s: But, when the days of golden dreams had perished,


s: And even Despair was powerless to destroy;


s: Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,


s: Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.


s: Then did I check the tears of useless passion--


s: Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine;


s: Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten


s: Down to that tomb already more than mine.


s: And, even yet, I dare not let it languish,


s: Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain;


s: Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,


s: They thought their hearts could ne'er recall


s: They thought the tide of grief would flow


s: Well, let them fight for honor's breath,


s: And, if their eyes should watch and weep


s: When sparrows build, and the leaves break forth,


s: For I know there is dawn in the far, far north,


s: Like a scarlet fleece the snow-field spreads,


s: Nay, I spoke once, and I grieved thee sore,


s: And now thou wilt hear me no more--no more


s: Thou didst set thy foot on the ship, and sail


s: Thou wert sad, for thy love did naught avail,


s: How could I tell I should love thee to-day,


s: How could I know I should love thee away


s: We shall walk no more through the sodden plain


s: We shall stand no more by the seething main


s: We shall part no more in the wind and the rain,


s: But perhaps I shall meet thee and know thee again


s: Could ye come back to me, Douglas, Douglas,


s: I would be so faithful, so loving, Douglas,


s: My eyes were blinded, your words were few:


s: Do you know the truth now, up in heaven,


s: Now all men beside seem to me like shadows--


s: Stretch out your hand to me, Douglas, Douglas,


s: As I lay my heart on your dead heart, Douglas,


s: At the Midsummer, when the hay was down,


s: Said I mournful--Though my life be in its prime,


s: Bare lie my meadows all shorn before their time,


s: O'er my sere woodlands the leaves are turning brown;


s: It is the hot Midsummer, when the hay is down.


s: Stood she by the brooklet, young and very fair,


s: With the first white bindweed twisted in her hair--


s: Hair that drooped like birch-boughs, all in her simple gown--


s: That eve in high Midsummer, when the hay was down.


s: Crept she a willing bride close into my breast;


s: Low-piled the thunder-clouds had sunk into the west,


s: Red-eyed the sun out-glared like knight from leaguered town;


s: It was the high Midsummer, and the sun was down.


s: Close to her forehead press I dying eyes,


s: Praying God shield her till we meet in Paradise,


s: Bless her in love's name who was my joy and crown,


s: And I go at Midsummer, when the hay is down.


s: Over the crisp and yellow leaves, I held my rustling way;


s: And amid the words of mercy, falling on my soul like balms;


s: 'Mid the gorgeous storms of music--in the mellow organ calms,


s: Gleamed and vanished in a moment--O that face was surely thine


s: When last I saw thee, dearest, it was in another place.


s: A purple stain of agony was on the mouth I kissed,


s: I could not drive away the thought that you were lingering there.


s: My worn face buried in my hands, beside the fire alone.


s: Within the dripping churchyard, the rain plashing on your stone,


s: I clasped around your happy arm while sitting by yon brink?


s: Or when that night of gliding dance, of laughter and guitars,


s: Was emptied of its music, and we watched, through lattice-bars,


s: The silent midnight heaven creeping o'er us with its stars,


s: And many sins and errors now have been on me avenged;


s: But to you I have been faithful, whatsoever good I lacked:


s: I loved you, and above my life still hangs that love intact--


s: Your love the trembling rainbow, I the reckless cataract.


s: I wander like a desert wind, without a place of rest.


s: Could I but win you for an hour from off that starry shore,


s: The hunger of my soul were stilled, for Death hath told you more


s: Than the melancholy world doth know; things deeper than all lore


s: There droops upon the dreary hills a mournful fringe of rain;


s: The gloaming closes slowly round, loud winds are in the tree,


s: Round selfish shores for ever moans the hurt and wounded sea,


s: There is no rest upon the earth, peace is with Death and thee,


s: What charmed death holdeth you with deep


s: Down there you love the grave's own green,


s: The broad quaint odorous leaves like hands


s: Weave sleep no burnished bird withstands,


s: For rich earth must have reached your heart


s: In the wild autumn weather, when the rain was on the sea,


s: And the boughs sobbed together, Death came and spake to me:


s: "Those red drops of thy heart I have come to take from thee;


s: As the storm sheds the rose, so thy love shall broken be,"


s: Those red drops from my heart then thou shalt surely have;


s: But the rose keeps its bloom, as I my love will save


s: In the wild autumn weather a dread sword slipped from its sheath;


s: And I vanquished him with prayer, and I vanquished him by faith:


s: Now the summer air is sweet with the rose's fragrant breath


s: All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,


s: That a maiden there lived whom you may know


s: And this maiden she lived with no other thought


s: But we loved with a love that was more than love,


s: With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven


s: The angels, not half so happy in heaven,


s: Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,


s: That the wind came out of the cloud by night,


s: But our love it was stronger by far than the love


s: For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams


s: And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes


s: And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side


s: Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,


s: You can see the gap in the old wall still,


s: And the stepping-stones in the shallow brook.


s: There is the house, with the gate red-barred,


s: And the barn's brown length, and the cattle-yard,


s: And the white horns tossing above the wall.


s: There are the beehives ranged in the sun;


s: Of the brook are her poor flowers, weed-o'errun,


s: And the same rose blows, and the same sun glows,


s: There's the same sweet clover-smell in the breeze;


s: I brushed off the burrs, and smoothed my hair,


s: And cooled at the brookside my brow and throat.


s: Down through the beeches I looked at last


s: On the little red gate and the well-sweep near.


s: I can see it all now,--the slantwise rain


s: The barn's brown gable, the vine by the door,--


s: Went drearily singing the chore-girl small,


s: Draping each hive with a shred of black.


s: For I knew she was telling the bees of one


s: But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill


s: The old man sat; and the chore-girl still


s: "Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence!


s: Oh, loosen the snood that you wear, Janette,


s: Let me tangle a hand in your hair--my pet;


s: For the world to me had no daintier sight


s: Than your brown hair veiling your shoulders white;


s: It was brown with a golden gloss, Janette,


s: It was finer than silk of the floss--my pet;


s: 'Twas a beautiful mist falling down to your wrist,


s: 'Twas the loveliest hair in the world--my pet.


s: It was sinewy, bristled, and brown--my pet;


s: But warmly and softly it loved to caress


s: Your round white neck and your wealth of tress,


s: Your eyes had a swimming glory, Janette.


s: They were gray with that chastened tinge of the sky


s: When the trout leaps quickest to snap the fly,


s: And they matched with your golden hair--my pet.


s: Your lips--but I have no words, Janette--


s: They were fresh as the twitter of birds--my pet,


s: When the spring is young, and the roses are wet,


s: With the dewdrops in each red bosom set,


s: And they suited your gold brown hair--my pet.


s: Oh, you tangled my life in your hair, Janette,


s: 'Twas a silken and golden snare--my pet;


s: But, so gentle the bondage, my soul did implore


s: The right to continue your slave evermore,


s: With my fingers enmeshed in your hair--my pet.


s: Thus ever I dream what you were, Janette,


s: With your lips, and your eyes, and your hair--my pet,


s: In the darkness of desolate years I moan,


s: And my tears fall bitterly over the stone


s: Make me no vows of constancy, dear friend,


s: To love me, though I die, thy whole life long,


s: And love no other till thy days shall end--


s: To bind thy heart, if it should choose to go--


s: My placid ghost, I trust, will walk serene


s: In clearer light than gilds those earthly morns,


s: Thou wouldst not feel my shadowy caress;


s: If, after death, my soul should linger here;


s: Men's hearts crave tangible, close tenderness,


s: It would not make me sleep more peacefully


s: That thou wert wasting all thy life in woe


s: For my poor sake; what love thou hast for me,


s: The praises which remorseful mourners give


s: Let small blooms grow there, and let grasses wave,


s: Than I; but, trust me, thou canst never find


s: One who will love and serve thee night and day


s: Above my breast will blossom just as blue,


s: Nor miss thy tears; e'en nature's self forgets;


s: If spirits walk, love, when the night climbs slow


s: The slant footpath where we were wont to go,


s: Be sure that I shall take the selfsame way


s: To the hill-crest, and shoreward, down the gray,


s: Sheer, graveled slope, where vetches straggling grow.


s: Look for me not when gusts of winter blow,


s: When at thy pane beat hands of sleet and snow;


s: I would not come thy dear eyes to affray,


s: But when, in June, the pines are whispering low,


s: And when their breath plays with thy bright hair so


s: As some one's fingers once were used to play--


s: That hour when birds leave song, and children pray,


s: Keep the old tryst, sweetheart, and thou shalt know


s: Les jamais sont les toujours.--Paul Verlaine


s: You would have understood me, had you waited;


s: I could have loved you, dear! as well as he;


s: Had we not been impatient, dear! and fated


s: What is the use of speech?  Silence were fitter:


s: Lest we should still be wishing things unsaid.


s: Though all the words we ever spake were bitter,


s: Nay, let this earth, your portion, likewise cover


s: Always, in all, in truth was I your lover;


s: As you were cold, dear! with a grace as rare.


s: Think you I turned to them, or made surrender,


s: Had we been patient, dear! ah, had you waited,


s: I had fought death for you, better than he:


s: But from the very first, dear! we, were fated


s: Late, late, I come to you, now death discloses


s: Love that in life was not to be our part:


s: On your low-lying mound between the roses,


s: I would not waken you: nay! this is fitter;


s: Death and the darkness give you unto me;


s: Here we who loved so, were so cold and bitter,


s: Good-night, dear friend!  I say good-night to thee


s: Across the moonbeams, tremulous and white,


s: Bridging all space between us, it may be.


s: Lean low, sweet friend; it is the last good-night.


s: For, lying low upon my couch, and still,


s: I heard them whisper softly, "'Tis His will;


s: Angels will give her happier resting-place!"


s: And so from sight of tears that fell like rain,


s: And sounds of sobbing smothered close and low,


s: I turned my white face to the window-pane,


s: Good-night! good-night!  I do not fear the end,


s: The conflict with the billows dark and high;


s: And yet, if I could touch thy hand, my friend,


s: If I could feel through all the quiet waves


s: Of my deep hair thy tender breath a-thrill,


s: I could go downward to the place of graves


s: With eyes a-shine and pale lips smiling still;


s: Or it may be that, if through all the strife


s: And pain of parting I should hear thy call,


s: I would come singing back to sweet, sweet life,


s: It may not be.  Good-night, dear friend, good-night!


s: And hear, through boughs with swollen buds a-white,


s: Remember her whose young life held thy name


s: With all things holy, in its outward flight,


s: And turn sometimes from busy haunts of men


s: To hear again her low good-night! good-night!


s: Far from the woods where sweet birds sing;


s: Lest my poor dust should feel the Spring.


