WILLIAM FRANK MARTIN mRNHHl LOVE AND LIFE AND OTHER POEMS BY WILLIAM FRANK MARTIN Author of "Sir Harry Vane," etc. BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER THE GORHAM PRESS Copyright, 1920, by William F. Martin All Rights Reserved Made in the United States of America The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. M 1 3 /920 ©1A571359 / TO ONE NEAR AND TRUE WHO SHARES WITH ME IN LOVE AND LIFE CONTENTS PAGE Strivings n Love and Life 12 Love Reflecting 24 Nearing the Dawn 25 Compensation 26 The Protagonist 28 The Beautiful 31 Ne Cede Malis 32 The Single Eye 33 Flower Cares 36 The Butterfly Maiden 37 In the Primrose PaTh 38 To the Colors! 39 Friends at Christmas 40 The Garden of Life 41 At the Season's Confessional 43 With Amaranth 45 A Reading of the Life Indeed 46 An Irrationality 51 Two Rabbis 52 Christmas Eve 53 The Christmas Choir 56 "Red of the Dawn" 57 5 Contents PAGE The Setting of the Play 58 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 60 Mirth 62 Our Workday World 64 Theodore Roosevelt 65 The Titanic 69 "Cincinnati, My Happy Home" 71 To James Whitcomb Riley 73 Death 75 The Autumn Road 76 Of Poesy 78 The Question 79 An Undersong of Progress 80 Friar Laurence 81 The Emerson Centenary 86 A Family Christmas 87 The Candy Tooth 88 Song-Sparrow 89 Speaking of the Blues 90 A Begonia Blossom 91 Les Divorc-ons 9 2 Now Wouldn't It? 93 After-Dinner Impromptu 94 A Soul's Retreat 95 The Magazine 96 Heroism 97 To Madeline 99 An Epithalamium 100 Non Obstante 101 6 Contents PAGE Good Night! 102 Dixie National 103 Three Wise Men 105 The Humor of the Bible 106 It Was Said in Tarshish no Getting at the Root of the Matter . . in A Preacher's Response to His Welcome . . . 112 "Reverse the Message" 113 Judgment 114 "Having This Seal" 115 The Miser's Prayer 116 Worringman and Prophet 118 "The Other Wise Man" 120 Trophimus 124 The Prophet's Parable 125 The Life of Verse is Life 127 Inequalities 129 From "Sir Harry Vane" 132 L'Envoi, to "Sir Harry Vane" 133 From "Haldimand" 135 From "Haldimand" 136 "He that Loves Me for My Gold" 137 Christmas Cheer 138 Immortelles 139 True Amaranth 140 Where a Better Christmas Keeps 141 To What Purpose? 142 An Epitaph 143 A Supposed Resurgam 144 7 Contents PAGE An In Memoriam 146 Jerubbaal 147 The Poetry of Austerity 148 De Profundis 149 Veritas 150 To the American Negro 151 To W. A. Q 152 Upon the Heels of Presentment 153 Two Readers 154 Radical and Conservative 155 ecclesiastes i56 The Shortened Harvest 157 The Hallowed Night 158 The Passing of Youth 159 Untimely Death 160 Christmas and World War 161 The Harvest of the Years 165 The Lusitania 167 "Let Us Have Peace!" 169 Your Country Needs You 170 Not Men, But a Menace 172 Boche and Bolshevik 174 Each to His Honor 175 Memorial Day 176 The Decline and Fall 178 A Way to Avenge 179 Yap 180 "Into a Far Country" 182 The Passion 183 8 LOVE AND LIFE STRIVINGS This be my life, to know for why I gladly live and shall gladly die; To train my soul, tho' in palace, think How I for the Grail my chalice drink; Or teach me, if close in the lap of earth, To drink with the dews of midnight mirth ; To bear my lot as a spirit can, And purge of the beast my flesh of man: That I may find, how gladly to live Is unto the Giver the best we give. This be my love, to feel the thrill Of loon, or of larva, or life that is still; To see in the vileness of alchemic dust The chemistry-process by which all is just ; To find in sin's lump of a Caliban charm Taking virtue from veins of a blood that is warm ; To join with the heart a tongue that is kind, To yoke my purse with a generous mind, That friend and lover and God may see They each have a lover of good in me. 1909 11 Love and Life LOVE AND LIFE After the painting by Mr. G. F. Watts, R. A. Gently thy steps advancing, let me lead Upon this rugged way. Thy hand in mine Place trustingly, if so thy heart approve, And we will urge our footsteps unto rest. Thou, Life, it is that I in wisdom sought, To thee with passionate yearnings I am come, And seeking find within thy presence peace. My spirit whispers, Love! I know not whence Thou art, nor why thy path draws unto mine. It bids me onward, and I trust. If thou A timely strength provide along the way, To help my footsteps forward into light; If One thou servest be my Lord, whose hand In beauty spread the world, yet left so dark Yon solitary waste that met my seeking, — / thine to lead. Thy presence brings a staff, Thy voice a vision wakens in my heart. And thou the vision that awakened me! His son am I whose name is Solitude; And where he met, from weary vigils turned, Fair figured Dawn, at matins after dreams, Awaiting the well-lighted task of day, I, from two hearts of discipline and hope, Had being. And oft in sylvan shade, 12 Love and Life Or resting by the toilsome steep, whereon My strength was tested, I of Virtue's font Delighted drank — true nourisher to me. And oft in silent grief, to cooling star, 'Neath wearied noontide, or on joyous eve, The thirst of knowledge fed me, as each word Spoken of eye, hand, heart, or feeble tongue, Disquieted. For there was ever strong The will upon me so to haste my steps That I, ere thou be passed, might have of thee New leasing, — I who else had been forlorn. I find thee, whom the elfins had decried As aged, and behold, thy maiden youth ! Oft to my steps how has there fallen the night, Pressing upon me! Not the form of fears, Nor that which lets red courage from the veins, Or slackens them with sloth; but some veiled sense Of loneliness that shrouded me in self, Leaving unfruitful the\ old impulsive dream. My strength of limb that wears the lowland shade, My power of wing to triumph on the steep, My heart whose mastery in virtue is My sole achievement, shall thy courage be, And thy defense. And in thy strength is mine. For manly strength, so valiant if for thee, Is weakness if it nurture but itself. And once I feared all weary days to pass A being alone, a pilgrim, eremite, Doubting the twilight, foot among the thorns, 13 Love and Life The lonely nook embracing, grief at heart. Yet He that formed' me sent me on thy quest, That could not fruitless be. And I am here, To help thee wisely to immortal fields. There is a kingdom in thy brow! That I Be queen, hope's brave good wish, seems far and steep To striving. Let me look, and smile to thee, And dare! — A star-beam glimmers on the cloud! Thy vision is in light, and truth is thine: My vision is of thee, for I am Love. I see that light but as it garments thee, And brighter could not see it on the cloud. O sweet and fair, on thee alone I look, So sharing now thy immortality. What mean the fair chaste chiseling, body and limb; Fire on the altar that so wistfully burns, Only thou bending; dew-drunken morning's wealth, In nectafed cups, if time's too-thirsting sun Alone may drink thereof f It is for thee. How dare the spirit aspire, thou not entreating? I, till this hour, a wraith in shadows seemed. A spirit, and all immortal! // for thee! 14 Love and Life Then, immortality a proven peace Affirms; to me its promise crimsoned new, And from the same unfailing fountains fed, — Thy heart, whose wine of passion roses o'er Thy vermeil cheek. 'Tis how I knew thee Life. For first I saw, far down the gloomy steep, A maiden, whom if one mistake for thee She shall to early sorrow bring his lips. Less fair than thou, she still the fairest is Of all her train, the siren-throated crew. Her name is Pleasure. She to some is Life — Until one takes, and lo, untimely Death! Her voice I heard, but not into my soul Her charm it sent ; for I was on the steep, My feet like hind's feet planted. And I saw Whom some think Love. He came as one from out The useless riffraff of the street, fire-fanged With lust; drew to the shadows, and his voice Sang out a heavy note, that held its charm, Yet could not drown its own deep misery. His voice was tuned for Inexperience. But to his hurt, and my amazement, then Came wan and loathly Sin vestured in shame. At wafture of her hand, the Graces fled That wait upon the soul; withdrawing wept, And since to me a mist veils all that glory. 'Twas Sensuality ; and she that heeds Will bead the grass with tears. 15 Love and Life To Pleasure he Some dusky servant is, the more condemned. I found me then far on the pilgrim path Or ere another met me, who a' while Might seem to please one in his search of thee. As Pleasure quite as fair, yet not her youth; Who nor a maiden nor a virgin seemed, And yet sedately walked as I drew near, And with a far-off look. My eye was not, As when with Pleasure, on her limbs, but on Her ; tightly closing palms. They seemed to bear One golden seal, the other bleeding hearts, Fresh gathered from the fields. I quickly knew I looked on Gain, and wealth or fame her dower; The brighter gold of human worth, or else Our bruised hearts her toll. I neither sought, And keep ambition sacrosanct in love, Or seek a fame that hath true valor in't. He whom I next upon low levels met Close-frocked and groomed in somber colors stood. No gift or Grace that passed before him had More than his passing glance. He sweetly piped, As 'twere his pleasure to, and strangely bore A smile that vanished inward. And his eye Appeared to gather of my harvest here, As if by some rude gleaning in his look, And offered naught in turn. His music seemed More meant to gather up its echoes than To treasure forth its strains. I hasted on, Well knowing Self-Love, and not thee, O Love, Eluded. 16 Love and Life Less like thee was whom I next Encountered than Self-Love is like to me; Yet sweeter none, in her pretended grace. She stood aloof from many in her train, By polished manner and a charm of mind Supreme. Her dress the drapery of dreams, Outwrought by toil and time and treasure, wove A witchery of wonder round her limbs. She gathered to herself those of like charm, And in exclusive virtue veiled her soul. Yet veils and draperies, dragnets of vice As often may be found. And polished form Assures no soundness of the heart within. I doubted not her worth, and valued much Her apprehension of the laws of self, The mysteries of nature, and the thoughts Of those rare spirits who have tasted life. She too had tasted of that other fruit Beside the Tree of Life. Therein I knew That Culture she is named, and less than Life. Yet some have thought her dearer than art thou. / marvel that so fair are those who came To barrier thy path. Not so were they, Except in strength, who met me. Strength appeals To Life, and witchery to Love. And too, Thou seest with clearer vision than may I. The more my wonder then that so beset Was I of him who next my steps detained. 17 Love and Life For where the sunset gold thro' forest green Stirred admiration for delightsome earth, There, on a lonely path to bosky shades, Stood one I feared me much to look upon. His face was stern, and in his eye the shade Of moss and not of sunset had repose. And for that I in rapture of the day, Leaving such benedictions to our toil, Stood mutely by, I heard upon his path A voice in cynic comment. Then I turned To look on where some fairies from a grove Came dancing, and for this had more rebuke. I sternly bade him go, and felt the dance Was marred for every fairy on that night, Tho' neatly tripping to the full-orbed moon. For Jealousy had left some bitter thing Pervasive. This we knew; and then not far We heard the night-owl's baby cry, that seemed Low-murmured from the grave. Oh, may I not His path fe-enter! In my dreams I saw The arrow quivering from the leafy wood; Thro' dismal night resurgent clamor rose Like storm-notes on the din of battle. They Who take his path have their thorn-fillets of pain. Yet many think his path must keep with mine! I grieve me in my joy, that thou hast looked Upon his face and known. Forever free Our steps shall keep hereafter of such pain. Quite other was the one whom now I met, None lovelier save thou. I found her not Where birds were singing and the gurgling rill 18 Love and Life Ran laughing in its gladness to the sea. Nor, either, in the marts of trade, where most Her counsels of perfection should have place. But in a wayside shrine, where with her sat A company, in light with her elect. Within a hue of sanctity pervades, As full of sweet and solemn mystery As purple evening, growing into night, Seen thro' some chapel bays. Her ways I knew To be of highest good. Those with her keep A plain sweet seriousness of life. And I, With mellowing spirit in her mystic fanes, Could gladly rest me from pursuing care. I thought to tarry till she dedicate My steps to follow fleetly in her train ; And this was too her pleading. But the few Who meekly walk a saintly way with her Would not that they should follow whither I Must lead ; and tho' my steps she would attend, They still detained her with unanswered need. Her name Religion — lovelier that she is So oft restrained, and kept by men apart, Till oft in lily whiteness she appears A delicate spirit, pent in cloven pine Until less puissant than thou for me. Her touch thy spirit hath quickened. For I knew The frequent path, and sometimes found my way Would open only if unto her shrine. 'Tis well; for chastened so, thy spirit prevails To test in courage mine. 19 Love and Life Hath she alone. Of whom we met, the help of each so wrought 1 ? Or was it there alone our paths have met, Until we found us heref None other could Have given that which she so fitly gave. Nor could another have so well misled To thinking of our quest as satisfied Ere ended. Even so. For pilgrim feet She has a cleansing, and a soothing rest. But rest is not well earned until it lie Beyond the utmost limits of ascent; Not in the toilsome purlieus of this mount Delectable. 'Tis true; and I have cared Rather to have the peace in effort here, Than here a peace. Nor could I with content Attend his pleadings whom I last had met. 'Twas when in meditation I had turned From where the altar with its mysteries Is glowing, that one came and called to me In voice none could think thine. Anear he stood, All drear and sad, yet with a touching grace, As boughs that sway in winter s sleety storm. Yet was he not in his appearing cold, But rather as if melting to the sun, 20 Love and Life With trickling eye that tears can not forget, Till dews of mercy shall be clean forspent. His name is Pity ; and 'twere pity too If one should ever fondly think him Love. How wisely chosen, to have slipped a path Which leads to ever deepening gloom. It is With face to shadow, and with downcast look, That he calls one to go. I rather chose A brighter path, with no less wonder led, That bares my face in rapture unto these Dawn-breathing sympathies of God. How could One walk with Pity, and yet dwell in light? The dangers are well past. The by-paths call No further welcome to uncertain steps. The summits may have perils to attend Our coming, but together we shall stand In joyous undismay. 'Twere peril if Our perils failed us. For if virtue be The crown for which our souls in valor strive, We gain it only by unwearied care. Such girth of girded life have we of God, We ask no easing up of pain, nor light That smites the shadows into pallid gray, Where even specters plead not to appear. No; virtue is not ever one with those Imperfect virtues that sit dumbly bound 21 Love and Life In still imprisoned souls. Tho' weak as yet In inexperience, I hold my youth As meant for struggle, and for victory. Our earth is yet in youth, and what shall be The body colors of the autumn forest? Its fruitage and its garnerings of wealth Draw on our vision till the vast unseen Becomes the moving impulse to our thought, And quickens time to find a rare delight In blest anticipation. First, we see Aurora, rosy fingered, dropping dews Of jeweled gladness ; then, her blush to greet Hyperion's coming; now, in robes arrayed Of such celestial brightness as becomes Who takes with him the chariot of the day. And evening twilight shall her charms reveal In undiminished beauty. This to me, And this of youth to what some say is age, Is prophecy of thy unfailing grace. Since hope is my unfailing staff, I dare To lean upon it now. Let it not fail, Thy fancy, Love, has form. At least in me Thou hast what Heaven ordains us all of Life. The whispered Yes that seals in deathless vow Companion spirits in their happy quest, Is this thou gavest first ; and it shall be A bond not loosened till Orion's bands Are snapped in dissolution of the worlds. For thou shalt find that Love is not as some 22 Love and Life Too fleshly loves that seem so radiant, then Are like some star-plunge, burnt out in its flare. Whither our steps? Right on, till we may find Some new evangel in the wayside rose; Some blest appointment in the paths of toil ; The rapturous moment when we two shall gain A vision of the summit, and shall find The Spirit of Delight, to earth unknown, Whatever be the gladness he hath lent. There Beauty too, and Wisdom, shall with us Find their unfolding, in reward of those Whose passion an immortal thirst awoke, And not to mocking of a vain attempt. Who gain the heights are sure. They then may quit The toils and shadows of the steep ascent, Which here their perils, and which there their gain, Attest. Their suns will bathe in summer seas. And therefore let us on, till we attain The sapphire pavements of His feet. And then? Thy heavenly largess be my ampler sphere! 