s: This is my style of translating [Greek text],--snatch them away!


s: The Rich Thieves rolling in wealth that make profit of labouring


s: Surely the Wights of the Whirlwind shall swallow them quick in


s: O baneful, O wit-straying, in the Burg of London ye dwell,


s: And ever of Profits and three per cent. are the tales ye tell,


s: But the stark, strong Polyphemus shall answer you back again,


s: Him whom "No man slayeth by guile and not by main."


s: (By "main" I mean "main force," if aught at all do I mean.


s: In the Greek of the blindfold Bard it is simpler the sense to


s: You Polyphemus shall swallow and fill his mighty maw,


s: What time he maketh an end of the Priests, the Police, and the


s: And then, ah, who shall purchase the poems of old that I sang,


s: Who shall pay twelve-and-six for an epic in Saga slang?


s: But perchance even "Hermes the Flitter" could scarcely expound


s: And I trow that another were fitter to sing you a song for a


s: Oh, fair apple tree, and oh, fair apple tree,


s: As heavy and sweet as the blossoms on thee,


s: He's gi'en her a band o' the diamond-stane,


s: "Oh! wha suld it be but my young brother


s: But they hae slain him by fause treason,


s: The King has gane till the Queen's ain bower,


s: And she's run in by the dern black yett,


s: "Oh! whare," he cried, "is the siller band


s: The King he stude, the King he glowered,


s: "Deil hae me!  Like is a richt ill mark, -


s: And, faith, but the wine was wondrous guid,


s: There was na a knight o' the Ramsay bluid


s: She has keeked in the glass at Hallow-een


s: His hair was gold, and his eyes were grey,


s: "And they wear their mantles swart and side,


s: She has filled a ship wi' the gude red gold,


s: And she's sailed west and she's sailed east,


s: And she's sailed east and she's sailed west,


s: "Then it's a' for the aefold love o' thee


s: "But, out and alas!" he has answered her,


s: Till McLean has ridden to Dowart Castle,


s: His wife was a Campbell, fair and fause,


s: And we'll send her a cask o' the usquebaugh,


s: She has sent them away wi' her little foot-page


s: There stude her ship in the harbour gude,


s: But there cam' a crash like a thunder-clap,


s: And he's cuttit the throat o' that fause foot-page,


s: {1}  One verse and the refrain are of 1750 or thereabouts.  At


s: Charles is said to have served as a volunteer.


s: In offering these verses to you, I beg you to treat them (as you


s: have many a time advised a certain lord chamberlain to treat the


s: players) not according to their desert.  "Use them after your own


s: These many years your friend and comrade,


s: The motif of the story embodied in the following poem was crudely


s: authors verse, and subsequently cancelled for a purpose not until


s: era--will, he hopes, be obvious.  It was part of his design,


s: however far he may have fallen from it, to give his narrative


s: something of the atmosphere and color of the period in which the


s: action takes place, though the story is supposed to be told at a


s: Before you reach the slender, high-arched bridge,


s: Like to a heron with one foot in stream,


s: The hamlet breaks upon you through green boughs--


s: A square stone church within a place of graves


s: Upon the slope; gray houses oddly grouped,


s: With plastered gables set with crossed oak-beams,


s: And roofs of yellow tile and purplish slate.


s: That is The Falcon, with the swinging sign


s: Those leaden lattices were hung on hinge


s: In good Queen Bess's time, so old it is.


s: On ridge-piece, gable-end, or dove-cot vane,


s: Glimmers--an angel on the wing, most like,


s: Of local workmanship; for since the reign


s: Of pious Edward here have carvers thrived,


s: In saints'-heads skillful and winged cherubim


s: Meet for rich abbeys.  From yon crumbling tower,


s: Whose brickwork base the cunning Romans laid--


s: You see, such lens is this thin Devon air,


s: If it so chance no fog comes rolling in,


s: The Torridge where its branching crystal spreads


s: To join the Taw.  Hard by from a chalk cliff


s: A torrent leaps: not lovelier Sappho was


s: From that Leucadian rock.  Beneath your feet


s: Off shore, a buoy gleams like a dolphin's back


s: Dripping with brine, and guards a sunken reef


s: Whose sharp incisors have gnawed many a keel;


s: There frets the sea and turns white at the lip,


s: And in ill-weather lets the ledge show fang.


s: Upon the height of old was Wyndham Towers,


s: Clinging to rock there, like an eagle's nest,


s: With moat and drawbridge once, and good for siege;


s: Four towers it had to front the diverse winds:


s: Built God knows when, all record being lost,


s: Locked in the memories of forgotten men.


s: Such knowledge have we of it, vaguely caught


s: Through whispers fallen from tradition's lip.


s: This shattered tower, with crenellated top


s: And loops for archers, alone marks the spot,


s: Whereon the invisible fingers of the wind


s: Here dwelt, in the last Tudor's virgin reign,


s: (The son of Rawdon, slain near Calais wall


s: When Bloody Mary lost her grip on France,)


s: Save one, a brother--by ill-fortune's spite


s: A brother, since 't were better to have none--


s: Of late not often seen at Wyndham Towers,


s: Where he in sooth but lenten welcome got


s: When to that gate his errant footstep strayed.


s: Yet held he dear those gray majestic walls,


s: Time-stained and crusted with the sea's salt breath;


s: There first his eyes took color of the sea,


s: There did his heart stay when fate drove him thence,


s: And there at last--but that we tell anon.


s: Whose bones were whitening in Holy Land,


s: No love and little liking served this pair,


s: In look and word unpaired as white and black--


s: Of once rich bough the last unlucky fruit.


s: The one, for straightness like a Norland pine


s: Intrepid, handsome, little past blown youth,


s: Of all pure thought and brave deed amorous,


s: Moulded the court's high atmosphere to breathe,


s: Yet liking well the camp's more liberal air--


s: Poet, soldier, courtier, 't was the mode;


s: Suspicious, morbid, passionate, self-involved,


s: Corroded, like a sword-blade left in sheath


s: One fortune loved not and looked at askance.


s: Yet he a pleasant outward semblance had.


s: Say what you will, and paint things as you may,


s: The devil is not black, with horn and hoof,


s: Quite scrupulous of doublet and demeanor,


s: As was this Master Wyndham of The Towers,


s: Because of matters to be here set forth.


s: A thing of not much moment, as life goes,


s: Had idly brushed aside, as 't were a gnat


s: That winged itself between him and the light,


s: Had, through the crooked working of his mind,


s: Brought Wyndham to a very grievous pass.


s: And hushed his song.  There is no little thing


s: A planet's elements.  This Wyndham's woe


s: Turned soldier; now in white-haired, wrinkled age


s: Sitting beneath the olive, valiant still,


s: With sword on nail above the chimney-shelf


s: In case the Queen should need its edge again.


s: And through those ever-famous French campaigns


s: (Marry, in what wars bore he not a hand?)


s: In Rawdon Wyndham's troop of horse had served,


s: And when he fell that day by Calais wall


s: Had from the Frenchmen's pikes his body snatched,


s: And so much saved of him, which was not much,


s: The good knight being dead.  For this deed's sake,


s: That did enlarge itself in sorrow's eye,


s: The widow deemed all guerdon all too small,


s: And held her dear lord's servant and his girl,


s: Born later, when that clash of steel was done,


s: As her own kin, till she herself was laid


s: I' the earth and sainted elsewhere.  The two sons


s: Let cool the friendship: one in foreign parts


s: Did gold and honor seek; at hall stayed one,


s: The heir, and now of old friends negligent:


s: Demure, but with more crotchets in the brain,


s: Had this one much misliked; in her child-thought


s: Confused him somehow with those cruel shapes


s: Quickened her pulse.  For he was gaunt, his face,


s: In that east chamber where the harness hung


s: And dinted shields of Wyndhams gone to grace--


s: At Poitiers this one, this at Agincourt,


s: A breed of fierce man-slayers, sire and son.


s: Of these seemed Richard, with his steel cross-bow


s: The gentle doves that to the ramparts came


s: For scattered crumbs, undreamful of all ill.


s: Each well-sent dart that stained a snowy breast


s: Straight to her own white-budding bosom went.


s: Fled were those summers now, and she had passed


s: Where many a rainbow castle lay in ruin;


s: But to her mind, like wine-stain to a flask,


s: The old distrust still clung, indelible,


s: Holding her in her maidhood's serious prime


s: Well pleased from his cold eyes to move apart,


s: And in her humble fortunes dwell secure.


s: Indeed, what was she?--a poor soldier's girl,


s: Merely a tenant's daughter.  Times were changed,


s: And life's bright web had sadder colors in 't:


s: That most sweet gentle lady--rest her soul!--


s: And six lines shorter, which was all a shame;


s: Gaunt Richard heir; that other at earth's end,


s: (The younger son that was her sweetheart once,)


s: Fighting the Spaniards, getting slain perchance;


s: And all dear old-time uses quite forgot.


s: That spreads insidious, had estrangement come,


s: Until at last, one knew not how it fell,


s: And little cared, if sober truth were said,


s: She and the father no more climbed the hill


s: To Twelfth Night festival or May-day dance,


s: Nor commerce had with any at The Towers.


s: The girl had place in Wyndham's mind--the girl,


s: Whom his soft mother had made favorite of,


s: And well-nigh spoiled, some dozen summers gone.


s: Perhaps because dull custom made her tame,


s: That wraps itself in mist, and seems not fair,


s: His thought she touched not, and was glad withal


s: When she did note how others took his eye


s: And wore rue after.  Thus was her white peace


s: Undarkened till, it so befell, these two


s: On hill-path or at crossing of the weir,


s: Her beauty broke on him like some rare flower


s: That was not yesterday.  Ev'n so the Spring


s: Abruptly, in the North here: long the drifts


s: Linger in hollows, long on bough and briar


s: No slight leaf ventures, lest the frost's keen tooth


s: Is nought but scent and bloom.  So unto him


s: Griselda's grace unclosed.  Where lagged his wit


s: That guessed not of the bud that slept in stem,


s: Nor hint had of the flower within the bud?


s: 'T had eaten him!  In all the wave-washed length


s: Here on that smooth and sunny field, her cheek,


s: Did meet, and, blending, make a heavenly truce,


s: This were indeed a rose a king might wear


s: Himself would wear it.  Then by seeming chance


s: Crossed he her walks, and stayed her with discourse


s: Devised adroitly; spoke of common things


s: At first--of days when his good mother lived,


s: If 't were to live, to pass long dolorous hours


s: Of one who then used often come to hall,


s: Ever at Yule-tide, when the great log flamed


s: In chimney-place, and laugh and jest went round,


s: And maidens strayed beneath the mistletoe,


s: Making believe not see it, so got kissed--


s: Of one that joined not in the morrice-dance,


s: But in her sea-green kirtle stood at gaze,


s: By dead men's armor.  Nought there suffered change,


s: Those empty shells of valor grew not old,


s: Though something rusty.  Would they fright her now


s: Looked she upon them?  Held she in her mind--


s: 'T was Spring and loud the mavis piped outside--


s: The day the Turkish helmet slipped from peg,


s: And clashing on the floor, congealed her blood


s: And sent both hands to terror-smitten eyes,


s: She trembling, ready to yield up the ghost?


s: On matters nearer, things she had foreboded


s: And this one time must needs lend hearing to,


s: Like a true maid and honest, as she was.


s: And holding back hot tears, she gave reply


s: With such discretion as straight tied his tongue,


s: Albeit he lacked not boldness in discourse:


s: "Indeed, indeed, sir, you speak but in jest!


