s: OLIVE they seized and shut her in a cell--


s: Where, heedless of her piteous shrieks and tears


s: They left her to her grief; while BERTHO went,


s: Securely guarded by their threatening spears,


s: Following his conqueror's receding steps.


s: Fluttered the pinions of her restless will


s: In vain against her dungeon. What cared she


s: That this same dungeon had an emrald floor


s: And lattice-work of gold, or that the spring


s: The lustre of the cave flowed through her cell,


s: And she could strain her weary eyes to catch


s: Glimpses of splendor, which but mocked her state.


s: The tiresome days rolled round, never relieved


s: Seemed burning in her brain; and she had fears


s: That madness lurked within her feverish veins.


s: The ghouls who chanced to pass her, never spake;


s: At last, with joy, the stranger of the mount


s: Her pale face, peering through the lattice-work--


s: "Thou find'st me in a miserable plight--


s: "Why, thou bright bird, has OENE caged thee here--


s: Prisoned an oriole in her Arctic bowers?


s: My banishment, by wandering here and there,


s: Greeting old Thug by the day's sickly smile,


s: I chanced within this cavern, where surprise


s: And pleasure lured me on from scene to scene.


s: What tyrant holds thee in this glittering cell?"


s: Yes, dear sir JOHN, from more than angry hate--


s: From that implacable passion, worst of all,


s: I'd trust the tenderness of hungry wolves,


s: Of waters to the rocks--but not the will


s: Of woman, when to jealous thoughts aroused.


s: She binds me here and bears my love away,


s: To tempt him with a thousand sweetest wiles--


s: And all that easiest moves a man's proud heart.


s: Has truth or virtue beyond this rich price?


s: Or, she may torture him,--by pain compel


s: Consent to her soft wish and queenly will.


s: "Shall I not play the messenger, and urge


s: I find the Queen still visiting old Thug?"


s: "Oh, if thou would'st and yet--what should I gain?


s: Nothing, nothing!--still, I should hear from _him_--


s: Should know the worst. I'll pray for thy success,


s: And thank thee from my heart, if thou wilt go!"


s: Long time Sir JOHN, misled by wicked sprites,


s: Searched for the Queen! until, by some kind chance,


s: He wandered through a grotto by the sea,


s: Where silver pendules from the ceiling hung


s: And gossip ripples whispered at the door.


s: Sat OENE,--BERTHO at her feet,--her hand


s: Like some white dove amid the wav'ring shade;


s: Her eyes bent softly on his countenance;


s: Burned through the brown of his defiant cheek;


s: His eyes were downcast, that their sullen fire


s: Should not too much betray him, as he lay,


s: A half-tamed lion at his mistress' feet,


s: Restless, yet yielding to the golden chain.


s: In a low voice, which, like a pent-up stream,


s: To her incessant questions of the world,


s: Of human life and love, of death, and heaven.


s: When bold Sir JOHN intruded on the scene


s: "I've come to plead the cause of a sweet child,


s: Who, like a wild-bird newly caught and caged,


s: Within her cell is fretting. Noble Queen,


s: And mind shall do thy bidding, should there be


s: Aught which my humble wisdom could expound.


s: The meanwhile he who now instructs thee, hastes


s: Flutter to her true home within his breast."


s: Scarce were these words with a firm purpose said,


s: When all the scene was changed. Where erst a Queen,


s: In shape most loveable, did blushing sit,


s: Rose in portentious wrath; her star-crowned head


s: Paled the chaste lustre of the silvery dome.


s: It was no shame to him that BERTHO fled,


s: For they were awful. Parted from Sir JOHN,


s: And flying through a dark, unknown ravine,


s: Stumbling o'er rocks--only by daring leaps


s: Saving himself from dropping into chasms


s: From tortuous windings underneath the ground,


s: At length released, he thenceforth knew the way,


s: And sped across the mountain to the cave


s: Where OLIVE pined, weeping despairing tears.


s: Like a swift arrow through the sunlight shot


s: He passed athwart its glory, till he reached


s: Her prison--heard her sudden cry of joy--


s: Touched the elaborate spring which bound her in,


s: And freed her, while she gazed in mute surprise.


s: "Love! look not thus incredulous of hope!


s: This curious spring he wrought,--and what he did


s: Thy living, breathing BERTHO stands before thee!


s: This happiness, at least, I owe the Queen,


s: Who, since repentant, may her gift resume,


s: Should Heaven not grant us now a quick escape.


s: But once--this once--though death should press me next--


s: Come to my arms--to thy dear bosom draw me,


s: So fondly close!--and feed my famished lips


s: Nay, pause not to inquire--'tis better thus


s: To feel the throbbing of thy timid heart,


s: I know not: I was tranced in sleep profound,


s: Queen OENE hoped my gratitude would grow


s: To love, in time; and I was grateful--would


s: Have given her everything but what was thine,


s: And that alone she coveted. Come, sweet!


s: Fly from this land forlorn:--if miracles


s: Are still in fashion, one might serve us well.


s: Cling to my guiding hand; trust all to me;


s: From meeting every imp of this dark land--


s: The touch of thy soft hand is such a triumph!"


s: Even while his accents lingered, they were gone


s: Until they came upon some rough-hewn steps,


s: Which wandered round and down, interminable.--


s: For the ascent of gnomes, who dwelt beneath


s: In those huge tidal caves which underlaid


s: Old Thug, upheaved from earth in ancient times.


s: Silent the lovers fled; their locks grew wet


s: With mildew, and their breath came gaspingly.


s: A sound of gibbering gnomes, of elfish song--


s: Mingling high discords with the patient clink


s: Of instruments of toil--of laughter strange--


s: Warned them of the wild laborers they must meet.


s: Stood at the bottom of those countless steps,


s: A hell-like spot! and spirits of the doomed


s: Were scarce more haggard than the clumsy elves


s: Who here pursued their coarse and perilous toil.


s: 'Tis in these horrible caverns, deep and wide,


s: Each day the ocean sinks, when, rushing round


s: With the swift world, he falls into this snare;


s: From whence with groans, and anger impotent,


s: He backward struggles to his bed of sand


s: And lies there panting; while the credulous earth,


s: Dreaming of love, looks on him with a smile,


s: Saying--"He pineth for the sweet-faced Moon;"--


s: Stood peering shuddering in, hearing afar


s: The painful sighs, which shook his savage breast.


s: The dwarfish elves, with waning lamps in hand,


s: Creeping like worms along the slimy floor,


s: Pursued the ebbing tide collecting spoils.


s: The lovers saw from what exhaustless mines


s: Were gathered up the overwhelming wealth--


s: Which graced OENE and all her splendid court;


s: For there the sea,--forever wrecking treasures,


s: Leaves them behind him in his angry flight.


s: "Art thou afraid, my darling?" BERTHO asked--


s: "I'll bear thee safely through this hideous place.


s: Here LUCIFER, I think, must love to linger;


s: Here darkness dwells in everlasting sleep;


s: For these poor, puny lights which wander round,


s: Scarce make the drowsy lashes of his lids


s: Tremble o'er his blind eyes;--the heated earth


s: Gives forth the odors of her burning heart,


s: In whose incessant fires her vitals wither.


s: See! where those wretched gnomes are dragging chests,


s: Banded with iron! most like, is heaped within


s: And look! ah heaven! how beautiful and strange,


s: To see the delicate corpse of this young girl


s: Grown rankly long, trailing around her limbs,


s: And clinging to her lovely, breathless breast!--


s: That rude dwarf clutching from her helpless hands


s: If we had time to give our fancies range,


s: What a wild story we would make of this!"


s: Thrilling with pity, OLIVE hid her eyes.


s: Twelve hours of desperate flight, and they emerged


s: From darkness to a dead shore, shrouded white,--


s: Saw the green ocean rolling, saw the Sun,


s: Pale, like a wounded God, and weary, hang


s: Low in the southern sky--saw mountains crowned


s: With snow and fire--saw motionless cataracts


s: Hanging like frozen rainbows over chasms--


s: And icebergs settling downward towards the sun


s: As if to pierce him with their glist'ning spears.


s: Fringing with lovely tints the dim horizon,


s: "A miracle!" quoth BERTHO; "Love, observe


s: How all these waves set from the shore, and glide


s: Like a broad river, 'twixt these frozen banks.


s: The current which ran northward with thy boat,


s: Has overtopped the Pole, and flows away,


s: A liquid belt, girdling the earth. Alas!


s: We have no trusty boat in which to launch,


s: Once more, our fortunes on the promising deep."


s: Wearied, they flung themselves upon the shore,


s: And, hand in hand, sat gazing on the sea


s: With home-sick longing. WOLE, the eager-eyed,


s: From his far height espied them where they sat,


s: And sent four of his people to their aid


s: (Such power hath youth and beauty through the world!)


s: Bearing a skiff, contrived of ribs of whales,


s: For frame work,--these, inwove with fibrous moss,


s: And lined with furs of savage Arctic beasts


s: Which he had slain. When, with this welcome gift


s: The slaves appeared, and bowed at OLIVE's feet,


s: The tears sprang to her eyes; her heart was touched


s: They put to sea. Scarce were they free from land,


s: When, o'er the plain they saw OENE advance,


s: While something new and holier than sorrow


s: Restrained revenge. It was the Love Divine


s: Some word, Sir JOHN had uttered when her wrath


s: Would have consumed him, fell upon her heart


s: Like rain on a thirsty garden--there sprang up


s: Whose seed was dropped from heaven; the nameless pain,


s: The want, which she had ever felt, was gone;


s: She knew the immortal meaning of the Soul,


s: And blessed the speaker for the 'perfect work.'


s: Speedily from her sight they floated out;


s: But, long time, while gazing, they saw her stand


s: In desolate beauty, silent on the beach.


s: The plaintive music of a horn wound down


s: From WOLE's grey fortress; all the fading scene


s: Lay, like a sad thought in a musing breast


s: Called up by the enchantment of sweet sound--


s: A thought, no more--all,--save those lustrous eyes


s: Shining upon them like two troubled stars--


s: While, high and low, in whispering melodies


s: Borne by the uncertain winds, a farewell came:--


s: illustrations are included in the HTML edition.]


s: He half the time from church would stay;


s: And though he cared not for Cuff's soul,


s: scantily fed, while their masters live in luxury_.]


s: The chain which bound, or wish to break,


s: They're hateful still, they gall, they hold,


s: The angels came through the forest to where the little tree


s: stood, and gathering around it, they touched it with


s: For he was so generous that he gave away all these pretty


s: "But why shouldn't I be merry?" asked the little mauve


s: mouse. "To-morrow is Christmas, and this is Christmas


s: "'What sound was that?' cried Dimas, for he was exceeding


s: The strange allegory of the lame boy's speech filled her with


s: "This must be the house where the prince will stop,"


s: "Nestle down close, fold your hands, and shut your dear


s: By Bethlehem's star that brightly beamed,


s: "Where are you going?" asked his neighbor Jans, the forge-master.


s: "I am going sailing for a wife," said Norss.


s: "For a wife, indeed!" cried Jans. "And why go you to seek her in


s: "If this be so, you must need go," said Jans. "But are you well


s: As if guided by an unseen hand, the boat pointed straight for the


s: "I am Norss; and I come seeking my bride," he answered.


s: to-day, and Norss shall come out of the North to bear thee home a


s: trees, cats, and birds, all of wood and very like to nature. His


s: mother taught him how to make dolls too,--dolls of every kind,


s: So Claus grew to manhood, increasing each day in knowledge and in


s: everywhere the beauteous things which his fancy conceived and his


s: "Ay, ay," said Norss; "but how is that possible?"


s: That night Norss dreamed that a spirit came to him, and that the


s: "I have it here, about my neck," said Faia.


