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New York Nocturnes, and Other Poems

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <div class="figcenter newpage hideepub"> <ANTIMG src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" /></div> <hr /> <p class="half-title in0">New York Nocturnes<br/> And Other Poems</p> <hr /> <div class="box"> <div class="chapter "> <h2><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</i></h2></div> <p class="bold in0">VERSE:</p> <blockquote> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">Orion and Other Poems.</span> (<i>Out of Print.</i>) <i>Lippincott.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">In Divers Tones.</span> <i>D. Lothrop Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">Songs of the Common Day.</span> <i>Longmans, Green & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">The Book of the Native.</span> <i>Lamson, Wolffe & Co.</i></p> </blockquote> <p class="bold in0 p2t">PROSE:</p> <blockquote> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">The Canadians of Old.</span> From the French of de Gaspé. <i>D. Appleton & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">Around the Camp Fire.</span> <i>T. Y. Crowell & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">Earth’s Enigmas.</span> <i>Lamson, Wolffe & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">A History of Canada.</span> <i>Lamson, Wolffe & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">The Forge in the Forest.</span> <i>Lamson, Wolffe & Co.</i></p> <p class="hang1"><span class="smcap">A Sister to Evangeline.</span> A Romance of Old Acadia. (<i>In Press.</i>) <i>Lamson, Wolffe & Co.</i></p> </blockquote></div> <hr /> <div class="figcenter newpage"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="Title_page" /></div> <hr /> <h1>New York Nocturnes<br/> <i>And Other Poems</i></h1> <p class="center bold in0"><span class="small">By</span><br/> <span class="small">Charles G. D. Roberts</span><br/> <span class="vspace"> </span><br/> <span class="small">Lamson, Wolffe and Company</span><br/> <span class="small">Boston, New York and London<br/> MDCCCXCVIII</span></p> <hr /> <p class="newpage center bold in0">Copyright, 1898,<br/> By Lamson, Wolffe and Company.<br/> <span class="vspace"> </span><br/> <i>All rights reserved.</i></p> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</SPAN></span></p> <h2><i>THE IDEAL</i></h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>To Her, when life was little worth,</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>When hope, a tide run low,</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>Between dim shores of emptiness</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Almost forgot to flow,—</i></div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>Faint with the city’s fume and stress</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>I came at night to Her.</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>Her cool white fingers on my face—</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>How wonderful they were!</i></div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>More dear they were to fevered lids</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Than lilies cooled in dew.</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>They touched my lips with tenderness,</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Till life was born anew.</i></div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>The city’s clamour died in calm;</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>And once again I heard</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>The moon-white woodland stillnesses</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Enchanted by a bird;</i></div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>The wash of far, remembered waves;</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>The sigh of lapsing streams;</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>And one old garden’s lilac leaves</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Conferring in their dreams.</i></div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0"><i>A breath from childhood daisy fields</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Came back to me again,</i></div> <div class="i0"><i>Here in the city’s weary miles</i></div> <div class="i2"><i>Of city-wearied men.</i></div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</SPAN></span></p> <h2>CONTENTS</h2></div> <table summary="Contents"> <tr> <td class="tdc" colspan="2">NEW YORK NOCTURNES</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl"> </td> <td class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Ideal</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_5">5</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">In the Crowd</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_9">9</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Night in a Down-town Street</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_10">10</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">At the Railway Station</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_13">13</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Nocturnes of the Honeysuckle, I</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_16">16</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Nocturnes of the Honeysuckle, II</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_17">17</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">My Garden</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_18">18</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Presence</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_21">21</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Twilight on Sixth Avenue</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_22">22</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Street Lamps</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_24">24</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">In Darkness</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_25">25</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">In the Solitude of the City</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_26">26</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">A Nocturne of Exile</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_28">28</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">A Street Vigil</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_30">30</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">A Nocturne of Trysting</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_32">32</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">In a City Room</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_34">34</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">A Nocturne of Consecration</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_36">36</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdc" colspan="2"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</SPAN></span>OTHER POEMS</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">An Evening