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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/78110-0.txt b/78110-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..157e7de --- /dev/null +++ b/78110-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2292 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78110 *** + + + + +VERSES + + + + +=THE GARDEN OF KAMA=; and other Love Lyrics from India. Arranged in + Verse by +Laurence Hope+. Square 8vo, 5_s._ net. + +=STARS OF THE DESERT.= By +Laurence Hope+. Square 8vo, price 5_s._ net. + + +_Uniform with the above (shortly)_ + +=LAST POEMS.= By +Laurence Hope+. + + ++London+: WILLIAM HEINEMANN. + + + + +VERSES + + +BY + +VIOLET JACOB + +(MRS. ARTHUR JACOB) + +AUTHOR OF ‘THE SHEEP-STEALERS,’ ‘THE INTERLOPER’ + + +LONDON + +WILLIAM HEINEMANN + +1905 + + + + +_All rights reserved._ + + + + +TO + +THE IDEAL CRITIC + + + + +I have to thank the Editors of the +_Westminster Gazette_, _The English +Illustrated Magazine_, and _Country +Life_ for permission to reprint some +of the following poems.--V. J. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + To H. M. C. 1 + Half-way 2 + White Magic 4 + Serenade 5 + The Shadow 6 + The Mill-house 8 + ‘I sleep but my Heart waketh’ 13 + An Immortelle 14 + The Two Queens 15 + The Lost Track 16 + At a Brookside 18 + Revenant 18 + To Aurelia, with a Pearl Necklace 19 + Beyond the Walls 20 + ‘Come on, come up, ye rovers’ 22 + An Echo 24 + A Young Moon 26 + The Soul 27 + The Ballad of Hakon 29 + Ignis Fatuus 33 + The Little Nightjar 34 + Possession 36 + Airlie Kirk 38 + The Flute player 39 + In Lower Egypt 42 + Winter and Spring 44 + A Tryst 45 + The Call 47 + Time and Space 49 + A Translation 50 + Glamour 52 + Lenore in the Oliveyards 54 + New Year’s Eve 55 + Three Poems for Children-- + I. The Lilacs 57 + II. Dreams 58 + III. The Snow Witch 61 + The Valley of the Kings 62 + The Lowland Ploughman 65 + Late February 67 + From a Train-window 68 + Poems of India-- + I. In a Mango-tope 70 + II. Night in the Plains 73 + III. The Resting-place 75 + IV. Evening in the Opium Fields 77 + V. ‘God is great’ 78 + VI. A Mahommedan Graveyard 81 + VII. Cherry-Blossom at Dagshai 83 + VIII. ‘With Military Honours’ 85 + IX. The Distant Temple 87 + + + + +TO H. M. C. + + + A silence falls on us to-day, + Our lips are closed, we do not speak, + But, in each other’s eyes we seek + And find the thing that each would say. + + So deep it lies, a rock set fast, + Washed hard by life, by love, by tears, + Beneath the floods of time and years + Built up and rooted in the past. + + And sometimes, when the tide is low, + A voice comes up the Northern sea; + Across the sands to you and me + It calls from lands left long ago. + + By marshes lying dim and wide, + Through wet, grey sea-fogs, creeping on, + Back from that youth for ever gone + It comes to us across the tide. + + How shall we speak? What words can say + The thing for which no words are known, + That calls to us from places lone + Through past, through present, through to-day? + +❦ + + + + +HALF-WAY + + + The world is not the dream of living gold + We dreamed when we were young; + Then, all the glory that the west could hold + Burned, fold on fold, + A molten veil across its portals flung + Behind whose shade the years lay sleeping still, + Like tales untold; + But now, beyond the beeches bare and chill, + Beyond the woods set far upon the hill, + The clouds are cold. + + And life is not the journey that we planned + As we set out with morn; + We said, ‘We will rest here and view the land, + Or take our stand + Upon these hills and see the ripening corn, + Or step aside along the mere to mark + The wild-fowl band;’ + But now, we know we must tread swift and stark, + If we would cross the desert ere the dark + Creeps on the sand. + + And death is not the dim and distant shade + So far against the sky; + The half-seen trap for others waiting laid, + While we, arrayed + In pride and plume of youth, go sweeping by. + We thought to meet him with a spirit braced + By conquests made; + But now, we know, when half the road is traced, + Our hope is but to reach him undisgraced + And unafraid. + +❦ + + + + +WHITE MAGIC + + + I saw the moon come out and stand last night + Above the plains of cloud, + Like a lone chief, who, at his tented door, + Looks down upon the forest’s silent floor + From a far battlement upon the height, + And drops his mantle proud + Into the swimming vapours of the light. + + O watcher on the planet-woven steep + Whose shining feet are set + Above the haunted glamour of the skies! + Draw me, a slave, with thy compelling eyes, + While the slow hours in soundless circle creep, + Out through the world, while yet + The world’s heart heaves beneath the veil of sleep. + + O pale-faced chief! The earth and heaven are still + And thou and I awake; + I come, with outstretched arms and spirit bound, + Forth through the scattered graves where, lying sound, + The dead are sown by field and fold and hill + And mist-entangled brake; + O pale chief! Draw me up into the height, + Into the swimming light. + +❦ + + + + +SERENADE + + + O roses, clustering on the sunny wall + In fragrant groups of white and red together, + Bend down, bend down your branches, one and all, + Beneath the fair June sky and glowing weather; + And say to her, I send her + A message tender. + + And thou, convolvulus, upon the gate, + With pale white bells and trails of light leaves swinging, + Tell her my love for her is strong as fate, + For ever true and like thy tendrils clinging; + And kiss her, soft and shy, + As she goes by. + + O jessamine, in wreaths of scented stars + Across the balconies and stonework meeting, + Climb up and enter at her window-bars + And bear among your buds my loving greeting; + Then whisper, sweet and slow, + ‘He waits below.’ + +❦ + + + + +THE SHADOW + + + What soul has swept your branches, cypress-tree, + That you should point so high; + That you, whose root among the graves may be, + Look ever to the sky? + + Dark warden of the long-untended tomb + Seen o’er some mouldering wall, + Or set where fountained gardens are abloom + And roses blush and fall. + + Scarcely the wind is voiceful as it sways + Your column, dusk, austere; + Scarcely the evening breeze that round you plays + Brings music to the ear. + + Your earth-bound foot mortality retains + Imprisoned in the sod, + Your earth-freed spirit to that ether strains + Which is the breath of God. + + The light o’er southern vineyards dying down + Smiles on the landscape still, + And lays the lengthening shadow of your crown + On many a Tuscan hill. + + And, nearer home, where memory’s deathless sun + Enwraps some tear-sown mound, + Your shade, at day’s decline, O silent one, + Slants eastward on the ground. + + By tomb or pleasance, convent-girdled height, + In countries far or near, + You bear a message from eternal light + To us whose souls are here. + + O silent witness! dark where yonder sky + In saffron splendour burns, + ’Tis but the shadow that on earth must lie, + The substance heavenward turns. + +❦ + + + + +THE MILL-HOUSE + + + Beneath the drawbridge is the moat, + On broadened leaves the lilies float, + The white bud bursts its oozy coat. + + Up from the fields of ripened corn + There comes the sound of voices borne + From where the stooks stand newly shorn. + + Above her head the banner flies, + A dragon blue with banded eyes, + Grey in the sun the towers rise. + + Within, the knights sit in a row, + And ladies, with their hands of snow; + The golden cup goes to and fro. + + She heeds nor feast, nor song, nor wine, + She only sees the weapons shine + Upon the plains of Palestine. + + She only hears the trumpets bray + Their summons through the Eastern day, + The tramp of horses far away. + + Her heart sees all the far-off scene, + And, with her heart, she hears the green + Wild roll of waters in between. + + The light from the horizon’s rim + Strikes, like the wings of seraphim, + Upon the fountain’s circled brim. + + A shadow lies before her face, + Sir Hugh has risen and left his place: + “Elayne, the seasons march apace; + + Lo, patience is a good knight’s stay, + Yet comes the time when men may say + ‘Who waits too long will lose the day.’ + + The dial by the swinging vane + Marks how the long hours wax and wane-- + ’Tis time the priest were brought, Elayne. + + Yon knight who fights in Palestine, + What is his love compared with mine? + I will load your hair with jewels fine, + + You shall lie on silk, you shall sit, a queen, + In costly raiment blue and green + With golden roses wrought in between.” + + To where the crazy mill-house stands + He has borne her with his iron hands, + Her hair hangs down in russet bands; + + He has shorn a long tress of her hair + And bound her feet so slim and fair, + He has borne her out on the mill-house stair. + + “Elayne, Elayne, you are young to die, + There is none to hear should you call or cry, + Shall the water have you or shall I?” + + She makes no sound; beneath the ledge + An eddy swirls among the sedge, + He takes a step to the stairs’ edge. + + The mill-race, roaring far beneath, + Seems like the sound of gloating death, + She looks down and she holds her breath. + + “Elayne, what think you? Which is best?” + Against the black heart in his breast + She keeps her pale face closely prest. + + The mill-race, winding mile on mile, + Sounds like an angry voice the while; + He cannot see her drawn lips smile. + + Like some slim beast, some snake or stoat, + She meets her teeth upon his throat, + Her fingers grasp his leathern coat. + + On the top step they swing and sway, + His breath comes short, his face is grey, + The waters close with a splash of spray. + + The mill-race runs till it nears the moat, + What thing does the water raise and float? + --A drowned dead man with a mark on his throat. + +❦ + + + + +‘I SLEEP BUT MY HEART WAKETH’ + + + Here in the winding coil of waterways, + Apart among the trees, where no feet pass, + And little woodland rabbits on the grass + Sit lightly cropping through the Autumn days, + The troubling world, with all its weary moods, + Is far away outside the circling woods. + + A golden rain of leaf is on the beech + And red and gold the maze of branches glow + To drop their wealth upon the grass below, + As golden silence falls on golden speech; + In long, wet flats, wherein the heron feeds, + A golden sky is mirrored through the reeds. + + No voices come to still that other voice + Which breathes along the labyrinth of trees + To tell the tired soul to dwell at ease + Among the best-loved visions of its choice: + ‘Sleep in these groves,’ it says, ‘by spirits trod, + While thine heart waketh to the sound of God.’ + +❦ + + + + +AN IMMORTELLE + + + There is a secret garden where I dwell + Hedged round about with thorn and Judas-tree, + Barred in with iron like a prison cell + And known to none but me. + + Black rocks encircle it; the nightshade wreath + Twines in the bush its leaden-purple spray + And the rank hellebore, with poisoned breath, + Sighs on the air all day. + + I loved it not, yet I was wont to go + To gaze my fill and all my plants compare, + To taste the bitter herbs that thrive and grow, + Spreading a carpet there. + + * * * * * + + But now, ’tis years, since, in that sorry place, + I swung the wicket; for, all gloriously, + A wingèd figure came with radiant face + And bore away the key. + + And still--I have a little poison-flower + I gathered there; and, though I would forget, + I take it out in some friend-haunted hour + To find it living yet. + +❦ + + + + +THE TWO QUEENS + + + A man went down the path of life, + And, where the vines were thick and green + And grapes hung waiting for the knife, + There smiled to him a queen. + Love lit the eyes beneath her brow, + His lips met hers a moment’s span; + He said, ‘My heart is glad, for now + I know I am a man.’ + + And, further on, among the corn, + Another queen whose eyes made dim + The very glory of the morn, + Held out her hand to him. + There was no time for speech or vow, + He kissed it, kneeling on the sod, + He said, ‘My soul is high, for now + I feel I am a god.’ + +❦ + + + + +THE LOST TRACK + + + When you have passed, and earth, grown dim behind you, + Lies far upon the outworn verge of time, + When my hand, searching, shall no longer find you + In any clime; + + If I but dream your step, by hill or hollow, + Has left some echo falling on the wind, + I will arise and gird myself and follow + Though I be blind. + + Or if, clear-sighted, I may but discover + That, in the dew at dawn, your footsteps lie, + Where, through long fields, the whistling of the plover + Comes like a sigh; + + And, if they lead me down to Death’s black river, + And, by the rocks, I hear the whirlpools spin, + Though heart and soul may faint and body quiver + I will wade in. + + O heart! beyond the tumult of the crossing, + If there should be no sign, nor any trace, + Only strange winds upon the grasses tossing + And the wide space, + + Only eternity, with worlds to wander, + A soul among the unknown souls of men, + And, O my heart, no voice, no footstep yonder, + What then? What then? + +❦ + + + + +AT A BROOKSIDE + + + A running melody is in the noon + Of grass-bound rivulet and tangled showers, + Of sunlight, glancing through the cuckoo-flowers + To mingle golden ripples with the tune; + In the wide light my senses seem to swoon, + Drugged by the monotone of rhythmic hours + And voice of spring-fed watercourse that dowers + This winding meadow-land with music’s boon. + + Caught in a shimmering net of sight and sound, + And drawn, I know not whither, yet aware + Am I of some soft touch, and, blown around + My face, the plenitude of waving hair-- + Nay, let me lie and dream this wondrous thing; + My hand, one moment, held the hand of Spring! + +❦ + + + + +REVENANT + + + In the dark hours I woke and heard the trees + That tossed and buffeted before the blast, + Straining and sighing while the gale went past; + And, as a scourge whose wrath might none appease, + The raindrops smote the pane and ran in seas, + Gurgling against the frame; now thick and fast, + And now like pebbles at the window cast + By some lost spirit that could find no ease. + + And from the blackness of the dripping night + I turned me, weary of its sodden gloom, + Smiling to see the glow within the room + And the red embers on the hearth alight; + Then sudden ceased, and bowed my head again, + Thinking of that one gravestone in the rain. + +❦ + + + + +TO AURELIA, WITH A PEARL NECKLACE + + + Aurelia, think not to refuse + Or scorn my gift, although + These jewels must their lustre lose + Upon thy neck of snow. + + But, if thine eyes should glance aside + And deign to mark their shine, + Deem them as emblems of the pride + That fills this heart of mine. + + And if, for mine unworthy sake, + The pearls neglected be, + Still keep them; and the bauble make + Into a rosary. + + And when, perchance, desiring grace, + In prayer thy spirit pleads, + String thou thy kisses in their place + And I will tell the beads. + +❦ + + + + +BEYOND THE WALLS + + + The firelight plays since dusk began + To gather in the room, + Beyond the pane the daylight’s span + Grows to the evening gloom; + But my heart is out with the gipsy man + In his lair among the broom. + + Beside the farm both barn and stack + Dark in the steading rise, + Up in the loaning green, the track + Along the firwood lies, + Where the gipsy sits with his brows of black, + And the black light in his eyes. + + He marks the swift owl skim the trees + When twilight turns to grey, + He hears the whisper up the leas + Before the coming day, + And the secret hours of the world he sees + And the soul of night at play. + + His ceiling is the drooping bough, + The fir-trees’ ragged limb, + When from the hills the western sough + Sings o’er the lowlands dim; + And the polestar, hanging above the Plough, + Is the lantern-flame for him. + + O weary roof and crowding wall + That bar the scented air! + O chain and key whose ceaseless thrall + Lies on a world of care, + There are no bolts shot in the firwood tall + But the joy of life is there! + + O to be out when spring has drest + The green moss for a bed, + To roam by plain and wooded crest + Till the rose-hips turn to red; + And to lay me down for the last long rest, + With the great sky overhead! + +❦ + + + + +‘COME ON, COME UP, YE ROVERS’ + + + Come on, come up, ye rovers + Whose ships at anchor ride, + The west wind stirs the clovers, + And O! the world is wide: + So, up with your chains as the sun goes down + And out upon the tide! + + There drives on the Atlantic + The torn scud of the rain, + And lines of foam leap frantic + Against the coast of Spain, + Where the air is full of the souls of men + Who sailed the Spanish Main. + + Where Rocca’s light is burning + On plunging miles of sea, + Eastward and eastward turning, + By Crete and Tripoli, + There is a spirit abroad in the wind + That cries aloud to me. + + The coast drops low behind you, + The gull swoops round the spars; + Shall small men’s limits bind you + Whose milestones are the stars? + Whose signposts stand where Orion swings + Above earth’s locks and bars? + + Come up, ye sons of morning, + This world was built for you! + Far off, Heaven’s light’s adorning + The lands where dreams come true; + And the Angel that sits at the Gates of the East + Shall open and let you through. + +❦ + + + + +AN ECHO + + + When all the world is young and apple-bloom + Is rose and white upon the orchard tree, + When all the threads of Spring’s ethereal loom + Weave a green garment for her phantasy; + That voice of youth and growth and vanished years + Comes through all time, in floating cadence, still, + Through mists of life and long-forgotten tears, + The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill. + + The hidden streams in many a marshy place + Their chains of little standing pools unfold, + Like silver mirrors for Spring’s wanton face + Tossed at her feet and framed in marigold. + Hark to her footsteps down the sloping fields + Dancing in measure to the music shrill, + That, from its budding depth, the coppice yields, + The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill. + + O Youth, O Time, O Change--O haunting note! + When from our life we shed mortality, + When all our joys and passions are remote, + All that the ear could hear or eye could see; + Haply, across the gulf where Time lies bound, + Some shadow of a voice may reach us still, + Like that long echo from enchanted ground, + The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill. + +❦ + + + + +A YOUNG MOON + + + A crescent hung above the trees, + A sweep of fading sky; + A parting shiver in the breeze, + And day lies down to die. + + A silver curve above the murk + Where weary cities slave + And heart and hand are seamed with work + Whose goal is but the grave. + + Within the young moon’s slender arm + The old moon’s shadow lies, + That wraith whose evanescent charm + Melts back to Paradise. + + O’er one, o’er all, the wonder swings; + A gleam sad eyes may see; + A lamp that flies on hidden wings + To light my love and me; + + A vigil-taper, lone, apart, + High above field and town + O’er many a spot where some poor heart + Has laid its burden down. + +❦ + + + + +THE SOUL + + + I laid a rose upon my loved one’s bier + Beside her quiet face; + A red rose, scented with the fadeless year + When Love’s eyes met us in the noonday clear + In a fair place. + + I set it very softly down to lie + Amid her heavy hair; + And then, methought, the Soul that hovered by + Looked towards me through the dimness with a sigh + As I stood there. + + I laid my empty world upon the pyre, + Beside her open hand; + A world that life had stocked with youth and fire, + Fortune and fame and wealth and world’s desire, + And strength to stand. + + She knew each aim, fulfilled or unfulfilled, + That ever had been mine; + And then, methought, the Soul above her willed + Towards me through the dusk, a whisper stilled, + Whisper or sign? + + I laid my heart upon my loved one’s breast, + Beside her silent heart; + Sorrow and vigil shared, the worst, the best, + All, all it held she knew who lay at rest, + Till we did part. + + Ah me! it seemed as if her pale lips shook + With pity as she lay, + As though she wore that unforgotten look; + And then, methought, the Soul came down and took + My heart away. + +❦ + + + + +THE BALLAD OF HAKON + + + Across the stretching reed-beds + The dusk and twilight flee, + And thick the sea-fog covers + The roaring Northern Sea. + + O Hakon, grey-eyed Hakon + With tawny yellow hair, + Why are you standing all alone? + Why are you waiting there? + + Across the stretching reed-beds, + Amid the falling light, + Comes tripping fair maid Mettelil + Among the bents to-night. + + ‘O Mettelil, you have tarried, + The dark is drawing on, + Were you with young Herr Axel + This long long hour that’s gone? + + I watched him by the reed-beds, + I saw him pause and wait, + Till twilight came I looked for you-- + O Mettelil, it is late! + + Goodbye, goodbye, Maid Mettelil, + The raven cries o’erhead, + A stormy wind rolls in from sea, + Mettelil, my heart is dead!’ + + * * * * * + + Across the roaring ocean + The plunging war-ships go, + And Hakon, armed to battle, + Sails out to meet the foe. + + Where’er the press is thickest, + Upon the prow he stands; + Around him fly the arrows + Shot by the foeman’s hands. + + The air is wild with shrieking + Of those that fight and drown. + The blows fall thick round Hakon + But none can strike him down. + + ‘O Death that I am seeking, + Why com’st thou not to me? + I would my heart lay cold and still + Beneath the rolling sea!’ + + At home sits fair Maid Mettelil, + The tears are in her eyes, + And, ere a month is come and gone, + In kirkyard ground she lies. + + And sadly home comes Hakon, + Weary his face has grown, + All through the night he wanders + Beside the kirkyard lone. + + ‘Mettelil, the leaves are falling, + The north wind whistles free, + The chill mist wraps me in its shroud, + Come back, come back to me!’ + + Between the glimmering headstones, + Beneath the branches black, + A form comes quickly gliding + And stands at Hakon’s back. + + ‘Turn round, turn round now, Hakon, + And hold me to your breast + And touch my cold lips once with yours, + For then my soul can rest.’ + + She wound her white arms round him, + She touched his tawny hair, + ‘O Hakon, hold me faster, + My grave is opening there!’ + + He held her close and closer, + Lower he bent his head-- + An icy wind swept o’er his heart, + One kiss, and he was dead. + +❦ + + + + +IGNIS FATUUS + + + ‘Little Goblin at the fire, + Have you found the Heart’s Desire? + Have you seen it in your flitting by night or by noon?’ + ‘O it may be in the swell + Of the mist-wreath up the fell, + Or the long clouds trailing at the tail o’ the moon.’ + + ‘Little Goblin in the cold, + Have you seen it on the wold, + Where the winds with flying voices run free as they rave?’ + ‘O it may be in the sigh + Of a time that is gone by + Or the long grass growing by the brink o’ the grave.’ + + ‘Little Goblin in the trees, + Looking down the darkening leas, + Have you seen no golden country where the heart finds rest?’ + ‘O, it may be where the night + Comes to quench the flaming light, + In the far lands lying through the fire o’ the west.’ + +❦ + + + + +THE LITTLE NIGHTJAR + + + When the moon is on the wall + And her shadow on the door, + When darkness on the orchard lies like sea upon the shore, + The apple-boughs are silver with the silence swimming through, + With the halo of the dew; + Hark! what little shrieking nightjar ever gave so soft a call + When the moon is on the wall? + + When the moon is on the wall + There’s a sound among the trees; + O master on the settle, with the sheep dog at your knees, + At the little nightjar’s voice does he stir to wake and growl? + Does the hooting of the owl + Make him prick his ears and quiver, make his hackles rise and fall + When the moon is on the wall? + + When the moon is on the wall + And the fire has sunk and died, + The maid sits still to listen for the lad that lurks outside-- + Good master, dozing o’er your pipe, how fast is slumber’s thrall + When the moon is on the wall! + + * * * * * + + O! but ’tis strange how shadows move that lay so still, so still, + And stranger yet how close they draw before the night grows chill, + And the little nightjar shrieks no more from out the elm-tree tall, + And the moon has left the wall. + +❦ + + + + +POSSESSION + + + She has laid her snare + And her eyes hold midnight’s sign, + Like pools in a moonless land + Lit up by the stars that shine; + With her burning hair + She has bound you, strand by strand, + She holds your heart in her hand, + But your soul is mine. + + She has set her feet + In a path where roses blow, + She plays with your heart, the sea + Plays thus with its dead below, + And the game is sweet; + But your soul is here with me, + O Man; it is yours and free-- + But it cannot go. + + We shall stand, we two, + And her lips shall hold the sum + Of notes in a syren’s tone, + But mine shall be closed and dumb; + And, the whole day through, + Shall her eyes allure your own, + But I will stand like a stone + And your soul shall come. + +❦ + + + + +AIRLIE KIRK + + + A little spot of tangled ground + Set in the folding hill, + From curlew-haunted braes the sound + Of flitting voices shrill; + The high October sky unrolled + Above the plough-land’s crest, + Rank mallows by the hearthstone cold + With the field-mouse for guest; + Gudeman, it is long since the fire went out + And time that we went to rest. + + The naked rafters overhead + Stand up like withered hands; + I mind me when the roof-tree spread + Where now the burdock stands. + The threshold’s deep between the whin + And fast in briers twined; + Where little feet ran out and in + The track is hard to find; + Gudeman, it is long since we closed the door + And left what it held behind. + + Down in the strath the kirk is set + Upon the running burn; + It’s many roads we’ve trod, and yet + It’s here we must return. + Old lights along the fields are laid, + Old shadows lie as deep, + But new eyes watch them as they fade + Among the grazing sheep, + And it’s time we went down to Airlie kirk + And laid ourselves down to sleep. + +❦ + + + + +THE FLUTE PLAYER + + + In the window’s shade ere the dusk has spread + Over plain and hill, + And the tulip-flowers in the garden-bed + Have a glory still; + + When the world of toil and the world of ease + Are alike at rest; + I can hear him play in the belt of trees + Where the fields slope west. + + And the notes run high and the notes run low + In a rambling stream; + Like an old voice calling from long ago, + A dream of a dream. + + His eyes are afire with the secret light + Of a land unknown, + And the tree-stems echo his footsteps’ flight + Upon moss and stone. + + There is no more staying nor rest for me + When his flute is heard, + It is out, out, out to the melody + Without sign or word. + + The lamps may be lit in the shuttered room + And the door be fast, + Or a long day faint with a summer’s bloom + On the hedges cast; + + Let the path be winding in crowded ways + Or in woods profound, + It is all forgotten when once he plays + And I hear the sound. + + Though foot may ache and though heart may fail + And the brain grow numb, + It is follow, follow the flying trail + Till the flute is dumb. + + For life was a breath of the early spring, + When at first he came, + And, now that the harvest is ripening, + It is still the same; + + And it well may be when the last dusk falls + On my little day, + When the last sun colours the crumbling walls + Of the house of clay; + + I shall hear him playing beyond the hill + Where the fields slope west, + And follow him on till his steps are still + And the flute at rest. + +❦ + + + + +IN LOWER EGYPT + + + Above the ancient waters of the Nile + The mists of earth and dusk of heaven meet, + Where, slow along the bank, the camel-file + Moves, like a passing dream, on velvet feet; + And, as the choral voices of a dream, + The night sounds play their chant upon the stream. + + The crane stands silent; all the fields exhale + A band of fertile damp along the shore; + The same moon, red and low behind the veil, + That lit Old Egypt, lights for me once more + The mirage of a kingdom that has been, + And, through the mist, the shadow of a queen. + + Rise up, O Royal Egypt, from the dusk + With all the weight of tresses on thine head + Heavy with golden nets and faint with musk, + Girt with the lotus from the river-bed, + And eyes that once, with their devouring fire, + Lit for men’s hearts a sacrificial pyre. + + O Serpent, by a serpent slain at last! + Come through the vapourous fields with garments trailed, + Embroidered with the lotus-leaf, made fast + With gems; with green and Tyrian purple veiled; + Turn but thy face, that I may see and know + The witchcraft throned in Egypt long ago. + + There is a sound of flute and wavering reed, + The measured throb of falling oars that beat, + A tall prow swimming noiseless through the weed, + The shifting glimmer of a silken sheet; + And, from the dim luxuriance drawn nigh, + The feet of Royal Egypt passing by. + + And now, her foot is set upon the barge, + The flutes play up, the fans ply to and fro, + The ripples, dying at the river-marge, + Curl, as the prow swings out upon the flow, + And its retreating music and its state + Leave, once again, the dusk inviolate: + + Only, across the tillage lying low, + There comes the creak of well-wheels working late. + +❦ + + + + +WINTER AND SPRING + + + O wet green winter grass, + Sodden and chill with rain, + There are some footsteps that will never pass + Along the fields again. + + O fresh blue air of Spring, + When lights lie long upon the slope, + There are two eyes to which you cannot bring + Your lights of youth and hope. + + O white syringa-tree, + Year in, year out, below your feet + There is one heart to all eternity + That will not stir nor beat. + +❦ + + + + +A TRYST + + + Here, where our two ways part, + That, for a little time, ran side by side, + That now must turn and turning must divide, + Look, look and see how straight through Eden’s heart, + Unbarred, unbroken, lay the double track; + The dark has fallen and the sun has set, + The world lies round us, limitless, and yet + I will come back. + + Across the plain of life + There stretches this enchanted forest’s band, + Haunted of crying voices, stirred and fanned, + Swept through by airs whose breath, I know, is rife + In that far bourn wherein no man may lack + His sure fulfilment; look on leaf and flower-- + In the dim dawn of some unnumbered hour + I will come back. + + So meet me here: good-bye; + The light that lies on all this golden time + Shall burn on the horizon and shall climb + Like some vast city’s glow into the sky, + Unquenched by darkness or the cloudy wrack; + In flesh or spirit--which, it matters not, + --Remembered or unlooked for or forgot-- + I will come back. + +❦ + + + + +THE CALL + + + The stars above the apple boughs, + Like distant gazers, stand aloof, + Watching the white walls of the house, + Watching the room below the roof. + + There is the night-hush over all + Beneath the crescent hanging low, + And, through the dark, there comes a call + From hidden lips whose voice I know. + + And every root and stem and leaf, + Sends out its scented breath to me; + The fox is waiting like a thief, + The bird is watching from the tree. + + And, in the room below the thatch, + While the white house in sleep is drowned, + Up to the open window-latch + There come strange whispers from the ground. + + * * * * * + + I will arise and steal upon the stair, + Where the tall clock counts up Time’s gathered hoard + Telling its numbers to the empty air, + My naked feet upon the creaking board. + Out, out across the threshold I will go + Into the night, the sighing, luring night, + And all the eyes above, around, below, + Like lamps upon my path shall peer and glow + Till thorn and thicket are alive with light. + + I will lie down upon my mother Earth, + Heart to her heart and soul upon her soul, + Until the sounds that in the night have birth + Above my head their harmonies unroll; + And over me the little pattering feet + Shall come and go; and every bush and tree + Shall send from out its shades a cloudy fleet + Of flitting wings whose softly-thronging beat + Shall neither stay nor turn because of me. + +❦ + + + + +TIME AND SPACE + + + ‘How far, O friend, are you and I apart + While all these wastes of sea between us roll?’ + ‘So far, that now, the beating of your heart + Has merged into the flutter of your soul.’ + + ‘How far, my dear, has your hand gone from mine + In these long days and months since they have met?’ + ‘So far that memory has forgot to pine, + Believing that its touch is present yet.’ + + ‘And O! how far, when night has fallen between, + Shall we be set in all the years untold?’ + ‘So near that you, when trouble’s blast is keen, + Shall feel my shade between you and the cold.’ + +❦ + + + + +A TRANSLATION + +(FROM THE GERMAN) + + +1 + + In the valley with moonlight streaming, + In depths of the forest free, + An old and forgotten dreaming + Is weaving its spell round me. + + +2 + + Dim columns, ghostlike and lonely, + Range darkly on yonder mound, + To the bat and the owlet only + Familiar trysting ground. + + +3 + + From the rocks come memories ringing, + The west wind whispers and calls, + And towers of gold are springing + From ruin and crumbling walls. + + +4 + + In a haze, through cloudland blowing, + Is wafted the old love--dead; + She draws me towards her, glowing + With radiance of youth that’s fled. + + +5 + + Like bliss from a far past carried + Comes softly her whispered vow; + And what in the years lay buried + Stands living before me now. + + +6 + + Then, soft as it came, the vision + Is gone; from the forest space, + Where we kissed in the woods Elysian + Has faded her vanished face. + + +7 + + The golden dreamland of wonder + Has fled on the passing wind, + The desolate walls up yonder + Are all that remain behind. + + +8 + + And, under the branches sweeping, + I walk in the dawn alone, + For day on the hills is creeping + And the glory of dreams has flown. + +❦ + + + + +GLAMOUR + + + It seems as though Spring’s light and waving leaves + Were part of youth alone; + As though the shadows, dancing by the eaves + In shifting web on wall and window thrown, + Forgot how nature weaves. + + Still throbs the chorus of the birds content, + Still, clouded with the may, + Cream-white, the hedges trail their load of scent, + Winding along the border of the way, + The same, yet different. + + It seems as though the pear-tree’s bridal veil + Had lost its fluttered lace; + The butterflies that dart their splendour frail + Through sun and blossom in their endless chase + On duller pinions sail. + + What joy has faded out from field and tree? + What glamour from the air? + Are not the cowslips grouped as cunningly, + Whispering together like young maidens fair + To wait the errant bee? + + All, all the hues that Springtime ever wore + Return as fair again; + The ribes hangs its tassels as of yore, + Pungent and sweet beneath the dropping rain + At every cottage door. + + But what is lost? Nay, naught from nature’s flow + Of magic infinite; + Unchanged the earth, the skies of long ago-- + Yet, once we saw them through the morning light + And now the sun is low. + +❦ + + + + +LENORE IN THE OLIVEYARDS + +(FOR MUSIC) + + + When, stooping from the walls of Heaven, the night + Lets down on earth her star-bespangled hair, + And all the pavement of the winding stair + Is grey beneath a waning crescent’s light, + Look down upon the planted olive-trees, + A maze of twisted stem and silver leaf; + This is the message sighing on the breeze + ‘Joy sails on flying wings and youth is brief.’ + + +(HE SINGS) + + ‘Come down, come down, the little Loves are peeping + Between the stems and shadows on the grass + And all the prying eyes of earth are sleeping, + The sands are running in the hour-glass; + + The red anemone a crown shall weave you, + Be-jewelled with the dew and spiked with flame, + And all the little waiting Loves receive you + Beneath the branches whispering your name. + + Come down, Lenore; the cock will soon be crowing, + The noisy birds awake that now are dumb; + Can new hours match the moments that are going? + Who knows? Not you nor I, Lenore. Come.’ + +❦ + + + + +NEW YEAR’S EVE + + + Go far from me, ye brood + Of little Hates and Sins who thus intrude, + Hide with the perished leaf below the mould; + The Old Year’s shade is dim-- + A touch, no more, upon the round world’s rim-- + And all the sky a-glitter in the cold. + + Stand closer, Faith and Truth + And the long Patience that outlasts its youth, + The hour is at the change; and, drawing near, + There is a footstep’s sound, + A measured fall upon the iron ground, + And the earth, spell-bound, waits the coming year. + + Come from your graves, O Lost! + And stand, this once, beside me in the frost + And turn, once more, your eyes upon my own; + Leave, for the past’s old sake, + Some look, some comrade’s sign for me to take, + That, in the tossings of the time unknown, + I may not be alone. + +❦ + + + + +THREE POEMS FOR CHILDREN + + + + +I. THE LILACS + + + The fields and garden-borders + Are bright because of spring, + The clouds of guelder roses + Are out and blossoming; + And close beside the gateway, + Tall, upon either hand, + Their green robes shot with sunlight, + Like queens, the Lilacs stand. + + And one is crowned with purple, + And one is crowned with white; + Look! where the wind is passing + They bow to left and right, + And trails of scent they scatter + As royal gifts to all, + To every creature dwelling + Within the garden-wall. + + O queen in plumes of purple! + Throw me a breath of joy, + You are all grand and glorious + And I a little boy; + But ask the lovely lady + With white plumes in her hair + To scent my heart with sweetness, + To make it pure and fair. + +❦ + + + + +II. DREAMS + + + This is a thing that no one knows; + When every hedge in summer blows + With twining vetch and brier-rose, + + When every bud has burst its sheath, + The white convolvulus’ wreath + Is hung with blossoms underneath. + + They are so faint and pale and shy + They almost look as if they’d die + Before the sun has left the sky. + + What children, even if they tried, + Could ever guess that, far inside + Each bell, a little sprite may hide? + + And who’d suppose that, in the night, + When no one’s there to see the sight, + They all unclose their trumpets white? + + And, when the world is fast asleep, + Out of the flowers these fairies creep + And down into the lanes they peep. + + They see the little tinker-boys + Who have no home, no nurse, no toys, + And O! so few of children’s joys. + + And, as they watch them lying there + With weary heads and feet all bare, + They hover round them in the air; + + Such lovely dreams for them they make + That their tired feet no longer ache, + And they are happy when they wake. + + What do they show them? Glorious things; + Whole palaces of queens and kings + And birds that fly on golden wings. + + And silent waters, winding far + Through groves of trees where angels are, + Lit by the trail of one blue star. + + And, when they wake, these visions stay + To help them on along their way + And keep them cheerful all the day. + + _You_ want such dreams, you say to me? + --Ah, if these wonders you would see + A tinker’s child you’d have to be, + + To wander far and wander wide + From New Year’s Day to Christmastide, + And then--you’d have to sleep outside. + + But now the white moon walks the sky, + So, from your beds, thank God on high, + Because so soft and safe you lie. + + --And yet, some day, however blest, + You too may weary of your rest + And think, perhaps, that dreams are best. + +❦ + + + + +III. THE SNOW WITCH + + + When all the world is under snow, + And the wind, crying in the north, + Sends its wild choir of voices forth, + Now shrieking loud, now falling low, + The Snow Witch with her ice-crowned hair + Is hurling snowflakes everywhere. + + Her garments are the Northern Lights + Beyond the bare arms of the trees; + And, from her height, she looks and sees + Earth’s towns and hamlets lit o’ nights; + And sighs, mayhap, far up above, + For one poor hearth alight with love. + +❦ + + + + +THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS + + + Northward upon the stream our boat is creeping, + The sky above is pearl, the river pearl, + And soon will coming night her shades unfurl + Like some great bird on stealthy pinions sweeping, + As the effulgence chills + And young stars stand above the Theban hills + Within whose fastnesses the kings are sleeping. + + To them the roll of time is but a dreaming, + To them the lotus, mouldered on their breasts, + Still dripping from the Nile, in beauty rests, + As when the mourners broke those blossoms streaming + And shook the silver shower, + The pallid glory of the royal flower + Fit guerdon for a royal spirit deeming. + + To-night it seems that peak and rugged boulder + Stand o’er their soundless dwellings for a sign; + Surely some cipher of a hand divine + Is graven yonder on the mountain’s shoulder, + Hidden in shadows vast + That melt to greyness as the boat slips past + With the slow current, and the sky grows colder. + + Mayhap, the phantom of a past endeavour, + Born of that ancient striving to the light, + Has wrapt the secret sepulchres with might + And haunts the valley of the Nile for ever; + Breathing eternally + A note of immortality to be, + Resounding ceaselessly and dying never. + + While, round the sleepers, sounds of feet have broken + The stillness that encompassed them so long, + And the loud voices of an idle throng + Within those halls of death have idly spoken; + While sacrilegious hands + Have loosed about them the funereal bands + To rob their bosoms of life’s symbolled token, + + From one unchanging hope can none divide them, + Although its outward emblem be despoiled; + Though silence and the peace for which they toiled + A world whose ways they knew not has denied them, + That hope its wings has spread + Within the rifled strongholds of the dead + As the wings shadowed on the wall beside them. + + Changeless, unaltered still the soul’s desire is, + Fixed as the hills whose heights we leave behind + To merge in fading colours undefined, + Purple and amethyst and rose and iris, + And, to the dripping oar, + The dusk is closing down along the shore, + The brooding dusk of Isis and Osiris. + +❦ + + + + +THE LOWLAND PLOUGHMAN + + + The team is stabled up, my lass, + The dew lies thick and grey; + Beyond the world, the long green light + Clings to the edge of day. + + By farm and fold the work is still, + Their breath the beanflowers yield, + And, in the dusk, the gowans stand + Like moons along the field. + + A little ghost alone, my dear, + The night moth flitters by; + Beside the hedge I’m lonely too, + Although no ghost am I. + + Leave the gudeman to mind the hearth, + The wife to mend the fire, + Nor heed the lads whose voices come + In mirth from yard and byre. + + The evening star is up, my dear, + And oh! the night is sweet, + Come through the heavy drops that bend + The grasses at your feet. + + For I am young and I am strong + And well can work for two, + And ’tis a year, come Martinmas, + I’ve loved no lass but you. + + And, in a year, come Martinmas, + Before the fields are sown, + I will not need to walk nor stray + Between the lights alone. + + For then the cot beyond the farm + A happy man will hold, + A wife who wears a golden ring + To match her hair of gold. + +❦ + + + + +LATE FEBRUARY + + + Blue vistas of an avenue + Range, line on line, against the sky; + Away, beyond, the low hills lie + To frame this landscape in with blue. + + And clear and far the light is spread + As though earth smiled to feel the stir, + The first faint thrill that moves in her + Who, all these months, has lain as dead. + + Fresh year, fresh sky, fresh hope--and yet + A sigh is in the lengthening days; + Between the trunks the blackbird strays + Whose long-drawn note is called regret. + + White snowdrops, close among the roots, + Scored at your drooping hearts with green, + What scents from springs that once have been + Cling, like old griefs, among your shoots? + + Yes, like old griefs; and we, who view, + Year after year, life’s deathless round, + Feel their spent throb in every wound + And know that they are deathless too. + +❦ + + + + +FROM A TRAIN-WINDOW + + + Where, struck with sunset light, the shining rails + Converge upon our track, + The smoky canopy of London veils + The distant heaven with black. + + Behind us, dropping further in our wake, + The lessening city lies, + And all the landscape has begun to take + A glamour from the skies. + + Scarcely a cloud the sun’s effulgence shields + From evening’s stealthy hand; + But half the crimson disc beyond the fields + Stares on the level land. + + Through the moist meadows, broad on either side, + Merged to one dusky plain, + There sounds, the breathing stillness to divide, + The clanking of the train. + + And cooling silence, like a wave of balm, + After the city’s heat, + Is spread around us, odourous and calm, + With foam of meadowsweet. + + In the damp ditches ranging from the line + Towards the lighted west + Tall spires of blossom, dimly white, define + A sweetness manifest. + + And now the last red rim is vanishing, + Leaving the sky-line cold, + And mists, transfigured, to the grasses cling + Like gossamer of gold. + + The dusk descends; between us and the town + The gliding miles increase; + And on our souls there settles softly down + An all-enfolding peace. + +❦ + + + + +POEMS OF INDIA + + + + +I. IN A MANGO-TOPE[1] + +[1] Grove. + + + Between the sky-line and my feet + The stretch of lemon-grass is sere, + And, from some hidden village near, + There comes a single tom-tom’s beat. + + High noon is grey on bush and tree, + The plain runs on without a change, + As though, for once, the eye could range + Through time into eternity. + + And round me, in the mango-tope, + No sound disturbs the stillness wide + But the horse tethered at my side + Cropping the herbage of the slope. + + All human stress has died away, + As if life, pausing, held apart, + As if this vain world’s fretting heart + Stood still to hear the silence pray. + + In many a mud-walled haunt of man + To-night the screaming conch will blare + --God knows what forces throng the air + Above these plains of Hindoostan. + + From under every banyan-tree + Whose roots entwine the reddened stone + Carved with some god that lurks alone + Beneath the aërial canopy, + + From every grove within the land + Whose shadows hide a crumbling shrine + There seems to come some unknown sign, + Some touch of an undreamed-of hand. + + And where, without the village wall, + Some woman’s soul went up in fire + And the thick reek above the pyre + Hung in mid-heaven like a pall, + + Around that altar in the plain, + Hid though it be in jungle grass, + Forgotten as the seasons pass, + There clings the majesty of pain; + + The life-through-death that has not ceased, + Which cannot drown in Lethe’s flood, + That sign of sacrificial blood + That stains and glorifies the East. + + O land so near the veil, where life + Is lived beside the shore of death, + Which treads the rose to taste its breath + And wraps the garland round the knife, + + Beneath the chastening of thy sun, + By tree and plain and jungle-shrine, + Whose soul through silence touches thine, + May know that life and death are one! + +❦ + + + + +II. NIGHT IN THE PLAINS + + + The plains lie in the furnace of the year + And sleep, repenting, hides from men his boon, + And flagging life strains fitfully to hear + The tardy footstep of the slow monsoon. + All day the stones, the dust upon the plain, + From never-changing skies the heat have drawn, + And darkness brings no solace in its train + --The breeze will rise an hour before the dawn. + + There is no rest; from out the heavy skies + The burning planets hang; now near, now far, + Shrilly the women’s voices fall and rise, + Crying to Kali in the hot bazaar. + There is no nightwatch but will end at last, + There is no vigil but will pass away, + The time wears on, the moon is setting fast + --The breeze will rise an hour before the day. + + Life crouches low and fear is with the strong, + On every side the crawling time to mark, + There sound, like fevered pulses all night long, + The tom-toms, throbbing in the stifling dark; + A puff of odour from the jasmine-tree + Comes by the well across the parching lawn, + See where the hosts of heaven stand patiently, + --The breeze will rise an hour before the dawn. + + The sick men toss, the breathless air is still; + Along the ward one slow, soft whisper falls, + Where Death’s grim angel waits to have his will + Within the shadow of the whitewashed walls; + And women’s steadfast eyes are fixed upon + The lurking shape whose hand they keep at bay, + Stand up, O souls of men, fight on, fight on! + --The breeze will rise an hour before the day. + + Is that a shiver in the tamarind, + Or some awakening bird that stirs the leaves? + Turn, turn to sleep, there comes a breath of wind + And mainas talk by the verandah-eaves; + A little space to sleep and to forget + Before the tyrant sun begins his sway, + Ere in the heavens his brazen throne be set + --God give us strength to face the coming day. + +❦ + + + + +III. THE RESTING-PLACE + + + Brother, beside the jungle track, thy stone + Half raised, a nameless, carven slab, I see, + Half hidden by the tangle, secretly; + Where roots join twisted hands above thy head, + Where scarce a footfall passes save my own, + Nor white man’s tread. + + I have been wandering since noon was high, + And now, because the evening comes apace, + Thy tomb shall be my rest a little space; + From thy long-vanished hand this loan I take, + Across the years this hospitality + That thou dost make. + + The jungle has grown over thee, O friend, + For, scarce a furlong from thy buried dust, + Once stood a city where the great and just + Built high the parapet and mosque and dome, + Where now the creeper flings its tasselled end + Around their home. + + How many centuries have come and gone + Since first thou sawest, with awakened eyes, + The green-scarfed houris proffering Paradise; + Since thy young cresent moon, athwart this shade, + Son of the Prophet, has in silver shone + Where thou art laid! + + Mayhap, thy spirit loved what mine loves best; + The tread of horses and the pride of life, + The jungle’s magic and the joy of strife, + The long nights spent beneath the spangled sky-- + O dead Mahommedan! Thy passing guest + By these accepts from thee this meed of rest + _Salaam, O Bhai!_[2] + +[2] Brother. + +❦ + + + + +IV. EVENING IN THE OPIUM FIELDS + + + As pageants, marshalled by a masterhand, + So are the poppy-fields; in rose and red + And foam of white and livid purple spread, + Mile upon mile, they stretch on either hand; + Dark by the well the heavy mangoes stand, + Where labouring oxen pace with dusty tread + And dripping water-skins climb up to shed + Their gush upon the irrigated land. + + So cool the labyrinthine channels run, + Flooding the grey stems with a maze of gold; + For, as he nears his end, the dying sun + Does all the plain within his arms enfold; + Beneath the mangoe-trees long shadows creep, + Like sleep’s tread falling through the flowers of sleep. + +❦ + + + + +V. ‘GOD IS GREAT’ + + + “_Allāh hu akhbar! + Allāh hu akhbar! + La ilahā illalāh!