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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7be827e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #56326 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56326) diff --git a/old/56326-0.txt b/old/56326-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3294328..0000000 --- a/old/56326-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10977 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 (of 5), by -Madison Cawein - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 (of 5) - -Author: Madison Cawein - -Illustrator: Eric Pape - -Release Date: January 7, 2018 [EBook #56326] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Jane Robins and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - - +----------------------------------------------------+ - | Note: | - | | - | _ around word indicated italics _Accolon of Gaul_ | - +----------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - - THE POEMS OF [Illustration] - MADISON CAWEIN - - VOLUME IV - - POEMS OF MYSTERY AND OF - MYTH AND ROMANCE - -[Illustration] - -[Illustration: - - Around him mermaids sing, foam-clad Page 168 - - _The Sea King_ -] - - - - - THE POEMS OF - MADISON CAWEIN - - _Volume IV_ - - POEMS OF MYSTERY - AND OF MYTH AND - ROMANCE - - - _Illustrated_ - WITH PHOTOGRAVURES AFTER PAINTINGS - BY ERIC PAPE - - - INDIANAPOLIS - THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - - COPYRIGHT 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1896, - 1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1905 AND 1907, BY - MADISON CAWEIN - - COPYRIGHT 1896, BY COPELAND AND DAY; 1898, BY - R. H. RUSSELL - - - PRESS OF - BRAUNWORTH & CO. - BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS - BROOKLYN, N. Y. - - - - -TO MY MOTHER - - - - -CONTENTS - - - POEMS OF MYSTERY PAGE - - ASHLY MERE 92 - - AT DAWN 84 - - AT MIDNIGHT 118 - - BEFORE THE TOMB 40 - - CHANGELING, THE 140 - - CHILDREN O' THE MOON 177 - - CITY OF DARKNESS, THE 110 - - DANCE OF THE FAIRIES, THE 136 - - ELF-QUEEN, THE 142 - - ELF SWASHBUCKLER, AN 147 - - ELIXIR OF LOVE, THE 9 - - EPILOGUE 218 - - FAERY MORRIS 163 - - FLAMENCINE 42 - - FOREST OF DREAMS, THE 108 - - GHOSTS 116 - - GLADIOLES, THE 158 - - GLAMOUR 161 - - GLORAMONE 14 - - GRAMARYE 122 - - HALL OF DARKNESS, THE 209 - - HAUNTED 1 - - HAUNTED ROOM, THE 202 - - HEADLESS HORSEMAN, THE 94 - - HILDEGARD 44 - - IMAGE IN THE GLASS, THE 22 - - IN AN OLD GARDEN 200 - - IN SHADOW 87 - - IN THE OWL-LIGHT 89 - - INTIMATIONS 187 - - KU KLUX 82 - - LEGEND OF THE STONE, THE 25 - - LITTLE PEOPLE, THE 165 - - MERMAID, THE 173 - - MIRROR, THE 206 - - MORNING-GLORIES, THE 156 - - MOTIVE IN GOLD AND GRAY, A 180 - - NEREID, THE 171 - - NIXIES, THE 152 - - OLD HOUSE, THE 106 - - OLD HOUSE BY THE MERE, THE 197 - - ON FLOYD'S FORK 33 - - ON MIDSUMMER NIGHT 132 - - ON THE EVE OF ST. JOHN 149 - - PRÆTERITA 85 - - REED SHAKEN WITH THE WIND, A 52 - - REMBRANDTS 114 - - REVISITED 104 - - ROMAUNT OF THE OAK 47 - - RUINED MILL, THE 29 - - SEA-KING, THE 168 - - SEA SPIRIT, THE 98 - - SELF AND SOUL 194 - - SONG OF THE ELF 145 - - STREET OF GHOSTS, A 37 - - THAT HOUR 216 - - THAT NIGHT 119 - - THE MOTH, THE ROSE, AND THE PINK 160 - - THERE ARE FAIRIES 129 - - TIGER-LILY, THE 159 - - UNDER DARK SKIES 112 - - VAMPIRE, THE 100 - - WATER-FAIRY, THE 154 - - WEREWOLF, THE 96 - - WHAT DREAMS MAY COME 214 - - WILL-O'-THE-WISP 102 - - WOMAN BY THE WATER, THE 35 - - WOMAN'S PORTION 78 - - WORLD OF FAERY, THE 125 - - -POEMS OF MYTH AND ROMANCE - - APHRODITE 248 - - APOLLO 269 - - ARTEMIS 244 - - BEFORE THE TEMPLE 240 - - BEAUTY AND ART 313 - - DEMETER 253 - - DIONYSIA 278 - - DIONYSOS 256 - - DITHYRAMBICS 289 - - DOLCE FAR NIENTE 334 - - DREAM OF RODERICK, THE 350 - - FAUN, THE 267 - - FIELD AND FOREST CALL 328 - - FOREST IDYLL, A 364 - - GARGAPHIE 264 - - GENIUS LOCI 286 - - GLOW-WORM, THE 360 - - HARVEST MOON, THE 326 - - HYMN TO DESIRE 295 - - JOTUNHEIM 273 - - LAND OF ILLUSION, THE 340 - - LAST SONG, THE 347 - - LETHE 233 - - LIMNAD, THE 237 - - MEMORY, A 332 - - MYTH AND ROMANCE 227 - - NAIAD, THE 235 - - NYMPH AND FAUN 299 - - OLD HOMES 33 - - OLD WATER-MILL, THE 315 - - PAGAN 311 - - PAPHIAN VENUS, THE 260 - - PARTING OF LEANDER AND HERO 301 - - PERSEPHONE 250 - - PROCESSIONAL 372 - - PROEM 225 - - PURPLE VALLEYS, THE 338 - - RAIN-CROW, THE 323 - - REVERIE 230 - - RUE-ANEMONE, THE 242 - - SPIRIT OF DREAMS 370 - - SPIRIT OF THE FOREST SPRING, THE 305 - - TO A PANSY-VIOLET 307 - - UNDER THE ROSE 367 - - VINE AND SYCAMORE 283 - - ZYPS OF ZIRL 355 - - -SONG AND STORY - - AT THE SIGN OF THE SKULL 416 - - AT VESPERS 438 - - CUP OF JOY, THE 423 - - DUM VIVIMUS 418 - - END OF ALL, THE 429 - - END OF THE CENTURY, THE 405 - - FAILURE 420 - - HIEROGLYPHS 391 - - INDIAN LEGEND, AN 383 - - ISLE OF VOICES, THE 410 - - JOHN DAVIS, BOUCANIER 385 - - LA JEUNESSE ET LA MORT 426 - - LEGEND OF A LILY, A 401 - - LOVE AND LOSS 428 - - ROSE O' THE HILLS, A 431 - - SONG AND STORY 379 - - STUDY IN GRAY, A 435 - - TO HARRISON S. MORRIS 377 - - VOYAGERS 389 - - WATCHER, THE 415 - - WHITE VIGIL, THE 433 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - AROUND HIM MERMAIDS SING - FOAM-CLAD (See page 168) _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - - STARED AND WHISPERED AND SMILED AND WEPT - (See page 49) 124 - - THAT REED-SLENDER GIRL WHOM PAN PURSUED 242 - - - - -PROEM - - - _Not while I live may I forget - That garden which my spirit trod! - Where dreams were flowers, wild and wet, - And beautiful as God._ - - _Not while I breathe, awake, adream, - Shall live again for me those hours, - When, in its mystery and gleam, - I met her 'mid the flowers._ - - _Eyes, talismanic heliotrope, - Beneath mesmeric lashes, where - The sorceries of love and hope - Had made a shining lair._ - - _And daydawn brows, whereover hung - The twilight of dark locks; wild birds, - Her lips, that spoke the rose's tongue - In fragrance-voweled words._ - - _I will not speak of cheeks and chin, - That held me as sweet language holds; - Nor of the eloquence within - Her breasts' twin-moonéd molds._ - - _Nor of her body's languorous - Wind-grace, that glanced like starlight through - Her clinging robe's diaphanous - Web of the mist and dew._ - - _There is no star so pure and high - As was her look; no fragrance such - As her soft presence; and no sigh - Of music like her touch._ - - _Not while I live may I forget - That garden of dim dreams, where I - And Song within the spirit met, - Sweet Song, who passed me by._ - - - - -POEMS OF MYSTERY - - - - -HAUNTED - - -I - - Without a moon when night comes on - There is a sighing in its trees - As of sad lips that no one sees; - And the far-dwindling forest, large - Beyond fenced fields, seems shadowy drawn - Into its shadows. Faint and wan, - By the wistariaed portico - Stealing, I go - Through gardens where the weeds are rank: - Where, here and there, in clump and bank, - Spiræas rise, whose dotted blooms - Seem clustered starlight; and the four - Syringas sweet heap, powdered o'er, - Thin flower-beakers of perfumes; - And the dead flowering-almond tree, - That once was pink as her young cheek, - Now withered leans within the glooms.-- - Why must I walk here? seek and seek - Her, long since gone?--Still bower on bower - The roses climb in blushing flower.-- - Ah, 'mid the roses could I see - Her eyes, her sad eyes, shine like flowers, - Or like the dew that lies for hours - Within their hearts, then it might be - I might find comfort here, although - Wistful, as if reproaching me, - Her sad eyes look, saying what none may know. - - -II - - When midnight comes it brings a moon: - A scent is strewn - Of honey and wild-thorns broadcast - Beneath the stars. When I have passed - Under dark cedars, solemn pines, - Through dodder-drowned petunias, - Corn-flower and the columbine, - To where azaleas, choked with grass, - And peonies, like great wisps, shine, - I reach banked honeysuckle vines, - Piled deep and trammeled with the gourd - And morning-glory--one wild hoard - Of rich aroma--where the seat, - The rustic bench, where oft we sat,-- - Now warped and old with rain and heat,-- - Still stands upon its mossy mat: - And here I rest; and then--a word - I seem to hear; - A soft word whispered in my ear; - Her voice it seems; no thing is near; - I look around:--I have but heard - The plaintive note of some lost bird - Trickle through night,--awakened where, - 'Neath its thick lair of twisted twigs, - The jarring and incessant grigs - Hum:--dream-drugged so, the haunted air - Makes all my soul as heavy as - Dew-poppied grass. - - -III - - Once when the moon rose, fair and full,-- - Like some sea-seen Hesperian pool, - A splash of gold through tangling trees,-- - Or like the Island beautiful - Of Avalon in haunted seas,-- - There came a sighing in the trees - As of sad lips; there was no breeze, - And yet sad sighings shook the trees. - And when, all in a mystic space, - Her orb swam, amiable white, - Right in that shattered casement, by - The broken porch the creepers lace, - Born of a moonbeam and a sigh, - I saw _her_ face, - Pale through a mist of tears; so slight, - So immaterial, ah me! - In pensiveness, and vanished grace, - 'Twas like an olden melody. - - -IV - - I know long-angled on its floors, - Where windows face the anxious east, - The moonshine pours - White squares of glitter and, at least, - Gives glimmer to its whispering halls: - Its corridors, - Sleep-tapestried, are guled with bars - Of moonlight: by its wasted walls - Crouch shadows: and,--where streaked dusts lay - Their undisturbed, deep gray - Upon its stairs,--dim, vision-footed, glide - Faint gossamer gleams, like visible sighs, - As to and fro, athwart the skies,-- - Wind-swung against the moon outside,-- - The twisted branches sway - Of one great tree; I stand below, - And listen now, - Hearing a murmur come and go - Through its gnarled boughs; remembering how - Shady this chestnut made her room, - And sweet, in June, with plumes of bloom; - And how the broad and gusty flues - Of the old house sang when the rain let loose - Its winds, and each flue seemed a hoarse, - Sonorous throat, filled with the storm's wild boom, - And growled carousal; goblin tunes - The hylas pipe to rainy moons - Of March; or, in the afternoons - Of summer, singing in their course,-- - Where blossoms drip,--all wet of back,-- - The crickets drone in avenues - Of locusts leading to the gate. - And in the dark here where I wait - Meseems I hear the silence creep - And crepitate - From hall to hall; as one in sleep - I hear, yet hear not; feel that there - Her soul walks, waking on each stair - Strange echoes; and the stealthy crack - Of old and warping floors: I seem - To follow her; and in a dream - To see, yet see not; in the black - That drapes each room, my mind informs - With shapes, that hide behind each door - And fling from closets phantom arms. - - -V - - I see her face, as once before, - Bewildered with its terror, pressed - To the dark, polished floor; distressed, - Clasped in her blind and covering hands; - So desolate with anguish, wrenched - With wild remorse, no man could see, - Could see and turn away like me, - No man that sees and understands - Love and its mortal agony. - Again, like some automaton, - Part of that ghostly tragedy, - Myself I see, the fool who fled, - Who sneered and fled. And then again - Came stealing back. Again, with blenched - And bending face I stand, and clenched - And icy hands, and staring eyes, - Looking upon her face, as wan - As water; eyes all wide with pain; - Cramped to dilation, packed with loss: - Again I seem to lean across - The years, and hear my heart's deep groan - Above the young gold of her head, - Above that huddled heap alone,-- - Her, white and dead. - - -VI - - Yes, there is moan - Of lamentation and hushed screams - In all its crannies; and sad shades - Haunt all its rooms, the moonlight braids, - With melancholy. Slow have flown - The weary years: and I have known - An anguish and remorse far worse - Than usual life's; and live, it seems, - Because to live is but a curse.... - - -VII - - There she lies buried; there! that ground - Gated with rusty iron, where - She and her stanch forefathers sleep; - So old, the turf scarce shows a mound; - So gray, you scarce distinguish there - A headstone where the ivies creep - And myrtles bloom. A wall of stone - Squares it around; a place for dreams; - A mossy spot of sorrow;--lone, - Nay, lonelier, wilder now it seems, - Though just the same: its roses waste - Their petals there as oft of yore; - Their placid petals, as before; - Pale, pensive petals: yonder some - Lie faint as puffs of foam - Within the moonlight, dimly traced - Beneath the boughs; some few are strown - On the usurping weeds, great grown - Around her tomb, on which two dead leaves lie.... - Here let my sick heart break and die - Amid their wiltings, on her grave, - Here in her dim, old burying-ground - The druid cedars guard around - And roses and wild thorns. Alone - She shall not lie! Ah, let me moan - My life out here where rose-leaves fall, - And rest by her who was my all! - - - - -THE ELIXIR OF LOVE - - - He held it possible that he - Who idolizes one that's dead, - With that strange liquid instantly - Might raise them, living red: - And so he thought, "'Tis mine at last - To live and love the love that's past; - The joy without the grief and pain. - The dead shall live and love again." - - For he had loved one till for him - Her face had grown his spirit-part: - Though dead, she seemed to him less dim - Than men in street and mart. - He labored on; for, truth to say, - In toil alone his pleasure lay, - His art, through which, sometime, he thought, - Back to his arms she would be brought. - - He kept such trysts as phantoms keep, - Pale distances about his soul; - And moved like one who walks asleep, - Attaining no sure goal: - Yet blither than a younger heart - At crucible and glass retort - He labored; for his love was prism - To irisate toil's egoism. - - He drained wan draughts from out a cup, - A globe of vague and flaming gold, - Held from the darkness, brimming up, - By something white and cold, - That wreathed faint fingers round its brim, - Slim flakes of foam; and, soft and dim, - Stooped out of fiery-bound abysses - To print his brow with icy kisses. - - At last within his trembling hand - An ancient flask burnt, starry rose; - A liquid flame of ruby fanned, - Heart-like, with crimson throes: - And in the liquid, like a flower, - A starlike face bloomed for an hour, - Then slowly faded to a skull - With eyes that mocked the beautiful. - - 'Though all his life had been so strange, - Yet stranger now it seemed to be;-- - What was it led him forth to range - 'Mid graves and mystery? - What led him to that one dim tomb, - Where he could read within the gloom - The name of one who lay within - With all of silence, naught of sin? - - Untainted, so it seemed, and made - By death's cold kisses still more fair, - He found her; raised her; softly laid - Her raven depths of hair - Upon his shoulder: and the pearls, - Around her neck and in her curls, - Less pale were than the kingly calm - Upon his face that showed no qualm. - - And through the night, beneath the moon, - Across the windy hill, the gloom - Of forests where the leaves lay strewn, - He brought her to his room: - And in the awfulness of death, - That filled her wide eyes with its breath, - He set her in a carven chair - Where the still moon could kiss her hair. - - One moment then he paused to think: - Then to her lips, all drawn and dead, - His strange elixir pressed and--"Drink! - Drink life and love!" he said. - And it--it drank; the dead drank slow: - And in its eyes there came a glow: - Yet still as stone its body sate, - With eyes of hell and lips of hate. - - Still as fall-frozen ice its face, - And thin its voice as drizzled rain, - When in its rotting silk and lace - It rose and lived again: - Its bosom moved not while it spake; - Nor moved its lips; and half awake - Its eyes seemed with enchanted sleep - A century long in night's old keep. - - And, stooping o'er, it whispered low-- - A sound like a vibrating wire, - Or like the hiss of falling snow - In flutterings faint of fire:-- - "In me, behold, you see your toil! - In me your love! A thing to coil - Around your life thus!--Make entire!-- - The demon of your dead desire!" - - And where, before, was quietness, - Was violence of hate and evil-- - Yet all its form seemed passionless, - A corpse that held a devil!... - But who shall say the hands were its - That made within his throat these pits?-- - They found him dead; and by him, one - Who clasped him close, a skeleton. - - - - -GLORAMONE - - - The moonbeams on the hollies glow - Pale where she left me; and the snow - Lies bleak in moonshine on the graves, - Ribbed with each gust that shakes and waves - Ancestral cedars by her tomb.... - - She lay so beautiful in death, - My Gloramone,--whose loveliness - Death had not dimmed with all its doom,-- - That, urged by my divine distress, - I sought her sepulchre: the gloom, - The iciness that takes the breath, - The sense of fear, were not too strong - To keep me from beholding long. - - I stole into its sorrow; burst, - With what I know was hand accursed, - Its seal, the gated silence of - Her old armorial tomb: but love - Had sighed sweet romance to my heart; - And here, I thought, another part - Our souls would play. I did not start - When indistinctness of pale lips - Breathed on my hair; faint finger-tips - Fluttered their starlight on my brow; - When on my eyes, I knew not whence, - Vague kisses fell: then, like a vow, - Within my heart, an aching sense - Of vampire winning. And I heard - Her name slow-syllabled--a word - Of haunting harmony--and then - Low-whispered, "Thou! at last, 'tis thou!" - And sighs of shadowy lips again. - - How madly strange that this should be! - For, had she loved me here on Earth, - It had not then been marvelous - That she should now remember me, - Returning love for love, though worth - Less, yes, far less to both of us. - And so I wondered, listening there: - How was it that her soul was brought - So near to mine now, whom in life - She hated so? And everywhere - About my life I thought and thought - And found no reason why her love - Should now be mine. We were at strife - Forever here; her hatred drove - Me to despair: I cast my glove - Into the frowning face of fate, - And lost her. Yea, it was her hate - That made her Appolonio's wife. - Her hate! her lovely hate!--for of - Her naught I found unlovely;--and - I felt she did not understand - My passion, and 'twere well to wait. - - And now I felt her presence near, - I, full of life; yet knew no fear - There in the sombre silence, mark. - And it was dark, yes, deadly dark: - But when I slowly drew away - The pall, death modeled with her face,-- - From her fair form it fell and lay - Rich in the dust,--the shrouded place - Was glittering daggered by the spark - Of one wild ruby at her throat, - Red-arrowed as a star with throbs - Of pulsing flame. And note on note - The night seemed filled with tenuous sobs - Of fire that flickered from that stone, - That, lustrous, lay against her throat, - Large as her eyes, and shadowy. - And standing by the dead alone - I marveled not that this should be. - The essence of an hundred stars, - Of fretful crimson, through and through - Its bezels beat, when, bending down - My hot lips pressed her mouth. And scars, - Aurora-scarlet, veiny blue, - Flame-hearted, blurred the midnight; and - The vault rang; and I felt a hand - Like fire in mine. And, lo, a frown - Broke up her face as gently as - The surface of a fountain's glass - A zephyr moves, that jolts the grass - Spilling its rain-drops. When this passed, - Through song-soft slumber, binding fast, - Slow smiles dreamed outward beautiful; - And with each smile I heard the dull - Deep music of her heart, and saw, - As by some necromantic law, - Faint tremblings of a lubric light - Flush her white temples and her throat: - And each long pulse was as a note, - That, gathering, like a strong surprise - With all of happiness, made sweet - With dim carnation in wild wise - The arch of her pale lips, and beat - Like moonlight from her head to feet. - I bent and kissed her once again: - And with that kiss it seemed that pain, - Which long had ached beneath her smile - And eyelids, vanished. In a while - I saw she breathed. Then, wondrous white, - Fair as she was before she died, - She rose upon the bier; a sight - To marvel at, whose truth belied - All fiction. Yet I saw her eyes - Grow wide unto my kiss,--like skies - Of starless dawn.--And all the fire - Of that dark ruby at her throat - Around her presence seemed to float, - A mist of rose, wherein like light - She moved, or music exquisite. - - What followed then I scarcely know: - All I remember is, I caught - Her hand; and from the tomb I brought - Her beautiful: and o'er the snow, - Where moonbeams on the hollies glow, - I led her. But her feet no print - Left of their nakedness, no dint, - No faintest trace in frost. I thought, - "The moonlight fills them with its glow, - So soft they fall; or 'tis the snow - Covers them o'er!--the tomb was black, - And--this strong light blinds!"--Turning back - My eyes met hers; and as I turned, - Flashing centupled facets, burned - That ruby at her throat; and I - Studied its beauty for a while: - How came it there, and when, and why? - Who set it at her throat? Again, - Was it a ruby?--Pondering, - I stood and gazed. A far, strange smile - Filled all her face, and as with pain - I seemed to hear her speak, or sing, - These words, that meant not anything, - Yet more than any words may mean: - "Thy blood it is," she said; then sighed: - "See where thy heart's blood beateth! here - Thy heart's blood, that my lips did drain - In life; I live by still, unseen, - Long as thy passion shall remain.-- - Canst thou behold and have no fear?-- - Yea, if I am not dead, 'tis thou!-- - Look how thy heart's blood flashes now!-- - Blood of my life and soul, beat on! - Beat on! and fill my veins with dawn; - And heat the heart of me, his bride!" - And then she leaned against me, eyed - Like some white serpent, strangely still, - That binds one with its glittering stare, - That at wild stars hath gazed until - Its eyes have learned their golden glare. - - And then I took her by the wrists - And drew her to me. Faintly felt - The shadow of her hair, whose mists - Were twilight-deep and dimly smelt - Of shroud and sepulchre. And she - Smiled on me with such sorcery - As well might win a soul from God - To Hell and torments. And I trod - On white enchantments and was long - A song and harp-string to a song, - Love's battle in my blood. And there, - Kissing her mouth, all unaware - The ruby loosened at her throat, - And, ere I wist, hung o'er my hand, - And on the brink I seemed to stand - Of something that cried out, "Admire - The beauty of this gem of fire, - Its witchcraft and its workmanship." - Then from her throat it seemed to slip, - And, in the hollow of my hand, - A rosy spasm, a bubble-boat - Of living flame, it seemed to float; - A fretful fire; a heart, fierce fanned - Of red convulsions. Like a brand, - A blaze, it touched me; seemed to run - Like fever through my pulses, swift, - Of torrid poison. One by one, - Now burning ice, now freezing sun, - I felt my veins swell. Then I felt - My palm brim up and overflow - With blood that, beads of oozing glow, - Dripped, drop by drop, upon the snow, - Like holly-berries on the snow. - - Then something darkly seemed to melt - Within me, and I heard a sigh - So like a moan, 'twas as if years - Of anguish bore it; and the sky - Swam near me as when seen through tears-- - And she was gone.... In ghostly gloom - Of dark, scarred pines a crumbling tomb - Loomed like a mist. Carved in its stone, - Above the grated portal deep, - Glimmered this legend:-- - - "Let her sleep, - Crowned with dim death, our lovely one, - Known here on Earth as Gloramone. - Our hearts bow down by her and weep, - And one sits weeping all alone." - - - - -THE IMAGE IN THE GLASS - - -I - - The slow reflection of a woman's face - Grew, as by witchcraft, in the oval space - Of that strange glass on which the moon looked in:-- - As cruel as death beneath the auburn hair - The dark eyes burned; and, o'er the faultless chin,-- - Evil as night, yet as the daybreak fair,-- - Rose-red and sensual smiled the mouth of sin. - - -II - - The glorious throat and shoulders and, twin crests - Of snow, the splendid beauty of the breasts, - Filled soul and body with the old desire.-- - Daughter of darkness! how could this thing be? - You, whom I loathed! for whom my heart's fierce fire - Had burnt to ashes of satiety! - You, who had sunk my soul in crime's red mire! - - -III - - How came your image there? and in that room! - Where she, the all-adored, my life's sweet bloom, - Died poisoned! She, my scarcely one week's bride-- - Yes, poisoned by a gift you sent to her, - Thinking her death would win me to your side. - It won me; yes! but.... Well, it made some stir-- - By your own hand, I think, they said you died. - - -IV - - Time passed. And then--was it the curse of crime, - That night of nights, which forced my feet to climb - To that locked bridal-room?--'Twas midnight when - A longing, like to madness, mastered me, - Compelled me to that chamber, which for ten - Long years was sealed: a dark necessity - To gaze upon--I knew not what again. - - -V - - Love's ghost, perhaps. Or, in the curvature - Of that orbed mirror, something that might cure - The ache in me--some message, said perchance - Of her dead loveliness,--which once it glassed,-- - That might repeat again my lost romance - In momentary pictures of the past, - While in its depths her image swam in trance. - - -VI - - I did not dream to see the soulless eyes - Of _you_ I hated; nor the lips where lies - And kisses curled: _your_ features,--that were tuned - To all demonic,--smiling up as might - Some deep damnation! while ... my God! I swooned!... - Oozed slowly out, between the breasts' dead white, - The ghastly red of that wide dagger-wound. - - - - -THE LEGEND OF THE STONE - - - The year was dying, and the day - Was almost dead; - The west, beneath a sombre gray, - Was sombre red: - The gravestones in the ghostly light, - That glimmered there, - Seemed phantoms, wandering wan and white, - 'Mid trees half bare. - - I stood beside the grave of one - Who, here in life, - Was false to me; who had undone - My child and wife: - I stood beside his grave until - The moon came up-- - It seemed the dark, unhallowed hill - Lifted a cup. - - No stone was there to mark his grave, - No flower to grace-- - 'Twas meet that weeds alone should wave - In such a place: - I stood beside his grave until - The stars swam high, - And all the night was iron-still - From sky to sky. - - What cared I though strange eyes glowed bright - Within the gloom! - Though, evil blue, a witch's-light - Burnt by each tomb! - Or that each crooked thorn-tree seemed - A hag, black-cloaked! - Or that the owl above me screamed, - The raven croaked! - - I cursed him: cursed him when the day - Burnt sullen red; - Had cursed him when the west was gray, - And day was dead: - And now when night made dark the pole, - Both soon and late - I cursed his body, yea, and soul, - With th' hate of hate. - - Once at my side I seemed to hear - A low voice say,-- - "'Twere better to forgive,--and fear - Thy God,--and pray." - I laughed; and from pale lips of stone - On sculptured tombs - Wild laughter leapt, and then a moan - Swept through the glooms. - - And then I felt a change--a force, - That seemed to seize - My body, like some fearful curse, - And, fastening, freeze - It downward, deeper than the knees, - Into the earth-- - While still among the twisted trees - Rang mocking mirth. - - And then I felt such fear, despair, - As lost ones feel, - When, knotted in their pitch-stiff hair, - They feel the steel - Of devils' forks lift up, through sleet - Of Hell's slant fire, - Then plunge,--as white from head to feet - I grew entire. - - A voice without me, yet within, - As still as frost, - Intoned: "Thy sin is more than sin, - O damned and lost! - Behold, how God would punish thee - For this thy crime-- - Thy crime of hate and blasphemy-- - Through endless time! - - "O'er him, whom thou wouldst not forgive, - Record what good - He did on Earth! and let him live - Loved, understood! - Be memory thine of all the worst - He did thine own!"... - There at the head of him I cursed - I stood--a stone. - - - - -THE RUINED MILL - - - On the wild South Fork of Harrod's Creek, - O'ergrown with creepers, if you should seek, - You will find an ancient water-mill - Of stone below a wooded hill. - Its weedy wheel is not less still - Than its image that sleeps in the grassy pool - Where the moccasin swims; and, slimly cool - Like streaks of light through blurs of sun, - The silver minnows and crawfish run. - So lone the place, in its sycamore - The blue crane builds; and from the shore - The shitepoke wanders about its door. - The burdock sprawls on its sill of pine; - And, in its pathway, eglantine - And blackberry tangle and intertwine; - Ox-daisies checker with pearl and gold - The bushy banks of its mill-race old; - The owl in its loft as safely lairs - As the fox in its cellar, that whelps and cares - Naught for the hunters who gallop by - With their baying hounds; the martins fly - Around its chimney and build therein; - And wasp and hornet, with murmurous din, - Plaster their nests, that none disturb, - On window-lintel and hopper-curb. - - Once I stood in this old, stone mill, - Once as the day died over the hill, - And night came on; and stark and still - I met with phantoms upon its stairs; - Shadows, that took me unawares, - Eyed with fire and cowled with gloom-- - Twilight phantoms, that crowded, dark, - Its dim interior, each eye a spark - Of sunset, creviced, within the room-- - While a moist, chill, moldering, dead perfume - Of crumbling timbers and rotting grain, - On floors all warped with the sun and rain, - Made of the stagnant air a cell, - Round the cobwebbed rafters hung like a spell; - Making my mind, despite me, run - On thoughts of a hidden skeleton, - There in the walls; or, dripping dank, - Under the floor, 'neath a certain plank; - Glowering, grim in the mossy wet, - In its hollow eyes a dark regret. - I had entered when the evening-star - In the saffron heaven was sparkling afar, - In all its glory of light divine, - Like a diamond drowned in kingly wine; - And I stayed till the heavens hung low and gray, - And the clouds of the storm drove down and away, - Like the tattered leaves of an Autumn day; - And the wild rain beat on the rotting roof - The goblin dance of the Fiend's own hoof, - Till the spider dropped from its dusty woof; - And the thunder throbbed like a mighty heart; - And the wild wind filled each crannied part - Of the mill with moanings, that seemed to be - The voice of an ancient agony-- - Till the beetle shrunk in its board of pine;-- - While the lightning lit with its instant shine - The tossing terror of tree and vine ... - Then, all on a sudden, the storm was still-- - And I saw _her_ there, near the shattered sill, - At the window, gazing from the mill - Into the darkness under the storm; - Around her flickering hair and form - Unearthly glimmer. She seemed to lean - To the rushing waters that roared unseen: - A moment only she seemed to sway - Before me there in the lightning gray, - Then vanished utterly away: - Like a blown-out light.... - - And was it she, - The miller's daughter who died, they say, - Who flung herself on the mill's great wheel, - Long years ago, in her heart's despair?-- - Or was it a dream, a fantasy, - That the place and the moment made me feel, - And imagination imaged there? - - - - -ON FLOYD'S FORK - - - When the hoot of the owl comes over the hill, - At twelve o'clock when the night is still, - And pale on the pool where the creek-frogs croon, - Glimmering gray is the light o' the moon; - And under the willows, where shadows lie, - The torch of the firefly wanders by;-- - They say that the miller walks here, walks here, - All covered with chaff, with his crooked staff, - And his horrible hobble and hideous laugh; - The old, lame miller hung many a year: - When the hoot of the owl comes over the hill, - He walks in the night by Harrod's mill. - - When the bark of the fox sounds lone on the hill, - At twelve o'clock when the night is chill - With the autumn wind, and the waters creep - Where the starlight fails and the shadows sleep; - And under the willows, that toss and moan, - The glow-worm kindles its lanthorn lone;-- - They say that a woman floats dead, floats dead, - In a weedy space that the lilies lace, - A curse in her eyes and a smile on her face; - The miller's young wife with a gash in her head: - When the bark of the fox sounds lone on the hill, - She floats in the night by Harrod's mill. - - When the howl of the hound comes over the hill, - At twelve o'clock when the night is ill, - And the thunder mutters and rain-winds sob, - And the foxfire glows like the lamp of a Lob; - And under the willows, that gloom and glance, - The will-o'-the-wisps hold a devil's-dance;-- - They say that that crime is reacted again. - And each cranny and chink of the mill doth wink - With the light o' hell, or the lightning's blink, - And a woman's shrieks are heard through the rain: - When the howl of the hound comes over the hill, - No man will walk by Harrod's mill. - - - - -THE WOMAN BY THE WATER - - - She stands within the stormy glow - Of sunset, with a face of snow, - The white embodiment of woe, - As night comes on: - - She stands within the sombre glare - Of dusk, with dark neglected hair, - An apparition of despair, - When day is gone. - - The haggard house within the vale - Looks spectral as a ragged sail - The Dutchman hoists against the gale - On haunted seas: - - And in the garden,--one vast brake - Of dock and thistle,--snail and snake - Crawl; and the death-watch taps, awake - In rotting trees. - - The stagnant stream along the night - Creeps, like a nightmare, where each white - Lily is an uneasy light, - A wisp up-tossed: - - And through the cypress-trees and vines - The gray fox skulks and laps and whines; - The owl hoots; and the foxfire shines - In darkness lost. - - She stands beside the stagnant stream; - Her garments drip at every seam; - She looks a shadow in a dream - Of dread and woe: - - No star stares half so steadily - At earth as at the water she; - And what she sees there--it may be - The owlets know. - - - - -A STREET OF GHOSTS - - - The drowsy day, with half-closed eyes, - Dreams in this quaint forgotten street, - That, like some old-world wreckage lies,-- - Left by the sea's receding beat,-- - Far from the city's restless feet. - - Abandoned pavements, that the trees' - Huge roots have wrecked; whose flagstones feel - No more the sweep of draperies; - And sunken curbs, whereon no wheel - Grinds, and no gallant's spur-bound heel. - - Old houses, walled with rotting brick, - Thick-creepered, dormered, weather-vaned,-- - Like withered faces, sad and sick,-- - Stare from each side, all broken paned, - With battered doors the rain has stained. - - And though the day be white with heat, - Their ancient yards are dim and cold; - Where now the toad makes its retreat, - 'Mid flower-pots green-caked with mold, - And naught but noisome weeds unfold. - - The slow gray slug and snail have trailed - Their slimy silver up and down - The beds where once the moss-rose veiled - Rich beauty; and the mushroom brown - Swells where the lily tossed its crown. - - The shadowy scents, that oft are wont - To flit among the walks and boughs, - Seem ghosts of sweethearts here who haunt - And wander round each empty house, - Wrapped in the fragrance of dead vows. - - And, haply, when the evening droops - Her amber eyelids in the west, - Here you may hear the swish of hoops, - Or catch the glint of hat and vest, - As two dim lovers past you pressed. - - And, instant as some star's slant flame, - That scores the swarthy cheek of night, - Perhaps behold Colonial dame - And gentleman in stately white - Go glimmering down the pale moonlight. - - In powder, patch, and furbelow, - Cocked hat and sword; and every one,-- - Tory and Whig of long-ago,-- - As real as in the days long done, - The courtly days of Washington. - - - - -BEFORE THE TOMB - - - The way led under cedared gloom - Where, o'er the entrance of her tomb, - The moon hung, like a cactus bloom. - - I had an hour of night and thin - Sad starlight; and I set my chin - Against the grating and looked in. - - A gleam, like moonlight, through a square - Of opening--I knew not where-- - Shone on her coffin resting there. - - And on its oval silver-plate - I read her name and age and date, - And smiled, soft-thinking on my hate. - - There was no insect sound to chirr; - No wind to make a little stir: - I stood and looked and thought on her. - - The gleam stole downward from her head, - Till at her feet it rested, red - On Gothic gold, whose letters said:-- - - "God to her love lent a weak reed - Of strength: and gave no light to lead: - Pray for her soul: for it hath need." - - There was no night-bird's twitter near; - No low, vague water I might hear - To make a small sound in the ear. - - The gleam, that made a burning mark - Of each dim word, died to a spark; - Then left the tomb and coffin dark. - - I had a little while to wait; - And prayed with hands against the grate, - And heart that yearned and knew too late. - - There was no light below, above, - To point my soul the way thereof,-- - The way of hate that led to love. - - - - -FLAMENCINE - - -I - - It was a gipsy maiden - Within the forest green; - It was a gipsy maiden - Who shook a tambourine: - The star of eve had not the face, - The cascade's foam had not the grace - Of Flamencine. - - -II - - Her bodice was of purple, - Her shoes of satin sheen; - Her bodice was of purple - With scarlet laid between: - The wind of eve was in the tread, - The black of night was on the head - Of Flamencine. - - -III - - Among the dreaming vistas, - The darkling dells between, - Among the dreaming vistas - I heard her tambourine: - And far within the ghostly glade - The moonbeams and the shadows played - Round Flamencine. - - -IV - - Among the beechen shadows - When fireflies are seen, - Among the beechen shadows - When glow-worms glimmer green, - Then down the darkness, like a light, - She dances; and the eyes are bright - Of Flamencine. - - -V - - There lies a gipsy maiden - Within the forest green; - There lies a gipsy maiden - Beside her tambourine: - These many years I am her slave-- - The violets grow upon the grave - Of Flamencine. - - - - -HILDEGARD - - -I - - Hildegard the dæmons name - Her, who meets me on the mountain: - Her, whose hair is like the flame - Of a sunset-fevered fountain: - I can tell her by her eyes, - Dreadful eyes of bitter beryl, - Where the anguish never dies, - And the suffering soul sits sterile - In such light as ever lies - On the unsailed seas of peril. - - -II - - How we met I never knew. - Once I turned--and there she trembled - Near me, glimmering like the dew - In the sessions of assembled - Flowers.--Hers some influence - Of soft, serpent magnetism, - Vanquishing my every sense - With essential mesmerism; - Holding me beneath the lens - Of her will's compelling prism. - - -III - - I can not escape. She treads - Noiseless as the forest flowers - Walked on by the wind; their heads - Pavements for the mottled hours: - She is whiter than the trees - When their blossoms are unsheathing; - She is lissome as the ease - Of the lilied water wreathing; - She is subtle as the breeze - Through the summer foliage breathing. - - -IV - - When she speaks, within my ears, - Like wild music heard in fever - Is her voice; and it appears - That my soul can never leave her: - Babylonian necromance, - Oldest witcheries,--that harrow - Yet compel,--are hers; her glance - Holds me; and my very marrow - Feels it; and I stand a-trance, - While her pupils slowly narrow. - - -V - - Thus she binds me with her gaze, - While her white hands weigh my shoulders; - And my weak will swings and sways - To her gaze that burns and smolders. - So she draws me far away, - Under boughs where summer dallies: - Over peaks of purple day: - Far away through Eden alleys: - All the way is one long May - Till we come to her dark valleys. - - -VI - - There black tempest treads the peaks; - Iron skies are gulfed asunder, - Whence the lightning's lava leaks, - Vomiting the hosts of thunder. - Here she kisses me till red - With my heart's blood are her kisses; - Then my soul is seized with dread, - For it knows no woman this is: - Yea, behold! it sees instead - But a milk-white snake that hisses. - - - - -ROMAUNT OF THE OAK - - - "I rode to death, for I fought for shame-- - The Lady Maurine of noble name, - - "The fair and faithless!--Though life be long - Is love the wiser?--Love made song - - "Of all my life; and the soul that crept - Before, arose like a star and leapt: - - "Still leaps with the love that it found untrue, - That it found unworthy.--Now run me through! - - "Yea, run me through! for meet and well, - And a jest for laughter of fiends in Hell, - - "It is that I, who have done no wrong, - Should die by the hand of Hugh the Strong, - - "Of Hugh her leman!--What else could be - When the devil was judge 'twixt thee and me? - - "He splintered my lance, and my blade he broke-- - Now finish me, thou, 'neath the trysting oak!" - - The shield of his foeman--a heart of white - In a bath of fire--shone in the night: - - The plume of his foeman, as midnight black, - Blew, as he leapt on his horse's back: - - Leapt and laughed as his sword he swung, - Then galloped away with a laugh on his tongue.... - - Who is she in the gray, wet dawn, - 'Mid the forest shades like a shadow wan? - - Who kneels, one hand on her straining breast, - One hand on the dead man's bosom pressed? - - Her face is dim as the dead's; and cold - As his tarnished harness of steel and gold. - - O Lady Maurine! O Lady Maurine! - What boots it now that regret is keen? - - That his hair you smooth? that you kiss his brow, - What boots it now? what boots it now?-- - - She has haled him under the trysting oak, - The huge old oak that the creepers cloak. - - She has stood him, gaunt in his battered arms, - In its haunted hollow.--"Be safe from storms," - - She laughed as his cloven casque she placed - On his brow, and his riven shield she braced. - - Then sat and talked to the forest flowers - Through the lonely term of the day's pale hours. - - And stared and whispered and smiled and wept, - As nearer and nearer the evening crept. - - And lo, when the moon, like a great gold bloom - Above the sorrowful trees did loom, - - She rose up sobbing, "O moon, come see - My bridegroom here in the old oak-tree! - - "I have talked to the flowers all day, all day, - For never a word had he to say. - - "He would not listen, he would not hear, - Though I wailed my longing into his ear. - - "O moon, steal in where he stands so grim, - And tell him I love him and plead with him. - - "Soften his face, that is cold and stern, - And brighten his eyes and make them burn, - - "O moon, white moon, so my soul can see, - Can say that they glow with love for me!"-- - - When the moon had set, and the woods were dark, - The wild deer came, and stood as stark - - As phantoms with eyes of flame; or fled - Like a ghostly herd of the hunted dead. - - And the strix-owl called; and the werewolf snarled; - And a voice, in the boughs of the oak-tree gnarled,-- - - Like the whining voice of the hags that ride - To the witches' Sabboth,--crooned and cried. - -[Illustration: - - Stared and whispered and smiled and wept Page 49 - _Romaunt of the Oak_ -] - - And wrapped in his mantle of wind and cloud, - The storm-fiend stalked through the forest loud. - - When she heard the dead man rattle and groan - As the oak was bent and its leaves were blown, - - And the lightning flickered his shimmering mail,-- - Through the swirl and sweep of the rain and hail, - - She seemed to hear him, who seemed to call,-- - "Come hither, Maurine! the wild leaves fall! - - "The wild leaves rustle, the wild leaves flee-- - Come hither, Maurine, to the hollow tree! - - "To the trysting tree, to the tree once green, - Come hither, Maurine! come hither, Maurine!"... - - They found her closed in his armored arms-- - Had he claimed his bride on that night of storms? - - - - -A REED SHAKEN WITH THE WIND - - -I - - Not for you and me the path - Winding through the shadowless - Fields of morning's dewiness! - Where the brook that hurries hath - Laughter lighter than a boy's; - Where recurrent odors poise, - Romp-like, with irreverent tresses, - In the sun; and leaves and boughs - Build a music-haunted house - For the winds to hang their dresses, - Whisper-silken, rustling in. - Ours a path that led unto - Twilight regions gray with dew; - Where moon-vapors gathered thin - Over acres sisterless - Of all healthy beauty; where - Fungus growths made sad the air - As a phantom-felt caress: - Under darkness and strange stars, - To the sorrow-silenced bars - Of a dubious forestland, - Where the wood-scents seemed to stand, - And the sounds on either hand, - Clad like Sleep's own servitors - In the shadowy livery - Of the ancient House of Dreams, - Which before us,--fitfully, - With white intermittent gleams - Of its pale-lamped windows,--shone, - Echoing with the dim unknown. - - -II - - To say to Hope,--Take all from me, - And grant me naught: - Take rose, and song, and melody, - And word and thought: - Then all my life make me her slave,-- - Is all I crave. - - To say to Time,--Be true to me, - Nor grant me less - Of loss, of grief, of memory, - Of heart's distress: - Then for her love set me a task, - Is all I ask. - - -III - - I came to you when eve was young: - And, where the park rolled downward to - The river, and among the dew, - One vesper moment, lit and sung - A bird, your eyes said something true, - Said something to my eyes, more dear - Than song the bird poured, silver-clear. - How sweet it was to be with you! - How, with our souls, we seemed to hear - The night approaching with its stars! - How calm the moon sloped up her sphere - Of fire-filled pearl through passive bars - Of clouds that berged the tender east! - While all the dark inanimate - Of Nature woke; initiate - With th' moon's arrival, something ceased - In Nature's soul: she stood again - Another self, that seemed t' have been - Dormant, suppressed and so unseen - All day: a life, unknown and strange - And dream-suggestive, that had lain,-- - Masked on with light,--within the range - Of thought, but unrevealed till now. - It was the hour of love. And you, - With downward eyes and pensive brow, - Among the moonlight and the dew,-- - Although no word of love was spoken,-- - Heard the sweet night's confession broken - Of something here more sweet in me: - A love, depth made inaudible, - Save to your soul, that answered well, - With eyes replying silently. - - -IV - - Fair you are as a rose is fair, - There where the shadows dew it; - And the deeps of your brown, brown hair, - Soft as the cloud that lingers there - With the sunset's auburn through it. - Eyes of azure and throat of snow, - Tell me what my heart would know! - - Every dream I dream of you - Has a love-thought in it, - And a hope, a kiss or two, - Something dear and something true, - Telling me each minute, - With three words it whispers clear - What my heart from you would hear. - - -V - - Junetime came: the days grew kind - With increasing beauty: deep - Were the nights with rest and sleep: - Fair, with poppies intertwined - On their blond locks, went the Hours, - Sunny-hearted as the rose, - Through the buds and banded flowers, - Teaching them, how no one knows, - Freshness, color, and perfume.-- - In the window of your room - Bloomed a late azalea. Pink - As an egret's rosy plumes - Shone its tender-tufted blooms. - From your care and love, I think, - Love's rose-color it did drink, - Growing rosier day by day - Through your 'tending hand's caress: - And your own dear naturalness - Had imbued it in some way. - Once you gave a blossom of it, - Smiling, to me when I left: - Need I tell you how I love it - Faded though it is now!--'Reft - Of its fragrance and its color, - Yet 'tis dearer now than then,--As - past happiness is when - Life regrets.--And dimmer, duller - Though its beauty be, when I - Look upon it, I recall - Every part of that old wall; - And the dingy window high, - Where you sat and read; and all - The fond love that made your face - A soft sunbeam in that place: - And the plant that grew this bloom - Withered here, itself long dead, - Makes a halo overhead - There again--and through my room, - Like faint whispers of perfume, - Steal the words of love then said. - - -VI - - All of my love I send to you, - I send to you, - On thoughts, like moths, that wend to you - Out of my heart's glad garden, - O'er which, its lovely warden, - Your face, a lily seeming, - Is dreaming. - - All of my life I bring to you, - I bring to you, - In deeds, like birds, that wing to you - Out of my soul's deep valley, - O'er which, most musically, - Your love, a fountain, glistens, - And listens. - - My love, my life, how blessed in you! - How blessed in you! - Whose thoughts, whose deeds find rest in you - Here on my life's dark ocean, - O'er which, in heavenly motion, - Your soul, a star, abideth, - And guideth. - - -VII - - Where the old Kentucky wound - Through the land,--its stream between - Hills of primitive forest green,-- - Like a goodly belt around - Giant breasts of grandeur; with - Many an unknown Indian myth, - On the boat we steamed. The land - Like an hospitable hand - Welcomed us. Alone we sat - On the under-deck, and saw - Farm-house and plantation draw - Near and vanish. 'Neath your hat - Your young eyes laughed; and your hair, - Blown about them by the air - Of our passage, clung and curled. - Music, and the summer moon; - And the hills' great shadows hewn - Out of silence; and the tune - Of the whistle, when we whirled - Round a moonlit bend in sight of - Some lone landing heaped with hay - Or tobacco; where the light of - One dim, solitary lamp - Signaled through the evening's damp: - Then a bell; and, dusky gray, - Shuffling figures on the shore - With the cable; rugged forms - On the gang-plank; backs and arms - With their cargo bending o'er; - And the burly mate before. - Then an iron bell, and puff - Of escaping steam; and out - Where the stream is wheel-whipped rough; - Music, and a parting shout - From the shore; the pilot's bell - Beating on the deck below; - Then the steady, quivering, slow, - Smooth advance again. Until - Twinkling lights beyond us tell - Of a lock or little town - Clasped between a hill and hill, - Where the bluegrass fields slope down.-- - So we went. That summer-time - Lingers with me like a rhyme - Learned for dreamy beauty of - Its old-fashioned faith and love, - In some musing moment; sith - Heart-associated with - Joy that moments quiet bore, - And forgotten nevermore. - - -VIII - - Three sweet things love lives upon: - Music, at whose fountain's brink - Low he stoops his face to drink; - Seeing, as the wave is drawn, - His near image rise and sink. - Three sweet things love lives upon. - - Three sweet things love lives upon: - Odor, whose red roses wreathe - His bright brow that shines beneath; - Hearing, as each bloom is blown, - His soul's essence breathe and breathe. - Three sweet things love lives upon. - - Three sweet things love lives upon: - Color, to whose rainbow he - Lifts his dark eyes burningly; - Feeling, as the wild hues dawn, - His high immortality. - Three sweet things love lives upon. - - -IX - - Memories of other days,-- - Sad with whilom happiness,-- - Rise before my musing gaze - In the twilight.... And your dress - Seems beside me, like a haze - Shimmering white; as when we went - 'Neath the star-strewn firmament, - Love-led, with impatient feet - Down the night that, summer-sweet, - Sparkled o'er the lamp-lit street. - Every look you gave me then - Comes before my eyes again, - Making music for my heart - On that path where once for us - Roses, red and amorous, - Grew, the roses red of love: - Roses, that are dead enough - On that path now! whence oft start - Out of recollected places, - With remembered forms and faces, - Dreams of love, like figures, woven - In my life's dark tapestry, - Beckoning, ever shadowy, - To my soul still.--O'er the cloven - Gulf of time I seem to hear - Words once whispered in my ear, - Calling--as might friends long dead, - With familiar voices deep, - Call to one who lies asleep, - Comforting.--So was I led - Backward to forgotten things, - Contiguities that spread - Sudden, unremembered wings: - And across my mind's still blue, - From the nest they fledged in, flew - Dazzling shapes that passion knew. - - -X - - Ah! over full my heart is - Of sadness and of pain: - As a rose-flower in the garden - The dull dusk fills with rain; - As a blown red rose that shivers - And bows to the wind and rain. - - So give me your hands and speak me - As once in the days of yore, - When love spoke sweetly to us, - The love that speaks no more: - The sound of your voice may help him - To speak in my heart once more. - - Ah! over grieved my soul is, - And tired and sick for sleep, - As a poppy-bloom that withers, - Forgotten, where reapers reap: - As a harvested poppy-flower - That dies where reapers reap. - - So bend to my face and kiss me - As once in the days of yore, - When the touch of your lips was magic - That restored to life once more: - The thought of your kiss, which awakens - To life that love once more. - - -XI - - Sitting often I have, oh! - Often have desired you so-- - Yearned to kiss you as I did - When your love to me you gave, - In the moonlight, by the wave, - And a long-remembered kiss - Pressed upon your mouth that chid, - Then upon each eye's sweet lid-- - That, all passion-shaken, I - With love-language will address - Each dear thing I know you by, - Picture, needle-work, or frame; - Each suggestive in the same - Perfume of past happiness: - Till, meseems, the ways we knew - Now again I tread with you - From the old-time tryst: and there - Feel the pressure of your hair - Cool and young upon my cheek, - And your breath's aroma: bare - On my arm your hand,--as weak - As a lily on a stream:-- - And once more you look at me - With the sometime witchery, - And again I hear you speak; - And remembered ecstasy - Sweeps my soul again.--I seem - Dreaming.... Would I thus might dream - Ever! and reality - Mix itself eternally - With such visions of the past, - Where my soul still holds you fast! - - -XII - - When day dies, lone, forsaken, - And joy is kissed asleep; - When doubt's gray eyes awaken, - And love, with music taken - From hearts with sighings shaken, - Sits in the dusk to weep: - - With ghostly-lifted finger - What memory then shall rise? - Of dark regret the bringer-- - To tell the sorrowing singer - Of days whose echoes linger, - Till dawn unstars the skies. - - When night is gone and, beaming, - Faith journeys forth to toil; - When hope's blue eyes wake gleaming, - And life is done with dreaming - The dreams that seem but seeming - Within the world's turmoil: - - Who may forget the presence - Of death that walks unseen? - Whose scythe casts shadowy crescents - Around life's glittering essence, - As lessens, slowly lessens, - The space that lies between. - - -XIII - - Bland was that October day, - Calm and balmy as the spring, - When we went a forest way, - Under beeches, lichen-gray, - To a valleyed opening; - Where the purple aster flowered, - And, like torches, savage-held, - Red the fiery sumac towered; - And, where gum-trees sentineled - Vistas, robed in gold and garnet, - Ripe the thorny chestnut shelled - Its brown plumpness. Bee and hornet - Droned around us; low the cricket, - Tireless in the wood-rose thicket, - Tremoloed; and, to the wind - All its moon-spun silver casting, - Swung the milkweed's pod, that thinned, - Where a butterfly seemed pinned: - And its clean flame on the sod - By the fading goldenrod, - Burned the white life-everlasting.-- - It was not so much the time, - Nor the place, nor way we went, - That made all our moods to rhyme, - Nor the season's sentiment, - As it was the innocent - Carefree childhood of our hearts, - Reading each expression of - Death and change as life and love: - That impression joy imparts - Unto others and retorts - On itself, which then made glad - All the sorrow of decay, - As the memory of that day - Makes this day of autumn sad. - - -XIV - - The pungent-breathed petunias - Hang riven of the rain; - And where the tiger-lily was - Now droops a tawny stain; - While in the twilight's purple pause - Earth dreams of heaven again. - - When love sits down to sigh, - Where one lies all alone - Beneath the sod's green sky-- - What boots it then to try, - Or to atone? - - With ragged petals round its pod - The rain-wrecked poppy dies; - And where the hectic rose did nod - A crumbled crimson lies; - While distant as the dreams of God - The stars slip in the skies. - - When love lies down to sleep, - When one is dead and gone-- - Within the darkness deep - What boots it then to weep? - All's said and done. - - -XV - - Holding both your hands in mine, - Often have we sat together, - While, outside, the boisterous weather - Hung the wild wind on the pine - Like a black marauder, and - With a sudden warning hand - At the casement rapped. The night - Wrote no line or glimmer of light, - Starbeam-syllabled, within - Her dark book of death and sin, - Cloudy-chaptered tragicly.-- - Looking in your eyes, ah me! - Though I knew, I did not heed - What the night wrote there for us, - Threatening and ominous: - For love helped my heart to read - Forward to unopened pages - Of a coming day, that held - More for us than all the ages - Past, that it epitomized - In one sentence; where was spelled - What our present realized - Only--all the love that was - Past and still to be for us. - - -XVI - - 'Though in the garden, gray with dew, - All life lies withering, - And there's no more to say or do, - No more to sigh or sing, - Come back with me the ways we knew - When buds were opening. - - Perhaps we shall not search in vain - Within its wreck and gloom; - 'Mid roses ruined of the rain - There still may live one bloom; - One flower, whose heart may still retain - The long-lost soul-perfume. - - And then, perhaps, will come to us - The dreams we dreamed of yore; - And song, who spoke so beauteous, - Will speak to us once more; - And love, with eyes all amorous, - Will gaze as once before. - - So 'though the yard is gray with dew, - And flowers are withering, - And there's no more to say or do, - No more to sigh or sing, - Come back with me the ways we knew - When buds were opening. - - -XVII - - Looking on the desolate street, - Where the first snow drifts and drives, - Trodden black of hurrying feet, - Where the athlete storm-wind strives - With each tree and dangling light,-- - Centres, sphered with glittering white,-- - Hissing in the dancing snow ... - Backward in my mind I go - To that tempest-haunted night - Of two autumns past, when we, - Hastening homeward, were o'ertaken - Of the storm; and 'neath a tree, - With its wild leaves tempest-shaken, - Sheltered us in that forsaken, - Sad and ancient cemetery,-- - Where folk came no more to bury.-- - Haggard gravestones, mossed and crumbled, - Tottered round us, or o'ertumbled - In their sunken graves; and some, - Urned and obelisked above - Iron-fenced-in tombs, stood dumb - Records of forgotten love. - And again I see the west - Yawning inward to its core - Of electric-spasmed ore, - Swiftly, without pause or rest: - And a great wind sweeps the dust - Up abandoned sidewalks; and, - In the rotting trees, the gust - Shouts again--a voice that would - Make its gaunt self understood - Moaning over Death's lean land.-- - And we sat there, hand in hand; - On the granite; where we read, - By the instant skies o'erhead, - Something of one young and dead. - Yet the words begot no fear - In our souls: you leaned your cheek - Smiling on mine: very near - Were our lips: we did not speak. - - -XVIII - - And suddenly alone I stood - With scared eyes gazing through the wood, - For some still sign of ill or good - To lead me from the solitude. - - The day was at its twilighting; - One cloud o'erhead spread a vast wing - Of rosy thunder; vanishing - Behind the far hills' sullen ring. - - Some stars shone timidly o'erhead; - And towards the west's cadaverous red-- - Like some wild dream that haunts the dead - In limbo--the lean moon was led. - - Upon the sad, debatable - Vague lands of twilight slowly fell - A silence that I knew too well, - A sorrow that I can not tell. - - What way to take, what path to go, - Whether into the east's gray glow, - Or where the west burnt red and low-- - What way to choose I did not know. - - So, hesitating, there I stood - Lost in my soul's uncertain wood; - One sign I craved of ill or good - To lead me from its solitude. - - -XIX - - It was autumn: and a night - Full of whispers and of mist, - With a gray moon, wanly whist, - Hanging like a phantom light - O'er the hills. We stood among - Windy fields of weed and flower, - Where the withered seed-pod hung, - And the chill leaf-cricket sung. - Melancholy was the hour - With the mystery and loneness - Of the year, that seemed to look - On its own departed face-- - As our love then, in its oneness, - All its dead past did retrace, - And from that sad moment took - Presage of approaching parting.-- - Sorrowful the hour and dark: - Low among the trees, now darting, - Now concealed, a lamp's pale spark-- - Like a fen-fire--winked and lured - Shut among the shadows, where - All was doubtful, unassured, - Immaterial; and bare - Facts of unideal day - Changed to substance such as dreams. - And meseemed then, far away-- - Farther than remotest gleams - Of the stars--lost, separated, - And estranged and out of reach, - Grew our lives away from each, - Far away as it was fated. - - -XX - - There is no gladness in the day - Now you're away; - Dull is the morn, the noon is dull, - Once beautiful; - And when the sunset fills the skies - With dusking dyes, - With tired eyes and tired heart - I sit alone, I sigh apart, - And wish for you, - For only you. - - Ah! darker now the night comes on - Since you are gone; - Sad are the stars, the moon is sad, - Once wholly glad; - And when the stars and moon are set, - And earth lies wet, - With heart's regret and soul's hard ache, - I dream alone, I lie awake, - And think of you, - Of only you. - - These, who once spake me, speak no more, - Now all is o'er; - Day hath forgot the language of - Its hopes of love; - Night, whose sweet lips were burdensome - With dreams, is dumb; - Far different from what used to be - With grief and loss they speak to me, - They speak of you, - Of only you. - - -XXI - - So it ends--the path that crept - Through a land all slumber-whist; - Where the faded moonlight slept - Like a pale antagonist. - Now the star that led me onward,-- - Reassuring with its light,-- - Fails and falters; dipping downward - Leaves me wandering in night, - With old doubts, like hounds unchained, - Baying at my back, in flight.... - So it ends. The woods attained-- - Where our hearts' Desire builded - A fair temple, fire-gilded, - With Hope's marble shrine within, - (Where the lineaments of our love - Shone, with lilies clad and crowned, - Under marble reared above - Sorrow and her sister, Sin, - Columned, wreathed and ribbon-wound,)-- - In the forest I have found - But a ruin! All around - Lie the shattered capitals, - And vast fragments of the walls ... - Like a climbing cloud,--that plies, - Wind-wrecked, o'er the moon that lies - 'Neath its blackness,--taking on - Gradual certainties of wan, - Soft assaults of easy white, - (Till its huge cocoon, that holds - Like a moth the moon, unfolds, - And it passes) and the skies' - Emptiness and hungry night - Claim its bulk again, while she - Rides in lonely purity:-- - So I found our temple broken; - And a musing moment's space - Love, whose latest word was spoken, - Seemed to meet me face to face, - Making bright that ruined place - With a white effulgence--then - Passed, and all was dark again. - - - - -WOMAN'S PORTION - - -I - - The leaves are shivering on the thorn, - Drearily; - And sighing wakes the sad-eyed morn, - Wearily. - - I press my thin face to the pane, - Drearily; - But never will he come again. - Wearily. - - The rain hath sicklied day with haze, - Drearily; - My tears run downward as I gaze, - Wearily. - - The mist and morn spake unto me, - Drearily:-- - "What is this thing God gives to thee, - Wearily?" - - I said unto the morn and mist, - Drearily:-- - "The babe unborn whom sin hath kissed, - Wearily." - - The morn and mist spake unto me, - Drearily:-- - "What is this thing which thou dost see, - Wearily?" - - I said unto the mist and morn, - Drearily:-- - "The shame of man and woman's scorn, - Wearily." - - "He loved thee not," they made reply, - Drearily.-- - I said, "Would God had let me die!" - Wearily. - - -II - - My hopes are as a closed-up book, - Drearily, - Upon whose clasp of love I look - Wearily. - - All night the rain raved overhead, - Drearily; - All night I wept, awake in bed, - Wearily. - - I heard the wind sweep wild and wide, - Drearily; - And turned upon my face and sighed - Wearily. - - The wind and rain spake unto me, - Drearily:-- - "What is this thing God takes from thee, - Wearily?" - - I said unto the rain and wind, - Drearily:-- - "The love, for which my body sinned, - Wearily." - - The rain and wind spake unto me, - Drearily:-- - "What are these things that burden thee, - Wearily?" - - I said unto the wind and rain, - Drearily:-- - "Past joys, and dreams whose ghosts remain, - Wearily." - - "Thou lov'st him still," they made reply, - Drearily.-- - I said, "Would God that I could die!" - Wearily. - - - - -KU KLUX - - - We have sent him seeds of the melon's core, - And nailed a warning upon his door: - By the Ku Klux laws we can do no more. - - Down in the hollow, 'mid crib and stack, - The roof of his low-porched house looms black; - Not a line of light at the door-sill's crack. - - Yet arm and mount! and mask and ride! - The hounds can sense though the fox may hide! - And for a word too much men oft have died. - - The clouds blow heavy toward the moon. - The edge of the storm will reach it soon. - The kildee cries and the lonesome loon. - - The clouds shall flush with a wilder glare - Than the lightning makes with its angled flare, - When the Ku Klux verdict is given there. - - In the pause of the thunder rolling low, - A rifle's signal--who shall know - From the wind's fierce hurl and the rain's black blow? - - Only the signature, written grim - At the end of the message brought to him-- - A hempen rope and a twisted limb. - - So arm and mount! and mask and ride! - The hounds can sense though the fox may hide! - And for a word too much men oft have died. - - - - -AT DAWN - - - Far off I heard dark waters rush: - The sky was cold: the dawn broke green: - And wrapped in twilight and strange hush - The gray wind moaned between. - - A voice rang through the House of Sleep, - And through its halls there went a tread; - Mysterious raiment seemed to sweep - Around one lying dead. - - And then I knew that I had died, - I, who had suffered so and sinned-- - And 'twas myself I stood beside - In the gray dawn and wind. - - - - -PRÆTERITA - - -I - - Low belts of rushes ragged with the blast; - Lagoons of marish reddening with the west; - And o'er the marsh the water-fowl's unrest - While daylight dwindles and the dusk falls fast. - Set in sad walls, all mossy with the past, - An old stone gateway with a crumbling crest; - A garden where death drowses manifest; - And in gaunt yews the shadowy house at last. - Here, like an unseen spirit, silence talks - With echo and the wind in each gray room - Where melancholy slumbers with the rain: - Or, like some gentle ghost, the moonlight walks - In the dim garden, which her smile makes bloom - With all the old-time loveliness again. - - -II - - When slow the twilight settles o'er its roof, - And from the haggard oaks unto its door - The rain comes, wild as one who rides before - His enemies that follow, hoof to hoof; - And in each window's gusty curtain-woof - The rain-wind sighs, like one who mutters o'er - Some tale of love and crime; and, on the floor, - The sunset spreads red stains as bloody proof:-- - From hall to hall and haunted stair to stair, - Through all the house, a dread, that drags me to'ard - The ancient dusk of that avoided room, - Wherein she sits with ghostly golden hair, - And eyes that gaze beyond her soul's sad doom, - Waking the ghost of that old harpsichord. - - - - -IN SHADOW - - -I - - A moth sucks at a flaming flower: - The moon beams on the old church-tower: - I watched the moth and rising moon, - One silver tip - Of glimmer, slip - Through ghostly tree-tops, deep with June, - To dream above the church an hour. - - -II - - The gray moth on the dewy pod - Dreams; and the sleepy poppies nod - Their drugged heads in the languid breeze, - That whispers low - Of some dim woe, - And spirit-like among the trees, - Strews snowy petals on the sod. - - -III - - My soul dreams at life's blood-red heart - Of that thou art: of thee, who art - All silence: saying something fair - As phantoms know - When moon-flowers blow - And spirits meet: the beauty rare - Of which thou, too, hast grown a part. - - -IV - - My heart, behold, is but a bloom - A pale thought clings to by a tomb, - A tomb that holds the one I love, - All wan of cheek, - Whom, wild and weak, - My heart bows down and breaks above, - Grief-haunted in the moonlit gloom. - - - - -IN THE OWL-LIGHT - - -I - - Uplifted darkness and the owl-light breaks, - Scuds the wild land, pursuing patch with patch, - As when deep daisy fields a swift wind shakes.-- - How clumsily I raised the crazy latch!... - So.--When yon black cloud, light-absorbing, rakes - Again the moon's bald disk-- - Out! and the storm will snatch - Again my hair, made lank with wind and rain - Two hours since.... There! from the ragged plain - A great cloud-besom sweeps the beams again!-- - Out! out!... No fear of risk?... - - -II - - First, past the fellside, where the bramble-hollow - Whines, wolf-like, with the wind; gaunt wind, that grieves - Through the one sickly ash, whose withered leaves - Worry and mutter, shriveled as the lips - Of bent hags kissing. Then--the slope that whips - The face with brush; and where a gnarled vine slips, - Snake-like, from off a rock, that seems to wallow,-- - One mass of briers,--a humpbacked hulk of hair, - A gorgon head of writhings, huge, that heaves, - When, heaped abruptly on it, _flare_! - Burst rain and tempest-glare.-- - This passed, I follow - A thorny slip of path until - I reach the storm-scarred summit of the hill. - - -III - - Let me not think of it!--as I go thence,-- - That thought I can not kill! - Ungovernable! that dogs my footsteps still, - Like something real and living; which my will - Is powerless against.--Ah! when that fence, - Dividing the dark ridges of the hill, - Is passed, shall I not then be breathless? ill - With sinking sense - Of ghastly things to come?--Some sterner strength - Sustain my soul!--Beyond the hill the dense - Dead wood's to pass, and then ... that livid length - Of mooning water, spectral and immense - With sullen storm and night.... - There, if the ghoulish wind,-- - That knows well as I know how I have sinned,-- - Will cease to curse me in its hag-like spite, - Alone with all the horror of my soul, - I shall behold, - Now this way, and now that way rolled, - Lifeless, among cramped reeds, the storm has thinned,-- - With wide, white eyes, metallic in the light - Of the impassive moon:--in gusty roll - Of washing ripples, webby, slippery locks - Dabbling and dark; and,--wedged between sharp rocks,-- - Two rocks, two iron fangs, - Whereon the lake's mad lip, pale-foaming clangs,-- - Wild-pinched and water-strangled white, - His murdered face! that mocks. - - - - -ASHLY MERE - - - Come! look in the shadowy water here, - The stagnant water of Ashly Mere: - Where the stirless depths are dark but clear, - What is the thing that lies there?-- - A lily-pod, half-sunk from sight? - Or spawn of the toad, all water-white? - Or ashen blur of the moon's wan light? - Or a woman's face and eyes there? - - Now lean to the water a listening ear, - The haunted water of Ashly Mere: - What is the sound that you seem to hear - In the ghostly hush of the deeps there?-- - A withered reed, that the ripple lips? - Or a night-bird's wing, that the surface whips? - Or the rain in a leaf that drips and drips? - Or a woman's voice that weeps there? - - Now look and listen! but not too near - The lonely water of Ashly Mere!-- - For so it happens this time each year - As you lean by the Mere and listen: - And the moaning voice I understand,-- - For oft I have watched it draw to land, - And lift from the water a ghastly hand - And a face whose dead eyes glisten. - - And this is the reason why every year - To the hideous water of Ashly Mere - I come when the woodland leaves are sear, - And the autumn moon hangs hoary: - For here by the Mere was wrought a wrong - But the old, old story is overlong-- - And woman is weak and man is strong, - And the Mere's and mine is the story. - - - - -THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN - - - On the black road through the wood, - As I rode, - There the Headless Horseman stood, - By the dark pool in the wood, - As I rode. - - From the shadow of an oak, - As I rode, - Demon steed and rider broke; - By the thunder-riven oak, - As I rode. - - On the wild way through the plain, - As I rode, - At my back he whirled like rain; - On the tempest-blackened plain, - As I rode. - - Four black hoofs shod red with fire, - As I rode, - Woke the wild rocks, dark and dire; - Eyes and nostrils streaming fire, - As I rode. - - On the deep path through the rocks, - As I rode, - I could touch his horse's locks; - Through the echo-hurling rocks, - As I rode. - - And again I looked behind, - As I rode-- - Dark as night and swift as wind, - Towering, he rode behind, - As I rode. - - On the steep road through the dell, - As I rode, - Far away I heard a bell, - In the church beyond the dell, - As I rode. - - And my soul cried out in prayer, - As I rode-- - Lo! the demon went in air, - When my soul called out in prayer, - As I rode. - - - - -THE WEREWOLF - - - _She_ - - Nay; still amort, my love?--Why dost thou lag? - - _He_ - - The strix-owl cried. - - _She_ - - Nay! 'twas yon stream that leaps - Hoarse from the black pines of the Hakel steeps; - Its moon-wild water glittering down the crag.-- - Why so aghast, sweetheart? Why dost thou stop? - - _He_ - - The Demon Huntsman passed with hooting horn! - - _She_ - - Nay! 'twas the blind wind sweeping through the thorn - Around the ruins of the Dumburg's top. - - _He_ - - My limbs are cold. - - _She_ - - Come! warm thee in my arms. - - _He_ - - My eyes are weary. - - _She_ - - Rest, them, love, on mine. - - _He_ - - I am athirst. - - _She_ - - Quench, on my lips, thy thirst.-- - O dear belovéd, how thy last kiss warms - My blood again! - - _He_ - - Off!... How thy eyeballs shine!-- - Thou beast!... thou--Ah!... thus do - I die, accursed! - - - - -THE SEA SPIRIT - - - Ah me! I shall not waken soon - From dreams of such divinity! - A spirit singing 'neath the moon - To me. - - Wild sea-spray driven of the storm - Is not so wildly white as she, - Who beckoned with a foam-white arm - To me. - - With eyes dark green, and golden-green - Long locks, that sparkled drippingly, - Out of the green wave she did lean - To me. - - And sang; till Earth and Heaven were - A far, forgotten memory; - Till more than Heaven seemed in her - To me:-- - - Sleep, sweeter than love's face or home, - And death's immutability, - And music of the plangent foam, - Ah me! - - Sweep over her with all thy ships, - With all thy stormy tides, O sea! - The memory of immortal lips, - And me! - - - - -THE VAMPIRE - - - A lily in a twilight place? - Or moonflower in the lonely night?-- - Strange beauty of a woman's face - Of wildflower-white! - - The rain that hangs a star's green ray - Slim on a leaf-point's restlessness, - Is not so glimmering green and gray - As was her dress. - - I drew her dark hair from her eyes, - And in their deeps beheld a while - Such shadowy moonlight as the skies - Of Hell may smile. - - She held her mouth up, redly wan - And burning cold:--I bent and kissed - Such rosy snow as some wild dawn - Makes of a mist. - - God shall not take from me that hour, - When round my neck her white arms clung! - When 'neath my lips, like some fierce flower, - Her white throat swung! - - Nor words she murmured while she leaned! - Witch-words, she holds me softly by,-- - The spell that binds me to a fiend - Until I die. - - - - -WILL-O'-THE-WISP - - -I - - There in the calamus he stands - With frog-webbed feet and bat-winged hands; - His glow-worm garb glints goblin-wise; - And elfishly, and impishly, - Above the gleam of owlet eyes, - A death's-head cap of downy dyes - Nods out at me, and beckons me. - - -II - - Now in the reeds his face looks white - As witch-down on a witches' night; - Now through the dark, old, haunted mill, - All eerily, all flickeringly - He flits; and with a whippoorwill - Mouth calls, and seems to syllable, - "Come follow me! oh, follow me!" - - -III - - Now o'er the sluggish stream he wends, - A slim light at his fingers' ends; - The spotted spawn, the toad hath clomb, - Slips oozily, sucks slimily; - His easy footsteps seem to come-- - Like bubble-gaspings of the scum-- - This side of me; that side of me. - - -IV - - There by the stagnant pool he stands, - A foxfire lamp in flickering hands; - The weeds are slimy to the tread, - And mockingly, and gloatingly, - With slanted eyes and pointed head, - He leans above a face long dead,-- - The face of me! of me! of me! - - - - -REVISITED - - - It was beneath a waning moon when all the woods were sear, - And winds made eddies of the leaves that whispered far and near, - I met her on the bramble bridge we parted at last year. - - At first I deemed her but a mist that faltered in that place, - An autumn mist beneath the trees the moon's thin beams did lace, - Until I neared and in the moon beheld her face to face. - - The crinkle of the summer heat above the drouth-burnt leas; - The shimmer of the thistle-drift adown the silences; - The gliding of the fairy-fire between the swamp and trees: - - All qualified her presence as a sorrow may a dream-- - The vague suggestion of a self; the glimmer of a gleam; - The actual and unreal of the things that are and seem. - - Where once she came with welcome and glad eyes, all loving-wise, - She passed, and gave no greeting that my heart could recognize, - With far, set face, unseeing, and sad, unremembering eyes. - - It was beneath a waning moon when woods were bleak and sear, - And winds made whispers of the leaves that eddied far and near, - I met her ghost upon the bridge we parted at last year. - - - - -THE OLD HOUSE - - - Quaint and forgotten, by an unused road, - An old house stands: around its doors the dense - Rank ironweeds grow high; - The chipmunks make a highway of its fence; - And on its sunken flagstones newt and toad - As still as lichens lie. - - The timid snake upon its hearth's cool sand - Sleeps undisturbed; the squirrel haunts its roof; - And in the clapboard sides - Of closets,--dim with many a spider woof,-- - Like the uncertain tapping of a hand, - The beetle-borer hides. - - Above its lintel, under mossy eaves, - The mud-wasps build their cells; and in the floor - Of its neglected porch - The black bees nest: through each deserted door, - Vague as faint, phantom footsteps, steal the leaves - And dropped cones of the larch. - - But come with me when sunset's magic old - Transforms this ruin--yea! transmutes this house: - When windows, one by one,-- - Like Age's eyes, that Youth's love-dreams arouse,-- - Grow lairs of fire; and a mouth of gold - Its wide door towards the sun. - - Or let us wait until each rain-stained room - Is carpeted with moonlight, patterned oft - With shadow'd boughs o'erhead; - And through the house the wind goes rustling soft, - As might the ghost--a whisper of perfume-- - Of some sweet girl long dead. - - - - -THE FOREST OF DREAMS - - -I - - Where was I last Friday night?-- - Within the Forest of dark Dreams - Following the blur of a goblin light, - That led me over dreadful streams, - Whereon the scum of the spawn was spread, - And the blistered slime, in stagnant seams; - Where the weed and the moss swam black and dead, - Like a drowned girl's hair, in the ropy ooze: - And the jack-o'-lantern light that led - Flickered the foxfire trees o'erhead, - And the owl-like things at airy cruise. - - -II - - Where was I last Friday night?-- - Within the Forest of dark Dreams - Following a form of shadowy white - With my own wild face it seems.-- - Did a raven's wing just fan my hair? - Or a web-winged bat brush by my face? - Or the hand of--something I did not dare - Look round to see in that obscene place! - Where the boughs, with their leaves a-devil's-dance, - And the thorn-tree bush, where the wind made moan, - Had more than a strange significance - Of life and of evil not their own. - - -III - - Where was I last Friday night?-- - Within the Forest of dark Dreams - Seeing the mists rise left and right, - Like the leathery fog that heaves and steams - From the rolling horror of Hell's red streams: - While the wind, that tossed in the tattered tree, - And danced alone with the last mad leaf-- - Or _was_ it the wind?... kept whispering me, - "Come! bury it here with its own black grief, - And its heart of fire that naught can save!"-- - And there in the darkness I seemed to see - My own self digging my soul a grave. - - - - -THE CITY OF DARKNESS - - - Wide-walled it stands in heathen lands - Beside a mystic sea, - Its streets strange-trod of many a god - And templed blasphemy. - - Far through the night, with light on light, - It flames beside the sea; - While overhead an unseen dread - Impends eternally. - - There is a sound above, around, - Of music by the sea; - And weird and wide the torches glide - Of pagan revelry. - - There is a noise as of a voice - That calls beneath the sea; - And all the deep heaves, as in sleep, - With vague expectancy. - - Then slowly up--as in a cup - Seethes poison--swells the sea; - As through black glass, wild mass on mass, - The town glows fiery. - - Red-lit it glowers, like Hell's dark towers, - Closed in the iron sea; - And monster forms in awful swarms - Wing round it cloudily. - - Still overhead the unseen dread, - Whose shadow dyes the sea, - At wrath-winged wait behind its gate - Till God shall set it free. - - An earthquake crash; a taloned flash-- - And, lo! from sky to sea - A sworded Doom that stalks the gloom, - Crowned with Death's agony. - - And where it burned, a flame inurned, - Blood-red within the sea, - The phantasm of the dread above - Sits in immensity. - - - - -UNDER DARK SKIES - - -I - - Hills rolled in woods, that lair the lynx and fox; - Harsh fields, that lean before the woods' advance - As wild-men fly from hunters, tossing locks - Through which their eyes of yellow fire glance; - Great blurs of briers and lugubrious rocks,-- - A bristling blackness,--with a pool beneath, - Whereo'er the wisps, like something evil, dance; - And then a house like the wrecked face of death. - - -II - - There where the moon hangs sinister, o'er parched - And haggard thorns,--a golden battle-bow, - Or shield of bronze, old wars have scarred and scorched,-- - What crime hath cursed it ... who shall ever know?-- - Night only! Night, with flickering flame, who torched - That moment when blood branded black its sod, - And in the pool a ghastly face sank slow - Beneath the storm and rushing fire of God. - - - - -REMBRANDTS - - -I - - I shall not soon forget her and her eyes, - The haunts of hate, where suffering seemed to write - Its stealthy name, whose syllables are sighs, - In strange and starless night. - - I shall not soon forget her and her face, - So quiet, yet uneasy as a dream - That stands on tip-toe in a haunted place - And listens for a scream. - - She made me feel as one, alone, may feel - In some grand, ghostly mansion of old time, - The presence of a treasure, walls conceal, - And secret of a crime. - - -II - - With lambent faces, mimicking the moon, - The water lilies lie; - Dotting the darkness of the long lagoon - As stars, the sky. - - A face, the whiteness of a water-flower, - With pollen-golden hair, - In shadow half, half in the moonlight's glower, - Lifts slowly there. - - A young girl's face, death makes mute marble of, - Turned to the moon and me, - Sad with the pathos of unspeakable love, - Floating to sea. - - -III - - One listening bent, in dread of something coming - He can not flee nor balk-- - A phantom footstep, in the ghostly gloaming, - That haunts a ruined walk. - - Long has he given his whole heart's hard endeavor - To labor, dark and dawn, - Dreaming that Love still watched his toil and ever - Turned kindly eyes thereon. - - Now in his life, he feels, there nears an hour, - Inevitable, alas! - When in the darkness he shall cringe and cower, - And see his dead self pass. - - - - -GHOSTS - - - Was it the strain of the waltz that, repeating - Love, so bewitched me? or only the gleam - There of the lustres, that set my heart beating, - Feeling your presence as one feels a dream? - - For, on a sudden, the woman of fashion, - Soft at my side in her diamonds and lace, - Vanished, and pale with reproach or with passion, - You, my dead sweetheart, looked up in my face. - - Music, the nebulous lights, and the sifting - Fragrance of women made amorous the air; - Born of these three and my thoughts you came drifting, - Clad in dim muslin, a rose in your hair. - - There in the waltz, that followed the lancers, - Hard to my breast did I crush you and hold; - Far through the stir and the throng of the dancers - Onward I bore you as often of old. - - Pale were your looks; and the rose in your tresses - Paler of hue than the dreams we have lost;-- - "Who," then I said, "is it sees or who guesses, - Here in the hall, that I dance with a ghost?" - - Gone!--And the dance and the music are ended. - Gone!--And the rapture is turned into sighs. - And, on my arm, in her elegance splendid, - The woman of fashion smiles up in my eyes. - - Had I forgotten? and did she remember?-- - She who is dead, whom I can not forget: - She, for whose sake all my heart is an ember - Covered with ashes of dreams and regret. - - - - -AT MIDNIGHT - - - At midnight in the trysting wood - I wandered by the waterside, - When, soft as mist, before me stood - My sweetheart who had died. - - But so unchanged was she, meseemed - That I had only dreamed her dead; - Glad in her eyes the lovelight gleamed; - Her lips were warm and red. - - What though the stars shone shadowy through - Her form as by my side she went, - And by her feet no drop of dew - Was stirred, no blade was bent! - - What though through her white loveliness - The wildflower dimmed, the moonlight paled, - Real to my touch she was; no less - Than when the earth prevailed. - - She took my hand. My heart beat wild. - She kissed my mouth. I bowed my head. - Then, gazing in my eyes, she smiled: - "When did'st thou die?" she said. - - - - -THAT NIGHT - - - That night I sat listening, as in a swoon, - With half-closed eyes, - To far-off bells, low-lulling as a tune - That drifts and dies - Beneath the flowery fingers of the June - Harping to summer skies. - - And then I dreamed the world I knew was gone, - And some one brought,-- - Leading me far o'er sainted hill and lawn, - In heavenly thought,-- - My soul where well the sources of the dawn - With dew and fire fraught. - - Above me the majestic dome of night, - With star on star, - Sparkled; in which one star shone blinding bright; - Radiant as spar - That walls the halls of morning, pearly white - Around her golden car. - - About me temples, vast in desert seas, - Columned a land - Of ruins--bones of old monstrosities - God's awful hand - Had smitten; homes of dead idolatries, - O'erwhelmed with dust and sand. - - Their bestial gods, caked thick with gems and gold, - Their blasphemies - Of beauty, rent; 'mid ruined altars rolled; - Their agonies - And rites abolished; and their priests of old-- - Dust on the desert breeze. - - Then Syrian valleys, purple with veiling mist, - Meseemed I trailed, - Where the frail floweret, by the dewdrop kissed, - Soft-blushing, quailed; - And drowned in dingled deeps of amethyst - The moon-mad bulbul wailed. - - On glimmering wolds I seemed to hear the bleat - Of folded flocks: - Then shepherds passed me, bare of head and feet; - And then an ox - Lowed; and, above me, swept the solemn beat - Of angel wings and locks. - - A manger then I seemed to see where bent, - In adoration, - Above a babe, Men of the Orient, - Where, low of station, - His mother lay, while round them swam sweet scent - And sounds of jubilation. - - And then I woke. The rose-white moon above - Bloomed on my sight;-- - And in her train the stars of winter drove, - Light upon light; - While Yuletide bells rocked, pealing "peace and love" - Down all the aisles of night. - - - - -GRAMARYE - - - There are some things that entertain me more - Than men or books; and to my knowledge seem - A key of Poetry, made of magic lore - Of childhood, opening many a fabled door - Of superstition, mystery, and dream - Enchantment locked of yore. - - For, when through dusking woods my pathway lies, - Often I feel old spells, as o'er me flits - The bat, like some black thought that, troubled, flies - Round some dark purpose; or before me cries - The owl that, like an evil conscience, sits, - A shadowy voice and eyes. - - Then, when down blue canals of cloudy snow - The white moon oars her boat, and woods vibrate - With crickets, lo, I hear the hautboys blow - Of Elfland; and, when gold the fireflies glow, - See where the goblins hold a Fairy Fête - With many a lanthorn-row. - - Strange growths, that ooze from long-dead logs and spread - A creamy fungus, where the snail, uncoiled, - And fat slug feed at morn, are Pixy bread - Made of the yeasted dew; the lichens red, - Beside these grown, are meat the Brownies broiled - Above a glow-worm bed. - - The smears of silver on the webs that line - The knuckled roots, or stretch, white-wov'n, within - The hollow stump, are stains of Faery wine - Spilled on the cloth where Elfland sat to dine, - When night beheld them drinking, chin to chin, - Of th' moon's fermented shine. - - What but their chairs the mushrooms on the lawn, - Or toadstools hidden under flower and fern, - Tagged with the dotting dew!--With knees updrawn - Far as his eyes, have I not come upon - Puck seated there? but scarcely round could turn - When, presto! he was gone. - - And so though Science from the woods hath tracked - The Elfin; and with prosy lights of day - Unhallowed all his haunts; and, dulling, blacked - Our vision, still hath Beauty never lacked - For seers yet; who, in some wizard way, - Prove fancy real as fact. - - - - -THE WORLD OF FAERY - - -I - - When in the pansy-purpled stain - Of sunset one far star is seen, - Like one bright drop of rain, - Out of the forest, deep and green, - O'er me a Spirit seems to lean, - The fairest of her train. - - -II - - The Spirit, dowered with fadeless youth - Of Lay and Legend, young as when, - Close to her side, in sooth, - She led me from the marts of men, - A child, into her world, which then - To me was true as truth. - - -III - - Her hair is like the silken husk - That holds the corn, the gloss that glows; - Her brow is white as tusk; - Her body is like some sweet rose, - And through her gossamer raiment shows - Like starlight closed in musk. - - -IV - - She smiles at me; she nods at me; - And by her looks I am beguiled - Into the mystery - Of ways I knew when, as a child, - She led me 'mid her blossoms wild - Of faery fantasy. - - -V - - The blossoms that, when night is here, - Become sweet mouths that sigh soft tales; - Or, each, a jeweled ear - Leaned to the elfin dance that trails - Down moonrayed cirques of haunted vales - To cricket song and cheer. - - -VI - - The blossoms that, closed up all day,-- - Primrose and poppy,--darkness opes, - Slowly, to free a fay, - Who, silken-soft, leaps forth and ropes - With rain each web that, starlit, slopes - Between each grassy spray. - - -VII - - The blossoms from which elves are born,-- - Sweet wombs of mingled scent and snow, - Whose deeps are cool as morn; - Wherein I oft have heard them blow - Their pixy trumpets, silvery low - As some bee's drowsy horn. - - -VIII - - So was it when my childhood roamed - The woodland's dim enchanted ground, - Where every mushroom domed - Its disc for them to revel round; - Each glow-worm forged its flame,--green-drowned - In hollow snow that foamed - - -IX - - Of lilies,--for their lantern light, - To lamp their dance beneath the moon; - Each insect of the night,-- - That rasped its thin, vibrating tune,-- - And owl that raised its sleepy croon, - Made music for their flight. - - -X - - So is it still when twilight fills - My soul with childhood's memories - That haunt the far-off hills, - And people with dim things the trees,-- - With faery forms that no man sees, - And dreams that no man kills. - - -XI - - Then all around me sway and swing - The Puck-lights of their firefly train, - Their elfin revelling; - And in the bursting pods, that rain - Their seeds around my steps, again - I hear their footsteps ring. - - -XII - - The faery feet that fall once more - Within my way;--and then I see,-- - As oft I saw before,-- - _Her_ Spirit rise, who shimmeringly - Fills all my world with poetry,-- - The Loveliness of Yore. - - - - -THERE ARE FAIRIES - - -I - - There are fairies, bright of eye, - Who the wildflowers' warders are: - Ouphes, that chase the firefly, - Elves, that ride the shooting-star: - Fays, who in a cobweb lie, - Swinging on a moonbeam bar; - Or who harness bumble-bees, - Grumbling on the clover leas, - To a blossom or a breeze, - That's their fairy car. - If you care, you too may see - There are fairies.--Verily, - There are fairies. - - -II - - There are fairies. I could swear - I have seen them busy, where - Roses loose their scented hair, - In the moonlight weaving, weaving, - Out of starlight and the dew, - Glinting gown and shimmering shoe; - Or, within a glow-worm lair, - From the dark earth slowly heaving - Mushrooms whiter than the moon, - On whose tops they sit and croon, - With their grig-like mandolins, - To fair fairy ladykins, - Leaning from the window-sill - Of a rose or daffodil, - Listening to their serenade - All of cricket music made. - Follow me, oh, follow me! - Ho! away to Faerie! - Where your eyes like mine may see - There are fairies.--Verily, - There are fairies. - - -III - - There are fairies. Elves that swing - In a wild and rainbow ring - Through the air; or mount the wing - Of a bat to courier news - To the fairy King and Queen: - Fays, who stretch the gossamers - On which twilight hangs the dews; - Who, within the moonlight sheen, - Whisper dimly in the ears - Of the flowers words so sweet - That their hearts are turned to musk - And to honey; things that beat - In their veins of gold and blue: - Ouphes, that shepherd moths of dusk-- - Soft of wing and gray of hue-- - Forth to pasture on the dew. - There are fairies; verily; - Verily; - For the old owl in the tree, - Hollow tree, - He who maketh melody - For them tripping merrily, - Told it me. - There are fairies.--Verily, - There are fairies. - - - - -ON MIDSUMMER NIGHT - - -I - - All the poppies, in their beds - Nodding crumpled, crimson heads; - And the larkspurs, in whose ears - Twilight hangs, like twinkling tears, - Sleepy jewels of the rain; - All the violets, that strain - Eyes of amaranthine gleam; - And the clover-blooms that dream - With pink baby-fists closed tight,-- - They can hear upon this night, - Noiseless as the moon's white light, - Footsteps and the glimmering flight, - Shimmering flight, - Of the Fairies. - - -II - - Every sturdy four-o'-clock, - In its variegated frock; - Every slender sweet-pea, too, - In its hood of pearly hue; - Every primrose pale that dozes - By the wall and slow uncloses - A sweet mouth of dewy dawn - In a little silken yawn,-- - On this night of silvery sheen, - They can see the Fairy Queen, - On her palfrey white, I ween, - Tread dim cirques of haunted green, - Moonlit green, - With her Fairies. - - -III - - Never a foxglove-bell, you see, - That's a cradle for a bee; - Never a lily, that's a house - Where the butterfly may drowse; - Never a rose-bud or a blossom, - That unfolds its honeyed bosom - To the moth, that nestles deep - And there sucks itself to sleep,-- - But can hear and also see, - On this night of witchery, - All that world of Faerie, - All that world where airily, - Merrily, - Trip the Fairies. - - -IV - - It was last Midsummer Night, - In the moon's uncertain light, - That I stood among the flowers, - And, in language unlike ours, - Heard them speaking of the Pixies, - Trolls and Gnomes and Water-Nixes; - How in _this_ flow'r's ear a Fay - Hung a gem of rainy ray; - And round _that_ flow'r's throat had set, - Dim, a dewdrop carcanet; - Then among the mignonette - Stretched a cobweb-hammock wet, - Dewy wet, - For the Fairies. - - -V - - Long I watched, but never a one, - Ariel, Puck, or Oberon, - Mab, or Queen Titania-- - Fairest of them all they say-- - Clad in morning-glory hues, - Did I glimpse among the dews. - Only once I thought the torch - Of that elfin-rogue and arch, - Robin Goodfellow, afar - Flashed along a woodland bar-- - Bright, a jack-o'-lantern star, - A green lamp of firefly spar, - Glow-worm spar, - Loved of Fairies. - - - - -THE DANCE OF THE FAIRIES - - - On the glimmering coppice, - From her shadowy hair, - Long, silvery poppies - Of moon-litten air - The Night hath flung there. - - In the fern-fronded hollow - The fireflies stream, - Uncertainly follow, - With lanterns of gleam, - Some spirit or dream. - - The forest is fragrant; - The night-hazes swirl - And trail,--through the vagrant - Deep ferns that unfurl,-- - Faint footsteps of pearl. - - From hill and from valley, - Where the moon is at home; - From rocks,--musically,-- - Where singing streams comb - Wild tresses of foam; - - With a ripple and twinkle - Of luminous arms, - And footfalls that tinkle - The darkness, in swarms - Of flower-like forms: - - We speed to the revel - From bloom and from brier, - With locks that dishevel, - And feet, like the fire, - Winged wild with desire. - - Like the wind on the mountain, - We circle and dance; - Like the foam of the fountain, - That sings of romance, - We glimmer and glance. - - Swift, swift we go swinging - Down the slanted moonbeam, - In spirals faint flinging - A rainbow-rayed gleam - On sward and on stream. - - You may hear, like a murmur, - The swirl of our hair; - Our footfall; no firmer - Than leaves on the air - When branches blow bare. - - To men who are favored - In spiritual wise, - Whose hearts have not quavered - To see us, we rise - And doff all disguise. - - Come away then, come hither, - In the moon-blossomed night! - Ere the star-flowers wither, - And Morning, the white, - Reaps, mows them with light. - - Come hither, where singing - Sounds softer than tears, - Or kisses, sweet clinging, - Or music one hears - With memory's ears. - - Come join us, whose kisses - Are waiting for you; - Come, catch at our tresses, - And dance through the dew! - Come away, and pursue! - - Come, come to the coppice, - The violet ridge; - The torrent, whose top is - A rainbow,--a bridge - We tread like the midge.-- - - Come, mortal, come hither! - Come dance with your dreams, - Ere the golden spark wither - Of the glow-worm that gleams - Like a star in still streams. - - - - -THE CHANGELING - - - In the night I heard the sea; - Saw the round moon, white as wool, - Or a bloom in Faerie, - Rise above the hawthorn-tree, - White and wonderful, - Weird and wonderful. - - Through the door there came to me - Breezy whispers, fragrant as - Wafts that rock the honey-bee, - Cradled sweet in Arcady, - In the bluebelled grass, - In the rose-strewn grass. - - Then I saw them; suddenly; - Three red caps against the moon;-- - And three voices whispered me, - "We have come to dance for thee, - Sing for thee a tune, - Sing an elfin tune." - - They were Fairies, Fairies three: - Nearer to my crib they drew, - Singing all the time to me, - Till mine eyes closed dreamily, - Closed, and naught I knew, - And no more I knew. - - While I slept I heard the three - Whispering round my baby there, - White as moonlit ivory, - In its crib of ebony, - All my joy and care, - All my love and care. - - Now I sit here, as you see, - And my heart is all bereft, - Sighing, singing wearily - To this strange thing on my knee, - This wild thing they left, - Changeling that they left. - - - - -THE ELF-QUEEN - - - You ask me why I wandered wide - When Summer sighed o'er dying June?