s: given to any other; but our approbation, at present, is cooler,


s: The following eclogues*, written by Mr. Collins, are very


s: pretty: the images, it must be owned, are not very local; for


s: the pastoral subject could not well admit of it. The description


s: of Asiatic magnificence, and manners, is a subject as yet


s: unattempted amongst us, and I believe, capable of furnishing a


s: Goldsmith admired Collins, whom he calls in the 'Enquiry', 1759,


s: p. 143, 'the neglected author of the Persian eclogues, which,


s: however inaccurate, excel any in our language.' He borrowed


s: freely from him in the 'Threnodia Augustalis', q.v.


s: This is reckoned the best parody of Milton in our language:  it


s: has been an hundred times imitated, without success. The truth


s: is, the first thing in this way must preclude all future


s: attempts; for nothing is so easy as to burlesque any man's


s: manner, when we are once showed the way.


s: Mr. Hawkins Browne, the author of these, as I am told, had no


s: good original manner of his own, yet we see how well he


s: succeeded when he turns an imitator; for the following are


s: rather imitations than ridiculous parodies.


s: The great fault of this piece, written by Dr. Parnell, is that


s: it is in eight-syllable lines, very improper for the solemnity


s: of the subject; otherwise, the poem is natural, and the


s: Never was the old manner of speaking more happily applied, or a


s: Mr. Thomson, though, in general, a verbose and affected poet,


s: has told this story with unusual simplicity: it is rather given


s: here for being much esteemed by the public, than by the editor.


s: Almost all things written from the heart, as this certainly was,


s: have some merit. The poet here describes sorrows and misfortunes


s: which were by no means imaginary; and, thus, there runs a truth


s: of thinking through this poem, without which it would be of


s: little value, as Savage is, in other respects, but an


s: Mr. Mo[o]re was a poet that never had justice done him while


s: living; there are few of the moderns have a more correct taste,


s: or a more pleasing manner of expressing their thoughts. It was


s: upon these fables [Nos. v, vi, and xvi of the 'Fables for the


s: Ladies'] he chiefly founded his reputation; yet they are, by no


s: This little poem, by Mr. Nugent [afterwards Lord Clare] is very


s: pleasing. The easiness of the poetry, and the justice of the


s: thoughts, constitute its principal beauty.


s: This bagatelle, for which, by the by, Mr. Prior has got his


s: greatest reputation, was a tale told in all the old Italian


s: collections of jests, and borrowed from thence by Fontaine. It


s: had been translated once or twice before into English, yet was


s: never regarded till it fell into the hands of Mr. Prior. A


s: strong instance how everything is improved in the hands of a man


s: This poem [by Swift] is very fine; and though in the same strain


s: with the preceding [Prior's 'Ladle'] is yet superior.


s: This elegy (by Mr. Ticknell) is one of the finest in our


s: language; there is so little new that can be said upon the death


s: of a friend, after the complaints of Ovid and the Latin


s: Italians, in this way, that one is surprised to see so much


s: novelty in this to strike us, and so much interest to affect.


s: Through all Tickell's works there is a strain of


s: ballad-thinking, if I may so express it; and, in this professed


s: ballad, he seems to have surpassed himself. It is, perhaps, the


s: This ode, by Dr. Smollett, does rather more honour to the


s: author's feelings than his taste. The mechanical part, with


s: regard to numbers and language, is not so perfect as so short a


s: work as this requires; but the pathetic it contains,


s: particularly in the last stanza but one, is exquisitely fine.


s: Our poetry was not quite harmonized in Waller's time; so that


s: this, which would be now looked upon as a slovenly sort of


s: versification, was, with respect to the times in which it was


s: written, almost a prodigy of harmony. A modern reader will


s: chiefly be struck with the strength of thinking, and the turn of


s: the compliments bestowed upon the usurper. Everybody has heard


s: the answer our poet made Charles II; who asked him how his poem


s: upon Cromwell came to be finer than his panegyric upon himself.


s: 'Your majesty,' replies Waller, 'knows, that poets always


s: The French claim this [by Mr. Waller] as belonging to them. To


s: whomsoever it belongs the thought is finely turned.


s: These seem to be the best of the collection; from whence only


s: the two first are taken. They are spoken of differently, either


s: with exaggerated applause or contempt, as the reader's


s: disposition is either turned to mirth or melancholy.


s: Young's Satires were in higher reputation when published, than


s: they stand in at present. He seems fonder of dazzling than


s: pleasing; of raising our admiration for his wit, than our


s: These ballads of Mr. Shenstone are chiefly commended for the


s: natural simplicity of the thoughts and the harmony of the


s: versification. However, they are not excellent in either.


s: This, by Dr. Byrom, is a better effort than the preceding [a


s: This ['Despairing beside a clear stream'] by Mr. Rowe, is better


s: than anything of the kind in our language.


s: This work, by the Duke of Buckingham, is enrolled among our


s: great English productions. The precepts are sensible, the poetry


s: not indifferent, but it has been praised more than it deserves.


s: This is thought one of Dr. Swift's correctest pieces; its chief


s: merit, indeed, is the elegant ease with which a story, but


s: What Prior meant by this poem I can't understand; by the Greek


s: motto to it one would think it was either to laugh at the


s: subject or the reader. There are some parts of it very fine; and


s: In the dawn of the day when the sea and the earth


s: I set forth with a heart full of courage and mirth


s: And he said "Follow me, and ere long you shall see


s: And soon in the distance a city shone fair.


s: "Look yonder," he said; "How it gleams!"


s: But alas! for the hopes that were doomed to despair,


s: Then the next man I asked was a gay Cavalier,


s: And with laughter and song we went speeding along


s: Then we came to a valley more tropical far


s: And I saw from a bower a face like a flower


s: And he said: "We have come to humanity's goal:


s: But alas and alas! for the hopes of my soul--


s: As I journeyed more slowly I met on the road


s: And they said: "Follow me, for our Lady's abode


s: 'Twas a grand dame of fashion, a newly-made bride,


s: But my hopes died away like the last gleams of day,


s: At the door of a cottage I asked a fair maid.


s: "I have heard of that realm," she replied;


s: "But my feet never roam from the 'Kingdom of Home,'


s: I looked on the cottage; how restful it seemed!


s: Great light glorified my soul as I cried:


s: She stood and gazed out into the street,


s: But the robin's trill, as some sounds will,


s: She heard the turtle's wild, sweet call,


s: She smelled once more the flower she wore


s: The rider drew rein at her window-pane--


s: How young she was, and how fair she was;


s: The future seemed fair, for Love was there--


s: "Well, Meg, I declare, what a beauty you are!


s: She reached out her arms with a moaning sob:


s: Then, swift and strange, came a sudden change;


s: "A curse on the day and a curse on that man,


s: "May he starve and be cold, may he live to be old


s: Her wild voice frightened the robin away


s: He called to his mate on the grass below,


s: And as mates have done since the world begun


s: The dingy room seemed curtained with gloom;


s: The ghost of her youth and her murdered truth


s: To flee from thought was all she sought,


s: Where fashion's throng moved gayly along


s: A clatter of hoofs down the stony street,


s: That was running wild, and a laughing child


s: She cried aloud, as she rushed through the crowd


s: With her slender arm she gathered from harm


s: The death-shod feet of the mad horse beat


s: But the baby laughed out with a merry shout,


s: He pulled her gown and called to her: "Say,


s: When the frightened father reached the scene,


s: From the stiffening fold of the arm, death-cold,


s: For put to the test, she will bare her breast


s: A rose in my garden, the sweetest and fairest,


s: Was hanging her head through the long golden hours;


s: And early one morning I saw her tears falling,


s: And heard a low gossiping talk in the bowers.


s: The yellow Nasturtium, a spinster all faded,


s: Was telling a Lily what ailed the poor Rose:


s: "That wild roving Bee who was hanging about her,


s: Has jilted her squarely, as every one knows.


s: "I knew when he came, with his singing and sighing,


s: His airs and his speeches so fine and so sweet,


s: Just how it would end; but no one would believe me,


s: For all were quite ready to fall at his feet."


s: "Indeed, you are wrong," said the Lily-belle proudly,


s: "I cared nothing for him; he called on me once,


s: And would have come often, no doubt, if I'd asked him,


s: But though he was handsome, I thought him a dunce."


s: "Now, now, that's not true," cried the tall Oleander.


s: "He has travelled and seen every flower that grows;


s: And one who has supped in the garden of princes,


s: We all might have known would not we with the Rose."


s: "But wasn't she proud when he showed her attention?


s: And she let him caress her," said sly Mignonette;


s: "And I used to see it and blush for her folly.


s: The silly thing thinks he will come to her yet."


s: "I thought he was splendid," said pretty pert Larkspur,


s: "So dark, and so grand with that gay cloak of gold;


s: But he tried once to kiss me, the impudent fellow!


s: And I got offended; I thought him too bold."


s: "Oh, fie!" laughed the Almond, "that does for a story.


s: Though I hang down my head, yet I see all that goes;


s: And I saw you reach out trying hard to detain him,


s: But he just tapped your cheek and flew by to the Rose.


s: "He cared nothing for her; he only was flirting


s: To while away time, as I very well knew;


s: So I turned a cold shoulder on all his advances,


s: Because I was certain his heart was untrue."


s: "The Rose is served right for her folly in trusting


s: An oily-tongued stranger," quoth proud Columbine.


s: "I knew what he was, and thought once I would warn her,


s: But of course the affair was no business of mine."


s: "Oh, well," cried the Peony, shrugging her shoulders,


s: "I saw all along that the Bee was a flirt;


s: But the Rose has been always so praised and so petted,


s: I thought a good lesson would do her no hurt."


s: Just then came the sound of a love-song sung sweetly,


s: I saw my proud Rose lifting up her bowed head;


s: And the talk of the gossips was hushed in a moment,


s: And the flowers all listened to hear what was said.


s: And the dark, handsome Bee, with his cloak o'er his shoulder,


s: Came swift through the sunlight and kissed the sad Rose,


s: And whispered: "My darling, I've roved the world over,


s: And you are the loveliest flower that grows."


s: And our talk was tinctured with science,


s: But I fought with my heart and conquered,


s: In his great cushioned chair by the fender


s: His withered hands, licked by the tender


s: That through the old homestead ring alway


s: To his childhood's fair land of delight;


s: And his mother's sweet smile he remembers,


s: He hears the sweet Christmas bells ringing,


s: But he joins with his comrades in singing


s: And has turned him from vice unto bliss;


s: And the whole world is lit with new glory


s: While the Christmas bells tell the old story


s: Again, with his little brood 'round him,


s: He knows that the angels have crowned him


s: And the hearts of the children, untroubled,


s: And the gifts for sweet Maudie are doubled,


s: She starved in this great land of plenty,


s: When she tried to grope back to the light.


