LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE / THE HILL OF VISION MACMILLAN AND CO., Limited LONDON ■ BOMBAY • CALCUTTA • MADRAS MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO DALLAS . SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO THE HILL OF VISION BY JAMES STEPHENS AUTHOR OF "insurrections" MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1922 f^^^^7 ■ 3 :^x COPYRIGHT THIRD EDITION PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN TO MY WIFE CONTENTS Everything that I can spy A Prelude and a Song In the Poppy Field . The Fulness of Time Light-o'-Love . Nucleolus . The Sootherer . Danny Murphy The Tree of the Bird Peadar Og goes Courting Nora Criona The Rune . Bessie Bobtail . The Tinker's Brat Nothing at all Why TomXs Cam was Grumpy The Girl I left beh nd Me vii I 3 36 38 40 41 43 49 51 54 58 59 60 62 64 66 69 viii THE HILL OF VISION PAGE Shame 70 I WISH .... 72 Secrets .... 74 Crooked-Heart . 75 Mac Dhoul 76 The Merry Policeman 79 The Fairy Boy . 81 What the Devil said 83 The Tree .... 86 Ora Pro Nobis . 92 The End of the Road • 93 Wind and Tree 95 Eve 96 The Breath of Life 99 In the Cool of the Evening 104 Psychometrist . 106 The Winged Tramp 107 The Monkey's Cousin 109 The Lonely God . no Everything that I can spy Through the circle of my eye. Everything that I can see Has been woven out of me. I have sown the stars ; I threw Clouds of morn and noon and eve In the deeps and steeps of blue ; And each thing that I perceive. Sun and sea and mountain high. Are made and moulded by my eye : Closing it, I do but find Darkness, and a little wind. A PRELUDE AND A SONG THE PRELUDE (1) Song ! glad indeed I am that we have met. Too long, my sister, you have stayed from me ; Almost 1 fancied that you could forget Thosebindingpromises, that you would be Under the slender interlacing boughs Waiting for me. I came and looked about on every side But where you hid away I could not see ; And first I searched among the meadows wide. And up the hill, and under every tree. And down the stream to see if you were there Waiting for me. 4 A PRELUDE AND A SONG But when I did not find you in the mead, Or by the stream, or under any tree, I thought you had forgotten we agreed, Not long ago, that surely you would be Under the slender interlacing boughs Waiting for me. You came to me I do not know from where: I stood and saw you not, I turn and see : Have you sprung to me from the sunny air F Or in the long grass did you curiously Watch while I wandered, laughing as you lay Waiting for me ? And you have brought your pipe ! let us begin. Against your skill I match my poetry : A kiss if I should fail, and if I win A kiss the same — tune not your melody Too high at first, I shall not keep you long Waiting for me. THE PRELUDE (2) O wind that through the winding, green-grown ways, At morn or eve doth tender-piping go; Or from the crag, with trumpetings of praise, Doth fright the lambs that crop the mead below ; From cave or hill or wood Or bustling cloud come thou in merry- mood ; Leave those wild murmurings that make to weep, Your long-blown pealing trumpet put away. And where a merry holiday we keep In sunny fields come thou and dance and leap And sing for joy with us the live-long day. 6 A PRELUDE AND A SONG Oft we have seen you linger in the corn, And all the red caps nodding at your play; Or in the croft on breezy summer morn Blowing the light-oared thistle balls away : And one day, unobserved, we watched you where You stole a ribbon from a maiden slim. And blew it to a boy who stood and prayed, Which, e'er he kissed, you snatched away from him, And whirled it back again unto the maid Who was his only hope and thought and care ; And while he sighed and while she laughed you took The ribbon up and soused it in a brook, Lost to the lips of lover anywhere. THE PRELUDE 7 And yet again we saw You playing with the milkmaids in the shaw, Where, standing near, a satyr trained his eye If there was aught forbidden he might see, And crept upon you with a mind to spy The cause of that uproarious jollity : Then, when the wild one looked too curiously, You blew his own rough beard and shaggy hair. And blinded him who stared so greedily. Because it was not right that he should see The milkmaid's kirtle that you meddled there. So you can laugh and play ; Come pipe with us and join our holiday : 8 A PRELUDE AND A SONG Join in our song and you may chance to win For you are free of thought, and hath no care To question, did the sinner, told of, sin ? Or, who has seen ? or, why, or when, or where ? No longer bide By screaming crag or murmurous waterside. But your quaint careless lute bring with you here And sing to us and we shall sing to you, Until we find who has the finest ear. And who the sweetest voice and gayest cheer, And give to him the praise that is his due. THE PRELUDE 9 (3) O nymphs ! if ye will come from spring or lake, Or where the sedge is wavering in the stream, To dance with us and with us to partake A careless fellowship, or with us dream Stretched idly on the grass to watch the gleam Of sunlight through the leaves — we welcome true And will applaud your shy romantic theme. Your delicate wild tales and music new ; And fair respectful courtesy extend to you. But ye, goat-footed fellows, keep away, Nor through the bushes strain your wily eyes, 10 A PRELUDE AND A SONG For ye would love to spoil our holiday, And fright the nymphs away with sudden cries, And whispers lewd, and vicious enter- prise : — But if ye promise truly to be good, Then come with clamant reeds and improvise. With antic dance and savour of the wood And all the games ye learned in sunlit solitude. THE PRELUDE 11 (4) Round the trees ye danced and flew While the boughs danced down to see, And the sun was dancing through Leafy spaces on the tree : The daisies danced, the meadow-sweet. All the swaying grassy blades Danced behind the dancing feet Of the merry dancing maids. Left and right and swing around, Soar and dip and fall for glee, Happy sky and bird and ground, Happy wind and happy tree : Happy minions, dancing mad, Joy is guide enough for you, Cure the world of good and bad, And teach us innocence anew. 12 A PRELUDE AND A SONG Good and bad and right and wrong, Wave the silly words away : This is wisdom to be strong, This is virtue to be gay : Let us sing and dance until We shall know the final art, How to banish good and ill With the laughter of the heart. THE SONG (1) I HAVE a black, black mind ! WTiat shall I do ? If I could fly and leave it all behind, Scaling the blue, Over the trees and up and out of sight, And wrong and right Naming them for the nonsense that they are ! I'd leave them far. Drop them behind with this and that and these. The tyrannies That promised to be blessings and are woes ; The crows I fancied to be singing birds, 13 14 A PRELUDE AND A SONG The words That drowse and buzz and drone and never stay. Oh ! far away ! Over the pine trees and the mountain top, Never to stop Lifting wide wings, to fly and fly and fly Into the sky. THE SONG 16 (2) If I had wings just like a bird I would not say a single word, I'd spread my wings and fly away Beyond the reaeh of yesterday. If I could swim just like a fish I'd give my little tail a swish, I'd swim ten days and nights and then I never would be found again. Or if I were a comet bright I'd drop in secret every night Ten million miles, and no one would Know where I kept my solitude. But I am not a bird or fish Or comet, so I need not wish, And need not try to get away Beyond the reach of yesterday. 