PS 
 
 3557 
 
 l87lS 
 
 H*J, LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 CORAL FRANCES SCOTT 
 
Class JS^JLLlf. 
 BookiJi^L S 
 Gopigkt^N _JJ_ 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 
 
LIFE'S 
 OVERTONES 
 
 BY 
 CORAL FRANCES SCOTT 
 
 19 2 1 
 
 THE STRATFORD COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 BOSTON. MASSACHUSETTS 
 

 Copyright 1921 
 
 The STRATFORD CO., Publishers 
 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 The Alpine Press, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 
 
 MR 121921 
 ©CI.A611090 
 

 0> 
 
 TO 
 
 'Co my father and mother 
 Robert M. and Sarah Kinnear Scott 
 
Contents 
 
 
 
 
 Prelude 1 
 
 Song 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Indian Summer 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Alone 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 The Elemental 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 Personality 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Nature's Mistakes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Estrangement 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 Love 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 13 
 
 Clay . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 September 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Clouds . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 Dark Hours . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 Magic 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 My Brother . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Ghosts 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 20 
 
 Parting . 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 23 
 
 Obedience 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 A Wedding Ring 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 A Nightmare . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 26 
 
 Revolution 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 Grace 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Bachelors 33 
 
 Daisy 35 
 
 Liberty 36 
 
 Joy 38 
 
 Spring 39 
 
Prelude 
 
 WHAT is creation but desire 
 To quicken sense to something higher 
 To catch the ecstasy of the lark, 
 Or feel the breath which fans the spark, 
 And kindles fury in the mob : 
 To pulsate in life's joy or sob: 
 Then filter into other hearts, 
 Thru sounds known but to poets' art, 
 Life's excess of joy or smart. 
 What is creation but desire 
 To catch life 's overtones of fire, 
 And cause to vibrate even higher. 
 
 N 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Song 
 
 Mocking-bird, you force your passion 
 On the world in human fashion: 
 Joy and praise are your delight, 
 Which you follow day and night ; 
 Even some very little thing, 
 Ecstasy enough will bring 
 To your heart to make you sing ; 
 And if love does fill your breast, 
 As at mating time in spring, 
 Your notes into torrents press, 
 Of sweet liquid sound's surplus, 
 Till the stream from out your throat, 
 Us to fairy land does float ; 
 You pour rapture o'er our heads, 
 Till your eyes are ours instead, 
 And our world is gianted; 
 Then the trees grow very tall, 
 And our little home, a hall, 
 "While we seem to become small 
 At the wonder of it all; 
 Then the flowers take on faces, 
 Leaves and ferns become their laces, 
 
 [2] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Which the dew-gems catch in places ; 
 Then the perfumes on the air, 
 Cloy the very atmosphere, 
 Till a burdened sense we bear; 
 
 And our hearts become oppressed 
 With earth's glory, in excess, 
 Till it seems we must express 
 In some way, her loveliness ; 
 Thus our hearts have caught the spark, 
 Which does animate the lark, 
 And your self in light or dark. 
 
 [3] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Indian Summer 
 
 AUTUMN'S fair voluptuous form 
 Glimpses here and glimpses there ; 
 Now a crimson cheek a showing, 
 Now a strand of golden hair ; 
 
 Now a marble breast appeareth 
 Veiled in gauze of amethyst, 
 While her merry brown eyes twinkle 
 Thru a deeper purple mist; 
 
 Oft her scarlet lips touch fondly 
 The thin veil which us divide, 
 But as we would seize her boldly, 
 Into deeper mist they glide. 
 
 Do we ever catch this coquette 
 In full sight, and hold her there? 
 Yes, sometimes in late October, 
 We approach her spirit's lair; 
 
 See her stand in radiant splendor 
 Kissing fingers to the sun, 
 Only a rich haze of yellow 
 Round her beauteous shoulders flung. 
 
 [4] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Alone 
 
 AGAINST a pearl horizon, a long low ridge 
 of green, 
 I 'd thot it hills of even height, except that I had 
 
 seen 
 Beneath the one star in the West, a mighty pine 
 
 tree toss his crest, 
 As tho his soul in deep desire, would meet one 
 downward gleam of fire. 
 
 Against a gold horizon, a long low ridge of white, 
 I'd thot a single mountain, except that to the 
 
 right, 
 One lofty peak pierced far above, and lost from 
 
 mortal sight, 
 His stately head first entered into the realm of 
 
 night. 
 