s: Lightly, not meaning it, in courtier-way.


s: I have heard said that ladies at the Court--


s: I judge them not!--have most forgiving ears,


s: Listen and smile and never stain a cheek.


s: Yet not such words your father's son should use


s: With me, my father's daughter.  You forget


s: What should most precious be to memory's heart,


s: Love that dared death; and so, farewell."  Farewell


s: It was in sooth; for after that one time,


s: Though he had fain with passion-breathed vows


s: Besieged that marble citadel her breast,


s: He got no speech of her: she chose her walks;


s: That could well risk the candor of the sun;


s: Ran not to lattice at each sound of hoof;


s: By stream or hedge-row plucked no pansies more,


s: A-Sunday--glanced not either right or left,


s: But with black eyelash wedded to white cheek


s: Knelt there impassive, like the marble girl


s: That at the foot-end of his father's tomb,


s: Inside the chancel where the Wyndhams lay,


s: Through the long years her icy vigil kept.


s: As leaves turn into flame at the frost's touch,


s: So Richard's heart on coldness fed its fire,


s: And burned with surfeit of indifference.


s: Went out of life; what served once served no more.


s: His hound and falcon ceased to pleasure him;


s: On shelf--but even in brave Froissart's page,


s: Where, God knows, there be wounds enough, no herb


s: Nor potion found he to purge sadness with.


s: The gray dust gathered on the leaf unturned,


s: And then the spider drew his thread across.


s: Certain bright coins that he was used to count


s: With thrill at fingers' ends uncounted lay,


s: Suddenly worthless, like the conjurer's gold


s: That midst the jeers and laughter of the crowd


s: The cold Griselda that would none of him!


s: With this most solid earth beneath his feet,


s: But in the weird and unsubstantial sphere


s: Of slumber did her beauty hold him thrall.


s: Herself of late he saw not; 't was a wraith


s: He worshipped, a vain shadow.  Thus he pined


s: From dawn to dusk, and then from dusk to dawn,


s: From any-colored eyes, so they be sweet.


s: Strange that a man should let a maid's slim foot


s: Stamp on his happiness and quench it quite!


s: With what snail-pace the traitor time creeps by


s: When one is out with fortune and undone!


s: The shadow's finger points the dismal hour!


s: Thus Wyndham, with hands clasped behind his back,


s: Fade from the metal disk beside the door.


s: The hours hung heavy up there on the hill,


s: And merriment had long since ta'en its flight.


s: Sometimes he sat and conned the flying clouds


s: Till on dusk's bosom nestled her one star,


s: And spoke no word, nor seemed alive at all,


s: But a mere shape and counterfeit of life;


s: Or, urged by some swift hunger for green boughs,


s: Would bid the hound to heel, and disappear


s: Make themselves tedious to their tedious selves.


s: Thus passed he once in a white blaze of noon


s: Under his oaks, and muttered as he went:


s: "'My father's daughter' and 'your father's son'!


s: Faith, but it was a shrewd and nimble phrase,


s: And left me with no fitting word at tongue.


s: The wench hath wit and matter of her own,


s: And beauty, that doth seldom mate with wit,


s: Nature hath painted her a proper brown--


s: A russet-colored wench that knows her worth.


s: And mincing, too--should have her ruff propt up


s: And go in cloth-of-gold.  I'll get a suit


s: Has she a heart?  The ladies of Whitehall


s: Are not so skittish, else does Darrell lie


s: The art of blushing 's a lost art at Court.


s: If so, good riddance!  This one here lets love


s: To be so young, so fair, and wise withal!


s: Lets love starve?  Nay, I think starves merely me.


s: Both day and night-time?  Not since Adam fell!


s: I doubt a lover somewhere.  What shrewd bee


s: Hath buzzed betimes about this clover-top?


s: Belike some scrivener's clerk at Bideford,


s: With long goose-quill and inkhorn at his thigh--


s: Methinks I see the parchment face of him;


s: That haunt the inn there, with red Spanish gold,


s: Rank scurvy knaves, ripe fruit for gallows-tree;


s: Or else the sexton's son"--here Wyndham laughed,


s: Though not a man of mirth--indeed, a man


s: Lean as the shadow cast by a church spire,


s: Eyes deep in the sockets, noseless, high cheek-boned,


s: Like nothing in the circle of this earth


s: But a death's-head that from a mural slab


s: Within the chancel leers through sermon-time,


s: The fancy touched him, and he laughed a laugh


s: That from his noonday slumber roused an owl


s: Not he, forsooth; he smacked of churchyard mould


s: No lover that for tingling flesh and blood


s: To rest soft cheek on and change kisses with.


s: Yet lover somewhere; from his sly cocoon


s: What was to do but wait, and mark who strolled


s: Of evenings up the hill-path and made halt


s: This side the coppice at a certain gate?


s: For by that chance which ever serves ill ends,


s: The maid Griselda dwelt.  Her gray scarred sire


s: Had for cloth doublet changed the steel cuirass,


s: The sword for gardener's fork, and so henceforth


s: Moving erect among his curves and squares


s: Of lily, rose, and purple flower-de-luce,


s: Set none but harmless squadrons in the field--


s: Save now and then at tavern, where he posed,


s: Tankard in hand and prattling of old days,


s: How runs the proverb touching him who waits?


s: Who waits shall have the world.  Time's heir is he,


s: Be he but patient.  Thus the thing befell


s: Haunting the grounds one night, as his use was


s: Who loved the dark as bats and owlets do,


s: That did such strange and goblin changes ring


s: As left him doubtful whence the murmurs came,


s: Now here, now there, as they were winged things--


s: Such trick plays Echo upon hapless wight


s: Chance-caught in lonely places where she dwells,


s: Like the merle's note when its ecstatic heart


s: Is packed with summer-time; then all was still--


s: So still the soul of silence seemed to grieve


s: The loss of that sweet laughter.  In his tracks


s: The man stopped short, and listened.  As he leaned


s: And craned his neck, and peered into the gloom,


s: And would the fabulous hundred eyes were his


s: He saw two figures moving through a drift


s: Of moonlight that lay stretched across the lawn:


s: A man's tall shape, a slim shape close at side,


s: Her palm in tender fashion pressed to his,


s: The woven snood about her shoulders fallen,


s: And from the sombre midnight of her hair


s: An ardent face out-looking like a star--


s: As in a vision saw he this, for straight


s: They vanished.  Where those silvery shadows were


s: Was nothing.  Had he dreamed it?  Had he gone


s: Mad with much thinking on her, and so made


s: Ghosts of his own sick fancies?  Like a man


s: Within a woodland, he stood rooted there,


s: Spell-bound he stood, in very woeful plight,


s: Bewildered; and then presently with shock


s: To life came back, and turned on heel to fly


s: From that accursed spot and all that was,


s: When once more the girl's laugh made rich the night,


s: And melted, and the silence grieved anew.


s: Like lead his feet were, and he needs must halt.


s: Close upon this, but further off, a voice


s: From somewhere--Echo at her trick again!--


s: Took up the rhyme of Sweetheart, sigh no more.


s: And brooks, for all their silvery stops,


s: 'T is said the Malays have an arrow steeped


s: In some strange drug whose subtile properties


s: Are such that if the point but prick the skin


s: Death stays there.  Like to that fell cruel shaft


s: This slender rhyme was.  Through the purple dark


s: Straight home it sped, and into Wyndham's veins


s: Now no sound was, save when a dry twig snapped


s: And rustled softly down from branch to branch,


s: Or on its pebbly shoals the meagre brook


s: Made intermittent murmur.  "So, 't is he!"


s: Thus Wyndham breathing thickly, with his eyes


s: I set my springe for other game than this;


s: Of hare or rabbit dreamed I, not of wolf.


s: Perplexed me; now the riddle reads itself.


s: And sends smoke through his nostril like a flue!


s: In some mad freak had clapped him in the Tower--


s: Ay, through the Traitor's Gate.  Would he were dead.


s: Within the year what worthy men have died,


s: And here 's this gilt court-butterfly on wing!


s: O thou most potent lightning in the cloud,


s: Prick me this fellow from the face of earth!


s: I would the Moors had got him in Algiers


s: What time he harried them on land and sea,


s: And done their will with scimitar or cord


s: Had winged him in the folly of his flight.


s: With rack and screw, had laid black claw on him!"


s: In days whose chronicle is writ in blood


s: The richest ever flowed in English veins


s: Some foul mischance in this sort might have been;


s: For at dark Fortune's feet had Darrell flung


s: In his youth's flower a daring gauntlet down.


s: A beardless stripling, at that solemn hour


s: When, breaking its frail filaments of clay,


s: The younger son, unhoused as well he knew,


s: Had taken horse by night to London town,


s: With right sore heart and nought else in his scrip


s: But boyish hope to footing find at Court--


s: A page's place, belike, with some great lord,


s: Or some small lord, that other proving shy


s: Of merit that had not yet clipt its shell.


s: With lackeys, hucksters, and the commoner sort,


s: At Whitehall and Westminster he stood guard,


s: Reading men's faces with most anxious eye.


s: There the lords swarmed, some waspish and some bland,


s: But none would pause at plucking of the sleeve


s: On London stones for lack of crust to gnaw


s: And set them stars in the fore-front of Time.


s: In fine, young Darrell drew of that same air


s: A valiant breath, and shipped with Francis Drake,


s: And teach the heathen manners, with God's aid;


s: And so, among lean Papists and black Moors,


s: Struck fortune.  Who would tamely bide at home


s: At beck and call of some proud swollen lord


s: Not worth his biscuit, or at Beauty's feet


s: Setting quick torch* to pirate-nests ashore?


s: * Sir Francis Drake called this "singeing the


s: Brave sport to singe the beard o' the King of Spain!


s: Brave sport, but in the end dreamed he of home--


s: Of where the trout-brook lisped among the reeds,


s: Of great chalk cliffs and leagues of yellow gorse,


s: Of peaceful lanes, of London's roaring streets,


s: The crowds, the shops, the pageants in Cheapside,


s: And heard the trumpets blaring for the Queen


s: When 't was the wind that whistled in the shrouds


s: Off Cadiz.  Ah, and softer dreams he had


s: And from the marble of his soul's desire


s: A new Pygmalion!  All things drew him home,


s: This mainly.  Foot on English earth once more,


s: Dear earth of England his propitious fame


s: A thorn in none but crooked Envy's side,


s: He went cross-gartered, with a silken rose


s: At golden lovelock, diamond brooch at hat


s: And changed his doublet's color twice a day.


s: Ill fare had given his softer senses edge;


s: Good fortune, later, bade him come to dine,


s: Mild Spenser's scholar, Philip Sidney's friend.


s: When Town was dull, or he had need at heart


s: For sight of Wyndham Towers against the sky;


s: But chiefly did he bask him by the Thames,


s: For there 't was that Young England froze and thawed


s: And prescience hath of death, will drag itself


s: And would not have heaven's airs for witnesses,


s: So Wyndham, shrinking from the very stars


s: And tell-tale places where the moonlight fell,


s: Crept through the huddled shadows back to hall,


s: And in a lonely room where no light was,


s: Save what the moon made at the casement there,


s: For never comes reflection, gay or grave,


s: But it brings with it comrades of its hue.


s: Declined, and how his narrow life had run


s: Obscurely through an age of great events


s: Others had ventured for the Golden Fleece,


s: Knaves of no parts at all, and got renown,


s: (By force of circumstance and not desert,)


s: While he up there on that rock-bastioned coast


s: Had rotted like some old hulk's skeleton,


s: Whose naked and bleached ribs the lazy tide


s: Laps day by day, and no man thinks of more.