_” + + Aslant upon the dusty way + The little mosque has thrown its shade, + A streak of blue at noontime laid, + To lengthen tardily with day; + And now the hour has come to pray, + Soldier and prince and clod-- + ‘God is great, God is great, + There is no god but God!’ + + He stands upon the outer wall, + His hand upraised, his sunken eyes + Look westward to where Mecca lies; + Ho! Islam’s men, it is the call + To evening prayer; he cries to all, + Soldier and prince and clod-- + ‘God is great, God is great, + There is no god but God!’ + + Close to the wall below his feet + A pomegranate, against the white, + Flaunts, green and scarlet, in the light, + Now glaring day has lost its heat; + Ho! Islam’s men in field and street, + Soldier and prince and clod-- + ‘God is great, God is great, + There is no god but God!’ + + Dark figure, seeing inwardly + Through evening mist and evening balms + To Mecca, white among the palms, + Across the rolling leagues of sea, + At thy long cry they bend the knee, + Soldier and prince and clod-- + ‘God is great, God is great, + There is no god but God!’ + + Spread at thy feet, around, beneath, + The world wears on amid its tears, + And few and evil are their years + Fighting their way from birth to death, + Soldier and prince and clod-- + What shining city canst thou see, + Far off, beyond the flood of fate, + Where none are poor or desolate + That thou dost cry eternally? + + There comes no answer, early, late, + But ‘God is great, God is great, + There is no god but God!’ + + “_Allāh hu akhbar! + Allāh hu akhbar! + La ilahā illalāh!_” + +❦ + + + + +VI. A MAHOMMEDAN GRAVEYARD + + + Within the wall their graves are still and white, + Their feet turned ever southward; all the dust + Is thick in moonlight, and the banyans thrust + Long roots into the glory of the night; + Hanging like dusky tresses overhead, + Where, by the highway’s side, lie Islam’s dead. + + Who sighs, who prays one prayer as he perceives, + So near his passing foot, that township set + With crumbling slab and little minaret + Below the lattice of the banyan leaves? + Who knows one name in all that silent throng + Whose hands have ceased from work so long--so long? + + Each heart round which eternal shadow sleeps + Has spent the hour that we have all to spend, + Has waited for the coming of the end, + And now, who thinks, who minds, who cares, who weeps? + Who tells us how he faced the figure grim? + ’Tis words to us--it was the world to him. + + How shall we nerve our hearts to bear that sight, + The long horizon of advancing dark, + That dread oblivion with no lamp nor spark + Of love’s remembrance to make soft the night? + What is there but the dull relief of tears + That weakness wrings from us throughout our years? + + No, never that. Who stands and fights his pain + Can still endure. But unto him who lies + And seeks to ease him with his coward cries + Relief is not nor any rest again; + And who can tighten up the string anew + That gives beneath the straining of the screw? + + O brothers! turn and look where courage stands + Serene and still with never-changing eye, + Courage to be forgot--to live--to die, + Stand up like men and clench your failing hands; + What man could dare to face the land unknown + With but a coward’s heart to call his own? + +❦ + + + + +VII. CHERRY-BLOSSOM AT DAGSHAI + + + Far down below this range to-day + A waft of morning pureness fills + The blue ravines that stretch away + To lose themselves among the hills. + + And, like a shrouded diadem, + Beyond the peaks set row on row, + Looms northern India’s mystic gem, + The crown of Himalayan snow. + + These lower heights which close us in + A more ethereal jewel wear, + There seems, where sheer descents begin, + A radiant mirage in the air, + + For, with its veil of rose and foam + A-quiver like transparent wings, + To the stern ramparts of its home + The wild hill cherry-blossom clings. + + Own sister to the clouds of dawn, + Each magic tree o’erhangs the brink, + Its slender stems like lattice drawn, + Dark, on a fairyland of pink. + + Three days agone no sign was ours, + No voice to cry the coming hope + That autumn’s wave would break in flowers + And roll in torrents down the slope; + + But as, when darkness rends apart, + A shaft of glory pierces through, + Joy’s hand has pierced the mountain’s heart + And all the barren world is new. + +❦ + + + + +VIII. ‘WITH MILITARY HONOURS’ + + + Take down the helmet from its dusty board, + Lay down his sword + Upon the flag that drapes his narrow bed; + Pace, horses, with your load, + Down the white road, + Beneath the glare by Eastern sunlight shed. + + And you, ye passing men of other race, + Make way, give place + Before a freight more sacred than the gun; + Dark eyes of each degree + Look up and see + That well-known pageant passing in the sun. + + With clank of chain and wheels the carriage goes, + But his repose + Nor sound of arms nor tramp of horse can dim; + Forward; the dead-march rolls, + Keep we our souls + Strong for the last that love can do for him. + + Flowers, lie soft upon his weary breast, + He is at rest, + The fight he could but lose is over now; + Lie light, ye heartsease bands, + Like parting hands + Laying a last caress upon his brow. + + Asters, twine purple like a velvet pall, + Cry out to all, + Ye heavy grave-flowers, of a new-made grief; + A body striving sore + That strives no more; + His night was long but daylight brought relief. + + O trumpet voice of flaming marigold! + Tell out with bold + And certain tongue how great a heart lies here, + Until the Trumpet’s tone + Shall drown your own + And that dear head upon its time-worn bier + Shall wake and hear. + +❦ + + + + +IX. THE DISTANT TEMPLE + + + Branch of the henna-tree, + Blown in a temple garden far away + In that unfading East across the sea, + O for one waft of perfume from your spray + To cheer the heart in me! + + Flower of the champa white, + Sown by the evening wind where dusky feet + Have worn the temple pavement with their beat, + I would lie down and give my soul to-night + Could I but breathe your sweet! + + Note of the temple gong + At sunset clanging through the dusty gold, + Since last I heard your nightly music told + It seems as though the months were ages long + And joy itself grown old. + + Heart of the East, my heart, + Laden with your remembrance, may not rest; + The very winds that blow from east to west + From out that far horizon-line, impart + Your whisper, trebly blest. + + Sound of the temple drum, + Like distant beating of the march of fate, + Through the long years your voice is never dumb, + Calling, at sundown, from the temple gate + To me, who cannot come. + +❦ + + +_Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay._ + + + + +Transcriber’s Notes + + +Possible printer’s errors were generally retained, including odd and +inconsistent hyphenations, spellings, and punctuations. + +_Italics_, =Bolds=, and +Small Caps+ have been marked as so. + +Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of their respective +stanza. + +Where missing in certain poems, the fleuron ❦ symbol/illustration has +been silently added to the end. + +These poems have had their individual indentation or stanzas +standardized within each poem: The Lost Track, The Soul, New Year’s +Eve, With Military Honours. + +Quotation marks have been added to the 2nd stanza of Time and Space: +‘How far, my dear, has your hand gone from mine In these long days and +months since they have met?’ + +In the 5th stanza of The Valley of the Kings, the final comma was kept +instead of replacing it with a period. +The section number of God is Great has been changed to “V.” to match +the Table of Contents. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78110 *** diff --git a/78110-h/78110-h.htm b/78110-h/78110-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d867abb --- /dev/null +++ b/78110-h/78110-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3977 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + Verses | 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: .5em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .5em; +} + +.thick { + font-weight: bold; +} + +.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;} } + + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} + + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} +table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } +table.autotable td, +table.autotable th { padding: 0.25em; font-weight:normal; } + + +.tdl {text-align: left;} +.tdr {text-align: right;} + + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + + + +blockquote { + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + + + + +.bbox {border: 2px solid;} + +.center {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;} + + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + + +figcaption {font-weight: bold;} +figcaption p {margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: .2em; text-align: inherit;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +img.title {width:auto;} +img.wF {width: 25%;} + + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + + + + + +/* Footnotes */ + + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em; display: flex; justify-content: center;} + +.footnote .label {right: 84%; text-align: right; justify-content: center;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +/* uncomment the next line for centered poetry */ +.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;} +.poetry-container {text-align: center;} +.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} +.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} +.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:small; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; +} + + +.xxxlarge { font-size: 250% } + +.large { font-size: 125% } +.small { font-size: 75% } + + +.hanging2 {padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; + text-align: center; + } + +td.hanging2 { /* hanging indent */ + vertical-align: middle; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: -1em; + border: solid black thin; /* delete if not desired */ + padding-left: 1em; + padding-right: .25em; + padding-bottom: .25em; + padding-top: .25em; +} + + +/* Poetry indents */ +.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;} +.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;} +.poetry .indent3 {text-indent: -1.5em;} +.poetry .indent4 {text-indent: -1.0em;} +.poetry .indent6 {text-indent: 0.0em;} +.poetry .indent7 {text-indent: 0.5em;} +.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1.0em;} +.poetry .indent10 {text-indent: 2.0em;} + + +/* Illustration classes */ +.illowp77 {width: 77%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp77 {width: 100%;} +.illowp48 {width: 48%;} +.x-ebookmaker .illowp48 {width: 100%;} + + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78110 ***</div> + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</span></p> + + +<h1> +VERSES +</h1> + + +<div class="chapter bbox"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</span></p> + + +<p class="hanging2"><b>THE GARDEN OF KAMA</b>; and other Love +Lyrics from India. Arranged in Verse by <span class="smcap">Laurence +Hope</span>. Square 8vo, 5<i>s.</i> net.</p> + +<p class="hanging2"><b>STARS OF THE DESERT.</b> By <span class="smcap">Laurence +Hope</span>. Square 8vo, price 5<i>s.</i> net.</p> + + +<p class="center"><i>Uniform with the above (shortly)</i></p> + +<p class="hanging2"><span class="hanging2"><b>LAST POEMS.</b> By <span class="smcap">Laurence Hope</span>.</span></p> + +<hr class="r5"> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London</span>: WILLIAM HEINEMANN.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> + + + + +<div class="chapter"> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="title" style="max-width: 87.125em;"> + <img class="title" src="images/title.jpg" alt=""> +</figure> +</div> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="xxxlarge thick">VERSES</span></p> +</div> + +<p class="center p4"><span class="small">BY</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="large">VIOLET JACOB</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">(MRS. ARTHUR JACOB)</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">AUTHOR OF ‘THE SHEEP-STEALERS,’ ‘THE INTERLOPER’</span></p> + + +<p class="center p4">LONDON</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="large">WILLIAM HEINEMANN</span></p> + +<p class="center">1905</p> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved.</i></p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</span></p> + + +<p class="center"><span class="small">TO</span></p> + +<p class="center">THE IDEAL CRITIC</p> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</span></p> + + +<p class="center">I have to thank the Editors of the +<cite>Westminster Gazette</cite>, <cite>The English +Illustrated Magazine</cite>, and <cite>Country +Life</cite> for permission to reprint some +of the following poems.—V. J.</p> +</div> + + +<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 class="tdl"> + +</th> +<th class="tdl"> + +</th> +<th class="tdr"> +PAGE +</th> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#TO_H_M_C">To H. M. C.</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +1 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#HALF-WAY">Half-way</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +2 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#WHITE_MAGIC">White Magic</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +4 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#SERENADE">Serenade</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +5 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_SHADOW">The Shadow</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +6 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_MILL-HOUSE">The Mill-house</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +8 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#I_SLEEP_BUT_MY_HEART_WAKETH">‘I sleep but my Heart waketh’</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +13 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#AN_IMMORTELLE">An Immortelle</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +14 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_TWO_QUEENS">The Two Queens</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +15 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_LOST_TRACK">The Lost Track</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +16 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#AT_A_BROOKSIDE">At a Brookside</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +18 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#REVENANT">Revenant</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +18 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#TO_AURELIA_WITH_A_PEARL_NECKLACE">To Aurelia, with a Pearl Necklace</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +19 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#BEYOND_THE_WALLS">Beyond the Walls</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +20 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#COME_ON_COME_UP_YE_ROVERS">‘Come on, come up, ye rovers’</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +22 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#AN_ECHO">An Echo</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +24 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#A_YOUNG_MOON">A Young Moon</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +26 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_SOUL">The Soul</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +27 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_BALLAD_OF_HAKON">The Ballad of Hakon</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +29 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#IGNIS_FATUUS">Ignis Fatuus</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +33 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_LITTLE_NIGHTJAR">The Little Nightjar</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +34 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#POSSESSION">Possession</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +36 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#AIRLIE_KIRK">Airlie Kirk</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +38<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span> +</td> + +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_FLUTE_PLAYER">The Flute player</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +39</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#IN_LOWER_EGYPT">In Lower Egypt</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +42 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#WINTER_AND_SPRING">Winter and Spring</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +44 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#A_TRYST">A Tryst</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +45 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_CALL">The Call</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +47 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#TIME_AND_SPACE">Time and Space</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +49 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#A_TRANSLATION">A Translation</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +50 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#GLAMOUR">Glamour</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +52 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#LENORE_IN_THE_OLIVEYARDS">Lenore in the Oliveyards</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +54 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#NEW_YEARS_EVE">New Year’s Eve</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +55 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THREE_POEMS_FOR_CHILDREN">Three Poems for Children—</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> + +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +I. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + <a href="#I_THE_LILACS">The Lilacs</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +57 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +II. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#II_DREAMS">Dreams</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +58 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +III. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#III_THE_SNOW_WITCH">The Snow Witch</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +61 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_VALLEY_OF_THE_KINGS">The Valley of the Kings</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +62 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#THE_LOWLAND_PLOUGHMAN">The Lowland Ploughman</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +65 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#LATE_FEBRUARY">Late February</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +67 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#FROM_A_TRAIN-WINDOW">From a Train-window</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +68 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#POEMS_OF_INDIA">Poems of India—</a> +</td> +<td class="tdl"> + +</td> +<td class="tdr"> + +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +I. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#I_IN_A_MANGO-TOPE1">In a Mango-tope</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +70 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +II. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#II_NIGHT_IN_THE_PLAINS">Night in the Plains</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +73 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +III. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#III_THE_RESTING-PLACE">The Resting-place</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +75 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +IV. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#IV_EVENING_IN_THE_OPIUM_FIELDS">Evening in the Opium Fields</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +77 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +V. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#V_GOD_IS_GREAT">‘God is great’</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +78 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VI. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#VI_A_MAHOMMEDAN_GRAVEYARD">A Mahommedan Graveyard</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +81 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VII. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#VII_CHERRY-BLOSSOM_AT_DAGSHAI">Cherry-Blossom at Dagshai</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +83 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +VIII. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#VIII_WITH_MILITARY_HONOURS">‘With Military Honours’</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +85 +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdr"> +IX. +</td> +<td class="tdl"> +<a href="#IX_THE_DISTANT_TEMPLE">The Distant Temple</a> +</td> +<td class="tdr"> +87 +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="TO_H_M_C"> + TO H. M. C. + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A silence falls on us to-day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our lips are closed, we do not speak,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But, in each other’s eyes we seek</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And find the thing that each would say.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So deep it lies, a rock set fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Washed hard by life, by love, by tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the floods of time and years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Built up and rooted in the past.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And sometimes, when the tide is low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A voice comes up the Northern sea;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the sands to you and me</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It calls from lands left long ago.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By marshes lying dim and wide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through wet, grey sea-fogs, creeping on,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Back from that youth for ever gone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It comes to us across the tide.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall we speak? What words can say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The thing for which no words are known,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That calls to us from places lone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through past, through present, through to-day?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="HALF-WAY"> + HALF-WAY + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The world is not the dream of living gold</div> + <div class="verse indent4">We dreamed when we were young;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then, all the glory that the west could hold</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Burned, fold on fold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A molten veil across its portals flung</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Behind whose shade the years lay sleeping still,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Like tales untold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, beyond the beeches bare and chill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the woods set far upon the hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The clouds are cold.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And life is not the journey that we planned</div> + <div class="verse indent4">As we set out with morn;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We said, ‘We will rest here and view the land,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or take our stand</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon these hills and see the ripening corn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or step aside along the mere to mark</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The wild-fowl band;’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, we know we must tread swift and stark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">If we would cross the desert ere the dark</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Creeps on the sand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And death is not the dim and distant shade</div> + <div class="verse indent4">So far against the sky;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The half-seen trap for others waiting laid,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">While we, arrayed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In pride and plume of youth, go sweeping by.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">We thought to meet him with a spirit braced</div> + <div class="verse indent4">By conquests made;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, we know, when half the road is traced,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Our hope is but to reach him undisgraced</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And unafraid.