n tr _ By JAMES TERRY WHITE FLOWERS FROM ARCADIA CAPTIVE MEMORIES FOR LOVERS AND OTHERS CHARACTER LESSONS FROM AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY A GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE A Garden of Remembrance By JAMES TERRY WHITE NEW YORK JAMES T. WHITE & CO. 1918 ACKNOWLEDGMENT Grateful acknowledgment is made to the respective Publishers for permission to use the verses, which are reprinted from The Century, Harper's Monthly, Mun- sey*s, Ainslee's, Independent, Smart Set, Christian Register, New York Observer, Boston Transcript, New York Sun, Springfield Republican, Pacific Unitarian, Art World, and other periodicals. COPYRIGHT 1917 BY JAMES T. WHITE & Co. TS 3174- APPRECIATION "For one star differeth from another star in glory." Not all writers of verse make the same appeal to the same public. That which to some is strong meat, or perhaps a savoury tidbit, is to others caviare. It cannot be gainsaid that in these days there are many carvers and polishers of cherrystones, but if the results are good who shall proclaim the labor valueless? It is never safe to prophesy that this or that writer will be remembered and read in the far-reaching future. Her- rick, whom our author resembles in his joy of life and May-time spirit, has come safely down the stream of time in a tiny shallop, while the producer of many a ponderous epic has been engulfed beneath the tide. That the poems contained in this little volume are not great, in the sense that they are either epical or epochal, no one will more readily concede than their unassum ing author ; but that there are numerous s*weet and tender verses here, all of them informed with genuine lyrical fire, few who read them will deny. In the house of song there are many mansions some for the "mighty mouth'd inventors of harmonies," like the "organ- voiced" Milton, and some for those who breathe their delicate melodies through oaten straws. Not all of us would wish to sit forever listening to the tremendous music of the sea ; now and then a weary spirit loves 626174 to loiter by the brookside and hearken to the chiming of its fairy bells. So this unpretentious book needs no excuse for its being. It has the flavor of the day of Suckling, or Sydney, and the singer plays upon the chords of the heart with rare touch ; the delicacy of the verse reminds one of the exquisite ivory of old miniatures. Such lyrics as "Gentle Shepherdess of Sheep," "The Thought of You," "Sympathy," and "Elusive Happiness" will linger long in the memory. If we mistake not, musical composers will find here a veritable mine of suggestions and indeed many of these songs have already received a musical setting. The attentive reader will easily recall such unforgettable lines as "Like violets in an unexpected place." "And why should life the future dread? Love now hath immortality." "A blessedness that far outweighs The unforgotten pain," and there are many others equally quotable. The poems of a religious cast are characterized by a gravity and beauty of expression well befitting the solemn nature of their theme. But enough. The door is open. Let those who will, enter in. JAMES B. KENYON. CONTENTS. APPRECIATION V A GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE. PROEM 13 THE THOUGHT OF YOU 15 A TRYST WITH SPRING 16 BETWEEN MY THOUGHT AND THEE 17 BETWEEN THESE LEAVES 18 WHEN LOVE AND I WENT MAYING 19 THE FIRST KISS 19 THE WHOLE OF LIFE 20 THE FULLNESS OF DAYS 20 DREAMS 21 REMEMBRANCE 21 MY FIRST SWEETHEART 22 WHAT'S IN A NAME 22 LARGESSE 23 THE WILDERNESS WERE PARADISE ENOW 23 THE SONG WITHOUT WORDS 24 FROM A ROSEBUD 25 ASTRAY 26 A MEMORY OF ITALY 27 THE POET SINGS 28 REVISITED 29 THE FLOWERS OF JUNE 30 WHENCE IS THIS FRAGRANCE ? 30 ONLY AN IVY LEAF 31 CAN I FORGET ? 32 THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER 33 THERE ISN'T ANY ONE TO PLAY WITH ANY MORE 35 ONLY A LITTLE WHILE 36 THREE ANGELS 37 HOPE DEFERRED 37 THE UNFORGOTTEN PAIN 38 WITH LOVE FORGOT 38 MEMORIES OF CORTINA 39 THANKSGIVING . 40 SYMPATHY 41 NOT FOR ONE ONLY 41 I/ENVOI 42 IN SA'DI'S ROSE GARDEN. TO HOLD FAST MEMORY 44 IN SA'Dl'S ROSE GARDEN 45 I. DOTH FRAGRANCE VANISH WITH THE ROSE? 45 II. A BREATH OF HEALING 46 III. EACH MORN A THOUSAND ROSES BRINGS 46 IV. A GARDEN WRAITH 47 V. UNFULFILLED DESIRE 48 VI. THY PERFUMED HEART 49 VII. SEND ME A ROSE 50 VIII. A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT 50 IX. NOT BY BREAD ALONE 51 X. COMPANIONSHIP 51 XI. THE WORTH OF A FRIEND 52 XII. A GIFT OF FLOWERS 52 ELUSIVE HAPPINESS 53 THE BIRTH OF AFFECTION 54 SHE GAVE ME A ROSE 55 PROPOSAL 56 SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT 56 A SUPPLIANT 57 IN SPRING'S DISGUISE 58 THE CLUE 58 MY FRIEND 59 CAMARADERIE 60 SONG 61 THE JOY OF LOVING 62 BEAUTY 63 YET SHE HEARS NOT 64 LOVE'S RECOMPENSE 65 L'ENVOI 66 IN ARCADY. TO ARCADY HAST NEVER BEEN ? 68 POETRY 69 THE TRANSFORMATION 70 SOMEBODY 70 THE BLUE BIRD 71 THE BLUE BIRD'S RETURN 72 THOU SHALT CALL AND I WILL ANSWER 73 COMPLAINT TO SPRING 74 SPRING'S RETURN 75 ADMIRATION 76 WHEN IT IS DAY 76 REFUSAL 77 THY FACE 77 EXILED FROM LOVE 78 ONLY THE SONG 78 WHEN LOVE IS DONE 79 AUF WIEDERSEHEN 79 "SEND FOR ME" 80 THE ECHO OF A SONG 81 THE SNOW IS IN MY HAIR 82 JUNE IN CORTINA 83 ABSENCE 84 THE UNATTAINED 84 TO KNOW LOVE CARETH STILL 85 LOVE'S SONG SINGS EVER 85 ENTREATY ' 86 MARRIAGE 87 EPITHALAMIUM 88 PATERNITY 89 BIRTHDAY 90 MORE TO BE DESIRED THAN GOLD 91 CHRISTMAS 92 TRUE PATRIOTISM 93 NEW YEAR 94 MUSIC IN THE AIR 95 L'ENVOI 96 AFTERGLOW. THE SYMBOL . 98 CONSIDER THE LILIES 99 WHAT THE CHILD-SOUL SAID TO THE MOTHER 100 WHY FEAR ? 101 EASTER 103 A WHISPER OF HEAVEN 104 THEN COMETH THE NIGHT 104 THE CALL OF THE SEA 105 SINGING HARP-STRINGS 106 A BRIDAL SONG 106 HEAVEN IS HERE 107 THE DIVINE SECRET 108 THE VISION FROM THE HEIGHTS 109 THE MOUNTAINS ARE HIS TEMPLE 110 THE NEW DAWN Ill AN EASTER THOUGHT 112 HEAVEN ENFOLDS US ALL 112 IN HIS SERVICE 112 LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW 113 SUFFER THE CHILDREN 114 A GOLDEN WEDDING 115 THE MASTER SAITH 116 LOVE'S ETERNAL TROTH 117 EYE HATH NOT SEEN 118 BE YE COMFORTED 119 TRUST 120 PARTING 121 TRANSLATIONS 122 THE FEET OF CLAY 123 "AND KEEP THE DOOR AJAR" 123 BEYOND THE WALL 124 IF HEARTS ARE DUST 125 LIFE MAY HAVE NEED OF DEATH 126 HOPE 127 HOLD THOU MY HANDS 128 EVENTIDE 129 THE CALLING VOICES 130 SUNSET 131 L'ENVOI .132 A GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE "The heart is a garden; remembrance is its sweetest flower." PROEM SINGER sitting in the sun Found that the gift of love outweighs All others when the day is done, And is the only joy that stays. Because his soul's affections stir, To him the rose but typified The charm and loveliness of her Whose beauty blessed and satisfied. He knew love's tender touch and "Hail," That turn earth's mournful sigh to smile; He saw the vision of the Grail, And so he sang of love, the while. He felt that in the ordered round Of Nature, life is incomplete, If soul is by no Future crowned, And so this hope his songs repeat. He strove on chords of tenderness To play, if haply he who hears May find a quiet happiness That banishes regret and tears. Though in the structure of his lays There be no minaret nor spire, IVithin, the incense and the praise May quicken all the soul's desire. These songs keep whispering in my ear, From every bird and rill and tree, Of memories so sweet and dear, I needs must strive, with smile and tear, To tempt them to captivity. Bound into verse, they are the fee Most willingly my glad heart pays Unto the boatman, Memory, Who ferries me o'er time to thee, The inspiration of my lays. THE THOUGHT OF YOU I THOUGHT of you; What wireless voices of the air Insistent beat upon my ear, Till, somehow, I am made aware Of you. and know that you are near, Because I thought of you. I think of you; And the sweet thought a fragrance lends To every place where I may be ; So sweet I know that it portends That you are thinking, too, of me, The while I think of you. I think of you ; And I forget life's sordid whirl, The thwarted hope, the baffled aim, In the enjoyment of that Pearl Beyond the price of wealth and fame, I have received from you. The thought of you Fond memories and hopes it blends ; From sore dejection keeps me free; It for your absence makes amends To know that you still think of me, And wake my thought of you. 15 My thought of you Even love not more of joy reveals Unto my heart; and is love aught But what the heart perceives and feels, And then makes captive to the thought As mine enfoldeth you? A TRYST WITH SPRING THERE is magic in the sunshine, There's a spell in every breeze ; There's a call in leaf and blossom For a tryst with flowers and trees, And a witchery of fragrance Breathes enchantment on the air. Is the lure, the flowers and fragrance? Or, the hope to find you there? 16 BETWEEN MY THOUGHT AND THEE THE past hath boasted of its wonders seven; The present hath its marvels yet more fair, Of wireless bridges of the sentient air, Of foaming torrents spanned and mountains riven; But I have reared a structure, rarer even, That reaches to the skies an ethereal stair, Whose deep foundations rest upon my care The bridge between my thought and thee and Heaven. Vain boast, that I this marvel have achieved; Such graceful shafts of beauty I ne'er planned, Such arches, with their golden pillars, sheaved Of sunshine, and with loveliness o'er-spanned, And towers of blessedness I ne'er conceived; Nay, nayl I builded not, it was thy hand. 17 BETWEEN THESE LEAVES BETWEEN these leaves a fruitage grows, Which in perpetual sunshine glows; It cheers the heart, dries tear-filled eyes, And with a breath of Paradise Scents every breeze that through them blows. Besides this harvest which bestows On all refreshment and respose, For you, another hidden lies Between these leaves : Friendship, untouched by winter snows ; Ripened affection that outgrows This earthly clime, and death defies ; And memories these but comprise A tithe of what my thoughts enclose Between these leaves. WHEN LOVE AND I WENT MAYING WHEN Love and I went maying, all ablaze With beauty were the woods, and blooming sprays Dropped showers of petaled sweetness on the air. I never knew the world could be so fair, Or that the May could pipe such tuneful lays. And heart and soul were lost in such a maze Of happiness, that evening's purple haze Stole down on that fair day, all unaware, When Love and I went maying. I said to Love, "Let us not part; our ways Are one." Love looked at me with wistful gaze, And answered, "Where thou farest I will fare." And Love has kept through life that promised care ; But memory treasures still those perfumed days, When Love and I went maying. THE FIRST KISS IS touch of lips all of a kiss? It is a touch of hearts, a thought Of heaven, a golden woof of bliss Into life's homely warp enwrought. Thereafter, life is never quite the same; That thread of gold embroiders it with flame. 19 THE WHOLE OF LIFE TO some a little thing love seems ; To me it is the whole of life's pursuit, The only inspiration of my lute; Love opens vistas of delights, Leads me to unimagined heights Of happiness, and vouchsafes gleams That lift my thoughts to lovelier dreams ; It brings new ravishment From ever fresh displays of charm and grace, Like the enticing scent Of violets in an unexpected place. THE FULLNESS OF DAYS NO longer uneventful are my days; So full are they of pageants of the past, So crowded with sweet thoughts that tune my lays, So redolent of a remembered rose That blossomed in youth's garden and still blows Each day seems more transcendent than 'the last. 20 DREAMS GENTLE shepherdess of dreams, From the vales of singing streams, From the mountains of delight, Gather in my heart to-night All the scattered flocks of bliss, Folded in love's fostering kiss ! Pastured thus in memory, Why should I seek Arcady? Let me send, sweet friend, to you Garlanded with violets blue, These dear waifs if haply they In your memory may stay. As they crowd about your feet, Heed your footsteps, I entreat, And step lightly, as beseems, Lest you tread upon love's dreams. REMEMBRANCE IS there in your "heart's garden" Remembrance of a rose That still persists in blooming, Despite of winter snows? 21 MY FIRST SWEETHEART YEARS cannot dull the thoughts I hold Of days when at her side was heaven; But she was only twelve years old, And I I was not yet eleven. Though sunset's sheen is in her hair, The dew of morning yet remains ; And still, of time all unaware, Her heart the bloom of youth retains. Her hands still keep their 'customed zeal Such kindly hands that never knew, So stirred with their desire to heal, That aught were easier to do. Yet with the change, I only see That little girl of long ago, Feel her responsive lips ah me! Can age the bliss of youth outgrow! WHAT'S IN A NAME? ENTANGLED in these simple, singing chimes Lingers a memory of olden times, Lost for a while, but later found again; Enshrined within my mind and heart, my pen Needs but her name to beautify the rhymes. 22 LARGESSE WHY is it thoughts of her take wing In every place? That in my heart the birds all sing? That lovely objects ever bring To me her face, To which new charms and beauty cling With added grace? And when I seek love's blessedness To realize, 'Tis not that I her heart possess, It is in my own love's largesse The great joy lies That I myself may love and bless, And kiss her eyes. THE WILDERNESS WERE PARADISE ENOW THE nightingale all through the night Responsive sings with silver throat, But how can I sweet songs indite, Without an answering note? Sometimes I dream the bird has flown, So deep and lone the silence reigns; Yet, how can I e'er be alone, When memory remains? Set to music by Lisa Lehman. 23 THE SONG WITHOUT WORDS LURED by conspiring skies and breeze, We strolled beneath remembered trees, To take our last farewell. The witching stillness of the wood Made even silence understood, So much we dared not tell ; For now the time had come to part, And that we both possessed a heart Alas 1 we had forgot. We looked into each other's eyes, And both saw there the Paradise Forbidden to our lot. Yet heart clasped heart and lip met lip, In seal of soul's companionship, Forgetting 'twas farewell. Then coming from I know not where A song filled all the summer air, And bound me in its spell. Was it a bird that sang that song, Which in my memory has dwelt long, And which still satisfies? Was it a bird, or my own heart? For now it seems no more a part Of wood, or breeze, or skies. 24 Though years have sped, and fate ordains We ne'er shall meet, that tryst remains A fadeless immortelle; And ever in my heart that song Sings on, hope's promise to prolong, Regardless of farewell. FROM A ROSEBUD WHO from a rosebud can bring forth a rose? Yet cometh one with a song and a smile, And in its bosom an ecstasy glows, Thrilling its heart till its petals unclose, And with its fragrance love-longings beguile. Only a smile and a song I But wherein Lies the great secret the key to this power? Deeper than life must its birth-throes begin ; Soul must meet soul where the nebulae spin; Hearts must be one, to engender love's flower. 25 A ASTRAY KISS is but a fleeting thing A singing bird upon the wing; And yet, remembered through the years, Remembered with both joy and tears. Tis like the Alpine gentian flower; Though seeming born but for an hour, Its roots reach to the Tyrol's heart, And take of its immortal part. Affection loses half its bliss, If not companioned with a kiss ; And life is lonely, if bereft Of the sweet guerdon love has left. The kisses that keep flowers abloom In life's deserted, empty room, Too rarely to the heart come nigh For one to lightly pass them by. And in each heart there is a grave, Where bended knees forever crave Some alms of memory, to repay For one lost kiss that went astray. But if it be one singing bird Across the distance still is heard, What wraith of hopelessness can rise To cloud the path to Paradise? 26 So, though it be a fleeting thing A singing bird upon the wing, Take heed it goeth not astray, For you may need that kiss some day. A MEMORY OF ITALY IN the still depths of her clear eyes I see Tyrolean lakes of blue, And know not whether 'tis the hue, Reflected from Italian skies, Or from her heart's deep tenderness. I see again cathedral heights New tinted with a glowing sheen, And know not whether 'tis a scene Remembered, or the newer lights Of a transfigured happiness. 27 THE POET SINGS THE poet sings perchance of woods and streams, And the poor prisoner, bound in city walls, Forgets the bondage of his lot, and dreams He hears again the far-off forest-calls, The lullaby of brooks and waterfalls, And sees Heaven's stair in sunlight's slanting beams. The poet sings and quickened memory Rewakes the harmonies of past delights : Affection's half -forgotten melody, The wistful, wooing lay that love indites, The singing silence in the star-lit nights More musical than any mistrelsy. The poet sings and even listless ears Hear mingled melodies unheard till now: The harmony of the revolving spheres, The onward rush of life's adventurous prow, The benediction of the bending bough, The growing bond which all mankind endears. 28 REVISITED AS I retread the lane that stands Between my youth and Arcady, Even the grass waves welcome hands, And all the wild flowers nod to me. Again the birds tell where is hid A little nest beneath the eaves, And croon of nestlings, cradled mid The woven softness of its leaves. "The Pines" breathe low a boyhood air; "The Mall" brings back a lover's tryst; This gate recalls where golden hair, Entangled in my heart, was kissed. Each step with memories is rife, As I retread youth's dear domain ; What more is there to ask of life, When I go down this Lover's Lane? The absent ones, they are not dead; Unseen they come to welcome me; And why should life the future dread? Love now hath immortality. 29 THE FLOWERS OF JUNE THESE flowers of June The gates of memory unbar; These flowers of June Such old-time harmonies retune, I fain would keep the gates ajar, So full of sweet enchantment are These flowers of June. II Was it the bloom of the laurel sprays, That wakened remembrance of singing birds? Or, was it the charm of remembered words, That set my heart singing through somber days? I longed for the summer-time, flower and tree; And lo 1 the summer-time came with thee. The bloom is no more, but the charm still stays. WHENCE IS THIS FRAGRANCE? WHENCE is this fragrance, my senses delighting? Is it the roses, affection brings me Troth of the passionate Springtime replighting? Nay; 'tis my Thought from thinking of thee. 30 ONLY AN IVY LEAF! ONLY an ivy leaf! Remnant of dreams and of hope forward winging, Blown from my youth, sweet memories bringing, Keeping my heart from grief, Keeping the rapture, when life was all singing, Love but a kiss and its fragrance still clinging, All from an ivy leaf ! Only an ivy leaf ? Thousands of yesterdays hide in its keeping; Years only add to the measure still heaping Surety to heart's belief. I have made truce with death : there'll be no weeping, If at the end, love will bring to my reaping Only this ivy leaf. Only an ivy leaf Out of the past. While its joy still confessing, Out of the present comes new efflorescing, Even though held in fief Just for companionship. Ah ! but the blessing, If from your bounty my thought were caressing Only an ivy leaf ! 31 CAN I FORGET? CAN I forget the fragrance, That perfumed all my way That turned the gray-haired winter Into perpetual May? Can I forget the soothing Of gentle, willing hands, That bound the wounds of failure With pity's healing bands? Can I forget the hand-clasp, When friendship was begun The smiles and tears of passion, The kiss, that made us one? There may be a forgetting Of love and hope now fled, Of bliss and parting anguish, Dear heart when I am dead. 32 THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER OLOVE, teach me the prayer that Nature prays, While lowly kneeling, I seek celestial paths to truth and ways Of heavenly healing 1 Light Thou the lamp of love within my heart, And keep it burning! Not love of me, be made the greater part Of love's returning, But mine, that holdeth all humanity In its enfolding; That giveth all, in lavish charity, And nought withholding. The bees, the flowers, the grass touch heart and lip In constant wooing, And all earth's creatures seek companionship, Life's end pursuing. But these are loves not Love; so great a thing Is love eternal, Thought may not reach with utmost stretch of wing Its heights supernal; The stars are but the dust beneath Love's feet, Yet this immortal Can be held close between two hearts that meet Within life's portal, 33 And be enmeshed in the enfolding net Of earth's existence; Within the mother's arms its joy is set With sweet persistence; Friends clasp its hand, and wedded lives have part In its caresses; Great minds, deep natures and the pure in heart Find its recesses. The soul finds in this love a heavenly tie, Ever believing The intimations of the things