s: Wind of the winnowed skies and sharp, clear stars--


s: Blow cold and keen across the naked hills,


s: And crisp the lowland pools with crystal films,


s: And blur the casement-squares with glittering ice,


s: Wind of the gold and crimson sunset lands--


s: Blow fresh and pure across the peaks and plains,


s: And broaden the blue spaces of the heavens,


s: And sway the grasses and the mountain pines,


s: Wind of the clinging mists and gray, harsh rains--


s: Blow moist and chill across the wastes of brine,


s: And shut the sun out, and the moon and stars,


s: And lash the boughs against the dripping eaves,


s: Wind from the bowers of jasmine and of rose!--


s: And flowering forests come with dewy wings,


s: And stir the petals at her feet, and kiss


s: That stirred his pulse with passion's pain


s: Were more to him than all his knowledge,


s: Pealed through the dim cathedral arches,--


s: Like sunshine through the shadows rifting:


s: (I've kissed--'gainst rason an' 'gainst rhyme--


s: That one gerrl stays close wid me still.


s: An' round us still the white May drifts;


s: Your towers are fairer for their stains,


s: I seek you through your tarnished halls,


s: Your flower of life, so bright, so red--


s: Music I heard with you was more than music,


s: And bread I broke with you was more than bread.


s: Now that I am without you, all is desolate,


s: Your hands once touched this table and this silver,


s: And I have seen your fingers hold this glass.


s: These things do not remember you, beloved:


s: And yet your touch upon them will not pass.


s: For it was in my heart you moved among them,


s: And blessed them with your hands and with your eyes.


s: And in my heart they will remember always:


s: They knew you once, O beautiful and wise!


s: Home through the leaves, home through the dew,


s: Are blowing, and the bright blue squills.


s: Tripping by in high-heeled, ribboned shoes.


s: And one small flower has dropped upon my bosom.


s: Is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin,


s: So thick, she cannot see her lover hiding.


s: I should like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground.


s: All the pink and silver crumpled upon the ground.


s: I would be the pink and silver as I ran along the paths,


s: To lead him in a maze along the patterned paths,


s: A bright and laughing maze for my heavy-booted lover,


s: With the shadows of the leaves and the sundrops,


s: It was brought to me this morning by a rider from the Duke.


s: "Madam, we regret to inform you that Lord Hartwell


s: As I read it in the white, morning sunlight,


s: "See that the messenger takes some refreshment.


s: The blue and yellow flowers stood up proudly in the sun,


s: In a month he would have been my husband.


s: And I answered, "It shall be as you have said."


s: Will give place to pillared roses, and to asters, and to snow.


s: And the softness of my body will be guarded from embrace


s: For the man who should loose me is dead,


s: We'll ride the air, and shine, and flit,


s: And the weak passionless hearts will burn


s: And they will know--poor fools, they'll know!--


s: The little red ribbon, the ring and the rose!


s: The summertime comes, and the summertime goes--


s: As white as the gleam of her beckoning hand!


s: The long winter months, and the glare of the snows;


s: As bright as the light of her glorious eyes!


s: Dreams only are true: but they fade and are gone--


s: For her face is not here when I waken at dawn;


s: The little red ribbon, the ring and the rose


s: Mine only; hers only the dream and repose.


s: I am weary of waiting, and weary of tears,


s: And my heart wearies, too, all these desolate years,


s: Moaning over the one only song that it knows,--


s: The hours I spent with thee, dear heart,


s: I kiss each bead, and strive at last to learn


s: My true-love hath my heart, and I have his,


s: By just exchange one for the other given:


s: I hold his dear, and mine he cannot miss;


s: There never was a better bargain driven;


s: His heart in me keeps him and me in one,


s: My heart in him his thoughts and senses guides:


s: He loves my heart, for once it was his own,


s: His heart his wound received from my sight;


s: My heart was wounded from his wounded heart;


s: For as from me, on him his hurt did light,


s: So still me thought in me his heart did smart:


s: Both equal hurt, in this change sought our bliss,


s: My true love hath my heart, and I have his.


s: O sweet delight, O more than human bliss,


s: To hear her speak whose words are so well placed


s: That she by them, as they in her are graced:


s: Those looks to view that feast the viewer's eye,


s: How blest is he that may so live and die!


s: Such love as this the Golden Times did know,


s: When all did reap, yet none took care to sow;


s: Such love as this an endless summer makes,


s: And all distaste from frail affection takes.


s: Which till their eyes ache, let iron men envy!


s: Did, till we loved? were we not weaned till then?


s: But sucked on country pleasures, childishly?


s: Or snored we in the Seven Sleepers' den?


s: 'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be;


s: Which I desired, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.


s: And now good-morrow to our waking souls,


s: Which watch not one another out of fear;


s: For love all love of other sights controls,


s: And makes one little room an everywhere.


s: Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone;


s: Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,


s: Let us possess one world; each hath one, and is one.


s: My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,


s: And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;


s: Where can we find two fitter hemispheres


s: Without sharp north, without declining west?


s: Love just alike in all, none of these loves can die.


s: There's gowd in the breast of the primrose pale,


s: There's riches galore in the breeze of the vale,


s: But we hae yon heaven sae bonnie and blue,


s: The breezes of health, and the valleys of dew--


s: In robe and crown the king stepped down,


s: Twilight, a timid fawn, went glimmering by,


s: And Night, the dark-blue hunter, followed fast,


s: Ceaseless pursuit and flight were in the sky,


s: But the long chase had ceased for us at last.


s: We watched together while the driven fawn


s: We, from whose hearts pursuit and flight were gone,


s: Knew on the hunter's breast her refuge lay.


s: One morning, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved,


s: Then I hearkened, oh! so early, my beloved, my beloved,


s: To that murmur from the woodland of the dove, my dear, the dove;


s: When the nightingale came after, "Give us fame to sweeten duty!"


s: Sweet is spring, and sweet the morning, my beloved, my beloved;


s: And strange in the meadows the corncrakes,


s: White hawthorn, strange in the night-time--


s: Then where's that proud, cold heart of yours


s: Kissing her hair, I sat against her feet,


s: Wove and unwove it, wound and found it sweet;


s: Made fast therewith her hands, drew down her eyes,


s: Deep as deep flowers and dreamy like dim skies;


s: With her own tresses bound and found her fair,


s: Sleep were no sweeter than her face to me,


s: Sleep of cold sea-bloom under the cold sea;


s: What pain could get between my face and hers?


s: What new sweet thing would love not relish worse?


s: Unless, perhaps, white death had kissed me there,


s: We journeyed through broad woodland ways,


s: The maples set the shining fields ablaze.


s: Brought to us its great Spring surprise;


s: While we saw all things through each other's eyes.


s: Sometimes came glimpses glad of the blue sea;


s: But I smiled only on my Love; he smiled on me.


s: The violets made a field one mass of blue--


s: The little brook took on that color too,


s: "Your dress is blue," he laughing said.  "Your eyes,"


s: My heart sang, "sweeter than the bending skies."


s: We glanced at apple-trees, like drifted snow;


s: Yet all the winters cannot blow its sweetness quite away.


s: I feel the sap through the bough returning,


s: I love, and thoughts that sometime grieved,


s: By the merest chance, in the twilight gloom,


s: In the tall, wet grass, with its faint perfume,


s: And I tried to pass, but he made no room,


s: So I stood and blushed till the grass grew red,


s: While he took my hand as he whispering said--


s: (How the clover lifted each pink, sweet head,


s: In the high, wet grass went the path to hide,


s: For I found myself, when I vainly tried,


s: And he held me there and he raised my head,


s: And he looked down into my eyes and said--


s: (How the leaves bent down from the boughs o'erhead


s: And would not have heard what he had to say,


s: It was almost dark, and the moments sped,


s: (How the pure, sweet wind grew still, instead,


s: For I tried to go, and I would have passed,


s: As the night was come with its dew, at last,


s: But he clasped me close when I would have fled,


s: And his soul came out from his lips and said--


s: (How the stars crept out where the white moon led,


s: I know that the grass and the leaves will not tell,


s: And I'm sure that the wind, precious rover,


s: From the soul-speaking lips of my lover;


s: And the moon and the stars that looked over


s: Shall never reveal what a fairy-like spell


s: They wove round about us that night in the dell,


s: In the path through the dew-laden clover,


s: Nor echo the whispers that made my heart swell


s: And let the maidens robe thee like a white white-lilac tree,


s: Then wilt thou see the orange trees star-flowering over Spain,


s: Or arched and mounded Kaiser-towns that molder mid Almain,


s: Or through the cypress-gardens go of magic Italy?


s: Oh East or West or South or North, say, wilt thou come with me?


s: But wilt thou farther come with me through hawthorn red and white


s: The one is the fire of the ancient spheres,


s: And, oh, there's a flame that is both their flames


s: And my senses were faint with the fragrant


s: Where the quiet-colored end of evening smiles


s: On the solitary pastures where our sheep


s: Tinkle homeward through the twilight, stray or stop


s: Was the site once of a city great and gay,


s: Of our country's very capital, its prince


s: Held his court in, gathered councils, wielding far


s: Now,--the country does not even boast a tree,


s: To distinguish slopes of verdure, certain rills


s: Intersect and give a name to (else they run Into one),


s: Where the domed and daring palace shot its spires


s: O'er the hundred-gated circuit of a wall


s: Made of marble, men might march on nor be pressed,


s: And such plenty and perfection, see, of grass


s: Such a carpet as, this summer-time, o'erspreads


s: Every vestige of the city, guessed alone,


s: Where a multitude of men breathed joy and woe


s: Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame


s: And that glory and that shame alike, the gold


s: Now,--the single little turret that remains


s: While the patching houseleek's head of blossom winks


s: Marks the basement whence a tower in ancient time


s: And a burning ring, all round, the chariots traced


s: And the monarch and his minions and his dames


s: And I know, while thus the quiet-colored eve


s: To their folding, all our many-tinkling fleece


s: And the slopes and rills in undistinguished gray


s: That a girl with eager eyes and yellow hair


s: In the turret whence the charioteers caught soul


s: But he looked upon the city, every side,


s: All the mountains topped with temples, all the glades'


s: All the causeys, bridges, aqueducts,--and then,


s: When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand,


s: On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace


s: Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech


s: In one year they sent a million fighters forth


s: And they built their gods a brazen pillar high


s: Yet reserved a thousand chariots in full force--


s: Oh heart! oh blood that freezes, blood that burns!


s: For whole centuries of folly, noise and sin!


s: With their triumphs and their glories and the rest!


s: There's a woman like a dewdrop, she's so purer than the purest;


s: I may enter at her portal soon, as now her lattice takes me,


s: And quench its speed in the slushy sand.


s: Three fields to cross till a farm appears;


s: A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch


s: And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,


s: Than the two hearts beating each to each!


s: Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,


s: And the sun looked over the mountain's rim:


s: And straight was a path of gold for him,


s: With dew at the dawn, the pearls have slipped--


s: Though the earth lie white in the noonday heat,


s: Or the swift storm follow our hurrying feet


s: O, saw ye the lass wi' the bonny blue een?


