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<h1 class='c001'><i>Among the Trees Again</i></h1></div>
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<div>COPYRIGHT 1902</div>
<div>THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY</div>
<div>OCTOBER</div>
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<div><span class='large'><i>To the memory of my beloved brother</i></span></div>
<div><span class='large'><i>Orth Harper Stein</i></span></div>
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<h2 class='c003'><i>CONTENTS</i></h2></div>
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<td class='c005'><span class='small'>PAGE</span></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_3'>AMONG THE TREES AGAIN</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_3'>3</SPAN></td>
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<tr><td> </td></tr>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_21'>APRIL CONTRADICTIONS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_21'>21</SPAN></td>
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<tr><td> </td></tr>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_8'>APRIL MORNING</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_8'>8</SPAN></td>
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<tr><td> </td></tr>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_34'>AS TO THE SUMMER AIR THE ROSE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_34'>34</SPAN></td>
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<tr><td> </td></tr>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_50'>AT NIGHT</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_50'>50</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_40'>BETWEEN SEASONS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_40'>40</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_46'>BINDWEED</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_46'>46</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_64'>BY THE KANKAKEE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_64'>64</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_67'>CACTUS LAND, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_67'>67</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_71'>CASCADE RAVINE, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_71'>71</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_20'>DREAM ECHOES</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_20'>20</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_79'>EARLY NOVEMBER</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_79'>79</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_66'>FISHER FOLK, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_66'>66</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_74'>FOREBODING</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_74'>74</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_78'>GOLDEN WEDDING, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_78'>78</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_52'>HOME FIELDS, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_52'>52</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_30'>IDEALS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_30'>30</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_58'>IMPATIENT</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_58'>58</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_75'>IN LATE SEPTEMBER</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_75'>75</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_54'>IN SUMMER DEEPS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_54'>54</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_16'>IN THE MISSION GARDEN, SAN GABRIEL</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_16'>16</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_45'>IN THE MOONLIGHT</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_45'>45</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_84'>JANUARY THAW</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_84'>84</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_42'>JUNE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_42'>42</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_69'>LAST SURVIVOR FROM THE LIFE BOAT, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_69'>69</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_41'>LITTLE LOVE SONG, A</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_41'>41</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_88'>LITTLE SISTER, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_88'>88</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_38'>MONTEZUMA</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_38'>38</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_85'>MORNING ON THE MOUNTAINS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_85'>85</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_12'>MY LITTLE MASTER</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_12'>12</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_14'>NORTHMEN’S SONG OF THE POLE, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_14'>14</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_11'>ON HEARING THE BALLAD “ALLEN PERCY”</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_11'>11</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_62'>ON THE PRAIRIE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_62'>62</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_61'>OVER THE SIERRA</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_61'>61</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_83'>PERFECT FRIENDSHIP, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_83'>83</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_22'>PLEA, A</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_22'>22</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_59'>RAIN ON THE RIVER</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_59'>59</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_6'>REDBIRD, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_6'>6</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_28'>SEA-DREAMS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_28'>28</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_89'>SEA-GARDENS OF SANTA CATALINA, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_89'>89</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_55'>SONG</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_55'>55</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_44'>SONG OF THOUGHT, A</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_44'>44</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_49'>SUMMER SHOWER, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_49'>49</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_77'>SUNNY NOON</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_77'>77</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_53'>SYMPATHY</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_53'>53</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_31'>TO THE “WINGED VICTORY OF SAMOTHRACE”</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_31'>31</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_36'>THRUSH, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_36'>36</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_81'>WHEREFORE WINGS?</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_81'>81</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_82'>WINTRY TINTS</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_82'>82</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_7'>WISHING-SPRING, THE</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_7'>7</SPAN></td>
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<td class='c004'><SPAN href='#Page_35'>WOOD FANCY, A</SPAN></td>
<td class='c005'><SPAN href='#Page_35'>35</SPAN></td>
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<div><span class='xxlarge'><i>Among the Trees Again</i></span></div>
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<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='1' id='Page_1'></span><i>I saw a meadow-land, one day;</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>The grass stood green and high,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>But naught appealed in any way</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>To stay the passer-by.</i></div>
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<div class='line'><i>Till suddenly the sunlight strayed</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>Those leafy tangles through,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>And touched to fire, on every blade</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>A golden network grew!</i></div>
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<div class='line'><i>A million airy cobwebs gleamed</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>So silken-soft and bright,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>That all the level lowland seemed</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>A tracery of light.</i></div>
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<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><i>And as I watched the webs, I thought</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>The field of life along,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>As slight as these, so I have wrought</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>With slender threads of song.</i></div>
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<div class='line'><i>They bind the grass, and blossoms, too,</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>The bee and butterfly,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>And some go faintly wavering through</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>The tender azure sky.</i></div>
</div>
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<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='2' id='Page_2'></span><i>Yet still I wait that golden glow</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>Whose fine transmuting art</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>Must smite my web of song, and so</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>Reveal it to the heart.</i></div>
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<div class='line'><i>Ah therefore, thou, I pray thee, touch</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>These frail threads I have spun,</i></div>
<div class='line'><i>With grace of sympathy, for such</i></div>
<div class='line in2'><i>Might light them like the sun!</i></div>
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<h2 class='c003'><i>AMONG THE TREES AGAIN</i></h2></div>
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<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Aye</span>, throb, my heart! is it not sweet to be,</div>
<div class='line in2'>To breathe, to bide, by growing things once more!</div>
<div class='line in10'>We did not guess before</div>
<div class='line'>How close our life was locked in greenery.</div>
<div class='line'>Hark! how the sparrows in the apple tree</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are chattering, chirping, till their tiny throats</div>
<div class='line'>Are fairly brimmed and quivering through and through</div>
<div class='line in10'>With rollick notes!</div>
<div class='line in6'>Good morrow, little birds!</div>
<div class='line'>Good morrow! morrow!—O, I would I knew</div>
<div class='line in6'>Some light-winged language, kindred singing words</div>
<div class='line in10'>Wherein to say</div>
<div class='line in4'>This day, this day, at last this happy day</div>
<div class='line'>I come to be a neighbor unto you!</div>
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<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Too long, too long, we heard strange footsteps pass,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Harsh, strident echoes stricken out of stone;</div>
<div class='line'>But never softened by green, growing grass,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Or mellowed to faint, earthy undertone.</div>
<div class='line in10'>And then, O heart,</div>
<div class='line'>Did we not ofttimes feel ourselves apart,</div>
<div class='line in22'>Alone,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Wrought to vague discord by some touch unknown?</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='4' id='Page_4'></span>Did we not weary with a nameless grief,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In dreaming of tall clover, daisy sown,</div>
<div class='line in12'>Or music blown</div>
<div class='line'>From the wind-harping of some little leaf?</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>It was not that within the city’s core</div>
<div class='line in2'>There dwelt no sympathies, nor interests keen,</div>
<div class='line in6'>No human ties to temper its fatigues.</div>
<div class='line'>—’Twas only that we needed something more;</div>
<div class='line in14'>Some note rang wrong;</div>
<div class='line'>A foolish fancy, may be, but still strong,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That life sang sweeter snatched between the green</div>
<div class='line in6'>Close-lapping verdure of a fret of twigs.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Where all the ground was paven out of sight,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And only from a far-off strip of sky</div>
<div class='line in6'>My mother Nature strove to speak to me,</div>
<div class='line'>I could not harken to her voice aright;</div>
<div class='line in14'>I knew not why,</div>
<div class='line in6'>But ever to mine ears some whispering tree</div>
<div class='line'>Seemed of the inmost golden soul of her,</div>
<div class='line in14'>The best interpreter.</div>
<div class='line in4'>And so what wonder, Life, that you and I,</div>
<div class='line'>Shut out from such glad confidence, should miss</div>
<div class='line in14'>And grieve for this.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>—But all this yearning we’ll forget; for now</div>
<div class='line in16'>Within my window,</div>
<div class='line in24'>So,</div>
<div class='line in18'>By finger-tips,</div>
<div class='line'>I’ll draw into mine arms this dancing bough,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And stroke its silky buds across my lips.</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='5' id='Page_5'></span>O generous-natured, friendly, neighbor tree!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Weave gentle blessings in the shade and shine;</div>
<div class='line'>And granting gracious patience to my plea,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Some simple lesson of your lore make mine,</div>
<div class='line in14'>Make mine, I pray!</div>
<div class='line'>O, be a kindly teacher unto me,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And I’ll pour out such worshipful heart-wine,</div>
<div class='line'>Not any bird that sings to you all day,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Or nestles to low, leafy lullaby,</div>
<div class='line'>Shall hold you in such dear observance, nay,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Nor love you half so tenderly as I.</div>
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<span class='pageno' title='6' id='Page_6'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE REDBIRD</i></h2></div>
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<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Swept</span> lightly by the south wind</div>
<div class='line in2'>The elm leaves softly stirred,</div>
<div class='line'>And in their pale green clusters</div>
<div class='line in2'>There straightway bloomed a bird!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>His glossy feathers glistened</div>
<div class='line in2'>With dyes as richly red</div>
<div class='line'>As any tulip flaming</div>
<div class='line in2'>From out the garden bed.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But ah, unlike the tulips,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In joyous strain, ere long,</div>
<div class='line'>This redbird flower unfolded</div>
<div class='line in2'>A heart of golden song!</div>
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<span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE WISHING-SPRING</i></h2></div>
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<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I knelt</span> beside the fairy spring,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Among the tasseled weeds;</div>
<div class='line'>Far off, with dreamy murmuring,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The wind piped through the reeds.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Once, twice, the brimming cup I raised</div>
