Author: [Title Page]
Date: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Watchman.

[Title Page] THE WATCHMAN AND OTHER POEMS BY L. M. MONTGOMERY, AUTHOR OF “ANNE OF GREEN GABLES,” ETC. McCLELLAND, GOODCHILD & STEWART PUBLISHERS : : : : TORONTO

[Page] COPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1916 By McCLELLAND, GOODCHILD & STEWART, LIMITED TORONTO. PRINTED IN CANADA

[Page] THE WATCHMAN AND OTHER POEMS

[Page] Works by L. M. Montgomery

The Watchman and other Poems

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Avonlea

Anne of the Island

Chronicles of Avonlea

Kilmeny of the Orchard

The Story Girl

The Golden Road

[Page] DEDICATION “TO THE MEMORY OF THE GALLANT CANADIAN SOLDIERS WHO HAVE LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY AND THEIR EMPIRE.”

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[Page] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To the following Publishers and Magazines my sincere thanks and appreciation are given for their kind permission to use the poems of which they own the copyright: The Youth’s Companion, Forward, East and West, MacLean’s Magazine, The Sunday School Times, Zion’s Herald, The Outlook, Munsey’s Magazine, The New Idea Woman’s Magazine, Smart Set, The Ladies’ World, The Canadian Magazine, St. Nicholas, The Congregationalist and Christian World, Everybody’s Magazine, The Christian Endeavor World, The American Messenger, The Delineator, Smith’s Magazine.

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[Page ix] CONTENTS

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The Watchman 3

SONGS OF SEA

Rain Along Shore 11

Sea Sunset 13

When the Dark Comes Down 14

Harbor Moonrise 16

Before Storm 18

On the Bay 20

A Shore Twilight 22

Song of the Sea-wind 23

Morning Along Shore 24

Off to the Fishing Ground 25

In Port 27

The Gulls 28

Sunrise Along Shore 29

The Sea Spirit 31

Harbor Dawn 32

My Longshore Lass 33

When the Fishing Boats Go Out 34

The Bridal 36

The Sea to the Shore 37

The Voyagers 39

[Page x]

SONGS OF THE HILLS AND WOODS

Twilight and I Went Hand in Hand 43

Come, Rest Awhile 45

An April Night 46

Rain on the Hill 47

For Little Things 49

Spring Song 50

A Day Off 51

The Wind 53

The Wood Pool 54

Down Stream 55

Echo Dell 57

The Rovers 58

Among the Pines 60

A Day in the Open 62

Midnight in Camp 64

The Hill Maples 66

A Summer Day 68

September 70

In Lovers’ Lane 71

On the Hills 73

An Autumn Evening 75

November Evening 76

Out O’ Doors 78

In the Days of the Golden Rod 79

[Page xi]

A Winter Day 80

Twilight 82

The Call of the Winds 83

A Winter Dawn 85

The Forest Path 86

At Nightfall 87

The Truce O’ Night 88

MISCELLANEOUS

To My Enemy 93

As the Heart Hopes 94

Two Loves 96

The Christmas Night 97

In An Old Farmhouse 99

A Request 101

Memory Pictures 102

Down Home 103

The Choice 104

Twilight in the Garden 105

My Legacy 107

Gratitude 108

Fancies 109

One of the Shepherds 110

If Mary Had Known 113

At the Long Sault 116

The Exile 120

[Page xii]

The Three Songs 122

In an Old Town Garden 124

The Seeker 126

The Poet’s Thought 127

The Call 128

The Old Home Call 130

Genius 132

Love’s Prayer 133

The Prisoner 134

Companioned 136

You 137

Unrecorded 139

With Tears They Buried You To-day 142

In Memory of Maggie 144

Realization 145

The Garden in Winter 146

The Difference 147

The Poet 148

The Mother 150

To One Hated 152

While the Fates Sleep 153

The Old Man’s Grave 156

Forever 157

By An Autumn Fire 158

[Page 1] THE WATCHMAN

[Page 2]

[Page 3] THE WATCHMAN “And for fear of Him the keepers did shake and become as dead men.”Matthew 28 and 4. MY Claudia, it is long since we have met, So kissed, so held each other heart to heart! I thought to greet thee as a conqueror comes, Bearing the trophies of his prowess home, But Jove hath willed it should be otherwise Jove, say I ? Nay, some mightier stranger-god Who thus hath laid his heavy hand on me, No victor, Claudia, but a broken man Who seeks to hide his weakness in thy love. How beautiful thou art! The years have brought An added splendor to thy loveliness, With passion of dark eye and lip rose-red Struggling between its dimple and its pride. And yet there is somewhat that glooms between Thy love and mine; come, girdle me about With thy true arms, and pillow on thy breast This aching and bewildered head of mine; Here, where the fountain glitters in the sun Among the saffron lilies, I will tell If so that words will answer my desire The shameful fate that hath befallen me. Down in Jerusalem they slew a man, Or godit may be that he was a god Those mad, wild Jews whom Pontius Pilate rules. [Page 4] Thou knowest Pilate, Claudiaa vain man, Too weak to govern such a howling horde As those same Jews. This man they crucified. I knew nought of himhad not heard his name Until the day they dragged him to his death; Then all tongues wagged about him and his deeds; Some said that he had claimed to be their King, Some that he had blasphemed their deity ‘Twas certain he was poor and meanly born, No warrior he, nor hero; and he taught Doctrines that surely would upset the world; And so they killed him to be rid of him Wise, very wise, if he were only man, Not quite so wise if he were half a god! I know that strange things happened when he died There was a darkness and an agony, And some were vastly frightenednot so I! What cared I if that mob of reeking Jews Had brought a nameless curse upon their heads ? I had no part in that blood-guiltiness. At least he died; and some few friends of his I think he had not very many friends Took him and laid him in a garden tomb. A watch was set about the sepulchre, Lest these, his friends, should hide him and proclaim That he had risen as he had fore-told. Laugh not, my Claudia. I laughed when I heard The prophecy. I would I had not laughed! [Page 5] I, Maximus, was chosen for the guard With all my trusty fellows. Pilate knew I was a man who had no foolish heart Of softness all unworthy of a man! My eyes had looked upon a tortured slave As on a beetle crushed beneath my tread; I gloried in the splendid strife of war, Lusting for conquest; I had won the praise Of our stern general on a scarlet field; Red in my veins the warrior passion ran, For I had sprung from heroes, Roman born! That second night we watched before the tomb; My men were merry; on the velvet turf, Bestarred with early blossoms of the Spring, They diced with jest and laughter; all around The moonlight washed us like a silver lake, Save where that silent, sealéd sepulchre Was hung with shadow as a purple pall. A faint wind stirred among the olive boughs Methinks I hear the sighing of that wind In all sounds since, it was so dumbly sad; But as the night wore on it died away And all was deadly stillness; Claudia, That stillness was most awful, as if some Great heart had broken and so ceased to beat! I thought of many things, but found no joy In any thought, even the thought of thee; The moon waned in the west and sickly grew [Page 6] Her light sucked from her in the breaking dawn Never was dawn so welcome as that pale, Faint glimmer in the cloudless, brooding sky! Claudia, how may I tell what came to pass? I have been mocked at when I told the tale For a crazed dreamer punished by the gods Because he slept on guard; but mock not thou! I could not bear it if thy lips should mock The vision dread of that Judean morn. Sudden the pallid east was all aflame With radiance that beat upon our eyes As from noonday sun; and then we saw Two shapes that were as the immortal gods Standing before the tomb; around me fell My men as dead; but I, though through my veins Ran a cold tremor never known before, Withstood the shock and saw one shining shape Roll back the stone; the whole world seemed ablaze, And through the garden came a rushing wind Thundering a paeon as of victory. Then that dead man came forth! Oh, Claudia, If thou coulds’t but have seen the face of him! Never was such a conqueror! Yet no pride Was in itnought but love and tenderness, Such as we Romans scoff at; and his eyes Bespake him royal. Oh, my Claudia, Surely he was no Jew but very god! [Page 7] Then he looked full upon me. I had borne Much staunchly, but that look I could not bear! What man may front a god and live? I fell Prone, as if stricken by a thunderbolt; And, though I died not, somewhat of me died That made me man. When my long stupor passed I was no longer MaximusI was A weakling with a piteous woman-soul, All strength and pride, joy and ambition gone My Claudia, dare I tell thee what foul curse Is mine because I looked upon a god? I care no more for glory; all desire For conquest and for strife is gone from me, All eagerness for war; I only care To help and heal bruised beings, and to give Some comfort to the weak and suffering. I cannot even hate those Jews; my lips Speak harshly of them, but within my heart I feel a strange compassion; and I love All creatures, to the vilest of the slaves Who seem to me as brothers! Claudia, Scorn me not for this weakness; it will pass Surely ‘twill pass in time and I shall be Maximus strong and valiant once again, Forgetting that slain god! and yetand yet He looked as one who could not be forgot!

[Page 8]

[Page 9] SONGS OF THE SEA

[Page 10]

[Page 11] RAIN ALONG SHORE WAN white mists upon the sea, East wind harping mournfully All the sunken reefs along, Wail and heart-break in its song, But adown the placid bay Fisher-folk keep holiday. All the deeps beyond the bar Call and murmur from afar, ‘Plaining of a mighty woe Where the great ships come and go, But adown the harbor gray Fisher-folk keep holiday. When the cloudy heavens frown, And the sweeping rain comes down, Boats at anchorage must bide In despite of time or tide; Making merry as they may Fisher-folk keep holiday. Now is time for jest and song All the idle shore along, Now is time for wooing dear, Maidens cannot choose but hear; Daffing toil and care away Fisher-folk keep holiday. [Page 12] Oh, the fretted reefs may wail, Every man has furled his sail! Oh, the wind may moan in fear, Every lad is with his dear! Mirth and laughter have their way, Fisher-folk keep holiday. [Page 13] SEA SUNSET A GALLANT city has been builded far

In the pied heaven, Bannered with crimson, sentinelled by star

Of crystal even; Around a harbor of the twilight glowing, With jubilant waves about its gateways flowing A city of the Land of Lost Delight,

On seas enchanted, Presently to be lost in mist moon-white

And music-haunted; Given but briefly to our raptured vision, With all its opal towers and shrines elysian. Had we some mystic boat with pearly oar

And wizard pilot, To guide us safely by the siren shore

And cloudy islet, We might embark and reach that shining portal Beyond which linger dreams and joys immortal. But we may only gaze with longing eyes

On those far, sparkling Palaces in the fairy-peopled skies,

O’er waters darkling, Until the winds of night come shoreward roaming, And the dim west has only gray and gloaming. [Page 14] WHEN THE DARK COMES DOWN WHEN the dark comes down, oh, the wind is on the sea With lisping laugh and whimper to the red reef’s threnody, The boats are sailing homeward now across the harbor bar With many a jest and many a shout from fishing grounds afar. So furl your sails and take your rest, ye fisher folk so brown, For task and quest are ended when the dark comes down. When the dark comes down, oh, the landward valleys fill Like brimming cups of purple, and on every landward hill There shines a star of twilight that is watching evermore The low, dim lighted meadows by the long, dim-lighted shore, For there, where vagrant daisies weave the grass a silver crown, The lads and lassies wander when the dark comes down. [Page 15] When the dark comes down, oh, the children fall asleep, And mothers in the fisher huts their happy vigils keep; There’s music in the song they sing and music on the sea, The loving, lingering echoes of the twilight’s litany, For toil has folded hands to dream, and care has ceased to frown, And every wave’s a lyric when the dark comes down. [Page 16] HARBOR MOONRISE THERE is never a wind to sing o’er the sea On its dimpled bosom that holdeth in fee Wealth of silver and magicry; And the harbor is like to an ebon cup With mother-o’-pearl to the lips lined up, And brimmed with the wine of entranced delight, Purple and rare, from the flagon of night. Lo, in the east is a glamor and gleam, Like waves that lap on the shores of dream, Or voice their lure in a poet’s theme! And behind the curtseying fisher boats The barge of the rising moon upfloats, The pilot ship over unknown seas Of treasure-laden cloud argosies. Ere ever she drifts from the ocean’s rim, Out from the background of shadows dim, Stealeth a boat o’er her golden rim; Noiselessly, swiftly, it swayeth by Into the bourne of enchanted sky, Like a fairy shallop that seeks the strand Of a far and uncharted fairyland. [Page 17] Now, ere the sleeping winds may stir, Send, O, my heart, a wish with her, Like to a venturous mariner; For who knoweth but that on an elfin sea She may meet the bark that is sailing to thee, And, winging thy message across the foam, May hasten the hour when thy ship comes home? [Page 18] BEFORE STORM THERE’S a grayness over the harbor like fear on the face of a woman,

