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 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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Christ on ©l^mpus 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM GAY 
 
 WILLIAM GAY 
 
 Pfttnbg ^t, §txitnQa, Wutaxin 
 
 1896 
 

 _L_LhU4io 
 
 J Haase, Printer, 
 17 SwANSTON Street, 
 
 MuLBOUitNE. 
 
H)Uting twelve scats in Australasia I have received much kindness from 
 many friends. To these with gratitude I dedicate this little book, and give here- 
 with their names : 
 
 Hon. J. H. Abbott, Miss E. C. Arden, Miss M. Arden, Mr. and Mrs. A. Bayne, Miss Bayne, 
 Mr. D. W. Bayne, Mr. G. Bearham, Mr. W, BlackwaU, Mrs. Bon, Mr. R. W. Bugg, Miss 
 Castwood, Miss Chapman, Mr. J. Clezy, Mr. A. Golquhoun, Dr. D. Colquhoun, Mr. and Mrs. 6. 
 Coutie, Rev. J. G. Coutie, Dr. and Mrs. H. O. Cowen, Dr. and Mrs. B. S. Gowen, Mrs. F. Dalgity, 
 Miss E. Dawson, Hon. A. Deakin, Mr. W. D. C. Denovan, Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Edwards, Mr. J. G. 
 Edwards, Mr. G. Penwick, Mr. W. Fenwick, Mr, G. Gibb, Rev. J. and Mrs. Gibb, Mrs. J. Gibson, 
 Mr. W. Gillies, Miss Goldstein, Miss Grant, Mr. R. Guy, Mr. and Miss Hadley, MissHollis,Mr, 
 J. Nelson Jones,- Miss Keith, Dr. F. H. Kenny. Mrs. Lambie, Mr. H. B. W. Dawson, Misses D. S. 
 and A. E. Locke, Mr. and Mrs. G. Mackny, Rev. J. H. Mackay, Mr. N. McNicol, Miss Martin, 
 Mies Michie, Mr. D. Mills, Mr. and Mrs. M. Moloney, Mr. M. J. Monkman, Rev. A. H. Moore, 
 Prof. Morris, Mrs. M. Murphy, Mrs, W. Murray, Rev. S. J. NeiU, Mrs. W. Nimmo, Mr. J. B. 
 O'Hara, Mr. H. O'Neill, Mr. T. W. Orr, Miss A. Plover, Mr. T, H. Prichard, Mr. and Mrs. K. 
 Ramsay, Mr. and Mrs. Ij. Richardson, Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Robertson, Misses M. E. and H. A. 
 Sampson, Miss Ethel Saw, Mr. and Mrs. J. Sawers, Mrs. and Miss Shepherd, Capt. W. G. Sinclair, 
 Rev. J, and Mrs. Gibson Smith, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Strong, Mr. A. Sutherland, Mrs. M. 
 Tankard, Mr. P. Tate, Mr. and Mrs. M. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. K. Walker, Mr. T. A. Watson, 
 Miss Westropp, Mr. J. D. Woolcock. 
 
 Besides these there are one or two who have asked me not to print their nEunes, and 
 some also whose names I do not know. To these also my book is dedicated. 
 
Christ on ©l^mpus 
 
 Weaey, at last in Zeus' high hall he stood ; 
 
 Where all was vast magnificence of light, 
 
 And multitudinous harmony of song, 
 
 And music sweet of all sweet instruments, 
 
 And godlike speech and laughter. Pale his cheek. 
 
 Yet from his eyes there beamed a sacred light 
 
 Of mild inalienable majesty, 
 
 That shone amid the brightness round, as shine 
 
 Ethereal starbeams on the glow of morn. 
 
 Apart he stood and silent, breathing prayer ; 
 To sudden stillness feast and song were hushed ; 
 The gods, amazed, to eager lips denied 
 The lifted cup ; and Zeus frowned darkly, yet 
 One boding instant trembled as he frowned ; 
 And momentary awe contagious smote 
 
CHRIST ON OLYMPUS 
 
 The hearts of all, as when a flying cloud 
 With transient gloom obscures the sunlit hills. 
 
 Then he, the Christ, as the great throne of Zeus 
 Grew terrible with thunder and swift fire, 
 Spake ; and to hear the angry gods were moved 
 By sweet compulsion of the voice that stilled 
 On Galilee the dark insurgent wave. 
 Even Zeus his wrath forbore, and his great throne, 
 As breaks the sun from brief eclipse of storm, 
 Was bright again with unperturbed light : 
 And these the words that he, the Christ, did speak : 
 
 " Great Zeus, who from of old o'er gods and men 
 Hast reigned in Greece, by ordinance of Him 
 Who high o'er all is Lord most absolute. 
 Yet Whose chief name is Love, Him unto thee, 
 Before unknown, at last I now declare ; 
 Whose purposes beneficent have thou 
 And these, His sacred ministers, fulfilled. 
 Your own dominion seeking ; and Whose power 
 What ye have done amiss to good hath wrought. 
 
CHBIST ON OLYMPUS 
 
 As when a craftsman skilled transforms to use 
 That which another's wantonness hath marred. 
 
 " Yet come I not reproachful but in peace, 
 For have ye not by oracle and shrine, 
 By symbol, rite, procession, sacrifice, 
 Made man to know that he is more than dust 
 And raise beyond the earth his reverent eye ? 
 Have not your altars shed through his dark soul 
 Their unremitting fires, till God should set 
 The eternal glory of Hi^ light therein ? 
 And have not risen to you the halting prayers 
 That winged yet shall mount to God's high Heaven ? 
 
 " From Him I come, gods, that ye may know 
 That now hath He in fulness of the time 
 Himself to man revealed through me His Son — 
 Sole Lord of man at last Himself declared. 
 Father, Upholder, Comforter, and Judge, 
 Who claims all worship and bestows all love, 
 And, loving, would be worshipped but in love ; 
 Nor but Himself hath shown, but unto man 
 
16 CHBIST ON OLYMPUS 
 
 Hath also man revealed and called him son, 
 
 Deep in. his secret spirit one with Him, 
 
 As I with Him, and He with me, and all 
 
 With all commutitally one, yet God 
 
 O'er all supreme ; as stfem and branch and leaf 
 
 Are one yet diverse, and o'er all the tree. 
 
 " Thus man, gods, whose vows to you ascehdj 
 Is peer of whom he worships, yet can ne'er 
 Unto the glories of his sonship rise, 
 If he receive not me whoih God hath sent, 
 If free to know, to know doth yet refuse. 
 And free to mount, prefers the shaixieful dust. 
 But unto them that hear doth God make known 
 Of life in Him the fixed and sovereign law — 
 Divinest, holiest of the laws that speak 
 His sure and peirfect Will: that none shall rise 
 Who humble not themselves, none reign but them 
 Who serve, none have who yield not freely all. 
 Yea, by His law doth God Himself abide. 
 From His own life in love gives life to all, 
 And even to death in me His Son descends 
 
CHRIST ON OLYMPUS 11 
 
 That man may know his immortahty. 
 
 " To you hkewise, hstening gods, I bear 
 The message glad, to you, God's mightiest sons : 
 Not. man alone His care, but all that draws 
 From His sole Spirit life. To seek what joy, 
 "What selfish joy, what wearisome delight, 
 Song and carouse and dalliance can afford. 
 Free in this lesser heaven may ye retain. 
 Immortal still, your vain divinity ; 
 But if your godhood ye renounce, and leave 
 These heights to which no more ascends devout 
 The smoke of sacrifice, and be on earth 
 As men with men, and toil in mortal flesh, 
 To who shall be your neighbour helpful, kind, 
 And all the greatness of your powers still left 
 Bestowing freely to all loving ends. 
 Then ye at last on Death's strong wing shall mount 
 To God's eternal presence, and within 
 The immediate glory of His countenance live— 
 From heaven to heaven advanced, and power to power, 
 Through heaven relinquished, and through power renounced." 
 
