diff options
| author | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-28 10:21:03 -0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org> | 2025-02-28 10:21:03 -0800 |
| commit | c6228068012d4eef284791e42bdbc266de7916d7 (patch) | |
| tree | 87e5a420852babc61c5a4756015e6eb4cf2f5344 /75489-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '75489-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 75489-h/75489-h.htm | 2825 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75489-h/images/001.jpg | bin | 0 -> 19981 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 75489-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 882925 bytes |
3 files changed, 2825 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/75489-h/75489-h.htm b/75489-h/75489-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..59f0221 --- /dev/null +++ b/75489-h/75489-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2825 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <title> + 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,h4,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.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@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-indent: 3em; vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.9em;} +.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; +} + + +.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em;} + +.right {text-align: right; text-indent: 0em;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} +.w10 {width: 20%;} +.x-ebookmaker .w10 {width: 25%;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +/* 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;} + +abbr[title] { + text-decoration: none; +} + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} +.poetry .indent11 {text-indent: 2.5em;} +.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4em;} +.poetry .indent15 {text-indent: 4.5em;} +.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5em;} +.poetry .indent17 {text-indent: 5.5em;} +.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6em;} +.poetry .indent19 {text-indent: 6.5em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} +.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7em;} +.poetry .indent21 {text-indent: 7.5em;} +.poetry .indent22 {text-indent: 8em;} +.poetry .indent23 {text-indent: 8.5em;} +.poetry .indent24 {text-indent: 9em;} +.poetry .indent25 {text-indent: 9.5em;} +.poetry .indent27 {text-indent: 10.5em;} +.poetry .indent28 {text-indent: 11em;} +.poetry .indent29 {text-indent: 11.5em;} +.poetry .indent30 {text-indent: 12em;} +.poetry .indent31 {text-indent: 12.5em;} +.poetry .indent32 {text-indent: 13em;} +.poetry .indent33 {text-indent: 13.5em;} +.poetry .indent34 {text-indent: 14em;} +.poetry .indent37 {text-indent: 15.5em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1em;} +.poetry .indent41 {text-indent: 17.5em;} +.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1em;} + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp76 {width: 76%;} + + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75489 ***</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</span></p> + + + + + +<h1>POEMS</h1> + +<p class="center">⁂<br> +<br><span class="big"> +JOSEPHINE +DASKAM</span> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center xbig"> +POEMS<br> +</p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +BY<br><span class="big"> +JOSEPHINE DASKAM</span> +</p> +<figure class="figcenter illowp76" id="001" style="max-width: 16.5em;"> + <img class="w10 p2" src="images/001.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> + +<p class="center p4"> +NEW YORK<br> +CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br> +MDCCCCIII<br> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS<br> +PUBLISHED OCTOBER, 1903</p> + +<p class="center p2"> +D. B. UPDIKE, THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS, BOSTON<br> +</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p class="center"> +TO<br> +M. A. J.,<br> + +<i>the first and cordial critic of many of these verses, it gives me +great pleasure to dedicate this collection of them</i>. +</p> +</div> +<p class="right"> +J. D. B.<br> +</p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</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> +MOTHERHOOD </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE SLEEPY SONG </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE GOLDEN DAYS </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE VIGIL </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_6">6</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE SEA MAN </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE SONS OF SLEEP </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"> +FOUR SONGS:</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + I. THE PEASANT GIRL </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + II. AN INTERLUDE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + III. HEART’S SEASONS </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + IV. OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE SAILOR’S SONG </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +QUATRAIN </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE OLD COUNTRY </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE LITTLE BLIND BEGGAR </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE STRANGER CHILD </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +SONGS OF ISEULT DESERTED </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE OLD CAPTIVE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +SONG TO OPHELIA </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +A CHRISTMAS HYMN FOR CHILDREN </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE GYPSY MAID </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> +THREE SONGS:</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + I. THE SAILOR </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + II. THE HUNTER </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + III. THE PRINCE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE LITTLE DEAD CHILD </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +AT PARTING </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE NIXY </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_43">43</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +A JAPANESE FAN </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2"> +TWO SONNETS FROM THE HEBREW</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + I. THE PREPARATION </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + II. THE INCARNATION </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_46">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +ODE: WRITTEN FOR THE TWENTY-SECOND OF + FEBRUARY </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE DEATH SONG </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> + +SEVEN CHILD SONGS</td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + I. DO YOU KNOW? </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + II. THE SECRET PLAYMATE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + III. LONELINESS </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + IV. DREAMS </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + V. THE SHADOW </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + VI. HEAVEN </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + VII. THE PEAR TREE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> +INSCRIPTIONS:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + FOR A CHILD’S PLATE </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + FOR HIS CUP </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + FOR HIS CHAIR </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> +<tr><td class="tdc"> + + FOR HIS BED </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> + +THE WANDERERS </td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="MOTHERHOOD">MOTHERHOOD</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The night throbs on: but let me pray, dear Lord!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crush off his name a moment from my mouth.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To thee my eyes would turn, but they go back,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Back to my arm beside me where he lay—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So little, Lord, so little and so warm!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot think that thou hadst need of him!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He is so little, Lord, he cannot sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He cannot praise thee; all his lips had learned</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Was to hold fast my kisses in the night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Give him to me—he is not happy there!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He had not felt his life: his lovely eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just knew me for his mother, and he died.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou an angel there to mother him?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I say he loves me best—if he forgets,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If thou allow it that my child forgets</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And runs not out to meet me when I come—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What are my curses to thee? Thou hast heard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The curse of Abel’s mother, and since then</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We have not ceased to threaten at thy throne,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To threat and pray thee that thou hold them still</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In memory of us.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14">See thou tend him well,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou God of all the mothers! If he lack</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One of his kisses—Ah, my heart, my heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Do angels kiss in heaven? Give him back!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Forgive me, Lord, but I am sick with grief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And tired of tears and cold to comforting.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou art wise I know, and tender, aye, and good.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou hast my child and he is safe in thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I believe—</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14">Ah, God, my child shall go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Orphaned among the angels! All alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So little and alone! He knows not thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He only knows his mother—give him back!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SLEEPY_SONG">THE SLEEPY SONG</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As soon as the fire burns red and low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the house up-stairs is still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She sings me a queer little sleepy song,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sheep that go over the hill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The good little sheep run quick and soft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their colors are gray and white:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They follow their leader nose to tail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For they must be home by night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And one slips over and one comes next,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And one runs after behind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gray one’s nose at the white one’s tail,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The top of the hill they find.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And when they get to the top of the hill</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They quietly slip away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But one runs over and one comes next—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their colors are white and gray.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And over they go, and over they go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And over the top of the hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The good little sheep run quick and soft,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the house up-stairs is still.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And one slips over and one comes next,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The good little, gray little sheep!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I watch how the fire burns red and low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she says that I fall asleep.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GOLDEN_DAYS">THE GOLDEN DAYS</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I wonder where the Fairy-book can be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The book from which she read to you and me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the warm sunlight shifted down the tree?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And the brown eyes turned downward to the leaf,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Tear-spotted by two tiny people’s grief,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>When Death bound one more princess in his sheaf.