AjiiiliL] 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 
 
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 ^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. ! 
 
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WIITBR OF THE HEART, 
 
 k\w Othe[| Poems, 
 
 ZAVAER WILMSHURST. 
 
 " Medio lie font e ieporitm^ 
 Surgit aniari aiiiiuid^ quod in i/isis floribic.s angat..'''' — 
 
 LuCRETirs: ~ 
 
 /^ 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 DODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 762 BROADWAY. 
 18 7 4. 
 
 
T6 33 ^^ 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, 
 
 BY ZAVARR WILMSHURST, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 
 
 John J. Caulon, Pkintfr, 47 Liberty St., N. Y. 
 
Is KESl'ECTFULLV INSCRIISED TO THE ChIEF OK A.MERICAN BaRDS, 
 
 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW, 
 
 •HE MEI.OUV OF WHOSE VERSE AND THE REAUTY OK WHOSE THOUGHTS 
 ARE A SOURCE OF PL'RE DELIGHT AND NOBLE INSPIRATION 
 
 to all who speak or understand the 
 En(;lish Language. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 The WiN'iER OF the Heart 7 
 
 Eve ; or, the Breakers' Sport, .... 21 
 
 La Prima Donna, 31 
 
 Heaven's Darling, . . . . . . . 83 
 
 Love's Scorn, .... . . 3o 
 
 The Lakelet, 87 
 
 The Heari's Defiance, .... .40 
 
 The Budding Coquette, 42 
 
 The Oak, . * 44 
 
 Love's Horror ........ 46 
 
 Old 49 
 
 I Loved Thee Once, . . ... 58 
 
 Eternal Sea, . . 55 
 
 The Wild Rose, 58 
 
 The American Mother, 61 
 
 The Wood Nymi-h, 64 
 
 Sweet Death 66 
 
 Home Welcome, 67 
 
 Love's Solace, .69 
 
 The Hero's Sacrifice, 71 
 
 Twilight, 73 
 
 Thy Type (Sonnet), 74 
 
 The Pirate's DARLiN(is 75 
 
 L()ve-Hauntp:d, 77 
 
vi. CONTENTS. 
 
 PAUE 
 
 Love-Scathed, 78 
 
 The Rosebud of the Heath, .... 80 
 
 Double Faith, .82 
 
 The Dusky Beauty, 84 
 
 The Food of Love, 86 
 
 Wayward Lee, 87 
 
 Love and Wine 89 
 
 The Star (Serenade) 91 
 
 The Violet, 92 
 
 Bold Questions, 93 
 
 Love's Infatuation, 94 
 
 Left, . .95 
 
 Love's E.kchange, 96 
 
 The Oread, ... . . 97 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 
 
 TO THE SUN. 
 
 " Me, nee feniina, nee piier 
 Jam, nee spes animi eredula nuitui. 
 Nee eertare juvat mero ; 
 Nee vineire novis tempora floril)us." — Hok. 
 
 y (]OME to thy brightness of rising, 
 -^ Thou god of this morning of Spring, 
 While the clouds are with pennons disguising 
 
 Thy steps, O majestical king I 
 I come while thy brightness is lowly, 
 
 Long ere its intolerant noon, 
 AVhile the heat of thy gold wings spreads 
 slowly, 
 
 To ask a heart coveted boon. 
 
 Three weeks or four hardly have fleeted 
 
 Since all was most desolate here. 
 And old mother Earth was o'ersheeted 
 
 With snow, like a maid on her bier : 
 In the grove not a carol was chaunted. 
 
 But keen blasts hoarse elegies sung. 
 By the birds were the branches unhaunted. 
 
 Where long-fingered icicles clung. 
 
8 THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 
 
 'V\w I'acH of tlie sky was o'er-leacli'iied 
 
 And dull as the arch of a.rtcimb ; 
 Thy children, the rays, were half deadened 
 
 As if thou wert wedded to gloom : 
 The world looked grim, spectral and hoary,. 
 
 And Death seemed its tyrant and king, 
 When bursting thy chamber in glory, 
 
 We hailed thee, — the bridegroom of Spring. 
 
 An exquisite miracle sweeping- 
 Earth's shroud, like a vision, away. 
 
 Woke Spring from her long deathly slee^nng, 
 And clad her in bridal array : 
 
 She met thee with veil and adorning 
 Of blue and faint stars and dim moon, 
 
 \Vhich faded, like ghosts, from the morning 
 x\s the birds crowed and warbled their tune- 
 
 The fringe of her veil was disordered 
 With clouds set on fire by thy liglit ; 
 
 Her emerald skirt was embroidered 
 
 With flowers and the dew gems of night : 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART 9 
 
 A music betokened lier gladness, 
 A sweetness was spread b}^ lier bloom, 
 
 Whicli cnred with its balm even madness 
 And tlie death -marked repriinc^d from their 
 doom. 
 
 An Eden of beauty is started 
 
 As fresh as a miracle' s birth, 
 As though the deep zenith had parted 
 
 To let down the heavens to earth. : 
 The blue dyes are angels' eyes beaming ; 
 
 Each leaf clotlies the soul of an elf : 
 All live and grow young from thy streaming 
 
 Of light and of love — save myself. 
 
 I make not rash Phaethon's prayer 
 
 For the glory of mounting tliy place. 
 For the diamond mines or a layer 
 
 Of the gold that envisors thy face ; 
 Yet I who am twin to hard weather. 
 
 And wore out the sharpness of strife, 
 With Nature should enter together 
 
 This world-wide unfolding of life. 
 
10 THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 
 
 Care deeply mj forehead has wi'iukled 
 
 As ivory smooth in luy prime ; 
 With silver my hair is besprinkh-d 
 
 By the liberal fingers of Time ; 
 Tlie spring and the force of m}' being 
 
 Are cramped by their prison' s decay ; 
 It rusts out my vigor for fleeing 
 
 AVhile the bars v^ear so slowl}' away. 
 
 Tliese marks do not favor the Graces, 
 
 Nor give me their elegant air, 
 But never have honester traces 
 
 Been left by too diligent care : 
 They show that I faced the fierce rattle, 
 
 And Avooed the tumultuous brunt 
 With the bi-ave and the strong in life's battle 
 
 Whom duty detailed to the front. 
 
 They show that I scorned any slighting 
 Of the work in my duty set down ; 
 
 Tliat conquest was won by hard fighting 
 And the cross was endured for the crown : 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 11 
 
 I ask not tlic magic renioval 
 
 Of tlie scars of my toil and my love 
 
 That claim the Great Captain's approval.— 
 A,veteran's lionor above. 
 
 I know they will deepen and cluster 
 
 With the beat of mortality's breath. 
 Till swept in the dust at the muster. 
 
 The final grand muster of Death, 
 As the soul through his portals escaping. 
 
 This frame to corruption bequeathes 
 And takes on the glorious shaping 
 
 Of the love and the truth tliat it breathes. 
 
 But dark in my spirit declining 
 
 The shadows of hopelessness hu'k. 
 And born of Disgust and Repining, 
 
 The vulture Decay is at work : 
 They blight \\\^ monr s loveliness springing 
 
 To the light and the glow of thy kiss — 
 Oh, fright the foul crew into winging 
 
 Their way to Night's deepest abyss I 
 
12 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 
 
 The gall my heart burst on beholding 
 
 The gods of my friendshij) decline, 
 For wealth and its tinsel enfolding, 
 
 The grandeur of being divine, — • 
 
 Of standing for truth, like the mountain 
 
 No clouds can dissever from day,— 
 Embitters my life at its fountain, 
 
 And turns all my soul into clay. 
 
 They made a most miserly barter 
 
 To go from the weak to the strong : 
 I have not a claim as a martyr, 
 
 But a demon-like hatred of wrong. 
 And love for the good and the kindly. 
 
 Which, spurning all limit and check 
 And worshipping darlings too blindly, 
 
 Has rendered my being a wreck. 
 
 The dear ones too closely were clinging. 
 
 My hands were too full and my heart 
 An anguish too keenly was wringing. 
 