16 A PRELUDE AND A SONG (3) No more of woeful Misery I sing ! Let her go moping down the paved way ; While to the sunny fields, and every- thing That laughs, and to the birds that sing, I pass along and tune my happy lay : O sunny sky ! meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! 1 go at ease by the easy-sliding stream As by a friend : I dance in solitude Among the trees ; I lie and gaze and dream Along the grass, or hearken to the theme A lark discourses to her tender brood : O sunny sky ! O meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! THE SONG 17 There is a thrush hves snugly in a wall, She lets me come and peep into her nest, She lets me see and touch the speckled ball Under her wing, and does not fear at all, Although her shy companion is dis- tressed : O sunny sky ! O meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! Sing out, sing out again ye birds of joy I Tell yet from branch and bough your endless tale Of happiness that nothing can annoy ; Altho' your mates seem timorous and coy If ye sing high enough how can ye fail ? O sunny sky ! O meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! 18 A PRELUDE AND A SONG On every side, far as the eye can see, The round horizon, hke a bosom's swell. Seems brooding in a sweet maternity, Where no thing may be hurt, not even me. But she will stoop and kiss and make us well : O sunny sky ! meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! 1 am the brother of each bird and tree And everything that grows — your chil- dren glad ; Their hearts are in my heart, their ecstasy : O Mother of all mothers, comfort me. Give me your breast for I am very sad : O sunny sky ! O meadows that the happy clouds are drifting by ! THE SONG 19 (4) I wandered far away in lucid morn, When summer did the happy trees adorn ; I left all that I knew of discontent, Of sorrow and distress and angry pain, And did not say to any where I went. Or when, or if I would return again From leafy solitude. I wandered far away and far away, And was as happy as a person may To hear the birds in wild wood sing their strain, Each hid in bough, a young and joyous band, Who had no care save only to attain The food and shelter that lay every hand In leafy solitude. 20 A PRELUDE AND A SONG I wandered far away and did not turn : At such a song my heart began to burn, And joy that I had never known before, And tears that had no meaning I could say, Came from the music that the birds did pour To me as I went softly on my way In leafy solitude. I wandered far away and I was glad : I knew the rapture that the forest had : And every bird was good to me and said A kindly word e'er I had passed him by, The cheery squirrel sat and ate his bread And did not fear me when I ventured nigh His leafy solitude. THE SONG 21 (5) O birds, my brothers, sing to me once more E'er I return again to whence I came, Give me your joy, your innocence, your lore, Your airrborn, wind-blown ecstasy I claim Because ye truly are my brothers dear : Sing to me once again before I go from here. In woodland ways again we may not meet ; Under the slender interlacing boughs, Where all day long the sunbeams flash and fleet On leaf and grass and wing, And all day long ye sing And hold carouse : Because ye truly are my brothers dear Sing to me once again before I go from here. 22 A PRELUDE AND A SONG All things must cease at last ; Night Cometh after day And day is past. All things must end, And friend from loving friend At the long last will rise and go away ; And from the slender interlacing boughs The leaves that flutter now must fail and fall ; The time is come I may no more carouse, Farewell to ye and good-bye to ye all : Because ye truly are my brothers dear Sing to me once again before I go from here. THE SONG 23 (6) O cloud aloof, afar, scarce to be seen ! unattainable ! to you alone 1 lift my wings, To you I lean, I yearn to you beyond all other things ; Desperate I am for you, for you I moan ; I struggle to you and I always fail, I sink and fall, I fall for ever down, Deep down where you are not, with- out avail Or help or hope : a clod am I, a clown Whose wry mouth laughs in fury at his thought ; A discontent without a word to say ; A hope that cannot fasten upon aught ; A nothing that is anything it may ; A moodiness, a hatred and a love Mixed through of good and bad that cannot show ; 24 A PRELUDE AND A SONG But you are calm at morning as a dove That broods in nest is calm, and in the glow Of day you meet joy everywhere with joy. And, as a woman looking on the child That sleeps upon her arm has no annoy, With brow of that content and breast as mild. You rest upon the evening and its gold. Its rose and pearl, its tender green and grey: O peacefulness that never can be told! O far away ! Over the pine trees and the mountain top, Never to stop Lifting wide wings, to fly and fly and fly Into the sky. THE SONG 25 (7) Weary indeed I know that this world is ; Then do not sing to me a song of woe, But tune your pipe to all of aery bliss Ye can remember, and I will not miss To join in every chorus that I know : Give me the very rapture of your song Else I may go away with thoughts that do ye wrong. Sing sweetly, sweetly, once again to me. Sing me the joy ye have not reached to yet ; E'er I go hence give me your ecstasy. E'er I go hence, e'er far away I flee Give me the joy which I may not forget : The very inner rapture of your song : Else I may go away with thoughts that do ye wrong. 26 A PRELUDE AND A SONG (8) The joyful song that welcomes in the spring, The tender mating song so bravely shy, The song that builds the nest, the merry ring When the long wait is ended and ye bring The young birds out and teach them how to fly. Sing to me of the beech-nuts on the ground. And of the first wild flight at early dawn, And of the store of berries some one found And hid away, until ye gathered round And ate them while he shrieked upon the lawn. THE SONG 27 Sing of the swinging nest upon the tree, And of your mates who call and hide away, And of the sun that shines exceedingly. And of the leaves that dance, and all the glee And rapture that begins at break of day. 28 A PRELUDE AND A SONG (9) Follow, follow, follow ! Blackbird, thrush and swallow ; The air is soft, the sun is dancing through The dancing boughs ; A little while me company along And I will go with you : Arouse, arouse ! Among the leaves I sing my pleasant song. Blackbird, thrush and swallow ! Indeed the visits that I pay are few. Then come to me as I have come to you : O follow, follow, follow ! Leave for a little time your nested boughs And me accompany along. Join me while I am happy : Rouse, O rouse ! Among the leaves I sing my pleasant song. THE SONG 29 Sky, sky, On hio'h, O gentle majesty ! Come all ye happy birds and follow, follow Under the slender interlacing boughs Blackbird, thrush and swallow ! No longer in the sunlight sit and drowse But me accompany along ; No longer be ye mute : Arouse, arouse ! Among the leaves I sing my pleasant song. Lift, lift, ye happy birds, Lift song and wing. And sing and fly, And fly again and sing Up to the very blueness of the sky Your happy words : O follow, follow, follow ! Where I go racing through the shady ways, 30 A PRELUDE AND A SONG Blackbird, thrush and swallow, Shouting aloud our ecstasy of praise : Under the slender interlacing boughs Me company along. The sun is coming with us : Rouse, O rouse ! Among the leaves I sing my pleasant song. THE SONG 31 (10) Reach up my wings ! Now broaden into space and carry me Beyond where any lark that sings Can get : Into the utmost sharp tenuity, The breathing - point, the start, tlie scarcely-stirred High slenderness which never any bird Has winged to yet ! The moon peace and the star peace and the peace Of chilly sunlight : To the void of space, The emptiness, the giant curve, the great Wide-stretching arms wherein the gods embrace And stars are born and suns : Where germinate All fruitful seed, where life and death are one, 32 A PRELUDE AND A SONG Where all things that are not their times await ; Where all things that have been again are gone : Deep Womb of Promise ! back to thee again And forth, revivified, all things Do come and go, Do wax and wane into and from thy garden ; There the flower springs. Therein does grow The bud of hope, the miracle to come For whose dear advent we are striving dumb and joyless : Garden of Delight That God has sowed ! In thee the flower of flowers, The apple of our tree. The banner on our towers, The recompense, the end of misery, The mightiness, the purity, the light Whom we are working to has his abode : THE SONG 33 Until our back and forth, our life and death And life again, our going and return Prepare the way : until with latest breath, Deep-drawn and agonized, for him we burn A path : for him prepare Laughter and love and singing every- where, A morning and a sunrise and a day ! O, far away ! Over the pine trees and the mountain top Never to stop Lifting wide wings, I fly and fly and fly Into the sky. 34 A PRELUDE AND A SONG (11) Song ! I am tired to death ! here let me lie Where we have paced the moving trees along. Till I recover from my ecstasy : Farewell my Song, Once more unto your pipe I lend my rhyme Who paced in woodland ways with you along ; We have been happy for a little time : Farewell my Song. Soon, soon return or all my world is naught ; Come hack and we shall pace the woods along, And tell unto each other all our thought : Farewell my Song, THE SONG 35 And when again you do come back to me Under the sounding trees we'll pace along. While to your pipe I raise my poetry : Farewell my Song. IN THE POPPY FIELD Mad Patsy said, he said to me, That every morning he could see An angel walking on the sky ; Across the sunny skies of morn He threw great handfuls far and nigh Of poppy seed among the corn ; And then, he said, the angels run To see the poppies in the sun. ' A poppy is a devil weed,' I said to him — he disagreed : He said the devil had no hand In spreading flowers tall and fair Through corn and rye and meadow land, And gurth and barrow everywhere : The devil has not any flower, But only money in his power. 36 IN THE POPPY FIELD 37 And then he stretched out in the sun And rolled upon his back for fun : He kicked his legs and roared for joy Because the sun was shining down, He said he was a little boy And wouldn't work for any clown : He ran and laughed behind a bee, And danced for very ecstasy. THE FULNESS OF TIME On a rusty iron throne Past the furthest star of space I saw Satan sit alone, Old and haggard was his face ; For his work was done, and he Rested in eternity. And to him from out the sun Came his father and his friend Saying, " Now the work is done Enmity is at an end " : And he guided Satan to Paradises that he knew. Gabriel without a frown, Uriel without a spear, 38 THE FULNESS OF TIME 39 Raphael came singing down, Welcoming their ancient peer ; And they seated him beside One who had been crucified. LIGHT-O'-LOVE And now, at last, I must away. But if I tend another fire In some man's house this you will say — It is not that her love doth tire : This is the price she has to pay, For bread she gets no other way. Still dreaming of her heart's desire. And so she went out from the door While I sat quiet in my chair : She ran back once, again — no more ; I heard a footstep on the stair, A lifted latch ; one moment fleet I heard the noises of the street, Then silence booming everywhere. 40 NUCLEOLUS I LOOKED from Mount Derision at Two ivory thrones that were in space, Whereon a man and woman sat, The very parallels of grace, Not lovelier has ever been By mortal seen. Then one unto the other said, — Tell me the secret, hidden well. Which you have never uttered, And I to you again will tell My guarded thought, and we shall know Each other so — Then he — When those who pray beside My holy altars do not bear A gift I turn my face aside 41 42 NUCLEOLUS And do not listen to the prayer, But whoso brings a gift shall see The proof of me — And she — When, on a festal day. Youth kneels by youth before my shrine I think, if he or he might lay A ruddy cheek to mine And comfort my sick soul, I'd lay My crown away — THE SOOTHERER O Little Joy, why do you run so fast Waving behind you as you go away Your tiny hand? You smiled at me and cast A silver apple, asking me to play : But when I ran to pick the apple up You ran the other way. Little One ! WTiite One ! Shy Little Gay Sprite ! Do not turn your head across your shoulder To mock at me ; it is not right That you should laugh at me, for I am older : Throw me the silver apple once again You little scolder. 43 44 THE SOOTHERER I love you very dearly, yes I do ; I never saw a girl like you before In any place. You are more sweetly new Than a May moon : you are my store, My secret and my treasure and the pulse Of my heart's core. Throw me the silver apple — I will run And pick it up and give it you again : Dear Heart ! Sweet Laugher ! — throw it then for fun And not for me — if you will but remain ! . . . Nay do not run ; I'll stand thus far away And not complain. Never before — or only one or two : I did not like them nearly half so well. Nor half of half so well as I like you, Throw me the silver apple and I'll tell Their names, and what I used to say to them, —The first was Nell. THE SOOTHERER 45 Throw me the apple and I'll tell you more ; — She had a lovely face, but she was fat : We clung together when the rain would pour Under a tree or hedge, and often sat Through long, still, sunny hours — Tell what she said ? I'll not do that. I really couldn't, no, it would be wrong And utterly unfair, I will not say a word Of any girl — your voice is like the song I heard this morning from a soaring bird . . . I'll whisper then if you come close to me, — You've hardly stirred ! She said she loved me better than her life. — You need not laugh, she said so anyway, 46 THE SOOTHERER And meant it too, and longed to be my wife : She kissed me many times and wept to stay Within my arms, and did not ever want To go away. But she was fat, I will admit that's true : And so I hid when she came seeking me. If she had been as beautiful as you . . . ! You are as slender as a growing tree, And when