By the Margins of the Great Deep

When the breath of twilight blows to flame the misty skies,

All its vaporous sapphire, violet glow and silver gleam

With their magic flood me through the gateway of the eyes;

I am one with the twilight's dream.

When the trees and skies and fields are one in dusky mood,

Every heart of man is rapt within the mother's breast;

Full of peace and sleep and dreams in the vasty quietude,

I am one with their hearts at rest.

From our immemorial joys of hearth and home and love

Strayed away along the margin of the unknown tide,

All its reach of soundless calm can thrill me far above

Word or touch from the lips beside.

Aye, and deep and deep and deeper let me drink and draw

From the olden fountain more than light or peace or dream,

Such primeval being as o'erfills the heart with awe,

Growing one with its silent stream.

George William Russell ("A.E.")

The Hermit

Now the quietude of earth

Nestles deep my heart within;

Friendships new and strange have birth

Since I left the city's din.

Here the tempest stays its guile,

Like a big kind brother plays,

Romps and pauses here awhile

From its immemorial ways.

Now the silver light of dawn

Slipping through the leaves that fleck

My one window, hurries on,

Throws its arms around my neck.

Darkness to my doorway hies,

Lays her chin upon the roof,

And her burning seraph eyes

Now no longer keep aloof.

And the ancient mystery

Holds its hands out day by day,

Takes a chair and croons with me

By my cabin built of clay.

When the dusky shadow flits,

By the chimney nook I see

Where the old enchanter sits,

Smiles and waves and beckons me.

George William Russell ("A.E.")

Inheritance

As flow the rivers to the sea

Adown from rocky hill or plain,

A thousand ages toiled for thee

And gave thee harvest of their gain;

And weary myriads of yore

Dug out for thee earth's buried ore.

The shadowy toilers for thee fought

In chaos of primeval day

Blind battles with they knew not what;

And each before he passed away

Gave clear articulate cries of woe --

Your pain is theirs of long ago.

And all the old heart sweetness sung,

The joyous life of man and maid

In forests when the earth was young,

In rumors round your childhood strayed,

The careless sweetness of your mind

Comes from the buried years behind.

And not alone unto your birth

Their gifts the weeping ages bore,

The old descents of God on earth

Have dowered thee with celestial lore;

So, wise, and filled with sad and gay

You pass into the further day.

George William Russell ("A.E.")

Parting

As from our dream we died away

Far off I felt the outer things;

Your wind-blown tresses round me play,

Your bosom's gentle murmurings.

And far away our faces met

As on the verge of the vast spheres;

And in the night our cheeks were wet,

I could not say with dew or tears.

O gate by which I entered in!

O face and hair! O lips and eyes!

Through you again the world I win,

How far away from Paradise!

George William Russell ("A.E.")

Reconciliation

I begin through the grass once again to be bound to the Lord;

I can see, through a face that has faded, the face full of rest

Of the earth, of the mother, my heart with her heart in accord,

As I lie 'mid the cool green tresses that mantle her breast.

I begin with the grass once again to be found to the Lord.

By the hand of a child I am led to the throne of the King,

For a touch that now fevers me not is forgotten and far,

And His infinite sceptered hands that sway us can bring

Me in dreams from the laugh of a child to the song of a star.

On the laugh of a child I am borne to the joy of the King.

George William Russell ("A.E.")