Back Aa

By the Aurelian Wall and Other Elegies

Close

{32} <h2>THE COUNTRY OF HAR For the Centenary of Blake’s “Songs of Innocence”</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Once a hundred years ago There was a light in London town, For an angel of the snow Walked her street sides up and down. </div> <div class="stanza"> As a visionary boy He put forth his hand to smite Songs of innocence and joy From the crying chords of night,{33} Like a muttering of thunder Heard beneath the polar star; For his soul was all a-wonder At the calling vales of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> He, a traveller by day And a pilgrim of the sun, Took his uncompanioned way Where the journey is not done. </div> <div class="stanza"> Where no mortal might aspire His clear heart was set to climb, To the uplands of desire And the river wells of time.{34} </div> <div class="stanza"> Home he wandered to the valley Where the springs of morning are, And the sea-bright cohorts rally On the twilit plains of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> There he found the Book of Thel In the lily-garth of bliss, Fashioned, how no man can tell, As a white windflower is: </div> <div class="stanza"> Like the lulling of a sigh Uttered in the trembling grass, When a shower is gone by, And the sweeping shadows pass,—{35} </div> <div class="stanza"> Through the hyacinthine weather, Wheel them down without a jar,— Heaving all the dappled heather In the streaming vales of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> There was manna in the rain; And above the rills, a voice: “Son of mine, dost thou complain? I will make thee to rejoice. </div> <div class="stanza"> “Thou shalt be a child to men, With confusion on thy speech; And the worlds within thy ken Shall not lie within thy reach.{36} </div> <div class="stanza"> “But the rainbirds shall discover, And the daffodils unbar, Quiet waters for their lover On the shining plains of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> “April rain and iron frost Shall make flowers to thy hand; Every field thy feet have crossed Shall revive from death’s command. </div> <div class="stanza"> “Hunting with a leash of wind Through the corners of the earth, Take the hounds of Spring to find The forgotten trails of mirth;{37} </div> <div class="stanza"> “For the lone child-heart is dying Of a love no time can mar, Hearing not a voice replying From the gladder vales of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> “Flame thy heart forth! Yet, no haste: Have not I prepared for thee The king’s chambers of the East And the wind halls of the sea? </div> <div class="stanza"> “Be a gospeller of things Nowhere written through the wild, With that gloaming call of Spring’s, When old secrets haunt the child.{38} </div> <div class="stanza"> “Let the bugler of my going Wake no clarion of war; For the paper reeds are blowing On the river plains of Har.” </div> <div class="stanza"> Centuries of soiled renown To the roaring dark have gone: There is woe in London town, And a crying for the dawn. </div> <div class="stanza"> April frost and iron rain Ripen the dead fruit of lust, And the sons of God remain The dream children of the dust,{39} </div> <div class="stanza"> For their heart hath in derision, And their jeers have mocked afar, The delirium of vision From the holy vales of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> Once in Autumn came a dream; The white Herald of the North, Faring West to ford my stream, Passed my lodge and bade me forth; </div> <div class="stanza"> Glad I rose and went with him, With my shoulder in his hand; The auroral world grew dim, And the idle harvest land.{40} </div> <div class="stanza"> Then I saw the warder lifting From its berg the Northern bar, And eternal snows were drifting On the wind-bleak plains of Har. </div> <div class="stanza"> “Listen humbly,” said my guide. “I am drear, for I am death,” Whispered Snow; but Wind replied, “I outlive thee by a breath, </div> <div class="stanza"> I am Time.” And then I heard, Dearer than all wells of dew, One gray golden-shafted bird Hail the uplands; so I knew{41} </div> <div class="stanza"> Spring, the angel of our sorrow, Tarrying so seeming far, Should return with some long morrow In the calling vales of Har. </div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2