-- - To see the Fairy People ride - Beneath the moon. - - Wild poppies hedged a hawthorne copse, - Where glow-worms hung dim lamps of gold; - A sudden whisper bowed their tops, - And then, behold! - - Between the poppies and the mead - I saw the Fairies riding down: - One fair-faced Fairy in the lead - Crowned with a crown. - - The night was ringing with their reins, - So loud the cricket hushed its song; - Bells up and down their horses' manes - Swung sweet along. - - And whistles, that took all the wind - With music when they shook their manes; - So that the fields, before, behind, - Rang with sweet strains. - - And as their bridles chiming swung, - The night seemed cured of every qualm; - And my sick heart, so wild of tongue, - Was almost calm. - - The steeds they rode were fairy steeds, - Of filmy form and gossamer green; - And every elf was clad in weeds - Of silken sheen. - - Above, a beam of silver light - Beat time to their wild fairy tune, - And danced and glanced,--an elfin white - Not of the moon. - - They were so small the harebell's blue - Had helmeted each tiny head, - Save that fair Fay, who, tall as two, - The Fairies led. - - Dark tresses floated from a tire - Of diamond sparks that snapped with light; - And all her white sark seemed of fire - Shimmering the night. - - I would have thrown me at her feet - And told her of my grief and pain; - And she, perhaps, had helped me meet - My love again. - - Alas! a cock crew far away, - A long-necked cry; and, swift as thought, - The Elf-Queen and her company - Passed into naught. - - - - -SONG OF THE ELF - - -I - - Where the poppies, with their shields, - Sentinel - Forest and the harvest fields, - In the bell - Of a blossom, fair to see, - There I stall the bumblebee, - My good stud; - There I stable him and hold, - Harness him with hairy gold; - There I ease his burly back - Of the honey and its sack - Filched from bloom and bud. - - -II - - Where the glow-worm lights its lamp, - There I lie; - Where, above the grasses damp, - Moths go by; - Now within the fussy brook, - Where the waters wind and crook - Round the rocks, - I go sailing down the gloom - Straddling light a wisp of broom; - Or, beneath the owlet moon, - Trip it to the cricket's tune - Tossing back my locks. - - -III - - Ere the crowfoot on the lawn - Lifts its head, - Or the glow-worm's light be gone, - Dim and dead, - In a cobweb-hammock I - Swing between two ferns and lie - Hid away; - Where the drowsy musk-rose blows - And a sleepy runnel flows, - In the land of Faery, - There I rock, where none can see, - All the summer day. - - - - -AN ELF SWASHBUCKLER - - - Ho, my bullies, lift a tune - To Queen Mab, and, come, make merry, - By a mushroom in the moon, - White as bud of berry! - - Gentlemen, come! take your grog! - Each one in his cap and mantlet: - Who refuses is a dog!-- - He must lift my gantlet! - - Look! my gaberdine how brave! - And my tunic, ouphen yellow! - One a bat's-wing lately gave, - And a frog its fellow. - - And a moth's-head grew this fine - Feather of my beetle-bonnet; - See, my gnat-sting dagger's shine - Hath its blood still on it. - - Faith! this ring I wear, I swear, - 'Twas Queen Mab who gave it: studded, - As you see, with rubies rare-- - Eyes of spiders blooded. - - Doubt me, sirs, and by my blade!-- - Sirrahs, a good stabbing hanger! - From a hornet's stinger made!-- - You may dread my anger! - - Fill the lichen pottles up, - Honey pressed from hearts of roses: - Cheek by jowl, up with each cup, - Till we hide our noses. - - Good, sirs!--Marry!--'Twas the cock!-- - Hey, away! the moon's lost fire!-- - Ho! the cock! our dial and clock-- - Hide beneath this brier! - - - - -ON THE EVE OF ST. JOHN - -(_Scandinavian_) - - - Dizzily round, - On the elf-hills, white in the mellow moonlight, - To a sweet, unholy, ravishing sound - Of wizard voices from underground, - Their mazy dance the Elle-maids wound - On St. John's Eve. - - Beautiful white, - Like a wreath of mist by the starbeams kissed, - Their frail, sweet faces bloomed out of the night, - With floating tresses of firefly light, - That puffed like foam to the left and the right, - On St. John's Eve. - - Fitfully there - They danced like the daughters of starlit waters,-- - But I saw what a mockery all of them were, - With their hollow bodies, when the moonlit air - Rayed out of their eyes with a glow-worm glare, - On St. John's Eve. - - I turned my feet - To the river's banks: in the rush-flowers' ranks - I heard the Necken their songs repeat: - A music all made of the water's beat, - Of moss and of whispering winds that meet, - On St. John's Eve. - - They called my name; - And I saw them there, in their beauty rare, - On the moonlit waves whence the music came, - With their harps of gold, and their locks of flame - Blown over pale brows, sans sin or blame, - On St. John's Eve. - - 'Twas nearing morn - When I turned me home; and a wizen'd gnome, - A Nis, all gray with flailing the corn, - And strong with the scent of byre and barn, - Scowled at me under the haunted thorn, - On St. John's Eve. - - To end it all, - As I passed the hill by the ruined mill, - The hill rose up on pillars tall, - Crimson pillars that ranked a hall, - Where the Dwarfs and the Trolls were holding a ball, - On St. John's Eve. - - One reached to me - A goblet of gold of a vintage old, - And I drank, and mixed with their mirth and glee, - And danced with them for an hour, may be.-- - But they tell me now 'tis a year, you see, - Since St. John's Eve. - - - - -THE NIXIES - - - Deep down, beneath the waves, - Great emerald-curving caves - Dark-domed above it, - Dim-walled with pearl and gold - Glimmers their city old-- - Hast thou heard of it?-- - Where, through the long green nights, the spangling spars - Twinkle like misty stars. - - Where the wind-ripple rays, - And the white water sprays - Over the rocks, - Sitting, they comb their hair; - Singing, with fingers fair - Braiding their locks; - While round their loveliness of naked limbs - The moon's gold glamour swims. - - Or, on some stormy night, - Seen through the glow-worm light - Haunting the sands, - Thou canst behold them drift - Wild thro' the foam, and lift - Pale arms and hands; - Or, in the lightning's leap, along the lake, - Dance in the tempest's wake. - - Singing: "Come join our dance! - Come, while the lightnings glance, - Or when the moon - Spills all her flowers of light - At the dark feet of night; - And soon, ah, soon, - Within our shadowy halls thou shalt forget - Earth's fever and its fret." - - - - -THE WATER-FAIRY - - - Stars above her, stars beneath, - White she rose, as white as death, - Where the waters glassed the splendor - Of a thousand thousand stars, - Twinkling where the lilies slender - Rocked above the ripple-bars. - Slow she oared a shining shoulder - To a blossom-crested boulder. - With slim fingers, long and milky, - From the wave and water-lilies, - Up the rock she drew her silky - Beauty, wild as any rill is - Flashing from a hilly height. - Sitting, dripping in the night, - Sweet she sang unto the lilies, - Sang unto the listening lilies, - Till arose the wool-white moon - In the silken hush of heaven; - Then she wreathed her brow with seven - Lily-buds, all sweet with June; - Belted, wreathed with lilies seven, - Then again upon the boulder, - Dark locks on a milk-white shoulder, - Wild she sang; a wilder ditty - To the wool-white moon; - To the lilies and the moon: - Beautiful and without pity, - Sang, and sang an elfin tune; - Till a youth, who wandered far, - Saw her sitting like a star; - Heard her singing to the moon; - Found her sitting, starry white, - On the flower-crested boulder, - Dark locks on a milky shoulder, - In the low moon's lilied light, - 'Neath the wool-white moon.... - And the creature wrapped her hair - Round his white throat, sitting there - Singing, smiled into his eyes, - While she wrapped her raven hair - Slowly round his throat; and then - Laughed and whispered to the skies, - Kissed him once and then again; - Smiled; and left him stark and strangled - In the water-lilies tangled, - Staring up, with open eyes, - At the moon with open eyes. - - - - -THE MORNING-GLORIES - - - They swing from the garden-trellis - In Ariel-airy ease; - And their aromatic honey - Is sought by the earliest bees. - - The rose, it knows their secret, - And the jessamine also knows: - And the rose told me the secret, - That the jessamine told the rose. - - And the jessamine said: At midnight, - Ere the red cock woke and crew, - The Fays of Queen Titania - Came here to bathe i' the dew. - - And the yellow moonlight glistened - On braids of elfin hair: - And fairy feet on the flowers - Fell lighter than any air. - - And their petticoats, gay as bubbles, - They hung up, every one, - On the morning-glory's tendrils, - Till their moonlight bath were done. - - But the barn-cock crew too early, - And the Fairies fled in fear, - Leaving their petticoats, one and all, - Like blossoms hanging here. - - - - -THE GLADIOLES - - - As tall as the lily, as rich as the rose, - And deep as the bloom of the hollyhock, - They lift their blossoms in furbelows - Of flame that the warm winds rock. - - And some are red as the humming-bird's throat, - And some are pied as the butterfly's wings, - And each is shaped like an elfin coat, - Or a goblin cap that swings. - - Freaked with fire or red as blood, - They nod at me in my garden old, - Each flower a pixy helm or hood, - Lace-lined with fairyland gold. - - For you know the goblins that come at dusk,-- - Whose firefly eyes you have seen,--each one, - (When is sprinkled the dew and scattered the musk,) - Hangs here his cap when done. - - - - -THE TIGER-LILY - - - Tall in his tawny turban, - A sultan 'mid his bands, - In my garden, old and urban, - The tiger-lily stands. - - The poppies there that glisten, - Whose gaudy garments glow, - Are eunuchs who guard and listen - Round his seraglio - - Of roses, myrrhed and musky; - Some whiter than a dove, - And others, deep and dusky, - His odalisks of love. - - Circassian-white and slender, - His dancing-girls and slaves, - To the August-lilies tender, - His haughty hand he waves. - - While he watches them, nothing missing, - In her bower of bloom on high, - His favorite rose is kissing - A Bedouin butterfly. - - - - -THE MOTH, THE ROSE, AND THE PINK - - - White as snow I saw it sink - On the pungent-petaled pink - Through the moonlit dusk; - Moth? or fairy? or, who knows?-- - Ghost, perhaps, of some dead rose - 'Mid the roses' musk. - - Then it seemed I heard a sweet - Tinkle as of elfin feet - Underneath the blooms, - Where one rose hung desolate, - Sick of heart and filled with hate, - Dead with its perfumes. - - "Thou, for whom I died to-day," - So I seemed to hear it say, - "Listen, lovely pink: - Vampire-like, unto thy heart - Now I send, through my white art, - My pale ghost to drink." - - - - -GLAMOUR - - - With fall on fall, from wood to wood, - The brook pours mossy music down-- - Or is it, in the solitude, - The murmur of a Faery town? - - A town of Elfland filled with bells - And holiday of hurrying feet: - Or traffic now, whose small sound swells, - Now sinks from busy street to street. - - Whose Folk I often recognize - In wingéd things that hover round, - Who to men's eyes assume disguise - When on some Faery errand bound.-- - - The bee, that haunts the touch-me-not, - Big-bodied, making braggart din, - Is elfin brother to that sot, - Jack Falstaff of the Boar's Head Inn. - - The dragon-fly, whose wings of black - Are mantle for his garb of green, - Is Ancient to this other Jack, - Another Pistol, long and lean. - - The butterfly, in royal tints, - Is Hal, mad Hal in cloth of gold, - Who passes these, as once that Prince - Passed his companions boon of old. - - - - -FAERY MORRIS - - -I - - The winds are whist; and, hid in mist, - The moon hangs o'er the wooded height: - The bushy bee, with unkempt head, - Hath made the sunflower's disk his bed, - And sleeps half-hid from sight. - The owlet makes us melody-- - Come dance with us in Faery, - Come dance with us to-night. - - -II - - The dew is damp; the glow-worm's lamp - Blurs in the moss its tawny light: - The great gray moth sinks, half-asleep, - Where, in an elfin-laundered heap, - The lily-gowns hang white. - The crickets make us minstrelsy-- - Come dance with us in Faery, - Come dance with us to-night. - - -III - - With scents of heat, dew-chilled and sweet, - The new-cut hay smells by the bight: - The ghost of some dead pansy bloom - The butterfly seems, in the gloom, - Its pied wings folded tight. - The world is drowned in fantasy-- - Come dance with us in Faery, - Come dance with us to-night. - - - - -THE LITTLE PEOPLE - - -I - - When the lily nods in slumber, - And the roses are all sleeping; - When the night hangs deep and umber, - And the stars their watch are keeping: - When the clematis uncloses - Like a hand of snowy fire; - And the golden-lipped primroses, - To the tiger-moths' desire, - Each a mouth of musk unpuckers-- - Silken pouts of scented sweetness, - Which they sip with honey-suckers:-- - Shod with hush and winged with fleetness, - You may see the Little People, - Round and round the drowsy steeple - Of a belfried hollyhock,-- - Clad in phlox and four-o'-clock, - Gay of gown and pantaloon,-- - Dancing by the glimmering moon, - Till the cock, the long-necked cock, - Crows them they must vanish soon. - - -II - - When the cobweb is a cradle - For the dreaming dew to sleep in; - And each blossom is a ladle - That the perfumed rain lies deep in: - When the flaming fireflies scribble - Darkness as with lines flame-tragic, - And the night seems some dim sibyl - Speaking gold, or wording magic - Silent-syllabled and golden: - Capped with snapdragon and hooded - With the sweet-pea, vague-beholden, - You may see the Little People - Underneath the sleepy steeple - Of a towering mullein stock, - Trip it over moss and rock - To the owlet's elvish tune, - And the tree-toad's gnome-bassoon; - Till the cock, the barnyard cock, - Crows them they must vanish soon. - - -III - - When the wind upon the water - Seems a boat of ray and ripple, - That some fairy moonbeam-daughter - Steers, with sails that drift and dripple; - When the sound of grig and cricket, - Ever singing, ever humming, - Seems a goblin in the thicket - On his elfin viol strumming; - When the toadstool, coned and milky, - Heaves a roof for snails to clamber, - Thistledown- and milkweed-silky, - With loose locks of jade and amber, - You may see the Little People, - Underneath the pixy steeple - Of a doméd mushroom, flock, - Quaint in wildflower vest and frock, - Whirling by the waning moon - To the whippoorwill's weird tune, - Till the cock, the far-off cock, - Crows them they must vanish soon. - - - - -THE SEA-KING - - - In green sea-caverns dim, - Deep down, - Foam-bearded,--gray and grim - Beneath his crown,-- - He sits where sea-things swim - And dead men frown. - In green sea-caverns dim - Deep down. - - Around him mermaids sing, - Foam-clad, - And comb long locks and cling, - And sing so sad - Their song's wild murmuring - Drives mortals mad. - Around him mermaids sing, - Foam-clad. - - There vast the sea-snakes lair - And yawn; - Great bulks cloud by; and there - Huge shells and spawn, - Weird weeds, fantastic fair, - Drift scarlet wan. - There vast the sea-snakes lair - And yawn. - - Of wrecks of ships and hulls - And bones, - Sunk gold the water dulls, - And precious stones, - Anchors, and deadmen's skulls, - He builds gaunt thrones. - Of wrecks of ships and hulls - And bones. - - Men's tears are dear to him, - Deep down. - Set in the foamy rim - Of his pale crown, - Their pearléd sorrows swim - Above his frown. - Men's tears are dear to him, - Deep down. - - For him no tempests sweep - And sever - The league-long waves that leap; - The sun shines never: - In caverns vast and deep - He sits forever. - For him no tempests sweep, - Never, ah, never. - - - - -THE NEREID - - -I - - I saw one night a Nereid white - Arise from her coral caves: - Her sea-green curls were pale with pearls, - And her limbs were veiled with the waves. - Through the moonlit foam I saw her come - Up the billow-haunted shore-- - And faint and sweet I heard her feet, - Foam-like, through the surf's long roar; - While ever the wind and the rolling waves - Kept time to her song of ocean caves, - That she sang to her harp of mist and moon, - Of moonbeam shell: this ocean tune:-- - - -II - - "Come follow, come follow, to caverns hollow, - That sound with the sighing sea! - Come follow me o'er the waters hoar!-- - Come away, come away with me! - Come follow, oh, follow, to grottoes hollow, - And caves that are ocean-whist, - Where the sea-weeds twine and the star-fish shine, - And the rosy corals twist. - - "Come follow me home on the wandering foam, - That rolls my world above! - My bosom shall bear thee safely where - The Sea-nymphs dream of love. - They will lie at thy feet and thy heart shall beat - To the music of their sighs; - They will lean to thy face and, like stars, thou shalt trace - Their radiant, love-lit eyes. - - "Come away, come away! where, under the spray, - The haliötis glows, - The nautilus gleams and the sponge-grove dreams, - And the crimson dulse like sunset streams, - And the coral-forest grows. - Come away to my caves, my emerald caves, - From the moon and the sun deep hid! - Forget the world, down under the waves,-- - The world of man that sighs and slaves,-- - Forget the world, there under the waves, - In the arms of a Nereid!" - - - - -THE MERMAID - - - The moon in the east was glowing - When I sought the moaning sea; - The winds from the sea were blowing, - And they brought strange dreams to me. - - The waves at my feet were breaking; - The stars in the sky were wan; - And I watched a white mist making - For the shore and glimmering on. - - And was it a sound of wailing - That the sea-wind bore to me? - Did I hear a footstep trailing? - Or was it a wave of the sea? - - The night hung pale above me - Upon her starry throne, - And a voice said, "Youth, come love me! - For my heart for thee makes moan." - - And out of the mist came slipping - A mermaid, tall and fair; - Her limbs with sea-dew dripping, - And moonlight in her hair. - - Her locks, with the salt sea dripping, - She wrung with a snowy hand; - Her gown hung, thinly clipping - Her breasts the sea-wind fanned. - - Amort from the sea came speeding - This creature samite-clad; - And my heart for her was bleeding, - But its beating I forbade. - - On the strand where the sand was rocking - She stood and sang an air; - And the winds in her hair kept locking - Their fingers cool and bare. - - Soft in her arms did she fold me, - And evermore she moaned, - While her love and her grief she told me, - And the ocean sighed and groaned. - - But I stilled my heart's wild beating, - For I knew her love was dim; - Oh, cold, oh, cold was my greeting, - Though my love burnt in each limb. - - To her bosom white she pressed me - With arms of foam and mist; - With her arms and her lips caressed me, - And smiled in my eyes and kissed. - - But ever I kept repeating, - "A mermaid false is she!" - And cold, oh, cold was my greeting, - Though the heart beat wild in me. - - To my ears she laid her sighing - Sweet mouth, like a rosy shell; - Her arms round my neck were lying, - And her bosom rose and fell. - - With her kisses soft did she woo me, - But I hushed my heart's wild beat; - With her lips and her eyes did she sue me, - But met in my own defeat. - - With the cloud of her sea-dipped tresses - She veiled her beautiful face-- - And, oh, how I longed for her kisses, - And sighed for her soft embrace! - - But out in the mist she went wailing - When dawn besilvered the night, - Her robes of samite trailing - The foam-flowers, sad and white. - - Like a spirit lost went sighing - In the twilight over the sea; - And it seemed the night was crying-- - Or was it the heart in me? - - Then she turned to me and, weeping, - Faded into the night; - And I saw the wild waves leaping - Under the haunted height. - - I heard a far-off sobbing, - A sound of agony-- - Oh, was it the ocean throbbing? - Or was it the heart in me? - - But I hushed my heart's wild beating, - With "a mermaid false is she!" - While ever I kept repeating, - "Would she'd return to me!" - - Oh, heart, so full of yearning - For a loveliness that's gone, - A beauty unreturning, - Be still! or break with dawn! - - - - -CHILDREN O' THE MOON - - -I - - To-night, perhaps, after the rain is done, - Led by a moonbeam or the flickering torch - The firefly flares, amid the loneliness, - The hereditary loneliness of the trees, - I, too, may see,--as sees the star that peeps - Through interlacing boughs, the toadstools heave - Their white roofs through the ferns, like goblin huts, - An elfin town; and, squatting on their tops, - Punch-bellied things, peak-kneed, their knees up-drawn - To perpendicular eyes of glow-worm flame, - And arms akimbo i' the light o' the moon, - Watching the dew-drops tag the toadstools' rims, - Or from the mushroom roll the orbéd rain: - Or, where the tall weed drips and spunkwood smells - Make musk the underwoods, slim woodland imps,-- - Snail-eyed, frog-footed,--oust the sleeping bees - From rocking cradles of the wild flowers' bells - Belfrying, with foxglove-purple, a moonbeam space. - - -II - - On the road in the April wood, - Under the oaks I stopped and stood, - Watching the mole that stealthily heaved - The soft loose clay of its barrow: - The oaks above were auburn-leaved; - And near me bloomed the yarrow; - When down from a leaf a gray snail fell, - Its long stilt-eyes thrust out of its shell: - And I thought, "This color is worn of the fays, - Whose fashion runs to dimmish grays: - A snail-brown tunic each elfin eunuch - Wears in the harem the Elf King keeps: - And a snail-gray gown each fairy clown - Dons when the elf dance whirls and leaps - In the light of the moon on the upland down. - A snail-shell house for his ouphen spouse - Each elfin builds by the snail-white moon, - Where his fairykin love he boards and beds, - Under the dandelion's wisp-white heads, - Where ever he pipes his cricket tune." - - -III - - The sphinx-moth, clothed in downy hues, - In woolly whites and fawns and blues, - Goes fluttering through the evening dews. - - Above the nicotiana's blooms' - Narcotic horns it waves its plumes, - Made drowsy with the drugged perfumes. - - It seems some Fairy Queen who goes - 'Mid trumpets lifted in long rows - Of white whereon the Elfworld blows. - - Attendant and triumphant strains - Of fragrance, greeting her who reigns, - Who takes the air in fairy lanes - Of flowers, that the moonlight stains. - - - - -A MOTIVE IN GOLD AND GRAY - - -I - - To-night he sees their star bead, dewy bright, - Deep in the pansy, eve hath made for it, - Low in the west--a placid purple lit - At its far edge with warm auroral light: - Love's planet hangs above a cedared height; - And there in shadow, like gold music writ - Of dusk's dark fingers, scale-like fireflies flit - Now up, now down the balmy bars of night. - How different from that eve a year ago! - Which was a stormy flower in the hair - Of dolorous day, whose sombre eyes looked blurred - Into night's sibyl face, and saw the woe - Of parting here, and imaged a despair, - As now a hope caught from a homing word. - - -II - - She came unto him--as the springtime does - Unto the land where all lies dead and cold, - Until her rosary of days is told - And beauty, prayer-like, blossoms where death was.-- - Nature divined her coming; yea, the dusk - Seemed thinking of that happiness: behold, - No cloud it had to blot its marigold - Moon--great and golden--o'er the slopes of musk; - Whereon earth's voice made music; tree and stream - Lilting the same low lullaby again, - To coax the wind, who romped among the hills - All day--a tired child--to sleep and dream: - When through the moonlight of the locust-lane - She came, as spring comes through her daffodils. - - -III - - White as a lily molded of Earth's milk - That eve the moon bloomed in a hyacinth sky; - Soft in the gleaming glens the wind went by, - Faint as a phantom clothed in unseen silk: - Bright as a Naiad's limbs, from shine to shade - The runnel twinkled through the shaken brier; - Above the hills one long cloud, pulsed with fire, - Flashed like a great enchantment-welded blade. - And when the western sky seemed some weird land, - And night a witch's spell, at whose command - One sloping star fell green from heav'n; and deep - The warm rose opened, for the moth to sleep; - Then she, consenting, laid her hands in his, - And lifted up her lips for their first kiss. - - -IV - - There where they part the porch's steps are strewn - With wind-dropped petals of the purple vine; - Athwart the porch the shadow of a pine - Cleaves the white moonlight; and, like some calm rune - Heaven says to Earth, shines the majestic moon; - And now a meteor draws a lilac line - Across the welkin, as if God would sign - The perfect poem of this night of June. - The wood-wind stirs the flowering chestnut-tree, - Whose curving blossoms strew the glimmering grass - Like crescents that wind-wrinkled waters glass; - And, like a moonstone in a frill of flame, - The dewdrop trembles in the peony, - As in a lover's heart his sweetheart's name. - - -V - - In after years shall she stand here again, - In heart regretful? and with lonely sighs - Think on that night of love, and realize - Whose was the fault whence grew the parting pain? - And, in her soul, persuading still in vain, - Shall doubt take shape, and all its old surmise - Bid darker phantoms of remorse arise - Trailing the raiment of a dead disdain? - Masks, unto whom shall her avowal yearn - With looks clairvoyant, seeing how each is - A different form with eyes and lips that burn - Into her heart with love's last look and kiss?-- - And, ere they pass, shall she behold them turn - To her a face which evermore is his? - - -VI - - In after years shall he remember how - Dawn had no breeze sweet as her murmured name? - And day no sunlight that availed the same - As her bright smile or beauty of her brow? - Nor had the conscious twilight's golds and grays - Her soul's allurement, that was free from blame,-- - Nor dusk's advances, soft with starry flame, - More young bewitchment than her own sweet ways.-- - Then as the night with moonlight and perfume, - And dew and darkness, qualifies the whole - Dim world with glamour, shall the past with dreams-- - That were the love-theme of their lives--illume - The present with remembered hours, with gleams, - Long lost to him, that bring them soul to soul? - - -VII - - No! not for her and him that part--the Might- - Have-Been's sad consolation! where had bent, - Haply, in prayer and patience penitent, - Both, though apart, before no blown-out light. - The otherwise of fate for them, when white - The lilacs bloom again, and, innocent, - Spring comes with beauty for her testament, - Singing the praises of the day and night. - When orchards blossom and the distant hill - Is pale with haw-trees as a ridge with mist, - The moon shall see him where a watch he keeps - By her young form that lieth white and still, - With lidded eyes and passive wrist on wrist, - While by her side he bows himself and weeps. - - -VIII - - What pain for him to see the blooms appear - Of haw and dogwood in the spring again; - The primrose dragging with its weight of rain, - And hill-sloped orchards swarming far and near. - To see the old fields, that her steps made dear, - Grow green with deepening plenty of the grain, - Yet feel how this excess of life is vain,-- - How vain to him!--since she no more is here. - What though the woodland bourgeon, water flow, - Like a rejoicing harp, beneath the boughs! - The cat-bird and the oriole arouse - Day with the impulsive music of their love! - Beneath the graveyard sod she will not know, - Nor what his heart is all too conscious of! - - -IX - - How bless'd is he who, gazing in the tomb, - Can yet behold beneath the investing mask - Of mockery,--whose horror seems to ask - Sphinx-riddles of the soul within the gloom,-- - Upon dead lips no dust of Love's dead bloom; - And in dead hands no shards of Faith's rent flask; - But Hope, who still stands at her starry task, - Weaving the web of promise on her loom! - Thrice bless'd! who, 'though he hear the tomb proclaim - How all is Death's and Life Death's other name, - Can yet reply: "O Grave, these things are yours! - But that is left which life indeed assures-- - Love, through whose touch I shall arise the same! - Love, of whose self was wrought the universe!" - - - - -INTIMATIONS - - -I - - Is it uneasy moonlight, - On the restless field, that stirs? - Or wild white meadow-blossoms - The night-wind bends and blurs? - - Is it the dolorous water, - That sobs in the wood and sighs? - Or heart of an ancient oak-tree, - That breaks and, sighing, dies? - - The wind is vague with the shadows - That wander in No-Man's-Land; - The water is dark with the voices - That weep on the Unknown's strand. - - O ghosts of the winds that call me! - O ghosts of the whispering waves! - Sad as forgotten flowers - That die upon nameless graves! - - What is this thing you tell me - In tongues of a twilight race, - Of death, with the vanished features, - Mantled, of my own face? - - -II - - The old enigmas of the deathless dawns, - And riddles of the all immortal eves,-- - That still o'er Delphic lawns - Speak as the gods spoke through oracular leaves-- - I read with new-born eyes, - Remembering how, a slave, - They buried me, a living sacrifice, - Once in a dead king's grave. - - Or, crowned with hyacinth and helichrys, - How, towards the altar in the marble gloom,-- - Hearing the magadis - Dirge through the pale amaracine perfume,-- - 'Mid chanting priests I trod, - With never a sigh or pause, - To give my life to pacify a god, - And save my country's cause. - - Again: Cyrenian roses on wild hair, - And oil and purple smeared on breasts and cheeks, - How, with mad torches there,-- - Reddening the cedars of Cithæron's peaks,-- - With gesture and fierce glance, - Lascivious Mænad bands - Once drew and slew me in the Pyrrhic dance - With Bacchanalian hands. - - -III - - The music now that lays - Dim lips against my ears, - Some far-off thing it says,-- - Unto my soul,--of years - Long passed into the haze - Of tears. - - Meseems before me are - The dark eyes of a queen, - A queen of Istakhar: - I seem to see her lean - More lovely than a star - Of mien. - - A slave, I stand before - Her jeweled throne; I kneel, - And, in a song, once more - My love for her reveal; - How once I did adore - I feel. - - Again her dark eyes gleam; - Again her red lips smile; - And in her face the beam - Of love that knows no guile; - And so she seems to dream - A while. - - Out of her deep hair then - A rose she takes--and I - Am made a god 'mid men! - Her rose, that here did lie - When I, in th' wild-beasts' den, - Did die. - - -IV - - Old paintings on its wainscots, - And, in its oaken hall, - Old arras; and the twilight - Of sorrow over all. - - Old grandeur on its stairways; - And in its haunted rooms - Old souvenirs of greatness, - And ghosts of dead perfumes. - - The winds are phantom voices - Around its carven doors; - The moonbeams, specter footsteps - Upon its polished floors. - - Old cedars build around it - A solitude of sighs; - And the old hours pass through it - With immemorial eyes. - - But more than this I know not; - Nor where the house may be; - Nor what its ancient secret - And ancient grief to me. - - It seems my soul remembers,-- - Of which this house is part,-- - Once, in a former lifetime, - 'Twas here I broke my heart. - - -V - - In eons of the senses, - My spirit knew of yore, - I found the Isle of Circe - And felt her magic lore; - And still the soul remembers - What I was once before. - - She gave me flowers to smell of - That wizard branches bore, - Of weird and wondrous beauty, - Whose stems dripped human gore-- - Their scent when I remember - I know that world once more. - - She gave me fruits to eat of - That grew beside the shore, - Of necromantic ripeness, - With human flesh at core-- - Their taste when I remember - I know that life once more. - - And then, behold! a serpent, - That glides my face before, - With eyes of tears and fire - That glare me o'er and o'er-- - I look into its eyeballs, - And know myself once more. - - -VI - - I have looked in the eyes of Poesy, - And sat in Song's high place; - And the beautiful Spirits of Music - Have spoken me face to face; - Yet here in my soul there is sorrow - They never can name or trace. - - I have walked with the glamour Gladness, - And dreamed with the shadow Sleep; - And the presences, Love and Knowledge, - Have smiled in my heart's red keep; - Yet here in my soul there is sorrow - For the depth of their gaze too deep. - - The love and the hope God grants me, - The beauty that lures me on, - And the dreams of folly and wisdom - That thoughts of the spirit don, - Are but masks of an ancient sorrow - Of a life long dead and gone. - - Was it sin? or a crime forgotten? - Of a love that loved too well? - That sat on a throne of fire - A thousand years in Hell? - That the soul with its nameless sorrow - Remembers but can not tell? - - - - -SELF AND SOUL - - - It came to me in my sleep, - And I rose in my sleep and went - Out in the night to weep, - Out where the trees were bent. - With my soul, it seemed, I stood - Alone in a wind-swept wood. - - And my soul said, gazing at me, - "I will show you another land - Different from that you see," - And took into hers my hand.-- - We passed from the wood to a heath - As starved as the ribs of Death. - - There, every leaf and the grass - Was a thorn or a thistle hoar, - The rocks rose mass on mass, - Black bones on an iron moor. - And my soul said, looking at me, - "The past of your life you see." - - And a swineherd passed with his swine, - Deformed, with the face of an owl; - Two eyes of a wolfish shine - Burned under his eyebrows foul. - And my soul said, "This is the Lust, - That soils my beauty with dust." - - Then a goose-wife hobbled by, - On a crutch, with the devil's geese, - A-mumbling that God is a lie, - And cursing the world without cease. - And my soul said, "This is Unfaith - Who maketh me that which she saith." - - Then we came to a garden, close - To a hollow of graves and tombs; - A garden as red as a rose, - Hung over of obscene glooms; - The heart of each rose was a spark - That smouldered or glared in the dark. - - And I was aware of a girl - With a wild-rose face, who came, - With a mouth like a shell's split pearl, - Rose-clad in a robe of flame; - And she plucked the roses and gave, - And I was her veriest slave. - - She vanished. My lips would have kissed - The flowers she gave me with sighs, - But they writhed from my hands and hissed, - In their hearts were a serpent's eyes. - And my soul said, "Pleasure is she. - The joys of the flesh you see." - - Then I bowed with a heart too weary, - That longed to rest, to sleep; - And it seemed in the darkness dreary - I heard my sad heart weep; - And my soul to the silence say,-- - "O God! for the break of day!" - - - - -THE OLD HOUSE BY THE MERE - - - Five rotting gables look upon - A garden rank with flowers and weeds; - Old iron gates on posts of stone, - From which the grass-grown roadway leads. - Five rotting gable-points appear - Above bleak yews and cedars sad, - Beneath which lies the sleepy mere - In lazy lilies clad. - - At morn the slender dragon-fly, - A living ray of light, darts past; - The burly bee comes charging by - Winding a surly blast. - At noon amid the fervid leaves - The insects quarrel, harsh and hot; - In bitter briers the spider weaves - A web with silver shot. - - At eve the hermit cricket rears - A plaintive prayer, and creaks and creaks; - The bat, like some wing'd elfin, veers - Beneath the sunset's streaks. - The caterpillar gnaws the leaf; - The mottled toad croaks drowsily; - And then the owl, like some dark grief, - Cries in the old beech-tree. - - At night the blistering dew comes down - And lies as white as autumn frost - Upon the green, upon the brown-- - You'd think each bush a ghost. - The crescent moon sheathes its white sword - Within a cloud; and, gray with fear, - One large blue star keeps stealthy guard - Above the house and mere. - - The livid lilies rotting lie - On oozy beds of weltering leaves; - The will-o'-wisps go flickering by,-- - And then the water heaves, - And, like some monstrous blossom there, - A maiden's corpse with staring eyes, - And naked breast and raven hair, - Slow in the mere doth rise. - - And when the clock of some far town - Knells midnight, in that house of sins, - In haunted chambers, up and down, - The dance of death begins; - And stiff, stiff silks sweep, rustling, - And stately satins none may see; - And then soft sounds of music ring - In wildest melody. - - And through the halls the demon dance - Whirls onward; and dark corridors - Resound with song and feet that glance - Along the falling floors. - Then suddenly, as if in fear, - The music ends, the dance is done; - And booming over house and mere - A far-off clock strikes one. - - - - -IN AN OLD GARDEN - - - The autumn glory fades - Upon the withered trees; - And over all the dead leaves fall - And whisper in the breeze. - - The violets are dead, - And dead the hollyhocks, - That hang like rags by the wind-crushed flags - And tiger-lily stocks. - - The wild gourd clambers free - Where the clematis was wont; - Where nenuphars bloomed thick as stars - Rank weeds fill up the fount. - - Yet, as in dreams, I hear - A tinkling mandolin - In the dark-blue light of a fragrant night - Float in and out and in. - - Till the dewy vine, that climbs - To a casement's lattice, sways; - And behind the vine, like stars that shine, - Two dark eyes gleam and gaze. - - And now a perfume comes, - A swift Favonian gust; - And the shrivelled grass, where it doth pass, - Bows worshiping to the dust. - - I seem to see her drift - From tree to moonlit tree, - In her jewelled shawl divinely tall, - A mist of drapery. - - And one awaits her there - By the broken Psyche old; - And there they stand, pale hand in hand, - Her thin wrists hooped with gold. - - But a wind sweeps overhead, - And the frosty leaves are strewn-- - And nothing is there but a bough, blown bare, - And the light of the ghostly moon. - - - - -THE HAUNTED ROOM - - - Its casements, diamond-disked with glass, - Look down upon a terrace old, - Where urns, unkempt with ragged grass, - Foam o'er with hoary cold. - The snow rounds out each stair of stone; - The frozen fount is hooped with pearl; - Down desolate walks, like phantoms blown, - Thin, powdery snow-wreaths whirl. - - And to each rose-tree's stem, that bends - With silvery snow-combs, glued with frost, - It seems each summer rosebud sends - Its airy, scentless ghost. - A stiff Elizabethan pile, - With bleakness chattering in its panes, - Where, rumbling down each chimney-file, - The mad wind shakes his reins. - - * * * * * - - Lone in the northern angle, dim - With immemorial dust, it lies; - Where each gaunt casement's stony rim - Stares eyelike at the skies. - Drear in the old pile's oldest wing, - Hung round with mouldering arras, where - Tall, shadowy Tristrams fight and sing - For shadowy Isolts fair. - - Beside a crumbling cabinet - A tarnished lute lies on the floor; - A talon-footed chair is set, - Grotesquely, near the door. - A carven, testered bedstead stands - With rusty silks draped all about; - And, like a moon in murky lands, - A mirror glimmers out. - - Neglected, locked that chamber, where - In dropping arras dimly clings - The drowsy moth; and, frightened there, - The lost wind sighs and sings - Adown the roomy flue, and takes - And swings the ghostly mirror till - It seems some unseen hand that shakes - Its frame then leaves it still. - - A starving mouse forever gnaws - Behind a panel; and the vines, - That on the casement tap like claws, - Lattice the floor with lines.-- - I have been there when blades of light - Stabbed each dull, stained, and dusty pane; - Once I was there at dead of night-- - I dream of it again.... - - She grew upon my vision as - Heat grows that haunts the summer day; - In taffetas, like glimmering glass, - She stood there dim and gray. - And will-o'-wisp-like jewels bound - Faint points of light round neck and wrist; - And round her slender waist was wound - A zone of silver mist. - - And icy as some winter land - Her pale, still face; o'er which the night - Hung of her raven hair; her hand - Was beautiful and white. - Before the mirror moaningly - She wrung her hands and palely pressed - Her brow.--And did I dream, or see, - That blood was on her breast? - - And then she vanished.--Like a breath, - That o'er the limpid glass had passed, - Her presence passed; and cold as death - She left me and aghast. - Yes, I've been there when spears of light - Pierced thro' each stained and sunlit pane; - Once I was there at dead of night-- - I dream of it again. - - - - -THE MIRROR - - - An ancient mirror hangs - Within an ancient Hall; - In a lonely room where th' arrased gloom - Scowls from the pictured wall. - - A mystic mirror, framed - In ebon, wildly carved, - That seems to stare on the shadows there, - Like something lean and starved. - - A mirror, where one sees - In the broad, good light of day, - Like crimson torches, at the window arches, - Red roses swing and sway. - - And a part o' the garth is seen, - With its quaint stone-dial plate, - That, gray and old, green-stained with mold, - Stands near the lioned gate. - - These it reflects all day, - And at night one star of blue, - That the nightingale, where the rose is pale, - Lifts its passionate love-song to. - - The nightbird sings below; - The stars hang bright above; - And the roses soon in the sultry moon - Shall palpitate with love. - - The nightbird sobs below; - The roses blow and bloom; - Through mullioned panes the moonlight rains - In the dim, unholy room. - - Grim ancestors that stare,-- - Stiff, starched and haughty,--down - From the oaken wall of the noble hall, - Put on a sterner frown. - - The old, hoarse castle-clock - Coughs midnight overhead-- - And the rose is wan and the bird is gone - When walk the shrouded dead. - - Then from their frames, it seems, - The portraits' shadows flit; - By the mirror there they stand and stare - And weep or sigh to it. - - In rare rich ermine, earls - And knights in gold and vair, - With a rapiered throng of courtiers long - Pass with a stately stare. - - With jewels and perfumes, - In powder, ruff, and lace, - Tall ladies pass by the looking-glass - Each sighing at her face. - - What secret does it hide, - This mirror, gaunt and tall, - In this lonely room, where th' arrased gloom - Scowls from the pictured wall? - - - - -THE HALL OF DARKNESS - - - Within her veins it beats - And burns within her brain, - As year by year more sad and sear - Grow barren hill and plain. - - Ah! over young is she - Who bears within her breast - More pain and woe than women know, - And all of love's unrest. - - Seven towers of shaggy rock - Rise black to ragged skies, - From out a fen where bones of men - Stare with their empty eyes. - - Eternal sunset pours, - Around its warlock towers,-- - From out its urn of beams that burn,-- - Long fire-cloudy flowers. - - On bat-like turrets high, - And owlet battlements, - Huge condors dream and vultures scream - As at the battle's scents. - - Within the banquet-hall, - A bride, rich-robed and pale, - She sits at board with men o' the sword - Cased all in silver mail. - - Their visors barred are drawn; - Their hands are gauntletéd; - And one, behold! in glittering gold - Sits at the table's head. - - Wild music echoes through - The hollow-sounding air-- - It seems, at least, a wedding feast - With richness everywhere. - - Wild music oozes from - The ceiling, groined with white - Pure pearl, and floors, like mythic shores, - Of limpid chrysolite. - - Silent they sit at feast, - And she, whom he sits near,-- - He in gold mail,--why is she pale, - As one with grief and fear? - - The heav'ns grow slaughter-red, - Grow blood-red west and east; - Seven casements high that frame the sky - Flare on the blood-red feast. - - Gaunt torches tall they seem, - Red revel-torches seven;-- - And then, behold! the hour is tolled; - A great bell strikes eleven. - - Silence.--The light, that makes - Each plate a splash of fire,-- - Gold-splintered,--dims; and softer swims - The music of each lyre. - - Grave Silence, like a king, - At that strange feast has place; - Grave Silence still as God's own will - Within the deeps of space. - - She leans to him in gold, - And to him seems to say-- - "The night grows late, my love! Why wait? - Ah God! would it were day! - - "Would it were day, ah God! - How long is it till dawn?-- - Why wear this mask?--Undo thy casque! - The midnight hour comes on!" - - Silent he sits, severe; - Then one sonorous tower, - Owl-swarmed, that looms in glaring glooms, - Tolls slow the midnight hour. - - Three strokes; the knights arise, - The silence from them flung, - Like waves that mock some hoarse sea-rock, - Wild laughter moves each tongue. - - Six strokes; and wailing out - The music hoots away; - The fiery glimmer of heaven grows dimmer, - The red turns ghostly gray. - - Nine strokes; and, dropping mold, - The crumbling Hall is lead; - The plate is rust; the feast is dust; - The banqueters are dead. - - Twelve strokes pound out and roll; - The vast Hall heaves and waves - With things that crawl from floor and wall-- - Spawn of a thousand graves. - - Then rattling in the night - _His_ golden visor slips-- - In rotting mail a death's-head pale - Kisses her loathing lips. - - Then over all a voice - Crying above the strife-- - "Death is the Groom: this Hall, the Tomb: - The Bride, behold, is Life!" - - - - -WHAT DREAMS MAY COME - - - I have lain for an hour or twain - Awake, and the tempest is beating - On the roof and the sleet on the pane, - And the winds are three enemies meeting; - And I listen and hear it again, - My name, in the silence, repeating. - - Then dumbness of death; and, moon-gray, - In the darkness a light like a bubble, - From which, like a single white ray, - Comes a woman in loveliness double; - Her face is the breaking of day, - Her eyes are the night and its trouble. - - I move not; she lies with her lips - At mine; and I feel she is drawing - My life from my heart to their tips, - My heart where the horror is gnawing; - My life in a hundred slow sips, - My soul with her gaze overawing. - - She binds me with merciless eyes; - She drinks of my blood; and I hear it - Drain up with a shudder and rise - To the lips, like a serpent's, that steer it; - And she lies, and she laughs as she lies, - Saying, "Lo! thy affinitized spirit." - - I pray--and a gate, as of swords,-- - 'Mid torments and tortures huge-grated, - Clangs iron deep under; and words - Are heard as of sins that awaited - A fiend who lashed into their hordes, - And a demon who lacerated. - - I pray--and lie clammy and stark, - As a something mounts higher and higher, - Up, out of damnation and dark, - With hobbling of hoofs that is dire; - A devil, whose breath is a spark, - Whose face is of filth and of fire. - - "To thy body's corruption! thy grave! - Thy hell! from which thou hast stolen!" - He snarls; and the night, like a wave, - Engulfs them with darkness wild swollen.-- - Can it be that in sleep I'm a slave - Of a thing neither flesh nor eidolon? - - - - -THAT HOUR - - - When she was dead, a voice--she knew not whose-- - Said to her: "Soul that fell, - To cheer thee there in Hell, - Of all thy life's lost happiness now choose. - - "Ask what thou wilt, thou, who hast walked 'mid flowers - And songs the easy way - Of pleasure day by day, - Ask what thou wilt of all thy lived-out hours." - - * * * * * - - And then she thought: "Oh, shall it be when there, - A blameless maiden, I, - Dreaming, watched love draw nigh, - And felt his kiss rose-sweet on mouth and hair? - - "Or shall it be when, that white night, his fingers - Smoothed from my brow the curls, - And fell, like unstrung pearls, - His words of passionate love whose memory lingers? - - "Or shall it be when over earth and sea - I heard the sweet unrest - Within his ardent breast, - His heart that beat alone for me, for me? - - "Or shall it be when, in his belting arms, - Soul gazed on kindred soul, - And love had won the goal - Of his desire, and his were all my charms? - - "No! no! not these! that hour he left me lost! - Stunned, fallen and despised - Before the world he prized, - When--God forgive me!--when I loved him most!" - - - - -EPILOGUE - - - Beyond the moon, within a land of mist, - Lies the dim Garden of all Dead Desires, - Walled round with morning's clouded amethyst, - And haunted of the sunset's shadowy fires; - There all lost things we loved hold ghostly tryst-- - Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires. - - Sad are the stars that day and night exist - Above the Garden of all Dead Desires; - And sad the roses that within it twist - Deep bow'rs; and sad the wind that through it quires; - But sadder far are they who there hold tryst-- - Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires. - - There, like a dove upon the twilight's wrist,-- - Soft in the Garden of all Dead Desires,-- - Sleep broods; and there, where never a serpent hissed, - On the wan willows music hangs her lyres, - Æolian dials by which phantoms tryst-- - Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires. - - There you shall hear low voices; kisses kissed, - Faint in the Garden of all Dead Desires, - By lips the anguish of vain song makes whist; - And meet with shapes that art's despair attires; - And gaze in eyes where all sweet sorrows tryst-- - Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires. - - Thither we go, dreamer and realist, - Bound for the Garden of all Dead Desires, - Where we shall find, perhaps, all Life hath missed, - All Life hath longed for when the soul aspires; - All Earth's elusive loveliness at tryst-- - Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires. - - - - -POEMS OF MYTH AND ROMANCE - - - - -TO MY FRIEND WILLIAM WARWICK THUM - - - - -_PROEM_ - - - _There is no rhyme that is half so sweet - As the song of the wind in the rippling wheat; - There is no metre that's half so fine - As the lilt of the brook under rock and vine; - And the loveliest lyric I ever heard - Was the wildwood strain of a forest bird.-- - If the wind and the brook and the bird would teach - My heart their beautiful parts of speech, - And the natural art that they say these with, - My soul would sing of beauty and myth - In a rhyme and a metre that none before - Have sung in their love, or dreamed in their lore, - And the world would be richer one poet the more._ - - - - -MYTH AND ROMANCE - - -I - - When I go forth to greet the glad-faced Spring, - Just at the time of opening apple-buds, - When brooks are laughing, winds are whispering, - On babbling hillsides, or in warbling woods, - There is an unseen presence that eludes:-- - Perhaps a Dryad, in whose tresses cling - The loamy odors of old solitudes, - Who from her beechen doorway calls, and leads - My soul to follow; now with dimpling words - Of leaves; and now with syllables of birds; - While here and there--is it her limbs that swing? - Or restless sunlight on the moss and weeds? - - -II - - Or, haply 'tis a Naiad now who slips, - Like some white lily, from her fountain's glass, - While from her dripping hair and breasts and hips - The moisture rains cool music on the grass. - Her have I heard and followed, yet, alas! - Have seen no more than the wet ray that dips - The shivered waters, wrinkling where I pass; - But in the liquid light, where she doth hide, - I have beheld the azure of her gaze - Smiling; and, where the orbing ripple plays, - Among her minnows I have heard her lips, - Bubbling, make merry by the waterside. - - -III - - Or now it is an Oread--whose eyes - Are constellated dusk--who stands confessed, - As naked as a flow'r; her heart's surprise, - Like morning's rose, mantling her brow and breast: - She, shrinking from my presence, all distressed - Stands for a startled moment ere she flies, - Her deep hair blowing, up the mountain crest, - Wild as a mist that trails along the dawn. - And is 't her footfalls lure me? or the sound - Of airs that stir the crisp leaf on the ground? - And is 't her body glimmers on yon rise? - Or dogwood blossoms snowing on the lawn? - - -IV - - Now 'tis a Satyr piping serenades - On a slim reed. Now Pan and Faun advance - Beneath green-hollowed roofs of forest glades, - Their feet gone mad with music: now, perchance, - Sylvanus sleeping, on whose leafy trance - The Nymphs stand gazing in dim ambuscades - Of sun-embodied perfume.--Myth, Romance, - Where'er I turn, reach out bewildering arms, - Compelling me to follow. Day and night - I hear their voices and behold the light - Of their divinity that still evades, - And still allures me in a thousand forms. - - - - -REVERIE - - - What ogive gates from gold of Ophir wrought, - What walls of Parian, whiter than a rose, - What towers of crystal, for the eyes of thought, - Hast builded on dim Islands of Repose? - Thy cloudy columns, vast, Corinthian, - Or huge, Ionic, colonnade the heights - Of Dreamland, looming o'er the soul's deep seas; - Piled melodies of marble, that no man - Has ever reached, except in fancy's flights, - Templing the presence of perpetual ease. - - Oft, where o'er plastic frieze and plinths of spar,-- - In glimmering solitudes of pillared stone,-- - The twilight blossoms with one violet star, - With thee, O Reverie, I have stood alone, - And there beheld, from out the Mythic Age, - The rosy breasts of Cytherea--fair, - Full-cestused, and suggestive of what loves - Immortal!--rise; and heard the lyric rage - Of sunburnt Poesy, whose throat breathes bare - O'er leopard skins, fluting among his groves. - - Oft, where thy castled peaks and templed vales - Cloud--like convulsive sunsets--shores that dream, - Myrrh-fragrant, over siren seas whose sails - Gleam white as lilies on a lilied stream, - My soul has stood. Or by thy sapphire sea, - In thy arcaded gardens, in the shade - Of breathing sculpture, oft has walked with thought, - And bent, in shadowy attitude, its knee - Before the shrine of Beauty that must fade - And leave no memory of the mind that wrought. - - Who hath beheld thy caverns where, in heaps, - The wine of Lethe and Love's witchery, - In sealéd amphoræ a sibyl keeps? - World-old, a grape filled with the soul of thee. - No wine of Xeres or of Syracuse! - No fine Falernian and no vile Sabine! - The stolen fire of a demigod, - Whose bubbled purple heavenly feet did bruise - In crusted vats of vintage, when the green - Flamed into autumn, on the Samian sod. - - Oh, for the deep enchantment of one draught! - The reckless ecstasy of classic earth!-- - To make me godlike as the gods that laughed - In eyes of mortal brown, a mighty mirth - Of deity delirious with desire! - To make me one with roses of the shrines, - The splashing wine-libation or the blood, - And all the young priest's dreaming! To inspire - My very soul with beauty till it shines - Star-like amid life's starry brotherhood! - - Would I might slumber in the old-world shades, - Where poesy could touch me, as some bold - Wild-bee a pulpy lily of the glades, - Barbaric-covered with the kerneled gold; - And feel the glory of the Golden Age - Less godly than my purpose, strong to dare - Death with the young immortal lips of Love: - Less lovely than my soul's ideal rage - To mate itself with Music and declare - Itself part meaning of the stars above. - - - - -LETHE - - -I - - There is a scent of roses and spilt wine - Between the moonlight and the laurel-coppice; - The marble idol glimmers on its shrine, - White as a star, among a heaven of poppies. - Here all my life lies like a spilth of wine. - There is a mouth of music like a lute, - A nightingale that singeth to one flower; - Between the falling flower and the fruit, - Where love hath died, the music of an hour. - - -II - - To sit alone with memory and a rose; - To dwell with shadows of whilom romances; - To make one hour of a year of woes - And walk on starlight, in ethereal trances, - With love's lost face fair as a moon-white rose. - To shape from music and the scent of buds - Love's spirit and its presence of sweet fire, - Between the heart's wild burning and the blood's, - Is part of life and of the soul's desire. - - -III - - There is a song to silence and the stars, - Between the forest and the temple's arches; - And down the stream of night, like nenuphars, - The tossing fires of the Mænads' torches.-- - Here all my life waits lonely as the stars.-- - Shall not one hour of all those hours suffice - For resignation God hath given as dower? - Between the summons and the sacrifice - One hour of love, th' eternity of an hour? - - -IV - - The shrine is shattered and the bird is gone; - Dark is the house of music and of bridal: - The stars are stricken and the storm comes on; - Beneath a wreck of roses lies the idol, - Sad as the memory of a joy that's gone.-- - To dream of perished gladness and a kiss, - Waking the last chord of Love's broken lyre, - Between remembering and forgetting, this - Is part of life and of the soul's desire. - - - - -THE NAIAD - - - She sits among the iris stalks - Of bubbling brooks; and leans for hours - Among the river's lily-flowers, - Or on their whiteness walks: - Above dark forest pools, gray rocks - Wall in, she leans with dripping locks, - And listening to the echo, talks - With her own face--Iothera. - - There is no forest of the hills, - No valley of the solitude, - Nor fern nor moss, that may elude - Her searching step that stills: - She dreams among the wild-rose brakes - Of fountains that the ripple shakes, - And, dreaming of herself, she fills - The silence with "Iothera." - - And every wind that haunts the ways - Of leaf and bough, once having kissed - Her virgin nudity, goes whist - With wonder and amaze. - There blows no breeze which hath not learned - Her name's sweet melody, and yearned - To kiss her mouth that laughs and says, - "Iothera, Iothera." - - No wild thing of the wood, no bird, - Or brown or blue, or gold or gray, - Beneath the sun's or moon's pale ray, - That hath not loved and heard; - They are her pupils; she can say - No new thing but, within a day, - They have its music, word for word, - Harmonious as Iothera. - - No man who lives and is not wise - With love for common flowers and trees, - Bee, bird, and beast, and brook, and breeze, - And rocks, and hills, and skies,-- - Search where he will,--shall ever see - One flutter of her drapery, - One glimpse of limbs, or hair, or eyes - Of beautiful Iothera. - - - - -THE LIMNAD - - -I - - The lake she haunts gleams mistily - Through sleepy boughs of melody,-- - Lost 'mid lone hills beside the sea, - In tangled bush and brier:-- - Where reflected sunsets write - Ghostly things in golden light; - Where, along the pine-crowned height, - Clouds of twilight, rosy white, - Build far towers of fire. - - -II - - 'Mid the rushes there that swing, - Flowering flags where voices sing - When night-winds are murmuring, - And the stars of midnight glitter; - Blossom-white, with purple locks, - Underneath the stars' still flocks, - In the dusky waves she rocks, - Rocks, and all the landscape mocks - With a song both sweet and bitter. - - -III - - Soft it sounds, at first, as dreams - Filled with tears that fall in streams; - Then it soars, until it seems - Beauty's very self hath spoken; - And the woods grow silent quite, - Stars wax faint and flowers wane white; - And the nightingales that light - Near, or hear her through the night, - Die, their hearts with longing broken. - - -IV - - Dark, dim, and sad o'er mournful lands, - White-throated stars heaped in her hands, - Like wildwood buds, the Twilight stands, - The Twilight, dreaming, lingers; - Listening where the Limnad sings - Witcheries, whose magic brings - A great moon from hidden springs, - Pale with amorous quiverings - Feet of fire and silvery fingers. - - -V - - In the vales Auloniads, - On the mountains Oreads, - On the leas Leimoniads, - Whiter than the stars that glisten, - Pan, the Satyrs, Dryades, - Fountain-lovely Naiades, - Foam-lipped Oceanides, - Breathless 'mid their seas and trees, - Stay and look and lean and listen. - - -VI - - Large-eyed, Siren-like she stands, - In the lake or on its sands, - And with rapture from the hands - Of the Night some stars are shaken; - To her song the rushes swing, - Lilies nod and ripples ring, - Lost in helpless listening-- - These will wake who hear her sing, - But one mortal will not waken. - - - - -BEFORE THE TEMPLE - - -I - - All desolate she sate her down - Upon the marble of the temple's stair. - You would have thought her, with her eyes of brown, - Flushed cheeks and hazel hair, - A Dryad dreaming there. - - -II - - A priest of Bacchus passed, nor stopped - To chide her; deeming her--whose chiton hid - But half her bosom, and whose girdle dropped-- - Some grief-drowned Bassarid, - The god of wine had chid. - - -III - - With wreaths of woodland cyclamen - For Dian's shrine, a shepherdess drew near, - All her young thoughts on vestal beauty, when-- - She dare not look for fear-- - Behold the goddess here! - -[Illustration: - - That reed-slender girl whom Pan pursued Page 242 - -_Anemone_] - - -IV - - Fierce lights on shields of bossy brass - And helms of bronze, next from the hills deploy - Tall youths of Argos. And she sees him pass, - Flushed with heroic joy, - On towards the siege of Troy. - - - - -THE RUE-ANEMONE - - - Under an oak-tree in a woodland, where - The dreaming Spring had dropped it from her hair, - I found a flower, through which I seemed to gaze - Beyond the world and see what no man dare - Behold and live--the myths of bygone days-- - Diana and Endymion; and the bare, - Slim beauty of the boy whom Echo wooed; - And Hyacinthus, whom Apollo dewed - With love and death; and Daphne, ever fair; - And that reed-slender girl whom Pan pursued. - - I stood and gazed and through it seemed to see - The Dryad dancing by the forest tree, - Her hair wild blown: the Faun, with listening ear, - Deep in the boscage, kneeling on one knee, - Watching the wandered Oread draw near, - Her wild heart beating like a honey-bee - Within a rose.--All, all the myths of old, - All, all the bright shapes of the Age of Gold, - Peopling the wonder-worlds of Poetry, - Through it I seemed in fancy to behold. - - What other flower, that, fashioned like a star, - Draws its frail life from earth and braves the war - Of all the heavens, can suggest the dreams - That this suggests? in which no trace of mar - Or soil exists: where stainless innocence seems - Enshrined; and where, beyond our vision far, - That inaccessible beauty, which the heart - Worships as truth and holiness and art, - Is symbolized; wherein embodied are - The things that make the soul's immortal part. - - - - -ARTEMIS - - - Oft of the hiding Oread wast thou seen - At earliest morn, a tall, imperial shape, - High-buskined, dew-dripped, and on close, young curls, - Bright blackness of thick hair, the tipsy drops - Caught from the dripping sprays of under-bosks,-- - Kissed of thy cheek and of thy shoulder brushed,-- - Thy rosy cheek as far Aurora's fair, - Thy snowy shoulder Hebe-beautiful. - - Oft did the shaggy hills and solitudes - Of Arethusa shout and ring and reel, - Reverberate and echo merrily, - Leap into sound with singing of thy hounds, - With the deep belling of thy noble hounds, - Big-mouthed and musical, that on the stag - Or bristling wild-boar furious grew in quest: - And thou, as keen, fleet-footed and clean-limbed, - Inviolable, with thy quivered crew, - Rushed, swinging on the wind free limbs and lithe, - And locks, all radiance, flung back to blow - And balm with spice the wine-sharp air of morn. - - Ai me! their throats! their clarion-crystal throats, - That made the hills sing and the wood-ways dance, - As if to orphic strains, and gave them life. - Ai me! their bosoms' deepness and the firm, - Pure, happy beauty of their naked limbs, - That stormed the forest vacancies with light, - Swift daylight of their splendor, and made blow, - Within the glad sonorous solitudes, - Old germs of flowerets a century cold. - - The woodland Naiad whispered by her rock; - The Hamadryad, limpid-eyed and wild, - Expectant rustled by her usual oak - And laughed in wonder; and mad Pan himself - Reeled piping fiercely down the dingled deeps, - With rollicking eye that rolled a brutish joy. - And did some unwed maiden, musing where - Her father's well, among the god-graced hills; - Bubbled and babbled, hear thy bugled cry, - O Huntress, she, while deep her dripping jar - Unheeded brimmed, vowed her virginity - To thee--her shorn hair at thy vestal feet. - - But, ah! not when the garish daylight fills - The forests with far-swimming gold and green - Let me behold thee, goddess! but when dim - The slow night settles on the haunted wood - And walks in mystery; and the myriad stars - Maze heaven with fire; and the echoy waste, - Far off, far off, in murmurs palpitates - Unto the Limnad's voice, unmerciful,-- - Or is 't some night-bird breaking with song its heart?-- - Unmerciful and sad and bitter-sweet?-- - Then come in all thy godhead, beautiful! - All beautiful and gentle, as thou cam'st - To lorn Endymion, who, in Lemnos once, - Lone in the wizard magic of the wood, - Wandered, a dreaming boy, unfriended, sad.-- - It grew far off among the easy trees, - Thy pensive beauty, blossoming flower-like - Between the tree-trunks and the lacing limbs; - Bright in the leaves that kissed for very joy - And drunkenness of glory thus revealed. - He saw it all, from glorious face to feet-- - The naked pearl of all thy loveliness, - Thy body's beauty, blended lily and rose, - Alone, uncompanied of handmaidens. - Like some rare, radiant fruit Hesperian, - Not to be plucked of gods or men, thou hung'st - Upon the boughs of heaven. Thy moonéd voice - Came silvering on his wistful ear, and sighed - With light like leaves that kiss and cling again. - And on such perilous beauty that must slay,-- - The poisonous favor of thy godliness,-- - Feasting his every sense through eyes and ears, - His soul exalted waxed and amorous,-- - Like some young god who, draining Olympian bowls, - Grows drunk with nectar,--with immortal love; - And what remained, ah, what remained but death! - - - - -APHRODITE - - - Apollo never smote as lovely a strain, - When swan-necked Hebe stayed her nectared bowl - Among the circled and reclining gods, - To lend a listening ear and smile on him, - As that the Tritons blew on wreathéd horns - When Aphrodite, the cold ocean-foam, - In lovely labor, from its singing snow - Upheaved her dazzling form, like some white pearl, - Naked and fresh within its ocean shell, - Borne shoreward from its bed of golden sponge - And crimson coral by the mad monsoon. - - Wind-rocked she swung, her white feet on the sea; - And music raved down the slant western winds: - With swollen jowls the Tritons puffed their conchs, - Where, breasting with white bosoms the green waves, - That laughed in ripples at Love's misty feet, - Oceanids with dimple-dented palms - Smote sidewise the pale bubbles of the foam, - Weaving a silver rainbow round her form. - Around her dolphins sparkled in the spray, - And Nereids sang, braiding their streaming locks, - Or flung them backward shimm'ring with bells of foam, - Till evening lit her loneliest, loveliest star,-- - That passion-flower of the fields of heaven,-- - Pale mirrored in the sheen of shadowy seas,-- - That, like arrested music, o'er the caves - The Sirens haunt, hung deep on silent deep,-- - When, in a hollow pearl, down moon-white waves, - The creatures of the ocean danced their queen - Unto an island, like a rosy mist - That glimmering dreamed upon the glimmering blue. - There on the silvery sands beside the sea, - Beneath the moon,--narcissus-white,--they met, - She naked as a star and crowned with stars, - Child of the airy foam and Queen of Love. - - - - -PERSEPHONE - - - O Hades! O false gods! false to yourselves! - O Hades, 'twas thy brother gave her thee - Without a mother's sanction or her knowledge! - Thou bor'st her to the dreadful gulfs below, - And made her queen, a shadowy queen of shades, - Queen of the fiery flood and iron realms, - Eternal torture and eternal pain. - - On blossomed plains in Far Trinacria - A maiden,--the dark cascade of whose hair - Was deep as midnight circled and crowned with stars,-- - Hair dark as rays that brighten with the moon,-- - Went gathering flowers with the Oceanids, - Lily and rose and pale Narcissus,--who - Was Echo's passion once, a flower now - That stares forever in the lake's still glass, - Whose ripple breaks its image, flickering seen,-- - As once with tears it broke beneath his eyes,-- - With the fast-falling dew that fills its heart: - When suddenly there rose with iron wain, - With iron wain and steeds, a shape like death, - 'Mid sallow smoke and sulphur and pale fires, - Its countenance ghastly, and its hair and eyes - Like the blue flame of sulphur: in its arms, - Its sooty arms, where like to supple steel - The mighty muscles lay, unto its breast, - Such as its arms, it drew her fragile form - As bosomed bulks of tempest in their joy - With arms of winds drag to their black embrace - A fairy mist that flecks with white the summer, - With wings of shadeless white, and 'tis no more - Heaved on the rapture of the thunder's heart. - - The snowy flowers shuddered and grew still; - With withered heads they bowed, and on the stream-- - Where all the day it was their wont to stand - In silence gazing at their loveliness-- - Laid their fair faces limp and shriveled white. - Flames whipped the air like fiery scorpions, - Blasting and burning all the fragrant myths - That haunt the dew and lair in bloom and breeze. - - O foam-fair daughters of Oceanus! - In vain you seek your mate and chide the flowers - For hiding her beneath their palms of snow: - Ask of that shell, that conch of twisted pearl, - Which, like a spirit of the singing sea, - Moans at your pallid feet made wet with spray: - Then, sitting by the tumbling blue of waves, - Mourn to the waters and the ribbéd sands, - The falseness of the god who grasps the storm. - - - - -DEMETER - - - Eternal pouring in her lonely path - The wells of sorrow lay. I see her now,-- - Methinks I see her now,--an awful shape - Guiding her dragon-team in frenzied search - From Argive lands unto the jeweled shores - Of the remotest Ind where Usha's hand - Soothed her grief-shadowed brow with kindly touch, - And Savitar breathed sympathy from the skies - O'er uttermost regions of the faneless Brahm. - - In melancholy search I see her roam - The Himalayas,--world-dividing,--pale - 'Mid ice and snow, through mists and night and storm; - Then back again with that wild mother woe - Fueling the anguished fire of her eyes,-- - Back where old Atlas groans beneath the world, - And the Cimmerian twilight weighs the soul. - Deep was her sleep in Persia's haunted vales, - Where many a languid Philomela moaned - Her heart to rest with heartbreak melody. - I see her near Ionia's swelling seas - Cull from the sands a labyrinthine shell, - Hollowing its spiral murmur to her ear,-- - A pearly mouth against an ear of pearl,-- - In hope some message of Persephone - It might impart; then finding all in vain, - In anguish and despair, cast it afar, - To watch the salt-spray flash, like some soft plume - Dropped from the wings of Eros, where it fell. - I see her take a flute of coral from - A listening Triton; and on Ithakan rocks - High seated at the starry close of day,-- - When sad the moon rose from her salty couch, - Gazing with sorrow on her face of sorrow,-- - Pipe pensive airs,--plaintive as Sirens sing - In streaming caves beneath the ocean wall,-- - Till hoar Poseidon cleared his wrinkled front - And stilled his surgy clamors to a sigh. - - This do I see, and more: Behold, with fear! - I see her 'mid the lonely groves of Crete, - Frighten the dun deer from th' o'ervaulted green - Of thickest boscage, searching every covert - With terror of her torches and her wail, - "Persephone! Persephone!" till the pines - Of mist-swathed Dicte shuddered through their miles, - The panther roared down in the stream-mad gorge, - And Echo shrieked from chasm to answering chasm, - "Persephone!" bewildered with her woe: - As wild as when she echoed the despair, - Dishevel-haired, of maidens, wailing borne,-- - Athenian tribute,--to that King of Crete, - Great Minos, when the Minotaur they saw - Grim, crouching in his labyrinth of stone. - - - - -DIONYSOS - - - "Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io! - O Dionysos! Dionysos! ivy-crowned! - O let me sing thy triumph ere I die!" - - I slept; and dreamed a Mænad came to me: - A harp of hollow agate strung with gold - Wailed 'neath her waxen fingers, and her heart - Under its gauze, through which the moonlight shone, - Kept time with its wild throbbings to her song. - - "Ægeus sleeps, O Dionysos! sleeps - Beneath the restless waves that sigh his name - Eternally at my dew-glistening feet. - Here 'twas he died, O Dionysos! here - The great king died for whom is named this sea.-- - O let me sing thy triumph ere I die! - - "With the shrill syrinx and the kissing clang - Of silver cymbals, and the sound of flutes, - O pard-drawn youth, thou dist awake the world - To joy and pleasure with thy sunny wine! - Mad'st India bow and the dun, flooding Nile - Grow purple with the murex of the wine - Cast from the fullness of Silenus' cup, - While yet the heavens of heat saw sarabands - Whirl 'mid the redness of the Libyan sands, - That drank the spilth of Bacchus, sparkling-spun - From the Bacchante bowl, a beaded red - O'er the slant edge, that twinkled in the sun, - The tiger sun fierce-glaring overhead. - - "What made gold Horus smile with golden lips? - Anubis dire forget his ghosts to lead - To Hell's profoundness?--He, who stayed to sip - One winking bubble from the wine-god's cup, - And, captive ever after, joined thy train?-- - What made Osiris, 'mid the palms of Nile, - Leave Isis dreaming, and the frolic Pan's - Wild trebles follow as a roaring bull, - Far as the fanes of Indra; he who long - Was mourned in Memphis by his tawny priests?-- - Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io! - The brimming purple of thy hollow gold - They tasted and, 'though gods, they worship'd too! - - "Sad Echo sat once in a spiral cave; - She, from its sea-dyed labyrinth of rock, - Saw the long pageant dancing on the strand, - Where Nereus slept upon an isle of crags, - And o'er the slope of his far-foaming head - The strangeness of the orgies wildly cried, - Till the gray god awoke, at first in rage; - Serened his face then; stretched a welcoming hand - With civil utterance for the Bacchus horn. - But Echo followed not; instead, she sits - Among her crags remembering that wild cry, - That nomad sound still haunting all her dreams, - Confusing all her speech, that naught can say - Save warring words bewildering her ears - Like waves reverberant in a deep sea-cave. - - "Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io! - See, the white stars, O Dionysos! see, - Have spilled their glittering globules, one by one,-- - Like bubbles winking in the cup of night,-- - Down the dark west behind the mountain chain. - Ægeus sleeps, lulled by my murmuring harp; - And I have sung thy triumph. Let me die!" - - - - -THE PAPHIAN VENUS - - - With anxious eyes and dry, expectant lips, - Within the sculptured stoa by the sea, - All day she waited while, like ghostly ships, - Long clouds rolled over Paphos: the wild bee - Hung in the sultry poppy, half asleep, - Beside the shepherd and his drowsy sheep. - - White-robed she waited day by day; alone - With the white temple's shrined concupiscence, - The Paphian goddess on her obscene throne, - Binding all chastity to violence, - All innocent to lust that feels no shame-- - Venus Mylitta born of filth and flame. - - So must they haunt her marble portico, - The devotees of passion, passion-pale - As moonlight streaming through the stormy snow; - Dark eyes desirous of the stranger sail,-- - The gods shall bring across the Cyprian Sea, - And him elected to their mastery. - - A priestess of the temple came, when eve - Blazed, like a satrap's triumph, in the west; - And watched her listening to the ocean's heave, - Dusk's golden glory on her face and breast, - And in her hair the rosy wind's caress,-- - Pitying her dedicated tenderness. - - When out of darkness night persuades the stars, - A dream shall bend above her saying, "Soon - A barque shall come with purple sails and spars, - Sailing from Tarsus 'neath a low white moon; - And thou shalt see one in a robe of Tyre - Facing toward thee like the god Desire. - - "Rise then! as, clad in starlight, riseth night-- - Thy nakedness clad on with loveliness! - So shalt thou see him, like the god Delight, - Breast through the foam and climb the cliff to press - Hot lips to thine and lead thee in before - Love's awful presence where ye shall adore." - - Thus at her heart the vision entered in, - With lips of lust the lips of song had kissed, - And eyes of passion laughing with sweet sin, - A starry splendor robed in amethyst, - Seen like that star set in the glittering gloam-- - Venus Mylitta born of fire and foam. - - So shall she dream until, near middle night,-- - When on the blackness of the ocean's rim - The moon, like some war-galleon all alight - With blazing battle, from the sea shall swim,-- - A shadow, with inviolate lips and eyes, - Shall rise before her speaking in this wise: - - "So hast thou heard the promises of one,-- - Of her, with whom the God of gods is wroth,-- - For whom was prophesied at Babylon - The second death--Chaldæan Mylidoth! - Whose feet take hold on darkness and despair, - Hissing destruction in her heart and hair! - - "Wouldst thou behold the vessel she would bring?-- - A wreck! ten hundred years have smeared with slime: - A hulk! where all abominations cling, - The spawn and vermin of the seas of time: - Wild waves have rotted it, fierce suns have scorched, - Mad winds have tossed and stormy stars have torched. - - "Can lust give birth to love! The vile and foul - Be mother to beauty? Lo! can this thing be?-- - A monster like a man shall rise and howl - Upon the wreck across the crawling sea, - Then plunge; and swim unto thee; like an ape, - A beast all belly.--Thou canst not escape!" - - Gone was the shadow with the suffering brow; - And in the temple's porch she lay and wept, - Alone with night, the ocean, and her vow. - Then up the east the moon's full splendor swept, - And, dark between it--wreck or argosy?-- - A sudden vessel far away at sea. - - - - -GARGAPHIE - -"_Succinctæ sacra Dianæ._"--Ovid. - - -I - - There the ragged sunlight lay - Tawny on thick ferns and gray - On dark waters: dimmer, - Lone and deep, the cypress grove - Bowered mystery and wove - Braided lights, like those that love - On the pearl plumes of a dove - Faint to gleam and glimmer. - - -II - - There centennial pine and oak - Into stormy utterance broke: - Hollow rocks gloomed, slanting, - Echoing in dim arcade, - Looming with long moss, that made - Twilight streaks in tatters laid: - Where the wild hart, hunt-affrayed, - Plunged the water, panting. - - -III - - Poppies of a sleepy gold - Mooned the gray-green darkness rolled - Down its vistas, making - Wisp-like blurs of flame. And pale - Stole the dim deer down the vale: - And the haunting nightingale - Sang unseen--the olden tale - All its hurt heart breaking. - - -IV - - There the hazy serpolet, - Dewy cistus, blooming wet, - Blushed on bank and boulder: - There the cyclamen, as wan - As faint footsteps of the Dawn, - Carpeted the spotted lawn: - Where the nude nymph, dripping drawn, - Sloped a flower-white shoulder. - - -V - - In the citrine shadow there - What tall presences and fair, - Godlike, lingered!--gracious - As the rock-rose there that grew:-- - Delicate and dim as dew - Stepped from out the oaks, and drew - Faun-like forms to follow, who - Filled the forest spacious! - - -VI - - Guarded that Bœotian - Valley so no foot of man - Soiled its silence holy - With profaning tread--save one, - The Hyantian: Actæon, - Who beheld but was undone - By Diana's wrath, that none-- - 'Though with magic moly,-- - - -VII - - Might escape.--That valley sleeps - Lost to us: enchantment keeps - Sacred still its banished - Bowers that no man may see, - Fountains that her deity - Haunts, and every rock and tree - Where her hunt goes swinging free - As in ages vanished. - - - - -THE FAUN - - - The joys that touched thee once, be mine! - The sympathies of sky and sea, - The friendship of each rock and pine, - That made thy lonely life, ah me! - In Tempe or in Gargaphie. - - Such joy as thou didst feel when first, - On some wild crag, thou stood'st alone - And watched the mountain tempest burst, - With streaming thunder, lightning sown, - On Latmos or on Pelion. - - Thy awe! when crowned with vastness, Night - And Silence ruled the deep's abyss; - And through dark leaves thou saw'st the white - Breasts of the starry maids who kiss - Pale feet of moony Artemis. - - Thy dreams! when, breasting matted weeds - Of Arethusa, thou didst hear - The music of the wind-swept reeds; - And down dim forest-ways drew near - Shy herds of slim Arcadian deer. - - Thy wisdom! that knew naught but love - And beauty, with which love is fraught; - The wisdom of the heart--whereof - All noblest passions spring--that thought - As Nature thinks, "All else is naught." - - Thy hope! wherein To-morrow set - No shadow; hope that, lacking care - And retrospect, held no regret, - But bloomed in rainbows everywhere - Filling with gladness all the air. - - These were thine all: in all life's moods - Embracing all of happiness: - And when within thy long-loved woods - Didst lay thee down to die, no less - Thy happiness stood by to bless. - - - - -APOLLO - - -I - - All the Lydian notes revealing, - Son of Leto, oh, come stealing - As the wind Thessalian rivers - Whisper of! the wind that shivers - Every ripple into stars, - In the sunlight's golden bars. - Touch thy harp, that haunts the oaks, - With the mastery that invokes - Naiad music of the fount, - Oread music of the mount; - And such satyr song as keeps - Revel on Lycæan steeps, - When night nods, a Mænad shape, - Purple with dusk's staining grape. - Wake such chords as dewy grounds - Echo when no mortal hounds - Bell the hunt, whose spear-point shines - Through Arcadia's tangled vines, - When the half-awakened Dawn, - Dreaming on a mountain lawn, - Lets her golden sandals lie - And walks barefooted through the sky; - And by Arethusa's bank, - Swift upon the red hart's flank, - Drives Diana's buskined band - Down the cistus-blossomed strand. - Then Love's minors, swooning o'er - The mountain hush, the ocean roar, - As Selene, stealing, sails - Over Lemnos' lakes to vales - Where Endymion dreams and feels - Love her stolen kiss reveals. - - -II - - Thou hast sung of Helicon: - How the sister Muses won - From the nine Pierides - Empire o'er the harmonies. - Thou hast sung of Tempe's maid, - And the sudden laurel's aid. - Thou hast sung of many loves - Of the gods that haunt the groves - Where the marble altar stands - Rose-heaped by the balmy hands - Of Romance and Beauty; where, - High upon the temple stair, - Priest-like, bay-crowned, white of hair, - Old Tradition, looking up, - Pours libation from his cup. - Thou hast sung, all sweet of tongue, - As once wild Amphion sung, - Songs,--Parnassian rocks,--that swung - Each in its lyric niche, and massed - Such mural heights of song and vast, - Melodious walls of poesy, - That Time himself shall not outlast, - Enduring as eternity. - - -III - - Ours shall be no island song, - Suited to a maiden throng, - Dancing with their wreaths of roses - To the double-flute's soft closes!-- - But a Nation's! whose large eyes - With life's liberty are wise, - And consenting sympathies - Of all arts and sciences. - She! who stands above the storms - With truth's thunder in her arms, - And the star-serenity - Of her hope bound burningly - Round her brow; and at her knee - The Spirit of Progress who is shod - With ethereal fire of God.... - Yea! thy last shall still be first-- - Some wild epopee to burst - With such organ notes as rang - When the stars of morning sang, - And the Sons of Heaven sent - Shoutings through the firmament; - As our years have justified - And the stars have prophesied. - -1886. - - - - -JOTUNHEIM - - -I - - Beyond the Northern Lights, in regions haunted - Of twilight, where the world is glacier planted, - And pale as Loké in his cavern when - The serpent's slaver burns him to the bones, - I saw the phantasms of gigantic men, - The prototypes of vastness, quarrying stones; - Great blocks of winter, glittering with the morn's - And evening's colors,--wild prismatic tones - Of boreal beauty.--Like the three gray Norns, - Silence and solitude and terror loomed - Around them where they labored. Walls arose, - Vast as the Andes when creation boomed - Insurgent fire; and through the rushing snows - Enormous battlements of tremendous ice, - Bastioned and turreted, I saw arise. - - -II - - But who can sing the workmanship gigantic - That reared within its coruscating dome - The roaring fountain, hurling an Atlantic - Of liquid ice that flashed with flame and foam? - An opal spirit, various and many formed,-- - In whose clear heart reverberant fire stormed,-- - Seemed its inhabitant; and through pale halls, - And deep diaphanous walls, - And corridors of whiteness, - Auroral colors swarmed, - As rosy-flickering stains, - Or lambent green, or gold, or crimson, warmed - The pulsing crystal of the spirit's veins - With ever-changing brightness. - And through the Arctic night there went a voice, - As if the ancient Earth cried out, "Rejoice!" - "My heart is full of lightness!" - - -III - - Here well might Thor, the god of war, - Harness the whirlwinds to his car, - While, mailed in storm, his iron arm - Heaves high his hammer's lava-form, - And red and black his beard streams back, - Like some fierce torrent scoriac, - Whose earthquake light glares through the night - Around some dark volcanic height; - And through the skies Valkyrian cries - Trumpet, as battleward he flies, - Death in his hair and havoc in his eyes. - - -IV - - Still in my dreams I hear that fountain flowing; - Beyond all seeing and beyond all knowing; - Still in my dreams I see those wild walls glowing - With hues, Aurora-kissed; - And through huge halls fantastic phantoms going, - Vast shapes of snow and mist,-- - Sonorous clarions of the tempest blowing,-- - That trail dark banners by, - Cloudlike, underneath the sky - Of the caverned dome on high, - Carbuncle and amethyst.-- - Still I hear the ululation - Of their stormy exultation, - Multitudinous, and blending - In hoarse echoes, far, unending; - And, through halls of fog and frost, - Howling back, like madness lost - In the moonless mansion of - Death and demon-haunted love. - - -V - - Still in my dreams I hear the mermaid singing; - The mermaid music at its portal ringing; - The mermaid song, that hinged with gold its door, - And, whispering evermore, - Hushed the ponderous hurl and roar - And vast æolian thunder - Of the chained tempests under - The frozen cataracts that were its floor.-- - And, blinding beautiful, I still behold - The mermaid there, combing her locks of gold, - While at her feet, green as the Northern Seas, - Gambol her flocks of seals and walruses; - While, like a drift, her dog,--a Polar bear,-- - Lies by her, glowering through his shaggy hair. - - -VI - - O wondrous house, built by supernal hands - In vague and ultimate lands! - Thy architects were behemoth wind and cloud, - That, laboring loud, - Mountained thy world foundations and uplifted - Thy skyey bastions drifted - Of piled eternities of ice and snow; - Where storms, like ploughmen, go, - Ploughing the deeps with awful hurricane; - Where, spouting icy rain, - The huge whale wallows; and through furious hail - Th' explorer's tattered sail - Drives like the wing of some terrific bird, - Where wreck and famine herd.-- - - -VII - - Home of the red Auroras and the gods! - He who profanes thy perilous threshold,--where - The ancient centuries lair, - And, glacier-throned, thy monarch, Winter, nods,-- - Let him beware! - Lest coming on that hoary presence there, - Whose pitiless hand, - Above that hungry land, - An iceberg wields as sceptre, and whose crown - The North Star is, set in a band of frost, - He, too, shall feel the bitterness of that frown, - And, turned to stone, forevermore be lost. - - - - -DIONYSIA - - - The day is dead; and in the west - The slender crescent of the moon-- - Diana's crystal-kindled crest-- - Sinks hillward in a silvery swoon. - What is the murmur in the dell? - The stealthy whisper and the drip? - A Dryad with her leaf-light trip? - A Naiad o'er her fountain well?-- - Who, with white fingers for her comb, - Sleeks her blue hair, and from its curls - Showers slim minnows and pale pearls, - And hollow music of the foam. - What is it in the vistaed ways - That leans and springs, and stoops and sways?-- - The naked limbs of one who flees? - An Oread who hesitates - Before the Satyr form that waits, - Crouching to leap, that there she sees? - Or under boughs, reclining cool, - A Hamadryad, like a pool - Of moonlight, palely beautiful? - Or Limnad, with her lilied face, - More lovely than the misty lace - That haunts a star in a firefly place? - Or is it some Leimoniad - In wildwood flowers dimly clad? - Oblong blossoms white as froth, - Or mottled like the tiger-moth; - Or brindled as the brows of death, - Wild of hue and wild of breath: - Here ethereal flame and milk - Blent with velvet and with silk; - Here an iridescent glow - Mixed with satin and with snow: - Pansy, poppy and the pale - Serpolet and galingale; - Mandrake and anemone, - Honey-reservoirs o' the bee; - Cistus and the cyclamen,-- - Cheeked like blushing Hebe this, - And the other white as is - Bubbled milk of Venus when - Cupid's baby mouth is pressed, - Rosy, to her rosy breast. - And, besides, all flowers that mate - With aroma, and in hue - Stars and rainbows duplicate - Here on earth for me and you. - Yea! at last mine eyes can see! - 'Tis no shadow of the tree - Swaying softly there, but she!-- - Mænad, Bassarid, Bacchant, - What you will, who doth enchant - Night with sensuous nudity. - Lo! again I hear her pant - Breasting through the dewy glooms-- - Through the glow-worm gleams and glowers - Of the starlight; wood-perfumes - Swoon around her and frail showers - Of the leaflet-tilted rain. - Lo! like love, she comes again - Through the pale voluptuous dusk, - Sweet of limb with breasts of musk. - With her lips, like blossoms, breathing - Honeyed pungence of her kiss, - And her auburn tresses wreathing - Like umbrageous helichrys, - There she stands, like flame and snow, - In the moon's ambrosial glow, - Both her shapely loins low-looped - With the balmy blossoms, drooped, - Of the deep amaracus. - Spiritual, yet sensual, - Lo, she ever greets me thus - In my vision; white and tall, - Her delicious body there,-- - Raimented with amorous air,-- - To my mind expresses all - The allurements of the world. - And once more I seem to feel - On my soul, like frenzy, hurled - All the passionate past.--I reel, - Greek again in ancient Greece, - In the Pyrrhic revelries; - In the mad and Mænad dance; - Onward dragged with violence: - Pan and old Silenus and - Faunus and a Bacchant band - Round me. Wild my wine-stained hand - O'er tumultuous hair is lifted; - While the flushed and Phallic orgies - Whirl around me; and the marges - Of the wood are torn and rifted - With lascivious laugh and shout. - And barbarian there again,-- - Shameless with the shameless rout, - Bacchus lusting in each vein,-- - With her pagan lips on mine, - Like a god made drunk with wine, - On I reel; and in the revels - Her loose hair, the dance dishevels, - Blows, and 'thwart my vision swims - All the splendor of her limbs.... - So it seems. Yet woods are lonely. - And when I again awake, - I shall find their faces only - Moonbeams in the boughs that shake; - And their revels--but the rush - Of night-winds through bough and brush. - But my dreaming?--is it more - Than mere dreaming? Is a door - Opened in my soul? a curtain - Raised? to let me see for certain - I have lived that life before? - - - - -VINE AND SYCAMORE - - -I - - Here where a tree and its wild liana, - Leaning over the streamlet, grow, - Once a nymph, like the moon'd Diana, - Sat in the ages long ago, - Sat with a mortal with whom she had mated, - Sat and smiled with a mortal youth, - Ere he of the forest, the god who hated, - Changed the two into forms uncouth.... - - -II - - Once in the woods she had heard a shepherd, - Heard a reed in a golden glade; - Followed, and clad in the skin of a leopard, - Found him fluting within the shade. - Found him sitting with bare brown shoulder, - Lithe and young as a sapling oak, - And leaning over a mossy boulder, - Love in her dryad heart awoke. - - -III - - White she was as a dogwood flower, - Rosy white as a wild-crab bloom, - Fragrant white as a haw-tree bower - Full of sap and the May's perfume. - He who saw her above him burning, - Beautiful, naked, in dawn arrayed, - Deemed her Diana, and from her turning, - Leapt to his feet and fled afraid. - - -IV - - Far she followed and called and pleaded, - Ever he fled with never a look; - Fled, till he came to this spot, deep-reeded, - Came to the bank of this forest brook. - Here for a moment he stopped and listened, - Heard in her voice her heart's despair, - Saw in her eyes the love that glistened, - Sank on her bosom and rested there. - - -V - - Close to her beauty she strained and pressed him, - Held and bound him with kiss on kiss; - Soft with her hands and her lips caressed him, - Sweeter of touch than a blossom is. - Spoke to his heart, and with sweet persuasion - Mastered his soul till its fear was flown; - Smiled on his soul till its mortal evasion - Vanished, and body and soul were her own. - - -VI - - Many a day had they met and mated, - Many a day by this wildwood brook, - When he of the forest, the god who hated, - Came on their love and changed with a look. - There on the shore, while they joyed and jested, - He in the shadows, unseen, espied - Her, like the goddess Diana breasted, - Him, like Endymion by her side. - - -VII - - Lo! at a word, at a sign, their folded - Limbs and bodies assumed new form, - Hers to the shape of a tree were molded, - His to a vine with surrounding arm.... - So they stand with their limbs enlacing, - Nymph and mortal, upon this shore, - He forever a vine embracing - Her, a silvery sycamore. - - - - -GENIUS LOCI - - -I - - What wood-god, on this water's mossy curb, - Lost in reflections of Earth's loveliness, - Did I, just now, unconsciously disturb? - I who haphazard, wandering at a guess, - Came on this spot, wherein with gold and flame - Of buds and blooms the Season writes its name.-- - Ah, me! could I have seen him ere alarm - Of my approach aroused him from his calm! - As he, part Hamadryad and, mayhap, - Part Faun, lay here; who left the shadow warm - As a wood-rose, and filled the air with balm - Of his wild breath as with ethereal sap. - - -II - - Does not the moss retain some slight impress, - Green-dented down, of where he lay or trod? - Do not the flowers, so reticent, confess - With conscious looks the contact of a god? - Does not the very water garrulously - Boast the indulgence of a deity? - And hark!--in burly beech and sycamore - How all the birds proclaim it! and the leaves - Rejoice with clappings of their myriad hands! - And shall not I believe, too, and adore, - With such wide proof?--Yea, though my soul perceives - No evident presence, still it understands. - - -III - - And for a while it moves me to lie down - Here on the spot his god-head sanctified: - Mayhap some dream he dreamed may linger, brown - And young as joy, around the forest side: - Some dream within whose heart lives no disdain - For such as I whose love is sweet and sane; - That may repeat, so none but I may hear-- - As one might tell a pearl-strung rosary-- - Some epic that the leaves have learned to croon, - Some lyric whispered in the wildflower's ear, - Whose murmurous lines are sung by bird and bee, - And all the insects of the night and noon. - - -IV - - For, all around me, upon field and hill, - Enchantment lies as of mysterious flutes; - As if the music of a god's good-will - Had taken on material attributes - In blooms, like chords; and in the water-gleam, - That runs its silvery scales on every stream; - In sunbeam bars, up which the butterfly, - A golden note, vibrates then flutters on-- - Inaudible tunes, blown on the pipes of Pan, - That have assumed a visible entity, - And drugged the air with beauty so, a Faun, - Behold, I seem, and am no more a man. - - - - -DITHYRAMBICS - - -I - -_Tempest_ - - Wrapped round of the night, as a monster is wrapped of the ocean, - Down, down through vast storeys of darkness, behold, in the tower - Of the heaven, the thunder! on stairways of cloudy commotion, - Colossal of tread, like a giant, from echoing hour to hour - Goes striding in rattling armor.... - The Nymph, at her billow-roofed dormer - Of foam; and the Sylvan--green-housed--at her window of leaves appears; - --As a listening woman, who hears - The approach of her lover, who comes to her arms in the night; - And, loosening the loops of her locks, - With eyes full of love and delight, - From the couch of her rest in ardor and haste arises.-- - The Nymph, as if born of the tempest, like fire surprises - The riotous bands of the rocks, - That face, with a roar, the shouting charge of the seas. - The Sylvan,--through troops of the trees, - Whose clamorous clans with gnarly bosoms keep hurling - Themselves on the guns of the wind,--goes wheeling and whirling. - The Nymph, of the waves' exultation upheld, her green tresses - Knotted with flowers of the hollow white foam, dives screaming; - Then bounds to the arms of the storm, who boisterously presses - Her hair and wild form to his breast that is panting and streaming. - The Sylvan,--hard-pressed by the wind, the Pan-footed air,-- - On the violent backs of the hills,-- - Like a flame that tosses and thrills - From crag to crag when the world of spirits is out,-- - Is borne, as her rapture wills, - With glittering gesture and shout. - Now here in the darkness, now there, - From the rain-wild sweep of her hair,-- - Bewilderingly volleyed o'er eyes and o'er lips,-- - To the lambent swell of her limbs, her breasts and her hips, - She flashes her beautiful nakedness out in the glare - Of the tempest that bears her away,-- - That bears _me_ away! - Away, over forest and foam, over tree and spray, - Far swifter than thought, far swifter than sound or than flame; - Over ocean and pine, - In arms of tumultuous shadow and shine.-- - - Though Sylvan and Nymph do not - Exist, and only what - Of terror and beauty I feel and I name - As parts of the storm, the awe and the rapture divine - That here in the tempest are mine,-- - The two are the same, the two are forever the same. - - -II - -_Calm_ - - Beautiful-bosomed, O night, in thy noon - Move with majesty onward! bearing, as lightly - As a singer may bear the notes of an exquisite tune, - The stars and the moon - Through the clerestories high of the heaven, the firmament's halls: - Under whose sapphirine walls, - June, hesperian June, - Robed in divinity wanders. Daily and nightly - The turquoise touch of her robe, that the violets star, - The silvery fall of her feet, that lilies are, - Fill the land with languorous light and perfume.-- - Is it the melody mute of bourgeoning leaf and of bloom? - The music of Nature, that silently shapes in the gloom - Immaterial hosts - Of spirits that have the flowers and leaves in their keep, - That I hear, that I hear? - With their sighs of silver and pearl? - Invisible ghosts,-- - Each one a beautiful girl,-- - Who whisper in leaves and glimmer in blossoms and hover - In color and fragrance and loveliness, breathed from the deep - World-soul of the mother, - Nature;--who, over and over, - Both sweetheart and lover, - Goes singing her songs from one sweet month to the other,-- - That appear, that appear? - In forest and field, on hill-land and lea, - As crystallized harmony, - Materialized melody, - An uttered essence peopling far and near - The hyaline atmosphere?... - - Behold how it sprouts from the grass and blooms from flower and tree! - In waves of diaphanous moonlight and mist, - In fugue upon fugue of gold and of amethyst, - Around me, above me it spirals; now slower, now faster, - Like symphonies born of the thought of a musical master.-- - O music of Earth! O God, who the music inspired! - Let me breathe of the life of thy breath! - And so be fulfilled and attired - In resurrection, triumphant o'er time and o'er death! - - - - -HYMN TO DESIRE - - -I - - Mother of visions, with lineaments dulcet as numbers - Breathed on the eyelids of love by music that slumbers, - Secretly, sweetly, O presence of fire and snow, - Thou comest mysterious, - In beauty imperious, - Clad on with dreams and the light of no world that we know, - Deep to my innermost soul am I shaken, - Helplessly shaken and tossed, - And of thy tyrannous yearnings so utterly taken, - My lips, unsatisfied, thirst; - Mine eyes are accurst - With longings for visions that far in the night are forsaken; - And mine ears, in listening lost, - Yearn, yearn for the note of a chord that will never awaken. - - -II - - Like palpable music thou comest, like moon-light; and far,-- - Resonant bar upon bar,-- - The vibrating lyre - Of the spirit responds with melodious fire, - As thy fluttering fingers now grasp it and ardently shake, - With flame and with flake, - The chords of existence, the instrument star-sprung, - Whose frame is of clay, so wonderfully molded from mire. - - -III - - Vested with vanquishment, come, O Desire, Desire! - Breathe in this harp of my soul the audible angel of love! - Make of my heart an Israfel burning above, - A lute for the music of God, that lips, which are mortal, but stammer! - Smite every rapturous wire - With golden delirium, rebellion and silvery clamor, - Crying--"Awake! awake! - Too long hast thou slumbered! too far from the regions of glamour, - With its mountains of magic, its fountains of faery, the spar-sprung, - Hast thou wandered away, O Heart! - Come, oh, come and partake - Of necromance banquets of beauty; and slake - Thy thirst in the waters of Art, - That are drawn from the streams - Of love and of dreams. - - -IV - - "Come, oh come! - No longer shall language be dumb! - Thy vision shall grasp-- - As one doth the glittering hasp - Of a dagger made splendid with gems and with gold-- - The wonder and richness of life, not anguish and hate of it merely. - And out of the stark - Eternity, awful and dark, - Immensity silent and cold,-- - Universe-shaking as trumpets, or thunderous metals - That cymbal; yet pensive and pearly - And soft as the rosy unfolding of petals, - Or crumbling aroma of blossoms that wither too early,-- - The majestic music of Death, where he plays - On the organ, eternal and vast, of eons and days." - - - - -NYMPH AND FAUN - - - With her soft face half turned to me - Like an arrested moonbeam, she - Stood in the cirque of that deep tree. - - I took her by the hands; she raised - Her face to mine; and, half amazed, - I kissed her; and we stood and gazed. - - How good to kiss her throat and hair, - And say no word!