 To practice the tactics of art : 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART 13 
 
 Who tights witli eacli })assionate feeling 
 
 His h)ve and his liate can eni'oll 
 Is wounded too sorely for healing 
 
 In th<' tenderest depths of his soul : 
 
 Like dust are its treasures all scattered, 
 
 Its friendships with mirage betrayed ; 
 Its idols of love are all shattered, 
 
 Tiu^ir shrines all so desolate laid 
 That the blankness of bareness they offer 
 
 To the look and the search of despair. 
 As freezes the late rifled coffer 
 
 The miser in petrified stare. 
 
 AVliy should I rehearse the sad sequel, — 
 
 AYhy trace where emotion was whirled, 
 In contest so dread and unequal 
 
 Of the fond heart against the false world \ 
 For the gems of the heart which had wrested 
 
 My duty wellnigh from my God, 
 By the fire of adversity tested. 
 
 Proved base as the commonest clod. 
 
14 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 
 
 The beaiity from squalor exalted, 
 
 By loving devotion and care, 
 'Gainst the chains of my worship revolted 
 
 And wedded a vile millionaire : 
 The friend I delighted to cherish, 
 
 Whom life and life' s comforts I gave. 
 Left me in a prison to perish, 
 
 And plotted to make it my grave. 
 
 Yet deem liot, O Snn, my great sorrow 
 
 So base of descent and of soul 
 As being of creatures to borrow 
 
 That crawl tlirough theii- life like a mole 
 AVe fall into eii'ors of vision. 
 
 While the spirit in clay is encased. 
 But look on our dreams with derision 
 
 In the sun-blight of experience placed. 
 
 The loving and gentle and truthful 
 
 Are the source of my grieving and pain ; 
 
 T ask if the Heavens are ruthful 
 
 That see them snared, toitured and slain 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 15 
 
 To the pure even death is salvation 
 That shnts ont jiollntion and hate, 
 
 The mininii" of constant temptation 
 And the force of the evil and great. 
 
 Oh, tell me of beings of sweetness, 
 
 First chaste as the moon' s kiss on snow, 
 Who yielding to love' s dear repleteness, 
 
 Gave bliss more than angels bestow, — 
 Who fought against Sin in a fever 
 
 That burned up whole years in a day, 
 AVhile she made their goodness her lever, . 
 
 Their virtues a trap for her i)rey, — 
 
 How treachery these (more devoted, 
 
 More loving than seraphs) could whelm 
 In the gulf of perdition unnoted 
 
 Of Infinite Love at the helm : — 
 For the mystery poisons existence, 
 
 Like upas in paradise grown. 
 And makes even Honor' s persistence 
 
 Seem idle as dreams that are flown. 
 
16 THE WINTER OF THE HEART 
 
 Was tlie peiiii of all women not Alice, 
 
 Whose virtue by kindliness won, 
 And melted the hardness of malice 
 
 As icicles weep to the snn ? 
 Heaven's beauty was Heaven s commission 
 
 To bless and to purify all, 
 Yet the want of cold selfish susx)icion 
 
 Was the cause of her ruin and fall. 
 
 Far distant, when Sin's creeping blackness 
 
 Stole on her and yawned to engulf. 
 And angels in envy showed slackness 
 
 That left her a prey to the wolf, 
 I learned not her fate till the waters 
 
 Forever had closed o'er her head. 
 And the sweetest of earth's loving daughters 
 
 To Death's dark asylum had fied. 
 
 The earthquake I felt on receiving 
 The death of the beauty of worth, 
 
 Arrested the pulse of believing 
 In the justice of Heaven and earth. 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART. 17 
 
 And, ghost-like, I linger unable 
 The grave of my hox)es to forsake, 
 
 And liaiiQt it witli purpose unstable, 
 I neither accomplish nor break. 
 
 Yes, Spring has resumed her full glory 
 
 And Beauty her myriad thrones. 
 And birds fill the skies with their story. 
 
 And the brook makes a harp of its stones ; 
 With fairy-like rainbows the flowers 
 
 The soul of life' s sweetness impart. 
 Yet I am all dead to thy powers. 
 
 For winter is still at my heart. 
 
 It sleeps on my heart with oppression, 
 
 Like snow on the mountainous spire, 
 Maintaining eternal possession 
 
 Right under the flood of thy fire : 
 It shames thee and mocks all reliance 
 
 On the might that has built up thy fame ; 
 Then melt me this icy defiance 
 
 With the magic that lives in thy flame. 
 
18 THE WINTER OE THE HEART. 
 
 Let springtide that blossoms abundance 
 
 And buds o'er jon age-withered tree, 
 Spare some of tliis vital redundance, 
 
 A spark of this freshness for me ; 
 Let the spell of its breathing restore me 
 
 The faith and illusion of youth 
 Which placed Bliss and Beauty before me 
 
 As brides of the Future and Truth. 
 
 Great Sun, let me go as thou goest, 
 
 When Eve falls in tears from the stars, 
 And melted to softness thou ilowest 
 
 In gold through the AVest's ruddy bars : 
 Like thee, in my set, I would waken 
 
 Tlie Past with her tenderest hues 
 As love a sere grave long forsaken 
 
 With weeping and flowers renews. 
 
 From thee I would part with devotio)] 
 
 As god of the seasons below ; 
 From Earth with that hallowed emotion 
 
 A son for a mother should show ; 
 
THE WINTER OF THE HEART 19 
 
 From all of lier children with feeling 
 In the wreck of my spirit still warm, 
 
 And rise to my Maker revealing 
 A haven eternal fi'om stoi'm. 
 
E V E ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 The Breaker^^' Sport. 
 
 Alas, poor world, what treasure hast thou lost !" 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 FOR miles I hear tlie breakers' roar 
 Before I reacli the rocky shore 
 To witness their wild sport, 
 Their tossing rage, thcnr ceaseless shout, 
 Their foaming charge, their shattered rout, 
 Succeeding each report 
 Of thunder. 
 
 My heart interprets their deep tone 
 And sinks in terror at the moan 
 
 Still floating from afar : 
 It seems to say : '' We battle here 
 Against the one you hold most dear 
 Who in the ruthless war 
 Goes imder.'' 
 
 2* 
 
22 EVE; OR, 
 
 What friend have I upon the sea, 
 Who is so near, so dear to nie 
 
 That I should sink or sigh % 
 I hasten on yet fear to reach 
 Tlie stretch and riot of the beach 
 
 Forever sounding nigh 
 And nigher. 
 
 At last it breaks upon my sight 
 In all its fierce and toiling might, 
 
 That foaming, dancing sea ; 
 Like madmen raging are the waves. 
 As though sea-serpents hid in caves, 
 
 Rocked it eternall}^ 
 Still higher. 
 
 Why should this billowing, seething w^ar 
 Which seems the solid clifi" to jar 
 
 Still shake my soul with fear ? 
 Has it not battered thus in vain 
 All day and night, in shine and rain. 
 
 Some hundred million years 
 Already. 
 
THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 23 
 
 How idle is the white-wreathed rage 
 Like lion ramping in a cage, 
 
 The gazers sport and jest ! 
 Upon this everlasting rock, 
 The crested fury I can mock 
 
 And in defiance rest 
 Heart-steady. 
 
 Still rises hoarse, as from a grave, 
 Or spirit sunk too far to save 
 
 Terror I cannot still : 
 Do all the voices of the dead, 
 Who in the deep have made their bed, 
 
 The air with murmurs fill 
 So dreary^ 
 
 But what is that the breakers toss, 
 Like some fair flower torn with its moss 
 
 From a bright streamlet' s side \ 
 From wave to rock dashed to and fro, 
 Witli many a hard and bruising blow, 
 
 It rocks upon the tide 
 Ne'er weary. 
 
24 EVE; OR, 
 
 Great God ! it is a human form, 
 A victim of the ocean stoni], 
 
 Thus racked upon the brine ! 
 As I — thrilled through — intently mark 
 Its slender limbs, so white and stark, 
 
 I tremble to divine 
 The story. 
 
 A woman's shape I cannot doubt 
 
 The yeasty waves thus spurn and flout, 
 
 But never, even in dreams. 
 Deemed I that head, save Eve's, could wear 
 Such length and wealth of golden hair 
 
 As round that body streams 
 Like glory. 
 