Communion</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_45">45</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Life and Art</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_48">48</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Beyond the Tops of Time</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_49">49</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Dream-Fellows</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_55">55</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Atlantic Cable</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_61">61</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">When the Clover Blooms Again</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_63">63</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">At Tide Water</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_65">65</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Falling Leaves</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_67">67</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Marjory</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_68">68</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Solitary Woodsman</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_72">72</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Stirrup Cup</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_77">77</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Ice</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_78">78</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">The Hermit</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_79">79</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">“O Thou who bidd’st”</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_82">82</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="tdl">Ascription</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Page_83">83</SPAN></td> </tr> </table> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</SPAN></span></p> <p class="newpage center bold in0">New York Nocturnes<br/> Ὦ Θεοί, τίς ἆρα Κύπρις, ἢ τίς ἵμερος, τοῦδε ξυνήψατο;</p> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</SPAN></span></p> <p class="center bold in0"><span class="xlarge">New York Nocturnes</span></p> <hr class="style1" /> <h2>In the Crowd</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I walk the city square with thee.</div> <div class="i2">The night is loud; the pavements roar.</div> <div class="i0">Their eddying mirth and misery</div> <div class="i0">Encircle thee and me.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The street is full of lights and cries.</div> <div class="i2">The crowd but brings thee close to me.</div> <div class="i0">I only hear thy low replies;</div> <div class="i0">I only see thine eyes.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Night in a Down-town Street</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Not in the eyed, expectant gloom,</div> <div class="i2">Where soaring peaks repose</div> <div class="i0">And incommunicable space</div> <div class="i2">Companions with the snows;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Not in the glimmering dusk that crawls</div> <div class="i2">Upon the clouded sea,</div> <div class="i0">Where bourneless wave on bourneless wave</div> <div class="i2">Complains continually;</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Not in the palpable dark of woods</div> <div class="i2">Where groping hands clutch fear,</div> <div class="i0">Does Night her deeps of solitude</div> <div class="i2">Reveal unveiled as here.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The street is a grim cañon carved</div> <div class="i2">In the eternal stone,</div> <div class="i0">That knows no more the rushing stream</div> <div class="i2">It anciently has known.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The emptying tide of life has drained</div> <div class="i2">The iron channel dry.</div> <div class="i0">Strange winds from the forgotten day</div> <div class="i2">Draw down, and dream, and sigh.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The narrow heaven, the desolate moon</div> <div class="i2">Made wan with endless years,</div> <div class="i0">Seem less immeasurably remote</div> <div class="i2">Than laughter, love, or tears.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</SPAN></span></p> <h2>At the Railway Station</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here the night is fierce with light,</div> <div class="i2">Here the great wheels come and go,</div> <div class="i0">Here are partings, waitings, meetings,</div> <div class="i2">Mysteries of joy and woe.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here is endless haste and change,</div> <div class="i2">Here the ache of streaming eyes,</div> <div class="i0">Radiance of expectant faces,</div> <div class="i2">Breathless askings, brief replies.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here the jarred, tumultuous air</div> <div class="i2">Throbs and pauses like a bell,</div> <div class="i0">Gladdens with delight of greeting,</div> <div class="i2">Sighs and sorrows with farewell.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here, ah, here with hungry eyes</div> <div class="i2">I explore the passing throng.</div> <div class="i0">Restless I await your coming</div> <div class="i2">Whose least absence is so long.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Faces, faces pass me by,</div> <div class="i2">Meaningless, and blank, and dumb,</div> <div class="i0">Till my heart grows faint and sickens</div> <div class="i2">Lest at last you should not come.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Then—I see you. And the blood</div> <div class="i2">Surges back to heart and brain.</div> <div class="i0">Eyes meet mine,—and Heaven opens.</div> <div class="i2">You are at my side again.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Nocturnes of the Honeysuckle<br/> <span class="small">I</span></h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Forever shed your sweetness on the night,</div> <div class="i0">Dear honeysuckle, flower of our delight!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Forever breathe the mystery of that hour</div> <div class="i0">When her hand touched me, lightlier than a flower,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And life became forever strange and sweet,</div> <div class="i0">A gift to lay with worship at her feet.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Nocturnes of the Honeysuckle<br/> <span class="small">II</span></h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Oh, flower of the honeysuckle,</div> <div class="i2">Tell me how often the long night through</div> <div class="i0">She turns in her dream to the open window,</div> <div class="i2">She turns in her dream to you.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Oh, flower of the honeysuckle,</div> <div class="i2">Tell me how tenderly out of the dew</div> <div class="i0">You breathe her a dream of that night of wonder</div> <div class="i2">When life was fashioned anew.