LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. i^Hp- Capijriji^t f 0* Shelf -:.Q:3.S UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SHADOWS OK YESTERDAY BY t^^^e^^t^^al^^^ ^^iTZaaC^v^ ROCHESTER, N. V., 1895. Copyright, li^g.s, BY CHARLES GIFFORD ORWEN. It is not my intention to palliate in any way the faults of this book, which are only too evident ; nor would I claim any fixed purpose in presenting it to the public. However, some slight explanations may be not altogether misplaced: in "Jupiter Fallen," it will be seen that the Greek Mythology has been hinted at rather than employed. Still, an interest will always linger about this subject as about no other. Its strength is the strength of the Titans themselves, and its delightful dream life is unparalleled. I have chosen therefore rather to leave it in a dim perspective, than imitate what is unapproachable. In another poem I have probably taken a greater liberty in changing the sex of the per- sonified Sin, as established by Milton and others; but this act I shall maintain as not altocrether inexcusable. C. G. 0. E. F. RODELL, PRINTER, ROCHESTER, N. Y. CONTENTS. Page. Yesterday 13 Jupiter Fallen 15 The Woods 63 Boat Song 65 Days of October 67 Cartaphilos 69 When the Grapes are Gathered 72 The Voice in the Gales 74 A Coming vShower 76 ANACREONTIC ODE: The I^ibatioii 77 A Voice of the Sea 79 November So With the Yellow Leaf. 82 A Song of the East 84 Tantalus 86 SONNETS : Another Dawn 89 The Vo3'ager 90 Hope 91 Twilight 92 Sleep 93 Keats 94 January 95 Rhyme of the Phantom Death 96 YESTERDAY. Shadozved and cold the trophies of thy keeping- f To-day the air repeats shadozved and cold. Where, happy spirit, are thy children sleeping. In Parian stone or deep niausolcnni gold ? Anszver, free-hearted zaind that zvanderest Old grottoes and the zcoods on snninier eve. Who all unheeding ever ponderest JMidsummer woe whereat thou viayest grieve. But thou, O spirit, where the moonlight falling Builds her pavilion on the midnight sea. Where all the clear and countless zuaves in calling. Audibly zueep and iihuruiur tremulously. Peer dozvn into its haunted wells, spirit o7ie diz'ine. And blur zuith thy pale, eager face its mirrors sibviline. JUPITER FALLEN DRAMATIS PERSONyE: Jove. The Earth. Saturn. The Sea. Apollo. The Mountains. Hermes. Spirits, Voices, &c. ACT /. Scene I — Heaven. The throne of Jove shadowed by rainbow-colored clouds. Jove is discovered seated, Jiolding a scepter. Time, Noon. Jove. Does not the morning from the East arise, To warm our tributary tribes of earth, And shine on Terra's wealth of woods and vales. Jupiter Fallen. And lii^lit old Neptune's principalities Pouring their clear waves through a thousand doors ? Am I not ruler? Have I not ordained Scepter and sway by my right arm alone ? See ! by my law supreme all time approves Change changeless, though the stormy-hearted years Destroy and are destroyed ; the months make war Upon each other, April conquers March, — Wan April, pale as moonlit ivory ! Here is my throne eternal, high in heaven, O'erbrowing all the world from Atlas huge To the dim AraK If the powers bewail My empire, let the lightnings cleave in sunder The dark dissenters! Lethe shall not cheer them Nor make forgetfulness their refuge far, — Their shadowy habitation. I am king. Dim vales are lying far below my throne; The heavens and their old foundations deep Jupiter Fallen. 17 Retain their ancient strength ; yet far away Above the Stygian shadows, darkness gathers. It reeks above the fields Oblivion. To north, to south, vague, tremulous, and dim, It spreads its wings like some huge bird of prey Uprising from the silent woods at morn. I know not if presaging good or ill It comes, — this Nemesis of day and light. Or what it hides beyond. Ah, look I how dim The skies are growing I How transformed the sun Foregoes his rule in the wan firmament I My very eagle at my royal wrist Stares all amazed in this misgotten night. Ho ! Hermes ! Thou art swiftest of the gods ; Be swifter still ; bind on thy sandals fleet, Pierce yon black vapor and swift bring me word What means this apparition. Ho! Away! Scene II — The same scene. Time, Evening. Jove. All day the storms have rode at will in heaven, J 8 • Jupiter Fallen. Marshaled and dark as for the day of war, And all the