s: And there he lingered till the crowing cock,


s: The Alectryon of the farmyard and the flock,


s: Sang his aubade with lusty voice and clear,


s: To tell the sleeping world that dawn was near.


s: And then they parted; but at parting, lo!


s: They saw the palace courtyard white with snow,


s: Gazing from cloudy cloisters of the sky.


s: "Alas!" he said, "how hide the fatal line


s: Of footprints leading from thy door to mine,


s: And none returning!"  Ah, he little knew


s: What woman's wit, when put to proof, can do!


s: That night the Emperor, sleepless with the cares


s: And troubles that attend on state affairs,


s: Had risen before the dawn, and musing gazed


s: To see the calm that reigned o'er all supreme,


s: When his own reign was but a troubled dream.


s: The moon lit up the gables capped with snow,


s: And the white roofs, and half the court below,


s: And he beheld a form, that seemed to cower


s: Beneath a burden, come from Emma's tower,--


s: And then returned in haste, but still essayed


s: To tread the footprints she herself had made;


s: And as she passed across the lighted space,


s: The Emperor saw his daughter Emma's face!


s: He started not; he did not speak or moan,


s: But seemed as one who hath been turned to stone;


s: And stood there like a statue, nor awoke


s: Out of his trance of pain, till morning broke,


s: Till the stars faded, and the moon went down,


s: And o'er the towers and steeples of the town


s: Came the gray daylight; then the sun, who took


s: The empire of the world with sovereign look,


s: All the dead landscape in its shroud of snow,


s: Touching with flame the tapering chapel spires,


s: Windows and roofs, and smoke of household fires,


s: And kindling park and palace as he came;


s: The stork's nest on the chimney seemed in flame.


s: And thus he stood till Eginhard appeared,


s: And flowing flaxen tresses, come to ask,


s: As was his wont, the day's appointed task.


s: The Emperor looked upon him with a smile,


s: And gently said: "My son, wait yet awhile;


s: This hour my council meets upon some great


s: Come back within the hour.  On thy return


s: The work appointed for thee shalt thou learn.


s: Having dismissed this gallant Troubadour,


s: He summoned straight his council, and secure


s: And steadfast in his purpose, from the throne


s: All the adventure of the night made known;


s: Then asked for sentence; and with eager breath


s: Some answered banishment, and others death.


s: Then spake the king: "Your sentence is not mine;


s: Nor from these palace walls shall one depart


s: When my Pepino asked you, 'What are men?'


s: You wrote upon his tablets with your pen,


s: 'Guests of the grave and travellers that pass!'


s: Being all fashioned of the selfsame dust,


s: This passing traveller, who hath stolen away


s: Shall of himself the precious gem restore;


s: Over those fatal footprints I will throw


s: And entered, and in presence of them all,


s: The Emperor said: "My son, for thou to me


s: Long hast thou served thy sovereign, and thy zeal


s: But now the hour is come, when I, thy Lord,


s: Will crown thy love with such supreme reward,


s: A gift so precious kings have striven in vain


s: To win it from the hands of Charlemagne."


s: Then sprang the portals of the chamber wide,


s: Of birth and beauty, that in part o'er-came


s: The conscious terror and the blush of shame.


s: And the good Emperor rose up from his throne,


s: And taking her white hand within his own


s: Placed it in Eginhard's, and said: "My son


s: This is the gift thy constant zeal hath won;


s: And cover up the footprints in the snow."


s: Despair! two strings were broken in twain.


s: Lashed its long tail and roared with rage.


s: And they had stopped that draft of cold,


s: And then the clamorous clock struck eight,


s: The nails that marked the year and date.


s: "Ah, how short are the days!  How soon the night overtakes us!


s: In the old country the twilight is longer; but here in the forest


s: Thus spake Elizabeth Haddon at nightfall to Hannah the housemaid,


s: White as the great white sheet that Peter saw in his vision,


s: By the four corners let down and descending out of the heavens.


s: Down from its native hills, a peaceful and bountiful river.


s: Then with a smile on her lips made answer Hannah the housemaid:


s: "Beautiful winter! yea, the winter is beautiful, surely,


s: If one could only walk like a fly with one's feet on the ceiling.


s: Crowded with masts and sails of vessels coming and going;


s: All the roads will be blocked, and I pity Joseph to-morrow,


s: But Elizabeth checked her, and answered, mildly reproving:


s: "Surely the Lord will provide; for unto the snow he sayeth,


s: Be thou on the earth, the good Lord sayeth; he is it


s: Giveth snow like wool, like ashes scatters the hoar-frost."


s: So she folded her work and laid it away in her basket.


s: Made in Delft, and adorned with quaint and wonderful figures.


s: Then Elizabeth said, "Lo! Joseph is long on his errand.


s: I have sent him away with a hamper of food and of clothing


s: For the poor in the village.  A good lad and cheerful is Joseph;


s: Thus in praise of her servant she spake, and Hannah the housemaid


s: We should be lonely here, were it not for Friends that in passing


s: Thereupon answered Hannah the housemaid, the thrifty, the frugal:


s: Open to all are its doors, and they come and go like the pigeons


s: In and out of the holes of the pigeon-house over the hayloft,


s: But in meekness of spirit, and calmly, Elizabeth answered:


s: "All I have is the Lord's, not mine to give or withhold it;


s: His, not mine, are the gifts, and only so far can I make them


s: Mine, as in giving I add my heart to whatever is given.


s: Thus rebuked, for a season was silent the penitent housemaid;


s: And Elizabeth said in tones even sweeter and softer:


s: "Dost thou remember, Hannah, the great May-Meeting in London,


s: When I was still a child, how we sat in the silent assembly,


s: Waiting upon the Lord in patient and passive submission?


s: Wherefore I do not know; but strong is the feeling within me


s: That once more I shall see a face I have never forgotten."


s: E'en as she spake they heard the musical jangle of sleigh-bells,


s: First far off, with a dreamy sound and faint in the distance,


s: Then growing nearer and louder, and turning into the farmyard,


s: Till it stopped at the door, with sudden creaking of runners.


s: Then there were voices heard as of two men talking together,


s: Down from its nail she took and lighted the great tin lantern


s: Casting into the dark a network of glimmer and shadow


s: Over the falling snow, the yellow sleigh, and the horses,


s: And the forms of men, snow-covered, looming gigantic.


s: As if an unseen power had announced and preceded his presence,


s: And he had come as one whose coming had long been expected,


s: "Dost thou remember me still, Elizabeth?  After so many


s: Years have passed, it seemeth a wonderful thing that I find thee.


s: For as I journeyed along, and pondered alone and in silence


s: On his ways, that are past finding out, I saw in the snow-mist,


s: Seemingly weary with travel, a wayfarer, who by the wayside


s: Reading Esaias the Prophet, he journeyed, and spake unto Philip,


s: Praying him to come up and sit in his chariot with him.


s: So I greeted the man, and he mounted the sledge beside me,


s: And as we talked on the way he told me of thee and thy homestead,


s: And on my journey have stopped to see thee, Elizabeth Haddon.


s: And Elizabeth answered with confident voice, and serenely


s: Looking into his face with her innocent eyes as she answered,


s: "Surely the hand of the Lord is in it; his Spirit hath led thee


s: Then, with stamping of feet, the door was opened, and Joseph


s: For underneath that roof was no distinction of persons,


s: But one family only, one heart, one hearth and one household.


s: Spreading its arms to embrace with inexhaustible bounty


s: All who fled from the cold, exultant, laughing at winter!


s: Only Hannah the housemaid was busy in clearing the table,


s: Coming and going, and hustling about in closet and chamber.


s: Then Elizabeth told her story again to John Estaugh,


s: Going far back to the past, to the early days of her childhood;


s: How she had waited and watched, in all her doubts and besetments


s: Comforted with the extendings and holy, sweet inflowings


s: Of the spirit of love, till the voice imperative sounded,


s: And she obeyed the voice, and cast in her lot with her people


s: Here in the desert land, and God would provide for the issue.


s: Meanwhile Joseph sat with folded hands, and demurely


s: Listened, or seemed to listen, and in the silence that followed


s: And Elizabeth said, with a smile of compassion, "The maiden


s: But when the morning dawned, and the sun uprose in his splendor,


s: Through the drifts of snow; the horses already were harnessed,


s: And John Estaugh was standing and taking leave at the threshold,


s: Laughing aloud at Joseph, then suddenly closing the casement,


s: As the bird in a cuckoo-clock peeps out of its window,


s: Then disappears again, and closes the shutter behind it.


s: Now was the winter gone, and the snow; and Robin the Redbreast,


s: Boasted on bush and tree it was he, it was he and no other


s: That had covered with leaves the Babes in the Wood, and blithely


s: All the birds sang with him, and little cared for his boasting,


s: Or for his Babes in the Wood, or the Cruel Uncle, and only


s: Sang in her inmost heart, but her lips were silent and songless.


s: Thus came the lovely spring with a rush of blossoms and music,


s: Then it came to pass, one pleasant morning, that slowly


s: Up the road there came a cavalcade, as of pilgrims


s: Men and women, wending their way to the Quarterly Meeting


s: In the neighboring town; and with them came riding John Estaugh.


s: At Elizabeth's door they stopped to rest, and alighting


s: Tasted the currant wine, and the bread of rye, and the honey


s: But, as they started, Elizabeth lingered a little, and leaning


s: Over her horse's neck, in a whisper said to John Estaugh


s: "Tarry awhile behind, for I have something to tell thee,


s: Not to be spoken lightly, nor in the presence of others;


s: Them it concerneth not, only thee and me it concerneth."


s: It was a pleasure to live on that bright and happy May morning!


s: Then Elizabeth said, though still with a certain reluctance,


s: As if impelled to reveal a secret she fain would have guarded:


s: "I will no longer conceal what is laid upon me to tell thee;


s: But I have yet no light to lead me, no voice to direct me.


s: Of my own heart awhile, and listen and wait for his guidance."


s: Then Elizabeth said, not troubled nor wounded in spirit,


s: "So is it best, John Estaugh.  We will not speak of it further.


s: It hath been laid upon me to tell thee this, for to-morrow


s: Thou art going away, across the sea, and I know not


s: When I shall see thee more; but if the Lord hath decreed it,


s: Thou wilt return again to seek me here and to find me."


s: Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing,


s: Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness;


s: So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another,


s: Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.


s: Now went on as of old the quiet life of the homestead.


s: Patient and unrepining Elizabeth labored, in all things


s: Mindful not of herself, but bearing the burdens of others,


s: Still as of old disparaged the eminent merits of Joseph,


s: And was at times reproved for her light and frothy behavior,


s: As she would sometimes say to Joseph, quoting the Scriptures.


s: Meanwhile John Estaugh departed across the sea, and departing


s: Carried hid in his heart a secret sacred and precious,


s: O lost hours and days in which we might have been happy!


s: But the light shone at last, and guided his wavering footsteps,


s: And at last came the voice, imperative, questionless, certain.


s: Promising to be kind and true and faithful in all things.


s: Such were the marriage-rites of John and Elizabeth Estaugh.


