3 THE POEMS OF HENKY ABBEY FOURTH EDITION, ENLARGED NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY MCMIV Copyright, 1872, 1879, 1883, 1885, 1894, 1900, and 1904, BY HENRY ABBEY. PKEFACE. ALL the poems of mine that I care to retain are collected in this fourth edition, and are now reproduced as I wish them to stand. Some of them should not be here, per- haps ; but they have been copied and recited often and are beyond recall. In the third edition (1895) thirteen poems, beginning with the verses " Delay," were added to what comprised the first and second editions (1885). In the present vol- ume, the nine titles following " The Long Regret " are appended to the contents of the edition of 1895. Lest the dominant meter might become monotonous, it was varied in parts of "Karagwe," of "The City of De- cay," and in a few other instances. For knowledge of the fact on which is founded the bal- lad " A Man-of-War Hawk," I am indebted to chapter vi. of the " Memoirs of General William T. Sherman." H. A. 626523 CONTENTS. PAGE FACIEBAT 1 ALONG THE NILE 1 THE STATUE 3 TRAILING ARBUTUS 5 THE TROUBADOUR 6 WHILE THE DAYS GO BY 7 MAY IN KINGSTON 8 THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN 9 RECOMPENSE 11 DONALD v 12 IN THE VALLEY 13 Low TIDE 14 THE PATIENCE OF LIBERTY 15 MARY MAGDALENE 16 THE AGE OF GOOD 19 KARAGWE 20 THE TREE OF JULY 44 THE DRAWBRIDGE-KEEPER . . . . . . 45 THE EMIR'S CHARITY 47 THE BEDOUIN'S REBUKE 48 THE ROMAN SENTINEL 50 THE FRENCH MARSHAL 51 THE ARTIST'S PRAYER 52 THE SINGER'S ALMS 53 THE KING'S SACRIFICE 54 VI CONTENTS. THE CALIPH'S MAGNANIMITY 55 RALPH 57 HYMN FOR DECORATION DAY 62 THE AUSTRIAN HUSSAR 63 THE KING AND THE NAIAD 65 AGNES HATOT 67 BALLAD OF CONSOLATION 69 GUYOT OF MARSEILLES 74 ONTIORA 76 LIBERTY 79 THE PATRIOT'S COURAGE 93 THE PREACHER'S DOLE 95 THE STOWAWAY BOY 97 THE GALLEY-SLAVE 98 THE CITY OF SUCCESS 100 A SUIT OF ARMOR 121 A GUARDIAN ANGEL 122 AUTUMN BALLAD 125 THE RINGER'S VENGEANCE 126 IRAK 129 FOREKNOWLEDGE 139 SCIENCE AND THE SOUL 142 THE CITY OF DECAY 145 BELLEROPHON 180 THE HERMIT 183 A MORNING PASTORAL ........ 185 STORM 187 VANDERLYN . 187 DANDELION AND TIGER-LILY 190 THE GIANT SPIDER .... . . . . . 213 POPLICOLA 223 CONTENTS. vii THE EMPEROR'S MERCY 229 LOW LIVES WE LED OF CARE AND SlN 231 THE HOST'S HUMILITY 233 To RICHARD GRANT WHITE 236 THE PICTURE 238 FLOS MORTI 239 THE JEW'S PIETY 241 WINTER DAYS 243 IN HANGING GARDENS 244 ON A GREAT WARRIOR 245 PHILIPPA 24T THE FISHER-MAIDENS 250 BY HUDSON'S TIDE 251 INVOCATION TO THE SUN 254 DELAY 256 AZOAR 257 FAITH'S VISTA 259 A DREAM FROM SONG AND VAIN DESIRE . . . .259 GARNET-SHIRLS 261 WHAT DO WE PLANT ? 262 To BAFFLE TIME 263 A COLONIAL BALLAD 263 A SEA-FIGHT 266 GETTYSBURG . 271 ELEUSINIA 285 EMANUEL 288 THE LONG REGRET 289 HYMN 291 CLAY AND WEBSTER 291 VEERA 292 A MAN-OF-WAR HAWK . 311 viii CONTENTS. MORO 314 THE TRAITOB 315 MARECHAL-NlEL ROSES 337 To A BLUE HEPATICA 340 PHAETHON , . 341 THE POEMS OF HENRY ABBEY. THE POEMS OF HENRY ABBEY. FACIEBAT. As thoughts possess the fashion of the mood That gave them birth, so every deed we do Partakes of our inborn disquietude That spurns the old and reaches toward the new. The noblest works of human art and pride Show that their makers were not satisfied. For, looking down the ladder of our deeds, The rounds seem slender //all past work appears Unto the doer faulty : the heart bleeds, And pale Regret comes weltering in tears, To think how poor our best has been, how vain, Beside the excellence we would attain > : t . ALONG THE NILE. " TO G. W. C. WE journey up the storied Nile; The timeless water seems to smile; The slow and swarthy boatman sings ; The dahabeah spreads her wings ; We catch the breeze and sail away, Along the dawning of the day, Along the East, wherein the morn Of life and truth was gladly born. We sail along the past, and see Great Thebes with Karnak at her knee. ALONG THE NILE. To Isis and Osiris rise The prayers and smoke of sacrifice. 'Mid rites of priests and pomp of kings Again the seated Memnon sings. We watch the palms along the shore, And dream of what is here no more. The gliding Cleopatran Nile, With glossy windings, mile on mile, Suggests the asp: in coils compact It hisses at the cataract. Thence on again we sail, and strand Upon the yellow Nubian sand, Near Aboo Simbel's rock-hewn fane, Which smiles at time with calm disdain. Who cut the stone joy none can tell; He did his work, like Nature, well. At one with Nature, godlike, these Bland faces of great Barneses. T is seemly that the noble mind Somewhat of permanence may find, Whereon, with patience, may be wrought A clear expression of its thought. The artist labors while he may, But finds at best too brief the day; And, tho' his works outlast the time And nation that they make sublime, He feels and sees that Nature knows Nothing of time in what she does, But has a leisure infinite Wherein to do her work aright. The Nile of virtue overflows The fruitful lands through which it goes. It little cares for smile or slight, But in its deeds takes sole delight, THE STATUE. And in them puts its highest sense, Unmindful of the recompense ; Contented calmly to pursue Whatever work it finds to do. Howadji, with sweet dreams full fraught, We trace this Nile through human thought. Remains of ancient grandeur stand Along the shores on either hand. Like pyramids, against the skies Loom up the old philosophies, And the Greek king, who wandered long, Smiles from uncrumbling rock of song. THE STATUE. ALL bold, great actions that are seen too near, Look rash and foolish to unthinking eyes ; But at a distance they at once appear In their true grandeur: so let us be wise, And not too soon our neighbor's deed malign, Lest what seems crude should prove to be divine. In Athens, when all learning centered there, Men reared a column of surpassing height In honor of Minerva, wise and fair ; And on the top, which dwindled to the sight, A statue of the goddess was to stand, That wisdom might be known in all the land. And he who, with the beauty in his heart, Seeking in faultless work immortal youth, Would mold this statue with the finest art, Making the wintry marble glow with truth, 4 THE STATUE. Should gain the prize : two sculptors sought the fame The prize they craved was an enduring name. Alcamenes soon carved his little best ; But Phidias, beneath a dazzling thought That like a bright sun in a cloudless west Lighted his wide, great soul, with pure love wrought A statue, and its changeless face of stone With calm, far-sighted wisdom towered and shone. Then to be judged the labors were unveiled ; But, at the marble thought, that by degrees Of hardship Phidias cut, the people railed. "The lines are coarse, the form too large," said these; "And he who sends this rough result of haste Sends scorn, and offers insult to our taste." Alcamenes' praised work was lifted high Upon the column, ready for the prize ; But it appeared too small against the sky, And lacked proportion to uplooking eyes; So it was quickly lowered and put aside, And the scorned thought was mounted to be tried. Surprise swept o'er the faces of the crowd, And changed them as a sudden breeze may change A field of fickle grass, and long and loud The mingled shouts to see a sight so strange. The statue stood completed in its place, Each coarse line melted to a line of grace. TRAILING ARBUTUS. TRAILING ARBUTUS. IN spring when branches of woodbine Hung leafless over the rocks, And fleecy snow in the hollows Lay in unshepherded flocks, By the road where dead leaves rustled, Or damply matted the ground, While over me lifted the robin His honey'd passion of sound, I came upon trailing arbutus Blooming in modesty sweet, And gathered store of its riches Offered and spread at my feet. It grew under leaves, as if seeking No hint of itself to disclose, And out of its pink-white petals A delicate perfume rose. As faint as the fond remembrance Of joy that was only dreamed, And like a divine suggestion The scent of the flower seemed. I sought for love on the highway, For love unselfish and pure, And found it in good deeds blooming, Tho' often in haunts obscure. Often in leaves by the wayside, But touched with a heavenly glow, And with self-sacrifice fragrant The flowers of great love grow. THE TROUBADOUR. O lovely and lowly arbutus ! As year unto year succeeds, Be thou the laurel and emblem Of noble, unselfish deeds 1 THE TROUBADOUR. So many poets die ere they are known, I pray you, hear me kindly for their sake. Not of the harp, but of the soul alone, Is the deep music all true minstrels make: Hear my soul's music, and I will beguile, With string and song, your festival awhile. The stranger, looking on a merry scene Where unknown faces shine with love and joy, Feels that he is a stranger : on this green That fronts the castle, seeing your employ, My heart sank desolate; yet came I near, For welcome should be found at all good cheer. Provence my home, and fancy not, I pray, That in Provence no lords save Love abide ; For there Neglect, that, coming down the way, Or priest, or Levite takes the other side, Neglect, false neighbor, flung at me the scoff: " Honor is cold, but loves true worth far off ! " Love is the key-note of the universe The theme, the melody; though poorly decked, Masters, I ask but little of your purse, For love, not gold, is best to heal neglect. Love yields true fame when love is widely sown ; Bloom, flower of love! lest I, too, die unknown, WHILE THE DAYS GO BY. WHILE THE DAYS GO BY. I SHALL not say, our life is all in vain, For peace may cheer the desolated hearth; But well I know that, on this weary earth, Round each joy-island is a sea of pain And the days go by. We watch our hopes, far flickering in the night, Once radiant torches, lighted in our youth, To guide, through years, to some broad morn of truth ; But these go out and leave us with no light And the days go by. We see the clouds of summer go and come, And thirsty verdure praying them to give: We cry, " O Nature, tell us why we live ! " She smiles with beauty, but her lips are dumb And the days go by. Yet what are we? We breathe, we love, we cease: Too soon our little orbits change and fall: We are Fate's children, very tired ; and all Are homeless strangers, craving rest and peace And the days go by. I only ask to drink experience deep ; And, in the sad, sweet goblet of my years, To find love poured with all its smiles and tears, And quaffing this, I too shall sweetly sleep While the days go by. MAY IN KINGSTON. MAY IN KINGSTON. OUR old colonial town is new with May: The loving trees that clasp across the streets, Grow greener sleeved with bursting buds each day. Still this year's May the last year's May repeats ; Even the old stone houses half renew Their youth and beauty, as the old trees do. High over all, like some divine desire Above our lower thoughts of daily care, The gray, religious, heaven-touching spire Adds to the quiet of the spring-time air ; And over roofs the birds create a sea, That has no shore, of their May melody. Down through the lowlands now of lightest green, The undecided creek winds on its way. There the lithe willow bends with graceful mien, And sees its likeness in the depths all day ; While in the orchards, flushed with May's warm light, The bride-like fruit-trees dwell, attired in white. But yonder loom the mountains old and grand, That off, along dim distance, reach afar, And high and vast, against the sunset stand, A dreamy range, long and irregular A caravan that never passes by, Whose camel-backs are laden with the sky. So, like a caravan, our outlived years Loom on the introspective landscape seen Within the heart: and now, when May appears, And earth renews its vernal bloom and green, Wo but renew our longing, and we say : "Oh, would that life might ever be all May! THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. "Would that the bloom of youth that is so brief, The bloom, the May, the fullness ripe and fair Of cheek and limb, might fade not as the leaf; Would that the heart might not grow old with care, Nor love turn bitter, nor fond hope decay ; But soul and body lead a life of May ! " THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. THE POET. WHO art thou, mighty spirit, That, in the twilight deep, Makest a deeper twilight, Invading tired sleep? The new moon, like a jewel, Shines on thy forehead high, And shows thy wavy outline Along the mellow sky. Thy ample sides are shaggy With maple, oak, and pine ; Thy foot is shod with verdure ; Thy breath is more than wine. The brooklet is thy laughter ; The light cloud likes thy brow. Speak from thy breezy summit, Say, spirit, who art thou ? THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. I am the far-seen mountain Before thee towering high, Where, peak beyond peak reaching, Rise others such as I. Our dark-blue robes at twilight We draw about our forms ; 10 THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. Ours is the boundless quiet That dwells above the storms. I am a patient spirit That worked beneath the sea, And, from hills pre-existing, Built up the hills to be. To shifting sands I added Pebble and limy shell, And laid, in briny chasms, My deep foundations well. THE POET. O Spirit of the Mountain! O toiler deep of yore ! Vast is thy past behind thee, Thy future vast before. We call thee everlasting; Our life is like a day; Are time and tide against thee ? Must thou too pass away? THE SPIRIT OF THE MOUNTAIN. I see thy generation, Who wither as the rose, And feel the isolation That wraps unmoved repose. What through uncounted ages I wrought in sunless deeps, Now, with the suns of heaven, Its lofty vigils keeps ! Yet slowly, ever slowly, I melt again, to be RECOMPENSE. 11 Lost in my grand, gray lover, The wild, unresting sea. I cannot hear his moaning ; But know that, on the shore, He flings his spray-arms toward me, And calls me ever more. EECOMPENSE. IN spring, two robins from the southern lands Built a brown nest upon an unsafe limb Of the large tree that by my window stands, And every morn they praised God with a hymn ; And, when a certain season passed away, Five light-green eggs within the building lay. Above the rush and clatter of the street, Devotedly was guarded each green trust, And the round house was an abode most sweet, Roofed with expectant wings : better to rust With iron patience, than forego a hope, And pent life in the shells was felt to grope. But one dread day, before the sun went down, A cloud arose, a black and monstrous hand, That robbed the sunset of its golden crown, Filled the wild sky, and shook the frightened land. The portals of the storm were opened wide, And pealing thunder rolled on every side. Then was it some unchained, malicious gust Broke off the limb on which the nest was stayed, And to the ground the tender dwelling thrust, And wrecked its hapless store. The birds, dismayed, Were shrill with grief, and beat the moving air With wings whose frantic whir was like despair. 12 DONALD. At dawn, my friends who live across the way, Sent me the whisper that their child was dead ; And, when they led me where the body lay The free, winged spirit's shell, untimely shed And the wild cries of their distress I heard, My sympathy again was deeply stirred. Yet grief is hut a cloud that soon is past; Hither the mated robins came once more, And built, with cunning architecture, fast In the same tree beside my friendly door ; And in the soft-floored building could be seen Five sources of sweet music, new and clean. Time passed, and to the good home opposite Another babe was born, and all the love That was bereft that fierce and stormy night, Fell to the latter child as from above : And in the nest five yellow mouths one day Of their impatient hunger made display. DONALD. O WHITE, white, light moon, that sailest in the sky, Look down upon the whirling world, for thou art up so high, And tell me where my Donald is who sailed across the sea, And make a path of silver light to lead him back to me. O white, white, bright moon, thy cheek is coldly fair, A little cloud beside thee seems thy wildly floating hair ; And if thou would'st not have me grow all white and cold like thee, Go, make a mighty tide to draw my Donald back to me. IN THE VALLEY. 13 light, white, bright moon, that dost so fondly shine, There is not a lily in the world but hides its face from thine ; 1 too shall go and hide rny face close in the dust from thee, Unless with light and tide thou bring my Donald back to me. IN THE VALLEY. THIS is the place a grove of sighing pines ; Their fallen tassels thatch the roofs with brown, The narrow roofs, beneath whose small confines No dweller wakens : tho' the rains weep down, Tho' winds, the mighty mourners, by the spot Go unconsoled, the inmates waken not. Along the unbusy street my way I keep, Between the houses tenanted by death, And seek the place where lies my friend asleep, Alien to this the life of light and breath. And here his grave, where wild vines bloom and grope, Makes recollection seem as sweet as hope. For he, my friend, was gentle, wise and true ; Pleasant to him a beggar's thankful word; He spoke no ill of others, and he knew And loved clear brooks, green dells, and flower, and bird ; And now the flowers strive to return his love By growing here his humble grave above. But tears are more than flowers, and make for peace, Tho' God by grief is oft misunderstood. In tears I made complaint of his decease Whom I had loved, for he was young and good ; 14 LOW TIDE. I made complaint that He who rules on high Should suffer here the young and good to die. O Death ! sole warder at the gates of time, For ever more to those thy hinge swing wide Whose hope is flown, whose souls are stained with crime Give way to all who are dissatisfied With their recurrent days, and long to cease ; Swing wide for such, and to the old give peace. But close and bar thy black and mournful gates Against the good, the beautiful, the young, Whose lives the lamp of hope illuminates, Whose harp-like souls for highest strains are strung. O warder Death ! give way, swing wide for sin ; But close, and bar, and keep the good within. LOW TIDE. ALONG by the cliff I walk in silence, While over the blue of the waves below, The white birds gleam in the sun like silver And ships in the offing come and go, And the tide is low. Oh! it was here that in golden weather, Under the cliff and close to the sea, A pledge was given that made me master Of all that ever was dear to me; And the tide was low. Only a little year fled by after ; Wedded we came to our tryst once more, And saw the deep, like a bird imprisoned THE PATIENCE OF LIBERTY. 15 Beating its wings at its bars, the shore ; And the tide was low. Now I walk alone by the filmy breakers A voice is hushed I can never forget ; On my saddened sea dead calm has fallen, My ships are harbored, my sun is set ; And the tide is low. THE PATIENCE OF LIBERTY. As in a dream I saw her, where she stood, Calm, self-contained, the goddess of the free, Upon a height above the storm and flood, Looking far off on what was like the sea. Her gown was plain : her freedman's cap she wore, And, by her side, the rod magistral bore. The lofty heights whereon she dwells alone, To many hearts seem hard indeed to scale ; Wilder than those above the Yellowstone, With rugged paths swept by the leaden hail Wherewith Oppression, in his selfish rage, Drives back her worshipers in every age. Few are the ways that lead to where she stands Not filled with slain and hedged with bloody death , But now I saw her on the misty lands, And sweeter than the morning's was her breath, And radiant with glory shone her face, Kindly, sublime, and of immortal grace. " Thine is the land where all, at last, are free ; But is the freedom real or a dream ? " She asked ; " and dost thou not despair of me, 16 MARY MAGDALENE. To see my rights abused, wealth made supreme, Truth scorned by party zeal, and everywhere, Honors dishonored? dost thou not despair?" I knew that these, her questions, were a test, And from the fullness of my faith I said: " O Liberty ! there is not in my breast Harbor to moor thy doubt; the blood we shed, The bitter tears, the long, heart-rending pain, Were all for thee; they have not been in vain. " Often a public wrong a use fulfills, And, tho* not left unpunished, leads to good; I look to time to cure a thousand ills, And make thee widely, better understood. True love of thee will heal the wrongs we bear; I trust to time, and I do not despair ! " She stood with one hand on her eagle's head, The other pointed to an age to be. u Neither do I despair," she proudly said, " For I behold the future, and I see The shadow and the darkness overpast, My glad day come, and all men free at last ! " MARY MAGDALENE. ALL night I cried in agony Of grief and bitter loss, And wept for Him whom they had nailed Against the shameful cross. But in the morning, in the dark, Before the east was gray, I hastened to the sepulcher Wherein the body lay. MARY MAGDALENE. 17 The stone was rolled away I found ; And filled with fear and woe, I straight to His disciples ran, Thereof to let them know. I said, "The body of the Lord Is not within the tomb; For they have taken him away Unnoticed in the gloom. u Where have they laid him ? who can tell ? Alas ! we know not where." The words were slower than my tears To utter my despair. Then two disciples, coming forth, With hurried footsteps sped, Till, at the garden sepulcher, They found as I had said. They saw the door-stone rolled away, The empty tomb and wide, The linen face-cloth folded up And grave-clothes laid aside. The morn was cold; I heeded not, With sorrow wrapped about; Till both were gone to tell the rest, I stood and wept without. Then stooping down and looking in, I saw two angels there, Whose faces shone with love and joy, And were divinely fair. In white effulgence garmented, That showed the hewn rock's grain, 18 MAR Y MAGDALENE. One at the head, one at the feet, Sat where my Lord had lain. To look on them I was afraid, Their splendor was so great: They said to me, " Why weepest thou ? " In tones compassionate. "I weep," I said, "for that my Lord Is taken hence away, And that, alas! I do not know Where he is laid to-day." I sadly rose, and turning back, Beheld One standing by, And knew the lily of the dawn Unfolded in the sky. But in the pale, uncertain light, Too blind with tears to see, I thought it was the gardener There at the tomb with me. It soothed me much, the day before, To say it in my mind, That in a garden they had laid The Flower of all mankind. Until Thy fragrance fell on me, A thrall to sin was I ; Flower of Peace! O Flower of Grace! Thy love is liberty ! But they had taken him away, Who is of sin the price ; 1 held the gift that I had brought, Of perfume, oil, and spice. THE AGE OF GOOD. 19 I had not staid to braid my hair, And, in the early breeze, The long, black luster, damp with tears, Down fluttered to my knees. I dimly saw the gardener ; In grief I bowed my head ; " Why weepest thou ? whom seekest thou ? " He softly, gently said. " O sir, if thou have borne him hence," I eagerly replied, "Tell me where thou hast laid my Lord, Whom they have crucified, " And I will take him thence away ; Oh, tell me where he lies ! " " Mary ! " he said I knew the voice, And turned in glad surprise. For he was not the gardener That I advanced to greet ; I cried, "Rabboni!" joyfully, And knelt at Jesus' feet. THE AGE OF GOOD. I HAD a vision of mankind to be: I saw no grated windows, heard no roar From iron mouths of war on land or sea; Ambition broke the sway of peace no more. Out of the chaos of ill-will had come Cosmos, the Age of Good, Millennium! The lowly hero had of praise his meed, And loving-kindnesses joined roof to roof. 20 KARAGWE. The poor were few, and to their daily need Abundance ministered : men bore reproof ; On crags of self-denial sought to cull Rare flowers to deck their doors hospitable. The very bells rang out the Golden Rule, For hearts were loath to give their fellows pain. The man was chosen chief who, brave and cool, Was king in act and thought : wise power is plain And likes not pomp and show; he seemed to be The least in all that true democracy. O Thou, the Christ, the Sower of the seed, Pluck out the narrowness, the greed for pelf ; Pluck out all tares; the time let come, and speed, When each will love his neighbor as himself ! The hopes of man, our dreams of higher good, Are based on Thee ; we are Thy brotherhood,, KARAGWE. Because the sun hath looked upon me. THE SONG OF SOLOMON. AN African, thick-lipped and heavy-heeled, With woolly hair, large eyes, and even teeth, A forehead high, and beetling at the brows Enough to show a strong perceptive thought Ran out infallibly beyond his sight A savage with no knowledge we possess Of science, art, or books, or government A captive black bereft of rights, inthralled, Bought from a slaver off the Georgia coast, His life a thing of price with market rate ; Yet in the face of all, a brave, true man, Named Kara-gwe in token of his tribe. KARAGWE. 21 His buyer was the planter Dalton Earl, Of Valley Earl, an owner of broad lands, Whose wife, in some cold daybreak of the past, Had tarried with the silence and the night ; But parting, left him of their love a child. He named it Coralline: by sad waves tossed, She was a spray of coral fair to see, Found on the shore where death's impatient deep Hems in the narrow continent of life. IT. Each day brought health and strength to Karagwe ; Each day he worked where white the cotton grew, And every boll he picked had thought in it. Strange fancies, faced with ignorance and doubt, Came crowding, peering in his heathen mind, Like men who, gathered in some rich bazaar, Elbow to see arrive the caravan. All things were new and wonderful to him. What were the papers that his owner read ? What meant the black and ant-like characters? He found a leaf of them and gazed at it, Trying to understand their voiceless speech. . This, Dalton Earl with cloudy look beheld, And seized the print, commanding that the slave Have twenty lashes for this breach of law. Long on his sentence pondered Karagwe. Against the law ? Who then would make a law Decreeing knowledge to a few proud men, To others ignorance ? Surely not God ; The white-haired negro with a text had said That God loved justice, and was Friend to all. With blood replying redly to each stroke, With dark skin clinging ghastly to the whip, 22 KARAGWE. The slave bore up beneath, his punishment ; His heart, indignant, shaking his broad breast, Strong as the heart Hippodame bewailed, Which, with the cold, intrusive brass thrust through, Shook the Greek spear to its extremity. in. Henceforth the black man's energy, enforced By one opposing argument, the lash, Pursued a quest for knowledge, and secured, In paths familiar, pleasant wayside flowers. The old slave preacher knew the alphabet, And taught it, when he might, to Karagwe, Whose books were crumbs of paper printed on, Found here and there, strewed by the handless wind. He studied in the woods and near the falls That shoot in watery arrows from the cliff, Feathered with spray and barbed with hues of flint Once, looking up, he saw, upon the verge, Fair baby Coralline, that, laughing, leaned Over th' abyss to grasp a butterfly. Ere paused he panting on the dizzy height, A shriek rose shrill above the water's roar; The child had fallen, and a young quadroon Lay on the slanted summit, swooned away. The child had fallen, but was yet unharmed. The slave slipped down where ran a narrow ledge, And, reaching forth, caught fast the little frock, Whose folds were tangled in a bending shrub, And drew his frightened burden safely back. He told not of this peril he had braved, Nor spoke of any merit he possessed, Or any worthy act that he had done. KARAGWE. 