that lie Beyond perceiving Not seen, but known ; of things not held, but felt ; Of things not measured In certainty, but in rich promise dealt, And in hope treasured. Love breathes eternity, and the soul knows By intuition, Love immortality on life bestows For its fruition. I/ENVOI To me there comes today assurance clear, Without restriction, That love finds its fruition even here And benediction; 34 How can I of Love's bounty be bereft, Or lose its blessing, When you a pearl of memory have left For my possessing? May love's clear flame be lighted in your heart For life's sojourning I And would that I had some small grace and art To keep it burning ! THERE ISN'T ANY ONE TO PLAY WITH ANY MORE (The Last Words of Mark Twain) THE glow is fading from the western sky, And one by one my comrades, as of yore, Have given up their play, and said, good-bye; There isn't any one to play with any more! Don't cry, dear heart! for I am worn and old; No longer have I gifts within my store; E'en love's best gifts to me, I could not hold ; There isn't any one to play with any more! I miss the tender hand-clasp of old friends, The kisses of the loved ones gone before; Tis lonely, when the heart first comprehends There isn't any one to play with any more! 35 ONLY A LITTLE WHILE ONLY a little while May we together stay, For onward both must fare Upon the way. Only a little while Can we our cheer prolong Your tender, helpful touch, My simple song! And when the day is done, And ashes quench the fire, We each will say, farewell, And slay desire. We go our separate ways ; But how can we forget, As the slow years go by, That we have met! For one, 'twill ever be A golden episode An oasis of rest, Upon the road. And you? how will it be With you? Can you forget? Will it, too, be a loss And a regret? 36 THREE ANGELS WHEN all the world was fair and life was new, Three angels came to me, who brought the clue To heaven. One was love by birth, divine; One, hope light of the way, and one was you. Love brought to earth the music of the spheres ; Hope bade the heart to listen through its tears ; And you you were the sweet interpreter Of Heaven's strains to earth's untutored ears. First you took flight. Earth had no witchery To tempt delight, or win affection's plea; Then hope lost heart, and with despairing tears Departed, leaving only love and me. But love has stayed with me the long way through ; And, disappointment's burden to undo, Has brought me new and not less dear delights The deathless memories of hope and you. HOPE DEFERRED EMPTY of happiness life slips away, Leaving deferred the hope I most esteem. Let not the winter sunset of my day Enfold me, with love's promise gone astray, Nor fail of the fulfillment of my dream 1 37 THE UNFORGOTTEN PAIN OLOVE thy flower I have pressed Against my heart all torn; But while it fondly was caressed, It pierced me with its thorn. That wound has left my heart forlorn, For ere I knew it pained, The flower faded with the morn, And only pain remained. My flower gathering is o'er; The autumn sunset wanes; The flowers I gathered are no more Only the pain remains. And yet the flower's fragrance stays; Its memories remain A blessedness, that far outweighs The unforgotten pain. WITH LOVE FORGOT OF all accomplishment dismembered Is life, with love forgot When I, alas! am unremembered, And I remember not. 38 MEMORIES OF CORTINA MEMORIES of Alpine heights, Argosies of wine and myrrh, Rarest of all rare delights Gather round the thought of her. Aromas of the hills and vines Rival her footsteps to proclaim ; Even in these simple lines Trails the fragrance of her name. My friend, I wonder if this Autumn rose About your path its pristine fragrance throws? Recalls a mingled scent of rose and rhyme, Garnered from memories of a summer-time? And e'en though fate may cast it in the mire, Reft of its trellis it will still aspire; E'en though it be tossed under heedless feet, To him who sends it 'twill be ever sweet. Must I blot out that golden gleam Athwart the pathway of delight ; Return to silence and the night; Give up that new-found Pearl, beyond All price, because my over-fond Restrainless hopes insistent dream E'en as the lilies in the bud Try their sweet promise to redeem? 39 THANKSGIVING WITHIN our hearts what happy memories well To-day, and a new thankfulness compel! The bygone years return with only their Remembered tenderness, and, unaware Of age and change, the old-time love retell. But while we feast, we cannot quite dispel Regret for lost ones whom we love so well. Yet why thus grieve? There is no vacant chair Within our hearts. Ahl friends, does not this constant love foretell A future greeting, for each last farewell? Even to-day we tread the Heavenly stair, And now their immortality we share, If our beloved ones thus ever dwell Within our hearts. 40 SYMPATHY SIMPLY a touch of the hand, One little word ; Sunshine spread over the land ; Then sang a bird. Sunshine may give place to rain, Hope be deferred; But through the loss and the pain, Still sings the bird. Set to music by Lisa Lehman. NOT FOR ONE ONLY NOT for One only although she be dearest; Not for the loved ones, affection has gained; But for all hearts, who have seen the Rose-vision, E'en though the Rose may be still unattained. For the forgotten whose love dream is over; Those, who still water dead flow'rs in love's room; For those glad lovers whose hopes are accomplished; For all who love are these rose-thoughts in bloom. More than my thought are these verses enfolding; Others will find, that for them they contain Memories sweet, that their own love is holding Holding in trust until hearts meet again. 41 L'ENVOI /KNOW the garment of my praise Is neither beautiful nor new; 'Tis made for warmth on wintry days; Still it may charm in other ways, For you will find, if hem you raise, The broidery of my thought of you. As greeting for life's festal days, I send these gathered thoughts, in lieu Of fading flowers or costly vase, To be, perchance, a song of praise A blessedness which with me stays, If I the joy may share with you. 42 IN SA'DFS ROSE GARDEN rO hold fast memory, trust not fleeting flowers To deck your wassail bowls and lover's bowers! These earth-born blossoms wither all too soon; A rose blooms only for a few short hours. But here, a book of roses has been made, In which the perfumes of the past are laid. When flowers wither then remembrance flies, But roses from this book will never fade. Paraphrased from the Preface of Sa'di's Guilistan." 44 IN SA'DI'S ROSE GARDEN I DOTH FRAGRANCE VANISH WITH THE ROSE? O HAPLESS Vase ! And how doth it befall Thy cast-out fragments so much scent enclose? This sweetness is not of myself at all, But once, O Sa'di, once I held a rose. Blest lot ! With me a sweetness also stays ; It scents the chamber of my dreams, and strows With happy, perfumed memories my days; Keeps life abloom. I, too, once held a Rose. How could these idle songs of mine perfume Another's empty vase ; or tune life's prose To poetry keep memory abloom With joy, unless I once had held a rose? 45 II A BREATH OF HEALING WHENCE comes this draught of healing for the soul With all the mystery of hope, the toll Of joy, and promise of such peace and rest, That makes life's broken chalice once more whole? Is it a breeze of lily-scented May From verdant plains ; or memories of Cathay That with the caravans of attar come? It is her bosom's fragrant breath astray? Ill EACH MORN A THOUSAND ROSES BRINGS SHE is so sweet, The clover-blossoms eager stand To kiss her feet; While I, who may not kiss her hand, Bless all the wild flowers in the land. She is so fair, The wanton breeze vies with the bee To kiss her hair; And all the froward world seems free To take what she denies to me. 46 IV A GARDEN WRAITH SWEET presence, that so charms my soul, Must thou forever be unviewed? Must thou my longing ne'er console My seeking arms always elude? Art thou a disembodied joy? Love's lost delight now sought in vain? A memory, time cannot cloy, Of passion's ecstasy and pain? No, Sa'di; but I can atone For life's arrears; my breath bestows A gift, to all but thee unknown; I am the Fragrance of a Rose. 47 V UNFULFILLED DESIRE AROSE; Life hath unnumbered roses strown Across my path ; and they were all so fair, I did not note if one, perchance, had thrown Its branches round my heart and still clings there. But once I found in far off Khorassan Earth's perfect bloom an exquisite, white rose; It blossomed high above the reach of man, Peerless and pure as its own mountain snows. Afar I watched its growth and grace sublime, Its ever-new surprises of delight Ah, Allah! if I could but upward climb Unto the rare perfection of that height! Still strive, Sa'di! To the unattained Thy poet soul forever must aspire; My virgin bloom to thee were naught, if gained; I am the Rose of unfulfilled desire. 48 VI THY PERFUMED HEART OROSE of my desire, through all my days The beauty of thy fragrant perfectness Will yearnings of the heart and soul upraise, And all the energies of mind impress. And if life's ministry may not suffice To gain what I have sought with utmost breath, Life even will I give to pay the price, And on glad wings will seek thee after death. For what is death? Only life's battle fought; A folding of the hands from care's release; A gathering mist o'erclouding sight and thought; Then Allah's greeting voice, With thee be peace! An interval of blissful, dreamless rest; And then a song voiced by the starry choir That wakens to new life; then thy white breast And perfumed heart, O Rose of my desire! 49 VII SEND ME A ROSE SEND me a rose imprinting A kiss of your content; What if its blush is hinting, The rose holds more than scent? A rose of your own tending That grafts your gentleness Upon its beauty, blending Its grace with your caress. May not one rosebud growing Within your garden close, Be trusted with the knowing Your kiss hides in the rose? VIII A PHANTOM OF DELIGHT IS it a rose, Or but a phantom of delight That only blows Upon imagination's height? Or a love-spell? Blent with the perfume of her heart, I cannot tell Its fragrance and her love apart. Within its bloom So much of joy it holds for me, There is but room In it for love and me and thee. 50 I IX NOT BY BREAD ALONE F thou of fortune be bereft, And thou dost find but two loaves left To thee sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. But not alone does beauty bide Where bloom and tint and fragrance hide; The minstrel's melody may feed Perhaps a more insistent need. But even beauty, howe'er blent To ear or eye, fails to content; Only the heart, with love afire, Can satisfy the soul's desire. X COMPANIONSHIP UE friendship brings the heart delight and rest, -L In which life's lasting memories are blent; Companionship is friendship at its best, And more it is fulfillment of love's quest, The consummation of the heart's content. 