CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW AND OTHER POEMS HAROLD SYMMES Class _:PS-35J2. GoByright }\° COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW AND OTHER POEMS CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW AND OTHER POEMS BY HAROLD SYMMES NEW YORK DUFFIELD AND COMPANY 1911 Copyright, 191 i By Mabel Symmes THE . PLIMPTON • PRESS [ W . D • o] NORWOOD • MASS • U • S • A ©CI.A2hJ)756 r CONTENTS PAGE Children of the Shadow 3 Truants 4 The Beggar 5 The Soul of April Sings ' 7 The Tavern Host ........... 8 The Blind Girl's Love Song . 11 Common Clay ../.... 12 The Winged Dawn 13 Lord God of Men 14 Thy Liberator, I 16 Evanescence . 17 Wind and Stars 18 Children of Heaven 19 To What End? 21 The Worker 23 Love's Rhythm 24 Amor Immortalis ' . . 25 A Woman 27 Sympathy 28 The World Spirit 29 Wind Echoes 31 The Desert Soul 32 From the Hills of Tourmaline 34 The Roses of thy Love 35 From the Heart of a Breton Mother 36 [v] CONTENTS PAGE The Greater Love 37 Fate and I 38 The Tryst 39 A Friend 40 Starward 41 Though thy Foe be Unconquerable Death .... 42 Kings 43 The Joy of the Road 44 To the U. S. Cruiser CaUfornia 45 Fire and Smoke 47 Who Knows? 49 One Way 50 Mother Night >. . . . 51 As the Winds Will 52 Alma Mater 53 The Four Winds 54 The Child from the Mill 55 "Mine the Burden" 56 Desert Sleep 58 The Calling 59 The Miracle 60 Love is a Star 61 The Mad Singer 62 The World in its Blindness 64 The Orient Dawn's First Shadow 65 Work! 66 Too Brief the Day 67 Uncrowned Days 68 Fellow Faith 69 [vil CONTENTS PAGE Earth's Blossoms Die 70 In God's Wine Press 71 The Life- Joy 73 Songs of Yosemite A Master Calls 77 Cloud Mist . 79 Wild Waters . 80 Trail Song . 81 Shadowed Splendor S$ Spirit Heights 84 Seed Drift Wealth \ 89 The Bread and the Wine 89 Now 90 ^ Christmas Stars 90 The Leaven 91 Th^ Sfiark . - . ._ 91 A Woman to her Hand-Mirror 92 The Masses 92 Song-Birth 93 A Woman Speaks 93 Vision r 94 The Martyr . . . r 94 Maternity 95 The Life-Love 95 From the Shadow 96 No 96 O Now, my Heart 97 Dawn 97 [viil HE following magazines have very kindly given per- mission to reprint the poems which appeared in their pages, and especially is gratitude due to The American Magazine J or their many kindnesses and constant courtesy: The American Magazine, Put- nam's, Youth's Companion, Pearson's, and Sunset. CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW X O an old embowered garden, In a sunset-shadowed land, Comes each eve a lady strolling, With two lilies in her hand. Up and down the dim-aisled terrace. Where great rose vines clamber wild, Walks the lady of the lilies, Calling, "Come, dear child, dear child!" Years and years I've heard her calling, As a plaint of wilding dove. Crooning, sighing, soft-imploring, Full of grief and mother love. Are they children of the shadow. Spirits of love's afterglow. Babes that once slept on her bosom? None but God shall ever know. So within life's sunset garden. Where heart-yearnings blossom wild, Still a mother love is calling. Calling, "Come, dear child, dear child!" [3] TRUANTS VyUT of the womb of the earth, From a Hfe that is one in all, We fare alone from our birth. Lured on by the world-siren call, We, the sons of the All. And truants we speedily prove 'Neath the spell of ephemeral gain, Each man for himself and no love For the beggar or brother in pain. We, the descendants of Cain. Yet, lest we forget our one birth. Here is death with our names on a scroll, Who leads us all home to the earth. To our part in the great living whole, We, in our essence one soul. [4l THE BEGGAR A BEGGAR, gaunt and broken, empty-eyed, An abject wretch, before the Christ enthroned. Gazed long upon the Master crucified, Then dropped upon the altar stair and moaned: "Oh, to live again! To hve once more in the world of men! Another life, O Christ, unscarred and new, Now that I know and have will to do. Thou knowst my sins, my heedless ways. My foolish errors, faults, and misspent days. Mistakes of judgment, acts that stained my youth — See, each a rent, a mouth uncouth That mocks with shame from out my garment here. Have I not paid and paid most dear? — I, like midget crushed in the mindless dance Of blind and heartless circumstance. Is this Thy plan, this endless pain and strife, To win our wisdom at the price of life And then but die? Ah, God, why, why ? Show me mercy, pity these repentant tears, Forget my broken days, my wasted years, And let me live again!" Isl CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW He lay a heap of rags upon the stair, With anguished sobs his tortured heart was torn. Then stillness — the awful stillness after prayer, And from its soundless depths this word was born: "Outreach with endless faith thine endless strife, Its very endlessness is life. Out of thy broken days new Hfe is born. Thy need of light shall bring the morn. E'en to thy starless midnight gloom This life were naught, were death its empty doom. Beyond perfection life can never be. Behold, thy cry means immortality!" [6] THE SOUL OF APRIL SINGS W HITE blossoms star the orange trees, And their early coming wakes This drowsy drone of honey bees, This langorous fragrance on the breeze. As perfumed wind from purple seas — The sleep of winter breaks. The acacia bursts with radiant gold. And to the rose vine comes A blossoming so manifold Its petaled wealth no vine can hold, It spreads a snowdrift o'er the mold — The heart of April blooms. From cedar-top a mocking bird His rippling love-song flings, Afar a wild dove's call is heard, Anear a meadow lark is stirred To rouse the world with joyous word — The soul of April sings! [7l THE TAVERN HOST W E had journeyed long together, Failure, Poverty, and I. They had come, unsought companions. When my friends all passed me by. They had met me on Hfe's highway, Where the blinding dust is deep And the winding climb toils upward. Ever steeper and more steep; Touched their caps and called me comrade, Said they knew I was a friend, Asked me why and where I journeyed. Wished they might assistance lend. "I