The sob of the waves has a sound akin to a woman’s cry, And the deeps beyond the bar are moaning with evil presage

Of a storm that will leap from its lair in that dour north-eastern sky. Slowly the pale mists rise, like ghosts of the sea, in the offing,

Creeping all wan and chilly by headland and sunken reef, And a wind is wailing and keening like a lost thing ‘mid the islands,

Boding of wreck and tempest, plaining of dolor and grief. Swiftly the boats come homeward, over the grim bar crowding,

Like birds that flee to their shelter in hurry and affright, Only the wild grey gulls that love the cloud and the clamor

Will dare to tempt the ways of the ravining sea tonight. [Page 19] But the ship that sailed at the dawning, manned by the lads who love us

God help and pity her when the storm is loosed on her track! O women, we pray tonight and keep a vigil of sorrow

For those we speed at the dawning and may never welcome back! [Page 20] ON THE BAY WHEN the salt wave laps on the long, dim shore,

And frets the reef with its windy sallies, And the dawn’s white light is threading once more

The purple firs in the landward valleys, While yet the arms of the wide gray sea Are cradling the sunrise that is to be, The fisherman’s boat, through the mist afar, Has sailed in the wake of the morning star. The wind in his cordage and canvas sings

Its old glad song of strength and endeavor, And up from the heart of the ocean rings

A call of courage and cheer forever; Toil and danger and stress may wait Beyond the arch of the morning’s gate, But he knows that behind him, upon the shore, A true heart prays for him evermore. When a young moon floats in the hollow sky,

Like a fairy shallop, all pale and golden, And over the rocks that are grim and high,

The lamp of the light-house aloft is holden; When the bay is like to a lucent cup With glamor and glory and glow filled up, In the track of the sunset, across the foam, The fisherman’s boat comes sailing home. [Page 21] The wind is singing a low, sweet song

Of a rest well won and a toil well over, And there on the shore shines clear and strong

The star of the homelight to guide the rover: And deep unto deep may call and wail But the fisherman laughs as he furls his sail, For the bar is passed and the reef is dim And a true heart is waiting to welcome him! [Page 22] SHORE TWILIGHT Lo, find we here when the ripe day is o’er A kingdom of enchantment by the shore ! Behold the sky with early stars ashine, A jewelled flagon brimmed with purple wine. Like a dumb poet’s soul the troubled sea Moans of its joy and sorrow wordlessly; But the glad winds that utter naught of grief Make silver speech by headland and by reef. Saving for such there is no voice or call To mar the gracious silence over all Silence so tender ‘tis a sweet caress, A most beguiling and dear loneliness. Lo, here we find a beckoning solitude, A winsome presence to be mutely wooed, Which, being won, will teach us fabled lore, The old, old, gramarye of the sibyl shore! Oh, what a poignant rapture thus to be Lingering at twilight by the ancient sea! [Page 23] SONG OF THE SEA-WIND WHEN the sun sets over the long blue wave

I spring from my couch of rest, And I hurtle and boom over leagues of foam

That toss in the weltering west, I pipe a hymn to the headlands high,

My comrades forevermore, And I chase the tricksy curls of foam

O’er the glimmering sandy shore. The moon is my friend on clear, white nights

When I ripple her silver way, And whistle blithely about the rocks

Like an elfin thing at play; But anon I ravin with cloud and mist

And wail ‘neath a curdled sky, When the reef snarls yon like a questing beast,

And the frightened ships go by. I scatter the dawn across the sea

Like wine of amber flung From a crystal goblet all far and fine

Where the morning star is hung; I blow from east and I blow from west

Wherever my longing be-The wind of the land is a hindered thing

But the ocean wind is free! [Page 24] MORNING ALONG SHORE HARK, oh hark the elfin laughter

All the little waves along, As if echoes speeding after

Mocked a merry merman’s song! All the gulls are out, delighting

In a wild, uncharted quest See the first red sunshine smiting

Silver sheen of wing and breast! Ho, the sunrise rainbow-hearted

Steals athwart the misty brine, And the sky where clouds have parted

Is a bowl of amber wine! Sweet, its cradle-lilt partaking,

Dreams that hover o’er the sea, But the lyric of its waking

Is a sweeter thing to me! Who would drowze in dull devotion

To his ease when dark is done, And upon its breast the ocean

Like a jewel wears the sun? “Up, forsake a lazy pillow!”

Calls the sea from cleft and cave, Ho, for antic wind and billow

When the morn is on the wave! [Page 25] OFF TO THE FISHING GROUND THERE’S a piping wind from a sunrise shore

Blowing over a silver sea, There’s a joyous voice in the lapsing tide

That calls enticingly; The mist of dawn has taken flight

To the dim horizon’s bound, And with wide sails set and eager hearts

We’re off to the fishing ground. Ho, comrades mine, how that brave wind sings

Like a great sea-harp afar! We whistle its wild notes back to it

As we cross the harbor bar. Behind us there are the homes we love

And hearts that are fond and true, And before us beckons a strong young day

On leagues of glorious blue. Comrades, a song as the fleet goes out,

A song of the orient sea! We are the heirs of its tingling strife,

Its courage and liberty. Sing as the white sails cream and fill,

And the foam in our wake is long, Sing till the headlands black and grim

Echo us back our song! [Page 26] Oh, ‘tis a glad and heartsome thing

To wake ere the night be done And steer the course that our fathers steered

In the path of the rising sun. The wind and welkin and wave are ours

Wherever our bourne is found, And we envy no landsman his dream and sleep

When we’re off to the fishing ground. [Page 27] IN PORT OUT of the fires of the sunset come we again to our own

We have girdled the world in our sailing under many an orient star; Still to our battered canvas the scents of the spice gales cling,

And our hearts are swelling within us as we cross the harbor bar. Beyond are the dusky hills where the twilight hangs in the pine trees,

Below are the lights of home where are watching the tender eyes We have dreamed of on fretted seas in the hours of long night-watches,

Ever a beacon to us as we looked to the stranger skies. Hark! how the wind comes out of the haven’s arms to greet us,

Bringing with it the song that is sung on the ancient shore! Shipmates, furl we our sailswe have left the seas behind us,

Gladly finding at last our homes and our loves once more. [Page 28] THE GULLS

I SOFT is the sky in the mist-kirtled east,

Light is abroad on the sea, All of the heaven with silver is fleeced,

Holding the sunrise in fee. Lo! with a flash and uplifting of wings

Down where the long ripples break, Cometh a bevy of glad-hearted things,

‘Tis morn, for the gulls are awake.

II Slumberous calm on the ocean and shore

Comes with the turn of the tide; Never a strong-sweeping pinion may soar,

Where the tame fishing-boats ride! Far and beyond in blue deserts of sea

Where the wild winds are at play, There may the spirits of sea-birds be free

‘Tis noon, for the gulls are away.

III Over the rim of the sunset is blown

Sea-dusk of purple and gold, Speed now the wanderers back to their own,

Wings the most tireless must fold. Homeward together at twilight they flock,

Sated with joys of the deep Drowsily huddled on headland and rock

‘Tis night, for the gulls are asleep. [Page 29] SUNRISE ALONG SHORE ATHWART the harbor lingers yet

The ashen gleam of breaking day, And where the guardian cliffs are set

The noiseless shadows steal away; But all the winnowed eastern sky

Is flushed with many a tender hue,

And spears of light are smiting through The ranks where huddled sea-mists fly. Across the ocean, wan and gray,

Gay fleets of golden ripples come, For at the birth-hour of the day

The roistering, wayward winds are dumb. The rocks that stretch to meet the tide

Are smitten with a ruddy glow,

And faint reflections come and go Where fishing boats at anchor ride. All life leaps out to greet the light

The shining sea-gulls dive and soar, The swallows whirl in dizzy flight,

And sandpeeps flit along the shore. From every purple landward hill

The banners of the morning fly,

But on the headlands, dim and high, The fishing hamlets slumber still. [Page 30] One boat alone beyond the bar

Is sailing outward blithe and free, To carry sturdy hearts afar

Across those wastes of sparkling sea; Staunchly to seek what may be won

From out the treasures of the deep

To toil for those at home who sleep And be the first to greet the sun. [Page 31] THE SEA SPIRIT I SMILE o’er the wrinkled blue Lo! the sea is fair, Smooth as the flow of a maiden’s hair; And the welkin’s light shines through Into mid-sea caverns of beryl hue, And the little waves laugh and the mermaids sing, And the sea is a beautiful, sinuous thing! I scowl in sullen guise The sea grows dark and dun, The swift clouds hide the sun But not the bale-light in my eyes, And the frightened wind as it flies Ruffles the billows with stormy wing, And the sea is a terrible, treacherous thing! When moonlight glimmers dim I pass in the path of the mist, Like a pale spirit by spirits kissed. At dawn I chant my own weird hymn, And I dabble my hair in the sunset’s rim, And I call to the dwellers along the shore With a voice of gramarye evermore. And if one for love of me Gives to my call an ear, I will woo him and hold him dear, And teach him the way of the sea, And my glamor shall ever over him be; Though he wander afar in the cities of men He will come at last to my arms again. [Page 32] HARBOR DAWN THERE’S a hush and stillness calm and deep, For the waves have wooed all the winds to sleep In the shadow of headlands bold and steep; But some gracious spirit has taken the cup Of the crystal sky and filled it up With rosy wine, and in it afar Has dissolved the pearl of the morning star. The girdling hills with the night-mist cold In purple raiment are hooded and stoled And smit on the brows with fire and gold; And in the distance the wide, white sea Is a thing of glamor and wizardry, With its wild heart lulled to a passing rest, And the sunrise cradled upon its breast. With the first red sunlight on mast and spar A ship is sailing beyond the bar, Bound to a land that is fair and far; And those who wait and those who go Are brave and hopeful, for well they know Fortune and favor the ship shall win That crosses the bar when the dawn comes in. [Page 33] MY ‘LONGSHORE LASS FAR in the mellow western sky,

Above the restless harbor bar, A beacon on the coast of night,

Shines out a calm, white evening star; But your deep eyes, my ‘longshore lass,

Are brighter, clearer far. The glory of the sunset past

Still gleams upon the water there, But all its splendor cannot match

The wind-blown brightness of your hair; Not any sea-maid’s floating locks

Of gold are half so fair. The waves are whispering to the sands

With murmurs as of elfin glee; But your low laughter, ‘longshore lass,

Is like a sea-harp’s melody, And the vibrant tones of your tender voice

Are sweeter far to me. [Page 34] WHEN THE FISHING BOATS GO OUT WHEN the lucent skies of morning flush with dawning rose once more, And waves of golden glory break adown the sunrise shore, And o’er the arch of heaven pied films of vapor float. There’s joyance and there’s freedom when the fishing boats go out. The wind is blowing freshly up from far, uncharted caves, And sending sparkling kisses o’er the brows of virgin waves, While routed dawn-mists shiveroh, far and fast they flee, Pierced by the shafts of sunrise athwart the merry sea! Behind us, fair, light-smitten hills in dappled splendor lie, Before us the wide ocean runs to meet the limpid sky Our hearts are full of poignant life, and care has fled afar As sweeps the white-winged fishing fleet across the harbor bar. [Page 35] The sea is calling to us in a blithesome voice and free, There’s keenest rapture on its breast and boundless liberty! Each man is master of his craft, its gleaming sails out-blown, And far behind him on the shore a home he calls his own. Salt is the breath of ocean slopes and fresher blows the breeze, And swifter still each bounding keel cuts through the combing seas, Athwart our masts the shadows of the dipping sea-gulls float, And all the water-world’s alive when the fishing boats go out. [Page 36] THE BRIDAL LAST night a pale young Moon was wed

Unto the amorous, eager Sea; Her maiden veil of mist she wore

His kingly purple vesture, he. With her a bridal train of stars

Walked sisterly through shadows dim, And, master minstrel of the world,

The great Wind sang the marriage hymn. Thus came she down the silent sky

Unto the Sea her faith to plight, And the grave priest who wedded them

Was ancient, sombre-mantled Night. [Page 37] THE SEA TO THE SHORE Lo, I have loved thee long, long have I yearned and entreated!

