POETEY "THROUGH THE SHADOWS LIGHT IS WON."

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 250, 28 March 1888, Page 4

POETEY

"THROUGH THE SHADOWS LIGHT IS WON."

<i'onk tho golden ;i'ic ot boyhood, when the ciirLs curved on ray brow, And the mau ulowod with a gloiy that I vninly look tor now : When each <!av brought all I wanted till the peaceful e\ening -v\ept Lightly o'er the nay .-, i-speiienee, and in dreamier .-leep I flept. Ah, that wealth of jo\ous clumber, who shall give it me airun '! Knowledge, wisdom, aie m\ fellows, yet bliis noon I a^k in wiiti : Thoyha\e given me ample dow or, (aught mo what the a^cs know, Shown me all mankind hath garner'd in tlie centime?' steadfast How. Is their ticatmo w oith the cust .' Lo, I have bought it \\ ith the. joy, The golden faith that knew not doubt or question as> il» base alloy. | These are gone. L know than heaven is, perchance, a duam, a plua-e ; .Such my knowledge, while the im-ioht of j the haupior boy deea\ & : So, I know that- in the Milk>n du^-t, wheie- j on 1 hoedlc-.- tread, Science w rite- mv unit "/w< ?u 1/ "'— nothing 1 moie — w-Ik-iil urn dead ; Nothing- more ! .Mv lhouj>ht» are soaring, einctnu-d ;b s\ it h eagle's \\ ino;, ; Can it be, when death omhonl-s me, they s-hall fall HUe meaner things, Pass absorbed rniough foul corruption, such a^ setb the hotly free. Batten'don by worm and maggot, feasting as in mockery, Andthepowei I ieel within me, sweeping on from liirht to light, Time and spaeo alike compelling; to its w ill by royal right ? Is it but a "trick" of matter, H>me ,-tiange phantom of the brain. Or some pin-tie mode of motion heiein working toi our pain '.' Is it so ? m) King within me robed in costly purple dwells, Every mail; of n>vil splendour his imperial glory sw ell?. Shall 1 brand him a- a -!a\e and drive him forth dethioned to viie, Like some felon, spurned and scouted by the careless ;v.ssM-b\, > ; All his kinjHuD falling from him, all his power hut .i name, I Idler for the biitei contia-?!;— ancient sway j and present shame V Or, again — 'tU science whupers — Hod is but an empty breoth : Force and matter govern all, they hold the key? uf life and death ; We are bur fantastic puppet-, jerking in their iron gia&p, Pigmies whieti the hand of giants throttles with relentless clu=p. Is it so ? Ko God ! The vision grows more stern and darkei }et : Shall I all the dreara- of boyhood in tin? dreary thought forget . 'er the distance— pah !^ I stifle— settles Nature's funeral mii. Drooping m it- hea\ y fold- which cling le-moiselo.-s over all. Like the murk\ cloud whioh liseth whero the eai tliquake holdeth pway And the homes where men have dwelt in tottering ruin pa-a away. Such the outlook, what avails it to have leant in bygone da\<* On the hand which led our fathers as they trod earth's earlier wty.-V — That to us— the sons of l*i ogres*— is, they tell us, but a shade, Idle as the wraith which mocks the wanderer on the Brocken stayed. All our ancient forms de?ert us, all the lines whereon we built, Marking out the birs which severed innocence from fretful guilt ; Highb and wrong alike are blended, each is buc an empty name, Based on nothing but convention, whence alone comes piaise or blame. Thus we stand— the world's dark shadowseems to darken more and more, And our race is drifting drifting onward towards a surf-lined ?<hore. Who can say w hat now awaits us, whence may inspiration come, "Who shall guide the helmless vessel, as she rusheth o'er the foam 7 Lost and dead the old traditions, gone the hope of other time, With its beauty and its comfort, speaking oft in deed sublime. Gone the whisper o'er the billows, that could still the sea in calm ; Gone the prayer that made life's troubles earnest of celestial balm ; Gone the Father's hand that stayed us frail and shrinking on our way — Though the hourß were dark and stormy, we should find the light some day. We have gained— ah, well I know it— set our gain by what is lost: Gains of science, gain of heartache, sura it up and count the cost. What availß it that we bridle to our use the flashing sun, Tame the powers of earth and air to do the heat we would have done, That we laugh «at time and distance, rushing on at break-neck pace^ If — like haunting spectre — ruin be the shadow of our race ? Deep within, mane heart seems bursting— shall no voice across the main Greet him as the vessel drifteth —is there nought to lay his pain ? TJsten !— nothing but the eea'g wail — nothing but the surges' plash, Where, upon the distant reef, the restless breakers fall and dash. LUton— listen yet again, whilst sorrow chokes the weary heart, And sad memories from the distance into life and being start — Whilst what wai seems fair and wistful— and what is how dark and stern, . And the wonder of existence daunts us more, the more we learn : Comes a whisper thro' the tempest, like the breath of tropic air, iDoubt not, — man's salvation dawneth, though at times his hearb despair. Thmtsrli the older life be vanished and the ancient hopes be dead, Thou art not forsaken wholly— through the shadows light is f-hed ; Deem nob that our life is broken— through the present and the past , Huns one go'den thread of kinship, linking each to other fast ; Every age iei c but the oil'ahoob of the ages which have cone ; Causes but work out their issues— hence alone is progress won. Doubt, despair, the things that wrack mankind in this, his latest ago, Will' but lead him, if he face them, to a higher heritage In the forefront of the batfcle, where death stalks amid the slain, Danger holds wild revel, beckoning troop on troop of mail-ekd men, Some shall fall in bleeding horror— otheis till the sun goes down, Mid the din ar,d murk of conflict, proudly yet maintain their own. Such are heroes— greater peril guerdons them for richer meed, .Fairer wreath for higher daring consecrates heroic deed ; So, our post is full of peril, in the forefroat we too stand,

