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Glass l' 5S6. 
 
Rhythms of Nature 
 
 By 
 JESSIE CORA CHAMBERLAIN 
 
 Cochrane Publishing Company 
 Tribune Building 
 New York 
 1911 
 
f.53So5 
 
 Copyright, 1911, by 
 Cochrane Publishing Co. 
 
 EXCHANGE 
 SROflHl Of*\V U BR ARM 
 OCT 7. 'l938 
 
&f)ptf)m3 of Mature 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 May 7 
 
 The Comely is Utile 8 
 
 Shining Eyes 26 
 
 The Child Way 27 
 
 Cherry Flowers 28 
 
 Windward Ho ! 29 
 
 June 31 
 
 Black Hawk 33 
 
 Four O'clocks 39 
 
 Buttercup and Daisy 41 
 
 Pansies 43 
 
 The Wild Vine 44 
 
 Isis and The Lily — A I )ream 46 
 
 Cape Jasmine 48 
 
 Autumn Eoot 49 
 
 Vivian 50 
 
 Gone 52 
 
 Complaint 54 
 
 On the Shore 56 
 
 May-Rune 57 
 
 The Daffodil 59 
 
 February 60 
 
 Castle Berlepsch 61 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 MAY 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 Under the apple tree looms the earth, 
 
 With leaves a-falling low, 
 Over the apple tree leans the mirth 
 
 Of the apple-cheeked clouds that grow 
 In the heaven of May. 
 
 Far in the orchard 'tis violet light, 
 Near by the well 'tis rosy as dawn, 
 
 Over the field is a glory of white, 
 
 Here at the window the red buds awn, 
 
 O'er the world of May. 
 
 Flowers the light with falling leaves, 
 Shading the mien that is underneath; 
 
 It gleams on her heavenly eyes and weaves 
 Ruddy glory of shadowing wreath 
 
 Over the form of my May. 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 "THE COMELY IS UTILE" 
 
 Mad is the mood that is vent 
 Of hollow and craven call; 
 
 The inn is low where the rent 
 Is ever a feud or a fall. 
 
 Love is the keynote of all 
 
 That is rhythm, for hate is noise ; 
 Far-reaching the madrigal 
 
 Of anthem-choir of joys. 
 
 The Oriole's orison 
 
 Is wonder in earth's regime; 
 The crow has a malison 
 
 And caws for a wicked theme. 
 
 And even a holy lament 
 May rise to the infinite; 
 
 While short is the virulent 
 Howl of the minim wit. 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Utile a loving tone 
 
 To find the ear that is far; 
 Envy is only a crone 
 
 In a hovel's area. 
 
 Ragged the retinue 
 
 Of Winter hurricane gale; 
 Fine is the revenue 
 
 Of May's avail of rain. 
 
 And ever the tournament 
 
 Has a knight of a finer toil, 
 
 And ever the maid is anent 
 Who is an unerring foil. 
 
 His toil is a winning one, 
 And the maiden is lovelier; 
 
 She weaves him the trophy crown, 
 And he offers a life to her. 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The world goes ever around, 
 Winning and wedding away, 
 
 And the comely are ever crowned 
 With life that is roundelay. 
 
 He rules who has head that is higher, 
 She rules her own who is fine, 
 
 And fellow arms do not tire, 
 Forever they intertwine. 
 
 Living may whiten the hair, 
 Grieving may weaken the eyes, 
 
 Yet Heaven claims everything there, 
 To hold and memorialize. 
 
 Alined is the limb that can run; 
 
 Well is the form that is trim; 
 Full is the throat for a tone; 
 
 Round is the arm that has vim. 
 
RHYTHMS Ob NATURE 
 
 Holy the motion of use, 
 
 And lovely the motive hour, 
 
 Attar is made in the cruse 
 He gave to a honey-flower. 
 
 Anoint is the mien that glows, 
 Our earth is ever a-chill; 
 
 Utile the angel Rose, 
 
 And valiant the Daffodil. 
 
 Woman is woeful if shorn; 
 
 And heavy if mal a-hne; 
 The man deformed or worn 
 
 Has meaning too oft malign. 
 
 Only the lines ordained 
 
 Are comely, or well to live; 
 
 They that are violet-veined 
 Are known in life's narrative. 
 
 1 I 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Right and Love adhere, 
 Utile and Comely are one; 
 
 Yellow the mien of Fear, 
 Rosy is Love alone. 
 
