WTM IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 m 1^ J5 '.' Iljll^ .25 2.5 IIIM 1.4 I! 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation ^q,^ ^^\,^\^^ ^^ 1^ "^ ^ 23 W6ST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ 4is W.r i/l CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. ^ ^ CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadien Institute for Histcical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques ©1981 Technical and Sibtiographic Notes/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. □ D D D □ D D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagee Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaurde et/ou pellicul6e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque Coloured maps/ Cartes g^ographiques en cculeur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ Relie avec d'autres documents L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a 6X6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une modificatioii dans la m^thode normale de filmage sont indiquds ci-dessous. □ Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur □ Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes I I Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pellicul6e? Pages discoloured, stained or foxei Pages d6color6es, tachdt^es ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages d^tachees Showthrough/ Transparence I y/ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ I i Pages detached/ I I Showthrough/ □ Quality of print varies/ Qualit^ in^gale de I'impression □ Includes suoplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire □ Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de ia distortion le long de la marge int6rieure D Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se pput que certaines pages blanches ajouties lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela dtait possible, ces pagas n'ont pas 6t6 film^es. D Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or pa'tielly obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6t6 film^es d nouveau de fapon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. □ Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires: This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filmd au taux de reduction indiqui ci-dessous 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X y 12X 16X 20X 24X % 28X 32X ails du tdifier une nage Tha copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: National Library of Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. L'exemplaire filmd fut reproduit grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de: Bibliothdque nation^ e du Canada Les images suivantes ont 6t6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettetd de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impros- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont tilmds en commengant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont film6s en commenqant par la premidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — »> (meaning "CON- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de chaque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbole — •► signifie "A SUIVRE", le symbole V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent c^tre film^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est irop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est filmd d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. rrata pelure, 1 d □ 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 ATZntRJ - Z^ * TWILIQHT; AND OTHER POEMS. BY ARTHUR J< W\\]M\((S^\^\^f London, ont. r. H. WAKKEN. PRINTER. 1894. 2SG334 C ittlr-*-^ CONTENTS. A Prelude (Homeward Bound) I Watchers of Twilight 3 A Song in Autumn 9 She Seemed a Wild Bird 10 Youth ana Love II A Reverie on Erie 12 When Melody and Sorrow Met 13 The Passing of April 14 Promptings 15 The Minstrel l6 In the Night 17 Indian Summer .... .... i8 The Rock and the Rose 19 The Passing of May 20 The Fugitive 2! The Harbinger 22 A Man and a Woman 24 Song and Life .... .... 24 Pauline .... .... .... 25 The Reproach of the Goddess .... 27 Pygmalion and Qalatea 28 Summer .... .... .... 29 To a Singer Grown Silent 30 Lost at Sea 33 World- Worship 37 Captivity Outlived .... .... 37 The Return of Songs .... 38 To Canadian Poets .... .... 39 Isolation .... .... .... 40 Protestations .... .... .... 41 Canada to England 42 To England Once More .... .... 