |
|
| My own to touch, my own to taste and smell, |
|
| All I had lacked so long and loved so well! |
|
| None shook me out of sleep, nor hushed my song, |
|
| Nor called me in from the sunlight all day long. |
100 |
| |
| I know not when the wonder came to me |
|
| Of what my father’s business might be, |
|
| And whither fared and on what errands bent |
|
| The tall and gracious messengers he sent. |
|
| Yet one day with no song from dawn till night |
105 |
| Wondering, I sat, and watched them out of sight. |
|
| And the next day I called; and on the third |
|
| Asked them if I might go,—but no one heard. |
|
| Then, sick with longing, I arose at last |
|
| And went unto my father,—in that vast |
110 |
| Chamber wherein he for so many years |
|
| Has sat, surrounded by his charts and spheres. |
|
| “Father,” I said, “Father, I cannot play |
|
| The harp that thou didst give me, and all day |
|
| I sit in idleness, while to and fro |
115 |
| About me thy serene, grave servants go; |
|
| And I am weary of my lonely ease. |
|
| Better a perilous journey overseas |
|
| Away from thee, than this, the life I lead, |
|
| To sit all day in the sunshine like a weed |
120 |
| That grows to naught,—I love thee more than they |
|
| Who serve thee most; yet serve thee in no way. |
|
| Father, I beg of thee a little task |
|
| To dignify my days,—’tis all I ask |
|
| Forever, but forever, this denied, |
125 |
I perish.”
“Child,” my father’s voice replied, |
|
| “All things thy fancy hath desired of me |
|
| Thou hast received. I have prepared for thee |
|
| Within my house a spacious chamber, where |
|
| Are delicate things to handle and to wear, |
130 |
| And all these things are thine. Dost thou love song? |
|
| My minstrels shall attend thee all day long. |
|
| Or sigh for flowers? My fairest gardens stand |
|
| Open as fields to thee on every hand. |
|
| And all thy days this word shall hold the same: |
135 |
| No pleasure shalt thou lack that thou shalt name. |
|
| But as for tasks—” he smiled, and shook his head; |
|
| “Thou hadst thy task, and laidst it by,” he said. |