23 IV. By being always when he could alone, By often wandering in the woods and fields, He came at last to live in revery. But little thought is found in revery, And aimless thought, for most is useless dream; And whoso dreams may never learn to act. The dreamer and the thinker are not kin. Sweet revery is like a little boat That idly drifts along a listless stream A painted boat, afloat without an oar. The negro preacher with the text had said That when men died the soul lived on and on : If so, of what material was the soul? The eyes could not behold it : might not then The viewless air be filled with living souls ? Not these alone, but other vague, strange forms Around us at all times could dwell unseen. If air was only matter rarefied, Why might not things still more impalpable Exist as well ? Whence came our countless thoughts ? They were not ours : he fancied that they all, Or good, or bad, were whispered to the soul: The bad were sleek suggestions from a shape With measureless black wings, that when it dared Set on the necks of men its cloven foot ; But, winged with light, a spirit eloquent Named Wisdom, with his son, Humanity, Whispered good thoughts, and told this groping heart, That sunset splendors were as naught beside The fadeless glory of a noble deed. He proudly dreamed that to no other mind Had been revealed these trite imaginings. Alas ! poor heart, how many have awoke, 24 KARAGWE. And found their newest thoughts not new but old, Their brightest fancies woven in the silk Of ancient poems, history or romance, And learning still elusive and far off! v. The young quadroon who fainted on the cliff Was Ruth; she, born a thrall to Dalton Earl, Was now a conscious rose of womanhood. She looked on Karagwe, and saw in him A man above the level of the slave, A palm-tree in a wide, neglected land. While both, at twilight, on a rustic seat Sat talking, laughing with that careless mirth In which their race forgot its chains and toil, A drunken overseer staggered up, And seeing a woman sitting in the dusk, Swayed toward her, caught her rudely by the arm, And, with an insult, strove to drag her forth. Ruth trembled, fawn-like ; but the negro rose, And, with his grasp, freed her the white man's hand Then in the face the coward struck the slave, Who neither struck him back nor uttered word. But to a whipping-post they bound the black, And many stripes his unhealed shoulders flayed. Stung by the wrong, but lifted with just scorn, That men who claimed to be superior Would thus degrade their unoffending kind, He wept at heart ; no groan, no cry of pain, Made audible their inhumanity. Quickly thereafter he was forced to go And toil beneath the summer's burning glare. KARAGWE. 25 In foaming basket, on his wounded back, Up a steep hillside to a cotton-gin, The long day through, he bore the tyrannous, Truth-smothering product of the slave-worked fields. VI. Ruth, in her household cares and restful hours, Thought of the one dark face and noble heart. He, when the labor of the day was done, Moved through the dusk, between the dewy leaves, And, softly as a shadow, climbed the wall, And waited in the garden, crouching down, Hidden and breathed on by abundant bloom, Hoping that she again might come that way. He saw her, by a window of the house, Pass and repass within, and heard her sing A wooing song of love and pity blent; But would not call to her, nor give a sign That he was near ; to see her was enough. Perhaps, if those she dwelt with knew he came To meet her in the garden, they would place On her some punishment, some sharp restraint, That she, tho' innocent, might have to bear. So he went back again to his low cot, And on his poor, straw pallet, dreamed of her As loyally, may be, as any prince, Lying asleep on down and broidery, Dreams of his queen. VII. Kuth was but tinged with shade. Her black, bright eyes, so proud and passionate, Showed that the deep and everlasting soul, Who through their liquid portals saw the world, 6 KARAGWE. Was mixed with elements of storm and gloom. For never bird of thought flew down her sky, But that the shadow of its flitting wing Passed in her eyes : like leaves along the brink, Above the depths her thick, long lashes hung. Such excellent adornment was her grace, That, tho' her gown was of the coarsest kind, Hers was apparel more desirable Than costly splendor woven by the loom. vm. A vast plantation, joining Dalton Earl's, Was held by Richard Wain, a hated man Hated of owned and hired and in the town. But where the river limited his lands Seclusion sweet was found by Karagwe. For there a noble temple, pillared, aisled, Toward heaven rose : aloft, the verdant roof With sun-gilt frieze and cornice, and beneath, A fragrant carpet and mossed seats of stone A grove of pines. Here, hidden in a tree, Was treasure kept a Bible small and worn. From it the past arose before the slave; The folk were vague, and their procession seemed Like figures moving slowly in the dusk ; Yet One there was, who, center'd in great light, Stood out, determinate, and full of life: A pure, surpassing face, with silken beard; Long, golden hair that waved about the neck ; Mild eyes of deepest azure, thoughtful eyes Serene with knowledge of eternity : A patient man, beneficent, divine, Friend to the poor, and Messenger of love. KARAGWE. 27 IX. While walking near the house of Richard Wain, The slave beheld a paper in the grass, Whose sheets were closely written, signed and sealed. Thus came the chance for which he oft had sought, To learn the older letters of the pen. That night the writing, wrapped about his book, Lay nestled in the hollow, up a tree. There once, indeed, a wedded pair had been, That with white softness lined the balmy place, And hatched within it callow occupants ; These being fledged, all, singing, flew away. "What token shall I give," thought Karagwe, "That she may know from it my love for her, And I learn whether love has answered mine ? " A straying bee, of sweet and golden wealth, He caught and killed, and carried it to Ruth. " I bring you, Ruth, a dead bee for a sign ; For if to-day you wear it in your hair, When once again you come to walk this path, I thus shall find that you are mine alone, Content to be my wife, and share my lot, And let me with you toil like bee with bee; But if you do not wear it, I shall care No more for anything ; but waste my life, A bee without a queen." Ruth said no word; But when she went that way at one-starred dusk, The dead bee glimmered in her dusky hair. And meeting him for whom the sign was meant, She laid her hand in his, and fondly smiled. 28 KARAGWE. XI. Came, trilling wildly sweet, a bird-like voice, When Richard Wain next day went riding by, And caught, mid foliage, a glimpse of Ruth A momentary picture framed in flowers. " The prize I covet most is near," he said ; " She shall be mine to-morrow, weep who may ! ' Returning on his over-driven horse, When shadows slowly lengthened from the west, He near the house dismounted, fastened rein, Strode to a threshold, asked for Dalton Earl, And told him for what chattel he had come. The maid was not for sale, the owner said. " You talk at random now," said Richard Wain ; "You know I hold the deed of all your lands. And if it be, you choose to keep the wench, Your lands shall be for sale, at sheriff's sale ! " Pale turned the haughty planter, Dalton Earl, And knowing, for his trouble came of it, Whose blood made blue the fiery veins of Ruth, Fixed blindly on a price immoderate. " To-morrow I shall come," said Richard Wain, "And take the girl, and pay the price I choose." When Dalton Earl had told the thrall her fate, She swooned, and to the floor fell heavily. Recovering, she rose upon her knees, And begged of him that she might still remain. At this he told her how the lands were held, And, if she went not, these would all be sold. " Then let the lands be sold, and sold again ; If his, they are not yours. What good will come If I do go to him ? Then all were his ; And I have given my hand to Karagwe. Oh, it will break my heart to go away ! " KARAGWE. 29 XII. To Karagwe's low roof Ruth went that night, And said in loud, wild words the evil news, She must be slave and worse to Richard Wain, The negro sadly strove to soothe her woe With consolation from the book he read; For, to the souls of black and Afric slaves, The gospel came unhindered by a doubt; And there accepted freely, being free, Was rapturous, emotional delight. Masking the dreary face of hopelessness With gospel cheer, the negro talked with Ruth, While walking toward the home of Dalton Earl. Glory of night, the restless moon was like A pale cloud-sheeted ghost of a dead day, Gliding abroad to ease the ache of hell; For heavy sorrow, disappointment deep, Sickens the heart not only, but the eyes, Transforming nature to ill shapes of gloom. XIII. A troublous morning came to Valley Earl, And Ruth was sold away from him she loved. The sad day died, and in its vaulted tomb The Afric lolled upon the river's bank, His mind a flowing tide that wandered back Along the course and valley of the past. It eddied round his loss as round a rock, And roused the snake, revenge, that lay thereon. Sprang up the slave, and wildly beat his breast, His eyes enkindled with an evil fire. Then came some memory of holy writ, And in the depths the serpent disappeared. The negro mourned that justice seldom was ; 30 KARAGWE. Yet knew that in God's hand the scales were set, And, tho' His poor down-trodden waited long, They waited surely for the balancing. A step was heard, and Karagwe heheld, By aid of ghostly moonlight, Richard Wain; Behind, another followed stealthily, With a drawn dagger in his lifted hand. The steel, as if it feared a deed of blood. Gleamed to the slave its dread intelligence. He followed swift the weaponed follower, He grasped the hand, he wrenched the blade away, And stood before the planter, Dalton Earl ! " Forgive," he said. " Forgiveness is a slave ; She has no pride nor hate ; she does no harm ; For she is light of heart, and meekly good, And patient when the lash of anger smites." Rebuked, the master stood before the slave ; And Richard Wain, who sneered when he was told That Ruth and Karagwe had plighted troth, Went on unscathed, saved by the man he scorned. Thus Dalton Earl : "I thank you for this act, Thwarting a bad intent ; yet I had cause To take the sullied life of Richard Wain. He drugged the wine he gave me at his house, And knew the deed of my plantation there To be my only title : while I slept He, shameless, stole it from me : when I woke, He feigned that I had staked the deed and lost. For this and more I hate him : to forgive Implies the wronger seeks to be forgiven." XIV. Like a great thought that full expression finds, In happy buds mild spring found utterance. KARAGWE. 31 But never bud or bloom so fresh or fair As Coralline, daughter of Dalton Earl. It was in spring, they say, that Stanley Thane Came from his northern home and met this May, This Coralline, the joy of Valley Earl. XV. Far up, with sapphire over and below, Blithe birds flew northward, singing as they flew, And Love flew southward, sighing all the way. They met him flying, heard him sighing so. " Whither away ? " they musically asked, " Whither away ? and why should Love be sad ? " The voice o' the words of Love is soft and sweet: " Southward I go ; but I shall soon return, And help you in your art, and with you bide. You will not flout me, scout me, make me sigh! O wingers, kindly singers, fare you well ! " XVI. Worthy a maiden's love was Stanley Thane. Riches were his, and he had deeply quaffed The tonic spring of knowledge practical. Along his veins ran potent, old-world life, Strong English, Huguenot, and Celtic blood All by the climate blended and subdued To that distinctive and peculiar kind Which is American. Dark eyes he had, Straight, deep-black hair, firm, fair rose-tinted flesh, And the full bloom of evanescent youth. High thoughts and purposes, like mountain chains Linked and white-peaked, rose in his pleasant mind, That was as clear and fresh as air at morn. Hating oppression and intolerance, 32 KARAGWE. Courageous, generous, but firm of will, Of the strong North he was a character, A stamp, a type incarnate in a man. xvn. Seeing her fair, he boldly kissed her hand ; He kissed the hand of southern Coralline. He saw that she was stately, lithe and tall, And deemed her proud, but thought her beautiful. What if the air was fragrant, honey-sweet, With the magnificent magnolia's breath? What if the odorous white avenue, From house to highway, with magnolia trees Graceful and tall, was hedged and garlanded? He heeded not : the dear, chief flower of all, The one superb magnolia of a life, Thrilled at his touch, as with enraptured lips He kissed the snowy petal of her hand. He galloped with her through the idle town, He wandered with her in the orange groves, And watched, beside the falls, the busy brook That seemed a maid, who, sitting at a loom, Wove misty lace to decorate the rocks. XVIII. Long on the writing hidden in a nest Pondered the slave, and found it was the deed ! Then conscience, bold and prompt to tell the truth, Upspoke, and said he had no right to it. Yet if he gave the deed to Dalton Earl, Unjustly Richard Wain might claim it still. He thought of Ruth as of the loved who rest, Mourning for her that she to him was dead, KARAGWE. 33 And once he gathered wild-flowers for regret, And placed them where they might be found by her, As if he somehow laid them on her grave. XIX. When Richard Wain knew he had lost the deed He feigned he won at cards from Dalton Earl, Rage and chagrin were ready at their gate, Like pent-up water, to surpass the race, And turn that mill-wheel voluble, his tongue. If he mistrusted Dalton Earl the thief, His threat's effect, Ruth's sale, disproved the thought. Lest he might lose the power he wished to keep, The waters rushed not, and the wheel was dumb To tell his secret that the deed was lost. A skiff shot out from under-reaching shore, And Stanley Thane, with stately Coralline, Sailed down the river through a peaceful vale. About them hung the shadow of the earth ; Beneath them flowed the deep and glossy gloom Emblazoned by the inaccessible stars. Already there were portents of dread war, For Slavery, a dragon fell and foul, Opposed the youthful knight of Liberty. But Coralline, within the dragon's spell, Was mute to what of shame the shape had done, And praised its hateful life with heated words. Then Stanley, loath to weakly hold his peace And hear a wrong defended, said, " O South, Your chiefs, who claim the name of democrat, Pervert the sense of that which they profess. They democrats ! They do not understand 34 KARAGWE. The baby letters of democracy; For they deny that all should govern all, And will to make men slaves and ignorant. But God is just ; He knows nor white nor black ; If war must come, the shackles, cleft amain By the uncompromising sword, shall fall, And the whole people of the land be free." Seeming a dull machine that worked the boat, The dusky oarsman, silent Karagwe, Heard the winged words and caught them in his heart. But Coralline, like an idolatrous And cruel priestess of an ancient fane, Who, proud of altars and of sacrifice, Heard her base god dishonored, rose enraged; She scorned the Northern thought of Stanley Thane, She wished it had not been their fate to meet. "If that you mean," he said, "then let us part, And let us hope we shall not meet again. Farewell ! for I will see you never more." The boat was near the shore ; he sprang to it, And left her standing darkly in the prow Her pride engaged against a host of tears ; This Paris of her high heart's Ilios roused To drive the Greeks back to the salty sea. Oh, far apart as east and west are they Whom pride divides ! They wander aimlessly ; They err ; their hope is dead ; their hearts are cold. O pride ! O foolish, shallow ! that is stayed On small and petty points, on nettles, thorns Oh, leave us, and go hence, that in thy room May bloom the violet, humility! XXI. A mighty angel, with triumphant face, The torch and sword of vengeance in his hands, KARAGWE. 35 Swept overhead with trailing, crimson robe, And roused a people with the cry of war ! Wake ! for the night has passed, and dawn is come ! Sons of the new world, wake ! turn scythes to swords. Wake, busy town ! and quiet village, wake ! The shame that is nourished stings to the death. Voices of viol and flute are as dreams ; But bugle and drum sound a call to arms! The pulse of the guns, in a prostrate time, Is the heart-beat fresh of a nobler day. Oh, strike, tho* you die, if you make men free ! Wake ! there is war with the South in the south. There is war begun, and who knows the end? xxn. O rash wife, South ! Thy true husband, the North, Loveth thee yet, though thou wentest astray. In Truth's great court, where thy trial was held, To thee was granted no bill of divorce. Thy child, misshapen, and proud of its shame, Was not the child of thy husband, the North. It has led thee into the mire, and raised To thy famished lips the cup of despair; It were better far such a child should die. xxin. When, like a soldier marching to his death, A year of battle passed with measured step And took its chill decease, dark Richard Wain Prepared for his departure to the war. To-morrow he would go, and in the night He idly sat in his forbidding house ; Thinking, he drowsed ; his chin couched on his breast ; A dim lamp wrought at shadows on the walls. 36 KARAGWE. Slowly the sash was raised behind his chair. Perhaps he slept ; he did not heed the sound ; But Karagwe sprang in and faced his foe, And held a long knife up and brandished it, Saying, "As surely as you call or move, Your life will not be worth a blade of grass; But if you do not call, and sign the words That I have written on a paper here, No harm will come, and I shall go away." He drew the paper forth ; the planter read : " By virtue of this writing, I disclaim Title or right or any interest In Dalton Earl's plantation joining mine." "Why, this I surely will not sign," he said. "You might have asked me to give up your Ruth, And I should not have minded ; but your game Lies deeper than a check upon the queen." " Sign ! " cried the slave ; and at the name of Ruth A sudden madness leaped along his nerves, Like a blown flame among dry prairie grass: " Sign ! for unless you sign this writing now,' You shall not live ; now promise me to sign ! " He fiercely caught the planter by the throat, Starting his quailing eyes : " Now will you sign or not ? You have ten seconds more to make your choice." " Give me the paper then, and I will sign." The name was written, and the negro went ; But not an hour had passed before the hounds Of Richard Wain and Dalton Earl were slipped, And scenting on the- track of his escape. xxrv. The slave ran swiftly to the hollow tree ; There left the paper signed by Richard Wain, KARAG WE. 37 Folding it in the deed ; then took his book, And up a tireless road fled on and on, Until he reached the border of a marsh. The night was dark, but darker still the clouds That loomed along the rim where day had gone. The wind blew cold, and, sighing, hasted by, Escaping, like a slave, the hound-like clouds Whose thunder-barking sounded deep and far. Along the dark the bay came dismally, Of savage dogs set on the negro's track Swift, monstrous blood-hounds trained to fight with men. He knew a swamp-path safe for hoof or foot, And even in the blackness followed it, Finding a covert hummock, where a hut, Built up of logs by some poor fugitive, Held a rude thatch against the sun and rain. xxv. Men over-estimate what they desire Through ignorance of it : credulous Pursuit Thinks his betrothed, Possession, is divine ; J$ut finds she is a mortal like himself. lAjid in the hut, to which the slave was tracked, That night was painted, with a facile brush, On thin, unwoven canvas of the gloom, Wild visions of a freedom unrestrained. For long the slave had thought of Liberty, And worshiped her, as in that elder time A tyrant's subjects worshiped, praying her That she would not delay, but hasten forth, And bridge the gulf between the rich and poor By making knowledge paramount to wealth, Freeing the common from their ignorance, And lifting up the worthy of the world. 38 KARAGWE. Oh, strange, that in our age, and in a land Where liberty was laid the corner-stone, A slave, perforce, should be obliged to dream And dote on freedom, like the poor oppressed Who lived and hoped long centuries ago ! And slavery to this slave was like a fruit, A bitter and offensive fruit to taste, The fruit of wrong ingrafted upon greed, Foul, pulp and pit, with rank and poison sin. Yet tho' this fruit was bitter to the core, Many there were who died for love of it. Oh, many they who listened through long nights To hear a footstep that would never come! There 's scarce a flower along the border blown? From Lookout Mountain to the Chesapeake, But has in it the blood of North and South. XXVI. When sleep left Karagwe, above the marsh The flush and whisper of the morning went. Then, when he would have ventured from the door, A large, black blood-hound rose, and licked his hand* The dog was Dalton Earl's, and did not know That men were bought and sold for current coin ; He only knew with joy he saw his friend. The thrall went back, and on a paper wrote : "Your dog has harmed me not, tho' sent for harm. I never wronged you ; I have served you well. I risked the life of him who wronged us both, To do you one great service for the last. You made me slave, you sold my plighted wife, And now you set your blood-hounds on my track, Because I flee to freedom that is mine. KARA OWE. 39 "But tho' you wrong me, I repay with good; For in the nested hollow of a pine, In the high grove, on ground of Richard Wain, Is the lost deed that holds your house and lands." The paper fastened at the hound's strong neck, The negro bade him go, and forth he leaped ; And Dalton Earl read what the slave had sent, And found his deed safe hidden in the tree, And that day made an end of all pursuit. xxvn. Long wandered Karagwe to find the North, Fed from the wild abundance that the sun Ripens on southern soil: above him leaned Tall trees with bowers beneath their wrestling arms, Fringed with dependent moss, and overrun By thorn-speared and leaf-shielded Vandal vines ; Below, the water, murky with decay, Stirred with a sluggish ripple, where had plunged The wrinkle-throated alligator, clad In the dark coat of his impervious mail. Like mermaids with white faces to the sky, An idle bevy floating on their backs, The water-lilies lay, and over them Birds of gay song and wing in sunshine flashed, Or poised in thickets of lush emerald, Where shrub and vine and frondage intertwined Inextricably as the affairs of men. This freedom to excess in mindless things Appeared a happy omen to the slave, That henceforth he should have such liberty. XXVIII. But now across his solitary path A blue, wide, ebbing river sought the sea. 40 KARAGWE. Two heavy logs he launched and firmly withed, Then, with a pole for help if he should need, Cast off, and drifted slowly down the stream. Thus for long days he drifted, eating not, Save of the berries growing near the shore. Once he enlarged the uncomfortable raft, And set a bushy sapling for a sail. The wind and tide agreed, and hasted him Along the sparkling way, till he, unharmed, Passed by at night a hushed, street-lighted town, And saw at morn the hot sun leave the sea. A red buoy tossed upon the nearer waves, As if it were the ocean's joyful heart, Or his own heart upon a sea of hope ; And ships were in the offing, sailing on Like the vague ships that with our hopes and fears Put from their havens to return no more. Ere night he hailed a vessel, gained the deck, And found he was with friends, and on his way To Freedom, guided by her fixed North Star. But he, without a dread, had left the land, And sailed away, to have his wish or die; Thus ever he who seeks his heart's desire Sets forward on a sea unknown and large, And leaves behind the steadfast, certain shore. The rooted trees exclaim, "The fool will go. There is no land beyond, for all is sea, And it is wide and deep: he must go down, And the wet turbulence will bury him." He takes no heed ; the trees are left behind ; He sails away, and in his dream beholds, With peaceful harbor, under pleasant sky, The city of Delight, his heart's desire. KARAGWE. 41 XXIX. Three years of war, three years of blood and tears, And Richard Wain in front of battle fell. There, grim with powder, he led on his men, With cheer or oath, and gory, waving sword As if, through him, the spirit of his cause, Foul Slavery, expressed itself, and fought With desperation for its ending life. xxx. Forth in the garden dewy and perfumed, Walked Coralline and Ruth, sad and alone ; For Ruth was owned again by Dalton Earl. Tho' two leal hearts, when severed by weak pride, Dwell far apart, there is a sting remains That rankles, and the melancholy years Of separation are more sad than death. Or look or smile to Coralline recurred Dreaming of Stanley Thane : of him she thought Regretfully, with tender trust : for him Her love welled up like water in a spring, From which the more she gave the more was left, And purer for the gift : down from the north Came tidings of his daring; and the war And the deep gloom of absence were as night, And he the lovable, exalted star Whose image was reflected in her soul As in a shadowed lake. " From day to day I grieve," said Coralline, "that Stanley Thane So rashly left me, and that he should think My hasty words were said with earnest thought. Would that a bird might fly to him and sing : 42 KARAGWE. 'She loves you, Stanley Thane she loves you still.'" Ruth answered quickly, " You shall have your wish ; For I will go to him who once was here, And say to him the words that you have said." Then on the bosom of the wronged quadroon The other fell with sisterly embrace, And kissed her through her tears, and promised her Her freedom, if she went to Stanley Thane. That night one stole a knife, and sharpened it, Sipping the poison sweetness of revenge. Those that she loved were now all lost to her ; Her child was sold away, she knew not where. She thought of Stanley Thane, and felt regret That he should be the victim she must strike ; But wished that Coralline might look on him After this violent knife had wrought his death. Alike unmindful of all joy and woe, Insensible to both, the day-god rose From the black valley of unmeasured space To the fresh summits of the waking world. Then crazed Ruth started forth from Valley Earl. For weary days she journeyed toward the north, And reached the camp she sought : cheating the guard, She in the night discovered Stanley's tent, And, stealing in, bent over where he slept. He dreamed of Coralline, and, sighing, said, " Dear Coralline, forgive me. I was rash." Then Ruth cried to the sleeper, " She forgives ; She loves you, Stanley Thane she loves you still ! " At this he woke, and saw the woman there, And saw the weapon held above his breast; But horror at the mockery of her words, Mixed with delight to find them not a dream, KARAGWE. 43 Bound voice and limb as by a wizard's spell. Then a swift hand passed in and seized the wrist, And snatched the knife ; and mild-faced Karagwe Confronted Ruth, and turned her rage to tears. XXXII. But afterward, Ruth sickened in the camp. While she lay dying, Karagwe stood near, And holding her thin hand, he sadly said : " Farewell, farewell ! Forgive the wrongs you had, That you may be forgiven in the skies. I pray that you will there find happiness, That God will give you rest and joyful morn After the toilsome night of these sad years." Ruth faintly said : " 'T is sad to die, O friend ; But it is not so hard when those we love Are near us, and we see their grief, and feel We shall not be forgotten while they live. I know that Coralline with Stanley Thane Will wed ere long ; that they will dwell in peace, With loving children round them, and be glad To be alive, and live their days of joy. But you and I were slaves ; we could not wed. Some men are born to laughter and delight, To rule and always lightly have their will; But more are born to sorrow and to tears, To serve and have for wages scorn and blame. But blame and scorn and sorrow fell to Him Who can forgive my dark intent of wrong." She rose, sitting upon the couch, reposed Her head against the breast of Karagwe, And pointed toward the east's forerunning gray ; Then saying, with bright eyes, " See ! morning comes." Then, " 'T is morning ! " and " I love you. Oh, fare- well!" Breathed out her spirit gently in his arms. 44 THE TREE OF JULY. And at Fort Pillow, when the iron storm Had gone against us, and the rebels killed Five hundred men who had laid down their arms, Brave Karagwe was shot, and with a prayer For his whole country, he fell back and died. XXXIII. O Thou, to whom is neither large nor small, In whom we trust, and, trusting, feel that Thou Allowest wrong that vaster good may come, Accept the sacrifice of boisterous war, To be the red atonement for our sin. Henceforth let not the rocky echoes roll The beaten summons from our vales of peace. Bring Thou true peace, and make our Union strong, And make us one in heart as one in name, And let forgiveness heal the cannon's hurt. For we have battled not against the South, We battled for the South, to set her free ; She fought against herself in battling us. Oh, let there be or South or North no more, But a free people, generous to share Their precious liberty with all mankind ! 