The Earthly Paradise (September-November): November: Intr...

The Earthly Paradise, (September-November), by William Morris, [1870] ARE thine eyes weary? is thy heart too sick To struggle any more with doubt and thought, Whose formless veil draws darkening now and thick Across thee, e’en as smoke-tinged mist-wreaths brought Down a fair dale to make it blind and nought? Art thou so weary that no world there seems Beyond these four walls, hung with pain and dreams? Look out upon the real world, where the moon, Half-way ’twixt root and crown of these high trees, Turns the dead midnight into dreamy noon,, Silent and full of wonders, for the breeze Died at the sunset, and no images, No hopes of day, are left in sky or earth— Is it not fair, and of most wondrous worth? Yea, I have looked and seen November there; The changeless seal of change it seemed to be, Fair death of things that, living once, were fair; Bright sign of loneliness too great for me, Strange image of the dread eternity, In whose void patience how can these have part, These outstretched feverish hands, this restless heart? ON a clear eve, when the November sky Grew red with promise of the hoar-frost nigh, These ancient men turned from the outside cold, With something like content that they, grown old, Needed but little now to help the ease Of those last days before the final peace. The empty month for them left no regret For sweet things gained and lost, and longed for yet, ’Twixt spring-tide and this dying of the year. Few things of small account the whole did bear, Nor like a long lifetime of misery Those few days seemed, as oft to such may be As, seeing the patience of the world, whereby Midst all its strife it falls not utterly Into a wild, confused mass of pain, Yet note it not, and have no will to gain, Since they are young, a little time of rest, Midst their vain raging for the hopeless best. Such thought, perchance, was in his heart, who broke The silence of the fireside now, and spoke; "This eve my tale tells of a fair maid born Within a peaceful land, that peace to scorn, In turn to scorn the deeds of mighty kings, The council of the wise, and far-famed things, And envied lives; so, born for discontent, p. 276 She through the eager world of base folk went, Still gaining nought but heavier weariness. God grant that somewhere now content may bless Her yearning heart; that she may look and smile On the strange earth that wearied her awhile, And now forgets her! Yet so do not we, Though some of us have lived full happily!"