s: 'Sublimed by you, the Greek and Roman reigned


s: 'In Albion may your influence, unprofaned,


s: 'To godlike worth the generous bosom raise,


s: 'And prompt the Sage's lore, and fire the Poet's lays.


s: 'But now let other themes our care engage.


s: 'For lo, with modest, yet majestic grace,


s: 'And from within the cherished heart to brace,


s: 'Fear, Discontent, Solicitude give place,


s: 'And Hope and Courage brighten in their stead,


s: 'While on the kindling soul her vital beams are shed.


s: 'The seeds of happiness, and powers of thought;


s: 'Then jarring appetites forego their strife,


s: 'A strife by ignorance to madness wrought.


s: 'Pleasure by savage man is dearly bought


s: 'With fell revenge, lust that defies controul,


s: 'With gluttony and death. The mind untaught,


s: 'Is a dark waste, where fiends and tempests howl;


s: 'As Phoebus to the world, is Science to the soul.


s: 'And Reason, now, through Number, Time, and Space,


s: 'Darts the keen lustre of her serious eye,


s: 'And learns, from facts compared, the laws to trace,


s: 'Can mortal strength presume to soar so high?


s: 'Can mortal sight, so oft bedimmed with tears,


s: 'Such glory bear?--for lo, the shadows fly


s: 'From Nature's face; Confusion disappears,


s: 'And order charms the eyes, and harmony the ears.


s: 'In the deep windings of the grove, no more


s: 'The hag obscene, and grisly phantom dwell;


s: 'Nor in the fall of mountain-stream, or roar


s: 'Of winds, is heard the angry spirit's yell;


s: 'No wizard mutters the tremendous spell,


s: 'Nor sinks convulsive in prophetic swoon;


s: 'Nor bids the noise of drums and trumpets swell,


s: 'To ease of fancied pangs the labouring moon,


s: 'Or chace the shade that blots the blazing orb of noon.


s: 'Many a long lingering year, in lonely isle,


s: 'Stunned with the eternal turbulence of waves,


s: 'Lo, with dim eyes, that never learned to smile,


s: 'And trembling hands, the famished native craves


s: 'Of Heaven his wretched fare: shivering in caves,


s: 'Or scorched on rocks, he pines from day to day;


s: 'But Science gives the word; and lo, he braves


s: 'The surge and tempest, lighted by her ray,


s: 'And to a happier land wafts merrily away.


s: 'And even where Nature loads the teeming plain


s: 'Her bounty, unimproved, is deadly bane:


s: 'Dark woods and rankling wilds, from shore to shore,


s: 'Stretch their enormous gloom; which, to explore,


s: 'Even Fancy trembles, in her sprightliest mood;


s: 'For there, each eyeball gleams with lust of gore,


s: 'Nestles each murderous and each monstrous brood,


s: 'Plague lurks in every shade, and streams from every flood.


s: 'Twas from Philosophy man learned to tame


s: 'The soil, by plenty to intemperance fed.


s: 'Lo, from the echoing axe, and thundering flame,


s: 'Poison, and plague, and yelling rage, are fled.


s: 'The waters, bursting from their slimy bed,


s: 'And, from the breezy main, and mountain's head,


s: 'To fan their glowing charms, invite the fluttering gale.


s: 'Our art, our strength, our fortitude, require!


s: 'Of foes intestine, what a numerous band


s: 'Against this little throb of life conspire!


s: 'Awhile, and turn aside Death's levelled dart,


s: 'Sooth the sharp pang, allay the fever's fire,


s: 'And brace the nerves once more, and cheer the heart,


s: 'And yet a few soft nights and balmy days impart.


s: 'Flutters thy breast with fear, or pants for fame,


s: 'Or pines, to indolence and spleen a prey,


s: 'Or avarice, a fiend more fierce than they?


s: 'Where cares molest not, discord melts away


s: 'In harmony, and the pure passions prove,


s: 'How sweet the words of truth, breathed from the lips of Love.


s: 'When Science plans the progress of their toil!


s: 'They smile at penury, disease, and storm;


s: 'And oceans from their mighty mounds recoil.


s: 'When tyrants scourge, or demagogues embroil


s: 'A land, or when the rabble's headlong rage


s: 'Deep-versed in man, the philosophic Sage


s: 'Prepares, with lenient hand, their phrenzy to assuage.


s: ''Tis he alone, whose comprehensive mind,


s: 'From situation, temper, soil, and clime


s: 'Explored, a nation's various powers can bind,


s: 'And various orders, in one form sublime


s: 'Of polity, that, midst the wrecks of time,


s: 'Secure shall lift its head on high, nor fear


s: 'The assault of foreign or domestic crime,


s: 'While public Faith, and public Love sincere,


s: 'And Industry and Law maintain their sway severe.'


s: Enraptured by the Hermit's strain, the Youth


s: Proceeds the path of science to explore.


s: And now, expanding to the beams of truth,


s: New energies, and charms unknown before,


s: Wantons on fickle pinion through the skies;


s: But, fixed in aim, and conscious of her power,


s: Sublime from cause to cause exults to rise,


s: Creation's blended stores arranging as she flies.


s: Their laws and nice dependencies to scan;


s: For, mindful of the aids that life requires,


s: The cold desponding breast of Sloth to warm,


s: And the long hours of Toil and Solitude to charm.


s: But She, who set on fire his infant heart,


s: And all his dreams, and all his wanderings shared


s: And blessed, the Muse, and her celestial art,


s: Still claim the Enthusiast's fond and first regard.


s: From Nature's beauties variously compared,


s: And variously combined, he learns to frame


s: Those forms of bright perfection, which the Bard,


s: While boundless hopes and boundless views inflame,


s: Enamoured consecrates to never-dying fame.


s: Of late, with cumbersome, though pompous show,


s: Edwin would oft his flowery rhyme deface,


s: Presents, where Ornament the second place


s: Holds, to intrinsic worth and just design


s: Tempers his rage: he owns her charm divine,


s: And clears the ambiguous phrase, and lops the unwieldy line.


s: Fain would I sing (much yet unsung remains)


s: What sweet delirium o'er his bosom stole,


s: When the great Shepherd of the Mantuan plains


s: Fain would I sing, what transport stormed his soul,


s: How the red current throbbed his veins along,


s: When, like Pelides, bold beyond controul,


s: Homer raised high to heaven the loud, the impetuous song.


s: And how his lyre, though rude her first essays,


s: Now skilled to sooth, to triumph, to complain,


s: Warbling at will through each harmonious maze,


s: Was taught to modulate the artful strain,


s: I fain would sing: but ah! I strive in vain.


s: Sighs from a breaking heart my voice confound.


s: With trembling step, to join yon weeping train,


s: I haste, where gleams funereal glare around,


s: And, mixed with shrieks of woe, the knells of death resound.


s: Adieu, ye lays, that fancy's flowers adorn,


s: He sleeps in dust, and all the Muses mourn,


s: He, whom each virtue fired, each grace refined,


s: Friend, teacher, pattern, darling of mankind!


s: He sleeps in dust. Ah! how should I pursue


s: My theme! To heart-consuming grief resigned,


s: Here, on his recent grave I fix my view,


s: And pour my bitter tears.--Ye flowery lays, adieu!


s: When fortune's storms assail this weary head,


s: Where cares long since have shed untimely snow,


s: No more thy soothing voice my anguish chears:


s: Thy placid eyes with smiles no longer glow,


s: My hopes to cherish, and allay my fears.


s: 'Tis meet that I should mourn:--flow forth afresh my tears.


s: Thy smile, that smooths the brow of care,


s: Still shall unthinking man substantial deem


s: The forms, that fleet through life's deceitful dream?


s: On clouds, where Fancy's beam amusive plays,


s: Shall heedless Hope the towering fabric raise?


s: Till at Death's touch the fairy visions fly,


s: The startled soul awakes, to think, and mourn.


s: O ye, whose hours in jocund train advance,


s: Whose spirits to the song of gladness dance,


s: Who flowery vales in endless view survey,


s: O, yet while Fate delays the impending woe,


s: Be roused to thought, anticipate the blow;


s: Lest, like the lightning's glance, the sudden ill


s: Flash to confound, and penetrate to kill;


s: Lest, thus encompassed with funereal gloom,


s: Like me, ye bend o'er some untimely tomb,


s: Pour your wild ravings in Night's frighted ear,


s: And half pronounce Heaven's sacred doom severe.


s: Wise, beauteous, good! O every grace combined,


s: That charms the eye, or captivates the mind!


s: Fair, as the floweret opening on the morn,


s: Whose leaves bright drops of liquid pearl adorn!


s: Sweet, as the downy-pinioned gale, that roves


s: Mild, as the strains, that, at the close of day,


s: Yet, why with these compared? What tints so fine,


s: What sweetness, mildness, can be matched with thine?


s: Why roam abroad? Since still, to Fancy's eyes,


s: Still let me gaze, and every care beguile,


s: Gaze on that cheek, where all the Graces smile;


s: That soul-expressing eye, benignly bright,


s: That brow, where Wisdom sits enthroned serene,


s: Each feature forms, and dignifies the mein:


s: Still let me listen, while her words impart


s: The sweet effusions of the blameless heart,


s: Till all my soul, each tumult charmed away,


s: Yields, gently led, to Virtue's easy sway.


s: By thee inspired, O Virtue! Age is young,


s: And music warbles from the faltering tongue:


s: Thy ray creative cheers the clouded brow,


s: And decks the faded cheek with rosy glow,


s: Brightens the joyless aspect, and supplies


s: Pure heavenly lustre to the languid eyes:


s: But when Youth's living bloom reflects thy beams,


s: Resistless on the view the glory streams;


s: Ah! whither fled! ye dear illusions, stay!


s: Lo, pale and silent lies the lovely clay!


s: How are the roses on that cheek decay'd,


s: Which late the purple light of youth display'd!


s: Health on her form each sprightly grace bestow'd;


s: With life and thought each speaking feature glow'd.


s: Fair was the flower, and soft the vernal sky;


s: Elate with hope, we deemed no tempest nigh;


s: When lo! a whirlwind's instantaneous gust


s: Left all its beauties withering in the dust!


s: All cold the hand, that soothed Woe's weary head!


s: And quenched the eye, the pitying tear that shed!


s: And mute the voice, whose pleasing accents stole,


s: O Death! why arm with cruelty thy power,


s: And spare the idle weed, yet lop the flower?


s: Why fly thy shafts in lawless error driven?


s: Is Virtue then no more the care of Heaven?


s: But peace, bold thought! be still my bursting heart!


s: Scaped the dark dungeon, does the slave complain,


s: Nor bless the hand that broke the galling chain?


s: Say, pines not Virtue for the lingering morn,


s: On this dark wild condemned to roam forlorn?


s: Where Reason's meteor-rays, with sickly glow,


s: O'er the dun gloom a dreadful glimmering throw?


s: Disclosing dubious to the affrighted eye


s: O'erwhelming mountains tottering from on high,


s: Black billowy seas in storm perpetual toss'd,


s: And weary ways in wildering labyrinths lost.


s: O happy stroke, that bursts the bonds of clay,


s: Darts through the rending gloom the blaze of day,


s: And wings the soul with boundless flight to soar,


s: Where dangers threat, and fear alarms no more!


s: Transporting thought! here let me wipe away


s: The tear of grief, and wake a bolder lay.


s: But ah! the swimming eye o'erflows anew,


s: Lo! where in speechless, hopeless anguish, bend


s: O'er her loved dust, the Parent, Brother, Friend!


