lifornia lonal lity THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES BY STUART STERNE. (Published for the Author.) F. B. PATTERSON, 61 Liberty St., New York, 1874. CHILD. CONTENTS. LET ALL THE WORLD 3 I WANDKRED .' 4 WOULD THAT 5 MINE EYES t; THINK NOT, LOVE 7 HEART'S REST y I ASKED 11 PRAYER 12 BRIGHT NOONDAY 13 THY HEART 14 LOVE ME 15 GRANT GOD 16 MY LOVE 17 I KNOW 18 I SEE 19 FULFILLMENT : SO DEAD HOPE 21 I AM BUT AS 22 POWER 23 IT SEEMS TO ME 24 SUNDAY MORNING 25 TENNYSON. 26 VI CONTENTS. THE BARD 27 PROMETHEUS 31 DO NOT FORGET 33 FRIEND 34 "PATIENCE" 35 NEW YEAR 1867 36 1 SAW THEE 37 GIVE ME 38 BECAUSE TH\' LIFE 39 THE WINDS 40 BEFORE & AFTER 43 MY STAR 45 SHOW ME THY FACE 47 WOULD I In THE DUSK :.j THOU MY SOUI 55 IN ALL HEAVEN'S 57 MY BELOVED 59 1 DIE 60 NOT IN...... 6-1 O THOU 63 WHEN THE LONG ... 65 LEAVE ME NOT 65 LOVE 66 NOT LIKE 6S "ICH DEXKE DEIN" 69 O MY IMMORTAL LOVE 71 I BLESS ' LOVE... ... H> CONTEXTS VII O GREAT FATHER 77 SORE LIFE 79 LIKE TO 1 NO JARRING 83 THINK YOU 84 SOMEWHERE BEYOND 86 O THAT SWEET 87 WHERE SHOULD I 88 FOREVER 88 SOMEHOW 89 O LOVE 90 'TIS SWEET 91 NOT THE BLEST 92 THOU HAST 93 O LOVE 9i THE LYRE 95 O MY 96 NOT HILL 97 THOU 98 1 GAZE UPON 101 HE WALKS 102 SILENCE 103 WOULD I 104 TO 'S MASK H\5 NAY HE IS 107 IS THEN 108 FAREWELL, O LOVE 110 O YE : 115 IT ALL WAS OVER... Ii6 VIII CONTENTS. IN PUKPLE SPLENDOR ............................... 118 "THE BELLS" ..... ................................ 119 PEGASUS ........................ ............... ]20 MUSE, MUSE .................................... 121 O, THE CONSUMING ..... .......................... 124 O LARK .,; TO 130 TO THE SAME... . ................................. 131 " TO THE SAME .............................................. 132 I TURNED FROM ............................ ................... 133 LAY ME DOWN ............................................. 136 STEAL NOT IN ................................................ 137 THROUGH ALL .' ............................................ 138 I KNOW THATV. ................................................ 139 O COME TO ME ................................................ 140 MY SOUL .................................................. 141 1 WOKE.. ., ............................... .................... 142 THOU MY .................. .................................. 144 'ICH IHEtf' .................................................. 146 DORNROESCHEN ............................................... 147 THE N UN ............... ........................................ 148 THE DEFORMED ............................................. 150 LOVE IS NOT ................................................ 152 WOUID THAT ................................................ 153 1 KNOW THAT ............................................... 1J4 DWELLING APART ......................................... 155 PERCHANCE THAT SOMETIME .............................. 156 ALONE... ........ 15i CONTENTS. IX MARCH 26th '27, 1 159 MARCH 26th '27, II 160 MARCH 26th '27, III 162 GIVE ME A FRIEND 164 TO 165 TO THE SAME 166 O JOY 1F,7 SOUL 16 TO 170 TO THE SAME 172 NOT WHEN 174 TO C. S 175 1 GALOP 177 ON THY 179 FAREWELL SWEET. 180 O TO O'ERLEAP 181 INRI 182 MOZART &C 183 WHERE SHOULD 186 CALL YE 186 I'M WEDDED 188 TO THE MUSE 189 SONG 190 TO SADNESS 192 WHAT STRANGE 193 FRIENDS 194 AY, LET MY SOUL 195 'S LAMENT 19" NOTIN... 200 X CONTENTS. YE GATHER .01 THE MUSE TO HER ELECT -02 THOr WHO -and bid me stay ; "-And I had staid, But as thy handmaid, Through summer sun and winter's darker day, Through many a year, Spreading thy board, keeping thy hearth-fire bright, Joyful to know that I made thee forget Life's petty cares, That like the meshes of a tangling net, Ere I had come, Hampered thy spirit in its upAvard fligh t. My sweet reward, When day was done, my heart's most deep delight, To sit and list To the charmed sounds thy hands drew from the keys, As thy great soul, Poured all its pain and joy in melodies, And 'neath the stars, Rose upward to the Godhead through the night. Or lie awake, Listening to thy loved footsteps o'er the floor, As to and fro all restless thou wouldst pace, Hearing the tunes, That angel voices chanted to thee from the akies Or at still eve, By the calm lamp-light sit and watch thy face, The lights and shadows, That o'er it moved, as some great book of lore, Pilled all thy thought, $ 51 9 And wandering from the page, perchance thine eyes, Would rest on me, And unto thee Once more my love undying should be known, Too great for speech, And thou shouldst reach Thy hand to me, and smile ! O to thy door, Qpuld I have come, In the long blessed years that are no more ! * 52 9 : i HE dusk had fallen when to his house I came, And all was silent,- silent the dark stairs, Silent the room once filled with melodies, Silent the stare that shone above the roof, The self-same stars on which his gaze was fixed, Sometimes the light upon his brow outshining Their fainter splendor, sometimes their pale shimmer Darkened by earth's deep shadows in his eyes. And slowly rose the moon, and traced for me In silver lines the course upon the floor, Where he was wont to pace and up and down, And showed the door-step over which he passed So many a time, in the long years gone by, His heart afire and his great soul aflame, With all the joys of heaven and pains of earth, And dark despair of hell, struggling for freedom In godly sounds, while all the world outside Was tossed by storms, perchance, or drowsed in sunlight, And he knew naught, nor heard. ft 53 % And I knelt down, And kissed the silent doorstep, here perchance, Some mote of dust hallowed by his blest feet, And happy in its glory, saved itself To some dark corner, and through all these years May yet be there, and come and touch my lips! O $re dumb walls that heard his every heart-throb, O ye mute stars that read his deepest secrets, Tell me of him, of him ! A little while Tell me of him, sweet stars, and I will give ye, All the long future years that may be mine, I, but a mortal, whose brief life is fleeting, To ye, whose lives are as eternity ! Or unto thee, gray, sorrowful Time, I promise All the spare sunlight it may be will checker Those future years, leaving them cold and bleak, And thousand-fold more bitter than fierce death, If thou wilt turn thee back into the past One single instant and wilt give to me One hour of his beloved living presence 1 My heart has hungered for so long, so long, To once behold his face, it faints today, And will not have its craving comforted, And cannot ever feed on that starved hope, To greet him once when life has long been done, In that far land of silence and of shadows, On which we enter through death's darksome portals ! Now would I see him, in this very hour, 54 Now kiss his hands, now fall before his feet ! ^-But calmly do