s: On the necks of the kings of the conquered earth he builded up


s: There sate a king on the throne of Persia; and he was grown so


s: That all the life of the world was less to him than a passing


s: He reigned in glory: joy and sorrow lying between his hands.


s: If he sighed a nation shook, his smile ripened the harvest of


s: He was the saddest man beneath the everlasting sky,


s: For all his glories had left him old, and the proudest king must


s: He who was even as God to all the nations of men,


s: Must die as the merest peasant dies, and turn into earth again.


s: And his life with the fear of death was bitter and sick and


s: As brackish water to drink of which is to be forever athirst.


s: The hateful years rolled on and on, but once it chanced at noon


s: The drowsy court was thrilled to gladness, it echoed so sweet a


s: Low as the lapping of tile sea, as the song of the lark is


s: clear,  Wild as the moaning of pine branches; the king was fain


s: "What is the song, and who is the singer?" he said; "before


s: Let him come, for the songs of the world are mine, and all but


s: Seven mighty kings went out the minstrel man to find:


s: And all they found was a dead cyprus soughing in the wind.


s: And slower still, and sadder still the heavy winters rolled,


s: And the burning summers waned away, and the king grew very


s: Dull, worn, feeble, bent; and once he thought, "to die


s: Were rest, at least." And as he thought the music wandered by.


s: Into the presence of the king, singing, the singer came,


s: And his face was like the spring in flower, his eyes were clear


s: "What is the song you play, and what the theme your praises


s: It is sweet; I knew not I owned a thing so sweet," said the weary


s: "I sing my country," said the singer, "a land that is sweeter


s: "Which of my kingdoms is your country?  Thither would I along."


s: "Great, O king, is thy power, and the earth a footstool for thy


s: But my country is free, and my own country, and oh, my country


s: As he heard the eyes of the king grew young and alive with fire


s: "Lo, is there left on the earth a thing to strive for, a thing to


s: "Where is thy country?  tell me, O singer, speak thine innermost


s: Leave thy music!  speak plainly!  Speak-forget thine art!"


s: The eyes of the singer shone as he sang, and his voice rang wild


s: As the elemental wind or the uncontrollable sobs of the sea.


s: "O my distant home!" he sighed; "Oh, alas!  away and afar


s: I watch thee now as a lost sailor watches a shining star.


s: "Oh, that a wind would take me there!  that a bird would set me


s: Where the golden streets shine red at sunset in my father's town!


s: "For only in dreams I see the faces of the women there,


s: And fain would I hear them singing once, braiding their ropes


s: "Oh, I am thirsty, and long to drink of the river of Life, and I


s: Am fain to find my own country, where no man shall die."


s: Out of the light of the throne the king looked down: as in the


s: The green leaves burst from their dusky buds, so was hope in the


s: "Lo," he said, "I will make thee great; I will make thee mighty


s: Even as I; but the name of thy country speak, and the place and


s: "Oh, the way to my country is ever north till you pass the mouth


s: Past the limbo of dreams and the desolate land where shadows


s: "And when you have reached the fount of wonder, you ford the


s: To the land of elves and the land of fairies, enchanted


s: The singer ceased; and the lyre in his hand snapped, as a cord,


s: And neither lyre nor singer was seen in the kingdom of Persia


s: And all the nobles gazed astounded; no man spoke a word


s: Till the old king said: "Call out my armies; bring me hither a


s: As a little torrent swollen by snows is turned to a terrible


s: So the gathering voices of all his countries cried to the king in


s: Crying, "For thee, O our king, for thee we had freely and


s: Warriors, martyrs, what thou wilt; not that our lives betide


s: "The worth of a thought to the king, but rather because thy rod


s: Is over our heads as over thine Is the changeless will of God.


s: "Rather for this we beseech thee, O master, for thine own sake


s: From the blasphemous madness of pride, from the fever of


s: "You seek my death," the king thundered; "you cry, forbear


s: The life of a king too old to frolic; let him sleep in the grave.


s: "But I will live for all your treason; and, by my own right


s: I will set out this day with you to conquer Fairyland."


s: Then all the nations paled aghast, for the battle to begin


s: Was a war with God, and a war with death, and they knew


s: Sick at heart they gathered together, but none denounced the


s: For the will of God was unseen, unsaid, and the will of the king


s: So the air grew bright with spears, and the earth shook under


s: Of the mighty horses harnessed for battle; the standards flaunted


s: And the wind was loud with the blare of trumpets, and every


s: Of the strength and stay of the house, and the peace of the land


s: And the growing corn was trodden under the weight of armed


s: And every woman in Persia cursed the sound of a song too sweet,


s: Cursed the insensate longing for life in the heart of a sick old


s: But the king of Persia with all his armies marched on Masinderan.


s: Many a day they marched in the sun till their silver armour was


s: To sink their bodies into the grave, and many a man fell dead.


s: And they passed the mouth of hell, and the shadowy country


s: Where the air is mist and the people mist and the rain more


s: And they came to the fount of wonder, and forded the waters


s: And the king of Persia and all his armies marched on Masinderan.


s: And they turned the rivers to blood, and the fields to a ravaged


s: And they neared the golden faery town, that burned in the dusk


s: And they stood and shouted for joy to see it stand so nigh,


s: Given into their hands for spoil; and their hearts beat proud


s: And the armies longed for the morrow, to conquer the shining


s: For there was no death in the land, neither any to strike them


s: The hosts were many in numbers, mighty, and skilled in the


s: And they lusted for gold and conquest as the old king lusted for


s: And, gazing on the golden place, night took them unaware,


s: And black and windy grew the skies, and black the eddying air


s: So long the night and black the night that fell upon their eyes,


s: They quaked with fear, those mighty hosts; the sun would never


s: Darkness and deafening sounds confused the black, tempestuous


s: And no man saw his neighbor's face, nor heard his neighbor's


s: And wild with terror the raging armies fell on each other in


s: The ground was strewn with wounded men, mad in the horrible night


s: Mad with eternal pain, with darkness and stabbing blows


s: Rained on all sides from invisible hands till the ground was red


s: And, though he was longing for rest, none ventured to pause from


s: Lest haply another wound be his to poison his hateful life


s: And the king entreated death; and for peace the armies prayed;


s: But the gifts of God are everlasting, his word is not gainsaid;


s: Gold and battle are given the hosts, their boon is turned to a


s: And the curse of the king is to reign forever in conquered


s: Summer of 'sixty-three, sir, and Conrad was gone away--


s: Gone to the county-town, sir, to sell our first load of hay--


s: We lived in the log-house yonder, poor as ever you've seen;


s: Roschen there was a baby, and I was only nineteen.


s: Conrad, he took the oxen, but he left Kentucky Belle;


s: How much we thought of Kentucky, I couldn't begin to tell--


s: Came from the Blue-Grass country; my father gave her to me


s: When I rode north with Conrad, away from Tennessee.


s: Conrad lived in Ohio--a German he is, you know--


s: The house stood in broad corn-fields, stretching on, row after


s: The old folks made me welcome; they were kind as kind could be


s: But I kept longing, longing, for the hills of Tennessee.


s: O, for a sight of water, the shadowed slope of a hill!


s: Clouds that hang on the summit, a wind that is never still


s: But the level land went stretching away to meet the sky--


s: Never a rise, from north to south, to rest the weary eye!


s: From east to west, no river to shine out under the moon,


s: Nothing to make a shadow in the yellow afternoon;


s: Only the breathless sunshine, as I looked out, all forlorn;


s: Only the "rustle, rustle," as I walked among the corn.


s: When I fell sick with pining, we didn't wait any more,


s: But moved away from the corn-lands out to this river shore--


s: The Tuscarawas it's called, sir--off there's a hill, you see--


s: And now I've grown to like it next best to the Tennessee.


s: I was at work that morning.  Some one came riding like mad


s: Over the bridge and up the road--Farmer Rouf's little lad;


s: Bareback he rode; he had no hat; he hardly stopped to say;


s: "Morgan's men are coming, Frau; they're galloping on this way;


s: "I'm sent to warn the neighbors.  He isn't a mile behind;


s: He sweeps up all the horses--every horse that he can find;


s: Morgan, Morgan, the raider, and Morgan's terrible men,


s: With bowie-knives and pistols, are galloping up the glen."


s: The lad rode down the valley, and I stood still at the door;


s: The baby laughed and prattled, playing with spools on the floor;


s: Kentuck was out in the pasture; Conrad, my man, was gone;


s: Nearer, nearer, Morgan's men were galloping, galloping on!


s: Sudden I picked up the baby, and ran to the pasture-bar;


s: "Kentuck!" I called; "Kentucky!" She knew me ever so far!


s: I led her down the gully that turns off there to the right,


s: And tied her to the bushes; her head was just out of sight.


s: As I ran back to the log-house, at once there came a sound--


s: The ring of hoofs, galloping hoofs, trembling over the ground--


s: Coming into the turnpike out from the White Woman Glen--


s: Morgan, Morgan the raider, and Morgan's terrible men.


s: As near they drew and nearer, my heart beat fast in alarm!


s: But still I stood in the doorway, with baby on my arm.


s: They came; they passed; with spur and whip in haste they sped


s: Morgan, Morgan the raider, and his band six hundred strong.


s: Weary they looked and jaded, riding through night and through


s: Pushing on east to the river, many long miles away,


s: To the border-strip where Virginia runs up into the West,


s: To ford the Upper Ohio before they could stop to rest.


s: On like the wind they hurried, and Morgan rode in advance;


s: Bright were his eyes like live coals, as he gave me a sideways


s: And I was just breathing freely, after my choking pain,


s: When the last one of the troopers suddenly drew his rein.


s: Frightened I was to death, sir; I scarce dared look in his face,


s: As he asked for a drink of water, and glanced around the place:


s: I gave him a cup, and he smiled--'twas only a boy, you see;


s: Faint and worn; with dim blue eyes, and he'd sailed on the


s: Only sixteen he was, sir--a fond mother's only son--


s: Off and away with Morgan before his life had begun!


s: The damp drops stood on his temples; drawn was the boyish


s: And I thought me of the mother waiting down in the South!


s: O, pluck was he to the backbone; and clear grit through and


s: Boasted and bragged like a trooper; but the big words wouldn't


s: The boy was dying sir, dying, as plain as plain could be,


s: Worn out by his ride with Morgan up from the Tennessee.


s: But, when I told the laddie that I too was from the South,


s: Water came into his dim eyes, and quivers around his mouth;


s: "Do you know the Blue-Grass country?" he wistfully began to say;


s: Then swayed like a willow sapling, and fainted dead away.


s: I had him into the log-house, and worked and brought him to;


s: I fed him, and I coaxed him, as I thought his mother'd do;


s: And, when the lad got better, and the noise in his head was gone,


s: "O, I must go," he muttered; "I must be up and away!


s: Morgan, Morgan is waiting for me!  O, what will Morgan say?"


s: But I heard the sound of tramping, and kept him back from the


s: The ringing sound of horses' hoofs that I had heard before.


s: And on, on came the soldiers--the Michigan cavalry--


s: And fast they rode, and back they looked, galloping rapidly;


s: They had followed hard on Morgan's track; they had followed day


s: But of Morgan and Morgan's raiders they had never caught a sight.


