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diff --git a/75479-h/75479-h.htm b/75479-h/75479-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93815aa --- /dev/null +++ b/75479-h/75479-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1971 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + Willow’s forge and other poems | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h3,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; + text-indent: 1em; +} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} +.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; width: 60%;} +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } +.x-ebookmaker table {width: 95%;} + +.tdc {text-align: center; vertical-align: top;} +.tdr {text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} +.page {width: 8em; vertical-align: top;} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5%; +} + +.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.bbox {border: 2px solid;} + +/* Poetry */ + +.poetry { + display: block; + text-align: left; + margin-left: 0 + } +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry in browsers */ +/* .poetry {display: inline-block;} */ +/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ +@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } + +.x-ebookmaker .poetry { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 5% + } +.poetry-container { + margin: 1.5em auto; + text-align: center; + font-size: 98%; + display: flex; + justify-content: center + } +.poetry .stanza { + padding: 0.5em 0; + page-break-inside: avoid + } +.poetry .verse { + text-indent: -3em; + padding-left: 3em + } + +.xbig {font-size: 2em;} +.big {font-size: 1.3em;} +.small {font-size: 0.8em;} + +abbr[title] { + text-decoration: none; +} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2em;} +.poetry .indent12 {text-indent: 3em;} +.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1em;} +.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0em;} +.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1em;} + + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75479 ***</div> +<h1>WILLOW’S FORGE <br><span class="small">AND OTHER POEMS</span></h1> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter bbox"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="BY_THE_SAME_AUTHOR"><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></h2> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<h3>THE TRAMPING METHODIST</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>‘We cannot too highly recommend this book. It is a remarkable first +attempt. It is quite without crudeness. The atmosphere of this novel +is sweet—it smells of summer and shines of the stars.’—<i>Daily +Chronicle.</i></p> +</div> + + +<h3>STARBRACE</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>‘It is difficult not to be unduly enthusiastic over Miss +Kaye-Smith’s book.... This fine, tragic, poetic book is a welcome +sign that the spirits of Borrow and Stevenson are still in our +midst.’—<i>Standard.</i></p> +</div> + + +<h3>SPELL LAND</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>‘If I were to state exactly the position which I believe this author +will take among the great masters of English fiction, you might accuse +me of exaggeration.’—<i>Punch.</i></p> + +<p class="center"> +Published by <span class="smcap">G. Bell & Sons Limited</span><br> +York House, Portugal Street, London<br> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<h3>ISLE OF THORNS</h3> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>‘We have found ourselves over and over again simply lost in +admiration.... No one should miss this book.’—<i>Pall Mall +Gazette.</i></p> + +<p class="center"> +Published by <span class="smcap">Constable & Co. Ltd.</span><br> +10 Orange Street, London, W.C.<br> +</p> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"><span class="xbig"> +WILLOW’S FORGE</span><br> +<span class="big">AND OTHER POEMS</span><br> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="center p2"> +BY<br><span class="big"> +SHEILA KAYE-SMITH</span> +</p> + +<p class="center p4"> +LONDON<br> +ERSKINE MACDONALD<br> +1914<br> +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table class="autotable"> +<tr><th></th><th class="tdr page">PAGE</th></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"> +BALLADS—</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<span class="smcap">Willow’s Forge</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Ballad of a Motor Bus</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Song of Jacob Boehme</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Counsel of Gilgamesh</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Ballad of the Quick and Dead</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Ballad of Divine Compassion</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"> + + +THE LAST GOSPEL—</td></tr> +<tr><td> + +1. <span class="smcap">Dedication</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +2. <span class="smcap">Love Cast Out</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +3. <span class="smcap">Holy Innocents</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +4. <span class="smcap">To My Body—a Thanksgiving</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +5. <span class="smcap">Funeral March of a Fallen Hero</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +6. ‘<span class="smcap">I am Alpha and Omega</span>’ </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"> + + +CANT SONGS— +</td></tr> +<tr><td> +<span class="smcap">The Scampsman’s Night</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">A Deuced Moral Lay</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">Cast for Lag</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_40">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">To a Comrade Sped</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2"> + +MISCELLANEOUS—</td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">Bride’s Song</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">Immortality</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">The Optimist</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">Resurrection</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +<span class="smcap">A Prayer</span> </td> +<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="Willows_Forge">Willow’s Forge</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve crossed the fields from Lattenden</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And haunted Honey Mill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My feet and all my clothes are torn.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Yet on I stumble still—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I must not stay to speak to you</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Or falter with my pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But hasten on to Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the bottom of the lane.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Folk call me mad—perhaps ’tis true—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My life is full of fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At whiles I bite my arms, and then</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I wash the blood with tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I scream, I talk to owls and crows,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hear voices from the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I see the spooks that ride o’ nights—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Men shudder when I’m nigh.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My love was hanged for stealing sheep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Twas that which sent me mad—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He was a liar and a thief,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But O I loved my lad!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve wandered wildly ever since,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And last night, ’neath the Wain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw my love at Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the bottom of the lane.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His face was wan, his burning eye</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Was like a coal from hell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(He’s with the damned souls, all folk say,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But O I love him well!)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His hands were misty as the moon</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That bathed his awful brow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His lips and breast were smeared with blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">His cheeks were white as snow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O tell me, love, where have you been</div> + <div class="verse indent2">This weary sleepless while?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’ve screamed and wept to kiss your lips,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I’ve hungered for your smile.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you been down among the damned,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where, like the sheep in fold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dead men lie, and bleat and cry</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And shiver in the cold?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Have you been up to where the clouds</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Are sailing in the blue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And have they thrown you down, and said</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Twas no fit place for you?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or have you roamed all Sussex through</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In weariness and pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To meet me here at Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the bottom of the lane?’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He nothing said at all, but stared</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With glazed and dreadful eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His red lips shook, as if he strove</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To part them with a cry.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">He could not speak, and O I thought</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He’d shiver from my sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And leave me lone at Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In the terror of the night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O kiss me lad, before you go!’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I cried, and raised my head.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He stooped his scarlet lips to me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The living kissed the dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But O his mouth was all on fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And burned my cheek and hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I screamed aloud, and he had gone,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And left me waiting there.