mu THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES of Uj* of tjje BY ARTHUR WENTWORTH HEWITT COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS COMPANY BOSTON Copyright, 1916 By ARTHUR WENTWORTH HEWITT Co Bina POEMS PAGE THE WAYFARER 9 THE FOLLOWER 12 THE ENDLESS QUEST . . . .13 BLUE HILLS BEYOND THE GREEN . 15 THE WAYSIDE TREE . . . .18 THE BELLS OF ETERNITY ... 23 SEVEN SONGS OF EVENING . . .28 THE LOST ILLUSION .... 34 A SONG OF HER 39 HEARTACHE 40 BESIDE MY COTTAGE DOOR . . .41 THE BALLAD OF BROKEN LINKS . . 45 APRIL AND INDIAN SUMMER ... 49 EILEEN OF INVERLIN . . . .51 THE GAWKY 54 THE SHEPHERD S DAUGHTER . . 57 THE WRAITH OF ROBIN . . .61 BY THE MOON OF HALLOWE EN . . 66 NORNA THORNTON .... 75 EVIL IVAN S BRIDE .... 80 VENGEANCE Is MINE .... 88 THE EVENSTAR 102 IN SHADOWLAND 109 THE SHADOW BROTHER in of tije THE WAYFARER. One league, ten leagues, and a thousand, onward into the night; The lone, low hillsides darken, the stars are wildly bright. From the dimness of leagues beyond me, their journeyings only begun, The stars of the wearying thousands shine weari less over this one. For only one do we travel, where one by one in the dark From lone abysses of dimness each league has its several spark. Twas one by one that we traveled the leagues that behind us are past We walk but one in the present, and die in one at the last. 9 of tfje ISTortf) Who walks one step of the journey may not for ever turn back; Who steps no foot of the journey must wither and die in his track. From the days of loves that will linger and sweeten through all he aspires, He must trample all he has cherished to stand on the height he desires. But the still, small voice of his Being will call him away and afar Where loom his delectable mountains, where shines his delectable star; Where ever, but ever beyond him, still ever he knows he shall gain The hills of his ultimate Being, the crown of his ultimate pain. Yet on through the leagues and the dimness, ah, yet to the mountains above, He will yearn with unquenchable longing and throb with unbeatable love; 10 of Ujr Still gleams, in the homeland behind him, the hallowed, enhaloing light As it shone when he left it forever, a vagabond into the night. Oh, long and homeless the journeys, and dim the wild starlight gleam Till pilgrims and strangers have crossed all purple peaks of their dream To the land where the light that darkened in the dim, long journeys we trod We shall greet for once and forever, the Un speakable Glory of God. 11 of tfje THE FOLLOWER. By starless night, or morning Auroral and sublime, On winter wind or vernal, Relentless and eternal, I hear the ancient warning The hills of soul to climb. Through death and desolation, Through hope and happy things; Through valleys vast and hollow, O er hills, I follow, follow The eerie aspiration Of ghostly whisperings. Oh, joy to follow faster, By rocky road or green! I who have rested never Shall ask no rest for ever Of Destiny, my master, Immortal and unseen. 12 of tljt THE ENDLESS QUEST. The old, eternal calling, love, Is sounding in my soul; The steps afar are falling, love, I follow toward the goal. The angel wearies never, love, Who has her pilgrim trained To seek one quest forever, love, Forever unattained. I know not where she leads me, love, I only know tis far; I know not if she heeds me, love, Where death and heartbreak are. Oh, tired to-day with roaming, love, And leagues on leagues to roam, My soul, that has no homing, love, Has slept and dreamed of home. 13 of tfj* I wake as day is failing, love On forest hills afar The whippoorwills are wailing, love, Unto the evening star. The night is dark and eerie, love, And lonely is the quest; O fold my heart tis weary, love - To-night upon thy breast! 14 BLUE HILLS BEYOND THE GREEN. My home was in the highlands, Where shone in emerald sheen The leaves and vines and grasses Upon the hills of green. But all my heart grew restless, And all my soul forgot The things of its possession For things possessed not. Beyond the greener highlands I saw the ranges lie, The azure mountain ranges, Against the azure sky. They shone in violet colors Against the sunset sheen; The far off hills of azure Were fairer than the green. 15 of tfje And so I left the homeland Where all my memories are, To seek through all the distance The hills of blue afar. From all my vines and orchards, From all my soul had gained, From all my heart s attainments, I sought my unattained. The way was long and weary, My heart grew strange and lone; But now at last the ranges Are near and are my own. But all the hills are barren, And all the hills are brown ; Beneath my feet they darken, And like the desert frown. And once before I perish My wayward glances roam, 16 of tfte And turn with speechless longing Back to my hills of home. Oh, mine no more for ever! Oh, fair they shine to view, The hills from whence I wandered Far off and azure blue! 17 of tfje Korttj THE WAYSIDE TREE. A shade for the sunny sod Was made by the Mighty God, Who said, long years ago : " From yonder naked clod Let branching beauty grow." For lovers and pilgrims were there, Men weary, and men in despair, And souls who had love for the Fair, And God for them all had a care, So God upraised a tree Aye blessed be the God of the tree! And, long though the years may be, What need of hurry hath He? Who is all the gods and fate Can well afford to wait Ah well, tis this, my song: God raised the wayside tree Through half a century long. 18 of tftr Lo, half a hundred years That slowly sail on our tears To the place where lost years go (Which God alone can know) God gave to one lone tree So long that man might smile And weep and pray a while And greet eternity; So long that babes unborn Have seen the light of morn, Grown grey, and died forlorn, Such weary years to dree. God called the years well spent, The half a hundred lent To that lone, beautiful tree. Lo! toward its mighty root Comes, axe in hand, the brute; And fifty years of God He levels to the sod! (Yea, trees of the forest there were, Signs of the Infinite care; 19 of tfje Birches and maples and fir, Fuel and lumber were there, Enough for him, and to spare ; Coal mother earth did bear No matter what did he care?) Straightway the iron he swung On the poem the Father began. Beauty and soul far flung, On a song that God had sung The iron discordant ran; Struck Ideality s plan, Beauty for the soul of man, And a shade for the fevered head Oh, loss irrelievable now, For, ere a half century s fled, Another may shelter the brow, But the brow neath its shade will be dead I Oh, many and many an hour, Like many and many a man, I ve sat by the branching bower Its leaves were as cool as a fan. There, wearied on the quest of tfte ISTottfj My soul forever seeks, I sat me down to rest And watch my purple peaks. Delectable and far, Against the sunset gates, Where shines the evening star, And all my glory waits, I saw them shining fair, And wondrous peace was mine, And whispers came divine Upon the evening air. Oh, many a blazing noon The shade would intervene; And at night, through the branches green, I have watched the pallid moon But now, no more! no more! The man who cut the tree Has cut my rest from me, And now my heart is sore. Ay, curse him! Shatter him, all Ye demons, at every turn, The beast of all beasts that crawl ! 