s: With eye propitious, and o'er all presides.


s: Still prosper, Amory! still may'st thou receive


s: The warmest blessings which a muse can give,


s: When kingdoms fall, and fleeting Fame's no more,


s: NO more the flow'ry scenes of pleasure rife,


s: Nor charming prospects greet the mental eyes,


s: No more with joy we view that lovely face


s: Smiling, disportive, flush'd with ev'ry grace.


s: The tear of sorrow flows from ev'ry eye,


s: Groans answer groans, and sighs to sighs reply;


s: What sudden pangs shot thro' each aching heart,


s: When, Death, thy messenger dispatch'd his dart?


s: Thy dread attendants, all-destroying Pow'r,


s: Could'st thou unpitying close those radiant eyes?


s: Or fail'd his artless beauties to surprise?


s: Could not his innocence thy stroke controul,


s: Thy purpose shake, and soften all thy soul?


s: The blooming babe, with shades of Death o'er-spread,


s: No more shall smile, no more shall raise its head,


s: But, like a branch that from the tree is torn,


s: Falls prostrate, wither'd, languid, and forlorn.


s: "Where flies my James?" 'tis thus I seem to hear


s: The parent ask, "Some angel tell me where


s: "He wings his passage thro' the yielding air?"


s: Methinks a cherub bending from the skies


s: Observes the question, and serene replies,


s: "In heav'ns high palaces your babe appears:


s: "Prepare to meet him, and dismiss your tears."


s: Shall not th' intelligence your grief restrain,


s: And turn the mournful to the cheerful strain?


s: Cease your complaints, suspend each rising sigh,


s: Parents, no more indulge the falling tear:


s: Let Faith to heav'n's refulgent domes repair,


s: There see your infant, like a seraph glow:


s: What charms celestial in his numbers flow


s: Melodious, while the foul-enchanting strain


s: Dwells on his tongue, and fills th' ethereal plain?


s: Enough--for ever cease your murm'ring breath;


s: Not as a foe, but friend converse with Death,


s: He brought that treasure which you call your own.


s: The gift of heav'n intrusted to your hand


s: Not at your bar must sov'reign Wisdom stand.


s: "Descend to earth, there place thy throne;


s: O'er me methought they deign'd to shine,


s: WHILE deep you mourn beneath the cypress-shade


s: The hand of Death, and your dear daughter laid


s: In dust, whose absence gives your tears to flow,


s: And racks your bosom with incessant woe,


s: Assuage the raging tortures of your heart,


s: Still the wild tempest of tumultuous grief,


s: Suspend the sigh, dear Sir, and check the groan,


s: Divinely bright your daughter's Virtues shone:


s: How free from scornful pride her gentle mind,


s: Which ne'er its aid to indigence declin'd!


s: Expanding free, it sought the means to prove


s: Her dear-lov'd parents on earth's dusky shore:


s: Impatient heav'n's resplendent goal to gain,


s: She with swift progress cuts the azure plain,


s: Where grief subsides, where changes are no more,


s: And life's tumultuous billows cease to roar;


s: She leaves her earthly mansion for the skies,


s: Where new creations feast her wond'ring eyes.


s: To heav'n's high mandate cheerfully resign'd


s: She mounts, and leaves the rolling globe behind;


s: She, who late wish'd that Leonard might return,


s: Has ceas'd to languish, and forgot to mourn;


s: To the same high empyreal mansions come,


s: She joins her spouse, and smiles upon the tomb:


s: And thus I hear her from the realms above:


s: "Lo! this the kingdom of celestial love!


s: "Could ye, fond parents, see our present bliss,


s: "How soon would you each sigh, each fear dismiss?


s: "Amidst unutter'd pleasures whilst I play


s: "So far doth grief my better mind controul,


s: "Let brighter scenes your ev'ning-hours employ:


s: "Converse with heav'n, and taste the promis'd joy"


s: NIOBE in Distress for her Children slain by


s: Bood VI. and from a view of the Painting


s: APOLLO's wrath to man the dreadful spring


s: Of ills innum'rous, tuneful goddess, sing!


s: Thou who did'st first th' ideal pencil give,


s: And taught'st the painter in his works to live,


s: What Wilson painted, and what Ovid wrote.


s: Muse! lend thy aid, nor let me sue in vain,


s: Tho' last and meanest of the rhyming train!


s: The Phrygian queen, all beautiful in woe.


s: 'Twas where Maeonia spreads her wide domain


s: See in her hand the regal sceptre shine,


s: To approach the tables of the gods above:


s: Her grandsire Atlas, who with mighty pains


s: Her other grandsire on the throne on high


s: Rolls the loud-pealing thunder thro' the sky.


s: Her spouse, Amphion, who from Jove too springs,


s: Divinely taught to sweep the sounding strings.


s: Seven sprightly sons the royal bed adorn,


s: Seven daughters beauteous as the op'ning morn,


s: As when Aurora fills the ravish'd sight,


s: And decks the orient realms with rosy light


s: From their bright eyes the living splendors play,


s: Nor can beholders bear the flashing ray.


s: Wherever, Niobe, thou turn'st thine eyes,


s: New beauties kindle, and new joys arise!


s: But thou had'st far the happier mother prov'd,


s: If this fair offspring had been less belov'd:


s: What if their charms exceed Aurora's teint.


s: No words could tell them, and no pencil paint,


s: Thy love too vehement hastens to destroy


s: Each blooming maid, and each celestial boy.


s: Now Manto comes, endu'd with mighty skill,


s: The past to explore, the future to reveal.


s: Thro' Thebes' wide streets Tiresia's daughter came,


s: The Theban maids to hear the orders ran,


s: "With rights divine, the goddess be implor'd,


s: Thus Manto spoke.  The Theban maids obey,


s: The rich perfumes ascend in waving spires,


s: And altars blaze with consecrated fires;


s: The fair assembly moves with graceful air,


s: And leaves of laurel bind the flowing hair.


s: With charms unnumber'd, and superior grace:


s: Her Phrygian garments of delightful hue,


s: Inwove with gold, refulgent to the view,


s: Like heav'nly Venus, 'midst her smiles and loves:


s: She views around the supplicating train,


s: And shakes her graceful head with stern disdain,


s: Proudly she turns around her lofty eyes,


s: "What madness drives the Theban ladies fair


s: "To give their incense to surrounding air?


s: "Say why this new sprung deity preferr'd?


s: "While to my goddesship no tribute's paid?


s: "For me no altars blaze with living fires,


s: "No bullock bleeds, no frankincense transpires,


s: "Tho' Cadmus' palace, not unknown to fame,


s: "And Phrygian nations all revere my name.


s: "Where'er I turn my eyes vast wealth I find,


s: "Lo! here an empress with a goddess join'd.


s: "To whom the spacious earth a couch deny'd!


s: "Nor heav'n, nor earth, nor sea receiv'd your queen,


s: "Till pitying Delos took the wand'rer in.


s: "Round me what a large progeny is spread!


s: "No frowns of fortune has my soul to dread.


s: "What if indignant she decrease my train


s: "Then hence, ye Theban dames, hence haste away,


s: "And take the leaves of laurel from your brows."


s: Their brows unbound, and left the rights unpaid.


s: The angry goddess heard, then silence broke


s: On Cynthus' summit, and indignant spoke;


s: "Phoebus! behold, thy mother in disgrace,


s: "Who to no goddess yields the prior place


s: "Except to Juno's self, who reigns above,


s: "The spouse and sister of the thund'ring Jove.


s: "Each Theban bosom with rebellious fires;


s: "But all her father in her tongue rebels;


s: "Wrap her own sons for her blaspheming breath,


s: "Apollo! wrap them in the shades of death."


s: The God, whose glory decks th' expanded skies.


s: "Cease thy complaints, mine be the task assign'd


s: "To punish pride, and scourge the rebel mind."


s: This Phoebe join'd.--They wing their instant flight;


s: Thebes trembled as th' immortal pow'rs alight.


s: With clouds incompass'd glorious Phoebus stands;


s: The feather'd vengeance quiv'ring in his hands.


s: Near Cadmus' walls a plain extended lay,


s: Where Thebes' young princes pass'd in sport the day:


s: There the bold coursers bounded o'er the plains,


s: While their great masters held the golden reins.


s: "Ah me," he sudden cries, with shrieking breath,


s: While in his breast he feels the shaft of death;


s: He drops the bridle on his courser's mane,


s: Before his eyes in shadows swims the plain,


s: He, the first-born of great Amphion's bed,


s: Was struck the first, first mingled with the dead.


s: Then didst thou, Sipylus, the language hear


s: Of fate portentous whistling in the air:


s: As when th' impending storm the sailor sees


s: He spreads his canvas to the fav'ring breeze,


s: So to thine horse thou gav'st the golden reins,


s: Gav'st him to rush impetuous o'er the plains:


s: But ah! a fatal shaft from Phoebus' hand


s: Smites thro' thy neck, and sinks thee on the sand.


s: Two other brothers were at wrestling found,


s: And in their pastime claspt each other round:


s: Transfixt them both, and stretcht them on the sand:


s: Together they their cruel fate bemoan'd,


s: Together languish'd, and together groan'd:


s: And sought the gloomy mansions of the dead.


s: Alphenor saw, and trembling at the view,


s: Beat his torn breast, that chang'd its snowy hue.


s: He flies to raise them in a kind embrace;


s: A brother's fondness triumphs in his face:


s: A dart dispatch'd him (so the fates decreed:)


s: Soon as the arrow left the deadly wound,


s: His issuing entrails smoak'd upon the ground.


s: His sighs portend his near impending fate.


s: Just where the well-made leg begins to be,


s: And the soft sinews form the supple knee,


s: The youth sore wounded by the Delian god


s: Attempts t' extract the crime-avenging rod,


s: But, whilst he strives the will of fate t' avert,


s: Swift thro' his throat the feather'd mischief flies,


s: Bereft of sense, he drops his head, and dies.


s: Young Ilioneus, the last, directs his pray'r,


s: And cries, "My life, ye gods celestial! spare."


s: Apollo heard, and pity touch'd his heart,


s: But ah! too late, for he had sent the dart:


s: Thou too, O Ilioneus, art doom'd to fall,


s: To Cadmus' palace soon the tidings came:


s: She thus express'd her anger and surprise:


s: "Dwells there such mischief in the pow'rs above?


s: "Why sleeps the vengeance of immortal Jove?"


s: For now Amphion too, with grief oppress'd,


s: Had plung'd the deadly dagger in his breast.


s: With lofty head directs her steps no more


s: And drove the Thebans from Latona's shrine,


s: How strangely chang'd!--yet beautiful in woe,


s: She weeps, nor weeps unpity'd by the foe.


s: On each pale corse the wretched mother spread


s: Lay overwhelm'd with grief, and kiss'd her dead,


s: Then rais'd her arms, and thus, in accents slow,


s: "If I've offended, let these streaming eyes,


s: "And let this sev'nfold funeral suffice:


s: "Ah! take this wretched life you deign'd to save,


s: "With them I too am carried to the grave.


s: "But show the cause from whence your triumphs flow?


s: "Tho' I unhappy mourn these children slain,


s: She ceas'd, the bow string twang'd with awful sound,


s: Which struck with terror all th' assembly round,


s: Except the queen, who stood unmov'd alone,


s: By her distresses more presumptuous grown.