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I told my mother what had passed,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She shuddered at my tale—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘You’ve seen the moonlight through the trees</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That shiver in the gale;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And as for your burnt cheek, my girl,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which makes you sob with pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You’ve kissed the fire at Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the bottom of the lane.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But though she speak, and though I hear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I will not aught believe</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But that at last I’ve met and kissed</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The lad for whom I grieve.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And if I haunt the meeting spot,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I’ll see him there again—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That’s why I haste to Willow’s Forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the bottom of the lane.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Ballad_of_a_Motor_Bus">The Ballad of a Motor ’Bus</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You get in at Ludgate Circus,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where in regiments they stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All throbbing underneath the bridge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And pointing to the Strand—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All pageantry with colours,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">All poetry with words,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wait those blazoned motor-’buses</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In their fiercely panting herds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There are ’buses for the East,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There are ’buses for the West,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For North and South and Central</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And where heaven pleases best—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the Elephant and Castle,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gospel Oak and Parson’s Green,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some for Chelsea, some for Putney,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Some for Barnes, and some for Sheen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There are some that cross the river,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And they see the steamers crawl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With dirty belching smoke-stacks</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To the Pool or London Wall—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They rumble down the dingy streets</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where dingy houses grow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like quickly sprouting toadstools</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In an evil yellow row.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And some go plunging northward</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Up the hills to Kensal Rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And some are bound for Hampstead</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the smokeless windy skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And some go east to Hackney,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the long Commercial Road,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Past the buying and the selling,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To poverty’s abode.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But the ’bus I take goes westward—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">It leaves Charing Cross behind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then it bounds up Piccadilly,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Through the smokey dusty wind—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The first lamps have been lighted,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And across St James’s Park</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The early lights of Westminster</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Are splashing on the dark.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The dusk is falling gently,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And from the streets below</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The London glare climbs upward</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To make the sad skies glow—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the mingled dusk and dazzle</div> + <div class="verse indent2">We hum swiftly on our way,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the wind brings to our faces</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The first damps of the day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It is Summer, it is evening,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Early stars are in the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shining dim above the smoke-wreaths,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">While the western bonfires die—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">And the wind sings of the river</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That beyond the city flows,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of the pleasant westward reaches</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That no cargo-tramper knows.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So we spin through holy Brompton,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">We leave Kensington behind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We thunder down to Fulham,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Past churches tall and blind—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till we come at last to Putney,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the starlit river gleams</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through darkness up to Richmond,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A thoroughfare of dreams.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And it’s there that you are waiting,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">O my faithful love, for me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the dark your eyes are straining</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My chariot to see—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the working-day is over,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">All its dust and hurry past,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And we go to the river,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With my hand in yours at last.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">While the motor-’bus rolls onward—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And we stop to watch it tear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All burning through the twilight,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Mysterious and fair.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was our love’s bright chariot,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The torch of our desires,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Kindling the London darkness</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With youth’s eternal fires.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O youth!—O youth in London!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall they ever be forgot,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those young and eager footsteps</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On pavements hard and hot?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dust is in the breezes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stinks of petrol stain the air,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But youth has come to London,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And has found a garden there.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Song_of_Jacob_Boehme">The Song of Jacob Boehme</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The wild fowl hath not seen it,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No vulture flown so high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lion’s whelp hath not trodden,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Nor the fierce lion passed by,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The crags and the abysses</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of that most lonely way,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which windeth in the mountains,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And leadeth to the May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The chymist labours nightly,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No travail will he shirk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If he can hope to finish</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The Philosophic Work.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mercury, salt, and sulphur,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In Athanor are they,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But through their transmutation</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He cannot find the May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I am but a cobbler,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At work from morn till night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A poor and silly groundling</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who scarce can read or write;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With cares of trade and household</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I struggle all the day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I have trod the mountains,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And I have found the May.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">—The May of glancing sunshine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The May of glowing flowers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of singing birds, and breezes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And swift leaf-scented showers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more I fear the Turba,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For I have seen God play</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the dews and lilies</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of the Eternal May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O I have found the spring-time</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of green sun-spotted shade!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O I have found the garden</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where roses never fade!