In tins later age whilst foes arc thickly massed on either hand ; Facing toil, dekat, and danger, greater than in time of yove, Wo too boar the bruiit of fiercer combat than our fathers bore ; Some must fall—but those who, dauntless, still light on and scorn to yield, In the pi ond iierce joy oF conflict, marshalled on the deadly field, Haply maimed and bleeding, shall in time tho prouder laurel gain, Issuing trom the contest, victor*, reaching thus a higher plane. They hiivo grappled doubt and faced her in the strength of honest thought, Though they knew the stern conditions of " (ho light wherein they fought ; They hu\o grappled doubt and faced her — now she lied before them slain, Like some mythic dragon, weltering in her gore upon tho plain. Science daunts not, them, behind her their cle.u \ i-ion looks afar, Sees tho my*leiy that broods beyond the Slow of tun or star. In the lowest realm oi nntuie— in the giando^t w here her sway Ituk'o the depths of snace and ouard* the wonder of the Milky Way, Mystery shroud* our gasr— our deepest questions come to v* a .train Like the idle echo, telling that we as-k ihem but in vain — Languaye, thought, imagination : all alike aiu found to fail. Head the legend of the Temple—" I-i* aye keep* down her \ oil ;"' Thus wo hail the Mighty IVp^enco filling lite, and space, mid time. Broodinu in great "Nature* temple with a loneliness sublime ; Till, with stricken hearts nnd lowly, trembling as in le\o and fear, Wo too, worship in t)ie fane — the Power whom we seek is here. Hero i^ God— Religion touiuUd not on superstition now. But on tiuth, that with mote knowledge ever fairer seems* to jrrow. Yet the heart of man i« lonely 'midst this splendour of the .sphoies, Ejesthat catch the dim leilection of the dibtance melt in tears : Whilst the nw«sy diapason but appals hi* startled soul, As across the chords of spice its harmonies in thunder roll. Lo this music of the pods, it ib down— this blaze ot light Blind* u^, like a touch of daiknes 1 -— all too iieice for mortal sight. For our human health aie frail, unapt to bear tho strain, the stiess. Like the nervous weed, they shner'neath the stroke of loneliness. Give us what may shade tho \inon, lend relief to aching gaze, As the full glare of the sun i» softened in tho mellow ha/e. Bid some gentler voice awaken, speaking not of power but peace ; Veil our eyes and charm our ears — our dazzled spirits claim release ; So, across the heart's vibrations plays— like I whisper of the wind— One calm strain, whose mystic music lays the wild thoughts of the mind ; Sweeping thro' its inmost nature, till the answering fibres move, And each chord in sweet pulsations w hitpers low the notes of love Love !— the eye grows clear and eager, heaven again is in us seen, With the blush of human kindness earthly things incarnadine. L ove I — the sorrows of the world, tho caie, the want, the strife, the bin Fade ; the toil for gold or place, the crime without, the wrong within — All that in man's proud escutcheon seems to mark some bastard, bend, Shown in treason to his race, in broken laws or injured friend, All seems changed, the world's wild turmoil 'neath its influence of balm Lulls- — the roar of waters dieth in a harmony of calm. Thus the newer gospel spcaketh, 'tis a twofold utterance ring-, With a power in its music as the old world onward swings. Shall we deem it faithless soul-less ? Nay, herein our thoughts are dim, Everywhere the parts are hallowed into one majestic hymn, Rising like a grand "*Tc Dcum," taking captive brain and soul, Whilst in dim and mystic cadence its vibrating echoes roll, Louder-pealing, fuller, deeper, sweeping through the near and far, Reaching from the earth beneath us to the lupse of viewless star Till, spell-bound, the mighty anthem sinketh — one clear tenor tone. Love-attuned, its force subdueth— earth and heaven again are one. Mystery and Love are wedded ; doubt is quelled, a nobler Faith Through life's empyrean floateth, leading captive wrong and death. But a dream, you say, my brothers. Nay, the gleam is in the sky, Where the eastern morn awakens— we shall greet ifc by-and-by. Lo, c'en now, the fair reflection of its rays across our earth ! For a newer dawn arisefch, and what shall be wins its birth. March 13th, 1888. E. H. Gulliver.