The Ballad of Hadji AND OTHER POEMS m ■■ ■ ■ i. .11 U III KS*KII Slkl KAMI. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES »- - u THE BALLAD OF HADJI AND OTHER POEMS THE BALLAD OF HADJI AND OTHER POEMS BY IAN HAMILTON LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, & CO. MDCCCLXXXVII //f CONTENTS. PAGE The Ballad of Hadji and the Boar i To Flowers 19 Child-Life 22 To Clouds 28 Regret 30 Still is the Spot 32 Lost Love 35 The Death-Throes of Mr. Worldly Reason .... 37 A Honeymoon Song 40 April in India 41 To our own Beech Tree 43 Daybreak in the Jungle 44 Lines written in the Traveller's bungalow, etc. ... 45 Lines on leaving Gersappa 48 Theme. I am weary of minute isolation 50 Despair 51 One night my spirit 52 Sonnet 54 A Runaway Sonnet 55 To Endymion and all Day-dreams 56 Sonnet written at Eva's command 57 Lines to Lady , on her birthday 58 The Ambition's Avowal 60 865118 vi CONTENTS. PAGE To Edith 61 To Miss Sherston on her birthday . 62 The force of circumstance 63 I. H. toN. C. andN. C. to I. H 6^65 Sunrise 66 A Song of Common Sense in Love 67 An Appeal 69 Alas 71 THE BALLAD OF HADJI AND THE BOAR. As I rode over the dusty waste My dainty Arab's hoof-strokes traced Glad rhythms in my mind, Which seemed to murmur unto me How he and I were lone and free As wide Sahara's wind. My heart beat high — the sun was bright — And, as a beacon's startling light Proclaims a threatening war, My burnished lance-point met the glare And flashed and sparkled in the air — A pale and glancing star. B THE BALLAD OF HADJI I saw a hawk pass hovering Through the azure heights, on balanced wing ; Its shadow fell clown sheer Upon my path, then onwarils sped, Smoother than gliding skaters tread A fastly-frozen mere. Thus heedless I, when suddenly My Hadji broke the reverie By stamping on the ground, Whilst from a brake where grasses rank Embraced the margin of a tank, There came a rustling sound : No long suspense ; — his bloodshot eyes Aflame with sullen, fierce surprise — Stepped out a grisly boar : His gloomy aspect seemed to say — " No other has the right to stray Along this marsh-bound shore." AND THE BOAR. Now I had seen the life blood gush From many a boar of nine-inch tush, And so had Hadji too : But never I ween had we either seen So great a beast, so gaunt and lean, So ugly to the view. ^ With others by to help at need, Or give success applausive meed, 'Tis easy to be brave. But when a man must do alone Each danger seems more dismal grown ; Each petty ditch a grave. And so — although the spear-point dropped — As still as effigy I stopped, Nor gave my steed the spur ; The more I looked, more gruesome grew This king of all the swinish crew ; More prudence made demur. THE BALLAD OF HADJL But, as I hung in anguished doubt, The marsh-horn tyrant turned about, As weary of the play ; He turned and dashed adown the glade (No phantom now or goblin shade) The well-known grisly gray : And doubt no more distressed my mind ; In twenty years I'd never find Such trophy to my lance, For turning he had let me see His tusks gigantic — shame 'twould be If I had lost the chance. I dropped my hand ; when Hadji knew The slackened rein away he flew Across the belt of ooze ; The slim reeds rustled— till he sprang Out on the plain whose surface rang Beneath his iron shoes. AND THE BOAR. To left, to right, the wanton shied At shadows, as in lusty pride He rolled his dark fierce eye ; Or gazing at our grim pursuit He'd lay his ears back at the brute And snort full savagely. As minutes came, and lived, and went, Ever the monster backward sent The pebbles in my face, Yet, when an hour was spent — at length He seemed to fail in speed and strength And nearer drew the chase. But lo ! the impetuous Ravi ran Before us ; not a means to span Its fiercely rushing stream ; The boar sprang in — we never checked — And followed ere the foam that flecked His plunge had ceased to gleam. THE BALLAD OF HAD/1 Above our heads the yellow wave Triumphant for an instant drave, Then gaping gave us day ; It gave us day, and snorting load Bold Hadji stemmed the whirling crowd Of surges topped with spray, Aboard