 Fair are the ways that are worn 
 With Martyrs' aching tread, 
 
 For they lead to a resolute Morn 
 Where Jawa's Throne is red. 
 
 Weary the alien trail 
 
 Aloft on the height that is sure, 
 Yet all along in the vale 
 
 Of the dawn, the air is newer. 
 
 Healed are the valiant that live 
 Where all is lower than they, 
 
 And hale is the call they give 
 To the caravan long on the way. 
 
 12 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 And rare is the lineage 
 
 Of all that is truly fair, 
 For evil requites the age 
 
 Of after life with a tare. 
 
 The comely reward the earth 
 With the earn of a father's arm, 
 
 And the well are the truly worth 
 Of the will of the higher charm. 
 
 The comely is ever well, 
 
 The lovely is utile sure, 
 And lucre is infidel, 
 
 Yet the form of the fine will endure. 
 
 And over the tone of the groan 
 
 Is the chime of the feet that climb, 
 
 And their name will atone for the moan 
 That the hateful can rhyme into time. 
 
 13 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The term of the old machine 
 That rules the earth is long, 
 
 And the lees of the old gangrene 
 That eateth the flesh is wrong; 
 
 Yet all that is dead is dead, 
 And trifling, and volatile; 
 
 And all that liveth is wed 
 To immortal mode of will. 
 
 Nor any who only reflect 
 An Ego, can dure or wait, 
 
 Till the trammels of intellect 
 Are o'er, and the mind is great. 
 
 Then fair and rosy the mien 
 Of the lightning glory of men, 
 
 And clearer than jewel sheen 
 The auras of Jawa's Amen. 
 
 14 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Adventurers we of the way 
 
 That leaveth all doubters to die; 
 
 Refuting all evil, we may 
 Arise to a footing on high. 
 
 The trend of the aeons will make 
 A human of god-like endeavor, 
 
 And shining in glory will wake 
 A man who is comely forevei 
 
 The ire of the demon will wreak 
 The myth of the phantom war 
 
 On a haunted shore that will immolate 
 All evil in hell afar. 
 
 Nor any will live to arraign 
 
 The value of arts that are here; 
 
 They'll attain to enduring domain, 
 And thieving relent in fear. 
 
 15 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The glamor of fair that is foul 
 Will fall as a veil that is torn, 
 
 And the angelhood of the cowl 
 
 Show forth what is fair, though shorn. 
 
 The love that is light to the eye, 
 That lives in a heavenward gaze, 
 
 Shall show that an amity, 
 With Him, has clearer rays. 
 
 The loving is utile to come. 
 
 Loving and Hating are foes, 
 For Love has Millennium, 
 
 And Hatred is wrecked with her woes. 
 
 The hatred of evil is due 
 
 The whole of divine warfare, 
 And its name is an arrow through 
 
 The fiend that Inferno may dare. 
 
 16 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 True Loving will ever confide 
 In the Fair, and the Fair alone; 
 
 True Using will never deride 
 
 What Loving has named her own. 
 
 Doomed Danae was loved of Jove, 
 Alone in the world unknown, 
 
 Yet they knew at length the trove 
 Of gold was her meed to atone. 
 
 Dido died alone in the fire, 
 Yet Carthage her monument; 
 
 And Daphne was crowned with desire 
 Of virginity's holy intent. 
 
 Ariadne alone on the isle 
 
 Mated a hero for trove; 
 And risen from death, yet the wile 
 
 Of the Greek won Helen's love. 
 
 17 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The Aeniad tells the tale 
 
 Of the wandering Venus-heir, 
 
 And Italy, never to fail, 
 Inherits a Trojan dare. 
 
 And Lavinia loved and found 
 Was the Fair of Latin reign, 
 
 And the wedding was even a round 
 That linked the world again. 
 
 And entirely right were the ways 
 
 Of Etruria's artful wheels, 
 Where, on form of Grecian vase, 
 
 Find we friendly Trojan keels. 
 
 The meteor life of an hour 
 
 Has the mortal, unformed and uneven, 
 And the fading form of a flower 
 
 Had an Icarus falling from Heaven. 
 
 18 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The true is enduring of line, 
 
 And the mould is too firm to decay 
 Where the Lovely really define 
 
 The written account of their day. 
 
