^^<^ rM!^: ^^ 54 PaatttttF /TT HEY say he was a jolly man, ^^ This grandsir' whom I never saw. When all my aims flash in the pan, When days are dark and airs are raw, A joke bursts somewhere in my brain. And I can laugh and sing again. I say, "perhaps this merry whim Is my inheritance from him." But then, what legacy began To yield the income I can draw ? I'm glad he was a jolly man. This grandsir' whom I never saw. 59 "Wl A J^rttttnn for (Suaritau (A Scene in the Probate Court.) pray for a guardian over your son. is name is — ah — Joseph ? Is this man the one? " " No, Jedge ; that is William, the one that should be Guardeen to his brother. Here's Joseph, by me." "Well, hold up your hand . . . Now what is the ground > Is the young man a spendthrift? Non compos? Unsound? " " Well, Jedge, he's peculiar. Was always jes so Sence he was a leetle one, larnin' to go. 60 PASTIME Can't call him a fool, for he knows a big heap ; But it ain't any value to sell or to keep. It's all about ' beaut}^ ' and ' love ' and ' devotion ' And glories of airth and the stars and the ocean. He thinks he hears voices that hold him from sleepin' ; And sperrits are round him and he's in their keepin'. He's chipper by spells ; but he's full of his moods. He'll hang his head down and not speak fer an hour. I've sent him on arrants, in spring, through the woods, And he'd get on his knees to every flower. Nor yet he ain't lazy: he never would shirk. When any's in trouble, my sakes ! how he'll work ! But he'll work jest as quick for a man 'at can't pay As if he was gettin' his dollar a day. Nor he ain't jest a spendthrift. But what can ye call it ? He'll be ragged and give the last cent in his wallet. " He stood t'other day with a coin in his hand. 'Whose money's this ' ere ? ' says he, turnin' to me. 61 NORTH FLOWERS Says I, ' It's the dollar ye airnt on the land. Ain't it yourn if ye airnt it? ' '1 airnt it,' said he, ' But the dollar ain't mine. If 1 keep it it's curst : It belongs to the fellow that needs it the worst — And I'm goin' to find him.' And so he put off. 'Twant never no use to laugh or to scoff. I'm old, and I'll shortly be laid on the shelf, And Joseph ain't fit to look out for himself. But William is diff'nt,— takes after his dad. Bill's got the fust penny that ever he had ! He always took boot when he swapped with the boys, Till he scooped all their jack-knives and trinkets and toys. He's smarter'n a trap, if 1 say it as oughtn't, And the hook can't be baited so Bill can be caught on't. And I've often told Joseph, if he'd be like Bill, I'd do by 'em both jest alike in my will. But I've gi'n it all up ; and its plain to be seen, Joe'll never be nothin', 'less Bill is guardeen." 62 PASTIME The Judge sat awhile, with a far-away look, Then took up his docket and wrote in the book. "I've found this question unusually hard. It is, which should be guardian, which should be ward. I shall give the appointment to William," said he, "But, the chances are. Heaven will reverse the decree." 63 ^fHE lawyer, intent at his table, ^^ Held Chitty apart by a leaf, While his quill ran creaking and straining Down the driest page of his brief. A footfall — the rickety stairway Groaning each step like sin — A silence of hesitation — And his visitor ventured in. " I've bargained my woodland, lawyer, And want the deed made out ; I fetched the old one with me, To give the bounds about." The squire took up the paper And read, in hurried tones, 64 PASTIME " Beginning, for a corner, At a stake in a pile of stones, Thence northward (rods so many). Thence east (so many more), Thence south to a brook called Miller's, And back along the shore " — Then he rose and went to the window. Rubbing his glasses hard, And stared at the mating robins In the elms across the yard. " Yes, yes ! I know this woodland, — It's many and many a year, — Perambulated it, in fact. (This deed, though, isn't clear. ) 1 saw it last in the summer Before I was twenty-one ; But I can tell today, sir. How the boundaries ought to run : 65 NORTH FLOWERS Beginning in the shadow Of a low-boughed maple-tree, Thence winding up a thicket As far as you can see ; Turn at the leaning bar-way, Follow a lane of flowers To