s: Her smile is the sweetest that ever was seen:


s: Her cheek like the rose is, but fresher, I ween;


s: She's the loveliest lassie that trips on the green.


s: The home of my love is below in the valley,


s: Where wild-flowers welcome the wandering bee;


s: But the sweetest of flowers in that spot that is seen


s: Is the maid that I love wi' the bonny blue een.


s: When night overshadows her cot in the glen,


s: She'll steal out to meet her loved Donald again;


s: And when the moon shines on the valley so green,


s: I'll welcome the lass wi' the bonny blue een.


s: As the dove that has wandered away from his nest


s: Returns to the mate his fond heart loves the best,


s: I'll fly from the world's false and vanishing scene,


s: To my dear one, the lass wi' the bonny blue een.


s: Love turned to tears, and tears to fire,


s: Love's talk, love's touch there seemed to be


s: Mine to the core of the heart, my beauty!


s: Of his goodly chambers with song and shout,


s: Mine, from the dear head's crown, brown-golden,


s: To the silken foot that's scarce beholden;


s: But the sanctuary heart, that none dare win,


s: The crowd in the aisles may watch the door,


s: Mine, my own, without doubts or terrors,


s: With all thy goodnesses, all thy errors,


s: Many may praise thee,--praise mine as thine,


s: Many may love thee,--I'll love them too;


s: But thy heart of hearts, pure, faithful, and true,


s: Must be mine, mine wholly, and only mine.


s: Mine!--God, I thank Thee that Thou hast given


s: Two to the world for the world's work's sake,--


s: But each unto each, as in Thy sight, one.


s: Before I peril all for thee, question thy soul to-night for me.


s: Wherein thy life could henceforth breathe,


s: If so, at any pain or cost, O, tell me before all is lost.


s: Let no false pity spare the blow, but in true mercy tell me so.


s: Whatever on my heart may fall--remember, I would risk it all!


s: A song that croons with the cricket's voice,


s: Till summoned dawn stands half revealed!


s: The blush is on the flower, and the bloom is on the tree,


s: And the bonnie, bonnie sweet birds are caroling their glee;


s: And the dews upon the grass are made diamonds by the sun,


s: All to deck a path of glory for my own Cailin Donn!


s: Oh fair she is!  Oh rare she is!  Oh dearer still to me,


s: More welcome than the green leaf to winter-stricken tree!


s: More welcome than the blossom to the weary, dusty bee,


s: Is the coming of my true love--my own Cailin Donn!


s: O sycamore! O sycamore! wave, wave your banners green!


s: Let all your pennons flutter, O beech! before my queen!


s: Ye fleet and honeyed breezes, to kiss her hand ye run;


s: But my heart has passed before ye to my own Cailin Donn.


s: Ring out, ring out, O linden, your merry leafy bells!


s: Unveil your brilliant torches, O chestnut! to the dells;


s: Strew, strew the glade with splendor, for morn it cometh on!


s: Oh, the morn of all delight to me--my own Cailin Donn!


s: She is coming, where we parted, where she wanders every day;


s: There's a gay surprise before her who thinks me far away;


s: Oh, like hearing bugles triumph when the fight of freedom's won,


s: Is the joy around your footsteps, my own Cailin Donn!


s: Angered I sprang, and struck you in the face.


s: You asked at once too little and too much.


s: Love's very soul that unto death endures,


s: Crown as you will the cup of your desire--


s: We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burn side,


s: Where the bushes form a cosie den, on yon burn side;


s: Yet we'll meet--we'll meet at e'en, down by yon burn side.


s: I'll lead thee to the birken bower, on yon burn side,


s: Sae sweetly wove wi' woodbine flower, on yon burn side;


s: While in ither's arms they lie, down by yon burn side.


s: Awa', ye rude, unfeeling crew, frae yon burn side,


s: Those fairy scenes are no for you, by yon burn side;


s: And the rock-lodged echoes skim, down by yon burn side.


s: Now the plantin' taps are tinged wi' goud, on yon burn side,


s: And gloamin' draws her foggy shroud o'er yon burn side;


s: There we'll meet, my ain dear Jean, down by yon burn side.


s: When there's such lovely longing in thine eyes,


s: And such a pulse in thy small clinging hands,


s: What is the good of being great or wise?


s: On the world's highway, vexed with droughty heat?


s: Seeing that thou, beloved, art so sweet!


s: We'll chat and rhyme, and kiss and dine,


s: Blue sky, green fields, and lazy yellow sun!


s: Why should I hunger for the burning South,


s: Where beauty needs no travail to be won,


s: Now I may kiss her pure impassioned mouth?


s: Winds rippling with the rich delight of spring!


s: Why should I yearn for myriad-colored skies,


s: The flame and rapture of her starry eyes?


s: Oh, song of birds, and flowers fair to see!


s: Why should I thirst for far-off Eden-isles,


s: And bask, a dreamer, in her dreamy smiles?


s: All thoughts, all passions, all delights,


s: That crazed that bold and lovely Knight,


s: "Lured," little one?  Nay, you've but heard


s: Not lured, my bird, my light, swift bird,


s: "Caught," does she feel?  Nay, no net stirred


s: Not caught, my bird, my bright, wild bird,


s: And "caged," she fears?  Nay, never that word


s: "Cold altar, heaven and earth shall meet


s: Then raised her head with lips compressed,


s: My gifts, when gifts of mine could please.


s: "Through slander, meanest spawn of hell,--


s: "Dark porch," I said, "and silent aisle,


s: Calm was the day, and through the trembling air


s: Sweet-breathing Zephyrus did softly play


s: Hot Titan's beams, which then did glister fair;


s: Through discontent of my long fruitless stay


s: Like empty shadows, did afflict my brain),


s: Along the shore of silver streaming Thames;


s: Whose rutty bank, the which his river hems,


s: And all the meads adorned with dainty gems,


s: Against the bridal day, which is not long:


s: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.


s: There, in a meadow, by the river's side,


s: All lovely daughters of the flood thereby,


s: With goodly greenish locks, all loose untied,


s: And each one had a little wicker basket,


s: Made of fine twigs, entrailed curiously,


s: In which they gathered flowers to fill their flasket,


s: And, with fine fingers, cropped full feateously


s: Of every sort, which in that meadow grew,


s: They gathered some; the violet, pallid blue,


s: The little daisy, that at evening closes,


s: Against the bridal day, which was not long:


s: Come softly swimming down along the Lee;


s: The snow, which doth the top of Pindus strew,


s: Nor Jove himself, when he a swan would be


s: Yet not so white as these, nor nothing near;


s: That even the gentle stream, the which them bare,


s: Seemed foul to them, and bade his billows spare


s: To wet their silken feathers, lest they might


s: Soil their fair plumes with water not so fair,


s: Against their bridal day, which was not long:


s: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.


s: Eftsoons the nymphs, which now had flowers their fill,


s: Ran all in haste to see that silver brood,


s: As they came floating on the crystal flood;


s: Whom when they saw, they stood amazed still,


s: Them seemed they never saw a sight so fair


s: Of fowls so lovely, that they sure did deem


s: Them heavenly born, or to be that same pair


s: Which through the sky draw Venus' silver team;


s: Yet were they bred of summer's heat, they say,


s: In sweetest season, when each flower and weed


s: Even as their bridal day, which was not long:


s: Then forth they all out of their baskets drew


s: Great store of flowers, the honor of the field,


s: That to the sense did fragrant odors yield,


s: All which upon those goodly birds they threw


s: That like old Peneus' waters they did seem,


s: When down along by pleasant Tempe's shore,


s: Scattered with flowers, through Thessaly they stream,


s: That they appear, through lilies' plenteous store,


s: Two of those nymphs, meanwhile, two garlands bound


s: Of freshest flowers which in that mead they found,


s: Their snowy foreheads therewithal they crowned,


s: Against their bridal day, which was not long:


s: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.


s: "Ye gentle birds! the world's fair ornament,


s: Doth lead unto your lover's blissful bower,


s: Joy may you have, and gentle hearts' content


s: And let fair Venus, that is queen of love,


s: With her heart-quelling son upon you smile,


s: Whose smile, they say, hath virtue to remove


s: All love's dislike, and friendship's faulty guile


s: Let endless peace your steadfast hearts accord,


s: And blessed plenty wait upon your board;


s: And let your bed with pleasures chaste abound,


s: Upon your bridal day, which is not long":


s: Which said their bridal day should not be long:


s: And gentle Echo from the neighbor-ground


s: So forth those joyous birds did pass along,


s: Adown the Lee, that to them murmured low,


s: As he would speak, but that he lacked a tongue,


s: Yet did by signs his glad affection show,


s: And all the fowl which in his flood did dwell


s: 'Gan flock about these twain, that did excel


s: The lesser stars.  So they, enranged well,


s: Against their wedding day, which was not long:


s: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.


s: At length they all to merry London came,


s: That to me gave this life's first native source;


s: Though from another place I take my name,


s: There when they came, whereas those bricky towers


s: The which on Thames' broad, aged back do ride,


s: Where now the studious lawyers have their bowers,


s: There whilom wont the Templar Knights to bide,


s: Next whereunto there stands a stately place,


s: Where oft I gained gifts and goodly grace


s: Of that great lord, which therein wont to dwell,


s: Whose want too well now feels my friendless case;


s: Against the bridal day, which is not long:


s: Yet therein now doth lodge a noble peer,


s: Great England's glory, and the world's wide wonder,


s: Whose dreadful name late through all Spain did thunder,


s: Fair branch of honor, flower of chivalry!


s: That fillest England with thy triumph's fame,


s: And endless happiness of thine own name,


s: That through thy prowess, and victorious arms,


s: Thy country may be freed from foreign harms;


s: And great Elisa's glorious name may ring


s: Through all the world, filled with thy wide alarms,


s: Sweet Thames! run softly, till I end my song.


s: From those high towers this noble lord issuing,


s: Like radiant Hesper, when his golden hair


s: In the ocean billows he hath bathed fair,


s: Two gentle knights of lovely face and feature


s: With gifts of wit and ornaments of nature,


s: That like the twins of Jove they seemed in sight,


s: Which deck the baldrick of the heavens bright;


s: They two, forth pacing to the river's side,


s: Received those two fair brides, their love's delight;


s: Against their bridal day, which is not long:


s: Ye learned sisters, which have oftentimes


s: Whom ye thought worthy of your graceful rhymes,


s: That even the greatest did not greatly scorn


s: To hear their names sung in your simple lays,


s: And when ye list your own mishaps to mourn,


s: Which death, or love, or fortune's wreck did raise,


s: Your string could soon to sadder tenor turn,


s: And teach the woods and waters to lament


s: Now lay those sorrowful complaints aside;


s: And, having all your heads with garlands crowned,


s: Help me mine own love's praises to resound;


s: The woods shall to me answer, and my echo ring.