s: glorious warmth suffuse him, his heart leaped with joy, and he


s: stretched out his arms and fell about Faia's neck, and kissed the


s: No sooner had he said these words than Claus felt the gift of


s: And lo! to that place and in that hour came all the people of


s: "Now haste ye all," cried Claus,--"haste ye all to your homes and


s: The kobolds and the brownies laughed gleefully, and sped away on


s: noiseless wings; and so, too, did the other fairies and elves.


s: And above the song of the heavenly throng


s: One Christmas eve Joel Baker was in a most unhappy mood. He was


s: lonesome and miserable; the chimes making merry Christmas music


s: outside disturbed rather than soothed him, the jingle of the


s: little boy, he had never forgotten how Santa Claus looked.


s: Santa Claus shook his head reproachfully.


s: "But Otis couldn't keep awake," explained Joel. "We talked about


s: sleigh-runners cuttin' through the crust and slippin' over the


s: "There were six of 'em, as I recollect?" said Santa Claus.


s: Garland of Frien'ship,' and had poems in it about the bleeding of


s: Chris'mas mornin' when they've got new sleds an' 'Garlands of


s: Santa Claus chuckled; his rosy cheeks fairly beamed joy.


s: "I brought Martin a sled the _next_ Christmas," said Santa Claus.


s: The bare thought of this made Santa Claus laugh.


s: "Goin' on about nine o'clock," said Joel, "the girls come


s: along--Sister Elvira an' Thankful, Prudence Tucker, Belle Yocum,


s: "I know--I see it all," murmured Santa Claus very softly.


s: "Yes," said Santa Claus, "a toddling little boy with blue eyes--"


s: "But when I came again," said Santa Claus--


s: "His little bed was empty, an' I was alone. It killed his


s: "That's why I'm so sad-like whenever Chris'mas comes," said Joel,


s: How sweetly Joel slept! When he awoke, the sunlight streamed in


s: through the window and seemed to bid him a merry Christmas. How


s: To Him they sought fine herbs they brought,


s: They brought their gifts to Bethlehem town,


s: "O Child, most heavenly, bright, and fair!


s: The third king gave his gift, and quoth:


s: That gave their gifts, and went their way;


s: "I have no home," said Barbara; and then she sighed bitterly, and


s: struggling along with a huge basket of good things on each arm.


s: "What are they doing at the cathedral?" inquired Barbara.


s: "Why, haven't you heard?" exclaimed the snowflake. "I supposed


s: everybody knew that the prince was coming to-morrow."


s: "Whirr-r-r! whirr-r-r!" cried the wind, returning boisterously to


s: Presently she came to a large house where there seemed to be much


s: "Where are you going?" she asked of the wind as it overtook her.


s: cathedral at the time, and they laughed to see her falling.


s: "Have you seen the prince?" inquired a snowflake, alighting on


s: "Ah, no!" sighed Barbara in tears; "but what cares the prince for


s: "Do not speak so bitterly," said the little snowflake. "Go to the


s: "Whirr-r-r, whirr-r-r!" It was the mischievous, romping wind once


s: "I am Barbara, and I am going into the forest," said she boldly.


s: "But the prince will surely come to-morrow?" inquired the tiny


s: snowdrop that nestled close to the vine.


s: "What are you little folks down there talking about?" asked the


s: "We are talking about the prince," said the vine.


s: The pine-tree and the fir stopped quarrelling, and the snowdrop


s: "Will you not chop me down?" inquired the pine-tree gruffly.


s: "Will you not tear me from my tree?" asked the vine.


s: "Will you not pluck my blossoms?" plaintively piped the snowdrop.


s: Then Barbara told them who she was, and how cruelly she had been


s: "Lie at my feet," said the pine-tree, "and I will protect you."


s: "But we shall see him first," whispered the vine reassuringly.


s: "Yes, the prince will come through the forest," said the little


s: And they said they would. So Barbara fell asleep.


s: The storm had ceased. Snow lay upon all the earth. The hills, the


s: Whilst you were sleeping, little Dear-my-Soul, strange things


s: "But why shouldn't I be merry?" asked the little mauve mouse.


s: "To-morrow is Christmas, and this is Christmas eve."


s: gnawed any holes, nor have I stolen any canary seed, nor have I


s: butter-cracker last Christmas, and a lovely gingersnap, and a


s: "Yes," said the old clock, "now that you recall the incident, I


s: recollect it well. I was here then, in this very corner, and I


s: "Why, Santa Claus himself," said the old clock.


s: "Oh, no," answered the little mauve mouse. "It was that wicked,


s: "Yes, I understand," said the old clock.


s: "Like the boy doll," suggested the old clock.


s: "Like Dear-my-Soul?" asked the old clock.


s: "How stupid you are!" exclaimed the little mauve mouse. "Why, she


s: "Right merrily was Squeaknibble gambolling," continued the little


s: country as it is wont to be in countries to the north. Hither the


s: "'What are these wonderful things of which you speak?' I asked.


s: "'We heard the old olive-tree telling of them to-night,' said the


s: "I marvelled much to hear these things. 'The midnight hour is at


s: thither like colored lanterns. The flowers of the hill-side all


s: "'Greater joy than this shall be thine, Dimas,' said the little


s: Master; 'but first must all things be fulfilled.'


s: "All through that Christmas night did the angels come and go with


s: "Well, is that all?" asked the old clock.


s: "Then I saw that it was Dimas; yet to this wicked criminal there


s: "Then Dimas wept, and in that hour he forgot his pain. And the


s: Ah, little Dear-my-Soul, you know--you know whereof the moonbeam


s: bells,--hear them, little Dear-my-Soul, how sweetly they are


s: ringing,--the bells bear us the good tidings of great joy this


s: Christmas morning, that our Christ is born, and that with him he


s: bringeth peace on earth and good-will toward men.


s: You shall know that all did call her Mistress Merciless; but her


s: ill-favored wench; but she was assotted upon our little Mistress


s: Merciless and served her diligently, and for that good reason was


s: flowers; and even had he done so, methinks the pressure of those


s: whilst thus those twittering birds made great feasting, lo! on a


s: devoured of the envious water; so that ever thereafter the doll


s: inquiry; and I think she was lonely ever after that,--lonely for


s: I am thinking now of her and of him; for this is the Christmas


s: When of an evening all the joy of day was done, would our little


s: Mistress Merciless fall aweary; and then her eyelids would grow


s: The locomotive is ready to start. Can you not hear it?


s: "Shug-chug! Shug-chug! Shug-chug!" That is what the locomotive is


s: Oh, many a time hath it proudly swept over prairie and hill, over


s: Then a bell soundeth. Surely my little one heareth the bell!


s: So soundeth the bell, and it seemeth to invite you to sleep and


s: How sweetly ringeth and calleth that bell.


s: And so my little golden apple is off and away for Shut-Eye Town!


s: On and on and on the locomotive proudly whirleth the train.


s: Then was I wont to kneel beside her little bed and fold my two


s: hands,--thus,--and let my heart call to the host invisible: "O


s: Hath spread before mine eyes this night,--


s: The wise men came and brought the crown;


s: predicted strange things. They had lived in the forest many, many


s: exceeding honor should be shown the little tree.


s: little tree, but the pride and glory of the forest.


s: "Have no fear," said the angel; "for He who comes is the Master."


s: appeared, uttering loud oaths and cruel threats, and the tree was


s: Then the cruel men dragged the despoiled and hewn tree from the


s: forest, and the forest saw that beauteous thing no more.


s: Each step resounds on the frosty ground,


s: Stuffing them well with snowflakes fine,


s: He's here and he's there, and he's everywhere,


s: Set off on a tour through the wide wide world,


s: But he's helped and advised by the Queen,


s: That all may be right when the King goes forth,


s: And in matchless sheets of crystal clear


s: And with icicles shining with rainbow hues,


s: Amazed is the sun when he gets up at dawn,


s: And their noses and cheeks turn red with cold,


s: A wooden sword in his hand, in his mouth,


s: With burnt stick, but they spoil his nose,


s: They knock of the snowman's ears and nose,


s: They skate, and in sleighs so fine they go,


s: And calling in haste for his man, Jack Frost,


s: Have the children been good and well behaved,


s: With tapers and trinkets of silver and gold,


s: Pray tell Jack Frost we don't want the rod,


s: "How long do you think will it be, Mamma,


s: And then, my dears, he will bid us good bye


s: addressed himself to Southampton prior to his dedication of "The


s: Choise of Valentines," and Dr. Grosart purports to give the first


s: Pardon, _sweete flower of Matchles poetrie,


s: Although my Muse, devorst from deeper care,


s: For painting forth the things that hidden are,


s: Since all men acte what I in speache declare,


s: Complants and praises euery one can write,


s: And passion out their pangu's in statlie rimes;


s: But of loues pleasures none did euer write,


s: That have succeeded in theis latter times.


s: Accept of it, Deare Lord, in gentle gree,


s: And better lynes, ere long, shall honor thee._


s: Titchfield. The dedication is absent in the Rawlinson text: _cf._


s: When yong men, in their iollie roguerie,


s: Rose earelie in the morne fore breake of daie,


s: To seeke them valentines soe trimme and gaie;


s: With whom they maie consorte in summer sheene,


s: And dance the haidegaies on our toune-greene,


s: Perambulate the fields that flourish most;


s: And goe to som village abbordring neere,


s: To taste the creame and cakes and such good cheere;


s: Where to, the contrie franklins flock-meale swarme,


s: And Jhon and Jone com marching arme in arme.


s: Euen on the hallowes of that blessed Saint


s: That doeth true louers with those ioyes acquaint,


s: I went, poore pilgrime, to my ladies shrine,


s: But woe, alass, she was not to be found,


s: Good Justice Dudgeon-haft, and crab-tree face,


s: With bills and staues had scar'd hir from the place;


s: And now she was compel'd, for Sanctuarie,


s: Thither went I, and bouldlie made enquire


s: If they had hackneis to lett-out to hire,


s: And what they crau'd, by order of their trade,


s: Therwith out stept a foggy three-chinnd dame,


s: That us'd to take yong wenches for to tame,


s: "In iest?" quoth I; "that terme it as you will;


s: I com for game, therefore give me my Jill."


s: "Why Sir," quoth shee, "if that be your demande,


s: And then, perhaps, wee'le ease him of his thirst."


s: Gave hir hir due, and she the dore unlocks.


s: But where's this female that must do this deed"?


s: By blinde meanders, and by crankled wayes,


s: Shee leades me onward, (as my Aucthor saies),


s: Where venus bounsing vestalls skirmish oft;


s: And there shee sett me in a leather chaire,


s: And brought me forth, of prettie Trulls, a paire,


s: To chuse of them which might content myne eye;


s: But hir I sought, I could nowhere espie.


s: I spake them faire, and wisht them well to fare--


s: "Yet soe yt is, I must haue fresher ware;


s: Wherefore, dame Bawde, as daintie as you bee,


s: Fetch gentle mistris Francis forth to me."


s: "By Halliedame," quoth she, "and Gods oune mother,


s: I well perceaue you are a wylie brother;


s: For if there be a morsell of more price,


s: You'll smell it out, though I be nare so nice.


s: As you desire, so shall you swiue with hir,


s: But think, your purse-strings shall abye-it deare;


s: For, he that will eate quailes must lauish crounes,


s: And Mistris Francis, in her veluett gounes,


s: Can not be kept with half a croune a daye."


s: "Of price, good hostess, we will not debate,


s: Though you assize me at the highest rate;


s: And tenne good gobbs I will unto thee tell,


s: Of golde or siluer, which shall lyke thee best,


s: Awaie she went: so sweete a thing is golde,


s: That (mauger) will inuade the strongest holde.


s: "Hey-ho! she coms, that hath my hearte in keepe


s: Sing Lullabie, my cares, and falle a-sleepe."


s: Sweeping she coms, as she would brush the ground;


s: Hir ratling silkes my sences doe confound.


