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Some Verses

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1 class="p2">SOME VERSES</h1> <p class="tpage"><span class="xs">BY</span><br/><span class="large">HELEN HAY</span> </p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/sign.jpg" width-obs="187" height-obs="200" alt="" /> </div> <p class="tpage"><span class="large">DUCKWORTH AND CO. </span><br/><span class="small">3 HENRIETTA ST. COVENT GARDEN</span><br/><span class="small">1898</span> </p> <p class="center large p4"><i>To my Father</i></p> <h2 class="p4"><SPAN name="CONTENTS" name="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</SPAN></h2> <table class="p2 smcap" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" summary="toc"> <tr> <th><SPAN href="#SONNETS">SONNETS</SPAN></th> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"> </td> <td class="tdr">PAGE </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_DAYS">THE DAYS</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">3 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_EVERLASTING_SNOWS">THE EVERLASTING SNOWS</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">4 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THRONE_AND_ALTAR">THRONE AND ALTAR</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">5 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#EAST_AND_WEST">EAST AND WEST</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">6 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_BATTLE">THE BATTLE</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">7 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#WATER_AND_WINE">WATER AND WINE</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">8 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#PITY_ME_NOT">PITY ME NOT!</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">9 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#A_DREAM_IN_FEVER">A DREAM IN FEVER</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">10 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#A_WOMANS_PRIDE">A WOMAN'S PRIDE</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">11 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#AGE">AGE</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">12 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#IN_THE_MIST">IN THE MIST</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">13 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#ON_THE_MOUNTAINS_SLOPE">ON THE MOUNTAIN'S SLOPE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">14 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#TO_THE_BELOVED">TO THE BELOVED</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">15 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#MY_BROOK">MY BROOK</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">16 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#BENEATH_THE_MOON">BENEATH THE MOON</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">17 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_RUBY">THE RUBY</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">18 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#SPRING_AND_AUTUMN">SPRING AND AUTUMN</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">19 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_LOST_MOMENT">THE LOST MOMENT</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">20 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_COMING">THE COMING OF LOVE</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">21 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#EVENING_AT">EVENING AT WASHINGTON</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">22 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#LOVES_KISS">LOVE'S KISS</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">23 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_SCARLET_THREAD">THE SCARLETT THREAD</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">24 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#AUTUMN">AUTUMN</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">25 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_TIDE_OF">THE TIDE OF THE HEART</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">26 </td> </tr> <tr> <th><SPAN href="#POEMS">POEMS</SPAN></th> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#DOES_THE">DOES THE PEARL KNOW?</SPAN> </td> <td class="tdr">29 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#IN_AUTUMN">IN AUTUMN</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">31 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#WAITING">WAITING FOR DAY</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">33 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_ANGEL_OF">THE ANGEL OF INDIFFERENCE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">34 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#DEAR_DEAD_WOMEN">DEAR DEAD WOMEN</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">37 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_GRAVE_OF_HOPE">THE GRAVE OF HOPE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">39 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#TREES_OF_THE">TREES OF THE WILDERNESS</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">40 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_LOVE_OF_THE_ROSE">THE LOVE OF THE ROSE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">42 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#IN_THE_GREEN_YEW">IN THE GREEN YEW</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">43 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_DEAD_NIGHT">THE DEAD NIGHT</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">45 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#SONG">SONG</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">47 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#SIGH_NOT_FOR_LOVE">SIGH NOT FOR LOVE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">48 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#AMBITION_AND_LOVE">AMBITION AND LOVE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">49 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#TO_B_D">TO B. D. </SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">51 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#LITTLE_SAD_FACE">LITTLE SAD FACE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">52 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#EARTHS_TEARS">EARTH'S TEARS—AND MAN'S</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">54 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#I_HAVE_SEEN">I HAVE SEEN WHAT THE SERAPHS HAVE SEEN</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">55 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#A_LASS_FROM">A LASS FROM THE WOODS</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">57 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#WAS_THERE">WAS THERE ANOTHER SPRING</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">59 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#TO_DIANE">TO DIANE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">60 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#BIRD_LOVE">BIRD LOVE—ROSE LOVE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">62 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_JOY_OF_LIFE">THE JOY OF LIFE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">64 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#MIST">MIST</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">66 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_LAST_CLOUD">THE LAST CLOUD</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">67 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#SONG2">SONG</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">68 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#IN_THE_GRAVE">IN THE GRAVE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">69 </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"><SPAN href="#THE_FLOWERS_OF">THE FLOWERS OF PROSERPINE</SPAN></td> <td class="tdr">71 </td> </tr> </table> <hr class="chap p4" /> <h2 class="p4"><SPAN name="SONNETS" name="SONNETS">SONNETS</SPAN></h2> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_DAYS" name="THE_DAYS">THE DAYS</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A long grim corridor—a sullen bar</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of light athwart the darkness—where no fleet</div> <div class="verse indent2">Pale sunshine spreads for dark his winding sheet</div> <div class="verse">A light, not born of noon nor placid star</div> <div class="verse">Glows lurid thro' the gloom—while from afar,</div> <div class="indent2 verse">Beats marching of innumerable feet.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Is this the place where tragic armies meet?</div> <div class="verse">The throb of terror that presages war?—</div> <div class="verse indent25">I strain to see, then softly on my sight</div> <div class="verse">There falls the vision, manifold they come—</div> <div class="verse indent25">White listless Day chained to her brother Night—</div> <div class="verse">Their hands are shackled and their lips are dumb,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And as they meet the air where each one dies,</div> <div class="verse indent2">They turn and smile at me—with weary eyes.