--Her throat was bare, - And, as the slim moon, young and fair.-- - - Had God not given us life for this? - The world-old, amorous happiness - Of arms that clasp, and lips that kiss. - - O eloquence of limbs and arms! - O rhetoric of breasts, whose charms - Say to the sluggish blood what warms! - - Had God not smiled upon this hour - That bloomed,--where love had all of power,-- - The senses' aphrodisiac flower? - - The dawn was far away: the night - Hung savage stars of sultry white, - Lamp-like, above to give us light. - - Night, night, who led us each to each, - Where heart with heart could hold sweet speech, - With life's best gift within our reach. - - And here it was--between the goals - Of flesh and spirit, sex controls-- - Took place the marriage of our souls. - - - - -PARTING OF LEANDER AND HERO - - -I - - Brows pale through blue-black tresses - Wet with the rain's cold kisses; - Hair that the sea-wind tosses, - Wild as wild wings in flight; - Pale brows, some sad thought crosses, - One kiss and then--good night. - - -II - - Nay, love! thou wilt undo me - When in the heavy waves!-- - Come, smile! and make unto me - The billows' backs as slaves - To bear me and indue me - With strength o'er ocean's graves. - - -III - - Weep not, as heavy-hearted - Before I go! lest thou - Shouldst follow as we parted.-- - Come, gaze at me glad-hearted! - Not with sweet lips distorted - With fear; and eyes tear-smarted!-- - Let me remember how - Thy face looks when thou smilest - And with soft words beguilest - My soul.--From feet to brow, - Come, strengthen thy strong lover - To breast the waves that cover - Deep caves where sea-nymphs hover, - Eager to seize him now. - - -IV - - Thy image, love, shall follow - With breast pressed close to mine: - With arms from out whose hollow - No death can tear me. Follow, - Come, light me through the brine, - Dark eyes, fixed bright on mine, - And mouth as red as wine!-- - Yea, give me wine of kisses, - Whose fire shall help me home, - Sweetheart, through foam that hisses, - The long wild miles of foam. - - -V - - Sweet! cease thy sighs and weeping! - 'Tis time for rest and sleeping, - And Venus-vestured dreams, - Where thy Leander, stooping, - Thou'lt see as now, undrooping, - With eyes all unaccusing: - Not as thou saw'st, it seems, - In sleep last night, in dreams, - His curls with ocean oozing, - And wan of cheek and brow: - But, Hero, even as now, - Fair-favored as can make him - Thy smile, which is a might, - A hope, a god, to take him - Safe through this hell of night. - - -VI - - Here in thy throat's white hollow - One last long kiss.--I go.-- - Ah, Sweet! a kiss to follow - Down from thy throat's white hollow - Unto thy breast that's whiter:-- - Thine arms, that clasp me tighter; - One kiss then on thy mouth, - Warmer than all the South; - And eyes, than waters brighter - Wherein the far stars glow. - Smile on me now I leave thee!-- - And kiss me on the brow!-- - Smile on me, love, nor grieve thee! - No thing can harm me now! - - - - -THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST SPRING - - - Over the rocks she trails her locks, - Her mossy locks that drip, drip, drip: - Her sparkling eyes smile at the skies - In friendship-wise and fellowship: - While the gleam and glance of her countenance - Lull into trance the woodland places, - As over the rocks she trails her locks, - Her dripping locks that the long fern graces. - - She pours clear ooze from her heart's cool cruse, - Its crystal cruse that drips, drips, drips: - And all the day its crystal spray - Is heard to play from her finger-tips: - And the slight, soft sound makes haunted ground - Of the woods around that the sunlight laces, - As she pours clear ooze from her heart's cool cruse, - Its dripping cruse that no man traces. - - She swims and swims with glimmering limbs, - With lucid limbs that drip, drip, drip: - Where beechen boughs build a leafy house, - Where her form may drowse or her feet may trip; - And the liquid beat of her rippling feet - Makes three times sweet the forest mazes, - As she swims and swims with glimmering limbs, - With dripping limbs through the twilight's hazes. - - Then wrapped in deeps of the wild she sleeps, - She whispering sleeps and drips, drips, drips: - Where moon and mist wreathe neck and wrist, - And, starry-whist, through the night she slips: - While the heavenly dream of her soul makes gleam - The falls that stream and the foam that races, - As wrapped in deeps of the wild she sleeps, - She dripping sleeps or starward gazes. - - - - -TO A PANSY-VIOLET - -_Found Solitary Among the Hills_ - - -I - - O pansy-violet, - With early April wet, - How frail and lone you look - Lost in this sylvan nook - Of heaven-holding hills: - Down which the hurrying rills - Fling scrolls of melodies; - O'er which the birds and bees - Weave gossamers of song, - Invisible, but strong: - Sweet music-webs they spin - To snare the spirit in. - - -II - - O pansy-violet, - Unto your face I set - My lips, and--do you speak? - Or is it but some freak - Of fancy, love imparts - Through you unto the heart's - Desire? whispering low - A secret none may know - But me, who sit and dream - Here by this forest-stream. - - -III - - O pansy-violet, - O wilding floweret, - Hued like some dædal gem - Starring the diadem - Of fay or sylvan sprite, - Who, in the woods, all night - Is busy with the blooms, - Young leaves and wild perfumes, - Through you I seem t' have seen - All that our dreams may mean. - - -IV - - O pansy-violet, - Long, long ago we met-- - 'Twas in a Fairy tale: - Two children in a vale - Sat underneath the stars, - Far from the world of wars: - Each loved the other well: - _Her_ eyes were like the spell - Of dusk and dawning skies-- - The purple dark that dyes - The midnight: _his_ were blue - As heaven the day shines through. - - -V - - O pansy-violet, - What is this vague regret, - This yearning, so like tears, - That touches me through years - Long past, when myth and fable - In all strange things were able - To beautify the Earth, - Things of immortal worth?-- - This longing, that to me - Is like a memory, - Lived long ago, of two - Fair forest children who - Loved with no mortal love; - Whom heaven smiled above, - Fostering; and when they died - Laid side by loving side. - - -VI - - O pansy-violet, - Do you remember yet - That wood-god-guarded tomb, - Out of whose moss your bloom - Sprang, with three petals wan - As are the eyes of dawn; - And two as darkly deep - As are the eyes of sleep? - - -VII - - O flower,--that seems to hold - Some memory of old, - A hope, a happiness, - At which I can but guess,-- - You are a sign to me - Of immortality: - Through you my spirit sees - The deathless purposes - Of death, that still evolves - The beauty it resolves; - The change that still fulfils - Life's meaning as God wills. - - - - -PAGAN - - - The gods, who could loose and bind - In the long ago, - The gods, who were stern and kind - To men below, - Where shall we seek and find, - Or, finding, know? - - Where Greece, with king on king, - Dreamed in her halls; - Where Rome kneeled worshiping, - The owl now calls, - And clambering ivies cling, - And the moonbeam falls. - - They have served, and passed away - From the earth and sky, - And their creeds are a record gray, - Where the passer-by - Reads, "Live and be glad to-day, - For to-morrow ye die." - - And shall it be so, indeed, - When we are no more, - That nations to be shall read,-- - As we have before,-- - In the dust of a Christian Creed, - But pagan lore? - - - - -BEAUTY AND ART - - - The gods are dead; but still for me - Lives on in wildwood brook and tree - Each myth, each old divinity. - - For me still laughs among her rocks - The Naiad; and the Dryad's locks - Drop perfume on the wildflower flocks. - - The Satyr's hoof still prints the loam; - And, whiter than the wind-blown foam, - The Oread haunts her mountain home. - - To him, whose mind is fain to dwell - With loveliness no time can quell, - All things are real, imperishable. - - To him--whatever facts may say-- - Who sees the soul beneath the clay, - Is proof of a diviner day. - - The very stars and flowers preach - A gospel old as God, and teach - Philosophy a child may reach; - - That can not die; that shall not cease; - That lives through idealities - Of Beauty, ev'n as Rome and Greece: - - That lifts the soul above the clod, - And, working out some period - Of art, is part and proof of God. - - - - -THE OLD WATER-MILL - - - Wild ridge on ridge the wooded hills arise, - Between whose breezy vistas gulfs of skies - Pilot great clouds like towering argosies, - And hawk and buzzard breast the azure breeze. - With many a foaming fall and glimmering reach - Of placid murmur, under elm and beech, - The creek goes twinkling through long gleams and glooms - Of woodland quiet, summered with perfumes: - The creek, in whose clear shallows minnow-schools - Glitter or dart; and by whose deeper pools - The blue kingfishers and the herons haunt; - That, often startled from the freckled flaunt - Of blackberry-lilies--where they feed and hide-- - Trail a lank flight along the forestside - With eery clangor. Here a sycamore, - Smooth, wave-uprooted, builds from shore to shore - A headlong bridge; and there, a storm-hurled oak - Lays a long dam, where sand and gravel choke - The water's lazy way. Here mistflower blurs - Its bit of heaven; there the oxeye stirs - Its gloaming hues of pearl and gold; and here, - A gray, cool stain, like dawn's own atmosphere, - The dim wild-carrot lifts its crumpled crest: - And over all, at slender flight or rest, - The dragon-flies, like coruscating rays - Of lapis-lazuli and chrysoprase, - Drowsily sparkle through the summer days: - And, dewlap-deep, here from the noontide heat - The bell-hung cattle find a cool retreat; - And through the willows girdling the hill, - Now far, now near, borne as the soft winds will, - Comes the low rushing of the water-mill. - - Ah, lovely to me from a little child, - How changed the place! wherein once, undefiled, - The glad communion of the sky and stream - Went with me like a presence and a dream. - Where once the brambled meads and orchard-lands - Poured ripe abundance down with mellow hands - Of summer; and the birds of field and wood - Called to me in a tongue I understood; - And in the tangles of the old rail-fence - Even the insect tumult had some sense, - And every sound a happy eloquence: - And more to me than wisest books can teach - The wind and water said; whose words did reach - My soul, addressing their magnificent speech,-- - Raucous and rushing,--from the old mill-wheel, - That made the rolling mill-cogs snore and reel, - Like some old ogre in a fairy tale - Nodding above his meat and mug of ale. - - How memory takes me back the ways that lead-- - As when a boy--through woodland and through mead! - To orchards fruited; or to fields in bloom; - Or briery fallows, like a mighty room, - Through which the winds swing censers of perfume, - And where deep blackberries spread miles of fruit;-- - A splendid feast, that stayed the ploughboy's foot - When to the tasseling acres of the corn - He drove his team, fresh in the primrose morn; - And from the liberal banquet, nature lent, - Took dewy handfuls as he whistling went.-- - A boy once more, I stand with sunburnt feet - And watch the harvester sweep down the wheat; - Or laze with warm limbs in the unstacked straw - Nearby the thresher, whose insatiate maw - Devours the sheaves, hot drawling out its hum-- - Like some great sleepy bee, above a bloom, - Made drunk with honey--while, grown big with grain, - The bulging sacks receive the golden rain. - Again I tread the valley, sweet with hay, - And hear the bob-white calling far away, - Or wood-dove cooing in the elder-brake; - Or see the sassafras bushes madly shake - As swift, a rufous instant, in the glen - The red fox leaps and gallops to his den; - Or, standing in the violet-colored gloam, - Hear roadways sound with holiday riding home - From church, or fair, or county barbecue, - Which the whole country to some village drew. - - How spilled with berries were its summer hills, - And strewn with walnuts all its autumn rills-- - And chestnuts, burring from the spring's long flowers!-- - When from their tops the trees seemed streaming showers - Of slender silver, cool, crepuscular, - And like a nebulous radiance shone afar.-- - And maples! how their sappy hearts would gush - Rude troughs of syrup, when the winter bush - Steamed with the sugar-kettle, day and night, - And, red, the snow was streaked with fire-light. - Then was it glorious! the mill-dam's edge, - One slope of frosty crystal, laid a ledge - Of pearl across; above which, sleeted trees - Tossed arms of ice, that, clashing in the breeze, - Tinkled the ringing creek with icicles, - Thin as the peal of far-off Elfland bells: - A sound that in my city dreams I hear, - That brings before me, under skies that clear, - The old mill in its winter garb of snow, - Its frozen wheel like a hoar beard below, - And its west windows, two deep eyes aglow. - - Ah, ancient mill, still do I picture o'er - Thy cobwebbed stairs and loft and grain-strewn floor; - Thy door,--like some brown, honest hand of toil, - And honorable with labor of the soil,-- - Forever open; through which, on his back - The prosperous farmer bears his bursting sack, - And while the miller measures out his toll, - Again I hear, above the cogs' loud roll,-- - That makes stout joist and rafter groan and sway,-- - The harmless gossip of the passing day: - Good country talk, that tells how so-and-so - Has died or married; how curculio - And codling-moth have ruined half the fruit, - And blight plays mischief with the grapes to boot; - Or what the news from town; next county fair; - How well the crops are looking everywhere: - Now this, now that, on which their interests fix, - Prospects for rain or frost, and politics. - While all around, the sweet smell of the meal - Filters, warm-pouring from the grinding wheel - Into the bin; beside which, mealy white, - The miller looms, dim in the dusty light. - - Again I see the miller's home, between - The crinkling creek and hills of beechen green: - Again the miller greets me, gaunt and brown, - Who oft o'erawed my youth with gray-browed frown - And rugged mien: again he tries to reach - My youthful mind with fervid scriptural speech.-- - For he, of all the country-side confessed, - The most religious was and goodliest; - A Methodist, and one whom faith still led, - No books except the Bible had he read-- - At least so seemed it to my younger head.-- - All things in Earth and Heav'n he'd prove by this, - Be it a fact or mere hypothesis; - For to his simple wisdom, reverent, - "_The Bible says_" was all of argument.-- - God keep his soul! his bones were long since laid - Among the sunken gravestones in the shade - Of those black-lichened rocks, that wall around - The family burying-ground with cedars crowned; - Where bristling teasel and the brier combine - With clambering wood-rose and the wild-grape vine - To hide the stone whereon his name and dates - Neglect, with mossy hand, obliterates. - - - - -THE RAIN-CROW - - -I - - Can freckled August,--drowsing warm and blond - Beside a wheat-shock in the white-topped mead, - In her hot hair the oxeyed daisies wound,-- - O bird of rain, lend aught but sleepy heed - To thee? when no plumed weed, no feather'd seed - Blows by her; and no ripple breaks the pond, - That gleams like flint within its rim of grasses, - Through which the dragon-fly forever passes - Like splintered diamond. - - -II - - Drouth weights the trees, and from the farm-house eaves - The locust, pulse-beat of the summer day, - Throbs; and the lane, that shambles under leaves - Limp with the heat--a league of rutty way-- - Is lost in dust; and sultry scents of hay - Breathe from the panting meadows heaped with sheaves-- - Now, now, O bird, what hint is there of rain, - In thirsty heaven or on burning plain, - That thy keen eye perceives? - - -III - - But thou art right. Thou prophesiest true. - For hardly hast thou ceased thy forecasting, - When, up the western fierceness of scorched blue, - Great water-carrier winds their buckets bring - Brimming with freshness. How their dippers ring - And flash and rumble! lavishing large dew - On corn and forestland, that, streaming wet, - Their hilly backs against the downpour set, - Like giants, loom in view. - - -IV - - The butterfly, safe under leaf and flower, - Has found a roof, knowing how true thou art; - The bumblebee, within the last half-hour, - Has ceased to hug the honey to its heart; - While in the barnyard, under shed and cart, - Brood-hens have housed.--But I, who scorned thy power, - Barometer of the birds,--like August there,-- - Beneath a beech, dripping from foot to hair, - Like some drenched truant, cower. - - - - -THE HARVEST MOON - - -I - - Globed in Heav'n's tree of azure, golden mellow - As some round apple hung - High on Hesperian boughs, thou hangest yellow - The branch-like clouds among: - Within thy light a sunburnt youth, named Health, - Rests 'mid the tasseled shocks, the tawny stubble; - And by his side, clad on with rustic wealth - Of field and farm, beneath thy amber bubble, - A nut-brown maid, Content, sits smiling still: - While through the quiet trees, - The mossy rocks, the grassy hill, - Thy silvery spirit glides to yonder mill, - Around whose wheel the breeze - And shimmering ripples of the water play, - As, by their mother, little children may. - - -II - - Sweet Spirit of the Moon, who walkest,--lifting, - Exhaustless on thy arm, - A vase of pearly fire,--through the shifting - Cloud-halls of calm and storm, - Pour down thy blossoms! let me hear them come, - Pelting with noiseless light the twinkling thickets, - Making the darkness audible with the hum - Of many insect creatures, grigs and crickets: - Until it seems the elves hold revelries - By haunted stream and grove; - Or, in the night's deep peace, - The young-old presence of Earth's full increase - Seems telling thee her love, - Ere, lying down, she turns to rest, and smiles, - Hearing thy heart beat through the myriad miles. - - - - -FIELD AND FOREST CALL - - - There is a field, that leans upon two hills, - Foamed o'er of flowers and twinkling with clear rills; - That in its girdle of wild acres bears; - The anodyne of rest that cures all cares; - Wherein soft wind and sun and sound are blent - And fragrance--as in some old instrument - Sweet chords--calm things, that nature's magic spell - Distils from heaven's azure crucible, - And pours on Earth to make the sick mind well. - There lies the path, they say-- - Come, away! come, away! - - There is a forest, lying 'twixt two streams, - Sung through of birds and haunted of dim dreams; - That in its league-long hand of trunk and leaf - Lifts a green wand that charms away all grief; - Wrought of quaint silence and the stealth of things, - Vague, whispering touches, gleams and twitterings, - Dews and cool shadows--that the mystic soul - Of nature permeates with suave control, - And waves o'er Earth to make the sad heart whole. - There lies the road, they say-- - Come, away! come, away! - - - - -OLD HOMES - - - Old homes among the hills! I love their gardens, - Their old rock-fences, that our day inherits; - Their doors, round which the great trees stand like wardens; - Their paths, down which the shadows march like spirits; - Broad doors and paths that reach bird-haunted gardens. - - I see them gray among their ancient acres, - Severe of front, their gables lichen-sprinkled,-- - Like gentle-hearted, solitary Quakers, - Grave and religious, with kind faces wrinkled,-- - Serene among their memory-hallowed acres. - - Their gardens, banked with roses and with lilies-- - Those sweet aristocrats of all the flowers-- - Where Springtime mints her gold in daffodillies, - And Autumn coins her marigolds in showers, - And all the hours are toilless as the lilies. - - I love their orchards where the gay woodpecker - Flits, flashing o'er you, like a wingéd jewel; - Their woods, whose floors of moss the squirrels checker - With half-hulled nuts; and where, in cool renewal, - The wild brooks laugh, and raps the red woodpecker. - - Old homes! old hearts! Upon my soul forever - Their peace and gladness lie like tears and laughter; - Like love they touch me, through the years that sever, - With simple faith; like friendship, draw me after - The dreamy patience that is theirs forever. - - - - -A MEMORY - - - Above her, pearl and rose the heavens lay: - Around her, flowers scattered earth with gold, - Or down the path in insolence held sway-- - Like cavaliers who ride the king's highway-- - Scarlet and buff, within a garden old. - - Beyond the hills, faint-heard through belts of wood, - Bells, Sabbath-sweet, swooned from some far-off town: - Gamboge and gold, broad sunset colors strewed - The purple west as if, with God imbued, - Her mighty pallet Nature there laid down. - - Amid such flowers, underneath such skies, - Embodying all life knows of sweet and fair, - She stood; love's dreams in girlhood's face and eyes, - Fair as a star that comes to emphasize - The mingled beauty of the earth and air. - - Behind her, seen through vines and orchard trees, - Gray with its twinkling windows--like the face - Of calm old-age that sits and smiles at ease-- - Porched with old roses, haunts of honey-bees, - The homestead loomed dim in a glimmering space. - - For whom she waited in the afterglow, - Soft-eyed and dreamy 'mid the poppy and rose, - I do not know, I do not care to know:-- - It is enough I keep her picture so, - Hung up, like poetry, in my life's dull prose. - - A fragrant picture, where I still may find - Her face untouched of sorrow or regret, - Unspoiled of contact, ever young and kind, - The spiritual sweetheart of my soul and mind, - She had not been, perhaps, if we had met. - - - - -DOLCE FAR NIENTE - - -I - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - Far to the east lay the ocean paling - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - There, in the boat as we sat together, - Soft in the glow of the turquoise weather, - Light as the foam or a seagull's feather, - Fair of form and of face serene, - Sweet at my side I felt you lean, - As over the bay our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - - -II - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - Pine and palm, in the west, hung, trailing - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - Was it the wind that sighed above you? - Was it the wave that whispered of you? - Was it my soul that said, "I love you"? - Was it your heart that murmured between, - Answering, shy as a bird unseen? - As over the bay our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - - -III - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - Gray and low flew the heron, wailing - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - Naught was spoken. We watched the simple - Gulls wing past. Your hat's white wimple - Shadowed your eyes. And your lips, a-dimple, - Smiled and seemed from your soul to wean - An inner beauty, an added sheen, - As over the bay our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - - -IV - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - Red on the marshes the day flamed, failing - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - Was it your thought, or the transitory - Gold of the west, like a written story, - Bright on your brow, that I read? the glory - And grace of love, like a rose-crowned queen - Pictured pensive in mind and mien? - As over the bay our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - - -V - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - Wan on the waters the mist lay, veiling - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - Was it the joy that begot the sorrow?-- - Joy that was filled with the dreams that borrow - Prescience sad of a far To-morrow,-- - There in the Now that was all too keen, - That shadowed the fate that might intervene? - As over the bay our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - - -VI - - Over the bay as our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine, - The marsh-hen cried and the tide was ailing - Under the skies of Augustine.-- - And so we parted. No vows were spoken. - No faith was plighted that might be broken. - But deep in our hearts each bore a token - Of life and of love and all they mean, - Beautiful, thornless, and ever green, - From over the bay where our boat went sailing - Under the skies of Augustine. - -_St. Augustine, Fla., February, 1899._ - - - - -THE PURPLE VALLEYS - - - Far in the purple valleys of illusion - I see her waiting, like the soul of music, - With deep eyes, lovelier than cerulean pansies, - Shadow and fire, yet merciless as poison; - With red lips sweeter than Arabian storax, - Yet bitterer than myrrh. O tears and kisses! - O eyes and lips, that haunt my soul forever! - - Again Spring walks transcendent on the mountains: - The woods are hushed: the vales are full of shadows: - Above the heights, steeped in a thousand splendors, - Like some vast canvas of the gods, hangs burning - The sunset's wild sciography: and slowly - The moon treads heaven's proscenium,--night's stately - White queen of love and tragedy and madness. - - Again I know forgotten dreams and longings; - Ideals lost; desires dead and buried - Beside the altar sacrifice erected - Within the heart's high sanctuary. Strangely - Again I know the horror and the rapture, - The utterless awe, the joy akin to anguish, - The terror and the worship of the spirit. - - Again I feel her eyes pierce through and through me; - Her deep eyes, lovelier than imperial pansies, - Velvet and flame, through which her strong will holds me, - Powerless and tame, and draws me on and onward - To sad, unsatisfied and animal yearnings, - Wild, unrestrained--the brute within the human-- - To fling me panting on her mouth and bosom. - - Again I feel her lips like ice and fire, - Her red lips, odorous as Arabian storax, - Fragrance and fire, within whose kiss destruction - Lies serpent-like. Intoxicating languors - Resistlessly embrace me, soul and body; - And we go drifting, drifting--she is laughing-- - Outcasts of God, into the deep's abysm. - - - - -THE LAND OF ILLUSION - - -I - - So we had come at last, my soul and I, - Into that land of shadowy plain and peak, - On which the dawn seemed ever about to break, - On which the day seemed ever about to die. - - -II - - Long had we sought fulfillment of our dreams, - The everlasting wells of Joy and Youth; - Long had we sought the snow-white flow'r of Truth, - That blooms eternal by eternal streams. - - -III - - And, fonder still, we hoped to find the sweet - Immortal presence, Love; the bird Delight - Beside her; and, eyed with sideral night, - Faith, like a lion, fawning at her feet. - - -IV - - But, scorched and barren, in its arid well, - We found our dreams' forgotten fountain-head; - And by black, bitter waters, crushed and dead, - Among wild weeds, Truth's trampled asphodel. - - -V - - And side by side with pallid Doubt and Pain, - Not Love, but Grief did meet us there: afar - We saw her, like a melancholy star, - A pensive moon, move towards us o'er the plain. - - -VI - - Sweet was her face as song that tells of home; - And filled our hearts with vague, suggestive spells - Of pathos, as sad ocean fills its shells - With sympathetic moanings of the foam. - - -VII - - She raised one hand and pointed silently, - And passed; her eyes, gaunt with a thirst unslaked, - Were worlds of woe, where tears in torrents ached, - Yet never fell. And like a winter sea,-- - - -VIII - - Whose caverned crags are haunts of wreck and wrath, - That house the condor pinions of the storm,-- - My soul replied; and, weeping, arm in arm, - To'ards those dim hills, by that appointed path, - - -IX - - We turned and went. Arrived, we did discern - How Beauty beckoned, white 'mid miles of flowers, - Through which, behold, the amaranthine - Hours - Like maidens went, each holding high an urn; - - -X - - Wherein, it seemed--drained from long chalices - Of those slim flowers--they bore mysterious wine; - A poppied vintage, full of sleep divine, - And pale forgetting of all miseries. - - -XI - - Then to my soul I said, "No longer weep. - Come, let us drink; for hateful is the sky, - And earth is full of care, and life's a lie. - So let us drink; yea, let us drink and sleep." - - -XII - - Then from their brimming urns we drank sweet must, - While all around us rose-crowned faces laughed - Into our own: but hardly had we quaffed - When, one by one, these crumbled into dust. - - -XIII - - And league on league the eminence of blooms, - That flashed and billowed like a summer sea, - Rolled out a waste of thorns and tombs; where bee - And butterfly and bird hung dead in looms - - -XIV - - Of worm and spider. And through tomb and brier, - A thin wind, parched with bitter salt and sand, - Went wailing as if mourning some lost land - Of perished empire, Babylon or Tyre. - - -XV - - Long, long with blistered feet we wandered in - That land of ruins, through whose sky of brass - Hate's harpy shrieked; and in whose iron grass - The hydra hissed of undestroyable Sin. - - -XVI - - And there at last, behold, the House of Doom,-- - Red, as if Hell had glared it into life, - Blood-red, and howling with incessant strife,-- - With burning battlements, towered through the gloom. - - -XVII - - And throned within sat Darkness.--Who might gaze - Upon that form, that threatening presence there, - Crowned with the flickering corpse-lights of Despair, - And yet escape sans madness and amaze? - - -XVIII - - And we had hoped to find among these hills - The House of Beauty!--Curst, yea thrice accurst, - The hope that lures one on from last to first - With vain illusions that no time fulfills! - - -XIX - - Why will we struggle to attain, and strive, - When all we gain is but an empty dream?-- - Better, unto my thinking, doth it seem - To end it all and let who will survive: - - -XX - - To find at last all beauty is but dust: - That love and sorrow are the very same: - That joy is only suffering's sweeter name: - And sense is but the synonym of lust. - - -XXI - - Far better, yea, to me it seems, to die! - To set glad lips against the lips of Death-- - The only thing God gives that comforteth, - The only thing we do not find a lie. - - - - -THE LAST SONG - - - She sleeps: he sings to her: the day was long, - And, tired out with too much happiness, - She fain would have him sing of old Provence; - Old songs, that spoke of love in such soft tones, - Her restless soul was straight besieged of dreams, - And her wild heart beleaguered of deep peace, - And heart and soul surrendered unto sleep.-- - Like perfect sculpture in the moon she lies, - Its pallor on her through heraldic panes - Of one tall casement's guléd quarterings.-- - Beside her couch, an antique table, weighed - With gold and crystal; here, a carven chair, - Whereon her raiment,--that suggests sweet curves - Of shapely beauty,--bearing her limbs' impress, - Is richly laid: and, near the chair, a glass, - An oval mirror framed in ebony: - And, dim and deep,--investing all the room - With ghostly life of woven women and men, - And strange, fantastic gloom, where shadows move,-- - Dark tapestry,--which in the gusts--that twinge - A dropping cresset's slender star of light-- - Seems swayed of cautious hands, assassin-like, - That bide their hour. - - She alone, deep-haired - As golden dawn, and whiter than a rose, - Divinely breasted as the Queen of Love, - Lies robeless in the glimmer of the moon, - Like Danaë within the golden shower. - Seated beside her aromatic rest, - In silence musing on her loveliness, - Her knight and troubadour. A lute, aslope - The curious baldric of his tunic, glints - Pearl-caught reflections of the moon, that seem - The voiceless ghosts of long-dead melodies. - In purple and sable, slashed with solemn gold, - Like stately twilight over slopes of snow, - He leans above her.-- - - Have his hands forgot - Their craft, that now they pause upon the strings? - His lips, their art, that they cease, speechless there?-- - His eyes are set ... What is it stills to stone - His hands? his lips? and mails him, head and heel, - In terrible marble, motionless and cold?-- - Behind the arras, can it be he feels, - Black-browed and grim, with eyes of sombre fire, - Death towers above him with uplifted sword? - - - - -THE DREAM OF RODERICK - - - Below, the tawny Tagus swept - Past royal gardens, breathing balm: - Upon his couch the monarch slept; - The world was still; the night was calm. - - Gray, Gothic-gated, in the ray - Of moonrise, tower and castle-crowned, - The city of Toledo lay - Beneath the terraced palace-ground. - - Again, he dreamed, in kingly sport - He sought the tree-sequestered path, - And watched the ladies of his Court - Within the marble-basined bath. - - Its porphyry stairs and fountained base - Shone, houried with voluptuous forms, - Where Andalusia vied in grace - With old Castile, in female charms. - - And laughter, song, and water-splash - Rang round the place, with rock arcaded, - As here a breast or limb would flash - Where beauty swam or beauty waded. - - And then, like Venus, from the wave - A maiden came, and stood below; - And by her side a woman slave - Bent down to dry her limbs of snow. - - Then on the tesselated bank, - Robed on with fragrance and with fire,-- - Like some exotic flower--she sank, - The type of all divine desire. - - Then her dark curls, that sparkled wet, - She parted from her perfect brows, - And, lo, her eyes, like lamps of jet - Lit in an alabaster house. - - And in his sleep the monarch sighed, - "Florinda!"--Dreaming still he moaned, - "Ah, would that I had died, had died! - I have atoned! I have atoned!"... - - And then the vision changed: O'erhead - Tempest and darkness were unrolled, - Full of wild voices of the dead, - And lamentations manifold. - - And wandering shapes of gaunt despair - Swept by; and faces pale with pain, - Whose eyes wept blood and seemed to glare - Fierce curses on him through the rain. - - And then, it seemed, 'gainst blazing skies - A necromantic tower sate, - Crag-like on crags, of giant size; - With adamatine wall and gate. - - And from the storm a hand of might, - Red-rolled in thunder, reached among - The gate's huge bolts, that burst--and night - Clanged ruin as its hinges swung. - - Then far away a murmur trailed,-- - As of sad seas on cavern'd shores,-- - That grew into a voice that wailed, - "They come! they come! the Moors! the Moors!" - - And with deep boom of atabals - And crash of cymbals and wild peal - Of battle-bugles, from its walls - An army rushed in glimmering steel. - - And where it trod he saw the torch - Of conflagration stalk the skies, - And in the vanward of its march - The monster form of Havoc rise. - - And Paynim war-cries rent the storm, - Athwart whose firmament of flame - Destruction reared an earthquake form - On wreck and death without a name.... - - And then again the vision changed: - Where flows the Guadelete, see, - The champions of the Cross are ranged - Against the Crescent's chivalry. - - With roar of trumpets and of drums - They meet; and in the battle's van - He fights; and, towering towards him, comes - Florinda's father, Julian; - - And one-eyed Taric, great in war: - And where these couch their burning spears, - The Christian phalanx, near and far, - Goes down like corn before the shears. - - The Moslem wins: the Christian flies: - "Allah il Allah," hill and plain - Reverberate: the rocking skies, - "Allah il Allah," shout again. - - And then he dreamed the swing of swords - And hurl of arrows were no more; - And stranger than the howling hordes - Deep silence fell on field and shore. - - And through the night, it seemed, he fled, - Upon a white steed like a star, - Across a field of endless dead, - Beneath a blood-red scimitar - - Of sunset: And he heard a moan, - Beneath, around, on every hand-- - "Accurséd! Yea, what hast thou done - To bring this curse upon thy land?" - - And then an awful sense of wings: - And, lo! the answer--"'Twas his lust - That was his crime. Behold! e'en kings - Must reckon with Me. God is just." - - - - -ZYPS OF ZIRL - - - The Alps of the Tyrol are dark with pines, - Where, foaming under the mountain spines, - The Inn's long water sounds and shines. - - Beyond, are peaks where the morning weaves - An icy rose; and the evening leaves - The golden ghosts of a thousand sheaves. - - Deep vines and torrents and glimmering haze, - And sheep-bells tinkling on mountain ways, - And fluting shepherds make sweet the days. - - The rolling mist, like a wandering fleece, - The great, round moon in a mountain crease, - And a song of love make the nights all peace. - - Beneath the blue Tyrolean skies - On the banks of the Inn, that foams and flies, - The storied city of Innsbruck lies. - - With its mediæval streets, that crook, - And its gabled houses, it has the look - Of a belfried town in a fairy book. - - So wild the Tyrol that oft, 'tis said, - When the storm is out and the town in bed, - The howling of wolves sweeps overhead. - - And oft the burgher, sitting here - In his walled rose-garden, hears the clear - Shrill scream of the eagle circling near. - - And this is the tale that the burghers tell:-- - The Abbot of Wiltau stood at his cell - Where the Solstein lifts its pinnacle. - - A mighty summit of bluffs and crags - That frowns on the Inn; where the forest stags - Have worn a path to the water-flags. - - The Abbot of Wiltau stood below; - And he was aware of a plume and bow - On the precipice there in the morning's glow, - - A chamois, he saw, from span to span - Had leapt; and after it leapt a man; - And he knew 'twas the Kaiser Maximilian. - - But, see! though rash as the chamois he, - His foot less sure. And verily - If the King should miss ... "Jesu! Marie! - - "The King hath missed!"--And, look, he falls! - Rolls headlong out to the headlong walls. - What Saint shall save him on whom he calls? - - What Saint shall save him, who struggles there - On the narrow ledge by the eagle's lair, - With hook'd hands clinging 'twixt earth and air? - - The Abbot crosses himself in dread-- - "Let prayers go up for the nearly dead, - And the passing-bell be tolled," he said. - - "For the House of Hapsburg totters! See, - How raveled the thread of its destiny, - Sheer hung between cloud and rock!" quoth he. - - But hark! where the steeps of the peak reply, - Is it an eagle's echoing cry? - And the flitting shadow, its plumes on high? - - No voice of the eagle is that which rings! - And the shadow, a wiry man who swings - Down, down where the desperate Kaiser clings. - - The _crampons_ bound to his feet, he leaps - Like a chamois now; and again he creeps - Or twists, like a snake, o'er the fearful deeps. - - "By his cross-bow, baldric, and cap's black curl," - Quoth the Abbot below, "I know the churl! - 'Tis the hunted outlaw Zyps of Zirl. - - "Upon whose head, or dead or alive, - The Kaiser hath posted a price.--Saints shrive - The King!" quoth Wiltau. "Who may contrive - - "To save him now that his foe is there?"-- - But, hark! again through the breathless air - What words are those that the echoes bear? - - "Courage, my King!--To the rescue, ho!" - The wild voice rings like a twanging bow, - And the staring Abbot stands mute below. - - And, lo! the hand of the outlaw grasps - The arm of the King--and death unclasps - Its fleshless fingers from him who gasps. - - And how he guides! where the clean cliffs wedge - Them flat to their brows; by chasm and ledge - He helps the King from the merciless edge. - - Then up and up, past bluffs that shun - The rashest chamois; where eagles sun - Great wings and brood; where the mists are spun. - - And safe at last stand Kaiser and churl - On the mountain path where the mosses curl-- - And this the revenge of Zyps of Zirl. - - - - -THE GLOW-WORM - - - How long had I sat there and had not beheld - The gleam of the glow-worm till something compelled!... - - The heaven was starless, the forest was deep, - And the vistas of darkness stretched silent in sleep. - - And late 'mid the trees had I lingered until - No thing was awake but the lone whippoorwill. - - And haunted of thoughts for an hour I sat - On a lichen-gray rock where the moss was a mat. - - And thinking of one whom my heart had held dear, - Like terrible waters, a gathering fear - - Came stealing upon me with all the distress - Of loss and of yearning and powerlessness: - - Till the hopes and the doubts and the sleepless unrest - That, swallow-like, built in the home of my breast, - - Now hither, now thither, now heavenward flew, - Wild-winged as the winds are: now suddenly drew - - My soul to abysses of nothingness where - All light was a shadow, all hope, a despair: - - Where truth, that religion had set upon high, - The darkness distorted and changed to a lie: - - And dreams of the beauty ambition had fed - Like leaves of the autumn fell withered and dead. - - And I rose with my burden of anguish and doom, - And cried, "O my God, had I died in the womb! - - "Than born into night, with no hope of the morn, - An heir unto shadows, to live so forlorn! - - "All effort is vain; and the planet called Faith - Sinks down; and no power is real but death. - - "O light me a torch in the deepening dark - So my sick soul may follow, my sad heart may mark!"-- - - And then in the darkness the answer!--It came - From Earth, not from Heaven--a glimmering flame, - - Behold; at my feet! In the shadow it shone - Mysteriously lovely and dimly alone: - - An ember; a sparkle of dew and of glower; - Like the lamp that a spirit hangs under a flower: - - As goldenly green as the phosphorous star - A fairy may wear in her diadem's bar: - - An element essence of moonlight and dawn - That, trodden and trampled, burns on and burns on. - - And hushed was my soul with the lesson of light - That God had revealed to me there in the night: - - Though mortal its structure, material its form, - The spiritual message of worm unto worm. - - - - -A FOREST IDYLL - - -I - - Beneath an old beech-tree - They sat together, - Fair as a flower was she - Of summer weather. - They spoke of life and love, - While, through the boughs above, - The sunlight, like a dove, - Dropped many a feather. - - -II - - And there the violet, - The bluet near it, - Made blurs of azure wet-- - As if some spirit, - Or woodland dream, had gone - Sprinkling the earth with dawn, - When only Fay and Faun - Could see or hear it. - - -III - - She with her young, sweet face - And eyes gray-beaming, - Made of that forest place - A spot for dreaming: - A spot for Oreads - To smooth their nut-brown braids, - For Dryads of the glades - To dance in, gleaming. - - -IV - - So dim the place, so blest, - One had not wondered - Had Dian's moonéd breast - The deep leaves sundered, - And there on them a while - The goddess deigned to smile, - While down some forest aisle - The far hunt thundered. - - -V - - I deem that hour, perchance, - Was but a mirror - To show them Earth's romance - And draw them nearer: - A mirror where, meseems, - All that this Earth-life dreams, - All loveliness that gleams, - Their souls saw clearer. - - -VI - - Beneath an old beech-tree - They dreamed of blisses; - Fair as a flower was she - That summer kisses: - They spoke of dreams and days, - Of love that goes and stays, - Of all for which life prays, - Ah me! and misses. - - - - -UNDER THE ROSE - - - He told a story to her, - A story old yet new-- - And was it of the Faery Folk - That dance along the dew? - - The night was hung with silence - As a room is hung with cloth, - And soundless, through the rose-sweet hush, - Swooned dim the down-white moth. - - Along the east a shimmer, - A tenuous breath of flame, - From which, as from a bath of light, - Nymph-like, the girl-moon came. - - And pendent in the purple - Of heaven, like fireflies, - Bubbles of gold the great stars blew - From windows of the skies. - - He told a story to her, - A story full of dreams-- - And was it of the elfin things - That haunt the thin moonbeams? - - Upon the hill a thorn-tree, - Crookéd and gnarled and gray, - Against the moon seemed some crutched hag - Dragging a child away. - - And in the vale a runnel, - That dripped from shelf to shelf, - Seemed in the night, a woodland witch - Who muttered to herself. - - Along the land a zephyr, - Whose breath was wild perfume, - That seemed a sorceress who wove - Sweet spells of beam and bloom. - - He told a story to her, - A story young yet old-- - And was it of the mystic things - Men's eyes shall ne'er behold? - - They heard the dew drip faintly - From out the green-cupped leaf; - They heard the petals of the rose - Unfolding from their sheaf. - - They saw the wind light-footing - The waters into sheen; - They saw the starlight kiss to sleep - The blossoms on the green. - - They heard and saw these wonders; - These things they saw and heard; - And other things within the heart - For which there is no word. - - He told a story to her, - The story men call Love, - Whose echoes fill the ages past-- - And the world ne'er tires of. - - - - -SPIRIT OF DREAMS - - -I - - Where hast thou folded thy pinions, - Spirit of Dreams? - Hidden elusive garments - Woven of gleams? - In what divine dominions, - Brighter than day, - Far from the world's dark torments, - Dost thou stay, dost thou stay?-- - When shall my yearnings reach thee - Again? - Not in vain let my soul beseech thee! - Not in vain! not in vain! - - -II - - I have longed for thee as a lover - For her, the one; - As a brother for a sister - Long dead and gone. - I have called thee over and over - Names sweet to hear; - With words than music trister, - And thrice as dear. - How long must my sad heart woo thee, - Yet fail? - How long must my soul pursue thee, - Nor avail, nor avail? - - -III - - All night hath thy loving mother, - Beautiful Sleep, - Lying beside me, listened - And heard me weep. - But ever thou soughtest another - Who sought thee not; - For him thy soft smile glistened-- - I was forgot. - When shall my soul behold thee - As before? - When shall my heart enfold thee?-- - Nevermore? nevermore? - - - - -PROCESSIONAL - - - Universes are the pages - Of that book whose words are ages; - Of that book which destiny - Opens in eternity. - - There each syllable expresses - Silence; there each thought a guess is; - In whose rhetoric's cosmic runes - Roll the worlds and swarming moons. - - There the systems, we call solar, - Equatorial and polar, - Write their lines of rushing light - On the awful leaves of night. - - There the comets, vast and streaming, - Punctuate the heavens' gleaming - Scroll; and suns, gigantic, shine, - Periods to each starry line. - - There, initials huge, the Lion - Looms and measureless Orion; - And, as 'neath a chapter done, - Burns the Great-Bear's colophon. - - Constellated, hieroglyphic, - Numbering each page terrific, - Fiery on the nebular black, - Flames the hurling zodiac. - - In that book, o'er which Chaldean - Wisdom poured and many an eon - Of philosophy long dead, - This is all that man has read:-- - - He has read how good and evil,-- - In creation's wild upheaval,-- - Warred; while God wrought terrible - At foundations red of Hell. - - He has read of man and woman; - Laws and gods, both beast and human; - Thrones of hate and creeds of lust, - Vanished now and turned to dust. - - Arts and manners that have crumbled; - Cities buried; empires tumbled: - Time but breathed on them its breath; - Earth is builded of their death. - - These but lived their little hour, - Filled with pride and pomp and power; - What availed it all at last? - We shall pass as they have passed. - - Still the human heart will dream on - Love, part angel and part demon; - Yet, I question, what secures - Our belief that aught endures? - - In that book, o'er which Chaldean - Wisdom poured and many an eon - Of philosophy long dead, - This is all that man has read. - - - - -SONG AND STORY - - - - -TO HARRISON S. MORRIS - - - _Ah, not for us the Heavens that hold - God's message of Promethean fire! - The flame that fell on bards of old - To hallow and inspire._ - - _Yet let the soul dream on and dare - No less Song's heights where these repose: - We can but fail; and may prepare - The way for one like those._ - - - - -SONG AND STORY - - - I was destined, when a baby, - For that land which lieth hidden - In the moon; and whither, may be, - At their birth all souls are bidden. - - She bewitched me then and bound me, - She a daughter of Apollo, - In a golden snare who wound me, - And compelled me thus to follow:-- - - Once she sent a stallion, sired - Of the Wind; a mare his mother, - Whom Thessalian madness fired, - And the Hurricane his brother. - - And a voice said, "Do not tarry! - Mount him while the world is sleeping: - He, my beautiful, will carry - You, my Soul, into my keeping." - - And I mounted: tempest whistled - In my ears, and, yawning o'er us, - Flamed the lightning; boomed the missiled - Thunder, crashing far before us. - - On we hurled. The world was rubble - Underneath us; and the wonder - Of our passage seemed to double - Heaven's tempest and its thunder. - - With us rode the air's wild races: - Wisps and witches; all the Brocken, - Stunted, gnarled, with fiendish faces, - Seemed around us, gibing, mocking: - - Hate, that shook the heart with hooting: - Humpbacked Horror; gibbet-headed - Murder: and,--great ravens shooting - Over,--Fear, in bats embedded. - - All were left; were passed like water - Hurling headlong from a mountain,-- - Hag and elf and demon's daughter,-- - Ere we reached that mystic fountain. - - There we stopped. I drained a beaker - Old as Earth: the draught was fire: - On my soul the burning liquor - Acted like a new desire. - - On again! The darkness lifted - Like an up-rolled banner. Scattered - Overhead, in points that shifted, - Shone the stars through tempest tattered. - - Then the moon rose. Slowly, slowly, - Of a wild and copper color, - Rose the moon, in melancholy - Deeps; and all the stars grew duller. - - And we passed,--an instant's scanning,-- - Swift as thought, the spider-arches - Of the ray-built bridges spanning - Space between her lunar marches. - - So I reached her kingdom, olden - As the God that was its maker, - Where the rocks and trees are golden, - And the sea and air are nacre. - - Where, 'mid ingot-glowing flowers, - Over streams of diamond brightness, - Palaces of pearl and towers, - Wrought of topaz, loom in whiteness. - - Here she met me with a chalice, - Like the Giamschid ruby burning; - And I entered in her palace, - From the world forever turning. - - Centuries have passed, have vanished; - Still she holds me with her glory, - She, whom Earth long since hath banished? - She, the Soul of Song and Story. - - - - -AN INDIAN LEGEND - - - On a mountain by a fountain, - By a faintly falling stream, - Where upon the moss and flowers, - Sparkling, fell the spray in showers, - In the moonlight's mystic beam, - Once a maiden came to dream, - Came to sit and sigh and dream: - On a mountain by a fountain, - By a faintly falling stream. - - To the fountain on the mountain - Rode a youth upon a steed; - In his hair an eagle's feather; - Round his waist a belt of leather, - Wampum-wrought with shell and bead; - In his hands a hollow reed, - In his hands a magic reed: - To the fountain on the mountain - Rode a youth upon a steed. - - On the mountain by the fountain, - When the moon shone overhead, - While the maiden by him wavered, - Low upon his reed he quavered, - Piped and played and singing said,-- - "Listen and be comforted! - Heart of mine, be comforted!" - On the mountain by the fountain - When the moon shone overhead. - - By the fountain on the mountain, - So the Indian legend saith, - Paler, paler grew the maiden, - Paler as if sorrow laden, - Frailer, paler at each breath, - Saying, "Art thou Love or Death?" - And he answered, "I am Death." - By the fountain on the mountain - So the Indian legend saith. - - Gone the mountain and the fountain - Where the maiden's soul was lost: - But in every stream you hear it - Whispering, sighing, like a spirit, - Hear the Indian maiden's ghost, - In the foam as white as frost, - Whiter than the winter's frost: - Gone the mountain and the fountain - Where the maiden's soul was lost. - - - - -JOHN DAVIS, BOUCANIER - - - High time, high time, good gentlemen, to sail the Spanish Main! - Three months we've watched for galleons and treasure bound for Spain; - Three months! and not a vessel, neither barque nor brigantine! - No Cartagena plate-ship, or De Dios, have we seen. - Our sails are idle as the wind, our ships as gulls or waves.-- - And shall inaction rot us like a gang of shackled slaves? - Up, boucaniers! the land is wide, and wider far the sea-- - Somewhere between the dusk and dawn and dusk some hope must be; - Some ship somewhere or city there beneath the Indian sky-- - What matter whether east or west!--some ship with decks built high, - With treasure packed from stem to stern: some huge ship of the line, - Against whose ports we'll cram our ports, while all our cannon shine - And thunder; then, with blade to blade, and shouting horde on horde, - Swarm up her sides and sweep her decks with pistol and with sword; - And, sink or swim, our flag flies there, we boucaniers aboard. - - Say, what availed your patron saints, Iago and Saint Marc, - Lanceros, Adelantados, against Ravenau's barque? - O butchers of good Jean Ribault, well might your cheeks turn pale - When Montebaro's brigantine shook to the wind her sail! - Around the coasts where New Spain boasts the haughtiness of Old, - Her tyranny, her bigotry, her sordid greed for gold, - From east to west, from north to south, among the Carib Isles, - Swift to revenge the Frenchman swept across the foaming miles. - The spirit of Pierre-le-Grand and of his gallant crew, - Who took a galleon with a boat, beneath the tropic blue, - Be with us now!--Up, gentlemen! and, Spain, oh, woe to you! - - Prime arquebus and brighten blade, and let the culverin - Gleam, burnished as the morning-star, as through the foam we spin; - And now be glad as when we had Granada in our hold, - And stabbed the city's sentinels and took the city's gold: - New Spain's good homes and churches, aye, will not forget too soon - The boucanier, John Davis, sirs, who taught their Dons a tune-- - Dutch serenades of belts and blades they danced to by the moon! - - What helped the Latin of their monks to curse what Satan blessed! - Those pieces,--broad,--of eight and plate we counted in our chest. - And now that we may double or may treble every piece, - Pipe up the anchor, boatswain! and, before the hawser cease, - Let every sail salute the gale and every rope be taunt-- - The Devil take all care and us, if jaundiced colors daunt! - - The sea-gulls dip and dive and float, and swim and soar again; - Be like them, merry gentlemen, high-hearted!--May it rain - Rich galleons for us!--Mix a bowl and drink, "The ships of Spain!" - Be merry as the sea-gulls are; and, as the case may go, - Who cares a curse for wealth!--Now drink: "Here's to Spain's - overthrow!"-- - Doff caps and follow: though the prize be over-fat or lean, - Kneel down now; give her praise who leads, Dame Fortune, our good - Queen! - Upon our prow she guides us now!--On to Saint Augustine! - - - - -VOYAGERS - - - Where are they, that song and tale - Tell of, lands our childhood knew? - Sea-locked Fairy-lands that trail - Morning summits, wet with dew, - Crimson, o'er a crimson sail? - - Where, in dreams, we entered on - Wonders eyes have never seen: - Whither often we have gone, - Sailing a dream-brigantine - On from voyaging dawn to dawn. - - Leons seeking lands of song; - Fabled fountains pouring spray; - Where our anchors dropped among - Corals of some blooming bay, - With its swarthy native throng. - - Shoulder axe and arquebus!-- - We may find it, past yon range - Of sierras, vaporous, - Rich with gold and wild and strange, - That dim region lost to us. - - Yet, behold, although our zeal - Darien summits may subdue, - Our Balboa eyes reveal - But a vaster sea come to; - New endeavor for our keel. - - Yet!--who sails with face set hard - Westward, while behind him lies - Unfaith; where his dreams keep guard - Round it, in the sunset skies, - He may reach it--afterward. - - - - -HIEROGLYPHS - - -I - - All dreams are older than the seas, - Being but newer forms of change; - Some savage dreamed mine; and 'twas these - De Leon sought where seas were strange. - - All thoughts are older than the Earth - Being of beauty ages wrought; - Old when creation gave them birth, - When Homer sang them, Shakespeare thought. - - -II - - If souls could travel as can thought, - Beyond the farthest arcs that span - Imagination, what would man - Not know and see at last? - One would explore the stars; and one - Would search the moon and one the sun - And tell us of their past. - - And one would seek out Hell; and, wise - In tortures of the damned, return - To tell us if they freeze or burn, - And where God's red Hell lies: - And one would look on Heaven; and, mute - With memories of harp and lute, - Sit silent as the skies. - - But I--on condor wings would sweep - To some new world, and, soaring, sit - 'Mid firmaments volcano-lit, - And see creation heap - Its awful Andes, vague and vast, - About its Inca-peopled past, - While deep roared out to deep. - - -III - - Out of it all but this remains:-- - I dreamed that I had crossed wide chains - Of Cordilleras, whose huge peaks - Lock in the wilds of Yucatan, - Chiapas and Honduras. Weeks-- - And then a city that no man - Had even seen; so dim and old - No chronicle has ever told - The history of men who piled - Its temples and huge teocallis - Among mimosa-blooming valleys; - Or how its altars were defiled - With human blood; whose idols there - With eyes of stone still stand and stare. - - So old, the moon can only know - How old, since ancient forests grow - On mighty wall and pyramid. - Huge ceïbas, whose trunks were scarred - With ages, and dense yuccas, hid - Fanes 'mid great cacti, scarlet-starred. - I looked upon its paven ways - And saw it in its kingliest days; - When, from its lordliest palace, one - A victim, walked with prince and priest, - Who turned brown faces toward the east - In worship of the rising sun: - At night a thousand temple spires, - Of gold, burnt everlasting fires. - - Uxmal? Palenque? or Copan? - I know not. Only how no man - Had ever seen; and still my soul - Believes it vaster than the three. - Volcanic rock walled in the whole, - Lost in the woods as in some sea. - _I only_ read its hieroglyphs, - Perused its monster monoliths - Of death, gigantic heads; and read - The pictured codex of its fate, - The perished Toltec; while in hate - Mad monkeys cursed me, as if dead - Priests of its past had taken form - To guard their ruined fanes from harm. - - -IV - - And then it was as if I talked - Of gods and beauty, like a god; - 'Mid Montezuma's priests who walked - Obedient to my nod. - - From Mexic levels breezes blew - O'er green magueys; cacaö fields; - I stood among caciques, a crew - With plumes and golden shields. - - In raiment made of humming-birds - Brown slave-girls danced. All Anahuac - Stood, grim with strange obsidian swords, - Around the idol's rock. - - And up the temple's winding stair - Of pyramid we wound and went: - The bloomed vanilla drenched the air - With all its tropic scent. - - Volcanoes walled us in: and I - Walked, crowned with flaming cactus-flowers, - Beneath the golden, Aztec sky, - Lord of the living hours. - - When, lo! five priests, who led me to - A jasper stone of sacrifice!-- - Then deep within my soul I knew - That prideful moment's price. - - A sixth priest, robed in cochineal, - Received me at the altar's stone: - I saw the flint-blade, sharp as steel, - That in his high hand shone. - - O God! to dream that they would bind-- - With pomp and pageant of their love-- - Me to the rock, and never blind - Mine eyes to that above! - - I felt the flint hack through my breast, - And in my agony did raise - Wild eyes, a little while to rest - Upon their idol's face. - - Just God! the priest tore out my heart, - And held it, beating, to the sun-- - Chanting--and from one burning part - Great drops dripped, one by one. - - Torn out, I felt my heart still beat, - I felt it beat with pain divine; - For, bleeding at the idol's feet, - My heart was pressed to thine. - - -V - - You were a maiden like a dream - Who led me where volcanic dust - Rained in a scoriac mountain stream, - Where, from Andean snows, was thrust - One crater belching stones and steam. - - You were an Inca princess when - I was a cavalier of Spain, - Who frowned among Pizarro's men, - And saw the New World rent with pain.-- - No grace of God could save me then. - - And it was you who led me far - To gaze on caves of Inca gold: - But when we came, lo! warrior - On warrior, an army rolled - Around us panoplied for war. - - Fierce faces chiseled out of stone - Are not more stern.--Down, underneath, - I heard the sullen earthquake groan; - Above me, red eruptions seeth. - And clenched my teeth and stood alone. - - And then you pled and was denied.-- - They laid me where the lava crawled, - Red-rivered, down the mountain side. - I felt the slow, slow hell-heat scald: - And as it closed, you leapt and died. - - -VI - - In farther planets there are men who talk, - Not with their lips, but with their eyes alone, - With beaming eyes and brows that burn with thought: - Pure souls whose sentiments need but be born - To be expressed. Where speech of mouth and tongue - Were barbarous discord. Where no voice imparts - Thought, but divulging eye and sensitive brow. - Superior planets, far beyond our sphere, - And nearer God than ages shall combine - To lift our world up with its wrangling woes. - Worlds that are strange to sickness and disease - Of mind and body; perfect mentally,-- - Past what we name perfection here on Earth,-- - And physically. Morally divine - As creeds have taught us God's high Heaven is. - Worlds where Love makes no playmate of vile Lust; - Where Hope makes no companion of Despair; - Where Power can not trample with fierce feet; - And, impotent, the iron hand of Might - Surrenders its red weapon unto Mind; - Where Truth and Thought are wedded, in one rule - Of far progression, whose white child is Love. - - So have I dreamed, and longed to leave sad Earth, - And live anew on some diviner sphere; - A world so higher, lovelier than this, - So spiritually perfected and refined, - That, should an Earth-born mortal,--suddenly - Translated thither,--unprepared behold, - Dazed with divinity, before the feet - Of its inhabitants he would fall prone - In worship and astonishment; and, all - The exaltation of celestial peace - Singing within, cry out: "Yea, this is Heaven! - How long, O sinner, hast thou dwelt in Hell!" - - -VII - - An iron despotism the day's: - A brutal anarchy the night's: - What hope for hope when day betrays, - And night in death delights? - - For, once I prayed for gulfs of gold, - And morn pooled heav'n with sombre blood: - For skies of stars, and skies behold-- - Malignant with the scud. - - And so I marvel not that he, - Gray-haired and toothless, hugs his stove, - While I my youth, which once was she, - Have buried with my love. - - -VIII - - All thoughts of nature are but forms - Of life and death, with which began - Love: love, that swept the heavens with storms, - Evolving worlds to perfect man. - - Thoughts are the forms of mind; and come - And go, assuming every shape: - Science and art: through which we clomb, - And climb, to angel from the ape. - - - - -A LEGEND OF THE LILY - - - Pale as a star that shines through rain - Her face was seen at the window-pane, - Her sad, frail face that watched in vain. - - The face of a girl whose brow was wan; - To whom the kind sun spoke at dawn, - And a star and the moon when the day was gone. - - And oft and often the sun had said-- - "O fair, white face, O sweet, fair head, - Come talk to me of the love that's dead." - - And she would sit in the sun a while, - Down in the garth by the old stone-dial, - Where never again would he make her smile. - - And often the first bright star o'erhead - Had whispered, "Sweet, where the rose blooms red, - Come look with me for the love that's dead." - - And she would wait with the star she knew, - Where the fountain splashed and the roses blew, - Where never again would he come to woo. - - And oft the moon, when she lay in bed, - Had sighed, "Dear heart, in the orchardstead - Come dream with me of the love that's dead." - - And she would stand in the moon, the dim, - Where the fruit made heavy the apple limb, - Where never again would she dream with him. - - So summer passed and the autumn came; - And the wind-torn boughs were touched with flame; - But her life and her sorrow remained the same. - - Or, if she changed, as it comes about - A life may change through trouble and doubt,-- - As a candle flickers and then goes out,-- - - 'Twas only to grow more quiet and wan, - Sadly waiting at dusk and at dawn - For the coming of love forever gone. - - And so, one night, when the star looked in, - It kissed her face that was white and thin, - And murmured, "Come! thou free of sin!" - - And when the moon, on another night, - Beheld her lying still and white, - It sighed, "'Tis well! now all is right." - - And when one morning the sun arose, - And they bore her bier down the garden-close, - It touched her, saying, "At last, repose." - - And they laid her down, so young and fair, - Where the grass was withered, the bough was bare, - All wrapped in the light of her golden hair. - - So autumn passed and the winter went; - And spring, like a blue-eyed penitent, - Came, telling her beads of blossom and scent. - - And, lo! to the grave of the beautiful - The strong sun cried, "Why art thou dull? - Awake! awake! Forget thy skull!" - - And the evening-star and the moon above - Called out, "O dust, now speak thereof! - Proclaim thyself! Arise, O love!" - - And the skull and the dust in the darkness heard. - Each icy germ in its cerements stirred, - As Lazarus moved at the Lord's loud word. - - And a flower arose on the mound of green, - White as the robe of the Nazarene; - To testify of the life unseen. - - And I paused by the grave; then went my way: - And it seemed that I heard the lily say-- - "Here was a miracle wrought to-day." - - - - -THE END OF THE CENTURY - - - There are moments when, as missions, - God reveals to us strange visions; - When, within their separate stations, - We may see the Centuries, - Like revolving constellations - Shaping out Earth's destinies. - - I have gazed in Time's abysses, - Where no smallest thing Earth misses - That was hers once. 'Mid her chattels, - There the Past's gigantic ghost - Sits and dreams of thrones and battles - In the night of ages lost. - - Far before her eyes, unholy - Mist was spread; that darkly, slowly - Rolled aside,--like some huge curtain - Hung above the land and sea;-- - And beneath it, wild, uncertain, - Rose the wraiths of memory. - - First I saw colossal spectres - Of dead cities: Troy--once Hector's - Pride; then Babylon and Tyre; - Karnac, Carthage, and the gray - Walls of Thebes,--Apollo's lyre - Built;--then Rome and Nineveh. - - Empires followed: first, in seeming, - Old Chaldea lost in dreaming; - Egypt next, a bulk Memnonian - Staring from her pyramids; - Then Assyria, Babylonian - Night beneath her hell-lit lids. - - Greece, in classic white, sidereal - Armored; Rome, in dark, imperial - Purple, crowned with blood and fire, - Down the deeps barbaric strode; - Gaul and Britain stalking by her, - Clad in skins, tattooed with woad. - - All around them, rent and scattered, - Lay their gods with features battered, - Brute and human, stone and iron, - Caked with gems and gnarled with gold; - Temples, that did once environ - These, in wreck around them rolled. - - While I stood and gazed and waited, - Slowly night obliterated - All; and other phantoms drifted - Out of darkness pale as stars; - Shapes that tyrant faces lifted, - Sultans, kings, and emperors. - - Man and steed in ponderous metal - Panoplied, they seemed to settle, - Condors gaunt of devastation, - On the world: behind their march-- - Desolation: Conflagration - Loomed before them with her torch. - - Helmets flamed like fearful flowers: - Chariots rose and moving towers: - Captains passed: each fierce commander - With his gauntlet on his sword: - Agamemnon, Alexander, - Cæsar, Alaric, horde on horde. - - Huns and Vandals: wild invaders: - Goths and Arabs: stern Crusaders: - Each, like some terrific torrent, - Rolled above a ruined world; - Till a cataract abhorrent - Seemed the swarming spears uphurled. - - Banners and escutcheons, kindled - By the light of slaughter, dwindled-- - Died in darkness:--the chimera - Of the Past was laid at last. - But, behold, another era - From her corpse rose, vague and vast. - - Demogorgon of the Present! - Who in one hand raised a Crescent, - In the other, with submissive - Fingers, lifted up a Cross; - Reverent and yet derisive - Seemed she, robed in gold and dross. - - In her skeptic eyes professions - Of great faith I saw; expressions, - Christian and humanitarian, - Played around her cynic lip; - Still I knew her a barbarian - By the sword upon her hip. - - And she cherished strange eidolons, - Pagan shadows--Plato's, Solon's-- - From whose teachings she indentured - Forms of law and sophistry; - Seeking aye for truth she ventured - Just so far as these could see. - - When she vanished, I--uplifting - Eyes to where the dawn was rifting - Darkness,--lo! beheld a shadow - Towering on Earth's utmost peaks; - Round whom morning's El Dorado - Rivered gold in blinding streaks. - - On her brow I saw the stigma - Still of death; and life's enigma - Filled her eyes: around her shimmered - Folds of silence; and afar, - Faint above her forehead, glimmered - Lone the light of one pale star. - - Then a voice,--above or under - Earth,--against her seemed to thunder - Questions, wherein was repeated, - "Christ or Cain?" and "Man or beast?" - And the Future, shadowy-sheeted, - Turned and pointed towards the East. - - - - -THE ISLE OF VOICES - - - The wind blew free that morn that we, - High-hearted, sailed away; - Bound for that Island named the Blest, - Remote within the unknown West, - Beyond the golden day. - - There, we were told, each dream of old, - Each deed and dream of youth, - Each myth of life's divinest prime, - And every romance, dear to time, - Put on immortal truth. - - The love undone; the aim unwon; - The hope that turned despair; - The thought unborn; the dream that died; - The unattained, unsatisfied, - Should be accomplished there. - - So we believed. And, undeceived, - A little crew set sail; - A little crew with hearts as stout - As any yet that faced a doubt - And tore away its veil. - - And time went by; and sea and sky - Had worn our masts and decks; - When, lo! one morn with canvas torn, - A phantom ship, we came forlorn - Into the Sea of Wrecks. - - There, day and night, the mist lay white, - And pale stars shone at noon; - The sea around was foam and fire, - And overhead hung, thin as wire, - A will-o'-wisp of moon. - - And through the mist, all white and whist, - Gaunt ships, with sea-weed wound, - With rotting masts, upon whose spars - The corposants lit spectre stars, - Sailed by without a sound. - - And all about,--now in, now out,-- - Their ancient hulls, was shed - The worm-like glow of green decay, - That writhed and glimmered in the gray - Of canvas overhead. - - And each that passed, in hull and mast, - Seemed that wild ship that flees - Before the tempest--seamen tell-- - Deep-cargoed with the curse of Hell, - Through roaring rain and seas. - - Ay! many a craft we left abaft - Upon that haunted sea; - But never a hulk that clewed a sail, - Or waved a hand, or answered hail, - And never a man saw we. - - At last we came where--pouring flame-- - In darkness and in storm, - Vast a volcano westward reared - An awful summit, lava-seared, - Like some terrific arm. - - And we could feel beneath our keel - The ocean throb and swell, - As if the Earthquake there uncoiled - Its monster bulk, or Titans toiled - At the red heart of Hell. - - Like madmen now we turned our prow - North, towards an ocean weird - Of Northern Lights and icy blasts; - And for ten moons with reeling masts - And leaking hold we steered. - - Then black as blood through streaming scud - Land loomed above our boom, - An isle of iron gulfs and crags - And cataracts, like wind-tossed rags, - And caverns lost in gloom. - - And burning white on every height, - And white in every cave, - A naked spirit, like a flame, - Now gleamed, now vanished; went and came - Above the windy wave. - - No mortal thing of foot or wing - Made glad its steep or strand; - But voices, voices seemingly-- - Vague voices of the sky and sea-- - Peopled the demon land. - - Yea, everywhere, in earth and air, - A lamentation wept; - That, gathering strength above, below, - Now like a mighty wind of woe, - Around the island swept. - - And in that sound, it seemed, was bound - All life's despair of art; - The bitterness of joy that died; - The anguish of faiths crucified; - And love that broke its heart. - - The ghost it seemed of all we'd dreamed, - Of all we had desired; - That--turned a curse, an empty cry-- - With wailing words went trailing by - In hope's dead robes attired. - - And could this be the land that we - Had sought for soon and late? - That Island of the Blest, the fair, - Where we had hoped to ease our care - And end the fight with fate. - - O lie that lured! O pain endured! - O toil and tears and thirst! - Where we had looked for blesséd ground - The Island of the Damned we found, - And in the end--were curst! - - - - -THE WATCHER - - - Young was the dream that held her when - The world was moon-white with the May: - She watched the singing fishermen - Sail out to sea at break of day: - Soft, as the morning heavens then, - The eyes that watched him sail away. - - Old was her grief when summer filled - The world with warm maturity: - Far off she watched the nets that spilled - Their twinkling foison by the sea: - Where on the rocks she sat and stilled - With song his infant on her knee. - - Who to her love would make them lies-- - Those vows his sea-slain manhood swore? - Beneath the raining autumn skies - The fishing vessels put to shore: - She watches with remembering eyes - For the brown face that comes no more. - - - - -AT THE SIGN OF THE SKULL - - - _It's "Gallop and go!" and "Slow, now, slow!" - With every man in this life below-- - But the things of the world are a fleeting show._ - - The post-chaise Time that all must take - Is old with clay and dust; - Two horses strain its rusty brake - Named Pleasure and Disgust. - - Our baggage totters on its roof, - Of Vanity and Care, - As Hope, the post-boy, spurs each hoof, - Or heavy-eyed Despair. - - And now a comrade with us rides, - Love, haply, or Remorse; - And that dim traveler besides, - Gaunt Memory on a horse. - - And be we king or be we kern - Who ride the roads of Sin, - No matter how the roads may turn - They lead us to that Inn: - - Unto that Inn within that land - Of silence and of gloom, - Whose ghastly Landlord takes our hand - And leads us to our room. - - _It's "Gallop and go!" and "Slow, now, slow!" - With every man in this life below-- - But the things of the world are a fleeting show._ - - - - -DUM VIVIMUS - - -I - - Now with the marriage of the lip and beaker - Let Joy be born! and in the rosy shine, - The slanting starlight of the lifted liquor, - Let Care, the hag, go drown! No more repine - At all life's ills! Come, bury them in wine! - Room for great guests! Yea, let us usher in - Philosophies of old Anacreon - And Omar, that, from dawn to glorious dawn, - Shall lesson us in love and song and sin. - - -II - - Some lives need less than others.--Who can ever - Say truly "Thou art mine," of Happiness? - Death comes to all. And one, to-day, is never - Sure of to-morrow, that may ban or bless; - And what's beyond is but a shadowy guess. - "All, all is vanity," the preacher sighs; - And in this world what has more right than - Wrong? - Come! let us hush remembrance with a song, - And learn with folly to be glad and wise. - - -III - - There was a poet of the East named Hâfiz, - Who sang of wine and beauty. Let us go - Praising them, too. And where good wine to quaff is - And maids to kiss, doff life's gray garb of woe; - For soon that tavern's reached, that inn, you know, - Where wine and love are not; where, sans disguise, - Each one must lie in his strait bed apart, - The thorn of sleep deep-driven in his heart, - And dust and darkness in his mouth and eyes. - - - - -FAILURE - - - There are some souls - Whose lot it is to set their hearts on goals - That adverse Fate controls. - - While others win - With little labor through life's dust and din, - And lord-like enter in - - Immortal gates; - And, of Success the high-born intimates, - Inherit Fame's estates.... - - Why is 't the lot - Of merit oft to struggle and yet not - Attain? to toil--for what? - - Simply to know - The disappointment, the despair, and woe - Of effort here below? - - Ambitious still to reach - Those lofty peaks, which men, aspiring, preach, - For which their souls beseech: - - Those heights that swell - Remote, removed, and unattainable, - Pinnacle on pinnacle: - - Still yearning to attain - Their far repose, above life's stress and strain, - But all in vain, in vain!... - - Why hath God put - Great longings in some souls and straightway shut - All doors of their clay hut? - - The clay accurst - That holds achievement back; from which, immersed, - The spirit may not burst. - - Were it, at least; - Not better to have sat at Circe's feast, - If afterwards a beast? - - Than aye to bleed, - To strain and strive, to toil in thought and deed, - And nevermore succeed? - - - - -THE CUP OF JOY - - - Let us mix a cup of Joy - That the wretched may employ, - Whom the Fates have made their toy. - - Who have given brain and heart - To the thankless world of Art, - And from Fame have won no part. - - Who have labored long at thought; - Starved and toiled and all for naught; - Sought and found not what they sought. - - Let our goblet be the skull - Of a fool; made beautiful - With a gold nor base nor dull: - - Gold of madcap fancies, once - It contained, that,--sage or dunce,-- - Each can read whoever runs. - - First we pour the liquid light - Of our dreams in; then the bright - Beauty that makes day of night. - - Let this be the must wherefrom, - In due time, the mettlesome - Care-destroying drink shall come. - - Folly next: with which mix in - Laughter of a child of sin, - And the red of mouth and chin. - - These shall give the tang thereto, - Effervescence and rich hue - Which to all good wine are due. - - Then into our cup we press - One wild kiss of wantonness, - And a glance that says not less. - - Sparkles both that give a fine - Lustre to the drink divine, - Necessary to good wine. - - Lastly in the goblet goes - Sweet a love-song, then a rose - Warmed upon _her_ breast's repose. - - These bouquet our drink.--Now measure - With your arm the waist you treasure-- - Lift the cup and drink to Pleasure. - - - - -LA JEUNESSE ET LA MORT - - -I - - Unto her fragrant face and hair,-- - As some wild-bee unto a rose, - That blooms in splendid beauty there - Within the South,--my longing goes: - My longing, that is overfain - To call her mine, but all in vain; - Since jealous Death, as each one knows, - Is guardian of La belle Heléne; - Of her whose face is very fair-- - To my despair, - Ah, belle Heléne. - - -II - - The sweetness of her face suggests - The sensuous scented Jacqueminots; - Magnolia blooms her throat and breasts; - Her hands, long lilies in repose: - Fair flowers all without a stain, - That grow for Death to pluck again, - Within that garden's radiant close. - The body of La belle Heléne; - The garden glad that she suggests,-- - That Death invests, - Ah, belle Heléne. - - -III - - God had been kinder to me,--when - He dipped His hands in fires and snows - And made you like a flower to ken, - A flower that in Earth's garden grows,-- - Had He, for pleasure or for pain, - Instead of Death in that domain, - Made Love the gardener to that rose, - Your loveliness, O belle Heléne! - God had been kinder to me then-- - Me of all men, - Ah, belle Heléne. - - - - -LOVE AND LOSS - - - Loss molds our lives in many ways, - And fills our souls with guesses; - Upon our hearts sad hands it lays - Like some grave priest that blesses. - - Far better than the love we win, - That earthly passions leaven, - Is love we lose, that knows no sin, - That points the path to Heaven. - - Love, whose soft shadow brightens Earth, - Through whom our dreams are nearest; - And loss, through whom we see the worth - Of all that we held dearest. - - Not joy it is, but misery - That chastens us, and sorrow;-- - Perhaps to make us all that we - Expect beyond To-morrow. - - Within that life where time and fate - Are not; that knows no seeming: - That world to which Death keeps the gate - Where Love and Loss sit dreaming. - - - - -THE END OF ALL - - -I - - I do not love you now, - O narrow heart, that had no heights but pride! - You, whom mine fed; to whom yours still denied - Food when mine hungered; and of which love died-- - I do not love you now. - - -II - - I do not love you now, - O shallow soul, with depths but to deceive! - You, whom mine watered; to whom yours did give - No drop to drink to help my love to live-- - I do not love you now. - - -III - - I do not love you now! - But did I love you in the old, old way, - And knew you loved me--'though the words should slay - Me and your love forever, I would say, - "I do not love you now! - I do not love you now!" - - - - -A ROSE O' THE HILLS - - - The hills look down on wood and stream - On orchard-land and farm; - And o'er the hills the azure-gray - Of heaven bends the livelong day, - And all the winds blow warm. - - On wood and stream the hills look down, - On farm and orchard-land; - And o'er the hills she came to me - Through wildrose-brake and blackberry, - The hill-winds hand in hand. - - The hills look down on home and field, - On wood and winding stream; - And o'er the hills she came along, - Upon her lips a wildwood song, - And in her eyes a dream. - - On home and field the hills look down, - On stream and hill-locked wood; - And breast-deep, with disordered hair, - Fair in the wildrose tangle there, - A sudden while she stood. - - O hills, that look on rock and road, - On grove and harvest-field, - To whom God giveth rest and peace, - And slumber, that is kin to these, - And visions unrevealed! - - O hills, that look on road and rock, - On field and fruited grove, - No more shall I find peace and rest - In you, since entered in my breast - God's sweet unrest of love! - - - - -THE WHITE VIGIL - - -I - - Last night I dreamed I saw you lying dead, - And by your sheeted form stood all alone: - Frail as a flower you lay upon your bed, - And on your face, through the wide casement, shone - The moonlight, pale as I, who kissed you there, - So young and fair, white violets in your hair. - - Oh, sick with suffering was my soul; and sad - To breaking was my heart that would not break; - And for my soul's great grief no tear I had, - No lamentation for my heart's deep ache; - Yet what I bore seemed more than I could bear, - Beside you there, white violets in your hair. - - A white rose, blooming at the window-bar, - And, glimmering in it, like a firefly caught - Upon the thorns, the light of one white star, - Looked in on you, as if they felt and thought, - As did my heart,--"How beautiful and fair - And young she lies, white violets in her hair!" - - And so we looked upon you, white and still, - The star, the rose, and I. The moon had past, - Like a pale traveler, behind the hill - With all her sorrowful silver. And at last - Darkness and tears and you, who did not care, - Lying so still, white violets in your hair. - - - - -A STUDY IN GRAY - - - A woman, fair to look upon, - Where waters whiten with the moon; - Around whom, glimmering o'er the lawn, - The white moths swoon. - - A mouth of music; eyes of love; - And hands of blended snow and scent, - That touch the pearly shadow of - An instrument. - - And low and sweet that song of sleep - After the song of love is hushed; - While all the longing, here, to weep, - Is held and crushed. - - Then leafy silence, that is musk - With breath of the magnolia tree, - While dwindles, moth-white, through the dusk - Her drapery. - - Let me remember how a heart - Wrote its romance upon that night!-- - God help my soul to read each part - Of it aright! - - And like a dead leaf shut between - A book's dull chapters, stained and dark, - That page, with immemorial green, - Of life I mark. - - -II - - It is not well for me to hear - That song's appealing melody: - The pain of loss comes all too near, - Through it, to me. - - The loss of her whose love looks through - The mist death's hand hath hung between-- - Within the shadow of the yew - Her grave is green. - - Ah, dream that vanished long ago! - Oh, anguish of remembered tears! - And shadow of unlifted woe - Athwart the years! - - That haunt the sad rooms of my days, - As keepsakes of unperished love, - Where pale the memory of her face - Hangs, framed above. - - This olden song of love and sleep, - She used to sing, is now a spell - That opens doors within the deep - Of my heart's hell, - - In music making visible - One soul-assertive memory, - That steals unto my side to tell - My loss to me. - - - - -AT VESPERS - - - High up in the organ-story - A girl stands, slim and fair; - And touched with the casement's glory - Gleams out her radiant hair. - - The young priest kneels at the altar, - Then lifts the Host above; - And the psalm intoned from the psalter - Is pure with patient love. - - A sweet bell chimes; and a censer - Swings, gleaming, in the gloom; - The candles glimmer and denser - Rolls up the pale perfume. - - Then high in the organ choir - A voice of crystal soars, - Of patience and soul's desire, - That suffers and adores. - - And out of the altar's dimness - An answering voice doth swell, - Of passion that cries from the grimness - And anguish of its own hell. - - High up in the organ-story - One kneels with a girlish grace; - And, touched with the vesper glory, - Lifts her madonna face. - - One stands at the cloudy altar, - A form bowed down and thin; - The text of the psalm in the psalter - He chants is sorrow and sin. - - * * * * * - - +------------------------------------------------------------------+ - | Transcriber notes: | - | | - | P. 61. Stanza 'X' should be 'IX', changed to 'IX'. | - | P. 178. Added end quotation and the end of the stanza. | - | P. 274. Added opening quote to "My heart is full of lightness!". | - | Fixed various punctuation. | - +------------------------------------------------------------------+ - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 -(of 5), by Madison Cawein - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN *** - -***** This file should be named 56326-0.txt or 56326-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/3/2/56326/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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- text-indent: -3em; -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 (of 5), by -Madison Cawein - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 (of 5) - -Author: Madison Cawein - -Illustrator: Eric Pape - -Release Date: January 7, 2018 [EBook #56326] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN *** - - - - -Produced by Larry B. Harrison, Jane Robins and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<h1><span class="small90">THE POEMS OF</span> <img src="images/first.jpg" width="50" height="44" alt="" /><br /> -MADISON CAWEIN</h1> - -<p class="p3">VOLUME IV<br /> -<br /> -POEMS OF MYSTERY AND OF<br /> -MYTH AND ROMANCE</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" width="319" height="500" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="larger-file"> - [<a href="images/i_frontisbig.jpg">See larger version</a>] -</div> - -<p class="center">Around him mermaids sing, foam-clad Page <a href="#Page_168">168</a><br /> -<span class="mleft20"><em>The Sea King</em></span></p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="bord1"> - -<p class="p1"><span class="small90">THE POEMS OF</span><br /> -MADISON CAWEIN</p> - -<p class="p5"><em>Volume IV</em></p> - -<h2 style="page-break-before: avoid;" class="colr">POEMS OF MYSTERY<br /> -AND OF MYTH AND<br /> -ROMANCE</h2> - -<p class="p6"><em>Illustrated</em><br /> -<span class="small80">WITH PHOTOGRAVURES AFTER PAINTINGS<br /> -BY ERIC PAPE</span></p> - -<p class="p6"><span class="small80">INDIANAPOLIS</span><br /> -THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY<br /> -<span class="small80">PUBLISHERS</span></p> -</div> - - - - -<p class="center">C<span class="smcap">OPYRIGHT</span> 1887, 1888, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1896,<br /> -1898, 1899, 1901, 1902, 1905 and 1907, by<br /> -M<span class="smcap">ADISON</span> C<span class="smcap">AWEIN</span></p> - -<p class="center">C<span class="smcap">OPYRIGHT</span> 1896, <span class="smcap">BY</span> C<span class="smcap">OPELAND AND</span> D<span class="smcap">AY</span>; 1898, <span class="smcap">BY</span><br /> -R. H. R<span class="smcap">USSELL</span></p> - -<p class="center small80">PRESS OF<br /> -BRAUNWORTH & CO.<br /> -BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS<br /> -BROOKLYN, N. Y.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - - -<p class="p5"><span class="small90">TO</span><br /> -MY MOTHER</p> - - - - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> -<tbody> -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><a href="#POEMS_OF_MYSTERY">POEMS OF MYSTERY</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><span class="small70">PAGE</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ASHLY_MERE">A<span class="smcap">SHLY</span> M<span class="smcap">ERE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92">92</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AT_DAWN">A<span class="smcap">T</span> D<span class="smcap">AWN</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AT_MIDNIGHT">A<span class="smcap">T</span> M<span class="smcap">IDNIGHT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#BEFORE_THE_TOMB">B<span class="smcap">EFORE THE</span> T<span class="smcap">OMB</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_CHANGELING">C<span class="smcap">HANGELING</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#CHILDREN_O_THE_MOON">C<span class="smcap">HILDREN</span> O' <span class="smcap">THE</span> M<span class="smcap">OON</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_CITY_OF_DARKNESS">C<span class="smcap">ITY OF</span> D<span class="smcap">ARKNESS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_DANCE_OF_THE_FAIRIES">D<span class="smcap">ANCE OF THE</span> F<span class="smcap">AIRIES</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_ELF-QUEEN">E<span class="smcap">LF</span>-Q<span class="smcap">UEEN</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AN_ELF_SWASHBUCKLER">E<span class="smcap">LF</span> S<span class="smcap">WASHBUCKLER</span>, A<span class="smcap">N</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_ELIXIR_OF_LOVE">E<span class="smcap">LIXIR OF</span> L<span class="smcap">OVE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#EPILOGUE">E<span class="smcap">PILOGUE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#FAERY_MORRIS">F<span class="smcap">AERY</span> M<span class="smcap">ORRIS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#FLAMENCINE">F<span class="smcap">LAMENCINE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_FOREST_OF_DREAMS">F<span class="smcap">OREST OF</span> D<span class="smcap">REAMS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GHOSTS">G<span class="smcap">HOSTS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_GLADIOLES">G<span class="smcap">LADIOLES</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GLAMOUR">G<span class="smcap">LAMOUR</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GLORAMONE">G<span class="smcap">LORAMONE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GRAMARYE">G<span class="smcap">RAMARYE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_HALL_OF_DARKNESS">H<span class="smcap">ALL OF</span> D<span class="smcap">ARKNESS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#HAUNTED">H<span class="smcap">AUNTED</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_HAUNTED_ROOM">H<span class="smcap">AUNTED</span> R<span class="smcap">OOM</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_HEADLESS_HORSEMAN">H<span class="smcap">EADLESS</span> H<span class="smcap">ORSEMAN</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#HILDEGARD">H<span class="smcap">ILDEGARD</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_IMAGE_IN_THE_GLASS">I<span class="smcap">MAGE IN THE</span> G<span class="smcap">LASS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#IN_AN_OLD_GARDEN">I<span class="smcap">N</span> A<span class="smcap">N</span> O<span class="smcap">LD</span> G<span class="smcap">ARDEN</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#IN_SHADOW">I<span class="smcap">N</span> S<span class="smcap">HADOW</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#IN_THE_OWL-LIGHT">I<span class="smcap">N THE</span> O<span class="smcap">WL-LIGHT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#INTIMATIONS">I<span class="smcap">NTIMATIONS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#KU_KLUX">K<span class="smcap">U</span> K<span class="smcap">LUX</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_82">82</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_LEGEND_OF_THE_STONE">L<span class="smcap">EGEND OF THE</span> S<span class="smcap">TONE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_LITTLE_PEOPLE">L<span class="smcap">ITTLE</span> P<span class="smcap">EOPLE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_MERMAID">M<span class="smcap">ERMAID</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_MIRROR">M<span class="smcap">IRROR</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_MORNING-GLORIES">M<span class="smcap">ORNING</span>-G<span class="smcap">LORIES</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_MOTIVE_IN_GOLD_AND_GRAY">M<span class="smcap">OTIVE IN</span> G<span class="smcap">OLD AND</span> G<span class="smcap">RAY</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_NEREID">N<span class="smcap">EREID</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_NIXIES">N<span class="smcap">IXIES</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_OLD_HOUSE">O<span class="smcap">LD</span> H<span class="smcap">OUSE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_OLD_HOUSE_BY_THE_MERE">O<span class="smcap">LD</span> H<span class="smcap">OUSE BY THE</span> M<span class="smcap">ERE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ON_FLOYDS_FORK">O<span class="smcap">N</span> F<span class="smcap">LOYD'S</span> F<span class="smcap">ORK</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ON_MIDSUMMER_NIGHT">O<span class="smcap">N</span> M<span class="smcap">IDSUMMER</span> N<span class="smcap">IGHT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ON_THE_EVE_OF_ST_JOHN">O<span class="smcap">N THE</span> E<span class="smcap">VE OF</span> S<span class="smcap">T</span>. J<span class="smcap">OHN</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_149">149</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PRAETERITA">P<span class="smcap">RÆTERITA</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_REED_SHAKEN_WITH_THE_WIND">R<span class="smcap">EED</span> S<span class="smcap">HAKEN</span> W<span class="smcap">ITH THE</span> W<span class="smcap">IND</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#REMBRANDTS">R<span class="smcap">EMBRANDTS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#REVISITED">R<span class="smcap">EVISITED</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ROMAUNT_OF_THE_OAK">R<span class="smcap">OMAUNT OF THE</span> O<span class="smcap">AK</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_RUINED_MILL">R<span class="smcap">UINED</span> M<span class="smcap">ILL</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_SEA-KING">S<span class="smcap">EA</span>-K<span class="smcap">ING</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_SEA_SPIRIT">S<span class="smcap">EA</span> S<span class="smcap">PIRIT</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#SELF_AND_SOUL">S<span class="smcap">ELF AND</span> S<span class="smcap">OUL</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_194">194</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#SONG_OF_THE_ELF">S<span class="smcap">ONG OF THE</span> E<span class="smcap">LF</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_STREET_OF_GHOSTS">S<span class="smcap">TREET OF</span> G<span class="smcap">HOSTS</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THAT_HOUR">T<span class="smcap">HAT</span> H<span class="smcap">OUR</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_216">216</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THAT_NIGHT">T<span class="smcap">HAT</span> N<span class="smcap">IGHT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_MOTH_THE_ROSE_AND_THE_PINK">T<span class="smcap">HE</span> M<span class="smcap">OTH, THE</span> R<span class="smcap">OSE</span>, <span class="smcap">AND THE</span> P<span class="smcap">INK</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THERE_ARE_FAIRIES">T<span class="smcap">HERE ARE</span> F<span class="smcap">AIRIES</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_TIGER-LILY">T<span class="smcap">IGER</span>-L<span class="smcap">ILY</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#UNDER_DARK_SKIES">U<span class="smcap">NDER</span> D<span class="smcap">ARK</span> S<span class="smcap">KIES</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_VAMPIRE">V<span class="smcap">AMPIRE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WATER-FAIRY">W<span class="smcap">ATER</span>-F<span class="smcap">AIRY</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WEREWOLF">W<span class="smcap">EREWOLF</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_96">96</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#WHAT_DREAMS_MAY_COME">W<span class="smcap">HAT</span> D<span class="smcap">REAMS</span> M<span class="smcap">AY</span> C<span class="smcap">OME</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#WILL-O-THE-WISP">W<span class="smcap">ILL</span>-O'-T<span class="smcap">HE</span>-W<span class="smcap">ISP</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WOMAN_BY_THE_WATER">W<span class="smcap">OMAN</span> B<span class="smcap">Y THE</span> W<span class="smcap">ATER</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#WOMANS_PORTION">W<span class="smcap">OMAN'S</span> P<span class="smcap">ORTION</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WORLD_OF_FAERY">W<span class="smcap">ORLD OF</span> F<span class="smcap">AERY</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_125">125</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><a href="#POEMS_OF_MYTH_AND">POEMS OF MYTH AND ROMANCE</a></td> - <td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#APHRODITE">A<span class="smcap">PHRODITE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#APOLLO">A<span class="smcap">POLLO</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ARTEMIS">A<span class="smcap">RTEMIS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#BEFORE_THE_TEMPLE">B<span class="smcap">EFORE THE</span> T<span class="smcap">EMPLE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#BEAUTY_AND_ART">B<span class="smcap">EAUTY AND</span> A<span class="smcap">RT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_313">313</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DEMETER">D<span class="smcap">EMETER</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DIONYSIA">D<span class="smcap">IONYSIA</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DIONYSOS">D<span class="smcap">IONYSOS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DITHYRAMBICS">D<span class="smcap">ITHYRAMBICS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DOLCE_FAR_NIENTE">D<span class="smcap">OLCE</span> F<span class="smcap">AR</span> N<span class="smcap">IENTE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_334">334</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_DREAM_OF_RODERICK">D<span class="smcap">REAM OF</span> R<span class="smcap">ODERICK</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_FAUN">F<span class="smcap">AUN</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#FIELD_AND_FOREST_CALL">F<span class="smcap">IELD AND</span> F<span class="smcap">OREST</span> C<span class="smcap">ALL</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_FOREST_IDYLL">F<span class="smcap">OREST</span> I<span class="smcap">DYLL</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_364">364</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GARGAPHIE">G<span class="smcap">ARGAPHIE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#GENIUS_LOCI">G<span class="smcap">ENIUS</span> L<span class="smcap">OCI</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_286">286</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_GLOW-WORM">G<span class="smcap">LOW</span>-W<span class="smcap">ORM</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_360">360</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_HARVEST_MOON">H<span class="smcap">ARVEST</span> M<span class="smcap">OON</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_326">326</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#HYMN_TO_DESIRE">H<span class="smcap">YMN TO</span> D<span class="smcap">ESIRE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#JOTUNHEIM">J<span class="smcap">OTUNHEIM</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_LAND_OF_ILLUSION">L<span class="smcap">AND OF</span> I<span class="smcap">LLUSION</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_LAST_SONG">L<span class="smcap">AST</span> S<span class="smcap">ONG</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_347">347</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#LETHE">L<span class="smcap">ETHE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_LIMNAD">L<span class="smcap">IMNAD</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_MEMORY">M<span class="smcap">EMORY</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#MYTH_AND_ROMANCE">M<span class="smcap">YTH AND</span> R<span class="smcap">OMANCE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_NAIAD">N<span class="smcap">AIAD</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#NYMPH_AND_FAUN">N<span class="smcap">YMPH AND</span> F<span class="smcap">AUN</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_299">299</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#OLD_HOMES">O<span class="smcap">LD</span> H<span class="smcap">OMES</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_OLD_WATER-MILL">O<span class="smcap">LD</span> W<span class="smcap">ATER</span>-M<span class="smcap">ILL</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_315">315</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PAGAN">P<span class="smcap">AGAN</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_PAPHIAN_VENUS">P<span class="smcap">APHIAN</span> V<span class="smcap">ENUS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PARTING_OF_LEANDER_AND_HERO">P<span class="smcap">ARTING OF</span> L<span class="smcap">EANDER AND</span> H<span class="smcap">ERO</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PERSEPHONE">P<span class="smcap">ERSEPHONE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PROCESSIONAL">P<span class="smcap">ROCESSIONAL</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_372">372</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#PROEM">P<span class="smcap">ROEM</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_PURPLE_VALLEYS">P<span class="smcap">URPLE</span> V<span class="smcap">ALLEYS</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_338">338</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_RAIN-CROW">R<span class="smcap">AIN</span>-C<span class="smcap">ROW</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_323">323</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#REVERIE">R<span class="smcap">EVERIE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_RUE-ANEMONE">R<span class="smcap">UE</span>-A<span class="smcap">NEMONE</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#SPIRIT_OF_DREAMS">S<span class="smcap">PIRIT OF</span> D<span class="smcap">REAMS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_370">370</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_SPIRIT_OF_THE_FOREST_SPRING">S<span class="smcap">PIRIT OF THE</span> F<span class="smcap">OREST</span> S<span class="smcap">PRING</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_305">305</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#TO_A_PANSY-VIOLET">T<span class="smcap">O A</span> P<span class="smcap">ANSY</span>-V<span class="smcap">IOLET</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_307">307</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#UNDER_THE_ROSE">U<span class="smcap">NDER THE</span> R<span class="smcap">OSE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_367">367</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#VINE_AND_SYCAMORE">V<span class="smcap">INE AND</span> S<span class="smcap">YCAMORE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_283">283</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#ZYPS_OF_ZIRL">Z<span class="smcap">YPS OF</span> Z<span class="smcap">IRL</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_355">355</a></td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdl"><a href="#SONG_AND_STORY">SONG AND STORY</a></td> - <td class="tdr"> </td> -</tr> - -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AT_THE_SIGN_OF_THE_SKULL">A<span class="smcap">T THE</span> S<span class="smcap">IGN OF THE</span> S<span class="smcap">KULL</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_416">416</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AT_VESPERS">A<span class="smcap">T</span> V<span class="smcap">ESPERS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_438">438</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_CUP_OF_JOY">C<span class="smcap">UP OF</span> J<span class="smcap">OY</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_423">423</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#DUM_VIVIMUS">D<span class="smcap">UM</span> V<span class="smcap">IVIMUS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_418">418</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_END_OF_ALL">E<span class="smcap">ND OF</span> A<span class="smcap">LL</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_429">429</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_END_OF_THE_CENTURY">E<span class="smcap">ND OF THE</span> C<span class="smcap">ENTURY</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_405">405</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#FAILURE">F<span class="smcap">AILURE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_420">420</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#HIEROGLYPHS">H<span class="smcap">IEROGLYPHS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_391">391</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#AN_INDIAN_LEGEND">I<span class="smcap">NDIAN</span> L<span class="smcap">EGEND</span>, A<span class="smcap">N</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_383">383</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_ISLE_OF_VOICES">I<span class="smcap">SLE OF</span> V<span class="smcap">OICES</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_410">410</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#JOHN_DAVIS_BOUCANIER">J<span class="smcap">OHN</span> D<span class="smcap">AVIS</span>, B<span class="smcap">OUCANIER</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_385">385</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#LA_JEUNESSE_ET_LA_MORT">L<span class="smcap">A</span> J<span class="smcap">EUNESSE</span> E<span class="smcap">T</span> L<span class="smcap">A</span> M<span class="smcap">ORT</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_426">426</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_LEGEND_OF_THE_LILY">L<span class="smcap">EGEND OF A</span> L<span class="smcap">ILY</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_401">401</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#LOVE_AND_LOSS">L<span class="smcap">OVE AND</span> L<span class="smcap">OSS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_428">428</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_ROSE_O_THE_HILLS">R<span class="smcap">OSE</span> O' <span class="smcap">THE</span> H<span class="smcap">ILLS</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_431">431</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#SONG_AND_STORY">S<span class="smcap">ONG AND</span> S<span class="smcap">TORY</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_379">379</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#A_STUDY_IN_GRAY">S<span class="smcap">TUDY IN</span> G<span class="smcap">RAY</span>, A</a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_435">435</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#TO_HARRISON_S_MORRIS">T<span class="smcap">O</span> H<span class="smcap">ARRISON</span> S. M<span class="smcap">ORRIS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#VOYAGERS">V<span class="smcap">OYAGERS</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_389">389</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WATCHER">W<span class="smcap">ATCHER</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_415">415</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdlb"><a href="#THE_WHITE_VIGIL">W<span class="smcap">HITE</span> V<span class="smcap">IGIL</span>, T<span class="smcap">HE</span></a></td> - <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_433">433</a></td> -</tr> -</tbody> -</table></div> - - - -<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="CONTENTS"> -<tbody> -<tr> <td class="tdl">A<span class="smcap">ROUND</span> H<span class="smcap">IM</span> M<span class="smcap">ERMAIDS</span> S<span class="smcap">ING</span> -F<span class="smcap">OAM-CLAD</span> <span class="mleft1">(See page <a href="#Page_168">168</a>)</span></td> <td class="tdr bottom"><em>Frontispiece</em></td></tr> -<tr> <td class="tdl"> </td> <td class="tdr"><span class="smcap">PAGE</span></td></tr> -<tr> <td class="tdl">S<span class="smcap">TARED AND</span> W<span class="smcap">HISPERED AND</span> S<span class="smcap">MILED AND</span> W<span class="smcap">EPT</span> -<span class="mleft1">(See page <a href="#Page_50">49</a>)</span></td> <td class="tdr bottom"><a href="#Page_124">124</a></td></tr> -<tr> <td class="tdl">T<span class="smcap">HAT</span> R<span class="smcap">EED-SLENDER</span> G<span class="smcap">IRL</span> W<span class="smcap">HOM</span> P<span class="smcap">AN</span> P<span class="smcap">URSUED</span></td> <td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_241">242</a></td></tr> -</tbody> -</table></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2>PROEM</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Not while I live may I forget</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>That garden which my spirit trod!