 Against a red horizon, a long low line of gray, 
 I'd thot a chain of cringing slaves, except that 
 
 middleway 
 Adown this wall of shadows, one lordly head 
 
 flung high, 
 And lifted eyes with dauntless gaze against the 
 
 lurid sky. 
 
 [s] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Sometimes in range of nature, sometimes in 
 
 range of men, 
 These high peaks lift their regal heads above the 
 
 common ken, 
 And pierce a solitude on high, a hush, a silence 
 
 in the sky, 
 Unbroken by some presence nigh. 
 
 [6] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 The Elemental 
 
 WHAT e 'er my former state might be, 
 I know 'twas lived within a wood : 
 There is the feel of empathy 
 When 'lone in her, a brother hood 
 To animal or bird or bee, 
 Altho my form I do not see. 
 
 I feel her shade's deep power of stilling 
 My heart, loud knocking at my side ; 
 I know the sense, to color thrilling, 
 Where safest rest for me abides ; 
 I catch her breath, to me revealing, 
 Where lurking dangers round me hide, 
 And hear her call to crouch still closer, 
 Or as inanimate to bide. 
 
 What e'er my former state might be, 
 I know my home was near a tree : 
 At night I feel her rocking me 
 While murmuring low a lullaby ; 
 And if I ope' my eyesl see 
 Her branches swaying ceaselessly. 
 
 [7] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Personality 
 To J. D. 
 
 I THANK you for being you. 
 I love to read your verses thru, 
 Follow your thot and fancies too, 
 But, more than that, there comes to view 
 The ego-hood, the thee of you. 
 There is a strength of manhood there, 
 A steadfastness of beauty rare, 
 A holy breath which I can share. 
 It creeps between the lines to me, 
 Subliminal self you may not see 
 Nor know in your own poetry. 
 Yet over rhyme and rhythm to me, 
 Yes over thot and imagery, 
 Subtly there comes the you of thee. 
 
 [8] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Nature's Mistakes 
 
 BENEATH the shadow of the stork, 
 There lay a girlish head. 
 It had always been a willful one, 
 Before that she was wed, 
 And since, 'twas absolutely right, 
 Whatever she had said. 
 
 But now in dream she troubled lay, 
 
 And it was just because 
 
 She could not have her own sweet way, 
 
 And force ev'n nature's law, 
 
 For there the stork stood by the bed, 
 
 Two bundles in his claw. 
 
 The stork, incarnate elements, 
 Which in this world oppose 
 Our preconceived harmonies 
 Of hair and eyes and nose, 
 Stood on one foot beside the bed, 
 And waited while she chose. 
 
 [9] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 So under corners folded back, 
 She peeped and saw two heads, 
 The one, a pretty golden hue, 
 The other, it was red. 
 Not very complicated? No. 
 But all has not been said. 
 
 The very source of discontent 
 
 Just in the reason lay, 
 
 That one a pink bow, one a blue, 
 
 The sign of sex displayed. 
 
 'Twas here the weighty problem rose; 
 
 It was so hard to say, 
 
 For the red head wore the bow of blue ; 
 
 Should be the other way. 
 
 Then long she thot the matter thru — 
 A red haired girl would never do — 
 A red haired boy she wouldn 't rue — 
 But round a girl with golden hair, 
 Her fondest wishes grew, 
 And thus she waited, trying hard, 
 For this the stork to sue. 
 
 The stork he is a patient bird, 
 
 A virtue which did win 
 
 The place which in honor holds 
 
 [10] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Upon one leg so thin; 
 
 But wasting time on hair and bows 
 
 To him did seem a sin, 
 
 And so the gold haired boy is to 
 
 The red haired girl a twin. 
 
 [«] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Estrangement 
 
 <f THIS ours to stand beside the bier 
 
 I Of those whom life have bound in love, 
 And shed o'er them sorrow's soft tears, 
 Yet feel there strengthens from above, 
 Love's cord which bound them to us here. 
 
 "lis ours to stand beside a bier 
 Often unseen by other eyes, 
 And shed life's bitter bitter tears, 
 With no cord reaching to the skies, 
 For love's fine cord has broken here. 
 
 The hearts which death divide, but sever; 
 Life tries, and knits or parts forever. 
 
