THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Verses, Wise or Otherwise, Verses, Wise or Otherwise, AUTHOR OF "VERSES GRAVE AND GAY." CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED. LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE. 1895. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PR (pO\\ TO THOSE PEOPLE, BOTH REAL AND IDEAL, WHO HAVE INSPIRED THEM THESE VERSES ARE DEDICATED. 812675 CONTENTS THE WISDOM OF FOLLY 13 A TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS 15 AN ILLUSION 17 HER PARTING SHAFT 19 WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING 20 PASSION AND PATIENCE 22 Too SURE 23 THE PLANET MARS 25 A FORSAKEN IDOL 27 A PASSING GLIMPSE 29 THREE STAGES . . . 31 A PARABLE 32 HEARTS AND ROSES 33 A COOL CUSTOMER 35 A SUBJECT RACE 37 THE GREAT UNFED 39 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 41 A LEAP-YEAR IDYLL 46 Vlll CONTENTS. PACE A QUARTETTE OF QUEENS 49 AN ICONOCLAST 51 THE MULBERRY TREE 53 THE UNATTAINABLE 55 MAN AND BEAST . . . -57 WHEN SWALLOWS BUILD 59 A FALSE GOD .61 AN ACCUSATION 63 SUMMER DAYS 64 MY IDEAL 66 IN THE COURT OF THE GENTILES 67 THE PRAISE OF MEN 69 LOVE'S SLAYER . . .71 NOT FORSAKEN 73 THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK 75 THE CHILDREN OF MEN 77 PICTURES AND PAINTERS 82 A WISH 83 THEY Two 84 A SONG OF LOVES 86 GRANNY'S GOOD-NIGHT 88 A WEAVING SONG 89 PORTRAIT OF A LADY 90 SAINT JOHN BAPTIST'S DAY 92 CONTENTS. IX PAGE THE GATE OF EDEN 94 AN EPIC OF STAFFORDSHIRE 97 Sonnets. WITHOUT 107 WAYS OF PLEASANTNESS 108 A CLOSED DOOR 109 INCOGNITA . . . . . . . . . . no MY COMPLEMENT HI AN AWAKENING 112 THE PASSWORD 113 "To His MISTRESS' EYEBROW" 114 A NAME . . 115 ON A PICTURE OF THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE . . .116 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 117 ANTICIPATIONS 118 DREAMS 119 SNOWDROPS 120 DAFFODILS . .121 THE WAKING OF SPRING 122 ON THE SHORE 123 THE BRETON FISHERMEN'S PRAYER 124 X CONTENTS. PAGE THE COMMONPLACE 125 THE BEST TILL LAST 126 A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH 127 FIGURES OF THE TRUE 128 THE EVENING AND THE MORNING '. . . . . . 129 THE DEAD AND THE LIVING 130 MEANS AND END 131 STREAM AND LAKE 132 No ROOM 133 EASTER 134 HIGH AND LOWLY 135 IN THE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL, CHELSEA .... 136 I4TH JANUARY, 1892 137 IOTH MAY, 1893 138 WULFRUNA'S HAMPTON 139 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. fe&om of THE cynics say that every rose Is guarded by a thorn which grows To spoil our posies : But I no pleasure therefore lack ; I keep my hands behind my back When smelling roses. 'Tis proved that Sodom's apple-tarts Have ashes as component parts For those that steal them : My soul no disillusion seeks ; I love my apples' rosy cheeks, But never peel them. 14 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Though outwardly a gloomy shroud, The inner half of every cloud Is bright and shining : I therefore turn my clouds about, And always wear them inside out To show the lining. Our idols' feet are made of clay ; So stony-hearted critics say With scornful mockings : My images are deified Because I keep them well supplied With shoes and stockings. My modus operandi this To take no heed of what's amiss ; And not a bad one : Because, as Shakspere used to say, A merry heart goes twice the way That tires a sad one. Craugmtgration of IT was whispered by the sages Of the prehistoric ages, When all telegrams and newspapers and letters were unknown, That the heathen gods felt jealous So the ancient legends tell us When the happiness of mortals was more perfect than their own. In the days that I have quoted You and I, Dear, were devoted To each other with a fervour which we never, never see In this age of shams and shoddies ; For our souls wore Grecian bodies, And found life a very pleasant thing in sunny Arcady. 1 6 VEKSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Then the heathen gods grew spiteful As our lot was so delightful, And they said, " These twain shall live again when worldliness is rife ; And when we are out of fashion They shall nurse a hopeless passion, And shall learn that love counts notJiing in the game of human life." But we love again to-day, Dear, In the old ecstatic way, Dear, Though we see each other rarely and our paths lie far apart : Ancient gods and modern London Have been overthrown and undone, When they tried alike their utmost to expel you from my heart. And my people ask politely How a friend I know so slightly Can be more to me than others I have liked a year or so ? But they cannot solve the mystery Of our transmigration's history, For they've no idea I loved you those millenniums ago. Illusion. V Do you know that the sight of your face, Though I see you each day of the seven, Can transfigure the commonest place Into something that seems to be heaven ? Do you know that the sound of your voice, When you utter a brief salutation, Bids the stars of the morning rejoice As they did at the dawn of creation ? Do you know that the clasp of your hand, In a purely conventional greeting, Makes this earth a mysterious land Where the fairies are holding a meeting ? Do you know that the ways you pass by, When the stream of the traffic is flowing, Are like ladders which lead to the sky, Whereon angels are coming and going ? B 1 8 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Do you know that your Yea or your Nay Lays its clasp on my soul like a fetter ? Whilst regarding myself I can say That I know that I ought to know better. parting FAREWELL for ever, my dear Sir. Your pride and prejudice incur My wrath beyond all measure : I am aweary of your ways, So scarce and scanty is your praise, So scathing your displeasure. The poet's solitude d deux Would prove no Heaven on earth with you, Whose satire is unswerving ; Far better you should try your hand In petty Purgatories planned For folk you deem deserving. Go, trample fools beneath your feet, And sit upon the scorner's seat, And sneer at those about you ! Whilst as for me r I should prefer Your Purgatory, my dear Sir, To Paradise without you. B 2 2O So without saying a word we've parted, Though that you loved me full well I knew : Little you guess I am broken-hearted Little you think that I cared for you. Vainly I looked in your face, and vainly Thrilled at your touch when you clasped my hand I was unable to speak more plainly .You were unable to understand. Why did you take all I said for certain When I so gleefully threw the glove ? Couldn't you see that I made a curtain Out of my laughter to hide my love ? Didn't you know that your daily greeting Sounded like strains from an angel band ? Though to that measure my pulse was beating, You were unable to understand. VERSES, WISE OK OTHERWISE. 21 Wherefore my wonderful dream is over ; Finis is written on Fancy's scroll : You are on desolate shores a rover I must in patience possess my soul. What though my heart was a mark for Cupid What though our way lay through fairyland ? All availed nothing, since you you stupid ! You were unable to understand. 