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Alexaj^^drk James MacDonald, 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 METRICAL 
 COMPOSITIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXANDRE JAMES MacDONALD 
 
 M 
 OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR 
 
 1907 
 
LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 • Two CoDles Received 
 
 MAY 24 190? 
 
 CUsS A l^Xc!, No. 
 COPY B. 
 
 PIO. 
 
 n 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Dedication . . . . . . . . . . .5 
 
 Preface . . . . . . . '. . . . . .6 
 
 Prelude 9 
 
 Time and After Time ......... 9 
 
 Song to Mary 15 
 
 Long Time Ago . . . . . . . . . • 15 
 
 London ............ 16 
 
 Modern Chivalry . . . . . . . . . .16 
 
 To Leo the XIII 17 
 
 The Heavenly Visitant. 
 
 Prelude i 21 
 
 Prelude 2 21 
 
 The Heavenly Visitant . . . . . . . . .21 
 
 Prelude ............ 27 
 
 The Graveyard Winds ......... 27 
 
 Methinks It Was a Vision Pass'd Me By . . . . .29 
 
 Sonnet to Helen -30 
 
 Margarite . . ........ 30 
 
 To Swinburne. . . . . . . . . : • 3' 
 
 Byron 32 
 
 Chatterton ........... 33 
 
 Keats 33 
 
 Poe 34 
 
 To the Spirit of Chopin ........ 34 
 
 Impromptu to Burns ......... 35 
 
 Shelley 35 
 
 Star Gazing. 
 Poems to Thais. 
 
 Prelude 35 
 
 I Saw Thee Glancing ......... 36 
 
 To Thais ........... 37 
 
 To Thais 38 
 
 When Days and Weeks and Months and Years Have Pass'd . 39 
 
 To Thais .40 
 
 Thinking of Thais .......... 40 
 
 Thine Eyes Glanced Hate . . . . . . . -41 
 
 To Thais . . . . . . . . . . .42 
 
 To Thais 43 
 
 ■Song to Thais ....... . . 43 
 
 To Thais . . . . . . . . . .44 
 
 To the Spirit of the Day 44 
 
 Their Sun Hath Set . 47 
 
 To an Indian Girl . . . . . . . .48 
 
 The Three Tides 49 
 
There's Hatred in My Heart 50 
 
 We Backward Look 51 
 
 The Outbound Ship . . 51 
 
 To Michael Ambrose MacNiel 52 
 
 Star Gazing. 
 
 In Joyful Realms 52 
 
 Yonder -53 
 
 When Darkness Comes . . , . . . . . -55 
 
 •' 55 
 
 That Darksome River 55 
 
 In After Time .......... 56 
 
 That Darkness Waits Us 57 
 
 In Days of Brightness 58 
 
 In Coming Time 58 
 
 Ode to Two Years . . . . . . , . . -59 
 
 When Comes Decay 61 
 
 Translations. 
 Biographical Notes : 
 
 Mr. William Shumsky 62 
 
 Mr. Price Cottle 62 
 
 A Dream (From the Hebrew) ....... 62 
 
 Sonnet to Esther (From the Hebrew ...... 63 
 
 Song to Rosena (From the Hebrew of William Shumsky) . . 63 
 Sweet Maiden of the Brown Eye (From the Hebrew) . . .64 
 
 Sonnet (From the Esperanto of Price Cottle). Suspicion . . 65 
 
 Sonnet (From the Esperanto of Price Cottle) 
 
 On Vacation 
 
 Prelude, Over Yonder 
 
 To Dr. Maurice E. Paine-FitzGerald 
 
 To Dr. Edward A. Tracey 
 
 Departed Days 
 
 A River Dream 
 
 Winter 
 
 When Comes Regret 
 
 To Mary . 
 
 The Reconciliation, 65 
 
 66 
 66 
 70 
 76 
 77 
 77 
 78 
 79 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 DEDICATIOX. 
 
 This is the age of the interpretive artist. Creative 
 talent seems to be in abeyance, and it is in accordance 
 with the eternal fitness of things that there should be 
 a temporary lull in original effort; humanity is too busy 
 just now assimilating what it already possesses in art 
 to need new stimulant. It is the age, par excellence, 
 of the interpreter. The interpretation of the works of 
 the great music masters, and especially pianoforte 
 music, brings out a score of new names annually. 
 Chopin, the most ethereal and elusive of all the masters, 
 is appreciated now, thanks to De Pachmann, Gab- 
 rilowitsch and others as he never before was ap- 
 preciated. In the domain of the drama we have a 
 parallel state of art. Fifty years ago where there was 
 one able actor we have now at least a score, and the 
 spirit of Shakespeare is no doubt well satisfied for the 
 way his extraordinary legacies are being so universally 
 unfolded in the beginning of this the twentieth century. 
 With v;hat a torrent of Shakespearean eloquence has 
 Boston been flooded during the season just closing! 
 Mantell, Mansfield, Viola Allen, NoveH, Sothern, Mar- 
 lowe, Bernhardt, and last and youngest, but by no 
 means least, Thais Lawton. I will venture to predict 
 that this young woman, if she chooses to continue in 
 the art she so finel\' illustrates, will occupy as high a 
 plane of dramatic excellence as any of the above named 
 eminent artists, if not higher. It is seldom such genius, 
 such personal beauty, such winning personality are 
 luiited in one individual. In sincere admiration of Miss 
 Lawton's vivid portrayal of many phases of human 
 nature, and particularly Shakespearean charactery, I 
 dedicate to her this unworthy volume of verses. 
 
 Boston, April 4, 1907. A. J. M. 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The contents of this vohime were composed for the 
 amusement and pastime of one person — myself. I pub- 
 lish the book for the satisfaction of one person — my- 
 self. I am entirely indifferent as to whether this pub- 
 lication will meet public approval or any kind of notice 
 whatsoever. A people that keeps bulldogs and pugi- 
 lists in luxurious affluence and has on its national 
 escutcheon the blot of having let its supreme poet die 
 in want and disgrace is not a people to appeal to in a 
 poetical way. 
 
 I shall have but a limited number of copies published 
 and will make the price of each book almost prohibitive. 
 Should any person be so foolish as to desire a copy I 
 will send one — upon receipt of price! 
 
 Poetry, to be poetry, must possess one or all of the 
 following attributes: 
 
 Music 
 
 Imagery 
 
 Mystery 
 
 Spirituality 
 
 Passion 
 
 The first three qualities are exemplified to a marvel- 
 ous degree by the poems of the poet alluded to above — - 
 the unfortunate Edgar Allen Poe. The next, spirituality, 
 is to be found, or rather, it is to be felt, in the writings 
 of the late French poet, Paul Verlaine; and passion 
 in the powerful works of liyron and Sappho. 
 
 Therefore in view of these facts I would never think 
 of assuming authorship, with the endless vexatious 
 troubles connected therewith, were I not confident my 
 writings possess one or more of the above poetical qual- 
 ifications. I will go farther: Even if absolutely con- 
 vmced my compositions embody all the essentials of 
 poetry I would not bother with having them in book 
 
STAR GAZING 7 
 
 form did I not feel, however erroneously, that they con- 
 tain one other important requisite, originality; the 
 which did I believe myself lacking I would never publish 
 a line, no matter how spiritual, musical, mystical, im- 
 aginative and passionate my poetry might prove to be. 
 It would be an easy matter to smear my pages over 
 with Greek, Latin, or Sanscrit, in the manner of Swin- 
 burne and others; but I think one original thought 
 rightiv expressed is worth more than a volume of 
 erudite display. 
 
 A. J. MacDonald, 
 
 37 West Newton Street. 
 
 Boston, ]\Tass., April 3. 1907. 
 
PRELUDE. 
 
 I would not die and leave no trace behind, 
 
 No evergreen memorial of my mind, 
 
 No offspring of m,y heart where thousands be, 
 
 Unform'd, yet felt, a heaving progeny — 
 
 Some thought that \\ hen I perish may survive, 
 
 And like the livid lightning, be alive! 
 
 To leap, even as the instant currents dart 
 
 From cloud to cloud, and light the burdened heart; 
 
 That I may not, as billions gone before. 
 
 Be blotted from all memory evermore. 
 
 TIME AND AFTER TIME. 
 
 Thou comest, Autumn, with the wind and rain 
 And driven leaf, and disappearing wing. 
 
 And once again I witness thy domain 
 
 Of desolation, and the unheeded slain 
 Of myriad life; the signless suffering 
 
 Of hiveless swarms; thou bringest biting dooms 
 To frail wing'd waifs: they had their shiny day! 
 They flitted thro' the pleasant gleams and glooms 
 Of aspen aisles: and lonesome later blooms 
 In vermeil prime must speedily decay. 
 
 Thou comest once again and I am here. 
 
 A time-toss'd leaf, unbough'd by any wind 
 Branch-clinging still, a solitary, sere, 
 Tenacious mourner, weathering the year; 
 
 And many a comrade have I seen consign'd 
 
 To silent clay, and many a hopeful eye 
 Wax dim and dying; Yna.ny a gentle breast 
 
 Breathe "faint farewells" to sobbing mourners by. 
 
 Wax conscious of its dissolution nigh, 
 
 Wax wan and still: and beings newlv blest 
 
lO STAR GAZING 
 
 With sweet prospective, unanimity — 
 
 Lost in each other, each the essential one, 
 Such one that time nor yet eternity 
 Hath paralleled, as part the branch and tree 
 By blasting bolt, I've seen one chilled, undone, 
 
 The other hurried to the darksome tomb; — [ 
 
 How fortunate the wild, insentient being 
 
 Unboding in the pathless forest gloom. 
 
 That sees no shadow ere its season loom. 
 That dies one death, nor dissolution fleeing. 
 
 But hapless man! not only doomed to die, 
 
 But doomed to live anticipating doom; 
 That shadowy never absent from thine eye. 
 Makes pleasure as the perfume passing by 
 
 On stayless winds: or as thy fleeting bloom. 
 
 Desolate season. Season of vermeil mourning, 
 
 Of dawn-like distances, of glorious glens. 
 Of plumed pilgrims, taking timely warning, 
 Departing swiftly, all thy splendor scorning. 
 Of brightening woods, whose sapient denizens 
 
 Conceive too well thy passing pageantry, 
 Thy brief magnificence, thy dangeroj.is days, 
 
 And trust them not, but questing ceaselessly, 
 
 Survive instinctless multitudes, that see 
 No hour beyond, until their little blaze 
 
 Of hfe dims into darkness evermore. 
 
 So human mvriads, countless as thy leaves, 
 Fade from tlie earth, like foam-globes from the shore, 
 That briefly laugh and weep and all is o'er 
 
 Save the mute memory that the stone receives, 
 
 And utterless anguish poignantly resigned 
 
 O'er the vmanswcring comrade who will never 
 
STAR GAZING II 
 
 Speak once again, save in thy wailing wind, 
 Season of mournful utterance. Moaning mind 
 Take solace in the thought that not forever 
 
 Must drag thy course of uncompanioned years, 
 Or weep for aye by unresponding tombs; 
 Thou, too, wilt be the cause of torrent tears, 
 
 And in the chamber of besetting fears 
 
 Thy fires shall vanish, as thy sodden blooms. 
 
 Death contemplating season! sighing hours 
 J\lust come to every heart, and bitter rains 
 
 Still fall and chill the heart of tenderest flow'rs; 
 
 But sadder than thy sigh in barren bowers, 
 And wilder than thine anthem that refrains 
 
 By infant mounds, o'er waiting sepulchres. 
 The blast of human anguish; bitter strife 
 Where should be peace and bounty; thin white hairs 
 And withered frame repulseth; woe is theirs 
 Found friendless in the autumn of their life; 
 
 So myriads: did they never in their prime 
 Stand in thy faded fields or lightening wood. 
 
 And see far-sighted creatures briskly climb, 
 
 Or sapient beings burrow in the grime 
 
 Foregathering then? If briefly thus they stood 
 
 And moments mused, how light would be the years 
 Which crush them now to imm^emorial'd mounds! 
 Ah, vain regrets! and chief among their fears 
 Thy merciless successor! But their, tears 
 
 Will soon be flowless; pulse that feebly bounds 
 
 Must soon be stilled; as thy ungarnering lives 
 
 Flit aimless hither, thither, sink and perish. 
 How blithe thy dormouse' thou hast countless hives 
 Of bodeless beings; and thy squirrel thrives 
 The biting season thro'; these wisely cherish 
 
12 STAR GAZING 
 
 Life's once given gift, as knowing when they die 
 
 They perish evermore, and wdiile they may 
 Foregather gladly. Ye so vaunted, high. 
 Of backward glance and future piercing eve 
 Which serves ye only in the sated day, 
 
 Befriends ye only in the glutted hour; 
 
 Ye will not hear the Winter howling drear, 
 Too chained to sloth, too charmed in pleasure's bower 
 To heed ; and when the senile shadows lower 
 
 Bewail ye, and let fall the bitter tear 
 
 And helpless sink. And ye of moiling ways, 
 Of fungus care that grew upon your brow 
 If but brief moments basked ye in the rays 
 Which recreate, ye'd have delayed long days, 
 Nor joyless days, the stoiie that's lettered now: 
 
 Yet vain regrets! how like thy listless leaves, 
 
 Most sombre season! fluttering round the dead; 
 For all the saddening lessons he receives 
 Man learns too late; his darkening spirit grieves 
 O'er moments wasted and o'er chances fled, 
 
 And perishes thrice pang'd. Thou find'st the bee 
 Serenely hiv'd; thv woodland creature climbs 
 
 From Desolation to its chamber'd tree 
 
 Or deeply delveth, and thy songsters flee 
 
 From blasts that know no ruth to aryan climes, 
 
 To snowless shores. High mortal! were it not 
 Thy destiny (beast, bird, are yet the same 
 
 From Autumns immemorial, and the grot, 
 
 The hollow trunk their unrepining lot) 
 
 Thou mightest thus be happy, but the flame 
 
 Which lights thy being ever drives thee on 
 In restless aspirations; ages hence 
 
STAR GAZING I3 
 
 Unfleeing pleasure or oblivion 
 Shall be thy portion: countless days must dawn 
 And empires of unknown magnificence 
 
 Shall sink ere then; and future forests vast 
 
 And spaceless plains of cities centuries seated, 
 Be swept to deserts. Autumn, thou that hast 
 Seen man's commencement, shalt behold him cast 
 Into oblivion? as thy leaves are treated 
 
 So thus humanity! Unnumbered tombs 
 
 With all their unavailing memories, 
 Be reared and razed; the shaft that proudly looms 
 The humblest stone decay as scattered blooms 
 
 And fanes that fearful consciences appease 
 
 And institutes greed-granted to allay 
 
 The rising wrath, and palisades and towers 
 Safeguarding mammon'd despots 'til their day 
 Of dark departure, these shall pass away. 
 jMust vanish. Autumn, as thy final flowers 
 
 And pathway leaves; thy broad unmantled moon. 
 