s: Near the pale corses stood their sisters fair


s: One, while she draws the fatal shaft away,


s: Faints, falls, and sickens at the light of day.


s: And, while her words a filial pity show,


s: Falls in her flight, and languishes, and dies.


s: A fifth in trembling terrors yields her breath;


s: While the sixth seeks some gloomy cave in vain,


s: Struck with the rest, and mingled with the slain.


s: One only daughter lives, and she the least;


s: The queen close clasp'd the daughter to her breast:


s: "Ye heav'nly pow'rs, ah spare me one," she cry'd,


s: "Ah! spare me one," the vocal hills reply'd:


s: In vain she begs, the Fates her suit deny,


s: In her embrace she sees her daughter die.


s: "Without or husband, son, or daughter left,


s: "Grew stupid at the shock.  The passing air


s: "Made no impression on her stiff'ning hair.


s: * This Verse to the End is the Work of another Hand.


s: "The blood forsook her face: amidst the flood


s: "Pour'd from her cheeks, quite fix'd her eye-balls


s: "Her tongue, her palate both obdurate grew,


s: "Her curdled veins no longer motion knew;


s: "The use of neck, and arms, and feet was gone,


s: "And ev'n her bowels hard'ned into stone:


s: "But from the marble steal the silent tears."


s: To S. M. a young African Painter, on seeing his Works.


s: TO show the lab'ring bosom's deep intent,


s: And thought in living characters to paint,


s: When first thy pencil did those beauties give,


s: And breathing figures learnt from thee to live,


s: How did those prospects give my soul delight,


s: Still, wond'rous youth! each noble path pursue,


s: On deathless glories fix thine ardent view:


s: Still may the painter's and the poet's fire


s: To aid thy pencil, and thy verse conspire!


s: And may the charms of each seraphic theme


s: High to the blissful wonders of the skies


s: Elate thy soul, and raise thy wishful eyes.


s: That splendid city, crown'd with endless day,


s: Whose twice six gates on radiant hinges ring:


s: Celestial Salem blooms in endless spring.


s: Calm and serene thy moments glide along,


s: And may the muse inspire each future song!


s: Still, with the sweets of contemplation bless'd,


s: May peace with balmy wings your soul invest!


s: But when these shades of time are chas'd away,


s: And view the landscapes in the realms above?


s: There shall thy tongue in heav'nly murmurs flow,


s: And there my muse with heav'nly transport glow:


s: No more to tell of Damon's tender sighs,


s: For nobler themes demand a nobler strain,


s: And purer language on th' ethereal plain.


s: Cease, gentle muse! the solemn gloom of night


s: Now seals the fair creation from my sight.


s: ALL-Conquering Death! by thy resistless pow'r,


s: Hope's tow'ring plumage falls to rise no more!


s: Of scenes terrestrial how the glories fly,


s: Forget their splendors, and submit to die!


s: Who ere escap'd thee, but the saint * of old


s: And the great sage, + whom fiery coursers drew


s: To heav'n's bright portals from Elisha's view;


s: Wond'ring he gaz'd at the refulgent car,


s: Then snatch'd the mantle floating on the air.


s: From Death these only could exemption boast,


s: And without dying gain'd th' immortal coast.


s: Not falling millions sate the tyrant's mind,


s: Nor can the victor's progress be confin'd.


s: But cease thy strife with Death, fond Nature, cease:


s: He leads the virtuous to the realms of peace;


s: Where heav'n's Supreme in bliss and glory reigns.


s: There sits, illustrious Sir, thy beauteous spouse;


s: A gem-blaz'd circle beaming on her brows.


s: Hail'd with acclaim among the heav'nly choirs,


s: Her soul new-kindling with seraphic fires,


s: To notes divine she tunes the vocal strings,


s: While heav'n's high concave with the music rings.


s: Virtue's rewards can mortal pencil paint?


s: No--all descriptive arts, and eloquence are faint;


s: To heav'nly tidings from the Afric muse.


s: As soon may change thy laws, eternal fate,


s: Which wip'd the trick'ling tear from Misry's eye.


s: Whene'er the adverse winds were known to blow,


s: When loss to loss * ensu'd, and woe to woe,


s: Calm and serene beneath her father's hand


s: No longer then, great Sir, her death deplore,


s: And let us hear the mournful sigh no more,


s: Restrain the sorrow streaming from thine eye,


s: Be all thy future moments crown'd with joy!


s: Nor let thy wishes be to earth confin'd,


s: But soaring high pursue th' unbodied mind.


s: Forgive the muse, forgive th' advent'rous lays,


s: That fain thy soul to heav'nly scenes would raise.


s: Thrice happy they, whose heav'nly shield


s: Where beaux and beauteous nymphs resort,


s: An ANSWER to the Rebus, by the Author of these POEMS.


s: To show th' obedience of the Infant muse.


s: She knows the Quail of most inviting taste


s: And what's on Britain's royal standard borne,


s: But the tall, graceful, rampant Unicorn?


s: Among the gems which regal crowns compose;


s: To which the beaux and beauteous nymphs repair,


s: Each Helen strikes the mind with sweet surprise,


s: While living lightning flashes from her eyes,


s: In every tongue and meaning much my friend,


s: This story of your country and your clan,


s: In your loved house, your too much honoured guest,


s: I made in English.  Take it, being done;


s: And let me sign it with the name you gave.


s: It fell in the days of old, as the men of Taiarapu tell,


s: A youth went forth to the fishing, and fortune favoured him well.


s: Comely of countenance, nimble of body, empty of mind,


s: His mother ruled him and loved him beyond the wont of a wife,


s: Serving the lad for eyes and living herself in his life.


s: Alone from the sea and the fishing came Tamatea the fair,


s: Urging his boat to the beach, and the mother awaited him there,


s: For fear inhabits the palace and grudging grows in the land,


s: So spoke on the beach the mother, and counselled the wiser thing.


s: Nor were the signals wanting of how the leaven wrought,


s: So spake on the beach the mother, matter worthy of note,


s: And wattled a basket well, and chose a fish from the boat;


s: And Tamatea the pliable shouldered the basket and went,


s: And cape, and village, and river, and vale, and mountain above,


s: Each had a name in the land for men to remember and love;


s: And never the name of a place, but lo! a song in its praise:


s: Ancient and unforgotten, songs of the earlier days,


s: Tamatea the placable went with a lingering foot;


s: He sang as loud as a bird, he whistled hoarse as a flute;


s: And still in his empty mind crowded, a thousand-fold,


s: And now was he come to a place Taiarapu honoured the most,


s: Where a silent valley of woods debouched on the noisy coast,


s: Spewing a level river.  There was a haunt of Pai. {1b}


s: There, in his potent youth, when his parents drove him to die,


s: Honoura lived like a beast, lacking the lamp and the fire,


s: So keen the spur of his hunger, he plucked it naked of fruit.


s: There, as she pondered the clouds for the shadow of coming ills,


s: Ahupu, the woman of song, walked on high on the hills.


s: Of these was Rahero sprung, a man of a godly race;


s: And inherited cunning of spirit and beauty of body and face.


s: Of yore in his youth, as an aito, Rahero wandered the land,


s: Delighting maids with his tongue, smiting men with his hand.


s: Famous he was in his youth; but before the midst of his life


s: Paused, and fashioned a song of farewell to glory and strife.


s: House of mine (it went), house upon the sea,


s: Belov'd of all my fathers, more belov'd by me!


s: Vale of the strong Honoura, deep ravine of Pai,


s: Again in your woody summits I hear the trade-wind cry.


s: House of mine, in your walls, strong sounds the sea,


s: Of all sounds on earth, dearest sound to me.


s: I have heard the applause of men, I have heard it arise and die:


s: Sweeter now in my house I hear the trade-wind cry.


s: Lazy and crafty he was, and loved to lie in the sun,


s: And loved the cackle of talk and the true word uttered in fun;


s: Lazy he was, his roof was ragged, his table was lean,


s: Treason spread from his door; and he looked for a day to come,


s: A day of the crowding people, a day of the summoning drum,


s: Here Tamatea came, and beheld the house on the brook;


s: And Rahero was there by the way and covered an oven to cook. {1c}


s: And the sun and the shadow of palms dappled his muscular back.


s: Swiftly he lifted his head at the fall of the coming feet,


s: And the water sprang in his mouth with a sudden desire of meat;


s: Forth he stepped; and took, and delayed the boy, by the hand;


s: And vaunted the joys of meat and the ancient ways of the land:


s: - "Our sires of old in Taiarapu, they that created the race,


s: Ate ever with eager hand, nor regarded season or place,


s: Ate in the boat at the oar, on the way afoot; and at night


s: Arose in the midst of dreams to rummage the house for a bite.


s: - "I see the fire for the cooking but never the meat to cook,"


s: Said Tamatea.--"Tut!" said Rahero.  "Here in the brook


s: And there in the tumbling sea, the fishes are thick as flies,


s: Hungry like healthy men, and like pigs for savour and size:


s: Crayfish crowding the river, sea-fish thronging the sea."


s: - "Well it may be," says the other, "and yet be nothing to me.


s: Fain would I eat, but alas!  I have needful matter in hand,


s: Now at the word a light sprang in Rahero's eyes.


s: And "The lads when I was a lad were none so feared of a king.


s: And of what account is an hour, when the heart is empty of guile?


s: And I will but drop my hook, and behold! the dinner made."


s: So Tamatea the pliable hung up his fish in the shade


s: On a tree by the side of the way; and Rahero carried him in,


s: Smiling as smiles the fowler when flutters the bird to the gin,


s: Now when Rahero was forth, he paused and hearkened, and heard


s: The gull jest in the house and the women laugh at his word;


s: And stealthily crossed to the side of the way, to the shady place


s: The cut of kings and chieftains, enough for a goodly dish.


s: This he wrapped in a leaf, set on the fire to cook


s: And buried; and next the marred remains of the tribute he took,


s: And doubled and packed them well, and covered the basket close


s: - "And there is a sauce to your dinner, king of the crafty eyes!"


s: Soon as the oven was open, the fish smelt excellent good.


s: But chiefly in silence they ate; and soon as the meal was done,


s: Rahero feigned to remember and measured the hour by the sun,


s: And "Tamatea," quoth he, "it is time to be jogging, my lad."


s: So Tamatea arose, doing ever the thing he was bade,


s: Long he went; and at length was aware of a pleasant green,


s: And the stems and shadows of palms, and roofs of lodges between


s: There sate, in the door of his palace, the king on a kingly seat,


s: And paid him the due obeisance standing as vassals stand.


s: In silence hearkened the king, and closed the eyes in his face,


s: Harbouring odious thoughts and the baseless fears of the base;


s: In silence accepted the gift and sent the giver away.


s: So Tamatea departed, turning his back on the day.


s: And lo! as the king sat brooding, a rumour rose in the crowd;


s: The yottowas nudged and whispered, the commons murmured aloud;


s: At the sight of a gift unroyal flung in the face of a king.


s: A youth that stood with his omare, {1h} one of the daily guard,


s: And spat in his ear a command, and pointed and uttered a name,


s: And hid in the shade of the house his impotent anger and shame.


s: Now Tamatea the fool was far on the homeward way,


s: The rising night in his face, behind him the dying day.


