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 €:]^c €arti^ X^vcatl) auD mi)tx potxm
 
 By the same author: Homeward Songs by the Way.
 
 
 C':>i ^ 
 
 ^ublij2Jl)cD br 3;ol)n Lane, ^tgn of tl)c 
 l3oDlcr l^cat), j5ctu l^orii ant) LonDon
 
 Copyrighted in the United States 
 All rights reserved 
 
 Fifteen of theie poems ha-ve already been published in the American 
 edition of ^'^ Homeward Songs by the tVay.^"
 
 ContcittjSf 
 
 iHE EARTH BREATH 
 
 ALTER EGO 
 
 A VISION OF BEAUTY 
 
 THE VOICE OF THE SEA 
 
 LOVE 
 
 THE MOUNTAINEER 
 
 DAWN SONG 
 
 IMMORTALITY 
 
 A woman's VOICE 
 
 HEROIC LOVE 
 
 BENEDICTION 
 
 THE MEMORY OF EARTH 
 
 DREAM LOVE 
 
 MORNING 
 
 THE DREAM OF TH 
 
 SONG 
 
 THE FOUNTAIN OF 
 
 WEARINESS . 
 
 ALIEN 
 
 BLINDNESS . 
 
 JANUS 
 
 ILLUSION 
 
 AWAKENING 
 
 THE DARK AGE 
 
 THE MAN TO THE ANGEL 
 
 E CHILDREN 
 
 SHADOWY BEAUTY 
 
 9 
 1 1 
 
 13 
 H 
 17 
 18 
 zo 
 
 ZI 
 
 23 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 26 
 
 27 
 
 z8 
 
 29 
 
 30 
 33 
 34 
 44 
 46 
 
 47 
 48 
 
 49 
 50 
 51 
 52 
 
 751cS61
 
 €ontcntjsf 
 
 THE GARDEN OF GOD 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 THE HOUR OF TWILIGHT 
 
 
 
 
 54 
 
 A NEW WORLD 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 BROTHERHOOD 
 
 
 
 
 
 57 
 
 THE SEER . 
 
 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 A NEW THEME 
 
 
 
 
 
 59 
 
 GLORY AND SHADOW 
 
 
 
 
 
 60 
 
 THE FREE . 
 
 
 
 
 
 63 
 
 THE FACE OF FACES 
 
 
 
 
 
 64 
 
 THE ROBING OF THE KIN( 
 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 WINTER 
 
 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 ANSWER 
 
 
 
 
 
 70 
 
 DUALITY 
 
 
 
 
 
 71 
 
 DIVINE VISITATION 
 
 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 THE CHRIST SWORD 
 
 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 THE MESSAGE OF JOHN 
 
 
 
 
 
 74 
 
 THE HOUR OF THE KING 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 A LEADER . 
 
 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 A LAST COUNSEL . 
 
 
 
 
 
 82 
 
 ENDURANCE 
 
 
 
 
 
 83 
 
 THE MID-WORLD . 
 
 
 
 
 
 85 
 
 THE TIDE OF SORROW 
 
 
 
 
 
 86 
 
 TRAGEDY 
 
 
 
 
 
 87 
 
 IN THE WOMB 
 
 
 
 
 
 88 
 
 STAR TEACHERS 
 
 
 
 
 
 89 
 
 ON A HILLSIDE 
 
 
 
 
 
 go
 
 Contcntjsf 
 
 A RETURN . . . • • ■ • 9^ 
 
 CONTENT . . • • • ■ • 93 
 
 EPILOGUE ...•••• 94
 
 €o Ul 15. gcat^
 
 / THO UGHT, beloved, to have brought to you 
 A gift of quietness and ease and peace. 
 Cooling your brow as with the mystic dew 
 Dropping from twilight trees. 
 
 Homeward I go not )r/,- the darkness grows; 
 
 Not mine the voice to still with peace divine: 
 
 From the first fount the stream of quiet fows 
 
 Through other hearts than mine. 
 
 Yet of my night I give to you the stars. 
 And of my sorrow here the sweetest gains. 
 And out of hell, beyond its iron bars. 
 My scorn of all its pains.
 
 FROM the cool and dark-lipped furrows 
 
 breathes a dim delight 
 Through the woodland's purple plumage 
 
 to the diamond night. 
 Aureoles of joy encircle 
 
 every blade ot grass 
 Where the dew-fed creatures silent 
 
 and enraptured pass. 
 And the restless ploughman pauses, 
 
 turns and, wondering. 
 Deep beneath his rustic habit 
 
 finds himself a king ; 
 For a fierv moment looking 
 
 with the eves of God 
 Over fields a slave at morning 
 
 bowed him to the sod. 
 Blind and dense with revelation 
 
 every moment flies, 
 And unto the mighty mother, 
 
 gav, eternal, rise 
 All the hopes we hold, the gladness, 
 
 dreams of things to be. 
 One of all thv generations, 
 
 mother, hails to thee. 
 Hail, and hail, and hail for ever, 
 
 though I turn again 
 
 I I
 
 From thy jov unto the human 
 
 vestiture of pain. 
 I, thy child who went forth radiant 
 
 in the golden prime. 
 Find thee still the mother-hearted 
 
 through my night in time ; 
 Find in thee the old enchantment 
 
 there behind the veil 
 Where the gods, my brothers, linger. 
 
 hail, forever, hail ! 
 
 12
 
 %\tct €go 
 
 ALL the morn a spirit gay 
 Breathes within my heart a rhyme, 
 'Tis but hide and seek we play 
 In and out the courts of Time. 
 
 Fairy lover, when my feet 
 Through the tangled woodland go, 
 'Tis thy sunnv fingers fleet 
 Fleck the fire dews to and fro. 
 
 In the moonlight grows a smile 
 Mid its ravs of dusty pearl — 
 'Tis but hide and seek the while. 
 As some frolic boy and girl. 
 
 When I fade into the deep 
 Some mysterious radiance showers 
 From the jewel-heart of sleep 
 Through the veil of darkened hours. 
 
 Where the ring of twilight gleams 
 Round the sanctuary wrought. 
 Whispers haunt me— in mv dreams 
 We are one vet know it not. 
 
 Some for beautv follow long 
 Flying traces ; some there be 
 Seek thee onlv for a song : 
 I to lose myself in thee. 
 
 13
 
 3il l^i^ion of Bcautp 
 
 WHERE we sat at dawn together, while the star-rich 
 
 heavens shitted, 
 We were weaving dreams in silence, suddenly the veil 
 
 was lifted. 
 By a hand of fire awakened, in a moment caught and led 
 Upward to the wondrous vision — through the star-mists 
 
 overhead 
 Flare and flaunt the monstrous highlands ; on the sap- 
 phire coast of night 
 Fall the ghostly froth and fringes of the ocean of the 
 
 light. 
 Many coloured shine the vapours : to the moon-eye far 
 
 awav 
 'Tis the fairy ring of twilight, mid the spheres of night 
 
 and day. 
 Girdling with a rainbow cincture round the planet where 
 
 we go. 
 We and it together fleeting, poised upon the pearly glow; 
 We and it and all together flashing through the starry 
 
 spaces 
 In a tempest dream of beauty lighting up the place of 
 
 places. 
 Half our eyes behold the glory ; half within the spirit's 
 
 glow 
 Echoes of the noiseless revels and the will of Beautv go. 
 By a hand of fire uplifted — to her star-strewn palace 
 
 brought, 
 
 H
 
 % "Bmon of iBcautp 
 
 To the mvstic heart of beauty and the secret of her 
 
 thought : 
 Here of vore the ancient mother in the fire mists sank to 
 
 rest, 
 And she built her dreams about her, raved from out her 
 
 burning breast : 
 Here the wild will woke within her lighting up her 
 
 flying dreams. 
 Round and round the planets whirling break in woods 
 
 and flowers and streams. 
 And the winds are shaken from them as the leaves from 
 
 off the rose. 
 And the feet of earth go dancing in the way that beauty 
 
 goes. 
 And the souls of earth are kindled bv the incense of her 
 
 breath 
 As her light alternate lures them through the gates ot 
 
 birth and death. 
 O'er the fields of space together following her flying 
 
 traces. 
 In a radiant tumult thronging, suns and stars and myriad 
 
 races 
 Mount the spirit spires of beauty, reaching onward to the 
 
 day 
 When the shepherd of the Ages draws his misty hordes 
 
 away 
 
 15
 
 % m^ion of l^cautp 
 
 Through the ghmmering deeps to silence, and within the 
 
 awful fold 
 Life and jov and love forever vanish as a tale is told. 
 Lost within the mother's being. So the vision flamed 
 
 and fled. 
 And before the glorv fallen everv other dream lay dead. 
 
 i6
 
 €lje t^oicc of tl)c ^ca 
 
 THE sea was hoary, hoary, 
 Beating on rock and cave : 
 The winds were white and weeping 
 With foam dust of the wave. 
 
 They thundered louder, louder. 
 With storm-lips curled in scorn — 
 And dost thou tremble before us, 
 O fallen star of morn? 
 
 17
 
 Stobe 
 
 ERE I loose myself in the vastness and drowse myself 
 
 with the peace. 
 While I gaze on the light and the beauty afar from the 
 
 dim homes of men, 
 May I still feel the heart-pang and pity, love-ties that I 
 
 would not release ; 
 May the voices of sorrow appealing call me back to their 
 
 succour again. 
 
 Ere I storm with the tempest of power the thrones and 
 
 dominions of old. 
 Ere the ancient enchantment allure me to roam through 
 
 the star-misty skies, 
 I would go forth as one who has reaped well what harvest 
 
 the earth may unfold ; 
 May my heart be o'erbrimmed with compassion; on my 
 
 brow be the crown of the wise. 
 
 I would go as the dove from the ark sent forth with wishes 
 and prayers 
 
 To return with the paradise blossoms that bloom in the 
 eden of light : 
 
 When the deep star-chant of the seraphs I hear in the 
 mvstical airs. 
 
 May I capture one tone of their joy for the sad ones dis- 
 crowned in the night. 
 
 8
 
 Not alone, not alone would I go to my rest in the heart 
 
 of the love : 
 Were I tranced in the innermost beauty, the flame of its 
 
 tenderest breath, 
 I would still hear the plaint of the fallen recalling me back 
 
 from above. 
 To go down to the side of the mourners who weep in the 
 
 shadow of death. 
 
 19
 
 OH, at the eagle's height 
 To he i' the sweet of the san. 
 While veil after veil takes flight 
 And God and the world are one. 
 
 Oh, the night on the steep! 
 All that his eves saw dim 
 Grows light in the duskv deep. 
 And God is alone with him. 
 
 20
 
 WHILE the earth is dark and grey 
 How I laugh within. I know 
 In my breast what ardours gay 
 From the morning overflow. 
 
 Though the cheek be white and wet 
 In mv heart no fear mav fall : 
 There mv chieftain leads and yet 
 Ancient battle trumpets call. 
 
 Bend on me no hasty frown 
 If my spirit slight your cares : 
 Sunlike still my joy looks down 
 Changing tears to beamy airs. 
 
 Think me not of fickle heart 
 If with joy my bosom swells 
 Though your ways from mine depart. 
 In the true are no farewells. 
 
 What I love in you I find 
 Evervwhere. A friend I greet 
 In each flower and tree and wind — 
 Oh, but life is sweet, is sweet! 
 
 What to you are bolts and bars 
 Are to me the arms that guide 
 To the freedom of the stars, 
 Where mv golden kinsmen bide. 
 
 21
 
 From my mountain top I view : 
 Twilight's purple flower is gone. 
 And I send mv song to you 
 On the level light of dawn. 
 
 22
 
 ^FmmortaJitp 
 
 WE must pass like smoke or live within the spirit's fire ; 
 For we can no more than smoke unto the flame return 
 If our thought has changed to dream, our will unto desire. 
 As smoke we vanish though the fire may burn. 
 
 Lights of infinite pity star the grey dusk of our days : 
 Surely here is soul : with it we have eternal breath: 
 In the fire of love we live, or pass by many ways, 
 Bv unnumbered wavs of dream to death.
 
 HIS head within my bosom lav. 
 But yet his spirit slipped not through: 
 I only felt the burning clay 
 That withered for the cooling dew. 
 
 It was but pity when I spoke 
 And called him to my heart for rest. 
 And half a mother's loye that woke 
 Feeling his head upon my breast : 
 
 And half the lion's tenderness 
 To shield her cubs from hurt or death. 
 Which, when the serried hunters press. 
 Makes terrible her wounded breath. 
 
 But when the lips I breathed upon 
 Asked for such love as equals claim — 
 I looked where all the stars were gone 
 Burned in the day's immortal flame, 
 
 ' Come thou like yon great dawn to me 
 From darkness vanquished, battles done: 
 Flame unto flame shall flow and be 
 Within thy heart and mine as one.' 
 
 24
 
 WHEN our glowing dreams were dead. 
 Ruined our heroic piles. 
 Something in your dark eyes said: 
 'Think no more of love or smiles.' 
 
 Something in me still would say, 
 « Though our dreamland palace goes, 
 I have seen how in decay 
 Still the wild rose clings and blows.' 
 
 But your dark eyes willed it thus : 
 * Build our lofty dream again: 
 Let our palace rise o'er us : 
 Love can never be till then.'
 
 ^cnctJictton 
 
 NOW the rooftree of the midnight spreading. 
 
 Buds in citron, green, and blue : 
 From afar its mystic odours shedding. 
 Child, on you. 
 
 Now the buried stars beneath the mountain 
 
 And the vales their life renew. 
 Jetting rainbow blooms from tiny fountains, 
 Child, for you. 
 
 In the diamond air the sun-star glowing. 
 
 Up its feathered radiance threw ; 
 All the jewel glory there was flowing. 
 Child, for vou. 
 
 As within the quiet waters passing. 
 
 Sun and moon and srars we view. 
 So the lovehness of hfe is glassing. 
 Child, in vou. 
 
 And the fire divine in all things burning 
 
 Seeks the mystic heart anew. 
 From its wanderings far again returning. 
 Child, to vou. 
 
 26
 
 Z\)t Sl^cmorp of o^artl) 
 
 IN the wet dusk silver sweet, 
 Down the violet scenteei ways. 
 As I moved with quiet feet 
 I was met by mighty days. 
 
 On the hedge the hanging dew 
 Glassed the eve and stars and skies; 
 While I gazed a madness grew 
 Into thundered battle cries. 
 
 Where the hawthorn glimmered white. 
 Flashed the spear and fell the stroke — 
 Ah, what faces pale and bright 
 Where the dazzling battle broke ! 
 
 There a hero-hearted queen 
 With young beauty ht the van: 
 Gone ! the darkness flowed between 
 All the ancient wars of man. 
 
 While I paced the valley's gloom 
 Where the rabbits pattered near. 
 Shone a temple and a tomb 
 With the legend carven clear: 
 
 * Time put by n myriad fates 
 That her day might dazvn in glory ; 
 Death made wide a million gates 
 So to close her tragic story.'' 
 
 27
 
 stream %o\}c 
 
 I DID not deem it half so sweet 
 To feel thy gentle hand. 
 As in a dream thy soul to greet 
 Across wide leagues of land. 
 
 Untouched more near to draw to you 
 Where, amid radiant skies. 
 Glimmered thy plumes of iris hue. 
 My Bird of Paradise. 
 
 Let me dream only with my heart. 
 Love first, and after see: 
 Know thy diviner counterpart 
 Before I kneel to thee. 
 
 So in thy motions all expressed 
 Thy angel I may view : 
 I shall not on thy beauty rest. 
 But Beautv's ray in vou. 
 
 28
 
 WE had the sense of twilight round us ; 
 The orange dawn Hghts fluttered b\- ; 
 And thrilHng through the spell that bound us 
 We heard the world's awakening cry. 
 
 We felt the dim appeal of sorrow 
 Rolled outward from its quiet breath. 
 To waken to the burdened morrow. 
 The toil for life, the tears for death : 
 
 And out of all old pain and longing 
 The truer love woke with the hght : 
 We saw the evil shadows thronging. 
 And went as warriors to the fight. 
 
 29
 
 €l^e Dream of tlyt CfjiiDrcu 
 
 THE children awoke in their dreaming 
 
 While earth lay dewy and still : 
 They followed the rill in its gleaming 
 
 To the heart-light of the hill. 
 
 Its sounds and sights were forsaking 
 The world as they faded in sleep. 
 
 When they heard a music breaking 
 Out from the heart-light deep. 
 
 It ran where the rill in its flowing 
 
 Under the star-light gay. 
 With wonderful colour was glowing 
 
 Like the bubbles they blew in their play. 
 
 From the misty mountain under 
 
 Shot gleams of an opal star ; 
 Its pathways of rainbow wonder 
 
 Rayed to their feet from afar. 
 
 From their feet as they strayed in the meadow 
 
 It led through caverned aisles. 
 Filled with purple and green hght and shadow 
 
 For mystic miles on miles. 
 
 The children were glad : it was lonelv 
 
 To play on the hillside by dav. 
 • But now' they said, ' we have only 
 
 To go where the good people stray.' 
 
 3°
 
 Cljc SDrcam of tiyt €i)i\htm 
 
 For all the hillside was haunted 
 
 By the faery folk come again ; 
 And down in the heart-light enchanted 
 
 Were opal coloured men. 
 
 Thev moved like kings unattended 
 
 Without a squire or dame, 
 But they wore tiaras splendid 
 
 With feathers of starlight flame. 
 
 They laughed at the children over 
 And called them into the heart. 
 
 'Come down here, each sleepless rover; 
 We will show you some of our art.' 
 
 And down through the cool of the mountain 
 
 The children sank at the call. 
 And stood in a blazing fountain 
 
 And never a mountain at all. 
 
 The lights were coming and going 
 
 In many a shining strand. 
 For the opal fire-kings were blowing 
 
 The darkness out of the land. 
 
 This golden breath was a madness 
 
 To set a poet on fire ; 
 And this was a cure for sadness. 
 
 And that the ease of desire. 
 
 31
 
 €J)e SDrcam of ti)t Cljildrcn 
 
 And all night long over Eri 
 
 They fought with the wand of light. 
 And love that never grew weary 
 
 The evil things of night. 
 
 They said as dawn glimmered hoary 
 
 *We will show yourselves for an hour.' 
 
 And the children were changed to a glory 
 By the beautiful magic of power. 
 
 The fire-kings smiled on their faces 
 And called them by olden names. 
 
 Till they towered like the starry races 
 All plumed with the twilight flames. 
 
 They talked for a while together 
 How the toil of ages oppressed. 
 
 And of how they best could weather 
 The ship of the world to its rest. 
 
 The dawn in the room was straying: 
 
 The children began to blink, 
 When they heard a far voice saying 
 
 'You can grow like that if you think.' 
 
 The sun came in yellow and gay light : 
 They tumbled out of the cot : 
 
 And half of the dream went with daylight 
 And half was never forgot. 
 
 32
 
 strong 
 
 DUSK its ash-grey blossoms sheds on violet skies. 
 Over twilight mountains where the heart songs rise. 
 Rise and fall and fade away from earth to air. 
 Earth renews the music sweeter. Oh, come there. 
 Come, macushia, come, as in ancient times 
 Rings aloud the underland with faerv chimes. 
 Down the unseen ways as strays each tinkling fleece 
 Winding ever onward to a fold of peace. 
 So my dreams go straying in a land more fair ; 
 Half I tread the dew-wet grasses, half wander there. 
 Fade your glimmering eves in a w'orld grown cold ; 
 Come, macushia, with, me to the mountains old. 
 There the bright ones call us waving to and fro — 
 Come, my children, with me to the ancient go. 
 
 33
 
 Ziyt fountain of ^Ijatioixjp 23eautp 
 
 A Dream 
 
 / ff^O ULD I could weave in 
 
 The colour, the wonder. 
 The song I conceive in 
 
 My heart while I ponder. 
 
 And show how it came like 
 
 The magi of old 
 Whose chant was a Jiame like 
 
 The dawn* s voice of gold ; 
 
 Whose dreams followed near them 
 
 A murmur of birds. 
 And ear still could hear them 
 
 Unchanted in words. 
 
 In zuords I can only 
 
 Reveal thee my heart. 
 Oh, Light of the Lonely, 
 
 The shining impart. 
 
 Between the twilight and the dark 
 The hghts danced up before my eyes : 
 I found no sleep or peace or rest. 
 But dreams of stars and burning skies. 
 
 34
 
 €J)c fountain of ^IjaDotup 25cautp 
 
 I knew the faces of the day — 
 Dream faces, pale, with cloudv hair, 
 I knew vou not nor vet vour home. 
 The Fount of Shadowy Beauty, where? 
 
 I passed a dream of gloomy wavs 
 Where ne'er did human feet intrude : 
 It was the border of a wood, 
 A dreadful forest solitude. 
 
 With wondrous red and fairy gold 
 
 The clouds were woven o'er the ocean ; 
 
 The stars in lierv sther swung 
 
 And danced with gay and glittering motion, 
 
 A fire leaped up within mv heart 
 When first I saw the old sea shine ; 
 As if a god were there revealed 
 I bowed my head in awe divine ; 
 
 And long beside the dim sea marge 
 I mused until the gathering haze 
 Veiled from me where the silver tide 
 Ran in its thousand shadowv ways. 
 
 The black night dropped upon the sea : 
 The silent awe came down with it : 
 
 35
 
 €I)c fountain of ^(jatiotDp 25eautp 
 
 I saw fantastic vapours flee 
 As o'er the darkness of the pit. 
 
 When, lo ! from out the furthest night 
 A speck of rose and silver light 
 Above a boat shaped wondrously 
 Came floating swiftly o'er the sea. 
 
 It was no human will that bore 
 The boat so fleetly to the shore 
 Without a sail spread or an oar. 
 
 The Pilot stood erect thereon 
 And lifted up his ancient face. 
 Ancient with glad eternal youth 
 Like one who was of starry race. 
 
 His face was rich with dusky bloom ; 
 His eves a bronze and golden fire ; 
 His hair in streams of silver light 
 Hung flamehke on his strange attire. 
 
 Which, starred with many a mvstic sign. 
 Fell as o'er sunlit ruby glowing : 
 His light flew o'er the waves afar 
 In ruddy ripples on each bar 
 Along the spiral pathways flowing. 
 
 36
 
 €t^t fountain of ^ijatiobjp 25cautp 
 
 It was a crystal boat that chased 
 The light along the watery waste. 
 Till caught amid the surges hoary 
 The Pilot staved its jewelled glory. 
 
 Oh, never such a glory was : 
 
 The pale moon shot it through and through 
 
 With light of lilac, white and blue : 
 
 And there mid many a fairy hue. 
 
 Of pearl and pink and amethyst, 
 
 Like lightning ran the rainbow gleams 
 
 And wove around a wonder-mist. 
 
 The Pilot lifted beckoning hands ; 
 
 Silent I went with deep amaze 
 
 To know why came this Beam of Light 
 
 So far along the ocean ways 
 
 Out of the vast and shadowy night. 
 
 ' Make haste, make haste ! ' he cried. ' Away! 
 A thousand ages now are gone. 
 Yet thou and I ere night be sped 
 Will reck no more of eve or dawn.' 
 
 Swift as the swallow to its nest 
 
 I leaped : my body dropt right down: 
 
 A silver star I rose and flew. 
 
 37
 
 Zf^t fountain of ^l[)aDotDii 23caiitp 
 
 A flame burned golden at his breast : 
 I entered at the heart and knew 
 My Brother-Self who roams the deep. 
 Bird ot the wonder-world of sleep. 
 
 The ruby vesture wrapped us round 
 As twain in one : we left behind 
 The league-long murmur of the shore 
 And fleeted swifter than the wind. 
 
 The distance rushed upon the bark : 
 We neared unto the mystic isles : 
 The heavenly city we could mark. 
 Its mountain light, its jewel dark. 
 Its pinnacles and starrv piles. 
 
 The glory brightened : ' Do not fear; 
 For we are real, though what seems 
 So proudly built above the waves 
 Is but one mighty spirit's dreams. 
 
 ' Our Father's house hath manv fanes; 
 Yet enter not and worship not. 
 For thought but follows after thought 
 Till last consuming self it wanes. 
 
 'The Fount of Shadowy Beauty flings 
 Its glamour o'er the light of day : 
 
 38
 
 €i)c fountain of ^tiatiotup ^^cautp 
 
 A music in the sunlight sings 
 To call the dreamy hearts away 
 Their mighty hopes to ease awhile : 
 We will not go the way of them : 
 The chant makes drowsy those who seek 
 The sceptre and the diadem. 
 