s: "Oh, I am rauisht: voide the chamber streight;


s: For I must neede's upon hir with my weight."


s: "My Tomalin," quoth shee, and then she smilde.


s: "I, I," quoth I, "soe more men are beguild


s: With smiles, with flatt'ring wordes, and fained cheere,


s: When in their deedes their falsehood doeth appeare."


s: "As how, my lambkin," blushing, she replide,


s: "Because I in this dancing schoole abide?


s: If that it be, that breede's this discontent,


s: For shelter onelie, sweete heart, came I hither,


s: And to auoide the troblous stormie weather;


s: But now the coaste is cleare, we will be gonne,


s: Since, but thy self, true louer I haue none."


s: With that she sprung full lightlie to my lips,


s: And fast about the neck me colle's, and clips;


s: She wanton faints, and falle's vpon hir bedd,


s: She shutts hir eyes, and waggles with her tongue:


s: "I com! I com! sweete lyning be thy leaue:"


s: Softlie my fingers up theis curtaine heaue,


s: And make me happie, stealing by degreese.


s: First bare hir leggs, then creepe up to hir kneese;


s: From thence ascend unto her mannely thigh--


s: (A pox on lingring when I am so nighe!).


s: Smock, climbe a-pace, that I maie see my ioyes;


s: Oh heauen and paradize are all but toyes


s: Which well might keepe a man from being olde.


s: That shone as bright as anie siluer streame;


s: And bare out like the bending of an hill,


s: At whose decline a fountaine dwelleth still;


s: That hath his mouth besett with uglie bryers,


s: A loftie buttock, barrd with azure veines,


s: Whose comelie swelling, when my hand distreines,


s: Or wanton checketh with a harmlesse stype,


s: It makes the fruites of loue oftsoone be rype,


s: And pleasure pluckt too tymelie from the stemme


s: So suddenlie should fade awaie, and fleete!


s: Hir armes are spread, and I am all unarm'd,


s: Lyke one with Ouid's cursed hemlocke charm'd;


s: So are my Limms unwealdlie for the fight


s: That spend their strength in thought of hir delight.


s: What shall I doe to shewe my self a man?


s: It will not be for ought that beawtie can.


s: I kisse, I clap, I feele, I view at will,


s: Yett dead he lyes, not thinking good or ill.


s: "Unhappie me," quoth shee, "and wilt' not stand?


s: Com, lett me rubb and chafe it with my hand!


s: Perhaps the sillie worme is labour'd sore,


s: I wish tenne thousand times that I were dead.


s: How ere it is, no meanes shall want in me,


s: Which saide, she tooke and rould it on hir thigh,


s: And when she look't on't, she would weepe and sighe;


s: She dandled it, and dancet it up and doune,


s: Not ceasing till she rais'd it from his swoune.


s: And then he flue on hir as he were wood,


s: And on hir breeche did hack and foyne a-good;


s: He rub'd, and prickt, and pierst her to the bones,


s: Digging as farre as eath he might for stones;


s: Now high, now lowe, now stryking shorte and thicke;


s: Now dyuing deepe, he toucht hir to the quicke;


s: Now with a gird he would his course rebate,


s: Straite would he take him to a statlie gate;


s: Plaie while him list, and thrust he neare so hard,


s: Poore pacient Grissill lyeth at hir warde,


s: And giue's, and takes, as blythe and free as Maye,


s: And ere-more meete's him in the midle waye.


s: With hir eye-beames his melting looke's were mixt,


s: Which, like the Sunne, that twixt two glasses plaies,


s: From one to th' other cast's rebounding rayes.


s: He, lyke a starre that, to reguild his beames


s: Sucks-in the influence of Phebus streames,


s: Imbathes the lynes of his descending light


s: In the bright fountaines of hir clearest sight.


s: She, faire as fairest Planet in the skye,


s: The verie chamber that enclouds her shine


s: Lookes lyke the pallace of that God deuine,


s: And euerie euen discends to th'oceane lake;


s: Such fyrie stakes she darts at euerie glance


s: As might enflame the icie limmes of age,


s: And make pale death his seignedrie to aswage;


s: To stand and gaze upon her orient lamps,


s: Where Cupid all his chiefest ioyes encamps,


s: That in hir Sunne-beames swarme aboundantlie.


s: Thus gazing, and thus striuing, we perseuer:


s: But what so firme that maie continue euer?


s: "Oh not so fast," my rauisht Mistriss cryes,


s: "Leaste my content, that on thy life relyes,


s: Be brought too-soone from his delightfull seate,


s: As she prescrib'd so kept we crotchet-time,


s: And euerie stroake in ordre lyke a chyme,


s: Whilst she, that had preseru'd me by hir pittie,


s: Unto our musike fram'd a groaning dittie.


s: "Alass! alass! that loue should be a sinne!


s: Euen now my blisse and sorrowe doeth beginne.


s: And entretaine the golden shoure so free,


s: That trikling falles into thy treasurie.


s: As Aprill-drops not half so pleasant be,


s: As this sweet-streames that all hir ioints imbaynes.


s: With "Oh!" and "Oh!" she itching moues hir hipps,


s: And to and fro full lightlie starts and skips:


s: She ierkes hir leggs, and sprauleth with hir heeles;


s: No tongue maie tell the solace that she feeles,


s: "I faint! I yeald! Oh, death! rock me a-sleepe!


s: Sleepe! sleepe desire! entombed in the deepe!"


s: "Not so, my deare," my dearest saint replyde,


s: "For, from us yett, thy spirit maie not glide


s: Untill the sinnowie channels of our blood


s: Without their source from this imprisoned flood;


s: And then will we (that then will com too soone),


s: Dissolued lye, as though our dayes were donne."


s: The whilst I speake, my soule is fleeting hence,


s: And life forsakes his fleshie residence.


s: Staie, staie sweete ioye, and leaue me not forlorne


s: Why shouldst thou fade that art but newelie borne?


s: "Staie but an houre, an houre is not so much:


s: But half an houre; if that thy haste is such,


s: Naie, but a quarter--I will aske no more--


s: That thy departure (which torments me sore),


s: And take awaie this passions sudden cause."


s: He heare's me not; hard-harted as he is,


s: He is the sonne of Time, and hates my blisse.


s: Time nere looke's backe, the riuers nere returne;


s: A second springe must help me or I burne.


s: No, no, the well is drye that should refresh me,


s: Who, as he ouer-beares the streame with ice


s: That man nor beaste maie of their pleasance taste,


s: So shutts she up hir conduit all in haste,


s: Least mortall man immortall ioyes should knowe.


s: Adieu! false mirth, and melodie too short;


s: Adieu! faint-hearted instrument of lust;


s: That falselie hath betrayde our equale trust.


s: Hence-forth no more will I implore thine ayde,


s: My little dilldo shall suply their kinde:


s: A knaue, that moues as light as leaues by winde;


s: That bendeth not, nor fouldeth anie deale,


s: But stands as stiff as he were made of steele;


s: And playes at peacock twixt my leggs right blythe,


s: And doeth my tickling swage with manie a sighe.


s: For, by saint Runnion! he'le refresh me well;


s: Poore Priapus! whose triumph now must falle,


s: Except thou thrust this weakeling to the walle.


s: Behould! how he usurps, in bed and bowre


s: And undermines thy kingdom euerie howre;


s: How slye he creepes betwixt the barke and tree,


s: And sucks the sap, whilst sleepe detaineth thee.


s: And soone will tent a deepe intrenched wound.


s: He wayte's on Courtlie Nimphs that be so coye,


s: And bids them skorne the blynd-alluring boye.


s: He giues yong guirls their gamesome sustenance,


s: And euerie gaping mouth his full sufficeance.


s: He fortifies disdaine with forraine artes,


s: And wanton-chaste deludes all loving hartes.


s: Or, in dispaire, (unhappie) pines and staru's,


s: Curse Eunuke dilldo, senceless counterfet


s: Who sooth maie fill, but never can begett.


s: That such a dwarf his wellfare should empaire,


s: Would faine this womans secretarie knowe,


s: Lett him attend the markes that I shall showe:


s: He is a youth almost two handfulls highe,


s: Streight, round, and plumb, yett hauing but one eye,


s: Wherein the rhewme so feruentlie doeth raigne,


s: That Stigian gulph maie scarce his teares containe;


s: And nourisht with whott water, or with milk,


s: Arm'd otherwhile in thick congealed glasse,


s: When he, more glib, to hell be lowe would passe.


s: Vpon a charriot of five wheeles he rydes,


s: The which an arme strong driuer stedfast guides,


s: And often alters pace as wayes growe deepe,


s: (For who, in pathes unknowne, one gate can keepe?)


s: Sometimes he smoothlie slideth doune the hill;


s: Another while, the stones his feete doe kill;


s: In clammie waies he treaddeth by and by,


s: And plasheth and sprayeth all that be him nye.


s: Plunging and sousing forward in lyke case,


s: He dasht, and spurted, and he plodded foule,


s: God giue thee shame, thou blinde mischapen owle!


s: Fy-fy, for grief: a ladies chamberlaine,


s: And canst not thou thy tatling tongue refraine?


s: I reade thee beardles blab, beware of stripes,


s: And be aduised what thou vainelie pipes;


s: Thou wilt be whipt with nettles for this geare


s: If Cicelie shewe but of thy knauerie heere.


s: Saint Denis shield me from such female sprites!


s: Regarde not, Dames, what Cupids Poete writes:


s: I pennd this storie onelie for my selfe,


s: Since all my store seemes to hir penurie.


s: That to the seaventh iournie could hould out;


s: I want those hearbe's and rootes of Indian soile,


s: That strengthen wearie members in their toile--


s: Doe shunne my purse, that trembles at the price.


s: Which, for a poore man, is a princelie dole,


s: I paie our hostess scott and lott at moste,


s: And looke as leane and lank as anie ghoste;


s: She lyeth breathlesse; I am taken doune;


s: The waves doe swell, the tydes climbe or'e the banks;


s: Judge, gentlemen! if I deserue not thanks?


s: And so, good night! unto you euer'ie one;


s: For loe, our thread is spunne, our plaie is donne.


s: _Claudito iam vinos Priapa, sat prata biberunt_ [sic[j]].


s: _Thus[k] hath my penne presum'd to please my friend--


s: Oh mightst thou lykewise please Apollo's eye.


s: He is the fountaine whence my streames doe flowe--


s: My mynde once purg'd of such lasciuious witt,


s: Thy praises in large volumes shall rehearce,


s: That better maie thy grauer view befitt.