s: Rahero saw him go by, and the heart of Rahero was glad,


s: Devising shame to the king and nowise harm to the lad;


s: And all that dwelt by the way saw and saluted him well,


s: For he had the face of a friend and the news of the town to tell;


s: And now was the hour of the bath in Taiarapu:  far and near


s: The lovely laughter of bathers rose and delighted his ear.


s: Night massed in the valleys; the sun on the mountain coast


s: Struck, end-long; and above the clouds embattled their host,


s: And the shadow of Tamatea hovered already at home.


s: And sudden the sound of one coming and running light as the foam


s: Struck on his ear; and he turned, and lo! a man on his track,


s: Girded and armed with an omare, following hard at his back.


s: At a bound the man was upon him;--and, or ever a word was said,


s: The loaded end of the omare fell and laid him dead.


s: Thus was Rahero's treason; thus and no further it sped


s: The king sat safe in his place and a kindly fool was dead.


s: But the mother of Tamatea arose with death in her eyes.


s: All night long, and the next, Taiarapu rang with her cries.


s: As when a babe in the wood turns with a chill of doubt


s: And sudden the hurricane wrack unrolls up the front of the sky,


s: At once the ship lies idle, the sails hang silent on high,


s: So sudden, the voice of her weeping ceased; in silence she rose


s: Hither she went and thither in all the coasts of the land.


s: Spin from temple to temple; guided the perilous skiff,


s: But forth from king to king carried the tale of her wrong.


s: To king after king, as they sat in the palace door, she came,


s: Claiming kinship, declaiming verses, naming her name


s: So would deceive them awhile, and change and return in a breath,


s: And on all the men of Vaiau imprecate instant death;


s: And tempt her kings--for Vaiau was a rich and prosperous land,


s: Invoking the beaten drums, beholding the fall of the strong,


s: Calling the fowls of the air to come and feast on the dead.


s: Marvellous eaters and smiters:  the men of Vaiau not least.


s: To the land of the Namunu-ura, {1j} to Paea, at length she came,


s: To men who were foes to the Tevas and hated their race and name.


s: There was she well received, and spoke with Hiopa the king. {1k}


s: And Hiopa listened, and weighed, and wisely considered the thing.


s: Quoth he to the woman, "in quiet, a weak and peaceable race.


s: But far in the teeth of the wind lofty Taiarapu lies;


s: Strong blows the wind of the trade on its seaward face, and cries


s: In green continuous forests.  Strong is the wind, and strong


s: And fruitful and hardy the race, famous in battle and feast,


s: Now hearken to me, my daughter, and hear a word of the wise:


s: Yet are they greedy and weak as the swine and the children are.


s: Plant we, then, here at Paea, a garden of excellent fruits;


s: Plant we bananas and kava and taro, the king of roots;


s: Let the pigs in Paea be tapu {1l} and no man fish for a year;


s: And of all the meat in Tahiti gather we threefold here.


s: So shall the fame of our plenty fill the island, and so,


s: At last, on the tongue of rumour, go where we wish it to go.


s: Then shall the pigs of Taiarapu raise their snouts in the air;


s: But we sit quiet and wait, as the fowler sits by the snare,


s: Bind it with incombustible thongs, set a roof to the room,


s: Too strong for the hands of a man to dissever or fire to consume;


s: So be it done; for I have a heart that pities your state,


s: And Nateva and Namunu-ura are fire and water for hate."


s: All was done as he said, and the gardens prospered; and now


s: The fame of their plenty went out, and word of it came to Vaiau.


s: For the men of Namunu-ura sailed, to the windward far,


s: Lay in the offing by south where the towns of the Tevas are,


s: And cast overboard of their plenty; and lo! at the Tevas feet


s: The surf on all of the beaches tumbled treasures of meat.


s: In the salt of the sea, a harvest tossed with the refluent foam;


s: And little by little, from one to another, the word went round:


s: "In all the borders of Paea the victual rots on the ground,


s: The steersman eats at the helm, the rowers munch at the oar,


s: All the pigs of Taiarapu raised their snouts in the air.


s: Songs were recited, and kinship was counted, and tales were told


s: How war had severed of late but peace had cemented of old


s: So judged, and a day was named; and soon as the morning broke,


s: Canoes were thrust in the sea and the houses emptied of folk.


s: And the clouds were piled on the top of the island mountain-high,


s: Cheered by a cloudless sun; and ever to left and right,


s: Bursting surge on the reef, drenching storms on the height.


s: So the folk of Vaiau sailed and were glad all day,


s: Coasting the palm-tree cape and crossing the populous bay


s: By all the towns of the Tevas; and still as they bowled along,


s: Boat would answer to boat with jest and laughter and song,


s: And the people of all the towns trooped to the sides of the sea


s: And gazed from under the hand or sprang aloft on the tree,


s: Hailing and cheering.  Time failed them for more to do;


s: The holiday village careened to the wind, and was gone from view


s: Swift as a passing bird; and ever as onward it bore,


s: And the gazer, left behind, stared at the wake and smiled.


s: By all the towns of the Tevas they went, and Papara last,


s: The home of the chief, the place of muster in war; and passed


s: "Paea!" they cried.  "It is Paea."  And so was the voyage done.


s: In the early fall of the night, Hiopa came to the shore,


s: And beheld and counted the comers, and lo, they were forty score:


s: The sires stood forth unabashed; but a little back from his ken


s: Clustered the scarcely nubile, the lads and maids, in a ring,


s: Fain of each other, afraid of themselves, aware of the king


s: And aping behaviour, but clinging together with hands and eyes,


s: And the impotent hands of a suckling groped in his barren breast.


s: Hiopa beheld them together, all the ages of man,


s: And he trod upon pity, and came, and civilly greeted the king,


s: And around the bowls of the kava cluster the maids of the town.


s: So, for to-night, sleep here; but king, common, and priest


s: To-morrow, in order due, shall sit with me in the feast."


s: Sleepless the live-long night, Hiopa's followers toiled.


s: The moon drew shadows of trees on the naked bodies of men


s: Plucking and bearing fruits; and in all the bounds of the town


s: Red glowed the cocoanut fires, and were buried and trodden down.


s: Thus did seven of the yottowas toil with their tale of the clan,


s: But the eighth wrought with his lads, hid from the sight of man.


s: In the deeps of the woods they laboured, piling the fuel high


s: Thirsty to seize upon fire and apt to blurt into flame.


s: And now was the day of the feast.  The forests, as morning came,


s: Tossed in the wind, and the peaks quaked in the blaze of the day


s: To the hall of feasting Hiopa led them, mother and sire


s: And maid and babe in a tale, the whole of the holiday throng.


s: Smiling they came, garlanded green, not dreaming of wrong;


s: And for every three, a pig, tenderly cooked in the ground,


s: Waited, and fei, the staff of life, heaped in a mound


s: For each where he sat;--for each, bananas roasted and raw


s: Piled with a bountiful hand, as for horses hay and straw


s: Are stacked in a stable; and fish, the food of desire, {1m}


s: And many, but never a feast like that of the folk of Vaiau.


s: All day long they ate with the resolute greed of brutes,


s: The woman wedded and fruitful, inured to the pangs of birth,


s: But the wind was stubborn to die and blew as it blows at morn,


s: Showering the nuts in the dusk, and e'en as a banner is torn,


s: High on the peaks of the island, shattered the mountain cloud.


s: And now at once, at a signal, a silent, emulous crowd


s: Set hands to the work of death, hurrying to and fro,


s: And piling them high and higher around the walls of the hall.


s: Silence persisted within, for sleep lay heavy on all;


s: But the mother of Tamatea stood at Hiopa's side,


s: And shook for terror and joy like a girl that is a bride.


s: Night fell on the toilers, and first Hiopa the wise


s: Made the round of the house, visiting all with his eyes;


s: And all was piled to the eaves, and fuel blockaded the door;


s: And within, in the house beleaguered, slumbered the forty score.


s: Then was an aito dispatched and came with fire in his hand,


s: And Hiopa took it.--"Within," said he, "is the life of a land;


s: Therewithal, to the fuel, he laid the glowing coal;


s: And the redness ran in the mass and burrowed within like a mole,


s: And copious smoke was conceived.  But, as when a dam is to burst,


s: And then, of a sudden, whelms and bears it away forthright:


s: So now, in a moment, the flame sprang and towered in the night,


s: But the mother of Tamatea threw her arms abroad,


s: "Pyre of my son," she shouted, 'debited vengeance of God,


s: Late, late, I behold you, yet I behold you at last,


s: And glory, beholding!  For now are the days of my agony past,


s: The lust that famished my soul now eats and drinks its desire,


s: And they that encompassed my son shrivel alive in the fire.


s: Tenfold precious the vengeance that comes after lingering years!


s: Ye quenched the voice of my singer?--hark, in your dying ears,


s: The song of the conflagration!  Ye left me a widow alone?


s: - Behold, the whole of your race consumes, sinew and bone


s: And torturing flesh together:  man, mother, and maid


s: Heaped in a common shambles; and already, borne by the trade,


s: The smoke of your dissolution darkens the stars of night."


s: Thus she spoke, and her stature grew in the people's sight.


s: Rahero was there in the hall asleep:  beside him his wife,


s: Comely, a mirthful woman, one that delighted in life;


s: And a girl that was ripe for marriage, shy and sly as a mouse;


s: And a boy, a climber of trees:  all the hopes of his house.


s: Unwary, with open hands, he slept in the midst of his folk,


s: And dreamed that he heard a voice crying without, and awoke,


s: Leaping blindly afoot like one from a dream that he fears.


s: A hellish glow and clouds were about him;--it roared in his ears


s: And as when a squall comes sudden, the straining sail of a boat


s: Thunders aloud and bursts, so thundered the voice of the man.


s: Or only the voice of the gusts of the fire, and nothing beside.


s: Rahero stooped and groped.  He handled his womankind,


s: And about the strength of his neck he knotted the burden well.


s: The post glowed in the grain with ulcers of eating fire,


s: And the fire bit to the blood and mangled his hands and thighs;


s: And the fumes sang in his head like wine and stung in his eyes;


s: And still he climbed, and came to the top, the place of proof,


s: About the blazing feast-house clustered the eyes of the foe,


s: Watching, hand upon weapon, lest ever a soul should flee,


s: Shading the brow from the glare, straining the neck to see


s: Only, to leeward, the flames in the wind swept far and wide,


s: And the forest sputtered on fire; and there might no man abide.


s: Thither Rahero crept, and dropped from the burning eaves,


s: And crouching low to the ground, in a treble covert of leaves


s: And fire and volleying smoke, ran for the life of his soul


s: Unseen; and behind him under a furnace of ardent coal,


s: He fled unguided at first; but hearing the breakers roar,


s: Thitherward shaped his way, and came at length to the shore.


s: Sound-limbed he was:  dry-eyed; but smarted in every part;


s: And the mighty cage of his ribs heaved on his straining heart


s: With sorrow and rage.  And "Fools!" he cried, "fools of Vaiau,


s: Heads of swine--gluttons--Alas! and where are they now?


s: I, that thought myself crafty, snared by this herd of swine,


s: And mine, my wife--my daughter--my sturdy climber of trees


s: Vengeance:  that must be his.  But much was to do before;


s: And first a single life to be snatched from a deadly place,


s: A life, the root of revenge, surviving plant of the race:


s: And next the race to be raised anew, and the lands of the clan


s: Repeopled.  So Rahero designed, a prudent man


s: Even in wrath, and turned for the means of revenge and escape:


s: A boat to be seized by stealth, a wife to be taken by rape.


