POEMS BL FRANCIS THOMPSON.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 92, 11 January 1908, Page 13

POEMS BL FRANCIS THOMPSON.

, [Tho following poems aro by tiio lata Francis Thompson,'whose death was briefly noted last .-week.] ;;, ■ "EX ORIS INFANTIUM." Little Jesus wag Thou shy Once, and just-so'small.; A3 I? And what did it feel like to' be Out,of:Heaven; and just like me? ■ ' ' Didst . Thou sometimes think of there. And ask'whero, all the angels wore? 1 should, think'tliit I would cry ; For. my lioU6o all made of: sky ; I wotild look about the air, And wonder where mv angels wore; ABd .at/fSKing. 'twoiiia; distress me Not an angel.'there to dress me! HaU.3t Thou! wijr any toys, Likd : 'iis little eirls'arid, boys? . Arid [didst- Thou play in Heavori with all The - , arigels t-liat were riot too tail, ' W'itii stars.for. marbles? Did tho things ' Play "Can You Sco Me?" through their .wings?-,' ~ Arid did Thy Mother let Thcis .spoil..- '■, with playirig on our soil?. . ' How. nice to-have tnoiri always new, . In Heaven, because !twas' miito clean blue! .- -. From "New Poems." . . ;.. . , FOR SYLVIA. The leaves danco, the leaves sing, The leaves .dance in the. breath of the Spring. I bid tlifem dance, I bid tlieni .sins, 'For tho-limpid glance • : Of riiy'ladylirig; 1 . For the gift to tho Spring'of a dewier spririg, For God'S good grace, of this ladyling! ' I know in :tlio lane',, by 'tho hedgerow track, •- - Tho long, broad-grasses underneath Are warted with rain,like a toad's knobbed But here May weareth a rainless wreath, lit the nfew-sudked milk of tho S.un's bosom Is'dabbled the mbuth of tho. daiSy-blossorri; : Tiio smouldefiiig rosebud'olia'fs through its sheath; ,' The Illy fetirs lidir sriowj; limbs,' .i Ero she'swims' Niiked up thrdugh her fclovon green, , . Liko tho,:way(>bprri.;Lady .of. Love Hellene; Arid tho iffj^ttfwftl(rSiio.W|Jr6piWxqwisito,ii : Twinkles and-rjleams, . " .'j As,if the showers of tho.sunny beams Were splashed from tho 6arth in drop 3 of .'-iahti., . . . ■_/ ■; Everything''

That'is-child .of Sprifig Casts its bud or blossoming Upon the stream of my delight. Their voices, that' stents .are,: now. let them unwise To Sylvia, ,0 Sylvia, her swebt. (eat ways I Their lovely mother, them array . ;And prank; them'out .in holiday,. For syllabling to Sylvia. And all the . birds on branches lavo their ; mouths with May, 1 To bear with'me this burthen, For singing to Sylvia: .' —From Poems to "Sister Songs." THE'HOUND OF HEAVEN I fled Him, down the nights and down the (lavs; ■ , I fled Hihi,- down the atches of the years: I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways Of my own mind; and in- the midst of "tears : . • ; - I hid from Him, and,under running laughter. - Uji vistaed hones I spfed; And shot precipitated Adown Titanic glooms of cliashicd fears, From those sttoiig Feet that followed, fbl- . lowed after.. .! A j. Cut, with unlvurrying chaso, Aiid unperturbed pace Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, .. . .They beat,—and a Voice beat ...More instant than tho Feet— ,/ "Ail things betray thee, who betrayest Me." I pleaded outlaw-wise, By many a hearted basement, curtained-red, • • Trellised with intertwining charities: (For though J know His love Who followed, was I soro adread Lest, having Him, I must havo naught besjilo) But if one little easement parted wido, Tho gust of His approach would clash it to. Fear wist not to evade, as Lovo wist to pursue. Across th'o margont of tho world I fled, '• Ahd troubled tho golden gateways of tho 'stars,' Smiting for shelter On thoir changed bars; Fretted to dulcet jars And silver chatter the palo ports o' the moon. I Said to daWn: Bo sudden—To eve: Bo soon; With thy youiig skioy blossoms heftp me' over ' : From this tromendous Lovor! Float thy vagno veil about mo, lest Ho see! I temptod all His servitors, but to find My own borayal in their coonstancy, In faith to Him their fickleness to me, Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit. 1 To all swift tilings for swiftness did I suo; Clung to the whistling mano of every wind, But whether they swept, smoothly licet, The lons savannahs of the blue.; Or whether, Thunder-driven, They clanged His chariot .'thwart a heaven, Plashy with (lying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet:— Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue. Still with unhurrying chasc, " And unperturbed pace, Deliberate speed, majestic instancy, i Came on tho faltering Feet: And a VoicO above their beat — "Naught shelters thco, who wilt not shelter Mo." Now of that long pursuit Comes on at hand the bruit; That Voico is round me like a bursting sea: "And is thy earth so marred, Shattered in shard on shard? Lo, all tilings fly thee, for thou lliest Mo I Strange, piteous, futile thing I Wherefore should any set theo lovo apart? Seeing none but 1 makes much of naught" (He said), ■ "And human love needs human meriting: How bast thou merited— Of all man's clotted clay tho dingiest clot ? Alack ,thou knowest not How little worthy of any lovo thou art! Whom wilt thou find to lovo ignoble theo, Savo Me, save only Me? All which I took from thco I did but tnkc, I Not for thy harms, But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. All which thy. child's mistake

Fancies as lost, 1 have stored for thee at home:' Riso, clasp My hand, and come." Halts by me that footfall: \ . Is my gloom, after all, , Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly? ''Ah, fondest,' blindest, weakest, . • I am He Whom thou seek est! .... Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest . He;" - . ' From "Poems."