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_2" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="WHITE_MAGIC"> + WHITE MAGIC + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw the moon come out and stand last night</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Above the plains of cloud,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like a lone chief, who, at his tented door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Looks down upon the forest’s silent floor</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From a far battlement upon the height,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And drops his mantle proud</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into the swimming vapours of the light.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O watcher on the planet-woven steep</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose shining feet are set</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Above the haunted glamour of the skies!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Draw me, a slave, with thy compelling eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the slow hours in soundless circle creep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Out through the world, while yet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world’s heart heaves beneath the veil of sleep.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O pale-faced chief! The earth and heaven are still</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And thou and I awake;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I come, with outstretched arms and spirit bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Forth through the scattered graves where, lying sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dead are sown by field and fold and hill</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And mist-entangled brake;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O pale chief! Draw me up into the height,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Into the swimming light.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_3" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="SERENADE"> + SERENADE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O roses, clustering on the sunny wall</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In fragrant groups of white and red together,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Bend down, bend down your branches, one and all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the fair June sky and glowing weather;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And say to her, I send her</div> + <div class="verse indent6">A message tender.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And thou, convolvulus, upon the gate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With pale white bells and trails of light leaves swinging,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tell her my love for her is strong as fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For ever true and like thy tendrils clinging;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And kiss her, soft and shy,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">As she goes by.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O jessamine, in wreaths of scented stars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the balconies and stonework meeting,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Climb up and enter at her window-bars</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bear among your buds my loving greeting;</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Then whisper, sweet and slow,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">‘He waits below.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_4" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SHADOW"> + THE SHADOW + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What soul has swept your branches, cypress-tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That you should point so high;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That you, whose root among the graves may be,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Look ever to the sky?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dark warden of the long-untended tomb</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Seen o’er some mouldering wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or set where fountained gardens are abloom</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And roses blush and fall.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarcely the wind is voiceful as it sways</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Your column, dusk, austere;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarcely the evening breeze that round you plays</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Brings music to the ear.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Your earth-bound foot mortality retains</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Imprisoned in the sod,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your earth-freed spirit to that ether strains</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which is the breath of God.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The light o’er southern vineyards dying down</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Smiles on the landscape still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lays the lengthening shadow of your crown</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On many a Tuscan hill.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, nearer home, where memory’s deathless sun</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Enwraps some tear-sown mound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your shade, at day’s decline, O silent one,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Slants eastward on the ground.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By tomb or pleasance, convent-girdled height,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In countries far or near,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You bear a message from eternal light</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To us whose souls are here.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O silent witness! dark where yonder sky</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In saffron splendour burns,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis but the shadow that on earth must lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The substance heavenward turns.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_5" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_MILL-HOUSE"> + THE MILL-HOUSE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the drawbridge is the moat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On broadened leaves the lilies float,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The white bud bursts its oozy coat.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Up from the fields of ripened corn</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There comes the sound of voices borne</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From where the stooks stand newly shorn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Above her head the banner flies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A dragon blue with banded eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Grey in the sun the towers rise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Within, the knights sit in a row,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ladies, with their hands of snow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The golden cup goes to and fro.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She heeds nor feast, nor song, nor wine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She only sees the weapons shine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the plains of Palestine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She only hears the trumpets bray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their summons through the Eastern day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tramp of horses far away.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Her heart sees all the far-off scene,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, with her heart, she hears the green</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Wild roll of waters in between.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The light from the horizon’s rim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strikes, like the wings of seraphim,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the fountain’s circled brim.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A shadow lies before her face,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sir Hugh has risen and left his place:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">“Elayne, the seasons march apace;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Lo, patience is a good knight’s stay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet comes the time when men may say</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Who waits too long will lose the day.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The dial by the swinging vane</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Marks how the long hours wax and wane—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis time the priest were brought, Elayne.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yon knight who fights in Palestine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What is his love compared with mine?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will load your hair with jewels fine,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">You shall lie on silk, you shall sit, a queen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In costly raiment blue and green</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With golden roses wrought in between.”</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To where the crazy mill-house stands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He has borne her with his iron hands,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her hair hangs down in russet bands;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He has shorn a long tress of her hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And bound her feet so slim and fair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He has borne her out on the mill-house stair.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Elayne, Elayne, you are young to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is none to hear should you call or cry,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall the water have you or shall I?”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She makes no sound; beneath the ledge</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An eddy swirls among the sedge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He takes a step to the stairs’ edge.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The mill-race, roaring far beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Seems like the sound of gloating death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She looks down and she holds her breath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">“Elayne, what think you? Which is best?”</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Against the black heart in his breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She keeps her pale face closely prest.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The mill-race, winding mile on mile,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sounds like an angry voice the while;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He cannot see her drawn lips smile.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Like some slim beast, some snake or stoat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She meets her teeth upon his throat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Her fingers grasp his leathern coat.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">On the top step they swing and sway,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His breath comes short, his face is grey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The waters close with a splash of spray.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The mill-race runs till it nears the moat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What thing does the water raise and float?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—A drowned dead man with a mark on his throat.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_6" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="I_SLEEP_BUT_MY_HEART_WAKETH"> + ‘I SLEEP BUT MY HEART WAKETH’ + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Here in the winding coil of waterways,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Apart among the trees, where no feet pass,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And little woodland rabbits on the grass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sit lightly cropping through the Autumn days,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The troubling world, with all its weary moods,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is far away outside the circling woods.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A golden rain of leaf is on the beech</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And red and gold the maze of branches glow</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To drop their wealth upon the grass below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As golden silence falls on golden speech;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In long, wet flats, wherein the heron feeds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A golden sky is mirrored through the reeds.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No voices come to still that other voice</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Which breathes along the labyrinth of trees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To tell the tired soul to dwell at ease</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the best-loved visions of its choice:</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Sleep in these groves,’ it says, ‘by spirits trod,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While thine heart waketh to the sound of God.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_7" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="AN_IMMORTELLE"> + AN IMMORTELLE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is a secret garden where I dwell</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hedged round about with thorn and Judas-tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Barred in with iron like a prison cell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And known to none but me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Black rocks encircle it; the nightshade wreath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Twines in the bush its leaden-purple spray</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the rank hellebore, with poisoned breath,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sighs on the air all day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I loved it not, yet I was wont to go</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To gaze my fill and all my plants compare,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To taste the bitter herbs that thrive and grow,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Spreading a carpet there.</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But now, ’tis years, since, in that sorry place,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I swung the wicket; for, all gloriously,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A wingèd figure came with radiant face</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And bore away the key.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And still—I have a little poison-flower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I gathered there; and, though I would forget,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I take it out in some friend-haunted hour</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To find it living yet.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_8" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_TWO_QUEENS"> + THE TWO QUEENS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A man went down the path of life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, where the vines were thick and green</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And grapes hung waiting for the knife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There smiled to him a queen.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Love lit the eyes beneath her brow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His lips met hers a moment’s span;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He said, ‘My heart is glad, for now</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I know I am a man.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, further on, among the corn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Another queen whose eyes made dim</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The very glory of the morn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Held out her hand to him.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span> <div class="verse indent0">There was no time for speech or vow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He kissed it, kneeling on the sod,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He said, ‘My soul is high, for now</div> + <div class="verse indent6">I feel I am a god.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_9" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LOST_TRACK"> + THE LOST TRACK + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When you have passed, and earth, grown dim behind you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Lies far upon the outworn verge of time,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When my hand, searching, shall no longer find you</div> + <div class="verse indent10">In any clime;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">If I but dream your step, by hill or hollow,</div> + <div class="verse indent3">Has left some echo falling on the wind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will arise and gird myself and follow</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Though I be blind.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Or if, clear-sighted, I may but discover</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That, in the dew at dawn, your footsteps lie,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where, through long fields, the whistling of the plover</div> + <div class="verse indent10">Comes like a sigh;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, if they lead me down to Death’s black river,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And, by the rocks, I hear the whirlpools spin,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though heart and soul may faint and body quiver</div> + <div class="verse indent10">I will wade in.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O heart! beyond the tumult of the crossing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">If there should be no sign, nor any trace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Only strange winds upon the grasses tossing</div> + <div class="verse indent10">And the wide space,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only eternity, with worlds to wander,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A soul among the unknown souls of men,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, O my heart, no voice, no footstep yonder,</div> + <div class="verse indent10">What then? What then?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_10" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="AT_A_BROOKSIDE"> + AT A BROOKSIDE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A running melody is in the noon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of grass-bound rivulet and tangled showers,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of sunlight, glancing through the cuckoo-flowers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To mingle golden ripples with the tune;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the wide light my senses seem to swoon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Drugged by the monotone of rhythmic hours</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And voice of spring-fed watercourse that dowers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This winding meadow-land with music’s boon.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Caught in a shimmering net of sight and sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And drawn, I know not whither, yet aware</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Am I of some soft touch, and, blown around</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My face, the plenitude of waving hair—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nay, let me lie and dream this wondrous thing;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My hand, one moment, held the hand of Spring!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_11" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="REVENANT"> + REVENANT + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In the dark hours I woke and heard the trees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That tossed and buffeted before the blast,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Straining and sighing while the gale went past;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, as a scourge whose wrath might none appease,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The raindrops smote the pane and ran in seas,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gurgling against the frame; now thick and fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now like pebbles at the window cast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By some lost spirit that could find no ease.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And from the blackness of the dripping night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I turned me, weary of its sodden gloom,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Smiling to see the glow within the room</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the red embers on the hearth alight;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Then sudden ceased, and bowed my head again,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thinking of that one gravestone in the rain.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_12" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="TO_AURELIA_WITH_A_PEARL_NECKLACE"> + TO AURELIA, WITH A PEARL NECKLACE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Aurelia, think not to refuse</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or scorn my gift, although</div> + <div class="verse indent0">These jewels must their lustre lose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon thy neck of snow.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But, if thine eyes should glance aside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And deign to mark their shine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Deem them as emblems of the pride</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That fills this heart of mine.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And if, for mine unworthy sake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pearls neglected be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still keep them; and the bauble make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Into a rosary.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And when, perchance, desiring grace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In prayer thy spirit pleads,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">String thou thy kisses in their place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I will tell the beads.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_13" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="BEYOND_THE_WALLS"> + BEYOND THE WALLS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The firelight plays since dusk began</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To gather in the room,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the pane the daylight’s span</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Grows to the evening gloom;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But my heart is out with the gipsy man</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In his lair among the broom.