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_EVERLASTING_SNOWS" name="THE_EVERLASTING_SNOWS">THE EVERLASTING SNOWS</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And shall it be that these undaunted snows </div> <div class="verse indent2">That poise so lightly on the mountains' crest— </div> <div class="verse indent2">A lily laid to cheer its lonely breast—</div> <div class="verse">Shall their chill smile still face the wind, that blows </div> <div class="verse">Across the field whereon no blossom grows, </div> <div class="verse indent2">And light the land where no gay life may rest </div> <div class="verse indent2">Save glowing hasty fingers of the West,</div> <div class="verse">When our two hearts lie cold beneath the rose? </div> <div class="verse">These silver flakes of ancient hoary frost, </div> <div class="verse indent2">Surviving all our joys' supremest powers,</div> <div class="verse">And though the petals of your lips be lost </div> <div class="verse">And gone the summer of your golden head, </div> <div class="verse indent2">This pale eternal growth of winter's flowers</div> <div class="verse">Shall still live on—though our sweet love be dead. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THRONE_AND_ALTAR" name="THRONE_AND_ALTAR">THRONE AND ALTAR</SPAN></h3> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">He had a vision of a golden throne</div> <div class="verse indent2">Fronting an altar; both alike were bare,</div> <div class="verse indent2">But o'er the purple of the regal chair</div> <div class="verse">Blazed the device, "I wait for him alone</div> <div class="verse">Who with the world has held his soul his own."</div> <div class="verse indent2">He sadly turned, this height he could not dare.</div> <div class="verse indent2">But—Stay—the text upon the altar there—</div> <div class="verse">"I wait for him who has not made a moan </div> <div class="verse">Howe'er his kind have used his heaven-sent dower.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Fear not, and burn thine incense, lowly heart."</div> <div class="verse indent1">And sudden brightness turns the averted face,</div> <div class="verse">To holy sense of majesty and power—</div> <div class="verse indent2">And a voice:—"Master—this indeed thou art."</div> <div class="verse indent1">Wondrous music trembles thro' the space.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="EAST_AND_WEST" name="EAST_AND_WEST">EAST AND WEST</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">You have not ceased for me. Though stern-browed Fate</div> <div class="verse indent2">Laid our two paths apart; when in the West</div> <div class="verse">She gave you over to the seas, and great</div> <div class="verse indent2">Wide winds of enterprise, and set your breast</div> <div class="verse">Against the suns and shadows of the earth;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Then with a gilded largess, led my ways</div> <div class="verse">Toward the time-worn East, who paints her dearth</div> <div class="verse indent2">With purple vain imaginings; the praise</div> <div class="verse">Of all her languid incense and the pride</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of ancient mysteries and hopeless creeds</div> <div class="verse">Hold for my heart no spell when warm and wide </div> <div class="verse">I see across the blue of Isis' veil </div> <div class="verse">The thunderous breakers of your ocean pale</div> <div class="verse indent2">And glints of prairie sun through river reeds.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_BATTLE" name="THE_BATTLE">THE BATTLE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The pallid waves caress the paler sand,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Falter and tremble, then reluctant wane,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Fearing advance, yet venturing again.</div> <div class="verse">Grey deep sea waves that never knew the land,</div> <div class="verse">Tired with the tumult, stretch a crooked hand</div> <div class="verse indent2">To win a precious sweet surcease from pain,</div> <div class="verse indent2">But, glancing back upon the mighty main,</div> <div class="verse">Perforce return to swell the strong command.</div> <div class="verse">So fretful Life sees Death's cold sands and faints</div> <div class="verse indent2">To fling thereon the wearing of her wave,</div> <div class="verse">Yet, turning ere she finds the gloomy shore,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Seeing ahead the idle senseless grave,</div> <div class="verse">Behind—the Kings, the Patriots and the Saints,</div> <div class="verse">She sighing turns to face the fight once more.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="WATER_AND_WINE" name="WATER_AND_WINE">WATER AND WINE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I asked for water and they brought me wine;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Wine in a jewelled chalice, where the gold</div> <div class="verse indent2">Gleamed thro' the purple beads, as if unrolled—</div> <div class="verse">One saw the sun-rays of a life-time shine.</div> <div class="verse">So drinking, I forgot my dream divine</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of crystal purity, for in my hold</div> <div class="verse indent2">Were wealth and Fame and Passions manifold</div> <div class="verse">Which with the draught I fancied might be mine.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">"Ah, Youth," I said, "Ah, Faith and Love!" I said;</div> <div class="verse indent2">"These are but broken lances in the strife!</div> <div class="verse">What shall remain when all these things are sped?"</div> <div class="verse">Then crashed the dream. I clutched the hand of Fate</div> <div class="verse indent2">Amid the ruins of my shattered life,</div> <div class="verse">And found the Gods had cheated, all too late. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="PITY_ME_NOT" name="PITY_ME_NOT">PITY ME NOT!</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Cruel and fair! within thy hollowed hand</div> <div class="verse indent2">My heart is lying as a little rose,</div> <div class="verse indent2">So faint and faded, scarce could one suppose</div> <div class="verse">It might look in thine eyes and understand</div> <div class="verse">The song they sing unto a weary land,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Making it radiant, yet because I dare,</div> <div class="verse indent2">To love thee, being weak, lose not thine air</div> <div class="verse">Of passive distance, fateful and most grand.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Pity me not, nor turn away awhile</div> <div class="verse indent2">Till absence's cloud has caught my passion up.</div> <div class="verse">Ah, be not kind! for love's sake, be not kind!</div> <div class="verse indent2">Grant me the tragic deepness of the cup,</div> <div class="verse">And when thine eyes have flashed and made me blind,</div> <div class="verse">Kill me beneath the shadow of thy smile. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="A_DREAM_IN_FEVER" name="A_DREAM_IN_FEVER">A DREAM IN FEVER</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A vast screen of unequal downward lines,</div> <div class="verse indent2">An orange purple halo 'round the rain,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Twists from a space whose very size is pain.</div> <div class="verse">Here in this vortex day with night combines</div> <div class="verse">Ruby and Emerald glint their blazing spines;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Closing and smothering, wheels a brazen main,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A shuddering sea of silence; in its train</div> <div class="verse">A Thought—a cry, whose snake—fear trembling twines</div> <div class="verse">Around—above—alive yet uttered not;</div> <div class="verse indent2">But my heart hears—and shrieking dies of dread,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Then soaring breaks its bands and o'er the rim</div> <div class="verse">White winged it rends the dark with jagged blot,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Glimpsing the iris gateway barred ahead,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And, gazing thro', the eyes of cherubim.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="A_WOMANS_PRIDE" name="A_WOMANS_PRIDE">A WOMAN'S PRIDE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I will not look for him—I will not hear</div> <div class="verse indent2">My heart's loud beating, as I strain to see</div> <div class="verse indent2">Across the rain forlorn and hopelessly,</div> <div class="verse">Nor starting, think 'tis he that draws so near. </div> <div class="verse">I will forget how tenderly and dear</div> <div class="verse indent2">He might in coming hold his arms to me,</div> <div class="verse indent2">For I will prove what woman's pride can be</div> <div class="verse">When faint love lingers in the darkness drear. </div> <div class="verse">I will not—Ah, but should he come to-night</div> <div class="verse indent2">I think my life might break thro' very bliss,</div> <div class="verse indent1">This little will should so be torn apart</div> <div class="verse">That all my soul might fail in golden light</div> <div class="verse indent2">And let me die—So do I long for this.