s: How vain the hope of man!--But cease the strain,


s: Mixed with yon drooping mourners, on her bier


s: More than Aurora's smile the swain forlorn,


s: Where desolation frowns, and tempests howl;


s: And shrieks of woe, as intermits the storm,


s: Far o'er the monstrous wilderness resound,


s: And cross the gloom darts many a shapeless form,


s: And many a fire-eyed visage glares around,


s: Come, for thou oft thy suppliant's vow hast heard,


s: Deep flashing through the midnight of their mind,


s: Where Fear's black banner bloats the troubled sky,


s: Appalled retire. Suspicion hides her head,


s: Nor dares th' obliquely gleaming eye-ball raise;


s: Despair, with gorgon-figured veil o'erspread,


s: Speeds to dark Phlegethon's detested maze.


s: With speed unwonted Indolence upsprings,


s: Ten thousand forms, by pining Fancy view'd,


s: To the damp dungeon shrink, or hoary hall,


s: Shoot to the desart realms of their congenial Night.


s: Life's varied landscape, stretch'd immense around,


s: Thy voice incites to tempt th' untrodden maze.


s: His bashful eye still kindling as he views,


s: And, while thy lenient arm supports his pace,


s: With beating heart the upland path pursues:


s: The path that leads, where, hung sublime,


s: And seen afar, youth's gallant trophies, bright


s: Safe in the guidance of thy heavenly guard,


s: And soft-eyed cherub forms around thee play:


s: Simplicity, in careless flowers array'd,


s: The smile just dimpling on his glowing cheek;


s: With Innocence and Peace, advance, and sing;


s: Frail man, how various is thy lot below!


s: Rolls rattling on through heaven's profound,


s: Ye cherub train, that brought him on his way,


s: O leave him not midst tumult and dismay;


s: But what a weary length of lingering toil remains!


s: Now Slander taints with pestilence the gale;


s: The wail of Woe, and groans of grim Despair.


s: Darts quick destruction in each baleful glance;


s: Pride, smiling stern, and yellow Jealousy,


s: Frowning Disdain, and hagard Hate advance;


s: Pale wither'd Care his giant-stature rears,


s: Safe from the fierce assaults of hostile rage?


s: Virtue, that bears the sacred shield of Truth!


s: Alas! full oft on Guilt's victorious car


s: The spoils of Virtue are in triumph borne;


s: While the fair captive, marked with many a scar,


s: Ill-fated youth, then, whither wilt thou fly?


s: But whence the sudden beam that shoots along?


s: "When Death's cold touch thrills to the freezing heart,


s: "Dreams of heaven's opening glories I impart,


s: "In rapture too severe for weak Mortality."


s: The pygmy-people, and the feathered train,


s: Lead on my squadrons, and arrange the lines;


s: The flashing swords and fluttering wings display,


s: And long bills nibbling in the bloody fray;


s: Cranes darting with disdain on tiny foes,


s: Conflicting birds and men, and war's unnumbered woes!


s: The wars and woes of heroes six feet long


s: Who has not heard of Colchos' golden fleece,


s: And Argo, manned with all the flower of Greece?


s: Of Thebes' fell brethren, Theseus, stern of face,


s: And Peleus' son, unrivalled in the race,


s: And William, glorious on the banks of Boyne?


s: Who has not learned to weep at Pompey's woes,


s: 'Tis I, who dare attempt unusual strains,


s: Of hosts unsung, and unfrequented plains;


s: The small shrill trump, and chiefs of little size,


s: And armies rushing down the darkened skies.


s: Winds a deep vale from vulgar eyes withdrawn:


s: Bosomed in groves the lowly region lies,


s: And rocky mountains round the border rise.


s: Here, till the doom of Fate its fall decreed,


s: The empire flourished of the pygmy-breed;


s: Here Industry performed, and Genius planned,


s: And busy multitudes o'erspread the land.


s: But now to these lone bounds if pilgrim stray,


s: Tempting through craggy cliffs the desperate way,


s: He finds the puny mansion fallen to earth,


s: Its godlings mouldering on th' abandoned hearth;


s: And starts, where small white bones are spread around,


s: "Or little footsteps lightly print the ground;"


s: While the proud crane her nest securely builds,


s: But different fates befel her hostile rage,


s: While reigned, invincible through many an age,


s: The dreaded Pygmy: roused by war's alarms,


s: Forth rushed the madding Mannikin to arms.


s: Fierce to the field of death the hero flies;


s: The faint crane, fluttering, flaps the ground, and dies;


s: And by the victor borne (o'erwhelming load!)


s: With bloody bill loose-dangling marks the road.


s: And often made the callow young his prey;


s: With slaughtered victims heaped his board, and smiled,


s: To visit the sire's trespass on the child.


s: Oft, where his feathered foe had reared her nest,


s: And laid her eggs and household gods to rest,


s: The eighteen-inch militia burst their way:


s: All went to wreck; the infant foeman fell,


s: When scarce his chirping bill had broke the shell.


s: Loud uproar hence, and rage of arms arose,


s: And the fell rancour of encountering foes;


s: Hence dwarfs and cranes one general havoc whelms,


s: And Death's grim visage scares the pygmy realms.


s: Not half so furious blazed the warlike fire


s: Of Mice, high theme of the Meonian lyre;


s: When bold to battle marched the accoutered Frogs,


s: And the deep tumult thundered through the bogs.


s: Pierced by the javelin-bulrush on the shore,


s: Here, agonizing, rolled the mouse in gore;


s: And there the frog (a scene full sad to see!)


s: Shorn of one leg, slow sprawled along on three:


s: He vaults no more with vigorous hops on high,


s: But mourns in hoarsest croaks his destiny.


s: When dwarfs were doomed (but penitence was vain)


s: To rue each broken egg, and chicken slain.


s: For roused to vengeance by repeated wrong,


s: From distant climes the long-billed legions throng:


s: From Strymon's lake, Cayster's plashy meads,


s: And fens of Scythia green with rustling reeds;


s: From where the Danube winds through many a land,


s: And wait assembled the returning spring.


s: Meanwhile they trim their plumes for length of flight,


s: Whet their keen beaks, and twisting claws, for fight;


s: Each crane the pygmy power in thought o'erturns,


s: When genial gales the frozen air unbind,


s: The screaming legions wheel, and mount the wind.


s: Far in the sky they form their long array,


s: And land and ocean stretch'd immense survey,


s: Deep, deep beneath; and triumphing in pride,


s: With clouds and winds commixed, innumerous ride;


s: 'Tis wild obstreperous clangour all, and heaven


s: Whirls, in tempestuous undulation driven.


s: Nor less the alarm that shook the world below,


s: Where marched in pomp of war the embattled foe;


s: Where mannikins with haughty step advance,


s: And grasp the shield, and couch the quivering lance;


s: To right and left the lengthening lines they form,


s: And ranked in deep array await the storm.


s: High in the midst the chieftain-dwarf was seen,


s: Full twenty inches tall, he strode along,


s: And viewed with lofty eye the wondering throng;


s: And, while with many a scar his visage frowned,


s: Bared his broad bosom, rough with many a wound


s: Of beaks and claws, disclosing to their sight


s: For with insatiate vengeance, he pursued,


s: And never-ending hate, the feathery brood.


s: Of horny beak, or talon's crooked strength,


s: Who durst abide his rage; the blade descends,


s: And from the panting trunk the pinion rends.


s: Laid low in dust the pinion waves no more,


s: The trunk, disfigured, stiffens in its gore.


s: What hosts of heroes fell beneath his force!


s: What heaps of chicken-carnage marked his course!


s: How oft, O Strymon, thy lone banks along,


s: And now from far the mingling clamours rise,


s: Loud and more loud rebounding through the skies.


s: From skirt to skirt of heaven, with stormy sway,


s: A cloud rolls on, and darkens all the day.


s: Near and more near descends the dreadful shade,


s: On sounding wings, and screaming in their ire,


s: The cranes rush onward, and the fight require.


s: The pygmy warriors eye, with fearless glare,


s: The host thick swarming o'er the burthened air:


s: Thick swarming now, but to their native land


s: Doomed to return a scanty, straggling band.--


s: When sudden, darting down the depth of heaven,


s: Fierce on the expecting foe the cranes are driven.


s: Loose feathers from the encountering armies fly,


s: And in careering whirlwinds mount the sky.


s: To breathe from toil upsprings the panting crane,


s: Then with fresh vigour downward darts again.


s: Success in equal balance hovering hangs.


s: Here, on the sharp spear, mad with mortal pangs,


s: The bird transfixed in bloody vortex whirls,


s: Yet fierce in death the threatening talon curls;


s: There, while the life-blood bubbles from his wound,


s: With little feet the pygmy beats the ground;


s: Deep from his breast the short, short sob he draws,


s: And, dying, curses the keen-pointed claws.


s: Trembles the thundering field, thick covered o'er


s: With falchions, mangled wings, and streaming gore,


s: And pygmy arms, and beaks of ample size;


s: And here a claw, and there a finger lies.


s: Encompassed round with heaps of slaughtered foes,


s: All grim in blood the pygmy champion glows;


s: And on the assailing host impetuous springs,


s: Careless of nibbling bills, and flapping wings;


s: And midst the tumult wheresoe'er he turns,


s: From every side the avenging cranes, amain,


s: Throng, to o'erwhelm this terror of the plain.


s: When suddenly (for such the will of Jove)


s: The gallant chieftain clutched, and, soaring high,


s: (Sad chance of battle!) bore him up the sky.


s: The cranes pursue, and, clustering in a ring,


s: Chatter triumphant round the captive king.


s: But, ah! what pangs each pygmy bosom wrung,


s: When, now to cranes a prey, on talons hung,


s: High in the clouds they saw their helpless lord,


s: His wriggling form still lessening as he soared!


s: In mortal strife the mingling hosts engage.


s: The crane with darted bill assaults the foe,


s: Hovering; then wheels aloft to scape the blow:


s: The dwarf in anguish aims the vengeful wound;


s: But whirls in empty air the falchion round.


s: Such was the scene, when midst the loud alarms


s: Sublime the eternal Thunderer rose in arms;


s: Heaved Pelion huge, and hurled it high at heaven.


s: Jove rolled redoubling thunders from on high,


s: Mountains and bolts encountered in the sky;


s: Till one stupendous ruin whelmed the crew,


s: Their vast limbs weltering wide in brimstone blue.


s: But now at length the pygmy legions yield,


s: And, winged with terror, fly the fatal field.


s: All in distraction scattering o'er the vale.


s: Prone on their routed rear the cranes descend;


s: Their bills bite furious, and their talons rend:


s: With unrelenting ire they urge the chace,


s: 'Twas thus the Pygmy Name, once great in war,


s: For spoils of conquered cranes renown'd afar,


s: Perished. For, by the dread decree of Heaven,


s: Short is the date to earthly grandeur given,


s: And vain are all attempts to roam beyond


s: Where Fate has fixed the everlasting bound.


s: Fallen are the trophies of Assyrian power,


s: Yea, though to both superior far in fame,


s: And now, with lofty chiefs of antient time,


s: The pygmy heroes roam the Elysian clime.


s: Full oft, in the belated shepherd's view,


s: Their frisking forms, in gentle green arrayed,


s: Gambol secure along the moonlight glade.


s: And all their woes in long oblivion rest;


s: Down the deep dale, and narrow winding way,


s: They foot it featly, ranged in ringlets gay:


s: 'Tis joy and frolic all, where'er they rove,


s: When B*** invites me, and inviting sings,


s: Instant I'd fly, (had heaven vouchsafed me wings)


s: To hail him in that calm sequestered seat,


s: Whence he looks down with pity on the great;


s: And, midst the groves retired, at leisure wooes


s: Domestic love, contentment, and the Muse.


s: I wish for wings and winds to speed my course;


s: Since B----t and the fates refuse a horse.


s: O, where that wooden steed, whose every leg


s: Like lightning flew, obsequious to the peg;


s: A Spaniard reached the moon, upborn by geese;


s: (Then first 'twas known that she was made of cheese.)


s: A fidler on a fish through waves advanced,


s: He twanged his catgut, and the Dolphin danced.


