A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY
 
 C.'U4.j--x>^^xJ~~^U~VV?^<J.-i^
 
 A WOMAN'S 
 RELIQUARY 
 
 LONDON 
 
 J. M. DENT & SONS LTD. 
 
 BEDFORD STREET. STRAND, W.C. 
 
 1914
 
 ISAAC FOOT 
 LIBRARY
 
 
 JUMVKIiyii k Oi C'.MKOKMA 
 bAiMA UAllBAKA 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Rosary ........ i 
 
 Song a Shadow ....... 2 
 
 Silence and Speech ....... 3 
 
 A Garden Inclosed ....... 3 
 
 The Well ......... 3 
 
 Afar .......... 4 
 
 Premonitions ........ 4 
 
 Bud and Blossom ....... 5 
 
 The Haven ........ 5 
 
 Manna ......... 6 
 
 Love's Nudity ........ 6 
 
 Miracles ......... 7 
 
 Love's Law ........ 8 
 
 Love's Artistry ....... 9 
 
 Credo quia Impossibile ...... 9 
 
 Harvest ......... 10 
 
 A Moment ........ 10 
 
 Grief in Joy . . . . . . . .11 
 
 Giving and Taking . . . . . . .11 
 
 The Interpreter . . . . . . .12 
 
 December . . . . . . . . • 13 
 
 "I Will" 13 
 
 Love's Sacrament ....... 14 
 
 Ave atque Vale . . . . . . • IS 
 
 V
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 The Resting Place 
 
 Impersonal 
 
 Babblement 
 
 Gratitude 
 
 Embayed . 
 
 The Bowman 
 
 Gift on Gift 
 
 The Chapel 
 
 Exchanges 
 
 Surprises . 
 
 Charity and Knowledge 
 
 The Potter's Wheel 
 
 The Holy of Holies 
 
 Gold Hair 
 
 The Pitcher 
 
 Turf . 
 
 FONS SiGNATUS 
 
 The Plummet 
 
 Community 
 
 Indulgences 
 
 Love Tokens 
 
 Britomart 
 
 Love's Chord 
 
 Hours and Moments 
 
 Old Letters 
 
 The Triumph of Love 
 
 The Book of Hours 
 
 The Couch 
 
 Sea-Anemones . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 i6 
 i6 
 17 
 17 
 18 
 18 
 19 
 20 
 21 
 21 
 22 
 
 »3 
 24 
 
 25 
 25 
 
 26 
 26 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 29 
 29 
 30 
 31 
 32 
 
 33 
 34 
 34 
 35 
 35 
 
 VI
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Burnet Roses ........ 36 
 
 Spring in Autumn ....... 37 
 
 The Pilgrim ........ 37 
 
 Sunrise ......... 38 
 
 The Lost Dian ........ 38 
 
 Secrets ......... 39 
 
 Clouds ......... 40 
 
 Song and Sunset ....... 41 
 
 Nature's Need ........ 41 
 
 Waking ......... 42 
 
 The Village Well ....... 43 
 
 Blossoms ......... 44 
 
 A Farewell ........ 45 
 
 New Horizons ........ 45 
 
 Past and Present ....... 46 
 
 Poverty and Plenty ...... 47 
 
 Wise Foolishness ....... 48 
 
 Childhood ........ 49 
 
 The Rival ........ 50 
 
 Sixteen Years . . . . . . . .51 
 
 Truths and Truth ....... 52 
 
 Madonna ......... 53 
 
 Justice ......... 54 
 
 Liberality ........ 55 
 
 The Wave 56 
 
 Speech a Cloud ....... 57 
 
 The Source ........ 58 
 
 The Violin 59 
 
 Sea-Mews' Cries ....... 60 
 
 vii
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The North Wind ....... 6i 
 
 The Rapids ........ 62 
 
 The Challenge ........ 63 
 
 Knowledge and Truth ...... 64 
 
 Exchange of Sex ....... 65 
 
 The Stone-Breaker ....... 66 
 
 The New Circe ....... 68 
 
 Discipline ......... 69 
 
 Eventide ......... 70 
 
 Transition . . . . . . . •7'^ 
 
 Gloaming ......... 72 
 
 In the Storm ........ 73 
 
 Bethesda ......... 74 
 
 Winnings ......... 75 
 
 Love and Death ....... 76 
 
 The Blessed Ones . . . . . . -77 
 
 Intimate Sorrow ....... 78 
 
 Lachrymatories ....... 79 
 
 Love's Lord ........ 80 
 
 Final 81 
 
 VUi
 
 ^^A IV Oman's Reliquary " was first published in 
 November 191 3, at the Cuala Press, Dundrum, Co, 
 Dublin^ by Miss Elizabeth C. Teats, in an edition 
 of three hundred copies, now nearly exhausted. 
 No second editions are printed by the Cuala Press. 
 Hence the need for the present republication. 
 
 This sequence of Lyrics is now issued as third 
 volume of Edward Dowden^s ^^Poems.^^ 
 
 Though the authorship is no longer veiled, the 
 publishers retain the original preface, in which 
 the writer concealed himself under the garb of 
 Editor of an old MS. that had been confided to him. 
 That disguise was from the outset a semi-trans- 
 parent one. 
 
 IX
 
 NOTE 
 
 A REVIEWER not long since congratulated me on 
 the possession of some interesting manuscripts, 
 which, as a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles, I 
 have had the good fortune to come across. Some 
 years ago I purchased a handful of books from 
 a lady, now dead, and among them a slender 
 morocco-bound volume containing the verses 
 which here I print. She told me that she was 
 the only surviving relation, a niece of the writer 
 of these poems. " You may do what you 
 please with them," she said; " the writer and 
 the person addressed are both dead; the 
 marriage was childless." No wrong therefore 
 can be done to any one by the present publica- 
 tion. A sequence of a hundred love lyrics 
 addressed to a wife is perhaps too much for the 
 
 general public; but possibly some of the verses 
 
 xi
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 may ultimately find their way into anthologies. 
 My task as editor has been that of securing an 
 accurate text; and, for convenience of reference, 
 I have prefixed a title to each poem, which 
 however may be disregarded by a reader of 
 the sequence. The general title A Woman's 
 Reliquary is written on the first page of the 
 manuscript. 
 
 EDWARD DOWDEN. 
 
 xu
 
 A 
 
 WOMAN'S 
 RELIQUARY
 
 The secret may be whispered in the shrine, 
 Life's central word, or cried in all men's ears 
 
 Down from the mountain height, it yet is mine 
 — ^He only who had heard the secret hears. 
 
 XIV
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 I 
 THE ROSARY 
 
 The beads thus at your girdle hung 
 Have little lustre as you see, 
 
 My verses faintly said or sung, 
 A poor believer's rosary. 
 