Tell me how I may win thee, tell me how I must woo. Shall I creep to thy white feet, in guise of a humble lover ?

Shall I croon in mild petition, murmuring vows anew ? Shall I stretch my arms unto thee, biding thy maiden coyness,

Under the silver of morning, under the purple of night ? Taming my ancient rudeness, checking my heady clamor

Thus, is it thus I must woo thee, oh, my delight? Nay, ‘tis no way of the sea thus to be meekly suitor

I shall storm thee away with laughter wrapped in my beard of snow, With the wildest of billows for chords I shall harp thee a song for thy bridal,

A mighty lyric of love that feared not nor would forego! [Page 38] With a red-gold wedding ring, mined from the caves of sunset,

Fast shall I bind thy faith to my faith evermore, And the stars will wait on our pleasure, the great north wind will trumpet

A thunderous marriage march for the nuptials of sea and shore. [Page 39] THE VOYAGERS WE shall launch our shallop on waters blue from some dim primrose shore, We shall sail with the magic of dusk behind and enchanted coasts before, Over oceans that stretch to the sunset land where lost Atlantis lies, And our pilot shall be the vesper star that shines in the amber skies. The sirens will call to us again, all sweet and demon-fair, And a pale mermaiden will beckon us, with mist on her night-black hair; We shall see the flash of her ivory arms, her mocking and luring face, And her guiling laughter will echo through the great, wind-winnowed space. But we shall not linger for woven spell, or sea-nymph’s sorceries, It is ours to seek for the fount of youth, and the gold of Hesperides, Till the harp of the waves in its rhythmic beat keeps time to our pulses’ swing, And the orient welkin is smit to flame with auroral crimsoning. [Page 40] And at last, on some white and wondrous dawn, we shall reach the fairy isle Where our hope and our dream are waiting us, and the to-morrows smile; With song on our lips and faith in our hearts we sail on our ancient quest, And each man shall find, at the end of the voyage, the thing he loves the best.

[Page 41] SONGS OF THE HILLS AND WOODS

[Page 42]

[Page 43] TWILIGHT AND I WENT HAND IN HAND TWILIGHT and I went hand in hand,

As lovers walk in shining Mays,

O’er musky, memory-haunted ways, Across a lonely harvest-land, Where west winds chanted in the wheat An old, old vesper wondrous sweet. Oh, Twilight was a comrade rare

For gypsy heath or templed grove,

In her gray vesture, shadow-wove; I saw the darkness of her hair Faint-mirrored in a field-pool dim, As we stood tip-toe on its rim. We went as lightly as on wings

Through many a scented chamber fair,

Among the pines and balsams, where I could have dreamed of darling things, And ever as we went I knew The peeping fairy folk went too. I could have lingered now and then

By gates of moonrise that might lead

To some forgotten, spiceried mead, Or in some mossy, cloistered glen, Where silence, very still and deep, Seemed fallen in enchanted sleep. [Page 44] But Twilight ever led me on,

As lovers walk, until we came

To hills where sunset’s shaken flame Had paled to ashes dead and wan; And there, with footsteps stolen-light She left me to the lure of night. [Page 45] COME, REST AWHILE COME, rest awhile, and let us idly stray In glimmering valleys, cool and far away. Come from the greedy mart, the troubled street, And listen to the music, faint and sweet, That echoes ever to a listening ear, Unheard by those who will not pause to hear The wayward chimes of memory’s pensive bells, Wind-blown o’er misty hills and curtained dells. One step aside and dewy buds unclose The sweetness of the violet and the rose; Song and romance still linger in the green, Emblossomed ways by you so seldom seen, And near at hand, would you but see them, lie All lovely things beloved in days gone by. You have forgotten what it is to smile In your too busy lifecome, rest awhile. [Page 46] AN APRIL NIGHT THE moon comes up o’er the deeps of the woods,

And the long, low dingles that hide in the hills, Where the ancient beeches are moist with buds

Over the pools and the whimpering rills; And with her the mists, like dryads that creep

From their oaks, or the spirits of pine-hid springs, Who hold, while the eyes of the world are asleep,

With the wind on the hills their gay revellings. Down on the marshlands with flicker and glow

Wanders Will-o’-the-Wisp through the night, Seeking for witch-gold lost long ago

By the glimmer of goblin lantern-light. The night is a sorceress, dusk-eyed and dear,

Akin to all eerie and elfin things, Who weaves about us in meadow and mere

The spell of a hundred vanished Springs. [Page 47] RAIN ON THE HILL Now on the hill The fitful wind is so still That never a wimpling mist uplifts, Nor a trembling leaf drop-laden stirs; From the ancient firs Aroma of balsam drifts, And the silent places are filled With elusive odors distilled By the rain from asters empearled and frilled, And a wild wet savor that dwells Far adown in tawny fallows and bracken dells. Then with a rush, Breaking the beautiful hush Where the only sound was the lisping, low Converse of raindrops, or the dear sound Close to the ground, That grasses make when they grow, Comes the wind in a gay, Rollicking, turbulent way, To winnow each bough and toss each spray, Piping and whistling in glee With the vibrant notes of a merry minstrelsy. [Page 48] The friendly rain Sings many a haunting strain, Now of gladness and now of dole, Anon of the glamor and the dream That ever seem To wait on a pilgrim soul; Yea, we can hear The grief of an elder year, And laughter half-forgotten and dear; In the wind and the rain we find Fellowship meet for each change of mood or mind. [Page 49] FOR LITTLE THINGS LAST night I looked across the hills

And through an arch of darkling pine Low-swung against a limpid west

I saw a young moon shine. And as I gazed there blew a wind,

Loosed where the sylvan shadows stir, Bringing delight to soul and sense

The breath of dying fir. This morn I saw a dancing host

Of poppies in a garden way, And straight my heart was mirth-possessed

And I was glad as they. I heard a song across the sea

As sweet and faint as echoes are, And glimpsed a poignant happiness

No care of earth might mar. Dear God, our life is beautiful

In every splendid gift it brings, But most I thank Thee humbly for

The joy of little things. [Page 50] SPRING SONG HARK, I hear a robin calling!

List, the wind is from the south! And the orchard-bloom is falling Sweet as kisses on the mouth. In the dreamy vale of beeches

Fair and faint is woven mist, And the river’s orient reaches

Are the palest amethyst. Every limpid brook is singing

Of the lure of April days; Every piney glen is ringing

With the maddest roundelays. Come and let us seek together

Springtime lore of daffodils, Giving to the golden weather

Greeting on the sunwarm hills. Ours shall be the moonrise stealing

Through the birches ivory-white; Ours shall be the mystic healing

Of the velvet-footed night. Ours shall be the gypsy winding

Of the path with violets blue, Ours at last the wizard finding

Of the land where dreams come true. [Page 51] A DAY OFF LET us put awhile away All the cares of work-a-day, For a golden time forget, Task and worry, toil and fret, Let us take a day to dream In the meadow by the stream. We may lie in grasses cool Fringing a pellucid pool, We may learn the gay brook-runes Sung on amber afternoons, And the keen wind-rhyme that fills Mossy hollows of the hills. Where the wildwood whisper stirs We may talk with lisping firs, We may gather honeyed blooms In the dappled forest glooms, We may eat of berries red O’er the emerald upland spread. We may linger as we will In the sunset valleys still, Till the gypsy shadows creep From the starlit land of sleep, And the mist of evening gray Girdles round our pilgrim way. [Page 52] We may bring to work again Courage from the tasselled glen, Bring a strength unfailing won From the paths of cloud and sun, And the wholesome zest that springs From all happy, growing things. [Page 53] THE WIND O, WIND! what saw you in the South,

In lilied meadows fair and far? I saw a lover kiss his lass

New-won beneath the evening star. O, wind! what saw you in the West

Of passing sweet that wooed your stay? I saw a mother kneeling by

The cradle where her first-born lay. O, wind! what saw you in the North

That you shall dream of evermore? I saw a maiden keeping tryst

Upon a gray and haunted shore. O, wind! what saw you in the East

That still of ancient dole you croon? I saw a wan wreck on the waves

And a dead face beneath the moon. [Page 54] THE WOOD POOL HERE is a voice that soundeth low and far

And lyricvoice of wind among the pines, Where the untroubled, glimmering waters are,

And sunlight seldom shines. Elusive shadows linger shyly here,

And wood-flowers blow, like pale, sweet spirit-bloom, And white, slim birches whisper, mirrored clear

In the pool’s lucent gloom. Here Pan might pipe, or wandering dryad kneel

To view her loveliness beside the brim, Or laughing wood-nymphs from the byways steal

To dance around its rim. ‘Tis such a witching spot as might beseem

A seeker for young friendship’s trysting place, Or lover yielding to the immortal dream

Of one beloved face. [Page 55] DOWN STREAM COMRADES, up! Let us row down stream in this first rare dawnlight,

While far in the clear north-west the late moon whitens and wanes; Before us the sun will rise, deep-purpling headland and islet,

It is well to meet him thus, with the life astir in our veins! The wakening birds will sing for us in the woods wind-shaken,

And the solitude of the hills will be broken by hymns to the light, As we sweep past drowsing hamlets, still feathered by dreams of slumber,

And leave behind us the shadows that fell with the falling of night. The young day’s strength is ours in sinew and thew and muscle,

We are filled and thrilled with the spirit that dwells in the waste and wold, Glamor of wind and water, charm of the wildernesses

Oh, the dear joy of it, greater than human hearts can hold! [Page 56] While the world’s tired children sleep we bend to our oars with faces

Set in our eager gladness towards the morning’s gate; Lo, ‘tis the sweet of the day! On, comrades mine, for beyond us

All its dower of beauty, its glory and wonder wait. [Page 57] ECHO DELL IN a lone valley fair and far, Where many sweet beguilements are, I know a spot to lag and dream Through damask morns and noons agleam; For feet fall lightly on the fern And twilight is a wondrous thing, When the winds blow from some far bourne Beyond the hill rims westering; There echoes ring as if a throng Of fairies hid from mortal eyes Sent laughter back in spirit guise And song as the pure soul of song; Oh, ‘tis a spot to love right well, This lonely, witching Echo Dell! Even the winds an echo know, Elusive, faint, such as might blow From wandering elf-land bugles far, Beneath an occidental star; And I have thought the blue bells lent A subtle music to my ear, And that the pale wild roses bent To harken sounds I might not hear. The tasselled fir trees softly croon The fabled lore of elder days. And through the shimmering eastern haze Floats slowly up the mellow moon; Come, heart o’ mine, for love must dwell In whispering, witching Echo Dell. [Page 58] THE ROVERS OVER the fields we go, through the sweets of the purple clover, That letters a message for us as for every vagrant rover; Before us the dells are abloom, and a leaping brook calls after, Feeling its kinship with us in lore of dreams and laughter. Out of the valleys of moonlight elfin voices are calling; Down from the misty hills faint, far greetings are falling; Whisper the grasses to us, murmuring gleeful and airy, Knowing us pixy-led, seeking the haunts of faery. The wind is our joyful comrade wherever our free feet wander, Over the tawny wolds to the meres and meadows yonder; The mild-eyed stars go with us, or the rain so swiftly flying, Racing us over the wastes where the hemlocks and pines are sighing. [Page 59] Across the upland dim, down through the beckoning hollow Oh, we go too far and fast for the feet of care to follow! The gypsy fire in our hearts for the wilderness wide and luring; Other loves may fail but this is great and enduring. Other delights may pall, but the joy of the open never; The charm of the silent places must win and hold us forever; Bondage of walls we leave with never a glance behind us. Under the lucent sky the delights of the rover shall find us. [Page 60] AMONG THE PINES HERE let us linger at will and delightsomely hearken

Music aeolian of wind in the boughs of pine, Timbrel of falling waters, sounds all soft and sonorous,

Worshipful litanies sung at a bannered shrine. Deep let us breathe the ripeness and savor of balsam,

Tears that the pines have wept in sorrow sweet, With its aroma comes beguilement of things forgotten,

Long-past hopes of the years on tip-toeing feet. Far in the boskiest glen of this wood is a dream and a silence

Come, we shall claim them ours ere look we long; A dream that we dreamed and lost, a silence richly hearted,

Deep at its lyric core with the soul of a song. If there be storm, it will thunder a march in the branches,

So that our feet may keep true time as we go; If there be rain, it will laugh, it will glisten, and beckon,

Calling to us as a friend all lightly and low. [Page 61] If it be night, the moonlight will wander winsomely with us,

If it be hour of dawn, all heaven will bloom, If it be sunset, it’s glow will enfold and pursue us.