s: Early, before the world's light-giving lamp


s: His golden beam upon the hills doth spread,


s: Having dispersed the night's uncheerful damp,


s: And long since ready forth his mask to move,


s: With his bright Tead that flames with many a flake,


s: Bid her awake therefore, and soon her dight,


s: That shall, for all the pains and sorrows past,


s: That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.


s: Bring with you all the Nymphs that you can hear,


s: Both of the rivers and the forests green,


s: And of the sea that neighbors to her near,


s: All with gay garlands goodly well beseen.


s: And let them also with them bring in hand


s: For my fair love, of lilies and of roses,


s: Bound truelove wise with a blue silk riband;


s: And let them make great store of bridal posies,


s: And let them eke bring store of other flowers,


s: And let the ground whereas her foot shall tread,


s: For fear the stones her tender foot should wrong,


s: Be strewed with fragrant flowers all along,


s: Which done, do at her chamber door await,


s: The whiles do ye this song unto her sing,


s: The woods shall to you answer, and your echo ring.


s: Ye Nymphs of Mulla, which with careful heed


s: The silver scaly trouts do tend full well,


s: And greedy pikes which use therein to feed


s: (Those trouts and pikes all others do excel);


s: And ye likewise, which keep the rushy lake,


s: Bind up the locks the which hang scattered light,


s: And in his waters, which your mirror make,


s: Behold your faces as the crystal bright,


s: That when you come whereas my love doth lie,


s: And eke, ye lightfoot maids, which keep the deer,


s: That on the hoary mountain used to tower;


s: And the wild wolves, which seek them to devour,


s: With your steel darts do chase from coming near;


s: To help to deck her, and to help to sing,


s: That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.


s: Wake, now, my love, awake! for it is time;


s: The rosy mom long since left Tithon's bed,


s: And Phoebus 'gins to show his glorious head.


s: Hark, how the cheerful birds do chant their lays


s: The thrush replies; the mavis descant plays;


s: The ouzel shrills; the ruddock warbles soft;


s: So goodly all agree, with sweet consent,


s: Ah! my dear love, why do ye sleep thus long,


s: When meeter were that ye should now awake,


s: To await the coming of your joyous mate,


s: And hearken to the birds' love-learned song,


s: For they of joy and pleasance to you sing,


s: That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring.


s: And her fair eyes, like stars that dimmed were


s: With darksome cloud, now show their goodly beams


s: More bright than Hesperus his head doth rear.


s: Come now, ye damsels, daughters of delight,


s: But first come, ye fair hours, which were begot


s: In Jove's sweet paradise of Day and Night;


s: And all that ever in this world is fair,


s: And ye three handmaids of the Cyprian queen,


s: The which do still adorn her beauty's pride,


s: And as ye her array, still throw between


s: The whiles the woods shall answer, and your echo ring.


s: Let all the virgins therefore well await:


s: And ye fresh boys, that tend upon her groom,


s: Prepare yourselves; for he is coming straight;


s: Set all your things in seemly good array,


s: The joyfulest day that ever sun did see.


s: And let thy life-full heat not fervent be,


s: Or sing the thing that might thy mind delight,


s: Do not thy servant's simple boon refuse;


s: But let this day, let this one day, be mine;


s: Then I thy sovereign praises loud will sing,


s: That all the woods shall answer, and their echo ring.


s: Hark! how the Minstrels 'gin to shrill aloud


s: Their merry music that resounds from far,


s: The pipe, the tabor, and the trembling croud,


s: That well agree withouten breach or jar.


s: But, most of all, the Damsels do delight


s: That all the senses they do ravish quite;


s: The whiles the boys run up and down the street,


s: Crying aloud with strong confused noise,


s: That even to the heavens their shouting shrill


s: Doth reach, and all the firmament doth fill;


s: That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring.


s: Lo! where she comes along with portly pace,


s: Like Phoebe, from her chamber of the East,


s: Clad all in white, that seems a virgin best.


s: So well it her beseems, that ye would ween


s: Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire,


s: Sprinkled with pearl, and pearling flowers atween,


s: And, being crowned with a garland green,


s: Nor dare lift up her countenance too bold,


s: But blush to hear her praises sung so loud,


s: Nathless do ye still loud her praises sing,


s: That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.


s: Tell me, ye merchants' daughters, did ye see


s: So sweet, so lovely, and so mild as she,


s: Adorned with beauty's grace and virtue's store?


s: Her goodly eyes like sapphires shining bright,


s: Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath ruddied,


s: Her lips like cherries charming men to bite,


s: Her breast like to a bowl of cream uncrudded,


s: Ascending up, with many a stately stair,


s: To honor's seat and chastity's sweet bower.


s: Why stand ye still, ye virgins, in amaze,


s: Whiles ye forget your former lay to sing,


s: To which the woods did answer, and your echo ring?


s: But if ye saw that which no eyes can see,


s: The inward beauty of her lively spright,


s: Garnished with heavenly gifts of high degree,


s: Much more then would ye wonder at that sight,


s: And stand astonished like to those which read


s: There dwells sweet love, and constant chastity,


s: There virtue reigns as queen in royal throne,


s: Thereto approach to tempt her mind to ill.


s: Had ye once seen these her celestial treasures,


s: Then would ye wonder, and her praises sing,


s: That all the woods should answer, and your echo ring.


s: And all the pillars deck with garlands trim,


s: For to receive this Saint with honor due,


s: With trembling steps, and humble reverence,


s: She cometh in, before the Almighty's view;


s: Bring her up to the high altar, that she may


s: The praises of the Lord in lively notes;


s: That all the woods may answer, and their echo ring.


s: Behold, whiles she before the altar stands,


s: Hearing the holy priest that to her speaks,


s: And blesseth her with his two happy hands,


s: How the red roses flush up in her cheeks,


s: And the pure snow, with goodly vermill stain


s: Oft peeping in her face, that seems more fair,


s: But her sad eyes, still fastened on the ground,


s: That suffers not one look to glance awry,


s: Which may let in a little thought unsound.


s: Why blush ye, love, to give to me your hand,


s: That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.


s: Now all is done: bring home the bride again;


s: Bring home with you the glory of her gain;


s: With joyance bring her and with jollity.


s: Never had man more joyful day than this,


s: Make feast therefore now all this live-long day;


s: Pour out the wine without restraint or stay,


s: Pour not by cups, but by the belly full,


s: And sprinkle all the posts and walls with wine,


s: That they may sweat, and drunken be withal.


s: And Hymen also crown with wreaths of vine;


s: The whiles the maidens do their carol sing,


s: To which the woods shall answer, and their echo ring.


s: Ring ye the bells, ye young men of the town,


s: And leave your wonted labors for this day:


s: This day the sun is in his chiefest height,


s: He somewhat loseth of his heat and light,


s: When once the Crab behind his back he sees.


s: To choose the longest day in all the year,


s: And shortest night, when longest fitter were:


s: Yet never day so long, but late would pass.


s: Ring ye the bells, to make it wear away,


s: And dance about them, and about them sing,


s: That all the woods may answer, and your echo ring.


s: Ah! when will this long weary day have end,


s: How slowly do the hours their numbers spend?


s: How slowly does sad Time his feathers move?


s: Haste thee, O fairest Planet, to thy home,


s: Thy tired steeds long since have need of rest.


s: Long though it be, at last I see it gloom,


s: And the bright evening-star with golden crest


s: Fair child of beauty! glorious lamp of love!


s: That all the host of heaven in ranks dost lead,


s: And guidest lovers through the night's sad dread,


s: And seems to laugh atween thy twinkling light,


s: Of these glad many, which for joy do sing,


s: That all the woods them answer, and their echo ring!


s: Now, cease, ye damsels, your delights fore-past;


s: Enough is it that all the day was yours:


s: Now day is done, and night is nighing fast,


s: Now bring the bride into the bridal bowers.


s: The night is come, now soon her disarray,


s: Behold how goodly my fair love does lie,


s: 'Twixt sleep and wake, after she weary was,


s: Now it is night, ye damsels may be gone,


s: And leave likewise your former lay to sing:


s: The woods no more shall answer, nor your echo ring.


s: Now welcome, night! thou night so long expected,


s: That long day's labor dost at last defray,


s: And all my cares, which cruel Love collected,


s: Hast summed in one, and cancelled for aye:


s: Spread thy broad wing over my love and me,


s: From fear of peril and foul horror free.


s: But let the night be calm, and quietsome,


s: Without tempestuous storms or sad affray:


s: Like as when Jove with fair Alcmena lay,


s: When he begot the great Tirynthian groom:


s: And let the maids and young men cease to sing;


s: Nor let the woods them answer, nor their echo ring.


s: Let no lamenting cries, nor doleful tears,


s: Be heard all night within, nor yet without:


s: Nor let false whispers, breeding hidden fears,


s: Break gentle sleep with misconceived doubt.


s: Let no deluding dreams, nor dreadful sights,


s: Nor let house-fires, nor lightning's helpless harms,


s: Nor let the Puck, nor other evil sprites,


s: Nor let mischievous witches with their charms,


s: Nor let hobgoblins, names whose sense we see not,


s: Let not the screech-owl nor the stork be heard,


s: Nor the night raven, that still deadly yells;


s: Nor damned ghosts, called up with mighty spells,


s: Nor grizzly vultures, make us once afraid:


s: Nor let the unpleasant choir of frogs still croaking


s: Let none of these their dreary accents sing;


s: But let still Silence true night-watches keep,


s: That sacred Peace may in assurance reign,


s: And timely Sleep, when it is time to sleep,


s: May pour his limbs forth on your pleasant plain;


s: The whiles an hundred little winged loves,


s: Shall fly and flutter round about your bed,


s: And in the secret dark, that none reproves,


s: Their pretty stealths shall work, and snares shall spread


s: To filch away sweet snatches of delight,


s: Ye sons of Venus, play your sports at will!


s: For greedy pleasure, careless of your toys,


s: All night therefore attend your merry play,


s: Now none doth hinder you, that say or sing;


s: Nor will the woods now answer, nor your echo ring.


s: Who is the same, which at my window peeps?


s: Or whose is that fair face that shines so bright?


s: Is it not Cynthia, she that never sleeps,


s: But walks about high heaven all the night?


s: For thou likewise didst love, though now unthought,


s: The Latmian shepherd once unto thee brought,


s: And since of women's labors thou hast charge,


s: Incline thy will to effect our wishful vow,


s: And the chaste womb inform with timely seed,


s: Till which we cease our hopeful hap to sing;


s: Nor let the woods us answer, nor our echo ring.


s: And thou, great Juno! which with awful might


s: The laws of wedlock still dost patronize,


s: And the religion of the faith first plight


s: With sacred rites hast taught to solemnize;


s: And thou, glad Genius! in whose gentle hand


s: And the sweet pleasures of their love's delight


s: Till they bring forth the fruitful progeny;


s: Send us the timely fruit of this same night.


s: And thou, fair Hebe! and thou, Hymen free!