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O I have learned the secrets</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And signs of all the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wrought the Magnum Opus</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of holy Alchemy!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The salt Impress of Saturn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is mine, and Luna’s Form,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mercury’s sharp Flagrat,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And Mars’ most ruddy storm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine is the young child Venus,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Mine Jupiter’s pure might,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I haunt the sacred Houses,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I read the dooms of night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The magical Triangles</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Have shown me what they hold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of light and corporiety,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of bitterness and gold,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw God in the garden,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I saw Him on the Tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dying to bring back Adam</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Into the Liberty.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Men laugh, and call me crazy,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The pastor saith I’ve sought</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To overturn the doctrines</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That Martin Luther taught.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My books he burnt, with curses,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And I have heard him tell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Good Christians to avoid me</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As they would flee from hell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The astrologers all mock me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The learned chymists cry,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘What hath this child to tell us</div> + <div class="verse indent2">About our Alchemy?’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have felt drought and hunger,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Met lions in the way,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Been wounded in friends’ houses,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But I have found the May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">—The May of glancing sunshine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The May of glowing flowers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of singing-birds, and breezes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And swift leaf-scented showers.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No more I fear the Turba,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For I have seen God play</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the dews and lilies</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of the Eternal May.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O hearken then, thou Magus,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And let thy love be sure,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give worship to the Artist,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And keep his pattern pure,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O labour in the lubet!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And I shall humbly pray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou become a Champion,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And find at last the May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The magical Triangles</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall both at last be one,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adam return to Paradise,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The Mighty Work be done;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then the meek holy servants</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall see their God at play—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O haste the time, great Master,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When all men find the May!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Counsel_of_Gilgamesh">The Counsel of Gilgamesh</h2> +</div> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Gilgamesh, why dost thou wander around?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Life, which thou seekest, thou canst not find.’</div> + </div> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Epic of Gilgamesh.</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why wander round, Gilgamesh?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The sun that set to-night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall climb the sky to-morrow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And bake the world with light.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Throughout undying ages</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The sun shall set and rise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As it hath set and risen</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From dim eternities.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why wander round, Gilgamesh?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Why vainly wander round?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What canst thou find, O seeker,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which hath not long been found?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What canst thou know, O scholar,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which hath not long been known?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What canst thou have, O spoiler,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which dead men did not own?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The camel of the desert,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The wild ape of the wood,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tread the white bones of heroes</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who in thy place once stood;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">Like thee, they felt the sunshine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Like thee, they loved the day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like thee, they sought and suffered—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And thou shalt be as they.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And other men, Gilgamesh,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall seek what thou dost seek,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to their youth and ardour</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thy rotting bones will speak.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They will not heed thy counsel,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They too will wander round,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And waste their years in seeking</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That which hath long been found.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why wander round, Gilgamesh?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Why vainly wander round?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What canst thou find, O seeker,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which hath not long been found?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What canst thou know, O scholar,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which dead men did not know?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And this was asked in Nineveh</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thousands of years ago.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Ballad_of_the_Quick_and_Dead">The Ballad of the Quick and Dead</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And every night I sit alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And every night I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A little cotton-aproned ghost</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who takes no heed of me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She sets the milk, she sets the bread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One scarce would know that she was dead—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But long ago death gave her greeting,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the great bed whence one can see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sunset in the cherry tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And hear the fold-bound wethers bleating.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In a far country lives the man</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who loved this little maid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He knows not, cares not, that each night</div> + <div class="verse indent2">His supper here is laid.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She lays it as in twilights gone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When, all the farmstead labour done,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">His passion in her arms would take</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its daylong waited recompense—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her lost peace and innocence</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She gave ungrudging for his sake.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She lived for love, she died for love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Though love was agony,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">And here, where joy was sold for love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She loves eternally.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He does not care—he wanders far,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where light and wine and pleasure are;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He strives and battles to forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little cottage dove he caught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who gave so much and asked for naught,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And haunts the crumbling farmhouse yet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Lord, how happy I should be,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">If one my heart holds dear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Would come and spread the board for me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As she who rambles here!