SONGS TO CALE YOUNG RICE Class JIES3_5LX5' Rnolc ±Z2. S7 CJCSFERIGHT DEPOSIC SONGS TO A. H. R. SONGS TO A. H. R. BY GALE YOUNG RIGE PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO. NEW YORK MCMXVIII 'b'^lA 4 ^"^ ^'> Copyright, 1918, by The Century Co. Published, September, 1918 -SEP 30 i9i8 )Ci.A5();3634 TO A. H. R. Amid what joys and sorrows, upon what lands and seas, these songs have sprung to my heart, you alone know. If they have made our homeways seem fair as the far places of earth, and the far places as fair as home, they will have done that which I most desired. Gathered here together for the first time I offer them to you again. CONTENTS PAGB The World's and Mine 3 Mating 4 Untold 5 Fides Perennis Amoris 6 sufficings 9 When the Wind is Low .... 10 Romance 12 In the Hurricane 14 At Amalfi 16 How Many Ways 18 Monitions 19 Shelter 20 Free 22 Recompense 23 Star- Wanderings 24 All 26 Love and Infinity 27 Via Amorosa 28 In the Night 30 Love-Watch 31 CONTENTS PAOB Together 32 Swallows '33 Transfusion 35 In a Dark Hour 36 The Old Need 37 Dominions 38 Secrecies 39 Twilight Content ...... 40 On the Beach 42 At the Ebb-Hour 43 The Edge of the Hill 44 MiNGLINGS 46 The Heart's Question 47 Assuagement 49 First and Last 50 SONGS TO A. H. R. THE WORLD'S AND MINE THE world may hear The wind in his trees, The lark in her skies, The sea on his leas; May hear Song rise So glad in its ringing That every star God has seems singing. But I have a music they never can know — The touch and soul and heart of you — Oh ! All else that is said or sung 's but a part of you — Be it forever so! MATING 'T^ HE bliss of the wind in the redbud ring- J- ing! What shall we do with the April days? Kingcups soon will be up and swinging! What shall we do with May's? The cardinal flings, " They are made for mating! " Out on the bough he flutters, a flame. Thrush-flutes echo, " For mating's elating ! Love is its other name! " They know! know it! but better, oh better, Dearest, than ever a bird in Spring, Know we to make each moment debtor Unto love's burgeoning! UNTOLD COULD I, a poet, Implant the truth of you, Seize it and sow it As Spring on the world, There were no need To fling, forsooth, of you, Fancies that only lovers heed! For, but unfurled, The bloom, the sweet of you, (As unto me they are opened oft) Would with their beauty's breath repeat of you All that my heart breathes, loud or soft! FIDES PERENNIS AMORIS THO God should send me, When I die. To the last star Across His sky. And bid all space between us be Oblivion — one traverseless sea : Tho He should give me, There, a task, Sweeter than any I could ask, And, with the task, achievement, too. Greater than all I here shall do: Yea, tho He purposed Thus to let Me, severed from you, 6 FIDES PERENNIS AMORIS All forget; Remembrance like a magnet still Would draw my heart to you and will. So I should wander On the marge Of that new world With strangeness large, Leaving my task to turn a face Somehow toward your dwelling place. And I should listen Thro the stars To silent hintings Of lost bars Of music that was once your voice: In no dream should I more rejoice. Or I should tremble When the breeze Brought to my cheek Infinities 7 FIDES PERENNIS AMORIS Of dim forgotten touches love Once swept me with, like a wild dove. Nor could the presence Of His throng Of noblest spirits Hush, for long, In me the unrememhered bliss- — The vanished spell of days like this. For in the trysting Of true souls There is no distance That controls: Nor space nor God can keep them twain Only annihilation's reign. SUFFICINGS DAY for the mind, But night for the soul. Sun for delight, But moon to console. Song for the glad, But silence for rest. God for the world — But you for my breast! WHEN THE WIND IS LOW WHEN the wind is low, and the sea is soft. And the far heat-lightning plays On the rim of the West where dark clouds nest On a darker bank of haze; When I lean at the rail with you that I love And gaze to my heart's content; I know the heavens are there above — But you are my firmament. When the phosphor-stars are thrown from the bow And the watch climbs up the shroud; When the dim mast dips as the vessel slips Thro the foam that seethes aloud; 10 WHEN THE WIND IS LOW I know that the years of our life are few, And fain as a bird to flee, That time is as brief as a drop of dew — But you are eternity. 11 ROMANCE (North Cliff, Lynton, Devon) WHITE-CAPS hurry to meet the shore, A hundred fathoms down. Gray sails shimmer upon the wind Far out from Lynmouth town. High crags whisper above us, keen; The heather and the ling Laugh to the sky as driven by The wild gulls cry or cling. And, where the far sun like a god Scatters the mist, lies shore. Is it Romance's magic realm Spring reigns thro, evermore? 