51 XI THE WORTH OF A FRIEND TEACH me, Beloved, how to make My life as beautiful as thine; Like thee, to live for others' sake, And share with all my oil and wine! Teach me, in lavish alms, like thee The harvest of my heart to spend! Nay! nay! No virtue is in me My inspiration is a Friend. Love taught that giving is to pray; That bounteous gifts increase one's store; And Hyacinths, if given away, But feed the famished soul the mart. XII A GIFT OF FLOWERS WILT thou befriend these flowers I send- A tribute all too slender For what thy thought to me hath brought Out of its lavish splendor? They're meant to grace an empty vase, And bear a fragrance tender; If lost, the scent, take the intent, With greetings of the sender. ELUSIVE HAPPINESS THIS faint aroma of the Box, Eluding all attempt to find Wherein it lies Is it love's spirit, memory locks In haunted chambers of the mind, When friendship dies? Or, is it the divine caress Love promises but ne'er bestows Which still invites? The phantom of a happiness That vanished with the earliest rose But yet delights? Is it the song of last year's bird? The ghost of the unspoken word Love ventured not, When love looked back, then went his way? The unvoiced word love meant to say And then forgot? 53 THE BIRTH OF AFFECTION WAS it a dream, Or, but a wakened singing bird? Why did it seem So like reality? It stirred My soul with its delicious strain To joy supreme Then fled to its retreat again. Was it a sigh, That from an overburdened heart Came wandering by? To give it shelter every art I tried, if I, perchance, its quest Might satisfy. But what have I for such a guest? Was it a smile? 'Twas tenderness and sweetness blent, Which all the while Like summer sunshine, came and went. Ah ! can I e'er obtain the grace, That may beguile Such sweetness from its hiding-place? 54 Was it a hope? It was a glimmer in the night, Wherein I grope, Which I would woo to brighter light Of comradeship. Could I but stand Within its scope, I then might find the Promised Land. What was it, dear? A dream? a hope? a smile? a sigh? It was sincere And fond affection's wistful cry; The warmth of friendship's genial fire And gentle cheer; The blossoming of heart's desire. SHE GAVE ME A ROSE SHE gave me a rose When I asked for a kiss ; Am I to suppose She gave me a rose, Her heart to disclose, Or my suit to dismiss? Yet she gave me a rose, When I asked for a kiss. PROPOSAL ABIDE with me, O gentle guest! Thy presence brings to me sweet rest; Thy hands bring soothing to my brow; Thy words such sympathy avow, Thy going leaves me all unblest. Still fairer shall thy bower be dressed; Anticipated each request; One song thy life shall be, if thou Abide with me. I would not longer have thee guest; I cannot hold thee uncaressed So near my heart. Sweet love, be thou My bride; Love's tenderest name allow, And ever in his happy nest Abide with me. Set to music by Ethelbert Nevin. SHIPS THAT PASS IN THE NIGHT WHEN we so near each other sail, And see the other's signal light, Must we miss one another's Hail, Like ships that pass in the night? 56 A SUPPLIANT HER face sometimes in deep regret Is sad, I know; Her eyes sometimes with tears are wet Like a dew-laden violet And overflow ; Her heart sometimes I grieve and yet I love her so. A suppliant, I tell my beads, With tears and sighs, Till her compassion intercedes With love, to pardon thoughtless deeds. My one joy flies If she my love no longer needs, And her love dies. And at her feet on bended knees In tears I pray, "Come back, come back ! Your own heart sees That life hath nought for me but lees With you away. I want that little flower, Heartsease, To keep for aye." 57 IN SPRING'S DISGUISE SHE came youth-bosomed, cherry-cheeked with sunshine, And all the flowers came forth to kiss her feet; The bees retuned their humming to her singing, And all the birds her song strove to repeat. She came, attired in apple-bloom and fragrance God's promise diademed upon her brow. Men saw her radiant youth, and called her, Springtime ; But Sweetheart, only I knew it was thou. THE CLUE WHEN my spirits droop low and life's strivings seem vain, It is you, who revives and uplifts them again; And the thread unto which I hold fast as the clue To lead back from this maze of dejection is you. 53 MY FRIEND MY gentle Friend : I call her "Friend" ; what other name A nearer fellowship can claim? A lover's ardor might confer A tenderer name awhile on her; A husband's pride for brief space might In some sweet, household name delight; But I I call her simply "Friend" The name in which all others blend. What doth she send? She sends approving words of cheer; To all my grief lends listening ear ; And burdens which she cannot share, With gentle counsel helps me bear. Whate'er our will, It lies not always in our power To light another's darkest hour; But to relieve and heal, while he Endures alone his agony This is true friendship's gift benign, And is above all gifts divine. This gift she is to me a rest, A joy, that ever makes me blest, And more blest still. And what have I to give my friend, Worth half the blessings that attend 59 Her constant ministry? Can I A single need of hers supply With my poor flowers? I only know, when I would bless, I must all loving words repress, Count every eager impulse vain ; What gifts can my poor hands contain, For her dark hours? I may but hold her till the end In that sweet, faithful word, "My Friend." CAMARADERIE I NOT frequent speech, nor even length of years Is it, on which a comradeship depends Nor ties of blood. A smile ofttimes endears; A pressure of the hand and we are friends. II A friend is the gift that one gives to one's self Too valued to be the gift of another; But far above wisdom or beauty or pelf Is a comrade the gift that we give to each other. 60 SONG COULD I but hide me in a rose, And, pillowed on her gentle breast, Against her maiden heart respose, And be unconsciously caressed! Could I but hide me in a rose, That I might in her bosom liel I would such gentleness disclose As would its tenderness outvie. Could I but hide me in a rose, That I might breathe about her heart The blithe contentment love bestows - Its joy and me she could not part! Could I but hide me in a rose, I would such blissful fragrance breathe, Her heart would waken, and, who knows? I might her bridal garland wreathe ! 61 THE JOY OF LOVING IS it so wonderful That from the round of daily strife, I rest awhile, and flowers cull To feed my hungry soul and life? The joy of a sweet memory Is not so great a mystery. But why should ever I complain, If in my love she hath no part? Sufficient unto me the gain, That she lives ever in my heart. The thought of her my soul inspires A ministry that never tires. Today the Springtime wakes again The flowers from winter's trance of snow ; The wine of youth is in each vein, Love's rose, close to my heart. What though She may no thought on me confer? I still have left my love for her. 62 BEAUTY SAID the rose unto the reed: "Thou art but a worthless weed; Why should'st thou to fame aspire, Who art sprung but from the mire? "Royal is my line and state ; Honored most at feast and fete; In every lover's heart a guest ; Chosen for my lady's breast; "Through all ages bards have sung In all lands, in every tongue Of my loveliness and grace, Granting me the honored place. "Why thus hold thy head so high? Thinkest thou with me to vie? Graceless offspring of the fen, Of what use art thou to men?" Said the reed: "Though graceless, thin, Man's chief helper I have been ; Guide to life and beauty when I, from reed, became a pen. "Wisdom could not learn, except By the records I have kept; E'en the poet's songs were naught, Till by me on tablets wrought; 63 "Need of me there was, to frame Even thy pretentious claim. Man owes all of his fair dower To the magic of my power." Said the poet: "Nay; the reed Ne'er conceived the pen. Indeed, Soul did not man's need disclose, Till he thought about a rose. "To detain that vision, then From the reed he shaped a pen; But the prompting thought man owes To the beauty of the rose. "But though beauty, more than skill, Wakes achievements of the will, Songs that seek the heart to win Come but from the soul within." YET SHE HEARS NOT MY Love! I call her through the empty woods, Adown the winds; and all my votive lays Reiterate her name in various moods ; Yet she hears not, but keeps accustomed ways. 6-1 LOVE'S RECOMPENSE WHILE through the years my songs were wrought From memories of love's tryst and tourney, To what a garden love hath brought My feet at last to end life's journey! In this fair garden of delight The roses of a lifetime bloom; And whether they be red or white, Each breathes its own distinct perfume. One holds the scent of love first born ; One hath the fragrance of a kiss, And one was on her bosom worn, And hath partaken of its bliss. One is that exquisite, white rose That opes on fancy's chastened heights A bloom of June mid mountain snows Which most of all the soul delights. Its charms of beauty, grace and scent, Such wealth and blessedness enclose, What garden could my soul content, That did not hold this ideal rose? 65 L'ENVOI Dear Friend, though seen by other eyes, Your heart must read through all disguise What hidden meaning underlies This fragrant greeting. For you these humble flowers grow; To you their sweet-breathed greetings go The message you already know Once more repeating. As summer's heat unfolds the rose, So will the heart's warm glow unclose That tender flower, that only blows From love's entreating; And, haply, as your footsteps wend These rose-twined paths, they will portend That you shall find your "journeys end In lovers meeting." 66 IN ARCADY rO Arcady hast never been? Then let me give .the mystic key The password that shall take thee in To Arcady. Love love that worketh charity; That holdeth all mankind as kin; That beareth human sympathy. Love is the only door therein; And love, the "open sesame," Whereby thou may'st an entrance win To Arcady. Set to music by Ethelbert Nevin. 