To the remotest valley of purple gloom. Lo! the pine wood is a temple where the days meet to worship,

Laying their cark and care for the nonce aside, God, who made it, keeps it as a witness to Him forever,

Walking in it, as a garden, at eventide. [Page 62] A DAY IN THE OPEN Ho, a day Whereon we may up and away, With a fetterless wind that is out on the downs, And there piping a call to the fallow and shore, Where the sea evermore Surgeth over the gray reef, and drowns The fierce rocks with white foam; It is ours with untired feet to roam Where the pines in green gloom of wide vales make their murmuring home, Or the pools that the sunlight hath kissed Mirror back a blue sky that is winnowed of cloud and of mist! Ho, a day Whereon we may up and away Through the orient distances hazy and pied, Hand in hand with the gypsying breezes that blow Here and there, to and fro, O’er the meadows all rosy and wide, Where a lyric of flowers Is sweet-sung to the frolicking hours, And the merry buds letter the footsteps of tip-toeing showers; We may climb where the steep is beset With a turbulent waterfall, loving to clamor and fret! [Page 63] Ho, a day Whereon we may up and away To the year that is holding her cup of wild wine; If we drink we shall be as the gods of the wold In the blithe days of old Elate with a laughter divine; Yea, and then we shall know The rare magic of solitude so We shall nevermore wish its delight and its dreams to forego, And our blood will upstir and upleap With a fellowship splendid, a gladness impassioned and deep! [Page 64] MIDNIGHT IN CAMP NIGHT in the unslumbering forest! From the free,

Vast pinelands by the foot of man untrod, Blows the wild wind, roaming rejoicingly

This wilderness of God; And the tall firs that all day long have flung

Balsamic odors where the sunshine burned,

Chant to its harping primal epics learned When this old world was young. Beyond the lake, white, girdling peaks uplift

Untroubled brows to virgin skies afar, And o’er the uncertain water glimmers drift

Of fitful cloud and star. Sure never day such mystic beauty held

As sylvan midnight here in this surcease

Of toil, when the kind darkness gives us peace Garnered from years of eld. Lo! Hearken to the mountain waterfall

Laughing adown its pathway to the glen And nearer, in the cedars, the low call

Of brook to brook again; Voices that garish daytime may not know

Wander at will along the bosky steeps,

And silent, silver-footed moonlight creeps Through the dim glades below. [Page 65] Oh, it is well to waken with the woods

And feel, as those who wait with God alone, The forest’s heart in these rare solitudes

Beating against our own. Close-shut behind us are the gates of care,

Divinity enfolds us, prone to bless,

And our souls kneel. Night in the wilderness Is one great prayer. [Page 66] THE HILL MAPLES HERE on a hill of the occident stand we shoulder to shoulder,

Comrades tried and true through a mighty swath of the years! Spring harps glad laughter through us, and ministrant rains of the autumn

Sing us again the songs of ancient dolor and tears. The glory of sunrise smites on our fair, free brows uplifted

When the silver-kirtled day steps over the twilight’s bars; At evening we look adown into valleys hearted with sunset,

And we whisper old lore together under the smouldering stars. Crescent moons of the summer gleam through our swaying branches,

Knee-deep in fern we stand while the days of the sun-time go; And the winds of winter love usthe keen, gay winds of the winter,

Coming to our gray arms from over the plains of snow. [Page 67] Down in the valleys beneath us is wooing and winning and wedding,

Down in the long, dim valleys earth-children wail and weep; But here on these free hills we grow and are strong and flourish,

Comrades shoulder to shoulder our watch of the years to keep. [Page 68] A SUMMER DAY

I THE dawn laughs out on orient hills And dances with the diamond rills; The ambrosial wind but faintly stirs The silken, beaded gossamers; In the wide valleys, lone and fair, Lyrics are piped from limpid air, And, far above, the pine trees free Voice ancient lore of sky and sea. Come, let us fill our hearts straightway With hope and courage of the day.

II Noon, hiving sweets of sun and flower, Has fallen on dreams in wayside bower, Where bees hold honeyed fellowship With the ripe blossom of her lip; All silent are her poppied vales And all her long Arcadian dales, Where idleness is gathered up A magic draught in summer’s cup. Come, let us give ourselves to dreams By lisping margins of her streams. [Page 69]

III Adown the golden sunset way The evening comes in wimple gray; By burnished shore and silver lake Cool winds of ministration wake; O’er occidental meadows far There shines the light of moon and star, And sweet, low-tinkling music rings About the lips of haunted springs. In quietude of earth and air ‘Tis meet we yield our souls to prayer. [Page 70] SEPTEMBER Lo! a ripe sheaf of many golden days Gleaned by the year in autumn’s harvest ways, With here and there, blood-tinted as an ember, Some crimson poppy of a late delight Atoning in its splendor for the flight Of summer blooms and joys This is September. [Page 71] IN LOVERS’ LANE I KNOW a place for loitering feet

Deep in the valley where the breeze Makes melody in lichened boughs,

And murmurs low love-litanies. There slender harebells nod and dream,

And pale wild roses offer up The fragrance of their golden hearts,

As from some incense-brimméd cup. It holds the sunshine sifted down

Softly through many a beechen screen, Save where, by deeper woods embraced,

Cool shadows linger, dim and green. And there my love and I may walk

And harken to the lapsing fall Of unseen brooks and tender winds,

And wooing birds that sweetly call. And every voice to her will say

What I repeat in dear refrain, And eyes will meet with seeking eyes,

And hands will clasp in Lovers’ Lane. [Page 72] Come, sweet-heart, then, and we will stray

Adown that valley, lingering long, Until the rose is wet with dew,

And robins come to evensong, And woo each other, borrowing speech

Of love from winds and brooks and birds, Until our sundered thoughts are one

And hearts have no more need of words. [Page 73] ON THE HILLS THROUGH the pungent hours of the afternoon,

On the autumn slopes we have lightly wandered Where the sunshine lay in a golden swoon

And the lingering year all its sweetness squandered. Oh, it was blithesome to roam at will Over the crest of each westering hill, Over those dreamy, enchanted lands Where the trees held to us their friendly hands! Winds in the pine boughs softly crooned,

Or in the grasses complained most sweetly, With all the music of earth attuned

In this dear ripe time that must pass so fleetly: Golden rod as we idled by Held its torches of flame on high, And the asters beckoned along our way Like fair fine ladies in silk array. We passed by woods where the day aside

Knelt like a pensive nun and tender, We looked on valleys of purple pride

Where she reigned a queen in her misty splendor; But out on the hills she was wild and free, A comrade to wander right gipsily, Luring us on over waste and wold With the charm of a message half sung, half told, [Page 74] And now, when far in the shining west

She has dropped her flowers on the sunset meadow, We turn away from our witching quest

To the kindly starshine and gathering shadow; Filled to the lips of our souls are we With the beauty given so lavishly, And hand in hand with the night we come Back to the light and the hearth of home. [Page 75] AN AUTUMN EVENING DARK hills against a hollow crocus sky

Scarfed with its crimson pennons, and below The dome of sunset long, hushed valleys lie

Cradling the twilight, where the lone winds blow And wake among the harps of leafless trees Fantastic runes and mournful melodies. The chilly purple air is threaded through

With silver from the rising moon afar, And from a gulf of clear, unfathomed blue

In the southwest glimmers a great gold star Above the darkening druid glens of fir Where beckoning boughs and elfin voices stir. And so I wander through the shadows still,

And look and listen with a rapt delight, Pausing again and yet again at will

To drink the elusive beauty of the night, Until my soul is filled, as some deep cup, That with divine enchantment is brimmed up. [Page 76] NOVEMBER EVENING COME, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together, With a quiet delight in our hearts for the ripe, still, autumn weather, Through the rustling valley and wood and over the crisping meadow, Under a high-sprung sky, winnowed of mist and shadow. Sharp is the frosty air, and through the far hill-gaps showing Lucent sunset lakes of crocus and green are glowing; ‘Tis the hour to walk at will in a wayward, unfettered roaming, Caring for naught save the charm, elusive and swift, of the gloaming. Watchful and stirless the fields as if not unkindly holding Harvested joys in their clasp, and to their broad bosoms folding Baby hopes of a Spring, trusted to motherly keeping, Thus to be cherished and happed through the long months of their sleeping. [Page 77] Silent the woods are and gray; but the firs than ever are greener, Nipped by the frost till the tang of their loosened balsam is keener; And one little wind in their boughs, eerily swaying and swinging, Very soft and low, like a wandering minstrel is singing. Beautiful is the year, but not as the springlike maiden Garlanded with her hopesrather the woman laden With wealth of joy and grief, worthily won through living, Wearing her sorrow now like a garment of praise and thanksgiving. Gently the dark comes down over the wild, fair places, The whispering glens in the hills, the open, starry spaces; Rich with the gifts of the night, sated with questing and dreaming, We turn to the dearest of paths where the star of the homelight is gleaming. [Page 78] OUT O’ DOORS THERE’S a gypsy wind across the harvest land, Let us fare forth with it lightly hand in hand; Where cloud shadows blow across the sunwarm waste, And the first red leaves are falling let us haste, For the waning days are lavish of their stores, And the joy of life is with us out o’ doors! Let us roam along the ways of golden rod Over uplands where the spicy bracken nod, Through the wildwood where the hemlock branches croon Their rune-chant of elder days across the noon, For the mellow air its pungency outpours, And the glory of the year is out o’ doors! There’s a great gray sea beyond us calling far, There’s a blue tide curling o’er the harbor bar; Ho, the breeze that smites us saltly on the lips Whistles gaily in the sails of outbound ships; Let us send our thoughts with them to fabled shores, For the pilgrim mood is on us out o’ doors! Lo! the world’s rejoicing in each spirit thrills, Strength and gladness are to us upon the hills; We are one with crimson bough and ancient sea, Holding all the joy of autumn hours in fee, Hope within us like a questing bird upsoars, And there’s room for song and laughter out o’ doors. [Page 79] IN THE DAYS OF THE GOLDEN ROD ACROSS the meadow in brooding shadow

I walk to drink of the autumn’s wine The charm of story, the artist’s glory,

To-day on these silvering hills is mine; On height, in hollow, where’er I follow,

By mellow hillside and searing sod, Its plumes uplifting, in light winds drifting,

I see the glimmer of golden-rod. In this latest comer the vanished summer

Has left its sunshine the world to cheer, And bids us remember in late September

What beauty mates with the passing year. The days that are fleetest are still the sweetest,

And life is near to the heart of God, And the peace of heaven to earth is given

In this wonderful time of the golden-rod. [Page 80] A WINTER DAY

I THE air is silent save where stirs A bugling breeze among the firs; The virgin world in white array Waits for the bridegroom kiss of day; All heaven blooms rarely in the east Where skies are silvery and fleeced, And o’er the orient hills made glad The morning comes in wonder clad; Oh, ‘tis a time most fit to see How beautiful the dawn can be!

