■w. THE ROADSIDE FIRE AMELIA JOSEPHINE BURR '.* ^''i' :. I •»f. ^ ■'■■ , '■ ^i^? ""O r^ ~ j*» Class !"^o 3 ^ d 3 DOOK 1 f g » ^ ^ f Gopyrig]it]^°. . COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. THE ROADSIDE FIRE "And this shall be for music when none else is near, "The sweet song for singing, the rare song to hear, "That only I remember and only you admire, "Of the broad Road that stretches and the Roadside Fire." R. L. S. Riocljide hue ^ ^J^%. acij JLoir. k aeoiaeH^Vmubmttpaiw \ Copyright igia By GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY ^■CI.A319318 7U) ! T o MY FATHER AND MOTHER A number of the poems in this volume are here included through the courtesy of the publishers of The Century Magazine, Scribner's Magazine, The Bellman, The De- signer, Hampton's, St. Nicholas, The Catholic World, Harper's Bazaar, Everybody's Magazine, and Putnam's Magazine, in which magazines they first appeared. CONTENTS CONTENTS Page To Those Who Take the Road .... 15 Outward Bound 16 The Common Way 17 The Hand of God .19 The Dolourous Way ....... 21 Credo 22 Borglum's Lincoln . 23 We Have Piped Unto You 25 The True Atlas 27 Battle-Song of Failure 29 Magdalen to Christ 31 Baldur in Niflheim 32 In April 35 A Churchyard in the Rain 36 Two Rest-Songs 37 A Prayer at Evening 39 Bocklin's Portrait of Himself with Death as a Fiddler 40 Tusitala 41 The Childless 42 At Bethlehem .47 CONTENTS Page His Mother .......... 50 Irish Mothers 51 Icarus 52 Lilith 53 The Ghost-Flower 55 Shiela in the West 56 A Vagrant 58 The Loon 60 The Strayed Elf 61 Tuscan Song 62 An Epitaph 64 The Loser . 65 Lie-Awake Songs . 67 Night in Assisi . . . ■ 6g Venice 70 Edinburgh Vignettes Argyll and Montrose in St. Giles' . . 72 Trees in the Castle 73 Arthur's Seat -74 Queen Mary 75 Greyfriars Bobby 76 At Carmarthen 77 Michelangelo's Pieta 78 Where Love Is 80 [10] CONTENTS _, . Page Bittersweet 1. Buds in Autumn 82 2. In His Eyes 83 3. At the Mirror 84 4. Impotent 85 5. The Day of Days 86 6. From Far Away 87 7. Good-bye 88 8. Comfort 89 9. The Rest is Silence . , . . . .90 Meeting 91 The Sting of Death 92 Worn Out 93 Not Guilty 94 Empty Houses 95 A Dialogue 96 Rudel Sings of His Lady 97 Costanza •, • • • 99 The Unfulfilled 100 To a Young Girl loi The Spring — and You 102 Partnership 104 Afterward 105 To Her — Unspoken 106 The Unknown God 108 The Patteran no THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE ROADSIDE FIRE I TO THOSE WHO TAKE THE ROAD 7E comrades of the coming time Whose faces I foresee, These little roadside fires of rhyme Are all you know of me. LEAVE you as I pass along A swiftly fading spark; The echo of a marching song That dies upon the dark; T3UT happy ere the glimmer die Another's hand may light A beacon where my embers lie, To shout across the night. [15] THE ROADSIDE FIRE OUTWARD BOUND T TNFADED, give them to the deep, ^-^ These flowers, the sweetest of the land. See, as they fall, a billow leap To clasp them in its great white hand! "VJO morrow and no yesterday -*' ^ For their frail loveliness may be. Held like a pearl from earth's decay By the imperishable Sea. [i6] THE ROADSIDE FIRE T T THE COMMON WAY HERE'S an hour for each when the angels' speech To the tongue of man is given — When earth is crossed as at Pentecost By the rushing fires of Heaven; But the common way is for everyday, And we common folk must face it With a common smile for each common mile And the little flowers that grace it. O trudge and trust in the daily dust With a comrade tried and cheery, — To lift the eyes to the heartening skies When the plodding feet grow weary. Is to bless the Road, and the hopes that goad And the beckoning stars that guide me. The common way that's for everyday Is the way you walk beside me. FT71 THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE COMMON WAY (continued) 'TpHE world must plod at the call of God -■■ On a weary march and holy, From best to best, toward an end unguessed, But slowly — slowly — slowly. So the lot we bear with all life we share, And the Goal of all life's growing; For the common way that's for everyday Is the way of God's own going. [18] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE HAND OF GOD (For the statue by Rodin in the Metropolitan Museum.) T HEY cannot understand What draws them each to eiach; In vain they strive to tether With futile ties of speech The hidden Power that caught them Despite themselves, and brought them For joy or pain, together In bond too close for breach. COME struggle to withstand The closing fingers' might That welds them all unwilling — And other lives unite Dreaming in joy impassioned That they themselves have fashioned Their destiny's fulfilling In all the Fates' despite. [19] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE HAND OF GOD (continued) A I ND others the command Obey, they know not why; They find nor cross nor treasure They only live and die. Men call it " love " — expressing A truth beyond their guessing, Since I no words can measure Am Love, and Love is I, N my eternal Hand I crush them silently. Shaping the creature human To ends it cannot see. Unsparing and unwasting, Relenting not nor hasting, I mould of man and woman The god that is to be. [20] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE DOLOUROUS WAY CAD soul that criest in despair And bitter pain, Dost weep because thou needs must go In laden weakness bending low? I chose the burden that I bear, Nor can complain. it because thy feet have stained With blood the way? Why should I weep that I must tread Upon the path which I have spread? These are the shards of cups I drained But yesterday. I T HEN tell me why such grief is thine — My agony Is knowing all my penance vain To clear the pathway of one pain For those whose feet shall follow mine In days to be. [771 THE ROADSIDE FIRE CREDO 'TpHIS thing I know: that from the wasted *■■ years When shaken with false hopes and falser fears My blinded heart to gods of clay was cling- ing, Though trembling still from night's long fever-dream, Forward, into the dawn's calm crescent beam Now I go singing. T KNOW not by what sovereign alchemy ■*■ God's transmutations must accomplished be. Nor how the dunghill to the rose can waken. But as one blossom types the tree, I know As one soul grows, mankind from pain shall grow To joy unshaken. [22] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BORGLUM'S LINCOLN T?ROM a shop-window that