1904 23 Love and Life LOVE REFLECTING How rare to earth is a perfect love ! Tho' some have thought they knew it well, And some have stumbled into hell Believing they the treasure-trove Had found the key to, and the road Had chosen, in the grace of God. But we have found, dear love, 'tis true, As these few passing years have shown, That wealth and wonder — this is known; But why to us when to so few? Have I by chance, hast thou by worth Attained this jeweled prize of earth? 1915 24 Love arid Life NEARING THE DAWN From within the shadows, come To the light around, above; There thy lurking ills are, — some Strive, but thrive not, where is Love: Come thou, come then, come away. Here on moonbeam, ray of star, Joy weaves thro' the sable night Threads of noons that flash afar, Till is woven morning's light: Come thou, come then, come away. Forms of fear are shadows, so Sorrow, death, are shadows too; Love was ne'er a shadow, no, Love is dawn — come, Life, and woo: Come thou, come then, come away. jgio 35 Love and Life COMPENSATION As saith any worker in art: My work is hand and heart and brain Concentred in some talent's trade; I care for ease, but more would fain Care if life pays or is but paid. Not wise was youth, but wisdom lent Somehow a saving gleam that told What paths were gain. Yet some have spent A heart's red blood for yellow gold. Content is where strict virtues twine To amaranth. Content is rude That palsies struggle, spills the wine Of sacrifice. I will not brood How, in the tread where Fortune slips, The worthy drudge who bears the hod Has gold, while leaden care seals lips That hold the oracles of God. The forms that thrid the maze of strife To seek bread from this iron age, In pain teach how the means to life Is in the work and not the wage. 26 Love and Life The wage is but the victor's toll, The wage the victim's glint of praise; The wage refines thy clay, O soul: Thy work is virtue's golden days. The captains of the mill and mart Leave me, when crowned among their dead, My Captain Seer who throned His heart, Less anxious where to lay His head. Where spirit keeps, lo, trust the cruse; When close with Thought, Thrift will not urge : And Art's first law is, Wiselier use Of Fortune's pipes than Mammon's dirge. The Muses keep from those removed Who quench their fires in lust of things: They slight rewards, but him have loved, And love, who in their passion sings. My work is hand and heart and brain Concentred in my talent's trade. My living scant? Still, be my gain In this — a princelier life is made. 1907 27 Love and Life THE PROTAGONIST His life was in our later age, He walked the streets of common care, Drew courage to him from the Height, Looked that his talents should engage His vision thither; and he would dare To wish but that his steps were right, Make sure that wisdom led, and then He questioned not or soon or late The world's approval: his the sight That knew the world is adjudged to men. He took no path that seemeth great To youth in flush of conscious pride ; But chose a way of use, whose hour But grew to Fame — who opes the gate To worth that lives from a worth that died,- In manhood's patient prime of power. Life's autumn called: he reasoned why The age bore summer's fruitful sign, — His years the seed. He knew the flower From earth, and equally from the sky, Springs up; that sun and soil combine To give it life: — and not alone May man grow from the sordid earth, But bears a spirit that stars refine; Else, as a pagan, he bows to stone. 28 Love and Life The gifts of Fortune at his birth He took, and with them ably wrought A higher good, with time and stress. He knew our human woe is dearth In heart, not purse; and for one he sought "To waste no manhood on success." * But made the two a single goal ; And while the cries of gain were rife He chose — the larger happiness — O'er flesh a triumph of princely soul. He let Tomorrow govern life, Not Yesterday; nor would implore The passing moments, for they haste, To give what fools get, care for strife, — So briefly dominant, then no more. The earth held beauty: he would taste Of this, in nature and in art; Its garden ready to his mind Stood yielding truth. And he had placed The sword and cherubim at his heart. The earth held error : he would find Some field of tourney with the foe, Nor let it bear his courage down. If error thrived, he was not blind To how the stars in their courses go. * Sidney Lanier. 29 Love and Life Where virtuous conflict held a crown, He took it with a lineal hand: Achievement was his legacy. Did time delay, or custom frown, — His soul moved under a just command. He did not think that man will die To where he must his standard furl : He struggled here, and he would stand In braver planet — fit to try The streets of amethyst and of pearl. 1905 30 Love and Life THE BEAUTIFUL Beauty of form is a beauty sublime, Beauty of face is a treasure of time, Manner, and deed, and one's dwelling are three In which all of beauty may always agree: But of all that in which beauty combines, Beauty of soul in its glory outshines. Beauty of form has each flake of the snows, Beauty of face have the lily and rose, Beauty of dwelling have the stars of the sky, Manner and deed have the beast that will die: But all of these dwell with that beauty of spirit That dwells in the palace my soul doth inherit. 1917 31 Love and Life NE CEDE MALIS Pure as a drop of the summer's dew That clings to the lips of a rose; Rapt in a fancy the rose was true As swiftly back to the sun it goes: So shall my fond affection be That one bright hour was kissed by thee. Glad as the song of the hermit thrush That sweetens the breath of a dawn ; Lovelier then that perchance the hush Of noon may find its wonder gone: So shall the joy of my heart appear In this, that once you chose to hear. Free as the billow of dashing spray As wildly it breaks on the rock; Freer that now the spent wave may With sea commingle after the shock: So shall my broken hope the wave Return to, saying, "What joy she gave!" jgi6 32 Love and Life THE SINGLE EYE Often have I envied him Who from day to day Does one thing, and with a vim Keeps a steadfast way: Never in a strait 'twixt two, Doubting what were best to do. Such a one will ever find This beatitude, — That there will not come to mind Some distraction rude: Be his effort great or small, It commands him, heart and all. 'Tis a blessing Fortune fails To have sent to me. One who lives in quiet dales May not rove the sea: But his mind no prison keeps, And may venture vasty deeps. Training set, and liking chose, Me the shepherd's lot. Only he who finds it knows Half the pleasures got. But a call is in the blood All too strong, if understood. 33 Love and Life To admit of that content, Gladly held my own: 'Tis a fire will not be pent Long within the bone. When I muse it burns, and lo, Come the Muses tripping so I have not the single eye! Leaving then the flock, I must watch them dancing by, All unveiled of smock: Double-minded man, says James, — But the saints should not call names. He that finds within the brain Talents that to use Are his profit, he would fain Look not to excuse, By the worth of what is near, His neglect of aught more dear. Others may not care a whit That within the green Bosky dale here I may sit, Sing, have sung, unseen: They may think but of the fleece, While my harp I thrum in peace. And yet, truly, I must feel Something has been lost 34 igi6 Love and Life To the shepherd, — 'tis the seal, Ever, of the cost That attends the wider path Than the easy-goer hath. Just as truly know I well There is something won ; What it is but time can tell: It was not begun Just to while a summer's day, — Passion 'tis dies not away. Many voices are there will Just for gain be heard; Praise be stayed, their harps are still, And their souls unstirred. They are sold out for a song Who can heed their music long. Men may hear, or men forbear, I have joy to sing; And a chance that some will care, If some word I bring That may to their eyes impart Visions that awoke my heart. 35 Love and Life FLOWER CARES Said the Daffodils: Tulips, O early flame, let us go roaming, Searching for Lilies — ah, where in the gloaming? Sweet William's faring forth, motley dress — silly! Poppies seem nothing worth — he'll pick a Lily. Said the Tulips: O ho! complaining so, Daffydowndillies? Lilies will have their Wills, Williams their Lilies! She with thy fairness — should youth want mint juleps? He that has fire i' the blood, had it of Tulips! igag 36 Love and Life THE BUTTERFLY MAIDEN If a butterfly should flutter by My lady walking on the street, And see her wings — what pretty things She lightly trips along with, sweet, — I well know why that butterfly Would surely think an angel she From other world, and with wings furled Would softly sigh, "What chance for me!" If a certain tony father's 'phone Should ring, and sweetly that same maid Should say to him, "I have a whim, My dear papa, — so please have paid One sepia tone, one sapphire stone, A rope of pearls — is all, you see?" Her loving sire would curb his ire, But sadly say, "What chance for me!" If I therefore, who love her more Than elf e'er loved a fairy, come From out the wold, in times of old, Should find, alas! tomorrow some Poor singer o'er from Singapore, Who had some feature "cute" to see, — I, who am loved, would then be moved To say, "My turn; what chance for me!" 1907 37 igo8 Love and Life IN THE PRIMROSE PATH Mine the god, Hilarity! He shall have a guest in me While his cups remain to drink; He my pleasures will combine As I pledge him oft in wine, And should he at last resign, — I'll pause — and think. No thought yet doth seam the brow, No need yet to question how Heart's wine mingles this I quaff; If in vain I supplicate Wiser gods who, red with fate, Make my god to abdicate, — I've had — my laugh. 38 Love and Life TO THE COLORS To fight with beasts at Ephesus, the Muse, Whom I most love, I quitted for a time. Mayhap the Muse cared little, tho' my prime Of effort were so stayed by the abuse, Or what the deed from dreaming might so lose, Seen in th' exchange to hustings-prose for rime. To art it seemed as if it were a crime. Yet Milton did not hesitate to choose. Not jealous is the Muse when Liberty, That warring princess, shall for courage call. Her will is first : who will for her not all Lay down, that some poor captive may be free From such a tyrant, and such agony, As ever came by this King Alcohol? 1915 39 Love and Life FRIENDS AT CHRISTMAS 'Tis a fine old Christmas! And isn't it fine When one has friends like the friends of mine, Who have the will, and who know the way, To add their cheer to the Festal Day? What a rare Good Will at the Yuletide turns, As fire on the altar of friendship burns, To hymn that anthem the angels knew — The song of a Friend, as mine to you. igi8 40 Love and Life THE GARDEN OF LIFE If spring-time woo to beauty The rosebud from the stem; If daffodils to duty Waken when over them The first warm winds come blowing, The secret of whose going Lies hidden, past the showing Of sagely theorem ; — If over wires aerial Come whispers of the mind, If thought on such ethereal Sound-waves their course may find; If to the poet's vision There comes, by Fate's decision, The lure of fields elysian, For which faint souls have pined ; — Why doubt we love's uniting To life within the soul? Or think time has no righting Of wrongs beyond control? Why fancy prayer wants hearing? Or doubt our hopes are nearing Fulfillment, spite of fearing, Whatever be time's toll? 4i Love and Life To me the days most evil Have still a sunset glow; Let discords have their revel, A quiet comes, and lo! Above all surge of sorrow, Beyond what dread may borrow, Between me and my morrow, Are steps where angels go. igi8 42 Love and Life AT THE SEASON'S CONFESSIONAL {When brows have silvered, and with hearts still gold) They walk afield, musing: Nature, greening thy advance, And retreating thy drear way, Weaving threads of earlier hues With the weft of later gray, — What the paths thy Graces use? Or thro' guidance or by chance? He speaks, questioning : When the year's ideal days? Is it when the hawthorn blows Freshly pure from out the sere, Typing life? Or when the rose, To the bluebird's warbling near, Gladdens many a field with praise? Is it when the sky from haze Deepens into fuller blue, 1 Bringing peace? Or when the blood Leaps to see the autumn view? Or in winter's halcyon wood? When the year's ideal days? 43 IQ02 hove and Life She replies, questioning: When comes life's ideal days? Is it when the dreams of youth Crimson with auroral dawn? When the early quest of truth Leads afield? Or on the lawn, When the lover turns his lays? Is it when new grace arrays Cheeks that dim the bridal flowers? Or when to maternal joys Gentle songs attend the hours? Or when age full treasure cloys? When come life's ideal days? Answering, he declares: God of field and forest, Thou Of the homes and hearts of men, Answer in the rose, the brier, In the brow, the breast, and then In life's true Promethean fire, — "Love knows but one answer, Now!' 44 Love and Life WITH AMARANTH Do they that love, love on, and ever, Unstayed by time, or change, or chance; So true in life, death may not sever The bonds that time could but enhance? What hope it brings anew That this my love for you Shall treasure all of thine since thy first glance. Let life on earth be still remembered (When some new planet we shall learn To have the joy of), — where Decembered With winter, here this hearth can burn With such a rare delight It gives a love and light To time, — then for that other time we yearn. If mind survive beyond the mortal, If what we gain in virtue live; If spirits enter thro* the portal When dust to dust again we give: Then that which was our best, And fashioned well the rest, Shall not at last from them be fugitive. 1918 45 Love and Life A READING OF THE LIFE INDEED 'These are written, that ye may believe" — John Reading? Yes, and thro' the pages Etching Face that learning's ages Find no like of. For the gloss of This account conceals no loss of Rare design and richer tracings. Doubt was here, and Doubt's defacings Mar the page. Yet some veneering, Penciled thro', as Doubt were nearing Acid-touch he thought were spoiler, Helps. For see, had Love been toiler, Only Love, he, awed by nearness, Would have failed of perfect clearness. Now the glass of time is bitten With iridian glory. Smitten, Doubt recoils, — takes pallor duly: Faith, tho' darkly, yet sees truly. Face of Friend, whose fortune's favor Brings marred page of truth to savor Of a wholeness, soundness, boldness That so scathes a heart of coldness. Scathes? Yea, warmth of this affection Leaves not scathless thought's direction That leads, thoughtless, to the losing Of a light that grows with using. 