s: Then was jade Fortune in her lavish mood.


s: Why had he not for distant Colchis sailed


s: True, some had come to block on Tower Hill,


s: Still they had lived, from life's high-mantling cup


s: Had blown the bead.  In such case, if one's head


s: What mattered it?  At worst man dies but once--


s: So far as known.  One may not master death,


s: But life should be one's lackey.  He had been


s: Time's dupe and bondsman; ever since his birth


s: Had walked this planet with his eye oblique,


s: Grasped what was worthless, what were most dear missed;


s: Missed love and fame, and all the sum of things


s: Fame gets a man in England--the Queen's smile,


s: Which means, when she 's in humor, abbey-lands,


s: Appointments, stars and ribbons for the breast,


s: And that sleek adulation that takes shape


s: When one ascends a stair or walks the pave.


s: Crooks back to Greatness passing to the Queen--


s: "Kind sir!" "Sweet sir!" "I prithee speed my suit!"


s: 'T was somewhat to be flattered, though by fools,


s: For even a fool's coin hath a kind of ring.


s: Yet after all--thus did the grapes turn sour


s: And have each rascal that prowls under heaven


s: Stab one for getting it?  Had he wished power,


s: The thing was in the market-place for sale


s: At stated rates--so much for a man's soul!


s: And one to rise had need to cringe and creep.


s: And battened in the sun.  At thought of him,


s: And felt his wound.  "Why bides he not in Town


s: With his blond lovelock and wench-luring ways--


s: There runs his fox!  What foul fiend sends him here


s: To Wyndham Towers?  Is there not space enough


s: In this our England he needs crowd me so?


s: That he must come to sip my Devon cream?


s: Are all maids shut in nunneries save this one?


s: Rich is he now that at his setting forth


s: Thus puts he bound and barrier to my love.


s: I'll have no more of him!  If I but dared--


s: Nay, I dare not.  I have fawn's blood, I think;


s: I would, and dare not!"  Thrice the hooded clock


s: With meagre face half seen beneath his cowl,


s: Intoned the quarter.  Memory went not back


s: When this was not a most familiar sound,


s: Yet as each stroke on the dead silence fell


s: Wyndham turned, startled.  Now the sanguine moon,


s: Rose sheer above the pine-trees' ragged edge,


s: And through the wide-flung casement reaching hand


s: With cold and spectral finger touched the plates


s: Of his dead father's armor till it gleamed


s: One mass of silver.  There it stood complete,


s: That august panoply which once struck dread


s: To foemen on the sunny plains of France,


s: With vizard down and jousting-lance at charge


s: As if that crumbled knight were quick within.


s: Disdaining earth, and Wyndham in the dark,


s: Half crouched upon the settle with his nails


s: Indenting the soft wood-work, held his breath.


s: Swept over him and hurled him to his feet--


s: Such rage as must have seized the soul of Cain


s: Meeting his brother in the stubble-field.


s: Anon came one that hummed a blithe sea-song,


s: As he were fresh from tavern and brave cheer,


s: And held the stars that blinked there in the blue


s: Boon comrades.  Singing in high-hearted way,


s: His true-love's kiss a memory on his lip,


s: Whose dream had been in good chain-mail to die


s: On some well-foughten field, at set of sun,


s: With glorious peal of trumpets on his ear


s: Proclaiming victory.  So had he dreamed.


s: And there, within an arch at the stair-top


s: And screened behind a painted hanging-cloth


s: Of coiled gold serpents ready to make spring,


s: Ignoble Death stood, his convulsive hand


s: Grasping a rapier part-way down the blade


s: Black Death, turned white with horror of himself.


s: Straight on came he that sang the blithe sea-song;


s: And now his step was on the stair, and now


s: He neared the blazoned hanging-cloth, and now...


s: The lights were out, and all life lay in trance


s: Each in his mask of sullen-seeming death--


s: Fond souls that recked not what was in the air,


s: Else had the dead man's scabbard as it clashed


s: Against the balustrade, then on the tiles,


s: Brought awkward witness.  One base hind there was


s: Had stolen a venison-pasty on the shelf,


s: And now did penance; him the fall half roused


s: From dreadful nightmare; once he turned and gasped,


s: Then straightway snored again.  No other sound


s: Within the dream-enchanted house was heard,


s: Save that the mastiff, lying at the gate


s: With visionary bone, snarled in his sleep.


s: Done was the deed that could not be undone


s: That would blab all with silence!  What to do?


s: How hide this speechless witness from men's gaze?


s: 'T is like to give us trouble and to spare.


s: Quick, ere the dusky petals of the night


s: But where?  Hold back thy fleet-wing'd coursers, Time,


s: Whilst we bethink us!  Ah--such place there is!


s: Close, too, at hand--a place wherein a man


s: Might lie till doomsday safer from the touch


s: At a dark alcove's end of that long hall,


s: The ancient armor-room in the east wing,


s: save Wyndham, now that other lay a-cold)


s: And with such devilish shrewdness overlaid


s: By carvings of wild-flower and curled grape-leaf,


s: You pressed a rose, a least suspected rose,


s: And two doors turned on hinge, the inner door


s: Closing a space of say some six feet square,


s: Unlighted, sheathed with iron.  Doubtless here


s: When things looked wicked from the outer wall,


s: Immured some inconvenient two-faced friend--


s: Such pranks were played in Merrie England then.


s: Sealed in the narrow compass of that cell,


s: Shut from God's light and his most precious air,


s: A man might have of life a half-hour's lease


s: If he were hale and well-breathed at the start.


s: Hither did Richard bear his brother's corse


s: And fling it down.  Upon the stone-paved floor


s: In a thin strip of moonlight flung it down,


s: And then drew breath.  Perhaps he paused to glance


s: At the white face there, with the strange half-smile


s: Out-living death, the brightness of the hair


s: Lying in loops and tangles round the brow--


s: Such as the deft Italians know to carve;


s: Perhaps his tiger's blood cooled then, perhaps


s: Swift pity at his very heart-strings tugged,


s: Seeing how there his nobler self lay slain,


s: To win life's color back to that wan cheek.


s: Ah, let us hope it, and some mercy feel,


s: Since each at compt shall need of mercy have.


s: Now how it happened, whether 't was the wind,


s: That reached down through the dark and did the thing,


s: Man knoweth not, but suddenly both doors,


s: Ere one could utter cry or put forth arm,


s: Closed with dull clang, and there in his own trap


s: Incontinent was red-stained Richard caught,


s: And as by flash of lightning saw his doom.


s: Call, an thou wilt, but every ear is stuffed


s: With slumber!  Shriek, and run quick frenzied hands


s: For 't is thy grave--no egress shalt thou find,


s: No lock to break, no subtile-sliding bolt,


s: No careless rivet, no half loosened plate


s: For dagger's point to fret at and pry off


s: Angels of Light! what were a thousand years


s: And all the bitter draughts a man may drink


s: To that half hour of Richard's with his Dead?


s: Through silence, gloom, and star-strown paths of Night


s: The breathless hours like phantoms stole away.


s: Black lay the earth, in primal blackness wrapt


s: Ere the great miracle once more was wrought.


s: A chill wind freshened in the pallid East


s: And brought sea-smell of newly blossomed foam,


s: And stirred the leaves and branch-hung nests of birds.


s: Fainter the glow-worm's lantern glimmered now


s: In the marsh land and on the forest's hem,


s: And the slow dawn with purple laced the sky


s: Where sky and sea lay sharply edge to edge.


s: And that to every delicate sea-shell tinge,


s: Blush-pink, deep cinnabar; then no change was,


s: Save that the air had in it sense of wings,


s: Till suddenly the heavens were all aflame,


s: Daily vouchsafed to us!  Yet saith the fool,


s: "There is no God!"  And now a level gleam,


s: Thrust like a spear-head through the tangled boughs,


s: Smote Wyndham's turrets, and the spell was broke.


s: And one by one, on pallet stretched or floor,


s: The sleepers wakened; each took up afresh


s: His load of life; but two there were woke not,


s: Nor knew 't was daybreak.  From the rusty nail


s: The gateman snatched his bunch of ancient keys,


s: And, yawning, vowed the sun an hour too soon;


s: The scullion, with face shining like his pans,


s: Hose down at heel and jerkin half unlaced,


s: On hearthstone knelt to coax the smouldering log;


s: The keeper fetched the yelping hounds their meat;


s: The hostler whistled in the stalls; anon,


s: With rustling skirt and slumber-freshened cheek,


s: The kerchief'd housemaid tripped from room to room


s: (Sweet Gillian, she that broke the groom his heart),


s: While, wroth within, behind a high-backed chair


s: The withered butler for his master waited,


s: Cursing the cook.  That day the brewis spoiled.


s: That day came neither kinsman to break bread.


s: When it was seen that both had lain abroad,


s: The wolf-skins of their couches made that plain


s: As pike-staff, or the mole on Gillian's cheek,


s: The servants stared.  Some journey called them hence;


s: At dead of night some messenger had come


s: Of secret import, may be from the Queen,


s: And they paused not for change of raiment even.


s: And yet, in faith, that were but little like;


s: Sir Richard had scant dealings with the Court.


s: Still--if Northumberland were in arms again.


s: 'T was passing strange.  No beast had gone from rack.


s: How had they gone, then?  Who looked on them last?


s: They supped together, of no journey spoke,


s: Spoke little, 't was their custom; after meal


s: The master's brother sallied forth alone,


s: The master stayed within.  "That did he not,"


s: Quoth one, "I saw Sir Richard in the close


s: I' the moonrise."  "'T was eleven on the stroke,"


s: Said Gillian softly, "he, or 't was his ghost--


s: Methought his face was whiter than my smock--


s: Passed through the courtyard, and so into house.


s: Yet slept he not there!"  And that other one,


s: The guest unwelcome, kinsman little loved


s: (How these shrewd varlets turn us inside out


s: At kitchen-conclaves, over our own wine!)


s: Him had no eye seen since he issued forth


s: As curfew sounded. "Call me lying knave"--


s: Or sit at trencher with good smoking meat,


s: The cock crow thrice, and took it for a sign."


s: "So, marry, 't was--that thou wert drunk again."


s: But no one laughed save he that made the jest,


s: Which often happens.  The long hours wore on,


s: And gloaming fell.  Then came another day,


s: And yet no hosts at table--an ill thing!


s: What could it mean?  From out their lethargy


s: At last awaking, searchers in hot haste,


s: Some in the saddle, some afoot with hounds,


s: Scoured moor and woodland, dragged the neighboring weirs


s: And salmon-streams, and watched the wily hawk


s: But no man found, nor aught that once was man.


s: By land they went not; went they water-ways?


s: Mayhap they were in London, who could tell?


s: Had all revealed, had they but given heed.


s: The savage mastiff stretched himself, and starved.


s: Now where lags he, upon what alehouse bench


s: 'Twixt here and London, who shall lift this weight?


s: Were he not slain upon the Queen's highway


s: Ere he reached Town, or tumbled into ford


s: With too much sack-and-sugar under belt,


s: Then was his face set homeward this same hour,


s: Why lingers he?  Ill news, 't is said, flies fast,


s: And good news creeps; then his must needs be good


s: That lets the tortoise pass him on the road.


s: Ride, Dawkins, ride! by flashing tarn and fen


s: And haunted hollow!  Look not where in chains


s: A lasting terror!  Give thy roan jade spur,


s: And spare her not!  All Devon waits for thee,


s: Thou, for the moment, most important man!