s: With the sweet Christmas chimes there is blended


s: And he knows that his joys are all ended


s: I am cold, in this chill winter weather;


s: And you, too, sweet wife--and together--


s: "Were you calling us, grandpa?" they said.


s: Then shrank, with that fear that comes alway


s: When young eyes look their first on the dead.


s: The toil it takes to make a business grow.


s: Of course I love you, and the children too


s: There, now, run home, enjoy your holiday.


s: She has not meant to wound me, nor to vex--


s: Zounds! but 'tis difficult to please the sex.


s: I've housed and gowned her like a very queen


s: Yet there she goes, with discontented mien.


s: Some women are like that, do what you may.


s: For the efforts of death would be futile


s: Can the brain keep cool and the heart keep quiet


s: When the blood is a river that's running riot?


s: And boys will be boys, the old folks say,


s: And a man is the better who's had his day


s: The sinner reformed; and the preacher told


s: Of the prodigal son who came back to the fold.


s: And Christian people threw open the door,


s: And the world strewed their pathway with blossoms abloom,


s: Crying, "God bless ladye, and God bless groom!"


s: In the golden dawn of her life's young day.


s: She had more passion and heart than head,


s: And she followed blindly where fond Love led.


s: To wander at will by a fair girl's side.


s: The preacher prayed that she might be forgiven,


s: But told her to look for mercy--in heaven.


s: For this is the law of the earth, we know:


s: That the woman is stoned, while the man may go.


s: But the world said, frowning, "We shall not call."


s: But the music ceased--and they vanished,


s: Between the acts, "What beastly weather!


s: And the lady is tame, and the villain stalks--


s: He thought--"_You are fair as the dawn's first ray_;


s: _I know the angels keep guard above you_.


s: _And so I chatter of weather_, _and play_,


s: How glad we are, when the whirl is over!


s: For the toil of pleasure is more than its fun,


s: But the stick of a rocket that has descended?"


s: He thought--"_Oh God_! _to be off somewhere_


s: _Afar with you_, _from this scene of fashion_;


s: _To know you were mine_, _and to have you care_,


s: _And to lose myself in the crimson snare_


s: _Of your lips_, _in a kiss of passion_."


s: He said--"You are going abroad, no doubt,


s: He thought--"_It must follow on land or sea_,


s: _Till the cry of a rapture that may not be_


s: _Shall reach your heart from the heart of me_


s: Where have they gone to--the little girls


s: Who love their dollies and like their toys,


s: Little old flirts who talk of their "beaux,"


s: And vie with each other in stylish clothes.


s: Some dear little children I used to know;


s: And laughed and rollicked the livelong day.


s: They thought not at all of the "style" of their clothes,


s: They never imagined that boys were "beaux"--


s: "Other girls' brothers" and "mates" were they,


s: To one of those dear little girls of old,


s: With an innocent heart and an open smile,


s: Who knows not the meaning of "flirt" or "style."


s: Vast was the wealth I carried in life's pack--


s: Youth, health, ambition, hope and trust; but Time


s: And Fate, those robbers fit for any crime,


s: Stole all, and left me but the empty sack.


s: Of darkling hills and barren steeps to climb;


s: Lost lands of Love's delight.  Alack!  Alack!


s: Unwearied, and with springing steps elate,


s: I had conveyed my wealth along the road.


s: The empty sack proved now a heavier load:


s: I was borne down beneath its worthless weight.


s: I stumbled on, and knocked at Death's dark gate.


s: There was no answer.  Stung by sorrow's goad


s: And laughed, and flung Life's empty sack to Fate.


s: To that strange land that hangs between two goals,


s: Round which a dark and solemn river rolls--


s: More dread its silence than the loud earth's din.


s: And now, where was the peace I hoped to win?


s: Black-masted ships slid past me in great shoals,


s: Their bloody decks thronged with mistaken souls.


s: (God punishes mistakes sometimes like sin.)


s: My suffering self dwelt with me just the same;


s: But here no sleep was, and no sweet dreams came


s: To give me respite.  Tyrant Death, uncrowned


s: By my own hand, still King of Terrors, frowned


s: Upon my shuddering soul, that shrank in shame


s: Before those eyes where sorrow blent with blame,


s: And those accusing lips that made no sound.


s: What gruesome shapes dawned on my startled sight


s: What awful sighs broke on my listening ear!


s: The anguish of the earth, augmented here


s: A thousand-fold, made one continuous night.


s: Hung yet upon me, filled, I saw in fear.


s: With tears that rained from earth's adjacent sphere,


s: And turned to stones in falling from that height.


s: And close about me pressed a grieving throng,


s: Each with his heavy sack, which bowed him so


s: His face was hidden.  One of these mourned: "Know


s: Who enters here but finds the way more long


s: To those fair realms where sounds the angels' song.


s: Ye cannot dash the locked door down and go


s: To claim thy rightful joy through paths of wrong."


s: He passed into the shadows dim and grey,


s: With terror greater than I yet had known.


s: Hard on my soul the awful knowledge lay,


s: Death had not ended life nor found God's way;


s: But, with my same sad sorrows still my own,


s: Where by-roads led to by-roads, thistle-sown,


s: With earth still near enough to hear its sighs,


s: With heaven afar and hell but just below,


s: We cannot force our way into God's skies,


s: But patiently, with bleeding steps and slow


s: Toil on to where selfhood in Godhood dies.


s: How still the house seemed! and her tread


s: The long day passed, the dark night came;


s: But her own footsteps!  "Bring you word,"


s: "God bless you, friend," she cried; "speak on!


s: "Ay, one is gone!" he said.  "Which one?"


s: When earth was empty, waiting still for man,


s: Before the breath of life to him was given


s: The angels fell into a strife in heaven.


s: At length one furious demon grasped the sun


s: And with a ringing laugh of fiendish mirth,


s: He leaped the battlements and fell to earth.


s: Dark was it then in heaven, but light below;


s: For there the demon wandered to and fro,


s: The angels wept and wailed; but through the dark


s: The Great Creator's voice cried sternly: "Hark!


s: Who will restore to me the orb of Light,


s: Him will I honour in all heaven's sight."


s: Then over the battlements there dropped another.


s: (A shrewder angel well there could not be.)


s: Quoth he: "Behold my love for thee, my brother,


s: For I have left all heaven to stay with thee.


s: "Thy loneliness and wanderings I will share,


s: Thy heavy burden I will help thee bear."


s: "Well said," the demon answered, "and well done,


s: But I'll not tax you with this heavy sun.


s: "Your company will cheer me, it is true,


s: And I could never think of burdening you."


s: Idly they wandered onward, side by side,


s: Till, by and by, they neared a silvery tide.


s: "Let's bathe," the angel suddenly suggested.


s: "Agreed," the demon answered.  "I'll go last,


s: Because I needs must leave quite unmolested


s: This tiresome sun, which I will now make fast.


s: And called a jackdaw near to watch the place.


s: Meanwhile the angel paddled in the surf,


s: And playfully dared his brother to a race.


s: The demon always keeping near his prize,


s: The demon hesitated.  "But," thought he,


s: If this good brother tries deceiving me;


s: Down, down they went.  The angel in a trice


s: Rose up again, and swift to shore he sped.


s: The jackdaw shrieked, but lo! a mile of ice


s: The demon found had frozen o'er his head.


s: He swore an oath, and gathered all his force,


s: And broke the ice, to see the sun, of course,


s: Held firmly in the radiant angel's hand,


s: Who sailed away toward the heavenly land.


s: He gave pursuit.  Wrath lent speed to his chase;


s: All heaven leaned down to watch the exciting race.


s: On, on they came, and still the Evil One


s: Gained on the angel burdened with the sun.


s: With bated breath and faces white as ghosts,


s: Over the walls leaned heaven's affrighted hosts.


s: Up, up, still up, the angel almost spent,


s: Threw one foot forward o'er the battlement.


s: The demon seized the other with a shout;


s: So fierce his clutch he pulled the bottom out,


s: As the good angel, fainting, laid the sun


s: Down by the throne of God, who cried: "Well done!


s: Thy great misfortune shall be made divine:


s: _Man_ will I create with a foot like thine!"


s: Is the very first time it plays peek-a-boo;


s: When it hides its pink little face in its hands,


s: And crows, and shows that it understands


s: Mean when they hide and cry, "Peek a-boo, peek-a-boo."


s: When they find that baby can play like this!


s: And every one listens, and thinks it true


s: That baby's gurgle means "Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo";


s: On the marvellous infant who talks so young.


s: A baby that never played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.


s: And I am sure he played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.


s: And the whole world full of the children of men,


s: Have all of them played that game since then.


s: Every one has played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.


s: All have been babies who laughed and knew


s: How to hide, and play peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.


s: Above the din of commerce, above the clamour and rattle


s: Where men are fighting for riches, I hear the falling of thrones.


s: I see no savage host, I hear no martial drumming,


s: But down in the dust at our feet lie the useless crowns of kings;


s: And the flag of one republic abroad to the world he flings.


s: The Universal Republic, where worth, not birth, is royal;


s: Where the lowliest born may climb on a self-made ladder to fame;


s: Where the highest and proudest born, if he be not true and loyal,


s: Not with the bellow of guns and not with sabres whetting,


s: But with growing minds of men is waged this swordless fray;


s: While over the dim horizon the sun of royalty, setting,


s: Lights, with a dying splendour, the humblest toiler's way.


s: When I watch, with sighs and tear-wet eyes,


s: When by door and gate I may watch and wait


s: But you said that you loved me, darling,


s: You will sit with your wife in the moonlight,


s: That some one will mourn me and miss me,


s: All through the Castle of High-bred Ease,


s: Where the chief employment was do-as-you-please,


s: The queen was wringing her hands and hair;


s: The maids of honour were sad and solemn;


s: The pages looked blank as they stood in column;


s: The court-jester blubbered, "Boo-hoo, boo-hoo"


s: The cook in the kitchen dropped tears in the stew


s: And all through the castle went sob and wail,


s: For the princess had broken her finger-nail:


s: Broken her finger-nail down to the quick--


s: No wonder the queen and her court were sick.


s: Oh! what would my Lord His-High-Nose say


s: When she took off her glove on her wedding-day?


s: And they called a meeting of parliament;


s: As "How could you hurry a nail to grow?"


s: And the skill of the kingdom was called to show.


s: He smoothed down the corners so ragged and rough.


s: Who lived on the fingers of upper-crust;


s: They sent for Professor de Chamois-Skin,


s: They sent for the pudgy nurse Fat-on-the-Bone


s: And they called the court surgeon, Monsieur Red-Tape,


s: To hear what he thought of the new nail's shape,


s: Which told how the finger-nail thrived and grew;


s: And all through the realm of Nonsense Land


s: They offered up prayers for the princess's hand.


