r » 3553 ©SfrS7| GfassJEL2i[&3 CDRflRIGHT DEPCSm SONNETS of THE STRIFE With Songs SONNETS of THE STRIFE With Songs BY ROBERT LOVEMAN M WITH A FOREWORD BY JOHN BURROUGHS THE CORNHILL COMPANY BOSTON ot% Copyright, 1917 K^* By The Cornhill Company \&\ I All rights reserved OCT 10 |yia ©CLA506111 1-t<0 TO MR. AND MRS. MORTON E. JUDD and HUBERT WITH AFFECTIONATE REGARD FOREWORD I can gladly stand sponsor for the poetic talent of Robert Loveman. He is a true poet of a rare order, and, though of Hungarian parentage, is a true American. These poems suggested by the war strike the note we like to hear on this side of the world — the humanitarian, democratic note, and they strike it with vigor attuned to music. " The kings are going, let them go ! " Let every crowned head in Europe roll in the dust, and let the people elect their rulers, and there will be no more war. Our author's previous work, especially the thin volume called " The Gates of Silence/' in which occurs that exquisite lyric, " April Rain," and which any poet in the world might be proud to have written, stamp him as a poet of unusual merit. No other singer of our time has essayed deep-sea soundings into the problems of human destiny and done it with a plumet of four-line stanzas, with great ease and gayety of heart, as has Loveman in his " Gates of Silence." Much of it as good as the best in Omar Khayyam. vii In these war poems the martial note is never struck, but only the note of human sympathy and brotherhood. I am sure that is as his readers would have it. JOHN BURROUGHS. RlVERBY, West Park, N. Y. via CONTENTS PAGE O Set the Nations Free i Brothers 3 The Dead Singer 5 Columbia 6 Venus at Dawn 7 To the President ■ . . 8 Song 9 World War io Song ii When From Hoarse Guns . 12 The Play 13 The Rivers 14 Poland 15 Invocation 16 Song 17 The World Is Mad 18 The Play 19 What Will Evolve? 20 Song 21 To Henry Ford 22 Willow Song 23 Sonnet 24 Spring Song 25 ix PAGE Sonnet 26 For Worship All the Day 27 Our Days 28 Song 29 Song 30 With Forgiving Tears 31 O My Brothers 32 America 33 SONNETS of THE STRIFE With Songs O SET THE NATIONS FREE Lord God of Hosts from out whose hand the stars are flung afar, Our orb is rent with discontent and torn with savage war; Come forth in mighty majesty and set the nations free, Who grapple to a dismal end in frantic ecstasy. The wreckage of a thousand ships are strewn about the seas, The bombs of death pollute the breath of every fragrant breeze; Lord God thy planet that was fair is gory deep in grime, Our age is one vast blotch of blood upon the page of time; Hast thou no potent opiate where thy pavilion swings, To calm the lust of murder within the hearts of kings? Our joyous earth on tireless wing went singing on its way, The widow's wail, the orphan's cry now darken all the day. Come in thy glory, God, and bid the battle sorrows cease, Pour on the wounds of mangled earth the healing oil of peace. Lord God of Hosts who still hath been our buckler and our shield, To loving bonds of brotherhood let now the nations yield. BROTHERS O brothers, we are children of the sons of man, Valiant, fearful, haughty, tearful, clinging close to class or clan, Split in sordid, narrow nations, caught in creeds that bless or ban, But brothers, we are brothers of the sons of man. O brothers, we are children of the sons of man, With step elate the millions march upon the battle van; They die like sheep in shambles (dear God, send peace again), O brothers, are we brothers of the sons of men? The fleets of air that journey fair, on joyous mission bent, Now fling their death darts flaming, from the fiery firmament; Where soft the ocean billows breathe, or where the breakers swell, Squat on their hips, the battleships, are baying hounds of hell. O brothers, 'tis the mothers who are martyred at the guns, Europa's soul is stricken with the slaughter of her sons, The great world heart is heavy (dear God, send peace again), And brothers still be brothers of the sons of men. THE DEAD SINGER Here let the wood dove softly coo, Here let the willow weep, Here where the winds and waters woo, The singer dreams in sleep. The music of his magic lute Aroused the world to song, Now that the singer's lips are mute, About his bier they throng. He hears, he feels, in sleep he smiles, Through dusk and dawning dim, Adown the hushed forest aisles They bring their songs to him. COLUMBIA COLUMBIA, though all the world doth rage, Thou art our rock of everlasting peace; When the grim grapple of the Czars shall cease And Slav and Teuton stagger from the stage Bespoiled sisters of a shamed age, — Thy fields shall flower and thy bounds increase In hereditaments of loving lease; Oh let thy holy purpose still engage To be pacificator of all men, Thy ports the haven of the meek and low, Thy happy hearthstones ever radiant when The children gather at the firelight glow; COLUMBIA! rear thou each loyal son, Of Lincoln's