seek," I said, "a certain tavern That is called the Goal of Life. Oh, I weary of this struggle. Endless dust and endless strife!" "Well we know that famous tavern, — Why, a comrade is its host, — We know, too, a short road thither. Trust to us, you'll not be lost." [81 THE TAVERN HOST So we three trudged on together, Side by side we slept at night, And they left me not a moment Till the tavern came in sight. Then they laughed and nudged each other As they led me to the door Of a dark and tomb-Uke cavern. Where our footsteps on the floor Echoed like three dead men's voices, Mocking every act aloud. Till a chilling terror wrapped me. Like an icy funeral shroud. They called the host. He came, stern-visaged. "Bring us flagons of the best!" They laughed and told him I would pay him, - I, his silent, wondering guest. Much they drank. At last rose Failure, Shouting through his drunken breath, "Come, man, fill and drain thy goblet, Then pay thy score to our host — Death." At this our strange host hastens forward. And my friends fall back in fear, For he stands a Christ transfigured. And from his lips this word we hear: l9l CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW "Thrice fourfold he paid his quittance Bravely struggling toward my door. Here he rests an honored pilgrim, Welcome to its every store. "Listen! Death is death no longer Unto those who bear life's strife; Unto those who meet with Failure, I am greater. I am LIFE." [lo] THE BLIND GIRL'S LOVE SONG H] .E hath come! hath come! From outer dark he brings to me A sense of light that sings to me, That wraps my soul and clings to me, ■ My king hath come. He hath come ! hath come ! From heaven above this boon to me, A radiant love as June to me, A silver love as moon to me In him hath come. He hath come ! hath come ! His voice bounds all the world for me, His kiss has all unfurled for me A dawning earth dew-pearled for me, Till through his love I see! I seel Love's light hath cornel In] COMMON CLAY X HE Master placed within my hand A bit of common clay. "Of this make thee a life," he said, "Fashion it night and day." "But this, O Master, is cold earth, Insensate dust of death. For life I need Thy living fire, The flame of stars, the breath Of love, of joy, of wild desire. Those deathless dawns that light The surgent beauty of the day. The firmament at night." "Have faith in common clay," said He, "A mystic force is thine. As thou on the world's wheel shape thy clay, So shall it grow divine." [12] THE WINGED DAWN J. HE mighty mountain world lies dark in sleep, TiU Dawn, as some fair angel, wide outflings The rose-meshed pinions of her silent wings Along the dreaming east. With gilding sweep She mounts to heaven's crown; then, bending low, An angel's crimson-lipped kiss bestows Upon earth's mountained brow of gleaming snows,— A sacramental kiss, for in its glow And flush of rose lies all the blood and breath Of Dawn. Below, the earth in slumber seems To blush and smile, as 'neath the spell of dreams That lovers have. Above, in silvern death Dawn slowly dies and folds her wings away. But earth she kissed to life; for see — 'tis day! [13 LORD GOD OF MEN L( (ORD God of men, my father's Lord and mine, Hark to this cry of the broken, List to the stricken plea Of one earth-crushed 'neath a burden Of pain and pain's misery. Give back the strength now ebbing, Give back the old life zest, The joy of buoyant battle, The joy of endless quest. Was youth's exultant vigor, Youth's promised happiness, But granted for this ending Of tears and breathlessness? Were all my life ambitions Mirages of the morn? Were all my friends and friendships But mocking specters born? Was love of woman granted To multiply death's pain? — Given in perfect glory To prove all loving vain? [14] LORD GOD OF MEN Grant strength, O God, I implore it! Grant strength to love and hve. Give back the blood of courage To fight, O Lord, — give, give! Lord God of men, my father's Lord and mine, Eark not to this cry of me — broken, But grant me the light to see That here in Thy gift of this weakness Is the seed of new strength to me. [15] THY LIBERATOR, I Body ■A prisoner am I. No mortal strength on earth can free me, My past a galHng chain of weight, Each link some fault unfortunate, Till here in gyves you see me. In endless thrall dwell I." Soul "Thy liberator, I! Thy deathless hope, thy deep desire. Thy will that bursts the binding chain, Thy faith that, starHke, doth maintain The heaven's immortal fire — The all-transcendent I!" Ii6l EVANESCENCE JURIED are the morn's dew diamonds, Scattered the petaled rose, Stilled is the lark's clear music, — Where is it their spirit goes? Is it that every glory Must fade that man may know A deeper, richer beauty In memory's afterglow? [i7l WIND AND STARS 17 ATE came in cloud of crimson flame And swept my childhood's home from me. The night my only tent became — Yet wind and stars did comfort me. Fate sent a plague and took my strength, My joyous youth and hope from me; A stricken exile left at length — Still, wind and stars did comfort me. 'Neath friendship's mask Fate wooed my love, Estranged her, heart and soul, from me. Bereft, alone, still One above Sends wind and stars to comfort me. [i8] CHILDREN OF HEAVEN As spirits of heaven's love, born Where the sun embosoms the sea, Bodied as mists of the morn, And touched with the wind's mystery, They rise as great birds in their flight, Now winging aloft as in play. Now trying their pinions of white, — These gleaming cloud-children of day. They drift and they dream o'er the sea, A fairy-frilled, white-bosomed throng, TraiHng in infantile glee Their airy toy shadows along. Over broad valleys they ride. Over proud cities of men. Now romping and scattering wide, Now coming together again. They chng to the slumbering hills, They weep o'er a sun-parched plain, Till every dry creek runnel fills With the song of their silver rain. [19I CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW They smile at the sun of their birth, As he rides in the high stainless blue, They bow to