| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
| |
| Karma |
| | | William Canton (b. 1845) |
| |
| |
| IN the heart of the white summer mist lay a green little piece of the world; | |
| And the tops of the beeches were lost in the mist, and the mist ringed us round; | |
| All the low leaves were silvered with dew, and the herbage with dew was impearled; | |
| And the turmoil of life was but vaguely divined through the mist as a sound. | |
| |
| In the heart of the mist there was warmth, for the soil full of sun was aglow, | 5 |
| Like a fruit when it colors,—and fragrance from flowers, and a scent from the soil; | |
| And a lamb in the grass, in the flowers, in the dew, nibbled, whiter than snow; | |
| And the white summer mist was a fold for us both against sorrow and toil. | |
| |
| From the fields in the mist came a bleating, a sound as of longing and need: | |
| But the lamb from the grass in its little green heaven never lifted its head: | 10 |
| It was innocent, whiter than snow; it was glad in the flowers, took no heed; | |
| But the sound from the fields in the mist made me grieve as for one that is dead. | |
| |
| And behold! ’t was a dream I had dreamed, and a voice made me wake with a start, | |
| Saying: “Hark! once again in the flesh shall ye twain live your life for a span; | |
| But since whiteness of snow is as nought in mine eyes without pity of heart, | 15 |
| Lo! the lamb shall be born as a wolf, with a wolf’s heart, but thou as a man!” | |
| |
|
|
|