21 7i?avjj of tfje God grant him in Hell to burn Till the last of the timbers fall To ashes, which fashioned the tree! And then may the brute go free To whimper at Heaven s wall ; But then will not bloom for me Again my beautiful tree, Though all my tears should fall. of ttje THE BELLS OF ETERNITY. Only a hermit, he Evermore hears, Under the glistening Moonbeams a-listening, Tones of eternity Sweet to his ears; Low, but insistently, Solemnly, distantly, Wafted on winds of the Whispering years. With his fraternity (Squirrels and wandering Things) he is pondering Echoes he hears Evermore stealing And tolling and pealing The bells of eternity Sweet to his ears. 23 of tfjr These are his churches, The maples and birches, The elms and the covering Blue of the hovering Heavens of God; While as he crosses His grasses and mosses, He thinks it no loss his Cathedral is trod Only by mellowing Twilight enhaloing Angels who whisper the Glory of God, And by the morning Or sunset, adorning His fonts, the wild fountains That rush down the mountains Past his abode. (Hush! in the gloaming, Hesperus-homing Rays of the sun Smile on the roaming Eremite one. 24 of tfte Then is it strange his Crimsoning changes Down the blue ranges Far in the west, Hint of the home And the hills of his rest? Whence ever come, Distantly stealing, Tones of the pealing Bells of eternity, Sweet to his ears, Wafted on winds of the Whispering years.) Hush! for it passes the Emerald grasses, the Whispering wind of the Vanishing years, Under the quivering Leaflets delivering Into his ears Words of the withering Joys of the years, 25 of ttje Blooming like dawn in a Glory of light, Fading and gone in a Gloom, as of night. Fleeting and Fleeting and Fleeting in tears! Meeting us, Greeting us, Fading and fleeting thus, Vanish the years. Leave him a-pondering, Here mid his wandering Wildling fraternity. Time only swells Tones of the bells Tolling on dells, And woods he will roam ; Ringing and warning, Gloaming and morning, Calling him home 26 of tfje Bells of eternity, Sweet to his ears; Echoing, stealing, Tolling and pealing, Wafted on winds of the Whispering years. 22? a I D of O)* SEVEN SONGS OF EVENING. I. While softly radiant is the afterglow A faint and far intoning of deep bells, Dying away in distance down the dells, Is chiming on the evening air. I know The quaint old lichen tinted church, below A stone old ivied steeple green and bright, Beside the ancient elms, in sunset light That smiles on mounds of burials long ago. There slumber under mossy monuments The fathers, nevermore to hear the slow Old bells sublimely swinging to and fro, Their solemn, fading cadence flinging thence. The bells are hushed, and now the veery hark! A song and then a silence and the dark! II. Beneath the ancient elms that stand around The country graveyard in the lonely vale I stand at sunset, where the myrtles trail 28 of tfte And lichened marble over mossy mound In vain would whisper, " Death is on this ground." The violets blossom in the greening grass, Wild roses bud, and ever, as they pass, The orioles and veeries sprinkle sound Down into evening s green and golden glow, And beauty lays on death and everything The old immortal joyance of the spring. Like Memnon to the morning long ago, The very marbles sing, with rapture rife, " I am the resurrection and the life." III. O lonely moon that movest up the sky, If fairer bark e er sailed a softer sea I know not where! In blue infinity Among the fleecy floating cloudlets I, Sitting within thy hollow shell on high, As a babe in a golden bowl to float in glee, Am fain to float afar to-night with thee, Wild wonders down blue seas of air to spy. There, rocking on the billows of the breeze, of tfje The green old ocean s bosom heaving bare, The lofty mountains lifting through the air, The far off little lovers under trees By houses big as boxes I would stare, Peering over thy brim, to look at these. IV. A fearsome, creeping, inky, starless night! The velvet monster muffles dismally All things from vision, yet is out of sight; Eyes straining from their sockets could not see His eldritch shape, nor misers aught behold Though walking half a yard from heaps of gold. Their tender babes might mothers laughingly Lead under trees whence Death, all ghastly, leans. The lewdest boor might think on shelling beans, While Aphrodite naked from the sea Walked half a rod before him. Serpent s hiss Or wolf s bare fang might ambush man to night. I wonder is the breathless grave like this? It is as if God died who made the light. 30 V. Bewildering, awaking star on star, Capella, Vega, and the Pleiades, In crystal constellations when one sees Step forth on sapphire battlements afar, And wondering thinks what boundless spaces are Between the closest, where perchance is whirled Round the Galaxy s least atom many a world That dwarfeth this, Infinity seems far. Then search all rolling worlds and gather all The drops of water, fire, and grains of sand; All leaves that ever fell, all flakes that fall Make each lone atom in a sum so grand, A billion rolling aeons, let them flee Tis not a moment of Eternity. VI. The rain has fallen all the afternoon ; The soft gray twilight s robe with rain is dripping; The drowsy blossoms nod beneath the boon Of needed bath, and all the earth is sipping. 31. of ttje Notrtl) Brown rivulets are running down the road; Mud puddles in the ceaseless raining wrinkle; And polished pebbles roll, anew bestowed By dashing drops that round them drip and sprinkle. On rocks and pasture, pool, and brooklet splash ing, On grass and trees that long will drip ere drying; On window panes all day I ve watched the dash ing, But oh! the joy of gentle night, and lying Beneath the slanted roof where softly mingles With sleep the patter, patter on the shingles! VII. O soul, one song more sing of evenfall, Of soft and lone and wondrous April-tide! Again the golden hermit thrushes call, And o er the world the rainwinds wander wide. But mellow more than haloes fall the rays Of setting sunlight on the grasses brown; The whippoorwills bewail the closing days, 2!?