22 antr patience* THE wine of life tastes stale and sour, The gilt comes off the golden year, And shadowed is, " each shining hour," Because, Sweetheart, you are not here. The stupid people come and go, And prate of pleasures old and new ; But they offend and bore me so, Because, Sweetheart, they are not you. And you meanwhile accept what good The gods provide, and leave the rest ; Nor would you alter if you could The state of things that Fate thinks best For you as happy days pass by And bring you friendships not a few May meet another Me ; but I Shall never find another You. 00 SWEETHEART, you trusted me completely More than I trusted in myself : On mere acquaintances smiled sweetly, But friends you left upon the shelf, Believing they would bow before you However careless you might be ; And so you lost the love I bore you, Because you made too sure of me. You had no thought of being cruel To you I know my love was dear ; But would you keep a precious jewel Unwatched while thieves were prowling near ? Or would you leave a golden lily To grow unguarded on the lea ? If love is priceless, it was silly To make so very sure of me. 24 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Now choose another friend, my sweet one, Among the thousands passing by : There is no doubt but you will meet one More suited to your taste than I. All vain regrets I bid you smother, And learn this lesson " gratis free," To be as careful of that other As you have been too sure of me. ClK plantt iflars. THERE are people living in Mars, they say, Enjoying the lease of a longer year And a starrier night and a sunnier day And steadier climates than we have here. Are their Winters blighted by want and woe, Their Summers by pestilence, plague and thunder ? Do they suffer there as we do below ? I wonder. Do they plant and water their rosy fields, And struggle with sorrow and fight with fears, While the thorns and thistles their red earth yields Are choking the seed that they sowed in tears ? Do they trust in idols of stone and wood, And trample the meek and the lowly under? Do they love the evil and leave the good ? I wonder. 26 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Or a happier world may it be than this, Where sin hath not entered nor death by sin ; Which is blushing still from Creation's kiss, Whilst never a serpent has slidden in ? And if we may wander among the stars When body and spirit are riven asunder, Shall we live life over again in Mars ? I wonder. Shall we find what here we have sought in vain Fulfilling ideals where once we failed ? With the crooked made straight and the rough made plain, Will difficult mountains at last be scaled ? Shall we cleanse our ways and redeem our worth, Repair the old wastes and retrieve each blunder ? Shall we meet in Mars all we missed on Earth ? I wonder. Jfarsafeen JACOB buried his gods at Shechem Cast-off idols of stone and wood ; Well he wot they would ne'er bespeak him Further evil nor future good : Nevertheless he could not treat them Just like pieces of wood and stone, When he thought how he'd tried to seat them Up aloft on an altar-throne. Once an idol I fondly cherished, Which was known by the name you bear ; But my faith in its virtues perished When I found it was false as fair : Nevertheless I could not break it Like an image of worthless clay, When I thought how I'd tried to make it All I ever could hope or pray. 28 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. In my heart down a shady hollow Where the willow of weeping waves Hide false gods, I was wont to follow, Out of sight in forgotten graves. There you lie with no name above you, With no epitaph false or true, Save the fact that I used to love you Ere at Shechem I buried you. FOR many a frivolous, festive year I followed the path that I felt I must : I failed to discover the road was drear, And rather than otherwise liked the dust. It lay through a land that I knew of old, Frequented by friendly, familiar folk Who bowed before Mammon, and heaped up gold, And lived like their neighbours, and loved their joke. You told me to look through a fast-locked gate Which led to a garden in fairyland, Where roses were reigning in royal state With never a thorn for the gatherer's hand ; Where lilies with honey-sweet dew were filled, And love-birds were flitting from tree to tree ; Where frosts never entered nor fierce winds chilled : But closed was that gateway to you and me. 3O VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. That glimpse of the garden across the way Has left me henceforth for the road unfit : The traffic rolls onward from day to day, And sick is my soul at the sound of it. Oh ! why did you dangle before mine eyes Desirable fruit that the Fates forbid Lest we, like to gods, should grow great and wise ? And yet on the whole I am glad you did. Cftree Stages. I BELIEVED you an angel the first time we met, Undefiled by life's flurry and fever and fret, So I deigned to approve you. Then I learned you were not all my fancy had weened, So I straightway decided you must be a fiend, And I sought to remove you. Now I find you are something half-way 'twixt the two Neither angel nor fiend but just human are you, And I know that I love you. SOME folks are like a mountain pool: Upon their surface as a rule Are ripples, ruffles, wrinkles ; Distorted images they show Of everything on earth below, And every star that twinkles. Some folks are like a mirror fair : No ruffles on the surface there, But all in perfect order ; Their presence seems to fill a place With light and cheerfulness and grace And peace within the border. i: ENVOI. Beneath the surface of the pool Runs living water clear and cool, With endless springs behind it : Beyond the surface of the glass No mortals are allowed to pass, So hard and cold they find it. 33 anti I GAVE you once a rose, my friend : You wore it first as was your duty ; But flung it from you in the end, Discarding its declining beauty. I cannot say you were to blame The rose was changed past recognition Most people would have done the same, Perchance, in your position. My friend, I gave you once a heart : You loved it first as is your habit ; But as its novelties depart With looks of cold disdain you stab it. Yet neither here are you in fault The heart you won by fond endeavour Is now no better than a vault Of dreams that died for ever. C 34 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. While eating bread one must espy The side whereon is spread the butter : If one has sucked an orange dry One throws the remnant in the gutter : And so when friends are out of date, And hearts are sad and worn and jaded, They simply earn the selfsame fate As roses that are faded. But yet that folks are all like you I don't believe, and shouldn't care to : There is a friendship that rings true Through all the ills that flesh is heir to. I had a friend in bygone days Who loved me more than gain or glory- " But that," as Rudyard Kipling says, " Is quite another story." 35 & Cool Customer* MY friend, you make a rule, I see, In passing through this valley tearful To keep your heart completely free From feelings fond or fierce or fearful. You stand aloof from Fate's swift stream, And smile at Folly's sons and daughters With wonder that they ever dream Of dabbling in such dangerous waters. Pray hear a fable of a fool, Who lit a fire, rejoicing in it, Because he felt the day was cool And growing cooler every minute. But when the smoke began to rise And flames flew high and sparks flew higher, He said, " Perchance I was unwise To play with such a thing as fire." C 2 36 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. And so he blew his bonfire out, Extinguishing its fitful flashes ; He flung the cinders all about, Then died of cold among the ashes ; Remarking with his latest breath, " In living coals some danger lingers ; So if one can but freeze to death One wisely never burns one's fingers." 37 THEY knew not whence the tyrant came, They did not even know his name ; Yet he compelled them one and all To bow in bondage to his thrall ; And from their lips allegiance wrung, Although a stranger to their tongue. Whilst he was wrapped in royal state, Their hours of toil were long and late : No moment could they call their own Within the precincts of the throne ; And when they dreamed their work was o'er He only made them slave the more. Although the conquering king was he Of people who had once been free, No word of praise or promise fell From him his subjects served so well ; And none of those who crowned him lord, Received a shadow of reward. 