<div class='line in2'>With trembling finger-tips,</div>
<div class='line'>And in its limpid crystal gazed,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nor laid it to my lips.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah me! the eager heart-desires,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So thronging swift they came,</div>
<div class='line'>My spirit surged like wind-swept fires,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I knew not which to name.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>—Then all at once, I quickly quaffed</div>
<div class='line in2'>The shining drops; but lo,</div>
<div class='line'>The wish with that enchanted draught</div>
<div class='line in2'>No man must ever know!</div>
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<span class='pageno' title='8' id='Page_8'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>APRIL MORNING</i></h2></div>
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<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I lean</span> upon the bridge’s rail,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In idle joy, and gazing down,</div>
<div class='line'>So watch the frothy bubbles sail,</div>
<div class='line'>And bits of tangled grasses trail</div>
<div class='line in2'>Along the current’s tawny brown.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The river flows at full to-day;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And though within the tide it pours</div>
<div class='line in2'>There grow no mocking sycamores,</div>
<div class='line'>Nor any crystal hints betray</div>
<div class='line in2'>The spicewood thickets, nor the pale</div>
<div class='line'>Soft willow wands of pearly gray,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whose interwoven mazes veil</div>
<div class='line in4'>The fretted banks, yet here and there,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Adown some swirling eddy, where</div>
<div class='line in6'>A delving sunbeam shines,</div>
<div class='line in10'>What mines</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of gleaming, streaming, liquid gold</div>
<div class='line in12'>The waters hold!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And so, by rapid currents rolled</div>
<div class='line in2'>In billowy swells that break and chime</div>
<div class='line'>In riotous tumult uncontrolled,</div>
<div class='line'>The March flood plashes past the pier;</div>
<div class='line'>But through its sweeping tones, I hear</div>
<div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' title='9' id='Page_9'></span>The sweet, receding murmurs rhyme</div>
<div class='line in2'>The burden of the April time;</div>
<div class='line in4'>And throbbing like a glad refrain,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Now far, now full, now far again,</div>
<div class='line in8'>The freshened breeze</div>
<div class='line'>Blows gaily, bringing pure and clear</div>
<div class='line in6'>The fitful, tinkling cadences.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But listen! faint, from out the sheer</div>
<div class='line in4'>Deep borders of the morning sky,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Slips down the distance-softened cry</div>
<div class='line in4'>Of shy wild geese that northward fly;</div>
<div class='line'>It vibrates nearer, and more near,</div>
<div class='line in16'>—And see!</div>
<div class='line in2'>There! wheeling into sight,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Far as the vision may descry.</div>
<div class='line in8'>A level-winged advancing “V,”</div>
<div class='line in2'>They keep their swift, unswerving flight.</div>
<div class='line in4'>North, north, beyond that scudding fleece</div>
<div class='line in4'>Of tiny clouds, like wilder geese,</div>
<div class='line in6'>That join their ranks, and journey, too,</div>
<div class='line in6'>On,—on,—into the farthest blue.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then, from the boundless space above,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I drop my dazzled eyes to view</div>
<div class='line in2'>The soft field-grass and meadow-rue,</div>
<div class='line'>The restful, brown earth, that I love.</div>
<div class='line in4'>A trick of blinding sun, maybe,</div>
<div class='line'>That halo on the hills may prove—</div>
<div class='line in4'>And yet, they are so dear to me,</div>
<div class='line in6'>The golden glory that they wear</div>
<div class='line in6'>Is like none other anywhere,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And, in my heart, I hold it true.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span>Though, surely, what least loving eye</div>
<div class='line in2'>Could wander up the river there,</div>
<div class='line'>And see aught otherwise than I?</div>
<div class='line in10'>Or could deny</div>
<div class='line in2'>That yonder little glimpse is fair?</div>
<div class='line'>The slender point of jutting land</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where, faintly burgeoning anew</div>
<div class='line'>With rounds of downy buds, there stand</div>
<div class='line in4'>A score of water-willow trees</div>
<div class='line in2'>In clustered tufts, and twinkling through,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Across the stream, beside of these,</div>
<div class='line'>A line of shining yellow light;</div>
<div class='line in6'>And half in sight,</div>
<div class='line'>And hidden half, upon the right,</div>
<div class='line in4'>By wild red-sumac shrubberies,</div>
<div class='line'>A windmill, rising tall and white,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Slow turning in the breeze.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And then beyond—but how express,</div>
<div class='line in2'>What word in any tongue conveys</div>
<div class='line'>The depth of dreamy tenderness</div>
<div class='line in2'>That laps, and wraps, and overlays</div>
<div class='line in4'>The far blue hills,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And spills and fills</div>
<div class='line in2'>The valleys with pale purple haze?</div>
<div class='line'>O, what sweet syllables confess</div>
<div class='line in2'>The glad heart-happiness that plays</div>
<div class='line in2'>Through all my pulses as I gaze,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And drink the beauty, past all praise—</div>
<div class='line'>The old, immortal blessedness</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of April days!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='11' id='Page_11'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>ON HEARING THE BALLAD “ALLEN PERCY”</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>A plaintive</span> song, so strangely sweet and old,</div>
<div class='line'>That all my soul within itself would fold</div>
<div class='line in2'>And gently keep so quaint a melody,</div>
<div class='line'>That like a bird’s its notes of liquid gold</div>
<div class='line in2'>Might oft repeat their sweetness unto me.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A tale of joyless splendor long ago,</div>
<div class='line'>Of wedded lady and of loveless woe,</div>
<div class='line in2'>How she to soothe her sick heart’s misery</div>
<div class='line'>Cradled in vines her little child, and so</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sang of dear love beneath a greenwood tree.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And through it all there runs such saddest plaint,</div>
<div class='line'>As sweet as lutes, now murmurous, now faint,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Till, like the far-heard sighing of the sea,</div>
<div class='line'>It sweeps in gathering passion past restraint,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Then breaks, and croons in mournful minor key.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah, well-a-day! I listen breathless till</div>
<div class='line'>I half believe that sorrowing singer still</div>
<div class='line in2'>Dreams on divinely by the whispering tree;</div>
<div class='line'>For in your voice all tenderest heart-strings thrill,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And all the woodland’s marvelous minstrelsy!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='12' id='Page_12'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>MY LITTLE MASTER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>O little</span> poet, winging through</div>
<div class='line'>The sheer, clear blue,</div>
<div class='line'>Is it the sky you’re singing to?</div>
<div class='line in4'>Or is it that afar you see</div>
<div class='line in4'>Some leafy, laden apple-tree,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And half concealed and half confessed,</div>
<div class='line in10'>A nest?</div>
<div class='line'>Ah, truly now, I would I knew</div>
<div class='line in4'>The happy secret of your glee,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That joy wherewith you birds are blest,</div>
<div class='line in10'>Red-breast!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>So airy and so light of wing,</div>
<div class='line'>You soar and sing,</div>
<div class='line'>I pray, could you not softly fling,</div>
<div class='line in4'>My merry minstrel, down to me</div>
<div class='line in4'>Some echo of that melody</div>
<div class='line in2'>That spills from out your tiny bill?</div>
<div class='line in10'>Some trill</div>
<div class='line'>Of all those liquid tones that ring</div>
<div class='line in4'>So full of purest poetry,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That rhyme, and chime, and thrill, until</div>
<div class='line in10'>They fill</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='13' id='Page_13'></span>These vibrant seas of azure air,</div>
<div class='line'>Whose blue tides bear</div>
<div class='line'>Their witching sweetness everywhere?</div>
<div class='line in4'>O little master, heed to me!</div>
<div class='line in4'>And ah, so true, so tenderly,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I’ll learn to sing how lovely grows</div>
<div class='line in10'>This rose,</div>
<div class='line'>Till, by and by, dear heart, I’ll dare</div>
<div class='line in4'>To touch some bolder note, maybe,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Some chord whence deeper music flows;</div>
<div class='line in10'>Who knows?</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='14' id='Page_14'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE NORTHMEN’S SONG OF THE POLE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> roar of the seas where the freezing clouds lower,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The shriek of the storm-wind, the turbulent tide,</div>
<div class='line'>The conquering currents, all vaunt of their power,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And taunt with the centuries’ secret they hide.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Of towering icebergs and glittering floes,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sun of the midnight in luminous rings,</div>
<div class='line'>Of hopes held at bay by beleaguering snows,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of man in his weakness the fierce ocean sings.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Bright over the sky the aurora is red,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And crimson as life-blood the snowflakes below;</div>
<div class='line'>Swift updarting streamers of fire overspread</div>
<div class='line in2'>All heaven and earth with a roseate glow.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Hark! Hark! to the rumble, the thunderous roar</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of the ancient ice-mountains that shatter and rend</div>
<div class='line'>And crash with the tide dashing up on the shore,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In turmoil titanic and toil without end.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O, woe to the ship that the pitiless clutch</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of those crushing ice-demons drags down to her doom!</div>
<div class='line'>The path to the pole is o’er-scattered with such,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And deep sleep the heroes the tempests entomb.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='15' id='Page_15'></span>Beneath the wan moon of the long arctic night</div>
<div class='line in2'>The frost-smitten sea stretches boundless and lone;</div>
<div class='line'>The Shores of the Dead Men loom spectral and white,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In Helheim, the death-goddess waits for her own.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But ho, to her hatred! the soul of the brave</div>
<div class='line in2'>He bears not who dares not her fury defy!</div>
<div class='line'>And ho, to her giants of wind and of wave!</div>
<div class='line in2'>We crave but to meet and defeat them, or die!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Farewell, and farewell!—the anchor rope strains,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Loose cable and canvas, and hasten we forth!</div>
<div class='line'>The fire of desire quivers hot in our veins,</div>
<div class='line in2'>We must sail with the gale, to the north! to the north!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Must speed with the blast to its ultimate goal,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The path of its pinions must follow and find</div>
<div class='line'>The lure of the ages, the boreal pole,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And the measureless halls of the house of the wind!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='16' id='Page_16'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IN THE MISSION GARDEN, SAN GABRIEL</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>O golden</span> day, wherein at last,</div>
<div class='line'>Long leagues and wintry overpast,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I stand beneath a sky as blue</div>
<div class='line in2'>As April violets drenched in dew,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And live within a dream come true!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>From rosy-berried pepper-trees</div>
<div class='line'>The winds blow spicy fragrances;</div>
<div class='line in2'>The palms sway softly to and fro,</div>
<div class='line in6'>And down below,</div>
<div class='line'>Between the glossy leaves of these,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sparkling, yellow sunbeams steep</div>
<div class='line'>The mission garden, where the bees</div>
<div class='line in6'>Are hoarding deep</div>
<div class='line'>Of heliotrope that hangs the wall</div>
<div class='line'>As for some princely festival,</div>
<div class='line in6'>While white and tall</div>
<div class='line'>Bright lilies bloom in grace untold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And those rare roses, passing all</div>
<div class='line'>In splendor, called “The Cloth of Gold!”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O heart, my heart, throb high and fast</div>
<div class='line in2'>With rapture! for how couldst thou know</div>
<div class='line in2'>Amid the far-off frost and snow</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='17' id='Page_17'></span>Where all the skies are overcast</div>
<div class='line in2'>And shrill and chill the north-winds blow,</div>
<div class='line in6'>How couldst thou know</div>
<div class='line'>December heavens anywhere</div>
<div class='line in6'>Could show such rare</div>
<div class='line'>Such tender and divinest guise,</div>
<div class='line in6'>That earth and air</div>
<div class='line in2'>Could weave such strange, resistless spell</div>
<div class='line'>As this that folds us flower-wise</div>
<div class='line in6'>At sweet San Gabriel!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>San Gabriel! the holy words</div>
<div class='line in2'>Fall soft as music on the ear;</div>
<div class='line in2'>I think they are as sweet to hear</div>
<div class='line'>As any song of summer birds;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And harkening them, the while in clear,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Pure, quivering notes,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The ancient bells begin to chime,</div>
<div class='line'>In shadowy-wise before me floats</div>
<div class='line in2'>A vision of the vanished time.</div>
<div class='line in6'>I see again</div>
<div class='line in2'>The little band from sunny Spain,</div>
<div class='line'>Those godly ones, and full of grace,</div>