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Oh, flower of the honeysuckle,</div> <div class="i2">Tell me how long ere, the sweet night through,</div> <div class="i0">She will turn not to you but to me in the darkness,</div> <div class="i2">And dream and desire come true.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</SPAN></span></p> <h2>My Garden</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I have a garden in the city’s grime</div> <div class="i0">Where secretly my heart keeps summer time;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Where blow such airs of rapture on my eyes</div> <div class="i0">As those blest dreamers know in Paradise,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Who after lives of longing come at last</div> <div class="i0">Where anguish of vain love is overpast.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the broad noon lies shadeless on the street,</div> <div class="i0">And traffic roars, and toilers faint with heat,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Where men forget that ever woods were green,</div> <div class="i0">The wonders of my garden are not seen.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Only at night the magic doors disclose</div> <div class="i0">Its labyrinths of lavender and rose;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And honeysuckle, white beneath its moon,</div> <div class="i0">Whispers me softly thou art coming soon;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And led by Love’s white hand upon my wrist</div> <div class="i0">Beside its glimmering fountains I keep tryst.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Love, this moving fragrance on my hair,—</div> <div class="i0">Is it thy breath, or some enchanted air</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">From far, uncharted realms of mystery</div> <div class="i0">Which I have dreamed of but shall never see?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Love, this low, wild music in my ears,</div> <div class="i0">Is it the heart-beat of thy hopes and fears,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Or the faint cadence of some fairy song</div> <div class="i0">On winds of boyhood memory blown along?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Love, what poignant ecstasy is this</div> <div class="i0">Upon my lips and eyes? Thy touch,—thy kiss.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Presence</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Dawn like a lily lies upon the land</div> <div class="i0">Since I have known the whiteness of your hand.</div> <div class="i0">Dusk is more soft and more mysterious where</div> <div class="i0">Breathes on my eyes the perfume of your hair.</div> <div class="i0">Waves at your coming break in livelier blue;</div> <div class="i0">And solemn woods are glad because of you.</div> <div class="i0">Brooks of your laughter learn their liquid notes.</div> <div class="i0">Birds to your voice attune their pleading throats.</div> <div class="i0">Fields to your feet grow smoother and more green;</div> <div class="i0">And happy blossoms tell where you have been.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Twilight on Sixth Avenue</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Over the tops of the houses</div> <div class="i2">Twilight and sunset meet.</div> <div class="i0">The green, diaphanous dusk</div> <div class="i2">Sinks to the eager street.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Astray in the tangle of roofs</div> <div class="i2">Wanders a wind of June.</div> <div class="i0">The dial shines in the clock-tower</div> <div class="i2">Like the face of a strange-scrawled moon.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The narrowing lines of the houses</div> <div class="i2">Palely begin to gleam,</div> <div class="i0">And the hurrying crowds fade softly</div> <div class="i2">Like an army in a dream.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Above the vanishing faces</div> <div class="i2">A phantom train flares on</div> <div class="i0">With a voice that shakes the shadows,—</div> <div class="i2">Diminishes, and is gone.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And I walk with the journeying throng</div> <div class="i2">In such a solitude</div> <div class="i0">As where a lonely ocean</div> <div class="i2">Washes a lonely wood.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Street Lamps</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i11">Eyes of the city,</div> <div class="i0">Keeping your sleepless watch from sun to sun,</div> <div class="i11">Is it for pity</div> <div class="i0">You tremble, seeing innocence undone;</div> <div class="i2">Or do you laugh, to think men thus should set</div> <div class="i2">Spies on the folly day would fain forget?</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</SPAN></span></p> <h2>In Darkness</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I have faced life with courage,—but not now!</div> <div class="i2">O Infinite, in this darkness draw thou near.</div> <div class="i0">Wisdom alone I asked of thee, but thou</div> <div class="i2">Hast crushed me with the awful gift of fear.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</SPAN></span></p> <h2>In the Solitude of the City</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Night; and the sound of voices in the street.</div> <div class="i0">Night; and the happy laughter where they meet,</div> <div class="i2">The glad boy lover and the trysting girl.</div> <div class="i0">But thou—but thou—I cannot find thee, Sweet!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Night; and far off the lighted pavements roar.</div> <div class="i0">Night; and the dark of sorrow keeps my door.</div> <div class="i2">I reach my hand out trembling in the dark.</div> <div class="i0">Thy hand comes not with comfort any more.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Silent, Unresponding! If these fears</div> <div class="i0">Lie not, nor other wisdom come with years,</div> <div class="i2">No day shall dawn for me without regret,</div> <div class="i0">No night go uncompanioned by my tears.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</SPAN></span></p> <h2>A Nocturne of Exile</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Out of this night of lonely noise,</div> <div class="i2">The city’s crowded cries,</div> <div class="i0">Home of my heart, to thee, to thee</div> <div class="i2">I turn my longing eyes.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Years, years, how many years I went</div> <div class="i2">In exile wearily,</div> <div class="i0">Before I lifted up my face</div> <div class="i2">And saw my home in thee.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I had come home to thee at last.</div> <div class="i2">I saw thy warm lights gleam.</div> <div class="i0">I entered thine abiding joy,—</div> <div class="i2">Oh, was it but a dream?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Ere I could reckon with my heart</div> <div class="i2">The sum of our delight,</div> <div class="i0">I was an exile once again</div> <div class="i2">Here in the hasting night.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Thy doors were shut; thy lights were gone</div> <div class="i2">From my remembering eyes.