 I dart, like lightning, down the crag, 
 And from the boiling waters drag, 
 
 Tlieir unresisting prey ; 
 I bear her from the bufi'ets free 
 The clasping surge and saucy glee 
 
 Which make such heartless play 
 With beauty. 
 
THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 25 
 
 All doubt is gone, for there slie lies, 
 AVitli ashy cheek and soulless eyes. 
 
 Through which Death gazes cold : 
 Each long, salt, languid, yellow tress 
 Her listless, lavish loveliness 
 
 Doth weepingiy enfold 
 In duty. 
 
 Still round her neck with serpent turn 
 Two golden chains entwine and burn 
 
 The moveless, matchless snow, 
 And still between the orb-crowned breasts, 
 My locket-guarded semblance rests 
 
 And makes keen sorrow's blow 
 Eternal. 
 
 I cannot sigh — I cannot weep — 
 I cannot curse the whelming deep 
 
 Or blind impassive fate : 
 But view the earth as one vast grave, 
 The Sun as Fire' s relentless slave 
 
 That sleeps at night with mate 
 Infernal. 
 
26 EVE; OR, 
 
 I feel my life of life depart 
 
 That Death may kill within my heart 
 
 Joys ere they bud or blow : 
 Oh, what a heaven is here to me 
 Crushed into hopeless misery 
 
 Like angel cast below 
 Forever ! 
 
 Tliat spirits of the greatest power 
 
 Are withered with the the tenderest flower 
 
 Which dies in their despite — 
 That those less eaithly sufl'er woise 
 Is still the old Promethean curse 
 
 Through which we win God's light 
 Or never. 
 
 •^ ^ 
 
THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 27 
 
 Where Eve sleeps 'neatli the green-clad turf 
 The far-off echo of the surf 
 
 Calls for its prey again, 
 But murmuring sea and wild birds' song 
 Her dream of nothingness prolong 
 
 And worlds might shout in vain 
 To wake her. 
 
 The flowers that round her grave have birth 
 Are all that link me to the earth, — 
 
 For, breathing still her breath, 
 My fainting spirit they revive 
 With sweetness ever hers alive 
 
 Which cannot even in death 
 Forsake her. 
 
 But still the longing burns in me 
 To solve the strangest mystery 
 
 That can the' heart appall ; 
 That Nature, Fate, or what you will, 
 Perfection' s dream should thus fulfil, 
 
 And then extinguish all 
 It cherished. 
 
28 EVE; OR, 
 
 Wlieii every thoiiglit was pure in truth, 
 And every feeling fresh in youtli, 
 
 And all with love aglow — 
 When every charm was at its height, 
 And every beauty sweet as bright, 
 
 Undimmed by care or woe, 
 She perished. 
 
 Oil, wliy was earth of Eve bereft 
 Wliich scarcely liath an angel left 
 
 To open Heaven' s door \ 
 Just as the boon began to bless 
 Why snatch away such loveliness ? 
 
 Can Heaven rob the poor 
 So meanly \ 
 
 Yet came not Eve to me in vain 
 To give such glimpses of the reign 
 
 Of bliss the perfect own : 
 Perchance, exalted by her love. 
 My soul may follow hers above. 
 
 Now seated near God's throne 
 Serenely. 
 
THE BREAKERS' SPORT. 29 
 
 Still I hold Nature as deceit 
 For making life at first so sweet, 
 
 To deadly misery run : 
 Her Ocean is a treacherous friend, 
 Her Earth a grave from end to end. 
 
 Devouring every son, 
 Like Saturn. 
 
 Thanks for the world of soul and mind 
 Decay and Death can never find 
 
 But only free from clod — 
 For love to wisdom agonized — 
 For life that Eve immortalized 
 
 Of which is found in God 
 The pattern. 
 
LA PRIMA DONNA. 
 
 r I ^ HE lark, from low and leafy throng, 
 -L That smgs to Heaven' s throne, 
 And thee we know embodied song 
 
 Ere either trills a tone : 
 Already silent music tills 
 
 Thine every grace and wile, 
 And all the music it distills 
 
 Is garnered in thy smile. 
 
 What gives day's glory to thine eyes, 
 
 AVhich are as dark as night ? 
 What makes tliem dart like Death's surprise 
 
 Yet thrill as Life's delight 'i 
 Why is Joy's self thy willing slave 
 
 And Pensiveness as well, 
 Transported both upon the wave 
 
 Of thy melodious spell ^ 
 
 31 
 
32 LA PRIMA DONNA. 
 
 How coined that world of melody 
 
 In beauty small as sweet % 
 What biings all friends of harmony 
 
 To worship at thy feet '{ 
 Y\\ tell thee where the secret lies 
 
 Of all tliou canst and art : 
 'Tis this : thy soul is in thine eyes, 
 
 Thv music in thy heart. 
 
IIEA\ EN^S DARLING. 
 
 WHAT sweeter is than infancy, 
 That never lives to die 
 A donble death but just to be 
 An heii' to bliss on high t 
 Oh, do not weep, as if the rod 
 
 Of Judgment struck thee — do not weep, 
 Fond, faithless mother ! 
 Though soft and fair thy breast 
 The bosom of the Son of God 
 Is yet a sweeter rest — 
 
 There, there thy iamb in downy sleep 
 Is cherished by another. 
 
 The joys he brought can never die 
 
 To memory and love 
 No more tlian clouds in yonder sky 
 
 Can quench the stars above : 
 
 33 
 
34 HE A VEN'S DARLING 
 
 To tell of pleasures innocent 
 
 To lure thee from this earthly sphere, 
 Thy boy was given : 
 Lest thou shouldst err (oh, sweet excess 
 
 Of love !) himself before thee went ; 
 I marked his cherub loveliness, — 
 I saw he was a stranger here, — 
 
 I knew his home was Heaven I 
 
LOA^E^S SCORN. 
 
 rriHOU neither know'st nor canst conceive 
 -^ The passion thou hast slighted, 
 Nor can thy trilling mind believe 
 
 The heart which thou hast blighted : 
 Although no hope my soul may bless 
 
 And love in vain must languish, 
 Rather than own thine emptiness, 
 
 I still would hug my anguish. 
 
 'Tis great to love as I have loved. 
 
 Proud am I who have done it ; 
 If feeling could thy heart have moved, 
 
 I know I should have won it : 
 Nor would I rest, as others may. 
 
 With less than I have given ; 
 I would not creep albeit my way 
 
 Led through the gates of Heaven. 
 
 35 
 
36 LOVE'S SCORN. 
 
 Go ! love a soul with less of love 
 
 And tenderness in loving ! 
 Go ! seek a heart more apt to prove 
 
 Its lightness by its roving ! 
 Go ! wed a mate with feelings warm 
 
 Mere sons of cla}^ inherit, 
 Content to clasp thine earthly form 
 
 And think it hath thy spirit I 
 
 Ah ! well thou didst to shut thy heart 
 
 Against my sad entreating, 
 Lest love like mine to life should start 
 
 An echo to its beating ; 
 Ambition then or hate or pelf 
 
 Our being could not sever ; 
 I would have stolen thee from thyself 
 
 And kept thee, too, forever. 
 
THE LAKELE1\ 
 
 TT soothes to watch the lakelet sleep 
 
 -^ 111 lucid purity 
 
 And show the treasures of its deep 
 
 As free as infancy, — 
 To mark its finny armies pass, 
 Like floating hues in liquid glass. 
 
 The water's chivalry 
 
 In nature's panoply, — 
 With gold and silver sheatlied in sheen, 
 Entire scale armor, red, blue, green, — 
 They muster, charge, wheel, gleam in pride, 
 And smooth as flowing music glide, — 
 The life, the grace, the beaut}- of the tide. 
 
 Beneath a living canopy 
 
 I revel in the scene 
 Where nature is the luxury 
 
 And sun-crowned Summer queen : 
 Deep in the tide a heaven is spread, 
 The twin of that which overhead 
 
 3 
 
38 THE LAKELET. 
 
 Stretches eternally 
 
 Through blue inlinity : — 
 Like Eden' s Eve, whose guileless look 
 Clung to her image in the brook, 
 Heaven gazes on its mirrored face 
 Drowned in the lakelet' s fluid space, 
 With fleecy clouds that pass in stately chase. 
 
