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 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 The Library of Congress 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/asphodelOOserr 
 
ASPHODRL 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY J. SERRANO 
 
 » 
 
 Ube IRnfcfterbocfter press 
 
 1910 
 
T5A?^a 
 
 'bS 
 
 Copyright, igio 
 
 BY 
 
 MARY J. SERRANO 
 
 CGI.A278653 
 
 I7 
 
IN 
 
 Asphodel 
 
 CANTO FIRST 
 
 Oh, pause, relentless Time ! nor strike the hour, 
 The fatal hour that shall ingulf the fair 
 And sweet delights of years, with baleful power 
 To cast them forth again, dark shapes of care ; 
 Shadows that oft shall people the still air 
 And haunt the childless mother's lonely ways ; 
 For Joy's bright flowers bitter seeds oft bear, 
 And on the heart in absence heavier weighs 
 Than present pain the memory of once happy days. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 But no! life's saddest word is said, "Farewell!" 
 The bleeding fibres of Dolores' heart 
 With anguish quiver as she hears the knell 
 Of peace and sweet content ; and salt tears start 
 And hide from her dim eyes, as they depart, 
 Ormond and Violet ; then o'er the smiling face 
 Of Earth a veil seems drawn; no warmth impart 
 To her chill breast the sun's bright beams that grace 
 With fadeless splendor Nature's fairest dwelling-place. 
 
 And all glad sights and pleasant sounds that reach 
 Her deadened senses seem to mock her woe — 
 The slender palm that crowns the long, low beach ; 
 The gleaming waters' gentle ebb and flow; 
 The bright-hued birds like living gems that glow 
 'Mid the primeval forests' gloom, and make 
 Vocal its solitudes, as to and fro 
 They flit ; the bloom that skirts the tangled brake ; — 
 All, all another pang in her torn bosom wake. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 For she who had shared with her this paradise, 
 Whose joy and grief its sunshine and its shade, 
 Since on its beauty first her infant eyes 
 Had opened, for Dolores' heart had made — 
 She of whom some fond memory each glade 
 And blooming dell, each hill and stream endears. 
 With her shall wander there where late they strayed 
 No more till thrice the slow-revolving spheres 
 Shall weave the mystic chain that binds the rounded years. 
 
 And Earth, indifferent to her child's despair. 
 Serenely bright, in cruel beauty smiles; 
 Content to shine with charms divinely fair, 
 Though none of all those glowing charms beguiles 
 Dolores' heart of grief, or reconciles 
 Her soul with joy; for joy, alas! is dead. 
 And in her loneliness those summer isles 
 A wild and dreary waste lie round her spread ; 
 For Nature wooes in vain the heart whence peace has fled. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 Meanwhile the little boat that bore away 
 Ormond and Violet had reached the proud 
 And stately vessel anchored in the bay, 
 Like some great white-winged bird that seemed, endowed 
 With conscious grace, against the hills, black-browed 
 And silent, as it stood defined; but sealed 
 To beauty were their senses, for with bowed 
 And troubled hearts their being did they yield 
 To sorrow, whose black veil all joyous things concealed. 
 
 But soon the freshening breeze that filled the sails, 
 As slowly faded from their gaze the land. 
 Though far it bore her from her native vales, 
 Where late she saw in voiceless anguish stand 
 The friend and guardian whose untiring hand 
 Had smoothed life's pathway for her tender feet, 
 Revived Violet's languid pulse with bland 
 Caressing murmurs that her senses greet 
 Like voices from the far-off Future, strange and sweet. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 For Grief's dark shape, although she enters oft 
 The enchanted halls of Youth and lingers there, 
 A guest unbidden, paralyzing soft 
 And gentle natures with Medusa stare. 
 The magic, wondrous radiance yet doth share 
 Shining within those portals, mild and bright. 
 Until her sombre features take a fair 
 And friendly seeming in the charmed sight, 
 As some gray ruin smiles in Dawn's transfiguring light. 
 
 Swift on the waves the shades of night descend, 
 And on the purple splendor of the hills. 
 Whose outlines with the dusky ambient blend. 
 Then disappear. No northern twilight fills 
 The solemn pause 'twixt night and day and stills 
 To pensive rest the bosom passion-tost ; 
 And with swift pain Violet's being thrills, 
 As, in the darkness and the distance lost, 
 Fades from her eager gaze the last faint line of coast. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 Morning on tropic seas ! Ardent the Sun 
 Springs from his couch beneath the eastern wave, 
 Shakes his bright locks, ascends his car anon; 
 His steeds impatient spurn the sands that pave 
 With amber Hght the ocean-roofed cave; 
 Their nostrils breathe forth flames; their manes on high 
 Are tossed; the waves their glittering hoofs that lave, 
 They dash in foam through the awakening sky. 
 Then through the Gates of Dawn, wide open, swift they fly. 
 
 And Violet the spell unconscious owns 
 With glad expectance Nature's balmy rest 
 That breaks; the hymn of joy the deep intones 
 An echo finds within her pensive breast ; 
 And all her soul contains of purest, best. 
 The vital influence of the hour feels ; 
 Albeit the while her kindling looks attest 
 The gracious power her young heart's wound that heals, 
 The tear unbidden starts and down her bright cheek steals. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 For lo ! before her fancy, pale and sad 
 The image rises of her earliest friend, 
 Whose eyes reproachful ask, "Canst thou be glad 
 While to my grief new joys no ease can lend? 
 Thy voice with Nature's symphony doth blend 
 While mine is mute? The flame of love that burned. 
 My hope and joy, in darkness hath an end, 
 Within my breast its ashes cold inurned; — 
 Alas! thine eyes look on while mine are backward turned." 
 
 And then her gentle spirit feels the sting 
 Of love's sweet service slighted, or undone. 
 Oh, could she now restore the past, and bring 
 Remorse, new-born, to rule the moments gone! 
 Too late ! to late ! the winds bear swiftly on 
 Her fate appointed to stern northern shores ; 
 The balmy mom with the joy-giving sun 
 Shall still return, but all her soul adores 
 No dewy morning's light to her sad sight restores. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 Yet on those shores no exile cold awaits 
 The cherished daughter of a land more fair ; 
 The filial piety that consecrates 
 Her pilgrimage, shall find its guerdon there 
 Among her father's kindred, to whose care 
 Dolores yields her till her mind expand 
 And hardy frmt of northern culture bear; — 
 This fond desire the sanctifying hand 
 Of Death has sealed, transforming it to a command. 
 
 Loyal to Nature's bond had Ormond come 
 Across the waves his sacred trust to bear 
 Back to the haven of his northern home 
 And the safe shelter of his Anna's care; 
 But far, alas, from her whose heart despair 
 Now fills, as on her sick and weary sight 
 The rosy morning dawns, the balmy air 
 Her senses greets, henceforth that no delight 
 In dewy morn shall find, still noon, or starry night. 
 