mould, and mighty Washington. VENUS AT DAWN Poor Venus, dying, faint, afar, Dear paling, fading morning star, In the gay east there flames a feast Of fiery light engulfing night, And you I deemed so lustrous fair Have perished in the morning air; Gulp'd down like any tiny mouse That Wumpus finds about the house ; I came to see a sunrise rare, With pomp and glory everywhere, — But vanished Venus, just between us, — That burly sun cannot bemean us; Soft; — meet me ere the full blown morn, We'll hold the blusterer in scorn; Til strew thy bier with longings gray, When thou dost die into the day. TO THE PRESIDENT O Pilot of the great ship of our State, Thy God sustain thee in this turbid day, The wrangling elements beset thy way, The waters of the world are rife with hate; O Pilot, some vast purpose of wise fate Hath set thee at the helm, and bids thee stay Calm, brave, undaunted, until reason's ray The wrack allay, the tempest dissipate; O Pilot, thee thy children fond, revere, Secure in their firm trust, thou canst ne'er fail To weather ev'ry wind and warring gale Until the harbor of sweet peace be near; Guide thou the ship of State, majestic, free, The banners at the mast are Love and Liberty. 8 SONG Not in far lands agleam with snow or sun, Doth paradisial joys exultant lie, Lo, at thy feet the homely blisses run, Above thee bends the fond, familiar sky. Not in the orient or adown the west Hope, happiness, and fruited peace are found, At thy warm hearthstone dwell repose and rest, Thy fragrant garden is the hallowed ground. WORLD WAR The kings are going, there will be no kings When compt shall come for all this bloody day; Out of the carnage and the sanguine fray Are looming portents of compulsive things; Vast are the tidings my Marconi brings, The heirs of Hapsburg banisht in dismay, The Romanovs are fleeing ashen gray, The children starve, there are bread riotings, The house of Hohenzollern is laid low, The kings are going, let them swiftly go ; A stricken world in horror and despair Sickens of hate and venomed mutterings, Of court and clique, and damned intrigue there, The kings are going, there must be no kings. 10 SONG Give all thou hast, go get thee more, And still persist in giving; Give gold, give love, give sympathy, 'Tis very bliss of living; The flowers freely fragrance breathe, The seas pour out their store, Clouds rise and swell upon the skies, To give, and give the more. Give all thy mind, give all thy soul, Give all thy teeming brain, When thou hast parted with the whole, The best doth yet remain ; Give all thy days, give all thy years, Give all thy joy, give all thy tears, All that thou hast, O mortal give, This only is the way to live. ii WHEN FROM HOARSE GUNS When from hoarse guns the iron clamor dies, And tatter'd nations shiver in dismay, What will be said of this decadent day, Besotted in its damn'd atrocities? What must the cynic gods in startled skies To all this futile, wild alarum say? The Briton, Turk and Teuton fondly pray Each for his arms, the winged victories; Our orphaned age is smit with serried woe, Art, music, science, lagging at the rear, Pale pestilence about the field doth go, Gaunt famine follows with a hungry leer; O time! O day! O age! a thousand years Cannot erase the heartache, blood and tears. 12 THE PLAY The Play's the thing, And Life's the play, The curtain rises With the day; Morning is youth, At noon, a rune of June, Then manhood's Mighty afternoon. The Play's the thing, Life is the Play, Lascivious Autumn Comes in gray, Mauve, olive, ivory, — Russet, brown, — Old gray-beard, Ring the curtain down. 13 THE RIVERS The rivers of the war-lands in dismay Are mournful watchers of distress and woe; There tenderly the weeping Rhine doth flow In sympathy upon her wand'ring way; The tearful Thames arrayed in somber gray Majestic murmurs requiems soft and low, The while her sister Seine in grief doth go Singing in rhythmic sorrow of the fray; The Danube drinks her dark draught to the lees, The Neva's breast doth surge with heavy tide, O woeful hour! in bloody days as these The savage race of man in shame should hide ; Poor troubled rivers whilst thy children die How can sun, moon, or stars illume the sky? 14 POLAND (1916) There is a God in Israel, He seemeth far away From courts and kings and princes Who govern us today ; There is a God in Israel, But what can one God do With all the frantic bedlam Of all the crazy crew? There is a God in Israel, Sooner or late he comes, A widowed, orphaned, ravisht peace Follows the muffled drums ; Dear God who was in Israel, Come visit us today, — There is a God in Israel, He seemeth far away. 15 INVOCATION The Sheik-ul-Islam at the Serail Mosque Prays Mahmud, grace unto the Ottoman; His brother Teuton fervently doth ask Herr Gott for habitation neath the sun; To Le Bon Dieu, the Frenchman fondly cries, That he may spurn the bold invader forth, And Albion's sons assail the patient skies With pleas to God, as much or little worth; The Maharajas of the golden Ind, Perturbed folk of ev'ry land and clime, Send supplication over wave and wind ; — O deities bedazed! O parlous time! Somewhere perchance, tender or savage prayers Are treasured by the gods with pitying tears. 