PR 
 
 0111 
 
 
 tTHR MARGARET SONNETS. 
 
am rK'il 7/ 
 
 DOBELl COLLECTION 
 
'y^. 
 
THE 
 
 MARGARET SONNETS. 
 
THE 
 
 MARGARET SONNETS. 
 
 PRIVATE ISSUE. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 • 1872. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESEKIT.D. 
 

 205449 
 '13 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Strangeways and Walden, Printers, 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 
 
THE MARGARET SONNETS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Fair June is here, with all its warmth and light ; 
 
 And very pleasant are the glowing hours ; 
 
 The chesnut trees are half concealed by flowers. 
 And every hawthorn bush is robed in white. 
 In full-leaved splendour oak and lime are bright, 
 
 Untanned by summer suns, unbruised by showers. 
 
 And birds are singing in their leafy bowers, 
 Sheltered securely from the traveller's sight. 
 
 Willow and ash with their first leaves are decked. 
 With fallen elm-flowers is the road-side flecked ; — 
 But not the song of birds, not the warm breeze, 
 
 Not the sweet odours which the flowers impart. 
 Nor all the leafy glories of the trees, 
 
 From thoughts of thee can move my constant heart. 
 
 5 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 11. 
 
 Accept our earliest, choicest rose, dear friend, 
 And braid it with your hair for my love's sake ; 
 Its pale buff petals fairer hues will take 
 
 If o'er your auburn tresses it may bend. 
 
 Tis said love's glamoury light at times will lend 
 To smallest offerings glowing charms that break 
 Like sunshine on a woman^s heart, and make 
 
 Light dancing joys on all her steps attend. 
 
 And though I may not hope so rich a spell 
 Round gift of mine for thy dear heart may dwell, 
 Yet, Margaret, take the blooming bud I send, 
 
 And nurse its delicate life for my love's sake ; 
 
 And know that if the trifle shall awake 
 One gleam of pleasure, I have gained my end. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 III. 
 
 Friend of my soul, my Margaret ever dear, 
 This day is sacred unto love and thee ; 
 With the first dawn my spirit wanders free 
 
 To meet thee on the hills of Devonshire. 
 
 The level sun doth gild thy forehead clear. 
 The cool fresh breezes wafted from the sea 
 Wanton amid thy tresses lovingly, 
 
 And birds are warbling music in thine ear. 
 
 To bounding fancy yielding all the reins 
 Methinks I walk with thee in Devon lanes, 
 Kiss thy dear lips beneath the shadows gray, 
 
 And pray from lowest depth of heart sincere 
 That God may bless thee on thy natal da}', 
 
 And on all davs through everv comin^^ year. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 IV. 
 
 For thee my prayers to Heaven's high gate ascend 
 In every hour that blushes in the light, 
 When sleep forsakes me in the midmost night 
 
 My spirit floateth towards thee, darling friend ! 
 
 And sure this boundless love a joy will lend 
 Blessing beyond the range of chance or spite, 
 And make our daily pathways glad and bright 
 
 Till life and all its cares and cravings end. 
 
 And joyful were the hope that we might meet 
 Beyond the Pleiads and the Northern Wain 
 
 In that blessed world were partings are no more ; 
 For my fond heart could crave no higher gain 
 Than listening ever to thy accents sweet, 
 
 Resting with thee upon the eternal shore. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 Nay, fear not, Margaret, that thy friend is sad ; 
 Fear rather that this wealthy dower of love 
 May overweight his feeble powers, and prove 
 
 Honey of Trebizond to drive him mad ; 
 
 More precious than the balm of Gilead 
 Rich manna rained upon me yesterday, 
 And I have brought a glorious store away 
 
 And live upon it hourly and am glad. 
 
 Choicer than food that fed the Israelite 
 Far from a home in heart-desired land 
 
 My manna wastes not with the dews of night ; 
 With this o'erflowing treasure in my hand 
 
 1 walk by faith, and wait for perfect sight 
 
 When life's bright glass will run with golden sand. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 VI. 
 
 As yester-eve I travelled towards the West, 
 Just as the Autumn day its hours had told. 
 Before my charmed vision was unrolled 
 
 A scene that breathed deep joy into my breast 
 
 And whispered fancies of Elysian rest; 
 For calmly floating on a sea of gold, 
 And purple-tinted like the heath-clad wold, 
 
 Methought I saw the islands of the Blest. 
 
 And far beyond them all four several bands 
 Of yellow light shot upwards in the sky 
 
 Towards bright Arcturus and the Boreal crown. 
 Thy home is nearer to those purple lands, 
 Say, did the glorious vision greet thine eye. 
 
 Stretching beyond the corn-fields shorn and brown ? 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Beloved of my heart I feel thee near, 
 Endymion I, thou Dian in her might, 
 Though bodily presence gladdens not my sight 
 
 Thy love folds round me as the atmosphere 
 
 Folds over hill and valley mead and mere 
 
 Makes tower and church and lonely homestead bright 
 And steeps the golden sheaves in glamoury light 
 
 When glorious Autumn crowns the ripened year. 
 
 Such the rich dowry by my soul possessed : 
 And if my love, sweet friend, avail to throw 
 Around thy daily path a kindred glow 
 
 With fullest joy will both our hearts be blest; 
 And smooth the current of our years will flow 
 To their last bourne in the Life-ocean's breast. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Dearest, I long have held this precept true^ 
 *The primal instincts of the heart are sound, 
 
 Co-ordinate them and their aims pursue 
 
 And thus life's choicest blessings will be found :' 
 
 So thought I when thou first didst glad my view, 
 
 And my heart leaped towards thee with joyous bound. 
 
 So feel I still, by no dark dreams oppressed, 
 For potent spell hath wrought my spirits' cure ; 
 
 Since thou canst love me yet retain thy rest 
 
 Believe me, darling, I indeed am blest 
 
 Although thou may'st not sleep upon my breast \ 
 The storms of life I bravely shall endure, 
 And strive to make my heart a temple pure^ 
 
 Not all unworthy of its angel guest. 
 
SONNETS, 9 • 
 
 IX. 
 
 Margaret, though absent I esteem thee near, 
 Though lone I am not all alone to-day, 
 Thy thoughts go with pie as I take my way 
 
 Down the green lanes of pleasant Hertfordshire. 
 
 Thy voice is ringing alway in mine ear, 
 And flashing through my soul a gentle ray 
 Shot from thy earnest eyes of azure gray 
 
 Has found a power to reach and bless me here. 
 
 Dear one, I have built up a shrine secure 
 Where I shall love and worship all my days, 
 
 And my tossed heart will find a refuge sure 
 
 And a strong light to guide her mid dark ways ; 
 
 And there for aye will stand thy image pure, 
 Portal and window safe from vulgar gaze. 
 
*io THE MARGARET 
 
 X. 
 
 As travellers beneath the arctic sky 
 
 Pine for the sun in the long polar night, 
 
 So pines my heart, my loved one, for the light 
 
 That^lives within the circle of thine eye. 
 
 Though letters come, like stars that hang on high. 
 Or like the Boreal coruscations bright 
 That with strange splendour gladden all the sight, 
 
 Yet without thee my heart must droop and die. 
 
