Song
I love all lovely things—
The dragon-fly’s wings,
The rainbow and the rain,
The light that comes again
Joyously like a smile,
When for a little while
God disposes the night elsewhere.
His sun is very fair,
I can catch it in my hair.
Look! It’s there! And there! And there!
Oh! the earth’s a lovely thing,
The mind of a Mighty King,
I cannot help but sing.
I cannot end my song,
God’s thought is very long.
Many years He took to make
The bracken in the brake;
He was a long time building
The fragrant yellow gilding
On the early poplar tree
When no eye was there to see.
The clouds, the atmosphere,
My breath, the water clear,
How fair and sweet they are!
Oh! hate was very far
From God’s divine intention
When these things He did mention;
When He canopied the earth
With cloud, and fire, and mirth;
When He set the privy shade
For the pheasant in the glade;
When He built the mossy nest
For the wren, His little guest;
When He taught the mind of man
By its love to find His plan.
For no one shall discover
His science, save the lover.
Oh! Life’s a lovely thing,
The mind of a Mighty King!
Emotion, will, desire,
Earth, water, air, and fire,
The elements intertwined,
With these He built the mind;
The love of green things growing,
The shadows they keep throwing
Across man’s fiery thought
Till they’re fused and merged and wrought
Into the liquid union
Of one divine communion
With God, Who made his college
An earthly place of knowledge.
I cannot help but sing,
Life’s such a lovely thing!
The catkin and the willow
God’s chosen for His pillow.
I wonder why He fashioned
A Beauty so impassioned;
I wonder why it matters
Which way the raindrop patters,
Or why a God should care
To give His creatures share
Of this delightful song.
His love must be very strong.
I cannot end my singing,
For still the starling’s winging
With a straw held in her beak
To build in the old tree-peak;
And still across the sky
The compacted clouds go by;
And when God thinks upon it
The lily’s yellow bonnet
Nid-nods delightfully
Beneath the walnut tree.
And clear, and still more clear,
In God’s mind I read and hear
That only Love shall learn
The wherefore of flower and fern,
That only Love alone
Shall live to be full-grown,
That merely Love and Wonder
Shall bring all Heaven hereunder.
[Towards the end of the song the brown-sailed fishing-boat
is seen approaching gradually under the rainbow.
As it draws near, Finn and the Big Young Hero
are seen in it with the puppy. It touches the shore,
at first unperceived of the girl. The Big Young Hero
leaps lightly from it, and helps Finn out.]
Finn
[Looking round bewildered.]
Hero
You have been here before.
Finn
Isn’t that the Bidean’s face?
[Pointing to the distant hills.]
Please tell me, for I can’t stand any more.
[He staggers, but the Hero puts an arm round him.]
There must be some mistake,
I seem
To be asleep and yet I am awake.
Is this a dream?
Hero
No, it is real.
Put up your hand and feel
Her face.
Climber
[Perceiving him, calls.]
The breakfast’s ready, I have set your place.
[Catching sight of Finn she puts her hand to her face
with a cry of amazed delight.]
It is the man I dreamed about last night!
I didn’t know! I’m looking such a sight!
I didn’t know that you would bring a guest.
[She puts her hand up to her head as if she were
going to fall, and the Hero puts his other arm
round her.]
I’ll be all right after a little rest.
What a beautiful rainbow!
[Pointing.]
I always knew the morning would be fine.
Finn
[Putting his hand up in amazement to find the box is gone.]
It’s mine!
How did it get up there?
Hero
You hoisted it on a prayer;
The Marksman’s left it in the sky to show
The right direction to the folk below.
The others are not very far behind;
Presently they will all be of your mind.
[He points to where, far off under the bow, the sails
of Conan’s boat are dimly visible on the horizon.]
Finn
[Wild with delight.]
Oh! I feel strong enough to turn the moon
Right round upon his other face,
And I feel ready now to sup
The stars up with a spoon.
Climber
[In an awed whisper, gazing at Finn.]
I only know I am aware
Of God for ever, everywhere.
Hero
[Who has still an arm round either, to Finn.]
It was the Gate of Heaven that you carried.
Now it is time that you and she were married.
Since I have found you strong enough to share
Her faith that I am more than quite all there,
Ask what you will, it shall be given you
As your reward. Tell me, what is your due?
Finn
[In a whisper.]
I am beginning now to understand!
Lord, I beseech, help Thou mine other hand.
Hero
[Leading the two forward to the table, he takes the
Climber’s hand and places it in Finn’s.]
It has spread breakfast in my house for two,
The other place was always meant for you;
I pray you, warm it at your hearth hereunder.
What I have joined let no man put asunder.