grand face sur- "*■ veys The street's gay, piteous pageant; sad and great, Set like a prophet in the market-place, A man of sorrows and Grief's intimate, He sees the old hypocrisy and shame. Meanness and pride, surge past him still the same. TTIS dream was one with God's — a people ■^ ■■• freed ; A race of slaves his wistful eyes behold. Shackled with ignorance and scourged by greed — Yet in those eyes the dreams have not grown cold. A younger brother of the Crucified, He trusts in man the God for whom he died. [23] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BORGLUM'S LINCOLN (continued) T7ATHER, we pray thee in this holy place, ■*■ Here, in the city's turbulent midstream, That we may turn from that majestic face Touched with the patient passion of thy Dream, In the marred flotsam of the crowd to see Thy miracle of Possibility. [24] THE ROADSIDE FIRE WE HAVE PIPED UNTO YOU (For a statue by Gutzon Borglum.) QHE piped to him first of the glory of youth; *^ " When its splendour " Touches his eyelids like morning," she thought, " he will wake." But he heard not a sound of the sweetness imploring and tender She made for his sake. nr^HEN she piped him the lure of cold peaks ■*" and the wilderness calling — The mortal desire for the dim, unattaina- ble goal — But she knew as she piped that her notes like dead planets were falling Through the night of his soul. [25] THE ROADSIDE FIRE WE HAVE PIPED UNTO YOU (continued) '\7'ET she piped once again; and of love was ■*■ the music she made him — The love of Humanity linked with the love of the One. Dreaming, he smiled in his sleep and more easily laid him. And her piping was done. QHE turned away silent — and lacking the strain that had lulled him, Keen stole the hush to his heart like the search of a knife. He stirred — he awoke — he arose from the dreams that had dulled him To anguish — and life. [26] THE ROADBIDE FIRE THE TRUE ATLAS (For the statue by Gutzon Borglum.) "^rO sullen slave whose loth feet plod ■*■ ^ Weighed down with burdens heavy piled, Kneeling she lifts the world to God As she would lift a child. A LL Woman here the master's art Has quickened in the sentient stone, Since Motherhood is of the heart, Not of the flesh alone. T HAT one whose body to her will Has borne its fruitage bittersweet. And she who craved in vain the thrill Of wakening hands and feet. QHE who has never held her own, ^ Except in dreams, upon her breast — The mother who has proved and known. And she who has but guessed, [^71 THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE TRUE ATLAS (continued) T TNITE in Her who raises earth ^^ In her unwearying embrace, And cherishes toward perfect worth The childhood of our race. "ly/r OTHER of Earth, sublimely fair ■*--*• In thy prophetic ecstasy. The travail of thy soul shall bear The Heaven that is to be. [28] THE ROADSIDE FIRE w BATTLE-SONG OF FAILURE E strain toward Heaven and lay hold on Hell. With starward eyes we stumble in hard ways, And to the moments when we see life well Succeeds the blindness of bewildered days, IBut what of that? Into the sullen flesh The soul drives home the spur with splen- did sting. Bleeding and soiled we gird ourselves afresh — Forth, and make firm a highway for the King. T HE loveless greed the centuries have stored In marshy foulness traps our faltering feet. The sins of men whom punishment ignored Like fever in our weakened pulses beat. But what of that? The shame is not to fail, Nor is the Victor's laurel everything. To fight until we fall is to prevail. Forth, and make firm a highway for the King. THE ROADSIDE FIRE BATTLE-SONG OF FAILURE (continued) 'V/'EA, cast our lives into the ancient slough ■■■ And fall we shouting with uplifted face. Over the spot where mired we struggle now Shall march in triumph a transfigured race. They shall exult where weary we have wept — They shall achieve where we have striven in vain, Leaping in vigour where we faintly crept, Joyous along the road we paved with pain. What though we seem to sink in the morass? Under those unborn feet our dust shall sing When o'er our failure perfect shall they pass. Forth, and make firm a highway for the King. [30] THE ROADSIDE FIRE MAGDALEN TO CHRIST M ASTER, what work hast thou for me,- For me, who turn aside for shame Before the eyes of my own blame? Thou seest. Lord. T I see. HAT shame for me thou shalt endure, That thou mayst succour souls afraid, Who would not dare to seek for aid The mercilessly pure. B UT must my heart forever show These scars of unforgotten pain? May it be never whole again? Thou knowest, Lord. T I know. HOSE scars I leave thee for a sign That bleeding hearts may creep to rest As on a mother's sheltering breast On that scarred heart of thine. [31] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BALDUR IN NIFLHEIM 'O long, so long ago I had been slain By blindness malice-led, I scarce could tell What soul it was that trod in weary pain The vestibule of hell. O NLY at times a sick dream came to me That once I had been Baldur and erstwhile The gods in heaven had rejoiced to see The glory of my smile. I I N the Dim Country's languor I had lost The way of smiling, and all genial words Fell dumb at the near breath of Hela's frost Like winter-smitten birds. N that gray land of failure, we who died Inglorious deaths, nourished our shadowy shame. Meeting we turned our downward gaze aside Before the Stranger came. [3^1 THE ROADSIDE FIRE BALDUR IN NIFLHEIM (continued) A CROSS our hush I heard his quick feet ring, ''■^ For Hke a warrior fresh from fight he trod. I looked him in the eyes, remembering That I had been a god — REMEMBERING that promise of a throne Upon the ashes of the burnt-out earth, — A perfect kingdom rising all mine own From worthlessness to worth. A SUDDEN laughter shook the still dank air -^^ Like the clear causeless laughter of a child. Over its dusky meadows bleak and bare All the Dim Country smiled, ND one went singing in the gloom — " Be- ^ hold, Baldur comes down to the dishonoured dead. What, shall we find the ways too murk and cold That the Bright God can tread? [33I THE ROADSIDE FIRE BALDUR IN NIFLHEIM (continued) H 44 T tERE in this land of dreams that are no more "And spent desires, he laughs, — and in his eyes " In forms more glorious than once they bore " We see our dead hopes rise." 44 A SHES of earth upon hell's midden cast, -^"From these," I cried, "shall Baldur build his throne — " But, oh, the wasted ages that I passed " Unknowing and unknown — 44'^T AY, was I Baldur till I met thine eyes? 1>I « Thine be the throne ! " But, lo, he was not there, — Only a wakened world, and a surprise Of morning in the air. [34] THE ROADSIDE FIRE IN APRIL T AST year I dreamed of days to be, — ■'— ' Pale April days when you and I Should read God's dearest mystery Joy-blazoned upon earth and sky. 