12 ROMANCE And that our morning hearts could see Across the darkest foam? Then do we know it well, my love, Because it is our Home. 13 IN THE HURRICANE WHO stood upon that schooner's driven deck Last night as reefed and shuddering she hove Into the twilight and all desperate drove From wave to angrier wave that sought her wreck? Who labored at her helm and watched the wind Stagger the sea with all his stunning might, Until in dimness dwindling from our sight She vanished in the rack that rode behind? We know not, you and I, but our two souls That followed as storm-petrels over the waves 14 IN THE HURRICANE Felt all the might of Him who sinks or saves, And all the pity of earth's unreached goals: Felt all — then swift returning to our love Dwelt in its peace, uplifted safe above. 15 AT AMALFI COME to the window, you who are mine, Waken! the night is calling. Sit by me here, with the moon's fair shine Into your deep eyes falling. The sea afar is a fearful gloom; Lean from the casement, listen! It breaks, anear, with a faery spume. Spraying the rocks that glisten. The little white town below lies deep As eternity in slumber. O, you who are mine, how a glance can reap Beauties beyond all number! 16 AT AMALFI And how, as sails that at anchor ride. Our spirits rock together On a love-sea — lit as this tide With tenderest star-weather! On a love-sea — till the dawn 's up, Over the moon low-lying; Till we have drunk, soul-deep, the cup Of a delight undying! 17 HOW MANY WAYS HOW many ways the Infinite has Tonight, in earth and sky: A falling star, a rustling leaf, The night-wind ebbing by. How many ways the Infinite has: A fire-fly over the lea, A whippoorwill in the wooded hill, And your dear love to me. How many ways the Infinite has: The moon out of the East; A cloud that waits her shepherding, To wander silver-fleeced. How many ways the Infinite has: A home-light in the West, And joy deep-glowing in your eyes, Wherein is all my rest. 18 MONITIONS SAD as an inland gull, far from the salt wave winging, Lost or lured from the sea — from all its heart has known, Am I, when I think that death, somewhere, may now be bringing The hour, my love, to sever us, and send each wandering lone. 19 SHELTER I HAVE been out where the winds are, And tossing tops of trees, And clouds that sweep from rim to rim Of blue infinities. And all was a sound and sway there, a surg- ing of unrest: So now I am wanting silence, and the heart I love best. Yes, and a quiet book, too, Of pensive poetry. In which to let the lines lapse Away, unlessonedly. For I shall gather, somehow, from the soft fire's glow, And from the eyes I love best, all I need to know. 20 SHELTER And hours shall slip to embers. And on the hearth lie; And every wind that blew me, And every want, die. Then I shall take the hand I love best, and turn to sleep: And, if God wills, at dawn wake, again, to laugh or weep. 21 FREE OWERE your heart not wide, dear. And were your soul not high, And were not both so deep, too, Deep as the April sky, I should not find love freedom, But know a need to range All heaven and hell — a prisoner Pining for space and change. But since there's depth within you To hang my moon and stars, Since I have not to beat vain wings Against offending bars, I find all other spaces That lie beyond our love Are prison — all alluring worlds Below me or above. 22 RECOMPENSE NOT if I chose from a world of days Could I find a day like this. The sky is a wreath of azure haze And the sea an azure bliss. The surf runs racing the young salt wind, Shouting without a fear At reef and bar, at cliff and scaur, Where you and I lie near. you and I who have watched the sky And sea from many a shore ! You, love, and I, who will live and die — And watch the sea no more! O joy of the world! joy of love, Joy that can say to death, " Tho you end all with your wanton pall. We two have had this breath! " 23 STAR-WANDERINGS LAST night I took you wandering Down silent paths between the stars, The sod of space beneath our feet Was soft as violet dreams. And close to many a moon that shone We wandered easeful ly alone, And everything to us was known, And everything was sweet: For all the world was as it seems When love is made complete. We wandered, oh, we wandered on. Thro dimmer-shining ways, till space In all its primal pureness lay, A starless reach beyond. And into it we passed to see If God in such a void could be — 24 STAR-WANDERINGS And still the soul of it was He, As of the starry way. Then, ah. Time touched us with his wand, And all was yesterday. 25 ALL ALL of Spring in a bird's song, Of Summer in a rose, Of Autumn in one fallen leaf: So the world goes. So forever it goes, dear, And so within one breast I find my all of earth -joy, And ease for unrest. 