I 3=15 GIFT F FRONTISPIECE MY LADY S GARDEN J. YOUNG HUNTER TATE GALLERY LONDON ILLUSTRATING " THE GARDEN OF MY HEART" SEE PAGE 30 YOU SOME OTHERS BEING POEMS FOR OCCASIONS BY AGNESS GREENE FOSTER THE DECORATIONS BY WILL JENKINS PAUL ELDER & COMPANY PUBLISHERS SAN FRANCISCO The publishers desire to acknowledge the courtesy extended by the Book and Art Exchange of Chicago, New York ff Lon don; Messrs. P. F. Volland and Company, Chicago, and The Woodbury E. Hunt Art Press of Concord, New Hampshire, in granting permission to reprint several of the poems included in this little volume. Copyright, 1907 by Paul Elder an d Company Copyright, 1909 by Paul Elder and Company f. ^ #* 3 DEDICATION "YOU" WHAT IS THIS "YOU" I LOVE SO WELL WHOSE FACE AND FORM FOREVER DWELL WITHIN MY HEART ? IS IT THE FACE THAT MAKES YOU "YOU," WITH SMILES THAT THRILL ME THROUGH AND THROUGH THOUGH WE RE APART? OR IS T THE FORM WHICH COMES TO VIEW, THAT SEEMS SO MUCH A PART OF YOU I LOVE SO DEAR? AH, NO! WERE BOTH SOME OTHER THING, STILL IF TO ME YOUR HEART TWOULD BRING, O NEVER FEAR I D KNOW IT WELL; SINCE ALL THAT S BEST, AND SWEET AND PURE, THAT IN YOU REST, IS MIND ABOVE. FOR WHEN GOD THOUGHT OF SOMETHING TRUE, HIS ANGELS CAME STRAIGHTWAY TO YOU THE "YOU "I LOVE. Hcif in 302335 PREFACE As the requests of so many good friends have made necessary still another edition of "You * Some Others," I have revised the poems of the first edition and have added a number of new ones, rearrang ing them all under different heads so that they may be readily selected for reading, reciting or inscribing in gift books or upon greeting cards for holidays, birthdays and other occasions. THE CONTENTS Page My Lady s Garden J. Young Hunter Frontispiece. Dedication "You" . . . . . iii Preface v CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS The King s Birthday ... 3 The True Greeting .... 4 When Twilight Falls ... 5 Your Right 6 Not For One Day Alone . . 7 With a Christmas Book . . 8 NEW YEAR WISHES A New Year s Prophecy. . 11 Kismet 12 For All Time 13 VALENTINES My Wish For You .... 17 What Human Love May Do 18 Tell Me True 19 A Heart 20 EASTER GLADNESS Blossoms 23 Easter Lilies 24 Flowers 25 Truth Triumphant .... 26 Risen this Easter Day ... 27 Page BIRTHDAY GREETINGS Life s Dial 31 Your Millennium 32 FRIENDSHIP To Friendship . . . . . .35 The Ennobling Power of Friendship 38 The Garden of My Heart . 39 Keep Love Bright .... 40 FOR CHILDREN Just Think 43 No Fear 44 Keep Me Simple 45 The Eyes of a Child ... 46 LIFE & WORK Weaving of Life s Fabric .49 Growth 51 Naming a Masterpiece . . 52 The Painting of Life s Day. 53 STRENGTH # COMFORT All 57 Just Know 58 Thought 59 His Hand 60 To Him That Overcometh . 61 Life 62 L Envoi 63 Vll CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS THE KING S BIRTH0AY VERY day is a King s Birthday When Love is born. And best of all along life s way The King comes in to rest and stay, When Love is born, When Love is born. We must not sigh nor question why When Love is born So small a part to us is given; Love is enough ! For that is heaven! When Love is born, When Love is born. Ring out, O bells! Tis Christmas Day In one glad heart ; For the Christ-child comes adown this way, And whene er He comes, tis a King s Birthday, For Love is born, For Love is born. THE TRUE GREETING SAR more than the words, " Merry Christmas" You ll find hidden within this short line. For twas Love that prompted the sending Of this message to you friend of mine. WHEN TWILIGHT FALLS S THE twilight fades at evening And the cares of day are done, Then I think of friends and name them, In the silence, one by one. Then again at day s beginning, Do I think of each in this way, And the love I thus have garnered I send on Christmas Day. YOUR RIGHT HE wish I send on Christmas Day Was yours before, is yours alway. 6 NOT FOR ONE DAY ALONE IS not for one day only I send you greetings dear May every day mean Christmas Through all the soul-filled year. WITH A CHRISTMAS BOOK CHRISTMAS might be Christmas Without a thing to cook, But, oh, the joyless Christmas Without, at least, one book. 8 NEW YEAR WISHES A NEW YEAR S PROPHECY XKNOW That all the new years And the old Shall hold for you Bright cups of gold Filled high with Love and plenty. For tis with years As t is with you There is no old There is no new Love is at sixty As at twenty. 11 KISMET 9 OUR kismet reads Like a magic tale, Your bark sails safe You have naught to fear. You ll have wisdom and strength For each day s cruise, And a Master-Helmsman That is always near. 12 FOR ALL TIME AY every day In every year Be crowded full Of love and cheer For thee and thine, Dear friend of mine. 13 VALENTINES MY WISH FOR YOU ^ ALTHOUGH I know God blesses all His children here, both great and V E small, %Z- It helps to banish human fear, To say to you "God bless you, dear." And so I call across the sea, Which cannot separate from me The Love that keeps us ever near, God bless you, dear, God bless you, dear. And as the miles between have grown I feel your warm hand clasp my own; Nor miles nor moments can efface The love that doth us both embrace. Across the mountain peak of snow, And great divide, as on I go, I hear your voice call strong and clear, "God bless you, dear, God bless you, dear." 17 WHAT HUMAN LOVE MAY DO O SCOFFERS of this thought divine, If you but knew the seeds that fall From what seems love of sentiment, But which grows Love that s all in all, You d scatter them both far and wide, Nor be surprised, when lo, you d find The dear old world was not half bad, And all your friends had grown more kind! 18 TELL ME TRUE MI^^ELL me, dear one, tell me true, M C\ I U guard the secret with loving ^L J care: ^^i^ How did the angels know twas you, When they filled your heart with love so rare? 19 A HE ART OMETHING went out of my life to-day, Something subtle what can it be? Like the lilt of a laugh, or the sun s bright ray, Or the scent of the rose that recalls you to me. You stopped long enough to steal off my heart ; Did you take it forever or only for play? If you feel how it weighs when we are apart, You will bring it back safe to me some day. 20 EASTER GLADNESS BLOSSOMS IS risen ! Truth is risen! The stone has been rolled away, And Christ is revealed in each blossom, Where once we saw only the clay. Each bud is a living tribute To God, who does all things well. He made each flower in the garden, And all have His praises to tell. And the buds and the leaves and the blossoms, And the blades of the grass in the sod, Proclaim : " We are not of earth, earthy, For we are the smiles of our God." 23 EASTER LILIES ASTER Lilies, so fresh and fair, You are the emblems of Love Divine; Symbols of Life and comfort and hope, Truth shines out from your petals white; All that is mighty and pure and true Rises to-day in every land. All the dark shadows from death are torn, Beautiful blossoms, this Easter morn. 24 FLOWERS E AD of a flower that fadeth, Undying thoughts I send, To bear the precious tidings Of a risen Saviour and Friend. 25 TRUTH TRIUMPHANT IT TOOK centuries of prophecy, And a King in a manger born, To wake a world that slumbered To greet an Easter morn. It took a crown of sorrows, A cross, a Calvary, To form the shadow background For that reality. The light of Truth Triumphant, The splendor of its ray, The transcendental grandeur That makes an Easter Day. 26 RISEN THIS EASTER DAY OU shared my joy when the King was born, And we named it the Christ-Thought Day; You followed close when my feet were torn, On the straight and rugged way. You shared with me my failures, friend, Now sing your gladdest lay; For my King was dead, the whole world said, BUT HE S RISEN THIS EASTER DAY. He will live in our hearts through eternity, He will lift our cares away; E en though we fall, He will hear, if we call, FOR HE S RISEN THIS EASTER DAY. 27 BIRTHDAY GREETINGS LIFE S DIAL OULD you count your days By your heart throbs true? Count the years that pass By the deeds you do. Would you live the most By the bravest test? Then count by the thoughts That are noblest best. On life s dial clear Let each figure be Expressed by the acts That are fair to see. 31 YOUR MILLENNIUM are no metes and bounds to time, There is no vast forever yet to come; Eternity, not time is now, To-day is your millennium. 32 FRIENDSHIP TO FRIENDSHIP iNDSHIP is so rare a thing, I m loath to bid you pledge your selves with me, Lest I might fail mine own high ideal of it. Perhaps no word is so misused, For few have learned to think In friendship s tongue. Our greatest fault, tis so in every clime,- We seek the thing, not try to be it. In other words, it is the vogue, This wild mad search for one to love us ; Instead of earning love by selfless giving. The truest way, the only way, indeed, To have a friend, then, is to be one. Just love! Love something, some one, And friends will flock Like snow-birds to the window ledge Where lies the crumb. Young men and maidens, let me pray You so to live that at a future day 35 Some friend may truly of you say: "Infinitely better Than all the gold of Orient, Or costly gem of deepest mine, Is the warm heart glow that came to me From those staunch, loyal words of thine." Or, if gift of friendship comes your way, Then you 11 be able thus to say: " Of all the gifts of all the years, None ever cause such smiles, such tears As thy friendship friend; The eye grows bright, the heart leaps fast, To know thy love and friendship last Without an end. It ne er began, it never ends, We always were and will be friends Throughout eternity. E en when we pass to other clime I ll understand, sweet friend of mine, Your loving loyalty." ******* Pledge me to-night, Friends true to be. There is no greater 36 Fealty! Rich is that life and wide its fame, Which through all time one friend can claim, One friend who meriteth the name ! 37 THE ENNOBLING POWER OF FRIENDSHIP fancy brought you to my thought, There fell from me all worldly care ; Then I, in happy spirit, sent Far out across the miles, a prayer: A prayer of thankfulness and love, A prayer that friendship such as yours Might grow in every heart, above All other passions, and endure "Till man shall know that God is Love/ 38 THE GARDEN OF MY HEART Y GARDEN is my inmost heart. Above Floats Friendship like a perfume o er each plot; Tis watered by that pleasant fountain, Love, Near whose cool plash, whene er the day is hot, I rest. My pergola is hid in shade. From out this bower I send rare buds to you, And if you let them bloom they ll never fade, These blossoms bright, of varied form and hue, So subtle is their fragrance and their charm Commingled with their emblematic scheme, They ll waft me you-ward, causing no alarm, Whilst you will fancy it is but a dream. Can you divine, my friend, the reason why? These flowers I send are thoughts they can not die. 39 KEEP LOVE BRIGHT ON LIFE S clear page, Oh, each day write Some golden word To keep love bright; And the book ne er close. 40 FOR CHILDREN JUST THINK QO TIME to read? No time to pray? Yet time to smile? You ve time to eat, You ve time to drink, You ve time to dress, Could you not think Of God the while? 43 NO FEAR o H, HELP me keep Thine image clear; To know the Truth, To have no fear. 44 KEEP ME SIMPLE o H, KEEP me simple, Lord, I pray, Make me of use to Thee, each day. 45 THE EYES OF A CHILD OEYES of childhood, innocent and pure, True emblem of the spirit light divine, No human thought can ever you outshine, Because Eternal Love shall e er endure. Frail error wields no power you to allure, Divinely fair, from infinite design ; False time can change you not, nor make repine; With constant luster there Truth shines secure. Naught can e er change Perfection s mighty plan; Years cannot fade yon heaven s perfect blue Nor marble change without the sculptor s hand. Abide in Light, which nothing dims nor can; Brave, tender eyes, deny what is untrue, For God designed you perfect shall ye stand. 46 LIFE #> WORK WEAVING OF LIFE S FABRIC have the fabric of thy life wrought in rare and beauteous design? Watch, then, with unceasing vigi lance, the silver shuttle of speech as it flies from the loom of thought. Upon the oft recurring of the golden thread of Love depends the beauty and the splendor of Life s fabric. Not here, not there a tiny gleam, nor yet in monstrous patches with yards of sombre hue between. That Life shows best whose thread of Love shines oft and even through each day s weave. Thine may of scarlet be bright as the poppy s head yet if on closer, nearer view the warp be gold, Tis tempered into harmony. Though colorless and gray the fabric seems to careless eyes, 49 Yet, at close range, if the gold thread of Love there gleams, twill warmer grow; And red and gray, when touched by the sun light s glow, will melt all mingling into one. To One alone twas given to weave His life in doth of gold All Love. Him wouldst thou follow? Of a surety, then, constant thou must be. Weave what thou wilt, but let there ever be Bright scrolls of gold on silvered ground, With here a thread of royal blue and there a purple strand. And yet the silver shuttle s prone to slip Guard well thy thought, thy tongue, thy lip! 50 GROWTH O TEACHER and poet, the keen unrest Your songs awoke in an anxious breast, Is bearing fruit, in these after years, Of peace and joy and rest from fears. How little we know in the early spring, What the summer days to our hearts will bring. Twas then but the words our senses smote Of beauty and feeling, when you wrote: " Tis heaven alone that is given away, Tis only God may be had for the asking." But now, now in the forever day, In the knowledge of God, as in sun s rays basking, Though we still feel the Art of the songs so rare You sang, now the meaning lies bare: The seeds of Truth are worth the sowing When God may be had by simply knowing. 