s: And not otherwise Joseph, the honest, the diligent servant,


s: Sped in his bashful wooing with homely Hannah the housemaid;


s: In the hot sunshine two Franciscan friars


s: Wended their weary way with footsteps slow


s: Back to their convent, whose white walls and spires


s: Gleamed on the hillside like a patch of snow;


s: Covered with dust they were, and torn by briers,


s: And bore like sumpter-mules upon their backs


s: The badge of poverty, their beggar's sacks.


s: And silent man, with pallid cheeks and thin,


s: Much given to vigils, penance, fasting, prayer,


s: Solemn and gray, and worn with discipline,


s: Heaped on the living coals that glowed within;


s: Broad in the shoulders, broader in the waist,


s: With noise by which the convent was disgraced,


s: But to the mass-book gave but little heed,


s: Now, as they passed the outskirts of a wood,


s: They saw, with mingled pleasure and surprise,


s: Fast tethered to a tree an ass, that stood


s: His owner was, who, looking for supplies


s: Leaving his beast to ponder in the shade.


s: The patient animal, he said: "Good-lack!


s: Thus for our needs doth Providence provide;


s: We'll lay our wallets on the creature's back."


s: From head and neck the halter of the jack,


s: And put it round his own, and to the tree


s: Stood tethered fast as if the ass were he.


s: And drive the ass before you with your staff;


s: And when you reach the convent you may say


s: You left me at a farm, half tired and half


s: And that the farmer lent this ass to bear


s: Our wallets, that are heavy with good fare."


s: Now Brother Anthony, who knew the pranks


s: Or reason with him on his quirks and cranks,


s: And, smiting with his staff the ass's flanks,


s: Drove him before him over hill and glade,


s: Safe with his provend to the convent gate,


s: Leaving poor Brother Timothy to his fate.


s: Forth issued from the wood, and stood aghast


s: Standing where he had left his donkey last.


s: Trembling he stood, and dared not venture nigher,


s: But stared, and gaped, and crossed himself full fast;


s: He thought it was some demon from the pit.


s: While speechless and bewildered thus he gazed,


s: That where you left a donkey should be found


s: A poor Franciscan friar, half-starved and crazed,


s: Standing demure and with a halter bound;


s: But set me free, and hear the piteous story


s: You never owned an ass, but you owned me,


s: Changed and transformed from my own natural shape


s: From which I could not otherwise escape,


s: The toil and blows to which I was inured,


s: The damp and musty straw that formed my bed!


s: But, having done this penance for my sins,


s: The simple Gilbert, hearing words like these,


s: Was conscience-stricken, and fell down apace


s: And with a suppliant voice implored his grace;


s: And the good monk, now very much at ease,


s: Nor could refuse to be that night his guest,


s: Upon a hillside, where the olive thrives,


s: With figures painted on its white-washed walls,


s: The cottage stood; and near the humming hives


s: A place where those who love secluded lives


s: Might live content, and, free from noise and brawls,


s: Measure by fruits the slow-revolving year.


s: They found his children, and the buxom wench


s: His wife, Dame Cicely, and his father, bent


s: With years and labor, seated on a bench,


s: All welcomed the Franciscan, with a sense


s: When Gilbert told them what had come to pass,


s: Good Brother Timothy had been their ass,


s: You should have seen the wonder in their eyes;


s: You should have heard them cry, "Alas! alas!


s: Have heard their lamentations and their sighs!


s: Forthwith there was prepared a grand repast,


s: The bustling housewife stirred the kitchen fire;


s: Then her two barnyard fowls, her best and last,


s: Were put to death, at her express desire,


s: And flasks of country wine to crown the whole.


s: It would not be believed should I repeat


s: His white teeth flashing through his russet beard,


s: His face aglow and flushed with wine and meat,


s: His roguish eyes that rolled and laughed and leered!


s: Lord! how he drank the blood-red country wine


s: And all the while he talked without surcease,


s: And told his merry tales with jovial glee


s: That never flagged, but rather did increase,


s: And wagged his red beard, matted like a fleece,


s: That Gilbert now grew angry with his guest,


s: And thus in words his rising wrath expressed.


s: How needful in some persons, and how right,


s: The indulgence you have given it to-night,


s: After long penance, clearly proves to me


s: Your strength against temptation is but slight,


s: "To-morrow morning, with the rising sun,


s: From fasting and from scourging, for you run


s: Since monkish flesh and asinine are one;


s: Therefore be wise, nor longer here remain,


s: Unless you wish the scourge should be applied


s: By other hands, that will not spare your hide."


s: When this the monk had heard, his color fled


s: And then returned, like lightning in the air,


s: Till he was all one blush from foot to head,


s: And even the bald spot in his russet hair


s: Turned from its usual pallor to bright red!


s: Then all retired, and sank into the deep


s: They slept until the dawn of day drew near,


s: Till the cock should have crowed, but did not crow,


s: For they had slain the shining chanticleer


s: The monk was up betimes and of good cheer,


s: And, having breakfasted, made haste to go,


s: And had but little time to say farewell.


s: Fresh was the morning as the breath of kine;


s: Odors of herbs commingled with the sweet


s: Were full of the delirious song of birds,


s: Voices of men, and bells, and low of herds.


s: His busy fancy found the thing it sought;


s: But when he saw the convent walls appear,


s: And smoke from kitchen chimneys upward caught


s: He quickened his slow footsteps, like a beast


s: That scents the stable a league off at least.


s: And as he entered though the convent gate


s: He saw there in the court the ass, who stood


s: Twirling his ears about, and seemed to wait,


s: Just as he found him waiting in the wood;


s: The owner, being a man of means and thrift,


s: Revolved this serious matter in his mind,


s: Hoping that some safe issue he might find;


s: But stood in fear of what the world would say,


s: Employing beasts of burden for the packs,


s: That lazy monks should carry on their backs.


s: That he would cut the tedious matter short,


s: And sell the ass with all convenient speed,


s: And hoarding something for a time of need.


s: So he despatched him to the neighboring Fair,


s: And freed himself from cumber and from care.


s: It happened now by chance, as some might say,


s: Gilbert was at the Fair; and heard a bray,


s: And nearer came, and saw that it was he,


s: And whispered in his ear, "Ah, lackaday!


s: Good father, the rebellious flesh, I see,


s: The ass, who felt this breathing in his ear,


s: Did not turn round to look, but shook his head,


s: As if he were not pleased these words to hear,


s: And contradicted all that had been said.


s: And this made Gilbert cry in voice more clear,


s: "I know you well; your hair is russet-red;


s: The ass, though now the secret had come out,


s: Was obstinate, and shook his head again;


s: To hear this dialogue between the twain;


s: And raised their voices in a noisy shout


s: When Gilbert tried to make the matter plain,


s: And flouted him and mocked him all day long


s: With laughter and with jibes and scraps of song.


s: "If this be Brother Timothy," they cried,


s: "Buy him, and feed him on the tenderest grass;


s: Thou canst not do too much for one so tried


s: As to be twice transformed into an ass."


s: So simple Gilbert bought him, and untied


s: His halter, and o'er mountain and morass


s: The children saw them coming, and advanced,


s: Shouting with joy, and hung about his neck,--


s: Not Gilbert's, but the ass's,--round him danced,


s: And wove green garlands where-withal to deck


s: Their childish feelings, without rein or check,


s: "You have come back to us just as before;


s: We were afraid, and thought that you were dead,


s: And then they kissed the white star on his head,


s: That like a birth-mark or a badge he wore,


s: And said a thousand things with childish grace.


s: Ungrateful being stuffed with corn and hay,


s: Rousing himself, poor Gilbert said one day


s: Of flinging up his heels at young and old,


s: Breaking his halter, running off like mad


s: O'er pasture-lands and meadow, wood and wold,


s: But worst of all was breaking from his shed


s: Was beaten worse than he had been before.


s: And as his toils increased his food grew less,


s: Until at last the great consoler, Death,


s: Ended his many sufferings with his breath.


s: Dame Cicely bewailed, the children cried,


s: In the French war, and Gilbert magnified


s: And said: "Heaven pardon Brother Timothy,


s: Was born," he said, "to right the wrong;


s: A voice, whose tones are sweet and wild,


s: And sometimes wept, and sometimes smiled


s: There he hath wooed him so winsome a maid;


s: Then came Death abroad through the land,


s: And again hath he wooed him another maid,


s: He hath wooed him a maid and brought home a bride,


s: There stood the six children weeping so hard.


s: There stood the small children with sorrowful heart;


s: From before her feet she thrust them apart.


s: "Ye shall suffer hunger and hate," she said.


s: She took from them their quilts of blue,


s: And said: "Ye shall lie on the straw we strew."


s: "Now ye shall lie in the dark at night."


s: In the evening late they cried with cold;


s: She prayed him so long, and would not cease,


s: And rifted the walls and the marble stones.


s: There stood her eldest daughter in wait.


s: "Why standest thou here, dear daughter mine?


s: How fares it with brothers and sisters thine?"


s: "My mother was white, with cheeks of red,


s: But thou art pale, and like to the dead."


s: There stood the small children weeping sore.


s: The third she lifted, the fourth she hushed.


s: The fifth she took on her lap and pressed,


s: As if she would suckle it at her breast.


s: "Do thou bid Svend Dyring come hither to me."


s: "Now crows the cock with feathers swart;


s: "Now crows the cock with feathers white;


s: Whenever they heard the watch-dogs wail,


s: They feared lest the dead were on their way.


s: Whenever they heard the watch-dogs bark;


s: They feared the dead out there in the dark.


s: That bread and ale, home-baked, home-brewed,


s: They range abroad for thoughts and words,


s: And from all climes bring home the seeds


s: Of the little Boston of Winthrop's time,


s: That made one think of courts and kings,


s: For, careless of Fortune's smile or frown,


s: And weary grown of the world and its ways,


s: Of a godly course, and willing, he said,


s: Nay, anxious to join the Puritan church,


s: Than a cabin of log's; but in front of the door


s: The touch of some other hand than his own.


s: And first it was whispered, and then it was known,


s: Whom he called his cousin, but whom he had wed


s: But worse than this was the vague surmise,


s: And the more to imbitter their bitter lives,


s: And the more to trouble the public mind,


s: Came letters from England, from two other wives,


s: The marshal, mounting his gallant steed,


s: Rode forth from town at the top of his speed,


s: He came to Sir Christopher's country-seat,


s: Who was gathering in the bright sunshine


s: While gallant Sir Christopher, all so gay,


s: Being forewarned, through the postern gate


s: In the forests, that bounded his estate.


s: The marshal searched the castle through,


s: While from her eyes the tears rolled down


s: That she held in her fingers white and fine.


s: On the folly and wickedness of the lives


s: But, seeing that naught his words availed,


s: To the other two wives in the old countree,


s: To search her further, since he had failed


s: Through pathless woods for a month and a day,


s: In his feathered hat and his velvet vest,


s: That a bounty was offered for this gay bird,


s: And bring in his beautiful scalp for a show,


s: Then he followed him whithersoever he fled,


s: Through forest and field, and hunted him down,


s: And his pompous words had no more weight


s: And accustomed to move in a higher sphere.


