LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 2 J Slielf. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. W^^'M^''^^^ ^'^ ^M M- -r:^.:'/^) S m ^ i< ■*ii?f'' i ^%A — zw UPERtTWISE: RSP qA poetic I^omancG, IN EIGHT CANTOS. By H; M. DuBosk. " Then, in a monnent, she put forth the charm Of woven paces and of weaving hands ; And in the hollow of the oak he lay as dead, And lost to life and use and name and fame. "I hold it truth with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things." —Baron Tennys PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. PrBLisHiNG House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. J. D. Barbee, Agent, Nashville, Tenn. ? " 1889. x^'^ Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, ByH. M. DuBose, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. /Z-3Z/3/ PREFATORY. " Poetry is itself a thing of God; He made His pi-ophets poets." I KNOW not whether or not this message of mine be worthy the noble appellation of poetry. It rests with my countrymen to judge of its title to a place in the book of inspired song. But this I say, God taught it me. Ten years and more ago, amid humble labors in a village beside the Father of Waters, and when the 8ha(?.ow of the pestilen9e that walketh in darkness was but newly lifted from the hearts of a smitten people, my hand was first set to the task. The resonant voices of the onward tides taught me the numbers of a hitherto untried scale ; a peaceful memory, brought from my childhood home in the pine-sentried hills, kept fresh in my soul the love of nature's reverberant mel- odies and her awful hushes of sacred melancholy ; and the sad, sad story of unmerited bitterness that blighted a life more beau- tiful than "the fringed lilies" was the inspiration of this my lowly verse. H. M. DuBose. Los Angeles, Cal., October, 18S9. INTRODUCTION. The conscience of Christendom is becoming more and more sensible of the appalling evils that flow from the use of intoxi- cating liquors. Step by step, advancing in every legitimate path that is opened up, the enlightened judgment of the Christian world is taking a forward position, and demanding the rescue of fallen humanity from exposure to the unspeakable horrors of the drunkard's career. Every contribution to this much-desired result is a subject of welcome and congratulation to society. Poets have sung the pleasures of the wine-cup;, why should not the genius of the poet devote itself to the warning of the exposed and endan- gered, and to the reclamation of the enslaved? Can the inspi- ration of Parnassus be employed in a nobler service? We have displayed in this poem, " Rupert Wise," the fearful truth that "no man liveth unto himself," even in respect to those things that are usually esteemed the chartered rights of personal liberty. Has any man the right to perpetuate, in his own offspring, the detestable vice of drunkenness ? Has any man the right to acquire habits that may eventuate in the ruin of those who become the legatees of his errors and his crimes ? The possibility of transmitting the taint of slavish bondage to the appetite for drink is the foundation of the argument in " Rupert Wise." This remorseless spell, weaving an enchantment too strong for earthly hopes, ambitions, or obligations to destroy, prepares the way for the darkness of the eternal night. At the moment of despair, when the vision of female loveli- (5) 6 INTRODUCTION. ness, of earthly peace and quiet, love and joy, is about to die away in the fumes of the bottomless pit, the strong arm of the Eedeemer of man reaches down to the verge of ruin, and snatches the brand from the eternal burning. The lesson is one that should sink deep into the heart of the reader. There is no vicious appe- tite that may not be conquered by the power of the grace of God manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." This truth forms the sequel. The poem, as a work of art, is before the reader. The author makes his venture before the public unheralded by critics or by interested advocates, but if the "divine afflatus" of the true poet has fallen upon his spirit, and typed itself in this work of his pen, the candid judgment of the reader will indorse that of the editor of this volume. We believe that there is superior merit in this poem, and the promise of the higher work that is yet to be. W. P. Harrison. Nashville, Tenn., October 18, 1889. PROEMfl. When early morn had lift its veil Of woven mist from off a hill That all my sight with dreams did fill, Half-way its slope, one calm and pale I saw beneath the virgin shade. Strange garb was his, but noble all His bearing seemed. Swift at his call I moved him near, and deference paid To that mild air of worth he wore. Exj^ectant wonder held my soul What time his hands unlaced a scroll, That wizard trace of genius bore. Wild joy I felt when that his name Was breathed — no other than the bard Who that Prince Arthur evil starred Had sung to everlasting fame. Brought forth from Alma's hidden serine That antique roll of goodly knights Of Tanaquil, and those six lights Of Faery Queen that ceased to shine. " Swear on this scroll," he gravely said, "As sware Sir Guyon on his shield, By castle wall, in wood or field, Fierce vengeance on the Paynim head, (7) PROEMA. "And that Actrasia, sorceress vile, Who Modrant and Amavia slew, Him with the cup's enchanted dew. Her through despair and sorceress' wile. "Acrasia lives with other name ; Swear vengeance here, and move thou hence That others swear, withal, defense Of faithful love and manhood's frame." I sware, and heard his blessings spoke, And saw him fade, like mist, away. The whiles, with oaten pipe and lay, Shepherds the infant day awoke. GAWTO FIRST. I. f T ARP of the Southland new ! that sad hath slept j Smce that wild singer, 'neath the whisi)ering leaves That near the river dark their cadence wept, Awoke his last and plaintive song ; whose sheaves Of truth and garlands, gleaned through morns and eves •Of sorrow filled with tread of coming death, He consecrated unto God — as heaves The reedy bank to Autumn's earliest breath, Awake, assist my song of love and vanquished death ! The soul that breathes this prayer thy mazes o'er Breathes likewise full its ardent wish abroad, E'en to the utmost limit — line and shore — Of this predestined land, made one since strode In hate the form of war with dark inroad Through sunny vales whose circles peace had hung With clamb'ring vines and graced with villas broad And smiling fields, where late, when morn was young, The reaper's harvest lay in rippling echoes rung. Once more awake, though but to weep anew ! That voice befits thy strings, befits whose hand —^ '. (^ 10 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Would teach thy strings to throb hope's measures through. Ah, welladay ! that voice befits the land That mourns her youngest, greatest bard ; the band That Avalked with him through fire to martial strains, And pallid hosts that kissed the. brazen wand. Quicken, my touch ! take fire, my dull refrains ! O Southland harp, awake with wild, unwonted strains I n. Hail, city fair, throned on eternal hills, Hard by the mighty river's sullen flow ! Far o'er the morning's gilded mist, that fills With tow'r and dome and shimm'ring bow The wide expanse thy monarch seat below, The weary helmsman hails thee with delight ; Or mocks the gloom, if but thy beacons glow, Conjuring oft with fancy's yearning sight The cheerful glimm'rings of his own domestic light. Nature's primeval work thy strength reveals ; Where now thy marts, before Itasca rose, Time's hoary form hath been and on thy hills Left his memorial ; they knew repose While yon fair land felt aye the wreck and throes^ The ruin and the waste, of change, nor smiles Perennial now. Full oft in rude embrace The am'rous flood of virgin life despoils, Destroys each fond adornment of her face, With recompense of fleecy wealth and vintage place. BUPEET wise: a POETIC BOMANCE. 