第 9 节
作者:散发弄舟      更新:2024-01-16 22:40      字数:9322
  Are   moulted   and   the   feathers   blown   away。      I   weary   for   desires   never
  guessed;       For    alien   passions;   strange    imaginings;    To   be   some    other
  person for a day。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  Market Day
  White;     glittering  sunlight   fills  the  market   square;    Spotted     and
  sprigged   with   shadows。     Double   rows    Of   bartering   booths   spread   out
  their tempting shows Of globed and golden fruit; the morning air Smells
  sweet with ripeness; on the pavement there            A wicker basket gapes and
  overflows      Spilling   out   cool;  blue  plums。    The    market    glows;   And
  flaunts; and clatters in its busy care。    A stately minster at the northern side
  Lifts its twin spires to the distant sky;     Pinnacled; carved and buttressed;
  through the wide Arched doorway peals an organ; suddenly                Crashing;
  triumphant in its pregnant tide; Quenching the square in vibrant harmony。
  Epitaph in a Church…Yard in Charleston; South
  Carolina
  GEORGE         AUGUSTUS         CLOUGH                   A   NATIVE
  OF   LIVERPOOL;           DIED   SUDDENLY   OF   〃STRANGER'S                FEVER〃
  NOV'R 5th 1843                             AGED 22
  He   died   of   〃Stranger's   Fever〃   when   his   youth Had   scarcely   melted
  into manhood; so       The chiselled legend runs; a brother's woe Laid bare
  for epitaph。    The savage ruth Of a sunny; bright; but alien land; uncouth
  With cruel caressing dealt a mortal blow;         And by this summer sea where
  flowers grow In tropic splendor; witness to the truth Of ineradicable race
  he lies。   The law of duty urged that he should roam; Should sail from fog
  and   chilly   airs   to   skies Clear   with   deceitful   welcome。 He   had   come
  With proud resolve; but still his lonely eyes        Ached with fatigue at never
  seeing home。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  Francis II; King of Naples
  Written after reading Trevelyan's 〃Garibaldi and the making of Italy〃
  Poor foolish monarch; vacillating; vain;          Decaying victim of a race of
  kings;    Swift Destiny shook out her purple wings And caught him in their
  shadow; not again Could furtive plotting smear another stain               Across his
  tarnished    honour。    Smoulderings       Of    sacrificial  fires  burst  their  rings
  And blotted out in smoke his lost domain。 Bereft of courtiers; only with
  his   queen;    From     empty    palace   down    to  empty    quay。   No    challenge
  screamed from hostile carabine。          A single vessel waited; shadowy;           All
  night   she   ploughed   her   solitary   way   Beneath   the   stars;   and   through   a
  tranquil sea。
  To John Keats
  Great master!      Boyish; sympathetic man!         Whose orbed and ripened
  genius lightly hung       From life's slim; twisted tendril and there swung In
  crimson…sphered completeness; guardian Of crystal portals through whose
  openings     fan   The    spiced   winds    which   blew   when    earth   was   young;
  Scattering   wreaths   of   stars;   as   Jove   once   flung   A   golden   shower   from
  heights   cerulean。    Crumbled   before   thy   majesty   we   bow。       Forget   thy
  empurpled state; thy panoply Of greatness; and be merciful and near;                  A
  youth who trudged the highroad we tread now                Singing the miles behind
  him; so may we Faint throbbings of thy music overhear。
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  The Boston Athenaeum
  The Boston Athenaeum
  Thou dear and well…loved haunt of happy hours; How often in   some
  distant gallery; Gained by a little painful spiral stair; Far from the halls and
  corridors where throng The crowd of casual readers; have I passed Long;
  peaceful   hours   seated   on   the   floor   Of   some   retired   nook;   all   lined   with
  books;   Where   reverie   and   quiet   reign   supreme! Above;   below;   on   every
  side; high shelved From careless grasp of transient interest; Stand books
  we can but dimly see; their charm Much greater that their titles are unread;
  While     on   a  level   with   the  dusty    floor  Others    are   ranged    in  orderly
  confusion;   And   we   must   stoop   in   painful   posture   while   We   read   their
  names and learn their histories。 The little gallery winds round about The
  middle   of   a   most   secluded   room;   Midway   between   the   ceiling   and   the
  floor。 A type of those high thoughts; which while we read Hover between
  the earth and furthest heaven As fancy wills; leaving the printed page; For
  books but give the theme; our hearts the rest; Enriching simple words with
  unguessed harmony And overtones of thought we only know。 And as we
  sit long hours quietly; Reading at times; and at times simply dreaming; The
  very  room   itself   becomes   a   friend; The   confidant   of   intimate   hopes   and
  fears; A place   where are engendered pleasant thoughts; And possibilities
  before unguessed Come to fruition born of sympathy。 And as in some gay
  garden   stretched upon A genial   southern   slope;  warmed   by  the   sun; The
  flowers   give   their   fragrance   joyously   To   the   caressing   touch   of   the   hot
  noon;   So   books   give   up   the   all   of   what   they   mean   Only   in   a   congenial
  atmosphere; Only when touched by reverent hands; and read By those who
  love and feel as well as think。 For books are more than books; they are the
  life; The very heart and core of ages past; The reason why men lived; and
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  A Dome of Many…Coloured Glass
  worked;   and   died;   The   essence   and   quintessence   of   their   lives。 And   we
  may know them better; and divine The inner motives whence their actions
  sprang; Far better than the men who only knew Their bodily presence; the
  soul forever hid From those with no ability to see。 They wait here quietly
  for us to come And find them out; and know them for our friends; These
  men who toiled and wrote only for this; To leave behind such modicum of
  truth As   each   perceived   and   each   alone   could   tell。   Silently   waiting   that
  from time to time It may be given them to illuminate Dull daily facts with
  pristine radiance For some long…waited…for affinity Who lingers yet in the
  deep womb of time。 The shifting sun pierces the young green leaves Of
  elm trees; newly coming into bud; And splashes on the floor and on the
  books Through old; high; rounded windows; dim with age。 The noisy city…
  sounds of modern life Float softened to us across the old graveyard。 The
  room   is   filled   with   a   warm;   mellow   light;   No   garish   colours   jar   on   our
  content; The books upon the shelves are old and worn。 'T was no belated
  effort   nor   attempt   To   keep   abreast   with   old   as   well   as   new   That   placed
  them here; tricked in a modern guise; Easily got; and held in light esteem。
  Our   fathers'   fathers;   slowly   and   carefully   Gathered   them;   one   by   one;
  when     they   were    new    And    a  delighted     world    received    their  thoughts
  Hungrily; while we but love the more; Because they are so old and grown
  so    dear!   The   backs    of  tarnished    gold;   the  faded    boards;   The    slightly
  yellowing page; the strange old type; All speak the fashion of another age;
  The thoughts peculiar to the man who wrote Arrayed in garb peculiar to
  the   time; As   though   the   idiom   of   a   man   were   caught   Imprisoned   in   the
  idiom of a race。 A nothing truly; yet a link that binds All ages to their own
  inheritance; And   stretching   backward;   dim   and   dimmer   still;   Is   lost   in   a
  remote antiquity。 Grapes do not come of thorns nor figs of thistles; And
  even a great poet's divinest thought Is coloured by the world he knows and
  sees。 The little intimate things of every day; The trivial nothings that we
  think not of; These go to make a part of each man's life; As much a part as
  do the larger thoughts He takes account of。              Nay; the little things Of daily
  life it is which mold; and shape; And make him apt for noble deeds and
  true。 And as we read some much…loved masterpiece; Read it as long ago
  the author read; With eyes that brimme