68 POETRY CAN any one suppose The grafting of a rhyme Upon the end of prose, Makes feeble thoughts sublime? As well with scent propose To make a weed a rosel If one a fragrant rose Into the verse entwine, It is no longer prose; Even the simplest line Becomes a singing bird, With notes before unheard. A poem is a dream, Made real to him who hears ; It is a captured gleam From the unseen, that cheers, And puts the halo's grace Around the commonplace A glimpse of loveliness; A rapture that entreats, Though words but half express What the mind's eye completes, While a sweet music sings From subtly cadenced strings. 69 A poem is the song All human hearts translate And ne'er translate it wrong, Though inarticulate; And this is its high art It lingers in the heart. THE TRANSFORMATION MY heart was but a voiceless reed That nodded by a drowsy stream, Till thou didst fill it with thy breath Thy breath that waked it from its dream. And now it hath become a flute, That pipes how blest my life hath been More blest because accompanied By music thou hast breathed therein. SOMEBODY SOMEBODY keeps all my garden abloom, Bringing me treasures, both old and new; Somebody's pathway leaves a perfume, Which, when I follow it, leads me to you. Somebody sent me a beautiful rose Grown in the garden of her good will, But I am doubting if somebody knows Half of the need that her good wishes fill. 70 THE BLUE BIRD Maeterlinck's Bird of Happiness THE bird housed in my heart, what need Has he of more to satisfy With pinions from all bondage freed, And the illimitable sky? The edge of his far-reaching wings Revives my life with gentle beat, Heals with its soothing touch, and brings New strength unto my failing feet.* The bird's own self is in my song; And even the song is sweeter still When my own thought and feeling long The need of sympathy to fill. When love took flight, then fled the bird; But to the fugitive I cry, "Hast thou for me no lyric word That need and longing to supply?" I ask in turn the nomad cloud, The wandering wind, the homeless sea; Through woodland wastes I cry aloud, "O bird, hast thou forsaken me?" How can one ask a song from me, Who am but the poor instrument? * The eagle revives his sick mate by brushing her with the tips of his wings. 71 Ask it of Love, for only he The poet is, and can content. The bird flown from my heart, what need Had he of more to satisfy With pinions from all bondage freed, And the illimitable sky? THE BLUE BIRD'S RETURN OBLUE Bird, O wild bird, Where is thy place of nesting? I hear thy song, The way along But vain has been my questing. O Blue Bird, O blithe bird, I've found thy place of nesting; For when I sing Thy song, I bring An end to heart's unresting. O Blue Bird, O dream bird, My heart's thy place of nesting; For in heart's rest Is found thy nest, However vain life's questing. 72 THOU SHALT CALL, AND I WILL ANSWER Jeremiah XXXIII. 3. THUS said the Lord: "As sentinel, I stand to guard Love's citadel; When Evil's stealthy steps creep near That overwhelm thy heart with fear, And thou for help shalt call on me, Then surely I will answer thee." O Friend, who standest on the height, All panoplied in aureate light, To guard the way to love and truth Against the world's assault and ruth; When lurking foes my post assail And all my strength and courage fail Before those ambushed doubts and fears That sap the faith and trust of years ; When from my solitude I call For words of cheer to lift the pall, O thou, whose strength is tenderness, And whose commission is to bless Wilt thou not answer, and dispel That fearsome dread with, "All is well?" 73 COMPLAINT TO SPRING O SPRING, why lingerest thou so long, When all the birds should homeward wing Their way with hymeneal song, Thou laggard Spring? And what delayeth thee so long? Have birds forgotten to take wing, And thou art tethered to their song, Forgetful Spring? Is it the snow of mountain heights About the sleeping valley clings, And every peeping flower affrights That numbs thy wings? The little song-bird is a-cold; How can joy fill the notes he sings Without some sunshine to unfold His heart and wings? Cannot one timid flower grow, In spite of frost and cold, to bring Like the arbutus through the snow Promise of Spring? And yet, there is one blissful song, A never-ending song of Spring And birds of memory prolong Its ministering. 74 It is the sweetest song on earth, Which plays upon life's tenderest string- The song, remembering the birth Of love's sweet spring. SPRING'S RETURN SWEET Spring, thy bloom bedims the snow ; Thy fragrant breath is heaven inspired; Even Solomon was never so In beauty tired. Thou must have heard my wistful cry Through earth's remotest corners ring, That thou could'st even time outfly With thy fleet wing. With telepathic flash and speed. Before my song had ceased to sing In even my own ears, the need Was filled, dear Spring. ***** Ah ! Friend, while all greet Spring's return, 'Tis I am most delighted, now Through all disguises I discern That it is thou. 75 In thy fresh bloom and radiance, Thou bringest me a new content, For there is in thy winsome glance Spring's promise blent. ADMIRATION Sweetest eyes were ever seen. CAMOENS. "QWEETEST eyes were ever seen." ^J Could the poet e'er devise Rarer praise than gave Catrine, Sweetest eyes? And which are the sweetest eyes? Soft and melting, lustrous, keen, Merry or demure and wise? Eyes that shine with light serene, Mirrored from love's happy skies Like thine own, dear, are, I ween, Sweetest eyes. Set to music by Ethelbert Nevin. WHEN IT IS DAY NOT till the sunshine of her eyes Irradiates my heart and way; Not till the mists of absence rise Am I made conscious it is day. 76 REFUSAL TWAS said so tenderly, "No, dear, it cannot be" ; Her gentle sympathy Half the hurt mending. Still 'tis a grievous blow, And it is hard to know, After my caring so This is the ending. Ah, well ! another flower Child of both sun and shower, Earth's fairest, sweetest dower Mown by the Reaper ; Yet in my memory pent, Stays that sweet flower's scent; And all my prayers are blent With one, "God keep her." THY FACE God's own smile came out; That was thy face. BROWNING. O GENTLE friend that standest near My heart, if in my face be shown What seems to thee, God's smile 'tis, dear, But the reflection of thine own. 77 EXILED FROM LOVE EXILED indeed from love and joy! No more the sunshine of her eyes Will light the pathway of my hope To Paradise. What though God's angel drives me forth From peace, and all return denies 1 It is enough that I have been In Paradise. What though my heart forever ache! What though my eyes forever weep ! Her loving lips hath given me A kiss to keep. What exile can proscribe my thoughts, Or banish me from memory even? They will return, and through the bars Look into Heaven. ONLY THE SONG OF praise and fame alone the embers Make warm the singer's lot; It is the Song, the world remembers The singer is forgot. 78 WHEN LOVE IS DONE WHEN love is done, is nature's sigh; The Poet saith, "With dying sun The world's light dies" ; but all things die, When love is done. Love's skies with clouds are overrun; The birds of trustfulness fly by; Hope's blossoms wither one by one. What does the world's praise signify Or, what its prizes e'en when won? For me I only wish to die, When love is done. AUF WIEDERSEHEN WHY mourn the soon-departing rose? Doth not June say, Auf Wiedersehenf What more enrapturing words than those That whisper, "We shall meet again?" 79 "SEND FOR ME!" ND when you want me, send for me!' I wonder if you really meant, Or, only you did not foresee, All that was in this promise pent? How could I help but want you, dear, Who bring the sunshine to my room? Could I, but always want you near The rose that keeps my heart abloom ! What though it may not bloom for me! Its blessedness is not forsworn; While 'tis my joy the rose to see, 'Tis more to miss it, when 'tis gone. 80 THE ECHO OF A SONG YOU would not have me cease to sing? Do you not still some comfort find In these new melodies that wing Their constant flight from heart and mind? From somewhere echoing notes must come. If you forbid the singing, then If doomed forever to be dumb, The memory will sing again. And you, who have so fine an ear, Must be acquainted with that song; Has it no more the power to cheer? Or, have you heard the strains too long? If I my homage must forego, And I no more may ply my art, The song although unvoiced, you know Will still keep singing in my heart. 81 T THE SNOW IS IN MY HAIR HE snow is in my hair, the frost is in my frame, The hopes of youth, in age can never be the same. I would not have you suffer pain and vain regret, Perhaps 'twere better that we both should now forget, Though it has been a rare and wondrous episode Upon life's wearisome and uneventful road. But though, alas ! our hands must tear themselves apart. I still shall keep this lovely blossom of your heart, The sweetest, dearest gift of life, to me, e'en though To fullest bloom it may for neither of us grow. With such delight I hold you in my heart's esteem No minor chords can ever mar the happy dream. Tis only passion robs the casket of its gem, But my pure thought stoops but to kiss your garment's hem; The Primrose path my faithful feet have left untrod; That door I have kept locked, and left the key with God; It is to friendship all my votive lays belong, And no regretful tears shall interrupt this song; The memories of your ministry my life perfume, And how can I forget you made the desert bloom? 82 JUNE IN CORTINA DEAR departed June, Thou has left this boon My own heart with fragrance, joy and hope is still in tune. Was there ever known Rose that kept full blown For so long, with all its grace and beauty still unflown? Does it bring to you Memories anew, That still seek a resting place, and will not say, Adieu? Why must we thus part? Has the minstrel's art Failed to mend the broken strings that sang within your heart? Is affection lost? Can life pay the cost, If love, like a faded rose, from the heart be tossed? If it have not grace To fill the empty vase, Back on my own heart 'twill turn, for an abiding place. t) ABSENCE SWEET Friend, since you have gone away, The stitches in life's web are dropped; All uneventful is the day, The music in my heart is stopped, As humming of a summer bee Upon a broken window pane, When suddenly he is set free; Then silence comes to brood again. THE UNATTAINED I GAVE my winged steed full rein, And in imagination's skies Found what on earth I sought in vain For art may give what love denies. From life's desires the mind hath wrought A purer and diviner flame, Which even visualizes thought With new delights, beyond a name. This ideal love is what I've sought To fill my need, and be life's guest; Love were a dream, unless my thought Fulfilled the promise of the quest. 