16 SONG I thank thee, God, that I was strong, That life leap'd lusty in my blood, For ev'ry thrush or linnet song, For love and all our nestling brood. I bless thee, God, that I am old, And bent and poor, and weak and blind I drained the chalices of gold, Firmly I face the leaden wind. n \ THE WORLD IS MAD The world is mad, the nations are insane, Stark bedlam reigns o'er half the frantic earth, The womb of Time doth give prodigious birth To monstrous deeds upon the land and main; The frowning hosts of Mars have all the gain, Our smiling arts of peace have little worth ; — Banisht the soft designs of joyous mirth, Europa, frenzied, writhes in tragic pain! COLUMBIA, be thou steadfast, patiently With love and pity view the startling fray; Saints, villains, heroes, all commingled be In the death-grapple for world mastery; Dear God, speed thou the most auspicious day When Might shall lay his boastful power away. 18 THE PLAY The throngs that jostle in the street. Are people in a play, The tragic and the humorous, The grievous and the gay ; Youth and doddering dotard, Moonlight, storm or sun, Ring up the magic curtain, The play has just begun. Sweet melodies insistent Pervade the mise en scene. Sunshine clothed in shadow, Snow white or willow green ; Heroes, clowns and villain, Dusk drowns the weary sun, — Ring down the twilight curtain, The play of life is done. 19 WHAT WILL EVOLVE? What will evolve from out this hellish strife, The loot, the pillage, and the mad rapine? Some final good, some lofty goal serene, Must be for all who here inherit life. What world-wide sunlit revolution rife Of liberty and love doth lurk unseen? The body-politic is foul, unclean, The fester splutters to the surgeon's knife. Perchance the peasant and the toiler low, May rise to stature of enfranchised men, Europa's humble millions soon may know Fair freedom breaking over bog and fen. If it be so, dear God, not all in vain, The vast procession of the maimed and slain. 20 SONG Leaf of the tree, wave of the sea, Beam of the star, and breezes free, Light of the morn, grace of the thorn, How can the bosom feel forlorn? The lush warm grass, and birds that pass, Love of the lad, faith of the lass, Over us all the sun's bright eye, In the blue of the summer sky. Bower, tower, flower and hour, Dower of health, fame and power, Charity, hope, and peace and rest, Thrilling with joy the eager breast, The day and night in happy flight, The noon of June, a dream delight, And life and death a joyous song, For him who knows nor hate nor wrong. 21 TO HENRY FORD When the grim war lords and their jealousies Are buried with the muck and trash of time, Thy dream that came immortal and sublime Shall still illume the blood-stained centuries; The little men make mock of lofty deed, The gun-men vend their iron chattel still, One beam doth gleam while all the world doth bleed, Thy light of love set on hope's highest hill ; Be undismayed, the dream shall yet avail, Nations unborn will laud thy peaceful prayer, The craft sent forth into the hateful gale Will anchor in fame's harbor calm and fair; O strive again, beyond the tumult's rage, Hist'ry for thee shall keep her whitest page. 22 WILLOW SONG Willow, willow, in the spring, When my heart is hungering, First of all thou then art seen In a shimmering gown of green, Then full soon that thou art found, Thy garments trailing to the ground. Do dryads deem thee, flowing there, An emerald fountain in the air? Ne'er a willow weeps for me, Thou gracile, verdant ecstasy, But in rapt beauty thou dost gleam, O'er the meadow, by the stream; Willow, willow, in the spring, When my heart is hungering. 23 SONNET Now that the eve is tranquil, calm, and still, Now that the goal I sought in youth, finds me, Now that the benison of rock and tree, The comrad'ry of valley and of hill With a vast surge of sympathy doth thrill My soul to overflow, and every sea Murmurs again an olden melody, — The dawn doth prophesy, and dusk fulfill ; Beach'd in the port of peace my heart doth dwell, War's tumult seems an eager infant's play, I watch, I wait, my peaceful beads I tell, While down the west recedes majestic day; O Youth, O Love, O Age, the world is fair, Host upon host of glories throng the air. 24 SPRING SONG A balmy hint, then from the mint Of April comes a flood Of dandelion riches, Making opulent the wood; They cluster in a fluster — How good the grasses feel! • The Croesus Spring his gold doth fling, The winter's hurt to heal. The daffodils are redolent With hope and happiness, The jonquils beatific In a becoming dress; The mellow, yellow flowers Make a fellow