 In the still temple ot my love I bow, 
 
 And feed my little lamps of faith and hope, 
 
 A.nd utter many an unrecorded vow 
 
 Before thy glorious image shrined there ; 
 
 And seek new strength in life's lone paths to grope, 
 
 Till love's bright sun shall dawn in upper air. 
 
SONNETS. 1 I 
 
 XL 
 
 Musing I sit within our mossy dell, 
 
 Shaded by hornbeam, lime, and sycamore. 
 And as a miser counts his golden store, 
 
 So reckon I the treasures rich that dwell 
 
 Securely shrined in memory's inmost cell : 
 
 Words, looks, and tones replete with love's sweet lore, 
 Around my spirit' floods of rapture pour, 
 
 That with soft rythmic movement sink and swell. 
 
 But I must rouse me from my musing hour, 
 I feel my Margaret's presence and her power 
 
 Calling my spirit unto nobler aims. 
 Bidding me not to play the miser's part. 
 
 Nor, self-absorbed, grow heedless of the claims 
 Of outer life upon my mind and heart. 
 
12 THE MARGARET 
 
 XII. 
 
 One work of love with life alone will cease 
 And may not be accomplished ; for my aim 
 Is all unmeeted to the powers I claim ; 
 
 And yet when death my spirit shall release 
 
 Unresting I shall roam and find no peace 
 Unless some echo from the voice of fame 
 Shall tell me I have matched my Margaret's name 
 
 With names of Laura and fair Beatrice. 
 
 I would that poets through the ages long 
 
 Should link my love with all that is most fair, 
 
 Proclaim her like tall Dian, lithe and strong, 
 
 Like Venus beautiful, like Pallas wise ; 
 
 While future Raphaels limn her fair brown hair 
 
 And the Egyptian slope of her gray eyes. 
 
SONNETS. J3 
 
 XIII. 
 
 When spent is all the force of wind and storm 
 The clouds at times will break and float away 
 In golden glory on the track of day ; 
 
 And oft compressed emotion, wild and warm, 
 
 Into poetic utterance will transform, 
 
 And take the fairest rainbow hues, and throw 
 Around the jaded heart a genial glow, 
 
 And soothe its sorrows with a Gilead balm. 
 
 Such welcome respite, such brief joy is mine 
 If subtle alchemy of brain transmute 
 Voiceless emotion into shapely song ] 
 And if some beauty flash along the line 
 
 To thee, dear friend, it doth of right belong ; 
 For thou the player art, and I the lute. 
 
14 THE MARGARET 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Margaret, dear heart, sole fountain of my weal, 
 
 I am not sad though thou art far away ; 
 For often doth my thankful spirit feel 
 
 The far off sunshine on the cloudy day ; 
 
 The purple beams of love around me play, 
 Bearing a mighty power to soothe and heal, 
 
 They break in beauty through the murky gray, 
 And glorious vistas to my sight reveal. 
 
 Yet come to me, my dear one, for I long 
 To gaze once more into those earnest eyes, 
 And hear again the music of thy voice 
 Richer and sweeter than a Seraph's song : 
 
 Come to me, darling of my fondest choice. 
 My loving heart could crave no wealthier prize. 
 
SONNETS. 15 
 
 XV. 
 
 Despair had bound me with an iron chain, 
 
 For weary weeks I deemed that thou wert changed, 
 That thy dear heart was from my heart estranged, 
 
 And nought of refuge found I in my pain 
 
 From the long anguish of my fevered brain. 
 Forgive the madness, love, forgive the doubt 
 That seized my soul and shut the daylight out. 
 
 And with wild frenzy urged me to complain. 
 
 The cloud that smirched the firmament above 
 Has turned its silver lining to my sight ', 
 
 Back to my ark returns the peaceful dove 
 
 And brings an olive branch with flowerets bright : 
 
 Again I feel the sunshine of thy love, 
 Agam I thank my God for life and light. 
 
i6 THE MARGARET 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Joyful I bask beneath love's purple beam, 
 
 And death and darkness turn to life and light, 
 Soon will thy presence greet my gladdened sight ; 
 
 This sun-scorched brow of mine ere long, I deem, 
 
 Will feel the kiss that blessed me in my dream. 
 Ye lazy hours speed swiftly in your flight. 
 Lead on the day, lead on the dewy night, 
 
 Till Margaret come flow on in rapid stream. 
 
 Then steal along as slowly as ye may. 
 
 Bring warmth, and light, and flowers, and the gay song 
 Of the young birds that in the greenwood throng ; 
 And linger while I walk adown the glade 
 Beside my love, or 'neath the lime-trees stay 
 And listen to her voice amid the shade. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 All may be lost where aught is to be gained, 
 Unless the powers of reason we employ 
 We reap a sorrow when we snatch at joy, 
 
 We grasp at honour and with shame are stained. 
 
 If common appetite be unrestrained 
 
 The food whereby we live full soon would cloy 
 Our gross and pampered bodies, and destroy 
 
 The life it should have nourished and sustained. 
 
 The fires that fill our homes with warmth and light 
 
 In cold dark days with thoughtful care we tend. 
 
 Or life and shelter soon would find an end. 
 
 We hold a two-edged sword, our crowning bliss. 
 
 The source and well-spring of our happiness ; — 
 Be it ours to use the fearful gift aright. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Though brief and glorious Autumn days have ended 
 
 And clouds and fog must hide thee from my view, 
 
 Not with unmingled pain I bid adieu, 
 For with my love thy being's love is blended. 
 If on we press, by faith and hope attended, 
 
 Each earthlier impulse mindful to subdue, 
 
 Yet to our noblest instincts ever true. 
 By all good souls our love will be commended. 
 
 Ever to thee with reverent heart I kneel 
 
 And nurse my holiest feelings at thy shrine ; 
 
 And thou, sweet friend, from this deep love of mine 
 
 Methinks will draAv some power to soothe and heal ; 
 Some culture that for good thy soul shall sway, 
 Some needful light to guide thee on thy way. 
 
SONNETS, 19 
 
 XIX. 
 
 When a fair stream is lost in the broad sea 
 It may forget its banks, forget the hours 
 It sported gaily with the water-flowers, 
 
 And to the Nymph that haunts the willow-tree 
 
 Straightway forget its ancient loyalty. 
 
 And when the current of my years shall rest, 
 Its last wave thrown on the life-ocean's breast. 
 
 Perchance will vanish every thought of thee. 
 
 I cannot tell, dear heart, but this I know ; — 
 My love will never lose its wonted glow. 
 
 No place will be a solitude to me 
 Till life and thought and feeling cease to flow : 
 For where I am there wilt thou ever be, 
 Holding the central place in pensive memory. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 XX. 
 
 Ah, once I deemed that earth could not impart 
 The bounteous blessing of a love like thine ; 
 And I should pass from life and find no shrine 
 
 Where I could pour the worship of my heart. 
 
 Now when the teardrops to my eye-balls start, 
 While perfect love around my heart doth twine, 
 I weep that thou canst ne'er be wholly mine, 
 
 And deepest joy doth bring my keenest smart. 
 