84 TO KNOW LOVE CARETH STILL I SENT my soul into the invisible, Some wistful word my far-off friend to tell; And this is what my soul brought back to me : To know love carcth still, and all is well. Though searching eyes thy face no longer see, My soul is never far, sweet friend, from thee. What though the hands be sundered? Heart to heart, In thought, love ever holdeth thee and me. LOVE'S SONG SINGS EVER IN the heart love's song sings ever, Though the eyes are brimmed with tears; Sings with an increasing sweetness. Through the echoing arch of years. And it stays, and haunts the silence, When heart's love is laid away, Like the singing harp-string's whisper, When the hands have ceased to play. Set to music by Liza Lehman. and G. Marschal Loepke. ENTREATY LOVE hath invited you and me A glimpse of Eden to restore To spend our lives in Arcady; If Love should seek to close the door, Why need affection wish to fly From fate and Love's divine behest? A willing prisoner am I If you are a contented guest. Love hath invited you and me, And waits God's word to close the door; And well provided you will be With his abundant care and store. And why distrust the forge and fire That welds love's bonds inseparably? True love brings to disrobed desire The garments of God's purity. MARRIAGE /WILL thy lot and portion share; Will love and honor thce, and fill The measure of thy need, whate'er I will. , This tender flower cherish, till In Heaven it blooms more bright and fair For love in Heaven will blossom still; And love's fair flower hath made thee heir To a new life, beyond death's chill; Eternity hath heard this dear, "I will." Set to music by Ethelbert Nevin. 87 EPITHALAMIUM NOW in very truth thou art, Sweetheart, mine; Mine to hold close to my heart; Mine to have, and ever prove, Arcady is in my love, Sweetheart mine. But before the nuptial door, Sweetheart mine, Closes on the nevermore, That first troth I would approve Arcady is in thy love, Sweetheart mine. Folded in my happy arms, Sweetheart mine, Crowned with love's transcendent charms, Thy content and rapture prove, Arcady is mutual love, Sweetheart mine. Set to music by Ethelbert Nevin. 88 PATERNITY A CLOUD came darkening up the west, And as its awesome pall drew near, It hushed the home with vague unrest, And filled my heart with nameless fear. I heard a rustle as of wings, And turning saw Death's angel fill The room; then froze life's very springs Within me, and my heart stood still. The dreadful presence, in the gloom, Bent o'er my love, smiled, and went by; When from the stillness of the room There faintly came a little cry. And lo ! from heaven an angel throng, As on that old-time Christmas morn, Took up anew their happy song, "For unto you a child is born." 89 BIRTHDAY THE bells were told to ring in glee The day when first thou cam'st to be Our home's delight; and in my heart, By love's supreme, mysterious art, These bells have rung unceasingly. And on this day there comes to me Anew the tender memory Of that deep joy, which but in part The bells were told. Dear child, in whose sweet eyes I see The Heaven that waits above for me, How far from me would Heaven depart ; How comfortless would be my heart, If through some darkened day for thee The bells were tolled! 90 MORE TO BE DESIRED THAN GOLD From the Persian. OKING, 'tis justice that I ask of thee, And for an equal service but demand The same reward. Wherein excelleth he? And yet the ring thou gavest him is made Of purer gold than that thou gavest me. Nay, nay. Of equal valor, loyalty And truth hold I ye two first in the realm; And I commanded that the rings should be Of equal fineness and of equal weight. How have I an injustice wrought on theef O king! this is indeed the truth in part; But with the ring thou gavest him a kiss ; That kiss hath given beyond the goldsmith's art- An added weight and fineness to the gold, For with that kiss, O king, there went thy heart. 91 CHRISTMAS San Francisco, 1880. THE Christmas Bells from hill and tower To-night their benedictions shower; And on the waves of their sweet chimes, Fond thoughts of home and olden times Set sail through memory's Golden Gate ; Deep laden with love's precious freight, They speed their homeward course to-night, Across the sea, with Ariel flight. O you, who wait returning sails, Whose eyes hope long deferred o'erveils With lowering clouds, take heart again 1 For lo! unseen through mist and rain Of tears, a thousand white-winged keels, Afloat on billowy Christmas peals, Seek haven in your hearts to-night, Home guided by love's beacon light. Dear friends, though sundered far and wide, Though varied quests our thoughts divide, May these rich argosies of love My tender, faithful memory prove! May they to-night new love awake, And in this festal season make Your hearts forget the old farewells, In greetings brought by Christmas Bells! 92 TRUE PATRIOTISM LIFE'S Rescript simply is to climb, Unheeding danger, toil and tire; Failure hath no attaint of crime, If one persistently aspire. Kinship with God makes men desire To hold the world in closer grip, And through love's gentleness acquire An altruistic fellowship. These aspirations have attained Ideals for which this Country stands, For which our fathers died now gained And delegated to our hands. This heritage of trust and weal Has now become the world's great hope For freedom from Oppression's heel, For Aspiration's wider scope. To this world-call, have we reply Other than that our fathers gave? To guard this trust, what if we die, If dying is the way to save! Humanity hath instant need Of loyalty that seeks to serve, And even though death were its meed, From its ideal it would not swerve. Life would have nothing worth to give, Had men not for their duty died; True patriots would scorn to live If they the sacrifice denied. O ye who love the soul's free air, Who seek the larger hope, arise! For truth and justice do and dare! Who cares to live when Freedom dies? NEW YEAR ANOTHER flower this day I bring Love's unassuming offering; Perchance it may a fragrance leave, That will a pleasant memory weave Through all the year now opening. This day to you fond wishes wing; Dear heart, may their sweet blossoming In life's fair garden interweave Another flower! And may a quiet fragrance cling To every flower the kind fates fling About your path ; ne'er cause to grieve May your contented heart receive ; And each succeeding year still bring Another flower! 94 MUSIC IN THE AIR " \ LAS1 I cannot sing," -* You sighed awhile ago; But odors of the Spring Nor rhyme nor rhythm know ; And perfumes of the rose One hardly would call prose. There is no need to be A lark or nightingale To turn to poesy E'en life's habitual, "Hail"; A friendly hand and heart Exceed the ministrel's art. The world is all a-tune, And all the leaves beat time, And even winter's rune Presages Springtime's rhyme; And friendship in heart-beats Life's rhythm but repeats. 95 L'ENVOI MAY friendship's ministry to thee be kind, And all life's sad remembrances efface! Bring back the joys, reluctantly resigned To hope! And that thou mayest their comfort find, I wish thee thine own wish in every place! May my poor measures also hearten thee, And all the singing stops of joy release! May they retune the inharmonious key, And lend to life's completed melody An undertone of sweet content and peace! 96 AFTERGLOW rHE symbol does not more Than faintly shadow the reality; The exquisite and evanescent rose May open wide the door Of Beauty, but it cannot ever be Th' Unknown alone should to the soul disclose Itself in symbol's lore; That life the soul conceives, eternity Breathes now, and immortality bestows. 98 CONSIDER THE LILIES Matt. VI. 28-29. LIKE one of these, art hath not made Apparel that our eyes can please; Even Solomon was not arrayed Like one of these. Consider how they grow at ease And leisure, dancing in the glade Like butterflies upon the breeze. Then be not thou with burdens weighed ; If He a flower's need o'ersees, Thou, too, shalt on His care be laid, Like one of these. 99 WHAT THE CHILD-SOUL SAID TO THE MOTHER In heaven their angels do always behold the face o my father. MATT. xvin. 10. AS I beheld God's face, I heard Love calling me Out of the boundless space, Across life's mystery. Across life's mystery Will grief and pain wait me, If I, beguiled, become a child, And come to dwell with thee? But love constraineth me With its soft, mother call, And I must needs choose thee To bear me through earth's thrall. To bear me through earth's thrall, Up to love's highest bliss, I need to know Life's weal and woe, And feel a mother's kiss. So I have come to thee, In thy white arms to stay, That thou may'st mother me Through life's uncertain way. Through life's uncertain way Love, too, shall make thee blest, Until at last, our travail past, Both find love's perfect rest. 100 WHY FEAR? "Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life. The last words of Charles Frohman on the sinking Lusitania. WHY should I fear death's call? Can there e'r be In life more beautiful adventure, than To re-embark upon that unknown sea That mystery from which love summoned me Upon whose hither shore my life began? So gently was I brought, that when life laid Me on time's bosom I was not aware; And when at length I knew that I was made Like her who bore me, then no more afraid Was I, lest love should fail of tender care. And when with an instructed mind, I read The law that nature hath to me revealed, I know His love will satisfy each need, That life's adventurous hope will find its meed, And every lacerated heart be healed. And I have learned, He doeth all things well. Yet life, from its own incompleteness, holds A need, instinctive, which it cannot tell Of future greeting for each last farewell, Of happiness, united love enfolds. 101 All forms of life are endless ; each frail vase Is emptied o'er and o'er but filled again; And never tangled is the wondrous maze Of nature's melodies through endless days And yet forever new and sweet to men. Gleams hint that life upon some future waits; The worm cannot forecast the butterfly; And yet the transformation but creates A step in the same Nature which now mates Our own and may life's mystery untie. The butterfly, new-fledged this message brings: "The law, uncompreh ended, I obey; Although the lowliest of earth-bred things, Even I have been reborn with urgent wings, And heavenward fly who crept but yesterday.' The earth hath given me its honied store; In its fair garden I have had my day; Now, unknown lengthening vistas to explore, I set my face unto that other shore, And with this new adventure end the Play. In life's fair mansion I am but a guest And life will bring fulfillment of the gleam; I trust this last adventure is the best, The crowning of this earthly life's behest, The consummation of the poet's dream. 