a skiff two children played, No little whit were they dismayed To see us swimming boldly ; One waved his hand in baby glee When — overboard — most dismally He slipped, to perish coldly. The tender thing sank down below, I marked its last convulsive throe, But never paused to save. I would — but just, I chanced to see The boar bestrew the distant lea With conquered Ravi's wave. AND THE BOAR. I turned me from the helpless thing, I left it darkly struggling, Nor hearkened to my soul ; I swam beside my gallant steed ; At length we touched the further reed, And saved a ferry's toll. But short as seemed the time we'd lost, Long was the space of ground it cost. Not to be covered soon ; For distant dim the monster grim Now flitted faint against the rim Of the uprising moon. Yes — like a bubble filled with smoke — The curd-white moon upswimming broke The vacancy of space, Whilst sinking slowly at my back The sun breathed blood -stains on the rack Which veiled his dying face. THE BALLAD OF HADJI On, on, again ; the snow-fed flood Had cooled the monster's heated blood, And fresh and strong he fled : An aged peasant crossed his path ; He turned upon him in his wrath, And left him there for dead. The wretch implored me to remain And staunch his wound — but all in vain- I laughed to see his plight ; For L was glad the boar had stayed To wound the man, and so delayed His headlong rapid flight. And Hadji wearied not a whit, For stretching free he'd take the bit And hold it, or would fling A foam-flake from his tossing head, To glitter on his mane's silk thread, Whilst ever galloping. AND THE BOAR. 9 Ere long the arid landscape changed ; A painter's eye had gladly ranged Amidst its varied hue ; — For far as mortal eye could reach, As close as pebbles on the beach Bright poppy flowers blew. In countless gaudy chequered squares Nepenthe grew for human cares — Fair dreams for folk who weep, And multitudes of drowsy bees Forestalled the dreamy-eyed Chinese, Sipping their honied sleep. All else was silent ; not a bird Disturbed the death of day or stirred The calm air with a vesper, But yet great Nature has her voice, " Take peace or strife, thou hast the choice." I heard the solemn whisper. io THE PALI. AD OF HADJI But should I draw my rein for this ? Let dreamers prate of peaceful bliss — Such fancies were diseased : Large sweat-drops trickled from my brow, The gaping furrows of the plough Drank of us and were pleased. The crimsons of the glowing west In fainter ruddy shadows dressed The mounting eastern moon ; The slender-pillared palm-tree stems Were sky-tinged too, as though from gems Of garnet they were hewn. And now when eve had lost its heat, A Brahmin maiden stole to meet Her sweetheart in the dusk ; Her face adorned each lucid gem Set round it : — to her garments' hem Dripped essences of musk. AND THE BOAR. u Her pensive mien and absent look, Most plain betrayed a maid forsook Of her own gentle heart ; Outrunning time, she meets her lover, About her lips dream-kisses hover, They smile themselves apart. The Fates know why — a cruel chance — No lover's is the fatal glance 'Neath which the maiden cowers ; No smiling gallant to her tripped, But in an instant she lies ripped And bleeding on the flowers. " Sah'b ! Sah'b ! " she sobbed, " I bleed to death ! Ah, give your panting courser breath, And call my lover here ! " But rude and savage passions surged Within my veins — / madly urged Poor Hadji with the spear. 2 THE BALLAD OF HADJI And he no longer fought the hand Which forced his fieetness to command, Or snorted to the breeze : His breaths were choked with piteous sobs, And I could feel his heart's wild throbs Between my close-set knees. His glossy coat no longer shone Red golden as he galloped on, And on ! without a check ; Dank sweat had rusted it to black Save where the reins had chafed a track, Of snow along his neck. The deepening twilight scarce revealed Where flights of shadowy night-birds wheeled And shrieking greeted us, But never should my fixed soul Forsake the fast-approaching goal, For omens timorous. AND THE BOAR. 13 The jackals woke and like a rout