The White Canoe Part 2

Where are the cunning hands that fas.h.i.+oned thee?

Where are the stern brown lips that placidly Drew comfort from thee 'neath the towering mast Of some old pine; or, patient to the last, Toiled over thee? Perchance thou wert a G.o.d Wors.h.i.+pped and feared by those whose light feet trod The dim green aisles of that cathedral vast: But now thine incense rises, and I see The still north land, and hear the otter dive, The rapids calling, and the great trout leap; And smoking here it seemeth like to me As if some dead hands touched the hands alive, In token of the fellows.h.i.+p we keep.

Advenit Amor.

Silence again, sweetheart, the shadows grow, I watch the white stars climb into the sky, Hear the dull rapids' softened lullaby In smothered thunder, brooding sweet and low; Catch in the east the pallid silver glow Of a new moon, that floating pure and clear In perfect promise of the fuller sphere, Dips this dim world in glory, mounting slow.

Not always had the heavens such a charm; Last year the rapids were not half so sweet, The wind had not such rythmic melody, Till, Love, love came, and fanned the cold 'heart warm, Attuned to music chords still incomplete, And set the whole night whispering of thee.

A Song of Life.

It came through the fields of air, It came through the silent night, Borne low on a sigh of a western breeze, Like the far-off voice of tumultuous seas, In a tempest's waning might.

I heard the wonderful song, It made its home in my breast; The music of all the world was there, it hushed all murmur of pain or care, A psalm of infinite rest.

Ever more clear and pure, Ever more strong and sweet; Till some kindred chord in the outer air, In response to the melody throbbing there, Sang "come" to my restless feet.

I heard the mysterious call, I rose and followed it straight, O'er many a mount, through many a dale, Past blazing meadow and shady vale, To the sunset's roseate gate.

And never a halt or stop, Till the song I could scarcely hear; It had sunk to an echo, faint and dim, Of some melodious wonderful hymn, So I knew that the end was near.

Lower and fainter yet, And more imperceptible still, As I journeyed on; but I climbed one day, With courage that faltered, so steep the way, The crest of a long, long hill.

There, far as the eye could scan, Was naught but the fathomless deep, While down at the crag's great base the waves Crept in and out of the blind black caves And whispered ever of sleep.

I looked at my hair, 'twas white; My hands were bony and long; The years of my life had vanished and fled, Though they seemed but days that had quickly sped In pursuit of that fugitive song.

Then out of the ocean's heart Came swelling a grand refrain, And through it there pulsed an angelic voice: "Now weary mortal, rejoice, rejoice, Thou hast come to thy rest again;

"The song that stole into thy breast Was the song of an earthly love, It was but an echo, faint, yet true, Of that mightier song that is pealing through The musical halls above."

Then p.r.o.ne on the storm-swept bluff, My face to a golden sky, The breezes played with my toil-stained dress, And I waited and prayed in my loneliness To taste of the worst, and die.

So out of the void, a sound From the vast dim s.p.a.ce, a breath That fanned the flickering flame of life Till it flared, went out, and ended the strife-- I slept, and the sleep was Death.

Voices.

My heart within me stirred with a nameless trouble and dread Of evil that should betide, and a voice in my bosom said: "What pause from this weary toiling, what end to this endless strife?

The day bringeth naught but labor, and death follows hard upon life; Ever I see the false one triumphing over the true, The foul outbalance the fair, the many oppressed by the few.

Answer me, mortal master, after the battle is fought, Six feet of earth for a couch, mayhap a stone, then--what?"

How could I answer my heart? When suddenly in my breast There fell a hush as of a wind sinking at eve to rest; The voice within me was stilled, and I felt its murmuring cease, For somewhere out of infinity an angel had whispered "Peace."

Fifty Years Hence.

Again 'twas night, and on the wave The moon in silver lay; Vanished had all the petty cares And troubles of the day.

No sound in all the wide expanse, No rustle in the wood, Save when some evening zephyr stirred In whispers on the flood.

Breathless and motionless she stood, Unquestioningly dumb, Twas as a world were waiting there-- Waiting for G.o.d to come.

Then back, through long dead years, her heart Winged its reflective flight, To ponder childhood's days again, To muse on past delight.

A mist came o'er her eyes, her gaze Had spanned the wide gulf o'er, Old voices spake, old scenes recurred, Old friends.h.i.+p lived once more.

Serene the skies, no fear, no care, No tempest and no storm, Wild birds and suns.h.i.+ne in the air, And south winds sweet and warm.

Ah! perfect youth, ah! perfect life, Free as a cloud above, Ah! fount whence spring the purest hopes, Whence flows the purest love.

For if ambition's wildest dreams Success should crown, in truth The cup she holds were tasteless still Beside the wine of youth.

All silent now, ah! for the power Again those tales to tell, To wake afresh those sleeping chords That memory loves so well.

But, echoing clear and low, those notes, That song, we still may hear, For faintly yet its music floats In old age atmosphere.

Farewell to the White Canoe.

The summer is dead, for the air is chill, And winter is nigh again; The maples ablaze on each ruddy hill Are dripping with crimson rain; Black dusk comes hard on the steps or day, The breath of the south that blew, Has turned to the north, and bids me say Farewell to the White Canoe.

How wildly she leapt at each measured stroke, And mounted the curling swell; How the white foam hung at her bows like smoke, When the great waves rose and fell; No terror for her could a tempest find, No wrath in a frowning sky; Her birth was the union of sea and wind, Her life is a mystery.

She swam like a ghost through the ghostly night, That bowed but to her as queen; She sped like a wraith in the silver light.

Or a spirit of things unseen: As a leaf in the autumn she sank to sleep, By babbling ripples caressed, And lay in the arms of the cradling deep, On the river's responsive breast.

The summer is dead, and alas! no more May we wander, alone and free, By still deep pools and the shadowy sh.o.r.e, And the rapids' soft lullaby; Farewell, farewell, to the peace that lies In that solitude deep and blue; An answering voice from the great stream sighs, "Farewell to the White Canoe."