a corner kept by squirrels, Where the sun sleeps hours and hours Then take the mossy foot-path Adown the alder dale. Hung over by the birches, Crossed by the rabbit's trail, — Beside the brook that lingers Along a dusky glen With here and there a whisper, And a trout-leap now and then, — As far as two may wander In the twilight, heart in heart,^ And back to the bound begun at For a place to kiss and part." 66 PASTIME He stood and watched the robins, And one particular pair That seemed to be having a quarrel In the elm-tree over there. But the farmer had gone ; and his neighbors That took the farmer's say Debated the squire's insanity For a twelve-month and a day. 67 TgfHE farmer, leaning beside his fence, ^^ Believed my book a rogue's pretence. I did not read the briefest word ; Yet all its rhymes in the brook I heard. I lay an hour by the southern wall And watched the sun-bright apples fall ; I rifled his meadows, green and gold, Of more than his bulky barns would hold ; And I met him again in the lane at night ; But my hands were empty, my pockets light, And how could he see in the dusk of day That I bore the best of his farm away? 68 ®I|r f 0mt of Ut^te "A common scold, communis matrix, (for the law-latin confines it to the feminine gender), is a public nuisance to her neighborhood, for which offence she may be indicted." Blackstone's Commentaries, vol, iv, p. 168. ^TlS only woman, we are told, ^^ Can be in law a common scold. My! won't the definitions vary When woman makes the dictionary ! 69 9 iJl0tt0 for an Atl|bttr flllub {The Odyssey, VllI, 14 7-8.) N all his life no praises more sweet A mortal commands Than those that he wins by the speed of his feet, By the might of his hands. 70 Maahs ICabtJ 0f Sr^antfi /TtjlY Lady goes to the dance to-night ; ^*^ Her feet glide free and her eyes glance bright, But her heart, says she. Is away with me. Where I dream and dream in the dim firelight ; For she swears she is mine While the true stars shine. And I call her My Lady of Dreams divine. So while some fellow of excellent taste Is whirling her round and round by the waist, I am holding her white, ethereal hand, (All quite by myself, as you understand,) And trying m.y hardest to make it appear The girl he is whirling is really here. 75 NORTH FLOWERS Where we dream and dream in the crimson glow, And music breathes from the books we know, And she swears she is mine While the true stars shine, And I call her My Lady of Dreams divine,. 76 ® 'O what sum total has my Hfe amounted, If I should die to-night ? Erase for once all that conceit has counted, And set the column right : A few free words in hated causes uttered That earned me hisses hot ; One fervid speech, whereat the crowd first muttered, Then cheered — and then forgot ; A song or two some friend, — perhaps some stranger, — Heard as he hurried by ; And three safe flowers plucked from life's nettle danger, — Three hearts that v/ould not lie. 77 NORTH FLOWERS There. If death came, with hand remorseless, rigid, To cast my sum to-night. He could not take away the poorest digit. The meagre score is right. 78 (§n (f uttttng a Snnm j|l CANNOT leave thee, little room, unblessed; ^ Though here I brought the latest and the worst Of life's deep wounds. Here I have watched the first Great star of night proceeding slowly west ; Here I have lain and let the moonlight rest Upon my dreaming face, yet waked uncursed; Here I have broken fast and slaken thirst, And thou has been the host and I the guest. And so I quit thee not ungratefully. Oh when I leave this narrower room some day Wherein my soul finds hospitality, A place to love and suffer, dream and pray — Tasting the bitter herbs of memory. Shall I give thanks before I turn away? 79 1 RING not from fame's unconquered realm The laurel or the ivy leaf ; But twine the maple with the elm, Fit for a modest grief ; And these will make a garland dear To him who knew and loved them here. Strew not the lily nor the rose : One is too pure, and one too proud. If on his bed the daisy grows, He'll know her in his shroud. Her face was sweetest to his eyes Of all that smiled beneath the skies 80 MOODS And if you wish to give him praise Such as would please