 [12] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 w 
 
 Love 
 
 HY do people call thee blind? 
 Thou dos't act beyond the mind. 
 
 What of Beauty 's presence rare, 
 Spirit gleaming here and there. 
 Into that life thou canst bear, 
 Which is worthy it to share! 
 
 What of hardship disappears ; 
 For love gladly hardship bears. 
 
 What of sex seems course to view, 
 Sweetly is explained by you. 
 
 Why do people call thee blind? 
 Thou dos't act beyond the mind. 
 
 M 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Clay 
 
 THE sculptor molds the clay with loving 
 care, 
 His fingers press therein an image rare, 
 Like child of Zeus, conceived within his brain, 
 He also brings to birth thru mother's pain, 
 And when eternalized in marble firm, 
 Resolves the mold of clay to clay again. 
 
 So love eternal forms the living soul : 
 By love called here do human faces come ; 
 And when the sculptor, thru the heart strings, 
 
 molds 
 The face unto his image, life is told, 
 And earth resolves itself to earth again. 
 
 [14] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 September 
 
 SUMMER glides with wistful eyes 
 Looking o'er her shoulder; 
 Refuge finding from north winds, 
 At each ridge or boulder. 
 
 Summer steals with lowered head, 
 O'er each field and fallow; 
 Trailing her green nuptial gown, 
 Now a greenish yellow. 
 
 Summer walks with lagging steps, 
 As her pale hands loosen 
 Golden-rod, her last fond gift, 
 Wth her Brown-eyed Susans. 
 
 Summer sighs with heaving breast, 
 "Ah, the Sun is fickle/' 
 Then her cheeks with anger flush, 
 And her tears drops trickle. 
 
 t'5] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Clouds 
 
 A WHITE robed Venus floated up on high, 
 Into gray arms of Zeus who kissed her 
 brow. 
 They mingled into unity of pearl, 
 And from the one cloud rose a baby girl. 
 
 [»«] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Dark Hours 
 
 IN life's dark hours we turn away, 
 And suffer all alone ; 
 We cannot bear that our best friends 
 Should hear our spirit's moan; 
 Some lay their heads on earth 's soft breast, 
 While some in God's strong arms find rest. 
 
 These last have passed their darkest hour: 
 
 Dismayed before life's bitter pain, 
 
 In some time past, they've turned to heaven, 
 
 And felt the last cry by Christ given ; 
 
 For even the Son upon the tree, 
 
 Called to his Father piteously, 
 
 "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" 
 
 Yes, these have known life 's darkest hour, 
 
 And passing through its gloom, 
 
 Have found it ever comes before 
 
 The spirit's fullest bloom; 
 
 And now when troubles on them press, 
 
 In God's strong arms may they find rest. 
 
 [17] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Magic 
 
 1WALK this morning through a love-kissed 
 world ; 
 I 'm gowned in robes of amethyst, flower pearled ; 
 My feet tread over courts of emerald 
 Beneath an azure canopy unfurled ; 
 Cupids and fays, like flowers, kiss leaves be- 
 tween, 
 And bend low over me their new crowned queen. 
 
 Nor gods nor fairies cast this magic here, 
 A man 's brown eyes smiled down and called me 
 dear. 
 
 [18] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 My Brother 
 
 OF brothers two I have but one, 
 Of sisters one I have ah, none. 
 You ask how this strange thing may be ; 
 A riddle, yes, but ask not me ; 
 I only know, in darkest hour, 
 When in life 's way bloomed not one flower, 
 When faint, and spent, and all at sea, 
 I thought to turn me to the three, 
 But one held out his arms to me. 
 
 This riddle, only those may share, 
 Who've tried life's dizzy paths alone; 
 Who've tried till nothing's left of them, 
 Except the will to try again, 
 And being dazed at fate so stern, 
 Have turned their eyes back home; 
 Ah, then if one hand reach to you, 
 One pair of arms enfold you true, 
 Your brother he would be. 
 
 [19] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Ghosts 
 
 WE look for ghosts in castles 
 Or on Ireland 's bogs and fens ; 
 In the old world's mellow atmosphere 
 They seem like old-time friends. 
 Yes, even along the Hudson, 
 Or peeping through the blind 
 Of a gray Virginia mansion, 
 One might expect to find 
 A disembodied spirit, 
 Seeking those he 'd left behind. 
 