</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Where dreams were flowers, wild and wet,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>And beautiful as God.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Not while I breathe, awake, adream,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Shall live again for me those hours,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>When, in its mystery and gleam,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>I met her 'mid the flowers.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Eyes, talismanic heliotrope,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Beneath mesmeric lashes, where</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>The sorceries of love and hope</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Had made a shining lair.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>And daydawn brows, whereover hung</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>The twilight of dark locks; wild birds,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Her lips, that spoke the rose's tongue</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>In fragrance-voweled words.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>I will not speak of cheeks and chin,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>That held me as sweet language holds;</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Nor of the eloquence within</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Her breasts' twin-moonéd molds.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Nor of her body's languorous</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Wind-grace, that glanced like starlight through</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Her clinging robe's diaphanous</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Web of the mist and dew.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>There is no star so pure and high</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>As was her look; no fragrance such</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>As her soft presence; and no sigh</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Of music like her touch.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Not while I live may I forget</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>That garden of dim dreams, where I</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>And Song within the spirit met,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Sweet Song, who passed me by.</em></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="POEMS_OF_MYSTERY" id="POEMS_OF_MYSTERY"></a>POEMS OF MYSTERY</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - - - -<h2><a name="HAUNTED" id="HAUNTED"></a>HAUNTED</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Without a moon when night comes on</div> - <div class="i0">There is a sighing in its trees</div> - <div class="i0">As of sad lips that no one sees;</div> - <div class="i0">And the far-dwindling forest, large</div> - <div class="i0">Beyond fenced fields, seems shadowy drawn</div> - <div class="i0">Into its shadows. Faint and wan,</div> - <div class="i0">By the wistariaed portico</div> - <div class="i0">Stealing, I go</div> - <div class="i0">Through gardens where the weeds are rank:</div> - <div class="i0">Where, here and there, in clump and bank,</div> - <div class="i0">Spiræas rise, whose dotted blooms</div> - <div class="i0">Seem clustered starlight; and the four</div> - <div class="i0">Syringas sweet heap, powdered o'er,</div> - <div class="i0">Thin flower-beakers of perfumes;</div> - <div class="i0">And the dead flowering-almond tree,</div> - <div class="i0">That once was pink as her young cheek,</div> - <div class="i0">Now withered leans within the glooms.—</div> - <div class="i0">Why must I walk here? seek and seek</div> - <div class="i0">Her, long since gone?—Still bower on bower</div> - <div class="i0">The roses climb in blushing flower.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Ah, 'mid the roses could I see</div> - <div class="i0">Her eyes, her sad eyes, shine like flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Or like the dew that lies for hours</div> - <div class="i0">Within their hearts, then it might be</div> - <div class="i0">I might find comfort here, although</div> - <div class="i0">Wistful, as if reproaching me,</div> - <div class="i0">Her sad eyes look, saying what none may know.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When midnight comes it brings a moon:</div> - <div class="i0">A scent is strewn</div> - <div class="i0">Of honey and wild-thorns broadcast</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the stars. When I have passed</div> - <div class="i0">Under dark cedars, solemn pines,</div> - <div class="i0">Through dodder-drowned petunias,</div> - <div class="i0">Corn-flower and the columbine,</div> - <div class="i0">To where azaleas, choked with grass,</div> - <div class="i0">And peonies, like great wisps, shine,</div> - <div class="i0">I reach banked honeysuckle vines,</div> - <div class="i0">Piled deep and trammeled with the gourd</div> - <div class="i0">And morning-glory—one wild hoard</div> - <div class="i0">Of rich aroma—where the seat,</div> - <div class="i0">The rustic bench, where oft we sat,—</div> - <div class="i0">Now warped and old with rain and heat,—</div> - <div class="i0">Still stands upon its mossy mat:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And here I rest; and then—a word</div> - <div class="i0">I seem to hear;</div> - <div class="i0">A soft word whispered in my ear;</div> - <div class="i0">Her voice it seems; no thing is near;</div> - <div class="i0">I look around:—I have but heard</div> - <div class="i0">The plaintive note of some lost bird</div> - <div class="i0">Trickle through night,—awakened where,</div> - <div class="i0">'Neath its thick lair of twisted twigs,</div> - <div class="i0">The jarring and incessant grigs</div> - <div class="i0">Hum:—dream-drugged so, the haunted air</div> - <div class="i0">Makes all my soul as heavy as</div> - <div class="i0">Dew-poppied grass.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Once when the moon rose, fair and full,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like some sea-seen Hesperian pool,</div> - <div class="i0">A splash of gold through tangling trees,—</div> - <div class="i0">Or like the Island beautiful</div> - <div class="i0">Of Avalon in haunted seas,—</div> - <div class="i0">There came a sighing in the trees</div> - <div class="i0">As of sad lips; there was no breeze,</div> - <div class="i0">And yet sad sighings shook the trees.</div> - <div class="i0">And when, all in a mystic space,</div> - <div class="i0">Her orb swam, amiable white,</div> - <div class="i0">Right in that shattered casement, by</div> - <div class="i0">The broken porch the creepers lace,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Born of a moonbeam and a sigh,</div> - <div class="i0">I saw <em>her</em> face,</div> - <div class="i0">Pale through a mist of tears; so slight,</div> - <div class="i0">So immaterial, ah me!</div> - <div class="i0">In pensiveness, and vanished grace,</div> - <div class="i0">'Twas like an olden melody.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I know long-angled on its floors,</div> - <div class="i0">Where windows face the anxious east,</div> - <div class="i0">The moonshine pours</div> - <div class="i0">White squares of glitter and, at least,</div> - <div class="i0">Gives glimmer to its whispering halls:</div> - <div class="i0">Its corridors,</div> - <div class="i0">Sleep-tapestried, are guled with bars</div> - <div class="i0">Of moonlight: by its wasted walls</div> - <div class="i0">Crouch shadows: and,—where streaked dusts lay</div> - <div class="i0">Their undisturbed, deep gray</div> - <div class="i0">Upon its stairs,—dim, vision-footed, glide</div> - <div class="i0">Faint gossamer gleams, like visible sighs,</div> - <div class="i0">As to and fro, athwart the skies,—</div> - <div class="i0">Wind-swung against the moon outside,—</div> - <div class="i0">The twisted branches sway</div> - <div class="i0">Of one great tree; I stand below,</div> - <div class="i0">And listen now,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Hearing a murmur come and go</div> - <div class="i0">Through its gnarled boughs; remembering how</div> - <div class="i0">Shady this chestnut made her room,</div> - <div class="i0">And sweet, in June, with plumes of bloom;</div> - <div class="i0">And how the broad and gusty flues</div> - <div class="i0">Of the old house sang when the rain let loose</div> - <div class="i0">Its winds, and each flue seemed a hoarse,</div> - <div class="i0">Sonorous throat, filled with the storm's wild boom,</div> - <div class="i0">And growled carousal; goblin tunes</div> - <div class="i0">The hylas pipe to rainy moons</div> - <div class="i0">Of March; or, in the afternoons</div> - <div class="i0">Of summer, singing in their course,—</div> - <div class="i0">Where blossoms drip,—all wet of back,—</div> - <div class="i0">The crickets drone in avenues</div> - <div class="i0">Of locusts leading to the gate.</div> - <div class="i0">And in the dark here where I wait</div> - <div class="i0">Meseems I hear the silence creep</div> - <div class="i0">And crepitate</div> - <div class="i0">From hall to hall; as one in sleep</div> - <div class="i0">I hear, yet hear not; feel that there</div> - <div class="i0">Her soul walks, waking on each stair</div> - <div class="i0">Strange echoes; and the stealthy crack</div> - <div class="i0">Of old and warping floors: I seem</div> - <div class="i0">To follow her; and in a dream</div> - <div class="i0">To see, yet see not; in the black</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That drapes each room, my mind informs</div> - <div class="i0">With shapes, that hide behind each door</div> - <div class="i0">And fling from closets phantom arms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I see her face, as once before,</div> - <div class="i0">Bewildered with its terror, pressed</div> - <div class="i0">To the dark, polished floor; distressed,</div> - <div class="i0">Clasped in her blind and covering hands;</div> - <div class="i0">So desolate with anguish, wrenched</div> - <div class="i0">With wild remorse, no man could see,</div> - <div class="i0">Could see and turn away like me,</div> - <div class="i0">No man that sees and understands</div> - <div class="i0">Love and its mortal agony.</div> - <div class="i0">Again, like some automaton,</div> - <div class="i0">Part of that ghostly tragedy,</div> - <div class="i0">Myself I see, the fool who fled,</div> - <div class="i0">Who sneered and fled. And then again</div> - <div class="i0">Came stealing back. Again, with blenched</div> - <div class="i0">And bending face I stand, and clenched</div> - <div class="i0">And icy hands, and staring eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">Looking upon her face, as wan</div> - <div class="i0">As water; eyes all wide with pain;</div> - <div class="i0">Cramped to dilation, packed with loss:</div> - <div class="i0">Again I seem to lean across</div> - <div class="i0">The years, and hear my heart's deep groan</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Above the young gold of her head,</div> - <div class="i0">Above that huddled heap alone,—</div> - <div class="i0">Her, white and dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yes, there is moan</div> - <div class="i0">Of lamentation and hushed screams</div> - <div class="i0">In all its crannies; and sad shades</div> - <div class="i0">Haunt all its rooms, the moonlight braids,</div> - <div class="i0">With melancholy. Slow have flown</div> - <div class="i0">The weary years: and I have known</div> - <div class="i0">An anguish and remorse far worse</div> - <div class="i0">Than usual life's; and live, it seems,</div> - <div class="i0">Because to live is but a curse....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There she lies buried; there! that ground</div> - <div class="i0">Gated with rusty iron, where</div> - <div class="i0">She and her stanch forefathers sleep;</div> - <div class="i0">So old, the turf scarce shows a mound;</div> - <div class="i0">So gray, you scarce distinguish there</div> - <div class="i0">A headstone where the ivies creep</div> - <div class="i0">And myrtles bloom. A wall of stone</div> - <div class="i0">Squares it around; a place for dreams;</div> - <div class="i0">A mossy spot of sorrow;—lone,</div> - <div class="i0">Nay, lonelier, wilder now it seems,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Though just the same: its roses waste</div> - <div class="i0">Their petals there as oft of yore;</div> - <div class="i0">Their placid petals, as before;</div> - <div class="i0">Pale, pensive petals: yonder some</div> - <div class="i0">Lie faint as puffs of foam</div> - <div class="i0">Within the moonlight, dimly traced</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the boughs; some few are strown</div> - <div class="i0">On the usurping weeds, great grown</div> - <div class="i0">Around her tomb, on which two dead leaves lie....</div> - <div class="i0">Here let my sick heart break and die</div> - <div class="i0">Amid their wiltings, on her grave,</div> - <div class="i0">Here in her dim, old burying-ground</div> - <div class="i0">The druid cedars guard around</div> - <div class="i0">And roses and wild thorns. Alone</div> - <div class="i0">She shall not lie! Ah, let me moan</div> - <div class="i0">My life out here where rose-leaves fall,</div> - <div class="i0">And rest by her who was my all!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_ELIXIR_OF_LOVE" id="THE_ELIXIR_OF_LOVE"></a>THE ELIXIR OF LOVE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He held it possible that he</div> - <div class="i1">Who idolizes one that's dead,</div> - <div class="i0">With that strange liquid instantly</div> - <div class="i1">Might raise them, living red:</div> - <div class="i0">And so he thought, "'Tis mine at last</div> - <div class="i0">To live and love the love that's past;</div> - <div class="i0">The joy without the grief and pain.</div> - <div class="i0">The dead shall live and love again."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For he had loved one till for him</div> - <div class="i1">Her face had grown his spirit-part:</div> - <div class="i0">Though dead, she seemed to him less dim</div> - <div class="i1">Than men in street and mart.</div> - <div class="i0">He labored on; for, truth to say,</div> - <div class="i0">In toil alone his pleasure lay,</div> - <div class="i0">His art, through which, sometime, he thought,</div> - <div class="i0">Back to his arms she would be brought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He kept such trysts as phantoms keep,</div> - <div class="i1">Pale distances about his soul;</div> - <div class="i0">And moved like one who walks asleep,</div> - <div class="i1">Attaining no sure goal:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Yet blither than a younger heart</div> - <div class="i0">At crucible and glass retort</div> - <div class="i0">He labored; for his love was prism</div> - <div class="i0">To irisate toil's egoism.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He drained wan draughts from out a cup,</div> - <div class="i1">A globe of vague and flaming gold,</div> - <div class="i0">Held from the darkness, brimming up,</div> - <div class="i1">By something white and cold,</div> - <div class="i0">That wreathed faint fingers round its brim,</div> - <div class="i0">Slim flakes of foam; and, soft and dim,</div> - <div class="i0">Stooped out of fiery-bound abysses</div> - <div class="i0">To print his brow with icy kisses.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At last within his trembling hand</div> - <div class="i1">An ancient flask burnt, starry rose;</div> - <div class="i0">A liquid flame of ruby fanned,</div> - <div class="i1">Heart-like, with crimson throes:</div> - <div class="i0">And in the liquid, like a flower,</div> - <div class="i0">A starlike face bloomed for an hour,</div> - <div class="i0">Then slowly faded to a skull</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes that mocked the beautiful.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">'Though all his life had been so strange,</div> - <div class="i1">Yet stranger now it seemed to be;—</div> - <div class="i0">What was it led him forth to range</div> - <div class="i1">'Mid graves and mystery?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> - <div class="i0">What led him to that one dim tomb,</div> - <div class="i0">Where he could read within the gloom</div> - <div class="i0">The name of one who lay within</div> - <div class="i0">With all of silence, naught of sin?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Untainted, so it seemed, and made</div> - <div class="i1">By death's cold kisses still more fair,</div> - <div class="i0">He found her; raised her; softly laid</div> - <div class="i1">Her raven depths of hair</div> - <div class="i0">Upon his shoulder: and the pearls,</div> - <div class="i0">Around her neck and in her curls,</div> - <div class="i0">Less pale were than the kingly calm</div> - <div class="i0">Upon his face that showed no qualm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And through the night, beneath the moon,</div> - <div class="i1">Across the windy hill, the gloom</div> - <div class="i0">Of forests where the leaves lay strewn,</div> - <div class="i1">He brought her to his room:</div> - <div class="i0">And in the awfulness of death,</div> - <div class="i0">That filled her wide eyes with its breath,</div> - <div class="i0">He set her in a carven chair</div> - <div class="i0">Where the still moon could kiss her hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">One moment then he paused to think:</div> - <div class="i1">Then to her lips, all drawn and dead,</div> - <div class="i0">His strange elixir pressed and—"Drink!</div> - <div class="i1">Drink life and love!" he said.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And it—it drank; the dead drank slow:</div> - <div class="i0">And in its eyes there came a glow:</div> - <div class="i0">Yet still as stone its body sate,</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes of hell and lips of hate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still as fall-frozen ice its face,</div> - <div class="i1">And thin its voice as drizzled rain,</div> - <div class="i0">When in its rotting silk and lace</div> - <div class="i1">It rose and lived again:</div> - <div class="i0">Its bosom moved not while it spake;</div> - <div class="i0">Nor moved its lips; and half awake</div> - <div class="i0">Its eyes seemed with enchanted sleep</div> - <div class="i0">A century long in night's old keep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And, stooping o'er, it whispered low—</div> - <div class="i1">A sound like a vibrating wire,</div> - <div class="i0">Or like the hiss of falling snow</div> - <div class="i1">In flutterings faint of fire:—</div> - <div class="i0">"In me, behold, you see your toil!</div> - <div class="i0">In me your love! A thing to coil</div> - <div class="i0">Around your life thus!—Make entire!—</div> - <div class="i0">The demon of your dead desire!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And where, before, was quietness,</div> - <div class="i1">Was violence of hate and evil—</div> - <div class="i0">Yet all its form seemed passionless,</div> - <div class="i1">A corpse that held a devil!...</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> - <div class="i0">But who shall say the hands were its</div> - <div class="i0">That made within his throat these pits?—</div> - <div class="i0">They found him dead; and by him, one</div> - <div class="i0">Who clasped him close, a skeleton.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GLORAMONE" id="GLORAMONE"></a>GLORAMONE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The moonbeams on the hollies glow</div> - <div class="i0">Pale where she left me; and the snow</div> - <div class="i0">Lies bleak in moonshine on the graves,</div> - <div class="i0">Ribbed with each gust that shakes and waves</div> - <div class="i0">Ancestral cedars by her tomb....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She lay so beautiful in death,</div> - <div class="i0">My Gloramone,—whose loveliness</div> - <div class="i0">Death had not dimmed with all its doom,—</div> - <div class="i0">That, urged by my divine distress,</div> - <div class="i0">I sought her sepulchre: the gloom,</div> - <div class="i0">The iciness that takes the breath,</div> - <div class="i0">The sense of fear, were not too strong</div> - <div class="i0">To keep me from beholding long.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I stole into its sorrow; burst,</div> - <div class="i0">With what I know was hand accursed,</div> - <div class="i0">Its seal, the gated silence of</div> - <div class="i0">Her old armorial tomb: but love</div> - <div class="i0">Had sighed sweet romance to my heart;</div> - <div class="i0">And here, I thought, another part</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Our souls would play. I did not start</div> - <div class="i0">When indistinctness of pale lips</div> - <div class="i0">Breathed on my hair; faint finger-tips</div> - <div class="i0">Fluttered their starlight on my brow;</div> - <div class="i0">When on my eyes, I knew not whence,</div> - <div class="i0">Vague kisses fell: then, like a vow,</div> - <div class="i0">Within my heart, an aching sense</div> - <div class="i0">Of vampire winning. And I heard</div> - <div class="i0">Her name slow-syllabled—a word</div> - <div class="i0">Of haunting harmony—and then</div> - <div class="i0">Low-whispered, "Thou! at last, 'tis thou!"</div> - <div class="i0">And sighs of shadowy lips again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How madly strange that this should be!</div> - <div class="i0">For, had she loved me here on Earth,</div> - <div class="i0">It had not then been marvelous</div> - <div class="i0">That she should now remember me,</div> - <div class="i0">Returning love for love, though worth</div> - <div class="i0">Less, yes, far less to both of us.</div> - <div class="i0">And so I wondered, listening there:</div> - <div class="i0">How was it that her soul was brought</div> - <div class="i0">So near to mine now, whom in life</div> - <div class="i0">She hated so? And everywhere</div> - <div class="i0">About my life I thought and thought</div> - <div class="i0">And found no reason why her love</div> - <div class="i0">Should now be mine. We were at strife</div> - <div class="i0">Forever here; her hatred drove</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Me to despair: I cast my glove</div> - <div class="i0">Into the frowning face of fate,</div> - <div class="i0">And lost her. Yea, it was her hate</div> - <div class="i0">That made her Appolonio's wife.</div> - <div class="i0">Her hate! her lovely hate!—for of</div> - <div class="i0">Her naught I found unlovely;—and</div> - <div class="i0">I felt she did not understand</div> - <div class="i0">My passion, and 'twere well to wait.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And now I felt her presence near,</div> - <div class="i0">I, full of life; yet knew no fear</div> - <div class="i0">There in the sombre silence, mark.</div> - <div class="i0">And it was dark, yes, deadly dark:</div> - <div class="i0">But when I slowly drew away</div> - <div class="i0">The pall, death modeled with her face,—</div> - <div class="i0">From her fair form it fell and lay</div> - <div class="i0">Rich in the dust,—the shrouded place</div> - <div class="i0">Was glittering daggered by the spark</div> - <div class="i0">Of one wild ruby at her throat,</div> - <div class="i0">Red-arrowed as a star with throbs</div> - <div class="i0">Of pulsing flame. And note on note</div> - <div class="i0">The night seemed filled with tenuous sobs</div> - <div class="i0">Of fire that flickered from that stone,</div> - <div class="i0">That, lustrous, lay against her throat,</div> - <div class="i0">Large as her eyes, and shadowy.</div> - <div class="i0">And standing by the dead alone</div> - <div class="i0">I marveled not that this should be.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The essence of an hundred stars,</div> - <div class="i0">Of fretful crimson, through and through</div> - <div class="i0">Its bezels beat, when, bending down</div> - <div class="i0">My hot lips pressed her mouth. And scars,</div> - <div class="i0">Aurora-scarlet, veiny blue,</div> - <div class="i0">Flame-hearted, blurred the midnight; and</div> - <div class="i0">The vault rang; and I felt a hand</div> - <div class="i0">Like fire in mine. And, lo, a frown</div> - <div class="i0">Broke up her face as gently as</div> - <div class="i0">The surface of a fountain's glass</div> - <div class="i0">A zephyr moves, that jolts the grass</div> - <div class="i0">Spilling its rain-drops. When this passed,</div> - <div class="i0">Through song-soft slumber, binding fast,</div> - <div class="i0">Slow smiles dreamed outward beautiful;</div> - <div class="i0">And with each smile I heard the dull</div> - <div class="i0">Deep music of her heart, and saw,</div> - <div class="i0">As by some necromantic law,</div> - <div class="i0">Faint tremblings of a lubric light</div> - <div class="i0">Flush her white temples and her throat:</div> - <div class="i0">And each long pulse was as a note,</div> - <div class="i0">That, gathering, like a strong surprise</div> - <div class="i0">With all of happiness, made sweet</div> - <div class="i0">With dim carnation in wild wise</div> - <div class="i0">The arch of her pale lips, and beat</div> - <div class="i0">Like moonlight from her head to feet.</div> - <div class="i0">I bent and kissed her once again:</div> - <div class="i0">And with that kiss it seemed that pain,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Which long had ached beneath her smile</div> - <div class="i0">And eyelids, vanished. In a while</div> - <div class="i0">I saw she breathed. Then, wondrous white,</div> - <div class="i0">Fair as she was before she died,</div> - <div class="i0">She rose upon the bier; a sight</div> - <div class="i0">To marvel at, whose truth belied</div> - <div class="i0">All fiction. Yet I saw her eyes</div> - <div class="i0">Grow wide unto my kiss,—like skies</div> - <div class="i0">Of starless dawn.—And all the fire</div> - <div class="i0">Of that dark ruby at her throat</div> - <div class="i0">Around her presence seemed to float,</div> - <div class="i0">A mist of rose, wherein like light</div> - <div class="i0">She moved, or music exquisite.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What followed then I scarcely know:</div> - <div class="i0">All I remember is, I caught</div> - <div class="i0">Her hand; and from the tomb I brought</div> - <div class="i0">Her beautiful: and o'er the snow,</div> - <div class="i0">Where moonbeams on the hollies glow,</div> - <div class="i0">I led her. But her feet no print</div> - <div class="i0">Left of their nakedness, no dint,</div> - <div class="i0">No faintest trace in frost. I thought,</div> - <div class="i0">"The moonlight fills them with its glow,</div> - <div class="i0">So soft they fall; or 'tis the snow</div> - <div class="i0">Covers them o'er!—the tomb was black,</div> - <div class="i0">And—this strong light blinds!"—Turning back</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> - <div class="i0">My eyes met hers; and as I turned,</div> - <div class="i0">Flashing centupled facets, burned</div> - <div class="i0">That ruby at her throat; and I</div> - <div class="i0">Studied its beauty for a while:</div> - <div class="i0">How came it there, and when, and why?</div> - <div class="i0">Who set it at her throat? Again,</div> - <div class="i0">Was it a ruby?—Pondering,</div> - <div class="i0">I stood and gazed. A far, strange smile</div> - <div class="i0">Filled all her face, and as with pain</div> - <div class="i0">I seemed to hear her speak, or sing,</div> - <div class="i0">These words, that meant not anything,</div> - <div class="i0">Yet more than any words may mean:</div> - <div class="i0">"Thy blood it is," she said; then sighed:</div> - <div class="i0">"See where thy heart's blood beateth! here</div> - <div class="i0">Thy heart's blood, that my lips did drain</div> - <div class="i0">In life; I live by still, unseen,</div> - <div class="i0">Long as thy passion shall remain.—</div> - <div class="i0">Canst thou behold and have no fear?—</div> - <div class="i0">Yea, if I am not dead, 'tis thou!—</div> - <div class="i0">Look how thy heart's blood flashes now!—</div> - <div class="i0">Blood of my life and soul, beat on!</div> - <div class="i0">Beat on! and fill my veins with dawn;</div> - <div class="i0">And heat the heart of me, his bride!"</div> - <div class="i0">And then she leaned against me, eyed</div> - <div class="i0">Like some white serpent, strangely still,</div> - <div class="i0">That binds one with its glittering stare,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That at wild stars hath gazed until</div> - <div class="i0">Its eyes have learned their golden glare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I took her by the wrists</div> - <div class="i0">And drew her to me. Faintly felt</div> - <div class="i0">The shadow of her hair, whose mists</div> - <div class="i0">Were twilight-deep and dimly smelt</div> - <div class="i0">Of shroud and sepulchre. And she</div> - <div class="i0">Smiled on me with such sorcery</div> - <div class="i0">As well might win a soul from God</div> - <div class="i0">To Hell and torments. And I trod</div> - <div class="i0">On white enchantments and was long</div> - <div class="i0">A song and harp-string to a song,</div> - <div class="i0">Love's battle in my blood. And there,</div> - <div class="i0">Kissing her mouth, all unaware</div> - <div class="i0">The ruby loosened at her throat,</div> - <div class="i0">And, ere I wist, hung o'er my hand,</div> - <div class="i0">And on the brink I seemed to stand</div> - <div class="i0">Of something that cried out, "Admire</div> - <div class="i0">The beauty of this gem of fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Its witchcraft and its workmanship."</div> - <div class="i0">Then from her throat it seemed to slip,</div> - <div class="i0">And, in the hollow of my hand,</div> - <div class="i0">A rosy spasm, a bubble-boat</div> - <div class="i0">Of living flame, it seemed to float;</div> - <div class="i0">A fretful fire; a heart, fierce fanned</div> - <div class="i0">Of red convulsions. Like a brand,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A blaze, it touched me; seemed to run</div> - <div class="i0">Like fever through my pulses, swift,</div> - <div class="i0">Of torrid poison. One by one,</div> - <div class="i0">Now burning ice, now freezing sun,</div> - <div class="i0">I felt my veins swell. Then I felt</div> - <div class="i0">My palm brim up and overflow</div> - <div class="i0">With blood that, beads of oozing glow,</div> - <div class="i0">Dripped, drop by drop, upon the snow,</div> - <div class="i0">Like holly-berries on the snow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then something darkly seemed to melt</div> - <div class="i0">Within me, and I heard a sigh</div> - <div class="i0">So like a moan, 'twas as if years</div> - <div class="i0">Of anguish bore it; and the sky</div> - <div class="i0">Swam near me as when seen through tears—</div> - <div class="i0">And she was gone.... In ghostly gloom</div> - <div class="i0">Of dark, scarred pines a crumbling tomb</div> - <div class="i0">Loomed like a mist. Carved in its stone,</div> - <div class="i0">Above the grated portal deep,</div> - <div class="i0">Glimmered this legend:—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i12">"Let her sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">Crowned with dim death, our lovely one,</div> - <div class="i0">Known here on Earth as Gloramone.</div> - <div class="i0">Our hearts bow down by her and weep,</div> - <div class="i0">And one sits weeping all alone."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_IMAGE_IN_THE_GLASS" id="THE_IMAGE_IN_THE_GLASS"></a>THE IMAGE IN THE GLASS</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The slow reflection of a woman's face</div> - <div class="i0">Grew, as by witchcraft, in the oval space</div> - <div class="i0">Of that strange glass on which the moon looked in:—</div> - <div class="i0">As cruel as death beneath the auburn hair</div> - <div class="i0">The dark eyes burned; and, o'er the faultless chin,—</div> - <div class="i0">Evil as night, yet as the daybreak fair,—</div> - <div class="i0">Rose-red and sensual smiled the mouth of sin.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The glorious throat and shoulders and, twin crests</div> - <div class="i0">Of snow, the splendid beauty of the breasts,</div> - <div class="i0">Filled soul and body with the old desire.—</div> - <div class="i0">Daughter of darkness! how could this thing be?</div> - <div class="i0">You, whom I loathed! for whom my heart's fierce fire</div> - <div class="i0">Had burnt to ashes of satiety!</div> - <div class="i0">You, who had sunk my soul in crime's red mire!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How came your image there? and in that room!</div> - <div class="i0">Where she, the all-adored, my life's sweet bloom,</div> - <div class="i0">Died poisoned! She, my scarcely one week's bride—</div> - <div class="i0">Yes, poisoned by a gift you sent to her,</div> - <div class="i0">Thinking her death would win me to your side.</div> - <div class="i0">It won me; yes! but.... Well, it made some stir—</div> - <div class="i0">By your own hand, I think, they said you died.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Time passed. And then—was it the curse of crime,</div> - <div class="i0">That night of nights, which forced my feet to climb</div> - <div class="i0">To that locked bridal-room?—'Twas midnight when</div> - <div class="i0">A longing, like to madness, mastered me,</div> - <div class="i0">Compelled me to that chamber, which for ten</div> - <div class="i0">Long years was sealed: a dark necessity</div> - <div class="i0">To gaze upon—I knew not what again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Love's ghost, perhaps. Or, in the curvature</div> - <div class="i0">Of that orbed mirror, something that might cure</div> - <div class="i0">The ache in me—some message, said perchance</div> - <div class="i0">Of her dead loveliness,—which once it glassed,—</div> - <div class="i0">That might repeat again my lost romance</div> - <div class="i0">In momentary pictures of the past,</div> - <div class="i0">While in its depths her image swam in trance.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I did not dream to see the soulless eyes</div> - <div class="i0">Of <em>you</em> I hated; nor the lips where lies</div> - <div class="i0">And kisses curled: <em>your</em> features,—that were tuned</div> - <div class="i0">To all demonic,—smiling up as might</div> - <div class="i0">Some deep damnation! while ... my God! I swooned!...</div> - <div class="i0">Oozed slowly out, between the breasts' dead white,</div> - <div class="i0">The ghastly red of that wide dagger-wound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_LEGEND_OF_THE_STONE" id="THE_LEGEND_OF_THE_STONE"></a>THE LEGEND OF THE STONE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The year was dying, and the day</div> - <div class="i2">Was almost dead;</div> - <div class="i0">The west, beneath a sombre gray,</div> - <div class="i2">Was sombre red:</div> - <div class="i0">The gravestones in the ghostly light,</div> - <div class="i2">That glimmered there,</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed phantoms, wandering wan and white,</div> - <div class="i2">'Mid trees half bare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I stood beside the grave of one</div> - <div class="i2">Who, here in life,</div> - <div class="i0">Was false to me; who had undone</div> - <div class="i2">My child and wife:</div> - <div class="i0">I stood beside his grave until</div> - <div class="i2">The moon came up—</div> - <div class="i0">It seemed the dark, unhallowed hill</div> - <div class="i2">Lifted a cup.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No stone was there to mark his grave,</div> - <div class="i2">No flower to grace—</div> - <div class="i0">'Twas meet that weeds alone should wave</div> - <div class="i2">In such a place:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> - <div class="i0">I stood beside his grave until</div> - <div class="i2">The stars swam high,</div> - <div class="i0">And all the night was iron-still</div> - <div class="i2">From sky to sky.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What cared I though strange eyes glowed bright</div> - <div class="i2">Within the gloom!</div> - <div class="i0">Though, evil blue, a witch's-light</div> - <div class="i2">Burnt by each tomb!</div> - <div class="i0">Or that each crooked thorn-tree seemed</div> - <div class="i2">A hag, black-cloaked!</div> - <div class="i0">Or that the owl above me screamed,</div> - <div class="i2">The raven croaked!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I cursed him: cursed him when the day</div> - <div class="i2">Burnt sullen red;</div> - <div class="i0">Had cursed him when the west was gray,</div> - <div class="i2">And day was dead:</div> - <div class="i0">And now when night made dark the pole,</div> - <div class="i2">Both soon and late</div> - <div class="i0">I cursed his body, yea, and soul,</div> - <div class="i2">With th' hate of hate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Once at my side I seemed to hear</div> - <div class="i2">A low voice say,—</div> - <div class="i0">"'Twere better to forgive,—and fear</div> - <div class="i2">Thy God,—and pray."</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> - <div class="i0">I laughed; and from pale lips of stone</div> - <div class="i2">On sculptured tombs</div> - <div class="i0">Wild laughter leapt, and then a moan</div> - <div class="i2">Swept through the glooms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I felt a change—a force,</div> - <div class="i2">That seemed to seize</div> - <div class="i0">My body, like some fearful curse,</div> - <div class="i2">And, fastening, freeze</div> - <div class="i0">It downward, deeper than the knees,</div> - <div class="i2">Into the earth—</div> - <div class="i0">While still among the twisted trees</div> - <div class="i2">Rang mocking mirth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I felt such fear, despair,</div> - <div class="i2">As lost ones feel,</div> - <div class="i0">When, knotted in their pitch-stiff hair,</div> - <div class="i2">They feel the steel</div> - <div class="i0">Of devils' forks lift up, through sleet</div> - <div class="i2">Of Hell's slant fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Then plunge,—as white from head to feet</div> - <div class="i2">I grew entire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A voice without me, yet within,</div> - <div class="i2">As still as frost,</div> - <div class="i0">Intoned: "Thy sin is more than sin,</div> - <div class="i2">O damned and lost!</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Behold, how God would punish thee</div> - <div class="i2">For this thy crime—</div> - <div class="i0">Thy crime of hate and blasphemy—</div> - <div class="i2">Through endless time!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"O'er him, whom thou wouldst not forgive,</div> - <div class="i2">Record what good</div> - <div class="i0">He did on Earth! and let him live</div> - <div class="i2">Loved, understood!</div> - <div class="i0">Be memory thine of all the worst</div> - <div class="i2">He did thine own!"...</div> - <div class="i0">There at the head of him I cursed</div> - <div class="i2">I stood—a stone.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_RUINED_MILL" id="THE_RUINED_MILL"></a>THE RUINED MILL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the wild South Fork of Harrod's Creek,</div> - <div class="i0">O'ergrown with creepers, if you should seek,</div> - <div class="i0">You will find an ancient water-mill</div> - <div class="i0">Of stone below a wooded hill.</div> - <div class="i0">Its weedy wheel is not less still</div> - <div class="i0">Than its image that sleeps in the grassy pool</div> - <div class="i0">Where the moccasin swims; and, slimly cool</div> - <div class="i0">Like streaks of light through blurs of sun,</div> - <div class="i0">The silver minnows and crawfish run.</div> - <div class="i0">So lone the place, in its sycamore</div> - <div class="i0">The blue crane builds; and from the shore</div> - <div class="i0">The shitepoke wanders about its door.</div> - <div class="i0">The burdock sprawls on its sill of pine;</div> - <div class="i0">And, in its pathway, eglantine</div> - <div class="i0">And blackberry tangle and intertwine;</div> - <div class="i0">Ox-daisies checker with pearl and gold</div> - <div class="i0">The bushy banks of its mill-race old;</div> - <div class="i0">The owl in its loft as safely lairs</div> - <div class="i0">As the fox in its cellar, that whelps and cares</div> - <div class="i0">Naught for the hunters who gallop by</div> - <div class="i0">With their baying hounds; the martins fly</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Around its chimney and build therein;</div> - <div class="i0">And wasp and hornet, with murmurous din,</div> - <div class="i0">Plaster their nests, that none disturb,</div> - <div class="i0">On window-lintel and hopper-curb.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Once I stood in this old, stone mill,</div> - <div class="i0">Once as the day died over the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">And night came on; and stark and still</div> - <div class="i0">I met with phantoms upon its stairs;</div> - <div class="i0">Shadows, that took me unawares,</div> - <div class="i0">Eyed with fire and cowled with gloom—</div> - <div class="i0">Twilight phantoms, that crowded, dark,</div> - <div class="i0">Its dim interior, each eye a spark</div> - <div class="i0">Of sunset, creviced, within the room—</div> - <div class="i0">While a moist, chill, moldering, dead perfume</div> - <div class="i0">Of crumbling timbers and rotting grain,</div> - <div class="i0">On floors all warped with the sun and rain,</div> - <div class="i0">Made of the stagnant air a cell,</div> - <div class="i0">Round the cobwebbed rafters hung like a spell;</div> - <div class="i0">Making my mind, despite me, run</div> - <div class="i0">On thoughts of a hidden skeleton,</div> - <div class="i0">There in the walls; or, dripping dank,</div> - <div class="i0">Under the floor, 'neath a certain plank;</div> - <div class="i0">Glowering, grim in the mossy wet,</div> - <div class="i0">In its hollow eyes a dark regret.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> - <div class="i0">I had entered when the evening-star</div> - <div class="i0">In the saffron heaven was sparkling afar,</div> - <div class="i0">In all its glory of light divine,</div> - <div class="i0">Like a diamond drowned in kingly wine;</div> - <div class="i0">And I stayed till the heavens hung low and gray,</div> - <div class="i0">And the clouds of the storm drove down and away,</div> - <div class="i0">Like the tattered leaves of an Autumn day;</div> - <div class="i0">And the wild rain beat on the rotting roof</div> - <div class="i0">The goblin dance of the Fiend's own hoof,</div> - <div class="i0">Till the spider dropped from its dusty woof;</div> - <div class="i0">And the thunder throbbed like a mighty heart;</div> - <div class="i0">And the wild wind filled each crannied part</div> - <div class="i0">Of the mill with moanings, that seemed to be</div> - <div class="i0">The voice of an ancient agony—</div> - <div class="i0">Till the beetle shrunk in its board of pine;—</div> - <div class="i0">While the lightning lit with its instant shine</div> - <div class="i0">The tossing terror of tree and vine ...</div> - <div class="i0">Then, all on a sudden, the storm was still—</div> - <div class="i0">And I saw <em>her</em> there, near the shattered sill,</div> - <div class="i0">At the window, gazing from the mill</div> - <div class="i0">Into the darkness under the storm;</div> - <div class="i0">Around her flickering hair and form</div> - <div class="i0">Unearthly glimmer. She seemed to lean</div> - <div class="i0">To the rushing waters that roared unseen:</div> - <div class="i0">A moment only she seemed to sway</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Before me there in the lightning gray,</div> - <div class="i0">Then vanished utterly away:</div> - <div class="i0">Like a blown-out light....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i10">And was it she,</div> - <div class="i0">The miller's daughter who died, they say,</div> - <div class="i0">Who flung herself on the mill's great wheel,</div> - <div class="i0">Long years ago, in her heart's despair?—</div> - <div class="i0">Or was it a dream, a fantasy,</div> - <div class="i0">That the place and the moment made me feel,</div> - <div class="i0">And imagination imaged there?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ON_FLOYDS_FORK" id="ON_FLOYDS_FORK"></a>ON FLOYD'S FORK</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the hoot of the owl comes over the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">At twelve o'clock when the night is still,</div> - <div class="i0">And pale on the pool where the creek-frogs croon,</div> - <div class="i0">Glimmering gray is the light o' the moon;</div> - <div class="i0">And under the willows, where shadows lie,</div> - <div class="i0">The torch of the firefly wanders by;—</div> - <div class="i0">They say that the miller walks here, walks here,</div> - <div class="i0">All covered with chaff, with his crooked staff,</div> - <div class="i0">And his horrible hobble and hideous laugh;</div> - <div class="i0">The old, lame miller hung many a year:</div> - <div class="i0">When the hoot of the owl comes over the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">He walks in the night by Harrod's mill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the bark of the fox sounds lone on the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">At twelve o'clock when the night is chill</div> - <div class="i0">With the autumn wind, and the waters creep</div> - <div class="i0">Where the starlight fails and the shadows sleep;</div> - <div class="i0">And under the willows, that toss and moan,</div> - <div class="i0">The glow-worm kindles its lanthorn lone;—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> - <div class="i0">They say that a woman floats dead, floats dead,</div> - <div class="i0">In a weedy space that the lilies lace,</div> - <div class="i0">A curse in her eyes and a smile on her face;</div> - <div class="i0">The miller's young wife with a gash in her head:</div> - <div class="i0">When the bark of the fox sounds lone on the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">She floats in the night by Harrod's mill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the howl of the hound comes over the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">At twelve o'clock when the night is ill,</div> - <div class="i0">And the thunder mutters and rain-winds sob,</div> - <div class="i0">And the foxfire glows like the lamp of a Lob;</div> - <div class="i0">And under the willows, that gloom and glance,</div> - <div class="i0">The will-o'-the-wisps hold a devil's-dance;—</div> - <div class="i0">They say that that crime is reacted again.</div> - <div class="i0">And each cranny and chink of the mill doth wink</div> - <div class="i0">With the light o' hell, or the lightning's blink,</div> - <div class="i0">And a woman's shrieks are heard through the rain:</div> - <div class="i0">When the howl of the hound comes over the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">No man will walk by Harrod's mill.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WOMAN_BY_THE_WATER" id="THE_WOMAN_BY_THE_WATER"></a>THE WOMAN BY THE WATER</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She stands within the stormy glow</div> - <div class="i0">Of sunset, with a face of snow,</div> - <div class="i0">The white embodiment of woe,</div> - <div class="i1">As night comes on:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She stands within the sombre glare</div> - <div class="i0">Of dusk, with dark neglected hair,</div> - <div class="i0">An apparition of despair,</div> - <div class="i1">When day is gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The haggard house within the vale</div> - <div class="i0">Looks spectral as a ragged sail</div> - <div class="i0">The Dutchman hoists against the gale</div> - <div class="i1">On haunted seas:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And in the garden,—one vast brake</div> - <div class="i0">Of dock and thistle,—snail and snake</div> - <div class="i0">Crawl; and the death-watch taps, awake</div> - <div class="i1">In rotting trees.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The stagnant stream along the night</div> - <div class="i0">Creeps, like a nightmare, where each white</div> - <div class="i0">Lily is an uneasy light,</div> - <div class="i1">A wisp up-tossed:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And through the cypress-trees and vines</div> - <div class="i0">The gray fox skulks and laps and whines;</div> - <div class="i0">The owl hoots; and the foxfire shines</div> - <div class="i1">In darkness lost.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She stands beside the stagnant stream;</div> - <div class="i0">Her garments drip at every seam;</div> - <div class="i0">She looks a shadow in a dream</div> - <div class="i1">Of dread and woe:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No star stares half so steadily</div> - <div class="i0">At earth as at the water she;</div> - <div class="i0">And what she sees there—it may be</div> - <div class="i1">The owlets know.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_STREET_OF_GHOSTS" id="A_STREET_OF_GHOSTS"></a>A STREET OF GHOSTS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The drowsy day, with half-closed eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">Dreams in this quaint forgotten street,</div> - <div class="i0">That, like some old-world wreckage lies,—</div> - <div class="i0">Left by the sea's receding beat,—</div> - <div class="i0">Far from the city's restless feet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Abandoned pavements, that the trees'</div> - <div class="i0">Huge roots have wrecked; whose flagstones feel</div> - <div class="i0">No more the sweep of draperies;</div> - <div class="i0">And sunken curbs, whereon no wheel</div> - <div class="i0">Grinds, and no gallant's spur-bound heel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old houses, walled with rotting brick,</div> - <div class="i0">Thick-creepered, dormered, weather-vaned,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like withered faces, sad and sick,—</div> - <div class="i0">Stare from each side, all broken paned,</div> - <div class="i0">With battered doors the rain has stained.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And though the day be white with heat,</div> - <div class="i0">Their ancient yards are dim and cold;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Where now the toad makes its retreat,</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid flower-pots green-caked with mold,</div> - <div class="i0">And naught but noisome weeds unfold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The slow gray slug and snail have trailed</div> - <div class="i0">Their slimy silver up and down</div> - <div class="i0">The beds where once the moss-rose veiled</div> - <div class="i0">Rich beauty; and the mushroom brown</div> - <div class="i0">Swells where the lily tossed its crown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The shadowy scents, that oft are wont</div> - <div class="i0">To flit among the walks and boughs,</div> - <div class="i0">Seem ghosts of sweethearts here who haunt</div> - <div class="i0">And wander round each empty house,</div> - <div class="i0">Wrapped in the fragrance of dead vows.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And, haply, when the evening droops</div> - <div class="i0">Her amber eyelids in the west,</div> - <div class="i0">Here you may hear the swish of hoops,</div> - <div class="i0">Or catch the glint of hat and vest,</div> - <div class="i0">As two dim lovers past you pressed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And, instant as some star's slant flame,</div> - <div class="i0">That scores the swarthy cheek of night,</div> - <div class="i0">Perhaps behold Colonial dame</div> - <div class="i0">And gentleman in stately white</div> - <div class="i0">Go glimmering down the pale moonlight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> - <div class="i0">In powder, patch, and furbelow,</div> - <div class="i0">Cocked hat and sword; and every one,—</div> - <div class="i0">Tory and Whig of long-ago,—</div> - <div class="i0">As real as in the days long done,</div> - <div class="i0">The courtly days of Washington.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="BEFORE_THE_TOMB" id="BEFORE_THE_TOMB"></a>BEFORE THE TOMB</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The way led under cedared gloom</div> - <div class="i0">Where, o'er the entrance of her tomb,</div> - <div class="i0">The moon hung, like a cactus bloom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I had an hour of night and thin</div> - <div class="i0">Sad starlight; and I set my chin</div> - <div class="i0">Against the grating and looked in.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A gleam, like moonlight, through a square</div> - <div class="i0">Of opening—I knew not where—</div> - <div class="i0">Shone on her coffin resting there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And on its oval silver-plate</div> - <div class="i0">I read her name and age and date,</div> - <div class="i0">And smiled, soft-thinking on my hate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There was no insect sound to chirr;</div> - <div class="i0">No wind to make a little stir:</div> - <div class="i0">I stood and looked and thought on her.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The gleam stole downward from her head,</div> - <div class="i0">Till at her feet it rested, red</div> - <div class="i0">On Gothic gold, whose letters said:—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"God to her love lent a weak reed</div> - <div class="i0">Of strength: and gave no light to lead:</div> - <div class="i0">Pray for her soul: for it hath need."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There was no night-bird's twitter near;</div> - <div class="i0">No low, vague water I might hear</div> - <div class="i0">To make a small sound in the ear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The gleam, that made a burning mark</div> - <div class="i0">Of each dim word, died to a spark;</div> - <div class="i0">Then left the tomb and coffin dark.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I had a little while to wait;</div> - <div class="i0">And prayed with hands against the grate,</div> - <div class="i0">And heart that yearned and knew too late.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There was no light below, above,</div> - <div class="i0">To point my soul the way thereof,—</div> - <div class="i0">The way of hate that led to love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="FLAMENCINE" id="FLAMENCINE"></a>FLAMENCINE</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It was a gipsy maiden</div> - <div class="i1">Within the forest green;</div> - <div class="i0">It was a gipsy maiden</div> - <div class="i1">Who shook a tambourine:</div> - <div class="i0">The star of eve had not the face,</div> - <div class="i0">The cascade's foam had not the grace</div> - <div class="i3">Of Flamencine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Her bodice was of purple,</div> - <div class="i1">Her shoes of satin sheen;</div> - <div class="i0">Her bodice was of purple</div> - <div class="i1">With scarlet laid between:</div> - <div class="i0">The wind of eve was in the tread,</div> - <div class="i0">The black of night was on the head</div> - <div class="i3">Of Flamencine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Among the dreaming vistas,</div> - <div class="i1">The darkling dells between,</div> - <div class="i0">Among the dreaming vistas</div> - <div class="i1">I heard her tambourine:</div> - <div class="i0">And far within the ghostly glade</div> - <div class="i0">The moonbeams and the shadows played</div> - <div class="i3">Round Flamencine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Among the beechen shadows</div> - <div class="i1">When fireflies are seen,</div> - <div class="i0">Among the beechen shadows</div> - <div class="i1">When glow-worms glimmer green,</div> - <div class="i0">Then down the darkness, like a light,</div> - <div class="i0">She dances; and the eyes are bright</div> - <div class="i3">Of Flamencine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There lies a gipsy maiden</div> - <div class="i1">Within the forest green;</div> - <div class="i0">There lies a gipsy maiden</div> - <div class="i1">Beside her tambourine:</div> - <div class="i0">These many years I am her slave—</div> - <div class="i0">The violets grow upon the grave</div> - <div class="i3">Of Flamencine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="HILDEGARD" id="HILDEGARD"></a>HILDEGARD</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Hildegard the dæmons name</div> - <div class="i1">Her, who meets me on the mountain:</div> - <div class="i0">Her, whose hair is like the flame</div> - <div class="i1">Of a sunset-fevered fountain:</div> - <div class="i0">I can tell her by her eyes,</div> - <div class="i1">Dreadful eyes of bitter beryl,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the anguish never dies,</div> - <div class="i1">And the suffering soul sits sterile</div> - <div class="i0">In such light as ever lies</div> - <div class="i1">On the unsailed seas of peril.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How we met I never knew.</div> - <div class="i1">Once I turned—and there she trembled</div> - <div class="i0">Near me, glimmering like the dew</div> - <div class="i1">In the sessions of assembled</div> - <div class="i0">Flowers.—Hers some influence</div> - <div class="i1">Of soft, serpent magnetism,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Vanquishing my every sense</div> - <div class="i1">With essential mesmerism;</div> - <div class="i0">Holding me beneath the lens</div> - <div class="i1">Of her will's compelling prism.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I can not escape. She treads</div> - <div class="i1">Noiseless as the forest flowers</div> - <div class="i0">Walked on by the wind; their heads</div> - <div class="i1">Pavements for the mottled hours:</div> - <div class="i0">She is whiter than the trees</div> - <div class="i1">When their blossoms are unsheathing;</div> - <div class="i0">She is lissome as the ease</div> - <div class="i1">Of the lilied water wreathing;</div> - <div class="i0">She is subtle as the breeze</div> - <div class="i1">Through the summer foliage breathing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When she speaks, within my ears,</div> - <div class="i1">Like wild music heard in fever</div> - <div class="i0">Is her voice; and it appears</div> - <div class="i1">That my soul can never leave her:</div> - <div class="i0">Babylonian necromance,</div> - <div class="i1">Oldest witcheries,—that harrow</div> - <div class="i0">Yet compel,—are hers; her glance</div> - <div class="i1">Holds me; and my very marrow</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Feels it; and I stand a-trance,</div> - <div class="i1">While her pupils slowly narrow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thus she binds me with her gaze,</div> - <div class="i1">While her white hands weigh my shoulders;</div> - <div class="i0">And my weak will swings and sways</div> - <div class="i1">To her gaze that burns and smolders.</div> - <div class="i0">So she draws me far away,</div> - <div class="i1">Under boughs where summer dallies:</div> - <div class="i0">Over peaks of purple day:</div> - <div class="i1">Far away through Eden alleys:</div> - <div class="i0">All the way is one long May</div> - <div class="i1">Till we come to her dark valleys.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There black tempest treads the peaks;</div> - <div class="i1">Iron skies are gulfed asunder,</div> - <div class="i0">Whence the lightning's lava leaks,</div> - <div class="i1">Vomiting the hosts of thunder.</div> - <div class="i0">Here she kisses me till red</div> - <div class="i1">With my heart's blood are her kisses;</div> - <div class="i0">Then my soul is seized with dread,</div> - <div class="i1">For it knows no woman this is:</div> - <div class="i0">Yea, behold! it sees instead</div> - <div class="i1">But a milk-white snake that hisses.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ROMAUNT_OF_THE_OAK" id="ROMAUNT_OF_THE_OAK"></a>ROMAUNT OF THE OAK</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"I rode to death, for I fought for shame—</div> - <div class="i0">The Lady Maurine of noble name,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"The fair and faithless!—Though life be long</div> - <div class="i0">Is love the wiser?—Love made song</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Of all my life; and the soul that crept</div> - <div class="i0">Before, arose like a star and leapt:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Still leaps with the love that it found untrue,</div> - <div class="i0">That it found unworthy.—Now run me through!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Yea, run me through! for meet and well,</div> - <div class="i0">And a jest for laughter of fiends in Hell,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"It is that I, who have done no wrong,</div> - <div class="i0">Should die by the hand of Hugh the Strong,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Of Hugh her leman!—What else could be</div> - <div class="i0">When the devil was judge 'twixt thee and me?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"He splintered my lance, and my blade he broke—</div> - <div class="i0">Now finish me, thou, 'neath the trysting oak!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The shield of his foeman—a heart of white</div> - <div class="i0">In a bath of fire—shone in the night:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The plume of his foeman, as midnight black,</div> - <div class="i0">Blew, as he leapt on his horse's back:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Leapt and laughed as his sword he swung,</div> - <div class="i0">Then galloped away with a laugh on his tongue....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who is she in the gray, wet dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid the forest shades like a shadow wan?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who kneels, one hand on her straining breast,</div> - <div class="i0">One hand on the dead man's bosom pressed?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Her face is dim as the dead's; and cold</div> - <div class="i0">As his tarnished harness of steel and gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O Lady Maurine! O Lady Maurine!</div> - <div class="i0">What boots it now that regret is keen?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">That his hair you smooth? that you kiss his brow,</div> - <div class="i0">What boots it now? what boots it now?—</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> - <div class="i0">She has haled him under the trysting oak,</div> - <div class="i0">The huge old oak that the creepers cloak.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She has stood him, gaunt in his battered arms,</div> - <div class="i0">In its haunted hollow.—"Be safe from storms,"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She laughed as his cloven casque she placed</div> - <div class="i0">On his brow, and his riven shield she braced.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then sat and talked to the forest flowers</div> - <div class="i0">Through the lonely term of the day's pale hours.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And stared and whispered and smiled and wept,</div> - <div class="i0">As nearer and nearer the evening crept.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And lo, when the moon, like a great gold bloom</div> - <div class="i0">Above the sorrowful trees did loom,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She rose up sobbing, "O moon, come see</div> - <div class="i0">My bridegroom here in the old oak-tree!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"I have talked to the flowers all day, all day,</div> - <div class="i0">For never a word had he to say.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"He would not listen, he would not hear,</div> - <div class="i0">Though I wailed my longing into his ear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"O moon, steal in where he stands so grim,</div> - <div class="i0">And tell him I love him and plead with him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Soften his face, that is cold and stern,</div> - <div class="i0">And brighten his eyes and make them burn,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"O moon, white moon, so my soul can see,</div> - <div class="i0">Can say that they glow with love for me!"—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the moon had set, and the woods were dark,</div> - <div class="i0">The wild deer came, and stood as stark</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">As phantoms with eyes of flame; or fled</div> - <div class="i0">Like a ghostly herd of the hunted dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And the strix-owl called; and the werewolf snarled;</div> - <div class="i0">And a voice, in the boughs of the oak-tree gnarled,—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Like the whining voice of the hags that ride</div> - <div class="i0">To the witches' Sabboth,—crooned and cried.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_050a.jpg" width="337" height="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>Stared and whispered and smiled and wept <span class="mleft1">Page <a href="#Page_49">49</a></span><br /> -<em>Romaunt of the Oak</em></p></div> -</div> - -<div class="larger-file"> - [<a href="images/i_050abig.jpg">See larger version</a>] -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span></p> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And wrapped in his mantle of wind and cloud,</div> - <div class="i0">The storm-fiend stalked through the forest loud.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When she heard the dead man rattle and groan</div> - <div class="i0">As the oak was bent and its leaves were blown,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And the lightning flickered his shimmering mail,—</div> - <div class="i0">Through the swirl and sweep of the rain and hail,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She seemed to hear him, who seemed to call,—</div> - <div class="i0">"Come hither, Maurine! the wild leaves fall!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"The wild leaves rustle, the wild leaves flee—</div> - <div class="i0">Come hither, Maurine, to the hollow tree!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"To the trysting tree, to the tree once green,</div> - <div class="i0">Come hither, Maurine! come hither, Maurine!"...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They found her closed in his armored arms—</div> - <div class="i0">Had he claimed his bride on that night of storms?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_REED_SHAKEN_WITH_THE_WIND" id="A_REED_SHAKEN_WITH_THE_WIND"></a>A REED SHAKEN WITH THE WIND</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Not for you and me the path</div> - <div class="i0">Winding through the shadowless</div> - <div class="i0">Fields of morning's dewiness!</div> - <div class="i0">Where the brook that hurries hath</div> - <div class="i0">Laughter lighter than a boy's;</div> - <div class="i0">Where recurrent odors poise,</div> - <div class="i0">Romp-like, with irreverent tresses,</div> - <div class="i0">In the sun; and leaves and boughs</div> - <div class="i0">Build a music-haunted house</div> - <div class="i0">For the winds to hang their dresses,</div> - <div class="i0">Whisper-silken, rustling in.</div> - <div class="i0">Ours a path that led unto</div> - <div class="i0">Twilight regions gray with dew;</div> - <div class="i0">Where moon-vapors gathered thin</div> - <div class="i0">Over acres sisterless</div> - <div class="i0">Of all healthy beauty; where</div> - <div class="i0">Fungus growths made sad the air</div> - <div class="i0">As a phantom-felt caress:</div> - <div class="i0">Under darkness and strange stars,</div> - <div class="i0">To the sorrow-silenced bars</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of a dubious forestland,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the wood-scents seemed to stand,</div> - <div class="i0">And the sounds on either hand,</div> - <div class="i0">Clad like Sleep's own servitors</div> - <div class="i0">In the shadowy livery</div> - <div class="i0">Of the ancient House of Dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">Which before us,—fitfully,</div> - <div class="i0">With white intermittent gleams</div> - <div class="i0">Of its pale-lamped windows,—shone,</div> - <div class="i0">Echoing with the dim unknown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To say to Hope,—Take all from me,</div> - <div class="i1">And grant me naught:</div> - <div class="i0">Take rose, and song, and melody,</div> - <div class="i1">And word and thought:</div> - <div class="i0">Then all my life make me her slave,—</div> - <div class="i1">Is all I crave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To say to Time,—Be true to me,</div> - <div class="i1">Nor grant me less</div> - <div class="i0">Of loss, of grief, of memory,</div> - <div class="i1">Of heart's distress:</div> - <div class="i0">Then for her love set me a task,</div> - <div class="i1">Is all I ask.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I came to you when eve was young:</div> - <div class="i0">And, where the park rolled downward to</div> - <div class="i0">The river, and among the dew,</div> - <div class="i0">One vesper moment, lit and sung</div> - <div class="i0">A bird, your eyes said something true,</div> - <div class="i0">Said something to my eyes, more dear</div> - <div class="i0">Than song the bird poured, silver-clear.</div> - <div class="i0">How sweet it was to be with you!</div> - <div class="i0">How, with our souls, we seemed to hear</div> - <div class="i0">The night approaching with its stars!</div> - <div class="i0">How calm the moon sloped up her sphere</div> - <div class="i0">Of fire-filled pearl through passive bars</div> - <div class="i0">Of clouds that berged the tender east!</div> - <div class="i0">While all the dark inanimate</div> - <div class="i0">Of Nature woke; initiate</div> - <div class="i0">With th' moon's arrival, something ceased</div> - <div class="i0">In Nature's soul: she stood again</div> - <div class="i0">Another self, that seemed t' have been</div> - <div class="i0">Dormant, suppressed and so unseen</div> - <div class="i0">All day: a life, unknown and strange</div> - <div class="i0">And dream-suggestive, that had lain,—</div> - <div class="i0">Masked on with light,—within the range</div> - <div class="i0">Of thought, but unrevealed till now.</div> - <div class="i0">It was the hour of love. And you,</div> - <div class="i0">With downward eyes and pensive brow,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Among the moonlight and the dew,—</div> - <div class="i0">Although no word of love was spoken,—</div> - <div class="i0">Heard the sweet night's confession broken</div> - <div class="i0">Of something here more sweet in me:</div> - <div class="i0">A love, depth made inaudible,</div> - <div class="i0">Save to your soul, that answered well,</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes replying silently.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Fair you are as a rose is fair,</div> - <div class="i1">There where the shadows dew it;</div> - <div class="i0">And the deeps of your brown, brown hair,</div> - <div class="i0">Soft as the cloud that lingers there</div> - <div class="i1">With the sunset's auburn through it.</div> - <div class="i0">Eyes of azure and throat of snow,</div> - <div class="i0">Tell me what my heart would know!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Every dream I dream of you</div> - <div class="i1">Has a love-thought in it,</div> - <div class="i0">And a hope, a kiss or two,</div> - <div class="i0">Something dear and something true,</div> - <div class="i1">Telling me each minute,</div> - <div class="i0">With three words it whispers clear</div> - <div class="i0">What my heart from you would hear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Junetime came: the days grew kind</div> - <div class="i0">With increasing beauty: deep</div> - <div class="i0">Were the nights with rest and sleep:</div> - <div class="i0">Fair, with poppies intertwined</div> - <div class="i0">On their blond locks, went the Hours,</div> - <div class="i0">Sunny-hearted as the rose,</div> - <div class="i0">Through the buds and banded flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Teaching them, how no one knows,</div> - <div class="i0">Freshness, color, and perfume.—</div> - <div class="i0">In the window of your room</div> - <div class="i0">Bloomed a late azalea. Pink</div> - <div class="i0">As an egret's rosy plumes</div> - <div class="i0">Shone its tender-tufted blooms.</div> - <div class="i0">From your care and love, I think,</div> - <div class="i0">Love's rose-color it did drink,</div> - <div class="i0">Growing rosier day by day</div> - <div class="i0">Through your 'tending hand's caress:</div> - <div class="i0">And your own dear naturalness</div> - <div class="i0">Had imbued it in some way.</div> - <div class="i0">Once you gave a blossom of it,</div> - <div class="i0">Smiling, to me when I left:</div> - <div class="i0">Need I tell you how I love it</div> - <div class="i0">Faded though it is now!—'Reft</div> - <div class="i0">Of its fragrance and its color,</div> - <div class="i0">Yet 'tis dearer now than then,—As</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> - <div class="i0">past happiness is when</div> - <div class="i0">Life regrets.—And dimmer, duller</div> - <div class="i0">Though its beauty be, when I</div> - <div class="i0">Look upon it, I recall</div> - <div class="i0">Every part of that old wall;</div> - <div class="i0">And the dingy window high,</div> - <div class="i0">Where you sat and read; and all</div> - <div class="i0">The fond love that made your face</div> - <div class="i0">A soft sunbeam in that place:</div> - <div class="i0">And the plant that grew this bloom</div> - <div class="i0">Withered here, itself long dead,</div> - <div class="i0">Makes a halo overhead</div> - <div class="i0">There again—and through my room,</div> - <div class="i0">Like faint whispers of perfume,</div> - <div class="i0">Steal the words of love then said.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All of my love I send to you,</div> - <div class="i1">I send to you,</div> - <div class="i0">On thoughts, like moths, that wend to you</div> - <div class="i0">Out of my heart's glad garden,</div> - <div class="i0">O'er which, its lovely warden,</div> - <div class="i0">Your face, a lily seeming,</div> - <div class="i1">Is dreaming.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All of my life I bring to you,</div> - <div class="i1">I bring to you,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> - <div class="i0">In deeds, like birds, that wing to you</div> - <div class="i0">Out of my soul's deep valley,</div> - <div class="i0">O'er which, most musically,</div> - <div class="i0">Your love, a fountain, glistens,</div> - <div class="i1">And listens.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My love, my life, how blessed in you!</div> - <div class="i1">How blessed in you!</div> - <div class="i0">Whose thoughts, whose deeds find rest in you</div> - <div class="i0">Here on my life's dark ocean,</div> - <div class="i0">O'er which, in heavenly motion,</div> - <div class="i0">Your soul, a star, abideth,</div> - <div class="i1">And guideth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where the old Kentucky wound</div> - <div class="i0">Through the land,—its stream between</div> - <div class="i0">Hills of primitive forest green,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like a goodly belt around</div> - <div class="i0">Giant breasts of grandeur; with</div> - <div class="i0">Many an unknown Indian myth,</div> - <div class="i0">On the boat we steamed. The land</div> - <div class="i0">Like an hospitable hand</div> - <div class="i0">Welcomed us. Alone we sat</div> - <div class="i0">On the under-deck, and saw</div> - <div class="i0">Farm-house and plantation draw</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Near and vanish. 'Neath your hat</div> - <div class="i0">Your young eyes laughed; and your hair,</div> - <div class="i0">Blown about them by the air</div> - <div class="i0">Of our passage, clung and curled.</div> - <div class="i0">Music, and the summer moon;</div> - <div class="i0">And the hills' great shadows hewn</div> - <div class="i0">Out of silence; and the tune</div> - <div class="i0">Of the whistle, when we whirled</div> - <div class="i0">Round a moonlit bend in sight of</div> - <div class="i0">Some lone landing heaped with hay</div> - <div class="i0">Or tobacco; where the light of</div> - <div class="i0">One dim, solitary lamp</div> - <div class="i0">Signaled through the evening's damp:</div> - <div class="i0">Then a bell; and, dusky gray,</div> - <div class="i0">Shuffling figures on the shore</div> - <div class="i0">With the cable; rugged forms</div> - <div class="i0">On the gang-plank; backs and arms</div> - <div class="i0">With their cargo bending o'er;</div> - <div class="i0">And the burly mate before.</div> - <div class="i0">Then an iron bell, and puff</div> - <div class="i0">Of escaping steam; and out</div> - <div class="i0">Where the stream is wheel-whipped rough;</div> - <div class="i0">Music, and a parting shout</div> - <div class="i0">From the shore; the pilot's bell</div> - <div class="i0">Beating on the deck below;</div> - <div class="i0">Then the steady, quivering, slow,</div> - <div class="i0">Smooth advance again. Until</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Twinkling lights beyond us tell</div> - <div class="i0">Of a lock or little town</div> - <div class="i0">Clasped between a hill and hill,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the bluegrass fields slope down.—</div> - <div class="i0">So we went. That summer-time</div> - <div class="i0">Lingers with me like a rhyme</div> - <div class="i0">Learned for dreamy beauty of</div> - <div class="i0">Its old-fashioned faith and love,</div> - <div class="i0">In some musing moment; sith</div> - <div class="i0">Heart-associated with</div> - <div class="i0">Joy that moments quiet bore,</div> - <div class="i0">And forgotten nevermore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VIII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon:</div> - <div class="i1">Music, at whose fountain's brink</div> - <div class="i1">Low he stoops his face to drink;</div> - <div class="i0">Seeing, as the wave is drawn,</div> - <div class="i1">His near image rise and sink.</div> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon:</div> - <div class="i1">Odor, whose red roses wreathe</div> - <div class="i1">His bright brow that shines beneath;</div> - <div class="i0">Hearing, as each bloom is blown,</div> - <div class="i1">His soul's essence breathe and breathe.</div> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon:</div> - <div class="i1">Color, to whose rainbow he</div> - <div class="i1">Lifts his dark eyes burningly;</div> - <div class="i0">Feeling, as the wild hues dawn,</div> - <div class="i1">His high immortality.</div> - <div class="i0">Three sweet things love lives upon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IX</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Memories of other days,—</div> - <div class="i0">Sad with whilom happiness,—</div> - <div class="i0">Rise before my musing gaze</div> - <div class="i0">In the twilight.... And your dress</div> - <div class="i0">Seems beside me, like a haze</div> - <div class="i0">Shimmering white; as when we went</div> - <div class="i0">'Neath the star-strewn firmament,</div> - <div class="i0">Love-led, with impatient feet</div> - <div class="i0">Down the night that, summer-sweet,</div> - <div class="i0">Sparkled o'er the lamp-lit street.</div> - <div class="i0">Every look you gave me then</div> - <div class="i0">Comes before my eyes again,</div> - <div class="i0">Making music for my heart</div> - <div class="i0">On that path where once for us</div> - <div class="i0">Roses, red and amorous,</div> - <div class="i0">Grew, the roses red of love:</div> - <div class="i0">Roses, that are dead enough</div> - <div class="i0">On that path now! whence oft start</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Out of recollected places,</div> - <div class="i0">With remembered forms and faces,</div> - <div class="i0">Dreams of love, like figures, woven</div> - <div class="i0">In my life's dark tapestry,</div> - <div class="i0">Beckoning, ever shadowy,</div> - <div class="i0">To my soul still.—O'er the cloven</div> - <div class="i0">Gulf of time I seem to hear</div> - <div class="i0">Words once whispered in my ear,</div> - <div class="i0">Calling—as might friends long dead,</div> - <div class="i0">With familiar voices deep,</div> - <div class="i0">Call to one who lies asleep,</div> - <div class="i0">Comforting.—So was I led</div> - <div class="i0">Backward to forgotten things,</div> - <div class="i0">Contiguities that spread</div> - <div class="i0">Sudden, unremembered wings:</div> - <div class="i0">And across my mind's still blue,</div> - <div class="i0">From the nest they fledged in, flew</div> - <div class="i0">Dazzling shapes that passion knew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">X</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah! over full my heart is</div> - <div class="i1">Of sadness and of pain:</div> - <div class="i0">As a rose-flower in the garden</div> - <div class="i1">The dull dusk fills with rain;</div> - <div class="i0">As a blown red rose that shivers</div> - <div class="i1">And bows to the wind and rain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> - <div class="i0">So give me your hands and speak me</div> - <div class="i1">As once in the days of yore,</div> - <div class="i0">When love spoke sweetly to us,</div> - <div class="i1">The love that speaks no more:</div> - <div class="i0">The sound of your voice may help him</div> - <div class="i1">To speak in my heart once more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah! over grieved my soul is,</div> - <div class="i1">And tired and sick for sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">As a poppy-bloom that withers,</div> - <div class="i1">Forgotten, where reapers reap:</div> - <div class="i0">As a harvested poppy-flower</div> - <div class="i1">That dies where reapers reap.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So bend to my face and kiss me</div> - <div class="i1">As once in the days of yore,</div> - <div class="i0">When the touch of your lips was magic</div> - <div class="i1">That restored to life once more:</div> - <div class="i0">The thought of your kiss, which awakens</div> - <div class="i1">To life that love once more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sitting often I have, oh!</div> - <div class="i0">Often have desired you so—</div> - <div class="i0">Yearned to kiss you as I did</div> - <div class="i0">When your love to me you gave,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> - <div class="i0">In the moonlight, by the wave,</div> - <div class="i0">And a long-remembered kiss</div> - <div class="i0">Pressed upon your mouth that chid,</div> - <div class="i0">Then upon each eye's sweet lid—</div> - <div class="i0">That, all passion-shaken, I</div> - <div class="i0">With love-language will address</div> - <div class="i0">Each dear thing I know you by,</div> - <div class="i0">Picture, needle-work, or frame;</div> - <div class="i0">Each suggestive in the same</div> - <div class="i0">Perfume of past happiness:</div> - <div class="i0">Till, meseems, the ways we knew</div> - <div class="i0">Now again I tread with you</div> - <div class="i0">From the old-time tryst: and there</div> - <div class="i0">Feel the pressure of your hair</div> - <div class="i0">Cool and young upon my cheek,</div> - <div class="i0">And your breath's aroma: bare</div> - <div class="i0">On my arm your hand,—as weak</div> - <div class="i0">As a lily on a stream:—</div> - <div class="i0">And once more you look at me</div> - <div class="i0">With the sometime witchery,</div> - <div class="i0">And again I hear you speak;</div> - <div class="i0">And remembered ecstasy</div> - <div class="i0">Sweeps my soul again.—I seem</div> - <div class="i0">Dreaming.... Would I thus might dream</div> - <div class="i0">Ever! and reality</div> - <div class="i0">Mix itself eternally</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With such visions of the past,</div> - <div class="i0">Where my soul still holds you fast!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When day dies, lone, forsaken,</div> - <div class="i1">And joy is kissed asleep;</div> - <div class="i0">When doubt's gray eyes awaken,</div> - <div class="i0">And love, with music taken</div> - <div class="i0">From hearts with sighings shaken,</div> - <div class="i1">Sits in the dusk to weep:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With ghostly-lifted finger</div> - <div class="i1">What memory then shall rise?</div> - <div class="i0">Of dark regret the bringer—</div> - <div class="i0">To tell the sorrowing singer</div> - <div class="i0">Of days whose echoes linger,</div> - <div class="i1">Till dawn unstars the skies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When night is gone and, beaming,</div> - <div class="i1">Faith journeys forth to toil;</div> - <div class="i0">When hope's blue eyes wake gleaming,</div> - <div class="i0">And life is done with dreaming</div> - <div class="i0">The dreams that seem but seeming</div> - <div class="i1">Within the world's turmoil:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who may forget the presence</div> - <div class="i1">Of death that walks unseen?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Whose scythe casts shadowy crescents</div> - <div class="i0">Around life's glittering essence,</div> - <div class="i0">As lessens, slowly lessens,</div> - <div class="i1">The space that lies between.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XIII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Bland was that October day,</div> - <div class="i0">Calm and balmy as the spring,</div> - <div class="i0">When we went a forest way,</div> - <div class="i0">Under beeches, lichen-gray,</div> - <div class="i0">To a valleyed opening;</div> - <div class="i0">Where the purple aster flowered,</div> - <div class="i0">And, like torches, savage-held,</div> - <div class="i0">Red the fiery sumac towered;</div> - <div class="i0">And, where gum-trees sentineled</div> - <div class="i0">Vistas, robed in gold and garnet,</div> - <div class="i0">Ripe the thorny chestnut shelled</div> - <div class="i0">Its brown plumpness. Bee and hornet</div> - <div class="i0">Droned around us; low the cricket,</div> - <div class="i0">Tireless in the wood-rose thicket,</div> - <div class="i0">Tremoloed; and, to the wind</div> - <div class="i0">All its moon-spun silver casting,</div> - <div class="i0">Swung the milkweed's pod, that thinned,</div> - <div class="i0">Where a butterfly seemed pinned:</div> - <div class="i0">And its clean flame on the sod</div> - <div class="i0">By the fading goldenrod,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Burned the white life-everlasting.—</div> - <div class="i0">It was not so much the time,</div> - <div class="i0">Nor the place, nor way we went,</div> - <div class="i0">That made all our moods to rhyme,</div> - <div class="i0">Nor the season's sentiment,</div> - <div class="i0">As it was the innocent</div> - <div class="i0">Carefree childhood of our hearts,</div> - <div class="i0">Reading each expression of</div> - <div class="i0">Death and change as life and love:</div> - <div class="i0">That impression joy imparts</div> - <div class="i0">Unto others and retorts</div> - <div class="i0">On itself, which then made glad</div> - <div class="i0">All the sorrow of decay,</div> - <div class="i0">As the memory of that day</div> - <div class="i0">Makes this day of autumn sad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XIV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The pungent-breathed petunias</div> - <div class="i1">Hang riven of the rain;</div> - <div class="i0">And where the tiger-lily was</div> - <div class="i1">Now droops a tawny stain;</div> - <div class="i0">While in the twilight's purple pause</div> - <div class="i1">Earth dreams of heaven again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">When love sits down to sigh,</div> - <div class="i2">Where one lies all alone</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> - <div class="i1">Beneath the sod's green sky—</div> - <div class="i1">What boots it then to try,</div> - <div class="i2">Or to atone?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With ragged petals round its pod</div> - <div class="i1">The rain-wrecked poppy dies;</div> - <div class="i0">And where the hectic rose did nod</div> - <div class="i1">A crumbled crimson lies;</div> - <div class="i0">While distant as the dreams of God</div> - <div class="i1">The stars slip in the skies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">When love lies down to sleep,</div> - <div class="i2">When one is dead and gone—</div> - <div class="i1">Within the darkness deep</div> - <div class="i1">What boots it then to weep?</div> - <div class="i2">All's said and done.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Holding both your hands in mine,</div> - <div class="i0">Often have we sat together,</div> - <div class="i0">While, outside, the boisterous weather</div> - <div class="i0">Hung the wild wind on the pine</div> - <div class="i0">Like a black marauder, and</div> - <div class="i0">With a sudden warning hand</div> - <div class="i0">At the casement rapped. The night</div> - <div class="i0">Wrote no line or glimmer of light,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Starbeam-syllabled, within</div> - <div class="i0">Her dark book of death and sin,</div> - <div class="i0">Cloudy-chaptered tragicly.—</div> - <div class="i0">Looking in your eyes, ah me!