 An even pebbly path engirds 
 
 Three-quarters of the lake. 
 But where the rills and flitting birds 
 
 Their liquid music make, 
 An emerald and damasked bank 
 Droops o'er the wave and sedges rank : 
 A gilded w^ater snake 
 Has ventured from the brake 
 Among the lily sisterhood 
 Whose saint-like beauty crowns the flood 
 Their sweetness, chaste as virgin snow 
 Or souls made white and pure by woe, 
 Hallows this nook of paradise below. 
 
THE LAKELET 39 
 
 It is not day but night alone 
 
 That makes this spot divine, 
 
 For then a magic veil is thrown 
 O' er every hue and line, 
 
 To shadow forms of God-like grace. 
 
 The mystic spirits of the place. 
 
 Who with the fires combine, 
 
 Which through Mght' s vastness shine 
 
 And on the lakelet gaze and burn, — 
 
 To make it glory' s book and urn : 
 
 For in each drop to silver run, 
 
 Is told the story of a sun, 
 
 Of heaven's thick-clustering millions only 
 one. 
 
THE HEARTS DEFIANCE. 
 
 ALONE am I — alone ! alone ! 
 In this wide world so single, 
 No heart dare echo to mine own, 
 
 No sonl with mine dare mingle ; 
 For I am all alone — bereft 
 
 Of joy, of hope, of Heaven ; 
 Alone with Fate relentless left — 
 Alone to madness driven. 
 
 Whv make that sonl all tenderness 
 
 «/ 
 
 The gods to care deliver 'i 
 For gifts that rather cnrse than bless 
 
 Why shonld we thank the giver? 
 My life hath been a life of woe, 
 
 My kindness my nndoing ; 
 If after life no better show 
 
 It is not w^orth the wooing. 
 
 40 
 
THE HEARrS DEFIANCE. 41 
 
 Not Nature's self but Destiny 
 
 Hath mixed tliis bitter leaven, 
 For one there was who might for me 
 
 Have made this earth a heaven. 
 Might 'i no I she did ! till fate bore down, 
 
 I lived in her caresses, 
 Then — worse than all — she crushed a crown 
 
 Of thorns on my distresses. 
 
 Still will I laugh as I have laughed, 
 
 With mirth as wild and cheerless ; 
 Still w^elcome each successive shaft 
 
 With breast as bare and fearless ; 
 Still to the last will hold my own 
 
 As rock against the breaker. 
 And prove myself with my last groan 
 
 The image of my Maker. 
 
THE BUDDING COQUETTE. 
 
 TP thou hadst seen an infant creep 
 -^ All carelessly along 
 An ocean cliff and idly peep 
 
 Over its very brink, 
 
 (Too innocent to think 
 Of danger 3^et, but curious to know 
 
 Who sang that endless song, 
 And what its murmurs lull'd below,) 
 
 Thou wouldst, in such a witless elf, 
 
 Have seen an image of thyself. 
 
 Upon the precipice of life 
 
 Thou standest like a child, 
 
 And prattlest there of "husband,'' — 
 '^wife" — 
 As if terms such as they 
 Were made, like toys, for play, 
 
 42 
 
THE BUDDING COQUETTE. 43 
 
 And meant not life or death or destiny ! 
 All recklessly and wild, 
 
 As lightning glances, does thine eye 
 Enkindle flames in many a heart. 
 When even thou, with all th}^ art. 
 
 But one canst quench. Oh, then forbear 
 
 A needless triumph o'er despair I 
 
THE OAK. 
 
 MAEK yonder oak witii mighty anus 
 stretched high 
 As if they would uplift the lowering sky, 
 Shaking a hundred hands in every blast 
 At spirits in their cloud cars riding past ! 
 With what magnificent Titanic grace 
 It looks the boundless heavens in the face 
 And nods its towering head toward the earth 
 As if it had been crowned its king at birth. 
 
 Of many a gnarled swell and knotted limb 
 It makes an organ chanting Nature's hymn, 
 And in her shrillest and her deepest chords 
 Sings with expressiveness too deep for words 
 Of generations that have come and gone 
 Like shadow^s of its branches on the lawn, — 
 Of generations that shall pass away 
 Ere bow^s its stately stature to decay. 
 
 44 
 
THE OAK, 45 
 
 Dotli not its song tlie ages story tell, 
 Talk to thy heart and till its inmost cell 
 With Natni-e's freshness drained by potent 
 
 roots 
 From lier deep breast into its tender shoots 
 Till all its leaflets glimmer in their sheen 
 And dance like fairy myriads on the green \ 
 Drink, sonl ! the life, the spirit and design 
 Of yonder oak, for they are wisdom' s wine. 
 
 Believe that giant hath its sonl and speech. 
 Its lesson of the Inflnite to teach. 
 Stands it not there as God' s embodied thought 
 Breatliing the wisdom wliich its grandeur 
 
 wrought, 
 Whispering the secrets which the zephyrs 
 
 steal, 
 Or groaning the arcana thunders peal, — 
 Discoursing, like a sage and prophet too, 
 Of all Omnipotence hath done and yet shall 
 
 do? 
 
 3* 
 
LOVERS HORROR. 
 
 A HORROR to love I know well, 
 -^ -^ Too terrible madness to hate, 
 I am fearful its grimness to tell, 
 For it bears siicli resemblence to Hell, 
 
 You might think I escaped thro' its gate. 
 
 Have you loved ^ have you loved with the 
 might 
 Of your heart and your soul and your 
 strength, 
 Till the charmer grew dearer than sight 
 Than the dawning of heavenly light 
 
 Than the God of your being at length — 
 
 Till the glimpsing of lier you adored 
 Till the smiles she sportively cast — 
 
 Till the music she lavishly poured — 
 
 Till the honey her lips ever stored 
 Robbed you of your reason at last 'i 
 
 46 
 
LOVE'S HORROR. 47 
 
 And as soon as your reason was gone, 
 
 And your soul clung to life by its love, 
 To be told that your idol was stone- 
 That her heart to another had flown, 
 As readily changed as her glove. 
 
 To upbraid her in vain with her fault. 
 Being cursed with a thousand yourself. 
 
 Or to scorn to begin the assault ; 
 
 'And be crushed by what ought to exalt, 
 For the want of contemptible pelf. 
 
 To acknowledge her right and allow 
 That to wed with a beggar were guilt 
 
 Which would deepen the curse of the vow 
 
 'Tis her duty to sacrifice now 
 
 Though the blood of your spirit be spilt. 
 
 All is past. She hath fled from your arms, 
 
 Life become a detestable thing— 
 And you dare not remember her charms 
 Which your enemy' s bosom now warms, 
 Where you rather a viper would cling ! 
 
•48 LOVE'S HORROR. 
 
 But in spite of yourself you may dream — 
 
 Oh horror! 'tis she I happy pair ! 
 See ! her snowy arms beauteously gleam — 
 Hark ! her kisses ! my dagger ! ha ! scream 
 As I drag you from him by the hair ! 
 
 'J\) be cast by wild jealousy' s force 
 In a murderer's furious part ; — 
 To be seized at the sight of her corse 
 With the madness of guilty remorse 
 And bury the steel in youi- heart. 
 
 To wake with a gasj) and a thrill, 
 
 With midnight and terror oppressed — 
 To vow by the Heaven' s sw^eet will, 
 That had kept you from l)l()od honor still, 
 In the peace of forgiveness to rest. 
 
OLD. 
 
 nv /TY soul has bowed at Beauty's shrine 
 -^^-^ Before a miracle of fairness, 
 Who seemed than God scarce less divine, 
 
 In delicate exalted rareness : 
 I melted like the mountain stream, 
 
 Which thaws in springtide's glowing 
 brightness, 
 Beneath her blue ey(n^' tender beam 
 
 And touch of downy genth' lightness : 
 But then I still was very young, 
 And half my ecstasy was wrung. 
 By force of passionate excess 
 From Fancy's dream of loveliness. 
 
 As time passed on my ardor cooled 
 
 And Reason took her rightful station 
 
 To gently hint I had been fooled 
 By amorous imagination : 
 
 49 
 
50 OLD. 
 
 The idol I had placed aloft 
 
 And worshipped with fond melancholy 
 Taught lae that beauty proves two oft 
 
 The mask of heartlessness and folly ; 
 For ere the gilding wore away 
 I found it only common clay. 
 Inspired by fashion, rank and dress 
 And love of its own shapeliness. 
 