him if he heard, Bring back from all his busy days One kindly deed or word. Of all he wrought with hand or brow Tis only such he prizes now. 81 jSfcEE, my love is lying dead, "^ Dead and buried in the snow. They have prankt her pretty head With the flowers of long ago, Long ago ! Sweet, how can you slumber so. And the wedding word unsaid? Youth himself is dead and gone. Dead and buried in the snow Where you sleep, my dainty one. With his blossoms lying lov/. Lying low ! While I v/ake and weep you so, Sweet, how can you slumber on? 82 Ol0Utttrg A 0I|^ ISp^iubltr {Chicago, 1892-3.) There is a mystery .... in the soul of state, Which hath an operation more divine Than breath or pen can give expressure to." [Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Scene J.] GAINST the gray horizon-rim Her figure looms, august and dim. And strong winds blow the mist of lakes From off colossal brow and limb. Around her chair, before her feet. The multitudinous nations meet ; The ocean of their voices breaks In many-murmuring music sweet 87 NORTH FLOWERS As when, upon his column's throne, The sculptured victor sits alone. Nor sees his never-ending train, The circling triumph, climb the stone,— She sits, nor sees the endless train Whose thronging triumph fills the plain, Nor how the lost Hellenic wand Is waved about her seat again. Till lake and marsh, lagoon and isle. Smitten, with sudden beauty smile. And long-forgotten glories stand In tower and dome and peristyle. She sees her primal rivers pour ; She sees her waving forests hoar, And round her unascended peaks Her warring eagles swoop and soar. 88 COUNTRY Unmoved she sits, with solemn chin Upon her breast, and broods within, Tasting the salt of ancient tears, The bitterness of what has been. Her hands are clasped across her knees, Around her rise the hymns of peace ; She hears them not — upon her ears The storms of battle swell and cease. The saviors of her doubtful day Are with her in her dreams, and they That lacked the sinews, not the will, To wrench her scepter-staff away. ( Slowly her strength the Titan learns, Dimly her dawning fate discerns ; She was conceived in strife, and still The birth-mark on her forehead burns .) 89 NORTH FLOWERS How few the living ranks appear To her, with whom the dead are near, — As if, across her miles of corn, She dropt the kernels of an ear. She hears the spirit bugles peal ; Her buried armies rise and wheel, Marshalled by men with lion look And lips that close like steel with steel. And who are these like millions more ? They burst the era's bounteous door ; They led the lakes into the sea ; They bowed the mountain to the shore. And sailors brown salute her now. And stubborn hands that steered the plow. And judges, sure and leveled-eyed. And sober statesmen, broad of brow, 90 COUNTRY And prophets at whose wakening word The sluggard age's venom stirred, (They move serene and valiant still, Nor even now their loins ungird,) And that dark race whose wrongs suffice To weigh its freedom's peerless price, — A people lifted out of chains With might of mingled sacrifice. And some who made their mortal beds Where Fame her flower unfading sheds, And many, nameless now, that bear Like heroes their unlaureled heads, And scholars, lone amid the throng, And — crowned with lilies, borne along On the triumphal tide of souls— The pure and lowly lords of song, 91 NORTH FLOWERS By whom the holy Muses wrought Their unresisted will, and taught Her night of tears and starless gloona The brightness that her dawn has brought. All hail her, as in days that were, And feel the patriot pulses stir, And long to leave their heaven again, Again to live and die for her. She hears the proud empyrean tone Blent with the prairie's, upward thrown,— Her nation's shout, a trumpet blast In long reverberate thunders blown. She hears and smiles in slow surprise ; Her limbs to awful stature rise ; The sunlight trembles in her hair. And all the future fills her eyes. 92 COUNTRY Maiden, in whom our iiearts believe, With whom we hope, or faint, or grieve. Oh, tell us what those radiant, rapt And far-off gazing eyes perceive ! She sees the last war-flag unfurled. Fear and oppression hellward hurled, The smiling ages, hand in hand, That wait to bring the better world, — One law, one love, one liberty. One light that beams from sea to sea. From morning land to evening land. The splendor of the time to be ! 