y.iL_yV-. . . or MEMKON URRAK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Chap Oopy/ilht No fS-?^ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. IN VALES OF HELIKON IN VALES OF HELIKON POEMS BY * * * * ALFRED ANTOINE FURMAN NEW YORK WYNKOOP HALLENBECK CRAWFORD CO. 441 TO 447 PEARL STREET 1899 T^VC COPIES HECEIVSD, D€0 2 91899 Register of Copyrlght^;^ T^3^ 49855 Copyright 1899 BY ALFRED ANTOINE FURMAN SECOND COPY, TO GEORGE THEODORE WELCH. K I? If we have borne the storm and stress of fate, If we have seen our pristine sentiments Droop in the air of action, time relents. And brings a recompense to mitigate His all too harsh decrees. That great estate Our deputy in purple represents. Unseen before the shepherds' wandering tents, Looms in the mind by thought made desolate. Here, in your conscript hours, forms you conjure Love-lorn or fair, out of the mental urn. That put on flesh and live; — an overture To feasts of fancy; memories strange to burn Into the brain. You, by this wand, allure Heart-easing days; and I, perchance, may learn. •t H CONTENTS* •( m In Vales of Helikon 13 Morning 31 The Lost Arcadia 32 Chatterton 33 A Bank of Violets 34 Bereavement 35 Otho 36 The Tables Turned 41 Robespierre 42 Belisarius 43 The Sea Gull 44 A Citizen of the World 46 The March Woods 48 Karnak 50 The Young Magician 52 The Great Leveller 53 10 CONTENTS. The Suicide 54 Claudian 55 The Locomotive 5^ A Red Chieftain 5^ The Home of God 62 The Majesty of Death 63 The Released Convict 64 April 66 The Dawn Maiden 67 A Sunset on the Sea 68 The Chaldean Plains 69 The Eagle 70 The Old Year 72 Lorella 73 The Fields of Asphodel 74 Ariadne 76 The Burning Throne 7^ August 79 Andronikus 80 Britomarte 82 The Cave Dwellers 84 The Dorian Line 85 Cuba 86 A Slave of Pleasure 88 CONTENTS. 11 Washington 90 The Sea of Darkness 91 Armenia 92 Olympian Days 94 The Soldier's Grave 96 Saint Bernard 98 Law 100 Spain loi The Melouna Pass 102 The Abdication 104 Consolation 105 A Thrall of Vice 106 Macbeth 108 Orestes no The Aonian Mount in To the Cuban Reconcentrados 112 To the Maine 114 Manila 115 Santiago 116 War 117 The Dead Warrior 118 The Last Leaf 120 Night 121 IN VALES OF HELIKON* / I left my master Plato, and pursued A solitary way. That liquid voice Resounded in mine ears, as, far and wide, I followed after those supernal forms Which leaving, at his word, their native spheres, Came to the earth, obeying. But, alone, The inefifable spirits glided from my side. Bearing the lamp of truth, by whose pale rays He read the secrets of the universe. Then all uncertain did I stay my foot, Longing to follow, yet withheld by awe. The while, at tension, marble to the core. So still I stood, I heard the soft refrain Of many a broken song, and caught the tones Of the immortals in their mansions blest; 14 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Thro which, methought, came glimpses of old days, Processions stately, hallowed forms, and gods; Graces and nymphs melodious — the muse Majestic, but divinely sweet and rare. Then all would vanish, echo die away Into her shell; and the faint roar of men Ravening at toil, with multitudinous cries, Behind me deepening, seeming like the damned Their throats in Hades straining, — smote my soul, And stung me forward from ignoble days. My robes I plucked about me: from the rim That shuts the modern, like a prison wall; From all his ramp and worry, and the coil Of base ambitions ending in a round, — I stepped at once into the antique world; A mystic, rapt in deep romantic themes; A wanderer over every land and sea. Arose before me mountains capped with snow. Red with the footsteps of the sun. Beyond, A valley clothed in twilight vaguely ran. Joyful, I entered. On a gentle mound With verdure carpeted, and from the day Guarded by leafy boughs, some columns leaned. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 15 Euined and lone. Hard by an altar stood Mantled with vines, and with a truant ray, As if the incense of the primal time That felt and argued not, had been transmute, By nature's alchemy, in stainless wreath Of ever-during light, — an homage sad. To burn perennial there. Upon its side Lichens, air-fed, and mosses clad in green. Inched o'er the tawny marble, gaping wide. The porch of lizards slipping in and out. And colored like the stone. And as I paused To gaze in solemn silence on this scene Of mournful beauty, 'neath the dropping pines Appeared two forms. The elder one had scarce Voyaged on waves of time to our best age; His looks were grave as night, save when a flash. Swift as the levin's bolt, shot from his eyes, Like one in madness bound; which soon again Grew soft and lambent as the evening star. The other had not passed youth's golden gates; A