—</div> <div class="i0">Only the city’s endless throng!</div> <div class="i2">Only the crowded cries!</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</SPAN></span></p> <h2>A Street Vigil</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here is the street</div> <div class="i0">Made holy by the passing of her feet,—</div> <div class="i2">The little, tender feet, more sweet than myrrh,</div> <div class="i2">Which I have washed with tears for love of her.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here she has gone</div> <div class="i0">Until the very stones have taken on</div> <div class="i2">A glory from her passing, and the place</div> <div class="i2">Is tremulous with memory of her face.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Here is the room</div> <div class="i0">That holds the light to lighten all my gloom.</div> <div class="i2">Beyond that blank white window she is sleeping</div> <div class="i2">Who hath my hope, my health, my fame, in keeping.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">A little peace</div> <div class="i0">Here for a little, ere my vigil cease</div> <div class="i2">And I turn homeward, shaken with the strife</div> <div class="i2">Of hope that struggles hopeless, sick for life.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Surely the power</div> <div class="i0">That lifted me from darkness that one hour</div> <div class="i2">To a dear heaven whereof no word can tell</div> <div class="i2">Not wantonly will thrust me back to hell.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</SPAN></span></p> <h2>A Nocturne of Trysting</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Broods the hid glory in its sheath of gloom</div> <div class="i0">Till strikes the destined hour, and bursts the bloom,</div> <div class="i0">A rapture of white passion and perfume.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i4">So the long day is like a bud</div> <div class="i6">That aches with coming bliss,</div> <div class="i4">Till flowers in light the wondrous night</div> <div class="i6">That brings me to thy kiss.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i4">Then, with a thousand sorrows forgotten in one hour,</div> <div class="i6">In thy pure eyes and at thy feet I find at last my goal;</div> <div class="i4">And life and hope and joy seem but a faint prevision</div> <div class="i6">Of the flower that is thy body and the flame that is thy soul.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</SPAN></span></p> <h2>In a City Room</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O city night of noises and alarms,</div> <div class="i2">Your lights may flare, your cables clang and rush,</div> <div class="i0">But in the sanctuary of my love’s arms</div> <div class="i2">Your blinding tumult dies into a hush.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">My doors are surged about with your unrest;</div> <div class="i2">Your plangent cares assail my realm of peace;</div> <div class="i0">But when I come unto her quiet breast</div> <div class="i2">How suddenly your jar and clamor cease!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Then even remembrance of your strifes and pains</div> <div class="i2">Diminishes to a ghost of sorrows gone,</div> <div class="i0">Remoter than a dream of last year’s rains</div> <div class="i2">Gusty against my window in the dawn.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</SPAN></span></p> <h2>A Nocturne of Consecration</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I talked about you, Dear, the other night,</div> <div class="i0">Having myself alone with my delight.</div> <div class="i0">Alone with dreams and memories of you,</div> <div class="i0">All the divine-houred summer stillness through</div> <div class="i0">I talked of life, of love the always new,</div> <div class="i0">Of tears, and joy,—yet only talked of you.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">To the sweet air</div> <div class="i0">That breathed upon my face</div> <div class="i0">The spirit of lilies in a leafy place,</div> <div class="i0">Your breath’s caress, the lingering of your hair,</div> <div class="i0">I said—“In all your wandering through the dusk,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</SPAN></span> <div class="i0">Your waitings on the marriages of flowers</div> <div class="i0">Through the long, intimate hours</div> <div class="i0">When soul and sense, desire and love confer,</div> <div class="i0">You must have known the best that God has made.</div> <div class="i0">What do you know of Her?”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Said the sweet air—</div> <div class="i0">“Since I have touched her lips,</div> <div class="i0">Bringing the consecration of her kiss,</div> <div class="i0">Half passion and half prayer,</div> <div class="i0">And all for you,</div> <div class="i0">My various lore has suffered an eclipse.</div> <div class="i0">I have forgot all else of sweet I knew.”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">To the wise earth,</div> <div class="i0">Kind, and companionable, and dewy cool,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</SPAN></span> <div class="i0">Fair beyond words to tell, as you are fair,</div> <div class="i0">And cunning past compare</div> <div class="i0">To leash all heaven in a windless pool,</div> <div class="i0">I said—“The mysteries of death and birth</div> <div class="i0">Are in your care.</div> <div class="i0">You love, and sleep; you drain life to the lees;</div> <div class="i0">And wonderful things you know.</div> <div class="i0">Angels have visited you, and at your knees</div> <div class="i0">Learned what I learn forever at her eyes,</div> <div class="i0">The pain that still enhances Paradise.</div> <div class="i0">You in your breast felt her first pulses stir;</div> <div class="i0">And you have thrilled to the light touch of her feet,</div> <div class="i0">Blindingly sweet.</div> <div class="i0">Now make me wise with some new word of Her.”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Said the wise earth—</div> <div class="i0">“She is not all my child.</div> <div class="i0">But the wild spirit that rules her heart-beats wild</div> <div class="i0">Is of diviner birth</div> <div class="i0">And kin to the unknown light beyond my ken.</div> <div class="i0">All I can give to Her have I not given?</div> <div class="i0">Strength to be glad, to suffer, and to know;</div> <div class="i0">The sorcery that subdues the souls of men;</div> <div class="i0">The beauty that is as the shadow of heaven;</div> <div class="i0">The hunger of love</div> <div class="i0">And unspeakable joy thereof.</div> <div class="i0">And these are dear to Her because of you.</div> <div class="i0">You need no word of mine to make you wise</div> <div class="i0">Who worship at her eyes</div> <div class="i0">And find there life and love forever new!”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">To the white stars,</div> <div class="i0">Eternal and all-seeing,</div> <div class="i0">In their wide home beyond the wells of being,</div> <div class="i0">I said—“There is a little cloud that mars</div> <div class="i0">The mystical perfection of her kiss.