<div class='line in6'>And without stain,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Who, heeding neither toil nor pain,</div>
<div class='line'>Desiring men of every race,</div>
<div class='line'>That such might see sweet Jesus’ face,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And that at length the Lord might reign</div>
<div class='line in4'>Among all peoples, even so,</div>
<div class='line'>Sought in the wilderness this place,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And consecrated, long ago.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='18' id='Page_18'></span>And gazing on the sacred pile</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their hands upreared in loving zeal,</div>
<div class='line'>My heart goes forth to them the while,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Those faithful fathers, true and leal!</div>
<div class='line'>How oft along each cloistered aisle</div>
<div class='line in2'>They counted o’er and o’er their beads,</div>
<div class='line'>While in this garden, unawares,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The fragrant flowers sowed their seeds.</div>
<div class='line'>—And richly as the flowers, the prayers</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bore fruit in gentle deeds!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In arched embrasures, lifted high</div>
<div class='line in6'>Against the sky,</div>
<div class='line'>The bells in clear-cut beauty show;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And loftier still, surmounting all,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And blessing thus the ancient wall,</div>
<div class='line'>A cross,—and on its summit, lo!</div>
<div class='line in2'>A slender bird with pearly breast</div>
<div class='line in6'>Sits peacefully at rest!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah me! Ah me! I know not why</div>
<div class='line in2'>This little bird with folded wings,</div>
<div class='line'>The cross, the tender azure sky,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their pure, exceeding beauty brings</div>
<div class='line'>Swift tears, and smites my heart, till I</div>
<div class='line in6'>Am almost fain</div>
<div class='line in2'>To hide mine eyes for very pain!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Yet though thus for a little space</div>
<div class='line in6'>I bow my face,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Nor any grace</div>
<div class='line'>Of rose or lily can I see,</div>
<div class='line'>I know the while that memory,</div>
<div class='line in6'><span class='pageno' title='19' id='Page_19'></span>Clear-eyed and free,</div>
<div class='line'>Upon my heart is graving deep</div>
<div class='line'>Each least, sweet loveliness, to keep</div>
<div class='line in2'>Through all the coming years for me.</div>
<div class='line in6'>And it shall be,</div>
<div class='line'>In afterwhiles, when far away,</div>
<div class='line'>When wintry skies are bleak and gray</div>
<div class='line in6'>And no birds sing,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I shall grow glad remembering</div>
<div class='line'>The sweetness of this scarlet day.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>DREAM ECHOES</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>A little</span> while ago I caught,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In cadence pure and clear,</div>
<div class='line'>A waft of faintest music, wrought</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon my inner ear.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A part of some elusive theme</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whose sweetly solemn air</div>
<div class='line'>My soul had harkened in a dream,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I know not when nor where.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I only know my heart-strings stirred</div>
<div class='line in2'>With strange, forgotten pain,</div>
<div class='line'>That crept upon me as I heard</div>
<div class='line in2'>That unremembered strain.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A sense of loneliness untold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So boundless, deep, unknown,</div>
<div class='line'>I blindly reached my hands to hold</div>
<div class='line in2'>Your palms within my own!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='21' id='Page_21'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>APRIL CONTRADICTIONS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I watch</span> the little pear buds break</div>
<div class='line in2'>And slip their silky sheaths,</div>
<div class='line'>And flowers on the maples make</div>
<div class='line in2'>A thousand russet wreaths,</div>
<div class='line in4'>—Then something blinds my sight, and I</div>
<div class='line in4'>Am full of grief, yet know not why!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A rosy purple half betrays</div>
<div class='line in2'>The wealth the lilacs fold;</div>
<div class='line'>The torches of the tulips blaze</div>
<div class='line in2'>In flames of red and gold;</div>
<div class='line in4'>Peach boughs are blossoming above,</div>
<div class='line in4'>—But oh, the vague heartache thereof!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The blue sky wears in gentle wise</div>
<div class='line in2'>Its loveliness again;</div>
<div class='line'>All April sunshine,—yet mine eyes</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are brimmed with April rain!</div>
<div class='line in4'>The presage of sweet days to be,</div>
<div class='line in4'>So strange a sadness stirs in me!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='22' id='Page_22'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>A PLEA</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Two</span> years ago, it is two years to-day,—</div>
<div class='line'>It seems a score!—since that sweet, bloomy May</div>
<div class='line'>When on the barren sea you sailed away.</div>
<div class='line in2'>The peach-trees then were in a rosy glow,</div>
<div class='line in8'>And down below,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tulip buds had just begun to show.</div>
<div class='line in8'>—And yet, dear heart, I know</div>
<div class='line'>Though all the heaven smiled in tender blue,</div>
<div class='line in8'>It shone not so to you.</div>
<div class='line'>Sorrow had hooded all your skies in gray,</div>
<div class='line'>And when these dancing boughs put on their gay,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bright May-time bravery, they only grieved</div>
<div class='line in8'>A heart bereaved.</div>
<div class='line'>And though glad robins sang to you to stay,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And by the stream the first sweet-flags unfurled</div>
<div class='line'>Seemed nature’s truce to sorrow,—every way</div>
<div class='line'>Held warring memories wherewith to gainsay</div>
<div class='line in2'>And send you wandering over half the world.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah, well do I remember how my prayers</div>
<div class='line'>Went with you, dear, and followed unawares;</div>
<div class='line in2'>So speeding ever, winging far and wide</div>
<div class='line in2'>About the path wherein your ship should ride,</div>
<div class='line'>And pleading Heaven that most gentle airs</div>
<div class='line in8'>And tempered tide</div>
<div class='line'>Might bear you safely to the farther side.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='23' id='Page_23'></span>Then, when I knew your voyage over,—then,</div>
<div class='line in2'>—For surely now, at last, I may confess,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Now that I have outgrown its bitterness,</div>
<div class='line'>Though, sometimes, I can almost feel again,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Remembering those days, that keen distress,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Yes, jealousy it was! not any less,</div>
<div class='line in8'>That constantly</div>
<div class='line'>Wrapped all my thoughts of you beyond the sea!—</div>
<div class='line in2'>I feared lest other lives, more large and wide</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than mine has been, might, day by day, divide</div>
<div class='line'>And win your life and love away from me.</div>
<div class='line in2'>And I was fearful for dear nature, too;</div>
<div class='line in8'>I could not bear</div>
<div class='line'>To think that heaven anywhere should wear</div>
<div class='line in2'>A hue more deeply, more divinely blue</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than this home sky that we together knew;</div>
<div class='line in8'>Or that there grew</div>
<div class='line'>Strange bud or bloom to make the earth more fair.</div>
<div class='line in2'>—A most unworthy fancy, it is true;</div>
<div class='line'>Since nature is but nature everywhere,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The same kind mother, in whatever land;</div>
<div class='line in2'>So too, maybe, could we but understand,</div>
<div class='line'>All hearts and loves are only as a part</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of one great Heart</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whose universal pulses so expand</div>
<div class='line'>That any lesser life that therein beats</div>
<div class='line in2'>Should no more dream of this word “jealousy”</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than yonder shining flakes of bloom should be</div>
<div class='line in2'>Jealous, forsooth, of the whole hawthorn tree</div>
<div class='line'>That is but one with their own mass of sweets.</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='24' id='Page_24'></span>And so, at last, through blind, unreasoning grief</div>
<div class='line in8'>Beyond belief,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Brightly within my heart there did uprise</div>
<div class='line in2'>Love’s loyalty, rebuking in this wise:</div>
<div class='line'>“Has she not spoken, oft and oft again,</div>
<div class='line'>These three plain words ‘I love you’? Wherefore, then,</div>
<div class='line in8'>What right have you</div>
<div class='line in2'>To deem mere distance could her love undo?</div>
<div class='line'>To fancy aught exists that could estrange</div>
<div class='line'>Her heart from yours, wherein there is no change,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Or judge her own to be less simply true?”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And then, in shame, I swiftly put aside</div>
<div class='line'>All faintest questioning; thenceforth to abide</div>
<div class='line'>In trust as pure, as boundless, and as wide</div>
<div class='line'>As still sea-deeps, unvexed of any tide.</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nay, I have learned to cherish rightly, too,</div>
<div class='line in2'>All light and life that minister to you.</div>
<div class='line in8'>I hold most dear</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whatever least thing brings you smallest cheer;</div>
<div class='line'>And, day by day, my ceaseless prayer is this,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That from the changeful, many-colored grace</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of time and place,</div>
<div class='line'>Your grief may come to weave a chrysalis</div>
<div class='line in2'>Round its dead hopes, till waking, by and by,</div>
<div class='line in2'>It shall find wings to bear it to the sky.</div>
<div class='line'>—But, dear,—God knows I would not do you wrong,</div>
<div class='line'>Nor touch one heart-string if it be not strong,—</div>
<div class='line in8'>But O, so long,</div>
<div class='line'>So long it seems! You have been gone so long!</div>
<div class='line in2'>The feather-grass is growing green and high,</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='25' id='Page_25'></span>And, piping gaily in an azure throng,</div>
<div class='line'>The bluebirds spangle all the air with song;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Again aflame the rosy peach boughs burn;</div>
<div class='line in2'>—Can not you, too, return?</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>On slender stems the nodding wind-flowers blow,</div>
<div class='line in8'>And bloodroots grow</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where high the hedges fling their lacing frets</div>
<div class='line'>Along the lanes; while, softly sifting through</div>
<div class='line in2'>Tall plumy weeds and silver spider-nets,</div>
<div class='line'>The yellow sunbeams filter down below</div>
<div class='line in8'>Until I know</div>
<div class='line'>Not any fair Italian sky is blue</div>
<div class='line in2'>As is our earth to-day with violets!</div>
<div class='line'>Nor do I think that even that Syrian sun</div>
<div class='line in2'>You watched ride high above Damascus’ towers,</div>
<div class='line'>In purer light or richer splendor glowed</div>
<div class='line in8'>Than any one</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of these most lovely golden dawns of ours</div>
<div class='line'>That wake the birds along the river road.</div>
<div class='line'>The green ravines are newly fringed with fern;</div>
<div class='line in2'>From out the brake a robin red-breast calls;</div>
<div class='line in2'>The stream repeats, at rippling intervals,</div>
<div class='line in8'>“Can you not now return?”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But what avail in striving to compare</div>
<div class='line in2'>Earth’s endless beauties, whether east or west!</div>
<div class='line'>All lands are lovely, and I am aware</div>
<div class='line'>That unto me this little spot seems fair,</div>
<div class='line in8'>More rare</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than all the gathered glories of the rest,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Because I love it best.</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='26' id='Page_26'></span>And so, in truth, I feel that chief I plead</div>
<div class='line in8'>A selfish need;</div>
<div class='line'>I too, like nature, long to greet the spring!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Indeed I think I never have confessed,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Nor have you guessed</div>
<div class='line'>How much of May it is your gift to bring.</div>
<div class='line in2'>You never knew how wintry was the cloud</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of haunting sadness, that would ofttimes shroud</div>
<div class='line'>My inmost being, and creep up to chill</div>
<div class='line'>The warmer currents of my life,—until,</div>
<div class='line in8'>In knowing you,</div>
<div class='line'>I felt a pulse like that sweet, joyous thrill</div>
<div class='line'>That breaks the buds when all the skies are blue!</div>
<div class='line'>The bitter storms of grief I did not fear</div>
<div class='line in8'>When you were near.</div>
<div class='line'>But sometimes now I have grown half afraid</div>
<div class='line in2'>That unforgotten frost of pain that used</div>
<div class='line'>To wrap my nature will again invade</div>
<div class='line in2'>The singing streams your April touch had loosed.</div>
<div class='line'>Spring’s subtler spells alone I can not learn,</div>
<div class='line in8'>—Ah, will you not return?</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Yet if it chance that prayed-for peace you sought</div>
<div class='line'>Be not at length to full perfection wrought,</div>
<div class='line in8'>If still in vain</div>
<div class='line in2'>Time strives with memory,—then, dear, I would fain</div>
<div class='line in8'>Let be as naught</div>
<div class='line in2'>All I have uttered; and I will refrain</div>
<div class='line'>From any whispered wish, or word, or thought,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That might to you in anywise complain.</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='27' id='Page_27'></span>However much my eager heart may miss,</div>
<div class='line in2'>How much for you my very soul may yearn,</div>
<div class='line'>I will seek patience, confident in this,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That some time, surely, Love shall conquer pain,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And then, dear heart, I know you will return.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>SEA-DREAMS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I sat</span> upon the mossy rocks</div>
<div class='line in2'>Beside the southern sea,</div>
<div class='line'>While overhead the summer clouds</div>
<div class='line in2'>Were drifting lazily.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I watched their purple shadows trail</div>
<div class='line in2'>Across the sea and hide</div>
