I A Southern Flight FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN CLINTON SCOLLARD i n Book COPYRIGHT DEPOSm Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/southernflightOOsher A Southern Flight A Southern Flight Frank Dempster Sherman Clinton Scollard George William Browning M DCCCC V Copyrighted igo§ by Frank Dempster Sherman & Clinton Scollard C-cipy 2. \'- Two GsBies ?ie«ieEVsC': OCT 18 ^905 CONTENTS A Southern Flight ix A Sea Nocturne xi Saint Augustine xiii The Tree Tavern XV A Song xvii The Jessamine Bower xviii A Florida Tulip XX A Florida Night xxii At Dusk xxiii At Fort Marion xxiv The Cathedral Bells XX vi The Fortress of San Marco xxvii Night on the Sea- Wall XXV iii A Southern Balcony xxix Dawn in Carolina XXX To a Mocking Bird xxxi Night off Hatteras xxxii The Spell xxxiii Morning by the Matanzas xxxiv In Absence XXXV Song at Daybreak xxxvii Nocturne xxxviii Serenades in the South xxxix Spring Song xli The Night Voyage xliii The Message xliv The Wind in the Palms xlv At Her Window xlvii The Silent Day xlix Longings 1 Dorchester Churchyard li Dorchester Fort liii A Balcony Song liv At Twilight Iv Noontide Ivi Sunset Ivi Moonlight Ivii A Thrush Singing Iviii Bon Voyage lix Weary of the Winter s prose. Leave it for a little while ; Seek the realm of rhyme and rose, In the southland^ s sunny smile. Find again the joys that came With the June and with her sped; Find the Summer and the same Flawless sapphire overhead. She and all her dreams await In the Eden of the South ; We shall greet her at the gate With a red rose in her mouth. Winter we shall soon forget, For in that enchanted clime God to melody has set All the sweet of summer-time ! A SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Southern Flight The winter day dragged drearily In icy pallidness away Before we flung our hawsers free, And dropped adown the Bay. Then twilight swooped ; the shore grew blind, Save where the sunset's gusty pink Stained the embattled clouds behind The hills of Navesink. Soon Barnegat flared out its fire As we the purple ridges clomb ; Five-Fathom Bank its white desire Flashed o'er the fields of foam. And ere the dawn broke vermeil-bright O'er beryl league on weltering league. Shimmered across the void of night The star of Assateague. i X A SOUTHERN FLIGHT We dreamed we saw the twin capes pass Through shredded fog that worketh dole, And caught round stormy Hatteras The long Atlantic roll. Afar from Lookout and from Fear We faced and cleft the flying flaw ; Tall Tybee's tower we left a-rear, And lonely Ossabaw. Then on a morning blithe and bland The land, — the longed-for land ! — and, ah. Above the tawny dunes of sand The palms of Florida ! The palms, the sunshine, and the breath Of flowers, the sky without a stain ; And after winter's dearth and death, Summer and life again ! H () i: T H K K N FLIGHT A Sea Nocturne Above the sea in splendor The new moon hangs alone, A silver crescent slender Set in a sapphire zone ; Around me breathe the tender, Sweet zephyrs of the south : Night will not let My heart forget Her kisses and her mouth. The loose sails idly swinging, The ship lights' glow and gleam. The bell-buoys' muffled ringing, Drive all my thoughts to dream,- To dream of her voice singing The songs I love the best : Night will not let My heart forget Where she has made her nest. F. D. 8. X 1 OUTHEKN FLIGHT O Love, where art thou biding While hangs this moon on high ? Star in the twilight hiding, Come forth and light the sky- Above the ship slow gliding Over the southern sea : Night will not let My heart forget Love's eyes that shine for me ! xli A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Saint Augustine Quaint old town by the sea Under the southern star, Sleepy with sun, to me Dear as a dream you are ! The climbing jasmines bar Your balconies with their green ; Ever you lure from afar, Fair Saint Augustine ! Ever you lure when the year Over the north-land throws A spell that is white and drear, A mantle of sleet and snows ; Ever your sunset's rose, Your water's shifting sheen. Beckon the heart that knows Fair Saint Augustine ! Strange are your narrow streets With their dull, half-Spanish air ; The palms, and the song that greets The ear from the mock-birds there ; The slave-mart in the square ; And, high