</div> <div class="verse indent1">Ah, love, thine eyes!—Nay, love—Thy heart, thy heart!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="AGE" name="AGE">AGE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I have a dream, that somewhere in the days,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Since when a myriad suns have burned and died,</div> <div class="verse indent2">There was a time my soul was not for pride</div> <div class="verse">Of spendthrift youth, the pensioner who pays</div> <div class="verse">Dole for the pain of searching thro' the haze</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where joy lies hidden. As the puff balls ride,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The wandering wind across the Summer's side</div> <div class="verse">So winged my spirit in a golden blaze </div> <div class="verse">Of pure and careless Present—Future naught</div> <div class="verse indent2">But a sad dotard's wail—and I was young,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Who now am old. Now years like flashes seem,</div> <div class="verse">Lambent or grey on the great wall of Thought—</div> <div class="verse indent2">This is a song a poet may have sung—</div> <div class="verse indent1">No proof remains, I have but dreamed a dream.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="IN_THE_MIST" name="IN_THE_MIST">IN THE MIST</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Ah love, my love, upon this alien shore</div> <div class="verse indent2">I lean and watch the pale uneasy ships</div> <div class="verse indent2">Slip thro' the waving mist in strange eclipse,</div> <div class="verse">Like spirits of some time and land of yore.</div> <div class="verse">I did not think my heart could love thee more,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And yet, when lightlier than a swallow dips,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The wind lays ghostly kisses on my lips</div> <div class="verse">I seem to know of love the eternal core.</div> <div class="verse">Here is no throbbing of impassioned breath</div> <div class="verse indent2">To beat upon my cheek, no pulsing heart</div> <div class="verse">Which might be silenced by the touch of Death,</div> <div class="verse">No smile which other smile has softly kissed</div> <div class="verse indent2">Or doting gaze which Time must draw apart,</div> <div class="verse">But spirit's spirit in the trailing mist.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="ON_THE_MOUNTAINS_SLOPE" name="ON_THE_MOUNTAINS_SLOPE">ON THE MOUNTAIN'S SLOPE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">High on the mountain's slope I pause and turn—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Over my head, by the rough crag-points high,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Seems rent and torn the tender hovering sky,</div> <div class="verse">Till almost—thro'—I see a Heaven-spark burn;</div> <div class="verse">Then downward to the sleeping world I yearn</div> <div class="verse indent2">Whose eyes so heavy droop they may not try</div> <div class="verse indent2">To catch the higher gleam—and live thereby—</div> <div class="verse">Youth passes graveward—and they never learn.</div> <div class="verse">Then faint with brooding o'er a careless earth</div> <div class="verse indent2">I turn to Nature and her broad warm breast,</div> <div class="verse">Strive for a friendship with her sun-burnt mirth,</div> <div class="verse">Teach my sad soul to catch her cadence deep,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Dream that in her absorbed my heart must rest;</div> <div class="verse">But Nature smiles, and turns once more in sleep. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="TO_THE_BELOVED" name="TO_THE_BELOVED">TO THE BELOVED</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Beloved, when the tides of life run low</div> <div class="verse indent2">As sobbing echoes of a dead refrain,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And I may sit and watch the silent rain</div> <div class="verse">And muse upon the fulness of my woe,</div> <div class="verse">Then is my burden lighter, for I know</div> <div class="verse indent2">The roses of my heart shall bloom again</div> <div class="verse indent2">The fairer for this plenitude of pain,</div> <div class="verse">And Summer shall forget the chilly snow.</div> <div class="verse">But when life calls me to its revels gay</div> <div class="verse indent2">And I must face the world's wide-gazing eyes</div> <div class="verse">Nor find sweet rest by night or peace by day,</div> <div class="verse">E'en seems your love, where I would turn for aid,</div> <div class="verse indent2">As distant as the blue in sunny skies;</div> <div class="verse">Then am I very lonely and afraid. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="MY_BROOK" name="MY_BROOK">MY BROOK</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Earth holds no sweeter secret anywhere</div> <div class="verse indent2">Than this my brook, that lisps along the green</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of mossy channels, where slim birch trees lean</div> <div class="verse">Like tall pale ladies whose delicious hair</div> <div class="verse">Lures and invites the kiss of wanton air.</div> <div class="verse indent2">The smooth soft grasses, delicate between</div> <div class="verse indent2">The rougher stalks, by waifs alone are seen,</div> <div class="verse">Shy things that live in sweet seclusion there.</div> <div class="verse">And is it still the same, and do these eyes</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of every silver ripple meet the trees</div> <div class="verse">That bend above like guarding emerald skies?</div> <div class="verse">I turn—who read the city's beggared book</div> <div class="verse indent2">And hear across the moan of many seas</div> <div class="verse">The whisper and the laughter of my brook. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="BENEATH_THE_MOON" name="BENEATH_THE_MOON">BENEATH THE MOON</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Give me thy hand, Beloved! Here where still</div> <div class="verse indent2">The night wind hovers 'neath the pallid moon</div> <div class="verse indent2">Give me this fleeting moment; all too soon</div> <div class="verse">The listless day will break upon the hill;</div> <div class="verse">This last sweet night is mine. The tremulous thrill</div> <div class="verse indent2">Upon thy lips is all the precious boon</div> <div class="verse indent2">I begged of Heaven, the garish sun of noon</div> <div class="verse">Is theirs—the rest—mine is this moment's will.</div> <div class="verse">Our love could never be the love of day.</div> <div class="verse indent2">I have not claimed the welcome of thy lips;</div> <div class="verse">No touch save fluttering hand, and for the pay</div> <div class="verse">I gave my minstrelsy of sea and sky.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Once more thine eyes! Now sun-stained finger tips,</div> <div class="verse">Send through the hush of dawn a glad good-bye.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_RUBY" name="THE_RUBY">THE RUBY</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Ah—she was fair, this daughter of a queen!</div> <div class="verse indent2">Jewels upon her breast's soft fall of snow,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Jewels—in golden hair—and fierce aglow,</div> <div class="verse">The gem of pride upon her brow serene!</div> <div class="verse">Sleeping soft moonstone, emerald's baleful green,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A single sapphire, singing soft and low</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of wars for beauty's sake in years ago,</div> <div class="verse">And flaming opal—wed with tourmaline.</div> <div class="verse">Yet was there one great stone she might not wear,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And so her eyes were weary, and her mouth</div> <div class="verse indent1">Curved in the listless line of vain desire.</div> <div class="verse">No diamond pure was hers the right to bear,</div> <div class="verse indent2">But—crimson poison petal of the South—</div> <div class="verse indent1">The ruby shone in deep unholy fire.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="SPRING_AND_AUTUMN" name="SPRING_AND_AUTUMN">SPRING AND AUTUMN</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The painted World has laid her jewels down,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Let fall the pinchbeck hair about her face</div> <div class="verse indent2">And croons a love song. In a far-off place</div> <div class="verse">Where she was strutting in her silken gown</div> <div class="verse">She met the Youth. His face was young and brown.</div> <div class="verse indent2">"Good day to you," she cried, the frosty lace</div> <div class="verse indent2">About her shoulders trembled. Ah—disgrace!</div> <div class="verse">He turned, and left her weeping in the town.</div> <div class="verse indent2">She smiles not any more, her heart disdains</div> <div class="verse">The wind's rough courting, loud and indiscreet.