51 NAMING A MASTERPIECE OEATH cannot stay thy hand, O sculp tor great ! There is but one almighty power that can Create (not cause to cease); and thou in it Shalt live alway to carve on stone or heart Some other, greater work of art. Hence do I name thy masterpiece (expression of The spark divine in thee) not "Fate" not "Death" But "Life." What could it other be? Since naught Thy Sculptor made can crumble or decay; For thou wast fashioned after model true. Now thy strong thought which wrought it into stone, Still lives and works and loves in endless Life. The figure on the Adams Monument, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C., has been variously interpreted, although Saint- Gaudens gave no name to it. C. LEWIS HIND. 52 THE PAINTING OF LIFE S DAY have each day like gleam of colorbright, WhnstfiUing in the outlines of a Life? Then never from the canvas turn away When shadows only seem to darken all Round fancy s sight. O search for the true light ; Nor wait to wish for subtler shades to-day. Couldst better blend the tint of yon blue sky, By wondering why thou canst not with one stroke Paint bow that glows on heaven s ethereal arch? Yet all unlike Prometheus rash, thou mayst, (As one who hath dominion,) learn to catch Rare hues of great divinity, and thus Create what s right for thee to think or paint. T was ever thus with tasks that seem less great ; The larger thoughts ne er come to those who wait To count what they call failures, o er and o er, For we are told that even shadows gray, Looked at in light, make life s dull canvas bright. Then waste not precious hours in useless dreams When every second may be put to gain. 53 STRENGTH # COMFORT ALL E strength of the strong is Love, The righting of wrong is Love ; The good that we give is Love, The Life that we live is Love. The measure of time is Love, The height that we climb is Love; The way we must trod is Love, The Soul which is God is Love. 57 JUST KNOW shall I overcome the fear That all s not well with those most dear, When tempests rage and wild winds blow? How shall I know? How shall I know? Just know no harm comes anywhere, For all are in God s loving care. These are the thought seeds we must sow, If we would know. If we would know. Just know God s promise never fails, It matters not how fear assails, Yet we can pray and, praying, grow ; Then we shall know. Then we shall know. 58 THOUGHT blessed promise Love has taught: "Noevilcanpollutethythought; 1 Oh, join, ye nations, in the telling, For what is thought, if not our dwelling? 59 HIS HAND OLD fast to His hand, Draw it ever to you; Though the nails that pierced His Pierce thine own through and through. 60 TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH HIM that overcometh Dominion shall be given. He shaU inherit all things For which his heart hath striven, If he but overcometh. 61 LIFE are you still in sorrow unbelieving? Who in all else were ever strong and true? Why do you thus forget in useless grieving That all God s promises were made for you? The dust you laid away is not God s likeness, But she, His image still, can never be Aught but His child. This thought shall bring new brightness To fill your heart if you but try to see. She knows there is no grave nor any changing ; And if you will but turn from sorrow s strife You ll understand there can be no deranging Of God s Great Plan, which is unending Life. 62 L ENVOI Revelation xxii: 5. G AN there be hate? Can there be night? Where Love s the Way and God the Light? Can there be aught but joy and peace Where gladness reigns and sorrows cease? Can there be loss, or great or small Where God is All and in His All? 63 HERE ENDS YOU & SOME OTHERS BEING POEMS FOR OCCASIONS BY AGNESS GREENE FOSTER. WITH DECORATIONS BY WILL JENKINS THE TYPOGRAPHY DESIGNED BY J. H. NASH. PUBLISHED BY PAUL ELDER & COMPANY AND PRINTED FOR THEM AT THE TOMOYE PRESS CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO, MCMIX. YD 1 2222 U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 302335 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY