J.,*/ &f oiTiER poms Tn/\ IIBRARY' UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE The Las^t Ballad and other Poems By the same Author New Ballads 4/6 net Ballads and Songs - . - . ^1— Fleet St. Eclogues - - - - 4/6 Fleet St. Eclogues, znd Series 4/6 A Random Itinerary - - - 5/- Plavs 7^6 GoDFRIDA - - 5/- The Last Ballad and other Poems By John Davidson LONDON AND NEV/ YORK JOHN LANE 1899 i Copyright in America All Rights reserved CONTENTS PAGE The Last Ballad i The Ordeal 24 A Ballad of a Coward . . . .85 Coming . . • 93 Battle 95 The Hymn of Abdul Hamid . . -97 War-Song loi The Badge of Men 106 The Unresigned Mourner . . . .109 The Gift no Earth to Earth iir My Lily 114 Prince of the Fairies 116 The Stoop Qf Rhenish 118 Matinees : — 1 121 II 122 V CONTENTS Holiday at Hampton Court PAGE In the Isle of Dogs 127 Afternoon 132 Insomnia . 134 The Last Rose 136 Summer Rain . 140 The Price 142 The Unknown 144 Waiting . 146 The Aristocrat 149 The Outcast . 152 The Pioneer . 15s The Hero 158 Eclogues : — I. . 160 II. . 16s III. . 168 VI . THE LAST BALLAD By coasts where scalding deserts reek, The apanages of despair; In outland wilds, by firth and creek, O'er icy bournes of silver air; In storm or calm delaying not, To every noble task addressed. Year after year, Sir Lancelot Fulfilled King Arthur's high behest. He helped the helpless ones; withstood Tyrants and sanctioners of vice ; He rooted out the dragon brood, And overthrew false deities. I THE LAST BALLAD Alone with his own soul, alone With life and death, with day and night, His thought and strength grew great and shone A tongue of flame, a sword of light. And yet not all alone. On high, When midnight set the spaces free. And brimming stars hung from the sky Low down, and spilt their jewellery. Behind the nightly squandered fire, Through a dark lattice only seen By love, a look of rapt desire Fell from a vision of the Queen. From heaven she bent when twilight knit The dusky air and earth in one; 2 THE LAST BALLAD He saw her like a goddess sit Enthroned upon the noonday sun. In passages of gulfs and sounds, When wild winds dug the sailor's grave, When clouds and billows merged their bounds, And the keel climbed the slippery wave, A sweet sigh laced the tempest ; nay, Low at his ear he heard her speak ; Among the hurtling sheaves of spray Her loosened tresses swept his cheek. And in the revelry of death, If human greed of slaughter cast Remorse aside, a violet breath, The incense of her being passed 3 THE LAST BALLAD Across his soul, and deeply swayed The fount of pity; o'er the strife He curbed the lightning of his blade, And gave the foe his forfeit life. Low on the heath, or on the deck. In bloody mail or wet with brine. Asleep he saw about her neck The wreath of gold and rubies shine ; He saw her brows, her lovelit face, And on her cheek one passionate tear; He felt in dreams the rich embrace, The beating heart of Guinevere. " Visions that haunt my couch, my path, Although the waste, unfathomed sea Should rise against me white with wrath I must behold her verily, 4 THE LAST BALLAD Once ere I die," he said, and turned Westward his faded silken sails From isles where cloudy mountains burned, And north to Severn-watered Wales. Beside the Usk King Arthur kept His Easter court, a glittering rout. But Lancelot, because there swept A passion of despair throughout His being, when he saw once more The sky that canopied, the tide That girdled Guinevere, forbore His soul's desire, and wandered wide In unknown seas companionless. Eating his heart, until by chance He drifted into Lyonessc, Xhe wave-worn kingdom of romance. ; THE LAST BALLAD He leapt ashore and watched his barque Unmastered stagger to its doom ; Then doffed his arms and fled baresark Into the forest's beckoning gloom. The exceeding anguish of his mind Had broken him. ' ' King Arthur's trust, ' ' He cried; " ignoble, fateful, blind! Her love and my love, noxious lust! Dupes of our senses! Let us eat In caverns fathoms underground, Alone, ashamed ! To sit at meat In jocund throngs ? — the most profound " Device of life the mountebank, Vendor of gilded ashes! Steal From every sight to use the rank And loathsome needs that men conceal; 6 THE LAST BALLAD " And crush and drain in curtained beds The clusters called of love; but feed With garlanded uplifted heads; Invite the powers that sanction greed " To countenance the revel; boast Of hunger, thirst; be drunken; claim Indulgence to the uttermost, Replenishing the founts of shame ! " He gathered berries, efts, and snails. Sorrel, and new-burst hawthorn leaves; Uprooted with his savage nails Earth-nuts ; and under rocky eaves Shamefast devoured them, out of sight In darkness, lest the eye of beast. Or bird, or star, or thing of night Uncouth, unknown, should watch him feast. THE LAST BALLAD At noon in twilight depths of pine He heard the word Amaimon spoke; He saw the palhd, evil sign The wred-eld lit upon the oak. The viper loitered in his way ; The minx looked up with bloodshot leer; Ill-meaning fauns and lamise With icy laughter flitted near. But if he came upon a ring Of sinless elves, and crept unseen Beneath the brake to hear them sing, And watch them dancing on the green, They touched earth with their finger-tips; They ceased their roundelay; they laid A seal upon their elfin lips And vanished in the purple shade. 8 THE LAST BALLAD At times he rent the dappled flank Of some fair creature of the chase. Mumbled its flesh, or growling drank From the still-beating heart, his face And jowl ruddied, and in his hair And beard, blood-painted straws and burs, While eagles barked screening the air, And wolves that were his pensioners. Sometimes at night his mournful cry Troubled all waking things; the mole Dived to his deepest gallery'; The vixen from the moonlit knoll Passed like a shadow underground, And the mad satyr in his lair 9 THE LAST BALLAD Whined bodeful at the world-old sound Of inarticulate despair. Sir Lancelot, beloved of men ! The ancient earth gat hold of him ; A year was blotted from his ken In the enchanted forest dim. At Easter when the thorn beset The bronzing wood with silver sprays, ' And hyacinth and violet Empurpled all the russet ways; When buttercup and daffodil A stainless treasure-trove unrolled, And cowslips had begun to fill Their chalices with sweeter gold, lO THE LAST BALLAD He heard a sound of summer rush By swarthy grove and kindled lawn ; He heard, he sighed to hear the thrush Singing alone before the dawn. Forward he stalked with eyes on fire Like one who keeps in sound and sight An angel with celestial lyre Descanting rapturous delight. He left behind the spell-bound wood ; He saw the branchless air unfurled ; He climbed a hill and trembling stood Above the prospect of the world. With lustre in its bosom pent From many a shining summer day And harvest moon, the wan sea leant Against a heaven of iron-grey. n THE LAST BALLAD Inland on the horizon beat And flickered, drooping heavily, A fervid haze, a vaporous heat. The dusky eyelid of the sky. White ways, white gables, russet thatch Fretted the green and purple plain ; The herd undid his woven latch ; The bleating flock went forth again ; The skylarks uttered lauds and prime; The sheep-bells rang from hill to hill ; The cuckoo pealed his mellow chime ; The orient bore a burden shrill. His memory struggled half awake; Dimly he groped within to see 12 THE LAST BALLAD What star, what sun, what light should break And set his darkened spirit free. But from without deliverance came: Afar he saw a horseman speed, A knight, a spirit clad in flame Riding upon a milkwhite steed. For now the sun had quenched outright The clouds and all their working charms, Marshalled his legionary light, And fired the rider's golden arms. Softly the silver billows flowed ; Beneath the hill the emerald vale Dipped seaward; on the burnished road The milkwhite steed, the dazzling mail 13 THE LAST BALLAD Advanced and flamed against the wind ; And Lancelot, his body rent With the fierce trial of his mind To know, reeled down the steep descent. Remembrances of battle plied His soul with ruddy beams of day. " A horse! a lance! to arms!" he cried. And stood there weeping in the way. "Speak!" said the knight. "What man are you ? " " I know not yet. Surely of old I rode in arms, and fought and slew In jousts and battles manifold." Oh, wistfully he drew anear, Fingered the reins, the jewelled sheath; 14 I THE LAST BALLAD With rigid hand he grasped the spear. And shuddering whispered, " Life and death, " Love, lofty deeds, renown — did these Attend me once in days unknown ? " With courtesy, with comely ease, And brows that like his armour shone, The golden knight dismounting took Sir Lancelot by the hand and said, " Your voice of woe, your lonely look As of a dead man whom the dead " Themselves cast out — whence are they, friend ? " Sir Lancelot a moment hung In doubt, then knelt and made an end Of all his madness, tensely strung IS THE LAST BALLAD In one last effort to be free Of evil things that wait for men In secret, strangle memory, And shut the soul up in their den. " Spirit," he said, " I know your eyes: They bridge with light the heavy drift Of years. ... A woman said, * Arise; And if you love the Queen, be swift ! ' " The token was an emerald chased In gold, once mine. Wherefore I rode At dead of night in proudest haste To Payarne where the Queen abode. " A crafty witch gave me to drink: Almost till undern of the morn Silent, in darkness. . . . When I think It Avas not Guinevere, self-scorn i6 I THE LAST BALLAD " Cuts to the marrow of my bones, A blade of fire. Can wisdom yield No mood, no counsel, that atones For wasted love! . . . Heaven had re- vealed " That she should bear a child to me My bed-mate said. . . . Yet am I mad ? The offspring of that treachery ! The maiden knight! You — Galahad, " My son, who make my trespass dear! " His look released his father's thoucrht — The darkling orbs of Guinevere; For so had Lancelot's passion wrought. With tenderer tears than women shed Sir Galahad held his father fast. 2 17 THE LAST BALLAD " Now I shall be your squire," he said. But Lancelot fought him long. At last The maiden gently overpowered The man. Upon his milkwhite steed He brought him where a castle towered Midmost a green enamelled mead ; And clothed his body, clothed his heart In human garniture once more. " My father, bid me now depart. I hear beside the clanging shore, " Above the storm, or in the wind, Outland, or on the old Roman street, A chord of music intertwined From wandering tones deep-hued and sweet. i8 THE LAST BALLAD " Afar or near, at noon, at night, The braided sound attends and fills My soul with peace, as heaven with light O'erflows when morning crowns the hills. " And with the music, seen or hid, A blood-rose on the palace lawn, A fount of crimson, dark amid The stains and glories of the dawn ; " Above the city's earthly hell A token ominous of doom, A