the merciless stars smile down, On me, who promised them my earthly years, Heedless and deaf to all my passionate prayers, Time's shadowy figure turning not her head, Moves on and ever on, with muffled foot-fall, And through my soul thrills a swift pang of pain, Sharper than death ! : 55 Bjj H) i. ^^ thou my soul, my life, my hope, my star! Thou all that makes the hope of heaven a joy, Thou all that makes the burden of life more light, None yet have loved thee with a love like mine, A love beyond or change, or time, or death, And wide as great eternity itself! . A love so tender, it would shelter thee Close to my heart, like a sweet, trembling dove, A love so strong, it would do battle for thee, Against the fiercest storms the gods may send ; None yet have known thee, as I know thy soul, The evil hours and heavenly that were thine, The fiends and demon's that have oome to thee, The angels with the shining lily-rods, The glimpses thou hast caught of heaven and hell ! None yet have fathomed thee as I have done, O thou my glorious ocean! measureless, And boundless, and eternal as my love ! None seen as I the golden evening clouds, Shine on thy bosom, when the waves lay still. Or the forked lightnings set their crests on fire, When the fierce storm-winds tossed them to the skies. $ 56 & None dived as I into thy deepest depths, Whose night no human eye has yet explored, That neither moon- nor starlight penetrate, Where but the pearl sheds feeble radiance round ; O thou my soul, my life, my hope, my star ! What love can equal mine ! And yet, end yet, ! I know that wert thou with me even here, And I beheld the glory of thy brow, On which is set the gods immortal kiss, And fell at thy beloved, blessed feet, With not poor words, but only tears for speech, Though thou shouldst raise me kindly in thine arms, And clasp me for an instant to thy heart, And touch, perchence, my forehead with thy lips, I yet should go from out thy godly presence, Poorer than any beggar at thy door, Hungering and thirsting, with a thirst and hunger, That rends my soul with all the pangs of death ! Yet sometime from my yearning spirit too, Shall drop away the weary chains of earth, And then my soul, beyond death's shadowy waters, Shall meet thine own, and know it instantly, And our two souls, like to a towering fire, Shall rush together in a single flame, And spire together to the heavenly skies ! And O in that embrace, my life, my star, Shall be contentment inexpressible! 57 iN all heaven's perfect bliss, hast thou forgotten This petty earth, with all its weight of woe, And us, who still in twilight grope our way, And knowest not that a human heart below, Throbs and nigh breaks with passionate love for thee ?- Or is the blessed star on which thou dwelst, So endless far, within the shining skies, No word mine ear, no sign may reach mine eyes? For it is I, O my beloved, whose heart, Throbs and nigh breaks in passionate love for thee ! To tell me that thou knowest and seest me, And to my prayers wilt sometime make reply? Or art thou mute because in years gone by, Ere thou, () my beloved, hadst come to me, I worshipped others, wore the images Of others, in my heart, have bent my knee At other altars, and to other gods? Prown not for this, nor turn thy face away! What them I brought, was as the love of those $ 58 9 Who love the night, because they know not day, Worship the stars, because the blessed sun Hast burst not on their sight ! To them I gave But the pale blossoms of an early spring, A child's weak offerings, unto thee I bring All the best treasures of this deeper life, Every pulsation of a heart that knows Of sunshine less than shade, of peace than strife, The prayers, the tears, the yearning of a soul Matured in suffering, and in grief grown strong, All the great love I should have borne to him, Whose steps I waited for in vain so long, Who should have clasped me closely to his heart, Holding me dearor than all else beside, The untold tenderness that I had shed On some sweet child, whose little arms should twine, About my neck, and who should rest his head Upon my haypy heart. All my best life-blood, I pour like water out before thy feet, Have then thy lips no single word for me, Thy soul no sign wherewith my soul to greet, Thy heart no throb wherewith to answer me, When mine nigh breaks in passionate love for thee? 59 my beloved, God shall count the years Through which I worshipped thee with single heart, And number them alone in all my life, As I account for naught the barren days Wherein I knew thee not, and hold I lived not, Before I loved thee with a love so great, Mine own whole life grew as a part of thine, And I rejoiced with thee and wept, and measured Thy deepest thought, thy heart's most secret throb, " Smarted with the sharp thorns that pricked thy feet, On thy rude earthly path, while from above Heaven's light shone down, bled from the cruel steel That two-edged entered on thy very soul, And heard the stifled groan, of which the world Knew naught but in thy heavenly harmonies, Grew so much one with thee, I pray the gods To send nor joy nor sorrow unto me, Not love, remembering thou didst never hear Those sweetest names, that make men's souls rejoice, No friend who is to fathom all my heart, Remembering thou hadst none, no bliss or comfort That came to thee not, yet all pain and anguish That thou hast known, and I the heavy cross Will seize and onward bear with smiling lips, Rememembering that it was thy burden oucel 60 4i die, With the consuming fire, The passionate desire, To once behold his face ! And knew I where to find him, In starless deep of night, Would I rise up to wander, Until the morning light, And all the day, till darkness, Fell over earth and sky, And with the night approaching, The stars shone out on high, Would I go on unresting, Till dawn rose up once more, Seek him with hope infinite, On earth's most distant shore. And had from earth he vanished, Then would through heaven's wide space, From star to star, I wander, To once behold his face ! 61 And then, If unto thee were given, That sweetest joy of heaven, To once behold his face ? When thou hadst gazed upon him, O my poor soul what then ? Then must thou die with yearning, To see him yet again ! And yet again, and yet once more, And sitting at his feet, Ask to gaze on him ever, To make Heaven's joy complete! And shouldst thou sit before him, O my poor soul, what then ? Then must thou die with craving, Yet fuller bliss again. That in his arms upon his heart, He fondly gathered thee, And clasped thee close, and held thee thus, Through all eternity ! 