Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

Spring and autumn bring a change to fair Glen Gilder, O Glen Gilder;

Above the banks and under come the freshet's rage and thunder,

And men look with awe and wonder on Glen Gilder.

O, white the world of winter in Glen Gilder, in Glen

Gilder;

'Neath ice the waves are creeping, or down in dark pools sleeping,

Or with sound of sleigh-bells leaping in Glen Gilder.

O, beautiful the morning in Glen Gilder, in Glen Gilder; But, O, most dear and tender when blooms the sunset splendor,

At dying day's surrender in Glen Gilder.

And now the lingering sunlight leaves Glen Gilder, O Glen Gilder;

While moony shades are stalking, is it the wavelets talk

ing,

Or whispering lovers walking in Glen Gilder?

SONG

MARIA mia! all in white

Your fairy form against the night,

[blocks in formation]

I DREAMED

Maria mia! sweet and wise

Those darkling, deep, Italian eyes,

[blocks in formation]

Burn close, O close, I am not wise,

Maria!

I am not wise,

Maria!

419

OBSCURATION

THIS night, when I blew out my candle flame,
The window's dark square suddenly turned white!
I had not known the half-moon shone so bright,
And that a cool, sweet, silent moonbeam came
Through summer air, faint-touched with autumn frost,
And poured upon my floor a pool of light!
Pure, heavenly visitant — and almost thou wert lost.

"I DREAMED”

I DREAMED a tender and mysterious dream
Of one who, threading paths of earthly fate,
In a rich twilight walked, with heart aglow,
And all his soul vibrant with unheard tones,
"Drawn, drawn by the soft splendor of a face."

IMPROMPTUS

"FROM LOVE TO LOVE"

(FOR A WEDDING)

FROM love to love she passes on this day;
Yet all the love she leaves with her doth stay;
Deep, deep, the new love, in her heart of hearts,
And the old love follows her when she departs:
So is she richer than she was before,
For of true love she hath a mightier store.

"I ASKED YOU TO READ MY POEM"

I ASKED you to read my poem, so shameless was I,
I not used such boon and service to ask;
This my excuse when you hear, you will not deny
The prayer of the poet, who saw the soul through the
mask.

The singer sails in a sea beyond sight or ken,

And he flings his plummet of song by night and by

day;

With his poems he sounds the depths of the souls of

men

In your soul my song I flung to fathom the way.

NAZIMOVA

FROM every motion, every lovely line,

Breathe art and passion; music from those lips;
The tragic Orient from those lustrous eyes.

A WARRIOR OF TROY

LET other gray-beards mourn the flight of years,
Finding no gains of eld to match its fears;

IMPROMPTUS

I have no feud with fate, nor age, nor time,
Who knew great Helen in her golden prime.

THE OBELISK (1881)

BENEATH a stone wrenched from Egyptian sands

Six rivers run through six imperial lands;

421

Nile, Bosphorus, Tiber, Seine, and Thames, till now
The Hudson wears the jewel on her brow.
Land that we love! O be thou, by this sign,
Tho' last, the noblest of the mighty line.

CROWNED ABSURDITIES

-

I ASKED me: what in all the world so odd
And laughable to men, and unto God
The hight of comedy in earthly things?
That lot of little men pretending to be kings!

TO "LITTLE LADY MARGARET"

POEMS

THEY who love the poets

WITH A BOOK OF

Will never lack a friend

Up the road, and down the road,
And to the very end.

SACRILEGE

WED, thou, with sweet and silent Death,
Rather than join the prurient throng
Would soil, with foul, empoisoned breath,
The sanctity of song.

TO THE HERO OF A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE

If you wish, go be a pig,

In and out of season;

But do not bore us with a big

Philosophic reason.

THE WATCHMAN ON THE TOWER

(JANUARY, 1907)

WATCHMAN! What seest thou in the New Dawn?

Far off, across the seas, I behold men pursuing men and helpless women with dreadful massacre; borne on the eastern wind I hear the horrible cries of the murdered and bereft.

And what seest thou nearer, O Watchman of the Tower?

Nearer I see dark and cowering forms of crime and frightened innocence, alike given pitilessly to the green tree and the red flame.

And what else nearer dost thou see, O Seer of Evil Things?

I see smoldering fires and drift of black smoke where all manner of shames have been burned in the marketplaces, befouling the pure air of heaven.

[ocr errors]

And now, again, thou seest -?

I see scared creatures, in shape of men, fleeing from the light, and hiding in clefts of rocks, and in far places of the earth.

Look well, O Watchman, look near and wide, and tell us, who wait, what other things thou dost behold!

I see the shining faces of little children from whose backs heavy burdens have been lifted; I see rich men eagerly scattering their wealth among those who need lifting up the stricken and restoring the power of selfhelp to the sturdy, and striving to make less hard the lot of them who work; I see those who labor winning an ampler share in the profits of their toil-in wage, and comfort, and safety, and time for rest; I behold Science conquering the secrets and guiding the forces of nature, and creating new and wondrous devices for human hap

« AnteriorContinuar »