 Silvering cemeteries, shall behold 
 In after Autumns not one lettered stone 
 She glamors now, sad goal of many a moan 
 
 And tear, vain as thy flow'rets that unfold 
 
 On frosted winds. Thy insects chill and die. 
 
 Thy flow'rets fade ; thv wild winds hither thither 
 The restless leaves, thy silent clouds roll by. 
 And mankind marches — to what destiny? 
 
 And far creations roll, O Autumn, whither 
 
 In fearful sweeping? Yon ethereal sea. 
 
 Bright islanded, which was ere time began — 
 
 There blighted planets sink, vast mystery, ' 
 
 But mankind marches to eternity. 
 All else to chaos: massv star and sun 
 
14 STAR GAZING 
 
 Forever vanish. Mortal! sigh no more 
 
 Nor deem of lasting darkness; far away, 
 Far over space, beyond remotest lore. 
 And fancied suns, there lies a sheltered shore, 
 A smiling beach, and everlasting day: 
 
 Where severed hearts and waiting ones have met; 
 
 Where every moment hath a raptured meeting; 
 Ah, sigh no more, nor let thine eyes be wet,. 
 There troubled asking, never stilled regret 
 
 Subside and vanish, as thy silent fleeting, 
 
 Utterless Autumn! Seasons come and go. 
 
 And vernal voices warble wild and sweet; 
 Mild Summer comes and richer blossoms blow. 
 Autumnal winds come sighing soft and low. 
 And mankind hasten to their blest retreat. 
 
 Thro' every season. Climes of the unsighing. 
 Of gliding dreams of sylphs of snowy wing: 
 Far over space, all mortal thought outlying — 
 Why starry yearning, why the inward crying 
 For far felicity? The wild birds sing 
 
 A rapturous monody and die forever; 
 
 The rivers babble; Ocean's bitter leaven 
 Imparts its pean to the sounds which never 
 vSubside on earth, rejoicing on forever, 
 
 But mankind weep, inheritors of heaven! 
 
 Transcendent destiny! Lament no more, 
 
 Nor peer at darkness with thine eyelids steeping; 
 
 That fervent yearning every mortal bore; 
 
 That far inclining, from thy spirit's core, 
 
 Should waken thee from out thy secret weeping. 
 
 What means thy sadness evil paths pursuing? 
 The sharp remorse why hold in secret dread? 
 
STAR GAZING 15 
 
 What means thy starry asking, planet viewing? 
 Why sentient Hfe, and death, and sense te doing, 
 And wherefore <ieathlcss cUnging to the dead? 
 
 Transcendant destiny! Undying being, 
 
 Why ever mournful? give to wistful dreaming, 
 Upturn to silent planets, swiftly fleeing, 
 And look beyond thine utmost aided seeing. 
 To everlasting birthrights brightly beaming. 
 
 SONG TO MARY. 
 
 We must go our various ways, 
 
 We that were as one. 
 Live and die divided days. 
 
 Our delusion done. 
 
 Should we pass each other by 
 
 Show that we forget, 
 And save the sigh, — and save the sigh, — 
 
 As we had never met. 
 
 Let us hasten! let us linger 
 
 Not all ties to sever, 
 Hide that sign upon thy finger! 
 
 We will part forever. 
 
 LONG TIME AGO. 
 
 How long since I inhaled this balmy air. 
 How long since I have heard thy rushy flow 
 Remember'd river! I was happy here 
 Long time ago. 
 
 How oft upon thy banks I sat and listen'd 
 To the sweet, mystic cadence of thy flow, 
 Thou art the same, and as thy waters glisten'd 
 Long time ago! 
 
l6 STAR GAZING 
 
 My many comrades in those happy hours 
 With whom I stray'd, unfetter 'd as thy flow, 
 Who drank of thee and cidl'd thy islet flow'rs 
 Long; time ago, 
 
 Where are they now? as leaves that waft away 
 We know not where, and some I would not know, 
 And some were as the flow'rets of a day 
 Long- time ago! 
 
 Thou art the same, but I am worn and weary; 
 How comradeless, and spiritless, and slow 
 From he who splasht thy waters, bright and cheery, 
 Long time ago! 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 I visited a city far away 
 
 Across the sea toward the rising sun, 
 The home of pride and grandeur and decay 
 And bloody footed misery, and display 
 
 Of vaimted spoils from feeblest nations won. 
 
 London, Eng , August i, 1905. 
 
 MODERN CHIVALRY. 
 
 Respectfully dedicated to President Roosevelt and Governor Bell, 
 of Vermont. 
 
 The day of chivalry is done. 
 Lamented Burke; and past and gone 
 The spirit of the Word of One 
 
 "Love one another!" 
 For Justice now would have the son 
 
 Behead his mother! 
 
 Even he who stands, m brave relief. 
 The nation's evanescent chief. 
 
STAR GAZING 1 7 
 
 This gallant man! whom rumor hath 
 
 So finely human, 
 Sent to her bitter, sharaehil death 
 
 A poor old woman. 
 
 Our Httle Roosevelts, petty Bells, 
 
 Inexorably set — which tells 
 
 The meag-re soul (such strength is hell's 
 
 In very truth) 
 With whom no impulse e'er impels 
 
 To heavenly ruth. 
 
 The day of chivalry is gone, 
 
 The day of mercy is to dawn: 
 
 And hapless woman, you must shun 
 
 Your father, brother: 
 For Justice now will have the son 
 
 Behead his mother! 
 July 4, 1905. 
 
 TO LEO THE XIII. 
 I. 
 
 Oh thou that like the last autumnal leaf 
 
 Beholdeth all thy youth's companions lie 
 Low in the loam — it is with awe and grief 
 
 I contemplate thee, passing grandly by. 
 
 So lofty and commanding, doom'd to die: 
 What thought supreme from wisdom-giving years 
 
 So numberful as thine, lives in thine eye? 
 What grand assurance now this vale of tears 
 Sinks from thee that thy soul will speed to other 
 spheres? 
 
 Great mortal, speak' as brother unto brother, 
 Forego thy grandeiu- and my humble lot, 
 
l8 STAR GAZING 
 
 xA.nd one brief moment let us deem each other 
 As death-doom'd beings, mother earth begot; 
 Methinks there is no darker, wilder thought, 
 
 That mind must vanish — like the rainbow's beams — 
 That consciousness must melt to utter naught, 
 
 And soothing fancies be but foster'd dreams 
 
 Which fade from deepening" thought like childhood's 
 fairyi themes. 
 
 3. 
 
 Ah, what are we? perchance beneath some sea 
 Lockt in some shell, within its inmate's maw. 
 
 Ambitious atoms; immortality 
 
 Instinctive seems, as life's initial law. 
 Self preservation; mayhap planets draw 
 
 Our vision upward, dowering us with yearning 
 For griefiess climes, and filled with joy and awe 
 
 We contemplate yon starland scenes, discerning 
 
 In every radiant orb a happy beacon burning. 
 
 4. 
 Perchance we are dream-phantoms in the mind 
 
 Of some still unawakened god, that when 
 He rouseth him at matintide, mankind 
 
 Will vanish like the morn-fog from the fen; 
 
 And peradventure we are microbe-men 
 In raindrop speeding to some central sphere 
 
 To germinate to monsters; or, again. 
 Be re-resolved to vapor year to year, 
 Century to century — perhaps trickle in a tear. 
 
 5- 
 
 Yet, yet, is Hope! that like a desert flow'r 
 
 Enchants the w^aste, sole comforter from heaven, 
 
 That comest ever in the sombre hour, 
 Sublimest blessing unto mortals given; 
 When hearts are numb'd with fear, and horror-riven, 
 
STAR GAZING 19 
 
 The soul shrinks back from all-engulfing night 
 
 Then hoverest thou! e'en Death himself is driven 
 Back to his charnal cavern in affright 
 At one so starry-fair — unseen of mortal sight. 
 
 6. 
 
 Like a beholder from a lofty height 
 
 Surveying armies passing swiftly by, 
 Not one returning ever from the light, 
 
 Which none may flee from and where all must die, 
 Thus gazeth thou, and moisten'd is thine eye, 
 Surviving comrades, kith and kin pass'd on, 
 
 No youth-made friend, no boon companion nigh 
 To whisper solace: every soul is gone 
 Whose comradeship made sweet thy life's resplendent 
 dawn. 
 
 Companion of the shrouded century 
 
 It saw with thee unnumber'd human swarms 
 Come and depart; time and eternity 
 
 Contend for thee, grandest of living forms. 
 
 Yon utmost climes await thee, angel arms 
 W^ill bear thee, rapture-laden, to the blest; 
 
 And heaven will joy that henceforth from the storms 
 And troub'lous tides of time thou shalt have rest, 
 Tho' earth will sorely grieve to be thus dispossess'd. 
 
 8. 
 
 Is there a mortal hopeless and resign'd 
 
 To no hereafter home? Futurity! 
 What thought stupendous hast thou unconfin'd 
 
 From human hearts! and yearning harmony. 
 
 And vistas dreadful, secret rhapsody, 
 And golden realms whose gateway is the tomb; 
 
 And be it fable, be it fantasy, 
 
20 STAR GAZING 
 
 More blest is faith than doubter's dismal gloom 
 
 Who shuns all blissful beams and hugs oblivion doom. 
 
 And is humanity's long dream dispelling, 
 
 And heaven become a mute or blushful theme? 
 None have return'd! the rumor of a dwelling 
 
 Beyond yon realms remotest planets' gleam 
 
 Is unconfirm'd; yet never can I deem, 
 I never can conclude, that man is cast 
 
 In with the things that perish like a dream ; 
 And thou art wholly steadfast to the last, 
 Thou of the subtle soul and understanding vast! 
 
 lO. 
 
 From mortal multitudes thou dost survive 
 
 Immortal; lo! Death pauses, ill at ease. 
 Half deeming it is vain with thee to strive, 
 
 Surviving epochs, empires, dynasties; 
 
 Thine heart must be, of far back memories 
 The pensive home; yet smiling and serene 
 
 And confident as one who, rapturous, sees 
 Within his grasp things that have ever been 
 Deep in his ardent soul — eternal laurels green. 
 
 II. 
 
 This valley mournful, man's ephemeral home, 
 For thee no suited habitation; where — 
 
 Beyond the realms remotest comets roam. 
 
 Where peopl'd plains ring rapture — it is there! 
 
 E'en as a beam which stayeth when the star 
 Begetting it did perish long ago. 
 
 Thy spirit shall befriend us from afar. 
 Misgiving and despondency o'erthrow, 
 And put to flight misfaith tliat hounds us here below, 
 
STAR GAZING 21 
 
 THE HEAVENLY VISITANT. 
 
 Prelude i. 
 
 As from a dream thou wert, and momently 
 
 Thou didst remain, dissolving as a dream; 
 
 Departing as a wish that cannot be; 
 
 And startled by the silence and the gloom 
 
 Heavily fallen upon me I awoke, 
 
 As from sweet sleep, to find thee but a theme. 
 
 As from a dream thou wert, but ah! the tomb 
 
 Can tell if thou wast but a fantasy, 
 
 The sable casket and the pallid cloak: 
 
 As from a dream thou wert, but now thou art 
 
 Even as a dream — a silence that's heavy on my heart. 
 
 Prelude 2. 
 
 She came to me not in her usual bloom, 
 
 White-rob'd, a spectral aspect, and her glance 
 Of lustrous wildness lum'd a countenance 
 
 Death-hu'd, as from the tomb. 
 
 I shudder'd, fearing; in the silent gloom 
 I saw her well, her stealthiness of glance, 
 Her ashy, smileless lips, her countenance 
 
 Not in its wonted bloom. 
 
 THE HEAVENLY VISITANT. 
 
 Dedicated to the Memory of Florence Warner. 
 Born 1881 — died 1903. 
 
 Bright being! thy spirit was ever to me 
 
 As waters to travelers worn, 
 A river refreshing, a shady tree, 
 A carolling bird and sweet sleeping, to be 
 
 Arous'd to a beautiful morn. 
 
22 STAR GAZING 
 
 A rainbow unforming, a spirituelle dream ^ 
 
 Sad-haunting the heart thro' the day, 
 But yet ere the warmth of the midday gleam 
 Thy spirit, as frail as the infant beam 
 
 Of a young star, faded awa}-. 
 
 Yet, yet will the poignant hour obtrude, 
 
 Tho' my bosom hath long been riven; 
 With her earth were never a solitude, 
 Whose absence so wistful, whose presence renew'd 
 
 In my heart the repose of heaven. 
 
 And I thought — if these arms could but clasp her again ; 
 
 Embrace her but once, as of yore; 
 Here, now, where I flee from the troubles of men, 
 Ah! clasp her once more in this memoried glen — 
 
 I'd deem myself blest evermore. 
 
 And the night with her voices, so seldom of mirth. 
 
 Far murmur'd, with answering sound; 
 And a leaf between moments fell gently to earth. 
 As a mortal, however his greatness or worth 
 
 Must descend — he must fall to the ground! 
 
 And the night breezes cadenc'd a melody 
 
 That poets of sound never find; 
 And methought that a warning was whispered to me, 
 But I said — 'tis a moan from humanity, 
 
 Whose sighings replenish the wind. 
 
 And I answered the winds, but my song was unheard, 
 For its sound and its sense were a part 
 
 Of a sorrow too sacred for audible word; 
 
 And the feather-clad dreamers above were unstirr'd. 
 For the music remained in my heart: 
 
 She dwells with Blight, and Darkness round her keeps 
 Unceasing vigil; Silence and Decay 
 
STAR GAZING 23 
 
 Her changeless sentinels, and Dampness steeps 
 The rayless room where she was laid awa.yi. 
 
 She dwells with Darkness — when the world is leaping 
 
 To ardent beams, and blithe is every bough; 
 And closer, closer to her heart are creeping 
 
 The horrors of the grave; and on her brow 
 The ebon dews drip from the coffin-lid, 
 
 And thro' her lily limbs is stony chill — 
 Ah, to my soul lost, lost — forever hid 
 
 That comrade sweet, irrevocably still. 
 
 I will not deem thee thus, departed being; 
 
 But dream of thee in some undream'd retreat. 
 Some jovful realm, remote from fancy's seeing, 
 Thv spirit perfect and thy youth unfleeing 
 
 Forever, but thy voice is not more sweet. 
 
 I watch the stars and deem of thee again, 
 
 And is thy spirit, then, so far away? 
 Remote from every sense and subtler ken 
 Evolving now, faint deem'd of living men? 
 The Sun must die, but thou shalt live for aye! 
 
 There was a rumor and it gather'd meaning 
 
 From guarded whisper and repining glance; 
 And I beheld Decline; I saw thee leaning 
 To pallid languor: dreadful waste was' gleaning 
 The life drops from thy gentle countenance. 
 
 Ah vain regrets! and thou hast pass'd away 
 
 In vernal prime with loveHness replete; 
 Thou dwellest now in everlasting day. 
 
24 STAR GAZING 
 
 With youth iinfleeting and thy glance for aye 
 All lovely, but thy smile is not more sweet. 
 
 Methought that I would never more behold her, 
 
 And I was pale with dread, 
 And trembl'd lest again I'd ne'er enfold her; 
 And weeping ones that ever had extoU'd her, 
 
 Came, faltering she was dead. 
 
 And I perceived, as stepping- from a dream, 
 
 A phantom form, and near it 
 Wax'd plainly, as the moon's unclouding gleam; 
 And that pale thing, pierc'd by a starry beam. 
 
 Was likeness to her spirit, — 
 
 Came toward me, like a snowy plum-ed bird, 
 
 A wing-ed miracle, 
 Soar'd by me, and my conscious marrow stirr'd! 
 And from its smileless lips methought I heard 
 
 A passionate farewell. 
 
 And lo, a silent chamber I discover'd, 
 
 Cold to my finger tips, 
 I knelt me, where the paly moonbeams hover'd, 
 Pil'd flowers were there, a casket I uncover'd 
 
 And kiss'd her ashy lips! 
 
 I think of the Land of Eternity, 
 Of the climes of unfading bloom; 
 
 Of the shores that lie over the waterless sea. 
 
 Where the faces of people Hke morning be. 
 
 And their eyes' starry lemes have a radiancy 
 Never dimm'd by the thought of the tomb. 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 Ah, who does not grieve o'er the voicelessness 
 
 Of comrades eternally flown? 
 Companions who never return to confess 
 Of their wonderful worlds and their happiness ; 
 Eternally silent! repining, we guess 
 And we gaze, but no token or tone. 
 
 I sigh for those climes, and my spirit is fraught 
 With the scenes o'er the waterless sea, 
 
 And the happy wind'd people who notice us not; 
 
 But ah! like a charnel-blown poison, is wrought 
 
 With the roses of heavenly fancies, the thought 
 That eternity never may be! 
 
 But these wild meditations were hush'd by despair, 
 
 And the highest of hopes was o'erthrown ; 
 Ah, man ! thou hast many a burden to bear, 
 But black as the evils to which thou art heir, 
 The blight of Unfaith is alone. 
 
 But lo! at the edge of the woodland a gleam. 
 
 Where the leaves and the branches were riven, 
 Like a fragment of sky, or a glimpse of a stream, 
 Or a column that stands in the path of a beam. 
 Or a cloud that has fallen from heaven. 
 
 And, startled, I roused me ; my breathing was stilled 
 
 By the birth of a sudden fear; 
 And I gazed on that aperture suddenly filled. 
 Where a moment before lay the pasturage, tilled, 
 
 'Neath the moon, unmistakably clear. 
 
 And I look'd for that opening ever, when lo! 
 
 I saw it wax plain as before; 
 And I saw the red furrowing, mantled in glow; 
 But moving upon me — I started! the flow 
 
 Of my veins for a moment was o'er. 
 
 25 
 
2 6 STAR GAZING 
 
 The Vision drew onward; its silv'ryness 
 
 Enluster'd the branches around; 
 And its footfalls were soundless, but startled me less 
 Than the tips of its pinions, which trail'd with its dress 
 
 But displaced not a leaf on the ground. 
 
 And a cold oozing dew, which fell not from the leaves, 
 
 Nor was brush'd from the grass by my hand, 
 Embeaded my brow; and the dying conceives 
 Of that moisture, more chill than the drips from the 
 eaves 
 When the snow-mantle melts from the land. 
 
 And pausing beside me, I look'd in the face 
 Of the Form which had suddenly near'd; 
 
 And I knew that bright aspect! none other's the grace, 
 
 Which eternity's eons can never efface 
 From my bosom, indeliblv sear'd. 
 
 And my heart for a moment was stil'd in distress. 
 
 Like a soul that its warning receives; 
 Rut she lookt in my features with tenderness, 
 And her starry-ray'd hair and her radiant dress 
 
 Fell o'er me like shadow's of leaves. 
 
 And Ijending full o'er me, her loveliness 
 
 Inclined like a blossomy bow; 
 And a perfume like lilies was breath'd in my face, 
 As a snowy-white hand, like a moonbeam's caress, 
 
 Strange-jewell'd, was placed on my brow. 
 
 That magical presence, that beauty so oft 
 My repose from the world and its blights; 
 
 And those accents the same, but more heavenly soft! 
 
 As she whispered. "I WATT THEE!" and pointed aloft 
 To the empire of numberless lights. 
 
 And her lustre waxed dim, yet she fled not away; 
 And the sward and the branches swam round; 
 
STAR GAZING 27 
 
 And I motioned to clasp her, but frail was the clay 
 Round my spirit that darken'd as darkens the day, 
 And I sank like a clod to the ground. 
 
 PRELUDE. 
 
 That fadeless dream — it was too bright to be. 
 
 Too far beyond, a vain expectancy; 
 
 It came to me at moments like a beam 
 
 On dark and restless waves, that splendid dream. 
 
 It hover'd round, daybrooding and by night, 
 
 Awake, asleep, around me like a light, 
 
 A bright belief, too beautiful to be 
 
 This side the tomb — outside of phantasy. 
 
 THE GRA\'EYARD WINDS. 
 
 The midnight winds were rocking 
 Young birds in their braided bed; 
 The herded stars were walking 
 
 Where the milky pathway led; 
 When I heard an old ghost talking 
 
 To a young shade, newly dead, • 
 
 As the graveyard winds sang low, 
 Ethereally sweet 
 
 What were the phantoms saying. 
 
 The shadows of the dead, 
 When the midnight winds were swaying 
 
 The infant birds in bed. 
 When the stayless stars were straying 
 
 Where the milky path was spread. 
 As the graveyard winds sang low, 
 Ethereally sweet? 
 
 I heard the plaintive asking 
 i\nd answerino- of the dead, 
 
28 STAR GAZING 
 
 When the midnight birds were basking 
 
 In starbeams round their bed, 
 Save where thick leaves were masking 
 The fledghngs yet unfled, 
 And the bahnier winds sang round 
 Their unl)etray"d retreat. 
 
 And I heard the younger crying, 
 
 That fair shade of the dead, 
 When the midnight winds were sighing 
 
 O'er many a silent bed; 
 And I thought — some lov'd one dying, 
 
 Some spirit all but sped; 
 And the graveyard winds sang low, 
 Compassionately sweet. 
 
 From a tomb's moonlit inscription 
 
 Some infant names I read; 
 Pathetic the description 
 
 Of those young flow'rets fled; 
 And I thought — What gloom Egyptian 
 
 Enshrouds the infant dead: 
 And the graveyard winds sang low, 
 Compassionately sweet. 
 
 Through thickets, dark recesses. 
 Where moonbeams none were shed, 
 
 New shades in snowy tresses 
 By guiding ghosts were led; 
 
 And wild their shadowy tresses 
 Upon the winds were spread: 
 
 The cemetery winds. 
 
 Unutterably sweet. 
 
 I watcht with breathing bated. 
 That fair young spirit, sped. 
 
 As bv the tomb she waited 
 The loved one, vet unfled; 
 
STAR GAZING 29 
 
 And I thought — Perchance were mated 
 
 The Hving and the dead; 
 And the homeless winds sang low, 
 Disconsolately sweet. 
 
 She was a ghost of beauty, 
 
 Nor seem'd she wholly dead; 
 And of her featur'd loveliness, 
 
 The bloom alone had fled; 
 (Continuing its duty 
 
 Upon some flow'ry bed, 
 That odors evening winds, 
 Unutterably sweet). 
 
 I saw her mild eyes gleaming. 
 
 Methought did softly weep; 
 And the paly flood was streaming 
 
 Where she did vigil keep; 
 When lo! athwart the beaming, 
 
 I saw an infant creep — 
 And the graveyard winds sang low, 
 Compassionatelv sweet. 
 
 METHINKS IT WAS A VISION PASS'D ME BY. 
 
 Methinks it was a vision passed me by, 
 A gliding dream and brightly garmented; 
 
 And but one instant gleamed her sylphan eye, 
 And but one moment on her cheek I fed, 
 Live vermeil-vapor'd evening, softlv red. 
 
 And delicately flush'd in fleeting dye. 
 Methinks it was a vision, for a brightness 
 
 Went with her, and a breath of lilies blent 
 With every snowy rustle; and her lightness 
 
 Was as a wafted blossom as she went. 
 Ah! in no wakeful, vista'd memory, 
 
 But doth remain some twilight, softly red. 
 Some ardent hour, like haunting harmonv. 
 
3° STAR GAZING 
 
 Or tender tune — some vision fleeting by, 
 
 Some gliding dream, and brightly garmented 
 
 SONNET TO HELEN. 
 
 Thy name is low as is the fallen leaf 
 
 In pathway slim'd, and thy white fame hath fled; 
 And to my heart unutterable grief 
 Has come, the dream, the radiance, the brief 
 
 Transcendent seeming passionless and dead, 
 Ah fatal chance! ah merciless event! 
 
 Oh! that I might have perisht never knowing 
 Thee but as thou didst seem ; the ornament 
 
 Is shatter'd, the flower that yesterday was blowing 
 Hath wilted, and my soul is stricken through, 
 
 And passionate affection is in vain; 
 Yet thy strange spell and spirit's charm which drew 
 
 My helpless soul to thee would draw me once again. 
 
 MARGARITE. 
 
 .Sweet Margarite! it is no transient spell 
 Thou weavest round, for in thy spirit lies 
 
 A meshing power beyond my words to tell; 
 Not wholly in the marvels of thine eyes, 
 Nor altogether in the quivering dies 
 
 That faintly vermeil, 'neath their lustre dwell. 
 
 As when a fragrant wafture, coming whence 
 We cannot tell, and tho' we strive to find 
 
 The essence rare, delicious to the sense. 
 
 (Sonie lowly weed perchance in verdure dense. 
 That gives unseen its treasure to the wind). 
 Seeking in vain the vale and many a knoll — 
 E'en so the source of that sweet, strange control — 
 
 Surpassing music — gifted eloquence — 
 Sweet Margarite! is hidden in thy soul. 
 October, 1904. 
 
STAR GAZING 3 I 
 
 TO SWINBURNE. 
 
 Poet! I read thy verses but to weep, 
 
 Thy music leaves pie \Yith a heavy heart 
 
 That one so gifted and renown'd should steep 
 His gifts in vileness, degradate his art; 
 
 Whose images insidious to the mind 
 
 By phrase lascivious-subtile — and refin'd. 
 