Asphodel 
 
 Swiftly the vessel glides along the waves 
 That bears Violet to the early home 
 Of him who gave her being; in his caves 
 Old Ocean slumbers ; the resplendent dome 
 That canopies his majesty the beams illume, 
 Serenely bright, of cloudless suns by day; 
 By night its stars with the phosphoric foam 
 Mingle their light, whose fires, swift-gleaming, play 
 Round the auspicious keel that onward cleaves its way. 
 
 And all Violet's heart unbid went forth 
 In childlike love to Ormond, while the hours 
 He would beguile with stories of the North, 
 That like a bride the blossoming year with flowers 
 Adorns that, frail as fair, die while the showers 
 And suns of Autumn back to life in vain 
 Woo them, when Nature, from her fragrant bowers 
 Exiled, sees all the glory, with the wane 
 Of the departing year, depart, of her brief reign. 
 
10 Asphodel 
 
 Her loyal servitors, the while, prepare 
 A regal banquet free to all who yield 
 Allegiance to her, and with garlands fair 
 Her courts adorn; fruits that, in store, concealed, 
 Ripened 'mid sheltering greenery, revealed 
 To view, delight the sense on every side. 
 And hill and valley, forest, bending field 
 And grove, in gold and crimson splendors dyed, 
 Glow with a brighter bloom than in her young reign's pride. 
 
 But brief, alas, as bright. As fulgent clouds. 
 Rosy and purple, from the setting sun 
 Their hues that borrow, in the gloom that shrouds 
 The horizon fade when his last rays are gone. 
 So all the pomp of Nature, her green throne 
 Abandoned, vanishes in swift decay — 
 Swiftest when fairest ; and the saddest tone 
 That swells her requiem, of the joyous lay 
 Is but the echo that rang in her natal day. 
 
Asphodel n 
 
 Her sceptre yielding to the icy clasp 
 Of hoary Winter, rude and stern of mien, 
 Her blooming crown, that withers in his grasp, 
 And her fair vestments of embroidered green. 
 Descending from her throne, discrowned, a queen. 
 She wraps her ermine mantle, soft and white, 
 Around her, that no vestige may be seen 
 Beneath its glittering splendor of the blight 
 That lies upon her beauty, spoiled of every dear delight. 
 
 Then Ormond paints, when life again returns 
 To Nature's breast, her tender vernal bloom. 
 Within her veins ethereal fire burns 
 Again, and rising from her frozen tomb. 
 Swift she dispels with magic smile the gloom 
 That round her loyal realm erewhile had hung ; 
 Her gracious Sire's rekindling beams consume 
 The icy damps that round her brow had clung, 
 And she, a goddess, blooms with charms forever young. 
 
12 Asphodel 
 
 Thus does she now in glowing beauty stand, 
 Fair as a dream of youthful revery born, 
 To greet them smiling on the distant strand 
 To which their eager thoughts too constant turn. 
 Behold! at length dawns the auspicious morn. 
 Serene and bright, that to Violet's dreams 
 Gives form and substance. Fancy's golden bourne, 
 A line of light along the horizon gleams, 
 That Fairy's magic realm to her charmed vision seems. 
 
 O Flower enchanted ! whose perfumed breath 
 With heaven-descended charm transports the soul, 
 That Earth no sorrows and no terrors Death 
 May hold, and Happiness is life's bright goal ; 
 The Fates themselves do bend to our control ; 
 Fame lends to Hope's fond speech a willing ear. 
 Beckoning to heights serene, though storm-clouds roll 
 Between; her secrets to our vision clear 
 The Universe shall yield, even to heaven's highest sphere — 
 
Asphodel 13 
 
 Bright Flower of Youth! alas, thou dost dissolve 
 And vanish into nothingness before 
 The Milky Way of Truth we may resolve 
 Into the stars to which bold Thought would soar 
 To people them with her creations. The vain lore 
 We thirsted for with ardent soul obscures the fair, 
 Alluring goal with doubt-born mists, that bore 
 The prize our eager hands would grasp. Despair, 
 Remorse and Death and Woe thy seeds too often bear. 
 
 Near and more near that distant line of light 
 Now draws, expanding to their eager gaze; 
 Till from its depths emerging to their sight 
 The towers of a stately city raise 
 To heaven their slender height. The golden haze 
 Of morning lies, a magic veil, around 
 The city's base, but dome and turret blaze 
 With ruddy light; while to its farthest bound 
 With woods of growth primeval the low coast lies crowned. 
 
14 Asphodel 
 
 What wild emotions thrill Violet's breast, 
 As on her bodily vision breaks the scene 
 That oft had risen at Fancy's charmed behest 
 Before her mind in hues forever green; 
 Her swiftly-varying color and rapt mien 
 Tell Ormond all her lips refuse to say ; — 
 He who the idol of her youth had been 
 Had trod with childhood's feet that hallowed clay ; 
 There first his eyes beheld the light of earth's brief day. 
 
 Then swift her thoughts with sudden impulse flow 
 Back to the solitary home where waits 
 A mourner desolate, whose cup of woe 
 From the same source is filled whence emanates 
 The draught intoxicating that creates 
 For her a magic world ; and vague remorse 
 A keener strength the grief that agitates 
 Her bosom lends, until with gathering force 
 It sweeps the barriers down that stay its headlong course. 
 
Asphodel 15 
 
 The tranquil beauty of a soft May eve 
 Had crowned the fulness of the day's content; 
 And mystic shadows had begun to weave 
 A mantle of repose for Nature, sprent 
 With stars pale glimmering in the firmament, 
 When Violet within the ancestral walls 
 Stood of her fathers, joy, with sorrow blent, 
 Stirring her pulses — 'midst memorials 
 Time-honored of her race a stranger in their halls. 
 
 But on her troubled soul when softly fell 
 Caressing accents, fondly to her breast 
 When Anna clasped her, to the gracious spell 
 Her sad and weary heart that longed for rest 
 She yielded up. Inconstant Fancy dressed 
 The future in bright hues. The cloud was gone 
 Whose gloom Youth's natural buoyance had oppressed, 
 By the soft glow of Love's unrisen sun 
 Dispelled ; and Memory resigned to Hope her throne. 
 
i6 Asphodel 
 
 The cloud was gone; alas, to be replaced 
 By ardors that shoiild scorch her young life's bloom, 
 Its beauty turning to a barren waste — 
 Bright harbingers of darkness and the tomb. 
 Even now within the secret halls of Doom 
 The thunderbolt is forged whose might shall rend 
 Her being to its foundations, and consume 
 Hope's every promise ; but no signs portend 
 The gathering storm whose wings black o'er her life impend. 
 
 "And thou, my Julian," Ormond said to one 
 Who stood within the curtain's crimson shade, 
 "Our Violet, child of a more ardent sun, 
 To shield from chilling northern airs shalt aid, 
 That no young bud or tender leaf may fade 
 Of Youth's fresh garland, till her heart forget 
 The pain of exile by its hopes repaid. " — - 
 Then drew him smiling to the spot where yet 
 In Anna's fond embrace close held stood Violet. 
 
Asphodel 17 
 
 And Violet, turning, places in the hand 
 Her hand, that, with the threads of destiny. 
 Her life shall with another's bind — a band 
 Whose strength the conquering power shall defy 
 Of fate and death ; for as her glance the eye 
 Of Julian meets, in her awakening heart 
 A flame is kindled that shall never die. 
 Though fate and death their mortal lives dispart, 
 But of her deathless being form a deathless part. 
 
 And Julian, as from Violet Ormond claims 
 For him the affection of a sister, gives 
 Kind words of greeting, while his heart proclaims 
 The sacred advent of a power that rives 
 To its centre being, yet death itself survives. 
 The seal to Destiny's decree is set. 
 Henceforward that unites their fated lives. 
 For in that glance two kindred souls have met 
 And mingled, made by Love victorious over Fate. 
 
CANTO SECOND 
 
 Perennial spring of life's divinest joys! 
 Source of our dearest bliss and darkest woe ! 
 Thy power creates, thy power, alas! destroys 
 Dreams that with magic, heaven-caught splendors glow. 
 From thy resistless, charmed influence flow 
 Transports that raise the enraptured, ravished mind 
 To heights supernal or in depths below 
 Imaginable blackness plunge it. Blind 
 And helpless as thou art thy fetters conquerors bind. 
 
Asphodel 19 
 
 Thou buildest upon clouds fair palaces, 
 Whose halls with bright creations thou dost fill, 
 Ethereal habitants of rosy skies, 
 Evoked to being at thy potent will. 
 Like Memnon's statue moved by cunning skill 
 The slumbering soul thy rising beam salutes, 
 Awaked by thee to rapture's sweetest thrill ; 
 The alchemist divine whose touch transmutes 
 To gold, thou givest to earth of Heaven the attributes. 
 
 Yet would I not invoke thy hallowed power 
 Lightly our mean and sordid life to grace. 
 Too sacred thou, of earth celestial dower, 
 To find in slaves' or tyrants' homes a place; 
 Yet, oh, the hope that thou our stubborn race 
 Mayest yet regenerate let me not lose ; 
 That thou into our instincts blind and base 
 Of purer light the spirit mayest transfuse. 
 And round our mortal state immortal joys diffuse. 
 
20 Asphodel 
 
 Shine ever, else, celestial Love! a star 
 In the far heaven of the Unattained, 
 Sending thy beams serenely from afar, 
 By mists of earth's chill atmosphere unstained; 
 From springs exhaustless thy clear light sustained. 
 Life's bark o'er trackless waters safe to guide. 
 Until her haven of repose be gained; 
 Lest from thy high sphere fallen it betide 
 A thing of senseless matter Youth's fond dreams deride. 
 
 A sunny slope by hills encompassed round. 
 Whose summits fade into the bending sky. 
 With glory of primeval forests crowned. 
 That veil in vaporous robes their majesty; 
 While of the sea the waters shadowy. 
 Glimmer through sudden breaks in glimpses caught 
 Far in the hazy distance, silently 
 Stirring the hidden depths of slumbering thought 
 With fancies vague and sweet, like zephyrs perfume-fraught. 
 
Asphodel 21 
 
 A limpid stream, now hidden among trees, 
 Now flashing into light, o'er amber sands, 
 That ceaseless babbles of Earth's mysteries. 
 Of cloud-borne tidings from far tropic lands, 
 Of ships hope-freighted, wrecked on foreign strands, 
 Of Youth and Joy, of Sorrow and of Death; 
 (But Nature wills that whoso understands 
 Of grief the speech, alone interpreteth 
 The note discordant heard Earth's sweetest strain beneath.) 
 
 A stately dwelling crowns the green ascent, 
 Embowered in trees and hung with trailing vines ; 
 Lifting its turrets to the orient, 
 That catch the sun's first golden beam that shines 
 Beyond the hills, his last when he declines; 
 And where the woods a wilder aspect take 
 At sultry noon the shadow of the pines 
 A still retreat for charmed revery make. 
 Fresh as the gelid depths of some crystalline lake. 
 
22 Asphodel 
 
 High over all the deep and liquid blue 
 Of heaven serenely smiles, untroubled here 
 By baleful mists the soul's aspiring view 
 That intercept, seeking her native sphere; 
 Soft odorous winds the tepid atmosphere 
 Stir gently, rocking cradled buds to dreams 
 Of all delights that subtly minister 
 To that of being — melody of streams 
 Or birds; of sun or star bright dew-reflected beams. 
 
 Such was the spot where Eden bloomed again 
 For two of mortal mould ; fair as ere Death 
 
 Had cast his shadow over Earth, or Sin 
 Blighted her fairest bloom with poisoned breath. 
 
 Here Love now crowns them with immortal wreath, 
 And Nature offers her divinest draught 
 In sacramental pomp ; on wings of Faith, 
 Dissolved in rapture from Love's chalice quaffed, 
 Their souls to realms supernal airs celestial waft. 
 
Asphodel 23 
 
 Here the enchanted hours on noiseless wing — 
 Each bearing gifts of fairest bloom to lay 
 Before them of the lavish wealth of Spring — 
 Breathing sweet odors, glided swift away, 
 Till Summer followed in the steps of May, 
 Trailing her gorgeous robes upon the ground, 
 With flowers of every varied color gay ; 
 Her laughing brow with blushing roses crowned, 
 And scattering as she passed Delights and Joys around. 
 
 And Learning brought her treasures to impart 
 A subtler charm to those that Nature wore; 
 For Julian in the magic realm of Art 
 Had wandered far; his mind in the world's lore 
 Had steeped; his inner vision, to the core 
 Piercing of things, discerned behind the dense 
 Dull mask of senseless matter that they bore. 
 The soul that gave them being; intense 
 And full his life of all life owned the influence. 
 
24 Asphodel 
 
 At the clear springs his spirit had drunk deep 
 Of Wisdom's sacred stream; so was he strong 
 To do or suffer that his soul might keep 
 Her whiteness undefiled amid the throng 
 Of worldlings weak or wicked ; he still clung 
 To boyhood's bright illusions, and his faith 
 Ended to witness the Empire of Wrong 
 Still greenly bloomed ; the desolating breath 
 Of Time no dear hope yet, no joy, had laid in death. 
 