 To immolate virtue as ill- 
 
 Favored, and loved of a ghoul, 
 
 Will never deliver the will 
 
 Of man who is therefore a fool. 
 
 To call Utility, — hag, 
 
 Well hated, and well unknown, 
 Is the end of all, and a rag 
 
 Is the raiment of Love who is lone. 
 
 To credit though comely is well, 
 
 It is unendowed of worth, 
 Is to murder all good with a fell 
 
 Decree of the lower earth; 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 And to name it the mode of an hour, 
 
 A rose that is withering, 
 Is malady's fatal lower 
 
 Over a wedding-ring. 
 
 Only the worthy is fair, 
 
 And the fair is acclaim of the true, 
 And the true accrues to the share 
 
 Of unerring Karma due. 
 
 The artillery march of the world 
 
 Is continued cannonade 
 To win o'er what is hurled 
 
 At virtue, or a maid. 
 i 
 The romantic is allied 
 
 To Mars, and legions run 
 If ever a fair is denied 
 
 A name her honor won. 
 
 20 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 And though 'tis weary, the moan 
 Of the ruined reign of the fair, 
 
 Their children run to a throne 
 That ruleth everywhere. 
 
 Quality has the vein 
 
 To hold a line of life 
 From root of Eden reign 
 
 That Adam called a wife. 
 
 All fair were the hero ones, 
 Untold, though ages award 
 
 Alway the earth's new zones 
 To heirs of higher accord. 
 
 They hint in the olden tomes 
 That martyrs had larger eyes, 
 
 And that life in the Catacombs 
 Made fairer their agonies. 
 
 21 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The hand executive 
 
 Of the monk in the Gothic nave 
 Was white, while alternative 
 
 Was only war a-rave. 
 
 And love was fair in those 
 Who reared cathedral tower; 
 
 'Tis written, the clergy rose 
 As lilies in their flower. 
 
 The worker in rhyme was known 
 
 For a look of vital fire; 
 And Dante for grander tone, 
 
 And a virile form entire. 
 
 Raphael was more 
 
 Than all that he could rim, 
 And Giotto was a shower 
 
 Of lines he could not limn. 
 
 22 
 
RHYTHMS Or- NATURE 
 
 The loving head and meek 
 
 That dares to know the truth 
 
 May wear away the cheek, 
 Yet eye may tell of youth. 
 
 And motherhood may win 
 
 Reluctant lines of love, 
 Though woe may leave too thin 
 
 The mould where another throve. 
 
 Homely is Comely at home 
 
 In a common uniform; 
 And grand is the heavier dome 
 
 That holds the hearth a-warm. 
 
 The fillet is narrow the day 
 
 That two go equally; 
 And the man is harried, yet grey 
 
 With wise antiquity. 
 
 23 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The earth is a drunken thief 
 
 That has looted a heavenly grail, 
 
 Yet the nun will have her leave 
 To show what is fair in a veil. 
 
 The angels of earth, aweary, 
 Will rise in a vision of faith, 
 
 And the evil rail of the merry, 
 
 To eat and to drink, shall have death. 
 
 The mythic Eve had an heir, 
 
 And he had a fairer one, 
 And Judah found a Fair 
 
 When ruddy Ruth was won. 
 
 David inherited all 
 
 There was in the earth of love, 
 And the line ran warm withal 
 
 With a richer charm inwove. 
 
 24 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 And fair was ever a word 
 
 Of valid victory; 
 Cophetua rightly averred 
 
 His helot affinity. 
 
 A veil is over the world 
 
 Of virgin and wedding-fold, 
 
 Inviolately furled 
 
 O'er the Marriage John foretold. 
 
 Oh, red is Futurity's rush 
 
 O'er the callow vigils of night, 
 
 And almighty the dawning flush 
 Of a lovelier Aeon alight! 
 
 25 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 SHINING EYES 
 
 It was a rill and a daffodil, 
 
 And an infant learned to look; 
 
 It was a well, and a mallow mall, 
 And a child was long in the nook. 
 
 The hour was green, and the wave had sheen, 
 And a maiden left her crook; 
 
 The eve was lone, yet the gloaming shone 
 With light that a woman took. 
 
 And age could never allay 
 Her eyes of their living ray. 
 
 26 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 THE CHILD WAY 
 
 "I'll roam around the day, 
 
 The hour is dreamy-fair, 
 The market is no way 
 
 To me, I'll weave and wear 
 A wreath of the fairy mode 
 
 The Mead has for her hair!" 
 