 With bards of other days it could be so, 
 Not justified art thou to tread their way, 
 
 Their pages wholesome howsoev'r they flow 
 Obscenely, 'twas the custom of the day: 
 
 Thou art alone in thy harmonious dirt; 
 
 To Byron's honest coarseness how inert! 
 
 Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, blest are ye! 
 
 And all your brothers of the heavenly art; 
 No damning thought, no hideous imagery 
 
 In your sweet language! poisoning the heart. 
 All purity within your fancies dwells, 
 Like azure streams and heaven-reflecting wells. 
 
 Poet, 'twere well that thou shouldst pause before 
 
 Departing on the all-unconipass'd sea; 
 Thy thoughts are broadcast as on stream and shore 
 
 The hectic leaves of Autumn! and to thee 
 It may have vasty import, and the lot 
 Of humankind that thou should heed this thought: 
 
 As when the gardener on mid-autumn day 
 
 Raketli the dead leaves ever to a pile 
 And gives the torch, so unto thee I say. 
 
 Perverted bard, that thou shouldst reconcile 
 Thy soul with Purity; quest far and nigh 
 Thy leprous driftings, heaping vast and high 
 
32 STAR GAZING 
 
 And give the torch! so may thy spirit speed 
 Unfearful o'er the vastness, gladly gliding; 
 So mayst thou say that thou hast done a deed, 
 Outblotting all; departing poet, head! 
 
 So thou may'st dwell where beauty is abiding, 
 Nantasket, Mass., June, 1906. 
 
 BYRON. 
 
 From all the illumining beings that old Earth 
 Hath usher'd into light and ta'en again 
 
 Into her chambers 
 
 Devoid of dreams, 
 
 I turn to thee, 
 
 Transcendent spirit! 
 
 I turn to thee in wonderment and joy, 
 And admiration and complacency, 
 
 That I, even I, 
 
 However remote, 
 
 Am kin to thee. 
 
 That thou wert human, 
 
 Undying mind! 
 
 I think of thee, misunderstood in life. 
 And in this warmthless time, neglected now. 
 So brilliantly endow'd. 
 So generous hearted. 
 Of transient day. 
 And sorrow, wild and sweet. 
 As creeping from thy page, 
 Swells over me. 
 
 Thine is the charm like unto evening, 
 Like unto morning, and thou art akin 
 
 To darkness. 
 
 And flamy dawns; 
 
 Matchless as morning! 
 
 Somber as sunset! 
 
STAR GAZING ;^;^ 
 
 Ah, in my youth how deathless was thy spell! 
 And in my memory lingers none like thee; 
 
 And brooding on thee., youth, 
 
 There wells within me 
 
 Silent regret. 
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 Strange mind that liveth in the wondrous tome 
 
 Of myriad libraries through learn-ed lands; 
 
 In cottages and castles, and art found 
 
 In palaces that move along the deep. 
 
 To massy mansions where magnificence 
 
 Dwells like the dawn, thou hast the entry now. 
 
 And shinest in the firmament of fame 
 
 The youngest wonder; and thy name is linkt 
 
 With deathless grief and passionate regret. 
 
 Alas! for what was daily thrown to dogs. 
 
 Thy matchless mind was blotted from the earth. 
 
 Thy name hath pass'd to the sweet range of sound, 
 
 A tone to waken sorrow: still a child. 
 
 Thou turndst from the heartless multitude 
 
 To seek thy one consoling friend — the grave. 
 
 KEATS. 
 
 Young master mind! that utter'd on life's last 
 
 Ebbtide strange newton'd haunting harmonies, 
 Then perish'd, like a sea flower fading fast. 
 
 Torn from the garden of its native seas: 
 Thy memory glows like star-abandoned beams, 
 
 (Of shattered planet, perish'd eons agone) 
 Not least among the splendors and the gleams 
 That steadfast be, and master tonal dreams 
 
 And deathless voices, speaking ever on. 
 What carest now for earth's belated fame? 
 
 Thou, marvelous youth! that maketh sages wonder. 
 And when the iris'd morn's or evenintj breeze 
 
34 STAR GAZING 
 
 Lament around my path, they seem the same 
 
 Self sighs as thine, young- master! and I ponder 
 Which wildwood strains are thine in bird-sung sym- 
 phonies. 
 
 POE. 
 
 Even as a somber cloud at evening, 
 
 Half splendid in the sunset, was that mind. 
 
 As when we walk in moonlit cemetery 
 
 Wreathe-chisl'd stone pass by and lowly slab. 
 
 Pass by half heedlessly, to pause beside 
 
 Some towering tomb, so thus that giant genius. 
 
 TO THE SPIRIT OF CHOPIN. 
 
 With awe I hear the mighty masters speak, 
 As gods their voices, speaking for all time, 
 
 And in those tones the haughty soul is meek, 
 
 The harrass'd heart is lifted up to seek 
 In earthless regions solaces sublime! 
 
 Unequal'd master! I have lov'd thee long. 
 In infant years I knew thee and thou art 
 E'en as a comrade; dear to me thy song. 
 Thou speakest to a fast-augmenting throng 
 Of eager souls, and speakest to the heart. 
 
 If 'twas decreed that from the dead could wake 
 One gifted soul and I the powV possess'd. 
 
 What choice of sleeping genius would I make? 
 
 Ah thine, Chopin! would be the hand I'd take 
 And hail thee as the noblest and the best. 
 
 Thou speakest as none other spirits speak; 
 
 Of all the Masters, living and departed. 
 Thou art alone, unparallel'd, unique; 
 Tliv voice rings truest, saddest and most meek. 
 
 As if the heart that sung, sung broken-hearted! 
 
STAR GAZING 35 
 
 Alas, great spirit, thou art all unknown, 
 
 To earth's untutor'd millions but a din; 
 And most who heed — for pedantry alone, 
 And the great mass of men as deaf as stone 
 And live and die as thou hast never been! 
 
 IMPROMPTU TO BURNS. 
 
 Immortal Master! youthful and alone 
 
 Thou standest; and the century here 
 
 Yet find'st thy voice the voice of all humanity. 
 
 Thy many gifted brothers 
 
 Compel the minds of many or of few: 
 
 Speak to a sect or cult: 
 
 Thou hast for audience 
 
 The earth and all it hath of living men. 
 
 SHELLEY. 
 
 Transcendent soul! why is it that thou wert 
 
 Sent here so illy timed? oh, ages hence 
 Thy proper day! humanity inert 
 
 Dream'd not thy warmth, thy heartfelt eloquence, 
 'Til, like the instant lightning rushing on 
 From darkness unto darkness, thou wert gone! 
 
 STAR GAZING. 
 
 Poems to Thais. 
 
 Prelude. 
 
 That haunting charm, not in her accents sweet, 
 Nor in the soft enticement of her glance, 
 
 Nor heavy lustre tress, bright pleat on pleat, 
 Nor raiment rich, nor gliding elegance. 
 
 It was a trance, it was a reverie 
 
 Of fervent dreams, as when into the rose 
 
 The bee sinks silently, within her spell 
 
36 STAR GAZING 
 
 My spirit languisht: as when melody 
 
 Show'rs on the ear and wild enchantment grows 
 And ardent wish. Thus dimly can I tell 
 That clinging charm, more strange than opiate 
 rhapsody. 
 
 I SAW THEE GLANCING. 
 
 I saw thee glancing, and a sweet reg'ard 
 
 Methought was in the momentary gleam 
 
 Of furtive lustre, like the passing beam 
 That flecks the pale repining captive, barred 
 
 From morning breezes and wing'd voices fleeing. 
 
 Ah, gentle lady! deep into my being 
 Thy loveliness hath pass'd, like the perfume 
 That saturates the bosom of the bee 
 That looks into the lily! and the home 
 
 Of sleepless speculation is my heart, 
 That hopes, despairs, exults alternately; 
 
 I am. but one in myriads, for thou art 
 E'en as a lovely stream which glides along 
 
 Through concours'd fields, and draws a thousand 
 eyes, 
 A thousand admirations from the throng, 
 
 And countless tender thoughts and secrets sighs. 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 When we shall meet there'll be no utter'd word. 
 
 Our eyes will speak and pressure of the hand; 
 Sweet, silent interchangings, long deferr'd. 
 
 Of rapture, which we only understand. 
 Ethereal being! lovely revelation! 
 
 Long, long ago I met thee — in romance, 
 Or far salon of masterly creation. 
 
 Or in some vision of nocturnal trance. 
 Sweet Thais! deem not this the ebullition 
 
 Of one demented; every fervent heart 
 
STAR GAZING 37 
 
 Seeks a true comrade ever, and recognition 
 Of one so sought, if e'en a passing vision, 
 Begets a wildness which will not depart 
 For many a day. 
 
 Thais, I deem thee far above the throng; 
 
 Rare beauty, genius, magnetism thine; 
 Sweet simulator! unto thee belong 
 
 Unnumber'd hearts, and lowliest is mine. 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 There is a picture ever in my sight, 
 Of passing phases; downcast meditation 
 
 And pale repose that haunts me day and night, 
 
 Solicitude, anxiety, affright, 
 
 And still suspense and pacing perturbation. 
 
 There is an image ever in my gaze. 
 
 Of changing moods; indifference is there 
 And cold regard; belittling hauteur stays 
 One chilly instant; whether be the phase 
 Disdain, hate, love, hope, fear, 'tis ever fair, 
 
 Thais! thou art inseparably near, 
 
 Forever in my vision; and I see 
 No form of utmost beauty, and I hear 
 
 No sound surpassing sweet, but memory thee, 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Sweet lady! I have lookt into thy face, 
 And it is fair — beyond my words to tell; 
 
 Ingenuous with youth and gentle grace, 
 Would I could see into thy soul as well! 
 
 For I have found (alas it should be so!) 
 That cruelty and falseness lie conceal'd 
 
38 STAR GAZING 
 
 Beneath sweet masks — and reason will not know 
 'Til burnt-out passion hath the truth reveal'd. 
 
 If it could be — if beauty and sincerity 
 Could be united' truth and loveliness; 
 
 And wild, unlistening passion, of a verity 
 Inflame not one, but mutually bless: 
 
 The interchange of soul sincerity — 
 If it could be. 
 
 If we could find, if we could only see 
 With outward charm a singleness of heart! 
 
 It cannot be, alas! it cannot be, 
 
 The beautiful and true are wide apart. 
 
 The spell, the fancied worth, wild fervency, 
 Mean misery. 
 
 If it could be, if we would never waken 
 To the wild truth, so piercing to the soul, 
 
 So late perceiv'd, that we were all mistaken. 
 And the dread bitterness, beyond control, 
 
 Pass lightly from us, dying utterly — 
 If it could be! 
 
 Dear Thais, looking on you this I thought: 
 Ambition, Intellect are written there 
 
 In that deep brow — duplicity hath not 
 Art's high attainments and the artist-air. 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Oh I am very weary, I would fain 
 
 Lie down to rest; to be a denizen 
 Of some still world where pleasure and where pain 
 Know no extremes, nor dreadful passions reign — 
 
 To fall asleep and never wake again: 
 
 To be at rest and dwell with quietness; 
 And in a tranquil dream forever dwell; 
 
STAR GAZING 39 
 
 And bid adieu to minor cadences; 
 And say farewell to heart annoiyances, 
 And to all earthly sorrows say farewell: 
 
 For I am heavy laden, and to me 
 
 Hath fallen a burden mournfully depressing, 
 
 A crushing load, that thro' its mystery 
 
 Of coming and remaining none may see, 
 A grievous weight beyond my tongue's expressing. 
 
 Hast thou a heart, sweet Thais? oh then hear! 
 
 Hast thou a tender soul? Then I will plead, 
 And let my supplication reach thine ear. 
 And in the gloomy night when Thought and Fear 
 
 Sit by thy sleepless couch, I pray thee, heed! 
 
 Release me, Thais! from my soul I urge; 
 
 I am the helpless leaf and thou the stream; 
 And thro' thy power alone can I emerge 
 Or sink forever. Oh I am on the verge 
 
 Of dreadful madness — would 'twas all a dream! 
 
 WHEN DAYS AND WEEKS AND MONTHS 
 AND YEARS HAVE PASS'D. 
 
 When days and weeks and months and years have 
 pass'd. 
 When forward shadows have been cast behind; 
 When wild regard, that would forever last, 
 Hath long declined; 
 
 When lips that smile, when sweet immeshing glances 
 
 Awake responses, fervent for a day; 
 When husht regrets and undivin'd romances 
 Have chill'd away; 
 
 Then Thais — when those usual passions perish. 
 Of transient glow, of easy, griefless wane, 
 
4° STAR GAZING 
 
 Then Thais will my bosom vainly cherish 
 What was in vain. 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Dehghtful artiste! would I could reveal 
 To you my admiration; I would fain 
 Embrace you and impart the glow I feel 
 In fervent pressure; or, if I might kneel, 
 I would adore you! braving your disdain. 
 
 Is it a crime, mesmeric one, for me 
 
 To proffer lowliest homage? I behold you 
 
 Ethereal, bright, a loveliness to see 
 
 But ne'er attain, a being that will be 
 
 Unswerving as the purposes that mould you. 
 
 Thais, believe me, in your every part 
 You reign unrivall'd; far away, beyond, 
 
 Remote and unapproachable thou art — 
 
 Yet, yet the bright ideal of my^ heart 
 
 Long, long conceived — I see thee and despond. 
 