 Yet think for what they stand, nor part 
 With these, if only coloured clay; 
 
 This meant an Ave from his heart, 
 And this, though pale, a Gloria.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 II 
 SONG A SHADOW 
 
 The little breezes of my song 
 
 Waft perfumes, each a pallid wraith 
 
 Of hope, of memories treasured long, 
 And ever love, and ever faith : 
 
 Or think them shadows that across 
 The everlasting hills have run, 
 
 Whose life was merely sunshine's loss; 
 Yet flying shades confess the sun. 
 
 HI 
 
 SILENCE AND SPEECH 
 
 Others, with desolate arms, have flung 
 Their hands to heaven, and cried their grief, 
 
 And found, because a woe was sung, 
 Sad measured fragments of relief. 
 
 If such my lot, these lips were dumb; 
 
 Song were a broken, idle toy; 
 Lean to me, my beloved; come, 
 
 And hear what may be told of joy.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 IV 
 
 A GARDEN INCLOSED 
 
 My soul a garden is inclosed, 
 
 But never wall was builded there 
 
 Save heaven's bright boundary circumposed, 
 The depths of blue untrammell'd air. 
 
 No garth is guarded half so sure, 
 And here are blossoms for the bee, 
 
 And here, to make my bourne secure. 
 Horizons of infinity. 
 
 v 
 THE WELL 
 
 I stoop'd to many streams that run 
 
 Through the hot plain, and drank with greed, 
 Lores and new lores! — ^yet found not one 
 
 But left some smatch of marish-weed. 
 
 Blest be this well that holds the heaven 
 Radiant and calm within its breast! 
 
 Who stoopeth here to him is given 
 Joy at the midmost heart of rest. 
 3
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 VI 
 
 AFAR 
 
 I saw you then how far away, 
 
 As one might see at morning's birth 
 
 Some Oread of strange hills at play 
 On the uplifted rim of earth; 
 
 Nothing beyond you but the light 
 Of dawn and heaven's pellucid shell; 
 
 So with God's world, swung clear of night, 
 How should not all be safe and well ? 
 
 VII 
 
 PREMONITIONS 
 
 Auroral pulses; quiverings 
 
 Too faint to flush the pallid East; 
 
 Nor yet the stir of earliest wings ; 
 But morn awakens, night has ceased. 
 
 Dreams and the phantoms of the dark 
 Troop earthwards; see, across the lawn 
 
 A light breath lifts the leaves, and hark! 
 The alleluias of the dawn. 
 4
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 VIII 
 
 BUD AND BLOSSOM 
 
 O sweet and blind commotion of the sap 
 
 When the first ray thrills in the folded flower! 
 
 Virginal rapture tremulous; some great hap 
 Befallen; a law declared; a quickening power. 
 
 And henceforth life shall surely have a part 
 In all that joy which makes the many One; 
 
 The petals sever; the whole scented heart 
 Lies naked for encounter with the sun. 
 
 IX 
 
 THE HAVEN 
 
 It was not love, but o'er the array 
 Of maiden faces clustering there 
 
 My glance careered, which well might stay, 
 For this was frank and that was fair. 
 
 No haven for my sail that drove. 
 No pharos; sunniest isles I passed; 
 
 Then suddenly — it was not love — 
 The haven, and an anchor cast. 
 5
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 X 
 
 MANNA 
 
 I lived on manna day and night, 
 So long ! and still could live indeed ; 
 
 Nor murmured that such bread was light, 
 My heaven-sent coriander-seed; 
 
 I lived on manna night and day, 
 No other food I craved or knew; 
 
 Without my tent each morn it lay 
 Pearl-pure, and sweet as honey-dew. 
 
 XI 
 
 LOVE'S NUDITY 
 
 Naked this soul, for good or ill. 
 Must stand before her eyes; 
 
 So dear, so dread, his word and will 
 Who builded Paradise. 
 
 What if that gaze confirm my fear ? 
 
 What if those eyes approve ? 
 What if, so seen, she call me near 
 
 To hide me in her love ? 
 6
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XII 
 
 MIRACLES 
 
 That day you came and went faith grew 
 
 In miracle; one while 
 The dream swam up — was all not true ? — 
 
 Of wondering Theophile ; 
 
 Snows on the roofs, the ways, outspread; 
 
 But lo! the radiant boy. 
 And in heap'd arms great roses red 
 
 Pluck'd from God's garth of joy; 
 
 Pluck'd from God's garth of joy, and all 
 The air was one warm stream 
 
 Of summer. Can such things befall ? 
 Or is it but a dream ?
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XIII 
 
 LOVE'S LAW 
 
 If it were possible to spare 
 Your ears my dreaded truth, 
 
 Fashions of friendship I might wear 
 For pride perhaps or ruth. 
 
 But this is law, not choice — to lay 
 My whole soul in your hand; 
 
 My part is only to obey, 
 And yours to understand. 
 
 My part to speak and there to end; 
 
 Be you strict arbiter; 
 Grant nought of all I need, my friend, 
 
 If granting be to err.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XIV 
 
 LOVE'S ARTISTRY 
 
 Search me and know me; understand 
 
 Sense, spirit, passion, thought: 
 Yet wherefore doubt ? The craftsman's hand 
 
 Should know the thing it wrought. 
 
 Here joy has dealt with me, here pain; 
 
 Here ran your hand, here stay'd: 
 Was not a foolish carver fain 
 
 Of his own ivory maid ? 
 
 XV 
 
 CREDO QUIA IMPOSSIBILE 
 
 silence, now all golden, what a word, 
 A star, into your shadowy waters fell ! 
 
 1 dare believe a shining thing I heard, 
 
 Because impossible.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XVI 
 
 HARVEST 
 
 Wide harvest: all the plain 
 
 Is wealth; on every tree 
 Fulfilment; not in vain 
 
 May's hope, June's prophecy. 
 
 Joy is the vintager 
 
 Who treads the wine-press; lo! 
 A great, a golden year, 
 
 And, stamp'd, the clusters flow. 
 
 XVII 
 
 A MOMENT 
 
 Free forester of Dian's train. 
 Yet swift arms girdled her about 
 
 At one glad word : and how refrain ? 
 
 The dykes were down, the floods were out; 
 
 Life was abroad; it was not I 
 
 Who wrought a thing I knew not of; 
 
 It was the whole world's ecstasy 
 That woke and trembled into love.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XVIII 
 
 GRIEF IN JOY 
 
 Grave joy; heaven's arch is deep 
 And clear; still, still endures 
 
 That grief although I cease to weep ; 
 Take it, for I am yours: 
 
 And not less pure appears 
 My heaven encircling earth. 
 
 And tenderer for that rain of tears; 
 Grave joy — a sacred birth. 
 
 XIX 
 
 GIVING AND TAKING 
 
 Cross over from your side 
 Of giver for my sake, 
 
 Conceive what praises hide, 
 Know once the love I take: 
 
 So faith will rest assured, 
 Nor praise and wonder ache, 
 
 Joy may be well endured. 
 Cross over for my sake. 
 II
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XX 
 
 THE INTERPRETER 
 
 Have I not look'd away from you ? 
 