 Oft had his soul with noble ardor glowed, 
 Dilating to the measure of his trust, 
 From off the chains of bondage that corrode 
 The souls of men with strength-consuming rust, 
 Some link to strike, Evil some deadly thrust 
 To give with Truth's bright sword; so should his name 
 Live in men's hearts; nor in forgotten dust 
 Moulder, in death's divorce, his mortal frame. 
 But, hallowed, share the immortality of Fame. 
 
Asphodel 25 
 
 A lofty soul that dwelt in antique mould, 
 Where grace and strength were blent in just degree; 
 An ardent spirit that might not grow cold 
 Or stern, but sat in bright serenity; 
 A mind that, self-contained, was clear and free; 
 A heart attuned to Nature's varied moods. 
 But to the accents of Humanity 
 Vibrating longest ; amid multitudes 
 At home, yet not alone in voiceless solitudes. 
 
 Love's charmed hand had never touched the chords 
 Of being, drawing thence their sweetest tone ; 
 Revealing to his soul in burning words 
 The gospel whose glad promises atone 
 For all of bitterness the heart hath known, 
 Or yet may know, until, effulgent bright. 
 Broke on his soul the glory of the dawn 
 Before whose splendor paled each lesser light 
 Of life's horizon, sunk into Oblivion's night. 
 
26 Asphodel 
 
 Transfigured by its beams Violet stood, 
 A radiant vision of celestial mould ; 
 The chosen priestess of the Fair and Good, 
 Whose advent Youth's bright dreams had oft foretold. 
 Imagination, borne on pinion bold 
 And strong to heights unseen of mortal eye, 
 Beyond the realm of Reason, clear and cold. 
 No fairer dream of mortal destiny 
 Had pictured than the dear and sweet reality. 
 
 Seated beneath the shade of some old oak 
 Oft would they watch the blue and silent sky, 
 Whose tranquil depths to their young bosoms spoke 
 Of love enduring through Infinity. 
 Oft woiild they watch the clouds that floated by, 
 And picture there some island where the blest, 
 Freed from Earth's trammels, through eternity 
 Might dwell ; some haven of ecstatic rest 
 That Fancy with unfading beauty would invest. 
 
Asphodel 27 
 
 And oft would Violet in the sweet tongue 
 Of her own land some antique ballad sing, 
 Whose cadences the forest shades among 
 Like echoes from another sphere would ring ; 
 Or tones with soul-taught sweetness ravishing, 
 Veiled in the accents of some song-adept, 
 From out the depths of her own heart would spring, 
 That all unconscious there till now had slept. 
 And waking, round them both the chain of silence kept. 
 
 And many a bright creation Julian wove 
 From his own fancy; many an old romance 
 He would recount, or tale of hapless love, 
 With voice commoved, or pity-laden glance; 
 Whereat, with gently-troubled countenance, 
 Would Violet sigh ; and thus the flame they fed 
 Of love, that sought such masked utterance ; 
 And legends wild and fairy tales they read ; 
 Stringing bright gems of Fancy on Truth's golden thread. 
 
28 Asphodel 
 
 And thus they yielded to the subtle power 
 That breathed in every gale, exhaled unseen 
 From out the perfumed calyx of each flower, 
 And every tender shoot of living green; 
 Softly it wrapped them in the tremulous sheen 
 That over forest, hill and valley lay, 
 Transfiguring all it touched — the smile serene 
 Of the great Soul that animates the clay 
 Of earth, and rules the world with mild, benignant sway. 
 
 And as a seed draws from the soft, moist earth 
 Its nourishment, and hid beneath the mould, 
 Breaks from its shell and silently puts forth 
 Its tender shoots until the manifold 
 Powers by which its being is controlled 
 Impel its growth to seek the vital air, 
 Then dews and sunshine its young leaves unfold, 
 And on the senses it breaks unaware. 
 Of sweetness and of beauty a creation rare — 
 
Asphodel 29 
 
 So did the flower of love its leaves expand, 
 Greeting the day with sudden light and bloom ; 
 Fed by soft dews, by airs celestial fanned, 
 It sheds around a ravishing perfume. 
 Of torrid heats unconscious that consume. 
 Or frosts that bhght, it bares its glowing heart 
 To the transfiguring splendors that illume 
 Its beauty ; all things to its bloom impart 
 Their fairest, and become of its own life a part. 
 
 O hour supreme ! when first the golden chain 
 Of speech unites two souls that silently 
 Had intertwined their being. Love's sweet pain 
 Is changed to rapture when this melody 
 Divine gives vague, mute bliss reality. 
 Hopes, like young birds that from their downy nest 
 To dare their fate, eager yet timid fly, 
 Grow bold when in security they rest, 
 And fearless plume their wings, to higher flights addressed. 
 
30 Asphodel 
 
 And now Love's lotus-flower steeps their souls 
 In sweet oblivion of all life had held, 
 Beyond the fairy picture time unrolls 
 Before their charmed gaze — a glimpse revealed 
 Of Heaven to mortal vision. Time can yield 
 In all his course no fairer, dearer hour; 
 In Joy's bright meteor-blaze her beams concealed, 
 The star of Hope has lost her useless power, 
 Of Sorrow's dreary night her milder light the dower. 
 
 The golden circle of Humanity 
 Is narrowed to themselves. For them alone 
 Was Earth created, joyous, fair and free. 
 The realm where each the other would enthrone, 
 Sole sovereign whose dear sway all things should own 
 In glad obedience — egotism sublime 
 Of Youth and Love, whose faith may well atone 
 For the cold wisdom with which hoary Time 
 Crowns the steep height that Age with faltering step must climb. 
 
CANTO THIRD 
 
 The months revolving now the waning year 
 Had decked in fleeting splendors, and the hoiir 
 Was come whose golden sands the perfect sphere 
 Of Violet's happiness should round, the dower 
 Of Youth, Hope's fragrant, many- tinted flower 
 Bringing to full fruition in the ray 
 Serene of Love. Of winds and waves the power 
 Had wrought, glad tidings safely to convey 
 To her expectant soul on this auspicious day. 
 
 31 
 
32 Asphodel 
 
 Here where, upraised for her the sacred veil 
 That hid of life the mysteries divine, 
 Earth's grosser fires beside the light grew pale 
 That burns with lustre pure before Love's shrine, 
 Here where her soul the sacramental wine 
 Of Love made strong the bitterness to taste 
 Unshrinking of life's cup, her heart within 
 Love's magic circle sheltered, now at rest, 
 Waits the assurance dear that makes the Future blest. 
 
