Four grey walls, and four grey towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers The Lady of Shalott.
Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver.
The smell of violets, hidden in the green, Pour’d back into my empty soul and frame The times when I remembered to have been Joyful and free from blame.
Ah! well away! Seasons flower and fade.
Who trusted God was love indeed And love Creation’s final law Though Nature, red in tooth and claw With ravine, shrieked against his creed.
Dowered with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn, The love of love.
Of love that never found his earthly close, What sequel? Streaming eyes and breaking hearts; Or all the same as if he had not been?
O Love! what hours were thine and mine, In lands of palm and southern pine; In lands of palm, of orange-blossom, Of olive, aloe, and maize and vine!
In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon. All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Like glimpses of forgotten dreams.
Like a dog, he hunts in dreams.
Because right is right, to follow right Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence.
But the tender grace of a day that is dead Will never come back to me.
Ah, why Should life all labour be?
Wearing the white flower of a blameless life, Before a thousand peering littlenesses, In that fierce light which beats upon a throne, And blackens every blot.
O Love! they die in yon rich sky, They faint on hill or field or river: Our echoes roll from soul to soul, And grow forever and forever. Blow, bugle, blow! set the wild echoes flying! And answer, echoes, answer! dying, dying, dying.
Men, my brothers, men the workers, ever reaping something new.
As the husband is the wife is; thou art mated with a clown, As the grossness of his nature will have weight to drag thee down.
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends, Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
A simple maiden in her flower, Is worth a hundred coats of arms.