s: And rich Ohio sat startled through all these summer days;


s: For strange, wild men were galloping over her broad highways;


s: Now here, now there, now seen, now gone, now north, now east,


s: Through river-valleys and corn-land farms, sweeping away her


s: A bold ride and a long ride!  But they were taken at last;


s: They had almost reached the river by galloping hard and fast;


s: But the boys in blue were upon them ere ever they gained the


s: And Morgan, Morgan the raider, laid down his terrible sword.


s: Well, I kept the boy till evening--kept him against his will--


s: But he was too weak to follow, and sat there pale and still;


s: When it was cool and dusky--you'll wonder to hear me tell--


s: But I stole down to the gully, and brought up Kentucky Belle.


s: I kissed the star on her forehead--my pretty, gentle lass--


s: But I knew that she'd be happy, back in the old Blue-Grass:


s: A suit of clothes of Conrad's, with all the money I had,


s: And Kentucky, pretty Kentucky, I gave to the worn-out lad.


s: I guided him to the southward, as well as I knew how:


s: The boy rode off with many thanks, and many a backward bow;


s: And then the glow it faded, and my heart began to swell;


s: And down the glen away she went, my lost Kentucky Belle!


s: When Conrad came in the evening, the moon was shining high,


s: Baby and I were both crying--I couldn't tell him why--


s: But a battered suit of rebel gray was hanging on the wall,


s: And a thin old horse with drooping head stood in Kentucky's


s: Well, he was kind, and never once said a hard word to me,


s: He knew I couldn't help it--'twas all for the Tennessee;


s: But, after the war was over, just think what came to pass--


s: A letter, sir, and the two were safe back in the old Blue-Grass.


s: The lad got across the border, riding Kentucky Belle;


s: And Kentuck she was thriving, and fat, and hearty, and well;


s: He cared for her, and kept her, nor touched her with whip or


s: Ah!  we've had many horses, but never a horse like her!


s: Moses was a camel that traveled o'er the sand.


s: Little blue egg, in the nest snug and warm,


s: Covered so close from the wind and the storm,


s: What is your use in this world now, pray?


s: "Bend your head closer; my secret I'll tell:


s: There's a baby-bird hid in my tiny blue shell."


s: What were you made for, and why do you stay


s: Clinging so close to the twig all the day?


s: "Hid in my green sheath, some day to unclose,


s: Nestles the warm, glowing heart of a rose."


s: Dear, little baby-girl, dainty and fair,


s: Surely there's no other use for you here


s: Than just to be petted and played with, you dear!


s: "Oh, a wonderful secret I'm coming to know,


s: Just a baby like me, to a woman shall grow."


s: Ah, swiftly the bird from the nest flies away,


s: And the bud to a blossom unfolds day by day,


s: While the woman looks forth in my baby-girl's eyes,


s: Through her joys and her sorrows, her tears and surprise--


s: Too soon shall the years bring this gift to her cup,


s: God keep her, my woman who's now growing up!


s: Tommy stood aghast! for, really and truly, he wasn't quite so


s: Both objections being insurmountable, this delightful scheme was


s: Thomas Brown and              Partners in disgrace.


s: Melinda Jones                 15 plus 11 = 26.


s: "And did my little man cry?" asked mamma.


s: "Would Tommy please come and take supper with her?"


s: Three fishers went sailing away to the West--


s: Each thought on the woman who loved him best,


s: And the children stood watching them out of the town;


s: And there's little to earn and many to keep,


s: Three wives sat up in the light-house tower


s: And trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;


s: They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,


s: And the night-wrack came rolling up, ragged and brown.


s: Though storms be sudden and waters deep,


s: Three corpses lay out on the shining sands


s: In the morning gleam as the tide went down,


s: And the women are weeping and wringing their hands,


s: For those who will never come back to the town;


s: For men must work, and women must weep--


s: And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep--


s: Has a grander sound in the roll of fame;


s: With the years of a lad to act like a man.


s: To trace his descent were indeed a task.


s: And, perhaps, like Topsy, "he only growed."


s: To move to the transport down in the bay.


s: Boom!  roared the gun--the ship swung free,


s: With her good prow turned to the Carib Sea.


s: We couldn't take 'Apples' along with us,"


s: The trooper said, as he walked the deck,


s: What's that?   A stir and a creak down there


s: In the piled-up freight--then a tuft of hair,


s: And out popped "Apples" "ez shore's yer born!"


s: In the colonel's roll or the rules of war;


s: You know how our brave men, white and black,


s: Landed and followed the Spaniard's track;


s: And the Tenth was there in the very front,


s: Onward they moved through the living hell


s: Where the enemy's bullets like raindrops fell,


s: Down through the brush, and onward still


s: Till they came to the foot of San Juan hill--


s: And the heights were won with a mad, wild cheer!


s: In the surging ranks of the fighting men!


s: "Apples" was there with his water and can.


s: The sharpshooters rattled a sharp tattoo,


s: For the instant death and the danger there.


s: Was blessed that day; ere the fight was won


s: By the cool drops poured from the water-can


s: In the forward trenches, at close of day,


s: He seemed to think through the long, wet night,


s: For once he spoke in his troubled sleep;


s: "I'se comin', Cap., ef my legs'll keep!"


s: Next day--and the next--and the next--he stayed


s: For the sick and wounded could not get back


s: But the troopers gave what they had to give


s: That the little mascot might stick and live.


s: And through it all he was well content--


s: Who had fought his fight and the foe withstood.


s: A sight that filled him with pride and awe,


s: For there, as he looked on the stronghold down,


s: And none in that host felt a sweeter joy


s: "Like the apple of the eye, Mr. Owen; doubt it not."


s: Blossom went to him; he put his hand tenderly on her shoulder and


s: Blossom heard this order: "Send this dispatch at once!"


s: If I had a horse I would call him "Gay,"


s: Hitch him up in my cart and take a ride,


s: Little brown thrushes at sunrise in summer


s: How to hush stars, yet to waken the Day:


s: Singing first, lullabies, then, jubilates,


s: Watching the blue sky where every bird's heart is;


s: Then, as lamenting the day's fading light,


s: Down through the twilight, when wearied with flight,


s: Singing divinely, they breathe out, "good-night!"


s: Little brown thrushes with birds yellow-breasted


s: Bright as the sunshine that June roses bring,


s: Climb up and carol o'er hills silver-crested


s: Seeing the bees and the butterflies ranging,


s: Pointed-winged swallows their sharp shadows changing;


s: But while some sunset is flooding the sky,


s: Up through the glory the brown thrushes fly,


s: Singing divinely, "good-night and good-by!"


s: Here, sit ye down alongside of me; I'm getting old and gray;


s: But something in the paper, boy, has riled my blood today.


s: To steal a purse is mean enough, the most of men agree;


s: But stealing reputation seems a meaner thing to me.


s: A letter in the Herald says some generals allow


s: That there wa'n't no fight where Lookout rears aloft its shaggy


s: But this coat sleeve swinging empty here beside me, boy, to-day,


s: Tells a mighty different story in a mighty different way.


s: When sunbeams flashed o'er Mission Ridge that bright November


s: The misty cap on Lookout's crest gave token of a storm;


s: For grim King Death had draped the mount in grayish, smoky


s: Its craggy peaks were lost to sight above the fleecy clouds.


s: Just at the mountain's rocky base we formed in serried lines,


s: While lightning with its jagged edge played on us from the pines;


s: We stormed the very "gates of hell" with "Fighting Joe" that day.


s: The mountain seemed to vomit flames; the boom of heavy guns


s: Played to Dixie's music, while a treble played the drums:


s: The eagles waking from their sleep, looked down upon the stars


s: Slow climbing up the mountain side, with morning's broken bars.


s: We kept our eyes upon the flag that upward led the way


s: Until we lost it in the smoke on Lookout side that day;


s: And then like demons loosed from hell we clambered up the crag,


s: "Excelsior," our motto, and our mission, "Save the flag."


s: In answer to the rebel yell we gave a ringing cheer;


s: We left the rifle-pits behind, the crest loomed upward near;


s: A light wind playing 'long the peaks just lifted death's gray


s: We caught the gleam of silver stars just breaking through the


s: A shattered arm hung at my side that day on Lookout's crag,


s: And yet I'd give the other now to save the dear old flag.


s: The regimental roll when called on Lookout's crest that night


s: Was more than doubled by the roll Death called in realms of


s: Just as the sun sank slowly down behind the mountain's crest,


s: When mountain peaks gave back the fire that flamed along the


s: Swift riding down along the ridge upon a charger white,


s: Came "Fighting Joe," the hero now of Lookout's famous fight.


s: He swung his cap as tears of joy slow trickled down his cheek,


s: And as our cheering died away, the general tried to speak.


s: He said, "Boys, I'll court-martial you, yes, every man that's


s: I said to take the rifle pits," we stopped him with a cheer,


s: "I said to take the rifle pits upon the mountain's edge,


s: And I'll court-martial you because--because you took the ridge"


s: Then such a laugh as swept the ridge where late King Death had


s: And such a cheer as rent the skies, as down our lines he rode!


s: I'm getting old and feeble, I've not long to live, I know,


s: But there WAS A FIGHT AT LOOKOUT.  I was there with "Fighting


s: So these generals in the Herald, they may reckon and allow


s: That there warn't no fight at Lookout on the mountain's shaggy


s: But this empty coat-sleeve swinging here beside me, boy, to-day


s: Tells a mighty different tale in a mighty different way.


s: could think of--writers' offices, merchants' offices, wharves,


s: "But I'll hold on; only you'll have to get my boots mended, and


s: "Yes, yes! Has anything happened? Tell me quick!"


s: "I'm not aware, ma'am, that anything has happened," said the old


s: gentleman. "I saw the lad at light this morning. He seemed to be


s: "I hope he doesn't look like it," said Mrs. Boyd, proudly.


s: "What did you say, ma'am? But--I beg your pardon."


s: And then, in a few simple words, she told Donald's whole story.


s: As it did to Donald Boyd. He has not been taken into the house of


s: He would not look at us or say where he bought


s: White are his shoulders and white his crest,


s: Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,


s: Broods in the grass while her husband sings:


s: Brood, kind creatures; you need not fear


s: When you can pipe that merry old strain,


s: Said the keeper: "Now, boys, come pay for your fun;


s: Who is Babouscka? Is she Santa Klaus' wife?


s: Ah, that you can't guess unless you know her sad story.


s: "Who is the Child?" asked the old woman.


s: But the foolish woman shook her head. No, the night was dark and


s: It is a dreadful feeling to realize that one has lost a chance of


s: Come, Bossy, come Bossy!  Here I am with my cup,


s: I will pay you well with red clover hay,


s: Low in the grass and high in the clover,


s: Now into white waves tossing and breaking,


s: Like a foaming sea when the wind is waking,


s: Showing their deep hearts' golden splendor;


s: Garlands of flowers for earth's adorning,


s: Till the world forgets to burrow and grope,


s: That earth in its joy to heaven upraises,


s: Why?  For they glow with the spirit of youth,


s: Their beautiful eyes have the glory of truth,


s: Down before all their rich bounty they fling


s: --Free to the beggar, and free to the king


s: Joyous they brighten the dreariest days;


s: Under the fringe of their raiment they hide


s: Scars the gray winter hath opened so wide;


s: Gifts with such generous ardor proffered,


s: Tokens of love from such full heart's offered,


s: Or look without glances of joy and delight


s: At pastures star-covered from morning till night,


s: That you are like maidens, as maidens should be,


s: Winsome with freshness, and wholesome to see,


s: Head lifted daintily--yet not too high--


s: On hiding the scar and on healing the rent,


s: Yet fearless with nature's own innocent grace,


s: Full of sweet goodness, yet simple in art,


s: White in the soul, and pure gold in the heart


s: --Ah, like unto you should all maidenhood be


s: Gladsome to know, and most gracious to see;


s: He patiently followed their sober pace--


s: And the frogs were loud in the meadow swamp,


s: And stealthily followed the footpath damp.


