Ur li LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. §i}np - ©Dp^riglt !f 0, UNITED STATES OF AMEEIDA, LOTUS-LIFE AND OTHER POEMS BY Lf CLEVELAND ^ G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS ^^o^ry NEW YORK 27 West Twenty-third St. LONDON 24 Bedford St., Strand ®;^e Jmckerbocket ^rfss 1893 l^^^wi" COPYRIGHT, 1893 BY L. CLEVELAND Electrotyped, Printed and Bound by 'Cbe IRntckerbocfeer ipress, Wicvo l^orl^ G. P. Putnam's Sons TO L. I CONSECRATE TO YOU IN WHOM THE FUTURE LIES THESE MEMORIALS OF DAYS THAT BLOOMED WHERE BLOOMS THE LOTUS-BREATH UPON THE NILE'S DEEP BREAST Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/lotuslifeotherpoOOclev CONTENTS LOTUS-LIFE PAGE THE LOTUS OF THE NH.E .... I THE ROSES OF FAYUM . 14 WINE OF BYBLOS . 19 OMEN 24 dAraj ZAHABI. 27 HER GARLAND 37 APOTHEOSIS . 43 4440 B. C. 47 1893 A. C. 53 SONGS OF THE SEA AND OTHER LYRICS ADORATION 61 A BUBBLE . . . . 63 NEPTUNE'S SECRET . . 64 FLOW AND EBB . 67 TO WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE . 69 STARLIGHT . 70 THE GOLDEN DIPPER ■ 71 AUTUMN .... . 73 NOW . . 76 VI CONTENTS. PAGE MAY 77 THE SHADOW .... 80 IN THE SCALES 86 THE SOCIAL ROCKING-HORSE . 87 THE poet's cup . 89 THE HOME OF THE ROSE 90 THE WORD WAS GOD 91 THE MILKY WAY . 92 THE WORD SUPREME 93 AFTERWARDS . 94 THE MISSIONARY'S STORY 95 trbe lLotu0 ot tbe m\c. A S lovely as lotus at moon-dawn The earth's white enchantment seems But one infinite silence of desert, But one moon-glowing desert of dreams. Rocked slow on old Nile's deep pulses, Love»Lily is stirred by the tide That was moving in cadence-sweep onward To merge its great heart in seas wide. From old Tropic grave, from aloneness In measureless fountains of sun The Nile-god arose, now approacheth The moon-sparkle beckoning him on, — And delays now where Majesty moveth With pomp of chariots' tread-crash Through resounding gateways of Karnak^ — *' Rameses-Mer-Amon ! God-sun-flash ! " I LOTUS-LIFE. The shont rolls — the earth trembles— Look !• Look !— The myriads surge forward to gaze At the long glittering line that is passing — I^assing on through the tinged twilight ways Starred with Lotus, whose full fire's crimson- Orient lips lifted up, up — and up — Claim and crown giant columns of Karnak, And all Heaven may bend to the Cup Where the Wine for a god swirls forever, The Wine of the Ideal, the Power That only old Egypt could vintage From the Form a god rose from one hour,— The Ideal that rose slowly in vision Before gaze of the artist divine, — Lotus-entrance for gods at the portals To Greece — Pharaoh's Art for all Time. The day dies. The chant of the Priesthood Fades slow on the blue incensed air ; But alone on the Desert's aloneness One Form still outwatcheth the star, — THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. To the Poet — to Pentallr comes the hour When the spirit's veil thins before God The ' Veil of the All,' the One Only,— " The God in me burns upward to God ** Who reaches from fleshhood that anchors Its being in depths of Divine, Dark, with star-glances of Godhood Flashing up to the Timeless in Time, * * Deific life now — God in human — Not revealed beyond Karnak's veil-mist, Nor in thunder-flash-echoes of Pharaohs, But in thought's vast upliftings, star-mist ** Whence the glory of suns breaks in vision ! — Beyond ! Flash-edge of the ' Veil of the All '— • God ! meteor-rim of Thy radiance, Thy thought's Timeless tread— whose orbit, the *A11.' " The star-circles' rhythmical infinite Is a chant where Divinity burns To pour outward the pulse of the Spirit, God's Poem. The earth sweeps and turns LOTUS-LIFE. " And adds movement and minor of music, The full diapason. The ear Of the Poet alone hears the concord ; His thought moves with the pace of the sphere— '* A rhythm — a music— a burning — He interprets to men God's abyss, — For the Seer, the High-Priest of Creation Unveils mysteries of pain and of bliss." The Desert's hush deepens — a love-calm — The Nile moveth on — ah, what gleam ? A bubble's glance, glowing at moon-dawn ? What enchantment ? what love ? or what Dream ? A star-spark from the moon's deep-lit cauldron ? White fire floating over the rim. As, passion-pale, the Queen-glory ascendeth Moving upward to magnet of Heaven ? Or gem that has bloomed for the Banquet Of Egypt's great Queen ? when 'mid whirl Of the wild-flashing foam, tint of goblet. Lull of music, drops downward the pearl THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. Tear-drop of the deep — melting slowly In bitterness, sorrow — then tossed up With false laugh to false lips of the Queen Drinking Egypt's death-doom in the Cup ?~ Or lily of god-tint, unfolding Love-breath on my breast's tropic tides, Rim of bloom-light in low hush of moonbeam, Snow-dawn where the Ideal abides Sought in silences' star-dip o'er deserts, Gaunt majesty's home, th' abode Of lone acres' solitude wind-swept By no breath opening lattice to love ; Or sweet soul of Isis descended From Sothis, and bearing its light To part the dim path up the River To one Temple's Gateway to-night, Yearning e'en mid star-whirl of full aureole For One, only, Who rests near old Nile, For the mystery of Egypt's divineness — Holy Island of Philse — the Isle LOTUS-LIFE, Where the sunset and moon-glow are mated, Enchantment ineffable, deep As death-sleep of Osiris, Spouse of Isis, — Can she waken him now ? Dare she weep ? A desert-deep hush leans o'er Philae, The Star watching One Tomb shivers, — -hears Through the mirage of mystery One voice ring Across mists of the millions of years : — ** Come to me, lord of my being ! Thou Spouse of my spirit's sole love, Come to me, God of my bosom ! My soul is thine own soul's abode. " Come to me ! Mine eyes seek thee only, — Come with haste, come with haste to thy love ! Gods and men turn their faces towards thee, They weep — but divine not my love. ** Come to me ^. None else hath loved thee, None else have known thee, save I Thine own Isis whose spirit thou boldest Close locked — but one being, one sigh. THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. ** We have loved with a love that was more Than love, —an eve, a dawn, and a noon, When thy lips drew my soul to thine own, lord, As the sea lifts to the light of the moon. ** Come to me ! Thou once didst name me Thy jewel, a god-glow on thy breast Where the wedded rays rose with thy pulses A mated divineness — god-rest. ** The moonbeams are pouring libations, — See ! the soul of thine Isis, from heat Of star-zenith, crown-glitter of Heaven To give herself, lord, at thy feet. * * Come to me ! Thy foes have fled backward As advancing I bring thee new life, No love save the love of thine Isis Can save thee, thy spirit's true wife. ** Come to me ! the breath of thine Isis is power To awaken thy being — to engift With new might — a god-gift to her God — From Hades' dumb shadows to lift. LOTUS-LIFE. '^ Is the light that glows golden o'er Philse The sweet sudden glance of thine eyes O'er the dark of the Temple's devotion ? The pillars of incense that rise '' Rimmed now with pale glitter of moonbeam, Thy breath, my own Being, that swells. Soars and rends the dark casement where hidden The glory of Un-nefer dwells? " Come ! " — the Lotus' white fingers are trembling The Nile-god grasps them closer and tells Of the flood of his love that is mounting — The love of a god — lo ! it wells To th' uplifted lips of Love-Lily — divine ! — Only Egypt can give that repose, Swoon of love — which the flower-face hideth As hot fire to her bosom's pure snows. The moon-glow is sinking, its pale wine Is reaching the lips of the Sphinx Who drinks new-old pledge to guard mysteries, — The light lingers — rim-radiance — then sinks, THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. Sinks lower — the shadows creep on O'er the moon-whitened Ocean of sand- Dim Spirits of Dynasties rising To worship — a Pyramid band. Lo ! Kha'ibit * of Khuf u returning In the form his own genius planned, Gigantic grandeur of monarch Prostrated low on the sand. Silent, awful, the Shadow adoreth, — The low night- wind breathes — rises — sinks, Is it whisper of word that he pleadeth ? A prayer — a soul-prayer to the Sphinx ? The voice grows — to tell in one moment Of the heart's hidden ages of woe ? Revealing to Poets, to Sages The secret that no man dare know ? * The ancient Egyptian conceived of man as a composite being, consisting of six parts ; a body, '* Khat" ; a soul, " Ba " ; a shadow, " Kha'ibit " ; a name, '' Ren " ; an intelli- gence, " Khou " ; and the life, or vital principle, " Ka." LOTUS-LIFE. What is it he pleadeth ? Strong yearning That Isles of Aahlu cannot still ? The King comes to old altars of Mizraim Which, once, his vast glory did fill. The word of the Shadow ascendeth — Dim chant buried ages once sang When gods walked incarnate in Egypt And pseans of victory rang To the Face gazing out to the twilight Of Histories unknown, the Sun-Sphinx That slew Typhon ? Egypt's sun still remembers And records the blood-stain, ere it sinks. The moan deepens. To tell of the mysteries That lie beyond confines of death ? Of dim Shades where the soul will meet Judgment ? Of the Life, the twin-soul to this breath ? What ideal did the soul- travail fashion In the brief span of life given here ? What Form looms awed, silent, predestined By the Soul-law of Choice to appear ? THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. i The prayer stayeth — the Shadow Glides slowly — but slowly away As the moon-rim drops down the horizon, As night deepens, darkens, melts into Day Dazzling dawn-light o'er Desert and River, The Nile greeteth Horus, a lay That is Memnon of music, a sun-voice, — For 't is love, and 't is Lotus ! 