s: Hags rode on broom-sticks, heathen-gods on clouds;


s: Ladies, on rams and bulls, have dared the floods.


s: Much famed the shoes Jack Giant-killer wore,


s: Such vehicles were common once, no doubt;


s: But modern versemen must even trudge on foot,


s: Or doze at home, expectants of the gout.


s: Hard is the task, indeed 'tis wondrous hard,


s: To act the Hirer, yet preserve the Bard.


s: "Next week, by----, (but 'tis a sin to swear)


s: "I give my word, sir, you shall have my mare;


s: "And rising only seven years old next grass.


s: "Four miles an hour she goes, nor needs a spur;


s: "A pretty piece of flesh, upon my conscience, sir."


s: This speech was B----t's; and, tho' mean in phrase,


s: The nearest thing to prose, as Horace says,


s: (Satire the fourth, and forty-second line)


s: Next week with B***. Muse, lend thine aid a while;


s: For this great purpose claims a lofty style.


s: Ere yonder sun, now glorious in the west,


s: Has thrice three times reclined on Thetis' breast;


s: Ere thrice three times, from old Tithonus' bed,


s: Her charms all glowing with celestial red,


s: The balmy morn shall rise to mortal view,


s: And from her bright locks shake the pearls of dew,


s: These eyes, O B***, shall hail thy opening glades,


s: These ears shall catch the music of thy shades;


s: This cherished frame shall drink the gladsome gales,


s: And the fresh fragrance of thy flowery vales.


s: And (for I know the Muse will come along)


s: Sweet as thy milk, and brisk as bottled beer,


s: Wholesome as mutton, and as water clear,


s: In wildflowers fertile, as thy fields of corn,


s: And frolicksome as lambs, or sheep new shorn.


s: The fat of rams, or quintessence of swine.


s: And to the mansion house, or council hall,


s: Still on her black splay feet may the huge tortoise crawl.


s: Nor, Bell, thy beer; nor even thy nectar, Jove.


s: If B*** be happy, and in health, his guest,


s: Whom wit and learning charm, can wish no better feast.


s: Look round the world; perhaps you'll find


s: His struggling sighs, and looks forlorn.


s: Whistles the wind; he starts, he stares,


s: The bounding steed the champaign spurns;


s: Through the hound's nose, and huntsman's eyes.


s: The chiefs were set; while o'er their head


s: "Shall horses, hounds, and hunters still


s: "Whose pulse in every vein beats strong,


s: "Whose limbs leap light the vales along,


s: "Nor strength, nor speed, eludes their rage.


s: "Each gale comes fraught with sounds of woe:


s: "And then, from all our tribes combined,


s: Conflicting thoughts the voice suppressed:


s: Forth from the brake, with beating heart,


s: Thick thundering o'er the plain are driven;


s: Glance through the openings of the glades;


s: Now with short steps strain up the steep,


s: No knife had curbed the rambling sprays,


s: The flowering thorn, self-taught to wind,


s: Here sheltering, from the sons of murther,


s: The hares drag their tired limbs no further.


s: From rustling leaves, and crashing boughs,


s: "Say ye, who, fraught with mighty scheme,


s: "Must we, with fruitless labour, strive,


s: Gleamed through the dusky trees, and shot


s: Quick to the neighbouring tree he flies,


s: Thence, trembling, casts around his eyes;


s: Pleased, he renews the sprightly strain.


s: The hares, whose noise had caused his fright,


s: Saw, with surprise, the linnet's flight.


s: Whom our approach can strike with dread?


s: "The scattered clouds fly cross the heaven,


s: "Oft have we, from some mountain's head,


s: "Sweep the long vale. Here, hovering, lowers


s: "The shadowy cloud; there, downward pours,


s: "Nor fear, though now in shades ye mourn,


s: "And darkness still o'ercasts your view.


s: "When 'gainst the gale the pilgrim plies.


s: "Maintain your ground; the fleeting shade,


s: Farewell, my best beloved! whose heavenly mind


s: Genius with virtue, strength with softness, joined;


s: Though sprightly, gentle; though polite, sincere;


s: Unblamed, unequalled, in each sphere of life,


s: The tenderest Daughter, Sister, Parent, Wife.


s: In thee their patroness the afflicted lost;


s: Thy friends, their pattern, ornament, and boast;


s: And I----but, ah! can words my loss declare,


s: Or paint the extremes of transport and despair?


s: O Thou, beyond what verse or speech can tell,


s: My guide, my friend, my best-beloved, farewell!


s: Where sloth dissolves, and spleen devours,


s: 'Twas this that raised the illustrious line,


s: Yet, pure from lust of blood their fire,


s: Why, Lady, wilt thou bind thy lovely brow,


s: With the dread semblance of that warlike helm,


s: That nodding plume, and wreath of various glow,


s: That graced the chiefs of Scotia's antient realm?


s: Thou knowest that virtue is of power the source,


s: We own their empire, while we feel their force,


s: But more resistless far the Idalian queen--


s: Smiles, graces, gentleness, her only arms.


s: At the close of the day, when the hamlet is still,


s: And mortals the sweets of forgetfulness prove,


s: When nought but the torrent is heard on the hill,


s: And nought but the nightingale's song in the grove:


s: 'Twas then, by the cave of the mountain afar,


s: A Hermit his song of the night thus began;


s: No more with himself, or with nature, at war,


s: He thought as a sage, while he felt as a man:


s: "Ah! why thus abandoned to darkness and woe?


s: "Why thus, lonely Philomel, flows thy sad strain?


s: "For spring shall return, and a lover bestow,


s: "And thy bosom no trace of misfortune retain.


s: "Yet, if pity inspire thee, ah! cease not thy lay,


s: "Mourn, sweetest complainer! man calls thee to mourn:


s: "O sooth him, whose pleasures like thine pass away--


s: "Full quickly they pass--but they never return.


s: "Now gliding remote on the verge of the sky,


s: "The moon, half-extinguished, her crescent displays:


s: "But lately I marked, when majestic on high,


s: "She shone, and the planets were lost in her blaze.


s: "Roll on, thou fair orb, and with gladness pursue


s: "The path that conducts thee to splendour again:


s: "But man's faded glory no change shall renew--


s: "Tis night, and the landscape is lovely no more:


s: "I mourn, but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for you;


s: "For morn is approaching, your charms to restore,


s: "Perfumed with fresh fragrance, and glittering with dew.


s: "Nor yet for the ravage of winter I mourn;


s: "Kind Nature the embryo blossom will save.--


s: "But when shall Spring visit the mouldering urn?


s: "O, when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?"


s: 'Twas thus, by the glare of false science betrayed,


s: That leads, to bewilder, and dazzles, to blind;


s: My thoughts wont to roam, from shade onward to shade,


s: Destruction before me, and sorrow behind.


s: "O pity, great Father of light," then I cried,


s: "Thy creature, who fain would not wander from Thee!


s: "Lo! humbled in dust, I relinquish my pride:


s: "From doubt and from darkness thou only canst free."


s: And darkness and doubt are now flying away:


s: So breaks on the traveller, faint, and astray,


s: The bright and the balmy effulgence of morn.


s: See Truth, Love, and Mercy, in triumph descending,


s: And Nature all glowing in Eden's first bloom!


s: On the cold cheek of Death smiles and roses are blending,


s: And Beauty immortal awakes from the tomb!


s: Peace, heaven-descended maid! whose powerful voice


s: And hushed of jarring elements the noise,


s: Far, far was hurled the void abyss along;


s: Striking, through all their ranks, the eternal lyre,


s: Poured, in loud symphony, the impetuous strain;


s: And wide, through Night's dark solitary reign,


s: Rebounding long and deep, the lays triumphant rung!


s: Oh, whither art thou fled, Saturnian Age!


s: From Woe's wan cheek to wipe the bitter tears;


s: With dire presage the throbbing heart assails!


s: Murder, deep-roused, with all the whirlwind's haste,


s: And roar of tempest, from her cavern springs,


s: Her tangled serpents girds around her waist,


s: Smiles ghastly fierce, and shakes her gore-distilling wings.


s: Stunned with the horrors of discordant sound;


s: Torrents, far heard amid the waste of night,


s: Drowned in superior din, is heard no more;


s: The surge in silence seems to sweep the foamy shore.


s: The bloody banner, streaming in the air,


s: The mingling multitudes, the madding car,


s: Bursts out, by frequent fits, the expansive flame;


s: The surging smoke o'er all the darkened skies;


s: The chearful face of heaven no more is seen;


s: The bloom of morning fades to deadly pale;


s: The bat flies transient o'er the dusky green,


s: And Night's foul birds along the sullen twilight sail.


s: Involved in fire-streaked gloom, the car comes on.


s: His forehead writhed to a relentless frown,


s: The tower rolls headlong down the steep,


s: The mountain shrinks before its wasteful sweep.


s: Chill horror the dissolving limbs invades,


s: Smit by the blasting lightning of his eyes;


s: A deeper gloom invests the howling shades;


s: Stripped is the shattered grove, and every verdure dies.


s: Imprinted deep, she rends the mangled wound!


s: Hate whirls her torch sulphureous round.


s: The shrieks of agony, and clang of arms,


s: Disparting from behind, the clouds disclose,


s: That with his scourge sublime rules the careering storm.


s: Who ride the hurricanes of fire, that roll


s: Their thundering vortex o'er the realms of woe,


s: Where late was heard the flute's mellifluous lay;


s: In loose array, danced lightly o'er the flowers;


s: Where late the shepherd told his tender tale;


s: And, wakened by the murmuring breeze of morn,


s: The voice of chearful Labour filled the dale;


s: And dove-eyed Plenty smiled, and waved her liberal horn.


s: Yon ruins, sable from the wasting flame,


s: The frequent corse obstructs the sullen stream,


s: And ghosts glare horrid from the sylvan gloom.


s: Save where, outstretched beneath yon hanging wall,


s: And Anguish yells, and grinds his bloody teeth.


s: Though vain the Muse, and every melting lay,


s: To touch thy heart, unconscious of remorse!


s: Know, monster, know, thy hour is on the way;


s: I see, I see the years begin their mighty course.


s: All blooming on the lawn the nymphs advance,


s: And touch the lute, and range the dance:


s: And the blithe shepherds, on the mountain's side,


s: But ah! the landscape glows with fainter light;


s: It darkens, swims, and flies for ever from my sight.


s: Where Cruelty inflames the eye of Pride,


s: And Grandeur wantons in soft Pleasure's arms?


s: These from the soul erase the form divine;


s: That warms the bosom with sublime desire.


s: Thence the relentless heart forgets to feel,


s: And Hatred triumphs on the o'erwhelming brow,


s: And midnight Rancour grasps the cruel steel;


s: Blaze the blue flames of death, and sound the shrieks of woe.


s: From Albion fled, thy once beloved retreat,


s: See sudden flowers adorn the rugged soil?


s: Waked by thy genial breath, the balmy rose?


s: Does life inform fell Lybia's burning sand?


s: Or does some isle thy parting flight detain,


s: Where roves the Indian through primæval shades;


s: Haunts the pure pleasures of the sylvan reign,


s: And, led by Reason's light, the path of Nature treads?


s: Waved on the gale; grief dimmed her radiant eyes,


s: She eyed the main; where, gaining on the view,


s: She saw; and, on refulgent pinions borne,


s: Slow winged her way sublime, and mingled with the morn.


s: Memory, be still! why throng upon the thought


s: These scenes so deeply stained with sorrow's dye?


s: Is there in all thy stores no cheerful draught,


s: To brighten yet once more in Fancy's eye?


s: Yes--from afar a landscape seems to rise,


s: Embellished by the lavish hand of spring;


s: Thin gilded clouds float lightly through the skies,


s: And laughing loves disport on fluttering wing.


s: How blest the youth in yonder valley laid!


s: What smiles in every conscious feature play!


s: While, to the murmurs of the breezy glade,


s: Hail, Innocence! whose bosom all serene,


s: Feels not, as yet, the internal tempest roll.