Of hell-loosed fiends, their eldritch shout Was borne upon the breeze — Ai! Ai! On! Ail — a ghoulish scream, And yet half-human ; like a dream Of mortal agonies. As I closed in on that evil beast The champed froth like creamy yeast Bestreaked his grizzled hide ; And like a small and smould'ring brand His eye back-glancing ever scanned Me creeping to his side. Ha I Ha ! He turned to charge and fight ; I shouted out for pure delight, And drove my spear-point in. Clean through his body passed the steel — I held him off— I made him reel — Like chafer on a pin. i 4 THE BALLAD OF HADJI An instant so — then through the womb Of night I galloped, and the gloom Of jungles lone and drear ; — But I had stricken, stricken home, For on my hand his bloody foam Had left a purple smear. So circling back, I peered around, And, by the moon, too soon I found The grisly brute at bay : I lis back was to a thorny tree, I looked at him, and he at me ; — There one of us would stay. 'Twas still as death — we charged together, And in the dim and sightless weather I struck him, but not true : He seized the lance-shaft in his jaw And split it as it were a straw, Instead of good bamboo. AND THE BOAR. Then swift as thought the brute accursed, Made fiercely in — at Hadji first — Who much disdained to fly : The little Arab shuddering stood — Then fell — as monarchs of the wood When cruel axes ply. Ere I could rise, his tusk had cut All down my back a gaping rut ; — He gashed me deep and sore : No weapon armed me for the strife, But rage can fight without a knife, I sprang upon the boar. The thorn stretched out its sable claws, And nodded with a black applause ! With fierce sepulchral glee Three plantains whispered in a rank, And clapped their fingers long and lank, A ghostly gallery. 1 6 THE BALLAD OF HADJI Above him now— then fallen beneath, I tore him madly with my teeth, Nor loosed my frantic hold ; One finger searched the spear-head hole, And dug there like a frightened mole 'Neath skin and fleshy fold : I clung around his sinewy crest ; He leaped, but could not yet divest Himself of his alarm. I hung as close as keepsake locket On maiden breast — but, from its socket, He wrenched my bridle-arm ! No more could I, and with a curse I yielded to a last reverse, And dropped upon the sand. He glower'd o'er me — then drew back To make more headlong the attack Which nothing should withstand. AND THE BOAR. 17 But, even then, he chanced to pass The spot where dying lay — alas ! — Brave Hadji — desert-born ; Not e'en that bristled front was proof Against the Arab's armed hoof— His brains festooned the thorn. Then I arose, all dripping red, And gazed on him I oft had fed, And wept to see him low : No more he'd gallop in his pride — No mortal man would e'er bestride Poor Hadji here below. He died amidst those jungles tangled ; I staggered on all torn and mangled, Gasping for painful breath ; And when, beneath that placid moon, My spirit left me in a swoon, I'd known the worst of death, c |8 THE BALLAD OF HADJL, ETC. Next clay they found and In ire me home, And now, they say, I'll never roam The glades and forests hoar ; No more, they say, I'll ever wield The spear in sport or battle-field, Or ride the grisly boar. 19 TO FLOWERS. Most exquisitely fair and fragile flowers, Unearthly figures that our Earth doth use To mark the flight of months of winged hours With varying letters, writ in heavenly hues, I love you ! I could ponder half a day On the deep blush that mantles in a rose, And picture fantasies and melt away My heart, where clustering the lilac blows. Oft seated in a sombre, sighing glade Dejected, I have watched the wanton breeze Stir all the chequers of the light and shade Till the dark grass grew restless as the seas : Then — like those kindest kisses that are given Apart from crowds and gaily-peopled streets — Some lurking violet has shyly striven To breathe how even gloomiest woods held sweets. 20 TO FLOWERS. Anon refreshed, I wander o'er a wold Whose glimmering green velvets are enriched With daisy broideries of white and gold ; By fair)' needles surely they were stitched In such a starred confusion ; cowslips slender Lend here their bosoms to bright butterflies Who, flutter indecisive, ere they render To kindred blooms the pollen's soft, sweet dyes f Or by some willow, where the glassy wave Scarce steals away, so sluggish is the stream, A water-lily leaves the sunless grave Which shrouds its root, and floats there like a dream Dreamt by a mortal, cleaving limpid space, Whilst far beneath, all steeped in leaden sleep, His body lies, nor ever can retrace What its soul witnessed in that slumber deep. Oh flowers, when I gaze on you and drink Your liquid perfumes thrilling in the wind, You have a power lent you to unlink Those clasps of clay which keep my spirit blind : TO FLOWERS. 21 Then, sometimes then — surpassing Death and Sin — My soul, half-conscious, glances out afar Through the close web our finite senses spin To veil from us who, what, or whence we are. 22 CHILD-LIFE. 'Tis gone ! — and so long past That wisdom should forget it ; — yet again One backward glance I'll cast And joys fallen sere shall build dead childhood's fane : For Youth lies buried deep — Lost in enchanted sleep — Sunk in the depths of Memory's cold lake Whose crystal waters keep old days awake In semblance only, for no man may slake His pleasure on the Past. Yes, Youth is dead and gone — Youth when the future loomed not pale and wan, But when I deemed that any hour Might haply bring the blissful dower CHILD-LIFE. Anticipated ever ; — till at length, With dimming eyes and failing strength, Rude disillusion bade me learn That men may never, never earn Whilst dwelling here, contentment holy, But, destined prey to melancholy, Their visions transplanted be From time into Eternity. In my glad childhood nought of this Perturbed my Paradise of bliss ; In summer days each lingering second Counted an hour as grown folk reckoned ; And, stretching vast, my afternoon Contained at least an old man's June : One butterfly was fortune more Than tons on tons of richest ore, And my white rabbit, pinky-eyed, Gave me the charms of empire wide. 'Twas winter ! Lo, the window panes Were arabesqued with frosty stains, MMM^ !!■ -• i CHILD-LIFE. And — glorious prospect — from a cloud Fell floating fast Earth's chill white shroud. Then Christmas, and the mystic tree All stuck with tapers daintily ; Red and blue and green, they showed Blanches bending to their load Of tinsel gear, a costly hoard, My envied share a wooden sword. At night, attired in velvet frock, Both soft and rich, I'd wait the knock Which called me to untimely bed : Till then, full eagerly I read Good books, and nestling by the fire Which sparkled gay, I'd much admire How true men throve, and villains fell, And vow this earth was ordered well. Winter, summer, night and day, Lesson hours, and hours of play, Still I imagined life was fine And wished the age of twenty mine, When I might play a leading part CHILD- LIFE. 25 And win some lovely lady's heart Losing mine own ; for even then I'd heard of love, and envied men. Now older grown, I'd build brave stories Within my mind, of martial glories ; Through desperate fights a coal-black steed Bore me unharmed with magic speed, And then as Harold I would pose, Or with fierce Murat charge my foes : Till, changed the spirit of my dream And o'er the soft seas' restless gleam My comrades and myself would rove, Sharing plump sacks of treasure-trove : Or cruising down the lazy " trades " Where the dim horizon fades On coral islands plumed with palms, Whose folk die old, nor know the qualms Of restless longing. Like crystals soon old love-thoughts grew, And from the vague child-wonder drew M^iM 26 CHILD- LIFE. Colours to paint an angel form With shape and fair consistence warm. The purest mind that ever breathed About my brow the laurel wreathed ; I loved her — mishaps followed fast — But fate grew kinder, till, at last, I've dreamed we wed. Thus did my glance Travel the wavering mists of chance, Whilst endless vistas of delight Beckoned me on with prospects bright. But false was all the air-drawn splendour Which fancy to young hope did render : As Dead Sea apples to the taste, As mirage o'er a thirsty waste, Sink youthful hopes of splendid hue When manhood grasps them as its due. CHILD-LIFE. 27 Man of wisdom ; — cull the pleasant From an ever-dying present, " Joys as winged dreams fly fast " — All is passing — nought may last ! 