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I wonder where the Rocking-horse has run</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That carried us before the day was done,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To all the lands that lie beneath the sun?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And the dear lips of her we loved so well</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Kissed us more sweetly than our tongue could tell,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>When the too daring riders swayed and fell.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I wonder where the crimson peaches grow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We caught together when she threw them, so,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ran with her to hide them, laughing low?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And her light feet were swifter yet than ours,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>And her soft cheeks were like two rosy flowers—</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ah, Time and Death, ye two malignant powers!</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_VIGIL">THE VIGIL</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nay, Lord, I pray thee call not me to fight!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have crept out of day to bless the night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Hush, Son, and gather courage for the light!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But see, I weary ere I have begun!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give thou the battle to some worthier one!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>When have I offered thee to choose, my Son?</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Look how my eyes with loneliness are wet!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But give me once warm arms and lips close met.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Into the desert, Son, thy way is set!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Nay, then, thou leanest on a broken reed!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Music and mirth and fire and friends I need.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>They walk alone whom I have called to lead!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall I lead who only know to stray?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I to shepherd them, who lose the way?</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Yet I require them of thee in that day!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What if I will not? Let me be as these</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That laugh and breed and die and have good ease!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Nay, Son, the eye once bared forever sees!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This only, Lord: what shall my gladness be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who fight disheartened in life’s phantom sea?</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>To make the bridge whereon they cross to me!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What am I, Lord, that I should strive with fate?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bring on the dawn, before it be too late!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>My Son, the dawn shall come, and thou wilt wait!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yea, Lord, and I lie broken in thy hand.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heat me white hot, to forge as thou hast planned.</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Fear not, my Son, but I shall understand!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Melt out my yielded soul in one red stream,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Perchance through thy white furnace hope may gleam—</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>My Son, a rest thou hast not dared to dream!</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SEA_MAN">THE SEA MAN</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It was the burgher’s daughter,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As fair as maid could be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That loved too well the stranger,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A man from off the sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>My mother she was a sea maid;</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>My father he loved no shore.</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thou must bury me under billows,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Or thou ne’er shall see me more!</i>”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She’s kissed him lip and forehead;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She’s given him her vow:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Five-fathom sea shall cover thee,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But only love me now!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For seven years her sleep is sweet</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Against the sea man’s heart.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“But now hath come my time to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And now we twain must part.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Farewell, my little daughter!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Farewell, my bonny son!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Last night the waves did call my name;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My life on land is done.”</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She holds him close and closer;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The bitter tears fall down.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Remember now thy maiden vow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Or woe betide this town!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Remember the oath ye gave me,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Nor bury me but in sea,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>For the ocean will come to seek its own</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>If ye cheat my waves of me!</i>”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now come her haughty sisters;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Now comes her father stern.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“This deed brings little honor</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For all the world to learn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Our fathers lie in holy ground;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Their tombs are carven well;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A heathen stranger cast a-sea</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Were too much shame to tell!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They’ve buried him in the minster high</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That stands beside her door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But the winds o’ the air have drowned the prayer,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the sea foams up the shore.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Mother, I hear the billows roll,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I hear them hiss and moan!”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, little son, their fury’s done,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Tis but the wind alone.”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Mother, I smell the salt sea wind,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I taste the salt sea spray!”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, daughter mine, some dream is thine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I’ll sing thy fear away.”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Mother, we cannot hear thy voice!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The sea rolls loud and high!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It rushes up the minster street</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And flings the church door by!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The waves pour out the windows wide,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They’ve washed the altar bare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They’ve torn the flowers from the stranger’s tomb,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And heaped wet sea-weed there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It was the burgher’s daughter</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That made her prayer in vain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For all that drownèd city</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Was never seen again.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For all its goodly gardens,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For all its towers so high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Five-fathom sea rolls over it</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And shuts it from the sky.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Then bury the sea man deeply,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Five fathom out from shore,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Lest the ocean come in to find him,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And ye see the sun no more!</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SONS_OF_SLEEP">THE SONS OF SLEEP</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now the wayfaring, now the restless earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Descrying on her dim and trackless verge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dear, awaited dawning of the night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Moves slowly in a languor of desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And drifts into the haven of her sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Like dropping of the sweet and gradual rain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full flooding all the parchèd doors of growth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The multitudinous lips of all the flowers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The whispering insistence of dry leaves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All cool and rill-like flowing, falls our sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As the long thunderous surge of ocean waves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That lull eternally the listening shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slow sweeping in from vast and caverned depths,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes the white tide that washes loose our souls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drown them tenderly in depths of sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Soft stealing like the swathed and plumèd dusk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Enwrapped in shadows, shod with silences,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unceasing, unresisted, unobserved,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Embosoming the lapsed and languid earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slips o’er the sons of men close-feathered sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By day they walk diverse and isolate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sunken in self they skulk their separate ways,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">Poor fugitives of fate, awhirl in time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Groping for fellow-hands they dare not grasp,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grudging the thriftless hours they yield to sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, relaxed and drifting with that stream</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whereon they taste soft moments of the voyage</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose unknown port no seaman of us all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Evaded ever, these swift, swarming souls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As one glad band of brothers sink in sleep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Surely the great and tireless Heart of all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grievèd by day for their perversity,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joys in them as they lie, breast soft on breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hand locked in hand, a fathom deep in dreams,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And brims anew the cooling wells of sleep!</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="FOUR_SONGS">FOUR SONGS</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I. THE PEASANT GIRL</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the sea he goes, beyond the sea.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Does he look back to Arcady and me?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And yet, how could it be?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How should he mate with such a maid as I?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, let him go—good-by!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond my sight he goes, beyond my sight.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Does he look back and say, “My sweet, good-night”?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And yet, is love so light?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How should he know the pain I could not tell?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, let him go—farewell!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond my prayer he goes, beyond my prayer.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Does he look back from out the great world there?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And yet, how could I dare?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How should he know if love be wrong or right?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, let him go—good-night!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span></p> + +<h3>II. AN INTERLUDE</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I was within her heart that one short year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(But that is long ago and far away!).</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Her soul’s sweet spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The while she waited for that greater thing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Should blow to blossom all the buds of May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I was within her heart that one short year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(But that is hidden, lost, and gone away!).</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She was not mine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But ere the glorious harvest moon could shine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There beamed on me the crescent moon of May.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I was within her heart that one short year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(But that has faded faint and soft away!).</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Though the year’s night</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Draws on, and all about the snow falls white,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Across my heart there blows a breath of May.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span></p> + +<h3>III. HEART’S SEASONS</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When Love went holidaying</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Among the autumn leaves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They bloomed in sweet betraying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The purple clouds, soft straying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Held daylight back, delaying</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To gild the glowing sheaves—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Love went holidaying</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Among the autumn leaves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When Grief came on a-sighing</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Behind the flowers of spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They withered to their dying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The homing birds, slow flying,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sang wintry songs, denying</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The joy that June should bring—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Grief came on a-sighing</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Behind the flowers of spring.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span></p> + +<h3>IV. OVER THE HILLS AND FAR AWAY</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Over the hills,” he said, “and far away!”</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me! to go, to leave it all and go!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To toss my life as east wind tosses spray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To clean forget that this land ever lay</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Within my sight, that wearied of it so!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Over the hills,” he said, “and far away!”</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Could he have felt my heart leap up and sing!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I knew the primrose path my feet would stray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I guessed the lovely glow of the new day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That lies beyond the mountain’s purple wing.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Over the hills,” he said, “and far away!”</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He took my heart and wandered on alone;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Doubtless some other strolls with him to-day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A lightsome comrade on his happy way,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That way across the hills I have not known!</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_SAILORS_SONG">THE SAILOR’S SONG</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O the wind’s to the West and the sails are filling free!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Take your head from my breast: you must say good-by to me.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You’d my heart in both your hands, but you did not hold it fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the mill cannot grind with the water that is past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O it’s I must away, and it’s you must bide at home!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am sped like the spray, I am fickle as the foam:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It was sweet, my dear, ’twas sweet, but ’twas all too sweet to last,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For the mill cannot grind with the water that is past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We have clasped, we have kissed, but you would not give me more:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I must win what we missed on some other, farther shore.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You can never hold the gray gull that swings about the mast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the mill cannot grind with the water that is past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You will mourn, you will mate, but ’twill never be with me:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am off to my fate, and it lies across the sea.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For it’s God alone that knows where my anchor will be cast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the mill cannot grind with the water that is past.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="QUATRAIN">QUATRAIN</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In a wide chamber from the rest apart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I spread the purple daïs of my heart:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An unfilled throne, with steps by men untrod,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Too high it was for them—too low for God.</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_OLD_COUNTRY">THE OLD COUNTRY</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Where’s the land o’ Dreamland?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">How should I know?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On the moon’s farther side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the drift clouds ride,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the stars hang low.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>What’s the look o’ Dreamland?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">How should I see?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All the air’s silver-gray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Glinted with star spray,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Here and there a tree.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>What’s the sound o’ Dreamland?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">How should I hear?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bell tones from far below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Night’s haunting cockcrow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Olden songs and dear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>What’s the speech o’ Dreamland?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">How should I say?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Great eyes that fill the heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soft hands that clasp and part,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Calls from far away.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Where’s the gate o’ Dreamland?</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2">How should I tell?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sudden you stand before,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slip through the quiet door—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, but all’s well!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LITTLE_BLIND_BEGGAR">THE LITTLE BLIND BEGGAR</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At the gate of the world where the travel flows,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the folk stream by full-tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A little blind Beggar sits in the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And shoots afar and awide.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He fits the arrow and twangs the bow</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And low in his throat laughs he,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For well he knows he will hit his mark</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Though never a face he see.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And never his stock of arrows fails,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For the pain of the wound is sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the stricken folk bring the arrows back</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To pile at the Beggar’s feet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So he fits the arrows and twangs the bow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And laughs till his fingers shake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For well he knows he can never miss,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But somewhere a heart must ache.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now they who are struck, they keep still tongue,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But they carry the arrows back,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they who are spared they sound abroad</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The songs of the pain they lack.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But still or singing, and grave or gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Through the gate of the world they go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the little blind Beggar sits in the sun</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And laughs as he lays them low.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_STRANGER_CHILD">THE STRANGER CHILD</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Now the night is dark,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Now the house is still;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes a little stranger child</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Toiling up the hill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Listens at the door,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Peers within the pane,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Reaches for the broken latch</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Rusted with the rain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Murmurs in the dark,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sobs beneath his breath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whispers to the empty rooms,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Quiet, now, for death.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Wanders through the lane</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where the rosebush grew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tries to reach the cobwebbed sill</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Drenched and dark with dew.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Calls—and calls in vain!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For the man, alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dies before a dying fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hears no human tone.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only his soul’s voice</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Calls the dull roll through;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Good so often long to wait,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ill so quick to do.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only his soul’s eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shamed and tired of all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watch the red life ebb and flow,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Watch the last sands fall.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And the little child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Clinging to the sill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weeps and stretches tiny hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Weak for good or ill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Slow the dying coal</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Drops from out the fire;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slowly sinks the house of clay,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Empty of desire.