s: And slipped from saddle with most valorous call


s: For beer to wash his throat out, then confessed


s: The last hope died, and so the quest was done.


s: "They far'd afoot," quoth one, "but where God wot."


s: The blackthorn bloomed anew, and the long grass


s: Was starred with flowers that once Griselda prized,


s: But plucked not.  She, poor wench, from moon to moon


s: Waxed pale and paler: of no known disease,


s: The village-leech averred, with lips pursed out


s: And cane at chin; some inward fire, he thought,


s: Had touched her, thinned her, till of that sweet earth


s: Scarce more was left than would have served to grow


s: A lily.  Later, at a fresh-turned grave,


s: From out the maiden strewments, as it were,


s: A whisper rose, of most pathetic breath,


s: Of how one maid had been by two men loved--


s: No names, God's mercy!--and that neither man


s: Would wed her: why?--conjecture faltered there,


s: For whiter was she than new-drifted snow,


s: Or bleached lamb's wool, or any purest thing,


s: Such stuff in sooth as Heaven shapes angels of;


s: And how from their warm, comfortable beds


s: These two men wandered out into the night,


s: Sore stricken and distempered in their mind,


s: Did fling them headlong from a certain crag


s: That up Clovelly way o'erhangs the sea--


s: O'erhangs the sea to tempt unhappy folk.


s: From door to door the piteous legend passed,


s: And like a thrifty beggar took from each.


s: To that bleak, bitter coast, and when at night


s: The deep was shaken, and the pent cloud broke


s: Crashing among the lurid hills of heaven,


s: And in brief sudden swoonings of the gale


s: Contentious voices rose from the sand-dunes,


s: The fishwives, with their lean and sallow cheeks


s: Lit by the flickering driftwood's ruddy glow,


s: Drew closer to the crane, and under breath


s: To awestruck maidens told the fearful tale.


s: The red leaf withered and the green leaf grew.


s: 'T was said that once the Queen reached out her hand--


s: This was at Richmond in her palace there--


s: And let it rest on Burleigh's velvet sleeve,


s: And spoke--right stately was she in her rouge:


s: "Prithee, good Master Cecil, tell us now


s: Was 't ever known what ill befell those men,


s: Those Wyndhams?  Were they never, never found?


s: Look you, 't will be three years come Michaelmas:


s: 'T were well to have at least the bones of them.


s: 'Fore God, sir! this is something should be seen!


s: When the Armada, which God smote and sunk,


s: Threatened our Realm, our buckler and our shield


s: Were such stout hearts as that young Wyndham was.


s: The elder brother--well, Heaven fashioned him.


s: Our subjects are our subjects, mark you that.


s: Not found, forsooth!  Why, then, they should be found!"


s: Fain had my good Lord Burleigh solved the thing,


s: And smoothed that ominous wrinkle on the brow


s: Full many a problem his statecraft had solved--


s: How strangle treason, how soothe turbulent peers,


s: How foil the Pope and Spain, how pay the Fleet--


s: Mere temporal matters; but this business smelt


s: Strongly of brimstone.  Bring back vanished folk!


s: That could not Master Cecil an he would.


s: The red leaf withered and the green leaf grew.


s: Dark were the days that came to Wyndham Towers


s: With that grim secret rusting in its heart.


s: On the sea's side along the fissured wall


s: The lichen spread in patches of dull gold


s: Up to the battlements, at times assailed


s: By sheeted ghosts of mist blown from the sea,


s: Now by the whistling arrows of the sleet


s: Pelted, and thrice of lightning scorched and seamed,


s: But stoutly held from dreary year to year


s: Shrill black-robed prelates of the fighting sort.


s: In the wide moat, run dry with summer droughts


s: Great scarlet poppies lay in drifts and heaps,


s: Like bodies fall'n there in some vain assault.


s: Within, decay and dolor had their court--


s: Dolor, decay, and silence, lords of all.


s: From room to room the wind went shuddering


s: On some vague endless quest; now pausing here


s: To some fresh clue, belike!  The sharp-nosed mouse


s: Through joist and floor discreetly gnawed her way,


s: In a cracked corselet that once held a heart.


s: Wove his gray tapestry from sill to sill.


s: Over the transom the stone eagle drooped,


s: With one wing gone, in most dejected state


s: Moulting his feathers.  A blue poisonous vine,


s: Whose lucent berry, hard as Indian jade,


s: No squirrel tried his tooth on, June by June


s: On the south hill-slope festered in the sun.


s: Man's foot came not there.  It was haunted ground.


s: The red leaf withered and the green leaf grew.


s: An oak stood where an acorn tumbled once,


s: Ages ago, and all the world was strange.


s: Now, in that year King Charles the Second left


s: And wrapt him in that marble where he lies,


s: The moulder'd pile with its entombed Crime


s: Passed to the keep of a brave new-fledged lord,


s: Who, liking much the sane and wholesome air


s: That bent the boughs and fanned the turret's top,


s: Cried, "Here dwell I!"  So fell it on a day


s: The stroke of mallets and the screech of saws


s: In those bleak chambers made such din as stopped


s: The careful spider half-way up his thread,


s: That dwelt in wainscots and loved not the sun.


s: Did the scared rooks protest, and all in vain


s: The moths on indolent white damask wings


s: At door and casement rallied.   Wyndham Towers


s: Should have a bride, and ghosts had word to quit.


s: And now, behold what strange thing came to pass.


s: Plying his craft alone as the day waned--


s: By trade wood-carver--stumbled on a door


s: And there, within a closet, on the flags


s: Were two grim shapes which, vaguely seen at first


s: In the half light, grew presently distinct--


s: Two gnomes or vampires seemed they, or dire imps


s: Straight from the Pit, in guise fantastical


s: Of hose and doublet: one stretched out full length


s: Half toppled forward on the bended knee,


s: Grasping with vise-like grip the other's wrist,


s: As who should say, Arouse thee, sleep no more!


s: But said it not.  If they were quick or dead,


s: Blurred one face was, yet luminous, like the moon


s: Caught in the fleecy network of a cloud,


s: Or seen glassed on the surface of a tarn


s: When the wind crinkles it and makes all dim;


s: The other, drawn and wrenched by mortal throes,


s: As might befall some poor wretch called to compt


s: On the sudden, even as he kneels at prayer,


s: With Mercy! turned to frost upon the lip.


s: Thus much saw Nokes within the closet there


s: Ere he drew breath; then backing step by step,


s: The chisel clutched in still uplifted hand,


s: His eyes still fixed upon the ghosts, he reached


s: Where the stone-cutters were; to them he called


s: Softly, in whispers under his curved palm,


s: Lest peradventure a loud word should rouse


s: The phantoms; but ere foot could climb the stair,


s: Or the heart's pulses count the sum of ten,


s: Through both dread shapes, as at God's finger-touch,


s: A shiver ran, the wavering outlines broke,


s: And suddenly a chill and mist-like breath


s: Touched Nokes's cheek as he at casement leaned,


s: And nought was left of that most piteous pair


s: Save two long rapiers of some foreign make


s: Lying there crossed, a mass of flaky rust.


s: Saint's-head or gargoyle, thou hast seen a sight


s: Shall last thee to the confines of the grave!


s: Ill were thy stars or ever thou wert born


s: That thou shouldst look upon a thing forbid!


s: And the waste solitudes of night inhabit


s: With direful shadows of the nether world,


s: Yet leave thee lonely in the throng of men--


s: Not of them, thou, but creature set apart


s: Under a ban, and doomed henceforth to know


s: The wise man's scorn, the dull man's sorry jest.


s: For who could credence give to that mad tale


s: Of churchyard folk appearing in broad day,


s: And drifting out at casement like a mist?


s: Marry, not they who crowded up the stair


s: In haste, and peered into that empty cell,


s: And had half mind to buffet Master Nokes,


s: Standing with finger laid across his palm


s: Distraught, of countenance most woe-begone.


s: "See!--the two swords.  As I 'm a Christian soul!"


s: "Odds, man!" cried one, "thou 'st been a-dreamin', man.


s: Cleave to thy beer, an' let strong drink alone!"


s: So runs the legend.  So from their long sleep


s: Those ghosts arose and fled into the night.


s: But never bride came to that dark abode,


s: For wild flames swept it ere a month was gone,


s: And nothing spared but that forlorn old tower


s: Whereon the invisible fingers of the wind


s: With him, her lord; the guests have gone;


s: Why should there be, O little white bride,


s: When the world has left you by his side,


s: Does your heart yearn back with last regret


s: Love, should I set my heart upon a crown,


s: What recompense of pleasure could I own?


s: Much have I thought on what our lives may mean,


s: Seeing how zealots, making choice of pain,


s: Have thought it life to leave their fellows slain,


s: How teasing truth a thousand faces claims,


s: And what a father died for in the flames


s: How even they whose hearts were sweet with song


s: And, soon or late, their sails be lost along


s: I hold you close, I kiss your sweet, sweet lips,


s: And you touched them with your forehead,


s: When, while the world was clad in flowers,


s: May you, who, flankt about with flowers,


s: In leaf and blade, life throbs and thrills


s: To have seen the sun come back, to have seen


s: To have heard the thrush where the woods are green


s: To have felt the soft grass cool to the feet,


s: To have smelt earth's incense, heavenly sweet,


s: To have shared the laughter along the street,


s: The bee must bestir him to fill his cells,


s: The moon and the stars will weave new spells


s: Of love and the music of marriage bells--


s: 'T would not seem strange at all to meet


s: And you had been the world's sweet guest


s: Sweet smells from some quaint flower that grew


s: Her chin where her long nose rested on it.


s: She wouldn't care; she was used to that.


s: Of the jam we had eaten, she would know;


s: How we cried when they made us take our bath;


s: You needn't guess how she put us through.


s: The wren will know the sweet things said


s: When in this room I turn in pondering pace


s: And find thine eyes upon me where I stand,


s: Framed round by silence, poised on pearl-white grace


s: Of curving throat, too sweet for beaded band,


s: Had wrought thee for the love of all the race.


s: Dear face, that will not turn about to see


s: The tulips, glorying in the casement sun,


s: Or, other days, the drizzled raindrops run


s: Down the damp walls, but follow only me,


s: Would that Pygmalion's goddess might be won


s: To change this lifeless image into thee!


s: Where shocks of reeds peeped o'er the brim,


s: With bright blue tail and red-rimmed eyes


s: Save where, from sun-splocht bough and bole,


s: The little loves and sorrows are my song:


s: The leafy lanes and birthsteads of my sires,


s: Where memory broods by winter's evening fires


s: O'er oft-told joys, and ghosts of ancient wrong;


s: To home-hearts, and old rustic lutes and lyres,


s: And spreading acres, where calm-eyed desires


s: Wake with the dawn, unfevered, fair, and strong.


s: If words of mine might lull the bairn to sleep,


s: And tell the meaning in a mother's eyes;


s: Might counsel love, and teach their eyes to weep


s: Who, o'er their dead, question unanswering skies,


s: More worth than legions in the dust of strife,


s: Time, looking back at last, should count my life.


s: Grimy with flame and red with foeman's blood,


s: Who, wise as brave, yielded his conquered sword


s: And spoke, thy champion still, the statesman's word


s: Who pressed the ruddy wine to thy faint lips,


s: And saw afar time's white in-sailing ships


s: Oh, mourn for him, dear land that gave him birth!


s: Let thy seared leaves fall silent on the earth


s: In field and hall, in valor and in grace,


s: Gentle and brave, he moved with knightly pace,


s: And little songs that, from the dictionary,


s: Of studied laughter, mocking what is merry,


s: Are we grown old and past the time of singing?


