THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES SONQS OF THE SAHKOHNAGAS BY HUGH DEVERON THE Hbbey press PUBLISHERS 114 FIFTH AVENUE Xon&on NEW YORK Montreal Copyright, 1902, by THE Bbbeg presa CONTENTS. AGE SONGS OF THE SAHKOHNAQAS. 1. The Legend of Herbert's Spring 7 2. My Pearl of Pacolet 16 3. The Swannanoa River. 21 4. Blue Eyes of Nantahayleh 24 5. The Wine Spring 27 6. The Siren of Sachem's Head 30 7. From Billow to Brook 34 8. The Snowdrop Maidens 27 9. The Songs that Need no Words 39 10. The Oracles of May 41 11. The Autumnal Harlequin 42 12. AColdSnap 45 13. Grass of Parnassus 47 14. Witch Hazel 52 15. Trailing Arbutus 55 16. To a Humming-Bird 57 17. A Sylvan Symphony 59 FLORIDA FANCIES. 18. Winter Wooings 62 19. Water Bewitched 64 20. The Cherokee Rose 67 21. To Alma in April 69 22. The Naughty Nixie 73 23. The Heavens Below 75 24. The Romance of the Roses 76 25. Beau Butterfly 78 26. With a Fan to Fickle Fanny 82 3 904264 4 Contents. 27. Virtue Unrewarded 86 28. Fickle Fifteen 88 29. To a Juvenile Juliette 90 30. Wrinkles versus Roses 93 GOLDEN TIDE. 31. The Sage of Sunny-Side. 95 32. Saint Sunny-Heart's Shrine 97 33. Light-Heart Harry 101 34. A Lover of " Good Things " 105 35. To Silenus 108 36. The Jolly old King of Yvetot Ill 37. The Watering of the Shamrock 116 38. True Love Runs Always Smoothly , 119 39. The Squire's Quest 123 40. Lachrymse Christi 126 41. Love and Folly 129 42. To Maecenas 132 43. The Tippler's Test 136 ROSES AND RUE. 44. Love's Starlit Noon 140 45. That Sweet Word " Ours ! " 142 46. Crowned Slaves 147 47. Lovers' Quarrels 148 48. Epiphytes 150 49. Dark Eyes and Hours 151 50. More Prudish than Prudent 152 51. Immortelles 153 52. Prim-rose 155 53. Brown Eyes and Blue 156 54. Love's Merry War 159 55. Love and Strife 160 56. A Puzzle in Petticoats -. 163 57. The Violet's Appeal 167 Contents. 5 58. Limited Liabilities 169 59. To Brunetta 173 60. Cupid in Chains 176 THE GLOAMING. 61. Love Hopeless 180 62. Love and Jealousy 182 63. Impatient 186 64. A Contented Cynic 189 65. Sold Out 191 66. Thorns of Roses 194 67. Hearts Crucified 196 68. To Linette 197 69. No Admittance 200 70. Two of a Kind 201 71. A Thievish Grace 203 72. A Song of Silence 206 73. Oblivion 209 74. April and December 211 GLEANINGS. 75. Mansour the Miser 214 76. Harold Fair-Hair 221 77. The Blossom's Boast 223 78. The Shabby Genteel 225 79. The Four Heralds of Spring 228 80. The Gipsy's Guess 232 81. The Vase and the Virtuoso 234 82. Christmas after War 236 83. The Sea's Smiles and Sighs 239 84. The Tempest's Test 241 85. The " Swallow's Nest " 242 86. The New World.. . 244 SONGS OF THE SAHKOHNAGAS. Xe0ent> ot Iberbert's Spring.* WHERE Kullasaja's crystal founts first leap, Southward not far stands fair Satula's steep, Thence northeast, lo! a mountain Monarch frowns, His cres.t still green, though russet grays and browns And purpling shadows touch the giddy heights, Where Isundayga's precipices catch the lights Of saffron dawns. Our ridgy realm unrolled Shows not one other summit half as bold * Kullasaja and Satoola, near Highlands, Maeon Co.; Isundayga, the grand precipice of White-Sides Mt.; Yonahlossee, the Grandfather Mt. ; Salola is Sugar Loaf near Hendersonville, No. Car. ; Sahkohnagas, the great Blue Ridge range ; Tenniseeta is Little Tennessee River ; Toxaway is Great Hog Back near Sapphire ; and Cashiers Valley lies west of Chimney Top (Kayoo ianta). 8 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. As this " Old Stonewall." Facing eas.t it towers Above Chatooga's forestry and Cashier's fields of flowers. In all the leafy Over Hills of Ottaray, Not one to ma.tch with Isundayga grim and gray : Not Linville's Towers, not the cliffs of Doe, Nor where the Sachem's Head sees fair Saluda far below ; Not the bold cliffs that cradle Congaree That 'neath Salola's crags flows southward to the sea; Not Yonahlossee, though his rocky crown Sends far Watauga's waters foaming down In dark ravines, where clustering pink and white, The rhododendron blooms star all the leafy night ; Nor yet sharp Kayoolanta, whose bold belfry flings Its morning shadows on fair Cashier's springs. Eastward the billowy ridges of blue Toxaway, That hides a " Sapphire " in his heart to-day, And laves his feet in lakelets that declare The Legend ot Herbert's Spring. 