't is Day ! No breath of the rose-buds of Fayum Those lips held up high to the Sun For his kiss that brings deepening radiance — And blush — the true life begun — Their dalliance detains not the Nile-god, Nor the toss that coquets with the light, — ** One star-heat of heart is my Lotus-love, She bloomed on my breast, — ah, that night!' The Nile-pulses heave — it moves onward — A calm like the infinite dream Of oblation at shrine of the * Nameless ' Floats deep through the floating sunbeam- LOTUS-LIFE, Through the billowy light in the star-heart, A zenith of radiance poured Through the snow-bloom of love that lies hidden On the breast of a god — -her one lord. Storm-welcome of Ocean resoundeth — Blue mist like the vaporous cloud Of the slow-heaving billows of incense From mystical Isis' abode ; The unplanted solitude, fading Like dreams of the desert's expanse — Infinitude, bounded by God-shores Of God-being, dazzled rim 'neath His glance. Is that foam-mist of light that arises, Lucid veil that swings low before God Th' Eternal, the One God of Egypt The * Unseen ' throughout all His abode ? Eternity neareth — the foam-wine of Heaven Holds up divine sparkle ; the wine- Depths of the Infinite mounting, The draught of a rapture divine THE LOTUS OF THE NILE. 13 To the lips of the Nile-god, the lips Of the Lotus close locked in his breast, They sweep outward to infinite oneness— To infinite raptures of rest. Egypt, 1892, 14 LOTUS-LIFE. ITbe IRoses of ffai^um* r\ ROSES of Fayiim In lustre's love-light That bends from all Heaven To hold you to-night, One star-ardent, pale, on the crimsoning height,— The mist of your beauty Dissolves on the air, A rose-haze of sunset, Delirium of air. The mobile light loiters — Sun-foam your fare ! Rose heart of tinged silence, What veil dost thou throve Round the lone overwhelment Of dynasties, low On the desert's gaunt ruins, — a wine-reddened woe. Your chalice of crimson Held high in the light, THE ROSES OF FA YUM. 15 Pours this red dusk's oblation, A last love to-night To dead gods of Mizraim through heaped histories' height. Rose mist of libation That widens and brims Till palm-heights drink worship And tremble. What thought brims Your wine-cup that fulls as the day dies and dims ? When Egypt led nations, And Athens was not ? Rome astir — with the savage — Proud Britain, mud-spot Above waters foam^ploughed by a Pharaoh, brain- hot ! Rose-incense-obeisance To sceptres a-gone, Thine oblation awakens. The dead ages dawn, Red heart-beats of Khufu knock strong on his stone. i6 LOTUS-LIFE. Deserts drink thy delirium, Abandon of wine ! The crimsoning deepens, — Desolation divine ! Voice of Nile-god, alone, answers love's mystic sign. Is it thus, thy unfolding On Orient light ? Alone, lone oblation To Pyramids' night. To gods, priesthoods, princedoms* array of mailed might ; A thought of the ages ? Bubbles shattered in air, A moment's wild iris ; — Night of Mizraim's despair ! — Marvel fading in phantom-foam ebbing in air. Dost dream it re-echoes That red thud of war ? When thy Thothmes' and Rameses' Crumbled nations afar. Giants crowned, lo ! thou reachest thy halo's rose- star. THE ROSES OF FA YUM, 17 Or wild heart of yearning For old days divine ? What love's long remembrance A-gaze o'er the wine When thy burning wreathed Banquets where Caesars poured wine. Where thy petals were pulses On white Bosom's tide That rose 'neath love's crimsoning, — Low voice at thy side World-victor-voice bends where thy bloom-lips abide. Unfolding rose kiss Of Orient heat, To-night, a full boon, On thy lover's lips meet, Thy soul is ascendant, — Egypt holds that key, Sweet ! Tides of history lapse slow Down the doom of Nile's might, Tides of triumph-shout shrink With the cycles' step white, i8 LOTUS-LIFE. Ghost- white, o'er the rim Of the world's pale moonlight, But the lit lands of desert Breathe awe-hushed to-night, — Thou unf oldest thy bosom, Lo, life at its height ! Tides of Orient rise, rapt, In thy lips' rose-twilight, Pharaohs pass, — Csesars ? shadows. Thou! Love's Infinite ! Medinet el-FayOm, 1892. WINE OF BYBLOS. 19 Mine ot J3^bl06^ \A/1NE of Byblos, what do I drink In drinking deep of thy golden spray ? Bubbles that wink at the beaker's rim With an ardour of glance from the far-away When the beauties of Egypt were pledged in the w^ine, A song round the banquet, — inebriate divine. Wine of Byblos, what do I drink As my lips caress thy enchanted lip . Is the pulse of the fragrance that swoons in the Cup The throb of the dance ? Gods of Egypt ! one sip Of a heart where the wine's fire burns, mounts, and whirls, Is worth nineteen long centuries' dozens of girls. Wine of Byblos, what do I drink As I hold up this beaker of liquefied light ? 'T is the sunlight of Egypt, the gold-dawn of gods, LOTUS-LIFE, I 'm partaker of all their deific pulse-height As I drink of the wild climbing topaz-light, — The radiance of Ra, zenith's noon-burn flame-white. Wine of Byblos, were I a god I would give free play to conceit of my soul : Take obelisk of Hatasu for goblet-stem, Karnak carving of Lotus for drinking-bowl, — Throned gigantic like grand, glowing Memnon of Thebes, Drink, drink this wine-music Nile sun-ardour ne'er leaves. Wine of Byblos, thy breath dissolves The dark curtaining Shadows of Mizraim's grave night, I see the long grandeurs of dynasties pass — The war-pomp of Thothmes — Hathors Seven ! that sight ! Ere the fierce lance of light from pale Bethlehem's star Challenged world- rocked-grooved gods, whirled to dust in that war. WINE OF BYBLOS, Wine of Byblos, the lights are a-flame At the banquet where " Vicar of Ra " mounts the throne, See the rose-crowned beakers and rose-crowned brows ' The lotus' love-crimson sways slow on the dome That echoes to thunderous shouts of Rameses' names : ** In Kadesh sole victor ! " '' Hail 1 "—the Pharaoh's eye flames. Wine of Byblos, I hear the voice That slowly croons round the sparkling board As the miniature mummy is carried along : " Look at this, rejoice now ! one day, the death- sword Shall cleave through thy heart, and dissolve thy deep life-dream. Sun thy heart, steep thy being in glow of love= gleam," Wine of Byblos, enchantress of breath ! Ah, warm nights of Egypt ! — caress divine ! Isis, Osiris, Hathor, — what not ? Are pouring out goblets of stars, bubbling wine LOTUS-LIFE. Into chalice of heaven ; they tremble at lip Of the deities* thirst — to poor mortals one sip ! Wine of Byblos, what do I drink As thy red life-pulses repeat at my heart, Hieroglyph round the beat of thy beaker's brink ? What meaneth this ardour in depth of thy heart ! The midnight deepens — I hear the low love-note — Snow-bosom of Lotus-breath on Nile-gleam afloat. Wine of Byblos, thy deepening glow Is the Tropic of passion — that Zone of Calms — Love's consummation, a swoon divine In the clasp and caress of my love's white arms. The star that falls from pale midnight's zenith of bliss Reaches envious to hold her — thus — dies, for such kiss ! Wine of Byblos, I envy no more The glamour of banquets, of dynasties, dance. Nor Hathor nor Hatasu nor Colossi of Thebes, Nor Ptah Sokar Osiris, who Eternity weaves, Nor Ra's light that on Love's zenith tidal-hours heaves. Nor luxuriance of Egypt's midnight star-glance. — WINE OF BYBLOS. 23 Wine of Byblos, 't is here ! bliss thou canst not enhance — Two eyes glow uplifted where dusk splendours shine, Thy pulse-heave ? a white breast like a bird's pant on mine, The rim of thy beaker the lip of my love — gods ! that wine I— And I drink her full soul — one delirium divine ! 24 LOrUS-LIFE. 'T'HE breeze was low in Cairo That long, late afternoon, Where pomp of palm, where roses Held the red sunset's boon, Where the rapt bulbul chanted The kiss — one kiss — of Orient's moon. Lo ! o'er the desert's carmine The silver fulled to flood. Rose o'er the sands of Ocean, — The desert-mystery's flood, Pale ghost of sun-god sinking In storm of conflict's billowed blood ? Returned to wander, wander, To kiss each sacred Shrine With Mps that tremble, tremble At echoless Divine ; To fold a goddess stature, And find the shadov/s drink that wine. OMEN. 25 My table at the window That claims the Orient moon, A bird, a little bird, flew in, — It fluttered round my room With heaving heart of sorrow In the warm, warm pulse of moon. It fluttered to my shoulder, And sobbed out all its pain In pulse and pant of yearning, — The beats fell thick as rain Falls through a wild wind's mutter Across the pale Western main. I watched the tiny nestling Quiet its throb and smart, I did not dare to pen the words That held and held my heart, Words that were warm with Orient, Words that would lock or loose one heart. My little nestling faltered — Then reached my outspread arm, — A moment, and it fluttered — Whither ? to what wild charm ? I 26 LOTUS-LIFE. Gods of the Ancients, brooding O'er Mizraim's Vague ! what charm ? My little bird's new heart-beats Shook on its tide of breast, I felt my pulses tremble — A moment — tell the rest Ye winged words if ye aye can dare, — My little birdling 's rocked to rest, Drawn to its mate,— its magnet's breast. Cairo, 1893. DARA y ZA HA BI. 2 7 t. / / or^ p,' Daraj ^ababu* r^ECEMBER'S rains— darkening— the month's last half — The Hall is heavy with the gloom of thought — A Library — brimmed deep with gold dust — (some, half calf)— Volumes significant — with figures fraught. II. The last pale sun-gleam stole in hours agone And laid a ghostly hand along the tomes Where Gloucester, Macbeth — Fools await the Dawn For circlets — not yet round the full calf rooms. * The Golden Stairway. 28 LOTUS-LIFE. III. The Stairway that unwinds, a carven dream Of Lotus-languors, love, of sheen, embrace, An Orient ardour where the Lily's gleam Is borne with breathless pulse, ascending face IV. To Destiny as star upon the dome Of tinted Hall — or Heaven ('t is all the same To Poet, Egyptologist, who roam Elysian-lands now islanded in rain) — This Stair-wreath that arose from radiant rain Of Fancy's iris-light in artist soul Whose thought throws rainbow-span across earth's pain — Ddraj Zahabi deals not one sun-dole. VI. The gloom 's oppressive, — breath of centuries — Enlivened by no sprite — nor spite— yet hark ! Was that the laugh of Aristophanes Across the length'ning noon-twilight's dark? DARAJ ZAHABI. 29 VII. Laugh that shakes sun-fringe on my stripes and stars Half-mast to-day — the Poet's misery — Fire from Prometheus — nowhere — out — behind the bars Of grated friendship's sifted nicety. VIII. The Library's alcove, coldly labelled ** Greek, ^' Is suddenly aflame with brilliancies Where Clouds and Birds float, flit, — a flame, a freak, A dazzle — foam of Attic fun — and seas. IX. I will not turn to meet the awful gaze Prometheus rolls from pale Caucasus-fate, Nor where the fire-eyes of the beacon's daze Flash on the grim stone faces at grim gate X. Of old Mycense through enfolding dark Of midnight, over Atreus' palace-hush Where the heart leaps — in stolen passion — Hark ! What cry? — What tread? — Where ? — sudden torch-flares flush 30 LOTUS-LIFE. XI. The breast of Clytemnestra, where the blood Stays, curdles, — pool more deep than Stygian wave That rolls its crimsoning vapours' lurid flood Round Agamemnon's exult. Zeus ! now save XII. Him if thou canst, when woman {connoisseur) Flings her fine *' No ! " — dust-whirl in face of gods Who 're blinded ? not unless I gravely err In some old Readings from a Book that gods XIII. Pricked deep with types for all who gravely care — Before the grave— to look a little close Before it close — the grave, I mean. (The fair Full volume never closes eye while Time's wave flows). XIV. Woman. Two syllables. Two lips. A heart That *s double, too ? I 'm bitter, in the gray And glooming slant from cold December's heart, Where icicles are so bright, seeming gay DARAJ ZAHABI. 31 XV. In glitter, what a charming tint ! it shines Oh men (bat-blind?) with equi-radiant gleam, Sometimes distinguishes — for gleaming lines On round coin. Pshaw ! a w^oman ! — Poet's dream ? XVI. The Poet's dream ! whose every pagan pulse Throbs for the avrifn^tiov yaXa6ua ** (S'r^^y^" alcoves hint. Confound the hint ! when pulse Of pale December's sounds threaten asthma. XVII. The suns are sumptuous on Samian vine, Sun-rush of song on Mitylene's height Where skies blush deep as Hebe's cheek divine At glance of the Immortals o'er the foam-wine's white ; XVIII. The dying day bleeds on the ^gean breast Heaving with mighty memories of men Who sailed her waters — eyes of vague unrest Ranging one wave-reach — lengthening to ten — 32 LOTUS-LIFE, XIX. Troy's decade dark of years — dark as the doom On Sappho's sun-soul heaving in eclipse, The soul that sifted ecstasy, than whom No warmer born of woman — gods, those lips ! XX. Woman! — Greek fire fades on " crushed Levant," And I 'm no brighter than I was before I sauntered through this '* Orient'' labelled haunt, Begging poetic fire from door to door. XXI. Sappho denied it — star on Lesbian flood — Prometheus looms an awe, cross-form to crag ; Anacreon sips sparkle from a bud That blooms, a rose-lip, on his own ; the flag XXII. Marked with the *' moon of Mahomet " provokes To Paradise— and Peris ? — Poet's dream ? Yet slowly, slowly where the sun-cloud soaks The shades, the Orient pearl-haze grows, no dream ! DARA y ZA HA BI. 33 XIII. The Orient's gold-haze scatters like the dew Of mirage on the desert's crimsoning dawn. The rim of Egypt burns beyond the blue, The hand of Egypt holds up wine of morn ! XXIV. A zone of light, of gold, of sifted sheen From Cairo's gardens to the amber sands That stretch, an infinite, beyond rose-gleam Of ripple over Philae's foam of palms. XXV. The glow is lucid as the sacred light Upon the Nile when godhead swept a-down The stream in Sacred Barque, the summit-height Of vision, eye to eye at Memphis town. XXVI. Pdraj Zahabi ! Nile-ascending glow. Along thy liquid rounds of glassy light The sun-god floated, up — and up — the flow Of sunbeams reaching Aureoles of light — 34 LOTUS-LIFE. XXVII. — On — tell the Eagle-deified of awful gaze, Facing thy Flash through phantom centuries, — Ipsamboul's Ramessides loom, in haze Of halo, sun-selected mysteries : XXVIII. The Pharoah petrified. The Power that shook Ascending nations. Ye may curse him now Ye mighty, for he holds nor flail nor crook, — But bate your shout, there 's thunder on thai brow. XXIX. His hands are emptied, for 't was Egypt's wealth That Egypt flung, god-grandly, from hot heart To lands that owe their heads to Pharaohs : wealth Of wisdom, worship (Greece, thy Pantheon !), Art. XXX. Ddraj Zahabi ! God from firmament Thou drawest near thine awful Temple-gate Ddraj Zahabi I Ra omnipotent, Thine awful eye bends where the warders wait. DARAJ ZAHABI. 35 XXXI. Inward thy tread sweeps, march of majesty, Aslant dumb shadows, arrow-gleam of gods, — Goal — the dark Altar — worship's ecstasy — Thou fallest, god prostrate at feet of gods.* XXXII. Ddraj Zahabi ! God-fed Mizraim ! What light leaps through this twining zone of Stair That folds, unfolds — an Orient's rhythmic whim, Sun-sifted Lotus-dust on heaving air ! — XXXIII. The effulgence foams in long amaze of light As still o'er Theban plain, gold-fleck'd it glows, Brims — stays — the Lotus yields unto the white Array of radiance that upheaving flows. * In the Sanctuary, four gods sit enthroned : Pthah. Animon-Ra, Ra, and Rameses deified. 36 LOTUS-LIFE. XXXIV. By Him who slept in Philae ! What *s that face Below the unfolding trance of liquid sheen ? A Lotus-star of pure irradiant grace, A Lotus-love in eyes — the Poet's dream ! HER GARLAND. 37 1bet (5atlanD* CHE was searching the tomes and their full tombs On a grim December day In the niche that was lettered ** Egyptian, Ass " (The learned add ** Syrian " thereto, ere they pass), Searching for mummies in Mizraim, And all that you haul away From scarabs to Scarecrows, — or Ancient Clay. She was fastened as firm as old Pharaoh In case upon case (of books), But I saw she was trying a Sail to Punt (If you want to know Where, you will have to hunt) With Hatshepsu, Queen, who never owned books Nor dim liter ata's niches and nooks, But broiled all her learning in hieroglyph hooks. She had dug up all manner of dynasties dim With a brave little workman's tools, They were all on board in the Voyage to Punt, 38 LOTUS-LIFE. (If you want to know Who, you will have to hunt) And they verily looked like a set of fools As they stared at her Christian tools. There was Theban and Shepherds (assorted) and Tanite A ghost and a-ghast to the unknown coasts, There was Saite (selected) Bubastite and Xoite, (If you want to learn more, hold your head on tight Like the brave little Soul towards the un- sailed coasts) So brave, she deserved Egyptologists' toasts ! Herakleopolite stared at the Mendite. It certainly was not polite, But you see, he did not know him by sight, Nineteen dynasties sat 'twixt H. and Mendite, The brave little Soul did n't take it in, quite, As she shipped them a-board, with '* All Right ! " The Pyramids glared with a three-cornered squint At the brave little Worker and Co. As they flashed down the stream to the Ophir-ish dream. The Sphinx-face was as set as Hatshepsu- Pharaoh, HER GARLAND. 39 Who, severely a-stern, stood and marshalled the Floe! But the brave little Soul trod the deck like a roe : ** We are going to Punt, you know ! " The gloom deepened along the weird shadows The mummies looked sorry and mixed, Aah-hotep might have sneezed if she had n't been greased With unguents and glue. "I '11 get them all fixed. Though they certainly do look a little bit mixed " Sighed the brave little Worker,— '* All fixed." The " Voyage to Punt " sailed hard by the town Called Memphis, (with Mena a-board !) The Town where the Goddess of Love lingered late, Intoxicate sip held high her full hoard, The songs floated and flitted— Isis-Hathor ! they soared To the brave little Worker a-board, Who turned not her head in this '* Voyage to Punt," (Her lips trembled, warm clasp of the wind !) 40 LOTUS-LIFE. "' I liave mummies to mix in dynastic fix, I am very much troubled about No. VI, My Calling to mind, Egypt's true gold to find, No matter what kiss left behind." She returned from the Voyage to Ophir and Punt Just at 12, when the sun took the Stair ; Her cheek was a-flush; — a sun-swept Fleur de Luce But the mummies looked blacker than Aah-hotep's hair, Mena moped like an Owl on a tree's attic stair, The Dynasties frowned with a horrid * ' Beware ! ' Queen Hatshepsu's anger a-flare ! There was nothing a-board from "Divine land of Punt " Of delights that had beckoned away. Not a panther, giraffe, nor aught good to quaff, Not a leopard to hunt with on any cool day, Only asses that punctually had all the " say," No glint of wild gold, only cultured essay Of Hatshepsu adorned in tiger-skin way. As I gazed at the warm flushed, sweet Lotus of face, (Where one tear started, held, then rolled down). HER GARLAND. 41 I felt with wild leap one pulse of this heat Is worth all the elixirs in Aah-hotep brown, All the hieroglyphed geese on a mummified gown, All the Dynasties up — and then down ; One drop of this full, heaving passion of heart ! — ** I will find them to-morrow, I think," She said, with heart bold ; *' I will find Egypt's gold, I will know what dim ancient dynasties think, I will lie on the measureless margin and drink Beyond what another can know or can think." The deep Lotus eyes sought the Garland of Stair "Where the Sun's heaving-heart pulsed and paled : The dream of the Orient, Ddraj Zahabi's gold, Lotus languors of love, ' ' I will not have failed If I find out the Garland that crimsoned and paled On the brow of the Poet gods hailed ! " My lotus-bud that slowly unfolds Its bloom of glance and banquet of lip, 42 LOTUS-LIFE. Its star-heat of heart and tremblings deep, Its rose-blush of wine where Egypt may sip, Tell me, dear, of thy Garland ? Hast found it at morn ? It enfolds thee, and thrills through thy pulses, close, warm. My lotus-bud that yields to the sun Its gold-heart from gods, the thoughts that they think. The sheen of stupendous dynasties won ? On the measureless margin wilt lie ? and wilt drink With those red Lotus lips — which One, only, may part? Thou art lying on Egypt's heart \ London, 1891. APOTHEOSIS. Bpotbeo0t0» /^NE Day, ah Day supreme Of days that wed and wind on garland-glance Of hours man's breath calls *' Dream " (Whose trance full oft is sword-flash-sweep Burning — but bar — to Eden-gleam), — Two eyes lit sudden pathways vast Through thresholds closed — the Infinite ! Two lips brought banquet — and a god's '* At Last ! " 4440 B. c. 1893 A. C. 45 4440 m. a. A DREAM of glory is the long array of shore Where pillared temples loom along the ages hoar That chronicle their birthdays in flushed alphabet Of pride on Egypt's pylons where her mysteries met. The page of empires is recorded on this waste Of desert sands run through Time's hour-glass' wild haste ; England ? babe on the breast of billows' lull or lift, Handful of babbling years the Orient cycles sift ! * Ankh (Egyptian). 47 48 LOTUS- LIFE. The Majesty of Memphis ! named HA-KA- PATAH,— House of the Worship. One more sacred still than Ra Sun-god, dwells here to-day, Patah, world's archi- tect, The Father of the gods. He who sun-systems decked. Effulgence of His fire, the light is affluent ; glows And whelms Ptah's Towers to-day, whither that concourse flows Some burdened souls, believe, yea, through God- jubilee, ** To Him who carved a star. He can carve help for Truth is but One, as Trial, through the trend of Time, This is the link that threads and shakes the ages' chime With note-swept power awakening echoes in the soul That stands on margin of Christ's Nineteen Cen- turies' Roll. 444° B.C. 40 Memphis the mighty ! Sways, six thousand cen- turies gone The Wisdom whence the world drew sustenance at dawn. Curve not thy lip, O Traveller, for at this Sun- gate Illumination streamed, all light to anticipate. The Pyramids of Uenephes sustain the flush That dyed lone level sands with Ra's soul, sun-god*s gush Of blood along a world that bates its breath to wait Red rim of resurrection — Horus — at dawn's gate. Lo ! 'neath Colossal Crimsons that o'erlook that Strife A silent land has Mena made — the '* Land of Life " : ANKH-TA, land where the dead of mighty Mem= phis rest 'Neath tri-form ward of Pyramids, on desert's breast. Within each tomb of silence, depth on depth of dark, Alone stands the Ka-Statue, — look ! It seems to hark so LOTUS-LIFE. To man's demand : *' Dost shrine that mystery — the Spark, THE LIFE, in an eterne, immortal Form ? " The Dark Alone gives answer. With outstretched hands the Ankh Fastens its hieroglyph along the tomb's death-dank Reaching to an Eternal. The KA-BODY waits, Hand on the staff, to sweep through some Immortal Gates. ANKH, which the might of Egypt's glittering Statecraft bore, Throned, dominant, divine. In right hand held, the core Of Royalty. ANKH, the word-beacon to death's Barque, What pilotage to prince, to pauper, through that Dark? To-day, in this four thousandth Year before the Christ, The Sun-warmed Stream of Egypt holds ANKH- sign, unpriced, 4440 B.C. 51 Above the flow of fragrant waters, lotus-crowned, Whose tangled thickets' tawny bloom — a round on round Of radiance reaching up, through haze of violet light. To the dim distance down the years when, at the height Of Temple's altitude, the Lotus grasps its goal, And gazes down through Karnak's cloud of incense- roll On the long centuries from Seti to the hour When a world's worship crowns its capitals with power Of Lotus-cup holding red heart of the divine — A mystic Ideal ! more, that drink of a god's wine ! — Above the dim papyrus-groves that whisper low Words that the generations carve in pregnant flow Upon papyrus page, from Mena to the Man, The Word, through Whom the furrowed ages' thought, — worn, wan. Voiced its Supreme ; throned in the light that lifts its rose Over the desert where the sun-god tarries, sows 52 LOTUS^LIFE. Red seeds of an Immortal ; Hope, for morning, stands In Nile-Stream the ANKH-sign, lo ! with out- stretched hands, Nilometer. It measures Life, supernal gift That crimsoned, mounting waves to thirsty deserts lift, Lift to parched lips that soon will beat beneath the kiss A god bestows, Nile-god, in the wild garden's bliss. Through centuries and seasons lapse and fall and flow, Brims the perennial Life-cup, where the Lotus blow, To lips of king or bondsman, burdened soul or free, To priesthood's thirst brooding o'er Egypt's mystery : Life for the nations ! Lo ! the ANKH-sign looms in light. Six thousand years agone, it towers. A mystery's height ? God ! Sign of the Incarnate seen o'er Mizraim's wall, LIFE EVERLASTING through her splendours' flash and fall. [893 ^. C. 5.:, 1893 B.C. J^EAN this way ! That woman's bonnet in your way ? Conf well, never mind the squeeze- A great cantatrice sings to-day. II. The Church is gay ? The tints of Fay urn's far away Methinks in all this rose-parterre, But then — it 's Woman's first of May. 54 LOTUS-LIFE, III. Hush— sh ! the High-Priest, There ! Fat. Speaks to that lengthy priest Whose eye rolls so. 'T will catch you, man. Unless you bob behind his skirt, at least. IV. Ah ! they 've gone in To vest for the Procession's din. Nay, I 'm wrong there ; its glare is great As 't would illumine a world's sin Since Eden's gate. Those candles' eyes appraise, and wait A-tiptoe. Reaching o'er the rim Of vacant air, and mark who 're late VI. A.t Catholic prayers. Look at that priest ! His jewelled wares Seem swept from New Jerusalem A-down his robe. — That ruby flares ! i893 A- C. 55 VII. Query ? Doth bear The rubied Name ? like jewel rare On wall-girt Heaven? where Shepherds true Are set in blazonry of air ! VIII, Look at that face ! (The other side of that cloud-lace) Bowed in its dark 'neath choirs* shout, An agony fulls, in life's race. IX. Heavens ! that voice Mounts o'er the thundering cymbals. Joys And thrills its Credo to man's doubt, Credo in Deum. And the Voice That 's heard as breathes The Incarnatus ? Voice that grieves, But records for the ages' thought : Credo in hominum. Believes LOTUS-LIFE. XI. In man ! Thou, God, Bold with belief as fits a God, Dost inly trust to clay Thyself, Dost trust in man, — and man grows God ! XII. His destiny ? That trumpet-tone 's the key. A Deity's Triumphant mounts And rends the ancient mystery : XIII. *^ The Life Eterne ! " See how those myriad faces turn. As if but one impulsion's thrill Towards the East where God did burn XIV. Through Calvary's rock Where the world stayed its hand to knock " Is Trust slain on Golgotha's Eve ?" Still knocks — on the long ages' lock. i893 ^- C. 57 XV. The dawn-streak grew Into the soaring of the blue, — And One burned there. Man's yearning filled To wear on earth Heaven's blood-beat, too, XVI. The Life Eterne ! Again those myriad faces turn At the Creed's close, and make the Sign On breast and brow. 'T is '* Ankh"-sign, learn, XVII. That Cross of '' Life," The ancient hieroglyph for *' Life," In world-old Mizraim, brooding deep On mysteries with all Wisdom rife. XVIII. 'T was " Standard-name " Of Pharaohs ; pomp of the Throne's Flame Yielded to the significance Of ** Standard-name " : the great ** Ka-name " 58 LOTUS-LIFE. XIX. Which Stood for ''Life," Life everlasting. Yea, the Life Of Pharaohs burned from Ra, Sun-God Slain on red rim of deserts, " Life " XX. That sank to soar. There 's thread of Truth through ages hoar ! Man's destiny, — a god doth share, God of the heathen, God of the Christian, more 1 SONGS OF THE SEA, AND OTHER TYRICS. 59 ^Dotation. '"THE Ocean's voice attests to all the earth, To every cavilling question man may frame, That on one dawning, God looked through dull mists That slowly broke before Creative gaze And spoke. One word thrilled solitude, through chasms Vast of darkness* path cleft by sharp sungleam Of angelic wing — the rainbow-rim of God Who sweeps around himself white bands of light That darken as they burn. The Shoreless Sea Where soft warm pulses of the Dove did brood With wings close pressed upon the awful Deep To wed the abyss — the first sweet hush of love, The marriage-raptures of the Infinite — Breathed deep beneath God's breast, uplifting rapt Heights of glory, — wave-thrill of countless light In the Creative glow : Love, Life and Day. 6i 62 LOTUS-LIFE. And still through ages heaves the Ocean's breast With rhythmic memories of that marriage-night When heart to heart God's passion clasped his world, — Enchanted Seas repeat the Voice that called, With thunderous echo of the dawn sublime When God's face was the Sun — the sole music, God, God the long light that shook across the Deep, God the retentive shout seas sublimate As up and up they hurl their harmonies, Prostrate adoring fall, lips blanched with awe. And whirl along the liquid acres' stretch Cloud-spray of incense-foam at feet of God. A BUBBLE. 63 HTHERE was once a wonderful Mermaid Who lived long ages ago In the moon-white waters of Ocean, Where the shining icebergs flow ; And from morn till the evening's crimson When the tall peaks lighted their fires, The sea-maiden floated in beauty Through the revel that never tires, — That banquet of Sea-god and Triton, W^hen the blast of the breathing horn Summoned all the bright Nereids of Neptune To storm-dance and shoutings and song, — To embrace and to vision and beauty, To the light that is banquet and wine, — The soft light of Love that brims over To moisten lips lifted — divine ! And all that is left of the sparkle That played on the icebergs all day, Is the light of the foam-bubbles breaking Their hearts on the rock-strewn way. 64 LOTUS-LIFE. 1Reptune'0 Secret* \^7HAT dazzle of robe weaves the great god to- day As the silken foam- thread gleams, glances, and falls, Lifts and falls — again lifts — so debonair, gay, Song- whirl round the sheen of its azure walls, — A mermaid's crescendo of laugh that calls As she flashes away, from embrace of the spray. Neptune's hair is blowing wild on the breeze As he sews ; his glittering needle of light Laces the foam. He sighs ; his fingers seize The filigree dress moon-icicle white. He turns the hem down, — holds it up to sight ! And his great bosom heaves — god-wrath as mermaids teaze ! He is singing and singing — wild hoarse song ! Deities heard it ere Athens had birth, Ere Parthenon marbles mirrored his foam, Ere Venus was floated a foam-fay to earth ; NEPTUNE'S SECRET. 65 The wild sea shakes with his vigour and mirth, Cloud-flecked skies listen long to the storm-bliss of song. For goddess the robe with its sapphire sheen ? For a gold-haired Siren whose eyes are blue As his own depth-azure of glance therein, Whose bosom is white as the foam that blew A bright bubble's pathway for Love, in the dew Of the rose-dawn's serene, — Aphrodite, Love- Queen ? Hark ! His song is mounting with wild hoarse leap As he laces again and unbinds the breast Of the jewels that pulsed in swoon of sleep When night was all radiance and rapture and rest, When Earth stole down with pale feet to his breast. And knelt to the rapt Deep, — pledging Secrets to keep. Did the god reveal them ? He chuckles apart With huge roar. He leans o'er the dazzle of dress, — 66 LOTUS-LIFE, Diamonds delved from the depth of his Ocean- heart ? Or stars that he swept from the sun's excess Of pathway through whirling worlds the gods toss At play ? 'T is a fine Art, but taught to old Nep- tune's heart. I see him repeat the sport of the skies, With his hand on the rim of the azure air. The star-sparkles flit as the foam-breath flies From his wrath-lips that sentinel secrets rare ; And he binds the diamond-dust of the skies As a dripping fringe — where ? on what foam-breasts so fair ? A hint ? One moment ! the wave upmounting Lifts a sudden flash on the rose-foam air, Is it Cyprus unveiling in sunset's anointing, Warm, dew-lipped Immortal ? her cestus so fair Dropped a shell on this margin of earth and of air. And it sings the full rapture that sea-gods dare. Listen low, listen long to the storm-bliss of song. And know what gods know in the foam-tide's flow. FLOW AND EBB. 3F10W and Bbb. "lA/HAT means this Ocean-tide that fulls to shore, Swinging impassioned towards the waiting Strand ? Lips pale with joy ? surf-sweep of crystal light ? Voices unbraiding untold melodies ? — Divine advancement of the great Divine, Wave-grandeurs greatening to Apocalypse ! Is man found all unworthy to hold fast This sapphire splendour of the Infinite Floated from glories of the azure Throne, — Veil that scarce hides th' Immortals' coming feet Foam-fair as divine dreaming in Love's Eden, That slowly, darkly ebbs the foam-tide far With plaint of pain, of disappointment, loss, Voices that sorrow through long yearning nights, Kisses divine that press earth's breast — but pass. The Strand is left in desolation pale. Arise, O Soul, to greater amplitudes Of being ! larger lands that lengthen, reach To God-horizons of all noble ends, — 68 LOTUS-LIFE. Lands that enring the Infinite's azure light, Soul-life whose breath blows back th' enfolding Veil, Soul-soil that dare engraft celestial tread, Soul-depths that dare inclasp God-oceans, locked, That lift their tides to linger on thy lands. Enchanted ; height on height of crystal calms Like the lone sea, ere Time's first hour was tolled, That climbed to gaze on God in flood-tide's fire, And stood, in white amazement at that Vision, Repeating mists of sapphire from the light Surrounding in great circle God the Sea ! TO WILLI A M E. GLA DS TONE. 69 ;ro mtlliam IE. (Bladatone* February 13, 1893.* A S thy thought's sail, O Pilot of our seas, Sweeps o'er the awful Infinite of dark, Where factions war, and thunders roll their car, Where the sharp tongues leap from the lightning's mail, And the vast Void is vocal round thy sail, — Thy prow, O Steersman, furrows up the stars, — The bubbling lights for nations round thy barque. * Home Rule Bill. 70 LOTUS-LIFE, TUIGHT-TIME in Venice. Through her mir- rored streets The gentle lap and flow of burnished wave That fulls beneath the moon. No sound heard, save The rhythmic swing of starlit tide that greets The curve of distance where the moon's pulse beats Upon the marble breast of palace woe. Along the depth on depth of Heaven's snow To-night, the star-flame shivers, flame that meets A burning Gaze unknown and unconceived — The light dips — and illumes a window, where The trembling vines grasp shadows, shadows breathed Along the reluctant light. Two faces, where The light burns deep in eyes that lift above, — *T is star-height — Heaven, God ! last gaze of Love. THE GOLDEN DIPPER. DUT seven stars stud the edges Of the Cup a god doth fill, But seven beads of the golden Wine Glance at the rim of the Cup divine The mystic symbol, the mystic sign Of a Draught unuttered, breathless Wine On the golden Goblet-sill. What Draught ineffable bubbles And stays at the Beaker's lip ? What deathless gods of the empyrean Heap high this Goblet, w^ith v^ild clash-paean Are the stars that fall from the empyrean The Wine that rains from their dazzle of Heaven And whirls to the Beaker's lip. They v^ring a Draught of divinity In the Cup that offers its bliss, It v^^aits with its golden Dew-lips, waits, — And the gods pass on through the twilight gates, 72 LOTUS-LIFE. Through the Dawn and the Day, —those immortal mates That wed where the sun-blush burns at Gates Of the Dawn and the Day's long kiss. The full night decks its Banquet, The seven stars bubble again, Up — up to the Brim the star-swirls swim The topaz tide takes the Infinite rim, Heaven's Amontillado ? Pousse V Amour ? From my eyes lift the Veil that I capture, Ye gods ! Your long Draught's lit rapture The depths of your Golden Rain ! A UTUMN, 73 Butumn* T N noble ranks the Maples stand And show, with sudden outstretched hand The gold they Ve coined through all the year. Through days of smiles on Summer's lip When gadding bees hum past, and sip And taste — now here, now there, and dip Their heads in every brimming cup The foolish flower-bells hold up ; — When butterflies had donned their coat To step abroad — and reel — and float Half-drunk, such liqueur in the throat, Eternal drops of Heaven's new wine, A taste unknown, a draught divine ! Immortal Bacchanals ! — When peal of forest-orchestras, The chant of all Earth's choristers, — Of Robin, Linnet, Oriole, Thrush 74 LOTUS-LIFE. Poured forth a song, melodious gush Of v/elcome to the timid tread Th' Immortals try on sun-spread air, With all Heaven's largess '* Everywhere" !- The Maples watched th* enchanted tread And heard the song thrill overhead, And saw the sweets arise, and wed The lip of courting bumble-bee, — But steady worked, nor shared his glee. Through days when Winter, pale with fear, Gave warning hoarse : ** Obey the Seer Whose icy finger points the way To desolation, death, decay — Obey ! and strive not ! all things die "— The forest's moan prolonged the sigh. But lo ! the Maples' work unrolled Shows countless gems of burning gold. From heart to summit leaps the gleam Of ruddy torches' steady sheen, — A crimson torch to light the way Through shadows deep, through fading day When solemn voice shall lift and call From far-off mountains' storm-swept wall. A UTUMN. 75 Soul ! when the summons comes to thee, Hast gold to show P hast light to lead Through glooms ? through dark ? through death's deep sea ? A Crimson torch ? lit by the Hand Of One who dared for thee to bleed, Through Calvary's work a way to lead And tread the darkness through to day, — Who stands at portal of th' Immortal Land To count thy gold, — thy passport o'er the Gates. Within — the taste unknown, the draught divine, Th* Immortal Cup — a seraph's Wine — God, the great Banquet, waits ! 76 LOTUS-LIFE. T^HE fires in Heaven's great workshop-forge are lit, The East is radiant with the Eyes divine That look from out incarnate gates of toil Where once the blood rose deep in ebbing life Crimson as sun-dawn's wine new-poured for man. The stars turn pale with wonder and with awe At golden opportunities that Now To-day, while yet 't is day, God gives His world. MA V. 77 T^HE blue-bells are blowing, Their chime is upgrowing, Hark I Hear ! Fuller, Clear ! The radiance runs As 't would outstrip the Suns In their song through the spheres That whirl each a note A God-voice afloat On blue tides of the skies Where the foam-wave-drift flies A tangled cloud-spray Heaven's Ocean of May ! The hawthorn 's a-bloom, The May-blossom's noon ! White, white, Silver-white Laughs the lane in its snow Where dawn's Primroses blow, Where the cuckoo calls loud 78 LOTUS-LIFE. To the lark lost in cloud. King-daisies reach crowns To the buttercups, shy, Though with Star-glancing eye, — Crystal Crowns — for they 've passed Through the fierce strain at last, Shaken off the dull earth, And stand strong, — in full worth Of King's coins and their crowns. The hedge-rows nod " Yes,"— And bend low to bless. The lustrous white cloud Drops chrism ; and loud Crows chanticleer to Day The fair timid young Day Blushing deep at the gaze Of Creation. Love-lays Fair, rare, (Robin's air) Float from full hawthorn bough, — The full flood-tide, I trow— Earth's Ocean of May ! The moonlight *s a-bloom. Pale zenith of noon. MA V. 79 Low, low, Breathe and blow White lilies of night On the foam-floor of light Embracing the rapt Earth. Blossoms lace the white breast Of the Earth rocked to rest. Deep, deep, Flower-bells sleep. Their drooped fragrance of face On the moon-tide's soft pace, Dim sigh, which the breeze Caresses — at ease. And lo ! at my side Where the full rose-lips hide, A face — in the sheen Of the moon's glow and gleam, Moon-rose of pale bliss That lifts — holds this kiss. The full tides of my soul Swing — heart-leap at the goal,— Iler white bosom's noon-day Love's Ocean of May ! 8o LOTUS-LIFE. " Let Us Make Man in Our Image." T^HE Day had burned on Eden, Supreme Day When God swept through His Temple-Para- dise — Through aisles and pathways lengthening to the march The Infinite makes through His Chosen Shrine To seek His image, — man. The trees bow down, Low, stretching strong hands in adoration. Sacrifice. They flame with blood of even, And chant along the mystic Temple's air Refrain ecstatic, swept by breath of God The Spirit Who awakens where He will Voice-echoes of the rapture-rain that rims The Throne, whose pavement holds the God-gaze glassed. Met by the antiphons of angels. THE SHADOW. 8i God, Poet Supreme, heard echoes of His voice Along His vast achievement. Yea, thus now O poet-heart, where God doth tabernacle, For thee the Spirit's breath blows back the Veil, Granting thee visions of the vast Within, And words, — that Key laid in thy hand elect Opening for generations yet to come Doorways to Deity. The day dies slow As slowly moves the Majesty of God Through folded calms' delirium of light. What hint along this ripening glow of Eden Of the dread Creed : Man's crown a crown of blood? Of the dread Path : Alone through thorns to thrones ? The sun pours rubied wine to slake the thirst Of waiting flowers ; the hills' pure violet grows ; The streams, rose-shadowed in the crimson dusk, Where height on height the Lotos glass their charm, And reach, — as reaching to great Destiny — To capital, to crown of Karnak's might — 82 LOTUS-LIFE. Roadway elect to roll to Sacrifice Beyond the swing of purpling incense-veil Wind-swept by breath of Amon-Ra enthroned, Stirred by strong yearning of the souls of men, — Silence their voice low — low — as God sweeps by And seeks his image, — man. The roses greet The great approach whose Gaze incarnadined Their faces fair forever ; a memory's flush Glancing again to the Great Dawn when God Moved through His dazzling solitude alone, When the bare vine entwining close the wood Poured sudden heart-drops— roses — bloom of blood Around the garment-hem of Deity, And lay, an ardent-beaded rosary Of adoration, ecstasy — in prayer. The twilight deepens, and the violet pales. One last flute-trill of thrush,— And all is still. The nightingale's wild throat Dies o'er the hill, Heart-throb that cradles low THE SHADOW. 83 Its long love-rill As when the enchanted sea Lifts lay divine. Wave-reach of heaving note To moon's sublime, Then stills, to ecstasy — For to its breast The moon is drawn And swoons to rest. One Star, in wake of the great sun's red foam, Trembles, as summit-splendour to a Crown That shall be wrung from an abyss. The vines that globe the glow of moons and suns, Fruit-fragrant Pleiades of tangled light. Reach cups of wine as if God cried '* I thirst ! " The rock's gold-amber glooms, light-sparkles dip As God moves onward to His Omega. Along the crimsoning cross of Eden's paths Where deep the sun's blood pours departing life, A Shadow falls — Shadow of arms outheld. Steadfast the arms reach, yearn ; towards the red morn 84 LOTUS-LIFE. When lo ! to man's embracements given, stands one Moulded from measure of his heart-beats, clothed In wine-dawn-light's blush, love that rocks pulses Deep and deepening, price of his manhood's veins. Tide that sets full unto its Fount— its Font ? The Shadow sweeps — and darkens— out — To This ? What Passion this, where Eden 's in eclipse? The gloom lies black on the great deeps of sun, The grapes are gall on the wind-shaken vine That reaches through the darkness, fleshless hands Towards the outline where the Shadow stains. The flower-blooms bend with myriad dusky gaze Down this dark Roadway to the Sunset's Veil. The Star along the fading Infinite Sparkles. It shakes its stricken splendour down From under thunder-brows of Heaven's amaze Whose lightning eyes probe the supreme abyss, The Shadow creeps along the reluctant gleam ; And fingers of God's acolytes illume An awful lettering along dome of space, — Star-alphabet of record : Victory Or vanquished through the blooms and blacks of Eden? THE SHADOW. A voice is heard arresting silence' breath : " Father, into Thy Hands I give to-night My breath, In Thee Thy new Creation sleeps." In hush of sudden calm, the Tree of Life Drips its full crimson foliage down the wood. The Shadow's arms reach through the vacant dark. Soul-magnet of His world, God draweth nigh, His gaze is nailed on man, this ! the God-goal ! — The Tree of Life looms awful o'er its Fruit — Dark, deepening, lengthening on the red of Even The SHADOW falls — face, forehead crowned in blood, God's Image ! — God ! Incarnate on a Cross. 86 LOTUS-LIFE. 1fn tbe Scales* " You really must excuse me from coming down (to heal and help you) ; the distance is too great. I have, moreover, more profitable clients nearer." A Physician's Letter. \ A/HY, wha*^ a mistake God did make ! Not to say to poor humans, awake In a misery's somewhat long Session : '* *T is too far to go. Such digression ! " He might have enjoyed all His Angels, And missed the long tediums' evangels Of the Thirty-Three Years. John and James Could have caught some more fish in their Thames. To be sure, we 'd have missed the Galatians^ And fed on, on our old heathen rations Devoid of Epistles. Ah, what a mistake ! , . . God weighed 'gainst "mistake" — "for Man's sake!'* THE SOCIAL ROCKING-HORSE. 87 Hbe Social 1Rocktng^1bot0C» ''^ r^ OOD people are sometimes so tiresome," I remember the comic plaint That even a good priest uttered, (A man who was nearly a Saint); ** So crimped," with a stiff inner hot-tongs, So exact, and so plaited, such folds ! 'T would take a play-bill (low) of Ocean To uncurl a hair's breadth of their souls. Have you seen them ? I glance round the table Where the Summer has stationed my face, It quivers : ecclesiastical whimper ? (I 'm alone in this very good place); Nay. This thought mounteth sudden, and seateth Itself without bound in my brain : *' You might as well ride a rocking-horse daily, And then ride, and then ride again. LOTUS'LIFE, *' You '11 surely get not one whiff further, You '11 only repeat the old creak, And the movement that cheats you a second Is no hint of intoxicate freak ; " No spring into lands new and radiant Where the pulses beat quicker— and faint — Nay, the gleam of the Rocking-Horse eyeball Is veneer of vermilion (paint)." THE POETS CUP. 89 nPHE angel's wing-sweep o'er the blue Drinks, unaware, the chalice-infinites, His gaze on distance — view on view Expanding in soul-ardour's light to heights. Bard, in thy moments' lure that lift Where stars are stairways, only, in thy climb, Heaven's meteors fall before veil-lift Of vision — th' Ideal ! poets rhyme. 90 LOTUS-LIFE. Zhc fbome of tbe IRoae* /\ LITTLE rose-tree withered On Judah's hot plains, bare, The Christian feet passed up and down And took no heed of rose-tree's brown, The sun laughed long, winds piped their song, The little rose-tree withered. A traveller on earth's barren I found one pure sweet bloom, The soft South wind stayed to caress, The reddening sun-beams bent to bless ; Deep, where old Nilus brims divine My little rose-tree blushed, — a wine That lifts its lips up — up to mine A Traveller on earth's barren. THE WORD WAS GOD. 91 A CROSS the unfolding Firmament God rolled His cry : LET THERE BE LIGHT,— to see My Face Star-systems sweep into that Word's White orbit-tides of life and lay, Held, holding on the enchanted Way, Black chasms of Heaven melt into day : GOD thrills across the Firmament, — LET THERE BE LIGHT,— to see My Face I Yearning of Deity ! LOTUS-LIFE. IVyilDNIGHT. The stars crowd into spaces vast Beyond our vision : lamps, fulled, that swing slow, Steadying flame-gaze expectant on Heaven's dome. — An awful hush where meteor-worlds attend. — What whitening glory widens into light, Tracked Way of Light, — a Chariot's burning wheels From Alpha to Omega of high Heaven ? A stellar dust whirls into pathless space. White mist of worlds that break to being's height, And span the splendour with their infinite, The glittering tracks of Deity's dark-bright, For the Ineffable treads the Star-maze — Of Constellations' tropics, thrilled with Him Whose Eye is compass and whose Hand is rein O'er- the blue vault of the Sun-Systems' swirl Recording aeons in their pulsing path. And sends his plunging Meteors' flame-word To say to mortal man, the child of Time, " 'T is God the Timeless ! to thy knees to-night." THE WORD SUPREME. 93 trbe MorD Supreme* To L. M. S. C INCE first the Ancient Wisdom on the banks Of sacred Nile, wealth of a nation's heart, Stationed a god Instructor of the Art, Art which all other gift to man outranks, Taught first hy Thoth on those old Nilus-banks Letters, to groove the thoughts of men for aye In colours deep as hieroglyphic dye On Pyramids' immortal ; what hot ranks Of words and words burn from a burdened world ! God held the stylus^ God of gods, at height, — The summit splendour of His years, when swirled The nations' faces 'neath His gaze : stream-light To sift the Word which the Supreme should be : FORGIVENESS.— Look ! writ in red Calvary. 94 LOTUS-LIFE. "T^HE Stars glance through the wrecks of ruin'd arch Where lifts the Coliseum's curve of giant-wall, Glances of Saints who won the breathless march To azure heights round God from this blood-whirl of Hall. They gaze in fixed Felicity while the world's Won- ders fall. Rome, 1891. THE MISSION A RVS S TOR Y, g'^ Suggested by the Tapestry Painting by Mrs. H. W. Dart, N. Y., from the Picture T/ie Missionary's Story ^ by T. G. Vibert. YOU know the Picture ? Cardinals five In Council — in the Vatican, The hour — at three o'clock, I think, When God showed something unto man Upon a Cross. The Scenery hangs Above the heads of Cardinals two Who lounge in graceful, world-ease pose Upon a sofa, where their hue Is burn of blood, the ne'gligd Of Fathers in the Faith, — Christ's livery lapped in luxury — ** Becoming !" so the Tourist saith. The Hue has dropped from the great glare Above their heads ? Reflected flame, To light the Way their hearts should drip For man ? Nay, '* Eminence" means Fame ! q6 LOTUS-LIFE. " In Council," said I ? No, the hour Is shorn of thought's great agony, The hour is pleasant, parlance fair, Yet hardly fair, — though fringed with " Tea." The dainty table (you know how, Mesdames) smokes fragrant with the urn At one side of the brilliant room, Presided o'er— (he will not turn To hear my verse, perhaps too strong In poet-priest's avoirdupois^ A thought too wide for Rome's rich throng) — I mean the Cardinal, of course. He holds in plump hand (manicured ?) The daintiest bit for hungry lips, Destined for dogs, dogs only dare To perch so near, — near Cardinal's lips ; The Favourite 's just about to snap At cultured biscuit, held on high — A small round wafer — semblance dread Of something on an altar nigh THE MISSION A RY' S S TOR \ \ 97 That Peter feeds unto the flock Crowding with soul-moan to the rail Of Chancel incensed ; does he deal Immortal Food ? — the dog's wail Is picturesque, His Eminence smiles — Again the wafer lifts on high, High as my lord's large bosom (not as large As Abraham's where poor beggars lie) ; He does not even glance, my lord, Across the room of dazzling hue Where sits, beneath the Calvary red. And facing full mes seigneurs two-— A monk in worn and tattered gown, With travel-stains on bleeding feet,~- Pale, thirsty, sick to death for One, Great God ! Whose heart inspired this heat Of Love that burned and burned for man In distant lands, o'er smiling seas. Through fragrant blooms — A Paradise — But sought not, loved not wealth nor ease, 7 98 LOTUS-LIFE. Nor home — nor Love as man knows love, (Yea, even Cardinals, so I Ve heard, Pardon the slight digression here, You '11 surely hear it, on ** good word " ) ; But shepherded Christ's distant flock With hands that poured Christ-radiance in : The human heart -blood ; men, methinks That 's Deity aflame in him The poor, the scorned, the man Who faces full the Man of men Above his head, and does not shrink Save vi^ith sick shudder now and then In the poor " habit " rent and torn,— Quite vis-a-vis of messieurs^ dress Whose " Red " is such a charming fit ! The Tailor to His Holiness Did that. And worked therein a thread By which to climb — Oh, higher much Than pictured Calvary up there, To ! (we must not hint of it o'er much). THE MISSION A R Y'S S TOR V. gg The monk shows wounds in hands and feet, His voice thrills power through the room, — One lofty lordling perks his glass, (I think he '11 see a little, soon). Indeed, 't is very sad to bore Such gentlemen. The sofa's two Yawn covertly. Such graceful pose ! It ruffles not whate'er you do. Ah ! there 's a message from the Pope ! 'Tis surely more important, quite. To break His Holiness* strong seal — Than prove yourself a '* holy " height By aiding this poor lowly man Whose eyes are closed, as closed the gaze Beneath God-eyelids — just at 3 o'clock — The Lids will lift — a Day of days — You '11 face them, gentlemen, I think,— But ** make the best of Time," I urge, — You '11 certainly display your breed By urging this storm-shattered ' ' serge " LOTUS-LIFE. To drink ? — Nay, start not, I but mean Of afternoon mild, mellow Tea, A charming potion — dogs drink — See ! The Favourite's nose at my lord's knee I The " Red " burns, blooms throughout the Room,- That laugh of Cardinals is fine- Then, twilight's dark slowly blots down The brilliance of the scarlet wine ; The monk is gone — the one stain there ! A gentle rustle, — papers strew The lap of Cardinal Bonaparte Whose Cardinal-Campaign is rare- Rare as the tactics of his Kin Who fished five crowns into his net, The Cardinal 's more modest — See ! His modest schemes are only set For Three bright circles, very small,— Too small to make a fuss about— The modus operandi up Tiaras ? — Ask the lords about ! THE MISSIONARY'S STORY. The Cardinals' campaign begins — Campaign ? I quite forgot the " h " — C-h-a-7)i — ? S-h-a-m — ? No matter ! in foam-wine C-h — ! (hush-sh-sh) Silence in Heaven ! deep as the Vatican. The Angels rim the Judgment-Seat In long ascending light that climbs and burns, Voice-hushed — wings folded close to feet. Their God-given flight is finished now for man, Their burning gaze bends but One way Upon One Face the summons one-by-one Soul-presences to face this Day. Silence in Heaven ! no sound is heard but one,— Wine-drip from wounds and wounds that see Again, a dazzle in each awful eye — Halo, I find, round Calvary ; And round the Face Whose eyelids slowly lift On this pale Dawn — just Three, the hour. The old world-timepiece, gnarling, slowly struck — And Time-was-not. But Silence. And a Power LOTUS^LIFE. That thrills the presences that rise and rise Around the Judgment-Seat, hoary With long, and long eternities of light — Silence the horror ! hear the Story ! For through the hush that falls as night on seas When moon's pale bands of light burn hoary, A Face looms up. Look ! whiter than whitening seas, — A Missionary tells HIS Story ; The Missionary with the awful White, World-travel, soul-travail for man From Bethlehem to Golgotha. That 's all ? From Bethlehem to the Vatican ! The Room within? Yes, quite a luxury. Splendours above the Vatican, — The Creed said so, — and Cardinals held to Creeds ; *' Life endless," — that 's a dazzle, man, Or doom, as Christ (present Narrator) choose. Nay, not so, soul ! thyself chose (well ?) Carved thy rough roadway up to his God-Heart Or — smooth road's dip, down to thy Hell ! THE MISSION A R V'S S TOR V. 103 He speaks ! The Missionary holds all worlds In silence deep as Dawning's seed When His Creative Voice rolled — it was Light Or Darkness, as His Voice decreed. The Creed said so — before the Timepiece struck— And Cardinals fastened every shred Of Creeds and Councils on the Faithfuls' Faith, Now, Cardinals five ! Hear the Voice ! Dread, ** I hungered." God! Thou mentionest first of all Thy Sacrament's Great Sign — the Bread, The Wine to hungry, grieving, weary souls,— The Wafer Thy Heart broke to feed Forth Food Divine to every full demand. Hungry Thyself in Thine, who gave To man upon his Golgotha? ** Who gave ?" The hush — and then — pulse=throb — * ' Who gave ? " The Voice rings round the circle vast of worlds. The Scarlet flame leaps up, and clothes Five brows with shame, as deep the Christ^Wounds leap In light, and show what Cardinals chose. I04 LOTUS-LIFE. The Light runs radiance round one humble face That leans so near the throne, and kneels With thankful joy, grasping, with dripping tears The rim of Christ's dyed Garment's seals ; Tears of a prostrate gratitude, he knows He ministered to the Great Love Among all sons of men, and quenched the thirst Of Calvary when he held, above His life, his love for man, yea, unto blood — The wounds are wide in the poor hand That met no palm outstretched to give, — What matter ! Christ now holds his hand, '' I thirsted." The Voice drops slow— as slowly God's tidaLwave on Calvary When the Great Sea moved darkly to the dark. The Red Sea whence world-Pharaohs flee. *' Who gave? " The Shadow on the Face, darkens, The Dark moves on— and on— it stays Upon Five faces known to Vatican, — 'T is true that man's own conscience flays. THE MISSIONARYS' STORY. 105 ** But Peter — Vatican decrees — what not ? Trent Council — something — said Wine Must not be given at Altars though it hold Christ's blood — (a taste, quite, of Divine Revealments) but it shall not be handed To aught but to the Priestcraft ; Souls That thirst for God must only have the half, We, all." What did ye with It, Souls Of Priests ? Ye drank, drank God in Sacrament, Gave Him again to men upon their knees ? Christ suddenly remembers — yes — An afternoon of cultured Cardinals* ease ; Remembers the Great Memory's Feast, Wine On the long Night of red Gethsemane, Remembers how He said, the words " ALL drink o/IT.'* World built in agony. He speaks again, to Cardinals, to all The lip=curled Rich to those they call Sisters of Mercy — less (than that) full oft, Believe me, I have seen their Hall — io6 LOrUS-LIFE. "Naked"; ''Sick"; "Stranger"; "Wearied" in the Race That must be run, whose Vestibule The voice of Angels, Angels, — God the Goal — 'T was very different in the Convent Rule ; He Speaks I To Feminine Elect (?) Who frowned And froze Christ-ardours in the soul That came with hope of crown for goal,* Was cautioned — yea, though almost drowned In White Cap's Convent froth—" Be thou content with Cap." What pity Paul of Tarsus knew no better Ranting of the Eternal Target in his Letter ! ('T was, verily, so still behind the bar Where Feminine-Elected-Laymen jar I vow they penned some second smart Epistles To Corinth ruins, — smart with smarting thistles). Breasts, so well-laundried, that they cracked Hearts (not their own, most sure !) hearts whacked With bitterer blow than words ere lend ! * The wreath of flowers presented to a '' Sister " on her " Profession." THE MI SSI ON A R Y'S S TOR Y. 107 Poor ardent heart ! tliat on the laundried bosom thought to bend ! Now God be praised ! that the poor ardent soul Who came with hungry Christ-flame towards one goal, Swam hard for life through this fierce Polar ice, As fast as any '* untrained " Convent mice, Floated to Tropic Seas of heat and balm and bliss Where Love is not '* a wrong and ruin," Dames, (erase the ' ' es ") But raptured God-revealments in one kiss ! He Speaks I To women who swept '* Habits " on sick floors. Once, only, swept their ** Habits "* on the floor Where the poor ardent soul endured ("draughts from the door?") The ardent soul sunk helpless in their service, — " I really think she is a little nervous." ** Nervous ? " Great God ! Thine eyes did pierce right through Where burning blindness swathed those eyes so true, * A '' Sister's " gown. io8 LOTUS-LIFE. So grand in Love, so patient then 'neath wrong So hideous 't will make a Demon's song. "A little nervous ! " Change your " Habit," Sister, For God's flame-eyes gaze, burn in, till they blister Thy soul seared through with stamped-out feeling, — Thy woman-soul ! Shame ! Scorch of shame past healing. He Speaks / To lip-curled Rich, from whom their own of kin Nursed on one heart, one mother's breast Of Love (which God loved well enough to rock His Son Incarnate into rest) Asked a poor alms, '* only a loan, dear kin, To lift o*er grinding agonies ; God put His Poet-arrows in unconscious hand And bade me wing His messages To men. What fault of mine ? I but obeyed The Voice that portions out its Heaven, Yea, most in attic atmosphere — the Poet's home — Radianced with full yEgean. But days will darken when e'en Attic Salt Is not. Ye, little more than kin, THE MISSION A RV'S S TOR V. 109 Be more than kind ! A loan in God's Name lend ! He gave — not lent — threw red coins in The wild upreaching hands of needy worlds That leaned from o'er the Ages' rim, Stretching to Calvary's largess for the coin That dropped — dropped — dropped — until the dim And distanced suns of Heaven's firmament Shuddered with shame, and blotted out Their gold before the Expansion of God's Love Which still — still — still poured vintage out, Red coinage, when the Eclipse of Golgotha Lay like a face-cloth on earth's face, And hid the Hands— the Face — the Heart. Along the Dark Was heard but dropping from that Face Alone, and minting coin, in Death-Sweat deep For man. Till the Great Coin ran white, Thrilled, thinned to finest issue, crystal-pale- Stream that flows down from deathless height LOTUS-LIFE. Of the Great Throne of God and of the Lamb. That 's generosity ! my kin ! I ask but a poor loan in Name of Him. Your soul-need ? Triune Gold poured in." Ah ! a few pence were tossed to the '' fourth floor " (Almost as high as Calvary) — *T was all that '*he" could spare in the Great Race For Gold — " there is so much to see ; We give -^-Q of all to the Almighty," I tremble to record the word, Counts the Almighty one tenth as good as he Then, — Look ! has the Almighty heard ? ** Who gave? " The Shadow on the Face, darkens, The Dark moves on — the twilight-seas Blot down the Scarlet wine of Vatican, — ■ Of Cardinals, Convents, Cruelties. Through pillared fire of Calvary once more seen Of men ; Through the Great Cloud of Seven Light-mists, the awful flame-edged Spirit's Fire Of morning watch — just Three in Heaven — THE MISSIONARY'S STORY. The Eyes uplift on Pharaohs, Pharisees, A Gaze with God's dim ages hoary — There 's only heard the Red Sea's cry — The Missionary 's told His Story. THE END, Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 Preservationlechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 906 379 3 A ! %im ^\\\\