s: Till art is but a formal figure, bringing


s: Procrustean cut, and, with old echoes, ringing


s: The race moves on, and leaves no wildernesses


s: It reads its prayer, and with set phrase it blesses


s: And step by even step its rank progresses,


s: And grief that wails and gladness that rejoices


s: Then he is blest who wears the painted feather


s: To dusks when muses romped the dewy heather


s: And dawns when, if the stars had sung together,


s: Along the shady graves where we shall sleep.


s: Another brood of birds to nest and sing.


s: New ploughmen to the fields we used to know.


s: The hunter from the hills we loved to roam.


s: The milkmaid, singing softly at her task,


s: To know if I were brave or you were fair.


s: What chalice life had offered us to drink,


s: The sun comes back to kiss the snow away.


s: Worth heaven, when, with farewells from each


s: Idle as clouds that stray through heaven


s: That humps its back up through the mold,


s: Where purple fox-grapes hang their store,


s: He who wills life wills its condition sweet,


s: Having made love its mother, joy its quest,


s: That its perpetual sequence might not rest


s: On reason's dictum, cold and too discreet;


s: For reason moves with cautious, careful feet,


s: Debating whether life or death were best,


s: And why pale pain, not ruddy mirth, is guest


s: In many a heart which life hath set to beat.


s: But I will cast my fate with love, and trust


s: Her honeyed heart that guides the pollened bee


s: And sets the happy wing-seeds fluttering free;


s: And I will bless the law which saith, Thou must!


s: And, wet with sea or shod with weary dust,


s: Will follow back and back and back to thee!


s: Not long the living weep above their dead,


s: And you will grieve, Admetus, but not long.


s: The winter's silence in these desolate halls


s: Will break with April's laughter on your lips;


s: The bees among the flowers, the birds that mate,


s: The widowed year, grown gaunt with memory


s: And yearning toward the summer's fruits, will come


s: With lotus comfort, feeding all your veins.


s: The vining brier will crawl across my grave,


s: Those tender, foolish names you called me by,


s: Your passionate kiss that clung unsatisfied,


s: The pressure of your hand, when dark night hushed


s: Life's busy stir, and left us two alone,


s: Will you remember? or, when dawn creeps in,


s: And you bend o'er another's pillowed head,


s: Seeing sleep's loosened hair about her face,


s: Until her low love-laughter welcomes you,


s: Will you, down-gazing at her waking eyes,


s: I thank the cruel fates who clip my life


s: To lengthen yours, they tarry not for age


s: To dim my eye and blanch my cheek, but now


s: And youth hides yet amid this hair of mine,


s: Brown in the shadow, golden in the light.


s: Bend down and kiss me, dying for your sake,


s: Not gratefully, but sadly, love's farewell;


s: Lend a new passion to thy life, far down


s: I will not know, but still will cherish there,


s: Where no change comes, thy love upon my lips.


s: I would that love were subject unto law!


s: And force him thus to answer my complaint,


s: Which I, in well-considered counts, should draw.


s: Not free to fly, he needs must seek some flaw


s: To mar my pleading, though his heart were faint;


s: Could read him many an ancient rhym'd report


s: Of such sad cases, tears would fill his eyes


s: To some well-pleasing terms of compromise!


s: To you, dear mother heart, whose hair is gray


s: Whose face, though lined with many a smile and care,


s: Be tenderest tribute set in perfect rhyme,


s: May cull and keep it for strange lips to pay


s: And, to strange men, weary of field and street,


s: Yours be the joy, for all that made it so


s: But, since from heaven he stoops to breathe


s: Thou seest, through all our waste of strife,


s: Near where the shepherds watched by night


s: When I go home, green, green will glow the grass,


s: Whereon the flight of sun and cloud will pass;


s: Long lines of wood-ducks through the deepening gloam


s: Will hold above the west, as wrought on brass,


s: And fragrant furrows will have delved the loam,


s: When I go home, the dogwood stars will dash


s: The yellow-jasmine, whence its vine hath clomb,


s: Will blaze the valleys with its golden flash,


s: And every orchard flaunt its polychrome,


s: When I go home and stroll about the farm,


s: The thicket and the barnyard will be warm.


s: On whom time's chisel works no hint of harm--


s: And, oh, 'twill be a day to rest and roam,


s: No cloud of fire to guide and cover them,


s: Beasts for the shambles, tremulous with dread,


s: They crouch on alien soil among their dead.


s: "Thy shield and thy exceeding great reward,"


s: This was thine ancient covenant, O Lord,


s: Which, sealed with mirth, these many thousand years


s: Is black with blood and blotted out with tears.


s: Led from thy wilderness of hill and glen


s: Life bore them ever less of gain than loss,


s: Before and since Golgotha's piteous Cross,


s: And surely, now, their sorrow hath sufficed


s: For all the hate that grew from love of Christ!


s: Thou great God-heart, heed thou thy people's cry,


s: Bare-browed and empty-handed where they die,


s: There being no sword that wills to succor them,--


s: And Miriam's song, long hushed, will rise to thee,


s: And all thy people lift their eyes to thee,


s: When, for the darkness' horror over them,


s: Thou comest, a cloud of light to cover them.


s: Shot with the primrose sunshine through and through?


s: Some ancient rhyme of lovers sore beset,


s: Whose joy is dead, whose sadness lingers yet,


s: That you may read, and sigh, and soon forget?


s: As not to fill love's waiting heart with bliss,


s: And merit dalliance at a long, long kiss?


s: A faded field, a leafless hill and hedge,


s: And loneliness and languor worse than pain.


s: Each gravestone holds to heaven a patient Cross.


s: Two sycamores' clean-limbed, funereal white,


s: Of each in turn who called this land his own


s: And wraps the wet world in its flying sheets,


s: A slow wind, ghostlike, comes and grieves and grieves.


s: I care not what his name for God may be,


s: Nor what his wisdom holds of heaven and hell,


s: The alphabet whereby he strives to spell


s: His lines of life, nor where he bends his knee,


s: Since, with his grave before him, he can see


s: White Peace above it, while the churchyard bell


s: Poised in its tower, poised now, to boom his knell,


s: Seems but the waiting tongue of liberty.


s: For names and knowledge, idle breed of breath,


s: And cant and creed, the progeny of strife,


s: Thronging the safe, companioned streets of life,


s: Shrink trembling from the cold, clear eye of death,


s: And learn too late why dying lips can smile:


s: That goodness is the only creed worth while.


s: I pass a cobbler's shop along the street


s: And pause a moment at the door-step, where,


s: In nature's medley, piping cool and sweet,


s: The songs that thrill the swamps when spring is near,


s: Fly o'er the fields at fullness of the year,


s: And twitter where the autumn hedges run,


s: I shut my eyes:  the shy wood-thrush is there,


s: And all the leaves hang still to catch his spell;


s: Wrens cheep among the bushes; from somewhere


s: A bluebird's tweedle passes o'er the fell;


s: From rustling corn bob-white his name doth tell;


s: And when the oriole sets his full heart free


s: On marts where trade goes hot with box and bale;


s: The sad-eyed passers have no time for him.


s: His captor sits, with beaded face and grim,


s: Gray bird, what spirit bides with thee unseen?


s: For now, when every songster finds his love


s: And makes his nest where woods are deep and green,


s: Free as the winds, thy song should mock the dove.


s: If I were thou, my grief in moans should move


s: Charmed and forgetful--of mine own sweetheart.


s: But I, who weep when fortune seems unkind


s: When far-off grottoes hold my loves enshrined


s: Who sulk for hills and fern-fledged waterfalls,--


s: The hills again reach skyward with a smile.


s: The landscape marches westward mile on mile


s: Though eager life must wait on livelihood,


s: And all our hopes be tethered to the mart,


s: Lacking the eagle's wild, high freedom, would


s: That ours might be this day the eagle's heart!


s: Cows in the stall and sheep in the fold;


s: Clouds in the west, deep crimson and gold;


s: A heron's far flight to a roost somewhere;


s: The twitter of killdees keen in the air;


s: The noise of a wagon that jolts through the gloam


s: There are lights in the windows; a blue spire of smoke


s: Climbs from the grange grove of elm and oak.


s: The smell of the Earth, where the night pours to her


s: Its dewy libation, is sweeter than myrrh,


s: And an incense to Toil is the smell of the loam


s: One sits in soft light, where the hearth is warm,


s: She clasps a sleeping infant in her arm.


s: And she, for all her mother-pains more fair,


s: Is happy, seeing that all sweet thoughts that stir


s: The hearts of men bear worship unto her.


s: Another wanders where the cold wind blows,


s: Wet-haired, with eyes that sting one like a knife.


s: She holds the purchase of her love and life,


s: And bitterer than the world's relentless scorn


s: The knowing her child were happier never born.


s: That fashion thus a crown and curse of love?


s: Have roted words such power to bless and blame?


s: Ay, men have stained a raven from many a dove,


s: And all the grace and all the grief hereof


s: Are the two words which bore one's lips apart


s: And which the other hoarded in her heart.


s: He who stooped down and wrote upon the sand,


s: The God-heart in him touched to tenderness,


s: Saw deep, saw what we cannot understand,--


s: We, who draw near the shrine of one to bless


s: The while we scourge another's sore distress,


s: And judge like gods between the ill and good,


s: The thought of old, dear things is in thine eyes,


s: Musing on days thine heart hath sorrow of,


s: I see thee stand where all thy sisters meet


s: The garnered largess of the fruitful year,


s: Thy glory flames in every blade and leaf


s: Thy vineyards and thine orchards bend with fruit


s: A hectic splendor lights thy days to sleep,


s: High and faint-heard thy passing migrant calls;


s: On his gray stone, and many slow winds creep


s: The sun swings farther toward his love, the south,


s: And Death, who steals among thy purpling bowers,


s: Would that thy streams were Lethe, and might flow


s: And all the sweets wherewith thy riches bless


s: Would, in thy beauty, we might all forget


s: And through thy realm might fare us forth to roam,


s: And yet I feel, beneath thy queen's attire,


s: And if, mayhap, a wandering child of thee,


s: Should turn him homeward from his dreamer's quest


s: Thine arm would fold him tenderly, to prove


s: And thy dear hand, with all a mother's care,


s: Have swept the woods and dimmed the plain.


s: Wet winds have swayed the birch and oak,


s: But tear stains!  When, by whom, and why?


s: If many years should dim my inward sight,


s: I might stand gazing at the fall of night


s: Till storm, and sun, and night, vast with her stars,


s: Till, hearing, while June's roses blew their musk,


s: The human struggle, sinking tired at dusk,


s: Till dawn should come without her old desire,


s: O let me die, too frail for nature's hire,


s: Wind through charmed nights and magic days,


s: His bones--what boots it where they lie?


s: Nor love, nor praise can make him whole;


s: When armored wrong makes terms to right,


s: But breathe a prayer that, in his grace,


s: The transient, May-bound, feathered crowd,


s: Nor seen the milk-weeds burst their hoods,


s: That clump and copse, o'errun with vines,


s: How the pale dawn, chilled through and through,


s: Comes drenched and draggled with her dew;


s: Somewhere to-day, in this sweet weather,


s: The girls all like to see the bluets in the lane


s: And the saucy johnny-jump-ups in the meadow,


s: But, we boys, we want to see the dogwood blooms again,


s: Throwin' a sort of summer-lookin' shadow;


s: For the very first mild mornin' when the woods are white


s: (And we needn't even ask a soul about it)


s: We leave our shoes right where we pulled them off at night,


s: And, barefooted once again, we run and shout it:


s: We feel so light we wish there were more fences here;


s: We'd like to jump and jump them, all together!