cup on fire and terrible With thunders in its ruddy womb ; " But o'er the hamlet's fragrant smoke, The dance and song at eventide, A beating heart, the gentle yoke Of life the bridegroom gives the bride ; 19 THE LAST BALLAD " A ruby shadow on the snow; A flower, a lamp — through every veil And mutable device I know, And follow still the Holy Grail Until God gives me my new name Empyreal, and the quest be done." Then like a spirit clad in flame, He kissed his father and was gone. Long gazed Sir Lancelot on the ground Tormented till benign repose Enveloped him in depths profound Of sweet oblivion. When he rose The bitterest was past. " And I Shall follow now the Holy Grail, Seen, or unseen, until I die: My very purpose shall avail 20 THE LAST BALLAD " My soul," he said. By day, by night, ^ He rode abroad, his vizor up ; With sun and moon his vehement sight Fought for a vision of the cup — In vain. For evermore on high When darkness set the spaces free. And brimming stars hung from the sky Low down, and spilt their jewellery, Behind the nightly squandered fire, Through a dim lattice only seen By love, a look of rapt desire Fell from a vision of the Queen. From heaven she bent when twilight knit The dusky air and earth in one; He saw her like a (joddess sit Enthroned upon the noonday sun. 21 THE LAST BALLAD Wherefore he girt himself again : In lawless towns and savage lands, He overthrew unrighteous men, Accomplishing the King's commands. In passages of gulfs and sounds When wild winds dug the sailor's grave, When clouds and billows merged their bounds, And the keel climbed the slippery wave, A sweet sigh laced the tempest ; nay, Low at his ear he heard her speak ; Among the hurtling sheaves of spray Her loosened tresses swept his cheek. And in the revelry of death, If human greed of slaughter cast 22 THE LAST BALLAD Remorse aside, a violet breath, The incense of her b^ing passed Across his soul, and deeply swayed The fount of pity; o'er the strife He curbed the lightning of his blade, And gave the foe his forfeit life. His love, in utter woe annealed. Escaped the furnace, sweet and clear- His love that on the world had sealed The look, the soul of Guinevere. 23 THE ORDEAL Exceedingly tame is the devil, wiih all his forks and flam- ing sUiff : To be conscious and not omnipotent is more than torture enough. Between the Golden City and the sea A damasked meadow lay, the saffron beach And silver loops of surge dissevering The violet water from the grass-green land. While yet the morning sun swung low in heaven, A crystal censer in a turquoise dome, Emanuel meted justice in the gate, Emanuel of the Golden City King. 24 THE ORDEAL To him there came Sh- Hilary; his wife, The comely Bertha; after them their sons And daughters grieving. Godfrey also came, Knight-errant of the Phoenix; from that quest Lately returned : guarded he was and bound. " Justice, my lord and king! " cried Hilary, With passion hoarse, and wanner than a flame That flickers in the sun. ' ' I saw them kiss : I saw her from her bosom take a ring And place it warm upon his finger. Here ' ' — He gave the King the ring — " an old worn hoop Of pale alloy, but clasping, doubt it not, A horde of sweet and shameful memories 25 THE ORDEAL More dear to them than mines of virgin gold. Justice, my lord and king! " " Whom do you charge ? " ' ' Sir Godfrey and my wife. I saw them kiss ; I saw her tearfully assign the ring Warm from her bosom to his lustful hand. For him the gallows and for her the stake ! " " But if you saw this done, Sir Hilary, Why is her lover here alive to-day ? ' ' " I ran upon him in the garden-close When I espied them ; but he beat me back. Hearing the clash of steel my folk rushed forth 26 J THE ORDEAL And fettered him. Vengeance miscarrying thus, Before the world the law shall have its way. The age is dissolute ; the hearts of men Know every sin by rote; their starveling souls Are blind and lame : I publish my disgrace To warn the world. This woman is my wife ; These well-grown youths; these budding damsels — look I scarce can say the words . . . look you, my liege, These are our children : treasure, you would say, To fill a woman's heart? Oh no! He there. That lecher, is her lover, gray and gaunt. 27 THE ORDEAL If she be burned before her children's eyes. The wanton blood they have from her, refined By fire, in her fierce torment drained and seared, May leave them humble-hearted and afraid Even of the lawful kiss of married love. Justice, my lord, upon the shameful pair! " " Do they admit the charge ? What do you say, Sir Godfrey ? Bertha, answer." " All my Hfe," The lady said, looking upon the ground: Because when she looked up herstricken eyes Turned to her children, sorrowing by her side ; 28 THE ORDEAL And her true heart when most she needed strength Began to break: wherefore upon the ground She cast her gaze and answered, " All my life I have been faithful to my husband's bed." "And I," said Godfrey, " never did him wrong." Knight-errant of the Phoenix, fancy-charmed At fifty still, but as inept to lie As tongueless men to sing, even furtive minds A grudging credence paid him : jealousy That calls the moon a leper, and will swear There never was a maid of sweet sixteen, 29 X. THE ORDEAL Only the heart's attorney, jealousy, Had any countenance to doubt his word. " He lies," cried Hilary, " as their lovers' code Requires." The ring, the keepsake ? * ' said the King : " Did you receive it with a kiss from her ? " " I kissed her, and she gave me back the ring." " Oh ! she returned the ring! ** cried Hilary. ' ' A stale, old shame ! I might have guessed as much. The happiest of men I judged myself. My wife, so delicate, so meek, so chaste, 30 I THE ORDEAL A rare obedience gave; but unperfumed, Unlit by passion : so she seemed, and so To me she was, because her false blood burned In the dark-lantern of a lawless love. Where did he hunt the Phcenix ? Ask him that. How often has he, wandering secretly, Discovered in my arbours, here at home, Or on my pillows, Araby the Blest ? ' ' "Nay," said the King; "have patience, Hilary. Let Godfrey plead ; she after him shall tell Her own romance. Lead her aside mean- while. " Content," said Hilary. 31 THE ORDEAL And it was done. Her children gathered round her as she went, Worship and sorrow fighting in their looks. The youngest, eager to be near her, trod Upon her skirt, making her halt. Abashed He shrank behind the others; but she turned, And, seeing him distressed, held out her hand. Moving her fingers as she used to do Winningly when her children first could walk. She sent him also so humane a smile. So sweet, so patient, that his ruddy cheek Grew pale as hers; and, suffering more than she, Because he hardly knew- — and yet he knew — 32 THE ORDEAL The naked meaning of his father's charge, He cried aloud, and, throttled by his sobs, Sank to the ground : the mounting tide of life Had but begun to press upon his heart With murmured news of mystery unveiled; And all his fancy innocently clung About his mother — he, her latest born ; And she, his earliest sweetheart. Silently, Before another could, she reached her son. And lifted him and bore him in her arms. Dismayed to find himself a babe again. He pushed her from him, straining towards the ground. ' Be still! " she said. " This is a thing to do! THE ORDEAL Something to do!" and crushed him to her breast. East of the city wall a virgin wood Discovered twilight gleams of emerald In depths of leafy darkness treasured up. Upon its verge a grove of hawthorn hung, The friendly tree — and Nature's favourite: For now that all its own unhoarded bloom Was withered, and its incense sacrificed, The honeysuckle lit the matted boughs With cressets burning odour, and the briar Enwreathed and overhung them lovingly, Its pallid rose like elfin faces sweet Peering from out the swart-green thicket- side. Thither they led dame Bertha. In the shade She sat : her son, still as a nursling now, 34 THE ORDEAL With solemn eyes where stately dreams reside, Lay in her arms and watched her ashen lips. The brilliant blackbirds, sauntering through the brake, Doled out indifferently their golden notes. Or sprinkled magic phrases, summer showers Of jewelled rain, the while Sir Godfrey's voice Re-echoed faintly from the City gate. Then Bertha, all benumbed with misery, Caressed her son, and, swaying to and fro, In troubled whispers told a fairy tale Of how a lady, deeply wronged, became The happiest princess in the world at last. Her other children, kneeling by her side, Powerless to com.fort, worshipped her and wept. 35 THE ORDEAL Sir Godfrey,standing bound before the King, Spoke thus: " My cognizance has wrought my fate : A Phcenix burning in his nest; the scroll, Viget in cinere virtus. In my youth I swore to find the Phcenix, being scorned By many who averred that no such fowl Inhabited the earth. And here, my lord. Before I answer Hilary's reproach, I beg all men to know the Phoenix lives ; For I have seen him fly across the Nile, Beating the air with gold and purple plumes. Towards Yemen, where he reigns: this was last year. The thirtieth of my quest." " Sir," said the King: * * I marvel at your patience. Thirty years ! ' ' 36 THE QRDEAL " Patience ' I know it not' Embarked, I swore That tliirty weeks, and sorely grudged the time, Should see the Phoenix caught and caged ; myself. Renowned throughout the world, and fixed in fame With Lancelot and Roland. Youth and hope Spare none of us — Syren and Circe linked In one divine betrayal of the world ! Even while the Golden City towered behind And bathed its glittering shadow in the deep The Berber galleys swooped : captivity Her twisted talons settled in my flesh To tire on body and soul with dripping beak For thrice the time I vowed. That was the dawn! THE ORDEAL Also in Hadramaut, five savage years Of lash and shackle, scornful destiny Awarded me. Tenacious death, in shapes Of thraldom, pestilence, contention, thirst, Shipwreck and famine, flame and blind despair, Remained my mate by day, my watch by night. Yet, and although I still am buffeted By every busy wind and stroke of chance: Deceived, disgraced, contemptuously foiled By oracles, by wantonness of fools, And by the sleepless masked malignity That men pursue the soul of man withal, I am neither taught nor tamed. Intolerance Of mundane things — of utter sanctity As of indulged desire — shines in the stars, And in the icy menace of the moon. 3S THE ORDEAL From them my fire is kindled, keenest flame Of passion ; for I look not to be praised Here in the courts of Kings and homes of men ; Nor happily hereafter to usurp A blissful throne of that imagined world By terror-stricken envy reared in air For the immortal solace and reward Of humbleness and chastity, the true Accomphces, the virtuous other selves Of mediocrity and impotence. But I desire to follow out this quest: Achieved or unachieved it is my own : Even if the glorious creature were no more A foolish word ! I have seen him, as I said : From Heliopolis he took his flight 39 THE ORDEAL Towards Yemen, like a rainbow laced with gems. Whether I find him, or am overthrown Pursuing him, the world shall never know: My purpose is sufficient for my soul. Farewell at once. I must be gone — again To feel my heart leap at the sudden foe, The lonely battle in the wilderness; To come at night under the desert moon On pillars, ghostly porches, temples, towers Silent for centuries; to see at dawn The shadow of the Arab on the sand." Sir Godfrey bowed and strode a pace away; Then stopped like one enchanted, wonder- ing What spell o'ermastered him. When from his dream 40 THE ORDEAL He woke, and felt his pinioned arms, a blush Shone on his tawny cheek and untanned brow. He muttered something quickly; stumbled — stood, Staring before him. " Mediocrity And impotence!" cried Hilary. "The phrase, The very motto lechery inscribes Beneath the cuckold's sign armorial. Crested dilemma, honour's hatchment, horns. This Phoenix-hunt, this magpie-tale of his Allures no sober judgment from the nest He fouled I Incredible efirontery ! ' ' 41 THE ORDEAL " Not in my thought, Sir Hilary," said the King. " I cannot press a finger on the wrist Of treason, and declare ' This blood is false ' ; Nor is there a divining-rod for kings To tell the hearts of gold ; but I dare stake My Crown against an apple that the man Is honest : he forgot the charge preferred Against him. — -Answer me : How came you, sir, To be discovered with Sir Hilary's wife ? " " Oh, very simply! " said Sir Godfrey. t t A » ) 9 Ay! Groaned Hilary in his beard; "simply- enough! " 42 THE ORDEAL ' ' When I at last beheld the Phcenix, watched ^ His dazzling flight stream through the east- ern air, The sun fell down behind me, and my heart Beset me in the darkness. Overpowered By deep desire to repossess a ring That was my mother's . , . Many men, my lord, Of hardihood sufficient have been known To hold the memories of their mothers dear ... I told myself that having seen once more The Golden City, wandered through its streets Of cheerful folk, and by the windy wharfs Where silent shipmen hang about, and stir The hearts of passers strangely, never more 43 THE ORDEAL Should any thought withdraw me from my quest. As for the ring, I knew not Hilary's wife Possessed it ; but I knew that Bertha did. It happened thus : At twenty years, alone And penniless, house, trinkets — all I sold To furnish fame with wings; and straight- way shipped For Egypt and the Phcenix. Ere we sailed I saw this Bertha wistfully approach. And ran to her, for we were pleasant friends — Sweethearts, perhaps. Younger than I she was, 44 THE ORDEAL And like a palm-tree tall and lithe. I think Until that day I had not said one word Of love; but in the morning, half in jest, Shamefast I whispered, bidding her good- bye, 'And will you marr}^ me when I come back ? ' Her blood dyed all her face and neck deep red : She leaned aside and gazed askance with looks As wide as day; then fronted me. Her sighs Beat from her open mouth hot on my face Like scented winds that blow in Hadra- maut. She trembled, sobbed, and while I won- dered fled — In anger or in love I could not tell." 45 THE ORDEAL " Ay, ay ! " went Hilary, with the dog-like leer Of one whose ribs are grilled by torturers. " But when she sought me out upon the ship, And silently embraced me meeting her, I knew, I surely knew that it was love. She knotted in my scarf a silken purse, And said, * A keepsake. Give me some- thing, sir.' The ring, my lord, was all I had to give. I would have pawned, as I have spent, my soul To serve my purpose: that metallic lie, My mother's talisman — its paltriness As merchandise and unappraisable Romance preserved it. Often I had watched 46 THE ORDEAL My mother turn and turn it lost in thought ; And watching I divined its history. With hoarded pence, my father, straitly kept, Had bought it for her on a festival When they were children : love began with them In April : and she showed me — for I asked If I divined aright — half-hidden zones Engraved as with her ripening the ring On divers fingers had reposed in turn. Quickly at Bertha's vehement desire I offered the remembrance I had kept. She stretched her hand — a fragrant lily hand, And slipped a petal through the pinchbeck hoop; Then clad me in her glance and stole away. 47 THE ORDEAL Now that I think, I never have beheld In any other face or other eyes Of man or woman, or hero in my dreams, So great a passion, so profound a hope." Ha ! ' ' cried the King. ' ' Regret has found you out ? " " Oh no, my lord ! My spirit stands aloof In judgment of the past. The Moorish whips Cut from my fancy Bertha's image, pale Even at the start. Scarcely, until I longed To have my mother's ring, did any thought Of Bertha's love offend me in my quest. After delays — the lackeys circumstance Provides abundantly for all my schemes — I reached the Golden City. Hilary's wife, 4S THE ORDEAL They told me, was the Bertha I had known. I found her house, and seeing her with- out — It could be no one else; indeed I seemed To catch her walk again — I went to her. Withdrawn among a grove of cypresses, And asked her headlong for my mother's ring. She gave it me, as Hilary says, and looked, Poor soul, so sad, that pity wrung my heart. I kissed her brow: down fell the silvery tears. And thrice she tried to speak; but Hilary came And made this ugly rent in our adieus." " This is the truth," said King Emanuel. 49 THE ORDEAL " Lies! Subtle lies! " the husband hissed. " Hear her! The trap he sets himself. If her account Accord with his, chance deals in miracles." Said Godfrey then, " My lord, I kissed his wife, And therefore overlook the littleness Of his attack ; but now that he has heard The truth, and still denies my honesty, I claim the combat." " And the claim is just," Emanuel said. " I stand for God; but step Aside, well-pleased that He should arbi- trate Immediately. So, let the lists be set." CO THE ORDEAL " But Bertha's story ? " stammered Hilar>\ " Sir," said the King. " The combat shall decide Whether your wife requires to plead or no. " " Well— very well! " said Hilary. "I am old; My joints are stiff; my sinews slack; my sight Begins to fail; 'tis ebbtide in my blood : He like a lion from the desert comes Supple and strong with questing up and down. Behold an opportunity for God — Which He will profit by!" " I doubt it not," The King said meaningly. THE ORDEAL But Godfrey said, " What prate is this ? I am the better man, And Hilary shall fall before my lance." At noon the lists were set. About the earth, Whose sea-enamelled disk resplendent wheeled Among the hidden stars, deep-bosomed clouds, Horizon-haunting, towered and stooped ; the sun Poured from his quenchless urn, high-held in heaven, A silent cataract of light, whereto The mounting larks with sinewy wings and throats Of tempered gold harnessed a voice in- spired. 52 THE ORDEAL But in the shining City the tilt-yard hummed With the inhuman gossip of the world — The lickerish crowd agape to dip their mouths In purple-streaming agony, distrained From hearts mature for torture, newly plucked And cast into the press. Emanuel, Whenas the sullen-sounding bell had rung The heavy peal of noon, gave forth the word. Straightway the trumpets rang, and every look Towards Bertha veered at once. The petu- lant throng Again and yet again, with puckered brows 53 THE ORDEAL And hands aslant against the naked light, Had prowled and peered, and launched sur- mises wide Of her repose and countenance serene — Inscrutable to eyes of cavillers; But now the winepress flowed, the bout began With winks and elbowings and nimble nods. For at the trumpets' call a scarlet sign Flashed up on Bertha's face; and from the post Where opposite the King she stood alone, Patient and proud, a smile of utter peace, A shaft of glory on her children fell ; And they, disburdened, stretched their hands and laughed: Since God Himself had hung His balance out, 54 THE ORDEAL Already they could hear the host of Heaven, With psalteries and far-resounding songs, Acclaim their mother's starry chastity, And laud the righteous Judge of all the earth. A second time the trumpets rang — a cry Implacable with shrieking echoes winged ; Then silence like a heavy dew came down. Before a breath could move the stagnant air. And while the pennoned lances of the twain — Godfrey and Hilary in arms of proof — Upon the summons in the sockets couched Still quivered pausing, overthwart the lists A vagrant bee twanged like an airy lyre Of one rich-hearted chord. Swift under- neath 55 THE ORDEAL The honey-laden track the gleaming hoofs Of either spur-wrung charger gripped the ground, Flung forth and spanned the course with fluent speed Of thudding leaps entwined. Together hurled In uncontrolled assault — each rivet wrenched, Each nerve and artery of horse and man Shot through with scalding flame — helm- smitten, both Hung overborne and toppling urgently, Till Hilary in his stirrups rose and screamed. Startling his mastered steed, " Go down to Hell"— Astounded at his triumph and meanly glad 56 THE ORDEAL That Godfrey should have fallen pierced through the brain By his haphazard, his unworthy lance, " Go down to Hell, and cook your Phoenix there!" The instant murmur of the tossing crowd Sprang to a roar; and like a home-sick wretch Delivered from the storm whose gliding hull Founders upon the welcome harbour-bar, The voic^of malice thrust into her ears Even as the din and hubbub of the sea Deafens the drowning outcast, Bertha fell Wrecked in the very haven of her hope. Her children, led by him whom she had nursed 57 THE ORDEAL To cheat the time beneath the hawthorn- shade, Tongue-tied with grief and dazzled by their tears, But bright instinctive creatures in the speed And promptness of their act, maidens and youths, O'erskipped the barrier. Bertha then, sus- tained By hands of love that trembled and were strong. Arose, and midmost of her brood at bay Confronted the eclipse of her renown. His latticed vizor raised. Sir Hilary cried Above the dwindled clamour, " Heaven has judged, Oh King Emanuel! Bid her now confess I *' S8 THE ORDEAL " I bid her speak. Speak, Bertha," said the King, Heart-struck and pale, but waiting yet on God; While all the quidnuncs inly hugged them- selves, And market-haunters chafed their sweaty palms, For now, indeed, the winepress overflowed. Heading her cygnets, Bertha paced the lists Towards the throne, a stately sufferer. Her courtesy not forgotten, and her glance Sweeping the gazers till it lit and hung Upon the watchful King; in either hand A child's close-clasped ; and in her bosom pent 59 THE ORDEAL A tide of tears, she stood till silence reigned, Then lifted up a sick and shuddering voice. But Hilary broke out, " What need, my lord ? The judgment has been given : the sentence now Is all that should be said." " Your best and worst Is said and done!" the King declared. " What should And should not be, who dare assume ? God's mind Is not apparent yet. Your wife shall speak." " Now, is this just ? " said Hilary. 60 THE ORDEAL " Just ?" she cried. " My children at my skirt, before the world, My zealous husband and the King and God, I wish to speak! " Intolerant at last. Her mouth distorted and her eyes on fire, She threw her piercing challenge out : " My love Was never Hilary's!" That said, she paused,. The mistress of her audience. Slowly then She bent her gaze on Godfrey's mail-clad corpse: Through the crushed beaver — the floodgate of his life — A crimson current sluiced his helm, and stained With ruddy umber a sodden patch of sand. 6i THE ORDEAL But steadfastly she looked and proudly spake: " I loved the dead man there. O King, O God"— Now to the earthly throne and now to heaven — " His was the face and form adored the most By noble maidens, grave and ardent: his The highest heart, the freest soul of all The aspirants of the City in the days When love laid claim to us who now are old. In dreams and potent melancholy steeped I felt the subtile essence, the desire. The pure, unmingled virtue of my life Yield up itself, a suppliant passion, bound To minister to his, or waste away The impatient captive of his memory. 62 THE ORDEAL He loved me as a young man loves who knows By hearsay only of the deeds of love — As virgins love he loved me ; but without The overwhelming anguish I endured, I being a woman. When at last he spoke It was not till the luckless day he sailed On his adventure: ' Would I marry him When he came back ? ' My heart took fire : it seemed To melt and flow: speech failed me and I fled. But in the evening, when the land-breeze blew, Breathless I hurried through the murmur- ing streets Refreshed with scent of meadow-hay new- reaped 63 THE ORDEAL Behind the Golden City. He saw me come Staring along the quay; he leapt ashore; He kissed me: but the ropes were casting off; The ripple beat and chid his tardy barque. I twisted in his dress a silken purse With twenty golden ducats of my own; He on my finger thrust that piteous ring: And straight the sundering ocean lay be- tween, All in the springtime thirty years ago." " A perfect tale," cried Hilary. " A plot Nicely prepared ! " I have not done," she said, armed " Love like a dragon breathing smoke and 64 THE ORDEAL In jewelled scales withdrew me to the den Of starless night his burning orbs illume. Whene'er I struggled in that dreadful hold. Where only long-drawn sighs are heard and "■roans Unpitied ever, adamantine fangs Were mortised in my heart. So clutched and torn, Year after year I waited on my knight, My lover, to deliver me from love. But madness came instead and death stood near : These the abounding vigour of my race, And youth, long-suffering, quickly over- powered. Forthwith to blight my new-blown summer- time The vision of my hero dawned once more, 65 THE ORDEAL And at my chamber-window in the night I saw the jewelled dragon vigilant. Then was it that I turned to thee, O God Who madest me! ' Thy handmaid, Lord,' I said ; ' Pity Thy handmaid! Him whom I adore On earth the most — in Thine own image shaped More excellently than all men beside — Has wandered over sea : no message comes, No token ; none report him ; he is lost — Is dead to me, for I am more than thought. Must I descend into the dust again And of my body see no fruit at all ? O God, the heaped-up treasure of delight Garnered by Thee within me, may no man Unlock it but the loved one ? Must I clasp No child of my own womb if he be dead 66 THE ORDEAL Or come not back to me ? O God, dear God, I did not make myself: Thy strong desire Consumes me. Help me! help me!'— On the night I wrestled thus in prayer, divine content Descended tranquilly and overbrimmed My famished heart; the lurking dragon whirled His jewelled mail away, his blood-stained fangs ; And at my chamber-window watching me, And beckoning, and waiting to be born. The seraph faces of my children pressed. In widow's weeds I tarried one year more, Then chose Sir Hilary from out my throng Of honourable blandishers to be The father of my children— stately then 67 THE ORDEAL And tall, a personable gentleman Some ten years older than myself : sedate He seemed and wise — his fame without a flaw. I told him though I had no love to give I should be proud to be his faithful wife And bosom-friend. That pleased him best, he said — Lying, because he strove to make of me An instrument of pleasure for himself; But like Zenobia, noblest of her sex, I kept my babes unsullied. Look at them ! ' ' She stepped behind her children, seven in all- Four lustrous youths, three maidens lovelier Than seraphs hallowed visionaries see. " These are my witnesses." Emanuel 68 THE ORDEAL Bent towards them, blessing them. Sir Hilary, Hell glimmering in his visage, gnawed his tongue. And let his beaver down. " My Bertha here "— Taking her eldest daughter by the hand — " Sleepless all night, this morning to my room Came blushing with the dawn. Beside me couched. She told the tale of passion Sigismund Beneath the evening star had told to her, And in my arms fell peacefully asleep." At once a page attendant on the King Vaulted the barrier, and took his post 69 THE ORDEAL Beside the younger Bertha, overjoyed To find his suit accepted, and of right Claiming a share in what should now befall His lady's house. The elder Bertha smiled A welcome, tender of any happiness Even in her misery; then made an end. " My daughter's passion wakened from the grave The memory of the wonder-working stir And daybreak of my womanhood. I stole The ring — to me it seemed indeed a theft, A crime of sacrilege against the past. Which yet I had no courage to forgo — From out the casket where I buried it Upon my marriage-morn. Helpless I thrust The pale thing in my breast, and took it forth, 70 THE ORDEAL And kissed it . . . out among the trees I ran . . . The meadow-hay new-reaped ... I saw him come ; He kissed me after thirty years ... I God The younger Bertha caught her in her arms, And dried her tears. Well-pleased the King arose To vindicate her fame; but Hilary cried, " This was appealed to God, and He has judged: There one adulterer lies ; the other waits The sentence of the King. Who looks with lust Commits adultery. Be strong; do right. Dare you annul God's manifest decree ? 71 THE ORDEAL Do you believe in God, Emanuel — No shifting thought of man's, a living God?" A poignant voice from out his hollow casque; Whereat the King delayed the judgment, dulled By nerveless doubt. But Bertha laughed, "Believe In God!" — shaking her loosened mane of gold From off her face, and with her heavy- lashed And azure-watered eyelids clearing up Her clouded vision — " I believe in God! And He inspires me now to understand His purpose in my lover's overthrow. 72 THE ORDEAL Doubtless He needed him in Heaven to be His champion against some challenger, Or to explore a new-made tract of worlds. Me He requires to signify to men That those obey Him best and do His will Implicitly, who on themselves alone Rely in peril of a tarnished name ; For power divine in plenitude enough To conquer every ill endows us all. If valiantly we give it scope to work By taking on ourselves the total war. Had Godfrey beaten Hilary, ' Oh ay ' — The gossips and the sponsors of report Would certainly have made the accepted word — ' The hardy, brilliant lover overthrows 73 THE ORDEAL The age-bent husband.' Now myself can clear From every foul aspersion Godfrey's fame, Mine, and my children's. Wherefore I demand The Ordeal by Fire, Emanuel." " I grant it," said the King, feeling him- self Heroic: " I believe in God and you. Choose, then: the bar; the ring?" But Hilary said, "The way of ploughshares heated hot re- mains The ordeal provided by the law." 74 THE ORDEAL " The ploughshares! " said the King, held in the trap Of code that men will set to catch them- selves. " None ever traverse them uncharred, and few Escape with life." " But I uncharred shall pass," The victim said. " Sir, I appeal to God Within me and about me and above To bear me scathless through the fiercest test. Heat hot your ploughshares — now ! " Her children quailed: "No, mother — no!" they whispered. "What!" she cried, 75 THE ORDEAL " You also doubt your mother's chastity And God's omnipotence and rectitude! " Abashed they fell behind her. Still the King Debated with himself: but from the crowd A tigrish clamour burst, and watering mouths Gnashed as they roared, " The plough- shares ! Heat them hot ! " " Hark! " said the King, "it is the voice of God! Prepare the ordeal chosen and ordained." So when the evening threw across the west Fabrics of vapour fine as treasured lace — 76 THE ORDEAL Dishevelled, faded, stained with crimson, trailed And dipped in sacramental chalices Of sunset unforgotten while love lasts — Upon the damasked meadow fires were built Beside the sounding threshold of the sea: Nine furnaces, fierce-tempered, wherewithal The snoring bellows, plied by eager hands, Imparted to the iron the sexual hate Obscurely rankling in the heart of life, And now unloosed against the innocent. As at a fair men laughed obscenely, trolled The vapid catches ballad-mongers hawked. And munched the wares of wayside mer- chantmen. Upon the City wall strange women climbed — 77 THE ORDEAL No nearer might they stand : men ruled it so — To watch their sister's martyrdom, unawed, Or with a dull disquietude, or to pray: For even soulless women sometimes pray As headless insects buzz. Emanuel Sat in a chair of state, and gripped the arms, Teeth clenched, eyes fixed, extorting from his soul Belief that God would do what he desired. Sir Hilary stood by, the ripened grudge Of twenty years triumphant in his eyes, And in his rigid heart a holy sense Of dreadful duty done — one drop of gall, One only in his vengeful cup : the King In every charitable name had driven The children, guarded, out of sight and sound 78 1 THE ORDEAL Of Bertha's hazard: thus the simpletons, Who hked their father Httle and adored The adulteress, were not to see the end ! BHndfolded, in her shroud, with naked feet, She waited for the signal to advance. "Is all prepared?" the King demanded. Ay; All was prepared. Aghast and tremulous, He turned to Bertha: "Are you ready, now ? " " Ready," she said, clear- voiced, " God helping me ! " " What is your plea ?" he asked; for this the law required. 79 THE ORDEAL She answered: " If in thought or deed I once betrayed my husband's trust, may death Lay hold of me and drag me shrieking down A branded corpse among the smouldering blades." " In God's great heart the issue lies. Pro- ceed." This said, the King bent down his twitch- ing face In prayer; for even men of parts will pray Against the wrong instead of smiting it. Besotted with a creed. The farriers. Aglow, begrimed and moist with smoky sweat, 80 THE ORDEAL Their ready pinchers on the coulters clasped And plucked them forth, sprinkling the dewy green With jets of dying embers. Placed apart At intervals irregular, the nine Deep notes of carmine pulsed in unison Upon the hissing turf. Trumpet and drum Announced the ordeal ; then softly raised A funeral dirge as Bertha, breathing quick, Set out upon her march. She placed her foot, Her naked buoyant foot, dew-drenched and white, She placed it firmly on the first red edge. Leapt half her height, and with a hideous cry Fell down face-foremost brained upon the next. ' 6 8i THE ORDEAL They took her from among the smouldering blades, A branded corpse, and laid her on the bier Prepared : alive or dead, the record told Of none who trod this fiery path uncharred. The miserable King arose and turned In haggard silence toward the city. bir. Said Hilary in an icy voice, " the law Exacts your sentence." " Bloody, hellish beast!" Burst out Emanuel, weak and broken. "Sir," Said Hilary, " you stand for God, and must 82 THE ORDEAL Pronounce the doom which he has dumbly wrought. You know the form." Then sullenly the King: " Bertha, the wife of Hilary, is proved A foul adulteress upon her own appeal To Heaven, and in the market-place forth- with Shall be consumed by fire." "So let it be," The multitude replied. So was it done. And while the harlots and the prodigals Jested and danced about the blazing corpse, The moon, dispensing delegated light, Behind the City stealthily arose; 83 THE ORDEAL And, fresh with scent of meadow-hay new- reaped, The land-breeze bore to many a manner, Outward or homeward bound, the sweetest news Across the sounding threshold of the sea. 84 A BALLAD OF A COWARD The trumpets pealed ; the echoes sang A tossing fugue; before it died, Again the rending trumpets rang, Again the phantom notes repHed. In galleries, on straining roofs. At once ten thousand tongues were hushed, When down the lists a storm of hoofs From either border thundering rushed. A knight whose arms were chased and set With gold and gems, in fear withdrew Before the fronts of tourney met, Before the spears in splinters flew. 85 A BALLAD OF A COll'ARD lie reached the wilds. He cast away His lance and shield and arms of price; He turned his charger loose, and lay Face-downwards in his cowardice. His wife had seen the recreant fly: She followed, found, and called his name. " Sweetheart, I will not have you die: My love," she said, " can heal your shame." Not long his vanity withstood Her gentleness. He left his soul To her; and her solicitude. He being a coward, made him whole. Yet was he blessed in heart and head ; Forgiving; of liis riches free; 86 A BALLAD OF A CO HARD Wise was he too, and deeply read, And ruled his earldom righteously. A war broke out. With fateful speed The foe, eluding watch and ward, Conquered ; and none was left to lead The land, save this faint-hearted lord. " Here Is no shallow tournament, No soulless, artificial fight. Courageously, in deep content, I go to combat for the right." The hosts encountered: trumpets spoke; Drums called aloud ; the air was torn With cannon, light by stifling smoke Estopped, and shrieking battle born. 87 A BALLAD OF A COWARD But he ? — he was not in the van ! The vision of his child and wife ? Even that deserted him. He ran — • The coward ran to save his hfe. The lowliest men would sooner face A thousand dreadful deaths, than come Before their loved ones in disgrace ; Yet this sad coward hurried home: For, as he fled, his cunning heart Declared he might be happy yet In some retreat where Love and Art Should swathe his soul against regret. "My wife! my son ! For their dear sakes," He thought, " I save myself by flight." — 88 A BALLAD OF A COWARD He reached his place. " What comet shakes Its baleful tresses on the night Above my towers ? " Alas, the foe Had been before with sword and fire! His loved ones in their blood lay low: Their dwelling was their funeral pyre. Then he betook him to a hill Which in his happy times had been His silent friend, meaning to kill Himself upon its bosom green. But an old mood at every tread Returned ; and with assured device The wretched coward's cunning head Distilled it into cowardice. 89 A BALLAD OF A COV/ARD " A snowy owl on silent wings Sweeps by; and, ah! I know the tune The wayward night-wind sweetly sings And dreaming birds in coverts croon. " The cocks their muffled catches crow; The river ripples dark and bright ; I hear the pastured oxen low, And the whole rumour of the night. " The moon comes from the wind-swept hearth Of heaven; the stars beside her soar; The seas and harvests of the earth About her shadowy footsteps pour. " But though remembrances, all wet With happy tears, their tendrils coil 90 A BALLAD OF A COWAED Close round my heart ; though I be set And rooted in the ruddy soil, " My pulses with the planets leap; The veil is rent before my face; My aching nerves are mortised deep In furthest cavities of space ; " Through the pervading ether speed My thoughts that now the stars rehearse ; And should I take my life, the deed Would disarray the universe." Gross cowardice! Hope, while we breathe, Can make the meanest prize his breath, And still with starry garlands wreathe The nakedness of life and death. 91 A BALLAD OF A COWARD He wandered vaguely for a while; Then thought at last to hide his shame And self-contempt far in an isle Among the outer deeps ; but came, Even there, upon a seaboard dim, Where like the slowly ebbing tide That weltered on the ocean's rim With sanguine hues of sunset dyed, The war still lingered. Suddenly, Ere he could run, the bloody foam Of battle burst about him ; he, Scarce knowing what he did, struck home. As those he helped began to fly, Bidding him follow, " Nay," he said; " Nay; I die fighting — even I ! " And happy and amazed fell dead. 92 COMING In every noble name What are we waiting for ? We pray, and we declaim ! Are we afraid of war ? Drummer, beat the drum ! Trumpets, blow! Ansuished voices bid us come ! At last we go ! Shall Europe cry " God speed! " To some less famous land ? Nay ; who shall take the lead, If England holds her hand? COMING Proud ? We should be proud Drummer, beat the drum! Anguished voices call aloud, " England, come ! " Upon the blood-stained sod A helpless people bow ; We still have stood for God, And shall we falter now ? The sword is in our hand; Our step is on the sea; We are coming, sister land, To set you free! 94 BATTLE The war of words is done; The red-lipped cannon speak; The battle has begun. The web your speeches spun Tears and blood shall streak; The war of words is done. Smoke enshrouds the sun ; Earth staggers at the shriek Of battle new begun. Poltroons and braggarts run: Woe to the poor, tlie meek ! The war of words is done. 95 £A TTLE " And hope not now to shun The doom that dogs the weak," Thunders every gun; " Victory must be won." When the red-Hpped cannon speak, The war of words is done, The slaughter has begun. 96 THE HYMN OF ABDUL HAMID Whene'er Thy mosque I trod I heard my sabre sigh, " There is no God but God; BeHeve in Him or die! " Abdul the Bless'd ! You must Pursue the Prophet's j^ath ! Up ! slake the eager lust Of God's avenging wrath ! " Islam! a dreadful call! Long, long I made delay. " My back is at the wall: Look, Lord; I stand at bay! THE HYMN OF ABDUL HA MID " The eagles throng," I cried, Expecting me to die: The Powers my throne deride; I am the Sick Man, I!" But there my troops were ranked, A weapon to my hand ; And still my sabre clanked, " Go forth and purge the land! " At last Mohammed's sword. The Key of Heaven and Hell, I drew ; and at my word A hundred thousand fell, God-hated : in their day, Foul cumberers of the earth; Now theirs is ours; and they, Fuel for Shetan's hearth. 98 THE HYMN OF ABDUL HAMID Though journalists proclaimed That things were at the worst ; Though Ministers were blamed; Though poets sang and cursed; Though priests in every church Prayed God to shield the right, God left them in the lurch: They were afraid to fight ! Words, words they slung; while we, Indifferent to the cost. Fulfilled God's high decree In slaughtering the lost. *& The Powers blasphemed beneath; Above Heaven smiled delight; Ho! Europe gnashed her teeth; And Greece began to bite. 99 THE HYMN OF ABDUL HAM ID They fell into the pit They dug for our dismay; The biter soon was bit ; The spoilers are our prey ! The Sick Man ? No; the Strong! Prestige is ours again ! God gives us a new song Like sunshine after rain. Grasping a shadow, lo, The Dog has lost his bone — The Christian Dog ! Even so ! Allah is God alone ! iOO WAR-SONG In anguish we uplift A new unhallowed song: The race is to the swift ; The battle to the strong. Of old it was ordained That we, in packs like curs, Some thirty million trained And licensed murderers, In crime should live and act, If cunning folk say sooth Who flay the naked fact And carve the heart of truth. lOI V/AJR-SONG The rulers cry aloud, " We cannot cancel war, The end and bloody shroud Of wrongs the worst abhor. And order's swaddling band: Know that relentless strife Remains by sea and land The holiest law of life. From fear in every guise, From sloth, from lust of pelf. By war's great sacrifice The world redeems itself. War is the source, the theme Of art ; the goal, the bent And brilliant academe Of noble sentiment; The augury, the dawn Of golden times of grace; I02 WAR-SONG The true catholicon. And blood-bath of the race." We thirty milHon trained And licensed murderers, Like zanies rigged, and chained By drill and scourge and curse In shackles of despair We know not how to break — What do we victims care For art, what interest take In things unseen, unheard ? Some diplomat no doubt Will launch a heedless word, And lurking war leap out! We spell-bound armies then, Huge brutes in dumb distress, 103 WAJi-SONG Machines compact of men Who once had consciences, Must trample harvests down — Vineyard, and corn and oil; Dismantle town by town, Hamlet and homestead spoil On each appointed path. Till lust of havoc light A blood-red blaze of wrath In every frenzied sight. In many a mountain-pass, Or meadow green and fresh, Mass shall encounter mass Of shuddering human flesh; Opposing ordnance roar Across the swaths of slain. And blood in torrents pour 104 WAJH-SOATG In vain — always in vain, For war breeds war again ! The shameful dream is past, The subtle maze untrod : We recognize at last That war is not of God. Wherefore we now uplift Our new unhallowed song: The race is to the swift. The battle to the strong. 105 THE BADGE OF MEN In shuttered rooms let others grieve, And coffin thought in speech of lead ; I'll tie my heart upon my sleeve: It is the Badge of Men," he said. His friends forsook him: " Who was he! " Even beggars passed him with a grin: Physicians called it lunacy; And priests, the unpardonable sin. He strove, he struck for standing-ground: They beat him humbled from the field ; For though his sword was keen, he found His mangled heart a feeble shield. 