<div class='line'>Within the hollows of the waves</div>
<div class='line in2'>That rode the rising tide.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Sometimes the little flakes of foam</div>
<div class='line in2'>Dashed up in twinkling spray;</div>
<div class='line'>And out along their silver paths</div>
<div class='line in2'>The ships sailed far away.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>As through the sun I followed them</div>
<div class='line in2'>With straining, eager eyes,</div>
<div class='line'>From out the sparkling waves I saw</div>
<div class='line in2'>A shining vision rise.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>It seemed a ghostly castle white,</div>
<div class='line in2'>With battlement and tower,</div>
<div class='line'>That hung on the horizon’s verge</div>
<div class='line in2'>By some unearthly power.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='29' id='Page_29'></span>I saw its spectral turrets gleam</div>
<div class='line in2'>As white as ivory,</div>
<div class='line'>And wondered who the wizard king</div>
<div class='line in2'>That reigned upon the sea.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>—But while, with breathless gaze, I watched</div>
<div class='line in2'>This castle, by and by</div>
<div class='line'>It vanished in the underworld</div>
<div class='line in2'>Beyond the sea and sky!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='30' id='Page_30'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IDEALS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I would</span> that I could weave a song</div>
<div class='line in2'>As airy and as light,</div>
<div class='line'>As are the roundelays that throng</div>
<div class='line in2'>Within my heart to-night.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I would that I might set to tune</div>
<div class='line in2'>The beauty of this hour,</div>
<div class='line'>When, like a primrose bud, the moon</div>
<div class='line in2'>Breaks into golden flower.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And all the happy, lilting notes,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Beyond divinest words,</div>
<div class='line'>That nestle in the downy throats</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of little sleeping birds,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The breeze-borne scent of mignonette,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That in the garden grows,</div>
<div class='line'>Where, strung like pearls, the dew is wet</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the briar-rose,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>These things it is, whose voices I</div>
<div class='line in2'>Have sought for overlong;</div>
<div class='line'>Yet still their cunning tones defy</div>
<div class='line in2'>The artifice of song.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='31' id='Page_31'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>TO THE “WINGED VICTORY OF<br/>SAMOTHRACE”</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Thou</span> wonder of the warrior prow,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Supreme, immortal Victory!</div>
<div class='line'>Before thy majesty I bow</div>
<div class='line in2'>And all my soul flames forth to thee!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Within the shadow of thy wings</div>
<div class='line in2'>A thousand voices sound for me;</div>
<div class='line'>In far, tumultuous murmurings,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I catch the echo of the sea;</div>
<div class='line'>The salty surge that rolls more near,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Till loud and clear</div>
<div class='line'>In mighty thunder tones I hear</div>
<div class='line in8'>The rush of old Ægean tides,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The bright, white waves that from the shore</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sweep seaward with unceasing roar;</div>
<div class='line in8'>In dawning skies the day-star guides,</div>
<div class='line'>Across the surf the seabirds call,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Whilst white and tall</div>
<div class='line'>With swift sails swelling over all,</div>
<div class='line in8'>The shield-hung warship rides.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And like the heaven-born dreams that soar</div>
<div class='line in2'>From hero spirits, eagle-wise,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And urge to deeds of great emprise</div>
<div class='line in8'>And fly before</div>
<div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' title='32' id='Page_32'></span>The eager, throbbing hearts that know</div>
<div class='line in2'>No goal but victory, even so,</div>
<div class='line'>Above the restless breakers’ roar,</div>
<div class='line'>Upon the high cliff evermore</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thou standest with bright wings outspread,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In all thy fresh-wrought godlihead,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Beloved of the conqueror!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And as I gaze I seem to trace</div>
<div class='line'>The features of thy fearless face,</div>
<div class='line'>The matchless marvel of its grace</div>
<div class='line in8'>That like a star</div>
<div class='line'>Across the seas of Samothrace</div>
<div class='line in8'>Shone forth afar;</div>
<div class='line'>I hear the southern winds intone</div>
<div class='line in8'>Whilst backward blown</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thy trailing garments, fluttering</div>
<div class='line in2'>From out the slender girdle, cling</div>
<div class='line'>About thy limbs and so confess</div>
<div class='line'>Their lines of perfect loveliness;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Then suddenly o’er everything</div>
<div class='line in2'>Great shouts and martial echoes ring!</div>
<div class='line'>I see thee, storm-like, rushing past</div>
<div class='line'>Thy hand upon the carven mast,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And harken whilst thy proud lips fling</div>
<div class='line'>The loud, triumphal trumpet blast!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O glorious image! what if time</div>
<div class='line in2'>Hath smitten with ungentle touch</div>
<div class='line'>Thy perfect beauty? Still sublime</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thou art a conqueror, and still</div>
<div class='line'>All men unite to name thee such!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Before thee all my pulses thrill,</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='33' id='Page_33'></span>Old hopes and dreams awake in me;</div>
<div class='line in8'>O Victory,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Lead, lead but thou mine eager will,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I follow fast and far until</div>
<div class='line'>Some day my ship shall harbor thee!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='34' id='Page_34'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>AS TO THE SUMMER AIR THE ROSE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>As</span> to the summer air the rose</div>
<div class='line in2'>Pours forth her perfume all the day,</div>
<div class='line'>For every careless wind that blows</div>
<div class='line in2'>To scatter far away,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>So gives my heart to thee the rare</div>
<div class='line in2'>Fine fragrance of its sweetest thought,</div>
<div class='line'>And thou art heedless as the air</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whereto the rose is naught!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='35' id='Page_35'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>A WOOD FANCY</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> mandrakes lift, like little mosques,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their domes between the vines,</div>
<div class='line'>And butterflies for worshipers</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are flocking to their shrines.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And from tall, tapering mullein towers</div>
<div class='line in2'>And minarets of green,</div>
<div class='line'>The honey-bee muezzins drone</div>
<div class='line in2'>To bloodroot buds between,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>That pilgrim-wise along the road</div>
<div class='line in2'>Come trooping to the light,</div>
<div class='line'>In pale green caftans closely wound</div>
<div class='line in2'>And turbans spotless white.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>While all the way with budding things</div>
<div class='line in2'>Is tufted thicker than</div>
<div class='line'>The praying mats the Persian weaves</div>
<div class='line in2'>In streets of Ispahan.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And listen! with a lordly note</div>
<div class='line in2'>Like joyous burst of drums,</div>
<div class='line'>In gorgeous gown of gold and black</div>
<div class='line in2'>The oriole sultan comes!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='36' id='Page_36'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE THRUSH</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> creamy dogwood branches,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The rosy redbud trees,</div>
<div class='line'>The drifts of sweet wild-plum bloom</div>
<div class='line in2'>O’erhung by honey bees,</div>
<div class='line'>The gleaming buckeye blossoms</div>
<div class='line in2'>The south wind blew apart,</div>
<div class='line'>Oh, all the woods awaking,</div>
<div class='line in2'>They overfilled my heart!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then clear, from out a thicket,</div>
<div class='line in2'>There rang that golden note</div>
<div class='line'>That flutes from none but only</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tawny thrush’s throat;</div>
<div class='line'>So charged with all sweet secrets</div>
<div class='line in2'>The April has to tell,</div>
<div class='line'>I bowed my head and harkened,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Enchanted by its spell.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Till presently that magic</div>
<div class='line in2'>Heart-melting melody</div>
<div class='line'>Drew all my soul to meet it</div>
<div class='line in2'>In sudden ecstasy.</div>
<div class='line'>My spirit found its pinions</div>
<div class='line in2'>In blessed bird-like birth,</div>
<div class='line'>And knew the joyous passion</div>
<div class='line in2'>That thrilled through all the earth.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='37' id='Page_37'></span>The while the thrush was singing,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I heard the violets stir,</div>
<div class='line'>And through the dreamy woodlands</div>
<div class='line in2'>The breaking buds confer;</div>
<div class='line'>I half divined the glories</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of all the springs to be,</div>
<div class='line'>—When, O, the song was silent!</div>
<div class='line in2'>The thrush had flown, ah me!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='38' id='Page_38'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>MONTEZUMA</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>On</span> a lofty mountain summit</div>
<div class='line in2'>In a tawny, desert land,</div>
<div class='line'>Lo, a mighty human profile,</div>
<div class='line in2'>But not hewn by human hand;</div>
<div class='line'>In the living rock forever</div>
<div class='line in2'>Looming dark, majestic, grand.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O’er its outline, heaven fronting,</div>
<div class='line in2'>When the dawn’s first radiance streams</div>
<div class='line'>With its rosy touch, and tender,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Then this face of granite seems</div>
<div class='line'>As a sleeper’s unawakened</div>
<div class='line in2'>From the thrall of peaceful dreams.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But when down the western heavens</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sinks the setting sun, blood-red,</div>
<div class='line'>Then the mountain mists that mantle</div>
<div class='line in2'>Cover close that quiet head,</div>
<div class='line'>As men draw a pall of purple</div>
<div class='line in2'>Round about their kingly dead.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And the stars, like lighted tapers,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Flicker forth in golden rows</div>
<div class='line'>From the heaven’s holy altar,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whilst the night-wind as it blows</div>
<div class='line'>Seems to chant a solemn requiem</div>
<div class='line in2'>For the passing soul’s repose.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'></span>Head of royal Montezuma,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So the ancient legends tell;</div>
<div class='line'>Montezuma, granite shrouded</div>
<div class='line in2'>By some great enchanter’s spell,</div>
<div class='line'>Lying lordly by the borders</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of the land he loved so well.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But in silence unrevealing</div>
<div class='line in2'>Still that calm face fronts the sky;</div>
<div class='line'>Heeding neither tears nor laughter,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nor if sun or storm go by;</div>
<div class='line'>Keeping still its primal counsel,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In repose, serene and high.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='40' id='Page_40'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>BETWEEN SEASONS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> cherry trees are haunted</div>
<div class='line in2'>By hordes of robber jays,</div>
<div class='line'>And warmer winds are fanning</div>
<div class='line in2'>The poppies to a blaze.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And loosed in fitful flurries,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sweet syringas fall,</div>
<div class='line'>To lie like little snow-drifts</div>
<div class='line in2'>Against the garden wall.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Upon the laden lattice,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In softly rounding shapes,</div>
<div class='line'>A wealth of tiny clusters</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are growing into grapes.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Heigho! a drowsy shimmer</div>
<div class='line in2'>Enfolds the sunny hours;</div>
<div class='line'>And humming-birds are hidden</div>
<div class='line in2'>In scarlet trumpet-flowers.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The tenderness of springtime</div>
<div class='line in2'>Is almost overpast;</div>
<div class='line'>But O, the gracious summer,</div>
<div class='line in2'>It comes, it comes at last!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='41' id='Page_41'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>A LITTLE LOVE SONG</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>My</span> heart was like a sunless, cold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Unlovely land of ice and snow,</div>
<div class='line'>Wherein no blessed buds unfold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nor singing waters flow.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then all at once the April skies</div>
<div class='line in2'>Laughed in your look, and at that hour</div>
<div class='line'>My spirit melted, torrent-wise,</div>
<div class='line in2'>My life broke into flower!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O dearest heart, I had not guessed</div>
<div class='line in2'>What marvel of immortal seeds</div>
<div class='line'>Lay hidden deep within my breast,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Beneath its barren weeds!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>But now I know, but now I know</div>
<div class='line in2'>The glory of the flower of love,</div>
<div class='line'>The joyous splendor of its glow,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The subtile pain thereof!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>JUNE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'><span class='sc'>High</span> overhead,</div>
<div class='line in6'>By summer breezes sped,</div>
<div class='line'>From every latest burgeoned bough</div>
<div class='line in2'>The last, spring petals fall;</div>
<div class='line in6'>And red, red, red,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Along the garden bed,</div>