9 The Heaven's glory ever mirored there ; Westward the Nantahaylehs, and the near Cowees That toss their summits like tumultuous seas; Between these two, Sahkohnaga's* blue walls Hearkening the married murmurs of Chatoo ga's falls, Where Isundayga's sovereign summit stands, Rock-crested Monarch of these Leafy Lands. Here in a glen, where foliage flower and fern Roof with tints green or gay the bickering burn, Hides Herbert's Spring, whose waters westward flow To where the Tenniseeta, in green vales below, Bears generous tribute not lean stinted alms To .that far West where flows the stream of Palms, Whose waters, widening slowly to deep Seas Belt with their billows all the Antilles. The wanderer who passes here by chance, Hunter or Trapper, ere he sees the glance Of these clear waters!, or their rippling flow, Hears in these sylvan wilds a Fairy Bugle blow. io Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Sweet as the echoes of remembered song Ere love and loss had tangled right and wrong, The ringing notes now distant and now near Like lullabies of childhood charm ,the listening ear, Like songs of Sirens on the silvering seas, Allure him step by step through thickening trees, Over the ridges, down the dark ravines,- From crest ,to crest, until he wearied leans Above a Fountain's brink; and in its depths behold! A New World mirrored. Fairer skies unrolled, Bosomed like Goddesses blue mountains show, And valleys blossom braided sleep below Where winding rivers that a forest girds Dance to the music of a thousand birds. A thousand pictured scenes revolving pass Across its bosom ; and in this clear glass This Magic Mirror, whose reflections bring Even to Winter frosts the flowers of fadeless Spring, Lo! should he love a fairer face there peeps From out the darkness of these dimpled deeps ; The Legend of Herbert's Spring. n A face so fair, with lips of rose, and eyes>, So wonderful, tha,t every old love dies, And this new passion thrills him through and through. Recalls no longer Home, or those he knew, His past life fading like forgotten dreams; The wider World, and all its cares and schemes Not blur'd but blotted out; no Yesterday, To-morrow dimly visioned, but Hope's sway To-day triumphant; and ,the Present's Wall Prisons his soul. He lives the thrall Of these bewitching waters, and their spells shall hold For seven sweet years of dulcet dreamings, that though false Yet bring no tears or tempests. Hope never halts, And Doubt lies dead. So long, through Winter's cold And Summer's heat, in these wild woods he roves, Climbs the bold crests and threads the embow ered groves, 12 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Seeking this " Loltee " of the Highlands, this fair witch Who now the Fountain holds and now some rocky niche. Ever so soft and sweet, now near now far, She calls to him from summits gray, from cliff or scar ; Or, hidden shyly in June's leafy bowers, Whispers him hope from the unfolding flowers ; Woos him with glances from the cascade's snow, Beckoning with waving hands where blossoms blow, Sings him glad songs tha.t make his pulses leap, And when night darkens kissed his eyes to sleep. Each night he dreams her rosy lips close pressed, Each morn renews the eager, endless quest; Yet, not unhappy, for this witching draught, If only once in all the seven years deeply quaffed, Fires his blood with such unwonted life Hope never fails him, through the stress and strife Of daily struggles with the wilderness. The Winter's snow fades fast before one melting kiss The Legend of Herbert's Spring. 