</div> <div class="i0">Mine, mine, She is,</div> <div class="i0">As far as lip to lip, and heart to heart;</div> <div class="i0">And spirit to spirit when lips and hands must part,</div> <div class="i0">Can make her mine. But there is more than this,—</div> <div class="i0">More, more of Her to know.</div> <div class="i0">For still her soul escapes me unaware,</div> <div class="i0">To dwell in secret where I may not go.</div> <div class="i0">Take, and uplift me. Make me wholly Hers.”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Said the white stars, the heavenly ministers,—</div> <div class="i0">“This life is brief, but it is only one.</div> <div class="i0">Before to-morrow’s sun</div> <div class="i0">For one or both of you it may be done.</div> <div class="i0">This love of yours is only just begun.</div> <div class="i0">Will all the ecstasy that may be won</div> <div class="i0">Before this life its little course has run</div> <div class="i0">At all suffice</div> <div class="i0">The love that agonizes in your eyes?</div> <div class="i0">Therefore be wise.</div> <div class="i0">Content you with the wonder of love that lies</div> <div class="i0">Between her lips and underneath her eyes.</div> <div class="i0">If more you should surprise,</div> <div class="i0">What would be left to hope from Paradise?</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</SPAN></span> <div class="i0">In other worlds expect another joy</div> <div class="i0">Of Her, which blundering fate shall not annoy,</div> <div class="i0">Nor time nor change destroy.”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">So, Dear, I talked the long, divine night through,</div> <div class="i0">And felt you in the chrismal balms of dew.</div> <div class="i0">The thing then learned</div> <div class="i0">Has ever since within my bosom burned—</div> <div class="i0">One life is not enough for love of you.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43–44</SPAN></span></p> <p class="newpage chapter-beginning center bold in0">Other Poems</p> <hr class="style1" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</SPAN></span></p> <h2>An Evening Communion</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The large first stars come out</div> <div class="i2">Above the open hill,</div> <div class="i0">And in the west the light</div> <div class="i2">Is lingering still.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The wide and tranquil air</div> <div class="i2">Of evening washes cool</div> <div class="i0">On open hill, and vale,</div> <div class="i2">And shining pool.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The calm of endless time</div> <div class="i2">Is in the spacious hour,</div> <div class="i0">Whose mystery unfolds</div> <div class="i2">To perfect flower.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The silence and my heart</div> <div class="i2">Expect a voice I know,—</div> <div class="i0">A voice we have not heard</div> <div class="i2">Since long ago.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Since long ago thy face,</div> <div class="i2">Thy smile, I may not see,</div> <div class="i0">True comrade, whom the veil</div> <div class="i2">Divides from me.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">But when earth’s hidden word</div> <div class="i2">I almost understand,</div> <div class="i0">I dream that on my lips</div> <div class="i2">I feel thy hand.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Thy presence is the light</div> <div class="i2">Upon the open hill.</div> <div class="i0">Thou walkest with me here,</div> <div class="i2">True comrade still.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">My pain and my unrest</div> <div class="i2">Thou tak’st into thy care.</div> <div class="i0">The world becomes a dream,</div> <div class="i2">And life a prayer.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Life and Art</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Said Life to Art—“I love thee best</div> <div class="i2">Not when I find in thee</div> <div class="i0">My very face and form, expressed</div> <div class="i2">With dull fidelity,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">“But when in thee my craving eyes</div> <div class="i2">Behold continually</div> <div class="i0">The mystery of my memories</div> <div class="i2">And all I long to be.”</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Beyond the Tops of Time</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">How long it was I did not know,</div> <div class="i2">That I had waited, watched, and feared.</div> <div class="i0">It seemed a thousand years ago</div> <div class="i2">The last pale lights had disappeared.</div> <div class="i0">I knew the place was a narrow room</div> <div class="i0">Up, up beyond the reach of doom.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Then came a light more red than flame;—</div> <div class="i2">No sun-dawn, but the soul laid bare</div> <div class="i0">Of earth and sky and sea became</div> <div class="i2">A presence burning everywhere;</div> <div class="i0">And I was glad my narrow room</div> <div class="i0">Was high above the reach of doom.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Windows there were in either wall,</div> <div class="i2">Deep cleft, and set with radiant glass,</div> <div class="i0">Wherethrough I watched the mountains fall,</div> <div class="i2">The ages wither up and pass.</div> <div class="i0">I knew their doom could never climb</div> <div class="i0">My tower beyond the tops of Time.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">A sea of faces then I saw,</div> <div class="i2">Of men who had been, men long dead.</div> <div class="i0">Figured with dreams of joy and awe</div> <div class="i2">The heavens unrolled in lambent red;</div> <div class="i0">While far below the faces cried—</div> <div class="i0">“Give us the dream for which we died!”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Ever the woven shapes rolled by</div> <div class="i2">Above the faces hungering.</div> <div class="i0">With quiet and incurious eye</div> <div class="i2">I noted many a wondrous thing,—</div> <div class="i0">Seas of clear glass, and singing streams,</div> <div class="i0">In that high pageantry of dreams;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Cities of sard and chrysoprase</div> <div class="i2">Where choired Hosannas never cease;</div> <div class="i0">Valhallas of celestial frays,</div> <div class="i2">And lotus-pools of endless peace;</div> <div class="i0">But still the faces gaped and cried—</div> <div class="i0">“Give us the dream for which we died!”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">At length my quiet heart was stirred,</div> <div class="i2">Hearing them cry so long in vain.</div> <div class="i0">But while I listened for a word</div> <div class="i2">That should translate them from their pain,</div> <div class="i0">I saw that here and there a face</div> <div class="i0">Shone, and was lifted from its place,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And flashed into the moving dome</div> <div class="i2">An ecstasy of prismed fire.