s: Thus endeth the Rhyme of Sir Christopher,


s: The first who furnished this barren land


s: Like summer birds that lift their crests


s: Their feet would pass that threshold o'er;


s: Where are they now?  What lands and skies


s: Beautiful lily, dwelling by still rivers,


s: Or where the sluggish meadow-brook delivers


s: Thou laughest at the mill, the whir and worry


s: And the great wheel that toils amid the hurry


s: Born in the purple, born to joy and pleasance,


s: But makest glad and radiant with thy presence


s: The wind blows, and uplifts thy drooping banner,


s: The rushes, the green yeomen of thy manor,


s: The burnished dragon-fly is thine attendant,


s: And down the listed sunbeam rides resplendent


s: Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,


s: And winged with the celestial azure, bearest


s: Thou art the Muse, who far from crowded cities


s: Playing on pipes of reed the artless ditties


s: O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river


s: O flower of song, bloom on, and make forever


s: I lay upon the headland-height, and listened


s: And watched the waves, that tossed and fled and glistened,


s: Then suddenly, as one from sleep, I started;


s: Of those whom I had known in days departed,


s: Apparelled in the loveliness which gleams


s: Around me shuddered in the wind, and shed


s: There was an old belief that in the embers


s: Of all things their primordial form exists,


s: Could re-create the rose with all its members


s: From its own ashes, but without the bloom,


s: Ah me! what wonder-working, occult science


s: Can from the ashes in our hearts once more


s: To time and change, and for a single hour


s: "O, give me back," I cried, "the vanished splendors,


s: The breath of morn, and the exultant strife,


s: Bounds o'er its rocky channel, and surrenders


s: The pond, with all its lilies, for the leap


s: And the sea answered, with a lamentation,


s: Like some old prophet wailing, and it said,


s: It breathes no more, its heart has no pulsation;


s: Then said I, "From its consecrated cerements


s: But, still remembering all the lost endearments,


s: Go on my way, like one who looks before,


s: Into what land of harvests, what plantations


s: Bright with autumnal foliage and the glow


s: Beneath what midnight skies, whose constellations


s: Amid what friendly greetings and caresses,


s: What households, though not alien, yet not mine,


s: To what temptations in lone wildernesses,


s: What famine of the heart, what pain and loss,


s: I do not know; nor will I vainly question


s: Those pages of the mystic book which hold


s: But without rash conjecture or suggestion


s: Turn its last leaves in reverence and good heed,


s: How beautiful it was, that one bright day


s: Though all its splendor could not chase away


s: The lovely town was white with apple-blooms,


s: Across the meadows, by the gray old manse,


s: The faces of familiar friends seemed strange;


s: And yet the words they uttered seemed to change


s: For the one face I looked for was not there,


s: Now I look back, and meadow, manse, and stream


s: The infinite longings of a troubled breast,


s: Which at its topmost speed let fall the pen,


s: Ah! who shall lift that wand of magic power,


s: The unfinished window in Aladdin's tower


s: Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:


s: O curfew of the setting sun!  O Bells of Lynn!


s: O requiem of the dying day!  O Bells of Lynn!


s: From the dark belfries of yon cloud-cathedral wafted,


s: Your sounds aerial seem to float, O Bells of Lynn!


s: Borne on the evening wind across the crimson twilight,


s: O'er land and sea they rise and fall, O Bells of Lynn!


s: The fisherman in his boat, far out beyond the headland,


s: Listens, and leisurely rows ashore, O Bells of Lynn!


s: Over the shining sands the wandering cattle homeward


s: Follow each other at your call, O Bells of Lynn!


s: The distant lighthouse hears, and with his flaming signal


s: Answers you, passing the watchword on, O Bells of Lynn!


s: And down the darkening coast run the tumultuous surges,


s: And clap their hands, and shout to you, O Bells of Lynn!


s: Till from the shuddering sea, with your wild incantations,


s: Ye summon up the spectral moon, O Bells of Lynn!


s: And startled at the sight like the weird woman of Endor,


s: Ye cry aloud, and then are still, O Bells of Lynn!


s: The heart of honor, the tongue of truth,


s: Whom all eyes followed with one consent,


s: The cheer of whose laugh, and whose pleasant word,


s: He was humming the words of some old song:


s: And another he bore at the point of his sword."


s: Came out of a wood, and the voice was still;


s: And through the mire and the mist and the rain


s: And I saw by the light of the surgeon's lamp


s: And one, just over his heart, blood-red!


s: Till it reached a town in the distant North,


s: Till it reached a house in a sunny street,


s: Till it reached a heart that ceased to beat


s: And a bell was tolled, in that far-off town,


s: For one who had passed from cross to crown,


s: And the neighbors wondered that she should die.


s: How many lives, made beautiful and sweet


s: Whose pleasure is to run without complaint


s: Wanting the reverence of unshodden feet,


s: Fail of the nimbus which the artists paint


s: Around the shining forehead of the saint,


s: And are in their completeness incomplete!


s: In the old Tuscan town stands Giotto's tower,


s: The lily of Florence blossoming in stone,--


s: The builder's perfect and centennial flower,


s: That in the night of ages bloomed alone,


s: But wanting still the glory of the spire.


s: 'T is late at night, and in the realm of sleep


s: My little lambs are folded like the flocks;


s: From room to room I hear the wakeful clocks


s: Challenge the passing hour, like guards that keep


s: Their solitary watch on tower and steep;


s: Far off I hear the crowing of the cocks,


s: And through the opening door that time unlocks


s: Feel the fresh breathing of To-morrow creep.


s: To-morrow! the mysterious, unknown guest,


s: I dare not ask; I know not what is best;


s: God hath already said what shall betide."


s: A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat,


s: Lay down his burden, and with reverent feet


s: Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor


s: Far off the noises of the world retreat;


s: And leave my burden at this minster gate,


s: Kneeling in prayer, and not ashamed to pray,


s: How strange the sculptures that adorn these towers!


s: This crowd of statues, in whose folded sleeves


s: Birds build their nests; while canopied with leaves


s: Parvis and portal bloom like trellised bowers,


s: And the vast minster seems a cross of flowers!


s: But fiends and dragons on the gargoyled eaves


s: Watch the dead Christ between the living thieves,


s: And, underneath, the traitor Judas lowers!


s: Ah! from what agonies of heart and brain,


s: What tenderness, what tears, what hate of wrong,


s: What passionate outcry of a soul in pain,


s: And strive to make my steps keep pace with thine.


s: The air is filled with some unknown perfume;


s: For thee to pass; the votive tapers shine;


s: Like rooks that haunt Ravenna's groves of pine


s: The hovering echoes fly from tomb to tomb.


s: With the pathetic words, "Although your sins


s: As scarlet be," and ends with "as the snow."


s: With snow-white veil and garments as of flame,


s: Filled thy young heart with passion and the woe


s: From which thy song and all its splendors came;


s: And while with stern rebuke she speaks thy name,


s: The ice about thy heart melts as the snow


s: On mountain height; and in swift overflow


s: Comes gushing from thy lips in sobs of shame.


s: Thou makest full confession; and a gleam,


s: As of the dawn on some dark forest cast,


s: Seems on thy lifted forehead to increase;


s: That perfect pardon which is perfect peace.


s: I lift mine eyes, and all the windows blaze


s: With forms of saints and holy men who died,


s: And the great Rose upon its leaves displays


s: Christ's Triumph, and the angelic roundelays,


s: No more rebukes, but smiles her words of praise.


s: And then the organ sounds, and unseen choirs


s: Sing the old Latin hymns of peace and love,


s: And the melodious bells among the spires


s: O'er all the house-tops and through heaven above


s: O bringer of the light, whose splendor shines


s: The voices of the mountains and the pines,


s: Repeat thy song, till the familiar lines


s: Thy fame is blown abroad from all the heights,


s: Through all the nations, and a sound is heard,


s: Strangers of Rome, and the new proselytes,


s: In their own language hear thy wondrous word,


s: A gentle boy, with soft and silken locks


s: A dreamy boy, with brown and tender eyes,


s: A castle-builder, with his wooden blocks,


s: There will be other towers for thee to build;


s: There will be other steeds for thee to ride;


s: There will be other legends, and all filled


s: With greater marvels and more glorified.


s: Build on, and make thy castles high and fair,


s: Rising and reaching upward to the skies;


s: And has filled with its freshness and sweetness


s: HEPHAESTUS (standing before the statue of Pandora.)


s: Not fashioned out of gold, like Hera's throne,


s: Nor forged of iron like the thunderbolts


s: Wrought by my hands at Lemnos or Olympus,


s: But moulded in soft clay, that unresisting


s: Yields itself to the touch, this lovely form


s: Before me stands, perfect in every part.


s: Not Aphrodite's self appeared more fair,


s: Paid homage to her beauty.  Thus her hair


s: Was cinctured; thus her floating drapery


s: Was like a cloud about her, and her face


s: Was radiant with the sunshine and the sea.


s: Not finished till I breathe the breath of life


s: Into her nostrils, and she moves and speaks.


s: Will she become immortal like ourselves?


s: The form that thou hast fashioned out of clay


s: Is of the earth and mortal; but the spirit,


s: The gods shall shower on her their benefactions,


s: She shall possess all gifts: the gift of song,


s: The gift of eloquence, the gift of beauty,


s: Through all the halls and chambers of my house!


s: Her parted lips inhale it, and her bosom


s: Bends to and fro, she bows or lifts her head.


s: She is alive; she breathes, but yet she speaks not!


s: O sweet, pale face!  O lovely eyes of azure,


s: O golden hair that like a miser's treasure


s: O graceful form, that cloudlike floatest on


s: Who moveth as if motion were a pleasure!


s: By what name shall I call thee?  Nymph or Muse,


s: Would best befit thee; but I cannot choose,


s: Nor do I care to choose; for still the same,


s: Nameless or named, will be thy loveliness.


s: Much must he toil who serves the Immortal Gods,


s: And I, who am their herald, most of all.


s: No rest have I, nor respite.  I no sooner


s: Unclasp the winged sandals from my feet,


s: Than I again must clasp them, and depart


s: That sends me earthward.  I will fly so swiftly


s: Shall make a sound like the Pandaean pipes,


s: Cheating the shepherds; for to-day I go,


s: Commissioned by high-thundering Zeus, to lead


s: And by my cunning arguments persuade him


s: To marry her.  What mischief lies concealed


s: Who thinks of marrying hath already taken


s: Such embassies delight me.  Forth I launch


s: Who drove amiss Hyperion's fiery steeds.


s: Folds itself round about me like an arm,


s: And holds me as a mother holds her child.


s: Proclaim the dawn.  The stars begin to fade,


s: And all the heavens are full of prophecies


s: And evil auguries.  Blood-red last night


s: I saw great Kronos rise; the crescent moon


s: Sank through the mist, as if it were the scythe


s: The western steeps.  O ye Immortal Gods,


s: What evil are ye plotting and contriving?


s: I cannot cross the threshold.  An unseen


s: And icy hand repels me.  These blank walls


s: Against Necessity.  The Fates control you,


s: As they do us, and so far we are equals!


s: He sits there muttering in his beard.  His voice


s: And winged heels I know thee.  Thou art Hermes,


s: Captain of thieves!  Hast thou again been stealing


s: Or the earth-shaking trident of Poseidon?