s: Across the clover and through the wheat,


s: Though cold was the dew on his hurrying feet,


s: And the blind bat's flitting startled him.


s: Thrice since then have the lanes been white


s: And the orchards sweet with apple bloom,


s: And now when the cows came back at night


s: That three were lying where two had lain,


s: And the old man's tremulous, palsied arm


s: He went for the cows when his work was done,


s: But down the lane, as he opened the gate,


s: Tossing their horns in the evening wind,


s: Cropping the buttercups out of the grass,


s: And worn and pale through its crisped hair


s: For Southern prisons will sometimes yawn


s: And the day that comes with a cloudy dawn


s: The great tears sprang to their meeting eyes,


s: They have ridden long, they have ridden hard,


s: They are travel-stained and battle-scarred;


s: The hard ground shakes with their martial tramp,


s: And coarse is the laugh of the men of the camp.


s: They reach the spot where a mother stands


s: Of the mounted soldiers, fresh from the fight.


s: The captain laughs out, "I will give you this,


s: A bright piece of gold, your baby to kiss."


s: He lifts up the babe with a manly grace,


s: And covers with kisses its smiling face.


s: And it crows with delight in the soldier's arms.


s: "Not all for the captain," the troopers call;


s: "The baby, we know, has a kiss for all."


s: To each soldier's breast the baby is pressed


s: By the strong rough men, and kissed and caressed.


s: And louder it laughs, and the lady's face


s: Wears a mother's smile at the fond embrace.


s: "Just such a kiss," cried one warrior grim,


s: "And just such a kiss on the parting day,


s: Such were the words of these soldiers brave,


s: And their eyes were moist when the kiss they gave.


s: "Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?"


s: And one for the little boy who lives in the lane."


s: But Tommy's not one of your selfish boys,


s: One of the deepest seasons of gloom was when the French Emperor,


s: "Tell his lordship," he said, "that I shall report myself at


s: But when he had fairly reached it, and the servant had shown him


s: However, what with the beautiful ladies of the castle gathering


s: No one said "yes," for everyone was sure he had passed it to his


s: At last one of the most famous officers rose from his seat:


s: Then, at last the indignation of the company broke forth.


s: The walk that had been gone over so merrily was a terrible one to


s: "Comrade, I am sent to tell you that your pension is stopped! His


s: The fire was soon extinguished, but not a wink of sleep could his


s: From Santa Claus and his Christmas sleigh.


s: A present I would get out of Santa's pack?


s: Flag of the brave!  thy folds shall fly,


s: Catch war and vengeance from the glance.


s: Heave in wild wreaths the battle shroud,


s: Where breathes the foe but falls before us,


s: "'I tell you they won't leave one stone on another if they get


s: "Aunt Polly soon explained matters, taking care to assure the


s: "She stood upon the door-stone beside him as she spoke, a little,


s: "'Oh dear! oh dear!' sobbed the terrified chorus.


s: "Aunt Polly could do nothing with us; and little Dolly Miles, the


s: "Dan wriggled himself from his grasp and looked sulkily defiant:


s: "'I didn't say 'TWAS that,' he muttered. 'I said it MIGHT be, an'


s: "'The smoke comin' out o' Deacon Mileses chimly has a queer look,


s: "Here she drew a handkerchif from her pocket. This she fastened


s: "The Gubtils watched us off without a word of encouragement or


s: Then, and not till then, Aunt Polly broke down and sobbed aloud:


s: For he'd say, "If you hold it quite still,


s: That string must 'a' truly been cracked,


s: Don't you s'pose?  or moth-eaten, p'raps;


s: To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,


s: On that pleasant morn of the early fall,


s: When Lee marched over the mountain-wall--


s: She took up the flag the men hauled down:


s: "Halt"--the dust-brown ranks stood fast,


s: "Shoot if you must this old gray head,--


s: But spare your country's flag," she said.


s: And the rebel rides on his raids no more.


s: Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.


s: (Used by special arrangement with J. B. Lippincott Company,


s: Philadelphia, publisher of Mr. Read's Poems.)


s: Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain's door,


s: The terrible grumble and rumble and roar,


s: As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,


s: But there is a road from Winchester town,


s: And there through the flash of the morning light,


s: A steed as black as the steeds of night,


s: Was seen to pass as with eagle's flight--


s: He stretched away with the utmost speed;


s: Hills rose and fell--but his heart was gay,


s: Still sprung from these swift hoofs, thundering South,


s: The dust, like the smoke from the cannon's mouth,


s: Or the trail of a comet sweeping faster and faster,


s: Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster;


s: The heart of the steed and the heart of the master,


s: Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,


s: Impatient to be where the battle-field calls;


s: Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,


s: And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace ire,


s: Swept on with his wild eyes full of fire,


s: But lo!  he is nearing his heart's desire--


s: He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,


s: The first that the General saw were the groups


s: Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops;


s: What was done--what to do--a glance told him both,


s: And striking his spurs with a terrible oath,


s: He dashed down the line 'mid a storm of huzzahs,


s: And the wave of retreat checked its course there because


s: The sight of the master compelled it to pause.


s: With foam and with dust the black charger was gray,


s: By the flash of his eye, and his red nostrils' play,


s: He seemed to the whole great army to say,


s: "I have brought you Sheridan all the way


s: And when their statues are placed on high


s: Be it said in letters both bold and bright:


s: If she hasn't gone away, she's been there quite a while.


s: She gives all her children a ride on her back,


s: Broad enough to accommodate the whole scrambling pack.


s: I will dig me a garden and plant it with seeds,


s: I will hoe and water it and keep down the weeds;


s: Then perhaps some of these bright summer days,


s: adornments packed away for safe keeping.


s: "Ben doin'?" repeated Viny, scared almost to death inwardly, but


s: "Where?" said Caryl, looking sharply at her.


s: "Oh, no, you didn't," contradicted Caryl, looking her through and


s: "An' lib here nebber no mo'?" cried the little black figure in a


s: Viny's eyes widened fearfully, but she didn't stir.


s: "If you will take care--mind! SPLENDID care of Aunt Sylvia every


s: Caryl came to her rescue by giving her a new idea.


s: "To be good," repeated the small nurse yet more solemnly, "an' to


s: Viny, having been duly elected to office, considered her honors


s: Maum Patty tossed her turban in intense scorn at each of the dark


s: She peered anxiously down the dirty little brick walk again, then


s: Maum Patty always spoke of her scanty savings deposited in the


s: Meantime the little black nurse had begun her work.


s: Peering around Miss Sylvia's half-closed door, Viny exclaimed to


s: Ruthlessly, then, they were pulled out and overhauled, while Viny


s: Now in one corner of Caryl's drawer was a small black box;


s: With one mighty effort she tore herself from the spot, and rushed


s: At that Viny wrung her hands and writhed in dire distress.


s: "Get out of my dress!" cried the old lady excitedly. "Here, I'll


s: "Look out, Caryl!" called the others in the carriage after her.


s: "It's our Viny," she said, "and something is the matter with Aunt


s: A-hatin' each other through 'nd through!


s: 'Nd the Sergeant allowed ther'd be a fight


s: With the Johnnie Rebs some time nex' day;


s: 'Nd as I wuz thinkin' of Lizzie 'nd home,


s: Seemed like we knew ther wuz goin' to be


s: But I haint forgot that last, last night,


s: Made up, 'nd shook hands afore the fight


s: IT happened once, in that brave land that lies


s: For half the twelvemonth wrapt in sombre skies,


s: Two sisters loved one man.  He being dead,


s: Grief loosed the lips of her he had not wed,


s: And all the passion that through heavy years


s: Had masked in smiles unmasked itself in tears.


s: No purer love may mortals know than this,


s: The hidden love that guards another's bliss.


s: High in a turret's westward-facing room,


s: Whose painted window held the sunset's bloom,


s: Unveiled her soul with sobs and broken speech.


s: Both still were young, in life's rich summer yet;


s: In hair and eyes, and one was blond as she


s: Who rose--a second daybreak--from the sea,


s: Gold-tressed and azure-eyed.  In that lone place,


s: Like dusk and dawn, they sat there face to face.


s: She spoke the first whose strangely silvering hair


s: No wreath had worn, nor widow's weed might wear,


s: And told her blameless love, and knew no shame--


s: Within a guarded crypt had burned unseen


s: From weary year to year.  And she who heard


s: Smiled proudly through her tears and said no word,


s: But, drawing closer, on the troubled brow


s: Laid one long kiss, and that was words enow!


s: Be still, my heart!  Grown patient with thine ache,


s: His charity still found some germ, some spark


s: Of light in natures that seemed wholly dark.


s: He read men's souls; the lowly and the high


s: Moved on the self-same level in his eye.


s: Without offence he spake the word he meant--


s: His word no trick of tact or courtly art,


s: But the white flowering of the noble heart.


s: Careless he was of much the world counts gain,


s: Careless of self, too simple to be vain,


s: Yet strung so finely that for conscience-sake


s: He would have gone like Cranmer to the stake.


s: I saw--how could I help but love?  And you--


s: At this perfection did I worship too . . .


s: 'Twas this that stabbed me.  Heed not what I say!


s: I meant it not, my wits are gone astray,


s: With all that is and has been.  No, I lie--


s: Strange words and wild!  'Tis the distracted mind


s: Breathes them, not you, and I no meaning find.


s: Yet 'twere as plain as writing on a scroll


s: Had you but eyes to read within my soul.--


s: How a grief hidden feeds on its own mood,


s: Poisons the healthful currents of the blood


s: With bitterness, and turns the heart to stone!


s: I think, in truth, 'twere better to make moan,


s: And so be done with it.  This many a year,


s: Sweetheart, have I laughed lightly and made cheer,


s: With sorrowfullest eyes beneath the sun,


s: What masks are faces!--yours, unread by me


s: These seven long summers; mine, so placidly


s: Shielding my woe!  No tremble of the lip,


s: No cheek's quick pallor let our secret slip!


s: Mere players we, and she that played the queen,


s: Now in her homespun, looks how poor and mean!


s: How shall I say it, how find words to tell


s: What thing it was for me made earth a hell


s: That else had been my heaven!  'Twould blanch your cheek


s: Were I to speak it.  Nay, but I will speak,


s: Since like two souls at compt we seem to stand,


s: Where nothing may be hidden.  Hold my hand,


s: But look not at me!  Noble 'twas, and meet,


s: To hide your heart, nor fling it at his feet


s: To lie despised there.  Thus saved you our pride


s: And that white honor for which earls have died.


s: I with a difference wore my weight of woe.


s: My hell, to love him--for he loved me not!


s: Then came a silence.  Suddenly like death


s: The truth flashed on them, and each held her breath--


s: A flash of light whereby they both were slain,


s: She that was loved and she that loved in vain!


s: Now there was one who came in later days


s: To play at Emperor: in the dead of night


s: Stole crown and sceptre, and stood forth to light


s: In sudden purple.  The dawn's straggling rays


s: Showed Paris fettered, murmuring in amaze,


s: With red hands at her throat--a piteous sight.


s: Then the new Caesar, stricken with affright


s: At his own daring, shrunk from public gaze


s: But that around him flocked his birds of prey,


s: Sharp-beaked, voracious, hungry for the deed.


s: 'Twixt hope and fear behold great Caesar hang!


s: Meanwhile, methinks, a ghostly laughter rang


s: Reddened, but not with sunset's kindly glow?


s: What if from quai and square the murmured woe


s: Swept heavenward, pleadingly?  The prize was won,


s: But his Name's shadow; that one struck the blow


s: Himself, and sighted the street-sweeping gun!


s: This was a man of tortuous heart and brain,


s: So warped he knew not his own point of view--


s: And there he plotted, by the storied Seine


s: The Sphinx that puzzled Europe, for awhile.


s: The wrinkled care; mustache spread pinion-wise,


s: Pointing his smile with odd sardonic grace


s: And bends before the hoarse Parisian cries--


s: Then vanishes, with glitter of gold-lace


s: And trumpets blaring to the patient skies.


s: Not thus he vanished later!  On his path


s: Foreknowing that they waited not in vain.


s: Then fell the day, O day of dreadful wrath!


s: Bow down in shame, O crimson-girt Sedan!


s: Weep, fair Alsace! weep, loveliest Lorraine!


s: So mused I, sitting underneath the trees


s: Watching the dust of twilight sifting down


s: Through chestnut boughs just toucht with autumn's brown--


s: Not twilight yet, but that illusive bloom


s: Which holds before the deep-etched shadows come;


s: For still the garden stood in golden mist,


s: The Seine slipt through its spans of fretted stone,


s: And, near the grille that once fenced in a throne,


s: The fountains still unbraided to the day


s: The unsubstantial silver of their spray.


s: A spot to dream in, love in, waste one's hours!


s: Came sweet Corday, Du Barry with shrill cry,


s: Not learning from her betters how to die!


s: Here, while the Nations watched with bated breath,


s: Its point to catch the dawn's and sunset's drifts


s: Of various gold, the busy Headsman stood. . . .


s: Place de la Concorde--no, the Place of Blood!


s: And all so peaceful now!  One cannot bring


s: Lies, all of it! some dreamer's wild romance--


s: High-hearted, witty, laughter-loving France!


s: In whose brain was it that the legend grew


s: Of watch-fires burning, Famine standing guard,


s: Of long-speared Uhlans in that palace-yard!


s: What ruder sound this soft air ever smote


s: Than a bird's twitter or a bugle's note?


s: What darker crimson ever splashed these walks


s: Than that of rose-leaves dropping from the stalks?


s: And yet--what means that charred and broken wall,


s: That sculptured marble, splintered, like to fall,


s: Looming among the trees there? . . .  And you say


s: This happened, as it were, but yesterday?


s: And here the Commune stretched a barricade,


s: And there the final desperate stand was made?


s: Such things have been?  How all things change and fade!


s: How little lasts in this brave world below!


s: Love dies; hate cools; the Caesars come and go;


s: Gaunt Hunter fattens, and the weak grow strong.


s: Ah, who can tell what hour may bring the doom,


s: The lighted torch, the tocsin's heavy boom!


s: hardly known by any other name but Poet's Corner."


s: TREAD softly here; the sacredest of tombs


s: Are those that hold your Poets.  Kings and queens


s: Are facile accidents of Time and Chance.


s: Chance sets them on the heights, they climb not there!


s: But he who from the darkling mass of men


s: Is on the wing of heavenly thought upborne


s: For all the voiceless, God anointed him:


s: His name shall be a star, his grave a shrine.


s: Tread softly here, in silent reverence tread.


s: Packed in the mountain's adamantine heart,


s: The dross men toil for, and oft stain the soul.


s: How vain and all ignoble seems that greed


s: To him who stands in this dim claustral air


s: With these most sacred ashes at his feet!


s: This dust was Chaucer, Spenser, Dryden this--


s: The spark that once illumed it lingers still.


s: If the unleashed and happy spirit of man


s: What august Shades at midnight here convene


s: When the great pulse of London faintly throbs,


s: And one by one the stars in heaven pale!


s: "An' I would to God," the skipper groaned,


s: But the skipper's sunburnt cheek grew wan


s: Then, helm hard-port; right straight he sailed


s: The winds were hushed, the waves were spent,


s: . . . Room in your heart for him, O Mother Earth,


s: Who loved each flower and leaf that made you fair,


s: And delicate, with here and there a line


s: The May breathes on, so rich it was.  Some thought


s: The workmanship more costly than the thing


s: Moulded or carved, as in those ornaments


s: Found at Mycaene.  And yet Nature's self


s: Works in this wise; upon a blade of grass,


s: Or what small note she lends the woodland thrush,


s: Lavishing endless patience.  He was born


s: And many dreamed not.  As he wrote no odes


s: And gave no breath to civic feasts and shows,


s: He missed the glare that gilds more facile men--


s: Not great his gift; yet we can poorly spare


s: He had at least ideals, though unreached,


s: Blown from the slums.  We paint life as it is,


s: The hideous side of it, with careful pains,


s: And set up strangest idols?  We could clip


s: Madonnas leaning from their starry thrones


s: Such nightmare visions as in morbid brains


s: Take shape and substance, thoughts that taint the air


s: And make all life unlovely.  Will it last?


s: From age to age endures, handmaid of God.


s: Poets who walk with her on earth go hence


s: With his hushed music, in some Potter's Field;


s: The snows and rains blot out his very name,


s: As he from life seems blotted: through Time's glass


s: The world is suddenly conscious of a flower,


s: Sprung from the mould of a forgotten grave.


s: 'Tis said the seeds wrapt up among the balms


s: Hold strange vitality, and, planted, grow


s: After the lapse of thrice a thousand years.


s: Some day, perchance, some unregarded note


s: Of our poor friend here--some sweet minor chord


s: That failed to lure our more accustomed ear--


s: Who knows, since seeds have such tenacity?


s: Meanwhile he's dead, with scantiest laurel won


s: And little of our Nineteenth Century gold.


s: So, take him, Earth, and this his mortal part,


s: With that shrewd alchemy thou hast, transmute


s: To flower and leaf in thine unending Springs!


s: Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth--


s: Batuschka! . . .  How his heart is cold!


s: First, two white arms that held him very close,


s: Reluctantly, the loose gold-colored hair


s: Still to detain him; then some twenty steps


s: Of iron staircase winding round and down,


s: With her nymphs bathing; at the farther end


s: Of citron and clipt palm-trees; then a path


s: As bleached as moonlight, with the shadow of leaves


s: Stamped black upon it; next a vine-clad length


s: A Gothic archway packed with night, and then--


s: A sudden gleaming dagger through his heart.


s: Shakespeare and Milton--what third blazoned name


s: His who, beside the wild encircling seas,


s: Was England's voice, her voice with one acclaim,


s: For threescore years; whose word of praise was fame,


s: Whose scorn gave pause to man's iniquities.


s: What strain was his in that Crimean war?


s: Plaintive and sweet, above the fields of death!


s: Bearing the laurel or the cypress wreath.


s: Others shall have their little space of time,


s: Their proper niche and bust, then fade away


s: Thou shalt not pass!  Thy fame in every clime


s: On earth shall live where Saxon speech has sway.


s: Waft me this verse across the winter sea,


s: Through light and dark, through mist and blinding sleet,


s: At his feet lay it: it may chance that he


s: Will find no gift, where reverence is, unmeet.


s: Listen, my masters!  I speak naught but truth.


s: From dawn to dawn they drifted on and on,


s: Not knowing whither nor to what dark end.


s: Now the North froze them, now the hot South scorched.


s: Some called to God, and found great comfort so;


s: Some gnashed their teeth with curses, and some laughed


s: An empty laughter, seeing they yet lived,


s: So sweet was breath between their foolish lips.


s: Night after night the same unpitying stars.


s: At intervals fierce lightnings tore the clouds,


s: Showing vast hollow spaces, and the sleet


s: Hissed, and the torrents of the sky were loosed.


s: From time to time a hand relaxed its grip,


s: And some pale wretch slid down into the dark


s: With stifled moan, and transient horror seized


s: The rest who waited, knowing what must be.


s: At every turn strange shapes reached up and clutched


s: The whirling wreck, held on awhile, and then


s: Slipt back into that blackness whence they came.


s: Ah, hapless folk, to be so tost and torn,


s: So racked by hunger, fever, fire, and wave,


s: And swept at last into the nameless void--


s: Frail girls, strong men, and mothers with their babes!


s: Our hearts are heavy and our eyes are dimmed.


s: What ship is this that suffered such ill fate?


s: What ship, my masters?  Know ye not?--The World!


s: That were ere I drew breath: why should I then


s: Distrust the darkness that may fall again


s: When life is done?  Perchance in other spheres--


s: Dead planets--I once tasted mortal tears,


s: And walked as now among a throng of men,


s: Pondering things that lay beyond my ken,


s: Questioning death, and solacing my fears.


s: Ofttimes indeed strange sense have I of this,


s: Vague memories that hold me with a spell,


s: In years foregone, O Soul, was all not well?


s: Still lovelier life awaits thee.  Fear not thou!


s: Whose wraith, through the mists of night,


s: 'Twas the smoke from the well-won fields


s: A blight, a gloom, I know not what, has crept upon my gladness--


s: Some vague, remote ancestral touch of sorrow, or of madness;


s: A fear that is not fear, a pain that has not pain's insistence;


s: A sense of longing, or of loss, in some foregone existence;


s: A subtle hurt that never pen has writ nor tongue has spoken--


s: What sign had these for prince or clown?


s: The rest with all their pomps and trains


s: Brief be your sleep!  You shall be known


s: Or soon or late, let Time wrong what it may.


s: White star that rose amid the battle's flame!


s: Wouldst know the clash of knightly steel on steel?


s: Or list the throstle singing loud and clear?


s: Or walk at twilight by some haunted mere


s: Life's pulse at highest--hark, the minster's peal! . . .


s: Turn but the page, that various world is here!


s: When first the crocus thrusts its point of gold


s: Up through the still snow-drifted garden mould,


s: And folded green things in dim woods unclose


s: Their crinkled spears, a sudden tremor goes


s: To every wild-born thing that thrills and blows.


s: Sitting beside this crumbling sea-coal fire,


s: Here in the city's ceaseless roar and din,


s: Far from the brambly paths I used to know,


s: Far from the rustling brooks that slip and shine


s: Where the Neponset alders take their glow,


s: I share the tremulous sense of bud and briar


s: Slow creep the hours, slow creep the days,


s: Just wait till bluebirds, wrens, and jays


s: Like Crusoe, walking by the lonely strand


s: And seeing a human footprint on the sand,


s: Have I this day been startled, finding here,


s: Set in brown mould and delicately clear,


s: Spring's footprint--the first crocus of the year!