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I should not wander far away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or struggle to forget the day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I loved, but to her straight would speed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pledge the cup and break the bread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With one who has been ten years dead—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, that were heaven indeed!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It may not be—no dreams of me</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Disturb her quiet sleep;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She little knows that dreams of her</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Wake me each night to weep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I never mocked her confidence,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Or robbed her of her innocence,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But with both hands I gave her all</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I had to give—she did not see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My love, she never thinks of me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She comes not when I call.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So every night I sit alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And every night I see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A little cotton-aproned ghost</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who takes no heed of me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This is the tragedy of love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By all men be it read,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis thus the dead dream of the quick,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The quick dream of the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This is the mockery of love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By all men be it read,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis thus the dead forget the quick,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The quick forget the dead.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Ballad_of_Divine_Compassion">The Ballad of Divine Compassion</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The halls of heaven were full of joy,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The quivering air was blue</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With incense, and with candles gay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mansions of eternal day</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Were gleaming through and through.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Saints in Glory danced and sang</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In robes of glittering white—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till heaven with their music rang,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Saints in Glory danced and sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And filled themselves with light.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Through groves of trees and lawns of flowers</div> + <div class="verse indent4">They trod the mystic maze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of many a sacred rigadoon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Danced to a fiddling angel’s tune,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With endless roundelays.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One only walked apart and sighed,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In all that blissful horde,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shrank from the revel, and alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Poured from an aching heart his moan,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And He was Christ the Lord.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He leaned across the fiery gate</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Which stands above the stars,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the fields where angels dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shuts the red cemeteries of hell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With seven burning bars.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He leaned above the direful deep</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where tortured spirits lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He saw their helpless agonies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He saw their wild and weeping eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Turned up towards the sky.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the sorrows of His heart</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Were grinding in His breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He longed to comfort those poor sheep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To give them drink, and let them sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On the green hills of rest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nought were to Him the heavenly fields,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The flocks His blood had bought,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He thought alone of His lost sheep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those who toss, and starve, and weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whom He had vainly sought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And as the Saviour watched them there</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In all their sweat and fear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His love and longing rose so high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That from His tender, pitying eye</div> + <div class="verse indent4">There fell a holy Tear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The tear rolled down, until it dropped</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Into the blackest hell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And straight there were strange things to see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within that pit of misery</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where the pure token fell.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Tear became a mighty sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Which raged, and roared, and rolled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And filled each black and gaping gorge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And quenched each red and belching forge,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And wrecked each towering hold.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the lost and sinning souls</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Were borne upon its waves—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By that one Tear the Saviour wept</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The doomed of ages all were swept</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Out of their living graves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, carried on the heaving tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The lost souls rose to heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tumbling and drowning, hand in hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They reached the coolness of that land</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where all things are forgiven.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Women, and men, and children too,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">All blasted, scorched, and red,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were washed up to the Saviour’s feet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By that one Tear of pity sweet</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His loving eye had shed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Saints in Glory danced and sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">They sang and danced so high</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They saw not that their Lord was gone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or that His white and fiery throne</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Stood empty in the sky.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They saw Him not as He stooped down</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To lift each cowering slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They saw Him not, so great their bliss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On each scarred forehead lay His kiss,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">As sign that He forgave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He could not take those guilty ones</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To where the guiltless throng</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pealed forth their own salvation’s praise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And through the everlasting days</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Shouted their triumph song.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He led them to the wilderness,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where stood the Holy Cross,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the timber of that Tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He built a house of welcome, free</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To those lame sons of loss.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Saints in Glory feasted on</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The honey-dews of heaven,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So all those sinners had for food</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was their Lord’s body and His blood,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To their great hunger given.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The Saints in Glory danced and sang,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Nor missed Him from their sport,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And so He made His dwelling-place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the poor pensioners of grace</div> + <div class="verse indent4">His pardoning love had bought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And never to the halls of bliss</div> + <div class="verse indent4">He lifts a longing eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The poor souls never hear Him groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or sigh because His great white throne</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Stands empty in the sky.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He leads them through the wilderness,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">He makes their faces wet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With water from a desert steam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The black past as an evil dream</div> + <div class="verse indent4">He helps them to forget.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He is the comforter of those</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whom stormy seas have tossed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He dries the eyes of those that weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is the shepherd of lame sheep,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The Saviour of the Lost.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LAST_GOSPEL">THE LAST GOSPEL</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>1. Dedication</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">When Mass is said,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">The music dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the last lights upon the Altar-throne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drop slowly one by one into the dark,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">To the east</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Turns the Priest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bows his knee before the sacred Ark</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And whispers the Last Gospel through—alone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent6">So do I</div> + <div class="verse indent6">When dreams die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And love’s last wretched candle-lights are seen</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Darkening upon the Altar of your heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Face the east,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">And like the Priest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Say my Last Gospel through ere I depart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And before leaving bow to What Has Been.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="2_Love_Cast_Out">2. Love Cast Out</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A victim crowned am I,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Crowned, piercèd, and adored,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my eyes a flame of fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In my heart a sword.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Christ is my brother dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sister to Christ am I,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For He has felt the thirsty wound</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That I must perish by.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He came a king uncrowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Unrobed, the Son of Loss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And so they pierced His body through,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And hung Him on the cross.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And my love wore no robe,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And my love wore no crown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My love a pilgrim was, and trod</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The roads in pilgrim’s brown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And since my love went thus,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A stranger and a dove,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You built a cruel wooden cross,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And crucified my love.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And now you bend the knee</div> + <div class="verse indent2">—As now we Christ adore—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">And set your bleeding sacrifice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At God’s right hand above the skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To worship evermore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The third day, from the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The Saviour rose again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He put on robes of royalty,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And sat Him down to reign.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But my love shall not rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My love shall rest and sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My love is tired, why should it wake,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That your eyes may not weep?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For Christ the Saviour has</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A gentler heart than mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He lets you crown what you did kill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of His torn body eat your fill,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And make His blood your wine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You shall not use me so—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Go far, the world is wide;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why should you wake from its poor rest</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The heart you crucified?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the tender ground</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My love shall sleep for aye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No last trump for my love shall sound</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No resurrection day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A victim crowned am I,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Crowned, piercéd, and adored,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In my eyes a flame of fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In my heart a sword.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="3_Holy_Innocents">3. Holy Innocents</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To-day I keep a feast, with red and white—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The red blood and the snow-white innocence</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of little souls who had their recompense</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before they learned the horrors of the fight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I see them running in their gardens gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They snatch the colours of the rainbow’s flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And throw the stars about in childish game,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And pull the clouds to pieces for their play.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But these are not the throng the king did slay,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The babes for whom dark Rachael’s head is bowed—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Tis not for them her wailing rings so loud;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Other and holier Innocents are they.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These are the little ones who never wrought</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Love’s royalest wonder in a mother’s eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who never brought a tender warm surprise</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With groping lips to breasts till then unsought.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These are the fruit of hundredfold desires,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ten thousand dreams begot this laughing band,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They fill the cities of a promised land—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Long promised, but not given—lost in fires.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These are the children I had hoped to show</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The secret of this life, and all its love—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But they are playing with my dreams above,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I plunge on through my dead hopes below.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Saved—Oh perhaps from much that I must brave—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I worship you, sweet saints!—oh pray for me!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The little children that shall never be—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little children I shall never have.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="4_To_My_Body-A_Thanksgiving">4. To My Body—A Thanksgiving</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Though thou hast set me many a snare,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And cost me many a groan,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And causéd feet to slip that were</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Far dearer than my own—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though thou hast been both sword and gin</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To others and to me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet I recall what thou didst win</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Once for my soul, and I give thanks to thee.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For once, when all my heavens fell,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And each hour that went by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Brought nearer to the pit of hell</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The Dayspring which is I—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all unheard the highest cried,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When lost were course and goal,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When hope had fled and faith had died—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thou, even thou, didst then redeem my soul.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou broughtest me unto the snow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And thou didst force through me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pumping blood, that I might know</div> + <div class="verse indent2">How fierce my flesh could be;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My flesh—till then half love, half dread—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Became an armoured tower,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To which my wounded spirit fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And found a refuge in its bitter hour.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou didst deny the healing sleep</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Unless I strove all day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With thews and muscles, fierce to keep</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The wolves of thought at bay;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou didst crown thyself with strength,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And lift thyself on high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And free salvation win at length</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For the poor soul that thought it was to die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Redemption thou didst work for me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And forth into the light</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crept my healed spirit, saved by thee</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From all the hells of night—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And this I never shall forget,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And so I can forgive</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy treacheries, and thank thee yet,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For ’tis through thee I have found grace to live.