ENOCH ARDEN.

 

Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm;

And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands;

Beyond, red roofs about a narrow wharf

In cluster; then a moulder’d church; and higher

A long street climbs to one tall-tower’d mill;          5

And high in heaven behind it a gray down

With Danish barrows; and a hazelwood,

By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes

Green in a cuplike hollow of the down.

 

  Here on this beach a hundred years ago,          10

Three children of three houses, Annie Lee,

The prettiest little damsel in the port,

And Philip Ray the miller’s only son,

And Enoch Arden, a rough sailor’s lad

Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play’d          15

Among the waste and lumber of the shore,

Hard coils of cordage, swarthy fishing-nets,

Anchors of rusty fluke, and boats updrawn;

And built their castles of dissolving sand

To watch them overflow’d, or following up          20

And flying the white breaker, daily left

The little footprint daily wash’d away.

 

  A narrow cave ran in beneath the cliff:

In this the children play’d at keeping house.

Enoch was host one day, Philip the next,          25

While Annie still was mistress; but at times

Enoch would hold possession for a week:

‘This is my house and this my little wife.’

‘Mine too,’ said Philip ‘turn and turn about:’

When, if they quarrell’d, Enoch stronger-made          30

Was master: then would Philip, his blue eyes

All flooded with the helpless wrath of tears,

Shriek out ‘I hate you, Enoch,’ and at this

The little wife would weep for company,

And pray them not to quarrel for her sake,          35

And say she would be little wife to both.

 

  But when the dawn of rosy childhood past,

And the new warmth of life’s ascending sun

Was felt by either, either fixt his heart

On that one girl; and Enoch spoke his love,          40

But Philip loved in silence; and the girl

Seem’d kinder unto Philip than to him;

But she loved Enoch; tho’ she knew it not,

And would if asked deny it. Enoch set

A purpose evermore before his eyes,          45

To hoard all savings to the uttermost,

To purchase his own boat, and make a home

For Annie: and so prosper’d that at last

A luckier or a bolder fisherman,

A carefuller in peril, did not breathe          50

For leagues along that breaker-beaten coast

Than Enoch. Likewise had he served a year

On board a merchantman, and made himself

Full sailor; and he thrice had pluck’d a life

From the dread sweep of the downstreaming seas:          55

And all men look’d upon him favourably:

And ere he touch’d his one and-twentieth May

He purchased his own boat, and made a home

For Annie, neat and nest-like, halfway up

The narrow street that clamber’d toward the mill.          60

 

  Then, on a golden autumn eventide,

The younger people making holiday,

With bag and sack and basket, great and small

Went nutting to the hazels. Philip stay’d

(His father lying sick and needing him)          65

An hour behind; but as he climbed the hill,

Just where the prone edge of the wood began

To feather toward the hollow, saw the pair,

Enoch and Annie, sitting hand-in-hand,

His large gray eyes and weather-beaten face          70

All kindled by a still and sacred fire,

That burn’d as on an altar. Philip look’d,

And in their eyes and faces read his doom;

Then, as their faces drew together, groan’d;

And slipt aside, and like a wounded life          75

Crept down into the hollows of the wood;

There, while the rest were loud in merrymaking,

Had his dark hour unseen, and rose and past

Bearing a lifelong hunger in his heart.

 

  So these were wed, and merrily rang the bells,          80

And merrily ran the years, seven happy years,

Seven happy years of health and competence,

And mutual love and honourable toil;

With children; first a daughter. In him woke,

With his first babe’s first cry, the noble wish          85

To save all earnings to the uttermost,

And give his child a better bringing up

Than his had been, or hers; a wish renew’d,

When two years after came a boy to be

The rosy idol of her solitudes,          90

While Enoch was abroad on wrathful seas,

Or often journeying landward; for in truth

Enoch’s white horse, and Enoch’s ocean-spoil

In ocean-smelling osier and his face,

Rough-redden’d with a thousand winter gales,          95

Not only to the market-cross were known,

But in the leafy lanes behind the down,

Far as the portal-warding lion-whelp,

And peacock-yewtree of the lonely Hall,

Whose Friday fare was Enoch’s ministering.          100

 

  Then came a change, as all things human change.