s: No sleds for us, no guns, nor even 'simmon beer,


s: No nothin' but the blossoms and fair weather!


s: The meadow is a little sticky right at first,


s: But a few short days 'll wipe away that trouble.


s: To feel so good and gay, I wouldn't mind the worst


s: That could be done by any field o' stubble.


s: And there's joy in every little bit of room;


s: Are we barefoots when the dogwoods burst abloom!


s: Give over now; forbear.  The moonlight steeps


s: And cottage crofts, where apples bend the bough.


s: Peace guards us round, and many a tired heart sleeps.


s: Let me brush back the shadow from your brow.


s: On such a night, how sweet, how sweet is life,


s: And must your troubled face still bear the blight


s: Of strength that runs itself to waste in strife?


s: For love's own heart should throb through all the light


s: Coiled like a clod, his eyes the home of hate,


s: Where rich the harvest bows, he lies in wait,


s: Linking earth's death and music, mate with mate.


s: Is 't lure, or warning?  Those small bells may sing


s: Like Ariel sirens, poised on viewless wing,


s: To lead stark life where mailed death is king;


s: Else nature's voice, in that cold, earthy thrill,


s: Bids good avoid the venomed fang of ill,


s: And life and death fight equal in her will.


s: From pacing, pacing without hope or quest


s: He leaned against his window-bars to rest


s: And smelt the breeze that crept up from the west.


s: It came with sundown noises from the moors,


s: Of milking time and loud-voiced rural chores,


s: Of lumbering wagons and of closing doors.


s: He caught a whiff of furrowed upland sweet,


s: And certain scents stole up across the street


s: That told him fireflies winked among the wheat.


s: Over the dusk hill woke a new moon's light,


s: Shadowed the woods and made the waters white,


s: And watched above the quiet tents of night.


s: Alas, that the old Mother should not know


s: Who heard her calling and who could not go!


s: Hour by hour did nothing more than pass,


s: And I, as though a captive held in bands,


s: Who, seeing a pageant, wonders much, but stands


s: Apart, saw the sun blaze his course with brass


s: Thou knowest, thou who talliest life by days,


s: That I have suffered more than pain of toil,


s: Ah, more than they whose wounds are soothed with oil,


s: And they who see new light on beaten ways!


s: The prisoner I, who grasps his iron bars


s: And stares out into depth on depth of stars!


s: When merry milkmaids to their cattle call


s: Loud through the gloam from grange to quiet grange,


s: Wild waif-songs from long distant lands and loves,


s: The new still holds the old moon in her arms;


s: Still lure her nomad odors from the musk,


s: And love and life are as a thousand years',


s: And that some simple shepherd, singing of


s: His heart-song speaks the heart of all his kind.


s: Where the rails converge to the station yard


s: And then, with a snort and a clang of steel,


s: She settles her strength to the stubborn wheel,


s: And out, through the tracks that lead astray,


s: And gathers her muscle and guards her nerve,


s: When she swings her nose to the westward curve,


s: And takes the grade, which slopes to the sky,


s: With a bound of speed and a conquering cry.


s: Nor cares for the meadows, stirred with bees,


s: Nor the long, straight stretches of silent land,


s: Nor the ploughman, that shades his eye with his hand,


s: Nor the cots and hamlets that know no more


s: Than a shriek and a flash and a flying roar;


s: But, bearing her tidings, she trembles and throbs,


s: And laughs in her throat, and quivers and sobs;


s: And the fire in her heart is a red core of heat,


s: That drives like a passion through forest and street,


s: Till she sees the ships in their harbor at rest,


s: And sniffs at the trail to the end of her quest.


s: If I were the driver who handles her reins,


s: Up hill and down hill and over the plains,


s: To watch the slow mountains give back in the west,


s: To know the new reaches that wait every crest,


s: To hold, when she swerves, with a confident clutch,


s: And feel how she shivers and springs to the touch,


s: With the snow on her back and the sun in her face,


s: And nothing but time as a quarry to chase,


s: I should grip hard my teeth, and look where she led,


s: And brace myself stooping, and give her her head,


s: And urge her, and soothe her, and serve all her need,


s: And exult in the thunder and thrill of her speed.


s: Hills, wrapped in gray, standing along the west;


s: Clouds, dimly lighted, gathering slowly;


s: The star of peace at watch above the crest--


s: We know, O Lord, so little what is best;


s: But in thy calm all-knowledge let us rest--


s: When the dim, tall sails of the ships were in motion,


s: We gazed where the dusk fled over the ocean,


s: A great gray hush, like the shadow of God.


s: The sky dome cut with its compass in sunder


s: A circle of sea from the darkened land,--


s: O'er which one groped with a childish hand.


s: The true stars came to their stations in heaven,


s: The false stars shivered deep down in the sea,


s: And the white crests went like monsters, driven


s: And there, where the elements mingled and muttered,


s: Full of the vastness that never was uttered


s: And his first thought of life that lives


s: For some must watch, while some must sleep;


s: I dedicate to you a work, which is submitted to the public with a


s: verse with which I had most familiarized my thoughts, and have


s: There is a moment of profound discouragement which succeeds to


s: prolonged effort; when, the labor which has become a habit having


s: instance, the force of all such sensations is increased by the


s: circumstances to which I have referred.  And in this moment of


s: I do not inscribe to you this book because it contains anything


s: that is worthy of the beloved and honored name with which I thus


s: seek to associate it; nor yet because I would avail myself of a


s: vulgar pretext to display in public an affection that is best


s: honored by the silence which it renders sacred.


s: childish manuscripts; feelings only such as those which have, in


s: later years, associated with your heart all that has moved or


s: occupied my own,--lead me once more to seek assurance from the


s: grasp of that hand which has hitherto been my guide and comfort


s: And as in childhood, when existence had no toil beyond the day's


s: simple lesson, no ambition beyond the neighboring approval of the


s: sanction, so now I bring to you this self-appointed taskwork of


s: voices to whose final sentence I submit my work the beloved and


s: "I hear from Bigorre you are there.  I am told


s: You are going to marry Miss Darcy.  Of old,


s: So long since you may have forgotten it now


s: (When we parted as friends, soon mere strangers to grow),


s: Your last words recorded a pledge--what you will--


s: A promise--the time is now come to fulfil.


s: The letters I ask you, my lord, to return,


s: I desire to receive from your hand.  You discern


s: My reasons, which, therefore, I need not explain.


s: The distance to Luchon is short.  I remain


s: A month in these mountains.  Miss Darcy, perchance,


s: Will forego one brief page from the summer romance


s: Of her courtship, and spare you one day from your place


s: At her feet, in the light of her fair English face.


s: I desire nothing more, and trust you will feel


s: Now in May Fair, of course,--in the fair month of May--


s: When life is abundant, and busy, and gay:


s: When the markets of London are noisy about


s: Young ladies, and strawberries,--"only just out;"


s: Fresh strawberries sold under all the house-eaves,


s: And young ladies on sale for the strawberry-leaves:


s: When cards, invitations, and three-cornered notes


s: Fly about like white butterflies--gay little motes


s: In the sunbeam of Fashion; and even Blue Books


s: Take a heavy-wing'd flight, and grow busy as rooks;


s: And the postman (that Genius, indifferent and stern,


s: Who shakes out even-handed to all, from his urn,


s: Those lots which so often decide if our day


s: Shall be fretful and anxious, or joyous and gay)


s: Brings, each morning, more letters of one sort or other


s: Than Cadmus, himself, put together, to bother


s: The heads of Hellenes;--I say, in the season


s: Of Fair May, in May Fair, there can be no reason


s: Why, when quietly munching your dry toast and butter,


s: Your nerves should be suddenly thrown in a flutter


s: At the sight of a neat little letter, address'd


s: In a woman's handwriting, containing, half guess'd,


s: And coquettishly seal'd with a small signet-ring.


s: But in Autumn, the season of sombre reflection,


s: When a damp day, at breakfast, begins with dejection;


s: Far from London and Paris, and ill at one's ease,


s: Where a call from the doctor, a stroll to the bath,


s: A ride through the hills on a hack like a lath,


s: A cigar, a French novel, a tedious flirtation,


s: Are all a man finds for his day's occupation,


s: The whole case, believe me, is totally changed,


s: And a letter may alter the plans we arranged


s: Over-night, for the slaughter of time--a wild beast,


s: Which, though classified yet by no naturalist,


s: Abounds in these mountains, more hard to ensnare,


s: And more mischievous, too, than the Lynx or the Bear.


s: I marvel less, therefore, that, having already


s: Torn open this note, with a hand most unsteady,


s: Time, morning; the scene at Bigorre; (pray remember


s: These facts, gentle reader, because I intend


s: To fling all the unities by at the end.)


s: He walk'd to the window.  The morning was chill:


s: The brown woods were crisp'd in the cold on the hill:


s: The sole thing abroad in the streets was the wind:


s: And the straws on the gust, like the thoughts in his mind,


s: Rose, and eddied around and around, as tho' teasing


s: Each other.  The prospect, in truth, was unpleasing:


s: And Lord Alfred, whilst moodily gazing around it,


s: To himself more than once (vex'd in soul) sigh'd


s: What the thoughts were which led to this bad interjection,


s: Sir, or madam, I leave to your future detection;


s: For whatever they were, they were burst in upon,


s: As the door was burst through, by my lord's Cousin John.


s: A fool, Alfred, a fool, a most motley fool!


s: And yet so far forgets himself, so far degrades


s: His position as Man, to this worst of all trades,


s: Which even a well-brought-up ape were above,


s: Because I HAVE nothing that's better to do.


s: I had rather be bored, my dear Alfred, by you,


s: On the whole (I must own), than be bored by myself.


s: That perverse, imperturbable, golden-hair'd elf--


s: Your Will-o'-the-wisp--that has led you and me


s: Of course! who but she could contrive so to keep


s: One's eyes, and one's feet too, from falling asleep


s: For even one half-hour of the long twenty-four?


s: I consider about it, the more it demands


s: An attention it does not deserve; and expands


s: Beyond the dimensions which ev'n crinoline,


s: When possess'd by a fair face, and saucy Eighteen,


s: Is entitled to take in this very small star,


s: Already too crowded, as I think, by far.


s: When you countenance, calmly, such monstrous abuse


s: Of one mere human creature's legitimate space


s: In this world?  Mars, Apollo, Virorum! the case


s: "I hear from Bigorre you are there.  I am told


s: You are going to marry Miss Darcy.  Of old--"


s: "When we parted, your last words recorded a vow--


s: Of adventurers and violets.  Was it your hair


s: "Those letters I ask you, my lord, to return."...


s: Humph!... Letters!... the matter is worse than I guess'd;


s: Will forego one brief page from the summer romance


s: I'd forego every page of, and not break my heart!


s: I desire nothing much.  Your friend,". . .


s: You ask me just what I would rather ask you.


s: In an hour the horses will be at the door,


s: And Matilda is now in her habit.  Before


s: I have finished my breakfast, of course I receive


s: A message for "dear Cousin John!"...  I must leave


s: I must call for the music.  "Dear Alfred is right:


s: The black shawl looks best: WILL I change it?  Of course


s: I can just stop, in passing, to order the horse.


s: Then Beau has the mumps, or St. Hubert knows what;


s: WILL I see the dog-doctor?"  Hang Beau!  I will NOT.


