The Complete Poetical Works of George MacDonald. George MacDonald

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СКАЧАТЬ thy feet, And, weeping, wiped and kissed them, Mary's son, Blessed for ever with a heavenly grief? Ah! she nor I can claim with her who gave Her tears, her hair, her lips, her precious oil, To soothe feet worn with Galilean roads:— She sinned against herself, not against—Julian.

      My Lord, my God, find some excuse for me.

       Find in thy heart something to say for me,

       As for the crowd that cried against thee, then,

       When heaven was dark because thy lamp burned low.

      Julian. Not thou, but I am guilty, Lilia. I made it possible to tempt thee, child. Thou didst not fall, my love; only, one moment, Beauty was queen, and Truth not lord of all.

      Lilia. O Julian, my husband, is it strange, That, when I think of Him, he looks like thee? That, when he speaks to comfort me, the voice Is like thy voice, my husband, my beloved? Oh! if I could but lie down at thy feet, And tell thee all—yea, every thought—I know That thou wouldst think the best that could be thought, And love and comfort me. O Julian, I am more thine than ever.—Forgive me, husband, For calling me, defiled and outcast, thine. Yet may I not be thine as I am His? Would I might be thy servant—yes, thy slave, To wash thy feet, and dress thy lovely child, And bring her at thy call—more wife than I. But I shall never see thee, till the earth Lies on us both—apart—oh, far apart! How lonely shall I lie the long, long years!

      Lily. O mother, there are blue skies here, and flowers, And blowing winds, and kisses, mother dear! And every time my father kisses me, It is not father only, but another. Make haste and come. My head never aches here.

      Lilia. Can it be that they are dead? Is it possible? I feel as if they were near me!—Speak again, Beloved voices; comfort me; I need it.

      Julian (singing).

      Come to us: above the storm

       Ever shines the blue.

       Come to us: beyond its form

       Ever lies the True.

      Lily (singing).

      Mother, darling, do not weep—

       All I cannot tell:

       By and by you'll go to sleep,

       And you'll wake so well.

      Julian (singing).

      There is sunshine everywhere

       For thy heart and mine:

       God, for every sin and care,

       Is the cure divine.

      Lily (singing).

      We're so happy all the day,

       Waiting for another!

       All the flowers and sunshine stay,

       Watching for my mother.

      Julian. My maiden! for true wife is always maiden To the true husband: thou art mine for ever.

      Lilia. What gentle hopes keep passing to and fro! Thou shadowest me with thine own rest, my God; A cloud from thee stoops down and covers me.

      [She falls asleep on her knees]

      SCENE III.—JULIAN on the summit of a mountain-peak. The stars are brilliant around a crescent moon, hanging half-way between the mountain and the zenith. Below lies a sea of vapour. Beyond rises a loftier pinnacle, across which is stretched a bar of cloud. LILY lies on the cloud, looking earnestly into the mist below.

      Julian (gazing upward). And thou wast with me all the time, my God, Even as now! I was not far from thee. Thy spirit spoke in all my wants and fears, And hopes and longings. Thou art all in all. I am not mine, but thine. I cannot speak The thoughts that work within me like a sea. When on the earth I lay, crushed down beneath A hopeless weight of empty desolation, Thy loving face was lighted then, O Christ, With expectation of my joy to come, When all the realm of possible ill should lie Under my feet, and I should stand as now Heart-sure of thee, true-hearted, only One. Was ever soul filled to such overflowing With the pure wine of blessedness, my God! Filled as the night with stars, am I with joys; Filled as the heavens with thee, am I with peace; For now I wait the end of all my prayers— Of all that have to do with old-world things: What new things come to wake new prayers, my God, Thou know'st; I wait on thee in perfect peace.

      [He turns his gaze downward.—From the fog-sea below half-rises a woman-form, which floats toward him.]

      Lo, as the lily lifts its shining bosom

       From the lone couch of waters where it slept,

       When the fair morn toucheth and waketh it;

       So riseth up my lily from the deep

       Where human souls are vexed in awful dreams!

      [LILY spies her mother, darts down, and is caught in her arms. They land on JULIAN'S peak, and climb, LILY leading her mother.]

      Lily. Come faster, mother dear; father is waiting.

      Lilia. Have patience with me, darling. By and by, I think, I shall do better.—Oh my Julian!

      Julian. I may not help her. She must climb and come.

      [He reaches his hand, and the three are clasped in an infinite embrace.]

      O God, thy thoughts, thy ways, are not as ours:

       They fill our longing hearts up to the brim.

      [The moon and the stars and the blue night close around them; and the poet awakes from his dream.]

      A HIDDEN LIFE.

       Table of Contents

      TO MY FATHER:

       with my second volume of verse.

      I.

      Take of the first fruits, father, of thy care,

       Wrapped in the fresh leaves of my gratitude,

       Late waked for early gifts ill understood;

       Claiming in all my harvests rightful share,

       Whether with song that mounts the joyful air

       I praise my God, or, in yet deeper mood,

       Sit dumb because I know a speechless good,

       Needing no voice, but all the soul for prayer.

       Thou СКАЧАТЬ