Some Verses Part 2

I dreamed that love came, as the oak trees grow, By the chance dropping of a tiny seed; And then from moon to moon with steady speed, Tho' torn by winds and chilled with heedless snow, The sap of pulsing life would upward flow, 'Till in its might the heavens themselves could read Portents of power that they must learn to heed.

This was my dream--the waking proved not so-- For love came like a flower, and grew apace; I saw it blossom tenderly and frail Till the dear Spring had run its eager race, Then the rough wind tossed wide the petals red; The seeds fell far in soil beyond my pale.

I know not, now, if love be lost, or dead.

EVENING AT WAs.h.i.+NGTON

The purple stretches of the evening sky Lean to the fair white city waiting here, Flecking with gold the marble's lifted tier, Down the blue marsh where crows to Southward fly.

Flanked by dim ramparts, where the tide dreams by, High from the city's heart, a lifted spear, In its straight splendour makes the heavens seem near, Symbol of man-made force that shall not die.

To the tall crest we gaze in self-command, a.s.sured the world's our own and we may dare To raise our Babel thro' forbidden aisles And hold the skirt of knowledge in our hand, Great in our moment, spurn the world's despair; While Heaven looks down through calm unmeasured miles.

LOVE'S KISS

Kiss me but once--and in that s.p.a.ce supreme My whole dark life shall quiver to an end, Sweet Death shall see my heart and comprehend That life is crowned--and in an endless gleam Will fix the colour of the dying stream That Life and Death may meet as friend with friend An endless immortality to blend; Kiss me but once, and so shall end my dream.

And then Love heard me and bestowed his kiss, And straight I cried to Death: I will not die!

Earth is so fair when one remembers this; Life is but just begun! Ah, come not yet!

The very world smiles up to kiss the sky And in the grave one may forget--forget.

THE SCARLET THREAD

The sun rose dimly thro' the pallid rain, Dear Heart--and have we strength to face the day?

The times and life alike are old and grey, All worn with long monotonies of pain.

Lo--we are working out the curse of Cain, Who never felt the fire of pa.s.sion's sway.

Ah--show us crimson in some tragic way That we may live!--Fate laughed in her disdain.

A thread of scarlet clashed upon mine eyes Hung for a moment and was swept behind, And blankly I beheld the hopeless skies For day by contrast now is grimmest night-- Remembering light as do the newly blind I pray for death to hide the bitter sight.

AUTUMN

The ruddy banners of the Autumn leaves Toss out a challenge to the waiting snows, Where Winter stalks from o'er the mountain rows; This fiery blaze his onward march receives, A mock defence his coward heart believes, And turns him sulking to his moated close.

Now Man the confidence of Nature knows, And feels the mighty heart that loves and grieves.

Not as in rude young March or hoyden June, Hard in their beauty, laughing thro' their days; Their fine indifference is out of tune.

In the dark paths we tread in hope and fear Look we to Autumn and her gracious ways, The great last swan-song of the dying year.

THE TIDE OF THE HEART

Love, when you leave me, as with moon-bent tide The glad waves leave the beaches of my heart; Slowly and indolently they depart Ripple by ripple, till the light has died And left the naked sands forlorn to bide The sea's return. No might of human power Can fill the empty waste, nor take one hour From that long durance in Earth's prison wide.

But when you come again, and hold your hands Dear hands, outstretched to take me, then, the waves, They turn, full flooded on the fainting sands, And all the dimpled hollows smile again, And brimmed with life, the deep mysterious caves Forget the distant night of lonely pain.

POEMS

DOES THE PEARL KNOW?

Does the pearl know, that in its shade and sheen The dreamy rose, and tender wavering green, Are hid the hearts of all the ranging seas-- That Beauty weeps for gifts as fair as these?

Does it desire aught else when its rare blush Reflects Aurora in the morning's hush, Encircling all perfection can bestow-- Does the pearl know?

Does the bird know, when thro' the waking dawn He soaring sees below the silvered lawn, And weary men who wait to watch the day Steal o'er the heights where he may wheel and stray?

Can he conceive his fee divine to share, As a free joyous peer with sun and air, And pity the sad things that creep below-- Does the bird know?

Does the heart know, when filled to utter brim, The least quick throb, a sacrificial hymn To a great G.o.d who scorns the frown of Jove That here it finds the awful power of love?

Think you the new-born babe in first wise sleep Fathoms the gift the heavens have bade him keep Yet if this be--if all these things are so-- Does the heart know?

IN AUTUMN

The gold-red leaves have burned To their last great glow, and died And underfoot By the strong oak's root They are seized by the angry wind and spurned And into a common grave have turned For Summer--warm and wide.

A year must a sapling wage Its life with the sun and rain, Then its tender youth Without reck or ruth Is frozen and beaten to harsh old age By a stroke of Nature mother's rage And the st.u.r.dy fight seems vain.

It wails to the oak o'erhead As the coffin-cold wraps round "The end of life Is toil and strife And the secret of being, I have found Is a seed in the wind and a log on the ground.

I hope I will soon be dead."

"Peace little struggler--sleep"-- And the great oak croons a song, "Death is but night And a cradle white For one dark s.p.a.ce may the shadows creep, Then Spring will rise from her dungeon keep And life wake, wise and strong."

WAITING FOR DAY

Sweet Lady Night is paling white.