"What glory then for me
In such a company?—
Roses plenty, roses plenty,
And one nightingale for twenty?

แ Nay, let me in," said she,

(6 Before the rest are free,— In my loneness, in my loneness, All the fairer for that oneness.

"For I would lonely stand,
Uplifting my white hand,-
On a mission, on a mission,
To declare the coming vision

"Upon which lifted sign,

What worship will be mine?

What addressing, what caressing!

And what thank, and praise, and blessing!

"A windlike joy will rush

Through every tree and bush,

Bending softly in affection

And spontaneous benediction.

"Insects, that only may

Live in a sunbright ray,

To my whiteness, to my whiteness,
Shall be drawn, as to a brightness,—

And every moth and bee,

Approach me reverently;

Wheeling o'er me, wheeling o'er me,
Coronals of motioned glory.

"Three larks shall leave a cloud; To my whiter beauty vowedSinging gladly all the moontide, Never-waiting for the suntide,

"Ten nightingales shall flee Their woods for love of me,-Singing sadly all the suntide, Never waiting for the moontide.

"I ween the very skies

Will look down with surprise, When low on earth they see me, With my starry aspect dreamy!

"And earth will call her flowers To hasten out of doors,— By their curtsies and sweet-smelling, To give grace to my foretelling."

So praying, did she win

South winds to let her in,
In her loneness, in her loneness,
And the fairer for that oneness.

But ah!--alas for her!
No thing did minister
To her praises, to her praises,
More than might unto a daisy's.

No tree nor bush was seen
To boast a perfect green;
Scarcely having, scarcely having,
One leaf broad enough for waving.

The little flies did crawl

Along the southern wall,Faintly shifting, faintly shifting

Wings scarce strong enough for lifting.

The lark, too high or low,

I ween, did miss her so;
With his nest down in the gorses,
And his song in the star-courses!

The nightingale did please
To loiter beyond seas.
Guess him in the happy islands,
Learning music from the silence!

Only the bee, forsooth,

Came in the place of both;

Doing honor, doing honor,
To the honey-dews upon her.

The skies looked coldly down,

As on a royal crown;

Then with drop for drop, at leisure,
They began to rain for pleasure.

Whereat the earth did seem
To waken from a dream,
Winter-frozen, winter-frozen,

Her unquiet eyes unclosing

Said to the Rose" Ha, Snow!
And art thou fallen so?

Thou, who wert enthroned stately
All along my mountains, lately?

"Holla, thou world-wide snow!

And art thou wasted so?

With a little bough to catch thee,
And a little bee to watch thee!"

-Poor Rose to be misknown!
Would, she had ne'er been blown,
In her loneness, in her loneness,-
All the sadder for that oneness!

Some word she tried to say--
Some no . . ah, wellaway!

...

But the passion did o'ercome her,

And the fair frail leaves dropped from her

Dropped from her, fair and mute,

Close to a poet's foot,

Who beheld them, smiling slowly,

As at something sad yet holy :

Said, "Verily and thus

It chanceth eke with us

Poets singing sweetest snatches,

While that deaf men keep the watches

66 Vaunting to come before

Our own age evermore,

In a loneness, in a loneness,

And the nobler for that oneness!

"Holy in voice and heart,

To high ends, set apart!

All unmated, all unmated,
Because so consecrated!

"But if alone we be,

Where is our empiry?

And if none can reach our stature,
Who can praise our lofty nature?

"What bell will yield a tone,
Swung in the air alone?

If no brazen clapper bringing,

Who can hear the chimed ringing?

"What angel, but would seem

To sensual eyes, ghost-dim!

And without assimilation,

Vain is inter-penetration!

"And thus, what can we do,
Poor rose and poet too,
Who both antedate our mission
In an unprepared season?

"Dropleaf-be silent song-
Cold things we come among!

We must warm them, we must warm them,
Ere we ever hope' to charm them.

"Howbeit" (here his face

Lightened around the place,

So to mark the outward turning
Of his spirit's inward burning)—

"Something, it is, to hold

In God's worlds manifold,

First revealed to creature-duty,

Some new form of His mild Beauty!