 * The Fount of Shadowy Beauty throws 
 Its magic round us all the night ; 
 What things the heart would be, it sees 
 And chases them in endless flight. 
 Or coiled in phantom visions there 
 It builds within the halls of lire ; 
 Its dreams flash hke the peacock's wing 
 And glow with sun-hues of desire. 
 We will not follow in their ways 
 Nor heed the lure of fay or elt. 
 But in the ending of our days 
 Rest in the high Ancestral Self.' 
 
 The boat of crvstal touched the shore, 
 Then melted flamelike from our eyes. 
 As in the twilight drops the sun 
 Withdrawing rays of paradise. 
 
 We hurried under arched aisles 
 That far above in heaven withdrawn 
 
 39
 
 Cbe fountain of ^Ijatiotup 25eautp 
 
 With cloudy pillars stormed the night. 
 Rich as the opal shafts of dawn. 
 
 I would have lingered then — but he : 
 
 ' Oh, let us haste : the dream grows dim. 
 
 Another night, another day, 
 
 A thousand years will part from him, 
 
 ' Who is that Ancient One divine 
 From whom our phantom being born 
 Rolled with the wonder-light around 
 Had started in the fairy morn. 
 
 ' A thousand of our years to him 
 Are but the night, are but the day. 
 Wherein he rests from cyclic toil' 
 Or chants the song of starry sway. 
 
 * He falls asleep : the Shadowy Fount 
 Fills all our heart with dreams of light : 
 He wakes to ancient spheres, and we 
 Through iron ages mourn the night. 
 We will not wander in the night 
 But in a darkness more divine 
 Shall join the Father Light of Lights 
 And rule the long-descended line.' 
 
 40
 
 €J)e fountain of ^(jaliotop 23cautp 
 
 Even then a vasty twilight fell : 
 Wavered in air the shadowy towers : 
 The city Hke a gleaming shell. 
 Its azures, opals, silvers, blues. 
 Were melting in more dreamy hues. 
 We feared the falling of the night 
 And hurried more our headlong flight. 
 In one long line the towers went by ; 
 The trembling radiance dropt behind, 
 As when some swift and radiant one 
 Flits by and ftings upon the wind 
 The rainbow tresses of the sun. 
 
 And then thev vanished from our gaze 
 Faded the magic lights, and all 
 Into a starry radiance tell 
 As waters in their fountain fall. 
 
 We knew our time-long journey o'er 
 And knew the end of all desire. 
 And saw within the emerald glow 
 Our Father like the white sun-fire. 
 
 We could not say if age or vouth 
 Was en his face : we onlv burned 
 To pass the gateways of the day. 
 The exiles to the heart returned. 
 
 41
 
 €f)c fountain of ^l^atiotup 25cautp 
 
 He rose to greet us and his breath. 
 The tempest music of the spheres. 
 Dissolved the memorv of earth. 
 The cyclic labour and our tears. 
 In him our dream of sorrow passed. 
 The spirit once again was free 
 And heard the song the morning stars 
 Chant in eternal revelry. 
 
 This was the close of human storv ; 
 We saw the deep unmeasured shine. 
 And sank within the mystic glory 
 They called of old the Dark Divine. 
 
 Well it is gone now. 
 
 The dream that I chanted : 
 
 On this side the dazvn nozu 
 I sit fate-implanted. 
 
 But though of my dreaming 
 
 The dawn has bereft me. 
 It all was not seeming 
 
 For something has left me. 
 
 I feel in some other 
 
 IVorldfar from this cold light 
 
 42
 
 €l)e fountain of ^Ijatiotup ^cautp 
 
 The Dream Bird, ?ny brother. 
 Is rayed zv'ith the gold light. 
 
 I too in the Father 
 
 Would hide me, and so. 
 Bright Bird, to foregather 
 
 With thee nozv 1 go. 
 
 43
 
 WHERE are now the dreams divine 
 Fires that lit the dawning soul. 
 As the ruddy colours shine 
 Through an opal aureole ? 
 
 Moving in a joyous trance. 
 We were like the forest glooms 
 Rumorous of old romance. 
 Fraught with unimagined dooms. 
 
 Titans we or morning stars. 
 So we seemed in days of old. 
 Mingling in the giant wars 
 Fought afar in deeps of gold. 
 
 God, an elder brother dear. 
 Filled with kindly light our thought : 
 Many a radiant form was near 
 Whom our hearts remember not. 
 
 Would they know us now ? I think 
 Old companions of the prime 
 From our garments well might shrink. 
 Muddied with the lees of Time. 
 
 Fade the heaven-assailing moods : 
 Slave to petty tasks I pine 
 For the quiet of the woods. 
 And the sunlight seems divine. 
 
 44
 
 And I vearn to lay my head 
 Where the grass is green and sweet. 
 Mother, all the dreams are fled 
 From the tired child at thv feet. 
 
 45
 
 mmx 
 
 DARK glowed the vales of amethyst 
 Beneath an opal shroud : 
 The moon bud opened through the mist 
 Its white-fire leaves of cloud. 
 
 Though rapt at gaze with eyes of light 
 Looked forth the seraph seers. 
 The vast and wandering dream of night 
 Rolled on above our tears. 
 
 46
 
 OUR true hearts are forever lonely : 
 
 A wistfulness is in our thought : 
 
 Our lights are like the dawns which only 
 
 Seem bright to us and vet are not. 
 
 Something you see in me I wis not : 
 
 Another heart in vou I guess : 
 
 A stranger's lips — but thine I kiss not. 
 
 Erring in all mv tenderness. 
 
 I sometimes think a mighty lover 
 Takes every burning kiss we give : 
 His lights are those which round us hover 
 For him alone our lives we live. 
 
 Ah, sigh for us whose hearts unseeing 
 Point all their passionate love in vain. 
 And blinded in the joy of being, 
 Meet only when pain touches pain. 
 
 47
 
 IMAGE of beauty, when I gaze on thee, 
 Trembhng I waken to a mystery. 
 How through one door we go to life or death 
 By spirit kindled or the sensual breath. 
 
 Image of beauty, when my way I go ; 
 No single joy or sorrow do I know : 
 Elate for freedom leaps the starry power. 
 The life which passes mourns its wasted hour. 
 
 And, ah, to think how thin the veil that lies 
 Between the pain of hell and paradise ! 
 Where the cool grass my aching head embowers 
 God sings the lovelv carol of the flowers. 
 
 48
 
 WHAT is the love of shadowv lips 
 That know not what thev" seek or press. 
 From whom the lure for ever slips 
 And fails their phantom tenderness ? 
 
 The mvsterv and light of eves 
 
 That near to mine grow dim and cold; 
 
 They move afar in ancient skies 
 
 Mid flame and mystic darkness rolled. 
 
 O beauty, as thy heart o'erflows 
 In tender yielding unto me, 
 A vast desire awakes and grows 
 Unto forgetfulness of thee. 
 
 49
 
 THE lights shone down the street 
 In the long blue close of day : 
 A bov's heart beat sweet, sweet. 
 As it flowered in its dreamy clay. 
 
 Beyond the dazzling throng 
 And above the towers of men 
 The stars made him long, long. 
 To return to their light again. 
 
 They lit the wondrous years 
 And his heart within was gay ; 
 But a life of tears, tears, 
 He had won for himself that day. 
 
 5°
 
 THE streets are spread with dross and slime; 
 The black pools flash a steely hght 
 To the chill stars : the iron time 
 Manacles us in night. 
 
 What cries of shadovvv hosts in woe. 
 
 Who beat themselves against the bars 
 
 And suffer, why they do not know: 
 
 Lost children of the stars ! 
 
 I will arise and look on Him 
 And tread the vast in dreams, and keep 
 The fire I hold from burning dim 
 Like theirs who moan in sleep. 
 
 51
 
 myt SC^an to tljc %nqc\ 
 
 I HAVE wept a million tears: 
 Pure and proud one, where are thine. 
 What the gain though all thy years 
 In unbroken beauty shine ? 
 
 All your beauty cannot win 
 Truth we learn in pain and sighs: 
 You can never enter in 
 To the circle of the wise. 
 
 They are but the slaves of light 
 Who have never known the gloom, 
 And between the dark and bright 
 Willed in freedom their own doom. 
 
 Think not in your pureness there, 
 That our pain but follows sin: 
 There are fires for those who dare 
 Seek the throne of might to win. 
 
 Pure one, from your pride refrain: 
 Dark and lost amid the strife 
 I am myriad years of pain 
 Nearer to the fount ot life. 
 
 When defiance fierce is thrown 
 At the God to whom you bow. 
 Rest the lips of the Unknown 
 Tenderest upon my brow. 
 
 52
 
 €fjc oBartim of sJBoti 
 
 WITHIN the iron cities 
 One walked unknown for years. 
 In his heart the pity ot pities 
 That grew for human tears. 
 
 When love and grief were ended 
 The flower of pity grew: 
 By unseen hands 'twas tended 
 Aud fed with holy dew. 
 
 Though in his heart were barred in 
 The blooms of beauty blown, 
 Yet he who grew the garden 
 Could call no flower his own. 
 
 For by the hands that watered. 
 The blooms that opened fair 
 Through frost and pain wee scattered 
 To sweeten the dead air. 
 
 53
 
 €^e l^our of €tuiligl)t 
 
 WHEN the unquiet hours depart 
 
 And far awav their tumults cease. 
 
 Within the twilight of the heart 
 
 We bathe in peace, are stilled with peace. 
 
 The fire that slew us through the day 
 For angry deed or sin ot sense 
 Now is the star and homeward ray 
 To us who bow in penitence. 
 
 We kiss the lips of byegone pain 
 
 And find a secret sweet in them : 
 
 The thorns once dripped with shadowy rain 
 
 Are bright upon each diadem. 
 
 Ceases the old pathetic strife. 
 The struggle with the scarlet sin : 
 The mad enchanted laugh of lite 
 Tempts not the soul that sees within. 
 
 No riotous and fairy song 
 Allures the prodigals who bow 
 Within the home of law, and throng 
 Before the mystic Father now. 
 
 Where faces of the elder years. 
 High souls absolved from grief and sin. 
 Leaning from out ancestral spheres 
 Beckon the wounded spirit in. 
 
 54
 
 I WHO had sought afar from earth 
 
 The faerv land to meet, 
 Now find content within its girth 
 
 And wonder nigh my feet. 
 
 To-day a nearer love I choose 
 And seek no distant sphere ; 
 For aureoled by faery dews 
 The dear brown breasts appear. 
 
 With rainbow radiance come and go 
 
 The airy breaths oi day ; 
 And eve is all a pearly glow 
 
 With moonbovv winds a-play. 
 
 The lips of twilight burn my brow. 
 
 The arms of night caress : 
 Glimmer her white eyes drooping now 
 
 With grave old tenderness. 
 
 I close mine eyes from dream to be 
 The Diamond-rayed again, 
 
 As in the ancient hours ere we 
 Forgot ourselves to men. 
 
 And all I thought of heaven before 
 
 I find in earth below : 
 A sunlight in the hidden core 
 
 To dim the noonday glow. 
 
 55
 
 And with the earth my heart is glad, 
 
 I move as one of old ; 
 With mists of silver T am clad 
 
 And bright with burning gold. 
 
 56
 
 23rotl)cr|)ooti 
 
 TWILIGHT, a blossom grey in shadowy valleys dwells: 
 Under the radiant dark the deep blue-tinted bells 
 In quietness reimage heaven within their blooms. 
 Sapphire and gold and mystery. What strange perfumes. 
 Out of what deeps arising, all the flower-bells fling, 
 Unknowing the enchanted odorous song they sing! 
 Oh, never was an eve so living yet: the wood 
 Stirs not but breathes enraptured quietude. 
 Here in these shades the Ancient knows itself, the Soul, 
 And out of slumber waking starts unto the goal. 
 What bright companions ;iod and go along with it! 
 Out of the teeming dark what dusky creatures flit. 
 That through the long leagues of the island night above 
 Come by me, wandering, whispering, beseeching love; 
 As in the twilight children gather close and press 
 Nigh and more nigh with shadowy tenderness. 
 Feeling thev know not what, with noiseless footsteps glide 
 Seeking familiar lips or hearts to dream beside. 
 O voices, I would go with you, with you, away. 
 Facing once more the radiant gateways of the day; 
 With you, with you, what memories arise, and nigh 
 Trampling the crowded figures of the dawn go by. 
 Dread deities, the giant powers that warred on men 
 Grow tender brothers and gay children once again; 
 Fades every hate away before the Mother's breast 
 Where all the exiles of the heart return to rest. 
 
 57
 
 OH, if mv spirit may foretell 
 
 Or earlier impart, 
 It is because I always dvyell 
 
 With morning in my heart. 
 
 I feel the keen embrace of light 
 
 Ere dawning on the view 
 It spravs the chilly fold of night 
 
 With iridescent dew. 
 
 The robe of dust around it cast 
 Hides not the earth below. 
 
 Its heart of rubv flame, the vast 
 Mysterious gloom and glow. 
 
 Something beneath von coward gaze 
 
 Betrays the royal line; 
 Its lust and hate, but errant ravs. 
 
 Are at their root divine. 
 
 I hail the light of elder years 
 Behind the niggard mould. 
 
 The fiery kings, the seraph seers. 
 As in the age of gold. 
 
 And all about and through the gloom 
 Breaths from the golden clime 
 
 Are wafted like a sweet perfume 
 From some most ancient time. 
 
 58
 
 I FAIN would leave the tender songs 
 
 I sang to you of old, 
 Thinking the oft-sung beauty wrongs 
 
 The magic never told. 
 
 And touch no more the thoughts, the moods. 
 
 That win the easy praise; 
 But venture in the untrodden woods 
 
 To carve the future ways. 
 
 Though far or strange or cold appear 
 
 The shadowy things I tell, 
 Within the heart the hidden seer 
 
 Knows and remembers well. 
 
 I think that in the coming time 
 
 The hearts and hopes of men 
 The mountain tops of life shall climb. 
 
 The gods return again. 
 
 I strive to blow the magic horn ; 
 
 It feebly murmureth ; 
 Arise on some enchanted morn. 
 
 Poet, with God's own breath! 
 
 And sound the horn I cannot blow. 
 
 And bv the secret name 
 Each exile of the heart will know 
 
 Kindle the magic flame. 
 
 59
 
 oBlorp anti J^tjatioiii 
 
 SHADOW 
 
 WHO art thou, O Glory, 
 In flame from the deep 
 Where stars chant their storv; 
 Why trouble my sleep? 
 I hardly had rested; 
 My dreams wither now. 
 Why comest thou crested 
 And gemmed on thy brow ? , 
 
 GLORY 
 
 Up, Shadow, and follow 
 The way I shall show: 
 The blue gleaming hollow 
 To-night we will know: 
 And rise through the vast to 
 The fountain of days 
 From whence we had passed to 
 The parting of ways. 
 
 SHADOW 
 
 I know thee, O Glory; 
 Thine eyes and thv brow 
 With white-fire all hoary 
 Come back to me now. 
 Together we wandered 
 
 60
 
 In ages agone: 
 
 Our thoughts as we pondered 
 
 Were stars at the dawn. 
 
 Mv glorv has dwindled, 
 
 Mv azure and gold: 
 
 Yet vou keep enkindled 
 
 The sunfire of old. 
 
 Mv footsteps are tied to 
 
 The heath and the stone: 
 
 Mv thoughts earth-allied-to, 
 
 Ah, leave me alone. 
 
 Go back, thou of gladness. 
 
 Nor wound me with pain, 
 
 Nor smite me with madness. 
 
 Nor come nigh again. 
 
 GLORY 
 
 Wh\' tremble and weep now. 
 Whom stars once obeyed? 
 Come forth to the deep now 
 And be not afraid. 
 The Dark One is calling 
 I know, for his dreams 
 Around me are falling 
 In musical streams. 
 A diamond is burning 
 
 6i
 
 (Slorp anti ^JjalJoiu 
 
 In depths of the Lone, 
 Thy spirit returning 
 Mav claim for its throne. 
 In flame-fringed islands 
 Its sorrow shall cease. 
 Absorbed in the silence 
 And quenched in the peace. 
 Come lay thy poor head on 
 My heart where it glows 
 With love ruby-red on 
 Thy heart for its woes. 
 My power I surrender; 
 To thee it is due. 
 Come forth! for the splendour 
 Is waiting for vou. 
 
 62
 
 Ziyc ftct 
 
 A MEMORY 
 
 THEY bathed in the fire-flooded fountains: 
 Life girdled them round and about: 
 They slept in the clefts of the mountains: 
 The stars called them forth with a shout. 
 