Ten miles to northward of the narrow port

Open’d a larger haven: thither used

Enoch at times to go by land or sea;

And once when there, and clambering on a mast          105

In harbour, by mischance he slipt and fell:

A limb was broken when they lifted him;

And while he lay recovering there, his wife

Bore him another son, a sickly one:

Another hand crept too across his trade          110

Taking her bread and theirs: and on him fell,

Altho’ a grave and staid God-fearing man,

Yet lying thus inactive, doubt and gloom.

He seem’d, as in a nightmare of the night,

To see his children leading evermore          115

Low miserable lives of hand-to-mouth,

And her, he loved, a beggar: then he pray’d

‘Save them from this, whatever comes to me.’

And while he pray’d, the master of that ship

Enoch had served in, hearing his mischance,          120

Came, for he knew the man and valued him,

Reporting of his vessel China-bound,

And wanting yet a boatswain. Would he go?

There yet were many weeks before she sail’d,

Sail’d from this port. Would Enoch have the place?          125

And Enoch all at once assented to it,

Rejoicing at that answer to his prayer.

 

  So now that shadow of mischance appear’d

No graver than as when some little cloud

Cuts off the fiery highway of the sun,          130

And isles a light in the offing: yet the wife—

When he was gone—the children—what to do?

Then Enoch lay long-pondering on his plans;

To sell the boat—and yet he loved her well—

How many a rough sea had he weathered in her!          135

He knew her, as a horseman knows his horse—

And yet to sell her—then with what she brought

Buy goods and stores—set Annie forth in trade

With all that seamen needed or their wives—

So might she keep the house while he was gone.          140

Should he not trade himself out yonder? go

This voyage more than once? yea, twice or thrice—

As oft as needed—last, returning rich,

Become the master of a larger craft,

With fuller profits lead an easier life,          145

Have all his pretty young ones educated,

And pass his days in peace among his own.

 

  Thus Enoch in his heart determined all:

Then moving homeward came on Annie pale,

Nursing the sickly babe, her latest-born.          150

Forward she started with a happy cry,

And laid the feeble infant in his arms;

Whom Enoch took, and handled all his limbs,

Appraised his weight and fondled fatherlike,

But had no heart to break his purposes          155

To Annie, till the morrow, when he spoke.

 

  Then first since Enoch’s golden ring had girt

Her finger, Annie fought against his will:

Yet not with brawling opposition she,

But manifold entreaties, many a tear,          160

Many a sad kiss by day or night renew’d

(Sure that all evil would come out of it)

Besought him, supplicating, if he cared

For her or his dear children, not to go.

He not for his own self caring but her,          165

Her and her children, let her plead in vain;

So grieving held his will, and bore it thro.’

 

  For Enoch parted with his old sea-friend,

Bought Annie goods and stores, and set his hand

To fit their little streetward sitting-room          170

With shelf and corner for the goods and stores.

So all day long till Enoch’s last at home,

Shaking their pretty cabin, hammer and axe,

Auger and saw, while Annie seem’d to hear

Her own death-scaffold raising, shrill’d and rang          175

Till this was ended, and his careful hand,—

The space was narrow,—having order’d all

Almost as neat and close as nature packs

Her blossom or her seedling, paused; and he,

Who needs would work for Annie to the last,          180

Ascending tired, heavily slept till morn.

 

  And Enoch faced this morning of farewell

Brightly and boldly. All his Annie’s fears,

Save as his Annie’s, were a laughter to him.

Yet Enoch as a brave God-fearing man          185

Bow’d himself down, and in that mystery

Where God-in-man is one with man-in-God,

Pray’d for a blessing on his wife and babes

Whatever came to him: and then he said

‘Annie, this voyage by the grace of God          190

Will bring fair weather yet to all of us.

Keep a clean hearth and a clear fire for me,

For I’ll be back, my girl, before you know it.’

Then lightly rocking baby’s cradle ‘and he,

This pretty, puny, weakly little one,—          195

Nay—for I love him all the better for it—

God bless him, he shall sit upon my knees

And I will tell him tales of foreign parts,

And make him merry, when I come home again.

Come Annie, come, cheer up before I