s: Oh, ne'er may care distract thy placid mein!


s: Ne'er may the shades of doubt o'erwhelm thy soul!


s: Vain wish! for lo, in gay attire concealed,


s: Yonder she comes! the heart-inflaming fiend!


s: (Will no kind power the helpless stripling shield!)


s: Swift to her destined prey see Passion bend!


s: O smile accurst, to hide the worst designs!


s: Now with blithe eye she wooes him to be blest;


s: While round her arm, unseen, a serpent twines----


s: And lo, she hurls it hissing at his breast!


s: And, instant, lo, his dizzy eyeball swims


s: Ghastly, and reddening darts a frantic glare;


s: Pain, with strong grasp, distorts his writhing limbs,


s: And Fear's cold hand erects his frozen hair.


s: Is this, O life, is this thy boasted prime!


s: And does thy spring no happier prospect yield!


s: Why should the sunbeam paint thy glittering clime,


s: When the keen mildew desolates the field!


s: How memory pains! Let some gay theme beguile


s: The musing mind, and sooth to soft delight.


s: Be life's past scenes wrapt in oblivious night.


s: Now when fierce Winter, armed with wasteful power,


s: Heaves the wild deep that thunders from afar;


s: How sweet to sit in this sequestered bower,


s: To hear, and but to hear, the mingling war!


s: That tempts on desperate wing the soul to rise;


s: Nor Pleasure's paths to wilds of woe decoy,


s: Nor Anguish lurks in Grandeur's proud disguise.


s: Oft has Contentment cheered this lone abode,


s: With the mild languish of her smiling eye;


s: Here Health in rosy bloom has often glowed,


s: While loose-robed Quiet stood enamoured by.


s: Even the storm lulls to more profound repose;


s: The storm these humble walls assails in vain.


s: The shrub is sheltered, when the whirlwind blows,


s: While the oak's mighty ruin strows the plain.


s: Blow on, ye winds! Thine, Winter, be the skies;


s: And toss the infuriate surge, and vales lay waste.


s: To her relief the gentler Seasons haste.


s: Throned in her emerald car, see Spring appear!


s: (As Fancy wills, the landscape starts to view.)


s: Her emerald car the youthful Zephyrs bear,


s: Fanning her bosom with their pinions blue.


s: Around the jocund Hours are fluttering seen,


s: And lo, her rod the rose-lip'd Power extends!


s: And lo, the lawns are decked in living green,


s: And Beauty's bright-eyed train from Heaven descends!


s: Haste, happy days, and make all Nature glad----


s: O, can ye cheer pale Sickness' gloomy bed,


s: Or dry the tears that bathe the untimely urn?


s: Will ye one transient ray of gladness dart,


s: Where groans the dungeon to the captive's wail?


s: To ease tired Disappointment's bleeding heart,


s: Will all your stores of softening balm avail!


s: When stern Oppression, in his harpy fangs,


s: From Want's weak grasp the last sad morsel bears,


s: Whose infant craves relief with fruitless tears?


s: For ah! thy reign, Oppression, is not past.


s: Who from the shivering limbs the vestment rends?


s: Who lays the once rejoicing village waste,


s: Bursting the ties of lovers and of friends!


s: But hope not, Muse, vain-glorious as thou art,


s: With the weak impulse of thy humble strain,


s: Hope not to soften Pride's obdurate heart,


s: When ERROL's bright example shines in vain.


s: Then cease the theme. Turn, Fancy, turn thine eye,


s: Thy weeping eye, nor further urge thy flight.


s: Thy haunts, alas! no gleams of joy supply,


s: Or transient gleams, that flash and sink in night.


s: Yet fain the mind its anguish would forego:


s: Spread, then, Historic Muse, thy pictured scroll;


s: Bid the great scenes in all their splendour glow,


s: And rouse to thought sublime the exulting soul.


s: What mingling pomps rush on the enraptured gaze!


s: Lo, where the gallant navy rides the deep!


s: Here, glittering towns their spiry turrets raise,


s: There, bulwarks overhang the shaggy steep.


s: Bristling with spears, and bright with burnished shields,


s: The embattled legions stretch their long array;


s: Discord's red torch, as fierce she scours the fields,


s: With bloody tincture stains the face of day.


s: And now the hosts in silence wait the sign.


s: Keen are their looks whom Liberty inspires!


s: Quick as the goddess darts along the line,


s: Each breast impatient burns with noble fires.


s: Her form how graceful! In her lofty mien


s: The smiles of love stern Wisdom's frown controul;


s: Her fearless eye, determined though serene,


s: Speaks the great purpose, and the unconquered soul.


s: Mark, where Ambition leads the adverse band,


s: Each feature fierce and hagard, as with pain!


s: With menace loud he cries, while from his hand


s: He vainly strives to wipe the crimson stain.


s: Lo, at his call, impetuous as the storms,


s: Headlong to deeds of death the hosts are driven;


s: Hatred, to madness wrought, each face deforms,


s: Mounts the black whirlwind, and involves the heaven.


s: Now, Virtue, now thy powerful succour lend,


s: Shield them, for Liberty who dare to die----


s: Ah, Liberty! will none thy cause befriend!


s: Are those thy sons, thy generous sons, that fly!


s: Not Virtue's self, when Heaven its aid denies,


s: Can brace the loosened nerves, or warm the heart;


s: Not Virtue's self can still the burst of sighs,


s: When festers in the soul misfortune's dart.


s: See, where by terror and despair dismayed,


s: The scattering legions pour along the plain!


s: Ambition's car, in bloody spoils arrayed,


s: Hews its broad way, as Vengeance guides the rein.


s: But who is He, that, by yon lonely brook,


s: With woods o'erhung, and precipices rude,


s: Lies all abandoned, yet, with dauntless look,


s: Sees streaming from his breast the purple flood?


s: Ah, BRUTUS! ever thine be Virtue's tear!


s: As, scarce supported on her broken spear,


s: O'er her expiring son the goddess mourns.


s: Loose to the wind her azure mantle flies;


s: From her dishevelled locks she rends the plume;


s: And on her tear-stained cheek no roses bloom.


s: Meanwhile the world, Ambition, owns thy sway;


s: Fame's loudest trumpet labours with thy name;


s: For thee the Muse awakes her sweetest lay,


s: And Flattery bids for thee her altars flame.


s: Nor in life's lofty bustling sphere alone,


s: The sphere where monarchs and where heroes toil,


s: Sink Virtue's sons beneath Misfortune's frown,


s: While Guilt's thrilled bosom leaps at Pleasure's smile:


s: Full oft, where Solitude and Silence dwell,


s: Resounds the voice of Woe from Virtue's cell:


s: Such is man's doom; and Pity weeps in vain.


s: Still grief recoils--How vainly have I strove,


s: Yet, for a while, let the bewildered soul


s: O yield, a while, to Friendship's soft controul;


s: Some respite, Friendship, wilt thou not bestow?


s: Come then, PHILANDER! whose exalted mind


s: Looks down from far on all that charms the great;


s: For thou canst bear, unshaken and resigned,


s: The brightest smiles, the blackest frowns of Fate!


s: Come thou, whose love unlimited, sincere,


s: Who lend'st to Misery's moan a pitying ear,


s: And feel'st with ecstasy another's joys:


s: Who know'st man's frailty, with a favouring eye


s: And melting heart, behold'st a brother's fall;


s: Who, unenslaved by Fashion's narrow tye,


s: With manly freedom follow'st Nature's call.


s: And bring thy DELIA, sweetly-smiling fair,


s: Whose spotless soul no rankling thoughts deform;


s: Her gentle accents calm each throbbing care,


s: Though blest with wisdom, and with wit refined,


s: She courts no homage, nor desires to shine;


s: Come, and disperse the involving shadows drear;


s: Let chastened mirth the social hours employ.


s: O catch the swift-winged moment while 'tis near--


s: On swiftest wing the moment flies of joy.


s: Even while the careless disencumbered soul


s: Sinks, all dissolving, into pleasure's dream,


s: Even then to time's tremendous verge we roll,


s: With headlong haste, along life's surgey stream.


s: Or on the withering limbs fresh beauty shed,


s: Or cheer the dark, dark mansions of the dead?


s: Still sounds the solemn knell, in Fancy's ear,


s: With her how jocund rolled the sprightly year!


s: How shone the nymph in beauty's brightest bloom!


s: Ah! Beauty's bloom avails not in the grave!


s: Youth's lofty mien, nor Age's awful grace.


s: Moulder alike unknown the prince and slave,


s: Whelmed in the enormous wreck of human race.


s: The thought-fixed portraiture, the breathing bust,


s: The long-lived pyramid shall sink in dust,


s: Fancy from joy still wanders far astray.


s: Long have I laboured to elude thy sway--


s: The traveller thus, that o'er the midnight waste,


s: Through many a lonesome path is doomed to roam,


s: Wildered and weary sits him down at last;


s: For long the night, and distant far his home.


s: The writer wishes to express her gratitude to the Art


s: Department of the Indiana University, whose kindness in


s: lending the pictures which suggested the verses, and whose


s: mission in opening some of their meanings to her spirit,


s: have helped to make possible this little book.


s: (_From the picture in Dürer's series on "The Life


s: (_From Botticelli's painting, in the Borghese


s: Gallery, of the Madonna and Child with Angels._)


s: (_With a pencil sketch of an angel, by Botticelli._)


s: Angel of Thought, meseems God winged _thee_ so,


s: And crowned thine head with passion fine as flame,


s: And made thy lifted face too pure for shame,


s: With eyes and brow a mirror to His glow;--


s: And gave thy lips a golden trump, that, though


s: Long years have passed since other angels came


s: To work the mighty wonders of His name,--


s: In God's own name and man's, thyself shalt go


s: The mute, world-shaking music of the mind;


s: That thou might'st make as naught all space and time,


s: And thrill in mystic oneness through mankind,


s: Kneeling in prayer, her spirit rapt above,


s: She meets with God, Who bendeth, brooding low,


s: There comes upon her life the power of Love:


s: Rising--behold! with pinions like a dove,


s: Of chaliced lilies spill supernal glow,--


s: Which all her thought to wonder mute doth move.


s: Then falls upon the rapture of her soul,


s: Athwart the Resurrection's shining goal,


s: And with uplifted hand she pleads as One


s: "This cup remove,--yet, Lord, Thy Will be done."


s: How strangely o'er oblivion and gray time,


s: That hand doth speak, as in the painter's prime


s: It uttered thus his own and Mary's heart,


s: At sight of it, what rich conjectures start,


s: Adown the years, what wistful Aves chime,


s: That wake the soul to rapture how sublime,


s: Wherewith we, too, must bear in Him our part!


s: For unto each to bring redemption's share,


s: There comes the angel of the lilied rod;


s: And though our souls with anguish sore are torn,


s: We pray once more the world-o'ercoming prayer,


s: The mountains wonder from their cloudy height,


s: The skies look on and grow more deep with awe;


s: From these two women, earthly loves withdraw,


s: And leave them shrined in some ensphering light,--


s: More fine than that which greets the earthly sight,


s: There burst the dawn from out the womb of night;


s: Yet are all things unchanged around them,--these,


s: The ancient hills, the town, the quiet trees,


s: The household presences through which they grope


s: Blind to all else but to each other's eyes,


s: Wherein, transforming heaven and earth, there lies


s: This woman's form enshrineth.  What is this,


s: More glorious than all our age-long bliss,


s: Which shines within the shadow of her sill?


s: How shall we lift this strangeness which doth fill


s: Her human heart to breaking,--we who miss


s: In our immortal joy, the enlight'ning kiss


s: Of sorrow's bitter lips whence comforts thrill?


s: How shall we sing to her of joys to come,


s: To her who bears upon her breast the sum


s: Of death's dread gloom and heaven's undying light?