102 EASTER RISE I" went forth a mighty voice, "all ye That sleep 1" O earthborn lily, who told thee To come forth with the living from the dead? The white-robed lily answered, "The great head And heart of Nature, God himself, called me. "He said, 'The Christ is risen !' and tenderly My earthy cerements loosing, He bade me, Too, following the way the Christ hath led Arise." Trust thou this promised Immortality, O troubled, doubting heart ! Fear not that He, Who wakes the lowly lily from her bed, Whose own hands loose the graveclothes from her head, Will Easter Day forget to say to thee, "Arise I" 103 A WHISPER OF HEAVEN IMPRISONED in the shell Are echoes of the far-off ocean's roar. May not our hopes of Immortality, That deep within us dwell Instinctive to the soul, and more and more Insistent to the heart may they not be Soul echoes of the swell, That ceaseless beats on an Eternal shore? T THEN COMETH THE NIGHT HE sun hath set but set hath not my love ; Not set, only obscured by clouds above. The sun will rise but love was earlier up; And with content and joy hath filled my cup. It cannot be, love's sun will set, for lo ! Its radiance deepens with the evening glow; The Night fulfills the soul's envisioned gleam, And is the consummation of love's dream. 104 THE CALL OF THE SEA THE sea, the crooning, mothering sea And human sympathy together. The sea was ever kind to me, And sweet is human sympathy. I hear the call, but know not whether 'Tis from the sea, or, dear, from thee. Although the sea inspires like wine, Without Love's touch so deft at smoothing Care's rumpled pillow I would pine; And though broad-breasted and benign, Do pain and heartache find their soothing Upon her bosom or on thine? The sea hath harmonies that throng The soul, some answering chord entreating; But do these strains, heart-tuned and strong, To ocean's orchestra belong? The sea's refrain, are they repeating? Or are they thy fond, wistful song? 105 SINGING HARP-STRINGS LIFE holds no music like the symphony Of heart-caressing chords that throb and thrill Under the friendly hand of sympathy; It haunts my loneliness ; that harp-string's trill Still sings within my heart its melody E'en though to other ears the harp is still. A BRIDAL SONG ONCE a little wandering Sunbeam, In celestial tire arrayed, Came, and filled our home with sunshine, And behold! the sunshine stayed; Filled the home with smiles and laughter, Kept the bloom upon the rose, Gave to life new heart and savor, Until now the sunshine goes. Though the hearthstone be o'erclouded, Love knows, though the footsteps roam, Our dear Sunbeam keeps on shining; It but lights another home. 106 HEAVEN IS HERE AND where is Heaven, think'st thou? Beyond earth's boundary So hid in mystery, We reach it only at life's end, And know Not even where, nor when, nor how? Not sol If we but rightly apprehend, It is the love in mother's eyes ; It is the pledge of nature's skies, The blossoming devotion of the bough; It is in baby's happy smiles, In sympathy, that grief beguiles, And in true service to a friend. My Heaven ever lies In love's dear eyes, In tender words, that deathless trust avow. Love is creation's source and end, The purpose of the world God planned ; Love is the only Promised Land, And love is Heaven and Heaven is here and now. 107 THE DIVINE SECRET WHEN we together set our sail The hither shore of love to find, What terrene tides or winds avail To reach the goal hid in the mind? Earth's heights and depths may be explored, But love's domain can never be ; Immeasurable, it stretches toward The confines of Eternity. Imagination's realm is fair, And argosies of beauty sail From that mysterious region where Only God's love may lift the veil. God's love is joy. The universe Is vibrant with creative song, Whose harmonies His love rehearse, And His beneficence prolong. God's joy is love, which Nature hides In flower and tree, in clay and man; And her behests are sovereign guides, Because interpreting God's plan. And from these dimly visioned heights, E'en though the way seems barred, the soul God's purposed happiness invites, To compass and complete life's whole. < 108 THE VISION FROM THE HEIGHTS Isaiah LII. 7. HOW beautiful upon The mountains are the feet Of them that tidings bring Of Love God's own heartbeat! Upon the mountain tops The soul steps from the sod Of earthly thought upon A nearer path to God; And finds His perfectness, As from each summit gained There stretch forth heights beyond Ideals to be attained. What though they be obscured By mists of earth's desire 1 Above the clouds their peaks Eternally aspire. 109 THE MOUNTAINS ARE HIS TEMPLE IF just beyond earth's veiling clouds is heaven, Then surely here a path to heaven is given ; For, far beyond the reach of human eye, Stretch peak on peak into the eternal sky, As stepping stones, which shape an earthly stair To knowledge of God's constancy and care To apprehension of His presence and The nearness of His all-supporting hand. Here the o'er-arching sky bends down to cloister weary feet That from life's pilgrimage and empty quest seek a retreat. More grand than earthly temple is this shrine; Its aisles are carpeted with velvet pine; Its altars incensed with the breath of fir, Whose organ notes men's hearts to freedom stir; Its windows glow with every gorgeous hue From prismed sunrise to the midday blue, And only earth-begotten blindness bars His presence from the sunset and the stars. The raptured soul finds peace and joy in this majestic fane, Renews its faith, and with new strength takes up life's tasks again. 110 THE NEW DAWN THE world would say, my friend is dead- Hath rested from this earthly strife; But faith holds, he hath onward sped, And hath but found a larger life. Is life's poor structure all we build, Whose tenure's bound is but a breath? Has life the law of love fulfilled? Or, why abides love after death? Too dimly does life's vision see The loving Tenderness above; And life needs an eternity To know this all-encircling love. ill AN EASTER THOUGHT THE lilies hear the Easter call, And wake their promise to repeat. Why should the cypress wreath appal? Can aught to love and thee befall, Where bides the imprint of His feet? HEAVEN ENFOLDS US ALL WHAT matters it the name we bear, Or how God's word is understood? We trust His love enfolds us all, And know His name is, Good. IN HIS SERVICE THE World maintains, the sum of living Is what is gained, but Love conceives, Life's satisfaction is in giving And not what it receives. 112 LOVE IS THE FULFILLING OF THE LAW TO one who reads with an instructed mind The book of law, that nature hath unclosed, Conviction comes that He who guides the stars Who gathereth into His benignant arms The lambs, and feedeth them, who slumbers not, Nor sleeps can have no other name than LOVE. And love this tender human love, that walks With us through life in various guise, that shares Our burdens, soothes our sorrows, leads us even Beyond death's portal is God's thought in us That hints the measure of His love and care. The Master came, with love ineffable, And told of kinship with that loving law, And taught a human phrase, "Our Father." But On loftier heights of thought, the soul perceives That God is even nearer immanent, And templed in His own enduring love; And through the cloistered arches of this love The dwelling-place of God there echoes back That still, small Voice which spake on Horeb's mount ; And the awakened soul, because it hath An ear to hear this Heavenly Visitor, Affirms its birthright to divinity, And claims its own identity with God. Upon the restful bosom of this Love Divine, the soul is satisfied, and in 113 Supreme content, bears witness in itself, That love is the fulfilling of the Law. SUFFER THE CHILDREN Mark X. 14. "OUFFER the children to come unto me!" *^-J In this, the Master's word, must my trust be. How can I make my life spotless and sweet, That I lead not astray these little feetl How can I, all begrimed, bound in sin's bands, Ever be fit to hold these little hands 1 If but my soul were pure, strong to withstand, I might the children lead to Thy right hand ; I am but weak, and so my prayer must be : "Suffer the children to come unto Thee !" 114 A GOLDEN WEDDING THE day was fair, the sky aglow, That greeted you, a happy pair, A full half century ago; Now, to what hosts this day is fair I Those wedding bells for fifty years Have rung alternate joys and knells, Till now a deepened Icve endears The memory of those wedding bells. With spreading vine new leaves are grown ; So children's children interwine Affection's tendrils, till is thrown A fresher shade with spreading vine. Each brings his meed of truth unstained The fruitage of well-nurtured seed; And from each added talent gained In wisdom's ways, each brings his meed. To-day all bring a new largesse Of loving greeting a new Ring To plight, with that old-time caress, The blessings which to-day all bring. These fifty years to you have brought Much more of happiness than tears ; While life has many lessons taught Of mutual trust, these fifty years; 115 And life has taught, that hearts are worn, If not upheld by constant thought; That burdens shared are easiest borne ; That love needs sunshine life has taught. As years go by, with ruddier glow May love adorn your sunset sky! And closer may your hearts still grow, And life be joy as years go by! This golden stair, you pass to-day May it foretell a vision rare Of joy when ends this mortal Way, And where begins Life's Golden Stair ! August 21, 1917. THE MASTER SAITH WHEN Love hath satisfied thy heart, Is't for thyself alone to keep? wakened Soul, what is thy part? The Master saith, "Feed thou my sheep!" 116 LOVE'S ETERNAL TROTH. SWEET is the pain when lovers part Each passioned kiss love's troth repeating ; But every parting kiss enfolds The promise of another meeting. So Love plights an eternal troth From realms beyond our vision's charting; And every kiss is Love's new pledge, To be redeemed, despite death's parting. Take heart ! 'Tis only for a while, And absence makes the lost ones dearer; Love wins the victory over death, That brings the promised meeting nearer. 