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And more, for I know that some day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A greater wonder thou</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt work for me, when thou shalt slay</div> + <div class="verse indent2">What thou hast quickened now.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As once thy life did make me whole,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">So once thy death shall reap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Both for thyself and for my soul</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The last redemption of a long, long sleep.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="5_Funeral_March_of_a_Fallen_Hero">5. Funeral March of a Fallen Hero</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sound the trumpet, beat the drum,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lay the purple on his breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let my shuddering memories come</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To salute him in his rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To bow down to his disgrace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While I cover up his face.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Once he led my soul to war,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the thunder of his cry</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Went before me, fierce and far,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Calling me to triumph or die;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To his sword I owe my place,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But I cover up his face.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Scornfully he mocked my fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘Raise the banner!—up and fight!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Follow me through blood and tears!’</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From the darkness into light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">After him, I strove apace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now I cover up his face.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In his eyes I dare not gaze,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lest I should see mirrored there</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All the white and hungry blaze</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of my own eyes’ hot despair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All my shame for his disgrace—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So I cover up his face.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In my heart he lies in state,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Purple sorrow is his pall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trumps of doom and drums of fate</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sound the dead-march of his fall—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On his livid brows a crown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of withered bays and laurels brown.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At his head tall candles burn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They are hopes that slowly die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At his feet the brazen urn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where my love’s best ashes lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At his side the broken sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of his own most solemn word.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fallen hero, I would bring</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Dreams to deck thine obsequies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lay them as an offering</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On thy heart, where sorrow lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ’twould spoil thy stately bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For, like thee, my dreams are dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sound the trumpet, beat the drum,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lay the purple on his breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bow before his shame, and come</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To perform each last behest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give him royal resting-place—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, O cover up his face!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="6_I_Am_Alpha_and_Omega">6. ‘I Am Alpha and Omega....’</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And dost Thou bless the end? O Lord of Life</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the Beginning, Lord of the New Birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lord of the dancing April days of earth!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the sour chills of Autumn winds are rife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Summer faints and withers in the strife</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of tempests and the strangling grips of dearth,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Dost Thou still bless the End?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Lord of the world’s morning!—Thou canst bless,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Birth-pangs and travail—Thou hast hallowed all—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But canst Thou bless the turning to the wall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of dying eyes? the panting slow distress</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those who fear the clutch of Nothingness?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When into death’s cold deeps Thy servants fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Dost Thou still bless the End?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And canst Thou bless the hour when love is dead?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thou seek’st the harmonies of new-strung lyres,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thou art the guardian of new-kindled fires,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But when the last of love’s poor life is fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His ashes to the four winds scatterèd,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And my charred soul crept bleeding from the pyres,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Dost Thou still bless the End?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yea, Thou dost bless the End—For Thou hast sworn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That Thou, Eternal, art the First and Last,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lord of the Future, Thine too is the past,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thine is the night, O high priest of the dawn!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Alpha and Omega! both love new-born</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And love long dead are in Thy hands kept fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Yea, Thou dost bless the End.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thine are the shadows of the dropping night,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thine are the wastes of lonely moonless seas,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The wilted leaves of tossing Autumn trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thine the faint cries, the slowly drowning sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those who in the gulfs of darkness fight—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And dead love sleeps upon Thy mighty knees</div> + <div class="verse indent14">Ever world without end.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="CANT_SONGS">CANT SONGS</h2> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="The_Scampsmans_Night">The Scampsman’s Night</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mists on the marsh are gathering thick,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The shuddering woods are dim,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My barker’s muzzle looks grim,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of boozing and delling and such I’m sick.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Saddle my mare—my Marjorie—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For Oliver’s glim is bright,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And this is a snaffling night—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ho, my girl, for the nuttiest spree!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We’ll make his Lordship tip us the bit,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">We’ll knuckle his mort’s fawnie,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And a kiss, for we’re gay dogs, we,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And love to fool with a comely chit.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At morning’s dawn we will ride to our ken,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And tipple, and count our swag,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And of our flash spices brag,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And rest the bodies of mares and men.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="A_Deuced_Moral_Lay">A Deuced Moral Lay</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh lads that are quier on the rum-padding lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That saddle your prancers at waning of day,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That ride to the tavern at dawning,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Take warning,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For a dell with a scampsman the dickens ’ull play.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In gaol a full dozen of rum-pads are lying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And for Dolly and Molly and Polly are sighing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But those very same troublesome fair</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sent ’em there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they’ll all curse their morts when it comes to the dying.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let the gemman who wants to bing wide of the crap</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beware of his dell, for she’s certain to rap—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There I’ve tipped you a deuced moral lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">So good day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’m off to lie soft in my Barbara’s lap.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="Cast_for_Lag">Cast for Lag</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">On the Pamunkey’s pine-fringed shore—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lord! how drear is the torrent’s roar!