Rena Scence

8/11/2019 Rena Scence

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Renascence

All I could see from where I stood

Was three long mountains and a wood;

I turned and looked another way,

And saw three islands in a bay.So with my eyes I traced the line

Of the horizon, thin and fine,

Straight around till I was come

Back to where Id started from;

And all I saw from where I stood

Was three long mountains and a wood.

O!er these things I could not see;

"hese were the things that bounded me;

And I could touch them with my hand,

Almost, I thought, from where I stand.

And all at once things seemed so small#y breath came short, and scarce at all.

But, sure, the sky is big, I said;

#iles and miles abo!e my head;

So here u$on my back Ill lie

And look my fill into the sky.

And so I looked, and, after all,

"he sky was not so !ery tall.

"he sky, I said, must somewhere sto$,

And%sure enough&%I see the to$&

"he sky, I thought, is not so grand;

I most could touch it with my hand&

And reaching u$ my hand to try,

I screamed to feel it touch the sky.

I screamed, and%lo&%Infinity

'ame down and settled o!er me;

(orced back my scream into my chest,

Bent back my arm u$on my breast,

And, $ressing of the )ndefined

"he definition on my mind,

*eld u$ before my eyes a glass

"hrough which my shrinking sight did $ass)ntil it seemed I must behold

Immensity made manifold;

Whis$ered to me a word whose sound

+eafened the air for worlds around,

And brought unmuffled to my ears

"he gossi$ing of friendly s$heres,

"he creaking of the tented sky,

"he ticking of ternity.

I saw and heard, and knew at last

"he *ow and Why of all things, $ast,

And $resent, and fore!ermore."he )ni!erse, cleft to the core,

-ay o$en to my $robing sense


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"hat, sickning, I would fain $luck thence

But could not,%nay& But needs must suck

At the great wound, and could not $luck

#y li$s away till I had drawn

All !enom out.%Ah, fearful $awn&

(or my omniscience $aid I toll

In infinite remorse of soul.All sin was of my sinning, all

Atoning mine, and mine the gall

Of all regret. #ine was the weight

Of e!ery brooded wrong, the hate

"hat stood behind each en!ious thrust,

#ine e!ery greed, mine e!ery lust.

And all the while for e!ery grief,

ach suffering, I cra!ed relief

With indi!idual desire,%

'ra!ed all in !ain& And felt fierce fire

About a thousand $eo$le crawl;erished with each,%then mourned for all&

A man was star!ing in 'a$ri;

*e mo!ed his eyes and looked at me;

I felt his gaze, I heard his moan,

And knew his hunger as my own.

I saw at sea a great fog bank

Between two shi$s that struck and sank;

A thousand screams the hea!ens smote;

And e!ery scream tore through my throat.

/o hurt I did not feel, no death

"hat was not mine; mine each last breath

"hat, crying, met an answering cry

(rom the com$assion that was I.

All suffering mine, and mine its rod;

#ine, $ity like the $ity of 0od.

Ah, awful weight& Infinity

ressed down u$on the finite #e&

#y anguished s$irit, like a bird,

Beating against my li$s I heard;

1et lay the weight so close about

"here was no room for it without.And so beneath the weight lay I

And suffered death, but could not die.

-ong had I lain thus, cra!ing death,

When 2uietly the earth beneath

0a!e way, and inch by inch, so great

At last had grown the crushing weight,

Into the earth I sank till I

(ull si3 feet under ground did lie,

And sank no more,%there is no weight

'an follow here, howe!er great.(rom off my breast I felt it roll,

And as it went my tortured soul


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Burst forth and fled in such a gust

"hat all about me swirled the dust.

+ee$ in the earth I rested now;

'ool is its hand u$on the brow

And soft its breast beneath the head

Of one who is so gladly dead.And all at once, and o!er all

"he $itying rain began to fall;

I lay and heard each $attering hoof

)$on my lowly, thatched roof,

And seemed to lo!e the sound far more

"han e!er I had done before.

(or rain it hath a friendly sound

"o one whos si3 feet underground;

And scarce the friendly !oice or face4

A gra!e is such a 2uiet $lace.

"he rain, I said, is kind to come

And s$eak to me in my new home.

I would I were ali!e again

"o kiss the fingers of the rain,

"o drink into my eyes the shine

Of e!ery slanting sil!er line,

"o catch the freshened, fragrant breeze

(rom drenched and dri$$ing a$$le5trees.

(or soon the shower will be done,

And then the broad face of the sun

Will laugh abo!e the rain5soaked earth

)ntil the world with answering mirth

Shakes 6oyously, and each round dro$

7olls, twinkling, from its grass5blade to$.

*ow can I bear it; buried here,

While o!erhead the sky grows clear

And blue again after the storm8

O, multi5colored, multiform,

Belo!ed beauty o!er me,

"hat I shall ne!er, ne!er see

Again& S$ring5sil!er, autumn5gold,"hat I shall ne!er more behold&

Slee$ing your myriad magics through,

'lose5se$ulchred away from you&

O 0od, I cried, gi!e me new birth,

And $ut me back u$on the earth&

)$set each clouds gigantic gourd

And let the hea!y rain, down5$oured

In one big torrent, set me free,

Washing my gra!e away from me&

I ceased; and through the breathless hush"hat answered me, the far5off rush

Of herald wings came whis$ering


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-ike music down the !ibrant string

Of my ascending $rayer, and%crash&

Before the wild winds whistling lash

"he startled storm5clouds reared on high

And $lunged in terror down the sky,

And the big rain in one black wa!e

(ell from the sky and struck my gra!e.I know not how such things can be;

I only know there came to me

A fragrance such as ne!er clings

"o aught sa!e ha$$y li!ing things;

A sound as of some 6oyous elf

Singing sweet songs to $lease himself,

And, through and o!er e!erything,

A sense of glad awakening.

"he grass, a5ti$toe at my ear,

Whis$ering to me I could hear;

I felt the rains cool finger5ti$sBrushed tenderly across my li$s,

-aid gently on my sealed sight,

And all at once the hea!y night

(ell from my eyes and I could see,%

A drenched and dri$$ing a$$le5tree,

A last long line of sil!er rain,

A sky grown clear and blue again.

And as I looked a 2uickening gust

Of wind blew u$ to me and thrust

Into my face a miracle

Of orchard5breath, and with the smell,%

I know not how such things can be&%

I breathed my soul back into me.

Ah& )$ then from the ground s$rang I

And hailed the earth with such a cry

As is not heard sa!e from a man

Who has been dead, and li!es again.

About the trees my arms I wound;

-ike one gone mad I hugged the ground;

I raised my 2ui!ering arms on high;

I laughed and laughed into the sky,"ill at my throat a strangling sob

'aught fiercely, and a great heart5throb

Sent instant tears into my eyes;

O 0od, I cried, no dark disguise

'an eer hereafter hide from me

"hy radiant identity&

"hou canst not mo!e across the grass

But my 2uick eyes will see "hee $ass,

/or s$eak, howe!er silently,

But my hushed !oice will answer "hee.

I know the $ath that tells "hy way"hrough the cool e!e of e!ery day;

0od, I can $ush the grass a$art


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And lay my finger on "hy heart&

"he world stands out on either side

/o wider than the heart is wide;

Abo!e the world is stretched the sky,%

/o higher than the soul is high.

"he heart can $ush the sea and land(arther away on either hand;

"he soul can s$lit the sky in two,

And let the face of 0od shine through.

But ast and West will $inch the heart

"hat can not kee$ them $ushed a$art;

And he whose soul is flat%the sky

Will ca!e in on him by and by.

Rena Scence

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