o'er the drowsy scene, The bells that sound to prayer. Fair Saint Augustine ! C. 8. X 1 i i SOUTHERN FLIGHT Down by the long sea-wall Fondly the lovers stroll ; The bell-buoy sends its call In from the harbor shoal ; The old fort hears the roll Of the tide where its ramparts lean,- Shell of a far-flown soul, — Fair Saint Augustine ! Memoried town by the sea, Take what little is mine, — This strain of melody To the palm land from the pine, This slender lyric line From one whose heart has been Thine, and is ever thine. Fair Saint Augustine ! X 1 V C. 8. A SOUTHERN FLICIHT The Tree Tavern In the Tavern of the Tree, Listen to the revelry : Mark the merry minstrel there Seated in his leafy chair, At his cups the whole day long, Paying toll with silver-song. Every draught he takes is drawn From the cellars of the Dawn ; Fragrant dew from flowery flasks, Amber air from fairy casks Brought from Araby, and bright With the Orient's golden light; All the spice of buds and vines Flavors his delicious wines ; Is it strange his lyrics hold So much of the summer's gold ? Rapture of the roses caught. Into music deftly wrought; Run and ripple of the rills All translated in his trills ; Every sweet, enchanted thing In his gladness made to sing. F. D. 8. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Ah, my mocking-bird, drink on Till the happy day is gone ; Till the pale moon rising up Drops the stars down in your cup ; Then to dreams once more, and then All the world grows still again ! X V 1 F. D. Si A HOITTHERN FLIGHT A Song Under the pendulous plumes of the palm, Drowsing, I dream in the odorous calm ; Dreams of delight and of rapture I capture Out of this bower of the bloom and the balm. Over me carols a bird on the bough, Passionate melody, amorous vow ; All of his happy song spells me And tells me Fly to her, lover^ and speak to her now ! Sweetheart, I send you the song of the bird : Dared I interpret the message I heard, This were the whisper above you, — / love you ! This were the music, the secret, the word. F. D. 8. X V i 1 SOUTHERN FLIGHT The Jessamine Bower I know a bower where the jessamine blows, Far in the forest's remotest repose ; If once the eyes have beholden The g^olden Chalices swinging, farewell to the rose ! Just at the bloom-burst of dawn is the hour God must have fashioned the delicate flower, — Wrought it of sunlight, and thrilled it And filled it With a beguiling aroma for dower. Here hath the air an enchantment that seems Borne from the bourn of desire and of dreams, — Borne from the bourn of youth's longing Where, thronging, Dwell all love's glories and glamours and gleams. Here doth the palm-plume depend and the pine ; Here doth the wild-grape distil its dark wine ; Here the chameleon, gliding And hiding, Changes its hues in the shade and the shine. X V i i 1 c. 8, A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Luring the lights are that falter and fail, — Emerald, amber and amethyst pale. Splashes of radiant splendor And tender Tints as when twilight is deep in a dale. By no bold bees are the stillnesses stirred ; Scarce is there bubble of song from a bird, Save for the turtle-dove's cooing And wooing, — Rapture without an articulate word. Sway on, O censers of bloom and of balm ! Sweeten the virginal cloisters of calm ! Be there one spot lovely, lonely, Where only Peace is the priestess, and silence the psalm C. 8. X 1 X A SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Florida Tulip Crimson cup, wherein is blent Something of the spice and scent Hinting of the Orient, You remind me Of a garden sweet that lies Under other summer skies, — Of the lips and of the eyes Left behind me. You recall a blossom bower Where I found love's magic flower, — O the rapture of that hour. And the sweetness ! When the East was yellow flame, When to kiss me first she came Bringing me the joy we name Love's completeness. So I lift you to my mouth, In this garden of the South, For my lips are parched with drouth Long unbroken : Give me of your share of bliss. One remembrance of that kiss : All I ask of you is this Tulip token. F. D. S. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Let me gently tilt you up To my lips once while I sup Fragrance from your crimson cup, And discover Once again the kiss I found, Once again the bliss that crowned Those two lips where sweets abound For a lover. F. D. 8. X X 1 SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Florida Night The slender new moon seems as frail As thin ice 'twixt November reeds ; A bird-note from a distant swale Mounts and recedes. A wan moth dips across the dusk Like a magnolia's ghost, and then, Amid the scent of rose and musk. Is gone again. The dews gleam beryl-wise ; you come, Your hair caught up in amber strands, Life's bliss — its whole ecstatic sum — In your white hands ! X X 1 I C. B. SOUTHERN FLIGHT At Dusk The air is filled with scent of musk Blown from the garden's court of bloom, Where rests the rose within her room And dreams her fragrance in the dusk. Above, attended by her stars, The full moon rises, round and white, — A boat in the blue Nile of night Drifting amid the nenuphars. And now the whippoorwill who knows A lyric ecstasy divine Begins his song. Ah ! sweetheart mine. What shall love's answer be, my Rose ? F. D. 8. X X 1 1 1 OUTHERN FLIGHT At Fort Marion Above the bastions and long, low beaches The clamoring ospreys poise and soar While the ramparts over the harbor reaches Gaze as they gazed of yore. In the cedar-trees by the ancient entry The mock-birds sweeten the gliding hours, But there's never the sign of a single sentry In one of the guardian towers. Gone the trace of each old commando The Spaniards sent to this shore of bloom ; The dungeons fashioned by Don Hernando Are peopled only with gloom. Tiny peace-flowers gleam in the grasses That green the width of the gaping moat ; War, with its bugles and marching masses.'' — Not the wraith of a note ! X X i V c. s. A SOUTHER X FLIGHT Only dreams by night of the olden Days when the doughty deeds were done ; Only dreams by day in the golden, Bland Floridian sun ! C. 8. SOUTHERN FLIGHT The Cathedral Bells SAINT AUGUSTINE High in the old cathedral tower they hung. Four ancient bells, the bronze arpeggio That called to prayer the gray monks long ago, And marked the hour while mass was said and sung. Over a land of fragrant flowers they flung Petals of music that were wont to blow Out of the rose of Time, whereof we know Naught save how sweet it is and ever young. Listen ! across the midnight comes their call ; Twelve in succession sound the bell-notes clear ; A day has gone ; another day, begun. I catch their message as the echoes fall : Vale Hispania ! Day of shadows drear ! Ave America ! Day of joy and sun ! X X V I F. D. 8. SOUTHKBN FLIGHT The Fortress of San Marco Gray as the gulls above, San Marco lies, Builded by Spain three centuries ago ; A star of stone — a star whose gleam and glow Are gone forever, blotted from our skies. Bastion and battlement before me rise Storied with memories of war's grim woe. But over them, in balmy gales that blow. Triumphantly the flag of freedom flies. Along the ramparts now the lizards crawl, Or lazily lie basking in the sun ; Beyond the moat the sea-tides lift and fall ; And while I dream of battles lost and won — Sudden a voice ! — and then I see him, small, — A Yankee bugler on a Spanish gun ! F. D, 8. X X V i i SOUTHERN FLIGHT Night on the Sea-Wall Athwart the bay the Anastasia light Pencils a golden pathway up whose beams One might ascend unto the port of dreams, — Some vision-haven in the heart of night. In silvery syllables the tides recite Their luring lyrics, plaintive old-time themes Of days when hither, drawn by gold's red gleams, Spain winged her galleons on their far sea-flight. How hath the imperial aegis of her power Waned, as the wasted moon adown the sky ! Here all is changed, yet strange doth it befall That Love, of yore the monarch of this hour When lips to lips make passionate reply, Is still the sovereign of the old sea-wall ! IX vill A SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Southern Balcony In the soft glow and glamour of the night I heard the sound of music down the street, A girl's voice singing some old ballad sweet, A song of love and all of love's delight. Above me hung the moon's great blossom bright, And swarms of stars like bees came forth to greet This bloom of wonder in its blue retreat, — This world-flower with a bosom lily white. Within the plaza drowsily the purl Of fountains fell upon the fragrant air, And I, aweary of the