The hollow hand of sleep,— Out of the dark sublime, The echoing deeps of time,— From the averted Face Beyond the bournes of space, Into the sudden sun We journey, one by one. Out of the hidden shade Wherein desire is made,— Out of the pregnant stir Where death and life confer,— The dark and mystic heat Where soul and matter meet,— The enigmatic Will,— We start! and then are still.
Inexorably decreed
By the ancestral deed, The puppets of our sires, We work out blind desires, And for our sons ordain The blessing or the bane. In ignorance we stand With fate on either hand, And question stars and earth Of life, and death, and birth. With wonder in our eyes We scan the kindred skies, While through the common grass Our atoms mix and pass. We feel the sap go free
We feel the sap go free When spring comes to the tree; And in our blood is stirred What warms the brooding bird. The vital fire we breathe That bud and blade bequeathe, And strength of native clay In our full veins hath sway. But in the urge intense And fellowship of sense, Suddenly comes a word In other ages heard. On a great wind our souls Are borne to unknown goals, And past the bournes of space To the unaverted Face.
THE WRESTLER
WHEN God sends out His company to travel through the stars, There is every kind of wonder in the show; There is every kind of animal behind its prison bars; With riders in a many-colored row.
The master showman, Time, has a strange trick of rhyme, And the clown's most ribald jest is a tear; But the best drawing card is the Wrestler huge and hard, Who can fill the tent at any time of year.
His eye is on the crowd, and he beckons with his hand, With authoritative finger, and they come. The rules of the game they do not understand, But they go as in a dream, and are dumb. They would fain say him nay, and they look the other way, Till at last to the ropes they cling; But he throws them one by one till the show for them is done, In the blood-red dust of the ring.
There's none to shun his challenge—they must meet him soon or late,
And he knows a cunning trick for all heels.
The king's haughty crown drops in jeers from his pate As the hold closes on him, and he reels.
The burly and the proud, the braggarts of the crowd, Every one of them he topples down in thunder. His grip grows mild for the dotard and the child, But alike they must all go under.
Oh, many a mighty foeman would try a fall with him— Persepolis and Babylon and Rome, Assyria and Sardis, they see their fame grow dim, As he tumbles in the dust every dome. At length will come an hour when the stars shall feel his power
At length will come an hour when the stars shall feel his power, And he shall have his will upon the sun. Ere we know what he's about, the stars will be put out, And the wonder of the show will be undone.
RECESSIONAL
NOW along the solemn heights Fade the Autumn's altar-lights; Down the great earth's glimmering chancel Glide the days and nights.
Little kindred of the grass, Like a shadow in a glass Falls the dark and falls the stillness; We must rise and pass.
We must rise and follow, wending Where the nights and days have ending,— Pass in order pale and slow Unto sleep extending.
Little brothers of the clod, Soul of fire and seed of sod, We must fare into the silence At the knees of God.
Little comrades of the sky Wing to wing we wander by, Going, going, going, going, Softly as a sigh.
Hark, the moving shapes confer, Globe of dew and gossamer, Fading and ephemeral spirits In the dusk astir.
Moth and blossom, blade and bee, Worlds must go as well as we, In the long procession joining Mount and star and sea
Mount, and star, and sea.
Toward the shadowy brink we climb Where the round year rolls sublime, Rolls, and drops, and falls forever In the vast of time;
Like a plummet plunging deep Past the utmost reach of sleep, Till remembrance has no longer Care to laugh or weep.
ASCRIPTION
OTHOU who hast beneath Thy hand
The dark foundations of the land,—
The motion of whose ordered thought An instant universe hath wrought;
Who hast within Thine equal hand
The rolling sun, the ripening seed, The azure of the speedwell's eye, The vast solemnities of sky,—
Who hear'st no less the feeble note Of one small bird's awakening throat Than that unnamed, tremendous chord Arcturus sounds before his Lord,—
More sweet to Thee than all acclaim
Of storm and ocean, stars and flame, In favor more before Thy face Than pageantry of time and space,
The worship and the service be Of him Thou madest most like Thee,— Who in his nostrils hath Thy breath, Whose spirit is the lord of death!
THEODORE ROBERTS
THE SPEARS OF KAN-MAR
EYES that we look into—so, Hands that we kiss ere we go, Keep us,—remember us, hold us a night and a day; For the white road stretches ahead,
And our spears have a vision of red, And our horses champ with their bits, and rear at the way.
The tussocks of grass in the glare
Are brown as a dream-maiden's hair, And over them, white in the sun, the spears of Kan-Mar;
The curbs, and the froth at the lips—
The bridle chains snapping like whips, And our plumes tossed red, and scenting the heels of war.