s: Soon shall wild creatures of the field and wood


s: Flock from all sides with much ado and stir,


s: How strange it seemed!  His living voice


s: Those courteous phrases, tersely choice,


s: He looked; such pallor touched his cheek;


s: promenaders.  Quadrille music throughout the dialogue.


s: arrived, is standing anxiously in the doorway of an antechamber


s: with his eyes fixed upon a lady in the costume of a maid of honor


s: A mask may hide your features, not your soul.


s: That folds a star.  A blind man knows the night,


s: And feels the constellations.  No coarse sense


s: Through these I had not found you; for your eyes,


s: Look black behind your mask there, and your voice--


s: I had not known that either.  My heart said,


s: You trust your heart, then!  'Tis a serious risk!--


s: In scarlet kaftans and all masked alike.


s: Watch--you will note how every one bows down


s: Before those figures, thinking each by chance


s: May be the Tsar; yet none knows which is he.


s: Even his counterparts are left in doubt.


s: Such chains as gall our Emperor these sad days.


s: I think there is no truth left in the world,


s: In man or woman.  Once were noble souls.--


s: Count Sergius, is Nastasia here to-night?


s: Ah! then you know!  I thought to tell you first.


s: Not here, beneath these hundred curious eyes,


s: In all this glare of light; but in some place


s: Where I could throw me at your feet and weep.


s: In what shape came the story to your ear?


s: Decked in the teller's colors, I'll be sworn;


s: And so must wrong me.  Only this is true:


s: The Tsar, because I risked my wretched life


s: YOUR JOY'S DECREED, and stabs me with a smile.


s: Likes me, perhaps.  What matters it?--HER love!


s: The guardian, Sidor Yurievich, consents,


s: And she consents.  No love in it at all,


s: A mere caprice, a young girl's spring-tide dream.


s: Sick of her ear-rings, weary of her mare,


s: She'll have a lover--something ready-made,


s: Fate said her word--I chanced to be the man!


s: Had not spared me, as well as spared the Tsar,


s: All this would not have happened.  I'd have been


s: A hero, but quite safe from her romance.


s: Whatever falls.  She, with a single word,


s: With half a tear, had stopt it at the first,


s: This cruel juggling with poor human hearts.


s: The Tsar commanded it--you said the Tsar.


s: The Tsar does what she wills--God fathoms why.


s: Were she his mistress, now! but there's no snow


s: Nor colder either.  She is very haughty,


s: With something vital in her, like those flowers


s: That on our desolate steppes outlast the year.


s: Resembles you in some things.  It was that


s: First made us friends.  I do her justice, see!


s: For we were friends in that smooth surface way


s: We Russians have imported out of France.


s: Alas! from what a blue and tranquil heaven


s: This bolt fell on me!  After these two years,


s: The old wrong righted, the estates restored,


s: Those fairies which neglected me at birth


s: Seemed now to lavish all good gifts on me--


s: Gold roubles, office, sudden dearest friends.


s: The whole world smiled; then, as I stooped to taste


s: The sweetest cup, freak dashed it from my lip.


s: This very night--just think, this very night--


s: I planned to come and beg of you the alms


s: I thought me poor then.  How stript am I now!


s: There's not a ragged mendicant one meets


s: To tell his love, and I have not that right!


s: Pauline Pavlovna, why do you stand there


s: Because this thing has frozen up my heart.


s: I think that there is something killed in me,


s: A dream that would have mocked all other bliss.


s: What shall I say?  What would you have me say?


s: Well, then--I love you.  I may tell you so


s: This once, . . . and then forever hold my peace.


s: No--do not touch me! but stand further off,


s: And seem to laugh, as if we jested--eyes,


s: Eyes everywhere!  Now turn your face away . . .


s: I would death found me.  It were sweet to die


s: I have three things to choose from; you shall choose:


s: The first means hell; the second, purgatory;


s: The third--with you--were nothing less than heaven!


s: This business has touched me in the brain.


s: There is a fourth way; but that gate is shut


s: To brave men who hold life a thing of God.


s: Yourself spoke there; the rest was not of you.


s: Oh, lift me to your level!  So I'm safe.


s: His mind is set on this with that insistence


s: Which seems to seize on all match-making folk.


s: The fancy bites them, and they straight go mad.


s: Your father's friend, the Metropolitan--


s: Gray-haired, gray-hearted, worldly wise, he sees


s: This marriage makes me the Tsar's protege,


s: Think while I think.  There surely is some key


s: Unlocks the labyrinth, could we but find it.


s: Beg love.  She is a woman, young, perhaps


s: Untouched as yet of this too poisonous air.


s: Were she told all, would she not pity us?


s: For if she love you, as I think she must,


s: Would not some generous impulse stir in her,


s: How love thrills even commonest girl-clay,


s: You said that she is proud; then touch her pride,


s: And turn her into marble with the touch.


s: But yet the gentler passion is the stronger.


s: Go to her, tell her, in some tenderest phrase


s: That will not hurt too much--ah, but 'twill hurt!--


s: Just how your happiness lies in her hand


s: To make or mar for all time; hint, not say,


s: Your heart is gone from you, and you may find--


s: For, say, a month; then some Siberian town.


s: Not this way lies escape.  At my first word


s: That sluggish Tartar blood would turn to fire


s: How small we often seem in our small world


s: Of trivial cares and narrow precedents--


s: Lacking that wide horizon stretched for men--


s: Capricious, spiteful, frightened at a mouse;


s: But when it comes to suffering mortal pangs,


s: The weakest of us measures pulse with you.


s: Yes, you, not she.  If she were at your height!


s: But there's no martyr wrapt in HER rose flesh.


s: There should have been; for Nature gave you both


s: The self-same purple for your eyes and hair,


s: The self-same Southern music to your lips,


s: Fashioned you both, as 'twere, in the same mould,


s: Yet failed to put the soul in one of you!


s: I know her wilful--her light head quite turned


s: A Moscow beauty, petted and spoiled there,


s: And since spoiled here; as soft as swan's down now,


s: With words like honey melting from the comb,


s: But being crossed, vindictive, cruel, cold.


s: Saying, "Poor fellow, in the Nertchinsk mines!"


s: Count Sergius Pavlovich, you said no mask


s: Could hide the soul, yet how you have mistaken


s: The soul these two months--and the face to-night!


s: And tell her that the Tsar has set you free.


s: Though she that passed had lips like pinks.


s: But she that passed--you marked her well.


s: Her hand, five slender snow-white birds.


s: Her voice--though she but said "God-speed"--


s: He loves--thus lads at first are blind--


s: Strange monsters basked them in the sun,


s: Then, by degrees, through silt and slough,


s: Blue-eyed, intent, with lips whose bloom


s: Are frowns that gloom and smiles that glow;


s: Fair girls were wived in those far springs;


s: Graybeards, who seek to bridge the chasm


s: You'll have a care, some four years hence,


s: And blow those kisses through that screen--


s: though "parting is such sweet sorrow" . . .


s: To spring belongs the violet, and the blown


s: Grant me this favor, Muse--all else withhold--


s: That I may not write verse when I am old.


s: And yet I pray you, Muse, delay the time!


s: And when the hour strikes, as it must, dear Muse,


s: My throat should ache with praise, and I


s: LOOK back with longing eyes and know that I will follow,


s: Lift me up in your love as a light wind lifts a swallow,


s: Let our flight be far in sun or windy rain--


s: Hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam,


s: Take me far away to the hills that hide your home;


s: Peace shall thatch the roof and love shall latch the door--


s: When the pavements were gleaming with rain,


s: Thinking of all my problems that never are


s: Suddenly out of the mist, a flaring gas-jet


s: With covetous eyes I looked again at the marbles,


s: The precious agates, the pee-wees, the chinies--


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: NIGHT is over the park, and a few brave stars


s: Look on the lights that link it with chains of gold,


s: The lake bears up their reflection in broken bars


s: That seem too heavy for tremulous water to hold.


s: We watch the swans that sleep in a shadowy place,


s: And now and again one wakes and uplifts its head;


s: How still you are--your gaze is on my face--


s: We watch the swans and never a word is said.


s: VIVID with love, eager for greater beauty


s: And a terrible whirring deafens my ears.


s: We pass thru a door leading onto the ledge--


s: The cold blue miles between us and the city,


s: A thousand times more numerous than the stars;


s: Oh lines and loops of light in unwound chains


s: The vast black mazy cobweb of the streets;


s: Near us clusters and splashes of living gold


s: Where the fragile lights on the Jersey shore


s: We feel the millions of humanity beneath us,--


s: The warm millions, moving under the roofs,


s: With burning eyes bending over a needle,


s: The sorrow, the torpor, the bitterness, the frail joy


s: And the tower will be laid on the earth.


s: WE are apart; the city grows quiet between us,


s: She hushes herself, for midnight makes heavy her eyes,


s: The tangle of traffic is ended, the cars are empty,


s: Five streets divide us, and on them the moonlight lies.


s: Oh are you asleep, or Iying awake, my lover?


s: Open your dreams to my love and your heart to my words,


s: I send you my thoughts-the air between us is laden,


s: My thoughts fly in at your window, a flock of wild birds.


s: As one who strives to dance, half blind with tears.


s: Oh sensitive shy years, oh lonely years,


s: That strove to sing with voices drowned in tears.


s: Caught in the web of the years that pass,


s: Will be as the gray stones in the grass.


s: Since you have crowned me softly in your heart


s: With love that is half ardent, half austere;


s: And as a queen disguised might pass anear


s: The bitter crowd that barters in a mart,


s: Veiling her pride while tears of pity start,


s: My crown shall stay a sweet and secret thing


s: Kept pure with prayer at evensong and morn,


s: And when you come to take it from my head,


s: I shall not weep, nor will a word be said,


s: But I shall kneel before you, oh my king,


s: Once rose among the dew-drenched vines that hung


s: I felt the lute strings' ancient ecstasy,


s: And while he read, my love-filled heart was stung,


s: And throbbed, as where an ardent bird has clung


s: The branches tremble on a blossomed tree.


s: Oh lady for whose sake the song was made,


s: Laid long ago in some still cypress shade,


s: Divided from the man who longed for thee,


s: Here in a land whose name he never heard,


s: His song brought love as April brings the bird,


s: And not a breath divides my love from me!


s: Have gathered in their crowds, and steadily


s: The million lights blaze on for few to see,


s: Robbing the sky of stars that should be hers.


s: Pass up the street unwearied, warm and free,


s: Beneath the liquid splendor of the lights


s: We live a little ere the charm is spent;


s: This night is ours, of all the golden nights,


s: And Youth the player on the viol, who sent


s: Behind us as we walked along the parkway,


s: For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said,


s: There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple,


s: THE darkened street was muffled with the snow,


s: The falling flakes had made your shoulders white,


s: And when we found a shelter from the night


s: The clash of dishes and the viol and bow


s: The heat was full of savors, and the bright


s: Laughter of women lured the wine to flow.


s: A little child ate nothing while she sat


s: The hour went by, we rose and turned to go,


s: The somber street received us from the glare,


s: And once more on your shoulders fell the snow.


s: The wide sown fields fall to the faint horizon,


s: A year ago we walked in the jangling city


s: And came to the narrow, knotted streets.