s: At length the glad tidings were heard with a shout


s: What the princess's finger-nail had grown out:


s: Pointed and polished and pink and clean,


s: And great was the joy of my Lord High-Nose,


s: Who straightway ordered his wedding clothes,


s: Who died of amazement the self-same day.


s: For they said--and the truth of the saying was plain--


s: Would never be paying his bills, you see,


s: And the beautiful Princess Red-as-a-Rose


s: Till she entered a convent and took the veil--


s: And this is the end of my nonsense tale.


s: I knew that a baby was hid in the house;


s: Though I saw no cradle and heard no cry,


s: But the husband went tiptoeing round like a mouse,


s: And the good wife was humming a soft lullaby;


s: And there was a look on the face of that mother


s: That I knew could mean only _one_ thing, and no other.


s: "The _mother_," I said to myself; for I knew


s: That the woman before me was certainly that,


s: For there lay in the corner a tiny cloth shoe,


s: And I saw on the stand such a wee little hat;


s: And the beard of the husband said plain as could be,


s: "Two fat, chubby hands have been tugging at me."


s: And he took from his pocket a gay picture-book,


s: And a dog that would bark if you pulled on a string;


s: And the wife laid them up with such a pleased look;


s: And I said to myself, "There is no other thing


s: But a babe that could bring about all this, and so


s: That one is in hiding here somewhere, I know."


s: I stayed but a moment, and saw nothing more,


s: And heard not a sound, yet I knew I was right;


s: What else could the shoe mean that lay on the floor,


s: The book and the toy, and the faces so bright?


s: And what made the husband as still as a mouse?


s: I am sure, _very_ sure, there's a babe in that house.


s: "You are fair," he said, as she bent down her head,


s: You are far too young for a garb so old;


s: Oh, I would clothe you in scarlet and gold


s: "For one little kiss on your lips, sweet elm,


s: I would give you, I swear, a robe more fair


s: She tossed her head, but he took the kiss--


s: And a gorgeous dress for that sweet caress


s: For a week and a day she was loved, I ween,


s: And mob-winds tattered her garments and scattered


s: And longed for the dull green gown she had sold


s: On the shivering tree, whose robes of flame


s: From his bill to his poor crop's lining,


s: As the dead year is clasped by a dead December,


s: So let your dead sins with your dead days lie.


s: A new life is yours and a new hope.  Remember


s: We build our own ladders to climb to the sky.


s: Stand out in the sunlight of promise, forgetting


s: Whatever the past held of sorrow and wrong.


s: We waste half our strength in a useless regretting;


s: We sit by old tombs in the dark too long.


s: Have you missed in your aim?  Well, the mark is still shining.


s: Did you faint in the race?  Well, take breath for the next.


s: Did the clouds drive you back?  But see yonder their lining.


s: Were you tempted and fell?  Let it serve for a text.


s: As each year hurries by, let it join that procession


s: Of skeleton shapes that march down to the past,


s: While you take your place in the line of progression,


s: With your eyes to the heavens, your face to the blast.


s: I tell you the future can hold no terrors


s: For any sad soul while the stars revolve,


s: If he will stand firm on the grave of his errors,


s: And instead of regretting--resolve, resolve!


s: It is never too late to begin rebuilding,


s: Though all into ruins your life seems hurled;


s: For see! how the light of the New Year is gilding


s: The wan, worn face of the bruised old world.


s: All hail the dawn of a new day breaking,


s: When a strong-armed nation shall take away


s: The weary burdens from backs that are aching


s: When no man is honoured who hoards his millions;


s: And God's poor suffering, striving billions


s: There is gold for all in the earth's broad bosom,


s: There is food for all in the land's great store;


s: Let each man take what he needs--no more.


s: Who beats down the wage of the digger of ditches,


s: And steals the bread from the poor man's board.


s: And selfish measures have brought him wealth,


s: While the ragged wretches who dig his fuel


s: Are robbed of comfort and hope and health.


s: Shame on the ruler who rides in his carriage


s: Bought with the labour of half-paid men--


s: Men who are shut out of home and marriage


s: And are herded like sheep in a hovel-pen.


s: Let the clarion voice of the nation wake him


s: Till his ill-gained dollars shall roll away.


s: Let no man dwell under a mountain of plunder,


s: We want right living, not mere alms-giving;


s: We want just dividing of labour and gold.


s: When from dawn till noon seems one long day,


s: Oh, then should a little boy come from play,


s: When the winds have sung themselves into a swoon,


s: We'll break it in two with a crooning song,


s: Then rock-a-by, rock, may white dreams flock


s: With a subtle grace that was all her own,


s: Of all sweet things there under the skies,


s: Tall cloud-mountains and vast space-seas,


s: The Mist grew pale with a vague, strange fright,


s: Close to his heart she was clasped and kissed;


s: And dead lay the beautiful pale-faced Mist


s: There sat two glasses, filled to the brim,


s: And one was as clear as the crystal flood.


s: Said the glass of wine to his paler brother:


s: "Let us tell tales of the past to each other.


s: I can tell of banquet, and revel, and mirth,


s: And the proudest and grandest souls on earth


s: Fell under my touch, as though struck with blight.


s: From the heads of kings I have torn the crown;


s: From the heights of fame I have hurled men down;


s: I have tempted the youth, with a sip, a taste,


s: That has made his future a barren waste.


s: And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me.


s: Fame, strength, wealth, genius, before me fall,


s: Ho! ho! pale brother," laughed the wine,


s: "Can you boast of deeds as great as mine?"


s: Said the glass of water: "I cannot boast


s: By my crystal drops made light and glad;


s: Of thirsts I have quenched, and brows I have laved;


s: Of hands I have cooled and souls I have saved.


s: I have leaped through the valley and dashed down the mountain;


s: Slept in the sunshine and dripped from the fountain.


s: I have burst my cloud-fetters and dropped from the sky,


s: And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye.


s: I have eased the hot forehead of fever and pain;


s: I have made the parched meadows grow fertile with grain;


s: I can tell of the powerful wheel o' the mill,


s: That ground out the flour and turned at my will;


s: These are the tales they told each other,


s: The glass of wine and its paler brother,


s: As they sat together, filled to the brim,


s: I stood behind them.  Close they kissed,


s: He kissed her lips, not mine; the flowers


s: 'Tis lips that speak of plays next week,


s: Reach out your arms, and hold me close and fast,


s: Tell me you have no memories of your past


s: That mar this love of ours, so great, so vast.


s: Some truths are cheapened when too oft averred--


s: Does not the deed speak louder than the word?


s: (_Dear Christ_! _that old dream woke again and stirred_.)


s: Though oft you say it--say it yet once more;


s: My heart is jealous of those days of yore.


s: Sweet wife, dear comrade, mother of my child,


s: (_It stirs again_, _that passion brief and wild_.)


s: You never knew such happy hours as this,


s: We two alone, our hearts surcharged with bliss,


s: I was the thirsty field, long parched with drouth,


s: You were the warm rain blowing from the South.


s: (_But oh_! _the crimson madness of her mouth_.)


s: You would not, if you could, go down life's track


s: For just one little moment, and bring back


s: Some vanished raptures that you miss or lack?


s: (_One burning hour_, _but one_, _could I recall_.


s: _God_! _how men lie_, _when driven to the wall_!)


s: In the faint flush upon the tell-tale cheek,


s: The smile that proves the parent of a sigh:


s: By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak


s: Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache


s: While new emotions, like strange barges, make


s: Along vein-channels their disturbing course,


s: Still as the dawn, and with the dawn's swift force:


s: The sudden silence and reserve when near;


s: The eye that glistens with an unshed tear;


s: The joy that seems the counterpart of fear,


s: As the alarmed heart leads in the breast,


s: And knows, and names, and greets its godlike guest:


s: In the proud spirit suddenly grown meek,


s: The haughty heart grown humble; in the tender


s: And unnamed light that floods the world with splendour;


s: In the resemblance which the fond eyes trace


s: In the shy touch of hands that thrill and tremble;


s: In looks and lips that can no more dissemble:


s: They shrink ashamed to silence; in the fire


s: Glance strikes with glance, swift flashing high and higher,


s: Like lightnings that precede the mighty storm


s: In the deep, soulful stillness; in the warm,


s: Impassioned tide that sweeps thro' throbbing veins,


s: Between the shores of keen delights and pains;


s: In the embrace where madness melts in bliss,


s: And in the convulsive rapture of a kiss:


s: He stirred and said, "Wife, come to bed";


s: (Oh! that strange mystery of the dead moon's face.)


s: (Oh! that unburied corpse that lies in space.)


s: (Oh! the weird wonder of that pallid sphere.)


s: (Oh! the moon-memories, vague and strange and dear.)


s: (Oh! vast the chambers of the moon, and wide.)


s: (Oh! silent moon, what secrets do you hide!)


s: (Oh! the dead moon holds many a dead delight.)


s: (Oh! the sad secrets of that orb of white.)


s: Don't look for the flaws as you go through life;


s: It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind


s: For the cloudiest night has a hint of light


s: Don't set your force 'gainst the river's course


s: Don't butt at the storm with your puny form,


s: Some things must go wrong your whole life long,


s: The gate was thrown open, I rode out alone,


s: More proud than a monarch who sits on a throne.


s: Went up from the people who watched me ride out;


s: And the cheers that rang forth from that warm-hearted crowd,


s: Were as earnest as those to which monarch e'er bowed.


s: My heart thrilled with pleasure so keen it was pain


s: As I patted my Salvator's soft silken mane;


s: And a sweet shiver shot from his hide to my hand


s: As we passed by the multitude down to the stand.


s: The great waves of cheering came billowing back,


s: As the hoofs of brave Tenny rang swift down the track;


s: And he stood there beside us, all bone and all muscle,


s: Our noble opponent, well trained for the tussle


s: That waited us there on the smooth, shining course.


s: My Salvator, fair to the lovers of horse,


s: As a beautiful woman is fair to man's sight--


s: Pure type of the thoroughbred, clean-limbed and bright,--


s: Stood taking the plaudits as only his due,


s: And then, there before us the bright flag is spread,


s: There's a roar from the grand stand, and Tenny's ahead;


s: At the sound of the voices that shouted "a go!"


s: He sprang like an arrow shot straight from the bow.


s: I tighten the reins on Prince Charlie's great son--


s: He is off like a rocket, the race is begun.


s: Half-way down the furlong, their heads are together,


s: Scarce room 'twixt their noses to wedge in a feather;


s: Past grand stand, and judges, in neck-to-neck strife,


s: Ah, Salvator, boy! 'tis the race of your life.


s: I press my knees closer, I coax him, I urge,


s: I feel him go out with a leap and a surge;


s: I see him creep on, inch by inch, stride by stride,


s: While backward, still backward, falls Tenny beside.