43 EPiuRAMS : On Reading Faust 10 Remorse 18 The Anarchist 3a Elusion 39 The Sick Man 40 PB H H prclu&c. * HOMEWARD BOUND. What bird that wings the summer dawn But half forgot its earthly home ? What bird when all the day is gone But leaves the air its wild wings roam And flutters through the twilight-grey, Once more towards its earthly nest, Not quite forgot through all the day, And wide for that one wanderer's breast ? And I, who wandered far from thee, 'Neath northern star and southern sky In fruitless tasks of minstrelsy, Back to thine open heart shall fly ; And in life's twilight homeward come, And at the home-door we shall meet ; And should my faltering lips be dumb, I lay these gleanings at thy feet. m M WATCHERS OF TWILIGHT Nee dens intersit, nisi digmis vindice nodus. There was a time when sea and air and earth Were filled with many voices of the gods ; And in all things there dwelt a deity. The air once felt the silent flutterings Of wandering angels on their azurn ways ; The sea-winds inland bore some wafted song A white-armed goddess sang far overseas ; And woodland places heard the pipe of Pan. 'Twas in the dreaming childhood of the world, The pale grey twilight of tellurian times, When every vale was filled with shadowy sounds, And all created things were dimly touched With dawn's still dim and lingering light. But o'er the ageing earth a change has crept. Those old uncertain shades have passed away, And we among our days' less golden lights Look back on those twilight illusions old, Half with regret and half with wonderment, And feel the sorrow of a vanished dream, The want of something strangely lost and gone ; The want that Summer feels when flower and song Have wandered southward with the sleeping sun. And she to Autumn's sober face doth turn With silence, to her loss unreconciled. No longer the Olympian Muses nine * i ? i! ( ! Touch with celestial fire the suppliant's lip ; Aonian lights can never more illume The darkling glooms of lingering poesy ; For now all songs grow sad or diffident, And pensively our poets backward gaze, And on the dead past, where their love still clin They press Niobean kisses tenderly ; Sad mothers — seeing not the tristful child Who weeps with many a want beside her knee, In clasping to her breast her infant dead. No longer of ethereal asphodel Or alien amaranth may they dream songs, But of mere worldly roses lush with dew. The olden unillumined lands of hope Have grown ungoldened to our noonday eyes, And even where those lands were wont to lie There only dwells a wide grey watery waste, A strange sad sea, where silence erewhile slept, Unkeeled, untravelled, isling golden realms ; Not of a heaven brought to earth, but earth Exalted by our thought's divinity. For this the doctrine, ancient, deep, yet new, All heavens are the rainbows born of pain ; Free earth from pain, and then the old ideal And useless anodyne earth casts aside. No exiles from a home ethereal Are we, but dwellers on a wide, strange world We have un-heavened with our disregard.- Ah ! long have we the sweetness of her breast Out-sucked with thankless lips, and babbled at Some far-off star whose name we never krew. And called her midwife who our mother was. To-day there are no gods ; and men to-day No longer sing like children-choristers 1 1 If 11 clinics, knee, An unknown credo, clear and musical ; And though there was a god, he passed away ; The brow all thought august lies garlandiess. And only some remembered word or speech Remains to mark the adoration gone. A million idle altars still remain, A^d still a million men grow pale in prayers. Their lips have never yet unlearned to say, Although the heart grew mute long years ago. The spires of many temples still on earth Yearn heavenward to-day in irony, Like useless vanes that always face the south When north winds winter the autumnal lands. All gods have grown antique along with Jove And all the shadows of forgotten gods. And now the great heart of the old-grown earth Beats muffled with a new and strange despair, And grey-eyed Sorrow walks to-day with men, Lamenting with her silent, mournful eyes The time that was, yet never from her lip Breaks forth one worded lamentation low ; The sadder for the silence in her heart. Her mute mouth quivers with a wild despair. And yet her dusky form goes not alone, But on her footsteps faint, disconsolate. Goes one with dawn-light gleam'^^g on her brow, A laurel woven in her golden hai ; The silent smile of power half plays around Her lips compressed with all unuttered things, And from her countenance a light out-shone, Like morning glimmering on a ruffled sea, While in her star-like eyes, dispassionate, Yet sweet as tranquil Spring's awakened smile. The shadow of a dream still undivined Perplexed the perfect brow's soliloquy: ' ) l!i I i L ike one who strives to hear a far-off sound Of fading music dying on the wind, When only one stray, transient echo comes To tantalize the silent listener. Some call her Science, some Philosophy, But all men know the magic of her smile That righted once and still rights olden