<ir:p of tf)* And swollen brooks to the valleys gurgle down. Green singers piping shrill in silver song Along the lonely valleys and the swales, (Clear ringing choruses through evenings long Till mellow music over all prevails). The little frogs are singing, wild with spring! My heart will break if more I try to sing. 33 of ttje THE LOST ILLUSION. Floating mellow through the pathos of the April evening twilight, I have seen again the vision of my love of long ago. Down the darkening abysses of my soul her angel eyelight Smiles to life the love, the longing, and the un forgotten woe. Haloed bright with utter glory, such as lights the golden bridal When the memories of April kiss the hopes forever dead, Thou hast all the wild, sad splendor of my dreamland s broken idol, Thou art all as I had dreamed thee, with the haloes round thy head. Art thou come from violet mountains of that distant past whose dimness 34 of tfte Scarce permits to dying echoes one dear mystic thrill of you, Once again to wake affection cold as craters, stark with grimness, White with death that resurrection never can to life renew? If thou livest yet I know not, thou art dead for aye and ever With the death that lieth piteous and forever on my dream. Girl, I loved thee long and madly, but for me God made thee never All thy haloes were illusion, light as moon beams on the stream. Thou of earth wert only earthy, like the brown, fresh April grasses, Yet celestial as I saw thee, like the peaks afar and blue; Toward the violet hills I wandered rough and brown were all their passes; Toward thyself I struggled, homing when I found thee, love withdrew. 35 Of tyt NOttf) Is there beauty in the grasses, or the April twi light holy, Or the far-off, silver music of the frogs along the vale, In the hours when Nature s freshness is so sweet it seems that slowly All the fragrances of Heaven through the gates of God exhale? Or is all the sweet, sad splendor in the mortal eyes that, seeing, Only seem to see immortal beauty reigning in the world ? Are the eyes all Nature s color? Is there naught beyond our being For the thrills that are forever through our throbbing bosoms whirled ? Wert thou lovely, O thou loved one, who art loved again, ah never! Who art dead as death can make thee, though thy heart still throb and thrill ? 36 of tljc Or were all the haloes round thy tresses, eyes, and soul forever But within the dreamer s soul that saw thee, loved, and dreamed his will? Oh, could death for deathless longing, or could life for lifeless dreaming Swing from fancy into truth the portals aye and ever barred! Could I find thee what I thought thee - as one April drew thy seeming Whether what thou art I know not what I dreamed of thee unmarred ! Nevermore my soul shall meet thee, nevermore shall know the smarting Of the pain when thou wouldst turn unsmiling from a heart it hurt! Bitter though it was to lose thee, better, better far the parting Than to watch the haloes fading from what once I dreamed thou wert! 37 ?4avj) of Now I know I never loved thee, now I know my spirit only, Through the pathos of the twilight, then was seeking for its own. Through the long, unnumbered valleys, through its dreamland echoes lonely, Still it seeketh mid the haloes, still unknowing and unknown. O why wilt thou longer haunt me through the wild, pathetic twilight, Lost illusion of a love-dream, with thine an guish wild and vain? Far as Algol from Arcturus, God divides us and her eyelight, Fair as moonrise on the mountains, never beams on me again. 38 of tfte A SONG OF HER. O loved so dearly, loved so long, And lost so long ago, My heart shall sing thee one more song, Though thou wilt never know. From him thou nevermore wilt see, A song thou wilt not hear, Of every smile thou gavest me, And every bitter tear. More dim than April s twilight glow, More tender and more sad, Are all the years of long ago And all the hopes they had. They die all darkly, all the throng, They leave me lone, I know O loved so dearly, loved so long, And lost so long ago! 39 of tfje HEARTACHE. I ache for thee, I ache for thee, O loved and lost so long ago, But all my hope is memory, And all my memory is woe. Thou canst not come, thou canst not come, Thou canst not come again to me ! My heart is dead, my song is dumb, But all my dreams remember thee. 40 of tyt BESIDE MY COTTAGE DOOR. My cottage door is open And, sitting near its sills, I watch the wondrous twilight Enhaloing the hills. Oh, tender is the twilight, And, strange and wondrous fair The round, white moon is lighting The violet evening air. Beside my cottage doorway, In bud and bloom are seen The fragrant pink wild roses Upon their bushes green. To-night rny heart is happy, To-night the empty years Of lone and utter longing Have lost at last their tears. 41 of tft* My own, my unforgotten, To-night hath let me know Her heart hath reawakened Its love of long ago. Oh, long ago I lost her! Oh, bitter was the throb! Oh, hard the years of absence, The heartbreak and the sob! My one, my own, my only Her heart grew lonely, too! And now I wait her coming As once she used to do. Oh, will she come to brighten The violet evening air, And yield to my caresses Her waving golden hair? She comes her shadow, falling Across my cottage door, of Is moving in the moonlight Beside me on the floor. I dare not look upon her Oh, shall I ever know That loveliness, unfaded, I loved so long ago? Her garments rustle near me, A sigh her bosom stirs My foolish fears forsaking, I lift my eyes to hers. Her eyes have all their glory, Her lips are no less warm, The years have not diminished The splendor of her form. To crown the years of yearning, To cover all the woe, To see her is sufficient, My love of long ago! 43 of tfte ISTortf) " O fair, and unforgotten ! lovely, and supreme! O lips that lean to kiss me " 1 wake tis all a dream! O break, my heart! for Heaven No comfort hath to dole, But answers with its silence The silence of mv soul. 44 of tfjr ISTotttj THE BALLAD OF BROKEN LINKS. I. Across the twilight hills she came, Across the village green; Light hearted lass of Burnlindale, As lofty as a queen. Under the birch by the little church A laddie stopped the lass. She laughed and tossed her saucy head, " Now, Bob, you let me pass ! " " No, May! You pay the toll," he said, " I ll take it if you don t." She laughed and tossed her saucy head " But, Bob, you know I won t ! " She struggled in her lover s arms, A struggle brief and weak. Her eyes were laughing into his, He kissed her girlish cheek. 45 of tije Kottt) ii. Years passed. The lass of Burnlindale Awake in the gloaming lay; She had folded the morrow s bridal veil Out of her sight away. Far-away, silvery choirs of frogs In the valley piping shrill And memories roll she hates her soul, But tears on the pillow spill. They fall from her eyes as wine will flow Crushed from the grapes of blue. There is one may never know her woe - God grant that he in Heaven may know That such a thing was true! She hated her soul, she turned on her bed, She prayed with a broken sob; " Forgive me, O kind God ! " she said, " I wish that it were Bob! " 46 of in. The twilight sank on Burnlindale, " Now, hail, old comrade, John ! " "Hail Bob, old friend! Where didst thou spend The years while thou wert gone? " " In wars and over waves," he said, " But sick of foam and fight, By something I am homing led, Why ring the bells to-night ? " Sublime with deep intoning, The church bells swung, afar. The echoes died, low moaning. " May s wedding bells they are." Oh, long when John had turned to go, Bob sat beneath the trees. But May, who never knew his woe, God grant that she in Heaven may know He throbbed with memories! 