THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE SONG OF LIFE AND OTHER POEMS The Song of Life And Other Poems By Dombey Boston The Stratford Co., Publishers 1920 Copyright 1920 The STRATFORD CO., Publishers Boston, Mass. The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., U. 8. A. iflarsljall iCtmmjatmt JJcrrtn WHOSE EXAMPLE AND TEACHINGS HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS MY CONSTANT GUIDE AND INSPIRATION, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. Contents PAGE THE SONG OF LIFE Joy surges high 1 The Song of Life is hushed ... 2 When by a potent thought ... 3 AFTER DEATH IN BATTLE . . 7 LOVE LYRICS Dost thou remember, love . . .13 I never lived, Beloved . . , .14 My soul is hungry 14 my Beloved 14 Beloved of my heart . . . .15 1 sought thee in the field . . .16 Unto the lover 17 If death should part us . . . .18 "Was it in dreamy Spain . . .19 Anticipation 21 A Struggling Soul 22 CONTENTS Before the Dawn 23 Ascensus 24 Luctus Beneficium 26 REAWAKENING 29 The Isle of Jersey 32 Gibraltar to Tangier 36 THE SONG OF LIFE The Song of Life JOY surges high when life is at its spring, Wild as the rushing of some mountain stream, That bursting forth, o'erleaping every barrier, From dizzy precipice to threatening shoal Plunges unscathed in carefree merriment. Life seems a great adventure to the soul But newly come from dreamland, that forgets What it has been, all it has known before, And madly revelling, defying pain, For every pleasure grasps with greedy hand. Then when the years advance and hair is gray, After the bitter tragedies have come, If in the soul mirth lingers, and all day A merry song rings clear within the breast The potent urge of universal Love Taps all life's pent-up sources, till at last Out of youth's heedless joy pure rapture springs, Swelling forever towards the Eternal Sea; An echo of that infinite Song of Life, Whose wellspring is celestial harmony. [1] THE SONG OF LIFE The Song of Life Is Hushed Song of Life is hushed: There comes a pause As the soul speeds To its much needed rest In dreamless night. Oh, let no sound of grief Disturb that sleep, And thus bring discord Into that pure Song, When the soul wakens To the fuller light. [2] THE SONG OF LIFE The Song of Life WHEN by a potent thought the Almighty God Brought Kosmos out of chaos, and one turn Of that relentless wheel, His perfect Law, Set stars and planets rolling on their course In boundless space, the Song of Life began. And through the countless eons that elapsed, While painfully and slowly did evolve From merest atom all the myriad forms Of growing life, that ever held concealed A spark divine, that Song did yet persist. And e'en to-day, after long centuries Of strife and toil, and progress oft so slow It seemed at times a retrogression, still, Above the transient discords of the world, That Song doth ring in perfect harmony. And when within the stillness of our heart, Silenced the outer world, we feel the rhythm That unifies all life, it then may be, That in that rhythm we shall catch the strain [3] THE SONG OF LIFE Of the Celestial Music of the Spheres, And know at last that what we thought a cry Was after all a Song. [4] AFTER DEATH IN BATTLE After Death in Battle A lifeless body lies blood-stained upon the ground. The spirit looks up dazed and beholds another spirit bending over him. THE FORMER WHO art thou? Dost thou think to see in me Some old, familiar friend, That thou dost gaze upon my prostrate form? I've reached the end. THE LATTER I am the shade of him thou slewest in June, Close by the river, just as the full moon, Piercing the clouds, revealed my form amid The too scant reeds. Hast thou forgot? I did Not think thou couldst so soon forget the deed. I killed but one man ere earth's final dole Fell to my lot ; but I still see his face Looking in mine with eyes that burn my soul. [7] THE SONG OF LIFE THE FORMER Alas! So many has my bayonet thrust To instant or to lingering death, I must Confess I have no memory, save of one Great, bleeding, groaning mass. But wherefore, prithee, earnest thou to do A loving service to thine enemy? THE LATTER Long have I waited for thee, for I knew Thou couldst not of thyself find out the way That leads to rest. I know it now at last ; So if thou wilt but follow, till thou canst Unveil the flame that dimly burns within, Let my lamp light thy path. THE FORMER (starting as one terrified) Tell me, where am I ? Everything seems strange And yet familiar. Oh ! the blood ! the blood ! Help! 