11 O'er nature's granite ramparts rise thy fanes, Pointing in prophecy the multitudes That move with listless mien along thy lanes To man's last end; or when the storm-king broods In ether's deep and vaulted solitudes, Or rears his form upon the lightning's path And thunder th' elemental strife preludes. Invite his bolts and kiss away his wrath ; For chaos knows his realm and ruin knows his path. Eed Avar around thy gates hath flamed, and Mars Hath looked with eyes of fiery curse on thee, While fates malign and tracts of evil stars Have marked with lurid fears thy destiny ; Yet queenly still thou sittest, clothed and free ; The past thou hast in tears, the future's page Thou boldest fair for peaceful history ; Though writ with golden pen for golden age, Thou still wilt hold thy past, with good or ill presage. To thee relates my song of various key ; To thee pertains my tale, in thee 'twas wrought. I own from thee the sense of mystery. And power of strong desire, in youth begot ; To thee anon turns mem'ry ever fraught With old-time visions of that free, grand tide. Moving majestic tow'rd its ocean lot. Life symboling through all its glinting pride ; And thy green hills around, though winter all beside. 12 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Thine are these garlands, gathered most where Avave The dark-tressed willow-trees, and lowly blow The daffodils on beauty's early grave ; From darksome ways the tow'ring cliffs below, Where those red foils, sad bleeding-hearts, do grow. Admixed with thorn-set sprays of eglantine And nightshade blooms, that fringed petals show Through sun-scorched links of resurrection vine. Whose germs revive from mold — these, -mother, these are thine ! III. Well through his northern signs bold Phoebus pressed, Now quitted slowly Virgo's starry breast ; And Sirius, with dread, unequal sphere. Leading the Sothian train through wide career, Stood in the Archer's wake till, far and dim. He shone serene on evening's azure rim ; But ere his exit into nether space Eed blazed awhile his ill-portending face ; Which dire menace, explained by thoughtful wight, Spread terror round and din of wild affright ; Nor this alone besj^oke impending ire : The planet train in aug'ry dark conspire And held their poised spheres on evil plane. What time the comet shook his deadly mane O'er pleasant lands, and deep resounding far Came tokens of the earthquake's hidden war. But mundane nature else reflected wide The pangless scenes of Eden's nascent pride, RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 13 And mocked with piping sounds in sylvan void Each rankling sense that hapless man annoyed ; Calm slept the fields where fruitful summer dreamed ; Full through the vales a wealth of sunhght streamed ; A Sabbath peace the distant spaces filled, AYhere zephyr's hand along the forest trilled With sounds that spoke Almighty presence nigh ; And latticed paths, besprint with crimson dye, Led toward the sunset city's burnished gate, Where fancy walks and dreams aspiring wait. Sad contrast held in that fair city's life, Besmit but late of war and wasting strife. Yet since renewed in every peaceful thought And, in a progress blood and sorrow bought, Yying with compeers raised by fortune's hand To higher state, the urbarchs of the land. Kg more, alas! breathed hope where her tall spires. Aglow with sunset's wide reflected fires, O'erlooked a thousand homes to shame unknown, A thousand hearths where humble virtue shone. And in the unseen censers of the heart The priestess Love her incense burned apart. Now apprehension's dread Nemesis walked Through erstwhile joyful scenes, and brooding stalked Through crowded ways or east in busy marts A haunting shade. Compelled by terror's arts. The rabble blanched at folly's idle tale. And nobler senses OAvned the subtle bale : 14 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. A hidden scepter swayed the fateful hour As fear succeeding fear renewed its power, Nor wisdom's Avord, nor science' just disdain Availed to check the passions' frenzied reign. Convened apart by mutual sanction late, As oft their wont, for pleasure and debate, The wise physicians of the town appear In council free to soothe a rising fear By rumor of a distant scourge inspired. And name such action as the case required. Assembled once, the healing brotherhood With grave demean and words their task pursued. Though hope and wisdom speak of fate amiss And seem o'erwhelmed, they know the abyss And smile the darkness through to walk at last In fairer ways, to nobler fashion cast. Whom first the argument of hope to state, O verse, affirm, and wisdom celebrate ! Of form commanding and imposing mien. An air of leisure and a brow serene, Past middle years yet youth's inspiring light Still kindled in his eye of keenest sight And spoke the ready grace of cultured speech And skill that knew his fav'rite lore to teach. Now flashed his eye as fervidly he said : *'My faith abides that danger hence is fled ; Sure breaks apace the season's deadly spell And hope e'en now persuades that all is well. RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 15 Our teaching brooks not seer nor fabler's lore, We draw our wiser proofs from safer store ; Yet, if the countless oracles without Spoke forth, they name no moiety of doubt ; There is no taint upon the moving air; The skies are mild, nor evil tokens bear ; Soft dews renew the chalice of the night And spread elixir through the welcome light ; Nor voice, nor sign the fever plague invites, But each, when told, an ardent hope excites Of long immunity from evil state. Our house in order stands for adverse fate ; As ne'er before we wait the scourge prepared; To famed resorts our affluent ones are fared, While others, lured by peace devoid of pride, In rural cots and neighboring seats abide. To vainly boast is scarce removed from crime, Yet, if I rightly calculate the time, 'Tis five years since his saffron face we saw. When science, hand in hand with social law, Challenged his savage and unbridled reign As foreign foe the nation might restrain. Henceforth at ocean's verge the curse must stay, Nor dare renew by stealth his former sway. All this — who doubts ? — is earnest of the day When man, progressed to high and favored state, With dark intrigues and mad decrees of fate And such misfortune as belongs to chance, Shall measure equal strength, and. thus enhance 16 BUPEBT wise: a poetic romance. The glory of his days and raze withal The frowning mass of fate's opposing wall. For that fair goal the general purj^ose pants And thrills expectant at the next advance ! " As silent touch of twilight's dewy spell Falls o'er and stills the rustling wood, so fell This cheerful speech the learned circle on, Approved of all, save one, observ^ant grown From long experience in the plague-cursed climes Of trojjic lands. High wish in other times. When youth was strong and science held Commanding sway of thought, had hence impelled To brave insidious death and in his lair Attack that dread whose coming brought despair. He, rising, statue poised a moment stood, His face betraying old Acadian blood ; Then bent his comely form in conscious pride, And to his brother's ardent words replied : "Your reasoning as it runs is^fair to hear, And if not sound at least will please the ear; 'Twere pleasant task such logic to imbibe And to your transcendental creed subscribe ; But vain I fear your prophecy of good. Alas, if time should blight this cheerful mood, And leave where hopes rejoice but fortitude ! The fever rages now in all Balize ; Cuba is not without the fell disease ; And Key West, though the truth is hard to gain, I much suspect has kept her isle in vain; RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 17 And mein'ry serves me of a time long gone — My home was in the ancient Creole town — The ending of a season much like this; The summer waned, and nothing went amiss; September's sultry days were growing mild; The evenings dropped like visions undefiled ; The natives dreamed, as thousands from the States^ No evil nigh, when suddenly the fates Seemed all their iron hands to lift and wage Kelentless war alike on youth and age. As bands of armed men that long had lain In stealthy wait, the fever rose amain. And heaj^ed the city in a day with slain. Full fierce it broke, full fierce from fifty points. Yet, strange to tell, that year the rule disjoints: No fever could be traced on all the seas. In tro2:)ic lands no tidings of the dread disease, And we alone of all the world were cursed. We deal with fierce and stealthy foe, nor durst, If still our wits abide, a respite take Till winter's winds our benison shall make." To this a third returned in tones of mirth. Although half moved to own the reason's worth : " You then would have us write and seal our wills, Our epitaphs inscribe, since shufiiing haste Is like to leave no time therefor. But ills There be of greater moment than this last. A prudent care is worthy noblest wills ; But man by fear unnerved is man debased." 