<div class='line'>The poppy plants are holding now</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their crimson carnival.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>Clear, sweet, and strong,</div>
<div class='line in6'>I hear the robin’s song,</div>
<div class='line'>And catch the merry caroling</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of some bold bobolink;</div>
<div class='line in6'>And phlox flowers throng</div>
<div class='line in6'>The garden ways along,</div>
<div class='line'>While peonies and roses bring</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their pageantries of pink.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>White, gold, and green,</div>
<div class='line in6'>The lily spires are seen,</div>
<div class='line'>And hollyhocks, in stately rows,</div>
<div class='line in2'>With tufted buds are set;</div>
<div class='line in6'>Tall, in between,</div>
<div class='line in6'>The growing sunflowers lean,</div>
<div class='line'>And thick the sweet alyssum shows</div>
<div class='line in2'>Among the mignonette.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'><span class='pageno' title='43' id='Page_43'></span>Ho! truant May!</div>
<div class='line in6'>Have you, then, gone astray,</div>
<div class='line'>Unwitting that in realms of June</div>
<div class='line in2'>Return were no avail?</div>
<div class='line in6'>Ah, well-a-day!</div>
<div class='line in6'>So wings the spring away;</div>
<div class='line'>The summer’s ever oversoon,</div>
<div class='line in2'>But June, sweet June, all hail!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='44' id='Page_44'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>A SONG OF THOUGHT</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>O, the</span> ships have sails for the swelling gales,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The falcon flies in the wake of the wind,</div>
<div class='line'>In the speed of the steed of the Bedouin breed</div>
<div class='line'>The blood leaps high to the hoof-beats’ lead,</div>
<div class='line in2'>As the leagues are left behind.</div>
<div class='line in12'>But what care I</div>
<div class='line in12'>For the birds that fly,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Or all the vessels that sail the sea;</div>
<div class='line in12'>The blasts that blow</div>
<div class='line in12'>Till the trees bend low,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Or the barbs of Araby!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I spring to birth with the dust of earth,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Yet span the heaven from pole to pole;</div>
<div class='line'>Or flashing far as the farthermost star,</div>
<div class='line'>I know no barrier, bound nor bar</div>
<div class='line in2'>To hold from my boldest goal.</div>
<div class='line in12'>The storm’s red spark</div>
<div class='line in12'>As it cleaves the dark,</div>
<div class='line in4'>With my viewless wings it can not keep pace;</div>
<div class='line in12'>More fleet than light</div>
<div class='line in12'>My measureless flight</div>
<div class='line in4'>To the starless ends of space!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='45' id='Page_45'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IN THE MOONLIGHT</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> moonbeams filter softly through</div>
<div class='line in2'>The leaves upon the linden tree;</div>
<div class='line'>And as I sit alone, dear heart,</div>
<div class='line in2'>My spirit yearns for thee!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Yet in some gracious-wise to-night</div>
<div class='line in2'>We do not seem far worlds apart;</div>
<div class='line'>I reach my empty arms and dream</div>
<div class='line in2'>I fold thee to my heart.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I close my brimming eyes, and see</div>
<div class='line in2'>The strange, sweet beauty of thy smile,</div>
<div class='line'>And fancy that our palms are met</div>
<div class='line in2'>In loving clasp the while.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In soft, clear tones, I seem to hear</div>
<div class='line in2'>The long-hushed voice I loved so well;</div>
<div class='line'>—I tremble, lest a breath should break</div>
<div class='line in2'>This moment’s happy spell!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O brother mine, could it be true</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thine own dear presence hovers near</div>
<div class='line'>To comfort with this heavenly peace</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thy little sister here?</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='46' id='Page_46'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>BINDWEED</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Along</span> the lane I idly pass</div>
<div class='line in2'>Unheeding where the footpath goes,</div>
<div class='line'>And loiter through the ripe wild-grass</div>
<div class='line in2'>That down the open roadway grows</div>
<div class='line in4'>In feathery, tall tufts that rise</div>
<div class='line in4'>In filmy tangles, misty-wise;</div>
<div class='line in2'>The grass that when the south wind blows,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Shines out and shows</div>
<div class='line in2'>Shot through with silver lights and rose,</div>
<div class='line'>And tiny gold and violet seeds</div>
<div class='line in2'>That quiver off each gleaming stem</div>
<div class='line'>And powder all the wayside weeds,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And like a glory cover them.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>With eager palms I gently press</div>
<div class='line in2'>Soft sheaves of it against my lips</div>
<div class='line'>In sheer delight; and so caress</div>
<div class='line in2'>And fondle with light finger-tips,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And watch its beauty when the bright,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Clear spears of light</div>
<div class='line in4'>Pierce through its slender leaves and smite</div>
<div class='line in4'>Their rose and purple, till my sight</div>
<div class='line'>Is dazzled with its loveliness!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='47' id='Page_47'></span>In verdant nets along the way</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tendrils of a wild-grape vine</div>
<div class='line in2'>Through elder thickets intertwine;</div>
<div class='line'>And poising lightly on a spray</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of fruited bramble stems where shine</div>
<div class='line in2'>Close clustering berries, red as wine,</div>
<div class='line'>A little thistle-bird, still gay</div>
<div class='line in2'>In April’s yellow plumage, clings</div>
<div class='line in2'>With airy grace, and slowly swings,</div>
<div class='line in8'>And lifts his wings</div>
<div class='line in2'>In dainty, drowsy flutterings;</div>
<div class='line'>They flicker like bright flakes of gold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And fan his body, small and slim,</div>
<div class='line'>While lovingly the winds enfold</div>
<div class='line in2'>And summer’s heart broods over him.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The sky is softer than the blue</div>
<div class='line'>Of cornflower buds beneath the dew;</div>
<div class='line in8'>And down below</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the marshy meadow swales</div>
<div class='line in2'>The bindweed weaves its rosy veils</div>
<div class='line'>Where thick the blowing rushes grow</div>
<div class='line'>Among the tasseled reeds and rue;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And up between the mossy rails</div>
<div class='line'>It lightly climbs, and clambers through</div>
<div class='line'>The growing corn, and barley, too,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And winds the fallow weeds and trails</div>
<div class='line'>Along the creek where cowslips grew.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O lavish stems, that fondly fling</div>
<div class='line'>Close clasp about the earth, and cling</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='48' id='Page_48'></span>In wreaths of fragrant flowering,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Ev’n as ye do</div>
<div class='line'>To that dear soil wherefrom ye spring,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So does my love cleave thereunto!</div>
<div class='line in2'>And so my full heart-blossoms bind</div>
<div class='line in2'>The bright midsummer fields, and find</div>
<div class='line'>Sweet fellowships with everything!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='49' id='Page_49'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE SUMMER SHOWER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> air is shot with spangling drops,</div>
<div class='line in2'>But heedless of the rain</div>
<div class='line'>The sun laughs, through a silver veil,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the golden grain.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And lightly arching up the east</div>
<div class='line in2'>In faintly penciled lines,</div>
<div class='line'>That throb and flush to tinted bars,</div>
<div class='line in2'>A double rainbow shines.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>It seems to touch the fragrant earth,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Till, tangled in the breeze,</div>
<div class='line'>It winds a film of irised light</div>
<div class='line in2'>About the distant trees.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In frothy clusters down the road</div>
<div class='line in2'>The blooming elders lean,</div>
<div class='line'>With dripping buds that shine like pearls</div>
<div class='line in2'>Within a sea of green.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And heaped around them, pink as shells,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The roses are in flower,</div>
<div class='line'>While earth and sky are freshly keyed</div>
<div class='line in2'>To sweetness by the shower.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='50' id='Page_50'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>AT NIGHT</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Come</span>, draw more near! Clasp hands with me!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Ah close, and closer still!</div>
<div class='line'>The night spreads to infinity!</div>
<div class='line in2'>And through my heart a sudden chill,</div>
<div class='line in4'>—I pray loose not your loving hold!—</div>
<div class='line in4'>A fear, a loneliness untold</div>
<div class='line in2'>Smites sharply, till mine eyes o’erfill!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nor have I strength nor stress of will</div>
<div class='line'>To set my spirit free.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The cold, the darkness, and the dread</div>
<div class='line in2'>Immensity of space,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The great, wan moon, whose ghostly face</div>
<div class='line'>For ages has been dead,</div>
<div class='line'>The weird lights wheeling overhead,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The unknown worlds that onward roll,</div>
<div class='line'>In endless wanderings ever led,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That find no goal,</div>
<div class='line'>The spectral mists that overspread</div>
<div class='line in2'>With pallid light the lesser stars,</div>
<div class='line'>The lurid glow that glimmers red</div>
<div class='line in2'>Across the front of Mars,</div>
<div class='line'>—O dearest heart, when all is said,</div>
<div class='line'>I am afraid! and from the whole</div>
<div class='line in2'>Wide waste of worlds I hide my sight,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And from the boundless night!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='51' id='Page_51'></span>The ancient mystery of the skies,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their silent depths from pole to pole,</div>
<div class='line'>The void, the vastness terrifies!</div>
<div class='line'>—O, let me rather search your eyes,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And with your sweet, warm touch disperse</div>
<div class='line in4'>This terror of the universe</div>
<div class='line in2'>That strikes into my soul!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='52' id='Page_52'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE HOME FIELDS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> fields are full of sunlight,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And leafy golden-green,</div>
<div class='line'>And misty purple shadows</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are flitting in between;</div>
<div class='line'>The flaky elder flowers</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are drenched with honey-dew,</div>
<div class='line'>And all the distant woodlands</div>
<div class='line in2'>Stand veiled in tender blue.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Half seen between green thickets</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of grape-vine and wild rose,</div>
<div class='line'>In twinkling swirls of silver</div>
<div class='line in2'>The lazy river flows;</div>
<div class='line'>While down the grassy roadside</div>
<div class='line in2'>The milkweed balls are bright,</div>
<div class='line'>And waving prince’s-feather</div>
<div class='line in2'>Is tipped with snowy white.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah, ever-dearest home-land,</div>
<div class='line in2'>’Tis here my spirit sings!</div>
<div class='line'>And as my heart caresses</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sweet, familiar things,</div>
<div class='line'>Such rare midsummer magic</div>
<div class='line in2'>Distills through all the air,</div>
<div class='line'>I think these fields are fairer</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than any anywhere!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>SYMPATHY</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>To-night</span> a little child lies dead;</div>
<div class='line in2'>I never saw its face;</div>
<div class='line'>I try to fancy now instead</div>
<div class='line in2'>Its lines of baby grace.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And for the sake of her who weeps</div>
<div class='line in2'>These lonely watches through</div>
<div class='line'>So wakefully my spirit keeps</div>
<div class='line in2'>A weary vigil, too.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A thousand thoughts appeal to me</div>
<div class='line in2'>In close-besieging crowd;</div>
<div class='line'>But through them all I only see</div>
<div class='line in2'>A little, snow-white shroud.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Nor may I set dull grief at naught,</div>
<div class='line in2'>However I am fain;</div>
<div class='line'>Since when the heart-strings are distraught,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The will must strive in vain.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah me! there breaks the dawning sun,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In golden light serene;</div>
<div class='line'>Yet still I mourn this little one,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whom I have never seen!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='54' id='Page_54'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IN SUMMER DEEPS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Through</span> sunny spaces overhead</div>
<div class='line'>A gray hawk’s lazy pinions spread,</div>
<div class='line'>And poppies open wide and red</div>
<div class='line in4'>Where golden harvests grew.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In rosy wreaths upon the swales</div>
<div class='line'>And fallow fields the bindweed trails,</div>
<div class='line'>And late-sown buckwheat swiftly pales</div>
<div class='line in4'>To blossoming anew.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The pond within the pasture land</div>
<div class='line'>Reflects the cattle as they stand</div>
<div class='line'>In depths of dipping sedges and</div>
<div class='line in4'>Of tangled meadow-rue.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In silver splashes through the green,</div>
<div class='line'>Fine, filmy spider-webs are seen,</div>
<div class='line'>And crumpled cockle-flowers between</div>
<div class='line in4'>Are rifts of tender blue.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>On stately stalks of standing corn</div>
<div class='line'>A wealth of cresting plumes are borne,</div>
