A Divided. N empty sky, a world of heather, Purple of foxglove, yellow of broom: We two among them wading together, Shaking out honey, treading perfume. Crowds of bees are giddy with clover, Crowds of grasshoppers skip at our feet: Flusheth the rise with her purple favor, We two walk till the purple dieth, And short dry grass under foot is brown, But one little streak at a distance lieth Green, like a ribbon, to prank the down. II. Over the grass we stepped unto it, And God, He knoweth how blithe we were! Never a voice to bid us eschew it; Hey the green ribbon that showed so fair! Hey the green ribbon! we kneeled beside it, Tinkle, tinkle, sweetly it sung to us, Light was our talk as of faëry belisFaery wedding-bells faintly rung to us, Down in their fortunate parallels. DIVIDED. Hand in hand, while the sun peered over, We lapped the grass on that youngling spring, III. A dappled sky, a world of meadows ; Flit on the beck-for her long grass parteth, His flattering smile on her wayward track. Sing on! we sing in the glorious weather, The beck grows wider, the hands must sever. He prays, I cry, "Come over"-I may not follow; "Return"--but he cannot come : We speak, we laugh, but with voices hollow; Our hands are hanging, our hearts are numb. IV. A breathing sigh-a sigh for answer; 221 A little pain when the beck grows wider- No backward path; ah! no returning : No second crossing that ripple's flow: "Come to me now, for the west is burning: Come ere it darkens."-" Ah, no! ah, no!" Then cries of pain, and arms outreaching- The loud beck drowns them: we walk and weep. V. A yellow moon in splendor drooping, The desert heavens have felt her sadness; We two walk on in our grassy places, VI. A shady freshness, chafers whirring, A flutter of wings, a fitful stirring, A cloud to the eastward snowy as curds. DIVIDED. Bare grassy slopes, where the kids are tethered, A rose-flush tender, a thrill, a quiver, Broad and white, and polished as silver, Glitters the dew, and shines the river; But two are walking apart forever, And wave their hands for a mute farewell. 223 VII. A braver swell, a swifter sliding; The river hasteth, her banks recede; Wing-like sails on her bosom gliding Bear down the lily and drown the reed. Stately prows are rising and bowing— The tiny green ribbon that showed so fair. While, O my heart! as white sails shiver, And crowds are passing, and banks stretch wide, Farther, farther-I see it-know it My eyes brim over, it melts away: Only my heart to my heart shall show it, As I walk desolate day by day. VIII. And yet I know past all doubting, truly,— And as I walk by the vast calm river, say, “Thy breadth and thy depth forever JEAN INGELOW. To-day and To-morrow. HI IGH hopes that burn like stars sublime, And true hearts perish in the time We bitterliest need 'em! But never sit we down and say, "There's nothing left but sorrow," We walk the Wilderness to-day- Our birds of song are silent now; And Freedom's spring is coming! |