TWO WORLDS

AND OTHER POEMS

PART I

TWO WORLDS

I-THE VENUS OF MILO

GRACE, majesty, and the calm bliss of life;

No conscious war 'twixt human will and duty; Here breathes, forever free from pain and strife, The old, untroubled pagan world of beauty.

OF life, of death the mystery and woe,

Witness in this mute, carven stone the whole. That suffering smile were never fashioned so Before the world had wakened to a soul.

PART II

THE STAR IN THE CITY

As down the city street

I pass at the twilight hour,

'Mid the noise of wheels and hoofs

That grind on the stones, and beat;-
Upward, by spire and tower,
Over the chimneys and roofs.
Climbs my glance to the skies,

And I see, with a glad surprise,
A mist with a core of light.

Slowly, as grows the night,—
As the sky turns blue from gray,-
Slowly it beams more bright,
And keeps with me on my way.

Soul of the twilight star
That leads me from afar,
Spirit that keener glows
As the daylight darker grows;
That leaps the chasm of blue
Where the cross-street thunders through,
And follows o'er roof and spire,
In the night-time soaring higher;
I know thee, and only I,
Thou comrade of the sky-
Star of the poet's heart,

The light and soul of his art.

MOONLIGHT

I

'TIS twelve o' the clock.

The town is still;

As gray as a rock

From gable to sill

Each cottage is standing.

The narrow street

(Where the tree-tops meet),

From the woods to the landing,

Is black with shadows;

The roofs are white,

And white are the meadows;

The harbor is bright.
Can this be night?

I CARE NOT IF THE SKIES ARE WHITE 147

II

'Tis twelve o' the clock.

The town is still;

As still as a stock

From harbor to hill.
The moon's broad marge

Has no stars near,

Far off how clear

They shine, how large!
Something is strange

In the air, in the light;
Come forth! Let us range
In the black, in the white,
Through the day-like night.

III

In the elm-trees all

No flutter, no twitter;

From the granite wall

The small stars glitter.

A filmy thread

My forehead brushes;
A meteor rushes
From green to red.
Naught is but the bliss

Of this dark, of this white,
Of these stars of this kiss,

O my Love and my Light
In the day and the night.

"I CARE NOT IF THE SKIES ARE WHITE"

I CARE not if the skies are white,

Nor if the fields are gold;

I care not whether 't is black or bright,
Or winds blow soft or cold;

But O the dark, dark woods,
For thee, and me - and love.

Let all but us at last depart,

The great world say farewell!
This is the kingdom of the heart,
Where only two may dwell;

And O the dark, dark woods,
For thee, and me and love.

CONTRASTS

DEEP in the ocean of night

A pearl through the darkness shines;

Asleep in the garden of night

A lily's head reclines; Afar in the forest of night

Dreams the nightingale;

Clouds in the sky of night

Make one bright star grow pale.

INDOORS, AT NIGHT

O thou, sweet soul of my love,

Art my pearl, my lily-flower;
Thou, hiding heart of my love,

Art my bird, in thy maiden bower,
Heart of my only love

That shin'st in the heavens afar

Thou, in the night of love,

Art my one, dear, trembling star.

Let me draw thee to the light,
Pearl of the shadowy sea!
Awake, thou lily of light,

Turn thy face divine on me!
Arouse thee, bird of the night,
Let thy voice to my voice reply!

Star of thy lover's night,

Shine forth or I die I die!

LARGESS

All of beauty, all of glamor heaven could fashion.

With its divinest art;

A woman's life and love, a woman's passion:

But these, at last, to win,

149

Land, or sea, or hell, or heaven might well be ravished

At price of any sin -

Yet freely all she on her lover lavished.

INDOORS, AT NIGHT

THE window's white, the candle's red,

Show evening falleth overhead;

The candle's red,, the window's black,

And earth is close in midnight's sack;