46 Love and Life I have looked, yea, I have lingered O'er that Face; see, I have fingered Page of miracle and healing; Where the woes flash, where His feeling Ran, blood-oozing, to the wearied ; Where He answered, where He queried Doubt's desire and Faith's unreason ; Page where patience, out of season, Blighted fig-leafed Pharisee, Stilled wave-snarling Galilee; Page where every thought is human, — Strength of man or love of woman Alternating deed and speech ; Page where so beyond their reach Word or doing had such rising To our need, their thin disguising Of the fleshly failed, nay, veiled Him God in Christ — as they who nailed Him To the cross found. Here is written All of life ; and here is smitten Sleep of death with waking glory Of the life indeed. The story Stays — ah yes, but to our waiting Love with life has truer mating. Ever seen Him? Nay. Or known Him\ Nay, not truly. Yet I own Him Brother of my blood, and even Thro' His blood my Priest in heaven. Here, not there, I look to find me All of life that could remind me 47 Love and Life How the pilgrim, a sojourner, May of life be more the learner Than who seeks for self, forgetting Self-love is the soul's outletting. Here is One who giving fully Thought and love may teach us truly How the flesh and how the spirit May all gains lead on to merit. His the reddest blood I know, His the whiter life than snow; His the deepest agony, Turned to largest victory; His the melting with warm tears Hearts that sin had chilled with fears; His the breath of spring-time, planting, And of harvest, — to us granting In brief years the view, in measure, Of what life is, what its treasure. To the kingly from the clod He is Man; and He is God From the width of heaven's span To the limits of a man. Who is wise to know the scission Has no human gift of vision ; Who can idly shift the proving Has not felt the lure of loving. Such as If Once He was doing Things I long have been pursuing. 48 Love and Life Only such as I? The test is, His the true light where my best is Light's refraction. When most lowly, We but rise to whisper, "Holy!" "Chief among ten thousand!" Preacher, Poet, prophet, sage, or teacher: — Was there ever one that living Measured life as He by giving? Or that dying gave full measure Unto death, of richer treasure? In His birth the angels hailed Him, In His death the Father veiled Him From His face. The cup He tasted For each man ; and then He wasted Death with resurrection splendor, — Glory bathed in such a tender "Mary," that she left her weeping, Ever hence to have in keeping Glimpse of that new artistry That to death's vale hung morning sky. "Peter — tell him"; "Thomas, prove Me"; "Cleopas, search" ; and, "Children, love Me" ; Forty days of such inlacing Of the east with golden tracing On the clouds, that all had feeling Here was dawn that came with healing In his wings. Clouds then receiving Him their Daystar brought, not grieving, 49 Love and Life But new vision of the golden Streeted city, yet withholden Till they, in their night's bereavement, Should attain, by faith's achievement. Purple-shadowed Olivet Can but tell His people yet, Charm of His philosophy Outleaps earth into the sky. "These are written — " Thanks, O Christ, Thanks to each evangelist ! Here in love and truth are meeting Such four lips, and in such greeting, That not even Thy archangel Could have voiced a like evangel. One has had Thy two-fold vision ; One is yet our heart's physician; One on Peter straightway followed ; One old custom wormed and hollowed. Theirs are words of Thee completed ; Theirs are deeds, with Thee repeated. jgn 50 Love and Life AN IRRATIONALITY If God be made of human thought, And they that made Him (crass and crude), Knew what themselves, all mortal wrought, — How One immortal and all good Grew from such mind, or will, or heart: Who planted there that gentle art? Yet there be those who say that He Had fashion thus, and say that sin So burdened life that, sinners, we Created One to make us clean. The creature that so formed his God Might, in good form, have quenched the clod. If Reason, joined with Conscience, gave Such Spirit to mere matter's source; Shall Reason and hurt Conscience crave To still that Life, in their divorce? Would not such Deity reprove That union's lapse from holy love? igio 5i Love and Life TWO RABBIS Two rabbis, — so the legend says, — Upon Mount Zion stood, when lo! A fox ran by. "Alas, the days Of glory we can never know!" So spake the one, untutored still To find the hidden paths that show The secret of His will. The other smiled, and, "Pray, why weep, My brother, at so cheering sight?" "I weep to know His judgments keep Such vigil, in our Zion's night: For so the prophet* has foretold This very shame. Have you delight In spoil of Israel's fold?" "I laugh to see His promise true. For if in judgment, as we see, With such exacting sorrow too, Then so it shall in mercies be. For Israel's greater glory lies Beyond the seeming mystery That darkens now our eyes." 1918 *Lam. V, 18. 52 Love and Life CHRISTMAS EVE Were the sainted choirs that be Bright in spotless purity, — They of virgin innocence, Charactered by proven sense, — Now to quire earth's sable night With their harps, in glories dight, As Judaean shepherds' ears, Heard what faintly earth now hears: Would not our harsh notes refine To a whisper, "Praise be Thine"? If the temple's glory shone With a light not hither known, As a Babe thro' hallowed aisles Cleansed what even babe defiles; While a wondering people saw One investing him with law, As to life his truth and way; Would not Faith exulting say, "Thanks, that I thy coming see"; Love confirming, "This is He"? Should the Magi from the east, Hoar from learning's winter feast, 53 Love and Life Come confessing now as then, "Wisdom makes not guiltless men" ; Saying while they Him adore, "Hearts want love as minds want lore; Lore is mighty east or west, Love, tho' lowly found, is best": Would not our philosophies Bare their burdens to the skies? And if now the Magi's star Troubled Herod, bared the scar Of his frailty, shamed our trust In a scepter that should rust; Till his vice, in malice spent, Harvested its discontent, — Raman's mourning Rachels bowed, To see each cradle turn a shroud: Would not God of us receive Thanks that joy crowns Christmas Eve? Or if Nazareth, forspent, Formed our ill environment; And within its meager life Boyhood grew to manly strife, Manhood rending custom, creeds, — Balming hearts while folly bleeds, — Till attaining to His throne, His a world who was alone: Would not we His virtue prove Was of God by our pure love? 54 igog, Love and Life II Christmas Eve ! And lo, our night Mingles with the Easter light. Angel voices yet acclaim, Suppliants hail the Infant Name; Culture still the Magi guides, Love a Herod still derides; Till what they bestowed on death Is made spirit by His breath, Till what they tradition gave Creeps into its charnel-cave. Bethlehem and Olivet! Cornerstone to minaret Lies the temple Love sufficed Richly to upbuild in Christ. For living stones, now built within, A scarlet thread atones for sin. All His manhood is at strife With thy languor. In thy life Why sits Doubt, a pensive wraith, Where should be His throne of Faith? 55 Love and Life THE CHRISTMAS CHOIR The Christmas Choir, were we of them, Would not have sung near Bethlehem To shepherds lowly, while they grazed Their flocks near by; till all amazed The keepers, seated on the ground, With wonder heard the festive sound Of sweetly quiring Cherubim, And joined in praises unto Him. The Christmas Choir, were we of them, Had sung in proud Jerusalem Some vesper choral, while agog The pride of all the Synagogue Stood waiting, till with adulation They might have made the celebration Attract Great Herod from his throne To name the Choir his very own. Not of the "Glory in the Highest," But for the glory that was nighest; Not of "good will to contrite men In whom He is well pleased" ; but then Of Herod's pleasure to invite The Three Wise Men to come that night, With gold and myrrh and frankincense, To make the Choir full recompense. 1919 56 Love and Life "RED OF THE DAWN" The beauty of the kindled east, When first the red of morning burns With incense of beatitude, — The while for us her votive priest Renews the hope that in us yearns, — Compels the thought, until it turns To worship of the Source of good. But brighter than this glory is The dawn of rapture in the soul ; When light and gladness flame anew With rays that tokens are of His New day, wherein the sweet control Of being centers in the whole And only counsel that is true. Brighter with red of dawn shall be The radiant coming of the King, Lurid with judgment from His throne; Brightest with peace to those who see The realms of beauty He will bring, Which over seas and land will cling, To grace the kingdom of His own. 1918 57 Love and Life THE SETTING OF THE PLAY Had I my will of time and place For love and love's delights, I show Hew well the choice. — But first thy face, O dearest one, it were, you know: For were that wanting, place and time Were landscape only, fair but lone; Or lyric verse from which the rhyme Is taken, read and briefly known. But with thy face, O near and true, Let summer evenings laugh to me In woodland pastures where the view, By babbling brook and caroling tree, Dissolving is of knoll and dell, Of glen and lea, of bosk and green; And with each view a tale to tell Of joy that is and oft has been. There golden suns that warm the west With colors, thro' the cooling air Will well their glories in the best Of scenes infuse, — a charm so rare 58 Love and Life That one regret can come to heart: 'Tis that the time, which from the place So quick withdrawing, may its part Of such converging joys efface; Else from the place and time there will A face be taken. — Dearest, this The bittersweet of fancy. — Still, That chance now stays, this better is. IQI2 59 Love and Life DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE The devil knows I, half the time, With open hand his bidding do; That with a bent and skill for crime I play the serpent in the slime, Whose venom in me virtue slew. And Goodness knows that never half, Nor any, judged by stricter rule, Have I walked sanely with the staff Of honor, but have made to laugh The demons that made me their fool. And I, I can but know full well, Tho' vice as virtue may appear, Yet not as virtue will vice tell When I am plunged in lowest hell, To start again a life sincere. For all deceit deceives him most Who at the highway's turn the way That seemeth right pursues, till lost In labyrinth where soon the cost Of error stands to those who stray. And I who know the form of life That stands approved, and is one's best, Know not its peace. To me its strife Lays hold on torment, and is rife With fears for much beyond arrest. 60 Love and Life I am self-damn'd as Mr. Hyde, Whoever thinks me Dr. Jekyll. To me their blindness brings no pride, To me the very fiends deride My horror that can spell but tekel. 1915 61 Love and Life MIRTH Mirth, why hast thou gone from me? Rarely one shall love thee more: And tho' rarely thou of yore Camest, none with greater glee Called thee welcome. O the days When youth's comrades drew with thee Near to urge thee in thy ways: Leisure, labor, both alike Ready when the time should strike, Just to show how well it pays To attend thee. They have gone, Thou not with them. And where then ? Much the homes and hearts of men I am called to. Seldom on Are thy laughters. Pain has birth, Sin and sadness, these anon, — But not thou, O rarest Mirth! Work and wisdom, I am told, Are to thee as gates of gold, — Thou'lt not enter. If the earth Could be reinhabited, — Purged of every fay and sprite, Elf and goblin, in a night, Good alike the evil dead, — But thee multiplied and grown All that poets of thee said, 62 Love and Life All that youth has of thee known, All that love for thee has dared, All that life for thee has cared, — How the earth with light were sown ! 1913 63 Love and Life OUR WORKADAY WORLD Wealth I wish, and I love ease, Fame I would be striving after, Health I joy in, sky and seas Have delight of, and of laughter. But my chief of human pleasure Is just work, in wisdom's measure. "Adam's curse"? When God to him Gave of fruit and flower the culture? Devil take the ease his whim To man's virtue set as vulture ! If our work be melancholy, We have shared in Adam's folly. "Hitherto" — attend the word, — "Hath my Father worked. Till even 'Tis my meat. And I have stirred Zeal on earth: for in His heaven They that praise before His throne Work-songs first on earth have sown." IQII 64 Love and Life THEODORE ROOSEVELT On His Retiring from the Presidency Blest people they — God is their stay — Who when ill hours forebode of grief, With Fortune may strike hands, And find that one commands Who of blood-ro3 r al worth is honor's Chief. When the accurst Of men, that worst Of treason's crimes in crimson spelt ; Bowed by McKinley's death, Men said with bated breath, "The noon of glory welcomes Roosevelt." Their words were just: 'Tis glory must The prelude form of fitting praise. On that white noon true fame Abode. And yet, who came Set juster age on those Saturnian days. Where Truth has warred Some peace is marred, That from His throne chance may not cease. The scepter should depart Not till this nation's heart, Lust-leprosied for gold, were cleansed for peace. 65 Love and Life So to the fray, In restless way, Rare strength he in twelve labors spent; Just cause, amazing zeal, Success in each appeal, Made him, in glory's right, war President. While most acclaimed, Some loudly blamed, Oppugned their shrift, and thought to feed On Mammon's treasuries Him of the centuries, Whose message rifles every vault of greed. The powers that prey To Greed, would sway One whose just zeal was last as first ; Fought from the open field, Their caverned haunts revealed The beasts of Ephesus. Who loosed, fared worst. Just friend to wealth, And equal health To whom the wrongs of wealth were felt; Hope to well-meaning men, To others fear. Worth then, Where kith makes kingly, crowned our Roosevelt. Each class, all creeds, Each race, his deeds Found, or shall find, live virtue spent; 66 Love and Life In time the owl-eyed seers May learn, from vanished fears, A wholesome, manly, moral strength he lent. The party whip, Preferment's tip, That small men think the crack of doom ; For this he little cared, And knew, while that he warred For righteousness, that Fame bequeaths to whom The people love. He knew to prove The title his, and chose by valiant strife — By fearless act, and word That widely ruled or stirred The age — to rest authority in life. And as he ruled Who first was schooled To know what makes plenipotent The scepter: so, above Men's blame, the larger love He strove for, gained, shall keep, forms his content. Thanks he lays down The sovran crown, — Not such as cravens wished and feared For Caesar's worthy brow; But tsar-in-waiting now To our co-regent state like men upreared. 67 Love and Life Why at the last Alone? Our past Of valor bares to virtue's crown ; His yesterday hath won "Servant of God, well done!" — Tomorrow let new wreaths of just renown Attain his brow. If to such Now He brings new gain, adds Pisgah's peak To Sinai — vision clear To righteousness, brings near The fields of promise — Hail! Who sees, bids seek. And best, that noon Lights him — not soon To fall. Years urge his voice and pen. Hail, Chief! not less that hence, Should not reaction thence Recall, thou shalt adorn plain citizen. With us abide, Thy counsels guide Our wish thro' regal coming years; Live, or in peace or strife, Our royal common life, — First named, first heard, first loved of all thy peers! 1908 68 Love and Life THE TITANIC Went down April 15, 1912 Titanic seemed the skill of man, As thro' the seas the vessel ran. Wealth, fame, and love that night were stirred To praise what Craft called man's last word. The deep was gentle — not once dared To boast a triumph often shared. The sky as gently looked upon The proud Sea-Titan pulsing on. The air too said, "My unseen wires Now wait man's touch that never tires." Air, sky, and sea alike agreed With man to say, "Hail, God of Speed!" One voice was wanting from that choir: For Fate then nursed a heart of fire, And let her icy fingers feel Their touch of death along the keel. To her mate, Frost, "Aha! a plot Have we, and man — he dreams it not ! 