s: Still was the dark lagoon; beyond on the coral wall,


s: He saw the breakers shine, he heard them bellow and fall.


s: Alone, on the top of the reef, a man with a flaming brand


s: Walked, gazing and pausing, a fish-spear poised in his hand.


s: The foam boiled to his calf when the mightier breakers came,


s: And the torch shed in the wind scattering tufts of flame.


s: Afar on the dark lagoon a canoe lay idly at wait:


s: A figure dimly guiding it:  surely the fisherman's mate.


s: Rahero saw and he smiled.  He straightened his mighty thews:


s: Naked, with never a weapon, and covered with scorch and bruise,


s: Silent he entered the water, and silently swam, and came


s: There where the fisher walked, holding on high the flame.


s: Loud on the pier of the reef volleyed the breach of the sea;


s: And hard at the back of the man, Rahero crept to his knee


s: On the coral, and suddenly sprang and seized him, the elder hand


s: Clutching the joint of his throat, the other snatching the brand


s: Ere it had time to fall, and holding it steady and high.


s: Strong was the fisher, brave, and swift of mind and of eye -


s: Strongly he threw in the clutch; but Rahero resisted the strain,


s: And jerked, and the spine of life snapped with a crack in twain,


s: A victor unknown of any, raising the torch in the air.


s: But once he drank of his breath, and instantly set him to fish


s: Like a man intent upon supper at home and a savoury dish.


s: But time must be given the fool to nourish a fool's belief."


s: So for a while, a sedulous fisher, he walked the reef,


s: Pausing at times and gazing, striking at times with the spear:


s: - Lastly, uttered the call; and even as the boat drew near,


s: Lightly he leaped on the boat beside the woman; and she


s: Lightly addressed him, and yielded the paddle and place to sit;


s: For now the torch was extinguished the night was black as the pit


s: And the boat sang in the water urged by his vigorous stroke.


s: Never a word Rahero replied, but urged the canoe.


s: And a chill fell on the woman.--"Atta! speak! is it you?


s: Speak!  Why are you silent?  Why do you bend aside?


s: Wherefore steer to the seaward?" thus she panted and cried.


s: Never a word from the oarsman, toiling there in the dark;


s: But right for a gate of the reef he silently headed the bark,


s: And wielding the single paddle with passionate sweep on sweep,


s: Drove her, the little fitted, forth on the open deep.


s: And fear, there where she sat, froze the woman to stone:


s: But a keener fear of the night, the dark, and the ghostly hour,


s: And traffic with human fishers, or slay them and take their ware,


s: The speechless thing at her side belonged to the grave. {1p}


s: All night from the south; all night, Rahero contended and kept


s: The prow to the cresting sea; and, silent as though she slept,


s: The woman huddled and quaked.  And now was the peep of day.


s: High and long on their left the mountainous island lay;


s: And over the peaks of Taiarapu arrows of sunlight struck.


s: On shore the birds were beginning to sing:  the ghostly ruck


s: Of the buried had long ago returned to the covered grave;


s: And here on the sea, the woman, waxing suddenly brave,


s: Turned her swiftly about and looked in the face of the man.


s: And sure he was none that she knew, none of her country or clan:


s: A stranger, mother-naked, and marred with the marks of fire,


s: But comely and great of stature, a man to obey and admire.


s: And Rahero regarded her also, fixed, with a frowning face,


s: Judging the woman's fitness to mother a warlike race.


s: Broad of shoulder, ample of girdle, long in the thigh,


s: Deep of bosom she was, and bravely supported his eye.


s: "Woman," said he, "last night the men of your folk -


s: Man, woman, and maid, smothered my race in smoke.


s: It was done like cowards; and I, a mighty man of my hands,


s: Escaped, a single life; and now to the empty lands


s: And smokeless hearths of my people, sail, with yourself, alone.


s: Before your mother was born, the die of to-day was thrown


s: And you selected:- your husband, vainly striving, to fall


s: Broken between these hands:- yourself to be severed from all,


s: The places, the people, you love--home, kindred, and clan -


s: And to dwell in a desert and bear the babes of a kinless man."


s: In all the land of the tribe was neither fish nor fruit,


s: And the deepest pit of popoi stood empty to the foot. {2a}


s: The clans upon the left and the clans upon the right


s: Now oiled their carven maces and scoured their daggers bright;


s: They gat them to the thicket, to the deepest of the shade,


s: And lay with sleepless eyes in the deadly ambuscade.


s: And oft in the starry even the song of morning rose,


s: What time the oven smoked in the country of their foes;


s: For oft to loving hearts, and waiting ears and sight,


s: The lads that went to forage returned not with the night.


s: Now first the children sickened, and then the women paled,


s: And the great arms of the warrior no more for war availed.


s: Hushed was the deep drum, discarded was the dance;


s: And those that met the priest now glanced at him askance.


s: The priest was a man of years, his eyes were ruby-red, {2b}


s: He neither feared the dark nor the terrors of the dead,


s: He knew the songs of races, the names of ancient date;


s: Raised on a noble terrace and with tikis {2c} at the door.


s: Within it was full of riches, for he served his nation well,


s: And full of the sound of breakers, like the hollow of a shell.


s: For weeks he let them perish, gave never a helping sign,


s: But sat on his oiled platform to commune with the divine,


s: But sat on his high terrace, with the tikis by his side,


s: And stared on the blue ocean, like a parrot, ruby-eyed.


s: Dawn as yellow as sulphur leaped on the mountain height:


s: Out on the round of the sea the gems of the morning light,


s: Up from the round of the sea the streamers of the sun; -


s: But down in the depths of the valley the day was not begun.


s: In the blue of the woody twilight burned red the cocoa-husk,


s: Hope that leaped in the bosom, fear that knocked on the heart:


s: "See, the priest is not risen--look, for his door is fast!


s: He is going to name the victims; he is going to help us at last."


s: Thrice rose the sun to noon; and ever, like one of the dead,


s: Again were the mountains fired, again the morning broke;


s: And all the houses lay still, but the house of the priest awoke.


s: Close in their covering roofs lay and trembled the clan,


s: In the silver beards of the old and the hair of women slain.


s: Frenzy shook in his limbs, frenzy shone in his eyes,


s: And still and again as he ran, the valley rang with his cries.


s: All day long in the land, by cliff and thicket and den,


s: All day long he ate not, nor ever drank of the brook;


s: And all day long in their houses the people listened and shook -


s: All day long in their houses they listened with bated breath,


s: The drunken slumber of frenzy twice he drank to the lees,


s: On the sacred stones of the High-place under the sacred trees;


s: With a lamp at his ashen head he lay in the place of the feast,


s: And the sacred leaves of the banyan rustled around the priest.


s: Last, when the stated even fell upon terrace and tree,


s: And the shade of the lofty island lay leagues away to sea,


s: And all the valleys of verdure were heavy with manna and musk,


s: The wreck of the red-eyed priest came gasping home in the dusk.


s: He reeled across the village, he staggered along the shore,


s: And between the leering tikis crept groping through his door.


s: There went a stir through the lodges, the voice of speech awoke;


s: Once more from the builded platforms arose the evening smoke.


s: And those who were mighty in war, and those renowned for an art


s: Sat in their stated seats and talked of the morrow apart.


s: Hark! away in the woods--for the ears of love are sharp -


s: Taheia heavy of hair, Taheia tender of heart,


s: Taheia the well-descended, a bountiful dealer in love,


s: Nimble of foot like the deer, and kind of eye like the dove?


s: Sly and shy as a cat, with never a change of face,


s: Taheia slips to the door, like one that would breathe a space;


s: Swift as a cat she runs, with her garment gathered high,


s: Leaping, nimble of foot, running, certain of eye;


s: And ever to guide her way over the smooth and the sharp,


s: Ever nearer and nearer the note of the one-stringed harp;


s: And clasp and sunder and kiss, with lovely laughter and sighs,


s: Clasp me, hold me, and love me, single spring of delight."


s: And Rua folded her close, he folded her near and long,


s: The living knit to the living, and sang the lover's song:


s: Night, night it is, night upon the palms.


s: Night, night it is, the land wind has blown.


s: Starry, starry night, over deep and height;


s: Love, love in the valley, love all alone.


s: "Taheia, heavy of hair, a foolish thing have we done,


s: To bind what gods have sundered unkindly into one.


s: Why should a lowly lover have touched Taheia's skirt,


s: Taheia the well-descended, and Rua child of the dirt?"


s: "--On high with the haka-ikis my father sits in state,


s: Ten times fifty kinsmen salute him in the gate;


s: Round all his martial body, and in bands across his face,


s: The marks of the tattooer proclaim his lofty place.


s: Round half my tender body, that none shall clasp but you,


s: For a crest and a fair adornment go dainty lines of blue.


s: Love, love, beloved Rua, love levels all degrees,


s: And the well-tattooed Taheia clings panting to your knees."


s: "--Taheia, song of the morning, how long is the longest love?


s: A cry, a clasp of the hands, a star that falls from above!


s: Ever at morn in the blue, and at night when all is black,


s: Ever it skulks and trembles with the hunter, Death, on its track.


s: Rua the child of the dirt, Rua the kinless loon.


s: For him shall the drum be beat, for him be raised the song,


s: For him to the sacred High-place the chaunting people throng,


s: For him the oven smoke as for a speechless beast,


s: And the sire of my Taheia come greedy to the feast."


s: "Rua, be silent, spare me.  Taheia closes her ears.


s: Pity my yearning heart, pity my girlish years!


s: Flee from the cruel hands, flee from the knife and coal,


s: Lie hid in the deeps of the woods, Rua, sire of my soul!"


s: "Whither to flee, Taheia, whither in all of the land?


s: The fires of the bloody kitchen are kindled on every hand;


s: On every hand in the isle a hungry whetting of teeth,


s: Eyes in the trees above, arms in the brush beneath.


s: Patience to lie in wait, cunning to follow the sleuth,


s: "Love, love, beloved Rua, love has a clearer eye,


s: Hence from the arms of love you go not forth to die.


s: There, where the broken mountain drops sheer into the glen,


s: There shall you find a hold from the boldest hunter of men;


s: There, in the deep recess, where the sun falls only at noon,


s: And only once in the night enters the light of the moon,


s: Tapu it is, but the gods will surely pardon despair;


s: Tapu, but what of that?  If Rua can only dare.


s: Tapu and tapu and tapu, I know they are every one right;


s: But the god of every tapu is not always quick to smite.


s: Lie secret there, my Rua, in the arms of awful gods,


s: Sleep in the shade of the trees on the couch of the kindly sods,


s: Sleep and dream of Taheia, Taheia will wake for you;


s: "Taheia, the pit of the night crawls with treacherous things,


s: Spirits of ultimate air and the evil souls of things;


s: "Rua, behold me, kiss me, look in my eyes and read;


s: Are these the eyes of a maid that would leave her lover in need?


s: Brave in the eye of day, my father ruled in the fight;


s: The child of his loins, Taheia, will play the man in the night."


s: So it was spoken, and so agreed, and Taheia arose


s: And smiled in the stars and was gone, swift as the swallow goes;


s: And Rua stood on the hill, and sighed, and followed her flight,


s: And there were the lodges below, each with its door alight;


s: From folk that sat on the terrace and drew out the even long


s: Sudden crowings of laughter, monotonous drone of song;


s: The quiet passage of souls over his head in the trees; {2g}


s: And from all around the haven the crumbling thunder of seas.


