A BIT OF ROCK 43 



Of dying day ; but this, yea, even this, 

 My impotence as king. The great grim rock 

 Keeps well its secret ; or, if nothing hides 

 Under its dark and threat'ning brow of stone, 

 Then have I been deceiv'd, and by myself. 



" Come down, then, from thy throne, O Feeble One ; 

 If thou wouldst learn of Nature, take thy place 

 Humbly with those who serve her. Thou shalt learn 

 The patient ways of science, if thou'rt wise." 



Forthwith am I dethroned, and now submit 

 Myself to judgment, summoning myself 

 Before that inquisition over which 

 The mind sits president. That court hath bid 

 This backward movement of the country-side, 

 Moorland and fell and all that lies between 

 The tors of Glenith and the rock-strewn gorge 

 Flanking the ridge of Seul — a spacious tract 

 Between whose bounds a thousand micra stretch. 

 'Tis done. The movement ceases. Here again 

 Below me lie the very veins of lime 

 I scann'd with wonder — Was it yesterday, 

 Or but a moment gone ? And now once more 

 The shadows deepen, and I fix my gaze 

 Out in the West where yonder mountain spur 

 Runs darkly to the coomb of Meini Du. 

 Now at the foot the ridge begins to glow, 

 And all too swift the critic moment comes 

 When fact and fancy shall be put to proof. 

 The signal ! There ! Before the light hath crept 

 Far up the ridge ! 'Tis gone. The summit burns 

 Resplendent all in gold. Yet further on 

 Plashes the green no longer as before. 

 Back with the light! Stay! Stay! What seest thou now? 

 — A silver bow, a shimmer in a pearl, 

 A crescent moon, a copper mine, a scarf 

 Dropp'd by Diana when she stoop'd to kiss 

 Endymion asleep, a phantom else 

 Within the mind, the body of a hope, 

 A fear, a dream, a memory revived 

 As by the touch of lips that bring again 

 The golden days of youth, a mystery 