1876. THE TREE OF JULY. WHEN vulture and falcon dash down on their prey, And the burden is great and oppresses the day ; When the dragon-fly darts like a spear that is thrown. And swiftly the reaper sets blade to his own, Escape to the wildwood, and come and be free, And dwell in the shade of our wide-spreading tree ; The tree like the chestnut, so strong and so high, That bursts into blossom in fervid July. THE DRAWBRIDGE-KEEPER. 45 The blossoms are spun with that seeming delay That is wedded to fate, and is prompt to a day. The blossoms are golden, and cover the tree With clustering promises tasseled and free. The burr's round resistance may bristle, in sooth, But crisp are the triplets and sweet to the tooth. The tree spreads abroad, bringing love from the sky, And is dressed in its best for the bridegroom, July. O bride of all brides in the love of the free! And tree of all trees as a sheltering tree, Thy fibers are knit like the thews of wide wings ; Thy talon-like root to the ribbed earth clings ; In the journey of man thou art rest by the way; To thy shade bring the world from the heat of the day ! O liberty tree ! thou shalt spread as the sky, And bloom in all lands in some happy July ! THE DRAWBRIDGE-KEEPER. DRECKEB, a drawbridge-keeper, opened wide The dangerous gate to let the vessel through ; His little son was standing by his side, Above Passaic River deep and blue, While in the distance, like a moan of pain, Was heard the whistle of the coming train. At once brave Drecker worked to swing it back, The gate-like bridge that seems a gate of death ; Nearer and nearer, on the slender track, Came the swift engine, puffing its white breath. Then, with a shriek, the loving father saw His darling boy fall headlong from the draw ! 46 THE DRAWBRIDGE-KEEPER. Either at once down in the stream to spring And save his son, and let the living freight Rush on to death, or to his work to cling, And leave his boy unhelped to meet his fate Which should he do ? Were you as he was tried, Would not your love outweigh all else beside ? And yet the child to him was full as dear As yours may be to you the light of eyes, A presence like a brighter atmosphere, The household star that shone in love's mild skies Yet, side by side with duty stern and grim, Even his child became as naught to him. For Drecker, being great of soul and true, Held to his work, and did not aid his boy That in the deep, dark water, sank from view, Then from the father's life went forth all joy; But, as he fell back pallid of his pain, Across the bridge in safety shot the train. And yet the man was poor, and in his breast/ Flowed no ancestral blood of king or lord ; True greatness needs no title and no crest To win from men just honor and reward ; Nobility is not of rank, but mind, And is inborn and common in our kind. He is most noble whose humanity Is least corrupted : to be just and good The birthright of the lowest born may be. Say what we can, we are one brotherhood, And, rich or poor, or famous or unknown, True hearts are noble, and true hearts alone* TEE EMIR'S CHARITY. 47 THE EMIR'S CHARITY. IN Samarcand, the nether Morning Star, Lived a Vizier, the public treasurer, Who did not wed until the treasurer, Time, Had counted down to him his fortieth year. His loving bride was younger by a score Of such good coin, and beautiful as dawn. Mismatched the twain, for she was generous, And sent no beggar empty from the house; Yet gave her own, nor touched her husband's gold. But he, the treasurer, was miserly, And tightened up the purse-string as he said, " I too must beg unless you cease to give." Disguised, the great Emir once went that way, And, hearing of the kindness of the wife, Had will to test it : knocking at the door, No wife appeared ; but in her stead, in wrath, The close Vizier, cursing the crust-fed churl That dared to seek for dole and break his peace ; Then stroked his beard, and swore by Tamerlane, By the silk cerements and the sacred tomb, That Charity herself should cease to be. " Hold ! " quoth the beggar ; " say not so of her. I pray rather that on the common street, Yea, on the crowded corners of the street, She yet will stand, this virgin, Charity, And, hearing her true words, the people there Will all espouse her cause, and make the world Mount up and spurn the level of to-day. Despise no man who asks alms at thy door ; A precious diamond may be meanly set. It does not soil the angels' holy wings 48 THE BEDOUIWS REBUKE. To hover round the poor. I doff disguise! Behold! I am Emir! And yet, to prove That I am not devoid of charity, Still keep the boon of office that I gave." Then to the threshold came the generous spouse, And saw her husband kneeling on the step, And knew at once the good and great Emir. She smiled on him, and kissed his gentle hand. From that day forth, the alms-folk testify, The purse-string was not tightened round the gold; But ever more the wife, with cheering smiles, Doled bountifully to the grateful pocr, Until, at last, when at the door of heaven She knocked, herself a beggar, Allah smiled And gave her alms of everlasting peace. THE BEDOUIN'S REBUKE. NEEBEB, a Bedouin of noble heart, That from good men received of praise the fee, Owned a brave horse, with which he would not part, Because from death he once had run him free. The man and beast were friends, and it is vice To sell our friend or friendship for a price. The horse was black and strong, his step was proud, His neck was arched, his ears alert for sound, His speed the tempest's, and his mane a cloud ; His hoofs woke thunder from the desert ground; His eyes flashed lightning from their inmost core : Victor of Distance was the name he bore. Daher, a Bedouin of another tribe, Had often wished to buy this famous beast ; THE BEDOUIN'S REBUKE. 49 And as he smoked, and heard his friends describe Its comely parts and powers, the wish increased ; But Neeber said the horse should not be sold, Tho' offered wealth in camels and in gold. Then Daher put on rags, and stained his face, And went to wait for Neeber, seeming lame. Him soon he saw approach at daring pace Upon the envied horse, and as he came He cried to him : " For three days on this spot Have I lain starving pity me my lot." And, seeing Neeber stop, said on, "I die My strength is gone ! " Down Neeber sprang, And raised him gently with a pitying sigh, And set him on his horse : a laugh outrang, And Daher shouted as he plunged his spurs, "Fair price refused, one sells at last for burrs." " Stay ! stay ! " cried Neeber ; Daher paused to hear : "Since God has willed that you my beast should take, I wish you joy; but tell no man, for fear Another who was really starved might make Appeal in vain; for some, remembering me, Would fail to do an act of charity." Sharper than steel to Daher seemed remorse! He quickly turned, and, springing to the ground, With head bowed low brought Neeber back his horse; Then, falling on his peaceful breast, he wound His arms about his neck to make amends, And ever afterward the two were friends. 50 THE ROMAN SENTINEL, THE ROMAN SENTINEL. DEATH, or dishonor, which is best to taste ? A Roman sentinel, with courage high, When God's hot anger laid Pompeii waste, Answered the question, and resolved to die. His duty was upon his post to bide Till the relief came, let what might betide- He stood forgotten by the fleeing guard, Choosing that part which is the bitterest still His face with its fixed purpose cold and hard, Cut in the resolute granite of his will. "Better," he said, "to die than live in shame; Death wreathes fresh flowers round a brave man's name." Life is the wave's deep whisper on the shore Of a great sea beyond : the soldier saw That day the light in broad sails hoisted o'er The drifting boat of dawn; nor dreamed the flaw, The puff called death, would blow him with them by, Out to the boundless sea beyond the sky. He watched the quaking mountain's fire-gashed cheeks, And saw come up the sand's entombing shower; The storm darts out its red tongue when it speaks, And fierce Vesuvius, in that wild hour, Put forth its tongue of flame, and spoke the word Of hatred to the city from the Lord. The gloom of seventeen centuries skulked away, And standing in a marble niche was found A skeleton in armor all decay ; The soulless skull was by a helmet crowned, Cleaving thereto with mingled rust and sand, And a long spear was in the crumbling hand. THE FRENCH MARSHAL. 51 Pompeii from its burial upsprings Paved streets with pillared temples on each side, Baths, houses, paintings, monuments of kings. But the arched gate whereat the sentry died, The rusted spear, and helmet with no crest, Are better far to see than all the rest. O heart, whatever lot to thee God gives, Be strong, and swerve not from a blameless way ; Dishonor hurts the soul that ever lives, Death hurts the body that is kin with clay. Though Duty's face is stern, her path is best: They sweetly sleep who die upon her breast. THE FRENCH MARSHAL. MACMAHON up the street of Paris came, In triumph from Magenta; every one Had heard and praised the fearless marshal's name, And gloried in the deeds that he had done. Crowds packed the walks, and at each pane of glass A face was set to see the hero pass. Grand music lifted in the morning air Its eloquent voice ; loud-mouthed bells were rung ; Guns boomed till echoes welcomed everywhere ; On buildings and in streets the French flag hung, And, of a breeze, like fortune, made the toy, Thrilled every heart with patriotic joy. But while the marshal up the street made way, There came a little girl clothed all in white, Bringing in happy hands a large bouquet ; Her flower-sweet face seemed fragrant with delight. Well pleased, the soldier, dark and fierce at need, Raised up the cl^ild before him on his steed. 52 THE ARTIST'S PRAYER. The pearly necklace of her loving arms She bound on him, and laid her spring-like head Against the autumn of his cheek, with charms Of smile and mien ; while to his shoulder fled Her gold, loose hair with flowers like jewels set, And made thereon a wondrous epaulet. He seemed more like an angel than a man, As, father-like, he paid back each caress ; Better than all his deeds in war's red van Appeared this simple act of tenderness. The people cried " Huzza ! " and did not pause Until the town seemed shaken with applause. THE ARTIST'S PRAYER. WASHINGTON ALLSTON, in a foreign land, Went to his studio, and knelt to pray : Starving and weak, he bowed, hand clasped to hand, With no more strength to keep the wolf at bay. Conscience, whose still, small voice grows loud and clear, Had risen in his heart now sad and drear. Within the vast cathedral of the night, The stars, the altar-lamps, their thanks outshine ; Yet he, the artist, from whose soul shone bright The nobler fire of genius, God's divine And greatest gift to man, had never cast One ray of gratitude for mercies past. "I have been most ungrateful, Lord," he said. " Bound up in self, I have forgotten Thee ; Yet now, I pray, vouchsafe me this day's bread, And I will pay of my poor thanks the fee, THE SINGER'S ALMS. 53 As I now pay for favors heretofore " The irreverent knocker clanked upon the door. Marquis of Stafford entered. "Please to say Who bought," he said, " your Angel Uriel.'" "It is not sold." "Not sold! Then let me pay The price you ask for it." So it befell That friendship followed, and the artist came To better days, and had the use of fame. THE SINGER'S ALMS. IN Lyons, in the mart of that French town, A pallid woman, leading a fair child, Craved a small alms of one who, walking down The thoroughfare, caught the child's glance, and smiled To see, behind its eyes, a noble soul. He paused to give, but found he had no dole. His guardian angel warned him not to lose This chance of pearl to do another good; So, as he waited, sorry to refuse The asked-for penny, there aside he stood, And with his hat held as by limb the nest, He covered his kind face, and sang his best. The sky was blue and mild, and all the place Of commerce where the singer stood was filled. The many paused, the passer-by slacked pace To hear the voice that through and through him thrilled I think the guardian angel helped along That cry for pity woven in a song. The singer stood between the beggars there, Before a church, and, overhead, the spire, 54 THE KING'S SACRIFICE. A slim, perpetual finger in the air Held toward heaven, land of the heart's desire, As if an angel, pointing upward, said, "Yonder a crown awaits this singer's head." The hat of its stamped brood was emptied soon Into the woman's lap, who drenched with tears Her kiss upon the hand of help: 't was noon, And noon in her glad heart drove forth her fears. The singer, pleased, passed on, and said in thought, u Men will not know by whom this deed was wrought." But when at night he came upon the stage, Cheer after cheer rose from the crescent throng, And flowers rained on him : nothing could assuage The tumult of the welcome, save the song That he superbly sang, with hidden face, For the two beggars in the market-place. THE KING'S SACRIFICE. FOR seven years the drought had parched the land, Yet day by day the sun blazed overhead, A fire-eyed fiend of fire with flaming brand. The stretching worm was by toothed famine fed. No green thing grew, for starved men tilled the mold In the dry beds where once the rivers rolled. The fakirs of the swart, abundant gods, And magi, the consulters of the stars, In contrite sackcloth, bearing serpent-rods, Cleft the close air with words like scimitars: " The gods demand a human sacrifice No rain will fall until the victim dies." THE CALIP&S MAGNANIMITY. 55 The wise king sat in council on his throne, And heard the false priests going up and down. " A life ! " he cried. " Must ever blood atone ? I hate its clotted stain upon a crown. Yet if I hold my peace, and, at their shrine, A life be offered, all the stain were mine ! u Lo, it is somewhat more to be a king Than gleam in robes of office, sit in state, Be first in pomps, and rule in everything: To love the people that alone is great ! So I, to prove my love, and give you rain, Proclaim myself the victim to be slain ! " The fancied wrath of idols to assuage, Forth for his death they led their upright king; Kind Time, the snail to youth, the bird to age, Had touched him lightly with its passing wing. Youthful in age he looked, bright-eyed, smooth-browed, As for the sacrifice he knelt and bowed. Then, while the headsman held aloft the blade, A cloud, wet-laden, stole before the sun, And on the weapon, with a hand of shade, Laid dusky seizure; for the fates had spun A longer, royal thread : the cloud amain Scattered aslant its diamonds of rain. THE CALIPH'S MAGNANIMITY. A TRAVELER across the desert waste Found on his way a cool, palm-shaded spring, And the fresh water seemed to his pleased taste, In the known world, the most delicious thing. " Great is the caliph ! " said he ; "I for him Will fill my leathern bottle to the brim." 56 THE CALIP&S MAGNANIMITY. He sank the bottle, forcing it to drink Until the gurgle ceased in its lank throat; And, as he started onward, smiled to think That he for thirst bore God's sole antidote. Days after, with obeisance low and meet, He laid his present at the caliph's feet. Forthwith the issue of the spring was poured Into a cup, on whose embossed outside Jewels, like solid water, shaped a gourd. The caliph drank, and seemed well satisfied, Nay, wisely pleased, and straightway gave command To line with gold the man's work-hardened hand. The courtiers, looking at the round reward, Fancied that some unheard-of virtue graced The bottled burden borne for their loved lord, And of the liquid gift asked but to taste. The caliph answered from his potent throne: " Touch not the water ; it is mine alone ! " But soon after the humble giver went, O'erflowing with delight, which bathed his 'face The caliph told his courtiers the intent Of his denial, saying, "It is base Not to accept a kindness when expressed By no low motive of self-interest. "The water was a gift of love to me, Which I with golden gratitude repaid. I would not let the honest giver see That, on its way, the crystal of the shade Had changed, and was impure ; for so, no less, His love, thus scorned, had turned to bitterness. " I granted not the warm, distasteful draught To asking lips, because of firm mistrust, RALPH. 57 Or kindly fear, that, if another quaffed, He would reveal his feeling of disgust, And he, who meant a favor, would depart, Bearing a wounded and dejected heart." RALPH. OLD, poor and alone past seventy years. The fire is out ; there is no wood to burn. I sit and shiver in the dreary cold, And, through the window looking on the road, Behold the pitiless, descending snow. How softly fall the tender, lace-like flakes! I wonder oft whether they come from God, And whether He loves His creatures every one, Or if He harshly turns to those who err, And, at the cloud-born whiteness feathering down, Pointing no finger, says without a tongue, If tjiou art not as pure, pass on, pass on. I had a strong, brave son before the war. He said, "Dear mother, I am yours alone. You need me ; we are poor ; but I can work And fill your days with comfort for the past; For I in everything will do my best To please you, and ward off the briers that catch And wound the passers-by in life's hard path. I shall not take a wife till you are gone, And death from both of us, I trust, is far." I loved him for the sacrifice he made ; I loved him for himself, he was so true. My love at least had likeness to the snow. But yet a mother's love should not be weighed Against a love of country : this I found ; 58 RALPH. For my dear, only son, to serve his land, Forsook me in my weakness and old age. Our nearest neighbor lived a mile away. Our road is rough, and travelers to us Were rarer than the eagles and shy deer. So, seldom seeing others, we became The closer knit together, and each day Both found new reasons for the purest love. We prospered, for our rugged acres smiled, Their yellow harvests dimpling in the breeze. Well stocked the farm was, and the hay-stacks stood Thick as the tents in Indian villages. My Ralph was tall, a comely man to see. Broad-shouldered, eagle-eyed, with fine, dark hair, Complexion clear, with gladly conscious blood Painting his heart's thought on his handsome cheeks, He was to me the grandest man of men. And Ralph had honesty a higher kind Of beauty; nay, strict honesty is great! Not all great men have fame out in the world; For many noble, self-denying deeds Are done in little things, and being done Are voiceless, but are like the shining rungs That led, in Jacob's vision, up to God. Warm shone the sun the day Ralph went away. With him I rode to town, and in the crowd Stood dazed ; but clung about him while I could, And to his bearded cheeks pressed trembling lips Wet with the boding liquor of mine eyes ; For Sorrow, drunken on the wine of tears, Sobbed, desperate, and, sighing, drank again. But the drums rolled and all the banners waved, And still I think I hear them in my ears And in my heart, the rolling, rolling drums, RALPH. 59 While over all I see the banners wave. In nights of storm I oft have lain awake, And thought the wind the rolling of the drums, And thought the snow the waving of the flags, The silken banners which I saw that day. Your father, Ralph, almost deserted us. He made you do the work upon the farm, And hung about the tavern day by day, And in its liquid madness steeped his soul Until he died. Then, till the war broke out, You worked for me with patience and pure love, And I was proud and happy with my son. Alas ! the frightful war ! We might have dwelt In peace and plenty on these Northern hills, Nor heard the roar of battle all our lives. There came no word from Ralph, nor any help. For many months I waited, every day A year, and every hour a weary month. Sleep only bridged a shallow, murky stream, Wherein I saw inverted thoughts and scenes Depending fringe-like from the shores of day, As I from waiting o'er to waiting crossed. I sought to have the acres worked on shares ; But men were scarce, and not a scythe opposed The ripe and peaceful armies of the grass. The man whom Ralph had hired to do my work, In scarce a month, himself went off to war. I sold the unused cattle one by one ; The apples rotted on the loaded trees ; The grain, my bread, upon the toothless ground Wasted its increase ; all the crops were lost ; The leaves turned red, and naught was gathered in. After long months of waiting for some word, The rumor of a battle reached my ears 60 RALPH. " Ten thousand slain ! A glorious victory ! " Little those mothers think of victory Whose sons lie silent on the ghastly plain ; And what cares now even the splendid boy Whose life was flashed out at the cannon's mouth? My nearest neighbor, riding up this way, Brought me a paper having news of Ralph Wounded and missing, printed next his name. I read ; the cheerless room went wildly round, And to the floor I fell, and all was night. Weary the months that had been, wearier still The months that followed, with no word, no word. I think if I had known my darling dead, I should have felt more peace ; but, oh ! those words, " Wounded and missing," ringing in my brain, Were loud, wild bells of dolor and alarm. Only a year ago, only a year, Only a year that does not seem so long, A letter came from Ralph, a few brief lines : Freed from a Southern prison ; coming home-! Home ! Home once more ! O Ralph, my soldier son, How glad I was ! how strong I felt ! how sure That God had crowned my waiting, heard my prayers ! A year ago, only a little year, Ralph had not come. How could he wait so long? When the dull light of that dark morning broke I looked out on the fields and saw it snow, And wondered whether Ralph would come that day, For something said to me that he would come. The snow had fallen all night, and it was cold, Almost too bitter cold for snow to fall. The fences and the road were lost in drifts. I saw the silent orchard cold and white, With branches thrown up like the stiffened arms RALPH. 61 Of dead men on a battle-field. Till noon I kept my post, here at the frosted pane, "Watching for Ralph; but still he did not come. At last, urged by an impulse new and strange, And gifted with a strength not mine before, I left the house, and struggled through the storm Down to the road, and out beyond the hill, But stumbled there on something in the snow; The chilly fleece I brushed away, and found A soldier kneeling, with his face bent down As if he kissed an angel's flowing robe, And not the threadless raiment of the storm* I turned the body : it was stiff and cold ; And in the sunken features pale and thin, Disfigured by a scar across the cheek, I saw my Ralph, my lifeless darling, Ralph. He must have died almost in sight of home. If he had only struggled to the top, And not sunk down behind the little hill, I should have seen him and have helped him in. Under the arms I dragged the body back, And chafed and warmed and bathed it; but the heart, Whose beat had been a steady martial tread, Moved not, and all was still. No voice, no breath ; Only a stony silence white and cold. Here for two days I sat and watched my dead. I did not eat nor sleep, but moaned alone. I did not care to live ; I prayed to die. I bent above the calm, unanswering lips, And begged them speak, if naught but one farewell ; And on the face my white hair lay like snow. They found me thus, watching my dead brave son My dead son, dead for his proud bride's sake. His country was his bride ; he loved her well. But always they endure great bitterness 62 HYMN FOR DECORATION DAY. Who give themselves to high, unselfish aims ; And Ralph's distracted bride, in angry mood, As if demanding only sacrifice, Requited him with hunger, wounds, and death. And now I am alone, alone. No more Is left a hope that Ralph will come again; Yet I may go to him and cease to mourn, For we shall dwell where there will be no tears, Nor cold, nor lack of food, nor any war ; And the pure Christ, who suffered wounds and death, And knows how precious is a mother's love, Will cleanse my lifted spirit white as snow. HYMN FOR DECORATION DAY. WITH fragrant flowers we decorate their graves, Who met in battle, or in prison-pen, A fruitful death; who broke the chains of slaves, And crushed the might of proud and cruej men. They broke the chains with tears of bondage wet, And gave their brave young lives for you and me ; For, where the slave endures, it is a threat Against the precious freedom of the free. The sun of liberty dispels the dew, The tears, the night, and shines on near and far ; But, where it only lights the selfish few, It sears and blights, and sinks in clouds of war. 'Tis fragrant gratitude we scatter o'er The graves of them that died for you and me: Their names, their dust, their memories, once more, O Liberty, we consecrate to thee ! THE AUSTRIAN HUSSAR. 63 THE AUSTRIAN HUSSAR WITH sabers drawn and guidons dancing free, And music dying in the joy it made, In gay Vienna rode the cavalry, The pride of Austria, on grand parade. Like a rose-garden, with fair colors set, Lay the wide plain whereon the host were met. A little child a lovely, rosebud girl In white attire, and ribbons green as moss, Straying away, lost in the crowded whirl, Into the open field she thought to cross, Rushed out, when to the bugle's cheerful sound A squadron of hussars came sweeping round. From the main body of the horsemen these Rode down to honor with their steel salute The empress, where she sat in velvet ease, A diamond 'midst the cluster of her suit. She cried with horror, her delight undone, To see the danger to the pretty one. Directly on the child, like angry flame, Had wheeled at headlong speed the brave and strong ; They faced the dazzling sun, and, as they came, Carried a gust of pennant air along. Swift as unbridled rage, they rode as tho' In battle charging fiercely on the foe. The poor, bewildered babe, in blind affright, Ran toward the squadron, and her shadow there, Hiding before her from the living light, Flat on the grassless level dry and bare, Moved gauntly, and it took the boding shape And gloom of death from which is no escape. 64 THE AUSTRIAN HUSSAR. Seeing the ill, the mother of the child Stood spellbound in the depth of her distress. Her gaze was set ; her panting bosom wild That she to save her babe was powerless. So, too, the multitude stood dazed and dumb ; Alas ! from them no hand of help could come. As when, in polar regions white and still, The compass points no longer to its star, But downward to the ocean dark and chill, And frost and heavy silence only are ; So now hope's compass failed, amid the drear And pallid stillness of benumbing fear. But Succor waits on Fortune's smile and beck. In the front rank the holder of a rein Threw himself forward round his horse's neck, And bending down, under the streaming mane, Caught up the child from frightful death below, And set her safely on his saddle-bow. This feat he did, and never checked the speed, Nor changed the pace, nor to a comrade spoke, Nor lost his hold on his submissive steed, Nor the alignment of the squadron broke. With modest grace, which still endears and charms, He gave the child back to her mother's arms. Voices of thousands to the welkin blue Cheered the good deed the brave hussar had done ; And other thousands cheered it when they knew ; But she who fondly clasped the rescued one, And the kind empress, in that storm of cheers, Could only tell their gratitude with tears. Bright as a star the moment, and how blest To the young trooper! when the emperor, THE KING AND THE NAIAD. 