93 3xxmh^ \ 3?famtng tli^ ®ab^ (H OME, name the child, my Dear. What's in a name? Yet we are moulding now the speech of men ; For, oh, how many, many thousand times This name will be pronounced in days to come ! — With tender iterations of the home. With every fond addition and sweet change That love delights in,— crooned in cradle song. Then shouted on the green by boys at play. Then murmured softly, under moon and stars. By lips that make it music, — then, ah me ! Bandied about the rude ways of the town, In praise and blame, from kindliness to scorn. 97 NORTH FLOWERS And blown, perhaps, world-wide for ill or good, — Spoken at last, one day, v/ith awed, hushed breath, Then treasured in a few fond, faithful hearts, Read a few years upon a low, white stone, And then forever, evermore forgot ! So name the child, my Dear. What's in a name ? 98 ^ Hullahg LEEP, my baby, all the night ! Star and star for candle-light Shining softly all about. Not a breeze to blow them out. Not a saucy cloud but soon Sails from off the placid moon. Moon and star the watch will keep Go to sleep ! Go to sleep ! Go to sleep, my baby dear : Never fear ! If the wind blow out the light, — LofC.^ 99 NORTH FLOWERS If the moon go out of sight, All the hours of dark and dew Will the mother watch by you. Mother still her babe will keep Go to sleep ! Go to sleep ! 100 % i£t (tavern (jput Sit AS life to this my little boy, An underflow of hidden joy? Often, the house in silence deep, I hear him laughing in his sleep. 'Tis such a happy, gurgling sound !- As if the river of his dream Had overleaped some silver bound That broke the tenor of its stream, Had sparkled in the sun, and then Glided away in shade again. 101 FIRESIDE Laugh on, unheeding, not unheard, Like some unseen, untroubled bird That sings his song and never knows What hearts are Hghtened as it flows. Thank God for laughter ! Later years That thank Him for the gift of tears Shall hold the boons of equal worth, And bless Him for the gift of mirth. 102 Snb^rt ^tnrlatr ^taffori {September 20, 1894— May 24, 1901.) WJ'E shall not miss thee less but more, ^^^ For ever more, O silent little son, As our dull days go on, Each finding hope's predicted deeds undone, Losing some field of joy thy presence would have won, We shall not lose our memory's blessed store. We see thee as before, — Nothing inert, The bright blue eyes alert. 103 NORTH FLOWERS And light feet on the poise to skip and run, The thin lips curling into fairy fun, And brow whose promise large was read of every one. Oh paradox of misery ! For sudden sorrow smiled, Seeing thou didst but pause To be for aging hearts the sweet, immortal child. / Not thee, dear little lad, we lost not thee ; But we have lost the man that never was And never was to be. 104 Qlirlum nnn Animum iHutmtt TiTROM sky to sky they pass with soul unchanged. ^^ My love would find them in the furthest star. I feel their love for me, however far, In unimagined fields, their feet have ranged. Spirit from spirit cannot be estranged, And hearts will touch if all the worlds would bar. Blessed be God ! who made us as we are. To pass from heaven to heaven with love unchanged. Two souls, to me and to each other dear, My father and my child, before me stand. From happy places coming, hand in hand. It is not memory makes the sight so clear ; It is not hope that brings them smiling near ; It is love's answer unto love's demand. J 05 ^TRUE little mother with eyes sedate, ^^ Dear little gray-wing bird, Whose heart was never from nest or mate By the tiniest tremor stirred. While I was singing how still you sate ! Oh quiet one, have you heard? 