登陆注册
26575100000019

第19章 Forest History

I.

Beneath the vans of doom did men pass in.

Heroic who came out; for round them hung A wavering phantom's red volcano tongue, With league-long lizard tail and fishy fin:

II.

Old Earth's original Dragon; there retired To his last fastness; overthrown by few.

Him a laborious thrust of roadway slew.

Then man to play devorant straight was fired.

III.

More intimate became the forest fear While pillared darkness hatched malicious life At either elbow, wolf or gnome or knife And wary slid the glance from ear to ear.

IV.

In chillness, like a clouded lantern-ray, The forest's heart of fog on mossed morass, On purple pool and silky cotton-grass, Revealed where lured the swallower byway.

V.

Dead outlook, flattened back with hard rebound Off walls of distance, left each mounted height.

It seemed a giant hag-fiend, churning spite Of humble human being, held the ground.

VI.

Through friendless wastes, through treacherous woodland, slow The feet sustained by track of feet pursued Pained steps, and found the common brotherhood By sign of Heaven indifferent, Nature foe.

VII.

Anon a mason's work amazed the sight, And long-frocked men, called Brothers, there abode.

They pointed up, bowed head, and dug and sowed;Whereof was shelter, loaf, and warm firelight.

VIII.

What words they taught were nails to scratch the head.

Benignant works explained the chanting brood.

Their monastery lit black solitude, As one might think a star that heavenward led.

IX.

Uprose a fairer nest for weary feet, Like some gold flower nightly inward curled, Where gentle maidens fled a roaring world, Or played with it, and had their white retreat.

X.

Into big books of metal clasps they pored.

They governed, even as men; they welcomed lays.

The treasures women are whose aim is praise, Was shown in them: the Garden half restored.

XI.

A deluge billow scoured the land off seas, With widened jaws, and slaughter was its foam.

For food, for clothing, ambush, refuge, home, The lesser savage offered bogs and trees.

XII.

Whence reverence round grey-haired story grew:

And inmost spots of ancient horror shone As temples under beams of trials bygone;For in them sang brave times with God in view.

XIII.

Till now trim homesteads bordered spaces green, Like night's first little stars through clearing showers.

Was rumoured how a castle's falcon towers The wilderness commanded with fierce mien.

XIV.

Therein a serious Baron stuck his lance;

For minstrel songs a beauteous Dame would pout.

Gay knights and sombre, felon or devout, Pricked onward, bound for their unsung romance.

XV.

It might be that two errant lords across The block of each came edged, and at sharp cry They charged forthwith, the better man to try.

One rode his way, one couched on quiet moss.

XVI.

Perchance a lady sweet, whose lord lay slain, The robbers into gruesome durance drew.

Swift should her hero come, like lightning's blue!

She prayed for him, as crackling drought for rain.

XVII.

As we, that ere the worst her hero haps, Of Angels guided, nigh that loathly den:

A toady cave beside an ague fen, Where long forlorn the lone dog whines and yaps.

XVIII.

By daylight now the forest fear could read Itself, and at new wonders chuckling went.

Straight for the roebuck's neck the bowman spent A dart that laughed at distance and at speed.

XIX.

Right loud the bugle's hallali elate Rang forth of merry dingles round the tors;And deftest hand was he from foreign wars, But soon he hailed the home-bred yeoman mate.

XX.

Before the blackbird pecked the turf they woke;At dawn the deer's wet nostrils blew their last.

To forest, haunt of runs and prime repast, With paying blows, the yokel strained his yoke.

XXI.

The city urchin mooned on forest air, On grassy sweeps and flying arrows, thick As swallows o'er smooth streams, and sighed him sick For thinking that his dearer home was there.

XXII.

Familiar, still unseized, the forest sprang An old-world echo, like no mortal thing.

The hunter's horn might wind a jocund ring, But held in ear it had a chilly clang.

XXIII.

Some shadow lurked aloof of ancient time;Some warning haunted any sound prolonged, As though the leagues of woodland held them wronged To hear an axe and see a township climb.

XXIV.

The forest's erewhile emperor at eve Had voice when lowered heavens drummed for gales.

At midnight a small people danced the dales, So thin that they might dwindle through a sieveXXV.

Ringed mushrooms told of them, and in their throats, Old wives that gathered herbs and knew too much.

The pensioned forester beside his crutch, Struck showers from embers at those bodeful notes.

XXVI.