106 THE BADGE OF MEN He slunk away, and sadly sought The wilderness^ — false friend of woe. " Man is The Enemy," he thought; But Nature proved a fiercer foe: The vampire sucked, the vulture tore, And the old dragon left its den, Agape to taste the thing he wore — The ragged, bleeding Badge of Men. " Against the Fates there steads no charm, For every force takes its own part: ril wear a buckler on my arm, And in my bosom hide ni}^ heart I " But in his bosom prisoned fast It pained him more than v/hcn it beat Upon his sleeve ; and so he cast His trouble to the g'nouls to cat. 107 THE BADGE OF MEN Back to the city, there and then He ran; and saw, through all disguise, On every sleeve the Badge of Men : For truth appears to cruel eyes. Straight with his sword he laid about, And hacked and pierced their hearts, until The beaten terror-stricken rout Begged on their knees to know his will. He said, " I neither love nor hate; I would command in everything." They answered him, " Heartless and great! Your slaves we are: be you our king! " io8 THE UNRESIGNED MOURNER Unwilling tears on silken lashes, Sighs and lamentations deep ! Why do you sit in dust and ashes, Lady, lady, why do 3'ou weep ? " Because, although my soul that hastened To welcome love is now bereft Of happiness, I live unchastened, And curse the bitter anguish left." 109 THE GIFT Solacing tears, The suppliant's sigh, Repentant years The fates deny; But tortured breath Has one ally, The gift of death, The power to die. I lO EARTH TO EARTH Where the region grows without a lord, Between the thickets emerald-stoled, In the woodland bottom the virgin sward, The cream of the earth, through depths of mold O'erflowing wells from secret cells, While the moon and the sun keep watch and ward. And the ancient world is never old. Here, alone, by the grass-green hearth Tarry a little: the mood will come! Feel your body a part of earth ; Rest and quicken your thought at home; III EARTH TO EARTH Take your ease with the brooding trees ; Join in their deep-down silent mirth The crumbHng rock and the fertile loam. Listen and watch! The wind will sing; And the day go out by the western gate; The night come up on her darkling wing; And the stars with flaming torches wait. Listen and see ! And love and be The day and the night and the world-wide thing Of strength and hope you contemplate. No lofty Patron of Nature! No; Nor a callous devotee of Art! But the friend and the mate of the high and the low, 112 EARTH rO EAKTII And the pal to take the vermin's part, Your inmost thought divinely wrought, In the grey earth of your brain aglow With the red earth burning in your heart. "3 MY LILY I MUST sing you a song, Or my heart will break. For all the night long I lie awake, And all the day through I am sorry like you For nobody's sake, For nobody's sake. My lily, my HI)' You and I, My lily, sad lily ! Since the day has the sun, And the night the moon, Though love we have none, How soon, how soon 114 MY LILY Our hearts may awake For somebody's sake, And our lives be in tune, Our lives be in tune, My lily, my lily You and I, My lily, sweet lily ! 115 PRINCE OF THE FAIRIES Over the mountains, happ)^ and bold, The Prince of the Fairies a-wooing came With a ring and a brooch and a crown of ?old, And a heart of the same, a heart of the same ! And each of them, all of them, every one He would lay at her feet If he only could meet The loveliest maiden under the sun. They hated him heartily, burghers and peers ; For the merchants' daughters were ready to die ii6 PRINCE OF THE FAIRIES And the queens of the earth would have o-iven their ears For a touch of his hand or a glance of his eye : But he laughed and he said to them every one, " Now, by yea and by nay, I have nothing to sav Except to the loveliest under the sun." Back o'er the mountains, hardly so bold. The Prince of the Fairies lamenting came, Till he met in the way with her curls of gold And her heart of the same, her heart of the same, A damsel a-watching her geese every one : " Lo," he shouted, " my queen! For at last I have seen The loveliest maiden under the sun! " 117 THE STOOP OF RHENISH When dogs in office frown you down, And malice smirches your renown ; When fools and knaves your blunders twit, And melancholy dries your wit ; Be no more dull But polish and plenish Your empty skull With a stoop of Rhenish. Drink by the card, Drink by the score, Drink by the yard, Drink evermore. When seamy sides begin to show, And dimples into wrinkles grow; ii8 1 THE STOOP OF RHENISH When care comes in by hook or crook And settles at }'our ingle-nook, Never disdain To polish and plenish Your rusty brain With a stoop of Rhenish. Drink bv the card, Drink by the score, Drink by the yard, Drink evermore ! When hope gets up before the dawn. And every goose appears a swan ; When time and tide, and chance and fate Like lackeys on your wishes wait; Then fill the bowl. And polish and plenish 119 THE STOOP OF RHENISH Your happy soul With a stoop of Rhenish. Drink bv the card, Drink by the score, Drink by the yard, Drink evermore ! 120 MATINEES Night went down ; the twilight ceased ; The moon withdrew her phantom flame ; In pearl and silver out of the east, Pallid and vigilant, morning came : By heath and hill with trumpets shrill The orient wind declared his name : — "Morning! Morning! Mighty, alone, Light, the light, w^iose titles are Courage and hope, ascends his throne Over the head of every star: Terror and pain are chained and slain. And mournful shadows flee afar." 121 MA TIMERS II From the night-haunt where vapours crowd The airy outskirts of the earth A winding caravan of cloud Rose when tlie morning's punctual hearth Began to charm the winds and skies With odours fresh and golden dyes. It made a conquest of the sun, And tied his beams; but, in the game Of hoodman-blind, the rack, outdone. Beheld the brilliant captive claim Forfeit on forfeit, as he pressed The mountains to his burning breast. Above the path by vapours trod A ringing causey seemed to be, 122 MA TINEES Whereby the orient, silver-shod, Rode out across the Atlantic sea, An embassy of valour sent Under the echoincr firmament. 't> And while the hearkener divined A clanging cavalcade on high, This rush and trample of the wind Arose among the tree-tops nigh, For mystery is the craft profound. The sign, and ancient trade of sound. An unseen roadman breaking flint. If echo and the winds conspire To dedicate his morning's stint, May beat a tune out, dew and fire So wrought that heaven might lend an ear, And Ariel hush his harp to hear. 123 HOLIDAY AT HAMPTON COURT Scales of pearly cloud inlay North and south the turquoise sky, While the diamond lamp of day Quenchless burns, and time on high A moment halts upon his way Bidding noon again good-bye. Gaffers, gammers, huzzies, louts, Couples, gangs, and families Sprawling, shake, with Babel-shouts Bluff King Hal's funereal trees; And eddying groups of stare-abouts Quiz the sandstone Hercules. 124 HOLIDAY AT HAMPTON COURT When their tongues and tempers tire, Harry and his little lot Condescendingly admire Lozenge-bed and crescent-plot. Aglow with links of azure fire, Pansy and forget-me-not. Where the emerald shadows rest In the lofty woodland aisle, Chaffing lovers quaintly dressed Chase and double many a mile. Indifferent exiles in the west Making love in cockney style. Now the echoing palace fills; Men and women, girls and boys Trample past the swords and frills, Kings and Q;j.q.z':il and trulls and toys; 1^5 HOLIDAY AT HAMPTON COURT Or listening loll on window-sills, Happy amateurs of noise! That for pictured rooms of state! Out they hurry, wench and knave, Where beyond the palace-gate Dusty legions swarm and rave. With laughter, shriek, inane debate, Kentish fire and comic stave. Voices from the river call ; Organs hammer tune on tune; Larks triumphant over all Herald twilight coming soon, For as the sun begins to fall Near the zenith gleams the moon. 126 IN THE ISLE OF DOGS While the water-wagon's ringing showers Sweetened the dust with a woodland smell, " Past noon, past noon, two sultry hours," Drowsily fell From the schoolhouse clock In the Isle of Dogs by Millwall Dock. Mirrored in shadowy windows draped With ragged net or half-drawn blind Bowsprits, masts, exactly shaped To woo or fight the wind, Like monitors of guilt By strength and beauty sent, Disgraced the shameful houses built To furnish rent. 127 IN THE ISLE OF DOGS From the pavements and the roofs In shimmering volumes wound The wrinkled heat ; Distant hammers, wheels and hoofs, A turbulent pulse of sound, Southward obscurely beat, The only utterance of the afternoon. Till on a sudden in the silent street An organ-man drew up and ground The Old Hundredth tune. Forthwith the pillar of cloud that hides the past Burst into flame. Whose alchemy transmuted house and mast, Street, dockyard, pier and pile: By magic sound the Isle of Dogs became A northern isle — 128 IN THE ISLE OF DOGS A green isle like a beryl set In a wine-coloured sea, Shadowed by mountains where a river met The ocean's arm extended royally. There also in the evening on the shore An old man ground the Old Hundredth tune, An old enchanter steeped in human lore, Sad-eyed, with whitening beard, and visage lank: Not since and not before, Under the sunset or the mellowing moon, Has any hand of man's conveyed Such meaning in the turning of a crank. Sometimes he played As if his box had been 129 IN THE ISLE OF DOGS An organ in an abbey richly lit ; For when the dark invaded day's demesne, And the sun set in crimson and in gold ; When idlers swarmed upon the esplanade, And a late steamer wheeling towards the quay Struck founts of silver from the darkling- sea, The solemn tune arose and shook and rolled Above the throng, Above the hum and tramp and bravely knit All hearts in common memories of song. Sometimes he played at speed ; Then the Old Hundredth like a devil's mass Instinct with evil thought and evil deed, Rang out in anguish and remorse. Alas! 130 IN THE ISLE OF DOGS That men must knov/ both Heaven and Hell! Sometimes the melody Sang with the murmuring surge; And with the winds would tell Of peaceful graves and of the passing bell. Sometimes it pealed across the bay A high triumphal dirge, A dirge For the departing undefeated day. A noble tune, a high becoming mate Of the capped mountains and the deep broad firth ; A simple tune and great, The fittest utterance of the voice of earth. 131 AFTERNOON The hostess of the sky, the moon, Already stoops to entertain The golden light of afternoon, And the wan earthshine from the plain. No rustling wings, no voices warp The ripened stillness of the day; Behind the Downs the sheltered thorpe Expectant overhangs the way. What laughter, whisper, sigh or groan, A hazardous, a destined sound, Shall first usurp the airy throne Where silence rules with twilight crowned ? 