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Her tears dissolve the earth in ceaseless rains</div> <div class="verse">And though her searching steps be light and fleet</div> <div class="verse indent2">Through frowning city or soft country lanes,</div> <div class="verse">Now never more may Spring and Autumn meet.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_LOST_MOMENT" name="THE_LOST_MOMENT">THE LOST MOMENT</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">This moment I so careless threw away,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Tossed to the ages, with a spendthrift hand,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Little I recked the labour that had planned</div> <div class="verse">This flash eternal of a Summer day;</div> <div class="verse">Æons of sequent toil had passed to pay</div> <div class="verse indent2">Wealth to the freighted instant. Slow and grand</div> <div class="verse indent2">Wavers a solemn dirge across the land,</div> <div class="verse">One soul, in my lost moment, found a way</div> <div class="verse">To throw the mock to Time, and call him slave.</div> <div class="verse indent2">And I—a pauper still—gaze wise at last</div> <div class="verse indent1">To all the grey horizon line of nought.</div> <div class="verse">But from the heart I deemed an empty grave</div> <div class="verse indent2">Gleams forth like spark my precious gem of past</div> <div class="verse indent1">Shrined in the setting of a deathless thought.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_COMING" name="THE_COMING">THE COMING OF LOVE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I dreamed that love came, as the oak trees grow,</div> <div class="verse indent2">By the chance dropping of a tiny seed;</div> <div class="verse indent2">And then from moon to moon with steady speed,</div> <div class="verse">Tho' torn by winds and chilled with heedless snow,</div> <div class="verse">The sap of pulsing life would upward flow,</div> <div class="verse indent2">'Till in its might the heavens themselves could read</div> <div class="verse indent2">Portents of power that they must learn to heed.</div> <div class="verse">This was my dream—the waking proved not so—</div> <div class="verse">For love came like a flower, and grew apace;</div> <div class="verse indent2">I saw it blossom tenderly and frail</div> <div class="verse">Till the dear Spring had run its eager race,</div> <div class="verse">Then the rough wind tossed wide the petals red;</div> <div class="verse indent2">The seeds fell far in soil beyond my pale.</div> <div class="verse">I know not, now, if love be lost, or dead.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="EVENING_AT" name="EVENING_AT">EVENING AT WASHINGTON</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The purple stretches of the evening sky</div> <div class="verse indent2">Lean to the fair white city waiting here,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Flecking with gold the marble's lifted tier,</div> <div class="verse">Down the blue marsh where crows to Southward fly.</div> <div class="verse">Flanked by dim ramparts, where the tide dreams by,</div> <div class="verse indent2">High from the city's heart, a lifted spear,</div> <div class="verse indent2">In its straight splendour makes the heavens seem near,</div> <div class="verse">Symbol of man-made force that shall not die.</div> <div class="verse">To the tall crest we gaze in self-command,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Assured the world's our own and we may dare</div> <div class="verse indent1">To raise our Babel thro' forbidden aisles</div> <div class="verse">And hold the skirt of knowledge in our hand,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Great in our moment, spurn the world's despair;</div> <div class="verse indent1">While Heaven looks down through calm unmeasured miles.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="LOVES_KISS" name="LOVES_KISS">LOVE'S KISS</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Kiss me but once—and in that space supreme</div> <div class="verse indent2">My whole dark life shall quiver to an end,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Sweet Death shall see my heart and comprehend</div> <div class="verse">That life is crowned—and in an endless gleam</div> <div class="verse">Will fix the colour of the dying stream</div> <div class="verse indent2">That Life and Death may meet as friend with friend</div> <div class="verse indent2">An endless immortality to blend;</div> <div class="verse">Kiss me but once, and so shall end my dream.</div> <div class="verse">And then Love heard me and bestowed his kiss,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And straight I cried to Death: I will not die!</div> <div class="verse">Earth is so fair when one remembers this;</div> <div class="verse">Life is but just begun! Ah, come not yet!</div> <div class="verse indent2">The very world smiles up to kiss the sky</div> <div class="verse">And in the grave one may forget—forget.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_SCARLET_THREAD" name="THE_SCARLET_THREAD">THE SCARLET THREAD</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The sun rose dimly thro' the pallid rain,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Dear Heart—and have we strength to face the day?</div> <div class="verse indent2">The times and life alike are old and grey,</div> <div class="verse">All worn with long monotonies of pain.</div> <div class="verse">Lo—we are working out the curse of Cain,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Who never felt the fire of passion's sway.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ah—show us crimson in some tragic way</div> <div class="verse">That we may live!—Fate laughed in her disdain.</div> <div class="verse">A thread of scarlet clashed upon mine eyes</div> <div class="verse indent2">Hung for a moment and was swept behind,</div> <div class="verse">And blankly I beheld the hopeless skies</div> <div class="verse">For day by contrast now is grimmest night—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Remembering light as do the newly blind</div> <div class="verse">I pray for death to hide the bitter sight. </div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="AUTUMN" name="AUTUMN">AUTUMN</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The ruddy banners of the Autumn leaves</div> <div class="verse indent2">Toss out a challenge to the waiting snows,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where Winter stalks from o'er the mountain rows;</div> <div class="verse">This fiery blaze his onward march receives,</div> <div class="verse">A mock defence his coward heart believes,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And turns him sulking to his moated close.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Now Man the confidence of Nature knows,</div> <div class="verse">And feels the mighty heart that loves and grieves.</div> <div class="verse">Not as in rude young March or hoyden June,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Hard in their beauty, laughing thro' their days;</div> <div class="verse">Their fine indifference is out of tune.</div> <div class="verse">In the dark paths we tread in hope and fear</div> <div class="verse indent2">Look we to Autumn and her gracious ways,</div> <div class="verse">The great last swan-song of the dying year.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_TIDE_OF" name="THE_TIDE_OF">THE TIDE OF THE HEART</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Love, when you leave me, as with moon-bent tide</div> <div class="verse indent2">The glad waves leave the beaches of my heart;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Slowly and indolently they depart</div> <div class="verse">Ripple by ripple, till the light has died</div> <div class="verse">And left the naked sands forlorn to bide</div> <div class="verse indent2">The sea's return. No might of human power</div> <div class="verse indent2">Can fill the empty waste, nor take one hour</div> <div class="verse">From that long durance in Earth's prison wide.</div> <div class="verse">But when you come again, and hold your hands</div> <div class="verse indent2">Dear hands, outstretched to take me, then, the waves,</div> <div class="verse">They turn, full flooded on the fainting sands,</div> <div class="verse">And all the dimpled hollows smile again,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And brimmed with life, the deep mysterious caves</div> <div class="verse">Forget the distant night of lonely pain.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap p6" /> <h2 class="p4"><SPAN name="POEMS" name="POEMS">POEMS</SPAN></h2> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="DOES_THE" name="DOES_THE">DOES THE PEARL KNOW?</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Does the pearl know, that in its shade and sheen</div> <div class="verse">The dreamy rose, and tender wavering green,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Are hid the hearts of all the ranging seas—</div> <div class="verse indent2">That Beauty weeps for gifts as fair as these?