</div> - <div class="i0">Though I knew, I did not heed</div> - <div class="i0">What the night wrote there for us,</div> - <div class="i0">Threatening and ominous:</div> - <div class="i0">For love helped my heart to read</div> - <div class="i0">Forward to unopened pages</div> - <div class="i0">Of a coming day, that held</div> - <div class="i0">More for us than all the ages</div> - <div class="i0">Past, that it epitomized</div> - <div class="i0">In one sentence; where was spelled</div> - <div class="i0">What our present realized</div> - <div class="i0">Only—all the love that was</div> - <div class="i0">Past and still to be for us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XVI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">'Though in the garden, gray with dew,</div> - <div class="i1">All life lies withering,</div> - <div class="i0">And there's no more to say or do,</div> - <div class="i1">No more to sigh or sing,</div> - <div class="i0">Come back with me the ways we knew</div> - <div class="i1">When buds were opening.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Perhaps we shall not search in vain</div> - <div class="i1">Within its wreck and gloom;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> - <div class="i0">'Mid roses ruined of the rain</div> - <div class="i1">There still may live one bloom;</div> - <div class="i0">One flower, whose heart may still retain</div> - <div class="i1">The long-lost soul-perfume.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then, perhaps, will come to us</div> - <div class="i1">The dreams we dreamed of yore;</div> - <div class="i0">And song, who spoke so beauteous,</div> - <div class="i1">Will speak to us once more;</div> - <div class="i0">And love, with eyes all amorous,</div> - <div class="i1">Will gaze as once before.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So 'though the yard is gray with dew,</div> - <div class="i1">And flowers are withering,</div> - <div class="i0">And there's no more to say or do,</div> - <div class="i1">No more to sigh or sing,</div> - <div class="i0">Come back with me the ways we knew</div> - <div class="i1">When buds were opening.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XVII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Looking on the desolate street,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the first snow drifts and drives,</div> - <div class="i0">Trodden black of hurrying feet,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the athlete storm-wind strives</div> - <div class="i0">With each tree and dangling light,—</div> - <div class="i0">Centres, sphered with glittering white,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Hissing in the dancing snow ...</div> - <div class="i0">Backward in my mind I go</div> - <div class="i0">To that tempest-haunted night</div> - <div class="i0">Of two autumns past, when we,</div> - <div class="i0">Hastening homeward, were o'ertaken</div> - <div class="i0">Of the storm; and 'neath a tree,</div> - <div class="i0">With its wild leaves tempest-shaken,</div> - <div class="i0">Sheltered us in that forsaken,</div> - <div class="i0">Sad and ancient cemetery,—</div> - <div class="i0">Where folk came no more to bury.—</div> - <div class="i0">Haggard gravestones, mossed and crumbled,</div> - <div class="i0">Tottered round us, or o'ertumbled</div> - <div class="i0">In their sunken graves; and some,</div> - <div class="i0">Urned and obelisked above</div> - <div class="i0">Iron-fenced-in tombs, stood dumb</div> - <div class="i0">Records of forgotten love.</div> - <div class="i0">And again I see the west</div> - <div class="i0">Yawning inward to its core</div> - <div class="i0">Of electric-spasmed ore,</div> - <div class="i0">Swiftly, without pause or rest:</div> - <div class="i0">And a great wind sweeps the dust</div> - <div class="i0">Up abandoned sidewalks; and,</div> - <div class="i0">In the rotting trees, the gust</div> - <div class="i0">Shouts again—a voice that would</div> - <div class="i0">Make its gaunt self understood</div> - <div class="i0">Moaning over Death's lean land.—</div> - <div class="i0">And we sat there, hand in hand;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> - <div class="i0">On the granite; where we read,</div> - <div class="i0">By the instant skies o'erhead,</div> - <div class="i0">Something of one young and dead.</div> - <div class="i0">Yet the words begot no fear</div> - <div class="i0">In our souls: you leaned your cheek</div> - <div class="i0">Smiling on mine: very near</div> - <div class="i0">Were our lips: we did not speak.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XVIII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And suddenly alone I stood</div> - <div class="i0">With scared eyes gazing through the wood,</div> - <div class="i0">For some still sign of ill or good</div> - <div class="i0">To lead me from the solitude.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The day was at its twilighting;</div> - <div class="i0">One cloud o'erhead spread a vast wing</div> - <div class="i0">Of rosy thunder; vanishing</div> - <div class="i0">Behind the far hills' sullen ring.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Some stars shone timidly o'erhead;</div> - <div class="i0">And towards the west's cadaverous red—</div> - <div class="i0">Like some wild dream that haunts the dead</div> - <div class="i0">In limbo—the lean moon was led.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Upon the sad, debatable</div> - <div class="i0">Vague lands of twilight slowly fell</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A silence that I knew too well,</div> - <div class="i0">A sorrow that I can not tell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What way to take, what path to go,</div> - <div class="i0">Whether into the east's gray glow,</div> - <div class="i0">Or where the west burnt red and low—</div> - <div class="i0">What way to choose I did not know.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So, hesitating, there I stood</div> - <div class="i0">Lost in my soul's uncertain wood;</div> - <div class="i0">One sign I craved of ill or good</div> - <div class="i0">To lead me from its solitude.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XIX</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It was autumn: and a night</div> - <div class="i0">Full of whispers and of mist,</div> - <div class="i0">With a gray moon, wanly whist,</div> - <div class="i0">Hanging like a phantom light</div> - <div class="i0">O'er the hills. We stood among</div> - <div class="i0">Windy fields of weed and flower,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the withered seed-pod hung,</div> - <div class="i0">And the chill leaf-cricket sung.</div> - <div class="i0">Melancholy was the hour</div> - <div class="i0">With the mystery and loneness</div> - <div class="i0">Of the year, that seemed to look</div> - <div class="i0">On its own departed face—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> - <div class="i0">As our love then, in its oneness,</div> - <div class="i0">All its dead past did retrace,</div> - <div class="i0">And from that sad moment took</div> - <div class="i0">Presage of approaching parting.—</div> - <div class="i0">Sorrowful the hour and dark:</div> - <div class="i0">Low among the trees, now darting,</div> - <div class="i0">Now concealed, a lamp's pale spark—</div> - <div class="i0">Like a fen-fire—winked and lured</div> - <div class="i0">Shut among the shadows, where</div> - <div class="i0">All was doubtful, unassured,</div> - <div class="i0">Immaterial; and bare</div> - <div class="i0">Facts of unideal day</div> - <div class="i0">Changed to substance such as dreams.</div> - <div class="i0">And meseemed then, far away—</div> - <div class="i0">Farther than remotest gleams</div> - <div class="i0">Of the stars—lost, separated,</div> - <div class="i0">And estranged and out of reach,</div> - <div class="i0">Grew our lives away from each,</div> - <div class="i0">Far away as it was fated.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XX</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is no gladness in the day</div> - <div class="i2">Now you're away;</div> - <div class="i0">Dull is the morn, the noon is dull,</div> - <div class="i2">Once beautiful;</div> - <div class="i0">And when the sunset fills the skies</div> - <div class="i2">With dusking dyes,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With tired eyes and tired heart</div> - <div class="i0">I sit alone, I sigh apart,</div> - <div class="i2">And wish for you,</div> - <div class="i2">For only you.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah! darker now the night comes on</div> - <div class="i2">Since you are gone;</div> - <div class="i0">Sad are the stars, the moon is sad,</div> - <div class="i2">Once wholly glad;</div> - <div class="i0">And when the stars and moon are set,</div> - <div class="i2">And earth lies wet,</div> - <div class="i0">With heart's regret and soul's hard ache,</div> - <div class="i0">I dream alone, I lie awake,</div> - <div class="i2">And think of you,</div> - <div class="i2">Of only you.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">These, who once spake me, speak no more,</div> - <div class="i2">Now all is o'er;</div> - <div class="i0">Day hath forgot the language of</div> - <div class="i2">Its hopes of love;</div> - <div class="i0">Night, whose sweet lips were burdensome</div> - <div class="i2">With dreams, is dumb;</div> - <div class="i0">Far different from what used to be</div> - <div class="i0">With grief and loss they speak to me,</div> - <div class="i2">They speak of you,</div> - <div class="i2">Of only you.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> - <div class="p6">XXI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So it ends—the path that crept</div> - <div class="i0">Through a land all slumber-whist;</div> - <div class="i0">Where the faded moonlight slept</div> - <div class="i0">Like a pale antagonist.</div> - <div class="i0">Now the star that led me onward,—</div> - <div class="i0">Reassuring with its light,—</div> - <div class="i0">Fails and falters; dipping downward</div> - <div class="i0">Leaves me wandering in night,</div> - <div class="i0">With old doubts, like hounds unchained,</div> - <div class="i0">Baying at my back, in flight....</div> - <div class="i0">So it ends. The woods attained—</div> - <div class="i0">Where our hearts' Desire builded</div> - <div class="i0">A fair temple, fire-gilded,</div> - <div class="i0">With Hope's marble shrine within,</div> - <div class="i0">(Where the lineaments of our love</div> - <div class="i0">Shone, with lilies clad and crowned,</div> - <div class="i0">Under marble reared above</div> - <div class="i0">Sorrow and her sister, Sin,</div> - <div class="i0">Columned, wreathed and ribbon-wound,)—</div> - <div class="i0">In the forest I have found</div> - <div class="i0">But a ruin! All around</div> - <div class="i0">Lie the shattered capitals,</div> - <div class="i0">And vast fragments of the walls ...</div> - <div class="i0">Like a climbing cloud,—that plies,</div> - <div class="i0">Wind-wrecked, o'er the moon that lies</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> - <div class="i0">'Neath its blackness,—taking on</div> - <div class="i0">Gradual certainties of wan,</div> - <div class="i0">Soft assaults of easy white,</div> - <div class="i0">(Till its huge cocoon, that holds</div> - <div class="i0">Like a moth the moon, unfolds,</div> - <div class="i0">And it passes) and the skies'</div> - <div class="i0">Emptiness and hungry night</div> - <div class="i0">Claim its bulk again, while she</div> - <div class="i0">Rides in lonely purity:—</div> - <div class="i0">So I found our temple broken;</div> - <div class="i0">And a musing moment's space</div> - <div class="i0">Love, whose latest word was spoken,</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed to meet me face to face,</div> - <div class="i0">Making bright that ruined place</div> - <div class="i0">With a white effulgence—then</div> - <div class="i0">Passed, and all was dark again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="WOMANS_PORTION" id="WOMANS_PORTION"></a>WOMAN'S PORTION</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The leaves are shivering on the thorn,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily;</div> - <div class="i0">And sighing wakes the sad-eyed morn,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I press my thin face to the pane,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily;</div> - <div class="i0">But never will he come again.</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The rain hath sicklied day with haze,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily;</div> - <div class="i0">My tears run downward as I gaze,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The mist and morn spake unto me,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"What is this thing God gives to thee,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> - <div class="i0">I said unto the morn and mist,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"The babe unborn whom sin hath kissed,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The morn and mist spake unto me,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"What is this thing which thou dost see,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I said unto the mist and morn,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"The shame of man and woman's scorn,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"He loved thee not," they made reply,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily.—</div> - <div class="i0">I said, "Would God had let me die!"</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My hopes are as a closed-up book,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily,</div> - <div class="i0">Upon whose clasp of love I look</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> - <div class="i0">All night the rain raved overhead,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily;</div> - <div class="i0">All night I wept, awake in bed,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I heard the wind sweep wild and wide,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily;</div> - <div class="i0">And turned upon my face and sighed</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The wind and rain spake unto me,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"What is this thing God takes from thee,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I said unto the rain and wind,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"The love, for which my body sinned,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The rain and wind spake unto me,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"What are these things that burden thee,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I said unto the wind and rain,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily:—</div> - <div class="i0">"Past joys, and dreams whose ghosts remain,</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"Thou lov'st him still," they made reply,</div> - <div class="i4">Drearily.—</div> - <div class="i0">I said, "Would God that I could die!"</div> - <div class="i4">Wearily.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="KU_KLUX" id="KU_KLUX"></a>KU KLUX</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">We have sent him seeds of the melon's core,</div> - <div class="i0">And nailed a warning upon his door:</div> - <div class="i0">By the Ku Klux laws we can do no more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Down in the hollow, 'mid crib and stack,</div> - <div class="i0">The roof of his low-porched house looms black;</div> - <div class="i0">Not a line of light at the door-sill's crack.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yet arm and mount! and mask and ride!</div> - <div class="i0">The hounds can sense though the fox may hide!</div> - <div class="i0">And for a word too much men oft have died.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The clouds blow heavy toward the moon.</div> - <div class="i0">The edge of the storm will reach it soon.</div> - <div class="i0">The kildee cries and the lonesome loon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The clouds shall flush with a wilder glare</div> - <div class="i0">Than the lightning makes with its angled flare,</div> - <div class="i0">When the Ku Klux verdict is given there.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In the pause of the thunder rolling low,</div> - <div class="i0">A rifle's signal—who shall know</div> - <div class="i0">From the wind's fierce hurl and the rain's black blow?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Only the signature, written grim</div> - <div class="i0">At the end of the message brought to him—</div> - <div class="i0">A hempen rope and a twisted limb.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So arm and mount! and mask and ride!</div> - <div class="i0">The hounds can sense though the fox may hide!</div> - <div class="i0">And for a word too much men oft have died.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AT_DAWN" id="AT_DAWN"></a>AT DAWN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far off I heard dark waters rush:</div> - <div class="i0">The sky was cold: the dawn broke green:</div> - <div class="i0">And wrapped in twilight and strange hush</div> - <div class="i0">The gray wind moaned between.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A voice rang through the House of Sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">And through its halls there went a tread;</div> - <div class="i0">Mysterious raiment seemed to sweep</div> - <div class="i0">Around one lying dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I knew that I had died,</div> - <div class="i0">I, who had suffered so and sinned—</div> - <div class="i0">And 'twas myself I stood beside</div> - <div class="i0">In the gray dawn and wind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="PRAETERITA" id="PRAETERITA"></a>PRÆTERITA</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Low belts of rushes ragged with the blast;</div> - <div class="i0">Lagoons of marish reddening with the west;</div> - <div class="i0">And o'er the marsh the water-fowl's unrest</div> - <div class="i0">While daylight dwindles and the dusk falls fast.</div> - <div class="i0">Set in sad walls, all mossy with the past,</div> - <div class="i0">An old stone gateway with a crumbling crest;</div> - <div class="i0">A garden where death drowses manifest;</div> - <div class="i0">And in gaunt yews the shadowy house at last.</div> - <div class="i0">Here, like an unseen spirit, silence talks</div> - <div class="i0">With echo and the wind in each gray room</div> - <div class="i0">Where melancholy slumbers with the rain:</div> - <div class="i0">Or, like some gentle ghost, the moonlight walks</div> - <div class="i0">In the dim garden, which her smile makes bloom</div> - <div class="i0">With all the old-time loveliness again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When slow the twilight settles o'er its roof,</div> - <div class="i0">And from the haggard oaks unto its door</div> - <div class="i0">The rain comes, wild as one who rides before</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> - <div class="i0">His enemies that follow, hoof to hoof;</div> - <div class="i0">And in each window's gusty curtain-woof</div> - <div class="i0">The rain-wind sighs, like one who mutters o'er</div> - <div class="i0">Some tale of love and crime; and, on the floor,</div> - <div class="i0">The sunset spreads red stains as bloody proof:—</div> - <div class="i0">From hall to hall and haunted stair to stair,</div> - <div class="i0">Through all the house, a dread, that drags me to'ard</div> - <div class="i0">The ancient dusk of that avoided room,</div> - <div class="i0">Wherein she sits with ghostly golden hair,</div> - <div class="i0">And eyes that gaze beyond her soul's sad doom,</div> - <div class="i0">Waking the ghost of that old harpsichord.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="IN_SHADOW" id="IN_SHADOW"></a>IN SHADOW</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A moth sucks at a flaming flower:</div> - <div class="i0">The moon beams on the old church-tower:</div> - <div class="i1">I watched the moth and rising moon,</div> - <div class="i5">One silver tip</div> - <div class="i5">Of glimmer, slip</div> - <div class="i1">Through ghostly tree-tops, deep with June,</div> - <div class="i0">To dream above the church an hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The gray moth on the dewy pod</div> - <div class="i0">Dreams; and the sleepy poppies nod</div> - <div class="i1">Their drugged heads in the languid breeze,</div> - <div class="i5">That whispers low</div> - <div class="i5">Of some dim woe,</div> - <div class="i1">And spirit-like among the trees,</div> - <div class="i0">Strews snowy petals on the sod.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My soul dreams at life's blood-red heart</div> - <div class="i0">Of that thou art: of thee, who art</div> - <div class="i1">All silence: saying something fair</div> - <div class="i5">As phantoms know</div> - <div class="i5">When moon-flowers blow</div> - <div class="i1">And spirits meet: the beauty rare</div> - <div class="i0">Of which thou, too, hast grown a part.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My heart, behold, is but a bloom</div> - <div class="i0">A pale thought clings to by a tomb,</div> - <div class="i1">A tomb that holds the one I love,</div> - <div class="i5">All wan of cheek,</div> - <div class="i5">Whom, wild and weak,</div> - <div class="i1">My heart bows down and breaks above,</div> - <div class="i0">Grief-haunted in the moonlit gloom.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="IN_THE_OWL-LIGHT" id="IN_THE_OWL-LIGHT"></a>IN THE OWL-LIGHT</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Uplifted darkness and the owl-light breaks,</div> - <div class="i0">Scuds the wild land, pursuing patch with patch,</div> - <div class="i0">As when deep daisy fields a swift wind shakes.—</div> - <div class="i0">How clumsily I raised the crazy latch!...</div> - <div class="i0">So.—When yon black cloud, light-absorbing, rakes</div> - <div class="i0">Again the moon's bald disk—</div> - <div class="i0">Out! and the storm will snatch</div> - <div class="i0">Again my hair, made lank with wind and rain</div> - <div class="i0">Two hours since.... There! from the ragged plain</div> - <div class="i0">A great cloud-besom sweeps the beams again!—</div> - <div class="i0">Out! out!... No fear of risk?...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">First, past the fellside, where the bramble-hollow</div> - <div class="i0">Whines, wolf-like, with the wind; gaunt wind, that grieves</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Through the one sickly ash, whose withered leaves</div> - <div class="i0">Worry and mutter, shriveled as the lips</div> - <div class="i0">Of bent hags kissing. Then—the slope that whips</div> - <div class="i0">The face with brush; and where a gnarled vine slips,</div> - <div class="i0">Snake-like, from off a rock, that seems to wallow,—</div> - <div class="i0">One mass of briers,—a humpbacked hulk of hair,</div> - <div class="i0">A gorgon head of writhings, huge, that heaves,</div> - <div class="i0">When, heaped abruptly on it, <i>flare</i>!</div> - <div class="i0">Burst rain and tempest-glare.—</div> - <div class="i0">This passed, I follow</div> - <div class="i0">A thorny slip of path until</div> - <div class="i0">I reach the storm-scarred summit of the hill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Let me not think of it!—as I go thence,—</div> - <div class="i0">That thought I can not kill!</div> - <div class="i0">Ungovernable! that dogs my footsteps still,</div> - <div class="i0">Like something real and living; which my will</div> - <div class="i0">Is powerless against.—Ah! when that fence,</div> - <div class="i0">Dividing the dark ridges of the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">Is passed, shall I not then be breathless? ill</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With sinking sense</div> - <div class="i0">Of ghastly things to come?—Some sterner strength</div> - <div class="i0">Sustain my soul!—Beyond the hill the dense</div> - <div class="i0">Dead wood's to pass, and then ... that livid length</div> - <div class="i0">Of mooning water, spectral and immense</div> - <div class="i0">With sullen storm and night....</div> - <div class="i0">There, if the ghoulish wind,—</div> - <div class="i0">That knows well as I know how I have sinned,—</div> - <div class="i0">Will cease to curse me in its hag-like spite,</div> - <div class="i0">Alone with all the horror of my soul,</div> - <div class="i0">I shall behold,</div> - <div class="i0">Now this way, and now that way rolled,</div> - <div class="i0">Lifeless, among cramped reeds, the storm has thinned,—</div> - <div class="i0">With wide, white eyes, metallic in the light</div> - <div class="i0">Of the impassive moon:—in gusty roll</div> - <div class="i0">Of washing ripples, webby, slippery locks</div> - <div class="i0">Dabbling and dark; and,—wedged between sharp rocks,—</div> - <div class="i0">Two rocks, two iron fangs,</div> - <div class="i0">Whereon the lake's mad lip, pale-foaming clangs,—</div> - <div class="i0">Wild-pinched and water-strangled white,</div> - <div class="i0">His murdered face! that mocks.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ASHLY_MERE" id="ASHLY_MERE"></a>ASHLY MERE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Come! look in the shadowy water here,</div> - <div class="i0">The stagnant water of Ashly Mere:</div> - <div class="i0">Where the stirless depths are dark but clear,</div> - <div class="i1">What is the thing that lies there?—</div> - <div class="i0">A lily-pod, half-sunk from sight?</div> - <div class="i0">Or spawn of the toad, all water-white?</div> - <div class="i0">Or ashen blur of the moon's wan light?</div> - <div class="i1">Or a woman's face and eyes there?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now lean to the water a listening ear,</div> - <div class="i0">The haunted water of Ashly Mere:</div> - <div class="i0">What is the sound that you seem to hear</div> - <div class="i1">In the ghostly hush of the deeps there?—</div> - <div class="i0">A withered reed, that the ripple lips?</div> - <div class="i0">Or a night-bird's wing, that the surface whips?</div> - <div class="i0">Or the rain in a leaf that drips and drips?</div> - <div class="i1">Or a woman's voice that weeps there?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now look and listen! but not too near</div> - <div class="i0">The lonely water of Ashly Mere!—</div> - <div class="i0">For so it happens this time each year</div> - <div class="i1">As you lean by the Mere and listen:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And the moaning voice I understand,—</div> - <div class="i0">For oft I have watched it draw to land,</div> - <div class="i0">And lift from the water a ghastly hand</div> - <div class="i1">And a face whose dead eyes glisten.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And this is the reason why every year</div> - <div class="i0">To the hideous water of Ashly Mere</div> - <div class="i0">I come when the woodland leaves are sear,</div> - <div class="i1">And the autumn moon hangs hoary:</div> - <div class="i0">For here by the Mere was wrought a wrong</div> - <div class="i0">But the old, old story is overlong—</div> - <div class="i0">And woman is weak and man is strong,</div> - <div class="i1">And the Mere's and mine is the story.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_HEADLESS_HORSEMAN" id="THE_HEADLESS_HORSEMAN"></a>THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the black road through the wood,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">There the Headless Horseman stood,</div> - <div class="i0">By the dark pool in the wood,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">From the shadow of an oak,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">Demon steed and rider broke;</div> - <div class="i0">By the thunder-riven oak,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the wild way through the plain,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">At my back he whirled like rain;</div> - <div class="i0">On the tempest-blackened plain,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Four black hoofs shod red with fire,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">Woke the wild rocks, dark and dire;</div> - <div class="i0">Eyes and nostrils streaming fire,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> - <div class="i0">On the deep path through the rocks,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">I could touch his horse's locks;</div> - <div class="i0">Through the echo-hurling rocks,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And again I looked behind,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode—</div> - <div class="i0">Dark as night and swift as wind,</div> - <div class="i0">Towering, he rode behind,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the steep road through the dell,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode,</div> - <div class="i0">Far away I heard a bell,</div> - <div class="i0">In the church beyond the dell,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And my soul cried out in prayer,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode—</div> - <div class="i0">Lo! the demon went in air,</div> - <div class="i0">When my soul called out in prayer,</div> - <div class="i4">As I rode.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WEREWOLF" id="THE_WEREWOLF"></a>THE WEREWOLF</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Nay; still amort, my love?—Why dost thou lag?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The strix-owl cried.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">Nay! 'twas yon stream that leaps</div> - <div class="i0">Hoarse from the black pines of the Hakel steeps;</div> - <div class="i0">Its moon-wild water glittering down the crag.—</div> - <div class="i0">Why so aghast, sweetheart? Why dost thou stop?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Demon Huntsman passed with hooting horn!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Nay! 'twas the blind wind sweeping through the thorn</div> - <div class="i0">Around the ruins of the Dumburg's top.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My limbs are cold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center">Come! warm thee in my arms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My eyes are weary.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i8">Rest, them, love, on mine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I am athirst.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>She</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i4">Quench, on my lips, thy thirst.—</div> - <div class="i0">O dear belovéd, how thy last kiss warms</div> - <div class="i0">My blood again!</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> -<div class="center"><em>He</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Off!... How thy eyeballs shine!—</div> - <div class="i0">Thou beast!... thou—Ah!... thus do</div> - <div class="i3">I die, accursed!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_SEA_SPIRIT" id="THE_SEA_SPIRIT"></a>THE SEA SPIRIT</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah me! I shall not waken soon</div> - <div class="i0">From dreams of such divinity!</div> - <div class="i0">A spirit singing 'neath the moon</div> - <div class="i3">To me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wild sea-spray driven of the storm</div> - <div class="i0">Is not so wildly white as she,</div> - <div class="i0">Who beckoned with a foam-white arm</div> - <div class="i3">To me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With eyes dark green, and golden-green</div> - <div class="i0">Long locks, that sparkled drippingly,</div> - <div class="i0">Out of the green wave she did lean</div> - <div class="i3">To me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And sang; till Earth and Heaven were</div> - <div class="i0">A far, forgotten memory;</div> - <div class="i0">Till more than Heaven seemed in her</div> - <div class="i3">To me:—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sleep, sweeter than love's face or home,</div> - <div class="i0">And death's immutability,</div> - <div class="i0">And music of the plangent foam,</div> - <div class="i3">Ah me!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sweep over her with all thy ships,</div> - <div class="i0">With all thy stormy tides, O sea!</div> - <div class="i0">The memory of immortal lips,</div> - <div class="i3">And me!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_VAMPIRE" id="THE_VAMPIRE"></a>THE VAMPIRE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A lily in a twilight place?</div> - <div class="i0">Or moonflower in the lonely night?—</div> - <div class="i0">Strange beauty of a woman's face</div> - <div class="i3">Of wildflower-white!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The rain that hangs a star's green ray</div> - <div class="i0">Slim on a leaf-point's restlessness,</div> - <div class="i0">Is not so glimmering green and gray</div> - <div class="i3">As was her dress.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I drew her dark hair from her eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">And in their deeps beheld a while</div> - <div class="i0">Such shadowy moonlight as the skies</div> - <div class="i3">Of Hell may smile.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She held her mouth up, redly wan</div> - <div class="i0">And burning cold:—I bent and kissed</div> - <div class="i0">Such rosy snow as some wild dawn</div> - <div class="i3">Makes of a mist.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> - <div class="i0">God shall not take from me that hour,</div> - <div class="i0">When round my neck her white arms clung!</div> - <div class="i0">When 'neath my lips, like some fierce flower,</div> - <div class="i3">Her white throat swung!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Nor words she murmured while she leaned!</div> - <div class="i0">Witch-words, she holds me softly by,—</div> - <div class="i0">The spell that binds me to a fiend</div> - <div class="i3">Until I die.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="WILL-O-THE-WISP" id="WILL-O-THE-WISP"></a>WILL-O'-THE-WISP</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There in the calamus he stands</div> - <div class="i0">With frog-webbed feet and bat-winged hands;</div> - <div class="i0">His glow-worm garb glints goblin-wise;</div> - <div class="i1">And elfishly, and impishly,</div> - <div class="i0">Above the gleam of owlet eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">A death's-head cap of downy dyes</div> - <div class="i1">Nods out at me, and beckons me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now in the reeds his face looks white</div> - <div class="i0">As witch-down on a witches' night;</div> - <div class="i0">Now through the dark, old, haunted mill,</div> - <div class="i1">All eerily, all flickeringly</div> - <div class="i0">He flits; and with a whippoorwill</div> - <div class="i0">Mouth calls, and seems to syllable,</div> - <div class="i1">"Come follow me! oh, follow me!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now o'er the sluggish stream he wends,</div> - <div class="i0">A slim light at his fingers' ends;</div> - <div class="i0">The spotted spawn, the toad hath clomb,</div> - <div class="i1">Slips oozily, sucks slimily;</div> - <div class="i0">His easy footsteps seem to come—</div> - <div class="i0">Like bubble-gaspings of the scum—</div> - <div class="i1">This side of me; that side of me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There by the stagnant pool he stands,</div> - <div class="i0">A foxfire lamp in flickering hands;</div> - <div class="i0">The weeds are slimy to the tread,</div> - <div class="i1">And mockingly, and gloatingly,</div> - <div class="i0">With slanted eyes and pointed head,</div> - <div class="i0">He leans above a face long dead,—</div> - <div class="i1">The face of me! of me! of me!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="REVISITED" id="REVISITED"></a>REVISITED</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It was beneath a waning moon when all the woods were sear,</div> - <div class="i0">And winds made eddies of the leaves that whispered far and near,</div> - <div class="i0">I met her on the bramble bridge we parted at last year.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At first I deemed her but a mist that faltered in that place,</div> - <div class="i0">An autumn mist beneath the trees the moon's thin beams did lace,</div> - <div class="i0">Until I neared and in the moon beheld her face to face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The crinkle of the summer heat above the drouth-burnt leas;</div> - <div class="i0">The shimmer of the thistle-drift adown the silences;</div> - <div class="i0">The gliding of the fairy-fire between the swamp and trees:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All qualified her presence as a sorrow may a dream—</div> - <div class="i0">The vague suggestion of a self; the glimmer of a gleam;</div> - <div class="i0">The actual and unreal of the things that are and seem.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where once she came with welcome and glad eyes, all loving-wise,</div> - <div class="i0">She passed, and gave no greeting that my heart could recognize,</div> - <div class="i0">With far, set face, unseeing, and sad, unremembering eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It was beneath a waning moon when woods were bleak and sear,</div> - <div class="i0">And winds made whispers of the leaves that eddied far and near,</div> - <div class="i0">I met her ghost upon the bridge we parted at last year.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_OLD_HOUSE" id="THE_OLD_HOUSE"></a>THE OLD HOUSE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Quaint and forgotten, by an unused road,</div> - <div class="i0">An old house stands: around its doors the dense</div> - <div class="i1">Rank ironweeds grow high;</div> - <div class="i0">The chipmunks make a highway of its fence;</div> - <div class="i0">And on its sunken flagstones newt and toad</div> - <div class="i1">As still as lichens lie.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The timid snake upon its hearth's cool sand</div> - <div class="i0">Sleeps undisturbed; the squirrel haunts its roof;</div> - <div class="i1">And in the clapboard sides</div> - <div class="i0">Of closets,—dim with many a spider woof,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like the uncertain tapping of a hand,</div> - <div class="i1">The beetle-borer hides.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Above its lintel, under mossy eaves,</div> - <div class="i0">The mud-wasps build their cells; and in the floor</div> - <div class="i1">Of its neglected porch</div> - <div class="i0">The black bees nest: through each deserted door,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Vague as faint, phantom footsteps, steal the leaves</div> - <div class="i1">And dropped cones of the larch.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But come with me when sunset's magic old</div> - <div class="i0">Transforms this ruin—yea! transmutes this house:</div> - <div class="i1">When windows, one by one,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like Age's eyes, that Youth's love-dreams arouse,—</div> - <div class="i0">Grow lairs of fire; and a mouth of gold</div> - <div class="i1">Its wide door towards the sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or let us wait until each rain-stained room</div> - <div class="i0">Is carpeted with moonlight, patterned oft</div> - <div class="i1">With shadow'd boughs o'erhead;</div> - <div class="i0">And through the house the wind goes rustling soft,</div> - <div class="i0">As might the ghost—a whisper of perfume—</div> - <div class="i1">Of some sweet girl long dead.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_FOREST_OF_DREAMS" id="THE_FOREST_OF_DREAMS"></a>THE FOREST OF DREAMS</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where was I last Friday night?—</div> - <div class="i1">Within the Forest of dark Dreams</div> - <div class="i0">Following the blur of a goblin light,</div> - <div class="i1">That led me over dreadful streams,</div> - <div class="i0">Whereon the scum of the spawn was spread,</div> - <div class="i1">And the blistered slime, in stagnant seams;</div> - <div class="i0">Where the weed and the moss swam black and dead,</div> - <div class="i1">Like a drowned girl's hair, in the ropy ooze:</div> - <div class="i0">And the jack-o'-lantern light that led</div> - <div class="i0">Flickered the foxfire trees o'erhead,</div> - <div class="i1">And the owl-like things at airy cruise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where was I last Friday night?—</div> - <div class="i1">Within the Forest of dark Dreams</div> - <div class="i0">Following a form of shadowy white</div> - <div class="i1">With my own wild face it seems.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Did a raven's wing just fan my hair?</div> - <div class="i1">Or a web-winged bat brush by my face?</div> - <div class="i0">Or the hand of—something I did not dare</div> - <div class="i1">Look round to see in that obscene place!</div> - <div class="i0">Where the boughs, with their leaves a-devil's-dance,</div> - <div class="i0">And the thorn-tree bush, where the wind made moan,</div> - <div class="i0">Had more than a strange significance</div> - <div class="i1">Of life and of evil not their own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where was I last Friday night?—</div> - <div class="i1">Within the Forest of dark Dreams</div> - <div class="i0">Seeing the mists rise left and right,</div> - <div class="i1">Like the leathery fog that heaves and steams</div> - <div class="i1">From the rolling horror of Hell's red streams:</div> - <div class="i0">While the wind, that tossed in the tattered tree,</div> - <div class="i1">And danced alone with the last mad leaf—</div> - <div class="i0">Or <em>was</em> it the wind?... kept whispering me,</div> - <div class="i0">"Come! bury it here with its own black grief,</div> - <div class="i1">And its heart of fire that naught can save!"—</div> - <div class="i0">And there in the darkness I seemed to see</div> - <div class="i1">My own self digging my soul a grave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_CITY_OF_DARKNESS" id="THE_CITY_OF_DARKNESS"></a>THE CITY OF DARKNESS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wide-walled it stands in heathen lands</div> - <div class="i0">Beside a mystic sea,</div> - <div class="i0">Its streets strange-trod of many a god</div> - <div class="i0">And templed blasphemy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far through the night, with light on light,</div> - <div class="i0">It flames beside the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">While overhead an unseen dread</div> - <div class="i0">Impends eternally.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a sound above, around,</div> - <div class="i0">Of music by the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">And weird and wide the torches glide</div> - <div class="i0">Of pagan revelry.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a noise as of a voice</div> - <div class="i0">That calls beneath the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">And all the deep heaves, as in sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">With vague expectancy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Then slowly up—as in a cup</div> - <div class="i0">Seethes poison—swells the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">As through black glass, wild mass on mass,</div> - <div class="i0">The town glows fiery.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Red-lit it glowers, like Hell's dark towers,</div> - <div class="i0">Closed in the iron sea;</div> - <div class="i0">And monster forms in awful swarms</div> - <div class="i0">Wing round it cloudily.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still overhead the unseen dread,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose shadow dyes the sea,</div> - <div class="i0">At wrath-winged wait behind its gate</div> - <div class="i0">Till God shall set it free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">An earthquake crash; a taloned flash—</div> - <div class="i0">And, lo! from sky to sea</div> - <div class="i0">A sworded Doom that stalks the gloom,</div> - <div class="i0">Crowned with Death's agony.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And where it burned, a flame inurned,</div> - <div class="i0">Blood-red within the sea,</div> - <div class="i0">The phantasm of the dread above</div> - <div class="i0">Sits in immensity.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="UNDER_DARK_SKIES" id="UNDER_DARK_SKIES"></a>UNDER DARK SKIES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Hills rolled in woods, that lair the lynx and fox;</div> - <div class="i1">Harsh fields, that lean before the woods' advance</div> - <div class="i0">As wild-men fly from hunters, tossing locks</div> - <div class="i1">Through which their eyes of yellow fire glance;</div> - <div class="i0">Great blurs of briers and lugubrious rocks,—</div> - <div class="i1">A bristling blackness,—with a pool beneath,</div> - <div class="i1">Whereo'er the wisps, like something evil, dance;</div> - <div class="i1">And then a house like the wrecked face of death.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There where the moon hangs sinister, o'er parched</div> - <div class="i1">And haggard thorns,—a golden battle-bow,</div> - <div class="i0">Or shield of bronze, old wars have scarred and scorched,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> - <div class="i1">What crime hath cursed it ... who shall ever know?—</div> - <div class="i0">Night only! Night, with flickering flame, who torched</div> - <div class="i1">That moment when blood branded black its sod,</div> - <div class="i1">And in the pool a ghastly face sank slow</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath the storm and rushing fire of God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="REMBRANDTS" id="REMBRANDTS"></a>REMBRANDTS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I shall not soon forget her and her eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">The haunts of hate, where suffering seemed to write</div> - <div class="i0">Its stealthy name, whose syllables are sighs,</div> - <div class="i4">In strange and starless night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I shall not soon forget her and her face,</div> - <div class="i0">So quiet, yet uneasy as a dream</div> - <div class="i0">That stands on tip-toe in a haunted place</div> - <div class="i4">And listens for a scream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She made me feel as one, alone, may feel</div> - <div class="i0">In some grand, ghostly mansion of old time,</div> - <div class="i0">The presence of a treasure, walls conceal,</div> - <div class="i4">And secret of a crime.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With lambent faces, mimicking the moon,</div> - <div class="i4">The water lilies lie;</div> - <div class="i0">Dotting the darkness of the long lagoon</div> - <div class="i4">As stars, the sky.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A face, the whiteness of a water-flower,</div> - <div class="i4">With pollen-golden hair,</div> - <div class="i0">In shadow half, half in the moonlight's glower,</div> - <div class="i4">Lifts slowly there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A young girl's face, death makes mute marble of,</div> - <div class="i4">Turned to the moon and me,</div> - <div class="i0">Sad with the pathos of unspeakable love,</div> - <div class="i4">Floating to sea.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">One listening bent, in dread of something coming</div> - <div class="i4">He can not flee nor balk—</div> - <div class="i0">A phantom footstep, in the ghostly gloaming,</div> - <div class="i4">That haunts a ruined walk.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Long has he given his whole heart's hard endeavor</div> - <div class="i4">To labor, dark and dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">Dreaming that Love still watched his toil and ever</div> - <div class="i4">Turned kindly eyes thereon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now in his life, he feels, there nears an hour,</div> - <div class="i4">Inevitable, alas!</div> - <div class="i0">When in the darkness he shall cringe and cower,</div> - <div class="i4">And see his dead self pass.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GHOSTS" id="GHOSTS"></a>GHOSTS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Was it the strain of the waltz that, repeating</div> - <div class="i0">Love, so bewitched me? or only the gleam</div> - <div class="i0">There of the lustres, that set my heart beating,</div> - <div class="i0">Feeling your presence as one feels a dream?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For, on a sudden, the woman of fashion,</div> - <div class="i0">Soft at my side in her diamonds and lace,</div> - <div class="i0">Vanished, and pale with reproach or with passion,</div> - <div class="i0">You, my dead sweetheart, looked up in my face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Music, the nebulous lights, and the sifting</div> - <div class="i0">Fragrance of women made amorous the air;</div> - <div class="i0">Born of these three and my thoughts you came drifting,</div> - <div class="i0">Clad in dim muslin, a rose in your hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There in the waltz, that followed the lancers,</div> - <div class="i0">Hard to my breast did I crush you and hold;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Far through the stir and the throng of the dancers</div> - <div class="i0">Onward I bore you as often of old.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Pale were your looks; and the rose in your tresses</div> - <div class="i0">Paler of hue than the dreams we have lost;—</div> - <div class="i0">"Who," then I said, "is it sees or who guesses,</div> - <div class="i0">Here in the hall, that I dance with a ghost?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gone!—And the dance and the music are ended.</div> - <div class="i0">Gone!—And the rapture is turned into sighs.</div> - <div class="i0">And, on my arm, in her elegance splendid,</div> - <div class="i0">The woman of fashion smiles up in my eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Had I forgotten? and did she remember?—</div> - <div class="i0">She who is dead, whom I can not forget:</div> - <div class="i0">She, for whose sake all my heart is an ember</div> - <div class="i0">Covered with ashes of dreams and regret.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AT_MIDNIGHT" id="AT_MIDNIGHT"></a>AT MIDNIGHT</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At midnight in the trysting wood</div> - <div class="i1">I wandered by the waterside,</div> - <div class="i0">When, soft as mist, before me stood</div> - <div class="i1">My sweetheart who had died.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But so unchanged was she, meseemed</div> - <div class="i1">That I had only dreamed her dead;</div> - <div class="i0">Glad in her eyes the lovelight gleamed;</div> - <div class="i1">Her lips were warm and red.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What though the stars shone shadowy through</div> - <div class="i1">Her form as by my side she went,</div> - <div class="i0">And by her feet no drop of dew</div> - <div class="i1">Was stirred, no blade was bent!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What though through her white loveliness</div> - <div class="i1">The wildflower dimmed, the moonlight paled,</div> - <div class="i0">Real to my touch she was; no less</div> - <div class="i1">Than when the earth prevailed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She took my hand. My heart beat wild.</div> - <div class="i1">She kissed my mouth. I bowed my head.</div> - <div class="i0">Then, gazing in my eyes, she smiled:</div> - <div class="i1">"When did'st thou die?" she said.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THAT_NIGHT" id="THAT_NIGHT"></a>THAT NIGHT</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">That night I sat listening, as in a swoon,</div> - <div class="i6">With half-closed eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">To far-off bells, low-lulling as a tune</div> - <div class="i6">That drifts and dies</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the flowery fingers of the June</div> - <div class="i6">Harping to summer skies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I dreamed the world I knew was gone,</div> - <div class="i6">And some one brought,—</div> - <div class="i0">Leading me far o'er sainted hill and lawn,</div> - <div class="i6">In heavenly thought,—</div> - <div class="i0">My soul where well the sources of the dawn</div> - <div class="i6">With dew and fire fraught.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Above me the majestic dome of night,</div> - <div class="i6">With star on star,</div> - <div class="i0">Sparkled; in which one star shone blinding bright;</div> - <div class="i6">Radiant as spar</div> - <div class="i0">That walls the halls of morning, pearly white</div> - <div class="i6">Around her golden car.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> - <div class="i0">About me temples, vast in desert seas,</div> - <div class="i6">Columned a land</div> - <div class="i0">Of ruins—bones of old monstrosities</div> - <div class="i6">God's awful hand</div> - <div class="i0">Had smitten; homes of dead idolatries,</div> - <div class="i1">O'erwhelmed with dust and sand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Their bestial gods, caked thick with gems and gold,</div> - <div class="i6">Their blasphemies</div> - <div class="i0">Of beauty, rent; 'mid ruined altars rolled;</div> - <div class="i6">Their agonies</div> - <div class="i0">And rites abolished; and their priests of old—</div> - <div class="i1">Dust on the desert breeze.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then Syrian valleys, purple with veiling mist,</div> - <div class="i6">Meseemed I trailed,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the frail floweret, by the dewdrop kissed,</div> - <div class="i6">Soft-blushing, quailed;</div> - <div class="i0">And drowned in dingled deeps of amethyst</div> - <div class="i1">The moon-mad bulbul wailed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On glimmering wolds I seemed to hear the bleat</div> - <div class="i6">Of folded flocks:</div> - <div class="i0">Then shepherds passed me, bare of head and feet;</div> - <div class="i6">And then an ox</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Lowed; and, above me, swept the solemn beat</div> - <div class="i1">Of angel wings and locks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A manger then I seemed to see where bent,</div> - <div class="i6">In adoration,</div> - <div class="i0">Above a babe, Men of the Orient,</div> - <div class="i6">Where, low of station,</div> - <div class="i0">His mother lay, while round them swam sweet scent</div> - <div class="i1">And sounds of jubilation.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then I woke. The rose-white moon above</div> - <div class="i6">Bloomed on my sight;—</div> - <div class="i0">And in her train the stars of winter drove,</div> - <div class="i6">Light upon light;</div> - <div class="i0">While Yuletide bells rocked, pealing "peace and love"</div> - <div class="i1">Down all the aisles of night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GRAMARYE" id="GRAMARYE"></a>GRAMARYE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are some things that entertain me more</div> - <div class="i0">Than men or books; and to my knowledge seem</div> - <div class="i0">A key of Poetry, made of magic lore</div> - <div class="i0">Of childhood, opening many a fabled door</div> - <div class="i0">Of superstition, mystery, and dream</div> - <div class="i4">Enchantment locked of yore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For, when through dusking woods my pathway lies,</div> - <div class="i0">Often I feel old spells, as o'er me flits</div> - <div class="i0">The bat, like some black thought that, troubled, flies</div> - <div class="i0">Round some dark purpose; or before me cries</div> - <div class="i0">The owl that, like an evil conscience, sits,</div> - <div class="i4">A shadowy voice and eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then, when down blue canals of cloudy snow</div> - <div class="i0">The white moon oars her boat, and woods vibrate</div> - <div class="i0">With crickets, lo, I hear the hautboys blow</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of Elfland; and, when gold the fireflies glow,</div> - <div class="i0">See where the goblins hold a Fairy Fête</div> - <div class="i4">With many a lanthorn-row.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Strange growths, that ooze from long-dead logs and spread</div> - <div class="i0">A creamy fungus, where the snail, uncoiled,</div> - <div class="i0">And fat slug feed at morn, are Pixy bread</div> - <div class="i0">Made of the yeasted dew; the lichens red,</div> - <div class="i0">Beside these grown, are meat the Brownies broiled</div> - <div class="i4">Above a glow-worm bed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The smears of silver on the webs that line</div> - <div class="i0">The knuckled roots, or stretch, white-wov'n, within</div> - <div class="i0">The hollow stump, are stains of Faery wine</div> - <div class="i0">Spilled on the cloth where Elfland sat to dine,</div> - <div class="i0">When night beheld them drinking, chin to chin,</div> - <div class="i4">Of th' moon's fermented shine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What but their chairs the mushrooms on the lawn,</div> - <div class="i0">Or toadstools hidden under flower and fern,</div> - <div class="i0">Tagged with the dotting dew!—With knees updrawn</div> - <div class="i0">Far as his eyes, have I not come upon</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Puck seated there? but scarcely round could turn</div> - <div class="i4">When, presto! he was gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And so though Science from the woods hath tracked</div> - <div class="i0">The Elfin; and with prosy lights of day</div> - <div class="i0">Unhallowed all his haunts; and, dulling, blacked</div> - <div class="i0">Our vision, still hath Beauty never lacked</div> - <div class="i0">For seers yet; who, in some wizard way,</div> - <div class="i4">Prove fancy real as fact.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WORLD_OF_FAERY" id="THE_WORLD_OF_FAERY"></a>THE WORLD OF FAERY</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When in the pansy-purpled stain</div> - <div class="i0">Of sunset one far star is seen,</div> - <div class="i1">Like one bright drop of rain,</div> - <div class="i0">Out of the forest, deep and green,</div> - <div class="i0">O'er me a Spirit seems to lean,</div> - <div class="i1">The fairest of her train.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Spirit, dowered with fadeless youth</div> - <div class="i0">Of Lay and Legend, young as when,</div> - <div class="i1">Close to her side, in sooth,</div> - <div class="i0">She led me from the marts of men,</div> - <div class="i0">A child, into her world, which then</div> - <div class="i1">To me was true as truth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Her hair is like the silken husk</div> - <div class="i0">That holds the corn, the gloss that glows;</div> - <div class="i1">Her brow is white as tusk;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Her body is like some sweet rose,</div> - <div class="i0">And through her gossamer raiment shows</div> - <div class="i1">Like starlight closed in musk.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She smiles at me; she nods at me;</div> - <div class="i0">And by her looks I am beguiled</div> - <div class="i1">Into the mystery</div> - <div class="i0">Of ways I knew when, as a child,</div> - <div class="i0">She led me 'mid her blossoms wild</div> - <div class="i1">Of faery fantasy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The blossoms that, when night is here,</div> - <div class="i0">Become sweet mouths that sigh soft tales;</div> - <div class="i1">Or, each, a jeweled ear</div> - <div class="i0">Leaned to the elfin dance that trails</div> - <div class="i0">Down moonrayed cirques of haunted vales</div> - <div class="i1">To cricket song and cheer.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The blossoms that, closed up all day,—</div> - <div class="i0">Primrose and poppy,—darkness opes,</div> - <div class="i1">Slowly, to free a fay,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Who, silken-soft, leaps forth and ropes</div> - <div class="i0">With rain each web that, starlit, slopes</div> - <div class="i1">Between each grassy spray.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The blossoms from which elves are born,—</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet wombs of mingled scent and snow,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose deeps are cool as morn;</div> - <div class="i0">Wherein I oft have heard them blow</div> - <div class="i0">Their pixy trumpets, silvery low</div> - <div class="i1">As some bee's drowsy horn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">VIII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So was it when my childhood roamed</div> - <div class="i0">The woodland's dim enchanted ground,</div> - <div class="i1">Where every mushroom domed</div> - <div class="i0">Its disc for them to revel round;</div> - <div class="i0">Each glow-worm forged its flame,—green-drowned</div> - <div class="i1">In hollow snow that foamed</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">IX</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Of lilies,—for their lantern light,</div> - <div class="i0">To lamp their dance beneath the moon;</div> - <div class="i1">Each insect of the night,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That rasped its thin, vibrating tune,—</div> - <div class="i0">And owl that raised its sleepy croon,</div> - <div class="i1">Made music for their flight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">X</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So is it still when twilight fills</div> - <div class="i0">My soul with childhood's memories</div> - <div class="i1">That haunt the far-off hills,</div> - <div class="i0">And people with dim things the trees,—</div> - <div class="i0">With faery forms that no man sees,</div> - <div class="i1">And dreams that no man kills.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then all around me sway and swing</div> - <div class="i0">The Puck-lights of their firefly train,</div> - <div class="i1">Their elfin revelling;</div> - <div class="i0">And in the bursting pods, that rain</div> - <div class="i0">Their seeds around my steps, again</div> - <div class="i1">I hear their footsteps ring.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">XII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The faery feet that fall once more</div> - <div class="i0">Within my way;—and then I see,—</div> - <div class="i1">As oft I saw before,—</div> - <div class="i0"><em>Her</em> Spirit rise, who shimmeringly</div> - <div class="i0">Fills all my world with poetry,—</div> - <div class="i1">The Loveliness of Yore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THERE_ARE_FAIRIES" id="THERE_ARE_FAIRIES"></a>THERE ARE FAIRIES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are fairies, bright of eye,</div> - <div class="i1">Who the wildflowers' warders are:</div> - <div class="i0">Ouphes, that chase the firefly,</div> - <div class="i1">Elves, that ride the shooting-star:</div> - <div class="i0">Fays, who in a cobweb lie,</div> - <div class="i1">Swinging on a moonbeam bar;</div> - <div class="i0">Or who harness bumble-bees,</div> - <div class="i0">Grumbling on the clover leas,</div> - <div class="i0">To a blossom or a breeze,</div> - <div class="i1">That's their fairy car.</div> - <div class="i0">If you care, you too may see</div> - <div class="i0">There are fairies.—Verily,</div> - <div class="i1">There are fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - - <div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are fairies. I could swear</div> - <div class="i0">I have seen them busy, where</div> - <div class="i0">Roses loose their scented hair,</div> - <div class="i1">In the moonlight weaving, weaving,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Out of starlight and the dew,</div> - <div class="i0">Glinting gown and shimmering shoe;</div> - <div class="i0">Or, within a glow-worm lair,</div> - <div class="i1">From the dark earth slowly heaving</div> - <div class="i0">Mushrooms whiter than the moon,</div> - <div class="i0">On whose tops they sit and croon,</div> - <div class="i0">With their grig-like mandolins,</div> - <div class="i0">To fair fairy ladykins,</div> - <div class="i0">Leaning from the window-sill</div> - <div class="i0">Of a rose or daffodil,</div> - <div class="i0">Listening to their serenade</div> - <div class="i0">All of cricket music made.</div> - <div class="i0">Follow me, oh, follow me!</div> - <div class="i0">Ho! away to Faerie!</div> - <div class="i0">Where your eyes like mine may see</div> - <div class="i0">There are fairies.—Verily,</div> - <div class="i1">There are fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - - <div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are fairies. Elves that swing</div> - <div class="i0">In a wild and rainbow ring</div> - <div class="i0">Through the air; or mount the wing</div> - <div class="i0">Of a bat to courier news</div> - <div class="i0">To the fairy King and Queen:</div> - <div class="i0">Fays, who stretch the gossamers</div> - <div class="i0">On which twilight hangs the dews;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Who, within the moonlight sheen,</div> - <div class="i0">Whisper dimly in the ears</div> - <div class="i0">Of the flowers words so sweet</div> - <div class="i0">That their hearts are turned to musk</div> - <div class="i0">And to honey; things that beat</div> - <div class="i0">In their veins of gold and blue:</div> - <div class="i0">Ouphes, that shepherd moths of dusk—</div> - <div class="i0">Soft of wing and gray of hue—</div> - <div class="i0">Forth to pasture on the dew.</div> - <div class="i0">There are fairies; verily;</div> - <div class="i1">Verily;</div> - <div class="i0">For the old owl in the tree,</div> - <div class="i1">Hollow tree,</div> - <div class="i0">He who maketh melody</div> - <div class="i0">For them tripping merrily,</div> - <div class="i1">Told it me.</div> - <div class="i0">There are fairies.—Verily,</div> - <div class="i1">There are fairies.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ON_MIDSUMMER_NIGHT" id="ON_MIDSUMMER_NIGHT"></a>ON MIDSUMMER NIGHT</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All the poppies, in their beds</div> - <div class="i0">Nodding crumpled, crimson heads;</div> - <div class="i0">And the larkspurs, in whose ears</div> - <div class="i0">Twilight hangs, like twinkling tears,</div> - <div class="i0">Sleepy jewels of the rain;</div> - <div class="i0">All the violets, that strain</div> - <div class="i0">Eyes of amaranthine gleam;</div> - <div class="i0">And the clover-blooms that dream</div> - <div class="i0">With pink baby-fists closed tight,—</div> - <div class="i0">They can hear upon this night,</div> - <div class="i0">Noiseless as the moon's white light,</div> - <div class="i0">Footsteps and the glimmering flight,</div> - <div class="i3">Shimmering flight,</div> - <div class="i3">Of the Fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - - <div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Every sturdy four-o'-clock,</div> - <div class="i0">In its variegated frock;</div> - <div class="i0">Every slender sweet-pea, too,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> - <div class="i0">In its hood of pearly hue;</div> - <div class="i0">Every primrose pale that dozes</div> - <div class="i0">By the wall and slow uncloses</div> - <div class="i0">A sweet mouth of dewy dawn</div> - <div class="i0">In a little silken yawn,—</div> - <div class="i0">On this night of silvery sheen,</div> - <div class="i0">They can see the Fairy Queen,</div> - <div class="i0">On her palfrey white, I ween,</div> - <div class="i0">Tread dim cirques of haunted green,</div> - <div class="i3">Moonlit green,</div> - <div class="i3">With her Fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - - <div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Never a foxglove-bell, you see,</div> - <div class="i0">That's a cradle for a bee;</div> - <div class="i0">Never a lily, that's a house</div> - <div class="i0">Where the butterfly may drowse;</div> - <div class="i0">Never a rose-bud or a blossom,</div> - <div class="i0">That unfolds its honeyed bosom</div> - <div class="i0">To the moth, that nestles deep</div> - <div class="i0">And there sucks itself to sleep,—</div> - <div class="i0">But can hear and also see,</div> - <div class="i0">On this night of witchery,</div> - <div class="i0">All that world of Faerie,</div> - <div class="i0">All that world where airily,</div> - <div class="i3">Merrily,</div> - <div class="i3">Trip the Fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> - - - <div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It was last Midsummer Night,</div> - <div class="i0">In the moon's uncertain light,</div> - <div class="i0">That I stood among the flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">And, in language unlike ours,</div> - <div class="i0">Heard them speaking of the Pixies,</div> - <div class="i0">Trolls and Gnomes and Water-Nixes;</div> - <div class="i0">How in <em>this</em> flow'r's ear a Fay</div> - <div class="i0">Hung a gem of rainy ray;</div> - <div class="i0">And round <em>that</em> flow'r's throat had set,</div> - <div class="i0">Dim, a dewdrop carcanet;</div> - <div class="i0">Then among the mignonette</div> - <div class="i0">Stretched a cobweb-hammock wet,</div> - <div class="i3">Dewy wet,</div> - <div class="i3">For the Fairies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - - <div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Long I watched, but never a one,</div> - <div class="i0">Ariel, Puck, or Oberon,</div> - <div class="i0">Mab, or Queen Titania—</div> - <div class="i0">Fairest of them all they say—</div> - <div class="i0">Clad in morning-glory hues,</div> - <div class="i0">Did I glimpse among the dews.</div> - <div class="i0">Only once I thought the torch</div> - <div class="i0">Of that elfin-rogue and arch,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Robin Goodfellow, afar</div> - <div class="i0">Flashed along a woodland bar—</div> - <div class="i0">Bright, a jack-o'-lantern star,</div> - <div class="i0">A green lamp of firefly spar,</div> - <div class="i3">Glow-worm spar,</div> - <div class="i3">Loved of Fairies.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_DANCE_OF_THE_FAIRIES" id="THE_DANCE_OF_THE_FAIRIES"></a>THE DANCE OF THE FAIRIES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the glimmering coppice,</div> - <div class="i1">From her shadowy hair,</div> - <div class="i0">Long, silvery poppies</div> - <div class="i1">Of moon-litten air</div> - <div class="i1">The Night hath flung there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In the fern-fronded hollow</div> - <div class="i1">The fireflies stream,</div> - <div class="i0">Uncertainly follow,</div> - <div class="i1">With lanterns of gleam,</div> - <div class="i1">Some spirit or dream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The forest is fragrant;</div> - <div class="i1">The night-hazes swirl</div> - <div class="i0">And trail,—through the vagrant</div> - <div class="i1">Deep ferns that unfurl,—</div> - <div class="i1">Faint footsteps of pearl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">From hill and from valley,</div> - <div class="i1">Where the moon is at home;</div> - <div class="i0">From rocks,—musically,—</div> - <div class="i1">Where singing streams comb</div> - <div class="i1">Wild tresses of foam;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With a ripple and twinkle</div> - <div class="i1">Of luminous arms,</div> - <div class="i0">And footfalls that tinkle</div> - <div class="i1">The darkness, in swarms</div> - <div class="i1">Of flower-like forms:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">We speed to the revel</div> - <div class="i1">From bloom and from brier,</div> - <div class="i0">With locks that dishevel,</div> - <div class="i1">And feet, like the fire,</div> - <div class="i1">Winged wild with desire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Like the wind on the mountain,</div> - <div class="i1">We circle and dance;</div> - <div class="i0">Like the foam of the fountain,</div> - <div class="i1">That sings of romance,</div> - <div class="i1">We glimmer and glance.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Swift, swift we go swinging</div> - <div class="i1">Down the slanted moonbeam,</div> - <div class="i0">In spirals faint flinging</div> - <div class="i1">A rainbow-rayed gleam</div> - <div class="i1">On sward and on stream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">You may hear, like a murmur,</div> - <div class="i1">The swirl of our hair;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Our footfall; no firmer</div> - <div class="i1">Than leaves on the air</div> - <div class="i1">When branches blow bare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To men who are favored</div> - <div class="i1">In spiritual wise,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose hearts have not quavered</div> - <div class="i1">To see us, we rise</div> - <div class="i1">And doff all disguise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Come away then, come hither,</div> - <div class="i1">In the moon-blossomed night!</div> - <div class="i0">Ere the star-flowers wither,</div> - <div class="i1">And Morning, the white,</div> - <div class="i1">Reaps, mows them with light.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Come hither, where singing</div> - <div class="i1">Sounds softer than tears,</div> - <div class="i0">Or kisses, sweet clinging,</div> - <div class="i1">Or music one hears</div> - <div class="i1">With memory's ears.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Come join us, whose kisses</div> - <div class="i1">Are waiting for you;</div> - <div class="i0">Come, catch at our tresses,</div> - <div class="i1">And dance through the dew!</div> - <div class="i1">Come away, and pursue!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Come, come to the coppice,</div> - <div class="i1">The violet ridge;</div> - <div class="i0">The torrent, whose top is</div> - <div class="i1">A rainbow,—a bridge</div> - <div class="i1">We tread like the midge.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Come, mortal, come hither!</div> - <div class="i1">Come dance with your dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">Ere the golden spark wither</div> - <div class="i1">Of the glow-worm that gleams</div> - <div class="i1">Like a star in still streams.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_CHANGELING" id="THE_CHANGELING"></a>THE CHANGELING</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In the night I heard the sea;</div> - <div class="i1">Saw the round moon, white as wool,</div> - <div class="i0">Or a bloom in Faerie,</div> - <div class="i0">Rise above the hawthorn-tree,</div> - <div class="i1">White and wonderful,</div> - <div class="i1">Weird and wonderful.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Through the door there came to me</div> - <div class="i1">Breezy whispers, fragrant as</div> - <div class="i0">Wafts that rock the honey-bee,</div> - <div class="i0">Cradled sweet in Arcady,</div> - <div class="i1">In the bluebelled grass,</div> - <div class="i1">In the rose-strewn grass.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then I saw them; suddenly;</div> - <div class="i1">Three red caps against the moon;—</div> - <div class="i0">And three voices whispered me,</div> - <div class="i0">"We have come to dance for thee,</div> - <div class="i1">Sing for thee a tune,</div> - <div class="i1">Sing an elfin tune."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> - <div class="i0">They were Fairies, Fairies three:</div> - <div class="i1">Nearer to my crib they drew,</div> - <div class="i0">Singing all the time to me,</div> - <div class="i0">Till mine eyes closed dreamily,</div> - <div class="i1">Closed, and naught I knew,</div> - <div class="i1">And no more I knew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">While I slept I heard the three</div> - <div class="i1">Whispering round my baby there,</div> - <div class="i0">White as moonlit ivory,</div> - <div class="i0">In its crib of ebony,</div> - <div class="i1">All my joy and care,</div> - <div class="i1">All my love and care.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now I sit here, as you see,</div> - <div class="i1">And my heart is all bereft,</div> - <div class="i0">Sighing, singing wearily</div> - <div class="i0">To this strange thing on my knee,</div> - <div class="i1">This wild thing they left,</div> - <div class="i1">Changeling that they left.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_ELF-QUEEN" id="THE_ELF-QUEEN"></a>THE ELF-QUEEN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">You ask me why I wandered wide</div> - <div class="i1">When Summer sighed o'er dying June?—</div> - <div class="i0">To see the Fairy People ride</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath the moon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wild poppies hedged a hawthorne copse,</div> - <div class="i1">Where glow-worms hung dim lamps of gold;</div> - <div class="i0">A sudden whisper bowed their tops,</div> - <div class="i1">And then, behold!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Between the poppies and the mead</div> - <div class="i1">I saw the Fairies riding down:</div> - <div class="i0">One fair-faced Fairy in the lead</div> - <div class="i1">Crowned with a crown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The night was ringing with their reins,</div> - <div class="i1">So loud the cricket hushed its song;</div> - <div class="i0">Bells up and down their horses' manes</div> - <div class="i1">Swung sweet along.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And whistles, that took all the wind</div> - <div class="i1">With music when they shook their manes;</div> - <div class="i0">So that the fields, before, behind,</div> - <div class="i1">Rang with sweet strains.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And as their bridles chiming swung,</div> - <div class="i1">The night seemed cured of every qualm;</div> - <div class="i0">And my sick heart, so wild of tongue,</div> - <div class="i1">Was almost calm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The steeds they rode were fairy steeds,</div> - <div class="i1">Of filmy form and gossamer green;</div> - <div class="i0">And every elf was clad in weeds</div> - <div class="i1">Of silken sheen.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Above, a beam of silver light</div> - <div class="i1">Beat time to their wild fairy tune,</div> - <div class="i0">And danced and glanced,—an elfin white</div> - <div class="i1">Not of the moon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They were so small the harebell's blue</div> - <div class="i1">Had helmeted each tiny head,</div> - <div class="i0">Save that fair Fay, who, tall as two,</div> - <div class="i1">The Fairies led.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Dark tresses floated from a tire</div> - <div class="i1">Of diamond sparks that snapped with light;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And all her white sark seemed of fire</div> - <div class="i1">Shimmering the night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I would have thrown me at her feet</div> - <div class="i1">And told her of my grief and pain;</div> - <div class="i0">And she, perhaps, had helped me meet</div> - <div class="i1">My love again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Alas! a cock crew far away,</div> - <div class="i1">A long-necked cry; and, swift as thought,</div> - <div class="i0">The Elf-Queen and her company</div> - <div class="i1">Passed into naught.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="SONG_OF_THE_ELF" id="SONG_OF_THE_ELF"></a>SONG OF THE ELF</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where the poppies, with their shields,</div> - <div class="i1">Sentinel</div> - <div class="i0">Forest and the harvest fields,</div> - <div class="i1">In the bell</div> - <div class="i0">Of a blossom, fair to see,</div> - <div class="i0">There I stall the bumblebee,</div> - <div class="i1">My good stud;</div> - <div class="i0">There I stable him and hold,</div> - <div class="i0">Harness him with hairy gold;</div> - <div class="i0">There I ease his burly back</div> - <div class="i0">Of the honey and its sack</div> - <div class="i1">Filched from bloom and bud.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where the glow-worm lights its lamp,</div> - <div class="i1">There I lie;</div> - <div class="i0">Where, above the grasses damp,</div> - <div class="i1">Moths go by;</div> - <div class="i0">Now within the fussy brook,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Where the waters wind and crook</div> - <div class="i1">Round the rocks,</div> - <div class="i0">I go sailing down the gloom</div> - <div class="i0">Straddling light a wisp of broom;</div> - <div class="i0">Or, beneath the owlet moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Trip it to the cricket's tune</div> - <div class="i1">Tossing back my locks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ere the crowfoot on the lawn</div> - <div class="i1">Lifts its head,</div> - <div class="i0">Or the glow-worm's light be gone,</div> - <div class="i1">Dim and dead,</div> - <div class="i0">In a cobweb-hammock I</div> - <div class="i0">Swing between two ferns and lie</div> - <div class="i1">Hid away;</div> - <div class="i0">Where the drowsy musk-rose blows</div> - <div class="i0">And a sleepy runnel flows,</div> - <div class="i0">In the land of Faery,</div> - <div class="i0">There I rock, where none can see,</div> - <div class="i1">All the summer day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AN_ELF_SWASHBUCKLER" id="AN_ELF_SWASHBUCKLER"></a>AN ELF SWASHBUCKLER</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ho, my bullies, lift a tune</div> - <div class="i1">To Queen Mab, and, come, make merry,</div> - <div class="i0">By a mushroom in the moon,</div> - <div class="i1">White as bud of berry!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gentlemen, come! take your grog!</div> - <div class="i1">Each one in his cap and mantlet:</div> - <div class="i0">Who refuses is a dog!—</div> - <div class="i1">He must lift my gantlet!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Look! my gaberdine how brave!</div> - <div class="i1">And my tunic, ouphen yellow!</div> - <div class="i0">One a bat's-wing lately gave,</div> - <div class="i1">And a frog its fellow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And a moth's-head grew this fine</div> - <div class="i1">Feather of my beetle-bonnet;</div> - <div class="i0">See, my gnat-sting dagger's shine</div> - <div class="i1">Hath its blood still on it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Faith! this ring I wear, I swear,</div> - <div class="i1">'Twas Queen Mab who gave it: studded,</div> - <div class="i0">As you see, with rubies rare—</div> - <div class="i1">Eyes of spiders blooded.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Doubt me, sirs, and by my blade!—</div> - <div class="i1">Sirrahs, a good stabbing hanger!</div> - <div class="i0">From a hornet's stinger made!—</div> - <div class="i1">You may dread my anger!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Fill the lichen pottles up,</div> - <div class="i1">Honey pressed from hearts of roses:</div> - <div class="i0">Cheek by jowl, up with each cup,</div> - <div class="i1">Till we hide our noses.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Good, sirs!—Marry!—'Twas the cock!—</div> - <div class="i1">Hey, away! the moon's lost fire!—</div> - <div class="i0">Ho! the cock! our dial and clock—</div> - <div class="i1">Hide beneath this brier!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ON_THE_EVE_OF_ST_JOHN" id="ON_THE_EVE_OF_ST_JOHN"></a>ON THE EVE OF ST. JOHN</h2> - -<p class="center">(<em>Scandinavian</em>)</p> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">Dizzily round,</div> - <div class="i0">On the elf-hills, white in the mellow moonlight,</div> - <div class="i0">To a sweet, unholy, ravishing sound</div> - <div class="i0">Of wizard voices from underground,</div> - <div class="i0">Their mazy dance the Elle-maids wound</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">Beautiful white,</div> - <div class="i0">Like a wreath of mist by the starbeams kissed,</div> - <div class="i0">Their frail, sweet faces bloomed out of the night,</div> - <div class="i0">With floating tresses of firefly light,</div> - <div class="i0">That puffed like foam to the left and the right,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">Fitfully there</div> - <div class="i0">They danced like the daughters of starlit waters,—</div> - <div class="i0">But I saw what a mockery all of them were,</div> - <div class="i0">With their hollow bodies, when the moonlit air</div> - <div class="i0">Rayed out of their eyes with a glow-worm glare,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> - <div class="i5">I turned my feet</div> - <div class="i0">To the river's banks: in the rush-flowers' ranks</div> - <div class="i0">I heard the Necken their songs repeat:</div> - <div class="i0">A music all made of the water's beat,</div> - <div class="i0">Of moss and of whispering winds that meet,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">They called my name;</div> - <div class="i0">And I saw them there, in their beauty rare,</div> - <div class="i0">On the moonlit waves whence the music came,</div> - <div class="i0">With their harps of gold, and their locks of flame</div> - <div class="i0">Blown over pale brows, sans sin or blame,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">'Twas nearing morn</div> - <div class="i0">When I turned me home; and a wizen'd gnome,</div> - <div class="i0">A Nis, all gray with flailing the corn,</div> - <div class="i0">And strong with the scent of byre and barn,</div> - <div class="i0">Scowled at me under the haunted thorn,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i5">To end it all,</div> - <div class="i0">As I passed the hill by the ruined mill,</div> - <div class="i0">The hill rose up on pillars tall,</div> - <div class="i0">Crimson pillars that ranked a hall,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the Dwarfs and the Trolls were holding a ball,</div> - <div class="i5">On St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> - <div class="i5">One reached to me</div> - <div class="i0">A goblet of gold of a vintage old,</div> - <div class="i0">And I drank, and mixed with their mirth and glee,</div> - <div class="i0">And danced with them for an hour, may be.—</div> - <div class="i0">But they tell me now 'tis a year, you see,</div> - <div class="i5">Since St. John's Eve.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_NIXIES" id="THE_NIXIES"></a>THE NIXIES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Deep down, beneath the waves,</div> - <div class="i0">Great emerald-curving caves</div> - <div class="i1">Dark-domed above it,</div> - <div class="i0">Dim-walled with pearl and gold</div> - <div class="i0">Glimmers their city old—</div> - <div class="i1">Hast thou heard of it?—</div> - <div class="i0">Where, through the long green nights, the spangling spars</div> - <div class="i1">Twinkle like misty stars.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where the wind-ripple rays,</div> - <div class="i0">And the white water sprays</div> - <div class="i1">Over the rocks,</div> - <div class="i0">Sitting, they comb their hair;</div> - <div class="i0">Singing, with fingers fair</div> - <div class="i1">Braiding their locks;</div> - <div class="i0">While round their loveliness of naked limbs</div> - <div class="i1">The moon's gold glamour swims.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or, on some stormy night,</div> - <div class="i0">Seen through the glow-worm light</div> - <div class="i1">Haunting the sands,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Thou canst behold them drift</div> - <div class="i0">Wild thro' the foam, and lift</div> - <div class="i1">Pale arms and hands;</div> - <div class="i0">Or, in the lightning's leap, along the lake,</div> - <div class="i1">Dance in the tempest's wake.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Singing: "Come join our dance!</div> - <div class="i0">Come, while the lightnings glance,</div> - <div class="i1">Or when the moon</div> - <div class="i0">Spills all her flowers of light</div> - <div class="i0">At the dark feet of night;</div> - <div class="i1">And soon, ah, soon,</div> - <div class="i0">Within our shadowy halls thou shalt forget</div> - <div class="i1">Earth's fever and its fret."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WATER-FAIRY" id="THE_WATER-FAIRY"></a>THE WATER-FAIRY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Stars above her, stars beneath,</div> - <div class="i0">White she rose, as white as death,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the waters glassed the splendor</div> - <div class="i0">Of a thousand thousand stars,</div> - <div class="i0">Twinkling where the lilies slender</div> - <div class="i0">Rocked above the ripple-bars.</div> - <div class="i0">Slow she oared a shining shoulder</div> - <div class="i0">To a blossom-crested boulder.</div> - <div class="i0">With slim fingers, long and milky,</div> - <div class="i0">From the wave and water-lilies,</div> - <div class="i0">Up the rock she drew her silky</div> - <div class="i0">Beauty, wild as any rill is</div> - <div class="i0">Flashing from a hilly height.</div> - <div class="i0">Sitting, dripping in the night,</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet she sang unto the lilies,</div> - <div class="i0">Sang unto the listening lilies,</div> - <div class="i0">Till arose the wool-white moon</div> - <div class="i0">In the silken hush of heaven;</div> - <div class="i0">Then she wreathed her brow with seven</div> - <div class="i0">Lily-buds, all sweet with June;</div> - <div class="i0">Belted, wreathed with lilies seven,</div> - <div class="i0">Then again upon the boulder,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Dark locks on a milk-white shoulder,</div> - <div class="i0">Wild she sang; a wilder ditty</div> - <div class="i0">To the wool-white moon;</div> - <div class="i0">To the lilies and the moon:</div> - <div class="i0">Beautiful and without pity,</div> - <div class="i0">Sang, and sang an elfin tune;</div> - <div class="i0">Till a youth, who wandered far,</div> - <div class="i0">Saw her sitting like a star;</div> - <div class="i0">Heard her singing to the moon;</div> - <div class="i0">Found her sitting, starry white,</div> - <div class="i0">On the flower-crested boulder,</div> - <div class="i0">Dark locks on a milky shoulder,</div> - <div class="i0">In the low moon's lilied light,</div> - <div class="i0">'Neath the wool-white moon....</div> - <div class="i0">And the creature wrapped her hair</div> - <div class="i0">Round his white throat, sitting there</div> - <div class="i0">Singing, smiled into his eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">While she wrapped her raven hair</div> - <div class="i0">Slowly round his throat; and then</div> - <div class="i0">Laughed and whispered to the skies,</div> - <div class="i0">Kissed him once and then again;</div> - <div class="i0">Smiled; and left him stark and strangled</div> - <div class="i0">In the water-lilies tangled,</div> - <div class="i0">Staring up, with open eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">At the moon with open eyes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_MORNING-GLORIES" id="THE_MORNING-GLORIES"></a>THE MORNING-GLORIES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They swing from the garden-trellis</div> - <div class="i1">In Ariel-airy ease;</div> - <div class="i0">And their aromatic honey</div> - <div class="i1">Is sought by the earliest bees.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The rose, it knows their secret,</div> - <div class="i1">And the jessamine also knows:</div> - <div class="i0">And the rose told me the secret,</div> - <div class="i1">That the jessamine told the rose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And the jessamine said: At midnight,</div> - <div class="i1">Ere the red cock woke and crew,</div> - <div class="i0">The Fays of Queen Titania</div> - <div class="i1">Came here to bathe i' the dew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And the yellow moonlight glistened</div> - <div class="i1">On braids of elfin hair:</div> - <div class="i0">And fairy feet on the flowers</div> - <div class="i1">Fell lighter than any air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And their petticoats, gay as bubbles,</div> - <div class="i1">They hung up, every one,</div> - <div class="i0">On the morning-glory's tendrils,</div> - <div class="i1">Till their moonlight bath were done.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But the barn-cock crew too early,</div> - <div class="i1">And the Fairies fled in fear,</div> - <div class="i0">Leaving their petticoats, one and all,</div> - <div class="i1">Like blossoms hanging here.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_GLADIOLES" id="THE_GLADIOLES"></a>THE GLADIOLES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">As tall as the lily, as rich as the rose,</div> - <div class="i1">And deep as the bloom of the hollyhock,</div> - <div class="i0">They lift their blossoms in furbelows</div> - <div class="i1">Of flame that the warm winds rock.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And some are red as the humming-bird's throat,</div> - <div class="i1">And some are pied as the butterfly's wings,</div> - <div class="i0">And each is shaped like an elfin coat,</div> - <div class="i1">Or a goblin cap that swings.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Freaked with fire or red as blood,</div> - <div class="i1">They nod at me in my garden old,</div> - <div class="i0">Each flower a pixy helm or hood,</div> - <div class="i1">Lace-lined with fairyland gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For you know the goblins that come at dusk,—</div> - <div class="i1">Whose firefly eyes you have seen,—each one,</div> - <div class="i0">(When is sprinkled the dew and scattered the musk,)</div> - <div class="i1">Hangs here his cap when done.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_TIGER-LILY" id="THE_TIGER-LILY"></a>THE TIGER-LILY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Tall in his tawny turban,</div> - <div class="i1">A sultan 'mid his bands,</div> - <div class="i0">In my garden, old and urban,</div> - <div class="i1">The tiger-lily stands.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The poppies there that glisten,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose gaudy garments glow,</div> - <div class="i0">Are eunuchs who guard and listen</div> - <div class="i1">Round his seraglio</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Of roses, myrrhed and musky;</div> - <div class="i1">Some whiter than a dove,</div> - <div class="i0">And others, deep and dusky,</div> - <div class="i1">His odalisks of love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Circassian-white and slender,</div> - <div class="i1">His dancing-girls and slaves,</div> - <div class="i0">To the August-lilies tender,</div> - <div class="i1">His haughty hand he waves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">While he watches them, nothing missing,</div> - <div class="i1">In her bower of bloom on high,</div> - <div class="i0">His favorite rose is kissing</div> - <div class="i1">A Bedouin butterfly.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_MOTH_THE_ROSE_AND_THE_PINK" id="THE_MOTH_THE_ROSE_AND_THE_PINK"></a>THE MOTH, THE ROSE, AND THE PINK</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">White as snow I saw it sink</div> - <div class="i0">On the pungent-petaled pink</div> - <div class="i1">Through the moonlit dusk;</div> - <div class="i0">Moth? or fairy? or, who knows?—</div> - <div class="i0">Ghost, perhaps, of some dead rose</div> - <div class="i1">'Mid the roses' musk.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then it seemed I heard a sweet</div> - <div class="i0">Tinkle as of elfin feet</div> - <div class="i1">Underneath the blooms,</div> - <div class="i0">Where one rose hung desolate,</div> - <div class="i0">Sick of heart and filled with hate,</div> - <div class="i1">Dead with its perfumes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Thou, for whom I died to-day,"</div> - <div class="i0">So I seemed to hear it say,</div> - <div class="i1">"Listen, lovely pink:</div> - <div class="i0">Vampire-like, unto thy heart</div> - <div class="i0">Now I send, through my white art,</div> - <div class="i1">My pale ghost to drink."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GLAMOUR" id="GLAMOUR"></a>GLAMOUR</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With fall on fall, from wood to wood,</div> - <div class="i1">The brook pours mossy music down—</div> - <div class="i0">Or is it, in the solitude,</div> - <div class="i1">The murmur of a Faery town?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A town of Elfland filled with bells</div> - <div class="i1">And holiday of hurrying feet:</div> - <div class="i0">Or traffic now, whose small sound swells,</div> - <div class="i1">Now sinks from busy street to street.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Whose Folk I often recognize</div> - <div class="i1">In wingéd things that hover round,</div> - <div class="i0">Who to men's eyes assume disguise</div> - <div class="i1">When on some Faery errand bound.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The bee, that haunts the touch-me-not,</div> - <div class="i1">Big-bodied, making braggart din,</div> - <div class="i0">Is elfin brother to that sot,</div> - <div class="i1">Jack Falstaff of the Boar's Head Inn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The dragon-fly, whose wings of black</div> - <div class="i1">Are mantle for his garb of green,</div> - <div class="i0">Is Ancient to this other Jack,</div> - <div class="i1">Another Pistol, long and lean.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The butterfly, in royal tints,</div> - <div class="i1">Is Hal, mad Hal in cloth of gold,</div> - <div class="i0">Who passes these, as once that Prince</div> - <div class="i1">Passed his companions boon of old.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="FAERY_MORRIS" id="FAERY_MORRIS"></a>FAERY MORRIS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The winds are whist; and, hid in mist,</div> - <div class="i0">The moon hangs o'er the wooded height:</div> - <div class="i0">The bushy bee, with unkempt head,</div> - <div class="i0">Hath made the sunflower's disk his bed,</div> - <div class="i1">And sleeps half-hid from sight.</div> - <div class="i2">The owlet makes us melody—</div> - <div class="i2">Come dance with us in Faery,</div> - <div class="i1">Come dance with us to-night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The dew is damp; the glow-worm's lamp</div> - <div class="i0">Blurs in the moss its tawny light:</div> - <div class="i0">The great gray moth sinks, half-asleep,</div> - <div class="i0">Where, in an elfin-laundered heap,</div> - <div class="i1">The lily-gowns hang white.</div> - <div class="i2">The crickets make us minstrelsy—</div> - <div class="i2">Come dance with us in Faery,</div> - <div class="i1">Come dance with us to-night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With scents of heat, dew-chilled and sweet,</div> - <div class="i0">The new-cut hay smells by the bight:</div> - <div class="i0">The ghost of some dead pansy bloom</div> - <div class="i0">The butterfly seems, in the gloom,</div> - <div class="i1">Its pied wings folded tight.