 But on the plains of Kansas 
 Where so few shadows lie, 
 Would you ever think to see a ghost 
 Or to hear a spirit sigh ? 
 
 On a pillow near the window 
 Lay my mother's fragile face, 
 With dreamy eyes o'erlooking 
 The garden's twilight space, 
 And suddenly I saw outside 
 
 [20] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 A little cap of lace above a knot of silver curls. 
 
 Did they belong to a young girl, 
 
 And had the pale moon turned them pearl? 
 
 The half-turned face beneath the hair, 
 
 Did it belong to girlhood fair, 
 
 Or bore it marks of woman's care? 
 
 I could not say. 
 
 The light, between the night and day, 
 Would make it seem now fair now gray, 
 And lost I felt to place the face 
 When down she knelt. 
 
 Over a little mound of clay 
 
 Covered with shells, her hands did stray; 
 
 And then I knew her face was gray. 
 
 Then presently I heard a sigh, 
 And saw a man's form standing nigh 
 In long blue coat and neckcloth high. 
 He drew the longing hands away, 
 And lifting her, the two did stray 
 Adown the cedar's arching way; 
 Then back again to bend and sway 
 Above that little mound of clay. 
 
 [21] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 So now I know to western plains, 
 Departed spirits come again. 
 Yes, even to our garden here, 
 Does love recall the pioneer. 
 
 [22] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Parting 
 
 THE ivy curtains ceased to stir, beloved, 
 The leaves on the trees hushed, sad ; 
 When my eyes denied their love for you, 
 The grass in gray instead of green was clad. 
 
 I bore that hour for both of us, beloved : 
 My eyes told nothing as I looked at you ; 
 
 I saw temptation in your soul, sweetheart, 
 And knew that I must hold you true. 
 
 Not that my strength is more than yours, dear 
 love, 
 
 When you have learned to bear; 
 My clinging fingers were unclasped through life 
 
 From all for whom I care. 
 
 [23] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Obedience 
 
 HOW anxiously as ages o'er man rolled, 
 Did men of Plato's blood, 
 With ear against the wall of knowledge pressed, 
 Listen for sounds of God. 
 
 How far they searched, how high, how low they 
 looked 
 
 For that bright gem called Truth. 
 How hardly, could they think eternal life; 
 
 But sought the fount of youth. 
 
 How pityingly the father heard the sigh 
 
 Of human kind for life, 
 How gracious was the gift which he bestowed 
 
 To end the weary strife. 
 
 The key of knowledge to his Son he gave, 
 
 Obedience was its name. 
 Obedient unto death, the Son became, 
 
 Of life, the living flame. 
 
 [24] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 A Wedding Ring 
 
 LITTLE golden circle, 
 Clasping round my finger, 
 Only bind me to him 
 
 While his love doth linger. 
 
 Never hold him prisoner 
 If his heart love better ; 
 
 I could not support you, 
 If you were his fetter. 
 
 Little golden circle, 
 
 Ah, so light today, 
 My hand could not lift you, 
 
 If he felt you weigh. 
 
 M 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 A Nightmare 
 
 IN palaces innumerable, 
 We passed thru monarch 's gilded rooms ; 
 Thru castles high on stony crags, 
 Thru dungeons' heavy glooms, we walked, 
 And saw past centuries' glory, 
 The ancient royal world of story. 
 
 No presence of their occupants, 
 There left for us a spirit trance; 
 No mighty shadow o'er us threw 
 The magic of his kingly glance; 
 Against no ancient carved chair, 
 A crowned head was seen to rest ; 
 In halls, or rooms, or corridors, 
 No stately shade of queen was past ; 
 These stayed entomed discreetly, lest 
 They might disturb the tourist pest; 
 While all the beauty they could hoard, 
 Was viewed from over silken cords. 
 
 Not even on a jousting field, 
 
 Was shade of warring knight revealed, 
 
 [26] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 And thinking royal ghosts immured, 
 I turned me to Charlottenburg. 
 Here peace reigned over splendors past, 
 The sun a mellow radiance cast, 
 The half-spent whisper of a breeze, 
 Rustled a leaf or stirred the trees, 
 And all alone, save for the guide, 
 I stepped thru royal portal wide, 
 Above the spot, in picture fair, 
 Where Louise, queen of queens, did dare 
 To meet Napoleon on the stair. 
 