Came then the one, all ear, all eye, all heart;Devourer, and insensibly devoured;

In whom the city over forest flowered, The forest wreathed the city's drama-mart.

XXVII.

There found he in new form that Dragon old, From tangled solitudes expelled; and taught How blindly each its antidote besought;For either's breath the needs of either told.

XXVIII.

Now deep in woods, with song no sermon's drone, He showed what charm the human concourse works:

Amid the press of men, what virtue lurks Where bubble sacred wells of wildness lone.

XXIX.

Our conquest these: if haply we retain The reverence that ne'er will overrun Due boundaries of realms from Nature won, Nor let the poet's awe in rapture wane.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 虫族历险记

    虫族历险记

    曹峰成了虫族掌控者,悲剧的他发现自己没有能量!于是孤独的他毅然反顾的进入了虫洞.......科技文明,生物文明,元素文明,能量文明。宇宙中各种各样的文明相继登场,身为宅男的曹峰一步一步,在自己的信念下,成长了起来。虫族,一个可怕的种族在宇宙中崛起......
  • 仙侠秘

    仙侠秘

    众生皆欲长生,经千劫,度厄难,宇宙诡秘,此界无仙。
  • 天黑,别讲诡故事

    天黑,别讲诡故事

    游走在繁华都市与乡野荒村的古怪魅影,渗透进字里行间的惊悚传奇。听乡下姥姥讲那早已经被人遗忘的鬼怪故事,揭开平静生活外衣下潜藏的汹涌杀机……看疯魔君惊悚怪异短故事集,每天为你带来一个精彩又好看的诡异小故事。天黑之后,活人勿近!现在,请你锁好门窗,拉上窗帘,吹熄蜡烛,嘘~~一些不可思议的故事正在发生,听我给你娓娓道来…………
  • 呆萌少年追冷傲女神记

    呆萌少年追冷傲女神记

    她全才女神,他呆萌二货,他们之间擦出不一样的火花
  • 御天道:神女归来

    御天道:神女归来

    她满心喜悦地等到了他的归来,引来的却是穿胸而过的长剑。她伸出右手攥着剑身,“承缙,为何!”“他们说我……”承缙把剑身往前推了推,“是你的男宠。”------------------本生活在21世纪的她穿越到了异世界,不仅穿越到了一废柴小姐的身上,还整天被一狗皮膏药粘得心烦。“你为什么总是跟着我!”夏咊雨怒道。“因为表妹你太弱,我必须保护你。”对方说着还打开了一把折扇,怎么看怎么像花花公子。夏咊雨有种想掐死对方的冲动,她怎么就瞎了眼抱了他的大腿呢!
  • 冥机

    冥机

    上古荒诞遗挂,历经万年而未应验,直到他的出现,才一点点揭开了那神秘的面纱。他是邪派余孽,侥幸逃生,沉伏三年,却再遭劫难,大难未死,苦寒之地学艺,再次出世,一鸣惊人。身为邪派之人,然而他却重情重义,情感纠结,却始终不忘初心。五行相克亦相生,昭昭天道,他又如何打破了亘古不变的真理。《冥机》—逆风寒
  • 小妞上位记

    小妞上位记

    小妞上位记,一个18岁小妮子,在咖啡馆里睡觉就这么光荣的穿越了。
  • 鬼妃风云录

    鬼妃风云录

    深居古幽仙境,从来没有想过有一天会从这里走出去,更没有想过迈出幽境,命运将会逆转。“你走!!!你若敢踏出幽境一步,我们婆孙情分两断。”“戴上它,它能保你平安!”“世上最毒的毒药莫过于那背叛的爱情!”“为什么?”·····如果上天再给我一次重来的机会,我会很愿意留在你身边·····
  • 开店赚钱有门道

    开店赚钱有门道

    本书从13个方面100个门道入手,细致的回答了开店不吃亏的问题。内容分为上下两篇,上篇讲述了开店的一些需要注意的事宜;下篇列举了具有一定代表性的行业。
  • 造化王神

    造化王神

    大千世界,万族争锋。大秦王朝,统一六合八荒,掌握中央皇权仙门魔道,立于天地之间,掌控世俗国度妖魔鬼神,隐藏无尽虚空,伺机夺取气运。少年夏云,身负血海深仇,机缘巧合之下获得九幽大帝传承,从此逆天崛起,杀仇敌,灭仙门,斩神灵,堪破造化本源,成就诸神之王。