s: "Farewell, my home," said Rua.  "Farewell, O quiet seat!


s: To-morrow in all your valleys the drum of death shall beat."


s: Dawn as yellow as sulphur leaped on the naked peak,


s: But, quiet and steady and cruel, his eyes shone ruby-red.


s: In the earliest rays of the sun the chief rose up content;


s: Braves were summoned, and drummers; messengers came and went;


s: Braves ran to their lodges, weapons were snatched from the wall;


s: The commons herded together, and fear was over them all.


s: Now to the sacred enclosure gathered the greatest and least,


s: Higher the sun swam up; the trade wind level and strong


s: Awoke in the tops of the palms and rattled the fans aloud,


s: And over the garlanded heads and shining robes of the crowd


s: Forty the tale of the drums, and the forty throbbed like one;


s: A thousand hearts in the crowd, and the even chorus of song,


s: Swift as the feet of a runner, trampled a thousand strong.


s: Alone in the trough of labour treads and fashions the bread;


s: So in the heat, and the reek, and the touch of woman and man,


s: The naked spirit of evil kneaded the hearts of the clan.


s: Now cold was at many a heart, and shaking in many a seat;


s: Till, of a sudden, a shock, a mace in the air, a yell,


s: Terror of what was to follow, glee for a diet of man.


s: Frenzy hurried the chaunt, frenzy rattled the drums;


s: The nobles, high on the terrace, greedily mouthed their thumbs;


s: And once and again and again, in the ignorant crowd below,


s: Once and again and again descended the murderous blow.


s: Now smoked the oven, and now, with the cutting lip of a shell,


s: A butcher of ninety winters jointed the bodies well.


s: Unto the carven lodge, silent, in order due,


s: The grandees of the nation one after one withdrew;


s: And a line of laden bearers brought to the terrace foot,


s: On poles across their shoulders, the last reserve of fruit.


s: The victims bled for the nobles in the old appointed way;


s: The fruit was spread for the commons, for all should eat to-day.


s: And now was the kava brewed, and now the cocoa ran,


s: Now was the hour of the dance for child and woman and man;


s: And mirth was in every heart, and a garland on every head,


s: Rua must die to-morrow, since Rua is gone to-day."


s: Out of the groves of the valley, where clear the blackbirds sang.


s: Beaten and blown against by the generous draught of the trade.


s: Dawn on its fluted brow painted rainbow light,


s: Close on its pinnacled crown trembled the stars at night.


s: Here and there in a cleft clustered contorted trees,


s: Or the silver beard of a stream hung and swung in the breeze.


s: High overhead, with a cry, the torrents leaped for the main,


s: And silently sprinkled below in thin perennial rain.


s: Dark in the staring noon, dark was Rua's ravine,


s: Damp and cold was the air, and the face of the cliffs was green.


s: Here, in the rocky pit, accursed already of old,


s: On a stone in the midst of a river, Rua sat and was cold.


s: "Valley of mid-day shadows, valley of silent falls,


s: Rua sang, and his voice went hollow about the walls,


s: "Valley of shadow and rock, a doleful prison to me,


s: What is the life you can give to a child of the sun and the sea?"


s: And Rua arose and came to the open mouth of the glen,


s: Whence he beheld the woods, and the sea, and houses of men.


s: Wide blew the riotous trade, and smelt in his nostrils good;


s: It bowed the boats on the bay, and tore and divided the wood;


s: It smote and sundered the groves as Moses smote with the rod,


s: And the streamers of all the trees blew like banners abroad;


s: And ever and on, in a lull, the trade wind brought him along


s: A far-off patter of drums and a far-off whisper of song.


s: Swift as the swallow's wings, the diligent hands on the drum


s: Mounting far and faint from the resonant shore of the sea!


s: Woe in the song! for the grave breathes in the singers' breath,


s: No more to the place of the echoes of early laughter and tears,


s: No more shall Rua return; no more as the evening ends,


s: To crowded eyes of welcome, to the reaching hands of friends."


s: All day long from the High-place the drums and the singing came,


s: And the even fell, and the sun went down, a wheel of flame;


s: Now over all the isle terror was breathed abroad


s: Of shadowy hands from the trees and shadowy snares in the sod;


s: And before the nostrils of night, the shuddering hunter of men


s: Hurried, with beard on shoulder, back to his lighted den.


s: "Taheia, here to my side!"--"Rua, my Rua, you!"


s: Taheia leaped to his clasp, and was folded in from alarms.


s: "Rua, beloved, here, see what your love has brought;


s: Coming--alas! returning--swift as the shuttle of thought;


s: And Taheia the well-descended, the daughter of chief and priest,


s: Taheia must sit in her place in the crowded bench of the feast."


s: So it was spoken; and she, girding her garment high,


s: Fled and was swallowed of woods, swift as the sight of an eye.


s: Night over isle and sea rolled her curtain of stars,


s: Then a trouble awoke in the air, the east was banded with bars;


s: Dawn as yellow as sulphur leaped on the mountain height;


s: Dawn, in the deepest glen, fell a wonder of light;


s: As, when in days of summer, through open windows, the fly


s: Swift as a breeze and loud as a trump goes by,


s: But when frosts in the field have pinched the wintering mouse,


s: Blindly noses and buzzes and hums in the firelit house:


s: So the sound of the feast gallantly trampled at night,


s: So it staggered and drooped, and droned in the morning light.


s: It chanced that as Rua sat in the valley of silent falls,


s: He heard a calling of doves from high on the cliffy walls.


s: Fire had fashioned of yore, and time had broken, the rocks;


s: And he was aware of a ledge and of things that moved thereon.


s: And the cape overhung like a chin a gulph of sunless air.


s: "Silence, heart!  What is that?--that, that flickered and shone,


s: Into the sun for an instant, and in an instant gone?


s: Was it a warrior's plume, a warrior's girdle of hair?


s: Swung in the loop of a rope, is he making a bridge of the air?"


s: Once and again Rua saw, in the trenchant edge of the sky,


s: The giddy conjuring done.  And then, in the blink of an eye,


s: A scream caught in with the breath, a whirling packet of limbs,


s: A lump that dived in the gulph, more swift than a dolphin swims;


s: Sick of soul he drew near, making his courage stout;


s: Hoka a moment since that stepped in the loop of the rope,


s: Filled with the lust of war, and alive with courage and hope.


s: Again to the giddy cornice Rua lifted his eyes,


s: And again beheld men passing in the armpit of the skies.


s: "Foes of my race!" cried Rua, "the mouth of Rua is true:


s: Never a shark in the deep is nobler of soul than you.


s: There was never a nobler foray, never a bolder plan;


s: Never a dizzier path was trod by the children of man;


s: And Rua, your evil-dealer through all the days of his years,


s: "Counts it honour to hate you, honour to fall by your spears."


s: And Rua straightened his back.  "O Vais, a scheme for a scheme!"


s: Flits through resonant valleys and skims by boulder and foam.


s: And Rua burst from the glen and leaped on the shore of the brook,


s: Swift were the heels of his flight, and loud behind as he went


s: Rattled the leaping stones on the line of his long descent.


s: And ever he thought as he ran, and caught at his gasping breath,


s: "O the fool of a Rua, Rua that runs to his death!


s: For what though the oven smoke?  And what though I die ere morn?


s: There was I nourished and tended, and there was Taheia born."


s: Noon was high on the High-place, the second noon of the feast;


s: And heat and shameful slumber weighed on people and priest;


s: And the heart drudged slow in bodies heavy with monstrous meals;


s: With a bestial droop of the lip and a swinish rheum in the eye.


s: As about the dome of the bees in the time for the drones to fall,


s: The half-awake and the sleepers clustered and crawled and lay;


s: Rua looked and wondered; he said to himself in his heart:


s: "Poor are the pleasures of life, and death is the better part."


s: But lo! on the higher benches a cluster of tranquil folk


s: Sat by themselves, nor raised their serious eyes, nor spoke:


s: Women with robes unruffled and garlands duly arranged,


s: Gazing far from the feast with faces of people estranged;


s: And quiet amongst the quiet, and fairer than all the fair,


s: Taheia, the well-descended, Taheia, heavy of hair.


s: And the soul of Rua awoke, courage enlightened his eyes,


s: And he uttered a summoning shout and called on the clan to rise.


s: Over against him at once, in the spotted shade of the trees,


s: Owlish and blinking creatures scrambled to hands and knees;


s: On the grades of the sacred terrace, the driveller woke to fear,


s: Above the war-crowd gibbered, and Rua stood smiling beneath.


s: Thick, like leaves in the autumn, faint, like April sleet,


s: Missiles from tremulous hands quivered around his feet;


s: And Taheia leaped from her place; and the priest, the ruby-eyed,


s: Taheia cherished his head, and the aged priest stood by,


s: And gazed with eyes of ruby at Rua's darkening eye.


s: "Taheia, here is the end, I die a death for a man.


s: I have given the life of my soul to save an unsavable clan.


s: See them, the drooping of hams! behold me the blinking crew:


s: Fifty spears they cast, and one of fifty true!


s: In this ballad, I have strung together some of the more striking


s: {2d}  "The one-stringed harp."  Usually employed for serenades.


s: And there slipped a thought in his head.


s: Shall gar me withdraw the plighted hand,


s: In a land of a strange, outlandish tongue


s: And there's one must go down to that waterside


s: With the shaven head and the painted face,


s: But all of the woods to the right and the left


s: {3b}  "A periwig'd lord of London."  The first Pitt.


s: And there on the cliff stood the father,


s: The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;


s: The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;


s: The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea;


s: And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.


s: They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;


s: But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.


s: We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,


s: And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.


s: All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,


s: For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.


s: We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;


s: But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:


s: So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,


s: The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;


s: The good red fires were burning bright in every 'longshore home;


s: The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;


s: And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.


s: The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;


s: O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,


s: My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;


s: And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,


s: Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.


s: And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,


s: Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;


s: And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,


s: To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.


s: They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.


s: "All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.


s: She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,


s: And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.


s: As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,


s: We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.


s: And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,


s: As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;


s: But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,


s: Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.


s: General William Booth Enters into Heaven


s: Booth led boldly with his big bass drum--


s: (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)


s: The Saints smiled gravely and they said:  "He's come."


s: Drabs from the alleyways and drug fiends pale--


s: Minds still passion-ridden, soul-powers frail:--


s: Unwashed legions with the ways of Death--


s: The round world over.  (Booth had groaned for more.)


s: Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes.


s: Big-voiced lasses made their banjos bang,


s: Tranced, fanatical they shrieked and sang:--


s: "Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"


s: Bull-necked convicts with that land make free.


s: Loons with trumpets blowed a blare, blare, blare


s: Booth died blind and still by Faith he trod,


s: Booth led boldly, and he looked the chief


s: Jesus came from out the court-house door,


s: Stretched his hands above the passing poor.


s: Booth saw not, but led his queer ones there


s: Round and round the mighty court-house square.


s: Marched on spotless, clad in raiment new.


s: The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled


s: And blind eyes opened on a new, sweet world.


s: Gone was the weasel-head, the snout, the jowl!