the bare-bosomed earth, And a rainbow arches them through. On to the pine-purpled heights. Where forests in loneliness sleep. Where star armies' shimmering lights Their faithful night sentinel keep; On to the Pass of the Peaks, Fearing the storm's chilling breath. Huddled, each cloud spirit seeks Way through to the Desert of Death. Down over gaunt haggard hills, Into the desert they crowd, — That caldron whose flame ever kills, Whose breath is a fiery shroud. So melting and fading away. Fading and dying each one. Pass slowly these children of day, Pass back to the soul of the sun. [20] TO WHAT END? I V>In drags the wheel of the days, Idle and tenantless days. Gray time never varies his ways, Each day passes just as before, Slips by like the sun on the floor, And man bitterly questions, "Wherefore, wherefore?" Up crawl the life-crushing years. Aimless and meaningless years, Darkened by dumb spectral fears That pain and monotony send To watch by the bedside as friend. Till life's misery echoes, "What end, what end?" II Fast whirls the wheel of the days. Busying, dizzying days. All life is but one blinding blaze, Each breath is as never before, Each act warms the heart to the core. No time to question "Wherefore, wherefore?" [21] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW On whirls man's cycle of years, Joyous, all-glorious years, For with them come love and love's tears; And living and loving now tend All days, nights, and decades to blend In one paean of joy. And yet — to what end? What end? [22] THE WORKER ri E closed his eyes and drank life deep, For him the lees spoiled not the wine. He asked of God nor seal nor sign, Content to sow, content to reap, Without one thought of meed divine. In sweat of toil he found life's zest, The moment's work was mastering lord, The long day's call a two-edged sword To fight one's way to well-earned rest; The joy of work was work's reward, *'But why and wherefore? Say, what end To all thy ceaseless toil? What lies Before, beyond? Why forge new ties To earth for Death's fell hand to rend?" These his fellows' taunting cries. He pondered long. What had God meant? He never learned. No sage was he To solve God's deep philosophy. Once more he toiled in faith content, And faith dissolved life's mystery. [23] LOVE'S RHYTHM OECAUSE your heart went singing, Mine sang too; And straight my life went swinging To a rhythmic, joyful ringing, Because of you. Because your heart must sorrow, I grieve too; In tears to-day, to-morrow, A deeper life I borrow. Because of you. Because all love in giving Bears love anew, I greaten in this living That hymns the one thanksgiving Of loving you. 24 1 AMOR IMMORTALIS Yi EA, Death, thou canst come. O withering wind of all this earth-born life, O dreaded night, enwombing all to come, Dark silent judge of man's rapacious strife, Of days of toil and joy Hfe's sum — Yea, Death, thou canst come! Come, And take the treasured husk, This clay so worn and lusk. One breath and we behold This Hfe a crumbling mold. Stilled its every fray. Thy will no man may stay; — And yet one law restrains Thy hand. One truth remains: I love, am loved. And see How this love transfigures me! Greater I am than aught Thy hand has ever wrought; Greater, O Death, than thee Or thy fell destiny. All else may fade away. Thy night enshroud the day, E'en stars and worlds unmake, — But love thou canst not take. [25] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW O strong-armed reaper of our lesser life, O cold-lipped giver of all lives to come, Thou mighty silencer of human strife, Of earthly gifts alone the sum, — Yea, Death, thou canst cornel [26] A WOMAN B 'Y the sorrow in her eyes That mists her sight, By the stifled sobs that rise In the night, By the quiver of her lips, Well I know Life's one joy has seen eclipse In life's woe. Yet no sympathy she asks Nor grieving brings ; Pale, she plies her daily tasks, And she sings. [27] SYMPATHY 1. LAY on a sufferer's pallet, Stricken and bruised and worn; Spirit and flesh were broken, On wheel of pain were torn. I faced the murky midnight. My faith submerged by doubt; I quailed 'neath endless torture Till my soul in revolt cried out: "O God, my God, have mercy, Make end to this misery!" And God himself made answer, "I suffer, too, in thee." As child at his mother's bosom Is kissed and pain forgot, I found in God a father. And lo, I suffered not. [281 THE WORLD SPIRIT I AM the dew and the dust, I am the dawning day, I am the seed that must Bud, blossom, and decay. I am the wind from the hills, The light from the evening star, I am the rain that wills Green fields where deserts are. I am the joy that sings In souls that never part, I am the grief that wrings The tears from a mother's heart. I am the law of the earth, Its spirit, its life, its breath; I am the seed of its birth And the seed of its greater death. I am the worlds that were And the worlds that are yet to be; No force will ever defer My cosmic destiny. [29] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW Redeeming through love and through strife, All things in me rehearse. I am the inner Ufe, The soul of the universe. [30] WIND ECHOES Jr ULL from the gates of the westering day The wind sings a song of the sea, Learned where the white-fanged billows play In restless immensity. Far on the mountain's precipitous height The pines feel the breath of the sea, And sing to the stars of a cloudless night Their deep ocean harmony. Had these faltering words but the wings of the wind, How they'd rise in their flight unto thee! And, whispering echoes in spirit and kind, Sing the songs in the heart of me. I31I THE DESERT SOUL 1 HE great city babbled its lying word, His brothers proved thieves, his own sister erred. Embittered, he turned from its sordid strife, Agnostic, he cursed them, cursed all Ufa, And wandered alone to the desert's rim. Its kingdom of death was a balm to him, His hatred of life seemed to find its aim In this heartless, merciless, withering flame. And there 'neath a limitless, blue burning dome He built him a hovel and called it home. Then slowly a change o'er his soul was wrought. He dwelt there alone, yet alone he was not, — Some being, some power far greater than he. Lay hid in this infinite mystery; And lo, from the depths of that solitude Was born a new spirit of brotherhood. He loved its mirages, its quick-shifting sands. The sun-dying glow o'er the barren lands. The dawn's saffron fires, the wind storm's mist, The night's veiHng shadows of amethyst. He felt he was nothing, an atom of soul. And yet he was part of that living whole. His breath became one with the desert's breath, [32] THE DESERT SOUL A life he attained from this womb of death, A life that blossomed like Aaron's rod, For he found here the Infinite, found here his God. Here, where death reigns 'neath a pitiless sun. He knew that Life, Death, and God are all one. [33] FROM THE HILLS OF TOURMALINE r ROM the hills of tourmaline, Where the skies are sapphire sheen, Where the earth has piled her treasure — Bloodstones, beryl without measure, Turquoise holding heaven's azure. Hyacinth and emerald green; From the hills of tourmaline, Where the days are opaline, Where the dawn's beams never tire Of touching aU with sunrise fire To make one gem worth love's desire, A living soul incarnadine; From these hills of tourmaline. Where deep-hued garnets almandine Dartle rays of beauty fleeting, All — aU these jewels in one thought meeting, I send you here a lover's greeting, — From my hills of tourmaline. [34I THE ROSES OF THY LOVE G< rONE are the roses you gave me, Fallen and withered and dead, And yet they still live in their message, Though their color and fragrance are fled. For while they drooped and were dying, A sun ray from some heaven came And touched every rose crimson petal Till it leapt into rose crimson flame. E'en so is my gift and the giver Transfigured, as though from above. By the Ught of thy thought and thy bringing, By the rose crimson flame of thy love. 35] FROM THE HEART OF A BRETON MOTHER Vy THOU treacherous, passionate sea! Insatiable, hungry-mouthed sea! Thy thousand tongues calling, Each wild child enthralling, Thou hast lured from my arms all my fair and my brave. Wild treasure tales bringing. False siren songs singing. Thou hast borne them away on thy merciless wave. Thou temptress at suing. Thou harlot at wooing, To call one and all to thy bridal-bed grave, Hath thy heart no compassion For a soul that is ashen? Wilt thou hear this mad mother in tears ever rave? Thou dripping-jawed monster, See, see how life haunts her In the ghosts of the seven dead children she gave! Thou hast left this world black for me — Give, give my dead back to me ! Ah, grant the cold kiss that my withered lips crave. O thou treacherous, passionate sea! Insatiable, hungry-mouthed sea ! [36] THE GREATER LOVE 1T.E stood as some Apollo crowned In strength of limb and grace of head. His beauty was a thrall that bound, His beauty was her wine and bread. ''All love in beauty lies," she said. She bowed before that man's desire, The gifts love asked were not denied ; Her life flamed up with all that fire That first love grants in greatest tide. "Ah, love is joy, all joy !" she cried. A child lay ill upon her breast, She felt in fear Ufe's lessening ties, Uprose and labored without rest, And then she knew wherein love lies: Her greatest love was sacrifice. I37l FATE AND I 1 HINE the fault, not mine!" I cried, Brooding bitterly; And Fate looked grim and once again Closed in and grappled me. "Mine, not thine, the fault," I said, Discerning verity; And Fate arose and clasped my hand And made a man of me. [38I THE TRYST G( rONE — he is gone! And here I stand and watch his moonlit way, As if this silent silver thread might lead him back to me. Gone, engulfed by that last hungry shadow Where the tapering pines blot out the trail. Gone — and yet, how he lives within me still! He lives, he lives! 'Tis he, this breath of God that steals across my soul, This surgiQg joy that floods my frightened heart, This warm soft touch upon my brow and hair, This burning chrism of love divine That lives as nectar on my lips. 'Tis he! 'Tis he! Gone — and yet he still abides with me! 39] A FRIEND Hi . E shared his every pleasure, Gave all great-heartedly; And yet I felt some treasure Was still denied to me — Something I could not borrow; Something he would not lend; Until he shared his sorrow. Then — then he was a friend. [40I STARWARD D] 'ESPAIR? How can a deathless soul despair? Though measureless thy depths of woe, Though never yet man fell so low, There still remains one breath for prayer, The will to strive, to rise again, To purge thy stain before all men, To reach star heights though still ye plod. Then, brother, Hst and place belief in this, Though unbelievable : No ill stands irremediable, No sin stands irretrievable Before the eyes of God. l4il THOUGH THY FOE BE UNCONQUERABLE DEATH V IGHT, though the whole world oppose thee. Fight, though the grim heartless strife Withhold the one crown that it owes thee, The joy that might laurel thy life. Yet fight! In the sting of the taking and giving, In the blood that oft blindeth thy sight, In the rising through failure lies living, The living that triumphs through fight. So fight! Fight, though each dawn grow no brighter, And, fallen, the end summoneth. For a victory lies for the fighter Beyond the cold glory of death. Then fight, fight, ;^g/if/ [42] KINGS Y, EA, all this world thy kingdom is, And thou thyself its crowned king. Are not seas, stars, and peoples his Whose soul is royal in conquering? Thy mind and soul stand limitless, In thee the kingly greatness lies. As thou thy part, just more or less, Of this vast life can realize. Then know thy world and thou shalt see That worlds on worlds are ever thine, And know thyself and it shall be To thee a heritage divine. Take, take with eager, hungry hand The greater life the mind can bring. Take, take, and thou shalt understand That thou thyself art king! [43] THE JOY OF THE ROAD O H, the joy of the road, the joy of the road! Wild joy of tramping free! A windy sky, — Great clouds scud by, And the joy of the world's in me! Oh, my road is aflame with the joy of the dawn ! It glows with the gold of noon And leads at night Through shadowed light To the heart of the argent moon. Oh, I know not where my road began, Its end no man can see; Enough, there's sun And a song begun And this joy of the road in me ! [44 1 TO THE U. S. CRUISER CALIFORNIA G( rODSPEED our namesake cruiser, Godspeed till the echoes cease ! 