 But I will show you beauty tiue 
 
 That grows in age' s wear and shading, 
 More lovely to the heart and view, 
 
 Like angel into heaven fading : 
 Behold deep in the vale of tears 
 
 Where shadows of the grave are frowning, 
 A form unbent by ninety years 
 
 Grand as an oak with snowy crowning : 
 There is my beauty — woman ne' er 
 To Reason's sight looked half so fair 
 As he who four score years and ten 
 Has lived to bless his fellow men. 
 
OLD. 61 
 
 The fiiiTowed face, the liead of snow, 
 
 The gracious glance, tlie stately motion, 
 The majesty upon his brow, 
 
 Command and merit our devotion ; 
 For every care- wrought shade and line. 
 
 Each scar of battle and bereavement. 
 Is marked by love and thought divine 
 
 That burned in all his life's achievement, 
 To succor want, relieve distress, 
 With more than woman' s tenderness, 
 To cherish virtue, conquer vice. 
 And make this earth a paradise. 
 
 Behold in this grand veteran 
 
 Wisdom and truth and honor' s tower ! 
 Grow prouder that you are a man 
 
 In whom such goodness may have power 
 To wear God' s shape and do his will 
 
 On earth in walk and deeds diurnal 
 And after death, in heaven fulfill 
 
 The ministry of Love Eternal. 
 
52 OLD. 
 
 What charm can witli the wrinkles vie 
 Whicli noblest actions sanctify \ 
 Or with a beauty grown sublime, 
 And lovely in the frost of Time i 
 
I LOA' ED THEE ONCE. 
 
 I LOVED thee once, and still my love 
 Is stronger far than death 
 And yet shall find its home above, 
 
 And drinks its angel' s breath 
 In kisses sweet as thou canst give, 
 
 As thou to me hast given, 
 Nor shall its joys so briefly live, 
 But last as long as heaven. 
 
 I loved thee once and thou wast then 
 
 The semblance of my love, 
 But thou hast changed thy form again. 
 
 And lost that of the dove ; 
 AVliat thou art now I scarce can tell, 
 
 And almost fear to write ; 
 Not her I loved and loved so well 
 
 No more than dark is light. 
 
 53 
 
54 I LOVED THEE ONCE. 
 
 Mj love was blind but now I see 
 
 The living- with the dead, 
 Than thon and I, more liappily 
 
 And truly might be wed : 
 Tlien let us sunder every tie 
 
 Uniting souls so loth, 
 And cease to live the conscious lie 
 
 That makes a lie of both. 
 
 Forgive the error, if thou canst — 
 
 Mine anguish hath been fell, — 
 Remember that thy charms entranced 
 
 My reason like a spell : 
 The form and wit of her I sought 
 
 But not her heart hast thou : 
 What wonder that my soul was caught 
 
 And madly loved till now ! 
 
ETERNAL SEA. 
 
 "TT^ TERNAL Sea, whose bosom swells 
 J-^ With love to yonder Queen of Night 
 Whose silver fire so brightly dwells 
 
 Upon thy breast and woos thy might ! 
 How far thon spreadst beyond my sight ! 
 
 The starry concave rests on thee, 
 Low^ bending from the zenith's height 
 
 Its mighty arch to kiss the sea. 
 
 Whene'er I gaze on thy expanse, 
 
 The fullness of my soul is known, 
 I seem to gather in my glance 
 
 A* majesty I make my own : 
 I seat my spirit on a throne, 
 
 My sceptre reason I extend, 
 To call up thoughts to earth unknown 
 
 Which with my dreams shall ever blend 
 55 
 
56 ETERNAL SEA. 
 
 Dread mysteries thy spells eiilumee, 
 
 But beauty o'er thy bosom strays : 
 And in the moon' s pale lightning dance 
 
 Is more of love than vestal gaze, 
 Which, wreathed with surf, in brightness 
 plays 
 
 To quicken that ethereal loam, 
 Embodied once, with purest rays, 
 
 In Venus, daughter of thy foam. 
 
 Oft listening to thy thundering l)eat 
 
 My ear the voice of God has caught 
 And as I heard the rush repeat 
 
 Link has with link connection wroiight 
 Until chaotic sounds have taught 
 
 The meaning of the surging sea 
 And wakened many a lofty thought 
 
 Of what has been and what must be. ^ 
 
 I see thy pathways as they led 
 
 Some thousand million years ago. 
 
 When monsters sported in thy bed. 
 Too vast for earth again to know. 
 
ETERNAL SEA. 57 
 
 And speeding past the ages slow 
 To mortal seraphs in the van, 
 
 I see their Edens overgrow 
 
 The long-forgotten i-ace of man. 
 
I 
 
 THE WILD ROSE. 
 
 HAVE fainted from perfume in gardens 
 of roses 
 
 Where the beauties of Flora are crowded 
 together, 
 And Eden all hues of their vesture discloses, 
 Yet I linger around this wild rose in the 
 heather. 
 
 It is simple as wild and carelessly nourished 
 By the sun and tlie dews and tlie vagabond 
 breezes, 
 Unnoted by pilgrims, save one, it has 
 flourished, 
 Yet more than the cultured my fancy it 
 pleases. 
 
 68 
 
THE WILD ROSE. 59 
 
 Oh, tliey may be clad with more richness and 
 lustre, 
 Their perfume may sink with more ravish- 
 ing power. 
 But ne' er with their leaflets so lovingly cluster 
 And fold round my heart as this lone desert 
 flower. 
 
 I joy in the thought that the world has ne- 
 glected 
 This Queen of the wild and still kept her 
 so lonely, 
 While the spirit of freshness her sweetness 
 attracted 
 And treasured so purely for me and me 
 only. 
 
 A life may abound with the wealth of sub- 
 sistence 
 Yet pine in its depth with soul-famishing 
 bareness 
 
60 THE WILD ROSE. 
 
 For the lack of one flower to sweeten existence 
 With the fragrance and charm of its deli-" 
 cate rareness. 
 
 Before I discovered my exquisite treasure 
 My heart was as barren as Winter' s effete- 
 ness. 
 But now, like the springtide, it bounds with 
 the pleasure 
 Of love-life and music and blossoming 
 sweetness. 
 
THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 
 
 A MOTHER had an only son, 
 ^-^ As beautiful as dawn, 
 AVhen rosy light hath just begun 
 
 To kiss the dewy lawn, — 
 With voice as sweet and musical 
 
 As birds that sing for love. 
 And soul as kind and dutiful 
 
 As angels ai-e above. 
 
 He grew in beauty and in strength, 
 
 In courage and in skill. 
 And had an arm and soul at lengtli 
 
 To rescue or to kill. 
 And when earth' s tyrants came to blast, 
 
 And thunders 'gan to roll, 
 Upon her son the mother cast 
 
 A look that read his soul. 
 
 4 
 
62 THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 
 
 "I know thy heart and whither nisli, 
 
 Those lofty thoughts of thine, 
 And wlierefore mounts tliat hanglity bhish, 
 
 And shall my soul repine % 
 Go ! I would rather die than part 
 
 With thee, my beautiful, 
 Still must I as to me thou art 
 
 To God be dutiful/' 
 
 He hurried to the field and fought 
 
 Until the foemen fled, 
 And never till that moment thought 
 
 How fatally he bled : 
 But soon his dying form reposed 
 
 Within his mother's arms, 
 And soon the solemn coffin closed 
 
 Upon his boyish charms. 
 
 "Oh, gentle Heavens! ye are just, 
 And I have naught to blame : 
 
 My treasure I may safely trust 
 To Him from whom it came : 
 
THE AMERICAN MOTHER. 63 
 
 But Still my soul does his pursue, 
 
 And with it almost died : 
 Oh, piteous Heaven! take me tool" 
 
 And piteous Heaven complied. 
 
THE WOOD NYMPH. 
 