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the creaking blind</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Slips the spirit now,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shudders at the stranger child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">“Thou? my lost youth, <i>thou</i>?”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SONGS_OF_ISEULT_DESERTED">SONGS OF ISEULT DESERTED</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I do not pray for thee, most dear of all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That ever in soft ways thy feet may fall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For well I know that wheresoe’er thou art</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy feet must tread forever on my heart!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I pray thee only to walk gently, sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor press too sharply with too cruel feet:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Remember thou how soft the way must be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How soft—and ah, how sad—and pity me!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Should we have loved if we had known</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That love would bring one day such pain?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot tell—I only kiss</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The pillow where your head has lain.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Should we have loved if we had known</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That love would go to come no more?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot tell—I only stand</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And sob before a fast-closed door.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Since you are gone, all dull my life has grown,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Idle among my empty days I stand:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They pass and pass, and leave me here alone—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, sweet, your hand that burned upon my hand!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Since you are gone, gone are the joys I knew,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Slowly from out the sky the long night slips:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And my arms ache with emptiness of you—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, sweet, your lips that trembled on my lips!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Since you are gone, the world is grown too wide,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With cruel miles that hold us two apart:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I sit and watch the white road weary-eyed—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah, sweet, your heart that beat against my heart!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_OLD_CAPTIVE">THE OLD CAPTIVE</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To hear once more the thunder of the surf,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To breathe once more the salt and stinging wind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To set my cheek once more against the wave,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To look once more across the billowy Sea!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Chained in the pen of silent heavy hills,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I dream hot nights of that sweet long ago,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I leaped down the beach in the dim dawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And plunged to meet the sun—and knew the Sea!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they drove in the boats with a shout and a song,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they spread wide the nets in the face o’ the wind,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And the ship strained and dipped like a swooping bird,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And we rushed onward, mad for the open Sea!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to feed my eyes on strange dim coasts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to touch a branch washed in by the tide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to gaze on dark and silent men</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From some far isle in the mysterious Sea!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to see the white sails gleam and fade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor watch black masts against the setting sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to glide within some wondrous port,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor breathe spice winds blown soft across the Sea!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Never to feel the great sail fill and stretch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor plough white fiery trails beneath the stars,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor float below some tow’ring rosy berg,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor ride the sheer gulfs of the stormy Sea!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they rushed down to the beach to drag us in,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they pulled hard at the rough and glistening rope,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And the glad keel rubbed harsh on the shelly sand,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And their arms strained us, home from the terrible Sea!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Though in my life I lost thee, tired and dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me they shall bring to thee, O long desired!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Me they shall lay at sunset on the sand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the strong tide swings outward to the Sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Me like a cradled child the waves shall rock,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rock ’neath the moon, and sink to those dim caves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Those wide green glooms, those clear and pallid depths,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The silence and the strange flowers of the Sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they shall bear me down with a glorious song,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they shall shout to the crash and boom of the surf,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>And they shall thrill to the whip and sting of the spray,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>While the great waves ride triumphing out to Sea!</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the pale light strains down through undreamed deeps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To glimmer o’er the vast unpeopled plains,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">The ancient treasure piles of dead kings’ fleets,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mighty bones long bleached beneath the Sea,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There where cool corals and still seaweeds twine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There on the solemn level ocean floor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till God’s great arm shall terribly plough the deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall lie long and rest beneath the Sea.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SONG_TO_OPHELIA">SONG TO OPHELIA</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Unto thy grass-hidden charms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nature worketh no alarms;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Changeth all thy breath to dew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thine eyes to violets blue,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weaveth all thy waving hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into beams to light the air!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thus the song—and yet he saith</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Ah! how sad a thing is Death!</i>”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Over thy earth-covered breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Springtime snow doth lightly rest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Never hath been spun a sheet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For thy purity more meet;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lovelier the earth shall be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now that it doth prison thee!</div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thus the song—and yet he saith</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">“<i>Ah! how sad a thing is Death!</i>”</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_CHRISTMAS_HYMN_FOR_CHILDREN">A CHRISTMAS HYMN FOR CHILDREN</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Our bells ring out to all the earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">But none for Thee made chimes of mirth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On that great morning of Thy birth.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Our coats they lack not silk nor fur,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Not such Thy Blessed Mother’s were;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Full simple garments covered Her.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Our churches rise up goodly high,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Low in a stall Thyself did lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With hornèd oxen standing by.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Incense we breathe and scent of wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around Thee rose the breath of kine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy only drink Her breast divine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We take us to a happy tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">The seed was sown that day for Thee</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That blossomed but at Calvary.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Teach us to feed Thy poor with meat,</div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>In excelsis gloria!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who turnest not when we entreat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who givest us Thy Bread to eat.</div> + <div class="verse indent28">Amen.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GYPSY_MAID">THE GYPSY MAID</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She met them on the forest edge,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A maid all brown and slim,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She beckoned them to leave the path</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That girt the forest rim.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At first they shake their heads at her,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">At last they follow meek,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She smiles at them with crimson lips,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And sweet her bright eyes speak.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They go as in a faëry dream,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The forest shuts them round,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Save for the leaves that whisper low</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They hear no earthly sound.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The quiet miles have grown to leagues,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The trees are strange and tall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They listen for the gypsy’s steps</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And follow where they fall.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She sings a song of Wander-land,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">For very joy they weep:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Adown the hills the dying day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Soft like a cloud doth creep.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The forest folk have gone to rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The trees are dark and high:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gypsy’s song it crooneth soft</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Their mother’s lullaby.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A misty moon now rides the clouds,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They sink in happy sleep:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The gypsy laughing low at them</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Slips in the forest deep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They wake into a fearsome dawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lost in a gloomy fen:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They follow no more gypsy maids</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In all their life again.