The eyes that twinkle and burn—
The wrists like elk-thongs that turn With the balancing, pausing, slender, murderous spear; The swords that lead us along,
The thrust, the shriek and the song— Sights not fit for their eyes, nor sounds for their ears to hear.
The city gates in the sun,
The glory of brave deeds done, The clatter of horning hoofs and the song of old Kan-Mar,
The roar of the narrow street
Filled with clanging of feet—
The white hands over the balconies, and the kiss on the burning scar!
COLD
"COLD," cried the wind on the hill, "Cold," sang the tree; Your eyes were blue-grey and still And cold as the sea.
Cold lay the snow on the land; Cold stood the pine; But neither as cold as your hand Lying in mine.
Ah, Love, has the fire died so soon— Just smoldered and gone; A kiss by the light of the moon, A parting by dawn.
THE MEN OF MY HEART'S DESIRE
WHERE are the men of my heart's desire? Of the British blood and the loyal names? Some are North, at the home hearth-fire, Where the hemlock glooms and the maple flames, And some are tramping the old world round For the pot of gold they have never found.
Oh, leal are the men of my heart's desire— Their fathers were leal in the days gone by— And their blood is blithe with the subtle fire The purple breeds, and their hearts are high,— Poor, and gallant, and dear to me, With a strong hand each, and a pedigree.
Good men are bred in the East and the West, And ripe, true gentles in Boston town, But the men of my blood to my blood seem best— Who still hold the honor of Mitre and Crown. Though empty their cellars and worn their attire, These are the men of my heart's desire.
So, gentles, these stumbling rhymes I send To our spruce-clad hills, for a word of cheer,— Where there's ever a welcome and ever a friend, And the brown coat covers the cavalier. Take them, I pray you, for what they are worth, For I swear by my soul you're the salt of the earth.
THE CHASE
DOWN the long lanes of Arcadie
My lady canters merrily; The grain is bleaching in the sun, The russet hickories confer, And mounted on old Cheveron With laughing call I follow her.
The maples stand in flaming red, The sturdy brakes are sere and dead; But still my lady canters on Through field and wood and busy town, And mounted on old Cheveron I try to ride her down.
Through the long lanes of Arcadie The crickets skip and chirp to me; My lady's just 'round yonder bend, Methinks I hear her call to me— Methinks our chase is at an end Through these long lanes of Arcadie!
Nay, still she canters down the lane With floating skirt and loosened rein. We've traveled all this summer land, And still we mount and gallop on; Sometimes she turns and waves her hand, A challenge to old Cheveron.
Through all this land of Arcadie She leads old Cheveron and me, And how her good mount stands it so Is really more than I can see; The valleys now are white with snow,
e a eys o a e te t s o , Yet still we ride through Arcadie.
Old Cheveron has cast his shoes! The Chase is up, my Lady Muse!
WILLIAM CARMAN ROBERTS
HISTORY
HER gold hair fallen about her face Made light within that shadowy place, But on her garments lay the dust Of many a vanished race.
Her deep eyes, gazing straight ahead, Saw years and days and hours long dead, While strange gems glimmered at her feet, Yellow, and green, and red. And ever from the shadows came Voices to pierce her heart like flame. The great bats fanned her with their wings, The voices called her name.
But yet her look turned not aside From the black deep where dreams abide, Where worlds and pageantries lay dead Beneath that viewless tide.
Her elbow on her knee was set, Her strong hand propt her chin, and yet No man might name that look she wore, Nor any man forget.
AN EASTER MEMORY
THE chime of bells across the waking year
Peals out "The White Christ risen from the dead"—
The gospel that the April winds have spread, The mystery the golden-wing makes clear.
The tender sky smiles over it; the air Is kind with love to comfort all the earth.
The brown parks have forgotten winter's dearth
Since daffodils and sunlight made them fair.
But still the gray church from the crowded street
Allures me with the spell of broken dreams.
O heart, my heart, to you and me it seems
That God has left His glory incomplete.
Can we not see her, as a year ago,
Beyond that sunlight flaked in colored fire—
The upturned face, the eyes of still desire,
The dusk-gold hair that now the angels know?
What means this tender April sky to her, With bells that chime against the winds of spring?
Does memory move her when the blue birds sing, Or does she feel the old sweet pulses stir?
The organ lays its voice across our strife. What is it that the sobbing notes would say?
For you and me, my heart, another day!
For her—the Resurrection and the Life!
MY COMRADE CANOE
TRUE comrade, we have tasted life together; With the wild joy at heart have slipped the tether
To follow, follow, to strange wildernesses, The frank enticement of the wind and weather.