13 Laid on his lips in slumber; and the summer seems A golden Eden, where half lost in dreams He climbs blue peaks, hearing her wooing calls In the warm breath of winds and songs of water falls. In every woodland there are bridal bowers, Her flying footsteps bend the fern, and in fair flowers He finds the fragrance of her breath, and in the skies Sees the soft azure of her glorious eyes. So seven years the Wanderer ever roves From crest to crest, Through all the glens and groves; Day after day climbs leafy spurs and lifted spires ; His heart beats high, his footstep never tires. Confiding, as a child, he knows no sorrow, For if To-day brings failure there's a fair To-morrow ; And this fond Witch, who kissed his lips last night, Shall break like morning on his dazzled sight, 14 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. In her white arms shall hold him fast, and melt His soul with blisses mortals never felt. Of his Dead Past no faintest whisper stirs ; Couched on dark crags benea.th the dusk of firs, He sees afar the valleys once his Home, Yet now recalls no paths he used to roam ; Old Loves old Losses leave no faintest mark ; Cares only for this luring Loltee's fickle kiss, And finds in these bewitching dreams a dearer bliss Than ever mortal maiden's fond rendition That ripened into full fruition. So seven years of dulcet, dazzling dreams, Of wanderings by the banks of lapsing streams And on .the brows of lifted peaks : then slum ber deep For seven days, when slow the circling shadows creep, And not one star not one stray sunbeam brings To the lost soul the shape of Earthly things. Then an awakening, slow and soft as>when On long numbed wits fair Reason dawns again ; The Legend of Herbert's Spring. 15 And one by one, old loves, and older hopes Return like penitents ; and strengthening Mem ory gropes Her way back lamely, step by step, and sees At last the old landmarks, hears forgotten pleas. The hearthstone flames again, whisper sealed lips, Hearts 1 beat once more long lost in dark eclipse. Then the lost Wanderer wondering ; turns slowly back To search through forest mazes for the long lost track ; Through cloud and sunshine, half in joy half tears, Faces once more the long forgotten years, And finds perhaps in some fond maiden's arms S.till lures to win him from the rosy charms Of that fair Witch, whose wooing, winsome face, Whose flowery lips whose magic and whose grace, Whatever life brings, of sunny joy or sad regret, His dreaming soul shall never quite forget! 1 6 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. /IDs pearl of pacolett I by pebbly Pacolett where the Kalmias cluster, And the cascade's melting mists catch the rain bow's luster, Sits a dainty mountain maiden curtained close by leaves-, By the shadows half-way hidden that the Rho dodendron weaves. Round about her tresses a golden halo swims, Whiter than the lily buds are her lissome limbs, Bluer than the gentian tips gleam her sunny eyes, Far too rosy are her lips e'er to mate wi.th sighs. There she sits and suns herself in an amorous ray That hath wandered to .these depths from the upper day; And this rosy harbinger of love's warmer glow Kisses first her dimpled cheeks, then her bos* om's snow. My Pearl of Pacolett. 17 Soft the sunlight touches her with a wand of gold, Whilst the breezes whisper shyly tales the flowers told; And she first looks up and laughs, .then looks down and sighs : Something learned of late hy heart makes her feel so wise. Far too wise for flippancies, far too glad for tears, Whilst she numbers solemnly all her Sixteen years ; Counts the flowery Aprils over since those ear lier Springs When Life's beckoning blisses lent her light heart errant wings. Thus she sits and memories scarcely twelve- hours' old Kound about her budding breas.ts like glad arms enfold ; And she hears the murmurings soft of the busy breeze Whispering loving prophecies to the listening trees. 