s: That, winter or summer, I shall go forth no more--


s: My heart is homing where her summer-roses grow.


s: O flower of all the world, O flower of all,


s: The garden where thou dwellest is so fair,


s: Thou art so goodly, and so queenly tall,


s: Thy sweetness scatters sweetness everywhere,


s: O flower of all the years, O flower of all,


s: Thy voice is softer than the throstle's call,


s: There is not song enough to sing thy praise,


s: To love thee; and though my deserts be small,


s: I heard the desert calling, and my heart stood still--


s: There was winter in my world and in my heart;


s: A breath came from the mesa, and a message stirred my will,


s: I heard the desert calling, and I knew that over there


s: In an olive-sheltered garden where the mesquite grows,


s: Was a woman of the sunrise with the star-shine in her hair


s: And a beauty that the almond-blossom blows.


s: In the night-time when the ghost-trees glimmered in the moon,


s: Where the mesa by the water-course was spanned,


s: Her loveliness enwrapped me like the blessedness of June,


s: And all my life was thrilling in her hand.


s: I hear the desert calling, and my heart stands still--


s: There is summer in my world, and in my heart;


s: A breath comes from the mesa, and a will beyond my will


s: Binds my footsteps as I rise up to depart.


s: Once in the twilight of the Austrian hills,


s: If I had spoken it--that message of the stars--


s: Love would have sent thee pulsing to my arms,


s: Laughing with joy, thy heart a nestling bird


s: An instant passed--it fled; and now I seek in vain


s: What will this matter, dear, when you and I


s: Have left our sad world for some fairer sky?


s: What will it matter, dear, when, far apart,


s: We miss the touch of hand and beat of heart;


s: When one's at peace, while unto one is given


s: With lonely feet to walk the hills at even?


s: What will it matter that one fault more now


s: Brings clouds upon one eager mortal brow,


s: That one grace less is given to one poor soul,


s: When both drink from the last immortal bowl?


s: For fault and grace, dear love, when we go hence


s: And where a princely face looked through


s: Where stalwart deeds and dreams rejoice,


s: Where I can hear your voice, your voice,


s: (Swift was the wind and white was the fire)


s: The feet of His people danced the stars;


s: (Bright was the fire and sweet was the wind)


s: His breath was big in his breast, his life


s: Beat strong 'gainst the walls of the world.


s: None shall stand in the way of the lord,


s: The Lord of the Earth--of the rivers and trees,


s: Shall be yours, and your bones shall be strong,


s: Shall be yours, and your heart shall rejoice,


s: Of the home where your little ones dwell.


s: If thou shouldst stumble on the nameless trail,


s: Behold, O son of man, thou hast a helper near!


s: If thou shouldst fall upon the vacant plain,


s: Take heed, O son of man, strength shall be given thee!


s: Rejoice, O son of man, thy pilot leads thee home!


s: Wild is the trail from the Kimash Hills,


s: The choking earth has swallowed the streams,


s: Long has he watched and far has he called--


s: And her hands folded slow on her breast,


s: The gods and the place where they dwell;


s: And he answered her, "Nay, but to stand,


s: But she answered him, "Nay, though I die.


s: Thou shalt do with me then as thou wilt."


s: "Oh, where did you get them, the bonny, bonny roses


s: That blossom in your cheeks, and the morning in your eyes?"


s: "I got them on the North Trail, the road that never closes,


s: That widens to the seven gold gates of Paradise."


s: "O come, let us camp in the North Trail together,


s: With the night-fires lit and the tent-pegs down."


s: (Little gold sun, come out of the dawn.)


s: There we will meet in the cedar groves--


s: There is a bed where you sleep so sound,


s: The little good folk of the Hills will guard,


s: Till the morning wakes and your love comes home--


s: (Fly away, heart, to the Scarlet Hills.)


s: Swing under the sun and swing over the world,


s: My gay little lover, don, don! . . . don, don!


s: When the winter is done I will come back home,


s: Swinging under and over and waiting for me,


s: My lover and rover, don, don! . . . don, don!


s: Where is the hand that found the good fruit,


s: The tongue that defied the terrible beasts?


s: But down there come from the lofty hills


s: What is there like to the cry of the bird


s: That sings in its nest in the lilac tree?


s: A voice the sweetest you ever have heard;


s: It is there, it is here, it must roam and roam,


s: Till I travel the hills and bring it home,


s: What is there like to the laughing star,


s: It laughs and it shines, it must roam and roam,


s: The moon wheels full, and the tide flows high,


s: And your wedding-gown you must put it on


s: Your gown shall be stitched ere the old moon fade:


s: The age of a moon shall your hands spin on,


s: The Little Good Folk the spell they have cast;


s: By your work well done while the moon hath shone,


s: "O traveller, see where the red sparks rise,"


s: But dark is the mist in the traveller's eyes.


s: The crimson light from my father's forge-"


s: "O traveller, hear how the anvils ring";


s: But the traveller heard, ah, never a thing:


s: And my father waits by the smithy door-"


s: "O traveller, see you thy true love's grace,"


s: And now there is joy in the traveller's face:


s: Oh, wild does he ride through the rain and mire,


s: Black charcoalman, you shall not have her


s: For my daughter and you would be night and day.


s: They have wrestled their thews with the Arctic bear,


s: They have drained heel-deep of a fighting air,


s: They have stretched their beds in the hummocked snow,


s: With Death they have gamed it, throw for throw,


s: In their birch canoes they have run cloud-high,


s: They have soaked the sea, and have braved the sky,


s: They reck not beast and they fear no man,


s: They have trailed where the panther glides;


s: They have tracked where the reindeer hides--


s: They have freed your flag where the white Pole-Star


s: Where the bones of your Franklin's heroes are


s: Of the infinite North, and your lordly worth,


s: You heard the bugles calling, comrades, brothers,--


s: "Close up! Close up!"  You mounted to go forth,


s: You answered "We are coming," and you gathered,


s: And paraded with your Captains in the North.


s: From here you came, from there you came, your voices


s: All flashing with your joy as flash the stars,


s: You waited, watched, until, the last one riding


s: Out of the night, came roll-call after wars.


s: Unsling your swords, off with your knapsacks, brothers!


s: We'll mess here at headquarters once again;


s: Drink and forget the scars; drink and remember


s: The joy of fighting and the pride of pain.


s: We will forget: the great game rustles by us,


s: The furtive world may whistle at the door,


s: We'll not go forth; we'll furlough here together--


s: Close up! Close up! 'Tis comrades evermore!


s: And Captains, our dear Captains, standing steady,


s: Aged with battle, but ever young with love,


s: Tramping the zones round, high have we hung your virtues,


s: Like shields along the wall of life, like armaments above:


s: Like shields your love, our Captains, like armaments your


s: The old command still holds us, the old flag is our one flag,


s: Close up, close up, my brothers!   Lift your glasses,


s: Drink to our Captains, pledging ere we roam,


s: Far from the good land, the dear familiar faces,


s: "Henley is dead!" Ah, but the sound and the sight of him,


s: Buoyant, commanding, and strong, suffering, noble in mind!


s: Gone, and no more shall we have any discourse or delight of him,


s: Wearing his pain like a song, casting his troubles behind.


s: Gallant and fair! Feeling the soul and the ruth of things,


s: Music to march to the fight, ballads for hours of peace.


s: Now it is done! Fearless the soul of him strove for us,


s: Viking in blood and in soul, baring his face to the rain,


s: Facing the storm he fared on, singing for England and love of us,


s: Beaten and slain! Yes, but England hath heed of him,


s: Singer of high degree, master of thought and of word--


s: She shall bear witness with tears, of the pride and the


s: We shall measure the years by the voice and the song unheard.


s: When blows the wind and drives the sleet,


s: While throbs the pulse, and full's the purse


s: And all's well while life's with us yet.


s: The sword shall cleave it, Life shall leave it--


s: And bright are thy stars, the high stars above;


s: Are ye to the light in the eyes of my love--


s: My love in thy garden, there waiting for me!


s: Not the sun shut its eyes, its hot envious eyes;


s: Turn thy face, turn thy face from the skies


s: What though the gods of the eld be dead,


s: Here are the mountains of azure and snow,


s: Here are the valleys where loves are wed,


s: Here are the hands that are lucid, sweet,


s: Wound at the wrist with an amber beading,


s: Wander the lost ones, fallen but mighty,


s: Stretching out hands, crying, "Turn unto me,


s: See where they lift up their faces and scan,


s: Over the wave-heaps, thy coming; despite thee,


s: Thou canst not fetter the soul of a man,


s: Nay, but our bodies we bend, and we give


s: All that the heart hath, loving, not knowing


s: We shall be taken, but thou shalt live on,


s: Swallowed in sea-drifts that never affright thee;


s: Smiling, thou'lt lift up thy sweet hands alone,


s: Over thy face is a veil of white sea-mist,


s: Only thine eyes shine like stars; bless or blight me,


s: I will hold close to the leash at thy wrist,


s: Rosy and proud are the skies of the East,


s: Love-dowered moons to enswathe thee, delight thee:


s: Thy days and our days--are thine then the least,


s: Thou in the East and I here in the West,


s: Under our newer skies purple and pleasant:


s: Who shall decide which is better, attest,


s: Thou with the gods' joy-enhancing devices,


s: What is there given us?--Food and some raiment,


s: Striving to peer through the infinite azure,


s: Alternate turning to earthward and falling,


s: What does it matter! They passed who with Homer


s: Poured out the wine at the feet of their idols:


s: Passing, what found they? To-come a misnomer,


s: Who knows, ah, who knows! Here in this garden,


s: Heliotrope, hyacinth, soft suns to light me,


s: Leaning out, peering, thou, thou art my warden-


s: Up from the future of all things there come,


s: Marching abreast in their stately endeavour,


s: Resting not, beating down all the old traces,


s: Falls the light step of the new-coming nations,


s: What shall we know of it, we who have lifted


s: Up the dark veil, done sowing and reaping;


s: What shall we care if our burdens be shifted,


s: Each to his office, but who holds the key?


s: Death, only death, thou, the ultimate teacher,


s: I am, Thou art, and the strong-speaking Jesus,


s: Eyes of a prophet or sphinx may deceive us,


s: But when the forts and the barriers fall,


s: Shall we not find One, the true, the almighty,


s: Wisely to speak with the worst of us all,


s: Waiting, I turn from the futile, the human,


s: Gone is the life of me, laughing with youth;


s: Steals to learn all in the face of a woman,


s: Fair be the garden where their loves may dwell,


s: Safe be the highway where their feet may go;


s: Rich be the meadows where their hands may toil,


s: The fountains many where the good wines flow;


s: Full be their harvest bins with corn and oil,


s: And quick their hearts all wise delights to know;


s: Deep be your cups.  Our hearts the gods make light:


s: Drink, that their joy may never know good-night!


s: And bear some white bread from the shrine


s: The sea-kings swing their flags peak-high


s: Nor'land 'gainst Southland then she drove,


s: Their broadswords brake across their knees,


s: When Peace should ride with pennon blown,


s: And ripe is the fruit in the orchard tree--


s: But the stateliest flower is all for me--


s: To the Great Delight I have bent my knee--


s: Oh, warm is the nest that is built for me-


s: The richest grapes of the vine shall bleed


s: The kine shall pause in the pleasant mead,


s: The White North glows with a morning song


s: A loaf, a cup of water, and a bed had I,


s: And now, alone, I bid the world good-bye.