2 , • 18 RUFEliT wise: a poetic R0MA2iCE, Pasteur, for such the mild Acadian's name (With him, as else, not all unknown to fame). Thus made reply : " I speak a danger near. An ajDprehension nowise born of fear. But of that better mind which warns and cheers ; Yet, though 'tis so, no remedy appears, We stand an inland port, nor say nor choose What tonnage we will pass, or what refuse. Our Congress should this vital matter meet, And give our subtle foe a last defeat. The war must open at the nation's door. And press this dragon to the ocean's shore ; Ay, more than this, in sooth, must then befall: Each lurking-place, each haunt by city's wall, Each reeking vault where death resides, His ally proves ; a thousand gates besides Arc 02)en in the viewless air, nor doubt, A cause is found within as found without — These, too, must know the conquering war ; must prove The strength of truceless law, ere forward move Our people's hopes. As men who own the sense Of public trust, the present's dire suspense We must with active counsel meet. A plea I recommend to every house to see Its part in shaping of the city's good By strict regard to health in air and food. Should all to this without dissent agree, I trust me much no plague's advent to see." RUPEBT wise: a POETIC EOMAXCE. 19 By tact of skill and drift of various mind, To jousts of wit the wordy war inclined. The council heard, a moment now concerned, I^ow moved to action, now to lightness turned. And having met by sage advice the call. In social trend the learned gossips fall. " Let's to the weed," one cries, " why cheat Ourselves of this ? for little seems it meet To give to life alone of solemn care, AYhen hangs its changing fortunes, bad and fair, On such capricious chance!" AYith no dissent, The fragrant weed around the circle went. Thus passed an hour in pleasant sort beguiled, Like bivouac scenes, wher6 thoughts of carnage wild, Though lurks he near with gory hands and feet, Enter no more than into love's retreat. Till he whose proud Acadian features burned With anxious thought the discourse mildly turned : '• ISTow pardon grant, if I disposed should seem Too much to chase an interdicted theme ; 'Tis social matter that I would unfold Which grows in wonder as the tale is told. You each, no doubt, have marked the rapid rise, The wealth and growing fame of Rupert Wise, Our young Hippocrates who two years since, From lectures fresh, took up his residence In modest style on Cells Parlor Heights ; The case is rare, and me it much delights. 20 RVPERT wise: a poetic romance. From first, he showed unusual skill and tact ; His birth, his high-born ways but touched the fact : Puzzled, I sought for reasons more exact, But wonder late is shorn of sense and Avord ; By this day's post I have the latest i^ecortZ. It bears young Eupert's autograph descant, ' The germs of fever shown to he a plants' Eeplete with learning's force, in logic strong, Quite bold enough for learned dean, savant^ Or titled master of the healing art ; Indeed, I style the same a master-part. 'Tis freely said (the Record gave the hint, Seconded by a leading Eastern print) This treatise wins its author recognition And 't may be, in time, a decoration ; 'Twere but a step across the water then ; A twelvemonth more, perchance, with famous men, Though overleaping precedents and rules. Our colleague may be named in Old World schools." XoAV spake the senior of the brotherhood, A man benign, who seemed in youth renewed At threescore years, as if of Heaven's will Some high estate to grace or aptly fill Some lot requiring ripest thought. To him Fortune was not the gross return or whim Of fickle chance, but mind untarnished, clear, With large support of soul to soothe and cheer The mind through arduous tasks. Him they bear RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 21 *'A lively interest rises in my breast For this same youth, and 'tis to be confessed As no mean cause for sense of pride to us And to our calling that he prospers thus ; His parts and words show genius' fair imj)ress ; His birth and station speak ; nor less express His comely modesty and easy bearing — A dress admired, but one of rarest wearing — Like any Greek, young Rupert wears his grace ; Adonis scarce possessed more handsome face. These well might win him foremost rank and place, But grounds exist for doubt and friendly fear. Indeed, what soon must reach the public ear 'Tis safe to iterate in private way ; Although in mind and frame and social stay, In noble j^lans, he firm and anchored seems. One darkest curse dims all his future dreams, And one which, though we understand too well, Einds oft our brotherhood with cruel spell, This same hath set on him its base impress — He loves the cup and drinks to mad excess." Hereat a third caught up the growing tale — A bachelor of prim attire, with pale And smirking face : a gallant in his day. But now grown stern, wnth but the feeblest ray Of tender light left in his eyes of blue : "Not current goes the story, yet quite true ; This Eupert has a love aflPair : therein The secret of his life and of his sin 4- 22 BUPERT wise: a poetic bomance. Grows deep in coloring : its heroine A fair and fragile girl, one Madeline, A planter's child, petted, adored, and sought, Yet, strange to say, not spoiled, displaying. naught In wish or act but speaks uncommon mind. Most to such converse seems her thought inclined As touches noble action, conquers doubt. And calls the subtlest points of logic out ; Withal a child and artless as the wind, Yeering to trivial sense of womankind : A kirtled queen, Minerva sewing floss, 'Tvvixt stellar problems smoothing birdie's gloss. She loves young Wise, nor other passion knew. From early childhood side by side they grew, But this one vice has cleft them far apart ; Her hand she keeps, yet gives him all her heart. His bold agnosticism, cold and flippant doubt, He hides from her, whose soul is most devout And, true to woman's faith, bid^ love remain Till love itself shall heal her every pain. She lives a tearful hope that soon or late His manhood may assert itself, and fate Be changed to happier current in the end ; And so her thought preserves a peaceful trend. But hope, alas ! is vain. He who can hold His treason out against such love is sold To baseness and an evil self — a slave To appetite — and merits not to have One kindly thought, far less such love as this ! Hope there is not this side the grave's abyss, RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 23 This side of Hades or the waves of Styx, Or such dread state as guilty fear depicts, That he will cease to quaff the fiery shame, Though maiden's blood mixed with its liquid flame. His father, rich and strong and fitted well For honors high in state, and born to tell The rights of man, who even in tender youth Was forward in such things and loved the truth, Later the friend of Prentiss and to him Second alone in flexive speech, less dim In thought, and bolder in all alignment — Alas, too much like him in evil bent! He quenched (sad fate !) in wine that god-like fire And died bereft of mind, as beasts expire! How can we better of tho son, aa^io sprung From stem diseased, self-nurtured and so young. Reveals the vice as genius of his sire?" Pasteur, the darker shades of thought that lay Along his mind, like clouds upon the day,- Chased by the sun of merriment away. Twitted these earnest words with hidden jest: " You speak with ivarmth ; in reason one had guessed You look yourself with passion's eye that way. Too long you've left that matter of the heart To want ; too long withstood the tender art; You late confessed to six and fifty years, 'Tis not a sound to please a maiden's ears, So now repress your passion's rising force And settle down to pills and dry discourse." 