2 i8 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Purest Pearl of Pacolett, \vha.t is then your dream ? Down the tides that foam and fret, borne upon the stream, Lo ! the Fairy of the Falls, in a white canoe, Glides above the milky mists beckoning to you. He crowns your curls with Kalmias paler than your cheek, .With cold kisses makes you dumb though you fain would speak ; Veils with jealous mists your charms, lays your dainty limbs On a couch in gro.tto lonely that eternal dark ness dims. Bears you from these sunny skies to the depths below, And your bosom's blossoms turn cold and white as snow ; Your sweet lips forget to laugh, and your heart to dream : Lo! your bridal bed a bier shadowed by .ths stream My Pearl of Pacolett. 19 Then the Fairy of the Falls lays his finger tips Lightly on the fading petals of your flower-like lips.; Like a lily maiden sinking in a marble sleep, Soft and silent there you lie, whils.t your lovers weep. Nay! my Pearl of Pacolett, not all the Fairy Kings, Though they led their legions onward waving rainbow'd wings, Though they launched the leaping thunder from Heaven's darkening dome, Sweetest, should not whelm you under flash of fire and foam. a mist-made shadow gliding through the treacherous gloom Lays warm lips persuasive on your cheek's re turning bloom, A.nd ,the arms that hold you boldly bear you to no bier : Hark ! the breezes whisper stories that the blos soms blush to hear. Hide your ripening roses, sweetest, close within my arms ; 2O Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Love alone, Our Lord, uncloses here the casket of your charms; Whilst the snowy foam is falling, and the milky mist upcurls, In the Summer's starlit gloaming I have found my Pearl of Pearls. Roofed by Rhododendron blooms, fenced about with flowers, Here for my heart's lady-love Cupid weaves his bowers ; And whilst mists are rising softly where the streamlets fret, Love unlock& thy heart's rich casket, Pearl of Pacolett. The Swaimanoa River, No. Ca. 21 Swannanoa 1Rix>er, IRo. Ca. AAJR N"ymph, whose mossy cradle lies, By dusky hemlocks hidden, Near rocky crests that court the skies, Yet not by storms unchidden ; Could Fancy weave on Fairy looms Such loveliness as dowers The Mountain Ivy's dimpled blooms, The Laurel's freckled flowers? And these are but ,thy birthday gifts, E'er yet beneath the bracken The foam-flakes, white as Winter's drifts, Their hurrying currents slacken To slower pace, as maidens do, Who will not fly though fearing; And thou beginst to linger, too, By cabin and by clearing. Above, from many a crag and scarp Thy torrents leaped in laughter ; Soft as some far ^Eolian harp 22 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. One heard sweet echoings after; And where the Lash-horn's dusky spears* The rocky ridges fretted, With sunny smiles and stormy tears, Thy fickle streams coquetted. But here, where Chestnut's creamy plumes Whiten the winding hollow, And golden-rods or grassy glumes The rambling roadside follow, These woodland ways are banished quite; She moves along sedately, No nimble Nymph in frolic flight, But steadier almost stately. Near her tall Elms and Sycamores, The Valley's queen attending, Above the curves of pebbly shores Their leafy limbs are bending; But though the envious woodlands still May hide her from some lover, She bares her bosom with a thrill To the broad skies above her. * " Lash-horn," very descriptive name of the Vir ginia Mountaineer's near White-top (Kaunayrock) for the " balsam " or " spruce." The French Broad (Zeh- leeka) is the " Racing River." The Swannanoa River, No. Ca. 23 The rocky crests are far above Where Laurel thickets darken, Below are valleys where young Love Finds hearts that heed and hearken; Tempestuous toil and tumult past, Lo! on her bosom sleeping, The smiling skies look down at last; There Heaven some tryst seems keeping. Born where the dusky " balsams " frown, Where .the cloud-wrack gathers dimly, And the cascade's showers come leaping down From gray crests rising grimly ; Between the Blue Ridge and The Blacks Fair Swannanoah finds her fountains; For ten good miles she never slacks, But slips past half a dozen mountains: Past a good score of cabins runs, By fifty fields and fifty fallows, 'Yet still half-hid from summer suns With deeper flow or wider shallows; At last her stainless tribute brings, With many a sigh and quiver, As a maiden who half sighs half sings, When- she weds the " Racing River." 