s: Meanewhile yett rests, you smile at what I write;


s: Or, for attempting, banish me your sight._


s: Togeather lett our equall motions stirr,


s: Togeather lett vs liue and dye, my deare;


s: I have to thank the Editors of the _Cornhill Magazine_,


s: _Country Life_, and _The Outlook_, respectively, for their


s: permission to reprint in this Collection such of the following


s: There are few poets to-day who write in the Scots vernacular, and


s: grim reality. And we have Mr. Charles Murray, who in the South


s: African veld writes Scots, not as an exercise, but as a living


s: Mrs. Jacob has this rare distinction. She writes Scots because


s: what she has to say could not be written otherwise and retain its


s: a chastened melancholy which finds comfort in the memory of old


s: thought. Mrs. Jacob has an austere conscience. She eschews facile


s: Some of us who love the old speech have in our heads or in our


s: note-books an anthology of modern Scots verse. It is a small


s: collection if we would keep it select. Beginning with Principal


s: Shairp's "Bush aboon Traquair," it would include the wonderful


s: Nithsdale ballad of "Kirkbride," a few pieces from _Underwoods_,


s: O Jean, my Jean, when the bell ca's the congregation


s: Owre valley an' hill wi' the ding frae its iron mou',


s: When a'body's thochts is set on his ain salvation,


s: There's a reid rose lies on the Buik o' the Word 'afore ye


s: That was growin' braw on its bush at the keek o' day,


s: But the lad that pu'd yon flower i' the mornin's glory,


s: He canna pray; but there's nane i' the kirk will heed him


s: Whaur he sits sae still his lane at the side o' the wa,


s: For nane but the reid rose kens what my lassie gie'd him--


s: He canna sing for the sang that his ain he'rt raises,


s: He canna see for the mist that's 'afore his een,


s: An a voice drouns the hale o' the psalms an' the paraphrases,


s: Laddie, my lad, when ye gang at the tail o' the plough


s: When the burnin' yellow's awa' that was aince a-lowe


s: Do ye mind o' me that's deaved wi' the wearyfu' south


s: While the weepies fade on the knowes at the river's mouth


s: There was nae twa lads frae the Grampians doon to the Tay


s: At bothie or dance, or the field on a fitba' day,


s: An' at courtin'-time when the stars keeked doon on the glen


s: It was you an' me got the pick o' the basket then


s: London is fine, an' for ilk o' the lasses at hame


s: But the springtime comes an' the hairst--an it's aye the same


s: O, a lad thinks lang o' hame ere he thinks his fill


s: An' they're thrashin' noo at the white fairm up on the hill


s: Gin I mind mysel' an' toil for the lave o' my days


s: When I'm auld an' done wi' the fash o' their English ways


s: For the lad dreams aye o' the prize that the man'll get,


s: An' it's far, far 'ayont him still--but it's farther yet


s: Laddie, my lad, when the hair is white on yer pow


s: When yer hand's owre auld an' heavy to haud the plough


s: An we'll bide our time on the knowes whaur the broom stands braw


s: Till the last lang gloamin' shall creep on us baith an' fa'


s: Below the braes o' heather, and far alang the glen,


s: The road rins southward, southward, that grips the souls o' men,


s: That draws their fitsteps aye awa' frae hearth and frae fauld,


s: That pairts ilk freen' frae ither, and the young frae the auld.


s: And whiles I stand at mornin' and whiles I stand at nicht,


s: To see it through the gaisty gloom, gang slippin oot o sicht;


s: There's mony a lad will ne'er come back amang his ain to lie,


s: An' its lang, lang waitin' till the time gangs by.


s: An far ayont the bit o' sky that lies abune the hills,


s: There is the black toon standin' mid the roarin' o' the mills.


s: Whaur the reek frae mony engines hangs 'atween it and the sun


s: An the lives are weary, weary, that are just begun.


s: Doon yon lang road that winds awa' my ain three sons they went,


s: An' it's lang, lang waitin' while I sit my lane.


s: For ane lies whaur the grass is hiech abune the gallant deid,


s: An ane whaur England's michty ships sail proud abune his heid,


s: An' it's lang, lang strivin' i' the mirk that's there.


s: The een o' love can pierce the mools that hide a sodger's grave,


s: An' love that doesna' heed the sod will naither hear the wave,


s: But it canna' see 'ayont the cloud that hauds my youngest doon


s: Wi' its mist o' greed an' sorrow i' the smokin' toon.


s: But him that bides the nearest seems the furthest aye frae me--


s: And it's lang, lang listenin' till I hear the three!


s: Nor ken wha's hand keeps a' things richt.


s: As I gae'd doon by the twa mill dams i' the mornin'


s: The water-hen cam' oot like a passin' wraith


s: And her voice cam' through the reeds wi' a sound of warnin',


s: "Aye, bird, tho' ye see but ane ye may cry on baith!"


s: As I gae'd doon the field when the dew was lyin',


s: My ain love stood whaur the road an' the mill-lade met,


s: An it seemed to me that the rowin' wheel was cryin',


s: An turn, man, turn, for ye ken that ye lo'e her yet!"


s: As I gae'd doon the road 'twas a weary meetin',


s: For the ill words said yest're'en they were aye the same,


s: And my het he'rt drouned the wheel wi' its heavy beatin'.


s: It's no for me to speak, for it's you to blame!"


s: As I gae'd doon by the toon when the day was springin'


s: The Baltic brigs lay thick by the soundin' quay


s: And the riggin' hummed wi' the sang that the wind was singin',


s: For there's mony a load on shore may be skailed at sea!"


s: When I cam' hame wi' the thrang o' the years 'ahint me


s: There was naucht to see for the weeds and the lade in spate,


s: But the water-hen by the dams she seemed aye to mind me,


s: "Aye, bird, but my een grow dim, an' it's late--late!"


s: For wark's yer meat and wark's yer play,


s: To a' the toon wi' tears they tell't it,


s: The wull was read that garred them meet--


s: Was like pairls frae the branches snawin'


s: For a hoose whaur the leaves are turnin'


s: There's a tod aye blinkin' when the nicht comes doon,


s: Blinkin' wi' his lang een an' keekin' roond an' roon',


s: Creepin' by the fairmyaird when gloamin' is to fa',


s: And syne there'll be a chicken or a deuk awa'--


s: Aye, when the guidwife rises, there's a deuk awa'!


s: There's a lass sits greetin' ben the hoose at hame,


s: For when the guidwife's cankered she gie's her aye the blame,


s: An' sair the lassie's sabbin' an' fast the tears fa',


s: For the guidwife's tint her bonnie hen an' it's awa'--


s: Aye, she's no sae easy dealt wi' when her gear's awa'!


s: There's a lad aye roamin' when the day gets late,


s: A lang-leggit deevil wi' his hand upon the gate,


s: And aye the guidwife cries to him to gar the toddie fa',


s: For she canna thole to let her deuks an' hens awa'--


s: Aye, the muckle bubbly-jock himsel' is ca'd awa'!


s: The laddie saw the tod gang by an' killed him wi' a stane


s: Cries she--"This time it is the lass, an' _she's_ awa'!


s: Aye, yon laddie's waur nor ony tod, for Bell's awa'!"


s: For the sun may shine an' the darkness fa',


s: Whaur, on the road that speels the braes,


s: An' the bonnie lambs wi' their canny ways


s: An' ken there's a step on the scattered rocks


s: An' a voice that cries an' a hand that knocks


s: An' I'll leave them lyin' sae white an' still


s: Wha' drives the plough his breid to seek,


s: They're easy pleased, my brithers three--


s: Gin airth's the place for sic-like things,


s: But the hand o' fear hauds aff the he'rt


s: 'Twas na the wildfire's flame that played


s: An the wee-bit stars they wad ken me sune,


s: A' nicht he's lauchin', for, fegs, there's nane


s: There's a braw lad 'yont i' the mune, ye ken."


s: Says she, "Awa' wi' ye, bairn, gang ben,


s: But I'll no tell Grannie my bonnie plan,


s: We'll lauch an' crack i' the loanin' green,


s: But the Gowk that bides i' the woods o' Dun


s: Aye! she'd sort him, for, dod, she's fell!


s: An' the wice-like bird i' the aipple-tree


s: For the cannie Gowk, tho' he kens it a',


s: Maggie, I ken that ye are happ'd in glory


s: The joys o' Heaven are evermair afore ye,


s: I ken nae waefu' thochts can e'er be near ye


s: In yon braw place they winna let ye weary


s: Thae nichts an' days when dule seems mair nor double


s: For aye ye took the half o' ilka trouble,


s: Yer he'rt'll be the same he'rt since yer flittin',


s: Sae dinna look an' see yer lad that's sittin'


s: The sky is keen wi' dancin' stars in plenty,


s: But, O my lass! because the Auld Year kent ye


s: But time drives forrit; and on ilk December


s: An naething bides but what our he'rts remember--


s: An' the auld cock craws at the yett o' the muirland steadin'


s: The hoose lies sound an' the sma' mune's deein' an' weary


s: But the lad i' the fields he is whustlin' cheery, cheery,


s: My mither stirs as she wauks wi' her twa een blinkin',


s: For foo can an auld wife ken what a lassie's thinkin'


s: Mither, lie still, for ye're needin' a rest fu' sairly,


s: Mither, I'll rise, an' ye ken I'll be warkin' fairly--


s: An' I dinna ken _wha_ can be whustlin', whustlin', aerly,


s: Gin ye hear a sound like the sneck o' the backdoor turnin',


s: It's just the crack i' the lum o' the green wood burnin',


s: Gin ye hear a step, it's the auld mear loose i' the stable


s: Or mysel' that's settin' the parritch-spunes on the table,


s: Sae turn ye aboot an' sleep, mither, sleep while ye're able,


s: Up at the steadin' the trail o' the mist has liftit


s: Mither breathes saft an' her face to the wa' she's shiftit--


s: Lad, ye may come, for there's nane but mysel' will hear ye


s: But whustle you on an' I winna hae need to fear ye,


s: For, laddie, the lips that keep whustlin', whustlin' cheery


s: O, it's fine when the New and the Auld Year meet,


s: An' the lads gang roarin' i' the lichtit street,


s: An' there's me and there's Alick an' the miller's loon,


s: An' Geordie that's the piper oot o' Forfar toon.


s: Up wi' the chanter, lad, an' gie's a blaw!


s: For we'll step to the tune while we've feet in till oor shune,


s: Tho' the bailies an' the provost be to sort us a'!


s: We've three bonnie bottles, but the third ane's toom,


s: Gin' the road ran whisky, it's mysel' wad soom!


s: But we'll stan' while we can, an' be dancin' while we may,


s: For there's twa we hae to finish, an' it's Hogmanay.


s: There's an auld carle glow'rin' oot ahint yon wa',


s: But we'll sune gar him loup to the pipin' till he coup,


s: For we'll gi'e him just a drappie, an' he'll no say na!


s: My heid's dementit an' my feet's the same,


s: When they'll no wark thegither it's a lang road hame;


s: An' we've twa mile to traivel or it's mair like three,


s: But I've got a grip o' Alick, an' ye'd best grip me.


s: The morn's near brakin' an' we'll need awa',


s: Gin ye're aye blawin' strang, then we'll maybe get alang,


s: An' the deevil tak' the laddie that's the first to fa'!


s: Craigo Woods, wi' the splash o' the cauld rain beatin'


s: Ye may stand like gaists, ye may fa' i' the blast that's cleft ye


s: But when will I mind on aucht since the day I left ye


s: Craigo Woods, i' the licht o' September sleepin'


s: When the hairst climbs to yer feet, an' the sound o' reapin'


s: O what do I see, i' the lang nicht, lyin' an' thinkin'


s: There's a road to a far-aff land, an' the land is yonder


s: We dinna ken foo lang we maun hae to wander,


s: An' gin there's woods o' fir an' the licht atween them,


s: But I'll lay me doon by the puddock-stules when I've seen them,


s: "O tell me what was on yer road, ye roarin' norlan' Wind,


s: As ye cam' blawin' frae the land that's niver frae my mind?


s: My feet they traivel England, but I'm dee'in for the north."


s: "My man, I heard the siller tides rin up the Firth o' Forth."


s: "Aye, Wind, I ken them weel eneuch, and fine they fa' an' rise,


s: And fain I'd feel the creepin' mist on yonder shore that lies,


s: But tell me, ere ye passed them by, what saw ye on the way?"


s: "My man, I rocked the rovin' gulls that sail abune the Tay."


s: "But saw ye naething, leein' Wind, afore ye cam' to Fife?


s: There's muckle lyin' 'yont the Tay that's mair to me nor life."


s: "My man, I swept the Angus braes ye hae'na trod for years."


s: "O Wind, forgi'e a hameless loon that canna see for tears!"


s: "And far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,


s: "O Wind, hae maircy, haud yer whisht, for I daurna listen mair!"


s: _Loan_, disused, overgrown road, a waste place.


s: _Tawse_, a leather strap used for correcting children.


s: _Traivel_, to go afoot; literally, to go at a foot's pace.