62 4i OT in the cities of men, Not in a populous street, Not in wood or in glen, Nor where river and ocean meet, Not in the furthermost clime, Not in the valley of tears, Not in the shadow of death, 'Mid the long, wearisome years, In the gray realms of time, Dwelleth my blessed love ! But in the infinite skies, Where the sun-tints fade away, Where the morning stars arise, In the land of unchanging day, 'Mid the heavens own harmony, Free from all struggle and strife, Free from all burden of earth, Living eternal life, In the realms of eternity, Dwelleth my blessed love! 63 & ^y^ tbou who by all earth's deep pains art mine I How may my heart believe, How may my soul conceive, The measureless great joy, I am to be, Thine all in all! Of all the thousands that have worshipped thee, The chosen one, To rest upon thy heart through all eternity ? ! Above the snow Let a red rose blow, From skies afar Drop down a star,- Let some sweet wonder tell me I am thine ! Make me content to wait Through fading time for that eternity, That God-sent day that makes me one with thee !" And a voice answered me from out the skies, "O thou, who by all heaven's deep joys art mine ! And lovest thou me, With thy heart's every throb, With thy soul's deepest love, Changeless as shore and sea, Boundless as heaven above, 64 Then shall thy heart believe, Then shall thy soul conceive, The measureless great joy, We are to be, Unto each other all in all, But I lor thee, And thou for me, Forevermore through all eternity ! Then shalt thou ask, Above the snow No rose to blow, From skies afar To drop no star, No wonder sweet, to tell thee thou art mine ! : "Enough, O my beloved!" I cried, "enough! I do believe, I do conceive, And am content to wait, Through fading time for that eternity, That God-sent day that makes me one with thee!' 65 HEN the long pilgrimage of life is o'er, And the dark river forded, and my soul Rejoicing climbs that other, golden shore, And meets his soul rejoicing, and I fall Before his feet, and he shall stoop to me And raise me in his arms, and to his heart Clasp me, and hold me through eternity, O then, my god ! let from my spirit's sight Heaven's glories fade, as from my mortal eyes There vanished earth's sweet vallies, streams and skies, Let there oblivion come, and starless night, For after that there can be nothing more ! iEAVE me not life, my God, ! With this mad, all-consuming love for him ! Send me not death, my God ! Lest dying I might cease to think of him ! 66 W love! In all the regions of the earth, Aught mortal eyes have ever seen, The twilight's gray, the dawn's faint flush, The morning and the night between, Where sun, or moon, or stars may shine,- O love, was ever love like mine ? A love content to know, the form These empty arms had been clasped round, Has crumbled into barren dust Long years, beneath the silent ground. Content to know, the heart whereon To rest, had been so measureless sweet, Had long been hushed in dreamless sleep, Ere ever this began its beat. Content to gaze upon the mute, Dead image, of thy face unknown, The lips may never more return, The passionate pressure of mine own. 67 May nevermore unbend nor smile, Nor kiss the tears from out the eyes Are strained in vain, and night and day, To read the secrets of the skies. Content to feed on that spare hope, That hungry vision incomplete, Somewhere beyond death's starless night, We two shall sometime, sometime meet, Sometime when life has long been done, We two dwell now so far apart, A voiceless shadow thou and I, Shall clasp each other heart to heart. In all the regions of the earth, Aught mortal eyes have ever seen, The twilight's gray, the dawn's faint flush, The morning and the night between, Where sun, or moon, or stars may shine,- O love, was ever love like mine?! 68 9 == OT like the oak and clinging vine, Had been our lives united, If God had so decreed, O love, Thy soul and mine were plighted ! But like two sturdy oaks, O love, And thou and I together, Had stood undaunted side by side, Through fair and stormy weather, And laughed to scorn the tempest's rage, The lightning's flare and flashing, The howling winds, the pelting rain, The thunder's roar and crashing, And clasped each other but more close, Our branches interlacing, And held each other but more firm, Strong root with root embracing. Thus if the Lord had so decreed, And thou and I together, Had borne the burden of life, O love, Through fair and stormy weather ! 69 "ICH DENKE DEIN." S think of thee and I am not alone, When the fresh morning bursts upon the earth, Filling my lonely room with gladsome light, And woods and fields with joyous life and mirth, And rising I begin the task anew, Was given on earth unto my hands to do. I think of thee, and I am not alone, When the gray evening gathers o'er the earth, Filling my lonely room with shades of night And with clasped hands I sit beside the hearth, And once again the long day's task is done, Until another morn shall be begun. I think of thee, and I am not alone, In the moon's shimmer, and the sun's fierce glow, In summer days, and winter's chilly blasts, When brown leaves fall, when spring-flowers bud and blow, In all the changes of the passing years, In joy and gladnes, in despair and tears, 70 Thee will I think of, and be not alone, On the dim path where none may walk with me, Where death's gray shadows gather round my sight,- Through the deep river only think of thee, Whose eyes, the darkness piercing from afar, Shall be my beacon-light and guiding star, Unto eternity! 71 9 ^y? my immortal love ! thou wilt forgive me, If sometimes when the burden of life grew heavy To yet bear on and onward, and my path Lay through the darksome vale whose chilling fog, Clogging my feet, and rising to my heart, Hid the sun's light from me, and the sweet stars, And heaven and thou seemed so all far away, The weary wings of my too feeble soul, Drooped in their flight, and fluttered to the earth, Ere they could bear me to those shining height, Where thy loved spirit waits my spirit's coming When the gray eve fell, and I sat alone, And on my cheerless hearth the fire died out, If sometimes then, O my immortal love ! I hungered for some presence not thine own, Some living presence! some warm living arms, To clasp me to a living, throbbing heart, A heart not thine, yet where to rest were sweeter, Than have not where to lay my lonely head, Some sunny, prattling child, not thine and mine, To play about me, hungered for a joy More incomplete than in more golden hours 72 The measureless bliss of that sweet dream thou ever, Voiceless, invisible art near me, yet A joy more perfect than this solitude ! -- Thou my immortal love ! thou my soul's comfort, Thou only One, thou all that earth and heaven Hold of delights, thou, wouldst transform and change The darkest valley of deep hell itself, Into a paradise of shining splendors,! Thou who hast known the pangs of loneliness, The bitterness of a deserted heart, With sharper stings than I, and hotter tears, Even as thy soul was greater than is mine, Thou wilt forgive, if in those barren hours, When the sun's light was hid, and the sweet stars, Behind the chilling fogs that wrapped me round, Thy shining image e'en paled and grew dim. Thou wilt forgive, for with the morn's new rising, When the gray eve, and darker night are done, Ever and ever like a weary dove, My heart flies back, and nestles in thy heart, O my immortal love ! 