<div class='line'>And tawny tasseled tufts adorn</div>
<div class='line in4'>The ripened barley, too.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>So, steeping nature far and wide,</div>
<div class='line'>Deep sweeps the flood of summer-tide,</div>
<div class='line'>Till all things that therein abide</div>
<div class='line in4'>Are richly tinctured through.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='55' id='Page_55'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>SONG</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>O, fresh</span> from off the ocean</div>
<div class='line in2'>The salt wind riots through</div>
<div class='line'>The fragrant fern and bay-leaves</div>
<div class='line in2'>And dripping honey-dew.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The morning’s on the moorland,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And flashing, far away,</div>
<div class='line'>I glimpse the foam-white seagulls</div>
<div class='line in2'>And feathers of the spray.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O hasten! let us hasten!</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tide sings up the sand</div>
<div class='line'>The song my heart has harkened</div>
<div class='line in2'>Across long leagues of land.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>So far, far have I journeyed,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Such weary ways, O sea!</div>
<div class='line'>Breathe, breathe me breath of life now,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And steep the soul of me!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='56' id='Page_56'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IMPATIENT</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Some</span> day, when summer’s overpast,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And loosed by frost, in gold and brown</div>
<div class='line in2'>These greenly clinging leaves drift down,</div>
<div class='line in8'>When shrill winds hush</div>
<div class='line in4'>The robin red-breast and the thrush,</div>
<div class='line'>When all the skies are overcast</div>
<div class='line in2'>With racks of rain, so chill and gray</div>
<div class='line in4'>Not any burgeoning may be,—</div>
<div class='line in8'>Some day,</div>
<div class='line'>Across far foreign lands and vast</div>
<div class='line in4'>Unbounded spaces of the sea,</div>
<div class='line'>So homeward, homeward, journeying fast,</div>
<div class='line in8'>At last</div>
<div class='line in4'>She will come back to me!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I reckon up, in daily sum,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The time until that scarlet date;</div>
<div class='line'>I think the fall will never come,</div>
<div class='line in6'>So wearily I wait!</div>
<div class='line in2'>The hours seem leaguing to belate</div>
<div class='line'>The days, that never crept so slow;</div>
<div class='line in8'>And yet,</div>
<div class='line'>I used to love the summer so!</div>
<div class='line in2'>But now my heart may only fret</div>
<div class='line in4'>And pray for it to go.</div>
<div class='line in2'><span class='pageno' title='57' id='Page_57'></span>And yearning so, with lashes wet,</div>
<div class='line in8'>I half forget</div>
<div class='line in4'>The greenery on every bough,</div>
<div class='line in4'>How red the poppies are, and how</div>
<div class='line in2'>Amid the tufted mignonette</div>
<div class='line'>The scented south-winds gently blow;</div>
<div class='line'>I heed them not,—I only know</div>
<div class='line in4'>Time never seemed so long as now!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I search the azure skies in vain,</div>
<div class='line in4'>No hint of autumn rain!</div>
<div class='line in2'>No hint of fall from bluebirds, nor</div>
<div class='line'>Green fields of growing grain.</div>
<div class='line in2'>Then idly reckoning, as before,</div>
<div class='line in4'>I strive anew to make less far</div>
<div class='line in4'>That glad date on the calendar;</div>
<div class='line in4'>To number less the days that are,</div>
<div class='line in4'>The changes fixed for sun and star,</div>
<div class='line'>The moons that yet must wax and wane;</div>
<div class='line in8'>Thus evermore</div>
<div class='line in2'>With fresh impatience, o’er and o’er,</div>
<div class='line'>I count the hours;—yet still am fain</div>
<div class='line'>To tell them over once again.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O hasten, hasten, autumn days!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sear swift this dewy, summer green!</div>
<div class='line'>I am grown weary with delays;</div>
<div class='line in8'>Speed! Speed!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bring bitter winds and chill, nor heed</div>
<div class='line'>The mellow sweets between!</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='58' id='Page_58'></span>What if the dead leaves strew the ways,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And southward all the songs take wing?</div>
<div class='line in4'>Despite all cheerless frosts that be,</div>
<div class='line in2'>My eager heart awaits the spring,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So knowing she will surely bring</div>
<div class='line in4'>The birds and May to me.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='59' id='Page_59'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>RAIN ON THE RIVER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> skies are gray, where far and wide,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Beyond the water-willows,</div>
<div class='line'>The marshes spread their emerald tide</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of blossom-crested billows.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And on the vague horizon’s rim,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In vaporous purple masses,</div>
<div class='line'>The distant woods show soft and dim</div>
<div class='line in2'>Across the lush, green grasses.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>An east wind stirs the ivory balls</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the button-bushes;</div>
<div class='line'>And hark! a hidden rain-bird calls</div>
<div class='line in2'>From out the blowing rushes.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Within the water, yonder spray</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of rosy mallow flowers</div>
<div class='line'>Turns faint and pale, till not more gray</div>
<div class='line in2'>The cloudy heaven lowers.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And all the birches’ tender green</div>
<div class='line in2'>An ashen hue is growing;</div>
<div class='line'>While mottled with a silver sheen</div>
<div class='line in2'>The ruffled waves are flowing.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='60' id='Page_60'></span>Then softly through the forest leaves,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That turn, and toss, and quiver,</div>
<div class='line'>The rain, with murmurous cadence, weaves</div>
<div class='line in2'>A roundel in the river.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>It dots the waves with dancing pearls,</div>
<div class='line in2'>It gleams, and streams, and twinkles;</div>
<div class='line'>It sweeps and sinks in silvery swirls,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And rings, and sings, and tinkles.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The clustering sedges dip and sway,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Till, after fitful failing,</div>
<div class='line'>The sun bursts gaily through the gray,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And craggy clouds are sailing</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Where, southward, in a brilliant sky,</div>
<div class='line in2'>As light as any feather,</div>
<div class='line'>The little moon curves white and high,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In token of fair weather.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>OVER THE SIERRA</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>From</span> out the depths of the abyss,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Faint echoes of a torrent’s roar</div>
<div class='line in2'>O’er crags whence lordly eagles soar</div>
<div class='line'>To poise above the precipice.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A dizzy pathway, sheer and steep;</div>
<div class='line in2'>A startled catching of the breath;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And, bearing menaces of death,</div>
<div class='line'>A loosened snow-drift’s sudden sweep!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then, blown from out the upper sky,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Keen, fitful gusts of icy air,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So light, so tenuous and rare,</div>
<div class='line'>The heart leaps strangely swift thereby.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The white moon floating in the calm</div>
<div class='line in2'>Still ether space, so near, it seems,</div>
<div class='line in2'>To grasp his eager childhood dreams,</div>
<div class='line'>One need but thither reach his palm.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A sense of majesties and mights,</div>
<div class='line in2'>An exaltation born of these;</div>
<div class='line in2'>—The summit’s awful silences;</div>
<div class='line'>A glimpse of Godhead from the heights!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='62' id='Page_62'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>ON THE PRAIRIE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Across</span> the dewy prairie</div>
<div class='line in2'>The morning wind is borne,</div>
<div class='line'>Beyond the new-mown hayfields,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And through the tasseled corn.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Upon the silver-maples</div>
<div class='line in2'>It lifts the swinging leaves,</div>
<div class='line'>And steals a subtile sweetness</div>
<div class='line in2'>From rows of golden sheaves.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Within the sunny orchard</div>
<div class='line in2'>The harvest apples fall,</div>
<div class='line'>While from the tossing branches</div>
<div class='line in2'>The saucy jay-birds call.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>In crinkled, fringy clusters</div>
<div class='line in2'>The scarlet poppies burn,</div>
<div class='line'>Where, softly opening, eastward</div>
<div class='line in2'>The yellow sunflowers turn.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And nibbling in the garden,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Between the cherry trees,</div>
<div class='line'>I see a robber rabbit</div>
<div class='line in2'>Among the pink sweet-peas.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='63' id='Page_63'></span>While with a fitful fanning,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The lazy wind-mill swings,</div>
<div class='line'>About the bloomy peaches</div>
<div class='line in2'>A robin redbreast sings.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And in the far horizon</div>
<div class='line in2'>There dwells such tender hue,</div>
<div class='line'>These azure cornflower blossoms</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are not so sweet and blue.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='64' id='Page_64'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>BY THE KANKAKEE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Beneath</span> the forest trees I lie,</div>
<div class='line'>And watch the deep blue summer sky,</div>
<div class='line'>And count the white cranes floating by</div>
<div class='line in10'>On level wings;</div>
<div class='line'>And in the undergrowth I hear</div>
<div class='line'>A bittern softly treading near,</div>
<div class='line'>While through the willows, sweet and clear,</div>
<div class='line in10'>A wood-thrush sings.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And flashing, plashing, close to me,</div>
<div class='line'>With murmurous, melting melody,</div>
<div class='line'>The swirling, crystal Kankakee</div>
<div class='line in10'>Flows deep and swift</div>
<div class='line'>Through liquid tints and tones untold</div>
<div class='line'>Of topaz, turquoise, bronze and gold,</div>
<div class='line'>That in its lucent depths unfold</div>
<div class='line in10'>And drift, and sift,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Till down among the pearly shells</div>
<div class='line'>A wealth of changeful color dwells;</div>
<div class='line'>And like a string of silver bells</div>
<div class='line in10'>The ripples ring</div>
<div class='line'>Through trailing water-weeds that raise</div>
<div class='line'>Their tangled, yellow blossom-sprays</div>
<div class='line'>Where in a green and golden maze</div>
<div class='line in10'>Tall rushes swing.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='65' id='Page_65'></span>And far across the glassy tide,</div>
<div class='line'>The marshes shimmer, low and wide,</div>
<div class='line'>Where birds and bees and wild things hide</div>
<div class='line in10'>In reedy grass</div>
<div class='line'>Whose wavering, evanescent hues</div>
<div class='line'>Pale, darken, change, and interfuse,</div>
<div class='line'>Till my enchanted senses lose</div>
<div class='line in10'>All things that pass,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And only feel an exquisite</div>
<div class='line'>Glad throb of light and life complete;</div>
<div class='line'>While like some subtile essence sweet,</div>
<div class='line in10'>The wilderness,</div>
<div class='line'>The perfumes warm of wave and wood</div>
<div class='line'>The silence of the solitude,</div>
<div class='line'>All merge and mingle in my mood,</div>
<div class='line in10'>Till half I guess</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The secrets that the winds impart,</div>
<div class='line'>And draw so near to nature’s heart</div>
<div class='line'>I feel her inmost pulses start;</div>
<div class='line in10'>While happily</div>
<div class='line'>I sink upon her fragrant breast,</div>
<div class='line'>Like yonder thrush within its nest,</div>
<div class='line'>And deep, entrancing sense of rest</div>
<div class='line in10'>Steals over me.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='66' id='Page_66'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE FISHER FOLK</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>I know</span> a little village</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where fisher folk abide;</div>
<div class='line'>The dark pine woods behind it,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The southern sea beside.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>There rosy pink crape-myrtles</div>
<div class='line in2'>In every dooryard grow,</div>
<div class='line'>And through the glossy live-oaks</div>
<div class='line in2'>The salt sea breezes blow.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>At break of day the fishers</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sail out to sea to reap</div>
<div class='line'>The harvest that they sowed not,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The harvest of the deep.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then, when their nets are emptied,</div>
<div class='line in2'>They set their sails for land,</div>
<div class='line'>To heap the shining fishes</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the shining sand.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Where little barefoot children</div>
<div class='line in2'>Await them, eager-eyed,</div>
<div class='line'>And play the while with sea-shells</div>
<div class='line in2'>Cast upward by the tide.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And all seem so content there,</div>
<div class='line in2'>From worldly care so free,</div>
<div class='line'>I would that I could find it,</div>
<div class='line in2'>This secret of the sea!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='67' id='Page_67'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE CACTUS LAND</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Land</span> of strange, unearthly beauty,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Tawny Desert, over me</div>
<div class='line'>Thou hast cast the deep enchantment</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of some subtile sorcery!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>These thine endless barren reaches</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where no fruitful harvests grow,</div>
<div class='line'>Unto some bring nameless heartache;</div>