12 CHRIST O.V OLYMPUS 
 
 Brief silence held the throng, as when a lull 
 Foreboding tells the imminent thunder blast : 
 Then burst a noise derisive, wrathful, forth, 
 That shook Olympus, towering, many-ridged. 
 Deep to its base ; while patiently the Christ 
 Upon the outskirt of the tumult stood. 
 Steadfast, serene, as when in tempest shines 
 A new-risen planet at the sea's wild edge. 
 Yet Hera joined not, nor august Apollo, 
 Nor swift Athena with the flaming eyes. 
 Nor lame Hephaistos : bright around them broke 
 Strange gleams confused of new, diviner light 
 The others saw not, intimations high 
 Of holy things that held them mute, with eyes 
 Now turned on Christ and now on Zeus their lord: 
 For Zeus, the first and mightiest, deepHest felt 
 Within his soul profound the word of God, 
 And silent sat, unprecedented thoughts 
 Of sanctity and love perplexed revolving, 
 Nor heard the uproar, to which at last awake : 
 
 " Peace, insolent gods, nor tempt the wrath that ill 
 
CHRIST ON OLYMPUS 13 
 
 Would fit my thoughts ! Though hate and scorn inflame 
 
 Your furious hearts, yet what to me is due 
 
 Forget ye not! When rage befits, then rage 
 
 Shall first be mine. Nor what this stranger saith 
 
 In haste reject. If thou, Ares, who 
 
 Delight'st in blood, thou Aphrodite, who, 
 
 Faithless thyself, promot'st the adulterous bed. 
 
 Thou, Poseidon, plotting dark revenge. 
 
 And all ye gods of meaner state and power. 
 
 Naught see in him of worth, be ye rebuked 
 
 That unto me, the first, and those who next 
 
 In deity approach me, he hath brought 
 
 Truth that bewilders, light that blinds, a mien, 
 
 A presence, influence, divinity. 
 
 That reverence compels, yea, most compels 
 
 From those who most -are to be reverenced. 
 
 Peace, therefore, nor with blatant voice, gods, 
 
 Proclaim your own defect ! 
 
 " What Power is that 
 Which from the topmost height of high Olympus 
 Even to the black Tartarean abyss 
 
14 CHRIST OX OLYMPUS 
 
 Hath from the first, inscrutable, unseen, 
 
 Held mightiest sway, which both of gods and men 
 
 Confounds the counsel and defeats the will, 
 
 "Whose name is Fate ? What if that Power hath now 
 
 Unveiled itself a God, not less in power 
 
 Than Fate, but greater far in righteousness 
 
 And love ? Shall we revile His messenger ? 
 
 His message spurn of amity and peace ? — - 
 
 Here still remain, a crew of wrangling gods, 
 Cooped in a rebel heaven, divine in naught 
 Save in our dull interminable years, 
 All power on earth revoked, our altars dark, 
 Our temples desolate, our worshippers 
 To scoffers turned that mock the name of god ? 
 Nay ! rather than remain a worthless god 
 Within a sluggard, circumscribed heaven, 
 Would I a slave on mortal earth become, 
 Would find in labour, service, sacrifice. 
 Even unrewarded, greater joy than here 
 Immortal sloth and lechery could give." 
 
 Then rose a mingled noise of praise and blame, 
 
CHRISIT OK OLYMPUS 15 
 
 And towards Apollo Zeus inclined and said : 
 "What saith Apollo, whom in prophecy 
 No god in heaven excels ?" 
 
 To which Apollo : 
 " Great Zeus, while yet he spake, this god or man, 
 I seemed to see a wider world than ours, 
 To see therein ten thousand temples stand, 
 Ten thousand times ten thousand voices hear 
 In praise uplifted to a loftier Heaven 
 Where dwell one only God and Christ His Son." 
 
 Then bright Athena, virgin of the gods. 
 Whose radiant eyes, the Christ beholding, seemed 
 To burn to adoration, suppliant spake : 
 " Father Zeus, I know the words are true 
 This godlike stranger speaks : not one but struck 
 Me, half unwilling, on some inward ear. 
 And drew a swift assent, as though from one, 
 Another yet myself, that unawaked 
 Had until now unknown within me slept. 
 Father Zeus, renounce this . slothful heaven, 
 
16 CHRIST ON OLYMPUS 
 
 This empty show of poor divinity : 
 A newer reign let us on earth begin, 
 A humbler reign of labour and of love, 
 Humbler yet higher, joyfuUer, diviner. — 
 Father Zeus, renounce !" 
 
 Then low was heard 
 From out the throng a single voice that said, 
 " Father Zeus, renounce !" Then silence fell, 
 Till with more certain voice another cried, 
 "Great Zeus, renounce!" Then sile,nce fell, yet brief. 
 For now another and another cried, 
 "Renounce!" " Renounce !" till at the last, as spreads 
 From flaming tree to tree a forest fire, 
 A universal cry the throne of Zeus 
 Besieged. 
 
 Then from his throne imperial Zeus 
 Uprose majestic. Ne'er more godlike he 
 Than now when moved with noble reverence 
 He turned him to the Christ, who waiting stood, 
 Apart, transfigured, girt with efftuent light 
 
CHRIST ON OLYMPUS 17 
 
 Of joy and love. And with deliberate voice 
 The great irrevocable word he spake : 
 
 " Son of almighty God ! Such thou declar'st 
 Thyself, nor less than such couldst overcome 
 Olympus : unto Him Who sent thee I 
 Do now for all yield up the deity 
 Which erst He gave, and make His will our law." 
 
 Scarce had he spoken when, where late had dwelt 
 In bright aerial halls a race of gods. 
 There stood upon the cool and naked heights 
 A band of goodly men and women fair; 
 Who turned at length, and, not without a sigh, 
 Yet strong in hope, began to wend their way 
 In slow procession down the mountain side. 
 
Sonnets 
 
 TO MY MOTHEK 
 
 "Her children arise up and call her blessed." 
 
 MoTHEE, who hast in heavenly places been 
 
 A radiant dweller even as long as I 
 
 Have been a wanderer 'neath this Southern sky, 
 
 And o'er these lands and every sea between 
 
 The shapes of Famine and of Death have seen 
 
 Me ever following, from where I lie 
 
 This song of love I send where thou on high 
 
 O'er Heaven's verge perchance dost listening lean. 
 
 Or if to inner glories thou art called, 
 
 Where earth no more disturbs the immortal sense, 
 
 Then in my heart my song I will enclose 
 
 And reach through death some nigher region, whence 
 
 The dearest strains my love's invention knows 
 
 Shall mount to thee where thou art high installed. 
 
SONNETS 19 
 
 TO THE SEA 
 
 ON MY SISTEK's DEPARTURE FROM THE OLD COUNTRY 
 
 Be kind, gusty Sea, to her who dares 
 To yield herself to thy inconstant surge : 
 Love's sweet ambassadress, alone she fares 
 On his high mission to thy farthest verge ; 
 Be kind, gusty Sea, for she is young, 
 Look thou with favour on her innocence, 
 Let not for her thy loud storm-hymn be sung, 
 Nor be to her a fear but a defence ; 
 But if, Sea, nor innocence nor youth 
 Can win thee from thy turbulence awhile, 
 Nor for a season turn thy heart to ruth. 
 Nor from thee charm an undeceitful smile, 
 May sacred love o'er-awe thy wild caprice 
 And cow thy churlish billows into peace. 
 
 RECONCILIATION 
 
 I SAW of late one running here and there 
 About the world, who beat his breast and cried, 
 
20 SONNETS 
 
 " God, art Thou dethroned and dost Thou hide, 
 AD impotent, in his infernal lair 
 Who now, meseems, Thy Godhood seeks to wear 
 And Thy just laws in scorn to over-ride, 
 Bestowing pain where joy should most abide, 
 And cursing Innocence with Hell's despair ?" — 
 Then saw I later one of ordered mien, 
 With meekest dignity he passed along. 
 And said (as to a friend at his right hand), 
 " Foolish my cries, who ne'er of pain had seen 
 The heart divine, — Lord, forgive the wrong ! 
 Now have I suffered, and now understand." 
 
 THE EAVESDROPPER 
 
 I WALKED, said one, about a burial-place 
 One recent morn, and from a grave up-thrown 
 I saw an earth-stained heap of crumbled bone, 
 Which once was he who sang with power and grace. 
 
SONNETS 21 
 
 Ah no ! another said, in nought so base 
 Doth he survive : 'tis in those songs alone 
 Wherewith he made the hearts of men his ovpn 
 That all that yet endures of him we trace. — 
 Then kindliest laughter, full of sweet content, 
 Around them broke (which yet they could not hear). 
 As he they spoke of lingered in his work 
 To catch their talk : as soul to body near. 
 Within his heavenly ambush he did lurk, 
 And smiling heard their sad, wise argument.* 
 
 A HOMILY 
 
 In me behold a man but late grown wise, 
 Whose hairs are grey, as well with toil as years. 
 Who in my cradle dreamt of great emprise, 
 And in my youth did vow with blood or tears 
 To write my name across the world's wide page 
 In bold emblazonry ; who thence confined 
 My manhood hale as in an iron cage 
 Of tasks and discipline, nor looked behind 
 
22 SONNKTS 
 
 On all the joys of wife and child and friend 
 
 Which I with sternest hand had thrust aside ; 
 
 And who at last securely reached the end, 
 
 Yet found therein what most I craved denied, 
 
 And from a penny on a beggar spent 
 
 Than from a world's applause gained more content. 
 
 TO A FELLOW-TEAVELLER 
 
 [Alice Marion Sampson, who died at tlie age of twenty-tliree, on August 23rd, 1896, 
 a few days after the Sonnet was written. She was remarkable for sweetness of 
 disposition, strength of intellect, and nobility of character.] 
 
 Together, comrade, o'er the same rough way 
 We travel, thou and I, yet know right well 
 That roughest ways to faithful travellers tell 
 Of fairest lands beyond, wherein shall they 
 Have respite sweet from peril and dismay 
 And all the woes that ever yet befell 
 All who, like thee, their toiling steps compel 
 Through pain and darkness unto peace and day. 
 
SONNETS 23 
 
 Look up then, sister, from the weary path ! 
 Methinks that yonder groves and flowers I see, 
 And golden Hght on many a grassy lea : 
 Look up, my sister, one short hour be brave, 
 For see ! no hindrance more the journey hath 
 Than one poor ditch no wider than a grave. 
 
 THE RALLY 
 
 Dost thou again, dire Shape, in midnight's gloom. 
 
 As on my couch I draw my fearful breath. 
 
 Assail me with thy terrors, and entomb 
 
 Me in the blackness of thy living death. 
 
 From arid sockets urging fiery tears. 
 
 And from the midmost anguish of my heart 
 
 Forcing the rooted sighs ? — But know that fears 
 
 Do I, at last arising, bid depart ; 
 
 For I will face thee to thy overthrow — 
 
 From thy dark power will set my spirit free — 
 
 Once more at day a man erect will go 
 
 For all the world and God in Heaven to see, 
 
24 SONNETS 
 
 And will, Shadow of my ancient sin, 
 Again resolved, the upward path begin ! 
 
 ROBERT BURNS 
 
 DIED JULY 21sT, 1796 
 
 Like some lone meteor from the zenith sprung 
 That burns with radiant sweep across the night, 
 A moment blazing on the startled sight 
 To plunge its headlong glories low among 
 The fatal glooms by rising tempests hung 
 About the wild horizon : such the height 
 Beloved bard, thy spirit swift and bright 
 Did first enjoy, to such a doom was flung. — 
 But yet from where the fleeting, falling star 
 Of thy brief life to stormy death went down 
 Thy fixed star of fame hath risen on high, 
 To shine with orbs that everlasting are, 
 And o'er the southern as the northern sky 
 To pour the steadfast rays of thy renown. 
 