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THREE_SONGS">THREE SONGS</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I. THE SAILOR</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You hold me for a day, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I lose you for a life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that’s the sailor’s way, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A love, but not a wife.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis never I will blame you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Tis not my eyes are wet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ’tis I that must remember—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Tis you that will forget.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You kiss me for a night, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I kiss you for the years,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that’s the sailor’s right, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And life’s too short for tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis never I will stay you</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When once the moon has set,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ’tis I that must remember—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Tis you that will forget.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span></p> + +<h3>II. THE HUNTER</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One came chasing the fallow deer</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When all the wood was green,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But through my heart an arrow went</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That ne’er by him was seen—</div> + <div class="verse indent20">Ah me!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That ne’er by him was seen.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One came hunting the eagle-king</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When all the wood was brown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But over me a lure was cast</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That dragged my proud heart down—</div> + <div class="verse indent20">Ah me!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That dragged my proud heart down.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One came tracking the mighty boar</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When all the wood was white,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But from my wound the red drops fell</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That guided him that night—</div> + <div class="verse indent20">Ah me!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That guided him that night.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> + +<h3>III. THE PRINCE</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart it was a cup of gold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That at his lip did long to lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he hath drunk the red wine down,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And tossed the goblet by.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart it was a floating bird</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That through the world did wander free,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But he hath locked it in a cage,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lost the silver key.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart it was a white, white rose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That bloomed upon a broken bough,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He did but wear it for an hour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And it is withered now.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LITTLE_DEAD_CHILD">THE LITTLE DEAD CHILD</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When all but her were sleeping fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the night was nearly fled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little dead child came up the stair</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And stood by his mother’s bed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, God!” she cried, “the nights are three,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And yet I have not slept!”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little dead child he sat him down,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And sank his head, and wept.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“And is it thou, my little dead child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Come in from out the storm?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, lie thou back against my heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And I will keep thee warm!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>That is long ago, mother,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Long and long ago!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Shall I grow warm who lay three nights</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Beneath the winter snow?</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Hast thou not heard the old nurse weep?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">She sings to us no more;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thy brothers leave the broken toys</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And whisper in the door.”</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>That is far away, mother,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Far and far away!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Above my head the stone is white,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>My hands forget to play.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“What wilt thou then, my little dead child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Since here thou may’st not lie?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah, me! that snow should be thy sheet,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And winds thy lullaby!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Down within my grave, mother,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>I heard, I know not how,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>“Go up to God, thou little child,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Go up and meet him now!”</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>That is far to fare, mother,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>Far and far to fare!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>I come for thee to carry me</i></div> + <div class="verse indent4"><i>The way from here to there.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“O hold thy peace, my little dead child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My heart will break in me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy way to God thou must go alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I may not carry thee!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The cock crew out the early dawn</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ere she could stay her moan;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She heard the cry of a little child,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Upon his way alone.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="AT_PARTING">AT PARTING</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Oh, all too well beloved, at last I know</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That for us two the parting of the ways</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Has come, and brought the ending of sweet days.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bid me good-bye, and loose my hand, and go.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To-day’s fair peak we ran to climb, and low</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Before us, glowing in our last sun’s rays,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The path slopes down, nor undivided stays;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The path slopes down, but separate and slow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Henceforward you and I alone must fare.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Nay, look not all so sad! Was ever done</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A deed to merit all that we have won</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of joy? I tell you, there are those whose prayer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is nightly on their knees that they might bear</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Our shadow, could they but have known our sun!</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="THE_NIXY">THE NIXY</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They brought her honey and milk,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They brought her curds and wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“But oh!” she cried, “for the river side,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the rushes that were mine!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They robed her body with silk,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They filled her lap with gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“But oh!” she prayed, “for the mossy shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the green depths, pure and cold!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They kissed her ankles for love,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They worshiped at her eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“But oh!” she moaned, “for the flood, deep-toned,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the sweeping spray that flies!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They draped her chamber with black,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They wept there at her bier,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But her glad soul fled when her heart was dead,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And flowed with the river clear.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_JAPANESE_FAN">A JAPANESE FAN</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Is it so warm in old Japan?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Do flowers flaunt out such riot glare?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hangs that soft, golden mist so low?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, ah me, to journey there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Inked out against the yellow glow</div> + <div class="verse indent2">One sharp peak rises, blackly bare;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A stately swan steers up the sky—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, ah me, to journey there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And see her as she furls her fan!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Was ever lady half so fair?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She beckons to me with her eyes—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, ah me, to journey there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Were ever feet so dainty small?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Was ever coiled such shining hair?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her hands are like curled lily-buds—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, ah me, to journey there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fan-pictured, dear Japan, thy calm</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Fills us of West with dull despair!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">(The palm-leaves sift the sunlight through)</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, ah me, to journey there!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="TWO_SONNETS_FROM_THE_HEBREW">TWO SONNETS FROM THE HEBREW</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I. THE PREPARATION</h3> + +<p class="center">“<i>And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.</i>”</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Look back and see this brooding tenderness!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ye wait till Bethlehem? Nay then, not I!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Under the law doth Israel ever sigh?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is there no mercy till the great redress?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">See now, amid the nameless wickedness</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Love dreadeth lest one soul of his should die,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Spareth and faltereth and passeth by,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Soft’ning the law to ease a son’s distress.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Aye, child, and more! thou hast not learned to spell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Love’s first great letter: centuries of pain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still leave him terrible in thy scared sight</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who quencheth with his tears the fires of hell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yearneth o’er the cities of the Plain!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p> + +<h3>II. THE INCARNATION</h3> + +<p class="center">“<i>Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee!</i>”</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">“Speak thou for us: with God we will not speak!”