LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. @^nit.- Sojnjrig^l !f a. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. PHILOCTETES AND OTHER POEMS AND SONNETS /BV J^Er'NESMITH CAMBRIDGE JJrinteHi at tjje Ei^crfiiUe JJrefig 1894 CopjTight, 1894, By J. E. NESMITH. A21 rights reserved. The Biverside Press, Cambridge, 3fass., U.S. A. Electxotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. CONTENTS. PAGE SONNETS. Fortune 3 " The Yoke of Conscience " . . . .4 Conscience 5 Hope . 6 "That Twice-Battered God of Pales- tine " '7 Patience ....•••• 8 "Backed with Resolution" ... 9 Melancholia 10 Subtle Spring 11 Fortune's Injustice 12 The Statue of Lorenzo de' Medici . 13 Cesar 14 The Mediterranean Sea .... 15 Rome 10 Voiceless Victory 17 Counterfeits 18 Proteus 19 Ideals 20 Natura Maligna 21 White Squalls 22 Carpe Diem 23 " The Ape and Tiger " . . . . .24 Tragedy and Song 25 Gates of Pearl 26 IV CONTENTS. " Black Vespek's Pageants " ... 27 The Eagle 28 Ultima Thule 29 Vain Cowardice 30 " Quem tu Melpomene " . . . . 31 " Fresh Woods and Pastures New " . .32 To-Day's Sceptre 33 Life's Banquet Hall 34 The World well Lost .... 35 Philoctetes 35 " Dusted Velvets "..... 37 The Sentinel of Acre 38 Barren Labor 39 Lost Legions 40 Fate 41 Life in Captivity 42 "In Shackles Tired" .... 43 Time's Perfidy 44 Vain Resistance 45 PHILOCTETES AT LEMNOS. Philoctetes at Lemnos 49 The Grand Canon of the Colorado River g2 Napoleon in Russia 72 Hymn of Nature 78 Shifting Freight at Midnight . . .83 Epigrams 86 LATER SONNETS. La Perouse 9I Figures in the Rain 92 "The Chronicle of Wasted Time" . . 93 Solitude 94 Wished-for Change 95 The Invitation .... Qfi CONTENTS. V Embattled Days . 97 " Malign Vicissitude "... 98 Tragic Power , 99 Ulysses . . 100 Nightfall at Potter's . 101 A Storm in the Mountains . 102 Point Subtjme, Colorado Canon . 108 Mountain Landscape .... . 105 MOONRISE ON THE RiVER . 106 The First Thaw in Spring . 107 The Day's Message . 108 The Soul's Decadence . 109 Life in the World . 110 Prometheus . Ill SONNETS. SONNETS. FORTUNE. What strength in gods or men that shall delay Imperial Fortune and her destinies, Her progress thro' the stormy centuries ? Her step is forth, and now she 's far away Upon the mountains welcoming the day, Outstripping Genius and her faculties : The tempest speeds her golden argosies, She whispers to the winds and they obey : Deserting kings for nondescripts and clowns, The idol of obsequious History, Inconstant even to inconstancy. And cloaking thieves and fools in costly gowns, Her hands are fill'd with wreaths and glittering crowns, — With sceptres and with swords of victory. SONNETS. "THE YOKE OF CONSCIENCE." Conscience has neither rank, nor place, nor lands ; No bribe, temptation, amulet, or gold ; But crown'd and girt with terrors manifold She grasps the soul with strong and naked hands ; Her stern, strict sceptre and austere commands Make weak men brave and laggards of the bold ; Defeated thrice and seeming dead and cold. She cometh as Remorse with stricter bands. Her throne is 'stablished upon vanquish'd wills ; No sacrifice of trivial wine or corn She asketh, but the strong desire first born, The ruby moisture that the heart distills ; Her road lies up among the savage hills. Yet there the tenderest feet have often gone. SONNETS. CONSCIENCE. Conscience, like a crusader in distress, Under liis heavy iron panoply, Beneath the flaming vault of Syrian sky, Perplex'd by Paynims, swift and merciless, Is girt and harried by an eager press Of pagan f oemen, — Insult, Lust, and Lie, — And weaken'd, under Fate's intolerant eye. By the rude armor of her righteousness. How may blunt truth and honesty provide Mean ways for her, the child of knightly times? Or honor strive with the dishonest mimes, Gamblers and brigands, who have cast aside Honor and probity and fear and pride, And lightly bear the burden of their crimes ? SONNETS. HOPE. Is there no mockery ambusli'd in thine eyes, Thou "naked j^romisor of kingdoms," Hope, - Watching the rose of expectation ope, Breathing thine unabashed auguries Before the cold unconscious destinies, Or dropping doA\Ti thy short and slender rope Into the dark abysses where we grope. Or leading on our eager fantasies ? Likest the moon thou sufferest thy eclipse Undimm'd ; skilled like the Sibyl to repair Disaster and escape each sudden snare ; — And like a girl whose fairy finger-tips Lure back the twice betray'd, with rosy lips Disarmest the dejection of Despair. SONNETS. "THAT TWICE -BATTERED GOD OF PALESTINE." Didst thou not smile in very truth, old World, When young Enthusiasm touched thy shield, That giant disk whose dints and scars reveal'd Thine ancient prowess, — and, bright-eyed, un- furl'd His fair new banner, thickly gemmed and pearl'd ; Braving the brand that thou alone canst wield, 'Neath which so many vigorous hopes have reel'd, Helpless, into