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside the farm both barn and stack</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Dark in the steading rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Up in the loaning green, the track</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Along the firwood lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the gipsy sits with his brows of black,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the black light in his eyes.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He marks the swift owl skim the trees</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When twilight turns to grey,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">He hears the whisper up the leas</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Before the coming day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the secret hours of the world he sees</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the soul of night at play.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His ceiling is the drooping bough,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The fir-trees’ ragged limb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When from the hills the western sough</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Sings o’er the lowlands dim;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the polestar, hanging above the Plough,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Is the lantern-flame for him.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O weary roof and crowding wall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That bar the scented air!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O chain and key whose ceaseless thrall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Lies on a world of care,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There are no bolts shot in the firwood tall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">But the joy of life is there!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O to be out when spring has drest</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The green moss for a bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To roam by plain and wooded crest</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Till the rose-hips turn to red;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And to lay me down for the last long rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With the great sky overhead!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_14" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="COME_ON_COME_UP_YE_ROVERS"> + ‘COME ON, COME UP, YE ROVERS’ + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Come on, come up, ye rovers</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose ships at anchor ride,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The west wind stirs the clovers,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And O! the world is wide:</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span> <div class="verse indent0">So, up with your chains as the sun goes down</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And out upon the tide!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There drives on the Atlantic</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The torn scud of the rain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And lines of foam leap frantic</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Against the coast of Spain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the air is full of the souls of men</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Who sailed the Spanish Main.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where Rocca’s light is burning</div> + <div class="verse indent2">On plunging miles of sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Eastward and eastward turning,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By Crete and Tripoli,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is a spirit abroad in the wind</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That cries aloud to me.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The coast drops low behind you,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The gull swoops round the spars;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall small men’s limits bind you</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose milestones are the stars?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose signposts stand where Orion swings</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Above earth’s locks and bars?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Come up, ye sons of morning,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">This world was built for you!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far off, Heaven’s light’s adorning</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The lands where dreams come true;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the Angel that sits at the Gates of the East</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall open and let you through.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_15" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="AN_ECHO"> + AN ECHO + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the world is young and apple-bloom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is rose and white upon the orchard tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the threads of Spring’s ethereal loom</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weave a green garment for her phantasy;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That voice of youth and growth and vanished years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes through all time, in floating cadence, still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through mists of life and long-forgotten tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The hidden streams in many a marshy place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their chains of little standing pools unfold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like silver mirrors for Spring’s wanton face</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tossed at her feet and framed in marigold.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hark to her footsteps down the sloping fields</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dancing in measure to the music shrill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That, from its budding depth, the coppice yields,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Youth, O Time, O Change—O haunting note!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When from our life we shed mortality,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When all our joys and passions are remote,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All that the ear could hear or eye could see;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Haply, across the gulf where Time lies bound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some shadow of a voice may reach us still,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like that long echo from enchanted ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The cuckoo calling faintly from the hill.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_16" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="A_YOUNG_MOON"> + A YOUNG MOON + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A crescent hung above the trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A sweep of fading sky;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A parting shiver in the breeze,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And day lies down to die.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A silver curve above the murk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where weary cities slave</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And heart and hand are seamed with work</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose goal is but the grave.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the young moon’s slender arm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The old moon’s shadow lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That wraith whose evanescent charm</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Melts back to Paradise.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er one, o’er all, the wonder swings;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A gleam sad eyes may see;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A lamp that flies on hidden wings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To light my love and me;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A vigil-taper, lone, apart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">High above field and town</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O’er many a spot where some poor heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has laid its burden down.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_17" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_SOUL"> + THE SOUL + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I laid a rose upon my loved one’s bier</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Beside her quiet face;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A red rose, scented with the fadeless year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When Love’s eyes met us in the noonday clear</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In a fair place.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I set it very softly down to lie</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Amid her heavy hair;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then, methought, the Soul that hovered by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Looked towards me through the dimness with a sigh</div> + <div class="verse indent4">As I stood there.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I laid my empty world upon the pyre,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Beside her open hand;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span> <div class="verse indent0">A world that life had stocked with youth and fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fortune and fame and wealth and world’s desire,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And strength to stand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She knew each aim, fulfilled or unfulfilled,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That ever had been mine;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then, methought, the Soul above her willed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Towards me through the dusk, a whisper stilled,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Whisper or sign?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I laid my heart upon my loved one’s breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Beside her silent heart;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sorrow and vigil shared, the worst, the best,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All, all it held she knew who lay at rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Till we did part.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Ah me! it seemed as if her pale lips shook</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With pity as she lay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As though she wore that unforgotten look;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then, methought, the Soul came down and took</div> + <div class="verse indent4">My heart away.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_18" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_BALLAD_OF_HAKON"> + THE BALLAD OF HAKON + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the stretching reed-beds</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dusk and twilight flee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And thick the sea-fog covers</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The roaring Northern Sea.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Hakon, grey-eyed Hakon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With tawny yellow hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why are you standing all alone?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why are you waiting there?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the stretching reed-beds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Amid the falling light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes tripping fair maid Mettelil</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Among the bents to-night.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O Mettelil, you have tarried,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dark is drawing on,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Were you with young Herr Axel</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This long long hour that’s gone?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I watched him by the reed-beds,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I saw him pause and wait,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Till twilight came I looked for you—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Mettelil, it is late!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Goodbye, goodbye, Maid Mettelil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The raven cries o’erhead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A stormy wind rolls in from sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mettelil, my heart is dead!’</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the roaring ocean</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The plunging war-ships go,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And Hakon, armed to battle,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sails out to meet the foe.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where’er the press is thickest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the prow he stands;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Around him fly the arrows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shot by the foeman’s hands.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The air is wild with shrieking</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of those that fight and drown.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span> <div class="verse indent0">The blows fall thick round Hakon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But none can strike him down.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O Death that I am seeking,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Why com’st thou not to me?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would my heart lay cold and still</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the rolling sea!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">At home sits fair Maid Mettelil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tears are in her eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, ere a month is come and gone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In kirkyard ground she lies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And sadly home comes Hakon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Weary his face has grown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All through the night he wanders</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside the kirkyard lone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Mettelil, the leaves are falling,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The north wind whistles free,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The chill mist wraps me in its shroud,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come back, come back to me!’</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Between the glimmering headstones,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the branches black,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A form comes quickly gliding</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stands at Hakon’s back.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Turn round, turn round now, Hakon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And hold me to your breast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And touch my cold lips once with yours,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For then my soul can rest.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">She wound her white arms round him,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She touched his tawny hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘O Hakon, hold me faster,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">My grave is opening there!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">He held her close and closer,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lower he bent his head—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An icy wind swept o’er his heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">One kiss, and he was dead.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_19" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IGNIS_FATUUS"> + IGNIS FATUUS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">‘Little Goblin at the fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Have you found the Heart’s Desire?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you seen it in your flitting by night or by noon?’</div> + <div class="verse indent4">‘O it may be in the swell</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of the mist-wreath up the fell,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or the long clouds trailing at the tail o’ the moon.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">‘Little Goblin in the cold,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Have you seen it on the wold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the winds with flying voices run free as they rave?’</div> + <div class="verse indent4">‘O it may be in the sigh</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of a time that is gone by</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or the long grass growing by the brink o’ the grave.’</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">‘Little Goblin in the trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Looking down the darkening leas,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have you seen no golden country where the heart finds rest?’</div> + <div class="verse indent4">‘O, it may be where the night</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Comes to quench the flaming light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the far lands lying through the fire o’ the west.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_20" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LITTLE_NIGHTJAR"> + THE LITTLE NIGHTJAR + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And her shadow on the door,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When darkness on the orchard lies like sea upon the shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The apple-boughs are silver with the silence swimming through,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">With the halo of the dew;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hark! what little shrieking nightjar ever gave so soft a call</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">There’s a sound among the trees;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O master on the settle, with the sheep dog at your knees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At the little nightjar’s voice does he stir to wake and growl?</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Does the hooting of the owl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Make him prick his ears and quiver, make his hackles rise and fall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the fire has sunk and died,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The maid sits still to listen for the lad that lurks outside—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Good master, dozing o’er your pipe, how fast is slumber’s thrall</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When the moon is on the wall!</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span></p> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">O! but ’tis strange how shadows move that lay so still, so still,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And stranger yet how close they draw before the night grows chill,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the little nightjar shrieks no more from out the elm-tree tall,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the moon has left the wall.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_21" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="POSSESSION"> + POSSESSION + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">She has laid her snare</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her eyes hold midnight’s sign,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like pools in a moonless land</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lit up by the stars that shine;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With her burning hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She has bound you, strand by strand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She holds your heart in her hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But your soul is mine.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">She has set her feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In a path where roses blow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She plays with your heart, the sea</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Plays thus with its dead below,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the game is sweet;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But your soul is here with me,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O Man; it is yours and free—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But it cannot go.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">We shall stand, we two,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And her lips shall hold the sum</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of notes in a syren’s tone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But mine shall be closed and dumb;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And, the whole day through,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall her eyes allure your own,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But I will stand like a stone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And your soul shall come.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_22" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="AIRLIE_KIRK"> + AIRLIE KIRK + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">A little spot of tangled ground</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Set in the folding hill,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From curlew-haunted braes the sound</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of flitting voices shrill;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The high October sky unrolled</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Above the plough-land’s crest,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Rank mallows by the hearthstone cold</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With the field-mouse for guest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gudeman, it is long since the fire went out</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And time that we went to rest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">The naked rafters overhead</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stand up like withered hands;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I mind me when the roof-tree spread</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Where now the burdock stands.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The threshold’s deep between the whin</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And fast in briers twined;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span> <div class="verse indent2">Where little feet ran out and in</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The track is hard to find;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Gudeman, it is long since we closed the door</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And left what it held behind.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Down in the strath the kirk is set</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Upon the running burn;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">It’s many roads we’ve trod, and yet</div> + <div class="verse indent2">It’s here we must return.</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Old lights along the fields are laid,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Old shadows lie as deep,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But new eyes watch them as they fade</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Among the grazing sheep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And it’s time we went down to Airlie kirk</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And laid ourselves down to sleep.