s: We are nearing the turn, the first quarter is past--


s: 'Twixt leader and chaser the daylight is cast.


s: The distance elongates, still Tenny sweeps on,


s: As graceful and free-limbed and swift as a fawn;


s: His awkwardness vanished, his muscles all strained--


s: A noble opponent, well born and well trained.


s: I glanced o'er my shoulder, ha!  Tenny, the cost


s: Of that one's second flagging, will be--the race lost.


s: One second's weak yielding of courage and strength,


s: And the daylight between us has doubled its length.


s: The first mile is covered, the race is mine--no!


s: For the blue blood of Tenny responds to a blow.


s: He shoots through the air like a ball from a gun,


s: And the two lengths between us are shortened to one,


s: My heart is contracted, my throat feels a lump,


s: For Tenny's long neck is at Salvator's rump;


s: And now with new courage grown bolder and bolder,


s: I see him, once more running shoulder to shoulder.


s: With knees, hands, and body I press my grand steed


s: I urge him, I coax him, I pray him to heed!


s: Oh, Salvator!  Salvator! list to my calls,


s: For the blow of my whip will hurt both if it falls.


s: There's a roar from the crowd like the ocean in storm


s: As close to my saddle leaps Tenny's great form:


s: One more mighty plunge, and with knee, limb, and hand,


s: I lift my horse first by a nose past the stand.


s: We are under the string now--the great race is done,


s: Cheer, hoar-headed patriarchs; cheer loud, I say.


s: 'Tis the race of a century witnessed to-day!


s: Though ye live twice the space that's allotted to men,


s: Ye never will see such a grand race again.


s: Let the shouts of the populace roar like the surf


s: For Salvator, Salvator, king of the turf!


s: He has broken the record of thirteen long years;


s: He has won the first place in a vast line of peers.


s: 'Twas a neck-to-neck contest, a grand, honest race,


s: And even his enemies grant him his place.


s: Down into the dust let old records be hurled,


s: And hang out 2.05 in the gaze of the world.


s: "I think I hear the sound of horses feet


s: Go to the window that looks on the street,


s: Back to the couch the patient watcher passed,


s: And said: "It is the wailing of the blast."


s: She turned upon her couch and, seeming, slept,


s: The long, dark lashes shadowing her cheek;


s: When suddenly the watcher heard her speak:


s: "I think I hear the sound of horses' hoofs--"


s: And answered, "'Tis the rain upon the roofs."


s: Unbroken silence, quiet, deep, profound.


s: The restless sleeper turns: "How dark, how late!


s: What is it that I hear--a trampling sound?


s: I think there is a horseman at the gate."


s: The watcher turns away her eyes tear-blind:


s: "It is the shutter beating in the wind."


s: The dread hours passed; the patient clock ticked on;


s: The weary watcher moved not from her place.


s: Caught sudden glory from the sleeper's face.


s: "He comes! my love!  I knew he would!" she cried;


s: And, smiling sweetly in her slumbers, died.


s: Goes on that strange last journey of the soul?


s: That certain search for an uncertain goal,


s: That voyage on which no comradeship is known?


s: Will our dear sea sing with the old sweet tone,


s: Though one sits stricken where its billows roll?


s: When our united lives are wrenched apart,


s: And day no more means fond companionship,


s: When fervent night, and lovely languorous dawn,


s: And but in dreams love-kisses burn the lip,--


s: Dear God, how can this same fair world move on?


s: In Nature's bright blossoms not always reposes


s: That strange subtle essence more rare than their bloom,


s: Which lies in the hearts of carnations and roses,


s: That unexplained something by men called perfume.


s: Though modest the flower, yet great is its power


s: And pregnant with meaning each pistil and leaf,


s: If only it hides there, if only abides there,


s: The fragrance suggestive of love, joy, and grief.


s: Not always the air that a master composes


s: Can stir human heart-strings with pleasure or pain.


s: But strange, subtle chords, like the scent of the roses,


s: Breathe out of some measures, though simple the strain.


s: And lo! when you hear them, you love them and fear them,


s: You tremble with anguish, you thrill with delight,


s: For back of them slumber old dreams without number,


s: And faces long vanished peer out into sight.


s: Those dear foolish days when the earth seemed all beauty,


s: Before you had knowledge enough to be sad;


s: Than just to lilt on through the world and be glad.


s: On harmony's river they seemed to afloat hither


s: With all the sweet fancies that hung round that time--


s: Life's burdens and troubles turn into air-bubbles


s: And break on the music's swift current of rhyme.


s: Fair Folly comes back with her spell while you listen


s: And points to the paths where she led you of old.


s: You gaze on past sunsets, you see dead stars glisten,


s: You bathe in life's glory, you swoon in death's cold.


s: All pains and all pleasures surge up through those measures,


s: Your heart is wrenched open with earthquakes of sound;


s: From ashes and embers rise Junes and Decembers,


s: Lost islands in fathoms of feeling refound.


s: Some airs are like outlets of memory's oceans,


s: They rise in the past and flow into the heart;


s: And down them float shipwrecks of mighty emotions,


s: All sea-soaked and storm-tossed and drifting apart:


s: Their fair timbers battered, their lordly sails tattered,


s: Their skeleton crew of dead days on their decks;


s: Then a crash of chords blending, a crisis, an ending--


s: The music is over, and vanished the wrecks.


s: Love gives us copious potions of delight,


s: Of pain and ecstasy, and peace and care;


s: Love leads us upward, to the mountain height,


s: And, like an angel, stands beside us there;


s: Then thrusts us, demon-like, in some abyss:


s: Where, in the darkness of despair, we grope,


s: Till, suddenly, Love greets us with a kiss


s: And guides us back to flowery fields of hope.


s: Love makes all wisdom seem but poorest folly,


s: And yet the simplest mind with Love grows wise,


s: Yet glorifies the erstwhile brooding eyes.


s: Love lives on change, and yet at change Love mocks,


s: For Love's whole life is one great paradox.


s: Like the tenth wave, that offers to the shore


s: So does my heart, which thought it loved of yore,


s: Carry increasing passion down the course


s: First ripple of the sea should be its pride,


s: But the great climax of its unrestraint,


s: Which culminates in one commanding tide.


s: The lesser billows of each crude emotion


s: Break on life's strand, recede, and then unite


s: With love's large sea; and to some late devotion


s: Unrecognised, they bring their lost delight.


s: Live yet in this one passion, grand and vast.


s: So thou hast the art, good dame, thou swearest,


s: From the roseate splendour of the cheek so tender,


s: And the silver threads from the gold away;


s: And the tell-tale years that have hurried by us


s: Shall tiptoe back, and, with kind good-will,


s: They shall take their traces from off our faces,


s: With the cheek of rose and the eye of beauty,


s: And the lustrous locks of life's lost prime,


s: Wilt thou bring thronging each hope and longing


s: When the sap in the trees sets young buds bursting,


s: And the song of the birds fills the air like spray,


s: Will rivers of feeling come once more stealing


s: From the beautiful hills of the far-away?


s: The caution Time brought me, the lessons life taught me,


s: And put in their places my old sweet trust?


s: If Time's footprint from my brow is driven,


s: Canst thou, too, take with thy subtle powers


s: The burden of thinking, and let me go drinking


s: The careless pleasures of youth's bright hours?


s: If silver threads from my tresses vanish,


s: If a glow once more in my pale cheek gleams,


s: Wilt thou slay duty and give back the beauty


s: When the soft, fair arms of the siren Summer


s: Encircle the earth in their languorous fold.


s: Will vast, deep oceans of sweet emotions


s: Surge through my veins as they surged of old?


s: Canst thou bring back from a day long vanished


s: The leaping pulse and the boundless aim?


s: I will pay thee double for all thy trouble,


s: If thou wilt restore all these, good dame.


s: Who summons her, by love's supreme decree,


s: To open her whole heart, that he may see


s: The intricate strange ways that love began.


s: So many streams from that great fountain ran


s: If I turn back each leaflet of my heart,


s: And let your eyes scan all the records there,


s: Of dreams of love that came before I KNEW,


s: Though in those dreams you had no place or part,


s: Sent from his heart lights her with sudden flame.


s: You asked for truth; I answer without shame;


s: My human heart pulsed blood by night and day,


s: And I believed that Love had come my way


s: Before he conquered with your face and name.


s: I do not know when first I felt this fire


s: That lends such lustre to my hopes and fears,


s: And burns a pathway to you with each thought.


s: I think in that great hour when God's desire


s: For worlds to love flung forth a million spheres,


s: "Good-night, good-bye," and he was gone.


s: Since all those dreams led straight to you.


s: One time when Autumn donned her robes of splendour


s: And rustled down the year's receding track,


s: As I passed dreaming by, a voice all tender


s: Haled me with youth's soft call to linger back.


s: I turned and listened to a golden story!


s: A wondrous tale, half human, half divine--


s: A page from bright September's book of glory,


s: Strange argosies from passion's unknown oceans


s: Cruised down my veins, a vague elusive fleet,


s: With foreign cargoes of unnamed emotions,


s: While wafts of song blew shoreward, dim and sweet,


s: And sleeping still (because unwaked by you)


s: I dreamed and dreamed, and thought my visions true.


s: I woke when all the crimson colour faded


s: And wanton Autumn's lips and cheeks were pale;


s: And when the sorrowing year had slowly waded,


s: With failing footsteps, through the snow-filled vale.


s: And looking in the clear calm eyes of Reason,


s: I smiled and said, "Farewell to things that seem."


s: 'Twas but a red leaf from a lush September


s: The wind of dreams across my pathway blew,


s: But oh! my love! the whole round year remember,


s: The red leaf perished in the first cold blast


s: The full year's harvests at your feet I cast.


s: Absolve me, prince; confession is all over.


s: But listen and take warning, oh! my lover.


s: You put to rout all dreams that may have been;


s: You won the day, but 'tis not all to win;


s: Sit still, I say, and dispense with heroics!


s: I hurt your wrists?  Well, you have hurt me.


s: It is time you found out that all men are not stoics,


s: Nor toys to be used as your mood may be.


s: _I will not_ let go of your hands, nor leave you


s: Dared ever so treat you before?  I believe you,


s: For you have dealt only with _boys_ till to-day.


s: You women lay stress on your fine perception,


s: So then, of course, when you ask me kindly


s: "To call again soon," you read my heart.


s: I cannot believe you were acting blindly;


s: You saw my passion for you from the start.


s: You are one of those women who charm without trying;


s: And I am the steel; yet, there's no denying


s: You are fanning a flame that may burn too brightly,


s: Oft easily kindled, but hard to put out;


s: I am not a man to be played with lightly,


s: A brute you call me, a creature inhuman;


s: With thoughts as pure as the drifted snow.


s: Pah! you are but one of a thousand beauties


s: Who think they are living exemplary lives:


s: They break no commandments, and do all their duties


s: But with drooping of lids, and lifting of faces,


s: And baring of shoulders, and well-timed sighs,


s: And the devil knows what other subtle graces,


s: You are mental wantons, who sin with the eyes.


s: You lure love to wake, yet bid it keep under,


s: You tempt us to fall, but bid reason control;


s: And then you are full of an outraged wonder


s: When we get to wanting you, body and soul.


s: Why, look at yourself!  You were no stranger


s: To the fact that my heart was already on fire.


s: When you asked me to call you knew my danger,


s: Yet here you are, dressed in the gown I admire;


s: For half of the evil on earth is invented


s: By vain, pretty women with nothing to do


s: But to keep themselves manicured, powdered, and scented,


s: And seek for sensations amusing and new.


s: But when I play at love at a lady's commanding,


s: So there--there--there!  I will leave my branding


s: On the lips that are free now to cry "Shame, shame!"


s: You hate me?  Quite likely!  It does not surprise me,


s: Brute force?  I confess it; _but still you were kissed_;


s: And one thing is certain--you cannot despise me


s: For having been played with, controlled, and dismissed.


s: And the next time you see that a man is attracted


s: By the beauty and graces that are not for him,


s: Don't lead him on to be half distracted;


s: Keep out of deep waters although you can swim.


s: For when he is caught in the whirlpool of passion,


s: Where many bold swimmers are seen to drown,


s: A man will reach out and, in desperate fashion,


s: Though the strings of his heart may be wrenched and riven


s: By a maiden coquette who has led him along,


s: She can be pardoned, excused, and forgiven,


s: For innocence blindfolded walks into wrong.


s: But she who has willingly taken the fetter


s: Well, she is the woman who ought to know better;


s: In the game of hearts, though a woman be winner,


s: The odds are ever against her, you know;


s: The world is ready to call her a sinner,


s: And the man has the best of it, end as it may.


s: So now, my lady, we'll drop the curtain,


s: And put out the lights.  We are through with our play.


s: The passion you forbade my lips to utter


s: Will not be silenced.  You must hear it in


s: The sullen thunders when they roll and mutter:


s: And when the tempest nears, with wail and din,


s: I know your calm forgetfulness is broken,


s: And to your heart you whisper, "He has spoken."


s: With human passion.  When the restless sea


s: Turns in its futile search for peace, and rises


s: To plead and to pursue, it pleads for me.


s: And with each desperate billow's anguished fretting.


s: Your heart must tell you, "He is not forgetting."


s: When unseen hands in lightning strokes are writing


s: Know that my pent-up passion is inditing


s: And when the lawless winds rush by you shrieking,


s: Let your heart say, "Now his despair is speaking."


s: Love comes, nor goes, at beck or call of reason,


s: Nor is love silent--though it says no word;


s: By day or night, in any clime or season,


s: So shall you hear, through Junes and through Decembers,


s: The voice of Nature saying, "He remembers."


s: She's the jauntiest of creatures, she's the daintiest of misses,


s: With her pretty patent leathers or her alligator ties,


s: With her eyes inviting glances and her lips inviting kisses,


s: As she wanders by the ocean or strolls under country skies.


s: She's a captivating dresser, and her parasols are stunning;


s: She can set the savants laughing and make even dudelets smile.


s: She has no attacks of talent, she is not a stage-struck maiden;


s: She is wholly free from hobbies, and she dreams of no "career";


s: She is mostly gay and happy, never sad or care-beladen,


s: Though she sometimes sighs a little if a gentleman is near.


s: She's a sturdy little walker and she braves all kinds of weather,


s: Her fluffy hair goes curling like a kinked-up ostrich feather


s: Around her ears and forehead and the white nape of her neck.


s: She is like a fish in water; she can handle reins and racket;


s: From head to toe and finger-tips she's thoroughly alive;


s: When she goes promenading in a most distracting jacket,


s: The rustle round her feet suggests how laundresses may thrive.


s: She can dare the wind and sunshine in the most bravado manner,


s: And after hours of sailing she has merely cheeks of rose;


s: Old Sol himself seems smitten, and at most will only tan her,


s: Though to everybody else he gives a danger-signal nose.


s: She's a trifle sentimental, and she's fond of admiration,


s: And she sometimes flirts a little in the season's giddy whirl;


s: But win her if you can, sir, she may prove your life's salvation,


s: Was this ghost that came to me, followed me:


s: Of that ghost that came to me, followed me.


s: As he wandered at my side, close beside:


s: As he wandered at my side, close beside.


s: That he go the way he came, whence he came.


s: Back the pathway that it came, whence it came?"


s: I gave forth from Memory's hold (wondrous hold!)


s: I gave forth from Memory's hold (wondrous hold!).


s: I will paint with the skill of a master,


s: (Intended for recitation at club dinners.)


s: To-night when I came from the club at eleven,


s: It looked like the ghastly ghost of--Grace!


s: And Grace? why, Grace was fair; and I tarried,


s: And then--but pshaw! why, of course, she is married,


s: Has a husband, and doubtless a babe or two.


s: She was perfectly calm on the day we parted;


s: She spared me a scene, to my great surprise.


s: "She wasn't the kind to be broken-hearted,"


s: I remember she said, with a spark in her eyes.


s: I was tempted, I know, by her proud defiance,


s: But the world would have called it a mesalliance!


s: I dreaded the comments and sneers of men.


s: So I left her to grieve for a faithless lover,


s: And to hide her heart from the cold world's sight


s: As women do hide them, the wide earth over;


s: My God! _was_ it Grace that I saw to-night?


s: I thought of her married, and often with pity,


s: And now to know she is here in the city,


s: Under the gaslight, and with _that_ face!


s: Yet I knew it at once, in spite of the daubing


s: She drew a quick breath that was almost sobbing


s: And shrank in the shade so I should not see.


s: There was hell in her eyes!  She was worn and jaded


s: Her soul is at war with the life she has led.


s: As I looked on that face so strangely faded


s: While I have been happy and gay and jolly,


s: Received by the very best people in town,


s: That girl whom I led in the way to folly,


s: That face I saw in the street-lamp's light


s: Peers everywhere out from the shadows around me--


s: It was long and long ago our love began;


s: It is something all unmeasured by time's span:


s: In an era and a spot, by the Modern World forgot,


s: We were lovers, ere God named us, Maid and Man.


s: Like the memory of music made by streams,


s: All the beauty of that other love life seems;


s: But I always thought it so, and at last I know, I know,


s: We were lovers in the Land of Silver Dreams.


s: When the moon was at the full, I found the place;


s: Out and out, across the seas of shining space,


s: On a quest that could not fail, I unfurled my memory's sail


s: And cast anchor in the Bay of Love's First Grace.


s: At the foot of Aristarchus lies this bay,


s: (Oh! the wonder of that mountain far away!)


s: And the Land of Silver Dreams all about it shines and gleams,


s: Where we loved before God fashioned night or day.


s: We were souls, in eerie bodies made of light;


s: We were winged, and we could speed from height to height;


s: And we saw this little planet known as Earth,


s: When the mighty Mother Chaos gave it birth;


s: But in love's conceit we thought all those worlds from space were


s: For no greater aim or purpose than our mirth.


s: And we laughed in love's abandon, and we sang,


s: Till the echoing peals of Aristarchus rang,


s: As hot hissing comets came, and white suns burst into flame,


s: And a myriad worlds from out the darkness sprang.


s: I can show you, when the Moon is at its best,


s: Aristarchus, and the spot we made our nest,


s: Oh!  I always wondered why, when the Moon was in the sky,


s: I was stirred with such strange longing, and unrest.


s: And I knew the subtle beauty and the force


s: Of our love was never bounded by Earth's course.


s: So with Memory's sail unfurled, I went cruising past this world,


s: And I followed till I traced it to its source.


s: But ah, well! ah, well!  I am happier far than Dell,


s: And she worries her maid and frets her mind


s: She stands by the mirror with anxious face,


s: Ah, well! ah, well!  I am not worried, you see, like Dell,


s: She keeps them all, with a coquette's art,


s: Ah, well! ah, well!  I never question myself like Dell,


s: She will cavil the matter in worldly way


s: To the place where the dream-girls play."


s: And just as she caught her and grasped her hand,


s: As we talk of the opera after the weather,


s: As we chat of fashion and fad and style,


s: You know that the mirth she wears, she borrows;


s: She knows you laugh but to hide your sorrows;


s: Our colours look bright and our swords are gleaming;


s: And most of the weapons, despite their seeming,


s: Are dull and blunted and badly battered,


s: And close inspection will show how tattered


s: And stained are the banners that float above us.


s: Our comrades hate, while they swear to love us;


s: And robed like Pleasure walks gaunt-eyed Care,


s: As we rush and jostle and crowd and hurry,


s: We know the goal is not worth the race--


s: We know the prize is not worth the worry;


s: That all our gain means loss for another;


s: That in fighting for self we wound each other;


s: That the crown of success weighs hard and presses


s: The brow of the victor with thorns--not caresses;


s: That honours are empty and worthless to wear,


s: We meet strong hearts that are worth the knowing


s: We find grand souls under robes of fashion,


s: 'Neath light demeanours hide strength and passion;


s: And fair fine honour and godlike resistance


s: In halls of pleasure may have existence;


s: And we find pure altars and shrines of prayer


s: Declared she would far rather dance than eat,


s: For she danced all day and she danced all night;


s: She danced till the green earth faded white;


s: She danced the eleventh one quite to death;


s: With one, two, three; one, two, three; one, two, three--kick;


s: Chassee back, chassee back, whirl around quick.


s: And she was as fair as a maiden need be,


s: She danced her other toes all to a point;


s: She danced out slipper and boot and shoe;


s: She danced till the bones of her feet came through.


s: And still she redowaed, waltzed, and whirled--


s: Now the end of my story is sad to relate--


s: She whirled and whirled till she could not stop;


s: She danced and bounded and sprang so far,


s: That she stuck at last on a pointed star;


s: And there she must dance till the Judgment Day,


s: Her soul, you see, so she has no place anywhere out of space,


s: With her one, two, three; one, two, three; one, two, three--kick;


s: There fell such shade, our paths seemed laid


s: You think I need to ask for heavenly grace?


s: _I_ think _you_ are a fiend, who would be glad


s: To see me struggle in death's cold embrace.


s: "But, man, you lie! for I am strong--in truth


s: Stronger than I have been in years; and soon


s: I shall feel young again as in my youth,


s: My glorious youth--life's one great priceless boon.


s: "O youth, youth, youth!  O God! that golden time,


s: When proud and glad I laughed the hours away.


s: Why, there's no sacrifice (perhaps no crime)


s: I'd pause at, could it make me young to-day.


s: "But I'm not _old_!  I grew--just ill, somehow;


s: Grew stiff of limb, and weak, and dim of sight.


s: Oh, vastly better, ever since last night.


s: "And I could weep warm floods of happy tears


s: To think my strength is coming back at last,


s: For I have dreamed of such an hour for years,


s: "You shake your head?  Why, man, if you were sane


s: I'd strike you to my feet, I would, in truth.


s: How dare you tell me that my hopes are vain?


s: How dare you say I have outlived my youth?


s: "'In heaven I may regain it'?  Oh, be still!


s: I want no heaven but what my glad youth gave.


s: Its long, bright hours, its rapture and its thrill--


s: O youth, youth, youth! it is my _youth_ I crave.


s: "There is no heaven!  There's nothing but a deep


s: And yawning grave from which I shrink in fear.


s: Perhaps we lie and _think_ as I have here.


s: "Think, think, think, think, as we lie there and rot,


s: And hear the young above us laugh in glee.


s: How dare you say I'm dying!  _I am not_.


s: I would curse God if such a thing could be.


s: "Why, see me stand! why, hear this strong, full breath--


s: Dare you repeat that silly, base untruth?"


s: A cry--a fall--the silence known as death


s: Hushed his wild words.  Well, has he found his youth?


s: What a terrible night!  Does the Night, I wonder--


s: The Night, with her black veil down to her feet


s: Like an ordained nun, know what lies under


s: That awful, motionless, snow-white sheet?


s: The winds seem crazed, and, wildly howling,


s: Do they and the dark clouds over them scowling,


s: Why, here in the room, not a week or over--


s: Tho' it must be a week, not more than one--


s: But here in this room we were laughing lightly,


s: And glad was the measure our two hearts beat;


s: And the royal face that was smiling so brightly


s: I know not why--it is strange and fearful,


s: To lie there clothed in that awful manner


s: Shriek, O wind! for the world is lonely;


s: Trail cloud-veil to the nun Night's feet!


s: Oh! I know a certain woman who is reckoned with the good,


s: But she fills me with more terror than a raging lion could.


s: The little chills run up and down my spine whene'er we meet,


s: Though she seems a gentle creature and she's very trim and neat.


s: And she has a thousand virtues and not one acknowledged sin,


s: But she is the sort of person you could liken to a pin.


s: But she fills you with discomfort and exasperating pain--


s: If anybody asks you why, you really can't explain.


s: A pin is such a tiny thing--of that there is no doubt--


s: She is wonderfully observing.  When she meets a pretty girl


s: She is always sure to tell her if her "bang" is out of curl.


s: And she is so sympathetic; to her friend who's much admired,


s: And she is a careful critic; for on yesterday she eyed


s: The new dress I was airing with a woman's natural pride,


s: And she said: "Oh, how becoming!" and then softly added, "It


s: Is really a misfortune that the basque is such a fit."


s: And she left me with a feeling--most unpleasant, I aver--


s: That the whole world would despise me if it hadn't been for her.


s: Whenever I encounter her, in such a nameless way


s: She gives me the impression I am at my worst that day;


s: And the hat that was imported (and that cost me half a sonnet)


s: With just one glance from her round eyes becomes a Bowery bonnet.


s: She is always bright and smiling, sharp and shining for a thrust;


s: Oh!  I wish some hapless specimen of mankind would begin


s: To tidy up the world for me, by picking up this pin.


s: My muse would raise her song of praise--


s: And toil's long fight with purse-proud might


s: Fourth Adventure  How Siegfried Fought with the Saxons


s: Thirty-Eighth Adventure  How Dietrich's Knights Were All Slain


s: Of his best days there were many wonders to tell, how he waxed in


s: They would have turned him from his quest.


s: companions, for thy journey.  Thou shalt receive without stint."


s: But these must needs hold their peace, as Gernot commanded them.


s: They bade lodge the envoys in town.  Albeit they were his foemen,


s: King Gunther answered, "Thou shalt be well paid for this."


s: happened, the truth whereof was proven by his bloody helmet.


s: "That will I gladly do," said the king; and they that heard him


s: Siegfried, the son of Siegmund, made answer, "Give me thy sister


s: I have heard tell of wild dwarfs: how that they dwell in hollow


s: She promised this to the knights, and they took their leave.


s: Then said Gunther, "Who shall be steersman?"


s: Whereto Siegfried made answer, "Yea, I know well.  They are all


s: courteously to them when she saw Siegfried.  "Thou art welcome,


s: He greeted them fair, for he was a courteous man, and he took the


s: Siegfried's might, they were delivered from all peril.


s: Never had queen so lavished a chamberlain.


s: The lady saw her nearest of kin standing night her--her mother's


s: "Tell Uta, then, the great queen, that we have prospered in our


s: strength.  Alack! that ever I was born!"


s: lovingly to thee, O Queen.  Dry thine eyes, for they will be here


s: He said, "Forget not the vow thou swarest with thy hand, that, if


s: And they answered with one accord, "That may she do with honour."


s: On maidenly wise she was shamefast at the first, yet so great was


s: When their word was given, Siegfried took his queen in his arms


s: straightway, and kissed her before the warriors.


s: "If only thou winnest her not for thyself.  She is my dear wife.


s: Scarce could he wait till they rose from the table.


s: The strife endured long atwixt them.  Then Siegfried got hold of


s: They could not have brought them better news.


s: She said further, "Dear lord, for my love, help me thereto, that


s: And Siegfried answered, "They are welcome."


s: "Nay, let us way-weary guests stand while we tell thee Gunther's


s: But Siegfried said, "That can hardly be."


s: Then they bade the envoys sit, and set meats before them, whereof


s: To them that desired it horses and apparel were given.


s: The envoys hasted on their way, and when bold Gary was come into


s: Then said the queen to the Margrave, "Tell me, I prithee; cometh


s: Whereto Gary answered, "They will both come, and, with them, many


s: The women too busied them, and saw to their robes, whereon they


s: Leave we all this work now, to tell how Kriemhild and her maidens


s: Then the two queens drew nigh to each other.


s: "Now adorn ye, my maidens," said Siegfried's wife, "that I be not


s: "Whom namest thou leman?" cried the queen.


s: "Verily," cried Brunhild, "Gunther shall hear of it."


s: Gunther answered, "Evilly hath she done."


s: Angry words have divided many men.  Brunhild made such dole, that


s: The envoys won leave to go into the king, and they said they were


s: Then said Siegfried further, "Have no fear."


s: Then she told him what she had better have left unsaid.


s: "That will I do, dear lady," answered Hagen.


s: Kriemhild thought to serve Siegfried; so was the hero betrayed.


s: Loth was Siegfried to turn his rein or had he done battle for his


s: Hagen, the false man, had counselled this.


s: "Let us see then," said Hagen the knight.


s: A glad man was King Gunther when he heard that!


s: "Woe is me!" cried Kriemhild.  "What meanest thou by such news?"


s: Then said her attendants, "What if it be a stranger?"


s: The messenger answered, weeping, "She mourneth with cause.  Bold


s: The warriors answered, "Dear lady, be it so."


s: "These robbers," she answered, "I know well.  God grant that his


s: kinsmen's hands may avenge it.  By you, Gunther and Hagen, was it


s: So she promised Giselher she would remain there.


s: When noble Kriemhild was widowed, Count Eckewart stayed by her in


s: But Hagen said, "I doubt that will never be."


s: Then began Giselher, the valiant man, to entreat her.


s: "He may yet make it good to her," said Gernot, the warrior.


s: But Hagen said, "Let me be the guilty one."


s: Then Siegfried's wife began to weep anew.


s: But Kriemhild answered, "To whom then should I leave my husband?"


s: And the good knights were not slow to thank her.


s: And the Margrave said, "Thou wilt please me well thereby."


s: The king asked Hagen who the knights were, and the hero of Trony


s: King Gunther said, "I pray thee tell me, for I would know, how it


s: The Margrave answered, "I will tell thee gladly."


s: Hagen and many another knight said the same.


s: But Hagen said, "I will never approve it."


s: Then Giselher, fair Uta's son, spake angrily, "We will not all do


s: The Margrave answered, "I will swear it."


s: Her brothers said, "Promise it, sister, and give over grieving."


s: So the strangers fared on to the Traisem, diligently waited on by


s: So they lifted the queen down from her palfrey.  Etzel, the great


s: "Thy command shall be obeyed," answered Werbel.


s: Etzel's men got leave to go before Gunther.  They that saw them


s: They bowed before him, and Werbel answered, "My dear master, and


s: But knight Rumolt, the cook, said, "Strangers and friends ye can


s: And Schwemmel answered, "Next midsummer, without fail."


s: Sorrowfully I stand, nor know how we shall win over."


s: The horses stood ready, the sumpters were laden.  As yet they had


s: Whereto bold Folker answered, "I will do it."


s: perished.  I will answer for it as seemeth good to thee."


s: They had to tarry there a whole day and a night.  Well they were


s: "I will gladly be thy envoy," answered Eckewart.


s: Bechlaren.  Rudeger knew him, and said, "Here cometh Eckewart,


s: Whereat knights and squires hasted to horse.  All that their lord


s: Gotelind, that sat in her chamber, had not heard the news.


s: Rudeger her father counselled her to say "yes," and to take him


s: Kriemhild stood at a window and looked out as a friend might for


s: Then the three kings went apart: Gunther and Gernot and Dietrich.


s: "Not so, by my troth," said Hagen; "I crave not the honour, great


s: Hagen of Trony answered, "It will all come right."


s: How Hagen and Folker Sat Before Kriemhild's Hall


s: So they agreed that none should fight, whereat the queen grieved


s: bitterly.  The knights turned away, for the feared death from the


s: Then they walked the knights that still slept.


s: therewith, that his head, in its helmet, fell at their feet.


s: Hagen called back to him, "Who hath done it?"


s: Proud Kriemhild cried to Dietrich, "Help me, noble knight, by the


s: "Hold thy peace," cried Dietrich.  "Thou hast played the Devil."


s: Etzel was brave, and he grasped his shield.  "Have a care," cried


s: Great Etzel was grieved enow.  He wept sore for his dead men and


s: The best among them thought, "He sayeth sooth."


s: His cheek was pale; he bare death's mark.  They grieved enow; for


s: The strife endured till the night.  The guests, as beseemed good


s: Gunther answered, "A great wrong constrained us thereto.  All my


s: Etzel's men were the bolder, that they might win Kriemhild's fee.


s: The Margrave answered, "I have never said thee nay."


s: The Margrave answered, "Thou grievest not more than I."


s: hightide.  See them now, and bear witness that I did it."


s: The messenger asked, "What aileth you all?"


s: "What news?" cried Dietrich.  "Why weepest thou so bitterly, Sir


s: Hagen of Trony answered, "The news is true.  Glad were I had the


s: The fiddler said, "He that avoideth all that is forbidden is over


s: He raised his shield, and hewed his way right and left.


s: Ode recited at the Harvard Commemoration


s: The fast historical event of national importance was the American


s: Thoughts that make glad the two or three


s: High souls like those far stars that come in sight


s: Shall waken their free nature in the weak


s: Shall make a clearer faith and manhood shine


s: "They all are gone, and, standing like a tower,


s: The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,


s: Sagacious, patient, dreading, praise, not blame,


s: Now birth of our new soil, the first American."


s: Some time now past in the Autumnal Tide,


s: When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed,


s: The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride


s: Were gilded o'er by his rich golden head.


s: Their leaves and fruits, seem'd painted, but was true


s: Rapt were my senses at this delectable view.


s: I wist not what to wish, yet sure, thought I,


s: How excellent is He that dwells on high!


s: Whose power and beauty by his works we know;


s: Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light,


s: That hath this underworld so richly dight:


s: More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter and no night.


s: Whose ruffling top the clouds seem'd to aspire;


s: How long since thou wast in thine infancy?


s: Thy strength, and stature, more thy years admire;


s: Hath hundred winters past since thou wast born,


s: Or thousand since thou breakest thy shell of horn?


s: If so, all these as naught Eternity doth scorn.


s: I heard the merry grasshopper then sing,


s: The black-clad cricket bear a second part,


s: They kept one tune, and played on the same string,


s: Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise?


s: And in their kind resound their Master's praise:


s: Whilst I, as mute, can warble forth no higher lays.


s: When I behold the heavens as in their prime,


s: And then the earth (though old) still clad in green,


s: The stones and trees, insensible of time,


s: Nor age nor wrinkle on their front are seen;


s: If winter come, and greenness then do fade,


s: A spring returns, and they more youthful made;


s: But Man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's


s: Soul, take thine ease, let sorrow cease,


s: Had closed their eyes; yea, and the wise


s: Viewing this light, which shines more bright


s: Straightway appears (they see 't with tears)


s: His brightness damps heav'ns glorious lamps


s: Some hide themselves in Caves and Delves,


s: That there they might this fearful sight,


s: The Mountains smoak, the Hills are shook,


s: His winged Hosts flie through all Coasts,


s: Out of their holes those creeping Moles,


s: Smit with those charms, that must decay,


s: They died--nor were those flowers more gay,


s: And your grave will be this glass of wine,


s: Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way,


s: By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews,


s: Thou, who shalt trace this bloody plain,


s: They took the spear--but left the shield.


s: Led by thy conquering standards, Greene,


s: Strange things I'll tell which late befell


s: First damned his eyes, in great surprise,


s: And they're come down to attack the town,


s: Wore out their shoes, to spread the news,


s: The distant woods, the hills and floods,


s: Why sure, thought they, the devil's to pay,


s: The kegs, 'tis said, though strongly made,


s: They'll make their boasts and brags, sir.


s: Of toil and blood the well-earned prize.


s: Ring through the world with loud applause,


s: Ring through the world with loud applause;


s: Once more to serve his country, stands--


s: The breezes went steadily through the tall pines,


s: As stilly stole by a bold legion of horse,


s: For Hale in the bush, for Hale in the bush.


s: "Keep still!" said the thrush as she nestled her young,


s: In a nest by the road; in a nest by the road.


s: "For the tyrants are near, and with them appear


s: What bodes us no good, what bodes us no good."


s: The brave captain heard it, and thought of his home


s: In a cot by the brook; in a cot by the brook.


s: With mother and sister and memories dear,


s: He so gayly forsook; he so gayly forsook.


s: Cooling shades of the night were coming apace,


s: The tattoo had beat; the tattoo had beat.


s: The noble one sprang from his dark lurking-place,


s: To make his retreat; to make his retreat.


s: He warily trod on the dry rustling leaves.


s: As he passed through the wood; as he passed through the wood;


s: And silently gained his rude launch on the shore,


s: As she played with the flood; as she played with the flood.


s: The guards of the camp, on that dark, dreary night,


s: Had a murderous will; had a murderous will.


s: They took him and bore him afar from the shore,


s: To a hut on the hill; to a hut on the hill.


s: No mother was there, nor a friend who could cheer,


s: In that little stone cell; in that little stone cell.


s: But he trusted in love, from his Father above.


s: In his heart, all was well; in his heart, all was well.


s: An ominous owl, with his solemn bass voice,


s: Sat moaning hard by; sat moaning hard by:


s: "The tyrant's proud minions most gladly rejoice,


s: For he must soon die; for he must soon die."


s: The brave fellow told them, no thing he restrained,--


s: His errand from camp, of the ends to be gained,


s: And said that was all; and said that was all.


s: They took him and bound him and bore him away,


s: Down the hill's grassy side; down the hill's grassy side.


s: 'Twas there the base hirelings, in royal array,


s: His cause did deride; his cause did deride.


s: Five minutes were given, short moments, no more,


s: He prayed for his mother, he asked not another,


s: The faith of a martyr the tragedy showed,


s: As he trod the last stage; as he trod the last stage.


s: And Britons will shudder at gallant Hales blood,


s: As his words do presage, as his words do presage.


s: "Thou pale king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,


s: Go frighten the slave; go frighten the slave;


s: Tell tyrants, to you their allegiance they owe.


s: No fears for the brave; no fears for the brave."


s: Praise ye the Lord with heart and voice!


s: The treaty's signed with faithful France,


s: And now, like Frenchmen, sing and dance!


s: And friendly hints are not deemed treason,


s: Sedition croaked through all their bogs;


s: "Famed, as we are, for faith and prayer,


s: But can we think great good was meant us,


s: And caused great fear,--till one by one,


s: Then leaped upon 'em, and disgraced 'em!


s: "Great Jove," they croaked, "no longer fool us,


s: Therefore no king--and more we'll pray."


s: Say, Yankees, don't you feel compunction,


s: I'll tell these croakers how he'll treat 'em;


s: Frenchmen, like storks, love frogs--to eat 'em.


s: How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,


s: When fond recollection presents them to view!


s: The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,


s: And every loved spot which my infancy knew!


s: The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,


s: The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,


s: The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,


s: And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well--


s: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,


s: The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.


s: That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,


s: For often at noon, when returned from the field,


s: I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,


s: The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.


s: How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,


s: And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;


s: Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,


s: And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well


s: The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.


s: How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,


s: As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!


s: Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,


s: The brightest that beauty or revelry sips.


s: And now, far removed from the loved habitation,


s: The tear of regret will intrusively swell,


s: As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,


s: And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well


s: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,


s: The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well!


s: Communion with her visible forms, she speaks


s: She has a voice of gladness, and a smile


s: Their sharpness, ere he is aware.  When thoughts


s: Of the last bitter hour come like a blight


s: Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,


s: And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,


s: Make thee to shudder and grow sick at heart;--


s: To Nature's teachings, while from all around--


s: Earth and her waters, and the depths of air--


s: In all his course; nor yet in the cold ground


s: Where thy pale form was laid with many tears,


s: Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist


s: Thy image.  Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim


s: Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again,


s: And, lost each human trace, surrendering up


s: And to the sluggish clod, which the rude swain


s: Turns with his share, and treads upon.  The oak


s: Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.


s: Shalt thou retire alone, nor couldst thou wish


s: Couch more magnificent.  Thou shalt lie down


s: With patriarchs of the infant world--with kings,


s: The powerful of the earth--the wise, the good,


s: Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,


s: Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun,--the vales


s: Stretching in pensive quietness between;


s: That make the meadows green; and, poured round all,


s: Old Ocean's gray and melancholy waste,--


s: Of the great tomb of man.  The golden sun,


s: The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,


s: Through the still lapse of ages.  All that tread


s: The globe are but a handful to the tribes


s: That slumber in its bosom.--Take the wings


s: Of morning, pierce the Barcan wilderness,


s: Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,


s: Save his own dashing--yet the dead are there;


s: And millions in those solitudes, since first


s: The flight of years began, have laid them down


s: In their last sleep--the dead reign there alone.


s: So shalt thou rest, and what if thou withdraw


s: In silence from the living, and no friend


s: Take note of thy departure?  All that breathe


s: Will share thy destiny.  The gay will laugh


s: When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care


s: Plod on, and each one as before will chase


s: His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave


s: Their mirth and their employments, and shall come


s: And make their bed with thee.  As the long train


s: The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes


s: In the full strength of years, matron and maid,


s: The speechless babe, and the grayheaded man--


s: Shall one by one be gathered to thy side,


s: By those who in their turn shall follow them.


s: So live, that when thy summons comes to join


s: To that mysterious realm, where each shall take


s: His chamber in the silent halls of death,


s: Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night,


s: Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed


s: By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave


s: Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch


s: About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.


s: Peeps from the last year's leaves below.


s: When loftier flowers are flaunting nigh.


s: While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,


s: Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue


s: Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,


s: Or where the rocking billows rise and sink


s: Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--


s: At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,


s: Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,


s: Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,


s: And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,


s: Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, in my heart


s: Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,


s: Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,


s: In the long way that I must tread alone,


s: When breezes are soft and skies are fair,


s: Where wanders the stream with waters of green,


s: As if the bright fringe of herbs on its brink


s: Had given their stain to the waves they drink;


s: And they, whose meadows it murmurs through,


s: Have named the stream from its own fair hue.


s: Yet pure its waters--its shallows are bright


s: With colored pebbles and sparkles of light,


s: And clear the depths where its eddies play,


s: And the plane-tree's speckled arms o'ershoot


s: The swifter current that mines its root,


s: Through whose shifting leaves, as you walk the hill,


s: With a sudden flash on the eye is thrown,


s: Like the ray that streams from the diamond-stone.


s: Oh, loveliest there the spring days come,


s: With blossoms, and birds, and wild-bees' hum;


s: The flowers of summer are fairest there,


s: And freshest the breath of the summer air;


s: Yet, fair as thou art, thou shunnest to glide,


s: And forest, and meadow, and slope of hill,


s: Around thee, are lonely, lovely, and still,


s: Lonely--save when, by thy rippling tides,


s: From thicket to thicket the angler glides;


s: Or the simpler comes, with basket and book,


s: For herbs of power on thy banks to look;


s: Still--save the chirp of birds that feed


s: Nor gaze on those waters so green and clear,


s: Darkened with shade or flashing with light,


s: While o'er them the vine to its thicket clings,


s: And the zephyr stoops to freshen his wings,


s: Till the eating cares of earth should depart,


s: And the peace of the scene pass into my heart;


s: And I envy thy stream, as it glides along


s: Through its beautiful banks in a trance of song.


s: Though forced to drudge for the dregs of men,


s: And scrawl strange words with the barbarous pen,


s: Where the sons of strife are subtle and loud--


s: To breathe the airs that ruffle thy face,


s: Whose branching pines rise dark and high,


s: Have made thee faint beneath their heat.