 When to the compass of one face 
 Did I contract the revenue 
 
 Of beauty or the springs of grace ? 
 
 But if a deeper heaven lies bare 
 Now; and a more enchanted sea 
 
 Heaves; if the lit clouds are aware; 
 If the first star with mystery 
 
 Is laden; if some tremulous need 
 
 Stirs in the midnight's brooding wings, 
 
 Shall I not search your eyes to read 
 The secret in the face of things ? 
 
 12
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXI 
 
 DECEMBER 
 
 Flowerless December, but this morn 
 Of whirling rain and ruining cloud 
 
 Behold ! a flower of light is born 
 
 By all heaven's gentleness o'erbow'd; 
 
 Earth-born, yet scarce to earth akin; 
 
 The chalice opening late ; no rose — 
 That is for youth; yet peer within! 
 
 Like gold the lily-pollen glows. 
 
 XXII 
 
 " I WILL " 
 
 At last achievement past gainsay; 
 
 " I will " was spoken, and " I will " ; 
 Southward we sped toward cape and bay 
 
 And talk'd of cloud and stream and hill. 
 
 Pearl of great price, not bought indeed, 
 Given to my breast, I own with awe. 
 
 Since given where greatest was the need 
 Also for you this thing was law. 
 13
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXIII 
 
 LOVE'S SACRAMENT 
 
 Let not thy sacramental bread and wine, 
 Lord Love, be found so sweet upon my lips 
 
 That I forget the Presence, which is thine; 
 Let not the lighted cloud the light eclipse. 
 
 Nay, for a joy o'erripe turns suUenness 
 
 Or wanes; heaven's gift is ever at the prime; 
 
 Thy will it is in thine own way to bless ; 
 Angels descend the ladder angels climb. 
 
 14
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXIV 
 
 AVE ATQUE VALE 
 
 Ah Love ! When all is gain'd, 
 Graces no heart can tell, 
 
 Then first I know the attain'd 
 Is unattainable. 
 
 The wave that climbs and falls 
 Is still in radiant flight, 
 
 Wind-driven, more drawn by calls 
 Borne from the infinite. 
 
 Horizons ever new. 
 
 Cries that will ne'er be mute, 
 Love's welcome an adieu. 
 
 Love's conquest a pursuit. 
 
 xc
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXV 
 
 THE RESTING PLACE 
 
 Where her heart throbs (come life, come death) 
 
 I lay my hand, nor can rehearse 
 The thoughts, but know that love and faith 
 
 Are pillars of the universe. 
 
 XXVI 
 
 IMPERSONAL 
 
 Awe fell on me : we two shall be no more 
 Estrays, but still some part, whate'er ensue, 
 
 Of the vast sea that heaves without a shore, 
 Life limitless, love infinite — we two; 
 
 A sparkle in the smile of God's glad deep, 
 A fruit that falls not from the unfading tree, 
 
 A flash of colour in the bow where leap 
 The sunlit torrents of eternity. 
 
 i6
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXVII 
 
 BABBLEMENT 
 
 Once more my idle word 
 Craves to possess your ear, 
 
 All heard before, all heard 
 Only once more to hear. 
 
 This endless babbling stream 
 
 Far in the hills arose, 
 Through gloom it ran and gleam, 
 
 The chaliced rock o'erflows; 
 
 And should a slumbrous peace 
 Fall on your lids, the rill 
 
 Scarce heeds, nor yet will cease 
 Because inaudible. 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 GRATITUDE 
 
 Now silence! weighing down a steep descent 
 I sink to ultimate peace in final good; 
 
 Below life's joyance lies this pure content, 
 Where all I am is merely gratitude. 
 
 17 B
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXIX 
 
 EMBAYED 
 
 Where bliss is calm as deep 
 Here let my shallop rest; 
 
 Heaven bends above us; sleep 
 Invades her sacred breast: 
 
 A mirror'd heaven below; 
 
 O'erhead — love's infinite; 
 Here would I rest, nor know 
 
 The rapids of delight. 
 
 XXX 
 
 THE BOWMAN 
 
 No stronghold brave she gained; in one so poor 
 No treasure-house; and yet I make my claim — 
 
 Ay, proud to be the crenell'd aperture 
 
 Through which the unerring Bowman took 
 his aim. 
 
 And if his arrow struck the noblest heart, 
 
 How should I be remorseful ? By his grace 
 Toward his high stand she glanced with sudden 
 start, 
 And through the loophole dusk beheld His face. 
 i8
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXI 
 
 GIFT ON GIFT 
 
 Love's kingdom first, a spirit divine, 
 I sought and all his righteousness; 
 
 These things are added and are mine; 
 He who would bless would doubly bless. 
 
 Love's kingdom which long since I sought 
 I have not left, I cannot leave; 
 
 But in his hand the Master brought 
 To Eden's bower the gracious Eve. 
 
 19
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXII 
 
 THE CHAPEL 
 
 The starry chapel, where I bow 
 My head in thanks or lift in praise, 
 
 Has altars four; at each a vow 
 I make, at each a hymn I raise. 
 
 Her brain : whose poignant quivering flame 
 Leaps, laughs and lightens from the pyre; 
 
 Dry logs I gathered — such my claim — 
 And laid in order : hers the fire. 
 
 Her soul: not as the Scribes it spoke. 
 
 Sundering things real from things that seem; 
 
 I felt the austere control; I woke, 
 And on the altar left a dream. 
 
 Her breast. Love's shrine : for very awe 
 
 So long, so long, I stood apart; 
 Then bow'd to dread benignant law, 
 
 And on the coals I cast a heart. 
 
 An altar last, whose incensed air 
 
 Quickens the breath like wildrose wine 
 
 Inhaled when all the land is fair, 
 
 And girdling heaven shows earth divine. 
 
 20
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 EXCHANGES 
 
 Receive my gift, Beloved, such a dower 
 
 As heaven rejects not, and the breathing soil 
 
 Offers as purest incense — your own power 
 In blissful swift recoil. 
 
 All April gleams; breeze, sunshine, shower re- 
 new 
 
 The earth, and skyward floats a vernal drift; 
 The lit clouds sunder; see, a tenderer blue 
 
 Owns the reverting gift. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 SURPRISES 
 
 The presage tells of rest, deep rest; 
 
 Joy enters wing'd for flight; 
 The clouds that pause around the West 
 
 Are thrill'd and flU'd with light. 
 
 The presage tells of joy: such need, 
 Such hope, is straight withdrawn ; 
 
 Rest, lucid rest, has Love decreed. 
 The hush of earliest dawn.
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXV 
 
 CHARITY AND KNOWLEDGE 
 
 Faith, Hope and Charity — these three, 
 
 The greatest Charity, 'tis writ; 
 But " Trinity in Unity " 
 
 The word were had I utter'd it. 
 
 For what is Hope but Love that bends 
 Forth in the race with quickening breath ? 
 
 And there are hours when Love ascends 
 To lose and find itself in Faith. 
 