'Fore all may the nation choose her To speak her will for peace ; That she in the hour of battle Her western fangs may show, That from her broadsides' rattle A listening world may know — She's more than a fighting vessel, More than mere moving steel, More than a hull to wrestle With the currents at her keel; That she bodies a living spirit, The spirit of a state, A people's strength and merit. Their hope, their love, their fate. She bodies their soul of fire For justice, truth, and right, And speaks their fierce desire When God decrees to fight. [45] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW She carries their adoration Where'er o'er seas she fares, The love and pride of the nation Whose sacred name she bears. May the war gods ne'er refuse her First place in the battle's van. Godspeed our namesake cruiser, Godspeed her every man! (Read at the presentation of the State's silver service to the cruiser California on May 8, 1908.) [46] FIRE AND SMOKE v>Ih, the pungent odor of burning brush! How all my youth in one uprush Is conjured back by the fragrant leaves Of pine and eucalyptus trees ! A barefoot boy in a wonder world, Where fire dragons lie encurled In the gardener's flames that hiss and dance And die at the thrust of my wooden lance; Or, Crusoe-like, on desert isle I touch my match to a sea-drift pile. To thwart the murderous cannibal Of a toothsome small boy festival. Stealing into the vacant lot We roast potatoes, piping hot. Black as coals, hard at the core — But oh, the savory taste they bore! Desperate now, as buccaneer, We overhaul a privateer, Drag off its treasure chest with toil, And by our fire divide the spoil. [47] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW And when we tire of that romance, Like Indians ringed around in dance, We vault the coals with whooping note, With tear-filled eyes and choking throat, Making more real the wild refrain, Till the neighbors vow us all insane. Oh, the poignant, palpitant sense of joy In fire and smoke to the heart of a boy ! [48] WHO KNOWS? I LEFT a maiden in a far land Where the orange blossom blows. Did she weep perhaps at parting, Did she fear that our sweet-hearting All was drawing to a close? Ah, who knows, who knows? I left a maiden in that south land Where the pomegranate grows. Did she chide the fate, I wonder, That has cast us far asunder, Like the seeds a storm wind blows? Ah, who knows, who knows? I left a maiden in that sun land, Where the white-belled yucca grows. Can it be she, too, is yearning Even now for my returning To her land of sunset glows? Ah, who knows, who knows? [49 ONE WAY J\ SUN-RAY once kissed the young lips of a rose, And she blushed to a burning red. He begged for another from dawn to day's close, And she gave him her heart instead. A maiden I know with rose-petaled lips That tempt one a kiss to impart; But in loving a man so easily slips, — Would it prove a wise path to her heart? I 50] MOTHER NIGHT All earth is her bosom given, Her hills my pillows are, Her mother face all heaven. Her eyes in every star. With soft warm winds she sings me A lullaby that chants, And the deep child sleep she brings me Falls from the kiss she grants. [51] AS THE WINDS WILL A LL heaven was clear that day, Of clearest springtime blue. My life laughed with the May, When love came true. But now, the year forestalled. All days are gray and dead; My life is winter thralled, For love hath fled. [52] ALMA MATER T( O thee, O California, To thee we pledge again. Great-hearted, kindly mother, Mother of stalwart men. As soldiers home from warfare Greet her who gave them birth, Who armed and bade them battle To prove their name and worth, So we return, O Mother, Bearing in gratitude Life's glory spoils to laurel Thy generous motherhood. One in our love and honor, One in our praise of thee, As one we stand together, Pledged for thy victory. O Mother of Wisdom, O Mother of Light, To-night we salute thee, To-morrow we fight. (Read at the reunion of the class of '99, Nov. 12, 1909) [53] THE FOUR WINDS I COME from the sapphire floes of the north, I shout as my whitening blasts are unfurled, I mantle the mountains till each tree stands forth A glory of silver and laces, empearled. Stern father am I, a law to the world. I come from the east, from the portals of dawn, I've swept the broad sea of its shadows of night, My word from its opaline Vv^ave crests is drawn, A chant of sea strength, a song of sea might. Thy brother am I, a bringer of light. In the dreamy luxuriant south I take birth. Its rich tangled lowlands by me are caressed; I fold to my heart vast love of the earth, I garner its meadow blooms close to my breast. Thy mother am I, a mother of rest. I come from the crimson-tongued embers of day, Of redolent pines and the prairie grass rife; I laugh and I sing on my passionate way, I glory in power, I glory in strife. Thy lover am I, the breath of thy life. [54] THE CHILD FROM THE MILL A AM tired, mother, tired. Oh, I ache for night's release From this whirr and grinding clatter — Night's starlit, dreamless peace. Is ever life so bitter To those who serve the right? Does ever moneyed justice End master in the fight? I am tired, mother, tired. Thy kiss shall numb my pain. Thine arm-enfolding slumber Shall right my world again. [55] "MINE THE BURDEN" X HE new Pope from his matins rose And sought that ancient garden close Where flowering earth for a lowly span Gives breath to the high-piled Vatican. His new attendants stood aside, Deeming they knew what thoughts must bide Within the mind that here made store Of all the wealth his ofhce bore; How he must glory in the sway That crowned him spirit sun of day, Keeper and king of heaven's key, Sovereign of Catholic empery. But see what sights his eye engage, As now he halts before a cage Where wilding birds of plumage rare A close-barred garden prison share. He calls a guard. "Throw ope the bars! Give them the freedom of the stars." Then, turning, wistfully walks away, And only a servant hears him say : [56I "MINE THE BURDEN" "I shrink not from Thy labor, Lord; Mine the burden, cross or sword. But not these birds, — I only am Prisoner in Thy Vatican." IS7l DESERT SLEEP From far across the desert a stray coyote calls, Its mate in echo answers, and then a stillness falls That is the soul of silence, the breathlessness of night, The shadow of a spirit that is the Infinite. A warm sage-scented wind breathes drowsily of rest, Strange golden-sanded vistas, half dream, grow manifest. Now comes a sense of vastness, of earth, of stars, of sea, And from the heart of heaven, night's benedicite. IS8] THE CALLING LiST! it is a wild dove calling, Calling from the camphor tree. Now from out the lower woodland Hear love's answer distantly. List! the winds of sprmg are calling, Whispering through the osier wands. Breathing words of Hfe and promise, And the soul of spring responds. Listen, love, my heart is calling, CalHng as that woodland dove. Has thy heart no word of answer To the song, "I love, I love" ? 59 1 THE MIRACLE I KNOW Thou canst," the cripple cried in prayer. "O God, Thou canst! Thy spirit everywhere In wondrous works Thy glory doth attest. In me a miracle make manifest ! One breath, O God, to consecrate this soul, One word, one touch to make this body whole." Unmoved in mystic silence God remained, And yet his faith the cripple still retained. "Thou canst, O God, I know Thou canst !" and then, To prove God's might and power unto men, That cripple rose and walked erect and well. So God through man had wrought his miracle. [60] LOVE IS A STAR X-iOVE is a star, Whose rosy beam Raises our eyes above this earth To glimpse a heaven of golden dream. Love is a star. Love is a rose, Whose petaled soul Opes to the breath of her sun love's kiss, Gives of her life and gives it whole. Love is a rose. Love is the dawn, Whose arrowed ray Pierces the shrouded veils of night, Rose-floods the world and leaves night day. Love is the dawn. Yet love is still more — Worlds more than this. Can dawn or the rose the infinite tell? Can even the star foretoken thy kiss? Nay, Love, thou art more! [6il THE MAD SINGER Oi 'UT of the dusks of evening came A roadside beggar, blind and lame. Fumbling his cap, he paused before Three guests who dined by a tavern door, Men full blessed of fortune's dower, Masters of wealth, of name, of power. Now, why that beggar, I can't surmise, Fixed just these three with his sightless eyes. He waited their silence. Then in strong And piercing voice began this song : "Hear me, stranger, hear me sing, Happy in my suffering. Blind am I and yet I see The roots of all thy poverty. " Knowest thou not that naught thou art But pulsing blood in thy brother'' s heart ? Give that blood. The world hath need OJ flowers from thy heart's red seed. "Give thy cloak and rise new dressed In robes that poverty hath blessed. Give thyself, thy heart, thy soul, And live the life of all men, whole. [62] THE MAD SINGER "Seest thou not that man to live Must often die ? to have, must give ? Hear me, stranger, hear me sing. And help this world's dark suffering. '' "A madman's song! Was ever heard," Said one rich man, "such words absurd ? " "The wanton fool!" another cried; "Were wild words truth, yet still he lied. Here, keeper, put this vagrant out! Shall meals be spoiled by a crazy lout?" Beaten and cursed and set upon, Adown the night the beggar's gone. 'Tis strange, but now their evening meat Has lost all taste, their wine its sweet. Ease and joy had taken flight With a wandering clown. And as that night Each man went home beneath the moon. He heard in the wind that beggar loon — Wild words that echoing burned his brain, Ever rewaihng in weird refrain: "Hear me, stranger, hear me sing. And help this world's dark suffering. Blind am I and yet I see The root of all thy poverty.'* [63] THE WORLD IN ITS BLINDNESS 1. HE blind world sees him pass, Weak and wan and ill; It sees the pain he has, Knows not his inner will. It sees but the spirit's mesh. Its dark and cankerous dole, Knows not that this scarred flesh Marks the triumph of a soul. [64] THE ORIENT DAWN'S FIRST SHADOW 1 HE orient dawn's first shadow Has rimmed the desert sky, And tides of roseate amber Now deepen, fade, and die. The lark has left the mesa And ripples out his song, A mad ecstatic greeting, Full-throated, clear, and strong. The hills in drowsy twihght Are fairy hills of dream, Where sprites and elves are dancing In day's fast fading beam. High stands the jeweled Corona, Haloed at heaven's crest. While Scorpio, ruby gleaming. Wheels slowly to the west. The dawn, the stars, the mountain, Each speaks the god- will true; And ever their soul of beauty Quickens my thought to you. [65] WORK! W ORK ! though no master bless thee With the gold of a great reward. Work ! though the yoke oppress thee And thy true worth be ignored. For in work lies thy life's salvation, And thy pain shall pass away In the joy of a god's creation, In the peace of a workman's day. [66 TOO BRIEF THE DAY {Upon the death of a child) L, ^IKE to a tear of purest dew Born to a petaled blossom, For one brief day, dear spirit, you Lay nestled on my bosom. And, like that pearl, too fair to stay, Too frail for life's noon hour. The great sun bore your soul away — And left this drooping flower. [67I UNCROWNED DAYS 1 HELD love's jewel within my hand, Its pricelessness was absolute. Then envious fate an ambush planned, And robbed and left me destitute. Yet rich am I in poverty, My wooden cup a goblet gold, These beggar raiments that you see No servile beggar soul enfold. For still her heart is all my own, And though possession be denied, In thought and love of her