May Carols.

by Aubrey De Vere.

INTRODUCTION.

The wisdom of the Church, which consecrates the fleeting seasons of Time to the interests of Eternity, has dedicated the month of May (the birthday festival, as it were, of Creation) to her who was ever destined in the Divine Counsels to become the Mother of her Creator. It belongs to her, of course, as she is the representative of the Incarnation, and its practical exponent to a world but too apt to forget what it professes to hold. The following Poems, written in her honour, are an attempt to set forth, though but in mere outline, each of them some one of the great Ideas or essential Principles embodied in that all-embracing Mystery.

On a topic so comprehensive, converse statements, at one time ill.u.s.trating the highest excellence compatible with mere creaturely existence, at another, the infinite distance between the chief of creatures and the Creator, may seem, at first sight, and to some eyes, contradictory, although in reality, mutually correlative. On an attentive perusal, however, that harmony which exists among the {vi} many portions of a single mastering Truth, can hardly fail to appear--and with it the scope and aim of this Poem.

With the meditative, descriptive pieces have been interspersed. They are an attempt towards a Christian rendering of external nature. Nature, like Art, needs to be spiritualised, unless it is to remain a fortress in the hands of an adverse Power.

The visible world is a pa.s.sive thing, which ever takes its meaning from something above itself.

In Pagan times, it drew its interpretation from Pantheism; and to Pantheism--nay, to that Idolatry which is the popular application of Pantheism--it has still a secret, though restrained tendency, not betrayed by literature alone. A World without Divinity, Matter without Soul, is intolerable to the human mind. Yet, on the other hand, there is much in fallen human nature which shrinks from the sublime thought of a Creator, and rests on that of a sheathed Divinity diffused throughout the universe, its life, not its maker.

Mere personified elements, the Wood-G.o.d and River-Nymph, captivate the fancy and do not over-awe the soul. For a bias so seductive, no cure is to be found save in authentic Christianity, the only practical Theism. The whole truth, on the long run, holds its own better than the half truth; and minds repelled by the thought of a G.o.d who stands afar off, and created the universe but to abandon it to general laws, fling themselves at the feet of a G.o.d made Man. In other words, {vii} the Incarnation is the _Complement_ of Creation.

In it is revealed the true nature of that link which binds together the visible and invisible worlds.

When the "Word was made Flesh," a bridge was thrown across that gulf which had else for ever separated the Finite from the Infinite. The same high Truth which brings home to us the doctrine of a Creation, consecrates that Creation, reconst.i.tuting it into an Eden meet for an unfallen Adam and an unfallen Eve; nay, exalting it into a heavenly Jerusalem, the dwelling-place of the Lamb and of the Bride. It does this, in part, through symbols and a.s.sociations founded on the all-cleansing Blood and the all-sanctifying Spirit --symbols and a.s.sociations the reverse of those in which an Epicurean mythology took delight, and which the very superficial alone can confound with such. This is perhaps the aspect of Religion least above the level of Poetry.

As to its form, the present work belongs to the cla.s.s of serial poems, a species of composition happily revived in recent times, as by Wordsworth, in his "Ecclesiastical Sketches," and "Sonnets dedicated to Liberty," by Landor, and, with preeminent success, by the author of "In Memoriam."

It was in common use among our earlier poets, who derived it from Petrarch and the Italians.

Most often the interest of such poems was of a personal sort, as in the serial sonnets of Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Drummond, Daniel, and Drayton; as well as the "Aurora" of Lord {viii} Stirling, and the "Astrea" of Sir John Davies.

Occasionally, it was of a more abstract character.

In both cases, alike, advantage was derived from a method of writing which unites an indefinite degree of continuity with a somewhat lawless variety, and which gains in brevity by the omission of connecting bonds. In Herbert's "Temple," Vaughan's "Silex Scintillans," and the chief poems of Donne and Crashaw, the unity is but that of kindred thoughts, and a common subject, not of a complete design. Habington's "Castara," a n.o.ble work too little known, combines a personal with an abstract interest. In it many poems on religious and philosophical subjects are grouped for support round a single centre; that centre being the sustained homage paid by the poet to one not unworthy, apparently, of his reverence and love.

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CONTENTS

PAGE Prologue xv

PART I.