69 Love and Life Let thought-transference lease the air, Yet few tonight my wrath shall spare. Tho' on midnight this Titan loom, I have set here Titanic doom: That man may know his feeble breath Can voice no triumph over death." IQI2 70 Love and Life "CINCINNATI, MY HAPPY HOME" Apropos of a Slogan Smoke and grime from our factories, Fog and mist from river and skies, Crowned with a wreath of circling hills, With an atmosphere of vats and stills, Fed from farms of a shifting loam, Is Cincinnati, My Happy Home. The years draw near to the century Since one grandsire on his horse rode by; What time, in the near Miami wood, The cabin home of the other stood. Both from the east had hither come; And both passed on to a western home. Thro' Hoosier woods they blazed a trail, And then they heard the cry, "A Sail!" In schooners, ere war our land had rent, These prairie pilgrims to Kansas went ; And there, by Osawatomie Brown, Their Pottawatomie farms sowed down. Now, after the lapse and chance of time, 'Tis Zinzinnati, Mein Glucklich Heim! And I feel, so far from my native strand, As if spewed up in "der Vaterland" ; And my Pilgrim blood of the pioneer Gets superheated in dwelling here. 71 Love and Life In Nineveh once young Jonah dwelt, And Nineveh's sins the prophet felt, And felt he still had rather roam Than have such place for his happy home! God said, " 'Tis better than your gourd vine!" So, Gott helff mir, I will not whine. igi2 72 Love and Life TO JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY Among rare men who bless their kind, What finer gift has God for earth Than poets, who help us to find, Beneath our apathy of mind, The richer veins of human worth ? Seldom the age that has not known Such rhythmic cause for thankfulness. Whatever else has rankly grown, Some poet yet the light has sown That will that age to others bless. So rich in all material things Were we, yet cumbered with the care Of riches that still take them wings; That, had we not who sweetly sings In rarest poetry, our share In truer wealth had failed us. You, O poet of the homely store Of love, of pathos, and the true Insight to what seems always new And richer when you tell it o'er, Breathe not the oracle that dies, While bards of old Olympus nod ; But you have cleansed our dimming eyes, And tuned our frettings to the cries Of wholesome laughter, thanks to God. 73 Love and Life And I, on this Thanksgiving Day, Who all the bards of minstrelsy Love to the limit of our clay, Love you, and loving, care to say How much your voice has been to me. With poets of the far and near, Whose melodies across the strings Sweep so enchantingly, I hear Thy voice that comes with vibrant cheer As oft I welcome while it sings. What finer gift than poets? None; And tho' the years may bear afar, Their music like the summer sun Shall thro' each golden harvest run, Until we too attain their star. Too near that day when, "He is gone!" Shall sound upon our cheerful feast; But we shall know, when night has drawn Her curtains here, another dawn Hath set her pillars in the east. 191 5 74 Love and Life DEATH Shall we so cheerily sing of life, So lightly too shall we sing of love? — How love is of life the soul's mere breath, As nerve to muscle, as brawn for strife? — And yet in a time when its worth we prove, Shall we so mournfully sing of death? Death is a flimsily curtained sleep : — A friend lies there, and we stand in tears To think we must leave the curtains drawn, And him so chambered in mystery deep. — Yet stay! I have seen to that form how nears, Ashen of feature, a flush of dawn. He will be waking, well I know, And rise he will to a sweeter toil, And gather his fruits and wait his guest, As I some day to my chamber go, And curtain from others my lines of moil, — Body soothed gently to needed rest. igio 75 Love and Life THE AUTUMN ROAD Fields green with wheat, fields brown with corn, Here autumn furze, mown meadows old, Here apples ripe for Plenty's horn, And woodlands crowned with leafy gold ; By crabbed croft, where purple grapes Hang waiting on their harvest moon, In vales which sombre autumn drapes With charm well worth some western rune; Thro' farm the dull-hued season sates With fruits and grain and festive food, And where, to mock its dullness, mates With splendor doffed in motley mood. So from Ohio's citied queen, Thro' Hoosier fields of vale and wood, By Egypt's kine, more fat than lean, Across our inland river's flood, To one more Babel of the plain ; Then thro' Missouri, mighty state, Of fertile farms, until I gain Her other city's golden gate, Thro' which what multitudes are poured To fields of fortune, north, south, west, — Yet find they, while they gain and hoard, No ne plus ultra for their rest. 7 6 Love and Life To me my promised land is gained, My native air seems passing sweet ; Here stars a former influence rained, — Old voices, faces, now I greet. October's wane it is, whose night Boys strew with pranks of Hallowe'en; Our car thro' midnight speeds her light, To close the panoramic scene. Yet, O sweet Sorrow ! all my care Is at the end, not on the road : — A dying mother's holy prayer, As, with All Saints, she meets with God. igio 77 Love and Life OF POESY Genius of poet is breath of the wind Taken as spirit in union with mind ; Gleam of the dewdrop, scent of the rose, Wrath of the storm, and a rhythmic repose; Pallor of churchyard, flush of the dance, Key to the Sovereign will, echo of chance; Tale of the wayside, march on the road, Contest of dragon, and wrestlings with God. Realm of the poet is the fire-mist of dawn, The refuse of matter where science has gone; Swamp of the firefly, the light-gaoled arc, The last solar embers that grew of a spark ; The far dusk of Eden, sin, death, and disease, The gleam of a promise o'er glass-molten seas; Age of the wood, of the flint, and of gold, Age outleaping promise your prophet foretold. Glory of poet is the glory of life Writ crimson and warm thro' eras of strife; Glory that wasted, not hoarded, its loves, Glory of dream that late waking approves; Fame's meager reward, or Wisdom's, or less, His alchemy testing your gold's nothingness; Content with a page whereon he may write, Your clean page at morning, your marred page at night. igio 78 Love and Life THE QUESTION J-vvTeTapcLKTai 8'aidrip ttovtco. — Aeschylus. From cold Olympus thunders Zeus, Caucasian crag reflects his will, Where sin is with his lightnings lit ; The vanquished, breathing vengeance still, Foretells the god his slave will loose. "The sky is mingled with the deep"; Who knows the awe-compelling voice That can to us interpret it, And bring to law fair reason's choice, And faith that may with reason keep? 1899 79 Love and Life AN UNDERSONG OF PROGRESS The snail is swift in his flight, The sloth takes wings of the wind : They haste, as a bird to the mountain's height; But man, — he lags behind ; With his mouth he bites the dust, With his wings he beats the sod, And asks, in his wayward-wandering trust, "Not yet the hills of God?" The owl takes pride i' the sun, The bat in the blue o' the sky: They sing in delight as the hour-sands run ; But man — his cavern is why — Laments that the night is long, Or thinks, Would the sun but awake ! And moans, in despair at his fancied wrong, "The dawn, when will it break?" The frost tints the rose-bud's cheek, The wind o' winter the leaf : They freshen with strength the plants left bleak; But man — alack his grief! — Thinks hard the winter his own, That life no spring can renew, And cries to the world, his heart as the stone, "When will man's love be true?" 1900 80 Love and Life FRIAR LAURENCE To E. C. B. "Some shall be pardoned and some punished" Yon sunset sky has now an afterglow. Look where the light is on the circling hills, While wreathes of laurel bind their ample brows. Cloud answers unto hill with maiden grace As hill exultingly entreats the cloud, Both held in harmony. So I have seen Two lovers who with such enchanting ways Would have infused an equal glory round, To bless a day cooled as by quickening showers, Had not the elements enforced a storm Which bore the tempest on into the night. This gentler storm is past. — Those rays of light Seem now to rise as from Verona's streets. It is not so; they are of fairer gold, Reflecting love that is not quenched in storm. — Nature is now at prayer. Day's eye is closed ; See where from lids yon heaven's glory shines. The lashes tell repose, a breathing comes, The quiet after vespers of the child Sweetly enrobed for sleep. Here will we stay While now the robes of night fall cool upon us, And list the gentle murmuring of trees, And share their plenteous, warmly dropping tears. ***** 81 Love and Life Whereof I speak? — Yours but a brief and bare Outline of fact: would know my meanings? — Ah, My being did with native fervors thrill, I was responsive to this mind of God, Did speak of noon and sunset at a breath; I saw the light and shade together come, The heat still pressing hard the restful eve; To me it seemed there came with waft of breeze The saddened memory of other days. I felt the smile and heartache of the wood. — In such a soul-enfolding mood and hour As this which we, good Friar Jerome, enjoy, I will impart to you a page of that Which nigh to fills the volume of my heart. Three years now softly, sadly thrid the loom Which weaves the fabric for my elder dream, Since from Verona's gates I came to dwell Within the cloister of this woodland garth. The all-year Lent of meditative days, Which here are mine, cannot indeed be hard To one whose life has ever been alone, — Save when as priest men sought of me those words That strangely help the soul in stress of doubt, Or when the children came because they loved — Perchance the strangeness of the monastery. Tho' from their joyous footsteps there has gone All music, save faint strains in memory, Like those which swayed these leaves at yesternoon, Philosophy has still her gentle way To be the blue-veined armor of the soul. This is my comfort 'gainst that torch-lit night Whose glamour else would still impeach my face 82 Love and Life As then it did, when I had almost laid With spade and mattock e'en my honor down. — That was the nightfall : turn back to its day. Alas, that day ! It is oppressive yet To think on hours essentially so sad. The heart is desperate, with moods of flame When passion's embers find the winds of hate. The desert Arab knows no fierce simoon Worse than the withering breath of household feud That brings dread summons to the green and bloom Of tender loves. Yet this the brazen sky, The deepening haze, the hot and stifling wind Of wrath, which rose consuming love's first dawn. Beneath this siege of sorrow's forced breath Of desperation, love sought out some way By sylvan footpaths unto quiet bowers, Such as from Eden Love in memory holds. Yet little dreamt that love, or deemed the hope Which thereunto allied wrung from this heart Its wine of consolation, to be quaffed By mouths unhallowed from the parched earth, That for these plighted palmers thus to look For peace, meant first deliverance. — So came The anxious summons forth life's westward gates To find — ah, who shall say what shadowy vales, Or sun-kissed lawns of quietude, there are For that sad host whom Death has tempted on To seek an only rest? To this poor mind, Love has a mystery no art can solve. 'Tis then as life — perhaps for it is life. Since death for these, the more my mystery. 83 Love and Life If life thro' death, then let me have it so ; For so I sought the shadow and that failed, I still would cling to some reality. This Romeo had, most true, a certain loss! His wisdom failed him — only love did not. His barque dared deeps no helmsman should have tried, Those of wild passion, rough more than the seas; There found his joy as petrels do in storm, — And when must lose, what seeming fortitude! She who for him in constancy did hold A Hero's torch across our Hellespont, Would not let him alone go down to death ; But having served chaste Venus with full heart, Made offering then before her special shrine. Such strength of purpose was there in her love, That when to keep her honor from the dust It must be hers whose holy vows were young — Foot but an hour upon the household flint — To free the spirit from its feudal tomb, She bravely dared the deed. Alas! that then, Too promptly biding tryst at gates of day, For Romeo's reckless speed, she missed him there, And hastened if to find him in the dark. — It was a soul too precious for such loss. The sands were golden that slipped thro' the palms Of our good Friar John. Yet, they are spent; And golden statues, formed perhaps when cooled, But made of metal wrought in that fierce heat Which reddens yet the Guelph and Ghibelline, Instruct Verona's youth. — Their light we saw, Or seemed to see, reflected on the cloud, 84 Love and Life Before that sunset lightened other hills, Or ere this woodland sobbed itself to sleep. 3|& ?|F V ¥ No, no! Pity me not my banishment. For once did I to Romeo reckon this As dear lent mercy, when unto his thought No guardian angel came, nor dawning broke, Nor silvery voices cheered a silent night, Outside Verona. — Broad the world and blest To whom all life fails not with one spent hope. It is not exile wooing nature's heart, Hearing her whisper peace unto my age That soon will as the twilight quit its cloud. If there be sadness in a broken spirit, If tears that fall on every tuft of green Within my memory, or if consumed, 'Twould seem with burnings quenchless, — it is well. It is a penance that my heart can prize. And but reminds me that as they late went Thro' fire and flood of passion — that wild sea Of crystal glory melting into flames Which make the sea to be no more, but one New world of righteousness — so may we from World-strife to love's repristinated light Pass thro' like elements to happier fields. — But come, we must not venture to the night. The air grows chill: to me there seems a weight Which easing burdens from the heart lifts not. My prayer be tapers to illume thy cell, As thine do me attend — I go within. — May rest be thine ! Farewell. — Soon rest to me. igoi 85 Love and Life THE EMERSON CENTENARY Lines written May 25th, IQOJ A hundred years the age thy spirit attains: Thy still advancing eye, and we salute thee! The times of thy bequest can find no stains On thy Fame-written scroll. Their eyes were blind, Ears deaf, once living ; nor could hate pollute thee With unbelieving rust. Thy sceptered steel, So quick of edge, cutting was ever kind ; And what thy wisdom knew, late-learning hearts' now feel. 86 Love and Life A FAMILY CHRISTMAS "Ho! what shall Santa bring?" Let's see. My mama says she thinks that he Should bring to her An opera dress of peau de soie, A new style sealskin coat, and gee! — A set of fur. Said papa, "Sister, what for you?" And she said, "I make my debut Next month, you know; And all my gowns must then be new, So these I'd like, some jewels, too, From Santa's dough." And, well for me, — I want a set Of circus actors, thirty net, — I know they're high ; A fine Scotch collie for a pet, A real live biplane, and you bet, Here's where I'll fly. Then papa looked up rather sad, And said, "Well, Christmas is for dad A pious curse; The thing has somehow got in bad: I'll have, what I have always had, — An empty purse!" igio 87 Love and Life THE CANDY TOOTH My papa says, "My gracious! but That boy has got a candy tooth !" And grandpa says, "Each one that's cut Gets sweeter." Grandma says, "Forsooth!" Then mama asked, "What can we do?" And Jack he fired out, like a bullet, "It must be pulled !" Said grandpa, "Pooh, Just hear him crow! Is that a pullet?" Said grandma, "Were they false like mine, 'Twould cure him ; but his second set May help." Said papa, "Ten to nine, They're sweeter!" And I said, "You bet!" Then sister brought a string. I guess I jumped like cracklings in her skillet. "Have you a cure?" asked papa. "Yes; / think the best one is to fill it !" IQI2 Love and Life SONG-SPARROW The song-sparrow sings his young to their birth, Then loses his carol in mouths he must feed, And winging swift provident flights on the earth, Approving love's worth, A busied life, fruitless of song, does he lead. Is it worry of wings, Is it sadness of tongue; Is it planting his song in the throats of his young, That he saddens, nor sings? 1899 89 Love and Life SPEAKING OF THE BLUES The sky is blue, And the sea is blue, And blue thy beauteous eye; But the sky's soft blue, And the deep sea's blue, When the light is mild and the winds are still, Cannot, howe'er they may try, Match the sweet serene and the mystic thrill, The enchanting power o'er a man's weak will, Of thy hope-lit, love-deep eye. 1899 90 Love and Life A BEGONIA BLOSSOM A child having called the ear-like petals of the Begonia Rubra "the ears." Child of the innocent light That glimmers from thrones of the Kingdom, Bearing sweet mysteries down from the height, Till visitant spirits on wing come Their realms to impart: — Earth's other best symbol of light and of power let Speak to you in the begonia's red floweret, For it listens to you with the heart. igoi 9i Love and Life LES DIVORCONS "True, for the hardness of your .hearts," said He, "Moses did give you to divorce the wife; And yet the Primal Will was never so: For it was said, 'Ye are one flesh.' Ye see My law then is, Make not two deaths of life." "True, hard — so hard no old love charms — e'en so; Yet soft, my Lord, when Cupid bends the bow !" igo8 92 igo8 Love and Life NOW WOULDN'T IT? If near his neighbor's billy goat, A man should bow To pluck a posy for his coat, Just thinking how His sweetheart would like beauty lend- A double bliss: The goat would quickly put an end To him and his. 93 Love and Life AFTER-DINNER IMPROMPTU To speak at a banquet when brains are befuddled, To doubt of your subject, and know it is muddled ; To feel that while brief you are longer by half Than is relished by those who may give you a laugh, Is torment enough. But, oh ! greater disaster It is to be missed by the genial toastmaster. 