24 BUPERT wise: a poetic romance. The answer came as from a long-forbidden source: " Too fair and pure a realm is woman's love, Too sacred all its heavenly visions prove, For soul like mine. Afar I gaze, admire, . But know no thoughts so mad as thence aspire ; Her worth I own, confessed in earlier days, JN^or deem a fault the affluence of my praise. In sooth, for this fair maid I feel concern, Though only such as lighter thoughts might turn; For, truth to tell, acquaintance ne'er so slight I boast with Madeline; a stiif, polite. And hasty introduction on the guards, A friendly salutation afterwards. Tell all our intercourse from first to last. Nor shade of tender thought its memories cast." " Your words," Pasteur replied, " echo romance : ' Upon the guards ' — a trivial circumstance. Yet many life arrangements owe their force To no more serious thing — an easy course, A salutation here or there by chance, A glint of moonlight through the night's expanse, Mutual tastes discovered, friend 1}^ ways, An idyl through the sloth of summer days, A walk, a drive, and trysts on quiet eves, A pledge, a vow, the fall of autumn leaves, A dash of winter winds, a burst of light Through perfumed halls, the golden circlet's plight, A wedding chant, the lapse of life's content, A quiet home — and so the thread of life is spent." RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE, 25 "Avtiunt! for shame ! to tickle cars like mine With words that speak such gushing thought ! Kew wine Meets not the old, nor can you graft the rose Upon the hawthorn bough ; its forms oppose The ruder fiber of the weathered tree, So dreams of maids and love befit not me. Go, put your ravings in a penny book. And then, perchance, some maiden, love forsook, 8ome idle dreamer under summer's sky Will read, and you more wealth shall gain thereby Than you are like to see the whole year through By magic of your skill and nostrums too." To end this witty tilt, broke in once more The senior's voice; not listless as before His air, but changed and heavy was his mood With fears augmented and the gath'ring load Of danger felt. Thus spake he, blending well A tinge of mirth with sadder words that fell : " Enough ! enough ! break off, your speeches tire ; They tell a task essayed without desire And mind me of a scene that marked the days When iron monsters fringed with lurid blaze The river's strand before the city's front. And through the dragging weeks we felt the brunt Of leaden war. The lines of bristling steel Fell like a wall across the land ; to feel "The pinch of want became our daity meed, Por nothing came, and direr grew the need. 26 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance, 'Twas on that last eventful day I stood Before the baker's door in speechless mood. He seemed to read my fear nor left a doubt, But answered straight: 'My friend, the dough is out!'' But whence his thought or what his words' import 'Twere bootless now to ask. Instant report Confirmed the town's surrender to the foe. Whether 'twere that or lack of cakes and dough I did not further seek. In either place The rule applies, so rest this fruitless case. The hours have far tow'rd sombor midnight waxed^ Your honored heads for wit are overtaxed ; To-morrow's sun will bring to each, I w^eeu, jS"ew toils ; but hours of slumber intervene, And well behooves it us to seek i*epose ; The fear we fain would scorn more real grows. A fortnight's space our hopes will make or mar ; But, come what may, we're entered for the war.'^ Xow midnight clothed in shades and ebon gloom The favored town, and silence as of doom Held cot and lofty dome in mute embrace ; The Avatch-stars, mounting toward their vigil place,. In shining ranks approached the sal)le tower. And flung their beams creation's vastness o'er. What darkness looked they on ! what sorrow read Through latticed ways, where smothered dread Spoke forth in sleepless eyes or forced its seal On fevered lips and brows too soon to feel The fiercer touch of mortal ill ! RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 27 While yet The darkness held its sway and culd dews wet His thick, neglected locks, the night patrol — A stern, unflinching man, who softly stole Like some dark specter, year by year, along The silent streets and alleys dark among — Anon heard phantom feet upon the wind While viewless horsemen trode the night behind, And cried the van-guard of a coming woe, Hurried themselves from peaceful scenes below To that far bourne with dread and evil haste. Others protest a tall fierce spirit j^aced From cottage door to marble balcony And marked with strange de\^ce each casement high — ■ Some say with shape like' demon's cloven hoof, Others with sign of such attenuate proof As spirit sight alone avails to read — Earnest of course the besom death should lead. The sexton, old and full of monkisn dote, Related how a sacred hand had smote In sleep that night his withered form, and led Him forth where slept inurned the mold'ring dead, And ])lanned him twoscore hundred open graves, Blessing with chalice and the prayer that saves. So that the unshriven dead might rest at least In holy ground while death pursued his feast. Protesting still with fear and reverend faith, The ancient man recalled his father's wraith 28 BUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Ofttimes had filled his sight, when that his death The circling months had brought to mind; his breath Eeturned to warn some evil must befall His offspring near that fatal day; withal - That night his father's ghost in deep concern Appeared, and from its legendary urn In Tara old, o'er ocean forced to fly, His family banshee hfted mortal cvj] He, hapless man, the last of that high trust. The banshee hence must sleep with Tara's dust! GAMO SEGOND w HO nameth life ? The deep portentous gloom That drops anon when breaks its borrowed spell ; The silent gleam of stars from morning's womb; The sudden burst of daylight's conqu'ring swell ; The bounding into sunlit ways, where dwell The living thoughts of shape and mold divine That speak of wise and' tender wish and tell Some kindred hand, impelled by love's design, Hath spread its palm, in kingly wise, to bless; And voice that bids the night be day, nor welcome less. Who nameth hfe ? A dream, a fading cloud- Fantastic wanderer of a boundless sky, Gilded with unenduring light, or plowed By angry storms. Unchosen choice ! we cry For length of days and drink the chalice dry, Supposing this were all. Mystery dread ! Yet sweet because so much a mystery ; Joy born of pain and life born of the dead : And clouds that travail with the thunder's pain Weep liquid life and sweetness on the fruitful plain. (29) 30 RVPEBT Vr^ISE: A POETIC BOMAXCE. II. Hard by ii Avidc expanse of inland waves, AYhere primal warmth of summer's sunshine laves The fruitful acres of an old demesne, A lordly homestead rises up between A vistaed range of Lombard boles that stand, Like domeless columns in a wasted land. Green darkness, cast by elms and ancient limes, Half hides the lofty gables, porch, and rimes Of weathered stucco imder Scottish tiles That glisten white and red above the leafy aisles. ISTorthward the boundless furrowed valleys range. Alternate white and brown with staples' change; Southward