s: We went aloof, ecstatic, walking in wonder,


s: Forever the foreign people with dark, deep-seeing eyes


s: Lights and foreign words and foreign faces,


s: I only felt alive, defiant of all death and sorrow,


s: And led at last to water black and glossy,


s: Flecked here and there with lights, faint and far off.


s: "The India Wharf " . . . and we turned back.


s: To dreaming cities set on sacred streams


s: Tho' you should lean above me broken-hearted,


s: I shall have peace, as leafy trees are peaceful


s: And I shall be more silent and cold-hearted


s: Where stars stare down with sharpened faces


s: To slake the thirst grown past all bearing


s: I AM free of love as a bird flying south in the autumn,


s: Swift and intent, asking no joy from another,


s: Glad to forget all of the passion of April


s: I am free of love, and I listen to music lightly,


s: But if he returned, if he should look at me deeply,


s: I should awake, I should awake and remember


s: How many and many a night we two together


s: Was low in a happy place to let us cross,


s: And down the hill a tree that dripped with bloom


s: The frail white stars moved slowly over the sky.


s: Dreamily before her mirror shakes from her hair


s: This year's blossoms, clinging in its coils ?


s: The tireless lights and the reverberation,


s: The angry thunder of trains that burrow the ground,


s: The hunted, hurrying people were still the same--


s: But oh, another man beside me and not you!


s: The gleaming curve of tracks, the bridge above--


s: They were burned deep into my heart before,


s: The night I watched them to avoid your eyes,


s: When you were saying, "Oh, look up at me!"


s: When you were saying, "Will you never love me?"


s: You dropped your eyes. I felt your utter pain.


s: I would have died to say the truth to you.


s: After a year I came again to the place--


s: The hunted hurrying people were still the same....


s: LYRIC night of the lingering Indian Summer,


s: Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing,


s: Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects,


s: The grasshopper's horn, and far off, high in the maples


s: The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence,


s: Under a moon waning and worn and broken,


s: Let me remember you, voices of little insects,


s: Weeds in the moonlight, fields that are tangled with asters,


s: Let me remember you, soon will the winter be on us,


s: Over my soul murmur your mute benediction


s: While I gaze, oh fields that rest after harvest,


s: As those who part look long in the eyes they lean to,


s: And the wind that runs with rippling shoon--


s: The far-off, beautiful sound of the sea?


s: The marsh-grass weaves me a wall of green,


s: But the wind comes whispering in between,


s: In the dead of night when the sky is deep


s: But why do the pines on the mountain's crest


s: And I blind the sun on his throne at noon,


s: But oh the pines on the mountain's crest


s: With their gew-gaws still in their hands,


s: And thick, coarse words on their tongues.


s: She said to the pool: "Oh, wondrous deep,


s: I love you, I give you my light to keep.


s: And the deepest place but reached its chin.


s: While in the dusk, the saw went screaming


s: That moaned as tho' the tree's heart broke


s: Voices that called with ceaseless crying,


s: Their cries engulfed him like the night,


s: Swift clouds make all the heavens blind,


s: SHE is too kind, I think, for mortal things,


s: And softly singing as an orchard spring's


s: In sheltered hollows all the sunny year--


s: A spring that thru the leaning grass looks up


s: I love to think that never tears at night


s: And little birds before they learned to sing


s: Drowned in the sudden ecstasy of spring.


s: I love to think that with a wistful wonder


s: She held her baby warm against her breast;


s: She shuddered at her gift, or trembled lest


s: She lured from heaven a half-unwilling guest.


s: She caught and kept his first vague flickering smile,


s: The faint upleaping of his spirit's fire;


s: In her was all he asked of earth or heaven--


s: Should leap at last that arrow-like desire,


s: Thrilling as tho' her hand had touched God's hand.


s: Winged on a flight she could not follow,


s: His lips should free to lands she never knew;


s: A star-white song between the blue and blue.


s: How should the water know the glowing heart


s: And centuries have struggled toward its birth.


s: Out of the tumult of their love and mating


s: Each one created, seeing life was good--


s: Breaks like brave April thru a wintry wood.


s: But what of her whose heart is troubled by it,


s: The mother who would soothe and set him free,


s: Fearing the song's storm-shaken ecstasy--


s: Oh, as the moon that has no power to quiet


s: That hide and will not get them dressed,


s: To gather me close in the old sweet way--


s: The key in the latch and the strong quick tread--


s: The sun turns north, the days grow long,


s: The apple-blooms will shed their breath--


s: THE northern woods are delicately sweet,


s: But I am restless for the subway's roar,


s: I try to sleep, but still my eyelids beat


s: Against the image of the tower that bore


s: I watched the world from God's unshaken seat.


s: I would go back and breathe with quickened sense


s: The tunnel's strong hot breath of powdered steel;


s: But at the ferries I should leave the tense


s: Dark air behind, and I should mount and be


s: The first keen sea-breath from the open sea.


s: THE lightning spun your garment for the night


s: Of silver filaments with fire shot thru,


s: The steadfast splendor of enduring light.


s: The moon drifts dimly in the heaven's height,


s: Watching with wonder how the earth she knew


s: That lay so long wrapped deep in dark and dew,


s: Should wear upon her breast a star so white.


s: With flaring flambeaux that the wind blew down;


s: With rain-quenched torches dripping thru the town--


s: But you have found a god and filched from him


s: A fire that neither wind nor rain can dim.


s: A THOUSAND miles beyond this sun-steeped wall


s: Somewhere the waves creep cool along the sand,


s: The ebbing tide forsakes the listless land


s: The windy waves mount up and curve and fall,


s: And round the rocks the foam blows up like snow,--


s: For I was born the sea's eternal thrall.


s: The cold insistence of the tide would roll,


s: Quenching this burning thing men call the soul,--


s: Then with the ebbing I should drift and be


s: Less than the smallest shell along the shoal,


s: Less than the sea-gulls calling to the sea.


s: Oh white steam over the roofs, blow high!


s: Oh chimes in the tower ring clear and free !


s: Oh tower stand shrouded toward the south,--


s: ALL beauty calls you to me, and you seem,


s: Past twice a thousand miles of shifting sea,


s: To reach me. You are as the wind I breathe


s: Here on the ship's sun-smitten topmost deck,


s: With only light between the heavens and me.


s: Knowing the bright hair blowing in the sun,


s: The eager whisper and the searching eyes.


s: Listen, I love you. Do not turn your face


s: Nor touch me. Only stand and watch awhile


s: Of words that beat in it with broken wing.


s: How like a gull that sparkling sinks to rest,


s: The foam-crest drifts along a happy wave


s: Toward the bright verge, the boundary of the world.


s: I am so weak a thing, praise me for this,


s: That in some strange way I was strong enough


s: Altho' I longed to kneel to you that night


s: You looked at me with ever-calling eyes.


s: Was I not calm?  And if you guessed my love


s: You thought it something delicate and free,


s: Soft as the sound of fir-trees in the wind,


s: Fleeting as phosphorescent stars in foam.


s: Yet in my heart there was a beating storm


s: Bending my thoughts before it, and I strove


s: And from my eyes to drive love's happy shame.


s: Yet when I heard your name the first far time


s: Was all unconscious, as a dreaming river


s: That nears at last its long predestined sea;


s: And when you spoke to me, I did not know


s: That to my life's high altar came its priest.


s: And in your hands with faith and utter joy


s: I would that I could lay my woman's soul.


s: But sometimes when you hear blown back to you


s: My wistful, far-off singing touched with tears,


s: And that I wondered if the wind would bring


s: To him who tuned my heart its distant song.


s: Had borne a child, dreaming of days to come,


s: Wonder if it would please its father's eyes.


s: Foretold you as a spark foretells a flame.


s: In the great space between the sky and sea,


s: And might have blown before the wind of joy


s: I did not know the longing in the night--


s: You who have waked me cannot give me sleep.


s: All things in all the world can rest, but I,


s: When it gives up its broken crown of foam,


s: And yet all quiet loves of friends, all joy


s: Rather than have God blot from out my soul


s: Remembrance of your voice that said my name.


s: For us no starlight stilled the April fields,


s: No birds awoke in darkling trees for us,


s: Yet where we walked the city's street that night


s: Felt in our feet the singing fire of spring,


s: And in our path we left a trail of light


s: When night submerges in the vessel's wake


s: Nor dreams that sear the night with fire,


s: Nisida and Prosida are laughing in the light,


s: Capri is a dewy flower lifting into sight,


s: Posilipo kneels and looks in the burnished sea,


s: Naples crowds her million roofs close as close can be;


s: Round about the mountain's crest a flag of smoke is hung--


s: Oh when God made Italy he was gay and young!


s: With isles like flowers against her breast,


s: The marsh-grass mingles with the flowers,


s: The slow white stars will pass by night,


s: The fountain shivers lightly in the rain,


s: The laurels drip, the fading roses fall,


s: The marble satyr plays a mournful strain


s: That leaves the rainy fragrance musical.


s: Oh dripping laurel, Phoebus sacred tree,


s: Would that swift Daphne's lot might come to me,


s: Then would I still my soul and for an hour


s: Change to a laurel in the glancing shower.


s: MIDNIGHT, and in the darkness not a sound,


s: So, with hushed breathing, sleeps the autumn night;


s: Only the white immortal stars shall know,


s: Here in the house with the low-lintelled door,


s: How, for the last time, I have lit the lamp.


s: I think you are not wholly careless now,


s: Walls that have sheltered me so many an hour,


s: Bed that has brought me ecstasy and sleep,


s: Floors that have borne me when a gale of joy


s: Farewell!  Across the threshold many feet


s: Shall pass, but never Sappho's feet again.


s: Girls shall come in whom love has made aware


s: Of all their swaying beauty--they shall sing,


s: But never Sappho's voice, like golden fire,


s: Shall seek for heaven thru your echoing rafters.


s: There shall be swallows bringing back the spring


s: And south-wind playing on the reeds of rain,


s: But never Sappho's whisper in the night,


s: Never her love-cry when the lover comes.


s: Farewell!   I close the door and make it fast.


s: The little street lies meek beneath the moon,


s: Running, as rivers run, to meet the sea.


s: Oh garlands on the doorposts that I pass,


s: I make a prayer for you: Cypris be kind,


s: I shall not hasten lest the paving stones


s: Those who are warm beneath the cloak of sleep,


s: Lest they should rise and see me and should say,


s: "Whither goes Sappho lonely in the night?"


s: Whither goes Sappho?  Whither all men go,


s: But they go driven, straining back with fear,


s: Blown from brown autumn forests to the sea.


s: Here on the rock Zeus lifted from the waves,


s: Lies breathless, till the lover shall awake.


s: And with the sun the sea shall cover me--


s: I shall be less than the dissolving foam


s: Murmuring and melting on the ebbing tide;


s: I shall be less than spindrift, less than shells;


s: And yet I shall be greater than the gods,


s: As rain bows down the watch-fires on the hills.


s: To the white heaven as flame that has its will.


s: As one grown tired lies down and hopes to sleep.


s: Yet they shall say: "It was for Cercolas;


s: She died because she could not bear her love."


s: In the long limpid twilight of the spring,


s: Looking toward Lemnos, where the amber sky


s: Was pierced with the faint arrow of a star.


s: How should they know the wind of a new beauty


s: Sweeping my soul had winnowed it with song?