golden woods together roar, — A fitful wailing from the wavering world Radiant with Autumn, — all the troubled seas Roll, twilight-waved, along the dusky shores. At times there comes the sound of rushing hail Sudden and swift along the gasping air ; At times the sweep of unseen wings ; at times Trumpets faint echoing in the distant west ; At times the parting clouds reveal the stars Between the black pavilions of the storm. Listen I Methinks I hear the golden wings Of Hermes winnowing the still night air, That scarce eliminate the subtle spell That overawes the light enchanted breeze. {Enter Hermes). Hermes ! Hermes. Almighty Zeus! arm! arm with speed! Another universe is formed in chaos. The traitor elements are in revolt, Beleaguering thy throne. The Human Mind Has overleapt the bonds thou hast imposed ; Jupiter Fallen. 19 And all the powers of air and ocean join Close-ranked around his standard. And the earth Calls thee no more Alnaighty. Many an age Have these, begirt with other friendly powers, Like miners in their subterranean damps, Toiled sleepless, and with muffled hammer- blows, Beat out the raging thunderbolts of war, And stored the heavens with tempestuous hail, And bound the loud tornadoes in the deep. Waiting this direful day. See, how in heaven The lightnings glitter in the jagged clouds High o'er this horrid gulf ! Then wait no more, Marshal what powers are friendly to thy rule. If thou wouldst save thy empire, linger not! Jove. Peace, Hermes! These unhappy ones shall learn His fate who wars with the Omnipotent. Apollo with the ^egis were enough To strike dismay through all yon rebel host. Jupiter Fallen. Go thou and bid the gods come forth to see How Zeus Ahnighty overcomes his foes ! {Exit Her?nes.) Bold eagle, type of our great victory That made us monarch of the universe ! Arise into the everlasting skies That sit above the whirlwind and the storm, And with loud voice proclaim to all the world Victory to the arms of Mighty Jove. [Jove's eagle rises into the eloiids. [ Thunder and lightning in the distanee. Scene III — Near the month of the river Peneus. Jove stands at the side of the forest. Voices. First Voice. He would exalt himself for that same hand And hear once more the laughter of that voice That hath reviled him — the great leveler! Second Voice. Nay, he would be the Thunderer again ! Jupiter Fallen. Third Voice. Then let us lend him aid ! Ye all remember How well he used to reign. How once in wrath He hanged his patient wife in golden chains, Weighted with Vulcan's anvils, in mid-air; And many other kingly acts and wise; Or, if he scorns our voluntary powers, Let him upheave Olympus! underneath Are men of boundless strength. Fourth Voice. And they will hang him Midway between the heavens and the earth, Companion of the eagles. Jove. By the light, I know your coward voices for the same That sang my hymns in every Grecian grove With restless tongues ! Ye then were tame enough. Look ye for weakness in the Thunderer? Go, sing to Tantalus, w^hose grief is light! 22 Jupiter Fallen. Turn round Ixion on a swifter wheel ; And lash the lagging Sisyphus! But I ! — The very air is bitter on my lips As the embittered salt-pools of the sea ! Fools! whence has come this triumph in your voices? I never wronged you. First Voice. And we wrong not you. We sang your triumph ; now we sing your ruin. Second Voice. Your empire, and your empire overborne. Third Voice. Nodding your golden locks you oft presaged The doom of legions. Nod thy trembling head, Shaking thy white hair to the rising storms. And fix thy ruin in eternity ! Fourth Voice. And in those remons shall that shade, Remorse, Jupiter Fallen. 