the verdant pasture lands outroll To marge on sinuous glade and amber pool, Lavish of grassy fens and cockle dells, Eifled by soft-eyed kine to sound of tinkling bells. Here dwelt, in exik=^ from the world's desire, That Madeline who cheered her Avidovred sire With reverent speech and love's adjusted power, Eeguiling evening's still and dusky hour With gentlest service, duteous constancy, With lute and lay of pleasing minstrelsy. Yet nursed Avithin her bosom's spotless serine The cruel pang that passing years refine — The pang of hope deferred, of love unwise — An angel fearing its own paradise. The wine of joy from bitter lees was bred. And cheerful words, like leaves of roses wed RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE, 61 To thorny stem, sat on a heart that bore Such poignant grief as pierced it to its inmost core ISTow came the eve, such eves as bless This favored bind : roseate flush and stress Of sunset skies and soft south Avinds that shake Ambrosial sweetness from the flow'ry brake, .And mild intoxicants of odorous breaths From clustered elder-boughs and bulbous wreaths Of great magnolia-trees ; murmurous sounds Of nature's mingling under-tones, and rounds Of far-off notes some dusky troubadour Chants lustily alone, his labors o'er; Or distant throbbings of the heart of steam In some grim packet's side, riding the stream With fleecy freight — its deep and muffled swells Prophetic of the plaint that fate compels From heart of universal man, who stems The tide, distraught of weight that peace condemns. Monitions, too, of spirit essence move Upon the soul, and every power involve I In quick gestations of delightful sense. Such eve prevailed, and 'neath the soft defense Of chimb'ring vines that trailed her garden o'er Walked Madeline with anxious thought and sore, Caressing as she passed each floret's head. And on each petal lip a trembling tear-drop shed. O guerdon pure of our lost Eden bliss! Sweet recompense of grief and hope amiss • 32 RUPERT wise: a I'OETIC ROMAyCE. The flowers that wilding blush in woodland shade, Or blow beside the hedge or, beauty rayed, Grace garnered fields and home's love-lighted bowers- God's love be praised for love and leaves and flowers! '•Behold, into my garden I am come!" The Rose of Sharon saith, the sweet Bridegroom. Was it the vale of tears, Gethsernane, Death gloomed from rugged brow of Calvary, Where, with torn hands and anguish-riven heart. He plucked rich spicery boughs and myrrh, a part Of His own self, that tree of life that grew Hard by the fontal wave, under the seventh blue ? lily ! one red spot thy whiteness shows ; 1 kiss thy petals, and the w^onder grows. For in thy deej^est heart it crimsons most. Not one sweet drop of that rich blood was lost. Heldest thou forth a chalice pure as love To drink ? Irreverent must thou seem to prove, O anxious faith ? Howbeit, this I know, He loved the flowers, and ever told his woe To them, and breathed on them his tend'rest breathy Making them tell the tale of life and death As seen through his mJld eyes, and chose his hour When flow'ring Nisan dropped its shower Of asphodels and wild thyme everywhere, And when he slept at last they laid him there. In Joseph's garden where the fringed lilies were. Eftsoon a weeping Magdalene found. Lingering still that sacred vault around. J» RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE, 33 In whom she read the simple gardener's mien Till that his voice revealed the Nazarenc. Might Madeline, the broken-hearted, find Amongst her flowers that same "Eabboni" kind! The summer winds toyed with her flowing hair, Exotics rained their perfumes on the air, And cast a wealth of w^axen forms that grew More sweet when crushed beneath her dainty shoe. A broken urn lay near, its dead anemones Typing too well love's wasted memories. Her fragile fingers clutched a penciled sheet, Its dainty seal and tinted covering neat That, dropped by chance, lay on a bed of phloX; Like alabaster set in crusted blocks Of purple gems above a temple's shrine, Bespeaking tracery of words divine. Whose sense must needs have smit with fatal force A heart already quenched at vital source. Her dark-brown eyes that lustrous shone were fair AYith frenzying light, but mute despair Had settled on the face of perfect mold That showed insensate whiteness like the sheen Of some pale star through vapory moonlight seen ; And now the dark eyes' light grew pensive, cold. The quiv'ring lips in troubled accents moved. And breathed a speech that erst too much had proved: " Courage, my woman's heart, be brave and stout. Though sorrow lade and passion measure out Each crimson drop that warmly courses thee, a 34 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. And leave with each a grief its own to be, Though thou hast felt of hope the utmost pain Till, suffering long, thou knewest hojie was vain ; Though thou hast felt the torturing sens'e and smart Of newborn shame and fate's relentless art — Nathless, my tear-scorched heart, I bid be still, Of bitter tears thou canst but weep thy fill ! " ' Woman, why weepest thou ? ' a tender voice Asked long ago. Weeping is not thy choice. But aye has been thy lot : a wild swept harp Since first that heart Avas bared to feel the sharj^, Fierce blasts without those sun-blest vales that made . Its earliest home. That thou hast dearly paid Thy fault, let say old tales of sword and lust From leagured towns ; and desert-withered dust Of ancient capitals ; let her that wept Beside the Ilian distaff; they that kept Campana's furrowed fields bedewed with tears, And Punic daughters, from their birth to curse Of foreign shame foredoomed, and Attic maids, And that long line of weeded mourning shades That moves through history's dim-aisled, mystic fane, Attest with soul-born throes of undeserved pain ! These filled their tearful lots and went their way, Fading at autumn touch of sorrow's day, To spring again by some still vernal wave Beyond the hazy doubts that skirt the grave, No withering leaf of hope to know, no sigh Of blasting winds — they waited, suffering ; so must I. RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 35 ^'If love essays, as oft in other days, To cast its horoscope of joyful wish, And sweeps along the future's veiled years, But swift, portentous shadows darkly rush, Like evil things, before my troubled gaze, And ne'er a favoring star or sign appears. I cannot trust that fond delusive thought That strengthened ties and sealed bridal vows Will break an evil pow'r, more evil fraught. That love restrained and hope deferred break not; To yield to fate that last restraint endows With evil absolute a now thrice bitter lot. ^' But once again, yet once again; perchance, I slight Some word, some simple, doubly precious word That, like a window tow'rd the dawning light, Lets morning through w4th touch of hallowed peace. O lines by true love tears already blurred. And waking fateful echoes that shall cease Only when soul shall stand to soul revealed In that consuming Presence, knowing all, Give forth thy secret, if there be concealed In thee one gleam of hope or duty's higher call! " The tearful eyes once more review the written sheet Whose passioned words the evening winds repeat : " Sweet Madeline, hear this my latest plea So often made 'tis moved by dolorous sighs ; Now writ in tears and well-nigh sealed with blood. In prison dark, my soul goes out to thee. 36 BUPEBT wise: a poetic eomance. Lifts up its voice, and fondly, wildly cries For heljD from thy dear hands. A rising flood Of fears and doubts o'erwhelm, but in the full Abiding strength of that deep love of thine I seek repose. 'Tis thou, of earthly or divine, Hast pow'r to soothe my troubled thoughts and lull The angry stonn and wasting strife within. Pity, if thou canst pity one so weak. And quickly come, thou radiant dream of love, Thou morn of peace, into my life and sj^eak The gracious word that seals thee ever mine And seals me unto honor's self and prove That power which daily I extol as thine; Bid me attend thy will, and lo ! I come Swift as the mated doves that seek their home AYhen sudden storms burst on their aerie flight. 