s: And thou, Prometheus; say, hast thou again


s: Been stealing fire from Helios' chariot-wheels


s: Know naught of late or early.  Zeus himself


s: The Gods and all their gifts. If they have sent her


s: Could she bring on thy house, who is a woman?


s: The Gods are not my friends, nor am I theirs.


s: Whatever comes from them, though in a shape


s: Both Gods and men have shown themselves ungrateful.


s: When every spark was quenched on every hearth


s: Throughout the earth, I brought to man the fire


s: Of reconciliation they have sent to thee


s: The sunshine and the fragrance of her youth.


s: All that my heart desires; the ideal beauty


s: Fashions and follows in a thousand shapes


s: More lovely than the real.  My own thoughts


s: Are my companions; my designs and labors


s: Can never be recalled.  The Gods implore not,


s: Choice and occasion, which once being passed


s: Return no more.  Dost thou accept the gift?


s: We leave thee to thy vacant dreams, and all


s: The silence and the solitude of thought,


s: The loneliness of existence without love.


s: As lonely as the tower that he inhabits,


s: As firm and cold as are the crags about him,


s: Prometheus stands.  The thunderbolts of Zeus


s: Alone can move him; but the tender heart


s: Hammers and flames like all his brother's forges!


s: The infinite realms of space, the liquid ether,


s: Through the warm sunshine and the cooling cloud,


s: With one touch of my swift and winged feet,


s: I spurn the solid earth, and leave it rocking


s: As rocks the bough from which a bird takes wing.


s: Surely thou art a Goddess, for thy voice


s: Self-poised as if it floated on the air!


s: That fascinates me.  Thy whole presence seems


s: A soft desire, a breathing thought of love.


s: Say, would thy star like Merope's grow dim


s: It was not Hermes led thee here, but Eros,


s: And swifter than his arrows were thine eyes


s: In wounding me.  There was no moment's space


s: O, what a telltale face thou hast!  Again


s: They do but answer to the love in thine,


s: Yet secretly I wonder thou shouldst love me.


s: Than had I known thee longer.  Yet it seems


s: That I have always known thee, and but now


s: Have found thee.  Ah, I have been waiting long.


s: How beautiful is this house!  The atmosphere


s: Breathes rest and comfort, and the many chambers


s: But truly are.  This dwelling and its master


s: Art the enchantress, and I feel thy power


s: How beautiful are all things round about me,


s: What treasures hast thou here!  Yon oaken chest,


s: Carven with figures and embossed with gold,


s: And precious things dost thou keep hidden in it?


s: Safely concealed there from all mortal eyes


s: Seek not to know what they have hidden from thee,


s: Let us go forth from this mysterious place.


s: The garden walks are pleasant at this hour;


s: The nightingales among the sheltering boughs


s: Shall teach me how to woo thee, and shall tell me


s: By what resistless charms or incantations


s: Yon snow-white cloud that sails sublime in ether


s: Is but the sovereign Zeus, who like a swan


s: Ixion's cloud, the shadowy shape of Hera,


s: Hark! listen!  Hear how sweetly overhead


s: The feathered flute-players pipe their songs of love,


s: Who would not love, if loving she might be


s: Changed like Callisto to a star in heaven?


s: Ah, who would love, if loving she might be


s: Like Semele consumed and burnt to ashes?


s: The pipe of Pan out of these reeds is made,


s: And when he plays upon it to the shepherds


s: They pity him, so mournful is the sound.


s: I would not be found here.  I would not see him.


s: Who was it fled from here?  I saw a shape


s: That I have warned thee?  Let me now implore.


s: Thou harborest in thy house a dangerous guest.


s: Whom the Gods love they honor with such guests.


s: Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad.


s: Shall I refuse the gifts they send to me?


s: Reject all gifts that come from higher powers.


s: Such gifts as this are not to be rejected.


s: Make not thyself the slave of any woman.


s: I judge thee not; for thou art more than man;


s: And hast a Titan's strength, and faculties


s: That make thee godlike; and thou sittest here


s: Thou drivest me to madness with thy taunts.


s: And me thou drivest to madness with thy follies.


s: See there my forges in the roaring caverns,


s: That springs from labor.  Read with me the stars,


s: And learn the virtues that lie hidden in plants,


s: I am not as thou art.  Thou dost inherit


s: Our father's strength, and I our mother's weakness:


s: Assert thyself; rise up to thy full height;


s: Shake from thy soul these dreams effeminate,


s: These passions born of indolence and ease.


s: Resolve, and thou art free.  But breathe the air


s: Of mountains, and their unapproachable summits


s: Will lift thee to the level of themselves.


s: Thou leadest me as a child, I follow thee.


s: And as my fancy leads me, through this house,


s: Nor could I ask a dwelling more complete


s: Were I indeed the Goddess that he deems me.


s: Can be more beautiful.  And this is mine


s: And more than this, the love wherewith he crowns me.


s: Attracts and fascinates me.  Would I knew


s: Forbids.  Ah me!  The secret then is safe.


s: So would it be if it were in my keeping.


s: A crowd of shadowy faces from the mirrors


s: That line these walls are watching me.  I dare not


s: Lift up the lid.  A hundred times the act


s: (She walks to the other side of the hall.)


s: My feet are weary, wandering to and fro,


s: My eyes with seeing and my heart with waiting.


s: I will lie here and rest till he returns,


s: (Throws herself upon a couch, and falls asleep.)


s: Your drowsy watch before the Ivory Gate;


s: Elude your watchful warders on the towers!


s: To know a secret that the Gods would keep.


s: A voice said in my sleep: "Do not delay:


s: Are but the shadows and phantoms of myself;


s: They cannot help nor hinder.  No one sees me,


s: Save the all-seeing Gods, who, knowing good


s: Of knowing good and evil like themselves.


s: Or life or death, the moment shall decide.


s: (She lifts the lid.  A dense mist rises from


s: falls senseless on the floor.  Storm without.)


s: The storm is past, but it hath left behind it


s: Are strewn with shattered boughs; the birds are silent;


s: The flowers, downtrodden by the wind, lie dead;


s: The swollen rivulet sobs with secret pain,


s: As if some dreadful deed had been committed


s: They dare not name, and all the air is heavy


s: Foreshadowings of some terrible disaster


s: Oppress my heart.  Ye Gods, avert the omen!


s: To lift mine eyes to thine, nor hear thy voice,


s: I have brought wrath and ruin on thy house!


s: My heart hath braved the oracle that guarded


s: I pray for punishment, and not for pardon.


s: Mine is the fault not thine.  On me shall fall


s: The vengeance of the Gods, for I betrayed


s: I left thee here alone to this temptation.


s: The greatest punishment.  To be left alone


s: And face to face with my own crime, had been


s: I do not love thee less for what is done,


s: And cannot be undone.  Thy very weakness


s: Hath brought thee nearer to me, and henceforth


s: My love will have a sense of pity in it,


s: To make the future fairer than the past,


s: And make the past appear a troubled dream.


s: Even now in passing through the garden walks


s: Put out their torches and behold us not,


s: Only through punishment of our evil deeds,


s: Only through suffering, are we reconciled


s: The daughters dark of Acheron and Night!


s: Send forth prophetic sounds before they smite.


s: Hath purified them with his heavenly fires;


s: Kindled with nobler passions and desires.


s: The lights are out, and gone are all the guests


s: That thronging came with merriment and jests


s: In the new house,--into the night are gone;


s: But still the fire upon the hearth burns on,


s: Through floating vapors interfused with light,


s: Shapes indeterminate, that gleam and fade,


s: Again appear transfigured on the screen,


s: In part transfigured, through the open door


s: The ways that win, the arts that please?


s: A lovely landscape through the parted frees,


s: Then sees it not, for boughs that intervene


s: Or as we see the moon sometimes revealed


s: Through drifting clouds, and then again concealed,


s: Again the tossing boughs shut out the scene,


s: And the moon's pallid disk is hidden quite;


s: The meadow-brook, that seemeth to stand still,


s: Quickens its current as it nears the mill;


s: And so the stream of Time that lingereth


s: Sometimes the setting sun breaks out again,


s: And touching all the darksome woods with light,


s: Smiles on the fields, until they laugh and sing,


s: Then like a ruby from the horizon's ring


s: The lamps are lit, the fires burn bright,


s: Tempora labuntur, tacitisque senescimus annis,


s: Et fugiunt freno non remorante dies.--OVID, Fastorum, Lib. vi.


s: O ye familiar scenes,--ye groves of pine,


s: That once were mine and are no longer mine,--


s: Thou river, widening through the meadows green


s: To the vast sea, so near and yet unseen,--


s: Phantoms of fame, like exhalations, rose


s: Salute you; earth and air and sea and sky,


s: His sovereign splendors upon grove and town.


s: Whether we come or go, or whence or where.


s: What passing generations fill these halls,


s: What passing voices echo front these walls,


s: Led our bewildered feet through learning's maze;


s: What greetings come there from the voiceless dead?


s: What pressure from the hands that lifeless lie?


s: They are no longer here; they all are gone


s: Into the land of shadows,--all save one.


s: Honor and reverence, and the good repute


s: That follows faithful service as its fruit,


s: His dreadful journey to the realms of shade,


s: Met there the old instructor of his youth,


s: Who while on earth, ere yet by death surprised,


s: All my life long my language shall declare."


s: But to the other living called the dead,


s: Not wrapped in gloom, but robed in sunshine here;


s: Whose simple lives, complete and without flaw,


s: Were part and parcel of great Nature's law;


s: Who said not to their Lord, as if afraid


s: But labored in their sphere, as men who live


s: In the delight that work alone can give.


s: Peace be to them; eternal peace and rest,


s: "Ye have been faithful over a few things,


s: Over ten cities shall ye reign as kings."


s: And ye who fill the places we once filled,


s: And follow in the furrows that we tilled,


s: Young men, whose generous hearts are beating high,


s: Salute you; hail you; take your hands in ours,


s: And crown you with our welcome as with flowers!


s: How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams


s: With its illusions, aspirations, dreams!


s: Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend!


s: That holds the treasures of the universe!


s: No danger daunts it, and no foe withstands;


s: "Be thou removed!" it to the mountain saith,


s: And with ambitious feet, secure and proud,


s: Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud!


s: With the old men, too old and weak to fight,


s: Chirping like grasshoppers in their delight


s: To see the embattled hosts, with spear and shield,


s: We see you in the plain, as each appears,


s: That towers above the others?  Which may be


s: Study yourselves; and most of all note well


s: Flung it aside, when she her face surveyed


s: The unlucky Marsyas found it, and his fate


s: Write on your doors the saying wise and old,


s: "Be bold! be bold!" and everywhere--"Be bold;


s: Be not too bold!"  Yet better the excess


s: Than the defect; better the more than less;


s: Than like a perfumed Paris turn and fly,


s: And now, my classmates; ye remaining few


s: That number not the half of those we knew,


s: Ye, against whose familiar names not yet


s: Strikes the half-century with a solemn chime,


s: The joy of meeting not unmixed with pain.


s: Where are the others?  Voices from the deep


s: Caverns of darkness answer me: "They sleep!"