s: I have been glad tho' love should come or go,


s: Happy as trees that find a wind to sway them,


s: Others shall say, "Grave Dica wrought her death.


s: She would not lift her lips to take a kiss,


s: She was a pool the winter paves with ice


s: That the wild hunter in the hills must leave


s: With thirst unslaked in the brief southward sun."


s: And not for Phaon, tho' his ship lifts sail


s: Here in the windless harbor for the south.


s: Oh, darkling deities that guard the Nile,


s: Yet they are wrong who say it was for him.


s: How should they know that Sappho lived and died


s: Faithful to love, not faithful to the lover,


s: Never transfused and lost in what she loved,


s: I asked for something greater than I found,


s: And every time that love has made me weep,


s: I have rejoiced that love could be so strong;


s: For I have stood apart and watched my soul


s: Caught in the gust of passion, as a bird


s: With baffled wings against the dusty whirlwind


s: Struggles and frees itself to find the sky.


s: I have grown weary of the winds of heaven.


s: They gave me life; the gift was bountiful,


s: I lived with the swift singing strength of fire,


s: Seeking for beauty as a flame for fuel--


s: The gods have given life--I gave them song;


s: The breath of dawn blows the stars out like lamps,


s: As one grown tired who hopes to sleep, I go.


s: Oh Litis, little slave, why will you sleep?


s: Bowed like the yarrow with a yellow bee.


s: There, lift your eyes no man has ever kindled,


s: See how the temple's solid square of shade


s: That you have never seen, oh evening-eyed.


s: Yet have you never wondered what the Nile


s: Is seeking always, restless and wild with spring


s: And no less in the winter, seeking still?


s: How shall I tell you? Can you think of fields


s: Greater than Gods could till, more blue than night


s: With filmy nets of foam that come and go?


s: Than harried earth. It takes with unconcern


s: And quick forgetting, rapture of the rain


s: And me it took. But there is one more strong,


s: Love, that came laughing from the elder seas,


s: She gave me love who only asked for death--


s: I who had seen much sorrow in men's eyes


s: Shaken with pain; sister of birds and yet


s: The wings that bore my soul were very tired.


s: I watched the careless spring too many times


s: Light her green torches in a hungry wind;


s: Too many times I watched them flare, and then


s: And I was sick of all things--even song.


s: In the dull autumn dawn I turned to death,


s: The strong cold sea that takes and does not give--


s: But there is one more strong, the Cyprian.


s: Litis, to wake from sleep and find your eyes


s: Met in their first fresh upward gaze by love,


s: Filled with love's happy shame from other eyes,


s: Dazzled with tenderness and drowned in light


s: As tho' you looked unthinking at the sun,


s: Not from the sunny shallow pool of sleep,


s: But from the sea of death, the strangling sea


s: Of night and nothingness, and waked to find


s: Love looking down upon you, glad and still,


s: Strange and yet known forever, that is peace.


s: Singing against his happy ship, the keen


s: And straining joy of wind-awakened sails


s: The precious pain of arms that held me fast.


s: They warmed the cold sea out of all my blood;


s: I slept, feeling his eyes above my sleep.


s: There on the ship with wines and olives laden,


s: Led by the stars to far invisible ports,


s: III ¹         ¹ From " Helen of Troy and Other Poems."


s: The twilight's inner flame grows blue and deep,


s: The temples glimmer moon-wise in the trees.


s: Twilight has veiled the little flower-face


s: Here on my heart, but still the night is kind


s: And leaves her warm sweet weight against my breast.


s: When tides came in to ease the hungry beach,


s: And running, running till the night was black,


s: Would fall forespent upon the chilly sand


s: And quiver with the winds from off the sea?


s: Whose waves are stinging kisses, but to me


s: Love brought no peace, nor darkness any rest.


s: I crept and touched the foam with fevered hands


s: And cried to Love, from whom the sea is sweet,


s: From whom the sea is bitterer than death.


s: To thee, God's daughter, powerful as God,


s: It is that thou hast made my life too sweet


s: And I have pierced the pain and come to peace


s: And softer than a little wild bird's wing


s: Are kisses that she pours upon my mouth.


s: Will flicker in the newly opened leaves,


s: Shall I steal forth to seek for solitude


s: Beyond the sob that stilled Erinna's voice.


s: Ah, never with a throat that aches with song,


s: Beneath the white uncaring sky of spring,


s: Shall I go forth to hide awhile from Love


s: The love-note of the birds, and bowed my head


s: And all the world's spring passion stifled me.


s: Ah, Love there is no fleeing from thy might,


s: No lonely place where thou hast never trod,


s: With flowers that spring beneath thy perfect feet.


s: I saw thee by the maidens while they danced,


s: I looked at Cercolas and saw thine eyes;


s: Now have I found the peace that fled from me;


s: Close, close against my heart I hold my world.


s: Ah, Love that tuned my lips to Iyres of thine,


s: I sing for one who falls asleep to hear.


s: Wars worse than civil on Emathian (1) plains,


s: And crime let loose we sing; how Rome's high race


s: Plunged in her vitals her victorious sword;


s: Of all the shaken earth bent on the fray;


s: A kingdom's compact; eagle with eagle met,


s: Standard to standard, spear opposed to spear.


s: Whence, citizens, this rage, this boundless lust


s: To sate barbarians with the blood of Rome?


s: Did not the shade of Crassus, wandering still, (2)


s: Cry for his vengeance?  Could ye not have spoiled,


s: Why wage campaigns that send no laurels home?


s: What lands, what oceans might have been the prize


s: Of all the blood thus shed in civil strife!


s: Where Titan rises, where night hides the stars,


s: 'Neath southern noons all quivering with heat,


s: Or where keen frost that never yields to spring


s: Long since barbarians by the Eastern sea


s: And far Araxes' stream, and those who know


s: (If any such there be) the birth of Nile


s: Had felt our yoke.  Then, Rome, upon thyself


s: With all the world beneath thee, if thou must,


s: Wage this nefarious war, but not till then.


s: Now view the houses with half-ruined walls


s: Throughout Italian cities; stone from stone


s: Has slipped and lies at length; within the home


s: No guard is found, and in the ancient streets so


s: Scarce seen the passer by.  The fields in vain,


s: Rugged with brambles and unploughed for years,


s: Ask for the hand of man; for man is not.


s: E'er caused such havoc: to no foe was given


s: To strike thus deep; but civil strife alone


s: Dealt the fell wound and left the death behind.


s: Yet if the fates could find no other way (3)


s: Gain thrones in heaven; and if the Thunderer


s: Prevailed not till the giant's war was done,


s: Complaint is silent.  For this boon supreme


s: Welcome, ye gods, be wickedness and crime;


s: Thronged with our dead be dire Pharsalia's fields,


s: Perusia's dearth; on Munda's final field


s: The shock of battle joined; let Leucas' Cape


s: Shatter the routed navies; servile hands


s: Unsheath the sword on fiery Etna's slopes:


s: Thou, Caesar, art her prize.  When thou shalt choose,


s: Thy watch relieved, to seek divine abodes,


s: All heaven rejoicing; and shalt hold a throne,


s: And light a subject world that shall not dread


s: To owe her brightness to a different Sun;


s: All shall concede thy right: do what thou wilt,


s: Select thy Godhead, and the central clime


s: Whence thou shalt rule the world with power divine.


s: We pray thee, choose not; but in rays direct


s: Vouchsafe thy radiance to thy city Rome.


s: Should lose its equipoise: take thou the midst,


s: And weight the scales, and let that part of heaven


s: Then may all men lay down their arms, and peace


s: Through all the nations reign, and shut the gates


s: That close the temple of the God of War.


s: Let Delphi's steep her own Apollo guard,


s: Rome is my subject and my muse art thou!


s: The causes -- task immense -- what drove to arms


s: A maddened nation, and from all the world


s: Abide not long the mightiest lords of earth;


s: Beneath too heavy a burden great the fall.


s: Thus Rome o'ergrew her strength.  So when that hour,


s: The last in all the centuries, shall sound


s: The world's disruption, all things shall revert


s: Shall crash; and fiery meteors from the sky


s: Plunge in the ocean.  Earth shall then no more


s: Front with her bulwark the encroaching sea:


s: The moon, indignant at her path oblique,


s: Shall drive her chariot 'gainst her brother Sun


s: And claim the day for hers; and discord huge


s: Great powers are dashed: such bounds the gods have placed


s: Upon the prosperous; nor doth Fortune lend


s: The sovereign power that rules the earth and sea,


s: And baleful compact for divided power --


s: Made Rome their victim.  Oh!  Ambition blind,


s: That stirred the leaders so to join their strength


s: In peace that ended ill, their prize the world!


s: For while the Sea on Earth and Earth on Air


s: Lean for support: while Titan runs his course,


s: And night with day divides an equal sphere,


s: No king shall brook his fellow, nor shall power


s: Endure a rival.  Search no foreign lands:


s: These walls are proof that in their infant days


s: A hamlet, not the world, was prize enough


s: To cause the shedding of a brother's blood.


s: Concord, on discord based, brief time endured,


s: The seas of Graecia: should it be engulfed


s: Then would th' Ionian and Aegean mains (4)


s: Break each on other: thus when Crassus fell,


s: Who held apart the chiefs, in piteous death,


s: And stained Assyria's plains with Latian blood,


s: Defeat in Parthia loosed the war in Rome.


s: More in that victory than ye thought was won,


s: Took at your hands the rage of civil strife.


s: The mighty realm that earth and sea contained,


s: To which all peoples bowed, split by the sword,


s: Could not find space for two (5).  For Julia bore,


s: Of that ill-omened marriage, and the pledge


s: Had'st thou but longer stayed, it had been thine


s: Dash down the threatening swords and join the hands.


s: With thee all trust was buried, and the chiefs


s: Could give their courage vent, and rushed to war.


s: Lest newer glories triumphs past obscure,


s: Late conquered Gaul the bays from pirates won,


s: This, Magnus, was thy fear; thy roll of fame,


s: Of glorious deeds accomplished for the state


s: Allows no equal; nor will Caesar's pride


s: Which had the right 'twere impious to enquire;


s: Each for his cause can vouch a judge supreme;


s: The victor, heaven: the vanquished, Cato, thee. (7)


s: Nor were they like to like: the one in years


s: Now verging towards decay, in times of peace


s: Had unlearned war; but thirsting for applause


s: Had given the people much, and proud of fame


s: But joyed in plaudits of the theatre, (8)


s: His gift to Rome: his triumphs in the past,


s: As when some oak, in fruitful field sublime,


s: Adorned with venerable spoils, and gifts


s: Of bygone leaders, by its weight to earth


s: With feeble roots still clings; its naked arms


s: And hollow trunk, though leafless, give a shade;


s: And though condemned beneath the tempest's shock


s: In sacred grandeur rules the forest still.


s: No such repute had Ceesar won, nor fame;


s: But energy was his that could not rest --


s: Keen and unvanquished (9), where revenge or hope


s: Might call, resistless would he strike the blow


s: Reaped to the full; the favour of the gods


s: Pressed to the utmost; all that stayed his course


s: Aimed at the summit of power, was thrust aside:


s: Triumph his joy, though ruin marked his track.