1915 94 Love and Life A SOUL'S RETREAT And ah, what days love blossomed here! My life grew as the spring; A promise of the rainbow's birth Was circled in this ring, Which brightened in its fuller orb, And freshened as the day, While smiles of many a May-time sun Still called the clouds away. Then fell, alas, the winter's rage As from the sky's deep blue! The gray sad season of distress Bore down with love untrue. And now a frost makes drear the world, Its blueness steels the cheek; Awearied with the city streets, Ah, whither roam? I seek A quiet woodland, once my home, With song and peaceful rest, — Before to him I thought to yield To plant with thorns my breast, — Where I may miss the cruel winds Beneath — how chaste the snow ! — What else? O Tamar, whither can I cause my shame to gof * 1902 * II Sam. 13, 13. 95 Love and Life THE MAGAZINE Let the Arab be thanked for the Magazine! A word of his Arabic fathers the cult Of the classic crew who with catapult Hurl out over city and croft a rain The like of which ne'er the East had seen From Baba's tongue or Plato's brain. As a fire from heaven, not quite divine! Tho' here and there is a Sodom doomed, And out of its death is an Abram groomed To plead with God as the people's friend. And once in an age may the Muse combine With the critic crew a boon to send. French deed with the Arab's word conspired To give to the thing new meaning. Lo, The wit at last of a Renaudot Provides a store for stories — a mart Of history, fiction, or verse, attired In all the grace of a Daudet's art. But the modern world is of commerce primed, And wit draws wine from that cellarage; And the Magazine must the spigot gauge By the guzzler's taste. True art were sloth, And what is best to the pocket is timed: — For great is the relish for Spartan broth! igio 96 Love and Life HEROISM The manner with the snarling seas, The admiral of the fretful foam, Who gives no heed to enharboring lees, But craves a prayer of who fears at home, And plows straight on thro' the dateless deepfe, — Where wraith by path of each soul that sleeps 'Neath surge warns, "Care, lest thou hither turn," — Is hero of daring, as a world may learn. The soldier of frenzied battle-array, The captain of the foeman's field, Who parries e'en Fate's stern yea and nay, Who grapples with Death and will not yield To him one guess of a shuddering fear, But says him, "Nay, and our peace is near That bathes thy brow with a living gleam," — Is hero of glory and history's theme. The statesman whose grasp is of heart to see, Reformer and friend of the gnarled mass; Whose lips the festival-summers to be Proclaim ; who lets the hissings pass Of ganza-men whose cry is, "The moon Our summit is" ; who late and soon Unto fainting Truth lets his red blood, — Is hero of virtue to men and God. 97 Love and Life The poet whose field of delight is soul, Prophet of faith to a world's gloomed heart ; Whose Hampden-will can pay no toll To overlords of the golden mart; But to his lute's each string and fret Leads on his age to an Olivet, Whence after the spirit we learn of Christ, — Is hero of the light's evangelist. The mother with brow thorn -crowned with care, Priestess and precept in holier shrine Than angels guard, since she with prayer Both flesh and spirit may serve to refine ; She that with love draws flame from the clod, She that is love as the mother of God ; With spending and forming a love in him, — Is hero's heroine till the last stars dim. 1908 98 Love and Life TO MADELINE What but thine can be the splendor That in lily's wave is seen? Or of windflower graced on slender Stem, acclaiming thee as queen ? — O wan flowers, well may ye lend her Wealth ye from the sunlight glean. Theirs the raiment, not the thrilling Vital fury thou thy dress Giv'st — yet breath of passion chilling With soul's touch of winsomeness: Thine the subtle charm makes willing Flesh should soul for aye possess. Yea, and thine the rarer glory Witching colors give the gem. Ruby, opal's blue, the frory Diamond, sapphire, — some seek them! They thy jewels, I love's story Treasure for hope's diadem. Why? For thine is most that dearer Worth that sweetens in thy heart; Mystery all, yet telling clearer Me, than all things else impart, — Maiden Madeline, O how nearer Life is than the toys of art! 1908 99 igog Love and Life AN EPITHALAMIUM A modest eye, a manly brow, Of maid, of youth, are virtue's seal : He from the schools or from the plow, She rose or lily, are — ideal. He bears the grace of worth, and is The earnest of our manhood's goal ; The buffs of fortune are to his Attack, a play to strengthen soul. She with the worth of grace is rich, Her dowry brings for his release; Attained, atoned, attuned, they pitch The lives they live, or give, to peace. IOO id Life NON OBSTANTE If, in your life, I came so late, It was not I that willed, but Fate; If from your life I go, not I But Fate will choose. And if I die, And Love bear theft at either end, Not Fate can make me less thy friend. 1910 IOI IQI2 Love and Life GOOD NIGHT! Go, gentle one, in duty sleep, Go, lovely one, for beauty sleep; Thy heart knows why I should delight To stay thee here the long good night. But heart and mind agree to spare What on the morrow they may share. The day is done, O joyous day ! The day is done, let it away. The night enfolds the wearied earth; It brings thee sleep, and brought us mirth. And life is strange — to give its best To those who leave and take its rest! Let fairies come from realms of myth And in thy slumbers thee be with. Thy dreams be true, if they be fair: If not, evanish in the air. Whate'er they be, thy day was wise And in thy bosom softly lies, To whisper how tomorrow's rose Or thorn is in tonight's repose. Then, dear, good night! the day is done: Our love has light from sun to sun. 1 02 Love and Life DIXIE NATIONAL Let the anthem rise of a mighty nation, God said, "Cease from tribulation, Look away, look away, for I have chosen Dixie." In Dixie land He gave us dwelling, He shall hear our anthem swelling, "Look away, look away, to Him be praise in Dixie." Then w r e'll sing again of Dixie, Hooray, hooray, In Dixie land, if Truth command, We'll live or die for Dixie. Away, away, All evil days from Dixie! For aye, for aye We'll sing in praise of Dixie. From the Merry Dancers' northern glory, South, to the Cross of sacred story, Look away, look away, our land is one in Dixie. From the east whence came our day's adorning, West, away to the Judgment morning, Look away, look away, our land is one in Dixie. And should Uncle Sam, who minds square dealing, Expand his waist to match his feeling. Look away, look away, the wide world would be Dixie. 103 Love and Life But he, content with our resources, Holds the stars within their courses, Look away, look away, while we have peace in Dixie. And in Dixie land, be it east or west, sir, North or south, why, each is best, sir, Look away, look away, for each to us is Dixie. While Liberty reigns here, should vampires Rise, they'll meet with Freedom's campfires, Look away, look away, no wrong shall dwell in Dixie. 1909 104 IQI2 hove and Life THREE WISE MEN Rode three wise men, and three abreast, Across the world from east to west. They searched thro' city, field, and town, But could not find where Love looked down. For one of these, a scientist, Found not in nature nature's Christ; He said with grief, but not with awe, " 'Tis cruel — 'red in tooth and claw.' " And one, tho' called philosopher, Read human nature, and in her He saw an incense from the clod, But not the fire that spake of God. The least, a theologian, took The others' help, and then the Book; But all he gained, or there could read, Left him a bare and breathless creed. And why should three, and three so wise, Have wisdom's wit and not her eyes? And how could three, who sought so far, Not find great midnight's flaming Star? 105 Love and Life THE HUMOR OF THE BIBLE Who does not enjoy his fun? Point him out and I am done With such creature, less than man, For whom laughter was the plan. All that helps to brighten earth Is a warrant for true mirth. He has cursed the Master's work Who stabs laughter with the dirk Of complaining. And some praise Gets to God, thro' all the days, From the man who, if not holy, Yet the imp of melancholy Will admit not. All his evils Are not worse than those blue devils Some called pious pay respect to, But which saints w r ould quite object to. He that would his laughter choke Makes himself into a joke: His Lear-tragedy of folly Drives the fool to be more jolly. Love, religion, business, life, — Each with care, and each with strife, — Each sans humor is disaster; Each with fun will fatten faster. Take your Bible — tho' so solemn, It has fun in many a column. 1 06 Love and Life Who can read of Jonah — fickle Prophet, — and not have a tickle? Or read Grandpa Isaac's wooing, And not laugh at what was doing? Or that Irish bull of Jacob's, That gave Laban's love such shake-ups? Samson's riddle — what more funny Than his famous jest on honey? How the welkin must have rung When they tasted — and were stung! Or his jackals, made to run Tails ablaze, to vex the Hun ; Or their shame to die, alas, On the jawbone of an ass! How Delilah he deluded ; How his captors he eluded, Till their shame found out the giver In his fair Philistine heifer. What turn the wit of Leah takes When Rachel sees her son's mandrakes ! What vengeful wit cost Hamor all When Jacob's sons "digged down a wall." Staid old Paul was once outre In his humor — so blase Was the cult of circumcision, He was forced to such derision. Read Galatians — but to seek For the by-play, read the Greek. Stern Elijah's wit was rare When Baal failed to answer prayer. Much he mocked their sleeping god, With jibes the prophets much he prod, 107 Love and Life Till Jezebel, when they were slain, Lent thunder to Elijah's rain. Read Isaiah's skit on idols. How the godly must with bridles To their laughter first have heard it, And to comic page referred it. David, with Goliath, poking Fun, and throwing stones, was joking In a way that made fun-rations For a while among the nations. God to some is clothed in wrath; But Scripture saith, "He shall laugh That sitteth in the heavens." Haman, Out of Esther, gives an Amen. John, the son of Zebedee, — Not much fun in him to see; Yet Christ named him, Son of Thunder, Just to show what still lay under Solemn mien and word so solemn Pathos breaks in every column. Once we read that Jesus wept : Did He laugh? Could He have kept Three whole years with Peter, John, Thomas, Judas, — and have gone With the Pharisees and Scribes, And have found no place for jibes? Yea, he wept — and how compelling! But His laughters need no telling. Even near Gethsemane Peter's "I will die with Thee" Brought a smile that hid the tragic That was soon seen in the magic 1 08 iqi8 Love and Life Of the cock-crow. — If you take His example, who so spake None with Him might be compared, You will find how humor shared In what made the Perfect One Fully perfect. "God loves fun," Said a child once, "for if not, Why the monkey?" 'Twere a blot In creation's reign of law, If to laugh were made a flaw. All that's good has laughter in ; There's some fun, too, in our sin ; And a madhouse has its ration Of recurrent cachinnation. Earth holds mirth and melody, Heaven its joy in full degree: He that cares to live without, Man and God shall count him out. Come, and read the epitaph Of the man who would not laugh: "Since on earth he knew not how. He is where he cannot now!" 109 Love and Life IT WAS SAID IN TARSHISH Once there was a Jew called Jonah. God who made the abiyonah * Put in him some of its capers Till he would not serve the papers Nineveh was needing. Seaweed Then God fed him till he, squeegeed, Was well dried of caperberry, And came forth a missionary. Then he went and preached repentance, Put a sermon in a sentence. Woke the town with lightning flashes, Till they quit their fun for ashes. Then what happened, pray, to Jonah? Must have eaten abiyonah, Ate it too till he was bilious, For he ended up rebellious. IQI2 * Caperberry, Eccl. 12, 5. IIO Love and Life GETTING AT THE ROOT OF THE MATTER Jack-in-the-pulpit, whose preaching enthralled, Received on blue Monday a committee, who called To see if their flowery chaplain, sans frock, Would not get out one week and visit his flock. They stated their case. Said Jack, "Brethren, I know My preaching has ginger — far more than your dough Has paid for, — besides, 'tis a difficult field, And unless I keep at it, the trouble's not healed." They argued till Jack gave them many a rap, Till they threatened to visit the fair Bishop's Cap. Jack said, "You may oust me, if ousting will suit, But not till you've tasted my memory-root !" They tried it — they tasted. And, "Say, Jack, your spiel Preached orthodox hell, but — your sample is real !" "Don't like it? — then drop it!" They quit their attack. "True, a crackajack preacher can't of all trades be Jack." Well, the upshot was this: they voted that one Could not do all that their parish wished done; So they got them a sweet Lady's-Slipper to be Their visiting deaconess — so gentle is she! 1910 in Love and Life A PREACHER'S RESPONSE TO HIS WELCOME I have come to be with you, a friend among friends, In the honor that serves, in the fullness that spends; In the strength that in weariness finds a true rest; With the best of intentions to give you my best ; Not here as if speech, as if learning, sufficed, But here to grow large in the greatness of Christ. I have come as one called, one chosen, ordained; Well knowing 'tis nothing, if here not sustained By a touch of His presence whose ministry gives To mine, or to any, a virtue which lives ; And hoping to bring but the best of the past, With a wisdom that firm by the Spirit holds fast. I have come as a shepherd, in pastoral care To lead you, to feed you, where still waters are; To search for the lost or the wandering, seek To comfort the sick and to strengthen the weak; To guide with the crook, or the staff, or the rod, But more by the vision, unfolded, of God. I have come as one wishing to be, as one can, A man among men, and a true gentleman; A citizen, brave with a vision that's clear; A leader, but led by a prayer or a tear; A man who lives cleanly, speaks fairly, is true, — As good as I think may be borne with by you ! 1915 112 1915 Love and Life "REVERSE THE MESSAGE" "God give to me the best," we pray, Too weak in faith to meet the test Of braver souls who rather say, "I gladly give to God my best." "Show me Thy will, and I will see If I may do Thy will." But no; 'Tis ours to say, "Thy will to me Is first, whate'er Thy will may show." "But show me where or when to serve, Ere I shall choose." He does not call. 'Tis ours to say, "I shall not swerve For time or place: for Thou art all. Whatever — Lord, Thy will is best; Wherever — Thou art also there; Whenever — 'tis at Thy behest: I gladly leave all to Thy care." "3 IQI5 Love and Life JUDGMENT Some day this earth shall cry aloud And say, "Alas, within its shroud Is every gain that time hath lent To those who were on pleasure bent!" That day the best of earth will cry And say, "Rejoice! for He is nigh Who turns to jewels every tear, To hope's fruition every fear." What day of testing that will be! What separation each shall see Of every ill from every good, Who spurn from those who love the Blood ! This day unto that day is kin, For judgment keeps in every sin ; And they whose pride is in its blot Have shame of hell and know it not. 114 Love and Life "HAVING THIS SEAL" Saint or sinner? With some the answer Is clearly found in the mark of the man, sir; But some so walk that, as man to brother, We may not tell the one from the other. Sinners who walk on the earth so saintly, And saints who pursue their course so faintly, Are each for the other so oft mistaken 'Tis little surprise if our faith be shaken. But saints who get by with some mischief hidden, And sinners who enter the feast unbidden, Alike shall find, tho' we may have mixed them, That the gulf uncrossed lies not betwixt them. igi6 "5 Love and Life THE MISER'S PRAYER Our Father — God of mine and me, Who art in heaven — mine the earth, Thy name — costs nothing, as I see, Be hallowed — well, 'tis little worth. Thy kingdom come — not by my gold, For that I need to spend on self ; Thy will be done — but left untold, If I must publish with my pelf. On earth — if it does not collide With much that I myself must wish, As now in heaven — (ill betide Him who, the while I pray, cries "Pish!") Give us this day our daily bread — Give us, if plenty and to spare; Give mine to me, 'twere better said, And if too much, I some could share. Forgive our debts — but I pay cash, As we forgive — I close them out ! Our debtors — tut, some prayers are rash! What can such nonsense be about? And lead us — if there's danger nigh, Not in temptation — we are we~k ; But from all evil — when we cry, Deliver us — 'tis then we seek. 116 Love and Life For Thine the kingdom — make it go! The power is Thine — we must admit; And Thine the glory — be it so, Now and for ever — think of it ! IQI2 117 Love and Life WORKINGMAN AND PROPHET 2 Kings, VI. Now the workers went to the prophet's gate, And said, "We dwell in a place too strait; Come, let us go to the turbid stream, And bring from the wood each man his beam, And we will build, to our Father's eyes, Such house as men of the vision prize." Said the prophet, "Go." They said, "Thou too; For labor is vain except faith renew In the arm of man the dream of his soul, And bring each plan to a wise control." Then the prophet their wish well understood, And together were they by the Jordan's flood. Did ever a prophet with workingmen Waste time or talent ? It was not so then : For work, the worker, and the prophet's word Share alike in the profit, as saith the Lord. That day gave witness, for it chanced that one, His muscles bared to the beam and the sun, Let slip the axe, and into the deep It fell, and the workman was made to weep. "Alas," he said, " 'twas a borrowed tool, And its owner will count me a careless fool!" But Elisha said, "Point out the place." And the poor man thought, "Can saving grace Heal such a material loss! — How could The iron swim up to meet the wood?" 118 Love and Life But the workers left each man his beam, And there they stood by the angry stream, While the prophet provided himself a rod, And afforded to them a token of God As witness to power reposed in him By their common Lord. "And the iron did swim." There are some who doubt the simple facts, Whose faith must await what had the axe. But those to whom there is given the sight Into what, unseen, has a limitless might, Are not concerned with the vacant eyes Of unbelief. For they see the prize In the lesson taught, unknown to most, That power is found where the power was lost ; That nothing is owned, but held in trust, And each for his talent some answer must Return to the Giver — not easily made Except by the power of the prophet's aid. And if wit be sharp as the tempered steel It will aid us perhaps keenly to feel, When we "fly off the handle" a worth is lost, And we gain it again at Another's cost. 1919 119 Love and Life "THE OTHER WISE MAN" The fourth Wise Man — not as the three Who knew their King of Glory born, And brought rare gifts on that first morn Of Christmas greeting, there to see His first look on a world where we Of Grace Divine by sin were shorn, — Arrived too late to see the Man Who from that Christmas Child had come To martyrdom, supplied by Rome To what in Herod's will began. For, strange to speak, this Artaban Had made the wayside path his home. The Median in his vision saw The Star that out of Jacob shone; The Scepter that should now atone For sin that broke the graven Law, And filched from Mount that solemn awe That should have made them His alone. His brethren in the wisdom lore He equaled ; and he shared with them A love that counted every gem A tribute. Yet for evermore Balthazar, Caspar, Melchior Are named with Him of Bethlehem. They share with that Angelic Choir That to the lowly shepherds sang, 1 20 Love and Life The while thro' heaven's arches rang The shepherds' praises. These inspire The ages with prophetic fire, And will, while Law on Love shall hang. The Temple of the Seven Spheres Its fame forgot, while Babylon Saw three who said, "We will pass on To know the Promise now that nears Fulfilment." And their only fears Were why Ecbatana kept one Who should have made his promise true Here in Borsippa. But to men He thought his duty first, and then To God, — a fancy only new When first the Tempter held the view, Which often shall be held again. He too "was busy here and there," And came to Babylon too late ; And when he came, found by the gate A helpless Jew, to whom his care Was precious. And with fainting prayer, He stayed to watch him and to wait. To him such deed of love was first. A duty called, and he had tossed A treasure, and would bear the cost; Content to know that he had nursed One of His brethren, not the worst, — Tho' some reward of faith be lost. 121 Love and Life The duty done, he went his way, Detained for camels and for food ; And for such necessary good A sapphire sold, — quite loath to stay A needless moment. Yet each day Some urgent need before him stood. The Star he followed till its wane, And then without its guidance went To Bethlehem, where now was spent The Glory, while by Herod's reign The people mourned. But he would fain Relieve the woe that Herod lent. The voice in Ramah now he heard, Refusing to be comforted. While here he toiled among the dead, His heart to pity often stirred, One child he saved by one false word, His ruby easing hearts that bled. To Egypt then he took the road. There none to worship could he find ; Yet, not to duty being blind, A help on many he bestowed. He felt it was but what he owed, And found his task in being kind. Then to Jerusalem he came, To where the Galilean taught. But tho' he Him so long had sought And found on every lip His Name — 122 Love and Life To curse or else to voice His fame, — Yet still his time with toil was fraught Till doing good he missed the best. He kept indeed a Parthian maid From shame. For this he gladly paid Price of his pearl. It was the test: He met it, as he met the rest, And all upon his altar laid. Years fled ; he followed on the Light, — Yet never came to where He walked With men more wise, to whom He talked Of duty that denied no right, If only that within His sight His will is not by self-will mocked. "The poor are always with you." "Yea, And therefore why a needless waste?" So Judas reasoned, quick to taste A gall in what his Lord might say. Yet Mary chose the better way, As Love with Faith her Saviour faced. "The first and great commandment," see, Is not to find Him thro' good deeds, But thro' Him find the greater needs. Not Wise Man, as the other three, But Otherwise, he proves to be, And points a moral for who reads. 1919 123 Love and Life TROPHIMUS Saintly Trophimus, beloved of Paul, Was a man who gave for the Gospel all A lover of God and of goodly men May give in the service of Christ. And then, With Paul at Miletus, a sickness fell On him who had wrought in the work so well, And he tarried behind, the Apostle says, And we can but think on the Master's ways. Was the sickness "an error of mortal mind"? Was it plainly a proof that the saint had sinned? Was there a lack in his faith in prayer? Could Paul do none of his healing there? Or was the "light affliction" a way To the "greater glory" of an after day? 'Twere easy to fashion one's faith about: But His ways are still past finding out. 1919 124 id Life THE PROPHET'S PARABLE One little ewe lamb was a poor man's all, For which he had given his heart outright ; She fed from his cup, she came at his call, She cozily lay near his heart by night. He only was happy when in her sight; With him and his children she lived at play, And care she had artfully wiled away. But one who was rich, in his flocks and herds, Had an ample joy in his wealth alone; To his feast was brought of their flesh and curds, For sin would the priest with their blood atone. And so was his fame thro' the kingdom known, Until, in his pride, they had fancied him All guarded and groomed by the cherubim. To his gate a traveler came, to see The splendor of which men proudly spake. The host gave welcome, and straightway he Ordered a feast, and he sent to take The poor man's lamb — of his all to make To himself a pleasure for one brief hour, Forgetting his flocks, and abusing his power. His hurt unknowing, the poor man stood In peril of life, at the cutting edge Of battle, in which for the king his blood, — With never the need, — was a sacred pledge. 125 Love and Life His honor he kept, tho' his lord might hedge A want of honor with mitre and crown, And cover the sin in a dread renown. But ever the wit and the sin of man Have answer to make to the Seeing Eye; And along with the deed the debt began Which drew from a grave and a throne a cry, While life was condemned fourfold to die. So, veiled by the prophet, the king his doom Calmly announced in his judgment room. Then prophet to king, with the two-edged sword O' the Spirit, revealed that the battle-line Lay upon his heart. And saith the Lord, "No sin so subtle and serpentine But will in its coils thy life entwine! Stand up, O David ! The poor man's ewe Was Uriah's own — and the debt is due." igig 126 Love and Life THE LIFE OF VERSE IS LIFE A poem is not as a pearl, To look upon and prize, And say, "Thy face, O jeweled girl, Mocks fleshly destinies: For, maugre what time or chance may be, Intrinsic thy worth shall be to me." Verse may be quite as precious, yea, And to some few more sweet; And rarely one will wisely say The thing the wise repeat, With feeling that none but the poet told, With phrasing of pearl, its setting gold. Yet I have known of other verse Some minor poet spake, That some called weak and others worse, That more my heart can take Than faultlessly groomed and polished turns, Where a fancy flits, but no passion burns. When I my treasures gather then, Store for a cultured mind, I'll go where Life with lute hath been: — Recalling, of lesser kind, That many be rare, and many as true, But none taketh me as "Little Boy Blue." 127 Love and Life So I shall know of poets gone, And such as with us stay, 'Tis not the name men reckon on, Nor what their bards may say: — Nay, not alone what their verse affords, But what my life may yield to their words. igio 128 Love and Life INEQUALITIES How many there be, all sad and wan, Who dwell in the shades where spectres keep ; Who longed for the light, forever gone, And being denied, have hastened on To a troubled sleep. How glad their coming ! — with what delight They took their place in the Ship of Life; And thro' the waves, and under the night, Came to their glimpse of the harbor light, And a city of strife. But one warm heart was mother to them, And out of an anguish brought to birth; And with fancy fashioned a diadem, To which her tears gave many a gem Of a rarest worth. And to them a father was come, to wave A welcome across the unknown sea; He gave of strength, and a prayer he gave That the gates of dawn, and not the grave, Might their portion be. They had comrades here who had sailed before, Who were brothers to them in the Primal Past ; Who then knew naught of the less or more Of time, till an opalescent door Swung wide at last. 129 Love and Life But here caprice, or immutable law, Sundered as if to a separate star ; For the one but spake, and we stood in awe; The other, unheard, oft wept and saw The glory afar. Was the secret there, in the Palace Blue, Or ever they stood by the shimmering quays Of dawn, and wondered if half were true They fancied of life? — 'Tis not, sir, you, Nor any, that sees. Or was there a cause that met them here, And bade them abide their shift of Fate ; That made them to stand far off in fear, Or tantalized by a bringing near To the Festal Gate? No matter! For surely the feast was known To witness that something was out of joint; When one breast beamed with pearls that shone, And his mate must sit, with a heart of stone, To his broth and point. There are who think that the cause, indeed, Is the First and Ultimate Cause of all; Who hold as part of a querulous creed, 'Tis ours to fail — and His to bleed, To amend the fall. 130 Love and Life At the least we fail, and the devil's grip Holds firm, whatever the creed we hold ; P'or if fast or slow, the step will slip, And fact of the doing belie the lip, As ever of old. Oh, the width that spans the good from best Is little indeed, — but who can tell How far the one outruns the rest In final reward, the ultimate test Of heaven or hell? Yet knowing it all, we bring them in — As in fancy's field we sow the seed, — And by garners of hope or tares of sin The harvest declares what each may win, By a lot decreed. There, see, a poet lilts on in verse: The Muse attends, and the marts await. His brother, with voice but little worse, Begins in hope, to end in a curse On his evil fate. Children of fancy, or flesh and blood, Alike share they in no equal race; For the poet may rime his runes by rood, And our flesh bring forth, but to each will God Appoint the place. 1919 131 Love and Life SONGS— FROM "SIR HARRY VANE" I To the brow of a hill, By ancient Nazareth, Where the winds to the crags shrilled forth a wail To pierce man's heart, Came a throng with rage as the swelling flood, In wrath which ill will could alone impart, (As their temples in darkness stood), To cast, with a cry of You lose and You fail, The Man of Nazareth From the brow of the hill. II The greensward drank the robin's song, And found it dew and sunshine to it; And they that listened found ere long With life his music could endue it : For mignonettes and clover-blooms Breathed victory soon o'er winter tombs. igoi 132 Love and Life L'ENVOI TO "SIR HARRY VANE" I Soul of the Prophet, Thou (Child of the manger) Knowest our longings, how Straitened with danger. Rest to the wind mocker Hopes that we cherish ! Carest not, Wave-walker Thou, that we perish? Zeal in thy people tires, Troublers annoy them: — Dare we call heaven's fires Down, to destroy them? II Little we know of Thy Manner of spirit! Angrily oft we try Peace to inherit. 133 IQ04 Love and Life Thy lips knew love's worth — Sheep before shearers: Silence that made the earth Speakers or hearers. Harsh was yon citied hill, Crimsoned with sorrow, — Cross that few pitied, till Look ! rose the morrow, Bringing love's triumph, where Wrath did for ruth rend Veil, that the temple's prayer Forth might His truth send. 134 1909 Love and Life SONGS— FROM "HALDIMAND" I Give a rouse, ye English men! Rebels one, and patriots ten, Tells, their issue is defeat, Trumpets, victory is sweet, — Give a rouse, ye English men, Give a rouse! Give a rouse, ye English men ! Patriots one and rebels ten Were as easy to put down As red-coat a dirty town, — Give a rouse, ye English men, Give a rouse! II Dan Cupid is a little Dan, Slim bow and slender arrow; But when he draws for maid or man, Escape is none or narrow: And who is he that quiet can The fears he will upharrow? 135 IQ07 Love and Life SONG— FROM "HALDIMAND" Nothing is beneath the sun That doth not its journey run, Tremblingly or passing brave Touch the chill lips of the grave : Strew me rose or spray me holly, I have done with melancholy. All that lives within the light Of the stars, must take the night For a shroud, and here beneath Joy and tears lie still in death : Strew me rose or spray me holly, Thine not mine is melancholy. All thy gold is tinseled earth, Dust shall gain thy beauty's birth, Ashes are the mirths of men, Hope — a chance to grieve again: Strew me rose or spray me holly, Life not death is melancholy. 136 Love and Life SONG He that loves me for my gold Knows not my philanthropy: With such love the world is cold, By a true love must be free. He that spends but of his purse Hoards a love to spend a curse. igio 137 Love and Life CHRISTMAS CHEER The merry merry Christmas can come but once a year, But every day, and all the way, the loving Christ is here; The gifts we give, tho' dear today, both rich and poor shall find Are of the day, and for the day, and soon are out of mind. But He that gave the Perfect Gift still gives to you and me: His gift is love that gives to life love's immor- tality. iqii W8 Love and Life IMMORTELLES To H. I. M. Vattene in pace, alma beata e bella. "Helen's lips are drifting dust";* She has immortality. Robed in art or crowned in verse Is earth's one vitality. Weep the fragile vase who must : Brief the rose-bud? Much were worse. Do the snowdrops drooping die? — One may sweeten half the spring. Breath of sweetness thro' the years May the tulips blow, I sing. Weep the groundflame's ashes? — Why? Autumn is the test for tears. Two hearts held what Attic song Brought of beauty, lent of love, And a glory gone from Greece. Two hearts felt what most would move Sage or poet joust with Wrong, — And they answer, Go in peace. 1908 * Frederic Lawrence Knowles. 139 Love and Life TRUE AMARANTH In Memoriam, H. G. M. His was so little of what we call life, — Just a breath from the primal dew, Just a smile from the other while Of soul that awaits us there, if true, — That strange, in a world where gray ills are rife, He should both joy and grief beguile. Yet if so brief, O rare was the love, Sweet and full, that his day contained! How with a touch he gave so much To what thro' loss our lives have gained ! For so is the bounty of treasures above, — Our lives go softlier for that touch. 1910 140 Love and Life WHERE A BETTER CHRISTMAS KEEPS The Christmastide returns with cheer, The winter skies again rejoice; With angel carolings appear The sweetest echoes earth can hear, — The laughters of a baby's voice. Yet with such joys around, there comes To me and mine a dissonance ; It keenly seems a sorrow thrums A lute that time in measure numbs, And wakes the bitter strain of chance. For Oh, how strange! one Christmastide Ago, and he, our boy, was here; His baby joy our joys supplied, — And yet four days from then he died, And left to us a joyless year. Today, please God, around that throne Where Christmas keeps, to lend earth joy, The Christmas Child will greet His own, And, with His presents made, make known A year's tear-treasures to our boy. igio 141 Love and Life TO WHAT PURPOSE? A wind today on leaf, in bough, is sighing, — Grief that when Lear's Thin, sorrow-ripened locks in storm went flying, Was old and dried of tears. For so a strife there is thro' peace that wavers, Shade on the light ; A something good that always evil favors, A scourging of the right. For since the dawn when at the tree of learning Hope's novice tried To find a fuller life — the effort earning The curse where strivings died, — Have they of courage, thought, of will been paying Their price of sin, To gain the gates where keeper Truth is saying, "Come thou, and enter in." And tho' we think to forfeit so by daring Is somehow best; Yet from the crowd learn how, by little caring, The lowly seem the blest. IQIO 142 Love and Life AN EPITAPH Come, snowdrops of winter and fall lightly here, Ye sunbeams of summer, come, shine brightly here; Ye bring to us slowly the now unknown year When hearts that are lonely shall find their lone cheer. 1910 H3 Love and Life A SUPPOSED RESURGAM I My dreams are dead: The passioned glow Of youth has fled, And life is woe. Its past, I know, Is scattered dust; And God, I trow, Has quit its trust. II My path was chance, And Fate has won ; I chose to dance With Death — begun Was then life's sun To cool his fires; — Where limbs but run, The spirit tires. Ill To walk in shame, Alas, deceived ; Of life's pure fame I stand bereaved. 144 IQ07 Love and Life So virtue, grieved, O'ercasts with gloom- Sends unretrieved To pass the tomb. IV Oh ! He that first Our spirits gave, The soul hurt worst Shall He yet save? — A dawn shall lave The brow of night ; This sod may wave A lily's white. 145 1904 Love and Life AN IN MEMORIAM Ye who loved the silent dead, Weep not that his task is done; Fairer fields he now may tread, Blest with all his life here won. He would not that ye should weep, While that he has greater joy: Green his memory ye will keep Who shall your lives best employ. 146 Love and Life JERUBBAAL Judges VI, 31, 32 Alas ! that oft in advocate one reads The note of stern endeavor to defend His God, thinking that he to Heaven can lend Admired apology! Thus Baal pleads. Man's labored argument — how little needs Propulsive nature's Life! Him they commend Who slip the bondage that may most offend — Traditions' damps, or their bark-binding creeds. He that with verse of subtlest music sought To "justify the ways of God to men," Sees not the vapory gloom with morning keep. His laureled theme, then living, is now naught Save fossil form, — his spirit triumphs as when Creative Soul brooded the formless deep. 1 go 2 H7 Love and Life THE POETRY OF AUSTERITY (See Matthew Arnold's "Austerity of Poetry") The Muse, with nymphs dancing, was once besought Of poets. Homer blind, then saw: her dance demure Drew rhythmic strains. She Virgil's harp did lure To loose its music from the strings. She taught Passion to Dante. And she subtly wrought Thro' Shakspere's lyre the dreamy world's rapt cure. Young Milton prayed to that chaste spirit pure; So Goethe, Shelley, Burns, and Keats. She caught Apollo's two chief seers of later age. But one, alas, said that to him the Muse Was girt with sackcloth! Had she not bequeathed To his austerity the wonted views? Or silks or sackcloth veiled her limbs! His page Poetry of sheer intellect, unbreathed. 1902 148 Love and Life DE PROFUNDIS Out of the multitudes when shall there rise The one dear spirit of my anxious quest ? When, from the goodly company of "best" The world speaks of, the one my soul shall prize Her very own, — made mine by destinies That formed a soul that only may be blest Attuned to complete harmony? The test — A lute-soul's chord but one voice glorifies. Out of these deeps many are they have cried : Some whose lone shadows have outkept the night, Their tears uncrystal'd ; some that wept, to be So soon content with whom they had no pride To choose. I seek — yet question which were right— One voice, or else "the rest is silence" to me. 1903 149 Love and Life VERITAS The temple doors shone moving on the night, When startled, I uprisen smote the breast, Rebuked for harboring a vague unrest At altar's task; till Voice above the light, — "Seek Beauty, Wisdom, Love. No priestly rite Informs; my prophets pass; their quest Is on the heels of darkness, till the blest Far citadels of Truth await their sight." What drew these on, let not my heart disdain Its passion for. If custom's wilful mask Disguise, it shall be torn ; if shepherd's crook Bind to the soil, not I that gentle swain ; If friends entreat, I clasp no hand; but ask Humbly the way my soul's three prophets took. 1903 150 Love and Life TO THE AMERICAN NEGRO Ah, when shall this world's thirst for blood be done? The heathen tribes letting red streams for mirth, Liegeman and lord who coin its dripping worth In cankering gold, the proudly passionate son Of cavalier whose guarded fountains run Riot in mudded lust, leaders whose dearth Of sacrifice yet sluice scant veins in earth, — Have wreaked confederate hate in thirst for one. Theirs Saxon blue, and Afric's course thy veins: A shade of tropic bares thee to the lash, — The whip of thongs, else that of fiercer pains Thro' social curse, that would thy spirit abash, But cannot, since within His ark thy rod Buds, Aaron-like, — "Let rebels fear," saith God. 1904 151 Love and Life TO W. A. Q. When to the fancy of delighted minds A youth presents — as feigning to nonplus — A harp-shell, conch, or chambered nautilus, And meets one swift on rapture borne, he finds Imagination now that spirit binds To worlds of phantasy. "On, Pegasus, O'er dust or surge ! I seem as ^Eschylus, My steed's hoofs now on waves and now on winds!" If so thy keen delight in song may greet With favor this, then may I dare essay A sonnet postscript to my poetry ; Assured this shell cast from the tides will meet With ear so sensitive to song, it may Thro' sonnet hear the full tones of the sea. 1905 152 Love and Life UPON THE HEELS OF PRESENTMENT (See "Timon of Athens") " 'Upon the heels of my presentment, sir,' The book is forth. Then with the painter's art, That tutors nature; in the merchant's mart, Where to the getting of gold how great the stir It wakens, is the test ; with jeweler, Whose stone's rare form and water unclew the heart, It still must vie. Let first my risk impart Lord Timon's will and Apemantus' slur." Little he knows if then — his metaphor — The white sail of his pearl of poet craft Shall change to eagle wing, unwet of wave, On trackless way that others dream of. Or If cerements of that sea shall shroud his grave, — As if the gods, not he, it were, best laughed. 1908 153 Love and Life TWO READERS On tides of thought, adrift with mind, and toss'd By thrilling surges, one will risk to thrive; Sea-weed he gathers, drinks cooling spray, the live Storm bares to, dares (barque helmless, sea- enmoss'd), To go where most like derelicts accost. He, thinking Chance his idle fault shall shrive, In words, not faith, of Paul says, "Let her drive!" And in much furies spent, is driven or lost. And one is wiser, who — not crowding sail, And skilled to reef his canvas for the breeze, Lets Thought impawn wild Chance to ease his way. He, when the tides withdraw, and when winds fail, When melt the lights that fleck the gloaming seas, Minds more his chart of stars than dolphins' play. 1909 154 id Life RADICAL AND CONSERVATIVE He taught a doctrine, loosely termed a creed, That men thought radical. To them it was A radical departure from old saws, Cant phrases, unctious sentences, indeed. He breathed a freer spirit, taught the need Of a quick-minded answer to the laws Of kindness, stronger in his tongue than jaws Of death in some, to help the bruised reed. Some few knew him the true conservative. So high and just his values, few could tell Of beauty, wisdom, love, or how to live Them out as he. He poured not thro' a sieve His stream of the water of life — not radical, As Calvinist, to damn mute souls in hell. 1909 155 Love and Life ECCLESIASTES "Time and chance happeneth to all." If Time and Chance be boon or bane to all, And Time be brief as any fleeting thing, And Chance be filled with weird imagining, And both be passing now beyond recalh There is with men, despite such heavy thrall, A glory lighting gloom in burgeoning, A profit scorning waste in triumphing, A spirit brave to mock the specter's pall. For Chance and Time are in the passing gone, They die unsorrowed as their sorrows wane. They, as their furrowing steel in flesh is seamed, Are stolen away, and where Time's glimmer shone Is risen morn ; where Chance sent writhed pain Is joy, that angel harps are silent deemed. 1910 156 Love and Life THE SHORTENED HARVEST "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" — / Corin. IX , II. If of the spirit we have sown to you In that which made the desert as the rose, Which wedded strength of life to such repose As onJy keeps within the pure and true; If schools we planted, freedom brought to view, Reforms engendered ; if we shared your woes When most you wept, and counsel gave that shows In your rich gain of goods and goodness too: — Shall then, (when we the givers give to youth Our places at your wish, and have no gold But golden sunsets, you who gathered wealth Of carnal things forget to wed the truth Of creature comforts to your servants' health, Who reap a shortened harvest when they're old? igi6 157 Love and Life THE HALLOWED NIGHT It is the night when in the faithful heart Fond memories foregather of all souls; When they once dear, counted among the dead, Teach us how truly, when their spirits depart, They leave with us a force that yet controls, — A something that in loss has comforted, The whisper of a name long hallowed, — So real, that in remembrance, tears will start. What memories to me, O Spirit brave, That mothered me in flesh ! For in this night, As it grew dawn, He clothed thee with delight, Leaving to us thy dust, and to the grave. But since He saith the dead in Him shall rise, That from the grave we look for from the skies. 1918 158 Love and Life THE PASSING OF YOUTH Time doth with change this mortal life renew To unrenewing age. The seasons pass, And passing bring our frailties fast to view. The hopes we held to stay the ebb, alas, Avail not ! for the flood of years confess Man hasteth on to man's forgetfulness, To learn at last why time the secret kept. Who cares? For time his own consuming rust In time consumes. Into a dreamless dust Time may not bear one spirit that hath slept. For after chance and change are done, I trust To stand in years made perfect and unwept, Where, from this frailty come, my eyes may prove The mortal perfect of Immortal Love. igig 159 Love and Life UNTIMELY DEATH Did ever death come fitly to relief Of those who were in ill mismating bound; Who kept a prison'd life, where round on round Of eating care drew down a settled grief? They did not dare to center a belief On angel by that door: right would impound Such thought, and honor rather bear the wound Than let such wish of self-respect be thief. But oh, how often death has cut the tie That held twin spirits to our earth's delight, Leaving one spirit broken! Into light The other going, felt it was to gloom: One loath to live, the other loath to die, Since death or life to either alone were doom. igig 160 Love and Life CHRISTMAS AND WORLD WAR Bright, over all the world, The Star is yet gleaming, — Halo, whose light impearled Yet brightens while streaming. Oh, never Christmas came So full of the glory: — Could all who bear the Name But fathom the story! Thrice Wonderful our Lord, A Counsellor truly; All-Mighty. Bears the word No honor unduly. Christ, whom eternity Shall know as the Father; Man, teaching man to see Time's harvest to gather. Yea, He is Prince of Peace: What tho' there now thickens War's din, from which release The soul, praying, sickens. Hell, loosing fiery bolts Of hatred, discloses Thrones driving hapless dolts To death it imposes. 161 Love and Life Near twenty centuries Of Gospel proclaiming Him whom the heathen see The Christians defaming. No, none can doubt the worth Of message He gave us; Some will of faith have dearth The churches can save us. Say not the churches fail, — The failure is human. Easy it were to rail, — But show us the true man. Creeds, thrones, and factions all May perish tomorrow; Love, law, and truth shall call Above our spent sorrow. They truly live and grow Thro' every disaster: Let ruin come — we know They follow the faster. What more has he that will The church be upbraiding? Night curtains both, we still The Star have, unfading. Who cares if kingdoms wane, Or churches be sifted 162 Love and Life Like Peter, — loss is gain, If burdens be lifted. Age after age returns, And each one is evil: Yet see, the bush that burns Would teach us be civil. No age but some will cry, "The Promise — it fails you !" We answer, "Time draws nigh The Promise — what ails you?" Soothsayer let him be, 'Tis only his dreaming; None knoweth quite as he How false is his seeming. Love dares to bare the breast To Doubt's every arrow; Faith fails not — struggles best Where footing is narrow. Faith watches folly fail, — Like Herod's wild slaughter; Then hears a Voice cry, "Hail, Thy King comes, O daughter!" So, after Europe's blood Is poured out, till kings too Red hats wear, — till the good That reason still clings to 163 1914 Love and Life Finds virtue unassailed, And truth not diminished, Sees justice has prevailed, And says, "It is finished!" — Then, hope we One shall stand Above all that war lent, Whose presence shall command The Peace that the Star sent. No, no millennium, — That may be (He knoweth) ; We, choosing, would say, Come! — Yet pleased if He showeth One faintest flush of fire To brighten our gray dawn ; One foregleam, lest we tire When others have prayed on. Yea, shall the Promise hold. The old year is dying: — New years and not the old Must famish our sighing. New years? Ah, Time can bring Naught new but new sorrow; Save, only, it fetch the King Of earth's rare tomorrow. 164 Love and Life THE HARVEST OF THE YEARS The light that slants from autumn suns, While fruits and grain their fertile yield Admit to harvest, slowly runs To cheering hope that Europe's guns Will reap no more their harvest field. A second autumn crowns our good Since they in hate and hurt are hurled To be to fiery mouths the food, Whose all but unavailing blood Were price enough to buy a world. What wrong so great has sown the earth To heartache, unto distant years? What sin, that God has brought to birth The monster brood by whom a dearth Of men shall make for women's tears? Yet God is not in all their ways: Not His the work that kings have wrought. He stands afront these carnage-days With outstretched hands, and pleading says, "The blood of One had rather bought Your freedom than the blood of these." Some now are doubting of it all; Some think the Keeper of the keys Shall stand, one foot upon the seas, And cry, and Babylon shall fall. 165 Love and Life We know not, — only that the will Of God no lot to men accords To thwart His purpose, or to kill The law of recompense that still Shall justice do to under-lords. But, ah ! the suns that circle here Seem veiled, as if all Europe's night Had cooled their ardors, — or the sere And soiled leaf of Time were near To judgment: who can bear the light? 