<div class='line in2'>But to me thou dost not so!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Here, where all the air seems newly</div>
<div class='line in2'>From the springs of life distilled,</div>
<div class='line'>Every breath is like a beaker</div>
<div class='line in2'>With rare, sparkling rapture filled!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And my heart exults and glories</div>
<div class='line in2'>In the strange, compelling power</div>
<div class='line'>Of enchanting, changeful color,</div>
<div class='line in2'>That is thy supremest dower.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Joy to me thine ever cloudless</div>
<div class='line in2'>Sky of purest turquoise hue,</div>
<div class='line'>And thy rosy mountain ranges</div>
<div class='line in2'>Wrapped in pale, translucent blue.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='68' id='Page_68'></span>Beautiful the rainbow ether</div>
<div class='line in2'>Shifting, shimmering evermore,</div>
<div class='line'>In diaphanous, dazzling splendors</div>
<div class='line in2'>Over all thy boundless floor,</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Where the low-boughed silver sage-bush</div>
<div class='line in2'>Softly tufts the tawny land,</div>
<div class='line'>And the tropic Spanish bayonet</div>
<div class='line in2'>Clusters tall on every hand.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>While for leagues and leagues the cactus,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Child of sun and sand and bare</div>
<div class='line'>Rainless regions, lifts its columns</div>
<div class='line in2'>Through the rare, transparent air.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Wild and splendid in thy freedom,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Unsubdued as is the sea,</div>
<div class='line'>From the first, O lordly Desert,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Thou hast drawn my heart to thee!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Desolate thou art, and silent,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Barren both of fruit and flower;</div>
<div class='line'>Yet I love thine arid grandeur</div>
<div class='line in2'>That defies man’s utmost power!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='69' id='Page_69'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE LAST SURVIVOR FROM THE<br/>LIFE-BOAT</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Beneath</span> his pillow, hid away</div>
<div class='line'>From careless sight, the nurses say,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And safe from any stranger’s view,</div>
<div class='line'>As miser might some treasure rare,</div>
<div class='line'>So does he guard, with jealous care,</div>
<div class='line in6'>A baby’s shoe.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And evermore by day and night,</div>
<div class='line'>With burning eyeballs fever-bright,</div>
<div class='line in2'>This wan survivor of the sea</div>
<div class='line'>Scans each blank, closing wall in turn,</div>
<div class='line'>In dim endeavor to discern</div>
<div class='line in6'>If sail there be.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And then the weary sigh that slips</div>
<div class='line'>Suspiring from those parching lips</div>
<div class='line in2'>No heart may hear nor bleed therefor!</div>
<div class='line'>As, with hot tears that fall like rain,</div>
<div class='line'>He soothes a dying baby’s pain</div>
<div class='line in6'>And o’er and o’er</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Croons snatches of soft lullabies</div>
<div class='line'>To empty arms held cradle-wise.</div>
<div class='line in2'>—O human heart-break, love and grief!</div>
<div class='line'>God pity him in his distress,</div>
<div class='line'>Ev’n as the sea was pitiless</div>
<div class='line in6'>Beyond belief!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='70' id='Page_70'></span>God comfort, as with straining breath,</div>
<div class='line'>Unheeding either life or death,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Yet still with faint unwitting smile,</div>
<div class='line'>His fingers fondly seek and fold</div>
<div class='line'>The little sea-stained shoe, and hold</div>
<div class='line in6'>And stroke the while.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='71' id='Page_71'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE CASCADE RAVINE</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>From</span> off the traveled road that lay</div>
<div class='line in2'>Between wide fields of wheat and corn,</div>
<div class='line in2'>An old gate, gray and weather-worn,</div>
<div class='line'>Led down a shady woodland way.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>One scarce might trace the narrow path,</div>
<div class='line in2'>So green it was and overgrown</div>
<div class='line'>With springtime’s seeded aftermath;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Tall grasses that had never known</div>
<div class='line'>The mower’s scythe or sickle’s scath,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And rosy mayweed lightly sown</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where’er the summer winds had blown;</div>
<div class='line'>And all their tangled stems the red</div>
<div class='line'>Sweet clover blossoms overspread.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Near by, through scented, leafy veils</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of wreathing vines, and dewy, dense</div>
<div class='line'>Green underwood, a brood of quails</div>
<div class='line'>Sped swiftly past the ragged rails</div>
<div class='line in2'>That tilted off a mossy fence;</div>
<div class='line'>And over it, on airy wing,</div>
<div class='line in2'>A robin paused in glad content</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where budding elder-bushes leant</div>
<div class='line'>And brambles clambered flowering.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span>Then, suddenly, a low, sweet sound</div>
<div class='line in2'>Rose, faintly quivering on the breeze,</div>
<div class='line'>And all that blossom-studded ground</div>
<div class='line in2'>Seemed charged with murmurous mysteries!</div>
<div class='line in2'>As if all rarest forest keys</div>
<div class='line'>In dreamful chords divinely blent,</div>
<div class='line'>Sang forth from some sweet instrument;</div>
<div class='line in2'>While pulsing through, with rhythmic beat,</div>
<div class='line'>In slumberous melodies there went</div>
<div class='line'>The soft susurrus of the trees,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The wind that wandered through the wheat,</div>
<div class='line'>And all the changeful strains of these.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And as I listened, marveling</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where those light, liquid tones might be,</div>
<div class='line'>Forgetting all and everything</div>
<div class='line in2'>Save that enchanting minstrelsy,</div>
<div class='line'>I wandered slowly through the wood,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Till all at once the parted green</div>
<div class='line'>Revealed its secret, for I stood</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the verge of a ravine</div>
<div class='line in2'>Wherein the sunbeams broke between</div>
<div class='line'>Tall rustling hemlock boughs, and bright</div>
<div class='line'>As burnished silver in the light,</div>
<div class='line in2'>A tiny stream ran tinkling through,</div>
<div class='line'>While hidden somewhere out of sight,</div>
<div class='line in2'>A little spring made music, too.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The shining water slipped and slipped</div>
<div class='line'>Adown the mossy rocks, and dripped</div>
<div class='line in2'>From off fine fringing ferns, in drops</div>
<div class='line'>Of endless threaded pearls that tipped</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tasseled sedge and alder tops</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='73' id='Page_73'></span>With flickering light,—and then it sipped</div>
<div class='line'>A drowsy draught of sun, and dipped</div>
<div class='line in2'>Beneath small clustering buds, and hid</div>
<div class='line in2'>Among lush marigolds, and slid</div>
<div class='line in4'>Between tall serried ranks of reeds,</div>
<div class='line'>And stroked their little leaves and lipped</div>
<div class='line in4'>The flower-spangled jewel-weeds;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Then, speeding suddenly amid</div>
<div class='line'>Faint shimmering spray, it lightly tripped</div>
<div class='line'>Across white pebbly sand, and stripped</div>
<div class='line in2'>The marsh flowers’ gold, and fled, half seen,</div>
<div class='line in2'>A splash of silver through the green.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And all the while that music sweet</div>
<div class='line'>Kept softly murmuring at my feet,</div>
<div class='line in2'>As down the rocks in ceaseless streams</div>
<div class='line in4'>The limpid cascades poured, and still</div>
<div class='line in2'>The slumberous light in yellow beams</div>
<div class='line in4'>Bathed the green hemlock boughs,—until</div>
<div class='line in4'>I seemed to lose all waking will,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And all my soul was lulled to dreams;</div>
<div class='line'>Wherethrough there floated, drowsy-wise,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bright glints of bird-wings, gracious gleams</div>
<div class='line'>Of tender, sunlit summer skies,</div>
<div class='line in4'>And fleet, sweet visions of the rare</div>
<div class='line in4'>Deep, shadowy hearts the forests bear.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='74' id='Page_74'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>FOREBODING</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> scarlet briars trailed across</div>
<div class='line in2'>The grave I journeyed far to see;</div>
<div class='line'>Upon the stone, half hid in moss,</div>
<div class='line in2'>“Prepare for death, and follow me.”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The birds flew southward down the sky;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon a golden linden tree</div>
<div class='line'>The leaves that fluttered seemed to sigh,</div>
<div class='line in2'>“Prepare for death, and follow me.”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>My father’s father slept below</div>
<div class='line in2'>So dreamless deep and silently,</div>
<div class='line'>I spelled the message soft and slow,</div>
<div class='line in2'>“Prepare for death, and follow me.”</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>—Ah me! ’twas years ago the birds</div>
<div class='line in2'>Fled swift o’er that far golden tree;</div>
<div class='line'>And wherefore now come back these words,</div>
<div class='line in2'>“Prepare for death, and follow me”?</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='75' id='Page_75'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>IN LATE SEPTEMBER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Among</span> the hardy marigolds</div>
<div class='line'>The spicy gillyflower unfolds,</div>
<div class='line'>And in the elm a catbird scolds</div>
<div class='line in4'>With saucy, outspread wings;</div>
<div class='line'>To mellow sweets the pippins speed,</div>
<div class='line'>The sunflower disks are brown with seed,</div>
<div class='line'>And round about them finches feed</div>
<div class='line in4'>In clinging, yellow rings.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The latest poppy fires are dead,</div>
<div class='line'>But bright as blossoms overhead</div>
<div class='line'>In shining sheaves of bronze and red,</div>
<div class='line in4'>The frost-tipped pear leaves show;</div>
<div class='line'>While from their branches blackbirds sing</div>
<div class='line'>Or break to noisy chattering;</div>
<div class='line'>And slender silken cobwebs string</div>
<div class='line in4'>The tall grass down below.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Along the uplands, faintly seen</div>
<div class='line'>Across the fallow fields between,</div>
<div class='line'>The winter wheat grows bravely green</div>
<div class='line in4'>Despite the coming cold;</div>
<div class='line'>And studding all the stubbled ground</div>
<div class='line'>In tasseled shocks the corn is bound,</div>
<div class='line'>The ripened ears heaped close around</div>
<div class='line in4'>In piles of purest gold.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='76' id='Page_76'></span>To smoky wreaths along the ways</div>
<div class='line'>The newly kindled brush-heaps blaze,</div>
<div class='line'>And filmy veils of purple haze</div>
<div class='line in4'>Mesh all the amber air;</div>
<div class='line'>Among the fleeces of the sheep</div>
<div class='line'>The yellow sunbeams softly creep,</div>
<div class='line'>And sweet contentment, wide and deep,</div>
<div class='line in4'>Rests gently everywhere.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='77' id='Page_77'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>SUNNY NOON</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> rose-trees and the barberries</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are strung with coral beads;</div>
<div class='line'>And fitful breezes lightly sift</div>
<div class='line in2'>The ripened poppy-seeds.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Still, heedless of the nipping frost,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Along the garden bed</div>
<div class='line'>The white and purple gillyflowers</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their spicy fragrance shed.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And weaving richest tapestries</div>
<div class='line in2'>Upon the lattice frame,</div>
<div class='line'>The woodbine laces in and out</div>
<div class='line in2'>In gold, and rose, and flame.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Along the wall the grapevines trace</div>
<div class='line in2'>Their brown and twisted frets,</div>
<div class='line'>And all the trailing clematis</div>
<div class='line in2'>Is hung with soft aigrettes.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Through fringes that the larches wave</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sky shows fair and blue,</div>
<div class='line'>And somewhere, from beneath the eaves,</div>
<div class='line in2'>I hear the pigeons coo.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The glory of the noonday sun</div>
<div class='line in2'>Pervades the dreamy air,</div>
<div class='line'>And the sweet heart of beauty throbs</div>
<div class='line in2'>In music everywhere.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='78' id='Page_78'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE GOLDEN WEDDING</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>More</span> sweet than all the buds that blow</div>
<div class='line'>Where summer’s rarest roses grow,</div>
<div class='line in2'>More splendid than white lily spires,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Or shining, scarlet poppy fires,</div>
<div class='line'>Love’s fragrant flower,—even so,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The blossom of the heart’s desires.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And richer than all fields enfold</div>
<div class='line'>Or all earth’s burdened branches hold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Than any autumn vintage red,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Or yellow sheaves new harvested,</div>
<div class='line'>Love’s ripened fruit of mellow gold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The sum of life, when all is said.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='79' id='Page_79'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>EARLY NOVEMBER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'><span class='sc'>O the</span> sweetness of the jangle</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of the sheep-bells, in the tangle</div>
<div class='line'>Of the wild witch-hazel bushes and the spreading red-bud trees!</div>
<div class='line in8'>—Ah, the silence when it ceases!</div>
<div class='line in8'>But the beauty of the fleeces,</div>
<div class='line'>And the soft eyes peering at me through the woodbine lattices!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'>And beyond them, and the network</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of the dogwood, and the fretwork</div>
<div class='line'>Of the interlacing grapevines, and across the meadow land,</div>
<div class='line in8'>I can see the color showing</div>