 Yet welcome both ; since the stern fates combine 
 My weal and woe as web and woof together, 
 Like a dark banner shot with one fair star, 
 I will not idle murmur nor repine, 
 
 But onward press through every change of weather 
 Sure that thy love will bless me from afar. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Yes, it is more and better than a dream 
 
 To know that thy pure heart is mine for aye ; 
 That love for me doth mingle with the stream 
 
 Of thy pure thoughts through all their range and play. 
 Thus dowered I live, rejoicing in the beam 
 
 That comes to bless me on the week's best day ; 
 Thus do I walk life's humble path, and deem 
 
 An unseen friend beguiles my lonely way. 
 
 And if sometimes a fuller utterance 
 
 From thy heart's depths shall ravish every sense 
 
 With the full tide that swept my soul of yore, — 
 While yet our love was in its earliest spring, — 
 If such rich gifts some golden days may bring 
 
 Methinks my grateful heart could crave no more. 
 
2 2 2 HE MARGARET 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Well may you weary of my rhymes, and deem, 
 With show of reason, that my dreamy mmd 
 To nature's manifold glories must be blind, 
 
 Can draw no wisdom from heaven's clearest beam. 
 
 No inspiration from earth, sky, or stream, 
 And moves unconscious as a village hind 
 Amid the mighty thoughts that shake mankind, 
 
 Harping for ever on an outworn theme. 
 
 Nay earth and sea and sky to me are fair, 
 Tales of heroic daring charm mine ear. 
 And noble thoughts unto my heart are dear ; 
 But when I prize them most some alchemy 
 Transmutes them into loving dreams of thee, 
 
 Symbol and type of all things grand and rare. 
 
SONNETS. 21 
 
 XXIIL 
 
 On dizzy height of mountain far away 
 
 Now rocked by noisy night-winds into rest, 
 
 Anon awakened by the morning's ray, 
 Haply some unfledged eaglet in his nest 
 Longs for the day when he shall bathe his breast 
 In winds from North and South, from East and West, 
 
 And with unwinking eye, unflagging pinion. 
 
 Soar ])roudly upward through the air's dominion 
 
 Little he dreams that pip or weak pea-feather 
 Shall mar his power to brave or wind or weather, 
 Till, madly struggling with too fierce a blast 
 E'er yet the gristle of his youth be past, 
 Down from those soaring heights he shall be cast 
 To crawl with limping feet among the heather. 
 
24 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 And like that unfledged eaglet, all unwise, 
 Full little deemed I, in the glorious hour 
 When my young brain rejoiced in growing power. 
 
 And the world's honour seemed an easy prize, 
 
 That later years would fail to realise 
 The cherished object of my earliest aim, 
 And never would the citadel of fame 
 
 Yield to my patient siege or quick surprise. 
 
 Well, though ripe judgment tells of humbler powers, 
 Thank God, in lowest vales lie fair green bowers. 
 
 And duties clustering round my pathway now 
 Cheer me with hope past errors to redeem. 
 And if fruition crown my later dream 
 
 I yet shall twine some laurels for my brow. 
 
SONNETS. 25 
 
 XXV. 
 
 No longer in the East the tempest lowers : 
 
 The lightning flash, our lately conquered slave, 
 Has shot o'er land and dived beneath the wave. 
 
 Bringing glad tidings from the Austrian powers 
 
 That Russia yieldeth and the day is ours. 
 
 Thanks to the heroes mouldering in the grave ; 
 A thousand thanks unto the living brave ; 
 
 For those the cypress weave, for these weave flowers ! 
 
 And twine bright weaths of laurel for the brows 
 Of statesmen, w^ho have sought with eager zeal. 
 Through good and ill report the public weal, 
 
 Labouring all holier feelings to arouse ; 
 Struggling to make the din of battle cease 
 And bless all Europe with a lasting peace ! 
 
26 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 As Winter striding wildly o'er the plain 
 
 With snows and biting frosts prepares the soil 
 Gratefully to reward the peasant's toil 
 
 In the far Autumn ; — so the hurricane 
 
 That late hath swept across the Euxine main, 
 And over Alma, and made dire turmoil 
 At Balaclava, shall yield noble spoil ; 
 
 For blood of heroes floweth not in vain. 
 
 Soon by the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn 
 To virgin harbours shall the trader sail, 
 
 And bear to nations dwelling by the morn 
 
 From Western workshops many a wealthy bale, 
 
 Then homeward bring rich freights of wine and corn, 
 To bless the workmen and their children pale. 
 
SONNETS, 27 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 friend devoutest of my choice, when last 
 I met you in the dear paternal grange 
 
 My earnest words unto your ear seemed strange ; 
 With woman's heart you clung unto the past, 
 
 Refused to give your thoughts unfettered range, 
 And held that truth upon our earth was cast 
 
 To live through all the ages without change. 
 
 1 deemed our grasp of truth a partial thing. 
 
 Becoming ever broader and more free 
 As minds could learn to soar on stronger wing ; 
 
 Shall intellects divide when hearts agree ? 
 Keep thou thy creed, dear friend, and leave me mine : 
 
 Yea, keep thy creed for aye, enough for me 
 That it can nourish such a heart as thine. 
 
28 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Never, my dear one, can I range with those 
 Who with the growing Hght a war would wage, 
 And dread the progress of our mighty age 
 
 And the great truths which science may disclose. 
 
 Though for a while new light may throw in shade 
 Our long inheritance from saints and seers, 
 Chief issue, growth, and outcome of the years, 
 
 I welcome it with spirit unafraid. 
 
 And will not with a rash and unfledged zeal 
 Which cannot hold its own and wait awhile 
 Apparent discords haste to reconcile, 
 
 But v/atch for truths new voices may reveal. 
 
 Sure that though forms and frameworks change, the root 
 Of all the good and true the past did give 
 In the great heart of man will ever live, 
 
 And with new time will ripen nobler fruit. 
 
SONNETS. 29 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Not to the ancient seer alone was given 
 The power to scan the future, and to see 
 The glorious thing that was not, yet would be ; 
 
 But in all times, by favour of kind Heaven, 
 
 The gifted man — by scathing tempests driven 
 For weary years, yet striving valiantly — 
 Reaches at length a Pisgah, and stands free 
 
 On heights by which the clouds of time are riven. 
 
 Nay, rather say the earnest, fearless mind 
 Endowed with strong assimilative power 
 And blest with genial suns and the free air 
 Becomes a Pisgah for all human kind : 
 
 And w^eak men climb his heights, and standing there, 
 See the far glories of the coming hour. 
 
30 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Whether rich cargo or mere stones and dust, 
 
 The ship that takes the ocean must have freight - 
 A something that shall give the needful weight 
 
 To meet and counterpoise the billows' thrust. 
 
 And minds must take opinions upon trust, 
 To ballast them amid the waves of fate ; 
 Until, emerging from the infant state, 
 
 They learn to estimate the true and just. 
 
 Many there are, noble of heart and brave, 
 
 Who linger ever in the infant stage. 
 And carry their chance cargo to the grave, 
 Nor ever test the value of the store ; 
 
 Thrice happy if their country and their age 
 Give them^ for very ballast, golden ore. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 31 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Well may the poet in his power rejoice, 
 
 He holds a noble talisman and spell ; 
 
 This is his mission, if I read it well. 
 And this at once his instinct and his choice ; — 
 To give a definite form, a living voice, 
 
 To vague and mute heart-cravings, and impart 
 Touches of feeling to the callous head. 
 