long, hot day, Slumbered and dreamed ; and still that singing girl Sang in her balcony, — and I was there With you, Sweetheart, a thousand miles away ! X X 1 X A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Dawn in Carolina The opal sky grew daffodilian With luminous presage ; the expectant pines Leaned orientward in long and silent lines, Then through their boughs a little murmur ran. It was as though the whole awaiting clan Spake each to each in whispers ; e'en the vines And pendant moss, that clings and intertwines, To thrill with some fine prescience began. There seemed a troubadour in every tree ; Trill answered trill, and run replied to run ; And when there burst a crowning ecstasy, Lo, adown corridor and colonnade, Piercing the shadow, shattering the shade. Sovereign in sudden imminence, — the sun ! A SOUTHERN FLIGHT To A MOCKING-BIRD Thou feathered minstrel perched in yonder tree, Thou bird-magician in a blue-gray coat ; Trickster of tune, thou canst repeat by rote Thy rivals' songs and win their loves to thee ! Song-sorcerer, who canst with melody Lure us to listen, thou whose slender throat Is full of sweetness bubbling note by note, Wizard of music, sing thou on to me ! Chatter of blackbird, warble of the wren, Joy of the jay, and passion of the thrush, And every trill that ever bird has known,- I heard him jesting for awhile ; and then. Softly upon the morning in a gush Of lyric love I heard him call his own. ^. D. 8. X X X 1 A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Night Off Hatteras We saw the light-ship winnowing the west With its thin fan of flame, and from afar A beacon glimmered like a ruddy star Across the ocean's undulating breast. Here in this haunt that harbors storm for guest, Where currents join with roaring rush and jar, There was no sign of tumult, naught to mar The night's blue vastness and the sense of rest. Peace lay upon the waters ; o'er the sky Peace spread the visible aura of its wings ; It was as though the warring winds were awed ; We felt that from the void's immensity, — The brooding mystery that round it clings, — Leaned the Inscrutable whom we name God I X X X i i c. 8. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT The Spell There is a garden of the South That lies along the sea, Kissed ever by the Summer's mouth, And sweet with melody. Around it runs a fragrant zone Of rose and jasmine blent, From whose bloom-builded bowers are blown Breaths of the Orient. The wonder-songs of mocking-birds Made for the day's delight. Are still remembered in the words Lisped by the breeze at night. Sweetheart, if you were here to grace This garden with your eyes, Eden were this enchanted place, Just next to Paradise. X I X 1 I 1 A SOUTHEBN FLIGHT Morning by the Matanzas Swiftly the tides of the Matanzas run Racing to sea beneath the morning sun. The reeds a-row like shimmering spears-men stand Guarding the gray approaches to the land. One white gull swoops across the middle space, The animate embodiment of grace ; And pressing toward the shore, tree crowding tree^ The woodland treads with murk and mystery, Scarfed with the golden jessamine, and the plume Of the wild plum with its ethereal bloom. Such, so one dreams, was the strange wonder-spell Smote Ponce de Leon on his caravel Sweeping the radiant reaches, till, in truth, He deemed the land must hold the Fount of Youth xxxlv c. s. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT In Absence It matters not how far I fare, Or in what land I bide, Your voice sings ever on the air, Your face shines at my side. For me each crimson flower that slips Its velvet sheath of green Yields the remembrance of your lips With all their sweets between. Your hair is in the dusk that lies Around me when I rest; My only stars are your dear eyes, Love's own and loveliest. Happy am I, though far apart From all that makes life dear : Love dwells contented in my heart, Exiled yet always near. F. D. 8. XXXV A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Then take my message, Sweet, and know How far your love has flown To cheer and bless your lover, so Lonely, but not alone : I send it from the drowsy South, A dream of my delight, A message to your rosebud mouth, A kiss, and a good-night ! X X X V 1 F. D. 8. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Song at Daybreak Unto the portal of the Day there came A shining presence fashioned out of flame, And from that purple threshold of the world Arrows of fire across the shadows hurled. Into the forest, over plain and sea The darts in silence sped unerringly, — Lances of sunlight from the Morning's bow,- Until the firmament was all aglow. Then from the zenith suddenly J heard The dew-fresh notes of some enraptured bird. Lost in the golden labyrinth of light, Singing the dreams of the departed Night. p. D. 9. X X X V 1 i A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Nocturne About her while she slumbers Breathe, zephyrs of the night, And weave of lyric numbers Dreams that shall bring delight ! The secrets of the roses In fragrant whispers tell, Unto her who reposes, — A white pearl in its shell. Sing of the stars above her, Then once, ere you depart, Sing softly how I love her, — Dear keeper of my heart. And when the dawn has shaken The diamonds from the vine, From sweet dreams let her waken To find these arms of mine. xxxviii F. D. s. SOUTHERN FLIGHT Serenades in the South I Dreams at midnight ! . . . Ah, my Sweet, Sometimes, i' the night's heart, I Catch the transitory beat Of a dream that wingeth by, Wrought of gold that seemeth spun ( As your hair is) from the sun ; Wrought of flowers, their glow, their grace; (As your face is — ah, your face ! ) Be my dreams, then, still of you. For 'tis midnight dreams come true ! Dreams at midnight ! . . . Dearest heart. In the moon's mid-watches, I Sometimes out of slumber start, As a dream goes fleeting by. Fashioned from caresses such As I know are in your touch ; Holding all the perfect bliss Of your yet unmemoried kiss. Be my dreams, then, still of you, For 'tis midnight dreams come true ! C. 8. X X X 1 X A SO r THEE N FLIGHT II Lovers all who fondly stray Down the jasmine- wreathed way, Pluck the bloom and drain the chalice To the full while yet ye may ! Lyric lip and morning eye^ Hasten ere the dream goes by I Youth is fair but youth is fleet ; And ye may not mesh his feet ; Ah, but while the springal lingers, Life is luring, life is sweet ! Lyric lip and mortiing eye, Hasten ere the dream goes by ! X 1 c. s. OUTHERN FLIGHT Spring Song Voice of April, liquid clear, In the daybreak of the year ; — Spring's blue herald in the tree Caroling his heart away, Catch and madrigal and glee : Spring is here to-day ! Breath of April, redolent Of the attared Orient ; — Spring's faint whisper softly blown Through the green leaves on the spray, Making her glad message known : Spring is here to-day ! Feet of April, swift and light. Leaving all the landscape bright; — Spring's quick footfall on the ground Dewdrops on the grass betray ; Shine the tokens all around : Spring is here to-day. F. D. 8. Xll A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Face of April, fair its gleam As the young Year's waking dream ; — Spring's glad smile on earth and sky, — Silver mist and golden ray, — Shower and sunshine slipping by : Spring is here to-day ! Lips of April, how they shine Through the fretwork of the vine ! Spring's fresh kisses — each of them — Jewel bud or blossom gay, — Honey sweet on twig and stem : Spring is here to-day ! Heart of April, last and best, Beating fast against my breast; — Spring's own self ! Ah, Sweetheart true, Love no dearer words can say ; April is none else but you ! Spring is here to-day ! xlii A SOUTHERN FLIGHT The Night Voyage Silent we sailed the phosphorescent seas, Our ship a bark with shadowy masts and spars, While gleamed o'erhead, in glorious galaxies, The phosphorescent stars. The breeze that breathed about us bore the balm Of coral cove and long land-locked lagoon, Where shines above the tall lianaed palm The Caribbean moon. A far off pharos from its hidden height Across the waters flung its beckoning beam, And so we glided through the violet night Bound for the bourn of dream. C. S. X 1 1 1 1 OUTHERN FLIGHT The Message In a southern garden scented And sweet with the jasmine flower,. By the mocking-birds frequented In each blossom-builded bower, What a passionate outpouring From the fragrant boughs above ! And out to the northland soaring Go the lyric-songs of love. In the heart of one who hearkens Is a lover's lighted shrine, And never a shadow