'Tis honor bids me say I still am bound ; But thou, my angel keeper, thou hast might, When nuptial love shall ripen In its time. To break each ling'ring fetter and proclaim 3Ie free. Heal thou my soul's corroding wound; Bid me return, as erst, in thy sweet name ! My days are exile ; long I for that clime In Avhich my boyhood's heart felt glad surprise And drank thy smiles. Forever, Eupert Wise." " Nay, never can it be, although each flow'r That blossomed fresh in girlhood's peaceful morn Be blighted by the word, and envious dust Eest on their petals, and each rapture born RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 37 With them be turned to grief, and though the rust Dim all my altar gold, it may not be. Thou scest, soul, the path grows many a thorn. But thou shalt tread it since 'twas made for thee. Decide I must; be this the moment and the hour. O that I had a friend on whom to lean ! Some kindred heart to share my heavy load. That walking, in my somber world, between Their love and His who shed his kingly blood To give me final jjeaco,! might find strength To journey on through all life's weary length ! O for the voice of her who gave me birth ! O for a mother's constant thought to lead The way ! But long the cold obstructive earth Has claimed that gentlest friend. They laid her head On lowly pillow in the vale where oft I trod In childhood's years, undreaming of my loss, Undreaming of this hour, hid save from God, Undreaming of the fate that soon should toss The life that she so fondly prayed might know But peaceful days and fruited joys on seas Thrice turbulent with breaking waves, and show Of envious chance that on misfortune preys. O mother, does thy waking spirit hear My prayers, the burdening sighs I heave. Or know when I am near thy lonely grave? Say, mother, does thy soul regard thy child When on that grave she drops the pensive tear, And mourns thy life's sweet scope and vision o'er? 38 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. canst thou through this evening tAvilight mild Look down — ay, dost thou see me evermore ? 1 am a j^ilgrim in the way, beguiled Ko more by earth, and soon shall be as thou. Oft when I bow at evening time for prayer, I feel unearthly impress on my brow. As if some guardian spirit's touch were there; O tell me, mother, is that impress thine? Enough ! I know that thou art near me here ; Thy life of love, thy memory's constant bloom, Breathe patient trust. The higher will is mine ! Yon fair ascending star whose beams are shed In radiance half melodious round thy tomb A beacon light becomes, and safe shall lead My trustful spirit heavenward, sunward, home I ' As swells the rising sea with refluent shock. When back recoiling from the buttressed rock. So rose the maiden's soul upon the wave Of troubled sense that into silence drave And seemed to die, but backward turned and wrought With misty hands a spectral dread in thought. Long time she stood, with strong decision spent In one concern, and thus her purpose went : " My father wills it, and I make my own That kind paternal thought, with kindred near. In that dear Old Dominion clime, now grown More dear, to bide the fading of the year ; liUPEET wise: a poetic romance. 39 To those fair mountains lifting their bhie heads Above the scenes of beauty in the vale Where, hke a tender wilding flower that spreads Its petals to the wooing breezes, frail As their induing breath, my mother grew To blissful maidenhood, I turn with hope ; There still, perhaps, with sweetness like the dew That lingers in the lily's nodding cup When down the night withdraws the bridegroom sun, Her spirit, virgin robed, abides my prayer. There will I seek repose, if e'er that boon For my torn heart kind Heaven on earth prepare, Or else I shall And rest, unbroken rest, In silent sleep beside the gliding wave. While o'er my head the spring doves coo and nest And blue-eyed clovers 'weep above my grave. " Who knows that unrevealed life beyond? Enough that in the bosom of its years Love shall not bring despair, nor vital bond Be loosed with i-ain between of fruitless tears! Ay, Heaven is kind! perchance I there shall know His faultless love, and winds of paradise Shall catch from bowers that dust untarnished blow The old-time vows, breathed ere that thralling vice Had walked within the shadow of our faith. O Father, must thy noblest work, despoiled And marred, be left to shame eterne ? Why saith Thy word ' His angels shall have charge, lest toiled Of sin he dash his foot the stones against?' 40 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Shall guardian spirits arch in vain their wings Above that laureled head ? Must that bold light Of goodly intellect that flows like sj^rings Of infant day go out in deepest night ? Nay ! saith a wish that will not be denied, A wish that by thy certain promise plain' st: Must mercy, moved to die, in vain have died ? Yet will I trust and hold thy promise true ; Our weakness is thy might, and still thou deign'st Our prayers and cries, nor dost thy pleasure rue. I will believe thee better than our fears. Ay, better than our highest faith hath made, Or even our tenderest speech can frame A thought of thee ! Whether from sorrow laid, Or bliss breathed, on our hearts there wake the flame Of purer joys and nobler wish, appears To feeble sight the mask of cruel chance ; But who loves not the weeping hai'j^-string best,. And who feels not his soul rise on the trance Of plaintive song? "Alas ! I am unblest With holy memory of a love whose glance Were like some kindly star's, ascendant proved At natal hour and holding forth through life A potent charm. Yet to my fate I loved. And that deep thought was in my being rife, And wrought into the texture of my soul. kSo long ago my tender mind retained No memory of the day, love on the scroll. The fair and hidden scroll, of life detained RUPERT WISE: A POETIC ROMANCE. 41 His fiery wand and wrote one only name. Dream not, ye winds, I love no more. That fire Shall burn with inextinguishable flame. As vestal altar on, lighting the pyre Of every earthly hope, as one by one The days consign them to their doom. Yet so We meet redeemed at last from evil done. And purged from dross, what matter now I know Such fiery test ? what though my spirit cry ? It shall be well. With that dear hope how short The years to wait; yet doubts, that say not why, Are mine ; nor more is made of winds the sport Yon shredded gossamers that toss on high Than I the sport of fear and soul's misgivings. Why must we suffer so and lift a fruitless cry Who are the crown of life and first of things ? The swallow circling toward the brim Of yonder sun-dyed wave knows joy alone. And love at evening's close will answer him From out the nest beside the chimney stone ; Ah, should our summer tide at last begin, Through circling of the endless years above, And we, its sunny bosom resting in. But hear the purer accents of our love, Chased by the winter of unrest from earth, It will be well. O God, thou know'st to prove Our love ; in death, to give it better birth! " With dusky wings the shadows swept the sky ; Her owlet horns the moon pushed through the leaves 42 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. That caught the glare of one great open eye, Hesper's, lone gleaming from the western eaves Of heaven's blue vault. A chill of dewy air Eose from the wave, when Madeline, with change To sweet composure of her heart's despair, Walked slowly from the garden toward the grange. Now mellow lamp-light filled the spacious hall And silence, like the awful hush of death, Broke only by the night-bird's call, . Held earth in dusky arms. The languid breath Of flowers dropped through the lattice wide and bare ; And fancy might have heard the muflied steps Of long-departed guests ujx)n the stair, Like mem'ries threading down the silent years ; And in the heart of Madeline two trains Passed ever on, and one was doubts and fears That beckoned backward to the past with plains And many bitter words, at sight of days That, bearing signs of hope, brought but despair ; And one was trust and faith that moved, apace, From life's spent hopes, upwai\l through paths of prayer "A song," her father cried, "a song, my child; To-morrow takes you hence for many days ; A tender, plaintive song," he said and smiled A smile warm with the summer of a parent's pi^aise. Seated before the ivory bank anon, While unseen fingers swept her heart with pain, RVPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. She swept the waking octaves with her own, And rather wept than sang this simple strain : 1 " Throngh hfe's morning fitful, fleeting. With its dalliance and caressing Waking thought to passion's glow, Quick' ning pulse to higher beating, All the soul's deep force expressing, Breathing on its wish below — I am waiting, fondly dreaming. On the sands of youth's fair shore; Till my boast shall change from seeming, Till my stately ship comes o'er. 2 "Now the roseate tints are glowing Where the summer skies are bending Downward through the depths of light ; And my once glad dreams are growing, Like the day with shadows blending. Somber with no sail in sight ; Still, with dauntless trust I'm waiting On the lone enchanted shore, Heart and brain to hope pulsating. Though no gallant ship comes o'er. 3 " Months and seasons passing, fleeting, In their circles waxing, waning. Lengthen into weary years ; Still my heart is wildly beating. And my trust is uncomplaining. Though oppressed with gath'ring fears. M RUPERT wise: a poetic romance, Hope with ardor warm is burning, Beacon midst the silent j^ears, Still no earnest of returning, Still no freighted ship appeal^ ! 4 " Many a bark, the mad wave crossing, Has escaped and anchored, resting 'Neath a placid autumn sky ; But amidst the ocean's tossing, Where with Avind is wind contesting, Eides my gallant ship on high, While with yearnings strange I'm waiting On the strand where joys have been. With earth-pride and wish abating, Till my wave-tossed ship comes in ! 5 " Evening shades of life are falling. O'er the hill-tops darkly brooding, Settling slowly o'er the main ; And a mystic voice is calling — Sorrow's surcease sure preluding — Calling now in hope's refrain ; And my spirit, longing, list'ning, Views afar the silent shore Bathed in morn's eternal glist'ning. Where my treasure ship shall moor. 6 "Stars of peace are calmly beaming Through the tempest slowly rift in g- Stars that guide my bark aright, RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 45 Lamps of grace whose kindly gleaming, O'er the treach'rous billows sifting, Drives the dangers from the night. Voice of power shall calm its heaving, Ocean's deep and sullen roar, And my ship, the waters cleaving, Anchor near the golden shore ! " CRMO THIRD. I. (( rrlHINE own self know," well spake the ancient sage ; I But who can know himself, the heart's wide realm That stretches, like an untrod land, with rage Along its coast of wild dark waves that whelm In dire dismay who seek their force to stem ? AYhere if, by chance of wisdom taught or sent Of Heaven, one safely hold his stonn-tried helm, Searching for secret lost to life's intent. How must he weep the shame of that dark continent ! Or if, perchance, unsent we pensive ride The crested waves far off its mystic strand, The distant roar of billowy seas and wide. Fierce streams, descending mountain paths, command Our various fears, and awe the desert land ; And still abide its secrets, tufted plains Hung round with awful wilds, where thickly stand The upas forms, and deadly damp distrains The kindly air, till hope expires and fate comj^kins. Yet hath the strong mysterious God-man's feet Compassed in pain that mist world's hidden bounds. And crimson marked its desert paths, where beat The torrid suns of fiery grief, and sounds im — EVFERT wise: A POETIC ROMANCE, 47 Of agony have waked its dread profounds — A human soul, path-linding love and hope, Still pressing on, with loneliness and wounds, Amid the night, on furtherest seas to cope With death and destined lands to heaven's invasions ope. II. Within his study, passion-tossed and racked With fears that o'er his wine-fired fancy tracked Their comet paths, paced Eupcrt Wise and fought, Through rugged ways and dark defiles of thought, The fierce-waged battles of despair and doubt, Till overborne the weary soul wailed out : " Life is a cheerless passage through the night And hope a pale, delusive meteor's light That streaks the gloom with sudden fitful glare, But dies the moment of its birth, A snare Is that desire which kindles passion's flame To tender thoughts puraue or deeds of nobless claim. O that I had not known this mocking sin, Or, better far, that I had never been. Since life bears not the pleasure of its name, And since, alas ! the future's mystic fame Is void of softening sheen or image fair Of other life when doomed mortals dare ! The cu]) that rapture brings to kindred lips To mine yields bitterness and fierce desj^air; The orb that nightly into ocean dips Unchains the light anew o'er earth to roll. And shakes the tepid dew from morning's urn, 48 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Brings hence to me no morn of sweet control, Xor earnest of my sinless years' return ; The stars that smile to other eyes and shed Celestial luster on their sight, instead I see as jeweled daggers in the hands Of that unpitying, sleepless fate who stands AYhere ends at length the path of mortal fears, Eeady to quench the last of reason's breath And shroud in night the fitful, fleeting years Of suffering man — I hail that sleep of- death ! "And yet, God knows, if through yon mocking deep There walks a being such as Christians say, God knows I would have other creed, would weep In penitence and, like the humblest, pray; But worse than vain were that, I can't believe! Ah, there's the rock on which my wish is Avrecked; Far back as memory's willing pinions cleave. Mine was a path by thought of God unflecked ; And still her woof doth reason blindly weave With doubts and strong ])rotests — thus faith is checked " Yet this, alas ! describes but half my woe — To hush ni}^ conscience more were base and craven-— I am a slave, a menial cursed and low. Of appetite which, like a black-beaked raven, Feasts night and day upon my vital parts ; 'Kor can I break the Gorgon's hated power, 'Tis in ni}^ veins, I know — the fatal dower Of our ancestral blood. Toiled by its arts. EUPERT wise: a POETIC BOMANCF. 49 My father fell in manhood's gifted prime ; And hkewise I must fall ; or — deeper hell ! — Eeason must sink, and I shall close my fated time [Not with a dash of wine, but in a madman's cell ! " O Madeline, thy pale and anxious face Looks on me through the night — the night that hides From thee and all the world my one disgrace ! 