 Glimpses of thought unto the dreamy heart. 
 
 Smooth flowing verse of idle fancies bred, 
 
 He leaves to cunning rhymesters, and would wed 
 
 His muse to noble thought and generous aim ; 
 
 So that his heart be pure he heeds not blame ; 
 And if the good cause and the true be sped, 
 
 He little cares to leave behind a name. 
 
32 THE MARGARE7 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Would you the first of human virtues seek ? 
 Ask a grand-hearted woman, and, ere long, 
 
 Her heart to yours in music tones will speak, 
 And this will be the burden of her song : — 
 Let weak men give due reverence to the strong ; 
 
 And let the strong in mind in heart be meek. 
 
 And give their utmost service to the weak. 
 
 The end and aim of every human gift 
 
 Lies not in him who holds the gift unbought. 
 By favour, not by merit ; and the dower 
 May well indeed beguile the lonely hour 
 With luxury of meditative thought ; 
 But only is well-used when used to lift 
 Inferior minds unto a higher power. 
 
SONNETS. 2,7, 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 As matter tendeth ever to maintain 
 
 Unvarying motion or eternal rest 
 
 As it hath been by outward force impressed, 
 So over mind the self-same law doth reign : 
 And we imbibe opinions wild or sane 
 
 Which like an atmosphere our souls invest ; 
 
 Hence the equipment in which minds are dressed. 
 And hence the bent and bias of the brain. 
 
 Though new environment and native force 
 Deflect us somewhat from our early course 
 
 And gathering years may bring some critic power. 
 All this tells little on the average mind, 
 By growing habit and mere sloth inclined 
 
 To clasp old creeds more closely hour by hour. 
 
34 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 Ah ! why, stern Winter, wilt thou strive to wield 
 
 The sceptre, now thy rightful reign is o'er ? 
 
 Fly poleward, and to gentle Spring restore 
 Her wrested empire ; to thy daughter yield 
 An easy sway o'er garden-plot and field ; 
 
 So southern gales and genial showers shall pour 
 
 A primal beauty on our island shore. 
 
 As vainly strive old forms with truths revealed 
 To younger insight and a later thought, 
 
 So dost thou strive, with chill and noisy blast, 
 
 All vainly to renew an outworn past. 
 
 Then yield, stem sire, content to have fulfilled 
 A purpose with much love and mercy fraught : 
 
 Now milder powers must rule; so Heaven hath willed. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 35 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 A shepherd playing on the rudest pipe 
 And framing quaintest verses to the praise 
 Of one he deems the light of all his days 
 
 I hold to be philosopher unripe : 
 
 For he has found a symbol and a type 
 
 Round which all forms of loveliness may cling ; 
 A root from which in later days may spring 
 
 The mellowest fruitage : even though the gripe 
 
 Of death or sterner fates that haunt the earth 
 May early snatch his cherished friend away 
 His love may leaven all his soul for aye ; 
 
 And change to something of a higher worth. 
 That shall rich culture to his mind impart 
 And throw^ a lastint^ radiance round his heart. 
 
36 THE MARGARET 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 My life is like an ocean white with foam 
 
 And work is heaped on work like wave on wave ; 
 
 I cannot have the leisure that I crave 
 To sit in slippered ease within my home, 
 And con with studious care some thoughtful tome 
 
 Writ for our use by learned men and brave. 
 
 Yet, since I would not have my mind a grave. 
 Often, as down some quiet path I roam, 
 
 I strive to reproduce in humble lays 
 
 Thoughts I have 2:athered in more leisure days ; 
 
 Or seek to give some due embodiment 
 
 To passing fancies or to cherished views, 
 To feeling, thought, or vague presentiment ; 
 
 And dash the picture with some personal hues. 
 
SONNETS. 37 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 From me no prayer ascends for length of days ^ 
 I ask nor wealth, nor power, nor human praise ; 
 Nor envy I the claims of noble birth 
 To stand among the great ones of the earth : 
 I do not seek the poet's crown of bays : 
 
 Though these are treasures of high mark and worth, 
 Of choicer blessings I have larger dearth : 
 
 I crave a mental vision clear and keen, 
 Prompt to receive with achromatic power 
 A faithful image of each outward thing. 
 And yet my spirit craves a further dower, — 
 A grasp of thought to comprehend the scene, — 
 A heart to feel what all these glories mean, — 
 An ear to hear what seers and poets sing. 
 
^S THE MARGARET 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Full half my earthly pilgrimage is done, 
 And I must travel on in darkened ways ; 
 
 For clouds are gathering round me, and the sun 
 Shines not above as in the olden days. 
 
 I am as one around whose paths are spun 
 The toiler's wily snares ; and the rough bays 
 Of blood-hounds urge me on through tangled ways. 
 
 And o'er steep crags it is not mine to shun. 
 
 Already have my banded foes begun 
 
 To stretch the bowstring and to barb the dart : 
 
 Thank God ! from love's own smile a charm I've won 
 To rob my venomed wounds of all their smart ; 
 
 And fiercest blows will neither slay nor stun 
 While I am sheltered in my Margaret^s heart. 
 
SONNETS. 39 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 1 am as one shut up in earless den 
 
 Unvisited by sun and the free air, 
 
 Weighed to the earth beneath a load of care 
 Heavier, methinks, than falls to other men. 
 Sweet rest will come at last, but how or when 
 
 I know not : my own burden I will bear. 
 
 Nor yield unto the promptings of despair. 
 Nor show my heart-wounds unto vulgar ken. 
 
 Margaret, my long-tried friend, thou knowest all 
 That fills my soul with anguish and dismay ; 
 
 Though on mine ears no tones of thine may fall 
 From thy true heart I am not cast away : 
 
 I hear thy spirit answer to my call 
 
 And bid me on its plighted troth to stay. 
 
40 THE MARGARET 
 
 XL. 
 
 When lone I muse upon life's blighted aim, 
 And see all wrecked upon a desert shore 
 
 Without one twinkle of their ancient flame 
 The glowing hopes that dazzled me of yore : 
 
 When I reflect upon the growing claim 
 
 Upon my failing strength and wasted store, 
 And feel my fate to work a barren ore, 
 
 I sink overwhelmed with grief and burning shame. 
 
 Yet have I one strong refuge, dearer far 
 
 Than all the treasures ravished in their bloom ; 
 
 One blessing which, methinks, no time can mar ; 
 One joy could glad me 'neath a heavier doom : 
 
 For love is ever with me like a star 
 
 That shows no parallax, permits no gloom. 
 
SONNETS. 41 
 
 XLI. 
 
 ' Dear friend, a mountain seems a mighty thing 
 To one who standeth close beside its base ; 
 Of fairest realms beyond it hides the trace, 
 
 And a vast shadow o'er the vale doth fling. 
 
 But if above its utmost peak he spring 
 Till his clear ken a hemisphere embrace. 
 And far-spread glories smite him on the face, 
 
 Small claim to notice doth the mountain bring. 
 
 * When you shall leave this vale and soar away 
 To regions all our own of clearest day 
 
 This shelving rock-high grief which now doth robe 
 Your constant heart in shades of thickest gloom 
 
 Shall round to a small mole-hill on a globe 
 Of love that stretcheth where no shadows loom.' 
 