'Tis my life blood ebbs. THE LATTER Nay, friend, 'tis but the picture of the past ; You do not bleed. [8] AFTER DEATH IN BATTLE The Former faints. The other surveys him with tender sympathy. THE FORMER (regaining consciousness, faintly) Go, leave me ; there are those more worthy far. I must go back ; I know such love too late ! Behold that timid soul that comes but now (Again he faints) THE LATTER (standing in an attitude of quiet compassion) Nay, nay, thy need is greatest. I shall wait. [9] LOVE LYRICS Love Lyrics DOST thou remember, love, that wondrous moment When for the first time we stood soul to soul ? Heart spoke to heart, although no word was uttered, As all around we heard the billows roll. A myriad burning suns blazed in the heavens, A myriad quivered on the darkened sea, But dimly conscious of their radiant presence We only felt: "At last I am with thee!" [13] THE SONG OF LIFE I never lived, Beloved, till the day I knew thee for my own ; Now I can never cease to live, Beloved, Once having known. My soul is hungry, thirsty, languishing, come to me ! Or if imprisoned, send thy soul Across the sea ! O my Beloved, art thou still so lonely? My spirit is with thee, where'er thou art; And evermore though oceans wide divide us, Thou hast my heart! [14] LOVE LYEICS Beloved of my heart, how can I tell thee The longing of my soul to reach to thine? Thou soarest in thy radiance far above me, I cannot come, too slender strength is mine. Do not descend and leave that glorious summit, I love to see thee scale it, and I pray That thou wilt not be lonely there without me, While I am toiling on the rugged way. 'Tis not " farewell," 'tis only ''God be with thee," He is with me and guides my erring feet; I'll follow, and some day the height thou scalest I too shall climb; in some new world we'll meet! [15] THE SONG OF LIFE I sought thee in the field and in the forest, Thou wert not there; I sought thee by the lakeside, on the mountain, And everywhere. Returning to my room from vainly searching The busy mart, I looked within, and lo! I found thee Close in my heart. [16] LOVE LYRICS Unto the lover She had worshipped long, In wondrous mood She breathed her love in song. The lover smiled; He neither understood, Nor knew the rapturous thrill Of her he wooed. A passing stranger From that pregnant song Caught but a strain; He, lingering too long, Swooned at her feet In ecstasy of pain, The rhapsody completing, Yet. his love was vain. [17] THE SONG OF LIFE IF death should part us And thou first shouldst pass Into that rest where we shall bide awhile, Where narrow cares no longer chafe and fret, Art sure that thou wilt watch until I come? Art sure, dear love, that thou wilt not forget? And when the time arrives That we return Again to earth, for we must surely come, So many lessons we have not learned yet, Art sure that thou wilt watch and wait for me ? Art sure, dear love, that thou wilt not forget? [18] LOVE LYRICS WAS it in dreamy Spain That last we met Long centuries ago? Or was it fated Carthage Where I wept To let you go With our loved Hannibal To fight the ancient foe? 'Twas by the sea, dear love, For when my soul Comes close to yours, I see a white sea-gull Sweep slowly down, While dully roars Afar the untamed deep On crag-bound shores. It was not in the north, For as I looked Into your eyes When you came back to me, I felt the warmth [19] THE SONG OF LIFE Of southern skies Over the Midland Sea When daylight dies. Perchance it was in Greece, For in my dreams I sometimes see A vision of Athene, Stern yet kind, Smiling on thee, And far away the hills Of vine-clad Thessaly. [20] THE SONG OF LIFE Anticipation HEAVEN were to me a place where I may be That which I am, in frank simplicity, Freed from pretence and fashion 's crude deceits ; And where, with