 Here, too, in rooms of state, I found, 
 
 Museum-like, the treasures bound 
 
 In cabinets or silken ropes, 
 
 And lust of romance gave up hopes. 
 
 Then thru a softly shaded gloom, 
 
 I stepped into a woman's room. 
 
 I saw no queenly figure rare, 
 
 But girlish presence lingered there ; 
 
 It was as tho the open book 
 
 Upon the desk were just laid down; 
 
 The square of lace upon the chair, 
 
 A rare perfume still lingered round; 
 
 Fair needle work was lying by, 
 
 And thru the door, there caught my eye, 
 
 A silken train of azure dye, 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 I even tho-t I heard a sigh, 
 
 But following, saw no one nigh, 
 
 Tho on the lawn 'mongst mighty trees, 
 
 I felt again the faint spent breeze. 
 
 A woodland path curved from the door, 
 
 Beneath the tender brooding gloom 
 
 Of arching boughs, and led my feet, 
 
 As tho reluctant, to a tomb, 
 
 And mounting steps of marble white, 
 
 I passed into a weird light. 
 
 It seemed that here the bright blue sky, 
 
 In passing thru a window high, 
 
 Had stooped o'er this still place to weep, 
 
 And cast blue pallor o'er the sleep 
 
 Of a fair form, like marble maid, 
 
 On snowy bier, in girlish gown, 
 
 The fold of veil the chin around, 
 
 The hands on pulseless bosom pressed, 
 
 'Twas here I found the queen at rest. 
 
 On raised dais cold she lay, 
 Bathed in a light not of earth seen, 
 And 'twixt me and the sleeping form, 
 Stood other form of awful mien ; 
 Tho mighty wings above were poised, 
 He rested firm at dais' edge; 
 
 [28] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 His regal head was helmeted ; 
 No eyes beneath the forehead's ledge, 
 But eyeless sockets glowed instead; 
 With threatening sword he held the right 
 Of heaven to guard the royal dead, 
 And lost to time and sense I stood : 
 My soul suspended at that sight; 
 My soul suspended in that light; 
 Caught in death's peace, 
 Lost in heaven's might. 
 
 Then without sound along the wall, 
 
 A dark form moved, and caught in thrall 
 
 Of awful horror, cold I grew, 
 
 And felt death's presence strike me thru. 
 
 I could not move, in vain I tried 
 
 To call, to breathe, as to my side 
 
 Came the black form in soft slow glide; 
 
 Ah, I was near myself beside, 
 
 When to my mind the thot applied, 
 
 That I had started with a guide. 
 
 [«] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Revolution 
 
 PATIENT bore men thru the ages, 
 The injustices of might; 
 Sullen under lash of master, 
 Surly rising with the light, 
 Dogged bearing the day's burdens, 
 Weary back to bed at night, 
 This for their, and for their children's 
 Meagre bite. 
 
 Knowing only sweat and soil, 
 Brain clogged with the heavy toil, 
 Patient went men thru the ages, 
 Plodding in life 's weary moil. 
 
 But tho plodding thru the ages, 
 Mankind scarcely seemed to move 
 Upward toward his goal of freedom, 
 Yet there was a stir or shove, 
 Cumulative despair and longing 
 Built a force that surged above. 
 
 [30] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Patient, weary, surly, dogged, 
 Force incarnate of their life ; 
 Patient, dogged, surly, weary, 
 Daring now to think of strife ; 
 Patient, weary, dogged, surly, 
 Now the air with wrongs is rife ; 
 Weary, surly, dogged, patient, 
 But at last man fights for life. 
 
 [31] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Grace 
 
 WORD so soft upon the lips, 
 Word so subtle to the mind, 
 For your rare illusive presence, 
 Who an image e'er could find? 
 
 We were conscious of your being, 
 
 In a countenance benign; 
 We could hear your voice thrilling 
 
 In a thought's majestic signs; 
 Could perceive your form alluring, 
 
 In some noble figure's lines. 
 
 Then propitious heaven stood ready, 
 All the stars their favor threw, 
 
 And at last grace takes on substance, 
 Is epitomized in you. 
 