42 THE MARGARE2 
 
 XLII. 
 
 ' Why should we wonder if our spirits play 
 With an unequal flow ? Not always bright 
 Shines the broad face of heaven ; and gloomy night 
 
 For ever follows on the track of day. 
 
 The darkest clouds disperse ; and twilight grey 
 Leads onward ever till the growing light 
 Of morning break upon our gladdened sight ; 
 
 More grateful for the gloom just past away. 
 
 ' And though our lot awhile seem dark and drear 
 In uncomplaining patience let us wait ; 
 
 Nor doubt that brighter, happier days are near, 
 Nor that God's love will reach our low estate : 
 
 Soon will bright streaks of morning light appear 
 And make our fainting hearts with joy elate.' 
 
SONNETS, 43 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 What want of wit hath sown let wisdom reap 
 And clear the soil for harvest of some gain, 
 With diligent labour parting tares from grain 
 
 Though this a mole-hill, that a mountain-heap. 
 
 Misfortunes harm us little while we keep 
 The springs of life elastic, and sustain. 
 As Spencer quaintly bids, our nerves and brain 
 
 On those two massive pillars. Food, and Sleep. 
 
 These failing not, the past we may redeem. 
 And by-gone errors into beacons turn 
 
 To guide 'mid sunken rocks with steady beam 
 Though darkness lie around and overhead : 
 
 And haply in the coming years may earn 
 Haven of rest among the honoured dead. 
 
44 THE MARGARET 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 A lonely lot is his whose thoughts and views 
 On problems which all earnest minds engage 
 Accord not with the standard of his age : 
 
 Unless from some broad gathering ground he choose 
 
 Companions tinted with congenial hues 
 
 In his own breast his thoughts he must encage, 
 Or trust them only to the fair white page, 
 
 And all the sweets of fellowship must lose. 
 
 Bereft of a broad intellectual base 
 
 For common standing-ground, how poor and bald 
 
 Becomes the intercourse of daily life ! 
 How dreary grows that heartless thing miscalled 
 Society ! How fruitful oft of strife 
 E'en with the very brothers of our race ! 
 
SONNETS. 45 
 
 XLV. 
 
 The mind's first answers have been weak and rude, 
 Questions of gravest import could not wait 
 A slow solution, and with pressure great 
 
 Claimed instant answers be they ne'er so crude : 
 
 A.nd such have served the human heart for food 
 Through the long period of its infant state ; 
 And when experience brought another freight 
 
 Mellowed by all the summers, gratitude 
 
 For what had nourished infant limbs so long, 
 And custom which the ages had made strong, 
 And the mere weight and drag of rear and wing 
 Made rank and file of human hearts to cling 
 With passionate emotion to the past. 
 Accept the mind's first teachings and reject her last. 
 
46 THE MARGARET 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 To him who with discerning eyes shall scan 
 
 Our island growth of mind it will appear, — 
 Whether it be by instinct or deep plan 
 
 Deliberately conceived, — thus much is clear: 
 Our leading minds move slowly, and the van 
 
 Waits with untiring patience for the rear • 
 Not willingly it leaves a single man 
 
 To lag behind in deserts lone and drear : 
 
 From every loved companionship to stray 
 
 Were deemed a meagre pleasure, dearly bought ; 
 Better upon the level plain to stay 
 And help the feebler travellers on their way 
 That van and rear upon some later day 
 
 May stand abreast upon the heights of thought. 
 
SONNETS. 47 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Cut down the trunk, there's life within the root ; 
 Take the tree's crown ; the trunk lives many a year 
 Branches may flourish, yet no flowers appear ; 
 
 And flowers may fade and fall and leave no fruit. 
 Take animals away, and plants may thrive ; 
 Deprive the earth of man, and beasts survive : 
 
 And man, whom with some reason we compute 
 To be the crown of earthly life, may part 
 With all the fruits of mind, and flowers of heart, 
 
 And long may flourish as a human brute. 
 
 Thus through all nature is this law engrained ; — 
 All higher things by aid of lower grow, 
 And thence draw all their being ; but the low 
 
 Are less dependent and more self-sustained. 
 
48 THE MARGARET 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Within the heart all problems have their source, 
 For mind hath neither motive power nor fire 
 And only moves impelled by some desire ; 
 
 Heart sets the aim ; mind demonstrates the course ; 
 
 Mind gives the light ; and heart supplies the force ; 
 Heart puts all questions; mind gives all replies : 
 
 And vainly doth the intellect aspire 
 
 To act without the promptings of its 'sire : 
 Nor can the blind and hungry heart dispense 
 AVith the keen eyesight of intelligence. 
 
 The strife of years can have this only term ; — 
 Alliance based upon concessions wise 
 And mutual respect and reverence : — 
 
 Even now methinks a treaty is in germ. 
 
SONNETS, 4h 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Nay, laugh not lightly at the wan recluse 
 AVho cons with feeble eye the musty page 
 Or counts his beads in some lone hermitage ; 
 
 Who holds with human sciences no truce. 
 
 And spurns our modern aims, and doubts the use 
 Of half the boasted glories of our age. 
 What if the contest oft awake his rage ? 
 
 An honest zeal may prove no light excuse. 
 
 Though the strait trammels of a narrow creed 
 To much of deepest worth the monk doth blind. 
 Perchance with purpose firm and earnest mind. 
 And thoughts of personal interest all apart. 
 
 He follows where his sense of right doth lead. 
 Perverse in views alone, upright in heart. 
 
5o THE MARGARET 
 
 L. 
 
 Imagination in these early days 
 
 O'ertopping reason robs her of her dues ; 
 Time will correct the balance : sons will use 
 
 A light their fathers knew not ; and its rays 
 
 Will show heaven's truth in many a varied phase. 
 Growth is the law of life ; shall man refuse 
 All vital growth to his own thoughts and views 
 
 And never roam at large in untracked ways ? 
 
 New generations take new tones and hues, 
 And much that seems opposed is but diverse, 
 And fuller light all discords may disperse, 
 And when yon world shall open to our gaze 
 Ail honest thought its seeming taint will lose, 
 
 And guilt engross our blame, and worth our praise.. 
 
SONNETS. 51 
 
 LI. 
 
 How strangely balanced is emotion's flow ; 
 Joy kindles grief, and grief engenders joy : 
 A sated passion the dulled soul will cloy ; 
 
 And torpid languor follows pleasure's glow. 
 
 And oft a passion thwarted will endow 
 With energies unwonted ; lift and buoy 
 The soul mid highest ranges ; and employ 
 
 The choicest powers our kindly fates bestow. 
 
 Hence comes it that the man unscathed by storm. 
 Uncrossed in dearest wish, doth ever stand 
 On the low levels of the spirit-land : 
 
 Hence sorrow, pain, and disappointment form 
 In every age and clime the bitter root 
 'V\\\xt yieldeth high endowment for its fruit. 
 
THE MARGARET 
 
 LII. 
 
 Our deepest thoughts are often the least clear ; 
 The gifted man will ever feel the need 
 Of language to express his inmost creed, — 
 
 All that he holds most sacred and most dear. 
 