28 TO CLOUDS. i. Fail evanescent forms that spring from earth Whene'er the sun docs amorously burn, And soft-limbed sea bears a yet softer birth To his hot kisses. Proudly do )ou spurn Our boundaries, and heaven-expiring yearn To crack your chains ! Not yet have you escaped Dissolved in tears Fate dooms you to return, Foiled like those schemes Philosophy has shaped. II. As lordly icebergs float upon the main, You drift along the azure ebb and flow Of airy currents, innocent of stain, Pale as the presence of your daughter snow, Your grateful shadows fall on us below. Oft then sky-paved battlements unfold Pure as smooth-carven marble, till the glow Of dying day steeps all their towers in gold. TO CLOUDS. 29 in. Or should you chance to frame a gloomy form Whose huge limbs tramp athwart the wintry sky, Behold ! an onslaught of the assaulting storm Makes yet more weird the figure we descry — Then rends it — whilst each gust that hurtles by Seems to bear with it on its mighty wing A whispered, awful, agonizing sigh Wrung from the wreck of that gigantic thing. IV. But when you close upon us, oh ! chill clouds, As dull and grey as any coffin's lead, And drape Heaven's portals in your envious shrouds Till bright stars fade and very space has fled ; We long to clip your sea-fledged pinion-spread, Rejoicing much when your own dismal womb Breeds the wild infant that must strike you dead — And cloud-born bolts disperse their natal gloom. 3o REGRET. I dreamed a dream on that night of nights — Bright shone the morning star, As an angel cleft the diamond heights Bearing my fancies far, And he flapped his vast and shadowy pinion Against the ebon air, Until we reached the fair dominion Which Youth and Spring-time share : Lost amidst whispering forest dells, I lay — well awake — no dreamer ; A moonbeam fondled the young blue-bells And danced with the jessamine streamer : All down the mystic glimmering glade Pale roses tremblingly -* • - REGRET. 31 Greeted the faint airs which conveyed Their fragrances to me : Large butterflies were trooping by With golden wings of splendour— Upon my ear a sad sweet sigh Expired in accents tender : Ah — how came she there — and whence came she ? For I lay 'midst the flowers at her feet — And I sighed, and she stooped to kiss me — But, — I woke ere our mouths could meet ! BMi^B_i_diMMaMaM^iMaaaifdtMB 32 STILL IS THE SPOT. Still is the spot where Merlin slumbers well — But not more still than this my favourite dell ; Its three huge beeches rear themselves aloft, And half-concealed by bracken lull and soft A dark pool glimmers. Of humble height, yet lovely in their hue, The courtier wild flowers pay obeisance due To each great gnarled root. The green arcades Of foliage fling a shadow on the glades Which gently shimmers. And hark ! a goldfinch piping to his mate. The cup runs over ; neither care nor hate Nor grisly fear itself, can break the spell Which Nature sets about my woodland dell. Life is sufficient — rash it were to look One single step beyond this fairy nook. - ■ — STILL IS THE SPOT. 33 But — comes a day, when winter's iron hand Has struck the spot where my three beeches stand : The flowers lie dead — the leaves are rent away, And all the land looks desolate and grey. The tolling of a distant solemn bell Invades my ruined refuge ; few can tell I trust, the hopeless sorrows that may spring To such a sound from transient slumbering. So there I stand, and miserably grieve My lot — till looking upwards I perceive How much more clear the ethereal heavens are seen When the stark boughs lament their robes of green ! Those fading forms which were the summer's pride, And my delight, had flourished but to hide God's heaven where Hope slept 'neath a canopy Unwrought with stars — slept, but eternity Dwells there and Hope awakes. D ... - 34 STILL IS THE SPOT. So, too, when Death has roblxxl us of a friend We