alone My uncrowned days are justified. [68] FELLOW FAITH X HEY cried his shame upon the public street, Their fellowman who had a trust betrayed. Alone he stood before the judgment seat And heard their verdict, that his Hfe unmade. All save one. One there was who kept A faith beyond the crime, who heard and wept. Ten years the branding stripes burned deep their shame. Crushed out his faith in man and God. The end, Revenge and anarchy. Then forth he came, To find at prison door that one true friend; And lo! this faith of one gave back again A sin-purged soul to God, a man to men. [69] EARTH'S BLOSSOMS DIE J. HE bubble on the fountain breaks, Each flower fades and dies; The sable night too soon o'ertakes The gold of westering skies. E'en so thy love. I thought, dear heart, 'Twas wrought of finer breath, Contrived of some immortal art Beyond the grasp of death. And still the sunlit bubbles break. In dust earth's blossoms lie ; Yet why, O God, must love forsake The arms of love and die ! [70I IN GOD'S WINE PRESS -/xLONE she left her low Carpathian hills, Where tyrant law its tyrant wrong fulfills, Where feudal taxes and the dreaded knout Combine to crush the peasant life blood out; As she in autumn crushed the purple grape, Leaving no orb, no cluster to escape The naked feet in the dark-stained vats. For years Had she the gnarled vines pruned; with hopes and fears Had hoarded till the tollgate pittance grew Sufficient, — a copper purse that would, she knew, Free her at last, bear her beyond the sea Unto her life's one goal of liberty. They passed her rudely with a rabble horde Of babel-tongued companions. Without a word She sat and saw her visioned bliss In freedom's million-mouthed metropolis. But honest labor for an honest hand She asked of all this treasure-yielding land; Merely the chance, her rightful opportunity. To sing, to work, to live in liberty. But tongue was halting and her speech came thick, Her peasant brain foresaw no undertrick [71] CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW When smooth- voiced sons of liberty approached And of a golden store of earning broached. For she was deep of bosom, good to see, With her peasant eyes of childish purity. They led her through a land, broad, rich, and fair, Unto a city's red-lamped depths, and there They left her to — Ah, God! the Ufe of shame Unspeakable. Ensnared, she soon became Enmanacled by crime, without redress, Downthrust and crushed in life's ensanguined press Crushed as 'neath the naked feet of God, Until her soul's blood, oozing, stained the sod Of all the land with shame, she fell so low. Crushed by life? by fate? by God? Ah, no! By us, her fellowmen, so smug and free Within our vaunted land of liberty. l72] THE LIFE-JOY Oh the breath of life is good! This sun and air I drink, These hills I look upon, These stars that quivering sink Into the day that's gone, They stir the laggard blood With breath of brotherhood, And hfe, I cry, is good! Is good! I 73] SONGS OF YOSEMITE A MASTER CALLS The Merced River V ROM the proud granite crests of the world, Where winter's drift silver is furled, The sun grants me being. My frozen soul freeing, — A watersprite valleyward hurled. And straightway I gather new might. As I race in tempestuous flight, Ceaselessly pouring A thunderous roaring That echoes through day and through night; Now over the glacier-carved walls, From heights that my wild soul enthralls, In mid air outleaping, With cloud mists outsweeping. And rainbows that halo my falls. The lush mountain meadows I lave, Their emerald with crystal I pave, As laughingly swirluig I'm fretting and purling Their marge with my white lapping wave. [77I CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW On, on through a granite-walled gorge, In anger its boulders I scourge, Now grinding and churning Its bed at my turning, I lash and I leap and I surge. What spirit impetuous fills My wild being? What god ever wills This crashing and bounding, This endless resounding, That rings through the great granite hills? Ever down to an unknown home. From heavens unknown I come. Ah, why this mad seething, Eternally wreathing These flowers of silvery foam? Why I go, what I am or shall be? For a river there's naught but the sea. Some master is calling, And I, ever falUng, Know only my soul would be free. [78] CLOUD MIST Yosemite Falls A BURST of molten silver, born Of mountain snow, That bears the beauty of the morn Within its flow. A wave of streaming white that falls, And, falling, flings Against the gray old granite walls Its silver wings. A whitened fire from out the sky, Whose arrowed strands In sunlight gleam and flash and die, Like earth-hurled brands. A rush, as surges of the sea, That, dashing, wakes Dull echoes of a musketry Where'er it breaks. A river turned to cloud mist, blown By every breath, Yet coming to its crystal own. After death. [79I WILD WATERS Nevada Falls J_yIKE outburst volcanic Of forces titanic She flings her white storm flood far forth on the air; A body stupendous, Some wild thing tremendous, That leaps like a beast from its high mountain lair. In white anger breaking, Her drenched mane outshaking, She roars as she pours down a thunder cloud doom ; A furious leaping. Her flanks ever steeping With froth of her spray drift, enfanged with her spume. Beneath, a wild boiling, BHnd surging and roiling. Mad glory of power, mad glory of might; Wild frenzy of forces Fresh burst from their sources. White blood of the mountains in unbridled flight. l8o] TRAIL SONG Then it's ho! for the pack On the dusty track And ho ! for the roadside rills. A song for the trail Through gorge and swale, That leads to the giant hills. Up ! Storm the heights Where first dawn lights And vales where nothing stills The thundering call Of stream and fall In the heart of the giant hills. Breathe deep their air So clear and rare, Breathe deep the joy that thrills. Though muscles ache, No steep forsake, — There's strength in the giant hills. And oh! the rest On the mountain's crest When night the day fulfills. Beneath a pine, Where