47 of tlje IV. " The gloaming fell on Burnlindale, As thou wert homing, love Rememberest how I kissed thee, now, That happy gloaming, love? " The gloaming now on Burnlindale Is softly stealing, love, And from the church beside the birch The bells are pealing, love. " Thy bridal bells on Burnlindale, Full-toned and tender, love Ah, woe! I thought I had forgot Thy smiles, thy splendor, love! " The gloaming falls on Burnlindale, If hearts are broken, love, I know not oh, I only know Heartache unspoken, love!" 48 of tfje APRIL AND INDIAN SUMMER. April twilight, humid breezes, Brown the grass the snow releases Roamed a lad at evening lonely, Owning love for Nana only. June and wildwood. "Yes," she told him; Heaved her bosom close to hold him; Squirrels scampered off to chatter To their mates about the matter. Bridal bells, intoned sublimely, Pealed in sweet September timely, When the bride came down the valley, Leaving church by leafy alley. Indian Summer wakes in wonder Blue her skies but white thereunder Stands the stone that moans in vain a Verse beneath the name of Nana: 49 of tftt Ttfortf) " Only loved, unlovely never, Only thee I love forever Only thee, and thou art only Ashes in a graveyard lonely." 50 of ttje EILEEN OF INVERLIN. She walked the woods alone, Eileen of Inverlin; Her eyes were made for smiles, but held the tears therein. The oriole sang low along the leafy lane When there I met Eileen, the lass I loved in vain. "What grief is thine, Eileen?" I said. A sigh she caught, And lifted up her eyes of blue forget-me-not. " My lad has gone to war, and said, Except we win I come no more to meet Eileen of Inverlin! Twas long thereafter, lo, the oriole had fled; Before the wailing wind the leaves were drifting, dead; To turn her love to me I did the deadly sin A letter false to bring Eileen of Inverlin. 51 of tije " Thy love is false," I said, " he hath forgotten thee." She sank upon a bank and read, nor looked at me. Above the cruel lie she bowed her head of brown ; Like billows heaved her breast, her tears were dripping down. Twas there I broke her heart, Eileen of Inverlin, But noble, when I tried her broken heart to win, She flashed, " If he is false, a faithful lover I ! Nor thou nor any else shall claim me till I die ! " One day we learned her lad fell down in battle, dead. When other days and years were gone, " Eileen," I said, " Ten years of life I d lose one smile of thine to win Why linger longer lone, Eileen of Inverlin?" " My boy is dead, I know if false I never knew, But this I know, that still love lives and love is true. 52 ?l>arj) of tije ISTortf) His eyes were hazel bright, my bonny Lyndon Glynn ! And he alone may love Eileen of Inverlin." Nor long thereafter, oh! the tender leaves were green At sunset in the woods once more I met Eileen The oriole sang low and she, no longer lone, Held arm in arm at last her true love and her own. Oh, gloriously she uplifts her lashes long My heart is full of hell the world is full of song When ring the bells at morn yon ivied tower within, A bonny bride will be Eileen of Inverlin ! 53 of ttjt ISTotttj THE GAWKY. A gawky came sauntering over the hill. Quoth Jennie, a scowl on her brow, " With ma in the meadow and pa at the mill, How can I have company now! Ho! how? How can I have company now? " "Ho, ho!" said the booby, "Was ever such luck? None peek at me now if I stay! " She flashed like a shaving the lightning had struck : " I hate you, and you go away! Oh, Say! I hate you, and you go away! " The minx at her meaning he took, it was plain, " Oh, two can play hating, you know! " 54 ?l>arj) of tt)* Novtft Her cheeks were soon wet as a rose in the rain He really was going to go! Boo! Hoo! He really was going to go! He squinted a wee little squint ere he went She choked, and he heard her, the lout! He didn t suppose that he knew what it meant, But thought he had better find out. No doubt, He thought he had better find out. He caught her. She wriggled and squealed, " Oh, you quit! You booby, behave yourself, Jim! Your kissing I do not want any of it! " But the hollyhocks nodded at him (At Jim), The hollyhocks nodded at him! He loosed her, he did ! Oh, the lubber, the loon ! But stayed all the gloaming to play, 55 of ttje Till over the mountain Night kicked up the moon, And then he went whistling away! Oh, say! And then he went whistling away! of tfje THE SHEPHERD S DAUGHTER. Where down the sunny mountain gushed the gurgling water The lad that picked the apples met the shep herd s daughter. She stood beneath the birches, on the bank so mossy ; Her eyes were blue as asters, brown her locks and glossy. Bare-footed, hesitating, skirts a little lifting, She watched the water wimpling, shadows on it shifting. Across the brook the laddie called, " I ll help you over. The stones are slippery." Only laughed she at her lover. " My hand you want to hold it, hold me shall you never! 57 of tljt Go tend," she said, "your orchards!" Love has hope forever, And he a rosy apple gave her, making bolder; But she, his apple tossing, hit him on the shoulder. " Go off," she said, " and leave me! " Round he turned him, going. Higher she pulled her skirts to wade the waters flowing. She saw no more the lad, nor he the shepherd s daughter Till once again they met beside the wimpling water. He bent beside the babbling brook, athirst, and drinking, He did not see the girl, of her he was not think ing. She came unseen and still; twas hot, her cheeks were ruddy, And with her naked foot she made the water muddy. 58 of tfte ISTottft She, springing, ran away; he sprang and fol lowed after. She left him far behind, and mocked him with her laughter. The silly sheep looked on, their pasture grasses chewing ; They blinked, but could not understand what they were viewing. But once again the lad beside the wimpling water Alone and sobbing found the shepherd s pretty daughter. He pulled her hands away from eyes all red with crying. " What is the matter, dear? " he said, her cheeks a-drying. " My sheep are on the mountain don t know where to find them. I ve hunted till my feet leave bloody tracks be hind them. 59 of tfje They re lost and gone," she sobbed, " and father s gone a-roaming With gun upon his shoulder won t be home till gloaming." " I ll go to find your sheep, then cry no more, my dearie," He said, and sought the sheep; he walked till he was weary. Across the hills he came when purple night was falling, But every lamb came home, responding to his calling. The lassie heard them bleating, came and saw them folded; She hugged their woolly necks and every wan derer scolded. How did she thank the lad for home her tru ants bringing? She let him kiss her cheek, her arms around him clinging. 