II Wide, sparkling fields snow-vestured lie Beneath a blue, unshadowed sky; A glistening splendor crowns the woods And bosky, whistling solitudes; In hemlock glen and reedy mere The tang of frost is sharp and clear; Life hath a jollity and zest, A poignancy made manifest; Laughter and courage have their way At noontide of a winter’s day. [Page 81]

III Faint music rings in wold and dell, The tinkling of a distant bell, Where homestead lights with friendly glow Glimmer across the drifted snow; Beyond a valley dim and far Lit by an occidental star, Tall pines the marge of day beset Like many a slender minaret, Whence priest-like winds on crystal air Summon the reverent world to prayer. [Page 82] TWILIGHT FROM vales of dawn hath Day pursued the Night

Who mocking fled, swift-sandalled, to the west, Nor ever lingered in her wayward flight

With dusk-eyed glance to recompense his quest, But over crocus hills and meadows gray

Sped fleetly on her way. Now when the Day, shorn of his failing strength,

Hath fallen spent before the sunset bars, The fair, wild Night, with pity touched at length,

Crowned with her chaplet of outblossoming stars, Creeps back repentantly upon her way

To kiss the dying Day. [Page 83] THE CALL OF THE WINDS Ho, come out with the wind of spring,

And step it blithely in woodlands waking; Friend am I of each growing thing

From the gray sod into sunshine breaking; Mine is the magic of twilights dim, Of violets blue on the still pool’s rim, Mine is the breath of the blossoms young Sweetest of fragrances storied or sung Come, ye earth-children, weary and worn, I will lead you over the hills of morn. Ho, come out with the summer wind,

And loiter in meadows of ripening clover, Where the purple noons are long and kind,

And the great white clouds drift fleecily over. Mine is immortal minstrelsy, The fellowship of the rose and bee, Beguiling laughter of willowed rills, The rejoicing of pines on inland hills, Come, ye earth-children, by dale and stream, I will lead you into the ways of dream. Ho, when the wind of autumn rings

Through jubilant mornings crisp and golden, Come where the yellow woodland flings

Its hoarded wealth over by-ways olden. Mine are the grasses frosted and sere, [Page 84] That lisp and rustle around the mere, Mine are the flying racks that dim The lingering sunset’s reddening rim, Earth-children, come, in the waning year, I will harp you to laughter and buoyant cheer. Ho, when the wind of winter blows

Over the uplands and moonlit spaces, Come ye out to the waste of snows,

To the glimmering fields and the silent places. I whistle gaily on starry nights Through the arch of the elfin northern lights, But in long white valleys I pause to hark Where the ring of the homelights gems the dark. Come, ye earth-children, whose hearts are sad, I will make you valiant and strong and glad! [Page 85] A WINTER DAWN ABOVE the marge of night a star still shines, And on the frosty hills the sombre pines Harbor an eerie wind that crooneth low Over the glimmering wastes of virgin snow. Through the pale arch of orient the morn Comes in a milk-white splendor newly-born, A sword of crimson cuts in twain the gray Banners of shadow hosts, and lo, the day! [Page 86] THE FOREST PATH OH, the charm of idle dreaming

Where the dappled shadows dance, All the leafy aisles are teeming

With the lure of old romance! Down into the forest dipping,

Deep and deeper as we go, One might fancy dryads slipping

Where the white-stemmed birches grow. Lurking gnome and freakish fairy

In the fern may peep and hide … Sure their whispers low and airy

Ring us in on every side! Saw you where the pines are rocking

Nymph’s white shoulder as she ran? Lo, that music faint and mocking,

Is it not a pipe of Pan? Hear you that elusive laughter

Of the hidden waterfall? Nay, a satyr speeding after

Ivy-crowned bacchanal. Far and farther as we wander

Sweeter shall our roaming be, Come, for dim and winsome yonder

Lies the path to Arcady! [Page 87] AT NIGHTFALL THE dark is coming o’er the world, my playmate,

And the fields where poplars stand are very still, All our groves of green delight have been invaded,

There are voices quite unknown upon the hill; The wind has grown too weary for a comrade,

It is keening in the rushes spent and low, Let us join our hands and hasten very softly

To the little, olden, friendly path we know. The stars are laughing at us, O, my playmate,

Very, very far away in lonely skies, The trees that were our friends are strangers to us,

And the fern is full of whispers and of sighs. The sounds we hear are not what we may share in,

We may not linger where the white moths roam, We must hasten yet more swiftly, little playmate,

To the house among the pines that is our home. The dark is creeping closer yet, my playmate,

And the woods seem crowding nearer as we go, Oh, how very, very bold have grown the shadows,

They may touch us as they flutter to and fro! The silence is too dreadful for our laughter,

The night is very full of strange alarms, But it cannot hurt us now, O, little playmate,

One more step and we are safe in mother’s arms! [Page 88] THE TRUCE O’ NIGHT Lo, it is dark, Save for the crystal spark Of a virgin star o’er the purpling lea, Or the fine, keen, silvery grace of a young Moon that is hung O’er the priest-like firs by the sea; Lo, it is still, Save for the wind of the hill, And the luring, primeval sounds that fill The moist and scented air ‘Tis the truce o’ night, away with unrest and care! Now we may forget Love’s fever and hate’s fret, Forget to-morrow and yesterday; And the hopes we buried in musky gloom Will come out of their tomb, Warm and poignant and gay; We may wander wide, With only a wish for a guide, By heath and pool where the Little Folk bide, We may share in fairy mirth, And partake once more in the happy thoughts of earth. [Page 89] Lo, we may rest Here on her cradling breast In the wonderful time of the truce o’ night, And sweet things that happened long ago, Softly and slow, Will creep back to us in delight; And our dreams may be Compact of young melody, Just such as under the Eden Tree, ‘Mid the seraphim’s lullabies, Eve’s might have been ere banished from Paradise.

[Page 90]

[Page 91] MISCELLANEOUS

[Page 92]

[Page 93] TO MY ENEMY LET those who will of friendship sing,

And to its guerdon grateful be, But I a lyric garland bring

To crown thee, O, mine enemy! Thanks, endless thanks, to thee I owe

For that my lifelong journey through Thine honest hate has done for me

What love perchance had failed to do. I had not scaled such weary heights

But that I held thy scorn in fear, And never keenest lure might match

The subtle goading of thy sneer. Thine anger struck from me a fire

That purged all dull content away, Our mortal strife to me has been

Unflagging spur from day to day. And thus, while all the world may laud

The gifts of love and loyalty, I lay my meed of gratitude

Before thy feet, mine enemy! [Page 94] AS THE HEART HOPES IT is a year dear one, since you afar

Went out beyond my yearning mortal sight A wondrous year! perchance in many a star

You have sojourned, or basked within the light Of mightier suns; it may be you have trod

The glittering pathways of the Pleiades,

And through the Milky Way’s white mysteries Have walked at will, fire-shod. You may have gazed in the immortal eyes

Of prophets and of martyrs; talked with seers Learned in all the lore of Paradise,

The infinite wisdom of eternal years; To you the Sons of Morning may have sung,

The impassioned strophes of their matin hymn,

For you the choirs of the seraphim Their harpings wild out-flung. But still I think at eve you come to me

For old, delightsome speech of eye and lip, Deeming our mutual converse thus to be

Fairer than archangelic comradeship; Dearer our close communings fondly given

Than all the rainbow dreams a spirit knows,

Sweeter my gathered violets than the rose Upon the hills of heaven. [Page 95] Can any exquisite, unearthly morn,

Silverly breaking o’er a starry plain, Give to your soul the poignant pleasure born

Of virgin moon and sunset’s lustrous stain When we together watch them ? Oh, apart

A hundred universes you may roam,

But still I knowI knowyour only home Is here within my heart! [Page 96] TWO LOVES ONE said; “Lo, I would walk hand-clasped with thee

Adown the ways of joy and sunlit slopes Of earthly song in happiest vagrancy

To pluck the blossom of a thousand hopes. Let us together drain the wide world’s cup With gladness brimméd up!” And one said, “I would pray to go with thee

When sorrow claims thee; I would fence thy heart With mine against all anguish; I would be

The comforter and healer of thy smart; And I would count it all the wide world’s gain To spare or share thy pain!” [Page 97] THE CHRISTMAS NIGHT WRAPPED was the world in slumber deep, By seaward valley and cedarn steep, And bright and blest were the dreams of its sleep; All the hours of that wonderful night-tide through The stars outblossomed in fields of blue, A heavenly chaplet, to diadem The King in the manger of Bethlehem. Out on the hills the shepherds lay, Wakeful, that never a lamb might stray, Humble and clean of heart were they; Thus it was given them to hear Marvellous harpings strange and clear, Thus it was given them to see The heralds of the nativity. In the dim-lit stable the mother mild Looked with holy eyes on her child, Cradled him close to her heart and smiled; Kingly purple nor crown had he, Never a trapping of royalty; But Mary saw that the baby’s head With a slender nimbus was garlanded. [Page 98] Speechless her joy as she watched him there, Forgetful of pain and grief and care, And every thought in her soul was a prayer; While under the dome of the desert sky The Kings of the East from afar drew nigh, And the great white star that was guide to them Kept ward o’er the manger of Bethlehem. [Page 99] IN AN OLD FARMHOUSE OUTSIDE the afterlight’s lucent rose

Is smiting the hills and brimming the valleys, And shadows are stealing across the snows;

From the mystic gloom of the pineland alleys. Glamour of mingled night and day Over the wide, white world has sway, And through their prisoning azure bars, Gaze the calm, cold eyes of the early stars. But here, in this long, low-raftered room,

Where the blood-red light is crouching and leaping, The fire that colors the heart of the gloom

The lost sunshine of old summers is keeping The wealth of forests that held in fee Many a season’s rare alchemy, And the glow and gladness without a name That dwells in the deeps of unstinted flame. Gather we now round the opulent blaze

With the face that loves and the heart that rejoices, Dream we once more of the old-time days,

Listen once more to the old-time voices! From the clutch of the cities and paths of the sea We have come again to our own roof-tree, And forgetting the loves of the stranger lands We yearn for the clasp of our kindred’s hands. [Page 100] There are tales to tell, there are tears to shed,

There are children’s flower-faces and women’s sweet laughter; There’s a chair left vacant for one who is dead

Where the firelight crimsons the ancient rafter; What reck we of the world that waits With care and clamor beyond our gates, We, with our own, in this witching light, Who keep our tryst with the past tonight? Ho! how the elf-flames laugh in glee!

Closer yet let us draw together, Holding our revel of memory

In the guiling twilight of winter weather; Out on the waste the wind is chill, And the moon swings low o’er the western hill, But old hates die and old loves burn higher With the wane and flash of the farmhouse fire. [Page 101] A REQUEST WHEN I am dead I would that ye make my bed On that lowlying, windy waste by the sea, Where the silvery grasses rustle and lisp; There, where the crisp Foam-flakes shall fly over me, And murmurs creep From the ancient heart of the deep, Lulling me ever, I shall most sweetly sleep. While the eerie sea-folk croon On the long dim shore by the light of a waning moon. I shall not hear Clamor of young life anear, Voices of gladness to stir an unrest; Only the wandering mists of the sea Shall companion me; Only the wind in its quest Shall come where I lie, Or the rain from the brooding sky With furtive footstep shall pass me by, And never a dream of the earth Shall break on my slumber with lure of an out-lived mirth. [Page 102] MEMORY PICTURES

I A WIDE-SPRING meadow in a rosy dawn

Bedropt with virgin buds; an orient sky Fleeced with a dappled cloud but half withdrawn;

A mad wind blowing by, O’er slopes of rippling grass and glens apart;

A brackened path to a wild-woodland place

A limpid pool with a fair, laughing face Mirrored within its heart.