growing vision, I may see The beckoning form of what I hope to be. [21] THE SONG OF LIFE A Struggling Soul FOR love and sympathy he doth but grope With restive eagerness, a constant hope Of satisfaction drives him blindly on. His thoughts are strangely innocent, his kiss Is just a childish yearning after bliss That passed him by in all the ages gone. Pompous with self-complacency he seems And anxious emulation; yet the dreams I read within his eyes are visions faint Of life and rapture far transcending earth, Such visions as precede the soul 's rebirth In one grown restless under long restraint. Poor struggling soul, caught in thy chrysalis Of confining threads! "Would that a magic kiss Could free those pinions quivering for their flight; But only thou the entangling mesh canst break Thyself hast made, and let thy spirit take Its faltering course from darkness unto Light. [22] THE SONG OP LIFE Before the Dawn ONE star above the tower, A plaintive wail Deep in the grove From one lone nightingale, Out on the glimmering lake A slackened sail. Beyond the water's gleam A ghostly maze Of snow-capped peaks In dreamy, mellow haze, And brooding over all The moon's chill rays. Beneath the castle tower, Bereft of sight, Prone on the shore, "Wrapped in the gloom of night, A struggling human soul Praying for light. [23] THE SONG OF LIFE Ascensus I CALL this love? Why, 'tis but selfish passion ! What do I give to her I love so much? I ask of her a life of sweet compassion, And am not fit her garment's hem to touch. Love giveth, asking not what it receiveth, That is not love that seeks its own delight, The love she feels a noble heart conceiveth, As different from my heart as day from night. Here on my knees in humble supplication, I pray to God to give me light to see The darkness in my soul, the desolation, To help me rise to that which I must be If I would take the purity and sweetness Of this young life she will so freely give, And make of it with mine that rare completeness That is the goal of those that truly live. [24] ASCENSUS God, help me build upon a new foundation A temple worthy of her holy shrine, Until my soul, in its pure re-creation, Shall blend with hers into the Soul Divine. [25] THE SONG OF LIFE Luctus Beneficium THE bitter tragedy, I would not change it, Through tragedy we find the path of Peace ; Only when hearts are broken, hopes are shat tered, Do we from earthly fetters gain release. Not till desire's last shred is rent asunder, And selfish joys have paled to worthless dross, Do we behold with free, unclouded vision The mystic blessing of a blood-stained cross. [26] REAWAKENING Reawakening CANTO I ONCE more I live and joy has come again ! - But a new joy, undreamed of ere I fell From that proud height that I with cunning built And fancied to be paradise. CANTO II Rebellious against heaven and its decree I would not yield. The treasure of my heart, The pulsing bliss, I could not lose and live. Fiercely did I contend. Then came the thunderbolt and withered all. Stunned by the blow, I helpless fell Down from the pinnacle of my security. CANTO III Nothing remained; not one poor shred Of all I had called life ; E 'en health and hope were sped. [291 THE SONG OF LIFE CANTO IV Still I defied Thee and demanded back All that had gone, until at last, Like some poor mollusk on a bleak sea-shore, Lashed by the winds, chilled by the biting blast, Writhing I cried : ' ' Enough ! I yield to Thee. But take my life as well. I have no will Longer to live. My course is run, And all my usefulness is spent." CANTO V Then sweetly came a voice : ' ' Poor child ! Art thou so crushed? Thou wouldst not live? Of all the many millions of thy kind Dost think that half would live ? And thou ? Art thou but as the great majority?" CANTO VI Roused by these words that reached my shat tered soul, I raised my eyes. Surprised I gazed, for lo ! A heavenly light was falling full upon me. [30] REAWAKENING CANTO VII The great majority? They have not known The rapturous possibilities of life. Am I as they? To drag my fellowmen back to the mire, From which they groping seek to rise Into the pure effulgence of Thy Light ? CANTO