 T" LOVE this fragrant nutty copse 
 
 -^ So rich in hues and shade, — 
 
 In vines that climb tlie dwarf tree tops 
 
 And flowers that skirt the glade : 
 And dearer still is yonder oak 
 
 Whose l)ranclies sweep tlie sky 
 And wind, rain, hail, and thunder' s stroke, 
 
 A thousand years defy. 
 
 For here my nymph supremely reigns 
 
 And makes this oak her throne, 
 And hearkens to the wild birds' strains 
 
 That sing her praise alone ; 
 For her the brook its chime awakes 
 
 And squirrels play their pranks, 
 And for the paradise she makes 
 
 All creatures breathe her thanks. 
 
 64 
 
THE WOOD NYMPH, 65 
 
 Hither slie comes, my spirit bride ; 
 
 I know when she draws nigh, — 
 The whispering leaves do move aside, 
 
 The flowers with envy sigh ; 
 The very air woos tenderly, 
 
 Light glows with softer bloom, 
 Earth's bosom swells with ecstasy, 
 
 Tlie Heavens nearer come. 
 
 Where waking hopes so fondly please. 
 
 Possession is so sweet 
 That moments seem whole centuries 
 
 Of rapture at her feet ; 
 Yet somewhat evil seems delight 
 
 That wraps the heart in flame 
 And carries bliss to such a height 
 
 As makes the Heavens tame. 
 
SWEET DEATH. 
 
 PALE as a flower, plucked by grim Death, 
 A maiden lay, 
 Her bloom and beauty, all but breath, 
 
 Had flown away. 
 And left her eyes, large, wide and blue. 
 
 Orbs of pure heaven. 
 And to her veins of violet hue, 
 
 Distinctness given ; 
 Till the close clinging to each bone. 
 Made her almost a skeleton. 
 
 A merry little girl drew nigh 
 
 With silver tray. 
 Heaped up with fruit and flowers high 
 
 In disarray, — 
 Grapes, apples, peaches, roses, plums. 
 
 In fullest bloom ; 
 The fragrance which from ripeness comes 
 
 Suffused the room ; 
 The maiden gazed, inhaled and sighed, — 
 Murmuring her bliss, and, smiling, died. 
 
HOME WELCOME. 
 
 WHAT sliall I love as brightest \ beams 
 From woman' s angel eyes 'i 
 The starry shine, the golden gleams 
 
 That fill the trembling skies ^ 
 Stars throb with beauty ; snns are kings 
 
 That sit on glory s throne ; 
 From woman's eyes the lightning springs 
 That makes all hearts her own. 
 
 Affection's look is worth them all. 
 
 From face that speaks the heart ; 
 And I would rather have death's pall 
 
 Wrapped round me now than part 
 With Lona's gentle smile and look 
 
 When I world-wearied come,— 
 Panting— like hart for water-brook — 
 
 For love and comfort home. 
 
 67 
 
68 HOME WELCOME. 
 
 The light that rushes to her eyes, 
 
 The exclamation sweet, — 
 So full of love and glad surprise, - 
 
 As she bounds to her feet — 
 With sudden flush and rosy glee, 
 
 In dimples and on lips, 
 Pouting for kisses, — still to me 
 
 All brightness else eclipse. 
 
LOVE'S SOLACE. 
 
 ^TT HEN Care his tlioriiy net-work spreads, 
 ^ ^ And obstacles, like Hydra's heads, 
 
 Before me throng ; 
 When days in toil and sleep lessly 
 The nights are spent, I think of thee, 
 
 And I am strong. 
 
 AA^heii blackest seems the frown of Fate 
 AYith no asylnm from his hate. 
 
 Except the grave — 
 AVhen sinks the heart and terribly 
 Blanches the cheek, — I tliink of thee, 
 
 And I am brave. 
 
 When seems the earth but desert plain, 
 Where not a flower can bloom again, 
 
 For life is spent ; 
 When that and I appear to be 
 Made all in vain, — I think of thee 
 
 And I'm content. 
 
 4* 69 
 
70 LOVE'S SOLACE. 
 
 When preys the vulture on tlie dove,. 
 And hearts are broken that I love, 
 
 And God is sad 
 The work of His own hands to see 
 Perverting life — I think of thee 
 
 And I am glad. 
 
 When wrath hath into fury grown. 
 And Reason from her tranquil throne- 
 Is madly driven, 
 I think of thee — my passions cease 
 For love is all the life of peace 
 And Tm in Heaven. 
 
THE HERO'S SACRIFICE. 
 
 "FTPON the battle-field lie lay, 
 ^-^ His back to eartli, his face to heaven ; 
 Though now he was no more than clay, 
 
 His spirit from its temple driven. 
 Had left a stamp of glory there, 
 Such as the living cannot wear. 
 
 Still sadly on this marble face, 
 Death' s sculpture and his master piece, 
 
 The dying thoughts I strive to trace, 
 Which thronged his soul at its release, 
 
 For of their instant fleeting here 
 
 Linger the shades of all but fear. 
 
 I know he breathed a prayer for thee, 
 My country, as he gave his life, 
 
 Repining at the thought that he 
 Had not a thousand for the strife, 
 
 Waged for the land we idolize 
 
 As freest, best beneath the skies. 
 71 
 
72 THE HERO'S SACRIEICE. 
 
 But softer traces on this brow, 
 
 Relenting lines of gentleness. 
 To searching eyes as truly show 
 
 The cause of tenderer distress ; 
 A husband' s love thrilled Iveenly here 
 And mingled with a father' s tear. 
 
 Yet answered he Death' s muster loll 
 Calm as the angels round his head 
 
 Waiting to waft his noble soul 
 To heaven from his bloody bed ; 
 
 And happy they who die so well 
 
 As he who for his country fell. 
 
TAVILTCIHT. 
 
 THE twilight comes like a brunette, 
 With dusky blush and floating hair, 
 And starry eyes that pilot night : 
 But in the growing gloom is set, 
 A form that rests as soft as air 
 
 While m el tin"' darkness with its light. 
 
 Wli}^ should the twilight bring to me 
 A shape as golden as the sun, 
 
 Robed to the waist in wavy rays ( 
 The magic of the hour I see 
 
 Which stealing on the heart hath won 
 The secret treasured for love's gaze. 
 
 Tt is the office of this hour 
 
 To station every star on high 
 
 And. teach the heart to melt and love ; 
 Sweet Peace than Force liatli oft more powei* 
 
 And shadow^s deepest thouglits supply 
 
 Unveiling seas of suns above. 
 73 
 
THY TYPE 
 
 SONNET — TO A. 0. 
 
 rriHE Winter stars are beautiful and wliite^ 
 -^ And glitter, keen and cold, in diamond air. 
 And shine like icicles of silver there ; 
 But thou art not like them, dear, though as 
 
 bright : 
 Above the golden equatorial belt, 
 A new-born star — not only seen but felt — 
 Fresh from the fount divine of love and light — 
 With all the softness of an angel' s will. 
 With all the warmth of Heaven about it still, 
 Peerless as sweet — beams kindly from its 
 
 height 
 Not only on the vision but the heart, 
 With sweet and pure persuasion to impart 
 Beauty to one and to the other love : — 
 Such, gentle lady, is thy type above. 
 
 74 
 
cc 
 
 THE PIRATE'S DARLINGS. 
 
 "T row fragile seems my quiv'nng bark 
 -* — *- Upon the mountain motion 
 And world-wide howling of the dark 
 
 Exasperated ocean ! 
 It leaps like madness ! does it know 
 All I hold dearest sleeps below, 
 And, like a monster, lifts its roar. 
 Hungry and eager to devour ^ 
 
 "A scourge and terror, I have been 
 
 Its harsh and mocking master — 
 Have cut my path its waves between 
 
 To work mankind' s disaster : 
 Upon its rugged back it bore 
 Who bade it chafe and foam the more, 
 Drown deep or dash against the sky 
 The heart that could not fear to die, 
 
 75 
 
76 THE PIRATE'S DARLINGS. 
 
 "But now that heart hath nursed to life 
 
 Blossoms so sweet and tender, 
 The ridden deep awakes to strife 
 
 And sends unto the sender 
 Defiance back, and, like the wolf. 
 Yawns wide and wider to engulf 
 The babes of one who ne'er before 
 Was weak enougli to long for shore." 
 