</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ye will have prophet, yea, and saviour too,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And saint and creed and priest to worship through,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whereat Love smiles and gives them, ye being weak.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And most ye clutch at her, that virgin meek</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With cradling arms: ah, child of Love, but who</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Curved her soft breast, and taught the dove to coo,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And sent the shepherd forth the lamb to seek?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Surely great wings are wrapped around our world!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the one pulse that in us ebbs and flows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leaps at her name, for she has understood:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In our hearts’ lowest leaves her love is curled,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unshrined, she yet hath comfort for all woes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If not God’s mother, still God’s motherhood!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="ODE_WRITTEN_FOR_THE_TWENTY-SECOND_OF_FEBRUARY">ODE: WRITTEN FOR THE TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY</h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the shore of God’s unfinished years,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Waiting impatient while the slow mist clears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The younger sister of the nations stands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And shades her eyes with mighty, eager hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So great, so proud, so strong! with youthful scorn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She leaves behind her sisters elder born,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stands before the parting of the ways,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unburdened with their weight of yesterdays.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hard eyes and restless hers, agleam for gain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And peevish children struggle in her train;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet her broad brows have bloody laurels pressed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And she hath nourished heroes at her breast.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Half scornful of her children of to-day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She dreams how long ago and far away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her firstborn brought across the new-found seas</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their mighty faith, long gone, alas, from these!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She sees them, where th’ untrodden forest waves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Building new homes upon their thick-set graves,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Raising new altars to a stern, high creed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Training in fear of God their stalwart breed.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She hears them fling across the hostile sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That cry that cheered her on to victory;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She feels again the thrill that shook her soul</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When wondering nations watched her flag unroll.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She sees—and ah, her heart grows big with tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From out the mists of those long-vanished years,—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She sees her best beloved come, her pride;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There stands again her hero at her side.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Her eyes are soft with love, and to her heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There comes anew with sweet, resistless smart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her long-forgotten motherhood, she turns,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And toward her children as of old she yearns.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, grown beyond my power to curb or stay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Turn ye a moment from your sordid way,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lift ye your restless, weary eyes on high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This son your mother bore in days gone by!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Ye will not see me old before my time!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye will not make me barren in my prime!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Help me to bear ye men again like these!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Make me the greatest land the great sun sees!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ashamed and dumb her summoned children stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And love with the old love their Mother-land.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deep in their hearts her elder son is set:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thinking on him, they cannot quite forget!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Before his gracious calm their fevered schemes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Awhile are gone, and flushed with the old dreams,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They see in him writ large the old, high aim,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They point, though backward, to one perfect fame!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_DEATH_SONG">THE DEATH SONG</h2> +</div> + +<p class="center">“The island of Martinique will not, in all probability, be built up +again.”</p> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hearken, my father the lowering Sky!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hearken, my brother the heaving Sea!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who but thy sister calls to thee?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I, the Mountain, make end and die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Bridled was I and bitted sure?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Bridged with homes and with gardens chained?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">God’s tame beast to his uses trained?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye to go free, and I endure?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">See, my father, I cloud like thee!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">See, my brother, like thee I swell!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ye league with death, but I rule all hell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the Lord of heaven shall shrink from me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Once I groaned, and the scared wind sighed,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Twice I heaved, and the sick earth turned,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Thrice I spat out my blood that burned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Roaring with torture, aflame with pride.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Down below me they swarmed and stirred,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ants in an ant-hill, row on row.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">“Haste!” I cried to them, “haste and go!”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have I not warned? but they have not heard.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Pains of the deep hold me in thrall,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">World-old cancers that eat my heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Blood o’ the earth—I feel it start—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gone, get ye gone, or it floods you all!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Living and breeding, still they smile,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ants of the ant-hill, pygmy men,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">“Pelée stirs? she will rest again;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Live and love me and dance awhile!”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"> + +<hr class="tb"></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ha, my heart it is rent in twain!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Up and out in a fiery path</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sweeps a river of molten wrath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Falls a torrent of scorching rain!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ho, my brother, you boil and hiss!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ho, my father, I hide your sun!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Up, at last, little ants, and run!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shrivel and blanch at Pelée’s kiss!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Hark! did I hear from below my hill</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Rise and echo a puny din?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Through my thunder a wailing thin?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When I listened, the ants were still.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One throe more, and the sea is death,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Yet again, and the land is bare:</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Brother, your glory is all to share—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have outmurdered ye, breath for breath!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lone I must lie in my stately doom,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stark and still on my island bier:</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Ashen silence shall wrap me here—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pelée the Mountain makes her tomb!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="SEVEN_CHILD_SONGS">SEVEN CHILD SONGS</h2> +</div> + + +<h3>I. DO YOU KNOW?</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Behind the currant bushes, when the night was coming on,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There was such a funny whisper—do you know?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It made us shiver-shiver, and it made our hearts beat quick,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And we knew it wasn’t any good to carry out a stick,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But we did it just the same, or else you never would have gone—</div> + <div class="verse indent20"><i>Do you know?</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the old syringa, when the stars were peeping out,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There was such a funny shadow—do you know?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And over in the flower-bed you had left your father’s spade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And you had to go and get it, and you said you weren’t afraid,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But you told me afterward about the creeping Indian scout—</div> + <div class="verse indent20"><i>Do you know?</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the kitchen window, when the moon was climbing high,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There was such a funny coldness—do you know?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No matter if ’twas summer, it was cool just like a well,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">And the reason was because a ghost—but when you tried to tell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I put my fingers in my ears, and how I used to cry!</div> + <div class="verse indent20"><i>Do you know?</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span></p> + +<h3>II. THE SECRET PLAYMATE</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When I am playing underneath the tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I look around—and there he is with me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the shadows of the boughs he stands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And shakes the leaves at me with both his hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And then upon the mossy roots we lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And watch the leaves make pictures on the sky.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And then we swing and float from bough to bough—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And never fall? I can’t remember now.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The games I play with him are always best,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And yet we cannot teach them to the rest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For when the others come to join our play,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I look around—and he has slipped away!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They ask me if he speaks—I cannot tell;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But no one else can play with me so well.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span></p> + +<h3>III. LONELINESS</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How can I play any longer with my doll?