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_23" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_FLUTE_PLAYER"> + THE FLUTE PLAYER + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In the window’s shade ere the dusk has spread</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Over plain and hill,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span> <div class="verse indent0">And the tulip-flowers in the garden-bed</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Have a glory still;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When the world of toil and the world of ease</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Are alike at rest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I can hear him play in the belt of trees</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where the fields slope west.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And the notes run high and the notes run low</div> + <div class="verse indent4">In a rambling stream;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like an old voice calling from long ago,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">A dream of a dream.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">His eyes are afire with the secret light</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of a land unknown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the tree-stems echo his footsteps’ flight</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Upon moss and stone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no more staying nor rest for me</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When his flute is heard,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is out, out, out to the melody</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Without sign or word.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The lamps may be lit in the shuttered room</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the door be fast,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or a long day faint with a summer’s bloom</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On the hedges cast;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Let the path be winding in crowded ways</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Or in woods profound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is all forgotten when once he plays</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And I hear the sound.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Though foot may ache and though heart may fail</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the brain grow numb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It is follow, follow the flying trail</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Till the flute is dumb.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For life was a breath of the early spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">When at first he came,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, now that the harvest is ripening,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">It is still the same;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And it well may be when the last dusk falls</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On my little day,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When the last sun colours the crumbling walls</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of the house of clay;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I shall hear him playing beyond the hill</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Where the fields slope west,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And follow him on till his steps are still</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And the flute at rest.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_24" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IN_LOWER_EGYPT"> + IN LOWER EGYPT + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Above the ancient waters of the Nile</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mists of earth and dusk of heaven meet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where, slow along the bank, the camel-file</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Moves, like a passing dream, on velvet feet;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, as the choral voices of a dream,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The night sounds play their chant upon the stream.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The crane stands silent; all the fields exhale</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A band of fertile damp along the shore;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The same moon, red and low behind the veil,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That lit Old Egypt, lights for me once more</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The mirage of a kingdom that has been,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, through the mist, the shadow of a queen.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Rise up, O Royal Egypt, from the dusk</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With all the weight of tresses on thine head</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heavy with golden nets and faint with musk,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Girt with the lotus from the river-bed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And eyes that once, with their devouring fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lit for men’s hearts a sacrificial pyre.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O Serpent, by a serpent slain at last!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come through the vapourous fields with garments trailed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Embroidered with the lotus-leaf, made fast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With gems; with green and Tyrian purple veiled;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Turn but thy face, that I may see and know</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The witchcraft throned in Egypt long ago.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is a sound of flute and wavering reed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The measured throb of falling oars that beat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A tall prow swimming noiseless through the weed,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The shifting glimmer of a silken sheet;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span> <div class="verse indent0">And, from the dim luxuriance drawn nigh,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The feet of Royal Egypt passing by.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And now, her foot is set upon the barge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The flutes play up, the fans ply to and fro,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ripples, dying at the river-marge,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Curl, as the prow swings out upon the flow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And its retreating music and its state</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Leave, once again, the dusk inviolate:</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Only, across the tillage lying low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There comes the creak of well-wheels working late.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_25" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="WINTER_AND_SPRING"> + WINTER AND SPRING + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">O wet green winter grass,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Sodden and chill with rain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There are some footsteps that will never pass</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Along the fields again.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">O fresh blue air of Spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">When lights lie long upon the slope,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There are two eyes to which you cannot bring</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Your lights of youth and hope.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent4">O white syringa-tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Year in, year out, below your feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is one heart to all eternity</div> + <div class="verse indent4">That will not stir nor beat.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_26" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="A_TRYST"> + A TRYST + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Here, where our two ways part,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That, for a little time, ran side by side,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That now must turn and turning must divide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look, look and see how straight through Eden’s heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unbarred, unbroken, lay the double track;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dark has fallen and the sun has set,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world lies round us, limitless, and yet</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I will come back.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Across the plain of life</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There stretches this enchanted forest’s band,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Haunted of crying voices, stirred and fanned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Swept through by airs whose breath, I know, is rife</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that far bourn wherein no man may lack</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His sure fulfilment; look on leaf and flower—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In the dim dawn of some unnumbered hour</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I will come back.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">So meet me here: good-bye;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The light that lies on all this golden time</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall burn on the horizon and shall climb</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like some vast city’s glow into the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unquenched by darkness or the cloudy wrack;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In flesh or spirit—which, it matters not,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—Remembered or unlooked for or forgot—</div> + <div class="verse indent4">I will come back.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_27" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_CALL"> + THE CALL + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The stars above the apple boughs,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like distant gazers, stand aloof,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watching the white walls of the house,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Watching the room below the roof.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is the night-hush over all</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the crescent hanging low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, through the dark, there comes a call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From hidden lips whose voice I know.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And every root and stem and leaf,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sends out its scented breath to me;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fox is waiting like a thief,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The bird is watching from the tree.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, in the room below the thatch,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While the white house in sleep is drowned,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Up to the open window-latch</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There come strange whispers from the ground.</div> + </div> +<hr class="tb"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p> + + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">I will arise and steal upon the stair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where the tall clock counts up Time’s gathered hoard</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Telling its numbers to the empty air,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">My naked feet upon the creaking board.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out, out across the threshold I will go</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Into the night, the sighing, luring night,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And all the eyes above, around, below,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like lamps upon my path shall peer and glow</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Till thorn and thicket are alive with light.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">I will lie down upon my mother Earth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Heart to her heart and soul upon her soul,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Until the sounds that in the night have birth</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Above my head their harmonies unroll;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And over me the little pattering feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall come and go; and every bush and tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall send from out its shades a cloudy fleet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of flitting wings whose softly-thronging beat</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Shall neither stay nor turn because of me.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_28" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="TIME_AND_SPACE"> + TIME AND SPACE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘How far, O friend, are you and I apart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">While all these wastes of sea between us roll?’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘So far, that now, the beating of your heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has merged into the flutter of your soul.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘How far, my dear, has your hand gone from mine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In these long days and months since they have met?’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘So far that memory has forgot to pine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Believing that its touch is present yet.’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘And O! how far, when night has fallen between,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall we be set in all the years untold?’</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘So near that you, when trouble’s blast is keen,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shall feel my shade between you and the cold.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_29" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="A_TRANSLATION"> + A TRANSLATION + </h2> + +<p class="center small">(FROM THE GERMAN)</p> + +</div> + + +<p class="center">1</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In the valley with moonlight streaming,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In depths of the forest free,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">An old and forgotten dreaming</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is weaving its spell round me.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center">2</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Dim columns, ghostlike and lonely,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Range darkly on yonder mound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the bat and the owlet only</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Familiar trysting ground.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center">3</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From the rocks come memories ringing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The west wind whispers and calls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And towers of gold are springing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From ruin and crumbling walls.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span></p> + + +<p class="center">4</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In a haze, through cloudland blowing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is wafted the old love—dead;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">She draws me towards her, glowing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With radiance of youth that’s fled.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center">5</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Like bliss from a far past carried</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Comes softly her whispered vow;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And what in the years lay buried</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stands living before me now.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center">6</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Then, soft as it came, the vision</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is gone; from the forest space,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where we kissed in the woods Elysian</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has faded her vanished face.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center">7</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The golden dreamland of wonder</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Has fled on the passing wind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The desolate walls up yonder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are all that remain behind.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span></p> + + +<p class="center">8</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, under the branches sweeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I walk in the dawn alone,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For day on the hills is creeping</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the glory of dreams has flown.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_30" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="GLAMOUR"> + GLAMOUR + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It seems as though Spring’s light and waving leaves</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Were part of youth alone;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As though the shadows, dancing by the eaves</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In shifting web on wall and window thrown,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Forgot how nature weaves.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Still throbs the chorus of the birds content,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Still, clouded with the may,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cream-white, the hedges trail their load of scent,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Winding along the border of the way,</div> + <div class="verse indent4">The same, yet different.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">It seems as though the pear-tree’s bridal veil</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Had lost its fluttered lace;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The butterflies that dart their splendour frail</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through sun and blossom in their endless chase</div> + <div class="verse indent4">On duller pinions sail.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What joy has faded out from field and tree?</div> + <div class="verse indent4">What glamour from the air?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are not the cowslips grouped as cunningly,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whispering together like young maidens fair</div> + <div class="verse indent4">To wait the errant bee?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All, all the hues that Springtime ever wore</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Return as fair again;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The ribes hangs its tassels as of yore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Pungent and sweet beneath the dropping rain</div> + <div class="verse indent4">At every cottage door.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But what is lost? Nay, naught from nature’s flow</div> + <div class="verse indent4">Of magic infinite;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Unchanged the earth, the skies of long ago—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Yet, once we saw them through the morning light</div> + <div class="verse indent4">And now the sun is low.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_31" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="LENORE_IN_THE_OLIVEYARDS"> + LENORE IN THE OLIVEYARDS + </h2> + +<p class="center small">(FOR MUSIC)</p> + +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When, stooping from the walls of Heaven, the night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lets down on earth her star-bespangled hair,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the pavement of the winding stair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is grey beneath a waning crescent’s light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look down upon the planted olive-trees,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A maze of twisted stem and silver leaf;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">This is the message sighing on the breeze</div> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Joy sails on flying wings and youth is brief.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + + +<p class="center small">(HE SINGS)</p> + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">‘Come down, come down, the little Loves are peeping</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Between the stems and shadows on the grass</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the prying eyes of earth are sleeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sands are running in the hour-glass;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The red anemone a crown shall weave you,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Be-jewelled with the dew and spiked with flame,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the little waiting Loves receive you</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the branches whispering your name.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Come down, Lenore; the cock will soon be crowing,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The noisy birds awake that now are dumb;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can new hours match the moments that are going?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who knows? Not you nor I, Lenore. Come.’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_32" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="NEW_YEARS_EVE"> + NEW YEAR’S EVE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Go far from me, ye brood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Of little Hates and Sins who thus intrude,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hide with the perished leaf below the mould;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The Old Year’s shade is dim—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A touch, no more, upon the round world’s rim—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the sky a-glitter in the cold.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Stand closer, Faith and Truth</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the long Patience that outlasts its youth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The hour is at the change; and, drawing near,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is a footstep’s sound,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A measured fall upon the iron ground,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the earth, spell-bound, waits the coming year.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Come from your graves, O Lost!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And stand, this once, beside me in the frost</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And turn, once more, your eyes upon my own;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Leave, for the past’s old sake,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some look, some comrade’s sign for me to take,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That, in the tossings of the time unknown,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I may not be alone.