s: Till which we cease your further praise to sing;


s: Nor any woods shall answer, nor your echo ring.


s: And ye high heavens, the temple of the gods,


s: In which a thousand torches flaming bright


s: Do burn, that to us wretched earthly clods


s: In dreadful darkness lend desired light;


s: And all ye powers which in the same remain,


s: Pour out your blessing on us plenteously,


s: Which from the earth, which they may long possess


s: And, for the guerdon of their glorious merit,


s: Of blessed Saints for to increase the count.


s: So let us rest, sweet love, in hope of this,


s: And cease till then our timely joys to sing:


s: The woods no more us answer, nor our echo ring!


s: With which my love should duly have been decked,


s: Which cutting off through hasty accidents,


s: Ye would not stay your due time to expect,


s: Before you kissed me only winds of heaven


s: Had kissed me, and the tenderness of rain--


s: Now you have come, how can I care for kisses


s: I sought the sea, she sent her winds to meet me,


s: They surged about me singing of the south--


s: I turned my head away to keep still holy


s: And swift sweet rains of shining April weather


s: Found not my lips where living kisses are;


s: I bowed my head lest they put out my glory


s: Sealed with a seal and safe forevermore--


s: Think you that I could let a beggar enter


s: And join their course, with silent force,


s: Calm was their course through banks of green,


s: Like summer's beam, and summer's stream,


s: With Christ's own Bride they rise.  Amen.


s: Beat on the Tom-toms, and scatter the flowers,


s: Bring forth the Bride for her Lover's delight.


s: Maidens no more as a maiden shall claim her,


s: Who, if she waver a moment, shall blame her?


s: Give her the anklets, the ring, and the necklace,


s: Heighten the beauty, so youthful and fleckless,


s: By the Gods favored, oh, Bridegroom, thou art!


s: Twine in thy fingers her fingers so slender,


s: Bridegroom,--a whisper,--be gentle and tender,


s: Bring forth the silks and the veil that shall cover


s: Beauty, till yesterday careless and wild;


s: Red are her lips for the kiss of a lover,


s: Ripe are her breasts for the lips of a child.


s: Waiting the shade and the silence of night.


s: Still must the Bridegroom his longing dissemble,


s: Ah, how his fingers will flutter and tremble,


s: Fingers well skilled with the bridle and sword.


s: Thine is his valor, oh Bride, and his beauty,


s: Licit thy pleasure and honored thy pain.


s: Still all unbroken to sorrow and strife,


s: Come to the Bridegroom who, silk-clad and slender,


s: Brings thee the Honor and Burden of Life.


s: Bidding farewell to thy light-hearted playtime,


s: Worship thy Lover with fear and delight;


s: Art thou not ever, though slave of his daytime,


s: I set a charm upon your hurrying breath,


s: You shall not leave me--not for life, nor death,


s: Not even though you cease to love me, Sweet.


s: My heart were all as well set on the wind,


s: That you and Knowledge, love, may never meet,


s: How strong you are, how weak your lover, Sweet.


s: That you may never hear another's charm,


s: Nor guess another's gift outruns my best.


s: I bid your wandering footsteps me to follow,


s: Your thoughts to travel after in my track,


s: I am the sky that waits you, dear gray swallow,


s: No wind of mine shall ever blow you back.


s: I am your dream, Sweet; so no more of dreaming,


s: Your lips to mine must end this chanted charm,


s: Your heart to mine, 'neath nut-brown tresses streaming,


s: It's we two, it's we two, it's we two for aye,


s: All the world, and we two, and Heaven be our stay!


s: Like a laverock in the lift, sing, O bonny bride!


s: All the world was Adam once, with Eve by his side.


s: What's the world, my lass, my love!--what can it do?


s: I am thine, and thou art mine; life is sweet and new.


s: If the world have missed the mark, let it stand by;


s: For we two have gotten leave, and once more we'll try.


s: It's we two, it's we two, happy side by side.


s: Take a kiss from me, thy man; now the song begins:


s: "All is made afresh for us, and the brave heart wins."


s: When the darker days come, and no sun will shine,


s: Thou shalt dry my tears, lass, and I'll dry thine.


s: It's we two, it's we two, while the world's away,


s: Sitting by the golden sheaves on our wedding-day.


s: Proud of you, fond of you, clinging so near to you,


s: Light is my heart now I know I am dear to you!


s: Glad is my voice now, so free it may sing for you


s: All the wild love that is burning within for you!


s: Tell me once more, tell it over and over,


s: The tale of that eve which first saw you my lover.


s: The wife of my Owen her heart may discover!


s: Proud of you, fond of you, having all right in you,


s: Quitting all else through my love and delight in you!


s: Glad is my heart since 'tis beating so nigh to you!


s: Light is my step for it always may fly to you!


s: Clasped in your arms where no sorrow can reach to me,


s: Reading your eyes till new love they shall teach to me.


s: More than the wisest know your heart shall preach to me.


s: Her crook was laden with wreathed flowers.


s: I sat and wooed her through sunlight wheeling,


s: And shadows stealing for hours and hours.


s: The while I sued her, kept hushed and harkened


s: Till shades had darkened from gloss to gloom.


s: She touched my shoulder with fearful finger;


s: My flock's in danger, my sheep will wander;


s: Behold them yonder, how far they stray!"


s: I answered bolder, "Nay, let me hear you,


s: No wolf nor stranger will touch one yearling--


s: She whispered, sighing, "There will be sorrow


s: They ought to kiss you when you get home;


s: And well rewarded by friend and neighbor


s: Should be the labor from which you come."


s: "They might remember," she answered meekly.


s: "That lambs are weakly and sheep are wild;


s: But if they love me it's none so fervent--


s: Then each hot ember glowed quick within me,


s: "Ah! do but prove me, and none shall bind you,


s: She blushed and started, and stood awaiting,


s: But I did brave them--I told her plainly,


s: So we, twin-hearted, from all the valley


s: And homeward drove them, we two together,


s: Through blooming heather and gleaming dews.


s: That simple duty such grace did lend her,


s: And love doth guard her, both fast and fervent,


s: The rare old songs, the dear old tunes,--


s: Till youth's sweet spring grows brown and sere,


s: A step that hastens its sweet rest to win;


s: These pressed each other while they rocked,


s: Those watched a life that love had sent.


s: Their pale cheeks joined, and said, "Once more!"


s: "Somewhere," he mused, "its dear enchantments wait,


s: Yet all the paths we follow, soon or late,


s: "And still it lures us to the eager quest,


s: "But I," she said, her babe upon her breast


s: "Some time," he sighed, "when youth and joy are spent,


s: "But I," she smiled, with eyes of deep content,


s: While drooped and glistened her eyelash brown,


s: "Your man's a poor man, a cold and dour man,


s: She smiled securely--"He loves me purely:


s: A true heart's safe, both in smile or frown;


s: And nothing harms me while his love warms me,


s: "He comes of strangers, and they are rangers,


s: And ill to trust, girl, when out of sight:


s: Fremd folk may blame ye, and e'en defame ye,


s: She raised serenely her eyelids queenly,--


s: No harsh tongue grieves me while he believes me,


s: "Your man's a frail man, was ne'er a hale man,


s: And death comes making bold hearts cower, breaking--"


s: Our Lettice trembled;--but once, no more.


s: "If death should enter, smite to the center


s: Our poor home palace, all crumbling down,


s: Life bears Love's cross, death brings Love's crown."


s: Thy towers, Bombay, gleam bright, they say,


s: Ah, what is love?  It is a pretty thing,


s: For kings have cares that wait upon a crown,


s: And cares can make the sweetest love to frown:


s: If country loves such sweet desires do gain,


s: What lady would not love a shepherd swain?


s: His flocks are folded; he comes home at night


s: For kings bethink them what the state require,


s: Where shepherds, careless, carol by the fire:


s: He kisseth first, then sits as blithe to eat


s: His cream and curds, as doth a king his meat,


s: For kings have often fears when they do sup,


s: Where shepherds dread no poison in their cup:


s: For kings have many griefs, affects to move,


s: Where shepherds have no greater grief than love:


s: Upon his couch of straw he sleeps as sound


s: For cares cause kings full oft their sleep to spill,


s: Where weary shepherds lie and snort their fill:


s: Thus, with his wife, he spends the year as blithe


s: As doth the king at every tide or sithe,


s: For kings have wars and broils to take in hand,


s: Where shepherds laugh and love upon the land:


s: Since country loves such sweet desires do gain,


s: What lady would not love a shepherd swain?


s: Who doth desire that chaste his wife should be,


s: First be he true, for truth doth truth deserve:


s: Then such be he as she his worth may see,


s: And one man still credit with her preserve.


s: Not toying kind, nor causelessly unkind;


s: Not stirring thoughts, nor yet denying right;


s: Not spying faults, nor in plain errors blind;


s: Never hard hand, nor ever reins too light.


s: As far from want, as far from vain expense


s: (The one doth force, the latter doth entice);


s: Allow good company, but keep from thence


s: All filthy mouths that glory in their vice.


s: This done, thou hast no more, but leave the rest


s: To virtue, fortune, time, and woman's breast.


s: And makes them fresh and fair and green,


s: Ask if I love thee?  Oh, smiles cannot tell


s: Plainer what tears are now showing too well.


s: Had I not loved thee, my sky had been clear:


s: Had I not loved thee, I had not been here,


s: Ask if I love thee?  How else could I borrow


s: Pride from man's slander, and strength from my sorrow?


s: Laugh when they sneer at the fanatic's bride,


s: Knowing no bliss, save to toil and abide


s: The world goes up and the world goes down,


s: And yesterday's sneer, and yesterday's frown,


s: Till the heart which at even was weary and old


s: When first the bride and bridegroom wed,


s: Some dark day, when the bells are tolled,


s: They lose themselves, and find each other;


s: Linger not long.  Home is not home without thee:


s: Its dearest tokens do but make me mourn.


s: O, let its memory, like a chain about thee,


s: Linger not long.  Though crowds should woo thy staying,


s: Bethink thee, can the mirth of thy friends, though dear,


s: Compensate for the grief thy long delaying


s: Costs the fond heart that sighs to have thee here?


s: Linger not long.  How shall I watch thy coming,


s: As evening shadows stretch o'er moor and dell;


s: When the wild bee hath ceased her busy humming,


s: And silence hangs on all things like a spell!


s: How shall I watch for thee, when fears grow stronger,


s: As night grows dark and darker on the hill!


s: How shall I weep, when I can watch no longer!


s: Ah! art thou absent, art thou absent still?


s: Yet I shall grieve not, though the eye that seeth me


s: Gazeth through tears that make its splendor dull;


s: For oh! I sometimes fear when thou art with me,


s: Haste, haste thee home unto thy mountain dwelling,


s: Haste, as a bird unto its peaceful nest!