s: Lean close, ah, close, about her from above,--


s: Enthroned the terrors of His Holy Might!


s: Beneath the sunlight of Thy gentle eyes,


s: Too soon, too soon, what fateful shadows rise,


s: Like night foretold in some sweet woodland glass?


s: On tender feet that scarcely bow the grass,


s: What stains are those of ripe pomegranate dyes?--


s: When on my breast Thy head in slumber lies,


s: What thorns are those that through my heart do pass?


s: And round about these crowds of haunting forms


s: That burn their splendor through my dimmest dreams!


s: With mine own blood, but oftentimes it seems,


s: Too dearly loved,--that yet Thou art not mine.


s: From birdlike wand'rings, ever come to rest,


s: On fostering hand on tender cheek or breast;


s: The upturned eyes, with loving certainty


s: Seek ever the grave face where broodingly,


s: The mother-soul by yearning love opprest,


s: With wings down-drooped, seems folded o'er the nest


s: Of love predestined for earth's needy ones;


s: "Be comforted," it seems He fain would say,


s: "O mother mine, there dawns an Easter day,


s: And thou in me hast mothered many sons."


s: (_From a picture by Botticelli, of the Madonna and Child with


s: Ineffable angel, with the jasmine wreathed,


s: Wherefrom the sweetness over brow and lips,


s: And luminous white eyelids tremulously slips,


s: A visible essence from thy beauty breathed,--


s: The pure and pensive marvel of thy face is sheathed


s: In tresses softer than the bloom of night,


s: Wherefrom the dampness on thy forehead drips


s: With dews from out God's meadows infinite,--


s: Thy face, itself, a lily filled with light:--


s: Thyself the youngest of God's angels and most fair,


s: Bearing His latest breath and blessing on thine hair,


s: Thou comest fresh from looking on thy Lord;


s: And all is well, and all is filled for thee


s: For I am fain of peace amid this earthly strife,


s: And I would drink, a spent soul, thirstily,


s: (_With a pencil sketch of an Angel by Botticelli_)


s: Thou in whose All no work imperfect stands,


s: Thou who dost gaze on Beauty's unveiled face,


s: Grant to Thy children Thy sustaining grace,


s: When low at length have run the daylight sands,--


s: When, though their day was set to Thy commands,


s: They bow contritely in prayer's holy place,


s: Because through strivings beauty-wards they trace


s: The sad misshapings of their earthly hands:


s: Grant them at eve a soul devoutly still,


s: Grant them in dreams a vision of Thy light,


s: _The author thanks the editors of "Scribner's Magazine," "The


s: The eyes like wells, where sun lies too,


s: Oh, frail, so frail! I could have wept,--


s: With shaken staff and fearsome glance,--


s: Dweller among leaves, and shining twilight boughs


s: That fold cool arms about thine altar place,


s: Of gods dost serve with such unfaltering vows?


s: And nestling hours breath-nigh a dryad's heart


s: Of thy dawn-fluting; ay, and keep'st it still,


s: Striving so late these godless woods to fill


s: And in one hour build the old world again.


s: Didst feel the sun-breath when the valleys grew


s: Till blades of flower-lit green gave to the wind


s: The earth forever,--strange and undefined


s: As life, as God, as this thy song complete


s: Lay sundered with the abyss of air between?


s: Before the moon, I creep beneath the trees,


s: Even to the boughs whose lowest circling tips


s: Its drifting way through spray and leafy braid


s: The cool of bowers; as might a rose blush through


s: Would hold in love's surmise a neighbour's pain.


s: That is youth's beacon and too soon his pyre,--


s: Yea, all our striving, bateless and unseeing,


s: O little pagan with the heart of Christ,


s: These brooding boughs and grey-lit forest wings,


s: For all their scars, for all their wounds;


s: That thou did'st seek the way more free,


s: On wing unbarred shall seek and choose,--


s: Till Time's spent ghost comes not nor grieves


s: Take down thy stars, O God! We look not up.


s: In vain thou hangest there thy changeless sign.


s: We lift our eyes to power's glowing cup,


s: Nor care if blood make strong that wizard wine,


s: Of conquest in our veins, of wits grown keen


s: In strain and strife for flesh-sweet sovereignty,--


s: What though the soul be from the body shrunk,


s: What though, the cup of golden greed once drunk,


s: While thy loud hosts proclaim the end of wars?


s: We read no sign. O God, take down thy stars!


s: Christ, dear Christ, were the wood-ways sweet


s: Where the hot road dust made grey Thy feet?


s: Brother, my Christ, when thou camest down


s: Did a poet die on the mount's cool crown?


s: "O, she would speak!" my heart-beat said;


s: Three times I've played. Once 'twas a child,


s: And some, like stars, outwore the night.


s: Took half, at least, my troubles straight,


s: Homed well with chance, and passing where


s: Where thou didst choose to dream, the while


s: (Spring's the best handmaid without pay,)


s: One time I wooed a maid (dear is she yet!)


s: All in the revel eye of young Love's moon.


s: Content she made me,--ah, my dimpling mate,


s: My Springtime girl, who walked with flower-shoon!


s: But near me, nearer, steals a deep-eyed maid


s: With creeping glance that sees and will not see,


s: And blush that would those yea-sweet eyes upbraid,--


s: But is not Autumn dreamtime of the Spring?


s: (Yon scarlet fruit-bell is a flower asleep;)


s: Dream-faith with Spring in Autumn's deeper kiss.


s: Then so, brown maiden, take this true-love ring,


s: And lay thy long, soft locks where my heart is.


s: O Spring, that flutter'st the slow Winter by,


s: To drop thy buds before his frosty feet,


s: Dost thou not grieve to see thy darlings lie


s: In trodden death, and weep their beauty sweet?


s: And make thy way above thy mournèd dead,


s: Or frowning Winter would be always king,


s: And thou wouldst never walk with crownèd head.


s: So gentle Love must make his venturous way


s: And many a hope-blown garland meekly lay


s: But as no beauty may the Spring outglow,


s: So he, when throned, no greater lord doth know.


s: There were no heaven but for lovers' eyes;


s: Save in their depths do all Elysiums fade;


s: And gods were dead but for the life that lies


s: There were no heroes did not lovers ride,


s: Nor tale for feast, or field, or chimney-side,


s: Then live, proud heart, in happy fealty,


s: Nor sigh thee more thy dear bonds to remove;


s: Thou art not thrall to liege of mean degree,


s: For all are kings who bear the lance of love;


s: No wight so poor but may his tatters lose,


s: O love that is not love, but dear, so dear!


s: That is not love because it goes so soon,


s: Like flower born and dead within one moon,


s: And yet is love for that it comes full near


s: The guarded fane where love alone may peer,


s: Ere like young Spring by Summer soon outshone,


s: As thoughts of Spring will come though Summer's here.


s: O star full sweet, though one arose more fair,


s: Within my heart I'll keep a heaven for thee


s: Where thou mayst freely come and freely go,


s: Touching with thy pale gold the twilight air


s: Where dream-closed buds could never flower show,


s: Yet fragrant keep the shadowy way for me.


s: Through whose high morn the bird sings on._


s: The night was ours, the stars, the dawn;


s: Taking the weary light to thy dusk arms,


s: Stealing where pale forms lie, sun-hurt and torn,


s: Waiting the balm of thy oblivious charms,


s: Make me thy captive ere I guess pursuit,


s: And cast me deep within some dreamless close,


s: Where hopes stir not, and white, wronged lips are mute,


s: And Pain's hot wings fold down o'er hushèd woes.


s: And if ere morn thou choosest me to free,


s: Let it not be, dear jailer, through the door


s: Set thou the soul that needs thee nevermore;


s: So I from sleep to death may softly wend


s: As one would pass from gentle friend to friend.


s: Warm in this marble, that is stone no more,


s: Life at wound-pause lifts ear to woundless mind;


s: Backward the ages their slow clew unwind,


s: And step by step, and star by star, lead o'er


s: The trail again, where eyeless passion tore


s: Its red way to a soul. Mist-bound and blind


s: No more, the thinker waits, and God grown kind


s: Flashes a foot-print where He goes before.


s: Not to be followed! Falls the cloud again;


s: Folds the stern form around the striving doubt,


s: And curve betrays to curve the silent birth


s: That shall be voice to later times and men;


s: While lone in unlit dark, within, without,


s: And fed and slept, and said 'twas good,--


s: The walls grew close, the roof pressed low,


s: Here, Richard, didst thou fall, caparisoned


s: And here wouldst lie, by Fame's bent gleaners shunned,


s: Who cried "A horse, a horse!" and straight


s: That lean from the walls of the gardens;


s: Or think them another stone in the wall.


s: But his eyes seek the door and a far world.


s: It is not the call to the table he waits,


s: He will go, the pale dwarf, and walk tall among giants;


s: The child with his eyes on the far land,


s: And fame like a young, curled leaf in his heart.


s: The stream that darts from the hanging hill


s: Like a silver wing that must sing as it flies,


s: Each mute, old house is more old than the other,


s: And each wears its vines like ragged hair


s: If a child should laugh, if a girl should sing,


s: Would the houses rub the vines from their eyes,


s: And start as a gazer who, passing a death-vault,


s: She is young, but a woman, round-breasted,


s: And she makes the shadows about her sweet


s: She sits at a harpsichord (old as the walls are),


s: And longing flows in the trickling, fairy notes


s: I have watched a young tree on the edge of a wood


s: Slowly the boughs disappear and the leaves reach out


s: And her bridal body is scarfed with their chill.


s: That are always the same in these towns that sleep;


s: Her cramped, drab gown the bounds of a world


s: And a gossip whose tongue alone is unwithered


s: How the lad must go, and the girl must stay,


s: And the maiden looks up with a face that is old;


s: Her smile, as her body, is evermore barren,


s: Her cheek like the bark of the beech-tree


s: With the full round breast and the berry lip,


s: And the gown of dawn she will never wear.


s: I can listen no more; good-bye, little town, old Fairingdown.


s: But the ache I have found here I cannot outclimb.


s: O Heart, if we had not heard, if we did not know


s: There is that in the village that never will sleep!


s: Where once the lord-veins sped their fire.


s: He hears the hour's low hint and springs


s: To the chariot-side of Truth, while fast


s: Must doff the wind-wreath, find thee lone?


s: The hearts that know thee, ah, they know,


s: Dost think that Time, to whom stars vainly sue,


s: Will for thy beauty keep one fixèd place?


s: Or that he may, o'er-weighed with seasons due,


s: Forget one Spring where veinlet tendrils lace


s: Rose over rose to make this flower, thy face?


s: Look round thee now, dear dupe of sweet hey-day!


s: Of what once blooming joy canst thou find trace


s: Usurps these clouds to throne her slender moon?


s: Look on the wrinkling year, the shrunken way,


s: The wintry bier of all that gaudy shone,


s: And gather love ere loveliness wear pall,


s: If thou, when all is gone, wouldst still have all.


s: And the glancing gold of the tremulous sun


s: And the waves never die and are nevermore still.


s: Though they pass and repass with their trailing decay.


s: On the brush of the master; "we are thine own."


s: The magical chains around them, and said,


s: "Ye too shall be light, and to life bring the sun!"


s: The mountain night is shining, Jim of Tellico,


s: The gleam upon the laurel leaf, the locust shaking snow


s: To the rippling Nantahala that is laughing up to me,


s: Hurts till the cry comes and the big tears are free.


s: O, why should my heart cry to you that will not hear,


s: Yonder where the ridges lie so still above the town?


s: But the pain that's calling seems to bring you near,


s: As the tears in my eyes bring the stars a-swimming down.


s: Mother sits and cries, with my baby on her knee;


s: Father curses deep, a-breathing hard your name;


s: I with my head low, working out my shame,


s: Eyes burning dry and my heart like a flame;


s: For I hate you then--I hate you, Jim of Tellico,


s: And grip my needle tighter, every stitch a sin,


s: The hate growing bigger till the thing I sew


s: Seems a shroud I'm glad a-making just to lay you in.