 Knowledge, 'tis written, has her place 
 Lower than Love; and yet I own 
 
 At times this seems Love's loveliest grace — 
 Merely to know and to be known. 
 
 22
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 THE POTTER'S WHEEL 
 
 You took this fictile clay — a heart — 
 Shaped it to what you chose to make; 
 
 Applaud a little your own art, 
 Nay, cherish for the artist's sake. 
 
 To pressure light and strict it grew, 
 Curved as the potter's hand gave law; 
 
 Was it a chalice, wine or dew 
 
 Glimmering to hold, that you foresaw ? 
 
 Nor think your artistry at end ; 
 
 Still whirls the wheel — joy and fear!- 
 Mar for a moment, still to mend. 
 
 Fashion it unto honour. Dear. 
 
 23
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXVII 
 
 THE HOLY OF HOLIES 
 
 My brave, marauding honey-bee, 
 
 Down the deep flower-neck you have push'd 
 Your way to some dear mystery 
 
 Of gladness, and your hum is hush'd. 
 
 Even in a blossom's heart there lies 
 An inmost chamber of the heart, 
 
 Mystery beyond all mysteries, 
 
 Where the last veil is drawn apart. 
 
 Found you a sun-warm'd palace there, 
 A white tent where you lie enfurl'd, 
 
 A cell, a temple, a chaste lair 
 
 That holds the sweetness of the world ? 
 
 O my wise honey-bee ! such joy 
 
 Lives not, you know, with buzz or bruit; 
 
 Be happy in your hush'd employ; 
 I pause, I ponder, and am mute. 
 
 24
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 GOLD HAIR 
 
 That glory mass'd, your girlhood's vaunt, 
 The gold great hair by me unseen, 
 
 Was it the aureole of a saint ? 
 Was it the rigol of a queen ? 
 
 Yet here is wealth enough to bribe 
 A world of hearts; take but this one 
 
 Bright ingot sever'd from its tribe, 
 This wheat-sheaf in the August sun. 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 THE PITCHER 
 
 With what marmoreal grace the maid 
 Bore her brimm'd pitcher from the well. 
 
 One white arm curved, a hip that sway'd, 
 A foot that firmly fell. 
 
 The vessel on my shoulder set 
 
 Fluctuates with full felicity; 
 Add strength to bear my gladness, let 
 
 My burden steady me. 
 25
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XL 
 
 TURF 
 
 Thank God for simple, honest, close-knit turf, 
 Sound footing for plain feet; nor moss, nor 
 mire; 
 
 No silvery quicksand, no hot sulphurous scurf 
 Flung from a turmoil'd fire. 
 
 So far your hand has led me : what is worth 
 A question now of all the heavens conceal ? 
 
 Here shall we lie, and better love the Earth, 
 And let the planets reel. 
 
 XLI 
 
 FONS SIGNATUS 
 
 Still the clear spirit's dignity; 
 
 To me love's inmost shrine reveal'd; 
 Yet with no squander'd sweetness she 
 
 Gives largess from the fountain seal'd. 
 
 Never the blossom overblown. 
 And therefore a perpetual bride. 
 
 For whom the spirit's loosen'd zone 
 Has worth, nor will be laid aside. 
 26
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLII 
 
 THE PLUMMET 
 
 I let my plummet sink and sink 
 Into this sea of blessing; when, 
 
 Or where should it touch shoal ? I think 
 Love lies beyond our furthest ken. 
 
 Above, the sun-smit waves career; 
 
 They have their voices wild and free ; 
 Below them, where no eye can peer. 
 
 Love's great glad taciturnity. 
 
 27
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLIII 
 
 COMMUNITY 
 
 Of all her joys the Earth has need; 
 
 The kindly Mother finds her part 
 In plumping nut, and feathering seed, 
 
 And heart that ripens upon heart. 
 
 Her gifts to her own breast return — 
 Pride of the marshall'd spears of grain, 
 
 Passion of clouds that flush and burn. 
 And love's pulsating old refrain. 
 
 With all her infants' glee is stirred 
 
 The spirit within her, grave and sweet, 
 
 The leap of lamb, the cry of bird, 
 
 And hands that touch and lips that meet. 
 
 And it may be that half her store 
 Of life and warmth is treasured up 
 
 From hearts like ours, her wine that bore. 
 And danced her dance, and crown'd her cup. 
 
 O blind it were to deem that we 
 
 Are in our proper bliss inisled! 
 The old Mother own'd community 
 
 Who bended over us and smiled. 
 aS
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLIV 
 
 INDULGENCES 
 
 Ah, why has Love no general store 
 
 Wherein their merits in excess 
 Of duty saints like you could pour, 
 
 And folk like me their happiness ? 
 
 Through us the sun would mount, and want 
 Be lighten'd; each might have his share; 
 
 Love's Vicar could indulgence grant 
 Plenary or particular. 
 
 XLV 
 
 LOVE TOKENS 
 
 Two gifts: mere sparkling granite this; 
 
 Why given that day my heart inquires ; 
 I think because in earth's abyss 
 
 It felt the glow of central fires. 
 
 And now the earliest daffodils, 
 
 Sun-lovers, comrades of the breeze. 
 
 Through which earth's sudden rapture thrills, 
 And spring's awaken'd ecstasies. 
 29
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLVI 
 
 BRITOMART 
 
 Smile if you will at my dear need, 
 
 bright-hair'd daughter of the North! 
 
 Yes, you are stronger; but we read 
 
 Out of the strong came sweetness forth. 
 
 With me life's proper fiame aspires 
 
 Through needs ; each day new call I make 
 
 For bread, for wine, man's heart desires; 
 But Dian strength would give, not take. 
 
 Yet who was she that lay and toss'd, 
 O'ercome with mighty throes of heart, 
 
 Deep-struck, her virgin freedom lost ? 
 — ^Not Amoret, it was Britomart. 
 
 30
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLVII 
 
 LOVE'S CHORD 
 
 Stand off from me; be still your own; 
 
 Love's perfect chord maintains the sense 
 Through harmony, not unison, 
 
 Of finest difference. 
 
 See not as I see; set your thought 
 
 Against my thought ; call up your will 
 
 To grapple mine ; gay bouts we fought, 
 Let us be wrestlers still. 
 
 Then, if we cannot choose but mate 
 
 And mingle wholly, it will be 
 The doom of law, a starry fate, 
 
 And glad necessity. 
 
 31
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLVIII 
 
 HOURS AND MOMENTS 
 
 Yes, if need were we two could dare 
 To part, and still the days were bright, 
 
 Though less than these swift days that wear 
 Their nimbus of glad morn, glad night. 
 
 Good hours would chime upon the clock; 
 
 But ah, the moments ! which could be 
 The wing'd keybearer that unlocks 
 
 The gates of immortality ? 
 
 32
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XLIX 
 
 OLD LETTERS 
 
 Your letters flinging their good seed — 
 Wit, counsel, wisdom, thought — 
 
 Words that could shape my dream, my deed, 
 I miss them, do I not ? 
 