s: Sages and sibyls now, and athletes clean,


s: Rulers of empires, and of forests green!


s: (Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)


s: But their noise played havoc with the angel-choir.


s: Jing-jing-jingled in the hands of Queens.


s: And when Booth halted by the curb for prayer


s: He saw his Master thro' the flag-filled air.


s: Christ came gently with a robe and crown


s: For Booth the soldier, while the throng knelt down.


s: He saw King Jesus.  They were face to face,


s: And he knelt a-weeping in that holy place.


s: Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?


s: The Drunkards in the street are calling one another,


s: Heeding not the night-wind, great of heart and gay,--


s: While the Spirit bloweth Space and Time away.


s: Why should I feel the sobbing, the secrecy, the glory,


s: This comforter, this fitful wind divine?


s: I the cautious Pharisee, the scribe, the whited sepulchre--


s: Within their gutters, drunkards dream of Hell.


s: I say my prayers by my white bed to-night,


s: With the arms of God about me, with the angels singing, singing


s: Until the grayness of my soul grows white.


s: With beasts that her fire could please?"


s: (For the thunders could flourish without me)


s: We are the smirched.  Queen Honor is the spotless.


s: We slept thro' wars where Honor could not sleep.


s: We were faint-hearted.  Honor was full-valiant.


s: Yet this late day we make a song to praise her.


s: We, codeless, will yet vindicate her code.


s: She who was mighty, walks with us, the beggars.


s: The merchants drive her out upon the road.


s: She makes a throne of sod beside our campfire.


s: We give the maiden-queen our rags and tears.


s: A battered, rascal guard have rallied round her,


s: To keep her safe until the better years.


s: Life's a jail where men have common lot.


s: All our treasures neither less nor more,


s: Bread alone comes thro' the guarded door.


s: Cards are foolish in this jail, I think,


s: Yet they play for shoes, for drabs and drink.


s: Will not scorn with me this jail-bird trade,


s: Pets some fox-eyed boy who turns the trick,


s: Gamblers fight like rats.  I will not play.


s: Cards are puzzles, tho' the prize be gold,


s: Cards help not the bread that tastes of mold,


s: Cards dye not your hair to black more deep,


s: Cards make not the children cease to weep.


s: Scorned, I sit with half shut eyes all day--


s: Down the wall, and dance upon the floor.


s: Sun, come down and break the dungeon door!


s: Turn the bolt--how soon we would be free!


s: Safe by sunrise farms, and springs of dawn,


s: Wash our wounds and jail stains there at last,


s: Sometimes there comes a whisper from the grass,


s: "Romance, Romance--is here.  No Hindu town


s: Is quite so strange.  No Citadel of Brass


s: By Sinbad found, held half such love and hate;


s: Such webs of Friendship, Beauty, Greed and Fate!"


s: Down from the sky, up from the smoking deep


s: Wild legends new and old burn round my bed


s: While trees and grass and men are wrapped in sleep.


s: Angels come down, with Christmas in their hearts,


s: Gentle, whimsical, laughing, heaven-sent;


s: And, for a day, fair Peace have given me


s: Think not that incense-smoke has had its day.


s: My friends, the incense-time has but begun.


s: Creed upon creed, cult upon cult shall bloom,


s: Shrine after shrine grow gray beneath the sun.


s: Shall guard the graves of hermits truth-endowed:


s: And there the scholar from the Chinese hills


s: Shall do deep honor, with his wise head bowed.


s: And on our old, old plains some muddy stream,


s: Dark as the Ganges, shall, like that strange tide--


s: (Whispering mystery to half the earth)--


s: Gather the praying millions to its side,


s: And flow past halls with statues in white stone


s: To saints unborn to-day, whose lives of grace


s: Shall make one shining, universal church


s: Where all Faiths kneel, as brothers, in one place.


s: Sweet Love on high, lead on where shepherds are,


s: Where Time is not, and only dreamers are.


s: Star from of old, the Magi-Kings are dead


s: And a foolish Saxon seeks the manger-bed.


s: "My star and I, we love thee, little child."


s: Except the Christ be born again to-night


s: In dreams of all men, saints and sons of shame,


s: The world will never see his kingdom bright.


s: Stars of all hearts, lead onward thro' the night


s: Past death-black deserts, doubts without a name,


s: Past hills of pain and mountains of new sin


s: To that far sky where mystic births begin,


s: Where dreaming ears the angel-song shall win.


s: Our Christmas shall be rare at dawning there,


s: All hearts of the earth shall find new birth


s: Why do I throb with your throb to-night,


s: Strong heart of faith.  O heart not mine,


s: And my foolish feet with prophets' feet,


s: Why do I see these empty boats, sailing on airy seas?


s: One haunted me the whole night long, swaying with every breeze,


s: Returning always near the eaves, or by the skylight glass:


s: There it will wait me many weeks, and then, at last, will pass.


s: Each soul is haunted by a ship in which that soul might ride


s: And climb the glorious mysteries of Heaven's silent tide


s: In voyages that change the very metes and bounds of Fate--


s: O empty boats, we all refuse, that by our windows wait!


s: Saying:  "Once more, good youth, I stand and wait."


s: Saying:  "I bring you my fair Law of Peace


s: And from your withering passion full release;


s: Release from that white hand that stabbed you so.


s: The road is calling.  With the wind you go,


s: Quenching all memory in the sun and rain."


s: "Excellent Lord, I come.  But first," I said,


s: "Grant that I bring her these twelve roses red.


s: Yea, twelve flower kisses for her rose-leaf mouth,


s: To that far valley where your river flows


s: In Peace, that once I found in every rose."


s: Would I might wake St. Francis in you all,


s: Brother of birds and trees, God's Troubadour,


s: Blinded with weeping for the sad and poor;


s: Our wealth undone, all strict Franciscan men,


s: God make each soul the lonely leper's slave;


s: Sitting at Prince Siddartha's feet to know


s: The foolishness of gold and love and station,


s: The ragged cloak, the staff, the rain and sun,


s: The beggar's life, with far Nirvana gleaming:


s: Are these your presences, my clan from Heaven?


s: Are these your hands upon my wounded soul?


s: Mine own, mine own, blood of my blood be with me,


s: Fly by my path till you have made me whole!


s: 'Tis not too late to build our young land right,


s: Devout like early Rome, with hearths like hers,


s: Hearths that will recreate the breed called man.


s: I am unjust, but I can strive for justice.


s: My life's unkind, but I can vote for kindness.


s: I, the unloving, say life should be lovely.


s: I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness.


s: Man is a curious brute--he pets his fancies--


s: So he will be, tho' law be clear as crystal,


s: Come, let us vote against our human nature,


s: And make us sages with transfigured faces.


s: Be this squat thing, with blinking, half-closed eyes?


s: This brazen gutter idol, reared to power


s: Be the world's proverb of successful shame,


s: Dazzling all State house flies that steal and steal,


s: Who, when the sad State spares them, count it fame?


s: If once or twice within his new won hall


s: His vote had counted for the broken men;


s: If in his early days he wrought some good--


s: We might a great soul's sins forgive him then.


s: And must he be belauded by the smirched,


s: The sleek, uncanny chiefs in lies grown old?


s: Be warned, O wanton ones, who shielded him--


s: Black wrath awaits.  You all shall eat the dust.


s: You dare not say:  "To-morrow will bring peace;


s: Let us make merry, and go forth in lust."


s: When Armageddon thunders thro' the land;


s: When each sad patriot rises, mad with shame,


s: In the distracted states from which you came


s: The day is big with war hopes fierce and strange;


s: Rumble with hate and love and solemn change.


s: Ground by machines that give the Senate ease.


s: Too many little babes with bleeding hands


s: Have heaped the fruits of empire on your knees.


s: And swine within the Senate in this day,


s: When all the smothering by-streets weep and wail;


s: When wisdom breaks the hearts of her best sons;


s: When kingly men, voting for truth, may fail:--


s: "Our shame must end, our States be free and clean;


s: And in this war we choose to live and die."


s: of the popular term Armageddon in present day politics.]


s: "He could not forget that he was a Sidney."


s: Is this Sir Philip Sidney, this loud clown,


s: The darling of the glad and gaping town?


s: Whose slangy tongue and insolent address


s: Were spiced to rouse on Sunday afternoon


s: The man with yellow journals round him strewn.


s: We laughed and dozed, then roused and read again,


s: He always worked a triple-hinged surprise


s: To end the scene and make one rub his eyes.


s: He comes with vaudeville, with stare and leer.


s: He comes with megaphone and specious cheer.


s: His troupe, too fat or short or long or lean,


s: With slapstick or sombrero or with cane:


s: The rube, the cowboy or the masher vain.


s: They over-act each part.  But at the height


s: The masks fall off for one queer instant there


s: And show real faces:  faces full of care


s: And desperate longing:  love that's hot or cold;


s: And subtle thoughts, and countenances bold.


s: The masks go back.  'Tis one more joke.  Laugh on!


s: The brilliant court of purple-clad Queen Bess,


s: He would have wrought for them the best he knew


s: How coolly he misquoted.  'Twas his art--


s: Slave-scholar, who misquoted--from the heart.


s: So when we slapped his back with friendly roar


s: Aesop the Greek, who made dull masters laugh


s: With little tales of FOX and DOG and CALF.


s: And be it said, mid these his pranks so odd


s: And oft the drear and driven would defend--


s: The little shopgirls' knight unto the end.


s: Yea, he had passed, ere we could understand


s: The blade of Sidney glimmered in his hand.


s: Yea, ere we knew, Sir Philip's sword was drawn


s: With valiant cut and thrust, and he was gone.


s: Who now will praise the Wizard in the street


s: With loyal songs, with humors grave and sweet--


s: This Jingle-man, of strolling players born,


s: Whom holy folk have hurried by in scorn,


s: This threadbare jester, neither wise nor good,


s: The hurrying great ones scorn his Raven's croak,


s: Inscribed with runes from tongues he has not read


s: Has captured half-grown boys.  They think him wise.


s: Some shallow player-folk esteem him deep,


s: Soothed by his steady wand's mesmeric sweep.


s: Somehow suggest old times and reverenced lands.


s: From them doll-monsters come, we know not how:


s: Puppets, with Cain's black rubric on the brow.


s: Some passing jugglers, smiling, now concede


s: That his best cabinet-work is made, indeed


s: By bleeding his right arm, day after day,


s: They praise his little act of shedding tears;


s: A trick, well learned, with patience, thro' the years.


s: I love him in this blatant, well-fed place.


s: Lit up with song, then torn with cold, small rage,


s: Shames that are living, loves and hopes long dead,


s: Consuming pride, and hunger, real, for bread.


s: Here by the curb, ye Prophets thunder deep:


s: "What Nations sow, they must expect to reap,"


s: Or haste to clothe the race with truth and power,


s: With hymns and shouts increasing every hour.


s: Useful are you.  There stands the useless one


s: Who builds the Haunted Palace in the sun.


s: Good tailors, can you dress a doll for me


s: With silks that whisper of the sounding sea?


s: Which one of you can spread a spotted cloak


s: Witchcraft and desperate passion in her breath


s: And battling will, that conquers even death?


s: And now the evening goes.  No man has thrown


s: The weary dog his well-earned crust or bone.


s: We grin and hie us home and go to sleep,


s: Or feast like kings till midnight, drinking deep.