s: But the slow sun passes with its day-long stare,


s: Like a bold eye at the window when the blind


s: Is missing and you mustn't know the eye is there,--


s: Just shut your heart up close and hide the thing you mind;


s: And comes the blessed twilight calling of its kind,


s: When all the little creatures with soft voices stir,


s: Little hiding things that cry so tremblingly,


s: Till I lay my needle by,--O, how the sweet woods whirr!


s: And fly down to the river that is laughing up to me.


s: Then the hate goes out o' me with the moonlight creeping in,


s: And the water crooning cool-like in my veins.


s: Who could smell the white azalea thinking then of sin,


s: Or look on laurel buds a-caring for her pains?


s: It's just my heart breaks open and the wild flood rains.


s: O beauty of the moon-mist winding, winding slow,


s: Till the tall lynns quiver vainly up to hold


s: One leafy moment more the breathing, gliding flow


s: Of the loosened wreath of silver lifting into gold!


s: The moosewood bride is glowing, all her curls awave,


s: The colt's-foot in millions makes the ground like a bed,


s: So sweet-breathed and green now, in winter scarlet brave,


s: And blossom lips of tulip trees are meeting overhead,


s: But never shall a tear fall for their love spent and dead.


s: Doves are building yonder in that clump of maples deep,


s: Do maple leaves come soonest for they love to hide


s: The earliest nest and hear the first faint cheep


s: Telling them of joy too dear, too sweet to bide?


s: The joy that was my own, Jim, when our birdling came,


s: Telling me that love is never spent and dead,--


s: Though you left the tears to me, and left to me the shame,--


s: For the wildwood broke in blossoms round my bed,


s: And the fairest on my bosom laid its stainless head.


s: Can God who made this night His own great heart to please,


s: And made that other night like this a year ago,


s: Be mad at us for loving? I fall upon my knees


s: And beg Him bless you, bless you ever, Jim of Tellico!


s: Fame's unblown years whose choir my soul would greet!


s: For Death and Time must pass on echoing feet.


s: No grass-locked vault, no sculptured winding-sheet,


s: Is bosomed in such stillness, vast, complete,


s: As wraps the future, and no prayer may bring


s: From that unfathomed pause one minstrel murmuring.


s: Yet never earth a lyreless dawn shall know;


s: No moon shall move unharped to her pale home;


s: No midnight wreathe its chain of choric glow


s: But answering eye flash rhythmic to the dome.


s: No path shall lie too deep in forest gloam


s: For the blithe singer's tread; no winds fore'er


s: Blow lute-lorn barks o'er unawakened foam;


s: Nor hidden isle sleep so enwaved but there


s: Shall touch and land at last Apollo's mariner.


s: And soon shall wake that morrow's melody,


s: When men of labour shall be men of dream,


s: That breathes in sonant wood and fluting stream,


s: Shapes too the wheel, the shaft, the shouldering beam,


s: Nor ceased to build when Magian toil began


s: To lift its towered world. What chime supreme


s: Shall turn our tuneless march to music when


s: Sings the achieving God in conscious hearts of men!


s: And one voice shall be woman's, lifting lay


s: Till all the lark-heights of her being ring;


s: Majestic she shall take the chanted way,


s: And every song-peak's golden bourgeoning


s: Shall thrill beneath her feet that lyric spring


s: From ventured crest to crest. Strong, masterless,


s: She, last in freedom, as the first shall sing,


s: Who, great in freedom, takes by Love her place,


s: Wife, mother,--more, her starward moving self--the race.


s: Ay, ye shall come, ye spirits girt with light


s: That falls o'er heaven's hills from dawn to be;


s: Ye warders in the planet house of night,


s: Gliding to unguessed doors with prophet key,


s: And out where dim paths stir with minstrelsy


s: Wordless and strange to man until your clear


s: Doubt-shriven strain interprets to the clay.


s: Oh, might I hear ye as the world shall hear,


s: Nearer, a poet's journey, to the Golden Year!


s: Dear, honoured bards of centuries dim and sped,


s: No dust shall heap its silence o'er ye dead,


s: No cadent seas shall drown your chorus strong


s: In more melodious waves. I've lingered long


s: By your brave harps strung for eternity;


s: But now runs my wild heart to meet the throng


s: Who yet shall choir. O wondrous company,


s: If graves may listen then, I then shall listening be!


s: Break as thread the steel-drawn strands,


s: Once again hath found its deathless soul.


s: Take back thy song; or let me hear what thou


s: Earth's virgin candours, blossomed wonderings,


s: From Levite ark till now. Thy judges sit,


s: Whilst I, Disease uncinctured, darkly mate


s: With guard and sentry of thy hierarchate.


s: Thine ages, are they fair? Shall they yet draw


s: As her own babe? Far stretch the avid spans


s: Art is thy boast? "See how we garland her,


s: The goddess of our hands?" Yea, yea, but where


s: But what, care-taking soul, hast done with God?


s: The bairning time I knew, the whispering breast,


s: A wayside couch. Deep from the nation's root,


s: The bower-tree where homes are nesting fruit,


s: Of flagellant boughs that whip my fingers bare,


s: Too chill at last to build, to bleed, to care.


s: Must surge so late with Nature's spawning ruse?


s: And fend Life from that weapon lent thy wear


s: Till thou, forsaking dust, mightst capture her.


s: Man-minim safe mid frost and poison dews


s: Where naught could live that had not life to lose?


s: Yet dost thou foster it as thy veinèd sun;


s: And sing. O God, what death, in eyes so bound,


s: They see Life's beauty in her draining wound!


s: Lest sexton Earth even Man inter, nor trover


s: Whose godling fruit, too prized, too dear


s: Shall shrink to mother a soul-famined brood,--


s: That woof of blood and tears as gossamer.


s: Not then! Where now the wailing way o'erteems,


s: Lover and Love shall pass, each babe of theirs,


s: Darling of Life, born for the higher wars


s: Shriven and sure, the sun-dipped lance shall leap


s: Till Dream uncorselet clay and put off sleep.


s: For me one rift! Through this sepultural blight


s: From crimson grapple with his lyric young.


s: The Mary-longing Love to yet mould Jezebel.


s: Drag me with life that keeps Death shadow-near


s: Till 't withers to a clutch about the gold


s: You think pays all; yet from this reedy mould,


s: Who hast not seen, not touched the unstainable me.


s: Yet art thou dear, O singer! When we rest


s: Remembering these, thy pity and thy song,


s: Dropped at the cross where thou didst nail me long,


s: Of Love I then shall be, wrapping thee in


s: And fills my room with morning; comes with step


s: Light as a youth's that joy has hurried home.


s: If he should greet my cheek, so might a wind


s: Blow roses till they touch, silk leaf to leaf,


s: And on their beauty leave no deeper dye;


s: But with that touch an old world is untombed,


s: Gay, festal-gowned; and two with nuptial eyes


s: Walk arm-locked there, flinging the curls of Greece


s: From proud, smooth brows. As trapped between two throbs,


s: Their laughter dies in silent passion's kiss;


s: To meet the untroubled eyes of my friend's bride,


s: Her pretty, depthless eyes that smile and smile


s: A footstool place about her sceptred love.


s: And I, too, from imperial largess, smile.


s: Another comes more rarely than new moon,


s: And always with a flower,--one; pours tea


s: Sings me a ballad that once teased the ears


s: Of golden Bess, and reads the book I love.


s: If he must journey, first he comes to lay


s: Knight-service on my hand; no passion then


s: More swift than when a last cool petal falls


s: A narrow lane dark-roofed with locking firs;


s: And there are purple foxgloves shoulder high,


s: And round the girl's knees Canterbury bells.


s: As though a storm had passed there, and great owls


s: Ruffle a shade unloved of birds that sing.


s: A bit of heart-shaped sun tells where the road


s: Lies wide and open; on the sun the still


s: One who shall ride,--unvisored now, and pale.


s: "And when I come," he says, to me who know


s: He'll come that way no more; then hear my door


s: Closed softly on a sob ten centuries old.


s: Brings to my gate; but when amid a throng


s: That fills some worldly room I see him pass.


s: Cold peaks are blue against a colder sky,


s: And in the dusk-line where begins the Doubt


s: Men call the Known, we stand in wingless pause,


s: And in our hearts sad longing for the fire


s: Of stars from whence we came. "The earth," he says,


s: In strange, near comfort,--blossom of first pain.


s: Stumble and sink in chains of time and sense


s: Tangle in treacheries of a weed-hung globe,


s: Till spirit chafes to vision, and we learn


s: What morning is, and where the way of love.


s: In that gold dawn we part, knowing at last


s: That earth can not divide us. With a smile


s: He goes, and Fate leads not but runs before


s: Like an indulgèd child. That smile again


s: I sometimes see across the world--a room.


s: Night, thou art heavy, with no stars to chain


s: May dance along these cliffs in gay retreat


s: Where eyes see not the end, or tears that stain


s: Or this dark sea whose heart doth climb and beat


s: The stones that make no sign, then falls again.


s: Cry with the night and wrestle with the wave,


s: Ye two-edged winds that cut this shore and me;


s: I warm me still with thinking of a grave


s: That can not hold the dust's eternal part;


s: For here across the centuries and the sea,


s: A dead hand lies like flame upon my heart.


s: Bowed in the firelight's softly climbing gleam,


s: While through the great, grey window vaguely stream


s: That one hour gone was cold in art's repose;


s: Now each still canvas answers tremblingly,


s: Till eyes unveil and living spirit glows


s: Where no light was while the rude Day went by.


s: And rudest Day, that passed so sternly bare,


s: Cold as the life that walks without desire,


s: Plucked by a hope that will not set her free,


s: Turns back, while memory's soft, informing fire


s: Falls on her face, and Beauty looks at me.


s: In Greece I found the place, though earth


s: Has many such; and wandering there alone,


s: One Autumn evening when the moon rose late,


s: I heard this song, though none was there to sing.


s: A ghostly rune, yet left the alarmèd dark


s: Quivering with life, tear-warm and murmuring:


s: And Spring shall come. With teary cheek,


s: From brooks that haunt the woodman's glade


s: Once more lift up this stone-dead heart,


s: Come, Flower of Life, and lay thy beauty's rose


s: Upon the breast that storm and thee divide;


s: And like true knights whose queen no laggard knows,


s: Forth gently shall my love-bid fancies ride


s: To serve thy heart, and bring thy wishes in;


s: And shuttling rhyme a web shall make thee then


s: Whilst thou dost gaze, nor thy poor weaver chide.


s: That showed me in a gracious court of trees


s: Whose leaves were clouds that caught and lost sunrise,


s: That traced the ground and to a river grew,


s: As curved its silver way with laughing ease.


s: I followed, forest deep, this wooing guide


s: Through fragrant gloom of cliff and bower o'ergrown,


s: Free as a fawn the stream 'twas born beside,


s: Nor held my step with fear at sounds unknown,--


s: High murmurings among the cloudy leaves,


s: As when some dull and dreamy throng receives


s: Strange lyric stir from power not its own.


s: And more and more the murmurs grew like song,


s: Save that no song could drop such honey-rain;


s: The lyre-god's self would do it unsweet wrong,


s: Were he that golden sound to breathe again;


s: That closèd seemed, and yet unclosèd was,


s: That airy cadence stooped and bore me in.


s: Gone from desire, as ghost at last must go;


s: Nor shadow fell, where shadow could not be,


s: From those dark lures that make our worldly woe.


s: O Sweet, forgive that my inconstant tongue


s: Should dim the glories that I moved among


s: With name of gloom that wrongs the world we know.


s: The dome was fair as Heaven, or Heaven, in sooth,


s: It might have been, but that there shone,


s: The centre 'neath, a fountain-featured truth


s: That might no rival of its radiance own.