 Yes, but how words dissect, divide 
 
 Our truths ; their swiftest play 
 Hastens too slowly, strikes too wide, 
 
 Falters or falls away. 
 
 And now our meanings, whole and sole, 
 
 From sense to spirit outleap; 
 Truth now with joy is integral. 
 
 Deep answers unto deep. 
 
 So when speech comes to claim its share, 
 
 We feel, all words beneath, 
 Tremblings of heart oracular, 
 
 Accords of life and death. 
 
 33
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 L 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE 
 
 Framed in old verse Italian 
 See Love in triumph charioted, 
 
 His captives follow maid and man 
 With corded wrist and bended head: 
 
 Glad children rather should be here, 
 Young heirs who never felt the rod. 
 
 Clad in the love that casts out fear, 
 And freedom of the sons of God. 
 
 LI 
 
 THE BOOK OF HOURS 
 
 Blown sea-cliff, dreaming pasturage. 
 
 The moor, broad cornland flaunting flowers, 
 
 Each place we moved in is a page 
 Of my illumined Book of Hours. 
 
 Bird, bloom and bee are in the marge. 
 How fresh the tinctures, free the grace! 
 
 But in the midst and limn'd at large 
 The aureoled wonder of her face. 
 34
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LII 
 
 THE COUCH 
 
 Sure resting-place above the shock 
 
 Of waters, safe from clambering waves, 
 
 Here be your couch, the living rock 
 Lull'd by the gulphing of the caves. 
 
 I shall be human still, and feast 
 
 My sense, your spy for brave things done: 
 Hug nature you, a drowsed sea-beast, 
 
 Slow-breathing, saturate with the sun. 
 
 LIII 
 
 SEA-ANEMONES 
 
 Look! the waves' wash has reach'd this drain'd 
 alcove : 
 
 Its crimson blooms retracted know at hand 
 The tidal flow ; peer now ! they thrill, they move, 
 
 Petals and anthers waver and expand. 
 
 " Praised, praised be God for thee," my heart 
 has cried, 
 " My little brother, the anemone! 
 My spirit has also heard a jubilant tide, 
 
 And known the blissful whelming of the sea." 
 35
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LIV 
 
 BURNET ROSES 
 
 On sand-dunes of this western sea 
 Here, mid the bent grass, roses shine, 
 
 Clear-carven, chaliced ivory, 
 
 Brimm'd with the summer's perfumed wine. 
 
 Never those orbed splendours fed 
 
 From garden-mould, June's tended train, 
 
 Crimson or gold, soft-bosomed. 
 
 Darted such transport to the brain. 
 
 How well with sweetness strength agrees! 
 
 The liberal air, the spacious light. 
 The sounding waves, have fashioned these; 
 
 Take them ; such things are yours by right. 
 
 36
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LV 
 
 SPRING IN AUTUMN 
 
 We are alone with sea and sun; 
 
 Give the child's instinct in you play, 
 And where the laughing ripples run 
 
 Step barefoot touch'd by wind and spray; 
 
 And let me smile; the autumn day 
 Mimics the springtime; seasons meet 
 
 One moment; let my fancies stray 
 With the glad ripples round your feet. 
 
 LVI 
 
 THE PILGRIM 
 
 The sunset trance is in her eyes; 
 
 I know the spirit's homeless flight; 
 Estranged from earth, a pilgrim hies 
 
 To seek the founts of light. 
 
 Love frames no cage, love weaves no net; 
 
 I would not whisper a recall. 
 Nor choose to capture what is yet 
 
 Remote and virginal. 
 37
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LVII 
 
 SUNRISE 
 
 Lo! on yon eastern marge the sun: 
 The waves a miracle confess, 
 
 And awed, illumined tremors run 
 Through the sea-spaces measureless. 
 
 I knew that mystery of the spear, 
 The shaft of flame, the poignant ray; 
 
 But knew not if 'twere bliss or fear 
 Such seizure by the arisen day. 
 
 LVII I 
 
 THE LOST DIAN 
 
 And if I lose your image. Dear, 
 One moment in the joy of you. 
 
 Think, the moon-marvel in the mere 
 A moment since was mirror'd true: 
 
 There lay the Dian, till at once 
 
 Thrill'd all the waters, and, behold ! 
 
 The disk is scatter'd, and there runs 
 
 A rippled race of quivering gold. 
 
 38
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LIX 
 
 SECRETS 
 
 Noontide and summer; not a breeze 
 Abroad, and all the landscape shines; 
 
 Yet hush; what murmur'd mysteries! 
 There sounds a going in the pines. 
 
 Our spirits, rooted jfirm in earth, 
 
 Reach heavenward; not a branch astir; 
 
 Yet secrets as of death and birth 
 Are breath'd, nor crave interpreter. 
 
 39
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LX 
 
 CLOUDS 
 
 Hourlong to-day I watch'd across the plain 
 The speechless intercourse of cloud and hill, 
 
 Approaches, hushed enfoldings, and again 
 
 Slow disengagements, sunderings soft and still. 
 
 Anon in ancient hollows, where the stream 
 Tumbles, or where the pinewood climbs the 
 steep, 
 
 The fleecy vapours nestled as in dream, 
 
 Separate, yet side by side like folded sheep. 
 
 Last, height and heaven were bare; no pearly 
 flake 
 But was a truant of the winnowing wind : 
 What gift of strength did those pale wanderers 
 take ? 
 What gift of sweetness did they leave behind ? 
 
 40
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXI 
 
 SONG AND SUNSET 
 
 Tumultuous splendours in the West, 
 
 A brazier fuming chrysoprase, 
 Southward translucent amethyst 
 
 Veils mountain-capes and mountain-bays. 
 
 Extravagance of pomp ! yet still, 
 
 As yester-evening grey, I hear 
 The self-same robin's frugal bill 
 
 Pipe the same carol thin and clear. 
 
 LXII 
 
 NATURE'S NEED 
 
 We are two foam-flakes on a stream, 
 Two thistle-downs upon the air; 
 
 Yet joy is therefore not a dream; 
 
 Bear us, glad Power, we know not where! 
 
 The mighty Mother has a need 
 
 Through us to ease her blissful ache; 
 
 Blow, breeze, and drive the lucky seed. 
 Flow, stream, and dance the water-flake. 
 41
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXIII 
 
 WAKING 
 
 Waking is wonder; summer airs 
 
 Ripple the wheat-field, where a crew 
 
 Of wing'd sweet thieves in flights, in pairs, 
 Their knavish craft pursue. 
 
 They dip, lurk, eddy, swing and sway 
 Upon the stalk — glad, wrangling throats; 
 
 While silent to the wind-fleck'd bay 
 Glide home the pilchard-boats. 
 
 Waking is infant joy new born; 
 
 And how should wonder e'er be dead 
 For me, who lean toward the morn 
 
 Across so dear a head ? 
 
 42
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXIV 
 
 THE VILLAGE WELL 
 
 Beneath the beech-tree's dome of shade, 
 Her pitcher on the coping-stone, 
 
 There at the well the village-maid 
 Sits, muses, leans and dreams alone. 
 
 She gazes down where glimmering lies 
 The girdled fount, discovering there 
 
 Those mirror'd stars which are her eyes, 
 That wavering gold which is her hair. 
 
 Nor know I whether memories haunt 
 These waters, or some hidden fire 
 
 Would be allay'd, some nameless want, 
 The trouble of some dim desire. 
 
 Lean, lean. Beloved, you alone. 
 Here where my happiness, a well. 
 
 Trembles, here where a face has shone 
 Secluded and adorable. 
 
 Gaze yet again where glimmering lies 
 The water of this fount of grace. 
 
 And watch intent! What if there rise 
 Wavering to sight the Naiad's face! 
 43
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXV 
 
 BLOSSOMS 
 
 Bring, bring a rose to sate the eye, 
 Bring orchids for my sake, 
 
 Wing'd Hke some Orient butterfly. 
 And spotted like the snake. 
 
 But if I pluck a flower for you. 
 
 Let be the imperial rose. 
 Let be the blooms of vapoury mew 
 
 Hot garden-walls inclose. 
 
 Gorse from a wild hill's golden crown. 
 For plough or spade too poor; 
 
 A hare-bell from the windy down. 
 Heath from the purple moor; 
 
 It must have dared to meet the gale, 
 It must have loved the skies, 
 
 Have seen great sunset glories fail. 
 And watch'd the dawn uprise. 
 
 44
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXVI 
 
 A FAREWELL 
 
 The silver chime! and we must part; 
 
 Our lark shall be no nightingale : 
 I go; one moment heart on heart, 
 
 Enough for all the day's avail. 
 
 So hidden in the depth of day 
 In toil, in turmoil, that must be, 
 
 This moment will fling forth a ray 
 On time from white eternity. 
 
 LXVI I 
 
 NEW HORIZONS 
 
 If love were but a curious maze 
 
 With halt at midmost, who would choose 
 Swift triumph ? Better Dear delays, 
 
 And blind, bewildering avenues. 
 
 The frankness of the sea, the sky. 
 
 Become you, you who grant the whole 
 
 Fearless, and still the marges fly, 
 And deeper heavens allure the soul. 
 45
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXVIII 
 
 PAST AND PRESENT 
 
 Those rare unearthly years of ours 
 Moved on no fairer heavenlier range 
 
 Than these of full co-operant powers 
 
 Yet make earth's harvest-sunshine strange. 
 
 Strange that the spirit of a star 
 
 Should stoop and enter at my door, 
 
 Still fire and dew as when afar, 
 
 Yet human to the ripe heart's core. 
 
 And in my soul a fount that gush'd, 
 
 Lucid with wandering mountain-gleams, 
 
 In waterbreaks leap'd valeward, flush'd 
 With all its tributary streams. 
 
 46
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXIX 
 
 POVERTY AND PLENTY 
 
 I can remember when a child 
 
 I gave my fortune all away, 
 Two halfpennies, for my heart was wild 
 
 To bless that bedesman faint and grey. 
 
 And still I see his mute appeal, 
 
 The craving in his eyes I see, 
 Still hear his blessing and can feel 
 
 My leap of infant ecstasy. 
 
 Therefore I urge not — " Tell me true. 
 Say, are you happy ? " nor take thought 
 
 Because, being wholly given to you, 
 I never yet could give you aught. 
 
 That you were rich, that I was poor, 
 And beggary all the trade I had, 
 
 'Tis this that makes my soul secure — 
 You gave and cannot but be glad. 
 
 47
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXX 
 
 WISE FOOLISHNESS 
 
 I posed you with Athene's spear, 
 
 A virgin warrior, fancy-free; 
 How could I then divine that dear 
 
 And deep irrationahty ? 
 
 Fools both : you spendthrift in desire 
 So poor a man as me to bless. 
 
 And I who at my altar-fire 
 
 Sang hymns to Wisdom's patroness. 
 
 Ah! and how swift time pHes the wing; 
 
 Here sit we Doctors in Love's school; 
 So learned we know the wisest thing 
 
 On earth is to have play'd the fool. 
 
 O wise dear foolishness ! Such lore 
 We grey-hair'd sages try to preach 
 
 To youngsters now. Nay, let's give o'er, 
 Our rede to them is foreign speech. 
 
 48
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXI 
 
 CHILDHOOD 
 
 Her earliest love (down, jealous rage!) 
 Was but the King of Scotland's son, 
 
 Crusading Kenneth; eight her age. 
 My sweet, small, amorous simpleton. 
 
 Vanished the northern wizardry; 
 
 Next Harold slain in desperate fight, 
 Found by the Swan-neck (that was she ,•) 
 
 The third, I think, Aslauga's knight. 
 
 Whereon names follow quick and thick. 
 But somewhat fretted by the moth. 
 
 Save one all gold — Theodoric ! 
 
 Tut, child, to choose an Ostrogoth ! 
 
 But when the lists were set one day, 
 Who like a thunderbolt bore down 
 
 All champions, bore the prize away ? 
 Dear, a poor clerk in scholar's gown. 
 
 49
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXII 
 
 THE RIVAL 
 
 Your rival — ^yes, and not an hour 
 Out of my sight; be jealous now! 
 
 The same grave face of tender power, 
 The same pure lips and brooding brow. 
 
 The hair mere sunshine wefted fine; 
 
 The eyes that look'd through life and death; 
 The spirit alive in every line, 
 
 Which grew to be my pulse, my breath. 
 
 Room in my heart must be for two, 
 Nor know I which I should prefer, 
 
 Your rival who long since was you, 
 Or you proved all I dreamed of her. 
 
 50
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 Lxxii: 
 SIXTEEN YEARS 
 
 Echoes of shawms and trumpets, Dear, 
 Vibrate; this day you came to me; 
 
 Think! now begins our sixteenth year; 
 Praise, praise, and proud humility. 
 
 Think of a man assurance saves. 
 
 Sustains yet whelms in life and limb; 
 
 strong salvation, all thy waves 
 And billows have gone over him ! 
 
 5*
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXIV 
 
 TRUTHS AND TRUTH 
 
 We chased ideas years ago, 
 
 Truths seem'd our quarry day by day; 
 Has all our fire now smoulder'd low, 
 
 The hunter's passion for his prey ? 
 
 Or are we victors after strife ? 
 
 Merchants retired from rich employ ? 
 Does truth put on the limbs of Life, 
 
 And wear the fervid face of Joy ? 
 
 52
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXV 
 
 MADONNA 
 
 Always before me as we climb'd the height, 
 Always than mine a wider, steadier view. 
 
 Always at call a hand's grasp firm, though light, 
 Till where she had stood I now was standing 
 too. 
 
 Fain, fain to serve am I ; yet be my part 
 To need a refuge, claim protectiveness, 
 
 So serving best the great Madonna-heart; 
 My gift to know all blessing, hers to bless. 
 