'Tis April now — the robins sing — New life is green upon the hill — But you have blossomed with the spring In violet and daffodil. T HE grass grows brighter on a grave; Oh, fellow-comrades of despair. Blossom our hearts more blithely brave For what lies buried there? The lovelier for hidden grief Unfolds the spring's green panoply; And shall the frail, unconscious leaf More godlike live than we? Tssl THE ROADSIDE FIRE A CHURCHYARD IN THE RAIN pOOR passionate hearts that lagged or leapt, ■'' From laughter-hidden wounds that bled, And now have lain so long unwept In this green village of the dead, How loudly to your mirth and pain Rang your small world of long ago! Now the low lisping of the rain Is all the language that you know. [36] THE ROADSIDE FIRE TWO REST-SONGS " The Body shall return to earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God who gave it." w HEN my Body's use at last Cometh to an ending Like a well-worn garment past Patient wisdom's mending, Hold it then no part of me, Well as now you love it; Lay it somewhere quietly With green earth above it. T EAVE the wildflowers' native grace ■'-^ To the tending of the skies Uncompanioned, in the place Where my body lies. Only sometimes feel me near When your tenderness is moved. And for messengers of cheer. Send the flowers I loved. TstI THE ROADSIDE FIRE TWO REST-SONGS (continued) T N HE sunrise needed scarlet, The zenith needed blue ; Did God forget, Beloved, How great my need of you? AY, but a need was greater In some far nook of Space. Thither has gone in silence The deamess of your face. N H O star is lost from heaven Although it seem to fall; The journey and its ending Obey the Master's call. E sees the Eternal Sequence We cannot understand; He sets us where we prosper The Work that He has planned, A ND though the human vision With loneliness be dim, A universe asunder Our spirits meet in Him. [38] THE ROADSIDE FIRE A PRAYER AT EVENING "V TOW angels walk the hills with flaming feet -^ ^ Along the purple margins of the day. Father, we beg, who know thy rest is sweet. Help for the hearts too pain-distraught to pray, T T /"E, beckoned to soft beds by kindly sleep, ' ' Yearn toward the fevered watchers for the light; Hot, weary eyes that pain's red vigil keep — Hearts beating loud through the unquiet night. T7ATHER, thy love doth bless each peaceful -■■ room — Shall it not still more tenderly be shown Where some spent spirit, stumbling in the gloom. Pants upward to its Calvary, alone? [39I THE ROADSIDE FIRE BOCKLIN'S PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF WITH DEATH AS A FIDDLER T^EATH like a minstrel sought him playing, •*--' laying The summons on his soul as on the strings The bow, a tender touch caressing, blessing His spirit with the consciousness of wings. np^HE music drew him half unwilling, filling "*- His lifted eyes with Heaven's blinding beams. The brush he had so strongly wielded, yielded Futile before the wonder of his dreams. nr^HEREFORE he followed unrepining, shin- -*• ing With that new light that waited for his touch To give its beauty mimic being, seeing This world no loss, which that outweighed so much. [4^1 THE ROADSIDE FIRE w TUSITALA HIGH tale of all that you have told Shall flout Oblivion with "Never!"— Which song-child of that voice of gold Shall live forever? T T HE tale of one whose dauntless eye Flashed scorn upon slow-creeping death — Who sounded his gay battle-cry With failing breath: HE song of one whose long despair For home's lost heathery hills, he spent In brightening with simple prayer His banishment. QTRONG soul indomitably sweet, ^ Behold thy fame's immortal part — The song whose music was the beat Of thy brave heart. [4O THE ROADSIDE FIRE A THE CHILDLESS T Heaven-gate the mothers stood With earthward-bound, expectant eyes; The yearning of their motherhood Had turned their backs on Paradise — And in the fadeless gardens gay With angel-mates that made them cheer, The children asked amid their play, " Will Mother soon be here? " T?ROM waiting mothers at the gate, ■*■ From waiting children on the lea. Three Woman-Souls turned desolate And met beneath the Knowledge Tree. " Where is your child? " " There is no child " That yearns to me in earth or sky." "You never on a cradle smiled?" " Not I." "Nor I." " Nor I." [42] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE CHILDLESS (continued) 4 C T LONGED, God knoweth — " said the first. "*• And her lips quivered for a space — " I thought, am I a thing accurst "That I should be denied this grace? " But loud the aching limbs of men " Unto my hands for healing cried, " And in the voice of praises then " Methought my longing died. "I T did not die — it scarce did sleep; " Sisters, a woman understands ! " (A tear her eyelids could not keep Fell bright upon those healing hands) " New life I brought unto my age " Before it was my time to die — " But oh, my wasted heritage ! " " Sister, I know." "And L" [43] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE CHILDLESS (continued) 44 T tAVE I not held beneath my heart "*■-*■ " Each of my songs ere it was sung? " Its soul is of mine own a part, " Its body from mine own was wrung " By travail sore as mothers bear — " (The second paused with lips compressed, And one great tear along her hair Rolled down into her breast.) "I CAST me bleeding to the dust " In agony beside the way, " And since create a woman must, " In human forms I shaped the clay " Of roadside dust my blood had wet ; " I breathed in them my spirit — oh, " It seemed to me they lived — and yet " Sister, I know." " I know." [44] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE CHILDLESS (continued) ^^ XT ONE ever sought me," said the third; "^^ ^ "I never heard at eve or mom " Across the years the summoning word " Of childhood waiting to be bom; " I yearned to children everywhere — " I sought the little wayside weeds " And nursed them to a fruitage fair " Of honourable deeds, U \ NI ND they — they loved me, too, I know — *As I loved them — ^and yet — " (a space All worldless bent the others low Before the sorrow of her face. And harvest of those wasted years, Hot in her eyes and loth to fall. Gathered the curse of unshed tears, The bitterest of all.) [45] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE CHILDLESS (continued) A ND then on still, unhasting feet One came to them with greeting brief. Her smile so patient and so sweet Was sadder than a rain of grief; And as they looked into her eyes, Such silence fell upon the three They heard the songs of Paradise Beneath the Knowledge Tree. "A ND I — " she said — " a Child I bore ■— " A Child I could not understand. " I watched Him wander more and more " Beyond the limits of my land. " His love was never less toward me, " But He was All, and I but one — " He passed unto Humanity, " And was no more my son." [46] THE ROADSIDE FIRE o N AT BETHLEHEM MARY, lend thy Babe to me To hold upon my breast ! It cannot be, it cannot be — Thy heart would shake his rest. Beneath thy robe I see it leap — How in such tumult could he sleep? OD'S Mother, shame upon thee now. So hard and cold to be ! And who art thou — and who art thou That criest shame on me? A wasted woman, hungering sore For the sweet babe I never bore. OW for that waste be thine the shame - Thy sentence thou dost speak; And for that hunger thine the blame. Were no lost lambs to seek Where crowds unseeing pass and press - No little children motherless? [47] THE ROADSIDE FIRE AT BETHLEHEM (continued) o w MARY, let me seek for such! Mine eyes with tears were blind — Nay, daughter, seek not overmuch; Go forth and thou shalt find Naked and hungry everywhere The little ones thou didst not bear. IPE clear of useless tears thine eyes, Thy heart of futile dreams. Go forth to face realities — One deed of mercy seems To this my Son and me, more fair That a whole life of barren prayer. OVE not in word but in good sooth; ' Deserted and defiled. Each little human form in truth Harbours the Eternal Child. Held in thine arms, His eyes of grace Shall open to thy bending face. [48] THE ROADSIDE FIRE AT BETHLEHEM (continued) OD'S Mother, I have been to blame — Nay, daughter, — no regret. Forget thy blame, forget thy shame Thy very self forget. Give wholly thine awakened heart. My Child hath need of all thou art. [49] THE ROADSIDE FIRE HIS MOTHER Q OMEWHERE to-night you lie awake ^ Bearing your bitterness alone. I cannot shield, — your heart must take Its turn to bleed and cower and moan. W HEN straight you pressed to your desire And all men spoke your praise, I smiled. Now naked, smitten, in the mire. My arms reach out for you, my child. O H, could I sing you now to sleep, How strong to-morrow from my breast To fight and conquer you would leap ! Lord, I keep vigil, — send him rest ! [50] THE ROADSIDE FIRE IRISH MOTHERS ^TpHEIR pulses beat the music of the tides -*■ upon the shore, The kelp-scent fills their nostrils with the sharpness of the spray, The very milk we give them has the savour of the sea, But our children go away — our children go away. /^H, the long, long time of waiting with our ^-^ eyes upon the door, Through the whitening of the hedges and the slash of autumn rain! Far, far away, they weary for our faces, it may be, — Will they never come again — will they never come again? [51] THE ROADSIDE FIRE H ICARUS E soared as surely as an eagle does, Higher and higher toward the zenith still, And as he rose, a chant came back to us — An iron monotone of human will Made audible; when listening was vain Breathless we followed him with straining eyes — Adventurer who claimed for man's domain. Amazed and impotent, the conquered skies. "The Prince of Air is tamed! What hin- ders men," We cried, " from traversing the Upper World "In quest of unimaginable things?" From awful silence came the answer then, As like a challenge at our feet was hurled Our champion dead, with broken, silenced wings. [52] THE ROADSIDE FIRE H H LILITH ERS is the hour of quiet lamp-lit rest When thou dost worship at her altar-fire, That gilds the hearth, and lights her gentle breast Where tired with play, thy child has found his rest — But I am breathed out of the darkening west, A twilight wind of wandering desire. ERS is the glow of struggle and success, The battle-hope of noonday and the street. 'Tis for her sake that onward thou dost press. Whose smile, like Heaven's, thy victory shall bless — But I am in the wistful weariness That treads the trailing shadow of defeat. [53] THE ROADSIDE FIRE LILITH (continued) TTERS is the night's benignant quieting "*• "^ When thy protecting arms her sleep en- fold- But ere the wakening birds begin to sing, Because my kiss is a forbidden thing, The dawn's mysterious lips, like mine, shall cling Upon thine own that quiver and grow cold. [54] THE ROADSIDE FIRE w THE GHOST-FLOWER HY did I pluck the Ghost-flower pale! Like some young recluse, fasting-frail, So fair, so fitly placed, it stood Amid its pallid sisterhood On the dim margin of the wood. It scarcely seemed to take its birth From the same homely, genial earth That flung the columned trunks between Such wild exuberance of green. So supernaturally pure, — No tint nor fragrance to allure Caress of butterfly or bee. It still might stand there, but for me, Serene in sterile sanctity. But now — 'tis a corrupted thing, A blackened shapeless pulp, to fling Aside, to turn from in disgust — Poor ruined Saint-flower in the dust! How should I know a careless touch. So little meant, could harm so much? But late regret breeds barren gloom — And yonder, see! a Rose in bloom — F55I THE ROADSIDE FIRE w B SHIELA IN THE WEST IND that blows from the east, that blows from the home of my people, Bring them again to my heart, again to mine eyes and mine ears; Bring to my dulling ears the sob of the waves and my people. Bring to my dimming eyes the salt of the waves and their tears. LOOD of my people that stirs in me, wild and cold as the sea, Blood of a man long dead, the child of a lone dark star — How can I speak to the stranger the sor- rows that rise in me, Rise and fall like the waves that wash on a coast afar? [56] THE ROADSIDE FIRE SHIELA IN THE WEST (continued) w HERE is the hand that shall lead me out of the stranger's land? Where does the footstep tarry for which I listen and long? Where are the lips of music whose speech I shall understand? Where is the man of my people, beautiful, wild and strong? "I X /"HERE is the man