The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas

Name: The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas
Author: Bridges, Robert

Bridges, Robert

English poetry

He, ere men dared his watery path,
    Fenced them aloof in wrath;
    Their jealous brotherhoods
    Sund'ring with bitter floods:
    Till science grew and skill,
    And their adventurous will
    Challenged his boundaries, and went free
    To know the round world, and the sea
    From midday night to midnight sun
    Binding all nations into one.

    2

      Yet shall his storm and mastering wave
    Assure the empire to the brave;
    And to his billowy bass belongs
    The music of our patriot songs,
    When to the wind his ridges go
    In furious following, careering a-row,
    Lasht with hail and withering snow:
    And ever undaunted hearts outride
      His rushing waters wide.

    3

      But when the winds fatigued or fled
    Have left the drooping barks unsped,
    And nothing stirs his idle plain
    Save fire-breathed ships with silvery train,
    While lovingly his waves he layeth,
    And his slow heart in passion swells
    To the pale moon in heav'n that strayeth,
    And all his mighty music deep
    Whispers among the heapèd shells,
    Or in dark caverns lies asleep;--
      Then dreams of Peace invite,
    Haunting our shore with kisses light:
    Nay--even Love's Paphian Queen hath come
    Out of her long retirèd home
    To show again her beauty bright;
    And twice or thrice in sight hath play'd
    Of a young lover unaffray'd,
    And all his verse immortal made.

    V

    1

          Love to Love calleth,
          Love unto Love replieth:
    From the ends of the earth, drawn by invisible bands,
    Over the dawning and darkening lands
          Love cometh to Love.
        To the pangs of desire;
    To the heart by courage and might
    Escaped from hell,
    From the torment of raging fire,
    From the sighs of the drowning main,
    From shipwreck of fear and pain,
    From the terror of night.

    2

    All mankind by Love shall be banded
    To combat Evil, the many-handed:
    For the spirit of man on beauty feedeth,
    The airy fancy he heedeth,
    He regardeth Truth in the heavenly height,
    In changeful pavilions of loveliness dight,
    The sovran sun that knows not the night;
    He loveth the beauty of earth,
    And the sweet birds' mirth;
    And out of his heart there falleth
    A melody-making river
    Of passion, that runneth ever
    To the ends of the earth and crieth,
    That yearneth and calleth;
    And Love from the heart of man
    To the heart of man replieth:
          On the wings of desire
          Love cometh to Love.

    VI

    1

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight DramasBridges, Robert

General

The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas

Bridges, Robert

English poetry

He, ere men dared his watery path,
    Fenced them aloof in wrath;
    Their jealous brotherhoods
    Sund'ring with bitter floods:
    Till science grew and skill,
    And their adventurous will
    Challenged his boundaries, and went free
    To know the round world, and the sea
    From midday night to midnight sun
    Binding all nations into one.

    2

      Yet shall his storm and mastering wave
    Assure the empire to the brave;
    And to his billowy bass belongs
    The music of our patriot songs,
    When to the wind his ridges go
    In furious following, careering a-row,
    Lasht with hail and withering snow:
    And ever undaunted hearts outride
      His rushing waters wide.

    3

      But when the winds fatigued or fled
    Have left the drooping barks unsped,
    And nothing stirs his idle plain
    Save fire-breathed ships with silvery train,
    While lovingly his waves he layeth,
    And his slow heart in passion swells
    To the pale moon in heav'n that strayeth,
    And all his mighty music deep
    Whispers among the heapèd shells,
    Or in dark caverns lies asleep;--
      Then dreams of Peace invite,
    Haunting our shore with kisses light:
    Nay--even Love's Paphian Queen hath come
    Out of her long retirèd home
    To show again her beauty bright;
    And twice or thrice in sight hath play'd
    Of a young lover unaffray'd,
    And all his verse immortal made.

    V

    1

          Love to Love calleth,
          Love unto Love replieth:
    From the ends of the earth, drawn by invisible bands,
    Over the dawning and darkening lands
          Love cometh to Love.
        To the pangs of desire;
    To the heart by courage and might
    Escaped from hell,
    From the torment of raging fire,
    From the sighs of the drowning main,
    From shipwreck of fear and pain,
    From the terror of night.

    2

    All mankind by Love shall be banded
    To combat Evil, the many-handed:
    For the spirit of man on beauty feedeth,
    The airy fancy he heedeth,
    He regardeth Truth in the heavenly height,
    In changeful pavilions of loveliness dight,
    The sovran sun that knows not the night;
    He loveth the beauty of earth,
    And the sweet birds' mirth;
    And out of his heart there falleth
    A melody-making river
    Of passion, that runneth ever
    To the ends of the earth and crieth,
    That yearneth and calleth;
    And Love from the heart of man
    To the heart of man replieth:
          On the wings of desire
          Love cometh to Love.

    VI

    1

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas

The Poetical Works of Robert Bridges, Excluding the Eight Dramas

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