 THINKING OF THAIS. 
 
 What bleak saharas reach away from me! 
 
 As the world's barren plains the heart is wide 
 In sterile spaces; hath its desert sea 
 Of vanisht griefs — cold isles of memory. 
 
 Its stagnant pools where fitful dreams abide. 
 
 I have one happiness, to dream of thee, 
 I have one hope, but it is laid away 
 
 Deep in my soul where never eye may see 
 
 Or ear discern its vain temerity — 
 Its dim pulsations baffling decay! 
 
STAR GAZING 4I 
 
 The growing warmth, augmenting constancy, 
 The sleepless thoughts that ne'er subside again, 
 
 The glance exchangings, the felicity 
 
 Of claspings sweet, entwining ardently. 
 The all-in-all of each and parting then — 
 
 It is the same, it hath been and will be, 
 
 And every life unfolds the saddening lore, 
 That all we sigh for, all we yearn to see, 
 But glimmering dreams that vanish fitfully, 
 And every dream but one remorse the more. 
 
 Ah, Joy is very near to Misery, 
 
 As in the hopeless dungeon may abide 
 Sunlight and sadness, mirth — insanity, 
 And rapt Despair sits by Felicity, 
 
 And Happiness and Horror side by side. 
 
 THINE EYES GLANCED HATE. 
 
 Thine eyes glanced hate, and thro' my bosom swept 
 
 A bitter chill; alas for me the hour 
 That on my solitary spirit crept 
 
 Thy all-resistless, all-compelling power; 
 
 I am thy slave, and servilely I cower; 
 I am cast down — full heavy is my heart. 
 
 And in that glance what disillusions lower! 
 And from the long-abiding dream I part 
 That we are each for each, ideal as thou art! 
 
 To be belov'd by beauty, to possess 
 
 The trust of some sweet spirit, and to gaze 
 Into true eyes of lustrous loveliness; 
 
 To hear one voice whose richness ever stays 
 Upon the ear in golden cadences, 
 
 A spirit blest and who we ever bless, 
 A consolation and a fervent theme, 
 
 And in whose magic presence ills are less — 
 
42 STAR GAZING 
 
 Fantastic fool! what wildness dost thou deem! 
 Whoever dreams of such is hving in a dream. 
 
 And yet — and yet — oh cease! renounce forever 
 
 The hope of mutual souls; naught here can stay; 
 The snowflake falleth in the fleeting river, 
 
 There's bloom on Beauty's cheek but 'twill decay; 
 
 Ambition fires the breast to fade away, 
 And great resolve, so warm the night before, 
 
 Departeth in the dawning of the day! 
 And unanimity flees from the door 
 Of tied affinities, romance and passion o'er. 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Thou wert to me as roses fresh and new, 
 
 And from that evening that I sat entranc'd 
 B\- thy pale beauty on my spirit grew 
 A restlessness, a yearning deep and true 
 
 And passionate, by sleepless nights enhanc'd. 
 
 Thais, looking in thy pallid face, 
 
 I long'd to know thee, yearn'd to take thy hand 
 And whisper my heart's wishes, and to place 
 
 My soul, my destiny at thy command. 
 
 It is the same! it is as I foretold: 
 
 That passion perishes in its own pain, 
 That love declineth ere a moment old. 
 That warmest love is in a moment cold, 
 That wild infatuation is in vain! 
 
 I would not do by thee as thou hast done; 
 
 Is it a crime to love, to show regard? 
 Ah! he who loves is lov'd by every one 
 Save the belov'd, whose eyes are ever on 
 
 New conquests and as ready to discard. 
 
STAR GAZING 43 
 
 Yet time heals all; and passion is at best 
 A thankless gift; its fever I would shun 
 If in my power. Ah where is peace and rest 
 Save in the grave! The loveless are the blest: 
 I would not do by thee as thou hast done! 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Over thy features lightly come and go 
 
 Gladness and grief, repose and animation, 
 Shadow and shine and gloom and utter woe 
 And exultation. 
 
 How lightly canst thou laugh! and to my ears 
 
 Thy gladness real; thine art will have it so; 
 Ah woman's smile is easy, and her tears 
 Of facile flow. 
 
 Those transient ills, those joys — forever brief! — 
 
 Pass lightly o'er thy spirit void of care; 
 Ah, niay'st thou know but simulated grief 
 Nor real despair! 
 
 SONG TO THAIS. 
 
 If thou and I should meet 
 
 Ere many suns have set, 
 And casually greet 
 With smiles and glances sweet, 
 
 We would be happy yet! 
 
 If in our hearts could be 
 
 The glow we once possess'd, 
 That made me dream of thee, 
 That made thee think of me, 
 
 How then would we be blest! 
 
 When far away I go 
 
 Wilt thou regret thv course 
 
44 STAR GAZING 
 
 Of scorn that chills me so; 
 Ah, then the old time glow 
 May move thee to remorse. 
 
 Ah, 3-es if we should meet 
 
 Ere wholly we forget, 
 And casually greet 
 With smiles and glances sweet 
 
 We might be happy yet! 
 
 TO THAIS. 
 
 Gloating upon thy likeness I behold 
 
 Beauty and strength, a combination rare 
 In thy frail sex; Byronic in thy mold. 
 
 Of finer fiber and of gentler air. 
 
 Sweet Thais! lovely Grecian! I will bare 
 My heart to thee — behold! 'tis wholly thine, 
 
 And to my soul as spiritually fair 
 As when, like cluster'd stars, thy beauties shine 
 Full on bewildered souls — but none so lost as mine. 
 
 The hour approaches and one thought impels, 
 
 I'll hie me hence to feast mine ear and eye: 
 Thy voice is sweet, and thro' my heart's lone cells 
 
 Re-echoes ever, where 'twill never die. 
 
 Thais, I love thee! would that thou wert nigh! 
 How warmly would I clasp thee! how caress! 
 
 Ah wild imagining! for such as I 
 'Tis madness thus to dream, the happiness 
 Of seeing thee afar is all I'll e'er possess. 
 
 TO THE SPIRIT OF THE DAY. 
 
 Oh thou that hast the concentrated greed 
 
 Of all the segrated porcine clan. 
 Whose every gulp makes myriad mortals bleed 
 
 And helpless hearths the face of Famine scan. 
 
STAR GAZING 45 
 
 I say to thee, the threat precedes the deed, 
 
 And tho' thou hast the upright mould of man, 
 ]\Iost hke the beast forever in the trough, 
 O'erspread the swill and snap thy fellows off 
 
 And fatten while ye may; the time is short 
 Until thou shalt be shrieking 'neath the knife; 
 
 Yes! gorge thee yet in safety, and consort 
 With suckling broods that look to thee for life, 
 
 And mankind cringing and manhood amort 
 Thy certain safeguard 'til the day of strife: 
 
 For sages see afar a horrid pow'r 
 
 And Mercy weeps that Fate has nam'd the hour. 
 
 Gorge thou! who hath considered Famine keeping 
 His deathwatch 'neath thy safe prosperity. 
 
 Who hath considered famished women weeping 
 O'er dying infants, smiling merc'lessly. 
 
 I say to thee, when Anarchy is leaping, 
 
 M'ay thirsting vengeance thus consider thee! 
 
 And like the brute whose instinct lives in thee, 
 
 Glut thou in thy exultant gluttony! 
 
 What tongue can tell the floods of ceaseless tears. 
 The vats of bloody sweat of humankind 
 
 Since earth was cursed with thee and thy compeers! 
 The taintless fortune, won with killing grind. 
 
 The comfortable hearth, wTung from the years ; 
 They vanish like the blooms in autumn's wind. 
 
 The plagues combined could never equal thee, 
 
 Exhaustless source of widening misery. 
 
 The wolf, which feeds upon the perishing, 
 
 The vulture, bolting putrid carrion. 
 The serpent, which will gorge a living thing, 
 
 The cat, w^iich every living thing must shun. 
 The dog returning to its vomiting. 
 
 The maggot stench-engendered in the sun. 
 
4-6 STAR GAZING 
 
 Are nauseous-vile, but wholesonie unto thee, 
 Spirit of greed and grasping perfidy! 
 
 Mankind hath bended unto many kings. 
 And Bonaparte and Caesar — Alexander, 
 
 Who, tho' at moments harsh, inflicting stings, 
 Was each a glorious, masterful commander, 
 
 And well-belov'd, and time their praises sings, 
 And for their day our destiny is grander 
 
 And men, full flattered owned their sov'reignty. 
 
 But faugh! to bend unto a thing like thee! 
 
 Full eagerly thou flauntest in the ken 
 
 Of men thy generous millions! and endow 
 
 Alesht institutes that multitudes again 
 Re-echo thy beneficence and vow 
 
 Tliou art the most munificent of men, 
 And voiceful beneficiaries bow 
 
 To thee, the soul of magnanimity — 
 
 To thee — the synonym of piety! 
 
 In every age some mighty task confronts 
 
 Some mightier mind: whose is the unheard name, 
 
 Whose unknown form this moment, haply, mounts 
 Slow upward into everlasting fame? 
 
 The watchful fates that keepeth men's accounts 
 Behold the task in every age the same. 
 
 Mankind's emancipation; every hour 
 
 Has manhood more and more in mammon's pow'r. 
 
 Mammon! the meanest menace to mankind. 
 Like an insidious tumor in its growth. 
 
 Sapping vitality of heart and mind, 
 
 And the pale victim long delayeth, loath 
 
 To hazard his existence, but will find 
 That he must suffer tenfold for the sloth 
 
 Timidity engenders, and the knife 
 
 Is the sole certaintv of saving life. 
 
STAR GAZING 47 
 
 Shall mankind, meant and fashion'd from the first 
 
 To be the peers of heavenly company, 
 Consort with serpents slimy and accurst, 
 
 And feebly bend to bestial tyranny? 
 Shall we, a wholesome people, nobly nurs'd, 
 
 And fear'd by despots, cringe in infamy? 
 Shall men or beasts rule o'er us! Know the truth 
 All monsters must be throttl'd in their youth! 
 
 THEIR SUN HATH SET. 
 
 Their sun hath set, the race of silent men, 
 
 They go like leaves before the sweeping gust; - 
 Their sun hath set, to never rise again. 
 Their graves are lost in vale and gorge and glen. 
 Unnumbered, and we tread their nameless dust. 
 
 Departing people! to the silent past 
 
 Ye journey now, and to oblivion's sea; 
 And as your signal smoke fades on the blast, 
 And as your campfires, emberless at last, 
 And as your wild haunts vanish, vanish ye. 
 
 The eagle, emblem of unfettered races, 
 
 Is taking flight, and follows liberty; 
 He sees his dusky brothers' saddened faces 
 Departing from the long-memorial'd places. 
 
 In quest of haunts where yet they may be free. 
 
 Their sun hath set, the haughty race of men ; 
 
 They go like leaves before the sweeping gust; 
 Their sun hath set, to never rise again; 
 Their graves will be in vale and gulch and glen. 
 
 Unnumbered, and we'll tread their signless dust! 
 
 June 28, 1904. 
 
48 STAR GAZING 
 
 TO AN INDIAN GIRL. 
 
 To me there is no other maiden 
 
 In the universe of women 
 
 Who can match with thee, my wild one! 
 
 Lovelier than a radiant river 
 
 Where a rainbow is embosom'd; 
 
 And whenever be my musings 
 
 Daytime thought or dream nocturnal 
 
 Thou art ever like a picture 
 
 Hovering from a splendid canvas 
 
 Always central in the vision. 
 
 Ah! there is no other likeness 
 
 In the universe of beauty 
 
 Which can match with thine, my sweet one! 
 
 Thy soft eyes are like twin planets 
 
 Peeping from an autumn forest 
 
 Tinged in twilight and vermilion; 
 
 And their glances are more tender 
 
 Than the rainbow when it melteth; 
 
 And thy mouth's miraculous curvings 
 
 Hath one rival — 'tis a phantom 
 
 Resident of streams and mirrors ; 
 
 And thy laugh is like the breaking 
 
 Of the wave upon the shingles 
 
 Full of ripple and refreshment. 
 
 Like a melody that's sprinkled 
 
 From the branches in the morning 
 
 Is the sweetness of thine accents. 
 
 And thy breath is like a zephyr 
 
 That hath lately talkt with lilies. 
 
 No! there is no other maiden 
 
 In the universe of beauty 
 
 Who can match with thee, my wild one! 
 
 Nor would I exchange thee, dark one. 
 
 For the loveliest of Christians 
 
 Or the handsomest of heathens! 
 
STAR GAZING 49 
 
 THE THREE TIDES. 
 
 When the tide of Ag^e sets in, 
 
 With its foam in the whit'ning head 
 And the palHd hand so thin; 
 And the passions, whate'er they have been, 
 
 As the seaweeds, cold and dead; — 
 'Tis then — all observant — we borrow 
 
 Sad thoughts from the sorrowful din 
 For existence, with every morrow 
 More frantic; we hark to that sorrow 
 
 Then the tide of Age sets in. 
 
 When the tide of Thought sets in 
 
 With its signs the unanimous clan 
 And unions united, akin 
 And aflame with the fervor to win, 
 
 With one will, with one mind, as one man! 
 O ye in your luxuries lying 
 
 On couches of pleasure and sin. 
 Hark to this: all injustice is dying, 
 And the winds will be swell'd with your sighing 
 
 When the tide of Thought sets in. 
 