of my people to take me ^^ home to it all, To bring me again to mine own, peace to my soul to speak? Heart of me, how had I answered had yours been the voice to call, Changeling child of my people, beautiful, wild and weak! [57] THE ROADSIDE FIRE T T T A VAGRANT HERE'S a wildness comes upon me with the earthy scent of spring; When the first young larches tassel, Then the soil demands its vassal, And I chafe in cot or castle at the time of bourgeoning. HEN the broad blue sky above me is the only roof I need, And the sudden shower that chills me And the sun's quick smile that thrills me And the joy of life that fills me are the only friends I heed. HEN I turn the world at pleasure like the pages of a book — Past the minster lofty-towered, Past the cottage rose-embowered. Past the meadow many-flowered and the willow-bordered brook. [58] THE ROADSIDE FIRE A VAGRANT (continued) pAST the ruddy little village sunning cheery ■*■ on the hill, Past the town that " vagrant " names me And the busy boor that blames me, For the Open Road reclaims me and I yield me to its will. [59] THE ROADSIDE FIRE w THE LOON HERE shaken shallows multiply the moon, Alone amid the silence laughs the Loon. Heard far away across the night, he seems Some happy wood-god laughing in his dreams. [60] THE ROADSIDE FIRE M M THE STRAYED ELF Y Mother was the Earth, My Sister was the Violet; The place that gave me birth, A hollow where the grasses met. There in the silence like a drop of dew, Among the little wildling folk, I grew. Y Father was the Sun, My Brother was a flying Cloud Who drowsed when day was done Upon a mountain, where the crowd Of smiling stars a-tiptoe softly crept To kiss him to sweet visions while he slept. Y home was in a wood, A wood that opened to the sky — The world of men is good. But it is not for such as I! So often I must long for what has been And weary, weary, weary for mine own wild kin! feT] M THE ROADSIDE FIRE TUSCAN SONG pLUCK the violets in the spring, ■*- Pluck the almond blossoms; Maidens gay, while you may Wear them on your bosoms. They will vanish with the spring Like a dream that closes — But the summer's hand will fling On your pathway, roses. pLUCK the roses thorns and all, -'■ Heavy perfume breathing. Ere they shed petals red From your careless wreathing; Yet should they your grasp escape There's no cause for sighing — With the autumn's generous grape Drink to summer dying. [62] THE ROADSIDE FIRE TUSCAN SONG (continued) QWEET from every sunny sphere ^ Where the bloom still lingers, Juice divine, infant wine. Stains our eager fingers. Haste the vintage, for the year Old and cold is growing. And the winter brings, my dear. Only sharp winds blowing. M AIDENS all, attention lend ; Mark my riddle's reading. Coy and chill if you will Hear your first love's pleading; Take the second for a friend, — But be wise thereafter Lest your beauty sadly end. Lone mid other's laughter. [63] THE ROADSIDE FIRE H AN EPITAPH ERE lies a man whose life was long, Yet missed the purest joy of life, For sadly soon his soul grew strong In battle with this world of strife. When past his door the children ran. Wistful he watched their frolic wild. He was a baby — then a man; He never was a child. [64] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE LOSER ¥ HEARD the scream of a passing train Across the desert to-day; It took me back to the town again And the clatter of old Broadway, The snatch of a song, the clang of a gong, The glare from a hundred bars — Do I envy him still, in this hush and chill, Galloping under the stars? T HE fight he wins is the fight I lost — I in my desert camps, Who hardly save in a year the cost Of one of his motor-lamps. My place is not, and my name's forgot In the world that I once called mine. Do I greatly care, in this desert air That is headier far than wine? [65] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE LOSER (continued) E VEN his ultimate victory — Do I grudge him that, at last? Forever sweet is your smile on me, My perfect hope of the past! Forever young, as when first you flung The spell of your eyes' grey gleam . . . Do I grudge him the wife of his prosperous life — I who have still my Dream? [66] THE ROADSIDE FIRE LIE-AWAKE SONGS PASl* my little window The stars go by all night; One by one, two by two, They travel out o£ sight. SO many lands to lighten In such a little while, They have no time to tarry For more than just a smile. PAST my little window Their pleasant way they take, To smile on all the children Who somewhere lie awake. [67] THE ROADSIDE FIRE LIE-AWAKE SONGS (continued) w HEN we go so very far We have to take the Sleeping-car, All night long awake I lie To watch the world go marching by. pOLES on poles go flashing fast, ■*■ Strung on miles of shiny wire, And snorting engines gallop past Like horses running to a fire. •'^ REAT big towns with windows bright, ^^ Houses wee with just one light — So much to see as on we leap. How can grown folks go to sleep? [68] THE ROADSIDE FIRE NIGHT IN ASSISI SILENTLY steal the moonlight's cool white feet Along the empty street. Assisi sleeps — what spell constrains her guest Whose pillow lies unpressed? Not memories of old pride and power and lust — Mere dust amid the dust Those men of blood and fire too long have lain Ever to live again. 'I X /"E watch to see the slender form pass by ' ' Of one who cannot die. Above him arches like a shrine alight The jewelled Umbrian night. Ah, tear-dimmed eyes, and worn ecstatic face, And hand upraised to trace The sign of peace, its sacramental scars Kissed by the reverent stars. [69] THE ROADSIDE FIRE VENICE T TEAVY her eyes with memories "^ "*■ And dim with dreams of other days When eager Ufe ran red and gold Along her tangled water-ways. Now she is old and worn and cold, And on her brow the shadow falls That dankly grey, in dark decay Steals up her leaning palace-walls. QHE is as one whose reign is done, ^ Whose heavy crown is laid aside. Though still about her shoulders cling The purple shreds of ancient pride. And as of old, when for her ring Her bridegroom sea stretched passionate hands. Still thronging meet about her feet The wanderers of other lands. [70] THE ROADSIDE FIRE VENICE (continued) B UT not as then, when kings of men Desired her for her beauty's sake ; She is a faded tourney-queen For whom no more the lances break, But round whose knees the children lean, Breathless, forgetful of their