s: London, W.C. 2, and by George Newnes, LTD.,


s: Past life, past tears, far past the grave,


s: Your country's freedman, loosed from toil,


s: The whole of the poems under the heading In Scots appeared


s: in Country Life. Of the others, one or two have appeared in


s: The Cornhill or The Outlook. They are all reprinted by kind


s: It's daith comes skirling through the sky,


s: --"_We're near, we're here, my wee recruit,_


s: I'm Sairgeant Weelum Henderson frae Pairth,


s: There's jist ae bluidy regiment on airth


s: Him that's the best--_whaur ilka man's a Scot_--


s: Gin there's a hash o' Gairmans pitten oot


s: Fegs-aye! Yon Weelum that's in Gairmanie,


s: Yon day we lichtit on the shores o' France,


s: Trod ilk on ither's taes to get the chance


s: The besoms! O they smiled to me--an' yet


s: (Mysel', I just was thinkin' foo we'd get


s: I'm wearied wi' them, for it's aye the same


s: Oor Captain thinks we've got his een to blame,


s: Atween twa Sawbaths--aye, he's no sae bad,


s: Weel, let the limmers bide; their bonnie lips


s: An' gin he thinks he hasn't met his match


s: Here's to mysel'! Here's to the auld Black Watch!


s: But oh! tak' tent, tak' tent o' an Angus lad like me


s: The Esk ae side, ae side the sea whaur she's set her lane


s: And the coal-bells ring, aye ring, on the cairts as they gang


s: And the steeple's shade is laid when the tide's at the slack


s: By Martin's Den, through beech an' birk,


s: A breith comes soughin', sweet an' strang,


s: For you, that went yon road last spring,


s: Fine div I ken what ails yon puddock, Janet,


s: That aince would hae her neb set up sae hie;


s: There's them that disna' seem to understan' it,


s: I'se warrant ye it's plain eneuch to me!


s: Maybe ye'll mind her man--a fine wee cratur,


s: Owre blate to speak (puir thing, he didna' daur);


s: What gar'd him fecht was jist his douce-like natur';


s: Gairmans is bad, but Janet's tongue was waur.


s: But noo he's hame again, ye wadna ken her,


s: He smokes a' day, comes late to get his denner,


s: (I mind the time she'd sort him weel for that!)


s: What's gar'd her turn an' tak' a road divairgint?


s: Ye think she's wae because he wants a limb?


s: Ach! haud yer tongue, ye fule--_the man's a sairgint,_


s: An' there's nae argy-bargyin' wi' _him_!


s: Whaur the spunk o' flame o' the briar rose


s: Oot owre yon sea, through dule an' strife,


s: For ye've crossed the brig to the fields o' life,


s: An' there's nae wind cries on the winter brae,


s: An' I'll no can fail at the Brig o' Dreid,


s: It was faur-ye-weel, my dear, that the gulls were cryin'


s: Whaur the saumon-nets lay oot on the bents for dryin',


s: A roofless kirk i' the bield o' the cliff-fit bidin',


s: A wheen auld coupit stanes i' the sea-grass hidin',


s: But it's mair nor daith that's here on the hauchs o' Flanders,


s: It's no the gull, but the hoodit craw that wanders


s: It's ill to dee, but there's waur things yet nor deein';


s: For there's nae grave deep eneuch 'mang the graves in bein'


s: Syne, a' is weel, though my banes lie here for iver,


s: Till the reid tide brak's like the spate in a roarin' river


s: Sae gang you back, my dear, whaur the gulls are cryin',


s: That yer man keeps faith wi' the land whaur his he'rt is lyin',


s: Yon licht that haps ye, an' the hosts that's wi' ye,


s: Aye, but ye live, an' it's mysel' that's deid!


s: They gae'd frae mill and mart; frae wind-blawn places,


s: And grey toon-closes; i' the empty street


s: Nae mair the bairns ken their steps, their faces,


s: Nor stand to listen to the trampin' feet.


s: Beside the brae, and soughin' through the rashes,


s: Yer voice comes back to me at ilka turn,


s: Amang the whins, an' whaur the water washes


s: The arn-tree wi' its feet amangst the burn.


s: Whiles ye come back to me when day is fleein',


s: And a' the road oot-by is dim wi' nicht,


s: But weary een like mine is no for seein',


s: An', gin they saw, they wad be blind wi' licht.


s: Daith canna' kill. The mools o' France lie o'er ye,


s: For Him that focht wi' daith an' dule afore ye,


s: He gie'd the life--'twas Him that gie'd the sword.


s: But gin ye see my face or gin ye hear me,


s: Though I should dee, wi' sic a glory near me,


s: By nicht or day, come ben, my bairn, come ben!


s: Abune the hill ae muckle star is burnin',


s: Sae saft an' still, my dear, sae far awa,


s: There's ne'er a wind, noo day to nicht is turnin',


s: To lift the brainches o' the whisperin' shaw;


s: And ane's fair wastit when there micht be twa!


s: Alang the knowes there's no a beast that's movin',


s: They sheep o' mine lie sleepin' i' the dew;


s: There's jist ae thing that's wearyin' an' rovin',


s: An' that's mysel', that wearies, wantin' you.


s: To curse an' daunder a' the gloamin' through?


s: To haud my tongue an' aye hae patience wi' ye


s: Is waur nor what a lass like you can guess;


s: For a' yer pranks I canna but forgi'e ye,


s: I'fegs! there's naucht can gar me lo'e ye less;


s: But oh! ye tak' a deal o' courtin', Jess!


s: But a change o' deils is lichtsome, lass!"


s: Are fine an' pleased to change their deils.


s: That preened the flowers in till my hair


s: _And a change o' deils is lichtsome, lad!_


s: But gin Love was wheeped frae the pairish,


s: An' oh! but I've socht ye an' watched ye,


s: I'm thinkin' ye're daft, for what ails ye


s: Ye micht tryst wi' the Laird or the Provost,


s: Peace! What of peace? This glimpse of peace


s: There stirred the voice I shall not hear


s: Strike with the sword of Thine own pity--


s: There hangs, this spell-bound afternoon,


s: Above the darkened house the night is spread,


s: Vapour and dew and silence in its folds,


s: To swing the star-wreaths of the clematis


s: Out of the hanging woods, above the shores,


s: One liquid voice of throbbing crystal pours,


s: A stream of magic through the heart of night


s: It falls from out the woods upon the height,


s: And echoes gathered from a world of years,


s: Old phantoms, dim like mirage seen through tears,


s: "Peace, peace," the bird sings on amid the woods,


s: "Peace, from the land that is the spirit's goal,--


s: The land that nonce may see but with his soul,--


s: Peace on the darkened house above the floods."


s: Light with your white stars all the shadowed way


s: I see her as though she were standing yet


s: When the hot sun mounts and when dusk comes down,


s: The curve of her throat as she turns this way,


s: And the watching eyes that look day by day


s: O'er the flood that runs by the city wall.


s: The winds by the river would come and go


s: On the flame-red gown she was wont to wear,


s: And the scarlet lilies that crowned her hair,


s: With a burning heart and a soul in thrall,


s: O'er the flood that runs by the river wall.


s: I saw when he came with his tiger's eyes,


s: That held you still in the grip of their glance,


s: And the cat-smooth air he had learned in France,


s: The light on his sword from the evening skies;


s: When the heron stood at the water's edge,


s: And the sun went down in a crimson ball,


s: I crouched in a thicket of rush and sedge


s: By the flood that runs by the river wall.


s: He knew where the stone lay loose in its place,


s: The carven niche where the arms had been,


s: For the scarlet lilies lay broken round,


s: Snapped through at the place where his tread would fall,


s: As he slipped at dawn to the yielding ground,


s: Near the flood that runs by the river wall.


s: Shall I fight for my soul as he fought then,


s: Lord God, in the grasp of the devil's hand?


s: As the cock crew up in the morning chill,


s: And the city waked to the watchman's call,


s: There were four left lying to sleep their fill


s: At the flood that runs by the city wall.


s: Had I owned this world to its farthest part,


s: I had bartered all to have had his share;


s: Yet he died that night in the city square,


s: And she? Where the torrent goes by the slope,


s: And two white hands strove with a knotted rope


s: In the flood that runs by the river wall.


s: Christ! I had thought I should die like a man,


s: And that death, grim death, might himself be sweet,


s: When the red sod rocked to the horses' feet,


s: And the knights went down as they led the van;--


s: But the end that waits like a trap for me,


s: Will come when I fight for my latest breath,


s: With a white face drowned between God and me


s: In the flood that runs by the banks of death.


s: When winter's pulse seems dead beneath the snow,


s: Warm your cold heart at mine, beloved, and so


s: For mine is fire--a furnace strong and red;


s: There shall you see a flame to make the dead


s: My eyes are brown, and yours are still and grey,


s: Whose depths are sleeping in the icy sway,


s: Soundless they are below the leaden sky,


s: Yet chains may fall, and those that fettered lie


s: Yes, turn away, grey eyes, you dare not face


s: When frost meets fire, 'tis but a little space


s: Then comes the hour, when, breaking from their bands,


s: And you, beloved, shall stretch your drowning hands,


s: Give me to-night to hide me in the shade,


s: May see the secret place where I am laid,


s: Let not the dark its prying ghosts employ


s: My steps turned ever to the hidden shrine;


s: Give me to-night to weep--when dawn is spread


s: I shall have gathered up my heart's desire,


s: And from its splinters, in a deathless fire,


s: I have brought no store from the field now the day is ended,


s: The harvest moon is up and I bear no sheaves;


s: When the toilers carry the fruits hanging gold and splendid,


s: When the saints pass by in the pride of their stainless raiment,


s: Their brave hearts high with the joy of the gifts they bring,


s: I have saved no whit from the sum of my daily payment


s: Not there is my place where the workman his toil delivers,


s: I scarce can see the ground where the hero stands,


s: I must wait as the one poor fool in that host of givers,


s: There was no time lent to me that my skill might fashion


s: Some work of praise, some glory, some thing of light,


s: For the swarms of hell came on in their power and passion,


s: I am maimed and spent, I am broken and trodden under,


s: With wheel and horseman the battle has swept me o'er,


s: And the long, vain warfare has riven my heart asunder,


s: But my soul is still; though the sundering door has hidden


s: The mirth and glitter, the sound of the lighted feast,


s: Though the guests go in and I stand in the night, unbidden,


s: My soul is still. I have gotten nor fame nor treasure,


s: Let all men spurn me, let devils and angels frown,


s: But the scars I bear are a guerdon of royal measure,


s: I dreamed that life and time and space were one,


s: From all the journeys of the travelling sun,


s: And the long mysteries of sound and sight,


s: And far, calm waters set in lonely plains,


s: I dreamed that these and love and death were one,


s: Therewith entwined, throughout the ages spun;


s: And so with Grief, my playmate; him I knew


s: One with the mounting day, the east and west--


s: Lord, do I dream? Methinks a key unlocks


s: Some dungeon door, in thrall of blackened towers,


s: On ecstasies, half hid, like chill white flowers


s: Blown in the secret places of the rocks.


s: The boys inscribe this second book of theirs._


s: Hark, through the window and up to the rafter,


s: Ay, up from your work and look out of the window!


s: Down in the street to draw nearer and stare!


s: Come from your palaces, come from your hovels!


s: Lay down your ledgers, your picks and your shovels,


s: Cast them aside, and good riddance to rubbish!


s: Here at the street-corner, hearken, a strain,


s: Rough and off-hand and a bit rub-a-dub-ish,


s: Gives us a taste of the life we'd attain.


s: Who are they, what are they, whence have they come to us?


s: Where will they go when their singing is done?


s: What is the garb they wear, tattered and sumptuous,


s: Somebody says they have come from the moon,


s: Last year in Tartary piped for the Khan.