 When the tide of Blood sets in — 
 
 But no! that will never be; 
 We'll fight, but no sanguinous sin 
 Shall stain us, however we win, 
 
 However we strive to be free. 
 But Beauty! you smile too serenely, 
 And Hauteur! too high is your head. 
 
 Calm matron, so jewell'd and queenly. 
 Cold Magnate, whose millions so meanly 
 Are pilfer'd, like gems from the dead — 
 
 Oh chasten your vulgar adorning, 
 And lull your extravagant din. 
 
 And hold not the lowly to scorning 
 
so STAR GAZING 
 
 Nor torture too far! heed this warning 
 No sangninous tide will set in. 
 
 THERE'S HATRED IN MY HE^RT. 
 
 There's hatred in my heart, and well there may, 
 
 When I look out upon the world and see 
 Vast tracts of want, augmenting every day, 
 And aching multitudes who cannot say 
 Aught is their own save moping misery. 
 
 There's hatred in my soul, a fiendish hate, 
 
 When I behold the glittering ones pass by, 
 Whose lot in life is golden, whose estate 
 Was built by mean and ignominious trait, 
 Sustained by beastly-tame supinity. 
 
 The vilest worms are not beneath the sod, 
 
 The loathsome serpent slumbers in the sun; 
 Ye heartless ones that helpless hearts have trod, 
 Ye sateless ones, ignoblest works of God, 
 Your evil destiny will yet be run! 
 
 I would I were a Titan for an hour. 
 
 And every gorging thing before me fled, 
 That bodied into one vast writhing pow'r, 
 Hissing its venom like a upas show'r. 
 
 How soon my heel would be upon its head! 
 
 WE BACKWARD LOOK. 
 
 We backward look, what doth appear? 
 Long days of toil and little cheer; 
 We forward glance and it is clear 
 
 The same m.ust be 
 Until the day we disappear 
 
 From slavery. 
 
 From sun to sun it is the same, 
 A struggle to preserve the fiame 
 
STAR GAZING 51 
 
 Of life; the battle, ah how tame! 
 
 We but subsist 
 On despots' dregs, our end and aim 
 
 Is to e>:ist. 
 
 Monotony! it is the curse 
 
 Of modern man, who must rehearse 
 
 One lifelong act if he would nurse 
 
 The vital breath; 
 Unceasing sameness! it is worse 
 
 Than many a death. 
 
 THE OUTBOUND SHIP. 
 
 It was a summer's afternoon 
 
 Down on the burning sands 
 I watcht a stately ship prepare 
 
 To pass to foreign lands. 
 
 Ah, damsel with the streaming eyes 
 
 That partest from thy swain. 
 Who knows, it may be better far 
 
 Ye'll never meet again. 
 
 Oh, lady, with the haughty glance 
 
 And cold, imtender glare, 
 Perchance out yonder in the deep 
 
 Thou'lt weep in thy despair' 
 
 Great magnate with the steely eye. 
 
 Of avaricious shine. 
 The meanest fish that swims the deep 
 
 Perchance may on thee dine! 
 
 Frail youth, so hollow-cheekt and thin, 
 
 And eyes of deathly shine, 
 Thou deemst it far across the deep, 
 
 A longer journey thine. 
 
52 STAR GAZING 
 
 My heart was sad that afternoon 
 
 As on the burning- sands 
 I sat and watcht that stately ship 
 
 Depart for foreign lands. 
 
 TO MICHAEL AMBROSE MACNEIL. 
 Of Boston, Massachusetts. 
 
 Friend Mac: These be the days of greed, 
 And grasp, and glut of mammon, 
 
 When hard times harder times succeed, 
 And famine follows famine. 
 
 The wild dog on the prairie vast 
 
 Extinctionward is darting, 
 But human wolves are breeding fast, 
 
 And manhood is departing! 
 
 We have philanthropists indeed, 
 
 Bequests and donors plenty, 
 Who dole a million, and succeed 
 
 In safely filching twenty. 
 
 Oh not for their souls' sake they give, 
 
 For gorgers such as they 
 Are soulless, and each hour they live 
 
 Sees plenty melt away. 
 
 How blest this nation of the free. 
 
 With masters all around us! 
 How blest we sons of liberty. 
 
 When cold and hunger hound us! 
 
 My friend, what's needed most is thought. 
 And myriad-mouth'd expression; 
 
 If men had never utter'd aught, 
 We'd still have old appression. 
 
 Feb. 4, 1903. Written in the winter of the coal famine. 
 
STAR GAZING 53 
 
 IN JOYFUL REALMS. 
 
 In joyful realms, remote from fancy's seeing, 
 Where dies no flow'r and fades no aspiration, 
 
 Where beauty bides eternally unfleeing, 
 
 Where being clings forever unto being, 
 Unwaking from the blest infatuation. 
 
 As when we meet here on this changing sphere. 
 
 Our fancied comrade happy for a day. 
 Oh wildly fervent, for one hour sincere, 
 Safe for one moment from the sigh and tear — 
 
 That joy in joyful realms for aye and aye. 
 
 As when we sink into the realms of sleep, 
 
 From wearing griefs, augmenting sadness sever, 
 When lo! a face whose beauty bids us weep. 
 Unearthly sweet! we strive in vain to keep, 
 Such lovely one will bide with us forever 
 
 i 
 
 In joyful realms. In deepest spirits dwells 
 A sweet assurance, as a fragrance vernal, 
 That we shall roam in far and fadeless dells 
 With shining ones, where no remembrance tells 
 Of aught of grief, but happiness eternal. 
 
 YONDER. 
 
 Uncharnel'd climes! untomb'd Eternity! 
 
 Unmausoleum-mark'd, unmournful mounded; 
 Nor silent-citied, with sad cemetery 
 
 Flower-piled by pallid hands and hearts death 
 wounded. 
 Nor faded fields the soaring ever see. 
 
 Nor blighted blooms, nor valleys autumn-bounded; 
 Nor falling leaf, nor trodden blossom view. 
 Nor sapless limb, nor lightning'd bough imbue 
 
 With gloom exultant hearts un-sorrow-sounded. 
 
54 STAR GAZING 
 
 Where ripply rivers glimmer, tear-unmingled. 
 
 Where morning dews remembrance no tear, 
 Where ocean shores, sweet-murmurous, pearl shingled, 
 
 And diamond-sanded, tinted gem'd and clear. 
 Where faroff vermeil vapors are outsingled 
 
 By cherubim, and raced with echoing cheer; 
 Where silver plumes from fleeing seraphim 
 Descend like flakes; where eyes are never dim, 
 Nor brows belined, nor bosoms passion-tingled. 
 
 Where love abides, and pure affection rises 
 
 From love that never wakens from its dream ; 
 And eon to eon one soul another prizes 
 
 More fond, to never stray from all they seem ; 
 Where love condones, and sweetly compromises 
 
 Misunderstanding winds that rough its stream. 
 Where souls shall find the one responding soul. 
 Predestined comrade, and as ages roll. 
 
 The matchless charm remains — immortalizes. 
 
 For naught can die, nor impulse thought nor sound, 
 
 Heart-well'd and sweet; the mortal spirit stunted, 
 Deficient, in eternity is found 
 
 Full-forming, with a destiny confronted 
 Of glorious aim; and oh! the joy profound, 
 
 The rapturous exclaims at tasks surmounted, 
 The exultation in the deathless years 
 For fond research; and with extatic peers. 
 
 Drinks deep of springs of lore exhaustless-founted. 
 
 And none shall die, nor pass the anguish'd hour 
 
 Which meditates inevitable doom. 
 Nor pathway thorn'd, nor serpent-hiding flower. 
 
 Nor vernal vistas focus'd to the tomb ; 
 Where midnight shines as morning, and the dower 
 
 Of every spirit youth's unfading bloom, 
 Where haunting charms, faint dream'd in mortal sleep, 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 55 
 
 Are found like flowers ; where sylphy visions keep 
 Insatiate tryst by never-fading bower. 
 
 WHEN DARKNESS COMES. 
 
 When darkness com^s, and nighttime harmonies 
 
 Of plaintive sighings wake the far and near, 
 Repining sounds, the echo and the breeze. 
 With pensive meaning, mournful cadences; 
 And lights that glow and dim and disappear 
 
 Over the meadow, out upon the river, 
 
 From bank to bank, like lighted ghosts they flee; 
 And I can see the darksome water quiver 
 Beneath those fitful gleams, inconstant ever, — 
 
 xA.nd many a bubbly sound proclaims to me. 
 
 And shining scale, life's mournfulest ordaining. 
 
 Life seeking life — dark, merciless decree; 
 Alas! that Death waits not the final weaning 
 Throughout life's realms, his eager hand restraining 
 'Til came decay and sere senility. 
 
 Inquire not now: all answerless will be 
 For ages yet the question uppermost; 
 
 Oblivion cold, or bright eternity. 
 
 To stay with Earth, or pass the shining host. 
 
 Inquire not now: for ages must remain 
 Unanswer'd the sublime interrogation; 
 
 To brightly flee, and pass the sapphire plain. 
 Or darkly sink to chill annihilation. 
 
 THAT DARKSOME RIVER. 
 
 That darksome river, breadthless and unsounded, 
 Which laps forever the eternal space. 
 
S6 STAR GAZIiNG 
 
 Which we must breast, by silent night surrounded, 
 Which we must brave, to stand at last confounded 
 Before unswerving Justice, face to face. 
 
 O who will venture on that soundless river 
 
 Without some buoyance? ever round us lying 
 Are dormant deeds which will forsake us never, 
 WTiich will sustain us and maintain us ever. 
 Above that struggle and that anxious sighing. 
 
 That darksome river — hearken O ye silent, 
 
 Departed ones! when we draw near the shore, 
 And rest us, weary, on some outer island, 
 O send us, gazing from your happy highland. 
 Some smiling sign that every sigh is o'er. 
 
 IN AFTER TIME. 
 
 In after time will there be branded ones. 
 
 In sombre souls must there be struggling then? 
 
 And will there be beneath those lessening suns 
 White faces flitting thro' the throngs of men. 
 
 As I now see wan visages that flee 
 With what misery. 
 
 In after time will there be joy and laughter, 
 Exultant leaping of the unharrass'd heart? 
 
 And will there be sweet music echoing after 
 The festival where now but woes upstart? 
 
 So fast our tears methinks there'll be no laughter 
 In centuries after. 
 
 And will there pass each other in the street 
 
 Estrang'd and cold bosoms once warm and true? 
 
 And where were smiles but frowning faces meet, 
 And where such love but blackness meet the view. 
 
 And will there then upstart the quenchless blaze 
 Of former davs? 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 In after time what will the answer be 
 To Hfe's unscruted problem? far within 
 
 The Hghtless future where, evolvingly, 
 Events abide, as all the past has been, 
 
 Dwell formless forces, terrible, untam'd. 
 Unknown, unnam'd. 
 
 And where will be the exalted of today. 
 The lowly and the nameless, you and I? 
 
 As tree and flower and fruit are swept away, 
 Not we alone, our memory will die! 
 
 As fades the smile, as perish falling tears 
 In far after years. 
 
 THAT DARKNESS WAITS US. 
 
 "That darkness waits us and annihilation. 
 
 That we must vanish even as a spark; 
 As from the flow'ret passes animation, 
 As melteth morning hues, our destination 
 Oblivion's realm, and starless cold and dark. 
 
 "That we must vanish as a bubble breaking, 
 
 As shadows cease, that pass to utter nought; 
 And as a ray its parent sun forsaking, 
 Melts in midspace, the faroiT world unmaking, 
 So that high Hope an infant's dream, a thought. 
 
 So feebly speak whose dismal voices are 
 Of vacant import; for their souls are dead 
 
 To telepathic tidings from afar; 
 
 To them the stars as if they never were. 
 
 And darkness round, beneath and overhead. 
 
 The dark belief, the doubting and the crying 
 
 Will pass away and we shall learn to see 
 Into those realms where beauty is undying — 
 Far shining cities and the throng unsighing — 
 And as a child deem of eternitv. 
 
 57 
 
58 STAR GAZING 
 
 IN DAYS OF BRIGHTNESS. 
 
 And must I then be as a silent sod, 
 
 And pass to nothing even as a thought 
 Unmemoried? a footmark that was trod 
 On stormy sands? Art thou forsaken, God, 
 By thine own children listlessly forgot? 
 
 In days, of brightness when our mornings waken 
 To buoyancy, and evenings come in gladness, 
 
 Art Thou not then. All Loving One, forsaken? 
 
 Who deems of Thee 'til anguish overtaken. 
 
 And shadows loom of death and fearful sadness? 
 
 T would not sink and be a silent clod. 
 And fade to nothing even as a dream. 
 
 I dwell not on decay, the wormy sod. 
 
 And not in sorrow only deem of God, 
 
 But days of brightness and in bliss supreme. 
 
 IN COMING TIME. 
 
 In coming time what marvels will there be, 
 What dormant wonders, wrapt in silent nought, 
 
 And many a soul-tormenting mystery. 
 Inexplicable now and vainly sought, 
 
 Repose like flow'rs upon some stream sublime. 
 In coming time. 
 
 What joy will ring thro' faroflf scenery 
 
 No words can tell nor dream, however sweet; 
 
 Like laughter from some rare festivity, 
 
 Where griefless glances beaming faces meet. 
 
 As children's echoes when they race and climb, 
 In coming time. 
 