 The thunder rolled like angry beast. 
 
 And dragon-like it lightened ; 
 The billows bellowed for their feast ; 
 
 The pirate's babes grew frightened, 
 The ship was struck, and soon on fire, — 
 The children clung unto their sire. 
 And now they all together sleep 
 In the dai'k silence of the deep. 
 
LOVE-HAUNTED. 
 
 A SPIRIT liauiits me ever. Wliile 
 I write it stands before me. There 
 Melts tlie bland sweetness of its smile : 
 
 The snnshine of its golden hair 
 Floats ronnd it like a giorj. Love, 
 
 Like a celestial atmosphere, 
 Broods softly as the holy dove 
 Upon its bosom raptnronsly dear. 
 
 What is the si)irit ^ Can it be 
 
 An angel haunts me '. Though as fair. 
 Yet, mignon, 'tis thyself I see, 
 
 Not only here, but everywhere : ■ 
 Oh, dear delight ! we cannot part 
 
 For ever present to my sight 
 I see thee imaged in my heart 
 
 Wrapped in the halo of thy hair of light. 
 
LOVE-SCATHED. 
 
 CURSE the Fate that severed lis I 
 That tore our hearts asunder ! 
 Mine is shivered like a branch 
 Rent by the iire of thunder ! 
 Gather the slivers one by one. 
 
 And cause the branch to flourish, 
 Then this heart shall cease to bleed, 
 And hopes of pleasure nourish. 
 
 Blame thee ( No ! The greatest lies 
 
 Do most the truth resemble ; 
 Weak and base to prove thy love, 
 
 Seemed Heaven to dissemble : 
 Like a man deprived of strength 
 
 Some frightful torture dreaming — 
 If I am, I know as well 
 
 I am not like my seeming. 
 
LOVE SCATHED. 79 
 
 Scathless from the bolt art thou, 
 
 Which forced us thus to sever : 
 Broken — like a vestal' s vow — 
 
 My soul is lost forever ; 
 Thine may cling, unite and grow — 
 
 Ay ; with another' s mingle ; 
 Mine eternally remains 
 
 Cold, ruined, void and single % 
 
THE ROSEBUD OF THE HEATH. 
 
 (after GOETHE.) 
 
 A BOY spied Rosebud as slie grew 
 Upon lier native heath, 
 And, like a hungry bee, he flew, 
 The morning beauties of each hue 
 Into his eager soul he drew, 
 
 And drank and drank her breath : 
 Rosebud, Rosebud, Rosebud red 
 Rosebud on the heath. 
 
 With joy he shouted " I must wring 
 The Rosebud of the heath r' 
 
 The Rosebud answered, "Then Til sting 
 
 To punish your bold Angering, 
 
 And to your memory ever cling 
 
 And make you weep my death !" 
 Rosebud, Rosebud, Rosebud I'ed 
 Rosebud of the heath. 
 
 80 
 
THE ROSEBUD OF THE HEATH 81 
 
 The heartless, heedless urchin wrung 
 
 The Rosebud off the heath ; 
 The Rosebud blanched and blushed and stung 
 ''Woe!'' and "Alas!" m vam she sung, 
 And, weeping, to his tunic hung ; 
 
 And sighed herself to deatli^ — 
 While he played, poor Rosebud red 
 
 Sighed herself to death. 
 
DOUBLE FAITH. 
 
 "TTTHY, star of love, my life bereave 
 ^ ^ Of the cliill midnight of the heart ? 
 
 Why, tempting Heaven, one moment leave 
 Thy strict and jealous gates apart '( 
 
 Wliy grant my soul such glimpse of bliss, 
 
 Then plunge it into the abyss 'i 
 
 What art our bands so softly wove. 
 
 That they might be more quickly riven? 
 
 Was I clasped to thy breast of love 
 To be from that to madness driven ? 
 
 In heaven and ra^^ture lulled asleep 
 
 To wake with horror in the deep ? 
 
 The rose drinks bloom but from the sun, 
 
 And love to love must turn forever ; 
 Hadst thou not looked to more than one 
 
 82 
 
DOUBLE FAITH. 83 
 
 Not Death had power our hearts to sever : 
 But double faith the loving shun — 
 The noble deem it worse than none. 
 
 Thy heart against mine own hath beat ; 
 
 Oh, had it learned to beat as true ! 
 Thy breath with mine hath mingled sweet ; 
 
 Oh, had our spirits mingled too ! 
 I would have taught thy soul that truth 
 Gives love eternal joy and youth. 
 
THE I)i:8KY BEAUTY. 
 
 O TRANCtE beauty ! neither dark nor fair, 
 ^■^ Natnre disowns tliy nameless brown, 
 Thy mantling cheek, thy midnight hair, 
 As Europe's blnsh and Afric's frown. 
 
 Thy beauty is a startling thing 
 
 Like music in a desert lone, 
 Or bird of bright but foreign wang 
 
 The land before hath never known. 
 
 E'en AMc's daughters own thee not ; 
 
 Proud Europe' s daughters th(^e disclaim ; 
 How cruelly unjust thy lot, 
 
 Incarnate loveliness of shame ! 
 
 I note it in the laugh and sigh 
 
 Breaking so wildly from thy lips ; 
 
 And in thy sad and lustrous eye 
 
 Where lightning suffers soft eclipse. 
 
 84 
 
THE D USK V BEA UTY. 85 
 
 For Afric's sons too delicate, — 
 
 For Europe's cursed witli Afric's stain, — 
 Branded, tliougli guiltless of thy fate, 
 
 Worse tlian tlie oldest murderei* Cain. 
 
 Oh, neither be too ])roud noi* meek. 
 Nor take thy love to venal niait. 
 
 For Europe's rose is on thy cheek 
 And Afric's sun within thy heart I 
 
 AVhat hope is thine i the brightest — this^ — 
 Although thou canst not change tliy skin ; 
 
 Thou still mayst win eternal bliss. 
 And pure as angel be within. 
 
 For thine is an immortal soul 
 
 And Christ is thine wherein to trust ; 
 
 Let Heaven be thy spirit's goal, 
 For dust of any hue is — dust. 
 
THE FOOD OF LOVE. 
 
 (after SHAKESPEARE.) 
 
 I¥ music be tlie food of love, 
 Of passion s all absorbing sweep, 
 In wliicli I breatlie and live and move 
 
 As naiad in the tropic deep, — 
 Play on and give me sncli excess 
 That if possession may not bless, 
 This burning tenderness or I 
 May of the luscious surfeit die, — 
 Die of love's completeness. 
 
 That strain again ! was it from Death '( 
 
 It had a tender dying fall 
 As if the spirit's parting breath 
 
 Answered a hovering angel's call : 
 It came as gently o' er ni}^ ear 
 As falls a doting mother's tear, 
 Or breathes the South that northward sets 
 Upon a bank of violets, 
 
 Stealing and giving sweetness. 
 
 86 
 
WAYWARD LEE. 
 
 A RT thou the thing tliou seemest, 
 ^-^ Light as Siiiniiiei' ail'. 
 Wild as the dream thou dreainest 
 
 False as thou art fair t 
 Oh, no, no, no, it cannot be 
 Plain as it seemeth, wilful Lee h 
 
 Thou hast a soul of kindness 
 
 Kindly as the sun, 
 But then thy love is blindness. 
 
 Loving every one ; 
 At least tlie love thou gavest m(^, 
 Thou grantest many, wanton Lee. 
 
 Tlie stei'nest heart will soften 
 When by love possessed ; 
 
 My heart is love and often 
 Melted on thy breast 
 
 In sweet affection — as for thee, 
 
 Thou art without one, wicked Lee. 
 
 87 
 
88 WAYWARD LEE. 
 
 And yet the God above thee, 
 Gave thee once a heart ; 
 
 I, too, gave mine to love thee, 
 Shameless as thou art ; 
 
 I might have cast it in the sea. 
 
 For less the folly, winsome Lee ! 
 
LOYE AND WTNPl 
 
 A]NA(^KEONTIC. 
 
 /^^H, give me love and wine and I 
 ^-^ Will be as happy as a boy ; 
 Without ihem joy cannot ])ut die, — 
 With them there is no death to joy ; 
 Witlioirt them both 
 T would be loth 
 To live and be earth's mightiest king. 
 