 They prayed, but their worship was only 
 The wonder at nights and at days. 
 As still as the lips of the lonely 
 Though burning with dumbness of praise. 
 
 No sadness of earth ever captured 
 Their spirits who bowed at the shrine: 
 They fled to the Lonely enraptured 
 And hid in the darkness divine. 
 
 As children at twilight may gather, 
 They met at the doorway ot death 
 The' smile of the dark hidden Father, 
 The Mother with magical breath. 
 
 Untold of in song or in story, 
 In days long forgotten of men. 
 Their eyes were yet blind with a glory 
 Time will not remember again. 
 
 63
 
 €i)c fate of fatt^ 
 
 OVER all the dream built margin, flushed with 
 
 grey and hoary light. 
 Glint the bubble planets tossing in the dead black 
 
 sea oi night. 
 Immemorial face, how many faces look from out 
 
 thy skies. 
 Now with ghostly eyes of wonder rimm.ed around 
 
 with rainbow dyes : 
 Now the secrets of the future trail along the 
 
 silent spheres : 
 Ah, how often have I followed filled with phantom 
 
 hopes and fears. 
 Where my star that rose dream-laden, moving to 
 
 the mystic crown. 
 On the yellow moon-rock foundered and my joy 
 
 and dreams went down. 
 As a child with hands uplifted peering through 
 
 the cloudless miles 
 Bent the mighty mother o'er me shining all with 
 
 eyes and smiles : 
 ' Come up hither, child, my darling, : waving 
 
 to the habitations. 
 Thrones, and starry kings around her, dark em- 
 battled planet nations. 
 There the mighty rose in greeting, as their child 
 
 from exile turning 
 
 64
 
 €6c fate of fatc0 
 
 Smiled upon the awful faces on the throne super- 
 nal burning. 
 As with sudden sweetness melting, shone the 
 
 e)'es, the hearts of home, 
 Changed the vision, and the mother vanished in 
 
 the vasty dome. 
 So from marvel unto marvel turned the face I 
 
 gazed upon. 
 Till its fading majestv grew tender as a child 
 
 at dawn. 
 And the heaven of heavens departed and the 
 
 visions passed awav 
 With the seraph of the darkness martvred in the 
 
 fires of da v.
 
 €lje lltobing of ti}t Min^ 
 
 ON the bird of air blue-breasted glint the 
 
 rays of gold. 
 And its shadowy fleece above us waves 
 
 the forest old. 
 Far through rumorous leagues of mid- 
 night stirred by breezes warm. 
 See the old ascetic yonder, ah, poor 
 
 withered form. 
 Where he crouches wrinkled over by 
 
 unnumbered years 
 Through the leaves the flakes of moon-fire 
 
 fall like phantom tears. 
 At the dawn a kingly hunter swept in 
 
 proud disdain. 
 Like a rainbow torrent scattered flashed 
 
 his royal train. 
 Now the lonely one unheeded seeks earth's 
 
 caverns dim : 
 Never king or prince will robe them 
 
 radiantly as him 
 'Mid the deep enfolding darkness follow 
 
 him, O seer. 
 Where the arrow will is piercing fiery 
 
 sphere on sphere. 
 Through the blackness leaps and sparkles 
 
 gold and amethvst. 
 
 66
 
 €)[)c iloliing of tlyc ][iing 
 
 Curling, jetting, and dissolving in a rain- 
 bow mist. 
 In the jewel glow and lunar radiance 
 
 rises there 
 One a morning star in heautv, voung, 
 
 immortal, fair : 
 Sealed in heavy sleep, the spirit leaves its 
 
 faded dress. 
 Unto fiery youth returning out of 
 
 weariness. 
 Music as for one departing, jov as for a 
 
 king, 
 Sound and swell, and hark! above him 
 
 cymbals triumphing. 
 Fire, an aureole encircling, suns his brow 
 
 with gold. 
 Like to one who hails the morning on the 
 
 mountains old. 
 Open mightier vistas, changing human 
 
 loves to scorns. 
 And the spears of glorv pierce him like a 
 
 crown of thorns. 
 High and vet more high to freedom as a 
 
 bird he springs. 
 And the aureole outbreathing, gold and 
 
 silver wings 
 
 67
 
 Zi)c Mohinq of ti)t Jiing 
 
 Plume the brow and crown the seraph : 
 
 soon his journey done 
 He will pass our eves that follow, sped 
 
 beyond the sun. 
 None may know the darker radiance. 
 
 King, will there be thine. 
 Far beyond the light enfolded in the life 
 
 divine. 
 
 68
 
 Winttt 
 
 A DIAMOND glow of winter o'er the world 
 Amid the chillv halo nigh the west 
 Flickers a phantom violet bloom unfurled 
 Dim on the twilight's breast. 
 
 Only phantasmal blooms but for an hour, 
 A transient beauty ; then the white stars shine 
 Chilling the heart : I long for thee to flower, 
 O bud of light divine. 
 
 But never visible to sense or thought 
 The flower of Beauty blooms afar withdrawn ; 
 If in our being then we know it not. 
 Or, knowing, it is gone. 
 
 69
 
 THE warmth of life is quenched with bitter frost; 
 Upon the lonely road a child limps by 
 Skirting the frozen pools: our way is lost: 
 Our hearts sink utterly. 
 
 But from the snow-patched moorland chill and drear, 
 Lifting our eyes beyond the spired height. 
 With white-fire lips apart the dawn breathes clear 
 Its soundless hymn of light. 
 
 Out of the vast the voice of one replies 
 Whose words are clouds and stars and night and day. 
 When for the light the anguished spirit cries 
 Deep in its house of clay. 
 
 70
 
 SDuaiitp 
 
 From me spring good a?id evil. 
 
 WHO gave thee such a ruby flaming heart 
 
 And such a pure cold spirit ? Side by side 
 
 I know these must eternally abide 
 
 In intimate war, and each to each impart 
 
 Life from its pain, in every joy a dart 
 
 To wound with grief or death the self allied. 
 
 Red life within the spirit crucified. 
 
 The eyes eternal pity thee : thou art 
 
 Fated with deathless powers at war to be. 
 
 Not less the martvr of the world than he 
 
 Whose thorn-crowned brow usurps the due ot tears 
 
 We would pay to thee, ever ruddy life. 
 
 Whose passionate peace is still to be at-strife, 
 
 O'erthrown but in the unconflicting spheres. 
 
 71
 
 SDibine Bi^itatioii 
 
 THE heavens lay hold on us: the starry ravs 
 
 Fondle with flickering fingers brow and eves : 
 
 A new enchantment lights the ancient skies. 
 
 What is it looks between us gaze on gaze ; 
 
 Does the wild spirit of the endless days 
 
 Chase through my heart some lure that ever flies ? 
 
 Only I know the vast within me cries 
 
 Finding in thee the ending of all ways. 
 
 Ah, but they vanish ; the immortal train 
 
 From thee, from me, depart, yet take from thee 
 
 Memorial grace : laden with adoration 
 
 Forth from this heart they flow that all in vain 
 
 Would stay the proud eternal powers that flee 
 
 After the chase in burning exultation.
 
 THE while mv mad brain whirled around 
 She only looked with eyes elate 
 Immortal love at me. I found 
 How deep the glance of love can wound. 
 How cruel pity is to hate. 
 
 I was begirt with hostile spears : 
 Mv angel warred in me for you 
 Whose gentle calmness all too fierce 
 Made unseen lightenings to pierce 
 My heart that dripped with ruddy dew 
 
 I know how on the final day 
 The hosts of darkness meet with death : 
 The angels with their love shall slay. 
 Flowing to meet the dark array 
 With terrible vet tender breath. 
 
 73
 
 €l3e Si^esf^agc of g'ol[)n 
 
 An Interpretation 
 
 [St. JoJm, i. 1-33.] 
 
 IN the mighty Mother' s bosom tvas the Wise 
 With the /nystic Father in ceonian night ; 
 Aye, for ever one zuith them though it arise 
 
 Going forth to sound its hymn of light. 
 
 At its incantation rose the starry fane ; 
 At its magic thronged the myriad race of men ; 
 Life awoke that in the womi so long had Iain 
 To its cyclic labours once again. 
 
 ' Tis the soul of fire within the heart of life ; 
 From its fiery fountain spring the will and thought ; 
 All the strength of man for deeds of love or strife. 
 Though the darkness comprehend it not. 
 
 In the mvsterv written here 
 John is but the hfe, the seer ; 
 Outcast from the hfe of light. 
 Inly with reverted sight 
 Still he scans with eager eves 
 The celestial mvsteries. 
 Poet of all far-seen things 
 At his w^ord the soul has wings. 
 Revelations, symbols, dreams 
 Of the inmost light which gleams. 
 
 74
 
 €l)c Sl^e^^agc of 5ot)« 
 
 The winds, the stars, and the skies though wrought 
 
 Bv the one Fire-Self still know it not; 
 
 And man who moves in the twilight dim 
 
 Feels not the love that encircles him. 
 
 Though in heart, on bosom, and eyelids press 
 
 Lips of an infinite tenderness. 
 
 He turns awav through the dark to roam 
 
 Nor heeds the fire in his hearth and home. 
 
 They whose wisdom everywhere 
 
 Sees as through a crystal air 
 
 The lamp by which the world is lit. 
 
 And themselves as one with it ; 
 
 In whom the eye of vision swells. 
 
 Who have in entranced hours 
 
 Caught the word whose might compels 
 
 All the elemental powers ; 
 
 Thev arise as Gods from men 
 
 Like the morning stars again. 
 
 They who seek the place of rest 
 
 Ouench the blood-heat of the breast. 
 
 Grow ascetic, inward turning 
 
 Trample down the lust from burning. 
 
 Silence in the self the will 
 
 For a power diviner still ; 
 
 To the fire-born Self alone 
 
 The ancestral spheres are known. 
 
 /5
 
 €{)c 9i^c^0aqc of g^oljn 
 
 Unto the poor dead shadows came 
 Wisdom mantled about with flame; 
 We had eyes that could see the light 
 Born of the mystic Father's might. 
 Glory radiant with powers untold 
 And the breath of God around it rolled. 
 Life that moved in the deeps below 
 Felt the fire in its bosom glow ; 
 
 Life awoke with the Light allied. 
 Grew divinely stirred, and cried : 
 'This is the Ancient of Days within. 
 Light that is ere our days begin. 
 
 'Every power in the spirit's ken 
 
 Springs anew in our lives again. 
 
 We had but dreams of the heart's desire 
 
 Beauty thrilled with the mystic fire. 
 
 The white-fire breath whence springs the power 
 
 Flows alone in the spirit's hour.' 
 
 Man arose from the earth he trod. 
 Grew divine as he gazed on God : 
 Light in a fiery whirlwind broke 
 Out of the dark divine and spoke : 
 Man went forth through the vast to tread 
 By the spirit of wisdom charioted. 
 
 76
 
 €J)c Sr^CjSf^agc of ^fofjn 
 
 There came the learned of the schools 
 
 Who measure heavenly things by rules. 
 
 The sceptic, doubter, the logician. 
 
 Who in all sacred things precisian. 
 
 Would mark the limit, fix the scope, 
 
 'Art thou the Christ for whom we hope: 
 
 Art thou a magian, or in thee 
 
 Has the divine eye power to see?" 
 
 He answered low to those who came, 
 
 'Not this, nor this, nor this I claim. 
 
 More than the yearning of the hear: 
 
 I have no wisdom to impart. 
 
 I am the voice that cries in him 
 
 Whose heart is dead, whose eyes are dim, 
 
 "Make pure the paths where through may run 
 
 The light-streams from that golden one. 
 
 The Self who lives within the sun," 
 
 As spake the seer of ancient days.' 
 
 The voices from the earthlv ways 
 
 Questioned him still : ' What dost thou here, 
 
 if neither prophet, king nor seer .? 
 
 What power is kindled by thy might ? ' 
 
 *I flow before the feet of Light; 
 
 I am the purifying stream. 
 
 But One of whom ye have no dream. 
 
 Whose footsteps move among you still. 
 
 11
 
 €f^t ^t^^aqt of 2Fol^n 
 
 Though dark, divine, invisible. 
 Impelled by Him, before His ways 
 I journey, though I dare not raise 
 Even from the ground these eyes so dim 
 Or look upon the feet of Him.' 
 
 When the dead or dreamy hours 
 Like a mantle fall away. 
 
 Wakes the eye of gnostic powers 
 To the light of hidden day. 
 
 And the yearning heart within 
 Seeks the true, the only friend. 
 
 He who burdened with our sin 
 Loves and loves unto the end. 
 
 Ah, the martyr of the world. 
 With a face of steadfast peace 
 
 Round whose brow the light is curled 
 'Tis the Lamb with golden fleece. 
 
 So they called of old the shining. 
 
 Such a face the sons of men 
 See, and all its life divining 
 
 Wake primeval fires again. 
 
 Such a face and such a glory 
 Passed before the eyes of John, 
 
 78
 
 €fte ^t^^aqc of 3 oliti 
 
 With a breath of olden story 
 Blown from ages long agone 
 
 Who would know the God in man. 
 Deeper still must be his glance. 
 Veil on veil his eye must scan 
 For the mystic signs which tell 
 If the fire electric fell 
 On the seer in his trance ; 
 As his way he upward wings 
 From all time-encircled things. 
 Flames the glorv round his head 
 Like a bird with wings outspread 
 Gold and silver plumes at rest ; 
 Such a shadowy shining crest, 
 Round the hero's head reveals him 
 To the soul that would adore. 
 As the master-power that heals him 
 And the fount of secret lore. 
 Nature such a diadem 
 Places on her roval line. 
 Every eye that looks on them 
 Knows the Sons of the Divine 
 
 79
 
 Cfje l^our of tiyt ijing 
 
 WHO would think this quiet breather 
 From the world had taken flight ? 
 Yet within the form we see there 
 Wakes the golden King to-night. 
 
 Out upon the face of faces 
 He looked forth before his sleep : 
 Now he knows the starry races 
 Haunters of the ancient deep. 
 
 On the Bird of Diamond Glory 
 Floats in mystic floods of song: 
 As he lists Time's triple story 
 Seems but as a day is long. 
 
 From the mightier Adam falling 
 To his image dwarfed in clay. 
 He will at our voices calling 
 Come to this side of the dav. 
 
 When he wakes, the dreamy-hearted. 
 He will know not whence he came. 
 And the hght from which he parted 
 Be the seraph's sword of flame. 
 
 And behind it hosts supernal 
 Guarding the lost paradise. 
 And the tree of life eternal 
 From the weeping human eyes. 
 
 80
 
 % Iteaticr 
 
 THOUGH your eyes with tears were blind. 
 Pain upon the path you trod: 
 Well we knew, the hosts behind. 
 Voice and shining of a god. 
 
 For your darkness was our day, 
 Signal fires, your pains untold 
 Lit us on our wandering way 
 To the mystic heart of gold. 
 
 Naught we knew of the high land. 
 Beauty burning in its spheres; 
 Sorrow we could understand 
 And the mvstery told in tears. 
 
 8i
 
 COULD vou not in silence borrow 
 Strength to go from us ungrieving? 
 All these hours of loving sorrow 
 Only make more bitter leaving. 
 
 You will go forth lonely, thinking 
 Of the pain you leave behind vou; 
 From the golden sunlight shrinking 
 For the earthly tears will blind you. 
 
 Better, ah, if now we parted 
 For the httle while remaining; 
 You would seek when broken-hearted 
 For the mightv heart's sustaining. 
 
 You would go then gladly turning 
 From our place of wounds and weeping. 
 With vour soul for comfort burning 
 To the mother-bosom creeping. 
 
 82
 
 <l3ntiuraucc 
 
 HE bent above: so still her breath 
 
 What air she breathed he could not say. 
 
 Whether in worlds of life or death: 
 
 So softly ebbed away, away. 
 
 The life that had been light to him. 
 
 So fled her beautv leaving dim 
 
 The emptying chambers of his heart 
 
 Thrilled only by the pang and smart. 
 
 The dull and throbbing agony 
 
 That suffers still, yet knows not why. 
 
 Love's immortality so blind 
 
 Dreams that all things with it conjoined 
 
 Must share with it immortal day: 
 
 But not of this — but not of this — 
 
 The touch, the eves, the laugh, the kiss. 
 
 Fall from it and it goes its way. 
 
 So blind he wept above her clay, 
 
 ' I did not think that you could die. 
 