24 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. lue Eses of IRantabasleb l * " BLUE EYES " of " Nantahayleh," These blossoms blooming fair When September days dawn grayly, And the mountain beeches bare ; The vales and valleys under, Though still leafed, begin to show Faint glimpses of the wonder Of the woods, when all aglow With .the touch of Autumn's fires: Glint of crimson gleam of gold, And about the Alpine spires Soft the sunlit mists are rolled. E'er October's frosts grow bitter, E'er November winds blow bleak, Where the golden-rods still glitter On the prairies of the peak ; * This mountain group in Western North Carolina attains to about 5,500 feet. On their summits in Sep tember flowers the Fringed Gentian. Blue Eyes of Nantahayleh. 25 On the mountain meadows spreading From the " Wajah " to the " Wine," Though the beech its brown leaves shedding, Softly fringed, these " Blue Eyes " shine: " Blue Eyes" of " Nantahayleh," Opening here in flowery guise, Drinking in the sunlight daily, Filled with secrets of the skies. Can your lassies show me bluer When I kiss their rosy lips ? Can your ladies show me truer When Life's hopes are in eclipse? Nay ! I'll trust these " Blue Eyes " blooming Spite of leaf-fall and of frost : Though the grayest shadows glooming, These tell us Hope's not lost. When "Blue Eyes" of "Nantahayleh" To the dark days beauty bring, I read prophecies tha.t gaily Predict the deathless Spring: After the Autumn's fading, After the snowflakes fall, Comes Hope the blind heart aiding, Comes Love the Best of all. 26 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. " Blue Eyes " of " Nantahayleh," With fringed lids opening shy, " Blue Eyes '' that peep out gaily Through clouds to yonder sky; Fair signs and tokens given To show how Nature gives : The Soul that loves is shriven, The heart that hungers lives! The "Wine Spring." 27 ITbe" Mine Spring" WHERE " Nantahayleh's " billows rise In close communion with the skies, A dimpled dell the forest folds That at its heart a fountain holds, Whose waters sparkle like the draught That sometimes turns a tippler daft ; For here despite the Winter's frost That even June hath not quite lost, Some wooing Witch hath laid soft spells On every dazzling drop that Wells. Worn wanderers from the narrow streets Who fly the city's burning heats, And seek the welcome of these heights, The Highland's temperate days and nights; After a climb of two good leagues Forget their struggles and fatigues, Whilst here beneath the cloudless blue, They sip these draughts of " Mountain Dew." * The " Wine Spring" is at elevation of over 5 ,000 feet near crest of one of the Nantahayleh " balds," Macon County, No. Car. 28 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. No Maenads golden goblets fill, With fiery poison from the still, Yet if the bubbling bliss you quaff The saddest soul should learn to laugh; The heart, to Hope a stranger long, Shall sing again a Summer song; The lips that sighed shall smile once more, And kisses come denied before. Not grapes that gild the castled Rhine When soft September's sunbeams shine, Nor ruddier vintages of France That lead the Loves a merry dance; Nor richer draughts from sunny Spain, Nor " Christ's Tears " from the Roman plain. Shall send such subtle fires through Your languid veins, as this clear dew, Dipp'd in a hallowed leaf fom this Cool spring the morning cloudlets kiss. And as you sip the liquid pearls, Look down and see your lassie's curls, Her eyes of blue her lips of rose Reflected where this fountain flows; And if you'd learn this spring's full power Pluck from its brink the gentian flower, Whose blue eyes half closed, as is meet The " Wine Spring." 29 Give happy hints to hearts discreet; For, if you would not break the spell, Kiss as you please but never tell. If thus, with her you love the best, For this fair fountain you make quest, If thus together on its brink You bend and from leafed cuplets drink, Its sparkling draughts I know shall thrill More sweetly than the wines that fill The brimming bumpers that a King Might give to Lords who tribute bring : For love is here the liberal host, And lovers guests he likes the most. This spring that in these forest gloom Gleams starlike under ferny plumes, Gives draughts so full of subtle fire Despite its frost to wake desire, And woo back Hope from Eden's lost; That sad souls tempest-torn and tossed- TsTow savoring the sweets of love Once mourned as dead, here couched abovo Where billowy summits softly kissed At sunrise by the morning mist, As here with laughing lips they sing, Call this Dan Cupid's " Tippling Spring.* 3o Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Siren of Sacbem's 1beab ! (A Legend of Caesar's Head, South Carolina.) WHERE clear Saluda first leaps out From tufts of Blue-Ridge bracken, With ripplings that both smile and pout For leagues before they slacken ; Where grape-vines flaunt their greenest flags Above the woodland spires, Rise gray and grim TAHNOHLA'S crags, Facing Day's dying fires. Its massive frontage, like the face Of warrior gray and hoary, Lends a grim weirdness .to the place With echoes of old story; Above, a scalp-lock of dark pines, Below, a front of granite Rugged and wrinkled in its lines, Fierce frowning as you scan it. Yet seem these slopes of billowy green Unchanged by snows or summers, As leafy as of old when seen The Siren of Sachem's Head. 31 By those long-lost First-comers Who, voyaging from far shores, beheld, In years that none remember, This brow of rock, as old as Eld, Flushed by the sunset's ember. In those first fiery days of Earth A warrior chief, titanic, Still lusty with primeval birth, And pulsed by veins volcanic, Ruled o'er this dim deserted Land, Where eddying storm-clouds drifted, A pine-tree scepter in his hand Above the vales uplifted. But with the ages that have flown, The snows of many winters, The old-time Sachem's granite throne Has crumbled into splinters; Stone-blind and gray with countless years, We now may safely beard him, Though once he launched such fiery spears That all the Titans feared him. But now the Fairies in .the fern Above his brow hold revels, 32 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. And buried deep in caverns stern Lie locked his stormy devils; Whilst at his feet, Alt a, dusk-eyed, A nut-brown Indian Lorey, Hath lured a thousand hearts aside Since first she told her story. Hath lured them on with starry eyes, And lulled them into slumber With subtle smiles and soothing sighs*, Whilst Life grew numb and number; And where Saluda silvering gleams Beneath her woodland covers, Lost in a Land of endless Dreams, Lie all her drowsy lovers. Ware Witch ! who lures her lovers so : What help for those who love thee ? The woods are dark as night below, Dim shine .the stars above thee; Thy loves know neither hopes nor schemes, Long lost both rut and reckoning; Lo! opens wide the gate of Dreams, Where Alta's self stands beckoning. Her eyes are like the stars of eve From cloudy coverts shining ; The Siren of Sachem's Head. 33 With waving hands s.uch spells she'll weave (All lovers' dreams divining), That those who pause to scan the deep Beneath TAHNOHLA'S precipices, Are lured to take the dizzy leap, Betrayed by Alta's cruel kisses. 