The Gardener's Daughter; Or, The Pictures

This morning is the morning of the day,

When I and Eustace from the city went

To see the Gardener's Daughter; I and he,

Brothers in Art; a friendship so complete

Portion'd in halves between us, that we grew

The fable of the city where we dwelt.

      My Eustace might have sat for Hercules;

So muscular he spread, so broad of breast.

He, by some law that holds in love, and draws

The greater to the lesser, long desired

A certain miracle of symmetry,

A miniature of loveliness, all grace

Summ'd up and closed in little;—Juliet, she

So light of foot, so light of spirit—oh, she

To me myself, for some three careless moons,

The summer pilot of an empty heart

Unto the shores of nothing! Know you not

Such touches are but embassies of love,

To tamper with the feelings, ere he found

Empire for life? but Eustace painted her,

And said to me, she sitting with us then,

"When will you paint like this?" and I replied,

(My words were half in earnest, half in jest,)

"'Tis not your work, but Love's. Love, unperceived,

A more ideal Artist he than all,

Came, drew your pencil from you, made those eyes

Darker than darkest pansies, and that hair

More black than ashbuds in the front of March."

And Juliet answer'd laughing, "Go and see

The Gardener's daughter: trust me, after that,

You scarce can fail to match his masterpiece."

And up we rose, and on the spur we went.

      Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite

Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love.

News from the humming city comes to it

In sound of funeral or of marriage bells;

And, sitting muffled in dark leaves, you hear

The windy clanging of the minster clock;

Although between it and the garden lies

A league of grass, wash'd by a slow broad stream,

That, stirr'd with languid pulses of the oar,

Waves all its lazy lilies, and creeps on,

Barge-laden, to three arches of a bridge

Crown'd with the minster-towers.

                                                                                          The fields between

Are dewy-fresh, brows'd by deep-udder'd kine,

And all about the large lime feathers low,

The lime a summer home of murmurous wings.

      In that still place she, hoarded in herself,

Grew, seldom seen: not less among us lived

Her fame from lip to lip. Who had not heard

Of Rose, the Gardener's daughter? Where was he,

So blunt in memory, so old at heart,

At such a distance from his youth in grief,

That, having seen, forgot? The common mouth,

So gross to express delight, in praise of her

Grew oratory. Such a lord is Love,

And Beauty such a mistress of the world.

      And if I said that Fancy, led by Love,

Would play with flying forms and images,

Yet this is also true, that, long before

I look'd upon her, when I heard her name

My heart was like a prophet to my heart,

And told me I should love. A crowd of hopes,

That sought to sow themselves like winged seeds,

Born out of everything I heard and saw,

Flutter'd about my senses and my soul;

And vague desires, like fitful blasts of balm

To one that travels quickly, made the air

Of Life delicious, and all kinds of thought,

That verged upon them, sweeter than the dream

Dream'd by a happy man, when the dark East,

Unseen, is brightening to his bridal morn.

      And sure this orbit of the memory folds

For ever in itself the day we went

To see her. All the land in flowery squares,

Beneath a broad and equal-blowing wind,

Smelt of the coming summer, as one large cloud

Drew downward: but all else of Heaven was pure

Up to the Sun, and May from verge to verge,

And May with me from head to heel. And now,

As though 'twere yesterday, as though it were

The hour just flown, that morn with all its sound,

(For those old Mays had thrice the life of these,)

Rings in mine ears. The steer forgot to graze,

And, where the hedge-row cuts the pathway, stood,

Leaning his horns into the neighbour field,

And lowing to his fellows. From the woods

Came voices of the well-contented doves.

The lark could scarce get out his notes for joy,

But shook his song together as he near'd

His happy home, the ground. To left and right,

The cuckoo told his name to all the hills;

The mellow ouzel fluted in the elm;

The redcap whistled, and the nightingale

Sang loud, as though he were the bird of day.

      And Eustace turn'd, and smiling said to me,

"Hear how the bushes echo! by my life,

These birds have joyful thoughts. Think you they sing

Like poets, from the vanity of song?

Or have they any sense of why they sing?

And would they praise the heavens for what they have?"

And I made answer, "Were there nothing else

For which to praise the heavens but only love,

That only love were cause enough for praise."

      Lightly he laugh'd, as one that read my thought.

And on we went; but ere an hour had pass'd,

We reach'd a meadow slanting to the North;

Down which a well-worn pathway courted us

To one green wicket in a privet hedge;

This, yielding, gave into a grassy walk

Thro' crowded lilac-ambush trimly pruned;

And one warm gust, full-fed with perfume, blew

Beyond us, as we enter'd in the cool.

The garden stretches southward. In the midst

A cedar spread his dark-green layers of shade.

The garden-glasses shone, and momently

The twinkling laurel scatter'd silver lights.

      "Eustace," I said, "this wonder keeps the house."

He nodded, but a moment afterwards

He cried. "Look! look!" Before he ceased I turn'd,

And, ere a star can wink, beheld her there.

For up the porch there grew an Eastern rose,

That, flowering high, the last night's gale had caught,

And blown across the walk. One arm aloft—

Gown'd in pure white, that fitted to the shape—

Holding the bush, to fix it back, she stood.

A single stream of all her soft brown hair

Pour'd on one side: the shadow of the flowers

Stole all the golden gloss, and, wavering

Lovingly lower, trembled on her waist—

Ah, happy shade—and still went wavering down,

But, ere it touch'd a foot, that might have danced

The greensward into greener circles, dipt,

And mix'd with shadows of the common ground!

But the full day dwelt on her brows, and sunn'd

Her violet eyes, and all her Hebe-bloom,

And doubled his own warmth against her lips,

And on the bounteous wave of such a breast

As never pencil drew. Half light, half shade,

She stood, a sight to make an old man young.