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">You know she has lost her head.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mary’s the one that used to mend her for me—</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Mary, you say, is dead.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why do I leave the sand-heap all alone?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Because it has dried and spread.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mary’s the one that always brought the water—</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Mary, you say, is dead.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">More on the beach? Well, I think I know that, too!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And <i>you</i> are the one that said</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That Mary and I should sleep in a room together—</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And now you say Mary’s dead.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No, I don’t like the hotel—I’d be alone;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I’d cry in that great big bed:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mary and I played tent in the morning early—</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And now Mary can’t—she’s dead.</i></div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Happier? no, not a bit! not a single bit!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Then why are your eyes so red?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Mary’s the one that never liked angel-stories—</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And Mary’s the one that’s dead.</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> + +<h3>IV. DREAMS</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">One night I climbed a mountain all of snow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A great black creature showed me where to go:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We went into a church with no one there,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And cried because the wind began to blow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And then a King that wore a golden crown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Climbed up the spire and tried to help me down,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I spread out my arms, and flew and flew,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the people watched us from the town.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They chased me through the streets, but I ran fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And got into a secret place at last.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’d float down stairways, touching just my toes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And laugh and mock at them as I went past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And then we went to Cinderella’s ball,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I had no shoes nor stockings on at all:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They smiled and pointed at me till I cried,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And woke up just as when you slip and fall.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span></p> + +<h3>V. THE SHADOW</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If you and I should join our hands</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And go at night soft through the hall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wonder could we hope to catch</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That shadow sliding from the wall?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He slips and slips and slips away,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I touched his arm—and he was gone!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I cannot see his face, can you?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">What wall can that be painted on?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Because they say he isn’t real,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">They say he’s just a flattened form;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But me, I don’t believe it’s true,</div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>I touched his arm, and it was warm</i>!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Right through the wall he slips and sinks:</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The room behind, you know, is mine.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What can he want there in the dark?</div> + <div class="verse indent2">He never makes a sound nor sign.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He never goes there in the day,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Only at night, right after tea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then I go to bed, you know,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And then he runs ahead of me.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If you will hold my hand quite close,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And creep along with me quite still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We’ll make a sudden jump—but no!</div> + <div class="verse indent2">We’ll touch him then—I know we will!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span></p> + +<h3>VI. HEAVEN</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She says that when we all have died</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We’ll walk in white there (then she cried)</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All free from sorrow, sin, and care—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I’m not sure I’d like it there.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She cannot tell me what we’ll do,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I couldn’t sing the whole day through:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The angels might not care to play,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or else I mightn’t like their way.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I never loved my Uncle Ned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So I can’t love him now he’s dead.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He’d be the only one I know—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She says it’s wicked to talk so.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I’d like to see how God would look,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’d like to see that Judgment Book:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But pretty soon I’d want to be</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the real people were, you see.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When people turn dead in a dream,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I wake up, and I scream and scream:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And since they’re all dead there, you know,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I’m sure that I should feel just so!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p> + +<h3>VII. THE PEAR TREE</h3> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We lived out under the pear tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">We dined upon tarts and cream,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I married you there for ever,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But, dear, ’twas only a dream!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We sailed away in the branches</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To countries strange and new,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For we owned estates in Dreamland,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But, sweetheart, it isn’t true!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We made a church in the pear tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where the angels came to sing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We stroked their wings—but, dearest,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">You mustn’t believe a thing!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">We cut our names in the tree trunk,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">So the bark could never grow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the Dryad cried! But, my darling,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">’Twas none of it really so!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="INSCRIPTIONS">INSCRIPTIONS</h2> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="FOR_A_CHILDS_PLATE">FOR A CHILD’S PLATE</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My Child, when from this Plate you Eat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give Thanks to God, who Sends your Meat.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beware you Show no Haste nor Greed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To those who Serve pay Gentle Heed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Spare out some Bread to Feed the Poor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And you shall Never Want, be Sure.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="FOR_HIS_CUP">FOR HIS CUP</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When drinking, Child, from out this Cup</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Ease your thirsty Pain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Think how the Earth to God looks up</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Thanks Him for the Rain.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="FOR_HIS_CHAIR">FOR HIS CHAIR</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When in this Chair you Rest, my Child,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Let all your Thoughts be Kind and Mild,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your Face and Hands quite Neat:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Rise up until your Elders sit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seek not to Show a Saucy Wit,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor all you Hear Repeat.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span></p> +<h3 class="nobreak" id="FOR_HIS_BED">FOR HIS BED</h3> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Go not to Sleep in this White Bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My Child, before your Prayers are Said.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Give Thanks to God for all your Joys,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For Mother, Home, and Friends and Toys.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ask Pardon for the Sins you’ve Done,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then Shut your Eyes until the Sun:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your Dream shall be a happy one.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span></p> +<h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_WANDERERS">THE WANDERERS</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">The Prince</span><br> +<span class="smcap">A Man-at-Arms</span><br> +<span class="smcap">A Gypsy</span><br> +</p> + +<p class="center"><i>Scene: The Edge of the Forest</i></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">THE PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So then, I am crowned to-morrow?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent33">Yes, my lord.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How fleet the time runs by! But yesterday</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I played in the fountain with the great white hound.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My old, old nurse that died....</div> + <div class="verse indent32">But all is changed.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I am a man now?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">So it seems, my lord.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I am king to-morrow.</div> + <div class="verse indent25">Ah, dear saints!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This is the saddest day of all my life.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Farewell, farewell, sweet Yesterday! Farewell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thou once so sweet To-morrow! Thou for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shalt no more beckon down the widening road</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That flows through all the forests and the fields,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">That flowers into the sunset and the sea!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Henceforth companioned by the same To-day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dull, cramped state, the tired formality,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">False thoughtfulness and feigned remembrances,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I yoke my life to one recurring task,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">No sooner done than all’s to do again!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would I were a child with one white hound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That lapped the fountain....</div> + <div class="verse indent29">Wherefore do you sigh?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why are you sad? You need not be a king.