s: Each at some well-remembered grave will kneel,


s: And from the inscription wipe the weeds and moss,


s: For every heart best knoweth its own loss.


s: I see their scattered gravestones gleaming white


s: Through the pale dusk of the impending night;


s: O'er all alike the impartial sunset throws


s: Its golden lilies mingled with the rose;


s: We give to each a tender thought, and pass


s: Out of the graveyards with their tangled grass,


s: Unto these scenes frequented by our feet


s: When we were young, and life was fresh and sweet.


s: What shall I say to you?  What can I say


s: This throng of faces turned to meet my own,


s: Friendly and fair, and yet to me unknown,


s: Transformed the very landscape seems to be;


s: I fain would steal away, with noiseless tread,


s: As from a house where some one lieth dead.


s: As one who struggles in a troubled dream


s: Vanish the dream! Vanish the idle fears!


s: Vanish the rolling mists of fifty years!


s: Hail, my companions, comrades, classmates, friends!


s: Ah me! the fifty years since last we met


s: By Time, the great transcriber, on his shelves,


s: Wherein are written the histories of ourselves.


s: What tragedies, what comedies, are there;


s: What joy and grief, what rapture and despair!


s: Of struggle, and temptation, and retreat!


s: What records of regrets, and doubts, and fears


s: What pages blotted, blistered by our tears!


s: What lovely landscapes on the margin shine,


s: Undimmed by age, unsoiled by damp or dust!


s: Whose hand shall dare to open and explore


s: These volumes, closed and clasped forevermore?


s: Not mine.  With reverential feet I pass;


s: Whatever hath been written shall remain,


s: The unwritten only still belongs to thee:


s: Take heed, and ponder well what that shall be."


s: As children frightened by a thundercloud


s: A tale of wonder, with enchantment fraught,


s: Or wild adventure, that diverts their thought,


s: The gathering shadows of the time and place,


s: There stood an image with its arm in air,


s: And on its lifted finger, shining clear,


s: A golden ring with the device, "Strike here!"


s: Greatly the people wondered, though none guessed


s: The meaning that these words but half expressed,


s: With downcast eyes was passing on his way,


s: Paused, and observed the spot, and marked it well,


s: And, coming back at midnight, delved, and found


s: Down this he passed into a spacious hall,


s: With bow and shaft a brazen statue stood.


s: Were these mysterious words of menace set:


s: None can escape, not even yon luminous flame!"


s: Midway the hall was a fair table placed,


s: With cloth of gold, and golden cups enchased


s: With rubies, and the plates and knives were gold,


s: Were seated gallant knights in armor clad,


s: And ladies beautiful with plume and zone,


s: But they were stone, their hearts within were stone;


s: And the vast hall was filled in every part


s: With silent crowds, stony in face and heart.


s: Long at the scene, bewildered and amazed


s: The trembling clerk in speechless wonder gazed;


s: Then from the table, by his greed made bold,


s: And suddenly from their seats the guests upsprang,


s: The vaulted ceiling with loud clamors rang,


s: The archer sped his arrow, at their call,


s: Stark on the door the luckless clerk lay dead!


s: Whose beckoning finger points to realms of gold;


s: Our lusts and passions are the downward stair


s: Terrestrial goods, the goblet and the knife;


s: The knights and ladies, all whose flesh and bone


s: By avarice have been hardened into stone;


s: The clerk, the scholar whom the love of pelf


s: Tempts from his books and from his nobler self.


s: The scholar and the world!  The endless strife,


s: The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,


s: The market-place, the eager love of gain,


s: Whose aim is vanity, and whose end is pain!


s: But why, you ask me, should this tale be told


s: To men grown old, or who are growing old?


s: It is too late!  Ah, nothing is too late


s: Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate.


s: Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers,


s: When each had numbered more than fourscore years,


s: Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales,


s: Completed Faust when eighty years were past.


s: These are indeed exceptions; but they show


s: How far the gulf-stream of our youth may flow


s: Where little else than life itself survives.


s: While still the skies are clear, the weather warm,


s: So something in us, as old age draws near,


s: Sinks from its higher levels in the brain;


s: May say of it, old age is still old age.


s: It is the waning, not the crescent moon;


s: The dusk of evening, not the blaze of noon:


s: It is not strength, but weakness; not desire,


s: But its surcease; not the fierce heat of fire,


s: In which some living sparks we still discern,


s: What then?  Shall we sit idly down and say


s: The night hath come; it is no longer day?


s: The night hath not yet come; we are not quite


s: Cut off from labor by the failing light;


s: Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear;


s: Or tales of pilgrims that one morning rode


s: But other something, would we but begin;


s: Than youth itself, though in another dress,


s: The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.


s: When I remember them, those friends of mine,


s: Who are no longer here, the noble three,


s: Who half my life were more than friends to me,


s: And whose discourse was like a generous wine,


s: Something, that shone in them, and made us see


s: In vain I stretch my hands to clasp their hands;


s: I cannot find them.  Nothing now is left


s: Of their dear presence, and, remembering, smile.


s: In Attica thy birthplace should have been,


s: And childlike joy of life, O Philhellene!


s: Around thee would have swarmed the Attic bees;


s: For thee old legends breathed historic breath;


s: And in the sunset Jason's fleece of gold!


s: O, what hadst thou to do with cruel Death,


s: Who wast so full of life, or Death with thee,


s: That thou shouldst die before thou hadst grown old!


s: And hear the waves of the distracted sea


s: And waiting restless at thy cottage door.


s: The rocks, the sea-weed on the ocean floor,


s: Then why shouldst thou be dead, and come no more?


s: Ah, why shouldst thou be dead, when common men


s: Having and holding?  Why, when thou hadst read


s: Nature's mysterious manuscript, and then


s: Wast ready to reveal the truth it bears,


s: Why art thou silent!  Why shouldst thou be dead?


s: River, that stealest with such silent pace


s: A friend who bore thy name, and whom these eyes


s: Shall see no more in his accustomed place,


s: And say good night, for now the western skies


s: Are red with sunset, and gray mists arise


s: Like damps that gather on a dead man's face.


s: Good night! good night! as we so oft have said


s: Beneath this roof at midnight in the days


s: That are no more, and shall no more return.


s: Thou hast but taken thy lamp and gone to bed;


s: The doors are all wide open; at the gate


s: The blossomed lilacs counterfeit a blaze,


s: Hangs o'er the Brighton meadows like a fate,


s: And on their margin, with sea-tides elate,


s: The flooded Charles, as in the happier days,


s: Writes the last letter of his name, and stays


s: His restless steps, as if compelled to wait.


s: I also wait; but they will come no more,


s: Those friends of mine, whose presence satisfied


s: The thirst and hunger of my heart.  Ah me!


s: They have forgotten the pathway to my door!


s: Something is gone from nature since they died,


s: With portraitures of huntsman, hawk, and hound.


s: And the hurt deer.  He listeneth to the lark,


s: Whose song comes with the sunshine through the dark


s: Of painted glass in leaden lattice bound;


s: He listeneth and he laugheth at the sound,


s: I hear the crowing cock, I hear the note


s: Rise odors of ploughed field or flowery mead.


s: Thunder of thoroughfares; trumpets that blow


s: Of sailors landed from their anchored fleets;


s: Voices of children, and bright flowers that throw


s: O'er garden-walls their intermingled sweets!


s: Whom all the Muses loved, not one alone;--


s: Into his hands they put the lyre of gold,


s: And, crowned with sacred laurel at their fount,


s: Placed him as Musagetes on their throne.


s: I pace the sounding sea-beach and behold


s: How the voluminous billows roll and run,


s: Shines through their sheeted emerald far unrolled,


s: And the ninth wave, slow gathering fold by fold


s: All its loose-flowing garments into one,


s: Plunges upon the shore, and floods the dun


s: Pale reach of sands, and changes them to gold.


s: Uplifted, a ninth wave superb and strong,


s: Floods all the soul with its melodious seas.


s: The young Endymion sleeps Endymion's sleep;


s: The shepherd-boy whose tale was left half told!


s: The solemn grove uplifts its shield of gold


s: To the red rising moon, and loud and deep


s: The nightingale is singing from the steep;


s: A shepherd's pipe lies shattered near his sheep.


s: Lo! in the moonlight gleams a marble white,


s: On which I read: "Here lieth one whose name


s: Was writ in water."  And was this the meed


s: Of his sweet singing?  Rather let me write:


s: "The smoking flax before it burst to flame


s: Was quenched by death, and broken the bruised reed."


s: Along whose bed the glimmering stars are seen


s: Like gold and silver sands in some ravine


s: Where mountain streams have left their channels bare!


s: The Spaniard sees in thee the pathway, where


s: And quiet nights, when all the heavens were fair.


s: Not this I see, nor yet the ancient fable


s: Of Phaeton's wild course, that scorched the skies


s: Where'er the hoofs of his hot coursers trod;


s: But the white drift of worlds o'er chasms of sable,


s: The star-dust that is whirled aloft and flies


s: From the invisible chariot-wheels of God.


s: The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,


s: And round the pebbly beaches far and wide


s: I heard the first wave of the rising tide


s: As of a cataract from the mountain's side,


s: So comes to us at times, from the unknown


s: The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;


s: Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing


s: Yon little cloud of ashen gray and gold,


s: The falling mantle of the Prophet seems.


s: From the dim headlands many a lighthouse gleams,


s: The street-lamps of the ocean; and behold,


s: O'erhead the banners of the night unfold;


s: The day hath passed into the land of dreams.


s: So full of gladness and so full of pain!


s: To some the gravestone of a dead delight,


s: I saw the long line of the vacant shore,


s: The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand,


s: And the brown rocks left bare on every hand,


s: As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.


s: Then heard I, more distinctly than before,


s: The ocean breathe and its great breast expand,


s: And hurrying came on the defenceless land


s: The insurgent waters with tumultuous roar.


s: All thought and feeling and desire, I said,


s: Love, laughter, and the exultant joy of song


s: Have ebbed from me forever!  Suddenly o'er me


s: They swept again from their deep ocean bed,


s: As youth, and beautiful as youth, upbore me.


s: What would befall these children?  What would be


s: Their fate, who now are looking up to me


s: For help and furtherance?  Their lives, I said,


s: But the first chapters, and no longer see


s: And generations pass, as they have passed,


s: Thousands of times has the old tale been told;


s: The world belongs to those who come the last,


s: They will find hope and strength as we have done.


s: At Newport News, beside the salt-sea wave,


s: Nameless and dateless; sentinel or scout


s: Shot down in skirmish, or disastrous rout


s: Of battle, when the loud artillery drave


s: Its iron wedges through the ranks of brave


s: And doomed battalions, storming the redoubt.


s: In thy forgotten grave! with secret shame


s: I feel my pulses beat, my forehead burn,


s: All that thou hadst, thy life, thy very name,


s: Lull me to sleep, ye winds, whose fitful sound


s: Seems from some faint Aeolian harp-string caught;


s: Seal up the hundred wakeful eyes of thought


s: As Hermes with his lyre in sleep profound


s: The hundred wakeful eyes of Argus bound;


s: With too much toil, with too much care distraught,


s: And with the iron crown of anguish crowned.