60 of tlje THE WRAITH OF ROBIN. Eerie eve, eerie eve, Ever is Hallowe en; Lassie, how thy heart will heave When his wraith is seen! Wouldst thou see the laddie, lass, Fate for thee requires Know if wedlock come to pass As thy heart desires? Lassie go when midnight spills, Ever at Hallowe en, Terror over Burnlin hills, And his wraith is seen. Where the naked branches groan, Haunted by the moon, Thither, lassie, all alone Seek the fearful boon. 61 of tftr Under the birches runs the brook Ever at Hallowe en; Bow upon the banks and look, And his wraith is seen. Then uprose that trembling girl, Bowing her bonny head, Speaking with her heart awhirl, Out she spake and said, " In the waters if I spy, Ever at Hallowe en, Other face than Rob s, I die When the wraith is seen ! " Went the lassie where the brook Runs toward Burnlindale, Bowing on the banks to look, Under the moonlight pale Face and face unto her own, Ever at Hallowe en, 62 of tfte Peering, saw she Rob alone When the wraith was seen! And she felt a presence light, Light as the whispering breeze Then the vision vanished quite, Under the birchen trees. Nor than hers was better bliss Ever at Hallowe en, For her Robin and for this: That his wraith was seen. But to her at morning came Sighing, her sister sad; Tidings heavy past all name On her lips she had. " Death some blithesome bosom kills, Ever at Hallowe en Robin died on Burnlin hills, The hour when wraiths were seen ! " 63 of tfje Sobbed the lassie, heart-broken then, "Robin could not die! Happy, happy have we been, And his bride am I! " Bonny, bonny was my lad ! Ever at Hallowe en Mine was all the love he had, And I his wraith have seen ! " " Thine he was, and thine he died, Lassie, yester eve." " What at Halloweventide Message did he leave?" I will pass her as I go, Ever at Hallowe en, And my lassie then will know She my wraith has seen. " " Said he this, and This weird night Of the coming year 64 of tf)t Will I come for her " " O bright Hope," she cried, " and dear! " Eerie eve, eerie eve, Ever is Hallowe en, Lassie, how thy heart will heave When his wraith is seen! of ttjr BY THE MOON OF HALLOWE EN. I. Above the mountain moved the moon. " Now Jeanie, answer me ! " " I cannot answer thee so soon. Oh wait a year ! " said she. " Thy father s anger thou dost dread Thou wilt forget me, Jean ! " " I ll answer thee, alive or dead, By the moon of Hallowe en." But out and spake her angry sire When she had turned the knob, " I d see thy body burn in fire Ere thou shouldst marry Rob ! " He took her far away to roam, When back the tidings spread Unto the mountains of her home Of Jeanie Douglas dead. 66 of tfjtr ii. " I cannot love thee, Agnes Bell I know I am a knave But my heart is hidden deep and well In Jeanie Douglas grave! " " Take back thy promise, Rob," she said, All choked with anguish hot. " Should Agnes ever wish to wed With one who loves her not?" III. And now it is the Hallowe en, White ride the clouds on high, And gibbous o er the azure sheen The yellow moon goes by. From cloud to cloud across the blue, From dark o er light to dark; The somber hills with shifting hue The eerie moon doth mark. 67 ?liavji of tfje By fields of brown the shadows sweep Along the naked trees; And somewhere from the branches deep Whistles the ghostly breeze. In Jean s old home beyond the kirk The youth together flock, In jubilee of game and glee, Save Rob whom memories mock. Giggling glee bubbling fair Till at the middle night An eerie wailing fills the air And stops the heart with fright. Unearthly low and sad it calls, It dies to silence soon. Was it within these shadowy walls Or under the ghostly moon? O out and spake then Norna Glynn, And wild and pale was she, 68 of tfjr " A ghost is seen each Hallowe en, At midnight seen is he; " Those earthless footsteps lightly tread Yon hills at Hallowe en The fairest ghost of all the dead That mold in churchyards green. " Whoever sees that ghost arise, To him is grief and groan; Whoever spies his eldritch eyes Falls down as dead as stone! " Pale and still with terror all Stood like stones to hear. Out and spake, that spell to break, Agnes, void of fear: " The tale is idle out I go, Nor fear I phantom lore! " Still and pale, they watched her go. Back she came no more. 69 of tfje IV. By terror eerie haunted, Rob shook with utter dread; His highland heart was daunted, Remembering his dead. The girl to track who came not back, He left the cottage soon. The clouds above were mad to rack And oversweep the moon. The shadows underneath were mad The earth to overdance, To flit and fall and darken all, Departing like a glance. The dead leaves rustled were they stirred By mortal foot, or blown By the breezes what was that he heard ? A shudder and a moan! Beneath a butternut creaking bare, Upon a mossy mound 70 of tfje Was shape or shadow Agnes there Had sunk upon the ground! He bent above her, fain to speak, When she his face beheld. She drove him from her with a shriek By mortal fear impelled. " Away ! Away ! O touch me not ! Not thou, of all the world ! " He heard, believing that her thought In chaos wild was whirled. " Not I of all the world, when thou Didst love me once so well! " "Ay," she replied, "and love thee now But get thee hence! Farewell!" " And hast thou seen this Hallowe en Those dread unearthly eyes?" " A lightsome phantom I have seen Where yonder pathway lies. 71 IK?arj) of tfte " Naught utter of that face ! The form Was radiant to see, But since I heard its awful word Come never near to me ! " But nearer still he stepped to her, The shadow shifted grim, And crouching near, in terror sheer, Witless she stared at him. Then nearer still he stepped to her, She sprang unto her feet; Away she ran as fleet as man Whom devils follow fleet. V. The day has dawned, the sun beyond The rugged mountain set For more than thrice an hundred times Since Rob and Agnes met. That night of moon and terror, That fearsome Hallowe en, 72 of tije Has made her shun the lad as one By leprosy unclean. By ingleside he ponders What may the mystery mean. " For weal or woe, I swear to know," He said, " what she hath seen ! " But give me from the grave, O God, My Jeanie once to kiss, Or from the grave no longer save A broken life like this! " Twas Agnes wrote to him the note: " The night is Hallowe en ; Go (dost thou dare?) thou knowest where The wraith I saw was Jean." VI. The haunted Hallowe en is back With blinking stars o erhead ; The twisting trees are bare and black, The leaves are black and dead. 73 of tfje Under the hill, the lonely kirk And Jeanie s home between, Soft be his tread who with the dead Bides tryst at Hallowe en! Her bones are buried beyond the sea Oh, lies and false alarms! To-night will Jeanie Douglas be Alive within my arms! " Out spake a voice he shook with fright His name it uttered low. He turned to see a phantom bright, All whiter than the snow! Her face was lifted to the light Of all the stars to show The smiling lips, the bonny bright Blue eyes of long ago. One cry all sharp with wild delight But never the ghost of Jean, And never on another night Her lover again was seen. 74 of ttje NORNA THORNTON. She roamed along the ragged rocks Where gushed the gurly sea. " To-morrow," tossing back her locks She laughed, " he comes to me ! " The sky was purple overhead, The green old ocean sang, The risen moon was bloody red And loud the sea birds clang. " Thank God to-night he is not nigh ! " Cried Norna Thornton soon, For dark and darker grew the sky And bloodier the moon. The wind went walking round about, The eerie wave went black, The bloody moon was blotted out Beneath the scudding rack. 75 of tfje The black in which the blind man walks Came down on sea and land ; The ocean boomed among the rocks And thundered on the strand. The lightning leaped athwart the sky, The