first feel sure this world is not an end : For high Philosophy most oft imparts Her golden gift to sad and chastened he 35 LOST LOVE. i. Lost Love, when Summer stands above my head — His azure banner swept across the sky — And sets the evenings in a glow of red, And paints his morn with tender greenish dye ; When Nature lives as though Death's self weredead ; Then — though the universe be wholly glad — Since thou hast passed away, such joy but makes me sad. When thrilling 'neath the faint warm July breeze The tender shoots break into coloured fire And sick with love implore the yellow bees To play the pander to their hot desire ; When thrushes make glad warble 'midst the trees, Interpreting love's languors in their choir, I sigh no more to see life speeding by ; What only brings regret can scarce too swiftly fly. 3 6 LOST LOVE. 3- When thou wast by, the black and biting frost Seemed sent to lullaby the restless lake, And iced storms grew playful when they tost Huge coiling billows in the stout ships wake ; E'en cruel snows had all their treachery lost, And wandered down with every feathered flake A splendid jewel — glancing to and fro But that mine own lost love was long six months ago. 4- Ah then, exalted that my love was near, I viewed this world exceedingly content : To boundless admiration sea and sphere Bore wave or star harmoniously blent And love ruled all that now lies dull and sere Without one sign of heavenly intent Graven upon it :— since thy death, oh love ! Dark grows the orbed world and dim the stars above. - 37 THE DEATH-THROES OF MR. WORLDLY REASON. Girl of the soft blue eyes You I am wooing ; — Where are my maxims wise — "What am I doing ? Tell me your pedigree, Answer me, Madam ! Can your vague family tree Say more than ' ' Adam " ? No ; well then please explain 'Why I am wooing ; Where is the good or gain I am pursuing? . - . i inn -t ' THE DEATH-THROES OF Maybe you've learning and Love u logs " and statics — What ! you don't understand " Much Mathematics " ! Have you then mastered Greek ? Can you quote Latin ? I fear you'd rather speak Silken and satin. Lass with the tender smile — Are you an heiress ? Have you a golden pile Worthy a Mayoress ? Or does your only gold Gleam from those tresses ? Whilst I both weak and bold Pay you addresses. ^ MR. WORLDLY REASON. 39 Give me your hand, my dear — Best friends must sever— This is goodbye, I fear, Goodbye for ever ! But even as we part, Hand in hand lingers ; Closely about my heart Wind your slim fingers. Something is all amiss — My pulses flutter — I speak the word it is Madness to utter ! ■htm 4 o A HONEYMOON SONG. The moon turns piteous pale — the rose burns soft In her emerald bowers ! Eastwards the pavilion Of dawn is blazoned with a faint vermilion : The violet lifts her dewy eye aloft, And to the impulse of the breath of morn All the slim rushes by the silver mere Dance, as the air-stirred lilacs shed a tear Of incense on the dark and verdurous lawn. Awake, my sweet ! open those orbs of lustre Now dimmed deliciously by night's caresses ; Open thy deep eyes ! — what soft dream impresses Its languors on thy soul ! Shake back that cluster Which shades each lid with gold ! O come and wander To banks where buds grown bashful in their hues Peep shyly out ; there wearied love renews That passion hoard we spendthrifts live to squander. 41 APRIL IN INDIA. This is a month when in the West The milder air no more denies A leafy screen to birds that nest ; When country strollers may surprise Shy violets masked in green disguise ; When languors faint pervade the wind Foreshadowing Summer's perfumed sighs ! When th' elements have all combined To bid each earth-born thing to be of cheerful mind. But here, — such joyance as we had Has fled the fatal arid plain, And exile presses doubly sad Till June arrives with freshening rain ; For smiles are very hard to feign When April's sun begins to glare And dart fierce rays with might and main : Then mournfully do mortals fare Who gasp with sick distaste the oven-heated air. 42 APRIL IN INDIA. See ! Fortune's favourites wildly fly This torrid month and climb the hills ; But I shall never scale the sky, No hope of such illusion fills My dream with plash of mountain rills : Children and wife? — Yes, — they may go, And 'scape the furnace blast that kills, But I must labour on below And suffer, worst of all, sad separation's throe. Still, — futile plaints are worse than nought, — And so I do my duty here, Sustained in India by the thought Of days to come when Phcebus' fear No more shall cause departure's tear ; When, wife and children by my side, May safely bide the livelong year, And then no longer will I chide Sweet Summer's harbinger, young April daisy-pied. 43 TO OUR OWN BEECH TREE. When last I sat in shade of thee — King of the forest— beechen tree, A foliaged crown stood on thy head Whose leaves, like brilliants, flamed red And gold — for soon they would be dead, O ! misery. When last I sat in shade of thee, The sweetest maiden sat by me ; Now maid and crown of gold have flown- Forest and frozen wind make moan — And thou and I stand here alone — In misery. _ . . _ - BfSX 44 DAYBREAK IN THE JUNGLE. Lost in the jungle's tangle I've watched the stars bespangle The dim blue firmament, Till Dawn spread upwards, stealing Their radiance, and revealing The flower founts of scent ; Waking the clear fresh morning, With jewel tints adorning Pale dew-drops of the night : A soft, sweet wind passed sighing And set the wet leaves crying That stars were put to flight. Then rose the King of Splendour ; With kisses golden, tender, Their fluttering hearts were woo'd ; Soon to his beams beguiling Those fickle leaves were smiling And changed their tearful mood. 45 LINES WRITTEN IX THE TRAVELLER'S BUNGALOW WHICH OVERHANGS THE FALLS OF GERSAPPA. I. Smoothly sweeping, softly gleaming, Onwards to her lord the sea ; Smiling to herself and dreaming Of her Ocean destiny ; Rolls along this Indian river Calm — without a prescient shiver — Save when dark rocks, through her bubbles Reflect a gloom, like hidden troubles. 2. Sudden, flies her fond illusion ! Hideous — sheer— a chasm grins ■ ■ -M 46 LINES WRITTEN AT THE And in tossing mad confusion Shuddering, her fall begins: Lo, like molten Venice glasses Rainbow-hued, Gersappa passes ; I low her masses leap and clamber ^N'hitc or yellow, pearl and amber ! 3- Far below — like snow-flakes driven By the blast ; — then smoky rings Floating, till the waters riven Turn to vapour as she sings, " Fiercely still this rock-fanged chasm Tales my depths with tortured spasm- Shall I never wed with Ocean, Never more have rest from motion ? " 4- As she moans this piteous ditty (Hearken, reader, to her prayer), FALLS OF GERSAPPA. 47 On her pangs the gods take pity, Let her bind her storm-tossed hair ; Purity, the fall has taught her ; Winds have cleansed her turgid water ; Clear as crystal see her wending Worthy of a bridal ending. 48 LINES ON LEAVING GERSA1TA. I'd gladly live a forest life Ami wear the Lincoln green ; No carking care or social strife Could touch me here, I ween. The jungle-cock should waken me, To chase the sambur stag, Or else, to fell some mighty tree That clothes Gersappa's crag. Oft dreaming in the woodland hoar I'd smoke my mild cheroot ; And hearken to the torrents' roar And watch its waters shoot. I'd muse upon the aims of men Fursuing shadows vain ; I'd wander down a blossoming glen And soon I'd smile again. LINES ON LEA VI NG GERSAPPA. 49 Alas ! I hear my fortunes cry, " Far hence — lies your career ! " And yet, e'en though I struggle high My happiness lay here. Farewell, green forest, we must part ; Farewell, ye waving trees ! But graven on my inmost heart I bear your memories. - --- 50 THEME. I AM WEARY OK MINUTE ISOLATION. O, Thou who art the universal source From whose deep roots my mortal being flowers — Take me again as skies reclasp their showers ; Take my lost soul, and end this life's divorce ! Caught to thy bosom, once more I should be A part of Thee — oh, formless, awful Life, Severed from whom we suffer storm and strife, Penned into time from our eternity. A woman seemed to make my life less weary [She who perhaps formed part of me awhile — Long ages since — came here to make me smile]. But she is dead, and I am lone and drear)-. O, take me back ! dissolve me, waft me, end me ! And make this small identity a blur, A part of thee to be one thing with her :— Into thyself beneficently blend me ! 