 Just as the eye in range transcends the ear, 
 
 Thoughts that from Nature's central heart proceed 
 Float like the stars from all word-clothing freed : 
 
 P'or we can echo only what we hear. 
 
 Ah, if the feebler faculty can match 
 Its stronger sister in the coming time, 
 
 Our listening ears by sure degrees will catch 
 The mellow music of the spheres sublime : 
 
 Grant such a law, and saint, and seer, and sage 
 
 Will tell the world new truths from age to age. 
 
SONNETS. 53 
 
 LIII. 
 
 If for a while we look with thoughtful eye 
 Upon our physical needs, the foocl the fire, 
 The clothes, the very house-room we require, 
 
 We cannot doubt that they who hold the key 
 
 Of nature's store-house and her granary 
 Must ever constitute the ruling power : 
 For all our frail lives need from hour to hour 
 
 The storage in their keeping must supply. 
 
 From facts like these this inference we dra'w, — 
 
 Subordination of our worthiest part 
 To sorry physical needs is nature's law ; 
 
 Thoughts of the mind, and promptings of the heart. 
 In this poor world must take an humble role. 
 And seek to modify, but not control. 
 
54 THE MARGARET 
 
 LIV. 
 
 We need a special training to fulfil 
 
 Our several functions with efficiency ; 
 
 Statesman, physician, lawyer, all must be 
 Drilled from their youth by men of practised skill : 
 And strength of mind it needs, and force of will 
 
 To gain due tact and insight. Nor can we 
 
 Dispense with students of past history, — 
 Men like De Tocqueville, Comte, and Grote, and Mill. 
 
 To such as these is this grand task assigned ; — 
 To trace the bearing and the tendency 
 
 Of the slow movement of the human mind 
 Onward from its first dawn : and to apply 
 
 The wisdom thus matured to guide the ^ge, 
 And to prepare the future they presage. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 55 
 
 LV. 
 
 Worthy precursors of a coming dawn 
 
 Your efforts are not vain nor premature ; 
 Although perchance the man is yet unborn 
 
 Who for our glorious England shall secure 
 The boon ye crave for. One day men shall stand 
 
 With hearts untrammelled, and with minds unbougln, 
 All honoured in the pulpits of our land 
 
 And give to eager ears their latest thought. 
 
 Go on, brave hearts, and when your pow^ers shall foil. 
 
 Your work seem all undone, faint not, nor yield ; 
 Be sure your earnest strivings shall avail 
 
 To nerve a younger band the sword to wield ; 
 And when glad hearts the hour of triumph hail. 
 When of the struggle history tells the tale. 
 
 Your names shall live on some mementive shield 
 
 Writ in gold letters on an azure field. 
 
56 THE MARGARET 
 
 LVI. 
 
 By various means are the same ends fulfilled 
 Changing with changing time ; a circling haze 
 Doth hide the future from the clearest gaze ; 
 
 For our poor age can boast no prescient guild. 
 
 Not in long foresight were our fathers skilled : 
 Nobly they laboured in the olden days ; 
 And yet the fanes their reverent hands did raise 
 
 'Tis ours with reverent purpose to unbuild. 
 
 As a poor crab, by instinct sure directed, 
 With many a throe doth struggle to be freed 
 From the strait trammels of its narrow shell ; — 
 Nor heeds how long it served it, nor how well, 
 When it would crush the life it once protected ; — 
 So change we ancient forms to serve new need. 
 
SONNETS. 57 
 
 LVII. 
 
 All human institutions have their base 
 On widely spread opinions ; it v, ere vain 
 To strive to alter those while these retain 
 
 Their ancient hold upon the human race : 
 
 If new opinions shall the old replace 
 New institutions will with time unfold 
 And shape themselves upon opinion's mould, 
 
 And lo, the world will take another face. 
 
 Ye who established order seek to change 
 
 Spend all your strength upon its fount and source, 
 Remould opinion : to the general play 
 Of vital growth and natural decay 
 Leave all the rest : so will you shape your course 
 Within the limits of its lawful range. 
 
58 THE MARGARET 
 
 LVIIL 
 
 The cup of life he quaffed with so much zest — 
 Yet with a firm unyielding self-restraint 
 To which an Anchorite's force of will were faint — 
 Is drained to the last drop : blessing and blest, 
 Johnson has done his work and gone to rest. 
 Above is joy ; below a wailing plaint; 
 Heaven hath an angel gained ; earth lost a saint. 
 
 Yet not all lost : his greatest part and best, 
 His influence over living minds survives ^ — 
 And work we leave behind resumes our lives.— 
 
 So, onward, through unnumbered years, our friend 
 Will form, we think, appreciable part 
 Of many a great man's mind, and good man's heart, 
 
 And with all noble life his life will blend. 
 
SONNETS. 59 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Ye who are somewhat versed in this world's lore^ 
 Have conned the histories of days gone by, 
 Dallied with science, art, and poesy, 
 
 And drank in knowledge from the classic store 
 
 Bequeathed us by the mighty minds of yore, 
 How oft with cold and unregarding eye 
 Ye're prone to gaze on poor humanity ! 
 
 Ye love her not in the unpolished ore ! 
 
 And yet man's noblest faculties are there ; 
 And much he lacks of skill who fails to find 
 Within the depths of the untutored mind, 
 Quarries of richest thought : the truly wise 
 Will recognise the great, the good, tlie fair. 
 
 In much that worthless seems to other eves. 
 
6o THE MARGARET 
 
 LX. 
 
 In the eternities of space and time 
 Strangely to the vast universe conjoint 
 
 "ris ours to occupy a single point ; 
 
 A riddle to ourselves, dark and sublime. 
 
 And oft our life is wretched pantomime, 
 With idle fancies it deceives our view, 
 And we embrace them and believe them true 
 
 Alike in hoary age and youthful prime. 
 
 But is all doubtful? No, there shines from far- 
 O, let us follow — an unerring light, — 
 The eternal truths of justice love and right 
 
 To lead our true aim ; as the bright star 
 Guided the eastern sages while they trod 
 The path that led them to their cradled God. 
 
SONNETS. 6 1 
 
 LXI. 
 
 I nursed a lovely gourd with tenderest care, 
 Greenly it grew beneath the Summer rays , 
 And fairest fruit in these late Autumn days 
 
 Methought was promised to my urgent prayer. 
 
 Alas, my gourd hath felt the northern air : 
 
 To the dank ground hath fallen ^the shrivelled fruit ; 
 The leafy stem hath withered to the root : 
 
 And blank astonishment, and mute despair 
 
 Blot out all earnest faith in God and man ! 
 
 Lie still my heart, 'twere madness to complain. 
 
 The hand that strikes perchance may strike with pain. 
 
 To fate's decrees e'en Jove must yield His plan ; 
 Another gourd I may not rear in vain ; 
 
 For sure, my loved one, granteth all she can. 
 
62 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXIL 
 
 Ah, no, it cannot be : an idle dream 
 
 Shall never on my mind such credence force ; 
 
 Avaunt, the night-hag that with croakings hoarse 
 Would tell me Margaret is not what I deem : 
 Far, far unlike the noisy foaming stream 
 
 That nisheth headlong from its mountain source 
 
 Patent to all observers, is the course 
 Of a true woman's love. The clearest beam 
 
 Reacheth not waters that flow underground ; 
 Nor doth the finest ear detect their sound : 
 
 Though Nymphs and Naiads sport upon the sand 
 Nor stream nor Nymphs nor Naiads herdsmen know ; 
 
 Such living waters in far Hellas' land 
 Beneath immortal hills for ever flow. 
 
