1535 uve* THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES J AT THE SIGN OF THE GINGER JAR \ SOME VERSES GAY AND GRAVE BY RAY CLARKE ROSE CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1901 COPYRIGHT A. C. McCLURG & CO. 1901 TO VICTOR F. LAWSON THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED 904434 CONTENTS PROLOGUE POEMS OF SENTIMENT AND REFLECTION RONDEL ........ J 3 PATIENCE ........ '4 COMPENSATION ....... MAY SONG ........ 16 AFTERMATH ....... SERENADE ........ 18 A PRESENTATION ...... 19 PARTING SONG ....... 20 HOMING SONG ....... 22 THE LIVING VOICE ...... 24 MEMORY ........ 25 SWEET CLOVER ....... 26 SPRING SONG ....... FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG ..... 29 THE TREMOLO ....... 3 NIGHTINGALE'S SERENADE ..... 3i A OUTRANGE ....... SHE CAME TO ME . . . . . -34 HORACE TO CHLOE ...... DAY DREAMS ....... 3 THE PLACE OF JOY ...... LITE PENDENTE ....... 38 MY POOR NEIGHBOR ...... 39 FOLLIES OF THE WISE . . , . .41 A CHILD is BORN ...... 42 AN OLD LADY ....... 43 RELIGION ........ 44 WALT WHITMAN ....... 45 SACRIFICE ....... 4 NOCTURN ........ 47 TRUE LOVE'S REWARD ..... 48 THE DAY'S END ....... 49 FAITH So OVER THE WAY ....... 5i THE LAST HOPE ...... 53 JURE DIVINO ....... 54 VERSES PLAYFUL AND HUMOROUS PAGE JOSEPHINE ....... 55 DOLLY IN THE RAIN ..... 56 MY LADY OF EASTER .... 57 TRIOLET ....... eg AN "OLD MAID" . no THE BEST NAME .... 60 WITH DAISY IN THE RAIN ... 61 SOUR GRAPES ...... 63 RONDEL ...... 64 His MODEST WISH ..... 65 JOSEPHINE'S HAT ..... 66 TRIOLETS UNDER THE TREES ... 67 MY LADY OF DAWN .... 60 CATALOGUED ...... 70 THE PRICE OF ABSENCE .... 7! A VALENTINE ...... yi ART INSTITUTE MEMORIES ... 74 FROM SEASON TO SEASON ... ' *7<; THE CIRCUS ..... 76 PROCRASTINATION ... 77 FACT VERSUS FANCY ... 7g A BACHELOR'S VALENTINE . 7o THE MAID SUBURBAN . . go IN THE STORM .... g! WE MET BY CHANCE . . g 2 RAINY-DAY NOTES ... g-. FLATTERY ..... g^ TRIOLETS OF DISCRETION . . g? WHEN PAY DAY COMES ... g6 THE RING AND THE HEART . . g? A PLACE OF REFUGE . gg YEARS AFTER .... go WITHOUT AVAIL . PIQUED ..... 2r WOULD BE MORE THAN KIN , o\ MAY AND JUNE ..... 04 CHLOE'S VALENTINE . q? RONDEL THE WOOD-THRUSH . 06 Miss DIPLOMACY .... 07 A VALENTINE .... qq ABSENCE ..... TOO THE WEDDING-TIME ... IOI A CHRISTMAS WISH . I02 MY VALENTINE .... AT GRADUATION ON THE STREET ... I0 ? ACROSS THE WAY ... I0 6 THE PROMENADE .... 107 IF I PROPOSE ... 10 g KYRIELLE HER LETTER LAYS THAT PLEASE ... IIt HORACE TO LYDIA . . II2 A LOST TALISMAN .... HORACE TO LEUCONOE . . . . . 114 8 PAGE THE ECLIPSE "5 MADRIGAL ...... AT THE GATE ....... HORACE TO LYDIA . . . . . .us HORACE TO CHLOE ...... HORACE TO LYDIA ..... I21 A WAIL 122 AT THE CONCERT ....... 123 SAME OLD SONNET ...... 124 VlLLANELLE ....... 125 A GAME OF TENNIS ...... NIGHT THOUGHTS ....... 127 SECRETS ........ 128 ST. PATRICK'S DAY WARNING ... .129 MY LADY i3o AN AUTUMN CAROL . . . . . i3i THE DANCE ....... ALONE WITH JANE ....... '33 SIMPLE ENGLISH ...... >34 BALLADES AND RONDEAUS BALLADE OF THE MEDIOCRE . . . . *35 BALLADE OF THE COMIC MUSE . 137 BALLADE OF OLD NAVIES . . . . i39 A VALENTINE BALLADE ..... 141 HARVEST APPLES ....... 143 ON SUNDAY MORN ...... 145 AN APPEAL ........ 140 COME Kiss ME, DEAR ..... 147 BEHIND THE SCENES . . . . . .148 BE WISE IN TIME 149 WITH ROD AND REEL ...... 150 WHEN ONE is OLD ...... 151 IN AFTER YEARS ....... 152 O ROSE OF JUNE ...... 153 A DUPLICATE GAME ...... 154 THE SOCIAL SWIM ...... 155 To You I TURN .156 IN LENTEN GARB ...... i57 WHEN ONE Is YOUNG ...... 158 THE RUSH AND WHIRL ..... 159 To MAKE ONE SONG ...... no THE BACKWARD LOOK ..... 161 A GOOD CIGAR . 162 SONNETS SLEEP . .163 AT EIGHTY YEARS ...... 164 A TRUST I KEEP ....... 165 JACK FROST ....... 166 LABOR ........ 167 PAGE To THE FIRST ROBIN 168 CALLIOPE ........ 169 ERATO 170 TERPSICHORE ....... 171 EUTERPE ........ 172 THALIA 173 CLIO ........ 174 BROKEN BONDS ....... IK THE MASK OF MIRTH ..... 176 WOODLAND JUNE ....... 177 OCTOBER ........ 178 NATURE MIDSUMMER DAYS ...... 17^ RONDEL ........ 181 SONG OF THE THISTLEDRIFT . . . . .182 THE LOST BUTTERFLY . . . . 183 WHEN THE Cows COME HOME . . . .185 CHANT OF THE SPRING RAIN , " . . . 187 IN THE FADING YEAR . . ... .188 AT SUNSET . . . . . . . 190 GAY SPRING RETURNS . . . . . .192 SPRING COMES A-CALLING . . .... 193 THE SPRING FEVER . . . . . 194 BITS OF CHILDHOOD SLEEP SONG . . . . . . 195 WINTER BUTTERFLIES . . . . . 196 FAIRY CASTLES . . . ... . 196 SLEEP SONG OF MOTHERHOOD ..... 197 THK FIRST YEAR ...... 198 STAR TRACKS . . . . . . 199 THE TOY SOLDIER'S VALENTINE . . . . 200 WHEN MARY SINGS ...... 202 THE NURSERY SAGE ...... 203 GOING AWAY . . . . ... . . 205 ARMY DIET . . . , . . 206 A NEW WOMAN ....... 207 10 Dear stranger, step inside my shop; I have some curiosities To interest you if you stop Rare antiques and monstrosities; Round masks with features humor ous t A few with looks tyrannical; New toys, and nicknacks numerous, And some of them mechanical. Of posies, too, I have a few, Still fragrant of the country side; Also some laces old and new And woven patterns long and wide; Some girlish portraits that may chance To glance at you demurely; Some relics of old-time romance, All packed away securely. Of course I have sweetmeats to sell; My ginger dainties are unique, And all my goods are fresh and smell Of savory flavors far to seek. If chance you wish to patronize My shop, here" 1 s welcome to you; But if you should my wares despise, Pass on I ' II never rue you! POEMS OF SENTIMENT AND REFLECTION fton&d Love is a wanderer, wayward seeming, Like a bee that roams o'er the flowered plain; But aye with an eagerness almost pain He flies to his nest for rest and dreaming. On fancy's zephyrs, his gold hair streaming Like sunlight sifted through rifts of rain, Love is a wanderer, wayward seeming; But ever he comes to his own again! Cometh he, then, with his sweet eyes gleaming With a passionate joy he would not restrain; With increased treasure he comes amain. Love is a wanderer, wayward seeming, Like a bee that roams o'er the flowered plain. tije Stfln of fye <&mg*r patience I put her letter by, because, With dimming eyes, I needs must pause To fashion somewhat of her smile From memory, a little while; To feel again the gentle touch That made me wonder overmuch If such a soft caress of love Were not for ransomed ones above, Instead of for my earthly bliss This handclasp sweeter than a kiss. I put her letter by a bit To muse and marvel over it, As something rare beyond the ken Of common thought and mortal men; As something that the tender years Have traced with not ungrateful tears. Sentiment anfc inflection A sweet good-by, it is, to say She '11 meet me "later in the day.*' And still I wait! And still I wait! The years have gone the day is late!- A shrine of myrtle for her dust A letter yellowed with the rust Of tears a prayer to understand Her signal from the Peaceful Land. I put her letter by ! I know Its promise will be kept, and, so, Through misty eyes my soul shall smile And wait in patience yet awhile. Compensation In the night of doubt and error Life assumes a shape of terror, Beside which death seems joy indeed; But in the dawn of truth and faith Despair becomes a helpless wraith A cloud that shades us in our need. Stfltt of tf)* The ardent woodbird seeks his mate And tells his hopes in trembling song; Dear love, my heart, no less elate, Sings of you all day long! The woodbird shapes his fragile nest Among the branches, leafless yet, Nor fears the maple will forget To shelter well its guest. I have no mansion grand for you; My hands must rear the home we share; With life so young, our nest so new, And love to make it fair, May we not trust that time will bring The richer shelter that the days Will ever higher hopes upraise, And still our hearts may sing? The woodbird' s faith is firm and high; Joy wingeth ever by his side; Sweetheart, with your dear presence nigh, I fear not storm or tide. 16 Sentiment anto Inflection The summer cometh to eclipse With bloom and green the striving soil; Your smile shall garnish all my toil, And heaven kiss my lips! We laughed and loved as the summer went, And were content; We sighed when love and the year grew cold, That year of old. 'Twixt the laugh and the sigh was a paradise Aglow with the light of your radiant eyes A place of cloudless dreams and skies, Till we were wise! Still summer comes with its balminess, But my heart brims over with vague distress; I miss the summer past and, yes, Your old caress. Dear love of old, is your heart as true As mine to you? Is to-day the past's equivalent Arc you content? 5tgn of tf)* inset ifar From mountain heights fair Echo calls And bids the world rejoice; Thus on my thought's high places falls The echo of your voice. In cavern deeps the crystal light Of day seems strangely fair; Your love illumines my heart's sad night, As if God placed it there. The south wind comes with its caress, And joy springs into bloom; Your kisses melt my cold distress And rose-tint all its gloom. The myriad stars of night's vast blue Are spotless and divine; Each represents a gift that you Possess, sweetheart of mine. I have no kingly realm no gold No hosts at my command; Yet all the world is mine to hold, When I but hold your hand. 18 Sentiment anto Inflection A minstrel's frail, discordant notes Are all my lips can give; My love would fill a thousand throats With song that aye should live. 3d presentation Here 's a clove carnation, dear, Brightest blossom of the year; Short of stalk, but blooming well In my overcoat lapel. Let me put it in your hair, Like a kiss imprinted there- Like a blushing, shy caress, Simply that and nothing less ! 'T is of color hard to tell; Say a scarlet-cardinal, Flaming with the fragrant fire Of a devotee's desire. Take it, lady, as a seal Of the interest I feel Summer's token, and the same Of my heart's consuming flame ! tf)* &tfln of tf)* ifctngn; Carting The moon elves dance upon the lake; The laughing wave crests lilt in play; A balmy zephyr blows to take My love away! My love, who sails across the tide In search of gold and gear for me My love, and all my world beside Across the sea! The night is spangled bright with dust Of worldshine in a silver shower. O gleaming stars, I put my trust In you this hour! By you my true love steers his bark; By you he pledged his troth to me. Oh, guide him truly to his mark Across the sea. A wild bird flickers through the night With intermittent mournful cry, And my sad spirit mocks its flight With many a sigh. J&entiment antt iUflectfon Perhaps the wild bird is my heart, For, oh! I know 'tis gone from me 'Tis gone to take my true love's part Across the sea. Dear zephyr, blow with tenderness, And kiss my dear love's bonny brow; Dear stars, give him the long caress I waft you now. O nights, be brief, and brief the days That keep my love away from me, And heart, be near him while he strays Across the sea! Come back, my love, my sailor lad, For gold and gear are worthless dust. My long, long solitude is sad - Come back you must. Come back, sweetheart, on lightning wings, Though bringing but a kiss for me. Your smile is more than wealth of kings Across the sea! 21 ign of tf)e (Srtnger Doming The waves come racing to my boat With messages from you, my love, And all their cadences denote You 're true, my love. Your soldier lad is sailing back To you and to his home again, No more to lead a fierce attack, Or roam again. No gold have I to buy you gear, No treasure save my heart for you, And wealth of kisses kept, my dear, Apart for you. But ah! I know your hair is gold And turquoise are your eyes, my own, And in your love a worth untold There lies, my own. The tumult of the war has passed, The nations are at peace, my sweet; The tumult in my heart doth fast Increase, my sweet. 22 anti inflection For all the way is long and lone That I must travel yet to you, And oh! I hunger to the bone To get to you' My dearest one, be kind and wait As truly as I sigh for you, For I should deem it happy fate To die for you. My shoulder-straps and brave success Shall gather fame about you, dear, But they are less than nothingness Without you, dear. ocean, bear me back with speed To greet the girl who waits for me, And fortune fashion to my need The fates for me! 1 ask no gift beyond the ken Of humbleness I miss my love; I only ask to see, and then, To kiss my love. tfje Sign of tfte (linger Eibtng Her voice! Like a tone from a thread of gold On a shield of silver it thrills the soul Like the sigh of the sea when the night is old And the dawn star floats in its purple bowl Like the crooning night adrift in the spray Of crimson and gold on the shores of day ! Her voice, like a theme of passionate things Like a song in a dream of delight, unguessed Like the mythical music of angels' wings, Seems like a strain from a hymn of the blessed Seems like an echo of the voice of her The first man loved as a worshiper! May her dear voice sing to me so through the years, With its melody marvelous, always new With its music, distilled of delight and tears, As the days are dark or the skies are blue May it be such a song as Eve first sung To the love of her love when the world was young &*ntim*nt anto When first we quaffed love's jeweled cup Its golden nectar, bitter-sweet, Seemed sparkling with life's ardent heat In deathless brilliance flaming up. We vowed the future should not hold A joy, a grief, a hope unshared By our twin souls, and calmly dared The Fates to make our love turn cold. An empty cup, upturned, I keep A broken trinket, jewel-set No more with brimming nectar wet; No more with fragrant promise deep. We drained the glass too fast, I fear; We vowed too often and too much. And so, we find we may not touch The thrilling draught once rich and near. Still, in the broken cup I prize A gleaming jewel that outshines The glow of love's resplendent wines, The passion of your magic eyes. 25 tfje Sign of tfje OM 'Tis memory, set in burnished gold, And burning with a changeless fire Caught from love's slowly fading pyre; The sunset of the days of old. Cfofcer Over and over the scent of sweet clover Lingers and lures like a half-lost dream, And seems, under cover of night, like a lover, To croon to my soul of an old, old theme. Back from the heydays of childhood's playdays, Back through the dust and the dearth of the years Soft as the fall of a dead leaf the call of A voice flutters out of the past and its tears. Sweet clover, delicious, if longings that wish us In the garden of youth could compel, I would lie In the far wildernesses of blooms whose caresses Showered joy on my heart where they smiled at the sky; Where the hollyhocks, standing, still, stately, com manding, 26 Sentiment anto Inflection Kept guard over mignonettes, myrtle and all Of the old-fashioned flowers that gladdened the hours I dallied and dreamed by the home garden wall. From the vase where she set them, saying, "Soon you '11 forget them," The sweet-clover blooms send their fragrance to me ; But the dear one who placed them, the hands that embraced them, Are lost to my sight and forever shall be. Yet over and over the scent of sweet clover Lingers and lures like a half-lost dream, And seems, under cover of night, like a lover, To croon to my soul of an old, old theme. tfie >tgn of tfje (Brings far When a song is in the wind And the sapling whispereth As a child will catch its breath, Telling good news long confined, Then I know the spring is come And its hosts with full accord Soon will praise the sun, their Lord, In a mild delirium. Once again the high-arched door Of life's vernal temple swings Open, and gay blossomings Strew its green mosaic floor; Once again the choristers Of the erst chill solitudes Pipe their anthems in the woods, Filled with humble worshipers. Ah, I know that life is fair When the sigh of spring is heard, And my lonely heart is stirred By the music echoed there! 28 5>enthnent anto i&eflectton But I know that love is blind, For I still may not rejoice No! I miss a loved one's voice When a song is in the wind. for the afte of For the sake of the song would I sing to-day, As the goldfinch warbles its notes awing, As the brown thrush hides in the brush to sing And the bluebird pipes in the fields of May. Let the prophet voices preach and pray Where the wheels and heels of traffic ring; For the sake of the song would I sing to-day As the goldfinch warbles its notes awing. Ay, free as the mist in a sun-kissed bay, When the dawn peeps over the hills of spring, Would my soul rise high to its caroling For the sake of the song would I sing to-day, As the goldfinch warbles its notes awing! 29 ign of tye O&tnger gar Cfje Cremoio I have seen her to-night in a vision, Pour out from her beautiful hands A torrent of music elysian That my innermost self understands. In a whirlpool of harmonic rapture My senses were swept with delight, And my heart, singing loud at its capture, Became her glad captive to-night. With the joy of a sanctified spirit I cling to the glorious dream; And the song I forever shall hear it, And thrill with the throb of its theme ! For the trend of its cadence uplifted My mind from the sordid and vile, Till my soul seemed unfettered, and drifted At peace in the dawn of her smile. Oh, those hands so insistent and slender! Would