s: Ah, this was Heaven's heart, if Heaven be,


s: And the bright dome but its gold boundary;


s: Yet gleamèd here no crown or mounted throne.


s: The music budded till it dropped soft showers;


s: All things to other changed, though here no mage;


s: Clouds turned to light, and light to sweeter powers,


s: And chance and change to all was privilege;


s: The air was full of phantom-stirring things,


s: And I not breathed but that I touched new wings,


s: Beneath a cloud that rained me lilies cool,


s: That leaned their trembling grace above a pool,


s: To feathery rest where blossoms minute-young


s: Oped arms of vermeil soft, and dawning gule,


s: Mine eye saw Love. White on a verge's mount,


s: That swelled to show its burden dear, she lay;


s: A sighing mist that partly filled the fount,


s: And o'er the brink sought tenderly to stray,


s: For her fair body pillowed soft the ground,


s: Growing glad upward arms to clasp her round


s: And of each grace take new and sweet account.


s: In nymphlike mould her gentle figure ran,


s: Though nymph so bright did never sport in dell;


s: Her eyes an angel's were, if angels' can


s: Be thousand times more fair than dream can tell;


s: Unfalling tears they held, yet so could please


s: They might have hermits made forget their knees


s: And kings find out they had them, such their spell.


s: Above her forehead hovered close a star,


s: Like spirit guard, whose ever-changing ray


s: Was fed with fires of sacrifice that are


s: Love's life,--the offerings earth lovers lay


s: Upon her shrine, and as they pale or glow


s: She smiles or droops as this true star doth show,--


s: Of changeful beauty as her couch of cloud,


s: And as I looked she woke it to strange rune,


s: As in low murmur moved her thoughts aloud,--


s: For all Love's thoughts are music,--but to make


s: That ditty o'er, what heart would undertake,


s: And with a mortal chant her utterance shroud?


s: Anear her stood a youth bare of all guise


s: Save when a light enwrapped him in its flame;


s: And his lithe, lustrous being seemed to say


s: Upward he gazed as though he would read o'er


s: The scroll of rising winds, the burst of suns,


s: And lists--ah, might it be earth's shore


s: Freed of her epic hates and tunèd groans!


s: War's passion beat, and woe's sad chorus past,


s: And all her song pure-winnowed, clear at last,


s: Then moved his lips, but yet unborn is he


s: Who may with their resound make sweet his own;


s: He who shall come as morning walks the sea,


s: Mate of the Wind when all her harps are one;


s: So much we know by frail yet quenchless light


s: That creeps through shadows of our lute-poor night,--


s: The brave rose-glimmers of his singing dawn.


s: Lo, every dream new-homing from far ways


s: Came circling o'er his head in hovering maze,


s: Seen not, nor heard, albeit I knew them there;


s: But as each passed before his lifted face,


s: They gleamed to sight, and grace so mounted grace


s: My eyes seemed there anointed, though afar.


s: Then radiant couriers shook the fountain Heart


s: And turned me thither. Sweet and bold surprise


s: Took all my being with such tremorous start


s: I marvelled how aught else had held my eyes.


s: I could not tell what the bright wonder was


s: Whose garner-breast held every beauteous cause


s: Makes earth remember, and forget, the skies.


s: There shone the star that lit man's first desire,


s: And there his hope that latest fluttered bare;


s: Swept with a joy the heart of Truth might share,--


s: Truth that is silent, wanting joy to sing,--


s: A face out-flashed wreathed with sun-flinging hair.


s: Youth was the angel of that countenance,


s: Where graces sprang in ever fairer throng;


s: Yet she was old ere any star's birth-dance,


s: If word of earthly time, or old or young,


s: Means aught of eyes whose brooding splendour swept


s: And gave the dream that woke the suns in song.


s: Whose track was pearls, and as each whiter lit


s: The story there, the court grew softlier bright;


s: Each dullsome thing--Oh, no thing there was dull!


s: Flushed o'er itself with glow more beautiful,


s: As might fair, sleeping gods wake to delight.


s: Then all the wonder that made vague her form,


s: Mine eyes an instant swooned; and as from storm


s: To shape of her who 'gan descending slow,


s: Fair Love looked up, and Poesy knelt low:


s: 'Twas Beauty's self, and mother of the two.


s: Whilst yet I gazed all vanished were the three;


s: The mermaid wave that would go out to sea,


s: So slipped the vision from my fancy bold.


s: O Flower of Life, no rest for me but this,


s: To dream awhile, and then awake to press


s: When thou shalt search thy glass nor find the flower


s: That there so long smiled gay, unwithering,


s: That fore nor aft unmasks one hint of Spring,


s: Thou mourn'st the barrenness of beauty spent


s: When all that youth and sunny fortune lent


s: No more should light adoring eyes to thee,


s: And fear'st thyself a-cold, by the last storm


s: Beat to thine inn, a still, uncarping guest,


s: Making his dungeon way to his new feast,


s: Drop not a tear then for thy beauty fled,


s: But for the wounds it healed not bow thy head.


s: Love's sheltering eyes are deep and nigh;


s: Down moonless lanes from doubt to doubt;


s: Dragged o'er me bare, wind-stript and stark,


s: Shall my sore magic loose thee wandering?


s: And blanch thy cheek to keep thy soul as white,


s: Shall be unwound by wizard fingers bright


s: And wisdom, wiser than we know, shall find


s: Seeking sun-vantage, for all heights are won.


s: About Life's heart,--at last the perfect Rose?


s: If man must climb, let him go up to thee;


s: What crime was hers, that she lies hushed,


s: Some little dreams,--not gloriously fine


s: She hardly knew their names, but felt the stir


s: That filled her heart with whispers as they grew,


s: And knew that life lay in them, life for her.


s: And let him feed. Cold followed, gripped


s: The thin blood thinner; both she pressed


s: And she had dreams to shelter, little dreams to feed.


s: And made her wretched pillow seem a rose


s: In soft, ungoaded death! And ah, suppose


s: Then would she make her dreams a fairer home;


s: Then would her heart be stronger where they grew;


s: Then would she walk more bravely knowing them;


s: Then would her eyes be brighter showing them.


s: Where wind and sun ran dappling; of a bird


s: Turned all the forest leaves to wings,--


s: Where blossoms danced; of sweeter, holier things;


s: Where waves were drownèd twilight, and the day


s: Hung in a pause that softly, suddenwise,


s: Became a soul. She too would have a soul,


s: And hours with God and friends; no more give all,


s: That hides the poor, starved shoulder; bare


s: Into bought hands to strike her battling youth.


s: Rose in law's name and ours, she broken fell.


s: O friend, when next you smooth the golden head


s: These lips, unvisited by love, were sweet


s: As are thy fondling's; this want-hollowed cheek


s: And could these eyes ope they would speak


s: Of one who bought her dreams of Death and paid.


s: Then as thou'st dealt with this pale maid


s: Who then shall heed us, who shall understand,


s: When our crushed hearts lie in the vengeant hand?


s: Soft garments and young feet. O maidens, ye


s: Are like a cloud in beauty,--nay, more swift!


s: If that the milky stream of stars could lift


s: And while we marvelled pass from east to west,


s: Sure of earth's welcome as a maiden Spring?


s: And in their eyes the dreams she fought for,


s: In their hands the flowers she sought for,


s: On their lips the songs that here she did not sing!


s: Till from assaulted skies ye hear the cry,


s: "She is not dead till ye have murdered Me!"


s: I dreamed a mighty dream. It seemed mine eyes


s: Sealed for the moment were to things terrene,


s: And then there came a strange, great wind that blew


s: From undiscovered lands, and took my soul


s: Slowly the darkness paled, and a weird dawn


s: Broke on my wondering vision, and there grew


s: Which seemed to throb with some great vital spell


s: I gazed, and lo! the dreadful scene evolved,


s: When of a sudden all the place grew calm,


s: Save for the trembling of the mountain peaks


s: And the low moaning of the billowy winds


s: Among the abysses. Dull lights here and there


s: Another sound more fearful than the wail


s: Of tempest, or the quake of mighty hills--


s: The infernal glare grew brighter, and there came


s: Unto mine ears the sound of many tongues,


s: Mingling discordant curse with bitter cry


s: Of Hell's domains, set one at each of four


s: Far sundered corners, four volcanoes grim


s: Spewed up their flaming bowels into a sea


s: Of blackness whence no light could issue forth.


s: Than vision's wing could bear my gaze, I knew


s: Hell's desolate kingdoms stretched their iron wastes,


s: Hell's burning mountains waved their brands of flame,


s: Deepened,--the stunning babel shrieked and roared


s: The flying hosts along--some pang too keen


s: Of Hell to quench, was burning in their souls.


s: Slowly mine eyes pierced through the pallid light


s: That crowned the awful place, and then I saw


s: That which shall not be seen of mortal eye


s: From Hell's four sides, and gathering at the base


s: Of a stupendous mountain whose great crest


s: Towered high above the glare, and lost itself


s: In blackness. Never met such throng before


s: In Hell or Heaven. Flowing round the mount


s: Like a huge deluge, from afar they came,


s: And near. A dreadful sound was on mine ears,


s: As when the first great call of deep to deep


s: Still came the multitudes, and still the sea


s: Of human souls surged round the iron base


s: Armored and visored in resplendent steel,


s: Galloped on Hell-steeds, that with one great bound


s: Cleared bottomless cañons; then the kings and queens


s: Came abject, and with terror in those eyes


s: That once outshone the world; and after them,


s: Myriads who reveled at the feast of life,


s: And when the reeling stupor of their wine


s: Had loosened, woke and found their souls in Hell.


s: What horrid crisis, then, I thought, can bring


s: That seems to thrust aloft its fearful head


s: Even to God's footstool? Then as if there came


s: A great voice lifted from the throng, which seemed


s: To bear up heaven-high its might of words,


s: Hearken! The day of all great days is come,


s: Whose prophecy is that when the time has run


s: Of yonder mount--a blazing star--to tell


s: That hope is not yet dead. O powers of night,


s: Shall Hell know such a gathering as this


s: The day of our redemption shall arrive!"


s: The voice ceased and a murmur ran through Hell,


s: A fearful whisper, scarcely breathing, "Hope!"


s: Then louder, as when storms begin to blow,


s: Gusty and fitful, and the word was "Hope!"


s: Then, rising like a tempest, swelling high


s: And all Hell's thunderous gamut answered "_Hope!_"


s: The shouts ceased, and the exultation died


s: Half hope and half despair, for still the sign


s: Had not yet blazed upon their eager eyes.


s: Praying, yet fearing, for the greatest cause


s: 'Gainst everlasting doom, there rose again


s: The voice of their great leader, Lucifer,


s: "Lo, hosts of Hell," he cried, "inheritors


s: Of death diurnal, strangely mingled with


s: Relentless life, what shall we say to God


s: Who waits and watches? Shall we pray or curse,


s: Implore or threaten? Can we move Him thus?


s: Burn not the lightnings yet in His right hand


s: With which He struck us to confusion once?


s: And laughs He not in thunderbolts the same


s: As once pursued our howling flight to Hell?


s: Befits it rather, think ye not, my hosts,


s: That we should send on high in one accord


s: Inspired by pain and sung in bitterest woe,


s: As our best offering,--and await His word?"


s: He ceased, and for the moment all was still;


s: Then plaintive as the rhythmic dawn of stars


s: Makes moan unto an earthquake's inward throes.


s: Then circling outward passed the rising tones


s: Backward it swept like a great tidal wave


s: Set to a sounding fugue. Grim-throated rose


s: The awful hymn, and mingling with the wail


s: Of voices, pealed the cymbals' brassy clang;


s: The thunderous organs bellowed through the gloom,


s: And, rocking Hell's foundations, burst a blare


s: Of stormy trumpets crying: "Woe, woe, woe!"


