Emerald Story Book

<h3><SPAN name="IN_THE_GARDEN">IN THE GARDEN<br/> <span class="smaller">AN EASTER PRELUDE</span></SPAN></h3> <p class="center"><span class="smcap">W. M. L. Jay</span></p> <h4><span class="smcap">Part I</span></h4> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">Deep down in the garden closes,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In the wildering April weather,</div> <div class="verse indent0">The embryo lilies and roses</div> <div class="verse indent2">Whispered and wondered together:—</div> <div class="verse indent0">“What doth it mean, this thrill</div> <div class="verse indent2">And stir in the mould about us?</div> <div class="verse indent0">Will it prophecies sweet fulfil,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Or cometh it but to flout us?”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Lily</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">It may be a downward drift</div> <div class="verse indent2">From that unknown world above us,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Some mystical stir or lift</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of beings that know and love us,—</div> <div class="verse indent0">That world of wonderful things,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ineffable tints and glories,</div> <div class="verse indent0">And blossoms that wander on wings—</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="Page_348"></SPAN>[348]</span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Red Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Now, <i>do</i> you believe those stories!</div> <div class="verse indent2">That world and its wings and its glow,</div> <div class="verse indent0">I fear me are only fancies</div> <div class="verse indent2">Why, barely a fortnight ago,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Went thither our friends, the pansies!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Lily</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Did any return to tell</div> <div class="verse indent2">How the blindfold journey ended,—</div> <div class="verse indent0">If joy at the last befell,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Or a deadly frost descended?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A White Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Nathless, it is pleasant to stray</div> <div class="verse indent0">In limitless dream and vision.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Red Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Nay, better be senseless as clay</div> <div class="verse indent0">And feel not the walls that imprison!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Pink Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">What more than this warm brown nest</div> <div class="verse indent0">Need any one dream or desire?</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="Page_349"></SPAN>[349]</span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Lily</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Ah, me! in my aching breast</div> <div class="verse indent0">Is a thirst for something higher!</div> <div class="verse indent0">I may surely trust I go</div> <div class="verse indent0">To some lovely goal unknowing,</div> <div class="verse indent0">To some better thing I grow—</div> <div class="verse indent0">At least, I think I am growing.</div> </div> </div></div> <h4><span class="smcap">Part II</span></h4> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse indent0">Out in the garden closes,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In the shining, summery weather,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Blossoming lilies and roses</div> <div class="verse indent2">Wondered and laughed together:—</div> <div class="verse indent0">“What a wide, wide world of bliss,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of loveliest gleams and glowings!</div> <div class="verse indent0">We had never a vision like this,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In the fairest of hope’s foreshowings.”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A White Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">What a beautiful thing is light!</div> <div class="verse indent2">What marvellous thing is motion!</div> <div class="verse indent2">The sunbeams in followless flight,</div> <div class="verse indent0">The shimmer and swell of the ocean!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="Page_350"></SPAN>[350]</span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Pink Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">And the sky, what a wonder of blue!</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the dawn, what a dazzle of splendour!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Red Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">How light is the fall of the dew,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the kiss of the breezes, how tender!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Pink Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">So blithe is the brown birds’ song,</div> <div class="verse indent2">So clear is the ether they swim in!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Lily</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">So kindly are men and so strong</div> <div class="verse indent2">So gentle and gracious are women!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A White Rose</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">Such gladness to bud and to bloom</div> <div class="verse indent2">Sweet odour and honey outgiving!—</div> <div class="verse indent0">How could we, down here in that gloom,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Conceive of this rapture of living?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>A Lily</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">And yet, I was ever at strife</div> <div class="verse indent0">With a hope—that was half a sorrow;</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="Page_351"></SPAN>[351]</span> <div class="verse indent0">So vain, in that underground life</div> <div class="verse indent0">Seemed thought of a radiant morrow!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse center"><i>Lilies and Roses</i></div> <div class="verse indent0">On lines that to us were unknown!</div> <div class="verse indent2">For written was all our story;</div> <div class="verse indent0">To the Lord of the garden alone</div> <div class="verse indent2">Be honour and praise and glory.</div> <div class="verse indent0">For had He not planted with care,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And loosened the earth from around us,</div> <div class="verse indent0">We never had grown to be fair,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Nor blossom nor blessing had crowned us!</div> </div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <!--chapter--> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN id="Page_352"></SPAN>[352]</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />