JOH! VAN CHENEV "\ 9- s XT Poems written io Scdh& Ij T^.]oJo Fletcher Seymour Publisher Qloicago Copyright 1922 Sara B. Cheney CONTENTS Thou and I 7 My Castle in the Air ........ 13 The Way to Learn 17 Sadie 21 My Fairest Fair 25 For Sally on her Birthday 29 To Sally on her Birthday 33 Sally 37 Love s World 41 I Keep Thy Memory 45 977595 and round the 2 wrong nd about Thou and I Hearthside THOU AND I OVE, I would have thee as the snow is, white And pure on hilltops of the winter day; Thou shouldst have sovereign rule, the spirit sway Of beauty, wide and shining as the light. Thou shouldst be as the evening star is, bright As heaven can make it; all thy summer way The melodies of June should sing and play In thee, the darling of the day and night. But I would have thee human first and last, One not untouched by trouble, sought of sin, Thine innocence not accident, but choice. Fit then my service: I should have no past, No future; newly would my life begin, Obedient to the music of thy voice. i*/-, 52U *W : fast/e in the Hearth side MY CASTLE IN THE AIR |R in the East or in the West, Where shall I build my bird a nest? Northward or southward, whither roam To build my little love a home? Up yonder, in the clean, sweet air, I think that I could keep her, there, Too much an angel for the ground, For heaven somewhat too warm and round. The Way to J^earn Hearthside THE WAY TO LEARN HE way to learn how well I love you, Dear? Ask any of the gossip winds that blow, The thousand flowers that burn it where they glow, The happy hours that hold the summer here; Question the sound, the silence, far and near, The brook, which sings it or must cease to flow, Ask all the blissful things above, below. Their answer, Sweet of that I have no fear; For I believe all life below, above, Is leagued with love as light is with the day, That heaven and earth aye take the lover s part. But should all other voices mock my love, You will not heed them; you will turn away, Content to have the answer of your heart. Sadie Hearthside SADIE * HEN you see a plumy hat And sealskin sack, and inside that A little brisk, right busy lady, Why, mind your eye ; it may be Sadie. When you follow softly after, And chance to hear such merry laughter As makes the very sunshine shady, Then, ten to one, it s Sukey Sadie. And should she turn on you brown eyes Soft as June dusk when daylight dies Along the fields all bloomy, bladey, Away with doubt, and swear it s Sadie. Brown - haired, brown - skinned, and robin round, A sweet-heart baby, grown and gowned, Heart high, but every inch a lady That s my little Sukey Sadie! "Later called Sally. 21. Fairest Fair Hearthside MY FAIREST FAIR (HERE is, they say, no sweetest rose, There is no fairest face ; for fancy grows Its own deceiver. But, right or wrong, what does love care? I say, " World over, only one s all fair," And so believe her. 25- For Sally on her Birthday HeartAside FOR SALLY ON HER BIRTHDAY IND you, Fortune, have a care! More I ask than pipe and chair, Than my Steinway and my book, Than my Roxy and my nook. On this February day Abe and Darwin came our way; Thanks for small favors! Now for more Than you ever gave before. Abe and Charles, is that the tally? Hark! To them you added Sally. Little Sally, rid of ills, Knitting on the Mission Hills Keep her, Fortune, young and fair, In the big sun-parlor there; Pipe and Steinway, hill and valley, Nothing were without my Sally. 29. To Sally on her ^Birthday Hearthside TO SALLY ON HER BIRTHDAY ;HIS is to her my hearthside and my rest; My lares, where she sets them up they stand ; Bright shapes of comfort, quiet, pleasures best- She leads them hither with her little hand. She looking with me in the summer grass, Or up and down the path the wild stars roam, I see what meaning, peace, the good world has; My heart and I know love s own roof and home. Let me not keep my candle under cover; The glad sun shines his joy out every day The sun, earth s lord and glory, golden lover From morning unto morning does he say: "The while the lover can his heart repeat, The love in it is growing sweet and sweet." 33- Sally Hearthside SALLY T was four years ago I found you, Dear; Love s happy seasons fly How swiftly by! Dear, do you know, Know you, dear, It seems, reckon as I may, But yesterday? Four years have taken wing; Ere they were here How was it I could find For heart and mind Sweet comforting? How did I, dear, Before love showed the place I saw your face? Love well can lose and lose To win at last: Now, through the years to be You bide with me. We cannot choose, The past is past; But I would give it, dear, For what is here. 37- J&ve s World Hearthside LOVE S WORLD |F the year be at her Spring I neither know nor care; I have the bird-song of your speech, The warm rain of your hair. I question not if thrushes sing, If roses load the air; Beyond my heart I need not reach When all is summer there. I go not by the blue above, By grasses green or sere; Your silences, your sigh, your smile They mark my time o* year. Its own brave wonder- world has love; So fair it is, I fear Sometimes twill fade and go the while I look upon you, dear. / f^eef Thy ^Memory Hearthsick I KEEP THY MEMORY KEEP thy memory as the hill- hold tops The sun when light has left the valley way; With dream of thee I lengthen out the day: Nor dark does shut thee out, nor slumber fold. Day sinking, up the lovely stars are rolled ; The hill forgets the peerless sun in play Of feebler fires; but thou dost with me stay: My night, my midnight, wears the morning gold. I keep thy memory, and I count it truth That love, once come to men, shall never go; I keep thy memory, and the world is fair, Yea, beautiful all life with fadeless youth. Loving may be but dreaming. Even so, The heaven in my heart, I keep it there. 45- 977595 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. Ttf m General Library VB 12129