 53
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXVI 
 
 JUSTICE 
 
 Your cry was ever " Justice! " Did I deem 
 Justice a stern-brow'd goddess, sword in hand ? 
 
 Stern-brow'd in truth, and in her eyes a gleam 
 Indignant, on her Hps a dread command. 
 
 Yet you have shown her with a tenderer brow. 
 Sowing fair deeds, giver of cheer, of coins, 
 
 Strict, wise, benignant; and I name her now 
 " Love with the lighted lamp and girded loins." 
 
 54
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXVII 
 
 LIBERALITY 
 
 The sun is not less free to all 
 In largess, though he yield 
 
 Some lovelier light angelical 
 To yonder hillside field. 
 
 The stream has mirth for all the wild 
 And all the wood, though here 
 
 — Listen! — its laughter of a child 
 Ring blithest and most clear. 
 
 Gladden the region; give away, 
 To each that claims, a part; 
 
 I grasp no miser's gold who lay 
 This hand upon your heart. 
 
 55
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXVIII 
 
 THE WAVE 
 
 Once more — how vain, how vain! — 
 The wave breaks up the shore, 
 
 Pale praise, unfruitful thanks again 
 And hopeless speech once more. 
 
 High as the wave may run 
 
 It can but leave behind 
 One foam-bell glittering in the sun, 
 
 And quivering to the wind. 
 
 56
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXIX 
 
 SPEECH A CLOUD 
 
 If all my words are but a cloud, 
 
 Half sun-suffused, half darkening you, 
 
 And winnowing song, or low or loud, 
 Scant help to let the radiance through, 
 
 Fling down some wide aerial shaft 
 Of sunbeams, an illumined stair. 
 
 That, past the shadowings of my craft, 
 Watchers may yet divine you there; 
 
 A stair from heaven to earth whereon 
 White Presences may come and go 
 
 Envoys, who at Love's bidding run, 
 To breathe your name to men below. 
 
 57
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXX 
 
 THE SOURCE 
 
 Live water insuppressible, 
 
 Upwelling new and still the same, 
 
 Slender but lucid — ^who can tell 
 
 From what strong ribs of earth it came ? 
 
 Look how the grains of yellow sand 
 
 Are toss'd ! Now stoop ; with finger-tip 
 
 Touch, or in hollow of your hand 
 Bear one light ripple to your lip. 
 
 So streams have sprung that broaden free 
 Past fane deep-fronted, bulwark brave; 
 
 This will not bear an argosy; 
 
 Enough! Egeria scoop'd the wave. 
 
 58
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXI 
 
 THE VIOLIN 
 
 No lucky Stradivarius this ! 
 
 Poor fiddle, lacking craftsman's name; 
 Yet poised, and to the bow submiss. 
 
 Some touch of music's rapture came. 
 
 Is it because your hand can win 
 
 From every yearning thing its best ? 
 
 Is it because, glad violin. 
 
 It lean'd and trembled toward your breast ? 
 
 59
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXII 
 
 SEA-MEWS' CRIES 
 
 If we were nested with a brood, 
 
 Safe in the fork twixt bough and bough, 
 Heaven's silence or earth's quietude 
 
 Long warblings might allow. 
 
 But sea-bird from the crag that flies 
 Across the voiceful plain, or flits 
 
 From ridge to ridge that climbs and cries, 
 Such shrill swift caU befits. 
 
 60
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXIII 
 
 THE NORTH WIND 
 
 A wanderer in the mist was I, 
 
 Faltering 'mid pallid wreaths adrift, 
 
 With naught to hope, resist, descry. 
 And not a dream the cloud could lift. 
 
 You were the North wind, not for ease 
 Issuing, but strength to slay despair; 
 
 I lean'd forth, drank the quickening breeze, 
 Look'd — and behold, the heaven was bare! 
 
 And whether luck it was, or grace. 
 When thus I gazed around, abroad. 
 
 Blind feet had borne me to a place 
 That seem'd the very mount of God. 
 
 6z
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXIV 
 
 THE RAPIDS 
 
 Where most the rapids swirl'd I lay 
 
 Motionless in our frail canoe; 
 The Indian guide whose toil seem'd play, 
 
 Lithe oarsman at the prow, were you. 
 
 Yet what a need of practised eye, 
 Of poise or turn of wrist what need, 
 
 To shoot secure through jeopardy 
 
 With such a breathless, quivering speed! 
 
 And ever while the oar you plied 
 I knew no thought of life or death, 
 
 Nor felt the snakelike waters glide, 
 
 But lived in some deep heaven of faith. 
 
 62
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXV 
 
 THE CHALLENGE 
 
 Brain challenged brain to onset fierce, 
 Youth was our cartel-bearer gay, 
 
 And desperate was the quart-and-tierce, 
 But all my pride was in your play. 
 
 Honest rencounters, brain with brain; 
 
 And yet with springing heart I viewed 
 The dexterous arm that thrust amain. 
 
 And shifting grace of attitude. 
 
 Times alter; calm the seasons move; 
 
 Yet come, one bout ! I throw my gage, 
 And dare you, who can never prove 
 
 That youth was half so blest as age. 
 
 63
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXVI 
 
 KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH 
 
 I circled wide, the sea-mew's way, 
 Sway'd as in blissful idleness, 
 
 LoU'd on the wave yet found my prey 
 And gather'd knowledge none the less. 
 
 Pillar'd on air you tower'd, a thing 
 Intense in rest, that knew nor dip 
 
 Nor dart, but hung on vibrant wing; 
 — ^You fell, and truth was in your grip. 
 
 64
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXVII 
 
 EXCHANGE OF wSEX 
 
 In some strange world, ere stars were old, 
 Or here ere ocean whelm'd a land, 
 
 You were a bearded sea-king bold, 
 I, a white maiden on the strand. 
 
 Strong arms compell'd her to your bark. 
 Light borne for all your ring-wrought gear; 
 
 You swept the waves from dawn to dark, 
 While pride was trembling through her fear. 
 
 She half remembers in a dream 
 
 Grey towers of her sea-eagle's nest; 
 
 Sunshine and storm, the gloom, the gleam, 
 Warmth, might, male gladness on her breast. 
 
 You had your will, and very life 
 
 Of yours was then her cherish'd store; 
 
 Can you recall when I was wife, 
 
 And thoughts of yours grew babes I bore ? 
 
 So now if sweet authority 
 
 Touches, though in a different sex, 
 
 Your love, and I approve it, why 
 
 Should instincts from the prime perplex ? 
 65 E
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXVIII 
 
 THE STONE-BREAKER 
 
 On life's roadside I sit and break 
 Poor learning's stones for pay; 
 
 Nor is the trade too bad, I make 
 My half-a-crown a day. 
 
