Poem by George Meredith

Nature and Life

I

Leave the uproar: at a leap
Thou shalt strike a woodland path,
Enter silence, not of sleep,
Under shadows, not of wrath;
Breath which is the spirit's bath
In the old Beginnings find,
And endow them with a mind,
Seed for seedling, swathe for swathe.
That gives Nature to us, this
Give we her, and so we kiss.

II

Fruitful is it so: but hear
How within the shell thou art,
Music sounds; nor other near
Can to such a tremor start.
Of the waves our life is part;
They our running harvests bear:
Back to them for manful air,
Laden with the woodland's heart!
That gives Battle to us, this
Give we it, and good the kiss. 

1. Modern Love. Sonnet 5. A Message from Her
2. King Harald's Trance
3. Earth's Secret
4. Modern Love. Sonnet 7. She Issues Radiant from Her Dressing-room
5. Modern Love. Sonnet 16. In our Old Shipwrecked Days

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