thunder burst sublime! Oh night of nights for man to die At his appointed time! A voice is heard, it shouts afar, Men rush with mighty strides. "A ship has crossed the harbor bar! Among the rocks it rides! " A flash, and then the thunder crashed ; The darkness thick was furled; Then out the leaping lightning flashed And lit the eerie world. When out the leaping lightning flashed, " Look! " Norna Thornton cried. " Look yonder! Look! to death is dashed A vessel on the tide! " 76 of ttje " Now comes the crack of doom! " they cry, " And death is on her track! " On Hampton haven heaving high, The breakers, leaping black, Are leaping black and breaking white Upon the harbor rocks, When inky blank again the night The keenest vision blocks. The plunge and thunder of the deep The shrillest shriek would drown. God only who is gone could keep That diapason down. But hark! a strident crash is heard! The lightning leaps a-lee! All man could see, all men averred, Was flotsam on the sea! The lightning leaped along the sky, Men read beneath its flame, From the vessel s broken beak tossed high, And Norna was the name! 77 71MV4J of tftr Insanely Norna to the sea Cried when that name she knew, " Give Skipper Jamie back to me, Or drown this body too! " Insanely Norna to the sea Ran swift, but as she ran The surf washed homeward heavily The body of a man. "Stop! for the love of God! O girl, Thy love lies on the strand! " She turned, with head and heart a-whirl, She knelt and took his hand. " Oh heavy, heavy on my knee, And cold my darling s head! And cold the arms that folded me So fondly he is dead ! " She plunged into the plunging sea Ere any man could save. Grim Death was laughing loud for glee Below the wicked wave. 78 of tft* For, sighing on the sodden sand, The skipper came to life. He glanced along the gloomy strand, He called his promised wife. Oh, golden love shall kill his care, And golden hope is sweet! But golden was that corpse s hair The surf flung at his feet. 79 of tfte ISTottf) EVIL IVAN S BRIDE. Eerily the olden moon Within the crescent rode The ocean floor, a skull all gore, In a golden bowl bestowed. And black against the somber sea Uprose a castle bad, Nor any turf but leaping surf And solid rock it had. " Go down unto the somber sea," Said Ivan, evil-eyed, " And light the stony tower for me Where I shall bring my bride! " I shook with fear such words to hear; A darksome man was he To nest a bride at such a tide, By such a sounding sea! 80 of tfje Thundering the beaches moan, But from that bridal night Was evil Ivan never known To any mortal sight. That castle black on a boulder s back, Men say of it in fear, Shuddering to their icicle souls, " Tis haunted many a year ! " It hath a ghost that grins in glee When scuds the gibbous moon ; When devils drive the winds at sea It laugheth like a loon! " An owl will hoot at the haunted moon From ivied ruins lone, But fearsome most is a giggling ghost Where sounding oceans moan. Tis night; in the gloom the combers spume, And the moon at the window peeks; In the hollow hall as dim as doom A mortal footstep creaks. 81 of tfjt Unsought for twenty years that room Tis evil Ivan seeks; His hair, once like a hearse s plume, Is grizzled now in streaks. He heard a sound, he looked around, He thought it was a moan. Was it a moan, that mournful sound, Or an echo of his groan? He rolled his eyes, aghast, agape At the dim moon-litten room; He thought he saw a moving shape That should have lain in tomb. As black as crape that moving shape, Twas blacker than the gloom In the corners. "Oh!" he groaned, agape, Remembering the tomb! He glanced again a glance in vain, If ghost, the ghost was gone; The moon looked down the skeleton pane At Ivan, shaking, lone. 82 of Out spake a voice : " O blessed glee ! " That voice unearthly said; " I pity, pity, pity thee! Tis blithesome to be dead ! " He shook at words so sudden said, For an idiot may divine The gibbering of the bony dead Is winter to the spine. As if a frozen corpse s hand Had slapped his naked heart, When white he saw a phantom stand He shook with a fearful start. For drifting o er the naked floor It stood within the light; Nor black as crape that phantom shape, But like a lily white. " O God ! " he muttered, half in swoon, :< The face is hers, the eyes Are hers that glitter to the moon, As fair as Paradise! 83 of tfje " They are no lips of mortal warm Those fearful words that said. The bones that shaped that beauteous form Have twenty years been dead ! " Then through a door as dark as doom Floats and disappears That phantom to a hollow room Whose echo Ivan hears " Oh blithesome are the dead ! " thought he, " That apparition said ! No heart like hers could ever be So happy to be dead ! " A haggard look askance he took, The haunted halls he fled. And did he hear a moaning near, And was it from the dead? Nor any tone of bitter moan Self-murdered heard he more A corpse is he the somber sea For ever tumbles o er. 84 of tyt But a bitter tone of moaning lone, Nor was it from the dead, Like waves that rave in a cave of stone, Rose soon as Ivan fled. In the mellow yellow of the moon Fantastic on the floor, As black as crape a moving shape Came tottering once more. " So dear, so cruel, who like thee! " That sable woman cried, And peered upon the somber sea As Ivan sank and died. Then to her wailing agony The only answer said, " I pity, pity, pity thee! Tis blithesome to be dead! " Nor black as crape the phantom shape, But like the lily white, Which drifted o er the naked floor And laughed to see the light. 85 Twas evil Ivan s daughter, born As crazy as a loon. With vacant laughter, eve to morn, She gibbers at the moon. " Thy father dies in yonder sea! " The sable woman cried; The answer came, " I pity thee! Tis blessed to have died! " " Daughter darling, yes I know, " The sable woman said, " Marked unborn by a mother s woe, Tis blessed to be dead ! " Daughter darling, follow me ! Deserted once when wed, The bed is deep where I shall sleep Ivan s bridal bed ! " To the castle parapet went she It overhangs the tide And, turning to the somber sea, She leaped, and sank and died. 86 ?i?arj) of tfje " Aha, ha, ha! A heavy host! " The crazy daughter said. " Oh, I am but a gleesome ghost ! Tis blithesome to be dead ! " of tfjr VENGEANCE IS MINE. I. From the deeps will I utter it once, from the heart of the damned will it leap Like the lavas that leap to the skies when the mightiest mountains can keep In suppression their furies no more. Of the in finite mercies that shine Over all, it is all that I claim tis a memory mad, and tis mine! From the blackness of darkness this once of the days that are dead will I sing; Of the eyes that were fair as the stars, and the tresses like twilight in spring; Of the smiles that were sweet and the voice that was low as the oriole s call, And of maddening passion for her, for her beauty was mighty in all. 88 of tfte Through unspeakable darkness they come in re membrance, those visions of yore, And of her but for ever and ever her name may I utter no more. We were children together, the day of her birth was the day of my own, We were