 Sweet meed of sorrows past the happiness 
 Time holds in trust — a mother's voice to hear 
 Again, again her native accents; the excess 
 Of her new joy into a mother's ear 
 To pour, her resting-place the breast sincere 
 That sheltered infancy; — of this delight, 
 Supreme and sacred, with the opening year 
 Her bliss that shall complete, her longing sight 
 The assurance dear awaits before the approaching night. 
 
Asphodel 33 
 
 Slowly the soft Autumnal twilight falls, 
 Breathing a pensive charm; and never yet 
 Were met within those gray, time-hallowed walls 
 A happier group than now with Violet 
 The lagging moments speed; and if regret, 
 Of loss and absence born, on life's bright sky 
 A tender shadow cast, 't is but that set 
 Far in its depths more clearly from on high 
 May shine the sacred fires that light our destiny. 
 
 Lo! at the open door a pallid face 
 Like that of one who bears ill tidings, chills 
 Each breast with sudden terrors that replace 
 The expectant joy, a nameless dread that kills, 
 And at its source the stream of life congeals ; 
 And while the unshaped fear pales every cheek 
 That from the future all its brightness steals, 
 "What tidings bringest thou, Victor? Speak, oh speak!" 
 Violet's faltering accents thus the silence break. 
 
34 Asphodel 
 
 With solemn tenderness her hand in his 
 The stranger took; and "Violet!" he cries, 
 "From all-wise Heaven our earthly suffering is; 
 In Heaven our truest consolation lies, 
 And Heaven alone the willing sacrifice 
 Content accepts." — " My mother, then, is dead!" 
 In accents faint she said; then closed her eyes 
 On life's too cruel aspect, as she laid. 
 Like some pale, storm-crushed flower, on Julian's breast her head. 
 
 "Look up, my Violet! Beloved, wake! 
 Dolores lives in Heaven!" Julian cried. 
 And Victor, from his eyes while lightnings break — 
 "Dolores lives in Heaven, whence, sanctified, 
 This message now she sends ; and ill betide 
 Him who would dare oppose the last command 
 A mother leaves her child. Let this decide 
 Between us." — Ormond took with faltering hand 
 His letter to the Dead unopened that remained. 
 
Asphodel 35 
 
 And one in which Dolores' hand had traced 
 In trembHng characters her last farewell, 
 Tender and sad, linked with a last behest. 
 For Violet of love and happiness the knell — 
 "Thy future, dear, to one who loves thee well — 
 Who saved thy father's honor, I confide. 
 Content," she said; "so let his care dispel 
 Thy grief when I am gone ; thy footsteps guide. 
 Redeem the pledge I gave; be Victor's happy bride." 
 
 ' ' Alas, poor Violet ! Our letters, then, 
 Outrun by Heaven's swift message, came too late!" 
 Oraiond exclaimed; and Anna sighed again 
 "Alas, poor Violet ! " — As when through the gate 
 Of dawn the chill rays that illuminate 
 With gray uncertain light some wintry day, 
 Struggle, and through the atmosphere vibrate 
 Feebly, the life in Violet's heart that lay 
 Here quivering through her frame resumed a doubtful sway. 
 
36 Asphodel 
 
 And slowly raising the dark-fringed lids 
 In brief oblivion that had veiled her brain, 
 Her eyes she turns around, where fate forbids 
 The light of joy to be relumed again. 
 Quenched in the darkness of a cureless pain — 
 A troubled glance, as when from evil dreams 
 The soul awakes and Reason seeks to gain 
 Anew her empire ; while what is or seems 
 Joyless and cold alike the heart foreboding deems. 
 
 And as the stern and silent group she saw, 
 Frozen within their bosoms at its source 
 Grief's gentle rain, a vague and sudden awe 
 Mingled with her first pain, with leaden force 
 Her sorrow checking in its headlong course ; 
 Then coldly calm as monumental stone, 
 "Why look ye thus? Than Death is aught then worse? 
 Yet surely this some kindly drops had drawn 
 From pitying eyes," she said, in hard constrained tone. 
 
Asphodel 37 
 
 Then Julian — from whose brow all trace of wrath, 
 Swept by the mighty wave of love away, 
 Had passed, like footprints on the sandy path 
 That borders ocean, with resistless sway 
 When the full tide sweeps in — the blinding ray 
 Shut from his vision that lit up the abyss 
 Of yawning darkness that before him lay, 
 And pressing to Violet's brow his lips — "Let this 
 Attest a higher bond to Heaven, Love's hallowing kiss. 
 
 "And if from thence Dolores' spirit, freed 
 From the gross darkness of our mortal state, 
 Beholds us now, the doom her love decreed 
 Knowledge that beams celestial animate 
 Revokes; and if, in their serene estate 
 The angels weep, she weeps that men aside 
 Should set Truth's higher law, with obstinate 
 Dull vision turning from her prospects wide 
 And fair, their steps by false and wandering lights to guide." 
 
38 Asphodel 
 
 "Nay," Victor, pale with ire suppressed, replied, 
 "This knot no shaft from Fancy's quiver drawn, 
 But the sharp sword of Justice shall divide." 
 Then, pausing, turned to Violet: "Hope has grown 
 Too strong within my breast to yield her throne 
 Passive," he said, "to Fate's first cruel shock. 
 Oh, at thy heart of days forever gone 
 Let the sad ghosts with trembling fingers knock, 
 Potent the sealed fount of Memory to unlock." 
 
 Then on her soul first broke the fatal truth 
 That flashed, a flaming sword, before the gates 
 Of the lost Eden of her blighted youth ; 
 And as one shipwrecked, while hope animates 
 Shrinks from his fate, but calmly death awaits 
 When from his grasp the waves have swept away 
 His frail support, so, in the ice-bound straits. 
 Now, of Despair, bereft of her last stay, 
 To their wild waves she yields her heart a passive prey. 
 
Asphodel 39 
 
 And pale and calm, like some fair, fragile flower 
 Touched by the first rude frost, she gently said, 
 ' ' Alas ! by her who brings for her chief dower 
 Remorse and cureless grief, is ill repaid 
 A husband's love. Oh, seek not to invade, 
 Victor, the sanctuary of my woe ; 
 Within that sacred, joy-dispelling shade 
 Let the dark waters of my being flow. 
 Untroubled their brief course by Passion's mocking glow. 
 
 "And thou. Beloved, grieve not that so soon 
 The cherished flower that bloomed upon thy breast 
 Has withered, ere the splendors of life's noon 
 Could light, or evening gild its placid rest. 
 Our Father, knowing all, knows what is best, 
 And loving, wounds us not with needless pain. 
 Yet, oh, to enter on that solemn quest 
 Alone, without thy strong clasp to sustain — 
 Fain would my shrinking soul refuse this cup to drain." 
 
