;i;:,i!;i;;,|ii'.:.;i:.:iV SONGS QF THE RIEMAN BAXLEY Book Jaa^o: CopghtN^. I3.n^ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. Songs of the Stars By Isaac Rieman Baxley Author of 'The Temple of Alanthur," "The Prophet,' "Songs of the Spirit," "Beyond the Bank of Mist." Pacific Press Publishing Company Mountain View, California 1904 lUBRAHYuf CONSSESS Iwu Copies HeceJveo DEC 12 a904 QopyriiifH tntry 'M'irf/' 3,3 f9o'4- OUSS C^ XXc. No; I COHY 6. 6>-g-^ -■ II I I II I Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1904, Bv Isaac Rieman Baxlky In the office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. DEDICATION To whom? To those who dwell among the Stars, and gaze Steadfast at us, as into summer nights, We bring our lamp of glory, and always Stand there quiescent in the summer's lights — To them. CONTENTS Dedication 3 The Star 7 The Earth-Song g The Country of the Star 1 12 Farewell of the Earth to Her Sons 17 The Poets Praising Earth 21 The Singer .22 Song of the Poet 26 The Dream 30 The Dreamers 36 The Dream Song 41 Dancing Stars 43 Song of the Islands in the Sea 44 Vox Humana 50 The Vanished Song 52 SONGS OF THE STARS THE STAR Because my seas are wide, and I Whirl through a Planet-painted sky, Because I dare to come and go Through endlessness, and overflow Of passion's still unfigured glow; Because the eyes of men shall be But where I take them carefully. The fate of men be fixed, and cast Wherever path of mine is passed. All-helpless tenants of my day Fade as my figure shrinks away; Because I dance, and swim, and be What all men cling to passionately- Upbraiding in their jealousy; Because I bind them in my keep. And hear them wail, and see them weep, And still with heartless vigor run My race immortal with the Sun, What challenger shall rise and say The Earth is fretful on her way? 8 , SONGS OF THE STARS I laugh when comes the little cry Of trouble-mad mortality: What! shall I bear thee, and invest My body for thy joy and zest; My beauty braid, and lips declare For thee the lullabies of air; My potions mix, for thee distil Elixirs the starred spaces fill; Shall I with tireless footsteps turn Round the vast plains where planets burn. Draw past the brilliant gazing globes Of intense Suns my clouds and robes; Sustain thee when the unknown gales Drive into Heavenly climes and vales — Shall I do this, and then dare be Rebellious to my Sovereignty? Go then ; forsake my wayward will ; If thou'rt a conqueror, go — fulfil In some far Planet's starry eyes The madness of thy destinies. SONGS OF THE STARS THE EARTH-SONG Led out on the ripples of laughter and light I am Bride of the Heavens, and my Lord is the Sun; tell me not other ones shine in his sight, I know that his passion possesses but one. 1 know that he burns, that his eyes are con- sumed With a longing for me, that the tale of his days Is warmed with the breath of his lips, that perfumed Flies out to my bosom, is gathered and stays. I know that his passion, through plentiful years. Did beset me, I know that the storm of his heart Was hot in the flames of his failures and fears To break through the distance, and draw me apart. O Lord of my longing, at last in my eyes Is the purple of passion ; O Star of the Day lO SONGS OF THE STARS Forever I blush when the wind of surprise Drives the curtain of darkness that cloaks thee away. Forever the lilies and roses arise Where the touch of thy tenderness pressed me and passed, Forever the face of the Earth justifies The caress of caresses on her heart was the last. No Planet I fear, for I braid in my hair Their delicate lusters, and gleam in the gems Of an infinite Heaven as one who walked there With garments that gathered the Stars to their hems. And the Lord of my conquest is leading me on, Through the depths of the midnight and azure of day. Far out where the footsteps of other Stars run. And the flash of their circlings breaks out into play. SONGS OF THE STARS II Where the Sisters of Heaven revolve in their twains, And the dials of Heaven point over the true Unchangeable grace where the Planets in plains Superbly shine out for their consorts to view. There I go, and never my Sovereign denies, Inconstant, his presence, as planting his feet Serenely on paths of his far-reaching eyes, He watches the globes where they glitter and meet. The gales of the ether blow out of their home. Delightful we float into space and away, O Lord of my loving, where thou callest 1 come. What bond hath the Earth could encom- pass her stay! 12 SONGS OF THE STARS THE COUNTRY OF THE STAR And still my dwellers find me sweet, Still follow where my fearless feet Find footfall into vacant ways That my bright presence first betrays. Through the new fields of days to be I float in azure subtlety, And, with the instincts of a maid, Through Heaven I find the placid shade, Hiding a face delight makes fair, And plunge to cool its gladness there. The words of many a distant sphere Drift into time, and catch my ear, And many a Sister signals me With gesture of exposed beauty Across the light of many a Sea. The maids of Heaven have many a phase Of radiance in their sparkling ways. And many a Song of subtle shade Is in the Heavenly meadows played. In globes of various splendor runs Th' unequal ardor of the Suns; Resplendent in the morning air Flings o'er the Stars its brilliant glare The face of him who wakes to dare. SONGS OF THE STARS 1 3 I on that glittering ancestry Gaze as a Goddess equally; No matter what delightful air Fanned from the glades of anywhere, — Blown from its lair of loveliness, Witching the keep of lost duress, — Flows in mysterious breezes where Some figure trails her wondrous hair; No matter how the Stars entwine Tiaras where their signets shine, And circle other names than mine. Nor if the Lord of some lost way Should blaze with sudden ecstasy. And dash the ardor of his eyes Where some slow watcher waiting flies; Nor matter if a thousand dyes Mix where the light impassioned lies Upon some Planet splendidly — Still is this Heaven a home for me! O what resistless sense to be Swung like a signal out at sea, No dread of wave, nor gloom, nor gale, Nor know no tumult to assail Angelic wings that safely cleave Whatever winds they find and leave. Whatever course of marvelous Sun 14 SONGS OF THE STARS Down the swift glades of Time be run, Whatever answering image lies When conquest turns his burning eyes, What shape, what fragment, what decree Breaks from that cloud Eternity, All is of them, and all of me. I am no Star to wander on Undone, dissevered, and alone; Far on the fringe of all I see Arranged in startling panoply. Far in the realms where grandeur earns Wages of excellence, and burns Perfervid in the glowing urns; — For where the depths of many dyes Flash into their intricacies. And far wherever newness be Is still the flame that floats with me. My heart is as a beacon lit. And I, impassioned, look from it; I love the Heavens and starry eyes That fathom many mysteries; I love the Seas, where changing swim Shadows of floating seraphim. The keen, delicious words they sing Thrill through myself and everything. Remember that we Worlds of bliss SONGS OF THE STARS 1 5 Have most exquisite consciousness; Children of pain keep many sighs Surrounding where their trouble lies; Mortals that hovering come and go Over my heart in ceaseless flow — Forever with low-looking eyes — Keep not our splendid sympathies. But I, I yearn for every Star In all the Worlds that were and are. Where are the dazzling Worlds that swim With beauty bubbling to the brim? Where the translucent Globes that fly Through airs that are a rhapsody, And clouds that can not sink and die? Where are the Seas that flash and foam On confines of resplendent home And, vanquished, beautiful become? Where are the Suns suddenly rise Bent on perfect subtleties And heat of every new emprise? Wherever they, my heart aware Of all that makes their purpose fair Throbs with forever gazing there! Like a sweet Island, swung astream, I float in Heaven, where pass and gleam 1 6 SONGS OF THE STARS Currents and cargoes constantly, Swept in the winds of melody. When in the lull of things I rest, Curtained and couched, a favored guest. And midnight-stars light up the dream That lies in shadow out between Th' exquisite things that are, and seem, O then the passion and delight Of a pure Planet in the sight Of Stars whose very number makes A melody, and Time that takes Mysterious look of Infinite — O then the fate of Earth is fair. And cool the clouds that keep her there! SONGS OF THE STARS FAREWELL OF THE EARTH TO HER SONS Toll slow — toll slow — O let the chimes go Far out from my heart with solemn flow, For the days of the Star Do vanish, and are Where slumber and silence their darkness bestow. For the bells of the Heavens are hanging in spheres That toll to the temper of sorrow and tears. For the Stars of the Heavens are misty with pain That the light of the Earth lies low in the wane. And the Watchers of Heaven, who heard as they passed Call her name where forever they found her at last. On they fly through the infinite shadows in vain. For the face of the Earth is forgotten again — And the Legend of Earth sleeps sound with the slain. 1 8 SONGS OF THE STARS Toll low — toll low — O let the light go With lingering looks on my face and slow, For the colors that fade From my visage were made Where the beautiful things of the past over- flow. O the days that the Earth in her gladness sped by Where the pathways of Heaven are fast in the sky, And the nights when the Earth went aslum- bering soon Because of the fancies that fell from the Moon, And the dusk of her changing, the dusk and delay When the Songs of the Sunset swept out with the day, And the voices of evening in tremor became The heralds to tell all the Stars of her name, O the conquest of Earth, O what charm had decay To steal all the strength of her pleasures away. SONGS OF THE STARS 1 9 But swing the chimes low, And let the words go With the slant of the bells that are heavy and slow, For the bursts of my sighs Where these sorrows arise Shake the symbols of sadness that tremble to know. There were voices of many that girdled in pride All the zones of the earth; lo the Singers all died; Lo the quest of the happy, and the things of the gay Dropped out into darkness and echoed away; They have gone; whither went all the change- able throng That once claimed the Earth with their con- quest and song, Did they take not the secret to me did belong? Did they lean on my bosom, luxurious guest. And steal out the perfume exhaled from my breast? Did they breathe out their love with a tumult of sighs 20 SONGS OF THE STARS That fell with the darkness of rain from my eyes? While I slept did they dally, and vanquish the morn, Have they fled with my favor, and laugh they in scorn — Is the Earth all alone — do the Stars never mourn? Ring low — ring low — O let the tones go Out into the ether with musical flow. For I perish, but still Chance melody will Break over the Heavens to let the Stars know. SONGS OF THE STARS 21 THE POETS PRAISING EARTH My Poets people Isles of Sea, And walk the shores, and sing to me; They watch the waters, where the haze Falls out from Heaven, and floating stays, And, with ecstatic fears that he Should be the Singer loved of me, Each strikes the chords he keenest plays. They chant, and I, begemmed with Song, Bear the blue Islands lightly on, I smooth the Sea, and bring its end Gently to them, whose songs extend. And space floats on, and, like a flower Dew-hung with passion's passing hour, I quiver with suppressed delight, Stirred by the winds that choose the Night, And, Music making time in me, I brush the dewdrops in the Sea, Too happy rise, calling the Day, And Songs and Singers drift away! 22 SONGS OF THE STARS THE SINGER So, from my caverns in the air I watched him when he stopped and sang; I grasped the clouds and held them there, And stole the music while it rang. If some wild Star a tremor made I stirred the clouds and hid the spark, While the swift music stronger played I shut the Heavens, and kept them dark. What need have I of Singer sweet. My ears are dead to pipes and song. My wish is where the distant meet. And vast the shades where I belong. Do 1 stretch on the clouds and dream. Tossed in the tumult of the air. To hear the sound of some small theme Strike on the apparitions there? I turned the shadow of my eyes And made the atmosphere a gloom, I spread my robes on broken skies. And swept them to their midnight home. SONGS OF THE STARS 23 I lashed the feeble Moon away And scorned her crescent flickering, I choked the Wind-words with dismay And asked my Singer then to sing. And when his lips, with sorrow bent. Dropped somber singing, plaintively, From out the rhythm as it went, I, following, snatched the melody. I stole the beauty, and the pain Rang in its shapeless manner on; I drew the dye and left the stain To stamp the making of his Song. Then stood he still : his singing sank To senseless words, said heavily. Still with the thirst of rage I drank The last drop of its harmony. And still I tossed the music back Behind me, to some summer Isles, But him I harassed in the black Shadows I laid in long defiles. O it was joy to see him stand; I have a thousand men to lead, 24 SONGS OF THE STARS I Stormed the Heavens from land to land For him, and whirled the winds with speed. With wraiths of wrath I filled the dome Of all my vault, Immensity, I shut the lights about my home, And smote the Singer angrily. I drove the Winds that wait for me Round their fierce course to gather in Old echoes I had kept to be Sounds of the Songs he did begin. With scorn I scattered them below. They fell incessant, like the rain Of some fresh weeping, and did grow, Watered by them, the sights of pain. I left him; for myself repose Drew from the Stars he could not see: I slept in Heaven, and when arose The Sun, misled him craftily. I drew the glittering Orb away And rolled him down on pleasant plain, Content was at the bridle way, And beauty drove the treacherous twain. SONGS OF THE STARS 2^ I gave the Sun delight and ease, And he, the wily Monarch, smiled And slacked the pace, and took the peace, And looked not for his lands exiled. But I to savage brooding turned, And laid my hands on heavy knees Till the low clouds with rancor churned Distempered through the dripping trees. There is a terror of the air, A darkness of the very Orb, There is a time when touch is where It feels a frightened silence throb. And he was there: I poured the dye Of terrible temper on the world. And tore the vestiges of sky From the scared patches where they whirled. And sat me down, nearly content; These were the things I chose to give; Hark! little sound that shivering went Away, wast thou the last to leave? 26 SONGS OF THE STARS SONG OF THE POET Was ever my Soul on the swell of the ether? And did it descend in the circle of Mars? O why on my lips are the Songs of a believer, And why through my brain is the dance of the Stars? Was it I, of a sudden, from somewhere de- scended. Who fell, as a Planet unceasingly swings. And flies with her magical motion extended, And clings with her feet to the quivering strings? Ah! never! the music was played or was spoken; Went into the drift of the ether, and there Lies out on the edges of Heaven all broken. And lies on my lips but the earth — and de- spair! But the magnets of Heaven, ever busy in winding All the jewels of Heaven in glitter and play, SONGS OF THE STARS 27 Are they still? O why will they never be finding The flash of the Earth-Star and bear it away? Away and away with the wings of the mid- night, That carry the Stars when their musical rounds Flash into the keys, and pull them in delight Out over the ether in exquisite sounds. For the world is fast, and it swings and swings And seeks for the sensitive, quivering strings — And almost stops till the melody rings. Be still! I am a Poet mad; With tongue of torment, and a name Struck from the World it should have had, And doubt, and wretchedness, and flame Of hatred for the things that give Delight to people where I live. With heart of Song, and lips that bleed Because they tear the terrible weed Of rottenness, and bitter, sad Are all the sounds I ever had. 28 SONGS OF THE STARS Why can I never stop and tear The thing within that's always there And hurl it out into the air? If with a savage World I stood Once in a savage solitude; Once never heard within my heart Mysterious music plays its part; Knew that I was a crime within, And heard my lips their tales begin; O if I could look out and see The World in storm, and then in me Heard the same sound of misery — If once the lyre snapped in my heart, could my lips then learn their part? 1 hate to be something within That is as gentle as a Star Dipped where the sea and air begin, That will not move from where they are. That keeps by Heaven and keeps by land- And is what Angels understand — And then with level lips that close Determined over all that flows From some imagined World to me, Stand in a vexed World sullenly — And vex it still with obstinacy. SONGS OF THE STARS 29 I am a Poet mad, with tongue That knows the speech of Heaven, and smote Last night in Heaven, as Angels sung The secrets of my lips, and wrote Words on the echoes of their air. And was, O bliss, a Poet there! It was the sounds of slumbering, This is the World, I can not sing: There's nothing overhead, the Sky Gleams with a rancorous subtlety; There's not a Star dares gird its dance. No Planet springs her bold entrance, Shame on their faces! they refuse! Could Beauty ever give excuse? Ah! Wind and Cloud, I know where none, Not even you, will dare to come, A gulf that lies stretched openly — Refusing nothing — O the Sea! My heart sinks with its sounds in thee! But the World floats on, and swings and swings. And waits for the silver sound of the strings — And my Heart holds tight, and to it clings. ********* 30 SONGS OF THE STARS I wept, and the soft rain of tears Washed through the darkness at my feet, And he, the passionate Singer, hears My heart-throbs in their hurried beat. Slowly the burdened clouds I break In pieces, and, with pallid face. One after one of the Stars I take And burnish in its glittering place. THE DREAM It may be that the things that live By some exceeding subtle Star Swept to the Planet where I stayed. And drew me, with words they made Over a new unfinished bar, Out to their homes, where Music hung In air — and down the Stars distinctly rung. Or was it that a Spirit dyed The mists of morn, and overlaid The edge of Earth, and rolled the tide For once as other Worlds were made? And broke the sequence of the Sea, SONGS OF THE STARS 3 1 And jarred the air with mystic time, And while it scattering came, he played The Songs of Stars and gave them me ? Stars where the cloud-heaps float in foam Of some peculiar light that will But scintillate, and keep its own Expression and its movement still; Where clouds love music, and exist Stretched sensitive upon the air. And things no Song of ours would dare From out the lips of Singers flow, And float in Heaven, and from them go — tell me, was it into these Extremely furnished harmonies I strayed, And listened while the music played — Or even did I hear it here Sound in the Earth's real atmosphere? 1 know that Singers stretch their strings In dews of morn, and from the night Splash out their liquid murmurings, And dip their fingers in delight Through the cool things of Earth, and fling. There in the com.ing of the Day, What words he loves and bears away. 32 SONGS OF THE STARS I know that ears are ever tuned To catch the sonnets of the Sun, And lips are begging nights that mooned Full-figured, waver in replies Fantastic things to following eyes — And he who sings exactly these Is Poet — with his mysteries. What care I though the Gates of Day, Swift moving with their golden bars Thrown wide on roads that bear way The Night, and Moon and thousand Stars- And there reflecting in the Sun Stand opening wide to every one — Should never pass me, and I lay Shut in by night, and dawn, and day. What care I if the Sentinel Should never know me, as, aflame With touches of the hastening Stars, And flying skirt of desperate Moon, He draws too close the Day and soon; Nor care I though his glorious eyes. Forever glittering in pursuit Of him who trails the dew-damp foot, Should sweep me with their vivid stare, And find me strange, and leave me there. SONGS OF THE STARS 33 If I must barken as they go, The things that make me love them so, And watch them, when their fluttering hands Make signet of the signs they know To pass him where he nodding stands. The strange old Ward of Earth and Lands; — If I must catch the words of tune The Stars sing in the ring of Moon, To charm him as they drift away The thousandth time in face of Day, And with no trace themselves, betray; — The thousandth time if I must say Whatever words they're answering, Words of the kind he seems to know. To please him ere he let me go — Forgive him that did keep me so — And smite the lips he says shall flow, — Then through the shadows of the deep Sweep on, ye Stars, and let me keep Unhappy watch through Gates of Day While ye, ye Wanderers, steal away. Sometime some Maid of Heavenly race, Too eager for the purple deep, With laugh of parting, and a pace That speeds with print of fluttering feet 34 SONGS OF THE STARS The edge of Morn, shall delicate Entangle with the speech she gives A word of Heaven, and I by fate Shall catch the country where she lives. And then, because I find out where A path is in the Clouds, and when Delight is summering through the air With Stars that hide themselves, and then, Far from the fretful eyes of Day, Disrobe and in the darkness play, — Ah! then, perhaps if I should be Chanced with th' impulsive company That press the gates and throng the ways Again where the old Warder stays. And looks and wonders while the Sun Keeps panting with the path he's on. Ah! then, perchance because my lips Have really breathed the midnight sky. And touched the faintest cloud that tips The fluttering Moon as she goes by. It might be that delight would make My memory willing, and I say The common words he loves to take When out he swings the Gates of Day. SONGS OF THE STARS 31; Keep on, ye Singers, who divide The quarters of the Earth, and string Content your chords, and play beside The ways the World is wandering. Shall I be with you, or away Risk in the shapes of Sky and Cloud The strangeness of my Songs, and stay Far from the courts where listeners crowd In circles where the Poets play? None answer: and I can not hear, When with a desperate, struggling wing I fan my Songs, and they appear Lost in the mighty murmuring That clouds the roads from Star to Star- Can only see them fade, and far Toss through the depths where terrors are. It is my secret, and — afraid To settle when your wings of peace Rest where the Earth has shores of ease, And where the Pipes of Songs have played So long the very Seas are said To sing the sands into a tune — I shall, with shadow of the Moon, And swift-winged Stars in fiery bands. 36 SONGS OF THE STARS Vanish from where he always stands — That strange old Ward of Earth and Lands- Clamoring for words he understands. THE DREAMERS My love, why should we test the Earth? Why Folly bind us, and we cling Atempering on the edge of Mirth? Thou are not kind in answering. Why not? The Stars are very near. And we so lightly stationed wait, Come, shall we venture? Is it fear. Or loving, keeps thee hesitate? It is not I exacts delay. And thou, 'tis marvelous to me Feeling thy form in the Earth-winds sway, For the dead Earth is strange to thee. There are no airs around us near, Hist thee, my Love, lo everything Falls from the Stars, and faintly here Drops from the Stars their questioning. SONGS OF THE STARS 37 Lo, all the gentle things have gone, The flutes have flown, ah! why not we? The Poets sang, and, one by one. Paced from the groves of Arcady. Look in their dead aisles through the breeze. There's echo only, and decay Stirs all the stoppage of the trees To blot the feet that went away. See! 'tis the treachery of the Sun To steal his touches on the eyes Of stark dead marbles, and to run His fingers through infirmities. Ah! when he's finished with the face Of Beauty, see how cold she lies, Her wet cheek moulded into place, That Earth should show her agonies. And still thou'rt constant? Here I chide And all th' unhappy signets show. And yon the Stars arise and glide In safety, and in pleasure glow. Yon are the Stars, and they go thronging, And we are here, with feet astill. 38 SONGS OF THE STARS And watch them pass, and they go longing, And their old paths they upward fill. 'Tis I — my fault — myself alone — So little, and dispassionate; My Song is only undertone. Thou wantest — I, unable, wait. Can I not change thee? Never yield Thee music that will move thy feet? And never take thee where the field Of midnight will the music meet? Come Love: the winds of ancient nights Strike on the Earth, and rise, and flow Mixed with still ancienter delights That struggle from their memory slow. Like an intense, mysterious air That startles, and becalms again. The households of the Planets there Open their doors, and close, and then — We look and listen in the dark, And they, invisibly within. Stand in their homes, and but the spark Of answer glovv^s where they had been. SONGS OF THE STARS 39 And SO they cherish, and deceive, And do forget when we would know; And yet, O Love, before they leave. This is the air with them will go. They spread their hands, and move and stay, Finding the steps that thread the clouds; They stop, and vanish, and delay, And stand intent in splendid crowds. See how their burdened figures climb. Slowly with waiting, overhead, And then, like words that catch the rhyme. Rush out, in faster music led. We can not keep them : still they come. Refreshed from some unknown descent. And pale with longing far from home. And dazzled when they homewards went There is the movement of their gait. See, shall we hasten and entwine Our garments round the Winds that wait Impatient where the Stars decline? Lo, every ripple of the Sea Runs o'er the brink, and goes away, 40 SONGS OF THE STARS Slips from its sleepless bed, and we, Also awake, gaze on, and stay. Look! Every name of Passion's there, And every glory that the Sun Saw done in any summer air Died out the road the Stars are on! And we remain: and still the Day Unseals his record from the Night, And scatters, like an heir, away His testament the Stars did write: — And all the riches hoarded by Dishonored fade, and he, the Sun, Reels up a flaring edge of sky And we — O Love, we've gone! we've gone! SONGS OF THE STARS 41 THE DREAM SONG At last, at last, With wing in the wind. And wind in the depths of Heaven, And face in the flash of the Stars as they passed, And eyes where the Stars are Seven ; At last where the Moon, with its silver sphere. Swings swift round the Earth, and flies so near I laugh lest the men in the World should see The cold white Globe come threateningly. At last on the edge of the purple dark The whirl of my wings is free, And I chase at my will a great white spark That always appeared to me Like a flame cast into the Sky, and kept By something invisibly: Fast, fast through the lights, and the shadows and rain Of the Star-drops that disappear out in the plain I vanish, and faster forever I gain. 42 SONGS OF THE STARS My love and myself at last in the Sky And its passionate sights of intensity; For I pant and I palpitate thinking of when I stood on the Earth and looked up at the Sky, And sighed for the beautiful Stars, that were then Dissevered and far in their mystery: O the trouble, and passion, and tears of the Day That spotted the Earth, in its dust of decay, That fiercely drank down of my sorrows alway: But I live by the Stars, and they flame and they fade Wherever my quest of desire is made. And never, since them, am I lost or afraid. But the Love of the Stars! O the atmosphere They kept from the Earth, and concealed in the Sky! When I loved on the Earth, my love was dear, And the kiss of the Earth was an alchemy; But the Stars, O the luminous Stars are where Love's never afraid, for his vesture there M^ill the lips never weave what the heart will not wear. SONGS OF THE STARS 43 DANCING STARS I know not where, I know not where The Earth is round, and still The Stars will love the midnight air. And sparkling dance their fill; I know not where they glide away, Nor how they pass the Sea, And come again when tired Day Asks for their melody. I know not how their sweet embrace Is constant, and how true Each sees at morn the lovely face At eve each lover knew; I know not how they whirl and float So surely through the Sky, And never lose a moment's note In all the minstrelsy. I can not tell, and know not whose Eyes are enchanted there. Nor how the magic maidens choose Their steps into the air; I only know that weary lies 44 SONGS OF THE STARS The daring of the Sun, Who murmurs while the wave replies — And still the Stars dance on! SONG OF THE ISLANDS IN THE SEA Shine on, you Stars, but know that we Are still the Islands in the Sea; We know you while you rise and bound From the dead underworld, and round Swift Heaven whirl on impatiently. Searching the Seas and shores where we Appearing keep serenity. We are the Islands of the Sea To sing you still forever home When you revisit us, and come From out the dreadful underdome With shadows on your slumbering eyes, And open them into our skies. Here we await on conquered Seas, Stretched under clouds that float like these, And here in quiet caverns shine Our faces, and those eyes of thine. L.of SONGS OF THE STARS 45 Deep where the land lies under Sea The eyes of love pierce ardently: Who were the lovers would not meet In thoughts that tangle up the feet? And whose the lip tastes not the rose On lips, that from the bosom grows? We are the Islands of the Sea, And sound the World with melody: Why is it that there always stand Listening ashore along the land Poets, who strive to catch the glee That breaks adrift from Isles of Sea. We are the Queens of Song, who keep Courts on the circuits of the deep, And if our Songs should ever be Sung harsh, we send them over Sea, There, rippling scattered o'er the wave, They sweeter come than when we gave. The old, deep Sea draws down the weight Of sadness, and on palpitate The rhythms of our unknown air To land, and find the listeners there. As the swift Stars within the tide Of Heaven astream, we Islands glide 46 SONGS OF THE STARS Voluptuous leagues of rounded Seas Caressed when Love can keenest please: When Dawn is young, and shyly breaks We lie await till rose-lip takes, And when adark the water steals The Sea-Isle thrills and conquest feels: O wind and blossom, Sun and smile. You reach us first on far-hung Isle, And still whatever Music strays Away, the sweetest ever stays. Why is it that the palms decline Softer a-sea than shore, are thine? Why is it that the fervid deep Refused our blossoming selves to keep. And, burst on struggles of the tide. We rose to Heaven, and lightly ride? Kept on the compass of the Sea We never know monotony, For cloud and Sun, and hungered breeze Blow ever through our floating trees, And ever, thirsting deep the taste Of flowers, for us the Sea-winds haste. We are the Islands of the Sun, The sweetest ever dreamed upon; SONGS OF THE STARS 47 For Seas can dream, and lying there With all the midnight on the air, With all the Stars so very still, And all the clouds at rest, until There's nothing that could hear a Song— The waves in slumbering slip along. We are the Isles where color stays. And where the burnished stroke of days Rings on the gilded globe of Sun The echo of his numbers done: We are the Isles where sonnets gleam Down in the darkness of the stream, And while the Stars enchanted sing Sonnets flash up in answering. O Islands in the Purple Sea Fear not to drift on any shore, Nor ever fear exquisitely Thy Songs shall fade, and sound no more: Where would the eager lips of Day Ope in the morn, and where would rhyme Beat its delicious roundelay By any shores, if not on thine? Where would the tired Stars alight From the vast plains they're flying through. And, weary-winged, rest when the Night 48 SONGS OF THE STARS Slips out beyond themselves and you? Couch of the Moon, and dream of Star, O Isles where all the World can rest, And all that journey by you are With secret of your parting blest. Ye are but magnets in the air Polished by glory of the Sun, Swung o'er the Seas, ye islands fair, To draw the eyes the Seas upon: To tempt the heart of all the shore Out into your uncertain tide, And lead all love that went before Still on, and gather more beside. We are the Isles where Music lies Almost unstrung, so very low Languish impulsive harmonies Into the faintest sounds they know: Where something keeps the strings apart, And all the passion playing there Is timid, that the very heart Of Love lies beating on the air! We are the Isles — not very far — Look on our bosoms bared for thee, Come, see our willing footsteps are SONGS OF THE STARS 49 Imprinted pleading in the Sea; We watch the clouds that keep the shore, And sing the little sails afloat, And believing draw the shallops o'er Incessant, with our silvery note. Shine on, ye Stars, but always know Sea-Isles are waiting here below; Ye ply the paths of Heaven, and we Hold something shining in the Sea, In Heaven whenever you shall pass We keep your journey in the glass, Leagues of the Sea you come and go. And all your wanderings will we know. With arms entwined from shore to shore We glide, and singularly pour Mysterious passion of our Song On Souls that unto us belong; We signal, piercing to the eyes. And eagerly the helmsman plies His circles that shall sweep him near. And traffics swiftly over here. Lost to the land, forever gone. Never returned is anyone; And if their eyes shall ever be 50 SONGS OF THE STARS With Stars reflecting in the Sea — And if their eyes shall ever gaze In Heaven, where still the starlight plays- And if their eyes should then forget, And vanish unforgotten, yet Still on their lips would lingering be The Songs they heard in Isles of Sea. We are the Isles of Sea, and twine Our passion into words divine — And still the Stars look on and shine. VOX HUMANA Chanting by the sunset. Singing in the dawn. Playing through the Heavens While the sails blow on. Dipping in the amethyst Effusions of the sky The temper of our instruments As close the shades go by; Striking from the gentled chords Every bewildering note That haunted all the happy sounds SONGS OF THE STARS 5 1 That every Poet wrote, Watching the clouds caught in the strings Break into melody, And scatter through the atmosphere, And drop into the Sea; Floating the music up and down Where every ripple blows, We are the Singers of the air, And watch it where it goes. We see it tangle in the Stars And die into the night, And hear the laughter of the Souls Who passed it in delight, We see them stop, as, one by one. They turn, listening again, And hear, bearing our strings away. Their anxious sighs of pain: We sow the secret of our Songs Far out into the Sky, And eagerly the blossoms blow About the country high. And we, inclined upon the Winds, Chant in the scented air, And all the World is still to catch The hidden Singers there. 52 SONGS OF THE STARS THE VANISHED SONG Idly afloat on Seas of Rhyme, With sails in slumber on the air, And eyes that watch the careless time Beating monotonously there, Silent, alone on a lost Sea, Far from the Sun, afar from Shore, And far from Stars that dimly be Still far from where the Stars are more. Forever lulled, forever heard The sounds that colors bring the Wave, Forever waiting, never word From me, for everything they gave. Doomed into silence, undismayed Indulgence from the helpless Seas To fathom, and to see betrayed Secrets to scatter when I please. Shall I return, and Music bring? Deceive the wandering Stars and steal Back while their lips enchanted ring. And in the Sun their Songs reveal? — When I go back, if in my eyes The Songs of Stars are hovering. They fall unspoken, and there lies Silence on me, although they sing. DEC 12 1904