tlie dust ensanguined hurl'd ? Vain is the pygmy war we wage, light-arm'd In ardent youth, with thee who stand'st enorm, Strategic, cold, remorseless, unalarm'd, — Biding th' eternal menace of Reform, The Prophet's zeal, the Anarch's curse, un- harm'd, — Crushing with thy huge weight each threaten'd storm. SONNETS. PATIENCE. Vanqtjish'd to-day, she neither doubts nor fears ; Ah'eady she beholds each fallen spire Refashion'd nearer to the heart's desire. Like Hope upon her anchor poised, she hears The unborn triumph of her toiling years ; Awaiting with a confidence sublime Tlie outcrop of the teeming womb of Time, The perfect form of all her whirling spheres. Lo ! not the wars and armaments of kings, The bursts of genius in its ficlde mood, Are pregnant with the most enormous birth ; Nor thunder menacing the sullen earth, Nor the roars in a lion-haunted wood. But Patience brooding over future things. SONNETS. "BACKED WITH RESOLUTION." What shall delay the tempest--baffling WiU Her triumph over thne ; who gathers force Like some swift stream in its resistless course ; In whom is such a warranty of skill The fretful voice of doubt is hush'd and still ; Whose hopes are shadows of approaching things ; Whose wishes have the power of feet and wings ; Whose brimming coffers Fortune loves to fill ? What of the mind without her ? Lo ! a star Pitch'd wildly from his sphere, — a vacant car Hurl'd on by reinless steeds, — a wisp of straw Blown round a chaff-strewn floor, — an insect ground In the great wheels of the wide world, roU'd round Forever by unalterable law. 10 SONNETS. MELANCHOLIA. ]\Iethought in dreams I journey 'd long ago — Deep in an ancient forest I awoke : Beneath the knotted knees of a gnarled oak A witch in woman's form rocked to and fro, Chaunting a sullen canticle of woe, Of lovelorn maids, lost hopes, and hearts that broke ; Or sitting silent brooded by the smoke A dying fire sent upward, burning low. Gigantic twisted boughs, dusky with night, Rose round, behind wliich burn'd the elfin light Of dropping da,y, knell'd by the plaining wind ; A weird phantasmal spot, fitting the spells Of Melancholia, subtlest fiend that dwells Thron'd in the dead waste places of the mind. SONNETS. 11 SUBTLE SPRING. What subtle touch upon what secret string, What naked bleakness of wind-wither'd bowers, What frozen barrenness of wintry hours, What sick surmise, forlorn imagining, Makes sad the haunting melody of Spring ; Her songs, her pomp, her verdure and her blooms. Her fronds, her coronals, and eddying plumes, — While all the cherubs of the mornino: sing: ? Subtle as Sphinx is she, too subtly wise To dull the soul with undisturbed content ; But with suggestions sad and subtly blent, She weaves in her enchanting mystery Musings and thoughts that touch eternity, — The songs of April and the breath of sighs. 12 SONNETS. FORTUNE'S INJUSTICE. Against what patient labors she has slnn'd, The Gypsy, in whose gift an unjust fate Has put the treasure and the mines of Ind, The purple and the ermine of the state : Who robs the toiler of the fruits of toil, Whom labor in rude comfort might uphold, While rifling all the world for glittering spoil To lightly shower " barbaric pearl and gold." Does she not weary of her vain expense For aye enriching fools at so much cost ? For when their smiling faces give oifense ^ From fool to fool the golden ball is tost. And like an eagle, thief and robber lord. Her eyes desire the shepherd's slender hoard. SONNETS. 13 THE STATUE OF LORENZO DE' MEDICI. Mark me how still I am ! — The sound of feet Unnumber'd echoing thro' this vaulted hall, Or voices harsh, on me unheeded fall. Placed high in my memorial niche and seat, In cold and marble meditation meet Among proud tombs and pomp funereal Of rich sarcophagi and sculptur'd wall, — In death's elaborate elect retreat. I was a Prince, — this monument was wrought That I in honor might eternal stand ; In vain, subdued by Buonarroti's hand. The conscious stone is pregnant with his thought ; He to this brooding rock his fame devised, And he, not I, is here immortalized. 14 SONNETS. C^SAR. Men hate a tyrant, yet but few could hate The first strong- Caesar with his falcon eye ; Who cross'd the Rubicon reluctantly ; Whom Mars and wise Minerva both called great : Whom none might pique or turn or irritate ; " Acer, indomitus," — profound, urbane, Alert, intrepid, temperate, humane ; A tyrant thro' the tyranny of Fate ; The poHsh'd scholar of a pohsh'd age ; — Second to none with tongue or sword or pen ; Fitted to govern, lead, and flatter men ; Dispute with Cleopatra or a sage ; — " Engaging Caesar who with grace and ease Could join the arts to ruin and to please.'* n SONNETS. 