Joy of the quivering pole, the thrilling sinew, When mad black rapids shook the soul within you.
As climbing toward the lakes of inland silence I laughed to see the fanged rocks strain to win you.
Joy of the moonlight on the quiet reaches, Where loitering we caught the word that teaches
The poise of Godhead to the questing spirit, The urge of springtime to the budding beeches.
When through the dusk the serried clouds were massing, Where some lost lake among the hills was glassing
The stormy fire above the western spruces, The looming moose would wonder at our passing.
Then, when the outland voices ceased to hold us, When winds would tell no more what once they told us,
We dreamed how far away a little village Lay waiting with its welcome to infold us.
GEORGE JOHN ROMANES
I ASK NOT FOR THY LOVE, O LORD
IASK not for thy Love, O Lord; the days Can never come when anguish shall atone. Enough for me were but Thy pity shown To me, as to the stricken sheep that strays, With ceaseless cry for unforgotten ways— Oh, lead me back to pastures I have known, Or find me in the wilderness alone, And slay me as the hand of mercy slays.
I ask not for Thy love; nor e'en so much As for a hope on Thy dear breast to lie; But be Thou still my shepherd—still with such Compassion as may melt to such a cry; That so I hear Thy feet, and feel Thy touch, And dimly see Thy face ere yet I die.
CARROLL RYAN
From "MALTA"
O,BELLAfiordelmondo!to-morrow
I'll leave thee to follow the path of the sun, No more to return, yet departing in sorrow
The stranger may go as the stranger hath done. I've met the hot breath of the scorching siroc
As I guarded thy ramparts that frown on the sea, I've lain 'neath the shade of the vine-covered rock
Weaving bright fancies of glory and thee....
Old Notabile[A] stands upon a hill
With olive groves and vineyards at its base, Its lofty wall, half-ruined, beareth still
Of siege and battle many a cruel trace; The centre of this lovely isle,— The home of song and story,— Whose tranquil beauty seems to smile Forgetful of its glory.
Deserted streets of marble halls, And temples grand and olden, Where startled Echo rarely calls Strange sounds thro' sunlight golden: High convent walls in ivy wrapt, Shrines of our blessed Lady, In melancholy silence lapt, In lanes of cypress shady. And now and then Queer aged men
Pass where the bastions moulder, And seem to me, So strange they be, Old as the place or older. And carved in stone above each door
And carved in stone above each door
Is many a knightly crest, That flamed in hostile fields of yore— But now the sparrow's nest. The wingëd hand still grasps the sword Before the ancient palace; In dungeons underneath is stored Verdala's burning chalice. And Bellfiorè's ruined wall Frowns on the peasant's labor, While from its brow strange echoes call Of song, and pipe, and tabor.
Oh! what a host of shadows wait Before yon dark unopened gate; Heroes from the east and west, In their iron armor drest, The white cross gleaming on each breast; Stern warriors of the cross are they Those shadows of a former day!
But hark!
In the dark
The bells are tolling, While, up from the Levant, The night cloud is rolling.
O, those bells! those Malta bells, Loudly, wildly ringing,
High their deafening chorus swells, All my spirit winging.
Now higher, higher, The iron choir
Like tongues of fire h d
From earth ascend; The wide air beating, Their notes repeating, Like spirits meeting They rise and blend! Now coming softly From belfrys lofty
Sweet silver voices float thro' the gloom, Then, loud as thunder, From Cassels under Rush sounds of wonder
As if from the tomb!
They cease, and slowly from afar, Where Dhingli's vale reposes, I hear a voice and see a star That beams on paths of roses!
[A] Citta Vecchia
CHARLES SANGSTER
ENGLAND AND AMERICA
GREATEST twain among the nations, Bound alike by kindred ties— Ties that never should be sundered While your banners grace the skies— But united, stand and labor, Side by side, and hand in hand, Battling with the sword of Freedom For the peace of every land. Yours the one beloved language, Yours the same religious creed, Yours the glory and the power, Great as ever was the meed Of old Rome, or Greece, or Sparta, When their arms victoriously Proved their terrible puissance Over every land and sea.
Let the son respect the sire, Let the father love the son, Both unitedly supporting
All the glories they have won: Thus in concert nobly wrestling, They may work the world's release, And when having crushed its tyrants, Stand the Sentinels of Peace— Stand the mighty twin Colossus' Giants of the latter days, Straightening for the coming kingdom
All the steep and rugged ways, Down which many a lofty nation— Lofty on the scroll of fame— Has been swept to righteous judgment
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