s: Lay thy soft hand upon my brow and cheek,


s: O peaceful Sleep! until from pain released


s: Ah, with what subtile meaning did the Greek


s: Call thee the lesser mystery at the feast


s: Five centuries old.  I plant my foot of stone


s: Was planted on the dragon.  Fold by fold


s: Its glistening scales.  Twice hath it overthrown


s: Were driven from Florence; longer still ago


s: Pianto sul draco.  Mentre ch' io ragiono


s: Le rilucenti scaglie.  Ha questi affranto


s: Due volte i miei maggior.  Me solo intanto


s: Fiorenza i suoi giojelli m' ha prestati;


s: Leads by the hand her little child to bed,


s: And leave his broken playthings on the floor,


s: Still gazing at them through the open door,


s: Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;


s: Our playthings one by one, and by the hand


s: Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,


s: How far the unknown transcends the what we know.


s: In the bright Indian Summer of his fame!


s: A simple stone, with but a date and name,


s: But the dry leaves of life were all aflame


s: With tints that brightened and were multiplied.


s: How sweet a life was his; how sweet a  death!


s: Living, to wing with mirth the weary hours,


s: Or with romantic tales the heart to cheer;


s: Dying, to leave a memory like the breath


s: Of summers full of sunshine and of showers,


s: Thou ancient oak! whose myriad leaves are loud


s: With some mysterious gift of tongues endowed,


s: Thou speakest a different dialect to each;


s: Of a lost race, long vanished like a cloud.


s: For underneath thy shade, in days remote,


s: Nine sisters, beautiful in form and face,


s: Came from their convent on the shining heights


s: Then seemed the world to change.  All time and space,


s: Splendor of cloudless days and starry nights,


s: And men and manners, and all sounds and sights,


s: Proud were these sisters, but were not too proud


s: To teach in schools of little country towns


s: Science and song, and all the arts that please;


s: So that while housewives span, and farmers ploughed,


s: Their comely daughters, clad in homespun gowns,


s: Learned the sweet songs of the Pierides.


s: White swan of cities, slumbering in thy nest


s: Of the lagoon, that fences thee and feeds,


s: As sayeth thy old historian and thy guest!


s: By ocean streams, and from the silt and weeds


s: Thy sun-illumined spires, thy crown and crest!


s: White phantom city, whose untrodden streets


s: Are rivers, and whose pavements are the shifting


s: I wait to see thee vanish like the fleets


s: Seen in mirage, or towers of cloud uplifting


s: Immortal in your verse, though life be fled,


s: Though ye are living, if neglect can kill,


s: With drops of anguish falling fast and red


s: From the sharp crown of thorns upon your head,


s: Have something in them so divinely sweet,


s: Not in the clamor of the crowded street,


s: Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng,


s: But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat.


s: More rounded in itself and more complete,


s: Than his, who lies beneath this funeral stone.


s: These pines, that murmur in low monotone,


s: These walks frequented by scholastic feet,


s: Were all his world; but in this calm retreat


s: For him the Teacher's chair became a throne.


s: With fond affection memory loves to dwell


s: A pastime of the toil of tongue and pen;


s: And now, amid the groves he loved so well


s: That naught could lure him from their grateful shade,


s: He sleeps, but wakes elsewhere, for God hath said, Amen!


s: It is the Harvest Moon!  On gilded vanes


s: And roofs of villages, on woodland crests


s: Of rooms where children sleep, on country lanes


s: And harvest-fields, its mystic splendor rests!


s: Gone are the birds that were our summer guests,


s: With the last sheaves return the laboring wains!


s: All things are symbols: the external shows


s: As flowers and fruits and falling of the leaves;


s: The song-birds leave us at the summer's close,


s: And pipings of the quail among the sheaves.


s: Thou Royal River, born of sun and shower


s: In chambers purple with the Alpine glow,


s: Wrapped in the spotless ermine of the snow


s: And rocked by tempests!--at the appointed hour


s: Forth, like a steel-clad horseman from a tower,


s: With clang and clink of harness dost thou go


s: Rush to receive thee and obey thy power.


s: Bridges uplift for thee the stately arch,


s: Vineyards encircle thee with garlands gay,


s: And fleets attend thy progress to the sea!


s: Three Silences there are: the first of speech,


s: The second of desire, the third of thought;


s: This is the lore a Spanish monk, distraught


s: With dreams and visions, was the first to teach.


s: These Silences, commingling each with each,


s: Made up the perfect Silence, that he sought


s: And prayed for, and wherein at times he caught


s: Mysterious sounds from realms beyond our reach.


s: The life to come, and in whose thought and word


s: Voices and melodies from beyond the gates,


s: And speakest only when thy soul is stirred!


s: Slowly the hour-hand of the clock moves round;


s: To see it move!  Slowly in shine or shower


s: The painted ship above it, homeward bound,


s: Sails, but seems motionless, as if aground;


s: Yet both arrive at last; and in his tower


s: The slumberous watchman wakes and strikes the hour,


s: The watershed of Time, from which the streams


s: Of Yesterday and To-morrow take their way,


s: One to the land of promise and of light,


s: One to the land of darkness and of dreams!


s: O River of Yesterday, with current swift


s: Through chasms descending, and soon lost to sight,


s: The faded leaves, that on thy bosom drift!


s: Mine eyes, and thee I follow, as the night


s: Wanes into morning, and the dawning light


s: Broadens, and all the shadows fade and shift!


s: Through unfrequented, unfamiliar fields,


s: Fragrant with flowers and musical with song;


s: Still follow, follow; sure to meet the sun,


s: And confident, that what the future yields


s: Will be the right, unless myself be wrong.


s: Through chasms of darkness to the deep descending,


s: I heard thee sobbing in the rain, and blending


s: I called to thee, and yet thou wouldst not stay,


s: But turbulent, and with thyself contending,


s: And torrent-like thy force on pebbles spending,


s: Thou wouldst not listen to a poet's lay.


s: Thoughts, like a loud and sudden rush of wings,


s: Regrets and recollections of things past,


s: With hints and prophecies of things to be,


s: And inspirations, which, could they be things,


s: And stay with us, and we could hold them fast,


s: Were our good angels,--these I owe to thee.


s: But beautiful, and white with waterfalls,


s: And wreaths of mist, like hands the pathway showing;


s: I hear the trumpets of the morning blowing,


s: I hear thy mighty voice, that calls and calls,


s: And see, as Ossian saw in Morven's halls,


s: Mysterious phantoms, coming, beckoning, going!


s: That fascinates us; we are children still,


s: Wayward and wistful; with one hand we cling


s: Grope in the dark for what the day will bring.


s: St. Bototlph's Town!  Hither across the plains


s: And fens of Lincolnshire, in garb austere,


s: There came a Saxon monk, and founded here


s: Only a name, that, spoken loud and clear,


s: Survives the sculptured walls and painted panes.


s: St. Botolph's Town!  Far over leagues of land


s: And leagues of sea looks forth its noble tower,


s: And far around the chiming bells are heard;


s: I stand beneath the tree, whose branches shade


s: And hear its leaves repeat their benison


s: On him, whose hand if thy stones memorial laid;


s: In the world's darkest hour, "Behold thy son!"


s: And see him living still, and wandering on


s: And waiting for the advent long delayed.


s: Lessons of love and light, but these expanding


s: And sheltering boughs with all their leaves implore,


s: And say in language clear as human speech,


s: "The peace of God, that passeth understanding,


s: Out of the heart of Nature, or the heart


s: Of man, the child of Nature, not of Art,


s: Fresh as the morning, salt as the salt sea,


s: A medicine to this sluggish mood, and start


s: The life-blood in my veins, and so impart


s: Alas! not always doth the breath of song


s: Breathe on us.  It is like the wind that bloweth


s: At its own will, not ours, nor tarries long;


s: We hear the sound thereof, but no man knoweth


s: From whence it comes, so sudden and swift and strong,


s: Nor whither in its wayward course it goeth.


s: Postponed the cares of king-craft to translate


s: Here Geoffrey Chaucer in his ripe old age


s: Wrote the unrivalled Tales, which soon or late


s: The venturous hand that strives to imitate


s: Vanquished must fall on the unfinished page.


s: Two kings were they, who ruled by right divine,


s: And both supreme; one in the realm of Truth,


s: One in the realm of Fiction and of Song.


s: Uprising in the strength and flush of youth,


s: Sweet faces, that from pictured casements lean


s: On some gay pageant passing through a town,


s: Yourselves the fairest figures in the scene;


s: With what a gentle grace, with what serene


s: Unconsciousness ye wear the triple crown


s: Of a great name, that ne'er hath tarnished been!


s: From your soft eyes, so innocent and sweet,


s: Four spirits, sweet and innocent as they,


s: Hark! there is some one singing in the street;


s: "Faith, Hope, and Love! these three," he seems to say;


s: "These three; and greatest of the three is Love."


s: When the full river of feeling overflows;--


s: The happy days unclouded to their close;


s: The sudden joys that out of darkness start


s: As flames from ashes; swift desires that dart


s: Like swallows singing down each wind that blows!


s: White as a cloud that floats and fades in air,


s: These tender memories are;--a Fairy Tale


s: Of some enchanted land we know not where,


s: Poet! I come to touch thy lance with mine;


s: Not as a knight, who on the listed field


s: Of tourney touched his adversary's shield


s: Of homage to the mastery, which is thine,


s: In English song; nor will I keep concealed,


s: And voiceless as a rivulet frost-congealed,


s: Who craze the brain with their delirious dance,


s: Art thou, O sweet historian of the heart!


s: Therefore to thee the laurel-leaves belong,


s: Seeking some final word, some sweet Amen,


s: Wherewith to close the volume in his hand.


s: The billows rolled and plunged upon the sand,


s: The circling sea-gulls swept beyond his ken,


s: And from the parting cloud-rack now and then


s: Flashed the red sunset over sea and land.


s: Then by the billows at his feet was tossed


s: A broken oar; and carved thereon he read,


s: "Oft was I weary, when I toiled at thee";


s: And like a man, who findeth what was lost,


s: He wrote the words, then lifted up his head,


s: In the long, sleepless watches of the night,


s: A gentle face--the face of one long dead--


s: Looks at me from the wall, where round its head


s: The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light.


s: Here in this room she died; and soul more white


s: These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes


s: And seasons, changeless since the day she died.


s: Through fields with poppies all on fire,


s: Beautiful valley! through whose verdant meads


s: The Liris, nurse of rushes and of reeds,


s: The hillsides, and where every mountain's crest


s: Was dragged with contumely from his throne;


s: Sciarra Colonna, was that day's disgrace


s: The Pontiff's only, or in part thine own?


s: When Manfred by his men-at-arms betrayed


s: There is Aquinum, the old Volscian town,


s: Where Juvenal was born, whose lurid light


s: Still hovers o'er his birthplace like the crown


s: Of splendor seen o'er cities in the night.


s: Doubled the splendor is, that in its streets


s: The Angelic Doctor as a school-boy played,


s: And dreamed perhaps the dreams, that he repeats


s: In ponderous folios for scholastics made.