</div> <div class="i0">And then said I, “A soul has come</div> <div class="i2">To the deep zenith of desire!”</div> <div class="i0">But still I wondered if it knew</div> <div class="i0">The dream for which it died was true.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">I wondered—who shall say how long?</div> <div class="i2">(One heart-beat?—Thrice ten thousand years?)</div> <div class="i0">Till suddenly there was no throng</div> <div class="i2">Of faces to arraign the spheres,—</div> <div class="i0">No more white faces there to cry</div> <div class="i0">To those great pageants of the sky.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Then quietly I grew aware</div> <div class="i2">Of one who came with eyes of bliss</div> <div class="i0">And brow of calm and lips of prayer.</div> <div class="i2">Said I—“How wonderful is this!</div> <div class="i0">Where are the faces once that cried—</div> <div class="i0">‘Give us the dream for which we died’?”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The answer fell as soft as sleep,—</div> <div class="i2">“I am of those who, having cried</div> <div class="i0">So long in that tumultuous deep,</div> <div class="i2">Have won the dream for which we died.”</div> <div class="i0">And then said I—“Which dream was true?</div> <div class="i0">For many were revealed to you!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">He answered—“To the soul made wise</div> <div class="i2">All true, all beautiful they seem.</div> <div class="i0">But the white peace that fills our eyes</div> <div class="i2">Outdoes desire, outreaches dream.</div> <div class="i0">For we are come unto the place</div> <div class="i0">Where always we behold God’s face!”</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Dream-Fellows</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Behind the veil that men call sleep</div> <div class="i2">I came upon a golden land.</div> <div class="i0">A golden light was in the leaves</div> <div class="i2">And on the amethystine strand.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Amber and gold and emerald</div> <div class="i2">The unimaginable wood.</div> <div class="i0">And in a joy I could not name</div> <div class="i2">Beside the emerald stream I stood.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Down from a violet hill came one</div> <div class="i2">Running to meet me on the shore.</div> <div class="i0">I clasped his hand. He seemed to be</div> <div class="i2">One I had long been waiting for.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">All the sweet sounds I ever heard</div> <div class="i2">In his low greeting seemed to blend.</div> <div class="i0">His were the eyes of my true love.</div> <div class="i2">His was the mouth of my true friend.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">We spoke; and the transfigured words</div> <div class="i2">Meant more than words had ever meant.</div> <div class="i0">Our lips at last forgot to speak,</div> <div class="i2">For silence was so eloquent.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">We floated in the emerald stream;</div> <div class="i2">We wandered in the wondrous wood.</div> <div class="i0">His soul to me was clear as light.</div> <div class="i2">My inmost thought he understood.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Only to be was to be glad.</div> <div class="i2">Life, like a rainbow, filled our eyes.</div> <div class="i0">In comprehending comradeship</div> <div class="i2">Each moment seemed a Paradise.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And often, in the after years,</div> <div class="i2">I and my dream-fellow were one</div> <div class="i0">For hours together in that land</div> <div class="i2">Behind the moon, beyond the sun.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">At last, in the tumultuous dream</div> <div class="i2">That men call life, I chanced to be</div> <div class="i0">One day amid the city throng</div> <div class="i2">Where the great piers oppose the sea.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">A giant ship was swinging off</div> <div class="i2">For other seas and other skies.</div> <div class="i0">Amid the voyaging companies</div> <div class="i2">I saw his face, I saw his eyes.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Oh, passionately through the crowd</div> <div class="i2">I thrust, and then—our glances met!</div> <div class="i0">Across the widening gulf we gazed,</div> <div class="i2">With white set lips, and eyes grown wet.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And all day long my heart was faint</div> <div class="i2">With parting pangs and tears unwept;</div> <div class="i0">Till night brought comfort, for he came</div> <div class="i2">To meet me, smiling, when I slept.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Beyond the veil that men call sleep</div> <div class="i2">We met, within that golden land.</div> <div class="i0">He said—or I—“We grieved to-day.</div> <div class="i2">But now, more wise, we understand!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">“Communing in the common world,</div> <div class="i2">The flesh, for us, would be a bar.</div> <div class="i0">Strange would be our familiar speech;</div> <div class="i2">And earth would seem no more a star.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">“We’d know no more the golden leaves</div> <div class="i2">Beside the amethystine deep;</div> <div class="i0">We’d see no more each other’s thought</div> <div class="i2">Behind the veil that men call sleep!”</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Atlantic Cable</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">This giant nerve, at whose command</div> <div class="i2">The world’s great pulses throb or sleep,—</div> <div class="i0">It threads the undiscerned repose</div> <div class="i2">Of the dark bases of the deep.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Around it settle in the calm</div> <div class="i2">Fine tissues that a breath might mar,</div> <div class="i0">Nor dream what fiery tidings pass,</div> <div class="i2">What messages of storm and war.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Far over it, where filtered gleams</div> <div class="i2">Faintly illume the mid-sea day,</div> <div class="i0">Strange, pallid forms of fish or weed</div> <div class="i2">In the obscure tide softly sway.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And higher, where the vagrant waves</div> <div class="i2">Frequent the white, indifferent sun,</div> <div class="i0">Where ride the smoke-blue hordes of rain</div> <div class="i2">And the long vapors lift and run,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Passes perhaps some lonely ship</div> <div class="i2">With exile hearts that homeward ache,—</div> <div class="i0">While far beneath is flashed a word</div> <div class="i2">That soon shall bid them bleed or break.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</SPAN></span></p> <h2>When the Clover blooms again</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">“When the clover blooms again,</div> <div class="i0">And the rain-birds in the rain</div> <div class="i2">Make the sad-heart noon seem sweeter</div> <div class="i2">And the joy of June completer</div> <div class="i0">I shall see his face again!