 Only some veil would cover vou 
 
 Our loving eyes could still pierce through; 
 
 And see through dusky shado\vs still 
 
 Move as of old your wild sweet will. 
 
 Impatient everv heart to win 
 
 And flash its heavenly radiance in.' 
 
 Though all the worlds were sunk in rest 
 
 The ruddy star witin his breast 
 
 83
 
 aButiumncc 
 
 Would croon its tale of ancient pain. 
 
 Its sorrow that would never wane. 
 
 The memory of the days of yore 
 
 Moulded in beauty evermore. 
 
 Ah, immortahty so bhnd. 
 
 To dream all things with it conjoined 
 
 Must follow it from star to star 
 
 And share with it immortal years. 
 
 The memory, vearning, grief, and tears. 
 
 Fall from it and it goes afar. 
 
 He walked at night along the sands. 
 
 He saw the stars dance overhead. 
 
 He had no memory of the dead. 
 
 But lifted up exultant hands 
 
 To hail the future like a boy. 
 
 The mvriad paths his feet might press. 
 
 Unhaunted by old tenderness 
 
 He felt an inner secret joy — 
 
 A spirit of unfettered will 
 
 Through light and darkness moving still 
 
 Within the All to find its own. 
 
 To be immortal and alone. 
 
 84
 
 THIS is the red, red region 
 Your heart must journey through: 
 Your pains will here be legion 
 And joy be death for you. 
 
 Rejoice to-day: to-morrow 
 A turning tide shall flow 
 Through infinite tones of sorrow 
 To reach an equal woe. 
 
 You pass by love unheeding 
 
 To gain the goal you long — 
 
 But my heart, mv heart is bleeding: 
 
 I cannot sing this song.
 
 €l)c Citic of ^orroiu 
 
 ON the twilight-burnished hills I lie and long and gaze 
 Where below the grey-lipped sands drink in the flowing 
 
 tides. 
 Drink, and fade and disappear: interpreting their ways 
 A seer in my heart abides. 
 
 Once the diamond dancing day-waves laved thy thirsty 
 
 lips : 
 Now they drink the dusky night-tide running cold and 
 
 fleet. 
 Drink, and as the chilly brilliance o'er their pallor slips 
 They fade in the touch they meet. 
 
 Wave on wave of pain where leaped of old the billowy 
 
 joys: 
 Hush and still thee now unmoved to drink the bitter sea. 
 Drink with equal heart : be brave ; and life with laugh- 
 ing voice 
 And death will be one for thee. 
 
 Ere my mortal days pass by and life in the world be done. 
 Oh, to know what world shall rise within the spirit's ken 
 When it grows into the peace where light and dark are 
 one ! 
 What voice for the world of men ? 
 
 86
 
 A MAN went forth one day at eve: 
 The long day's toil for hhn was done: 
 The eye that scanned the page could leave 
 Its task until to-morrow's sun. 
 
 Upon the threshold where he stood 
 Flared on his tired eyes the sight, 
 Where host on host the multitude. 
 Burned fiercely in the dusky night 
 
 The starry lights at play — at play — 
 
 The giant children of the blue, 
 
 Heaped scorn upon his trembling clay 
 
 And with their laughter pierced him through. 
 
 They seemed to say in scorn of him 
 'The power we have was once in thee. 
 King, is thy spirit grown so dim, 
 That thou art slave and we are free r ' 
 
 As out of him the power — the power — 
 The free — the fearless, whirled in play. 
 He knew himself that bitter hour 
 The close of all his royal day. 
 
 And from the stars' exultant dance 
 
 Within the fiery furnace glow. 
 
 Exile of all the vast expanse. 
 
 He turned him homeward sick and slow. 
 
 87
 
 3Fn ti)t Wcmh 
 
 STILL rests the heavy share on the dark soil: 
 Upon the black mould thick the dew-damp lies: 
 The horse waits patient: from his lowly toil 
 The ploughboy to the morning lifts his eyes. 
 
 The unbudding hedgerows dark against day's fires 
 Ghtter with gold-lit crystals: on the rim 
 Over the unregarding city's spires 
 The lonely beauty shines alone for him. 
 
 And day by day the dawn or dark enfolds 
 And feeds with beauty eyes that cannot see 
 How in her womb the mighty mother moulds 
 The infant spirit for eternity. 
 
 88
 
 EVEN as a bird sprays many- coloured fires. 
 The plumes of paradise, the dying light 
 Ravs through the fevered air in misty spires 
 That vanish in the height. 
 
 Vanish bevond the stars and further dreams. 
 
 The heaven of heavens. Here in my thought the 
 
 dome 
 Flashes about me with familiar gleams 
 Of birthplace and of home. 
 
 These myriad eyes that look on me are mine; 
 Wandering beneath them I have found again 
 The ancient ample moment, the divine. 
 The God-root within men. 
 
 For this, for this the lights innumerable 
 As symbols shine that we the true light win: 
 For every star and everv deep they fill 
 Are stars and deeps within. 
 
 Heroes and gods beneath them come and go: 
 Still the heroic, the divine, remain 
 Breathing from these the strength that quiets woe. 
 With beautv crowning pain. 
 
 89
 
 A FRIENDLY mountain I know ; 
 As I lie on the green slope there 
 It sets my heart in a glow 
 And closes the door on care. 
 
 A thought I try to frame — 
 
 I was with you long ago ; 
 
 My soul from your heart out-came ; 
 
 Mountain, is that not so ? 
 
 Take me again, dear hills. 
 Open the door to me 
 Where the magic murmur thrills 
 The halls I do not see. 
 
 Thy halls and caverns deep; 
 Though sometimes I mav dare 
 Down the twilight stairs of sleep 
 To meet the kingly there. 
 
 Sometimes on flaming wings 
 
 I sit upon a throne 
 
 And watch how the great star swings 
 
 Along the sapphire zone. 
 
 It has wings of its own for flight. 
 Diamond its pinions strong. 
 Glories of opal and white, 
 I watch the whole night long. 
 
 90
 
 Until I needs must lav 
 My roval robes aside 
 To toil in a world of grev. 
 Grey shadows by my side. 
 
 And when I ponder it o'er 
 Grev memories onlv bide. 
 But their finding lips tell more 
 Than all the world beside. 
 
 9'
 
 % tittutn 
 
 WE turned back mad from the mystic mountains. 
 All foamed with red and with elfin gold : 
 Up from the heart of the twilight's fountains 
 The fires enchanted were starward rolled. 
 
 We turned back mad : we thought of the morrow. 
 The iron clang of the far-away town : 
 We could not weep in our bitter sorrow. 
 But joy as an Arctic sun went down. 
 
 92
 
 Content 
 
 WHO are exiles? As for me 
 Where beneath the diamond dome 
 Lies the hght on hill or tree. 
 There mv palace is and home. 
 
 Who are lonely lacking care ? 
 Here the winds are living, press 
 Close on bosom, lips and hair — 
 Well I know their soft caress. 
 
 Sad or fain no more to live r 
 I have pressed the hps of pain ; 
 With the kisses lovers give. 
 Ransomed ancient joys again. 
 
 Captive ? See what stars give light 
 In the hidden heart of clav: 
 At their radiance dark and bright 
 Fades the dreamy king of day. 
 
 Night and day no more eclipse 
 Friendly eves that on us shine. 
 Speech from old familiar lips 
 Playmates of a youth divine. 
 
 Brothers weary, come away; 
 We will quench the heart's desire 
 Past the gateways ot the day 
 In the rapture of the fire. 
 
 93
 
 Epilogue 
 
 WELL, when all is said and done 
 Best within my narrow zvay. 
 May some angel of the sun 
 Muse memorial o" er my clay: 
 
 ' Here zvas beauty all betrayed 
 From the freedom of her state ; 
 From her human uses stayed 
 On an idle rhyme to wait. 
 
 Ah, zuhat deep despair might move 
 If the beauty lit a smile. 
 Or the heart was warm zvith love 
 That zvas pondering the while. 
 
 He has built his monument 
 IVith the winds of time at strife. 
 Who could have before he went 
 Written on the book of life. 
 
 To the stars from which he came 
 Empty handed, he goes home ; 
 He who might have zvr ought in flame 
 Only traced upon the foam.'' 
 
 94
 
 Cbe vi2artb ^rcatb anb other poems", printcti foe John Hanc 
 bp UDiH ^rabclio, .t^pnngficlD, .iMass., m ■?tugu8t, jnabcccvclni
 
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