s: And there, uplifted, like a passing cloud


s: Above, the convent bells for vespers chimed,


s: Below, the darkening town grew desolate.


s: The court-yard with its well, the terrace wide,


s: From which, far down, the valley like a park


s: Veiled in the evening mists, was dim descried.


s: The day was dying, and with feeble hands


s: Caressed the mountain-tops; the vales between


s: Sheathed itself as a sword, and was not seen.


s: The silence of the place was like a sleep,


s: So full of rest it seemed; each passing tread


s: Benedict fleeing from the gates of Rome,


s: A youth disgusted with its vice and woe,


s: Sought in these mountain solitudes a home.


s: He founded here his Convent and his Rule


s: Of prayer and work, and counted work as prayer;


s: The pen became a clarion, and his school


s: Flamed like a beacon in the midnight air.


s: What though Boccaccio, in his reckless way,


s: This the urbane librarian said, and smiled


s: Upon such themes as these, with one young friar


s: Till in its cavernous chimney the woodfire


s: Had burnt its heart out like an anchorite.


s: And then translated, in my convent cell,


s: And, as a monk who hears the matin bell,


s: On which Saint Benedict so oft had gazed,--


s: The mountains and the valley in the sheen


s: Of the bright sun,--and stood as one amazed.


s: Gray mists were rolling, rising, vanishing;


s: The conflict of the Present and the Past,


s: Where this world and the next world were at strife.


s: For, as the valley from its sleep awoke,


s: Toss to the morning air their plumes of smoke,


s: The light, the heat, the heart's desire.


s: Not mine, though they be spoken through me.


s: Your crimson hoods, your cloaks of brown.


s: Turn, turn, my wheel?  Turn round and round


s: This clay, well mixed with marl and sand,


s: Turn, turn, my wheel!  All things must change


s: Of gardens, through whose latticed gates


s: Comes streaming down as through a screen;


s: Turn, turn, my wheel!  All life is brief;


s: The wind blows east, the wind blows west;


s: Will soon have wings and beak and breast,


s: Whose little towns, red-roofed with tile,


s: And crowned by day with wreaths of smoke.


s: His birds and fruits and flowers and leaves


s: With large blue eyes and steadfast gaze,


s: Still chant, as from their organ-screen,


s: That long eludes the traveller's search,


s: Turn, turn, my wheel!  'T is nature's plan


s: Knelt on the shore and told their beads,


s: Lamps that perchance their night-watch kept


s: Light yellow leaves with spots and stains


s: The Tower of Porcelain, strange and old,


s: Will search the heart and try the frame,


s: Through the clear realms of azure drift,


s: Whose thronged and flaming workshops lift


s: With sunshine streaming through each rift,


s: All the bright flowers that fill the land,


s: The leaves that rustle, the reeds that make


s: In Nature's footprints, light and fleet,


s: The church-bell from the neighboring town


s: The Potter heard, and stopped his wheel,


s: Stop, stop, my wheel!  Too soon, too soon


s: The glimmering lamps on the hillside yonder.


s: Nothing I hear but the chirp of crickets,


s: And the cry of the herons winging their way


s: O'er the poet's house in the Elmwood thickets.


s: To your roosts in the haunts of the exiled thrushes,


s: And the tides that water the reeds and rushes.


s: And the secret that baffles our utmost seeking;


s: And cannot interpret the words you are speaking.


s: Of wings that uplift and winds that uphold you,


s: The joy of freedom, the rapture of flight


s: Through the drift of the floating mists that infold you.


s: With its towns and rivers and desert places;


s: And the splendor of light above, and the glow


s: Of the limitless, blue, ethereal spaces.


s: Sound in his ears more sweet than yours,


s: And if yours are not sweeter and wilder and better.


s: Sing to him, say to him, here at his gate,


s: Where the boughs of the stately elms are meeting,


s: And send him unseen this friendly greeting;


s: Though not by a sound was the silence broken;


s: Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken.


s: From cruising about with his buccaneers;


s: He has singed the beard of the King of Spain,


s: In his house by the Maese, with its roof of tiles,


s: There are silver tankards of antique styles,


s: Plunder of convent and castle, and piles


s: Whenever he thinks of the King of Spain,


s: He sits and smokes by the blazing brands,


s: Goat-bearded, gray, and with double chin,


s: Of the flickering fire of the winter night;


s: And their talk is ever and ever the same,


s: While they drink the red wine of Tarragon,


s: And swings with the rising and falling tides,


s: So he thinks he shall take to the sea again


s: For one more cruise with his buccaneers,


s: To singe the beard of the King of Spain,


s: The long, straight line of the high-way,


s: Their toil to cross themselves and pray,


s: White hamlets hidden in fields of wheat,


s: White sunshine flooding square and street,


s: The young man's vision, the old man's dream,--


s: And cold with blasts that bite and freeze;


s: With flower's that hide the rents of time,


s: VITTORIA COLONNA, on the death of her hushand, the Marchese di


s: Pescara, retired to her castle at Ischia (Inarime), and there


s: wrote the Ode upon his death, which gained her the title of


s: That time and change and death withstood.


s: For death, that breaks the marriage band


s: And closer locked and barred her breast.


s: The song of birds, and, more than these,


s: Then as the sun, though hidden from sight,


s: "Combien faudrait-il de peaux d'Espagne pour faire un gant de


s: cette grandeur?"  A play upon the words gant, a glove, and Gand,


s: Through its squares and streets and alleys


s: His chestnut steed with four white feet,


s: "Where are the kings, and where the rest


s: "They're gone with all their pomp and show,


s: They're gone the way that thou shalt go.


s: The world, and what the world calls fair,


s: "Sir, I should build me a fortification, if I


s: came to live here." --BOSWELL'S Johnson.


s: On the green little isle of Inchkenneth,


s: And who says, were he Laird of Inchkenneth,


s: He would wall himself round with a fort.


s: Three Wise Men out of the East were they,


s: And they travelled by night and they slept by day,


s: For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.


s: The star was so beautiful, large, and clear,


s: And by this they knew that the coming was near


s: Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,


s: Their robes were of crimson silk with rows


s: Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,


s: Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.


s: And so the Three Kings rode into the West,


s: Through the dusk of night, over hill and dell,


s: And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast


s: And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,


s: With the people they met at some wayside well.


s: "Of the child that is born," said Baltasar,


s: "Good people, I pray you, tell us the news;


s: And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,


s: And the people answered, "You ask in vain;


s: We know of no king but Herod the Great!"


s: As they spurred their horses across the plain,


s: Like riders in haste, and who cannot wait.


s: Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,


s: Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;


s: So they rode away; and the star stood still,


s: Yes, it stopped, it stood still of its own free will,


s: The city of David where Christ was born.


s: And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,


s: Through the silent street, till their horses turned


s: And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;


s: But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,


s: In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,


s: For the joy of life and the terror of death


s: And the mother wondered and bowed her head,


s: Of an endless reign and of David's throne.


s: Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,


s: But they went not back to Herod the Great,


s: For they knew his malice and feared his hate,


s: And returned to their homes by another way.


s: For those that wander they know not where


s: And are baffled and beaten and blown about


s: By the winds of the wilderness of doubt;


s: O'er all that flutter their wings and fly


s: The White Czar is Peter the Great.  Batyushka, Father dear, and


s: Gosudar, Sovereign, are titles the Russian people are fond of


s: giving to the Czar in their popular songs.


s: Sweet as the tender fragrance that survives,


s: When martyred flowers breathe out their little lives,


s: Sweet as a song that once consoled our pain,


s: Is thy remembrance.  Now the hour of rest


s: Hath come to thee.  Sleep, darling; it is best.


s: Where sea gulls scream, and breakers roar,


s: Who presented to me on my Seventy-second Birth-day, February 27,


s: Or by what reason, or what right divine,


s: Only because the spreading chestnut tree


s: The affluent foliage of its branches made


s: There, by the blacksmith's forge, beside the street,


s: Enticed the bees, until it seemed alive,


s: And when the winds of autumn, with a shout,


s: The shining chestnuts, bursting from the sheath,


s: And now some fragments of its branches bare,


s: Have by my hearthstone found a home at last,


s: The Danish king could not in all his pride


s: But, seated in this chair, I can in rhyme


s: And hear the children's voices shout and call,


s: And the shrill hammers on the anvil beat


s: And thus, dear children, have ye made for me


s: And to my more than three-score years and ten


s: The heart hath its own memory, like the mind,


s: The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought


s: Only your love and your remembrance could


s: And make these branches, leafless now so long,


s: Cried the African monarch, the splendid,


s: As the vision, that lured him to follow,


s: Made from a fetter of Bonnivard, the Prisoner of Chillon; the


s: handle of wood from the Frigate Constitution, and bound with a


s: circlet of gold, inset with three precious stones from Siberia,


s: For the gift, and the grace of the gift,


s: Dark is the morning with mist; in the narrow mouth of the harbor


s: Motionless lies the sea, under its curtain of cloud;


s: Dreamily glimmer the sails of ships on the distant horizon,


s: Like to the towers of a town, built on the verge of the sea.


s: Slowly and stately and still, they sail forth into the ocean;


s: With them sail my thoughts over the limitless deep,


s: Farther and farther away, borne on by unsatisfied longings,


s: Unto Hesperian isles, unto Ausonian shores.


s: Now they have vanished away, have disappeared in the ocean;


s: Sunk are the towers of the town into the depths of the sea!


s: AU have vanished but those that, moored in the neighboring


s: Sailless at anchor ride, looming so large in the mist.


s: Vanished, too, are the thoughts, the dim, unsatisfied longings;


s: Sunk are the turrets of cloud into the ocean of dreams;


s: While in a haven of rest my heart is riding at anchor,


s: Held by the chains of love, held by the anchors of trust!


s: The wounded spirit, the heart oppressed,


s: And seems to caress with its little hands


s: The rough, gray stones, as a child that stands


s: You cross the threshold; and dim and small


s: Is the space that serves for the Shepherd's Fold;


s: The pews, and the pulpit quaint and tall,


s: But the soul's light shining round about,


s: And the love that stronger is than hate.


s: Should I prize this place of rest, and release


s: From farther longing and farther search.


s: Storms do not rend the sail that is furled;


s: Nor like a dead leaf, tossed and whirled


s: In an eddy of wind, is the anchored soul.


s: Wounds of the soul, though healed will ache;


s: Tell me, what can you see from your perch


s: Above there over the tower of the church?


s: I can see the roofs and the streets below,


s: And beyond, without either roof or street,


s: The great salt sea, and the fisherman's fleet.


s: Beyond the headlands and harbor of Lynn,


s: And now he is lifting and waving his hand


s: Who does not change with the wind like you.


s: If I change with all the winds that blow,


s: And people would think it wondrous strange,


s: With your dreamy eyes and your golden hair,


s: You will thank me for looking some other way.


s: But the sea in the darkness calls and calls;


s: The little waves, with their soft, white hands,


s: The morning breaks; the steeds in their stalls


s: Like two cathedral towers these stately pines


s: Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones;


s: The arch beneath them is not built with stones,


s: Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines,


s: And carved this graceful arabesque of vines;


s: No organ but the wind here sighs and moans,


s: Enter! the pavement, carpeted with leaves,


s: Gives back a softened echo to thy tread!