38 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Obedience to his behest Destroyed their peace, disturbed their rest ; Yet when his drowsy eyes grew dim, No mortal dared to waken him : They stole about with stealthy tread " The baby is asleep," they said. 39 (Lines written on hearing that Magistrates can get no luncheon whilst sitting on the Bench.) A GROSS neglect doth England's honour stain : The Magistrates who wield the legal truncheon, Who justice execute and truth maintain, Receive no luncheon. The Bench, alas ! doth not include the Board. If Justice feed not those who wait upon her, The title of J.P. will be abhorred As empty honour. Stung past endurance by this shame of shames, Starved in the absence of sustaining diet, The inner man indignantly exclaims, " Justitia fiat ! " 4O VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. We are aware that Justice cannot see ; But that she cannot eat it doesn't follow : She may be blind, but wherefore need she be Completely hollow? They do not wish their noble toil to cease, They do not dream of " dolce far niente," These persecuted Justices of Peace (But not of Plenty) : Envying both the satiated rich And the poor man whose mid-day meal a crust is, " Give us, we pray," they cry, " something to which We may do justice ! " Cfje topmg Beauty, PART I. A FAIRY Prince supremely brave and good, When searching for knight-errantly adventures, Chanced on a Sleeping Beauty in a wood, Condemned by ancient usage's indentures To close to politics each pretty eyelid, Lest her sweet soul should thereby be defiled. The Prince at first was much perplexed and pained At the existence of so sore a scandal : " Woman," he cried, " in all men's hearts has reigned And trampled them to dust beneath her sandal ; Yet where's the champion that the Fates have sent us To give to her the Vote ? Non est inventus I " But then he mused, " To win the world's applause Men soon become hard, bellicose and spiteful ; They scratch each other with their conscience-claws, 42 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. And disagreement loud they find delightful : Then would the preaching of this harsh evangel Be suited to ' the ministering angel ' ? " When Eve employed her influence in the State, We did not thank her for her interference : Boadicea was not blest by Fate In spite of all the charms of her appearance ; While Clytemnestra, with some other ladies, Works out her sentence, I have read, in Hades. " Jezebel, when her temper was aflame, Was more destructive than a host of fighters : Queen Mary though a most religious dame Was apt to use her foes as fire-lighters : And Troy unless historians betray us Owed all her woes to Mrs. Menelaus. " Elizabeth sat firm upon her throne ; But when she found opinions did not vary That Scotland's royal charms eclipsed her own, She soon decapitated Cousin Mary. Woman for public life has too much gumption, But was expressly made for home consumption. " For, lovely Woman, though perchance you wield Your power capriciously in times of leisure, And are distinguished on life's battle-field VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 43 By neither giving nor receiving pleasure ; ' When pain and anguish wring ' the aching forehead, Why then, you know, you're anything but horrid ! " Woman, when sheltered from the storm and strife, Gains more distinct advantage than she misses. (So does the State, I think.) Upon my life, I'd rather not awake her by my kisses ! " The Prince departed with this sentence racy, " Dear lady ! requiescat still in pace." The Sleeping Beauty murmured in her dreams, " A nice young man, and one that I could care for ! As for his arguments on social themes, I fail to understand their why and wherefore. His hair is curly and his arm strong-sinewed : I wonder who he is." ( To be continued). 44 Cfje Sleeping iSeautp, PART II. THOUGH princes left unkissed the Beauty's brow, The Spirit of the Age could not allow Perfection Like hers to be politically nil, Or suffer what was termed by Stuart Mill " Subjection." The Spirit of the Age politely tapped The lady's door, remarking as he rapped, " My daughter, Since Reason's sun has risen over all, 'Tis time for thee to hear the morning call Hot water ! " The night of Woman's bondage now is gone, When work and warfare by the men were done (And wooing) : The lark sings loud the lily opes her cup None sleep save thee ; so, lady fair, be up And doing ! " VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 45 At first the Beauty thought she would arise And open her bewildered, dreamy eyes Completely : But then she shrank from ills she did not know, And, clinging blindly to the status quo, Said sweetly : " Into hot water I should get no doubt If I obeyed your call, and bring about Confusion. Like Dr. Watts's Sluggard I complain, ' Too soon you've waked me I must sleep again ! ' ' (Conclusion). 4 6 ONCE on a time there lived a little maiden In that strange land which lies beneath the sun, Whose loyal heart with love was overladen For one Who meant to keep unmarried till his latter day, Whose tastes were simple and whose cares were few, Who read his Times, and revelled in his Saturday Review. It was the longed-for year when love-sick spinsters Lead bachelors, who have not sought a bride, Up middle-aisles of dim, religious minsters With pride. On Leap-year wooings and on Leap-year winnings The mind of the undaunted maiden ran ; So she, determined to enjoy her innings, Began VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 47 (Her voice, as she proceeded, growing snappier) : " Dear Sir, however happy you may be, I'm certain you'd be infinitely happier With me. " A wife would share your every little trouble, Increasing every joy your heart that fills ; She'd halve your income, and exactly double Your bills. " Hark how the poets Woman's praise are singing ! You doubt their words, but you will find them true When pain and anguish undertake the wringing Of you. " O Man, proud Man ! how sad a fate would his be If lovely Woman from his side retired : Pyramus, when divided from his Thisbe, Expired : " Jack minus Jill, forsooth, had fallen flatter : Darby was nobody without his Joan : Jack Spratt could never have cleaned out the platter Alone : 48 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. " King Edward found his Queen's assistance handy When poisoned arrows nearly spoiled the fun : Griselda proved her modus operandi A i. " To tell like stories I can gladly go on For hours and hours with rapid tongue and glib Quote Enid, Portia, Juliet, and so on, Ad lib. " To prove my point until at last you see it ; And you must take my word for it till then." The hapless victim meekly sighed, " So be it, Amen." 49 Quartette of LIKE those three goddesses who ruled the earth, And used Olympus as their private chapel, Who went to Paris to decide their worth After the disagreement of the apple, The Queens at cards began to quibble meanly, And quarrel as to which appeared most queenly. Clubs' sovereign Lady opened the debate " My rank entitles me to be your foreman ; My family has been accounted great Since we came over with the conquering Norman 'Twould be impossible to overrate us, Regarding our unequalled social status." The Queen of Diamonds said, " The love of pelf Forms the mainspring of every human action ; And so where'er I go I find myself A solid ten-per-centre of attraction : I always have wherewith to gild the bolus, And make life's stream a regular Pactolus." D So VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Her Majesty of Spades cried, " I adore The Tree of Knowledge, cool and green and shady : Among its roots I delved for hidden lore Till I became a highly cultured lady, And learned to call the tool with which I