VIII Nay, I will live, and strive in God's best way To learn to lift Some of the heavy burden of the world ; Mindful that each pure thought and selfless act Helps all advance Toward that great goal to which we onward press. CANTO IX God, let me cherish in my heart No earthly idol more; or if I should, And Thou again shouldst take what I esteem The jewel of my soul, then will I bow My will to Thine and say : ' ' Great God I thank Thee!" [31] THE SONG OF LIFE The Isle of Jersey YOU may long to be in England When April comes again, Or your thoughts may turn with yearning To the skies of sunny Spain, But I know a spot that's fairer Both in sunshine and in rain, 'Tis the Isle of dear old Jersey In the Channel. Oh, the lovely Isle of Jersey, The flower-strewn Isle of Jersey, The sweet-scented Isle of Jersey In the Channel! From Corbiere to Mont Orgueil, And on to Bouley Bay, And on again past Greve Le Lecq Back to St. Ouen's Bay, Stretch beetling crags and sandy shores To gladden all the way Round the sea-girt Isle of Jersey In the Channel. [32] THE ISLE OF JERSEY Oh, that rare old Norman chapel, And the ruined Castle Pride That towers in ancient sovereignty Above the murmuring tide, And the house in old St. Helier's Where they say King Charles did hide, When he fled to quiet Jersey In the Channel. Those hills of purple heather, Those fields of gorse and rose, The dales with every blossom That the honey-sipper knows, And the fragrant little gardens, Of thorn hedges rows and rows On the leafy Isle of Jersey In the Channel. And the Jersey cows and Jersey French, The quaint, old customs, too, And walls with trailing fruit trees, And birds of every hue, E'en the golden-throated skylark Sailing heavenward in the blue, Singing songs of praise to Jersey In the Channel. [33] THE SONG OF LIFE Oh, the sunny slopes and orchards With many a hidden glade, The most enticing shady paths That human foot has made, And cabbages that grow so tall, You can sit beneath their shade On that strange, old Isle of Jersey In the Channel. There are winding lanes in Jersey That resemble one vast bower, And are dotted all along the way With many a bright-eyed flower, And there's one lane, oh, so tiny, Just for two at twilight hour, On that blissful Isle of Jersey In the Channel. You may praise the lanes of Devon, A delight to ear and eye, But this lane you'll find far sweeter, For which I often sigh; It's so narrow and so cosy, Just a tunnel to the sky From this lovers' Isle of Jersey In the Channel. [34] THE ISLE OF JERSEY Then go to dear, old Jersey, This land of magic charms, Would you seek a spot in which to rest Safe from the world's alarms, For Father Ocean holds secure Within his loving arms The peaceful Isle of Jersey In the Channel. Oh, the lovely Isle of Jersey, The flower-strewn Isle of Jersey, The sweet-scented Isle of Jersey In the Channel ! [35] THE SONG OF LIFE Gibraltar to Tangier IF you don't mind being tossed upon a very choppy sea, And you love the smiling springtime of the year, Then take the little steamer with its Moorish company And sail out from Gibraltar to Tangier. If you've braved the English Channel when the sailors call it rough, And been able to enjoy it all the way, You will love this breezy crossing to Tangier from the Bluff As the dazzling rainbows glitter in the spray. 'Tis in May the sea is bluest and the saucy wave lets mock And dance about the boat in merry glee, While in majesty above you towers high the mighty Rock, And you bow your head in reverent ecstasy. [36] GIBEALTAE TO TANGIEE Cutting through the surging billows, churning up the green-white foam, While the waves upon the deck are dashing high, Is a joy that knows no equal to the heart that loves to roam And to watch the laughing ocean kiss the sky. The White City there before you and Gibraltar just behind, What earthly cares could ever cause a tear? Would you know the rarest pleasure that we mortals ever find Then cross over from Gibraltar to Tangier. [37] UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-2m-6,'49(B4568)444 THE LIBRARY S Shepherd - 537 3ong of life, g)|Bs and other poems. A 001 248039 8 PS 3537 * ' . . . _ _-. 9