you move the blood goes leaping through The heart of me. The other girl ? Yes, she is very fair : Her feet are lighter than the clouds on high. And there is morn and noonday in her hair, And mellow, sunny evenings in her eye, And all day long she sings just like a lark Up in the sky. THE SOOTHERER 47 I say she did — she loved me very well, And I loved her until, ah, woe is me ! Until to-day, when passing through the dell I met yourself, and now I cannot see Her face at all, or any face but yours In memory. I ought to be ashamed ? well amn't I ? But that's no comfort when I'm in a trap: I tell you I shall sit down here and die Unless you stay — you do not care a rap — Ah, Little Sweetheart, do not run away, . . . Have pity on a chap. You'll go — thenhsten, you are just a pig, A little wrinkled pig out of a sty ; Your legs are crooked and your nose is big. You've got no calves, you have a silly eye, I don't know why I stopped to talk to you, I hope you'll die. 48 THE SOOTHERER Now cry, go on, mew like a little cat, And rub your eyes and stamp and tear your wig ; I see your ankles ! listen, they are fat, And so's your head, you're angled like a twig. Your back's all baggy and your clothes don't fit And your feet are big ! She's gone, bedad, she legged it like a hare ! You'd think I had the itch, or had a face Like a blue monkey — keeps me stand- ing there. Not good enough to touch her . . . ! Back I'll race And make it up with Breed, that's what I'll do, . . . There is a flower that bloometh, Tra la la la laddy la. . . . DANNY MURPHY He was as old as old could be, His little eye could scarcely see, His mouth was sunken in between His nose and chin, and he was lean And twisted up and withered quite. So that he could not walk aright. His pipe was always going out. And then he'd have to search about In all his pockets, and he'd mow — O, deary me ! and, musha now ! And then he'd light his pipe, and then He'd let it go clean out again. He could not dance or jump or run. Or ever have a bit of fun 49 E 50 DANNY MURPHY Like me and Susan, when we shout And jump and throw ourselves about : But when he laughed then you could see He was as young as young could be. THE TREE OF THE BIRD I SAT beneath a tree In a wide park, There was a lark, A bard of ecstasy, Who sang amid the leaves of his beloved: — " Thou art most fair, None can with thee compare," Such was his minstrelsy. " Thy flight is with the stars and with the wind, And thou art kind, O, my most well-beloved," And thus, and thus sang he. The evening sun fell slowly to a hill Far off and blue, 51 52 THE TREE OF THE BIRD But I was too enraptured with the skill Of that young songster, and the still Slow rustle of the boughs To heed how far the sun had stepped Unto his western house. A languor came upon me, sad As was the peace that Adam had When, on that woeful morning, he Awaked to unknown misery. And, all amazed, gave thanks to God For the green tree, and the green sod, For the clean wind, and for Eve's eyes, For all that he had fancied lost Of Paradise. He did a moment furthermore Outpour his many-patterned song, Down to the ground, Up to the sky. About, around, An ecstasy, A sheer and sweet swift rush along ; THE TREE OF THE BIRD 53 And then the song failed, and he threw His wings upon the air, and flew Because he could no longer bide From her whom he would nest beside. A wind came breathing out of space Blowing softly on my face ; The greying evening stept and stole About the tree, till branch and bole Were lost, and there remained to me A rustling in a mystery : And this — A bliss, a happiness, A song that had been a caress, A memory of joy — which you. And every one is welcome to. PEADAR OG GOES COURTING Now that I am dressed I'll go Down to where the roses blow, I'll pluck a fair and fragrant one And make my mother pin it on : Now she's laughing, so am I — O the blueness of the sky ! Down the street, turn to the right, Round the corner out of sight. Pass the church and out of town — Dust does show on boots of brown, I'd better brush them while I can — Step out, Peadar, be a man ! Here's a field and there's a stile. Shall I jump it ? wait a while, Scale it gently, stretch my foot Across the mud in that big rut 54 PEADAR OG GOES COURTING 55 And I'm still clean — faith, I'm not ! Get some grass and rub the spot. Dodge those nettles, here the stream Bubbles onward with a gleam Steely white, and black, and grey. Bending rushes on its way — What's that moving ? It's a rat Washing his whiskers, isn't he fat ? Here the cow with the crumpledy horn Whisks her tail and looks forlorn. She wants a milkmaid bad I guess How her udders swell and press Against her legs — and here's some sheep. And there's the shepherd fast asleep. This is a sad and lonely field. Thistles are all that it can yield, I'll cross it quick, nor look behind. There's nothing in it but the wind : And if those bandy-legged trees Could talk they'd only curse or sneeze. 56 PEADAR OG GOES COURTING A sour, unhappy, sloppy place — That boot's loose ! I'll tie the lace So, and jump this little ditch, . . . Her father'' s really very rich : He'' II he angry — there's a crow. Solemn blackhead ! off you go. There a big, grey, ancient ass Is snoozing quiet in the grass. He hears me coming, starts to rise, Wags his big ears at the flies. . . . Whaflll say when — there's a frog. Go it, long-legs, jig, jig-jog. He'll be angry, say — " Pooh, pooh, Boy, you know not what you do.'' Shakespeare rot and good advice. Fat old duffer — those field mice ■ Have a good time playing round Through the corn and underground. But her mother is friends with mine, She always asks us out to dine. PEADAR OG GOES COURTING 57 And dear Nora, curly head, Loves me ; so at least she said. . . . Damn that ass's hee-hee-haw — Was that a rabbit's tail I saw ? This is the house. Lord, Fm afraid ! A man does suffer for a maid. . . . How will I start ? — the graining's new On the door — O pluck up, do. Don't stand shivering there like that . . . The knocker's funny — rat-tat-tat. NORA CRIONA I HAVE looked him round and looked him through, Know everything that he will do In such a case, and such a case, And when a frown comes on his face I dream of it, and when a smile I trace its sources in a while. He cannot do a thing but I Peep to find the reason why, For I love him, and I seek, Every evening in the week, To peep behind his frowning eye With little query, little pry. And make him if a woman can Happier than any man. Yesterday he gripped her tight And cut her throaty — and serve her right ! 68 THE RUNE The sun and the star, The moon and the sea, As they wandered afar Sent a message to me. For our friend, lovingly We have fashioned a moral, When there's room to agree There is no room to quarrel. And, therefore, we now Send this thought to the friend Whom we love, showing how Every quarrel will end. To be far brings you near, But too near is too far ; Can you love without fear When the door's on the jar ? 69 BESSIE BOBTAIL As down the street she wambled slow, She had not got a place to go : She had not got a place to fall And rest herself — no place at all. She stumped along and wagged her pate And said a thing was desperate. Her face was screwed and wrinkled tight Just like a nut — and, left and right. On either side she wagged her head And said a thing, and what she said Was desperate as any word That ever yet a person heard. 