play. With rapt young eyes where mirrored lies The splendour lost in long decay. H ER reign is sure while hearts endure, For love alone her throne sustains. Drift of the ocean are her ships — Her aged loveliness remains. The mother-smile is on the lips That once the pride of empire curled; She draws to rest upon her breast The weary children of the world. [71] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EDINBURGH VIGNETTES ARGYLL AND MONTROSE IN ST. GILES' \ X riDE parted as in life, their marbles lie, ' ^ The young man in his beauty, and the old. Who deeming themselves martyrs, both were bold To smile on Death. Beyond our holden eyes. Perchance their souls foregather comrade- wise, And marvel at the things for which men die. [72] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EDINBURGH VIGNETTES (continued) TREES IN THE CASTLE "VT'EAR after year, Spring storms the citadel ■*■ And shakes out her green standards from the keep While up the crag her grassy armies creep. Not all the memory of past winters' power Avails to sadden that triumphant hour When year by year she shouts her glad "All's well!" [73] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EDINBURGH VIGNETTES (continued) ARTHUR'S SEAT l\yTOLTEN from hidden agonies of heat '*"-*• These gnarled grey rocks were hurled into the light,— But now their knolls of gilded green are bright With children's shining heads; tired limbs are flung On the kind turf, and Age whose heart is young Smiles upon Youth's new wisdom gravely sweet. [74] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EDINBURGH VIGNETTES (continued) QUEEN MARY T TERE where her magic burned with troubled ■*-■■ flame Through the grey streets her memory sing- ing goes — A melody bewilderingly sweet That stammering strive we vainly to re- peat — A secret song whose music no man knows — That sounds to no two listeners the same. [75] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EDINBURGH VIGNETTES (continued) GREYFRIARS BOBBY H E deemed the stone a door that closed had been Between his lord and him; in simple trust That to his waiting ope some day it must. With pleading tail alert and wistful ears, A little living prayer, he watched the years Patiently pass, until Death let him in. [76] THE ROADSIDE FIRE D AT CARMARTHEN OWN quiet dimpling Towy, with the tide Coracles drift at twilight, two by two, Sharing their nets as they were wont to do When Merlin watched them from the river- side. Minsters and castles Time has made a spoil. But still the river bears as once it bore These fragile shells to ply their simple toil To music of young voices from the shore. Along the path the stalwart fishers pass. Bearing their little boats to launch anew, And speaking in their own peculiar tongue. Ghostly their noiseless feet upon the grass; They fade into the dimness and the dew. The priesthood of a world forever young. [77] THE ROADSIDE FIRE I MICHELANGELO'S PIETA In St Peter's N that great church which is the heart of Rome, Amid the rich vast dimness, there is one Still sheltered spot to which my heart goes home. Where holding the lax body of her Son Sits Angelo's crowned Sorrow. On her knees He lies, no more the people's Wonder-Lord, But only her dead child ; and as she sees Those wounds she cannot heal, the mystic sword Of Love's most impotence at Love's most need. That pricks all women, strikes her desolate. Though on those sad wounds that no longer bleed Her eyes are fixed, in agony too great For aught but calm, yet turns she silently That patient palm to God. THE ROADSIDE FIRE MICHELANGELO^S PIETA (continued) " Lo, here is he, " Thy Son and mine ; mine that mysterious morn " Of silent silver wonder ; mine to know " A softly stirring marvel yet unborn; " Mine in the manger — in the tender glow " Of those first budding years; then — he was thine. " Behold him now ! He is mine own once more, " Passive in death upon this heart of mine " As in warm sleep his baby limbs I bore. " Take him — again I give him up to thee. " Thou art his spirit — take the form I gave, " This body, blood and bone and flesh of me, " That would be mine though in the deep- est grave — " He is all thine." O heart that holds the sword ! Pray for all mothers. Mother of our Lord ! [79] THE ROADSIDE FIRE WHERE LOVE IS T> Y the rosy cliffs of Devon, on a green hill's crest, I would build me a house as a swallow builds its nest; I would curtain it with roses, and the wind should breathe to me The sweetness of the roses and the saltness of the sea. "IXiTHERE the Tuscan olives whiten in the hot blue day I would hide me from the heat in a little hut of grey, While the singing of the husbandmen should scale my lattice green From the golden rows of barley that the poppies blaze between. [80] THE ROADSIDE FIRE WHERE LOVE IS (continued) "VJ ARROW is the street, Dear, and dingy are ^ ^ the walls Wherein you wait my coming as the twi- light falls. All day with dreams I gild the grime till at your step I start — Ah, Love, my country in your arms — my home upon your heart! [8i] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET BUDS IN AUTUMN "^TO wind among the branches grieves — The leaf lies where it fell ; And see, below the scar it leaves A bud begins to swell. '^TEW joy may from old pain have birth '*' And buds in autumn start — But that is in God's generous earth — Not in a human heart. [82] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) I 2 IN HIS EYES N your clear eyes I fancied I might find New dawn of joy upon my pathway cast, Whose light upon my brow should fling be- hind Forevermore the shadows of the past; But when to-night I looked into your eyes. My face looked back at me, and there I read. Patient and pale and pitifully wise The weary semblance of a love long dead. Why should we love and suffer, you and I, Only to learn at last that love can die? [83] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 3 AT THE MIRROR T HE grey like snow in autumn lies Too early on my head, And in my weary, wandering eyes The dreams have long been dead; A ND yet I am not ill to see '^ ^ Although I am not fair; Many have found their hope in me, And many their despair. QOME loved my bad, and some my good, ^ And some my outward show — And one, the heart he understood — The heart you do not know. [84] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) T T 4 IMPOTENT HE cautious coward in my heart Shrinks from untrodden ways — and