SONNETS. 6^ 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 As when some mighty river leaves the vale 
 
 Its living waters ploughed with their own force 
 And ploughs new pathway from its mountain source 
 
 An arid channel tells the dreary tale : 
 
 So where thy love of late, in calm or gale. 
 
 Poured that vast torrent which now makes divorce. 
 Complete and sudden, of its ancient course, 
 
 The footprints of its power will never fail. 
 
 Still will the parched furrows of my soul 
 Make mute appealing to the pitiless sky 
 That smiles above regardless of my pain : 
 Still shall I long to feel the rush and roll 
 Of the old stream adown its channels dry : 
 Yet must the life-long craving be in vain. 
 
64 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Good-bye, dear heart, good-bye, at length I see, 
 Stretching on either hand 'twixt thee and me, 
 A yawning gulf to be overpassed never : 
 Good-bye, dear heart, for ever ! 
 
 Upon a sunless earth in rugged ways 
 I shall go mourning on through all my days ; 
 Without one hope to prompt a firm endeavour : 
 Cood-bye, dear heart, for ever ! 
 
 Good-bye, dear heart, and blessings with thee go ! 
 My fainting spirit shall rejoice to know 
 That I alone shall feel the pangs that sever : 
 Good-bye, dear heart, for ever ! 
 
 Good-bye, dear heart, good-bye, and when the tomb 
 Shall close for aye upon me, feel no gloom, 
 No touch of sadness ; think upon me never : 
 
 Good-bye, dear heart, good-bye, good-bye for ever ! 
 
SONNETS, 65 
 
 LXV. 
 
 In the heroic days for ever fled 
 
 Men there have been, earth's glory and her pride, 
 Who, lacking woman's love, have lived and died 
 
 In lone communion with the mighty dead. 
 
 And there have been fair women, all unwed, 
 Who never for a living love have sighed. 
 Whose deepest cravings have been satisfied 
 
 In giving all the heart to one who bled 
 
 Ages ago in far off Palestine. 
 
 Then may not I a myrtle leaf entwine 
 
 For my own brow though Margaret be a dream ? 
 May not the brain-spun fancy charm my heart, 
 And gratify some cravings, and impart 
 
 To every dreary day some gilding beam ? 
 
66 . THE MARGARET 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 A grief that hath its little touch of joy, 
 
 Its tiny triumph o'er a small success 
 
 In smoothing pillows to make suffering less ; — 
 Such feels a mother nursing her sick boy : 
 And I full oft a weary hour employ 
 
 In soothing my maimed love in its distress ; 
 
 And with a mother's thoughtful tenderness 
 I weave it a poor sonnet for a toy : 
 
 With this we play and dally for a v/hile ; 
 And then will come a season of brief rest, 
 And sleep with sleeping love upon my breast : 
 
 Then comes the morning with its roseate smile, 
 And though my nurseling^s pangs are all renewed 
 Renewed are patience, calmness, fortitude. 
 
SONNETS. 6; 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Predestined through all time to dwell apart. 
 
 Margaret, beloved of my soul, from thee, 
 
 What wonder if all hope, all energy. 
 All firm endeavour die within my heart. 
 What wonder if I shun the busy mart, 
 
 If from all social intercourse I flee ; 
 
 The chords of joy are all unstrung for me. 
 I only seek nepenthe for my smart. 
 
 Ah, thine was the grand force that could sustain 
 The healthy vigour of my heart and brain : 
 And had this passion of my soul found rest. 
 
 Hadst thou adorned my home and borne my name 
 I had sought honour with the keenest zest 
 
 And struggled hard for fortune and for fame. 
 
6g THE MARGARET 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 For many a year, sweet friend, we had not met ; 
 
 Our letters had been rare, and brief, and cool ; 
 
 For with firm will we had resolved to school 
 Hearts slow to learn and powerless to forget. 
 ^Twas not for thee and me to fume and fret, 
 
 With brainless idiot wail to whine and pule, 
 
 When the firm fates that o'er mankind have rule 
 Severed our lives with wall and parapet. 
 
 Though different sorrows vex our daily life, 
 And different daily joys our life sustain, 
 One deathless love unites us heart and brain : 
 This, this is ours, and those but mine and thine : 
 Oh, let us end for aye a bootless strife. 
 
 And nurse with blameless joy the gift divine. 
 
SONNETS. Gq 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 The world may shape at will my whitening beard. 
 And trim the waning glories of my head, 
 It shall not lay my heart upon the bed 
 
 Of old Procrustes to be pruned and sheared. 
 
 Too greatly are its fancied censures feared ; 
 Let us press on by truest instincts led, 
 Press boldly on nor pale with craven dread 
 
 If in our hearts' own forum we are cleared. 
 
 Yet it is meet a reverent ear to lend 
 
 To judgments ever wise and just and true 
 When all the facts are patent to the view ; 
 
 And erring only when those facts transcend 
 All due cognition. Such the case might be, 
 Were judgment passed, sweet friend, on thee and me. 
 
70 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Emotions duty-bound wide range of thought 
 Cultured 'mid fortunate environment 
 With Dian's classic face and form were blent 
 
 In thee, and thus heaven's master-work was wrought. 
 
 And thus I found thee, dear one, all unsought : 
 From soul to soul the combining flash was sent, 
 Each in the other found the complement 
 
 Of a half life : by surest instinct taught. 
 
 Years have confirmed a moment's estimate : 
 In the grand features of thy mind I read 
 
 The role of woman in the coming time ; 
 To rouse to noble thought and worthy deed, 
 To wake emotions generous and sublime, 
 And be the type of all things good and great. 
 
SOiYNETS. 71 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 The laws that rule our being have their source 
 Above, around, beyond ourselves, and we 
 Than yonder starry orbs are not more free 
 
 To shape our bearing and direct our course. 
 
 The world may shriek its myriad voices hoarse. 
 It cannot countervail the destiny 
 That bindeth thee to me and me to thee 
 
 With all-prevailing, gravitating force. 
 
 Alas ! not all-prevailing, dearest heart. 
 
 Nor this poor world all powerless have we found. 
 
 But each by each is limited and bound ; 
 
 And centrifugal, centripetal power 
 
 Balance and check each other hour by hour : 
 
 This links our souls, that holds our lives apart. 
 
72 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXXIL 
 
 Ah ! I have seen full many a Summer fly 
 And many a weary Winter reach its goal 
 Since love for thee upon my spirit stole, 
 
 ^ A presence that was not to be put by!' 
 
 Time hath not dulled the edge of ecstasy ; 
 Still art thou, dear one, to my inmost soul 
 Zenith and nadir of emotion's roll, 
 
 Fount of deep sorrow, spring of pleasures high ! 
 
 Forbidden Eden of heart ! and yet 
 
 I feel the rolling years have wrought some change 
 Continuous sorrow melts to mild regret ; 
 Joy's brief delirium turns to settled calm ; 
 
 The gamut of my mind takes wider range \ 
 And a pure love doth yield perennial balm. 
 