60 BESSIE BOBTAIL 61 I walked behind her for a while And watched the people nudge and smile : But ever as she went she said, As left and right she s^v^lng her head, — " God He knows,'' and " God He knows. And, surely God Almighty knows.'' THE TINKER'S BRAT I SAW a beggar woman bare Her bosom to the winter air ; And within the tender nest Of her famished mother-breast She laid her child, And him beguiled, With crooning song into his rest. With crooning song and tender word. About a little singing bird, Who spread her wings about her brood. And tore her bosom up for food, And sang the while, Them to beguile, All in the forest's solitude. 62 THE TINKER'S BRAT 63 • And, hearing this, I could not see That she was clad in misery ; For in her heart there was a glow Warmed her bare feet in the snow : In her heart was hid a sun Would warm a world for every one. NOTHING AT ALL There was a man was very old : He sat beside a little fire, And watched the flame begin to tire. He held his hands out to the heat, And in a voice was half a scold, He told Creation he was cold. And he was tired and feeble, too : He could not lift up from his seat To reach the fuel at his feet. " Perhaps," said he, " God does not know That I am nearly frozen through ; He might not like it if He knew. 64 NOTHING AT ALL 65 Poor old chattering, grumbling wight ! God will hardly come to fetch Wood for such an ancient wretch. But He will send you rain more cold, To quench that little flickering light, Like this, and He will freeze you quite : . . . Men must die when they are old. WHY TOMAS CAM WAS GRUMPY If I were rich what would I do ? I'd leave the horse just ready to shoe, I'd leave the pail beside the cow, I'd leave the furrow beneath the plough, I'd leave the ducks tho' they should quack, " Our eggs will be stolen before you're back " ; I'd buy a diamond brooch, a ring, A chain of gold that I would fling Around her neck. . . . Ah, what an itch. If I were rich ! 66 TOMAS CAM 67 What would I do if I were wise ? I would not debate about the skies, Nor would I try a book to write, Or find the wrong in the tangled right, I would not debate with learned men Of how, and what, and why, and when ; I'd train my tongue to a linnet's song, I'd learn the words that couldn't go wrong — And then I'd say . . . And win the prize, If I were wise ! But I'm not that nor t'other, I bow My back to the work that's waiting now. I'll shoe the horse that's standing ready, I'll milk the cow if she'll be steady, I'll follow the plough that turns the loam, I'll watch the ducks don't lay from home. 68 TOMAS CAM — And I'll curse, and curse, and curse again Till the devil joins in with his big amen, And none but he and I will wot When the heart within me starts to rot, To fester and churn its ugly brew — . . . Where's my spade ? I've work to do. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME She watched the blaze, And so I said the thing I'd come to say, Pondered for days. Her Ups moved slow, And the wide eye she flashed on me Was sudden as a blow. She turned again. Her hands clasping her knees and did not speak : She did not deign. And I, poor gnome ! A chided cur crawls to a hole to hide : ... I toddled home. SHAME I WAS ashamed, I dared not lift my eyes, I could not bear to look upon the skies ; What I had done ! sure, everybody knew ! From everywhere hands pointed where I stood. And scornful eyes were piercing through and through The moody armour of my hardihood. I heard their voices too, each word an asp That buzz'd and stung me sudden as a flame : 70 SHAME 71 And all the world was jolting on my name, And now and then there came a wicked rasp Of laughter, jarring me to deeper shame. And then I looked, but there was no one nigh. No eyes that stabbed like swords or glinted sly, No laughter creaking on the silent air : And then I found that I was all alone Facing my soul, and next I was aware That this mad mockery was all my own. I WISH I WISH I had not grown to man's estate, I wish I was a silly urchin still, With bounding pulses and a heart elate To meet whatever came of good or ill. Of good or ill ! not knowing what was good. But groping to a better than I knew, And guessing deeper than I under- stood, And hoping truths that never could be true. Of good or ill ! when, so it often seems, There is no good at all but only ill. 72 I WISH 73 Alas, the sunny summer - time of dreams, The dragons I had nerved my hand to kill, The maids I might have rescued, and the queen Whose champion long ago I could have been. SECRETS When I was young I used to think, That every eye peered through a chink, And every man was hid behind His own thick self where none could find. That every woman in the street. Looking fair and smiling sweet, Was maybe hiding thoughts that were Not quite so sweet, nor quite so fair As her kind smile and blossom face ; She hid in some forgotten place Within herself and would not dare To let another see her there. And though I'm older still I see In every face a mystery. 74 CROOKED-HEART I LOOSED an arrow from my bow Down into the world below ; Thinking *' This will surely dart, Guided by my guiding fate, Into the malignant heart Of the person whom I hate." So by hatred feathered well Swift the flashing arrow fell : And I watched it from above Disappear Cleaving sheer Through the only heart I love. Such the guard my angels keep ! But my foe is guarded well : I have slain my love and weep Tears of blood, while he, asleep, Does not know an arrow fell ! 76 MAC DHOUL I SAW them all, I could have laughed out loud To see them at their capers ; That serious, solemn-footed, weighty crowd Of angels, or say resurrected drapers : Each with a thin flame swinging round his head. With lilting wings and eyes of holy dread, And curving ears strained for the great foot-fall. And not a thought of sin — . . . I don't know how I kept the laughter in. 76 MAC DHOUL 77 For I was there, Unknown, unguessed at, snug In a rose tree's branchy spurt. With two weeks' whisker blackening lug to lug, With tattered breeks and only half a shirt. Swollen fit to burst with laughter at the sight Of those dull angels drooping left and right Along the towering throne, each in a scare To hear His foot advance Huge from the cloud behind, all in a trance. And suddenly, As silent as a ghost, I jumped out from the bush, Went scooting through the glaring, nerveless host All petrified, all gaping in a hush : 78 MAC DHOUL Came to the throne and, nimble as a rat, Hopped up it, squatted close, and there I sat, Squirming with laughter till I had to cry, To see Him standing there Frozen with all His angels in a stare ! He raised His hand. His hand ! 