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sits the gentleman rum-pad, slave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watching the leap of the restless wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And sighing for his Jenny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Cast for lag was this scampsman bold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flung in a slaver’s stinking hold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Kicked and flogged like a vagrant cur—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That was hard on a gentleman, Sir,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Who sighed for pretty Jenny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bought by a planter and driven away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Many a mile on a sweltering day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lashed to a negro, foul and black,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each time I stumbled the whip on my back,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Lord! how I sighed for Jenny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Set to work in the sugar canes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hunger, thirst, and the sun’s hot pains,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bed at night with a filthy crew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tumble and toss and sweat and stew,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And wretched dreams of Jenny.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus the miserable days go by,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grinding toil ’neath a torrid sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pain and hate, thirst and hunger wild,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tears at night like a beaten child—</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Pray for me, pretty Jenny!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="To_a_Comrade_Sped">To a Comrade Sped</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh you fool, you! Who’d have thought it!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Dangling like a dog on string.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That poor spice, you’ve dearly bought it—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lad, how does it feel to swing?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Did you kick when the hemp choked you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And your heels danced in the air,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the sweat of dying soaked you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Struggling on the three-legged mare?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Swear you did! Your grin, my Billy,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is not what it ought to be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thus to show your teeth is silly,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And not over good to see.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dolly wouldn’t kiss that cheek, Sir,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With the veins swelled out so black,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pretty Bab would squirm and shriek, Sir,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At the scars upon your back—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Which you had in gaol, my beauty,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ere you gambolled on the crap,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lud! the Sheriff did his duty,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ordered you both rope and strap.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For you held the roads a-trembling,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Billy with the face so black;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, I hear you—‘No dissembling!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Tip the steven—don’t be slack!’</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Blowens screamed, and gemmen cursed you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But you caved ’em with your pop,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now, alas! the hemp has burst you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ere you reaped your nutty crop.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh you fool, you! Who’d have thought it!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Bowled out, trussed up, stark, and dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ruffler crack, Egad! you’ve caught it,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Caught it fairly on the head.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="MISCELLANEOUS">MISCELLANEOUS</h2> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="Brides_Song">Bride’s Song</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It was not always thus I loved,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Once, long ago, another love was mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A love that through the constellations moved</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On fiery way divine—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was not always thus I loved.</div> + <div class="verse indent12">But can a bird for ever fly?</div> + <div class="verse indent12">Too rare, too lofty, is the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">The poor bird folds his tired wings,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And in the tree-top sings,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And tries</div> + <div class="verse indent12">To forget the skies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It was not always thus I dreamed,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Once, long ago, I walked in Paradise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And through the coolness of the garden gleamed</div> + <div class="verse indent2">An angel’s beckoning eyes—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was not always thus I dreamed.</div> + <div class="verse indent12">But can the sun be ever bright?</div> + <div class="verse indent12">He faints before the sword of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And back into the house we hie,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">And with a candle try,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">When day’s done,</div> + <div class="verse indent12">To forget the sun.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I went into the sunset, and I heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the trees the faint note of a bird.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="Immortality">Immortality</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One star upon the desert of the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">One song upon the silences of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Upon the tossing of the stream, one light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One moment in a blank eternity.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For, O my love, eternity is drear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And soon we both shall weary of it so,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That we shall turn and hide ourselves for fear</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In that sweet hour God gave us long ago.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We cannot wander from it very far,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For down the long wild ways, it calls us home,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Red through the evening like a fallen star,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A dim undying hearth for loves that roam.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I feel were I to meet you I might not</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Even know you in the street, nor you know me—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">You might look back and whisper, ‘Who is she?’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I might sigh at something half forgot.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But in our Moment I can kiss your face,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Smiling and strong—unchanged by all the years;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I can hold you there a little space,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And you hold me—unchanged by all my tears.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I can whisper to you of that night</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When our dark boat made moon-swept waters hiss.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> + <div class="verse indent2">Your face was wet with spray, spray-wet your kiss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your eyes were stars that I had set alight.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dim planets hung above the trembling trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The suck of water shook the misty air,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The darkness showed you magic in my hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The darkness showed you rest upon my knees.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We saw two wandering stars fall through the sky—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Twas you and I, lost in the chilly haze,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Apart, adrift, forsaken, but ablaze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With one short hour’s eternal ecstacy.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And into our poor love of rags and tears</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The fire of life and deathless love rushed down,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rushed the great love of this world’s million years,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gave us the kingdom, set on us the crown—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us all love of lovers since the morn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of love in the dim daybreak of the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Gave us all harmonies since music’s birth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us all colours since the first red dawn—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us the Springtime with its changing tunes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us the mysteries of many Junes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us the stars, gave us the trackless sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gave us each other to eternity.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Love may be gone, as you are gone, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But our almighty moment cannot die—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It shall stand fast when the last crumbling sphere</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall crash out of the ruin of the sky.