s: Of men, and naught to men had I to give.


s: By God's love I shall then begin to live.


s: Blows I have struck, and blows a-many taken,


s: Wrestling I've fallen, and I've rose up again;


s: Others went down though fighting might and main.


s: The fall it will be his; and though I strive and strain,


s: One blow will close my eyes, and I shall never waken.


s: When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun,


s: When the stars burn out, and the night cries


s: To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise,


s: When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore,


s: And the little white boats return no more;


s: As the wave to the shore, as the dew to the leaf,


s: As the scent of a rose to the heart of a child,


s: My heart goeth out unto Thee--unto Thee!


s: The night is far spent and the day is at hand.


s: As the song of a bird to the call of a star,


s: As the anvil of man to the hammers of God,


s: The night is far spent and the day is at hand


s: To be young is to dream, and I dreamed no more;


s: I had smothered my heart as the fighter can:


s: I toiled, and I looked not behind or before--


s: I was stone; but I waked with the heart of a man.


s: By the soul at her lips, by the light of her eyes,


s: I dreamed a new dream as the sleeper can,


s: That the heavenly folly of youth was wise--


s: She came like a song, she will go like a star:


s: I shall tread the hills as the hunter can,


s: Mine eyes to the hunt, and my soul afar-


s: When one forgets, the old things are as dead things;


s: The grey leaves fall, and eyes that saw their May


s: Turn from them now, and voices that have said things


s: Wherein Life joyed, alas! are still to-day--


s: The world was noble, now its sordid casement


s: Glows but with garish folly, and the plains


s: Of rich achievement lie in mean abasement--


s: When one forgets, but maimed rites come after:


s: To mourn, be priest, be sexton, bear the pall,


s: Remembrance-robed, the while a distant laughter


s: Proclaims Love's ghost--what wonder skies should fall,


s: The new strife is like to the old strife


s: We hate, and old wrongs lift their faces,


s: Though we lose the green leaves of the first days,


s: Though the vineyards be trampled and red,


s: We know, in the gloom of our worst days,


s: Though the hearthstone bear but the one ember,


s: And the goal, is it not worth the winning,


s: Beaten and blown by the winds of the West,


s: But never to greet the green island of Rest.


s: Is that a truth when this may be a jest?


s: Still a vain twining and twisting of cords?


s: Swept down the spaces of querulous years,--


s: Of all things is with us, and sees us, and hears?


s: Finding the best of all, last of all, God?


s: Was silent, strove, gasped, then there fell


s: The mist creeps up o'er the sleepy town,


s: The white sails bend to the shuddering mere,


s: And the reapers have reaped, and the night is here.


s: The right grows weak in the strife with wrong,


s: The lilies of love have a crimson stain,


s: 'Neath the tremulous tread of the seraphim,


s: That have prayed for the peace of the Holy Grail?


s: The things that are, and that might have been


s: The days swing on, the sun glows and is gone,


s: The tides sweep scornfully the shore, as when


s: What we have known is but a bitter pledge


s: Through what great cycles hath this circumstance


s: Known not by thee or me, till it should come,


s: To our two lives, and yours would seem to me


s: Though you have wept to strike, and but have cried,


s: You could not, if you would, give what had been


s: Nay, not the Fates, look higher; is God blind?


s: That they saw but a little space before,


s: Two blasted lives, to make the watered land


s: The life that feeds upon itself is mad--


s: Have I not held but one poor broken reed


s: Mine is the sorrow, mine the prayerless pain:


s: With spectres seen and spectres all unseen


s: Who stand upon the threshold, at the gates,


s: Well do they who have felt the spectres' hands


s: And have not fled, but with firm faith have borne


s: Upheld the weary head, or fanned the brow


s: So let it be with us: perchance will come


s: One more dream in the slow night watches,


s: And his soul leans out to the sweet wild snatches


s: Peace, deep peace and a seraph's calling,


s: Sleeping now--will the vision bring her?


s: Hark, 'tis the sound of the passing bell!


s: And many a brig goes sailin' to its quay;


s: The day a sailor man comes back to town;


s: The tide that gets you quick to anchors down.


s: Ere their heart-strings have grown tense.


s: "Where do the stars grow, little Garaine?


s: "If you shut your eyes," quoth little Garaine,


s: To the orchard of suns and the garden of moons


s: "But you must speak soft," quoth little Garaine,


s: For a great bear prowls in the field of the stars,


s: "And the suns have the Children of Signs to guard,


s: You must not stumble, you must not speak,


s: "The gates are locked," quoth little Garaine,


s: The key of your heart it will open them all:


s: When you were born, my dear, when you were born,


s: A glorious Voice came singing from the sun,


s: And through the vales of Arcady danced one


s: Bearing your gifts: a magic all your own,


s: While tiny star-smiths, bending to your throne,


s: Into my heart, my dear, you flashed your way,


s: Proclaimed you dancing light and roundelay;--


s: I thank my generous Fates that you were born


s: I sang thee songs, gave gifts and songs most poor,


s: But they were signs; and now, for evermore,


s: Thou farest forth!  My heart is full of tears,


s: Thy champion I.  And now, no more for me


s: Thy face, thy smile: thou goest far afield,


s: And thou shalt find that Inn of God's delight,


s: Where thou wilt wait for us who say good night,


s: To thy sweet soul.  The rest--the rest, God knows,


s: Phyllis, I knew you once when I was young,


s: Do you, of all the songs, wild songs, before you flung,


s: Its hope, its pride; do you remember it?


s: It was the song that makes the world go round;


s: I bought it of a Boy: in scars I paid for it,


s: Did ye see the white cloud in the glint o' the sun?


s: That's the brow and the eye o' my bairnie.


s: Did ye ken the red bloom at the bend o' the crag?


s: That's the rose in the cheek o' my bairnie.


s: Did ye hear the gay lilt o' the lark by the burn?


s: That's the voice of my bairnie, my dearie.


s: Did ye smell the wild scent in the green o' the wood?


s: That's the breath o' my ain, o' my bairnie.


s: Sae I'll gang awa' hame, to the shine o' the fire,


s: Since through its streets and in its shade,


s: The joys that thrill, the ill that thralls,


s: My childhood's friend!   Well gathered are


s: Where have you wandered, child, since when


s: And I, whom your sweet childhood's trust,


s: Or, by some hearthstone, have you learned


s: That sips content, and straightway builds


s: Three times round has the sun gone, Jean,


s: The old sweet grace in her dreaming face


s: No!  She is there 'neath Northern skies,


s: Dove-eyed, caressed her cheek; 'twas e'en


s: To win his--ah, what's that?  'Tis freed,


s: And through the silence there is trilled


s: Rafe said, with hands behind him clasped,


s: Now wandering swallows build their nests


s: And the soft air was drunken with odours,


s: And the hills where the gods made their home?


s: And the Fates that build up and destroy?


s: In the lives and the language of mortals


s: And that make for great losses repayment


s: But a little brown sparrow came tripping


s: And a kingfisher poised, and was peering


s: Does he dream as I dream night and daytime


s: Is the sunlight, and not the drear shadow,


s: And down the skies white clouds are furled.


s: The briarrose shakes its sweet perfumes,


s: What time the fields were full of grain,


s: Hearts do not break, the world has said,


s: Though love lie stark and light be flown;


s: The slaves of some dead passion's fires,


s: Still sobbing in life's trembling wires.


s: And the piping of the linnet through the willow branches blown.


s: And, however far my soul may reach, your song is far above it;


s: And I falter while I follow as a child does in the dark.


s: In elder days, when all the world was silent save the beating


s: Of the tempest-gathered ocean 'gainst the grey volcanic walls,


s: Adown the ages there have come the sounds of that first singing,


s: Lifting up the weary-hearted in the fever of the time;


s: And I, who wait and wander far, felt all my soul upspringing,


s: To but touch those ancient forces and the energies sublime,


s: Of a song-shine that is holy and that quiets all my pain.


s: To remember that the noblest ends have ever noblest choice.


s: Most like some lone, faint, flickering star


s: Blind, Lord, so blind!   And I have knelt


s: Blind, Lord, so blind!   The world is blind;


s: Send sweet peace ere the last bell toll--


s: Over the hills they are waiting to greet us,


s: They who have scanned all the ultimate places,


s: Fathomed the world and the things that defeat us--


s: They have no thought for the toiling or spinning,


s: Striving for bread that is dust in the gaining,


s: They have won all that is well worth the winning--


s: Now they have done with the pain and the error,


s: Nevermore here shall the dark things assail them,


s: Void man's devices and dreams have no terror--


s: They have cast off all the strife and derision,


s: They have put on all the joy of our yearning;


s: Faint light before us, and shadows to grope in,


s: Stretching out hands to the starbeams to guide us,


s: Finding no place but our life's loves to hope in,


s: So we climb upward with eyes growing dimmer,


s: Looking back only to sigh through our smiling,


s: Wondering still if the palpitant glimmer


s: They whom we loved have gone over the mountains,


s: Hands beckon to us like wings of the swallow,


s: Voices we knew from delectable fountains


s: Some were so young when they left us, that morning


s: Seemed to have flashed and then died into gloaming,


s: Leaving us wearier 'neath the world's scorning,


s: Some, in the time when the manhood is bravest,


s: Strongest to bear and the hands to endeavour,


s: When all the life is the firmest and gravest,


s: Some, when the Springtime had grown to December,


s: Said, "It is done: now the last thing befall me;


s: I shall sleep well--ah! dear hearts but remember:


s: So the tale runs, and the end, who shall fear it?


s: Is it not better to sleep than to sorrow?


s: Tokens will come from the bourne as we near it--


s: How has the cloud fallen, and the leaf withered on the tree,


s: The lemontree, that standeth by the door?


s: The melon and the date have gone bitter to the taste,


s: The core of my heart, the mildew findeth it;


s: The garner empty standeth, the oven hath no fire,


s: O Nile that floweth deeply, hast thou not heard his voice?


s: His footsteps hast thou covered with thy flood?


s: As one who scattereth bread to the pigeons flying.


s: His purse was at his side, his mantle was for me,


s: For any who passeth were his mantle and his purse,


s: And now like a gourd is he withered from our eyes.


s: His friendship, it was like a shady wood--


s: Whither has he gone?--Who shall speak for us?


s: Who shall save us from the kourbash and the stripes?


s: The sakkia turneth no more; the oxen they are gone;


s: The young go forth in chains, the old waken in the night,


s: They waken and weep, for the wheel turns backward,


s: And the dark days are come again upon us--


s: Hast thou covered up his footsteps with thy flood?


s: The core of my heart, the mildew findeth it!


s: When his footsteps were among us there was peace;


s: War entered not the village, nor the call of war:


s: Now our homes are as those that have no roofs.


s: As a ship that lieth broken on the beach,


s: We buried it where no man robbed us, for his arm was strong.


s: Now are the jars empty, gold did not avail


s: To save our young men, to keep them from the chains.


s: God hath swallowed his voice, or the sea hath drowned it,


s: Or the Nile hath covered him with its flood;


s: Else would he come when our voices call.


s: His word was honey in the prince's ear--


s: There was never a path through the desert calm,


s: To the rim of the sky, and vanished again;


s: A white gazelle, but its eyes were dread


s: It passed in the dusk with a foot of fear,


s: And my heart was the heart of a stricken deer,


s: My days they withered like rootless things,


s: But at last, in the light of a rose-red day,


s: And wherever your footsteps fell there crept


s: A desert road which no sands have swept,


s: I followed you forth, and your beauty held


s: By that desert road to the blossoming plains


s: So, I set my course by the light of your eyes;


s: On the road I tread shine the love-starred skies,


s: Oh, the garden where to-day we, sow and to-morrow we reap;


s: Oh, the sakkia turning by the garden walls;


s: Oh, the onion-field and the date-tree growing,


s: And my hand on the plough--by the blessing of God;


s: Strength of my soul, O my brother, all's well!


s: Take thou thy flight, O soul! Thou hast no more


s: The gladness of the morning: ah, the perfumed roses


s: How did he wake me with his lips upon mine eyes,


s: How did the singers carol, the singers of my soul,


s: That nest among the thoughts of my beloved!


s: The windows of my soul are closed; no more


s: Mine eyes look gladly out to see my lover come.


s: Take flight, my soul, my love returns no more!


s: The bed of my love I will sprinkle with attar of roses,


s: The face of my love I will touch with the balm,


s: With the balm of the tree from the farthermost wood,


s: From the wood without end, in the world without end.


s: My love holds the cup to my lips, and I drink of the cup,


s: Fleet is thy foot: thou shalt rest by the etl tree;


s: Water shalt thou drink from the blue-deep well;


s: Allah send his gard'ner with the green bersim,


s: For thy comfort, fleet one, by the etl tree.


s: As the stars fly, have thy footsteps flown--


s: Deep is the well, drink, and be still once more;


s: Till the pursuing winds, panting, have found thee


s: The Tall Dakoon, the bridle rein he shook, and called aloud,


s: His Arab steed sprang down the mists which wrapped them like a


s: But up there rang the clash of steel, the clanking silver chain,


s: The war-cry of the Tall Dakoon, the moaning of the slain.


s: And long they fought--the Tall Dakoon, the children of the mist,


s: But he was swift with lance and shield, and supple of the wrist,


s: Yet if he rose, or if he fell, no man hath proof to show--


s: And wide the world beyond the mists, and deep the vales below!


s: Though he should be the peasant born, or be the Tall Dakoon,


s: She runs her race with the storm in her face,


s: In her household work no hand does shirk,--


s: Where the crank-shafts pitch in the iron ditch,


s: Where the boilers keep, in the sullen deep,


s: Where the reeking shuttle and booming bar


s: Keep time in the hum of the toiling hive,--


s: The men of the deep, while the travellers sleep,


s: In a world-wide trade, and a fame well made,


s: Who've sailed in the old ship Never Return,


s: They fitted foreign (God keeps the sea),


s: They stepped aboard (God breaks the wind).


s: And the babe that held by his father's knee,


s: And the lad will sail as his father sailed,


s: And he'll get his scrip in his father's ship,


s: And he'll sail to the North, and he'll make to the East,


s: And he'll pass outspent as his father went


s: There are hearts that bleed, there are mouths to feed,


s: And the rent's to pay on the quarter-day--


s: And you'll never regret, as your whistle you wet,


s: That you gave your "quid" to the lonely kid


s: So out with your golden shilling, my lad,


s: We are safe to-night near the Liberty Light,


s: I ride to the tramp and shuffle of hoofs


s: The clouds swing out from beyond the hills


s: And the Spirit of Winds creeps up and fills


s: His friends are his pipe, and dog, and tea,


s: And his mind, like the weeping myall-tree,


s: To the Wider Plains with the measureless bounds:


s: I would rather ride in those pleasant grounds,


s: Than to sit 'neath the spell of the voice


s: Of the sweetest seraph that you could find


s: And I hope that the Father, whose heart is kind,


s: That will give me freedom and change of air,


s: For I somehow think, in the Great Stampede,


s: Blooms and glows like an hour-old bride;


s: Time when the Kicking Horse shows its teeth,


s: When the sun with a million levers lifts


s: When the line-man's eyes, like the lynx's, scans


s: Like a maverick penned in a branding-yard.


s: "With the old man working his eyes and ears."


s: Till a demon rose on the mountain crest,


s: And drove at its shoulders angry spears,


s: That it rose from its sleep of a thousand years,


s: That its heaving breast broke free the cords


s: Of imprisoned snow as with flaming swords;


s: And, like a star from its frozen height,


s: An avalanche leaped one spring-tide night;


s: To smite the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: While the train drew on that he could not save;


s: It would drop, doom-deep, through the trap of death,


s: From the light above, to the dark beneath;


s: One more wreck where the tide is swirled,


s: The ceaseless falling, the countless groan,


s: The waft of a leaf and the fall of a stone;


s: Write not "Lost," with its grinding bans,


s: On life, or the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: There stands a girl!  She beholds the bridge


s: Learn from it, thinker, and priest, and churl.


s: Sharp in her ears and her heart the wail


s: Save that her prayer be not granted her.


s: The wind that comes from the frozen hill.


s: Her hair blows free and her eyes are full


s: Of the look that makes Heaven merciful--


s: Lest you wish to see how a brave girl dies!


s: Dies--not yet; for her firm hands clasped


s: The solid bridge, as the breach out-gasped,


s: And the rail that had held her downward swept,


s: Where old Carew in his snow-grave slept.


s: She speeds with the red light for a sign;


s: it trembles like lanceheads through her brain;


s: And round the curve, with a foot as fleet


s: As a sinner's that flees from the Judgment-seat,


s: She flies; and the signal swings, and then


s: Lifted her, bore her, where women brought


s: The flush to her cheek, and with kisses caught


s: The warm breath back to her pallid lips,


s: The life from lives that were near eclipse;


s: Blessed her, and praised her, and begged her name


s: That all of their kindred should know her fame;


s: Should tell how a girl from a cattle-ranche


s: Had wooed her and won her?  And here they are


s: For their homeward trip in a parlour car!


s: Which goes to show that Old Nature's plans


s: Were wrecked with the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: Rebel? . . . I grant you,--my comrades then


s: The best long-shot in the Touchwood Camp;


s: There's your guide-book. . . . But, Jeanne Amray,


s: French and thoroughbred, proud and sweet,


s: That changed God's world to a tropic noon;


s: To ride, hunt, trail by the fire-fly lamp;


s: To track the moose to his moose-yard; pass


s: To hide from death in the drifting snow,


s: Ah, well, I speak of the days that were;


s: I lost her.  How are the best friends lost?


s: The lightning lines of our souls got crossed--


s: Till Death should call from his midnight sea.


s: Her eyes swam fire, and her cheek was red,


s: Her full breast heaved as she darkly said:


s: "The coyote hides from the wind and rain,


s: The wild horse flies from the hurricane,


s: Then went; and I laughed Jeanne's fears afar,


s: But I thought that wench was our evil star.


s: Be sure, when a woman's heart gets hard,


s: And last in battle 'gainst thousands sent,


s: Beaten their cause was, and hunted down,


s: Like to a moose in the chase full blown,


s: And while scouts searched for us night and day


s: When a sharp click-click awakes her brain


s: To life, with the needle-points of pain.


s: "Bring them up here, alive or dead!" . . .


s: But three hours more, and that next express


s: But the truest friend and the swiftest horse


s: Must ride that ride on a breakneck course;


s: And with truest horse and swiftest friend,


s: To the fast express was the winning end!


s: There stood in the doorway, Nell Latore--


s: The deep, strange woe, and the hurt surprise.


s: Something that stilled her; triumph fled


s: Shamed and fast, as the young wife said--


s: "He keeps his faith with an oath he swore,


s: Truth, truth only, should stand and say,


s: Scorching the past from her eyes and brow


s: "Trust me," she said, like an angel-call,


s: Ah, well for her that her arms were strong,


s: And cord and nerve like a knotted thong,


s: And well for Jeanne in her sharp distress,


s: Strove to warn her with awe-struck sign--


s: Strained till the Rock Hills came in sight;


s: "But two miles more," to herself she said,


s: "Then she shall have him alive, not dead!"


s: Her promise, and helped her to keep her word;


s: For, when the wheels of the fast express


s: Slowed through the gates of that wilderness,


s: Knew, as they stood by the pine-girt store,


s: The girl that had foiled them--Nell Latore.


s: Once through her fingers, standing there;


s: Backwards and forwards her brown arms play,


s: Forwards and backwards, till far and dim,


s: Backwards and forwards, and then, was gone


s: Who prays each night that, alive or dead,


s: Come God's own rest for her lonely head:


s: When thou comest to the safe tent of the good comrade,


s: abide there till thy going forth with a stedfast mind; and


s: if, at the hospitable fire, thou hast learned the secret of a


s: heart, thou shalt keep it holy, as the North Wind the


s: "Behold, I bring one perfect yesterday!"


s: Out of all my life I have been granted one


s: "She's the darlin' of the parish, she's the pride of


s: 'Twould make your heart lep up to see her trippin'


s: There's not a lad of life and fame that wouldn't take


s: And inlist inside her service-did ye hear her laughin'


s: Did ye see her with her hand in mine the day that


s: Ah, darlin', how we footed it-the grass it was so


s: And when the neighbours wandered home, I was the


s: An hour plucked from Paradise--come back to me,


s: Across the seas, beyand the hills, by lovely Inniskillen,


s: The rigiment come marchin'--I hear the call once


s: Shure, a woman's but a woman--so I took the Sergeant's


s: For the pride o' me was hurted--shall I never see


s: She turned her face away from me, and black as night


s: She left me for another lad, he was a lad of life and


s: And the heart of me was hurted--but there's none


s: Will you come back home, where the young larks are


s: The door is open wide, and the bells of Lynn are ringin';


s: To the shore beyond that's quiet--will you come back


s: Will you come back, darlin'?  Never heed the pain and


s: Never trouble that you're wounded, that you bear the


s: The cup of peace--ah, darlin', will you come back


s: It was as fine a churchful as you ever clapt an eye on;


s: Oh, the bells was ringin' gaily, and the sun was shinin'


s: There was singers, there was clargy--"Bless ye both,"


s: There was gatherin' of women, there was hush upon the


s: There was whisperin' and smilin', but it was no place


s: A little ship was comin' into harbour through the


s: Shure, the longest day has endin', and the wildest storm


s: There's a young gossoon in yander, and he sits upon


s: There's a churchful for the christenin'--do you hear


s: He's the pride of Mary Callaghan and me.


s: Shure the devil takes his hat off whin he comes:


s: And the Lord Lieutenant orders out the drums--


s: You'll travel far and wide, dear, but you'll come back


s: You'll come back to your father and your mother in


s: Although we should be lyin' 'neath the heather grasses


s: You'll see the icebergs sailin' along the wintry foam,


s: The white hair of the breakers, and the wild swans as


s: But you'll not forget the rowan beside your father's


s: New friends will clasp your hand, dear, new faces on


s: You'll bide with them and love them, but you'll long


s: For the word across the water, and the farewell by the


s: You'll hear the wild birds singin' beneath a brighter sky,


s: The roof-tree of your home, dear, it will be grand and


s: But you'll hunger for the hearthstone where, a child,


s: And when your foot is weary, and when your heart is sore,


s: And you come back to the moor that spreads beyand


s: There'll be many an ancient comrade to greet you on


s: Ah, the hillock cannot cover, and the grass it cannot hide


s: The love that never changeth, whatever wind or tide;


s: And though you'll not be seein', we'll be standin' by


s: O, there's no home like the old home, there's no pillow


s: You slumbered on in childhood, like a young bird in


s: We are livin' still and waitin', and we're hopin' for the


s: Ah, you're comin' back, my darlin'--comin' back!


s: Oh, it's down the long side of Farcalladen Rise,


s: With the knees pressing hard to the saddle, my men;


s: With the sparks from the hoofs giving light to the eyes,


s: And our hearts beating hard as we rode to the glen!


s: And it's back with the ring of the chain and the spur,


s: And it's back with the sun on the hill and the moor,


s: And it's back is the thought sets my pulses astir,--


s: But I'll never go back to Farcalladen more!


s: And it's swift as an arrow and straight as a spear,


s: And it's keen as the frost when the summer-time dies,


s: That we rode to the glen, and with never a fear.


s: And it's hey for the hedge, and it's hey for the wall,


s: And it's over the stream with an echoing cry;


s: And there's three fled for ever from old Donegal,


s: And there's two that have shown how bold Irishmen die!


s: For it's rest when the gallop is over, my men,


s: And it's here's to the lads that have ridden their last;


s: And it's here's to the lasses we leave in the glen,


s: With a smile for the future, a sigh for the past!


s: I will help where I can, I will cherish my own,


s: Nor walk the steep way of the world alone.


s: "Where shall we betake us when the day's work is over?


s: Happy is the maid that knows the footstep of her lover--


s: Who shall listen to us when black sorrow comes a-reaping?


s: (See the young lark falling from the sky.)


s: Happy is the man that has a true heart in his keeping--


s: True hearts flourish when the roses die."


s: Oh, we have been a-maying, dear, beyond the city gates,


s: And we have seen the jocund smile upon the lips of Fate,


s: And we have known the splendours of our will.


s: Oh, we have wandered far, my dear, and we have loved apace;


s: The sun without to lighten it, within, your golden face,--


s: The pleasant furniture of spring was set in all the fields,


s: And gay and wholesome were the herbs and flowers;


s: Our simple cloth of love was spread with all that nature yields,


s: Oh, we have been a-maying, dear, we've left the world behind,


s: We've sung and danced and gossiped as we strayed;


s: And when within our little but your fingers draw the blind,


s: We'll loiter by the fire that love has made.


s: Through the round window above, the deep palpable blue,


s: The wan bright moon, and the sweet stinging breath of the sea;


s: And below, in the shadows, thine eyes like stars,


s: And Love brooding low, and the warm white glory of thee.


s: Oh, soft was the song in my soul, and soft beyond thought


s: And thou wert mine own, and Eden reconquered was mine


s: And the way that I go is the way of thy feet, and the breath


s: It hath being from thee and life from the life that is thine!


s: Your voice I knew, its cadences and thrill;


s: When Athens trembled to the people's will;


s: I see the fountains, and the gardens where


s: You sang the fury from the Satrap's brow;


s: I heard it in the Athenian grove--I hear you now.


s: Eyes like the sea, look up, the beacons brighten,


s: Home comes the sailor, home across the tide!


s: Back drifts the cloud, behold the heavens whiten,


s: The port of Love is open, he anchors at thy side.


s: The sands and the sea, and the white gulls fleeting,


s: The mist on the island, the cloud on the hill;


s: The song in my heart, and the old hope beating


s: Here in the highway without thy garden wall,


s: Sick for thy haven, O Sweet, to thee I call:


s: Cool is thy garden-plot, pleasant thy shade,


s: Dwelling on thy perfectness, O Sweet, I am afraid,


s: But, fearing, long to look upon thy face--


s: Over the ample globe, searching for thee,


s: Ended my questing: no more, no more for me,


s: O Sweet, the pilgrim's sandals, call me home--


s: The haze is swimming where the beeches stand;


s: Summer is come, though winter months be here--


s: My love is summer passing through the land.


s: Summer is come; I hear the skylarks sing,


s: Summer is come, and 'tis not yet the spring--


s: My love is summer blessing all she sees.


s: That, winter or summer, I shall go forth no more--


s: My heart is homing where her summer-roses grow.


s: O flower of all the world, O flower of all,


s: The garden where thou dwellest is so fair,


s: Thou art so goodly, and so queenly tall,


s: Thy sweetness scatters sweetness everywhere,


s: O flower of all the years, O flower of all,


s: Thy voice is softer than the throstle's call,


s: There is not song enough to sing thy praise,


s: To love thee; and though my deserts be small,


s: I heard the desert calling, and my heart stood still--


s: There was winter in my world and in my heart;


s: A breath came from the mesa, and a message stirred my will,


s: I heard the desert calling, and I knew that over there


s: In an olive-sheltered garden where the mesquite grows,


s: Was a woman of the sunrise with the star-shine in her hair


s: And a beauty that the almond-blossom blows.


s: In the night-time when the ghost-trees glimmered in the moon,


s: Where the mesa by the water-course was spanned,


s: Her loveliness enwrapped me like the blessedness of June,


s: And all my life was thrilling in her hand.


s: I hear the desert calling, and my heart stands still--


s: There is summer in my world, and in my heart;


s: A breath comes from the mesa, and a will beyond my will


s: Binds my footsteps as I rise up to depart.


s: Once in the twilight of the Austrian hills,


s: If I had spoken it--that message of the stars--


s: Love would have sent thee pulsing to my arms,


s: Laughing with joy, thy heart a nestling bird


s: An instant passed--it fled; and now I seek in vain


s: What will this matter, dear, when you and I


s: Have left our sad world for some fairer sky?


s: What will it matter, dear, when, far apart,


s: We miss the touch of hand and beat of heart;


s: When one's at peace, while unto one is given


s: With lonely feet to walk the hills at even?


s: What will it matter that one fault more now


s: Brings clouds upon one eager mortal brow,


s: That one grace less is given to one poor soul,


s: When both drink from the last immortal bowl?


s: For fault and grace, dear love, when we go hence


s: And where a princely face looked through


s: Where stalwart deeds and dreams rejoice,


s: Where I can hear your voice, your voice,


s: (Swift was the wind and white was the fire)


s: The feet of His people danced the stars;


s: (Bright was the fire and sweet was the wind)


s: His breath was big in his breast, his life


s: Beat strong 'gainst the walls of the world.


s: None shall stand in the way of the lord,


s: The Lord of the Earth--of the rivers and trees,


s: Shall be yours, and your bones shall be strong,


s: Shall be yours, and your heart shall rejoice,


s: Of the home where your little ones dwell.


s: If thou shouldst stumble on the nameless trail,


s: Behold, O son of man, thou hast a helper near!


s: If thou shouldst fall upon the vacant plain,


s: Take heed, O son of man, strength shall be given thee!


s: Rejoice, O son of man, thy pilot leads thee home!


s: Wild is the trail from the Kimash Hills,


s: The choking earth has swallowed the streams,


s: Long has he watched and far has he called--


s: And her hands folded slow on her breast,


s: The gods and the place where they dwell;


s: And he answered her, "Nay, but to stand,


s: But she answered him, "Nay, though I die.


s: Thou shalt do with me then as thou wilt."


s: "Oh, where did you get them, the bonny, bonny roses


s: That blossom in your cheeks, and the morning in your eyes?"


s: "I got them on the North Trail, the road that never closes,


s: That widens to the seven gold gates of Paradise."


s: "O come, let us camp in the North Trail together,


s: With the night-fires lit and the tent-pegs down."


s: (Little gold sun, come out of the dawn.)


s: There we will meet in the cedar groves--


s: There is a bed where you sleep so sound,


s: The little good folk of the Hills will guard,


s: Till the morning wakes and your love comes home--


s: (Fly away, heart, to the Scarlet Hills.)


s: Swing under the sun and swing over the world,


s: My gay little lover, don, don! . . . don, don!


s: When the winter is done I will come back home,


s: Swinging under and over and waiting for me,


s: My lover and rover, don, don! . . . don, don!


s: Where is the hand that found the good fruit,


s: The tongue that defied the terrible beasts?


s: But down there come from the lofty hills


s: What is there like to the cry of the bird


s: That sings in its nest in the lilac tree?


s: A voice the sweetest you ever have heard;


s: It is there, it is here, it must roam and roam,


s: Till I travel the hills and bring it home,


s: What is there like to the laughing star,


s: It laughs and it shines, it must roam and roam,


s: The moon wheels full, and the tide flows high,


s: And your wedding-gown you must put it on


s: Your gown shall be stitched ere the old moon fade:


s: The age of a moon shall your hands spin on,


s: The Little Good Folk the spell they have cast;


s: By your work well done while the moon hath shone,


s: "O traveller, see where the red sparks rise,"


s: But dark is the mist in the traveller's eyes.


s: The crimson light from my father's forge-"


s: "O traveller, hear how the anvils ring";


s: But the traveller heard, ah, never a thing:


s: And my father waits by the smithy door-"


s: "O traveller, see you thy true love's grace,"


s: And now there is joy in the traveller's face:


s: Oh, wild does he ride through the rain and mire,


s: Black charcoalman, you shall not have her


s: For my daughter and you would be night and day.


s: They have wrestled their thews with the Arctic bear,


s: They have drained heel-deep of a fighting air,


s: They have stretched their beds in the hummocked snow,


s: With Death they have gamed it, throw for throw,


s: In their birch canoes they have run cloud-high,


s: They have soaked the sea, and have braved the sky,


s: They reck not beast and they fear no man,


s: They have trailed where the panther glides;


s: They have tracked where the reindeer hides--


s: They have freed your flag where the white Pole-Star


s: Where the bones of your Franklin's heroes are


s: Of the infinite North, and your lordly worth,


s: You heard the bugles calling, comrades, brothers,--


s: "Close up! Close up!"  You mounted to go forth,


s: You answered "We are coming," and you gathered,


s: And paraded with your Captains in the North.


s: From here you came, from there you came, your voices


s: All flashing with your joy as flash the stars,


s: You waited, watched, until, the last one riding


s: Out of the night, came roll-call after wars.


s: Unsling your swords, off with your knapsacks, brothers!


s: We'll mess here at headquarters once again;


s: Drink and forget the scars; drink and remember


s: The joy of fighting and the pride of pain.


s: We will forget: the great game rustles by us,


s: The furtive world may whistle at the door,


s: We'll not go forth; we'll furlough here together--


s: Close up! Close up! 'Tis comrades evermore!


s: And Captains, our dear Captains, standing steady,


s: Aged with battle, but ever young with love,


s: Tramping the zones round, high have we hung your virtues,


s: Like shields along the wall of life, like armaments above:


s: Like shields your love, our Captains, like armaments your


s: The old command still holds us, the old flag is our one flag,


s: Close up, close up, my brothers!   Lift your glasses,


s: Drink to our Captains, pledging ere we roam,


s: Far from the good land, the dear familiar faces,


s: "Henley is dead!" Ah, but the sound and the sight of him,


s: Buoyant, commanding, and strong, suffering, noble in mind!


s: Gone, and no more shall we have any discourse or delight of him,


s: Wearing his pain like a song, casting his troubles behind.


s: Gallant and fair! Feeling the soul and the ruth of things,


s: Music to march to the fight, ballads for hours of peace.


s: Now it is done! Fearless the soul of him strove for us,


s: Viking in blood and in soul, baring his face to the rain,


s: Facing the storm he fared on, singing for England and love of us,


s: Beaten and slain! Yes, but England hath heed of him,


s: Singer of high degree, master of thought and of word--


s: She shall bear witness with tears, of the pride and the


s: We shall measure the years by the voice and the song unheard.


s: When blows the wind and drives the sleet,


s: While throbs the pulse, and full's the purse


s: And all's well while life's with us yet.


s: The sword shall cleave it, Life shall leave it--


s: And bright are thy stars, the high stars above;


s: Are ye to the light in the eyes of my love--


s: My love in thy garden, there waiting for me!


s: Not the sun shut its eyes, its hot envious eyes;


s: Turn thy face, turn thy face from the skies


s: What though the gods of the eld be dead,


s: Here are the mountains of azure and snow,


s: Here are the valleys where loves are wed,


s: Here are the hands that are lucid, sweet,


s: Wound at the wrist with an amber beading,


s: Wander the lost ones, fallen but mighty,


s: Stretching out hands, crying, "Turn unto me,


s: See where they lift up their faces and scan,


s: Over the wave-heaps, thy coming; despite thee,


s: Thou canst not fetter the soul of a man,


s: Nay, but our bodies we bend, and we give


s: All that the heart hath, loving, not knowing


s: We shall be taken, but thou shalt live on,


s: Swallowed in sea-drifts that never affright thee;


s: Smiling, thou'lt lift up thy sweet hands alone,


s: Over thy face is a veil of white sea-mist,


s: Only thine eyes shine like stars; bless or blight me,


s: I will hold close to the leash at thy wrist,


s: Rosy and proud are the skies of the East,


s: Love-dowered moons to enswathe thee, delight thee:


s: Thy days and our days--are thine then the least,


s: Thou in the East and I here in the West,


s: Under our newer skies purple and pleasant:


s: Who shall decide which is better, attest,


s: Thou with the gods' joy-enhancing devices,


s: What is there given us?--Food and some raiment,


s: Striving to peer through the infinite azure,


s: Alternate turning to earthward and falling,


s: What does it matter! They passed who with Homer


s: Poured out the wine at the feet of their idols:


s: Passing, what found they? To-come a misnomer,


s: Who knows, ah, who knows! Here in this garden,


s: Heliotrope, hyacinth, soft suns to light me,


s: Leaning out, peering, thou, thou art my warden--


s: Up from the future of all things there come,


s: Marching abreast in their stately endeavour,


s: Resting not, beating down all the old traces,


s: Falls the light step of the new-coming nations,


s: What shall we know of it, we who have lifted


s: Up the dark veil, done sowing and reaping;


s: What shall we care if our burdens be shifted,


s: Each to his office, but who holds the key?


s: Death, only death, thou, the ultimate teacher,


s: I am, Thou art, and the strong-speaking Jesus,


s: Eyes of a prophet or sphinx may deceive us,


s: But when the forts and the barriers fall,


s: Shall we not find One, the true, the almighty,


s: Wisely to speak with the worst of us all,


s: Waiting, I turn from the futile, the human,


s: Gone is the life of me, laughing with youth;


s: Steals to learn all in the face of a woman,


s: Fair be the garden where their loves may dwell,


s: Safe be the highway where their feet may go;


s: Rich be the meadows where their hands may toil,


s: The fountains many where the good wines flow;


s: Full be their harvest bins with corn and oil,


s: And quick their hearts all wise delights to know;


s: Deep be your cups.  Our hearts the gods make light:


s: Drink, that their joy may never know good-night!


s: And bear some white bread from the shrine


s: The sea-kings swing their flags peak-high


s: Nor'land 'gainst Southland then she drove,


s: Their broadswords brake across their knees,


s: When Peace should ride with pennon blown,


s: And ripe is the fruit in the orchard tree--


s: But the stateliest flower is all for me--


s: To the Great Delight I have bent my knee--


s: Oh, warm is the nest that is built for me--


s: The richest grapes of the vine shall bleed


s: The kine shall pause in the pleasant mead,


s: The White North glows with a morning song


s: A loaf, a cup of water, and a bed had I,


s: And now, alone, I bid the world good-bye.


s: Of men, and naught to men had I to give.


s: By God's love I shall then begin to live.


s: Blows I have struck, and blows a-many taken,


s: Wrestling I've fallen, and I've rose up again;


s: Others went down though fighting might and main.


s: The fall it will be his; and though I strive and strain,


s: One blow will close my eyes, and I shall never waken.


s: When the Four Winds, the Wrestlers, strive with the Sun,


s: When the stars burn out, and the night cries


s: To the blind sea-reapers, and they rise,


s: When the ships sweep in with the tide to the shore,


s: And the little white boats return no more;


s: As the wave to the shore, as the dew to the leaf,


s: As the scent of a rose to the heart of a child,


s: My heart goeth out unto Thee--unto Thee!


s: The night is far spent and the day is at hand.


s: As the song of a bird to the call of a star,


s: As the anvil of man to the hammers of God,


s: The night is far spent and the day is at hand


s: To be young is to dream, and I dreamed no more;


s: I had smothered my heart as the fighter can:


s: I toiled, and I looked not behind or before--


s: I was stone; but I waked with the heart of a man.


s: By the soul at her lips, by the light of her eyes,


s: I dreamed a new dream as the sleeper can,


s: That the heavenly folly of youth was wise--


s: She came like a song, she will go like a star:


s: I shall tread the hills as the hunter can,


s: Mine eyes to the hunt, and my soul afar--


s: When one forgets, the old things are as dead things;


s: The grey leaves fall, and eyes that saw their May


s: Turn from them now, and voices that have said things


s: Wherein Life joyed, alas! are still to-day--


s: The world was noble, now its sordid casement


s: Glows but with garish folly, and the plains


s: Of rich achievement lie in mean abasement--


s: When one forgets, but maimed rites come after:


s: To mourn, be priest, be sexton, bear the pall,


s: Remembrance-robed, the while a distant laughter


s: Proclaims Love's ghost--what wonder skies should fall,


s: The new strife is like to the old strife


s: We hate, and old wrongs lift their faces,


s: Though we lose the green leaves of the first days,


s: Though the vineyards be trampled and red,


s: We know, in the gloom of our worst days,


s: Though the hearthstone bear but the one ember,


s: And the goal, is it not worth the winning,


s: Beaten and blown by the winds of the West,


s: But never to greet the green island of Rest.


s: Is that a truth when this may be a jest?


s: Still a vain twining and twisting of cords?


s: Swept down the spaces of querulous years,--


s: Of all things is with us, and sees us, and hears?


s: Finding the best of all, last of all, God?


s: Was silent, strove, gasped, then there fell


s: The mist creeps up o'er the sleepy town,


s: The white sails bend to the shuddering mere,


s: And the reapers have reaped, and the night is here.


s: The right grows weak in the strife with wrong,


s: The lilies of love have a crimson stain,


s: 'Neath the tremulous tread of the seraphim,


s: That have prayed for the peace of the Holy Grail?


s: The things that are, and that might have been


s: The days swing on, the sun glows and is gone,


s: The tides sweep scornfully the shore, as when


s: What we have known is but a bitter pledge


s: Through what great cycles hath this circumstance


s: Known not by thee or me, till it should come,


s: To our two lives, and yours would seem to me


s: Though you have wept to strike, and but have cried,


s: You could not, if you would, give what had been


s: Nay, not the Fates, look higher; is God blind?


s: That they saw but a little space before,


s: Two blasted lives, to make the watered land


s: The life that feeds upon itself is mad--


s: Have I not held but one poor broken reed


s: Mine is the sorrow, mine the prayerless pain:


s: With spectres seen and spectres all unseen


s: Who stand upon the threshold, at the gates,


s: Well do they who have felt the spectres' hands


s: And have not fled, but with firm faith have borne


s: Upheld the weary head, or fanned the brow


s: So let it be with us: perchance will come


s: One more dream in the slow night watches,


s: And his soul leans out to the sweet wild snatches


s: Peace, deep peace and a seraph's calling,


s: Sleeping now--will the vision bring her?


s: Hark, 'tis the sound of the passing bell!


s: And many a brig goes sailin' to its quay;


s: The day a sailor man comes back to town;


s: The tide that gets you quick to anchors down.


s: Ere their heart-strings have grown tense.


s: "Where do the stars grow, little Garaine?


s: "If you shut your eyes," quoth little Garaine,


s: To the orchard of suns and the garden of moons


s: "But you must speak soft," quoth little Garaine,


s: For a great bear prowls in the field of the stars,


s: "And the suns have the Children of Signs to guard,


s: You must not stumble, you must not speak,


s: "The gates are locked," quoth little Garaine,


s: The key of your heart it will open them all:


s: When you were born, my dear, when you were born,


s: A glorious Voice came singing from the sun,


s: And through the vales of Arcady danced one


s: Bearing your gifts: a magic all your own,


s: While tiny star-smiths, bending to your throne,


s: Into my heart, my dear, you flashed your way,


s: Proclaimed you dancing light and roundelay;--


s: I thank my generous Fates that you were born


s: I sang thee songs, gave gifts and songs most poor,


s: But they were signs; and now, for evermore,


s: Thou farest forth!  My heart is full of tears,


s: Thy champion I.  And now, no more for me


s: Thy face, thy smile: thou goest far afield,


s: And thou shalt find that Inn of God's delight,


s: Where thou wilt wait for us who say good night,


s: To thy sweet soul.  The rest--the rest, God knows,


s: Phyllis, I knew you once when I was young,


s: Do you, of all the songs, wild songs, before you flung,


s: Its hope, its pride; do you remember it?


s: It was the song that makes the world go round;


s: I bought it of a Boy: in scars I paid for it,


s: Did ye see the white cloud in the glint o' the sun?


s: That's the brow and the eye o' my bairnie.


s: Did ye ken the red bloom at the bend o' the crag?


s: That's the rose in the cheek o' my bairnie.


s: Did ye hear the gay lilt o' the lark by the burn?


s: That's the voice of my bairnie, my dearie.


s: Did ye smell the wild scent in the green o' the wood?


s: That's the breath o' my ain, o' my bairnie.


s: Sae I'll gang awa' hame, to the shine o' the fire,


s: Since through its streets and in its shade,


s: The joys that thrill, the ill that thralls,


s: My childhood's friend!   Well gathered are


s: Where have you wandered, child, since when


s: And I, whom your sweet childhood's trust,


s: Or, by some hearthstone, have you learned


s: That sips content, and straightway builds


s: Three times round has the sun gone, Jean,


s: The old sweet grace in her dreaming face


s: No!  She is there 'neath Northern skies,


s: Dove-eyed, caressed her cheek; 'twas e'en


s: To win his--ah, what's that?  'Tis freed,


s: And through the silence there is trilled


s: Rafe said, with hands behind him clasped,


s: Now wandering swallows build their nests


s: And the soft air was drunken with odours,


s: And the hills where the gods made their home?


s: And the Fates that build up and destroy?


s: In the lives and the language of mortals


s: And that make for great losses repayment


s: But a little brown sparrow came tripping


s: And a kingfisher poised, and was peering


s: Does he dream as I dream night and daytime


s: Is the sunlight, and not the drear shadow,


s: And down the skies white clouds are furled.