'twas like a sky ! Gripped me in half a finger. Flipped me round and sent me spin- ning high Through screaming planets : faith, I didn't linger To scratch myself, and then adown I sped Scraping old moons and twisting heels and head, A chuckle in the void, till . . . here I stand As naked as a brick, I'll sing the Peeler and the Goat in half a tick. THE MERRY POLICEMAN I WAS appointed guardian by The Power that frowns along the sky, To watch the tree and see that none Plucked of the fruit that grew thereon. There was a robber in the tree, Who climbed as high as ever he Was able, at the top he knew The apple of all apples grew. The night was dark, the branch was thin, In every wind he heard the din Of angels calling — " Guardian, see That no one climbs upon the tree." 79 80 THE MERRY POLICEMAN And when he saw me standing there He shook with terror and despair, But I said to him — " Be at rest, The best to him who wants the best.' So I was sacked, but I have got A job in hell to keep me hot. THE FAIRY BOY A LITTLE Fairy in a tree Wrinkled his wee face at me : And he sang a song of joy All about a little boy, Who upon a winter night, On a midnight long ago, Had been wrapt away from sight Of the world and all its woe : Wrapt away, Snapt away To a place where children play In the sunlight every day. Where the winter is forbidden. Where no child may older grow. Where a flower is never hidden Underneath a pall of snow ; 81 G 82 THE FAIRY BOY Dancing gaily Free from sorrow, Under dancing summer skies, Where no grim mysterious morrow Ever comes to terrorize. This I told a priest and he Spoke a word of mystery, And with candle, book and bell. Tolling Latin like a knell, Ruthlessly From the tree. Sprinkling holy water round. He drove the Fairy down to hell, There in torment to be bound. So the tree is withered and There is sorrow on the land : But the devils milder grow Dancing gay Every day In that kinder land below : There the devils dance for joy And love that little wrinkled boy. WHAT THE DEVIL SAID It was the night time, God the Father Good, Weary of praises, on a sudden stood Up from His throne and leaned upon the sky, For He had heard a sound, a httle cry. Thin as a whisper chmbing up the steep. And He looked down to where the Earth asleep Rocked with the moon, He saw the whirling sea Swing round the world in surgent energy, 83 84 WHAT THE DEVIL SAID Tangling the moonlight in its netted foam, And nearer saw the white and fretted dome Of the ice-capped pole spin back again a ray- To whistling stars, bright as a wizard's day. But these He passed with eyes intently wide, Till closer still the mountains He espied Squatting tremendous on the broad- backed Earth ; Each nursing twenty rivers at a birth. And then minutely sought He for the cry Had climbed the slant of space so hugely high. He found it in a ditch outside a town, A tattered, hungry woman crouching down WHAT THE DEVIL SAID 85 By a dead babe — so there was nought to do, For what is done is done ; and baek He drew Sad to His Heaven of ivory and gold ; And as He sat, all suddenly there rolled From where the woman wept upon the sod Satan's deep voice, " thou unhappy God ! " TO THE TREE Ballad ! I have a message you must bear Unto a certain tree : I may not tell Where she abides, only, she is more fair Than any tree that grows down in a dell. Or on a mountain top, or by a well. Or as a lovely sentinel beside A roaming stream. No words can speak her well, Nor lyric sing enough her arms so wide, Her grace, her peace, her innocence, her happy pride. Come, Ballad, quickly back to me again, 86 TO THE TREE 87 After you have delivered to the tree My humble serviee, and if she will deign To trust you with a message baek, then see You strietly do forget no word that she May speak to you, no smallest yes or no : And what she looked like when she spoke of me, And if she begged you stay or bade you go, Or hesitated ere she said — what you shall know. Say — I shall be with her ere day is done, When the flushed evening blanehes to the dark. And one last gleam of all that was the sun Rests on her topmost branehes, w^hen the lark Dips to the dew-steeped grasses in the park 88 TO THE TREE And only now and then sends from below A sleepy song : then, swift as to the mark An arrow flies, so swiftly will I go Nor stay until her branches wide I halt below. There is a crow, of sly and wicked fame. Who, with Apollo's aid, I hope to slay, For he has dared and come nigh to my dame And in her heart would hide him well away : A wicked crow is he and hoary-grey ; He listens to the life that throbs so fleet Along the trunk and by the slender way Of her young veins whereat the branches meet : A curious, bad, old, wicked crow and indiscreet. TO THE TREE 89 Of every tree most beautiful and queen ! The grasses at her feet hve in her glee, About her all the forest folk are seen ; The timid nymph bends there a ready knee, And mighty Pan himself, unwillingly, Yet all perforce, must stoop before her grace, And round about in a wild ecstasy The light-foot satyrs (stayed from an embrace) Stare shamefully and dance and mince with antic pace. Fortress of melody ! Well hidden heart ! Deep bosomed lady whom I love so well ! Dear solitude of singer without art ! Sweet shadiness wherein I long to dwell, Enrapt and comforted from any spell Of thought or care or woefulness or sin ; 90 TO THE TREE Or trouble which a man may not fore- tell ; Or slothful ease which it is death to win ; Or fear that cometh at the last and creepeth in. If you among her little leaves will fly And what they whisper bring to me again, Dear Ballad, I will write your history Upon a sheepskin with a golden pen ; It shall be read by women and by men : Each youth will sing it to his paramour As they go roving in the evening when All joy is innocence and love is lore, And you and youth and love will live for evermore. Rapture and joy and ecstasy and pain ! The windy trumpets of the void shall soar Over the sky. The Morning Stars again TO THP: tree 91 Will sing together joyous as of yore : The sea shall tramp with banners on the shore : The little hills skip merrily along The forest leave its field and with a roar Stride down the pathway shouting out a song, And everything be happy as the day is long. Envoi Ballad, farewell ! go tell her that I burn. Say that I die if she refuses me : And I shall wait and sigh till you return, And plague the god of life and love to favour me. ORA PRO NOBIS A BIRD sings now ; Merrily Sings he Of his mate on the bough. And her eggs in the tree ; But yonder a hawk Swoops out of the blue And the singing is over — Is this true ? God now have mercy on me and on you. 92 THE END OF THE ROAD To JE, This is a thing is true, Everything comes to an end : The loving of me and you, The walking of friend and friend. Shall I weep the beauty I knew, Or the greatness gathered away Or the truth that is only true. As the things that a man will say ? The child and the mother will die, The wife and husband sever. The sun will go out of the sky. And the rain will be falling for ever. 93 94 THE END OF THE ROAD For ever until the waves rear To the skies with a terrible tune, And cover the earth and the air, And wash up the beach of the moon. Then go, for all things must end. And this is true as I say — A friend will be leaving a friend. And a man will be going away. WIND AND TREE To M. *' A WOMAN is a branchy tree And man a singing wind, And from her branches carelessly He takes what he can find : Then wind and man go far away While winter comes with loneliness, With cold and rain and slow decay On woman and on tree till they Droop to the ground again and be A withered woman, a withered tree ; While wind and man woo undismayed Another tree, another