wrongs. And touched with dawn full many an olden gloom ; And she to deep-eyed Sorrow spoke with love : " Lament no more along the ways of men, For morning reddens in the dusky East, While twilight lingers still within the West. Yet gather if you must pain's aftermath. There are no gods to-day. We mourn them not ; For in their old-time, far-off fastnesses They pined secluded, while man climbed in pain The height he stands upon, though still in pain, Unchcered by any voice of any gods. For tongue of god was never heard by man Except when sounded by a woodland bird, Or mui mured by the wind or running stream, Or in some sound of nature, fugitiv e. Forever faint, incomprehensible. Yet why misname the music of the world ? VVc never dream divine its sounds unmusical. Gof^s are the shadowings of man ; think not That man is but the shadow of the ^^ods ; For they arc all dethroned -nay, not dethroned ; They crouched within the midnight's murky lap That crumbled with the first touch of clear light ; But earth has had its visionary days ; And thou wouldst never walk to-day with men But that some found a solace in thy face. And some h^ve seen within thy clouded eyes A beauty more than vintage-laughter knows. 1m ngs, gloom ; )ve: n not ; 1 pain Dain, n im, al. t>t oned ; y lap - light ; men vs. But pain and sorrow spring from suffering, And suffering must ever mean disease, While in their footsteps always follows Death. But man, the child no longer, slowly learns That pain is naught but the reproving bruise Upon wild feet that wander from right ways ; And though a million years his feet have bled He still must wander from the one soft way And bruise his erring feet on unseen stones, Although those ancient blood-stains mark the way And on the long and gradual incline He only sees the ever upward slope By looking back far down the winding road. As sky-l?,rks never know the height they reach, Until they pause upon their upward flight And find their old world withered far away. To-day man soars, not blind, but busily ; His eyes bent on the end, his feet feel not The weary miles that mark the slow approach. So man, the tireless harvecter of truth, Up-gathers golden sheaf on golden sheaf, No longer satisfied with flowers alone ; And seeing Spring and Summer great with signs He feels the autumnal fulness of all things. Knowing full well no dream was ever dreamed That shadowed not undreamed realities." Then Science led pale Sorrow far from men, And lulled her troubled heart with ancient tales And olden legends strange, and stories of Mythology, religion's sunset name; Then tells of astral and immortal things, - How man in time shall conquer ear«h and sea, 8 \\\ ill But greater still, shall know his own strange soul, And hold at last all yet unfathomed powers ; Till peace across the tranquil world shall steal Sweet as the slumber in soft Summer's face, And man, no longer haunted with unrest. Shall feel the fulness of all life and love. And fall asleep when life's long golden day Doth die away like some sweet melody ; And holding in his heart his memories. He enters the eternal dreaming-while ; As children after some long holiday Among the meadows and the flowery streams, Outwearied, fall asleep at eve's soft hour, Still holding in their sleeping hands the flowers They gathered in the golden afternoon. And then young star-eyed Science turned away, And went once more among the ways of men. Where many an undone task awaited her. And though her goal still gleamed far, far away. She knew full well her feet must falter not Until they trod each long-sought alien way ; But she, remembering what had been of old Of her promethean mission, sorrowed not. * ♦ * ♦ ♦ And wearily we twilight watchers look Along the future's far-off winding way ; And though from earth the midnight glooms are gone, There still lurk many old illusive clouds That dusk the golden glimmerings of the dawn ; But in the fulness of all time the earth Shall grow forgetful of its ancient wrongs. As birds remember not the long night glooms In winging sunward through the hyaline. ii m A SONG IN AUTUMN. Ah, Love ! can the tree lure the summer bird Again to the boughs where it used to sing, Where never a song in the autumn is heard, And never the gleam of a vagrant wing ? Ah, Love! can the lute lure the old-time touch To fingers forgetful of melody? Can we who have loved for a time overmuch, Lure back the old love as it used to be ? No, Heart ! there is nothing in me to love ; But come as a bird to the wintry bough ; C'ome now as you came when the blue was above. And summer shone soft on your girlish brow. Steal back to my arms in the autumn's grey ; While I who have waited thy com.ing so long. Awake with the life of a long-gone May, When wild through the land rang