106 i^bctuin He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.' ECAUSE I have dared to be true To the voice of the God that within me Said, "Thou art my son ; thou shalt do My will ; by thy life I will win me Thy brothers, my sons, to be true : " Because I have dared to endure Bitter hate, and the bitterer chiding Of love, — few following, fewer Believing the word and abiding : Because I have kept the truth pure : ;;; NORTH FLOWERS Because I have bowed to forego The power and the passion of living, That the Hfe of The Father might so Be revealed, not receiving but giving, — To love being more than to know : Once let me be given to see And be glad of my travail of spirit, — Of the hope that was hidden in Thee, The hope that the ages inherit, That the world should love God, loving me. I have seen. I am ready to die. I have founded Thy kingdom unending. I have borne the world's curse and its cry. Thy peace like a dove is descending. Now 1 pray not the cup should pass by. 112 (§ DOUBTING heart, if God is love, Ttie resurrection morn is sure. death, if God is less than love, Make thou the sepulcher secure. ijj /|^ FRIEND, the sun your light may be ^^ And mine the glow-worm's spark ; Yet must I follow where I see The light amid the darl<:. And surely He that gave to me This lantern strange and dim Can show the way by night or day That leadeth unto Him. 114 1' Mtl}ixlh tl|? Bag (January J, 1 901.) EH OLD the day The Lord sends down, — his dearest, Most beautiful of all about his throne. With azure eyes the sweetest and severest, Far-flaming sword and silver wings far-flown ! His naked foot is on the mountain nearest, His golden trumpet to his lips upthrown ; And for thine ears, O world, if thou but hearest, The summons of the century is blown : " The word of truth, that shake th all foundations, The word of love, that maketh all its own. The word of beauty, crown of all creations — These shalt thou hear and heed, and these alone. Love, Truth and Beauty — for all tribes and nations Be these the names whereby our God is known ! " 113 lUnto nnh ireams Ji TOOK my morning harp, well tuned, and went ^-^ By budding forest and white ocean-side,— Wherever pleasure laughed or labor plied His heavy task,— touching my instrument To every lyric which the god had sent ; But not one singer to my song replied ; At never-open doors the music died ; No weary back from its low toil unbent. So at high noon 1 sat, and let song thrill My heart in silence, where men hurried by. Then one swift figure of the throng stood still. And with imperious tone said, " Sing." And 1 On trembling knees made answer : " Love, I will ; But take thy sweet eyes from me, lest I die.'' 119 ICnh? Sliirtral ^ OMEWHERE she waits my coming Somewhere the wind out blows Her raiment Hke a river ; Somie over-happy rose Dies in her maiden bosom ; Some bed her beauty knows. And I, against that morning When I shall find her fair, Upon her mouth the springtime, The summer in her hair, And in her eyes a midnight When all the stars are there, — 120 LOVE AND DREAMS Against that wondrous morning, My sorrow's crown or cure, I store my soul with music To make my wooing sure, And sue the holy angels To keep me strong and pure. And when at last I find her Upon her virgin throne, I know her lips will answer With words we know alone,— Will welcome and salute me. If all the world disown. 121 NORTH FLOWERS ^IJJINTER still his load is bearing, '^^ Lady mine. Of the springtime hither faring, Bud and blade and blossom wearing, Of the red-breast lovers pairing, Not a sign. But your coming is a guerdon Richer-fine ; And my heart has cast its burden, Lady mine ! Lady mine ! Not a love earth-born and mortal, Lady mine. Makes my pulse at every portal Leap, like wine ; 'Tis a spirit bond that never 122 LOVE AND DREAMS Years or seas or stars may sever, All divine, — Love that maketh one forever, Lady mine ! Lady mine ! 123 NORTH FLOV/ERS III. /|P^H blessed bough I may not see, ^-^ Though evermore the April blow, To-day my Love will come to thee To dream the dreams of long ago — Tell her what dreams of her must be, Piercing as perfume, pure as snow ! If Robin come to rival me And waste his heart in one wild throe, Tell her that far away from thee, Unseen, unheard, 1 sing her so. If mists from off the mournful sea About thy branches wavering flow, Turn them to tears, oh happy tree ! Ah, tell my Love, 1 miss her so ! Just touch her forehead, trembling low, Tell her for me, I kiss her so ! 124 LOVE AND DREAMS IV. ^* WJ^^'^ were you doing, my flower," said the ^^^ bee, " All the long days you were waiting for me ? " " Sucking the sweet of the ground, my lover, — Hoarding a heartful of honey for thee ; Shutting my lips to all kisses, my rover, To open heart-deep, should you brush them once over. That is the way I was waiting for thee." 125 NORTH FLOWERS V. ♦ ^ ^^flS because you're sweet, I love you ! " ^^ " Tisyour love that makes me sweet! So the robins, Dear, above you. Wrangle in their green retreat. They will solve the problem, maybe : I am humbler, at your feet. Tis enough for me, my Lady, Just to sense that you are sweet. 126 LOVE AND DREAMS VI. 'JjJOBOLINK, bobolink, teach me the tune ■^ You are singing your Love in the heart of the June ! Tis the very same music I'd make to my own, — That song you are flinging, Twixt winging and clinging, Ere scythes are set swinging And younglings are grown. " Why this is the way : When your throat would o'erflow. You just let it go ! you just let it go ! There, there ! you have heard it ! The secret's your own. 'Tis as easy as flying— As easy as trying — As easy as sighing When summer is flov/n ! " 127 NORTH FLOWERS VII. ^JF my Love knew how I love her, ^-^ Would her love for me More capricious prove, or constant,— More reserved or free ? Could she see hov/ fond my heart is, Would her own be true ? Would her pity scorn or crown me If she really knew ? Often as I try to tell her All the wondrous tale, — Just as oft the words will falter, And the music fail. Ah ! perhaps 'tis well I cannot Tell the story through— Yet I'd give my hope of heaven If she only knew ! 128 LOVE AND DREAMS VIII. 'JHACK again ! back again ! Look, I have come ! ^^ My music to yours is like fiddle to drum. Why, don't you remember that morning in June I met you, you rover, 'Way down in the clover. And over and over I taught you the tune ? ' ' Ah yes ! I remember the heart of the June, The brook and the meadow, the sky and the tune. But have you forgotten ? — or hadn't you heard ?— For sweetheart and rover, In cottage and clover. That summer is over Forever, my bird ! 129 NORTH FLOWERS IX. i I love you, little Lady ? Ah! there's nothing else I do, All the bright and busy daytime, All the starry silence too. Things I do and dream and suffer Just express my iove for you. Darling, it will be so ever, When my day and dream are through, If you search the tall grave-grasses And find there a blossom too, You may know my dust has made it To express my love for you. 130 ¥ LOVE AND DREAMS URITAN or Cavalier, Which was finer, Lady dear? Which had won from you, my Lady, Pensive smile and happy tear ? In your voice the lyrics flow ; In your veins the roses blow ; Sun and singing, love and laughter, Follow, ever, where you go. Yet your heart is ever sure ; And your eyes are pure as pure ; And a world above our vision Bends to bless you, and allure. All the Courtier's lilt and light, All the Roundhead's truth and might, Must have miet in him, my Lady, Who had sung your praise aright. 131 NORTH FLOWERS Now no saint or chevalier, Puritan or poet, Dear, But an acolyte at altar. Kneels, and kneels forever, here. 132 LOVE AND DREAMS XI. '3JF' God had made me a painter, ^-^ I had filled the earth with your face If God had made me a poet, I had sung you in every place ; If God had made me a monarch, I had throned you, the world above ; But he only made me a lover, my Lady, And so I could only love. But oh, how he gave me to love you, 'Tis only himself can know ! — Love pure as the light of the morning. And rich as the afterglow. And haughty as noon, trium.phant, O'er-flooding the earth and sky,— And star after star through the night afar, Shall my love be when I die. 133 NORTH FLOWERS Oh, sweet as her kiss to the sailor When he leaves his bride of a day, And brave as the harbor breezes That speed him along his way, And fierce as the tempest that lashes The terrible strength of the sea, And sad as the wail for a vanished sail. Is the love that I bear to thee ! 134 LOVE AND DREAMS XII. 3 do not sing Because the spring Makes mad with music everything I sing to let my Lady know I love her so ! 