 They named her whimsical, 
 
 And filed in rank and line; 
 And yet there came to the fete 
 
 That Lorelei divine, 
 Who talked like a rill elate, 
 
 And moved like the Eglantine. 
 
 Then they named her the name of the mode, 
 And she cried, "I am not of the road!" 
 The year went over the zone, 
 And they made it a road she was on. 
 
 27 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 CHERRY FLOWERS 
 
 The cherry-trees endower the mead 
 With leaves of shattering flowers, 
 
 And over the cherries lowers indeed 
 The lazy, loafing showers 
 In the Heaven away. 
 
 Over the lintel their wings unite 
 
 Their welcome feathery shade of white ; 
 
 All through the orchard are aisles of light: 
 Afield, as phantoms of night, 
 Their angel array. 
 
 Riots the air with shining leaves, 
 
 And she who wandereth 
 Alone amid the lily sheaves 
 
 Has caught a cherry-wreath 
 As a trophy of the day. 
 
 28 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 WINDWARD HO! 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 Over the yacht her wing's afloat, 
 
 All reefed to weather the wind ; 
 Through our hair the errant air 
 
 Whirls, and the wave is lined. 
 
 The earth afar shows a line of war, 
 
 With twilight's lurid lurk ; 
 And the area where the rude reefs are 
 
 Is raving with waves at work. 
 
 He dare not feel who's at the wheel, 
 
 Nor know the outer woe ; 
 The yacht's areel, we're at the keel, 
 
 And tacking windward ho! 
 
 The awful shock of the waves as they mock 
 
 May only allot an hour; 
 Ah, near's the rock, — we fairly knock 
 
 At Heaven's door, and cower! 
 
 29 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Yet careening wild, the ocean child 
 Has ever that word to know; 
 
 Though wave-reviled, the haven's mild 
 To the Tar who was windward ho ! 
 
 30 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 JUNE 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 Daffodilly's reign is over, 
 
 Roses reign; 
 All the fallow dunes they cover, 
 
 Near the main: 
 Oh, ho, the Willow! 
 And foamy is the water, 
 
 With flotillas of the leaves, 
 Floating off the quarter 
 
 Where the zephyr thieves. 
 
 Arion of eternal roving, 
 
 Ocean air, 
 O'er the worn shore ever moving- 
 
 Now will wear 
 A wreath of Willow. 
 All rosy is the Cherry, 
 
 Mirrored in the mere; 
 The Meadowlark is merry — 
 
 June is here! 
 
 31 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Overflowed the rushing river, 
 
 Wonderful ! 
 The over-air is a-quiver, 
 
 The well is full — 
 Thriving is the Willow ! 
 And who is the retriever 
 
 Of my life from the tomb ? 
 Might I run as the river 
 
 To my Home, 
 And know the wooing Willow 
 
 Is one with June! 
 
 32 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 BLACK HAWK 
 
 Oh, yet she would run wild and mad, 
 And ride the broncho of the herd, 
 
 Oh, yet she would run wild and glad, 
 To show her riding, and he heard : 
 
 "Far away the woodland water, 
 
 Minehaha had a daughter, 
 
 Who, living in the world, came after. 
 
 Ah, ah me, her name was laughter, 
 
 Yet her will to love was only 
 
 While she rode awild, and none nigh." 
 
 Never would she canter with him, 
 
 Never would she mention Black Hawk 
 
 As she mentioned one by limb, 
 One by color, as her back walk 
 Gave him time to look and talk. 
 
 33 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 "Hawk then, is your favorite?" 
 
 Elegant his English was, 
 For he used her tongue, alight 
 
 In his lip, nor ever pause 
 Did he make when moment came 
 
 That he could hint his love for her, 
 For though he had a common name, 
 
 Yet he had dared her heart infer. 
 
 Quick as light, she touched the flank, 
 
 Up the broncho went and on, 
 That for 'lope he could not rank; 
 
 The moon came lowering over the zone, 
 And down the hill she went with glee, 
 With not a word for repartee. 
 
 Others on the Ozark route 
 Did not try the night in trot, 
 
 Arthur followed at the foot, 
 
 And rain had made an ugly clot 
 
 Of the old trail through the Indian lot. 
 
 34 
 
RHYTHMS OP NATURE 
 
 There came an evil adder too,— 
 
 She was afar, they heard her tone, — 
 
 And that he killed, for dire purlieu, 
 Hieing the thing upon the gaff 
 Of his horned trapping, — hinder half. 
 
 And then Black Hawk came flying in, 
 Maidie had shot her tiny toe 
 
 Out of the gearing, and the pin 
 Had fallen, leaving but the show 
 
 Of what the foot-ring once had been. 
 
 Nor would she halt, she only cried, 
 "Oh, let me trot home anyway." 
 
 "Yet Hawk," he pleaded, "will deride." 
 And moving on, as if in play, 
 He mended it, while his old Grey 
 
 Went on, nor left he halter rein 
 
 Out of his hand, for it was plain 
 That if the Broncho went too far, 
 His own might run and take the bar. 
 
 35 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Knight-errant he, all opportune, 
 
 Nor could his loved one fail to know 
 No other guide was 'neath the moon 
 
 Who dared to do, while on the go, 
 
 More than another could when — lo, 
 They parted company, for Hawk 
 Went thundering off when he would talk. 
 
 She was doughty, but the hour 
 
 Was very late, and Hawk afraid 
 Of what had hit him — was it flower, 
 
 Falling from the mountain shade, 
 
 Or had a rock been shaled from grade? 
 Broncho ran with furious leap. 
 Nor had she faith that she could keep 
 
 Her pose, though true, the mended cord 
 
 Was firm he used, for oh, good Lord, 
 When Hawk ran, he was hippognff, 
 Nor was there any reining stiff 
 
 Enough to make him hold his run, 
 
 Nor any word, nor any yell, but added to the 
 broncho fun! 
 
 36 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 She was gone beyond their call 
 Of wild alarm, nor was that all; 
 Roadway was unknown to her, 
 Tall on either hand with fir, 
 And it curved with many a link, 
 On around the river-brink. 
 
 Young Maidie was afraid of each 
 
 Tall tree, and every turn, she thought 
 Her head would lose control, and reach 
 
 The rocky earth, a mangled naught! 
 The air fled o'er her curly head, and cut her cheek to 
 red; 
 A hurricane was underneath, nor was there any 
 breath to breathe ! 
 
 Nor was there any hope in him; 
 
 Arthur had known Black Hawk to throw 
 A woman in the interim 
 
 Of only freeing him to go. 
 He called on Heaven with awful fear, 
 And urged his Grey to running gear. 
 
 37 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Leaving the party there behind. 
 
 He went ahead, and found the girl, 
 Yet upon Black Hawk, now quite kind, 
 
 And drinking from the flood of pearl, 
 White River, rightly named, for there, 
 Was found a pearl beyond compare. 
 
 Nor was she hurt, she only plead, 
 
 "Next let me try your Grey, Hawk's dead. 
 
 38 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 FOUR O'CLOCKS 
 
 Fire in the yard, it is four, — 
 Hark, the red horn's halloo, 
 
 Fire for the garden and more, 
 For the school-folk now are due. 
 
 Flame in the fury of love, 
 Hidden in green all day, 
 
 Four O'clock known for trove, 
 To one little angel-ray. 
 
 Faithful wait all the hours, 
 
 That widen the glories of morn, 
 
 Faithful lifting of flowers 
 Till ready is every horn. 
 
 Threatens a rain, she is there, 
 Though it is chill, she will try. 
 
 For where is the evening fanfare 
 If the Four O'clock is shy? 
 
 39 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 She knows of a clock on high, 
 
 Is aware of a yoga hour, 
 When Day is furled to fly, 
 
 And Heaven alone may flower. 
 
 All joyful the end of Day, 
 
 With a wing like a Flamingo, 
 
 And what is the Night for gay, 
 With her own flowers that know! 
 
 Clock of the Moonlight dawn, 
 Loved of the rich red eves, 
 
 Stars that dream and yawn 
 In homely heaven of leaves ! 
 
 40 
 
RHYTHMS OP NAIURE 
 
 BUTTERCUP AND DAISY 
 
 Showing lovelier, ever new, 
 Every year revealed to view, 
 All the mead is ever gay 
 When there is another May. 
 
 Buttercup is full of gold; 
 A.nd the white is never told 
 On the living daisy-ray, 
 Radiating every way. 
 
 Olden rhythm of our youth, 
 Indian legend has the truth, 
 That the little Daisy-name 
 Is a word of awful fame; 
 
 And the Wind-god, who is good, 
 Loaned it unto men who would 
 That the Moon in daylight live 
 On a flower not fugitive. 
 
 41 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 And the earth is ever rare 
 Where the Daisy has her flare, — 
 Cool her white fringe all the June, 
 Round her golden-hearted noon. 
 
 And a real delight has bee 
 In her high, enchanting tree, 
 Where the Marguerite has thrown 
 A glory 'neath the loving Rowan. 
 
 Buttercup can tell the vow 
 
 'Twixt the Heaven and Earth, for now 
 
 Jove has yet a loving shower 
 
 For a Danae-earth's endower. 
 
 42 
 
RHV1HMS OF NATURE 
 
 PANSIES 
 
 Violet odor, violet favor, 
 
 Of the eyes of morning mood; 
 
 Violet foot of Night's detour; 
 Forms of unction and of Good! 
 
 Pensees truly, and how lowly, 
 
 Yet what royal thoughts they tell, 
 
 Heart-enshrined in green that's wholly 
 Violet-toned and veined as well. 
 
 Eyes that look upon the morn, 
 
 Till the morning hues are theirs, 
 The new bud is a morning horn, 
 
 And the open flower shares 
 Ardent hues of rich emotion 
 
 Of the vivid year's fresh flow 
 'Neath the ortive over motion 
 
 Of the velvet winds that know. 
 
 43 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 THE WILD VINE 
 
 Throwing many a fragile hand 
 To fold the rock and grove, 
 
 And hold the hemming of the land 
 With tender arm of love, 
 
 The Vine has olden power to raise 
 
 The Earth on angel-wing, 
 With many fingered fairy ways, 
 
 And many a tendrilling; 
 
 A wonderful accord to share 
 
 With all the fertile Earth, 
 And overlooking all the care 
 
 Of the Mead and the Garden-girth 
 
 Sheltering many a ruined wall, 
 E'en o'er the dead she'll lean, 
 
 And even to the town will crawl 
 To armor it with green. 
 
 44 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The Oak that was her olden home, 
 Has left the wold alone, 
 
 And far she throws her leafy dome 
 To find another throne. 
 
 45 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 ISIS AND THE LILY— A DREAM 
 
 Over the day is a coma, if the Lily's aroma 
 Is not lifted in flight, with an aura of light; 
 And if moonlight and starlight are to her only far 
 fright, 
 
 She is cold, and her shoots are afraid of the gloom; 
 And if Isis, the Moon-white, is never as noon-light. 
 
 To lengthen the folding and widen the womb, 
 
 Forlorn is the Lily, and dark is her doom. 
 
 I heard Lily cry in my dreaming, 'twas only a teeming, 
 Of light on the lid of my eyes, for the wonderful 
 
 guise 
 Of the moon was' dim, she was old in the rise ; 
 And the Lily leaned to the window's gleaming, 
 
 And she woke as in reveries, and she lifted her 
 
 golden eyes: 
 "Oh, Isis, oh, Mother of old, is it true that thy love 
 has grown cold? 
 
 46 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 "Oh, Isis, oh, Ruler of Night, is it true thou wilt 
 loan me no light? 
 Oh, Isis, oh, Dream of all dreaming, is it true thou art 
 
 dying in gleaming? 
 Oh, Mother, oh, Flower of Heaven, is it true thou art 
 
 losing thy leaven?" 
 And I thought me in dreams it grew darker, and the 
 Lily would hark, ere 
 The Daylight came over the hill, to what was an 
 
 anthem, until 
 The moon left a lingering thrill, and vanished as of 
 her own will. 
 And the Lily arose in the dawning, 
 With twenty white flowers o'er-awning! 
 
 47 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 CAPE JASMINE 
 
 Oh, holy wonder of another air, 
 
 Widening in fuller faith of daylight won, 
 
 Oh, thou, Magnoiia-rose, Camelia-fair, 
 Thou Flower immaculate, oh, may I run, 
 
 To thee, o'er Heather-dim and Granite-grain, 
 
 O'er leagues of odor-flowing main! 
 
 A welkin-miracle of heavier light 
 
 A Lenten motion in the airs of ease, 
 
 And lo, a folding thou, of dreamy white! 
 Yet, has the rifted lift of May a tease 
 
 Of ugly rain, 'tis wilted in an hour, 
 
 Leaving the calyx ailing for a flower. 
 
 Green that is lacquered green, thy leaf, 
 
 All thewed around thy hardy-reaching arm, 
 
 Yet, for a flower, oh, Heaven, own relief 
 A worthier hour, an ultra-moonlit charm 
 
 Ethereal, that the Wind may come 
 
 With attar laden, e'en a mile from home! 
 
 48 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 AUTUMN LOOT 
 
 Who will wash the Vine down, 
 Who will draw- it under? 
 
 1 will, rushed the River-lave, 
 I will — till it thunder, 
 
 I will, quivered low the wave, 
 
 • I will wear a crown. 
 
 Who will have the tree of gold, 
 Who'll allure the wonder? 
 
 I will, laughed the quiet Rill, 
 I will lure it under; 
 
 And shimmered it anear the Mill 
 I will drown and hold. 
 
 And they mirrored everything, 
 
 Every air was mute ; 
 Till arrove a whiffling, 
 
 And two-fold was the loot ! 
 
 49 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 VIVIAN 
 
 Vivian, Vivian, who can know 
 What ever made thee a fear and a woe? 
 Oh, the wit that is ne'er o'erheard 
 Is thine, and even a four-fold word! 
 
 Vivian, Vivian, is all o'er, 
 Won thy will, nor one will more? 
 Vivian, Vivian, thy wine moue 
 Can even a woman charm undo! 
 
 Hit thee ever did evil man, 
 
 Yet follow thee even a fiend that can ! 
 Who ever loaned thee Hate for a wife, 
 Who ever gave thee Rage for a life? 
 
 Fruit of a whirlwind womb wert thou, 
 
 Intoxicated with a vow, — 
 Vivian, thou art an iron rod, 
 No name, nor nation is thy god; — 
 
 50 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Venger of Commune rule gone mad, 
 
 Heel of terror the ages clad ; 
 
 Hate thee never can man, the fool, 
 To thee no woman was ever cool! 
 
 51 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 GONE 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 How is the love of year gone now, dear, 
 
 How is the joy gone, too, 
 Old is now the wold, and drear, 
 Gone is the year, and you, 
 Leave me alone, utter no tone, 
 Hush, even winds on your way! 
 
 How has the River we loved gone, now, dear, 
 
 All run away unto the zone, 
 Only the frozen wave is here, 
 Gone is all her laughing tone, 
 
 Lulled are the merry leaves, and all, 
 Far is every Madrigal ! 
 
 52 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 Would that my dying heart were there 
 
 Far away on ocean wave, 
 Only my faith is living and fair, 
 Gone is the year's acclave; 
 All of my life is frozen cold, 
 Even is my memory old! 
 
 How has the love of the year gone now, dear, 
 How is our joy dead, too! 
 
 53 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 COMPLAINT 
 
 (Translated from the German of Freiherr Wolff, 
 by permission of the author.) 
 
 In the rare ether heavenward flies the Lark, now; 
 
 The leaves unroll their little wings, and heard 
 Are trees on high ; and over vale and mountain 
 
 Anew "Now let there be!" tones the Creator's 
 Word. 
 
 Again the Wold weaves raiment for the May-time, 
 To shelter hordes of cantors and enchant them, 
 
 Who are already trothing o'er the tree-crowns, 
 Whose high love-tones are woven in the Anthem. 
 
 The merry Jubilate I reviewed, too, 
 
 Wholly enthralling all my longing ear, 
 
 Yet my May-time, the real time, is not here yet. 
 That May-time that my heart is faint to near ! 
 
 54 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The tender flowers that hurry through the day-light, 
 With all their colors, and the attared air, 
 
 Mean after all — 6nly that wonder waneth, 
 
 And gone is May-time with her gay fanfare! 
 
 When then are withered all the leaves, and roving, 
 And all the earth in winter cold is dumb, 
 
 Then e'en the heart will take its leave of loving, 
 And mourn that ever lovely May had come ! 
 
 55 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 ON THE SHORE 
 
 Lazily lashing the shore I love, the little waves linger and 
 
 flash, and lower, 
 I am wondering whatever was way to move, — life is a 
 
 dream, no more ! 
 Lurid the Heaven's light, demi-crazed with aunole- 
 
 glories, outward flows, 
 Leaving me mazed, and the waters raised, and foaming 
 
 in violet-rose ! 
 The eve is late with her jewel-freight, and the moon has 
 
 gold in her argent hold; 
 I lie on the shore, till the long waves roar too near, and 
 
 the wind is cold. 
 