117 EYE HATH NOT SEEN It doth not yet appear what we shall be. I John III: 2. O GRIEVING ones, whose feet still linger About the headstones love hath reared, The grave holds not the dear affection, Which is by memory so revered. Think you that, "Earth to earth" is nature's Obituary for the dead? Nay; it is rather life's own promise That nature's round it still will tread. What we call death is but the changing Of outward form of garments shed; And for their rehabilitation This pall of earth has been o'erspread. For in the boundless realm of nature Not even the smallest atom dies But strives, through endless transformations, New shapes of beauty to devise. As elements resolve in order, And in predestined moulds divide, Who knows in what new forms of beauty May love and joy and memory hide? 118 BE YE COMFORTED Red Cross Relief for the Bereaved. "OOMEWHERE in France," she said, "there is a grave, O Which all my hope and happiness contains My boy, my first-born, beautiful and brave, Who mother, wife and home and all things gave, To prove that loyalty to right still reigns." What has the world to give, that can repay For such devotion and self-sacrifice? And what are plaudits, praise and crowning bay To those who grieve for lost ones, torn away From life? and it is they who pay the price. Where is the healing balm, that can assuage This mortal hurt, and tender soothing bring? Life's song is stilled the bird gone from the cage, And tears bedim the mind's sustaining page, That once was wont to give the spirit wing. Within the heart the solace will be found, For it has learned, a Larger Love controls ; And though with earthly garments love is wound, It is not to this earth forever bound, For to its sight eternity unrolls. Behind the cloud of doubt there is a light That bids the lonely, sorrowing heart rejoice; 119 Nature herself gives promise to requite Love's loss that we shall have love back to sight, And hear again its un forgotten voice. Why may love suffer death and not be killed? And how can memory haunt this life and then, Forgetting all, forever more be stilled? Life would be vain if love were unfulfilled ; Love is, itself, the pledge, it lives again. That love, which ever stronger grows, constrains Belief, the After Life is no Perchance; It cannot be, the Loving Care ordains That for eternity death's hand detains Heart's love in that dumb grave somewhere in France. TRUST WHEN we this earthly chrysalis discard, Existence may have unimagined charms. Why need we fear, because to vision barred? Beyond all thought and vistas yet unstarred, Are still the Everlasting Arms. 120 PARTING BE pitiful with thy keen sorrow, Inexorable and dread to-morrow I Take her in gentle arms alway; Soothe her with thoughts of yesterday! Hath Yesterday lost its charms To soothe To-day in her white arms? The sun can ne'er set, chill and gray, Behind the hills of yesterday. Fear not, dear friend I Close to my heart Until the end thou ever art; Too close to leave thee room to borrow Such sad forebodings of the morrow. Therefore, dear heart, trust hopefully! Time cannot part my thought and thee ; No distance, scene, nor age can stay, The love that overflows to-day. And, dear, in heaven to-morrows stay No more; not even a yesterday Can ever come with shadowed brow To darken that eternal Now. 121 TRANSLATIONS LA VIE T A -vie est vaine, M <* Un peu d'amour, Un peu de haine; Et puis bonjour. La vie est breve, Un peu d'espoir, Un peu de reve; Et puis bonsoir." Leon Montenaeken. AH ! life is vain ; Short is love's way, And full of pain; And then good day. How brief life seems I And hope's delight Ends but in dreams; And then good night ! SELF RELIANCE Victor Hugo. THE bough bends low beneath the bird; But he serenely swings, By storm and swaying branch unstirred Knowing that he hath wings. 122 THE FEET OF CLAY ' A LAS ! my feet are clay !" Yes but refined ^~X From common earth and freed from soil's access- Compounded with sweet memories combined With steadfastness and quick responsiveness Rare, priceless clay. But have you never thought That it is from this self-same, earthy clay The statue's first embodiment was wrought? Love's chiseled perfectness, in this same way, Is modeled in the clay, with tears and sighs, Before it finds its niche in Paradise. "AND KEEP THE DOOR AJAR!" DEAR friend, the door will be ajar Will ever be ajar to you; There never shall be bolt nor bar When your desire and presence sue. So close is your companionship Closer than hands, nearer than breath- Its goal, life's vistas must outstrip, And I shall want you after death. If first I reach the Heavenly Gate, Love's promised blessing to renew, I shall but ask that I may wait, And keep the door ajar for you. 123 BEYOND THE WALL A ROSE-TREE in our garden grew, And spread its branches far and wide; It overtopped the wall, and threw Some clusters on the other side. So in our heart love's roses bloom, Whose fragrance ever dearer grows; Our garden holds the same perfume, E'en though we cannot see the rose. Mourn not the loved no longer seen, For love is not beyond recall ! Though thought may never pierce the screen, That love blooms just beyond the wall. 124 IF HEARTS ARE DUST IF hearts are dust, heart's loves remain, And somewhere, far above the plane Of earthly thought beyond the sea That bounds this life, they will meet thee, And hold thee face to face again. And when is done life's restless reign, If I hereafter but regain Heart's love, why should I troubled be, If Hearts are dust? By love's indissoluble chain, I know the grave does not retain Heart's love ; the very faith in me Is pledge of an eternity, Where I shall find heart's love again, If hearts are dust. 125 LIFE MAY HAVE NEED OF DEATH INTO the ground earth's seed is shed ; But does it die? Within its husk There is a living wraith That hovers round its resting place, And keeps alive its prototype. Into the ground are laid our dead, Away from life, into the dusk Of memory and faith Torn from affection's fond embrace, As though a fruitage still unripe. Behind the husk, behind the human cell, Which only are a mundane heritance, There is a something still alive Alive with independent thought and will Begotten not of earth; May not this living germ within the shell, That shapes its growth with neither whim nor chance If such successive ripenings survive Hint an immortal purpose to fulfill, That needs another birth? Take hope, O doubting Soul ! The buried seed, For all its pledge of life and of rebirth, Cannot release its vital, pregnant thought Within the spirit rife, 126 Till death resolve its cerements to earth. May it not be, as nature now hath wrought, Our wistful, earth-imprisoned soul may need The kindly, helpful hand of Death, to lead Unto that larger life? HOPE IS ever happiness content, Though joy be given its fullest scope? Beyond every accomplishment Must be another hope. II Every hope is prophecy of Heaven, Laughs at bonds and bars before it spread, Looking fondly for fulfillment, even After all expectancy has fled. 127 HOLD THOU MY HANDS HOLD thou my hands a little while in thine, Thy gentle, restful hands, dear love benign! Smooth out their weariness with soft caress, As mothers do their children's restlessness, With fondling hands that love and rest combine! And when these inconsistent hands of mine To wayward selfishness and wrong incline, In tender and compassionate duress, Hold thou my hands ! And when I face the dark, and must resign Love's tender, human touch; must disentwine Its dear, detaining clasp; when fears depress Those mortal fears I cannot quite repress For all my faith and trust O Love divine, Hold Thou my hands ! 128 EVENTIDE Zechariah XIV. 7. AT eventide there shall be light." Why should I ever fear the night? God's love and constant care attest, He will not suffer me, His guest, To thread the dark without a light. The light of life is love; and quite Content am I, if but love might Be near, when I lie down to rest, At eventide. And love, if we but read aright, Is God, who is the Light of Light. What fear have I from Love's behest, When Love through life hath made me blest? That, Love, I trust to be my light, At eventide. 129 THE CALLING VOICES THE world of beauty calleth me ! I hear the far-off forest's organ notes; I hear the softer music of the bees; I see the pageant of the clouds, like boats Adrift upon aerial, shoreless seas; I feel the solemn grandeur of the hills, The rapturous enchantment of the rills, The ceaseless witchery of flowers and trees. The world of friendship calleth me! Love may a larger happiness impart; For though the heart of nature brings repose, The sense of nearness to the human heart Gives greater joy than forest, hill or rose; It every need and longing satisfies, Unlocks the golden gate of Paradise, And immortality on life bestows. The world of fancy calleth me I If beauty and heart's love have taken flight, Then in the peace of my own soul I hide, And seek upon imagination's height, In gladness and contentment to abide, And out of hope, desire and memory, And visions of a waiting Arcady, A secret palace of delight provide. no The world beyond is calling me! But over joy and earthly love and dream, When gleams and glimpses fill the opal west, There stretches a new radiance a beam That makes a path unto Love's perfect rest. The twilight slowly deepens into night, And I, serene, await the Morning Light, When life shall find fulfillment of its quest. SUNSET THE sun sinks low, and the shadow Steals slowly across my heart; But we shall meet in the Morning, And never more shall part. 131 L'ENVOI MOTHER leaf in life's mysterious book To-day is turned. O friend beloved, I leave With you these humble flowers to mark the page, And haply give a perfume to the place, Which shall add fragrance unto all its leaves. That I might share -with you the exquisite Delight that memory brings, I've sought to lay Upon these pages nuances of tint And color, to enliven hope with here And there a study of life's meaning, worked Sometimes in smiles, sometimes in tears if they Might wake long-silent chords of joy within Your heart, recapture your far-wandering thoughts, And lead them back to Arcady and me. 132 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. i L9-42m-8,'49(B5573)444 THE LIBRA R 4JNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES PS 317u >len ^S33S remembrance UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 228009 5 UCLA-Young Research Library PS3174 .W5833Q 1918 y L 009 618 389 2