s: He drank alone, for sorrow, and then slept,


s: And few there were that watched him, few that wept.


s: He found the gutter, lost to love and man.


s: Sleep softly * * * eagle forgotten * * * under the stone.


s: Time has its way with you there, and the clay has its own.


s: The others that mourned you in silence and terror and truth,


s: The widow bereft of her crust, and the boy without youth,


s: The mocked and the scorned and the wounded, the lame and the poor


s: Where are those lovers of yours, on what name do they call


s: The lost, that in armies wept over your funeral pall?


s: They call on the names of a hundred high-valiant ones,


s: A hundred white eagles have risen the sons of your sons,


s: The zeal in their wings is a zeal that your dreaming began


s: The valor that wore out your soul in the service of man.


s: Sleep softly, * * * eagle forgotten, * * * under the stone,


s: Time has its way with you there and the clay has its own.


s: Sleep on, O brave hearted, O wise man, that kindled the flame--


s: To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name,


s: To live in mankind, far, far more * * * than to live in a name.


s: Would that in body and spirit Shakespeare came


s: With Justice still the genius of his rhyme,


s: Giving each man his due, each passion grace,


s: Impartial as the rain from Heaven's face


s: Or sunshine from the heaven-enthroned sun.


s: Teach us to write, and writing, to be men.


s: Would I might wake in you the whirl-wind soul


s: And Night and Day revealed, whose arm alone


s: Could draw the face of God, the titan high


s: Whose genius smote like lightning from the sky--


s: And shall he mold like dead leaves in the grave?


s: Would that such hills and cities round us sang,


s: Would that this latter Greek could put his gold,


s: Till Greece and Venice, children of the sun,


s: To colors fairer far, and glories higher.


s: Would I might rouse the Lincoln in you all,


s: That which is gendered in the wilderness


s: From lonely prairies and God's tenderness.


s: Born where the ghosts of buffaloes still dream,


s: Whose spirit hoof-beats storm above his grave,


s: Above that breast of earth and prairie-fire--


s: "Dirt is everlasting.-- We never, never fear it.


s: Toil is never ceasing.-- We will play until we near it.


s: Tears are never ending.-- When once real tears have come;


s: Ah--then our eyes will lose their light--


s: Cold in the breast as the frost-wrapped Spring,


s: Whose feet are slow on the hills of life,


s: Whose breast shall burn as a Summer field,


s: Whose wings shall rise to the doors of gold,


s: Whose poppy lips to the God shall yield.


s: When the closing rose shall bind her fast,


s: And a song of the song their blood shall sing,


s: When the Rose-God drinks her soul at last.


s: Beneath her burning song of suns untold.


s: The fruit of the tree is a bell, blood-red--


s: The seed was the heart of a fairy, dead.


s: To the red, red hill where the great tree swayed--


s: The boughs of the tree were white and gray,


s: The boughs of the tree would sweep and sway--


s: Till a speck in the East was the Milky way:


s: Were a thousand times ten thousand times


s: And one she pressed to her golden breast


s: We fed them and stroked their necks . . .


s: Who blew thro' the trees strange breath,


s: On cyclone wings will reach this place--


s: Yea, rear their brood on earth's dead face.


s: Leave good green cheese by moonlit trees


s: Their hearts die in their youth with neither


s: Where all night long the old trees stand


s: My Sweetheart is the TRUTH BEYOND THE MOON,


s: And never have I been in love with Woman,


s: O laughing girl, cold TRUTH has stepped between,


s: Spoiling the fevers of your virgin face:


s: Making your shining eyes but lead and clay,


s: Mocking your brilliant brain and lady's grace.


s: TRUTH haunted me the day I wooed and lost,


s: The day I wooed and won, or wooed in play:


s: I doubt my vows, tho' sworn on my own blood,


s: Tho' I draw toward you weeping, soul to soul,


s: Ay, beyond Heaven and Hell, I have a goal!


s: Those cries that stung the evening earth


s: I recited these three poems more than any others


s: in my late mendicant preaching tour through the West.


s: Taken as a triad, they hold in solution my theory


s: He poured his strength, and plowed his ancient name,


s: And, when the traders followed him, he stood


s: Towering above their furtive souls and tame.


s: That brow without a stain, that fearless eye


s: To find such knighthood in the sprawling land,


s: He lived with liberal hand, with guests from far,


s: With talk and joke and fellowship to spare,--


s: Watching the wide world's life from sun to sun,


s: Lining his walls with books from everywhere.


s: He read by night, he built his world by day.


s: The farm and house of God to him were one.


s: For forty years he preached and plowed and wrought--


s: A statesman in the fields, who bent to none.


s: His plowmen-neighbors were as lords to him.


s: He served a rigid Christ, but served him well--


s: And, for a lifetime, saved the countryside.


s: Here lie the dead, who gave the church their best


s: They sleep with him beneath the ragged grass . . .


s: The village withers, by his voice unstirred.


s: And tho' his tribe be scattered to the wind


s: Yet do they think of that bright lamp he burned


s: And many a sturdy grandchild hears his name


s: To all the lion-eyed who built the world--


s: Sigh for the sweet life wrenched and torn


s: By thundering commerce, fierce and bare.


s: Nymphs of the wheat these girls should be:


s: Kings of the grove, their lovers strong.


s: Maids, lovers, friends, so deep in life,


s: That Oxford rules the heart of London still,


s: That Florence gave the Renaissance to Rome.


s: Record it for the grandson of your son--


s: Our little town cannot complete her soul


s: Now let each child be joined as to a church


s: To her perpetual hopes, each man ordained:


s: Let every street be made a reverent aisle


s: Where Music grows and Beauty is unchained.


s: Be slaves of her, and make her all in all,


s: Building against our blatant, restless time


s: Let no man rule who holds his money dear.


s: We should build parks that students from afar


s: Would choose to starve in, rather than go home,


s: Fair little squares, with Phidian ornament,


s: Food for the spirit, milk and honeycomb.


s: Songs shall be sung by us in that good day,


s: Songs we have written, blood within the rhyme


s: Beating, as when Old England still was glad,--


s: The soul of this, our Nineveh, is doomed,


s: By faith shall rise redeemed, by faith shall rise


s: The secret hidden in each grain of corn,


s: At night when sons of Life and Love are born,


s: Born but to struggle, squalid and alone,


s: Broken and wandering in their early years.


s: When will they make our dusty streets their goal,


s: Within our attics hide their sacred tears?


s: When will they start our vulgar blood athrill


s: With living language, words that set us free?


s: When will they make a path of beauty clear


s: And they must do their work, and come and go


s: Of all my verse, like not a single line;


s: Ah, how much better, had I stol'n the whole!


s: THERE are men and classes of men that stand above the


s: common herd: the soldier, the sailor and the shepherd not


s: unfrequently; the artist rarely; rarely still, the clergyman;


s: the physician almost as a rule.  He is the flower (such as it


s: is) of our civilisation; and when that stage of man is done


s: with, and only remembered to be marvelled at in history, he


s: will be thought to have shared as little as any in the defects


s: of the period, and most notably exhibited the virtues of the


s: race.  Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who


s: practise an art, never to those who drive a trade; discretion,


s: tested by a hundred secrets; tact, tried in a thousand


s: embarrassments; and what are more important, Heraclean


s: cheerfulness and courage.  So it is that he brings air and


s: cheer into the sickroom, and often enough, though not so often


s: Gratitude is but a lame sentiment; thanks, when they are


s: expressed, are often more embarrassing than welcome; and yet I


s: must set forth mine to a few out of many doctors who have


s: brought me comfort and help: to Dr. Willey of San Francisco,


s: whose kindness to a stranger it must be as grateful to him, as


s: it is touching to me, to remember; to Dr. Karl Ruedi of Davos,


s: the good genius of the English in his frosty mountains; to Dr.


s: Herbert of Paris, whom I knew only for a week, and to Dr.


s: Caissot of Montpellier, whom I knew only for ten days, and who


s: have yet written their names deeply in my memory; to Dr.


s: whose visits make it a pleasure to be ill; to Dr. Horace


s: Dobell, so wise in counsel; to Sir Andrew Clark, so unwearied


s: in kindness and to that wise youth, my uncle, Dr. Balfour.


s: I forget as many as I remember; and I ask both to pardon


s: me, these for silence, those for inadequate speech.  But one


s: name I have kept on purpose to the last, because it is a


s: household word with me, and because if I had not received


s: favours from so many hands and in so many quarters of the


s: world, it should have stood upon this page alone: that of my


s: friend Thomas Bodley Scott of Bournemouth.  Will he accept


s: this, although shared among so many, for a dedication to


s: himself? and when next my ill-fortune (which has thus its


s: pleasant side) brings him hurrying to me when he would fain


s: sit down to meat or lie down to rest, will he care to remember


s: that he takes this trouble for one who is not fool enough to


s: THE human conscience has fled of late the troublesome


s: domain of conduct for what I should have supposed to be the


s: less congenial field of art: there she may now be said to


s: rage, and with special severity in all that touches dialect;


s: so that in every novel the letters of the alphabet are


s: tortured, and the reader wearied, to commemorate shades of


s: mis-pronunciation.  Now spelling is an art of great difficulty


s: in my eyes, and I am inclined to lean upon the printer, even


s: in common practice, rather than to venture abroad upon new


s: quests.  And the Scots tongue has an orthography of its own,


s: lacking neither "authority nor author."  Yet the temptation is


s: great to lend a little guidance to the bewildered Englishman.


s: Some simple phonetic artifice might defend your verses from


s: barbarous mishandling, and yet not injure any vested interest.


s: So it seems at first; but there are rocks ahead.  Thus, if I


s: wish the diphthong OU to have its proper value, I may write


s: OOR instead of OUR; many have done so and lived, and the


s: pillars of the universe remained unshaken.  But if I did so,


s: and came presently to DOUN, which is the classical Scots


s: spelling of the English DOWN, I should begin to feel uneasy;


s: and if I went on a little farther, and came to a classical


s: Scots word, like STOUR or DOUR or CLOUR, I should know


s: precisely where I was - that is to say, that I was out of


s: sight of land on those high seas of spelling reform in which


s: so many strong swimmers have toiled vainly.  To some the


s: situation is exhilarating; as for me, I give one bubbling cry


s: and sink.  The compromise at which I have arrived is


s: indefensible, and I have no thought of trying to defend it.


s: As I have stuck for the most part to the proper spelling, I


s: append a table of some common vowel sounds which no one need


s: consult; and just to prove that I belong to my age and have in


s: me the stuff of a reformer, I have used modification marks


s: throughout.  Thus I can tell myself, not without pride, that I


s: have added a fresh stumbling-block for English readers, and to


s: a page of print in my native tongue, have lent a new


s: I note again, that among our new dialecticians, the local


s: habitat of every dialect is given to the square mile.  I could


s: not emulate this nicety if I desired; for I simply wrote my


s: Scots as well as I was able, not caring if it hailed from


s: Lauderdale or Angus, from the Mearns or Galloway; if I had


s: ever heard a good word, I used it without shame; and when


s: Scots was lacking, or the rhyme jibbed, I was glad (like my


s: betters) to fall back on English.  For all that, I own to a


s: friendly feeling for the tongue of Fergusson and of Sir


s: Walter, both Edinburgh men; and I confess that Burns has


s: always sounded in my ear like something partly foreign.  And


s: indeed I am from the Lothians myself; it is there I heard the


s: language spoken about my childhood; and it is in the drawling


s: Lothian voice that I repeat it to myself.  Let the precisians


s: call my speech that of the Lothians.  And if it be not pure,


s: alas! what matters it?  The day draws near when this


s: illustrious and malleable tongue shall be quite forgotten; and


s: Burn's Ayrshire, and Dr. Macdonald's Aberdeen-awa', and


s: Scott's brave, metropolitan utterance will be all equally the


s: ghosts of speech.  Till then I would love to have my hour as a


s: native Maker, and be read by my own countryfolk in our own


s: dying language: an ambition surely rather of the heart than of


s: the head, so restricted as it is in prospect of endurance, so


s: Flowers in the garden, meat in the hall,


s: Their rough-and-tumble play they shared;


s: They kissed and quarrelled, laughed and cried,


s: That now would touch her skirts with awe.