23 Sup with thee on thine inmost soul till thou Shalt fear to lift thine eyelids up, or look On thine attendants ; and the very air Shall be which sunlight never shuddered through. Thy locks shall slowly drift about thy feet In the deep silence of thy dread repose Of marble breathlessness, and never sound Shall make thee rise or ease thy burning thoughts, Or reach the grey walls of thy solitude. First Voice. Adieu ! Thy first strong thunderbolt has found thee. Second Voice. Adieu, Thou phantom mockery of might ! I see the shadow of an awful doom Invade the skies beyond thee like a cloud. Third Voice. I hear the winds wrenching the solid mount- ains I 24 Jupiter Fallen. ^ I hear a voice calling thee in derision ! The very trees rock in their leafless joy. O, that the earth were cleft to give thee space To fall untrammeled by the elements! Fourth Voice. Adieu ! The sun that kisses thy bare brow Shadows oblivion behind thy back. So may all powers prove false to thee. Adieu ! Jove. Betray me, then, false ministers ! For I Have no more power to grind you to the rack. First, you, black, cavernous sky, upon my head With nine-fold wrath your hoarded tempests hurl! And you, old earth, upheave your quicksand heart ! I scorn you being powerless : Yet had I One thunderbolt from heaven's armory, I would deep-bury it within your heart Till all your mountains roared in agony. And raging seas deluged your continents. Jupiter Fallen. 25 The voices lie! I shall not be cast down, There is no shadow o'er me in the sky ! Yet in those days on Time's blurred calendar My eagle might have dimmed it with his wings ! I walk a little paler than the sun And make its beams imperfect as they slanted Through subtle spray or panes of tinted glass, And all the trees of earth around my feet Cast off their wildling leaves yellow and red. And make the wilderness a type of woe. Twisting their branches as if in their forms Imprisoned lay dark spirits unabsolved. Slow-tortured into sinuous lines of pain. How strangely runs this period of day And what wild portents ravage its fair light ! Exalted hugely in the vapid mist There stands an awful form on Pelion, Face-hidden in a cloak of purple cloud. One rounded, lucent arm thrown back in heaven, Seems but to witness the world's overthrow ; And all the spirits run their airy voices Upon the unresponsive ear of earth, 26 Jtipitcr Fallen. Dark-couched full heavily. Now, if again Their lips provoke the airs inaudible I, too, shall hear them. I will stretch me here Unsceptered where the early leaves have fallen, Where through sleek stems ascending the wide mountain, Comes the cold speaking of the waterfall. Chorus of Spirits. Where slept the Autumn when with music stringed, As of a shell, hollow and faint with sound, The Spring appeared, a maid white-armed and winged. Pale skies above her, darkening lawns around? The seasons answer not From where their shadows lie ; Over their graves forgot Echoes sound deathfully. Dryads, in your green haunts. Where sedgy rivers flow, Speak on the smooth winds lightly ! The earth will never know. Where ? Where ? Jupiter Fallen. 27 When on their airy harps with shrill complain- ing. The spirits of the winds were twanging low And overhead the skies unholy raining, On gluey branches, fitfully and slow, Where strayed Apollo then Beside his Delian home, Singing to the blue main, Stilling its silver foam? Naiads, in purple deeps. Call o'er the waters low ! The dull-eared land is dreaming, The sea will never know. Speak! Speak! Voices from the Sea. The night-tongues are husht. The harbor is flusht A league on the waters, A league on the land ; Light marbles the ledge, It crimsons the sedge And tips the curled breakers 28 Jupiter Fallen. That jar the worn edge Of the rocky crag hid In a desert of sand. The sails veer and shine Along the sea line, And rock on the curve Of the azure-ridged main ; Oceanus lies White-crowned and wise, As the light falters down On his cold, azure eyes, WheVe his curtains grow pallid And opal again. He rises no more To the surf or the shore, No waves part and whiten His fury before ; Old Neptune seems dead. Grim Triton is sped, Together the naiads In terror have fled To the caverns deep-rent In the ocean's wide floor. Jupiter Fallen. 29 Forever we flee About the wild sea. We sleep and awaken ; Like shadows are we Who carry the song Of the old gods along, And the winds follow after, A whispering throng ; But we wait for an echo Of what is to be. Jove. How the clear echoes gather and diverge Along and up the mount I They make my mind Reel in a wrathful shame ! They sing Apollo I Jove is forgotten ; yet they hymn the sun I All through their song I heard the words accurst : " Thou, Jove, art fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, No more to reign upon thy regal mountain ; Go, take thy place among the shadows, fallen I" Cry, spirits, howl aloud with monstrous throat To dull or drown the voices that within 30 Jupiter