SONNETS. 
 
 73 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 Our hopes sometimes beyond all hope prevail 
 And find a brief fruition. It was mine 
 In life's full flush with wild desire to pine 
 For heaven's own nectar, boldly to assail 
 Olympus, and its utmost summit scale, 
 
 And snatch from teeming banquet-board divine 
 A brimming beaker of Elysian wine 
 While the couched gods myself a god did hail. 
 
 Since that glad hour no draught from mortal ewer 
 Can quench the parching fever of my heart, 
 
 Or thrill its pulses with a full delight ; 
 Yet do the pitying gods sometimes impart 
 
 The power to climb again the Olympic height 
 And quaff fresh beakers of the vintage pure. 
 
74 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 Ill fairyland I rode for one brief hour, 
 Myself a fairy prince ; and by my side — 
 A very goddess — rode my mystic bride 
 
 With all Diana's beauty for her dower. — 
 
 My mystic bride ! I claimed her by the power 
 Of conquering love that with unresting tide 
 Had worn and sapped all barriers : I defied 
 
 The world to rob me of life's crown and flower. 
 
 Could sober thought to this wild dream respond^ 
 Could Margaret own the adamantine bond, 
 
 Then were my blank misgivings all unlearned : 
 Yet this pure joy may glad me to the end ; 
 The friend of olden days is still my friend : 
 
 Such guerdon lavish wealth of love hath earned. 
 
SONNETS, 
 
 73 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 When the bright sun doth flame upon the sea 
 The broad expanse reflects nor moon nor star, 
 But when he shines on regions distant far 
 
 On lesser lights the sea looks lovingly : 
 
 And in my heart's long night most gratefully 
 I welcome any face that can beguile 
 My weary watching with a kindly smile, 
 
 Yet never lose my fixed desire for thee. 
 
 Margaret, for refuge whither can I turn ? 
 I dream my heart is a vast river dammed, 
 
 Whose waters rushing from a thousand hills 
 In one poor channel may not all be crammed, 
 But find brief issue in small casual rills : — 
 The ocean thou, for which they vainly yearn. 
 
76 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 Myself alone can know how wearily 
 The months pass and the years that I must spend 
 Without one word of greeting from my friend : — 
 
 My friend ? Cold name for one I hold to be 
 
 A dearer self : by some strange mystery 
 Pivot and centre of my soul ; the end 
 And aim of thoughts and feelings that transcend 
 
 All routine duties : life's sole poetry ! 
 
 To-day, by favour of the powers above, 
 Our rarely meeting orbits touched awhile : 
 
 I only saw the beauty of her face ; 
 I only felt the radiance of her smile ; 
 Heard only — ^twas enough — that the old love 
 
 Within her heart's calm depths held the old place. 
 
SONNETS. 77 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 I only sing as sings a poor caged bird 
 
 Whose mate afar in other cage doth dwell ; 
 
 Or as the wires that stretch o'er hill and dell 
 Sing at their work ; not caring to be heard. 
 I needs must sing ; so much my heart is stirred 
 
 By a late greeting and a long farewell ; 
 
 The tumult now hath calmed to rythmic swell, 
 And this again transforms to rythmic word. 
 
 A liquid simmering in the chemist's flask 
 Dissolveth more than, cooling, it can hold : 
 And drops bright crystals as it groweth cold: 
 
 And when in warmth of thy dear smile I bask 
 My heart becomes surcharged ; and love's excess 
 Shapes into sonnets when the warmth is less. 
 
78 THE MARGARET 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 As old Vesuvius sometimes slacks his fires 
 
 And slumbers till the dwellers on the plain 
 Deem the old fury will not wake again, 
 
 So fares it with the course of my desires : 
 
 Wildly I strike my harp and snap its wires : 
 
 Then baffled, weary, faint with sigh and strain 
 To wake thy once responsive chords again, 
 
 Back into hidden depths my love retires. 
 
 Retires — nor smoke, nor spark, nor flame appears ; 
 Retires without a sign ; yet smoulders on 
 In contact ever with vast central stores ; 
 And gathers strength in the deep calm of years ; 
 And when you think the ancient force is gone, 
 Again the flames mount up, the lava pours. 
 
SONNETS. 79 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 1 know I feed on fancies : well I know 
 
 This love of mine finds feeble faint response 
 Or only thoughtful kindly tolerance 
 
 And woman's saintly pity. Be it so ! 
 
 Be it to thee a tale of long ago, — 
 
 A pastime that beguiled thy fancy once, 
 And give to me the role of Bourbon dunce, 
 
 Oblivious ever of time's ceaseless flow. 
 
 And be thou France, changeless despite all change ! 
 Though banished from thy realm in fancy's dream 
 ril hold it mine for aye by solemn vow : 
 Through town and lordly forest I will range, 
 And in love's right divine reign lord supreme, 
 And deem thy crown is ever on my brow. 
 
8o THE MARGARET 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 It had been well, perchance, had I not known 
 That earth contained one being on whose breast 
 I could have laid my head and found full rest ; 
 
 Since I could never make the prize my own : 
 
 But the hour came when, panopUed, full grown, — 
 Like Pallas from Jove's brain in armour drest, — 
 On my tranced sight arose the unbidden guest, 
 
 And straightway rose a footstool and a throne. 
 
 Footstool and throne remain : she dwells apart : 
 Yet must I bless the pregnant hour when first, 
 In the full heyday of my manhood's prime. 
 The revelation on my spirit burst 
 And a quick flame was kindled in my heart 
 
 Potent to melt the keen-edged scythe of Time. 
 
SONNETS. 8 1 
 
 LXXXl. 
 
 In age collect love's petals one by one 
 Prepare them daintily with salt and spice 
 And place them in a vase of costly price ; 
 
 Some fragrance they may keep when thou art gone. 
 
 Yet ere thy Autumn suns are all outshone 
 
 And Winter brings its snows and frosts and ice 
 Learn that love's flowering season comes not twice, 
 
 And tend stray fruit that hangs thy branches on. 
 
 Though gods, and men, and columns have denied 
 Fruition to thy hopes, find happiness 
 In works of justice, deeds of righteousness 
 
 Grander than love, toward which all love should tend. 
 And one day heaven may ope its portals wide 
 And holy Mary place thee by thy friend. 
 
THE MARGARET SONNETS. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 Yes, ' works of justice, deeds of righteousness 
 
 Grander than love, toward which all love may tend ; ' 
 Henceforth be these for me life's aim and end : — 
 
 Begone wild cries for unearned happiness ! 
 
 Love oft is partial, blind, prone to excess ; 
 
 But righteousness all weakness doth transcend ; 
 Justice to partial dealing cannot bend, 
 
 And grants to equal rights nor more nor less. 
 
 And yet, since justice, righteousness, and love 
 
 Reign in eternal harmony above. 
 
 On earth, methinks, some concord they should know 
 
 And he most surely walks life's path aright, 
 
 Who, blessed one, finds in those a calm clear light. 
 In- this," warmth, colour, tone, and joyous glow. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 Stkangeways and Walden, Printers, 
 Castle St. Leicester Sq. 
 
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