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Of her lover over sea</div> <div class="i0">So she whispered happily;</div> <div class="i2">And she prayed, while men were sleeping,</div> <div class="i2">“Mary, have him in thy keeping</div> <div class="i0">As he sails the stormy sea!”</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">White and silent lay his face</div> <div class="i0">In a still, green-watered place,</div> <div class="i2">Where the long, gray weed scarce lifted,</div> <div class="i2">And the sand was lightly sifted</div> <div class="i0">O’er his unremembering face.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</SPAN></span></p> <h2>At Tide Water</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The red and yellow of the Autumn salt-grass,</div> <div class="i2">The gray flats, and the yellow-gray full tide,</div> <div class="i0">The lonely stacks, the grave expanse of marshes,—</div> <div class="i2">O Land wherein my memories abide,</div> <div class="i0">I have come back that you may make me tranquil,</div> <div class="i2">Resting a little at your heart of peace,</div> <div class="i0">Remembering much amid your serious leisure,</div> <div class="i2">Forgetting more amid your large release.</div> <div class="i0">For yours the wisdom of the night and morning,</div> <div class="i2">The word of the inevitable years,</div> <div class="i0">The open Heaven’s unobscured communion,</div> <div class="i2">And the dim whisper of the wheeling spheres.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The great things and the terrible I bring you,</div> <div class="i2">To be illumined in your spacious breath,—</div> <div class="i0">Love, and the ashes of desire, and anguish,</div> <div class="i2">Strange laughter, and the unhealing wound of death.</div> <div class="i0">These in the world, all these, have come upon me,</div> <div class="i2">Leaving me mute and shaken with surprise.</div> <div class="i0">Oh, turn them in your measureless contemplation,</div> <div class="i2">And in their mastery teach me to be wise.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Falling Leaves</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Lightly He blows, and at His breath they fall,</div> <div class="i2">The perishing kindreds of the leaves; they drift,</div> <div class="i0">Spent flames of scarlet, gold aerial,</div> <div class="i2">Across the hollow year, noiseless and swift.</div> <div class="i0">Lightly He blows, and countless as the falling</div> <div class="i2">Of snow by night upon a solemn sea,</div> <div class="i0">The ages circle down beyond recalling,</div> <div class="i2">To strew the hollows of Eternity.</div> <div class="i0">He sees them drifting through the spaces dim,</div> <div class="i2">And leaves and ages are as one to Him.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Marjory</h2></div> <p class="center bold in0 p2b">(A Backwoods Ballad)</p> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Spring, summer, autumn, winter,</div> <div class="i2">Over the wild world rolls the year.</div> <div class="i0">Comes June to the rose-red tamarack buds,</div> <div class="i2">But Marjory comes not here.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The pastures miss her; the house without her</div> <div class="i2">Grows forgotten, and gray, and old;</div> <div class="i0">The wind, and the lonely light of the sun,</div> <div class="i2">Are heavy with tears untold.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Spring, summer, autumn, winter,</div> <div class="i2">Morning, evening, over and o’er!</div> <div class="i0">The swallow returns to the nested rafter,</div> <div class="i2">But Marjory comes no more.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The gray barn-doors in the long wind rattle</div> <div class="i2">Hour by hour of the long white day.</div> <div class="i0">The horses fret by the well-filled manger</div> <div class="i2">Since Marjory went away.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The sheep she fed at the bars await her.</div> <div class="i2">The milch cows low for her down the lane.</div> <div class="i0">They long for her light, light hand at the milking,—</div> <div class="i2">They long for her hand in vain.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Spring, summer, autumn, winter,</div> <div class="i2">Morning and evening, over and o’er!</div> <div class="i0">The bees come back with the willow catkins,</div> <div class="i2">But Marjory comes no more.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The voice of the far-off city called to her.</div> <div class="i2">Was it long years or an hour ago?</div> <div class="i0">She went away, with dear eyes weeping,</div> <div class="i2">To a world she did not know.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The berried pastures they could not keep her,</div> <div class="i2">The brook, nor the buttercup-golden hill,</div> <div class="i0">Nor even the long, long love familiar,—</div> <div class="i2">The strange voice called her still.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">She would not stay for the old home garden;—</div> <div class="i2">The scarlet poppy, the mignonette,</div> <div class="i0">The fox-glove bell, and the kind-eyed pansy,</div> <div class="i2">Their hearts will not forget.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Oh, that her feet had not forgotten</div> <div class="i2">The woodland country, the homeward way!</div> <div class="i0">Oh, to look out of the sad, bright window</div> <div class="i2">And see her come back, some day!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Spring, summer, autumn, winter,</div> <div class="i2">Over the wild world rolls the year.</div> <div class="i0">Comes joy to the bird on the nested rafter;</div> <div class="i2">But Marjory comes not here.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Solitary Woodsman</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the gray lake-water rushes</div> <div class="i0">Past the dripping alder bushes,</div> <div class="i2">And the bodeful autumn wind</div> <div class="i0">In the fir-tree weeps and hushes,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the air is sharply damp</div> <div class="i0">Round the solitary camp,</div> <div class="i2">And the moose-bush in the thicket</div> <div class="i0">Glimmers like a scarlet lamp,—</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the birches twinkle yellow,</div> <div class="i0">And the cornel bunches mellow,</div> <div class="i2">And the owl across the twilight</div> <div class="i0">Trumpets to his downy fellow,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the nut-fed chipmunks romp</div> <div class="i0">Through the maples’ crimson pomp,</div> <div class="i2">And the slim viburnum flushes</div> <div class="i0">In the darkness of the swamp,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When the blueberries are dead,</div> <div class="i0">When the rowan clusters red,</div> <div class="i2">And the shy bear, summer-sleekened,</div> <div class="i0">In the bracken makes his bed,—</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">On a day there comes once more</div> <div class="i0">To the latched and lonely door,</div> <div class="i2">Down the wood-road striding silent,</div> <div class="i0">One who has been here before.