s: Dreaming the haze into isles to discover,


s: Up from the marshes a fall of the plover!


s: Down from the height where the slow hawks hover,


s: And the wind in the garden stoops down as it passes


s: And the wander-lust catches the will in its snare;


s: Thrill of the comrade heart to its fellow


s: Through droughts that sicken and blasts that bellow


s: How our feet itch to keep time to their measure!


s: How our hearts lift to the lilt of their song!


s: Let the world go, for a day's royal pleasure!


s: There's a whooping of ice in the rivers;


s: Are touched with the voice of the rainbird


s: On the slopes of the night, leading homeward


s: Thou of the swift will that no ponderings smother!


s: And only where the grasses have been pressed,


s: Or by snapped twigs I follow a fruitless trail.


s: Let the lithe garter squirm across my throat!


s: Let the slow clouds and leaves above me float


s: Nor think them further! Lo, the marvel! now,


s: Sprawl'st by my side, who fled'st at my pursuit.


s: I hear thy fluting; at my shoulder there


s: I see the sharp ears through the tangled hair,


s: And birds and bunnies at thy music mute.


s: "Give me some!" Clutch the first handful,


s: Who drift through the world's great mart!


s: Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune


s: I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,


s: A host in the sunshine, an army in June,


s: The people God sends us to set our heart free.


s: The bobolinks rallied them up from the dell,


s: The orioles whistled them out of the wood;


s: And all of their singing was, "Earth, it is well!"


s: And all of their dancing was, "Life, thou art good!"


s: That through the thicket and over the hill


s: Like the flash of a weaver's shuttle, swift and sudden and sure!


s: Word of a little one born in the West,--


s: How like a sea-bird it comes from the sea,


s: Blown with white wings, for a token, to me!


s: Blown with a skriel and a flurry of plumes


s: (Sea-spray and flight-rapture whirled in a gleam!)


s: Here for a sign of the comrade that looms


s: Large in the mist of my love as I dream.


s: Vibrant at every least stir in the place,


s: Lyric of woods where the thrushes begin,


s: Wave-questing wanderer, still for a space,--


s: What will the child of his be (so I muse),


s: Wood-flower, sea-flower, star-flower rare?


s: Worlds here to choose from, and which will she choose,


s: She whose first world is an armsweep of air?


s: Why you can't reach the great moon that you see


s: Just at your hand on the edge of the bough


s: That waves in the window-pane--how can it be?


s: All your world yet hardly lies out of reach


s: Of ten little fingers and ten little toes.


s: You are a seed for the sky there to teach


s: (And the sun and the wind and the rain) as it grows.


s: Just a green leaf piercing up to the day,


s: Pale fleck of June to come, just to be seen


s: Through the rough crumble of rubble and clay


s: Lifting its loveliness, dawn-child, Karlene!


s: Fragile as fairycraft, dew-dream of love,--


s: Never a clod that has marred the slim stalk,


s: Never a stone but its frail fingers move,


s: Bent on the blue sky and nothing can balk!


s: Blue sky and wind-laughters, that is thy dream.


s: High where gold noondays and sunsets a-stream


s: There the great clouds shall go lazily by,


s: Coo! thee with shadows and dazzle with shine,


s: Drench thee with rain-guerdons, bless thee with sky,


s: Till all the knowledge of earth shall be thine.


s: Wind from the ice-floe and wind from the palm,


s: Wind from the mountains and wind from the lea--


s: How they will sing thee of tempest and calm!


s: How they will lure thee with tales of the sea!


s: What will you be in that summer, Karlene?


s: Red rose or yellow rose, gray leaf or green?


s: Which will you choose now the year's at its morn?


s: Somewhere even now in thy heart is the will,--


s: "I shall be Golden Rod, slender and tall--


s: I shall be Pond Lily, secret and still--


s: I shall be Sweetbriar, Queen of them all--


s: "I shall give shade for the weary to rest--


s: I shall grow flax for the naked to wear--


s: Figs for a feast and all comers to guest--


s: Wreaths that girls twine in the laugh of their hair--


s: "Ivy for scholars and myrtle for lovers,


s: Laurel for conquerors, poets, and kings--


s: Broad-spreading beech-boughs whose benison covers


s: Clamor of bird-notes and flutter of wings--


s: "I shall rise tall as an elm in my grace--


s: Poets shall crown me with lyrics of praise--


s: Which shall it be, baby? Guess you at all?


s: You have said now where your choosing shall fall,


s: Only you have not yet heard yourself, dear.


s: So, like a mocking-bird, up in the trees,


s: I watching wondering where you have grown,


s: Borrow a note from a birdfellow's glees,


s: Fittest to sing you, and make it my own.


s: Singing up here where you think me a star,


s: Heaven's still above me, and some one serene


s: Laughs in the blue sky and knows what you are.


s: I have fumed, like champagne that is fizzy,


s: When _I_ now, my dear, was at _your_ age,


s: Black, mind you, not blue! It's a trifle;


s: But there! You are simply _too_ charming.


s: (Though the speed of the world is alarming)


s: As we say when we're raking the chips in,


s: Though you may not know how to retrench.


s: When the lash of her tongue made him grieve;


s: You will solve every riddle in Browning;


s: But you'll scorn to know why there's a tax on


s: You will play like a star. But it's odd,


s: Since you'll quote every cadence in Kipling


s: If you don't make a bard of some stripling


s: You will turn up your nose at poor "Thy will,"


s: All round the whole lot where you strayed,


s: While you wore yourself down to a shadow


s: And then when your classmates are singing


s: And the round painted lanterns are swinging


s: Your heartstrings will all go to smithers,


s: Till you make him, to not make him suffer,


s: Barney McGee, there's no end of good luck in you,


s: Will-o'-the-wisp, with a flicker of Puck in you,


s: Wild as a bull-pup and all of his pluck in you,--


s: Let a man tread on your coat and he'll see!--


s: Eyes like the lakes of Killarney for clarity,


s: Nose that turns up without any vulgarity,


s: Smile like a cherub, and hair that is carroty,--


s: Lucky the day when I met you unwittingly,


s: Dining where vagabonds came and went flittingly.


s: Here's some _Barbera_ to drink it befittingly,


s: Many's the time we have quaffed our Chianti there,


s: Listened to Silvio quoting us Dante there,--


s: Once more to drink _Nebiolo spumante_ there,


s: Barney McGee, when you're sober you scintillate,


s: But when you're in drink you're the pride of the intellect;


s: Divil a one of us ever came in till late,


s: Once at the bar where you happened to be--


s: Every eye there like a spoke in you centering,


s: You with your eloquence, blarney, and bantering--


s: Och, and the girls whose poor hearts you deracinate,


s: Whirl and bewilder and flutter and fascinate!


s: Faith, it's so killing you are, you assassinate,--


s: Murder's the word for you, Barney McGee!


s: Bold when they're sunny and smooth when they're showery,--


s: Oh, but the style of you, fluent and flowery!


s: Chesterfield's way, with a touch of the Bowery!


s: How would they silence you, Barney _machree_?


s: Facile with phrases of length and Latinity,


s: Where is the maid could resist your vicinity,


s: Wiled by the impudent grace of your plea?


s: Carry the day with the divil's audacity;


s: Barney McGee, you're the pick of gentility;


s: Nothing can phase you, you've such a facility;


s: Under conditions that others would stammer in,


s: Still unperturbed as a cat or a Cameron,


s: Putting the glamour on prince or Pawnee!


s: You who were ever alert to befriend a man,


s: You who were ever the first to defend a man,


s: You who had always the money to lend a man,


s: Sure, you'll be playing a harp in beatitude


s: (And a quare sight you will be in that attitude)--


s: Some day, where gratitude seems but a platitude,


s: You'll find your latitude, Barney McGee.


s: With a stein on the table and a good song ringing clear.


s: With a stein on the table and a cheer for everything.


s: With a stein on the table and a heart without a care.


s: With a stein on the table in the fellowship of spring.


s: While friends he'd known long since had grown


s: Four bright eyes that found life lovely,


s: Tender and strong and lucent with infinite feeling,


s: Shrinking with startled joy, like wind-struck water,


s: Ay, for there it is, love--that's the deepest.


s: Light loves wither i' the sun, but Love endureth,


s: Clothing himself with the light as with a robe.


s: Love without Truth shall die as a soul without God.


s: But the brave and true shall love forever.


s: The wind in the trees and the moonlight!


s: I saw him go down to the water to bathe;


s: His breast was like a white cloud in the heaven,


s: It swelled with the sharp joy of the air.


s: His legs rose with the spring and curve of young birches;


s: The hollow of his back caught the blue shadows:


s: With his head thrown up to the lips of the wind;


s: And the curls of his forehead astir with the wind.


s: I would that I were a man, they are so beautiful;


s: Their bodies are like the bows of the Indians;


s: They have the spring and the grace of bows of hickory.


s: I know that women are beautiful, and that I am beautiful;


s: But the beauty of a man is so lithe and alive and triumphant,


s: Swift as the night of a swallow and sure as the


s: Her nightingales were singing in the trees


s: Fell like a woman's fingers on my cheek.


s: And then I slept and dreamed and marked no change;


s: The night went on with me into my dream.


s: Sing me one song of those lost books of yours


s: That when I meet my fellows on the earth


s: I may rejoice them more than many pearls;"


s: And she, the sweetly smiling, answered me,


s: As one who dreams, "I have forgotten them."


s: The blue night, like an angel, came into the room,--


s: Came through the open window from the silent sky


s: Down trellised stairs of moonlight into the dear room


s: As if a whisper breathed of some divine one nigh.


s: The nightingales, like brooks of song in Paradise,


s: Gurgled their serene rapture to the silent sky--


s: Like springs of laughter bubbling up in Paradise,


s: The serene nightingales along the riverside


s: Purled low in every tree their star-cool melodies


s: Of joy--in every tree along the riverside.


s: Did the vain garments melt in music from your side?


s: Did you rise from them as a lily flowers i' the air?


s: --But you were there before me like the Night's own bride--


s: I dared not call you mine. So still and tall you were,


s: I never dreamed that you were mine--I never dreamed


s: I loved you--I forgot I loved you. You were air


s: And music, and the shadows that you stood in, seemed


s: Like priests that keep their sombre vigil round a shrine--


s: Like sombre priests that watch about a glorious shrine.


s: And then you stepped into the moonlight and laid bare


s: The wonder of your body to the night, and stood


s: With all the stars of heaven looking at you there,


s: As simply as a saint might bare her soul to God--


s: As simply as a saint might bathe in lakes of prayer--


s: Stood with the holy moonlight falling on you there


s: I had seen a soul stand forth and bare itself to God--


s: A saintly soul lay bare its innocence to God.


s: With its sweet opiate of lovers' dreams!


s: The night smokes up from the city to the stars,


s: Like a lover that fears lest he waken his love,


s: And his hands drip with the scent of the roses


s: And his locks weep with the opiate odor of honeysuckle.


s: As a lover that yearns for the lips of his love,


s: Rustling like the secret darkness of the soul!


s: Will of the grass that stirs in its sleep!


s: Like the plash of far-off waves in the fluid night,


s: "Down by the bend where the cat-tails grow."


s: And the wash of the moonlight over the roofs and the trees!


s: Come down from yonder lattice where you bide


s: Like a charmed princess in a Persian song!


s: Come down, come down; the night is fain of you,


s: The garden waits your footstep on its walks.


s: A gleam of lamplight through an open door!


s: A footfall like the wind's upon the grass!


s: A rustle like the wind's among the leaves!...


s: Dim as a dream of pale peach blooms of light,


s: Blue in the blue soft pallor of the moon,


s: She comes between the trees as a faint tune


s: Falls from a flute far off into the night....


s: So Death might come to one who knew him Love.


s: There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood--


s: With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.


s: The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry


s: To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.


s: She calls and calls each vagabond by name.