65 Graciously taking from his royal breast One of the badges that men struggle for, Placed on the other's heart, so nobly bold, The shining golden emblem, more than gold. That other, then, of honor may have thought How unexpectedly it was his meed : He had not found it in the way he sought; But from an unpremeditated deed In which he saw no merit, had no toil, The flower had sprung, and from its native soiL THE KING AND THE NAIAD. WHEN the wrongs of peace grow mighty , They beget the wrong of war, Whose wild night, with deeds immortal, Sparkles brightly, star on star. " king, to health restore us ; We are besieged by thirst. There are two foes before us ; The unseen foe is worst. " Lest thirst's sharp arrows slaughter, Yield to the open foe, And lead us to the water, Tho' it in thraldom flow." Thus to Soils, King of Sparta, With parched lips his soldiers cried. When Arcadian besiegers Hemmed them in on every side. In the dry and stony stronghold Was no drop of water found; 66 THE KING AND THE NAIAD. But a brook, beyond the rampart, Lightly danced along the ground. Lofty Soils bade a soldier Wave a truce, and, with the foe, Made a compact strong as granite, With one rift where hope might grow. Sparta will yield up her conquests, She her claims to them will sink, If her king and all his army From the nearest fountain drink. To these terms they made their pledges, Whom dry thirst gave fearful odds, And, to witness what they signed to, Loudly called upon their gods. In a deep, cool glen, appareled In green boughs, which swayed above, To the sunlight rose the waters, Soft as eyes that beam with love. Hither came the adversaries ; And the Spartans, as by whips, Were ondriven to the kisses Of the liquid Naiad lips. As each fever-throated fighter, Bending low his waving crest, Stooped to quaff his land's dishonor, Him the troubled king addressed : " If thou wilt not drink, but conquer This temptation of the spring, I will give to thee my kingdom, And thou shalt be crowned its king ! " AGNES HATOT. 67 Heedless of him were his soldiers; Thirst they gave a higher rank ; By the choking captain maddened, All, with panic faces, drank. It appeared not heavy water, But divine air, cool and thin, Which they, freed from stifling torture, Now were deeply breathing in. Lastly stooped thirst-burdened Sous To the treason of 'the spring; But he turned, and would not drink it, Being absolutely king. Rising, as his face he sprinkled, With his men he marched away, Scornful of the daunted captors Who in vain might say him nay. He would yield not up his conquests, For himself and all his men Had not drank the sparkling pleasure That allured them to the glen. AGNES HATOT. WHEN might made right in days of chivalry, Hatot and Ringsdale, over claims to land, Darkened their lives with stormy enmity, And for their cause agreed this test to stand : To fight steel-clad till either's blood made wet The soil disputed ; and a time was set. But Hatot sickened when the day drew near, And strength lay racked that once had been his boast. 68 AGNES HATOT. Then Agnes, his fair daughter, for the fear That in proud honor he would suffer most, Resolved to do the hattle in his name, And leave no foothold for the tread of Shame. She, at the gray, first coming of the day, Shook off still sleep, and from her window gazed. The west was curtained with night's dark delay; A cold and waning moon in silence raised Its bent and wasted finger o'er the vale, And seemed sad Death that beckoned, wan and pale. But Hope sails by the rugged coasts of Fear; For while awakened birds sang round her eaves, Our Agnes armed herself with knightly gear Of rattling hauberk and of jointed greaves ; Withal she put on valor, that to feel Does more for victory than battle-steel. She had a sea of hair, whose odor sweet, And golden softness, in a moonless tide Ran rippling toward the white coast of her feet; But as beneath a cloud the sea may hide, So in her visor ed, burnished helmet, there, Under the cloud-like plume, was hid her hair. Bearing the mighty lance, sharp-spiked and long, She at the sill bestrode her restless steed. Her kneeling soul prayed God to make her strong, And prayer is nearest path to every need. She clattered on the bridge, and on apace, And met dread Ringsdale at the hour and place. They clash in onslaught ; steel to steel replies ; The champed bit foams ; rider and ridden fight. Each feels the grim and brutal instinct rise That in forefront of havoc takes delight. BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. 69 The lightning of the lances flashed and ran, Until, at last, the maid unhorsed the man. Then, on her steed, she, bright-eyed, flushed, and glad, Her helmet lifted in the sylvan air; And from the iron concealment that it had, The noiseless ocean of her languid hair Broke in disheveled waves: the cross and heart, Jewels that latched her vest, she drew apart. " Lo, it is Agnes, even I ! " she said, " Who with my trusty lance have thrust thee down ! For hate of shame the fray I hazarded ; And yet, not me the victory should crown, But God, the Merciful, who helps the right, And lent me strength to conquer in the fight." BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. A PIOUS, Catholic woman, To burdensome poverty born, For her patron chose great Saint Joseph, And prayed to him even and morn. And when she was married a twelvemonth, A rose-chain of love linked with joy, She named in her patron-saint's honor That gift of sweet heaven, her boy. She dwelt at the rim of the city In a rude cabin her shrine ; And a frail vine bore, by the doorstep, One morning-glory divine. But the day that this trumpeter angel Bloomed out in the sunlight wide, That day the delight of the woman, The flower of her bosom, died. 70 BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. They bitterly mourned for their darling, The laboring-man and his wife ; The cloud and the storm were upon them In that starless midnight of life. Their loss seemed a dolorous burden Sent for a cross from on high. He went without heart to his labor, She turned to her cares with a sigho But time is a whirlpool of changes: Or ever another year fled, A second man-child in the cabin Had taken the place of the dead; And the trusting, affectionate mother, With courage too faithful to faint, Had the second new-comer christened The name of her worshipful saint. The baby grew daily, waxed stronger, And prattled with wonder and glee. The heart of the mother was joyful, His innocent promise to see. She fancied in day-dreams his future, And found, in the beautiful years, Relief from hard toil for his father, And songs for her burdens and tears. For she saw her babe in his manhood, Noble and rich ; and again, The crown and chief star of the city, A far-sighted leader of men. But how shall love, that goes blindfold, Look into the future afar, Whose heavy mists hasten, unsundered, Before time's radiant car ? Ripe Autumn came sighing and weeping, Bearing her sickle and sheaves, BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. 71 And into the laborer's cabin Threw wildly an omen of leaves. The pretty babe sickened and withered, Like leaves in the boreal breath, And the gleaming sickle of harvest Preceded the sickle of death. The hopes of the father and mother, Once more, in their sorrowing breasts, Lay ruthlessly ruined and scattered, Like a rose that a tempest divests. But the woman, trusting, believing, Exalted her spirit in prayer, And craved of the holy Saint Joseph To pity her humble despair. Three fast-flying years had vanished In the past's immemorial sky, When again in the working-man's cabin Kose an infant's pitiful cry. And the grateful, reverent mother, With faith that still fully sufficed, Named her last-born too for Saint Joseph, Who tended the young child Christ. She prayed to the saint to watch over And guard her own little son, And spare him to solace her heartache, Till her troubled days should be done. She thought that her prayer had been granted, For her soul-gemmed jewel and prize Lived three glad seasons, and, smiling, Looked up, out of heavenly eyes. Then Winter came freezing and blowing, His long hair streaming and hoar; To enter the laborer's cabin, He tugged at window and door ; 72 BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. But a colder than he, and sadder, An entrance readily found, And covered the babe's small body As the white snow sheeted the ground. From the bed-side the mother rose wailing, And tore her disheveled hair. And wrung her mute hands in expression Of wordless depths of despair. It seemed an injustice of heaven, The death that bereft her that day. She prayed not; but jeered at Saint Joseph For taking her jewels away. The picture of Infant and Virgin, That hung in the comfortless room, Disdainfully mocked, she fancied, Her empty-armed, desolate doom. Her rosary rested uncounted, Its crucifix broken in two, And she blamed her patron-saint ever For being so harsh and untrue. The time, rebellious and prayerless, Flew on into hesitant spring ; But no change in the dark resentment Did the mild transition bring, Till one night, when, in vain derision, The woman had scoffed at prayer, She found, in a mystical vision, A balm for her rankling despair. The landscape was vernal about her, The soothing air fragrant and still. She saw, with a feeling of horror, Three gallows set high on a hill; But she heard glad, musical voices, And, turning to see whence they came, BALLAD OF CONSOLATION. 73 Beheld four angels approaching, And each of them called her by name. The oldest was tall and majestic, With wings of as radiant gold As that in the cloud-lands of sunset, In splendor on splendor uprolled. The linen of purity clothed him, With outlines of delicate grace, And a halo ahove him enlightened The measureless calm of his face. The three other angels were smaller, With silver-like pinions that shone As the moon, or the pearl heart of Hesper. Fresh roses these angels had thrown At the feet of the sorrowful woman, As they looked upon her and smiled ; And she thought she had seen their faces In dreams or when only a child. The radiant, golden-winged angel Spoke to the woman and said : "I am your patron, Saint Joseph; I foster and care for your dead. Tho' pleased with your faith, I was troubled When your heart found naught of relief ; For always the angels of heaven Sympathize deeply with grief. "I loved with deep joy the young children To whom you had given my name; But I looked out into their futures, And saw that their lives meant shame. See, yonder, alone on the hill-top, The three dread gallows appear, That would have been built for the offspring You fondled, and prayed you might rear. 74 GUYOT OF MARSEILLES. " Wherefore, I at once interceded To save you dishonor so sore, And was given to choose between it And the early deaths you deplore. So, guided by tender compassion, I took your young innocents three ; And they are these loving immortals Who came to meet you with me." The angels with silvery pinions Embraced their own mother dear ; Their kisses made saintly her features That lately were haggard and drear; And they said, " O sorrowful mother, Be joyous, and weep not nor sigh, For we are all waiting and longing To welcome you home in the sky." The woman rose from her vision, And heard the merry birds sing. The air was sweet-scented and warmer, The landscape verdant with spring. She knelt repentant and thankful, And from bitterness found release ; For, as the earth was clothed in its verdure, Her spirit was mantled with peace. GUYOT OF MARSEILLES. THE life misunderstood is sad as tears; Its outer seeming courts the stab of scorn: It sits apart, and, bearing gibes and sneers, Feeds on the lonely hope to which 't is born. It is a murmuring shell, whose rough outside Shows not the beauties that within abide. GUTOT OF MARSEILLES. 75 Such life was noble Guyot's of Marseilles. By patient industry he won his way, And from whatever quarter streamed the gales, They blew him favor, for he worked each day, And trenched on night for further hours to use, Taxing inactive sleep for revenues. The silver cord was loosed, and he was bent Graveward; but often he himself denied The wheaten fuel, coal of nutriment, That keeps the hungry fire of life supplied. He wore mere rags against the sharpest frost, And, from his youth up, shunned the ways of cost. His rooms were mean, and on the bare, board floor He slept on straw, and oft the freezing air Hissed through the dusty seams and broken door, As if to drive his purpose to despair; But purpose, kin to sufferance, heeds no cold, And habits turn to needs as men grow old. The world condemns the miser : in the street The rich at Guyot cast an honest sneer ; Even the poor folk, whom he chanced to meet, Hooted and scoffed and after flung a jeer, For scorn of him who basely would withhold The cheapest comforts for the sake of gold. They found him lying lifeless on his straw ; Ajid thus, or with like meaning, ran his will : "In early youth, in fair Marseilles, I saw The poor with water were supplied but ill; And I trade's yellow flower have widely plucked, And here bequeath, to build an aqueduct." O creeping water of the mountain-spring! dimpled water of the laughing brooks! 76 ONTIORA. O water of the river! whispering To the low bough that on its likeness looks Publish in crystal, through the dells and dales, Of Guyot, noble Guyot of Marseilles ! ONTIOEA. MOONS on moons ago, In the sleep, or night, of the moon, When evil spirits have power, The monster, Ontiora, Came down hi the dreadful gloom. The monster came stalking abroad, On his way to the sea for a bath, For a bath in the salt, gray sea. In Ontiora's breast Was the eyrie of the winds, Eagles of measureless wing, Whose screeching, furious swoop Startled the sleeping dens. His hair was darkness unbound, Thick, and not mooned nor starred. His head was plumed with rays Plucked from the sunken sun. To him the forests of oak, Of maple, hemlock, and pine, Were as grass that a bear treads down. He trod them down as he came, As he came from his white-peak'd tent. At whose door, ere he started abroad, He drew a flintless arrow Across the sky's strip'd bow, And shot at the evening star. ONTIORA. 77 He came like a frowning cloud, That fills and blackens the west. He was wroth at the bright-plumed sun, And his pale-faced wife, the moon, With their twinkling children, the stars; But he hated the red-men all, The Iroquois, fearless and proud, The Mohegans, stately and brave, And trod them down in despite, As a storm treads down the maize. He trod the red-men down, Or drove them out of the land As winter drives the birds. When near the King of Rivers, The river of many moods, To Ontiora thundered Manitou out of a cloud. Between the fountains crystal And the waters that reach to the sky, Manitou, Spirit of Good, To the man-shaped monster spoke : "You shall not go to the sea, But be into mountains changed, And wail in the blast, and weep For the red-men you have slain. You shall lie on your giant back While the river rises and falls, And the tide of years on years Flows in from a boundless sea." Then Ontiora replied: " 1 yield to the heavy doom ; Yet what am I but a type Of a people who are to come? Who as with a bow will shoot And bring the stars to their feet, 78 ONTIORA. And drive the red-man forth To the Land of the Setting Sun." So Ontiora wild, By eternal silence touched, Fell backward in a swoon, And was changed into lofty hills, The Mountains of the Sky. This is the pleasant sense Of Ontiora's name, "The Mountains of the Sky." His bones are rocks and crags, His flesh is rising ground, His blood is the sap of trees. On his back with one knee raised, He lies with his face to the sky, A monstrous human shape In the Catskills high and grand. And from the valley below, Where the slow tide ebbs and flows, . You can mark his knee and breast, His forehead beetling and vast, His nose and retreating chin. But his eyes, they say, are lakes, Whose tears flow down in streams That seam and wrinkle his cheeks, For the fate he endures, and for shame Of the evil he did, as he stalked In the vanquished and hopeless moon, Moons on moons ago. LIBERTY. 79 LIBERTY. WHERE the Platte and the Laramie mingle With waters as pure as the dew, Wooing down from the Rocky Mountains Their dreamy, perpetual blue ; Where the wild-rose sweet and the balsam Scent the glad, fresh, prairie air, And the breeze, like an elk, comes leaping From the sand-hills changeful and bare, Stands a frontier fort, and behind it The mountains peacefully rise, Whence, over the valley, resistless The whirl of the elements flies. There the sudden storm rides madly On an uncurbed charger of cloud, While it shoots long arrows of lightning, And utters its war-cry loud. The Sioux were fierce, cruel, and moody, And hated the pale-face much For taking the lands where they hunted, Which he pledged that he would not touch. So they sought to unite all red-men Against their habitual foe, And, for Indian manhood and honor, Strike one more pitiless blow. The chief of the Sioux tribes was kingly ; He rode undaunted and free ; He was tall, broad-shouldered, fine-featured, And as straight as a towering tree. In the midst of the dusky-red council He rose with his harrowing themes, And a breeze through his utterance freshened, With voices of forests and streams. 80 LIBERTY. In the war that he fiercely incited While its flying arrows increased, And murder and fire on the border Angered the populous East Near the fort where Laramie water Is wed to a wandering stream, Dwelt the Sioux chief's beautiful daughter, Of twilight a glamour and dream. She was tall, and was formed superbly, With a face so true in each line, That, seen looking upward in profile, It seemed as of marble divine. In her eyes was a languorous splendor, The dawning of young desire ; For those eyes, like the fawn's, were tender, Yet filled with a smoldering fire. On her forehead a beaded fillet Bound the trailing night of her hair, And her shoulders, perfectly molded, Like her tapering arms, were bare. The stars and the flowers in bead-work Were copied, her beauty to serve, And her negligent blanket discovered Her bosom's voluptuous curve. She was mistress of two white ponies, And, riding on either of these, She urged him to galloping swiftness, And her long hair streamed in the breeze. Then seemed she that offspring of Valor, Liberty, and her employ Was only to roam her dominion, Embodied with beauty and joy. Begot of the sunset and freedom, And rich in the Indian's lore, LIBERTY. 81 She knew the antelope's hoof-print, The birds, and what plumage they wore. She could throw the lariat deftly, And bring to the earth, at a blow, The prairie-hen low-flying over, Or slay the stag and the doe. In her voice the tongue of Dakota Was sweeter than philomel's song ; She spoke, too, the words that the Mayflower From beyond sea wafted along. She read many books and news-letters, And each was a cup to her sight; For she drank from the waters of knowledge With quenchless thirst and delight. At the fort, from the homes of Ohio, Were volunteer soldiers that came To cover the venturesome settlers From the Indian's desperate aim. With the rest came a young lieutenant, Blue-eyed, handsome, and pale, And the Sioux chief's daughter, beholding, Felt strong love rise and prevail. It may be that some sense of pity First turned to the soldier her gaze, For she saw a mystery in him, The shadow of sorrowful days ; And wherever she went or tarried, Albeit he was not near, In evergreen dells of remembrance His image would softly appear. She could not escape from its presence ; It dwelt in the heart of her heart, Tho' in bitterest moments of passion She ruthlessly bade it depart. 82 LIBERTY. But Love is far mightier, braver, Than anger, sorrow, and scorn ; He drives them back huddled and cowering Aghast at his arrows of morn. Like a mountain-lake silent, unrippled, That glasses the bountiful sun, And so clear that the mid-bottom pebbles Are countable one by one, Was the limpid lake of this spirit, Where life's great day-god shone ; Tho' the depths were yet clearer and deeper Than the mountain-lake's, placid and lone. When often the comely young soldier Had seen the maiden, and knew That daily she eagerly watched him With fond eyes wistful and true, He spoke to her kindly, and praised her For her beauty so wild-like and rare, And gave her a rose of the prairie To lighten the dark of her hair. Then into his eyes far looking, She fancied she saw the sky Of an infinite sadness in them, And answered him, after a sigh. She set the glad rose in her girdle, And lovingly taking his hand, They wandered along by the river That lisps to the glittering sand. Thenceforth he turned from the maiden ; He felt that he could not divide The love of his life for one woman, Nor find in another his bride. This other he tortured with coldness And the slight of his downcast eyes; LIBERTY. 83 Yet she followed him oft, at a distance, Perplexed, and with tearful surprise. On horseback they once met at sunset, In a wooded reach of the road, And her heart, with its torrent of feeling, In words and in tears overflowed : . " Oh, why do you treat me so coldly ? And why do you spurn a true friend? Am I not an Indian princess? And what have I done to offend?" "You have not offended/' he answered; " I have read in your eyes, I suppose ; But to pluck a red rose, and discard it, Were basely unjust to the rose. I would not be false to your kindness ; I truly shall treasure it long; Yet for us to be often together Would be unseemly and wrong." "I know," she replied, "that the white man Despises the dark, red race ; He hunts down our tribes, and destroys them : No foot of them stays in a place. You treat us as fanged wolf, or badger, Which on the plains skulkingly roams. Is it strange that we follow the war-path When driven away from our homes? " We go to the wall, being weakest, And die in the pools of our gore. The path we are treading is weary ; Our feet and our spirits are sore. Mankind are all love-craving brothers, And why should they fail to agree ? Befriend us, be true to us, love us, And of us, oh, learn to be free! 84 LIBERTY. " We can teach even that ; for of freedom The pale-face has volumes to learn, Still a slave to the past's rude customs, Which time and thought must o'erturn. Tho' he comes to the red-man's country The gladness of freedom to find, He brings his base slavery with him, A vassal still, in his mind. " I know that not father nor mother Should separate loves that are true ; Why then should an alien race-hatred, Which here it is false to renew? Break away from the bondage of custom ; Fear not to be perfectly free. Even I am Liberty, dearest ! Oh, turn and behold her in me ! " He looked at the mountains majestic In crowns of continual snow ; He saw the bright heaven of sunset Along them refulgently glow ; And he answered, " O bronze-dark critic, The splendor of liberty flies Before us onward forever, Like the west-going light of the skies. " We follow in fetters of custom That we never can disregard; For rebellion tightens them on us, And makes them more galling and hard. But here is your wigwam, and by it Your mother, who loves you so well. Forget me ; turn from me hereafter Good-night, and forever farewell ! " Forget him ! Do deer of the forest Forget the lick or the spring ? LIBERTY. 86 Do eagles forget the broad sunshine, Or the bees where the flower-bells swing? She could not forget him; but, sighing, Said softly, sweetly, " Adieu ! " And among the trees and their shadows, He went as the sun from her view. He went, but his lingering image Still haunted the house of her mind ; And the longing, like thirst, to be near him, She had not a fetter to bind. On her pine-bough and wolf-skin pallet, She soon was with him in dreams, Where the sound of his voice was more tender Than the musical murmur of streams. As a traveler, lost on the prairie, Gains the top of some rolling divide, And, gazing far into the distance Eound the level lonely and wide, Can find neither succor nor guidance, But stands in the wildering maze, And absently plucks at the sage-brush, Treasuring some of its sprays : So, lost on love's measureless prairie, The beautiful Indian girl Looked round on the helpless horizon, Her thoughts in a turbulent whirl; And beholding no path nor assistance, Hopeless and deeply depressed, She plucked at the words of her loved one, And treasured a few in her breast. But day after day in the wildwood, Adorning her beauty with care, She would silver her wrists with her bracelets, And bead her long, shimmering hair ; 5 LIBERTY. Then would go to the fort, and be willing To seek her lone wigwam again, If she only had looked on her loved one Riding along with his men. She would wait slow hours at his door-step To see him come out and go by, And Pity's sweet self had grown sadder Watching her out of the sky. Oft she followed the soldier meekly With fawn-like, inquisitive fear, As if he might even deny her The gladness of being so near. If the strong and unselfish goddess, That long ago tarried in Rome, Were seeking to be incarnate, And to dwell in her dedicate home, What form would she take ? Whose body Would best with her spirit agree ? And where, in the land of her favor, Would her truest habitat be? She would take the fresh form of a maiden Imbued with the red of her skies, Lithe, graceful, faultlessly molded, And with dark and affectionate eyes. She would choose the wide sea of the prairie, And the mountainous Western wild, As the place for her life to abide in, And be simple and free as a child. And would she not smile on the people Pursuing her over the deep, Who fought in her cause, and delighted Her name in high honor to keep ? She surely would hold them the dearest Of all that the century gave, LIBERTY. 87 And would choose from among them a lover, Handsome, youthful, and brave. They told the great chief of his daughter, As he rode with his warrior hand, And he grieved at the lowly behavior Of the pride of the Western land. He sent to her friends and her mother To take the sweet maiden away To a distant vale by a river, Where a camp of Sioux families lay. He bade them neglect not to cheer her, In hopes they could lead to depart The profitless passion that ruffled The innocent rose of her heart. She went with them humbly and tearless, Her life, itself, beaten and cowed ; For there settled down on her spirit A somber, enveloping cloud. She silently rode her white palfrey; She did not smile nor complain; From the cloudy, waste country of sadness They strove to allure her in vain. She touched not the food that they brought her, Who all were tender and kind. They reached the red camp by the river, But ever she sorrowed and pined. Of all life's household, the humblest Is Love, the begetter of Care. Unworldly, Love asks only likeness ; But, missing it, broods on despair. As the brook by the trail, in summer, In the rainless glare of the day, Runs slowly on, fainter and thinner, The maiden was wasting away* 88 LIBERTY. At dawn, a courier, foam-flecked, Reached the Sioux chief's war-tent door, And told him his daughter was dying, And longed to behold him once more. Away, over prairie and mountain, Not pausing by night nor by day, Sped the chief to the camp by the river, And knelt where his loved child lay. Of buffalo-robes, her wigwam, Traced round with a sylvan design, In a wood at the foot of a canyon, Stood under a pitying pine. A pine-tassel carpet and antlers Embellished the softness within, And warm was its couch of rude wicker With the skulking coyote's skin. The tawny-haired coat of a puma Before the low pallet was spread. As the sorrowful chief knelt on it, The blighted rose lifted her head; And laying her hands on his shoulders, To his eyes that were bending above Looked up with unchanging affection, And told of her heart-broken love. "Dear father," she said, "I am going Across the great final divide Across the dark range of death's mountains To the parks where the spirits abide. We shall, in that country, be driven From our home of the forest no more, But be at rest with our kindred Who have silently journeyed before. "In the beautiful land of the sunset I shall wait for you, father dear, LIBERTY. 