73 @ ,,(58 ift unS eiii [RoSIem cuifgebliifit, Mitten tm SBinter ! " Old Hymn. ^^y I bless thee, joyous winter, A thousand, thousand times, With all thy blustering tempests, With all thy frost and rimes ! For in the stormy winter, There sprang above the snow, A spring more sweet with blossoms, Than any the earth did know ! More golden with happy sunshine, More rich with songs of bird, Than ever mine eyes did feast on, Than ever my glad ears heard ! 74 all in the stormy winter, My true love came to me, My love no more to leave me, Through all eternity ! With all thy blustering tempests, With all thy frost and rimes, 1 bless thee, O joyous winter, A thousand, thousand times ! $ 75 ^? love ! what pitiless, hard decree, What blind inexorable fate Was it, that severed thee and me, And shut my heart from out thy heart, And set our lives so far apart, 'Neath other stars, and other climes, In other lands and other times, Us, whose two souls are one ? ! Thou searching the all dim To-be, To find the image of thy dream, A dream perchance was like to me, I gazing backward with hot tears, Upon the blissful, faded years, When yet thy heart in life beat high, The form whereon my hungry eye E'er feeds and ne'er has done ! 76 And thus some pitiless, hard decree, Condemned to live, condemned to die, In loneliness and thee and me, Shut my heart out from thy loved heart, Set our two lives so far apart, 'Neath other stars, and other climes, In other lands, and other times, Us, whose two souls are one ! ^y^ Great Father ! Thou who rulest, heaven and earth , and sea and land, Holdst the quivering hearts of mortals, in the hollow of thy hand, Let mine own not break, O Father ! be consumed not in the fire, Is the crown of every glory, is the sum of all desire ! In the love no cloud can darken, no earth-shadow ever dim, Suffer not my soul to perish, in the thirst unqiienched for him! Him, whose image I have worshipped, for so many faithful years, In the sunshine and the tempest, in delight and bitter tears, For his living, breathing presence, for his voice, his lips, his eyes ! Him, long dwells a radiant spirit, near Thee in the shining- skies ! Him, whose blessed shadow sometimes, with me in an hour divine, Folds me to his heart in silence, presses his loved lips to mine ! Yet will vanish ever, ever, stay but one sweet moment rare, Leaving me to clasp forever, weeping but the barren air ! Let me die not, O my father! with the yearning that e'en now, I might feed these eyes forever, on the glory of his brow ! I might lie at rest forever, on his living, throbbing heart, Where no clogging earthly fetters, shall my soul from his soul part ! Let me pray not for the hastening, of that golden hour su blime, Thou shalt send me, O my Father ! surely in Thine own good time! ., Give me yet to live and suffer, yet submit my will to Thee, Yet to watch and wait contented, till Thy call shall come for me ! Patience, Father! in remembering, peace unto my thirsting soul, How each eventide shall find me, nearer my immortal 79 I3*ORE life was done, arid all earth's ties unbound, And my frail soul, set free, Crept trembling to the shining Gates of Heaven, Ignorant of its decree. "My Godl and will you suffer me to pass in, To see the face of him, Whose presence shall make all the ecstasies Of Paradise, grow dim ? I strove unceasing for immortal aims, In a hot, weary fight, With the great hope to render me perchance, Worthy of this delight ! But yet accomplished but a barren share, Of my most full desire, Feeble performance ever coldly mocked. My heart's most ardent tire! 80 But I have loved him with a love, my God ! That to give him an hour of sweet content, Had gladly yielded up the proudest joys, To my pale earth-life lent, That to send him a day of blissful peace, At his dear feet had laid down smilingly, Unknown, unseen, uncheered by him, the hope Of all eternity! Shall not the power of love prove, O my God!- Sufficient in Thy sight, To render me the earth-born child perchance, Worthy of this delight ?" So in the ear of the great merciful Judge, Cried my frail soul, set free, And breathless at the shining Gates of Heaven, Awaited its decree. They opened, and a voice said: "Enter in. To see the face of him, Whose welcome shall make all the ecstasies Of Paradise, grow dim ! " 81 to a sailor lost in unknown seas, Who, ignorant where to steer his erring course Through the wide, boundless waste, unguided oft E'en by the sun, or the pale, friendly stars, Enduring untold hardships and great perils, Has wrestled with the treacherous winds and waves Through fierce, resistless storms, and sluggish calms. For many a weary week, and now at dawn, With the first ray of light, at length perceives Through the gray, rolling mists and dashing spray. The blue line of a distant shore, and hears From out the must-head, the loud cry of ''Land! "- And with a shout of joy, bursts from his soul Relieved, and grateful lips, repeats and echoes The welcome word : "Land ! Land ! " a hundred times, Like to the wanderer, who through desert sands Has journeyed far, a scorching sun above, Withers the life-blood in his burning veins, Who, often mocked by visions beautiful Beyond his fondest dreams, of springs and palmgroves, As he approaches melt and fade away In quivering air, before his hungry sight, Now, in the fiery breath of noonday heat. Gains a green spot at length, stands all unmoved As the fresh turf he touches, and lies down In the long shadow of the trees, and rest Unspeakable, steals o'er his aching limbs, And drinks from out the gurgling spring, again And yet again, and with its limpid waters Drinks in new life, and measureless deep peace, Like to the warrior, who in distant parts Has passed 'mid bloody fray, and clash of arms, And many a long, hot day, and wakeful night, And now the noisy sounds of battle hushed, At length returning to his native land, At evening when the sun is set, beholds Through all the gathering twilight's deepening tints, Through all the dimming tears rush to his eyes, His village rise behind the hill, he climbs With trembling steps, and heart throbs thick and high, And cheery lights gleam welcoming throng the dusk And one outshining all, and drawing near, Finds it the ruddy glow of his own hearth-fire, Kneels down upon the door-step, thanking God That this is home, home, beloved, thrice blessed home. Such is my heart, O my immortal love, Since that it found thy heart, and bliss eternal ! 83 1 O jarring sounds of noisy earth breaks in Upon the Sabbath stillness of our love, But as in the deep heart of a great Temple, Through whose stained windows the fierce noon-clay heat Falls mellowed into sunset from above, Where the immortal strains of anthems rise, Arid the eternal lamp upon the altar, Stirred by no breath, spires ever to the skies, Against whose walls the turbulent tides of life, The blasting tempests of black fate, do shake And earth and heaven, all powerless chafe and break, Such is th e peace divine, unspeakable, Of our undying love, O my beloved ! A peace as undivided, all complete, As those must know, who the dark gulf o'erpassed, Sit down rejoicing at God's blessed feet, A peace unruffled by aught palest fear Of change or circumstance, of time or death, There lives aught ill our souls could ever part, For that is wont to sever heart from heart, Shall knit us but more close, setting me free, From the last bar yet cuts me off from thee ! 84 JLi HINK you lie would have loved me, hud he known my soul, At the fresh morn, When first the sun had risen in the skies, And the long, untried road lay filled with dew, Shimmering before our eyes? I had been true and tender, I had been strong and great, To live with him, or die with him, If thus had willed our fate! Think you he would have loved me, had he knowa my soul, At the hot noon, When the fierce sun hung burning in mid-day, And we travel-stained pilgrims, had traversed, Half the long, dusty way? I had been true and tender, I had been strong and great To live for him, or die for him, If thus had willed our fate! 85 Think you he would have loved me, had he known my soul, At the gray eve, When towards its purple setting sank the sun, And our long journey on the weary road, Was well nigh done ? I had been true and tender, I had been strong and great, To live or die, Apart from him, If thus had willed our fate ! 86 9 SOMEWHERE beyond the confines of the earth. Sometime ere or thy bleeding heart or mine, Bore the sore burden of the life of earth, And thou and I trod the bright paths together, Of some fair, unremembered Paradise. There did thy soul, O love! sing unto mine. Its deepest, sweetest song, its richest strain. So now my heart, what though it bleed beneath All the sore burden of the life of earth, Knows them again, with silent, rapturous tears, Knows them, familiar as its own pulsations, Familiar as shall be thy voice, thy presence, Thy kiss of greeting, when my soul meets thine, Somewhere beyond the confines of the enrth ! 87 ^&y that sweet spring-time should be known . But in enraptured dreams alone ! That all its sunshine should have flown, Ere life's faint pulses stirred in me, Should have been quenched forever more, In a dark grave beyond the sea ! O that the arms had clasped me round, The heart wherein all bliss was bound, To dust lie crumbled underground ! The eyes with lovelight gazed on me, Are closed, to open nevermore, In a dark grave beyond the sea ! O that all joy and all delight, Vanished from earth with his soul's flight. That less of day is left than night I That every hope remains to me, Is sought my own dark grave beyond, Is set in dim Eternity ! HERE should I fly to in the storm and darkness, But to thy heart, O uiy immortal love ! Where to lie down for one short hour, were sweeter, The Lord have mercy on my sinf ul soul ! Than sit at the dear feet of God Himself, Through all eternity ! Where to lie down Broken and sore, bleeding and full of wounds, Were sweeter than be healed, and to remember, Sweeter than to forget, where to lie down With the sharp consciousness of smarting pain, With all this aching sense of life, were sweeter Than peace, and rest, and sleep, more sweet than death ! - ki OREVER and forever, In the flaming day, In the twilight gray, In the morning light, In the starry night, Through all eternity, Mine eyes are set towards thee, O my beloved ! , dreaming of thee, Shall the long, weary summer noon, "With a flaming sun in a brazen sky, Glide by full soon ! Somehow, thinking of thee, Shall the long, chilly winter night, With the shimmering stars in the far, cold sky, Pass out of sight. Somehow, laboring for thee, Shall of all long life, the years With their summer noons, and their winter nights, With their storms and sunshine, their smiles and tears, Speed rapidly away, To the last, blessed day, Brings me to thee! 90 ^^ love, O my immortal love! my heart, Pricked by sharp thorns, smarting from hundred wounds. Quivering and bleeding 'neath the merciless stripes Wherewith fierce fate does scourge it without end, Draws close to thine, O love ! draws close to thine, In these bleak, barren days of dark misfortune, At noon so without sun, I hunger for dark night that brings oblivion, When that perchance my soul communes with thine Unconsciously, in dreams, leave in their train, A faint reflection of their passing glory Upon my waking hours, like the dead light A pallid suuset flings o'er dreary skies, At night so without stars, I hunger for gray morn, that brings back memory Of God and thee, thou my sole hope and refuge, Closer in this deep valley of the shadow, Than on the heights of peace and joy, so close, Hethinks I see thine eyes gaze into mine, Hear in mine ear the whisper of thy voice, Feel on my quivering lips thy spirit kiss ! I 91 i IS sweet to sit and dream of thee, O love ! At close of day, When overhead the sun's last purple glow, Flushes and fades away. Remembering how in twilight hours like this, The silent keys, Beneath thy master touch were wont to pour, Divinest melodies. Fancying mine eager ears yet drink them in, Though years ago They died upon the air, thy hands were laid The cold, brown earth below. More sweet to watch the night come with its stars. And dream thine eyes, Were gazing kindly down into mine own, From the wide, distant skies. Most sweet to dream of that deep starless night, When by God's infinite grace, In the new dawn shall burst upon that dark, I shall behold thy face ! 92 9 sai OT the blest consciousness my heart throbs high, With all of sweetness, ever stirred men's souls, With all of greatness lives beneath the sky, Not the proud power was granted unto ine, Me, all unworthy of so priceless gift ! To tell in song delight and agony, Not the deep boundless, all-enduring love, I bore thee long, unfading as the sun, Eternal as the changeless stars above, But the sharp grief, the Lord was pleased to send, Tlie tears, the smarting wounds, and dark despair. The bitter pangs and sorrows without end, Make me to know the anguish thou hast known, My soul to bleed as thine bled, all my life Joyless, and full of thorns, as was thine own, Fill me with infinite hope unspeakable, O golden dream of measureless ecstasy! At some far day thine arms shall clasp me round, Thy heart shall love me, as I worship thee ! 