s: How shall your children clap their hands!


s: The white gulls are trooping and crying,


s: 'Twill wish you well, the looking-glass,


s: Dew, frost and mountains, fire and seas,


s: The unfathomable sea, and time, and tears,


s: The deeds of heroes and the crimes of kings


s: Has, for an age of years, to east and west


s: More widely borne our cradles.  Thou to me


s: Descry a land far off and know not which.


s: Surf and great mountains and loud river-bars,


s: And from the shore hear inland voices call.


s: Strange is the seaman's heart; he hopes, he fears;


s: Draws closer and sweeps wider from that coast;


s: Last, his rent sail refits, and to the deep


s: His shattered prow uncomforted puts back.


s: Of that bright island; where he feared to touch,


s: Where by his wife he slumbers safe at home,


s: Thoughts of that land revisit him; he sees


s: The eternal mountains beckon, and awakes


s: Yearning for that far home that might have been.


s: There could not run the smallest breath of wind


s: But all the quarter sounded like a wood;


s: The hum of city cabs that sought the Bois,


s: And a long dying hiss - it was as though


s: Starched old brocaded dames through all the house


s: Had trailed a strident skirt, or the whole sky


s: Even in a wink had over-brimmed in rain.


s: Hark, in these shady parlours, how it talks


s: Trembles and augurs floods!  O not too long


s: Trim your escape!  For soon shall this low roof


s: Resound indeed with rain, soon shall your eyes


s: Search the foul garden, search the darkened rooms,


s: The sails, the bells, the birds, I know,


s: (1) LIFE ON THE LAGOONS, by H. F. Brown, originally


s: And the bright springs gush at your heel.


s: In ancient tales, O friend, thy spirit dwelt;


s: There, from of old, thy childhood passed; and there


s: High expectation, high delights and deeds,


s: Thy fluttering heart with hope and terror moved.


s: And thou hast heard of yore the Blatant Beast,


s: And Roland's horn, and that war-scattering shout


s: And perilous lands thou sawest, sounding shores


s: And seas and forests drear, island and dale


s: And mountain dark.  For thou with Tristram rod'st


s: Thou hadst a booth in Samarcand, whereat


s: Side-looking Magians trafficked; thence, by night,


s: An Afreet snatched thee, and with wings upbore


s: Thou, with a jar of money, didst embark,


s: In that clear air took'st life; in Arcady


s: The haunted, land of song; and by the wells


s: Where most the gods frequent.  There Chiron old,


s: In the Pelethronian antre, taught thee lore:


s: The plants, he taught, and by the shining stars


s: In forests dim to steer.  There hast thou seen


s: And, dancing, roll his eyes; these, where they fell,


s: Shed glee, and through the congregated oaks


s: A flying horror winged; while all the earth


s: To the god's pregnant footing thrilled within.


s: Or whiles, beside the sobbing stream, he breathed,


s: In his clutched pipe unformed and wizard strains


s: Divine yet brutal; which the forest heard,


s: And thou, with awe; and far upon the plain


s: The unthinking ploughman started and gave ear.


s: Now things there are that, upon him who sees,


s: A strong vocation lay; and strains there are


s: That whoso hears shall hear for evermore.


s: And those melodious godheads, ever young


s: What was this earth, child of the gods, to thee?


s: Forth from thy dreamland thou, a dreamer, cam'st


s: To list at noon for nightingales, to grow


s: That came long since, a lingerer by the pool


s: Where that desired angel bathes no more.


s: Thereon awhile, amazed, he stares, and then


s: To right and leftward, like a questing dog,


s: Seeks first the ancestral altars, then the hearth


s: Long cold with rains, and where old terror lodged,


s: And where the dead.  So thee undying Hope,


s: With all her pack, hunts screaming through the years:


s: Here, there, thou fleeest; but nor here nor there


s: The pleasant gods abide, the glory dwells.


s: This was not Venus, though she Venus seemed


s: A moment.  And though fair yon river move,


s: She, all the way, from disenchanted fount


s: To seas unhallowed runs; the gods forsook


s: Long since her trembling rushes; from her plains


s: Disconsolate, long since adventure fled;


s: And now although the inviting river flows,


s: And to thy hopeful shallop whisper speed;


s: Yet hope not thou at all; hope is no more;


s: And O, long since the golden groves are dead


s: The faery cities vanished from the land!


s: The year runs through her phases; rain and sun,


s: Springtime and summer pass; winter succeeds;


s: But one pale season rules the house of death.


s: Cold falls the imprisoned daylight; fell disease


s: By each lean pallet squats, and pain and sleep


s: Uprise and take thy pipe.  Bid music flow,


s: Strains by good thoughts attended, like the spring


s: Pain sleeps at once; at once, with open eyes,


s: Dozing despair awakes.  The shepherd sees


s: His flock come bleating home; the seaman hears


s: Once more the cordage rattle.  Airs of home!


s: Youth, love and roses blossom; the gaunt ward


s: Dislimns and disappears, and, opening out,


s: Shows brooks and forests, and the blue beyond


s: Peak-faced and suffering piper, blow therein


s: The dirge of heroes dead; and to these sick,


s: These dying, sound the triumph over death.


s: Behold! each greatly breathes; each tastes a joy


s: Unknown before, in dying; for each knows


s: A hero dies with him - though unfulfilled,


s: Yet conquering truly - and not dies in vain


s: So is pain cheered, death comforted; the house


s: Of sorrow smiles to listen.  Once again -


s: And the deliverer, touch the stops again!


s: Who comes to-night?  We ope the doors in vain.


s: Who comes?  My bursting walls, can you contain


s: Your narrow entry, as with flowers and song,


s: As with the air of life, the breath of talk?


s: Lo, how these fair immaculate women walk


s: Slighted DE MAUVES, and that far different she,


s: GRESSIE, the trivial sphynx; and to our feast


s: DAISY and BARB and CHANCELLOR (she not least!)


s: With all their silken, all their airy kin,


s: But he, attended by these shining names,


s: Comes (best of all) himself - our welcome James.


s: Your life's tale told with perfect grace;


s: Your flowers and thorns you bring with you!


s: Poor passionate men, still clothed afresh


s: And still with laughter, song and shout,


s: Not yet, my soul, these friendly fields desert,


s: Where thou with grass, and rivers, and the breeze,


s: And the bright face of day, thy dalliance hadst;


s: Where to thine ear first sang the enraptured birds;


s: Where love and thou that lasting bargain made.


s: The ship rides trimmed, and from the eternal shore


s: Freedom is far, rest far.  Thou art with life


s: Too closely woven, nerve with nerve intwined;


s: Service still craving service, love for love,


s: Love for dear love, still suppliant with tears.


s: A bond at birth is forged; a debt doth lie


s: By vast rebound it grows, unceasing growth;


s: Gift upon gift, alms upon alms, upreared,


s: From man, from God, from nature, till the soul


s: At that so huge indulgence stands amazed.


s: Leave not, my soul, the unfoughten field, nor leave


s: Thy debts dishonoured, nor thy place desert


s: Without due service rendered.  For thy life,


s: Up, spirit, and defend that fort of clay,


s: Or late she fall; whether to-day thy friends


s: Bewail thee dead, or, after years, a man


s: Grown old in honour and the friend of peace.


s: Contend, my soul, for moments and for hours;


s: Each is with service pregnant; each reclaimed


s: Is as a kingdom conquered, where to reign.


s: His scattered legions, and beats ruin back,


s: He, on the field, encamps, well pleased in mind.


s: Him smite in turn, headlong his ensigns drive;


s: And that dear land, now safe, to-morrow fall.


s: Solely delights, and all the camps rejoice.


s: Though nevermore again you watch your baby sleep.


s: Seems still the brave reward that once it seemed of yore;


s: Some profit yet survives of all your pangs and tears.


s: Each must in strength arise to work the almighty will.


s: Nor aught of all man's sons escapes from that command


s: Nor knew their task at all, but were the tools of God.


s: But in the tower at home still plied his ringing trade;


s: So sits the while at home the mother well content.


s: Nothing but lamps the whole town through,


s: Some of the things are so great and near,


s: An hour or two more, and God is so kind,


s: The day shall be blue in the window-blind,


s: And dream of the birds and the hills of sheep.


s: Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember


s: How of human days he lived the better part.


s: April came to bloom and never dim December


s: Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart.


s: Doomed to know not Winter, only Spring, a being


s: Trod the flowery April blithely for a while,


s: Took his fill of music, joy of thought and seeing,


s: Came and stayed and went, nor ever ceased to smile.


s: Came and stayed and went, and now when all is finished,


s: You alone have crossed the melancholy stream,


s: Yours the pang, but his, O his, the undiminished


s: All that life contains of torture, toil, and treason,


s: Shame, dishonour, death, to him were but a name.


s: Here, a boy, he dwelt through all the singing season


s: And ere the day of sorrow departed as he came.


s: Peace and her huge invasion to these shores


s: To our wild coasts, not darkling now, approach:


s: Not now obscure, since thou and thine are there,


s: And bright on the lone isle, the foundered reef,


s: The long, resounding foreland, Pharos stands.


s: These are thy works, O father, these thy crown;


s: Whether on high the air be pure, they shine


s: Along the yellowing sunset, and all night


s: Among the unnumbered stars of God they shine;


s: The low sea-level drown - each finds a tongue


s: And all night long the tolling bell resounds:


s: So shine, so toll, till night be overpast,


s: Till the stars vanish, till the sun return,


s: And in the haven rides the fleet secure.


s: In the first hour, the seaman in his skiff


s: Moves through the unmoving bay, to where the town


s: Its earliest smoke into the air upbreathes


s: And the rough hazels climb along the beach.


s: To the tugg'd oar the distant echo speaks.


s: The ship lies resting, where by reef and roost


s: Thou and thy lights have led her like a child.


s: This hast thou done, and I - can I be base?


s: Some lost, complaining seaman pilot home.


s: Youth shall grow great and strong and free,


s: Shall bag, me - all the world shall say:


s: Sing clearlier, Muse, or evermore be still,


s: But as the boy, the pirate of the spring,


s: From the green elm a living linnet takes,


s: One natural verse recapture - then be still.


s: We travelled in the print of olden wars,


s: They pass and smile, the children of the sword -


s: For love of lovely words, and for the sake


s: Who early and late in the windy ocean toiled


s: To plant a star for seamen, where was then


s: The surfy haunt of seals and cormorants:


s: Here all is sunny, and when the truant gull


s: Skims the green level of the lawn, his wing