15 THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. Whex on the blazon'd page of History, With all the pomp of ancient worlds inscroll'd, I see the mighty centuries outroll'd, Rome rising, Carthage falling, Athens free, — Then the great vision of the midland sea. Enriching all with freights of orient gold. Whose shores were palaces and empires old. Beams forth in splendor, light, and majesty ; — Eternal theatre of high romance. Whose skies serene matured a perfect art, Unhous'd dull life to beautify it more. Drew empire from all trivial cognizance, Gave her a workl of sunlight for her chart, Splendor to peace, magnificence to war. 16 SONNETS. ROME. Thy ruins have outlived thy Nemesis, O Rome, once War's imperial votaress ; Whom Tiber knew unchaste and merciless, Like those proud Queens passed to the realms of Dis, Helen, and Mary, and Semiramis. Wliile Thebes lay buried in the wilderness, — While owl and bat and snake and leopardess Dwelt in the chambers of Persepolis, — The ages flocked as they still flock to thee ; And now, around thy everlasting- throne, New powers spring up that Sci23io might own ; New legions rise, like those that once led forth Their irresistible eagles, east and north, From Caledonia to the Euxine Sea. SONNETS. 17 VOICELESS VICTORY. Methought my sun of Austerlitz should dawn With all prophetic splendor in the sky, With battle music on the breezes borne, With paeans and with pomp of victory : There should be thrones possessed, and banners flown From gay pavilions and proud castle walls ; And trophies high uphung, and trumpets blown On Capitolian hills, in temple halls. Is this my day of triumph ? The gray morn Unnoticed with swift sandals steals away ; There are no voices on the silent air. As all were on some senseless errand gone ; No new-found jeweled sceptre do I sway, — The blessing stole upon me unaware. 18 SONNETS. COUNTERFEITS. No powerful rampart nor impregnable wall Avails, if fixed and inexorable fate Has lodged a secret foe within the gate, And seats liim at the feast and in the hall. Better an army's peremptory call Without the postern, than a secret hate ; Should one's own coward nature lie in wait For him, that enemy is worse than all. The frowning foreheads of irresolute men Are like fine raiment put upon a fool. With imitated state and show of rule, Howe'er they bear them in another's ken ; Like a proud keep with flaunting banners gay, But honeycomb'd with treason and decay. SONNETS. 19 PROTEUS. Accuse me not that I am prone to change ; True I have roam'd in other fields than ours, Have rambled by far streams in meadows strange And pluck'd the broad-cupp'd foreign Lotus flowers ; Among the dripping Naiads of the sea, Have found the rose-lipp'd pearl-incrusted shell ; Picked amber gum from the Arabian tree ; And cull'd the far sought fabulous Asphodel : Up the steep Alpine precipice have roved To snatch the feathers from an eagle's wing ; Deserted Plato and philosophy To deeply drink from the Pierian spring ; Yet Conscience calls it not inconstancy The Protean shapes of Beauty to have loved. 20 SONNETS. IDEALS. Not the wise Sphinx, nor subtle reasonings Which hang great arguments on slender ropes, Can prove the bitter end of human hopes, Perforce confined to visionary things. The unborn chrysalis hath budding wings, And soon shall fly about earth's flowery slopes ; The doubt that now in husk'd darkness gropes. Ripening unseen, its own deliverance brings. Unguessed, unsought, each great idea lies In the prophetic mind it feeds and warms ; Waiting to clothe itself in deathless forms. In adamant, in iron porphyries ; As Thebes lay veiled from sight, awaiting birth, In Pharaoh's brain who wrouo^ht it on the earth. SONNETS. 21 NATURA MALIGNA. What of the deep cold bubbling wells of scorn Cleft in thy heart, O World, whose youth is fed With countless generations of the dead ? What of thy sons, O Earth, whose bones out- worn Lie crumbling in the womb where they were born. While thy cherubic chorus rings fall choir With salutation to the eastern fire, Mid airs auroral and bright dews of morn ? O Earth, thou art too young and void of ruth ; — Albeit thy years are number'd with the stars, Deck'd like a bride before the chancel bars ; Insatiate as Durga's sanguin'd cup ; Each day a hecatomb is offer'd up To feed the fire of thy immortal youth. 22 SONNETS. WHITE SQUALLS. Serene and smiling, the perfidious Days Are sometimes cruel in their loveliness ; Like lions whose sleek skins none dare caress, Whose treacherous eyes look forth with dreamy gaze, Whose rage like straw leaps in a sudden blaze : Let but a random tone disturb her rest, And lo, her eyes are fixed upon thy breast Like tojDaz lights or fiery chrysoj^hrase. Beware the cloudless day of unstirred leaf, The thunder lurking in the sultry air, — Beware the breathless sea's mysterious cry, The low prophetic wailing of the reef ; — If azure arches Jungfrau's brow, beware The Terror hanging in the frosty sky. SONNETS. 23 CARPE DIEM. Eat thou and drink ; to-morrow thou shalt die. Time's stream disgorges into A