</div> <div class="verse">Does it desire aught else when its rare blush</div> <div class="verse">Reflects Aurora in the morning's hush,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Encircling all perfection can bestow—</div> <div class="verse indent15">Does the pearl know?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Does the bird know, when thro' the waking dawn</div> <div class="verse">He soaring sees below the silvered lawn,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And weary men who wait to watch the day</div> <div class="verse indent2">Steal o'er the heights where he may wheel and stray?</div> <div class="verse">Can he conceive his fee divine to share,</div> <div class="verse">As a free joyous peer with sun and air,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And pity the sad things that creep below—</div> <div class="verse indent15">Does the bird know?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Does the heart know, when filled to utter brim,</div> <div class="verse">The least quick throb, a sacrificial hymn</div> <div class="verse indent2">To a great god who scorns the frown of Jove</div> <div class="verse indent2">That here it finds the awful power of love?</div> <div class="verse">Think you the new-born babe in first wise sleep</div> <div class="verse">Fathoms the gift the heavens have bade him keep</div> <div class="verse indent2">Yet if this be—if all these things are so—</div> <div class="verse indent15">Does the heart know?</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="IN_AUTUMN" name="IN_AUTUMN">IN AUTUMN</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The gold-red leaves have burned</div> <div class="verse indent2">To their last great glow, and died</div> <div class="verse indent1">And underfoot</div> <div class="verse indent1">By the strong oak's root</div> <div class="verse">They are seized by the angry wind and spurned</div> <div class="verse">And into a common grave have turned</div> <div class="verse indent2">For Summer—warm and wide.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A year must a sapling wage</div> <div class="verse indent2">Its life with the sun and rain,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Then its tender youth</div> <div class="verse indent1">Without reck or ruth</div> <div class="verse">Is frozen and beaten to harsh old age</div> <div class="verse">By a stroke of Nature mother's rage</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the sturdy fight seems vain.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">It wails to the oak o'erhead</div> <div class="verse indent2">As the coffin-cold wraps round</div> <div class="verse indent1">"The end of life</div> <div class="verse indent1">Is toil and strife</div> <div class="verse">And the secret of being, I have found</div> <div class="verse">Is a seed in the wind and a log on the ground.</div> <div class="verse indent2">I hope I will soon be dead."</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">"Peace little struggler—sleep"—</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the great oak croons a song,</div> <div class="verse indent1">"Death is but night</div> <div class="verse indent1">And a cradle white</div> <div class="verse">For one dark space may the shadows creep,</div> <div class="verse">Then Spring will rise from her dungeon keep</div> <div class="verse indent2">And life wake, wise and strong.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="WAITING" name="WAITING">WAITING FOR DAY</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Sweet Lady Night is paling white.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Why lags her Lord and Master?</div> <div class="verse">She weeping, lays her jewels off—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ah—may he not come faster.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">But hush—the tender rosy blush</div> <div class="verse indent2">Her beauty fair adorning</div> <div class="verse">Her love steps o'er the mountain's rim,</div> <div class="verse indent2">They kiss—and here's the morning.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_ANGEL_OF" name="THE_ANGEL_OF">THE ANGEL OF INDIFFERENCE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A Man once loved a Woman, in the days of old,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Our bond is the strongest in the world, they said—</div> <div class="verse indent1">The Angels up above</div> <div class="verse indent1">Are jealous of our love,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Perhaps they are wishing we were dead, overhead.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">So they loved for a Time and the passing of a Time,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the Angel of Indifference, smiling down, saw their fire,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And he covered for a space</div> <div class="verse indent1">With his sombre wings his face,</div> <div class="verse indent2">That they twain might have of love all desire, without tire.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">But love's perfect joy within them burned at last to a flame</div> <div class="verse indent2">Till they longed for a breeze that would gently cool the heart.</div> <div class="verse indent1">For absence! cooling snow</div> <div class="verse indent1">They sighed apart and low,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Tho' they murmured still their love, hand and heart loth to part.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">But at length they prayed together to the calm Angel—pale,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ah—we yearn, scorched and weary, for the peace of thy breast.</div> <div class="verse indent1">For that land where love seems</div> <div class="verse indent1">But the shadow of dreams,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where all sleep in the silver of the West, give us rest.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And he heard, and he bore them to the cool grey heights,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where all men may drift and himself alone stands fast,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And gave them for their token</div> <div class="verse indent1">The peace of dreams unbroken</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where their souls, his faithful vassals, rest at last, from the past.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="DEAR_DEAD_WOMEN" name="DEAR_DEAD_WOMEN">DEAR DEAD WOMEN</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The winds have chilled the loving odorous South,</div> <div class="verse indent2">All wan and grey she seeks a place to die,</div> <div class="verse">Her tossing hair, her pleading passionate mouth,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Pity that things so fair in death must lie;</div> <div class="verse indent2">But Winter holds and kills her with a sigh.</div> <div class="verse">One kiss he lays upon her lips so proud,</div> <div class="verse">Shuts the blue eyes and winds her sombre shroud.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I walk between the narrow way of yew.</div> <div class="verse indent2">The glowing amaranth droops upon its stalk,</div> <div class="verse">The shivering birds are timorous and few,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And waifs of Summer strew th' untended walk;</div> <div class="verse indent2">With vague sweet forms I seem to pass and talk.</div> <div class="verse">The ladies of those days in Summer's prime</div> <div class="verse">Whose smiles prevailed not for the frown of Time.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Their little tripping feet reluctant turned</div> <div class="verse indent2">Down the dark paths they had not known before;</div> <div class="verse">Behind them all the glow of living burned,</div> <div class="verse indent2">But they must enter thro' the gloomy door,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And leave behind the loves that plead no more,</div> <div class="verse">The dear frivolity of wiles and ways</div> <div class="verse">They neither need nor know in these grim days.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Here in their garden's close I spend no tear,</div> <div class="verse indent2">No smile—too rare the heights for such display.</div> <div class="verse">But on the frosted hedges' lifted spear</div> <div class="verse indent2">And with my head a little bowed, I lay</div> <div class="verse indent2">A pale camelia, proud and cold as they</div> <div class="verse">Who wait beneath their ashen pall of snow—</div> <div class="verse">Perhaps the fair dead dames will see and know.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_GRAVE_OF_HOPE" name="THE_GRAVE_OF_HOPE">THE GRAVE OF HOPE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">There's a wild little gnome in the wood</div> <div class="verse indent2">Who sings as he digs a grave</div> <div class="verse">Of Hope that soars and Hope that flies</div> <div class="verse">And Hope that singes her wings, and lies</div> <div class="verse indent2">In peace where the willows wave.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And he croons in the pauses of toil,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A shivering song of Fears,</div> <div class="verse">The lean black shades of Hope so fair</div> <div class="verse">Who weave her nets with her golden hair</div> <div class="verse indent2">And harry her down the years.