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 41. How Many a Thing which We Cast to the Ground
2. King Harald's Trance
3. Mother to Babe
4. Modern Love. Sonnet 38. Give to Imagination
5. Modern Love. Sonnet 23. 'Tis Christmas Weather

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