191 5 166 Love and Life THE LUSITANIA "Stay thy proud waves!" It could not be so once: the sea was His, He made it ; and to men, There go the ships, In freedom of their trade for man. Only the pirate dared their cargoes take, Sparing both life and vessel. But, hear now, — "Stay thy proud waves!" "Stay thy proud waves!" One narrow path the multitudinous seas May offer now for what were mighty fleets; Only if shamed with stripes they go ! Britannia rules no more ; our ocean's gem Is now undiadem'd : for hear who says, — "Stay thy proud waves!" "Stay thy proud waves!" For tho' our brave are swallowed in their deeps, Tho' that which gives a nation sovran right Is by imperious will denied; And tho' we thought to hear our Chieftain cry A righteous wrath against it, this we hear, — "Stay thy proud waves!" "Stay thy proud waves!" America, that when three million strong Dared to defy the tyrant's tax on tea, And proved insane a German king; 167 Love and Life Now to silk hat can softly lift a hand, "Too proud to fight!" And still we hear but this, — "Stay thy proud waves!" "Stay thy proud waves!" Of old the stars were not too proud to fight For Israel. The white-horsed Rider not, Whose vesture dipped in blood, whose eyes A flame, whose mouth a sword to voice His wrath Upon presumptuous kings. But now, alas, — "Stay thy proud waves!" "Stay thy proud waves!" To God we pray, the stars within our shield Deny such pride, and that our only stripes May be within our banners proud ; And trust He to His enemies shall say, As when o'er Pharaoh's host His waters came, — "Stay, My proud waves!" igi6 1 68 Love and Life "LET US HAVE PEACE!" "Let us have peace!" 'Twas Grant, the soldier, spoke, When after bitter war just victory Had come. Long strife had given him to see How sweet the event. Yet no such word awoke Till Corinth, Vicksburg, Appomatox broke The galling chains that in disloyalty Had welded states, nor till a race was free To find their peace without the cruel yoke. "Peace without victory" was sought, and when The world in welter and in writhing lay, Where pitiless power and junker judgment set A curse upon the forward hopes of men. "Let us have peace !" Pray God, it come, and yet Not till autocracy has had its day. igi6 169 Love and Life YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU Arouse, O mighty nation of an hundred million souls, And stem the angry surge of war that now upon thee rolls! Too long the mailed fist has held the throat of Liberty, 'Tis time at last when we may reach to hands across the sea. Some thought, forsooth, our hands were clasped too tightly to our gold, Some idly dreamt our flag was furled, its deeds of glory told; Some fondly hoped the hyphen-ties would break, to leave a rent Of civil war, to fuel that on which their plots were bent. The ties have vanished — in these fires we coalesce to one, With one resolve, to limit now their place within the sun; To give the Hohenzollern boast of "Gott mit uns" that fell From haughty lips, to find its place of infamy in hell. 170 Love and Life Yet not with malice, nor for gain, against whom still as brothers We regard, and shall regard, — we wish for them as others The glory of our cause that seeks on battlefields so gory Good will to men, a peace on earth, and in the highest glory. 1917 171 id Life NOT MEN, BUT A MENACE The foe we face has German blood, And German blood was ever brave; And in our hearts 'tis understood We seek not to destroy but save. We chant no hymn of hate, — above The strife we voice a hymn of love. We fight as bravely and as well As skill and duty may dispose ; And we shall mark the graves where fell Two brothers who till then were foes: If by advance or in retreat Their deaths in valor shall compete. Not men we fight, tho' men must die. The things in men that mar and kill Their better life, and cloud their sky From light that streams in pure good will,- 'Tis this in them that we defy, And why for them that we would die. In them we see the mark of Cain, That Abel's blood so foully let ; We could not love them if their gain It were upon mankind to set The monstrous measure of their thirst, And leave the soul of them accursed. 172 Love and Life There is no love but will chastise, None if mere justice stand apart; Oft bitter tears must purge the eyes, And mortal pain improve the heart. Never our love had less of dross Than when we bravely faced the cross. 1917 173 Love and Life BOCHE AND BOLSHEVIK Boche and Bolshevik, alike in crimes, — The two extremes of our disjointed times, — Have each the age from an envenomed fang Infected. One with that imperious will To vaunt himself as superman, tho' rang To heaven's gate his vow to rape and kill, Writhes now himself to feel his poison pang. The other, rising from th' ensanguined sea, Sighting his throne upon its angriest wave, Offers his dupes the vaunt of liberty, And flotsam that his lust and passion crave, — A viking code his heart's misanthropy. Alike they hold the devil's law of might: The devil take them — for God rules by right. 1918 174 IQI8 Love and Life EACH TO HIS HONOR Millions went, and millions more Waited for the tides of war Just to lave their willing feet In their flood, tho' home was sweet. For the boys who went we keep Golden honors. And we weep For the lads to whom the chance Came to wed the soil of France. Such regret as lives at heart For the ones who had no part Is repaid by those who fought With a skill that quickly brought Victory that we had planned To have part in. But the hand That so nobly stayed the foe Was upheld by ours, we know. The enemy was multi-tongued, Multi-handed, multi-lunged: And they have their honors here Who kept treason chained to fear. 175 Love and Life MEMORIAL DAY Memorial Day! The blue and gray In thin, wan ranks fade fast away. They think of these Who overseas In khaki clad brought this new day. Once, foe to foe, The fathers so Purged out the dross from what is gold, That now their sons Might teach the Huns To value what for naught they sold. New victory For all we see, As proudly now the flag returns; Red, white and blue To me and you Rekindle every hope that burns In purest flame. God grant the same May for all time be our reward; That Truth and Right May give their light To all who bravely stand on guard. 176 Love and Life Today each grave Their honor gave To be our pledge for coming years, Shall have perchance, Here and in France, The tribute of all thankful tears. 1918 177 Love and Life THE DECLINE AND FALL Out of the welter and ruin they wrought, Out of the place in the sun they sought, Out of the high regard they held In a wide world's thought, by worth compelled ; Out of the fairy-land once they kept When Goethe and Kant and Beethoven swept The harp of life, and led to praise The souls that thought on wisdom's ways; Out of the moral realm where ruled The faith of men whom Luther schooled: See to what depths of doom they fled, By Nietzsche, Treitschke, Bernhardi led. iqi8 178 Love and Life A WAY TO AVENGE Don't you think it would be wiser Just to let the former Kaiser Take a raft and have the freedom of the seas? Tell him, Go and loose his mania Chasing wraiths the Lusitania Left to wander, till he placate each of these? Don't you think the Bolsheviki, Who are brainless and so cheeky, Should be gathered to an island far from shore ;- One that Germany has given Would make them a fitting haven, — Where they might destroy each other evermore? 191S 179 Love and Life YAP Somewhere, lost to the mind of man, Was the Island of Yap. Since earth began Its fame not yet in our annals ran. And none knew whether 'twas near or far, Or if 'twas isle or name of a star, Till victory made it the spoils of war. In the greatest war that on earth has been We put our wealth and our fighting men, And said, "All goes — and we care not when !" And not for a prize had we begun: Liberty called, and we counted it fun To help a friend, and to whip the Hun. But when it came to the settling up, And the Hun was led as goat to the dup, Our friends presented this loving-cup To our Uncle Sam — to his great surprise. He stroked his chin, and he rubbed his eyes, And said, "No, thanks!" And then looked wise. John Bull said, "Take it, along with Guam." And the Tiger exclaimed, "How glad I am !" "Then, just as you please," said Uncle Sam, — 1 80 Love and Life "I think I can put it upon the map; And if peace be there, I can take a nap, With one eye wide on the wily Jap." 1919 181 Love and Life "INTO A FAR COUNTRY" In Memoriam, Theodore Roosevelt, Transitus in lucem, Jan. Qth IQIQ. "Into a far country" — the artist * hath said, Our hero departed, to realms of the dead ; Waving a farewell, as he leaps from the crag, Sombrero in hand, lifted high to the flag! Farewell to his friends, and farewell to his foes; Farewell to a country that loved him, he knows. Whatever the land into which he hath gone, In this he left grieving, his fame shall live on. "Into a far country" ? Perchance not so far From planet we ride, unto some outer star Where glory undimm'd on his brow shall abide, But we too may find him, and keep by his side. The last high adventure he took, as on earth Each conflict he chose in achieving his worth ; And left us his counsel, "Stand firm by the right! — Ye too shall fare well, and shall come into light." igjg * Mr. Stuart Morris, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer. l82 Love and Life THE PASSION God says, "Bring my earth to peace!" Man attains to hear the Voice; Harks a sweet evangel, "Cease, O earth's deep discordant noise: Time is now, Rejoice!" On his brow the ambient flame, Bone and nerve are nursed in fire; Spirit gripped so by the Name, Can his fealty ever tire? In his hand a lyre. Lowly nurtured, from the sod He bears kinship to the race; Borne on vision, he with God Finds the fashion of His face Is a will to trace. Stirred as Wordsworth touring France, Trained on Saul's Arabian sands; He, a seer of truth's free lance, Calls, where wreckage strews our strands, "Loose, O Night, thy bands! Let the dawn rise, daystar spring ! Cities, quit your fevered sleeps! Spires and turrets, wake and fling Far your lethargies! The steeps Redden. Stir the deeps!" 183 Love and Life He the dawn's glow in the bush Sees; to lifted altar kneels; Burgeoned almond times; hears rush Amber clouds whose beryl wheels Eye what wrongs he feels. He looks how on looms of pain One with fingers on the night Weaves the lightning's tangled skein That, as He, His creatures might Vestured be with light. Yet he looks how on the earth, 'Neath such glories, there is sleep; How His fanes of grace have dearth- While without His virgins keep, And to Tammuz weep. Jealous of the temple, sees, Lo, what weariness attends; Zeal forgotten — how to please Ease and wealth the end of ends: Till, what wrath amends? Watching till, as gloom to him, Glory from the threshold ceased, Paused above the cherubim; Then to shame the city leased, — As unto the east, 184 Love and Life To its mount, it grieving went. "Hence, the nerve of faith is numb: Tho' I in my toils be spent, Zion's oracles are dumb Until Shiloh come." Hence in bitterness and heat Of his spirit strode a man. Tho' he knew that in the street On his words they placed a ban, He their herald ran. They at times would briefly pause, Say, "List! lo, a lovely song, Pleasing voice! But no, his cause Thought and Trade bear not with long: Oh, that Truth were strong !" Yet in weakness hath he strength, In his word is breath of God ; And he cries, "Behold, at length, Waving lily flail the sod, Zepher shame the rod! Tho' thy day may be prolonged, Visions fail, and no man care; Tho' to Baal ye have thronged, Princes say, 'It is not near'; I can not forbear. 185 Love and Life Daughter of my people, hear! They may slightly heal thy hurt: Ethics, learning cry, 'Lo, here Ye have peace' — yet in the dirt Art thou, as thou wert! Me, alas! what are my groans, Spirit-whelm'd? Oh, Thou a fire Hast shut up within my bones: Quench it? Ah, it mounteth higher! — Sunk within the mire, It becometh as a marie, None with me but forms of fear; Waves of flame so whip and snarl, Hell to me, not them, seems near! Yet there speaketh clear: — 'Prophet of my people, cry: Israel, Judah, virgins fair, Were my daughters. To them I Grace and beauty gave to share. Comely in my care, I their loves in springtime woke, — Wanton Babel's gauds they wore! When my pride fell with a stroke, Aholah first her tresses tore, Aholibah the more. 1 86 Love and Life Little wonder, from thine eyes, O my prophet, with a stroke Thy desire is taken. Rise, Show them why their pride I broke, Why by thee I spoke,' Faith! Ah, such is man's belief: Such his vision — and his deed ! Such his want, without relief, Where Thy help surpasses creed, Thou of love indeed ! What was once Thy pleasant plant Is a stem for alien slips ; Life that ne'er had need be scant Bears the quirk of evil quips, Bears the whir of whips. For they at the very door Of Thy far-famed house of prayer Grind the faces of the poor, Bind the tresses of the fair, — Priests, how little care! In cathedrals, chapels, cells, They are chanting their Thee God; Whilst what fiends, in all earth-hells, Hold Thee Man beneath the rod ! Eucharist — whose blood? 187 Love and Life And in learning's halls, alas! Seldom hearts with truth are stirred; Rare the sword may from them pass Bathed in heaven. For Thy word Lightly there is purred. Bif! see here, to faith a shock; Pish ! another there to art ; Science makes our temple rock, Culture cools the ardent heart: Hold, lest Heaven start!" Then he looks, and thro' the day, Woven dark with mystery, Comes a fear lest, turned away, God himself conspires to see If the servant be Yet of faith when He withdraws; Zealous tho' his Maker shows Not a care when tooth and claws Tear the helpless, and dispose Virtue to her woes. "Clouds and darkness round about, Habitation of Thy throne Justice is, and — may we doubt? — Judgment, when Thy very own Strive for truth, alone? Love and Life True, a rainbow spans the moor — Living beauty limned and hung In Thy palace, — yet the poor Find its fairy gold is wrung From their toils, unsung. Everywhere the good and ill So commingle, who can tell What is wholly good, or still What so evil, out of hell, Some will say it well? Mystery, and all too deep, Life and law and love possess; Frailty makes them often cheap, Clothes them in a motley dress. I believe — or guess?" When from green to gold the oak Of his strength time duly turns,- Leaves quite fallen, branches broke,- Still within his heart there burns Hope that in youth yearns. Of the Voice some echo keeps Him like to what other man? For in him there never sleeps Spirit that in youth so ran, — Nor such spirit can. 189 Love and Life Yet the evil world has borne Much away, leaves much within. Gray Experience, thin and torn Lays the locks o'er what hath been Undefiled of sin. Thro' the years his steps have gone Upward, forward, nor restrained By his anguish. Now as John In Machaerus, hope is chained Ere his cause is gained. Ere he sees the Kingdom's form Rise from earth, like bleaching bones Touched of Spirit, as the storm Once of Armageddon's groans Turned to rhythmic tones. Fearing how earth's Error, strong To the battle, gains the field; Valor vanquished, stills the song, Exurgat Deus; makes to yield Scepter Right should wield. Trusting how earth's frailty, Good, Fainting falls, yet in the rise Mounteth higher, counteth blood As of virtue's gain true price, — Boasteth sacrifice! 190 ign Love and Life Till at last the snowy cloud, Or of age or mercy, dips To his summit. Tho' unbowed, Sursum corda on his lips, He of a Marah sips. God says, "Bring my earth to peace !" Man, "Thou, take my weary days — Gladly spent. Ah, Time's release Guerdon is! Renewed in praise, I shall learn Thy ways!" 191 1 i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS iniiii'iiiiiiiiiinii 015 940 851 6 \ 11