 132] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Bachelors 
 
 The Bachelor Man 
 
 HE is merely one who looks on in life : 
 His interest is not vital; 
 A whimsical gleam sometimes plays in his eyes, 
 And his smile is generally idle ; 
 He is dubbed by the men 'mong his friends, 
 
 blase, 
 While the women call him a cynic ; 
 He lives in bachelor quarters gay 
 Which would never do for a finic ; 
 And nobody knows he gives nickels and dimes 
 To all the poor little children he finds 
 When nobody's round; and to none it would 
 
 seem 
 That the eyes of a child could make him dream. 
 
 The Bachelor Maid 
 
 SHE is merely one who looks on in life : 
 Her interest is not vital; 
 A questioning look sometimes gleams in her 
 eyes, 
 
 [33] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 And the smiles on her lips are surprised by a 
 
 sigh; 
 The women she knows have dubbed her passe, 
 The men have thought her cold ; 
 To enter her tiny apartments gay, 
 There's never a man so bold; 
 And nobody knows she gives candy and dolls 
 To poor little children where she calls; 
 And none would believe, to see her proud eye, 
 That a visit to a toy shop makes her cry. 
 
 [34] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 A 
 
 Daisy 
 
 FTER all 's been sung of you, 
 Why do I sing of you, too ? 
 
 Little flower, not you I sing, 
 
 But the shadows which you bring : 
 
 Those who walked some other spring, 
 And looked into your childish eye 
 For knowledge, hope, or sympathy. 
 
 "Why you, more than other flowers, 
 Occupy the poets' hours? 
 
 Is it, when to tell life's secrets, 
 Is denied the poet's art, 
 You, simplest flower, may filter them 
 From your heart thru his heart? 
 
 [35] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Liberty 
 
 AMERICA, thy children came to thee 
 Drunk with the dream of liberty. 
 Liberty for themselves, 'tis true 
 That was the first and narrow view; 
 But when their children's children dreamed, 
 The word in brighter letters gleamed, 
 And freedom fcr men of other kind 
 Possessed that generation's mind. 
 
 America, thy ego-hood 
 Is written in thy children's blood. 
 On a white page, each generation 
 Has written this, thy first white passion, 
 Thy first concept of nation-hood, 
 Freedom as the one great good, 
 And signed it in its own red blood. 
 
 Then to thy sons of this fair time, 
 
 The dream appeared still more sublime, 
 
 Freedom for men of every clime ; 
 
 And in their blood our men have signed 
 
 [36] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 On our fair page, the nation's mind, 
 Liberty for all mankind. 
 
 Then since the price has now been paid 
 For this great good above all good, 
 Shalt thou allow a selfish lust 
 To nullify thy nation's trust, 
 Thy love of freedom never lost? 
 
 Ah, let this struggle at thy heart, 
 For self and selfish ends depart, 
 Thy first great passion will return, 
 And if this thou cans 't not discern, 
 A greater price thou yet shalt pay 
 For thy great love of liberty. 
 
 [37] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Joy 
 
 MOST of life's joys are forced, 
 And thus is lost joy's power. 
 'Tis given to joy's connoisseurs 
 To know the radiant hour. 
 
 So eager are the most 
 To catch her as she flies, 
 They only seize her shadow fair, 
 Then think that dead she lies. 
 
 But some intuit and wait 
 
 The fullness of the time, 
 
 "When joy herself, and not her shade, 
 
 Shall fill the hour sublime. 
 
 To such rare souls, bright joy 
 Would not bright joy be, 
 If ought of dross or earth corrupt, 
 Their seeing eyes could see. 
 
 [38] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Spring 
 
 LIKE soundless step of savage in the wood, 
 There comes the first impulse of wakening 
 Spring : 
 No sense reveals a footfall on the mold, 
 Which, yet, a feel of presence round me flings. 
 
 This comes before the snow-drop's fragile grace 
 Steps forth to stare old winter in the face ; 
 This comes before the willow mothers say, 
 ' ' Put on fur mittens if you go to play. ' ' 
 
 My eyes have not yet seen those signs of Spring, 
 But suddenly my heart commenced to sing, 
 It felt the impulse of the embryo year, 
 And shouts before glad nature, " Spring is 
 here." 
 
 [39] 
 
LIFE'S OVERTONES 
 
 Life's overtones are faint or clear, 
 According to the listener's ear; 
 Sometimes a heart breaks very near, 
 Yet, having ears, we do not hear. 
 
 [40] 
 
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