maid." 95 EVE Long ago, in ages grey, I was fashioned out of clay : Builded with the sun and moon, Kneaded to a holy tune ; And there came to me a breath From the House of Life and Death. Then the sun roared into fire, And the moon with swift desire Leaped among the starry throng Singing on her journey long ; And I climbed up from the sod. Holding to the hand of God. In a garden fair and wide Looking down a mountain side. Prone I lay and felt the press Of Immensity's caress, 96 EVE 97 There I lived a space and knew What the Power meant to do. Till upon a day there came Down to me a voice of flame, " Thou the corner-stone of man, Rise and set about my plan. Nothing doubting, for a guide I have quickened in thy side." From the garden wide and fair. From the pure and holy air, Down the mountain side I crept Stumbling often, ill-adept ; Feeling pangs of woeful bliss, Rounding from the primal kiss. Then from out my straining side Came the son who is my guide : Him I nursed through faithful days Till I faltered at his gaze. Staring boldly when he saw I was woman, life, and law. H 98 EVE Life and law and dear delight : I the moon upon the night All alluring : I the tree Growing nuts of mystery : I the tincture and the dew That the apple reddens through. Weaving Life and Death I go : Building what I do not know : Planting tho' in sore distress, Gardens in the wilderness : Palaces too big to scan By the little eye of man. Still the sun roars out in fire, And the moon with pale desire Keeps the path appointed her In the starry theatre : Sun and moon and I are true, To the work we have to do. THE BREATH OF LIFE {To Elizabeth Bloxham) And while they talked and talked, and while they sal Changing their base minds into baser coin ; And telling — they ! how truth and beauty join, And how a certain this was good, but that Was baser than the viper or the toad. Or the blind beggar glaring down the road. I turned from them in fury, and I ran To where the moon shone out upon the height, 99 100 THE BREATH OF LIFE Down the long reaches of a summer night Stretching slim fingers, and the starry- clan Grew thicker than the flowers that we see Clustered in quiet fields of greenery. The quietudes that sunder star from star, The hazy distances of loneliness. Where never eagle's wing or timid press Of lark or wren could venture, and the far Profundities un travelled and unstirred By any act of man or thought or word. These held me with amazement and delight : I yearned up through the spaces of the sky, Beyond the rolling clouds, beyond the high THE BREATH OF LIFE 101 And delicate white moon, and up the height, And past the rocking stars, and out to where The aether failed in spaces sharp and bare. The breath that is the very breath of life Throbbed close to me : I heard the pulses beat, That lift the universes into heat : The slow withdrawal, and the deeper strife Of His wide respiration, like a sea It ebbed and flooded through im- mensity. The Breath of Life in wave on mighty wave ! O moon and stars swell to a raptured song ! Ye mountains toss the harmony along ! 102 THE BREATH OF LIFE O little men with little souls to save Swing up glad chantings, ring the skies above, With boundless gratitude for bound- less love ! Probing the ocean to its steepest drop ; Rejoicing in the viper and the toad, And the blind beggar glaring down the road ; And they who talk and talk and never stop Equally quickening ; with a care to bend The gnat's slant wing into a swifter end. iti * * * * The silence clung about me like a gift, The tender night-time folded me around Protectingly, and in a peace profound The clouds drooped slowly backward, drift on drift THE BREATH OF LIFE 103 Into the darkness, and the moon was gone, And soon the stars had vanished every- one. But on the sky, a handsbreadth in the west, A faint cold radiance crept and soared and spread. Until the rustling heavens overhead, And the grey trees and grass were manifest : Then through the chill a golden spear was hurled, And the great sun tossed laughter on the world. IN THE COOL OF THE EVENING I THOUGHT I heard Him calling ! Did you hear A sound, a little sound ? My curious ear Is dinned with flying noises, and the tree Goes — whisper, whisper, whisper silently. Till all its whispers spread into the sound Of a dull roar . . . Lie closer to the ground, The shade is deep and He may pass us by, We are so very small, and His great eye, 104 IN THE COOL OF EVENING 105 Customed to starry majesties, may gaze Too wide to spy us hiding in the maze : — Ah, misery ! the sun has not yet gone And we are naked : He will look upon Our crouching shame, may make us stand upright Burning in terror — O that it were night ! He may not come . . . What ? listen, listen, now — He's here ! lie closer . . . Adam, where art thou ? PSYCHOMETRIST I LISTENED to a man and he Had no word to say to me : Then unto a stone I bowed, And it spoke to me aloud. " The force that bindeth me so long, Once sang in the linnet's song. Now upon the ground I lie. While the centuries go by. " Linnets must for joy atone And be fastened into stone. While upon the waving tree Stones shall sing in energy." 106 THE WINGED TRAMP I SAW a poor man walking slow, Scarcely knowing where to go ; And from door to door he said, Unto those who stood within, — " Give me, with a little bread. Absolution for my sin." And the people always said, — " Friend, come in and eat our bread ; Lay you down and rest a while. Sleep a little time and pray Unto God and He will smile All your weighty sin away." Then the poor man rose and flew In the air, and no one knew 107 108 THE WINGED TRAMP That He was God's beloved Son : And He told His Father plain What the folk had said and done — So God spared the world again. THE MONKEY'S COUSIN I SHALL reach up, I shall grow Till the high gods say — " Hello, Little brother, you must stop Ere our shoulders you o'ertop." I shall grow up, I shall reach Till the little gods beseech — " Master, wait a little, do. We are running after you ! " I shall bulk and swell and scale Till the little gods shall quail. Running here and there to hide From the terror of my stride. 109 THE LONELY GOD {To Stephen MacKenna) So Eden was deserted, and at eve Into the quiet place God came to grieve. His face was sad, His hands hung slackly down Along His robe, too sorrowful to frown He paced along the grassy paths and through The silent trees, and where sweet flowers grew Tended by Adam. All the birds had gone Out to the world, and there was left not one To sing the lonely God out of His grief — 110 THE LONELY GOD 111 The silence broken only when a leaf Tapt lightly on a leaf, or when the wind, Slow-handed, swayed the bushes to its mind. And so along the base of a round hill, Rolling in fern, He bent His way until He neared the little hut which Adam made. And saw its dusky roof- tree overlaid With greenest leaves. Here Adam and his spouse Were wont to nestle in their little house Snug at the dew-time : here He, stand- ing sad, Sighed with the wind, nor any pleasure had In heavenly knowledge, for His dar- lings twain. Had gone from Him to learn the mode of pain, 112 THE LONELY GOD And what was meant by sorrow and despair, — Drear knowledge for a Father to prepare. There He looked sadly on the