a spring-bird's song. Can summer elude the autumnal touch ? Can love once forlorn of its spring grow green ? Can we who were lovers of old overmuch. Re-learn what is lost and relume what has been ? lO SHE SEEMED A WILD BIRD CAGED ON EARTH. She seemed a wild bird caged on earth, Who fretted in her prison bars, A wild bird brought from heaven's blue Still unforgetful of her birth ; And while she gazed out on the stars She sighed to look where once she flew, Until at last her wings broke through. Now thro' the midnight gloom I gaze, And should my wistful eyes once see A new star drift down heaven's ways, I know she looks once more on me. And by the astral barrier waits Until my angel ope the gates. And earth no longer cages me. il k ON READING FAUST. •KM For Marguerite, the wild love and the woe, And then the sweet, still grave — the woman's lot. For Faust, the impotent remorse, the blow To sense, and the experience pain-bought. Bl II YOUTH AND LOVE. RTH. ue :w, I's lot. A laugh lurked in your pool-brown eyes, A peach-bloom shade was on yoi^r cheek, And you were wanton as the skies, And I was merry as a Greek. Your hair fell wild about your face, And where your loose corsage hung down A sun-beam pierced that secret place, And flecked your girlish breast of brown. A flush across your dark cheek spread At every sultry kiss you gave ; And yet you shook your little head. Although your eyes were tender-grave. And laughingly upon your hair I used to place a wreath of flowers ; Ah ! summer seemed without a care When we played lovers in old bowers. But you have changed, I know not why ; The brown has faded from your cheek, And laughter from your wistful eye No longer breaks whene'er you speak. But calm and pensive is your gaze, And clouded has your sweet face grown. And your light heart of younger days Seems strangely hardened to a stone. * * ♦ * ♦ Not that, O Love ; — ah ! never stone ! I see it now your full heart breaks ; It is the child a woman grown : But were those old days all mistakes ? 12 ifii! ■•I I 'I 1 ! 1 i i \ { , ^ ! { I- 1 ! :! i ! i i A REVERIE ON ERIE. Along the far-olT misty hills Faint gleam a few white sheep that stray Among the dusky purple rills That melt long miles and miles away. The swallows from the high cliffs' walls With tireless wings cleave overhead, And on the darkling waves their calls Grow thin, remote, and now are dead. And voices, unknown voices, rise From out the dreaming waves, but we Can only humanly surmise Their old unworded mystery. And thro' the dark memorial gloom The moon-beam and the star-gleam steal, And faintly through our human doom An ancient star-like hope we feel. To-night the waves are long and low, And we who float upon their breast, Are maddened that we never know The secret of the water's rest. u WHEN MELODY AND SORROW MET When Melody and Sorrow met, It was the autumn weather ; And Sorrow's clouded eyes were wet, When they two came together. The lip of Melody grew still, While thro' her tears smiled Sorrow ; And winter crept across the hill, Anc^ snows came on the morrow. Then Sorrow cried, " Though spring be mir^scd, May we not fare together ?" And Melody and Sorrow kissed * Amid the snowy weather. And then the lip, long idly mucc, Of Melody grew troubled, Till Sorrow touched his silent lute, And lilt and tune out-bubbled. And love shone warm from Sorrow's eye, And flushed her cheek grown hollow ; Till snow and winter wander by, And spring came with the swallow. i I 111 14 THE PASSING OF APRIL. Iil!p5 m Thou girl of many a golden tress, Pale April, with the troubled eyes, Along earth's vales once musical. The echo of thy music dies. And down a far-off flower-strewn path I see the glimmer of .thy feet, That now forsake thine old-time fields, Where thou and I were wont to meet. And with thee go the dreams thy breath Wreathed round my face that followed thee In all thy woodland ways and fields. When earth was wide for thee and me ;■ — When earth was wide for thee and me, And in thine eyes of troubled grey The light was soft with tears unshed, And life was sweet some unknown way. I long to follow after thee. As swallows follow on the spring ; And yet I see thee pass away On thine eternal wandering ; ill; m ji li' 15 And I turn back to earth forlorn, Where once thy sweet feet lingered long, Where once they wandered through the fields And all earth's birds broke into sonor. o And now May comes across the hills ; But April, April, — tho»' alo^e Hast touched thy lips too tenderly Through smiles and tears upon mine own ! PROMPTINGS. )n this strange stage where men and women play, When they, who linger on their half-learned lines 'o look before and after, go astray. An unseen Prompter from without reminds rhe actors of their half-forgotten parts ; And then the