they nestle in mine at repose? Oh, her face, so bewitching, so tender, And sweet as the first fragile rose! 30 Sentiment anto Reflection Will it ever light up with high pleasure To greet me, to welcome, caress? Would she be my dear love and my treasure? I doubt, in distress. A song in my heart pipes ever and ever So sweet ! So sweet ! But a song that my voice may never, ah ! never Repeat ! repeat ! Oh, the love of my love is in every beat Of the song that my voice may never repeat, My sweet ! My sweet ! Over your bower I sing tonight, My own ! My own ! But the song is a wraith of our old delight, For lone, alone ! I flutter and sigh in the starry zone, I flutter and sing alone, alone, My own ! My own ! of tije When rhymsters prate With words elate Of sweethearts upright and sedate, And warble of The ones they love As if they hailed from realms above, The wise enough have eyes enough To see through all that sort of stuff. Say, why should I sing of an angel of light When my heart is aflame with the fires of" earth; When the girl I adore is a sprite of the night Just a child of the flesh in a garment of mirth ? Away with conventional praises, and such! To the thrill of her kiss will I fashion my song; To the passionate glance of her eyes and the clutch Of her beautiful arms, so insistent and strong ! To the maid of my dreams, when to dream is to live With the red pulse resistlessly making the pace, Will I drain this ripe cup of my wishes, and give The whole of my soul for a single embrace ? 32 &*tttmunt anto KefUctfon Nay, lisp me no words of a love that is calm, Of devotion that feeds upon cereal food; 'T is the hypocrite's song, and I long for the psalm Of my dear when she calls in her amorous mood. You will find her, I know, in the drawing-room's glare, Where she poses, immaculate, sexless and wise, Save for the red glow that burns low in her hair And the imperious gleam of her glorious eyes. But, at last, when the flight of the dance is at best, Ah ! Then will I hold her, and mold her, and tease; And she '11 tremble and glow like the rose at her breast Like an ardent red rose in a tropical breeze ! 33 of fyt ringrc 3fat Came to She came to me Like a vision of immortality ! Out of the night Of my sorrowful search and earthly blight; She came like a dream of the far-off sea That silvers the shores of eternity God's angel came, And my soul leaped high in a vestal flame, But my face burned red With the scarlet fires of new-lit shame; For sweet were the loving words she said, And pure the trust I read in her eyes; For lo ! she was love's great sacrifice ! There in the night Of my evil past she sang to me Sang to my heart of a new delight; And never a word could I make reply, And never a word could I answer why; For my shame choked high and death became A coveted balm to soothe my shame ! 34 &*ntfm*nt antJ i&eflectum She sang of love that purifies Till my soul, at the gates of paradise, Burned white in the light of her golden eyes, And the past was lost in the radiant flame ! Doracc to (Book I., Ode XXIII.) Nay, Chloe, child ! be not so wild, Nor, like a frightened fawn, thus fly me ! No wild beast I to rend you why, I 'm harmless, dear one, only try me ! No young doe strayed in hill-top glade, Far from its mother, would be wilder Than you are now; and yet, I vow, My wishes hardly could be milder ! So, Chloe, dear, pray do not fear, But heed my harmless tendernesses And learn that you may well eschew A mother's care for Love's caresses ! 35 fye Sign of *!)* <&tnpt gat What time is like the glad springtime, When all the trees are green and shady, And whisper with a balmy chime Above where you 're asleep, my lady? What dreams are like the sweet day-dreams That drift into your sylvan bower, Waywardly, like the light that gleams In intermittent golden shower? What song is like the wild bird's note That lilts from where he sings above you? The song he sings with swelling throat But tells, sweetheart, how much I love you. The arbor vine its tendrils throws Across your hammock softly swinging, And from your curls a faded rose Has dropped and in the grass is clinging. What wonder that the arbor vine Should strive to clasp its arms about you? What wonder that the rose should pine And droop and die at last without you? 36 Sentiment antJ With bashful touch the zephyr twines Its