darkens This home of a hope divine, Where love like these birds rejoicing Makes melodious the place, While breathing her name and voicing His longing to see her face. O my Own, if song can find you In the northland where you are, — If the white snows do not blind you To a clear and steadfast star, — Let your eyes look forth in splendor And hark for your heart's strange beat, A dream with a message tender Is bound for your slumber, Sweet. X 1 I V F. B. A SOUTHERN FLIGHT x( The Wind in the Palms The voice of the wind in the palms, What does it say In the sweet sunset calms At the dip of the day? ■ Ever and evermore " — Thus doth it mourn, From shore unto uttermost shore By my fate I am borne. ' Slave to a vast unrest, I may never abide, But am swept on an endless quest Like the toss of the tide. I long — how I long! — for peace, And the soothing of sleep, But my farings may not cease On the face of the deep ; ' Nay, nor the face of the land, For fiercely afar Where the mightiest mountains stand Do I clutch at the star C. 8. X 1 V SOTrTHEB>' ■■Th.i: r.:-::^5. die vauk's red thrall; And I know the soul, -\lone of adventurers all. Of :he ultimate pole. ''So I. who would fain be one Wi:h quietude, -Axn doomed, until time be done. To the wandering mood.'* Thus saith the wind m the palms (List to their sway I ) In the sweet sunset calms At the dip of the day. I 1 V 1 ji O r T H E B >' FLIGHT At Her Window Come to thy window, Love, And through the lattice bars Show me a fairer sky above With two more lovely stars : So shall the southern night Know new depths of delight. And I in dreams grow wise Remembering thine eyes. Come to thy window, Sw«et, And wide the lattice swing. That vagrant zephyrs may repeat What words my lips shall sing L nto your ears anew, L p from the fragrant dew. That all your dreams may be Like those that gladden me. Come to thy window, — Soft I Thy footstep light I hear: About me, silence ; but aloft A melody most dear : It is thy voice that fills The night's blue cup and spills Into the air the words The rose breathes to the birds. F. D. e. X iTll OUTHERN FLIGHT Come to thy window, — So, I glimpse the gleam of grace ; Rose of all roses now I know Featured in thy fair face : Now all love's joy is mine Save one heart that is thine. Dearest, my dream is this . . . Thy heart's beat and thy kiss X 1 V 1 1 1 F. D. 8. - fi r T H K H N y I. I The Silent Day All day from bole to live-oak bole A tenuous curtain of gray haze Spread, and sound seemed to lose its soul Throughout the woodland ways. No music murmured in the pine ; No tremor moved the wild plum bloom ; The bee within the jasmine vine Dozed, drunken with perfume. Then the west wind crept o'er the hill And just at sunset rent the veil; A mock-bird gave a lingering trill, — A choir took up the tale ; The very sod grew vocal, aye. The leaves became a lyric throng ! Earth throbbed with twilight ecstasy, And day went out in song. I 1 i X SOUTHERN FLIGHT Longings Absent from you, I linger here alone, And all around me roses fresh and fair Girdle the garden with a fragrant zone, — Yet my Rose is not there. Morning and afternoon, the whole day long. The feathered minstrels in the boughs above Pour out their lyric hearts, yet in their song I miss the voice I love. And when the twilight's miracle is wrought, Studding with stars the sapphire of the skies. Into my dreams forever comes the thought Of two beloved eyes. Despite such days and nights, a something more My heart would have to make its joy complete Hasten, ye laggard Hours, unto her door. And bring me to my Sweet ! F, D, 8. A SOUTHERN F I> I G H T Dorchester Churchyard SOUTH CAROLINA Thorn-keen withes and briars The lonely garth enfold, Where the rathe spring lights her fires Over the matted mould. The only mourners there Are the moss that droops from the bough, And the mock-bird spelling the air With the pathos of its vow. The marbles are gray with grime, Sunken or cleft apart; — O despot hand of Time, Inexorable thou art ! Naught but a crumbling tower, Long since reft of its bells, Of the hamlet's ancient power With eloquent silence tells. All through the lonely night The Ashley lisps to its reeds, And that feathered eremite. The gray owl, slips his beads. C. 8. H A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Gone, — all