40 Asphodel 
 
 "Oh yield not, Violet, to grief's dark spell 
 Thy spirit," Ormond cried, "the passive thrall; 
 Nor bid to hope and happiness farewell 
 That thou thus early sharest a natural 
 And common sorrow. Time, that covers all 
 Unsightly ruins that his hand has made 
 With budding leaves and blossoms, shall recall 
 Hope's vital sap thy being to pervade, 
 And Joy's bright sun dispel of this dark cloud the shade." 
 
 "And, oh, the affection here that would replace 
 Hers that in Heaven shall watch o'er thee still," 
 Said Anna, folding her in fond embrace, 
 "Reject not. With a child's dear cares, oh, fill 
 Our childless days till, this dark cloud of ill 
 Dispersed, life's sun shine forth serene and bright. 
 Child of our love ! our Violet ! distil 
 Thy sweets and shed around thy heaven-caught light 
 In our life's garden still, source of our best delight." 
 
Asphodel 41 
 
 "Enough," said Victor; "it were idle now, 
 While Grief's dark shade on spirit and on mind 
 Lies cold, a claim the heart would disallow 
 To press. Let Nature, ever wise and kind, 
 The icy fetters Violet's soul that bind 
 Loosen with gentle hand, and time restore 
 All things with power benignant their defined 
 And just proportions; then let Reason soar 
 Untrammelled to Truth's cloudless heights. I ask no more." 
 
 And thus the fabric Youth and Love had raised, 
 A fair Aladdin's palace, from whose bright 
 And countless windows joy's clear beams had blazed. 
 Silent and swift had vanished in the night. 
 And when the cheerful morning's rosy light 
 Dispelled the shadows over earth that lay. 
 The spot where late that Palace of Delight 
 Had stood, the brightness of her kindling ray 
 Disclosed, a scene of desolation, bare and gray. 
 
42 Asphodel 
 
 Not with the seeming death that winter brings 
 To Nature's gay activity and bloom — 
 The kindly sleep whence life awakening springs 
 To fairer colors and more sweet perfume. 
 Beyond the gloomy portals of the tomb 
 The blighted flower of love may blossom now 
 Alone. Its sacred radiance shall illume 
 The garland crowning an immortal brow, 
 But mortal springs no more with charms divine endow. 
 
 And as a child, whose eager mind essays 
 The task too hard for his weak powers in vain, 
 At last shuts up the book, and, tired, lays 
 Aside the problem that perplexed his brain, 
 So Violet, weary, sought not to sustain 
 The unequal struggle, but at once aside 
 With life's dark problem cast life's joy and pain. 
 In the still darkness of the grave to hide 
 The ruins of the Dream love's light had glorified. 
 
Asphodel 43 
 
 Gently her gentle spirit sank to rest; 
 No vain complaints or unavailing tears 
 Disturbed the hours that Youth would fain contest 
 With Death ; and if at times some natural fears 
 Oppressed her soul, for all the golden years 
 Unlived, some fond regrets, these shadows soon, 
 Touched by the glory from celestial spheres 
 That lit the darkness of the dread Unknown, 
 Vanished like morning mists before the radiant noon. 
 
 One cloud alone hung ever, dark and chill. 
 Above the horizon of Earth's fading sky ; 
 A cloud that there should rest immutable, 
 Till from her mortal sight it passed for aye, 
 Lost in the darkness of Eternity, 
 Or by its awful splendors swift dispelled, — 
 The shadow of the silent agony 
 That preyed on Julian's soul and thence compelled 
 To one dull sense of pain each fibre being held. 
 
44 Asphodel 
 
 From all the natural joys of youth withdrawn, 
 As thus he saw her slowly, day by day. 
 Fade like a star in some sad wintry dawn, 
 Within his breast the feebly flickering ray 
 Of Hope's pale torch went out; in dread array 
 Before his soul stern images of gloom 
 Arose — that form companion of the clay 
 Where Grace and Beauty dwelt in breathing bloom; 
 In all its horrors clothed the dark and silent tomb. 
 
 Wildly he prayed to Heaven some aid to lend. 
 Some saving help in this his bitter need ; 
 Alas! the high designs of Heaven bend 
 Not to our low estate; and once decreed. 
 Our fates to their appointed end proceed. 
 The vision of our dull mortality 
 Is all too narrow the wide plans to read 
 That guide our being ; in blind agony 
 The bruised heart can but shrink from pain with helpless cry. 
 
Asphodel 45 
 
 The shadows closing round the cheerless day 
 Were deepening now, and whirling on the blast, 
 The last dead leaves, torn from the boughs away, 
 Were borne, the spectres of a vanished Past. 
 The sky with gathering darkness overcast 
 Hung over Nature's lifeless form, a pall; 
 And sad as wailings of lost souls outcast 
 From Heaven for aye, the winds released from thrall 
 Swept through the solemn pines, her dirge funereal. 
 
 How changed the scene! How changed, alas! her heart, 
 As Violet took of life her last farewell ; 
 Each wildwood sound that once had formed a part 
 Of Nature's joyous paean, to the knell 
 Turned of dead hopes, and broke the magic spell 
 That erst the grassy hillside, daisy-grown, 
 Had changed to enchanted meads of asphodel. 
 Blighted by frosts no sun-ray could dispel, 
 The brief, bright summer of her love was done. 
 Ere yet the fleeting bloom that saw its birth was gone. 
 
46 Asphodel 
 
 "Come near, Beloved; let us once again 
 Together watch the sun sink to his rest ; 
 But not, alas! in promise bright, as when 
 Earth smiled upon us in gay beauty drest," 
 She softly said, as faintly from the west 
 Through gathering shadows broke a pallid gleam 
 And lit her couch. "When the sun's rays invest 
 Nature in day's returning light, his beam 
 Shall waken thee alone from our enchanted Dream. 
 
 "Take in thy dear hand mine, that I may feel 
 The strong support of love in this last hour ; 
 So gently o'er my mortal sense shall steal, 
 Robbed of its bitterness, the conquering power 
 Of death; as to some fragile tropic flower 
 Decay comes softly, under tropic skies 
 That smile on it. My spirit shall not cower, 
 Thus while I gaze in thy beloved eyes. 
 But to the Throne of Love, made strong by love, shall rise." 
 
Asphodel 47 
 
 O, bitter anguish! helpless thus to see, 
 Silent and pitiless, the hand of Fate 
 Place on that form its seal that blindly we 
 Have held to Love's dear service dedicate; 
 To hear that voice for the last time vibrate 
 Without whose tones were discord heavenly choirs; 
 The last responsive glance of eyes to wait 
 That lit our world with joy-enkindling fires; 
 To see, and stretch no hand, while our life's life expires. 
 
