Songs of Womanhood Part 6

The Captive

I want to take my heart away, Break it away from the branch where it clings; I want to quit the barren spray Where now no throstle sings.

The b.u.t.terflies have long since gone, Gone to the bough where the gay blossoms are; The sinking sun now bears the dawn To other lands afar.

I want to break my heart away, Tear it away from the bough where it grows; O for the light of a free new day, On the hill beyond the snows!

Possession's Anguish

One tree in my garden, one tree Out of all the forests of the world: One little s.h.i.+p afloat upon the sea, One sh.e.l.l beneath the waves, flawless and pearled:

One rose on my bower, one rose For a day to scatter on the gra.s.s: One s.h.i.+fting star agleam where the wind blows, One gem upheld, that all may share who pa.s.s:

One heart to be ached for, one heart Out of all the bosoms that are here: One fragile hope alive, the starver's part, One joy already faint and pale with fear:

One flame in the darkness, one flame For the night to sever with a breath: One poor faith fettered to a mortal name-- And over all, the beating wings of death....

Treasures of Poverty

I sometimes watch the lips of other women And think of all the kisses they have known; I sometimes touch the hands of other women In wonder at the memoried palms they own....

The kiss upon my brow was sadly given, The hands I held but once were not my own; And yet I would not change what I was given For all the kisses I have never known....

Nor would I change again my heart's white desert; O wondrous are the meetings I have known, And strange the eyes that seek me in the desert, Then smiling vanish to rejoin their own....

Solitude

Now empty lies the house. The languid air Unstirred by voices creeps from room to room; No footstep falls upon the silent stair, All's still and dark. In every nook the tomb Of some thought lies; remembrance everywhere Lingers to seek a joy no longer there; And, as I sit here lonely in the gloom, I ask myself which evil I would choose: Never to have, or else to have, and lose.

The Heart Asleep

Within me now my heart's asleep And none shall wake it more; The silence of all pain is deep Within me. Now my heart's asleep, It dreams of joys it might not keep; And nothing looks before Within me now. My heart's asleep And none shall wake it more.

Adversity

Black winds of the world!

There is pity in your breath, Against wild tempest weaponing.

Grey clouds of the sky!

You are gentle in your shade, Against night-darkness tempering.

Red wounds of the heart!

There is mercy in your blood, Against hope-murder hardening.

Pale swoons of the soul!

You are tender in your pangs Against dire death emboldening.

Faces of the Dead

I dreamed that, wandering by a river's bank, I came across a lonely s.h.i.+p that sank In lifeless waters. Day was dim;--in dreams We see nor sun, nor moon; unearthly gleams Of deadened light fall strangely from the sky.-- There were but three that struggled not to die: A man, a woman, and a tender child; He sought to save them both with effort wild And dragged his love to the entangled sh.o.r.e; But down the slimy weeds she slid once more Into the water, and her lover's breast Received her, and together they found rest.

The child was saved; my hand towards her hand Outstretched, drew all her sweetness to the land, Where naked, like a lily wet with rain, She sank and loudly wept at her life's gain.

Quite small she was, and light; I bore her fast To what seemed home, and there she smiled at last And sat upright within my arms; I found A bright-hued veil wherein to wrap her round, Tissues that far in morning-lands were spun By those who love the flowers and the sun.

I laid her softly in a silken bed, Strewed fragrant violets about her head And left her.

'Twas my dream then that I slept.

But when at dawn unto her bed I crept, The child was lost. Her pillow was all wet With tears that still flowed on; and faster yet They flowed in quickening rills, until I thought I stood beside a torrent wide that sought An unknown sea. The day was sad, tho' young; Upon a misty branch some bird had sung And left a trembling silence; all around I saw the little daisies on the ground Fast closed, with folded arm-petals in vain s.h.i.+elding their yellow hearts from the cold rain.

--A voice invisible made murmur then: 'Come here and look upon these poor drowned men!

The s.h.i.+p was sunk a year ago to-day....'

But I stepped back and shuddering turned away, For I had never seen the face of Death.

Yet Fear itself soon drew me with quick breath Back to the place, even to the river's brink Where I had seen that lonely vessel sink.

And there in waters deep I saw them lie, With hands at rest and eyes that sought the sky: Clear eyes wide open to an unseen day.

In wondrous silence motionless they lay, With white lips smiling on their spirit's bliss.

'Is Death but this?' I cried, 'no more but this?'

And answer came: 'Among those faces there Are all unknown?'

'Twas then I saw him, fair With perfect peace, my enemy, even he Of all the world who most had tortured me.

He lay there, blessed among the blessed, and smiled With eyes more pure than any wakening child.

The little waves in pa.s.sing--like the breeze That stirs the foliage of the unmoved trees-- Played in their hair, and fluttering gra.s.ses rose And fell and danced about their mute repose.

But I gazed on until I too had drunk Of their lips' joy, until their peace had sunk Into my troubling earth-stirred heart that ached To join them ... and then waked....