Who feels not, when the Spring once more 3 Upon Thy face, O G.o.d, thy world 5 All but unutterable Name 6 Sancta Maria 7 Dei Genitrix 8 Virgo Virginum 9 Ascending from the convent-grates 11 Adolescentulae amaverunt te nimis 12 Mater Christi 13 Mater Christi 14 Mater Creatoris 15 Mater Salvatoris 16 Mater Dolorosa 17 Mater Dolorosa 18 Mater Admirabilis 19 Mater Amabilis 20 Mater Filii 21 Mater Divinae Gratiae 22 Mater Divinae Gratiae 23 When April's sudden sunset cold 24 As children when, with heavy tread 25 Mariae Cliens 26 Fest. Visitationis 28 Not yet, not yet! the Season sings 29 Fest. Nativitatis B.V.M. 30 The moon, ascending o'er a ma.s.s 32 A dream came to me while the night 33 Fest. Purificationis 34 Fest. Epiphaniae 35 The sunless day is sweeter yet 36 Legenda 37

PART II.

Conservabat in Corde 41 Ascensio Domini 42 Ascensio Domini 43 Elias 44 Stronger and steadier every hour 45 Speculum Just.i.tiae 46 Munera 48 Predestinata 49 Three worlds there are:--the first of Sense-- 51 Alas! not only loveliest eyes 52 Idolatria 53 Tota Pulchra 55 Stella Matutina 57 Janua Coeli 58 If sense of Man's unworthiness 60 Causa Nostra Laet.i.tiae 61 Stella Maris 62 Blossom for ever, blossoming Rod! 64 Unica 65 Magnificat 66 Mystica 67 Expectatio 68 Still on the gracious work proceeds 70 Turris Eburnea 71 Who doubts that thou art finite? Who 73 They seek not; or amiss they seek 74 A sudden sun-burst in the woods 75 Dominica Pentecostes 76 Dominica Pentecostes 78 Turris Davidica 79 "Tu sola interemisti omnes Haereses" 80

PART III.

In vain thine altars do they heap 83 Babylon 84 The golden rains are dashed against 85 Sedes Sapientiae 86 Sedes Sapientiae 87 Here, in this paradise of light 88 Fest. B.V.M. de Monte Carmelo 89 Come from the midnight mountain tops 91 Advocata Nostra 92 Thronus Trinitatis 93 Cultus Sanctorum 94 Fest. S. S. Trinitatis 96 Where is the crocus now, that first 98 "Ad Nives" 99 Fest. Puritatis 101 Cloud-piercing Mountains! Chance and Change 103 Foederis Arca 104 Domus Aurea 105 Respexit Humilitatem 106 Respexit Humilitatem 107 "Sine Labe originali Concepta" 109 "Sine Labe originali Concepta" 110 Brow-bound with myrtle and with gold 111 Corpus Christi 112 Corpus Christi 114 Pleasant the swarm about the bough 115 Sing on, wide winds, your anthems vast 116 Coeli enarrant 117 Caro factus est 119 A woman "clothed with the sun" 121 No ray or all their silken sheen 122

Epilogue 125

_PROLOGUE._

That sun-eyed Power which stands sublime Upon the rock that crowns our globe, Her feet on all the spoils of time, With light eternal on her robe,

She, sovereign of the orb she guides, On Truth's broad sun may root a gaze That deepens, onward as she rides, And shrinks not from the fontal blaze:

But they--her daughter Arts--must hide Within the cleft, content to see Dim skirts of glory waving wide, And steps of parting Deity.

'Tis theirs to watch Religion break In types from Nature's frown or smile, The legend rise from out the lake, The relic consecrate the isle.

'Tis theirs to adumbrate and suggest; To point toward founts of buried lore; Leaving, in reverence, unexpressed What Man must know not, yet adore.

For where her court true Wisdom keeps, 'Mid loftier handmaids, one there stands Dark as the midnight's starry deeps, A Slave, gem-crowned, from Nubia's sands.

O thou whose light is in thy heart Love-taught Submission! without thee Science may soar awhile; but Art Drifts barren o'er a sh.o.r.eless sea.

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MAY CAROLS

PART I.

MAY CAROLS.

PART I.

I.

Who feels not, when the Spring once more, Stepping o'er Winter's grave forlorn With winged feet, retreads the sh.o.r.e Of widowed Earth, his bosom burn?

As ordered flower succeeds to flower, And May the ladder of her sweets Ascends, advancing hour by hour From scale to scale, what heart but beats?

Some Presence veiled, in fields and groves, That mingles rapture with remorse;-- Some buried joy beside us moves, And thrills the soul with such discourse

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As they, perchance, that wondering pair Who to Emmaus bent their way, Hearing, heard not. Like them our prayer We make:--"The night is near us . . Stay!"

With Paschal chants the churches ring; Their echoes strike along the tombs; The birds their Hallelujahs sing; Each flower with floral incense fumes.