of life is gone, — An empty and ashen husk ! Never a gleam of the dawn, Naught left but death and the dusk 111 A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Dorchester Fort SOUTH CAROLINA Below the river winds, the tide at brim, The water lisping low some liquid name; Above, the cardinal from limb to limb Flits like a scarlet flame. The gateway gapes ; there is no warder there, Unless it be a ghostly sentinel ; War and its red array are otherwhere; Here Peace has set its spell. Perchance a gay colonial cavalier By that rude port once basked him in the sun ; And haply yonder, with his scorn of fear, Walked dauntless Marion. Dreams ! fancy's tissue ! " do I hear you cry.^ "Why fill our ears with visionary themes.^" Go, tread the spot, then, if you will, deny It is a place for dreams ! 1 i li SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Balcony Song Sweet, in your balcony above The garden's rose-hung bower, Surpassing any dream of love Your face looks forth, — a flower. Methinks on such a night as this, Long centuries ago, Leaned lovely Juliet to kiss The lips of Romeo. And these same stars which overhead Are listening to-night Heard all the tender words they said. And witnessed their delight. What wonder they so softly shine. For all they hear and see: Ah, Dearest, yield your lips to mine And give your heart to me ! 1 i V F. D. s. SOUTHERN FLIGHT At Twilight A little shallow silver urn, High in the west the new moon hung; Amid the palms a fountain flung Its snowy floss, and there, above, With its impassioned unconcern, A hidden bird discoursed of love. I felt your hand upon my arm Flutter as doth a thrush's wing. Then tighten. Sweet, how small a thing Draws kindred spirits heart to heart ! More was that hour's elusive charm To us than eloquence or art. 1 V A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Noontide Roses — ah, but the scent!— fair as the dawn is fairj A fountain murmuring, run upon rippling run ; ^'Winter!" you say; nay! nay ! not with this wooing air. And that golden psyche there threading a dance in the sun ! Sunset Against a crimson sky the drooping plumes of the palm ; High in the west a star, — O the glamour and gleam thereof ! — And, somewhere hidden, a bird piercing the soul of the calm With the rapture of its song, its passionate burden of love. ivi A SOUTHERN FLIGHT Moonlight Mellow moon of the South, maiden of midnight glory, With your tenuous veil of orient amber spun, Ah, but you tell me still the same love-memoried story Of the asphodelian slopes, and the young Endymion ! C. 8. 1 V 1 1 A SOUTHERN FLIGHT A Thrush Singing Perched on the topmost branch of yonder tree, Emblem of joy and its epitome, From his green minaret, in the noon's hush, Listen ! — the song of the muezzin Thrush ; Music wherein the sweetness of the day Is all transformed in some transcendent way,— Fragrance and color, glint of grass and dew Changed into melody and born anew; The Earth beneath him. Heaven's blue above. And Allah leaning to his lyric love. i V 1 I 1 F. D. s. SOUTHERN FLIGHT Bon Voyage While yet the Summer lingers Here in the drowsy South, With roses in her fingers And smiles about her mouth, I dare to breathe my passion To her that she may know My love for You, and fashion A lover's lyric so. Northward, some morning early. Her old path she will take, Leaving her footprints pearly With dewdrops in their wake ; Lighting the leafy places With fragrant flowers, and then Find where your lovely face is And whisper Home again ! 1 ix F. D. s. The Southern Flight is done ; a dream-delight Our days beneath the stainless sky seem now ; The bar is cleared, the open sea in sight, And northward points the prow. Farewell, O dear beguilement ! We must turn From paths of pleasure and of soft idlesse, — From all the spirit-balm of unconcern, — To ways of ceaseless stress. The last palm fades till like a tiny hand It speeds us o*er the welter of the foam ; Our eyes strain forward toward the distant land,- The beckoning hills of home. This Edition of A Southern Flight printed by George William Broivning at Clinton Neiv York during the Summer of IQO^ consists of Tavo Hundred & Fifty copies ^th Tivel've additiofial copies on Japanese Hand-made Paper Number /(ho / / • -^ '^ ACOPYOEL. TOCAT OIV OC: 18 i^U5 OCT 21 !905