Eremus; A Poem (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890. Excerpt: ... And weird electric flashes. I might then, Dying, have found peace in the thought that I Had left more tolerable this earth of ours, Taken the terror from the sea, and checked Death at a thousand points, and made this life To run where it had crawled, to rush and fly Would I had put away these questioning-;, This tampering with Eternity, and made A home for me within some still precinct Of minster old, that out from many a league Of marsh-land and low fen-land, like a dream, Rises with spires that soar away to peace. Or better for me had I been content To live a simple and laborious life Amid the rains and grasses, finding strength In the perpetual touch and smell of earth, And at the last been carried to my grave Across the sweet fields and the new mown hay. II. Well were it for me had I fixed my gaze Steadfastly on the earth, that blessed eartli Lying so far beneath these heights Ah me, I had not then been stretched on the cold snows, By God and man abandoned. But too soon I came to know that calm was not for me, Nor ever mine the long untroubled life; No but to sigh and strive. There is a peace Of earth, a solace in a simple creed; There is a peace of heaven; but all between, Regions of restless wind, haunted of storm, Where I, and such as I, must roam for ever Thousands around me every day I saw Live happily within a narrow range, Not over joyous, and not over sad; They sinned not much, and strove they not at all; With here and there a marriage or a death, Breaking the long monotony of years. Hut when I looked into myself, I saw No days of healthful labour granted me, No nights of dreamless sleep. This happiness I never knew, but everlasting calls To self control, and passion hung on me Like to a dangerous sleep that hangs upon The eyelids of a dro...