Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50) (246 page)
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Authors: Homer,William Shakespeare
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
LOVE thou thy land, with love far-brought
From out the storied past, and used
Within the present, but transfused
Thro’ future time by power of thought;
True love turn’d round on fixed poles,
5
Love, that endures not sordid ends,
For English natures, freemen, friends,
Thy brothers, and immortal souls.
But pamper not a hasty time,
Nor feed with crude imaginings
10
The herd, wild hearts and feeble wings
That every sophister can lime.
Deliver not the tasks of might
To weakness, neither hide the ray
From those, not blind, who wait for day,
15
Tho’ sitting girt with doubtful light.
Make knowledge circle with the winds;
But let her herald, Reverence, fly
Before her to whatever sky
Bear seed of men and growth of minds.
20
Watch what main-currents draw the years:
Cut Prejudice against the grain.
But gentle words are always gain;
Regard the weakness of thy peers.
Nor toil for title, place, or touch
25
Of pension, neither count on praise
It grows to guerdon after-days.
Nor deal in watch-words overmuch;
Not clinging to some ancient saw,
Not master’d by some modern term,
30
Not swift nor slow to change, but firm;
And in its season bring the law,
That from Discussion’s lip may fall
With Life that, working strongly, binds —
Set in all lights by many minds,
35
To close the interests of all.
For Nature also, cold and warm,
And moist and dry, devising long,
Thro’ many agents making strong,
Matures the individual form.
40
Meet is it changes should control
Our being, lest we rust in ease.
We all are changed by still degrees,
All but the basis of the soul.
So let the change which comes be free
45
To ingroove itself with that which flies,
And work, a joint of state, that plies
Its office, moved with sympathy.
A saying hard to shape in act;
For all the past of Time reveals
50
A bridal dawn of thunder-peals,
Wherever Thought hath wedded Fact.
Even now we hear with inward strife
A motion toiling in the gloom —
The Spirit of the years to come
55
Yearning to mix himself with Life.
A slow-develop’d strength awaits
Completion in a painful school;
Phantoms of other forms of rule,
New Majesties of mighty States —
60
The warders of the growing hour,
But vague in vapor, hard to mark;
And round them sea and air are dark
With great contrivances of Power.
Of many changes, aptly join’d,
65
Is bodied forth the second whole.
Regard gradation, lest the soul
Of Discord race the rising wind;
A wind to puff your idol-fires,
And heap their ashes on the head;
70
To shame the boast so often made,
That we are wiser than our sires.
O, yet, if Nature’s evil star
Drive men in manhood, as in youth,
To follow flying steps of Truth
75
Across the brazen bridge of war —
If New and Old, disastrous feud,
Must ever shock, like armed foes,
And this be true, till Time shall close
That Principles are rain’d in blood;
80
Not yet the wise of heart would cease
To hold his hope thro’ shame and guilt,
But with his hand against the hilt,
Would pace the troubled land, like Peace;
Not less, tho’ dogs of Faction bay,
85
Would serve his kind in deed and word,
Certain, if knowledge bring the sword,
That knowledge takes the sword away —
Would love the gleams of love that broke
From either side, nor veil his eyes;
90
And if some dreadful need should rise
Would strike, and firmly, and one stroke.
To-morrow yet would reap to-day,
As we bear blossom of the dead;
Earn well the thrifty months, nor wed
95
Raw Haste, half-sister to Delay.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
MY good blade carves the casques of men,
My tough lance thrusteth sure,
My strength is as the strength of ten,
Because my heart is pure.
The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,
5
The hard brands shiver on the steel,
The splinter’d spear-shafts crack and fly,
The horse and rider reel;
They reel, they roll in clanging lists,
And when the tide of combat stands,
10
Perfume and flowers fall in showers,
That lightly rain from ladies’ hands.
How sweet are looks that ladies bend
On whom their favors fall!
For them I battle till the end,
15
To save from shame and thrall;
But all my heart is drawn above,
My knees are bow’d in crypt and shrine;
I never felt the kiss of love,
Nor maiden’s hand in mine.
20
More bounteous aspects on me beam,
Me mightier transports move and thrill;
So keep I fair thro’ faith and prayer
A virgin heart in work and will.
When down the stormy crescent goes,
25
A light before me swims,
Between dark stems the forest glows,
I hear a noise of hymns.
Then by some secret shrine I ride;
I hear a voice, but none are there;
30
The stalls are void, the doors are wide,
The tapers burning fair.
Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,
The silver vessels sparkle clean,
The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,
35
And solemn chants resound between.
Sometimes on lonely mountain-meres
I find a magic bark.
I leap on board; no helmsman steers;
I float till all is dark.
40
A gentle sound, an awful light!
Three angels bear the Holy Grail;
With folded feet, in stoles of white,
On sleeping wings they sail.
Ah, blessed vision! blood of God!
45
My spirit beats her mortal bars,
As down dark tides the glory slides,
And starlike mingles with the stars.
When on my goodly charger borne
Thro’ dreaming towns I go,
50
The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,
The streets are dumb with snow.
The tempest crackles on the leads.
And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;
But o’er the dark a glory spreads,
55
And gilds the driving hail.
I leave the plain, I climb the height;
No branchy thicket shelter yields;
But blessed forms in whistling storms
Fly o’er waste fens and windy fields.
60
A maiden knight — to me is given
Such hope, I know not fear;
I yearn to breathe the airs of heaven
That often meet me here.
I muse on joy that will not cease,
65
Pure spaces clothed in living beams,
Pure lilies of eternal peace,
Whose odors haunt my dreams;
And, stricken by an angel’s hand,
This mortal armor that I wear,
70
This weight and size, this heart and eyes,
Are touch’d, are turn’d to finest air.
The clouds are broken in the sky,
And thro’ the mountain-walls
A rolling organ-harmony
75
Swells up and shakes and falls.
Then move the trees, the copses nod,
Wings flutter, voices hover clear:
“O just and faithful knight of God!
Ride on! the prize is near.”
80
So pass I hostel, hall, and grange;
By bridge and ford, by park and pale,
All-arm’d I ride, whate’er betide,
Until I find the Holy Grail.
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892)
THE SUN, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills and the plains, —
Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him, who reigns?
Is not the Vision He, tho’ He be not that which He seems?
Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?
Earth, these solid stars, this weight of body and limb,
5
Are they not sign and symbol of thy division from Him?
Dark is the world to thee; thyself art the reason why,
For is He not all but thou, that hast power to feel “I am I”?
Glory about thee, without thee; and thou fulfillest thy doom,
Making Him broken gleams and a stifled splendor and gloom.
10
Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet —
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.
God is law, say the wise; O Soul, and let us rejoice.
For if He thunder by law the thunder is yet His voice.
Law is God, say some; no God at all, says the fool,
15
For all we have power to see is a straight staff bent in a pool;
And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye of man cannot see;
But if we could see and hear, this Vision — were it not He?
List of Poems in Alphabetical Order
List of Poets in Alphabetical Order