s: The briarrose shakes its sweet perfumes,


s: What time the fields were full of grain,


s: Hearts do not break, the world has said,


s: Though love lie stark and light be flown;


s: The slaves of some dead passion's fires,


s: Still sobbing in life's trembling wires.


s: And the piping of the linnet through the willow branches blown.


s: And, however far my soul may reach, your song is far above it;


s: And I falter while I follow as a child does in the dark.


s: In elder days, when all the world was silent save the beating


s: Of the tempest-gathered ocean 'gainst the grey volcanic walls,


s: Adown the ages there have come the sounds of that first singing,


s: Lifting up the weary-hearted in the fever of the time;


s: And I, who wait and wander far, felt all my soul upspringing,


s: To but touch those ancient forces and the energies sublime,


s: Of a song-shine that is holy and that quiets all my pain.


s: To remember that the noblest ends have ever noblest choice.


s: Most like some lone, faint, flickering star


s: Blind, Lord, so blind!   And I have knelt


s: Blind, Lord, so blind!   The world is blind;


s: Send sweet peace ere the last bell toll--


s: Over the hills they are waiting to greet us,


s: They who have scanned all the ultimate places,


s: Fathomed the world and the things that defeat us--


s: They have no thought for the toiling or spinning,


s: Striving for bread that is dust in the gaining,


s: They have won all that is well worth the winning--


s: Now they have done with the pain and the error,


s: Nevermore here shall the dark things assail them,


s: Void man's devices and dreams have no terror--


s: They have cast off all the strife and derision,


s: They have put on all the joy of our yearning;


s: Faint light before us, and shadows to grope in,


s: Stretching out hands to the starbeams to guide us,


s: Finding no place but our life's loves to hope in,


s: So we climb upward with eyes growing dimmer,


s: Looking back only to sigh through our smiling,


s: Wondering still if the palpitant glimmer


s: They whom we loved have gone over the mountains,


s: Hands beckon to us like wings of the swallow,


s: Voices we knew from delectable fountains


s: Some were so young when they left us, that morning


s: Seemed to have flashed and then died into gloaming,


s: Leaving us wearier 'neath the world's scorning,


s: Some, in the time when the manhood is bravest,


s: Strongest to bear and the hands to endeavour,


s: When all the life is the firmest and gravest,


s: Some, when the Springtime had grown to December,


s: Said, "It is done: now the last thing befall me;


s: I shall sleep well--ah! dear hearts but remember:


s: So the tale runs, and the end, who shall fear it?


s: Is it not better to sleep than to sorrow?


s: Tokens will come from the bourne as we near it--


s: How has the cloud fallen, and the leaf withered on the tree,


s: The lemontree, that standeth by the door?


s: The melon and the date have gone bitter to the taste,


s: The core of my heart, the mildew findeth it;


s: The garner empty standeth, the oven hath no fire,


s: O Nile that floweth deeply, hast thou not heard his voice?


s: His footsteps hast thou covered with thy flood?


s: As one who scattereth bread to the pigeons flying.


s: His purse was at his side, his mantle was for me,


s: For any who passeth were his mantle and his purse,


s: And now like a gourd is he withered from our eyes.


s: His friendship, it was like a shady wood--


s: Whither has he gone?--Who shall speak for us?


s: Who shall save us from the kourbash and the stripes?


s: The sakkia turneth no more; the oxen they are gone;


s: The young go forth in chains, the old waken in the night,


s: They waken and weep, for the wheel turns backward,


s: And the dark days are come again upon us--


s: Hast thou covered up his footsteps with thy flood?


s: The core of my heart, the mildew findeth it!


s: When his footsteps were among us there was peace;


s: War entered not the village, nor the call of war:


s: Now our homes are as those that have no roofs.


s: As a ship that lieth broken on the beach,


s: We buried it where no man robbed us, for his arm was strong.


s: Now are the jars empty, gold did not avail


s: To save our young men, to keep them from the chains.


s: God hath swallowed his voice, or the sea hath drowned it,


s: Or the Nile hath covered him with its flood;


s: Else would he come when our voices call.


s: His word was honey in the prince's ear--


s: There was never a path through the desert calm,


s: To the rim of the sky, and vanished again;


s: A white gazelle, but its eyes were dread


s: It passed in the dusk with a foot of fear,


s: And my heart was the heart of a stricken deer,


s: My days they withered like rootless things,


s: But at last, in the light of a rose-red day,


s: And wherever your footsteps fell there crept


s: A desert road which no sands have swept,


s: I followed you forth, and your beauty held


s: By that desert road to the blossoming plains


s: So, I set my course by the light of your eyes;


s: On the road I tread shine the love-starred skies,


s: Oh, the garden where to-day we, sow and to-morrow we reap;


s: Oh, the sakkia turning by the garden walls;


s: Oh, the onion-field and the date-tree growing,


s: And my hand on the plough--by the blessing of God;


s: Strength of my soul, O my brother, all's well!


s: Take thou thy flight, O soul! Thou hast no more


s: The gladness of the morning: ah, the perfumed roses


s: How did he wake me with his lips upon mine eyes,


s: How did the singers carol, the singers of my soul,


s: That nest among the thoughts of my beloved!


s: The windows of my soul are closed; no more


s: Mine eyes look gladly out to see my lover come.


s: Take flight, my soul, my love returns no more!


s: The bed of my love I will sprinkle with attar of roses,


s: The face of my love I will touch with the balm,


s: With the balm of the tree from the farthermost wood,


s: From the wood without end, in the world without end.


s: My love holds the cup to my lips, and I drink of the cup,


s: Fleet is thy foot: thou shalt rest by the etl tree;


s: Water shalt thou drink from the blue-deep well;


s: Allah send his gard'ner with the green bersim,


s: For thy comfort, fleet one, by the etl tree.


s: As the stars fly, have thy footsteps flown--


s: Deep is the well, drink, and be still once more;


s: Till the pursuing winds, panting, have found thee


s: The Tall Dakoon, the bridle rein he shook, and called aloud,


s: His Arab steed sprang down the mists which wrapped them like a


s: But up there rang the clash of steel, the clanking silver chain,


s: The war-cry of the Tall Dakoon, the moaning of the slain.


s: And long they fought--the Tall Dakoon, the children of the mist,


s: But he was swift with lance and shield, and supple of the wrist,


s: Yet if he rose, or if he fell, no man hath proof to show--


s: And wide the world beyond the mists, and deep the vales below!


s: Though he should be the peasant born, or be the Tall Dakoon,


s: She runs her race with the storm in her face,


s: In her household work no hand does shirk,--


s: Where the crank-shafts pitch in the iron ditch,


s: Where the boilers keep, in the sullen deep,


s: Where the reeking shuttle and booming bar


s: Keep time in the hum of the toiling hive,--


s: The men of the deep, while the travellers sleep,


s: In a world-wide trade, and a fame well made,


s: Who've sailed in the old ship Never Return,


s: They fitted foreign (God keeps the sea),


s: They stepped aboard (God breaks the wind).


s: And the babe that held by his father's knee,


s: And the lad will sail as his father sailed,


s: And he'll get his scrip in his father's ship,


s: And he'll sail to the North, and he'll make to the East,


s: And he'll pass outspent as his father went


s: There are hearts that bleed, there are mouths to feed,


s: And the rent's to pay on the quarter-day--


s: And you'll never regret, as your whistle you wet,


s: That you gave your "quid" to the lonely kid


s: So out with your golden shilling, my lad,


s: We are safe to-night near the Liberty Light,


s: I ride to the tramp and shuffle of hoofs


s: The clouds swing out from beyond the hills


s: And the Spirit of Winds creeps up and fills


s: His friends are his pipe, and dog, and tea,


s: And his mind, like the weeping myall-tree,


s: To the Wider Plains with the measureless bounds:


s: I would rather ride in those pleasant grounds,


s: Than to sit 'neath the spell of the voice


s: Of the sweetest seraph that you could find


s: And I hope that the Father, whose heart is kind,


s: That will give me freedom and change of air,


s: For I somehow think, in the Great Stampede,


s: Blooms and glows like an hour-old bride;


s: Time when the Kicking Horse shows its teeth,


s: When the sun with a million levers lifts


s: When the line-man's eyes, like the lynx's, scans


s: Like a maverick penned in a branding-yard.


s: "With the old man working his eyes and ears."


s: Till a demon rose on the mountain crest,


s: And drove at its shoulders angry spears,


s: That it rose from its sleep of a thousand years,


s: That its heaving breast broke free the cords


s: Of imprisoned snow as with flaming swords;


s: And, like a star from its frozen height,


s: An avalanche leaped one spring-tide night;


s: To smite the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: While the train drew on that he could not save;


s: It would drop, doom-deep, through the trap of death,


s: From the light above, to the dark beneath;


s: One more wreck where the tide is swirled,


s: The ceaseless falling, the countless groan,


s: The waft of a leaf and the fall of a stone;


s: Write not "Lost," with its grinding bans,


s: On life, or the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: There stands a girl!  She beholds the bridge


s: Learn from it, thinker, and priest, and churl.


s: Sharp in her ears and her heart the wail


s: Save that her prayer be not granted her.


s: The wind that comes from the frozen hill.


s: Her hair blows free and her eyes are full


s: Of the look that makes Heaven merciful--


s: Lest you wish to see how a brave girl dies!


s: Dies--not yet; for her firm hands clasped


s: The solid bridge, as the breach out-gasped,


s: And the rail that had held her downward swept,


s: Where old Carew in his snow-grave slept.


s: She speeds with the red light for a sign;


s: it trembles like lanceheads through her brain;


s: And round the curve, with a foot as fleet


s: As a sinner's that flees from the Judgment-seat,


s: She flies; and the signal swings, and then


s: Lifted her, bore her, where women brought


s: The flush to her cheek, and with kisses caught


s: The warm breath back to her pallid lips,


s: The life from lives that were near eclipse;


s: Blessed her, and praised her, and begged her name


s: That all of their kindred should know her fame;


s: Should tell how a girl from a cattle-ranche


s: Had wooed her and won her?  And here they are


s: For their homeward trip in a parlour car!


s: Which goes to show that Old Nature's plans


s: Were wrecked with the Bridge of the Hundred Spans.


s: Rebel? . . . I grant you,--my comrades then


s: The best long-shot in the Touchwood Camp;


s: There's your guide-book. . . . But, Jeanne Amray,


s: French and thoroughbred, proud and sweet,


s: That changed God's world to a tropic noon;


s: To ride, hunt, trail by the fire-fly lamp;


s: To track the moose to his moose-yard; pass


s: To hide from death in the drifting snow,


s: Ah, well, I speak of the days that were;


s: I lost her.  How are the best friends lost?


s: The lightning lines of our souls got crossed--


s: Till Death should call from his midnight sea.


s: Her eyes swam fire, and her cheek was red,


s: Her full breast heaved as she darkly said:


s: "The coyote hides from the wind and rain,


s: The wild horse flies from the hurricane,


s: Then went; and I laughed Jeanne's fears afar,


s: But I thought that wench was our evil star.


s: Be sure, when a woman's heart gets hard,


s: And last in battle 'gainst thousands sent,


s: Beaten their cause was, and hunted down,


s: Like to a moose in the chase full blown,


s: And while scouts searched for us night and day


s: When a sharp click-click awakes her brain


s: To life, with the needle-points of pain.


s: "Bring them up here, alive or dead!" . . .