 "Dost thou remember that enchanted eve 
 When first we met, Beloved; when, our hands 
 Uniting, Ormond bade thee to receive 
 To thy regard a child of sunnier lands. 
 Born by the wind of Fate to northern strands, 
 And from rude airs to shield her for his sake ? 
 Alas ! the flower that from its native sands 
 Transplanted, sudden tempests overtake, 
 Uprooted, no warm sun to life can reawake. 
 
48 Asphodel 
 
 "And yet — though cold annihilation claim 
 This fragile vesture of mortality, 
 It cannot quench the pure, celestial flame 
 That lights the shadows of eternity. 
 Yes ! that within me which can never die 
 I feel ; and deep enshrined in my soul 
 Our love, earth's fairest gift, I bear on high; 
 Could I more richly freighted reach life's goal, 
 Though still some few brief years of earth should o'er me roll? 
 
 "And thou, dear friend, those few brief years shalt pass 
 Not all unhappy, though thy Violet 
 Speak to thy heart but through the tangled grass 
 Above her grave with dews of heaven wet ; 
 For in thy soul shall live, an amulet 
 To keep it strong, the memory of our love; 
 Until to hope transformed, in heaven set, 
 A star serene, it draw thy gaze above. 
 And thy upsoaring soul her destiny approve. 
 
Asphodel 49 
 
 "Yes, soaring up from Grief's consuming fire, 
 True to herself thy soul shall plume her wings, 
 And to the clear, untroubled heights aspire 
 Where living waters flow from deathless springs. 
 And oh ! when Heaven wide her portal flings 
 To greet thee, victor in the appointed strife. 
 How poor shall seem unwilling offerings, 
 Laid on the altar of Eternal Life, 
 Of Earth's frail flowers fed by sunshine pale and brief. 
 
 "Now closer round me draws the gathering gloom; 
 Farewell, O Earth! where still the dearest part 
 I leave of my divided life. Illume, 
 O Sun Serene ! the dark waves that dispart 
 Our being, with thy beams, that my faint heart. 
 Touched by their glory, on her homeward way 
 Courageous may set out. Behold! athwart 
 The darkness breaks the first resplendent ray 
 Of light celestial, herald of Eternal Day!" 
 
50 Asphodel 
 
 And thus her spirit passed from earth's cold sphere, 
 Of too ethereal mould to linger long, 
 Chilled by the mists of our bleak atmosphere. 
 The strife and sorrows of our world among. 
 Like the last strains of some sweet, pensive song 
 It passed away ; and in the hearts where fell 
 Its dying sweetness. Memory shall prolong, 
 Until celestial harmonies dispel 
 All sadness, the sad echoes of her last farewell. 
 
CANTO FOURTH 
 
 Again to earth descending from the skies, 
 Bringing sweet airs to weary mortals, Spring, 
 Ethereal goddess, bade the force that Hes, 
 Waiting her coming, in each Hving thing. 
 To wake refreshed from torpid slumbering. 
 And every fibre stir with subtle power; 
 That to each cell the elements might bring 
 Its tribute each, at the auspicious hour 
 Unseen to mould, combining, leaf and fruit and flower. 
 
 51 
 
52 Asphodel 
 
 And swiftly wrought her busy ministers 
 Earth to adorn for her brief holiday ; 
 But chief her fairest daughter, Hope, transfers 
 A grace divine to our inert, dull clay; 
 For where of her clear eyes the enkindling ray 
 Resplendent falls a more than mortal bloom 
 Each opening bud and tender leaf display; 
 And flowers still sleeping in the seed perfume 
 Mild days that coming suns with warmer light illume. 
 
 In this sweet season of awakening life, 
 A tired wanderer, Julian stood again 
 Upon his natal soil. The inward strife 
 Whose wasting fires at healing springs in vain 
 He had sought to quench, still held relentless reign 
 Within his bosom, odorless and sere 
 Making life's bloom; still wan and hollow-eyed Pain 
 Walked by his side, the silent minister 
 Of each returning day for many a weary year. 
 
Asphodel 53 
 
 Again he looked upon the tranquil scene 
 Where first his soul beneath the glowing rays 
 Of love had blossomed. Now as then serene 
 And softly bright to his life-weary gaze 
 Nature her fresh unsullied charms displays, 
 And perfumed airs breathe round his languid brow; 
 Alas! no sun can brighten heavy days 
 Darkened by grief; and Heaven shall endow 
 With her best gifts in vain the lightning-scathed bough. 
 
 Not his the grief that seeks in outward things 
 Some brief forgetfulness of pain, or finds 
 In transient joys some respite. Time that brings 
 Balm to the bruised heart, and gently binds 
 Its bleeding wounds, while round the soul he winds 
 The mantle of oblivion, to him 
 Such solace brings alone as still reminds 
 His spirit of her loss, and from the dim 
 Long vista of the Past casts a reflected gleam. 
 
54 Asphodel 
 
 In vain through many a land to which his soul 
 In Youth's fond dreams with ardent longing turned, 
 Restless he wandered. Vainly to the goal 
 Where Fame's bright star with living lustre burned 
 His course he kept; his heart alas! had learned 
 The lore that turns life's magic-tinted sky 
 To hueless space; and in his heart inurned 
 The ashes of Love's blighted flower lie, 
 His sole remaining wealth of Youth's rich argosy. 
 
 And as the bright, joy-giving sunlight falls 
 In darkened splendor through the antique panes 
 That light some dim cathedral, whose gray walls 
 With grave and sombre imagery it stains, 
 So to his soul the light life still retains. 
 Passing through darkened windows, takes a cold 
 And solemn hue that over all things reigns. 
 And coloring life's aspects manifold, 
 Hope's sun-loved flower forbids its petals to unfold. 
 
Asphodel 55 
 
 Yet from life's bitter conflict he had come, 
 Though faint and wounded, victor at the last; 
 Nor unrewarded, though of earthly bloom 
 Fate on his languid brow no wreath has placed. 
 As one who sees before him lie a waste 
 Of desert sands, beyond whose arid bound 
 Green trees uprise with branches interlaced 
 That make refreshing shade upon the ground. 
 So did his soul discern afar heights verdure-crowned. 
 
 Celestial heights, 'mid whose unfading bloom, 
 Life's narrow desert crossed, at last his soul, 
 Approved, her glorious birthright shall assume, 
 The crown and guerdon of life's well- won goal; 
 And through his being distant echoes roll 
 Of harmonies divine, that upward draw 
 His spirit from the withering control 
 Of earth's corroding cares, that restless gnaw 
 The heart that shrinks in vain from Heaven's unchanging law. 
 