Fallen. Assail me ! From the depths of your wild hearts Proclaim who reigns or who at last shall reign. Spirits. Not thou, nor time alone, Around about whose throne The spirits of the winds and clouds and light- ning, Awaiting sharp command, In lines of order stand, Or o'er the deluged world thro' caverns whit'ning Unsheathe their fires and smite the folded rains, And drench with wide, blue storms the levels of the plains. None other scepter rears Amid the coming years ; The fallen pleasure house and temple broken. With smoothened marble arch, Check not Time's endless march ; Forgotten are the rites of worship spoken. Jupiter Fallen. And still the tenors of unnumbered creeds Change with a people's voice safe modeled to their needs. It is necessity That sways all things that be, And will and force arc minions — nothing greater: Whatever yet has been Fashioned without, within, This is its modeler and sole creator, From where the farthest east, withdrawn ofold^ Lowers vast, to where the sun expires in flying gold. The days across the lands Troop by with joined hands, While yellow-haired September nods and pines ; An amber flush has spread, Slow-deepening to red. Where twilight lingers on his heavy vines, — Autumn's endearment breathing of repose, — Thin smouldering spires of smoke and norland- gathered snows. 32 Jupiter Falleti. Around the joyous earth Awakes a sound of mirth From the deep caverns of the soulful weather; The days and nights invade New breadths of sun and shade, While husks and golden fruit are strewn together. The air is silent in its fruitful pause Ere skies begin to rave at Nature's moveless laws. Days and unnumbered days, And earth's unrestful ways Are swallowed in the burden of all time: Customs are shriveled up As water from the cup Upon the hot sands of a desert clime. What fades shall shine again ; what now is seen Will pass and reappear with ages lost between. Jupiter Fallen. 33 ACT II. Scene I — A cave under Olympus. Saturn is seen bound ; a huge rock lies upon him. Semi-chorus. I. Hear ! hear ! hear ! Let your faces be wild tho' your voices are dumb Or quaver in accents of fear! Ye knew of a day and an hour that would come. They come — Semi-Chorus II. While ye speak they are here. And the day and the hour Have arrayed them in power, And the heart of the fallen is drear. Echo. The heart of the fallen is drear. 34 Jupiter Fallen. Semi-chorus I. Rejoice ! rejoice ! rejoice ! And call to the storm-beaten mountains, for they Will be glad at the sound of your voice. Then what will the deep-sounding wilderness say? It cries — Semi-chorus II. But loud laughter destroys. Hearts aching with mirth Shall be found in the earth, As they thrill for the titan, their choice. Echo. They thrill for the titan, their choice. Semi-chorus I. Moan ! moan ! moan ! Ye voices distraught with an eloquent grief. The titan is not on his throne. Look not where he lies like a storm-faded leaf; But shriek — Jupiter Fallen. 35 Semi-chorus II. For Saturn us alone. For the leaves wan and red Have been strewn o'er his head, And the last of the forest are blown. Echo. The last of the forest are blown. Saturn. If strength arises from the noble will That dares all things and yields to none, why then, I still am strong, who liaving all things dared, Now lie amid these rocks, crushed down and held By iron-embedded bonds, and cast in night Immutable — such these eternal chains. Shut from the world of universal day And from the crystal labyrinth of stars That glitter on the dewy locks of night, Lucent, and bright, and still, I yet survive My kingdom, daily struggling with this curse 36 Jupiter Fallen. Of immortality ; yet this I know, That I shall rise again ; although it seems Another doom hangs o'er me, darker, deeper, Than these prodigious rocks. Then let it come In shape of mouldering time or deepest hell, This spirit shall not yield, but in its ruin Exult triumphant through all time to be. {^A rushing sound is heard.) I hear a sound as of a roaring wind Above me, or of swiftly-moving wings That drain the spirit of the still, cold air. 'Tis gone, and all is still ; but, through the dark, One enters fair as was Hyperion. A star-like splendor plays upon his hair, Bound with green plumes of overshading pine, And underneath that white celestial brow His eyes gleam wildly, and his lips are red, But not with earthly color. I will speak : Spirit, who enterest these awful caves, Whence comest thou ? Spirit. From Indian fields afar. Jtipiicr Fallen. 