s: Haste, as a skiff, through tempests wide and swelling,


s: For the roaring wind and the blessed time


s: Sae true his heart, sae smooth his speech,


s: And the time of the year is coming, my dear,


s: The gate that leads out of life, good wife,


s: And all the great ones, they shall wonder


s: What though, from fortune's lavish bounty,


s: We'll find, within our pittance, plenty,


s: Through youth and age, in love excelling,


s: Sweet smiling peace shall crown our dwelling


s: And babes, sweet smiling babes, our bed.


s: To see them look their mother's features,


s: To hear them lisp their mother's tongue!


s: When skies were purple and breath was praise,


s: When the heart kept tune to the carol of birds,


s: And the birds kept tune to the songs which ran


s: Through shimmer of flowers on grassy swards,


s: By the rivers of Life we walked together,


s: A sound that seemed like a marriage chime.


s: In the gardens of Life we strayed together,


s: And the luscious apples were ripe and red,


s: And the languid lilac, and honeyed heather


s: Swooned with the fragrance which they shed;


s: In the meadows of Life we strayed together,


s: Our hearts, like the lambs, skipped to and fro;


s: And the cowslip, hearing our low replies,


s: And glad tears shone in the daisy's eyes,


s: Out from the heavens with crowns of rest;


s: And we hear the tread of the years move by,


s: And the sun is setting behind the hills;


s: So we sit by our household fires together,


s: The wind blows cold,--'tis growing late;


s: Well, well! we have garnered all our sheaves,


s: For Conscience' sake, as well as Love's.


s: Honor's high thought, Affection's power,


s: Discretion's deed, sound Judgment's sentence,


s: And teach me all things--but Repentance.


s: Oh wha are sae happy as me an' my Moggy?


s: We're baith turnin' auld, an' our walth is soon tauld,


s: But contentment bides aye in our cottage sae wee.


s: She toils a' the day when I'm out wi' the hirsel,


s: An' chants to the bairns while I sing on the brae;


s: An' aye her blithe smile welcomes me frae my toil,


s: When down the glen I come weary an' wae.


s: Aboon our auld heads we've a nice little biggin,


s: That keeps out the cauld when the simmer's awa;


s: We've twa webs o' linen o' Moggy's ain spinnin',


s: As thick as silk velvet and white as the snaw;


s: We've kye in the byre, an' yauds in the stable,


s: A grumphie sae fat that she hardly can stand;


s: An' something, I guess, in yon auld painted press


s: To cheer up the speerits an' steady the hand.


s: 'Tis true we hae had mony sorrows an' crosses,


s: Our pouches oft toom, an' our hearts fu' o' care;


s: But wi' a' our crosses, our sorrows an' losses,


s: Contentment, thank heaven! has aye been our share.


s: I've an auld roostit sword that was left by my father,


s: Whilk aye has been drawn when my king had a fae;


s: We hae friends ane or twa that aft gie us a ca',


s: To laugh when we're happy or grieve when we're wae.


s: Our duke may hae gowd mair than schoolmen can reckon,


s: An' flunkies to watch ilka glance o' his e'e,


s: His lady aye braw sittin' prim in her ha';


s: A' ye wha ne'er fand the straight road to be happy,


s: Wha are nae content wi' the lot that ye dree,


s: Come down to the dwellin' o' whilk I've been tellin',


s: You'll learn it by lookin' at Moggy an' me.


s: And for sweet flowers to crown thy hearse,


s: From thy grieved friend, whom thou might'st see


s: Though almost blind.  For thee (loved clay)


s: Meantime thou hast her, earth: much good


s: See that thou make thy reckoning straight,


s: So close the ground, and 'bout her shade


s: Than when sleep breathed his drowsy gale.


s: 'Tis true, with shame and grief I yield,


s: Thou, like the van, first took'st the field;


s: Witness the world how worthy to be praised!


s: The light whereof hath kindled heavenly fire


s: In my frail spirit, by her from baseness raised;


s: That being now with her huge brightness dazed,


s: Base thing I can no more endure to view:


s: But, looking still on her, I stand amazed


s: So when my tongue would speak her praises due,


s: It stopped is with thought's astonishment;


s: And when my pen would write her titles true,


s: Yet in my heart I then both speak and write


s: More than most fair, full of the living fire


s: No eyes but joys, in which all powers conspire


s: That to the world naught else be counted dear;


s: Through your bright beams doth not the blinded guest


s: Shoot out his darts to base affections wound;


s: But angels come to lead frail minds to rest


s: In chaste desires, on heavenly beauty bound.


s: You frame my thoughts, and fashion me within;


s: You stop my tongue, and teach my heart to speak;


s: You calm the storm that passion did begin,


s: Strong through your cause, but by your virtue weak.


s: Dark is the world, where your light shined never;


s: Well is he born that may behold you ever.


s: And rare perfection of each goodly part,


s: But when I feel the bitter baleful smart


s: Which her fair eyes un'wares do work in me,


s: That death out of their shiny beams do dart,


s: Into this sinful world from heaven to send,


s: That she to wicked men a scourge should be,


s: For all their faults with which they did offend.


s: But since ye are my scourge, I will entreat


s: That for my faults ye will me gently beat.


s: Like as a ship, that through the ocean wide,


s: By conduct of some star doth make her way,


s: Whenas a storm hath dimmed her trusty guide,


s: Out of her course doth wander far astray;


s: So I, whose star, that wont with her bright ray


s: Through hidden perils round about me placed;


s: Yet hope I well that, when this storm is past,


s: Will shine again, and look on me at last,


s: With lovely light to clear my cloudy grief:


s: Till then I wander care-full, comfortless,


s: I marvel of what substance was the mould,


s: The which her made at once so cruel fair;


s: Not earth, for her high thoughts more heavenly are;


s: Not water, for her love doth burn like fire;


s: Not air, for she is not so light or rare;


s: Not fire, for she doth freeze with faint desire.


s: Whereof she might be made--that is, the sky;


s: For to the heaven her haughty looks aspire,


s: Then, since to heaven ye likened are the best,


s: Most glorious Lord of Life! that on this day


s: Didst make thy triumph over death and sin,


s: And, having harrowed hell, didst bring away


s: This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin;


s: And grant that we, for whom thou diddest die,


s: Being with thy dear blood clean washed from sin,


s: May likewise love thee for the same again,


s: And for thy sake, that all 'like dear didst buy,


s: So let us love, dear Love, like as we ought:


s: Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.


s: Fresh Spring, the herald of love's mighty king,


s: In whose coat-armor richly are displayed


s: All sorts of flowers the which on earth do spring


s: Go to my love, where she is careless laid,


s: Yet in her winter's bower not well awake;


s: Tell her the joyous time will not be stayed,


s: Bid her therefore herself soon ready make


s: To wait on Love amongst his lovely crew;


s: Where everyone that misseth then her mate


s: Shall be by him amerced with penance due.


s: Make haste, therefore, sweet love, whilst it is prime;


s: For none can call again the passed time.


s: One day I wrote her name upon the strand,


s: But came the tide and made my pains his prey.


s: "Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain essay


s: "Not so," quoth I; "let baser things devise


s: To die in dust, but you shall live by fame;


s: My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,


s: And in the heavens write your glorious name:


s: Where, whenas Death shall all the world subdue,


s: Our love shall live, and later life renew."


s: Men call you fair, and you do credit it,


s: But the true fair, that is the gentle wit


s: And virtuous mind, is much more praised of me:


s: Shall turn to naught and lose that glorious hue;


s: From frail corruption that doth flesh ensue.


s: That is true beauty; that doth argue you


s: To be divine, and born of heavenly seed;


s: Derived from that fair Spirit from whom all true


s: And perfect beauty did at first proceed:


s: He only fair, and what he fair hath made;


s: All other fair, like flowers, untimely fade.


s: Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,


s: That She, dear She! might take some pleasure of my pain;


s: Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,


s: Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain:


s: I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,


s: Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain;


s: Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow


s: Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburnt brain:


s: But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay.


s: Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows;


s: And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.


s: Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,


s: Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite:


s: "Fool!" said my Muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write!"


s: With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the skies!


s: What! may it be that even in heavenly place


s: That busy archer his sharp arrows tries?


s: Sure, if that long-with-love-acquainted eyes


s: Can judge of love, thou feel'st a lover's case;


s: I read it in thy looks.  Thy languished grace


s: To me, that feel the like, thy state descries.


s: Then, even of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,


s: Is constant love deemed there but want of wit?


s: Are beauties there as proud as here they be?


s: Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?


s: Do they call virtue there, ungratefulness?


s: Come Sleep!  O Sleep, the certain knot of peace,


s: The baiting-place of wit, the balm of woe,


s: The poor man's wealth, the prisoner's release,


s: The indifferent judge between the high and low!


s: With shield of proof, shield me from out the press


s: Of those fierce darts Despair at me doth throw:


s: Take thou of me, smooth pillows, sweetest bed,


s: A chamber deaf to noise and blind to light,


s: And if these things, as being thine in right,


s: Move not thy heavy grace, thou shalt in me,


s: Livelier than elsewhere, Stella's image see.


s: Late tired with woe, even ready for to pine


s: With rage of love, I called my Love unkind;


s: She in whose eyes love, though unfelt, doth shine,


s: Sweet said that I true love in her should find.


s: I joyed; but straight thus watered was my wine,


s: That love she did, but loved a love not blind;


s: Which would not let me, whom she loved, decline


s: From nobler cause, fit for my birth and mind:


s: Willed me these tempests of vain love to fly,


s: And anchor fast myself on Virtue's shore.


s: Dear! love me not, that ye may love me more!


s: No more, my Dear, no more these counsels try;


s: O give my passions leave to run their race!


s: Let Fortune lay on me her worst disgrace;


s: Let folk o'ercharged with brain, against me cry;


s: Let clouds bedim my face, break in mine eye;


s: Let me no steps but of lost labor trace;


s: Let all the earth with scorn recount my case;


s: Nor do aspire to Caesar's bleeding fame;


s: Nor aught do care, though some above me sit;


s: Nor hope, nor wish another course to frame,


s: But that which once may win thy cruel heart:


s: Thou art my Wit, and thou my Virtue art.


s: Schooled only by his mother's tender eye;


s: What wonder, then, if he his lesson miss,


s: When for so soft a rod dear play he try?


s: In sport I sucked while she asleep did lie,


s: Doth lower, nay chide, nay threat, for only this.--


s: But no 'scuse serves; she makes her wrath appear


s: In Beauty's throne; see now, who dares come near


s: Those scarlet judges, threatening bloody pain!


s: O heavenly fool, thy most kiss-worthy face


s: That Anger's self I needs must kiss again.


s: O happy Thames that didst my Stella bear!


s: I saw thee with full many a smiling line


s: Upon thy cheerful face, Joy's livery wear,


s: While those fair planets on thy streams did shine.


s: The boat for joy could not to dance forbear;


s: While wanton winds, with beauties so divine,


s: Ravished, stayed not, till in her golden hair


s: They did themselves, (O sweetest prison!) twine.