grovel, A prehistoric or Adamic shovel." Hearts' Queen observed, " My fortune is my face : I am not great at books or work or cooking : My temper's good, my form is full of grace, And everyone considers me nice-looking ; But not my most devoted friends would ever Describe me as distinguished, rich or clever." These rival spirits were so much aflame, That to control themselves they were not able ; So, heedless of the grammar of the game, They sprang in quick succession on the table : Hearts' reigning beauty took the trick instanter, And beat her royal sisters in a canter. Whereat exclaimed the three disgusted Queens, "In Denmark's state there's surely something rotten ! We've not the faintest notion what it means." That Hearts were trumps they'd all of them for- gotten, And that till men and manners strangely alter " Love rules court, camp, and grove." * * See Scott (Sir Walter). Jcmtoclast* I CARVED an idol out of wood, And worshipped it while it was new ; But you came by and said, " What good Can that unmeaning object do ? " With coolness culled from thirty winters You broke my idol all to splinters. I hewed an idol out of stone, The whitest stone I ever saw ; But by your proving it was shown The marble had a hidden flaw. Regardless of my heartstrings' quivers You smashed my idol all to shivers. Your wisdom made me worn and old And sick of life beneath the sun ; Yet you passed onward, calm and cold, Unconscious of the harm you'd done By your crusade so strictly truthful Against enthusiasms youthful. D 2 52 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. But sometime in the coming years I hope that you may build a shrine, And have it hurled about your ears As you have dealt with me and mine, And meet when like myself deluded With " Mrs. Be done by as you did." 53 ITS trunk is all wrinkled, Its leaves are all crinkled, Its form is no longer delightful to see ; While raindrops are flowing And rough winds are blowing Between the gnarled boughs of the Mulberry-tree. Beneath its arms shady, Full many a lady Of wonderful beauty and noble degree Has dreamed of her lover, While softly above her rustled the leaves of the Mulberry-tree. And heroes, whose fighting Was all for wrong's righting, Have heard (like the King who made Philistines flee, When bidden to dally In Rephaim's valley) The battle-cry sound in the Mulberry-tree. 54 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Now past is its glory, Forgotten its story, Its name in the future must Ichabod be ; Its branches are twisted, And winds as they listed Have long made their sport of the Mulberry- tree. Yet none shall despise it, For highly I prize it : No new-fangled shrubs in their beauty for me, But rather the ruin Of all that once grew in The withered old heart of the Mulberry-tree. 55 FOR the round and radiant moon Once I cried, But it happened that the boon Was denied ; For the cruel Fates decreed That the pain And the anguish of my need Should remain. So I turned again to earth For relief : Even moons are hardly worth So much grief: And I played with common toys In my reach, Till I wearied of the joys Hid in each. 56" VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Then I raised my jaded eyes To the sky, While I watched the white moon rise, With the cry " Better want the best, and waste All our pains, Than obtain the less, and taste Lower gains ! " If we scorn unworthy things More and more, While our thoughts on angel-wings Upward soar, Shall we find above the sphere Of our woes All the moons we cried for here ? No one knows. 57 anti Beast "A BEAST is a beast and a man is a man," cried Citizen Number One ; " And what is the life of a lamb, forsooth, compared with the life of my son ? " So the lamb was killed and the strong man spilled the vicarious victim's blood, Which proclaimed its pain in a crimson stain on the walls and the doors of wood. " A man is a man and a beast is a beast," cried Citizen Number Two ; " But the wound of the brute is as bad for him as your suffering is for you." So he sheathed the knife and he spared the life, and the animals ventured near, And looked up in his face with a trustful grace untouched by a shade of fear. 58 VERSES, WISE OK OTHERWISE. A wail was heard through the length of the land, " The first-born, alas, is dead ! " And the Second Citizen mourned for his child with ashes upon his head ; But the First One cried, " The dumb creature died that the plague might not fall on us : Though Death's arm was bared, yet my son was spared on the night of the Exodus ! " 59 THE wakening earth with ecstasy is thrilled, And gladness tunes the note of every bird ; Yet in my soul strange memories are stirred When swallows build. I miss those fragrant flowers the frost has killed, Which bloomed in blushing beauty yester-year And songs of bygone Springs I seem to hear When swallows build : For into lonely hearts there is instilled The longing for a love as yet unknown, But which they fondly yearn to call their own When swallows build. So deem me neither sullen nor self-willed If in the Spring I sing no psalm of glee, But hang my harp upon a willow-tree When swallows build. 60 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. With gladness shall my Summer song be filled, My Christmas carol and my Harvest hymn : But let my lips be dumb, mine eyes be dim, When swallows build. 6i jfatee ONCE I made me a god with a head of wood, And a heart of stone ; And I thought that the sum of created good Was in him alone. So I sharpened my wit and I strove to please By the words I said ; But the god I had made had no room for these In his wooden head. Then I poured out my love on the path he trod, As he walked apart ; But what use was mere love to a senseless god With a stony heart ? I discovered the error of these my ways When I learned to see : But the god that I made in my foolish days Had the best of me. 62 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. I have gained in my wisdom, perchance, but lost What the world called wit ; For the god that I formed at such bitter cost Crushed the life of it. And no more shall I love with my heart and soul Till I cease to live ; For the god of my worship absorbed the whole That I had to give. I deserve to be beaten with heavy rods, For I might have known That their sorrows are many who make them gods Out of wood and stone. LISTEN, my lady, while I accuse you (Though an impertinence on my part): Not out of malice, but just to amuse you When you were idle, you broke a heart. Words that could wound were by you unspoken, Cruelty knows not the like of you, Yet this unfortunate heart was broken Simply because you had nothing to do. This is my charge you shall hear it straightway : You have relentlessly spoilt a life ; Driven a soul through Gehenna's gateway ; Turned living waters to wells of strife ; Brought the East winds that can blight and harden Over the fields where the zephyrs blew ; Changed to a wilderness Eden's garden. And your defence ? You had nothing to do. 6 4 Summer THE roses weave a fragrant wreath, The ripening fields are tinged with gold, The bees are humming o'er the heath, The breeze is whispering o'er the wold; Whilst on the stones the streamlet plays Its sweetest tunes these Summer days. The morning clouds are pearly grey, The evening skies are ruby red, And all along the flower-strewn way Bewitching lights and shades are shed; As seen through such a golden haze Earth seems like Heaven on Summer days. When whirling snows of Winter-time Are falling on the fallow lea, When, like a cerement, the rime Is clothing every bush and tree ; And only noontide's struggling rays Recall the sun of Summer days ; VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 65 If thou art but beside me, Sweet, No storm nor tempest shall I fear ; As welcome as the cloudless heat To me will be the closing year : And I will sing my song of praise As clearly as on Summer days. 'Tis thou, my Dearest, who dost bring The bliss of Summer-tide to me ; And therefore thou canst steal the sting From Winter's coldest cruelty : When close by mine thy footstep stays, The years seem full of Summer days. And when the Wintry storms and snows Have vanished with the Summer showers, When past are all the joys and woes Which make this mortal life of ours, Together may we wend our ways To realms of endless Summer days. 66 WHEN I met with you first in the olden days, While life was beginning and love was new, All the charms and the virtues most meet for praise Seemed wrapped in one parcel and labelled You ; So your word was my guide and your face my chart : You were then my Ideal, Sweetheart, Sweetheart ! When I learned that your ways were unlike to mine, That my thoughts and your thoughts were never the same, There were rifts in the lute, but I can't divine If either or both of us were to blame ; Yet my love for you turned to a cruel smart : You were not my Ideal, Sweetheart, Sweetheart ! When you went to the land where the angels dwell And left me to linger beneath the sun, I forgot all your faults, but remembered well How dear you had been ere your day was done. Of a truth it was best we were doomed to part : You are still my Ideal, Sweetheart, Sweetheart ! fn tf)e Court of tbt &entile*. Now it fell on a day that you opened wide The door of your heart to me, And I timidly ventured to peep inside The treasures thereof to see. But you graciously bade me to enter in And gaze on your inmost soul, That your knowledge might knowledge in me begin Your wisdom might make me whole. And because you thus called me from want and woe To feast on your spirit's store, On the strength of that meat I was fain to go For forty odd days and more. Then it happened again that I humbly stood In front of your heart and knocked, For my soul was athirst to be filled with good : Alas ! but the door was locked ; E 2 68 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. And, "Shall strangers be welcome," you proudly said, " To eat of the rich man's fare ? Is it meet that the dogs should receive the bread Which falls to the children's share ? " Oh ! the gate of your soul was your own, to do Therewith as might please you best To be opened for many to enter through, Or closed at your stern behest : Yet I wonder you let me come in at all, Dispelling my doubt and fear, If the iron portcullis was bound to fall Next time I should venture near. Peradventure my spirit was over-bold, Deserving a sharp retort ; But I know to my cost it is dark and cold Out here in the Strangers' Court. 6 9 i)t flrafce of CHILDREN in the market-place, Merrily I piped to you ; Yet the dance which was my due Ne'er was trod with dainty pace. Then I turned a troubled face And my words were faint and few ; Yet no pitying tears I drew, Children in the market-place ! Children in the market-place, Unto me your Nay was Nay, Though I longed to join your play And to feel your warm embrace. Vainly have I run my race Vainly worshipped gods of clay : Now, too late, I learn your way, Children in the market-place ! /o VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. Children in the market-place, I am crying on my knees, " That I lived for such as these Is the depth of my disgrace. Spare me yet a little space ; And life's wine upon the lees Shall not be outpoured to please Children in the market-place ! " lobe's " DEAR lady," cried he, " Can thy love for me Be gone past recall like the morning dew ? Was the world so cold That our joy untold Lay withered and dead while it yet was new ? " With pitiful pathos she shook her head ; " True love doth not die of the cold," she said. " Kind lady," cried he, " Can it truly be That love which seemed perfect hath passed away ? In affliction's night Did it lose its light, Which faded and fled like the dying day ? " Her eyelids were heavy with tears unshed ; " True love doth not die in the dark," she said. 72 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. " Fair lady," cried he, " Didst thou chance to see, When fate was unfolded before thy face, That the dreary page Of advancing age Was hardly the leaf that thy love could trace ? " With sorrowful anger her brow grew red ; " True love doth not die of old age," she said. " Sweet lady," cried he, " Did I keep from thee My best love for ever, and give my worst ? Didst thou hold but part Of mine inmost heart, Where thou wert the second and I was first ? " She lifted a face on which hope lay dead ; " 'Twas selfishness slew my true love," she said. /3 THE public never heard his name, So took no notice when he died ; His little world went on the same, Yet paused in passing to deride A wretch who counted not the cost, But played the game of life and lost. " A luckless wight," his brothers said ; " The foe of no one but himself! " His sisters half disdained the dead Who left them neither place nor pelf. His kinsmen, in reproachful gloom, Inscribed their Tekel on his tomb. His dearest friends exclaimed, " Poor fool ! He made a muddle of his life ; He won no honours in its school, He wore no laurels in its strife." So he was cursed of all his clan, Except of me, who loved the man. 74 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. I wonder if the world to come Will be as hard a world as this, With glory for the favoured Some Who take the prize and taste the bliss ; But for the failing Many scorn Almost too bitter to be borne ? If so, my soul will roam afar From streets of gold and streams of light, And seek him in some distant star Beyond the dark abyss of night. Though harps be dumb and crowns be dim I care not, if I comfort him. 75 Cfte ifflan in tfoe Jron You were left in the depths of a dungeon to languish, With no hope to dispel the gloom ; And we picture your features disfigured by anguish In their terrible iron tomb ; For your food was the bitterest bread of affliction, And your flagon a tear-filled flask, While your spirit was seared with Despair's super- scription, O Man in the Iron Mask ! Yet we mimic your fate, you mysterious traitor, In so far as it suits our ken ; For the image we bear of our mighty Creator We conceal from the gaze of men. By a visor composed of absurd affectations We regard it our noblest task To disguise our true selves and our best aspirations, O Man in the Iron Mask ! 7 6 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. But it fell on a day that by Death you were smitten, And you flung off your fetters grim : Then God read on your forehead what Life had there written, For no masks will 'avail with Him. And as Truth cannot fail, though men flout and for- sake her, For our guidance we fain would ask How you felt when your face was exposed to its Maker, O Man in the Iron Mask ! 