132 AFTERNOON Hark ! hark ! an antique noise ! Across The road the bellows fires anew With jar and sough the hissing dross. Close-raked about the half-WTought shoe. From the swart chimney lilac smoke, The blacksmith's prayer, to heaven as- cends; • The hammers double stroke on stroke ; The stubborn iron sparkling bends. Then voices near and far break out ; The starlings in the tree-tops scold ; The larks against each other shout ; The blackbirds scatter pearl and gold ; The jackdaws prate; the cuckoos call; And shrill enough to reach the spheres Resounds the brazen madriijal CD Of half a hundred chanticleers. 133 INSOMNIA He wakened quivering on a golden rack Inlaid with gems: no sign of change, no fear Or hope of death came near; Only the empty ether hovered black About him stretched upon his living bier, Of old by Marlin's Master deftly wrought: Two Seraphim of Gabriel's helpful race In that far nook of space With iron levers wrenched and held him taut. The Seraph at his head was Agony; Delight, more terrible, stood at his feet : Their sixfold pinions beat 134 lA'SOMNIA The darkness, or were spread immovably, Poising the rack, whose jewelled fabric meet To strain a god, did fitfully unmask With olive light of chrysoprases dim The smiling Seraphim Implacably intent upon their task. 135 THE LAST ROSE " Oh, which is the last rose ? A blossom of no name. At midnight the snow came ; At daybreak a vast rose, In darkness unfurled, O'er-petaled the world. Its odourless pallor Blossomed forlorn, Till radiant valour Established the morn — Till the night Was undone 136 THE LAST ROSE In her fight With the sun. The brave orb in state rose And crimson he shone first; While from the high vine Of heaven the dawn burst. Staining the great rose From, sky-hne to sky-Hne. The red rose of morn A white rose at noon turned; But at sunset reborn, All red again soon burned. Then the pale rose of noonday Re-bloomed in the night, And spectrally white 137 THE LAST ROSE In the light Of the moon lay. But the vast rose Was scentless, And this is the reason : When the blast rose Relentless, And brought in due season The snow-rose, the last rose Congealed in its breath, There came v/ith it treason ; The traitor was Death. In lee-valleys crowded. The sheep and the birds Were frozen and shrouded In flights and in herds. 13S THE LAST ROSE In highways And byways The young and the old Were tortured and maddened And killed by the cold. But many were gladdened By the beautiful last rose, The blossom of no name That came when the snow came, In darkness unfurled — The wonderful vast rose That filled all the world. 139 SUMMER RAIN The flowers with dust disgraced Droop in garth and plain ; But the summer tempests haste With lustral rain. The banded vapour rolls, Shadowing hill and town ; Anon the thunder tolls, The showers come down. Margents where the salt winds pass, The freshened sea-pinks fret ; The roses change to hippocras The heaven's pearly sweat ; 140 SUMMER RAIN And the flowers all shine and all the grass Like jewels newly set, Sapphire bright and chrysolite, And emeralds dripping wet. Like smoke from a happy hearth, Out of the meads and the bowers. The spicy dust of the moistened earth And the rainy scent of the flowers Translate to silence sweet the mirth Of the silvery ringing showers. 141 THE PRICE ■ Terrible is the price Of beginning anew, of birth; For Death has loaded dice. Men hurry and hide like mice; But they cannot evade the Earth, And Life, Death's fancy price. A blossom once or twice, Love lights on Summer's hearth; But Winter loads the dice. In jangling shackles of ice, Ragged and bleeding. Mirth Pays the Piper's price. 142 THE FRICE The dance Is done in a trice: Death belts his bony girth ; And struts, and rattles his dice. Let Virtue play or Vice, Beside his sombre firth Life is the lowest price Death wins with loaded dice. 143 THE UNKNOWN To brave and to know the unknown Is the high world's motive and mark, Though the way with snares be strewn. The Earth itself alone Wheels through the light and the dark Onward to meet the unknown. Each soul, upright or prone, While the owl sings or the lark, Must pass where the bones are strewn. Power on the loftiest throne Can fashion no certain ark That shall stem and outride the unknown. 144 THE UNKNOWN Beauty must doff her zone, Strength trudge unarmed and stark, Though the way with eyes be strewn. This only can atone, The high world's motive and mark, To brave and to know the unknown Though the way with fire be strewn. 145 WAITING Within unfriendly walls We starve — or starve by stealth. Oxen fatten in their stalls ; You guard the harrier's health: They never can be criminals. And can't compete for wealth. From the mansion and the palace Is there any help or hail For the tenants of the alleys, Of the workhouse and the jail ? Though lands await our toil, And earth half-empty rolls, Cumberers of English soil, We cringe for orts and doles — 146 WAITING Prosperity's accustomed foil, Millions of useless souls. In the gutters and the ditches Human vermin festering lurk- We, the rust upon your riches; We, the flaw in all your work. Come down from where you sit; We look to you for aid. Take us from the miry pit, And lead us undismayed: Say, " Even you, outcast, unfit, Forward with sword and spade! ** And myriads of us idle Would thank you through our tears, Though you drove us with, a bridle. And a whip about our ears! 147 WAITING From cloudy cape to cape The teeming waters seethe ; Golden grain and purple grape The regions overwreathe. Will no one help us to escape ? We scarce have room to breathe. You might try to understand us: We are waiting night and day For a captain to command us, And the word we must obey. 148 THE ARISTOCRAT They sundered usaj^e like a wedge; They swept the ancients from their stools; By piracy, by sacrilege, By war, across the necks of fools A royal road, the strong men strode. But other times have other tools. The warlord and the churchlord stir The pulses of the world no more; The trader and the usurer Have passed the lion-guarded door; The praise, the prayer, the incensed air Ascend to us from every share. 149 THE ARISTOCRAT A Money-lord, unheralded, I issue from a vulgar strain Of churls, who spiced their daily bread With hungry toil in sun and rain, A secret dower of patience power And courage in my blood and brain. Though Corner, Trust and Company Are subtler than the old-time tools, The Sword, the Rack, the Gallowstree, I traverse none of Nature's rules; I lay my yoke on feeble folk, And march across the necks of fools. My friends and foes adventured much ; But elbowing iron pots the delf THE ARISTOCRAT Go down in shards ; or some rude touch Of fact installs upon the shelf Souls sHmly cast : for me, I last, I wiser, braver, more myself. 151 THE OUTCAST Soul, be your own Pleasance and mart, A land unknown, A state apart. Scowl, and be rude Should love entice; Call gratitude The costliest vice. Deride the ill By fortune sent; Be scornful still If foes repent. Is2 THE OUTCAST When curse and stone Are hissed and hurled, Aloof, alone Disdain the world. Soul, disregard The bad, the good; Be haughty, hard, Misunderstood. Be neutral ; spare No humblest lie, And overbear Authority. '* Laugh wisdom down ; Abandon fate ; 153 THE OUTCAST Shame the renown Of all the great. Dethrone the past ; Deed, vision — naught Avails at last Save your own thought. Though on all hands The powers unsheathe ' Their lightning-brands And from beneath, And from above One curse be hurled With scorn, with love Affront the world. 154 THE PIONEER Why, he never can tell ; But, without a doubt, He knows very well He must trample out Through forest and fell The world about A way for himself, A way for himself. By sun and star, Forlorn and lank. O'er cliff and scar, O'er bog and bank, He hears afar 155 THE FIONEER The expresses clank, " You'll never get there. You'll never get there! " His bones and bread Poor Turlygod From his wallet spread On the grass-green sod, And stared and said With a mow and a nod, " Whither away, sir, Whither away ? ' ' "I'm going alone. Though Hell forfend. By a way of my own To the bitter end." He gn:\wed a bone 156 THE PIONEER And snarled, " My friend, You'll soon get there, You'll soon get there." But whether or no. The world is round ; And he still must go Through depths profound. O'er heights of snow, On virgin ground To find a grave, To find a grave. For he knows very well He must trample out Through Heaven and Hell, With never a doubt, A way of his own The world about. 157 THE HERO My thought sublimes A common deed ; In evil times In utmost need, My spirit climbs Where dragons breed. Nor will I trip Even at the hiss On the drawn lip Of the abyss : My footsteps grip The precipice. 158 THE HERO Applause and blame Let prophets share: My secret aim The deed I dare, My own acclaim Comprise my care. Above the laws, Against the light That overawes The world I fight And win, because I have the might. '» 159 ECLOGUES The Merchantman The Markethaunters The Markethaunters Now, while our money is piping hot From the mint of our toil that coins the sheaves. Merchantman, merchantman, what have you got In your tabernacle hung with leaves ? 1 60 ECLOGUES What have you got ? The sun rides high ; Our money is hot ; We must buy, buy, buy! The Merchantman I come from the elfin king's demesne With chrysoHte, hyacinth, tourmahne; I have emeralds here of living green ; I have rubies, each like a cup of wine ; And diamonds, diamonds that never have been Outshone by eyes the most divine! y The Market haunters Jewellery ? — Baubles; bad for the soul; Desire of the heart and lust of the eye ! i6i l^LQGUES Diamonds, indeed ! We wanted coal. What else do you sell ? Come, sound your cry ! Our money is hot; The night draws nigh; What have you got That we want to buy ? The Merchantman I have here enshrined the soul of the rose Exhaled in the land of the daystar's birth ; I have casks whose golden staves enclose Eternal youth, eternal mirth ; And cordials that bring repose, And the tranquil night, and the end of the earth. 