little place, A beehive round it was, without a trace Of occupant or owner : standing dim Among the gloomy trees it seemed to Him A final desolation, the last word Wherewith the lips of silence had been stirred. Chaste and remote, so tiny and so shy. So new withal, so lost to any eye. So pac't of memories all innocent Of days and nights that in it had been spent In blithe communion, Adam, Eve, and He, Afar from Heaven and its gaudery. THE LONELY GOD 113 And now no more ! He still must be the God But not the friend ; a Father with a rod Whose voice was fear, whose counte- nance a threat, Whose coming terror, and whose going wet With penitential tears ; not evermore Would they run forth to meet Him as before With careless laughter, striving each to be First to His hand and dancing in their glee To see Him coming — They would hide instead At His approach, or stand and hang the head, Speaking in whispers, and would learn to pray Instead of asking, "Father, if we may." 114 THE LONELY GOD Never again to Eden would He haste At cool of evening, when the sun had paced Back from the tree-tops, slanting from the rim Of a low cloud, what time the twilight dim, Knit tree to tree in shadow, gathering slow Till all had met and vanished in the flow Of dusky silence, and a brooding star Stared at the growing darkness from afar. While haply now and then some nested bird Would lift upon the air a sleepy word Most musical, or swing its airy bed To the high moon that drifted over- head. 'Twas good to quit at evening His great throne, THE LONELY GOD 115 To lay His crown aside, and all alone To stoop down quiet airs at eventide Unkenned by angels : silently to hide In the green fields, by dappled shades, where brooks, Through leafy solitudes and quiet nooks Flowed far from heavenly majesty and pride, From light astounding and the wheel- ing tide Of roaring stars. Thus does it ever seem Good to the best to stay aside and dream In narrow places, where the hand can feel Something beside, and know that it is real. His angels ! Silly creatures who could sing And sing again, and delicately fling I 2 116 THE LONELY GOD The smoky censer, bow and stand aside All mute in adoration : thronging wide, Till nowhere could He look but soon He saw An angel bending humbly to the law Mechanic ; knowing nothing more of pain. Than when they were forbid to sing again, Or swing anew the censer, or bow down, In humble adoration of His frown. This was the thought in Eden as He trod ... It is a lonely thing to be a God. So long ! Afar through Time He bent His mind, For the beginning, which He could not find. THE LONELY GOD 117 Through endless centuries and back- wards still Endless for ever, till His 'stonied will Halted in circles, dizzied in the swing Of mazy nothingness — His mind could bring Not to subjection, grip or hold the theme Whose wide horizon melted like a dream To thinnest edges. Infinite behind The piling centuries were trodden blind In gulfs chaotic — so He could not see When He was not who always had To Be. O solitude unspeakable ! to be For ever with oneself ! never to see An equal face, or feel an equal hand, To sit in state and issue reprimand. Admonishment or glory, and to smile Disdaining what has happened the while ! 118 THE LONELY GOD O to be breast to breast against a foe ! Against a friend ! to strive and not to know The laboiired outcome : Love nor be aware How much the other loved, and greatly care With passion for that happy love or hate, Nor know what joy or dole was hid in fate. " For I have ranged the spacy width and gone Swift north and south, striving to look upon An ending somewhere. Many days I sped Hard to the west, a thousand years I fled Eastwards in fury, but I could not find The fringes of the Infinite. Behind THE LONELY GOD 119 And yet behind, and ever at the end Came new beginnings, paths that did not wend To anywhere were there : and ever vast And vaster spaces opened — till at last Dizzied with distance, thrilling to a pain Unnameable, I turned to Heaven again. " And there My angels were prepared to fling The cloudy incense, there prepared to sing My praise and glory — O, in fury I Then roared them senseless, then threw down the sky And stamped upon it, buffeted a star With My great fist, and flung the sun afar : Shouted My anger till the mighty sound Rung to the width, frighting the furthest bound 120 THE LONELY GOD And scope of hearing : tumult vaster still, Thronging the echo, dinned my ears, until I fled in silence, seeking out a place To hide Me from the very thought of Space. " And so," He thought, " in Mine own Image I Have made a man, remote from Heaven high And all its humble angels : I have poured My essence in his nostrils : I have cored His heart with My own spirit ; part of Me His mind with laboured growth un- ceasingly Must strive to equal Mine ; must ever grow By virtue of My essence till he know THE LONELY GOD 121 Both good and evil through the solemn test Of sin and retribution, till, with zest, He feels his godhead, soars to challenge Me In Mine own Heaven for supremacy. " Through savage beasts and still more savage clay, Invincible, I bid him fight a way To greater battles, crawling through defeat Into defeat again : ordained to meet Disaster in disaster : prone to fall I prick him with My memory to call Defiance at his victor and arise With anguished fury to his greater size Through tribulation, terror and despair Astounded, he must fight to higher air, Climb battle into battle till he be Confronted with a flaming sword and Me. 122 THE LONELY GOD " The topmost blossom of his growing I Shall take unto Me, cherish and lift high Beside Myself upon My holy throne : — It is not good for God to be alone. The perfect woman of his perfect race Shall sit beside Me in the highest place And be My Goddess, Queen, Com- panion, Wife, The rounder of My majesty, the life, Of My ambition. She will smile to see Me bending down in worship at her knee Who never bent before, and she will say, — " Dear God, who was it taught Thee how to pray ? " "And through eternity, adown the slope Of never-ending time, compact of hope. Of zest and young enjoyment, I and She Will walk together, sowing jollity THE LONELY GOD 123 Among the raving stars, and laughter through The vacancies of Heaven, till the blue Vast amplitudes of space lift up a song, The echo of our presence, rolled along And ever rolling where the planets sing The majesty and glory of the King. Then conquered, thou, eternity, shall lie Under my hand as little as a fly." Then stooping to the hut — a beehive round — God entered in and saw upon the ground The dusty garland, Adam, (learned to weave) Had loving placed upon the head of Eve Before the terror came, when joyous they Could look for God at closing of the day 124 THE LONELY GOD Profound and happy. So the Mighty- Guest Bent, took, and placed the blossoms in His breast. " This," said He gently, " I shall show My queen When she hath grown to Me in space serene, And say ' 'twas worn by Eve.' " So, smiling fair, He spread abroad His wings upon the air. THE END Printed in Great Britain *y R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh, UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY !i||l!l{i jij i|! 11 III! II II II 11 pi Hill AA 000 642 437 8