93 *i HOU hast gazed on me, love, withjthy!deep eyes. In the calm stillness of the summer morn, "When to unclouded skies, the jubilant lark Rose over waving fields of golden corn. With thy dear smile, love, hast thou looked on me, In voiceless quiet of the winter night, When upon wood and dale the snow hung glittering Beneath the silent stars' eternal light. The touch of thy blest lips, love, was on mine, In the soft twilight of the eve in spring, When on the the branches rich with starry blossoms, The birdling slumbered 'neatli its tender wing, Thou hast been near, O my immortal love ! In every hour of peace or ecstasy, But when my soul bled with aught cruel smart, Travailed in mortal, speechless agony, Then hast thou clasped me to thy living heart ! 94 ^& love ! and had we met, and thou and I, In such an hour divine as this, wherein Soaring above this frail mortality, All my whole soul exulting, trembling thrills With the deep rapture of God's living presence, Hangs on the stars eternal, hearkening breathless, To the undying harmonies of Heaven, And yet my heart, in every quivering fibre Thirsts for the untasteJ ecstasies of earth, Our spirits leaping like swift fire to fire, Had rushed together in one close embrace, And been consumed in that immortal hour, In the great passion of that flaming kiss ! 95 sa HE lyre whereon I sang of yore, All my young heart's most secret prayer, Its yearning for love's rapturous bliss, Its fondest hope, most dark despair, Each idle, childish, glorious dream, I've hung it up beside the stream, That hides in its unfathomed bed, All joys e'er knowa, all tears e'er shed. For greater purpose and desire, A loftier thought, a prouder aim, Now makes to throb and glow and burn, Like to a sacrificial flame, Spires ever to the skies above Unquenchable, the soul, O love! That hides in its unfathomed core, Thine image blest, forevermore ! 1)6 I did forget him, one hem (broken hour, The fever of ambition in my vt-ins : old Play. ^? my immortal love! open thine arms, And take me back into thy blessed heart, From whence I strayed, fancying in vain conceit, The timid dove could play the eagle's part, And gain the steepest heights with power unbroken, And cleave unwearied the resplendent skies, And soar into the very sun itself, should light And guide me in niy godly enterprise ! But found I winged my way through death's dark valley, No sun-beam, no pale star-gleam, in the heaven, Naught but the lurid lightning's fitful glare, And flying cloud-shapes, by the storm-wind driven. And fluttered erring, aimless, here and there, My panting soul athirst for God and tliee, Seemed as all distant 'mid those trackless shadows-, As home and peace, joy and eternity! Yet take me back now, O my love immortal ! Fold me and hold me close to thy loved breast, The eaglet comes, with bruised and battered pmions. Home to thy heart for everlasting rest I 97 SONNET. OT hill nor dale, nor yet the boundless sea, Naught of the chances that or near or far, May other lovers from each other bar, But life itself divides and thee and me ! Life with its thousand throbbing pulses, flow And ebb of joy and grief, of day and night, O thee, basking in God's unfading light, From me, that grope in twilight here below ! Yet not divides! for they dwell not apart, That freed fro!l AY, lie is stately not, my love, nor fair! His eyes are blue not as the vault of Heaven, The sun has kissed his brow not, nor yet given Aught of his shining radiance to his hair ! Rather the sombre colors of the night. Blend in his image, in his dark eyes flit No gleaming smiles, and lowering storm-clouds sit Upon the brow where shadow dwells, not light. But O he is as fair, as fair to me, As though the god of beauty and of grace Had lent all charms unto his form and face ! For through the storm-clouds like a star doth shine. Greater than sun or moon, his soul divine, That I must love through all eternity 1 - 10S S then love dead? My great immortal love?! Love, that was wont to be the golden sun, Unto my days, unto my night the stars, That thrilled my spirit with all ecstasies, With every pang of earth, and joy of heaven, Taught me the deepest thought, the finest fancy, Was so bound up, mingled and knit, past severinir, With every smallest act of daily life, My hearts pulsations and my love were one, Or wherefore no more at his blessed name, Is my soul kindled as with sudden fire, Hearkens unmoved now to his songs divine, Whereof the feeblest note, the faintest sound, Melted it once in speechless, deep delight ? And my poor heart, deprived of the sweet warmth Each separate fibre glowed with, grown so dark, So dumb and cold, it has not even tears, Wherewith to weep the hopeless fading, not Of my beloved, that were lighter loss! But of dear love itself? Is love then dead? Alas, I fear me so! For now when every sense awakes anew, Each string upon my lyre resounds again, But the swift chord, tender and ttrong in one, Whereon I sang his praise, rests mute and silent, 109 Vibrates no more, with aught of melody, And dust and dimness gather o'er the shrine, In a forgotten corner of my heart, That holds his image, once so passing dear, Where none comes now to bend the knee in worship ! Ay, is love dead then? my immortal love, It, that I deemed, I thought, I swore immortal, Wilted like a frail blossom touched with frost ? It, that I fai cied should outlive the heavens, Endure past every chance of change and time, Prove as eternal through all circumstance, As my undying soul itself, strengthen, And grow and bloom, beyond the grave itself, Nay, catching but true breath and flame of life, From that which we call death, first know whole power, And full existence in eternity ! ? () is it dead then, and can such love die? Alas, alas, and is it truly dead , Then is there naught eternal nor unfading, Then wore it possible our soul itself, Were frail and perishable and could die, Were but a finer essence of the clay, Decayed and crumbled with this earthly form, Alas, alas, and is it truly dead, Then God have mercy on my heart and soul ! no ik AREWELL, O love! it is the Lord's decree, We two must severed be ! In all the future years, We two shall nevermore, Love as we loved of yore, But pass each other with a silent smile ! Yet can I shed no tears, Nor moan, nor sigh, to know, Stern fate will have it so ! No other love divided thee and me ! Nay, soft and painlessly, As swelling from its source, A brook flows on between Sweet banks of flowery green, The slow, resistless stream of time alone, In its all gentle course, Came thee and me to part, From one another's heart ; 111 % I thank thee love, for all the blessed hours, This hapless love of ours, Brought unto thee and me ! The joys and dear delights, Of starry days and nights, Dreaming of