37 My coursers rested there when day was o'er And the cold moonh'ght passed. For as I tarried Beneath an overbranching tamarind tree That grew in a deep vale of Himaly, Breathing of poppies drowsed beneath the moon, One passed who bore aloft a written roll That shone like jeweled silv^er or the wand Caduceus of the swift-winged Mercury. Then said the spirit, pausing with slow wing Upon the delicate air : " My course leads far Into the midnight, but do thou seek out The cavern where the broad-browed titans lie Under Olympus. Bid them follow down The monstrous night to Demogorgon's cave. This he commands whose messenger am I." And, so obedient to the spirit's wish. My coursers bore me o'er the hollow winds From India. Above the deep green fields And many slow-waved river in its rest, Star-tenanted, we took our rapid course. Fleeter than when from off the Libyan sands 38 Jupiter Fallen. The swift simoon seeks in its headlong flight The Mediterranean with her azure waves. Thus have I sought thee even as light would flee. Arise, and follow for the dawn is near, Saturn. Does not Olympus claim me for its base, And tower its woods above me? Spirit. But thy nature Is free to glide thro' the wide universe, And such as earth and all her elements Retain not. Saturn. Look upon these iron chains! (Tremendous weight to load upon a god) Wrought by darkMulciber, Jove's artful smith, Of ninefold power ! Spirit. Such was their strength, but now They are as links of sand. Therefore arise! Jupiter Fallen. 39 I bid thee hasten for within an hour The East will redden into rosy streaks, When I must flee away to other lands Beyond the day, unto the prince of spirits. {^Saturn arises.) Saturn. My heart leaps with the falling of these chains That rust not in their brightness nor grow dim ! Has Zeus no longer strength to make them ■ strong? Or does he think his ancient foes are dead? Speak, I adjure thee by thine inmost soul. And mock me not. Spirit. My words are said. Saturn. Yet speak. Spirit. No more. What ye would ask lies deeply hid Beyond all words. For this alone I came. 40 Jupiter Fallen. To bid thee seek the cave of Demogorgon. My hour bids me depart. Great shade, fare- well 1 Saturn. Prophet, whose eyes look through my v^ery soul! Who art thou ? Spirit. What availeth it to know? One of the race of mortals, who like thee Is freed from the base elements of earth. My name is "but a w^ord. Again farewell. {Spirit vanishes.) Saturn. Farewell to thee! and hail eternal night! Now must I rouse the titans from their sleep, — And then the cavern. Ai ! Ai ! Away! Scene II — A cavern beneath the sea. Most of the old gods assembled. Jove. You all know well the story of our doom, How Jove, )our mightiest, was overawed Jupiter Fallen. 41 Into a weak submission. On that day, Alone I sat upon th' Olympian mount, Looking upon the golden scales of fate That weigh the lives of nations ; and behold Mankind was trembling in the balance, matched Against my empire : and I then had laught To see the nations sunk to deepest night; Aye, even earth from her foundations rent. Hurled down to ruin. Then there rose a sound That moved about the borders of the hill, And creeping, ever soft as winnowed air, Stole round me till I rose and looked abroad Across the earth, along the sunlit mountains ; But all was silent even to the sea. Then feel Plutonian darkness. Destiny, Riding upon the blasts of adverse strife. Had w^helmed me down, but other powers denied. Yet fear upon me fell which gods alone Can understand, when from no certain bounds — And still no form appeared from hueless air — Arose a voice, whereat my heavenly breath 42 Jupiter Fallen. Hissed through my nostrils, and my heart grew faint, While yet I strove to speak, but found no words. And then the voice, which seemed the half my own. Spake out and taught my pride this vain despair: " Thy tyrant soul shall sway the seas no more ! Arise and get thee down, and after thee Drag down thy number of the chosen stars To dissolution !" Then from out the sun, Apollo, like clear lightning, trembled down. And from the Olympian ground, with hasty steps, I followed after ; neither would the earth Nor yet the thin-spun curtain of the night Shield me, and so I passed into the air. The rest you know ; how by fierce madness driven With wings outworn, day after day, we fled, Seeking for aught but immortality. Until our hearts at such protracted flight Felt pangs and torments not to be retold ; Jupiter Fallen. 