3 34 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. tf rom Billow to 3Broofe . THESE limpid and laughing waters Run gushing and gurgling in glee, Making music as sweet as the daughters Of Nereus e'er sang to the Sea: Yea ! sweeter and softer ; they bring us No echoes of tempests and tears ; The songs of our childhood they sing us ; Refrains from the best of life's years. Here under the shade of these willows That bend their light branches across, There is never the thunder of billows To tell us of shipwreck and loss; No depths that shall whelm us far under, No pitiless surges that rise, Mid .the darkness and echoing thunder, With their stormy crests threatening the skies. No treacherous tides to deceive us With the counterfeit semblance of rest, Like false lips that but lure us to grieve us With hopes that are barren at best From Billow to Brook. 35 Here sweet sing the birdlings above us, Fair foliage weaves sunshine with shade; If ripples allure they but love us, And whisper it shyly afraid: Afraid as a maid that doth hearken With blushes to love first confessed, Yet if shadows discreetly should " darken Would clasp thy fond heart to her breast. O ! this is the brooklet that bubbles And yearns for the touch of thy limbs; A Nymph who will soothe all thy troubles As she yields to thy wishes or whim Plunge in! and the ripples around thee Will circle and dance in their glee, And bubble wi.th bliss that they've found thee And rescued thy Soul from the Sea : From the Sea with its tempests and terrors From the Sea with its death t.nd despair: Confess to the Nymph all thy errors, Thy wooing of Mermaids, whose hair Streamed like sunbeams above the white beaches Fringed with foam fair as bo&oms con fessed ; She will listen, and tenderness teaches The penitence Beauty loves best. 36 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Around thee her crystal tide gushes, Above thee her leafy boughs bend; She crowns thee with lilies and rushes, And welcomes a lover and friend. The Mermaids are fickle and faithless, They lure thee with laughter and song, But he that believes them, not scatheless Shall he trust to their tenderness long! O ! Nymph of the Brooklet receive me In thy grot where ripples whisper in glee; Thou would'st never first lure and then leave me As I have been left by the Sea. I have left far behind me the billows In search of the brooklets that run, Fringed with feathering foliage of willows, Half hidden away from the sun. The Sea's treacherous Siren betrayed me, Wrecked my shallop where fierce surges toss, But the Nymph of the Brooklet shall aid me In her arms to forget the old loss. The Snowdrop Maidens. 37 Snowfcrop Maifcens ! THE Snowdrop Maidens dance to-day Where shadows' are glooming and skies are gray ; When w 7 oods are leafless and fields are brown The Snow-Maid weareth her whitest gown ; In her streaming tresses by wild winds tossed Like stars of silver gleam flowers of frost. When you meet these white Maids of Astolat Put on your muffler and pull down your hat ; But these lily ladies who'd care to woo, With their pallid cheeks and their noses blue ? T^Tot a nice time but an ice time this ; Less charm than chill in a Snow-Maid's kiss. Ay, chicly the charms of the Snowdrop Maid; She shivers in sunlight and loves the shade; On her pallid cheeks no roses bloom, The Home she haunts is a House of Gloom : On the craggy peaks where the clouds hang low, She dances but faster when the ice-winds blow. See up yonder, through the shadows grim 38 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Where the fir-capp'd summits loom dark and dim; Under a sky where no sunbeam sifts, Over the snow as it deepening drifts, Lo ! come the Snowdrop Maidens all, Dancing down at the White Wind's call. Under the boughs of a leafless tree, [me ; See! the Snowdrop Maidens are beckoning Down in the glens where the dumb brooks bide, Coyly and cooly the white witches hide ; High above where the white crests show, Dance the lily ladies in robes of snow. Fair may the Snowdrop Maidens be, But your lily-white ladies too cool for me ; Better than shadows and sunless gloom. The gardens gay where the rosebuds bloom ; These Wintry Witches, where the clouds hang gray, Are weaving shrouds for the world to-day! But in a furled bud closely pent (Sweet prophecies by the glad Gods sent ) Where the dusky mountain laurel grows, Lurks a tender blush under veiling snows; Shyly hidden, as is Love's way, Sleeping not dead the sweet soul of MAY ! The Songs that Need no Words. 