SOXNETS 25 
 
 TO JAMES BRUNTON STEPHENS 
 
 Eldest and first of Austral singers ! Thee, 
 
 Who for thy work now tak'st of fame thy wage, 
 
 I, least and latest of thy lineage, 
 
 Do greet with reverence : yet "twixt thee and me 
 
 'Tis not sole tie that I have dared to be 
 
 A lowly craftsman of the minstrel page, 
 
 For in thy ear and mine is still the rage 
 
 Of storms that scourge the Caledonian sea. — 
 
 Nor kin through these alone, nor that we are 
 
 Of one august dominion, yet to rise. 
 
 Even now enfranchised ; but of kindred most, 
 
 That not removed from my scant youth more far 
 
 Than from thy opulent age, the Ocean lies 
 
 That frets for ever Time's unstable coast. 
 
 A SONNET OF FAITH 
 
 I AM not daunted by the show of things, 
 Nor do I pass them with averted eyes. 
 
26 SONNETS 
 
 Feigning I do not see, nor on the wings 
 
 Of fair deluding fancy lightly rise 
 
 And from afar the radiant world behold 
 
 In happy silence spinning smoothly by. — 
 
 Nay, but by night and day, in heat and cold, 
 
 Among the multitudes who toil and die 
 
 I come and go observant, near at hand, 
 
 Kegarding Life with eyes that do not shrink : 
 
 I see the victor on his carrion stand, 
 
 And see in impious blood the vanquished sink, 
 
 Yea, even behold where waits the delved sod, 
 
 Yet sing unfaltering of the soul and God. 
 
 10 TEIUMPHE! 
 
 I HAD a mirror brought to me to-day, 
 
 "Wherein I scanned for long what there appeared — 
 
 The haggard lines and hues of slow decay. 
 
 The hollow cheek, the thin, dishevelled beard, 
 
 The sunken weary eye, the pillowed head — 
 
 Then looked beyond and saw, where all was stilled, 
 
SONNETS 27 
 
 The faithful mourning ones by death's white bed. 
 
 And still beyond, and saw a grave new filled : 
 
 Then had I brought to me a pen, and wrote 
 
 Of man immortal, free, and uncreate, 
 
 In whose wide realm is death but as a mote 
 
 In heaven's great sunshine, and whom hostile fate 
 
 No more from heights eternal can debar 
 
 Than petulant winds can bind the morning star. 
 
 SUB SPECIE iETERNITATIS 
 
 I ASK not, Lord, to have in some far heaven 
 
 Thy recompense for ills I now endure, 
 
 For earthly pains I seek not heavenly cure, 
 
 Nor pray that unto me the crown be given 
 
 That waits ('tis said) all who with wrong have striven; 
 
 For well, Lord, my soul doth me assure 
 
 That Thou in skill and love art none so poor 
 
 That thus to mar and mend Thy hand is driven. — 
 
 But I would ask to be uplifted, whence. 
 
 As with an angel's sight, I may behold 
 
28 SONNETS 
 
 The plan eternal of Thy works unrolled, 
 View all things naked of the veil of sense, 
 And see in death and hunger, pain and cold, 
 Thy wisdom, Lord, that needs no recompense. 
 
 THE GKEAT EPIPHANY 
 
 I AM the Lord : My well-beloved son 
 
 Is man ; who, spirit of My Spirit, yet 
 
 Did know Me not. So therefore I did set 
 
 The heavenly orbs their course of light to run 
 
 Athwart the empty night ; from chaos won 
 
 The stable earth, the surging seas that fret 
 
 The girdling coasts, the aspiring mountains met 
 
 In middle air by stooping clouds : which done, 
 
 Man out of spirit into flesh was born; 
 
 And he, I hindering not, then forth did call 
 
 The various show of city, temple, throne. 
 
 Of nations, councils, wars, feasts, ships, herds, corn 
 
 Then I, the Lord, raised high in midst of all. 
 
 Myself upon a cross to man made known. 
 