26 A LOVE AND INFINITY CROSS the kindling twilit moon A late gull wings to rest. The sea is murmuring underneath Its vast eternal quest. The coast-light flashes over the tide A red and warning eye; And oh, the world is very wide, But you are nigh! The stars come out from zone to zone, The wind knows every one, And blows their message to my heart As it has ever done. " They are all God's," it tells me, " all. However huge or high." But ah, I could not trust its call — Were you not by! 27 VIA AMOROSA WHEN we two walk, my love, on the path The moon makes over the sea, To the end of the world where sorrow hath An end that is ecstasy, Should we not think of the other road Of wearying dust and stone Our feet would fare did each but care To follow the way alone? When we two slip at night to the skies And find one star we keep As a trysting-place to which our eyes May lead our souls ere sleep, Should we not pause for a little space And think how many must sigh 28 VIA AMOROSA Because they gaze over starry ways With no heart-comrade by? When we two then lie down to our dreams That deepen still the delight Of our wandering where stars and streams Stray in immortal light, Should we not grieve with the myriads From East of earth to West Who lay them down at night but to drown A longing for some loved breast? Ah yes, for life has a thousand gifts, But love it is gives life. Who walks thro his world alone e'er lifts A soul that is sorrow-rife. But they to whom it is given to tread The moon-path and not sink Can ever say the unhappiest way Earth has is fair to the brink. 29 IN THE NIGHT % VTHEN I lie unsleeping, » V When the darkness seems Like a lonely sepulchre Where I'm shut in dreams, I have but to touch you, Reaching thro the night. Then does all the vast tomb change Into living light. Then does space unbounded Fill once more with stars, While my worn and haunted heart Ceases from old wars. Then does rest come to me, And, it may be, sleep: Such infinitude has love — Such watch can it keep. 30 LOVE-WATCH MY love 's a guardian-angel Who camps about your heart, Never to flee your enemy, Nor from you turn apart. Whatever dark may shroud you. And hide your stars away, With vigil sweet his wings shall beat About you till the day. 31 TOGETHER AROUND us is the sea's dance, And the glad, swinging flight Of wild windy gulls whose joy Is never to alight! Above us is the June sun, And higher still the Blue — And God, like a dream, dear. The whole world through! 32 SWALLOWS IN a room that we love, Under a lamp, Whose soft glow falls around, We sit each night and you read to me, Thro the silence soul-profound. And black on the yellow frieze of the walls The swallows fly unchanging; Round, round, yet never round, Ranging, — yet never ranging. We sit and you read, your face aglow, While amid dreams that start I watch the swallows As each follows The other, swift, apart. Till oft it seems that your words are birds, 33 SWALLOWS Flying into my heart, And singing there, and bringing there, Love's more than artless art. So never, in lands however far. Or seas that wash them romid, Shall I see wings along the sky But instantly the sound Of your voice shall come, And the sky, changing, Shall be the room we love. With its lamp-glow — and time-flow — And happy swallows ranging. 34 TRANSFUSION A SHOAL-LIGHT flashes East, And livid lightning West, The silvery dark night-sea between, On which we ride at rest, And gaze far, far away Into the fretless skies, World-sadness in our thought — but ah. Content within our eyes. The ship's bell strikes — the sound Floats shrouded to our ears. Then suddenly, as at a touch. The universe appears A Presence Infinite That penetrates our love And makes it one with night and sea And all the stars above. 35 IN A DARK HOUR YOU are not with me — only the moon, The sea and the gulls' cry, out of tune; The myriad cry of the gulls still strewn On the sands where the tide will enter soon. You are not with me, only the breath Of the wind — and then the wind's death. A shrouding silence then that saith, " Even as wind, love vanisheth." You are not with me — only fear. As old as earth's first frenzied bier That severed two whose hearts were near, And left one with all Life unclear. 36 THE OLD NEED TONIGHT I saw the new moon, while the vesper bells were ringing, A slender silver breath it seemed, swung on the April skies. Soft apple blossoms under it in white throngs were springing. And blossom-thoughts of you within my heart began to rise. I saw the moon, I heard the bells, I felt the silver rapture Of stars that soon would blossom on the pur- ple tree of night. But from a Universe in bloom I only sought to capture Soft-petalled words — but three — to tell again love's vernal might. 37 DOMINIONS DEATH is as strong as the sea is, But when I lift my eyes To yours I know there is born there A light to outlive the skies. Death is as wide as the sea is. Yet at your least love-call I know that death's vastity is Not all. Death is as dark as the tide is, But when I see you move I know that the highmost star there Is guided in its groove. Death is as dread as the tide is, But while your heart is in mine I '11 trust that all else beside is Divine. 