yet I would that we had never met, Or else that we might never part. HE folly of my dreams I see, Smiling with wise cold eyes — and then I feel in all the world of men There is no other mate for me. I T seems that I have always been Thus crippled and condemned to wait Forever crouching at the gate Where I may never enter in. [85] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 5 THE DAY OF DAYS A CRY o£ the weary year — •^ ^ A flurry of snow on the blast — And the red-streaked grey of a winter day Slipping into the past — But my listening heart can hear A bird that must sing and sing, A song of the morn and of Youth re-bom, And of Spring — Spring — Spring! [86] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 6 FROM FAR AWAY O O F your day I claim no part, Not a look, not a touch, Not a beat of your dear heart — That were joy too much. NLY let me take my place In your dreams through the night. I will pass and leave no trace Ere the east grows bright. VT'OU shall waken with a smile, ■*• Smiling still as you muse How you dreamed of love awhile — But forgetting whose. [87] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 7 GOOD-BYE T ET us keep our spell unbroken, ■*"^ Hoard our trove of faery gold. Safe as death are words unspoken — Safe is love untold. T ET us learn our lesson bravely; "^ Sorrow serves the stout of heart. Came we to our meeting gravely — Laughing let us part. [88] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 8 COMFORT W E plucked the flower ere it could fade, Ere it could die; do you regret? The pages in whose care we laid The blossom by are fragrant yet. "^rO storm upon it now can beat, No touch amiss one petal shed. It is immortal, like the sweet Remembered kiss of one long dead. A ND though life holds for you and me One bitter hour of joy denied, We shall be glad in days to be We plucked the flower before it died. [89] THE ROADSIDE FIRE BITTERSWEET (continued) 9 THE REST IS SILENCE O forth and seek — the world is wide; Go forth to do and be, And One shall greet thee like a bride, A worthy mate for thee. W HEN thou shalt trample evil down And set the good above. She shall award thy labour's crown, The wonder of her love. B UT if the evil be too strong And if thou fail and fall — If all in vain thou love and long And she ignore thy call — w HEN spent and beaten utterly And sick at soul thou art, Come back to me, — come back to me And rest thee in my heart. [90] THE ROADSIDE FIRE MEETING T IKE a spent swimmer measuring the waves "^^ That mark the strand of safety still un- won, And hearing far below the dark sea-caves Whisper their promise of oblivion, I fought across the years of bitterness Toward beaches distant as the sunset-land, Until at last my aching feet could press A sweet security of shining sand. I stood upon the shore of my desire. Bruised by the savage btiffets of the sea And dripping with its phosphorescent fire. But safe at last. And then, well known to me As my first prayer, on that new coast you came With outstretched hands, and called me by my name. [91] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE STING OF DEATH A FTER long pain, I fell asleep; '^-*' And then you came, when all the rest Had wept and gone. You did not weep. But laid your brow upon my breast And whispered, " You who do not hear — " (To me, who made your words my bread !) " I never knew I loved you. Dear, " Until they told me you were dead. " I have been blind, but now I see ; " I love you, love you — for the sake " Of your long love, come back to me ! " And even then I did not wake. [92] THE ROADSIDE FIRE Y WORN OUT OU played upon my heart as on a lute, And when you found it answered to your touch, Curious, you proved your power overmuch Nor would you let it rest a moment mute. At last, so mercilessly fingered o'er. The weary strings grew slack ; now, for your sake Or any man's, that listless lute can make Music, or even discord — nevermore. [93] THE ROADSIDE FIRE NOT GUILTY T LOVED him; yes, I know. ■■■ I had the strength to front him, eye to eye. And when he cried, " You love me, dear ! '* — to lie. Because I loved him so. T>ECAUSE my love was strong ^-^ Though my weak flesh was wasted as by fire I saved him from his own wild heart's desire. My King should do no wrong. QUCH has my battle been, ^ And such the measure of my victory. Which white untested soul that shrinks from me Dare call this love a sin? [94] THE ROADSIDE FIRE EMPTY HOUSES OH UTTERS like lids have decorously closed ^ The window that was wont to frame your head ; Its face to decent emptiness composed Your house lies dead. TN twilight that forgets the name of dawn -*■ The grey dust gathers in the silent hall; Outside upon the stretch of weedy lawn The dead leaves fall. 'ET shall this house return to living guise And smile warm-hearted on the world of men. House in my heart, whose dead, blank-shut- tered eyes Can never wake again! [95] THE ROADSIDE FIRE A DIALOGUE IT by thy lips' ethereal fire, ' White flames of God arise in me. I hear the voice of old desire That sighs in me, that sighs in me. Thine eyes hold Joy's immortal lore — I gaze and sorrow dies in me. The bitterness that once I bore Still cries in me, still cries in me. Thou art imperishable Youth — Men turn as by a spell to thee. The old, old tale of tarnished truth I tell to thee, I tell to thee. Life that doth aureole thy head My being doth compel to thee. Nay, for my place is with the dead — Farewell to thee — farewell to thee. [96] THE ROADSIDE FIRE RUDEL SINGS OF HIS LADY QHE is the goal and the desire; ^ She is the altar and the fire; The body of Love and the soul thereof, And she will hear me when I speak. ' She is the hope and the fulfilling; She is the tempest and the stilling; She is the doing and the willing, And I shall find her when I seek. QHE is the passion and the peace ; *^ She is the bond and the release; The laughter and tears of the vanished years, And she will know me when we meet. She is the striving and the winning; She is the penance and the sinning; She is the end and the beginning. And I shall kneel before her feet. [97] THE ROADSIDE FIRE RUDEL SINGS OF HIS LADY (continued) QHE is the glory and the shame; ^ She is the guerdon and the blame; The chastening rod and the ruth of God, And she will lift me up to bliss. Then end together song and sighing, And let me die, if in my dying Upon her perfect bosom lying I yield my spirit to her