Maurice de Guerin

The old wine filled him, and he saw, with eyes Anoint of Nature, fauns and dryads fair Unseen by others; to him maidenhair And waxen lilacs, and those birds that rise A-sudden from tall reeds at slight surprise. Brought charmëd thoughts; and in earth everywhere He, like sad Jaques, found a music rare As that of Syrinx to old Grecians wise. A pagan heart, a Christian soul had he, He followed Christ, yet for dead Pan he sighed, Till earth and heaven met within his breast; As if Theocritus in Sicily Had come upon the Figure crucified And lost his gods in deep, Christ-given rest.

Collection: 
English
Maurice Francis Egan

More from Poet

  • The Shamrock

    When april rains make flowers bloom And Johnny-jump-ups come to light, And clouds of color and perfume Float from the orchards pink and white, I see my shamrock in the rain, An emerald spray with raindrops set, Like jewels on Spring’s coronet, So fair, and yet it breathes of pain. The...

  • The Old Violin

    Though tuneless, stringless, it lies there in dust, Like some great thought on a forgotten page; The soul of music cannot fade or rust,— The voice within it stronger grows with age; Its strings and bow are only trifling things— A master-touch!—its sweet soul wakes and sings.

  • He Made Us Free

    As flame streams upward, so my longing thought Flies up with Thee, Thou God and Saviour, who hast truly wrought Life out of death, and to us, loving, brought A fresh, new world; and in Thy sweet chains caught, And made us free! As hyacinths make way from out the dark, My...

  • Maurice de Guerin

    The old wine filled him, and he saw, with eyes Anoint of Nature, fauns and dryads fair Unseen by others; to him maidenhair And waxen lilacs, and those birds that rise A-sudden from tall reeds at slight surprise. Brought charmëd thoughts; and in earth everywhere He, like sad Jaques, found a music...