s: And fain those Aeol's youths there would their stay


s: Have made, but forced by Nature still to fly,


s: First did with puffing kiss those locks display.


s: She so dishevelled, blushed.  From window, I,


s: With sight thereof, cried out, "O fair disgrace!


s: Let Honor's self to thee grant highest place!"


s: Stella! since thou so right a Princess art


s: Of all the powers which life bestows on me,


s: They first resort unto that sovereign part;


s: Sweet! for a while give respite to my heart,


s: Which pants as though it still should leap to thee;


s: To this great cause, which needs both use and art.


s: And as a Queen, who from her presence sends


s: Whom she employs, dismiss from thee my wit,


s: Till it have wrought what thy own will attends:


s: On servants' shame oft master's blame doth sit.


s: O, let not fools in me thy works reprove,


s: And scorning, say, "See what it is to love!"


s: Fair is my Love, and cruel as she's fair:


s: Her brow shades frowns, although her eyes are sunny;


s: Her smiles are lightning, though her pride despair,


s: And her disdains are gall, her favors honey.


s: A modest maid, decked with a blush of honor,


s: Whose feet do tread green paths of youth and love;


s: The wonder of all eyes that look upon her,


s: Sacred on earth, designed a Saint above.


s: Chastity and Beauty, which were deadly foes,


s: Live reconciled friends within her brow;


s: Then who had heard the plaints I utter now?


s: O had she not been fair, and thus unkind,


s: My Muse had slept, and none had known my mind.


s: My spotless love hovers, with purest wings,


s: Where blaze those lights, fairest of earthly things,


s: Which clear our clouded world with brightest flame.


s: My ambitious thoughts, confined in her face,


s: My hopes do rest in limits of her grace;


s: Holds in her fairest hand what dearest is.


s: My Fortune's Wheel's the Circle of her Eyes,


s: Whose rolling grace deign once a turn of bliss!


s: All my life's sweet consists in her alone;


s: Or blame the attempt, presuming so to soar;


s: The mounting venture, for a high delight,


s: Did make the honor of the fall the more.


s: For who gets wealth, that puts not from the shore?


s: Danger hath honor; great designs, their fame;


s: And though the event oft answers not the same,


s: Suffice that high attempts have never shame.


s: The Mean-observer (whom base safety keeps)


s: Lives without honor, dies without a name,


s: And therefore, Delia! 'tis to me no blot


s: To have attempted, though attained thee not.


s: When men shall find thy flower, thy glory pass,


s: And thou, with careful brow, sitting alone,


s: Received hast this message from thy glass,


s: That tells the truth, and says that All is gone;


s: Fresh shalt thou see in me the wounds thou madest,


s: Though spent thy flame, in me the heat remaining:


s: I that have loved thee thus before thou fadest,


s: My faith shall wax, when thou art in thy waning!


s: The world shall find this miracle in me,


s: That fire can burn when all the matter's spent:


s: Then what my faith hath been, thyself shalt see,


s: And that thou wast unkind, thou may'st repent!


s: Thou may'st repent that thou hast scorned my tears,


s: When Winter snows upon thy golden hairs.


s: Look, Delia, how we esteem the half-blown rose


s: The image of thy blush, and Summer's honor!


s: Whilst yet her tender bud doth undisclose


s: That full of beauty Time bestows upon her.


s: But straight her wide-blown pomp comes to decline;


s: She then is scorned that late adorned the fair;


s: So fade the roses of those cheeks of thine.


s: No April can revive thy withered flowers


s: Whose springing grace adorns thy glory now;


s: Swift, speedy Time, feathered with flying hours,


s: Dissolves the beauty of the fairest brow.


s: Then do not thou such treasure waste in vain,


s: But love now, whilst thou may'st be loved again.


s: Beauty, sweet Love, is like the morning dew,


s: Whose short refresh upon the tender green


s: Cheers for a time, but till the sun doth show:


s: And straight 'tis gone, as it had never been.


s: Soon doth it fade, that makes the fairest flourish;


s: Short is the glory of the blushing rose:


s: The hue which thou so carefully dost nourish,


s: Yet which, at length, thou must be forced to lose.


s: When thou, surcharged with burthen of thy years,


s: Shalt bend thy wrinkles homeward to the earth;


s: When Time hath made a passport for thy fears,


s: But ah, no more!  This hath been often told;


s: And women grieve to think they must be old.


s: I must not grieve my Love, whose eyes would read


s: Lines of delight, whereon her youth might smile!


s: Flowers have a time, before they come to seed;


s: And she is young, and now must sport the while.


s: And sport, Sweet Maid, in season of these years,


s: And learn to gather flowers before they wither!


s: And where the sweetest blossom first appears,


s: Let Love and Youth conduct thy pleasures thither!


s: Lighten forth smiles to clear the clouded air,


s: And calm the tempest which my sighs do raise!


s: Pity and smiles do best become the fair;


s: Pity and smiles shall yield thee lasting praise.


s: I hope to say, when all my griefs are gone,


s: "Happy the heart that sighed for such a one!"


s: Let others sing of Knights and Paladines


s: Which well the reach of their high wit records:


s: But I must sing of Thee, and those fair eyes!


s: Authentic shall my verse in time to come,


s: When the yet unborn shall say, Lo, where she lies!


s: These are the arks, the trophies I erect,


s: And these thy sacred virtues must protect


s: Against the Dark, and Time's consuming rage.


s: Though the error of my youth in them appear,


s: Suffice, they showed I lived, and loved thee dear.


s: Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night,


s: Brother to Death, in silent darkness born:


s: Relieve my languish, and restore the light;


s: With dark forgetting of my care, return!


s: The shipwreck of my ill-adventured youth:


s: Let waking eyes suffice to wail their scorn,


s: Without the torment of the night's untruth.


s: Cease, dreams, the images of day-desires,


s: To model forth the passions of the morrow;


s: To add more grief to aggravate my sorrow.


s: Still let me sleep, embracing clouds in vain;


s: And never wake to feel the day's disdain.


s: Into these Loves, who but for Passion looks,


s: At this first sight, here let him lay them by,


s: And seek elsewhere in turning other books,


s: No far-fetched sigh shall ever wound my breast;


s: Love from mine eye a tear shall never wring;


s: Nor in "Ah me's!" my whining sonnets dressed!


s: My Muse is rightly of the English strain,


s: Bright Star of Beauty! on whose eyelids sit


s: A thousand nymph-like and enamored Graces,


s: Which there in order take their several places;


s: In whose dear bosom, sweet delicious Love


s: Lays down his quiver, which he once did bear,


s: Since he that blessed paradise did prove;


s: And leaves his mother's lap, to sport him there.


s: Let others strive to entertain with words!


s: I hold that vile, which vulgar wit affords,


s: In me's that faith which Time cannot invade!


s: Let what I praise be still made good by you!


s: Be you most worthy, whilst I am most true!


s: An evil Spirit (your Beauty) haunts me still,


s: Wherewith, alas, I have been long possessed;


s: Which ceaseth not to attempt me to each ill,


s: Nor give me once, but one poor minute's rest.


s: In me it speaks, whether I sleep or wake;


s: And when by means to drive it out I try,


s: With greater torments then it me doth take,


s: Before my face, it lays down my despairs,


s: Now tempting me, to drown myself in tears,


s: And then in sighing to give up my breath.


s: By this good-wicked Spirit, sweet Angel-Devil.


s: Dear! why should you command me to my rest,


s: When now the night doth summon all to sleep?


s: Methinks this time becometh lovers best!


s: Night was ordained together friends to keep.


s: Which, through the day, disjoined by several flight,


s: And each returns unto his Love at night!


s: O thou that art so courteous else to all,


s: Why shouldst thou, Night, abuse me only thus!


s: That every creature to his kind doth call,


s: If, when night comes, you bid me go away!


s: My heart the Anvil where my thoughts do beat;


s: My words the Hammers fashioning my Desire;


s: My breast the Forge including all the heat,


s: Love is the Fuel which maintains the fire.


s: My sighs the Bellows which the flame increaseth,


s: Filling mine ears with noise and nightly groaning.


s: Toiling with pain, my labor never ceaseth;


s: In grievous Passions, my woes still bemoaning.


s: My eyes with tears against the fire striving,


s: Whose scorching glede my heart to cinders turneth:


s: But with those drops, the flame again reviving


s: Still more and more it to my torment burneth.


s: How many paltry, foolish, painted things,


s: That now in coaches trouble every street,


s: Ere they be well wrapped in their winding-sheet?


s: When nothing else remaineth of these days,


s: And queens hereafter shall be glad to live


s: Upon the alms of thy superfluous praise;


s: Virgins and matrons reading these my rhymes,


s: Shall be so much delighted with thy story,


s: That they shall grieve they lived not in these times,


s: To have seen thee, their sex's only glory:


s: So shalt thou fly above the vulgar throng,


s: Since there's no help, come, let us kiss and part!


s: Nay, I have done.  You get no more of me!


s: And I am glad, yea, glad with all my heart,


s: Shake hands for ever!  Cancel all our vows!


s: Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath,


s: When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies,


s: When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death,


s: Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over,


s: From death to life thou might'st him yet recover!


s: Because to see her lips they blush for shame.


s: The Lily's leaves, for envy pale became;


s: And her white hands in them this envy bred.


s: The Marigold the leaves abroad doth spread,


s: Because the sun's and her power is the same.


s: Dyed in the blood she made my heart to shed.


s: In brief, all flowers from her their virtue take;


s: From her sweet breath, their sweet smells do proceed;


s: The living heat which her eyebeams doth make


s: Warmeth the ground, and quickeneth the seed.


s: The rain, wherewith she watereth the flowers,


s: Falls from mine eyes, which she dissolves in showers.


s: To welcome life, and die a living death;


s: To sweat with heat, and yet be freezing cold;


s: To grasp at stars, and lie the earth beneath;


s: To tread a maze that never shall have end;


s: To burn in sighs, and starve in daily tears;


s: Giants to kill, and quake at childish fears;


s: To pine for food, and watch the Hesperian tree;


s: To thirst for drink, and nectar still to draw;


s: To live accurst, whom men hold blest to be;


s: And weep those wrongs which never creature saw;


s: If this be love, if love in these be founded,


s: My heart is love, for these in it are grounded.


s: Thou art more lovely and more temperate:


s: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,


s: And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:


s: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,


s: And often is his gold complexion dimmed;


s: And every fair from fair sometime declines,


s: By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed:


s: Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;


s: Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,


s: When in eternal lines to time thou growest:


s: So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,


s: So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


s: Who with his fear is put besides his part,


s: Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,


s: Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;


s: And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,


s: O'ercharged with burden of mine own love's might.


s: Who plead for love, and look for recompense,


s: More than that tongue that more hath more expressed.


s: O, learn to read what silent love hath writ:


s: To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.


s: When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,


s: And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,


s: And look upon myself, and curse my fate,


s: Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,


s: Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,


s: Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,


s: Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,


s: Haply I think on thee: and then my state,


s: Like to the lark at break of day arising


s: From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate:


s: For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings


s: That then I scorn to change my state with kings.