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_33" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THREE_POEMS_FOR_CHILDREN"> + THREE POEMS FOR CHILDREN + </h2> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="I_THE_LILACS"> + I. THE LILACS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The fields and garden-borders</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are bright because of spring,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The clouds of guelder roses</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Are out and blossoming;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And close beside the gateway,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tall, upon either hand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their green robes shot with sunlight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like queens, the Lilacs stand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And one is crowned with purple,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And one is crowned with white;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look! where the wind is passing</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They bow to left and right,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And trails of scent they scatter</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As royal gifts to all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To every creature dwelling</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the garden-wall.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O queen in plumes of purple!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Throw me a breath of joy,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You are all grand and glorious</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And I a little boy;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ask the lovely lady</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With white plumes in her hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To scent my heart with sweetness,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To make it pure and fair.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_34" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="II_DREAMS"> + II. DREAMS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">This is a thing that no one knows;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When every hedge in summer blows</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With twining vetch and brier-rose,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When every bud has burst its sheath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The white convolvulus’ wreath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is hung with blossoms underneath.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They are so faint and pale and shy</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They almost look as if they’d die</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the sun has left the sky.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What children, even if they tried,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could ever guess that, far inside</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Each bell, a little sprite may hide?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And who’d suppose that, in the night,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">When no one’s there to see the sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They all unclose their trumpets white?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, when the world is fast asleep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Out of the flowers these fairies creep</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And down into the lanes they peep.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">They see the little tinker-boys</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who have no home, no nurse, no toys,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And O! so few of children’s joys.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, as they watch them lying there</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With weary heads and feet all bare,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">They hover round them in the air;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Such lovely dreams for them they make</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That their tired feet no longer ache,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And they are happy when they wake.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">What do they show them? Glorious things;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whole palaces of queens and kings</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And birds that fly on golden wings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And silent waters, winding far</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through groves of trees where angels are,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lit by the trail of one blue star.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, when they wake, these visions stay</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To help them on along their way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And keep them cheerful all the day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0"><em>You</em> want such dreams, you say to me?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—Ah, if these wonders you would see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A tinker’s child you’d have to be,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To wander far and wander wide</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From New Year’s Day to Christmastide,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And then—you’d have to sleep outside.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But now the white moon walks the sky,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So, from your beds, thank God on high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Because so soft and safe you lie.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">—And yet, some day, however blest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">You too may weary of your rest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And think, perhaps, that dreams are best.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_35" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="III_THE_SNOW_WITCH"> + III. THE SNOW WITCH + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">When all the world is under snow,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the wind, crying in the north,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sends its wild choir of voices forth,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now shrieking loud, now falling low,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The Snow Witch with her ice-crowned hair</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is hurling snowflakes everywhere.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Her garments are the Northern Lights</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the bare arms of the trees;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, from her height, she looks and sees</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Earth’s towns and hamlets lit o’ nights;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sighs, mayhap, far up above,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For one poor hearth alight with love.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_36" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_VALLEY_OF_THE_KINGS"> + THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Northward upon the stream our boat is creeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The sky above is pearl, the river pearl,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And soon will coming night her shades unfurl</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like some great bird on stealthy pinions sweeping,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As the effulgence chills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And young stars stand above the Theban hills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within whose fastnesses the kings are sleeping.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To them the roll of time is but a dreaming,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To them the lotus, mouldered on their breasts,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Still dripping from the Nile, in beauty rests,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As when the mourners broke those blossoms streaming</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And shook the silver shower,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The pallid glory of the royal flower</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fit guerdon for a royal spirit deeming.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">To-night it seems that peak and rugged boulder</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stand o’er their soundless dwellings for a sign;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Surely some cipher of a hand divine</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is graven yonder on the mountain’s shoulder,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hidden in shadows vast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That melt to greyness as the boat slips past</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With the slow current, and the sky grows colder.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mayhap, the phantom of a past endeavour,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Born of that ancient striving to the light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has wrapt the secret sepulchres with might</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And haunts the valley of the Nile for ever;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Breathing eternally</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A note of immortality to be,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Resounding ceaselessly and dying never.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">While, round the sleepers, sounds of feet have broken</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The stillness that encompassed them so long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And the loud voices of an idle throng</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within those halls of death have idly spoken;</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span> <div class="verse indent0">While sacrilegious hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have loosed about them the funereal bands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To rob their bosoms of life’s symbolled token,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From one unchanging hope can none divide them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Although its outward emblem be despoiled;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Though silence and the peace for which they toiled</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A world whose ways they knew not has denied them,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That hope its wings has spread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the rifled strongholds of the dead</div> + <div class="verse indent0">As the wings shadowed on the wall beside them.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Changeless, unaltered still the soul’s desire is,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fixed as the hills whose heights we leave behind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To merge in fading colours undefined,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Purple and amethyst and rose and iris,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, to the dripping oar,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The dusk is closing down along the shore,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The brooding dusk of Isis and Osiris.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_37" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_LOWLAND_PLOUGHMAN"> + THE LOWLAND PLOUGHMAN + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The team is stabled up, my lass,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The dew lies thick and grey;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the world, the long green light</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Clings to the edge of day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">By farm and fold the work is still,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Their breath the beanflowers yield,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And, in the dusk, the gowans stand</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Like moons along the field.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">A little ghost alone, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The night moth flitters by;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beside the hedge I’m lonely too,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Although no ghost am I.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Leave the gudeman to mind the hearth,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The wife to mend the fire,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor heed the lads whose voices come</div> + <div class="verse indent2">In mirth from yard and byre.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The evening star is up, my dear,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And oh! the night is sweet,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Come through the heavy drops that bend</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The grasses at your feet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For I am young and I am strong</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And well can work for two,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And ’tis a year, come Martinmas,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">I’ve loved no lass but you.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, in a year, come Martinmas,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Before the fields are sown,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I will not need to walk nor stray</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Between the lights alone.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For then the cot beyond the farm</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A happy man will hold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A wife who wears a golden ring</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To match her hair of gold.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_38" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="LATE_FEBRUARY"> + LATE FEBRUARY + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Blue vistas of an avenue</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Range, line on line, against the sky;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Away, beyond, the low hills lie</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To frame this landscape in with blue.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And clear and far the light is spread</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As though earth smiled to feel the stir,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The first faint thrill that moves in her</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who, all these months, has lain as dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Fresh year, fresh sky, fresh hope—and yet</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A sigh is in the lengthening days;</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Between the trunks the blackbird strays</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose long-drawn note is called regret.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">White snowdrops, close among the roots,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Scored at your drooping hearts with green,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">What scents from springs that once have been</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cling, like old griefs, among your shoots?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Yes, like old griefs; and we, who view,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Year after year, life’s deathless round,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Feel their spent throb in every wound</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And know that they are deathless too.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_39" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="FROM_A_TRAIN-WINDOW"> + FROM A TRAIN-WINDOW + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Where, struck with sunset light, the shining rails</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Converge upon our track,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The smoky canopy of London veils</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The distant heaven with black.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Behind us, dropping further in our wake,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The lessening city lies,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And all the landscape has begun to take</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A glamour from the skies.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Scarcely a cloud the sun’s effulgence shields</div> + <div class="verse indent2">From evening’s stealthy hand;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But half the crimson disc beyond the fields</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stares on the level land.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the moist meadows, broad on either side,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Merged to one dusky plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There sounds, the breathing stillness to divide,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The clanking of the train.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And cooling silence, like a wave of balm,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">After the city’s heat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is spread around us, odourous and calm,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">With foam of meadowsweet.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In the damp ditches ranging from the line</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Towards the lighted west</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Tall spires of blossom, dimly white, define</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A sweetness manifest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And now the last red rim is vanishing,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Leaving the sky-line cold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mists, transfigured, to the grasses cling</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Like gossamer of gold.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The dusk descends; between us and the town</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The gliding miles increase;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And on our souls there settles softly down</div> + <div class="verse indent2">An all-enfolding peace.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_40" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="POEMS_OF_INDIA"> + POEMS OF INDIA + </h2> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="I_IN_A_MANGO-TOPE1"> + I. IN A MANGO-TOPE⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> + </h2> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Grove.</p></div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Between the sky-line and my feet</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The stretch of lemon-grass is sere,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And, from some hidden village near,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There comes a single tom-tom’s beat.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">High noon is grey on bush and tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The plain runs on without a change,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As though, for once, the eye could range</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through time into eternity.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And round me, in the mango-tope,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No sound disturbs the stillness wide</div> + <div class="verse indent2">But the horse tethered at my side</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Cropping the herbage of the slope.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">All human stress has died away,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As if life, pausing, held apart,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">As if this vain world’s fretting heart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stood still to hear the silence pray.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">In many a mud-walled haunt of man</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To-night the screaming conch will blare</div> + <div class="verse indent2">—God knows what forces throng the air</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Above these plains of Hindoostan.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From under every banyan-tree</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose roots entwine the reddened stone</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Carved with some god that lurks alone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the aërial canopy,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">From every grove within the land</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose shadows hide a crumbling shrine</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span> <div class="verse indent2">There seems to come some unknown sign,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Some touch of an undreamed-of hand.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And where, without the village wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Some woman’s soul went up in fire</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And the thick reek above the pyre</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hung in mid-heaven like a pall,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Around that altar in the plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Hid though it be in jungle grass,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Forgotten as the seasons pass,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There clings the majesty of pain;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The life-through-death that has not ceased,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which cannot drown in Lethe’s flood,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">That sign of sacrificial blood</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That stains and glorifies the East.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O land so near the veil, where life</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Is lived beside the shore of death,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Which treads the rose to taste its breath</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And wraps the garland round the knife,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the chastening of thy sun,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">By tree and plain and jungle-shrine,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Whose soul through silence touches thine,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">May know that life and death are one!</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_41" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="II_NIGHT_IN_THE_PLAINS"> + II. NIGHT IN THE PLAINS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The plains lie in the furnace of the year</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And sleep, repenting, hides from men his boon,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And flagging life strains fitfully to hear</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tardy footstep of the slow monsoon.</div> + <div class="verse indent0">All day the stones, the dust upon the plain,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From never-changing skies the heat have drawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And darkness brings no solace in its train</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—The breeze will rise an hour before the dawn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no rest; from out the heavy skies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The burning planets hang; now near, now far,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Shrilly the women’s voices fall and rise,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Crying to Kali in the hot bazaar.