heaven, I rested on thy heart ! Though now I go from thee Without a sigh, to know Stern fate will have it so ! And yet> and yet ! gray hours will come to me, I cannot think of thee, And start not the swift tear, My heart is broken nigh, To think our love must die ! When I renounced all joys of this glad day, All hope of future years, Were all things as of yore, I but thine own once more! 115 9 SONNET. ^f' ye ! the matchless sweetness of whose song, Has charmed King Death to lay his purple down, Give up his sceptre, and his shadow y crown, Whose strains shall echo coming times along, In that same world, by you made great and fair, I dare to raise my voice, e'en did I know, My fame should perish like the winter's snow, My name, should vanish like a breath of air! If I am not of the Elect, whose eyes May see the splendor of the heavens afar, Whose soul may pass the portals of the skies, Not on my forehead shines the Godhead's kiss, That on your brow stands trembling like a star, Ye Godly! O forgive me then for this! 116 all was over, and the house was still. The hearse had rolled away, the friends were gone, Their vacant seats looked blank and desolate. The muffled mirror hung against the wall, The spot was empty where the bier had stood Whereon he lay with mute and smiling lips. And naught remained of him who once had been The light of soul, the staff of life to me Naught but the cross, that had been left behind, Of odorless, white flowers, so dead, so dead. And nothing now remained but I alone, Alone to live the long, long, joyless days. And so with weary feet I climbed the stair, Up to the room where he was wont to sit. The silent books upon their long-rowed shelves, The fair, white marbles in their quiet niche, Beside his pen, a bunch of withered flowers, The ivy twining round the window frame, The noiseless floor where oft his feet had trod, The motes of dust that danced within the light, All was so dead, so dead, and nothing stirred Save at the pane an idly buzzing fly, And in his cage the blithe canary-bird, That hopped and pecked, and wondering looked at me. 117 The golden flecks of sunset on the wall, Moved high and higher till they touched his cage With purple light, the little bird burst forth In loud, rejoicing song, and I in tears. The morning sun was in the room, I woke, I knew it was a dream, I knew my life, Was heavier than the burden of my dream, I had not won, I had not loved nor lost. 118 iN purple splendor sinks the sun, Beyond the darkening West, I know that when it comes again, I shall have gone to rest. I mourn thee not, O fleeting life, To me thou art not sweet, t greet, O dark-winged Messenger, The shadow of thy feet! I prayed the Lord on High to, give Or love or death, to me, He flung the portals open wide, Of dim eternity! O loveless life, I love thee not, Thou never couldst be sweet, O haste thou dark-winged Messenger, The coming of thy feet ! : 119 SONNET. 1 u HE bells are pealing o'er the snow," And I without a pang of pain, Think when those bells shall peal again, Over my grave the breeze will blow. A spark of that celestial fire, That ever at God's throne shall burn, My soul will soon to Him return, Freed from the dross of earth desire. And life and death to me are one, Unmourning I shall pass away, Knowing that weary strife is done, That triumph and defeat shall cease, That after night shall come the day, And after toil, eternal peace. 120 PEGASUS. j HEY have harnessed thee to the plough, my steed, My steed with the shining wings, Who longst to soar in the clear, blue air, Where the joyous skylark sings ! They have harnessed thee to the plough, my steed, With the oxen dull and slow, Who furrows the field with patient tread, Where corn and potatoes grow ! They have harnessed thee to the plough, my steed, Thy wings in the dust they trail, And thou hangst thy liead, and sighest loud, And thy prancing foootsteps fail ! Yet patience, but one little hour, my steed, My steed with the shining eyes, Ere long shalt thou burst thy earthly yoke, And soar to the golden skies ! , Muse O Muse ! tliou dearer thousandfold, Than all the joys of God's own heaven, more sweet Than love or friend, though these be loved so well, All joys of heaven were poured at their blessed feet, Thou that dost turn the night to radiant day, A. barren waste into an Eden, gay With all the splendors of undying summer, Have I not ever loved thee faithfully, All my heart bound in thee, Have I not served thee e'er with bended knee, All my soul given to thee, Have I not ever held thee sacredly, In the dim sanctuary, Or ever prayed thee chant unto the people, In the loud market-place? Wherefore, O Muse, shouldst thou then turn from me? Hiding thy godly face ? 122 Wherefore my hands, were wont To draw from out my singing lyre full chords, That fed my heart's desire, Wake there but scattered sounds and broken strains, Kindle a feverish fire Of yearning for the deep content that's flown? Wherefore should now my lips, were wont to pour Swift and melodiously, The measured accents of my happy song, Sweet, if not strong, That quenched the thirst of my aspiring soul, Feeble yet full of joy, Find for all utterance but slow stammering words ? Were it perchance my soul, Through its long anguish were so powerful grown, The lips and hands so well Served once that soul, may now no longer tell, The godlike thoughts sublime, Bear it triumphant beyond earth and time? Were it perchance my heart, Through its long anguish were so seared and blighted, It has no throb now more, Wherewith to wake the sweet faint notes of yore ? Is this the end O Muse ! Of life, and all endeavor ? for without This be the starless night, No truce may come in the sharp strife divine, Must evermore be mine, : 123 % For the performance of an aim immortal ! Yet O if this be death, I do implore thee, Muse ! give unto me, E'en with my latest breath, Once more to find a full, unbroken tune, Once more to sound a strain, Shall thrill my fainting heart with ecstasy, Once more to smite my lyre, And sweet and strong, And so myself expire, On the last note of my immortal song ! 124 ^^ the consuming fire, Of the unquenched desire, Makes life a fever, and this heart a flame ! Not an unholy glow. Almighty gods, ye know ! For that pale shadow, fleeting, earthly fame, But the accomplishment, .- Of some nndying aim ! Ye, that some hapless day, Molding this mortal clay, Cast in one spark of immortality, That rankling in the flood, Of this swift-pulsing blood, Like to some deadly poison, pauselessly Frets me in every hour, Steals joy, and peace, and power, Drives me to wander as a homeless pilgrim Restless o'er land and sea, To live nor die content, To perish, nor to be, ! 