 As when we see upon a gala day 
 
 Replying smiles, contagious gladness beaming", 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 59 
 
 The smiles which now but momentary play, 
 
 Bright fancies now but momentary teaming, 
 So all sustained, 'mid scenery sublime, 
 In coming- time. 
 
 ODE TO TWO YEARS. 
 
 The hands point upward, seeming one, 
 Thy race, Old Year, is all but run. 
 Thy final moment hath begun! 
 
 Thy wings are spread, 
 Hush! 'tis thy passing bell — 'tis done. 
 
 The year is dead. 
 
 Thou wilt return no more — not here, 
 But haply in some happier sphere 
 Art biding now — thy swift career 
 
 Speeds ever on, 
 To countless planets cold and drear 
 
 Hast comie and gone! 
 
 Hail infant year! but moments old. 
 What wilt thou bring? What wilt unfold? 
 What wonder new shall we behold 
 
 Ere thy decay? 
 What evil ere thy knell be tolled 
 
 Will pass away? 
 
 Thy parent, Babe, brought many a pleasure, 
 And by that power we cannot measure, 
 Will Evolution, at her leisure, 
 
 Our souls uplift. 
 What strange, astounding, undreamed treasure 
 
 Will be thy gift? 
 
 Of unborn years — desire intense 
 To pierce beyond. Omniscience 
 
6o STAR GAZING 
 
 Alone can see — to mortal sense 
 
 No glimpse appears, 
 What marvels — what magnificence 
 
 Of unborn years! 
 
 Old year, farewell! moist eyes are drying, 
 Ten thousand eyes have seen thee dying. 
 Ten thousand ears have heard thee flying. 
 
 Thy passing bell 
 Hath hush'd ten thousand bosoms, sighing; 
 
 Dead year — farewell ! 
 
 Thou hast departed — not alone 
 
 Thou, numbered year. As cold as stone 
 
 Somewhere some soul, perchance unknown, 
 
 Hath left its clay. 
 The very moment thou hadst flown 
 
 It soared away! 
 
 That moment o'er ten thousand earths 
 
 Of meaner or surpassing girths, 
 
 Did hover, and ten thousand hearths 
 
 Heard happier breaths 
 Or heavier hearts — ten thousand births, 
 
 Ten thousand deaths! 
 
 Hail infant year! and many a chime 
 Rings welcome wild. From lands sublime 
 That moment unto mortal clime 
 
 An angel fleeing 
 Accompanied to the bounds of time 
 
 Some spotless being — 
 
 That deathless spirit born with thee 
 That weeps or smiles where'er it be 
 Or harketh to the wild and free 
 And frenzied chimes, 
 
STAR GAZING 6 I 
 
 Is heir to all Eternity 
 And happy climes. 
 
 Year after year like wave on wave 
 Comes rolling by ; — tho' bright and brave 
 Our various dreams — the most we crave 
 
 Is pleasure's fill, 
 'Till — dread awakening — lo, the grave 
 
 Yawns dark and chill — 
 
 Yawns dark and dread that gloomy goal;- 
 
 Our final hour- — we may control 
 
 Its terrors now; and when that scroll. 
 
 Our past, we read. 
 How soothing to the sinking soul 
 
 Some saintlv deed! 
 
 WHEN COMES DECAY. 
 
 When comes decay, and thought and sentient dream 
 Wax fervorless, and ardent yearnings wane, 
 
 And bright expectancy and fervent theme ; 
 
 Anf farofT fortune, foolish tho' it seem, 
 Becomes cold fancy, fatuous and vane; — 
 
 When seasons pass, how swiftly! when bright Spring 
 
 Means one more milestone to the gloomy goal; 
 When Summer only mournful meanings bring, 
 And Autumn days, so bleak and withering. 
 Speak only of departure to the soul, — 
 
 Then look thee starward. melancholy one, 
 
 And joyful walk thy darkening autumn way, 
 Nor glance thee into chill oblivion, 
 But gaze beyond the faintest shining sun 
 To that far home where never comes decav. 
 
62 STAR GAZING 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 
 
 MR. WILLIAM SHUAISKY. 
 
 William Shnmsky is a young' Jewish poet of Boston. 
 He was born in Franklin, Alass., was educated in the 
 public schools of Boston, and is now only 21 years of 
 age. In 1905 Mr. Shumsky and myself made a tour of 
 Europe and the Holy Lands, and it is to Mr. Shumsky's 
 enthusiasm, indefatigable industry and gift in impart- 
 ing his knowledge to others that I owe my acquaintance 
 with the Hebrew^ language. His poetry is written en- 
 tirely in the Jewish tongue as he composes only for 
 the amusement of his own people. 
 
 MR. PRICE COTTLE. 
 
 Mr. Price Cottle was born in Los Angeles, Cal., 
 about 34 years ago. In 1896 he came to Boston to ac- 
 cept a government position. His lingual gifts are ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 A DREAM. 
 
 (From the Hebrew.) 
 
 I clasped her gently, looking in her face 
 
 Of seraph beauty — inexpressible 
 The warmth and purity of that embrace 
 And loving whisper — time will not efface 
 
 In many a day the glow I cannot tell. 
 
 Alas! alas! that we can never meet 
 
 In living life the image of our trance ; 
 The rapturous presence and the gesture sweet, 
 The look which memory loveth to repeat, 
 The manv a dav recurring countenance. 
 
STAR GAZING 63 
 
 SONNET TO ESTHER. 
 (From the Hebre\Y.) 
 
 So bright was she her image cannot flee 
 Into ObHvion, but in my heart 
 It doth repose, inaHenable part 
 
 Of all I am and all that I can be. 
 
 Like uninspired materiality 
 
 The myriad face of beauty; if perchance, 
 I bask brief moments in some lovely glance, 
 
 But transient dreams, and fade from memory. 
 But thou, oh never dying spell! thy power 
 Is still unchang'd as from that primal hour 
 
 Of comradeship, when happiness was o'er 
 Apart from other. Like convergent beams 
 That momentary meet, end either streams 
 
 On paths unknown, unmeeting evermore. 
 
 SONG TO ROSENA. 
 (From the Hebrew of Wm. Shumsky.) 
 
 Her cheek is like new-fallen snow, 
 
 By rosy windows tinted; 
 Her locks would make a yellow heap, 
 
 Like sovereigns newly minted. 
 And by the arrows of her eyes 
 
 My bosom did surrender; 
 I saw, and sigh'd to be her slave, 
 
 And all my life attend her. 
 
 Like one that's fetter'd hand and foot, 
 
 Chain'd in a cell securely. 
 Is he who comes within her spell. 
 
 Her charms will bind him, surely. 
 Her eyes with lustre overflow, 
 
 Her voice is wondrous tender; 
 
64 STAR GAZING 
 
 I heard, and sigh'd to be a slave 
 And all my life attend her. 
 
 Like nymphs that lave in lilied streams, 
 
 Her motions are entrancing, ' 
 
 Like music and like poetry. 
 
 Like Beauty lightly dancing; 
 One fervent dart, my soul was hers. 
 
 One accent, wondrous tender. 
 One smile. I sigh'd to be her slave 
 
 And all my life attend her. 
 
 SWEET ^L\IDEX OF THE BROWN EYE. 
 (From the Hebrew.) 
 
 Sweet maiden of the brown eye. 
 
 Of cheek like tinted dawn. 
 Like vapor pale and tinted, 
 
 Just ere the tint is gone; 
 But ah! the air that lingers there, 
 
 Like Welcome beckoning on. 
 
 Sweet maiden of the red lips, 
 
 ^lore richly dyed than dawn 
 In bright midsummer morning 
 
 Before the dews are gone; 
 But ah! the pearls reposing there. 
 
 And priceless every one. 
 
 Sweet maiden of the dark hair, 
 
 More dusk than ere the dawn. 
 That well would match the sable wing 
 
 Which minstrels rhyme upon; 
 But ah! the ebon lustre there. 
 
 And gloss that's never gone. 
 
 Sweet maiden of the brown eye, 
 ]\Iore tender than the dawn, 
 
STAR GAZING 65 
 
 That glimmers down on waiting dews 
 
 And dries the dampened stone; 
 But ah! their deep affection, 
 
 And all for me alone. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 (From the Esperanto of Price Cottle.) 
 
 SUSPICION. 
 
 Ah pale thou art, and there's a sombre sign 
 
 Of anguish round thee, and unutter'd grief 
 Those depths of starry tenderness confine ; 
 And on that brow — so alien unto thine 
 
 Serenity, like jealousy's belief— 
 I see the sadness deepen line by line. 
 My spirit's comrade! smile once more on me, 
 
 Laugh but one moment that I may depart 
 With smiles and dimples in my memory, 
 
 With silvery intonations in my heart! 
 Unanswering thou! I did not deem thee thus; 
 
 Methought that breast was kindliness alone, 
 
 Impulsive but to pity and condone; — 
 Into my heart a desolate grief is creeping. 
 Thine own so still and cold and ominous ; 
 Ah let me clasp thee wildly — thou art weeping! 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 (From the Esperanto of Price Cottle.) 
 
 THE RECONCILIATION. 
 
 I claspt her fervently, a fragile being, 
 
 I kiss'd her as she lay my arms within, 
 And held her from me for insatiate seeing, 
 Her languid loveliness, so well agreeing 
 
 With ardent dreams where she has ever been. 
 
66 STAR GAZING 
 
 I claspt her tenderly, and near my heart 
 I heard her own, and on her snowy brow 
 
 Impressed my hps. My soul! not now thou art 
 A slum'brous fantasy, nor fleeting now. 
 
 The shadows deepen and the twilight flowers 
 Incline in sleep; far on the lethean sea 
 
 The myriad multitudes, and happy hours 
 Fall now^ on many; sleep comes not to me. 
 Nor hath oblivion realm a sweeter dream than thee. 
 
 ON VACATION. 
 PRELUDE. OVER YONDER. 
 
 Across the river, following the path 
 
 Up the embankment, striking on the trail 
 
 Into the deep woods, where the sunlight hath 
 No entry, nor the boist'rous meadow gale: 
 
 On mossy pathways, thro' dark isles I'll wander, 
 Over yonder. 
 
 Behind the hill, along the intervale. 
 
 Up the red sandstone, by the icy spring. 
 
 My halfway rest, and striking on the trail 
 Into the deep wood where wild accents ring: 
 
 On mossy floors, in sylvan halls I'll ponder. 
 Over yonder. 
 
 TO DR. MAURICE E. PAINE FITZ GERALD, OF 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 Antigonish, N. S., Aug. lo, 1906. 
 
 Dear Doctor: Once again I sit 
 
 Me down in a poetic fit; 
 
 My glass is nigh, my pipe is lit, 
 
 I'll taste good cheer; 
 Yes, I will make the most of it 
 
 While I am here. 
 
STAR GAZING 6/ 
 
 We're here today, we're gone tomorrow, 
 
 This hour we smilfe, the next we sorrow; 
 
 Art down in the mouth? drink rum or borrow 
 
 A phonograph; 
 Ere settHng in the coffin narrow 
 
 No harm to laugh. 
 
 How recreative field and wood, 
 How soothing-sweet alone to brood 
 With nature when the troubl'd mood 
 
 Belines the brow; 
 The soul expands in solitude 
 
 The bards avow. 
 
 How pleasant is this country road. 
 
 Enticing even when o'erflow'd 
 
 With drifting dust: here comes a load 
 
 Of fragrant hay; 
 Hey there! you jolly jumping toad. 
 
 Get out the way! 
 
 How cool, to municipal glare, 
 
 These smokeless hills and valleys fair; 
 
 As blest a contrast, I declare, 
 
 As land to see, 
 After the dreadful mal de mer, 
 
 Ah, sacre! oui. 
 
 I'll rest me in this shady nook; 
 I didn't fetch, nor need a book. 
 Enough for me the running brook; — 
 
 And now egad, 
 At nature I will have a look — 
 
 This rum's not bad! 
 
 Here in this dell of mint Ell pass 
 A fragrant hour; how cool the grass; 
 What herb is this? my head, alas. 
 I ne'er could cram it 
 
68 STAR GAZING 
 
 With nomenclature; by the mass 
 It's ragwort, damn it! — 
 
 The weed that makes the farmers svVear, 
 The Wight of Nova Scotia's fair 
 And fertile fields; upon the air 
 
 The seed is blown; 
 And wheresoe'er it lighteth, there 
 
 The pest is known. 
 
 Some forty years ago 'twas brought 
 From South America, and thought 
 All harmless; on the wharf, forgot, 
 
 By sailors thrown; 
 And now no roadside, field or plot 
 
 But it is known. 
 
 Thou dirty alien! poison plant. 
 
 If good for aught thou wouldst be scant ; 
 
 Tenacious as the flea or ant, 
 
 Thou thrivest fast; 
 And all the rustic gossips grant 
 
 You're here to last. 
 
 But what's this weed to do with me? 
 Oh, nothing! like to let you see 
 I've studied some in botany; 
 
 And now b'giim, 
 I'll have another — here's to ye — 
 
 Hooray for rum! 
 
 Here's to my friends! may their regard 
 Be mine to foster, nor discard; 
 Malignant evils, pressing hard. 
 
 May we outlive 'em ; 
 As for my foes, may hell reward — 
 
 But I forgive 'em! 
 
STAR GAZING 69 
 
 Now Mrs. Wasp, go 'long with ye, 
 
 You're not in my society! 
 