s: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought


s: I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,


s: And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:


s: Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,


s: For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,


s: And weep afresh love's long-since cancelled woe,


s: And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:


s: Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,


s: But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,


s: All losses are restored, and sorrows end.


s: When that churl Death my bones with dust shall cover,


s: And shalt by fortune once more re-survey


s: These poor rude lines of thy deceased lover,


s: Compare them with the bettering of the time,


s: And though they be outstripped by every pen,


s: Reserve them for my love, not for their rhyme,


s: O, then vouchsafe me but this loving thought:


s: "Had my friend's Muse grown with this growing age,


s: A dearer birth than this his love had brought,


s: But since he died, and poets better prove,


s: Theirs for their style I'll read, his for his love."


s: Full many a glorious morning have I seen


s: Flatter the mountain-tops with sovereign eye,


s: Kissing with golden lace the meadows green,


s: Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy.


s: And from the forlorn world his visage hide,


s: Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:


s: With all-triumphant splendor on my brow;


s: But out, alack! he was but one hour mine,


s: The region cloud hath masked him from me now.


s: Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;


s: Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth.


s: Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,


s: Each changing place with that which goes before,


s: In sequent toil all forwards do contend.


s: Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crowned,


s: Crooked eclipses 'gainst his glory fight,


s: And Time that gave, doth now his gift confound.


s: Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth,


s: And delves the parallels in beauty's brow;


s: Feeds on the rarities of nature's truth,


s: And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:


s: And yet, to times in hope, my verse shall stand


s: Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.


s: Than you shall hear the surly, sullen bell


s: Give warning to the world that I am fled


s: From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell:


s: Nay, if you read this line, remember not


s: The hand that writ it; for I love you so,


s: That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot,


s: If thinking on me then should make you woe.


s: Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,


s: But let your love even with my life decay;


s: Lest the wise world should look into your moan,


s: That time of year thou may'st in me behold


s: When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang


s: Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,


s: Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.


s: In me thou see'st the twilight of such day


s: Which by and by black night doth take away,


s: Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.


s: In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire


s: That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,


s: As the death-bed whereon it must expire,


s: Consumed with that which it was nourished by.


s: This thou perceiv'st, which makes thy love more strong


s: To love that well which thou must leave ere long.


s: To me, fair friend, you never can be old;


s: For as you were when first your eye I eyed,


s: Such seems your beauty still.  Three Winters cold


s: Have from the forests shook three Summers' pride;


s: Three beauteous Springs to yellow Autumn turned


s: Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,


s: Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are green.


s: Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;


s: So your sweet hue, which methinks still doth stand,


s: Hath motion, and mine eye may be deceived:


s: For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred:


s: Ere you were born was beauty's Summer dead.


s: I see descriptions of the fairest wights,


s: In praise of ladies dead, and lovely knights;


s: Then in the blazon of sweet beauty's best


s: Of hand, of foot, of lip, of eye, of brow,


s: I see their antique pen would have expressed


s: And, for they looked but with divining eyes,


s: They had not skill enough your worth to sing:


s: For we, which now behold these present days,


s: Have eyes to wonder, but lack tongues to praise.


s: Though absence seemed my flame to qualify:


s: As from my soul, which in thy breast doth lie;


s: That is my home of love; if I have ranged,


s: Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,


s: So that myself bring water for my stain.


s: Never believe, though in my nature reigned


s: All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,


s: That it could so preposterously be stained


s: To leave for nothing all thy sum of good!


s: Save thou, my rose: in it thou art my all.


s: Let me not to the marriage of true minds


s: That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;


s: Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.


s: Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks


s: Within his bending sickle's compass come;


s: Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,


s: But bears it out even to the edge of doom:


s: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;


s: Coral is far more red than her lips' red;


s: If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;


s: If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.


s: I have seen roses damasked, red and white,


s: And in some perfumes is there more delight


s: Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.


s: I love to hear her speak,--yet well I know


s: That music hath a far more pleasing sound;


s: My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:


s: And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare


s: Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth,


s: Pressed by these rebel powers that thee array,


s: Why dost thou pine within and suffer dearth,


s: Painting thy outward walls so costly gay?


s: Why so large cost, having so short a lease,


s: Dost thou upon thy fading mansion spend?


s: Eat up thy charge?  Is this thy body's end?


s: Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,


s: And let that pine to aggravate thy store;


s: Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;


s: So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men;


s: And Death once dead, there's no more dying then.


s: Alexis, here she stayed; among these pines,


s: Here did she spread the treasure of her hair,


s: More rich than that brought from the Colchian mines.


s: The happy place the print seems yet to bear;


s: Her voice did sweeten here thy sugared lines,


s: To which winds, trees, beasts, birds, did lend their ear.


s: Me here she first perceived, and here a morn


s: Of bright carnations did o'erspread her face;


s: Here did she sigh, here first my hopes were born,


s: And I first got a pledge of promised grace:


s: Since passed pleasures double but new woe?


s: And you, my love, as high as heaven above,


s: Yet should the thoughts of me, your humble swain,


s: Were I as high as heaven above the plain,


s: Wheresoe'er you were, with you my love should go.


s: Were you the earth, dear love, and I the skies,


s: My love should shine on you, like to the sun,


s: And look upon you with ten thousand eyes,


s: Till heaven waxed blind and till the world were done.


s: Wheresoe'er I am,--below, or else above you,--


s: Wheresoe'er you are, my heart shall truly love you.


s: Look how the pale Queen of the silent night


s: Doth cause the ocean to attend upon her,


s: With his full tide is ready her to honor:


s: The sea calls home his crystal waves to moan,


s: And with low ebb doth manifest his sorrow.


s: So you that are the sovereign of my heart,


s: Have all my joys attending on your will,


s: When you return, their tide my heart doth fill.


s: Joys ebb and flow within my tender heart.


s: Such aid from Heaven as some have feigned they drew,


s: An eloquence scarce given to mortals, new


s: And undebased by praise of meaner things;


s: That, ere through age or woe I shed my wings,


s: But thou hast little need.  There is a Book


s: By seraphs writ with beams of heavenly light,


s: On which the eyes of God not rarely look,


s: There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine;


s: And, since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine.


s: Why art thou silent?  Is thy love a plant


s: Of such weak fibre that the treacherous air


s: Of absence withers what was once so fair?


s: Is there no debt to pay, no boon to grant?


s: Yet have my thoughts for thee been vigilant,


s: Bound to thy service with unceasing care--


s: The mind's least generous wish a mendicant


s: For naught but what thy happiness could spare.


s: Speak!--though this soft warm heart, once free to hold


s: A thousand tender pleasures, thine and mine,


s: Than a forsaken bird's-nest filled with snow


s: 'Mid its own bush of leafless eglantine--


s: Speak, that my torturing doubts their end may know!


s: When in the light the spirits of mine eyes


s: The worship of that Love through thee made known?


s: Or when in the dusk hours, (we two alone,)


s: Close-kissed and eloquent of still replies


s: Thy twilight-hidden glimmering visage lies,


s: O love, my love! if I no more should see


s: Thyself, nor on the earth the shadow of thee,


s: Nor image of thine eyes in any spring,--


s: How then should sound upon Life's darkening slope


s: The ground-whirl of the perished leaves of Hope,


s: By what word's power, the key of paths untrod,


s: Shall I the difficult deeps of Love explore,


s: Till parted waves of Song yield up the shore


s: Even as that sea which Israel crossed dryshod?


s: Thee from myself, neither our love from God.


s: Yea, in God's name, and Love's, and thine, would I


s: Draw from one loving heart such evidence


s: As to all hearts all things shall signify;


s: Tender as dawn's first lull-fire, and intense


s: In Spring's birth-hour, of other Springs gone by.


s: Where two were born of a first marriage-bed,


s: How still they own their gracious bond, though fed


s: And nursed on the forgotten breast and knee?--


s: How to their father's children they shall be


s: In act and thought of one goodwill; but each


s: Shall for the other have, in silence speech,


s: Even so, when first I saw you, seemed it, love,


s: O born with me somewhere that men forget,


s: And though in years of sight and sound unmet,


s: Known for my soul's birth-partner well enough!


s: Your hands lie open in the long fresh grass,--


s: The finger-points look through like rosy blooms:


s: Your eyes smile peace.  The pasture gleams and glooms


s: 'Neath billowing skies that scatter and amass.


s: All round our nest, far as the eye can pass,


s: Are golden kingcup-fields with silver edge


s: Where the cow-parsley skirts the hawthorn-hedge.


s: 'Tis visible silence, still as the hour-glass.


s: Deep in the sun-searched growths the dragon-fly


s: Hangs like a blue thread loosened from the sky:--


s: So this winged hour is dropped to us from above.


s: Oh! clasp we to our hearts, for deathless dower,


s: This close-companioned inarticulate hour


s: When twofold silence was the song of love.


s: Whose kiss seems still the first; whose summoning eyes,


s: Even now, as for our love-world's new sunrise,


s: Shed very dawn; whose voice, attuned above


s: All modulation of the deep-bowered dove,


s: Whose hand is like a sweet voice to control


s: Those worn tired brows it hath the keeping of:--


s: What word can answer to thy word,--what gaze


s: To thine, which now absorbs within its sphere


s: My worshipping face, till I am mirrored there


s: Light-circled in a heaven of deep-drawn rays?


s: What clasp, what kiss mine inmost heart can prove,


s: High grace, the dower of queens; and therewithal


s: Some wood-born wonder's sweet simplicity;


s: A glance like water brimming with the sky


s: Or hyacinth-light where forest-shadows fall;


s: Such thrilling pallor of cheek as doth enthrall


s: The heart; a mouth whose passionate forms imply


s: Deep golden locks, her sovereign coronal;


s: A round reared neck, meet column of Love's shrine


s: To cling to when the heart takes sanctuary;


s: Hands which for ever at Love's bidding be,


s: And soft-stirred feet still answering to his sign:--


s: These are her gifts, as tongue may tell them o'er.


s: Breathe low her name, my soul; for that means more.


s: How should I reach so far, who cannot weigh


s: Shall birth and death, and all dark names that be


s: As doors and windows bared to some loud sea,


s: Lash deaf mine ears and blind my face with spray;


s: And shall my sense pierce love,--the last relay


s: One murmuring shell he gathers from the sand,--


s: One little heart-flame sheltered in his hand.


s: Yet through thine eyes he grants me clearest call


s: But touched his lute wherein was audible


s: The certain secret thing he had to tell:


s: In the low wave; and that sound came to be


s: The passionate voice I knew; and my tears fell.


s: And at their fall, his eyes beneath grew hers;


s: And with his foot and with his wing-feathers


s: He swept the spring that watered my heart's drouth.


s: Then the dark ripples spread to waving hair,


s: And as I stooped, her own lips rising there


s: Bubbled with brimming kisses at my mouth.