s: Mrs. Darcy that... lend me your wits, Jack!...  The deuce!


s: Can you not stretch your genius to fit a friend's use?


s: Excuses are clothes which, when ask'd unawares,


s: Good Breeding to Naked Necessity spares,


s: You must have a whole wardrobe, no doubt.


s: Matilda is jealous, you know, as Othello.


s: Don't ask me.  I have not a choice, my dear John.


s: Besides, shall I own a strange sort of desire,


s: Of youth and romance, in whose shadowy light


s: Hope whisper'd her first fairy tales, to excite


s: The last spark, till it rise, and fade far in that dawn


s: Of my days where the twilights of life were first drawn


s: In short, from the dead Past the gravestone to move;


s: Of the years long departed forever to take


s: One last look, one final farewell; to awake


s: The Heroic of youth from the Hades of joy,


s: And once more be, though but for an hour, Jack--a boy!


s: To make sure that the Past from the Future is shut,


s: It were worth the step back.  Do you think we should live


s: With the living so lightly, and learn to survive


s: That wild moment in which to the grave and its gloom


s: We consign'd our heart's best, if the doors of the tomb


s: Were not lock'd with a key which Fate keeps for our sake?


s: If the dead could return or the corpses awake?


s: A fill'd guest from the banquet, and drains off his cup,


s: Sees the last lamp extinguish'd with cheerfulness, goes


s: Well contented to bed, and enjoys its repose.


s: But he who hath supp'd at the tables of kings,


s: And yet starved in the sight of luxurious things;


s: Who hath watch'd the wine flow, by himself but half tasted;


s: Heard the music, and yet miss'd the tune; who hath wasted


s: One part of life's grand possibilities:--friend,


s: That man will bear with him, be sure, to the end,


s: You may call it a virtue, I call it a sin.


s: Of that wicked old piece Experience--a hoary


s: Lothario, whom dying, the priest by his bed


s: (Knowing well the unprincipled life he had led,


s: And observing, with no small amount of surprise,


s: Resignation and calm in the old sinner's eyes)


s: Ask'd if he had nothing that weigh'd on his mind:


s: On reviewing my life, which in most things was pleasant,


s: I never neglected, when once it was present,


s: An occasion of pleasing myself.  On the whole,


s: I have naught to regret;"... and so, smiling, his soul


s: For the one is related, be sure, to the other.


s: Regret is a spiteful old maid: but her brother,


s: Remorse, though a widower certainly, yet


s: HAS been wed to young Pleasure.  Dear Jack, hang Regret!


s: At least, so she was, some ten summers ago.


s: As soft, and as sallow as Autumn--with hair


s: Neither black, nor yet brown, but that tinge which the air


s: Takes at eve in September, when night lingers lone


s: Through a vineyard, from beams of a slow-setting sun.


s: Eyes--the wistful gazelle's; the fine foot of a fairy;


s: And a hand fit a fay's wand to wave,--white and airy;


s: A voice soft and sweet as a tune that one knows.


s: Something in her there was, set you thinking of those


s: Strange backgrounds of Raphael... that hectic and deep


s: Brief twilight in which southern suns fall asleep.


s: Not at all.  'Twas her one fault.  Not she!


s: I had loved her the better, had she less loved me.


s: The heart of a man's like that delicate weed


s: Which requires to be trampled on, boldly indeed,


s: Ere it give forth the fragrance you wish to extract.


s: 'Tis a simile, trust me, if not new, exact.


s: I believe, that last year, the Comtesse de Nevers*


s: Was at Baden the rage--held an absolute court


s: Of devoted adorers, and really made sport


s: * O Shakespeare! how couldst thou ask "What's in a name?"


s: 'Tis the devil's in it, when a bard has to frame


s: English rhymes for alliance with names that are French:


s: And in these rhymes of mine, well I know that I trench


s: All too far on that license which critics refuse,


s: With just right, to accord to a well-brought-up Muse.


s: Yet, tho' faulty the union, in many a line,


s: 'Twixt my British-born verse and my French heroine,


s: Since, however auspiciously wedded they be,


s: There is many a pair that yet cannot agree,


s: Your forgiveness for this pair, the author invites,


s: Whom necessity, not inclination, unites.


s: Her engagement, her heart did not break with it?


s: Pray would you have had her dress always in black,


s: And shut herself up in a convent, dear Jack?


s: Besides, 'twas my fault the engagement was broken.


s: She bored me.  I show'd it.  She saw it.  What next?


s: She reproach'd.  I retorted.  Of course she was vex'd.


s: I was vex'd that she was so.  She sulk'd.  So did I.


s: If I ask'd her to sing, she look'd ready to cry.


s: I was contrite, submissive.  She soften'd.  I harden'd.


s: At noon I was banish'd.  At eve I was pardon'd.


s: She said I had no heart.  I said she had no reason.


s: I swore she talk'd nonsense.  She sobb'd I talk'd treason.


s: In short, my dear fellow, 'twas time, as you see,


s: Things should come to a crisis, and finish.  'Twas she


s: By whom to that crisis the matter was brought.


s: She released me.  I linger'd.  I linger'd, she thought,


s: With too sullen an aspect.  This gave me, of course,


s: The occasion to fly in a rage, mount my horse,


s: And declare myself uncomprehended.  And so


s: We parted.  The rest of the story you know.


s: Well, we parted.  Of course we could not


s: Continue to meet, as before, in one spot.


s: You conceive it was awkward?  Even Don Ferdinando


s: Can do, you remember, no more than he can do.


s: Considering the time when this rupture befell,


s: For Paris was charming just then.  It deranged


s: All my plans for the winter.  I ask'd to be changed--


s: Wrote for Naples, then vacant--obtain'd it--and so


s: Join'd my new post at once; but scarce reach'd it, when lo!


s: My first news from Paris informs me Lucile


s: Is ill, and in danger.  Conceive what I feel.


s: I fly back.  I find her recover'd, but yet


s: Looking pale.  I am seized with a contrite regret;


s: Reflects, but declines.  We part, swearing to be


s: Friends ever, friends only.  All that sort of thing!


s: We each keep our letters... a portrait... a ring...


s: With a pledge to return them whenever the one


s: My story is finish'd.  Of course I enjoin


s: On Lucile all those thousand good maxims we coin


s: To supply the grim deficit found in our days,


s: When love leaves them bankrupt.  I preach.  She obeys.


s: She goes out in the world; takes to dancing once more--


s: A pleasure she rarely indulged in before.


s: I go back to my post, and collect (I must own


s: 'Tis a taste I had never before, my dear John)


s: Antiques and small Elzevirs.  Heigho! now, Jack,


s: Matilda, I meant to have call'd--to leave word--


s: To explain--but the time was so pressing--


s: Your lordship's obedient!  I really can't do...


s: But indeed I can't see why yourself you need take


s: Not see?  would you have me, then, break


s: Yes; I see that your heart is as dry as a reed:


s: That the dew of your youth is rubb'd off you: I see


s: You have no feeling left in you, even for me!


s: At honor you jest; you are cold as a stone


s: To the warm voice of friendship.  Belief you have none;


s: You have lost faith in all things.  You carry a blight


s: About with you everywhere.  Yes, at the sight


s: Of such callous indifference, who could be calm?


s: I must leave you at once, Jack, or else the last balm


s: That is left me in Gilead you'll turn into gall.


s: Well, then, listen to me!  I presume when you made


s: up your mind to propose to Miss Darcy, you weigh'd


s: All the drawbacks against the equivalent gains,


s: Ere you finally settled the point.  What remains


s: But to stick to your choice?  You want money: 'tis here.


s: A settled position: 'tis yours.  A career:


s: You secure it.  A wife, young, and pretty as rich,


s: Whom all men will envy you.  Why must you itch


s: To be running away, on the eve of all this,


s: To a woman whom never for once did you miss


s: All these years since you left her?  Who knows what may hap?


s: The woman has changed since you knew her.  Perchance


s: She yet seeks to renew her youth's broken romance.


s: When women begin to feel youth and their beauty


s: Slip from them, they count it a sort of a duty


s: Which these, while they lasted, might once have procured.


s: Lucile's a coquette to the end of her fingers,


s: I will stake my last farthing.  Perhaps the wish lingers


s: To recall the once reckless, indifferent lover


s: To the feet he has left; let intrigue now recover


s: What truth could not keep.  'Twere a vengeance, no doubt--


s: A triumph;--but why must YOU bring it about?


s: You are risking the substance of all that you schemed


s: To obtain; and for what? some mad dream you have dream'd.


s: But there's nothing to risk.  You exaggerate, Jack,


s: You mistake.  In three days, at the most, I am back.


s: Ay, but how?... discontented, unsettled, upset,


s: Bearing with you a comfortless twinge of regret.


s: To make your betroth'd break off all in a huff.


s: Three days, do you say?  But in three days who knows


s: What may happen?  I don't, nor do you, I suppose.


s: Of all the good things in this good world around us,


s: The one most abundantly furnish'd and found us,


s: And which, for that reason, we least care about,


s: And can best spare our friends, is good counsel, no doubt.


s: But advice, when 'tis sought from a friend (though civility


s: May forbid to avow it), means mere liability


s: In the bill we already have drawn on Remorse,


s: Which we deem that a true friend is bound to indorse.


s: A mere lecture on debt from that friend is a bore.


s: Thus, the better his cousin's advice was, the more


s: Alfred Vargrave with angry resentment opposed it.


s: And, having the worst of the contest, he closed it


s: With so firm a resolve his bad ground to maintain,


s: That, sadly perceiving resistance was vain,


s: And argument fruitless, the amiable Jack


s: Came to terms and assisted his cousin to pack


s: A slender valise (the one small condescension


s: Which his final remonstrance obtain'd), whose dimension


s: Excluded large outfits; and, cursing his stars, he


s: Shook hands with his friend and return'd to Miss Darcy.


s: Lord Alfred, when last to the window he turn'd,


s: Ere he lock'd up and quitted his chamber, discern'd


s: Matilda ride by, with her cheek beaming bright


s: In what Virgil has call'd, "Youth's purpureal light"


s: (I like the expression, and can't find a better).


s: He sigh'd as he look'd at her.  Did he regret her?


s: In her habit and hat, with her glad golden hair,


s: As airy and blithe as a blithe bird in air,


s: And her arch rosy lips, and her eager blue eyes,


s: With her little impertinent look of surprise,


s: And her round youthful figure, and fair neck, below


s: The dark drooping feather, as radiant as snow,--


s: I can only declare, that if I had the chance


s: Of passing three days in the exquisite glance


s: Of those eyes, or caressing the hand that now petted


s: That fine English mare, I should much have regretted


s: Whatever might lose me one little half-hour


s: Of a pastime so pleasant, when once in my power.


s: For, if one drop of milk from the bright Milky Way


s: Could turn into a woman, 'twould look, I dare say,


s: Not more fresh than Matilda was looking that day.


s: But, whatever the feeling that prompted the sigh


s: With which Alfred Vargrave now watched her ride by,


s: I can only affirm that, in watching her ride,


s: As he turned from the window he certainly sigh'd.


s: "Your note, Madam, reach'd me to-day, at Bigorre,


s: And commands (need I add?) my obedience.  Before


s: The night I shall be at Luchon--where a line,


s: If sent to Duval's, the hotel where I dine,


s: Will find me, awaiting your orders.  Receive


s: Alfred Vargrave, in tracking a mountain abyss,


s: Gave the rein to his steed and his thoughts, and pursued,


s: In pursuing his course through the blue solitude,


s: The reflections that journey gave rise to.