 I wait, — will he come who is near in the room of 
 
 memory, willing in visions to near? 
 It was even an eve of a violet weave, when he rose 
 
 and left me here! 
 
 56 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 MAY-RUNE 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 It is gold in the North, it is orange coming forth, 
 And a flaming way for the day! 
 
 It is rose in the dawn, it is carmine in the awn 
 Of days long flight o'er the night! 
 
 It is lilac in the yard, it is violet afterward, 
 And 'tis mauve in the ward at the ford ! 
 
 It is dainty in the tree, it is dazzling all a-lea, 
 A miracle the new-grown weald ! 
 
 It is May in the morn, that the cherry-trees adorn, 
 Oh, 'tis May in the noon as the mavis told in tune, 
 And May for a rose on the dune ! 
 
 The zephyr is low o'er the ocean-flow, 
 And the morning flowers windward go! 
 
 57 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 The yacht is light for a taut May-night 
 And love is leal for a merry reel 
 O'er ocean fair to view ! 
 
 The moon will shield with her argent keel 
 And over the foam we'll lightly roam, 
 With the May-mad year, and you! 
 
 58 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 THE DAFFODIL 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 Jolly little Daffy, have you come to town? 
 
 Early little Daffy, won't wait till 
 Cometh the May-time over the down, 
 
 She has young fays in the cradle. 
 Hello, fairy-golden crown, hello, Love-Daffodilly, 
 
 Morning holds thy chrism-fold, 
 Till reigns the Valley-lily. 
 Well, little Daffodil, and how are you, 
 
 And how are the Hours a-doing? 
 Aurora has ever a golden feoff 
 
 When Aries will awooing! 
 And yet you are a hoyden chilly, 
 
 Oh, you merry little lily, 
 When your leaves will unfold in the Willow-wold, 
 
 Then May'll rule all— willy-nilly ! 
 
 59 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 FEBRUARY 
 
 (To original music) 
 
 Over the hill is a Mavis trill, 
 
 Over the hill there is cooing; 
 Where there's a Rill that is free of will, 
 
 The Willow is renewing, 
 
 And a new Wind is wooing. 
 
 Over the furl of the zone is a Merle; 
 
 The orient air is nearing; 
 The Cumulus whirls into crowns that curl 
 
 O'er the wing of the Wind's careering, 
 Or, like Cherubim endearing. 
 
 I long for the trove of the shadows mauve 
 Where new life-love is flowing; 
 
 I long to rove neath my old Pine-love, 
 Where a new rose light is showing, 
 And the Oak's old arm is glowing. 
 
 60 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 CASTLE BERLEPSCH 
 
 After the German of Baron von Werlhoff, written 
 
 the occasion of visiting the ancestral home of his 
 
 mother, near Cassel. By permission of the poet. 
 
 on 
 
 Berlepsch, thou lovely and lordly home, 
 
 Enchanting thou to longing gaze, 
 Attracting all who weary roam 
 
 To loving wonder and amaze. 
 
 The turrets are glowing, the gate's great height 
 Is wide, and the wanderer can enter there, — 
 
 Oh ! wert thou erected aloft for might 
 
 Of viewing indeed that God's world is fair! 
 
 The valleys retort and the hills laugh loud 
 
 To thee who art welded of Nature as one, — 
 
 How grand is thy form on the Heaven's cloud, 
 Enjoying the world that is under thy throne! 
 
 61 
 
RHYTHMS OF NATURE 
 
 What is the tune in the woodland wild? 
 
 'Tis a lullaby crooned to each Berlepsch child,— 
 They have murmured on for hundreds of years 
 
 They have runed the tone to my childish ears. 
 
 And art thou then of that line and name, 
 
 And hast warred afar with the earth for fame, 
 
 Old Berlepsch will grant thee the joy of Heaven, 
 And thou'lt grant her thy heart to make it even! 
 
 My heart given to Berlepsch, yet here is again, 
 
 For all of that image I will retain, 
 And, grant thee, dear Aunt, to let us remain 
 
 Thy prisoners while old Berlepsch reign. 
 
 62