BETA

Insight.

There is no commonplace !1
The lowliest thing hath grace ;2
Dull everydays yet hold3
A loveliness untold.4
’Tis we, ’tis we are purblind if no miracle we trace.5
Earth is a marvellous scroll6
To the revealing soul ;7
Life is one long delight8
To him who reads aright ;9
The years a glad procession of infinite wonders roll.10
Who sees beyond the veil11
No meaner thoughts assail12
Daily upon him rises13
A world of new surprises,14
And fair the city sparrow as the orient nightingale.15
His fine sense does not need16
On actual sight to feed ;17
Many a palace high18
He hath in cumuli;19
Nymph-haunted streams and leafy lawns—where shakes one
little reed.20
He craves no southern night21
Purple athrob with light—22
A quiet twilight dim23
More than suffices him,24
Still soar above his head the depths of vasty heaven’s might.25
He needs no pine-crowned lake26
Where curvèd ripples break—27
A little wayside pool28
Doth in its bosom cool29
The evanescent image of unfathomed azure take.30
Higher than Alps he goes,31
Than peaks of luminous snows—32
For him a poplar tree33
Can a frail ladder be34
To sunset’s mystic hills of gold or morning’s mounts of rose.35
Nought made of man may harm36
The care-enchaining charm37
When the white-robed chestnut tree38
His fettered soul sets free39
To roam the realms of cloudland by its blossom-cumbered arm ;40
And his hot pulses gain41
A sure surcease from pain42
If but a soft breeze passes43
Over a space of grasses,44
Some sacred spot where tyrannous life binds this calm soul in
vain.45
He knows no weak regrets46
And, liberate, forgets—47
When April clouds float through48
The vague delicious blue—49
The petty brain that troubles or the puny heart that frets.50
Falls from him unawares51
The burden of his cares52
When on the dingy town53
The mighty Spring comes down,54
When amber buds of lilac leaves beatify the squares ;55
Or sweeps the glorious throng56
Through narrow lanes, along57
The city sad and sober58
Of wild winds of October,59
Uplift, upborne from miry ways upon their pinions strong.60
A strip of midnight sky61
’Twixt crowding houses high—62
Ah ! starry gates ope wide !63
And raised and sanctified64
His little life on little earth, its foolish clamours die.65
Compassed with joys he lives66
That each bright moment gives,67
Engirt with majesties68
His unsealed eyesight sees,69
To him each cloud and leaf and blade are heavenly fugitives.70
He reads the revelations71
Of angels’ habitations,72
Whether aloft they spring73
On light refulgent wing,74
Or masked amidst oblivious men they plod in humble stations.75
For no one lives apart76
In the mind-deadening mart,77
But round his being dense78
Streams benign influence,79
But glimpsèd gleams of spirit forms can irridate his heart.80
Never was any lot81
So utterly forgot ;82
Nought vile or common is83
In Nature’s scheme of bliss,84
There is no life so isolate that beauty knows it not.85
The music of the spheres86
Sounds upon city ears,87
And radiant visions greet88
The watcher in the street.89
Only look long and deep and far—and Heaven itself appears !90