s: Smooths a bright path when thou art here.


s: On thy soft breath, the new-fledged bird


s: Of flowers and streams the bloom and light,


s: The groves were God's first temples.  Ere man learned


s: To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave,


s: And spread the roof above them--ere he framed


s: The lofty vault, to gather and roll back


s: The sound of anthems; in the darkling wood,


s: Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,


s: And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks


s: Which, from the stilly twilight of the place,


s: And from the gray old trunks that high in heaven


s: Mingled their mossy boughs, and from the sound


s: Of the invisible breath that swayed at once


s: All their green tops, stole over him, and bowed


s: His spirit with the thought of boundless power


s: Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect


s: That our frail hands have raised?  Let me, at least,


s: Offer one hymn--thrice happy, if it find


s: Hath reared these venerable columns, thou


s: Didst weave this verdant roof.  Thou didst look down


s: Upon the naked earth, and, forthwith, rose


s: All these fair ranks of trees.  They, in thy sun,


s: Budded, and shook their green leaves in thy breeze,


s: And shot toward heaven.  The century-living crow


s: Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died


s: Among their branches, till, at last, they stood,


s: As now they stand, massy, and tall, and dark,


s: Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold


s: Communion with his Maker.  These dim vaults,


s: These winding aisles, of human pomp or pride


s: The boast of our vain race to change the form


s: Of thy fair works.  But thou art here--thou fill'st


s: The solitude.  Thou art in the soft winds


s: That run along the summit of these trees


s: That from the inmost darkness of the place


s: Comes, scarcely felt; the barley trunks, the ground,


s: The fresh moist ground, are all instinct with thee.


s: Here is continual worship;--Nature, here,


s: In the tranquillity that thou dost love,


s: Enjoys thy presence.  Noiselessly, around,


s: Passes; and yon clear spring, that, midst its herbs


s: Wells softly forth and wandering steeps the roots


s: Of half the mighty forest, tells no tale


s: Of all the good it does.  Thou halt not left


s: Thyself without a witness, in the shades,


s: Of thy perfections.  Grandeur, strength, and grace


s: Are here to speak of thee.  This mighty oak


s: By whose immovable stem I stand and seem


s: In all that proud old world beyond the deep,


s: Wears the green coronal of leaves with which


s: Thy hand has graced him.  Nestled at his root


s: Is beauty, such as blooms not in the glare


s: Of the broad sun.  That delicate forest flower,


s: With scented breath and look so like a smile,


s: Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould,


s: That are the soul of this great universe.


s: Of the great miracle that still goes on,


s: In silence, round me--the perpetual work


s: Lo! all grow old and die--but see again,


s: Youth presses--ever gay and beautiful youth


s: In all its beautiful forms.  These lofty trees


s: Wave not less proudly that their ancestors


s: Moulder beneath them.  Oh, there is not lost


s: One of earth's charms: upon her bosom yet,


s: And yet shall lie.  Life mocks the idle hate


s: Of his arch-enemy Death--yea, seats himself


s: Upon the tyrant's throne--the sepulchre,


s: Makes his own nourishment.  For he came forth


s: From thine own bosom, and shall have no end.


s: There have been holy men who hid themselves


s: Their lives to thought and prayer, till they outlived


s: The generation born with them, nor seemed


s: Less aged than the hoary trees and rocks


s: Around them;--and there have been holy men


s: Who deemed it were not well to pass life thus.


s: The passions, at thy plainer footsteps shrink


s: And tremble and are still.  O God! when thou


s: Dost scare the world with tempest, set on fire


s: The heavens with falling thunderbolts, or fill,


s: The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods


s: And drowns the villages; when, at thy call,


s: Uprises the great deep and throws himself


s: Its cities--who forgets not, at the sight


s: Of these tremendous tokens of thy power,


s: His pride, and lays his strifes and follies by?


s: Oh, from these sterner aspects of thy face


s: Spare me and mine, nor let us need the wrath


s: Who rules them.  Be it ours to meditate,


s: In these calm shades, thy milder majesty,


s: Learn to conform the order of our lives.


s: The melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,


s: Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere.


s: Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;


s: They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread;


s: The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the jay,


s: And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy day.


s: Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang


s: In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood?


s: Alas! they all are in their graves, the gentle race of flowers


s: Are lying in their lowly beds, with the fair and good of ours.


s: The rain is falling where they lie, but the cold November rain


s: Calls not from out the gloomy earth the lovely ones again.


s: The wind-flower and the violet, they perished long ago,


s: And the brier-rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow;


s: But on the hills the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood,


s: And the yellow sun-flower by the brook, in autumn beauty stood,


s: Till fell the frost from the clear cold heaven, as falls the


s: And the brightness of their smile was gone, from upland, glade,


s: And twinkle in the smoky light the waters of the rill,


s: The south wind searches for the flowers whose fragrance late he


s: And sighs to find them in the wood and by the stream no more.


s: And then I think of one who in her youthful beauty died,


s: The fair meek blossom that grew up and faded by my side.


s: In the cold moist earth we laid her, when the forests cast the


s: And we wept that one so lovely should have a life so brief:


s: Yet not unmeet it was that one, like that young friend of ours,


s: So gentle and so beautiful, should perish with the flowers.


s: When even the deep blue heavens look glad,


s: And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?


s: There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren,


s: And the gossip of swallows through all the sky;


s: The ground-squirrel gayly chirps by his den,


s: The clouds are at play in the azure space


s: And their shadows at play on the bright-green vale,


s: And here they stretch to the frolic chase,


s: There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,


s: There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,


s: And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.


s: And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles


s: On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,


s: On the leaping waters and gay young isles;


s: Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away.


s: O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen,


s: When woods are bare and birds are flown,


s: The woodland rings with laugh and shout,


s: Some bright with thoughtless smiles, and some


s: Where secret tears have left their trace.


s: Where children, pressing cheek to cheek,


s: These struggling tides of life that seem


s: Youth, with pale cheek and slender frame,


s: Some, famine-struck, shall think how long


s: The cold dark hours, how slow the light;


s: Each, where his tasks or pleasures call,


s: In His large love and boundless thought.


s: The clouds hang over it, heavy and gray,


s: From the chambers beyond that misty veil;


s: Rush prone from the sky like summer hail.


s: West, and are still in the depths below;


s: Here delicate snow-stars, out of the cloud,


s: Like spangles dropped from the glistening crowd


s: All drowned in the dark and silent lake.


s: From their chilly birth-cloud, dim and gray,


s: Are joined in their fall, and, side by side,


s: As friend with friend, or husband with wife,


s: Lo! While we are gazing, in swifter haste


s: Stream down the snows, till the air is white,


s: They fling themselves from their shadowy height.


s: The fair, frail creatures of middle sky,


s: What speed they make, with their grave so nigh;


s: Thou thinkest of friends, the good and dear,


s: Like those fair children and cloud and frost,


s: That glisten for a moment and then are lost,


s: The cloud and the water, no more is seen;


s: White are his shoulders and white his crest


s: Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,


s: Broods in the grass while her husband sings


s: When you can pipe that merry old strain,


s: Thoughts that shall live within the general mind!


s: And wreak them on the verse that thou dust weave,


s: While the warm current tingles through thy veins,


s: Set forth the burning words in fluent strains.


s: Artfully sought and ordered though it be,


s: Can wake the listless pulse to livelier speed,


s: Or fill with sudden tears the eyes that read.


s: To touch the heart or fire the blood at will?


s: Let thy lips quiver with the passionate thrill;


s: Seize the great thought, ere yet its power be past,


s: And bind, in words, the fleet emotion fast.


s: Halting and harsh, and all unaptly wrought,


s: Save in the moment of impassioned thought;


s: Then summon back the original glow, and mend


s: The strain with rapture that with fire was penned.


s: Of passion find an utterance in thy lay,


s: But feelings of calm power and mighty sweep,


s: Like currents journeying through the windless deep.


s: To limn the beauty of the earth and sky?


s: Let all that beauty in clear vision lie;


s: Look on it with exceeding love, and write


s: The words inspired by wonder and delight.


s: To the tossed wreck with terror in thy heart;


s: Scale, with the assaulting host, the rampart's height,


s: And strike and struggle in the thickest fight.


s: "What witchery hangs upon this poet's page!


s: What art is his the written spells to find


s: That sway from mood to mood the willing mind!"


s: Hath placed thee with the sons of light,


s: O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,


s: What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?


s: Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,


s: O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming;


s: And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,


s: Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;


s: O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?


s: On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,


s: Where the foes haughty host in dread silence reposes,


s: What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,


s: As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?


s: Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,


s: In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;


s: 'Tis the star-spangled banner; O long may it wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!


s: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore


s: That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion


s: A home and a country should leave us no more?


s: Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.


s: No refuge could save the hireling and slave,


s: From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave;


s: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave


s: O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand


s: Between their loved homes and the war's desolation


s: Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land,


s: Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.


s: Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just.


s: And this be our motto--"In God is our trust";


s: And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.


s: Catch war and vengeance from the glance.


s: Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,


s: Like shoots of flame on midnight's pall,


s: Where breathes the foe but falls before us,


s: The wood-tick has kept the minutes well;


s: He has counted them all with click and stroke,


s: Who sleeps with him in the haunted tree,


s: Twelve small strokes on his tinkling bell


s: ('Twas made of the white snail's pearly shell)


s: They creep from the mullen's velvet screen;


s: From the silver tops of moon-touched trees,


s: Where they swung in their cobweb hammocks high,


s: And, pillowed on plumes of his rainbow breast,


s: Had slumbered there till the charmed hour;


s: And now they throng the moonlight glade,


s: And his peers were ranged around the throne.


s: But his voice in a softened accent broke:


s: Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark,


s: And thy wings are dyed with a deadly stain;


s: Tossed on the pricks of nettles' stings,


s: Of the worm, and the bug and the murdered fly:


s: Had a stain been found on the earthly fair.


s: Till the sturgeon leaps in the bright moonshine;


s: The water-sprites will wield their arms,


s: And vain are the woodland spirits' charms--


s: If thy heart be pure and thy spirit right,


s: Thou shalt win the warlock fight." . . .


s: Through groves of nightshade dark and dern,


s: Where toils the ant and sleeps the snake;


s: Till its points are dyed in fairy blood;


s: He has leaped the bog, he has pierced the brier,


s: He has swum the brook, and waded the mire,


s: Till his spirits sank and his limbs grew weak,


s: For rugged and dim was his onward track,


s: And he laughed as he jumped upon her back;


s: He bridled her mouth with a silkweed twist,


s: He lashed her sides with an osier thong;


s: Till the mountain's magic verge is past,


s: And the beach of sand is reached at last.


s: Is heard the splash of the sturgeon's leap,