great stars shine, Asleep in the giant hills. I8il CHILDREN OF THE SHADOW Then up and sing Till rock-walls ring And echo heaven fills! A wild heigh-ho To the vale below ! Life sings in the giant hills! [82] SHADOWED SPLENDOR Mirror Lake /x REACH of shadowed splendor in the silence of the dawn, Of purity transcendent, Holding earth and heaven pendant Within a mystic mirror as breathless as the morn. Vision of mountain beauty, deep-shadowed, motionless, A jewel in granite setting, A soul in dream forgetting Its power of enchantment, its depths of loveliness; Spirit of sleeping waters, how like man's soul thou art! Touched of earth about thee, Colored of Hfe without thee, Yet holding this gleam of heaven within thine inner heart. [83I SPIRIT HEIGHTS The Valley Walls by Moonlight X 00 great, too grand in fearful majesty, These valley walls that shut the heavens out. They crush with heartless over-strength and flout The pettiness of man's mortaHty; Immense, colossal, vast, Rude mountain strength upmassed. Within their scarred and furrowed front is writ That life of brutal strength which knows no law Beyond a greater force, — Time's storms that split The heart of stone, or ledge and crevice gnaw — A tale of heartless strife, This world's material life. So before the all-revealing light of day They stand. But now day fades, with failing breath Day dies; and night shrouds all with glooms of death, Blots out these signs of strife in death's kind way, And final word now says In awful silences. But lo, a flood of silver lucence creeps A-down the night and bodies forth in light. From source unseen, these self-same valley steeps; Transmutes each granite cHff to marble height, And purges with its kiss Each grim stained precipice. [84] SPIRIT HEIGHTS The same in massive shape and mighty line And towering form of splendent majesty They stand, yet veiled in tides of mystery — Pale tides that bathe in their ethereal wine Each starry-arrased edge, Each pine-enshadowed ledge. Great spirit masses now they gently fade, Form on form. With all God's world in tune They rest, softened, silvered, overlaid With vestal raiments of the virgin moon; Drenched in a silence white And pure as their own hght. O life divine! O soul of the finer soul ! What if, at last, when night's great shadow falls. Thou shouldst stand forth like yonder spirit walls. The truth of spirit shining through the corporal whole, In every line and shelf Thyself and not thyself; The worn stained vesture of this world, unseen In the truer light that, from some distant sphere, Shall bare the soul from all its flesh terrene. And let, at last, in light divine appear The deathless personality, — Thyself, thy soul now free In simple spirit majesty. [8S1 SEED DRIFT WEALTH Gi riVE of thyself. Man's wealth depends, Not on the pence he holds and hoards, Not on the gift he well affords, But on the spirit-gold he spends. THE BREAD AND THE WINE VJOD took the gleaming goblet of the day And filled it with the star-shine wine of night ; Man drank of beauty's sacramental light, Saw Hfe in all, and found new words to pray. [89] NOW W OULDST thou the master of time's ages be, Live now. Put all thy soul into the act Of this one moment — now. With life compact, For thee this instant means eternity. CHRISTMAS STARS T, HE Christmas stars are dancing, A-thrill with ecstasy. A world-joy all entrancing, Christ-love men's lives enhancing Uplifts humanity: And the Christmas stars are dancing, A-thrill with ecstasy. I90I THE LEAVEN J_yABOR is thy daily bread, And love the needed leaven That through the heavy years is spread, To lift thy life to heaven. THE SPARK J_-/IKE flint the world to him remained, But his will was tempered steel. And in life's forging fires he gained The joy that masters feel. [91I A WOMAN TO HER HAND-MIRROR {Suggested by a French song of the 14th century) Ai .MI — tell me — am I fair? Youth were wont in other days These eyes, these lips, this brow to praise, And all this wealth of golden hair. Yet now — ah, tell me, am I fair? THE MASSES A HEIR dull ears hear the truth in vain, Their minds in mists are furled; But speak unto the hearts of men And thou shalt move the world. [92I SONG-BIRTH A VAGRANT phantom caught, Its gossamer soul a thought That glows with meaning marvelous; Glows until it wakes In haloed light and takes New form and beauty luminous. Wild seed of fancy's throng, It bursts a flowering song. A WOMAN SPEAKS J. OFFER, Fate, my all to thee. This name, these jewels, great property. And beg one boon — no other. Life's final goal and joy for me Lies in this heart-born hope to be A lover and a mother. I93] VISION JL HE fibre of man's life is wrought In what he strives to see, In image of his highest thought: — Just so his God shall be. THE MARTYR X HE while they bound his arms he calmly said, "Alive a man hath little strength, but dead. The might of millions. Wait! By this decree Thy victor — not thy victim — I shall be! " 94] MATERNITY ^HE felt the soft warm hands' caress, The lips in hunger steal, And knew a love and tenderness That man can never feel. THE LIFE-LOVE I BOW beneath a blood-stained rod, In bitter anguish cry, And yet, for love of life, O God, Behold, I would not die! [9Sl FROM THE SHADOW iriE who suffers sees a world Beyond his fellows' ken, As one from some dark cave of earth Sees stars unseen by men. NO "N O!" he said, and none then knew The sacrifice it meant, Nor how a soul to greatness grew Through this relinquishment. 96 O ^OW, MY HEART Strange hungry shadows run Gray ghosts my path along; And yet, my day's not done — Be strong, my heart, be strong I Strange night is creeping down, Darkening wave on wave. Will dawn these shadows crown? O now, my heart, be brave, Be brave ! DAWN i HE silent, slumbering world lies dark entombed by night, Yet morn arises from that tomb in beauty rife. So dawns another day, so dawns another life : Out of the dusks of this shall come the Greater Light. I97I JUN 15 1911 One copy del. to Cat. Div. |H^ 15 1911 LlbHflRY OF CONGRESS lilillilllliiitiiiiii . 015 873 922 7 •