friendly in youth, and I loved her how madly, God only hath known! But a happier lover than I in her fancy ascended his throne Till a year had scarce withered away, when he left her to sorrow alone. He had come, he had taken her heart, he had taken my hope and was gone. But I waited, for mighty is love, and my spirit lay prone at her feet. She forgot that I loved her, I know, in forget- fulness cold and complete, But I waited, for mighty is love, and if ever her tears should be dry 89 ?IMV.P of tfje And, forgetting the false, she could smile, she should find that the faithful was nigh. And I waited, though weary the years since I laughed as a rollicking child I had wanted her only. At last she remembered I loved her, and smiled. I was happy! The hills of my home and the heart in my bosom grew light As the summer with haloes of hope from the moments I spent in her sight. II. But the summer soon faded away, and the days of our happiness fled. When the eeriest night of the autumn was shimmering high overhead, An insidious whisper I heard; like a snake in my bosom it fed. Twas a word of the deepest despair that can eat its way into the heart; Twas a hint was it truth, or a lie? When suspicions and jealousies start 90 of tfje They will leap in the halls of the soul like the dancing of devils insane In the breathless, low hollows of Hell till the soul is all passion and pain. Was it true that the false had returned? It was maddening into my brain That forgiveness was his for the asking, from her I had worshipped in vain. It was lightly she cared for my love; was her passion so mighty for him She could steal to his arms in the hours of a night so infernal and dim? It was maddening into my brain! In a frenzy each moment more grim Till it swept from my bosom all love, I was striding from room unto room, Love returning to battle with wrath, which arose like a demon to doom Every tenderer thought of the heart, till, the terrible struggle to stay, I girded a sword to my body and swiftly I bounded away. 91 of tfje UCortfj in. It was late in the year, and the grass of Novem ber lay brown on the ground; It was night, and the moon in the azure was journeying yellow and- round. She was swift as the hours of our joy and, like ghosts in the wailing night-breath, The great folds of the clouds were swept over her, white as the Angel of Death. On the hills, on the fields of my home, on the . woods that were leafless and dim, The black shadows were chasing the moonlight that died in the darknesses grim, Like the flame of my passion for her in the doom of my anger for him. But I sped through the night (I was swift as the shifting, wild shades on my path) In the might of a passionate love, in the speed of a terrible wrath. When I came to her garden at last, by the scudding of clouds in the sky, Like a blot of black ink upon paper, a darkness was dropped from on high. 52 of tfte But I heard the low voice of my love, and " O love! " were the words of the voice. Was she musing of me, and alone, or indeed was the traitor her choice? I waited in anguish and hope till the moon out of shadow should roll; It shone the last hope of my being fell rigid and dead in my soul. When the moon, in the eldritch cloud-dances, whirled giddily into the blue, She was wickedly quick to reveal, with a gleam of her ghastliest hue, In the arms of her lover, my love! Then I clutched at the hilt of my sword, And I flashed it out, glittering cold to the moonbeams above us that poured. O revenge! For revenge I was raging! My eyes from their sockets did start, While the passionate blood of my body ran blacker than Hell to my heart. To the hilt in his heart then I plunged the white steel, and he died with a groan, 93 of tfje Kotti) As my love in her agony shrieked, with all Hades and death in her tone. On his body she fell with the cry of a love that was mighty as Fate, But once turning to hurl through my soul one horrible look of her hate. While the clutches of agony cruel were tearing her heart to its death, She had laid her cold head on his bosom, and yielded forever her breath. From the sight of her hate and the sight of her love so majestic I fled, And her hatred for me and her passion for him was the curse on my head. Did I care, did I grieve, that I slew him? Ha! ha! I had stricken him dead! He had loved her and taken her love! I re joiced in the death I had done! He would clasp her no more to his bosom! Ha! ha! He was dead! She was won From caresses forever of his! And no matter if lost unto me, 94 ?lnTvj> of tfj* It was he that should see her no more, the glass eyes of the dead cannot see! No remorses had murder for me, nor the sin of my soul had I fled, But the pang of her passion for him, and the hatred she hurled on my head. It was more than victorious vengeance, in vain was the deed I had done, I was damned by a doom that was mightier far than the joy I had won. Yea, I knew that forever to him she was lost, but, ah Hell! I had known That she died for the love that she bore him; he claimed her last kiss as his own. I had lived but to love her, and now the last glance of her eyes I should see, Was the look of her horrible hate that she hurled o er his body at me! I may speed with all swiftnesses merged into one irresistible speed ; His blackening blood I may shake from my sword and may laugh at the deed. 95 f tfje I may flee from the deed, but no more can I flee from that passionate glance Of her hatred! No matter! Aha! Have ye seen, where the darknesses dance One after another across the mad moon in the eventide s breath, From the ground the long sword pointing up to the moon like the finger of Death? Did ye see, O ye demons, the glittering blade I had borne at my side? Did ye laugh with your hollow Ha, Ha, when I hurled myself on it and died? IV. In the blackness of darkness forever, a soul that is blasted, I roam Where the midnights are blacker than thunder, and death, even death, has no home For the soul disembodied and damned by the love and the anger that swell In itself, when no will but its nature has made its eternity s hell. 96 oC tfte ISTovtf) But the curse is forever upon it, and lone, in the blackness of night, In the soul of the dead, the wild love is aflame with its maddening might, Till I yearn in unspeakable anguish to see the one woman I love, And I rise from the valleys of death and athwart the lone midnight I move. By the infinite caverns of horror, by plains that no mortal can tread ; By the mountains that loom to the darkness, all black with the curse of the dead ; By the ways that the dead cannot utter, I come! I am come to her grave! I shall look through the earth to her body to see the one darling I crave. She is cold, she is pallid and still, she is dead, but what matter? Tis she! She is white in her beautiful silence, and I, yet again I shall see The one love of my soul! So I bend to her grave that is grassy and green, 97 7iMrj) Of tfje ISfOtt!) And I look but, O God! I am dumb with the doom of what there I have seen. ? Twas the ultimate horror of Hell that I saw in her pallor and grace, For the look of her hatred for me was frozen in death