89 Where the birds sing of love requited, All the snowless, celestial year. In a little while you will be with me : Your burden is grievous to bear; You are growing old, and so care-worn, And as white as mist is your hair. "For a pledge of you, changeless and sacred, Dear father, your stricken one yearns : Of all the chiefs you are the greatest, And are first when the calumet burns. I pray you go forth on the war-path To cope with the white-men no more ; They are countless as leaves of the woodland, Or as waves on the voluble shore. " Oh, spare our unfortunate people, And make the war graciously cease; Take well-won rest from the conflict, Ere you go to the infinite peace. And I would that there might be hereafter No serpent of discord and strife Between our proud Sioux and the nation Of him I love better than life. " When my spirit has gone, noble father, Take this desolate body of mine, Discarded, heart-broken, and wasted, The withered branch of a vine, And lay it to rest on the hillside Where the wild-vines clamber and dwell, At the fort by Laramie River, Where I sadly learned to love well. "In distant, wonderful countries The pale-faces thought it was good To come to our land, seeking only To think and to speak as they would. 90 LIBERTY. They found a true name for the blessing They sought, and deem sacred and fair ; But we have no word of its meaning, Tho' ever we breathed it like air. "The name is Liberty, father A name that is almost divine. Henceforth call me Liberty only, And make the beloved name mine. And when our brave people in pity Chant the death-song over my head, Let them turn to the east their faces, And mourn for their Liberty dead." In sorrow too deep to be spoken, The great chief hastened to give The wished-f or pledge to his daughter ; But bade her take courage and live. He called her sweet Liberty fondly, And said that she must not decease. But in vain ; for at dawn of the morrow Her lamp was extinguished in peace. Then straightway they killed her two ponies, To bear, to the spirit's dim land, The hovering ghost of the maiden, And they put some beads in her hand. Two days and two nights they bewailed her To the bluffs and the forest around, And in buffalo-robes her body They mournfully corded and bound. The braves to their shoulders lifted The burden stretched on its bier, And they went on the fortnight's journey Through winter so ghostly and drear. Thrice a hundred dusky-red mourners Rode forth in the funeral train, LIBERTY. 91 And at night, round their camp-fires, the death-song Was a wild, uncontrollable strain. " She is dead : the pale-face has slain her, Our Liberty, gentle and pure. He spurned her who most should have loved her, And laid on us much to endure. Like the traveler lost on the prairie Whose limits he cannot descry, Hungering, thirsting, forsaken, She found naught left but to die." They crossed the monotonous prairie, And the shivering blizzard blew In that wilderness wolf-haunted, And the fine snow blindingly flew. It ceased, and the silence unbroken, And their freezing, vaporous breath, Made it seem to them there that they traversed The pale, still frontier of death. They came to the mingling rivers, And saw, on the opposite side, The fort, with its striped flag waving In starry, indolent pride. They sent a young warrior over, To carry the humble request That, before the fort, on the hillside, The chief's dead daughter might rest. With kindness the garrison met them, As they, from the winter-clad bank, The requiem mournfully chanting, Were solemnly riding in rank. The soldiers had garnished the quarters With flags and small arms and great ; In the midst, on a flag-covered table, They laid the hushed burden in state. 92 LIBERTY. Words of sympathy, words of welcome, The white to the red men said ; And the chaplain, with eloquent pity, Touchingly spoke of the dead. In the vanishing tongue of Dakota, The famous Sioux chief replied, And proclaimed that, with his loved daughter, The War, Hate's daughter, had died. "I have given," he said, "my promise, From its cruel path to refrain. Were the hopelessness of resistance And claims of policy vain To make me stay firm in my purpose, All strife with your people to cease, Then this pledge, that I gave to my daughter, Would bind me hereafter to peace." In her praise, flocks of winged words fluttered ; And when, out of sunset, the gold Down the passionless mountains was streaming Pacific abundance untold, The body was borne by the white-men, Who all in the sorrowing shared, To the chosen repose on the hillside, Where stood a tall scaffold prepared. Here gently they loosed the brown death-robes, For a pitying, farewell look; And the maiden seemed peacefully sleeping, Like some winter-stilled, wildwood brook. Soft moccasins, gauntlet-gloves, clothing, Beside her were hastily thrown, That she might not lack on the journey, Which they knew she must travel alone. And he whom she loved looked on her As she lay in the rubicund light; THE PATRIOTS COURAGE. 93 He stood by the side of her mother, Whose grief was as deepening night. A mountain-lily he nurtured, And other fair flowers of the West, He laid, with regret in their fragrance, On the dead girl's innocent breast. They closed the fur coffin, and raised it To the scaffold cheerless and high, With the head to the east, and wrapped it In a pall of the ruddiest dye. Then the red-men took up the wailing And the wild, sweet strain as before: "Our Liberty, slain by the pale-face, Shall smile on our prowess no more." The heads and the tails of the ponies, Brought sacredly hither along, To this grave in the air were fastened, Each to one of the four posts strong. And a crystalline gift of the river Was set before either beast's head, That he might not thirst on the journey To the shadowy land of the dead. THE PATRIOT'S COURAGE. WHEN our free land's great captain, Washington, Was colonel in Virginia, ere the war He led for Independence had begun, A passing cloud obscured his rising star : His sometimes frightful passions woke, and they, Then unbroke coursers, had their fiery way. 94 THE PATRIOTS COURAGE. For while between opposing factions there The bloodless battle by the ballot rolled, Into one's pride whom he had found unfair He plunged a speech-wrought weapon, keen and cold; And the hurt voter, with a blow unmeet, Stretched his insulter senseless at his feet. Forth hied the dread news, waxing as it went, Fed by the food it gave to every tongue; Uprose, wild-eyed, the wrathful regiment, And idle swords and flintlocks were unhung, And marshaled to the drum, whose speedy call Was like the beating of the hearts of all. When grief has rage soft pity turns to stone. These loved their leader as they loved their land; Aslant, like shining ram, their muskets shone, And harsh the voice of vengeance pealed command: " All foully slain our colonel lies, struck down ! On, comrades ! Give no quarter ! Burn the town ! " Meanwhile, the stricken was made whole again, And, hurried by the townsfolk, rode to meet The armed, excited torrent of fierce men Advancing toward the small, electoral street; And gladly holden in their wond'ring sight, They pressed around him with unfeigned delight. But vengeance is so inconsiderate, Shorn of excuse it yet pursues its prey ; And all the soldiers, filled with gathered hate, Were willed to leave black ruin on their way. He charged them, lest the love he bore should cease. To bate their wrath, and turn again in peace. So they went back; and slowly he returned, Chastising his quick passions ruthlessly ; THE PREACHERS DOLE. 95 For who, that with a foolish rage has burned, Knows blame as bitter as his own may be ? But when red morn rolled up its splendid wheel, Joy followed close on Sorrow's fleeing heel. For then betimes, a lark-blithe letter flew Out of a heart where kindness brooded warm ; But to the voter's short and narrow view It was the white-winged augury of storm ; It asked a meeting only, yet he heard Of challenge and of duel in the word. For who could know that one would be so bold, To face and brave the time? in that it meant That each his honor on his sword should hold? The voter straightway to the other went, And Washington, with courage strong and grand, Held forth his prudent and heroic hand. And in his love of truth, sublime and glad, To him who struck him down he made amends : "If with the satisfaction you have had You are content, oh, let us then be friends! For, looking back on our affray with shame, I feel that I alone have been to blame." THE PREACHER'S DOLE. IN Edinburgh, 'mid its busy whirl, The preacher, Guthrie, walked one afternoon, And met a sun-browned little beggar-girl With eyes as tearful as a clouded moon. She sobbed and wept as if there stood across Her dark and friendless path a giant loss. 96 THE PREACHER'S DOLE. Good Doctor Guthrie, pausing by her side, Asked her to tell him all her cause for woe. "My mother gave me sixpence, sir," she sighed, "And to the baker's yonder bade me go And buy a loaf of bread for us to eat ; But I have lost the money in the street. " Oh, she will beat me so when I go back ! What shall I do ? I know not what to do ! " And cried as if in torture on the rack. In pity for the child, the doctor drew A sixpence forth, and as he gave it said, "Weep not, my lass, for I will get your bread." He led her to a place where bread was sold, And while he bought a loaf made free to say, " The child was sent for this ; but, I am told, She lost the sixpence for it on the way." The baker answered, " 'T is a trade with her ; For she is always losing sixpence, sir." No indignation looked from Guthrie's eyes, No word of haste flashed hot from heart to tongue. He felt a larger, braver pity rise That such deceit should dwell in one so young ; And, bending down, said to the child that she Was now an object of true charity Knowing that she a living earned by sin, He felt more pity for her than before. He sorrowed at the want the poor were in ; But at all wickedness he sorrowed more. Weak charity had he if he should dole Bread for the body and neglect the soul. Thence to her home of squalor and decay The awe-struck child and gentle Guthrie went: THE STOWAWAY BOY. 97 It was a nest for wingless birds of prey Children that, by an old man taught, were sent To raven on the town : the little girl Was found a place safe from the vile, gray churl. THE STOWAWAY BOY. As, three days out, the swift ship cleft the sea, There came on deck a winsome, blue-eyed boy; Not any means to pay his way had he, Yet looked up to the broad, free sky with joy. His face was bright and fair, for what is good Shines out and fears not to be understood. But on the boy a doubting eye was cast, And, to the question of the master's mate, He said that his step-father near a mast Had hidden him, with food, and bade him wait In the dark place until the ship reached shore, Where a kind aunt would help him from her store. The mate was slow to feel the story true, And thought the sailors fed the fareless youth, And often questioned him before the crew ; But the boy's lips were steadfast to the truth. At last the mate avowed the glaring lie Should be confessed, or else the boy must die. Thereat he bade a sailor fetch a rope, And looking at his watch, with anger said, " Boy, in ten minutes you will be past hope, And, from the yard-arm, hang till you are dead, Unless you speak, before the time be spent, And of the lie make full acknowledgment." 98 THE GALLEY-SLAVE. The boy looked up and saw the speaker's face, And, urged by fear to call the truth a lie, Resisted fear, and stood in bitter case, For it was hard for one so young to die ; But, braving death, the tender stowaway Knelt down and asked the mate if he might pray. Above its hell of fire the tortured steam Shrieked, hissed, and groaned in terror and in pain; Yet worked the ship's great muscles, shaft and beam. The vessel seemed a sea-gull or a crane, Beating the denser air that floods the world, And round and round her watery wings were whirled. The sky bent over the contented sea, And, like the upturned face, was pure and clear; The ship's kind folk assembled anxiously, The Lord's Prayer from the earnest lips to hear. The mate, in tears, by trouble sore oppressed, Caught up the boy and clasped him to his breast! THE GALLEY-SLAVE. THERE is no grander, nobler life on earth Than that of meek and brave self-sacrifice. Such life our Saviour, in His lowly birth And holy work, made His sublime disguise Teaching this truth, still rarely understood: 'Tis sweet to suffer for another's good. Now, tho' at heart of diverse mold and make, There lived in France two brothers, like in face ; One did a petty theft, and by mistake The other was arrested in his place, THE GALLEY-SLAVE. 99 And sentenced soon to be a galley-slave Yet said no word his prized good name to save. Trusting remoter days would be more blessed, He set his will to wear the verdict out, And knew most men are prisoners at best, Who some strong habit ever drag about Like chain and ball; and was content that he Rather the prisoner he was should be. But good resolves are of such feeble thread, They may be broken in temptation's hands. After long toil, the guiltless prisoner said, " Why should I thus, and feel life's precious sands The narrow of my glass, the present, run, For a poor crime that I have never done?" Such questions are like cups, and hold reply; For when the chance swung wide the prisoner fled, And gained the country road, and hasted by Brown, furrowed fields and skipping brooklets fed By shepherd clouds, and felt beneath the trees The soft hand of the mesmerizing breeze. Then, all that long day having eaten naught, He at a cottage stopped, and of the wife A brimming bowl of fragrant milk besought. She gave it him ; but, as he quaffed the life, Down her kind face he saw a single tear Pursue its wet and sorrowful career. Within the cot he now beheld a man And maiden also weeping. "Speak," said he, "And tell me of your grief; for, if I can, I will disroot the sad, tear-fruited tree." The cotter answered, "In default of rent, We shall to-morrow from this roof be sent." 100 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Then said the galley-slave, "Whoso returns A prisoner escaped may feel the spur To a right action, and deserves and earns Proffered reward. I am a prisoner ! Bind these my arms, and drive me on the way, That your reward the price of home may pay." Against his wish the cotter gave consent, And at the prison-gate received his fee; Tho' it was made a cause for wonderment, Along the road where labor paused to see, That one so weak and sickly dared attack This bold and robust youth, and take him back. At once the cotter to the mayor hied, And told him all the story, and that lord Was much affected, dropping gold beside The pursed, sufficient silver of reward; Then sought his better in authority, And gained the right to set the prisoner free. THE CITY OF SUCCESS. WHERE a river hastens down, Stands an often wished-for town, In the azure of the mountains, On a broad, exalted plain. Peaks of peace above it rise To the bland, auspicious skies, Whose inverted horn of plenty Pours out fruits and flowers of gain* Round the city runs a wall Where the watchmen clearly call THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 101 The flying hours, that speed away With wing'd, inconstant feet; And, throughout the gilded place, The palatial houses face On cool-fountained park and garden, And on pleasure-seeking street. With sparse population stands This, the pride of all the lands, In temple-crowned magnificence, The City of Success; For, tho' all men strive full well In its worldly halls to dwell, Few even reach the roads to it Through hitter strain and J , strops. This hold city has great gates,. And at each a dragon waits, With huge, unsated, open jaws With sharp misfortune fanged. High upon the barbacan Floats hope's banner, dear to man ; But vainly are the throng without From those proud walls harangued. Witless men the gates avoid, And, in wily fraud employed, Mine under the cemented might That glitters, seen afar. Having basely stolen through, They the secret passage rue, And strive to fill and cover it, And other folk debar. Such men scoff and are ashamed When, around the wide world famed, Some brave outsider scales the wall, And calmly takes his place, 102 TEE CITY OF SUCCESS. An exemplar sweet to men, And most proper citizen, Who willingly would turn to meet His clean past, face to face. They, throughout the toilless year, Stand arraigned in courts of fear, Who, using methods sinister, Have snared the swift-winged gold; For, if it be lost, they know That they straightway forth must go, And never more, but far away, The day-dream town behold. , , Oixce, from here remote in truth, Years ago t a handsome youth, : * \"V^ho glodded on his father's land Behind the toilsome plow, Saw, tho' dimly and afar, This proud city like a star Across the mist that islanded The mountain's peaceful brow. Well he loved a maiden true, That of his glad passion knew; For, as he went one smiling day Home from the furrowed field, With her milking-pail she came, And, with heart and lips aflame, He met her, told her all his joy, And to her heart appealed. With upturned, delighted eyes, And low, tender-toned replies, She answered him, and plighted troth To make her his alone. Sweet the voices of the birds Mingled with the happy words, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 103 And to the pair the waiting fields Abroad with love were sown. " I must hasten forth," he said ; "I shall garner more than bread, Till up a gracious path I reach The City of Success; Then, my dearest one, with youy In that city old and new, I shall abide, and naught but death Shall make our joy the less." With the dawning of the day Fared he forward on his way, Pursuing it undauntedly While year succeeded year, Till, among a busy throng, He was caught and borne along; And one high noon he saw the town, For which he longed, appear. When a gainful month had passed, He the city reached at last; But nearer than the environs He could not force his way ; For a selfish, struggling crowd, Fighting hard and crying loud, At the bronze gates seldom lifted, As with scorn were held at bay. From among the press and fret, By a dragon close beset, He, seeking sylvan rest, withdrew, One summer afternoon, And, reclining in the shade, Saw a lovely, jeweled maid In her pavilion on the wall Await the rising moon. 104 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Thus she sang : " O moon of love ! Shine thou down, my heart above, And light the sea that never yet Was cleft by any keel. Quickly, sailor, launch and float; Wind and tide will aid thy boat ; And let the young moon pilot thee To all it can reveal." As the yearning music died, She who warbled it espied The baffled, youthful comeliness Beside a lulling spring. To him gayly she let fall Silken steps, outside the wall, And beckoned him to mount by them To what the stars might bring. To her heart he clambered up, And was asked to stay and sup Beneath the fretted, curving roof Of blue inlaid with gold; For on ebony was spread Yellow honey, milk, and bread, And as he ate he saw two streets Before his feet unrolled. He beheld the roofs and domes Of the envied people's homes, And, far below, the valley With the river sparkling through. Reaching fondly to the skies, Where the river had its rise, Stood the peaks of love, enfolded In their gauzy robes of blue. Said the maiden to the youth, " I beheld thee, and with ruth, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 105 Among the motley, eager throng Who struggle at the gates; So when thee I saw to-day Where the woodland waters play, For sending thee alone to me I thanked the sister fates. "I desire that thou should'st know What of happiness and woe These solid walls encompass, And to what thou dost aspire. If the city please thee well, And thou still herein would'st dwell, My companion may advise thee, If thou of her inquire." As she spoke, there came a maid, In a nun-like garb arrayed, With passive face, but beautiful, Nay, pensive, pure, and kind. She was dark, and down her back Streamed her tresses thick and black, While amaranth around her gown Unfadingly entwined. To the comely youth she bowed As the jeweled maiden proud Kose and said, " Sir, this is Sorrow, Thy attendant in this place. With her through the city go ; She to thee will freely show The elegance and luxury That mask its stolid face." With a smile he bade good-night In the moonbeams vague and white, Which into the pavilion strayed Like specters gaunt and thin: 106 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Then with Sorrow he went down To the streets, and through the town, And found the house for which they sought That he might lodge therein. Heavy carpets spread the floors, Noiseless were the walnut doors Set with carven dryad panels, Or with stained and flowered glass; Thick, embroidered curtains swung From the walls with paintings hung, And in bronze a dial'd Clio Marked the silent moments pass. In Success few mornings frown; For the youth, to view the town, When morning came, with Sorrow went Through statued park and street; And they joined a gilded throng, As it coldly moved along Toward the temple built to Fortune, Low to worship at her feet. Up against the blue immense, In its bright magnificence Of pillared gold enforested, Of architrave and frieze, All of yellow gold and good, On a hill the temple stood, And cast its splendor on the vale And out beyond the seas. That proud hill was covered round, So that none might see the ground, With marble steps of hueless white That led up to the fane. Urn of plants and fountain's jet On each rank of steps were set, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 107 And seemed like new spring breaking forth From winter's snowy reign. In the temple, high in place Stood Dame Fortune, fair of face, Holding Plutus, god of riches, In her fond and fickle arms. Horns of plenty at her feet Emptied half their contents sweet, And winged Cupid stood before her, Fascinated by her charms. Down the checkered floor of gold Went her crafty priests and bold, Swinging incense through the concourse Of disdainful devotees, Some of whom were racked with pains; Few could much enjoy their gains; In plenty doomed to abstinence, They worshiped on their knees. Some with Sorrow had to sup, And she gave to them her cup From which they drank the bitterness With unavailing tears; Some had kissed the lips of Joy, And had found how pleasures cloy, And other some for greed of gold Made hard and cold their years. From a gallery was heard, Like the carol of a bird That, to the heart of darkness, Tells the music of its dream, A surpassing voice, so rare That it loosed the bonds of care, And seemed a strain from heaven Borne along the spirit's stream: 108 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. "Asking gifts, to thee we bow, Goddess Fortune : great art thou Of Oceanus the daughter, And protectress of the town. Thoughtful Hellas thee adored, And divine libations poured, Whilst Home to thee eight temples buil Lest haply thou might'st frown. "All men woo thee, some with wiles, Praying for thy sunny smiles, Chasing thee in town and village And across thy parent sea. Turn thy mediaeval wheel ; Youth and age before thee kneel; For they who would on roses rest Must be beloved by thee." When the singing ceased, the youth, Holding Sorrow's hand of ruth, Wandered forth of Fortune's presence To the shining portico. Thence his glance around he cast On the city strong and vast, That in a stone monotony Of buildings lay below. Like a belt about it all Ran the towered and gated wall, A century of miles or more, A score of chariots wide; While upon a neighboring hill Stood a temple higher still Than this one built to Fortune, And a voice from out it cried. " On the morrow," Sorrow said, As she down the stairway led, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 109 " To the other, higher temple We shall betimes repair. Now the placid hour is late ; See, my liveried servants wait With my horses, which are restless ; So let us homeward fare." "Tell me of the jeweled maid Who bestowed the silken aid With which I entered," said the youth, "This moneyed, ample town." Answered thus his kindly guide: "Would'st thou have her for thy bride, And dwell within this streeted wealth Till thy life's sun goes down ? " She hath great possessions here ; Yet her days are sad and drear, Because wan Death, in dungeons dark, Hath shut her dearest kin. Of the youth that come to woo, None to her seem good and true ; But thou wok'st her admiration, And her love thou soon might'st win." All that night, in dreams of gold, At his tired feet lay unrolled Two streets, two open ways, that led Along his future far ; But he wist not which to take, Tho' one led to brier and brake, While at the other's slender end Shone bright a drooping star. In the morning Sorrow came, And they went to look on Fame Where in her temple she abode Upon her sightly hill. 110 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Many paths secluded wound Slowly up the rising ground, And here were highways beaten hard By persevering will. Not all these to Fame upreached, Yet in all lay dead leaves bleached, Tho' still the haze of summer Veiled the languid, dreamy air. Facing north, south, east, and west, On the high hill's level crest, Stood the temple in the splendor Of Apollo's golden hair. Of Pentelic marble pure, Which forever would endure, The fane was graven over With the sounded names of men. From it rose an airy dome Like the one that broods on Rome, But vaster, and with windows set, And symbols, sword and pen. On the four wide pediments Were informed the great events That change the course of history, And for the truth make room. On the west, Columbus stood In majestic marblehood Forever on San Salvador, No more in chains and gloom. On the unforgetful stone, Many names were overgrown With ivy green, and lichen brown, Oblivion's slow hands; But the priests of Fame benign, Tearing off the weeds malign, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Ill Often made some splendid jewel, Thus discovered, light the lands. This great fane, so carven on, Fairer than the Parthenon, Was tenfold larger, and, untouched By time or war, looked down. At each entrance high and wide, Obelisks, on either side, In tall, Syenic massiveness Set forth antique renown. Gentle Sorrow and her charge, Entering this temple large, Looked round the vast basilica, And saw the vaulted roof. It was propped by pillars high, Of gray gneiss and porphyry, And in the groins the echoes trooped And mumbled, far aloof. On the niched and statued wall, On the tiles and pillars all, They saw the biographic lists Of extant, splendid lights ; And the laurel, which without In profusion grew about, Within was plaited into praise That Fame grants sundry wights. With her trumpet to her lips, With her girdle at her hips, Robed in Tyrian-dyed softness, Stood the goddess fair to see. Oft her mighty voice she sent, Through the lifted instrument, Round the world to every people, And to nations yet to be. 112 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. Just before immortal Fame Was an altar with its flame, And a vestal guardian angel Who renewed the sacred fire. Face and form with splendor shone As she ministered alone, Feeding full this flame of genius That it never might expire. One pure crystal, man-high vase Was the altar, carved with bays, And, in relief, with goat-leg'd Pan That piped upon a reed. There, too, Theban Hercules Robbed the fair Hesperides Took precious fruit and slew a wrong, In one exalted deed. From the altar's golden bowl Flared the flame's undying soul, And lighted up the potent fane And Fame's benignant face. Other light than this was none, Save the rays that faintly shone In the lofty dome's void hollow In the distant upper space. Entering through the slanted roof, Ran a warp without the woof, The wire, electric nerves of Fame, That sensate round the world. On the shelves of pillared nooks Stood a mental wealth of books, And tattered flags of victory Above it hung unfurled. Of the worshipers who came, That had each achieved a name THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 113 The youth beheld that some, not least, Tho' wise and great, were poor. "Tell me, Sorrow," murmured he, " What injustice this may be ? And why success for poverty Should fail to be a cure ? " " These," said she, " are they that long From the world have suffered wrong, The authors and inventors Who have little else than fame. They might boast their stores of gold, Were it not that, dull and cold, The people rob them statedly, And do by law the shame. "It seems not enough that they, Who with me pursue their way Along the crags of knowledge To enrich the world indeed, Should be troubled and depressed, And upon me lean for rest, Who am alien to the comfort And to the peace they need." But while Sorrow spoke, the maid, Who had lent the silken aid, Approached the twain, and greeted them . With pleasure in her grace ; And they knew that she was fair, With her golden crown of hair, And tender eyes that filled with soul Her oval, Grecian face. As across the lettered floor They were passing to the door, The lovely maiden, gentle voiced, Said, turning to her guest, 114 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. "On the wall to-morrow night Will appear a thrilling sight, For the horsemen with their horses Are to race there, ten abreast. "All the city will be there. If to see the race you care, Be in readiness and waiting When the chimes are telling nine." It would please him well to go. And, to streets spread out below, They loitered down a laurel path Before the fane divine. Him the maiden bade adieu; Then, with Sorrow tried and true, He rode, and came to where arose A lilied, marble spire. " Here," said Sorrow, " they bow down, And shall win a lasting crown, Who tread my path with humble feet, And crush each low desire. "My dark path leads up to joy That I know not, nor annoy, For that it lies beyond my bourn, A lucent pearl, great-priced." Sorrow wept, and with the youth Entered this abode of truth, And heard the holy story Of the mild and patient Christ. In the morning cool and sweet, Up the wide, frequented street, Alone the youth walked, seeing much Along the paven miles. Every house by which he went Was to him magnificent; THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 115 Yet the fountain gargoyles only For the passer-by had smiles. Here, he soon could plainly see, Dwelt no rare immunity From any evil that the world Outside the walls endured. Here were sickness, pain, and death, Shame and crime with poison breath, And even breadless poverty A dwelling here secured. Men who never come this way Have as much of joy as they Who here abide in opulence, Their idlest wants supplied ; For success lies in degrees, And to rise to one of these, And see the others higher still, Is like a thorn to pride. Up and down throughout Success Sought the youth for happiness, And saw it was an empty dream In foolish fashion's halls. Everywhere it was alloyed; Nothing fully was enjoyed ; For Discontent went round, or sat Repining on the walls. When the rising moon shone white, And the city was alight, The lady came, and took the youth To see the eager race. Up the wall ran highways wide ; On them streamed a living tide Skyward to the race-course straight, And poured about the place. 