<div class='line in8'>Where the winter-wheat is growing,</div>
<div class='line'>With the corn encamped about it like a plumed protecting band.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'>While among the many-seeded</div>
<div class='line in8'>Tufts of russet weeds, unheeded,</div>
<div class='line'>Truant ducks go idly twinkling through the yellow stubble-field;</div>
<div class='line in8'>Their white feathers like the glosses</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of the shining silver bosses</div>
<div class='line'>That adorn the tawny luster of an olden golden shield.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'><span class='pageno' title='80' id='Page_80'></span>In long loops from off the hedges,</div>
<div class='line in8'>Trailing downward to the edges</div>
<div class='line'>Of the wayside grass and clover-leaves, fine cobweb threads are wound;</div>
<div class='line in8'>Fairy clues that lead my eager</div>
<div class='line in8'>Errant fancy to beleaguer</div>
<div class='line'>Some concealed, enchanted chamber in the richly covered ground.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'>Till the sun begins the lighting</div>
<div class='line in8'>Of his western fires, that smiting</div>
<div class='line'>Through the orchard boughs are splintered into spears of ruddy flame;</div>
<div class='line in8'>An irradiating splendor</div>
<div class='line in8'>That transfigures all the slender</div>
<div class='line'>Little leafless twigs and branches with a glory without name!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in8'>O, I know the year is going!</div>
<div class='line in8'>Neither reaping-time nor sowing</div>
<div class='line'>Will restore the tender beauty of its blossoms that are dead:</div>
<div class='line in8'>Yet I cherish all their sweetness</div>
<div class='line in8'>In the ripeness and completeness</div>
<div class='line'>Of the gold and crimson fruitage that my heart has harvested.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>WHEREFORE WINGS?</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Heigho</span>, sparrow! Reckless of the rain;</div>
<div class='line in2'>When chill the cheerless wind grows,</div>
<div class='line'>Chirping might and main!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Is it naught, then, when the rose</div>
<div class='line in10'>Blows again?</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Beating, sleeting on your draggled coat!</div>
<div class='line in2'>Surely, ’tis enough to drown</div>
<div class='line'>Any happy note</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nestling in that downy brown</div>
<div class='line in10'>Little throat.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Ah me, sparrow! Had I but your power,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Think you in the freezing sleet</div>
<div class='line'>I would waste an hour?</div>
<div class='line in2'>—I’d sing my sweetest to a sweet</div>
<div class='line in10'>Orange flower!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='82' id='Page_82'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>WINTRY TINTS</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> sky is like an opal,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And the horizon’s ring</div>
<div class='line'>Is yellow, like a band of gold,</div>
<div class='line in2'>To hold so rich a thing.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>The wheat-fields are as fleecy</div>
<div class='line in2'>As any cloud that blows,</div>
<div class='line'>But tawny tufts of standing corn</div>
<div class='line in2'>Prick lightly through the snows.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Beside the drift-bound wind-mill</div>
<div class='line in2'>A pearly shadow plays</div>
<div class='line'>In tones of tender violet,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And vague, elusive grays.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And tinged with quiet olive</div>
<div class='line in2'>The hedges fine and bare,</div>
<div class='line'>Whose thorny masses down the road</div>
<div class='line in2'>An alien softness wear.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O, subtile chords of color</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are fingered by the frost!</div>
<div class='line'>Though touched and tuned to colder key,</div>
<div class='line in2'>No grace of earth is lost.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>For see! a deep red ruby</div>
<div class='line in2'>The opal heaven grows,</div>
<div class='line'>And yonder pool of ice is one</div>
<div class='line in2'>Great golden-hearted rose!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='83' id='Page_83'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE PERFECT FRIENDSHIP</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>There</span> is a garden so divinely fair</div>
<div class='line in2'>That in its magic bound, surpassing sweet,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The golden buds, so Persian songs repeat,</div>
<div class='line'>Spring forth immortal in enchanted air;</div>
<div class='line'>But, ah, a close there is, more heavenly rare,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Where, cherished warm within the heart’s retreat,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Love’s whitest lilies burgeon to complete</div>
<div class='line'>And fragrant flowering lovely past compare.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>O dearest friend, such lilies have I found</div>
<div class='line in2'>Within my heart, undreamed-of but for thee!</div>
<div class='line'>Nor any fabled buds of genie’s ground</div>
<div class='line in2'>Are sweeter in their immortality;</div>
<div class='line'>When thou art near, like notes of happy birds,</div>
<div class='line'>My thoughts uprise in songs that need no words.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='84' id='Page_84'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>JANUARY THAW</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>The</span> brook has broken through its glass,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And where the snows were drifted</div>
<div class='line'>Round tangled blades of last year’s grass,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The yellow sun is sifted.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Uncovered by the melting night</div>
<div class='line in2'>And warm, deceiving day-time,</div>
<div class='line'>The myrtle bed is green and bright</div>
<div class='line in2'>As in the midst of Maytime!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I almost fancy that I hear</div>
<div class='line in2'>The hum of bees in clover,</div>
<div class='line'>And from the maples, glad and clear,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The first red-robin lover.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>A mock spring laughs in mocking skies,</div>
<div class='line in2'>(O little buds, be wary!)</div>
<div class='line'>And masking in sweet April’s guise</div>
<div class='line in2'>The youthful year makes merry.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='85' id='Page_85'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>MORNING ON THE MOUNTAIN</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Upon</span> the gray crags, steep and sheer,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The columbines’ gold tassels swing,</div>
<div class='line in6'>And wind-flowers cling,</div>
<div class='line'>Where, lightly poised, the mountain deer</div>
<div class='line'>Drink in the dewy atmosphere</div>
<div class='line in2'>In long, deep draughts of sun and spring;</div>
<div class='line'>From haunts that know no hunter’s snare</div>
<div class='line in2'>The hermit-thrush and wood-dove wing,</div>
<div class='line'>Whilst through green openings squirrels fare</div>
<div class='line in6'>And here and there</div>
<div class='line in2'>Great, silvery moths go fluttering.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Along the valley, in a trail</div>
<div class='line'>Of purple light, the mist clouds sail,</div>
<div class='line in6'>And, soft and pale</div>
<div class='line in2'>As wreaths of newly risen smoke,</div>
<div class='line'>They wrap the red-wood trees and veil</div>
<div class='line in2'>The topmost crests of pine and oak,</div>
<div class='line'>And balsam boughs and juniper</div>
<div class='line'>Wherethrough the west winds faintly stir</div>
<div class='line in2'>The underwood, and gently stroke</div>
<div class='line'>The tall young ferns, and smooth the fur</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of countless happy forest-folk.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='86' id='Page_86'></span>Wild little hearts, that throb unknown</div>
<div class='line'>Save to the fondling winds alone,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bright eyes, that sparkle free of fear,</div>
<div class='line in2'>O earth is sweet, and life is dear!</div>
<div class='line'>Here in these forests, still your own,</div>
<div class='line in2'>In primal peace, this many a year</div>
<div class='line in6'>God keep you here!</div>
<div class='line'>Here where across the waking lands</div>
<div class='line'>Young willows wave their bloomy wands,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Whilst up the heights and far away</div>
<div class='line'>The pine trees climb in singing bands</div>
<div class='line in2'>And feathery spruces surge and sway</div>
<div class='line'>And clap their cones, like little hands,</div>
<div class='line in6'>For gladness of the day!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Up, up, they clamber on until</div>
<div class='line'>The tenuous air smites keen and chill,</div>
<div class='line in6'>And far winds blow</div>
<div class='line'>From leagues of everlasting snow;</div>
<div class='line in2'>And then the mountain buds, more bold,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Their sheaths unfold</div>
<div class='line'>And light their golden fires and glow</div>
<div class='line in2'>With flame unquenched by frost or cold.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Whilst ever o’er them, shimmering high</div>
<div class='line in6'>Against the sky,</div>
<div class='line'>A glittering, crystal radiance streams,</div>
<div class='line'>Wherein the mountain floats and gleams</div>
<div class='line'>Through frosty fleeces, till it seems</div>
<div class='line in2'>That some great morning star, instead</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of earth, hangs trembling overhead,</div>
<div class='line'><span class='pageno' title='87' id='Page_87'></span>A dream of all most lovely dreams!</div>
<div class='line in2'>An airy miracle, overspread</div>
<div class='line'>With veils of silvery tissue spun</div>
<div class='line'>Of ice and mist and snow and sun.</div>
<div class='line'>A dazzle of all lights in one!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>I watch it till, tall towering there</div>
<div class='line in6'>Through brightening air,</div>
<div class='line'>Such special splendor does it wear</div>
<div class='line in2'>It seems the sun’s own citadel,</div>
<div class='line in4'>At sight whereof my lips grow dumb</div>
<div class='line in2'>With joy I find no voice to tell;</div>
<div class='line in4'>So stricken silent, as with some</div>
<div class='line in2'>Deep gladness of o’ermastering spell;</div>
<div class='line in2'>Nor any song of mine may dare</div>
<div class='line in6'>To follow where</div>
<div class='line'>The summit’s utmost radiant peak,</div>
<div class='line in2'>Bright as God’s chosen cherubim,</div>
<div class='line'>Soars through the smiling sky to seek</div>
<div class='line in2'>And fearless front the face of Him.</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='88' id='Page_88'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE LITTLE SISTER</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'><span class='sc'>Along</span> the street a tiny pair</div>
<div class='line in2'>Of childish figures lately went;</div>
<div class='line'>The boy’s face wore a fearless air,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The little sister’s sweet content.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>He closely clasped her chubby hand,</div>
<div class='line in2'>And led her through the throng, while she</div>
<div class='line'>Seemed perfectly to understand</div>
<div class='line in2'>He would protect her loyally.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>And as I watched them pass from sight,</div>
<div class='line in2'>My heart began to ache, for so</div>
<div class='line'>I held my brother’s fingers tight</div>
<div class='line in2'>And toddled down the long ago.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line'>Then all at once, beyond control,</div>
<div class='line in2'>The tears uprose in blinding rain,</div>
<div class='line'>Such hopeless yearning stirred my soul</div>
<div class='line in2'>To lay my hand in his again!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='chapter'>
<span class='pageno' title='89' id='Page_89'></span>
<h2 class='c003'><i>THE SEA-GARDENS OF SANTA CATALINA</i></h2></div>
<div class='lg-container-b c006'>
<div class='linegroup'>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'><span class='sc'>Lightly</span> let the boat go drifting,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Neither hand nor oar uplifting,</div>
<div class='line'>Let no motion fret the ocean, and no sail be now unfurled;</div>
<div class='line in6'>Stranger than Aladdin’s story,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Lo, the dream-surpassing glory</div>
<div class='line'>And the marvel unimagined of the limpid underworld!</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>Gaze within the magic mirror</div>
<div class='line in6'>Of the water, crystal clearer</div>
<div class='line'>Than the gleaming glass enchanted, made by Merlin’s sorcery</div>
<div class='line in6'>And behold the secrets hidden</div>
<div class='line in6'>Through the ages, till unbidden</div>
<div class='line'>Sons of men came sailing, sailing down the blue Pacific sea.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>See the pearl-encrusted portals</div>
<div class='line in6'>Of the caverns, wherein mortals</div>
<div class='line'>Dare not pierce with earthly vision, dare not fare with feet profane;</div>
<div class='line in6'>Coral-columned halls with golden</div>
<div class='line in6'>Thrones in emerald deeps withholden,</div>
<div class='line'>Lit with sparkling amber splendor, where the merry mermen reign.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'><span class='pageno' title='90' id='Page_90'></span>See the long kelp banners flying</div>
<div class='line in6'>From their gardens underlying</div>
<div class='line'>All the rare, transparent surface of this sunny, southern sea;</div>
<div class='line in6'>Grasses, shot with silver spangles,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Wreathed and caught in starry tangles</div>
<div class='line'>Of the purple ocean-pansy and the fringed anemone.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>And the brilliant sea-weeds scattered</div>
<div class='line in6'>Like a gay mosaic shattered</div>
<div class='line'>In a million shining fragments over all the ocean floor;</div>
<div class='line in6'>While the bright-hued fish go darting</div>
<div class='line in6'>In swift journeys, meeting, parting,</div>
<div class='line'>Weaving gold and scarlet patterns through the water evermore.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>Through the light that throbs and quivers</div>
<div class='line in6'>Down the depths, and breaks and shivers</div>
<div class='line'>Into splintered flakes of brightness, that so melt and interfuse</div>
<div class='line in6'>Into all such strangest ranges</div>
<div class='line in6'>Of translucent color changes,</div>
<div class='line'>That the eye is thrilled, bewildered, with their rare enchanting hues.</div>
</div>
<div class='group'>
<div class='line in6'>—Ah, would thus upon the gleaming</div>
<div class='line in6'>Southern sea, in happy dreaming,</div>
<div class='line'>We might drift and drift forever! never shoreward guide the keel!</div>
<div class='line in6'>Azure skies, forever smiling,</div>
<div class='line in6'>Into visions sweet beguiling,</div>
<div class='line'>And beneath our boat the splendor of those rosy dreams made real!</div>
</div></div>
</div>
<div class='pbb'>
<hr class='pb c007' /></div>
<div class='transnote'>
<div>
<h2 class='c003'>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:</h2></div>
<p class='c008'>Original spelling, hyphenation and punctuation have been kept unchanged.</p>
</div>
<SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN>
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