39 ZTbe Son0s tbat IReeo no BEDDED on ferns and moss I lie, Through the leaves above me a glimpse of sky Blue as the gentians in yonder nook Where boughs bend over the brawling brook. Behold .the beauties I laud and love, Ferns golden under, green leaves above, And through this vista far far away Clouds capping the billows of blue to-day. And never a sound in the woodlands wake Save the whisperings soft that the breezes make; The brooklet's murmur, the chirp of birds, And these are the songs that need no words. The sigh of the winds, the chant of the seas, The fragrance of flowers, the verdure of .trees, The blue of the skies, the glow of the sun, I love them always and every one. , 40 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. Nearer .to Nature let me stand, Heart .to heart, and hand in hand, Like friend and lover merged both in one From season to season, from sun to sun. Not married and harried as some folks are, Not severed and sundered, as star from star, But close and clinging as doth the Rose When its hundred separate petals close, One yet many, about the core Of the honeyed bliss Love keeps in store, Hiving happiness from May to May Lest the garnered sweets should fail some day; Drinking deeply into glad lives, The harvests sweet of a thousand hives', So that no famine, when blooms are shed, Could starve blind souls and leave Love dead. The babbling of brooks, the breath of the breeze, The murmur of pines and the sounding of seas, The fluttering of wings, and the fluting of birds, Ah ! these are .the Songs that need no Words ! The Oracles of May. 41 ZTbe racles ot E'ER Pan his syrinx sets in tune To pipe the lays of jovial June, Comes that fair season May begets, The gladsome Month of Violets. Fancy more fickle is April's own, But loyal Love we now enthrone, And with sweet blossoms crown him King Of this last loveliest Month of Spring. These flowery oracles though mute - To Faith still prophesy of Fruit, To sate the lips of those content To wait on helpings heaven-sent. So, too, the unlearned lips that felt To-day Hope's earliest kisses melt Upon them timidly, in days to come You'll find less diffident and dumb. 42 . Songs of the Sahkohnagas. The Heart in May that opens first, A cradled blossom coyly nursed, Shall ripen into radiance soon Beneath the warmer skies of June. And ere the miracle is told Of brave September's garnered Gold, Love, too, although he never farms, Shall hold Hope's harvest in his arms. The Autumnal Harlequin. 43 Hutumnal Ifoarlequtn. (Fall in the Over-hills of Ottaray.') THE leafage daily grows more thin, Winds scatter wide the woodland's gold That any pauper's hand may hold; Fair gifts the latest comers win. Ah! when October's days slip in I half forget I'm growing old; Again Love's litanies are told, Lost chances seem the only sin. Here come my Dryads disarray'd, Disheveled as some ravished maid,. Blushing, but ready to begin A giddy dance unzoned unstayed With that Last Love a " Reveler Strayed,"- In happy fields : Fall's Harlequin. Ah ! the Autumn is the season That I always love the best ; It is good for song and jest: To be sour seems a .treason 44 Songs of the Sahkohnagas. To the month when grapes are pressed. And a bachelor may seize on Any day a special reason When his sins shall be confessed ; Not to any shaven priest But some maiden, who at least Loves some sinner. Make the Sacrament a Feast; Buss the Beauty, ban the Beast,- And you'll win her! In the merry month October Let our revelries begin: See! the Satyrs all a-grin, And the woodlands none too sober. Naked Nymphs are chatting gaily By the fountains as they flow, And the Dryads laughing show Their limbs more clearly daily. Every day she smiles less shyly, Glances every day more slyly Does this darling we would win:- Leaf by leaf we'll softly strip her, Not a shift left nor a slipper When she hugs bold Harlequin. A Cold Snap. 45 H