s: As though they feared some frostier hush


s: The typewriter ticketh no more in the twilight;


s: Where are the good-for-naught wanderbirds flown?


s: Tom's in the North with his purple impressions;


s: Fred's in the mountains a-minding his cattle;


s: Kavanagh's teaching and preaching and game.


s: The boyish Old Man whom no fate ever floored;


s: Karl's in New York with his briefs and his logic,


s: That subtile mind like a velvet-sheathed sword.


s: Blomidon welcomes his brother in silence;


s: Grand Pré is luring him back to her breast;


s: Faint and far off are the cries of the city,


s: All of them turn in their wide vagabondage,


s: Halt and remember a place they have known,


s: Where the typewriter ticketh no more in the twilight,


s: And the mother of poets is sitting alone.


s: There they will surely some April forgather,


s: One by one over the threshold of silence,


s: On the long trail of the wandering heart.


s: Fear not, little mother, there may be a region


s: Where poets have only to smile and keep still.


s: The tick of the typewriter there will be useless,


s: But there will be need of a motherkin still.


s: It is the wings wherewith the soul may fly.


s: Save through this flesh so scorned and spat upon,


s: No ray of light had reached the caverned mind,


s: No thrill of pleasure through the life had run,


s: Were it but love of self, had stirred the heart


s: To its first deed. Such freedom as we find,


s: We find but through its service, not apart.


s: And as an eagle's wings upbear him higher


s: With more celestial members yet, may soar


s: Still bodied but more richly than before.


s: Through it alone unveils itself. Therefore


s: We are not wrong, who seek to keep in mind


s: The form and feature of the mighty dead.


s: The giver, back of all things done or said


s: This is thy language, Sculpture. Thine to reach


s: Beneath all thoughts, all feelings, all desires,


s: To that which thinks and lives and loves, and teach


s: The world the primal selfhood of its sires,


s: The mien of Zeus suffice before he nods,


s: The calm of Time's untrammelled periods,


s: So Sigurd's lips be in themselves a shout.


s: Mould us our Shakespeare, sculptor, in the form


s: His comrades knew, rare Ben and all the rout


s: That found the taproom of the Mermaid warm


s: With wit and wine and fellowship, the face


s: Wherein the men he chummed with found a charm


s: To make them love him; carve for us the grace


s: That caught Anne Hathaway in Shottery-side,


s: The hand that clasped Southampton's in the days


s: Ere that dark dame, of passion and of pride


s: Burned in his heart the brand of her disdain,


s: The eyes that wept when little Hamnet died,


s: The lips that learned from Marlowe's and again


s: Taught riper lore to Fletcher and the rest,


s: That rested on the seventh day and scanned


s: His work and knew it good, and left the quest


s: And like his own enchanter broke his wand.


s: No viewless mind! The very shape, no less,


s: He used to speak and smile with, move and stand!


s: But when his spirit companions with our thought


s: And in his fellowship our pain is healed;


s: And we are likest God when we are brought


s: Most near to all men. Bring us near to him,


s: The gentle, human soul whose calm might wrought


s: Imperious Lear and made our eyes grow dim


s: For Imogen,--who, though he heard the spheres


s: "Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubim,"


s: Could laugh with Falstaff and his loose compeers


s: And love the rascal with the same big heart


s: That o'er Cordelia could not stay its tears.


s: For still the man is greater than his art.


s: And though thy men and women, Shakespeare, rise


s: Thyself art more than all their masteries,


s: Thy wisdom more than Hamlet's questionings


s: And thy enchantment more than Prospero's.


s: For thou couldst not have had Othello's flaw,


s: Not erred with Brutus,--greater, then, than those


s: For all their nobleness. Oh, albeit with awe,


s: Leave we the mighty phantoms and draw near


s: The man that fashioned them and gave them law!


s: The Master Poet found with scarce a peer


s: Yet of all singers gentlest and most dear!


s: Oh, how shall words thy proper praise declare,


s: So he that wrought this image deemed of thee;


s: Where the world passes eager for the mart,


s: And lift thee up for all men, fair and whole,


s: The fellow heart and know thee for a man.


s: Avid of life and love, insatiate vagabond,


s: With quest too furious for the graal he would have won,


s: He flung himself at the eternal sky, as one


s: Wrenching his chains but impotent to burst the bond.


s: Yet under the revolt, the revel, the despond,


s: What pools of innocence, what crystal benison!


s: As through a riven mist that glowers in the sun,


s: A stretch of God's blue calm glassed in a virgin pond.


s: Prowler of obscene streets that riot reek along,


s: And aisles with incense numb and gardens mad with rose,


s: Monastic cells and dreams of dim brocaded lawns,


s: Death, which has set the calm of Time upon his song,


s: Surely upon his soul has kissed the same repose


s: In some fair heaven the Christ has set apart for Fauns.


s: And the sea-blue eyes that rove and dare,


s: With her strong brown arms and her ankles bare,


s: And the cry was, "Who'll go down the bay,


s: The frost that blackened the purple plain,


s: At the hands of the wolfish pirate main,


s: When the horn is on the hill? (_Bugle:_ Tarantara!


s: With the crisp air stinging, and the huntsmen singing,


s: We shall slay the buck of ten; (_Bugle:_ Tarantara!


s: And the priest shall say benison, and we shall ha'e venison,


s: Keep close and house him fair; (_Bugle:_ Tarantara!


s: He'll still be a stranger to the merry thrill of danger


s: Let him come out to-day! (_Bugle:_ Tarantara!


s: For the horses are neighing, and the hounds are baying,


s: Buie Annajohn was the king's black mare,


s: Satin was her coat and silk was her hair,


s: March with the white moon, march with the sun,


s: March with the merry men, Buie Annajohn!


s: Down through the meadowlands went to war,--


s: March by the river road, march by the dune,


s: Back from the battle at the close of day,


s: Came with the war cheers, came with a neigh,


s: Oh, heavy was the sword that we laid on;


s: But half of the heave was Buie Annajohn,


s: "A nameless death for a nameless life."--


s: And the morrow shall be our wedding-day."--


s: "Will the blessing of priest give back my faith,


s: Or life to the child you left to death?"--


s: And turns to the mother that is no wife:


s: "He wrought me wrong when the days were sweet,


s: And he'll get no more but a winding-sheet."


s: He said, "Good-night, my heart is light,


s: In the name of the Crooked Saints are you?


s: Rinsing the linen that reeks and bleeds,


s: One day there'll be washing enough for you.


s: It'll wash the ache from your scrofulous bones.


s: The stains are deep, and the linen is old;


s: But surely the sons of the town are bold!


s: From now till your ninetieth year begins,


s: While wearing the virtue a cardinal wins.


s: Refuse, and your arms shall be broken and wried,


s: They shall gather a waist in their grip no more,


s: As you wander the wide world over and o'er,


s: With the curs at your heels from door to door.


s: With only a stranger to cover your face,


s: You shall die in the streets of an outcast race,


s: And your linen be washed in the market-place!


s: While over his shoulder sneered these two,


s: And when he was done, "Do you think, my Lord,


s: That painter has not with a careless smutch


s: Accomplished his despair?--one touch revealing


s: All he had put of life, thought, vigor, feeling,


s: Showed of his love and labor just so much


s: Raw pigment, scarce a scrap of soul concealing!


s: What poet has not found his spirit kneeling


s: Strange verses staring from his manuscript,


s: Written he knows not how, but which will sound


s: Like trumpets down the years? So Accident


s: And ever in blind Chance's darkest crypt


s: The shrine-lamp of God's purposing is found.


s: But the palm is naught to the dauntless,


s: God has said: "Ye shall fail and perish;


s: Her boys inscribe this book that they have made._


s: Do you know what it is to be vagrant born?


s: In large content while the fire burns low.


s: Though its dreams were few and its deeds were none.


s: Now the joys of the road are chiefly these:


s: And the striding heart from hill to hill;


s: And a hope to make the day go through,--


s: The crickets mourning their comrades lost,


s: In the night's retreat from the gathering frost;


s: (Or is it their slogan, plaintive and shrill,


s: As they beat on their corselets, valiant still?)


s: A thirst like that of the Thirsty Sword,


s: But minting his words from a fund of thought,


s: Of the mettled breed, yet abhorring strife,


s: A taster of wine, with an eye for a maid,


s: But, smiling, takes the world in his hands,--


s: And gave it the weight of his will for law.


s: But follows and follows the journeying sun,


s: By marsh and tide, by meadow and stream,


s: From morrow to morrow, from year to year,


s: When the stealthy, sad-heart leaves go home;


s: Of the mould and the sun and the wind and the dew!)


s: And two brown arms at the journey's end!


s: The fervid breath of our flushed Southern May


s: Is sweet upon the city's throat and lips,


s: Listlessly over the shoulder of a queen.


s: With a touch that is half a kiss and half a dream!


s: With flowers for smiles and sunlight in her hair.


s: My westland flower-town, how serene she is!


s: Here on this hill from which I look at her,


s: Wiles my heart back to woodland-ward again.


s: To watch the imperial pageant of the Sun


s: Not like the Spaniard would I storm thy gates;


s: Not like the babe stretch chubby hands and cry


s: To have thee for a toy; but far from crowds,


s: Peer from the wood's edge while thy glory waits,


s: And in the darkening thickets plunge again.


s: Swells that doltish hands should pin him


s: Rills that run and streams that stammer,


s: I will go out to grass with that old King,


s: I long to lie along the banks of brooks,


s: And watch the boughs above me sway and swing.


s: Time shall serve me, and at my feet shall fling


s: The spoil of listless minutes. I shall climb


s: Through dale and upland as a fox runs free,


s: Laugh for cool joy and sleep i' the warm sun,


s: And men will call me mad, like that old King.


s: For I am woodland-natured, and have made


s: With the sleek Naiads in the splash of pools


s: And made a mock of gowned and trousered fools.


s: Better than thou how like a Faun I strayed.


s: And I am half Faun now, and my heart goes


s: Out to the forest and the crack of twigs,


s: The drip of wet leaves and the low soft laughter


s: Of brooks that chuckle o'er old mossy jests


s: And say them over to themselves, the nests


s: Of squirrels and the holes the chipmunk digs,


s: Where through the branches the slant rays


s: Dapple with sunlight the leaf-matted ground,


s: And the wind comes with blown vesture rustling after,


s: And through the woven lattice of crisp sound


s: A bird's song lightens like a maiden's face.


s: O wildwood Helen, let them strive and fret,


s: Those goggled men with their dissecting-knives!


s: Let them in charnel-houses pass their lives


s: And seek in death life's secret! And let


s: Those hard-faced worldlings prematurely old


s: Gnaw their thin lips with vain desire to get


s: Portia's fair fame or Lesbia's carcanet,


s: The old home of the awful heart-dear Mother,


s: Whereto child-dreams and long rememberings lull us,


s: Far from the cares that overlay and smother


s: The memories of old woodland out-door mirth


s: In the dim first life-burst centuries ago,


s: The sense of the freedom and nearness of Earth--


s: Leaves all the cark and clutch of his soul behind,


s: The doves defiled and the serpents shrined,


s: The hates that wax and the hopes that wither;


s: Nor does he journey, seeking where it be,


s: Hillward, then silence except for the thrush


s: That throws one song from the dark of the bush


s: And is gone; and I plunge in the wood, and the swift soul cleaves


s: As a swimmer stands with his white limbs bare to the sun


s: For the space that a breath is held, and drops in the sea;


s: There is only the glory of living, exultant to be.


s: A lag in the body's urge or a flag of the spirit's wings?


s: Is as young of heart, as alert and elate in his rest,


s: As the nuthatch there that clings to the tip of the twig


s: And scolds at the wind that it buffets too rudely its nest.


s: There's a sense of a presence that lurks in the branches.


s: Through the lulled soul to seek the sleepy shore.