163 ECLOGUES The Markethaunters Rapture of wine ? But it never pays: We must keep our common-sense alert. Raisins are healthier, medicine says — Raisins and almonds for dessert. But we want to buy ; For our money is hot, And age draws nigh : What else have you got ? Tfie Merchantman I have lamps that gild the lustre of noon ; Shadowy arrows that pierce the brain ; Dulcimers strung with beams of the moon; Psalteries fashioned of pleasure and pain ; 163 ECLOGUES.. A song and a sword and a haunting tune That may never be offered the world again. The Market hau7iters Dulcimers! psalteries! Whom do you mock ? Arrows and songs ? We have axes to grind ! Shut up your booth and your mouldering stock, For we never shall deal. — Come away; let us find What the others have got We must buy, buy, buy; For our money is hot, And death draws nigh. 164 ECLOGUES II The Fool Worldly Wiseman The Fool In haste, ere my senses wither, I travel and search the night : Whence am I ? what am I ? whither ? I must have fullest light. Worldly Wise77tan That is your cry ! Take heed ; Look to your steps, I say. Return, for now, indeed, Soul-traps beset your way: 165 ECLOGUES' Some man-devouring creed Will seize you for a prey — Some engine, baited bright With immortality Will drag you out of sight And rend you : know that he Who must have fullest light Plots for his enemy. In youth we hope; with age The bargain seems unjust; But yet though none engage For Death's cold dust to dust- The fixed, the only wage — We take our doom on trust. Such is the gentle rede That prudent men embrace — i66 ECLOGUES No fiercCj enchanting creed To live for in disgrace, But good enough at need In any market-place. Stare at the darkness, shout Your frenzied how and why, No ghost will whet your doubt,, No echo give reply ; Only the world will flout, And fortune pass you by. The Fool Let chance sway hither and thither. And the world be wrong or right, Here, now, ere my sinews wither, I wrestle with infinite night: Whence am I ? what am I ? whither ? I will have fullest light. 167 ECLOGUES III ARTIST VOTARY Votary What gloomy outland region have I won ? Artist This is the Vale of Hinnom. What are you ? Votary A Votary of Life. I thought this tract, With rubbish choked, had been a thorough- fare For many a decade now. Artist No highway here ! And those who enter never can return. 168 ECLOGUES Votary But since my coming is an accident — Artist All who inhabit Hinnom enter there By accident, carelessly cast aside, Or self-inducted in an evil hour. Votary But I shall walk about it and go forth. Artist I said so when I came ; but I am here. Votary What brought you hither ? Artist Chance, no other power: My tragedy is common to my kind. — Once from a mountain-top at dawn I saw 169 ECLOGUES My life pass by, a pageant of the age, Enchanting many minds with sound and light, Array and colour, deed, device and spell. And to myself I said aloud, " When thought And passion shall be rooted deep, and fleshed In all experience man may dare, yet front His own interrogation unabashed: Winged also, and inspired to cleave with might Abysses and the loftiest firmament : When my capacity and art are ranked Among the powers of nature, and the world Awaits my message, I will paint a scene Of life and death, so tender, so humane. That lust and avarice lulled awhile, shall gaze With open countenances; broken hearts, 170 ECLOGUES The haunt, the shrine, and waillng-place of woe. Be comforted with respite unforeseen, And immortality reprieve despair." The vision beckoned me ; the prophecy. That smokes and thunders in the blood of youth, . Compelled unending effort, treacherous Decoys of doom although these tokens were. Across the wisdom and the wasted love Of some who barred the way my pageant stepped : " Thus are all triumphs paved," I said ; but soon, " Entangled in the tumult of the times. Sundered and wrecked, it ceased to pace my thought, 171 ECLOGUES Wherein alone Its airy nature strode ; While the smooth world, whose lord I deemed myself, Unsheathed its claws and blindly struck me down, Mangled my soul for sport, and cast me out Alive in Hinnom where human ofTal rots, And fires are heaped against the tainted air. Votary Escape \ Artist I tried, as you will try; and then, Dauntless, I cried, " At midnight, darkly lit By drifts of flame whose ruddy varnish dyes The skulls and rounded knuckles light selects Flickering upon the refuse of despair, Here, as it should the costly pageant ends ; 172 ECLOGUES And here with my hist strength, since I am I, Here will I paint my scene of life and death : Not that I dreamt of -Cvhen the eager dawn, And inexperience, stubborn parasite Of youth and manhood, flattered in myself And in a well-pleased following, vanities Of hope, behef, good-will, the embroidered stuff That masks the cruel eyes of destiny; But a new scene profound and terrible As Truth, the implacable antagonist. And yet most tender, burning, bitter-sweet As are the briny tears and crimson drops Of human anguish, inconsolable Throughout all time, and wept in every age By open wounds and cureless, such as I, Whence issues nakedly the heart of life." 173 ECLOGUES Votary What canvas and what colour could you find To paint in Hinnom so intense a scene ? Artist I found and laid no colour. Look about! On the flame-roughened darkness whet your eyes. This needs no deeper hue ; this is the thirrg : Millions of people huddled out of sight, The offal of the world. Votary I see them now, In groups, in multitudes, in hordes, and some Companionless, ill-lit by tarnished fire U4 ECLOGUES Under the towering darkness ceiled with smoke ; Erect, supine, kneeling or prone, but all Sick-hearted and aghast among the bones. Artist Here pine the subtle souls that had no root. No home below, until disease or shame Undid the once-so-certain destiny Imagined for the Brocken-sprite of self, While earth, which seemed a pleasant inn of dreams. Unveiled a tedious death-bed and a grave. Votary ' ^ I see! The disillusioned geniuses Who fain would make the world sit up, by- Heaven ! And dig God in the ribs, and who refuse 175 ECLOGUES Their own experience: would-bes, theorists, Artistic natures, failed reformers, knaves And fools incompetent or overbold, Broken evangelists and debauchees, Inebriates, criminals, cowards, virtual slaves. Artist The world is old ; and countless strains of blood Arc now effete : these loathsome ruined lives Are innocent — if life itself be good. Inebriate, coward, artist, criminal — The nicknames unintelligence expels Remorse with when the conscience hints that all Are guilty of the misery of one. Look at these women : broken chalices, 176 ECLOGUES Whose true aroma of the spring is spilt In thankless streets and with the sewage blent. Votary Harlots, you mean ; the scavengers of love, Who sweep lust from our thresholds — need- ful brooms In every age ; the very bolts indeed That clench and rivet solidarity. All this is as it has been and shall be: I see it, note it, and go hence. Farewell. A rtist Here I await you. * * * * Votary There is no way out. 177 ECLOGUES Artist But we are many. What ? So pinched and pale At once ! Weep, and take courage. This is best, Because the alternative is not to be. Votary But I am nothing yet, have made no mark Upon my time; and, worse than nothing now. Must wither in a nauseous heap of tares. Why am I outcast who so loved the world ? How did I reach this place ? Hush! Let me think, I said — what did I say and do ? Nothing to mourn. I trusted life, and life has led me here. 178 ECLOGUES Artist Where dull endurance only can avail. Scarcely a tithe of men escape this fate; And not a tithe of those who suffer know Their utter misery. Votary And must this be Now and for ever, and has it always been ? Artist Worse now than ever and ever growing worse. Men as they multiply use up mankind In greater masses and in subtler ways : Ever more opportunity, more power For intellect, the proper minister Of life, that will usurp authority, With lightning at its beck and prisoned clouds. 179 ECLOGUES I mean that electricity and steam Have set a barbarous fence about the earth, And made the oceans and the continents Preserved estates of crafty gather-alls ; Have loaded labour with a shotted chain, And raised the primal curse a thousand powers. Votary What ! Are there honest labourers outcast here ? Dreamers, pococurantes, wanton bloods In plenty and to spare; but surely work Attains another goal than Hinnom ! A rtist Look! Seared by the sun and carved by cold or blanched 1 80 ECLOGUES In darkness ; gnarled and twisted all awry By rotting fogs; lamed, limb-lopped, can- kered, burst, The outworn workers! Votary I take courage then ! Since workers here abound it must be right That men should end in Hinnom. A rtist Right ! How right ? The fable of the world till now records Only the waste of life : the conquerors, Tyrants and oligarchs, and men of ease, Among the myriad nations, peoples, tribes, Need not be thought of: earth's inhab- itants, Man, ape, dinornis for a moment breathe, i8i ECLOGUES In misery die, and to oblivion Are dedicated all. Consider still The circumstance that most appeals to men : Eternal siege and ravage of the source Of being, of beauty, and of all delight, The hell of whoredom. God ! The hourly waste Of women in the world since time began ! Votary I think of it. Artist And of the waste of'Tnen In war — pitiful soldiers, battle-harlots. Votary That also I consider. Artist Weaklings, fools In millions who must end disastrously; 182 ECLOGUES The willing hands and. hearts, in millions too, Paid with perdition for a life of toil; The blood of women, a constant sacrifice, Staining the streets and every altar-step ; The blood of men poured out in endless wars ; No hope, no help ; the task, the stripes, the woe Augmenting with the ages. Right, you say! Votary Do you remember how the moon appears Illumining the night ? ¥ Artist What has the moon To do with Hinnom ? ECLOGUES 'Votary Call the moon to mind. Can you ? Or have you quite forgotten all The magic of her beams ? Artist Oh no ! The moon Is the last memory of ample thought. Of joy and loveliness that one forgets In this abode. Since first the tide of life Began to ebb and flow in human veins, The targe of lovers' looks, their brimming fount Of dreams and chalice of their sighs; with peace And deathless legend clad and crowned, the moon I 1S4 ECLOGUES Votary But I adore it with a newer love, Because it is the offal of the globe. When from the central nebula our orb, Outflung, set forth upon its way through space, Still towards its origin compelled to lean And grope in molten tides, a belt of fire. Home-sick, burst off at last, and towards the sun Whirling, far short of its ambition fell, Tnsphered a little distance from the earth There to bethink itself and wax and wane, The moon ! Artist ■ I see ! I know ! You mean that you And I, and foiled ambitions every one In every age; the outworn labourers, i8S ECLOGUES Pearls of the sewer, idlers, armies, scroyles, The offal of the world, will somehow be — Are now a lamp by night, although we deem Ourselves disgraced, forlorn ; even as the moon. The scum and slag of earth, that, if it feels, Feels only sterile pain, gladdens the moun- tains And the spacious sea. i Votary I mean it. And I mean That the deep thoughts of immortality And of our alienage, inventing gods And paradise and wonders manifold. Are rooted in the centre. We are fire. Cut off and cooled a while ; and shall return, 1 86 ECLOGUES The earth and all thereon that live and die, To be arain candescent in the sun, Or in the sun's intenser, purer source. What matters Hinnom for an hour or two ? Arise and let us sing; and, singing, build A tabernacle even with these ghastly bones. 187 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIL TY AA 000 638 976 i UNIVERSITY OF CA RIVERSIDE LIBRARY 3 1210 01333 5854 ♦