</div> - <div class="i2">The world is drowned in fantasy—</div> - <div class="i2">Come dance with us in Faery,</div> - <div class="i1">Come dance with us to-night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_LITTLE_PEOPLE" id="THE_LITTLE_PEOPLE"></a>THE LITTLE PEOPLE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the lily nods in slumber,</div> - <div class="i0">And the roses are all sleeping;</div> - <div class="i0">When the night hangs deep and umber,</div> - <div class="i0">And the stars their watch are keeping:</div> - <div class="i0">When the clematis uncloses</div> - <div class="i0">Like a hand of snowy fire;</div> - <div class="i0">And the golden-lipped primroses,</div> - <div class="i0">To the tiger-moths' desire,</div> - <div class="i0">Each a mouth of musk unpuckers—</div> - <div class="i0">Silken pouts of scented sweetness,</div> - <div class="i0">Which they sip with honey-suckers:—</div> - <div class="i0">Shod with hush and winged with fleetness,</div> - <div class="i0">You may see the Little People,</div> - <div class="i0">Round and round the drowsy steeple</div> - <div class="i0">Of a belfried hollyhock,—</div> - <div class="i0">Clad in phlox and four-o'-clock,</div> - <div class="i0">Gay of gown and pantaloon,—</div> - <div class="i0">Dancing by the glimmering moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Till the cock, the long-necked cock,</div> - <div class="i0">Crows them they must vanish soon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the cobweb is a cradle</div> - <div class="i0">For the dreaming dew to sleep in;</div> - <div class="i0">And each blossom is a ladle</div> - <div class="i0">That the perfumed rain lies deep in:</div> - <div class="i0">When the flaming fireflies scribble</div> - <div class="i0">Darkness as with lines flame-tragic,</div> - <div class="i0">And the night seems some dim sibyl</div> - <div class="i0">Speaking gold, or wording magic</div> - <div class="i0">Silent-syllabled and golden:</div> - <div class="i0">Capped with snapdragon and hooded</div> - <div class="i0">With the sweet-pea, vague-beholden,</div> - <div class="i0">You may see the Little People</div> - <div class="i0">Underneath the sleepy steeple</div> - <div class="i0">Of a towering mullein stock,</div> - <div class="i0">Trip it over moss and rock</div> - <div class="i0">To the owlet's elvish tune,</div> - <div class="i0">And the tree-toad's gnome-bassoon;</div> - <div class="i0">Till the cock, the barnyard cock,</div> - <div class="i0">Crows them they must vanish soon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When the wind upon the water</div> - <div class="i0">Seems a boat of ray and ripple,</div> - <div class="i0">That some fairy moonbeam-daughter</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Steers, with sails that drift and dripple;</div> - <div class="i0">When the sound of grig and cricket,</div> - <div class="i0">Ever singing, ever humming,</div> - <div class="i0">Seems a goblin in the thicket</div> - <div class="i0">On his elfin viol strumming;</div> - <div class="i0">When the toadstool, coned and milky,</div> - <div class="i0">Heaves a roof for snails to clamber,</div> - <div class="i0">Thistledown- and milkweed-silky,</div> - <div class="i0">With loose locks of jade and amber,</div> - <div class="i0">You may see the Little People,</div> - <div class="i0">Underneath the pixy steeple</div> - <div class="i0">Of a doméd mushroom, flock,</div> - <div class="i0">Quaint in wildflower vest and frock,</div> - <div class="i0">Whirling by the waning moon</div> - <div class="i0">To the whippoorwill's weird tune,</div> - <div class="i0">Till the cock, the far-off cock,</div> - <div class="i0">Crows them they must vanish soon.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_SEA-KING" id="THE_SEA-KING"></a>THE SEA-KING</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In green sea-caverns dim,</div> - <div class="i1">Deep down,</div> - <div class="i0">Foam-bearded,—gray and grim</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath his crown,—</div> - <div class="i0">He sits where sea-things swim</div> - <div class="i1">And dead men frown.</div> - <div class="i0">In green sea-caverns dim</div> - <div class="i1">Deep down.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Around him mermaids sing,</div> - <div class="i1">Foam-clad,</div> - <div class="i0">And comb long locks and cling,</div> - <div class="i1">And sing so sad</div> - <div class="i0">Their song's wild murmuring</div> - <div class="i1">Drives mortals mad.</div> - <div class="i0">Around him mermaids sing,</div> - <div class="i1">Foam-clad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There vast the sea-snakes lair</div> - <div class="i1">And yawn;</div> - <div class="i0">Great bulks cloud by; and there</div> - <div class="i1">Huge shells and spawn,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Weird weeds, fantastic fair,</div> - <div class="i1">Drift scarlet wan.</div> - <div class="i0">There vast the sea-snakes lair</div> - <div class="i1">And yawn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Of wrecks of ships and hulls</div> - <div class="i1">And bones,</div> - <div class="i0">Sunk gold the water dulls,</div> - <div class="i1">And precious stones,</div> - <div class="i0">Anchors, and deadmen's skulls,</div> - <div class="i1">He builds gaunt thrones.</div> - <div class="i0">Of wrecks of ships and hulls</div> - <div class="i1">And bones.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Men's tears are dear to him,</div> - <div class="i1">Deep down.</div> - <div class="i0">Set in the foamy rim</div> - <div class="i1">Of his pale crown,</div> - <div class="i0">Their pearléd sorrows swim</div> - <div class="i1">Above his frown.</div> - <div class="i0">Men's tears are dear to him,</div> - <div class="i1">Deep down.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For him no tempests sweep</div> - <div class="i1">And sever</div> - <div class="i0">The league-long waves that leap;</div> - <div class="i1">The sun shines never:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> - <div class="i0">In caverns vast and deep</div> - <div class="i1">He sits forever.</div> - <div class="i0">For him no tempests sweep,</div> - <div class="i1">Never, ah, never.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_NEREID" id="THE_NEREID"></a>THE NEREID</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I saw one night a Nereid white</div> - <div class="i1">Arise from her coral caves:</div> - <div class="i0">Her sea-green curls were pale with pearls,</div> - <div class="i1">And her limbs were veiled with the waves.</div> - <div class="i0">Through the moonlit foam I saw her come</div> - <div class="i1">Up the billow-haunted shore—</div> - <div class="i0">And faint and sweet I heard her feet,</div> - <div class="i1">Foam-like, through the surf's long roar;</div> - <div class="i0">While ever the wind and the rolling waves</div> - <div class="i0">Kept time to her song of ocean caves,</div> - <div class="i0">That she sang to her harp of mist and moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Of moonbeam shell: this ocean tune:—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Come follow, come follow, to caverns hollow,</div> - <div class="i1">That sound with the sighing sea!</div> - <div class="i0">Come follow me o'er the waters hoar!—</div> - <div class="i1">Come away, come away with me!</div> - <div class="i0">Come follow, oh, follow, to grottoes hollow,</div> - <div class="i1">And caves that are ocean-whist,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Where the sea-weeds twine and the star-fish shine,</div> - <div class="i1">And the rosy corals twist.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Come follow me home on the wandering foam,</div> - <div class="i1">That rolls my world above!</div> - <div class="i0">My bosom shall bear thee safely where</div> - <div class="i1">The Sea-nymphs dream of love.</div> - <div class="i0">They will lie at thy feet and thy heart shall beat</div> - <div class="i1">To the music of their sighs;</div> - <div class="i0">They will lean to thy face and, like stars, thou shalt trace</div> - <div class="i1">Their radiant, love-lit eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Come away, come away! where, under the spray,</div> - <div class="i1">The haliötis glows,</div> - <div class="i0">The nautilus gleams and the sponge-grove dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">And the crimson dulse like sunset streams,</div> - <div class="i1">And the coral-forest grows.</div> - <div class="i0">Come away to my caves, my emerald caves,</div> - <div class="i1">From the moon and the sun deep hid!</div> - <div class="i0">Forget the world, down under the waves,—</div> - <div class="i0">The world of man that sighs and slaves,—</div> - <div class="i0">Forget the world, there under the waves,</div> - <div class="i1">In the arms of a Nereid!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_MERMAID" id="THE_MERMAID"></a>THE MERMAID</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The moon in the east was glowing</div> - <div class="i1">When I sought the moaning sea;</div> - <div class="i0">The winds from the sea were blowing,</div> - <div class="i1">And they brought strange dreams to me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The waves at my feet were breaking;</div> - <div class="i1">The stars in the sky were wan;</div> - <div class="i0">And I watched a white mist making</div> - <div class="i1">For the shore and glimmering on.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And was it a sound of wailing</div> - <div class="i1">That the sea-wind bore to me?</div> - <div class="i0">Did I hear a footstep trailing?</div> - <div class="i1">Or was it a wave of the sea?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The night hung pale above me</div> - <div class="i1">Upon her starry throne,</div> - <div class="i0">And a voice said, "Youth, come love me!</div> - <div class="i1">For my heart for thee makes moan."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And out of the mist came slipping</div> - <div class="i1">A mermaid, tall and fair;</div> - <div class="i0">Her limbs with sea-dew dripping,</div> - <div class="i1">And moonlight in her hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Her locks, with the salt sea dripping,</div> - <div class="i1">She wrung with a snowy hand;</div> - <div class="i0">Her gown hung, thinly clipping</div> - <div class="i1">Her breasts the sea-wind fanned.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Amort from the sea came speeding</div> - <div class="i1">This creature samite-clad;</div> - <div class="i0">And my heart for her was bleeding,</div> - <div class="i1">But its beating I forbade.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the strand where the sand was rocking</div> - <div class="i1">She stood and sang an air;</div> - <div class="i0">And the winds in her hair kept locking</div> - <div class="i1">Their fingers cool and bare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Soft in her arms did she fold me,</div> - <div class="i1">And evermore she moaned,</div> - <div class="i0">While her love and her grief she told me,</div> - <div class="i1">And the ocean sighed and groaned.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But I stilled my heart's wild beating,</div> - <div class="i1">For I knew her love was dim;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Oh, cold, oh, cold was my greeting,</div> - <div class="i1">Though my love burnt in each limb.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To her bosom white she pressed me</div> - <div class="i1">With arms of foam and mist;</div> - <div class="i0">With her arms and her lips caressed me,</div> - <div class="i1">And smiled in my eyes and kissed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But ever I kept repeating,</div> - <div class="i1">"A mermaid false is she!"</div> - <div class="i0">And cold, oh, cold was my greeting,</div> - <div class="i1">Though the heart beat wild in me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To my ears she laid her sighing</div> - <div class="i1">Sweet mouth, like a rosy shell;</div> - <div class="i0">Her arms round my neck were lying,</div> - <div class="i1">And her bosom rose and fell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With her kisses soft did she woo me,</div> - <div class="i1">But I hushed my heart's wild beat;</div> - <div class="i0">With her lips and her eyes did she sue me,</div> - <div class="i1">But met in my own defeat.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With the cloud of her sea-dipped tresses</div> - <div class="i1">She veiled her beautiful face—</div> - <div class="i0">And, oh, how I longed for her kisses,</div> - <div class="i1">And sighed for her soft embrace!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> - <div class="i0">But out in the mist she went wailing</div> - <div class="i1">When dawn besilvered the night,</div> - <div class="i0">Her robes of samite trailing</div> - <div class="i1">The foam-flowers, sad and white.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Like a spirit lost went sighing</div> - <div class="i1">In the twilight over the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">And it seemed the night was crying—</div> - <div class="i1">Or was it the heart in me?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then she turned to me and, weeping,</div> - <div class="i1">Faded into the night;</div> - <div class="i0">And I saw the wild waves leaping</div> - <div class="i1">Under the haunted height.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I heard a far-off sobbing,</div> - <div class="i1">A sound of agony—</div> - <div class="i0">Oh, was it the ocean throbbing?</div> - <div class="i1">Or was it the heart in me?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But I hushed my heart's wild beating,</div> - <div class="i1">With "a mermaid false is she!"</div> - <div class="i0">While ever I kept repeating,</div> - <div class="i1">"Would she'd return to me!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oh, heart, so full of yearning</div> - <div class="i1">For a loveliness that's gone,</div> - <div class="i0">A beauty unreturning,</div> - <div class="i1">Be still! or break with dawn!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="CHILDREN_O_THE_MOON" id="CHILDREN_O_THE_MOON"></a>CHILDREN O' THE MOON</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To-night, perhaps, after the rain is done,</div> - <div class="i0">Led by a moonbeam or the flickering torch</div> - <div class="i0">The firefly flares, amid the loneliness,</div> - <div class="i0">The hereditary loneliness of the trees,</div> - <div class="i0">I, too, may see,—as sees the star that peeps</div> - <div class="i0">Through interlacing boughs, the toadstools heave</div> - <div class="i0">Their white roofs through the ferns, like goblin huts,</div> - <div class="i0">An elfin town; and, squatting on their tops,</div> - <div class="i0">Punch-bellied things, peak-kneed, their knees up-drawn</div> - <div class="i0">To perpendicular eyes of glow-worm flame,</div> - <div class="i0">And arms akimbo i' the light o' the moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Watching the dew-drops tag the toadstools' rims,</div> - <div class="i0">Or from the mushroom roll the orbéd rain:</div> - <div class="i0">Or, where the tall weed drips and spunkwood smells</div> - <div class="i0">Make musk the underwoods, slim woodland imps,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Snail-eyed, frog-footed,—oust the sleeping bees</div> - <div class="i0">From rocking cradles of the wild flowers' bells</div> - <div class="i0">Belfrying, with foxglove-purple, a moonbeam space.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On the road in the April wood,</div> - <div class="i0">Under the oaks I stopped and stood,</div> - <div class="i0">Watching the mole that stealthily heaved</div> - <div class="i0">The soft loose clay of its barrow:</div> - <div class="i0">The oaks above were auburn-leaved;</div> - <div class="i0">And near me bloomed the yarrow;</div> - <div class="i0">When down from a leaf a gray snail fell,</div> - <div class="i0">Its long stilt-eyes thrust out of its shell:</div> - <div class="i0">And I thought, "This color is worn of the fays,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose fashion runs to dimmish grays:</div> - <div class="i0">A snail-brown tunic each elfin eunuch</div> - <div class="i0">Wears in the harem the Elf King keeps:</div> - <div class="i0">And a snail-gray gown each fairy clown</div> - <div class="i0">Dons when the elf dance whirls and leaps</div> - <div class="i0">In the light of the moon on the upland down.</div> - <div class="i0">A snail-shell house for his ouphen spouse</div> - <div class="i0">Each elfin builds by the snail-white moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Where his fairykin love he boards and beds,</div> - <div class="i0">Under the dandelion's wisp-white heads,</div> - <div class="i0">Where ever he pipes his cricket tune."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The sphinx-moth, clothed in downy hues,</div> - <div class="i0">In woolly whites and fawns and blues,</div> - <div class="i0">Goes fluttering through the evening dews.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Above the nicotiana's blooms'</div> - <div class="i0">Narcotic horns it waves its plumes,</div> - <div class="i0">Made drowsy with the drugged perfumes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It seems some Fairy Queen who goes</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid trumpets lifted in long rows</div> - <div class="i0">Of white whereon the Elfworld blows.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Attendant and triumphant strains</div> - <div class="i0">Of fragrance, greeting her who reigns,</div> - <div class="i0">Who takes the air in fairy lanes</div> - <div class="i0">Of flowers, that the moonlight stains.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_MOTIVE_IN_GOLD_AND_GRAY" id="A_MOTIVE_IN_GOLD_AND_GRAY"></a>A MOTIVE IN GOLD AND GRAY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To-night he sees their star bead, dewy bright,</div> - <div class="i0">Deep in the pansy, eve hath made for it,</div> - <div class="i0">Low in the west—a placid purple lit</div> - <div class="i0">At its far edge with warm auroral light:</div> - <div class="i0">Love's planet hangs above a cedared height;</div> - <div class="i0">And there in shadow, like gold music writ</div> - <div class="i0">Of dusk's dark fingers, scale-like fireflies flit</div> - <div class="i0">Now up, now down the balmy bars of night.</div> - <div class="i0">How different from that eve a year ago!</div> - <div class="i0">Which was a stormy flower in the hair</div> - <div class="i0">Of dolorous day, whose sombre eyes looked blurred</div> - <div class="i0">Into night's sibyl face, and saw the woe</div> - <div class="i0">Of parting here, and imaged a despair,</div> - <div class="i0">As now a hope caught from a homing word.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She came unto him—as the springtime does</div> - <div class="i0">Unto the land where all lies dead and cold,</div> - <div class="i0">Until her rosary of days is told</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And beauty, prayer-like, blossoms where death was.—</div> - <div class="i0">Nature divined her coming; yea, the dusk</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed thinking of that happiness: behold,</div> - <div class="i0">No cloud it had to blot its marigold</div> - <div class="i0">Moon—great and golden—o'er the slopes of musk;</div> - <div class="i0">Whereon earth's voice made music; tree and stream</div> - <div class="i0">Lilting the same low lullaby again,</div> - <div class="i0">To coax the wind, who romped among the hills</div> - <div class="i0">All day—a tired child—to sleep and dream:</div> - <div class="i0">When through the moonlight of the locust-lane</div> - <div class="i0">She came, as spring comes through her daffodils.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">White as a lily molded of Earth's milk</div> - <div class="i0">That eve the moon bloomed in a hyacinth sky;</div> - <div class="i0">Soft in the gleaming glens the wind went by,</div> - <div class="i0">Faint as a phantom clothed in unseen silk:</div> - <div class="i0">Bright as a Naiad's limbs, from shine to shade</div> - <div class="i0">The runnel twinkled through the shaken brier;</div> - <div class="i0">Above the hills one long cloud, pulsed with fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Flashed like a great enchantment-welded blade.</div> - <div class="i0">And when the western sky seemed some weird land,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And night a witch's spell, at whose command</div> - <div class="i0">One sloping star fell green from heav'n; and deep</div> - <div class="i0">The warm rose opened, for the moth to sleep;</div> - <div class="i0">Then she, consenting, laid her hands in his,</div> - <div class="i0">And lifted up her lips for their first kiss.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There where they part the porch's steps are strewn</div> - <div class="i0">With wind-dropped petals of the purple vine;</div> - <div class="i0">Athwart the porch the shadow of a pine</div> - <div class="i0">Cleaves the white moonlight; and, like some calm rune</div> - <div class="i0">Heaven says to Earth, shines the majestic moon;</div> - <div class="i0">And now a meteor draws a lilac line</div> - <div class="i0">Across the welkin, as if God would sign</div> - <div class="i0">The perfect poem of this night of June.</div> - <div class="i0">The wood-wind stirs the flowering chestnut-tree,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose curving blossoms strew the glimmering grass</div> - <div class="i0">Like crescents that wind-wrinkled waters glass;</div> - <div class="i0">And, like a moonstone in a frill of flame,</div> - <div class="i0">The dewdrop trembles in the peony,</div> - <div class="i0">As in a lover's heart his sweetheart's name.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span> -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In after years shall she stand here again,</div> - <div class="i0">In heart regretful? and with lonely sighs</div> - <div class="i0">Think on that night of love, and realize</div> - <div class="i0">Whose was the fault whence grew the parting pain?</div> - <div class="i0">And, in her soul, persuading still in vain,</div> - <div class="i0">Shall doubt take shape, and all its old surmise</div> - <div class="i0">Bid darker phantoms of remorse arise</div> - <div class="i0">Trailing the raiment of a dead disdain?</div> - <div class="i0">Masks, unto whom shall her avowal yearn</div> - <div class="i0">With looks clairvoyant, seeing how each is</div> - <div class="i0">A different form with eyes and lips that burn</div> - <div class="i0">Into her heart with love's last look and kiss?—</div> - <div class="i0">And, ere they pass, shall she behold them turn</div> - <div class="i0">To her a face which evermore is his?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In after years shall he remember how</div> - <div class="i0">Dawn had no breeze sweet as her murmured name?</div> - <div class="i0">And day no sunlight that availed the same</div> - <div class="i0">As her bright smile or beauty of her brow?</div> - <div class="i0">Nor had the conscious twilight's golds and grays</div> - <div class="i0">Her soul's allurement, that was free from blame,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Nor dusk's advances, soft with starry flame,</div> - <div class="i0">More young bewitchment than her own sweet ways.—</div> - <div class="i0">Then as the night with moonlight and perfume,</div> - <div class="i0">And dew and darkness, qualifies the whole</div> - <div class="i0">Dim world with glamour, shall the past with dreams—</div> - <div class="i0">That were the love-theme of their lives—illume</div> - <div class="i0">The present with remembered hours, with gleams,</div> - <div class="i0">Long lost to him, that bring them soul to soul?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No! not for her and him that part—the Might-</div> - <div class="i0">Have-Been's sad consolation! where had bent,</div> - <div class="i0">Haply, in prayer and patience penitent,</div> - <div class="i0">Both, though apart, before no blown-out light.</div> - <div class="i0">The otherwise of fate for them, when white</div> - <div class="i0">The lilacs bloom again, and, innocent,</div> - <div class="i0">Spring comes with beauty for her testament,</div> - <div class="i0">Singing the praises of the day and night.</div> - <div class="i0">When orchards blossom and the distant hill</div> - <div class="i0">Is pale with haw-trees as a ridge with mist,</div> - <div class="i0">The moon shall see him where a watch he keeps</div> - <div class="i0">By her young form that lieth white and still,</div> - <div class="i0">With lidded eyes and passive wrist on wrist,</div> - <div class="i0">While by her side he bows himself and weeps.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">VIII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What pain for him to see the blooms appear</div> - <div class="i0">Of haw and dogwood in the spring again;</div> - <div class="i0">The primrose dragging with its weight of rain,</div> - <div class="i0">And hill-sloped orchards swarming far and near.</div> - <div class="i0">To see the old fields, that her steps made dear,</div> - <div class="i0">Grow green with deepening plenty of the grain,</div> - <div class="i0">Yet feel how this excess of life is vain,—</div> - <div class="i0">How vain to him!—since she no more is here.</div> - <div class="i0">What though the woodland bourgeon, water flow,</div> - <div class="i0">Like a rejoicing harp, beneath the boughs!</div> - <div class="i0">The cat-bird and the oriole arouse</div> - <div class="i0">Day with the impulsive music of their love!</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the graveyard sod she will not know,</div> - <div class="i0">Nor what his heart is all too conscious of!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IX</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How bless'd is he who, gazing in the tomb,</div> - <div class="i0">Can yet behold beneath the investing mask</div> - <div class="i0">Of mockery,—whose horror seems to ask</div> - <div class="i0">Sphinx-riddles of the soul within the gloom,—</div> - <div class="i0">Upon dead lips no dust of Love's dead bloom;</div> - <div class="i0">And in dead hands no shards of Faith's rent flask;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> - <div class="i0">But Hope, who still stands at her starry task,</div> - <div class="i0">Weaving the web of promise on her loom!</div> - <div class="i0">Thrice bless'd! who, 'though he hear the tomb proclaim</div> - <div class="i0">How all is Death's and Life Death's other name,</div> - <div class="i0">Can yet reply: "O Grave, these things are yours!</div> - <div class="i0">But that is left which life indeed assures—</div> - <div class="i0">Love, through whose touch I shall arise the same!</div> - <div class="i0">Love, of whose self was wrought the universe!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="INTIMATIONS" id="INTIMATIONS"></a>INTIMATIONS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Is it uneasy moonlight,</div> - <div class="i1">On the restless field, that stirs?</div> - <div class="i0">Or wild white meadow-blossoms</div> - <div class="i1">The night-wind bends and blurs?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Is it the dolorous water,</div> - <div class="i1">That sobs in the wood and sighs?</div> - <div class="i0">Or heart of an ancient oak-tree,</div> - <div class="i1">That breaks and, sighing, dies?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The wind is vague with the shadows</div> - <div class="i1">That wander in No-Man's-Land;</div> - <div class="i0">The water is dark with the voices</div> - <div class="i1">That weep on the Unknown's strand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O ghosts of the winds that call me!</div> - <div class="i1">O ghosts of the whispering waves!</div> - <div class="i0">Sad as forgotten flowers</div> - <div class="i1">That die upon nameless graves!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> - <div class="i0">What is this thing you tell me</div> - <div class="i1">In tongues of a twilight race,</div> - <div class="i0">Of death, with the vanished features,</div> - <div class="i1">Mantled, of my own face?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The old enigmas of the deathless dawns,</div> - <div class="i1">And riddles of the all immortal eves,—</div> - <div class="i0">That still o'er Delphic lawns</div> - <div class="i1">Speak as the gods spoke through oracular leaves—</div> - <div class="i0">I read with new-born eyes,</div> - <div class="i1">Remembering how, a slave,</div> - <div class="i0">They buried me, a living sacrifice,</div> - <div class="i1">Once in a dead king's grave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or, crowned with hyacinth and helichrys,</div> - <div class="i1">How, towards the altar in the marble gloom,—</div> - <div class="i0">Hearing the magadis</div> - <div class="i1">Dirge through the pale amaracine perfume,—</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid chanting priests I trod,</div> - <div class="i1">With never a sigh or pause,</div> - <div class="i0">To give my life to pacify a god,</div> - <div class="i1">And save my country's cause.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again: Cyrenian roses on wild hair,</div> - <div class="i1">And oil and purple smeared on breasts and cheeks,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> - <div class="i0">How, with mad torches there,—</div> - <div class="i1">Reddening the cedars of Cithæron's peaks,—</div> - <div class="i0">With gesture and fierce glance,</div> - <div class="i1">Lascivious Mænad bands</div> - <div class="i0">Once drew and slew me in the Pyrrhic dance</div> - <div class="i1">With Bacchanalian hands.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The music now that lays</div> - <div class="i1">Dim lips against my ears,</div> - <div class="i0">Some far-off thing it says,—</div> - <div class="i1">Unto my soul,—of years</div> - <div class="i0">Long passed into the haze</div> - <div class="i4">Of tears.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Meseems before me are</div> - <div class="i1">The dark eyes of a queen,</div> - <div class="i0">A queen of Istakhar:</div> - <div class="i1">I seem to see her lean</div> - <div class="i0">More lovely than a star</div> - <div class="i4">Of mien.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A slave, I stand before</div> - <div class="i1">Her jeweled throne; I kneel,</div> - <div class="i0">And, in a song, once more</div> - <div class="i1">My love for her reveal;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> - <div class="i0">How once I did adore</div> - <div class="i4">I feel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again her dark eyes gleam;</div> - <div class="i1">Again her red lips smile;</div> - <div class="i0">And in her face the beam</div> - <div class="i1">Of love that knows no guile;</div> - <div class="i0">And so she seems to dream</div> - <div class="i4">A while.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Out of her deep hair then</div> - <div class="i1">A rose she takes—and I</div> - <div class="i0">Am made a god 'mid men!</div> - <div class="i1">Her rose, that here did lie</div> - <div class="i0">When I, in th' wild-beasts' den,</div> - <div class="i4">Did die.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old paintings on its wainscots,</div> - <div class="i1">And, in its oaken hall,</div> - <div class="i0">Old arras; and the twilight</div> - <div class="i1">Of sorrow over all.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old grandeur on its stairways;</div> - <div class="i1">And in its haunted rooms</div> - <div class="i0">Old souvenirs of greatness,</div> - <div class="i1">And ghosts of dead perfumes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The winds are phantom voices</div> - <div class="i1">Around its carven doors;</div> - <div class="i0">The moonbeams, specter footsteps</div> - <div class="i1">Upon its polished floors.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old cedars build around it</div> - <div class="i1">A solitude of sighs;</div> - <div class="i0">And the old hours pass through it</div> - <div class="i1">With immemorial eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But more than this I know not;</div> - <div class="i1">Nor where the house may be;</div> - <div class="i0">Nor what its ancient secret</div> - <div class="i1">And ancient grief to me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It seems my soul remembers,—</div> - <div class="i1">Of which this house is part,—</div> - <div class="i0">Once, in a former lifetime,</div> - <div class="i1">'Twas here I broke my heart.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In eons of the senses,</div> - <div class="i1">My spirit knew of yore,</div> - <div class="i0">I found the Isle of Circe</div> - <div class="i1">And felt her magic lore;</div> - <div class="i0">And still the soul remembers</div> - <div class="i1">What I was once before.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> - <div class="i0">She gave me flowers to smell of</div> - <div class="i1">That wizard branches bore,</div> - <div class="i0">Of weird and wondrous beauty,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose stems dripped human gore—</div> - <div class="i0">Their scent when I remember</div> - <div class="i1">I know that world once more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She gave me fruits to eat of</div> - <div class="i1">That grew beside the shore,</div> - <div class="i0">Of necromantic ripeness,</div> - <div class="i1">With human flesh at core—</div> - <div class="i0">Their taste when I remember</div> - <div class="i1">I know that life once more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then, behold! a serpent,</div> - <div class="i1">That glides my face before,</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes of tears and fire</div> - <div class="i1">That glare me o'er and o'er—</div> - <div class="i0">I look into its eyeballs,</div> - <div class="i1">And know myself once more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I have looked in the eyes of Poesy,</div> - <div class="i1">And sat in Song's high place;</div> - <div class="i0">And the beautiful Spirits of Music</div> - <div class="i1">Have spoken me face to face;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Yet here in my soul there is sorrow</div> - <div class="i1">They never can name or trace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I have walked with the glamour Gladness,</div> - <div class="i1">And dreamed with the shadow Sleep;</div> - <div class="i0">And the presences, Love and Knowledge,</div> - <div class="i1">Have smiled in my heart's red keep;</div> - <div class="i0">Yet here in my soul there is sorrow</div> - <div class="i1">For the depth of their gaze too deep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The love and the hope God grants me,</div> - <div class="i1">The beauty that lures me on,</div> - <div class="i0">And the dreams of folly and wisdom</div> - <div class="i1">That thoughts of the spirit don,</div> - <div class="i0">Are but masks of an ancient sorrow</div> - <div class="i1">Of a life long dead and gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Was it sin? or a crime forgotten?</div> - <div class="i1">Of a love that loved too well?</div> - <div class="i0">That sat on a throne of fire</div> - <div class="i1">A thousand years in Hell?</div> - <div class="i0">That the soul with its nameless sorrow</div> - <div class="i1">Remembers but can not tell?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="SELF_AND_SOUL" id="SELF_AND_SOUL"></a>SELF AND SOUL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It came to me in my sleep,</div> - <div class="i1">And I rose in my sleep and went</div> - <div class="i0">Out in the night to weep,</div> - <div class="i1">Out where the trees were bent.</div> - <div class="i0">With my soul, it seemed, I stood</div> - <div class="i0">Alone in a wind-swept wood.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And my soul said, gazing at me,</div> - <div class="i1">"I will show you another land</div> - <div class="i0">Different from that you see,"</div> - <div class="i1">And took into hers my hand.—</div> - <div class="i0">We passed from the wood to a heath</div> - <div class="i0">As starved as the ribs of Death.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There, every leaf and the grass</div> - <div class="i1">Was a thorn or a thistle hoar,</div> - <div class="i0">The rocks rose mass on mass,</div> - <div class="i1">Black bones on an iron moor.</div> - <div class="i0">And my soul said, looking at me,</div> - <div class="i0">"The past of your life you see."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And a swineherd passed with his swine,</div> - <div class="i1">Deformed, with the face of an owl;</div> - <div class="i0">Two eyes of a wolfish shine</div> - <div class="i1">Burned under his eyebrows foul.</div> - <div class="i0">And my soul said, "This is the Lust,</div> - <div class="i0">That soils my beauty with dust."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then a goose-wife hobbled by,</div> - <div class="i1">On a crutch, with the devil's geese,</div> - <div class="i0">A-mumbling that God is a lie,</div> - <div class="i1">And cursing the world without cease.</div> - <div class="i0">And my soul said, "This is Unfaith</div> - <div class="i0">Who maketh me that which she saith."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then we came to a garden, close</div> - <div class="i1">To a hollow of graves and tombs;</div> - <div class="i0">A garden as red as a rose,</div> - <div class="i1">Hung over of obscene glooms;</div> - <div class="i0">The heart of each rose was a spark</div> - <div class="i0">That smouldered or glared in the dark.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And I was aware of a girl</div> - <div class="i1">With a wild-rose face, who came,</div> - <div class="i0">With a mouth like a shell's split pearl,</div> - <div class="i1">Rose-clad in a robe of flame;</div> - <div class="i0">And she plucked the roses and gave,</div> - <div class="i0">And I was her veriest slave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> - <div class="i0">She vanished. My lips would have kissed</div> - <div class="i1">The flowers she gave me with sighs,</div> - <div class="i0">But they writhed from my hands and hissed,</div> - <div class="i1">In their hearts were a serpent's eyes.</div> - <div class="i0">And my soul said, "Pleasure is she.</div> - <div class="i0">The joys of the flesh you see."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then I bowed with a heart too weary,</div> - <div class="i1">That longed to rest, to sleep;</div> - <div class="i0">And it seemed in the darkness dreary</div> - <div class="i1">I heard my sad heart weep;</div> - <div class="i0">And my soul to the silence say,—</div> - <div class="i0">"O God! for the break of day!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_OLD_HOUSE_BY_THE_MERE" id="THE_OLD_HOUSE_BY_THE_MERE"></a>THE OLD HOUSE BY THE MERE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Five rotting gables look upon</div> - <div class="i1">A garden rank with flowers and weeds;</div> - <div class="i0">Old iron gates on posts of stone,</div> - <div class="i1">From which the grass-grown roadway leads.</div> - <div class="i0">Five rotting gable-points appear</div> - <div class="i1">Above bleak yews and cedars sad,</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath which lies the sleepy mere</div> - <div class="i1">In lazy lilies clad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At morn the slender dragon-fly,</div> - <div class="i1">A living ray of light, darts past;</div> - <div class="i0">The burly bee comes charging by</div> - <div class="i1">Winding a surly blast.</div> - <div class="i0">At noon amid the fervid leaves</div> - <div class="i1">The insects quarrel, harsh and hot;</div> - <div class="i0">In bitter briers the spider weaves</div> - <div class="i1">A web with silver shot.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At eve the hermit cricket rears</div> - <div class="i1">A plaintive prayer, and creaks and creaks;</div> - <div class="i0">The bat, like some wing'd elfin, veers</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath the sunset's streaks.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The caterpillar gnaws the leaf;</div> - <div class="i1">The mottled toad croaks drowsily;</div> - <div class="i0">And then the owl, like some dark grief,</div> - <div class="i1">Cries in the old beech-tree.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At night the blistering dew comes down</div> - <div class="i1">And lies as white as autumn frost</div> - <div class="i0">Upon the green, upon the brown—</div> - <div class="i1">You'd think each bush a ghost.</div> - <div class="i0">The crescent moon sheathes its white sword</div> - <div class="i1">Within a cloud; and, gray with fear,</div> - <div class="i0">One large blue star keeps stealthy guard</div> - <div class="i1">Above the house and mere.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The livid lilies rotting lie</div> - <div class="i1">On oozy beds of weltering leaves;</div> - <div class="i0">The will-o'-wisps go flickering by,—</div> - <div class="i1">And then the water heaves,</div> - <div class="i0">And, like some monstrous blossom there,</div> - <div class="i1">A maiden's corpse with staring eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">And naked breast and raven hair,</div> - <div class="i1">Slow in the mere doth rise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And when the clock of some far town</div> - <div class="i1">Knells midnight, in that house of sins,</div> - <div class="i0">In haunted chambers, up and down,</div> - <div class="i1">The dance of death begins;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And stiff, stiff silks sweep, rustling,</div> - <div class="i1">And stately satins none may see;</div> - <div class="i0">And then soft sounds of music ring</div> - <div class="i1">In wildest melody.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And through the halls the demon dance</div> - <div class="i1">Whirls onward; and dark corridors</div> - <div class="i0">Resound with song and feet that glance</div> - <div class="i1">Along the falling floors.</div> - <div class="i0">Then suddenly, as if in fear,</div> - <div class="i1">The music ends, the dance is done;</div> - <div class="i0">And booming over house and mere</div> - <div class="i1">A far-off clock strikes one.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="IN_AN_OLD_GARDEN" id="IN_AN_OLD_GARDEN"></a>IN AN OLD GARDEN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The autumn glory fades</div> - <div class="i1">Upon the withered trees;</div> - <div class="i0">And over all the dead leaves fall</div> - <div class="i1">And whisper in the breeze.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The violets are dead,</div> - <div class="i1">And dead the hollyhocks,</div> - <div class="i0">That hang like rags by the wind-crushed flags</div> - <div class="i1">And tiger-lily stocks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The wild gourd clambers free</div> - <div class="i1">Where the clematis was wont;</div> - <div class="i0">Where nenuphars bloomed thick as stars</div> - <div class="i1">Rank weeds fill up the fount.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yet, as in dreams, I hear</div> - <div class="i1">A tinkling mandolin</div> - <div class="i0">In the dark-blue light of a fragrant night</div> - <div class="i1">Float in and out and in.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Till the dewy vine, that climbs</div> - <div class="i1">To a casement's lattice, sways;</div> - <div class="i0">And behind the vine, like stars that shine,</div> - <div class="i1">Two dark eyes gleam and gaze.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And now a perfume comes,</div> - <div class="i1">A swift Favonian gust;</div> - <div class="i0">And the shrivelled grass, where it doth pass,</div> - <div class="i1">Bows worshiping to the dust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I seem to see her drift</div> - <div class="i1">From tree to moonlit tree,</div> - <div class="i0">In her jewelled shawl divinely tall,</div> - <div class="i1">A mist of drapery.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And one awaits her there</div> - <div class="i1">By the broken Psyche old;</div> - <div class="i0">And there they stand, pale hand in hand,</div> - <div class="i1">Her thin wrists hooped with gold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But a wind sweeps overhead,</div> - <div class="i1">And the frosty leaves are strewn—</div> - <div class="i0">And nothing is there but a bough, blown bare,</div> - <div class="i1">And the light of the ghostly moon.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_HAUNTED_ROOM" id="THE_HAUNTED_ROOM"></a>THE HAUNTED ROOM</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Its casements, diamond-disked with glass,</div> - <div class="i1">Look down upon a terrace old,</div> - <div class="i0">Where urns, unkempt with ragged grass,</div> - <div class="i1">Foam o'er with hoary cold.</div> - <div class="i0">The snow rounds out each stair of stone;</div> - <div class="i1">The frozen fount is hooped with pearl;</div> - <div class="i0">Down desolate walks, like phantoms blown,</div> - <div class="i1">Thin, powdery snow-wreaths whirl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And to each rose-tree's stem, that bends</div> - <div class="i1">With silvery snow-combs, glued with frost,</div> - <div class="i0">It seems each summer rosebud sends</div> - <div class="i1">Its airy, scentless ghost.</div> - <div class="i0">A stiff Elizabethan pile,</div> - <div class="i1">With bleakness chattering in its panes,</div> - <div class="i0">Where, rumbling down each chimney-file,</div> - <div class="i1">The mad wind shakes his reins.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<hr class="tb" /> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Lone in the northern angle, dim</div> - <div class="i1">With immemorial dust, it lies;</div> - <div class="i0">Where each gaunt casement's stony rim</div> - <div class="i1">Stares eyelike at the skies.</div> - <div class="i0">Drear in the old pile's oldest wing,</div> - <div class="i1">Hung round with mouldering arras, where</div> - <div class="i0">Tall, shadowy Tristrams fight and sing</div> - <div class="i1">For shadowy Isolts fair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beside a crumbling cabinet</div> - <div class="i1">A tarnished lute lies on the floor;</div> - <div class="i0">A talon-footed chair is set,</div> - <div class="i1">Grotesquely, near the door.</div> - <div class="i0">A carven, testered bedstead stands</div> - <div class="i1">With rusty silks draped all about;</div> - <div class="i0">And, like a moon in murky lands,</div> - <div class="i1">A mirror glimmers out.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Neglected, locked that chamber, where</div> - <div class="i1">In dropping arras dimly clings</div> - <div class="i0">The drowsy moth; and, frightened there,</div> - <div class="i1">The lost wind sighs and sings</div> - <div class="i0">Adown the roomy flue, and takes</div> - <div class="i1">And swings the ghostly mirror till</div> - <div class="i0">It seems some unseen hand that shakes</div> - <div class="i1">Its frame then leaves it still.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A starving mouse forever gnaws</div> - <div class="i1">Behind a panel; and the vines,</div> - <div class="i0">That on the casement tap like claws,</div> - <div class="i1">Lattice the floor with lines.—</div> - <div class="i0">I have been there when blades of light</div> - <div class="i1">Stabbed each dull, stained, and dusty pane;</div> - <div class="i0">Once I was there at dead of night—</div> - <div class="i1">I dream of it again....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She grew upon my vision as</div> - <div class="i1">Heat grows that haunts the summer day;</div> - <div class="i0">In taffetas, like glimmering glass,</div> - <div class="i1">She stood there dim and gray.</div> - <div class="i0">And will-o'-wisp-like jewels bound</div> - <div class="i1">Faint points of light round neck and wrist;</div> - <div class="i0">And round her slender waist was wound</div> - <div class="i1">A zone of silver mist.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And icy as some winter land</div> - <div class="i1">Her pale, still face; o'er which the night</div> - <div class="i0">Hung of her raven hair; her hand</div> - <div class="i1">Was beautiful and white.</div> - <div class="i0">Before the mirror moaningly</div> - <div class="i1">She wrung her hands and palely pressed</div> - <div class="i0">Her brow.—And did I dream, or see,</div> - <div class="i1">That blood was on her breast?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And then she vanished.—Like a breath,</div> - <div class="i1">That o'er the limpid glass had passed,</div> - <div class="i0">Her presence passed; and cold as death</div> - <div class="i1">She left me and aghast.</div> - <div class="i0">Yes, I've been there when spears of light</div> - <div class="i1">Pierced thro' each stained and sunlit pane;</div> - <div class="i0">Once I was there at dead of night—</div> - <div class="i1">I dream of it again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_MIRROR" id="THE_MIRROR"></a>THE MIRROR</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">An ancient mirror hangs</div> - <div class="i1">Within an ancient Hall;</div> - <div class="i0">In a lonely room where th' arrased gloom</div> - <div class="i1">Scowls from the pictured wall.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A mystic mirror, framed</div> - <div class="i1">In ebon, wildly carved,</div> - <div class="i0">That seems to stare on the shadows there,</div> - <div class="i1">Like something lean and starved.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A mirror, where one sees</div> - <div class="i1">In the broad, good light of day,</div> - <div class="i0">Like crimson torches, at the window arches,</div> - <div class="i1">Red roses swing and sway.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And a part o' the garth is seen,</div> - <div class="i1">With its quaint stone-dial plate,</div> - <div class="i0">That, gray and old, green-stained with mold,</div> - <div class="i1">Stands near the lioned gate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> - <div class="i0">These it reflects all day,</div> - <div class="i1">And at night one star of blue,</div> - <div class="i0">That the nightingale, where the rose is pale,</div> - <div class="i1">Lifts its passionate love-song to.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The nightbird sings below;</div> - <div class="i1">The stars hang bright above;</div> - <div class="i0">And the roses soon in the sultry moon</div> - <div class="i1">Shall palpitate with love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The nightbird sobs below;</div> - <div class="i1">The roses blow and bloom;</div> - <div class="i0">Through mullioned panes the moonlight rains</div> - <div class="i1">In the dim, unholy room.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Grim ancestors that stare,—</div> - <div class="i1">Stiff, starched and haughty,—down</div> - <div class="i0">From the oaken wall of the noble hall,</div> - <div class="i1">Put on a sterner frown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The old, hoarse castle-clock</div> - <div class="i1">Coughs midnight overhead—</div> - <div class="i0">And the rose is wan and the bird is gone</div> - <div class="i1">When walk the shrouded dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then from their frames, it seems,</div> - <div class="i1">The portraits' shadows flit;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> - <div class="i0">By the mirror there they stand and stare</div> - <div class="i1">And weep or sigh to it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In rare rich ermine, earls</div> - <div class="i1">And knights in gold and vair,</div> - <div class="i0">With a rapiered throng of courtiers long</div> - <div class="i1">Pass with a stately stare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With jewels and perfumes,</div> - <div class="i1">In powder, ruff, and lace,</div> - <div class="i0">Tall ladies pass by the looking-glass</div> - <div class="i1">Each sighing at her face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What secret does it hide,</div> - <div class="i1">This mirror, gaunt and tall,</div> - <div class="i0">In this lonely room, where th' arrased gloom</div> - <div class="i1">Scowls from the pictured wall?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_HALL_OF_DARKNESS" id="THE_HALL_OF_DARKNESS"></a>THE HALL OF DARKNESS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Within her veins it beats</div> - <div class="i1">And burns within her brain,</div> - <div class="i0">As year by year more sad and sear</div> - <div class="i1">Grow barren hill and plain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Ah! over young is she</div> - <div class="i1">Who bears within her breast</div> - <div class="i0">More pain and woe than women know,</div> - <div class="i1">And all of love's unrest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Seven towers of shaggy rock</div> - <div class="i1">Rise black to ragged skies,</div> - <div class="i0">From out a fen where bones of men</div> - <div class="i1">Stare with their empty eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Eternal sunset pours,</div> - <div class="i1">Around its warlock towers,—</div> - <div class="i0">From out its urn of beams that burn,—</div> - <div class="i1">Long fire-cloudy flowers.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> - <div class="i1">On bat-like turrets high,</div> - <div class="i1">And owlet battlements,</div> - <div class="i0">Huge condors dream and vultures scream</div> - <div class="i1">As at the battle's scents.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Within the banquet-hall,</div> - <div class="i1">A bride, rich-robed and pale,</div> - <div class="i0">She sits at board with men o' the sword</div> - <div class="i1">Cased all in silver mail.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Their visors barred are drawn;</div> - <div class="i1">Their hands are gauntletéd;</div> - <div class="i0">And one, behold! in glittering gold</div> - <div class="i1">Sits at the table's head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Wild music echoes through</div> - <div class="i1">The hollow-sounding air—</div> - <div class="i0">It seems, at least, a wedding feast</div> - <div class="i1">With richness everywhere.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Wild music oozes from</div> - <div class="i1">The ceiling, groined with white</div> - <div class="i0">Pure pearl, and floors, like mythic shores,</div> - <div class="i1">Of limpid chrysolite.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Silent they sit at feast,</div> - <div class="i1">And she, whom he sits near,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> - <div class="i0">He in gold mail,—why is she pale,</div> - <div class="i1">As one with grief and fear?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">The heav'ns grow slaughter-red,</div> - <div class="i1">Grow blood-red west and east;</div> - <div class="i0">Seven casements high that frame the sky</div> - <div class="i1">Flare on the blood-red feast.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Gaunt torches tall they seem,</div> - <div class="i1">Red revel-torches seven;—</div> - <div class="i0">And then, behold! the hour is tolled;</div> - <div class="i1">A great bell strikes eleven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Silence.—The light, that makes</div> - <div class="i1">Each plate a splash of fire,—</div> - <div class="i0">Gold-splintered,—dims; and softer swims</div> - <div class="i1">The music of each lyre.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Grave Silence, like a king,</div> - <div class="i1">At that strange feast has place;</div> - <div class="i0">Grave Silence still as God's own will</div> - <div class="i1">Within the deeps of space.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">She leans to him in gold,</div> - <div class="i1">And to him seems to say—</div> - <div class="i0">"The night grows late, my love! Why wait?</div> - <div class="i1">Ah God! would it were day!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> - <div class="i1">"Would it were day, ah God!</div> - <div class="i1">How long is it till dawn?—</div> - <div class="i0">Why wear this mask?—Undo thy casque!</div> - <div class="i1">The midnight hour comes on!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Silent he sits, severe;</div> - <div class="i1">Then one sonorous tower,</div> - <div class="i0">Owl-swarmed, that looms in glaring glooms,</div> - <div class="i1">Tolls slow the midnight hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Three strokes; the knights arise,</div> - <div class="i1">The silence from them flung,</div> - <div class="i0">Like waves that mock some hoarse sea-rock,</div> - <div class="i1">Wild laughter moves each tongue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Six strokes; and wailing out</div> - <div class="i1">The music hoots away;</div> - <div class="i0">The fiery glimmer of heaven grows dimmer,</div> - <div class="i1">The red turns ghostly gray.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Nine strokes; and, dropping mold,</div> - <div class="i1">The crumbling Hall is lead;</div> - <div class="i0">The plate is rust; the feast is dust;</div> - <div class="i1">The banqueters are dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Twelve strokes pound out and roll;</div> - <div class="i1">The vast Hall heaves and waves</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With things that crawl from floor and wall—</div> - <div class="i1">Spawn of a thousand graves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Then rattling in the night</div> - <div class="i1"><em>His</em> golden visor slips—</div> - <div class="i0">In rotting mail a death's-head pale</div> - <div class="i1">Kisses her loathing lips.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Then over all a voice</div> - <div class="i1">Crying above the strife—</div> - <div class="i0">"Death is the Groom: this Hall, the Tomb:</div> - <div class="i1">The Bride, behold, is Life!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="WHAT_DREAMS_MAY_COME" id="WHAT_DREAMS_MAY_COME"></a>WHAT DREAMS MAY COME</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I have lain for an hour or twain</div> - <div class="i1">Awake, and the tempest is beating</div> - <div class="i0">On the roof and the sleet on the pane,</div> - <div class="i1">And the winds are three enemies meeting;</div> - <div class="i0">And I listen and hear it again,</div> - <div class="i1">My name, in the silence, repeating.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then dumbness of death; and, moon-gray,</div> - <div class="i1">In the darkness a light like a bubble,</div> - <div class="i0">From which, like a single white ray,</div> - <div class="i1">Comes a woman in loveliness double;</div> - <div class="i0">Her face is the breaking of day,</div> - <div class="i1">Her eyes are the night and its trouble.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I move not; she lies with her lips</div> - <div class="i1">At mine; and I feel she is drawing</div> - <div class="i0">My life from my heart to their tips,</div> - <div class="i1">My heart where the horror is gnawing;</div> - <div class="i0">My life in a hundred slow sips,</div> - <div class="i1">My soul with her gaze overawing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> - <div class="i0">She binds me with merciless eyes;</div> - <div class="i1">She drinks of my blood; and I hear it</div> - <div class="i0">Drain up with a shudder and rise</div> - <div class="i1">To the lips, like a serpent's, that steer it;</div> - <div class="i0">And she lies, and she laughs as she lies,</div> - <div class="i1">Saying, "Lo! thy affinitized spirit."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I pray—and a gate, as of swords,—</div> - <div class="i1">'Mid torments and tortures huge-grated,</div> - <div class="i0">Clangs iron deep under; and words</div> - <div class="i1">Are heard as of sins that awaited</div> - <div class="i0">A fiend who lashed into their hordes,</div> - <div class="i1">And a demon who lacerated.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I pray—and lie clammy and stark,</div> - <div class="i1">As a something mounts higher and higher,</div> - <div class="i0">Up, out of damnation and dark,</div> - <div class="i1">With hobbling of hoofs that is dire;</div> - <div class="i0">A devil, whose breath is a spark,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose face is of filth and of fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"To thy body's corruption! thy grave!</div> - <div class="i1">Thy hell! from which thou hast stolen!"</div> - <div class="i0">He snarls; and the night, like a wave,</div> - <div class="i1">Engulfs them with darkness wild swollen.—</div> - <div class="i0">Can it be that in sleep I'm a slave</div> - <div class="i1">Of a thing neither flesh nor eidolon?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THAT_HOUR" id="THAT_HOUR"></a>THAT HOUR</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When she was dead, a voice—she knew not whose—</div> - <div class="i2">Said to her: "Soul that fell,</div> - <div class="i2">To cheer thee there in Hell,</div> - <div class="i0">Of all thy life's lost happiness now choose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Ask what thou wilt, thou, who hast walked 'mid flowers</div> - <div class="i2">And songs the easy way</div> - <div class="i2">Of pleasure day by day,</div> - <div class="i0">Ask what thou wilt of all thy lived-out hours."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<hr class="tb" /><br /> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then she thought: "Oh, shall it be when there,</div> - <div class="i2">A blameless maiden, I,</div> - <div class="i2">Dreaming, watched love draw nigh,</div> - <div class="i0">And felt his kiss rose-sweet on mouth and hair?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"Or shall it be when, that white night, his fingers</div> - <div class="i2">Smoothed from my brow the curls,</div> - <div class="i2">And fell, like unstrung pearls,</div> - <div class="i0">His words of passionate love whose memory lingers?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Or shall it be when over earth and sea</div> - <div class="i2">I heard the sweet unrest</div> - <div class="i2">Within his ardent breast,</div> - <div class="i0">His heart that beat alone for me, for me?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Or shall it be when, in his belting arms,</div> - <div class="i2">Soul gazed on kindred soul,</div> - <div class="i2">And love had won the goal</div> - <div class="i0">Of his desire, and his were all my charms?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"No! no! not these! that hour he left me lost!</div> - <div class="i2">Stunned, fallen and despised</div> - <div class="i2">Before the world he prized,</div> - <div class="i0">When—God forgive me!—when I loved him most!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beyond the moon, within a land of mist,</div> - <div class="i1">Lies the dim Garden of all Dead Desires,</div> - <div class="i0">Walled round with morning's clouded amethyst,</div> - <div class="i1">And haunted of the sunset's shadowy fires;</div> - <div class="i0">There all lost things we loved hold ghostly tryst—</div> - <div class="i1">Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sad are the stars that day and night exist</div> - <div class="i1">Above the Garden of all Dead Desires;</div> - <div class="i0">And sad the roses that within it twist</div> - <div class="i1">Deep bow'rs; and sad the wind that through it quires;</div> - <div class="i0">But sadder far are they who there hold tryst—</div> - <div class="i1">Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There, like a dove upon the twilight's wrist,—</div> - <div class="i1">Soft in the Garden of all Dead Desires,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Sleep broods; and there, where never a serpent hissed,</div> - <div class="i1">On the wan willows music hangs her lyres,</div> - <div class="i0">Æolian dials by which phantoms tryst—</div> - <div class="i1">Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There you shall hear low voices; kisses kissed,</div> - <div class="i1">Faint in the Garden of all Dead Desires,</div> - <div class="i0">By lips the anguish of vain song makes whist;</div> - <div class="i1">And meet with shapes that art's despair attires;</div> - <div class="i0">And gaze in eyes where all sweet sorrows tryst—</div> - <div class="i1">Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thither we go, dreamer and realist,</div> - <div class="i1">Bound for the Garden of all Dead Desires,</div> - <div class="i0">Where we shall find, perhaps, all Life hath missed,</div> - <div class="i1">All Life hath longed for when the soul aspires;</div> - <div class="i0">All Earth's elusive loveliness at tryst—</div> - <div class="i1">Dead dreams, dead hopes, dead loves, and dead desires.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a></span></p> - - - -<h2><a name="POEMS_OF_MYTH_AND" id="POEMS_OF_MYTH_AND"></a>POEMS OF MYTH AND<br /> -ROMANCE</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a><br /><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a></span></p> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a></span></p> - -<p class="p1">TO<br /> -MY FRIEND<br /> -WILLIAM WARWICK THUM</a></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p> - - -<h2><a name="PROEM" id="PROEM"></a><em>PROEM</em></h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>There is no rhyme that is half so sweet</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>As the song of the wind in the rippling wheat;</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>There is no metre that's half so fine</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>As the lilt of the brook under rock and vine;</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>And the loveliest lyric I ever heard</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Was the wildwood strain of a forest bird.—</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>If the wind and the brook and the bird would teach</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>My heart their beautiful parts of speech,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>And the natural art that they say these with,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>My soul would sing of beauty and myth</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>In a rhyme and a metre that none before</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>Have sung in their love, or dreamed in their lore,</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>And the world would be richer one poet the more.</em></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p> - - -<h2><a name="MYTH_AND_ROMANCE" id="MYTH_AND_ROMANCE"></a>MYTH AND ROMANCE</h2> - - -<div class="p6">I</div> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When I go forth to greet the glad-faced Spring,</div> - <div class="i1">Just at the time of opening apple-buds,</div> - <div class="i0">When brooks are laughing, winds are whispering,</div> - <div class="i1">On babbling hillsides, or in warbling woods,</div> - <div class="i1">There is an unseen presence that eludes:—</div> - <div class="i0">Perhaps a Dryad, in whose tresses cling</div> - <div class="i1">The loamy odors of old solitudes,</div> - <div class="i0">Who from her beechen doorway calls, and leads</div> - <div class="i1">My soul to follow; now with dimpling words</div> - <div class="i1">Of leaves; and now with syllables of birds;</div> - <div class="i0">While here and there—is it her limbs that swing?</div> - <div class="i0">Or restless sunlight on the moss and weeds?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or, haply 'tis a Naiad now who slips,</div> - <div class="i1">Like some white lily, from her fountain's glass,</div> - <div class="i0">While from her dripping hair and breasts and hips</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span> - <div class="i1">The moisture rains cool music on the grass.</div> - <div class="i1">Her have I heard and followed, yet, alas!</div> - <div class="i0">Have seen no more than the wet ray that dips</div> - <div class="i1">The shivered waters, wrinkling where I pass;</div> - <div class="i0">But in the liquid light, where she doth hide,</div> - <div class="i1">I have beheld the azure of her gaze</div> - <div class="i1">Smiling; and, where the orbing ripple plays,</div> - <div class="i0">Among her minnows I have heard her lips,</div> - <div class="i0">Bubbling, make merry by the waterside.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or now it is an Oread—whose eyes</div> - <div class="i1">Are constellated dusk—who stands confessed,</div> - <div class="i0">As naked as a flow'r; her heart's surprise,</div> - <div class="i1">Like morning's rose, mantling her brow and breast:</div> - <div class="i1">She, shrinking from my presence, all distressed</div> - <div class="i0">Stands for a startled moment ere she flies,</div> - <div class="i1">Her deep hair blowing, up the mountain crest,</div> - <div class="i0">Wild as a mist that trails along the dawn.</div> - <div class="i1">And is 't her footfalls lure me? or the sound</div> - <div class="i1">Of airs that stir the crisp leaf on the ground?</div> - <div class="i0">And is 't her body glimmers on yon rise?</div> - <div class="i0">Or dogwood blossoms snowing on the lawn?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now 'tis a Satyr piping serenades</div> - <div class="i1">On a slim reed. Now Pan and Faun advance</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath green-hollowed roofs of forest glades,</div> - <div class="i1">Their feet gone mad with music: now, perchance,</div> - <div class="i1">Sylvanus sleeping, on whose leafy trance</div> - <div class="i0">The Nymphs stand gazing in dim ambuscades</div> - <div class="i1">Of sun-embodied perfume.—Myth, Romance,</div> - <div class="i0">Where'er I turn, reach out bewildering arms,</div> - <div class="i1">Compelling me to follow. Day and night</div> - <div class="i1">I hear their voices and behold the light</div> - <div class="i0">Of their divinity that still evades,</div> - <div class="i0">And still allures me in a thousand forms.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="REVERIE" id="REVERIE"></a>REVERIE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What ogive gates from gold of Ophir wrought,</div> - <div class="i1">What walls of Parian, whiter than a rose,</div> - <div class="i0">What towers of crystal, for the eyes of thought,</div> - <div class="i1">Hast builded on dim Islands of Repose?</div> - <div class="i0">Thy cloudy columns, vast, Corinthian,</div> - <div class="i1">Or huge, Ionic, colonnade the heights</div> - <div class="i1">Of Dreamland, looming o'er the soul's deep seas;</div> - <div class="i0">Piled melodies of marble, that no man</div> - <div class="i1">Has ever reached, except in fancy's flights,</div> - <div class="i1">Templing the presence of perpetual ease.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oft, where o'er plastic frieze and plinths of spar,—</div> - <div class="i1">In glimmering solitudes of pillared stone,—</div> - <div class="i0">The twilight blossoms with one violet star,</div> - <div class="i1">With thee, O Reverie, I have stood alone,</div> - <div class="i0">And there beheld, from out the Mythic Age,</div> - <div class="i1">The rosy breasts of Cytherea—fair,</div> - <div class="i1">Full-cestused, and suggestive of what loves</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Immortal!—rise; and heard the lyric rage</div> - <div class="i1">Of sunburnt Poesy, whose throat breathes bare</div> - <div class="i1">O'er leopard skins, fluting among his groves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oft, where thy castled peaks and templed vales</div> - <div class="i1">Cloud—like convulsive sunsets—shores that dream,</div> - <div class="i0">Myrrh-fragrant, over siren seas whose sails</div> - <div class="i1">Gleam white as lilies on a lilied stream,</div> - <div class="i0">My soul has stood. Or by thy sapphire sea,</div> - <div class="i1">In thy arcaded gardens, in the shade</div> - <div class="i1">Of breathing sculpture, oft has walked with thought,</div> - <div class="i0">And bent, in shadowy attitude, its knee</div> - <div class="i1">Before the shrine of Beauty that must fade</div> - <div class="i1">And leave no memory of the mind that wrought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who hath beheld thy caverns where, in heaps,</div> - <div class="i1">The wine of Lethe and Love's witchery,</div> - <div class="i0">In sealéd amphoræ a sibyl keeps?</div> - <div class="i1">World-old, a grape filled with the soul of thee.</div> - <div class="i0">No wine of Xeres or of Syracuse!</div> - <div class="i1">No fine Falernian and no vile Sabine!</div> - <div class="i1">The stolen fire of a demigod,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Whose bubbled purple heavenly feet did bruise</div> - <div class="i1">In crusted vats of vintage, when the green</div> - <div class="i1">Flamed into autumn, on the Samian sod.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oh, for the deep enchantment of one draught!</div> - <div class="i1">The reckless ecstasy of classic earth!—</div> - <div class="i0">To make me godlike as the gods that laughed</div> - <div class="i1">In eyes of mortal brown, a mighty mirth</div> - <div class="i0">Of deity delirious with desire!</div> - <div class="i1">To make me one with roses of the shrines,</div> - <div class="i1">The splashing wine-libation or the blood,</div> - <div class="i0">And all the young priest's dreaming! To inspire</div> - <div class="i1">My very soul with beauty till it shines</div> - <div class="i1">Star-like amid life's starry brotherhood!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Would I might slumber in the old-world shades,</div> - <div class="i1">Where poesy could touch me, as some bold</div> - <div class="i0">Wild-bee a pulpy lily of the glades,</div> - <div class="i1">Barbaric-covered with the kerneled gold;</div> - <div class="i0">And feel the glory of the Golden Age</div> - <div class="i1">Less godly than my purpose, strong to dare</div> - <div class="i1">Death with the young immortal lips of Love:</div> - <div class="i0">Less lovely than my soul's ideal rage</div> - <div class="i1">To mate itself with Music and declare</div> - <div class="i1">Itself part meaning of the stars above.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="LETHE" id="LETHE"></a>LETHE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a scent of roses and spilt wine</div> - <div class="i1">Between the moonlight and the laurel-coppice;</div> - <div class="i0">The marble idol glimmers on its shrine,</div> - <div class="i1">White as a star, among a heaven of poppies.</div> - <div class="i0">Here all my life lies like a spilth of wine.</div> - <div class="i0">There is a mouth of music like a lute,</div> - <div class="i1">A nightingale that singeth to one flower;</div> - <div class="i0">Between the falling flower and the fruit,</div> - <div class="i1">Where love hath died, the music of an hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To sit alone with memory and a rose;</div> - <div class="i1">To dwell with shadows of whilom romances;</div> - <div class="i0">To make one hour of a year of woes</div> - <div class="i1">And walk on starlight, in ethereal trances,</div> - <div class="i0">With love's lost face fair as a moon-white rose.</div> - <div class="i0">To shape from music and the scent of buds</div> - <div class="i1">Love's spirit and its presence of sweet fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Between the heart's wild burning and the blood's,</div> - <div class="i1">Is part of life and of the soul's desire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a song to silence and the stars,</div> - <div class="i1">Between the forest and the temple's arches;</div> - <div class="i0">And down the stream of night, like nenuphars,</div> - <div class="i1">The tossing fires of the Mænads' torches.—</div> - <div class="i0">Here all my life waits lonely as the stars.—</div> - <div class="i0">Shall not one hour of all those hours suffice</div> - <div class="i1">For resignation God hath given as dower?</div> - <div class="i0">Between the summons and the sacrifice</div> - <div class="i1">One hour of love, th' eternity of an hour?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The shrine is shattered and the bird is gone;</div> - <div class="i1">Dark is the house of music and of bridal:</div> - <div class="i0">The stars are stricken and the storm comes on;</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath a wreck of roses lies the idol,</div> - <div class="i0">Sad as the memory of a joy that's gone.—</div> - <div class="i0">To dream of perished gladness and a kiss,</div> - <div class="i1">Waking the last chord of Love's broken lyre,</div> - <div class="i0">Between remembering and forgetting, this</div> - <div class="i1">Is part of life and of the soul's desire.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_NAIAD" id="THE_NAIAD"></a>THE NAIAD</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She sits among the iris stalks</div> - <div class="i1">Of bubbling brooks; and leans for hours</div> - <div class="i1">Among the river's lily-flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Or on their whiteness walks:</div> - <div class="i1">Above dark forest pools, gray rocks</div> - <div class="i1">Wall in, she leans with dripping locks,</div> - <div class="i0">And listening to the echo, talks</div> - <div class="i1">With her own face—Iothera.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is no forest of the hills,</div> - <div class="i1">No valley of the solitude,</div> - <div class="i1">Nor fern nor moss, that may elude</div> - <div class="i0">Her searching step that stills:</div> - <div class="i1">She dreams among the wild-rose brakes</div> - <div class="i1">Of fountains that the ripple shakes,</div> - <div class="i0">And, dreaming of herself, she fills</div> - <div class="i1">The silence with "Iothera."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And every wind that haunts the ways</div> - <div class="i1">Of leaf and bough, once having kissed</div> - <div class="i1">Her virgin nudity, goes whist</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With wonder and amaze.</div> - <div class="i1">There blows no breeze which hath not learned</div> - <div class="i1">Her name's sweet melody, and yearned</div> - <div class="i0">To kiss her mouth that laughs and says,</div> - <div class="i1">"Iothera, Iothera."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No wild thing of the wood, no bird,</div> - <div class="i1">Or brown or blue, or gold or gray,</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath the sun's or moon's pale ray,</div> - <div class="i0">That hath not loved and heard;</div> - <div class="i1">They are her pupils; she can say</div> - <div class="i1">No new thing but, within a day,</div> - <div class="i0">They have its music, word for word,</div> - <div class="i1">Harmonious as Iothera.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No man who lives and is not wise</div> - <div class="i1">With love for common flowers and trees,</div> - <div class="i1">Bee, bird, and beast, and brook, and breeze,</div> - <div class="i0">And rocks, and hills, and skies,—</div> - <div class="i1">Search where he will,—shall ever see</div> - <div class="i1">One flutter of her drapery,</div> - <div class="i0">One glimpse of limbs, or hair, or eyes</div> - <div class="i1">Of beautiful Iothera.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_LIMNAD" id="THE_LIMNAD"></a>THE LIMNAD</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The lake she haunts gleams mistily</div> - <div class="i0">Through sleepy boughs of melody,—</div> - <div class="i0">Lost 'mid lone hills beside the sea,</div> - <div class="i1">In tangled bush and brier:—</div> - <div class="i0">Where reflected sunsets write</div> - <div class="i0">Ghostly things in golden light;</div> - <div class="i0">Where, along the pine-crowned height,</div> - <div class="i0">Clouds of twilight, rosy white,</div> - <div class="i1">Build far towers of fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">'Mid the rushes there that swing,</div> - <div class="i0">Flowering flags where voices sing</div> - <div class="i0">When night-winds are murmuring,</div> - <div class="i1">And the stars of midnight glitter;</div> - <div class="i0">Blossom-white, with purple locks,</div> - <div class="i0">Underneath the stars' still flocks,</div> - <div class="i0">In the dusky waves she rocks,</div> - <div class="i0">Rocks, and all the landscape mocks</div> - <div class="i1">With a song both sweet and bitter.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Soft it sounds, at first, as dreams</div> - <div class="i0">Filled with tears that fall in streams;</div> - <div class="i0">Then it soars, until it seems</div> - <div class="i1">Beauty's very self hath spoken;</div> - <div class="i0">And the woods grow silent quite,</div> - <div class="i0">Stars wax faint and flowers wane white;</div> - <div class="i0">And the nightingales that light</div> - <div class="i0">Near, or hear her through the night,</div> - <div class="i1">Die, their hearts with longing broken.</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Dark, dim, and sad o'er mournful lands,</div> - <div class="i0">White-throated stars heaped in her hands,</div> - <div class="i0">Like wildwood buds, the Twilight stands,</div> - <div class="i1">The Twilight, dreaming, lingers;</div> - <div class="i0">Listening where the Limnad sings</div> - <div class="i0">Witcheries, whose magic brings</div> - <div class="i0">A great moon from hidden springs,</div> - <div class="i0">Pale with amorous quiverings</div> - <div class="i1">Feet of fire and silvery fingers.</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In the vales Auloniads,</div> - <div class="i0">On the mountains Oreads,</div> - <div class="i0">On the leas Leimoniads,</div> - <div class="i1">Whiter than the stars that glisten,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Pan, the Satyrs, Dryades,</div> - <div class="i0">Fountain-lovely Naiades,</div> - <div class="i0">Foam-lipped Oceanides,</div> - <div class="i0">Breathless 'mid their seas and trees,</div> - <div class="i1">Stay and look and lean and listen.</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Large-eyed, Siren-like she stands,</div> - <div class="i0">In the lake or on its sands,</div> - <div class="i0">And with rapture from the hands</div> - <div class="i1">Of the Night some stars are shaken;</div> - <div class="i0">To her song the rushes swing,</div> - <div class="i0">Lilies nod and ripples ring,</div> - <div class="i0">Lost in helpless listening—</div> - <div class="i0">These will wake who hear her sing,</div> - <div class="i1">But one mortal will not waken.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="BEFORE_THE_TEMPLE" id="BEFORE_THE_TEMPLE"></a>BEFORE THE TEMPLE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">All desolate she sate her down</div> - <div class="i0">Upon the marble of the temple's stair.</div> - <div class="i0">You would have thought her, with her eyes of brown,</div> - <div class="i1">Flushed cheeks and hazel hair,</div> - <div class="i2">A Dryad dreaming there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">A priest of Bacchus passed, nor stopped</div> - <div class="i0">To chide her; deeming her—whose chiton hid</div> - <div class="i0">But half her bosom, and whose girdle dropped—</div> - <div class="i1">Some grief-drowned Bassarid,</div> - <div class="i2">The god of wine had chid.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">With wreaths of woodland cyclamen</div> - <div class="i0">For Dian's shrine, a shepherdess drew near,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> - <div class="i0">All her young thoughts on vestal beauty, when—</div> - <div class="i1">She dare not look for fear—</div> - <div class="i2">Behold the goddess here!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<img src="images/i_240a.jpg" width="336" height="500" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>That reed-slender girl whom Pan pursued Page <a href="#Page_242">242</a></p> - -<div class="larger-file"> - [<a href="images/i_240abig.jpg">See larger version</a>] -</div> - - -<p><em>Anemone</em></p></div> -</div> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Fierce lights on shields of bossy brass</div> - <div class="i0">And helms of bronze, next from the hills deploy</div> - <div class="i0">Tall youths of Argos. And she sees him pass,</div> - <div class="i1">Flushed with heroic joy,</div> - <div class="i2">On towards the siege of Troy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_RUE-ANEMONE" id="THE_RUE-ANEMONE"></a>THE RUE-ANEMONE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Under an oak-tree in a woodland, where</div> - <div class="i0">The dreaming Spring had dropped it from her hair,</div> - <div class="i0">I found a flower, through which I seemed to gaze</div> - <div class="i0">Beyond the world and see what no man dare</div> - <div class="i0">Behold and live—the myths of bygone days—</div> - <div class="i0">Diana and Endymion; and the bare,</div> - <div class="i0">Slim beauty of the boy whom Echo wooed;</div> - <div class="i0">And Hyacinthus, whom Apollo dewed</div> - <div class="i0">With love and death; and Daphne, ever fair;</div> - <div class="i0">And that reed-slender girl whom Pan pursued.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I stood and gazed and through it seemed to see</div> - <div class="i0">The Dryad dancing by the forest tree,</div> - <div class="i0">Her hair wild blown: the Faun, with listening ear,</div> - <div class="i0">Deep in the boscage, kneeling on one knee,</div> - <div class="i0">Watching the wandered Oread draw near,</div> - <div class="i0">Her wild heart beating like a honey-bee</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Within a rose.—All, all the myths of old,</div> - <div class="i0">All, all the bright shapes of the Age of Gold,</div> - <div class="i0">Peopling the wonder-worlds of Poetry,</div> - <div class="i0">Through it I seemed in fancy to behold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What other flower, that, fashioned like a star,</div> - <div class="i0">Draws its frail life from earth and braves the war</div> - <div class="i0">Of all the heavens, can suggest the dreams</div> - <div class="i0">That this suggests? in which no trace of mar</div> - <div class="i0">Or soil exists: where stainless innocence seems</div> - <div class="i0">Enshrined; and where, beyond our vision far,</div> - <div class="i0">That inaccessible beauty, which the heart</div> - <div class="i0">Worships as truth and holiness and art,</div> - <div class="i0">Is symbolized; wherein embodied are</div> - <div class="i0">The things that make the soul's immortal part.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ARTEMIS" id="ARTEMIS"></a>ARTEMIS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oft of the hiding Oread wast thou seen</div> - <div class="i0">At earliest morn, a tall, imperial shape,</div> - <div class="i0">High-buskined, dew-dripped, and on close, young curls,</div> - <div class="i0">Bright blackness of thick hair, the tipsy drops</div> - <div class="i0">Caught from the dripping sprays of under-bosks,—</div> - <div class="i0">Kissed of thy cheek and of thy shoulder brushed,—</div> - <div class="i0">Thy rosy cheek as far Aurora's fair,</div> - <div class="i0">Thy snowy shoulder Hebe-beautiful.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oft did the shaggy hills and solitudes</div> - <div class="i0">Of Arethusa shout and ring and reel,</div> - <div class="i0">Reverberate and echo merrily,</div> - <div class="i0">Leap into sound with singing of thy hounds,</div> - <div class="i0">With the deep belling of thy noble hounds,</div> - <div class="i0">Big-mouthed and musical, that on the stag</div> - <div class="i0">Or bristling wild-boar furious grew in quest:</div> - <div class="i0">And thou, as keen, fleet-footed and clean-limbed,</div> - <div class="i0">Inviolable, with thy quivered crew,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Rushed, swinging on the wind free limbs and lithe,</div> - <div class="i0">And locks, all radiance, flung back to blow</div> - <div class="i0">And balm with spice the wine-sharp air of morn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ai me! their throats! their clarion-crystal throats,</div> - <div class="i0">That made the hills sing and the wood-ways dance,</div> - <div class="i0">As if to orphic strains, and gave them life.</div> - <div class="i0">Ai me! their bosoms' deepness and the firm,</div> - <div class="i0">Pure, happy beauty of their naked limbs,</div> - <div class="i0">That stormed the forest vacancies with light,</div> - <div class="i0">Swift daylight of their splendor, and made blow,</div> - <div class="i0">Within the glad sonorous solitudes,</div> - <div class="i0">Old germs of flowerets a century cold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The woodland Naiad whispered by her rock;</div> - <div class="i0">The Hamadryad, limpid-eyed and wild,</div> - <div class="i0">Expectant rustled by her usual oak</div> - <div class="i0">And laughed in wonder; and mad Pan himself</div> - <div class="i0">Reeled piping fiercely down the dingled deeps,</div> - <div class="i0">With rollicking eye that rolled a brutish joy.</div> - <div class="i0">And did some unwed maiden, musing where</div> - <div class="i0">Her father's well, among the god-graced hills;</div> - <div class="i0">Bubbled and babbled, hear thy bugled cry,</div> - <div class="i0">O Huntress, she, while deep her dripping jar</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Unheeded brimmed, vowed her virginity</div> - <div class="i0">To thee—her shorn hair at thy vestal feet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But, ah! not when the garish daylight fills</div> - <div class="i0">The forests with far-swimming gold and green</div> - <div class="i0">Let me behold thee, goddess! but when dim</div> - <div class="i0">The slow night settles on the haunted wood</div> - <div class="i0">And walks in mystery; and the myriad stars</div> - <div class="i0">Maze heaven with fire; and the echoy waste,</div> - <div class="i0">Far off, far off, in murmurs palpitates</div> - <div class="i0">Unto the Limnad's voice, unmerciful,—</div> - <div class="i0">Or is 't some night-bird breaking with song its heart?—</div> - <div class="i0">Unmerciful and sad and bitter-sweet?—</div> - <div class="i0">Then come in all thy godhead, beautiful!</div> - <div class="i0">All beautiful and gentle, as thou cam'st</div> - <div class="i0">To lorn Endymion, who, in Lemnos once,</div> - <div class="i0">Lone in the wizard magic of the wood,</div> - <div class="i0">Wandered, a dreaming boy, unfriended, sad.—</div> - <div class="i0">It grew far off among the easy trees,</div> - <div class="i0">Thy pensive beauty, blossoming flower-like</div> - <div class="i0">Between the tree-trunks and the lacing limbs;</div> - <div class="i0">Bright in the leaves that kissed for very joy</div> - <div class="i0">And drunkenness of glory thus revealed.</div> - <div class="i0">He saw it all, from glorious face to feet—</div> - <div class="i0">The naked pearl of all thy loveliness,</div> - <div class="i0">Thy body's beauty, blended lily and rose,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Alone, uncompanied of handmaidens.</div> - <div class="i0">Like some rare, radiant fruit Hesperian,</div> - <div class="i0">Not to be plucked of gods or men, thou hung'st</div> - <div class="i0">Upon the boughs of heaven. Thy moonéd voice</div> - <div class="i0">Came silvering on his wistful ear, and sighed</div> - <div class="i0">With light like leaves that kiss and cling again.</div> - <div class="i0">And on such perilous beauty that must slay,—</div> - <div class="i0">The poisonous favor of thy godliness,—</div> - <div class="i0">Feasting his every sense through eyes and ears,</div> - <div class="i0">His soul exalted waxed and amorous,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like some young god who, draining Olympian bowls,</div> - <div class="i0">Grows drunk with nectar,—with immortal love;</div> - <div class="i0">And what remained, ah, what remained but death!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="APHRODITE" id="APHRODITE"></a>APHRODITE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Apollo never smote as lovely a strain,</div> - <div class="i0">When swan-necked Hebe stayed her nectared bowl</div> - <div class="i0">Among the circled and reclining gods,</div> - <div class="i0">To lend a listening ear and smile on him,</div> - <div class="i0">As that the Tritons blew on wreathéd horns</div> - <div class="i0">When Aphrodite, the cold ocean-foam,</div> - <div class="i0">In lovely labor, from its singing snow</div> - <div class="i0">Upheaved her dazzling form, like some white pearl,</div> - <div class="i0">Naked and fresh within its ocean shell,</div> - <div class="i0">Borne shoreward from its bed of golden sponge</div> - <div class="i0">And crimson coral by the mad monsoon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wind-rocked she swung, her white feet on the sea;</div> - <div class="i0">And music raved down the slant western winds:</div> - <div class="i0">With swollen jowls the Tritons puffed their conchs,</div> - <div class="i0">Where, breasting with white bosoms the green waves,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That laughed in ripples at Love's misty feet,</div> - <div class="i0">Oceanids with dimple-dented palms</div> - <div class="i0">Smote sidewise the pale bubbles of the foam,</div> - <div class="i0">Weaving a silver rainbow round her form.</div> - <div class="i0">Around her dolphins sparkled in the spray,</div> - <div class="i0">And Nereids sang, braiding their streaming locks,</div> - <div class="i0">Or flung them backward shimm'ring with bells of foam,</div> - <div class="i0">Till evening lit her loneliest, loveliest star,—</div> - <div class="i0">That passion-flower of the fields of heaven,—</div> - <div class="i0">Pale mirrored in the sheen of shadowy seas,—</div> - <div class="i0">That, like arrested music, o'er the caves</div> - <div class="i0">The Sirens haunt, hung deep on silent deep,—</div> - <div class="i0">When, in a hollow pearl, down moon-white waves,</div> - <div class="i0">The creatures of the ocean danced their queen</div> - <div class="i0">Unto an island, like a rosy mist</div> - <div class="i0">That glimmering dreamed upon the glimmering blue.</div> - <div class="i0">There on the silvery sands beside the sea,</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the moon,—narcissus-white,—they met,</div> - <div class="i0">She naked as a star and crowned with stars,</div> - <div class="i0">Child of the airy foam and Queen of Love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="PERSEPHONE" id="PERSEPHONE"></a>PERSEPHONE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O Hades! O false gods! false to yourselves!</div> - <div class="i0">O Hades, 'twas thy brother gave her thee</div> - <div class="i0">Without a mother's sanction or her knowledge!</div> - <div class="i0">Thou bor'st her to the dreadful gulfs below,</div> - <div class="i0">And made her queen, a shadowy queen of shades,</div> - <div class="i0">Queen of the fiery flood and iron realms,</div> - <div class="i0">Eternal torture and eternal pain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On blossomed plains in Far Trinacria</div> - <div class="i0">A maiden,—the dark cascade of whose hair</div> - <div class="i0">Was deep as midnight circled and crowned with stars,—</div> - <div class="i0">Hair dark as rays that brighten with the moon,—</div> - <div class="i0">Went gathering flowers with the Oceanids,</div> - <div class="i0">Lily and rose and pale Narcissus,—who</div> - <div class="i0">Was Echo's passion once, a flower now</div> - <div class="i0">That stares forever in the lake's still glass,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose ripple breaks its image, flickering seen,—</div> - <div class="i0">As once with tears it broke beneath his eyes,—</div> - <div class="i0">With the fast-falling dew that fills its heart:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> - <div class="i0">When suddenly there rose with iron wain,</div> - <div class="i0">With iron wain and steeds, a shape like death,</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid sallow smoke and sulphur and pale fires,</div> - <div class="i0">Its countenance ghastly, and its hair and eyes</div> - <div class="i0">Like the blue flame of sulphur: in its arms,</div> - <div class="i0">Its sooty arms, where like to supple steel</div> - <div class="i0">The mighty muscles lay, unto its breast,</div> - <div class="i0">Such as its arms, it drew her fragile form</div> - <div class="i0">As bosomed bulks of tempest in their joy</div> - <div class="i0">With arms of winds drag to their black embrace</div> - <div class="i0">A fairy mist that flecks with white the summer,</div> - <div class="i0">With wings of shadeless white, and 'tis no more</div> - <div class="i0">Heaved on the rapture of the thunder's heart.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The snowy flowers shuddered and grew still;</div> - <div class="i0">With withered heads they bowed, and on the stream—</div> - <div class="i0">Where all the day it was their wont to stand</div> - <div class="i0">In silence gazing at their loveliness—</div> - <div class="i0">Laid their fair faces limp and shriveled white.</div> - <div class="i0">Flames whipped the air like fiery scorpions,</div> - <div class="i0">Blasting and burning all the fragrant myths</div> - <div class="i0">That haunt the dew and lair in bloom and breeze.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O foam-fair daughters of Oceanus!</div> - <div class="i0">In vain you seek your mate and chide the flowers</div> - <div class="i0">For hiding her beneath their palms of snow:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Ask of that shell, that conch of twisted pearl,</div> - <div class="i0">Which, like a spirit of the singing sea,</div> - <div class="i0">Moans at your pallid feet made wet with spray:</div> - <div class="i0">Then, sitting by the tumbling blue of waves,</div> - <div class="i0">Mourn to the waters and the ribbéd sands,</div> - <div class="i0">The falseness of the god who grasps the storm.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DEMETER" id="DEMETER"></a>DEMETER</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Eternal pouring in her lonely path</div> - <div class="i0">The wells of sorrow lay. I see her now,—</div> - <div class="i0">Methinks I see her now,—an awful shape</div> - <div class="i0">Guiding her dragon-team in frenzied search</div> - <div class="i0">From Argive lands unto the jeweled shores</div> - <div class="i0">Of the remotest Ind where Usha's hand</div> - <div class="i0">Soothed her grief-shadowed brow with kindly touch,</div> - <div class="i0">And Savitar breathed sympathy from the skies</div> - <div class="i0">O'er uttermost regions of the faneless Brahm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In melancholy search I see her roam</div> - <div class="i0">The Himalayas,—world-dividing,—pale</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid ice and snow, through mists and night and storm;</div> - <div class="i0">Then back again with that wild mother woe</div> - <div class="i0">Fueling the anguished fire of her eyes,—</div> - <div class="i0">Back where old Atlas groans beneath the world,</div> - <div class="i0">And the Cimmerian twilight weighs the soul.</div> - <div class="i0">Deep was her sleep in Persia's haunted vales,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Where many a languid Philomela moaned</div> - <div class="i0">Her heart to rest with heartbreak melody.</div> - <div class="i0">I see her near Ionia's swelling seas</div> - <div class="i0">Cull from the sands a labyrinthine shell,</div> - <div class="i0">Hollowing its spiral murmur to her ear,—</div> - <div class="i0">A pearly mouth against an ear of pearl,—</div> - <div class="i0">In hope some message of Persephone</div> - <div class="i0">It might impart; then finding all in vain,</div> - <div class="i0">In anguish and despair, cast it afar,</div> - <div class="i0">To watch the salt-spray flash, like some soft plume</div> - <div class="i0">Dropped from the wings of Eros, where it fell.</div> - <div class="i0">I see her take a flute of coral from</div> - <div class="i0">A listening Triton; and on Ithakan rocks</div> - <div class="i0">High seated at the starry close of day,—</div> - <div class="i0">When sad the moon rose from her salty couch,</div> - <div class="i0">Gazing with sorrow on her face of sorrow,—</div> - <div class="i0">Pipe pensive airs,—plaintive as Sirens sing</div> - <div class="i0">In streaming caves beneath the ocean wall,—</div> - <div class="i0">Till hoar Poseidon cleared his wrinkled front</div> - <div class="i0">And stilled his surgy clamors to a sigh.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">This do I see, and more: Behold, with fear!