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And he knows she will perish at last,</div> <div class="verse indent2">He has carved her name on the stone</div> <div class="verse">While the trees draw near and forget to sleep,</div> <div class="verse">And the little leaves bend their heads and weep,</div> <div class="verse indent2">For Hope that must die alone.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="TREES_OF_THE" name="TREES_OF_THE">TREES OF THE WILDERNESS</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The great bleak trees stand up against the sky</div> <div class="verse indent2">Lifting their naked arms in ceaseless prayer</div> <div class="verse">To the unpitying heavens, that they might die,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Rather than drag their weary lives out there.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Thro' starless nights the untold hours wear on,</div> <div class="verse indent2">All awful phantom shapes affright the wood—</div> <div class="verse">And morning light but brings th' unwinking sun,</div> <div class="verse indent2">To torture with its glare their solitude.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">In those grim wilds no sweet-voiced bird will sing,</div> <div class="verse indent2">No flowers will bloom within those trackless lands,</div> <div class="verse">Nor is there trace of any living thing,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Save those gaunt giants, holding up their hands.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And when they fall, still round the unknown spot</div> <div class="verse indent2">Howls the rough wind, till in the common ground</div> <div class="verse">They end the life which is—and yet is not,—</div> <div class="verse indent2">A riddle where no meaning shall be found.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_LOVE_OF_THE_ROSE" name="THE_LOVE_OF_THE_ROSE">THE LOVE OF THE ROSE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Trilled forth the Nightingale</div> <div class="verse indent2">In sweetest sleep of day—</div> <div class="verse indent1">Unto his love, the rose,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Ah golden heart, unclose!</div> <div class="verse indent2">For love, my fairest rose, will last for aye.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">So, thro' the waning night</div> <div class="verse indent2">She learned to wear her crown;</div> <div class="verse indent1">Yielded her heart's sweet strife</div> <div class="verse indent1">And found that love was life</div> <div class="verse indent2">Set to the time the dear bird lilted down.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">But when the morning came</div> <div class="verse indent2">The red sun burned above;</div> <div class="verse indent1">Hid are the night birds all,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Flower petals fade and fall;</div> <div class="verse indent2">The rose is dead—and what became of love!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="IN_THE_GREEN_YEW" name="IN_THE_GREEN_YEW">IN THE GREEN YEW</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The wind is howling in angry pain,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Ah me, and I cannot rest;</div> <div class="verse indent1">On such a night home is best,</div> <div class="verse">Why does she stand in the same old place</div> <div class="verse">With the smile of smiles on her cold white face</div> <div class="verse indent1">And call me thro' the rain?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Ah—the Wind has died from the Fear of her smile—</div> <div class="verse indent1">And I creep quite still—</div> <div class="verse indent1">On over the hill,</div> <div class="verse">To where she stands 'mid the scented yew</div> <div class="verse">And where I now am standing too,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And she sees me all the while.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A little green snake curls thro' her hair—</div> <div class="verse indent1">The scent of the yew is strong and sweet—</div> <div class="verse indent1">Her eyes have drawn me to her feet,</div> <div class="verse">And I lie along on the drenching ground</div> <div class="verse">And worship—and watch the snake curl round,</div> <div class="verse indent1">His tongue shoots thro' the air.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Now—slowly she takes her eyes from me,</div> <div class="verse indent1">And I dream and wait,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Till in shades of hate</div> <div class="verse">My love of her smile has faded quite</div> <div class="verse">And I spring to kill her, there in the night—</div> <div class="verse indent1">But only the yew I see.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_DEAD_NIGHT" name="THE_DEAD_NIGHT">THE DEAD NIGHT</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The strong brave Night is dead. Its endless deeps</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of patient tenderness, the moon-bright still</div> <div class="verse indent2">When every silver lake and purple hill</div> <div class="verse">Hold wise unfathomed converse with the steeps</div> <div class="verse">Of starry heaven, are past. All nature weeps</div> <div class="verse indent2">And draws the veiling grey of morning mist</div> <div class="verse indent2">Upon the lips that Night's last clouds have kist—</div> <div class="verse">The Night that watched so well the world who sleeps.</div> <div class="verse">The Night is dead—Alas—and pallid Day</div> <div class="verse">is but the corpse laid out in cold array,</div> <div class="verse">The white sad emblem of the heart we knew.</div> <div class="verse">Through half-closed lids the eyes shine palely blue;</div> <div class="verse">The gleaming grave clothes cover all the rest.</div> <div class="verse">So cruel still lies now the air's sweet breast</div> <div class="verse">And trees and hills fold down calm hands and eyes,</div> <div class="verse">That none may guess their secret mysteries.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="SONG" name="SONG">SONG</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Softly sighs the gracious wind—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Dash of rose, in deeps of sky,</div> <div class="verse">Love is fair and love is kind,—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Singing free—I passed him by.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Shredded clouds are whirled in air,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Winter stalks adown the gale</div> <div class="verse">Tossing wide Love's golden hair—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Cease the singing—Love grows pale.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Howls the grey sky to the sea—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Loose the storm-dogs from their bed.</div> <div class="verse">Turned I back—and woe is me—</div> <div class="verse indent2">I must die—for Love is dead.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="SIGH_NOT_FOR_LOVE" name="SIGH_NOT_FOR_LOVE">SIGH NOT FOR LOVE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Sigh not for love, the ways of love are dark!</div> <div class="verse indent2">Sweet Child—hold up the hollow of your hand</div> <div class="verse indent1">And catch the sparks that flutter from the stars!</div> <div class="verse indent1">See how the late sky spreads in flushing bars!</div> <div class="verse indent2">They are dead roses from your own dear land</div> <div class="verse">Tossed high by kindly breezes: lean, and hark,</div> <div class="verse">And you shall know how morning glads her lark!</div> <div class="verse indent2">The timid Dawn, herself a little child</div> <div class="verse indent1">Casts up shy eyes in loving worship—dear,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Is it not yet enough? the Spring is here</div> <div class="verse indent2">And would you weep for Winter's tempest wild</div> <div class="verse">Sigh not for love, the ways of love are dark!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="AMBITION_AND_LOVE" name="AMBITION_AND_LOVE">AMBITION AND LOVE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Sweet, in the golden morning of my days,</div> <div class="verse indent2">With young tempestuous joy I reared my head</div> <div class="verse">To gaze adown the splendid sunlit ways</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where all the fires of fame burned glory red,</div> <div class="verse indent2">I recked not where the sounding arches led,</div> <div class="verse">Save at the end I gain my august bays.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">But as of old, when through the patient night,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Fair losing or fair gaining, till the morn,</div> <div class="verse">Great Israel strove to break the angel's might,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Till spent and failing, in his heavenly scorn,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Th' immortal wrestler touched the earthly born,</div> <div class="verse">Striking him powerless, winning thus the fight.