II An ancient garden brimmed with summer sun

Upon a still and slumberous afternoon; Old walks and pleasances with shadows spun

Where honeyed odors swoon; A velvet turf with blossoms garlanded;

A hedge of Mary-lilies white and tall;

And, shining out against a lichened wall, A stately-golden head.

III An autumn hilltop in the sunset hue,

Pine boughs uptossed against the crystal west, And, girdled with the twilight dim and blue,

A valley peace-possessed; A high-sprung heaven stained with colors rare,

A sheen of moonrise on the sea afar,

And, bright and soft as any glimmering star, Eyes holy as a prayer. [Page 103] DOWN HOME DOWN home tonight the moonshine falls

Across a hill with daisies pied, The pear tree by the garden gate

Beckons with white arms like a bride. A savor as of trampled fern

Along the whispering meadow stirs, And, beacon of immortal love,

A light is shining through the firs. To my old gable window creeps

The night wind with a sigh and song, And, weaving ancient sorceries,

Thereto the gleeful moonbeams throng Beside the open kitchen door

My mother stands all lovingly, And o’er the pathways of the dark

She sends a yearning thought to me. It seeks and finds my answering heart

Which shall no more be peace-possessed Until I reach her empty arms

And lay my head upon her breast. [Page 104] THE CHOICE LIFE, come to me in no pale guise and ashen, I care not for thee in such placid fashion! I would share widely, Life, In all thy joy and strife, Would sound thy deeps and reach thy highest passion, With thy delight and with thy suffering rife. Whether I bide with thee in cot or palace, I would drink deeply, Life, of thy great chalice, Even to its bitter lees Yea, shrinking not from these, Since out of bitterness come strength and solace And wisdom is not won in slumberous ease. Wan peace, uncolored days, were a poor favor; To lack great pain and love were to lack savor. Life, take the heart of me And fill it brimmingly, No matter with what poignant brew or flavor, So that it may not shrunk and empty be. Yea, Life, thus would I live, nor play at living, The best of me for thy best gladly giving, With an unfaltering cheer, Greeting thee year by year, Even in thy dourest mood some good achieving, Until I read thy deep-hid meaning clear. [Page 105] TWILIGHT IN THE GARDEN THE scent of the earth is moist and good In the dewy shade Of the tall, dark poplars whose slender tops Against the sunset bloom are laid, And a robin is whistling in the copse By the dim spruce wood. The west wind blowing o’er branch and flower Out of the wold, Steals through the honeysuckle bower And bears away on its airy wings Odors that breath of paradise; Dim are the poppies’ splendid dyes, But many a pallid primrose swings Its lamp of gold. A white moth flits from tree to tree Like a wandering soul; Deep in the lily a muffled boom Tells of a honey-drunken bee Wildered with sweets in that ivory bowl; Many a subtle melody, Many a rare sound all unknown To the lusty daylight’s fuller tone Threads with its magic this hush and gloom. [Page 106] Many a dear thought deep in the heart, Many a memory, dulcet and fine, Wakes as we walk in the garden tonight, In this soft kissing of dark and light, When the world has drawn itself apart From our spirit’s shrine. [Page 107] MY LEGACY MY friend has gone away from me From shadow into perfect light, But leaving a sweet legacy. My heart shall hold it long in fee A grand ideal, calm and bright, A song of hope for ministry, A faith of unstained purity, A thought of beauty for delight These did my friend bequeath to me; And, more than even these can be, The worthy pattern of a white, Unmarred life lived most graciously. Dear comrade, loyal thanks to thee Who now hath fared beyond my sight, My friend has gone away from me, But leaving a sweet legacy. [Page 108] GRATITUDE I THANK thee, friend, for the beautiful thought

That in words well chosen thou gavest to me, Deep in the life of my soul it has wrought

With its own rare essence to ever imbue me, To gleam like a star over devious ways, To bloom like a flower on the drearest days Better such gift from thee to me Than gold of the hills or pearls of the sea. For the luster of jewels and gold may depart,

And they have in them no life of the giver, But this gracious gift from thy heart to my heart

Shall witness to me of thy love forever; Yea, it shall always abide with me As a part of my immortality; For a beautiful thought is a thing divine, So I thank thee, oh, friend, for this gift of thine. [Page 109] FANCIES SURELY the flowers of a hundred springs Are simply the souls of beautiful things! The poppies aflame with gold and red Were the kisses of lovers in days that are fled. The purple pansies with dew-drops pearled Were the rainbow dreams of a youngling world. The lily, white as a star apart, Was the first pure prayer of a virgin heart. The daisies that dance and twinkle so Were the laughter of children in long ago. The sweetness of all true friendship yet Lives in the breath of the mignonette. To the white narcissus there must belong The very delight of a maiden’s song. And the rose, all flowers of the earth above, Was a perfect, rapturous thought of love. Oh! surely the blossoms of all the springs Must be the souls of beautiful things. [Page 110] ONE OF THE SHEPHERDS WE were out on the hills that night To watch our sheep; Drowsily by the fire we lay Where the waning flame did flicker and leap, And some were weary and half asleep, And some talked low of their flocks and the fright Of a lion that day. But I had drawn from the others apart; I was only a lad, And the night’s great silence so filled my heart That I dared not talk and I dared not jest; The moon had gone down behind the hill And even the wind of the desert was still; As the touch of death the air was cold, And the world seemed all outworn and old; Yet a poignant delight in my soul was guest, And I could not be sad. Still were my thoughts the thoughts of youth Under the skies: I dreamed of the holy and tender truth That shone for me in my mother’s eyes; Of my little sister’s innocent grace, And the mirthful lure in the olive face Of a maid I had seen at the well that day, Singing low as I passed that way, And so sweet and wild were the notes of her song, That I listened long. [Page 111] Was it the dawn that silvered and broke Over the hill? Each at the other looked in amaze, And never a breathless word we spoke. Fast into rose and daffodil Deepened that splendor; athwart its blaze That pierced like a sword the gulf of night We saw a form that was shaped of the light, And we veiled our faces in awe and dread To hearken the tidings the Bright One told Oh! wonderful were the words he said Of a Child in Bethlehem’s manger old. The stars were drowned in that orient glow; The sky was abloom like a meadow in spring; But each blossom there was a radiant face And each flash of glory a shining wing; They harped of peace and great good will, And such was their music that well I know There can never again in my soul be space For a sound of ill. The light died out as the sunset dies In the western skies; Swift went we to the Bethlehem khan, Many our questions laughed to scorn, But one, a gray and wrinkled man, With strange, deep eyes that searched the heart, Led us down to the child new-born In a dim-lighted cave apart. [Page 112] There on the straw the mother lay Wan and white, But her look was so holy and rapt and mild That it seemed to shed a marvellous light, Faint as the first rare gleam of day, Around the child. It was as other children are Saving for something in the eyes, Starlike and clear and strangely wise Then came a sudden thought to me Of a lamb I had found on the waste afar; Lost and sick with hunger and cold, I had brought it back in my arms to the fold For tender ministry. Dawn had flooded the east as a wave When we left the cave; All the world suddenly seemed to be Young and pure and joyous again; The others lingered to talk with the men, Full of wonder and rapture still; But I hastened back to the fold on the hill To tend the lamb that had need of me. [Page 113] IF MARY HAD KNOWN IF Mary had known When she held her Babe’s hands in her own Little hands that were tender and white as a rose, All dented with dimples from finger to wrist, Such as mothers have kissed That one day they must feel the fierce blows Of a hatred insane, Must redden with holiest stain, And grasp as their guerdon the boon of the bitterest pain, Oh, I think that her sweet, brooding face Must have blanched with its anguish of knowledge above her embrace. Butif Mary had known, As she held her Babe’s hands in her own, What a treasure of gifts to the world they would bring; What healing and hope to the hearts that must ache, And without him must break; Had she known they would pluck forth death’s sting And set open the door Of the close, jealous grave evermore, Making free who were captives in sorrow and darkness before, Oh, I think that a gracious sunrise Of rapture had broken across the despair of her eyes! [Page 114] If Mary had known As she sat with her baby alone, And guided so gently his bare little feet To take their first steps from the throne of her knee, How weary must be The path that for them should be meet; And how it must lead To the cross of humanity’s need, Giving hissing and shame, giving blame and reproach for its meed, Oh, I think that her tears would have dewed Those dear feet that must walk such a hard, starless way to the Rood! Butif Mary had known, As she sat with her Baby alone, On what errands of mercy and peace they would go, How those footsteps would ring through the years of all time With an echo sublime, Making holy the land of their woe, That the pathway they trod Would guide the world back to its God, And lead ever upward away from the grasp of the clod, She had surely forgot to be sad And only remembered to be most immortally glad! [Page 115] If Mary had known, As she held him so closely, her own, Cradling his shining, fair head on her breast, Sunned over with ringlets as bright as the morn, That a garland of thorn On that tender brow would be pressed Till the red drops would fall Into eyes that looked out upon all, Abrim with a pity divine over clamor and brawl, Oh, I think that her lullaby song Would have died on her lips into wailing impassioned and long! Butif Mary had known, As she held him so closely, her own, That over the darkness and pain he would be The Conqueror hailed in all oncoming days, The world’s hope and praise, And the garland of thorn, The symbol of mocking and scorn Would be a victorious diadem royally worn, Oh, I think that ineffable joy Must have flooded her soul as she bent o’er her wonderful Boy! [Page 116] AT THE LONG SAULT (“Searching the pile of corpses the victors found four Frenchmen still breathing. Three had scarcely a spark of life … the fourth seemed likely to survive and they reserved him for future torments.” Parkman’s History.) A PRISONER under the stars I lie, With no friend near; To-morrow they lead me forth to die, The stake is ready, the torments set, They will pay in full their deadly debt; But I fear them not! Oh, none could fear Of those who stood by Daulac’s side While he prayed and laughed and sang and fought In the very reek of deathand caught The martyr passion that flamed from his face As he died! Where he led us we followed glad, For we loved him well; Some there were that held him mad, But we knew that a heavenly rage had place In that dauntless soul; the good God spake To us through him; we had naught to do Save only obey; and when his eyes Flashed and kindled like storm-swept skies, And his voice like a trumpet thrilled us through, We would have marched with delight for his sake To the jaws of hell. [Page 117] The mists hung blue and still on the stream At the marge of dawn; The rapids laughed till we saw their teeth Like a snarling wolf’s fangs glisten and gleam; Sweetly the pine trees underneath The shadows slept in the moonlight wan; Sweetly beneath the steps of the spring The great, grim forest was blossoming; And we fought, that springs for other men Might blossom again. Faint, thirst-maddened we prayed and fought By night and by day; Eyes glared at us with serpent hate Yet sometimes a hush fell, and then we heard naught Save the wind’s shrill harping far away, The piping of birds, and the softened calls Of the merry, distant waterfalls; Then of other scenes we thought Of valleys beloved in sunny France, Purple vineyards of song and dance, Hopes and visions roseate; Of many a holy festal morn, And many a dream at vesper bell But anon the shuddering air was torn By noises such as the fiends of hell Might make in holding high holiday! Once, so bitter the death-storm hailed, We shrank and quailed. [Page 118] Daulac sprang out before us then, Shamed in our fears; Glorious was his face to see, The face of one who listens and hears Voices unearthly, summonings high Rang his tone like a clarion, “Men, See yonder star in the golden sky, Such a man’s duty is to him, A beacon that will not flicker nor dim, Shining through darkness and despair. Almost the martyr’s crown is yours! Thinking the price too high to be paid, Will you leave the sacrifice half made? I tell you God will answer the prayer Of the soul that endures! “Comrades, far in the future I see A mighty land; Throned among the nations of earth, Noble and happy, calm and free; As a veil were lifted I see her stand, And out of that future a voice to me Promises that our names shall shine On the page of her story with lustre divine Impelling to visions and deeds of worth. [Page 119] “Ever thus since the world was begun, When a man hath given up his life, Safety and freedom have been won By the holy power of self-sacrifice; For the memory of your mother’s kiss Valiantly stand to the breach again. Comrades, blench not now from the strife, Quit you like men!” Oh, we rushed to meet at our captain’s side Death as a bride! All our brave striplings bravely fell. I, less fortunate, slowly came Back from that din of shot and yell Slowly and gaspingly, to know A harder fate reserved for me Than that brief, splendid agony. Through many a bitter pang and throe My spirit must to-morrow go To seek my comrades; but I bear The tidings that our desperate stand By the Long Sault has saved our land, And God has answered Daulac’s prayer. [Page 120] THE EXILE WE told her that her far off shore was bleak and dour to view, And that her sky was dull and mirk while ours was smiling blue. She only sighed in answer, “It is even as ye say, But oh, the ragged splendor when the sun bursts through the gray!” We brought her dew-wet roses from our fairest summer bowers, We bade her drink their fragrance, we heaped her lap with flowers; She only said, with eyes that yearned, “Oh, if ye might have brought The pale, unscented blossoms by my father’s lowly cot!” We bade her listen to the birds that sang so madly sweet, The lyric of the laughing stream that dimpled at our feet; “But, O,” she cried, “I weary for the music wild that stirs When keens the mournful western wind among my native firs!” [Page 121] We told her she had faithful friends and loyal hearts anear, We prayed her take the fresher loves, we prayed her be of cheer; “Oh, ye are kind and true,” she wept, “but woe’s me for the grace Of tenderness that shines upon my mother’s wrinkled face !” [Page 122] THE THREE SONGS THE poet sang of a battlefield

Where doughty deeds were done, Where stout blows rang on helm and shield

And a kingdom’s fate was spun With the scarlet thread of victory, And honor from death’s grim revelry

Like a flame-red flower was won! So bravely he sang that all who heard With the sting of the fight and the triumph were stirred, And they cried, “Let us blazon his name on high, He has sung a song that will never die!” Again, full throated, he sang of fame

And ambition’s honeyed lure, Of the chaplet that garlands a mighty name, Till his listeners fired with the god-like flame

To do, to dare, to endure! The thirsty lips of the world were fain The cup of glamor he vaunted to drain, And the people murmured as he went by, “He has sung a song that will never die !” And once more he sang, all low and apart, A song of the love that was born in his heart: Thinking to voice in unfettered strain Its sweet delight and its sweeter pain; [Page 123] Nothing he cared what the throngs might say Who passed him unheeding from day to day, For he only longed with his melodies The soul of the one beloved to please. The song of war that he sang is as naught, For the field and its heroes are long forgot, And the song he sang of fame and power Was never remembered beyond its hour! Only to-day his name is known By the song he sang apart and alone, And the great world pauses with joy to hear The notes that were strung for a lover’s ear. [Page 124] IN AN OLD TOWN GARDEN SHUT from the clamor of the street

By an old wall with lichen grown, It holds apart from jar and fret

A peace and beauty all its own. The freshness of the springtime rains

And dews of morning linger here; It holds the glow of summer noons

And ripest twilights of the year. Above its bloom the evening stars

Look down at closing of the day, And in its sweet and shady walks

Winds spent with roaming love to stray, Upgathering to themselves the breath

Of wide-blown roses white and red, The spice of musk and lavender

Along its winding alleys shed. Outside are shadeless, troubled streets

And souls that quest for gold and gain, Lips that have long forgot to smile

And hearts that burn and ache with pain. [Page 125] But here is all the sweet of dreams,

The grace of prayer, the boon of rest, The spirit of old songs and loves

Dwells in this garden blossom-blest. Here would I linger for a space,

And walk herein with memory; The world will pass me as it may

And hope will minister to me. [Page 126] THE SEEKER I SOUGHT for my happiness over the world,

Oh, eager and far was my quest; I sought it on mountain and desert and sea,

I asked it of east and of west. I sought it in beautiful cities of men,

On shores that were sunny and blue, And laughter and lyric and pleasure were mine

In palaces wondrous to view; Oh, the world gave me much to my plea and my prayer But never I found aught of happiness there! Then I took my way back to a valley of old

And a little brown house by a rill, Where the winds piped all day in the sentinel firs

That guarded the crest of the hill; I went by the path that my childhood had known

Through the bracken and up by the glen, And I paused at the gate of the garden to drink

The scent of sweet-briar again; The homelight shone out through the dusk as of yore And happiness waited for me at the door! [Page 127] THE POET’S THOUGHT IT came to him in rainbow dreams, Blent with the wisdom of the sages, Of spirit and of passion born; In words as lucent as the morn He prisoned it, and now it gleams A jewel shining through the ages. [Page 128] THE CALL MOTHER of her who is close to my heart Cease to chide! For no small thing must I wander afar From the tender arms and lips of my bride My love with eyes like the glowing star In the twilight sky apart. Coulds’t thou have seen Him standing there Ere the day was born, With the mild high look that was like a prayer, Thou woulds’t not marvel that I must leave all I hold most dear to answer the call Of that wonderful morn. We were casting our nets in the sea, Andrew and I; Over the mountains a young wind came To kiss the waters of Galilee, And in the calm blue northern sky The gleaming crest of old Hermon rose Girt with its diadem of snows, And the east was smit with flame. All our thoughts were simple and glad As toilers’ should be; Andrew, that careless, dark-eyed lad Sang a song right merrily, Joyous of melody and word, As he worked with oar and net and sail, [Page 129] But I dreamed of the face that would blush and pale When my step should be heard! Then, as we lifted heedless eyes, We saw Him there, Where the silver waters curled on the shore; Behind Him the radiance of the skies Shining over His long, fair hair Wreathed it as with a crown of light; And oh, the grandeur and the grace Of that pale and kingly face We were weary and hungered with toil of the night But we thought not of it more!, He looked upon us with eyes that must see Far in our hearts past mortal ken; All the delights of the world grew dim Sweeter is seemed to suffer pain And wander, outcast of men with Him, Than share in another’s joy and gain; Spake He thus royally, “Come with me; I will make you fishers of men.” Mother of her who weeps at my side Cease to chide! Thou knowest not how that one word rings Ever by day and by night in my ear, I cannot hearken to olden things I cannot listen to hope or fear; Mother of her who is dearest of all, I must follow the Nazarene’s call! [Page 130] THE OLD HOME CALLS COME back to me, little dancing feet that roam the wide world o’er, I long for the lilt of your flying steps in my silent rooms once more; Come back to me, little voices gay with laughter and with song, Come back, little hearts beating high with hopes, I have missed and mourned you long. My roses bloom in my garden walks all sweet and wet with the dew, My lights shine down on the long hill road the waning twilights through, The swallows flutter about my eaves as in the years of old, And close about me their steadfast arms the lisping pine trees fold. But I weary for you at morn and eve, O, children of my love, Come back to me from your pilgrim ways, from the seas and plains ye rove, Come over the meadows and up the lane to my door set open wide, And sit ye down where the red light shines from my welcoming fireside. [Page 131] I keep for you all your childhood dreams, your gladness and delights, The joy of days in the sun and rain, the sleep of carefree nights, All the sweet faiths ye have lost and sought again shall be your own, Darlings, come to my empty heartI am old and still and alone! [Page 132] GENIUS A HUNDRED generations have gone into its making,

With all their love and tenderness, with all their dreams and tears; Their vanished joy and pleasure, their pain and their heart-breaking,

Have colored this rare blossom of the long-unfruitful years. Their victory and their laughter for this have strong men given,

For this have sweet, dead women paid in patience which survives That a great soul might bring the world, as from the gate of heaven,

All that was rich and beautiful in those forgotten lives. [Page 133] LOVE’S PRAYER BELOVED, this the heart I offer thee Is purified from old idolatry, From outworn hopes, and from the lingering stain Of passion’s dregs, by penitential pain. Take thou it, then, and fill it up for me With thine unstinted love, and it shall be An earthy chalice that is made divine By its red draught of sacramental wine. [Page 134] THE PRISONER I LASH and writhe against my prison bars,

And watch with sullen eyes the gaping crowd . . Give me my freedom and the burning stars,

The hollow sky, and crags of moonlit cloud! Once I might range across the trackless plain,

And roar with joy, until the desert air And wide horizons echoed it amain:

I feared no foe, for I was monarch there! I saw my shadow on the parching sand,

When the hot sun had kissed the mountain’s rim; And when the moon rose o’er long wastes of land,

I sought my prey by some still river’s brim; And with me my fierce love, my tawny mate,

Meet mother of strong cubs, meet lion’s bride . . We made our lair in regions desolate,

The solitude of wildernesses wide. They slew her … and I watched the life-blood flow

From her torn flank, and her proud eyes grow dim: I howled her dirge above her while the low,

Red moon clomb up the black horizon’s rim. [Page 135] Me, they entrapped … cowards! They did not dare

To fight. as brave men do, without disguise, And face my unleashed rage! The hidden snare

Was their device to win an untamed prize. I am a captive … not for me the vast,

White dome of sky above the blinding sand, The sweeping rapture of the desert blast

Across long ranges of untrodden land! Yet still they fetter not my thought! In dreams

I, desert-born, tread the hot wastes once more, Quench my deep thirst in cool, untainted streams,

And shake the darkness with my kingly roar! [Page 136] COMPANIONED I WALKED to-day, but not alone,

Adown a windy, sea-girt lea, For memory, spendthrift of her charm,

Peopled the silent lands for me. The faces of old comradeship

In golden youth were round my way, And in the keening wind I heard

The songs of many an orient day. And to me called, from out the pines

And woven grasses, voices dear, As if from elfin lips should fall

The mimicked tones of yesteryear. Old laughter echoed o’er the leas

And love-lipped dreams the past had kept, From wayside blooms like honeyed bees

To company my wanderings crept. And so I walked, but not alone,

Right glad companionship had I, On that gray meadow waste between

Dim-litten sea and winnowed sky. [Page 137] YOU ONLY a long, lowlying lane

That follows to the misty sea, Across a bare and russet plain

Where wild winds whistle vagrantly; I know that many a fairer path

With lure of song and bloom may woo, But oh ! I love this lonely strath

Because it is so full of you. Here we have walked in elder years,

And here your truest memories wait, This spot is sacred to your tears,

That to your laughter dedicate; Here, by this turn, you gave to me

A gem of thought that glitters yet, This tawny slope is graciously

By a remembered smile beset. Here once you lingered on an hour

When stars were shining in the west, To gather one pale, scented flower

And place it smiling on your breast; And since that eve its fragrance blows

For me across the grasses sere, Far sweeter than the latest rose,

That faded bloom of yesteryear. [Page 138] For me the sky, the sea, the wold,

Have beckoning visions wild and fair, The mystery of a tale untold,

The grace of an unuttered prayer. Let others choose the fairer path

That winds the dimpling valley through, I gladly seek this lonely strath

Companioned by my dreams of you. [Page 139] UNRECORDED I LIKE to think of the many words The Master in his early days Must have spoken to them of Nazareth Words not freighted with life and death, Piercing through soul and heart like swords. But gracious greeting and grateful phrase, The simple speech That plain folk utter each to each. Ere over him too darkly lay The prophet shadow of Calvary, I think he talked in very truth With the innocent gayety of youth, Laughing upon some festal day, Gently, with sinless boyhood’s glee. I think if he had ever said To a mother apart, Cradling her baby’s shining head, “Thy man-child is strong of limb and heart,” She must have been from that gladsome day Thrilled with enduring pride alway, Fearless of any future dread, Knowing the son upon her knee Worthy her pain and love would be. [Page 140] Or if by the dusty wayside well, From the glare and heat Of the burning noon a wayfarer sought A moment’s rest where the palm shade fell, And he said to him, “The day is hot, And your road is rough for wandering feet,” Then I think on his way the pilgrim went As one who has shared in a sacrament, Feeling no longer on him press The burden of his weariness. If he said to a maid, “The sunset lies Redly on Nazareth hills tonight,” Each sunset of her life would bring A benedictive memory Of his haunting face and holy eyes; Or if to a bridegroom thus in spring, “The wife of thy youth is fair and wise,” So would she ever have seemed to be In her husband’s sight. If he but bade a passing guest His meal to share, Would not the one so honored deem Himself of all most highly blessed, The food he ate heaven’s manna rare? Or when he to a friend addressed A word of thanks for service done, Or homely, familiar favor, none Of richer recompense could dream. [Page 141] No evangelist’s golden pen Wrote them for us The words of the Master to those he might meet By the carpenter’s bench or in Nazareth street But in them I think there well might be It is surely sweet to fancy thus All of the benediction for men All of the tender humanity, That leaven the words of his later age On the holy page. [Page 142] WITH TEARS THEY BURIED YOU TO-DAY WITH tears they buried you to-day,