      So rapt, we near'd the house; but she, a Rose

In roses, mingled with her fragrant toil,

Nor heard us come, nor from her tendance turn'd

Into the world without; till close at hand,

And almost ere I knew mine own intent,

This murmur broke the stillness of that air

Which brooded round about her:

                                                                                    "Ah, one rose,

One rose, but one, by those fair fingers cull'd,

Were worth a hundred kisses press'd on lips

Less exquisite than thine."

                                                                        She look'd: but all

Suffused with blushes—neither self-possess'd

Nor startled, but betwixt this mood and that,

Divided in a graceful quiet—paused,

And dropt the branch she held, and turning, wound

Her looser hair in braid, and stirr'd her lips

For some sweet answer, though no answer came,

Nor yet refused the rose, but granted it,

And moved away, and left me, statue-like,

In act to render thanks.

                                                                  I, that whole day,

Saw her no more, although I linger'd there

Till every daisy slept, and Love's white star

Beam'd thro' the thicken'd cedar in the dusk.

So home we went, and all the livelong way

With solemn gibe did Eustace banter me.

"Now," said he, "will you climb the top of Art.

You cannot fail but work in hues to dim

The Titianic Flora. Will you match

My Juliet? you, not you,—the Master, Love,

A more ideal Artist he than all."

      So home I went, but could not sleep for joy,

Reading her perfect features in the gloom,

Kissing the rose she gave me o'er and o'er,

And shaping faithful record of the glance

That graced the giving—such a noise of life

Swarm'd in the golden present, such a voice

Call'd to me from the years to come, and such

A length of bright horizon rimm'd the dark.

And all that night I heard the watchmen peal

The sliding season: all that night I heard

The heavy clocks knolling the drowsy hours.

The drowsy hours, dispensers of all good,

O'er the mute city stole with folded wings,

Distilling odours on me as they went

To greet their fairer sisters of the East.

Love at first sight, first-born, and heir to all,

Made this night thus. Henceforward squall nor storm

Could keep me from that Eden where she dwelt.

Light pretexts drew me: sometimes a Dutch love

For tulips; then for roses, moss or musk,

To grace my city-rooms; or fruits and cream

Served in the weeping elm; and more and more

A word could bring the colour to my cheek;

A thought would fill my eyes with happy dew;

Love trebled life within me, and with each

The year increased.

                                                      The daughters of the year,

One after one, thro' that still garden pass'd:

Each garlanded with her peculiar flower

Danced into light, and died into the shade;

And each in passing touch'd with some new grace

Or seem'd to touch her, so that day by day,

Like one that never can be wholly known,

Her beauty grew; till Autumn brought an hour

For Eustace, when I heard his deep "I will,"

Breathed, like the covenant of a God, to hold

From thence thro' all the worlds: but I rose up

Full of his bliss, and following her dark eyes

Felt earth as air beneath me, till I reach'd

The wicket-gate, and found her standing there.

      There sat we down upon a garden mound,

Two mutually enfolded; Love, the third,

Between us, in the circle of his arms

Enwound us both; and over many a range

Of waning lime the gray cathedral towers,

Across a hazy glimmer of the west,

Reveal'd their shining windows: from them clash'd

The bells; we listen'd; with the time we play'd;

We spoke of other things; we coursed about

The subject most at heart, more near and near,

Like doves about a dovecote, wheeling round

The central wish, until we settled there.

      Then, in that time and place, I spoke to her,

Requiring, though I knew it was mine own,

Yet for the pleasure that I took to hear,

Requiring at her hand the greatest gift,

A woman's heart, the heart of her I loved;

And in that time and place she answer'd me,

And in the compass of three little words.

More musical than ever came in one,

The silver fragments of a broken voice,

Made me most happy, lisping "I am thine."

      Shall I cease here? Is this enough to say

That my desire, like all strongest hopes,

By its own energy fulfill'd itself,

Merged in completion? Would you learn at full

How passion rose thro' circumstantial grades

Beyond all grades develop'd? and indeed

I had not staid so long to tell you all,

But while I mused came Memory with sad eyes,

Holding the folded annals of my youth;

And while I mused, Love with knit brows went by,

And with a flying finger swept my lips,

And spake, "Be wise: not easily forgiven

Are those, who setting wide the doors, that bar

The secret bridal chambers of the heart,

Let in the day." Here, then, my words have end.

      Yet might I tell of meetings, of farewells—

Of that which came between, more sweet than each,

In whispers, like the whispers of the leaves

That tremble round a nightingale—in sighs

Which perfect Joy, perplex'd for utterance,

Stole from her sister Sorrow. Might I not tell

Of difference, reconcilement, pledges given,

And vows, where there was never need of vows,

And kisses, where the heart on one wild leap

Hung tranced from all pulsation, as above

The heavens between their fairy fleeces pale

Sow'd all their mystic gulfs with fleeting stars;

Or while the balmy glooming, crescent-lit,

Spread the light haze along the river-shores,

And in the hollows; or as once we met

Unheedful, though beneath a whispering rain

Night slid down one long stream of sighing wind,

And in her bosom bore the baby, Sleep.

      But this whole hour your eyes have been intent

On that veil'd picture—veil'd, for what it holds

May not be dwelt on by the common day.

This prelude has prepared thee. Raise thy soul

Make thine heart ready with thine eyes: the time

Is come to raise the veil.

Behold her there,

As I beheld her ere she knew my heart,

My first, last love; the idol of my youth,

The darling of my manhood, and, alas!

Now the most blessed memory of mine age.