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When the last constellations faint and fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When the last planets burst in fiery foam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the winds have sunk asleep, when all</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The worn way-weary comets have come home—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When past and present and the future flee,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My moment lives! and I shall hold you there.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It lives to be my immortality,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">An immortality which you shall share.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One star upon the desert of the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">One song upon the silences of night,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Upon the tossing of the stream, one light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One moment in a blank eternity.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="The_Optimist">The Optimist</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The earth is green, the earth is wide,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And when its widest bound is past,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There are the stars on every side,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For soaring souls to win at last—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no bound for those that fly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Floorless and roofless is the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hope knows no hindrance but clipped wings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So, throughout all life’s little while,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart is happy, and I smile,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">In spite of many things,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In spite of pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In spite of fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In spite of want,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In spite of tears</div> + <div class="verse indent8">—In spite of you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine is the future, and the past,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The growing and the dying gleam,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine is ambition till the last,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And there are dreams for me to dream.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine is the sagging Winter day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mine too the softness of the May,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The lusty strength of bread and wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The valiant dawn, the pondering night,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">The flowering change from dark to light,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">All holy things are mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In spite of pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In spite of fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In spite of want,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In spite of tears</div> + <div class="verse indent8">—In spite of you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Adventure weaves the shining dress</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Experience at last shall wear,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grief, rapture, triumph, bitterness</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Combine to trace the pattern there.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All sorrow that my soul assails</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Helps to embroider golden veils</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To deck me in the glorious day</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I shall reign in endless rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So strength and laughter fill my breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent14">And on my heartstrings play,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In spite of pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In spite of fears,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In spite of want,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">In spite of tears</div> + <div class="verse indent10">—In spite of you.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="Resurrection">Resurrection</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By the grave I watch and weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Watch and weep in anxious pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watch my Love’s exhausted sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Weep lest he should wake again—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With heart and mind and soul I dread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The resurrection of the dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Is it a hard law of Thine</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That no third day’s dawn shall break</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Without bringing life divine</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To the dead? O for the sake</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of all Thy thorns and lilies won,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let my weary one sleep on!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Rough was life for my poor love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Fierce the whirlwind, wild the wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was mercy from above</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That he found this quiet grave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And there laid him down to rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the earth’s consoling breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He is desperate for sleep.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He would never choose to wake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I watch by him and weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Trembling lest the light should break</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the merciful dark skies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And torment his heavy eyes.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Though I know that Christ the Lord</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On the third day rose again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I fear it is His word</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That the crucified should reign,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet to Him I humbly pray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That my love shall sleep for aye.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For he never was a king,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Never sat upon a throne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He was just a trodden thing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stumbling in the dark alone.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let him rest—Eternal bliss?—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is far too tired for this.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Life is for the gods and great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Resurrection for the strong,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joy for those of high estate,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Slaves would rather slumber long.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let no angel from above</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wake the sleeping slave—my love.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By the grave I watch and weep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Watch and weep in anxious pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watch my love’s exhausted sleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Weep lest he should wake again—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With heart and mind and soul I dread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The resurrection of the dead.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="A_Prayer">A Prayer</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lord, let me die on my feet—upright and boldly facing</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My last sad great adventure and experience’s crown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let my eyes be all undimmed as they look into the darkness,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Let me hail death as a conqueror before he strikes me down.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me die with my head up, sword drawn, my shield flung from me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stout to the end, yet proud to win my discharge at last,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With worshipping clear gaze let me run to meet the future,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And with forgiving laughter make my farewells to the past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me not die in my bed, in weariness and weakness,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">While outside, undesired, unheard, all valiant nature calls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Save me from tumbled sheets, drawn blinds, and muffled footsteps,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From staring eyes to pity me when the last anguish falls.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lord let me die in my boots, I care not where death meets me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But let me die upright and armed, with free unclouded mind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me relish in their fullness the last moments life shall give me,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Then plunge on without vain regrets for vain things left behind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me meet death on the waters, in the din of the waves’ roaring,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In the shattering of the thunder, when the splitting timbers break,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let me meet him on the mountains, on the shrieking snow-storm riding,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I care not where he finds me, if he find me but awake.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I care not how I meet him, if I meet him as a warrior,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Not as a slave the master he has given cause to frown.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will challenge him to combat, and when he sees me fearless,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He will hail me as a conqueror before he strikes me down.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75479 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75479-h/images/cover.jpg b/75479-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b347b45 --- /dev/null +++ b/75479-h/images/cover.jpg |