s: Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds,


s: Are singing! listen, ere the sound be fled,


s: And learn there may be worship with out words.


s: In the old churchyard of his native town,


s: And in the ancestral tomb beside the wall,


s: We laid him in the sleep that comes to all,


s: And left him to his rest and his renown.


s: The snow was falling, as if Heaven dropped down


s: White flowers of Paradise to strew his pall;--


s: The dead around him seemed to wake, and call


s: His name, as worthy of so white a crown.


s: And now the moon is shining on the scene,


s: And the broad sheet of snow is written o'er


s: With shadows cruciform of leafless trees,


s: With chapters of the Koran; but, ah! more


s: Mysterious and triumphant signs are these.


s: Slowly the landscape sinks, and fades away,


s: And with it fade the phantoms of the day,


s: The ghosts of men and things, that haunt the light,


s: The crowd, the clamor, the pursuit, the flight,


s: Upon our hearts, all vanish out of sight.


s: The better life begins; the world no more


s: From the dull common-place book of our lives,


s: With trivial incidents of time and place,


s: And lo! the ideal, hidden beneath, revives.


s: The years that through my portals come and go.


s: I block the roads, and drift the fields with snow;


s: I chase the wild-fowl from the frozen fen;


s: My frosts congeal the rivers in their flow,


s: My fires light up the hearths and hearts of men.


s: I wash the sands and headlands with my tide;


s: My brow is crowned with branches of the pine;


s: Before my chariot-wheels the fishes glide.


s: By me the souls of men washed white again;


s: E'en the unlovely tombs of those who died


s: Without a dirge, I cleanse from every stain.


s: I Martius am!  Once first, and now the third!


s: To lead the Year was my appointed place;


s: And set there Janus with the double face.


s: I flood the rivers and their banks efface,


s: And drown the farms and hamlets with my rains.


s: To welcome the procession of the flowers,


s: With their gay banners, and the birds that sing


s: Their song of songs from their aerial towers.


s: I soften with my sunshine and my showers


s: The heart of earth; with thoughts of love I glide


s: Into the hearts of men; and with the Hours


s: Upon the Bull with wreathed horns I ride.


s: Hark!  The sea-faring wild-fowl loud proclaim


s: My coming, and the swarming of the bees.


s: These are my heralds, and behold! my name


s: Is written in blossoms on the hawthorn-trees.


s: I tell the mariner when to sail the seas;


s: Mine is the Month of Roses; yes, and mine


s: The Month of Marriages!  All pleasant sights


s: And scents, the fragrance of the blossoming vine,


s: The foliage of the valleys and the heights.


s: Mine are the longest days, the loveliest nights;


s: The mower's scythe makes music to my ear;


s: The breath of Libyan deserts o'er the land;


s: And bent before me the pale harvests stand.


s: The lakes and rivers shrink at my command,


s: And there is thirst and fever in the air;


s: The sky is changed to brass, the earth to sand;


s: The Emperor Octavian, called the August,


s: Burns less intensely than the Lion's rage;


s: Sheaves are my only garlands, and I claim


s: I bear the Scales, where hang in equipoise


s: The night and day; and when unto my lips


s: I put my trumpet, with its stress and noise


s: Fly the white clouds like tattered sails of ships;


s: The tree-tops lash the air with sounding whips;


s: Southward the clamorous sea-fowl wing their flight;


s: The hedges are all red with haws and hips,


s: The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night.


s: My ornaments are fruits; my garments leaves,


s: Woven like cloth of gold, and crimson dyed;


s: I do not boast the harvesting of sheaves,


s: O'er orchards and o'er vineyards I preside.


s: With tender memories of the summer-tide,


s: And mingled voices of the doves and crows.


s: Born of Ixion's and the cloud's embrace;


s: With sounding hoofs across the earth I fly,


s: Sharp winds the arrows are with which I chase


s: The leaves, half dead already with affright;


s: I shroud myself in gloom; and to the race


s: Of mortals bring nor comfort nor delight.


s: Riding upon the Goat, with snow-white hair,


s: I come, the last of all.  This crown of mine


s: The thyrsus, tipped with fragrant cones of pine.


s: And the return of the Saturnian reign;--


s: My songs are carols sung at every shrine,


s: Proclaiming "Peace on earth, good will to men."


s: Their shining mirrors, rimmed with gold,


s: As one who long hath fled with panting breath


s: Before his foe, bleeding and near to fall,


s: I turn and set my back against the wall,


s: And look thee in the face, triumphant Death,


s: I am alone with thee, who conquerest all;


s: Yet me thy threatening form doth not appall,


s: For thou art but a phantom and a wraith.


s: Wounded and weak, sword broken at the hilt,


s: With armor shattered, and without a shield,


s: I stand unmoved; do with me what thou wilt;


s: I can resist no more, but will not yield.


s: This is no tournament where cowards tilt;


s: The vanquished here is victor of the field.


s: All things are changed.  One mass of shade,


s: Of the neighboring church is a flame of fire;


s: On the road of life one mile-stone more!


s: In the book of life one leaf turned o'er!


s: On the good and the evil men have done,--


s: Sweet chimes! that in the loneliness of night


s: Salute the passing hour, and in the dark


s: And silent chambers of the household mark


s: The movements of the myriad orbs of light!


s: Through my closed eyelids, by the inner sight,


s: Of their great circles moving on, and hark!


s: I almost hear them singing in their flight.


s: The slumbering world sink under us, and make


s: On the great sea beneath a sinking keel.


s: But the great world rolls and wheels away,


s: With its cities on land, and its ships at sea,


s: Until we meet again!  That is the meaning


s: Ah yes, till then! but when death intervening


s: Rends us asunder, with what ceaseless pain


s: The friends who leave us do not feel the sorrow


s: Of parting, as we feel it, who must stay


s: And knowing, when we wake upon the morrow,


s: We shall not find in its accustomed place


s: It were a double grief, if the departed,


s: Being released from earth, should still retain


s: It were a double grief, if the true-hearted,


s: Who loved us here, should on the farther shore


s: Believing, in the midst of our afflictions,


s: Farewells, that better might be called predictions,


s: Being fore-shadowings of the future, thrown


s: Faith overleaps the confines of our reason,


s: And if by faith, as in old times was said,


s: Raised up to life, then only for a season


s: Our partings are, nor shall we wait in vain


s: Peradventure of old, some bard in Ionian Islands,


s: Walking alone by the sea, hearing the wash of the waves,


s: Learned the secret from them of the beautiful verse elegiac,


s: Breathing into his song motion and sound of the sea.


s: For as the wave of the sea, upheaving in long undulations,


s: Plunges loud on the sands, pauses, and turns, and retreats,


s: So the Hexameter, rising and singing, with cadence sonorous,


s: Falls; and in refluent rhythm back the Pentameter flows?


s: Not in his youth alone, but in age, may the heart of the poet


s: Bloom into song, as the gorse blossoms in autumn and spring.


s: Not in tenderness wanting, yet rough are the rhymes of our poet;


s: Though it be Jacob's voice, Esau's, alas! are the hands.


s: Let us be grateful to writers for what is left in the inkstand;


s: When to leave off is an art only attained by the few.


s: How can the Three be One? you ask me; I answer by asking,


s: Hail and snow and rain, are they not three, and yet one?


s: By the mirage uplifted the land floats vague in the ether,


s: Ships and the shadows of ships hang in the motionless air;


s: So by the art of the poet our common life is uplifted,


s: So, transfigured, the world floats in a luminous haze.


s: Like a French poem is Life; being only perfect in structure


s: When with the masculine rhymes mingled the feminine are.


s: Down from the mountain descends the brooklet, rejoicing in


s: Little it dreams of the mill hid in the valley below;


s: Glad with the joy of existence, the child goes singing and


s: Little dreaming what toils lie in the future concealed.


s: As the ink from our pen, so flow our thoughts and our feelings


s: When we begin to write, however sluggish before.


s: Like the Kingdom of Heaven, the Fountain of Youth is within us;


s: If we seek it elsewhere, old shall we grow in the search.


s: If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it;


s: Every arrow that flies feels the attraction of earth.


s: Wisely the Hebrews admit no Present tense in their language;


s: While we are speaking the word, it is is already the Past.


s: In the twilight of age all things seem strange and phantasmal,


s: As between daylight and dark ghost-like the landscape appears.


s: Great is the art of beginning, but greater the art is of ending;


s: Many a poem is marred by a superfluous verse.


s: "I am faint with heat,--O breathe on me!"


s: And the Sea said, "Lo, I breathe! but my breath


s: Of the pitiless sun, the east wind came.


s: It came from the heaving breast of the deep,


s: Silent as dreams are, and sudden as sleep.


s: Life-giving, death-giving, which will it be;


s: O breath of the merciful, merciless Sea?


s: But absent, and their memories overgrown


s: With other thoughts and troubles of my own,


s: As graves with grasses are, and at their head


s: The stone with moss and lichens so o'erspread,


s: And is it so with them?  After long years,


s: I fear to ask; yet wherefore are my fears?


s: Pleasures, like flowers, may wither and decay,


s: As Seleucus narrates, Hermes describes the principles that rank


s: as wholes in two myriads of books; or, as we are informed by


s: Manetho, he perfectly unfolded these principles in three myriads


s: six thousand five hundred and twenty-five volumes. . . .


s: . . . Our ancestors dedicated the inventions of  their wisdom to


s: this deity, inscribing all their own writings with the name of


s: Flow on, fair stream!  That dream is o'er;


s: In the true faith was living in that sphere


s: Spread its protecting arms athwart the skies;


s: The souls magnanimous, that knew not fear,


s: Flashed their effulgence on his dazzled eyes.


s: Were not the suffering followed by the sense


s: A great soul cries to us in our suspense,


s: "I came from martyrdom unto this peace!"


s: Gazed at the arms he could no longer wield,


s: The sword two-handed and the shining shield


s: Suspended in the hall, and full in sight,


s: While secret longings for the lost delight


s: Came over him, and tears but half concealed


s: Trembled and fell upon his beard of white,


s: So I behold these books upon their shelf,


s: Not wholly useless, though no longer used,


s: Younger and stronger, and the pleasant ways


s: In which I walked, now clouded and confused.


s: What wouldst thou in these mountains seek,


s: Comes venturing down the stairs of stone,


s: The Olympian heights; whose singing shafts were sent


s: Straight to the mark, and not from bows half bent,


s: But with the utmost tension of the thong?


s: Whose rushing keels made music as they went


s: Sailing in search of some new continent,


s: With all sail set, and steady winds and strong?


s: Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaught


s: In schools, some graduate of the field or street,


s: An admiral sailing the high seas of thought,


s: Fearless and first and steering with his fleet


s: For lands not yet laid down in any chart.


s: What I have lost with what I have gained,


s: Unto what "lets and stops" art thou subjected!


s: The day with all its toils and occupations,


s: The night with its reflections and sensations,


s: The future, and the present, and the past,--


s: All shapes of joy and sorrow, as they pass,--


s: Now seaward bearing tidings of the land,--


s: Now landward bearing tidings of the sea,--


s: Each arm of the great sea, each little creek,