43 And then, far down, slow breaking into sight Through faded amethyst of silent skies, Clear in a drift of white sublunar light, The earth lay hugely hurled, while round its side, The sunlight slanted down the dark blue ocean, As o'er a granite dial. Light of lights ! The earth, our ancient earth I Then downward falling, We sought old Neptune's vacant palaces, To hide us deep even from our very souls. I will arise no more ; for I have known The cold pulse of a god in overthrow. Even as Saturn feared when at the last, Half prone upon yon mountain's highest slope, He strove against high heaven with white face And hands that sought to grasp the walls of light, And eyes expressionless. Below, the sea Plunged hueless waves, throwing off vapors wan To mark the lightning's dread result. The wood Burned with a fury and a heat unknown 44 Jupiter Fallen. Before that time : but there has come another To make the victor scorn his victories, And the proud heart renounce its hauglitiness. If any urge me onward, I shall liate him, For I am weary of all things but rest. Time. Then thou shalt have thy wish — rest, deepest rest. Clouds, summer-wrought on skies of clearest blue, Shall make sweet shadowings of lawn and wood; And there to thee shall come light-winged Sleep. There is a world upon the verge of air, In its grey, and as yet, imperfect morn. Born in the halls of chaos, ere the light Came from its hiding place within the deep. Or youthful nature showed her kindly face. While charmed silence stretched its boundless wings Along the starless, stormless atmosphere. Lip-tied and breathless, waiting for a dawn. Jupiter Fallen. 45 This world I give to you for years undying. At this night's darkest hour, when in the north Strays forth the dragon and the Pleiades Are set in light of interstellar space, I will direct you on your way. Till then Let me remain apart in lonesomeness And still my pained heart throbbing soberly Against the cold side of Cithaeron, Or where the streams loved by primeval wood- lands Bear the bright leaves silently out to sea. {Exit Time.) Jove. There walks the grandest counselor of heaven ! A soul of quiet power— a crownless king! Apollo. He shakes his head and stares hard at the earth. Jove. Beneath his silver mantle's straitened folds. He bears a heart heavy with voiceless grief. May destiny be light upon his head ! 46 Jupiter Fallen. 'Tis said he was in Saturn's blissful reign Bright as the envied prince, Hyperion — Tall regent of the sun. Now his old voice, Shaking a little, answers solemnly With lips a-tremble, as when e'er the wind Questions a cavern-entrance with a moan. While all around the summer woods are still. Now forth into the wilderness he goes At sorrow's mild remonstrance to all speech, Where none may mar his unknown revery. Here will we wait his coming at the hour, And that which now is hid shall be made light. Scene HI. The Earth. What a wild ungovernable emotion Fills the billows of the boundless ocean, Echoing along its azure seas! Is it but the voices that awaken When the deep is by the dawn o'ertaken. Or the laughter of the nereides? All the fine and tragic winds are ringing When they hear the music of your singing, Jupiter Fallen. 47 For their hearts are melted at the sonfr ; Then, O, sweep again the joyful measure, For my soul imparadised in pleasure. Thus would evermore be borne along. The Sea. Mine are all the throng of echoing voices. Mine is the bright spirit that rejoices In the motion of the salient waves, In my star-dawns and my twilight shadows, In the sea-flowers of my ocean meadows, In the faint light of my purple caves. The Earth. All my springs and jo)'ous sunny fountains, Born amid my snow-en jeweled mountains. White and eager from their headlands leap. For they feel a spell that overawes them And a mighty impulse ever draws them To the ceaseless murmur of the deep. Voice from the Mountains. All my ice-clad minarets and towers, All my cedars and my cypress bowers, 4