SONNETS 29 
 
 THE SINGEE 
 
 Nay ! sing no more thy wild delusive strain 
 (I heard them say, while I my song pursued), 
 'Tis but the rage of thy delirious brain 
 (I heard them say, yet still my song renewed) ; 
 Nay ! sing no more with reckless, idle breath 
 Of man immortal and of life to come. 
 For one brief moment scan the face of death, 
 Then be thy foolish song for ever dumb ; 
 Behold the dusty ash that once was fire, 
 And mark the summer leaf in autumn fall. 
 Watch thou the wavering breath of man expire. 
 And know that Death hath lordship over all 
 (I heard them say with many a scornful word, 
 Yet still sang on as one who nothing heard). 
 
 AUSTEALIA INFELIX 
 
 How long, Lord, shall this, my country, be 
 A nation of the dead ? How long shall they 
 
30 SONNETS 
 
 "Who seek their own and live but for the day, 
 My country hinder from her destiny ? 
 Around me, Lord, I seem again to see 
 That ancient valley where the dry bones lay. 
 And 'tis in vain that long I wait and pray 
 To see them rise to men resolved and free. 
 Yet sure, Lord, upon this land of death 
 At last Thy Spirit will descend with power; 
 And Thou wilt kindle patriots with Thy breath, 
 Who, venturing all to win their country's good. 
 Shall toil and suffer for the sacred hour 
 That brings the fulness of her nationhood. 
 
niMscellaneous IDetse 
 
 THE WAR OF THE GHOSTS 
 
 I 
 
 Three Ghosts that haunt me have I, 
 Three Ghosts in my soul that fight, 
 
 Three grandsirie Ghosts in my soul, 
 That haunt mfe by day and by night. 
 
 II 
 
 The first was a dark mountaineer, 
 "Who hunted with arrow and knife, 
 
 To whdm the turf was a bed. 
 And the wind of the moorland was life. 
 
 And the next was a mariner rude, 
 
 Whose home and whose grave was the sea. 
 For whom the land was a prison 
 
 And only the ocean was free. 
 
32 MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 
 
 And the last was a shrunken recluse, 
 Who lived with the dust and the gloom, 
 
 And wrote of the Saints and of Him 
 Who went for us to His doom. 
 
 Ill 
 
 And all through the days and years 
 These ancient Ghosts contend. 
 
 And my soul is a battle-field 
 
 Of passions that pierce and rend. 
 
 And whenever a sunbeam alights 
 All gleaming and fresh on my page, 
 
 I am wild for the hills and the bush, 
 I am torn with the hunter's rage. 
 
 I am sick of the smell of a book, 
 I am off with the dogs or a gun, 
 
 Or I gallop my fifty miles 
 Before the set of the sun. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 33 
 
 And yet from some loftier peak 
 
 When I catch the scent of the wave, 
 
 When I look on the sea from afar, 
 I feel like one in a grave; 
 
 And I long for a ship full-sailed 
 And an ocean wide on the lee — 
 
 I choke on the solid land 
 
 For the lift of the undulant sea. 
 
 IV 
 
 Yet ever the battle goes on, 
 
 And ever there rises a day 
 When the Ghosts of the wave and the wood 
 
 To the Ghost of the cell give way. 
 
 Then the land is a wilderness drear, 
 And dismal and vast is the sea. 
 
 But cloistered in peace with my books 
 My soul is uplifted and free. 
 
34 Ml&CELLANEOVS TERSE 
 
 Three Ghosts that haunt me have I, 
 Three Ghosts in my soul that fight, 
 
 Three grandsire Ghosts in my soul, 
 That haunt me by day and by night. 
 
 Yet ofttimes there joins in the fray 
 One gross and sluggish of limb, 
 
 No spectre is he but a man, 
 
 Whose strokes are heavy and griin. 
 
 For a man is not nothing, I swear, 
 Nor a braggart am I when I boast 
 
 That though he be slothful or sleep, 
 A man is more than a ghost. 
 
 And my soul is my own, I aver, 
 The master and lord of it I, 
 
 And whenever I will to bestir. 
 All ghostly usurpers shall fly. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 35 
 
 Then I what is mine will assume, 
 
 Nor diverge from the path of my will, 
 
 Though the Ghosts I have routed still call 
 Prom the desk and the sea and. the hill, 
 
 THE PURSUIT 
 
 0, Love for long did fly from me. 
 