s: (Because, without some such precaution, I fear


s: You might fail to distinguish, them each from the rest


s: Of the world they belong to; whose captives are drest,


s: As our convicts, precisely the same one and all,


s: While the coat cut for Peter is pass'd on to Paul)


s: I resolve, one by one, when I pick from the mass


s: The persons I want, as before you they pass,


s: To label them broadly in plain black and white


s: On the backs of them.  Therefore whilst yet he's in sight,


s: When a man may in all things be all.  We have more


s: Painters, poets, musicians, and artists, no doubt,


s: Than the great Cinquecento gave birth to; but out


s: Of a million of mere dilettanti, when, when


s: He is gone with the age which begat him.  Our own


s: Is too vast, and too complex, for one man alone


s: To embody its purpose, and hold it shut close


s: In the palm of his hand.  There were giants in those


s: Irreclaimable days; but in these days of ours,


s: In dividing the work, we distribute the powers.


s: Yet a dwarf on a dead giant's shoulders sees more


s: Than the 'live giant's eyesight availed to explore;


s: And in life's lengthen'd alphabet what used to be


s: A Vanini is roasted alive for his pains,


s: But a Bacon comes after and picks up his brains.


s: A Bruno is angrily seized by the throttle


s: And hunted about by thy ghost, Aristotle,


s: Till a More or Lavater step into his place:


s: Then the world turns and makes an admiring grimace.


s: Once the men were so great and so few, they appear,


s: Now the men are so many and small, disengage


s: One man from the million to mark him, next moment


s: The crowd sweeps him hurriedly out of your comment;


s: And since we seek vainly (to praise in our songs)


s: 'Mid our fellows the size which to heroes belongs,


s: We take the whole age for a hero, in want


s: Of a better; and still, in its favor, descant


s: On the strength and the beauty which, failing to find


s: Alfred Vargrave was one of those men who achieve


s: So little, because of the much they conceive:


s: With irresolute finger he knock'd at each one


s: Of the doorways of life, and abided in none.


s: His course, by each star that would cross it, was set,


s: And whatever he did he was sure to regret.


s: That target, discuss'd by the travellers of old,


s: Which to one appear'd argent, to one appear'd gold,


s: To him, ever lingering on Doubt's dizzy margent,


s: Appear'd in one moment both golden and argent.


s: The man who seeks one thing in life, and but one,


s: May hope to achieve it before life be done;


s: But he who seeks all things, wherever he goes,


s: Only reaps from the hopes which around him he sows


s: A harvest of barren regrets.  And the worm


s: That crawls on in the dust to the definite term


s: Of its creeping existence, and sees nothing more


s: Than the path it pursues till its creeping be o'er,


s: Than the Half-Sage, whose course, fix'd by no friendly star


s: Is by each star distracted in turn, and who knows


s: Each will still be as distant wherever he goes.


s: Both brilliant and brittle, both bold and unstable,


s: Indecisive yet keen, Alfred Vargrave seem'd able


s: A character wavering, fitful, uncertain,


s: As the shadow that shakes o'er a luminous curtain,


s: Vague, flitting, but on it forever impressing


s: The shape of some substance at which you stand guessing:


s: When you said, "All is worthless and weak here," behold!


s: Into sight on a sudden there seem'd to unfold


s: Great outlines of strenuous truth in the man:


s: When you said, "This is genius," the outlines grew wan,


s: And his life, though in all things so gifted and skill'd,


s: Was, at best, but a promise which nothing fulfill'd.


s: In the budding of youth, ere wild winds can deflower


s: The shut leaves of man's life, round the germ of his power


s: Yet folded, his life had been earnest.  Alas!


s: In that life one occasion, one moment, there was


s: When this earnestness might, with the life-sap of youth,


s: Lusty fruitage have borne in his manhood's full growth;


s: But it found him too soon, when his nature was still


s: The boisterous wind of the world to resist,


s: Or the frost of the world's wintry wisdom.


s: He had made it a law, in his commerce with men,


s: That intensity in him, which only left sore


s: The heart it disturb'd, to repel and ignore.


s: And thus, as some Prince by his subjects deposed,


s: Whose strength he, by seeking to crush it, disclosed,


s: In resigning the power he lack'd power to support


s: Turns his back upon courts, with a sneer at the court,


s: In his converse this man for self-comfort appeal'd


s: In the instincts and feelings belied by his words.


s: Words, however, are things: and the man who accords


s: To his language the license to outrage his soul,


s: Is controll'd by the words he disdains to control.


s: And, therefore, he seem'd in the deeds of each day


s: The light code proclaim'd on his lips to obey;


s: And, the slave of each whim, follow'd wilfully aught


s: That perchance fool'd the fancy, or flatter'd the thought.


s: Yet, indeed, deep within him, the spirits of truth,


s: Vast, vague aspirations, the powers of his youth,


s: Like those antique Theogonies ruin'd and hurl'd,


s: Under clefts of the hills, which, convulsing the world,


s: Heaved, in earthquake, their heads the rent caverns above,


s: To trouble at times in the light court of Jove


s: All its frivolous gods, with an undefined awe,


s: Of wrong'd rebel powers that own'd not their law.


s: For his sake, I am fain to believe that, if born


s: To some lowlier rank (from the world's languid scorn


s: Secured by the world's stern resistance) where strife,


s: Strife and toil, and not pleasure, gave purpose to life,


s: He possibly might have contrived to attain


s: Not eminence only, but worth.  So, again,


s: Had he been of his own house the first-born, each gift


s: Of a mind many-gifted had gone to uplift


s: To life's great realities; part of no plan;


s: He might hope to become, that alone could be when


s: With all that is real in life and in men


s: What was real in him should have been reconciled;


s: When each influence now from experience exiled


s: Should have seized on his being, combined with his nature,


s: And form'd as by fusion, a new human creature:


s: As when those airy elements viewless to sight


s: (The amalgam of which, if our science be right,


s: The germ of this populous planet doth fold)


s: Unite in the glass of the chemist, behold!


s: Where a void seem'd before, there a substance appears,


s: From the fusion of forces whence issued the spheres!


s: But the permanent cause why his life fail'd and miss'd


s: The full value of life was,--where man should resist


s: The world, which man's genius is call'd to command,


s: He gave way, less from lack of the power to withstand,


s: Than from lack of the resolute will to retain


s: Those strongholds of life which the world strives to gain.


s: Let this character go in the old-fashion'd way,


s: With the moral thereof tightly tack'd to it.  Say--


s: "Let any man once show the world that he feels


s: Afraid of its bark, and 'twill fly at his heels:


s: Let him fearlessly face it, 'twill leave him alone:


s: But 'twill fawn at his feet if he flings it a bone."


s: The moon of September, now half at the full,


s: Was unfolding from darkness and dreamland the lull


s: Of the quiet blue air, where the many-faced hills


s: And gracefully fashion a thousand sweet sports,


s: Lord Alfred (by this on his journeying far)


s: And brokenly humming an old opera strain,


s: And thinking, perchance, of those castles in Spain


s: Which that long rocky barrier hid from his sight;


s: When suddenly, out of the neighboring night,


s: A horseman emerged from a fold of the hill,


s: And so startled his steed that was winding at will


s: Up the thin dizzy strip of a pathway which led


s: O'er the mountain--the reins on its neck, and its head


s: Hanging lazily forward--that, but for a hand


s: Light and ready, yet firm, in familiar command,


s: Both rider and horse might have been in a trice


s: Hurl'd horribly over the grim precipice.


s: As soon as the moment's alarm had subsided,


s: And the oath with which nothing can find unprovided


s: A thoroughbred Englishman, safely exploded,


s: Lord Alfred unbent (as Apollo his bow did


s: Now and then) his erectness; and looking, not ruder


s: Than such inroad would warrant, survey'd the intruder,


s: Whose arrival so nearly cut short in his glory


s: My hero, and finished abruptly this story.


s: The stranger, a man of his own age or less,


s: Well mounted, and simple though rich in his dress,


s: Wore his beard and mustache in the fashion of France.


s: His face, which was pale, gather'd force from the glance


s: Of a pair of dark, vivid, and eloquent eyes.


s: With a gest of apology, touch'd with surprise,


s: He lifted his hat, bow'd and courteously made


s: Some excuse in such well-cadenced French as betray'd,


s: At the first word he spoke, the Parisian.


s: I have wander'd about in the world everywhere;


s: From many strange mouths have heard many strange tongues;


s: Strain'd with many strange idioms my lips and my lungs;


s: Walk'd in many a far land, regretting my own;


s: In many a language groaned many a groan;


s: And have often had reason to curse those wild fellows


s: Who built the high house at which Heaven turn'd jealous,


s: Making human audacity stumble and stammer


s: When seized by the throat in the hard gripe of Grammar.


s: But the language of languages dearest to me


s: Is that in which once, O ma toute cherie,


s: When, together, we bent o'er your nosegay for hours,


s: You explain'd what was silently said by the flowers,


s: And, selecting the sweetest of all, sent a flame


s: Through my heart, as, in laughing, you murmur'd


s: The Italians have voices like peacocks; the Spanish


s: Smell, I fancy, of garlic; the Swedish and Danish


s: Have something too Runic, too rough and unshod, in


s: Their accents for mouths not descended from Odin;


s: German gives me a cold in the head, sets me wheezing


s: And coughing; and Russian is nothing but sneezing;


s: But, by Belus and Babel!  I never have heard,


s: And I never shall hear (I well know it), one word


s: Feeling morally sure, beyond question or doubt,


s: By the wild way in which my heart inwardly flutter'd


s: That my heart's native tongue to my heart had been utter'd


s: And whene'er I hear French spoken as I approve


s: Lord Alfred, on hearing the stranger, appeased


s: By a something, an accent, a cadence, which pleased


s: His ear with that pledge of good breeding which tells


s: At once of the world in whose fellowship dwells


s: The speaker that owns it, was glad to remark


s: In the horseman a man one might meet after dark


s: As it seem'd, with each other, the two men abreast


s: Many thanks!...  Such cigars are a luxury here.


s: Since our road is the same, that our journey must be


s: Somewhat closer than is our acquaintance.  You see


s: How narrow the path is.  I'm tempted to ask


s: Your permission to finish (no difficult task!)


s: The cigar you have given me (really a prize!)


s: In the way of my own inclinations!  Indeed


s: The dream of your nation I find in this weed.


s: In the distant Savannahs a talisman grows


s: That makes all men brothers that use it... who knows?


s: That blaze which erewhile from the Boulevart out-broke,


s: It has ended where wisdom begins, Sir,--in smoke.


s: Messieurs Lopez (whatever your publicists write)


s: Have done more in their way human kind to unite,


s: Humph!  Nature is here too pretentious.  Her mien


s: Is too haughty.  One likes to be coax'd, not compell'd,


s: To the notice such beauty resents if withheld.


s: She seems to be saying too plainly, "Admire me!"


s: And I answer, "Yes, madam, I do: but you tire me."


s: One would think that the sun by this time must be sick


s: Of blushing at what, by this time, he must know


s: With us all.  'Tis the sinner that best knew the world


s: At Twenty, whose lip is, at sixty, most curl'd


s: With disdain of its follies.  You stay at Luchon?


s: Folly soon wears her shoes out.  She dances so fast


s: The belle of all places in which she is seen;


s: The belle of all Paris last winter; last spring


s: Sir, an uncommon beauty!... I rather should say


s: One meets women whose beauty is equal to hers,


s: But none with the charm of Lucile de Nevers.


s: Or, rather, I knew her--a long time ago.