faltering Comedy takes life, )ut-laughs the grave-eyed Tragedy, and starts Anew to act the drama's ranted strife. Ill III ilillli! i6 IHE MINSTREL. She was a princess far above me. And I, who loved her all the while. And madly strove to make her love me. Was scarcely worthy of her smile. But wildly sang I in her gardens, At dawn and dusk, noonday and night,. Until at last her heart unhardens While listening at her window-height. And from my passion's pure persistence She can no longer hold aloof; She comes without a thought's resistance. And takes me 'neath her regal roof. And while in youth I yearned to capture Some laurel for my minstrel brow, The longing is displaced by rapture, — Her white arms are my halo now. Yet while my princess dreams beside me, I strive to strike my harp anew ; But with her love no more denied me, My songs are strangely faint and few. And to my youthful wild endeavor My thoughts turn from this songless peace ; But youth's old songs are gone forever, While youth's old yearnings never cease. 17 IN THE NIGHT. :ht, t. re ce, re ,1 le. Deace ; ase. Across the hills the twilight steals, And in the gloom the birds grow mute ; O'er field and vale a low bell peals Above one robin's last faint flute. The timeless stars gaze down once more, And in the west the last lights pale, And shadows gloosn the ocean-shore, Where voices in the darkness fail. The midnight hush is on the deep With silence far too full for words, And throuffh the leaves the night-winds creep More lyric than a million birds. Then sea and earth and ancient star Seem blended in one voice above. And wafts to me from realms afar The music of a far-off love. And I who yearn with old-time pain To see thy face, O unknown power ; For thee must seek once more in vain. In sky and sea, or earth and flower. But still this truth I strangely feel, — I see it in each soft star's birth : Although the night thy form conceal. Thine arm is round the ancient earth. ill III' n i I8 i i INDIAN SUMMER. illlili The soft maid Summer, with her languid loins re-girt, From Earth, her love of old, withdraws her cling- ing arms, Yet lingering looks again, and olden days revert Her thoughts, and all the dread that love alone alarms Can scarce subdue the wanton wildness of her heart. She stays, and turns upon her ancient love her face ; I Then soft her yielding arms steal round him ere they part. And all grows dim in dreaminess of one embrace. lilliiiil REMORSE. Red lips that dumbly quiver for his kiss, And now but fondly touch his grave-yard stone,- Ah ! lips he loved of old, remember this : He had not died, if he had only known. iiiil 19 ris re-girt, ler cling- :vert ve alone er heart, her face ; him ere mbrace. THE ROCK AND THE ROSE. The grim rock on the hillside rough For ages stood the sun and storm ; But once upon its shoulders gruff The wild-rose twined in rapture warm ; For one sweet summer twined and clung, Then fell away and left the rock More barren where the dry vine swung, The sterner for the dead arms' lock. And through the endless empty years The rock remained.-— But tell me, Man, Who loved and lost, yet shed no tears, How with the rock where roses ran ? stone,- m ii 1 20 ,! I' \m THE PASSING OK MAY. A hush fell on the tawny-throated choir That carolled from a thousand tuneful bowers, And all those ceaseless voices seemed to tire, As passing May went down among the flowers ; Went down among the flowers and passed away, And left the old melodious vales forlorn. When skies were blue and birds sang all the day. And dew clung sweet around her feet at morn. And falling blossoms showered her farewell ways, While from old earth the vernal tremor went ; For far she strayed without one backward gaze To those sweet days in maiden dalliance spent. And now now no bird-notes ring the whole day long, But only in the dusk and dawn-light grey • There floats across the fields a robin's song, Who flutes a wik^ farewell to passing May. 1 iiii llil! M i Hi f 21 THE FUGITIVE. ers, Arers ; — vay, day, lorn. ways, nt; ize Dent. day long, By night, for twenty nights, he crept Across the silent midnight land, And stole each dawn within the woods To pluck wild fruit with trembling hand. At last he reached the little stream That wandered round his home of old, Then on along its well-known bank He went, wrapt in the midnight's fold ; And up the well-remembered path, Until above the brook's dim bank The great, dark house he saw once more ; Then deeper in the brush he shrank. And crawled beside the garden wall, And reached the old familiar lawn ; And stole beneath his ancient home, — Then trembled as he saw the dawn, « And back along the brook he crept, And blurr'd his foot-prints from the sand ; And then by night, for twenty nights, He stole across the silent