1 love her so ! I do not sing To see her fling The door of summer wide a-swing : I sing to let my Lady know I love her so ! I love her so ! I cease to sing Because the wing Of winter waits for wandering : I hush — to let my Lady know I love her so ! I love her so ! 135 s: NORTH FLOWERS XIII. O, I am loved ! The old faith is come back to me, Bright as the morning to eyes that are young, Tender as tears of the time that must lack for thee, Fledged with the fire of the songs I have sung. Hov/ 1 shall call thee in days that are coming, — Call thee and keep thee as never before — Swift to my heart as the swallow a-homing, Bound for my breast as the wave for the shore ! Now 1 can sing to thee, crown of my sorrow, — Cradle and croon thee, acoushia macree ! All of my heart is the hope of our morrow : All of my life is believing in thee. 136 LOVE AMD DREAMS XIV. y jnjEARER, Lady, and diviner, ''^ Year by year, you grow, — Richer, truer, fairer, finer, Sweeter, ever so. Not a shade of change or warning Shall love's mirror show Till the gracious, golden morning Cease for thee to glow. Love is all the light that lingers, All the sun that warms, All the cunning of the fingers, All the might of arms, All that smiles in angel faces, All in hell that harms, All the muses, all the graces. All that cheers or charms. 137 NORTH FLOWERS Oh, my Lady, love for ever ! Music never dies On Love's lips: the lightnings never Darken in his eyes. Trust him in his strangest story ; Wait his last surprise — Earth flung by, a faded glory, See his stars arise ! 138 LOVE AND DREAMS XV. (§ LD sweethearts are the sweetest, As all true lovers know. Old comforts are completest, In sun or shade or snow. Say, Sweetheart, is it so? In gray and golden weather We two go on together. Old sweethearts are the sweetest, As all true lovers know. Old sweethearts are the sweetest, As all true lovers know. Young lover, as thou greetest Thy sweetheart, tell her so ! Ah, tell her, tell her so! Time ties a golden tether As we go on together. Old sweethearts are the sweetest, As all true lovers know. 139 NORTH FLOWERS XVI. JjpOVE'S song should be as transient as his tear, '^^ Born on the lip and dying in the ear. So mine be born — so let it die, my Dear, — From me to thee. Love's lyric is too light to be enscroUed, Too fairy fine for aught of earth to hold. Why should it tarry when its tale is told From me to thee ? £0h^ Olnnfib^nt ;0W can I know she will be true to me When I am strictly banished from Love's court? I have put every influence in fee That is of gentle birth and good report. There's not a lily but will plead my cause ; And every rose has my success at heart. All poets urge my suit ; all music draws Her pensive soul aside and takes my part. I am in league with children at their play ; I subsidize the sunset and the dew; The very stars have promised me to say, " Look on us, blessed Lady— we are true." And when false hopes and fears surround her quite, Truth will draw sword for me and put the horde to flight. iSuOME day, somev/here, because thou hast ^^ believed, I shall be all that thou hast called me here. The autumn of the universal year Will find my sterile plowlands fullest-sheaved. I shall return with every loss retrieved And spoils to brighten the celestial sphere, To thee, thy lover, singer, hero, seer, O Lady mine, because thou hast believed. The miracles of faith will never fail, And love will have his will, whate'er befall ; So, unashamed, I take thy sweet all-hail. Possessing nothing, yet assured of all ; As the knight listened while he donned his mail, Hearing his pasan in the trumpet's call. 142 Uoh? Stomal ^OW do I love thee, Dear? I do not knov. He only knows v/ho made my heart and thine. I look upon the ocean's roll and shine, But see not where his vast tides ebb and flow. By night I hear the great winds come and go, Disclosing not their errands. Sign by sign The zodiac beacons over gulfs divine, Deeper than all its radiant lamips can show. Our love is like the wind, the sky, the sea, — Dowered with a majesty beyond our guess. Breathing traditions of eternity, Haunted with prophecies of endlessness. Like His creation, it has come to be Because in the beginning God said. Yes. 143 ^^o^^^' 0^ ••^•♦-■^o, /\c:^, *^^ < "^•^^0^ BOOKBINDING B 5 '^ 'K^ A^ ^' GfanKitle Pa II /A « ^J» ^*5