s: As parts the clouds a bolt by winds compelled,


s: With crack of riven air and crash of worlds,


s: And veils the light of day, and on mankind,


s: Blasting their vision with its flames oblique,


s: Sheds deadly fright; then turning to its home, '


s: Nought but the air opposing, through its path


s: Spreads havoc, and collects its scattered fires.


s: Such were the hidden motives of the chiefs;


s: Their hold had taken, such as are the doom


s: Of potent nations: and when fortune poured


s: Through Roman gates the booty of a world,


s: The curse of luxury, chief bane of states,


s: Fell on her sons.  Farewell the ancient ways!


s: Behold the pomp profuse, the houses decked


s: With ornament; their hunger loathed the food


s: Of former days; men wore attire for dames


s: Scarce fitly fashioned; poverty was scorned,


s: Fruitful of warriors; and from all the world


s: Came that which ruins nations; while the fields


s: Furrowed of yore by great Camillus' plough,


s: Lost their once narrow bounds, and widening tracts


s: By hinds unknown were tilled.  No nation this


s: To sheathe the sword, with tranquil peace content


s: And with her liberties; but prone to ire;


s: Crime holding light as though by want compelled:


s: And great the glory in the minds of men,


s: To rise above their country: might their law:


s: Decrees are forced from Senate and from Plebs:


s: Consul and Tribune break the laws alike:


s: Bought are the fasces, and the people sell


s: For gain their favour: bribery's fatal curse


s: Corrupts the annual contests of the Field.


s: Faith tottered; thousands saw their gain in war.


s: Caesar has crossed the Alps, his mighty soul


s: Great tumults pondering and the coming shock.


s: In face most sorrowful and ghostly guise,


s: His trembling country's image; huge it seemed


s: Through mists of night obscure; and hoary hair


s: Streamed from the lofty front with turrets crowned:


s: Torn were her locks and naked were her arms.


s: Then thus, with broken sighs the Vision spake:


s: "What seek ye, men of Rome?  and whither hence


s: Bear ye my standards?  If by right ye come,


s: My citizens, stay here; these are the bounds;


s: No further dare."  But Caesar's hair was stiff


s: With horror as he gazed, and ghastly dread


s: Restrained his footsteps on the further bank.


s: Then spake he, "Thunderer, who from the rock


s: Gods of my race who watched o'er Troy of old;


s: Thou Jove of Alba's height, and Vestal fires,


s: And rites of Romulus erst rapt to heaven,


s: And God-like Rome; be friendly to my quest.


s: Not with offence or hostfie arms I come,


s: Thy soldier here and wheresoe'er thou wilt:


s: Whose acts make me thy foe.'  He gives the word


s: And bids his standards cross the swollen stream.


s: So in the wastes of Afric's burning clime


s: The lion crouches as his foes draw near,


s: Feeding his wrath the while, his lashing tail


s: Bristles his mane: deep from his gaping jaws


s: Resounds a muttered growl, and should a lance


s: Or javelin reach him from the hunter's ring,


s: Scorning the puny scratch he bounds afield.


s: In summer's heat flows on; his pigmy tide


s: Creeps through the valleys and with slender marge


s: Divides the Italian peasant from the Gaul.


s: Then winter gave him strength, and fraught with rain


s: The third day's crescent moon; while Eastern winds


s: Thawed from the Alpine slopes the yielding snow.


s: The cavalry first form across the stream '


s: To break the torrent's force; the rest with ease


s: Beneath their shelter gain the further bank.


s: When Csesar crossed and trod beneath his feet


s: "Here," spake he, "peace, here broken laws be left;


s: Farewell to treaties.  Fortune, lead me on;


s: War is our judge, and in the fates our trust."


s: Then in the shades of night he leads the troops


s: Winged by retreating Parthian, to the walls


s: Of threatened Rimini, while fled the stars,


s: Whose fires were veiled in clouds, by south wind driven,


s: Or else at heaven's command: and thus drew on


s: The first dark morning of the civil war.


s: Now stand the troops within the captured town,


s: Their standards planted; and the trumpet clang


s: Rings forth in harsh alarums, giving note


s: Of impious strife: roused from their sleep the men


s: Rush to the hall and snatch the ancient arms


s: Long hanging through the years of peace; the shield


s: With crumbling frame; dark with the tooth of rust


s: Their swords (10); and javelins with blunted point.


s: But when the well-known signs and eagles shone,


s: And Caesar towering o'er the throng was seen,


s: They shook for terror, fear possessed their limbs,


s: And thoughts unuttered stirred within their souls.


s: Denies the peace that all men else enjoy!


s: Placed as we are beside the Northern bounds


s: And scarce a footstep from the restless Gaul,


s: We fall the first; would that our lot had been


s: Beneath the Eastern sky, or frozen North,


s: To lead a wandering life, rather than keep


s: The gates of Latium.  Brennus sacked the town


s: For when the fate of Rome is in the scale


s: By this path war advances."  Thus they moan


s: Their fears but speak them not; no sound is heard


s: In depth of winter all the fields are still,


s: The birds are voiceless and no sound is heard


s: To break the silence of the central sea.


s: But when the day had broken through the shades


s: Of chilly darkness, lo!  the torch of war!


s: For by the hand of Fate is swift dispersed


s: All Caesar's shame of battle, and his mind


s: Scarce doubted more; and Fortune toiled to make


s: His action just and give him cause for arms.


s: For while Rome doubted and the tongues of men


s: Spoke of the chiefs who won them rights of yore,


s: The hostile Senate, in contempt of right,


s: Drove out the Tribunes.  They to Caesar's camp


s: Bold, prompt, persuasive, had been wont to preach


s: Upon the chiefs to lay their weapons down (11).


s: And when he saw how deeply Caesar mused,


s: "While from the rostrum I had power," he said,


s: By this my voice against the Senate's will


s: Was thy command prolonged.  But silenced now


s: Are laws in war: we driven from our homes;


s: Yet is our exile willing; for thine arms


s: Strike; for no strength as yet the foe hath gained.


s: Occasion calls, delay shall mar it soon:


s: Like risk, like labour, thou hast known before,


s: But never such reward.  Could Gallia hold


s: Thine armies ten long years ere victory came,


s: That little nook of earth?  One paltry fight


s: Or twain, fought out by thy resistless hand,


s: And Rome for thee shall have subdued the world:


s: 'Tis true no triumph now would bring thee home;


s: No captive tribes would grace thy chariot wheels


s: Winding in pomp around the ancient hill.


s: Spite gnaws the factions; for thy conquests won


s: Scarce shalt thou be unpunished.  Yet 'tis fate


s: Thou should'st subdue thy kinsman: share the world


s: With him thou canst not; rule thou canst, alone."


s: Impatient, and should clamour from without


s: Strike on his ear, bounds furious at restraint,


s: So then was Caesar, eager for the fight,


s: Stirred by the words of Curio.  To the ranks


s: He bids his soldiers; with majestic mien


s: And hand commanding silence as they come.


s: "Comrades," he cried, "victorious returned,


s: Who by my side for ten long years have faced,


s: 'Mid Alpine winters and on Arctic shores,


s: The thousand dangers of the battle-field --


s: Is this our country's welcome, this her prize


s: For death and wounds and Roman blood outpoured?


s: Rome arms her choicest sons; the sturdy oaks


s: Are felled to make a fleet; -- what could she more


s: If from the Alps fierce Hannibal were come


s: With all his Punic host?  By land and sea


s: Caesar shall fly!  Fly?  Though in adverse war


s: Our best had fallen, and the savage Gaul


s: Were hard upon our track, we would not fly.


s: And now, when fortune smiles and kindly gods


s: Fresh from his years of peace, with all his crowd


s: Of conscript burgesses, Marcellus' tongue (12)


s: And Cato's empty name!  We will not fly.


s: Shall Eastern hordes and greedy hirelings keep


s: Though youth and law forbad them?  Shall he seize


s: On Rome's chief honours ne'er to be resigned?


s: And what of harvests (13) blighted through the world


s: And ghastly famine made to serve his ends?


s: Seized on the forum, and with glittering arms


s: Made outraged justice tremble, while their swords


s: Hemmed in the judgment-seat where Milo (14) stood?


s: And now when worn and old and ripe for rest (15),


s: Greedy of power, the impious sword again


s: Wandering, or in the caves that saw their birth,


s: Once having lapped the blood of slaughtered kine,


s: Shall never cease from rage; e'en so this whelp


s: Outstrips his master; and the tongue which licked


s: That reeking weapon ever thirsts for more.


s: Stain once the lips with blood, no other meal


s: They shall enjoy.  And shall there be no end


s: Of these long years of power and of crime?


s: Nay, this one lesson, e'er it be too late,


s: Of old his victory o'er Cilician thieves


s: And Pontus' weary monarch gave him fame,


s: By poison scarce attained.  His latest prize


s: Shall I be, Caesar, I, who would not quit


s: My conquering eagles at his proud command?


s: Let these at least of long and toilsome war


s: Where shall the weary soldier find his rest?


s: What cottage homes their joys, what fields their fruit


s: Shall to our veterans yield?  Will Magnus say


s: That pirates only till the fields alight?


s: Unfurl your standards; victory gilds them yet,


s: As through those glorious years.  Deny our rights!


s: He that denies them makes our quarrel just.


s: Nay!  use the strength that we have made our own.


s: We force to quit his grasp; and Heaven shall smile


s: On those who seek to drag the tyrant down."


s: Thus Caesar spake; but doubtful murmurs ran


s: Throughout the listening crowd, this way and that


s: Their wishes urging them; the thoughts of home


s: And household gods and kindred gave them pause:


s: Their doubts resolved.  Then Laelius, who wore


s: The well-earned crown for Roman life preserved,


s: The foremost Captain of the army, spake:


s: 'Tis mine to speak it; we complain of this,


s: That gifted with such strength thou did'st refrain


s: From using it.  Had'st thou no trust in us?


s: While the hot life-blood fills these glowing veins,


s: While these strong arms avail to hurl the lance,


s: Wilt thou make peace and bear the Senate's rule?


s: Is civil conquest then so base and vile?


s: Lead us through Scythian deserts, lead us where


s: Of Afric's burning sands, or where thou wilt:


s: This hand, to leave a conquered world behind,


s: Held firm the oar that tamed the Northern Sea


s: And Rhine's swift torrent foaming to the main.


s: To follow thee fate gives me now the power:


s: I count the man 'gainst whom thy trumpets sound.


s: By all thy world-wide triumphs, though with hand


s: Unwilling, should'st thou now demand the life


s: Of sire or brother or of faithful spouse,


s: Caesar, the life were thine.  To spoil the gods


s: And sack great Juno's temple on the hill,


s: To plant our arms o'er Tiber's yellow stream,


s: To measure out the camp, against the wall


s: To drive the fatal ram, and raze the town,


s: This arm shall not refuse, though Rome the prize."


s: His comrades swore consent with lifted hands


s: Some Thracian blast on Ossa's pine-clad rocks


s: Falls headlong, and the loud re-echoing woods,


s: Or bending, or rebounding from the stroke,


s: In sounding chorus lift the roar on high.


s: When Csesar saw them welcome thus the war


s: And Fortune leading on, and favouring fates,


s: He seized the moment, called his troops from Gaul,


s: And breaking up his camp set on for Rome.


s: The tents are vacant by Lake Leman's side;


s: The camps upon the beetling crags of Vosges


s: Fierce in his painted arms; Isere is left,