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">So did false Fortune, when I strove and fought,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Smiling 'neath half-closed eyelids, when seemed won,</div> <div class="verse">For a brief hour, the beckoning goal I sought—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Then with frustrating touch dimmed all my sun</div> <div class="verse indent2">Blotted the work and faith so brave begun;</div> <div class="verse">But what I gained was none too dearly bought.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I have no wreath to lay before your feet;</div> <div class="verse indent2">There shines no future, and the past is dead;</div> <div class="verse">But you have heard me, and I love you—Sweet.</div> <div class="verse indent2">The low sun crowns with gold your gracious head,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The heavy lilies nod upon their bed—</div> <div class="verse">I look at you, and find my life complete.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="TO_B_D" name="TO_B_D">TO B. D.</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Broad browed beneath a cloud of dusky hair</div> <div class="verse indent2">Her eyes are midnight seas that never sleep</div> <div class="verse">But see beyond the dull world's heavy air</div> <div class="verse indent2">The mystery of ages buried deep.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The faint sweet shadows trembling round her mouth</div> <div class="verse indent2">Lighten with youth and love the Sphinx's face.</div> <div class="verse">And as she moves, a soft wind from the South</div> <div class="verse indent2">Floating, flower-laden seems—so sweet her grace.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Aloof she stands, from idle mirth and tears</div> <div class="verse indent2">And keeps the white sails of her spirit furled,</div> <div class="verse">Altho' a girl, pure from the stain of years,</div> <div class="verse indent2">An ancient Egypt, smiling at the world.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="LITTLE_SAD_FACE" name="LITTLE_SAD_FACE">LITTLE SAD FACE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Little sad face, come close, so close to mine,</div> <div class="verse indent2">See through these eyes the sweetness of the day,</div> <div class="verse">Feel how the sunbeams dance in Summer's wine,</div> <div class="verse">Hold fast my hands and let our pulse combine</div> <div class="verse indent2">And with my steps dance down the happy way;</div> <div class="verse indent2">For youth is love and love is light and gay,</div> <div class="verse indent15">Little sad face.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Little sad heart, come close, so close to mine,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And know the utmost limits of the will</div> <div class="verse">Of all the worlds, till soft thy heart divine</div> <div class="verse">A joy which can encompass grief like thine;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Hide in my breast, and let faint pulses thrill,</div> <div class="verse indent2">For youth is love, and love is great and still,</div> <div class="verse indent15">Little sad heart.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Little sad soul, which ne'er can come to mine,</div> <div class="verse indent2">So great in loneliness of grey despair,</div> <div class="verse">There is not one whose spirit may entwine</div> <div class="verse">With thee—the world looks on without a sign;</div> <div class="verse indent2">Go—hide thy face within thy tossing hair,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Thyself veil close with smiles, for none will care,</div> <div class="verse indent15">Little sad soul.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="EARTHS_TEARS" name="EARTHS_TEARS">EARTH'S TEARS— AND MAN'S</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">These slanting lines of hoary rain</div> <div class="verse indent2">Are as my grizzled hair;</div> <div class="verse">The face of earth is old with pain</div> <div class="verse indent2">As mine—with dull despair.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">And yet, one sun will gild the air,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Earth's tears were not in vain:</div> <div class="verse">No smile can ease mine eyes of care</div> <div class="verse indent2">Or make me young again!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="I_HAVE_SEEN" name="I_HAVE_SEEN">I HAVE SEEN WHAT THE SERAPHS HAVE SEEN</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I have seen what the seraphs have seen</div> <div class="verse indent2">As they gaze thro' the limitless air—</div> <div class="verse">Thro' the wind and the clouds to the lean</div> <div class="verse indent2">Pale face of the moon, and the bare</div> <div class="verse indent2">Bright flame of the sun, unaware,</div> <div class="verse">I have seen what the seraphs have seen!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Thro' the limitless spaces of air</div> <div class="verse indent2">The brave mists that waver and wane</div> <div class="verse">Are patient and pallid and fair.</div> <div class="verse indent2">I have fathomed the pride and the pain</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of the snows and compassionate rain</div> <div class="verse">Thro' the limitless spaces of air.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I have known them, the brave mists that wane</div> <div class="verse indent2">And the glory and peace of the skies.</div> <div class="verse">Where all strife and impatience are vain</div> <div class="verse indent2">And ahush are all passionate sighs,</div> <div class="verse indent2">For I gazed in the deeps of Love's eyes,</div> <div class="verse">And I know what no seraphs shall gain!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="A_LASS_FROM" name="A_LASS_FROM">A LASS FROM THE WOODS</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A lass from the woods</div> <div class="verse">With a leaf in her hair!</div> <div class="verse">And the rain of the night</div> <div class="verse">And the wind of the morn,</div> <div class="verse">They both quivered right;</div> <div class="verse">For my spirit forlorn</div> <div class="verse">In a garment of white</div> <div class="verse">And a laugh newly born</div> <div class="verse">Sprang in maddest of moods</div> <div class="verse">Like a blossom in air</div> <div class="verse">To the kiss of the sun</div> <div class="verse">And the curl of the breeze,</div> <div class="verse">Caught the cobwebs begun</div> <div class="verse">In the hush of the trees</div> <div class="verse">All my beatings were one</div> <div class="verse">With the swirl of the seas.</div> <div class="verse">Dead the creature that broods</div> <div class="verse">In a tangle of care;</div> <div class="verse">There's a lass from the woods</div> <div class="verse">With a leaf in her hair.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="WAS_THERE" name="WAS_THERE">WAS THERE ANOTHER SPRING</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Was there another Spring than this?</div> <div class="verse indent2">I half remember through the haze</div> <div class="verse indent2">Of glimmering nights and golden days,</div> <div class="verse indent1">A broken pinioned birdling's note,</div> <div class="verse indent1">An angry sky, a sea-wrecked boat,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A wandering through rain-beaten ways!</div> <div class="verse">Lean closer, love—I have thy kiss!</div> <div class="verse">Was there another Spring than this?</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="TO_DIANE" name="TO_DIANE">TO DIANE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The ruddy poppies bend and bow</div> <div class="verse indent2">Diane! do you remember?</div> <div class="verse">The sun you knew shines proudly now</div> <div class="verse">The lake still lists the breezes' vow;</div> <div class="verse">Your towers are fairer for their stains,</div> <div class="verse">Each stone you smiled upon remains.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Sing low, where is Diane?</div> <div class="verse indent1">Diane do you remember?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I come to find you through the years—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Diane! do you remember?</div> <div class="verse">For none may rule my love's soft fears.</div> <div class="verse">The ladies now are not your peers,</div> <div class="verse">I seek you thro' your tarnished halls,</div> <div class="verse">Pale sorrow on my spirit falls</div> <div class="verse indent2">High, low—where is Diane?</div> <div class="verse indent1">Diane do you remember?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">I crush the poppies where I tread—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Diane! do you remember?</div> <div class="verse">Your flower of life—so bright, so red—</div> <div class="verse">She does not hear—Diane is dead.</div> <div class="verse">I pace the sunny bowers alone</div> <div class="verse">Where nought of her remains but stone.