Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/218

POEMS OF OCCASION Clearly the master's plan

Revealed his people, even as they were,

The prayerful elder and the winsome maid,

The errant roisterer, the Puritan,

Dark Pyncheon, mournful Hester,—all are there.

But none save he in our own time so laid

His summons on man's spirit; none but he,

Whether the light thereof were clear or clouded,

Thus on his canvas fixed the human soul,

The thoughts of mystery,

In deep hearts by this mortal guise enshrouded,

Wild hearts that like the church-bells ring and toll.

Two natures in him strove

Like day with night, his sunshine and his gloom.

To him the stern forefathers' creed descended,

The weight of some inexorable Jove

Prejudging from the cradle to the tomb;

But therewithal the lightsome laughter blended

Of that Arcadian sweetness undismayed

Which finds in Love its law, and graces still

The rood, the penitential symbol worn,—

Which sees, beyond the shade,

The Naiad nymph of every rippling rill,

And hears quick Fancy wind her wilful horn.

What if he brooded long

On Time and Fate,—the ominous progression

Of years that with Man's retributions frown,—

The destinies which round his footsteps throng,—

Justice, that heeds not Mercy's intercession,—

Crime, on its own head calling vengeance down,—

Deaf Chance and blind, that, like the mountain-slide

Puts out Youth's heart of fire and all is dark!

What though the blemish which, in aught of earth,

The maker's hand defied, 188