 And I did flee from Death— 
 " Love, I burn, I die for thee !" 
 
 I cried with anguished breath. 
 
 " Death, I fear thy dark put-suit ! 
 
 Love, I burn, I die ! 
 Death, withhold thy evil foot ! 
 
 Love, no longer fly !" 
 
 Then Love no longer fled, but turned 
 And stabbed me through and through ; 
 
 And Death, whom I with fear had spurned, 
 My pains did all subdue. 
 
86 MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 
 
 THE YOYAGE 
 
 Dbivb on, my ship, before the blast ! 
 
 Rave on, wild sea, I fear thee not ! 
 My sails are reefed, and stout the mast, 
 
 And good whate'er the gods allot. 
 
 Mount up, ye threatening waves, and mix 
 Your darkness with the darkened skies ! 
 
 Engulf the stars my course that fix ! 
 My soul your terrors all defies. 
 
 Ye hungry rocks that bellow near. 
 Ye maniac winds that menace shriek, 
 
 Ye cannot strike my heart with fear. 
 Nor stay me from the port I seek ! 
 
 Where I shall land on any shore, 
 
 'Tis thither joyful I repair ; 
 Or if I sink 'neath ocean's roar, 
 
 The heavenly port I seek is there. 
 
MISCELLANEODS VERSE 37 
 
 THE EOPE 
 
 A Man hung down by a rope from Heaven : 
 
 Below him was Hell 
 With its writhing souls ; and his heart was glad 
 
 That with him it was well ; 
 
 For the rope was good, and from Heaven it hung ; 
 
 And he prayed that strength 
 Might be given to him ere long to climb 
 
 Its arduous length. 
 
 o"^ 
 
 Then an Angel appeared with a flaming sword, 
 
 And bade him hope ; 
 For he came, he said, by the will of Grod 
 
 To sever the rope. 
 
 But the Man to his rope the tightlier clung, 
 
 And besought with tears ; 
 But the Anger upraised the flaming sword, 
 
 Nor regarded his fears, 
 
38 MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 
 
 Then he struck with might; and exultant Hell 
 
 Heard the Man's wild cry ; 
 But straightway he mounted to God, Who said 
 
 " Thy rope am I." 
 
 A SEA MAIDEN 
 
 Hee tresses are as golden bright 
 As yellow sands that catch the sun, 
 
 Her lips are rosy as the light 
 
 That dyes the wave when night is done. 
 
 Her skin is like the white sea-foam, 
 Her eyes are like the morning star. 
 
 Her smile is like the lights of home 
 To weary voyagers from afar. 
 
 Her breath in sweets doth more abound 
 Than fragrant equatorial gales, 
 
 Her voice is pleasant as the sound 
 Of rising winds in idle sails. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS VERSE 39 
 
 Like white sea-birds her thoughts do fly, 
 And sweet and calm and pure is she 
 
 As April moons that imaged lie 
 Within the unimpassioned sea. 
 
 THE PICTUKE 
 
 That saint's face there, that seems as though the eyes 
 
 Saw straight to Heaven, as though, if you could look 
 
 Deep into them, you'd see reflected there 
 
 God's very glory ? 'Tis by one long dead : 
 
 In youth he wrought at it for many a day; 
 
 But ever foiled by some divine ideal 
 
 He could not wholly capture, he at length 
 
 Forbore the quest. To years he lived, and grew 
 
 In artist skill, in nobleness of soul. 
 
 And all men's love, until, for friendship's sake. 
 
 He came one day to lie upon the bed 
 
 Of death. Then calling for this picture, he 
 
 With one stroke, so, and with another, so, 
 
 And so, and so, upon the unfinished face 
 
 Drew forth the look you see, and shortly died. ^ <|^ 
 
 '^^y 
 
■ Uniform with the present Volume 
 
 Sonnets 
 
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 WILLIAM GAY 
 
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 Christ on Olympus, and other poems. 
 
 3 1924 013 247 576 
 
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