116 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. All that seven-mile course along, On each buttress tall and strong, That propped the wall on either side, And past its top arose, Stood the slanted seats, where pressed Countless people richly dressed, Who took their places to behold The swift event unclose. On the dizzy battlements Brazen cressets burned intense, And flushed the massive, mighty wall With scarlet flowers of fire, Lighting up with lurid glare The expectant thousands there, And beaming down the valley With the fervor of desire. At the goal were cressets two Flinging up flame-arms of blue, And, just beyond, abruptly stood An angle of the wall. The unmoving foot of this Rested on a precipice, And the pebbles men flung down it Seemed to never cease to fall. In the shining, jeweled sword, Belted, with a twinkling cord, To the thigh of bright Orion Where he stands august in space, Is a gulf of darkness great, Where no sun's rays penetrate An awful gulf of nothingness, A black and worldless place. So appeared the dread abyss Down the wall and precipice THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 117 To those who, in the night, with fear, Looked from the balustrade. Even the cressets' angry bloom Parted not the heavy gloom, That lay appallingly beneath In one dense hush of shade. Near the goal, the lady fair And the youth she made her care Were waiting, on the cushioned seats, And Sorrow sat between. Sorrow met them on the way ; She with them had craved to stay, And now of either clasped a hand, And looked along the scene. At the place of starting stood, Strong, and brave to hardihood, The horsemen in their chariots, Their horses fiery-eyed Coal-black coursers curbed with pain, Plunging, fretting at the rein, Long of limb and shaggy mane, And to the winds allied. Now they start ! a score of teams Harnessed to revolving gleams, And speed along the softened course Upon the city's wall. Driving hard with steady hands, One large-browed calm raceman stands, And tho' at first he fell behind, Ere long he distanced all. It was pleasure worth the view, When the horses almost flew, To note the rhythmic movement With which some strained ahead. 118 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. These were urged by men of will, And a beauty high and still Was in the drivers' faces While they ruled the strength they sped. As of these each horseman fleets By the living, breathless seats, The praise of hands and mouths and flowers With bounty is bestowed. Yet anew it makes him feel He must prove more true than steel To win the goal through strong restraint Along the flying road. Some gave out beside the way ; Those who in the race must stay, With haggard looks and hideous, Held slack the useless rein. They, in pressing toward the goal, Of their beasts had lost control, And the dark, relentless passions On to ruin dashed amain. Only one man firm and true Paused beyond the lights of blue ; For the rest, who were behind him, Rushing by with panting breath, From the sheer and sullen wall Leaped, and beasts and drivers, all, At the balustraded angle, Thunder' d headlong down to death. Then on every seated bank Grew the weed, confusion, rank, And on the wall the people streamed With shouts and mournful cries. In the pressure and dismay, Sorrow's hand-clasp slipped away, THE CITY OF SUCCESS. 119 And the youth could nowhere find it, Nor the fair with tender eyes. Back from wall and buttress wide, Down the highways ebbed the tide A saddened, shuddering, troubled thing Whose rose was ever thorned. At the goal, the youth, alone, Saw that all the rest were gone, And saw, in sapphire loneliness, The crescent silver-horned. Far below him, in the vale, Honor's river, winged with sail, Flowed along the hazy quiet, Deep and strong, and sparkling bright. Far away the rim loomed up Of the massive valley-cup That held the drowsy hydromel Of cool, forgetful night. He beheld, near where he stood, Bathed in ruby cresset-blood, Or the flame's glare falling on her, A woman quite alone. As she turned and beckoned him, Through the shadows dark and dim He thought he there descried the face Of her who was his own. But when he had reached her side, And her features dignified Looked down with cold severity, He saw it was not she. With harsh voice the woman said, "I am Duty, and have led Her heart to whom you plighted troth. Oh, turn and follow me ! 120 THE CITY OF SUCCESS. " They who truly find success Come to it through faithfulness, And not by silken ladders let By tender women down. Happiness is found, good youth, In sweet love and honest truth, And naught suffices for their loss In all this pleasant town." Down a highway to the street These two went on willing feet, And at a gate a sentinel, Who knew stern Duty well, At her word advanced them through; For the youth, to Duty true, Followed her in weary darkness Till they rested in a deU. Soon the east with morning glowed ; By the road the river flowed, And they were on their way to her Whose love the youth had won. ' From a vessel dropping down, Laden near the distant town, They heard the boatmen's parting song, And watched the rising sun. "We depart, and little care, Gilded city high in air, That allures the simple-hearted From his peaceful home away; For where honor's river flows, And the breeze of duty blows, We guide the prow across the night To harbors of the day. " We the way to joy have found ; But while sailing, seaward bound, A SUIT OF ARMOR. 121 We quaff the sparkle and delight Of crystal depths below. In thee, city, shadows dwell; To thy walls, farewell, farewell; We seek the eternal ocean Where the tides of gladness flow." A SUIT OF ARMOR. A SUIT of ancient armor in a hall Stands like an unopposing sentinel; I see its past behind it, and recall The chivalry that vexed the infidel, That waged fierce wars and wrought of woe increase In His mild name who is the Prince of Peace. This unworn armor has a silent speech; To more than steel the steel is riveted, And, empty and forlorn, appears to teach The patient hope that oft is felt and said, That soon all armor to disuse shall pass, With visored helmet, hauberk, and cuirass. There were true knights when mail like this was worn In the long struggle for Jerusalem. If o'er the crescent the red cross was borne, They died content. But fame yet lived for them, And troubadours their brave deeds rhymed upon From stubborn Antioch to Ascalon. Noblest the knights while they were few and poor; They vowed to tell the truth, to help the weak, To flee no foe, and hold each trust secure. They let their simple dress their lives bespeak. Firm in misfortunes, they had strength to be Humble and generous in victory. 122 A GUARDIAN ANGEL. But when they rose to luxury and power, When wealth and honor, bright-eyed falcons, stood On their triumphant armor in that hour Went forth from chivalry the soul, the good And knighthood meant a price, and turned away From rugged duty into weak display. For while slow progress up its path has toiled, Who has been faithful that has touched its gains ? As the clean truth, if handled, soon is soiled, So, good is seldom pure that long obtains; And the great cause, which sought to help and bless, Dies at the golden summit of success. The spirit fled, the body is but dust; It lingers in corruption and decay; It may not look on favor nor mistrust, Tho* many praise it loud who said it nay. They are too blind to see, too dull to feel, 'T is empty as this man-shaped shell of steel. A GUARDIAN ANGEL. WITH wings of love as stainless and as white As snow untracked or clouds against the blue, Clothed with God's peace, and radiant with light That his aureola about him threw, An angel dwelt in heaven, and all bliss, Unending and unspeakable, was his. Out of God's will, to this dear angel's heart Came in grand music what in words is said : "To yon far sparkle of the earth depart That bridge the short-lived generations tread And I will give it thee to guard and tend A soul untried, and be his guide and friend. A GUARDIAN ANGEL. 123 "Or guide, or friend, truth-whisperer, or guard, Be each, and all in one, to keep him true ; Yet, if he long neglect thee, and make hard And wearisome this duty thine to do, Thou need'st not wait to strive against his sin, But, at the gates uplifted, enter in." Swift are the rays, the arrows of the morn, That pierce the dark and shoot across the sky Swifter the angel who, through ether lorn, Pierced on displaying wings, until on high God's joy-paved city dwindled to a star, And the small earth, a pale moon, shone afar. Hither, in silent flight, he took his way, And found at noon, beside a shady stream, A youth asleep, and hovered where he lay, Appearing to the sleeper in a dream; And was a vision of suhlime delight, With gleaming wings and robe of snowy white. With what regretful tears in Heaven's book, The record of our lives is oft set down! Filled with high hope the handsome youth forsook His native village for the crowded town, And met the varied shapes of vice and sin That, clothed with soft enticement, walk therein. He battled long their vain, misleading charms, Helped by the angel in his troubled breast: Arose no peal of strife, no noise of arms, But fierce and giant warfare, wild unrest, Raged in the soul ; and Virtue's citadel, Stormed by the lower passions, crashing, fell. When these have sway, how dark the soul and drear ! His gentle friends, who saw with inner eyes, 124 A GUARDIAN ANGEL. Beheld the man debased, yet, ever near, An angel following with ruthful cries, Beseeching him his erring steps to cease, To turn and rest upon the heart of Peace. With holy angels there is joy in pain Their pain is borne for love, and love is joy. This angel would not now return again To heavenly doors; but he would have employ To lead a soul to pleasant fields beyond, From the deep slough of error and despond. His still, small voice had waned from less to less, Pleading and sad as following he went ; And the long years were one with weariness, Till to the man life's shadow, death, was sent. But heeding his good angel, ere he died He worshiped Him whom he had crucified. Bearing in arms of love the soul set free, The angel, with God's glory on his face, Mounted on wings outspread exultingly, Trailing his lily robe ; and as through space Angel and soul approached the central star, Before them heaven shone with joy afar. Oh, happy are the meetings that await The crossers to that star of higher powers ! The soul found that the angel was a mate That he had loved and lost in boyhood hours. Ah ! who can tell ? Belike to all God sends, As guardian angels, their departed friends. AUTUMN BALLAD. 125 AUTUMN BALLAD. How mild and fair the day, dear love ! and in these garden ways The lingering dahlias to the sun their hopeless faces raise. The buckwheat and the barley, once so bonny and so blithe, Fall before the rhythmic labor of the cradler's gleam- ing scythe. Behold the grapes and all the fruits that Autumn gives to-day, As robed in red and gold, she rules, the Empress of Decay ! Out to the orchard come with me, among the apple- trees ; No dragon guards the laden boughs of our Hesperides. This golden pear, my darling, that I hold up to your mouth, Is a hanging-nest of sweetness ; but the birds are wing- ing south. The purses of the chestnuts, by the chilly-fingered Frost, Were opened in his frolic, and their triple hoards are lost. Last night you heard the tempest, love the wind-en- tangled pines, The spraying waves, the sobbing sky that lowered in gloomy lines ; The storm was like a hopeless soul, that stood beside the sea, And wept in dismal rain and moaned for what could never be. 126 THE RINGERS VENGEANCE. THE RINGER'S VENGEANCE. IN Florence dwelt a tall and handsome youth, Courted and praised by fashion's fickle throng, Plighted to one he loved in simple truth A lady proud, whose black hair, fine and long, Some said, was like a flag, that waved or fell Above her heart's deceitful citadel. The youth's days now were bright, as days may be To all who love as lovers always should; But one fell night a cry of dread ran free, And one belov'd in deadly peril stood. About her house the hot flames roared and broke In waves of fire that dashed a spray of smoke. Prone on the seat within her oriel The lady sank ; then he, her lover, came And lowered her to the street ; but it befell That, as he turned back from the leaping flame, The burning roof crashed in, and to the floor A heavy, falling beam his body bore. They brought him forth, all bleeding, burned, and crushed, And long he lay, and neither stirred nor spoke ; Not yet by wayward death his heart was hushed, But seemed a blacksmith pounding stroke by stroke, And mutely toiling on from sun to sun, Until his fateful labor should be done. For love and youth with smiling life are fraught ; They cling to life wherein to move and dwell. The youth came back, at last, to life and thought, And longed to see her whom he loved so well. THE RINGER'S VENGEANCE. 127 " She will be true and kind to me," he said, " And glad shall be the days when we are wed. " Dear love ! she will behold me with her heart, And pity me, because my lot is hard ; She will not look on this mere outer part That for her sake is crippled and is scarred." False hope, poor heart ! for, when the lady came, She turned away with loathing, to her shame. As one in swamps sees fireflies flare in gloom, And fancies them the street-lights of a town Whose spires and domes in lofty shadows loom, Yet finds at dawn but lowland, so came down The fond hopes of the sufferer, who found Beneath his feet a waste and useless ground. Yet Sorrow brings no dagger in her hand To slay the heart with whom she comes to dwell ; The youth lived on, and he was wont to stand Before a church, and listen to the bell That in a great spire, bright with golden gloss, Laughed from its yellow throat beneath the cross. Then loss of wealth with other damage fell, And for a beggar's pittance he became The ringer of the wide-mouthed, thick-lipped bell, Whose noisy somersets he made proclaim Vesper or mass or lovers to be wed, Or pulled it with large pity for the dead. And now they bade him ring a joyful peal ; For she who once had clothed his heart with pain Before the altar 'neath the bell would kneel, And wed another ; then, for good or bane, There came two spirits out of east and west, And battled fiercely in the ringer's brgast. 128 THE RINGER'S VENGEANCE. Hate's dark-winged spirit like a shadow came, And carried for a shield the ringer's wrong; The spirit's eyes burned with a quenchless fiaine ; His sword, revenge, was merciless and strong, And now resembled justice, as it fell With such swift strokes as he could best compel. The spirit of Forgiveness was like day, Was crowned with love divine, and for a shield Had peace and innocence; while in the fray The wounds he took were patiently concealed. He strove to break his dark opponent's sword, And save the ringer from a deed abhorred. All the long night before the wedding-morn The ringer in the belfry worked, dark-browed, And, as he looked forth when the day was born, The better spirit in his heart was cowed. The nails were drawn, the beams made weak at last* That once had held the great bell firm and fast. He saw the glowing landscape, and to him It was a cup, and there the red sun stood, A drop of splendid wine upon the rim, And clouds arose in somber cloak and hood, And, with their stained lips at the far, blue brink, Seemed evil genii that came to drink. Arrived in time, with followers in file, The happy bridegroom and his smiling bride Advanced to organ-music up the aisle, And knelt down at the altar, side by side. The bride looked up beneath her veil of lace, And saw with fear the ringer's livid face. Then sprang he to the rope to ring her knell, With all the rage of his inclement soul ; IRAK. 129 The huge, inverted lily of the bell Shook in the gust, and, with a last loud toll, Fell from its place, resounding far and wide, And gave to Death the ringer and the bride. Alas ! for her ; it was her sin to feign True love that she nor felt nor understood. Alas ! for him, that he avenged his pain ; He might have joined the noblest brotherhood; For, wrongs that are forgiven in our sin, Are doors where loving angels enter in. IRAK. MY sire was Tobba-Himyar, Yemen's King, And Arem was the center of his power. Eastward the wide, red desert paid him tax; For, of the Bedouins, a score of tribes Brought lavish tribute for their vassalage. He gave his realm such wealth of happy days That it was called The Happy, every where. Most generous, but for blind justice stern, His life was such as aye befits a king. He let no shadow swerve his steadfast will, But stayed his mind on plain realities. His was the actual, mine the ideal life ; For Hagi, the magician, led me on Till oft to deaf abstraction I was rapt By waking visions of the universe And spirit creatures haunting every gloom. Gray Hagi, in the midnight, when the stars Burned with their silver splendor, in the calm Gathered about him beings of the sky Alitta, Hebal with his seven shafts, 130 IRAK. The seven planets' seven kindly gods, The servants of the black and sacred stone And whispered with them, cheek by jowl, and reached Far glimpses of the future's caravan Approaching our small earth ; occurrences Whose coming, furtive footfalls make no sound. In those dim days the world was like a dream, And life seemed vaster than the sandy waste Lost in the azure solitude of sky. When, by meek Hagi guided, I arrived At recondite dim table-lands of thought, He gave me this : a time-stained rhymed divan, By one who knew to choose the apt and best From infinite suggestions of the mind. The verse was like thick, raw-silk cloth, shot through With rare, imaginative gold, and wrought With grotesque fancies sweetly numerous Weird incantations strange as death, strong spells That swayed the genii and other shapes That scarcely leave deep darkness ; this, in might, Roused dread revenges dealing strife and blood ; And this, from out his mire, a dragon called, The blear-eyed, warted offspring of disgust. But on the margin of the final leaf Was penned the spell of Serosch, which, when said, Baffles the dragon and the frightful deevs. Now, bordering these days, the King fell sick. A black-winged spirit took him in its arms And bore him nightward while the people wept. I should not hear his rich-toned voice again. An awful and impenetrable change Mantled his features, and he passed away Into the endless silence ; but his smile Lighted, a space, the valley-land of death. Then I in my great grief bowed down distraught : IRAK. 131 I heard the wailing of the streeted woe That once was Arem, city of delight; I heard the harps, by sympathy caressed, Moan musical regret down palace halls ; I heard the softened footfalls come and go; I heeded naught : I knew that he was dead, And clad my soul in sack-cloth, with one wish, To dwell with sorrow till I too found rest. Then, as the long procession of the hours, Star-jeweled, or appareled by the sun, Passed, with the banner of a waning moon, Into the month that followed Himyar's death, Rose the vast populace and crowned me King Me, a mere youth, an abject slave to tears. It pleased them well to woo me from my grief : Before the curtain of dim dusk had dropped, They flamed the lights in red carnelian globes, Lest gloom might foster gloom ; beside my couch, They burned, in agate vases, frankincense ; And black-eyed girls, their bodies swaying lithe, And wrists and ankles tinkling pearls and gold, Danced to the rapture of the lute and flute, Their long hair rhythmically undulant. The music rose and broke like javelins At sorrow and at silence deftly hurled By unseen outposts of approaching joys. For when the tenth diverted day had passed, Lulled into slumber by the wedded tones, I drifted duskward in a boat of palm That, helm to prow, with mother-of-pearl was lined, And glided down a valley's silver stream, And paused among close-petaled fragrances That with intoxicating gladness breathed, Telling the love that thrilled from root to flower. These rocked in music of the fluting breeze, And all was music, and the dream a song. 132 IRAK. From out this mingled melody and sleep A memory, like the maiden from the fount, Rose fair, and glimmered through a mist of tears, But shaped the die that, after, molded act ; For I bethought me of my idle past, In which, in Riad, northward situate, I heard the tones that floated down my dream. Then, leaving Hagi to the cares of state, And choosing escort sworn to secrecy That the rash step should not be jarred abroad, We took the desert beasts, and were away. But, as we crossed the heated Dahna waste, Arose the slow simoom, and, by good chance, I parted from my band, and stood alone, And watched the crouching lion of the storm That, maned with darkness, loomed against the sky, And roared his arid hunger to the world. Before the violet poison of his breath An ostrich fled on wing-assisted feet. My horse, my brave, sure-footed Nedjedee, Had knelt, and lay with nostrils close to earth, And, as the storm came near, I cast me prone Beside him, and drew breath with lips in dust, Till the blown whirl of sandy peril wild Passed over me, and, moaning, went its way. It so befell that I, of all my band, Alone survived that lion's fatal rage. Night after night I vaguely northward went Without a guide except the friendly stars. I longed for even a crust, and flag'd with thirst; Yet, ere my strength had wholly ebbed away, At morn I saw with doubt a distant grove ; But urged my worn horse toward it, till the doubt, A bird of darkness, fled the light of truth. Here, on a small oasis, near the spring, A sheik had pitched his tent of camels' hair, And stood outside its hospitable door. IRAK. 133 With milletrcakes, and dates with butter pressed, And pleasant words for he had known my sire He gave me entertainment three brief days; But on the fourth, when from her slumber rose Dawn in her gauzy raiment decked with pearls, He set out with me, that I might not err. He on his camel, I of saddler blood, For seven days subdued the burning miles. Then, as mild twilight, with bejeweled hands, Came braiding her long tresses, like a star Seen from the gloomy cave of our fatigue, Rose Riad, crowned with turrets glimmering. The sheik embraced me now, and said farewell ; But frowned as he my diamond gift pushed back. The city's gates stood open : in their might, They knew no fear; and itching-handed trade Was trustful of the long-continued peace. I led my horse among an idle throng That listened to a grizzled, nomad bard Who jingled rhymes, like silver in a purse, In praise of princess Zayda: kind was she, He sang; but even as beautiful as kind. Her eyes were stars reflected in the sea, Her breath was lovely perfume of the rose, Her step was lighter than the coy gazelle's ; And she, that morning riding near the gate, Gave him an opal with its heart of flame For a smooth lyric of a kindred core. As my forthgoing to that outland town Was of a vagrant fancy born of sleep, I cast aside my baubles, and put on A plainer guise, and went about the streets. I mingled with the common of the mart, And heard them speak of Tobba-Himyar's death, And of his son, a weakling crushed by grief, 134 IRAK. Who lacked his father's force, and only knew To rule a kingdom in the world of dreams. For pastime with a zest of novelty, I chaffered with the venders in bazaars; And, buying once a turban from a Jew, Threw down some paltry silver to a shape That cringed before me with a hateful leer, And begged, he said, because the king was rich; But seeing how his pleading had borne fruit, Exclaimed, with pleasure in his greedy eyes, " May kiss of Zayda be thy round reward ! " These humble days wore on ; and straying forth, At noon, along a viny slope that trailed Its green skirt, blossom broidered, in a stream Whose full, suburban course curved languidly, I on the lush bank sat, and watched below The sword-like flash of silver scales, that shone Where the hot sunlight, through the leafy roof, Clasped a gold bracelet on the watery arm. The hazy air lay on the grassy hills Like gossamer, and thinner than the shawls ' That merchants draw through ladies' finger-rings. A listless camel cropped the verdure near. I heard the sultry drone of pollened swarms, And, dimly conscious that a subtle thing Had coiled before me, saw the distance change And rise, like incense, to the fading sun. Then Iliad, gorged by sudden ruin, sank, Dissolved in mist, and the flat world was void. But soon my dizzy fancy whirled with dreams; On amber isles, in sunset's ocean, rose Arem and Mecca armed with soaring towers, Far-glittering Balbec whose huge masonry Was lightly reared by hands unseen and swift, And that strange City of Pillars, Shedad built, Which, long untenanted, remains entire, IRAK. 135 And stands mysterious, invisible To all save heaven-favored travelers; For men may walk its streets and know it not. Beneath the cities yawned a murky gulf That swallowed them, at last, and aU was dark. The night pervaded space, and had no bounds. The