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Green spruce branches for his head,</div> <div class="i0">Here he makes his simple bed,</div> <div class="i2">Couching with the sun, and rising</div> <div class="i0">When the dawn is frosty red.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">All day long he wanders wide</div> <div class="i0">With the gray moss for his guide,</div> <div class="i2">And his lonely axe-stroke startles</div> <div class="i0">The expectant forest-side.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Toward the quiet close of day</div> <div class="i0">Back to camp he takes his way,</div> <div class="i2">And about his sober footsteps</div> <div class="i0">Unafraid the squirrels play.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">On his roof the red leaf falls,</div> <div class="i0">At his door the blue-jay calls,</div> <div class="i2">And he hears the wood-mice hurry</div> <div class="i0">Up and down his rough log walls;</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Hears the laughter of the loon</div> <div class="i0">Thrill the dying afternoon,—</div> <div class="i2">Hears the calling of the moose</div> <div class="i0">Echo to the early moon.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And he hears the partridge drumming,</div> <div class="i0">The belated hornet humming,—</div> <div class="i2">All the faint, prophetic sounds</div> <div class="i0">That foretell the winter’s coming.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And the wind about his eaves</div> <div class="i0">Through the chilly night-wet grieves,</div> <div class="i2">And the earth’s dumb patience fills him,</div> <div class="i0">Fellow to the falling leaves.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Stirrup Cup</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Life at my stirrup lifted wistful eyes,</div> <div class="i2">And as she gave the parting cup to me,—</div> <div class="i2">Death’s pale companion for the silent sea,—</div> <div class="i0">“I know,” she said, “that land and where it lies.</div> <div class="i2">A pledge between us now before you go,</div> <div class="i2">That when you meet me there your soul may know!”</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Ice</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">When Winter scourged the meadow and the hill</div> <div class="i0">And in the withered leafage worked his will,</div> <div class="i0">The water shrank, and shuddered, and stood still,—</div> <div class="i0">Then built himself a magic house of glass,</div> <div class="i0">Irised with memories of flowers and grass,</div> <div class="i0">Wherein to sit and watch the fury pass.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</SPAN></span></p> <h2>The Hermit</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Above the blindness of content,</div> <div class="i2">The ignorance of ease,</div> <div class="i0">Inhabiting within his soul</div> <div class="i2">A shrine of memories,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Between the silences of sleep</div> <div class="i2">Attentively he hears</div> <div class="i0">The endless crawling sob and strain,</div> <div class="i2">The spending of the years.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">He sees the lapsing stream go by</div> <div class="i2">His unperturbed face,</div> <div class="i0">Out of a dark, into a dark,</div> <div class="i2">Across a lighted space.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">He calls it Life, this lighted space</div> <div class="i2">Upon the moving flood.</div> <div class="i0">He sees the water white with tears,</div> <div class="i2">He sees it red with blood.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">And many specks upon the tide</div> <div class="i2">He sees and marks by name,—</div> <div class="i0">Motes of a day, and fools of Fate,</div> <div class="i2">And challengers of fame;</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">With here a people, there a babe,</div> <div class="i2">A blossom, or a crown,—</div> <div class="i0">They whirl a little, gleam, and pass,</div> <div class="i2">Or in the eddies drown.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">He waits. He waits one day to see</div> <div class="i2">The lapsing of the stream,</div> <div class="i0">The eddying forms, the darknesses,</div> <div class="i2">Dissolve into a dream.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</SPAN></span></p> <h2>“O Thou who bidd’st”</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Thou who bidd’st a million germs decay</div> <div class="i0">That one white bloom may soar into the day,</div> <div class="i0">Mine eyes unseal to see their souls in death</div> <div class="i0">Borne back to Thee upon the lily’s breath.</div> </div></div> </div> <hr /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</SPAN></span></p> <h2>Ascription</h2></div> <div class="center"> <div class="poem"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">O Thou who hast beneath Thy hand</div> <div class="i0">The dark foundations of the land,—</div> <div class="i0">The motion of whose ordered thought</div> <div class="i0">An instant universe hath wrought,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Who hast within Thine equal heed</div> <div class="i0">The rolling sun, the ripening seed,</div> <div class="i0">The azure of the speedwell’s eye,</div> <div class="i0">The vast solemnities of sky,—</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">Who hear’st no less the feeble note</div> <div class="i0">Of one small bird’s awakening throat,</div> <div class="i0">Than that unnamed, tremendous chord</div> <div class="i0">Arcturus sounds before his Lord,—</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">More sweet to Thee than all acclaim</div> <div class="i0">Of storm and ocean, stars and flame,</div> <div class="i0">In favour more before Thy face</div> <div class="i0">Than pageantry of time and space,</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="i0">The worship and the service be</div> <div class="i0">Of him Thou madest most like Thee,—</div> <div class="i0">Who in his nostrils hath Thy breath,</div> <div class="i0">Whose spirit is the lord of death!</div> </div></div> </div> <blockquote> <p class="newpage in0"><i>Set up by J. S. Cushing & Co., and printed by Berwick & Smith, at the Norwood Press, for the publishers, Lamson, Wolffe & Co., in the year Eighteen Hundred and Ninety-eight.</i> * * *</p> </blockquote> <hr /> <div class="transnote"> <h2 class="nobreak p1">Transcriber's Note</h2> <p class="in0">Pg. <SPAN href="#Page_17">17</SPAN>: Added title to poem as indicated in the Table of Contents.</p> <p class="in0">Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.</p> </div> </div> <SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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