Helen of Troy and Other Poems Part 2

The Song Maker

I made a hundred little songs That told the joy and pain of love, And sang them blithely, tho' I knew No whit thereof.

I was a weaver deaf and blind; A miracle was wrought for me, But I have lost my skill to weave Since I can see.

For while I sang--ah swift and strange!

Love pa.s.sed and touched me on the brow, And I who made so many songs Am silent now.

Wild Asters

In the spring I asked the daisies If his words were true, And the clever little daisies Always knew.

Now the fields are brown and barren, Bitter autumn blows, And of all the stupid asters Not one knows.

When Love Goes

I

O mother, I am sick of love, I cannot laugh nor lift my head, My bitter dreams have broken me, I would my love were dead.

"Drink of the draught I brew for thee, Thou shalt have quiet in its stead."

II

Where is the silver in the rain, Where is the music in the sea, Where is the bird that sang all day To break my heart with melody?

"The night thou badst Love fly away, He hid them all from thee."

The Wayfarer

Love entered in my heart one day, A sad, unwelcome guest; But when he begged that he might stay, I let him wait and rest.

He broke my sleep with sorrowing, And shook my dreams with tears, And when my heart was fain to sing, He stilled its joy with fears.

But now that he has gone his way, I miss the old sweet pain, And sometimes in the night I pray That he may come again.

The Princess in the Tower

I

The Princess sings:

I am the princess up in the tower And I dream the whole day thro'

Of a knight who shall come with a silver spear And a waving plume of blue.

I am the princess up in the tower, And I dream my dreams by day, But sometimes I wake, and my eyes are wet, When the dusk is deep and gray.

For the peasant lovers go by beneath, I hear them laugh and kiss, And I forget my day-dream knight, And long for a love like this.

II

The Minstrel sings:

I lie beside the princess' tower, So close she cannot see my face, And watch her dreaming all day long, And bending with a lily's grace.

Her cheeks are paler than the moon That sails along a sunny sky, And yet her silent mouth is red Where tender words and kisses lie.

I am a minstrel with a harp, For love of her my songs are sweet, And yet I dare not lift the voice That lies so far beneath her feet.

III

The Knight sings:

O princess cease your dreams awhile And look adown your tower's gray side-- The princess gazes far away, Nor hears nor heeds the words I cried.

Perchance my heart was overbold, G.o.d made her dreams too pure to break, She sees the angels in the air Fly to and fro for Mary's sake.

Farewell, I mount and go my way, --But oh her hair the sun sifts thro'-- The tilts and tourneys wait my spear, I am the Knight of the Plume of Blue.

When Love Was Born

When Love was born I think he lay Right warm on Venus' breast, And whiles he smiled and whiles would play And whiles would take his rest.