on her face! O my darling, for ever in vain for thy love in all worlds must I wait! not ever in life wouldst thou love me, and even in death wilt thou hate! Then I staggered away, when a rage, like a whirlwind arose in my soul, And I swore by the fates and the gods, and the stars that eternally roll, (For I rushed to the grave of my rival, where, down the dim asphodel deeps, 1 beheld him serene in the silence where, pallid, for ever he sleeps). " In her life thou hast taken her love, in her death thou hast left me her hate; When I lived, for the curse that thou gavest, I hurled through eternity s gate, 98 of tfj* From its body asunder, thy soul, with a stab in the horrible night. Oh! my bones whistle bare in the breezes, thy mortal no more can I blight, But immortal thou livest, they say, in the Aidenn of love that is fair Ay, remember my spirit yet lives, tho in Angers of Hell and Despair! As thy body I slew in revenge, by the Fates and the furies I swear; By the demons and angels of wrath! by the Prince of the Powers of Air! I have sworn that my spirit shall rise, and shall damn to the nethermost gloom, In its vengeance, from Heaven itself thy soul that hath fashioned my doom ! " Away on the wings of my wrath from the inky black mountains of death! From the angers of Hell I have taken all angers that madden its breath. From the graves of the earth and the Blackness of Darkness Forever, I rise 99 On the wings of my passion for her and my hatred of him to the skies. Far away from the hills and the seas and the chambers of thunder I go, Till the moon and the sun and the planets have died in the distance below, And from star unto star and beyond the last star of the universe, lo, Till I see, in the infinite distance, the Jasper- walled Highlands that glow In their splendor for ever and ever, sublime with the pearl at the gate Till I sweep through those portals of pearl, in my fury of vengeance and hate ! Not a saint hath forbidden my entrance, no seraph hath questioned my ways, Not a sign from the hosts of the saved, not a frown from the Ancient of Days. As I cry in my rage for the soul that is Nemesis, curse, and despair, The Archangel himself for an answer is tenderly whispering, " There! " 100 of And I look where his pinions direct me aha! I have seen him at last! I have seen but, O God ! with what anguish the deadliest sickness did blast My soul as I saw him, for there it was he in his haven of rest But the spirit of her I had loved was reclining in bliss on his breast ! Frozen in pain was my vengeance, dumb was my anger and dead. I was utterly lone, and a horror of infinite bleak ness sank dread On my sinking and sickening soul, till backward I tottered and fell Staggering, reeling, down from the pearly gates into Hell. 101 of tfje THE EVENSTAR. Oh mine was a spark Of life, flame red, Till utterly from the day, Into the dark, Into the dead, It shaded sheer away. And a shadow soul On the gloom to float Of the outer wild unknown From the dust did roll, And gave one note In parting twas a moan. One hollow moan To the awful sky The spaces I must roam, For the skies intone That hollow cry To be my welcome home. 102 And why so far, And why so light, And why so wildly free, Without a star, Without the might Of wing to carry me? And why the while So calm remain, So passionless as this; Without a smile, Without a pain, In all the lone abyss? Nor is there one To welcome me But a boundless, lone abyss? And have I done Eternally With love and pain and bliss? 103 of tfjr Oh ! what, so far, Is this I see, All beautiful and bright? One evenstar To welcome me In all the boundless night! Oh nearer yet, And less, less far My disembodied soul Can ne er forget That evenstar, Whatever aeons roll! Emerald green And azure blue And alabaster white, And sunset sheen Of pink that grew On the purple peaks at night 104 of A paradise Of beauty bright Art thou, O Evenstar, To bless these eyes The first great night When I must wander far! But who art thou, O lovely one In thy star so near to me, More beauteous now Than moonrise on A sleeping, silver sea? Thy tresses long, Thy smile so sweet, Like the smile I used to know! The flowers that throng Thy snowy feet Are whiter than the snow. 105 of tfj* Thy robe is white As righteousness, Why dost thou come to me Who am this night All passionless, From love by death made free? So silken soft Thy lily-white breast! So lilac sweet thy kiss! O why so oft Thy tresses rest Upon a breast like this? And around me arms All airy light Are white as a lily bloom O love, the charms I hold to-night I thought were under the tomb! 106 of ttje " O hast forgot Thy first love now, Thine only and thy last? Rememberest not One holy vow From out the holy past? Thine eyes, I see, Are deep and blue, Like hers my love who died! "And I am she, And thou wert true, And, O my Sanctified! "I am thine for this; Nor bliss could be Where thou dost not abide" Nor passionless I come to thee, But wild with love, my bride! 107 of tfje "Ay, bride of thine For evermore Amid immortal mirth, O love divine, O loved of yore, Mid the purple peaks of earth." 108 of tfte IN SHADOWLAND. "O Angel, stay! I fear this land Of amaranth and asphodel ! " " Nay, fear not, Shadow, all is well, For see, I hold thy hand." " These vistas dim of cypresses I fear, for I a sinner stand." " I know I feel it on thy hand, Heart s blood of hers it is." " O blame me not, but pity me ! I loved a wife, but lovers part " " I know it thou didst break her heart And thrust her forth from thee." " Have mercy, thou of Shadowland, And damn me not with doom more drear ! " " Nay, sins are all forgiven here, And see, I hold thy hand." 109 ?i>arj) of ttje " But see, where looms yon lonesome tree Afar, a woman s form doth stand." " Ay, thou dost long to hold her hand For love s eternity." " In Shadowland, O let her be My own but see! she drifts away!" " Ay, drifts forever and for aye Her mournful soul from thee! " " Her face is turned away from me! She will not turn my heart is sore!" " Yea, once but not for evermore Her eyes will turn to thee." " Her form is beauteous is she fair As evening stars in twilight skies?" " Ay, there is splendor in her eyes And glory in her hair." " My wife! " (for on the endless track She turns), "Oh! bring her back to me!" " I did not thrust her out from thee, I cannot bring her back! " 110 of tfje THE SHADOW BROTHER. Twas somewhere down the sunless land, Along the windless ways Among the spectral trees they met Each other s eerie gaze. " Shadow brother, who art thou, With earthless eyes aglow?" " I was a poet in the earth A thousand years ago." " And did they listen to thy song? " " To none my song was dear ; My heart grew heavy till it dragged My tired spirit here." " What dust upon thy shadowy shoe Is scattered thin and white?" " My critics crumbled monuments I trod on in the night." Ill of tfje " And where are now thy songs, the songs Left silent in their day?" " The poets sing them at their tasks, The children at their play." This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 3m-8, 49(B5572)470 THE LIBRARY PS 5515 H497h A rf n r !? I " I I ll