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My lord, I love you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent21">I know it. Oh, my friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Listen, and I will tell you. Only you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are friendly-souled in all this cruel court;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that is strange, for you must ever dog me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That I go not afield nor roam the woods.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why may I not?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent15">My lord, it is forbidden.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent41">But why?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I know not. What would you tell me, sir?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Why, this.</div> + <div class="verse indent11">Last night I leaned far out the tower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To catch the smell o’ the woods and hear the birds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Quiet their young to sleep, and watch the stars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Slip one by one to sight, and feel the wind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That blows so soft at night, come floating by.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on my ear there fell a sudden song:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So throstle-sweet it was, so faëry-gay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My heart stood still to hear it. It rose high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all my soul rose with it; it sank low—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My cheeks were wet with tears.</div> + <div class="verse indent31">I tell you, friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My years slipped from me like a mantle dropped.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I felt the wonderful, the wild, sweet dreams</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That blessed those nights when I, a little boy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Trembled a moment on the forest brink,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then flung myself into its dusky arms,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Swung in the billowy boughs and pressed the moss,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drank from the pool beside the spotted deer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And at the murmurous swaying of the pines</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wept in my childish sleep for joy too great.</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +(<i>The Gypsy song is heard.</i>)<br> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Oh, the goodwife turns the wheel at home,</i><br> +<i>And the bird will keep her nest,</i><br> +<i>But it’s ah me! for the world’s to see</i><br> +<i>Or ever my heart have rest!</i><br> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There, there! You heard it? Ah, unhappy prince!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For me the green earth spreads her fields in vain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The forest pleads in vain with dusky arms:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall die caged.</div> + <div class="verse indent19">Ah, do you see him there?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">See whom, my lord?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent19">The stranger in the wood.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">How brown, how bright! How gallantly it swings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That tattered robe! And see his gleaming chain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His scarlet berries!</div> + <div class="verse indent21">Nay, I will not go!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nay, if you touch me I shall kill you! Nay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will speak with him if I die for it!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He turns his eye upon me—</div> + <div class="verse indent27">Ah, dear saints!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I mind me of my mother suddenly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That died for sorrow when she brought me forth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To chain me to a throne. Ah me, ah me!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When did my mother die?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent24">The queen, my lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Left life behind her at the early dawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Just as the spring was coming on.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent34">And where?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How can I tell?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent16">I know you will tell true.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">My lord, the queen, your mother, grew distraught,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ere her time was come she crept at night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Between her watchers while they drowsed, and found</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A glade among the hills that spring had kissed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And underneath green boughs she laid her down.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And I was born there?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent22">Aye, my lord. Below</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The first faint budding bough we found you there.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You should have told me this.</div> + <div class="verse indent30">See, he comes near!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">(<i>To the Gypsy.</i>) God save you, sir!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">GYPSY</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent37">I lie within his hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where go you?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">GYPSY</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent14">Where the cool brown river runs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Over the shining pebbles, through deep pools</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The setting sun turns first to molten gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then hues with pigeons’ breasts, purple and pink,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then fills with inky shadows where the moon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plunges at midnight.</div> + <div class="verse indent21">’Neath the glimmering stacks</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Below the waiting stars I dream good dreams,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And catch the sky’s faint blush, and bathe in the brook,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And tread the firm green grass and follow the clouds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till drowsy noon.</div> + <div class="verse indent18">I sing before her door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the farmer’s wife brings honey to me, and bread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And milk beneath the pink, sweet apple-boughs.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Will you not sing to me?</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +(<i>Gypsy sings.</i>)<br> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>The king he wooed the Gypsy maid</i><br> +<i>And kissed her to the throne;</i><br> +<i>She fell asleep, but blood runs deep,</i><br> +<i>And the forest claims its own!</i><br> +</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Leave us, I say!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent17">You shall not threaten him!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Go, or I strike!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent17">Where is your love for me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sir, if my care for you had matched my love</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We two had long ago been far from here.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With every moment’s lingering, my lord,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I move one step the nearer to my death:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Will you not come?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent19">I cannot.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent29">Then for me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Life is not long, it seems. I pray you, sir,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Remember always that I loved you well!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +(<i>Gypsy sings.</i>)<br> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Ah, vain for him the diadem,</i><br> +<i>Heavy the scepter’s load,</i><br> +<i>For he was lord o’ the windy wood,</i><br> +<i>And prince o’ the winding road!</i><br> +</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I come, I come!</div> + <div class="verse indent16">Nay, weep not so, good friend!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> + <div class="verse indent0">This is no fault of thine; for you and me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">God’s plan is kindly. Never did I loose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hare entrapped or set the song-bird free</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I had faith that He would serve me so!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come with me: little love have they for us</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that hot, weary glitter of the court.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hast thou not seen the new queen grudge at me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And nurse her son to scorn me?</div> + <div class="verse indent31">Let them reign!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We’ll make a dearer court.</div> + <div class="verse indent27">The trees shall bend</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bow to us, but not with flattery;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little leaves shall whisper, but their lisp</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is clean of lies and slander; the sleek deer</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall lead their tender fawns to kiss our hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor plot us evil with the soft caress;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The wind and rain shall be our councilors,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor urge us to do war, nor press the poor,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor waste our souls in bitter rivalries,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor match a petty kingdom with great powers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That smile at us for folly.</div> + <div class="verse indent28">Let them reign!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +(<i>Gypsy sings.</i>)<br> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>And it’s we will fling the world away,</i><br> +<i>And reap where God has sowed,</i><br> +<i>And we’ll roam for ay the windy wood,</i><br> +<i>And wander the winding road!</i><br> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Friend, must I go alone?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent25">My lord, these hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lifted you first from where you lay and smiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside the dead queen ’neath the hawthorn-tree.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I walked beside the horse when first you rode,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I set the hawk upon your little arm,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I have lain years before your door at night.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The death I stay to meet were not so hard</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As life without you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent21">Will you follow me?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">MAN-AT-ARMS</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To the death, my lord!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">PRINCE</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent23">Why, then, good friends, your hands!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We three are bound for the woods: God needs some souls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To love the world as he made it.</div> + <div class="verse indent33">Come with me!</div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="right"> +(<i>They enter the forest; the Gypsy song is heard.</i>)<br> +</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> +<div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>Oh, the goodwife turns the wheel at home,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>And the bird will keep her nest,</i></div> + <div class="verse indent0"><i>But it’s ah me! for the world’s to see</i></div> + <div class="verse indent2"><i>Or ever my heart have rest!</i></div> + </div> +</div> +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75489 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/75489-h/images/001.jpg b/75489-h/images/001.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d84a4a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/75489-h/images/001.jpg diff --git a/75489-h/images/cover.jpg b/75489-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7398d5f --- /dev/null +++ b/75489-h/images/cover.jpg |