land. 22 M '. i I If IlliS liiiiH m II liiris THE HARBINGER. The foot of Winter lingered on the earth, And Spring still tarried on her southern ways, And never a timid bird found heart to sing Through all the silence of the sunless days. But only now and then a muffled chirp Came from some lonely sparrow in the cold, As evening settled on the songless earth. And twilight mists across the meadows rolled. Then morning dawned, and from the silver east The sunlight flooded all the humid earth, And clear and sweet across the uplands came The fervid note of the first robin's mirth ; Across the fields and through the opal air, With reminiscent thrill of memoried springs, The reckless song of the first robin came Wild witn the promises he sunward flings. • He carols from a leafless maple spray, With summer bubbling from his ruddy throat ; And dreaming of the south's forsaken skies, There lingers in his song a southern note ; ■»!!h iitjlilijl! 23 And they who feel the dim, mysterious power That brings the spring-time bud to summer leaf, Now know full well the promise of his song That glamours all the gloom of winter's grief. Oh, could I read the secret of thy hope, Small bird that carols in the tree-top bare ! Oh, that I once could feel the golden June, Beyond the darkness of a March despair ! And yet more mellow wilt thou never pipe. Although a million bird-throats thrill the air Through all the dawn-light of a summer morn, And on through all the fuller noon-day's glare. And with more rapture wilt thou never sing. Though all earth's flowery vales are full of cries, And every lyr«c valley through the land Resound with summer's endless melodies. And yet, flute-throated bird, a note forlorn. The shadow of a sadness, fills thy song ; — The lonely harbinger that never hears An answering call, remote, and faint, and long. But still sing back the Spring, mad melodist, For song and golden Summer follow thee ; For all the music of remembered Springs Dwells in thy fluted carol's melody. \ li ■ iiitlii \yh\ i|ill!| 1 ! iiiii !ii 24 A MAN AND A WOMAN. Before. While thus I hold thee warm and white, While thus we soul in soul unite, And all thy ha*r, thy face, thy form, I hold and have, — where is the storm Can wreck our love ? After. What dost thou do in thy grave, O Heart ? And do the days linger? Why should a God in his heaven start, And stretch out his finger To wreck our love ? SONG AND LIFE. This throbbing bird-throat far flung forth Delirious melodies long ; And all the bird's life being sung forth Seemed centered and lost in the song. This bird-throat ne'er uttered a cry ; His life was the song that another sang ; And his wings beat wild thro' the songless sky. While the note of the groundling skyward rang. m •.V.l] iliii 25 PAULINE. Sails on the blue sea came and went, — came and went ; They passed and faded away in the sea-rim's haze, 'While many a swallow roamed through the summer air, And the sca-clifTs greyed in the heat of the summer days, [Life seemed full with a gladness strange, and a stranger sorrow, And summer was sweet with dreams as the air with flowers ; [While I and a child on the cliffs stood hand-in- hand, And looked on the sea as it slept through the sum- mer hours. :'hen from the sea and the sky she turned her child- eyes brown ; " Love me your whole life long!" the childish lips exclaimed ; — Love me your whole life long;" and her child-eyes looked in mine, And deep from her childish heart the sea-born pas- sion flamtu. P'y m )l III I . 11 I U ill t . ii;: il .Mi! ill 26 • Fresh came the breeze from the sea, and the August sky was bkie, And the child plucked a flower that grew in the withered grass ; And I took the flower from her baby-hand and placed it in her hair, For I knew that her love from my life like the far- off sails would pass. Ah, child ! — Ah, childish love, that the world will wither away ! Thy love will come and go as the passing sails on the blue, For summer and love and life are all in the end as one, And the words were only a touch of the sea and the summer on you. To-day, of the flower and the child and her youth's wild words. There remains but the flower, and again I dream by the sea ; And the far sails come and go in the blue sea's sum- mer haze, And a withered flower and a childish word is a token of life for me. liiiljilil 27 August V in the d placed the far- 3rld will sails on e end as sea and r youth's I dream 2a's sum- ^ord is a THE REPROACH OF THE GODDESS. I, toiling up the Apollonian slope, A moment paused upon my tortuous way And scanned the gloomy summit from afar That all my younger dreams and older hope Had clothed with golden brilliance like a star ; But only midnight glooms and twilight grey Dwelt round the higher paths I strove to climb, And frenzied, turning