'Tis false to say my fate Avith thee abides, But thine with me ; had I responsive will, I need but ope the way and thou wouldst come AVith all thy Avealth of love to keep and fill My weary heart. Stricken I stand and dumb, Adored one, before thy pleading gaze ! Those tender eyes shall haunt me to my doom, And thy sweet voice I hear in all my ways. O God ! this nightshade's death-distilling bloom ! Oft have I cast aside the drunkard's cup With awful oath to spurn it all my days; But ghostly hands have held its madness up. While fierce and loud my demon master roared And showed a ghastly whip of serpent thongs, Until I yielded what to man belongs And on my writhing soul the red wine poured! " Worse than a thousand deaths of death alone, Eemorse ! consuming hell within the soul; A tossing waste, a burning desert zone ; A starless sky where wrathful thunders howl ; A curse of madness on the midnight air — 50 RUPERT wise: a foe tic romance. These, more than these, my shrinking sense appall, And speak anew that awful word — despair! " Once, goodly legend says, a lonely youth Fresh from long wanderings in a desert waste, Seeking for strength in life — ay, death, forsooth, Sat on a tower's black crown that grimly faced The points of heaven and beetled o'er the massed And babbling sons of one wide race, that chased Through forms and feasts a hope that barely cast A shadow on their fading realm. He sate Measuring in thought the depth of that black pit Beneath the towering wall, and read dark hate In every face. ' Cast thyself down ; 'tis fit That thou shouldst spurn thy soul's untimely fate,' A spirit spake within ; but idle whit Moved not that moveless soul, but dared to wait Its fated end. Within me thus there cries A voice, loud as the clarion note of war: ' Cast thyself down ; fierce are thine enemies ; The pit is fathomless— 'tis fitter far.' But else there cries : ' Not yet, not yet ; suffice Their wills; bide thou death's final battle jar ! ' " But must I bear this rankling to the grave. This thirst for liquid fires that sate not thirst ? That 5'outh saw holy grail whose drainings gave, Though dashed with bitter woes, a nameless sweet ; That grail whose draught my burning fancies brave Steeps in my heart until it fiercely burst RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 51 And heals, yet never heals, itself to meet The curse again. I have heard say (O mind, My better motions, Avhere ?) a tree hath leaves To heal a wounded heart. Some spirit bind Them on the bleeding here, and let me sleep Sweet sleep, like those Arcadian dreams I find, When down still memor^'-'s vales I lonely go. O spirit of the silent hours ! O winds, That deign to kiss my aching, curse-marked brow, "Where mother's kindly kiss did never fall, Know ye no kingly spell above, below, No healing balm, no gift reserved for all That stays the flesh and fortifies the mind. Say, ebon night, where chance thy steps to fall, In all the realm that knows thy darker boast, Where still primeval shades and silence awe. Is there one hiding-place for man defiled? Deep in Yesuvius' thundering maw With stormy weaves of ocean o'er it piled, Or on the lone and bleak Siberian coast, O is there peace for me — a fated child? What sounds? The midnight mocks with scowling brows. The wind in idle, bated accents dies Or laughs a ghostly laughter in the cedar boughs ; ISTo peace ? the tongue that utters that is false ; it lies — Ay, peace there is, of Lethe and of wine ! Then touch me, Bacchus, witji thy wonted spell, Lay poppies on this throbbing brow of mine, This clamorous brood of conscience quell ! " 52 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Herewith lie filled a beaker to the brim "With red resolving juice from Bacchus' bower, And o'er the beaker's chased and crystal rim Added the bane of Sinim's deadly flower, Quaffed it and sate as in remorseful pain. Then rose and lisped, as moved of newborn power : "Ah, peaceful exit from a dungeon's gloom, ]Srow beats my pulse aright, my troubled brain Its normal force renews, my thoughts resume Their 'wonted trend, and now with might and main I must work up my treatise on the nerves. How fast ambition's scattered seeds do grow ! To-day they spring, to-morrow leave and blow ; The pupil speaks, and now the master serves ; AYith haste my name has gone abroad ; my pen, At will, meets those of all the learned men. " Let passion die since timorous faith forbids And draAvs its whiter veil, like daisies' lids At eve's approach ; die every wistful thought Save those ambition's fervid soul hath wrouccht To do and dare what meaner minds forego From sheer consent that reason falls below ; Dark science hence shall o'er my passions reign And know my arduous suit, till reason gain The longed for goal. Then plucked shall be from out The garden of my life that tender doubt That long hath swayed my wish and secret lent Unto my years its mild atropic scent. Plucked let it be, though every sj^ray should bleed RUFEBT wise: A POETIC BOMANCE. 53 And cry, with human anguish, for the meed Of longer stay — 'twere folly ! let it bleed! Ay, perish leaf and root, and leave but scant Of memory's self, ambition's goodly plant Instead grow up a lordly tree, and cast Defiant front before the driven blast. " There is no truth in man's evolved frame Of nature or of supernature's claim I may not know and shall, hence here proclaim My freedom from all lesser things — ay, more! Hear it, my ampler powers! there is a store Of wisdom in the outer world, and hence No mind has dared to climb. 'Tis high pretense, But thou shalt tread that dizzy eminence. . . . Where lore of crucible ai)d astral chart Has failed of nature's secrets, braver heart And truer science all shall bring to light. What rising dreams expand my soul's delight ! That which is named for want of nobler sight Or fate or death or dire misfortune's might, Is but of nature's cause and lies within The mastery of mind, as aye hath been The ponderous forms of being, soil and tree, Rivers and rocks and gold and waste of sea ; Be this my task, like those in legends old. Yet nobler panoplied with strength as bold, To hunt this dragon of a newer ao;e Through aerie paths and war exterminate wage On all his hateful brood ! 54 BUPERT wise: a poetic romance. " Fade, then, ye dreams Of soft infolding light ; before me streams The glare of fiercer days, wherein for fame And sense of proud renown I enter claim. But stay, my thoughts, why weep this buried love That will not die ? The singer, fain to prove In sordid ways and selfish acts, his mind To mammon wealth and worldly greed inclined, Hears sighing oft his long neglected harp. And move him where he may, or join the carp Of idle tongues, he still must hear its notes Harmonious, breathed above the miser's dotes — Eeproachful snatches of forgotten lays That plead return, if haply, to their days. All broken lies my harp ; I hence must hear But echoes of its plaints, as on the sear Disrobed willow-boughs its fragments hang, As oft before, when pensive love unstrang Its golden wires. Farewell, love's riven shell, Sweet hopes and tender sighs, adieu ! farewell ! Another life I enter on ; I can, I dare the task that crowns and scepters man ! " Loud raps without now reached the student's ear. " Who's there, a patient or a visitor?" " Neither, and yet are both in waiting here." With this wide open flew the lattice door. And one, well known to those who far or near Walked through the town, stood in the open way- RUPERT wise: a POETIC ROMANCE. 55 An ancient man who bore an antique lyre And sang as any chanced to fee his lay. " Why up, old man, at this unseemly hour When spooks and bats for hurt of man conspire ? You should be quiet in your easy bed, For withered limbs like yours demand repose." "Alas, to find my crust of daily bread I am content ; no home the singer knows, And it so falls that, though in street and bower I've sung the day-dream out, sad and unfed I stand before you now. The generous light That through your open casement shone Bade me come in and freely name my plight. Pray lot me cheer you with a song ; alone You seem ; a pittance to the old man thrown Will stay his heart and make it glad to-night." " Even as you wish, my reverend friend. And, to begin with, here's your fee in gold. But mind you, in your song no knights of old, No love-lorn wight, I'm in no mood for these: Some weird, night-born strain will better please. Let it smell of crumbling tombs and church-yard mold, Or ring with goblin shrieks and wails of sprites, Or moan with dirge and cant of priestly rites That mock to shame life's cold and hopeless end." Then bent that reverend man a courteous knee And murmured low : " Your wish I can fulfill ; What these dim eyes have seen, and yet may see 56 RUPERT wise: a poetic romance. Before they close in peace their heavy lids To that last sleej), I sing. What is to be :N'o mortal knows ; occult is that high Will That ruleth all. The Power that speaks and bids The mountains melt, that stills the angry* sea, In His own chosen time will chano-ea brin