 Oh, what were rank or power or wealth 
 With neither love nor wine to cheer ? 
 Even that sweet possession, health. 
 Were but a desert, bare and drear, 
 Without the two 
 Who rapture woo 
 And teach tlie saddest heart to sing. 
 
 89 
 
90 LOVE AND WINE. 
 
 Then fill the cup with ivd wine up, 
 
 Pi'oni which my love her nectai' sips, 
 For with the gods I would not sup, 
 Without pure wine and woman's lips ! 
 Without them ]>otli 
 Life is a sh)th. 
 But with them swift as angels wing. 
 
 The queen of souls is love, true love, 
 
 And pure wine is the king of mirth ; 
 They form the bliss of Heaven above, 
 And make a paradise of earth ; 
 Then fill the cup 
 With pure wine up 
 And render life perpetual spring. 
 
THY STAR. 
 
 A SEllENADE. 
 
 r M PIE nig] it is still as ypudei- oi-l), 
 -^ B(4iiiid tlie silver cloud ; 
 Sweet thoughts of thee my soul absoi'b. 
 
 For thee uiy heait b(^ats loud ; 
 And so I take my light guitar 
 
 And sing thy charms diviiie 
 To that sweet, soft and brilliant star 
 
 Whose glance resembles thine. 
 
 That star is bright in kindly night 
 
 But hides from golden day ; 
 Thy beauty l^rightens i]i the light 
 
 And shames Apollo's ray : 
 In gloom with glories tliickly sown, 
 
 I sing thy stai- and thee, 
 For night and dsiy have never shown 
 
 Aught half so deai* to me. 
 
 91 
 
THE A^TOLET. 
 
 y GATHERED by tlic woodside 
 -^ A floral coronet 
 Upon the brow of Coia 
 
 111 ]()\'e and sport to set, 
 But deeper in the forest 
 
 Where gloom and grandeur met 
 I ' spied a perfect beauty, 
 
 A lovely violet. 
 
 There was a queenly richness 
 
 In ever}^ glowing hue 
 Of liei' empurj)led vesture 
 
 Of deep and loving blue : 
 Hei- fond and soul-like fragrance, 
 
 Which pierced the senses through, 
 Brought Heaven' s balm and rapture 
 
 To fancy' s touch and view. 
 
 92 
 
THE VIOLET. 93 
 
 Altliough the only flower 
 
 Whicli nestled in tliat Uiii-, 
 T stooped to pluek lier sweetnt^ss 
 
 To deck my dai'linii,'s liaii', 
 But thinking of a bosom 
 
 AVhicli wouhl 1)e dark and bare 
 If I'obbed of one soh^ ti'easure, 
 
 I left her l)h)oinin<> there. 
 
 BOLD QUESTIONS. 
 
 BY gazing in tliiiK^ (yes of blue 
 Shall I at last divine 
 Why they keep H(^aven's pinvst hue 
 
 And yet so falsely shine { 
 Will fate disclose,— to seiises drowned 
 
 In honeyed lapture, — why 
 It lets thy tongue like seiaph's sound 
 Yet like tlu^ lie ^ 
 
LOVERS INFATILA.TION. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 r 1 1H0U wandering star of dangerous ray, 
 -^ Thou siren of my will ; 
 Bright but to lead my soul astray 
 And only sweet to kill ! 
 
 Teach me the secret of the art 
 Whicli binds my soul to thee, 
 
 Tliat I may more than strive to part 
 From thy dear slavery. 
 
 Thou little, winning, wilful one, 
 
 I many times forswore ; 
 But could not e'en for Heaven shun 
 
 And loved yet moi'(^ and more ! 
 
 Once more to burst thy silken chain 
 With lieart and soul I'll try, 
 
 But if I find my effort vani, 
 What can I do but die '\ 
 
 94 
 
LEFT. 
 
 TTERE lies the mother, 
 -* — ^ Stretched on her bier. 
 Feeling no sorrow, 
 
 Knowing no feai- ; 
 There lies her baby, 
 
 Smiling in sleep : 
 Which is the happier ( 
 
 Which should we weep i 
 
 She has encounter(^d 
 
 Death to all carets ; 
 He has just entered 
 
 Life and its snares : 
 Peace is her portion 
 
 Earth cannot show : 
 Why did the angels 
 
 Leave him below ( 
 
 95 
 
LOA F8 EXCHAJSGE. 
 
 FOK MUSIC. 
 
 nr GAVE my heart to tliec, p(4, 
 -^ A heart botli wai-m and true ; 
 Then give tliy heart to me, pet, 
 Wliat canst thou want with two 'i 
 I would not bereave 
 But onl}^ relieve 
 Thy bosom's exeess. 
 
 And fear not the exchange, sw^eet ; 
 
 The heait that I i-esign 
 From one will nevei' range, sweet. 
 To others as would thine. 
 I would not innnure 
 But only make sui'e 
 Of something to bless. 
 
 96 
 
THE OREAD. 
 
 T^AY and niglit I lianiit this iiiouiitaiii, 
 -^^ Climbing and descending, 
 
 Diinking at its pnrest fountain, 
 
 AVitli its spirit blending, 
 For I am its Oread : 
 Weeks and montlis deep iji the wood 
 On its mystery I brood, 
 
 Grown prophetically sad. 
 For I know 
 That wliile its head to heaven aspires. 
 Its feet are planted in the fii'es 
 Miles below. 
 
 While the awe of night still hushes 
 
 Springtide's warbled wooing,— 
 When the star-eyed morn first blushes 
 At the sun' s pursuing, 
 On the mountain' s peak I stand 
 Drinking in my vision' s range 
 Fresh sublimity from change 
 
 0' er the ocean, sky and land, 
 
98 THE OREAD. 
 
 AVliicli Tiuroll 
 From darkness into life and light 
 And fill with Deity my sight, 
 
 Heart and sonl. 
 
 Every star j^nts ont his taper 
 
 As the snn a2)proaches ; 
 On the East a Instrous vapor 
 
 Steadily encroaches, — 
 For a god is rismg fast : 
 Crimson vistas fold on fold, — 
 As he mounts his throne of gold 
 And Anrora hurries past, — 
 
 Burn like ire : 
 Earth — Ocean wakes,— like maid from trance, 
 Beneath a lover s eyes that glance 
 
 Liquid fire. 
 
 Dropping, — like the lark from ether. 
 
 Tired of morning' s splendors, 
 Homeward through the clouds beneath her, 
 AVhere tlie Earth engenders, 
 From lier bosom' s sweetest sweet 
 Flowers which ope on me their eyes, 
 < Flushed with sisterly surprise 
 Kindred purity to greet, 
 
THE OREAD. 99 
 
 With tlieir breatli 
 And soul of Natuiv, I refine 
 To di^licacy too divine 
 
 E'en for deatli. 
 
 NeVi- a songster lias a meaning 
 
 * Warbled near my arbor, ~ 
 Ne'er a life this mountain gleaning 
 Nestles in its harbor 
 That I do not understand ; 
 At my fountain's mossy seat 
 Gold fish come to kiss my feet ; 
 
 E' en the serpent' s eyes look bland 
 As I pass, 
 And T on eartli have not a foe 
 But one that still sleeps far below,— 
 Fire, alas 1 
 
 Has not life a single portal 
 
 Leading not to error f 
 Is it true that every mortal 
 
 Has like me a terror 
 Robbing her of perfect bliss '. 
 Caves fantastic deep I pierce 
 Whcn-e fire Titans slumber tierce ; 
 
 With alternate groan and hiss 
 
100 THE OREAD. 
 
 They foretell 
 Their day to rise and burst and burn 
 And my sweet mountain Eden turn 
 
 Into hell. 
 
 (lold and silver mines exhaustless, 
 
 Gems, with darkness sleex)inu- 
 III eartli's bosom, matchless, costless, 
 
 Rayless beauty keeping, 
 I would give to save my home : 
 Prayer is breath and fate despair : 
 Sad I roam the starlight air, 
 
 ■Neath the sun-encrusted dome. 
 
 Asking Night 
 If her far million worlds possess 
 A single liome of happiness 
 
 Free from blight. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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