But well I knew no turf could hold

Your gladness long beneath the mould, Or cramp your laughter in the clay; I smiled while others wept for you

Because I knew. And now you sit with me tonight

Here in our old, accustomed place;

Tender and mirthful is your face, Your eyes with starry joy are bright Oh, you are merry as a song

For love is strong! They think of you as lying there

Down in the churchyard grim and old;

They think of you as mute and cold, A wan, white thing that once was fair, With dim, sealed eyes that never may

Look on the day. But love cannot be coffined so

In clod and darkness; it must rise

And seek its own in radiant guise, With immortality aglow, Making of death’s triumphant sting

A little thing. [Page 143] Ay, we shall laugh at those who deem

Our hearts are sundered! Listen, sweet,

The tripping of the wind’s swift feet Along the by-ways of our dream, And hark the whisper of the rose

Wilding that blows. Oh, still you love those simple things,

And still you love them more with me;

The grave has won no victory; It could not clasp your shining wings, It could not keep you from my side,

Dear and my bride! [Page 144] IN MEMORY OF “MAGGIE” A pussy-cat who was the household pet for seventeen years. NAUGHT but a little cat, you say; Yet we remember her, A creature loving, loyal, kind, With merry, mellow purr; The faithful friend of many years, Shall we not give her meed of tears? Sleek-suited in her velvet coat, White-breasted and bright-eyed, Feeling when she was praised and stroked A very human pride; A quiet nook was sure to please Where she might take her cushioned ease. Little gray friend, we shall not feel Ashamed to grieve for you; Many we know of human-kind Are not so fond and true; Dear puss, in all the years to be We’ll keep your memory loyally. [Page 145] REALIZATION I SMILED with skeptic mocking where they told me you were dead,

You of the airy laughter and lightly twinkling feet; “They tell a dream that haunted a chill gray dawn,” I said,

“Death could not touch or claim a thing so vivid and so sweet!” I looked upon you coffined amid your virgin flowers,

But even that white silence could bring me no belief: “She lies in maiden sleep,” I said. “and in the youngling hours

Her sealed dark eyes will open to scorn our foolish grief.” But when I went at moonrise to our ancient trysting place… . .

And, oh, the wind was keening in the fir-boughs overhead! … . And you came never to me with your little gypsy face,

Your lips and hands of welcome, I knew that you were dead! [Page 146] THE GARDEN IN WINTER FROSTY-WHITE and cold it lies Underneath the fretful skies; Snowflakes flutter where the red Banners of the poppies spread, And the drifts are wide and deep Where the lilies fell asleep. But the sunsets o’er it throw Flame-like splendor, lucent glow, And the moonshine makes it gleam Like a wonderland of dream, And the sharp winds all the day Pipe and whistle shrilly gay. Safe beneath the snowdrifts lie Rainbow buds of by-and-by; In the long, sweet days of spring Music of bluebells shall ring, And its faintly golden cup Many a primrose will hold up. Though the winds are keen and chill Roses’ hearts are beating still, And the garden tranquilly Dreams of happy hours to be In the summer days of blue All its dreamings will come true. [Page 147] THE DIFFERENCE WHEN we were together, heart of my heart, on that unforgotten quest, With your tender arm about me thrown and your head upon my breast, There came a grief that was bitter and deep and straitly dwell with me, And I shunned it not, so sweet it was to suffer and be with thee. And now when no more against mine own is beating thine eager heart, When thine eyes are turned from the glance of mine and our ways are far apart, A dear and long-sought joy has come my constant guest to be, And I love it not, so bitter it is, unfelt, unshared, by thee. [Page 148] THE POET THERE was strength in him and the weak won freely from it,

There was an infinite pity, and hard hearts grew soft thereby, There was truth so unshrinking and starry-shining,

Men read clear by its light and learned to scorn a lie. His were songs so full of a wholesome laughter

Those whose courage was ashen found it once more aflame, His was a child-like faith and wandering feet were guided,

His was a hope so joyous despair was put to shame. His was the delicate insight and his the poignant vision

Whereby the world might learn what wine-lipped roses know, What a drift of rain might lisp on a gray sea-dawning,

Or a pale spring of the woodland babble low. [Page 149] He builded a castle of dream and a palace of rainbow fancy,

And the starved souls of his fellows lived in them and grew glad; And yetthere were those who mocked the gifts of his generous giving,

And somebut he smiled and forgave themwho deemed him wholly mad! [Page 150] THE MOTHER HERE I lean over you, small son, sleeping Warm in my arms, And I con to my heart all your dew-fresh charms, As you lie close, close in my hungry hold … Your hair like a miser’s dream of gold, And the white rose of your face far fairer, Finer, and rarer Than all the flowers in the young year’s keeping; Over lips half parted your low breath creeping Is sweeter than violets in April grasses; Though your eyes are fast shut I can see their blue, Splendid and soft as starshine in heaven, With all the joyance and wisdom given From the many souls who have stanchly striven Through the dead years to be strong and true. Those fine little feet in my worn hands holden … Where will they tread ? Valleys of shadow or heights dawn-red? And those silken fingers, O, wee, white son, What valorous deeds shall by them be done In the future that yet so distant is seeming To my fond dreaming? What words all so musical and golden With starry truth and poesy olden [Page 151] Shall those lips speak in the years oncoming? O, child of mine, with waxen brow, Surely your words of that dim to-morrow Rapture and power and grace must borrow From the poignant love and holy sorrow Of the heart that shrines and cradles you now! Some bitter day you will love another, To her will bear Love-gifts and woo her … then must I share You and your tenderness! Now you are mine From your feet to your hair so golden and fine, And your crumpled finger-tips … mine completely, Wholly and sweetly; Mine with kisses deep to smother, No one so near to you now as your mother! Others may hear your words of beauty, But your precious silence is mine alone; Here in my arms I have enrolled you, Away from the grasping world I fold you, Flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone! [Page 152] TO ONE HATED “Hate is only Love that has missed its way.” HAD it been when I came to the valley where the paths parted asunder,

Chance had led my feet to the way of love, not hate, I might have cherished you well, have been to you fond and faithful,

Great as my hatred is, so might my love have been great. Each cold word of mine might have been a kiss impassioned,

Warm with the throb of my heart, thrilled with my pulse’s leap, And every glance of scorn, lashing, pursuing, and stinging,

As a look of tenderness would have been wondrous and deep. Bitter our hatred is, old and strong and unchanging,

Twined with the fibres of life, blent with body and soul, But as its bitterness, so might have been our love’s sweetness

Had it not missed the waystrange missing and sad!to its goal. [Page 153] WHILE THE FATES SLEEP COME, let us to the sunways of the west,

Hasten, while crystal dews the rose-cups fill, Let us dream dreams again in our blithe quest

O’er whispering wold and hill. Castles of air yon wimpling valleys keep

Where milk-white mist steals from the purpling sea,

They shall be ours in the moon’s wizardry, While the fates, wearied, sleep. The viewless spirit of the wind will sing

In the soft starshine by the reedy mere, The elfin harps of hemlock boughs will ring

Fitfully far and near; The fields will yield their trove of spice and musk,

And balsam from the glens of pine will fall,

Till twilight weaves its tangled shadows all In one dim web of dusk. Let us put tears and memories away,

While the fates sleep time stops for revelry; Let us look, speak, and kiss as if no day

Has been or yet will be; Let us make friends with laughter ‘neath the moon,

With music on the immemorial shore,

Yea, let us dance as lovers danced of yore The fates will waken soon! [Page 154] THE FAREWELL HE rides away with sword and spur,

Garbed in his warlike blazonry, With gallant glance and smile for her

Upon the dim-lit balcony. Her kiss upon his lips is warm,

Upon his breast he wears her rose, From her fond arms to stress and storm

Of many a bannered field he goes. He dreams of danger, glory, strife,

His voice is blithe, his hand is strong, He rides perchance to death from life

And leaves his lady with a song; But her blue-brimmed eyes are dim

With her deep anguish standing there, Sending across the world with him

The dear, white guerdon of her prayer. For her the lonely vigil waits

When ashen dawnlights come and go, Each bringing through the future’s gates

Its presages of fear and woe; For her the watch with soul and heart

Grown sick with dread, as women may, Yet keeping still her pain apart

From the wan duties of the day. [Page 155] ‘Tis hers to walk when sunsets yield

Their painted splendors to the skies, And dream on some far battlefield

Perchance alone, unwatched, he dies; ‘Tis hers to kneel in patient prayer

When midnight stars keep sentinel, Lest the chill death-dews damp the hair

Upon the brow she loves so well. So stands she, white and sad and sweet,

Upon the latticed balcony, From golden hair to slender feet

No lady is so fair as she; He loves her true, he holds her dear,

But he must ride on dangerous quest, With gallant glance and smile of cheer,

And her red rose upon his breast. [Page 156] THE OLD MAN’S GRAVE MAKE it where the winds may sweep Through the pine boughs soft and deep, And the murmur of the sea Come across the orient lea, And the falling raindrops sing Gently to his slumbering. Make it where the meadows wide Greenly lie on every side, Harvest fields he reaped and trod, Westering slopes of clover sod, Orchard lands where bloom and blow Trees he planted long ago. Make it where the starshine dim May be always close to him, And the sunrise glory spread Lavishly around his bed. And the dewy grasses creep Tenderly above his sleep. Since these things to him were dear Through full many a well-spent year, It is surely meet their grace Should be on his resting-place, And the murmur of the sea Be his dirge eternally. [Page 157] FOREVER

I WITH YOU I shall ever be; Over land and sea My thoughts will companion you; With yours shall my laughter chime, And my step keep time In the dusk and dew With yours in blithesome rhyme; In all of your joy shall I rejoice, On my lips your sorrow shall find a voice, And when your tears in bitterness fall Mine shall mingle with them all; With you in waking and dream I shall be, In the place of shadow and memory, Under young springtime moons, And on harvest noons, And when the stars are withdrawn From the white pathway of the dawn.

II O, my friend, nothing shall ever part My soul from yours, yours from my heart! I am yours and you mine, in silence and in speech, Death will only seal us each to each. Through the darkness we shall fare with fearless jest, Starward we shall go on a joyous new quest; There be many worlds, as we shall prove, Many suns and systems, but only one love! [Page 158] BY AN AUTUMN FIRE Now at our casement the wind is shrilling, Poignant and keen And all the great boughs of the pines between It is harping a lone and hungering strain To the eldritch weeping of the rain; And then to the wild, wet valley flying It is seeking, sighing, Something lost in the summer olden. When night was silver and day was golden; But out on the shore the waves are moaning With ancient and never fulfilled desire, And the spirits of all the empty spaces, Of all the dark and haunted places, With the rain and the wind on their death-white faces, Come to the lure of our leaping fire. But we bar them out with this rose-red splendor From our blithe domain, And drown the whimper of wind and rain With undaunted laughter, echoing long, Cheery old tale and gay old song; Ours is the joyance of ripe fruition, Attained ambition. Ours is the treasure of tested loving, Friendship that needs no further proving; [Page 159] No more of springtime hopes, sweet and uncertain, Here we have largess of summer in fee Pile high the logs till the flame be leaping, At bay the chill of the autumn keeping, While pilgrim-wise, we may go a-reaping In the fairest meadow of memory! [Page 160] Warwick Bro’s & Rutter, Limited, Printers and Bookbinders, Toronto, Canada.

Notes on the Text: This on-line edition has been made possible by a gift from donor Kelly Hurt.