 But here's your health ! may you and me 
 
 Be here next June! 
 'Rah! 'rah! for Ireland! when she's free — 
 
 Not yet, but soon! 
 
 Hah! what was that? methinks did hear 
 A rustling movement very near 
 In that deep grass; a toad is there! 
 
 A look I'll take; 
 A lizard maybe; I declare 
 
 It is a snake! 
 
 Not one, but forty! ho, ho, ho. 
 It must be that a snakey show 
 Is going on; — but no — but no — 
 
 Oh Lord forgive! 
 The Devil's juice I will forego 
 
 As long's I live. 
 
 I'll put for home: 'Twas awful lichor, 
 Oh my poor head — I'm feeling sicker! 
 My blood is boiling — getting thicker! 
 
 'Twas fearful stuff! 
 Sneer if you will, and grin and snicker — 
 
 I've had enough. 
 
 The man who drinks and ne'er forsakes 
 His work, and health and comfort takes 
 From stimulent — he's wise who makes 
 
 Good use of it; 
 But when you see a grove of snakes 
 
 It's time to quit. 
 
 O drink! the evil of the day, 
 
 What plans thy flood hath swept away ; 
 
70 STAR GAZING 
 
 What youthful hosts have gone astray 
 
 Returning never; 
 Ambition 'neath thy fatal sway 
 
 Subsides forever. i 
 
 For thee men drain the bitter dregs 
 Of death and madness; childhood begs 
 Wolf-ey'd, and age on palsi'd legs 
 
 Becomes outcast; | 
 
 Thou woe more widespread than the plagues 
 
 Of all the past. 
 
 Not those alone who sink beneath 
 
 Thy boundless blight; ere shroud and wreath 
 
 For generations yet to breathe 
 
 They form the fashion; 
 To unborn innocents bequeathe 
 
 The fatal passion. 
 
 Dear Doctor, it is time to finish; 
 The hour is late, the lights diminish; 
 This stufT may all be Green or Finnish 
 
 To you, alas! 
 (Hold on a shake 'till I replenish 
 
 My empty glass). 
 
 I've eaten apples quite a lot, 
 Too green I fear; I never thought 
 Of consequences — something hot 
 
 ril have to take; ' 
 
 Ouch! — I must close — oh, oh, Fve got 
 
 The bellyache! 
 
 TO DR. EDWARD A. TRACEY, OF BOSTON, 
 
 MASS. 
 
 Antigonish, N. S., Aug. 13, 1906. 
 
 Dear Doctor: I have hied away 
 To beautiful Acadia; 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 My pulse is good, my feelings gay, 
 
 My head is level; 
 Ye cares that long had me at bay, 
 
 Go to the devil! 
 
 Fresh air and sunsliine, hail to ye! 
 Hail exercise! health giving three; 
 Hail to delightful scenery 
 
 Far from the Hub; 
 Hail long sound sleep — so new to me — 
 
 Hail good fresh grub! 
 
 Yes, Doctor, I could leave behind 
 
 Forever the unceasing grind, 
 
 The maddening, murdering, blighting blind 
 
 Pursuit of mammon; 
 And live unfetter'd, unconfin'd 
 
 As any gamin. 
 
 To roavn the field and tramp the wood, 
 Untortur'd by the countless brood 
 Of bus'ness cares that sap the blood 
 
 And sear the brain ; 
 Unmixing with the multitude 
 
 Whose god is Gain. 
 
 Yet, Doc, this is a narrow way 
 To look at life : From day to day 
 You toil and moil and get your pay 
 
 E'en as you should ; 
 Cut ofif a leg (or what you may) 
 
 You're doing good. 
 
 We're here to work, but princip'ly 
 To help each other. I may be 
 Disgruntled at the drudgery, 
 Complaining loud: 
 
72 STAR GAZING 
 
 If I assist humanity 
 I should be proud. 
 
 Here, from this mountain top I see 
 What grandeur spreading out from me; 
 The woodland's crimson scenery 
 
 In sunset glow! 
 The river, intershiningly, 
 
 Winds far below. 
 
 The day begins to disappear, 
 The infant river gurgles near, 
 The swain is thinking of his dear, 
 
 And hikes to meet her; 
 The night, how beautifully clear, 
 
 And (damn that skeeter!) — 
 
 And night birds waken. Here and there 
 A firefly flecks the darkening air; 
 How pleasant to be free from care! 
 
 A bullfrog croaks 
 As stifling in his watery lair — 
 
 (I hope he chokes!) 
 
 How sweet the country when you've fled 
 From burning bricks and ceaseless tread 
 Of restless feet; The day is dead: 
 
 About my bunk 
 Sweet odors waft in from the mead — 
 
 Ugh! phew! that skunk! 
 
 I've steamed ten thousand miles of main. 
 Sailed up the Thames, sailed down the Seine ; 
 I saw the spot where Lady Jane 
 
 Mislaid her head; 
 The spot where Raleigh, too, was slain 
 
 And Bolvn bled. 
 
STAR GAZING 73 
 
 I've traveled weary leagues, I have! 
 Conversed with Latin, Celt and Slav; 
 I've studied many a noble knave; 
 
 Saw Byron's tomb; 
 I marveled at Napoleon's grave, 
 
 That man of gloom. 
 
 I've seen King Louis' bloody shirt, 
 Three centuries "unwashed, unhurt," 
 Yet mirky with the gory squirt, 
 
 Right plain to see; 
 A gruesome witness to inert, 
 
 Malmonarchy. 
 
 I've traveled some — I've been around! 
 I saw the slab upon the ground 
 Where stood the guillotine — confound 
 
 Its memory! 
 Where gentle, helpless w'omen found 
 
 Eternity. 
 
 Hell-hearted brutes! were't not enough 
 To drink the blood of sterner stufif? 
 However, w^e are not less rough — 
 
 Take Gov'nor Bell 
 And "Teddy Rosenfelt" the grufif, 
 
 Whose records tell 
 
 Unpitying barbarity 
 To' erring femininity; 
 Evolving soul! I cannot see 
 
 The sense or fitness 
 To vaunt adva'nced psychology 
 
 As facts will witness. 
 
 But yet in justice to the plan 
 Of Darwin the events I scan 
 Occurred wdthin too brief a span 
 Of fleeting time; 
 
74 STAR GAZING 
 
 The evolutionary man — 
 
 How vague his cHmb! / 
 
 If we could vision, as a year, 
 Eonic cycles, 'twould be clear 
 Tlie ethic transmutation here; 
 
 The change would be 
 As vernal day to winter drear; 
 
 And we would see 
 
 A picture of the brutal past 
 So ghastly we would be aghast. 
 And pray the horror not to last 
 
 One instant more; 
 But ruthful veils are wisely cast 
 
 Our eyes before. 
 
 Yes, I have traveled up and down 
 This planet, and have weary grown 
 Of living customs not my own; 
 
 Here I could stay 
 Amid these wafts of pure ozone 
 
 And while away 
 
 Eiventless years. Our hfe is brief, 
 As frailly fastened as the leaf; 
 Death cometh as the nightly thief 
 
 We dread to scan; 
 We live, we die; these are the chief 
 
 Events of man. 
 
 Ye horrid thoughts — away! away! 
 
 Ye shall not spoil my holiday; 
 
 And brighter words than death to say 
 
 How fresh this breeze, 
 Full-freighted from the meadow hay 
 
 And apple trees. 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 I pass o'er stream, thro' thymy dell; 
 How sweet to me the tinkling bell 
 Upon that cow; it is to tell 
 
 Where stray the kine; 
 x\ happy scheme — exceeding well 
 
 And superfine! 
 
 See t'other cow; she comes to see 
 What sort of creature I may be; 
 Co bossie! she appears to me 
 
 Ayrshire — milk full; 
 Good heavens ! I must climb a tree — 
 
 It is the bull! 
 
 I fear no bull — outside the fence ; 
 But he advances; his intents 
 May be of serious consequence: 
 
 Skidoo for me; 
 Who argues with a bull repents — 
 
 So 23! 
 
 I'll pike for it: I was an ass 
 This dirty field to ever pass; 
 I hear his hoofs upon the grass 
 
 At thundering clip; 
 If I should sink in this morass! 
 
 If I should trip! 
 
 I feel his snorting hot behind me; 
 This perspiration — it will blind me; 
 Another moment he will grind me 
 
 With gory blows ; 
 And in this swamp no man will find me- 
 
 T'll feed the crows! 
 
 In studying natural scenery 
 A "soulful calm" is necess'ry; 
 
 75 
 
7 6 STAR GAZING 
 
 No tliymy dells occur to me, 
 
 No thickets dense; 
 No prattling brooks — naught can I see 
 
 Except the fence! 
 
 Alack! I'm done for; now I feel 
 My final moment: shall I squeal 
 Aloud for help? I stagger — reel — 
 
 Amid these thorns; 
 And — ^Julius Caesar! sharp as steel 
 
 I feel his horns! 
 
 And such is life: we watch the sky 
 
 In rosy reveries; the sigh 
 
 Is absent, and the moments fly — 
 
 Oh yes! the bull — 
 I haven't space enough to die, 
 
 The page is full. 
 
 I feel ai; I have the label 
 
 Of health upon me; and — no fable — 
 
 So hungry I clean ofif the table; 
 
 The plates I lick; 
 I tell you I am getting able 
 
 And very slick! 
 
 Dear Doc. forgive this rigmorole, 
 I did not mean, upon my soul. 
 To smother you with such a scroll 
 
 Of witless talk; 
 (Have yet got in your winter's coal?) 
 
 So long, dear Doc! 
 
 DEPARTED DAYS. 
 
 (Song-Sonnet.) 
 
 Departed Days! ye glow unwonted sweet; 
 The ardent hours, the long descending suns, 
 
STAR GAZING 77 
 
 The sounds the echoes pensively repeat, 
 
 Like dreamed replyings of departed ones ; 
 The alder'd valley where the rivers meet, 
 
 The lapp-ed banks, with blossoms waving gay, 
 The arbor'd homes which fancy must complete. 
 
 The wistful hills, so green and far away! 
 Departed days! ye have not fled forever. 
 
 Your mornings waken and your waters run, 
 Your echo'd chimes still float across the river, 
 
 Your evening lamps are lighted one by one! 
 And round your hearths, when night hath darkly set, 
 Are ember-brightened faces, happy vet. 
 
 A RIVER DREAM. 
 
 I wander'd into Autumn's silent wood. 
 
 Red carpeted, with interwoven gray 
 And yellow blends, a soundless solitude. 
 
 And to a lonesome valley made my way. 
 And on a moss lawn by a bubblv stream 
 
 I lay me, and the endless eddying held 
 My glances, 'til a Reverie and Dream 
 
 Alighted near, but gently were repell'd. 
 
 She was but fleeting; and her trailing tress 
 Her single raiment, in the setting sun 
 
 Of golden strands, as o'er the water-cress 
 She wafted by me, that resplendent one! 
 
 And with the turning of the stream she went, — 
 
 Some sylvan sylph — or river-resident. 
 
 WINTER. 
 
 Season severe, and anesthetic time. 
 
 Dissembling death the tree and shrub and flower; 
 When life's mysterious currents cannot climb 
 
 The fibrous veins for manv a frozen hour. 
 
7^ STAR GAZING 
 
 Even as a stream that fades into the sands, 
 
 Continuing unseen, is dormant life; 
 And oft I wonder, 'mid the bleak woodlands. 
 
 Where now the tides in summer branches rife. 
 
 Like to a fire that sweeps a monarch's halls 
 And flame its greed infernal satiates. 
 
 Licking the priceless landscapes from the walls. 
 And fabric dreams — so Winter desolates. 
 
 Remaining blooms and yet green avenues, 
 Like to a city where a plague has pass'd, 
 
 Or as a banner'd fleet, with gallant crews. 
 Left tempest wreckt, and naked every mast. 
 
 Yet, Winter, cheerless in the broad domain 
 Of nature, thou hast many a happy hearth; 
 
 And spite thy bleak and desolating reign, 
 Happiness still finds many a spot on earth. 
 
 There is a fever in the human breast 
 
 That thirsts for every season ere its turn; 
 
 Sharp, whistling winds for blossoms bring a zest, 
 And mid green glens for snowflakes do we yearn. 
 
 WHEN COMES REGRET. 
 
 When comes Regret, unbidden guest of Thought, 
 That formless spectre ever found behind 
 
 My chair of meditation, then hath not 
 
 Departed spirits that repining wrought 
 
 By seeking converse with the living mind? 
 That viewless shadow, traceless, undefined, 
 
 Of unaccounted source, pervades the breast; 
 And as the sighing of the Autumn wind, 
 Whose subtle meaning words may never find. 
 
 So comes Regret, Thought's uninvited guest. 
 
STAR GAZING 
 
 TO MARY. 
 
 79 
 
 Thou wert to me as roses, rich and new, 
 
 An alien odor wafted to the street 
 
 From chapel censer; and unwonted sweet 
 Thy spirit, purer than the morning dew. 
 
 Ah, when with thee how richly was I blest! 
 How golden were the moments, bright and free; 
 
 And since those hours the dragging years attest 
 How priceless were one moment spent with thee. 
 
 My sands are down, and passions' fires are flow'n, 
 Infatuation's fever hath declined; 
 
 Yet sweet to me, as blossoms newly blown. 
 Is memory, with thy beauty intertwnn'd! 
 
 And like soul treasures, born of charity 
 
 To man and bird and beast, are thoughts of thee. 
 
HAY 24 t90T