</div> - <div class="i0">I see her 'mid the lonely groves of Crete,</div> - <div class="i0">Frighten the dun deer from th' o'ervaulted green</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of thickest boscage, searching every covert</div> - <div class="i0">With terror of her torches and her wail,</div> - <div class="i0">"Persephone! Persephone!" till the pines</div> - <div class="i0">Of mist-swathed Dicte shuddered through their miles,</div> - <div class="i0">The panther roared down in the stream-mad gorge,</div> - <div class="i0">And Echo shrieked from chasm to answering chasm,</div> - <div class="i0">"Persephone!" bewildered with her woe:</div> - <div class="i0">As wild as when she echoed the despair,</div> - <div class="i0">Dishevel-haired, of maidens, wailing borne,—</div> - <div class="i0">Athenian tribute,—to that King of Crete,</div> - <div class="i0">Great Minos, when the Minotaur they saw</div> - <div class="i0">Grim, crouching in his labyrinth of stone.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DIONYSOS" id="DIONYSOS"></a>DIONYSOS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io!</div> - <div class="i0">O Dionysos! Dionysos! ivy-crowned!</div> - <div class="i0">O let me sing thy triumph ere I die!"</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I slept; and dreamed a Mænad came to me:</div> - <div class="i0">A harp of hollow agate strung with gold</div> - <div class="i0">Wailed 'neath her waxen fingers, and her heart</div> - <div class="i0">Under its gauze, through which the moonlight shone,</div> - <div class="i0">Kept time with its wild throbbings to her song.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Ægeus sleeps, O Dionysos! sleeps</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the restless waves that sigh his name</div> - <div class="i0">Eternally at my dew-glistening feet.</div> - <div class="i0">Here 'twas he died, O Dionysos! here</div> - <div class="i0">The great king died for whom is named this sea.—</div> - <div class="i0">O let me sing thy triumph ere I die!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"With the shrill syrinx and the kissing clang</div> - <div class="i0">Of silver cymbals, and the sound of flutes,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> - <div class="i0">O pard-drawn youth, thou dist awake the world</div> - <div class="i0">To joy and pleasure with thy sunny wine!</div> - <div class="i0">Mad'st India bow and the dun, flooding Nile</div> - <div class="i0">Grow purple with the murex of the wine</div> - <div class="i0">Cast from the fullness of Silenus' cup,</div> - <div class="i0">While yet the heavens of heat saw sarabands</div> - <div class="i0">Whirl 'mid the redness of the Libyan sands,</div> - <div class="i0">That drank the spilth of Bacchus, sparkling-spun</div> - <div class="i0">From the Bacchante bowl, a beaded red</div> - <div class="i0">O'er the slant edge, that twinkled in the sun,</div> - <div class="i0">The tiger sun fierce-glaring overhead.</div> - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"What made gold Horus smile with golden lips?</div> - <div class="i0">Anubis dire forget his ghosts to lead</div> - <div class="i0">To Hell's profoundness?—He, who stayed to sip</div> - <div class="i0">One winking bubble from the wine-god's cup,</div> - <div class="i0">And, captive ever after, joined thy train?—</div> - <div class="i0">What made Osiris, 'mid the palms of Nile,</div> - <div class="i0">Leave Isis dreaming, and the frolic Pan's</div> - <div class="i0">Wild trebles follow as a roaring bull,</div> - <div class="i0">Far as the fanes of Indra; he who long</div> - <div class="i0">Was mourned in Memphis by his tawny priests?—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io!</div> - <div class="i0">The brimming purple of thy hollow gold</div> - <div class="i0">They tasted and, 'though gods, they worship'd too!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Sad Echo sat once in a spiral cave;</div> - <div class="i0">She, from its sea-dyed labyrinth of rock,</div> - <div class="i0">Saw the long pageant dancing on the strand,</div> - <div class="i0">Where Nereus slept upon an isle of crags,</div> - <div class="i0">And o'er the slope of his far-foaming head</div> - <div class="i0">The strangeness of the orgies wildly cried,</div> - <div class="i0">Till the gray god awoke, at first in rage;</div> - <div class="i0">Serened his face then; stretched a welcoming hand</div> - <div class="i0">With civil utterance for the Bacchus horn.</div> - <div class="i0">But Echo followed not; instead, she sits</div> - <div class="i0">Among her crags remembering that wild cry,</div> - <div class="i0">That nomad sound still haunting all her dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">Confusing all her speech, that naught can say</div> - <div class="i0">Save warring words bewildering her ears</div> - <div class="i0">Like waves reverberant in a deep sea-cave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Io! Bacchus! Bacchus! Io! Io!</div> - <div class="i0">See, the white stars, O Dionysos! see,</div> - <div class="i0">Have spilled their glittering globules, one by one,—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Like bubbles winking in the cup of night,—</div> - <div class="i0">Down the dark west behind the mountain chain.</div> - <div class="i0">Ægeus sleeps, lulled by my murmuring harp;</div> - <div class="i0">And I have sung thy triumph. Let me die!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_PAPHIAN_VENUS" id="THE_PAPHIAN_VENUS"></a>THE PAPHIAN VENUS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With anxious eyes and dry, expectant lips,</div> - <div class="i1">Within the sculptured stoa by the sea,</div> - <div class="i0">All day she waited while, like ghostly ships,</div> - <div class="i1">Long clouds rolled over Paphos: the wild bee</div> - <div class="i0">Hung in the sultry poppy, half asleep,</div> - <div class="i0">Beside the shepherd and his drowsy sheep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">White-robed she waited day by day; alone</div> - <div class="i1">With the white temple's shrined concupiscence,</div> - <div class="i0">The Paphian goddess on her obscene throne,</div> - <div class="i1">Binding all chastity to violence,</div> - <div class="i0">All innocent to lust that feels no shame—</div> - <div class="i0">Venus Mylitta born of filth and flame.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So must they haunt her marble portico,</div> - <div class="i1">The devotees of passion, passion-pale</div> - <div class="i0">As moonlight streaming through the stormy snow;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> - <div class="i1">Dark eyes desirous of the stranger sail,—</div> - <div class="i0">The gods shall bring across the Cyprian Sea,</div> - <div class="i0">And him elected to their mastery.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A priestess of the temple came, when eve</div> - <div class="i1">Blazed, like a satrap's triumph, in the west;</div> - <div class="i0">And watched her listening to the ocean's heave,</div> - <div class="i1">Dusk's golden glory on her face and breast,</div> - <div class="i0">And in her hair the rosy wind's caress,—</div> - <div class="i0">Pitying her dedicated tenderness.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When out of darkness night persuades the stars,</div> - <div class="i1">A dream shall bend above her saying, "Soon</div> - <div class="i0">A barque shall come with purple sails and spars,</div> - <div class="i1">Sailing from Tarsus 'neath a low white moon;</div> - <div class="i0">And thou shalt see one in a robe of Tyre</div> - <div class="i0">Facing toward thee like the god Desire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Rise then! as, clad in starlight, riseth night—</div> - <div class="i1">Thy nakedness clad on with loveliness!</div> - <div class="i0">So shalt thou see him, like the god Delight,</div> - <div class="i1">Breast through the foam and climb the cliff to press</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Hot lips to thine and lead thee in before</div> - <div class="i0">Love's awful presence where ye shall adore."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thus at her heart the vision entered in,</div> - <div class="i1">With lips of lust the lips of song had kissed,</div> - <div class="i0">And eyes of passion laughing with sweet sin,</div> - <div class="i1">A starry splendor robed in amethyst,</div> - <div class="i0">Seen like that star set in the glittering gloam—</div> - <div class="i0">Venus Mylitta born of fire and foam.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So shall she dream until, near middle night,—</div> - <div class="i1">When on the blackness of the ocean's rim</div> - <div class="i0">The moon, like some war-galleon all alight</div> - <div class="i1">With blazing battle, from the sea shall swim,—</div> - <div class="i0">A shadow, with inviolate lips and eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">Shall rise before her speaking in this wise:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"So hast thou heard the promises of one,—</div> - <div class="i1">Of her, with whom the God of gods is wroth,—</div> - <div class="i0">For whom was prophesied at Babylon</div> - <div class="i1">The second death—Chaldæan Mylidoth!</div> - <div class="i0">Whose feet take hold on darkness and despair,</div> - <div class="i0">Hissing destruction in her heart and hair!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"Wouldst thou behold the vessel she would bring?—</div> - <div class="i1">A wreck! ten hundred years have smeared with slime:</div> - <div class="i0">A hulk! where all abominations cling,</div> - <div class="i1">The spawn and vermin of the seas of time:</div> - <div class="i0">Wild waves have rotted it, fierce suns have scorched,</div> - <div class="i0">Mad winds have tossed and stormy stars have torched.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Can lust give birth to love! The vile and foul</div> - <div class="i1">Be mother to beauty? Lo! can this thing be?—</div> - <div class="i0">A monster like a man shall rise and howl</div> - <div class="i1">Upon the wreck across the crawling sea,</div> - <div class="i0">Then plunge; and swim unto thee; like an ape,</div> - <div class="i0">A beast all belly.—Thou canst not escape!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gone was the shadow with the suffering brow;</div> - <div class="i1">And in the temple's porch she lay and wept,</div> - <div class="i0">Alone with night, the ocean, and her vow.</div> - <div class="i1">Then up the east the moon's full splendor swept,</div> - <div class="i0">And, dark between it—wreck or argosy?—</div> - <div class="i0">A sudden vessel far away at sea.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GARGAPHIE" id="GARGAPHIE"></a>GARGAPHIE</h2> - -<p class="center">"<em>Succinctæ sacra Dianæ.</em>"—Ovid.</p> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There the ragged sunlight lay</div> - <div class="i0">Tawny on thick ferns and gray</div> - <div class="i1">On dark waters: dimmer,</div> - <div class="i0">Lone and deep, the cypress grove</div> - <div class="i0">Bowered mystery and wove</div> - <div class="i0">Braided lights, like those that love</div> - <div class="i0">On the pearl plumes of a dove</div> - <div class="i1">Faint to gleam and glimmer.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There centennial pine and oak</div> - <div class="i0">Into stormy utterance broke:</div> - <div class="i1">Hollow rocks gloomed, slanting,</div> - <div class="i0">Echoing in dim arcade,</div> - <div class="i0">Looming with long moss, that made</div> - <div class="i0">Twilight streaks in tatters laid:</div> - <div class="i0">Where the wild hart, hunt-affrayed,</div> - <div class="i1">Plunged the water, panting.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Poppies of a sleepy gold</div> - <div class="i0">Mooned the gray-green darkness rolled</div> - <div class="i1">Down its vistas, making</div> - <div class="i0">Wisp-like blurs of flame. And pale</div> - <div class="i0">Stole the dim deer down the vale:</div> - <div class="i0">And the haunting nightingale</div> - <div class="i0">Sang unseen—the olden tale</div> - <div class="i1">All its hurt heart breaking.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There the hazy serpolet,</div> - <div class="i0">Dewy cistus, blooming wet,</div> - <div class="i1">Blushed on bank and boulder:</div> - <div class="i0">There the cyclamen, as wan</div> - <div class="i0">As faint footsteps of the Dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">Carpeted the spotted lawn:</div> - <div class="i0">Where the nude nymph, dripping drawn,</div> - <div class="i1">Sloped a flower-white shoulder.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In the citrine shadow there</div> - <div class="i0">What tall presences and fair,</div> - <div class="i1">Godlike, lingered!—gracious</div> - <div class="i0">As the rock-rose there that grew:—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Delicate and dim as dew</div> - <div class="i0">Stepped from out the oaks, and drew</div> - <div class="i0">Faun-like forms to follow, who</div> - <div class="i1">Filled the forest spacious!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Guarded that Bœotian</div> - <div class="i0">Valley so no foot of man</div> - <div class="i1">Soiled its silence holy</div> - <div class="i0">With profaning tread—save one,</div> - <div class="i0">The Hyantian: Actæon,</div> - <div class="i0">Who beheld but was undone</div> - <div class="i0">By Diana's wrath, that none—</div> - <div class="i1">'Though with magic moly,—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Might escape.—That valley sleeps</div> - <div class="i0">Lost to us: enchantment keeps</div> - <div class="i1">Sacred still its banished</div> - <div class="i0">Bowers that no man may see,</div> - <div class="i0">Fountains that her deity</div> - <div class="i0">Haunts, and every rock and tree</div> - <div class="i0">Where her hunt goes swinging free</div> - <div class="i1">As in ages vanished.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_FAUN" id="THE_FAUN"></a>THE FAUN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The joys that touched thee once, be mine!</div> - <div class="i1">The sympathies of sky and sea,</div> - <div class="i0">The friendship of each rock and pine,</div> - <div class="i1">That made thy lonely life, ah me!</div> - <div class="i1">In Tempe or in Gargaphie.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Such joy as thou didst feel when first,</div> - <div class="i1">On some wild crag, thou stood'st alone</div> - <div class="i0">And watched the mountain tempest burst,</div> - <div class="i1">With streaming thunder, lightning sown,</div> - <div class="i1">On Latmos or on Pelion.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thy awe! when crowned with vastness, Night</div> - <div class="i1">And Silence ruled the deep's abyss;</div> - <div class="i0">And through dark leaves thou saw'st the white</div> - <div class="i1">Breasts of the starry maids who kiss</div> - <div class="i1">Pale feet of moony Artemis.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thy dreams! when, breasting matted weeds</div> - <div class="i1">Of Arethusa, thou didst hear</div> - <div class="i0">The music of the wind-swept reeds;</div> - <div class="i1">And down dim forest-ways drew near</div> - <div class="i1">Shy herds of slim Arcadian deer.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Thy wisdom! that knew naught but love</div> - <div class="i1">And beauty, with which love is fraught;</div> - <div class="i0">The wisdom of the heart—whereof</div> - <div class="i1">All noblest passions spring—that thought</div> - <div class="i1">As Nature thinks, "All else is naught."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thy hope! wherein To-morrow set</div> - <div class="i1">No shadow; hope that, lacking care</div> - <div class="i0">And retrospect, held no regret,</div> - <div class="i1">But bloomed in rainbows everywhere</div> - <div class="i1">Filling with gladness all the air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">These were thine all: in all life's moods</div> - <div class="i1">Embracing all of happiness:</div> - <div class="i0">And when within thy long-loved woods</div> - <div class="i1">Didst lay thee down to die, no less</div> - <div class="i1">Thy happiness stood by to bless.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="APOLLO" id="APOLLO"></a>APOLLO</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All the Lydian notes revealing,</div> - <div class="i0">Son of Leto, oh, come stealing</div> - <div class="i0">As the wind Thessalian rivers</div> - <div class="i0">Whisper of! the wind that shivers</div> - <div class="i0">Every ripple into stars,</div> - <div class="i0">In the sunlight's golden bars.</div> - <div class="i0">Touch thy harp, that haunts the oaks,</div> - <div class="i0">With the mastery that invokes</div> - <div class="i0">Naiad music of the fount,</div> - <div class="i0">Oread music of the mount;</div> - <div class="i0">And such satyr song as keeps</div> - <div class="i0">Revel on Lycæan steeps,</div> - <div class="i0">When night nods, a Mænad shape,</div> - <div class="i0">Purple with dusk's staining grape.</div> - <div class="i0">Wake such chords as dewy grounds</div> - <div class="i0">Echo when no mortal hounds</div> - <div class="i0">Bell the hunt, whose spear-point shines</div> - <div class="i0">Through Arcadia's tangled vines,</div> - <div class="i0">When the half-awakened Dawn,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Dreaming on a mountain lawn,</div> - <div class="i0">Lets her golden sandals lie</div> - <div class="i0">And walks barefooted through the sky;</div> - <div class="i0">And by Arethusa's bank,</div> - <div class="i0">Swift upon the red hart's flank,</div> - <div class="i0">Drives Diana's buskined band</div> - <div class="i0">Down the cistus-blossomed strand.</div> - <div class="i0">Then Love's minors, swooning o'er</div> - <div class="i0">The mountain hush, the ocean roar,</div> - <div class="i0">As Selene, stealing, sails</div> - <div class="i0">Over Lemnos' lakes to vales</div> - <div class="i0">Where Endymion dreams and feels</div> - <div class="i0">Love her stolen kiss reveals.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thou hast sung of Helicon:</div> - <div class="i0">How the sister Muses won</div> - <div class="i0">From the nine Pierides</div> - <div class="i0">Empire o'er the harmonies.</div> - <div class="i0">Thou hast sung of Tempe's maid,</div> - <div class="i0">And the sudden laurel's aid.</div> - <div class="i0">Thou hast sung of many loves</div> - <div class="i0">Of the gods that haunt the groves</div> - <div class="i0">Where the marble altar stands</div> - <div class="i0">Rose-heaped by the balmy hands</div> - <div class="i0">Of Romance and Beauty; where,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> - <div class="i0">High upon the temple stair,</div> - <div class="i0">Priest-like, bay-crowned, white of hair,</div> - <div class="i0">Old Tradition, looking up,</div> - <div class="i0">Pours libation from his cup.</div> - <div class="i0">Thou hast sung, all sweet of tongue,</div> - <div class="i0">As once wild Amphion sung,</div> - <div class="i0">Songs,—Parnassian rocks,—that swung</div> - <div class="i0">Each in its lyric niche, and massed</div> - <div class="i0">Such mural heights of song and vast,</div> - <div class="i0">Melodious walls of poesy,</div> - <div class="i0">That Time himself shall not outlast,</div> - <div class="i0">Enduring as eternity.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ours shall be no island song,</div> - <div class="i0">Suited to a maiden throng,</div> - <div class="i0">Dancing with their wreaths of roses</div> - <div class="i0">To the double-flute's soft closes!—</div> - <div class="i0">But a Nation's! whose large eyes</div> - <div class="i0">With life's liberty are wise,</div> - <div class="i0">And consenting sympathies</div> - <div class="i0">Of all arts and sciences.</div> - <div class="i0">She! who stands above the storms</div> - <div class="i0">With truth's thunder in her arms,</div> - <div class="i0">And the star-serenity</div> - <div class="i0">Of her hope bound burningly</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Round her brow; and at her knee</div> - <div class="i0">The Spirit of Progress who is shod</div> - <div class="i0">With ethereal fire of God....</div> - <div class="i0">Yea! thy last shall still be first—</div> - <div class="i0">Some wild epopee to burst</div> - <div class="i0">With such organ notes as rang</div> - <div class="i0">When the stars of morning sang,</div> - <div class="i0">And the Sons of Heaven sent</div> - <div class="i0">Shoutings through the firmament;</div> - <div class="i0">As our years have justified</div> - <div class="i0">And the stars have prophesied.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="center">1886.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="JOTUNHEIM" id="JOTUNHEIM"></a>JOTUNHEIM</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beyond the Northern Lights, in regions haunted</div> - <div class="i0">Of twilight, where the world is glacier planted,</div> - <div class="i0">And pale as Loké in his cavern when</div> - <div class="i0">The serpent's slaver burns him to the bones,</div> - <div class="i0">I saw the phantasms of gigantic men,</div> - <div class="i0">The prototypes of vastness, quarrying stones;</div> - <div class="i0">Great blocks of winter, glittering with the morn's</div> - <div class="i0">And evening's colors,—wild prismatic tones</div> - <div class="i0">Of boreal beauty.—Like the three gray Norns,</div> - <div class="i0">Silence and solitude and terror loomed</div> - <div class="i0">Around them where they labored. Walls arose,</div> - <div class="i0">Vast as the Andes when creation boomed</div> - <div class="i0">Insurgent fire; and through the rushing snows</div> - <div class="i0">Enormous battlements of tremendous ice,</div> - <div class="i0">Bastioned and turreted, I saw arise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But who can sing the workmanship gigantic</div> - <div class="i1">That reared within its coruscating dome</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The roaring fountain, hurling an Atlantic</div> - <div class="i1">Of liquid ice that flashed with flame and foam?</div> - <div class="i0">An opal spirit, various and many formed,—</div> - <div class="i0">In whose clear heart reverberant fire stormed,—</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed its inhabitant; and through pale halls,</div> - <div class="i3">And deep diaphanous walls,</div> - <div class="i3">And corridors of whiteness,</div> - <div class="i3">Auroral colors swarmed,</div> - <div class="i3">As rosy-flickering stains,</div> - <div class="i0">Or lambent green, or gold, or crimson, warmed</div> - <div class="i0">The pulsing crystal of the spirit's veins</div> - <div class="i3">With ever-changing brightness.</div> - <div class="i0">And through the Arctic night there went a voice,</div> - <div class="i0">As if the ancient Earth cried out, "Rejoice!"</div> - <div class="i3">"My heart is full of lightness!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Here well might Thor, the god of war,</div> - <div class="i0">Harness the whirlwinds to his car,</div> - <div class="i0">While, mailed in storm, his iron arm</div> - <div class="i0">Heaves high his hammer's lava-form,</div> - <div class="i0">And red and black his beard streams back,</div> - <div class="i0">Like some fierce torrent scoriac,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose earthquake light glares through the night</div> - <div class="i0">Around some dark volcanic height;</div> - <div class="i0">And through the skies Valkyrian cries</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Trumpet, as battleward he flies,</div> - <div class="i0">Death in his hair and havoc in his eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still in my dreams I hear that fountain flowing;</div> - <div class="i0">Beyond all seeing and beyond all knowing;</div> - <div class="i0">Still in my dreams I see those wild walls glowing</div> - <div class="i1">With hues, Aurora-kissed;</div> - <div class="i0">And through huge halls fantastic phantoms going,</div> - <div class="i1">Vast shapes of snow and mist,—</div> - <div class="i0">Sonorous clarions of the tempest blowing,—</div> - <div class="i3">That trail dark banners by,</div> - <div class="i3">Cloudlike, underneath the sky</div> - <div class="i3">Of the caverned dome on high,</div> - <div class="i3">Carbuncle and amethyst.—</div> - <div class="i3">Still I hear the ululation</div> - <div class="i3">Of their stormy exultation,</div> - <div class="i3">Multitudinous, and blending</div> - <div class="i3">In hoarse echoes, far, unending;</div> - <div class="i3">And, through halls of fog and frost,</div> - <div class="i3">Howling back, like madness lost</div> - <div class="i3">In the moonless mansion of</div> - <div class="i3">Death and demon-haunted love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still in my dreams I hear the mermaid singing;</div> - <div class="i0">The mermaid music at its portal ringing;</div> - <div class="i0">The mermaid song, that hinged with gold its door,</div> - <div class="i2">And, whispering evermore,</div> - <div class="i2">Hushed the ponderous hurl and roar</div> - <div class="i2">And vast æolian thunder</div> - <div class="i2">Of the chained tempests under</div> - <div class="i2">The frozen cataracts that were its floor.—</div> - <div class="i0">And, blinding beautiful, I still behold</div> - <div class="i0">The mermaid there, combing her locks of gold,</div> - <div class="i0">While at her feet, green as the Northern Seas,</div> - <div class="i0">Gambol her flocks of seals and walruses;</div> - <div class="i0">While, like a drift, her dog,—a Polar bear,—</div> - <div class="i0">Lies by her, glowering through his shaggy hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O wondrous house, built by supernal hands</div> - <div class="i1">In vague and ultimate lands!</div> - <div class="i0">Thy architects were behemoth wind and cloud,</div> - <div class="i1">That, laboring loud,</div> - <div class="i0">Mountained thy world foundations and uplifted</div> - <div class="i1">Thy skyey bastions drifted</div> - <div class="i0">Of piled eternities of ice and snow;</div> - <div class="i1">Where storms, like ploughmen, go,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Ploughing the deeps with awful hurricane;</div> - <div class="i1">Where, spouting icy rain,</div> - <div class="i0">The huge whale wallows; and through furious hail</div> - <div class="i1">Th' explorer's tattered sail</div> - <div class="i0">Drives like the wing of some terrific bird,</div> - <div class="i1">Where wreck and famine herd.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Home of the red Auroras and the gods!</div> - <div class="i0">He who profanes thy perilous threshold,—where</div> - <div class="i1">The ancient centuries lair,</div> - <div class="i0">And, glacier-throned, thy monarch, Winter, nods,—</div> - <div class="i1">Let him beware!</div> - <div class="i0">Lest coming on that hoary presence there,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose pitiless hand,</div> - <div class="i1">Above that hungry land,</div> - <div class="i0">An iceberg wields as sceptre, and whose crown</div> - <div class="i1">The North Star is, set in a band of frost,</div> - <div class="i0">He, too, shall feel the bitterness of that frown,</div> - <div class="i1">And, turned to stone, forevermore be lost.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DIONYSIA" id="DIONYSIA"></a>DIONYSIA</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The day is dead; and in the west</div> - <div class="i0">The slender crescent of the moon—</div> - <div class="i0">Diana's crystal-kindled crest—</div> - <div class="i0">Sinks hillward in a silvery swoon.</div> - <div class="i0">What is the murmur in the dell?</div> - <div class="i0">The stealthy whisper and the drip?</div> - <div class="i0">A Dryad with her leaf-light trip?</div> - <div class="i0">A Naiad o'er her fountain well?—</div> - <div class="i0">Who, with white fingers for her comb,</div> - <div class="i0">Sleeks her blue hair, and from its curls</div> - <div class="i0">Showers slim minnows and pale pearls,</div> - <div class="i0">And hollow music of the foam.</div> - <div class="i0">What is it in the vistaed ways</div> - <div class="i0">That leans and springs, and stoops and sways?—</div> - <div class="i0">The naked limbs of one who flees?</div> - <div class="i0">An Oread who hesitates</div> - <div class="i0">Before the Satyr form that waits,</div> - <div class="i0">Crouching to leap, that there she sees?</div> - <div class="i0">Or under boughs, reclining cool,</div> - <div class="i0">A Hamadryad, like a pool</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of moonlight, palely beautiful?</div> - <div class="i0">Or Limnad, with her lilied face,</div> - <div class="i0">More lovely than the misty lace</div> - <div class="i0">That haunts a star in a firefly place?</div> - <div class="i0">Or is it some Leimoniad</div> - <div class="i0">In wildwood flowers dimly clad?</div> - <div class="i0">Oblong blossoms white as froth,</div> - <div class="i0">Or mottled like the tiger-moth;</div> - <div class="i0">Or brindled as the brows of death,</div> - <div class="i0">Wild of hue and wild of breath:</div> - <div class="i0">Here ethereal flame and milk</div> - <div class="i0">Blent with velvet and with silk;</div> - <div class="i0">Here an iridescent glow</div> - <div class="i0">Mixed with satin and with snow:</div> - <div class="i0">Pansy, poppy and the pale</div> - <div class="i0">Serpolet and galingale;</div> - <div class="i0">Mandrake and anemone,</div> - <div class="i0">Honey-reservoirs o' the bee;</div> - <div class="i0">Cistus and the cyclamen,—</div> - <div class="i0">Cheeked like blushing Hebe this,</div> - <div class="i0">And the other white as is</div> - <div class="i0">Bubbled milk of Venus when</div> - <div class="i0">Cupid's baby mouth is pressed,</div> - <div class="i0">Rosy, to her rosy breast.</div> - <div class="i0">And, besides, all flowers that mate</div> - <div class="i0">With aroma, and in hue</div> - <div class="i0">Stars and rainbows duplicate</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Here on earth for me and you.</div> - <div class="i0">Yea! at last mine eyes can see!</div> - <div class="i0">'Tis no shadow of the tree</div> - <div class="i0">Swaying softly there, but she!—</div> - <div class="i0">Mænad, Bassarid, Bacchant,</div> - <div class="i0">What you will, who doth enchant</div> - <div class="i0">Night with sensuous nudity.</div> - <div class="i0">Lo! again I hear her pant</div> - <div class="i0">Breasting through the dewy glooms—</div> - <div class="i0">Through the glow-worm gleams and glowers</div> - <div class="i0">Of the starlight; wood-perfumes</div> - <div class="i0">Swoon around her and frail showers</div> - <div class="i0">Of the leaflet-tilted rain.</div> - <div class="i0">Lo! like love, she comes again</div> - <div class="i0">Through the pale voluptuous dusk,</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet of limb with breasts of musk.</div> - <div class="i0">With her lips, like blossoms, breathing</div> - <div class="i0">Honeyed pungence of her kiss,</div> - <div class="i0">And her auburn tresses wreathing</div> - <div class="i0">Like umbrageous helichrys,</div> - <div class="i0">There she stands, like flame and snow,</div> - <div class="i0">In the moon's ambrosial glow,</div> - <div class="i0">Both her shapely loins low-looped</div> - <div class="i0">With the balmy blossoms, drooped,</div> - <div class="i0">Of the deep amaracus.</div> - <div class="i0">Spiritual, yet sensual,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Lo, she ever greets me thus</div> - <div class="i0">In my vision; white and tall,</div> - <div class="i0">Her delicious body there,—</div> - <div class="i0">Raimented with amorous air,—</div> - <div class="i0">To my mind expresses all</div> - <div class="i0">The allurements of the world.</div> - <div class="i0">And once more I seem to feel</div> - <div class="i0">On my soul, like frenzy, hurled</div> - <div class="i0">All the passionate past.—I reel,</div> - <div class="i0">Greek again in ancient Greece,</div> - <div class="i0">In the Pyrrhic revelries;</div> - <div class="i0">In the mad and Mænad dance;</div> - <div class="i0">Onward dragged with violence:</div> - <div class="i0">Pan and old Silenus and</div> - <div class="i0">Faunus and a Bacchant band</div> - <div class="i0">Round me. Wild my wine-stained hand</div> - <div class="i0">O'er tumultuous hair is lifted;</div> - <div class="i0">While the flushed and Phallic orgies</div> - <div class="i0">Whirl around me; and the marges</div> - <div class="i0">Of the wood are torn and rifted</div> - <div class="i0">With lascivious laugh and shout.</div> - <div class="i0">And barbarian there again,—</div> - <div class="i0">Shameless with the shameless rout,</div> - <div class="i0">Bacchus lusting in each vein,—</div> - <div class="i0">With her pagan lips on mine,</div> - <div class="i0">Like a god made drunk with wine,</div> - <div class="i0">On I reel; and in the revels</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Her loose hair, the dance dishevels,</div> - <div class="i0">Blows, and 'thwart my vision swims</div> - <div class="i0">All the splendor of her limbs....</div> - <div class="i0">So it seems. Yet woods are lonely.</div> - <div class="i0">And when I again awake,</div> - <div class="i0">I shall find their faces only</div> - <div class="i0">Moonbeams in the boughs that shake;</div> - <div class="i0">And their revels—but the rush</div> - <div class="i0">Of night-winds through bough and brush.</div> - <div class="i0">But my dreaming?—is it more</div> - <div class="i0">Than mere dreaming? Is a door</div> - <div class="i0">Opened in my soul? a curtain</div> - <div class="i0">Raised? to let me see for certain</div> - <div class="i0">I have lived that life before?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="VINE_AND_SYCAMORE" id="VINE_AND_SYCAMORE"></a>VINE AND SYCAMORE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Here where a tree and its wild liana,</div> - <div class="i1">Leaning over the streamlet, grow,</div> - <div class="i0">Once a nymph, like the moon'd Diana,</div> - <div class="i1">Sat in the ages long ago,</div> - <div class="i0">Sat with a mortal with whom she had mated,</div> - <div class="i1">Sat and smiled with a mortal youth,</div> - <div class="i0">Ere he of the forest, the god who hated,</div> - <div class="i1">Changed the two into forms uncouth....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Once in the woods she had heard a shepherd,</div> - <div class="i1">Heard a reed in a golden glade;</div> - <div class="i0">Followed, and clad in the skin of a leopard,</div> - <div class="i1">Found him fluting within the shade.</div> - <div class="i0">Found him sitting with bare brown shoulder,</div> - <div class="i1">Lithe and young as a sapling oak,</div> - <div class="i0">And leaning over a mossy boulder,</div> - <div class="i1">Love in her dryad heart awoke.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">White she was as a dogwood flower,</div> - <div class="i1">Rosy white as a wild-crab bloom,</div> - <div class="i0">Fragrant white as a haw-tree bower</div> - <div class="i1">Full of sap and the May's perfume.</div> - <div class="i0">He who saw her above him burning,</div> - <div class="i1">Beautiful, naked, in dawn arrayed,</div> - <div class="i0">Deemed her Diana, and from her turning,</div> - <div class="i1">Leapt to his feet and fled afraid.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far she followed and called and pleaded,</div> - <div class="i1">Ever he fled with never a look;</div> - <div class="i0">Fled, till he came to this spot, deep-reeded,</div> - <div class="i1">Came to the bank of this forest brook.</div> - <div class="i0">Here for a moment he stopped and listened,</div> - <div class="i1">Heard in her voice her heart's despair,</div> - <div class="i0">Saw in her eyes the love that glistened,</div> - <div class="i1">Sank on her bosom and rested there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Close to her beauty she strained and pressed him,</div> - <div class="i1">Held and bound him with kiss on kiss;</div> - <div class="i0">Soft with her hands and her lips caressed him,</div> - <div class="i1">Sweeter of touch than a blossom is.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Spoke to his heart, and with sweet persuasion</div> - <div class="i1">Mastered his soul till its fear was flown;</div> - <div class="i0">Smiled on his soul till its mortal evasion</div> - <div class="i1">Vanished, and body and soul were her own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Many a day had they met and mated,</div> - <div class="i1">Many a day by this wildwood brook,</div> - <div class="i0">When he of the forest, the god who hated,</div> - <div class="i1">Came on their love and changed with a look.</div> - <div class="i0">There on the shore, while they joyed and jested,</div> - <div class="i1">He in the shadows, unseen, espied</div> - <div class="i0">Her, like the goddess Diana breasted,</div> - <div class="i1">Him, like Endymion by her side.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Lo! at a word, at a sign, their folded</div> - <div class="i1">Limbs and bodies assumed new form,</div> - <div class="i0">Hers to the shape of a tree were molded,</div> - <div class="i1">His to a vine with surrounding arm....</div> - <div class="i0">So they stand with their limbs enlacing,</div> - <div class="i1">Nymph and mortal, upon this shore,</div> - <div class="i0">He forever a vine embracing</div> - <div class="i1">Her, a silvery sycamore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="GENIUS_LOCI" id="GENIUS_LOCI"></a>GENIUS LOCI</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What wood-god, on this water's mossy curb,</div> - <div class="i1">Lost in reflections of Earth's loveliness,</div> - <div class="i0">Did I, just now, unconsciously disturb?</div> - <div class="i1">I who haphazard, wandering at a guess,</div> - <div class="i0">Came on this spot, wherein with gold and flame</div> - <div class="i0">Of buds and blooms the Season writes its name.—</div> - <div class="i0">Ah, me! could I have seen him ere alarm</div> - <div class="i1">Of my approach aroused him from his calm!</div> - <div class="i1">As he, part Hamadryad and, mayhap,</div> - <div class="i0">Part Faun, lay here; who left the shadow warm</div> - <div class="i1">As a wood-rose, and filled the air with balm</div> - <div class="i1">Of his wild breath as with ethereal sap.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Does not the moss retain some slight impress,</div> - <div class="i1">Green-dented down, of where he lay or trod?</div> - <div class="i0">Do not the flowers, so reticent, confess</div> - <div class="i1">With conscious looks the contact of a god?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Does not the very water garrulously</div> - <div class="i0">Boast the indulgence of a deity?</div> - <div class="i0">And hark!—in burly beech and sycamore</div> - <div class="i1">How all the birds proclaim it! and the leaves</div> - <div class="i1">Rejoice with clappings of their myriad hands!</div> - <div class="i0">And shall not I believe, too, and adore,</div> - <div class="i1">With such wide proof?—Yea, though my soul perceives</div> - <div class="i1">No evident presence, still it understands.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And for a while it moves me to lie down</div> - <div class="i1">Here on the spot his god-head sanctified:</div> - <div class="i0">Mayhap some dream he dreamed may linger, brown</div> - <div class="i1">And young as joy, around the forest side:</div> - <div class="i0">Some dream within whose heart lives no disdain</div> - <div class="i0">For such as I whose love is sweet and sane;</div> - <div class="i0">That may repeat, so none but I may hear—</div> - <div class="i1">As one might tell a pearl-strung rosary—</div> - <div class="i1">Some epic that the leaves have learned to croon,</div> - <div class="i0">Some lyric whispered in the wildflower's ear,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose murmurous lines are sung by bird and bee,</div> - <div class="i1">And all the insects of the night and noon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For, all around me, upon field and hill,</div> - <div class="i1">Enchantment lies as of mysterious flutes;</div> - <div class="i0">As if the music of a god's good-will</div> - <div class="i1">Had taken on material attributes</div> - <div class="i0">In blooms, like chords; and in the water-gleam,</div> - <div class="i0">That runs its silvery scales on every stream;</div> - <div class="i0">In sunbeam bars, up which the butterfly,</div> - <div class="i1">A golden note, vibrates then flutters on—</div> - <div class="i1">Inaudible tunes, blown on the pipes of Pan,</div> - <div class="i0">That have assumed a visible entity,</div> - <div class="i1">And drugged the air with beauty so, a Faun,</div> - <div class="i1">Behold, I seem, and am no more a man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DITHYRAMBICS" id="DITHYRAMBICS"></a>DITHYRAMBICS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6"><em>Tempest</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wrapped round of the night, as a monster is wrapped of the ocean,</div> - <div class="i0">Down, down through vast storeys of darkness, behold, in the tower</div> - <div class="i0">Of the heaven, the thunder! on stairways of cloudy commotion,</div> - <div class="i0">Colossal of tread, like a giant, from echoing hour to hour</div> - <div class="i0">Goes striding in rattling armor....</div> - <div class="i0">The Nymph, at her billow-roofed dormer</div> - <div class="i0">Of foam; and the Sylvan—green-housed—at her window of leaves appears;</div> - <div class="i0">—As a listening woman, who hears</div> - <div class="i0">The approach of her lover, who comes to her arms in the night;</div> - <div class="i0">And, loosening the loops of her locks,</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes full of love and delight,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span> - <div class="i0">From the couch of her rest in ardor and haste arises.—</div> - <div class="i0">The Nymph, as if born of the tempest, like fire surprises</div> - <div class="i0">The riotous bands of the rocks,</div> - <div class="i0">That face, with a roar, the shouting charge of the seas.</div> - <div class="i0">The Sylvan,—through troops of the trees,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose clamorous clans with gnarly bosoms keep hurling</div> - <div class="i0">Themselves on the guns of the wind,—goes wheeling and whirling.</div> - <div class="i0">The Nymph, of the waves' exultation upheld, her green tresses</div> - <div class="i0">Knotted with flowers of the hollow white foam, dives screaming;</div> - <div class="i0">Then bounds to the arms of the storm, who boisterously presses</div> - <div class="i0">Her hair and wild form to his breast that is panting and streaming.</div> - <div class="i0">The Sylvan,—hard-pressed by the wind, the Pan-footed air,—</div> - <div class="i0">On the violent backs of the hills,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like a flame that tosses and thrills</div> - <div class="i0">From crag to crag when the world of spirits is out,—</div> - <div class="i0">Is borne, as her rapture wills,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With glittering gesture and shout.</div> - <div class="i0">Now here in the darkness, now there,</div> - <div class="i0">From the rain-wild sweep of her hair,—</div> - <div class="i0">Bewilderingly volleyed o'er eyes and o'er lips,—</div> - <div class="i0">To the lambent swell of her limbs, her breasts and her hips,</div> - <div class="i0">She flashes her beautiful nakedness out in the glare</div> - <div class="i0">Of the tempest that bears her away,—</div> - <div class="i0">That bears <em>me</em> away!</div> - <div class="i0">Away, over forest and foam, over tree and spray,</div> - <div class="i0">Far swifter than thought, far swifter than sound or than flame;</div> - <div class="i0">Over ocean and pine,</div> - <div class="i0">In arms of tumultuous shadow and shine.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Though Sylvan and Nymph do not</div> - <div class="i0">Exist, and only what</div> - <div class="i0">Of terror and beauty I feel and I name</div> - <div class="i0">As parts of the storm, the awe and the rapture divine</div> - <div class="i0">That here in the tempest are mine,—</div> - <div class="i0">The two are the same, the two are forever the same.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6"><em>Calm</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beautiful-bosomed, O night, in thy noon</div> - <div class="i0">Move with majesty onward! bearing, as lightly</div> - <div class="i0">As a singer may bear the notes of an exquisite tune,</div> - <div class="i0">The stars and the moon</div> - <div class="i0">Through the clerestories high of the heaven, the firmament's halls:</div> - <div class="i0">Under whose sapphirine walls,</div> - <div class="i0">June, hesperian June,</div> - <div class="i0">Robed in divinity wanders. Daily and nightly</div> - <div class="i0">The turquoise touch of her robe, that the violets star,</div> - <div class="i0">The silvery fall of her feet, that lilies are,</div> - <div class="i0">Fill the land with languorous light and perfume.—</div> - <div class="i0">Is it the melody mute of bourgeoning leaf and of bloom?</div> - <div class="i0">The music of Nature, that silently shapes in the gloom</div> - <div class="i0">Immaterial hosts</div> - <div class="i0">Of spirits that have the flowers and leaves in their keep,</div> - <div class="i0">That I hear, that I hear?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With their sighs of silver and pearl?</div> - <div class="i0">Invisible ghosts,—</div> - <div class="i0">Each one a beautiful girl,—</div> - <div class="i0">Who whisper in leaves and glimmer in blossoms and hover</div> - <div class="i0">In color and fragrance and loveliness, breathed from the deep</div> - <div class="i0">World-soul of the mother,</div> - <div class="i0">Nature;—who, over and over,</div> - <div class="i0">Both sweetheart and lover,</div> - <div class="i0">Goes singing her songs from one sweet month to the other,—</div> - <div class="i0">That appear, that appear?</div> - <div class="i0">In forest and field, on hill-land and lea,</div> - <div class="i0">As crystallized harmony,</div> - <div class="i0">Materialized melody,</div> - <div class="i0">An uttered essence peopling far and near</div> - <div class="i0">The hyaline atmosphere?...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Behold how it sprouts from the grass and blooms from flower and tree!</div> - <div class="i0">In waves of diaphanous moonlight and mist,</div> - <div class="i0">In fugue upon fugue of gold and of amethyst,</div> - <div class="i0">Around me, above me it spirals; now slower, now faster,</div> - <div class="i0">Like symphonies born of the thought of a musical master.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> - <div class="i0">O music of Earth! O God, who the music inspired!</div> - <div class="i0">Let me breathe of the life of thy breath!</div> - <div class="i0">And so be fulfilled and attired</div> - <div class="i0">In resurrection, triumphant o'er time and o'er death!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="HYMN_TO_DESIRE" id="HYMN_TO_DESIRE"></a>HYMN TO DESIRE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Mother of visions, with lineaments dulcet as numbers</div> - <div class="i0">Breathed on the eyelids of love by music that slumbers,</div> - <div class="i0">Secretly, sweetly, O presence of fire and snow,</div> - <div class="i0">Thou comest mysterious,</div> - <div class="i0">In beauty imperious,</div> - <div class="i0">Clad on with dreams and the light of no world that we know,</div> - <div class="i0">Deep to my innermost soul am I shaken,</div> - <div class="i0">Helplessly shaken and tossed,</div> - <div class="i0">And of thy tyrannous yearnings so utterly taken,</div> - <div class="i0">My lips, unsatisfied, thirst;</div> - <div class="i0">Mine eyes are accurst</div> - <div class="i0">With longings for visions that far in the night are forsaken;</div> - <div class="i0">And mine ears, in listening lost,</div> - <div class="i0">Yearn, yearn for the note of a chord that will never awaken.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Like palpable music thou comest, like moon-light; and far,—</div> - <div class="i0">Resonant bar upon bar,—</div> - <div class="i0">The vibrating lyre</div> - <div class="i0">Of the spirit responds with melodious fire,</div> - <div class="i0">As thy fluttering fingers now grasp it and ardently shake,</div> - <div class="i0">With flame and with flake,</div> - <div class="i0">The chords of existence, the instrument star-sprung,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose frame is of clay, so wonderfully molded from mire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Vested with vanquishment, come, O Desire, Desire!</div> - <div class="i0">Breathe in this harp of my soul the audible angel of love!</div> - <div class="i0">Make of my heart an Israfel burning above,</div> - <div class="i0">A lute for the music of God, that lips, which are mortal, but stammer!</div> - <div class="i0">Smite every rapturous wire</div> - <div class="i0">With golden delirium, rebellion and silvery clamor,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Crying—"Awake! awake!</div> - <div class="i0">Too long hast thou slumbered! too far from the regions of glamour,</div> - <div class="i0">With its mountains of magic, its fountains of faery, the spar-sprung,</div> - <div class="i0">Hast thou wandered away, O Heart!</div> - <div class="i0">Come, oh, come and partake</div> - <div class="i0">Of necromance banquets of beauty; and slake</div> - <div class="i0">Thy thirst in the waters of Art,</div> - <div class="i0">That are drawn from the streams</div> - <div class="i0">Of love and of dreams.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Come, oh come!</div> - <div class="i0">No longer shall language be dumb!</div> - <div class="i0">Thy vision shall grasp—</div> - <div class="i0">As one doth the glittering hasp</div> - <div class="i0">Of a dagger made splendid with gems and with gold—</div> - <div class="i0">The wonder and richness of life, not anguish and hate of it merely.</div> - <div class="i0">And out of the stark</div> - <div class="i0">Eternity, awful and dark,</div> - <div class="i0">Immensity silent and cold,—</div> - <div class="i0">Universe-shaking as trumpets, or thunderous metals</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That cymbal; yet pensive and pearly</div> - <div class="i0">And soft as the rosy unfolding of petals,</div> - <div class="i0">Or crumbling aroma of blossoms that wither too early,—</div> - <div class="i0">The majestic music of Death, where he plays</div> - <div class="i0">On the organ, eternal and vast, of eons and days."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="NYMPH_AND_FAUN" id="NYMPH_AND_FAUN"></a>NYMPH AND FAUN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With her soft face half turned to me</div> - <div class="i0">Like an arrested moonbeam, she</div> - <div class="i0">Stood in the cirque of that deep tree.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I took her by the hands; she raised</div> - <div class="i0">Her face to mine; and, half amazed,</div> - <div class="i0">I kissed her; and we stood and gazed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How good to kiss her throat and hair,</div> - <div class="i0">And say no word!—Her throat was bare,</div> - <div class="i0">And, as the slim moon, young and fair.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Had God not given us life for this?</div> - <div class="i0">The world-old, amorous happiness</div> - <div class="i0">Of arms that clasp, and lips that kiss.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O eloquence of limbs and arms!</div> - <div class="i0">O rhetoric of breasts, whose charms</div> - <div class="i0">Say to the sluggish blood what warms!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Had God not smiled upon this hour</div> - <div class="i0">That bloomed,—where love had all of power,—</div> - <div class="i0">The senses' aphrodisiac flower?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The dawn was far away: the night</div> - <div class="i0">Hung savage stars of sultry white,</div> - <div class="i0">Lamp-like, above to give us light.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Night, night, who led us each to each,</div> - <div class="i0">Where heart with heart could hold sweet speech,</div> - <div class="i0">With life's best gift within our reach.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And here it was—between the goals</div> - <div class="i0">Of flesh and spirit, sex controls—</div> - <div class="i0">Took place the marriage of our souls.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="PARTING_OF_LEANDER_AND_HERO" id="PARTING_OF_LEANDER_AND_HERO"></a>PARTING OF LEANDER AND HERO</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Brows pale through blue-black tresses</div> - <div class="i0">Wet with the rain's cold kisses;</div> - <div class="i0">Hair that the sea-wind tosses,</div> - <div class="i1">Wild as wild wings in flight;</div> - <div class="i0">Pale brows, some sad thought crosses,</div> - <div class="i1">One kiss and then—good night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Nay, love! thou wilt undo me</div> - <div class="i1">When in the heavy waves!—</div> - <div class="i0">Come, smile! and make unto me</div> - <div class="i1">The billows' backs as slaves</div> - <div class="i0">To bear me and indue me</div> - <div class="i1">With strength o'er ocean's graves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Weep not, as heavy-hearted</div> - <div class="i1">Before I go! lest thou</div> - <div class="i0">Shouldst follow as we parted.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Come, gaze at me glad-hearted!</div> - <div class="i0">Not with sweet lips distorted</div> - <div class="i0">With fear; and eyes tear-smarted!—</div> - <div class="i1">Let me remember how</div> - <div class="i0">Thy face looks when thou smilest</div> - <div class="i0">And with soft words beguilest</div> - <div class="i1">My soul.—From feet to brow,</div> - <div class="i0">Come, strengthen thy strong lover</div> - <div class="i0">To breast the waves that cover</div> - <div class="i0">Deep caves where sea-nymphs hover,</div> - <div class="i1">Eager to seize him now.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thy image, love, shall follow</div> - <div class="i1">With breast pressed close to mine:</div> - <div class="i0">With arms from out whose hollow</div> - <div class="i0">No death can tear me. Follow,</div> - <div class="i1">Come, light me through the brine,</div> - <div class="i0">Dark eyes, fixed bright on mine,</div> - <div class="i0">And mouth as red as wine!—</div> - <div class="i0">Yea, give me wine of kisses,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose fire shall help me home,</div> - <div class="i0">Sweetheart, through foam that hisses,</div> - <div class="i1">The long wild miles of foam.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sweet! cease thy sighs and weeping!</div> - <div class="i0">'Tis time for rest and sleeping,</div> - <div class="i0">And Venus-vestured dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">Where thy Leander, stooping,</div> - <div class="i0">Thou'lt see as now, undrooping,</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes all unaccusing:</div> - <div class="i1">Not as thou saw'st, it seems,</div> - <div class="i1">In sleep last night, in dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">His curls with ocean oozing,</div> - <div class="i0">And wan of cheek and brow:</div> - <div class="i0">But, Hero, even as now,</div> - <div class="i1">Fair-favored as can make him</div> - <div class="i0">Thy smile, which is a might,</div> - <div class="i1">A hope, a god, to take him</div> - <div class="i0">Safe through this hell of night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Here in thy throat's white hollow</div> - <div class="i1">One last long kiss.—I go.—</div> - <div class="i0">Ah, Sweet! a kiss to follow</div> - <div class="i0">Down from thy throat's white hollow</div> - <div class="i0">Unto thy breast that's whiter:—</div> - <div class="i0">Thine arms, that clasp me tighter;</div> - <div class="i1">One kiss then on thy mouth,</div> - <div class="i1">Warmer than all the South;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And eyes, than waters brighter</div> - <div class="i1">Wherein the far stars glow.</div> - <div class="i0">Smile on me now I leave thee!—</div> - <div class="i1">And kiss me on the brow!—</div> - <div class="i0">Smile on me, love, nor grieve thee!</div> - <div class="i1">No thing can harm me now!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_SPIRIT_OF_THE_FOREST_SPRING" id="THE_SPIRIT_OF_THE_FOREST_SPRING"></a>THE SPIRIT OF THE FOREST SPRING</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the rocks she trails her locks,</div> - <div class="i0">Her mossy locks that drip, drip, drip:</div> - <div class="i0">Her sparkling eyes smile at the skies</div> - <div class="i0">In friendship-wise and fellowship:</div> - <div class="i0">While the gleam and glance of her countenance</div> - <div class="i0">Lull into trance the woodland places,</div> - <div class="i0">As over the rocks she trails her locks,</div> - <div class="i0">Her dripping locks that the long fern graces.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She pours clear ooze from her heart's cool cruse,</div> - <div class="i0">Its crystal cruse that drips, drips, drips:</div> - <div class="i0">And all the day its crystal spray</div> - <div class="i0">Is heard to play from her finger-tips:</div> - <div class="i0">And the slight, soft sound makes haunted ground</div> - <div class="i0">Of the woods around that the sunlight laces,</div> - <div class="i0">As she pours clear ooze from her heart's cool cruse,</div> - <div class="i0">Its dripping cruse that no man traces.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She swims and swims with glimmering limbs,</div> - <div class="i0">With lucid limbs that drip, drip, drip:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Where beechen boughs build a leafy house,</div> - <div class="i0">Where her form may drowse or her feet may trip;</div> - <div class="i0">And the liquid beat of her rippling feet</div> - <div class="i0">Makes three times sweet the forest mazes,</div> - <div class="i0">As she swims and swims with glimmering limbs,</div> - <div class="i0">With dripping limbs through the twilight's hazes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then wrapped in deeps of the wild she sleeps,</div> - <div class="i0">She whispering sleeps and drips, drips, drips:</div> - <div class="i0">Where moon and mist wreathe neck and wrist,</div> - <div class="i0">And, starry-whist, through the night she slips:</div> - <div class="i0">While the heavenly dream of her soul makes gleam</div> - <div class="i0">The falls that stream and the foam that races,</div> - <div class="i0">As wrapped in deeps of the wild she sleeps,</div> - <div class="i0">She dripping sleeps or starward gazes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="TO_A_PANSY-VIOLET" id="TO_A_PANSY-VIOLET"></a>TO A PANSY-VIOLET</h2> - - -<p class="p1"><em>Found Solitary Among the Hills</em></p> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">With early April wet,</div> - <div class="i0">How frail and lone you look</div> - <div class="i0">Lost in this sylvan nook</div> - <div class="i0">Of heaven-holding hills:</div> - <div class="i0">Down which the hurrying rills</div> - <div class="i0">Fling scrolls of melodies;</div> - <div class="i0">O'er which the birds and bees</div> - <div class="i0">Weave gossamers of song,</div> - <div class="i0">Invisible, but strong:</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet music-webs they spin</div> - <div class="i0">To snare the spirit in.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">Unto your face I set</div> - <div class="i0">My lips, and—do you speak?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Or is it but some freak</div> - <div class="i0">Of fancy, love imparts</div> - <div class="i0">Through you unto the heart's</div> - <div class="i0">Desire? whispering low</div> - <div class="i0">A secret none may know</div> - <div class="i0">But me, who sit and dream</div> - <div class="i0">Here by this forest-stream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">O wilding floweret,</div> - <div class="i0">Hued like some dædal gem</div> - <div class="i0">Starring the diadem</div> - <div class="i0">Of fay or sylvan sprite,</div> - <div class="i0">Who, in the woods, all night</div> - <div class="i0">Is busy with the blooms,</div> - <div class="i0">Young leaves and wild perfumes,</div> - <div class="i0">Through you I seem t' have seen</div> - <div class="i0">All that our dreams may mean.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">Long, long ago we met—</div> - <div class="i0">'Twas in a Fairy tale:</div> - <div class="i0">Two children in a vale</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Sat underneath the stars,</div> - <div class="i0">Far from the world of wars:</div> - <div class="i0">Each loved the other well:</div> - <div class="i0"><em>Her</em> eyes were like the spell</div> - <div class="i0">Of dusk and dawning skies—</div> - <div class="i0">The purple dark that dyes</div> - <div class="i0">The midnight: <em>his</em> were blue</div> - <div class="i0">As heaven the day shines through.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">What is this vague regret,</div> - <div class="i0">This yearning, so like tears,</div> - <div class="i0">That touches me through years</div> - <div class="i0">Long past, when myth and fable</div> - <div class="i0">In all strange things were able</div> - <div class="i0">To beautify the Earth,</div> - <div class="i0">Things of immortal worth?—</div> - <div class="i0">This longing, that to me</div> - <div class="i0">Is like a memory,</div> - <div class="i0">Lived long ago, of two</div> - <div class="i0">Fair forest children who</div> - <div class="i0">Loved with no mortal love;</div> - <div class="i0">Whom heaven smiled above,</div> - <div class="i0">Fostering; and when they died</div> - <div class="i0">Laid side by loving side.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> -<div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O pansy-violet,</div> - <div class="i0">Do you remember yet</div> - <div class="i0">That wood-god-guarded tomb,</div> - <div class="i0">Out of whose moss your bloom</div> - <div class="i0">Sprang, with three petals wan</div> - <div class="i0">As are the eyes of dawn;</div> - <div class="i0">And two as darkly deep</div> - <div class="i0">As are the eyes of sleep?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VII</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O flower,—that seems to hold</div> - <div class="i0">Some memory of old,</div> - <div class="i0">A hope, a happiness,</div> - <div class="i0">At which I can but guess,—</div> - <div class="i0">You are a sign to me</div> - <div class="i0">Of immortality:</div> - <div class="i0">Through you my spirit sees</div> - <div class="i0">The deathless purposes</div> - <div class="i0">Of death, that still evolves</div> - <div class="i0">The beauty it resolves;</div> - <div class="i0">The change that still fulfils</div> - <div class="i0">Life's meaning as God wills.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="PAGAN" id="PAGAN"></a>PAGAN</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The gods, who could loose and bind</div> - <div class="i1">In the long ago,</div> - <div class="i0">The gods, who were stern and kind</div> - <div class="i1">To men below,</div> - <div class="i0">Where shall we seek and find,</div> - <div class="i1">Or, finding, know?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where Greece, with king on king,</div> - <div class="i1">Dreamed in her halls;</div> - <div class="i0">Where Rome kneeled worshiping,</div> - <div class="i1">The owl now calls,</div> - <div class="i0">And clambering ivies cling,</div> - <div class="i1">And the moonbeam falls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They have served, and passed away</div> - <div class="i1">From the earth and sky,</div> - <div class="i0">And their creeds are a record gray,</div> - <div class="i1">Where the passer-by</div> - <div class="i0">Reads, "Live and be glad to-day,</div> - <div class="i1">For to-morrow ye die."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And shall it be so, indeed,</div> - <div class="i1">When we are no more,</div> - <div class="i0">That nations to be shall read,—</div> - <div class="i1">As we have before,—</div> - <div class="i0">In the dust of a Christian Creed,</div> - <div class="i1">But pagan lore?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="BEAUTY_AND_ART" id="BEAUTY_AND_ART"></a>BEAUTY AND ART</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The gods are dead; but still for me</div> - <div class="i1">Lives on in wildwood brook and tree</div> - <div class="i0">Each myth, each old divinity.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For me still laughs among her rocks</div> - <div class="i1">The Naiad; and the Dryad's locks</div> - <div class="i0">Drop perfume on the wildflower flocks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Satyr's hoof still prints the loam;</div> - <div class="i1">And, whiter than the wind-blown foam,</div> - <div class="i0">The Oread haunts her mountain home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To him, whose mind is fain to dwell</div> - <div class="i1">With loveliness no time can quell,</div> - <div class="i0">All things are real, imperishable.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To him—whatever facts may say—</div> - <div class="i1">Who sees the soul beneath the clay,</div> - <div class="i0">Is proof of a diviner day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The very stars and flowers preach</div> - <div class="i1">A gospel old as God, and teach</div> - <div class="i0">Philosophy a child may reach;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That can not die; that shall not cease;</div> - <div class="i1">That lives through idealities</div> - <div class="i0">Of Beauty, ev'n as Rome and Greece:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">That lifts the soul above the clod,</div> - <div class="i1">And, working out some period</div> - <div class="i0">Of art, is part and proof of God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_OLD_WATER-MILL" id="THE_OLD_WATER-MILL"></a>THE OLD WATER-MILL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wild ridge on ridge the wooded hills arise,</div> - <div class="i0">Between whose breezy vistas gulfs of skies</div> - <div class="i0">Pilot great clouds like towering argosies,</div> - <div class="i0">And hawk and buzzard breast the azure breeze.</div> - <div class="i0">With many a foaming fall and glimmering reach</div> - <div class="i0">Of placid murmur, under elm and beech,</div> - <div class="i0">The creek goes twinkling through long gleams and glooms</div> - <div class="i0">Of woodland quiet, summered with perfumes:</div> - <div class="i0">The creek, in whose clear shallows minnow-schools</div> - <div class="i0">Glitter or dart; and by whose deeper pools</div> - <div class="i0">The blue kingfishers and the herons haunt;</div> - <div class="i0">That, often startled from the freckled flaunt</div> - <div class="i0">Of blackberry-lilies—where they feed and hide—</div> - <div class="i0">Trail a lank flight along the forestside</div> - <div class="i0">With eery clangor. Here a sycamore,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Smooth, wave-uprooted, builds from shore to shore</div> - <div class="i0">A headlong bridge; and there, a storm-hurled oak</div> - <div class="i0">Lays a long dam, where sand and gravel choke</div> - <div class="i0">The water's lazy way. Here mistflower blurs</div> - <div class="i0">Its bit of heaven; there the oxeye stirs</div> - <div class="i0">Its gloaming hues of pearl and gold; and here,</div> - <div class="i0">A gray, cool stain, like dawn's own atmosphere,</div> - <div class="i0">The dim wild-carrot lifts its crumpled crest:</div> - <div class="i0">And over all, at slender flight or rest,</div> - <div class="i0">The dragon-flies, like coruscating rays</div> - <div class="i0">Of lapis-lazuli and chrysoprase,</div> - <div class="i0">Drowsily sparkle through the summer days:</div> - <div class="i0">And, dewlap-deep, here from the noontide heat</div> - <div class="i0">The bell-hung cattle find a cool retreat;</div> - <div class="i0">And through the willows girdling the hill,</div> - <div class="i0">Now far, now near, borne as the soft winds will,</div> - <div class="i0">Comes the low rushing of the water-mill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah, lovely to me from a little child,</div> - <div class="i0">How changed the place! wherein once, undefiled,</div> - <div class="i0">The glad communion of the sky and stream</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Went with me like a presence and a dream.</div> - <div class="i0">Where once the brambled meads and orchard-lands</div> - <div class="i0">Poured ripe abundance down with mellow hands</div> - <div class="i0">Of summer; and the birds of field and wood</div> - <div class="i0">Called to me in a tongue I understood;</div> - <div class="i0">And in the tangles of the old rail-fence</div> - <div class="i0">Even the insect tumult had some sense,</div> - <div class="i0">And every sound a happy eloquence:</div> - <div class="i0">And more to me than wisest books can teach</div> - <div class="i0">The wind and water said; whose words did reach</div> - <div class="i0">My soul, addressing their magnificent speech,—</div> - <div class="i0">Raucous and rushing,—from the old mill-wheel,</div> - <div class="i0">That made the rolling mill-cogs snore and reel,</div> - <div class="i0">Like some old ogre in a fairy tale</div> - <div class="i0">Nodding above his meat and mug of ale.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How memory takes me back the ways that lead—</div> - <div class="i0">As when a boy—through woodland and through mead!</div> - <div class="i0">To orchards fruited; or to fields in bloom;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Or briery fallows, like a mighty room,</div> - <div class="i0">Through which the winds swing censers of perfume,</div> - <div class="i0">And where deep blackberries spread miles of fruit;—</div> - <div class="i0">A splendid feast, that stayed the ploughboy's foot</div> - <div class="i0">When to the tasseling acres of the corn</div> - <div class="i0">He drove his team, fresh in the primrose morn;</div> - <div class="i0">And from the liberal banquet, nature lent,</div> - <div class="i0">Took dewy handfuls as he whistling went.—</div> - <div class="i0">A boy once more, I stand with sunburnt feet</div> - <div class="i0">And watch the harvester sweep down the wheat;</div> - <div class="i0">Or laze with warm limbs in the unstacked straw</div> - <div class="i0">Nearby the thresher, whose insatiate maw</div> - <div class="i0">Devours the sheaves, hot drawling out its hum—</div> - <div class="i0">Like some great sleepy bee, above a bloom,</div> - <div class="i0">Made drunk with honey—while, grown big with grain,</div> - <div class="i0">The bulging sacks receive the golden rain.</div> - <div class="i0">Again I tread the valley, sweet with hay,</div> - <div class="i0">And hear the bob-white calling far away,</div> - <div class="i0">Or wood-dove cooing in the elder-brake;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Or see the sassafras bushes madly shake</div> - <div class="i0">As swift, a rufous instant, in the glen</div> - <div class="i0">The red fox leaps and gallops to his den;</div> - <div class="i0">Or, standing in the violet-colored gloam,</div> - <div class="i0">Hear roadways sound with holiday riding home</div> - <div class="i0">From church, or fair, or county barbecue,</div> - <div class="i0">Which the whole country to some village drew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How spilled with berries were its summer hills,</div> - <div class="i0">And strewn with walnuts all its autumn rills—</div> - <div class="i0">And chestnuts, burring from the spring's long flowers!—</div> - <div class="i0">When from their tops the trees seemed streaming showers</div> - <div class="i0">Of slender silver, cool, crepuscular,</div> - <div class="i0">And like a nebulous radiance shone afar.—</div> - <div class="i0">And maples! how their sappy hearts would gush</div> - <div class="i0">Rude troughs of syrup, when the winter bush</div> - <div class="i0">Steamed with the sugar-kettle, day and night,</div> - <div class="i0">And, red, the snow was streaked with fire-light.</div> - <div class="i0">Then was it glorious! the mill-dam's edge,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> - <div class="i0">One slope of frosty crystal, laid a ledge</div> - <div class="i0">Of pearl across; above which, sleeted trees</div> - <div class="i0">Tossed arms of ice, that, clashing in the breeze,</div> - <div class="i0">Tinkled the ringing creek with icicles,</div> - <div class="i0">Thin as the peal of far-off Elfland bells:</div> - <div class="i0">A sound that in my city dreams I hear,</div> - <div class="i0">That brings before me, under skies that clear,</div> - <div class="i0">The old mill in its winter garb of snow,</div> - <div class="i0">Its frozen wheel like a hoar beard below,</div> - <div class="i0">And its west windows, two deep eyes aglow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah, ancient mill, still do I picture o'er</div> - <div class="i0">Thy cobwebbed stairs and loft and grain-strewn floor;</div> - <div class="i0">Thy door,—like some brown, honest hand of toil,</div> - <div class="i0">And honorable with labor of the soil,—</div> - <div class="i0">Forever open; through which, on his back</div> - <div class="i0">The prosperous farmer bears his bursting sack,</div> - <div class="i0">And while the miller measures out his toll,</div> - <div class="i0">Again I hear, above the cogs' loud roll,—</div> - <div class="i0">That makes stout joist and rafter groan and sway,—</div> - <div class="i0">The harmless gossip of the passing day:</div> - <div class="i0">Good country talk, that tells how so-and-so</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Has died or married; how curculio</div> - <div class="i0">And codling-moth have ruined half the fruit,</div> - <div class="i0">And blight plays mischief with the grapes to boot;</div> - <div class="i0">Or what the news from town; next county fair;</div> - <div class="i0">How well the crops are looking everywhere:</div> - <div class="i0">Now this, now that, on which their interests fix,</div> - <div class="i0">Prospects for rain or frost, and politics.</div> - <div class="i0">While all around, the sweet smell of the meal</div> - <div class="i0">Filters, warm-pouring from the grinding wheel</div> - <div class="i0">Into the bin; beside which, mealy white,</div> - <div class="i0">The miller looms, dim in the dusty light.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again I see the miller's home, between</div> - <div class="i0">The crinkling creek and hills of beechen green:</div> - <div class="i0">Again the miller greets me, gaunt and brown,</div> - <div class="i0">Who oft o'erawed my youth with gray-browed frown</div> - <div class="i0">And rugged mien: again he tries to reach</div> - <div class="i0">My youthful mind with fervid scriptural speech.—</div> - <div class="i0">For he, of all the country-side confessed,</div> - <div class="i0">The most religious was and goodliest;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A Methodist, and one whom faith still led,</div> - <div class="i0">No books except the Bible had he read—</div> - <div class="i0">At least so seemed it to my younger head.—</div> - <div class="i0">All things in Earth and Heav'n he'd prove by this,</div> - <div class="i0">Be it a fact or mere hypothesis;</div> - <div class="i0">For to his simple wisdom, reverent,</div> - <div class="i0">"<em>The Bible says</em>" was all of argument.—</div> - <div class="i0">God keep his soul! his bones were long since laid</div> - <div class="i0">Among the sunken gravestones in the shade</div> - <div class="i0">Of those black-lichened rocks, that wall around</div> - <div class="i0">The family burying-ground with cedars crowned;</div> - <div class="i0">Where bristling teasel and the brier combine</div> - <div class="i0">With clambering wood-rose and the wild-grape vine</div> - <div class="i0">To hide the stone whereon his name and dates</div> - <div class="i0">Neglect, with mossy hand, obliterates.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_RAIN-CROW" id="THE_RAIN-CROW"></a>THE RAIN-CROW</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Can freckled August,—drowsing warm and blond</div> - <div class="i1">Beside a wheat-shock in the white-topped mead,</div> - <div class="i0">In her hot hair the oxeyed daisies wound,—</div> - <div class="i1">O bird of rain, lend aught but sleepy heed</div> - <div class="i1">To thee? when no plumed weed, no feather'd seed</div> - <div class="i0">Blows by her; and no ripple breaks the pond,</div> - <div class="i1">That gleams like flint within its rim of grasses,</div> - <div class="i1">Through which the dragon-fly forever passes</div> - <div class="i2">Like splintered diamond.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Drouth weights the trees, and from the farm-house eaves</div> - <div class="i1">The locust, pulse-beat of the summer day,</div> - <div class="i0">Throbs; and the lane, that shambles under leaves</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> - <div class="i1">Limp with the heat—a league of rutty way—</div> - <div class="i1">Is lost in dust; and sultry scents of hay</div> - <div class="i0">Breathe from the panting meadows heaped with sheaves—</div> - <div class="i1">Now, now, O bird, what hint is there of rain,</div> - <div class="i1">In thirsty heaven or on burning plain,</div> - <div class="i2">That thy keen eye perceives?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But thou art right. Thou prophesiest true.</div> - <div class="i1">For hardly hast thou ceased thy forecasting,</div> - <div class="i0">When, up the western fierceness of scorched blue,</div> - <div class="i1">Great water-carrier winds their buckets bring</div> - <div class="i1">Brimming with freshness. How their dippers ring</div> - <div class="i0">And flash and rumble! lavishing large dew</div> - <div class="i1">On corn and forestland, that, streaming wet,</div> - <div class="i1">Their hilly backs against the downpour set,</div> - <div class="i2">Like giants, loom in view.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The butterfly, safe under leaf and flower,</div> - <div class="i1">Has found a roof, knowing how true thou art;</div> - <div class="i0">The bumblebee, within the last half-hour,</div> - <div class="i1">Has ceased to hug the honey to its heart;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> - <div class="i1">While in the barnyard, under shed and cart,</div> - <div class="i0">Brood-hens have housed.—But I, who scorned thy power,</div> - <div class="i1">Barometer of the birds,—like August there,—</div> - <div class="i1">Beneath a beech, dripping from foot to hair,</div> - <div class="i2">Like some drenched truant, cower.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_HARVEST_MOON" id="THE_HARVEST_MOON"></a>THE HARVEST MOON</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Globed in Heav'n's tree of azure, golden mellow</div> - <div class="i1">As some round apple hung</div> - <div class="i0">High on Hesperian boughs, thou hangest yellow</div> - <div class="i1">The branch-like clouds among:</div> - <div class="i0">Within thy light a sunburnt youth, named Health,</div> - <div class="i1">Rests 'mid the tasseled shocks, the tawny stubble;</div> - <div class="i0">And by his side, clad on with rustic wealth</div> - <div class="i1">Of field and farm, beneath thy amber bubble,</div> - <div class="i0">A nut-brown maid, Content, sits smiling still:</div> - <div class="i1">While through the quiet trees,</div> - <div class="i1">The mossy rocks, the grassy hill,</div> - <div class="i0">Thy silvery spirit glides to yonder mill,</div> - <div class="i1">Around whose wheel the breeze</div> - <div class="i0">And shimmering ripples of the water play,</div> - <div class="i0">As, by their mother, little children may.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sweet Spirit of the Moon, who walkest,—lifting,</div> - <div class="i1">Exhaustless on thy arm,</div> - <div class="i0">A vase of pearly fire,—through the shifting</div> - <div class="i1">Cloud-halls of calm and storm,</div> - <div class="i0">Pour down thy blossoms! let me hear them come,</div> - <div class="i1">Pelting with noiseless light the twinkling thickets,</div> - <div class="i0">Making the darkness audible with the hum</div> - <div class="i1">Of many insect creatures, grigs and crickets:</div> - <div class="i0">Until it seems the elves hold revelries</div> - <div class="i1">By haunted stream and grove;</div> - <div class="i1">Or, in the night's deep peace,</div> - <div class="i0">The young-old presence of Earth's full increase</div> - <div class="i1">Seems telling thee her love,</div> - <div class="i0">Ere, lying down, she turns to rest, and smiles,</div> - <div class="i0">Hearing thy heart beat through the myriad miles.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="FIELD_AND_FOREST_CALL" id="FIELD_AND_FOREST_CALL"></a>FIELD AND FOREST CALL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a field, that leans upon two hills,</div> - <div class="i0">Foamed o'er of flowers and twinkling with clear rills;</div> - <div class="i0">That in its girdle of wild acres bears;</div> - <div class="i0">The anodyne of rest that cures all cares;</div> - <div class="i0">Wherein soft wind and sun and sound are blent</div> - <div class="i0">And fragrance—as in some old instrument</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet chords—calm things, that nature's magic spell</div> - <div class="i0">Distils from heaven's azure crucible,</div> - <div class="i0">And pours on Earth to make the sick mind well.</div> - <div class="i3">There lies the path, they say—</div> - <div class="i3">Come, away! come, away!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There is a forest, lying 'twixt two streams,</div> - <div class="i0">Sung through of birds and haunted of dim dreams;</div> - <div class="i0">That in its league-long hand of trunk and leaf</div> - <div class="i0">Lifts a green wand that charms away all grief;</div> - <div class="i0">Wrought of quaint silence and the stealth of things,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Vague, whispering touches, gleams and twitterings,</div> - <div class="i0">Dews and cool shadows—that the mystic soul</div> - <div class="i0">Of nature permeates with suave control,</div> - <div class="i0">And waves o'er Earth to make the sad heart whole.</div> - <div class="i3">There lies the road, they say—</div> - <div class="i3">Come, away! come, away!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="OLD_HOMES" id="OLD_HOMES"></a>OLD HOMES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old homes among the hills! I love their gardens,</div> - <div class="i0">Their old rock-fences, that our day inherits;</div> - <div class="i0">Their doors, round which the great trees stand like wardens;</div> - <div class="i0">Their paths, down which the shadows march like spirits;</div> - <div class="i0">Broad doors and paths that reach bird-haunted gardens.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I see them gray among their ancient acres,</div> - <div class="i0">Severe of front, their gables lichen-sprinkled,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like gentle-hearted, solitary Quakers,</div> - <div class="i0">Grave and religious, with kind faces wrinkled,—</div> - <div class="i0">Serene among their memory-hallowed acres.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Their gardens, banked with roses and with lilies—</div> - <div class="i0">Those sweet aristocrats of all the flowers—</div> - <div class="i0">Where Springtime mints her gold in daffodillies,</div> - <div class="i0">And Autumn coins her marigolds in showers,</div> - <div class="i0">And all the hours are toilless as the lilies.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I love their orchards where the gay woodpecker</div> - <div class="i0">Flits, flashing o'er you, like a wingéd jewel;</div> - <div class="i0">Their woods, whose floors of moss the squirrels checker</div> - <div class="i0">With half-hulled nuts; and where, in cool renewal,</div> - <div class="i0">The wild brooks laugh, and raps the red woodpecker.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old homes! old hearts! Upon my soul forever</div> - <div class="i0">Their peace and gladness lie like tears and laughter;</div> - <div class="i0">Like love they touch me, through the years that sever,</div> - <div class="i0">With simple faith; like friendship, draw me after</div> - <div class="i0">The dreamy patience that is theirs forever.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_MEMORY" id="A_MEMORY"></a>A MEMORY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Above her, pearl and rose the heavens lay:</div> - <div class="i0">Around her, flowers scattered earth with gold,</div> - <div class="i0">Or down the path in insolence held sway—</div> - <div class="i0">Like cavaliers who ride the king's highway—</div> - <div class="i0">Scarlet and buff, within a garden old.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beyond the hills, faint-heard through belts of wood,</div> - <div class="i0">Bells, Sabbath-sweet, swooned from some far-off town:</div> - <div class="i0">Gamboge and gold, broad sunset colors strewed</div> - <div class="i0">The purple west as if, with God imbued,</div> - <div class="i0">Her mighty pallet Nature there laid down.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Amid such flowers, underneath such skies,</div> - <div class="i0">Embodying all life knows of sweet and fair,</div> - <div class="i0">She stood; love's dreams in girlhood's face and eyes,</div> - <div class="i0">Fair as a star that comes to emphasize</div> - <div class="i0">The mingled beauty of the earth and air.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Behind her, seen through vines and orchard trees,</div> - <div class="i0">Gray with its twinkling windows—like the face</div> - <div class="i0">Of calm old-age that sits and smiles at ease—</div> - <div class="i0">Porched with old roses, haunts of honey-bees,</div> - <div class="i0">The homestead loomed dim in a glimmering space.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For whom she waited in the afterglow,</div> - <div class="i0">Soft-eyed and dreamy 'mid the poppy and rose,</div> - <div class="i0">I do not know, I do not care to know:—</div> - <div class="i0">It is enough I keep her picture so,</div> - <div class="i0">Hung up, like poetry, in my life's dull prose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A fragrant picture, where I still may find</div> - <div class="i0">Her face untouched of sorrow or regret,</div> - <div class="i0">Unspoiled of contact, ever young and kind,</div> - <div class="i0">The spiritual sweetheart of my soul and mind,</div> - <div class="i0">She had not been, perhaps, if we had met.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DOLCE_FAR_NIENTE" id="DOLCE_FAR_NIENTE"></a>DOLCE FAR NIENTE</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">Far to the east lay the ocean paling</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> - <div class="i0">There, in the boat as we sat together,</div> - <div class="i0">Soft in the glow of the turquoise weather,</div> - <div class="i0">Light as the foam or a seagull's feather,</div> - <div class="i0">Fair of form and of face serene,</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet at my side I felt you lean,</div> - <div class="i0">As over the bay our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">II</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">Pine and palm, in the west, hung, trailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> - <div class="i0">Was it the wind that sighed above you?</div> - <div class="i0">Was it the wave that whispered of you?</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Was it my soul that said, "I love you"?</div> - <div class="i0">Was it your heart that murmured between,</div> - <div class="i0">Answering, shy as a bird unseen?</div> - <div class="i0">As over the bay our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">III</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">Gray and low flew the heron, wailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> - <div class="i0">Naught was spoken. We watched the simple</div> - <div class="i0">Gulls wing past. Your hat's white wimple</div> - <div class="i0">Shadowed your eyes. And your lips, a-dimple,</div> - <div class="i0">Smiled and seemed from your soul to wean</div> - <div class="i0">An inner beauty, an added sheen,</div> - <div class="i0">As over the bay our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">IV</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">Red on the marshes the day flamed, failing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> - <div class="i0">Was it your thought, or the transitory</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Gold of the west, like a written story,</div> - <div class="i0">Bright on your brow, that I read? the glory</div> - <div class="i0">And grace of love, like a rose-crowned queen</div> - <div class="i0">Pictured pensive in mind and mien?</div> - <div class="i0">As over the bay our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">V</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">Wan on the waters the mist lay, veiling</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> - <div class="i0">Was it the joy that begot the sorrow?—</div> - <div class="i0">Joy that was filled with the dreams that borrow</div> - <div class="i0">Prescience sad of a far To-morrow,—</div> - <div class="i0">There in the Now that was all too keen,</div> - <div class="i0">That shadowed the fate that might intervene?</div> - <div class="i0">As over the bay our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">VI</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Over the bay as our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine,</div> - <div class="i0">The marsh-hen cried and the tide was ailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And so we parted. No vows were spoken.</div> - <div class="i0">No faith was plighted that might be broken.</div> - <div class="i0">But deep in our hearts each bore a token</div> - <div class="i0">Of life and of love and all they mean,</div> - <div class="i0">Beautiful, thornless, and ever green,</div> - <div class="i0">From over the bay where our boat went sailing</div> - <div class="i1">Under the skies of Augustine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>St. Augustine, Fla., February, 1899.</em></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_PURPLE_VALLEYS" id="THE_PURPLE_VALLEYS"></a>THE PURPLE VALLEYS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far in the purple valleys of illusion</div> - <div class="i0">I see her waiting, like the soul of music,</div> - <div class="i0">With deep eyes, lovelier than cerulean pansies,</div> - <div class="i0">Shadow and fire, yet merciless as poison;</div> - <div class="i0">With red lips sweeter than Arabian storax,</div> - <div class="i0">Yet bitterer than myrrh. O tears and kisses!</div> - <div class="i0">O eyes and lips, that haunt my soul forever!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again Spring walks transcendent on the mountains:</div> - <div class="i0">The woods are hushed: the vales are full of shadows:</div> - <div class="i0">Above the heights, steeped in a thousand splendors,</div> - <div class="i0">Like some vast canvas of the gods, hangs burning</div> - <div class="i0">The sunset's wild sciography: and slowly</div> - <div class="i0">The moon treads heaven's proscenium,—night's stately</div> - <div class="i0">White queen of love and tragedy and madness.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Again I know forgotten dreams and longings;</div> - <div class="i0">Ideals lost; desires dead and buried</div> - <div class="i0">Beside the altar sacrifice erected</div> - <div class="i0">Within the heart's high sanctuary. Strangely</div> - <div class="i0">Again I know the horror and the rapture,</div> - <div class="i0">The utterless awe, the joy akin to anguish,</div> - <div class="i0">The terror and the worship of the spirit.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again I feel her eyes pierce through and through me;</div> - <div class="i0">Her deep eyes, lovelier than imperial pansies,</div> - <div class="i0">Velvet and flame, through which her strong will holds me,</div> - <div class="i0">Powerless and tame, and draws me on and onward</div> - <div class="i0">To sad, unsatisfied and animal yearnings,</div> - <div class="i0">Wild, unrestrained—the brute within the human—</div> - <div class="i0">To fling me panting on her mouth and bosom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again I feel her lips like ice and fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Her red lips, odorous as Arabian storax,</div> - <div class="i0">Fragrance and fire, within whose kiss destruction</div> - <div class="i0">Lies serpent-like. Intoxicating languors</div> - <div class="i0">Resistlessly embrace me, soul and body;</div> - <div class="i0">And we go drifting, drifting—she is laughing—</div> - <div class="i0">Outcasts of God, into the deep's abysm.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_LAND_OF_ILLUSION" id="THE_LAND_OF_ILLUSION"></a>THE LAND OF ILLUSION</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So we had come at last, my soul and I,</div> - <div class="i1">Into that land of shadowy plain and peak,</div> - <div class="i1">On which the dawn seemed ever about to break,</div> - <div class="i0">On which the day seemed ever about to die.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Long had we sought fulfillment of our dreams,</div> - <div class="i1">The everlasting wells of Joy and Youth;</div> - <div class="i1">Long had we sought the snow-white flow'r of Truth,</div> - <div class="i0">That blooms eternal by eternal streams.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And, fonder still, we hoped to find the sweet</div> - <div class="i1">Immortal presence, Love; the bird Delight</div> - <div class="i1">Beside her; and, eyed with sideral night,</div> - <div class="i0">Faith, like a lion, fawning at her feet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But, scorched and barren, in its arid well,</div> - <div class="i1">We found our dreams' forgotten fountain-head;</div> - <div class="i1">And by black, bitter waters, crushed and dead,</div> - <div class="i0">Among wild weeds, Truth's trampled asphodel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And side by side with pallid Doubt and Pain,</div> - <div class="i1">Not Love, but Grief did meet us there: afar</div> - <div class="i1">We saw her, like a melancholy star,</div> - <div class="i0">A pensive moon, move towards us o'er the plain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sweet was her face as song that tells of home;</div> - <div class="i1">And filled our hearts with vague, suggestive spells</div> - <div class="i1">Of pathos, as sad ocean fills its shells</div> - <div class="i0">With sympathetic moanings of the foam.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She raised one hand and pointed silently,</div> - <div class="i1">And passed; her eyes, gaunt with a thirst unslaked,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> - <div class="i1">Were worlds of woe, where tears in torrents ached,</div> - <div class="i0">Yet never fell. And like a winter sea,—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VIII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Whose caverned crags are haunts of wreck and wrath,</div> - <div class="i1">That house the condor pinions of the storm,—</div> - <div class="i1">My soul replied; and, weeping, arm in arm,</div> - <div class="i0">To'ards those dim hills, by that appointed path,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IX</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">We turned and went. Arrived, we did discern</div> - <div class="i1">How Beauty beckoned, white 'mid miles of flowers,</div> - <div class="i1">Through which, behold, the amaranthine Hours</div> - <div class="i0">Like maidens went, each holding high an urn;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">X</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Wherein, it seemed—drained from long chalices</div> - <div class="i1">Of those slim flowers—they bore mysterious wine;</div> - <div class="i1">A poppied vintage, full of sleep divine,</div> - <div class="i0">And pale forgetting of all miseries.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">XI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then to my soul I said, "No longer weep.</div> - <div class="i1">Come, let us drink; for hateful is the sky,</div> - <div class="i1">And earth is full of care, and life's a lie.</div> - <div class="i0">So let us drink; yea, let us drink and sleep."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then from their brimming urns we drank sweet must,</div> - <div class="i1">While all around us rose-crowned faces laughed</div> - <div class="i1">Into our own: but hardly had we quaffed</div> - <div class="i0">When, one by one, these crumbled into dust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XIII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And league on league the eminence of blooms,</div> - <div class="i1">That flashed and billowed like a summer sea,</div> - <div class="i1">Rolled out a waste of thorns and tombs; where bee</div> - <div class="i0">And butterfly and bird hung dead in looms</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XIV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Of worm and spider. And through tomb and brier,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span> - <div class="i1">A thin wind, parched with bitter salt and sand,</div> - <div class="i1">Went wailing as if mourning some lost land</div> - <div class="i0">Of perished empire, Babylon or Tyre.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Long, long with blistered feet we wandered in</div> - <div class="i1">That land of ruins, through whose sky of brass</div> - <div class="i1">Hate's harpy shrieked; and in whose iron grass</div> - <div class="i0">The hydra hissed of undestroyable Sin.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XVI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And there at last, behold, the House of Doom,—</div> - <div class="i1">Red, as if Hell had glared it into life,</div> - <div class="i1">Blood-red, and howling with incessant strife,—</div> - <div class="i0">With burning battlements, towered through the gloom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XVII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And throned within sat Darkness.—Who might gaze</div> - <div class="i1">Upon that form, that threatening presence there,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> - <div class="i1">Crowned with the flickering corpse-lights of Despair,</div> - <div class="i0">And yet escape sans madness and amaze?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XVIII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And we had hoped to find among these hills</div> - <div class="i1">The House of Beauty!—Curst, yea thrice accurst,</div> - <div class="i1">The hope that lures one on from last to first</div> - <div class="i0">With vain illusions that no time fulfills!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XIX</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Why will we struggle to attain, and strive,</div> - <div class="i1">When all we gain is but an empty dream?—</div> - <div class="i1">Better, unto my thinking, doth it seem</div> - <div class="i0">To end it all and let who will survive:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">XX</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To find at last all beauty is but dust:</div> - <div class="i1">That love and sorrow are the very same:</div> - <div class="i1">That joy is only suffering's sweeter name:</div> - <div class="i0">And sense is but the synonym of lust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">XXI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far better, yea, to me it seems, to die!</div> - <div class="i1">To set glad lips against the lips of Death—</div> - <div class="i1">The only thing God gives that comforteth,</div> - <div class="i0">The only thing we do not find a lie.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_LAST_SONG" id="THE_LAST_SONG"></a>THE LAST SONG</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She sleeps: he sings to her: the day was long,</div> - <div class="i0">And, tired out with too much happiness,</div> - <div class="i0">She fain would have him sing of old Provence;</div> - <div class="i0">Old songs, that spoke of love in such soft tones,</div> - <div class="i0">Her restless soul was straight besieged of dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">And her wild heart beleaguered of deep peace,</div> - <div class="i0">And heart and soul surrendered unto sleep.—</div> - <div class="i0">Like perfect sculpture in the moon she lies,</div> - <div class="i0">Its pallor on her through heraldic panes</div> - <div class="i0">Of one tall casement's guléd quarterings.—</div> - <div class="i0">Beside her couch, an antique table, weighed</div> - <div class="i0">With gold and crystal; here, a carven chair,</div> - <div class="i0">Whereon her raiment,—that suggests sweet curves</div> - <div class="i0">Of shapely beauty,—bearing her limbs' impress,</div> - <div class="i0">Is richly laid: and, near the chair, a glass,</div> - <div class="i0">An oval mirror framed in ebony:</div> - <div class="i0">And, dim and deep,—investing all the room</div> - <div class="i0">With ghostly life of woven women and men,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And strange, fantastic gloom, where shadows move,—</div> - <div class="i0">Dark tapestry,—which in the gusts—that twinge</div> - <div class="i0">A dropping cresset's slender star of light—</div> - <div class="i0">Seems swayed of cautious hands, assassin-like,</div> - <div class="i0">That bide their hour.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i9">She alone, deep-haired</div> - <div class="i0">As golden dawn, and whiter than a rose,</div> - <div class="i0">Divinely breasted as the Queen of Love,</div> - <div class="i0">Lies robeless in the glimmer of the moon,</div> - <div class="i0">Like Danaë within the golden shower.</div> - <div class="i0">Seated beside her aromatic rest,</div> - <div class="i0">In silence musing on her loveliness,</div> - <div class="i0">Her knight and troubadour. A lute, aslope</div> - <div class="i0">The curious baldric of his tunic, glints</div> - <div class="i0">Pearl-caught reflections of the moon, that seem</div> - <div class="i0">The voiceless ghosts of long-dead melodies.</div> - <div class="i0">In purple and sable, slashed with solemn gold,</div> - <div class="i0">Like stately twilight over slopes of snow,</div> - <div class="i0">He leans above her.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i10">Have his hands forgot</div> - <div class="i0">Their craft, that now they pause upon the strings?</div> - <div class="i0">His lips, their art, that they cease, speechless there?—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> - <div class="i0">His eyes are set ... What is it stills to stone</div> - <div class="i0">His hands? his lips? and mails him, head and heel,</div> - <div class="i0">In terrible marble, motionless and cold?—</div> - <div class="i0">Behind the arras, can it be he feels,</div> - <div class="i0">Black-browed and grim, with eyes of sombre fire,</div> - <div class="i0">Death towers above him with uplifted sword?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_DREAM_OF_RODERICK" id="THE_DREAM_OF_RODERICK"></a>THE DREAM OF RODERICK</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Below, the tawny Tagus swept</div> - <div class="i0">Past royal gardens, breathing balm:</div> - <div class="i0">Upon his couch the monarch slept;</div> - <div class="i0">The world was still; the night was calm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gray, Gothic-gated, in the ray</div> - <div class="i0">Of moonrise, tower and castle-crowned,</div> - <div class="i0">The city of Toledo lay</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the terraced palace-ground.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Again, he dreamed, in kingly sport</div> - <div class="i0">He sought the tree-sequestered path,</div> - <div class="i0">And watched the ladies of his Court</div> - <div class="i0">Within the marble-basined bath.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Its porphyry stairs and fountained base</div> - <div class="i0">Shone, houried with voluptuous forms,</div> - <div class="i0">Where Andalusia vied in grace</div> - <div class="i0">With old Castile, in female charms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And laughter, song, and water-splash</div> - <div class="i0">Rang round the place, with rock arcaded,</div> - <div class="i0">As here a breast or limb would flash</div> - <div class="i0">Where beauty swam or beauty waded.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then, like Venus, from the wave</div> - <div class="i0">A maiden came, and stood below;</div> - <div class="i0">And by her side a woman slave</div> - <div class="i0">Bent down to dry her limbs of snow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then on the tesselated bank,</div> - <div class="i0">Robed on with fragrance and with fire,—</div> - <div class="i0">Like some exotic flower—she sank,</div> - <div class="i0">The type of all divine desire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then her dark curls, that sparkled wet,</div> - <div class="i0">She parted from her perfect brows,</div> - <div class="i0">And, lo, her eyes, like lamps of jet</div> - <div class="i0">Lit in an alabaster house.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And in his sleep the monarch sighed,</div> - <div class="i0">"Florinda!"—Dreaming still he moaned,</div> - <div class="i0">"Ah, would that I had died, had died!</div> - <div class="i0">I have atoned! I have atoned!"...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then the vision changed: O'erhead</div> - <div class="i0">Tempest and darkness were unrolled,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Full of wild voices of the dead,</div> - <div class="i0">And lamentations manifold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And wandering shapes of gaunt despair</div> - <div class="i0">Swept by; and faces pale with pain,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose eyes wept blood and seemed to glare</div> - <div class="i0">Fierce curses on him through the rain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then, it seemed, 'gainst blazing skies</div> - <div class="i0">A necromantic tower sate,</div> - <div class="i0">Crag-like on crags, of giant size;</div> - <div class="i0">With adamatine wall and gate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And from the storm a hand of might,</div> - <div class="i0">Red-rolled in thunder, reached among</div> - <div class="i0">The gate's huge bolts, that burst—and night</div> - <div class="i0">Clanged ruin as its hinges swung.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then far away a murmur trailed,—</div> - <div class="i0">As of sad seas on cavern'd shores,—</div> - <div class="i0">That grew into a voice that wailed,</div> - <div class="i0">"They come! they come! the Moors! the Moors!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And with deep boom of atabals</div> - <div class="i0">And crash of cymbals and wild peal</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of battle-bugles, from its walls</div> - <div class="i0">An army rushed in glimmering steel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And where it trod he saw the torch</div> - <div class="i0">Of conflagration stalk the skies,</div> - <div class="i0">And in the vanward of its march</div> - <div class="i0">The monster form of Havoc rise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And Paynim war-cries rent the storm,</div> - <div class="i0">Athwart whose firmament of flame</div> - <div class="i0">Destruction reared an earthquake form</div> - <div class="i0">On wreck and death without a name....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then again the vision changed:</div> - <div class="i0">Where flows the Guadelete, see,</div> - <div class="i0">The champions of the Cross are ranged</div> - <div class="i0">Against the Crescent's chivalry.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With roar of trumpets and of drums</div> - <div class="i0">They meet; and in the battle's van</div> - <div class="i0">He fights; and, towering towards him, comes</div> - <div class="i0">Florinda's father, Julian;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And one-eyed Taric, great in war:</div> - <div class="i0">And where these couch their burning spears,</div> - <div class="i0">The Christian phalanx, near and far,</div> - <div class="i0">Goes down like corn before the shears.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The Moslem wins: the Christian flies:</div> - <div class="i0">"Allah il Allah," hill and plain</div> - <div class="i0">Reverberate: the rocking skies,</div> - <div class="i0">"Allah il Allah," shout again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then he dreamed the swing of swords</div> - <div class="i0">And hurl of arrows were no more;</div> - <div class="i0">And stranger than the howling hordes</div> - <div class="i0">Deep silence fell on field and shore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And through the night, it seemed, he fled,</div> - <div class="i0">Upon a white steed like a star,</div> - <div class="i0">Across a field of endless dead,</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath a blood-red scimitar</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Of sunset: And he heard a moan,</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath, around, on every hand—</div> - <div class="i0">"Accurséd! Yea, what hast thou done</div> - <div class="i0">To bring this curse upon thy land?"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then an awful sense of wings:</div> - <div class="i0">And, lo! the answer—"'Twas his lust</div> - <div class="i0">That was his crime. Behold! e'en kings</div> - <div class="i0">Must reckon with Me. God is just."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ZYPS_OF_ZIRL" id="ZYPS_OF_ZIRL"></a>ZYPS OF ZIRL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Alps of the Tyrol are dark with pines,</div> - <div class="i0">Where, foaming under the mountain spines,</div> - <div class="i0">The Inn's long water sounds and shines.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beyond, are peaks where the morning weaves</div> - <div class="i0">An icy rose; and the evening leaves</div> - <div class="i0">The golden ghosts of a thousand sheaves.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Deep vines and torrents and glimmering haze,</div> - <div class="i0">And sheep-bells tinkling on mountain ways,</div> - <div class="i0">And fluting shepherds make sweet the days.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The rolling mist, like a wandering fleece,</div> - <div class="i0">The great, round moon in a mountain crease,</div> - <div class="i0">And a song of love make the nights all peace.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beneath the blue Tyrolean skies</div> - <div class="i0">On the banks of the Inn, that foams and flies,</div> - <div class="i0">The storied city of Innsbruck lies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With its mediæval streets, that crook,</div> - <div class="i0">And its gabled houses, it has the look</div> - <div class="i0">Of a belfried town in a fairy book.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So wild the Tyrol that oft, 'tis said,</div> - <div class="i0">When the storm is out and the town in bed,</div> - <div class="i0">The howling of wolves sweeps overhead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And oft the burgher, sitting here</div> - <div class="i0">In his walled rose-garden, hears the clear</div> - <div class="i0">Shrill scream of the eagle circling near.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And this is the tale that the burghers tell:—</div> - <div class="i0">The Abbot of Wiltau stood at his cell</div> - <div class="i0">Where the Solstein lifts its pinnacle.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A mighty summit of bluffs and crags</div> - <div class="i0">That frowns on the Inn; where the forest stags</div> - <div class="i0">Have worn a path to the water-flags.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Abbot of Wiltau stood below;</div> - <div class="i0">And he was aware of a plume and bow</div> - <div class="i0">On the precipice there in the morning's glow,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A chamois, he saw, from span to span</div> - <div class="i0">Had leapt; and after it leapt a man;</div> - <div class="i0">And he knew 'twas the Kaiser Maximilian.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span> - <div class="i0">But, see! though rash as the chamois he,</div> - <div class="i0">His foot less sure. And verily</div> - <div class="i0">If the King should miss ... "Jesu! Marie!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"The King hath missed!"—And, look, he falls!</div> - <div class="i0">Rolls headlong out to the headlong walls.</div> - <div class="i0">What Saint shall save him on whom he calls?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What Saint shall save him, who struggles there</div> - <div class="i0">On the narrow ledge by the eagle's lair,</div> - <div class="i0">With hook'd hands clinging 'twixt earth and air?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The Abbot crosses himself in dread—</div> - <div class="i0">"Let prayers go up for the nearly dead,</div> - <div class="i0">And the passing-bell be tolled," he said.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"For the House of Hapsburg totters! See,</div> - <div class="i0">How raveled the thread of its destiny,</div> - <div class="i0">Sheer hung between cloud and rock!" quoth he.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But hark! where the steeps of the peak reply,</div> - <div class="i0">Is it an eagle's echoing cry?</div> - <div class="i0">And the flitting shadow, its plumes on high?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> - <div class="i0">No voice of the eagle is that which rings!</div> - <div class="i0">And the shadow, a wiry man who swings</div> - <div class="i0">Down, down where the desperate Kaiser clings.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The <em>crampons</em> bound to his feet, he leaps</div> - <div class="i0">Like a chamois now; and again he creeps</div> - <div class="i0">Or twists, like a snake, o'er the fearful deeps.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"By his cross-bow, baldric, and cap's black curl,"</div> - <div class="i0">Quoth the Abbot below, "I know the churl!</div> - <div class="i0">'Tis the hunted outlaw Zyps of Zirl.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Upon whose head, or dead or alive,</div> - <div class="i0">The Kaiser hath posted a price.—Saints shrive</div> - <div class="i0">The King!" quoth Wiltau. "Who may contrive</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"To save him now that his foe is there?"—</div> - <div class="i0">But, hark! again through the breathless air</div> - <div class="i0">What words are those that the echoes bear?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Courage, my King!—To the rescue, ho!"</div> - <div class="i0">The wild voice rings like a twanging bow,</div> - <div class="i0">And the staring Abbot stands mute below.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And, lo! the hand of the outlaw grasps</div> - <div class="i0">The arm of the King—and death unclasps</div> - <div class="i0">Its fleshless fingers from him who gasps.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And how he guides! where the clean cliffs wedge</div> - <div class="i0">Them flat to their brows; by chasm and ledge</div> - <div class="i0">He helps the King from the merciless edge.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then up and up, past bluffs that shun</div> - <div class="i0">The rashest chamois; where eagles sun</div> - <div class="i0">Great wings and brood; where the mists are spun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And safe at last stand Kaiser and churl</div> - <div class="i0">On the mountain path where the mosses curl—</div> - <div class="i0">And this the revenge of Zyps of Zirl.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_GLOW-WORM" id="THE_GLOW-WORM"></a>THE GLOW-WORM</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">How long had I sat there and had not beheld</div> - <div class="i0">The gleam of the glow-worm till something compelled!...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The heaven was starless, the forest was deep,</div> - <div class="i0">And the vistas of darkness stretched silent in sleep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And late 'mid the trees had I lingered until</div> - <div class="i0">No thing was awake but the lone whippoorwill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And haunted of thoughts for an hour I sat</div> - <div class="i0">On a lichen-gray rock where the moss was a mat.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And thinking of one whom my heart had held dear,</div> - <div class="i0">Like terrible waters, a gathering fear</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Came stealing upon me with all the distress</div> - <div class="i0">Of loss and of yearning and powerlessness:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Till the hopes and the doubts and the sleepless unrest</div> - <div class="i0">That, swallow-like, built in the home of my breast,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now hither, now thither, now heavenward flew,</div> - <div class="i0">Wild-winged as the winds are: now suddenly drew</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">My soul to abysses of nothingness where</div> - <div class="i0">All light was a shadow, all hope, a despair:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where truth, that religion had set upon high,</div> - <div class="i0">The darkness distorted and changed to a lie:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And dreams of the beauty ambition had fed</div> - <div class="i0">Like leaves of the autumn fell withered and dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And I rose with my burden of anguish and doom,</div> - <div class="i0">And cried, "O my God, had I died in the womb!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"Than born into night, with no hope of the morn,</div> - <div class="i0">An heir unto shadows, to live so forlorn!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"All effort is vain; and the planet called Faith</div> - <div class="i0">Sinks down; and no power is real but death.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">"O light me a torch in the deepening dark</div> - <div class="i0">So my sick soul may follow, my sad heart may mark!"—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then in the darkness the answer!—It came</div> - <div class="i0">From Earth, not from Heaven—a glimmering flame,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Behold; at my feet! In the shadow it shone</div> - <div class="i0">Mysteriously lovely and dimly alone:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">An ember; a sparkle of dew and of glower;</div> - <div class="i0">Like the lamp that a spirit hangs under a flower:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">As goldenly green as the phosphorous star</div> - <div class="i0">A fairy may wear in her diadem's bar:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">An element essence of moonlight and dawn</div> - <div class="i0">That, trodden and trampled, burns on and burns on.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And hushed was my soul with the lesson of light</div> - <div class="i0">That God had revealed to me there in the night:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Though mortal its structure, material its form,</div> - <div class="i0">The spiritual message of worm unto worm.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_FOREST_IDYLL" id="A_FOREST_IDYLL"></a>A FOREST IDYLL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beneath an old beech-tree</div> - <div class="i1">They sat together,</div> - <div class="i0">Fair as a flower was she</div> - <div class="i1">Of summer weather.</div> - <div class="i0">They spoke of life and love,</div> - <div class="i0">While, through the boughs above,</div> - <div class="i0">The sunlight, like a dove,</div> - <div class="i1">Dropped many a feather.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And there the violet,</div> - <div class="i1">The bluet near it,</div> - <div class="i0">Made blurs of azure wet—</div> - <div class="i1">As if some spirit,</div> - <div class="i0">Or woodland dream, had gone</div> - <div class="i0">Sprinkling the earth with dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">When only Fay and Faun</div> - <div class="i1">Could see or hear it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She with her young, sweet face</div> - <div class="i1">And eyes gray-beaming,</div> - <div class="i0">Made of that forest place</div> - <div class="i1">A spot for dreaming:</div> - <div class="i0">A spot for Oreads</div> - <div class="i0">To smooth their nut-brown braids,</div> - <div class="i0">For Dryads of the glades</div> - <div class="i1">To dance in, gleaming.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So dim the place, so blest,</div> - <div class="i1">One had not wondered</div> - <div class="i0">Had Dian's moonéd breast</div> - <div class="i1">The deep leaves sundered,</div> - <div class="i0">And there on them a while</div> - <div class="i0">The goddess deigned to smile,</div> - <div class="i0">While down some forest aisle</div> - <div class="i1">The far hunt thundered.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I deem that hour, perchance,</div> - <div class="i1">Was but a mirror</div> - <div class="i0">To show them Earth's romance</div> - <div class="i1">And draw them nearer:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> - <div class="i0">A mirror where, meseems,</div> - <div class="i0">All that this Earth-life dreams,</div> - <div class="i0">All loveliness that gleams,</div> - <div class="i1">Their souls saw clearer.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Beneath an old beech-tree</div> - <div class="i1">They dreamed of blisses;</div> - <div class="i0">Fair as a flower was she</div> - <div class="i1">That summer kisses:</div> - <div class="i0">They spoke of dreams and days,</div> - <div class="i0">Of love that goes and stays,</div> - <div class="i0">Of all for which life prays,</div> - <div class="i1">Ah me! and misses.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="UNDER_THE_ROSE" id="UNDER_THE_ROSE"></a>UNDER THE ROSE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He told a story to her,</div> - <div class="i1">A story old yet new—</div> - <div class="i0">And was it of the Faery Folk</div> - <div class="i1">That dance along the dew?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The night was hung with silence</div> - <div class="i1">As a room is hung with cloth,</div> - <div class="i0">And soundless, through the rose-sweet hush,</div> - <div class="i1">Swooned dim the down-white moth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Along the east a shimmer,</div> - <div class="i1">A tenuous breath of flame,</div> - <div class="i0">From which, as from a bath of light,</div> - <div class="i1">Nymph-like, the girl-moon came.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And pendent in the purple</div> - <div class="i1">Of heaven, like fireflies,</div> - <div class="i0">Bubbles of gold the great stars blew</div> - <div class="i1">From windows of the skies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> - <div class="i0">He told a story to her,</div> - <div class="i1">A story full of dreams—</div> - <div class="i0">And was it of the elfin things</div> - <div class="i1">That haunt the thin moonbeams?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Upon the hill a thorn-tree,</div> - <div class="i1">Crookéd and gnarled and gray,</div> - <div class="i0">Against the moon seemed some crutched hag</div> - <div class="i1">Dragging a child away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And in the vale a runnel,</div> - <div class="i1">That dripped from shelf to shelf,</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed in the night, a woodland witch</div> - <div class="i1">Who muttered to herself.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Along the land a zephyr,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose breath was wild perfume,</div> - <div class="i0">That seemed a sorceress who wove</div> - <div class="i1">Sweet spells of beam and bloom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He told a story to her,</div> - <div class="i1">A story young yet old—</div> - <div class="i0">And was it of the mystic things</div> - <div class="i1">Men's eyes shall ne'er behold?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They heard the dew drip faintly</div> - <div class="i1">From out the green-cupped leaf;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> - <div class="i0">They heard the petals of the rose</div> - <div class="i1">Unfolding from their sheaf.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They saw the wind light-footing</div> - <div class="i1">The waters into sheen;</div> - <div class="i0">They saw the starlight kiss to sleep</div> - <div class="i1">The blossoms on the green.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">They heard and saw these wonders;</div> - <div class="i1">These things they saw and heard;</div> - <div class="i0">And other things within the heart</div> - <div class="i1">For which there is no word.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He told a story to her,</div> - <div class="i1">The story men call Love,</div> - <div class="i0">Whose echoes fill the ages past—</div> - <div class="i1">And the world ne'er tires of.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="SPIRIT_OF_DREAMS" id="SPIRIT_OF_DREAMS"></a>SPIRIT OF DREAMS</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where hast thou folded thy pinions,</div> - <div class="i1">Spirit of Dreams?</div> - <div class="i0">Hidden elusive garments</div> - <div class="i1">Woven of gleams?</div> - <div class="i0">In what divine dominions,</div> - <div class="i1">Brighter than day,</div> - <div class="i0">Far from the world's dark torments,</div> - <div class="i1">Dost thou stay, dost thou stay?—</div> - <div class="i0">When shall my yearnings reach thee</div> - <div class="i1">Again?</div> - <div class="i0">Not in vain let my soul beseech thee!</div> - <div class="i1">Not in vain! not in vain!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I have longed for thee as a lover</div> - <div class="i1">For her, the one;</div> - <div class="i0">As a brother for a sister</div> - <div class="i1">Long dead and gone.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> - <div class="i0">I have called thee over and over</div> - <div class="i1">Names sweet to hear;</div> - <div class="i0">With words than music trister,</div> - <div class="i1">And thrice as dear.</div> - <div class="i0">How long must my sad heart woo thee,</div> - <div class="i1">Yet fail?</div> - <div class="i0">How long must my soul pursue thee,</div> - <div class="i1">Nor avail, nor avail?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All night hath thy loving mother,</div> - <div class="i1">Beautiful Sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">Lying beside me, listened</div> - <div class="i1">And heard me weep.</div> - <div class="i0">But ever thou soughtest another</div> - <div class="i1">Who sought thee not;</div> - <div class="i0">For him thy soft smile glistened—</div> - <div class="i1">I was forgot.</div> - <div class="i0">When shall my soul behold thee</div> - <div class="i1">As before?</div> - <div class="i0">When shall my heart enfold thee?—</div> - <div class="i1">Nevermore? nevermore?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="PROCESSIONAL" id="PROCESSIONAL"></a>PROCESSIONAL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Universes are the pages</div> - <div class="i0">Of that book whose words are ages;</div> - <div class="i0">Of that book which destiny</div> - <div class="i0">Opens in eternity.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There each syllable expresses</div> - <div class="i0">Silence; there each thought a guess is;</div> - <div class="i0">In whose rhetoric's cosmic runes</div> - <div class="i0">Roll the worlds and swarming moons.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There the systems, we call solar,</div> - <div class="i0">Equatorial and polar,</div> - <div class="i0">Write their lines of rushing light</div> - <div class="i0">On the awful leaves of night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There the comets, vast and streaming,</div> - <div class="i0">Punctuate the heavens' gleaming</div> - <div class="i0">Scroll; and suns, gigantic, shine,</div> - <div class="i0">Periods to each starry line.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> - <div class="i0">There, initials huge, the Lion</div> - <div class="i0">Looms and measureless Orion;</div> - <div class="i0">And, as 'neath a chapter done,</div> - <div class="i0">Burns the Great-Bear's colophon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Constellated, hieroglyphic,</div> - <div class="i0">Numbering each page terrific,</div> - <div class="i0">Fiery on the nebular black,</div> - <div class="i0">Flames the hurling zodiac.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In that book, o'er which Chaldean</div> - <div class="i0">Wisdom poured and many an eon</div> - <div class="i0">Of philosophy long dead,</div> - <div class="i0">This is all that man has read:—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He has read how good and evil,—</div> - <div class="i0">In creation's wild upheaval,—</div> - <div class="i0">Warred; while God wrought terrible</div> - <div class="i0">At foundations red of Hell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">He has read of man and woman;</div> - <div class="i0">Laws and gods, both beast and human;</div> - <div class="i0">Thrones of hate and creeds of lust,</div> - <div class="i0">Vanished now and turned to dust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Arts and manners that have crumbled;</div> - <div class="i0">Cities buried; empires tumbled:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Time but breathed on them its breath;</div> - <div class="i0">Earth is builded of their death.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">These but lived their little hour,</div> - <div class="i0">Filled with pride and pomp and power;</div> - <div class="i0">What availed it all at last?</div> - <div class="i0">We shall pass as they have passed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still the human heart will dream on</div> - <div class="i0">Love, part angel and part demon;</div> - <div class="i0">Yet, I question, what secures</div> - <div class="i0">Our belief that aught endures?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In that book, o'er which Chaldean</div> - <div class="i0">Wisdom poured and many an eon</div> - <div class="i0">Of philosophy long dead,</div> - <div class="i0">This is all that man has read.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375"></a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="SONG_AND_STORY" id="SONG_AND_STORY"></a>SONG AND STORY</h2> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376"></a></span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span></p> - - - -<h2><a name="TO_HARRISON_S_MORRIS" id="TO_HARRISON_S_MORRIS"></a>TO HARRISON S. MORRIS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Ah, not for us the Heavens that hold</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>God's message of Promethean fire!</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>The flame that fell on bards of old</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>To hallow and inspire.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>Yet let the soul dream on and dare</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>No less Song's heights where these repose:</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>We can but fail; and may prepare</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>The way for one like those.</em></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378"></a></span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span></p> - - - -<h2><a name="SONG_AND_STORYA" id="SONG_AND_STORYA"></a>SONG AND STORY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I was destined, when a baby,</div> - <div class="i0">For that land which lieth hidden</div> - <div class="i0">In the moon; and whither, may be,</div> - <div class="i0">At their birth all souls are bidden.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">She bewitched me then and bound me,</div> - <div class="i0">She a daughter of Apollo,</div> - <div class="i0">In a golden snare who wound me,</div> - <div class="i0">And compelled me thus to follow:—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Once she sent a stallion, sired</div> - <div class="i0">Of the Wind; a mare his mother,</div> - <div class="i0">Whom Thessalian madness fired,</div> - <div class="i0">And the Hurricane his brother.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And a voice said, "Do not tarry!</div> - <div class="i0">Mount him while the world is sleeping:</div> - <div class="i0">He, my beautiful, will carry</div> - <div class="i0">You, my Soul, into my keeping."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And I mounted: tempest whistled</div> - <div class="i0">In my ears, and, yawning o'er us,</div> - <div class="i0">Flamed the lightning; boomed the missiled</div> - <div class="i0">Thunder, crashing far before us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On we hurled. The world was rubble</div> - <div class="i0">Underneath us; and the wonder</div> - <div class="i0">Of our passage seemed to double</div> - <div class="i0">Heaven's tempest and its thunder.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">With us rode the air's wild races:</div> - <div class="i0">Wisps and witches; all the Brocken,</div> - <div class="i0">Stunted, gnarled, with fiendish faces,</div> - <div class="i0">Seemed around us, gibing, mocking:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Hate, that shook the heart with hooting:</div> - <div class="i0">Humpbacked Horror; gibbet-headed</div> - <div class="i0">Murder: and,—great ravens shooting</div> - <div class="i0">Over,—Fear, in bats embedded.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All were left; were passed like water</div> - <div class="i0">Hurling headlong from a mountain,—</div> - <div class="i0">Hag and elf and demon's daughter,—</div> - <div class="i0">Ere we reached that mystic fountain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There we stopped. I drained a beaker</div> - <div class="i0">Old as Earth: the draught was fire:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> - <div class="i0">On my soul the burning liquor</div> - <div class="i0">Acted like a new desire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On again! The darkness lifted</div> - <div class="i0">Like an up-rolled banner. Scattered</div> - <div class="i0">Overhead, in points that shifted,</div> - <div class="i0">Shone the stars through tempest tattered.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then the moon rose. Slowly, slowly,</div> - <div class="i0">Of a wild and copper color,</div> - <div class="i0">Rose the moon, in melancholy</div> - <div class="i0">Deeps; and all the stars grew duller.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And we passed,—an instant's scanning,—</div> - <div class="i0">Swift as thought, the spider-arches</div> - <div class="i0">Of the ray-built bridges spanning</div> - <div class="i0">Space between her lunar marches.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So I reached her kingdom, olden</div> - <div class="i0">As the God that was its maker,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the rocks and trees are golden,</div> - <div class="i0">And the sea and air are nacre.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where, 'mid ingot-glowing flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Over streams of diamond brightness,</div> - <div class="i0">Palaces of pearl and towers,</div> - <div class="i0">Wrought of topaz, loom in whiteness.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Here she met me with a chalice,</div> - <div class="i0">Like the Giamschid ruby burning;</div> - <div class="i0">And I entered in her palace,</div> - <div class="i0">From the world forever turning.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Centuries have passed, have vanished;</div> - <div class="i0">Still she holds me with her glory,</div> - <div class="i0">She, whom Earth long since hath banished?</div> - <div class="i0">She, the Soul of Song and Story.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AN_INDIAN_LEGEND" id="AN_INDIAN_LEGEND"></a>AN INDIAN LEGEND</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On a mountain by a fountain,</div> - <div class="i1">By a faintly falling stream,</div> - <div class="i0">Where upon the moss and flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Sparkling, fell the spray in showers,</div> - <div class="i1">In the moonlight's mystic beam,</div> - <div class="i1">Once a maiden came to dream,</div> - <div class="i1">Came to sit and sigh and dream:</div> - <div class="i0">On a mountain by a fountain,</div> - <div class="i1">By a faintly falling stream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">To the fountain on the mountain</div> - <div class="i1">Rode a youth upon a steed;</div> - <div class="i0">In his hair an eagle's feather;</div> - <div class="i0">Round his waist a belt of leather,</div> - <div class="i1">Wampum-wrought with shell and bead;</div> - <div class="i1">In his hands a hollow reed,</div> - <div class="i1">In his hands a magic reed:</div> - <div class="i0">To the fountain on the mountain</div> - <div class="i1">Rode a youth upon a steed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span> - <div class="i0">On the mountain by the fountain,</div> - <div class="i1">When the moon shone overhead,</div> - <div class="i0">While the maiden by him wavered,</div> - <div class="i0">Low upon his reed he quavered,</div> - <div class="i1">Piped and played and singing said,—</div> - <div class="i1">"Listen and be comforted!</div> - <div class="i1">Heart of mine, be comforted!"</div> - <div class="i0">On the mountain by the fountain</div> - <div class="i1">When the moon shone overhead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">By the fountain on the mountain,</div> - <div class="i1">So the Indian legend saith,</div> - <div class="i0">Paler, paler grew the maiden,</div> - <div class="i0">Paler as if sorrow laden,</div> - <div class="i1">Frailer, paler at each breath,</div> - <div class="i1">Saying, "Art thou Love or Death?"</div> - <div class="i1">And he answered, "I am Death."</div> - <div class="i0">By the fountain on the mountain</div> - <div class="i1">So the Indian legend saith.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gone the mountain and the fountain</div> - <div class="i1">Where the maiden's soul was lost:</div> - <div class="i0">But in every stream you hear it</div> - <div class="i0">Whispering, sighing, like a spirit,</div> - <div class="i1">Hear the Indian maiden's ghost,</div> - <div class="i1">In the foam as white as frost,</div> - <div class="i1">Whiter than the winter's frost:</div> - <div class="i0">Gone the mountain and the fountain</div> - <div class="i1">Where the maiden's soul was lost.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="JOHN_DAVIS_BOUCANIER" id="JOHN_DAVIS_BOUCANIER"></a>JOHN DAVIS, BOUCANIER</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">High time, high time, good gentlemen, to sail the Spanish Main!</div> - <div class="i0">Three months we've watched for galleons and treasure bound for Spain;</div> - <div class="i0">Three months! and not a vessel, neither barque nor brigantine!</div> - <div class="i0">No Cartagena plate-ship, or De Dios, have we seen.</div> - <div class="i0">Our sails are idle as the wind, our ships as gulls or waves.—</div> - <div class="i0">And shall inaction rot us like a gang of shackled slaves?</div> - <div class="i0">Up, boucaniers! the land is wide, and wider far the sea—</div> - <div class="i0">Somewhere between the dusk and dawn and dusk some hope must be;</div> - <div class="i0">Some ship somewhere or city there beneath the Indian sky—</div> - <div class="i0">What matter whether east or west!—some ship with decks built high,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> - <div class="i0">With treasure packed from stem to stern: some huge ship of the line,</div> - <div class="i0">Against whose ports we'll cram our ports, while all our cannon shine</div> - <div class="i0">And thunder; then, with blade to blade, and shouting horde on horde,</div> - <div class="i0">Swarm up her sides and sweep her decks with pistol and with sword;</div> - <div class="i0">And, sink or swim, our flag flies there, we boucaniers aboard.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Say, what availed your patron saints, Iago and Saint Marc,</div> - <div class="i0">Lanceros, Adelantados, against Ravenau's barque?</div> - <div class="i0">O butchers of good Jean Ribault, well might your cheeks turn pale</div> - <div class="i0">When Montebaro's brigantine shook to the wind her sail!</div> - <div class="i0">Around the coasts where New Spain boasts the haughtiness of Old,</div> - <div class="i0">Her tyranny, her bigotry, her sordid greed for gold,</div> - <div class="i0">From east to west, from north to south, among the Carib Isles,</div> - <div class="i0">Swift to revenge the Frenchman swept across the foaming miles.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The spirit of Pierre-le-Grand and of his gallant crew,</div> - <div class="i0">Who took a galleon with a boat, beneath the tropic blue,</div> - <div class="i0">Be with us now!—Up, gentlemen! and, Spain, oh, woe to you!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Prime arquebus and brighten blade, and let the culverin</div> - <div class="i0">Gleam, burnished as the morning-star, as through the foam we spin;</div> - <div class="i0">And now be glad as when we had Granada in our hold,</div> - <div class="i0">And stabbed the city's sentinels and took the city's gold:</div> - <div class="i0">New Spain's good homes and churches, aye, will not forget too soon</div> - <div class="i0">The boucanier, John Davis, sirs, who taught their Dons a tune—</div> - <div class="i0">Dutch serenades of belts and blades they danced to by the moon!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">What helped the Latin of their monks to curse what Satan blessed!</div> - <div class="i0">Those pieces,—broad,—of eight and plate we counted in our chest.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And now that we may double or may treble every piece,</div> - <div class="i0">Pipe up the anchor, boatswain! and, before the hawser cease,</div> - <div class="i0">Let every sail salute the gale and every rope be taunt—</div> - <div class="i0">The Devil take all care and us, if jaundiced colors daunt!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The sea-gulls dip and dive and float, and swim and soar again;</div> - <div class="i0">Be like them, merry gentlemen, high-hearted!—May it rain</div> - <div class="i0">Rich galleons for us!—Mix a bowl and drink, "The ships of Spain!"</div> - <div class="i0">Be merry as the sea-gulls are; and, as the case may go,</div> - <div class="i0">Who cares a curse for wealth!—Now drink: "Here's to Spain's overthrow!"—</div> - <div class="i0">Doff caps and follow: though the prize be over-fat or lean,</div> - <div class="i0">Kneel down now; give her praise who leads, Dame Fortune, our good Queen!</div> - <div class="i0">Upon our prow she guides us now!—On to Saint Augustine!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="VOYAGERS" id="VOYAGERS"></a>VOYAGERS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where are they, that song and tale</div> - <div class="i1">Tell of, lands our childhood knew?</div> - <div class="i0">Sea-locked Fairy-lands that trail</div> - <div class="i1">Morning summits, wet with dew,</div> - <div class="i0">Crimson, o'er a crimson sail?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Where, in dreams, we entered on</div> - <div class="i1">Wonders eyes have never seen:</div> - <div class="i0">Whither often we have gone,</div> - <div class="i1">Sailing a dream-brigantine</div> - <div class="i0">On from voyaging dawn to dawn.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Leons seeking lands of song;</div> - <div class="i1">Fabled fountains pouring spray;</div> - <div class="i0">Where our anchors dropped among</div> - <div class="i1">Corals of some blooming bay,</div> - <div class="i0">With its swarthy native throng.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Shoulder axe and arquebus!—</div> - <div class="i1">We may find it, past yon range</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Of sierras, vaporous,</div> - <div class="i1">Rich with gold and wild and strange,</div> - <div class="i0">That dim region lost to us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yet, behold, although our zeal</div> - <div class="i1">Darien summits may subdue,</div> - <div class="i0">Our Balboa eyes reveal</div> - <div class="i1">But a vaster sea come to;</div> - <div class="i0">New endeavor for our keel.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yet!—who sails with face set hard</div> - <div class="i1">Westward, while behind him lies</div> - <div class="i0">Unfaith; where his dreams keep guard</div> - <div class="i1">Round it, in the sunset skies,</div> - <div class="i0">He may reach it—afterward.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="HIEROGLYPHS" id="HIEROGLYPHS"></a>HIEROGLYPHS</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All dreams are older than the seas,</div> - <div class="i1">Being but newer forms of change;</div> - <div class="i0">Some savage dreamed mine; and 'twas these</div> - <div class="i1">De Leon sought where seas were strange.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All thoughts are older than the Earth</div> - <div class="i1">Being of beauty ages wrought;</div> - <div class="i0">Old when creation gave them birth,</div> - <div class="i1">When Homer sang them, Shakespeare thought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">If souls could travel as can thought,</div> - <div class="i0">Beyond the farthest arcs that span</div> - <div class="i0">Imagination, what would man</div> - <div class="i1">Not know and see at last?</div> - <div class="i0">One would explore the stars; and one</div> - <div class="i0">Would search the moon and one the sun</div> - <div class="i3">And tell us of their past.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And one would seek out Hell; and, wise</div> - <div class="i0">In tortures of the damned, return</div> - <div class="i0">To tell us if they freeze or burn,</div> - <div class="i1">And where God's red Hell lies:</div> - <div class="i0">And one would look on Heaven; and, mute</div> - <div class="i0">With memories of harp and lute,</div> - <div class="i3">Sit silent as the skies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">But I—on condor wings would sweep</div> - <div class="i0">To some new world, and, soaring, sit</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid firmaments volcano-lit,</div> - <div class="i1">And see creation heap</div> - <div class="i0">Its awful Andes, vague and vast,</div> - <div class="i0">About its Inca-peopled past,</div> - <div class="i3">While deep roared out to deep.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Out of it all but this remains:—</div> - <div class="i0">I dreamed that I had crossed wide chains</div> - <div class="i0">Of Cordilleras, whose huge peaks</div> - <div class="i0">Lock in the wilds of Yucatan,</div> - <div class="i0">Chiapas and Honduras. Weeks—</div> - <div class="i0">And then a city that no man</div> - <div class="i0">Had even seen; so dim and old</div> - <div class="i0">No chronicle has ever told</div> - <div class="i0">The history of men who piled</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Its temples and huge teocallis</div> - <div class="i0">Among mimosa-blooming valleys;</div> - <div class="i0">Or how its altars were defiled</div> - <div class="i0">With human blood; whose idols there</div> - <div class="i0">With eyes of stone still stand and stare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So old, the moon can only know</div> - <div class="i0">How old, since ancient forests grow</div> - <div class="i0">On mighty wall and pyramid.</div> - <div class="i0">Huge ceïbas, whose trunks were scarred</div> - <div class="i0">With ages, and dense yuccas, hid</div> - <div class="i0">Fanes 'mid great cacti, scarlet-starred.</div> - <div class="i0">I looked upon its paven ways</div> - <div class="i0">And saw it in its kingliest days;</div> - <div class="i0">When, from its lordliest palace, one</div> - <div class="i0">A victim, walked with prince and priest,</div> - <div class="i0">Who turned brown faces toward the east</div> - <div class="i0">In worship of the rising sun:</div> - <div class="i0">At night a thousand temple spires,</div> - <div class="i0">Of gold, burnt everlasting fires.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Uxmal? Palenque? or Copan?</div> - <div class="i0">I know not. Only how no man</div> - <div class="i0">Had ever seen; and still my soul</div> - <div class="i0">Believes it vaster than the three.</div> - <div class="i0">Volcanic rock walled in the whole,</div> - <div class="i0">Lost in the woods as in some sea.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span> - <div class="i0"><em>I only</em> read its hieroglyphs,</div> - <div class="i0">Perused its monster monoliths</div> - <div class="i0">Of death, gigantic heads; and read</div> - <div class="i0">The pictured codex of its fate,</div> - <div class="i0">The perished Toltec; while in hate</div> - <div class="i0">Mad monkeys cursed me, as if dead</div> - <div class="i0">Priests of its past had taken form</div> - <div class="i0">To guard their ruined fanes from harm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">IV</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then it was as if I talked</div> - <div class="i1">Of gods and beauty, like a god;</div> - <div class="i0">'Mid Montezuma's priests who walked</div> - <div class="i1">Obedient to my nod.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">From Mexic levels breezes blew</div> - <div class="i1">O'er green magueys; cacaö fields;</div> - <div class="i0">I stood among caciques, a crew</div> - <div class="i1">With plumes and golden shields.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In raiment made of humming-birds</div> - <div class="i1">Brown slave-girls danced. All Anahuac</div> - <div class="i0">Stood, grim with strange obsidian swords,</div> - <div class="i1">Around the idol's rock.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And up the temple's winding stair</div> - <div class="i1">Of pyramid we wound and went:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The bloomed vanilla drenched the air</div> - <div class="i1">With all its tropic scent.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Volcanoes walled us in: and I</div> - <div class="i1">Walked, crowned with flaming cactus-flowers,</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the golden, Aztec sky,</div> - <div class="i1">Lord of the living hours.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">When, lo! five priests, who led me to</div> - <div class="i1">A jasper stone of sacrifice!—</div> - <div class="i0">Then deep within my soul I knew</div> - <div class="i1">That prideful moment's price.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A sixth priest, robed in cochineal,</div> - <div class="i1">Received me at the altar's stone:</div> - <div class="i0">I saw the flint-blade, sharp as steel,</div> - <div class="i1">That in his high hand shone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O God! to dream that they would bind—</div> - <div class="i1">With pomp and pageant of their love—</div> - <div class="i0">Me to the rock, and never blind</div> - <div class="i1">Mine eyes to that above!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I felt the flint hack through my breast,</div> - <div class="i1">And in my agony did raise</div> - <div class="i0">Wild eyes, a little while to rest</div> - <div class="i1">Upon their idol's face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Just God! the priest tore out my heart,</div> - <div class="i1">And held it, beating, to the sun—</div> - <div class="i0">Chanting—and from one burning part</div> - <div class="i1">Great drops dripped, one by one.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Torn out, I felt my heart still beat,</div> - <div class="i1">I felt it beat with pain divine;</div> - <div class="i0">For, bleeding at the idol's feet,</div> - <div class="i1">My heart was pressed to thine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">V</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">You were a maiden like a dream</div> - <div class="i1">Who led me where volcanic dust</div> - <div class="i0">Rained in a scoriac mountain stream,</div> - <div class="i1">Where, from Andean snows, was thrust</div> - <div class="i0">One crater belching stones and steam.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">You were an Inca princess when</div> - <div class="i1">I was a cavalier of Spain,</div> - <div class="i0">Who frowned among Pizarro's men,</div> - <div class="i1">And saw the New World rent with pain.—</div> - <div class="i0">No grace of God could save me then.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And it was you who led me far</div> - <div class="i1">To gaze on caves of Inca gold:</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> - <div class="i0">But when we came, lo! warrior</div> - <div class="i1">On warrior, an army rolled</div> - <div class="i0">Around us panoplied for war.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Fierce faces chiseled out of stone</div> - <div class="i1">Are not more stern.—Down, underneath,</div> - <div class="i0">I heard the sullen earthquake groan;</div> - <div class="i1">Above me, red eruptions seeth.</div> - <div class="i0">And clenched my teeth and stood alone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And then you pled and was denied.—</div> - <div class="i1">They laid me where the lava crawled,</div> - <div class="i0">Red-rivered, down the mountain side.</div> - <div class="i1">I felt the slow, slow hell-heat scald:</div> - <div class="i0">And as it closed, you leapt and died.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VI</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In farther planets there are men who talk,</div> - <div class="i0">Not with their lips, but with their eyes alone,</div> - <div class="i0">With beaming eyes and brows that burn with thought:</div> - <div class="i0">Pure souls whose sentiments need but be born</div> - <div class="i0">To be expressed. Where speech of mouth and tongue</div> - <div class="i0">Were barbarous discord. Where no voice imparts</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Thought, but divulging eye and sensitive brow.</div> - <div class="i0">Superior planets, far beyond our sphere,</div> - <div class="i0">And nearer God than ages shall combine</div> - <div class="i0">To lift our world up with its wrangling woes.</div> - <div class="i0">Worlds that are strange to sickness and disease</div> - <div class="i0">Of mind and body; perfect mentally,—</div> - <div class="i0">Past what we name perfection here on Earth,—</div> - <div class="i0">And physically. Morally divine</div> - <div class="i0">As creeds have taught us God's high Heaven is.</div> - <div class="i0">Worlds where Love makes no playmate of vile Lust;</div> - <div class="i0">Where Hope makes no companion of Despair;</div> - <div class="i0">Where Power can not trample with fierce feet;</div> - <div class="i0">And, impotent, the iron hand of Might</div> - <div class="i0">Surrenders its red weapon unto Mind;</div> - <div class="i0">Where Truth and Thought are wedded, in one rule</div> - <div class="i0">Of far progression, whose white child is Love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So have I dreamed, and longed to leave sad Earth,</div> - <div class="i0">And live anew on some diviner sphere;</div> - <div class="i0">A world so higher, lovelier than this,</div> - <div class="i0">So spiritually perfected and refined,</div> - <div class="i0">That, should an Earth-born mortal,—suddenly</div> - <div class="i0">Translated thither,—unprepared behold,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Dazed with divinity, before the feet</div> - <div class="i0">Of its inhabitants he would fall prone</div> - <div class="i0">In worship and astonishment; and, all</div> - <div class="i0">The exaltation of celestial peace</div> - <div class="i0">Singing within, cry out: "Yea, this is Heaven!</div> - <div class="i0">How long, O sinner, hast thou dwelt in Hell!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">An iron despotism the day's:</div> - <div class="i0">A brutal anarchy the night's:</div> - <div class="i0">What hope for hope when day betrays,</div> - <div class="i1">And night in death delights?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">For, once I prayed for gulfs of gold,</div> - <div class="i0">And morn pooled heav'n with sombre blood:</div> - <div class="i0">For skies of stars, and skies behold—</div> - <div class="i1">Malignant with the scud.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And so I marvel not that he,</div> - <div class="i0">Gray-haired and toothless, hugs his stove,</div> - <div class="i0">While I my youth, which once was she,</div> - <div class="i1">Have buried with my love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">VIII</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All thoughts of nature are but forms</div> - <div class="i0">Of life and death, with which began</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Love: love, that swept the heavens with storms,</div> - <div class="i0">Evolving worlds to perfect man.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Thoughts are the forms of mind; and come</div> - <div class="i0">And go, assuming every shape:</div> - <div class="i0">Science and art: through which we clomb,</div> - <div class="i0">And climb, to angel from the ape.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_LEGEND_OF_THE_LILY" id="A_LEGEND_OF_THE_LILY"></a>A LEGEND OF THE LILY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Pale as a star that shines through rain</div> - <div class="i0">Her face was seen at the window-pane,</div> - <div class="i0">Her sad, frail face that watched in vain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The face of a girl whose brow was wan;</div> - <div class="i0">To whom the kind sun spoke at dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">And a star and the moon when the day was gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And oft and often the sun had said—</div> - <div class="i0">"O fair, white face, O sweet, fair head,</div> - <div class="i0">Come talk to me of the love that's dead."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And she would sit in the sun a while,</div> - <div class="i0">Down in the garth by the old stone-dial,</div> - <div class="i0">Where never again would he make her smile.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And often the first bright star o'erhead</div> - <div class="i0">Had whispered, "Sweet, where the rose blooms red,</div> - <div class="i0">Come look with me for the love that's dead."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And she would wait with the star she knew,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the fountain splashed and the roses blew,</div> - <div class="i0">Where never again would he come to woo.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And oft the moon, when she lay in bed,</div> - <div class="i0">Had sighed, "Dear heart, in the orchardstead</div> - <div class="i0">Come dream with me of the love that's dead."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And she would stand in the moon, the dim,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the fruit made heavy the apple limb,</div> - <div class="i0">Where never again would she dream with him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So summer passed and the autumn came;</div> - <div class="i0">And the wind-torn boughs were touched with flame;</div> - <div class="i0">But her life and her sorrow remained the same.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Or, if she changed, as it comes about</div> - <div class="i0">A life may change through trouble and doubt,—</div> - <div class="i0">As a candle flickers and then goes out,—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">'Twas only to grow more quiet and wan,</div> - <div class="i0">Sadly waiting at dusk and at dawn</div> - <div class="i0">For the coming of love forever gone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And so, one night, when the star looked in,</div> - <div class="i0">It kissed her face that was white and thin,</div> - <div class="i0">And murmured, "Come! thou free of sin!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And when the moon, on another night,</div> - <div class="i0">Beheld her lying still and white,</div> - <div class="i0">It sighed, "'Tis well! now all is right."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And when one morning the sun arose,</div> - <div class="i0">And they bore her bier down the garden-close,</div> - <div class="i0">It touched her, saying, "At last, repose."</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And they laid her down, so young and fair,</div> - <div class="i0">Where the grass was withered, the bough was bare,</div> - <div class="i0">All wrapped in the light of her golden hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So autumn passed and the winter went;</div> - <div class="i0">And spring, like a blue-eyed penitent,</div> - <div class="i0">Came, telling her beads of blossom and scent.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And, lo! to the grave of the beautiful</div> - <div class="i0">The strong sun cried, "Why art thou dull?</div> - <div class="i0">Awake! awake! Forget thy skull!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And the evening-star and the moon above</div> - <div class="i0">Called out, "O dust, now speak thereof!</div> - <div class="i0">Proclaim thyself! Arise, O love!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And the skull and the dust in the darkness heard.</div> - <div class="i0">Each icy germ in its cerements stirred,</div> - <div class="i0">As Lazarus moved at the Lord's loud word.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And a flower arose on the mound of green,</div> - <div class="i0">White as the robe of the Nazarene;</div> - <div class="i0">To testify of the life unseen.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And I paused by the grave; then went my way:</div> - <div class="i0">And it seemed that I heard the lily say—</div> - <div class="i0">"Here was a miracle wrought to-day."</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_END_OF_THE_CENTURY" id="THE_END_OF_THE_CENTURY"></a>THE END OF THE CENTURY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are moments when, as missions,</div> - <div class="i0">God reveals to us strange visions;</div> - <div class="i0">When, within their separate stations,</div> - <div class="i1">We may see the Centuries,</div> - <div class="i0">Like revolving constellations</div> - <div class="i1">Shaping out Earth's destinies.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">I have gazed in Time's abysses,</div> - <div class="i0">Where no smallest thing Earth misses</div> - <div class="i0">That was hers once. 'Mid her chattels,</div> - <div class="i1">There the Past's gigantic ghost</div> - <div class="i0">Sits and dreams of thrones and battles</div> - <div class="i1">In the night of ages lost.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far before her eyes, unholy</div> - <div class="i0">Mist was spread; that darkly, slowly</div> - <div class="i0">Rolled aside,—like some huge curtain</div> - <div class="i1">Hung above the land and sea;—</div> - <div class="i0">And beneath it, wild, uncertain,</div> - <div class="i1">Rose the wraiths of memory.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span> - <div class="i0">First I saw colossal spectres</div> - <div class="i0">Of dead cities: Troy—once Hector's</div> - <div class="i0">Pride; then Babylon and Tyre;</div> - <div class="i1">Karnac, Carthage, and the gray</div> - <div class="i0">Walls of Thebes,—Apollo's lyre</div> - <div class="i1">Built;—then Rome and Nineveh.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Empires followed: first, in seeming,</div> - <div class="i0">Old Chaldea lost in dreaming;</div> - <div class="i0">Egypt next, a bulk Memnonian</div> - <div class="i1">Staring from her pyramids;</div> - <div class="i0">Then Assyria, Babylonian</div> - <div class="i1">Night beneath her hell-lit lids.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Greece, in classic white, sidereal</div> - <div class="i0">Armored; Rome, in dark, imperial</div> - <div class="i0">Purple, crowned with blood and fire,</div> - <div class="i1">Down the deeps barbaric strode;</div> - <div class="i0">Gaul and Britain stalking by her,</div> - <div class="i1">Clad in skins, tattooed with woad.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">All around them, rent and scattered,</div> - <div class="i0">Lay their gods with features battered,</div> - <div class="i0">Brute and human, stone and iron,</div> - <div class="i1">Caked with gems and gnarled with gold;</div> - <div class="i0">Temples, that did once environ</div> - <div class="i1">These, in wreck around them rolled.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span> - <div class="i0">While I stood and gazed and waited,</div> - <div class="i0">Slowly night obliterated</div> - <div class="i0">All; and other phantoms drifted</div> - <div class="i1">Out of darkness pale as stars;</div> - <div class="i0">Shapes that tyrant faces lifted,</div> - <div class="i1">Sultans, kings, and emperors.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Man and steed in ponderous metal</div> - <div class="i0">Panoplied, they seemed to settle,</div> - <div class="i0">Condors gaunt of devastation,</div> - <div class="i1">On the world: behind their march—</div> - <div class="i0">Desolation: Conflagration</div> - <div class="i1">Loomed before them with her torch.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Helmets flamed like fearful flowers:</div> - <div class="i0">Chariots rose and moving towers:</div> - <div class="i0">Captains passed: each fierce commander</div> - <div class="i1">With his gauntlet on his sword:</div> - <div class="i0">Agamemnon, Alexander,</div> - <div class="i1">Cæsar, Alaric, horde on horde.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Huns and Vandals: wild invaders:</div> - <div class="i0">Goths and Arabs: stern Crusaders:</div> - <div class="i0">Each, like some terrific torrent,</div> - <div class="i1">Rolled above a ruined world;</div> - <div class="i0">Till a cataract abhorrent</div> - <div class="i1">Seemed the swarming spears uphurled.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Banners and escutcheons, kindled</div> - <div class="i0">By the light of slaughter, dwindled—</div> - <div class="i0">Died in darkness:—the chimera</div> - <div class="i1">Of the Past was laid at last.</div> - <div class="i0">But, behold, another era</div> - <div class="i1">From her corpse rose, vague and vast.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Demogorgon of the Present!</div> - <div class="i0">Who in one hand raised a Crescent,</div> - <div class="i0">In the other, with submissive</div> - <div class="i1">Fingers, lifted up a Cross;</div> - <div class="i0">Reverent and yet derisive</div> - <div class="i1">Seemed she, robed in gold and dross.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In her skeptic eyes professions</div> - <div class="i0">Of great faith I saw; expressions,</div> - <div class="i0">Christian and humanitarian,</div> - <div class="i1">Played around her cynic lip;</div> - <div class="i0">Still I knew her a barbarian</div> - <div class="i1">By the sword upon her hip.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And she cherished strange eidolons,</div> - <div class="i0">Pagan shadows—Plato's, Solon's—</div> - <div class="i0">From whose teachings she indentured</div> - <div class="i1">Forms of law and sophistry;</div> - <div class="i0">Seeking aye for truth she ventured</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span> <div class="i1">Just so far as these could see.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - <div class="i0">When she vanished, I—uplifting</div> - <div class="i0">Eyes to where the dawn was rifting</div> - <div class="i0">Darkness,—lo! beheld a shadow</div> - <div class="i1">Towering on Earth's utmost peaks;</div> - <div class="i0">Round whom morning's El Dorado</div> - <div class="i1">Rivered gold in blinding streaks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On her brow I saw the stigma</div> - <div class="i0">Still of death; and life's enigma</div> - <div class="i0">Filled her eyes: around her shimmered</div> - <div class="i1">Folds of silence; and afar,</div> - <div class="i0">Faint above her forehead, glimmered</div> - <div class="i1">Lone the light of one pale star.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then a voice,—above or under</div> - <div class="i0">Earth,—against her seemed to thunder</div> - <div class="i0">Questions, wherein was repeated,</div> - <div class="i1">"Christ or Cain?" and "Man or beast?"</div> - <div class="i0">And the Future, shadowy-sheeted,</div> - <div class="i1">Turned and pointed towards the East.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_ISLE_OF_VOICES" id="THE_ISLE_OF_VOICES"></a>THE ISLE OF VOICES</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The wind blew free that morn that we,</div> - <div class="i1">High-hearted, sailed away;</div> - <div class="i0">Bound for that Island named the Blest,</div> - <div class="i0">Remote within the unknown West,</div> - <div class="i1">Beyond the golden day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There, we were told, each dream of old,</div> - <div class="i1">Each deed and dream of youth,</div> - <div class="i0">Each myth of life's divinest prime,</div> - <div class="i0">And every romance, dear to time,</div> - <div class="i1">Put on immortal truth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The love undone; the aim unwon;</div> - <div class="i1">The hope that turned despair;</div> - <div class="i0">The thought unborn; the dream that died;</div> - <div class="i0">The unattained, unsatisfied,</div> - <div class="i1">Should be accomplished there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">So we believed. And, undeceived,</div> - <div class="i1">A little crew set sail;</div> - <div class="i0">A little crew with hearts as stout</div> - <div class="i0">As any yet that faced a doubt</div> - <div class="i1">And tore away its veil.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And time went by; and sea and sky</div> - <div class="i1">Had worn our masts and decks;</div> - <div class="i0">When, lo! one morn with canvas torn,</div> - <div class="i0">A phantom ship, we came forlorn</div> - <div class="i1">Into the Sea of Wrecks.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There, day and night, the mist lay white,</div> - <div class="i1">And pale stars shone at noon;</div> - <div class="i0">The sea around was foam and fire,</div> - <div class="i0">And overhead hung, thin as wire,</div> - <div class="i1">A will-o'-wisp of moon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And through the mist, all white and whist,</div> - <div class="i1">Gaunt ships, with sea-weed wound,</div> - <div class="i0">With rotting masts, upon whose spars</div> - <div class="i0">The corposants lit spectre stars,</div> - <div class="i1">Sailed by without a sound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And all about,—now in, now out,—</div> - <div class="i1">Their ancient hulls, was shed</div> - <div class="i0">The worm-like glow of green decay,</div> - <div class="i0">That writhed and glimmered in the gray</div> - <div class="i1">Of canvas overhead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And each that passed, in hull and mast,</div> - <div class="i1">Seemed that wild ship that flees</div> - <div class="i0">Before the tempest—seamen tell—</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Deep-cargoed with the curse of Hell,</div> - <div class="i1">Through roaring rain and seas.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ay! many a craft we left abaft</div> - <div class="i1">Upon that haunted sea;</div> - <div class="i0">But never a hulk that clewed a sail,</div> - <div class="i0">Or waved a hand, or answered hail,</div> - <div class="i1">And never a man saw we.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">At last we came where—pouring flame—</div> - <div class="i1">In darkness and in storm,</div> - <div class="i0">Vast a volcano westward reared</div> - <div class="i0">An awful summit, lava-seared,</div> - <div class="i1">Like some terrific arm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And we could feel beneath our keel</div> - <div class="i1">The ocean throb and swell,</div> - <div class="i0">As if the Earthquake there uncoiled</div> - <div class="i0">Its monster bulk, or Titans toiled</div> - <div class="i1">At the red heart of Hell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Like madmen now we turned our prow</div> - <div class="i1">North, towards an ocean weird</div> - <div class="i0">Of Northern Lights and icy blasts;</div> - <div class="i0">And for ten moons with reeling masts</div> - <div class="i1">And leaking hold we steered.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Then black as blood through streaming scud</div> - <div class="i1">Land loomed above our boom,</div> - <div class="i0">An isle of iron gulfs and crags</div> - <div class="i0">And cataracts, like wind-tossed rags,</div> - <div class="i1">And caverns lost in gloom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And burning white on every height,</div> - <div class="i1">And white in every cave,</div> - <div class="i0">A naked spirit, like a flame,</div> - <div class="i0">Now gleamed, now vanished; went and came</div> - <div class="i1">Above the windy wave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">No mortal thing of foot or wing</div> - <div class="i1">Made glad its steep or strand;</div> - <div class="i0">But voices, voices seemingly—</div> - <div class="i0">Vague voices of the sky and sea—</div> - <div class="i1">Peopled the demon land.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Yea, everywhere, in earth and air,</div> - <div class="i1">A lamentation wept;</div> - <div class="i0">That, gathering strength above, below,</div> - <div class="i0">Now like a mighty wind of woe,</div> - <div class="i1">Around the island swept.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And in that sound, it seemed, was bound</div> - <div class="i1">All life's despair of art;</div> - <div class="i0">The bitterness of joy that died;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span> - <div class="i0">The anguish of faiths crucified;</div> - <div class="i1">And love that broke its heart.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The ghost it seemed of all we'd dreamed,</div> - <div class="i1">Of all we had desired;</div> - <div class="i0">That—turned a curse, an empty cry—</div> - <div class="i0">With wailing words went trailing by</div> - <div class="i1">In hope's dead robes attired.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And could this be the land that we</div> - <div class="i1">Had sought for soon and late?</div> - <div class="i0">That Island of the Blest, the fair,</div> - <div class="i0">Where we had hoped to ease our care</div> - <div class="i1">And end the fight with fate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O lie that lured! O pain endured!</div> - <div class="i1">O toil and tears and thirst!</div> - <div class="i0">Where we had looked for blesséd ground</div> - <div class="i0">The Island of the Damned we found,</div> - <div class="i1">And in the end—were curst!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WATCHER" id="THE_WATCHER"></a>THE WATCHER</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Young was the dream that held her when</div> - <div class="i1">The world was moon-white with the May:</div> - <div class="i0">She watched the singing fishermen</div> - <div class="i1">Sail out to sea at break of day:</div> - <div class="i0">Soft, as the morning heavens then,</div> - <div class="i1">The eyes that watched him sail away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Old was her grief when summer filled</div> - <div class="i1">The world with warm maturity:</div> - <div class="i0">Far off she watched the nets that spilled</div> - <div class="i1">Their twinkling foison by the sea:</div> - <div class="i0">Where on the rocks she sat and stilled</div> - <div class="i1">With song his infant on her knee.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who to her love would make them lies—</div> - <div class="i1">Those vows his sea-slain manhood swore?</div> - <div class="i0">Beneath the raining autumn skies</div> - <div class="i1">The fishing vessels put to shore:</div> - <div class="i0">She watches with remembering eyes</div> - <div class="i1">For the brown face that comes no more.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AT_THE_SIGN_OF_THE_SKULL" id="AT_THE_SIGN_OF_THE_SKULL"></a>AT THE SIGN OF THE SKULL</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>It's "Gallop and go!" and "Slow, now, slow!"</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>With every man in this life below—</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>But the things of the world are a fleeting show.</em></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">The post-chaise Time that all must take</div> - <div class="i2">Is old with clay and dust;</div> - <div class="i1">Two horses strain its rusty brake</div> - <div class="i2">Named Pleasure and Disgust.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Our baggage totters on its roof,</div> - <div class="i2">Of Vanity and Care,</div> - <div class="i1">As Hope, the post-boy, spurs each hoof,</div> - <div class="i2">Or heavy-eyed Despair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">And now a comrade with us rides,</div> - <div class="i2">Love, haply, or Remorse;</div> - <div class="i1">And that dim traveler besides,</div> - <div class="i2">Gaunt Memory on a horse.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">And be we king or be we kern</div> - <div class="i2">Who ride the roads of Sin,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span> - <div class="i1">No matter how the roads may turn</div> - <div class="i2">They lead us to that Inn:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">Unto that Inn within that land</div> - <div class="i2">Of silence and of gloom,</div> - <div class="i1">Whose ghastly Landlord takes our hand</div> - <div class="i2">And leads us to our room.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0"><em>It's "Gallop and go!" and "Slow, now, slow!"</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>With every man in this life below—</em></div> - <div class="i0"><em>But the things of the world are a fleeting show.</em></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="DUM_VIVIMUS" id="DUM_VIVIMUS"></a>DUM VIVIMUS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Now with the marriage of the lip and beaker</div> - <div class="i1">Let Joy be born! and in the rosy shine,</div> - <div class="i0">The slanting starlight of the lifted liquor,</div> - <div class="i1">Let Care, the hag, go drown! No more repine</div> - <div class="i1">At all life's ills! Come, bury them in wine!</div> - <div class="i0">Room for great guests! Yea, let us usher in</div> - <div class="i1">Philosophies of old Anacreon</div> - <div class="i1">And Omar, that, from dawn to glorious dawn,</div> - <div class="i0">Shall lesson us in love and song and sin.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Some lives need less than others.—Who can ever</div> - <div class="i1">Say truly "Thou art mine," of Happiness?</div> - <div class="i0">Death comes to all. And one, to-day, is never</div> - <div class="i1">Sure of to-morrow, that may ban or bless;</div> - <div class="i1">And what's beyond is but a shadowy guess.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span> - <div class="i0">"All, all is vanity," the preacher sighs;</div> - <div class="i1">And in this world what has more right than</div> - <div class="i3">Wrong?</div> - <div class="i1">Come! let us hush remembrance with a song,</div> - <div class="i0">And learn with folly to be glad and wise.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There was a poet of the East named Hâfiz,</div> - <div class="i1">Who sang of wine and beauty. Let us go</div> - <div class="i0">Praising them, too. And where good wine to quaff is</div> - <div class="i1">And maids to kiss, doff life's gray garb of woe;</div> - <div class="i1">For soon that tavern's reached, that inn, you know,</div> - <div class="i0">Where wine and love are not; where, sans disguise,</div> - <div class="i1">Each one must lie in his strait bed apart,</div> - <div class="i1">The thorn of sleep deep-driven in his heart,</div> - <div class="i0">And dust and darkness in his mouth and eyes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="FAILURE" id="FAILURE"></a>FAILURE</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">There are some souls</div> - <div class="i0">Whose lot it is to set their hearts on goals</div> - <div class="i0">That adverse Fate controls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">While others win</div> - <div class="i0">With little labor through life's dust and din,</div> - <div class="i0">And lord-like enter in</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Immortal gates;</div> - <div class="i0">And, of Success the high-born intimates,</div> - <div class="i0">Inherit Fame's estates....</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Why is 't the lot</div> - <div class="i0">Of merit oft to struggle and yet not</div> - <div class="i0">Attain? to toil—for what?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Simply to know</div> - <div class="i0">The disappointment, the despair, and woe</div> - <div class="i0">Of effort here below?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Ambitious still to reach</div> - <div class="i0">Those lofty peaks, which men, aspiring, preach,</div> - <div class="i0">For which their souls beseech:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Those heights that swell</div> - <div class="i0">Remote, removed, and unattainable,</div> - <div class="i0">Pinnacle on pinnacle:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Still yearning to attain</div> - <div class="i0">Their far repose, above life's stress and strain,</div> - <div class="i0">But all in vain, in vain!...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Why hath God put</div> - <div class="i0">Great longings in some souls and straightway shut</div> - <div class="i0">All doors of their clay hut?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The clay accurst</div> - <div class="i0">That holds achievement back; from which, immersed,</div> - <div class="i0">The spirit may not burst.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Were it, at least;</div> - <div class="i0">Not better to have sat at Circe's feast,</div> - <div class="i0">If afterwards a beast?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Than aye to bleed,</div> - <div class="i0">To strain and strive, to toil in thought and deed,</div> - <div class="i0">And nevermore succeed?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_CUP_OF_JOY" id="THE_CUP_OF_JOY"></a>THE CUP OF JOY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Let us mix a cup of Joy</div> - <div class="i0">That the wretched may employ,</div> - <div class="i0">Whom the Fates have made their toy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who have given brain and heart</div> - <div class="i0">To the thankless world of Art,</div> - <div class="i0">And from Fame have won no part.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Who have labored long at thought;</div> - <div class="i0">Starved and toiled and all for naught;</div> - <div class="i0">Sought and found not what they sought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Let our goblet be the skull</div> - <div class="i0">Of a fool; made beautiful</div> - <div class="i0">With a gold nor base nor dull:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Gold of madcap fancies, once</div> - <div class="i0">It contained, that,—sage or dunce,—</div> - <div class="i0">Each can read whoever runs.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span> - <div class="i0">First we pour the liquid light</div> - <div class="i0">Of our dreams in; then the bright</div> - <div class="i0">Beauty that makes day of night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Let this be the must wherefrom,</div> - <div class="i0">In due time, the mettlesome</div> - <div class="i0">Care-destroying drink shall come.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Folly next: with which mix in</div> - <div class="i0">Laughter of a child of sin,</div> - <div class="i0">And the red of mouth and chin.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">These shall give the tang thereto,</div> - <div class="i0">Effervescence and rich hue</div> - <div class="i0">Which to all good wine are due.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then into our cup we press</div> - <div class="i0">One wild kiss of wantonness,</div> - <div class="i0">And a glance that says not less.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Sparkles both that give a fine</div> - <div class="i0">Lustre to the drink divine,</div> - <div class="i0">Necessary to good wine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Lastly in the goblet goes</div> - <div class="i0">Sweet a love-song, then a rose</div> - <div class="i0">Warmed upon <em>her</em> breast's repose.</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">These bouquet our drink.—Now measure</div> - <div class="i0">With your arm the waist you treasure—</div> - <div class="i0">Lift the cup and drink to Pleasure.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="LA_JEUNESSE_ET_LA_MORT" id="LA_JEUNESSE_ET_LA_MORT"></a>LA JEUNESSE ET LA MORT</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Unto her fragrant face and hair,—</div> - <div class="i1">As some wild-bee unto a rose,</div> - <div class="i0">That blooms in splendid beauty there</div> - <div class="i1">Within the South,—my longing goes:</div> - <div class="i0">My longing, that is overfain</div> - <div class="i0">To call her mine, but all in vain;</div> - <div class="i1">Since jealous Death, as each one knows,</div> - <div class="i0">Is guardian of La belle Heléne;</div> - <div class="i0">Of her whose face is very fair—</div> - <div class="i1">To my despair,</div> - <div class="i1">Ah, belle Heléne.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The sweetness of her face suggests</div> - <div class="i1">The sensuous scented Jacqueminots;</div> - <div class="i0">Magnolia blooms her throat and breasts;</div> - <div class="i1">Her hands, long lilies in repose:</div> - <div class="i0">Fair flowers all without a stain,</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That grow for Death to pluck again,</div> - <div class="i1">Within that garden's radiant close.</div> - <div class="i0">The body of La belle Heléne;</div> - <div class="i0">The garden glad that she suggests,—</div> - <div class="i1">That Death invests,</div> - <div class="i1">Ah, belle Heléne.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">God had been kinder to me,—when</div> - <div class="i1">He dipped His hands in fires and snows</div> - <div class="i0">And made you like a flower to ken,</div> - <div class="i1">A flower that in Earth's garden grows,—</div> - <div class="i0">Had He, for pleasure or for pain,</div> - <div class="i0">Instead of Death in that domain,</div> - <div class="i1">Made Love the gardener to that rose,</div> - <div class="i0">Your loveliness, O belle Heléne!</div> - <div class="i0">God had been kinder to me then—</div> - <div class="i1">Me of all men,</div> - <div class="i1">Ah, belle Heléne.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="LOVE_AND_LOSS" id="LOVE_AND_LOSS"></a>LOVE AND LOSS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Loss molds our lives in many ways,</div> - <div class="i1">And fills our souls with guesses;</div> - <div class="i0">Upon our hearts sad hands it lays</div> - <div class="i1">Like some grave priest that blesses.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Far better than the love we win,</div> - <div class="i1">That earthly passions leaven,</div> - <div class="i0">Is love we lose, that knows no sin,</div> - <div class="i1">That points the path to Heaven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Love, whose soft shadow brightens Earth,</div> - <div class="i1">Through whom our dreams are nearest;</div> - <div class="i0">And loss, through whom we see the worth</div> - <div class="i1">Of all that we held dearest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Not joy it is, but misery</div> - <div class="i1">That chastens us, and sorrow;—</div> - <div class="i0">Perhaps to make us all that we</div> - <div class="i1">Expect beyond To-morrow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Within that life where time and fate</div> - <div class="i1">Are not; that knows no seeming:</div> - <div class="i0">That world to which Death keeps the gate</div> - <div class="i1">Where Love and Loss sit dreaming.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_END_OF_ALL" id="THE_END_OF_ALL"></a>THE END OF ALL</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now,</div> - <div class="i0">O narrow heart, that had no heights but pride!</div> - <div class="i0">You, whom mine fed; to whom yours still denied</div> - <div class="i0">Food when mine hungered; and of which love died—</div> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now,</div> - <div class="i0">O shallow soul, with depths but to deceive!</div> - <div class="i0">You, whom mine watered; to whom yours did give</div> - <div class="i0">No drop to drink to help my love to live—</div> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span> - - -<div class="p6">III</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now!</div> - <div class="i0">But did I love you in the old, old way,</div> - <div class="i0">And knew you loved me—'though the words should slay</div> - <div class="i0">Me and your love forever, I would say,</div> - <div class="i1">"I do not love you now!</div> - <div class="i1">I do not love you now!"</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_ROSE_O_THE_HILLS" id="A_ROSE_O_THE_HILLS"></a>A ROSE O' THE HILLS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The hills look down on wood and stream</div> - <div class="i1">On orchard-land and farm;</div> - <div class="i0">And o'er the hills the azure-gray</div> - <div class="i0">Of heaven bends the livelong day,</div> - <div class="i1">And all the winds blow warm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On wood and stream the hills look down,</div> - <div class="i1">On farm and orchard-land;</div> - <div class="i0">And o'er the hills she came to me</div> - <div class="i0">Through wildrose-brake and blackberry,</div> - <div class="i1">The hill-winds hand in hand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The hills look down on home and field,</div> - <div class="i1">On wood and winding stream;</div> - <div class="i0">And o'er the hills she came along,</div> - <div class="i0">Upon her lips a wildwood song,</div> - <div class="i1">And in her eyes a dream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">On home and field the hills look down,</div> - <div class="i1">On stream and hill-locked wood;</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And breast-deep, with disordered hair,</div> - <div class="i0">Fair in the wildrose tangle there,</div> - <div class="i1">A sudden while she stood.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O hills, that look on rock and road,</div> - <div class="i1">On grove and harvest-field,</div> - <div class="i0">To whom God giveth rest and peace,</div> - <div class="i0">And slumber, that is kin to these,</div> - <div class="i1">And visions unrevealed!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">O hills, that look on road and rock,</div> - <div class="i1">On field and fruited grove,</div> - <div class="i0">No more shall I find peace and rest</div> - <div class="i0">In you, since entered in my breast</div> - <div class="i1">God's sweet unrest of love!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="THE_WHITE_VIGIL" id="THE_WHITE_VIGIL"></a>THE WHITE VIGIL</h2> - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> -<div class="p6">I</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Last night I dreamed I saw you lying dead,</div> - <div class="i1">And by your sheeted form stood all alone:</div> - <div class="i0">Frail as a flower you lay upon your bed,</div> - <div class="i1">And on your face, through the wide casement, shone</div> - <div class="i0">The moonlight, pale as I, who kissed you there,</div> - <div class="i0">So young and fair, white violets in your hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Oh, sick with suffering was my soul; and sad</div> - <div class="i1">To breaking was my heart that would not break;</div> - <div class="i0">And for my soul's great grief no tear I had,</div> - <div class="i1">No lamentation for my heart's deep ache;</div> - <div class="i0">Yet what I bore seemed more than I could bear,</div> - <div class="i0">Beside you there, white violets in your hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A white rose, blooming at the window-bar,</div> - <div class="i1">And, glimmering in it, like a firefly caught</div> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Upon the thorns, the light of one white star,</div> - <div class="i1">Looked in on you, as if they felt and thought,</div> - <div class="i0">As did my heart,—"How beautiful and fair</div> - <div class="i0">And young she lies, white violets in her hair!"</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And so we looked upon you, white and still,</div> - <div class="i1">The star, the rose, and I. The moon had past,</div> - <div class="i0">Like a pale traveler, behind the hill</div> - <div class="i1">With all her sorrowful silver. And at last</div> - <div class="i0">Darkness and tears and you, who did not care,</div> - <div class="i0">Lying so still, white violets in your hair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_STUDY_IN_GRAY" id="A_STUDY_IN_GRAY"></a>A STUDY IN GRAY</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A woman, fair to look upon,</div> - <div class="i0">Where waters whiten with the moon;</div> - <div class="i0">Around whom, glimmering o'er the lawn,</div> - <div class="i1">The white moths swoon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A mouth of music; eyes of love;</div> - <div class="i0">And hands of blended snow and scent,</div> - <div class="i0">That touch the pearly shadow of</div> - <div class="i1">An instrument.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And low and sweet that song of sleep</div> - <div class="i0">After the song of love is hushed;</div> - <div class="i0">While all the longing, here, to weep,</div> - <div class="i1">Is held and crushed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then leafy silence, that is musk</div> - <div class="i0">With breath of the magnolia tree,</div> - <div class="i0">While dwindles, moth-white, through the dusk</div> - <div class="i1">Her drapery.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span> - <div class="i0">Let me remember how a heart</div> - <div class="i0">Wrote its romance upon that night!—</div> - <div class="i0">God help my soul to read each part</div> - <div class="i1">Of it aright!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">And like a dead leaf shut between</div> - <div class="i0">A book's dull chapters, stained and dark,</div> - <div class="i0">That page, with immemorial green,</div> - <div class="i1">Of life I mark.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - -<div class="p6">II</div> - - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">It is not well for me to hear</div> - <div class="i0">That song's appealing melody:</div> - <div class="i0">The pain of loss comes all too near,</div> - <div class="i1">Through it, to me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The loss of her whose love looks through</div> - <div class="i0">The mist death's hand hath hung between—</div> - <div class="i0">Within the shadow of the yew</div> - <div class="i1">Her grave is green.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Ah, dream that vanished long ago!</div> - <div class="i0">Oh, anguish of remembered tears!</div> - <div class="i0">And shadow of unlifted woe</div> - <div class="i1">Athwart the years!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span> - <div class="i0">That haunt the sad rooms of my days,</div> - <div class="i0">As keepsakes of unperished love,</div> - <div class="i0">Where pale the memory of her face</div> - <div class="i1">Hangs, framed above.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">This olden song of love and sleep,</div> - <div class="i0">She used to sing, is now a spell</div> - <div class="i0">That opens doors within the deep</div> - <div class="i1">Of my heart's hell,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">In music making visible</div> - <div class="i0">One soul-assertive memory,</div> - <div class="i0">That steals unto my side to tell</div> - <div class="i1">My loss to me.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="AT_VESPERS" id="AT_VESPERS"></a>AT VESPERS</h2> - - -<div class="container"> -<div class="poem"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">High up in the organ-story</div> - <div class="i0">A girl stands, slim and fair;</div> - <div class="i0">And touched with the casement's glory</div> - <div class="i0">Gleams out her radiant hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">The young priest kneels at the altar,</div> - <div class="i0">Then lifts the Host above;</div> - <div class="i0">And the psalm intoned from the psalter</div> - <div class="i0">Is pure with patient love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">A sweet bell chimes; and a censer</div> - <div class="i0">Swings, gleaming, in the gloom;</div> - <div class="i0">The candles glimmer and denser</div> - <div class="i0">Rolls up the pale perfume.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">Then high in the organ choir</div> - <div class="i0">A voice of crystal soars,</div> - <div class="i0">Of patience and soul's desire,</div> - <div class="i0">That suffers and adores.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span> - <div class="i0">And out of the altar's dimness</div> - <div class="i0">An answering voice doth swell,</div> - <div class="i0">Of passion that cries from the grimness</div> - <div class="i0">And anguish of its own hell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">High up in the organ-story</div> - <div class="i0">One kneels with a girlish grace;</div> - <div class="i0">And, touched with the vesper glory,</div> - <div class="i0">Lifts her madonna face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">One stands at the cloudy altar,</div> - <div class="i0">A form bowed down and thin;</div> - <div class="i0">The text of the psalm in the psalter</div> - <div class="i0">He chants is sorrow and sin.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="transnote"> -<p class="p6">Transcriber notes:</p> - -<p>P. <a href="#Page_61">61</a>. Stanza 'X' should be 'IX', changed to 'IX'.</p> -<p>P. <a href="#Page_178">178</a>. Added end quotation and the end of the stanza.</p> -<p>P. <a href="#Page_274">274</a>. Added opening quote to "My heart is full of lightness!".</p> -<p>Fixed various punctuation.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Madison Cawein, Volume 4 -(of 5), by Madison Cawein - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POEMS OF MADISON CAWEIN *** - -***** This file should be named 56326-h.htm or 56326-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/6/3/2/56326/ - -Produced by Larry B. 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