77 CI)e Cfciforen of AN angel, of those that excel in strength, Looked down from above on the breadth and length Of the ways of men, and he heard the cry They raise from a world that is all awry ; " O, if we were happy, or rich, or great, We would serve God well in our high estate ; But blank disappointment and black despair Are burdens too heavy for us to bear ! " And the angel exclaimed, " It is hard on these That they cannot serve God in the way they please ! If I straightened their crooked and smoothed their rough, The children of men would be righteous enough." Then he prayed, " If I might for this once aspire To give to a creature its heart's desire, That creature would come of its own accord With joy and thanksgiving to serve the Lord ! " His petition was borne up the Altar-stairs (As is always the way with unselfish prayers), 78 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. And permission was granted to prove the worth Undeveloped as yet in the sons of earth. In a hopeful transport the angel flew Down the pathless waste of ethereal blue, Till he stood by the side of a toil-worn boy, Whose soul was an-hungered for human joy. " If only his heart could be gay and glad," Quoth the seraph, " it all would be well with the lad; But the iron footsteps of want and woe Have trampled upon him and crushed him so, That the visions perceived by his inward sight Are doomed to be dead ere they come to the light." So the messenger opened the tear-filled eyes To the beauty of life ; and in sweet surprise The poet gave voice to his fondest dreams, And chanted his paeans by Babylon's streams. And he piped and sang with such wonderful grace To the children who played in the market-place, That their hearts grew tender, their eyes grew dim, And the whole of the world went after him. But the poet's soul was so finely made That it languished in sunshine and longed for shade : In the pitiless glare of the garish day It shrank and shrivelled and faded away. So the poet bartered his soul for fame, And the round earth rang with the sound of his name; But he learnt too late, when he counted the cost, That the world was gained and his soul was lost. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 79 Then the angel noticed a starving man Who pondered and prayed o'er a perfect plan For helping his fellows, but always failed Because of the outlay his schemes entailed. And the angel cried, " It is sad indeed His designs should be stopped by the stress of his need ! With wealth to help him and patience to wait, This man and his money might conquer Fate." Then the man, who had once been a failure, rose To heights unimagined by friends or foes ; And waited and worked with his might and main, Till he garnered a harvest of golden grain. And the seraph smiled, " He will quickly fulfil His hopes of assuaging all human ill ; And will make, by the means he can now employ, The widow and orphan to sing for joy." But the man, who had grown what the world calls rich, Despised the old days when he lay in the ditch Devising a plan for the good of his kind : Such follies were left with his rags behind. So he hoarded his money, and quite forgot The dreams that he dreamed when he had it not. A pauper, he argued, perchance might love To lay up for pastime a treasure above ; But the wealthy had plenty to do, for sure, Without wasting their substance on God and the poor. Then the angel took heed to a woman's cry ; " Give me love in my life, or alas ! I die : 8o VERSES, WISE OK OTHERWISE. For in spite of my beauty and rank and wit, I grow selfish and hard for the lack of it." So the seraph put into her hands a heart Wherein none other woman had lot or part The heart of a man to be all her own. To melt into softness or freeze into stone, And the woman being given a thing to use, The anguish whereof had the power to amuse Began pricking her plaything and probing its pain, Till it broke in her clutch beyond mending again. Then she wondered whatever the harm could be, Or who had the right to reprove her, if she Into dust and destruction disdainfully trod The heart of a man in the image of God. But she sorrowed a season (as women will When their empty existence seems hard to fill), And prayed to be given, for pity's sake, A similar beautiful toy to break ; For the days were long and the hours like lead Without something to play with, the woman said. The angel of light, who excelled in strength, Looked down in dismay on the breadth and length Of the ways of men; and he sadly sighed, " A failure indeed was the course I tried ! Not glorious summers nor cloudless morns Can grow figs on thistles or grapes on thorns : 'Tis not talents withheld from his lifetime's plan But the thoughts of his heart that defile a man. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 81 The mean and the selfish would prove the same Under blessing or ban ; but they lay the blame On their lowly position or lack of parts, And not where 'tis due, on the sin of their hearts." Then he wept as he whispered, " If this be so, And the heart of the citadel hold the foe If the cleanness of cup and of platter hide The loathsome corruption that lurks inside If the roots of the tree are but rottenness then What help can be found for the children of men ? " And from out of the silence an answer came, " All things can be done through the might of My Name ! The hills shall be moved, and the seas made dry, And the camel shall pass through the needle's eye ; For the plans untried and the paths untrod By saints and by angels are known to God." 82 anfc A PAINTER, standing on a scaffold high, Stepped back to wonder how a passing stranger Would scan his art : a workman, who stood by And saw his danger, Bedaubed the finished fresco. With a start The artist forward rushed in consternation ; And thus the spoiling of his work of art Was his salvation. Oh ! ye, who pleasant pictures love to paint Then find your day-dreams doomed to disappoint- ment Take for the soothing of your sad complaint This healing ointment : That Love withholds the triumph of your toils, Bids Fancy's frescoes fainter fade and fainter, And with a gracious Hand the picture spoils To save the painter. a MiSl). WHEN the world to thee is new, When its dazzling dreams deceive thee, Ere they pass like morning dew Faith retrieve thee ! When the glory fades away, When of light the clouds bereave thee, When the shadows mar the day Hope relieve thee ! When despair's destroying breath Comes at eventide to grieve thee With the bitterness of death Love reprieve thee ! When the bells at Curfew toll, When the lingering sunbeams leave thee, When the night o'ervvhelms thy soul God receive thee ! F 2 8 4 Ctoo* LONG is the way and lonely the road, Hard is my burden, heavy my load. Let not thine heart be hurt by my moan Leave me to walk in sorrow alone. Where thou goest I will go, Though the way be white with snow. Lies thy path by sorrow's tide ? / will never leave thy side : Leads it througJi a weary land? I will never loose thine hand : Through the wilderness of woe, Where thou goest I will go. Done is my day and dark is my night ; Not in my evening shall there be light. Youth and its pleasures still are thine own- Leave me to live in sorrow alone. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 85 Where thou diuellest I tvill dzuel/, Be it ill witJi thee or well. Hast thou learned life's saddest truth ? I will cheer thee with my youth : Hast thou drained the cup of tears ? I will bless thy latter years : Is thine house a prison cell ? Where thou dwellest I will dwell. Cold is the valley which I must tread ; Clouds and thick darkness close o'er my head. Let me in silence face the unknown Leave me to die in sorrow alone. Where thou diest I ivill die, A nd my love shall death defy : Waters cannot quench its flame, Floods ivill leave it still the same. Nothing that can ever be Shall dissever thee and me. Where thou livest there live I Where thou diest I will die. 86 of ILobes. THROUGH branches of their leaves bereft The sunlight glitters golden : The moss with velvet clothes each cleft In ruins grim and olden : On falling towers the ivy strong All signs of wreck effaces : The streamlet sings its sweetest song Across the stony places : When moonless is the wintry sky Then brightest is the starlight : Beyond the breakers fierce and high We see the beacon's far light : The snowdrop rings its silver bell When snowdrifts shroud the meadows : The winds their sacred secrets tell Behind the evening shadows. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 87 And so, Sweetheart, when thou art old And sad and worn and weary, When all the world is growing cold, And all the land looks dreary, My heart will follow then the lead Of star and moss and river, And love thee best in greatest need For ever and for ever. 88 (granny's; DARLING, my daytime has ended its story, Shadows of evening fall dark on my brow ; Bright was the flush of its morningtide glory, Sweet is the peace that is closing it now. Still the lark's hymn to the sunrise thou hearest, Still thou canst brush the fresh dew from the lawn Which dost thou think is the happier, Dearest, I in the sunset or thou in the dawn ? Darling, I look for a fairer to-morrow, So do not pity but bid me Good-night : Thou hast to walk through the valley of sorrow, I have to soar to the City of light. When thou art drinking the cup that thou fearest, When I have seen the dark curtain withdrawn, Which dost thou think will be happier, Dearest, Thou in the sunset or I in the dawn ? 8 9 THE weaver weaves with many a colour, And some are dark and some are gay ; But while the seamy side grows duller The pattern brightens day by day. We learn, as we perceive him taking The different threads diversely dyed, Designs the darkest in the making Are brightest on the other side. The web of life with threads is furnished Which trace a picture in the loom ; And some like gold are brightly burnished, And some are deeply tinged with gloom. Through chance and change we pass believing That, whatsoever ills betide, The pattern darkest in the weaving Is brightest on the Other Side. portrait of a MUST I paint a perfect woman ? More than rubies is her worth : Good she doeth, and not evil, all her days upon the earth : Wool and flax she gladly seeketh, and she worketh with her hands : Like the merchants' ships she bringeth dainty food from distant lands : Fields she buyeth, vineyards planteth : in her strength doth she delight : Darkness she illumines, for her candle goes not out by night : Hers the spindle, hers the distaff she the helper of the poor, For the hungry and the needy go not empty from her door. All her household, clothed with scarlet, Winter's snowstorms cannot fear : She herself in silk and purple like an empress doth appear. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 91 She is dearer to her husband than the mighty con- queror's spoil : Linen fine and white she maketh, and the merchants prize her toil : Strength and honour are her clothing, and her heart may well rejoice : All her words are full of wisdom kindness modulates her voice : Ably doth she rule her household : idleness she ne'er displays : And her children call her blessed, while her husband sings her praise. He is known among the elders sitting in the judgment- hall. She is famed among the daughters as the one excel- ling all. Beauty's vain, and favour's fleeting ; virtue only is divine. Here's the picture ! But the Artist had a wiser head than mine. >afnt Joftn Baptist's GRIM sorrow kept court with the mighty, Grave sickness held sway o'er the poor, And even the fearless and flighty Prayed Death to pass over their door. Ye Sickness and Sorrow, who sent ye To lie like a blight on the land ? ' 7~was the voice of one crying, " Repent ye : The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ! " The pealing and pitiless thunder Awakened the hills with its sound ; The mountains were riven asunder, The lightning ran over the ground. Ye Lightning and Tempest, why rent ye The rocks which are strewn on the strand ? 'Tivas the voice of one crying, " Repent ye ; The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 93 A tumult swept over the nations, With strange, irresistible force ; The earth to its very foundations Was shaken and out of its course. Ye Kindreds and People, why went yc Against the established command ? 'Twas the voice of one crying, l< Repent ye: The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ! " A carol was sung by an angel Long ages and ages ago ; A chorus took up the evangel To comfort the world and its woe. Ye Legions of Angels, what meant ye By words that for ever shall stand ? 'Twas the voice of one crying, " Repent ye : The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand I " 94 Cfte tafforti$f)fre, THE invading Danish foe near a thousand years ago Travelled hither from the strand : And it fell upon a day that his armies came this way To our pleasant Mercian land. They had wandered from the coast with their savage pirate host, Leaving ruin in their track ; And all bloodstained was the sod in the footsteps they had trod, And the turf was burnt and black. Ethelflaed, the Mercian Queen, brought an army on the scene To defend her native plain ; While King Edward, named the Elder, with his English hosts upheld her In her fight against the Dane. G 98 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. On the Danish foemen came, bringing poverty and shame And destruction in their path ; And each honest-hearted Saxon by his beard so fair and flaxen Swore to slay them in his wrath. So the Saxons came to meet them and right royally to greet them As they hurried on apace : At Theotenhall * they found them with their Swedish hordes around them, And defied them face to face. They defied them face to face in that fearful trysting place, And they fought them hand to hand ; While the Saxon Edward quoth, " I have sworn a mighty oath To deliver this my land ! " Swift as thought the arrows flashed, sure as death the axes crashed, Straight and sharp the spears were thrust ; As the maddened chargers neighed, and the clashing armies swayed To and fro amid the dust. * Tettenhall. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 99 And the morning sun shone white on the glory of the fight When the battle was begun : And the evening sun shone red on the faces of the dead When the dreadful day was done : For the air was dark with slaughter, and the life-blood ran like water As the Danes were brought to bay ; And they changed that sunlit meadow to a valley of the shadow With the fury of their fray. And the fight was grim and great, and the hour was dark and late, Ere the day was won and lost ; But the Saxons gained the battle, and above the deafening rattle Were proclaimed the conquering host. They pursued the vanquished Danes o'er the ravaged Mercian plains During forty days and more ; Till the foe was forced to flee to the countries near the sea, And the lands beside the shore. G 2 ioo VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. And the slain were gently laid in the oak-trees' peaceful shade To their long, unbroken rest : Friend and foe they sleep together, through serene and stormy weather, On the green earth's quiet breast They had sworn with latest breath they would struggle to the death Or their foes should be their slaves : Now they lie with upturned faces, and no curses stir the daisies That are growing on their graves. As they slumber they may dream that things are not what they seem On this little earth of ours, For life's problems are made plain to the weary who have lain Fast asleep beneath the flowers. And perchance they understand in that silent shadow- land, As they never did before, That renown was but a bubble and success but toil and trouble In the fighting days of yore. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 101 As in manhood's golden day we look back on childish play With a half disdainful smile, So these wiser spirits wonder that they rent the world asunder, And believed it worth their while. Once again it came to pass that the Danes returned, alas ! To the sunny Mercian land ; And their track with blood was red, and their path was strewn with dead, As they journeyed from the strand. Then the Saxons met the Danes in the pleasant Mercian plains, And they swore the Danes should yield ; So they smote them hip and thigh till they made them fall or fly At the fight of Wodensfield* And the sunlight gleamed like gold on the armour of the bold At the dawning of the day ; And the night-clouds hung like lead o'er the armies of the dead At the ending of the fray : * Wednesfield. IO2 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. For the Saxons showed no quarter, and the air was dark with slaughter, And the fight was grim and great ; And three Kings to death were done ere the setting of the sun On that fearful field of fate. Then the English conquerors hied to Winehalla* in the pride Of the victory they had won ; Where they feasted late and long as with revelry and song They proclaimed what they had done. All their poets told the story of the hard-won Saxon glory, And the conquest of the foe ; While the weary warriors rested and the sweets of triumph tested, Near a thousand years ago. There is little difference now 'twixt the laurel-circled brow And the fallen in the fight : 'Tis among the things of old, like the tales that have been told Or the watches of the night. * Willenhall. VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. 103 For the victors from their gladness and the vanquished from their madness Were alike compelled to cease, When Death called them to their reckoning, and, his ghostly finger beckoning, Bade them pass away in peace. They were mighty men and brave, and they earned a soldier's grave Having nobly served their day ; Yet each servant meek and lowly in the kingdom of the holy Shall be greater far than they : For the man that takes a city, undeterred by pain and pity, Like a lion's whelp may be ; But the man that rules his spirit shall be held of higher merit And of truer worth than he. Now their rage and hate are over as they lie beneath the clover, And they fret and fume no more : Danish sailors, Saxon sages, in the silence of the ages Never hear the sound of war. 104 VERSES, WISE OR OTHERWISE. For their rest is long and sweet, and they feel nor cold nor heat, But are calm and unafraid ; While the daffodilly waves o'er the old, forgotten graves, Where they slumber in the shade. There they patiently must lie while the sunny days pass by, And the stars their vigils keep, Till the angel-sounded warning of the Resurrection- morning Shall awake them out of sleep. Still their spirits haunt the shadows of the oak-trees in the meadows Where their knell the bluebell tolls : And we humbly pray that Heaven, Whereby sinners are forgiven, May have mercy on their souls ! SONNETS. 107 SONNETS OUTSIDE thy heart there is a garden plot Where thunders never blare nor tempests blow Where I may wander idly to and fro, Secure and sheltered in that stormless spot. Within thy heart are battles fierce and hot, And founts of bitterness and floods of woe ; But there thou sternly bidst me ne'er to go, Nor give a thought to griefs that touch me not. Whilst I ? I loathe my pleasant, peaceful place ; And vainly strive the iron gates to burst, Which screen from me thy secret strifes and scars: Chilled by the coldness of thy courtly grace, Shut out alike from both thy best and worst, I break my bleeding heart against the bars. loS Map of THOU sittest in my spirit's banquet-hall And takest freely of my corn and wine ; For pleasant ways and paths of peace are thine, While joy and gladness follow at thy call. Thou dost not penetrate my prison wall, Where hopes condemned to death in darkness pine ; Nor dost thou bow before mine inmost shrine, Which sanctifies the wormwood and the gall. Thou hast no fellowship with them that mourn ; So thou wilt leave it to some stranger-hand To sound my depths and scale my heights with me : And someday, in the comfort which is born Of souls that throughly know and understand, I shall forget thy thoughtless ways and thee. 23oor ONE day it happened that I opened wide The gate which guards the inmost heart of me ; And showed my spirit's treasure-house to thee, And prayed thee in its precincts to abide. Whereto thy much encumbered soul replied, " Until a more convenient time let be ! " Then shut the portal somewhat hastily : Thou hadst so many things to do beside. But leisure seasons find thee free to fling Thy cares aside, and lazily demand An easy entrance through the long-locked door. Fool, not to know it opened with a spring, Which snapt and broke beneath thy clumsy hand ; And now, alas, is closed for evermore ! 110 incognita* SINCE I have found some favour in thine eyes It matters nothing what the others say : If thou art pleased to praise me, who are they That should presume to flatter or despise ? As some proud monarch dons a plain disguise To hide the princely state of his array, Then scorns the scorn he meets upon his way, Full conscious of the rank that underlies ; So I go forward with a fine disdain Among my fellows, taking little heed Of what their comments on my life may be : Apart from these I hold my right to reign, And count myself a very queen indeed Because I know thou thinkest well of me. Ill Complement DOST thou know, Dearest, that the Summer sun When thou art gone is robbed of half its gold, While Spring becomes a tale too often told, And Youth a cheerless game for only one ? Yet when life's Winter-solstice has begun I shall not quail before its frost and cold, Nor tremble at the thought of growing old, If thou art near me ere my day is done. And even in that better, brighter place, Where angels in triumphant chorus sing Ascending the eternal Altar-stairs, My soul will seek thee through the fields of space, Nor deem the seraphs' song a perfect thing Until I hear thy voice attuned to theirs. 112 8u gtoakemng. I LOOKED at life with all-unseeing eyes, Unable to discern the deeper thing Or dive below the surface to the spring, Until thou earnest as a glad surprise. And now to me the smallest bird that flies Twitters a song which seraphim might sing ; While roadside flowers a sacred message bring, And teach those truths that make the angels wise. I cannot tell thee how thy passing touch Had power the underlying thought to show Till all the world was changed because of thee : Nor do I care to measure overmuch The why and wherefore : this one thing I know, That I, who once was blind, now clearly see. Cije I DREAMED I stood before a fast-locked door Which nought could open save a magic word ; Yet I demanded entrance undeterred, Like him who murmured Sesame of yore. The grim-eyed porter cried, " Nor less nor more Than one word only, whence may be inferred The sweetest music ear hath ever heard The richest blessing life may have in store : One word wherein lies hidden all the bliss Thou canst conceive or crave beneath the sun, Dearer than wealth and fairer far than fame. Fool, wilt thou find one word expressing this ? " Whereat I smiling said, " The thing is done ! " Then softly whispered in his ear thy name. H 114 FAIR brow, that curvest like a stringed bow, Whilst from my lady's laughter-loving eye The fatal darts of Cupid forward fly To work wild havoc in this world of woe : The beauty of thine arch but serves to show What proud contempt she pours on passers-by, Whose poorer points she plainly can descry ; But lets their nobler ones unnoticed go. Then, prythee, drop one tickling little hair Athwart the orb, which is so fain to note My faults, and on my foolishness to shine : That she, who sits upon the scorner's chair, May stop to clear her eyeball of a mote, And so learn pity for the beam in mine. I CARVED thy name, my friend, upon a tree An old oak tree o'ershadowing us twain, As we were wandering down a grassy lane One day when thou wert all the world to me. And now once more the ancient oak I see ; But when I seek the carveri sign again I only find a scar against the grain Where that dear word of old was wont to be. So on my heart I carved thy name of yore, Before I learned how false thy friendships are, Or dreamed that thou wert less sincere than I Now on my heart I find thy name no more, But where 'twas wont to be a cruel scar A scar that I shall carry till I die. H 2 n6 a picture of tin