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span> <div class="verse indent0">There is no nightwatch but will end at last,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There is no vigil but will pass away,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The time wears on, the moon is setting fast</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—The breeze will rise an hour before the day.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Life crouches low and fear is with the strong,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">On every side the crawling time to mark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">There sound, like fevered pulses all night long,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tom-toms, throbbing in the stifling dark;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A puff of odour from the jasmine-tree</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Comes by the well across the parching lawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">See where the hosts of heaven stand patiently,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—The breeze will rise an hour before the dawn.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The sick men toss, the breathless air is still;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Along the ward one slow, soft whisper falls,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where Death’s grim angel waits to have his will</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the shadow of the whitewashed walls;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And women’s steadfast eyes are fixed upon</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The lurking shape whose hand they keep at bay,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Stand up, O souls of men, fight on, fight on!</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—The breeze will rise an hour before the day.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Is that a shiver in the tamarind,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Or some awakening bird that stirs the leaves?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Turn, turn to sleep, there comes a breath of wind</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And mainas talk by the verandah-eaves;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A little space to sleep and to forget</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before the tyrant sun begins his sway,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ere in the heavens his brazen throne be set</div> + <div class="verse indent0">—God give us strength to face the coming day.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_42" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="III_THE_RESTING-PLACE"> + III. THE RESTING-PLACE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Brother, beside the jungle track, thy stone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Half raised, a nameless, carven slab, I see,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Half hidden by the tangle, secretly;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where roots join twisted hands above thy head,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where scarce a footfall passes save my own,</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Nor white man’s tread.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">I have been wandering since noon was high,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now, because the evening comes apace,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Thy tomb shall be my rest a little space;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From thy long-vanished hand this loan I take,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Across the years this hospitality</div> + <div class="verse indent6">That thou dost make.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">The jungle has grown over thee, O friend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For, scarce a furlong from thy buried dust,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Once stood a city where the great and just</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Built high the parapet and mosque and dome,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where now the creeper flings its tasselled end</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Around their home.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How many centuries have come and gone</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since first thou sawest, with awakened eyes,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The green-scarfed houris proffering Paradise;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since thy young cresent moon, athwart this shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Son of the Prophet, has in silver shone</div> + <div class="verse indent6">Where thou art laid!</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Mayhap, thy spirit loved what mine loves best;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The tread of horses and the pride of life,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The jungle’s magic and the joy of strife,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The long nights spent beneath the spangled sky—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O dead Mahommedan! Thy passing guest</div> + <div class="verse indent0">By these accepts from thee this meed of rest</div> + <div class="verse indent6"><i>Salaam, O Bhai!</i>⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> Brother.</p></div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_43" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IV_EVENING_IN_THE_OPIUM_FIELDS"> + IV. EVENING IN THE OPIUM FIELDS + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">As pageants, marshalled by a masterhand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So are the poppy-fields; in rose and red</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And foam of white and livid purple spread,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Mile upon mile, they stretch on either hand;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Dark by the well the heavy mangoes stand,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where labouring oxen pace with dusty tread</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And dripping water-skins climb up to shed</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their gush upon the irrigated land.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">So cool the labyrinthine channels run,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flooding the grey stems with a maze of gold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">For, as he nears his end, the dying sun</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Does all the plain within his arms enfold;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the mangoe-trees long shadows creep,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like sleep’s tread falling through the flowers of sleep.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_44" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="V_GOD_IS_GREAT"> + V. ‘GOD IS GREAT’ + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent7">“<i>Allāh hu akhbar!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>Allāh hu akhbar!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>La ilahā illalāh!</i>”</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Aslant upon the dusty way</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The little mosque has thrown its shade,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A streak of blue at noontime laid,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To lengthen tardily with day;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And now the hour has come to pray,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soldier and prince and clod—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘God is great, God is great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is no god but God!’</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">He stands upon the outer wall,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His hand upraised, his sunken eyes</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Look westward to where Mecca lies;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ho! Islam’s men, it is the call</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To evening prayer; he cries to all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soldier and prince and clod—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘God is great, God is great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is no god but God!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Close to the wall below his feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">A pomegranate, against the white,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Flaunts, green and scarlet, in the light,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Now glaring day has lost its heat;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ho! Islam’s men in field and street,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soldier and prince and clod—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘God is great, God is great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is no god but God!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent2">Dark figure, seeing inwardly</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through evening mist and evening balms</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To Mecca, white among the palms,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span> <div class="verse indent0">Across the rolling leagues of sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At thy long cry they bend the knee,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soldier and prince and clod—</div> + <div class="verse indent2">‘God is great, God is great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is no god but God!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Spread at thy feet, around, beneath,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The world wears on amid its tears,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And few and evil are their years</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Fighting their way from birth to death,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Soldier and prince and clod—</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What shining city canst thou see,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Far off, beyond the flood of fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where none are poor or desolate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That thou dost cry eternally?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">There comes no answer, early, late,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">But ‘God is great, God is great,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">There is no god but God!’</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent7">“<i>Allāh hu akhbar!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>Allāh hu akhbar!</i></div> + <div class="verse indent8"><i>La ilahā illalāh!</i>”</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_45" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VI_A_MAHOMMEDAN_GRAVEYARD"> + VI. A MAHOMMEDAN GRAVEYARD + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Within the wall their graves are still and white,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Their feet turned ever southward; all the dust</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Is thick in moonlight, and the banyans thrust</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Long roots into the glory of the night;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Hanging like dusky tresses overhead,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Where, by the highway’s side, lie Islam’s dead.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Who sighs, who prays one prayer as he perceives,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">So near his passing foot, that township set</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With crumbling slab and little minaret</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Below the lattice of the banyan leaves?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who knows one name in all that silent throng</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Whose hands have ceased from work so long—so long?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Each heart round which eternal shadow sleeps</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has spent the hour that we have all to spend,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Has waited for the coming of the end,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span> <div class="verse indent2">And now, who thinks, who minds, who cares, who weeps?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Who tells us how he faced the figure grim?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">’Tis words to us—it was the world to him.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">How shall we nerve our hearts to bear that sight,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The long horizon of advancing dark,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That dread oblivion with no lamp nor spark</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Of love’s remembrance to make soft the night?</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What is there but the dull relief of tears</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That weakness wrings from us throughout our years?</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">No, never that. Who stands and fights his pain</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Can still endure. But unto him who lies</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And seeks to ease him with his coward cries</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Relief is not nor any rest again;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And who can tighten up the string anew</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That gives beneath the straining of the screw?</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O brothers! turn and look where courage stands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Serene and still with never-changing eye,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Courage to be forgot—to live—to die,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Stand up like men and clench your failing hands;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">What man could dare to face the land unknown</div> + <div class="verse indent0">With but a coward’s heart to call his own?</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_46" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VII_CHERRY-BLOSSOM_AT_DAGSHAI"> + VII. CHERRY-BLOSSOM AT DAGSHAI + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Far down below this range to-day</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A waft of morning pureness fills</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The blue ravines that stretch away</div> + <div class="verse indent2">To lose themselves among the hills.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And, like a shrouded diadem,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Beyond the peaks set row on row,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Looms northern India’s mystic gem,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The crown of Himalayan snow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">These lower heights which close us in</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A more ethereal jewel wear,</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span> <div class="verse indent0">There seems, where sheer descents begin,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A radiant mirage in the air,</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">For, with its veil of rose and foam</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A-quiver like transparent wings,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To the stern ramparts of its home</div> + <div class="verse indent2">The wild hill cherry-blossom clings.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Own sister to the clouds of dawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Each magic tree o’erhangs the brink,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Its slender stems like lattice drawn,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">Dark, on a fairyland of pink.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Three days agone no sign was ours,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">No voice to cry the coming hope</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That autumn’s wave would break in flowers</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And roll in torrents down the slope;</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">But as, when darkness rends apart,</div> + <div class="verse indent2">A shaft of glory pierces through,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Joy’s hand has pierced the mountain’s heart</div> + <div class="verse indent2">And all the barren world is new.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_47" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="VIII_WITH_MILITARY_HONOURS"> + VIII. ‘WITH MILITARY HONOURS’ + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Take down the helmet from its dusty board,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Lay down his sword</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Upon the flag that drapes his narrow bed;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Pace, horses, with your load,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Down the white road,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the glare by Eastern sunlight shed.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">And you, ye passing men of other race,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Make way, give place</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Before a freight more sacred than the gun;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Dark eyes of each degree</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Look up and see</div> + <div class="verse indent0">That well-known pageant passing in the sun.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">With clank of chain and wheels the carriage goes,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">But his repose</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Nor sound of arms nor tramp of horse can dim;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Forward; the dead-march rolls,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Keep we our souls</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Strong for the last that love can do for him.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Flowers, lie soft upon his weary breast,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">He is at rest,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The fight he could but lose is over now;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Lie light, ye heartsease bands,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Like parting hands</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laying a last caress upon his brow.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Asters, twine purple like a velvet pall,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Cry out to all,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Ye heavy grave-flowers, of a new-made grief;</div> + <div class="verse indent8">A body striving sore</div> + <div class="verse indent8">That strives no more;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">His night was long but daylight brought relief.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">O trumpet voice of flaming marigold!</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Tell out with bold</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And certain tongue how great a heart lies here,</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Until the Trumpet’s tone</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shall drown your own</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And that dear head upon its time-worn bier</div> + <div class="verse indent8">Shall wake and hear.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_48" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="IX_THE_DISTANT_TEMPLE"> + IX. THE DISTANT TEMPLE + </h2> +</div> + + +<div class="poetry-container"> + <div class="poetry"> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Branch of the henna-tree,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Blown in a temple garden far away</div> + <div class="verse indent0">In that unfading East across the sea,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">O for one waft of perfume from your spray</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To cheer the heart in me!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Flower of the champa white,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Sown by the evening wind where dusky feet</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Have worn the temple pavement with their beat,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">I would lie down and give my soul to-night</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Could I but breathe your sweet!</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Note of the temple gong</div> + <div class="verse indent0">At sunset clanging through the dusty gold,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Since last I heard your nightly music told</div> + <div class="verse indent0">It seems as though the months were ages long</div> + <div class="verse indent0">And joy itself grown old.</div> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span> </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Heart of the East, my heart,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Laden with your remembrance, may not rest;</div> + <div class="verse indent0">The very winds that blow from east to west</div> + <div class="verse indent0">From out that far horizon-line, impart</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Your whisper, trebly blest.</div> + </div> + <div class="stanza"> + <div class="verse indent0">Sound of the temple drum,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Like distant beating of the march of fate,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Through the long years your voice is never dumb,</div> + <div class="verse indent0">Calling, at sundown, from the temple gate</div> + <div class="verse indent0">To me, who cannot come.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<figure class="figcenter illowp77" id="fleuron_49" style="max-width: 3.6875em;"> + <img class="wF" src="images/fleuron.png" alt="❦" data-role="presentation"> +</figure> + + +<hr class ="r5"> +<p class="center"><i>Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London and Bungay.</i></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="transnote"> + <div class="chapter"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes"> + Transcriber’s Notes + </h2> + </div> + +<p>Possible printer’s errors were generally retained, including +odd and inconsistent hyphenations, spellings, and punctuations.</p> + +<p>Footnotes have been renumbered and moved to the end of their +respective stanza.</p> + +<p>Where missing in certain poems, the fleuron ❦ symbol/illustration +has been silently added to the end.</p> + +<p>These poems have had their individual indentation or stanzas +standardized within each poem: <a href="#THE_LOST_TRACK">The Lost Track</a>, <a href="#THE_SOUL">The Soul</a>, +<a href="#NEW_YEARS_EVE">New Year’s Eve</a>, <a href="#VIII_WITH_MILITARY_HONOURS">With Military Honours</a>.</p> + +<p>Quotation marks have been added to the 2nd stanza +of <a href="#TIME_AND_SPACE">Time and Space</a>: ‘How far, my dear, has your hand gone from mine +In these long days and months since they have met?’</p> + +<p>In the 5th stanza of <a href="#THE_VALLEY_OF_THE_KINGS">The Valley of the Kings</a>, the final comma was kept +instead of replacing it with a period.</p> + +<p>The section number of <a href="#V_GOD_IS_GREAT">God is Great</a> has been changed to “V.” +to match the Table of Contents.</p> + + +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78110 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/78110-h/images/cover.jpg b/78110-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4c23ee9 --- /dev/null +++ b/78110-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/78110-h/images/fleuron.png b/78110-h/images/fleuron.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1453b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/78110-h/images/fleuron.png diff --git a/78110-h/images/title.jpg b/78110-h/images/title.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..398bf72 --- /dev/null +++ b/78110-h/images/title.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6c72794 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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