feel benign; I owe no debt of vain regret — Old Midas' store is mine. 25 SONNET Great themes and deeds surge o'er me, I stand lone On Pisgah gazing to the promised land, Or on the banisht, bleak, Helena strand, Looking to seaward with Napoleon ; The airs of Egypt waft my galleon Where Cleopatra lies by houris fanned, Or at a statue's base I stricken stand And find the mighty Caesar, bleeding, prone; A vast procession of immortal men And gorgeous women come within my ken ; O Life, I cry, what art thou, where dost lead? Where are these restless souls, and where shall I Quitting the hill-top and the pleasing mead, Is it but death, — or life anew to die? 26 FOR WORSHIP ALL THE DAY Every tree's a shrine to me, Each rock a temple rare, Each holy nook by hill or brook Is dedicate to prayer; Along go song with every hour, And flower by the way, Each sacred space is time and place For worship all the day. Every star doth gleam afar On altar of the night; The priestess moon in silver shoon Doth bless each peaceful light; Anon the dawn doth bloom again, The east in glad array, — Up valiant, happy heart and strong, For worship all the day. 27 OUR DAYS Our days are not for puny men or things, For pigmy thought or idle prose or rhyme, Blazoned upon the red shield of our time, Behold the death throes of the grappling kings; War's cauldrons hot with hated venomings, Europa clad in bloody garb of grime, Her sons steeped deep in filth, disease and slime Mid livid guns' tumultuous thunderings; A creeping, crawling, cringing peace then comes Behind the bluster of the blatant drums; There is no God of battle; Satan's throne Is builded by the souls who cherish war, Hell groans with music of the dying moan, Its mad dominion all one hid'ous scar. 28 SONG I'm weary with the war, I'll to my garden go, And watch the blossoms and the buds ablow; I'm sick of strife, I'll love the lilac more, And gay wisteria shall adorn my door; I'm neutral, let the foolish fight, who will, For me wild flower flags wave on the hill ; I am a non-combatant and I see Ahead of me a violet victory. I'm weary of the war, peace I declare, Of spoil and possession I demand no share. Hark! Lo, a redbird in the green wood tree, His song the paean of delight for me. 29 SONG Sing in the morning, And sing in the night ; Sing away scorning, And sing in delight ; Sing away sorrow, And sing away slight, Tomorrow, tomorrow, Thy woes may laugh light Sing on, and sing ever, Heart of my heart, Shadow shall never Grieve us apart ; Sing to me, cling to me, Heart of my heart, Sing 'til it bring to me Love, and love's art. 30 WITH FORGIVING TEARS When Zepp'lins have laid London waste, then must Berlin the beautiful as surely go ; Edith Cavell, sweet martyr saint, doth know High Heaven is but for those who love and trust; Foremost among the phalanx of the just Who for ideals strike heroic blow, The bold Knight Casement doth immortal show, His proud soul rising from melodious dust ; Brave Fryatt follows, at the dawn of day He mounts heroic to the stars away; When frantic man has spent his futile rage Upon his brother, and the book of fears Is closed, dear God, seal thou the page Of sorrow with forgiving tears. 3i O MY BROTHERS! O my brothers gaunt and grappling to the death across the sea, Every wave of ocean bears the woe and sorrow unto me; O my brothers is not life and all the sunlight fair? — O my brothers, blinded, bruised, broken everywhere. O my brothers of the old world across the yearning sea, The horror and the pity of the struggle comes to me; Hath not God unto us given earth to be a garden fair? — And the tribes of neighbor nations crying, dying everywhere. O my brothers, Turk or Teuton, Anglo- Franco, Russ or Hun, Children of the old earth mother, sired at the morning sun ; Is there ne'er an end to strife and murder darkening the air? — With God's vast and kindly presence pleading sweet peace everywhere. 32 AMERICA The fairest land, the rarest land, The land we love the best, Is our own land that staunch doth stand A tower in the west ; An ocean wide on either side, The gulf beneath her feet, The very name, AMERICA, Doth make our pulses beat. The sweetest land, the fleetest land, The land where freedom dwells Is our own land of mountains, And clover covered dells; One joyous, vast Republic, God! how we cherish her, The very name, AMERICA, Doth make our bosoms stir. AMERICA, AMERICA, O may we die for thee, Proclaiming unto all the earth Our love of liberty ; AMERICA, AMERICA, Our banner is unfurled, Thy paean of democracy Shall ring about the world. 33 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proces Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 PreservationTechnologiei A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVAT10 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 l-70A\ 77Q-9111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS hiiiiiiiiumii 015 926 372 1