New Poems, and Variant ReadingsStevenson, Robert Louis
General
New Poems, and Variant Readings
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Didactic poetry; Love poetry
Thus we across the modern stage
Follow the wise of every age;
And, as oaks grow and rivers run
Unchanged in the unchanging sun,
So the eternal march of man
Goes forth on an eternal plan.
SMALL IS THE TRUST WHEN LOVE IS GREEN
SMALL is the trust when love is green
In sap of early years;
A little thing steps in between
And kisses turn to tears.
Awhile—and see how love be grown
In loveliness and power!
Awhile, it loves the sweets alone,
But next it loves the sour.
A little love is none at all
That wanders or that fears;
A hearty love dwells still at call
To kisses or to tears.
Such then be mine, my love to give,
And such be yours to take:—
A faith to hold, a life to live,
For lovingkindness’ sake:
Should you be sad, should you be gay,
Or should you prove unkind,
A love to hold the growing way
And keep the helping mind:—
A love to turn the laugh on care
When wrinkled care appears,
And, with an equal will, to share
Your losses and your tears.
KNOW YOU THE RIVER NEAR TO GREZ
KNOW you the river near to Grez,
A river deep and clear?
Among the lilies all the way,
That ancient river runs to-day
From snowy weir to weir.
Old as the Rhine of great renown,
She hurries clear and fast,
She runs amain by field and town
From south to north, from up to down,
To present on from past.
The love I hold was borne by her;
And now, though far away,
My lonely spirit hears the stir
Of water round the starling spur
Beside the bridge at Grez.
So may that love forever hold
In life an equal pace;
So may that love grow never old,
But, clear and pure and fountain-cold,
Go on from grace to grace.
IT’S FORTH ACROSS THE ROARING FOAM
IT’S forth across the roaring foam, and on towards the west,
It’s many a lonely league from home, o’er many a mountain crest,
From where the dogs of Scotland call the sheep around the fold,
To where the flags are flying beside the Gates of Gold.
Where all the deep-sea galleons ride that come to bring the corn,
Where falls the fog at eventide and blows the breeze at morn;
It’s there that I was sick and sad, alone and poor and cold,
In yon distressful city beside the Gates of Gold.
I slept as one that nothing knows; but far along my way,
Before the morning God rose and planned the coming day;
Afar before me forth he went, as through the sands of old,
And chose the friends to help me beside the Gates of Gold.
I have been near, I have been far, my back’s been at the wall,
Yet aye and ever shone the star to guide me through it all:
The love of God, the help of man, they both shall make me bold
Against the gates of darkness as beside the Gates of Gold.
AN ENGLISH BREEZE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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