38 SECRECIES WHAT is between my heart and the moon To you alone I tell, In words soft as the trembling tone That comes from the far buoy-bell. What is between my heart and the sea Was never told nor writ, Because, like this my love for you. Its strength seems infinite. What is between my heart and the stars You need but ask to learn. For all my clustered thought of you Like them with beauty burn. What is between my heart and the deeps Of death could be confessed Only when I have clasped you there Again unto my breast. 39 TWILIGHT CONTENT IS it the wind in trees or waters falling? Is it the canyon-shadows rushing down The ridgy slopes that seem so to be calling My heart in twilit tenderness to drown? Is it the canyon wren's diminuendo That slips down a soft scale of minor peace? Is it the spell of night's lone wide crescendo Of mountain rest upon me — is it these? Or but some sense of you I cannot measure? Some memory of a wind of love that blew Out of your heart to mine? Some darkling pleasure In the first shade of grief I shared with you? 40 TWILIGHT CONTENT I cannot tell. I only know how surely In you — and the world's beauty — I rejoice. The wren is still: gone to her nest demurely. The night has come — yet silence is your voice. 41 ON THE BEACH THE long coast curves and the cliffs rise up, Red and white and green; The surf slips in with a sucking din Of shingle-wash between. The light gulls float with crimson bills Set seaward — not one cries: And we are alone, alone with them, Under the aimless skies. The tide slips in, of the moon released, Its rhythm gives us rest, And in its pause there are hid sweet awes That sink into the breast With silent soothing — till the coast Is lost in mystic gloam. And till deep in my dreams I hear Your voice, that calls me home. 42 AT THE EBB-HOUR AS I hear, thro the midnight sighing, The low ebb-tide withdrawn, And gulls on the dark cliff crying For far discernless dawn. It seems that all life is lying Within your every breath, Yet I cannot believe in dying. Or death. As I hear, from the gray church tower, The bell's unfailing sound Peal forth hour after hour To night's lone reaches round. It seems as if Time's wan power Would sear all things apace — All, save in my heart one flower. Your face. 43 THE EDGE OF THE HILL IF we walked over the edge of the hill And on, should we reach the moon? Silver it lies in the twilit skies Just over trees that croon With the trembling breeze and softened pleas Of the whippoorwill's lone cry. If we walked over the edge of the hill And reached the moon, would the wefts of ill Fade there, from love, and die? If we walked over the edge of the hill And on, should we reach the stars? And God at the end, our final friend In all time's troublous wars? And then, at last, with the world far past. Should we be satisfied? 44 THE EDGE OF THE HILL Or long again for the edge of the hill? And love so frailly human still? And hopes that never abide? 45 MINGLINGS IT is the old, old vision — The moonlit sea — and you. I cannot make disseverance Between the two. For all the world's wide beauty To me you seem, All that I love in shadow Or glow or gleam. It is the old, old murmur, The sea's sound and your voice. God in his Bliss between them Could make no choice. For all the world's deep music In you I hear: Nor shall I ask death, ever. For aught more dear. 46 THE HEART'S QUESTION IS it such a little thing To find a wind-flower Twinkling in the wild-wood Hour after hour, Dancing to the wind's pipe With a happy nod? Is it such a little thing? I think it is God. Is it such a little thing To find the young moon Flitting thro the tree boughs In her silver shoon, Seeking for the wind-flower There along the sod? Is it such a little thing? I think it is God. 47 THE HEART'S QUESTION Is it such a little thing To find in your face Something of the wind-flower And young moon's grace? Something of the wild-wood, Ever faery-trod? Is it such a little thing? I think it is God. 48 ASSUAGEMENT HOW close tonight the whippoorwill Calls, as the stars come out; And then how like a far echo — shrill No more, hut a dream-shout. How softly there does the Infinite Lift up the silver moon, And then how silently He sets Our care-sick hearts in tune. How soothingly does the night-wind sigh, And ease the earth to sleep. How fugitive is the cricket's cry, But, oh, with life how deep. How vastly stretches the universe, How lone and how aloof, Until our hands touch — then it seems But love's star-builded roof. 49 FIRST AND LAST NIGHT has uttered a star, A first faint word Of her epic to follow. Night has uttered a star; It hangs in the dusk's high hollow. Night has uttered a star; As you, supernally dear to me. First uttered the word that brought my heart Starry infinity. Night has ended her lay, Her epic lay Of heavenly burning. Night has ended her lay. And the dawn wind is returning. Night has ended her lay; But the starry-rhythms of your love Thro all my being's breadth, I know. Can never cease to move. 50