stars were blotted, and the blinded earth, By her own elements consumed, was blown Through the dull gloom in dust impalpable. But I with spectral glide explored those fields Until I came to where abrupt they swept Downward, like some great wave of deepest sea, Into a valley cold and dolorous. Below me, midway on the slope, there rose A somber portal strewn with ashy bones. I heard the hingy thunder of the gate; And grimly issued thence the dragon, Death, Fiercer than frothing madness, and so vast No antique hippogriff had braved his wrath. His eyes were sunken, and his putrid jaws, Distending wide, red drippled of his feast. His wings were cloud-like, and his breath a storm, And, all puissant in his bony mail, He came at me, a king, this monster, Death. But I recalled the spell of Serosch, penned On the stained margin of the old divan ; For there that angel wrote it when he paused Once in his thought-swift, seven-fold, nightly flight Around the sleeping earth, to guard good men. I said his magic words as with drawn blade To meet the dread destroyer I went down. Escaping Death's cold jaws, beneath his wing That, webbed with terrors, over me displayed, I thrust at his fell heart, and saw its blood Burst from the wound in black forgetfulness. I felt that I had done a mighty deed, 136 IRAK. Because with strenuous arm and eager front I gave to his own sleep the dragon, Death. But now rolled back the pallid sea of mist, The curling incense swung from censer stars, Scooped by sirocco from the under sky. Slowly from this came out the distant view And Iliad with its cliff-like walls and towers. Before me, severed in the glossy midst, A baffled serpent writhed with wrathful hiss; And bending over stood a form so rare I fancied that the charm was still complete, That still my brain was pictured with a dream. The maiden bade her slave take back his sword, And shed on me heart-sunlight with her smiles. She led along a path to her kiosk, And sat beside a fount, and bade me speak. I thanked her for my life, which she had saved, Not worth the viperine, unselfish risk. I said I was a desert wanderer Veered by the winds of chance, but nobly born. Her voice was like the carol of a bird : " The sweetest waters of Arabia Rise in the desert: so the proverb runs," She said, and blushed as if the fairied air Into a crimson rose were changing her. The fountain plashed its crystals, each on each, That in the pool-vase fell in showers of light. The polished floor of tessellated stone Lay like a ripe pomegranate cleft in twain; A stairway with a heavy balustrade, Wound upward to a gilded gallery On which, at either side a curtained arch, A statue stood as warder : one upheld A meaning finger to the sky, and one Maintained the gathered drapery at its breast, And clutched a scroll, and bent the head in thought IRAK. 137 On golden wheels the joyful days rolled by, And, keeping in disguise my rank and power, I wooed and won the princess Zayda's love. Then to the haughty King went some vile spy, And in my ears were echoed bloody words That craved to slay me lest I grow more bold. At night a messenger toward Arem sped Bearing these news to Hagi : " Swiftly send Ten thousand horsemen, veterans of the war, To enter Riad at its many gates, And wait about the palace for my call, On the first midnight of the next new moon." But lest a secret dagger might divert The armed arrival to revengeful use, I said to her who loved me, that a vow Pressed on me much to be at once performed That I would ride to Mecca, and go round Seven times the Caaba's heaven-descended stone, And then come back, to reach her ere again The slender crescent sailed the western sky. So I a caravan for Mecca joined, And, on the sacred journey's living wave, The dromedary, rocked, reached pilgrim-wise The worshiped stone, and paid, indeed, my vow. When on the far-off verge the faint new moon Lifted its prow of pearl, upon the hill, That passively looks down on Riad's towers, I too looked down, and watched the many lights Gleam, and the groups of buildings, shadow-like, Join vaster shadows of dream-haunted night. I entered at a gate that, like the rest, Stood open wide, and reached with weary beast The many-peopled inn. Thence, when refreshed, I went to Zayda, who awaited me In palace depths, and seeing me approach, Rose from the languid cushions, crowned with joy As with a chaplet woven of fresh flowers. 138 IRAK. That night, to his chief officers, the King Gave a rich banquet in his lofty hall. The drinking-cups of gold with rubies set Poured down the vinous riot to the blood. The distant laughter of the revel came To our young ears, as now to me is borne, Down the dim length of memory's palace-halls, The recollection of that happy time. And Zayda's tender accents, soft and low, Were the remembered music that I heard When in my grief I sailed a tide of dreams. I said that our true love was like a ship Lashed by wild winds and cold, remorseless waves ; Yet I, the pilot guiding through the storm, Saw Safety, in her harbor, beckoning. Even as I spoke, the arras near me swung, Perchance in the light breeze that floated by, And on my ear these words fell soft as dew : "We come: our swords are sheathed; our banners furled." Then entered slaves, their gleaming sabers drawn, And led me to the presence of the King Who sat, above his guests, upon the throne. He said that I must die ; he so decreed ; For, by the mad presumption of my love, I cast base insult at his royal power. Brave Zayda on her knees implored for me, And vined her arms about my neck, and wept. Then waved the King his slaves to take me thence. I brushed them off, and, high above the hush, Voiced the alarm ; and into that bright room Rushed my fierce warriors, as I cast aside The loose disguise that hid my royal robes, And stood before them, while they knelt around, Irak, the son of Himyar, and their King! In the same hall, I made the princess mine, And crowned her Queen of Yemen and my bride. FOREKNO WLEDGE- 139 With flags and roses they festooned the walls, And mirth and music reveled in the streets, And myriad welcomes, jubilant and sweet, Rose in the sunny air, or fell with flowers. And since, the brittle goblets of my years, Filled to the brim with golden honey-mead, And handed me by the great cup-bearer, Fate, Have all been deeply quaffed; but from these hands Fallen away, lie shattered at my feet The mute mementos of a life of joy. 1863. FOREKNOWLEDGE. AT Pentland Frith, beside the sea-coast white, Stood an old inn to which the young Laird came. Rain and wild wind fulfilled the sightless night : But good cheer laughed before the hearth-stone flame. Well entertained, the pleased and drowsy guest, Ere it was late, retired to dreamful rest. His father's death had left him an estate On Mainland of the Orkneys set in sea; And in the Hall, now part in ruins, Fate Had roofed and reared his titled ancestry. To visit it the Laird was on his way, And would embark betimes the coming day. He felt the old inn tremble in the roar ; But soon to him all sounds became remote, And he was walking on the island's shore ; For he had crossed the Frith without a boat, And saw the Hall's great windows all alight In the weird depth of that forbidding night. 1 40 FOREKNO WLED GE. He treads his hall of banqueting, rebuilt By sleepless fancy from moss-grown decay. It flames with wax-lights whose thin 'lances tilt And splinter on the gloss of rich array. A tapestry garden, gay with woven bloom, Is hung around the tiled and corbeled room. In crystal and on gold a feast is spread, And they thereat are guests of high degree ; While he, the Laird, is seated at the head, And wonders who the gentlefolk may be. But as his glance from face to face is cast, Up, at the spectral sight, he starts aghast ! He sees his ancestors! And he recalls That often, in his boyhood, he has viewed, Against the gallery's wainscoted walls, Their vivid portraits from the frames protrude. His ancestors, in order as they died, Are ranged along the board at either side. First of the line, and opposite the Laird, Fierce in the tawny skins of beasts of prey, A chieftain sits, blue-eyed and yellow-haired, To whom the brave drank wassail in his day. In storm of battle fell this Norse oak tree, The sturdy founder of the family. The late laird sits beside the living host; His light of life went out the year before. And next there is a fonder, dearer ghost, Come back through sleep to be with him she bore ; Her smile, that in his heart's core has a place, Still glorifies her mild and saintly face. The dead, when they return to us in sleep, Are seldom frightful and of horrid mien. FOREKNO WLEDGE. 1 41 Their changeless forms the bygone likeness keep, And give no token of the dim unseen. Their presence seems not strange ; they speak their will ; We answer them, and are familiar still. But here the young Laird shudders to behold His unexpected guests, and knows that they From tombs of sculptured quiet stained and old, Through wind and rain have found their lonely way. They chill the lighted air ; they draw no breath, And cast no shadow in that room of death. How long the host sits spellbound, none may know. His stately guests, in low and hollow tones, Murmur together of impending woe ; For each the ill, forerunning news bemoans. Their feasting done, the wan assembly all Kise, mingle and move round the feudal hall. In time, the Norseman, clad in savage guise, Glides to the door that, untouched, opens wide. He, at the threshold, turns, and lets his eyes, Which pierce like spears, on the young Laird abide; Then, with a warning gesture, cries " Beware ! " And like a vapor fades in outer air. Thus from the hall the vague ghosts, one by one, Slowly, in turn, depart : each at the door Pauses, and facing, as the first had done, The rapt beholder and the light once more, With look and hand that warn from direful doom, Exclaims " Beware ! " and vanishes in gloom. So the dream ends ; and when dawn, cold and gray, Like a pale ghost, passed through its halls again, The Laird awoke, and would not sail that day For the dream's sake : and it was well ; for then 142 SCIENCE AND THE SOUL. The storm-tossed boat that to the Islands crossed Went down at sea and all on board were lost. SCIENCE AND THE SOUL. I SOUGHT, in sleep, to find the mountain-lands Where Science, in her hall of wonder, dwells. When I had come to where the building stands, I found refreshing streams, delightful dells, Invigorating air, and saw, on high, Turret and dome against the boundless sky. Out of her busy palace then she stepped, And kindly greeted me, as there I stood Doubting my right, and whether I had slept. " Welcome," she said, " and whatsoe'er of good You find in me, you have full leave to take For warp and woof of verses that you make." That these, her words, for more than me were meant, I felt, and thanked her as seemed fitting then ; While, in her looks, I saw that she was sent To lighten work and knit together men; And that with patience such as hers could be, The coral mason builds the isles at sea. Servant of Use, upon that mountain wise Was the plain title she was proud to own, And, clearer than her penetrating eyes, The light of Progress on her forehead shone. Her smile the lips' sharp coldness half betrayed, As if a wreath upon a sword were laid. But now, about her palace everywhere, She led my steps, and often by her side SCIENCE AND THE SOUL. 143 A lion and a nimble greyhound were. The swifter to a leash of wire she tied, And made a messenger of good and ill ; The stronger with white breath performed her will. She traced the lapse of awful seas of time On fossil limestone and on glinting ore; Described wild wonders of the Arctic clime, And of all lands her willing slaves explore ; Opening large laboratories to my view, She showed me much that she had skill to do. Then, down a marble stairway, to her bower Was led the gracious way. " And here," said she, " I meditate beyond the midnight hour ; Invent for peace and war, for land and sea ; Read the round sky's star-lettered page, or grope In the abysses of the microscope." But, while she spoke, there stood another near The fairest one that ever I beheld ; I fancied her the creature of some sphere Whence all of mist and shadow are dispelled. Her voice was low and gentle, and her grace Vied with the beauty of her thoughtful face. A clear, unwaning light around her shone A ray of splendor from a loving Source A light like sunshine, that, when it is gone, Leaves darkness, but sheds glory on its course ; Yet, in my dream, her footstep made me start, It was so like the beating of my heart. I turned to Science, for small doubt had I That she best knew her whom I deemed so fair, And asked, " Who is she, that so heedfully Waits on you here, and is like sunny air? 144 SCIENCE AND THE SOUL. In her all beauty dwells, while from her shine Truth, hope, and love, with effluence divine." Then Science answered me, severe and cold: " She is Time's brittle toy : the praise of men Has dazed her wit, and made her vain and bold. With subtle flattery of tongue and pen, They title her the Soul ; I count it blame, And call her Life, but seek a better name. " Alone, in her gray-celled abode, she dwells, Of fateful circumstance the fettered thrall, The psychic sum of forces of her cells, Molecular and manifold in all ; But aeons passed ere Nature could express This carbon-rooted flower of consciousness. "Life, from the common mother, everywhere Springs into being under sun and dew; And it may be that she who is so fair From deep-sea ooze to this perfection grew, Evolving slowly on, from type to type, Until, at last, the earth for man was ripe. " But like a low-born child, whose fancy's page Illuminated glows, she fondly dreams That hers is other, nobler parentage ; That, from a Source Supreme, her being streams.- But, when I ask for proof, she can not give One word, to me, of knowledge positive. " Wherefore, regretfully I turn away, In no wise profited, to let her muse On her delusion, now grown old and gray. It is a vain mirage that she pursues Some image of herself, against the sky, To which she yearns on golden wings to fly." THE CITY OF DECAY. 145 What time I left that palace high and wide, She followed me, whom I had thought so fair, To guide me down the devious mountain-side, Speaking with that of sorrow in her air That made me grieve, and soon a tear I shed To think that here she is so limited. " Oh, I am life and more, I am the Soul," She said, " and, in the human heart and brain, Sit throned and prisoned while the brief years roll, Lifted with hope that I shall live again ; That when I cross the flood, with me shall be The swift-winged carrier-dove of memory. " I shall have triumph over time and space, For I am infinite and more than they. In vain has Science searched my dwelling-place ; For, delve in nature's secrets as she may For deeper knowledge, she can never know Of what I am, nor whither I shall go." THE CITY OF DECAY. WHERE a river and a highway Running side by side together, Lead along through pleasant queendoms To a peaceful, ancient town, Once a bent and wrinkled Graybeard, Brave and true in every weather, On the road pursued his journey, Autumn's fruitful land adown. He had left Spring's balmy country, He had passed through that of Summer, 146 THE CITY OF DECAY. And through Autumn's bronze dominion Was advancing on his way, When a bird of sweeping pinion, To the kindly-hearted comer, From the topmost bough of knowledge Caroled forth a welcome lay. Dragging from this boat of music His close net of recollection, Went the Graybeard's thought, regretting One great pearl that he had lost. He beheld again the country Ruled by Spring, and clear reflection, In his spirit's limpid waters, Of the star-like pearl of cost. Then the Truthsayer, far-sighted, Found the long-sought Graybeard dreaming In the thoughtful, wayside shadow Of the vocal, golden tree ; And he said to him, " O brother, Would'st thou find thy pearl, whose seeming So enchants thy soul with beauty That thou think'st no more shall be ? " In the ocean-bounded city, Whither thou art tending surely, Undissolved thy pearl awaits thee By the darkly silent shore. Do thine alms-deeds ; follow mercy ; Hold thy hand from wrong securely ; When thy pearl again elates thee, Thou shalt have it ever more." To behold the Prophet fully, Turned the traveler sedately, Tho' doubt and hope, alternate, Were reflected in his face ; THE CITY OF DECAY. 147 But the Sayer had departed, And the other wondered greatly That a stranger, kingly-hearted, Should regard him aught with grace. All one way the folk were going, On that highway by the river, In their journey daily nearing Rest and quiet by the sea. Long the Graybeard searched among them, With his thankful lips aquiver, For the Prophet glad and cheering, Who foretold the joy to be. But he found him not, and sadly Down the road his course pursuing, Saw the wizened leaves whirled madly And bestrew the crystal stream; He beheld the air-like current Making haste to its undoing, And, on birds that dipped and skimmed it, Watched the sunlight's silver gleam. Often ships of cloud sailed over, With their wingy canvas lifted, Or they lay becalmed or anchored In the portless, circling blue. In a small, frail shallop nightly On the silent stream he drifted, Till bright Lucifer had fallen, And the victor drank the dew. Then on wakefulness he stranded, And took up his onward journey, Thinking deeply of the promise That so graciously was made ; While the winds, like knights of terror, Round him whirled in joust and tourney ; 148 THE CITY OF DECAY. But of gusty doubt and error His belief was not afraid. For through these he went undaunted, And, one afternoon, when brightly Shone the sun, by clouds unhaunted, At his feet a valley lay. He was standing on a hill-top, And below him, wide and sightly, Where the river cleft the sea-coast, Eose the City of Decay. Far beyond it, black and silent Stretched Oblivion's deep ocean Fog-confounded, thick and waveless To the rim of western sky. Time's replenished river emptied, With a never-ceasing motion, Into these relentless waters And unfathomed mystery. Often vessels, steered by Circe, Down the ebbing river sailing, Ventured boldly out, and vanished In the mute deep's heavy gloom ; But not one came back, or wafted Sounds of laughter or of wailing, From Persephone and Pluto's Dimly-lighted land of doom. Down the highway to the city Came the Graybeard through the valley, While its sunset skies were glossy, And approached the crumbling wall. At the gateway, high and mossy, Soon he paused, his strength to rally ; And expectancy allured him With the joy that would befall. THE CITY OF DECAY. 149 II. Wide the rusty gates stood open, For they long had been unguarded; And perforce the foot would enter, That the weary road had come. In the passage, half imbedded Lay the heavy bolts discarded, And therethrough went Echo, wedded To the twilight gray and dumb. Here the air was damp and chilly, And, with pencil chaste and rimy, Drew the arabesques of Winter, On the stones that arched the way; But in the vast metropolis The walls with dew were slimy; Tho' it was the land of Autumn, It was like the home of May. Tho' the border-hills of Winter To the city were adjacent, Up the dreary, sullen ocean Came the sultry, panting South; And it fawned on beldam Ruin, That, in pride of dress complacent, Sat attired in grass and ivy, And concealed her gaping mouth. On the city wall grew poppies Red as wine, or white as lilies ; And so drowsily they lifted Their full faces to the sun, That the saffron-vested robin, Proud, erect a winged Achilles Sang no more with wakeful rapture As he in the Spring had done. 150 THE CITY OF DECAY. In the city dwelt in plenty, In a mansion quaint and olden, One who was a lady truly, For she doled the poor her bread. Gentle charms of face and manner Hid her years in glamour golden, And her hair of silver brightened To a halo round her head. She was once superb in beauty, And a handsome youth true-hearted Had desired of her this duty, That she love him all his years ; But too late her troth was plighted ; Yet with soft regret she parted From the youth, the unrequited, Who had turned away with tears. Now her husband and her children Under church-yard turf were sleeping; She, with Kindness to attend her, Down life's western slope made .way; But she watched the couch of sickness, Calmed the bitter voice of weeping, And enlarged the paths of mercy In the City of Decay. Haply hearing of her goodness, That it was a potent essence To revive the weary stranger, Or to heal misfortune's sting, The Graybeard sought her dwelling-house, And, standing in her presence, The diminished star discovered, Whose full orb he loved in Spring. Having given his name, he briefly Sketched their early, tender meeting, THE CITY OF DECAY. 151 And the after-years these chiefly For the star's projected beam. The woman smiled, and took his hand With kindly words of greeting ; Her eyes were memory-vistas, And love was like a dream. Then he told her of the wonder, Long in Summer his possession, That had slipped from him asunder Into Time's elusive tide; And anon of that Truthsayer Who had warned him from transgression, And who promised that the jewel With its owner should abide. Glad the woman was, and said she, " Whatsoe'er my friendship chooses, That it lives to do would aid thee Till thy perfect joy thou find. He achieves no Alpine summit, Who to take stout help refuses ; And not yet have line and plummet Gauged the sea-depths of the mind. "Come, Kindness, near, and speak him fair, That once was my true lover, And, up and down this crumbling town, Assist him in his quest, Searching daily, rising early, Till, at last, he shall discover That great virtue pure and pearly, Which aforetime he possessed." So with soothing hand came Kindness, And reposed it on his shoulder ; But he dazedly, as with blindness, Pressed his palm upon his brow, 152 THE CITY OF DECAY. And bethought him of his sister, Who to memory seemed older A beloved and holy maiden That abode in heaven now. The woman spoke: "Across the way, There stands a monastery, Where, within a darksome cloister, Dwells an abbot sad and pale. I know him well ; he lives alone ; But many folk, once merry, To have him pray their sins away His heavy doors assail. " Bide thou with him hereafter ; For I shall reward him freely. But to-night he shares our table ; Nay, he even now is here ! " Thereupon, the abbot entered, And his restless eyes and steely On the woman quickly centered ; But she gave him gracious cheer.' Low his monkish garb depended With a cross and beaded cable. As if but his cowl offended, He removed it from his head. The abundant, girdled habit Heightened whitely, with its sable, His dull, hollow-cheeked pallor ; But his lips were full and red. The Graybeard, bowing coldly, Touched the abbot's hand extended, And, beside the board, more boldly Showed his liking scant and small ; But when rising for departure, He was to the monk commended ; THE CITY OF DECAY. 153 And they crossed the street, and lingered In the monastery hall. Seated here beneath the flicker Of a lamp hung from the ceiling, Said the abbot, "Worthy senior, Doth thy heart not know me yet? Hast forgot? Thou thought'st me sainted, In the wayside shadow kneeling: Who with me is unacquainted, Seeing that I am Regret?" Past midnight lone, the guest was shown Where he might sleep and slumber, As, on before, the abbot bore A bronze, Pompeian lamp. The Graybeard saw long rows of lore The echoing halls encumber, And, on windows mediaeval, Heavy night-dew trickle damp. But thenceforth he scarce elected To behold the monk, who, hidden In his cell, with soul dejected, * Brooded palely on the past. There was a trusty servitor That took him food when bidden, And the guest's lone board replenished With profusion to the last. But that night the Graybeard's spirit Anchored in the Indian Ocean, Off Ceylon, in oystered waters Where, with sudden plash and swirl, Swarthy divers darted under ; And, with weltering commotion, From the breathless fields of wonder Brought the harvest of a pearl. 154 THE CITY OF DECAY. III. Early service swift to render, Came the woman's placid maiden, And led on through morning splendor To a ruin old and gray. It was of an arch, or grotto, That, with heavy mosses laden, High upon it bore the motto, Only truth shall not decay. Near the arch had stood a temple Where an oracle was spoken On the sea of truth men worshiped For a meaning all their own. Now about the sward they dented Lay the fluted columns broken, And the thought they represented Was as mythic error known. Each belief is truth most holy To the holder is eternal Tho' beliefs are birds that slowly Hatch their broods and fly away. Ammon, Isis, Auramuzda, Jove and all the gods supernal, Had the ruins of their altars In the City of Decay. Carefully round arch and column That had been to Truth erected, Went the Graybeard, meekly solemn, Seeking out his one desire. He had fondly hoped to find it, By the love of Truth protected, Somewhere hidden here, denuded Of the restless river's mire. THE CITY OF DECAY. 155 But it had his search eluded, And from that sad place he wended Through a street of tombs and willows, Nor believed the jewel there ; Tho' far and wide on either side The monuments extended, And birds with heaven flooded sweet The unregretful air. Ruined castles slowly crumbled Here and there within the city ; Their high battlements had tumbled, And their grassy moats were dry. Gone every knight and lady dight, For no more the love-lorn ditty Rose beneath the listening window, In the moon's enamored eye. There have been, in Spain, great castles Of the nimble mason-wizard That, with neither square nor plumb-line, Ever rears a chinkless wall. Once as great were these now broken, Where abode the bat and lizard, And where just a word, loud spoken, Sometimes caused a tower to fall. Haply, Kindness and the Graybeard Reached a magic castle olden, That was standing draped with ivy Like a goddess with her hair; But the cross-barred gate of iron, All so rustily was holden, That they pushed it down, and wandered Through the stillness lone and bare. From the ample space allotted Towered the thick walls skyward grandly, 156 THE CITY OF DECAY. Tho' the floors and roof had rotted, And in dust had disappeared. Overhead a light cloud drifted, And an owlet, resting blandly In the shade, to where it shifted, Nestled closer, as they neared. That this dusky bird Minervan On the corbel-mask was perching, Now the Graybeard thought an omen That herein his quest would end; And his hope would fain accord him That the castle they were searching, Or one like it, must reward him, And his master-wish befriend. For he knew that in the ruins Of men's high anticipations There are pearls of greatest moment Found in wiser after-years; But no joy for his anointment Here was vased, and sad libations Poured he out to disappointment, From the brimming cup of tears. Kindness, quick to calm and cherish, Homeward then his steps directed, Shunning streets where daily perish Hopes of wealth and high renown. But her words, that sweetly fluttered, Told him of a world affected By the influence that uttered From the portals of the town. As the sun his blue path travels, Highest minaret and steeple Toward him lean; the sweet bud ravels Into flower, and toward him blows ; THE CITY OF DECAY. 