56 Asphodel 
 
 No weak indulgence of a selfish grief 
 Had loosed his soul from Nature's deathless bond; 
 Still as in Youth's fresh season, bright and brief, 
 A chord vibrated there that could respond 
 To hopes that lay his narrowed sphere beyond; 
 Though lopped the fairest branch from life's green tree, 
 And with it blighted in the bud each fond 
 And joyous hope, through boughs the sap flowed free 
 That drew their bloom from roots cast in Humanity. 
 
 And still, a living Presence, though unseen. 
 Real as when to animated clay 
 She lent the lusfre of a light serene. 
 Beside him Violet walked on his lone way — 
 A fadeless beam from Heaven's eternal day 
 That pierced the darkness of Earth's starless night, 
 The black abyss illumining where lay 
 In wait Despair, with clear and constant light — 
 Pledge and assurance dear of being infinite. 
 
Asphodel 57 
 
 Below the horizon sunk the sun now sent 
 His parting beams that, fairer, he unseen, 
 And softer than his noonday radiance, lent 
 A glow of transient glory to the scene. 
 So, when Love's sun has set, his beams serene 
 Ofttimes, before they fade, illume life's sky 
 With radiance fairer than the light had been 
 That poured at noon its splendors from on high. 
 Till night and darkness close round hues that mock the eye. 
 
 And one by one in Heaven's spacious court 
 Each its appointed place the silent stars 
 Taking, assembled, glittering cohort 
 That with the Regent Moon her glory shares. 
 All nature now a tranquil aspect wears. 
 That wooes the weary heart awhile to rest; 
 And over Violet's grave blow tepid airs. 
 Sweet with the breath of blossoms that invest 
 With bloom this spot where Peace now dwells, a friendly guest. 
 
58 Asphodel 
 
 Here Julian watched the gathering shadows close 
 Round Earth, for him to be dispelled no more; 
 At last his troubled soul shall find repose, 
 And Death, that took, his treasure shall restore. 
 Soon shall his bark from Life's receding shore 
 To realms of endless day her swift course bend ; 
 So on the ear of Night his heart shall pour 
 Her last lament, whose echoes shall transcend 
 Our mortal sphere and to the steadfast stars ascend : 
 
 "O sacred fire of Youth! whose light divine 
 O'er life's horizon cast a living glow, 
 Wherein, transfigured, common things did shine. 
 And tears in falling changed to Hope's bright bow ; 
 While clouds with presage black of coming woe. 
 Touched by the splendor of thy magic beams. 
 Seemed but the gorgeous drapery spread below 
 The Future, pictured in our ardent dreams. 
 Quenched in the night of years one star thy loss redeems. 
 
Asphodel 59 
 
 "For in my barren life all else is dark 
 Save one bright memory of vanished years ; 
 This sole possession Youth's rich-freighted bark 
 Has saved amid the wreck of hopes, and fears 
 Dearer than hopes, as Night's cool silent tears 
 To drooping buds are dearer than the heat 
 Of noon ; and now this memory my spirit cheers 
 With such companionship as well might cheat 
 The heart of grief; so, still, may vanished joys be sweet. 
 
 "And in the silence of the solemn night 
 The echoes of a voice forever stilled 
 Thrill my worn bosom with a wild delight — 
 The vague expectance of hopes unfulfilled ; 
 And once again my empty life is filled 
 With smiling images of promised joys. 
 Till by the dawn's pale light untimely chilled 
 In space they vanish, and the world's rude noise 
 My brief, illusive happiness again destroys. 
 
6o Asphodel 
 
 "Yet would I fain evoke from out the Past 
 Once more the shadows of Youth's vanished hours. 
 Retrace, O Time ! thy steps and let me cast 
 A nearer glance on Love's forsaken bowers; 
 Restore me, oh! restore life's springtime flowers; 
 Though their young bloom be withered yet warm rain, 
 From quenchless sources fed, in quickening showers 
 Shall fall on them till they revive again. 
 And with their living fragrance soothe life's cureless pain. 
 
 " Mysterious stars! that from heaven's azure dome 
 Seem to watch over us, like angel eyes — 
 The beacon-lights of our eternal home — 
 If ye the secrets of the silent skies 
 Do hold that mock our vain philosophies. 
 Reveal, reveal unto my listening soul 
 The living word wherein all wisdom lies ; 
 Oh! free my spirit from the base control 
 Of earth-born mists that hide from it its aim and goal. 
 
Asphodel 6i 
 
 "Do I not know that she I mourn as dead 
 Lives in immortal youth, forever blest? 
 Forever healed the wounds that here had bled, 
 The strife and fever of her soul at rest? 
 Oh ! wherefore then this unavailing quest 
 After some nearer knowledge of her state ; 
 Though now my heart, like a forsaken nest, 
 Sees Spring's return, yet still is desolate, 
 A Spring unfading blooms beyond the Eternal Gate. 
 
 "My Violet! 'twas in the springtime first, 
 The time of budding hopes and balmy airs, 
 That thy effulgent beauty on me burst, 
 Dimmed by no shadow of approaching cares ; 
 Alas ! the smiling aspect Fortune wears 
 Too oft is like the calm of tropic seas 
 That lulls the bark their storm-fraught bosom bears 
 To false security, till darkening skies 
 Announce its doom ; so Fate wrecked our young destinies. 
 
62 Asphodel 
 
 "But 'mid the wreck and ruin of our lives, 
 Still fresh and fragrant as when life was young, 
 The sacred treasure of our love survives. 
 Immortal as the soul from which it sprung; 
 Here Fortune powerless her shafts hath flung; 
 As when the Sun majestic moves on high. 
 Tempests arise, the sky with clouds are hung 
 That veil his light, serene he journeys by. 
 His home remote from storms that trouble mortal eye. 
 
 "So thus serene the image of our love 
 Now beckons me from earthly griefs away; 
 My soul exultant feels her pinions move, 
 Eager to break from her frail shell of clay. 
 Now, now at length dawns the Eternal Day; 
 Smiling around me hover phantoms bright. — 
 I come ! I come ! Ye point to me the way 
 Where waits my Violet ; on waves of light 
 Upborne I float dissolved in exquisite delight." 
 
Asphodel 63 
 
 Thus on the night expired in accents faint 
 His voice, to fall no more on mortal ear; 
 No more of love the unavailing plaint, 
 Of Joy or Grief the speech to utter here; 
 And o'er the grave shall many a pitying tear 
 Of lovers fall where take their peaceful rest 
 Julian and Violet; while each new year 
 With fragrant honors shall the spot invest 
 Sacred henceforth to Love, Life's deathless bond confest. 
 
DEC 29 1910 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
 £,u: ^"^ ^9iO 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 illlliliiillllllllllllllllll 
 
 015 988 343 7 O