125 Give me some flaming deed, Great gods ! whereon to feed This craving soul, wherewith to satisfy All the unquenched desire, Burns like consuming fire ! A deed 'twere great to live for, or to die ! A deed shall shed a glow, On the dark earth below, Like to the track a meteor's blazing heart, Leaves on the nightly sky ! 126 ^^ lark ! that risest from dew-glistening fields. Into the cloudless, sun-filled morning sky, Lost in the rapture of thy warbling song, Soaring so far and high, The earth with all its towering hills, appears But a green island, in a wide, blue sea, What are to thee, The voices of the children in the meadow, That laugh and crow, So deep below, The feeblest echo of their loudest glee, Scarce reaches thee ? O soul ! that risest from the happy earth, Into the boundless space of heaven on high, Heedless if it be day or darksome night, Soaring to God so nigh, The world with all its petty cares, appears But a dark speck in]a vast sea of light, That with unruflledciilm dost contemplate, $ 12? @ And life and death, or good or evil fate, That knowest thine the peace unspeakable, Where tears and smiles are done, And pain and joy as one, What were to thee the noisy voice of fame, Wherewith men chose perchance to herald thee, Through every laud and clime, Thee, that dost rise above and earth and time V 128 ^^ ye, who stand upon the heights of time, Where with eternity it grows to one, Whose names are written on the blazing skies, Outshining the pale splendors of the sun, O ye, the matchless sweetness of whose song, Has charmed King Death to lay his sceptre down, Ye robed in purple, wearing on your brows, A glory greater than aught earthly crown, Stretch out your hands, give welcome unto me, I too, Immortal Ones, am one of ye ! .My sinking too, shall with its magic power, Burst opeu graves, and bid the dead to rise, Shall make the dim, untried To-be, reveal Its deepest tales to mine anointed eyes, Rouse the fierce battle, let its clangor cease Strike to the heart, bid pain's sharp moan be hushed! Draw joyous laughter, the swift-springing tear, As from the smitten rock the waters gushed ! I too sing of all great things 'neath the sky. Of all that makes it sweet to live or die! 129 I too shall shoot my arrows at the sun, Despairing not to draw in purple flood The life-blood from his flaming heart ! I too Feel in each vein heaven's fires pulsate and glow , Me too shall serve the powers of earth and sky, To me be subject heaven and sea and land, Nations be born, and live, and pass away, Empires rise up and die at my command, ! I too a god, whose breath calls forth a world, By whose swift hand the thunderbolt is hurled ! I too shall stand upon the heights of time, Where with eternity it grows to one, My name be written on the blazing skies, Outshining the pale splendors of the sun ! O ye, the matchless sweetness of whose song, Has charmed King Death to lay his sceptre down, Ye robed in purple, wearing on your brows, A glory greater than aught earthly crown, Stretch out your hands, give welcome unto me, I too, Immortal Ones, am one of ye! 130 ^i HE fire was left to die, the chilly wind Swept through the opened windows and the door, And blew the curtains o'er the snowy sheet, That covered her, whose hand shall nevermore. So long as all the years of earth roll by, Draw them aside to look at sun or sky. 131 TO THE SAME. "i saw the snowy blossoms on the grave, In glaring noonday sun, that seared their leaves And in the kindlier moonlight, when their petals, Sparkled with dew, and when the sky grew dark And the fierce stormwind rising, scattered them, And whirled their white leaves at the threatening clouds. But O to thee it matters little now, Wliether the sun shines, or the storm-winds blow, ! Thou seest not the golden light of day, Xor hear'st the loudest thunder of the skies, And nevermore shalt know the things of earth ! O never, nevermore ! O human heart, Thou never yet hast fathomed to its depths, The burden of that word, that in a breath Compresseth all the agony of years, For to conceive it, and to die were one ! Seize on me too, fierce, merciless hurricane, Seize on me too, as on a poor, frail leaf, And rend me with the rushing of thy wings, And scatter me, I care not how nor where ! I crave no everlasting, happy life, No consciousness, when this shall cease to be, And to forget the present for an hour, Renounced all hope of dim Eternity! 132 TO THE SAME. SPIRIT VOICE. BsnS OT as a stranger from the distant skies, Whose mysteries no human eye may read, But as a friend, whose life is one -with yours, So am I with you every happy hour! In the glad morning when you wake and rise, And go about your well-accustomed tasks, Then am I with you, all unseen, unheard, And lend you aid and comfort, my beloved ! At the glad noontide, when you gather round The cheerful board, there is no empty seat, For I am ever with you, my beloved, And weep or smile, as you are grave or gay. In the glad evening, when, the curtains drawn. You all assemble round the firelit hearth, I there am with you, breathing in your ear, Tales of the beauteous land unknown to you, And kiss you on the brow, O my beloved, Till you grow strong in faith, and with sweet tears Embrace, and say that dreaded death is naught But the dark gate to Everlasting Life! 133 I A turned from sun- and starlight, and broad day, And in the dead of night I came to them, The Heavenly Gates, and ever found them closed. And but a ray of feeble light, more faint Than the pale shimmer of some distant star, Came slanting through the crevice. And I knocked, With timid finger first, and no one answered, Then once again, and louder, yet again Came no response, and then at length I cried : "Will ye not open, open unto me, Ye Heavenly Ones? ! I ask not yet to enter The glory of your presence, but one moment, One single moment, open unto me, Give me to gaze from far upon the splendor, Wherein you dwell through all eternity ! One drop from out the ocean of your bliss, Grant unto me, a mortal parched with thirst ! I turned away far from my rugged path, And came with weary feet unto your Gates, And then will go contented on my way, 134 One instant, I implore, ye Heavenly Ones!"- And yet no answer, and eternal silence Reigned all around me, only through the crovice I saw the shadow of their blessed feet Move past me, as they glided to and fro. "O in the name of God,!" I cried once more, "Have pity upon me, a human soul, Pleading in darkness here before your feet!" Yet all in vain, in vain ! And with mad tears, I flung myself despairing on my knees, And knocked upon the Gates till my fiail hands Bled with the vain attempt, and I eNhausted, Fell with my face upon the barren ground, And then a voice, 1 know not whence it came, If from the mortal darkness round about. Or from the shining realms within the Gates, Spoke unto me, "Rise up, and go thou hence ! Thou knowest not the desires of thine own heart ! Were the Gm