157 And throughout the ages hoary Have the ever-restless people, Westering and migratory, Followed his unfading rose. To this wide-spread sunset city Thus are drawn the generations ; Youth, and middle-age, and ancient Hither stream in swerveless tides. Here life centers ; gay youth enters Crowned with Spring's associations; But decrepitude, so childish, Often longest here abides. While true Kindness thus was talking To her charge, they passed by slowly Thronging counter-currents walking In the sunny, spacious way. He, with alms-deeds oft appeasing Want with palm outstretched and lowly, Found its gratitude as pleasing As the fragrancy of May. IV. The Lady and the Graybeard, Drawn by horses black and prancing, Down the morning-streeted valley, Rode to Retrospection's halls. There was not a court or alley Where the dancing sunbeams, glancing, Lighted not unfading pictures Hung upon interior walls. Everywhere, in grandeur dusky, Rose, to Retrospection builded, Palaces with hinges husky Opening backward in review 158 THE CITY OF DECAY. Lofty halls like Spain's Alhambra, Ceiled with frost-work forms, and gilded Buildings like the Doge's Palace, Glassed in depths of dreamy blue. All faced one way ; all looked eastward Up the road, and up the river, Peering over roof and ruin Into Summer's land and Spring's. Some by fountains were surrounded, In whose crystal toss and quiver Humming-bird-like sheen abounded, Burnished blue and twinkling wings. There in grass the long-thighed hopper Clicked his castanets in measure, An unrecognized Tithonus, And old, crabbed Pantaloon; While the almond-tree in blossom Dropped its snowy petal-treasure, And the windows of the buildings Dimmed and darkened all too soon. The abodes of Retrospection Separately were divided ; Like the Cretan Labyrinthus They were doored from hall to hall; But no artful terror thundered, Nor were prisoners there misguided ; For to each his rooms were secret, But he knew them scarcely all. Of these palaces, the pictures Bore one master artist's fecit; For the Angelo of Memory, Whose brush is never still, Did the work alone, and daily His delight was to increase it, THE CITY OF DECAY. 159 Till of spaces left in places None remained for him to fill. When from halls deceased a tenant, He would take his painted story On his starry journey with him, To declare his place and age ; But History, backward glancing, With her stylus dipped in glory, Likenessed all the greater pictures On her scant but deathless page. Many deeds of noble daring And of patient self-denial, That alone were, worth the caring, In what yet was left to tell, Had survived the heel of silence, Cheered the world in every trial, And of Love's broad ocean murmured In Expression's rhythmic shell. Having briefly on their way fared, To a House of Retrospection Came the Lady and the Graybeard, Where, to old-time words, the door Opened for them ; and they wandered Through the halls in each direction, And, before the canvas, pondered On its reminiscent store. Lighted corridors retreating, Through the woman's past descended ; And their calm research completing, Saving that of but a few, She would not stay, but turned away With him that she befriended, Knowing well his spirit's compass Had to Heaven and her been true. 160 THE CITY OF DECAY. For he led her through his smiling Halls of manhood, now resounding To their footfalls on the tiling, Where lay broken cups of joy. In pictures wide, on either side, His life arose, abounding In the painter's richest colors, Which the grave can not destroy. When day with his life-giving torch Was to the sea descending, Came out upon the building's porch The wand'rers sere and gray ; Then as heavy-uddered cloud-herds, Trampling loudly, were impending, Homeward hied the couple quickly, Down the dream-dispelling way. Against the west the clouds up-pressed In blackly moving ledges, But o'er a rift that seemed to lift There was a rainbow thrown ; This climbed and kissed an ebon mist Far up with pallid edges, Toward whose craggy shore a vessel, The freightless moon, was blown. Soon the crystal keel encountered Its mirk doom, and crashing, sinking, Left the sky to darkness dreary Pierced by lightning, wind, and rain; Yet that night the Graybeard weary, In his sleep's disordered thinking, Deemed the vanished moon the jewel He was seeking to regain. Through the hopeless night and morrow Poured the gray rain sobbing, sighing, THE CITY OF DECAY. 161 While its gusty breath of sorrow Tossed the dead leaves to and fro. Looked the Graybeard from the casement On the leaves and rain-drops flying, And a wind of self-abasement Through his spirit seemed to blow. She to whom he was beholden Sent him fruit for toothsome pleasure, Apples crimson, apples golden, Ripe as Juno's and as sweet. Truths he thought them ; Kindness brought them, And, with hope of his lost treasure, Sunned away his rainy feelings, Seated humbly at his feet. v. The defeated clouds retreated, And the flushed, exidtant morning, With shields that shone and banners blown, Advanced above the hill. And divine, reviving roses, The metropolis adorning, Looked up to greet the victor, Sweet with fragrance they distil. The Lady and the Graybeard, Urged by Kindness, their attendant, Rode to see the lofty palace Where the Emperor abode ; For Decay was chief of cities That upon him were dependent, And within its grassy quiet His unfailing bounty flowed. " Gray Time, the Emperor, lately, To display his might and splendor, 162 THE CITY OF DECAY. Has proclaimed a triumph stately," Said the Lady to her guest. " Vast his recent conquests tragic ; But, as did the witch of Endor, He will raise the dead by magic From their melancholy rest. "He will break their vaulted slumber, Bring again their absent features, And advance their sea-sand number In diversified array. Them, that erst were his possession, He will show to us, his creatures, And re-lead them in procession Through his capital, Decay. " He, besides his scion, Winter, Has three pure and loving daughters : Proud, bright-eyed, fruit-bosomed Autumn, Summer dark with sun and dew, And young Spring with eyes of azure ; These, along the ebbing waters, He has given each a country Good to dwell in, fair to view. "No Lear he among his children; He is yet their ruler rigid. Tho' at times they seem to brave it, They his will have aye obeyed. Its still chains with might environ And constrain the kingdom frigid; For his scepter is of iron, Tho' with velvet softness swayed." On the way, the simple Graybeard Cheered his tender heart with flowers, Whose rare beauty rose exultant From the black and humid soil. THE CITY OF DECAY. 163 Dark decay is beauty's mother; And the daughter turns to bowers, Ruins gray, and decks their towers With a tendril-twining toil. Every form is matter's dwelling, And, as soon as one is wasted, From decay another rises. Changing like the forms of truth, Matter round the bent world wanders ; It of every joy has tasted, Finding in decay renewal, And the fresh delights of youth. Through the city, in profusion, Danced, on wings like flakes of color From the painter Nature's palette, Nectar-fed gay butterflies. Even a woodland fairy-ballet To the sight were less and duller ; For the hue of their seclusion Is the fairies' only guise. On the faithful Graybeard brightly Burst the view of Time's great palace, In the distance rising lightly From the hill's enameled crest. Arm-high, near the site commanding, Every lily raised its chalice, As if at a banquet standing In the honor of a guest. Somewhat like the regal dwelling That enroofs the crowned Castilian, In Madrid, its high life swelling The impassioned heart of Spain, Stood the Emperor's white palace Hung with banners of vermilion, 164 THE CITY OF DECAY. And a clock-tower rose amidst it, With a bell of solemn strain. In a meadow near the ocean Trod an old man mowing, swaying With the keen scythe's crescent motion, As he laid the long years low. In the stable where he shut them Stood the sun's black horses, neighing For the provender he cut them, Which not otherwhere would grow. Like the Halls of Retrospection, Facing mornward, up the river, Stood the palace, and behind it Ran the city's mighty wall. This with towers and bastions bristled; But no soldier emptied quiver While its barbed death sped and whistled, When a tower would sway and fall. Where it fell, it formed a passage For the troops of vegetation To attack the standing rampart With triumphant shields and spears. Kindness and the Graybeard clabbered Over debris to a station On the wall, and wide before them Lay the city worn with years. Far as the eye could aught descry, The town stretched, quilted, seamy, Toward Winter's star ; and eastward far, With pagan, pillared fanes. The castle towers and palaces Hung in the distance dreamy, And ancient baths and aqueducts Were traced in arched remains. THE CITY OF DECAY. 165 Along Time's hill, which bordered On the ocean black and lonely, The high wall ran whereon the man And Kindness gazed around. Far below them, on the waters That were gloom and silence only, Lay a twilight that to midnight Deepened westward, vapor-bound. VI. On another day came Kindness With the Graybeard, and, descending To the dismalest of beaches, By the dark sea walked a while. In the shallow, marshy reaches, Where white ibises were bending, Grew the lotus and papyrus That have vanished from the Nile. In the hillside steep and rocky, Seamed with paths of deep reflection, Countless tombs were hewed, whose mummies Were in life to Horus true. He, to perished lives he cherished, Brought fresh bloom and resurrection, Son of Hathor, golden goddess Of the heavens soft and blue. Egypt thought that, with life brutal, Souls departed were encumbered ; But again they would be human, After three millenniums fled. With their self-renewing beetles, Long the mummies here had slumbered, And beyond the time appointed ; Yet they woke not from the dead. 166 THE CITY OF DECAY. As if tomb or beach enshrined it, Sought the Gray beard for his jewel. He was sure that he would find it By the dateless, dusky shore ; For his failures ever straightway Gave his flame of hope new fuel; Yet he clambered to a gateway, Unrewarded as before. On the arch an unknown motto, In the weedy stones and rotten, Was engraved, and gave its token To the blind and voiceless deep ; While inside this coastern entrance, Busts of great men long forgotten, And their statues, marred and broken, Lay unvalued on the steep. But behind the stagnant ocean Glowed bright-arrowed day, declining; Yet no shaft of all his splendor Pierced the dull deep's mail of night. All the city towers, like tapers, With his level rays were shining ; But the waters and their vapors Were the darker for the light. On the coast the wall was weakest, Holding up a slight resistance ; For a tidal-wave incoming, At a blow, had dashed it down. But it showed the thin partition, And how perilous the distance Was between dead inanition And the retrospective town. THE CITY OF DECAY. 167 vn. With his lovable companion Went the Graybeard on the morrow, Toward the quay along the river, And the rotting, wooden piers. He was swiftly growing older, And her strength he had to borrow; For he leaned upon her shoulder With the trembling weight of years. It was beautiful to see them As they through the old streets wended. Her eyes were mild, and when she smiled Some heart with joy was filled. She was fair, and her complexion With the open lily blended ; But her words set roses blooming, And the raging tempest stilled. Many a time some mildewed building, Bat-frequented, long neglected, Would, with sunken roof and doorway s Fall across the empty street. On the mound it thus erected Outlaw briers and weeds collected, To cut and try the passers-by, And often cause retreat. But from out a lofty gateway Of the wall beside the river, Came the gentle couple straightway To their quest along the quay. They beheld the dead leaves, drifting In the black, thick water, quiver And eddy near some slimy pier, To ebb away to sea. 168 TEE CITY OF DECAY. All the commerce was departed ; And tho' deeply laden vessels On the wide, straight river started, To discargo at the town, Few arrived to cheer and richen ; None the tempest longer wrestles ; For all lie half-sunk, unpitchen, By the piers, and there go down. Patiently the Grayheard hunted For his mystic pearl delightful. On pier and hulk and round each bulk He looked to see its gleam. For he fancied, as he sought it, That for him, the owner rightful, Some kind riverman had brought it, Having found it in the stream. Baffled still, the Graybeard lifted His calm eyes to scan the distance, And a bulged sail growing larger Watched till it beside him moored. Men make faith of what is hoped for ; And, that his foot-sore persistence Soon would clutch the gem it groped for, By his faith he was assured. Forthwith went he toward the master, Who upon the prow was standing, And exclaimed, with heart-beats faster, " Tell me of my pearl, long lost ! " Then the other, as a brother, To the Graybeard on the landing Kindly said, " Describe this jewel, Which must be of heavy cost." When the Graybeard had outlined it, As he might some fading vision, THE CITY OF DECAY. 169 He whom he besought to find it Blankly stared, as in a swound. " Vain is search," he answered slowly ; " Yet, within my thought elysian, One abides whose name is holy; She a pearl like yours had found. "She the winsome jewel lost not; In my heart she has it ever; Only there can I restore it ; She who wore it was my bride. Woe befell me: bride and jewel, In the swift, onflowing river, In the silence cold and cruel, Sank, in darkness, from my side. "She was hurried to the waters Where the dream called life forsakes us Dream, or glimpse, that Nature gives us Of her many-featured face. To the sea she sweeps the nations ; Thence she brought us, thither takes us, And we lose the limitations, Time, causality, and space. " More we see not, nor this plainly ; For our knowledge here is blinded, And it gropes and searches vainly Out beyond life's final breath. Doubt not of it we shall profit, Tho* the creeds were other minded, If it be a fact in nature That the soul lives after death." Oh! never more along that shore This riverman went sailing. No breeze might waft his wingless craft, That all dismantled lay. 170 THE CITY OF DECAY. Nor was he met thereafter By the Graybeard, who, fast failing, Deemed the quest was unavailing In the City of Decay. VIII. Day by day the Graybeard wasted, Scarce from his apartment going, Till he turned from food untasted, And lay ridden on his bed. Kindness and her friend, intently To his care themselves bestowing, Smoothed his patient pillow gently, And their comforts round him spread. But when, like May, the triumph day Came balmy-aired and splendid, They moved him to a broader view, And swung the window wide. To every space the populace Their waiting sea extended, And by-streets nigh and housetops high Were blackened with its tide. Down the way came heralds riding, Through their silver trumpets crying, " Time is passing ! Time is gliding ! Live the Emperor ! He is here ! " Countless pretty baby children, Laughing, sighing, running, flying, Led the pageant ; while sweet music From a distance charmed the ear. Naked were the infant Moments, But with fruit-tree blossoms belted, That were ever snowing petals And bestrewing all the ground. THE CITY OF DECAY. 171 Then came lissome older children, By the flying blossoms pelted Graceful Hours, and twelve were rosy; Twelve, dark-veiled, with stars were crowned. Then the Days came, budding maidens : They had hair of morning brightness, And about with night were skirted; Some Days dark and others fair. At their heels the Months close followed: In their steps was less of lightness ; On her arm a shield of silver Each Month lifted high in air. Spring came smiling, showered with praises, Crowned with violets and arbutus, Robed in woven flowers and fragrance, Crocuses, anemones, Tulips, hyacinths, and lilacs, More than all the wealth of Plutus ; And of marigolds and daisies Hung her tunic to her knees. Round her flew the birds, and uttered Her full soul in warbled wooing: All her blossomed promise fluttered With the blithe surprise of song. Fell her hair of gold supernal To her feet; their touch renewing Waking Love, whose laughter vernal Followed after and along. Swarthy Summer was next comer : Dowered with beauty Cleopatran, Fervid, full of storms and sunshine, And with bosom deep and round. Like a ruby shone the dog-star On the forehead of the matron, 172 THE CITY OF DECAY. While her gown, her form revealing, Trailed with roses on the ground. With a sickle for a scepter Autumn followed, luscious, mellow, On vines that groaned and sheaves enthroned, And under boughs of fruit. Loud the flail announced her progress, Thudding on her grainy yellow, While her sober verdure lightened To a gold and crimson suit. Winter came with freezing bluster, In an icy chariot riding, Drawn by northern, snowy horses, Each with long and streaming mane. Crowned with icicles whose luster Sparkled, he, in ermine hiding, Sat and frowned, his body palsied By his breath's benumbing pain. But the Graybeard paled and shivered ' In the breath so sharp and stinging, Like a clinging leaf that quivered In December on a tree. He could feel the years encroaching; He could hear far, sweet bells ringing, And the Emperor, approaching With his horses, he did see. These, in maned and fiery splendor, Never man beheld correctly; For inadequate and tender Is the eye, and deemed them black. They the sun-god's were, and coldly Glanced at Winter indirectly; But they drew the monarch boldly, With the scythe hung down his back. THE CITY OF DECAY. 173 Of him heedless, scant devotion House or street would show this mower Of the meadow by the ocean, For his passing won no cheers ; Yet his chariot resplendent, Moving swifter, never slower, Scattered blessings, some transcendent, From its stopless wheels of years. The Emperor, tall and meager, Had a forelock thin and snowy, Of which the bold have taken hold, And gained the thing they would. He wore no crown ; his scepter Was a clock-hand gilt and showy; And the sands he held were running Toward the promised Age of Good. In the chariot, with the ruler, Rode three stated creatures duly : One, the woman, was his consort, And was of divinest mold. Of her lord she much demanded, Tho' she loved that niggard truly ; But, with folly open-handed, Spent his momentary gold. She was Life, and gave the lowest Often overflowing measure, While withholding from the dearest What she spared to bird and beast. In her hand she held her goblet, Bitter-sweet with pain and pleasure, Quaffed with bacchic joy by matter At the outset in the East. She the Graybeard at the window Saw, and toward him reached the chalice. 174 THE CITY OF DECAY. Smiling on him with a glory That outbeamed the light around; But the figure like a shadow, Hooded, mantled as in malice In the splendid chariot riding Dashed the goblet to the ground. This was Death, Life's dread companion, Bound to Time by icy fetters ; But between Death and the woman Stood her slave, a comely youth. He could sweep the keys of feeling, Bead the earth-book's rocky letters, And in cloistral conscience kneeling Face to face commune with Truth. Like the genii so potent, In the story of Aladdin, That were faithful in the service Of the egg, the lamp, or ring, To the human clay enchanted, He was slave, and strove to gladden Life, at whose warm touch it panted: What she asked for, he would bring. It was he that built the cities, Wielded nature's restless forces, Led the arts, delved mine and quarry, Bridged the rivers, sailed the air, Tamed hot steam to fetch and carry, Traced the dim stars in their courses, And brought wing-footed Mercury Labor's yoke to don and wear. Of obtrusive foot elusive, To the wise and gentle-hearted He was ever welcome, being Slave and king whom men call Thought. THE CITY OF DECAY. 175 High of forehead, pale and silent, With a smile his lips were parted, And his eyes, large, dark, and dreamy, From the skies their ardor caught. Close behind Time's chariot followed Earliest men, the club-armed savage Of the geologic epoch When grim Winter plowed the earth. With the mammoth and the great bear, Which at will were wont to ravage, These men met in hasty warfare, And were brutal from their birth. From this shaggy strife and grewsome, Each was in his trophy girded. Fierce his beard swept down his bosom, And his long hair flag'd behind. Reared in caves where day scarce shimmered, He with mimicked sounds was worded ; Yet from even him outglimmered Dawnings of a prescient mind. Then came those who toiled in Shinar To upbuild sky-seeking Babel, With Noah bent who eastward went, And founded China's power- And with Misraim, Nile's lord, Misraim, Son of sable Ham in fable; For Misraim fared to Egypt From the folly of the tower. After these came gods, or rather Famous folk of mythic story, Who, for beacon deeds or passions, By mankind were deified. Zeus, Latona, and Apollo, Venus fair and Neptune hoary. 176 THE CITY OF DECAY. Thor, the hammerer, and Odin, Glided by with stately pride. Into view upon the way rose Many purple heads of nations, All the shepherd-kings and Pharaohs, With gray Sidon's kings, and Tyre's- Nay, Nineveh's and Babylon's; While their subject populations Hung about them, kindred vapor Filled with often-flashing fires. And the Graybeard at the window Saw the colony Egyptian, Who, in Attica, the rugged, Added grace to art and lore. Then not surprised he recognized, By Homer's clear description, All the heroes that for Helen Raged with battle-joy of yore. In that ever-moving pageant, Far surpassing every other, He beheld the prince -3neas On his exiled, Idan prow ; Saw great Romulus and Remus With their lupine foster-mother; Saw dictator Cincinnatus Standing humbly by his plow. With his army, Alexander, In bright armor and regalia, Preceded Afric Hannibal; And high in pomp and state Sat the mighty leader, Csesar, At the feast of Lupercalia, 'Pushing back the golden bauble That aroused the dagger's hate. THE CITY OF DECAY. 177 Darkness came; the land was shaken, Fanes and castles waver'd falling, Graves were of their dead forsaken, And the risen gibberers pale Down the way moved whitely, fleeing In the mid-day night appalling, On whose stream each ghostly being Seemed a tempest-driven sail. Then the Graybeard at Death's window Saw a sight that deeply thrilled him: Three dead bodies on three crosses On dark Calvary lifted high. But the Central Face with rapture And with glad amazement filled him ; For with joy he cried, The Truthsayer! Then fell backward with a sigh. Through the gloom a wan ray glinted As the woman found his pillow, And, in benediction, printed On his lips a sacred kiss. He was dead : a shadow horrid Had engulfed him, like a billow. Cold he lay, from foot to forehead; But his hands were clasped in bliss. rx. With a foot that rested lightly- On the wall that girt the city, Where the masonry looked seaward Near the palace-towers of Time, Robed in splendor stood an angel With benignant arms of pity Wings like gleams of morn outspreading, And face and mien sublime. 178 THE CITY OF DECAY. His stature was colossal; He was taller than the tower Of an organ-voiced cathedral; Yet most beautiful his form, Rising worshipfully Godward, Calm, august with sacred power His serenity more awful Than the grandeur of a storm. Just ahove him, back a measure, On a level with his shoulder, Stood a lofty, equal pleasure, Like a brother to the first. Over him a third joy hovered, Then a fourth, till their beholder Knew a hundred, glory-covered, On the raptured vision burst. Thus the great seraphic stairway Reached far out above the ocean, Step by step, to dim dominions Of the sapphire-vaulted sky. In the light the argent pinions Beat the air with gentle motion, And the robes of brightness fluttered Trailing downward from on high. As the angel stairs ascended, To the vision they diminished, Tho* they all were like, and blended As one ray their wisdom shone. They looked down with calm indulgence On the pageant still unfinished, Waiting, in their winged effulgence, To receive and crown their own. Now, the freed soul of the Graybeard In her bosom bearing gently, THE CITY OF DECAY. 179 Came dear Kindness to the seraph With his foot upon the wall. Into his soft hands she gave it, And he looked on it intently ; For to him it was an infant New-born, helpless, frail, and small. To the angel next above him He upheld it when he blessed it, And that splendor took the spirit And bestowed it on the third ; To the fourth the third joy raised it, And it grew as each caressed it, For young wings upon its shoulders Started out as on a bird. Upward, onward borne and lifted To the tenth seraphic whiteness, There the spirit fair was gifted With a spotless robe of truth, And was crowned with his lost jewel Nay, a star a dream of brightness The beatified renewal Of the lustrous pearl of youth. Gentle Kindness, gazing upward, Saw the radiant youth ascending, Far along the wide-winged stairway, Toward the glory-parted skies. He had spread his sweeping pinions, Filled with love and peace unending; And she watched his heavenward journey Till he vanished from her eyes. Yet she heard the music tender That adown the stairway sounded, And beheld the blessed splendor When high heaven's gates were raised. 180 8ELLEROPHON. But with rhythmic wings and voices, Her the seraphim surrounded, And, beseeching her to join them, They upon her beauty gazed. But Kindness yet would rather Bide within Time's breathful portal, Knowing that she has a Father In the purer world above Love unselfish, universal, Truth celestial and immortal, In the city built of jewels, Whose foundation is of Love. BELLEROPHON. THERE lives a creature of a dreamer's brain, That strove by charms, and with the aid of ghosts, Of making gold to find the secret out; That drew a wide ring round his crucible, And, while the spirits worked at alchemy, He, to beat back vast, adverse ghosts essayed. But soon, within the circle he had drawn, Was set a monstrous Foot, so large, his face Was level with the instep : all in vain His puny efforts to drive back the Foot. Oh, hard for him who, having once let in On the charm'd circle of the golden good The first advance of error, strives to oust The evil, and make clear the round again. Not often will the giant Foot retreat. And I bethink me him who, in the past, Before Christ's passion ransom'd man from sin, BELLEROPHON. 181 And in a land that did not know of God Forced back the Foot of one remorseful crime, Walked silently beneath the silent stars, And gave his heart to cogitation thus: " Anteia, wife to Proitos, tempted me : She, in the palace where the fountains are, Met me at twilight as she walked alone, Clad with uncinctured robe, adorned with gems, Perfumed with all the spices of the East. She made her arms a wreath about my neck, And, lifting both her small, gold-sandal'd feet, Hung her full weight on me ; her mouth's closed bud, Thrilled by the ardent summer of desire, Burst into honey'd flower against my lips. With warm cheek pressed to mine, she, in my ear, Exhaled the poison whisper of her love. "I drew back scornfully surprised, and hissed Between set teeth a menace at all sin. She left me thus, and went to him, her liege, And with the broken fragments of her speech Bits of the jar that could not hold her tears She let it fall that I had wronged her much. "In swift, deep wrath the fierce king called for me, And on a tablet writing fatal words, With them he sent me forth beyond his realm To Lykia, to the king thereof, who met, And, by the stream of Xanthos, welcomed me. Nine days of feasting passed, and on the tenth The tablet was unsealed, its purport known And its base appetite is gorged to-day. "Th* unconquerable Chimaira first I slew. She was in front a lion, and behind A serpent, and was in the middle a goat. 182 BELLEROPHON. Her breath was blazing fire, with which, in rage, She burned the drought-parched forests in her path. And her, by winged alliance with the horse, I slew, indeed, and gave to rigid death. I overcame the far-famed Solymi, I smote the man-opposing Amazons, I turned to naught the well-armed ambuscade, And made illustrious my bitter name. " But what if I had yielded to the queen, And from the king had stolen that which she, Tho' offering, had yet no right to give? I hold, the soul is like a piece of cloth That, being stained, can be made clean no more That nothing can erase the stain of sin. "Picture that I, having passed safely through The darkness that is seen by dying eyes, Have reached the light beyond, and see the gods In synod throned, and hear Zeus speak and say: " ' We serve no law, yet bind the steadfast earth And all the ways of men in chains of law Harmonious with good and linked thereto. The blinded mortal lured to break one chain Makes discord, stains the fabric of his soul, And brings dire retribution headlong down.' " Then I, in meek abasement kneeling there Upon the low, first step of Zeus's throne, Hold up my shameful soul, a piece of cloth Through fault of Queen Anteia doubly stained, And say: "