kiss. [98] THE ROADSIDE FIRE I COSTANZA N the sun I sat and spun, Dreaming of a wedding-gown, — For youth and love were in the air That day you wandered through our town. T HROUGH the town, your eyes of brown Smiled on all they chanced to see. I sat among the lilacs there — Passing, you smiled on them and me. QMILED on me so carelessly — ^ Went your way nor glanced again. A world of women claimed your care; You left for me no other men. [99] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE UNFULFILLED TN sleep's uncertain borderland ^ Where dreams by thousands come and go, Two heart to heart forever stand Curtained by clouds of whirling snow. ^^ 'VfOTHING in dreams too great to -*-^ dare — " " This clothes with joy the shivering years " When in my eyes my soul stood bare — " I woke at first with bitter tears; "DUT now the wakening brings no start. ""^ I smile, remembering the day Silent, I offered you my heart. And you in silence turned away. [lOO] THE ROADSIDE FIRE Y I TO A YOUNG GIRL OU touch me to a tenderness Too deep for you to know: A mother smiles and sighs to trace The embers of her girlhood grace Rekindled in her daughter's face — I brood upon you so. LAY about you thoughts that bless. For in your eyes' pure glow The hope that was my youth I see, And warm my chilled heart eagerly At the same dream that died in me — Lord Love, how long ago! [lOl] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE SPRING — AND YOU 'O shyly came the Spring this year, We knew not when it came; We scarce had thought it might be near, When lo, the boughs aflame W ITH tremulous gold and crimson fires - Spring Beauty starred the lawn. Like children's laughter were the choirs Of waking birds at dawn; A ND while we stared as in a dream, And wondered if 'twere true, Merry with cowslips was the stream, And all the roadside blue. Y? RE we could triumph in the first "*-^ Lone, long-expected flower. It seemed the frozen world had burst To blossom in an hour. [102] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE SPRING — AND YOU (continued) T IKE Spring you stole upon me, dear ■^ I knew not when nor how. I only know that you are here, And life's in blossom now. [ 103] THE ROADSIDE FIRE PARTNERSHIP VTOUR eyes the dawn that gives me wing "*■ To rise my best, And mine the twilight stars that bring Your hour of rest. Y Y OUR hands our common strength to do Bright deeds and bold, And mine your life's great rudder true By faith to hold. OUR breast my shelter from the dread Of days too dreary, And mine a pillow for your head When you grow weary. T HUS linked, to meet in comrade-trust Each changing hour. And at the end, to know our dust Merged in one flower. [104] THE ROADSIDE FIRE AFTERWARD X X /"HEN weary soul and body are at rest, * " Dream not your head is pillowed on my breast Lightly, and yet so close that you can hear My heart, and feel my half-unconscious kiss Upon your drowsy lids — ah, dream not this! You would but waken — and remember, Dear. 'PXREAM rather I have kept the old-time vow ^^ Made half in jest — do you recall it now? And from the Silence have come back to you To watch beside you for our love's dear sake. And bless you as you sleep. Then do not wake. Beloved, but dream on — that dream is true. THE ROADSIDE FIRE TO HER — UNSPOKEN /"^ O to him, ah, go to him, and lift your eyes ^-'^ aglow to him; Fear not royally to give whatever he may claim. All your spirit's treasury scruple not to show to him. He is noble — meet him with a pride too high for shame. QAY to him, ah, say to him that soul and body ^ sway to him; Cast away the cowardice that counsels you to flight, Lest you turn at last to find that you have lost the way to him — Lest you stretch your arms in vain across a starless night. [io6] THE ROADSIDE FIRE TO HER — UNSPOKEN (continued) "DE to him, ah, be to him the key that sets '■■'^ joy free to him — Teach him all the tenderness that only love can know — And if ever there should come a memory of me to him, Bid him judge me gently for the sake of long ago. [107] THE ROADSIDE FIRE I THE UNKNOWN GOD BUILT of dreams a temple cool and white; I shut from human sight its halls untrod, And kindled me a small expectant light Upon an altar to the Unknown God. B I UT in my folly I was not content To wait his coming by the perfumed flame; Vainly to seek him in the world I went That in my worship I might speak his name. FOLLOWED wandering fires and often lost The path I trod too eagerly to see ; After long years I learned at bitter cost How little all my pains might profit me. W HEN to my temple I crept home at last Marred was its beauty — soiled and smeared with clay Where feet profane the unguarded door had passed, And the untended fire in ashes lay. [108] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE UNKNOWN GOD (continued) "VTOW to the Road the door stands open wide '*' ^ And cuts the darkness with a sword of light That weary wayfarers may turn aside And find within a lodging for the night. 'npHE altar-fire glows generous and warm, -■■ And even now a pilgrim leaden-shod With weariness, takes refuge from the storm. Lo, in his temple stands the Unknown God. [109] THE ROADSIDE FIRE Y THE PATTERAN OU set the Patteran for me Along the world you wandered through, Lest mazed and weary I might be And miss the way that led to you. H OW oft at open doors aglow Have I delayed my restless feet And wondered, "Shall I further go?" For just a hungry heart's quick beat, W HEN on the threshold I have seen Your woodland signal where it lay With onward-pointing finger green To warn me that I might not stay. T HE Gypsy knew the Gypsy's call — It led my wayward feet aright. Together as the shadows fall We kneel our roadside fire to light. [no] THE ROADSIDE FIRE THE PATTERAN (continued) T HE fire we kindle, hand to hand Shall cheer the way for weary men, Till our great Chieftain give command " Break camp and take the road again." 'T^HEN, Love, whoever goes before, ■*• If it be you, if it be I, Shall set the Patteran once more Across the spaces of the sky. [Ill] AUG 8 mz Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proc< Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date; Sept. 2009 PreservationTechnologi A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVA 111 Thomson Park Dnve Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724) 779-2111 ■■'ii>''' ■rfJj !?: i-'V.^V' t^i: ■■ "'.« ;-' ; vf sT'ji, :^"^^'J f^fV ': > t^-"