s: But three hours more, and that next express


s: But the truest friend and the swiftest horse


s: Must ride that ride on a breakneck course;


s: And with truest horse and swiftest friend,


s: To the fast express was the winning end!


s: There stood in the doorway, Nell Latore--


s: The deep, strange woe, and the hurt surprise.


s: Something that stilled her; triumph fled


s: Shamed and fast, as the young wife said--


s: "He keeps his faith with an oath he swore,


s: Truth, truth only, should stand and say,


s: Scorching the past from her eyes and brow


s: "Trust me," she said, like an angel-call,


s: Ah, well for her that her arms were strong,


s: And cord and nerve like a knotted thong,


s: And well for Jeanne in her sharp distress,


s: Strove to warn her with awe-struck sign--


s: Strained till the Rock Hills came in sight;


s: "But two miles more," to herself she said,


s: "Then she shall have him alive, not dead!"


s: Her promise, and helped her to keep her word;


s: For, when the wheels of the fast express


s: Slowed through the gates of that wilderness,


s: Knew, as they stood by the pine-girt store,


s: The girl that had foiled them--Nell Latore.


s: Once through her fingers, standing there;


s: Backwards and forwards her brown arms play,


s: Forwards and backwards, till far and dim,


s: Backwards and forwards, and then, was gone


s: Who prays each night that, alive or dead,


s: Come God's own rest for her lonely head:


s: The Angel of the Cross Roads lead me out,


s: And say, "Thy feet shall follow in the trail


s: Of every tribe; and thou shalt pitch thy tent


s: Which hath thereon the alphabet of life;


s: Yea, thou shalt spell it out e'en as a child:


s: Gilfaron--The first--the language of the Garden, sire,


s: When man spoke with the naked searching thought,


s: The King--Speak so forthwith; come, show us to be wise.


s: Gilfaron--The Angel of the Cross Roads to me said:


s: "And wisdom comes by looking eye to eye,


s: For ye shall find the Lodges of the Wise,


s: The farthest Camp of the Delightful Fires,


s: By marching two by two, not one by one."


s: As one would stand who saw a sudden light


s: Flood down the world, and so encompass him


s: Brooded above and gladdened to his sight;


s: So stand I in the flame of one great thought,


s: That broadens to my soul from where she waits,


s: Who, yesterday, drew wide the inner gates


s: Her words come to me like a summer-song,


s: Blown from the throat of some sweet nightingale;


s: I stand within her light the whole day long,


s: And think upon her till the white stars fail:


s: I lift my head towards all that makes life wise,


s: Her presence; I am like a bird that hears


s: A long-lost traveller, when, by her grace,


s: I learn of her life's sweetness face to face,


s: And sweep the chords of sympathies profound.


s: Her regal nature calmly holds its height


s: Above life's din, while moving in its maze.


s: Unworthy thoughts would die within her sight,


s: And mean deeds creep to darkness from her gaze.


s: The word that gives her nobleness a crown.


s: Courage have I to face all bitter things,


s: That start out darkly from the rugged path,


s: Leading to life's achievement; not God's wrath


s: I did not know what life meant till I felt


s: Her hand clasp mine in compact to the end;


s: Till her dear voice said, "See, I am your friend!"


s: And at her feet, amazed, my spirit knelt.


s: And yet I spoke but hoarsely then my thought,


s: Her understanding all my meaning caught,


s: She read it line by line, and then there fell


s: The curtain on the shrine-and it is well.


s: Of her short letter; and I still can feel


s: The missive lies there,--but a few plain words:


s: A thought about a song, a note of praise,


s: The phrases like a psalm: a line that reads-


s: "I wish that you were coming!"  Why, it lies


s: Upon my heart like blossoms on the skies,


s: Like breath of balm upon the clover meads.


s: The perfumed words soothe me into a dream;


s: My thoughts float to her on the scented stream.


s: None ever climbed to mountain heights of song,


s: But felt the touch of some good woman's palm;


s: None ever reached God's altitude of calm,


s: But heard one voice cry, "Follow!" from the throng.


s: Above my reach, cold, in some dim recess,


s: Where never she should feel a warm caress


s: Of this my hand that serves her till I die.


s: I would not set her higher than my heart,--


s: Though she is nobler than I e'er can be;


s: Because she placed me from the crowd apart,


s: And with her tenderness she honoured me.


s: Strikes through the thousand lives that fold it round,


s: Sweeps to a song through elemental strife!


s: Through cycles infinite the forces wait,


s: No circumstance can warp them from their sphere;


s: They meet sometime; and this is God and Fate.


s: Which sanctifies "I will" and "I refuse,"


s: When Love speaks--Love, the peaceful end of Laws.


s: High as the eagle builds his lonely nest


s: That none may break the mother-eagle's rest;


s: My nest of love; Heaven's face alone bends down


s: To give it sunlight, starlight; while is blown


s: None shall affright, no harm may come to her,


s: Whom I have set there in that lofty home:


s: Love's eye is sleepless; I could feel the stir


s: E'en of God's cohorts, if they chanced to come.


s: I am her shield; I would that I might prove


s: WHEN thou makest a voyage to the stars, go thou blindfolded;


s: and carry not a sword, but the sandals of thy youth.


s: SEEK thou the Angel of the Cross Roads ere thou goest upon a


s: journey, and she will give thee wisdom at the Four Corners.


s: Behold, now, I have touched the highest point


s: With this sweet Present the ungenerous Past,


s: With love the wounds that struck stark in my soul;


s: With hope life's aching restlessness and dole;


s: Where sleeps, death-silent, one that left her side


s: Ere he had reached the flow of manhood's tide,


s: So stood I by my life whence Life had fled.


s: But Life came back at Love's clear trumpet-call,


s: And at Love's feet I cast the useless pall.


s: The rest--what does it matter? Soon the night


s: Will come to whelm us, then the morning chime.


s: One hand clasps ours, one heart believes us true;


s: And strives through Love to teach us what to say?


s: Which blows in from the world, there standeth one


s: Who draws Love's curtains closely everywhere,


s: As God folds down the banners of the sun.


s: I felt her fan my shoulder touch to-night.


s: Soft act, faint touch, no meaning did it bear


s: Of a new feeling cross my soul's clear sight.


s: To me what matter that the players played!


s: They grew upon the instant like the toys


s: Which dance before the sight of idle boys;


s: I could not hear the laughter that they made.


s: Swept was I on that breath her hand had drawn,


s: Through the dull air, into a mountain-space,


s: Where shafts of the bright sun-god interlace,


s: And straightway crying, "O my heart, rejoice!"


s: Far up the sky the sunset glamour spreads,


s: The sea grows calm, the waves the sun has kissed


s: Strike white hands softly 'gainst the rocky heads.


s: So calm the world, so still the city lies,


s: So warm the haze that spreads o'er everything;


s: And yet where, there, Peace sits as Lord and King,


s: Havoc will reign when next the sun shall rise.


s: The wheels pause only for a little space,


s: And in the pause they gather strength again.


s: 'Tis but the veil drawn over Labour's face,


s: O'er strife, derision, and the sin of men.


s: My heart with a sweet inner joy o'erflows


s: To nature's peace, and a kind silence knows.


s: But see: my lady comes.  I hear her feet


s: Upon the sward; she standeth by my side.


s: If in his day they two had chanced to meet.


s: And I, tossed by the tide of circumstance,


s: Lifting weak hands against a host of swords,


s: Paused suddenly to hear her gentle words


s: Making powerless the lightnings of mischance.


s: That one might sing behind his prison bars,


s: I, who it seemed fate singled out for wrongs--


s: She smiled on me as smile the nearest stars.


s: From her deep soul I draw my peace, and thus,


s: One wreath of rhyme I weave for both of us.


s: In their high place, immortal on the earth,


s: My song might be a thing to crown her worth,--


s: 'Tis but a pathway for the feet of Love.


s: But since she walks where I am fain to sing,


s: Since she has said, "I listen, O my friend!"


s: And I am proud, yes, prouder than a king.


s: They smile a welcome though my best hope dies,


s: Will she, for whom my heart has built a shrine,


s: Take from me all that makes this world divine?


s: Art's use what is it but to touch the springs


s: To guide the feet of peasants and of kings!


s: Thoughts alien to thoughts kindred, and to merge


s: The lines of colour that should not diverge,


s: And give the sun a window to shine through!


s: What is it but to make the world have heed


s: For what its dull eyes else would hardly scan,


s: To draw in a stark light a shameless deed,


s: To cherish honour, and to smite all shame,


s: To lend hearts voices, and give thoughts a name!


s: But wherein shall Art work?   Shall beauty lead


s: It captive, and set kisses on its mouth?


s: Shall it be strained unto the breast of youth,


s: And in a garden live where grows no weed?


s: Shall it, in dalliance with the flaunting world,


s: Play but soft airs, sing but sweet-tempered songs?


s: Veer lightly from the stress of all great wrongs,


s: And lisp of peace 'mid battle-flags unfurled?


s: Shall it but pluck the sleeve of wantonness,


s: But wave its golden wand at sin's duress,


s: And say, "Ah me! ah me!" to fallow crime?


s: Nay, Art serves Truth, and Truth with Titan blows,


s: Strikes fearless at all evil that it knows.


s: The substance of my dreams, the waking plan


s: Of practised thought; I can no measure scan,


s: But thou work'st in me like eternal law.


s: Richer than prelates pray for with their beads;


s: If some should bring before me frankincense,


s: And make a pleasant fire to greet mine eyes;


s: Gifts fairer than a seraph could devise:


s: I would, my sovereign, kneel to thee and say,


s: "It all is thine; thou showedst me the way."


s: Thee on the brow, or smooth thy silken hair?


s: Never close down thine eyelids with Love's prayer,


s: Or fold my arms about my new-found bliss?


s: Shall I who cry to all, "Come not within


s: The bounds where I my lady have enshrined;


s: One dear caress, the rich exchequer find


s: Of thy soft cheek?  If thou command, my lips


s: Shall find surcease but at thy fingertips.


s: Why do I love thee? Shall my answer run:


s: Because that thou hast beauty, noble place,


s: Because of some sweet glamour in thy face,


s: And eyes that shame the clear light of the sun?


s: Shall I exclaim upon thy snow-white hands,


s: Challenge the world to show a gentler mien,


s: Call down the seraphs to attest, the sheen


s: Upon thy brow is borrowed from their lands?


s: Shall I trace out a map of all thy worth,


s: Parcel thy virtues, say, "For this and this


s: I learned to love her; here new charms had birth;


s: Nay, lady, though I love thee, I make pause


s: Before thy question, and know naught to say;


s: Love led me, nor e'en register Love's cause.


s: What love does for me; what from Love it gains;


s: Canst thou, indeed, not tell what wrought in thee


s: Canst thou not say, "'Twas this that made decree


s: Of conquest; here thy soul with mine did meet?"


s: The shrine where thou hast blessed and I adore?


s: Where I can feel the end of things complete,


s: Where no hot breath of ill can scorch the brow.


s: 'Tis man's breath kills the spring's soft-petaled flower--


s: Ye give a refuge for the heart of youth.


s: When feebled eyes search for forgotten springs;


s: Ye fan the breeze that turns the moulded page,


s: And carry back the soul to ardent things.


s: Poor payment can I give, but here engage


s: Night after night I watched one quiet star


s: Shine 'tween my curtain and the window-bar


s: Until I slept, and made my sleep more mild?