fingers in your tangled tresses, Near where your red lips' curving lines Reflect the sunlight's warm caresses. The sunlight steals you kisses, dear; To do the same I have a craving. The zephyr has your curls, I fear; But one, I hope, for me you 're saving. Awake, my love! the dial's hand Is racing toward the evening hours. Awake and leave the wonderland Of dreams for this fair world of flowers. of The pilgrim sought the garden of delight And wandered through doubt's desert lands and night, Until, heartsore and broken by the quest, He moaned the cynic's creed of earthly blight. Then spake the Voice: "Be satisfied and rest; Then will the long-sought goal be manifest Joy blooms not in the vale or on the height Until contentment blossoms in the breast." 37 tfje Sifltt of tf)* ringer far ite The leaves lie dead about my feet Fair summer's mantle cast aside; And shrill the glooming winds repeat The moaning of my heart's sad tide. I know not where the days have sped; I only know that long ago A dear One kissed my lips and fled. The blinding sleet of winter's woe Beats on me with a friendly touch, And mingles with my tears, that flow Unceasingly and overmuch A joy of old each tear I shed; But may it be through tears I '11 see The sunshine and be comforted? Dead, all the bloom and harvest time, And all the hopes and high delight; And, over all, the fatal rime Of winter's chill and love's sad night- Oh, tell me, lost one! dost thou tread The joyous ways of perfect days, Or art thou, as thou seemest, dead? 38 Sentiment antj Inflection My neighbor hath a lordly pile A palace reared of polished stone, In which he lives in lavish style, Alone. I look upon his wealth and smile In rare content, while on my knee A wee one rides and crows at me My own! My neighbor's is a regal place; But, oh! it hath no laughing face Of childhood there for sympathy. My neighbor's garden blooms are fine; They rise in hedges topped with gold, And all their radiance is mine. I see their blossom sheaths unfold; I breathe their fragrance day by day, And, aye, they nod and smile my way, Though I be poor. My neighbor's lawn is green and wide, And here and there a lofty tree With spreading arms stands to divide Its store of graceful shade with me; 39 tlje Sign of tyt (Sfinget And oh! I'm sure That when the verdant days are gone New charms will greet me from the lawn ! My neighbor hath a host of cares, For he must guard his costly wares And golden hoard; While I, crowned with domestic bliss, May gain a fond parental kiss He can't afford. I and my neighbor never meet, An alley separates our lands; My house is in a modest street, His on the drive see, there he stands! Poor man; he 's naught but gold and gear; While I have home and you, my dear! 40 Sentiment anfc ies of tfje A man is a fool in his youth, my son, And none is wise till his course be run; For a woman's eyes or the gleam of gold Will dazzle his wits till he's old so old! And the flirt of a skirt or the thrill of a song Will soften his heart for long so long ! And a woman's sighs or a woman's tears Will make him a slave for years and years. A man is a fool at worst and best And his life is a grim and a guilty jest, With a gush of joy or a gasp of pain, And the round of his labor, and over again; But his toil grows less and his griefs depart When he feels the throb of a comrade heart, And his life is a beautiful vision while He lives in the light of a loved one's smile. A man is a fool, for his pride and greed Will take him beyond his farthest need, And the bauble of wealth or the bubble fame Will he seek to his grief or lasting shame; tfje Sign of tfje inger But a woman's love is of all the earth Man's rightful gift and of greatest worth, And who studies the world in his dear love's eyes Is happy indeed, and wise so wise! t 2Eorn "A child is born!" the magi cried, and then The Voice spake softly in the hearts of men: "A child is born whose heritage is such That he who sees and knows must love Him much, And he who doth obey this Prince of Peace Shall know the law that rules the soul's increase. The Many saw the Child but turned away And said: "A plaything for an idle day!" The Few looked in his eyes and saw therein The sum of life and death, of good and sin. Then spake the Voice: "This is the Savior Love, Lord of the earth beneath and heaven above."