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Sing low—where is Diane?</div> <div class="verse indent1">Diane does not remember.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="BIRD_LOVE" name="BIRD_LOVE">BIRD LOVE— ROSE LOVE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">If you were but a rose—dear love—</div> <div class="verse indent2">And I your bird, with dip of wing</div> <div class="verse indent2">To tell a promise of the Spring</div> <div class="verse indent1">And with a golden swift caress</div> <div class="verse indent1">My happy careless love confess,</div> <div class="verse indent2">No pain such gentle vows could bring,</div> <div class="verse">No tears should stay my flight above,</div> <div class="verse">If you were but a rose—dear love.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Bird-love, rose-love, to last the day</div> <div class="verse indent2">Why shall not we whose hearts are light</div> <div class="verse indent2">Put by the coming of the night,</div> <div class="verse indent1">Catch glints of rapture from the sky,</div> <div class="verse indent1">The scents that swing where lilies lie,</div> <div class="verse indent2">And ring them to a garland white</div> <div class="verse">To ease the pain of life away?</div> <div class="verse">Bird-love, rose-love, to last the day!</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_JOY_OF_LIFE" name="THE_JOY_OF_LIFE">THE JOY OF LIFE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Her hair was twined with vine leaves thro' the gold,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The leopard skin about her shoulders flung</div> <div class="verse">Showed gleams of her as marble—fair and cold;</div> <div class="verse indent2">I breathed not—listening to the song she sung.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Hither and thither thro' the solemn world,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Glory of purple, passionate blazing red</div> <div class="verse">Glints thro' the gloom, and thro' the grey is swirled—</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ah! but the leaves twined sweet about her head.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">"Heedless—men pass me in their search for life,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Hunting for altars to their souls' fine fires,</div> <div class="verse">Crying the sun or joy of toil and strife</div> <div class="verse indent2">And know not that 'tis I—their heart desires.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">They dream not that the sheen on peacock's breast,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The haze and perfume of a Summer's day,</div> <div class="verse">The silver stealing o'er the twilight West</div> <div class="verse indent2">Are joys more rich than all the world's display."</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="MIST" name="MIST">MIST</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Mist on the sea; like a great bird's pendulous wing,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Broken and hushed; it trails on the face of the main,</div> <div class="verse">Down comes the sun, a red shot from a merciful sling</div> <div class="verse indent2">Burning its heart with swift death as an end to the pain.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_LAST_CLOUD" name="THE_LAST_CLOUD">THE LAST CLOUD</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">A red rose cloud upon the evening sky,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A gallant cloud which dies in foremost fight,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Too proud for prisons of triumphant night.</div> <div class="verse">Knowing no pause, no strain of changing years,</div> <div class="verse">Its little hour too short for dreams or tears,</div> <div class="verse indent2">The faithful sun its first and latest light—</div> <div class="verse">Who would not so be glad to fight and die!</div> <div class="verse">A red rose cloud upon the evening sky.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="SONG2" name="SONG2">SONG</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Love is a broken lily,</div> <div class="verse indent2">A pale and crownless rose</div> <div class="verse">With golden heart made chilly</div> <div class="verse indent2">By traitor touch of snows.</div> <div class="verse">So sleep my heart—lie sleeping</div> <div class="verse indent2">Nor open weary eyes,</div> <div class="verse">For waking is but weeping</div> <div class="verse indent2">And Sleep is Paradise.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Love is a cadence trailing</div> <div class="verse indent2">Where broken music falls,</div> <div class="verse">A hapless shadow sailing</div> <div class="verse indent2">Across deserted walls.</div> <div class="verse">So still my heart lie sleeping</div> <div class="verse indent2">Till love's hot sun be set,</div> <div class="verse">For waking is but weeping.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Asleep—sad eyes forget.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="IN_THE_GRAVE" name="IN_THE_GRAVE">IN THE GRAVE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Dear Love—do you wake in that land where my waking is done? </div> <div class="verse">Do you bare your brave head to the winds and the clouds and the sun?</div> <div class="verse indent0">And is Summer aflame?</div> <div class="verse">Or has the night fallen to sleep on earth's wonderful breast, </div> <div class="verse">And with it, all joys, save but you, who are dearest and best,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Wakeful—sighing my name?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Sometimes as I sleep, the sweet rain flickers over my head,</div> <div class="verse">And smiling, I dream of the tears that your sorrow has shed;</div> <div class="verse indent0">Then I sigh and awake.</div> <div class="verse">For the dreams of the grave are the dreams that have died in the morn,</div> <div class="verse">And their ghosts alone haunt the cold earth where their maker was born,</div> <div class="verse indent0">For a woman's sweet sake.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">Perhaps you are singing—and winding the garlands of May;</div> <div class="verse">Not mine be the hand to withhold you the golden to-day,</div> <div class="verse indent0">Or give you pause to your song.</div> <div class="verse">Perhaps the sweet blossoms may charm the grave's pestilent breath.</div> <div class="verse">Ah! life is so short; so forget and be glad, dear—for death</div> <div class="verse indent0">Is so terribly long.</div> </div></div> <h3 class="p4"><SPAN name="THE_FLOWERS_OF" name="THE_FLOWERS_OF">THE FLOWERS OF PROSERPINE</SPAN></h3> <div class="p2 poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The jewels of the sun are not more rare</div> <div class="verse indent2">Than these that lie upon my lurid halls.</div> <div class="verse">The perfume kiss upon the drowsy air</div> <div class="verse indent2">Is sweet as Spring can hold within her walls.</div> <div class="verse indent2">The spell which night may cast upon her thralls</div> <div class="verse">Is mine; the length of all this gloomy land</div> <div class="verse">Knows no more sun than falls from my white hand.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">My wealth great kings have prayed for—in their pride,</div> <div class="verse indent2">Bowing before me. Nay—I hate the place.</div> <div class="verse">I am no queen at heart—my laughter died</div> <div class="verse indent2">That I might wear my crown with regal grace</div> <div class="verse indent2">The very flowers which smile on my sad face</div> <div class="verse">I am afraid of. See! they are the worst</div> <div class="verse">Of all my fears; so fair—yet black accurst.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The languid passion-poppy sways and dips</div> <div class="verse indent2">To show the black heart bursting into flame.</div> <div class="verse">The crimson evil of a satyr's lips</div> <div class="verse indent2">A sneering nodding finger-post of shame;</div> <div class="verse indent2">A thousand other flowers without a name</div> <div class="verse">Huddle all trembling in the dusk behind</div> <div class="verse">Like hunted ghosts, whose eyes are white and blind.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="verse">The grass is not the grass that overhead</div> <div class="verse indent2">Cooled my bare feet with daisies' purest snows;</div> <div class="verse">But thick pale blades, like fingers of the dead</div> <div class="verse indent2">Thrust from forgotten graves upon their foes.</div> <div class="verse indent2">Ah—horrid soil! for everything that grows</div> <div class="verse">In this confine but mocks in wicked scorn</div> <div class="verse">The fairness of the land where I was born.</div> </div></div> <hr class="chap p4" /> <p class="center"><span class="large">Printed by </span><span class="smcap large">Ballantyne, Hanson & Co</span><br/> London & Edinburgh</p> <p class="center"> <span class="xlarge"><b>SOME VERSES</b></span><br/> <i>All rights reserved</i><br/> <i>Copyrighted in America</i></p> <SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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