Читать книгу The lost chimes, and other poems - Gustav Melby - Страница 11

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That night he had a dream, in which he heard

The music of his bells across the seas,

Whose notes came clearly from a purple haze,

And wandered with the breeze from place to place,

A-dancing with the billows’ wild caprice,

And mingled with the cries of many a bird.

And floated round a many-colored sail,

Half-hoisted, flapping, listening between,

And eager to depart for that fair land,

Whence came the music, on whose purple strand

The ocean shifted from the dazzling sheen,

To emerald and amethystine pale.

And in the stern the smiling Stella stood,

A-beckoning to come with her away,

And he did hasten to the rocky shore,

But as he reached it, she was there no more,

The ship had carried her far out the bay,

And in its wake the waves were red as blood.

Then did he weep, until a gentle hand

Was laid upon his head, now bending low,

And looking up, a stranger met his eye,

Who said: “Why art thou here, why dost thou cry?

The melodies which o’er the waters go,

Proceed from chimes made in thy native land;

Thy own they are, go seek them till thou findest,

Then is thy journey ended, and the strife,

Then shalt thou know the joy which heaven will give,

So overwhelming that thou canst not live;

Now, henceforth thou must sacrifice thy life,

To those who bear the cross our God is kindest.”

When from his dream he woke, he pondered long

Its meaning, and at last waxed confident,

It was an angel that had spoken thus;

For calling in distress, God heareth us,

His unseen ministers to us are sent,

To give us light, and weeping change to song.

He also felt assured, his chimes had found

A place across the seas, though not in France,

May be in England or some British isle,—

This thought provoked a melancholy smile,

For Richard’s fame and knightly lance,

And Blondel’s song were with it bound.

And he determined to depart full soon,

Yet one thing did his heart desire to see,—

The face of Stella, which both night and day

Did follow him, where-e’er he turned his way,

Her beck’ning in his dream might mean to be

A change of mind, before another moon.

Yea, might he but behold those eyes once more,

Receive again one look of kindliness,

And feast his famished heart upon her beauty,

And hear her speak, as once, forgetting duty,

And give him one adieu of hope to bless,

Then would he seek his chimes on any shore.