_Natura Victrix._

On the crag I sat in wonder, Stars above me, forests under; Through the valleys came and went Tempest forces never spent, And the gorge sent up the thunder Of the stream within it pent.

Round me with majestic bearing Stood the giant mountains, wearing Helmets of eternal snows, Cleft by nature’s labour throes-- Monster faces mutely staring Upward into God’s repose.

At my feet in desolation Swayed the pines, a shadowy nation, Round the woodlake deep and dread, Round the river glacier-fed, Where a ghostly undulation Shakes its subterranean bed.

And I cried, “O wildernesses! Mountains! which the wind caresses, In a savage love sublime, Through the bounds of space and time, All your moods and deep distresses Roll around me like a chime.

“Lo, I hear the mighty chorus Of the elements that bore us Down the course of nature’s stream, Onward in a haunted dream Towards the darkness, where before us Time and death forgotten seem.

“Now behold the links of lightning Round the neck of storm-god tightening, Madden him with rage and shame Till he smites the earth with flame, In the darkening and the brightening Of the clouds on which he came.

“Nature! at whose will are driven Tides of ocean, winds of heaven, Thou who rulest near and far Forces grappling sun and star, Is to thee the knowledge given Whence these came and what they are?

“Is thy calm the calm of knowing Whence the force is, whither going? Is it but the blank despair Of the wrecked, who does not care Out at sea what wind is blowing To the death that waits him there?

“Mother Nature, stern aggressor, Of thy child the mind-possessor, Thou art in us like a flood, Welling through our thought and blood-- Force evolving great from lesser, As the blossom from the bud.

“Yea, I love thy fixed, enduring Times and seasons, life procuring From abysmal heart of thine; And my spirit would resign All its dreams and hopes alluring With thy spirit to combine.

“Would that I, amid the splendour Of the thunder-blasts, could render Back the dismal dole of birth, Fusing soul-clouds in the girth Of thy rock breasts, or the tender Green of everlasting earth.

“Haply, when the scud was flying And the lurid daylight dying Through the rain-smoke on the sea, Thoughtless, painless, one with thee, I, in perfect bondage lying, Should forever thus be free.

“Mighty spirits, who have striven Up life’s ladder-rounds to heaven, Or ye freighted ones who fell On the poppy slopes of hell, When the soul was led or driven, Knew ye not who wrought the spell?

“Understood not each his brother From the features of our mother Stamped on every human face? Did not earth, man’s dwelling place, Draw ye to her as no other, With a stronger bond than grace?

“Tempest hands the forests rending, Placid stars the night attending, Mountains, storm-clouds, land and sea, Nature!--make me one with thee; From my soul its pinions rending, Chain me to thy liberty.

“Hark! the foot of death is nearing, And my spirit aches with fearing, Hear me, mother, hear my cry, Merge me in the harmony Of thy voice which stars are hearing Wonder-stricken in the sky.

“Mother, will no sorrow move thee? Does the silence heartless prove thee? Thou who from the rocks and rain Mad’st this soul, take back again What thy fingers wrought to love thee Through the furnace of its pain.

“Giant boulders, roll beside me, Tangled ferns, bow down and hide me, Hide me from the face of death; Or, great Nature, on thy breath Send some mighty words to guide me, Till the demon vanisheth.”

Then as sweet as organ playing, Came a voice, my fears allaying, From the mountains and the sea, “Wouldst thou, soul, be one with me, In thy might the slayer slaying? Wrestle not with what must be.”

Heart and spirit in devotion, Vibrant with divine emotion, Bowed before that mighty sound, And amid the dark around Quaffed the strength of land and ocean In a sacrament profound.

Then I burst my bonds asunder, And my voice rose in the thunder With a full and powerful breath, Strong for what great nature saith, And I bade the stars in wonder See me slay the slayer--death.