5* DESPAIR. Stars upon stars upon stars for ever ! Limitless regions ! — Christ deliver My soul from the terrors of infinite distance ; My flesh from the curse of an endless existence. God of my fathers, where art thou — Hearken ! Unto my prayer — for the waters darken Over our heads and no sign is given, Though worms make war upon highest Heaven. - || II Ml I— i I ■ 52 ONE NIGHT MY SPIRIT. One night my spirit wandered far Unfettered by gross human senses, And saw earth shrivel to a star, And witnessed where the all commences. A swift stream flowed ; some called it Chance, And some the force of Law unfailing, O'er whose intricate waved expanse The lives of men passed sailing, sailing. Minute unnumbered bubble-forms Spun giddily down that troubled river, And on they sped — like storm-tossed wrecks, Whose fleets would vanish thence for ever : And yet, methought each one that broke And melted to its river mother, ONE NIGHT MY SPIRIT. 53 New lives to larger living woke, And Death and Life were one the other. For far-feared death, it seemed to me, Was friend to progress — was renewal, And without this no life could be ; Life was the flame, dark Death its fuel. Each life that faded, so I dreamed, Was life at profit well expended ; As Curtius leapt and Rome redeemed, So nobler life on death depended. —*- 54 SONNET. Lost in a dream, I watched a spreading palm, Until the full-orbed and majestic moon Broke from its plumes and lent the black lagoon A golden bridge to span its waters calm. And drifting there I marked a little craft Yield to some tide it could not well resist ; Boldly it left the vague and wavering mist To cross this track on which gold applets laughed. Swimming in light, it glittered gay and shone With tender, dainty hues, until it wore A more than mortal sheen ; then, passing on, Grew duller far that it had gleamed before. Thus, for a space, I flushed beneath your ray And then, alas ! swept on forlorn and gray. 55 A RUNAWAY SONNET. There is an island bedded like a gem On the deep bosom of a tranquil sea : Love, I entreat thee, come !— though all condemn My lost career and opportunity Unrivalled yet renounced ;— for what is fame, Or others' voices to thine azure eyes ? See, I have set ambition in the frame Of thy long lashes— there's the single prize I care to strive for : — let a blind world cherish Its hollow pomps — I only would explore The temple of Love's universe — then perish — For loveless life is death and something more : Answer me, love ! The wretched minutes languish As silence slowly crowns suspense with anguish. — 56 TO ENDYMION AND ALL DAY- DREAMS. Ere the pale moon with chaste and icy light Had threaded silver through the birchen spray, Endymion would hie him far away From populous haunts — a melancholy wight. But when the cold rays of the Queen of Night Slid o'er his features ; — thus the poets say ; — Diana's self no more through Heaven might stray, But left for him the vaulted azure height. World despised dreamer, thou wast fortunate, Fixing thy hopes on an immortal bride : — Secure possession might not satiate Thy first fresh love with its lethargic tide, Nor custom and fatigue combine to abate Young passion's edge by whispering "fancy lied." 57 SONNET WRITTEN AT EVA'S COMMAND, TO " THE ONLY GIRL I EVER LOVED." You order me to take my pen and write In praise of Her — " the only girl "— ah me ! I can't select a special only she From all of those whose sweetness I'd requite : Your limitation cramps poetic flight ; My wings are clogged, my Muse is all at sea ; I'd gladly sing of five or even three, But one's invidious ; 'twould not be polite ! Two hundred loves have caused my heart to burn, Two hundred more, so help me ! Ill pursue : To all your sex I'll lavish out in turn My pent-up passion— is it not their due ! Till, when my thirties never can return, I'll search the world for One resembling You. HttM — ■