s: While silent detonations shook the air--


s: Look yonder where the clouds float; could we glide


s: As they, across the sky's blue shoreless tide,


s: Across yon lake and into this still stream?


s: Kiss me! How soft the air is and how cool!


s: When the bugler morn shall wind his horn,


s: Shall we open our eyes on the selfsame skies


s: O new, new day! though you bring no stay


s: You are new, new, new--new through and through,


s: Will the driftwood float by the lonely boat


s: As it tells of the strand of an unseen land


s: You are new, new, new--with the promise true


s: Have they dipped and passed in the sea-line vast?


s: O new despair! I though the hopeless air


s: You are new, new, new--and we cleave to you


s: Does the falling night hide fiends to fight


s: But it's new, new, new--and we'll sail it through,


s: What folk are they who have kindled its ray,--


s: But you're new, new, new--so a cheer for you!


s: Shall the lookout call from the foretop tall,


s: And the crew in glee from the taffrail see


s: New heart, new eyes! For the morning skies


s: New, new, new, new--new through and through!


s: On a line that sings to the light of his wings


s: He hangs in the Willows a night and a day;


s: And the valor and gold of a vagrant bold


s: But the thieving ways of his mortal days


s: His morals are mixed, but his will is fixed;


s: Than some one I know who thinks just so,


s: But he knows the gates of the Sundown Straits,


s: Better than Euclid's, better than yours,


s: He steers and steers on the slant of the gale,


s: And there's never an unknown course to sail


s: This devil-may-care, till he makes his lair


s: He looks like a gentleman, lives like a lord,


s: Alone against hundreds, and sees Death grin in his teeth,


s: But, shutting his lips, fights on to the end


s: Without speech, without hope, without flinching,--


s: The splash of waters at the prow, and the evil light


s: Alone in the dark and the blown cold mist and the spray,


s: Insensate save of a dull, crushed ache in my heart,


s: Conscious only as in a dream of the wet and the dark


s: And of a form that looms and fades indistinctly


s: Shall I wake at thy side and smile at my dream?


s: The dream that grips me so hard that I cannot wake nor stir!


s: O love! O my own love, found but to be lost!


s: My soul sends over the waters a wild inarticulate cry,


s: Like a gull's scream heard in the night.


s: Vanishes astern. The sea's monotonous noises


s: Lapse through the drizzle with a listless, subsiding cadence.


s: And thou, O love, and the sea throb on in my brain together,


s: Breasts that Love would make his pillows,


s: Men's eyes shall see him as one crowned;


s: I shall have lost my chance--that's all.


s: A slanter to the truth in the heart of youth


s: We seize our mates as the sea-gulls seize,


s: Our skoal for them whose star goes down,


s: You risk doubloons, and hold your breath.


s: The kings of earth are crowned with care,


s: You had better wed with a country clown,


s: "Oh, what care you for an old man's wrath?


s: I had rather you fled on an outlaw's path,


s: I had rather you came the child of shame


s: "For I have been wife for the stomach's sake,


s: That you shall be harlot and slave as well


s: Who'll have the crumpled pieces of a heart?


s: Who'll give his whole of passion for a part,


s: Who'll have the soiled remainder of desire?


s: Who'll warm his fingers at a burnt-out fire?


s: Who'll drink the lees of love, and cast i' the mire


s: Let him come here, and kiss me on the mouth,


s: Love dead and dry as summer in the South


s: And loiter through the woods with spring;


s: That night, and slept beneath the stars.


s: And Beelzebub frowned, for he knew that kind.


s: And Beelzebub smiled, for he knew that kind.


s: And Beelzebub frowned, for he did not know.


s: Two shapes of august bearing, seraph tall,


s: Stood in the Tavern door to drink. As the first


s: Lifted his glass to let the warm light melt


s: In the slow bubbles of the wine, a sunbeam,


s: Red and broad as smouldering autumn, smote


s: Down through its mystery; and a single fleck,


s: The tiniest sun-mote settling through the air,


s: Fell on the grape-dark surface and there swam.


s: Stretched hand to clear the speck away. "No, no!"--


s: His comrade stayed his arm. "Why," said the first,


s: "What would you have me do?" "Ah, let it float


s: A moment longer!" And the second smiled.


s: "Do you not know what that is?" "No, indeed."


s: "A mere dust-mote, a speck of soot, you think,


s: A plague-germ still unsatisfied. It is not.


s: That is the Earth. See, I will stretch my hand


s: Between it and the sun; the passing shadow


s: Gives its poor dwellers a glacial period.


s: Let it but stand an hour, it would dissolve,


s: There, throw it away now! Lift it from the sweet


s: Enveloping flood it has enjoyed so well;"


s: (He smiled as only those who live can smile)


s: "Its time is done, its revelry complete,


s: Its being accomplished. Let us drink again."


s: Ring down the curtain, say the play is done,


s: (Which God forfend!) is come, it will be cold.


s: But if there is another place than this,


s: Where all the men will greet me as "Old Man,"


s: Where money is more useless than a kiss,


s: And good wine is not put beneath the ban,


s: I will go there and stay a little while.


s: _A sea-mew on a sea-king's wrist alighting,


s: As the north sea-wind caught and strained and curled


s: The raven-figured flag that led men fighting


s: From field to green field of the water-world,


s: Might find such brief high favour at his hand


s: For wings imbrued with brine, with foam impearled,


s: As these my songs require at yours on land,


s: That durst not save for love's free sake require,


s: Being lightly born between the foam and sand,


s: But reared by hope and memory and desire


s: Of lives that were and life that is to be,


s: Even such as filled his heavenlier song with fire


s: Whose very voice, that sang to set man free,


s: Was in your ears as ever in ours his lyre,


s: Once, ere the flame received him from the sea._


s: One wandering by the grey-green April sea


s: Found on a reach of shingle and shallower sand


s: Left for the sun's love and the light wind's cheer


s: Breeze-brightened, something nearer sea than land


s: Though the last shoreward blossom-fringe was near,


s: A babe asleep with flower-soft face that gleamed


s: To sun and seaward as it laughed and dreamed,


s: Too sure of either love for either's fear,


s: Albeit so birdlike slight and light, it seemed


s: Nor man nor mortal child of man, but fair


s: As even its twin-born tenderer spray-flowers were,


s: That the wind scatters like an Oread's hair.


s: For when July strewed fire on earth and sea


s: Beheld one brighter than the sunbright sphere


s: Move toward her from its fieriest heart, whence trod


s: Across the foam-bright water-ways that are


s: As heavenlier heavens with star for answering star,


s: And on her eyes and hair and maiden mouth


s: Felt a kiss falling fierier than the South


s: A noise of songs and wind-enamoured wings


s: And lutes and lyres of milder and mightier strings,


s: And round the resonant radiance of his car


s: Light heard as music, music seen as light.


s: And with that second moondawn of the spring's


s: A sun-child whiter than the sunlit snows


s: Was born out of the world of sunless things


s: That round the round earth flows and ebbs and flows.


s: But he that found the sea-flower by the sea


s: And took to foster like a graft of earth


s: Was born of man's most highest and heavenliest birth,


s: Free-born as winds and stars and waves are free;


s: A warrior grey with glories more than years,


s: Though more of years than change the quick to dead


s: Had rained their light and darkness on his head;


s: A singer that in time's and memory's ears


s: Should leave such words to sing as all his peers


s: Might praise with hallowing heat of rapturous tears


s: Till all the days of human flight were fled.


s: Nor mortal mother-milk of hopes and fears,


s: But food of deep memorial days long sped;


s: For bread with wisdom and with song for wine


s: Clear as the full calm's emerald hyaline.


s: And from his grave glad lips the boy would gather


s: Fine honey of song-notes goldener than gold,


s: More sweet than bees make of the breathing heather,


s: Might drink as they, and keep his spirit from cold.


s: As his own father's risen on the eastern air,


s: And that less white brow-binding bayleaf bloom


s: More than all flowers his father's eyes relume;


s: More than all notes of any landward bird,


s: Than the wind's quiring to the choral sea.


s: High things the high song taught him; how the breath


s: Too frail for life may be more strong than death;


s: And this poor flash of sense in life, that gleams


s: More stabile than the world's own heart's root seems,


s: By that strong faith of lordliest love which gives


s: To death's own sightless-seeming eyes a light


s: Clearer, to death's bare bones a verier might,


s: Than shines or strikes from any man that lives.


s: How he that loves life overmuch shall die


s: And he that much less loves it than he hates


s: Shall live a mightier life than time's or fate's.


s: One fairer thing he shewed him, and in might


s: Whose strengths build up time's towering period:


s: Yea, one thing stronger and more high than God,


s: Which if man had not, then should God not be:


s: And gladly should man die to gain, he said,


s: Freedom; and gladlier, having lost, lie dead.


s: For man's earth was not, nor the sweet sea-waves


s: His, nor his own land, nor its very graves,


s: Except they bred not, bore not, hid not slaves:


s: Were one man free in body and soul, were his.


s: And the song softened, even as heaven by night


s: Softens, from sunnier down to starrier light,


s: Blessed life for death's sake, and for life's sake death.


s: Till as the moon's own beam and breath confuse


s: In one clear hueless haze of glimmering hues


s: The sea's line and the land's line and the sky's,


s: And light for love of darkness almost dies,


s: As darkness only lives for light's dear love,


s: Whose hands the web of night is woven of,


s: So in that heaven of wondrous words were life


s: Yea, by that strong spell of serene increase


s: And the song lightened, as the wind at morn


s: Flashes, and even with lightning of the wind


s: And as when wind and light on water and land


s: Leap as twin gods from heavenward hand in hand,


s: And with the sound and splendour of their leap


s: Strike darkness dead, and daunt the spirit of sleep,


s: So with the light that lightened from the lyre


s: Was all the bright heat in the child's heart stirred


s: And blown with blasts of music into flame


s: Fire, as the sense that fires the singing bird


s: Thoughts that make men of gods and gods of men.


s: For love the high song taught him: love that turns


s: God's heart toward man as man's to Godward; love


s: That life and death and life are fashioned of,


s: Half kindled on the flowerlike yeanling's lip,


s: So light and faint that life seems like to slip,


s: When sunset dies of night's devouring dawn.


s: But the man dying not wholly as all men dies


s: If aught be left of his in live men's eyes


s: Out of the dawnless dark of death to rise;


s: Be seen for all time or of all time heard.


s: Love, that though body and soul were overthrown


s: Should live for love's sake of itself alone,


s: Though spirit and flesh were one thing doomed and dead,


s: Seeing even the hoariest ash-flake that the pyre


s: Drops, and forgets the thing was once afire


s: And gave its heart to feed the pile's full flame


s: Till its own heart its own heat overcame,


s: Outlives its own life, though by scarce a span,


s: As such men dying outlive themselves in man,


s: Outlive themselves for ever; if the heat


s: Outburn the heart that kindled it, the sweet


s: Outlast the flower whose soul it was, and flit


s: Into some new shape of a strange perfume


s: More potent than its light live spirit of bloom,


s: How shall not something of that soul relive,


s: That only soul that had such gifts to give


s: As lighten something even of all men's doom


s: Even to the seal set on the unopening tomb?


s: And these the loving light of song and love


s: Shall wrap and lap round and impend above,


s: Imperishable; and all springs born illume


s: Their sleep with brighter thoughts than wake the dove


s: To music, when the hillside winds resume


s: The marriage-song of heather-flower and broom


s: And hate the song too taught him: hate of all


s: Of spirit or flesh, free-born ere God began,


s: A throne for torment or a crown for bane


s: Rose, moulded out of poor men's molten pain,


s: There, said he, should man's heaviest hate be set


s: Till the last warmth bled forth of the last vein


s: In flesh that none should call a king's again,


s: Seeing wolves and dogs and birds that plague-strike air