 My good hour comes ; 'tis past the noon, 
 
 And sure as sure can be 
 With kerchief'd head and kilted gown 
 
 The mistress steps toward me; 
 
 Not slim perhaps as once she was, 
 
 Yet still some girlish grace, 
 Not with light footing of the lass 
 
 But just as brave a face; 
 
 She bears the can, she bears the mug, 
 
 The bulging handkerchief; 
 Beneath the hedge is shelter snug, 
 
 O hour of my relief! 
 66
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 And sure such bread is angels' food, 
 Such cheese heaven's honey-dew; 
 
 Kind are the eyes as when I wooed, 
 The heart as stout and true. 
 
 So when she goes my hammer plies 
 Livelier on learning's stones. 
 
 Till home I trudge to meet her eyes, 
 Maybe with aching bones. 
 
 67
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LXXXIX 
 
 THE NEW CIRCE 
 
 Mistress of innocent spells, your brain, 
 A kindlier Circe, rules my rout 
 
 Of thoughts and fancies. What a train 
 Gather their Queen about! 
 
 Smile at their awkward gambolling 
 With queenly-humorous, wise regard; 
 
 And let them fling and spring and cling. 
 Your rabble, ounce and pard. 
 
 Praise their quaint fawnings if you can. 
 
 Or pierce at once through the disguise. 
 Their thwarted gestures tell of man, 
 And human are their eyes. 
 
 68
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 xc 
 DISCIPLINE 
 
 Your strength at first controll'd the man 
 Too many an aim diverts, dilates; 
 
 He knew constraint and swiftlier ran 
 As through the Danube's Iron Gates. 
 
 So 'twas in youth; your strength no less 
 Confirms me now, but you assuage 
 
 The strong control; your gentleness 
 Has made me great in this my age. 
 
 69
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 xci 
 
 EVENTIDE 
 
 " Old friends," so have they named us, " now 
 grown one, 
 " And twihght peace for cares wiU make 
 amends, 
 " Nothing so natural underneath the sun 
 
 " As such soft fading radiance for old friends." 
 
 But we have wing'd our level western flight 
 Beyond the glimmering marge, the cloud- 
 confine. 
 
 To heavens where peace is rapture of the light. 
 And all the shoreless sea is hyaline. 
 
 70
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCII 
 
 TRANSITION 
 
 Low drops the sun, but on these sands 
 
 The waves still laugh and clap their hands, 
 
 By awe untouch'd or fear; 
 Life is for them an ecstasy, 
 Nor child nor lamb has keener cry 
 
 Of joy, though night be near. 
 
 But turn! yon mountains take the light 
 Aware of transits infinite, 
 
 Clear-edged, intense, severe, 
 Back'd by pure spaces measureless; 
 In fortitude, submissiveness, 
 
 Some word of God they hear. 
 
 H
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCIII 
 
 GLOAMING 
 
 They come like shadows, so depart; 
 
 Theirs is the morn; the eventide 
 Is mine; life may have worn my heart; 
 
 They pass, and you abide. 
 
 They troop, each man his several way, 
 Expectant; I expect the night; 
 
 But while you sit by me and stay 
 At even time shall be light. 
 
 72
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCIV 
 
 IN THE STORM 
 
 The storm is on us ! How the flood 
 Is whipp'd, the woodlands roar! 
 
 Cloud topples westward over cloud, 
 We'll see the sun no more. 
 
 Because we had our brave repast, 
 Great light, clear airs, nor dearth 
 
 Of life or love, we stem the blast 
 And keep our faith in earth. 
 
 73
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 xcv 
 BETHESDA 
 
 One writes " Your words had power to sain 
 And soothe a grief "; but I, no fool, 
 
 Know whence this virtue mastering pain, 
 The secret of Bethesda's pool. 
 
 For common needs the waters lay 
 Sufficient, nor would I contemn; 
 
 Then dawn'd a high miraculous day; 
 An angel came and troubled them. 
 
 74
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCVI 
 
 WINNINGS 
 
 That gambler, he who raked the gold, 
 Each shadow'd eye a ghttering spark, 
 
 Rose calm, push'd back the curtain-fold. 
 And took his way into the dark. 
 
 My gold is gift of grace, not luck, 
 But if a call should sound from far, 
 
 Back the dark curtain I could pluck, 
 And front — ^perchance the morning-star. 
 
 75
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCVII 
 
 LOVE AND DEATH 
 
 If at the summons we, in sudden flight 
 
 With equal beat and poise of wing, beneath 
 
 Love's arm of benediction flash'd from light, 
 To lose ourselves on the dark breast of Death; 
 
 Such flight were blissful close — ^The shadow'd 
 face 
 Might wear a smile maternal, and, arrived 
 At that dim goal, a murmuring word of grace 
 Might thrill the vacant air — " These two have 
 lived." 
 
 76
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCVIII 
 
 THE BLESSED ONES 
 
 Because I am in love with life, 
 Because I breathe a finer air 
 
 Above the din and dust of strife, 
 The dead have grown more fair. 
 
 Their eyes send forth a sunset beam, 
 A tenderer ray on mine uplift; 
 
 Their voices sound a twilight stream. 
 This also is your gift. 
 
 77
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 XCIX 
 
 INTIMATE SORROW 
 
 Here leave me : something is your own 
 By old prerogatives of blood; 
 
 Enter the shadow and alone, 
 I ask not closer neighbourhood. 
 
 Mine too the grief; but Memory fills 
 A deeper chalice with your tears; 
 
 Shootings there are and sudden thrills 
 From all the half-forgotten years. 
 
 Pass through the portal dark and low, 
 Single; without I keep my stand; 
 
 Yet take from me, before you go, 
 The touch of no indifferent hand. 
 
 78
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 LACHRYMATORIES 
 
 These lachrymatories we behold 
 
 Were ravish'd from some sepulchre; 
 
 Tears fell and heads were bow'd of old; 
 They turn'd and Life was lawgiver. 
 
 Praise, praise and thanks, by day, by night 
 Be yours, not chiefly that you laid 
 
 Those kind assuaging hands and light 
 With all strong comfort on my head; 
 
 But that within Life's radiant shrine, 
 Where stands the glowing altar, where 
 
 The flame that leaps is fed with wine. 
 My vase of tears you bade me bear. 
 
 79
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 CI 
 
 LOVE'S LORD 
 
 When weight of all the garner'd years 
 Bows me, and praise must find relief 
 
 In harvest-song, and smiles and tears 
 Twist in the band that binds my sheaf; 
 
 Thou known Unknown, dark, radiant sea 
 In whom we live, in whom we move, 
 
 My spirit must lose itself in Thee, 
 Crying a name — ^Life, Light, or Love. 
 
 80
 
 A WOMAN'S RELIQUARY 
 
 Think not the bird, from rung to rung 
 That climbs his high aerial stair. 
 
 Tells all his joy; the things unsung 
 Of his blue heaven are song's despair. 
 
 Think not the spray that gleams and flies 
 From the toss'd crest is all the wave; 
 
 And feel my dear deep silences 
 
 Through loves that laud, through calls that 
 crave. 
 
 8i
 
 LETCHWORTH 
 
 THE TEMPLE PRESS 
 
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 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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