I could not write another word, Through pity for my own distress; And forth I went, untimely stirr’d To make my misery more or less. I went, beneath the heated noon, To where, in her simplicity, She sate at work; and, as the Moon On Ætna smiles, she smiled on me. But, now and then, in cheek and eyes, I saw, or fancied, such a glow As when, in summer-evening skies, Some say, ‘It lightens,’ some say, ‘No.’ ‘Honoria,’ I began—No more. The Dean, by ill or happy hap, Came home; and Wolf burst in before, And put his nose upon her lap. CANTO VIII. Sarum Plain. PRELUDES. I. _Life of Life_. WHAT’S that, which, ere I spake, was gone? So joyful and intense a spark That, whilst o’erhead the wonder shone, The day, before but dull, grew dark. I do not know; but this I know, That, had the splendour lived a year, The truth that I some heavenly show Did see, could not be now more clear. This know I too: might mortal breath Express the passion then inspired, Evil would die a natural death, And nothing transient be desired; And error from the soul would pass, And leave the senses pure and strong As sunbeams. But the best, alas, Has neither memory nor tongue! II. _The Revelation_. An idle poet, here and there, Looks round him; but, for all the rest, The world, unfathomably fair, Is duller than a witling’s jest. Love wakes men, once a lifetime each; They lift their heavy lids, and look; And, lo, what one sweet page can teach, They read with joy, then shut the book. And some give thanks, and some blaspheme, And most forget; but, either way, That and the Child’s unheeded dream Is all the light of all their day. III. _The Spirit’s Epochs_. Not in the crises of events, Of compass’d hopes, or fears fulfill’d, Or acts of gravest consequence, Are life’s delight and depth reveal’d. The day of days was not the day; That went before, or was postponed; The night Death took our lamp away Was not the night on which we groan’d. I drew my bride, beneath the moon, Across my threshold; happy hour! But, ah, the walk that afternoon We saw the water-flags in flower! IV. _The Prototype_. Lo, there, whence love, life, light are pour’d, Veil’d with impenetrable rays, Amidst the presence of the Lord Co-equal Wisdom laughs and plays. Female and male God made the man; His image is the whole, not half; And in our love we dimly scan The love which is between Himself. V. _The Praise of Love_. Spirit of Knowledge, grant me this: A simple heart and subtle wit To praise the thing whose praise it is That all which can be praised is it. SARUM PLAIN. 1