Rosemary and Pansies

The salvage of vanished years,The record of moods passed by,Vain laughter and vainer tears,A smile followed fast by a sigh.

Ah yes! I own much contradiction's here,And thought perchance not wholly sound or clear;But youth with manhood's inconsistent still,And manhood mocks at age's cautious chill:Enough if through the whole there runs the threadOf a soul resolved where conscience loads to tread.

"There's rosemary for you, that's forremembrance: pray, love, remember:and there's pansies, that's for thoughts"Hamlet, Act iv. Scene 4

I thought, old friend, a better gift to bringThan this poor garland, rather weeds than flowers,Not the rich product of calm leisured hours.But such as I from toil and haste could wring;Yet take it, since 'tis something of mine own.That bears at least the stamp of thought sincere.Which from no consequence recoils in fear.But seeks for truth unveiled—and truth alone.

Like yours it is my greatest happinessTo delve within the ancient mines of goldAnd disinter from dust, decay, and mould.Long-buried treasures held in time's duresse;But here, a modern of the modern time,A spirit that questions all is in my rhyme.

All Nature's mirrored in the poet's eye,Wherein the pageant of the UniverseReflects itself in all its wondrous beauty,That he may set forth its sublimity,The unity beneath its transmutations,And shew his less imaginative fellowsSomething of that great vision he beholds.He gazes steadily at all things human,Ever intent to find the harmonyWhich underlies life's many seeming discords.He is an alchemist whose art indeedTransmutes base metal into shining gold,And in his brain's laboratory turnsThought's star-dust into worlds of light and splendour.He works more transformations than the godsOf Greece were feigned in fable to accomplish:From common things he lifts the veil which hidesTheir inner mystery from the eyes of men,And everywhere reveals the infinite.'Tis he alone through whom the immanent spiritThat all creation vivifies and sustainsProclaims its oracles of deepest wisdom.

1901