s: Methought the angels must have wept to hear,


s: Methought their tears had dropt like healing rain


s: Their blazing wrath, so piteous was the strain.


s: The music ceased, the echoes sobbed away


s: The black veil lifted from the mountain's crest,


s: And on its glorious summit flamed _the Star_!


s: _They were three old men with hoary hair


s: And they digged a grave in the yellow soil,


s: And they crooned this song as they plied their toil,


s: From the lands of earth's burning girdle


s: And they held out their hands in the darkness


s: And the dust that was made for heartbreak


s: One day at His forge when the elemental world


s: Was shaping. I am but a breath from His great bellows,


s: I tear red strips from the proud cities of men;


s: I name my passage the Highway of Instant Death;


s: I splinter world-old forests with my laugh,


s: And whirl the ancient snows of Hecla sheer into Orion's eyes.


s: I dance on the deep under the big Indian stars,


s: And wrap the water spout about my sinuous hips


s: As a dancer winds her girdle. The ocean's horrid crew,


s: Till comes my mood to end them, and I strew the racing foam with


s: I am a breath from God's forge. I remember His awful workshop,


s: How the hot globes spun off into infinite darkness, as system by


s: The great orb flamed from His furnace, and only the Creator stood


s: And, being a part of creation, I shall also be a part of the end.


s: When the Seventh Angel shall open his last vial of wrath in the


s: And, dancing, hear His voice cry out from Heaven's temple: "It is


s: That first great hour of travail when the voice


s: Of God called suns and systems from the void;


s: I am the dream He dreams of that last day


s: When mountains by the roots shall be plucked up


s: I am the breath that fills the organ pipes


s: When through the vast cathedral of the world


s: Death's stormy threnody sweeps, wave on wave,


s: The symboled note that one day will be blown


s: At which the heaven and earth shall pass away!


s: Writ with a flaming sword above the gates


s: Of Eden when God spelled the doom of man;


s: Shall waste the seas, and wither up the stars,


s: And roll the heavens together like a scroll!


s: I am the earthquake, hurricane and fire!


s: Through them I speak with man as through the stars,


s: The dews, the flowers, and every gentler thing;


s: Some learn my lesson in the paths of peace;


s: Only the fool hath said: "There is no God!"


s: Here is the freedom men die for,--die for but never know;


s: Here is the peace they pray for shrined in eternal snow;


s: Down on the plain the city moans with a human cry,


s: Here is one spot as God made it, far from the plainsman's range,


s: And the song that was born in my heart today


s: The long white road and the wide free sky,


s: A good-night kiss in the twilight, lass,


s: For light are the loads we bear, my lass,


s: And the sunlight is all for life, my lass,


s: "Believe on me and vengeance I will wreak not."


s: The immutable and boundless gift of grace--


s: Yet one supernal will that shapes to suit


s: Utters from voiceless lips those creeds that guide


s: That have their dead gods and are satisfied.


s: Forever bright, nor darkly doubts there be not


s: To read his soul. To him they are not blind,


s: Reward of faith that thrills his untaught breast


s: To the clear eyes of God that burn behind


s: And see and touch and worship face to face.


s: "Thou art no god, and therefore I will fear not;


s: They hear not, but their worshippers impute


s: When from the dark their dying souls have cried,


s: Shrines His great heart of love within the clod


s: The dial has pointed the hour and the hour has rounded the day,


s: The day has finished the year that dies with a century's birth;


s: Eastward the morning stars sing as they go their way:


s: "Lo! the Great Mother travaileth, a king is born to the earth!


s: King of a hundred years, and king of a million tombs,


s: Sovereign of infinite joys, keeper of countless tears;


s: Peace to the throneless dead, hail to the ruler who comes,


s: King of a million tombs, and king of a hundred years!"


s: Time and his tenant Death, for the space of a moment's flight


s: Stand on the bare, black ridge dividing eternities twain;


s: One looks back to his realm all waste in the hopeless night,


s: One with the eyes of hope sees it rebuilded again.


s: Great is the hour, my Soul, and great is the wonder to see;


s: Prophet-like dost thou look to yonder portentous sky


s: Look to the west where once waved the cherubic sword


s: Over man's Eden lost, and see in the heavens above


s: Not the angels of wrath bearing God's angry word,


s: Great is the hour, O Soul, and great are the voices to hear--


s: Voices of choral stars, and the calling of deep unto deep


s: Like to the natal hour when rolling sphere upon sphere


s: Sprang from the bosom of God and sang of their limitless sweep!


s: Great is the hour, O Soul, and thou art a seer who looks


s: Far through the mystic night and seeth the great unseen,


s: Truth that to us is blind, and the lies of our prophets' books,


s: Heaven and Hell and the land called Life that lies between.


s: Great is the hour, O Soul, and great is the wonder to see!


s: Thou art alone with God as he writes on the future's page


s: Two words in letters of fire--(one Doom,--one Mystery,--


s: Alpha the last, and the first Omega) and names it an Age.


s: Lest the false note ring true on other ears;


s: So day by day life's bitter bread is earned


s: With lips that smile and frame the mirthless joke,


s: And frailer grows the soul that once was strong,--


s: The joyless soul of one whose trade has turned


s: Life's tragic mantle to a jester's cloak,


s: So He gave him a mite in heaven's sight,


s: But lo! the gift that He gave was--Gold.


s: Till he fashioned it wondrous fair, and then


s: And the price was the blood and tears of men.


s: Blood and tears! and the price was paid;


s: And Lucifer smiled at the fools and said:


s: "Surely your souls should belong to me!"


s: So he offered the earth with its golden heart,


s: And the seas with their fleets from pole to pole;


s: And they looked with lust on the world-wide mart,


s: And said in their hearts,--"It is worth the soul!"


s: And kings were they, and they ruled right well;


s: And their gold and their empires--where are they?


s: That the glacier's torrent thundered under;


s: That grew by the side of the lofty eyrie,


s: Saw the young wings beat on the eagle's breast,


s: The days went by and the wings grew strong,


s: And the crag-built home was at last deserted;


s: But, close to the nest that her love had left,


s: The days went by and the wan, white flower


s: Waited and watched in the autumn weather;


s: His breast was pierced and his plumes were gory;


s: And we love the love that our youth puts by,--


s: Where the street's black funnel pours its tide


s: And no one has stopped to read God's word


s: Save an old man dreaming of boyhood's days,


s: Brave ships are these that bear thee home again


s: From under far-off skies--brave flags that fly


s: Waiting their urn beyond the alien main;


s: The nations pause to view thy funeral train


s: Holds out her hands and calls thy name in vain.


s: And yet, mayhap, in vision vague and sweet,


s: Another sight thou seest beyond the boast


s: Of patriot pride--beside the new-born fleet,


s: Spectral and strange, no guest for such a host,


s: Yet making thy home-coming all complete,


s: The old "Bon Homme Richard's" unlaid ghost.


s: He crouches, voiceless, in his tomb-like cell,


s: Forgot of all things save his jailer's hate


s: That turns the daylight from his iron grate


s: To make his prison more and more a hell;


s: For him no coming day or hour shall spell


s: He would not know even though a kingdom fell!


s: The black night hides his hand before his eyes,--


s: That grim, clenched hand still burning with the sting


s: Of royal blood; he holds it like a prize,


s: Waiting the hour when he at last shall fling


s: The stain in God's face, shrieking as he dies:


s: "Behold the unconquered arm that slew a king!"


s: And the woman loved in the old, old way,


s: And the poet christened their lives "A Play,"


s: And he sat down to watch it, and then ...


s: As she bowed her head at the poet's stall


s: "He paints the best who has dipped his brush


s: The death-ship follows her track of doom,


s: And the white birds cling to her rotting shrouds


s: For God is her skipper and helmsman, too,


s: The faith of a great dawn was on his tongue;


s: Out of the dark he raised his voice and sung


s: The gods that Superstition crowned with might


s: And set above the world,--the coming Christ


s: Whose unshed blood should be the holy tryst


s: 'Twixt man and his lost Eden, washing white


s: From his rebellious soul the serpent's blight.


s: The fire that on the Magi's altars glowed


s: Spake to his soul in symbols and expressed


s: Strives with the mortal grossness whose abode


s: Is in the heart. Their symboled fire showed One


s: Burns ceaselessly,--where, if all vice be hurled,


s: It shall be purged with fire that shall atone,--


s: Christ's love the flame, man's sin th' alchemic stone.


s: The message of the peace that men should know


s: Through God's own Son. Out of the hopeless night


s: Beheld it mount, and heard, to hail its light,


s: The everlasting groan of hell's despite.


s: But here where His creatures herd and die,


s: (Written during the hostilities in the Far East in 1900.)


s: From the ice-bound steppes of the Cossack;


s: From the vineyards that crown the Rhineland


s: And the brothers quarreled at their worship,


s: Foredooms thy feet to roam, yet blinds thine eyes?


s: Why seek ye still for life's imperfect prize,


s: Or turn thy weary sail from shore to shore,


s: When here thou layest aside the ills of yore


s: To calm thy soul with dreams? Let it suffice--


s: This heart-sick burden of the worldly-wise--


s: That ye have borne it and the task is o'er,


s: Here see the world fade like a spark of fire,


s: While all thy restless ways grow full of peace,


s: And wear the fittest crown for them that tire


s: Their souls with life's unraveled mysteries,--


s: Faith and Unfaith, those two interpreters


s: That spell in diverse ways what God has writ


s: Some come in stormy haste, some grave and slow,


s: And all like windy shadows on the grass:


s: Beyond my pale I know not where they go.


s: (Written on the ter-centenary of John Milton, December 9, 1908.)


s: Immortal singer, in whose glorious brain


s: A nocturn for the blessed Master's sake,


s: I see thee pass through heaven's gates again;


s: I hear thee singing that majestic strain,


s: Which soothed the heart affliction could not break,


s: And proved the faith no worldly ills could shake;


s: And then I see thee join God's holy train,


s: But, wonder of all wonders! where the light


s: Breaks from a thousand suns, the seraphs, shod


s: With flaming sandals, lead thee; and my sight


s: Dims with the vision, till fresh from His rod,


s: I see thee lift those orbs, once quenched in night,


s: And gaze into the steadfast eyes of God!


s: And then there was light in your beaming eye,


s: Has saddened the hall where the feast was spread,


s: Sit mid the ruins of their dwelling place


s: And watch the white man's empire grow apace.


s: Passive as one who knows his earthly doom,


s: And only waits with calm but hopeless face


s: The while the seasons go with blight and bloom,


s: So live they day by day beside their nation's tomb.


s: In the deep woods and by the rolling streams


s: They made their home, and knew no other clime;


s: They lived their lives and dreamed barbaric dreams,


s: As on his thunderous legions swept sublime


s: Bearing the torch of progress through the night,


s: Till lo! the primal wastes were all a-chime


s: With traffic's strange new music, and the might


s: Of busy hordes that wrought to spread the new-born light.


s: They were strange wanderers on life's sad deep,


s: And paused a moment in God's mystic plan


s: A little vigil on time's shores to keep,


s: Then passed forever from the tribes of man.


s: They heard a voice and a strange face did scan,


s: Had filled their dreams, they gave the white man's clan,


s: They spread their sails again and, voiceless, passed away.


s: Their children sit with empty hands to wait


s: The sequel that the future shall unfold,--


s: The unwritten "Finis" of remorseless fate.


s: Vanquished they stand before oblivion's gate,


s: Their finished story, which, for woe or weal,


s: Shall be with Him who writ to hide or to reveal.


s: Beside the ceaseless turmoil of the sea;


s: Hath made distraught--who now in dreams doth keep


s: His cherished dead, unmindful of her sleep


s: Scorn not the foolish grave that I have made


s: Beside the deep sea of my soul's unrest,


s: But let me hope that when the storms are stayed


s: My phantom ship shall sail from out the west


s: Bringing the boon for which I long have prayed--