to my silent guide, The mild Pierian maid who led me on Amid the darkness of the upper slopes, I cried : *' Oh ! whither, hapless woman, have I gone ? Is this the shadow of the mount sublime ? Enough of mockery, and enough of pain ! For still the unknown summit stands aloof, And I had rather tread my old-time earth again ; Your gods are dumb, — their silence is the proof." My guide then vurned her star-'ike tranquil eyes, Still passionless, towards the deeper night Wherein the Temple of the Summit lies, And spake into mirfe ear : ' Tts more tJic fight Tluifi all the idle guerdons to be zvon ; It is the worship though thy gods be mute ; Turn thou thy shadowed face tozvard the sun, For Art is not the goal, but the pursuit. Il«: sini*! litiiiii tllitillii! 28 And I gazed back down Art's da^dalian ways, And saw where many a thousand feet had bled, Then turned toward the far-off mountain haze, And saw it tinged with morning's gh'mmering red. I ' [Mi'! ill! iiilliilii ! ,! ' liiil ■ii! PYGMALION AND GALATEA. I. Enthralled within the sculptured stone, she sleeps ; But one long kiss the unknown barrier breaks, And through the marble bosom warms and creeps The blood that tingles, till the woman wakes. II. And looking in your eyes of summer blue, No miracle the ancient story seems ; f'or was not I once wakened thus by you. When one kiss broke through life's old clouded dreams ? in. Though we to-day smile at the legend old, And care not whether dream or truth the tale, We two well know, when life or love grows cold. That old-time Greek's one touch that cannot fail. 29 SUMMER. Summer looked out from her brazen tower, And the sun flashed deep from her golden hair ; And she gazed to the North through many an hour, As her mild eyes filled with a maid's despair. For Autumn, her strong-armed lover of old. Had wandered for long from her lonely side. And her young heart aged and her breast grew cold. As she looked o'er the fields and the woodlands wide. And her eyes once soft with a tender blue, Were dimmed with the grey of her silent tears. And her gold hair in from the tower she drew, And down from the wall fell the brazen spears. But her sweet face turned to the South again. And her eyes in their wistful depths flashed blue. As she looked on the sleeping fields of grain And the fruit of the earth as it sun-flushed grew. And the golden fields and the dreaming wheat Lay long in the arms of Summer in sleep. And the heat of her lip on their cheek grew sweet. As the grain swayed down with her soft breath's sweep. But the strong-armed wooer comes over the hills. And the maiden of dreams is drawn to his side ; And Summer shrinks close, and her warm heart fills, As they fare far down through the northlands wide. f 30 i i TO A SINGER GROWN SILENT. ' Song's wings too longingly had flown, lit Until full wearily alone , , , ,, They clove unwihged azurn ways ; 1' ' 1 !!!!! Then glided down eve's golden rays, And fluttered back to earth again ; Aweary of the wings* refrain, ■' Re-dreaming in their resting-time ! ; j ji The golden ways they once did climb. , ,,, 1 Yet this, thy silence after song, • ' Can do thine exiled notes no wrong. ! , The sounds that soared from thee of old, Wrapt in the wing they ne'er unfold, j j- Lie dreaming in thy clouded eyes. f I W And in thy bosom's fall and rise j j Sleep more than song's mere memories. ' 1 On thy mute lips dwell melodies. i 1 !t '' *• ii: ,; Wan Summer never smiled so sweet i ' '■^- 'As when she strayed with tarrying feet Far down fair ways that southward wind, j 1 And cast one lingering look behind ; ' Then earth's autumnal passion took Its colouring from that one last look. Ij i||j 1 So when thy silent lips awake, By being mute, they too will take I I I 4 X 31 A sweetness from our yearning-while ;— Like golden lands wide seas enisle. But how can silence still make sweet Thine harmonies of old complete ? Touched with an art's too futile power, No fairer blooms the perfect flower. Yet why suspended each full note That throbbed once from thy lyric throat ? Was it that melody grew mute, Enamoured of some silent lul:e That harmonied with luring art Within thy too melodious heart ? Or was it that thy voice grew still Because no striving might fulfill Thy soul's great songs, grown infinite. And startled with its own wild flight, In knowing well the songs it heard Could never fit to note or word ? As dreamers lose themselves in dreams; As we view not the sun^s full beams Till evening shadows softly shroud Its strength in many a goldened cloud ; A wing remembering not to fly, In some wild flight's sweet ecstasy ; A hand that cannot carve the form. Because the sculptor's soul grew warm With love for her who sat for him, With too-alluring moon-beam limb. 32 mm jijiili liiiilil in (I