s: To me, o'er untrod years, o'er varying days,


s: To give me courage, as from phase to phase


s: Of youth's desires I passed to deeds of men?


s: That I in blindness wandered from my path;


s: That I wooed Folly with her mumming smile,


s: Another hand touched mine with sadness there,


s: And saved me till I saw thy face appear.


s: That with its touch I have walked all my days;


s: Soft as a pad of rose-leaves, and as pure


s: As upraised palms of angels, seen in dreams:


s: And soothed by it, to stand as it beseems


s: A man who strives to conquer and endure.


s: A woman's hand!--there is no better thing


s: It hath been more to this lame life of mine,


s: When faith was weakness, and despair was king.


s: Man more than all men, Thou wast glad to bless


s: Converse with things that are or things that were;


s: Whene'er I seek life's hidden folds to stir,


s: And watch the inner to the outer rolled.


s: Hast thou not felt her sunshine on thy face?


s: In me hast thou not learned some signs to trace


s: Of that dear soul who calleth me her son?


s: Found favour, from her it was gathered most.


s: Was like a watch-fire on a rock-bound coast.


s: Hast with Love's holy chrism touched my brow.


s: The tide runs counter, and the wind is high;


s: I see no channel through the rocks ahead.


s: The bending sails!  Look, I shall quaff a cup


s: To Fate, while the wild ocean swallows up


s: The shipwrecked youth, the man who lives in him."


s: She said: "But thou hast valour, dear, too much


s: For such as this; thou hast grave embassy,


s: Given with thy birth; would'st thou thine honour smutch


s: With coward failing?  Dear son, breast the sea."


s: Firm-purposed from that hour, through wind and wave,


s: I brought my message till thou shelter gave.


s: When first I saw thee, lady, straightway came


s: The thought that somehow, somewhere, destiny,


s: Through blinding paths of happiness or blame,


s: Would bend my way of life, my soul to thee.


s: Nay, you were but a star-gleam in my sky.


s: You gave no thought, and I passed not away;


s: But like some traveller in a deep defile


s: I walked in darkness even through the day:


s: Pointed the hour that waked me from my trance.


s: I did not will this thing.    I set my face


s: How knew I thou shouldst roll away the stone


s: From hopes long buried, by thy tender grace?


s: What does it matter that we make resolve?


s: The Fates laugh at us as they sit and spin;


s: We cannot tell what Good is, or what Sin,


s: Or why old faiths in mist of pain dissolve.


s: Waiting with patient hands on shield and sword,


s: Till Time has struck the letters of one word--


s: Word of such high-born worth: triumphant Love,


s: May have clear passport over land and sea,


s: And make the subject sacred as his king;


s: As waits the warrior for a pontiff's palm,


s: Upraised in blessing o'er his high emprise;


s: And bows his mailed forehead prayerful-wise,


s: That should make impotent man's "I forget,"


s: And make God's "I remember" more divine:


s: Which should command at need the homage of


s: But yestermorn my marshalled hopes were held


s: To-day I am as birds that leave the cage


s: To seek green fastnesses they knew of eld;


s: Within his golden beaver, and whose hand


s: Clenches with pride his tried and conquering brand,


s: A touch that speaks reveille to my soul;


s: To enfold the world and circumscribe each pole.


s: Slow let me speak it: From her lips and brow


s: Or angels whisper down the shadeless blue!


s: That speak through quivering lips from heart to heart;


s: I have come nearer to thy greater worth,


s: For thou hast raised me from the common earth.


s: I can say now, "There was the confluence


s: Of all Love's tributaries; there the sea


s: And there my coarser touched her finer sense.


s: Poor though I am in my own sight, I know


s: That thou hast winnowed, sweet, what best I am;


s: Hath fallen as on frost-bound earth the snow.


s: It hideth the harsh furrows that the wheels


s: Of heavy trials made in Life's champaign;


s: Upon its pure unfolding sunshine steals,


s: And there is promise of the spring again.


s: And poise my fealty o'er the head of Death."


s: If Death should come to me to-night, and say:


s: One little day with this thy love to live,


s: Then, my embrace; or, leave her for alway,


s: And thou shalt walk a full array of years;


s: Upon thee shall the world's large honours fall,


s: And praises clamorous shall make for all


s: Thy strivings rich amends."  If in my ears


s: Thou saidst, "I love thee!" I would straightway cry,


s: "A thousand years upon this barren earth


s: Is death without her: for that day I die,


s: And count my life for it of poorest worth."


s: Love's reckoning is too noble to be told


s: By Time's slow fingers on its sands of gold.


s: As in a foreign land one threads his way


s: 'Mid alien scenes, knowing no face he meets;


s: And, hearing his name spoken, turns and greets


s: With wondering joy a friend of other days;


s: As in the pause that comes between the sound


s: Which makes his name seem in its sweetness drowned


s: Of glad surprise, when first thy lips let fall


s: The name I lightly carried when a child,


s: That I shall rise to at the judgment call.


s: I have walked in a world of many dreams,


s: And noble souls beside the shining streams


s: Of fancy have with beckonings led me on.


s: Their faces oft, mayhap, I could not see,


s: Only their waving hands and noble forms.


s: Sometimes there sprang between quick-gathered storms,


s: Women with smiling eyes and star-spun hair


s: Spake gentle things, bade me look back to view


s: The deeds of the great souls who climbed the stair


s: Immortal, and for whom God's manna grew:


s: And all who set rich wine upon the lees.


s: Men of brave stature came and placed their hands


s: Upon my head, and, lifting shining swords,


s: Drew through the air signs mightier than words,


s: Glimpses I caught of faces that have come


s: Through crowding ages; whisperings of songs;


s: And prayers for the redress of human wrongs


s: They were but shadows, but they lent me joy;


s: The world with hands raised, evil to destroy,


s: Who live but for the honour of their race.


s: They taught me to strike at no idol raised,


s: Worshipped a space, then left to be dispraised.


s: Stedfastness, shall we find it, then, at all?


s: Is it that as the winds blow north and south,


s: So must be praises from the loud world's mouth,


s: Which on its heroes in their glory fall?


s: Because the voice grows stiller, or the arm


s: The shoulders sink beneath new-rising cause,


s: And the fine thought has lost its moving charm;


s: Their heads, and haste to mock the failing one,


s: Who in his strength could make the nations quake;


s: In this full time we have seen mockers run


s: Who saith thy hand is weak, King Tennyson?


s: Who crieth, See, the monarch is grown old,


s: His sceptre falls?  Oh, carpers rude and bold,


s: You who have fed upon the gracious benison


s: Dispraise the sweet-strung harp, grown tremulous


s: You cannot tear the laurels from his brow.


s: He lives above your idle vaunts and fears,


s: Enthroned where all master souls stand up


s: In their high place, and fill the golden cup,


s: God-blest for kings, with wine of endless years,


s: And greet him one with them. O brotherhood


s: Of envious dullards, ye are wroth with good.


s: Why, let them rail! God's full anointed ones


s: Have heard the world exclaim, "We know you not."


s: They who by their souls' travailing have brought


s: Yet, who can stay the passage of the stars?


s: Who can prevail against the thunder-sound?


s: The wire that flashes lightning to the ground


s: So, men may strike quick stabs at Caesar's worth,--


s: They only make his life an endless force,


s: 'Scaped from its penthouse, flashing through the earth,


s: And 'whelming those who railed about his Gorse.


s: Men's moods disturb not those born truly great:


s: They know their end; they can afford to wait.


s: And so life passed. I lived from year to year


s: With shadows, the strong warders of desire;


s: I learned through them to seek the golden fire


s: That hides itself in Song's bright hemisphere.


s: I made strange pictures, conjured images


s: From my deep longings; wrote the passages


s: Of life inwrought with half-glad wonderings.


s: To say to him, "Behold, at last surcease


s: Of thy unrest has come, therefore, rejoice"?


s: Here set I down some dreams that come again,


s: The sheeted lightning, like a golden door,


s: Swings to and fro to let earth-angels in.


s: Most bravely has she sailed o'er every sea,


s: Withstood the storm-rack, spurned the sullen reef;


s: Cherished her strength; and held her guerdon fief


s: To him who saith, "My ship comes back to me!


s: Behold, I sent her forth a stately thing,


s: To Fortunate Isles, and where the silver sands


s: Girdle a summer sea; that she might bring


s: My bride, who wist not that I loved her so--


s: A ship in port; well-crossed the harbour-bar;


s: The hawser swung, the grinding helm at rest;


s: Hands clasping hands, and eyes with eager zest


s: Mark how he proudly treads the whitened deck!


s: "My bride, my bride, my lone soul's best beloved,


s: Come forth, come forth!  Where art thou, Isobel?--


s: Pallid, and wan!  Lord, hath it thus befell


s: This is but dust; where has the spirit roved?


s: O death-cold bride! for this, then, have I strove?


s: O phantom ship, O loveless wraith of Love!"


s: And a soft-curtained room, where ruddy flakes


s: Of fame fall free, in liquid light that slakes


s: The soft desire of one cold, paleface: lo,


s: Close-pressed sweet lips, and eyes of violet,


s: That are filled up as with a sudden fear--


s: A storm's prelude upon the expectant mere.


s: Who ever see in life's chance or mischance.


s: And he who saw, what could he do but say,


s: "Fold up the tents; the camp is struck; away!


s: Vain victor who rides not in rest his lance!"


s: Beside the hearthstone where the flame-flakes fell,


s: A night wind-swept and bound about with blee


s: White restless hands that falter, then begin


s: And life, and death, and love, and weariness,


s: And unrequital, thrid the maze of sound;


s: And one voice saith, "Behold, the lost is found!"


s: Out of the night there comes a wanderer,


s: Who waits upon the threshold, and is still;


s: And listens, and bows down his head, until


s: His grief-drawn breath startles the heart of her.


s: The victor vanquished, at her feet he fell,


s: Two of one name; they standing where the sun


s: Makes shadows in the orchard-bloom of spring;


s: "Raise thy pale face and wondrous eyes to mine;


s: Let not thy poor lips quiver in such pain;


s: Too young and blindly thou hast drunk the wine


s: Crushed from the lees of love.  Be strong again.


s: Trail back thy golden hair from thy broad brow,


s: And raise thy lily neck like some tall tower,


s: So it but holds its height, heeding not how.


s: The noblest find their way o'er paths of ire


s: To the clear summit of God's full desire."


s: I think in that far time when Gabriel came


s: And gave short speech to Mary sweet and wise,


s: That when the faint fear faded from her eyes,


s: And they were filled up with a sudden flame


s: Of the Lord's garden; saying: "This is sent


s: And it shall bloom till all be consummate."


s: Lo, then he passed. She, musing where she sate,


s: Felt all her being moved in manner wondrous mild;


s: Then, laying 'gainst her bosom the white flower,


s: She bowed her head, and said, "It is God's dower."


s: Dreams, only dreams. They sprang from loneliness


s: To reach the soul that now in golden fire


s: Of cherished song I pray for and caress.


s: I wandered through the world with longing gaze,


s: Of changeless love, and bid her make appraise.


s: I knew that some day I should look within


s: The ever-deepening distance of her eyes;


s: And passing near me, pointed down the road


s: Of light lives in the brightness of the day;


s: Yet what am I that thou shouldst ope the gate


s: Of thy most sweet completeness; and should spend


s: Rich values of thy life on me thy friend,