cloud of auburn locks fell on his head In beautiful disorder; and a smile Pleasant, but leagued, in sooth, with mockery Lurked on his perfect lips. They, seeing me, ' 16 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Stopped sudden. Back into the balsamy gloom Faded the first; while to that crumbling shrine Advanced the younger, bending on me looks Of keenest scrutiny. ''Does poetry," he asked, And on the sanctuary laid an oHve spray, *' Still wander in the modern world, whose home Was in the age of fable and belief?" "Do we not love, do not the nations war?" I answered, flurried by his railing tone. "To grace these themes the muses bring to us Laurel and palm. Knew you the better times?" A shadow swept across his mobile face. Retreating on the borders of a smile Satiric, as in mellow voice he said: "Volterra saw my birth when slavery's storm Was beating on the land. The stoic tree Sheltered my life, while with a trammeled pen I lashed the follied age. That stream of verse Which flowed from Homer's well, was drying up; IN VALES OF HELIKON. 17 The night of tyranny closed on the world, Choking the low melodious voice of art. Do not believe the seeds of poesy Break thro the soul to uncongenial air: Shy are the muses, and they may not leave Their haunts on Helikon at every call. One poet in an age consoles my mind, For nature is not prodigal with genius. He is a legislator for the heart, The image of his time. Read me the verse Of any age, and I will copy you Its manners, dogmas, laws and government. Many there are who fancy they have wet Their lips in Castaly: they but reveal Some fleeting vanities that perish soon. My times were so infested, and I made My pen a thong of scorpions to chastise The desecrators of a holy shrine. Nor did I spare to ply my whip of scorn On him who filled the throne, who in the hours Borrowed from lust raised to the muse an eye. Light press the earth on them invective-stung: Death, early in a masterless disease, Their foolish rage avenges." 18 IN VALES OF HELIKON. He ended; I rejoined: ''Persius, I know thee now as one whose heart Was kinder than his pen. I marvelled, too, What would have been thy noon of art whose dawn Poured such a piercing Hght. But may I hear That joyless one who venerates the shades?" Beneath a silver fir whose lateral boughs Dropped heavy shadows, pale, in sadness deep He stood; and on that face I questioned threw Mysterious glances. Turning to me then, Resumed melodious the satirist: ''Thy cleric dress, he says, a serious mind Proclaims: so I may speak. The sisters three Who wear the chaplets made of wool, with flowers Of the Narcissus woven, and calmly keep The archives of eternity, both loved And hated him. When to the earth his soul Traveled, arising from their nighted thrones, They dipped it in the white and azure founts Of truth and fancy; but their fatal shears Cut soon his thread of life: by his own hand Hurried to Charon's stream. I had bewailed IN VALES OF HELIKON. 19 That wound, that eternal wound of love, At many a studious banquet when his lines Brilliant and deep, showed me the source of things, And from the form of dead religion tore Her splendid shroud. His reason doomed the soul To pass in nothingness; to sink at last In sea of matter, dragging to the ooze Of cold oblivion all its gorgeous train Of hate and passion, memory and hope. When wretched man has clung to life, and planned New troubles for himself beyond the skies, The gift of endless sleep declining, often He smiled, and wondered why. But his own soul Had grown so rich and powerful by thought, It might not drop in dissolution's jaws, As others do; but ever wings its way, Thro world on world, up to the seat of light." When ceased the accents of that flagrant sadness, From vortex of my new emotions, I Rescued these words: ''Lucretius is his name. Who gave to nature, thro his postulate Eternal atoms and the boundless void, All power to carry out her ends. And nature wroth 20 IN VALES OF HELIKON. His footfall sounded in her mystic halls, And fearing that more secrets he betray, Pressed him yet young against her marble breast/* Now parted us his voice within the wood, Late found: "Thy vase of goodness overflows!" That turned the gracious figure from my side To his transcendent comrade in the glade. I bent some lingering looks upon that table Where still I saw the pile of votive wealth Rise thro the clouds of incense; the Pythian heard Pronounce, with sparkling eyes and hair on end, In sulphur vapors, oracles divine. Then as the sun between the olives shot Vollies of crimson arrows, went my way. There is an empery in solitude The Roman never swayed. Assemble here Demons or gods to scourge or elevate, Depending on our lives. The jaded soul Grown weary in the conflict with the world, Stoops to this well, and rises up refreshed. The guilty mind must murder memory. Or ever be pursued by furies here. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 21 Bear to this hospital thy wounded pride, And here thy hurt will find a medicine. When drops of loss fall in thy cup of life, And bitter it, enter this holy land. And comfort visits thee. Yet solitude, That flight of the alone to the alone. To them w^hose moods are docile to its sway. Is like a haunt where congregate the best Of all the ages; in the printed page Living, tho dead, and feeding with their thoughts The flame of art and knowledge on the earth. I traveled on, elate. Before the fervors That sparkled in the diamond of my youth. By lapidary time were blurred and dimmed. And graved with tears, these Pierian paths I trod; But still they seemed untrod. At times I drew Forth from my vest, with many a furtive glance. An humble flute, and wound a plaintive strain That vanity would whisper was a note Such as the rightful dwellers in the vales Parnassan soothed their hearts withal, when they Heard from the summit faultless melodies. 22 IN VALES OF HELIKON. By ilex and by pine, by silvery spring- That kissed with sweet, moist lips their rugged feet, Thro rocky dells where lived all shrubs and plants Innocuous, and where the tranquil light Broidered with shade, hung like a cloth of gold On this cathedral's walls, long wandering, lost In deep delight, I came in turn to each Famed tenant of this soil. There was a rill That glided from a canopy of rock. Its crystal tresses braiding, where I saw One sitting on a stony couch festooned With myrtle and with bays. Traversed his brow The white lane of a scar; and at his feet Lay symbols of his art. An ominous gaze And friendly, but in sudden moments chased By sorrow's wolves, emboldened me to say: **The tragic muse who fled at my approach But secret favors you, dropped in her haste Dagger and crown; yet she has left, I think, A votary — " A melancholy smile Loitered a moment on his countenance, IN VALES OF HELIKON. 23 Such as the sun at close of wintry days, Foundered in vermeil clouds, throws on the skies. "I was a pioneer," he said in tones Calmly defying grief. " I blazed a path For the romantic drama thro the growth, Noxious and rank, of medieval art. I gave it form, and showed men as they are, Cruel, ambitious, false, the winding-sheet Of their humanities. Came to my hearth A sovereign mind, and snatched from it a brand To light the temple of his genius. I — That lake of blood again! I see it still, Dark, turbid, weltering, fed by springs of hate: Its thick weaves leap up to my mouth, and choke me. 'Tis nothing; let it pass! — My days, my nights Knew well the haunts of vice; and dear I paid For dragging in that mire the beauteous robes Of my invention. By a wretched hand. Before my fruit of fancy was a-ripe. While in my brain rolled sunless seas of thought, To fall on undreamed shores, and flash in verse, — Was I laid low; my bill of life By death receipted early." 24 IN VALES OF HELIKON. I bowed my head, Feeling grope in my breast the infinite pain He could but half conceal, and low responded: "Marlowe, Your mighty line with wonder filled my mind Whene'er I studied in that golden age Whereof you were the herald; that rare time Seen only twice before in this our world, Which like an aloe blossomed but to die." Now at this moment passed a pensive shade. Paused, and returned to where that fountain gleamed With weird and obscure light. Of middle size Whose portliness made tryst with ease and grace; An eye large, deep and luminous; a face By misery pinched; and lips where hung a foam His rounded chin distorting, — such was he. Still young, but withered in misfortune's storms. Flowed in full tide my curiosity, And bade me question him. A dismal look Was only thrown my words; then he resumed His walk, and in the dimness disappeared. Chagrin was on my features stamped; and I IN VALES OF HELIKON. 25 Fain would have asked that other to appease This hunger when I saw he, too, was gone. I gazed around. Thro vistas shone the peaks With snow tiaraed, — types of loneliness In which the greatest dwell. These steeps of fame Are chilling even when the world's applause Comes up their sides resounding. Poisoned darts Fly from an unseen cloud, and rankle there. Frequent the singing robes are wet with tears. In vain against the depressing bars of flesh Beat the spirit's wings. Not till the eternal calm From urn immutable, beyond the realm Of change, beyond the scepter of decay Which governs all in this our mortal state, — Over the soul is flowing, is there peace. As I fared on and upward, I perceived A chasm, the mountain's jaws held wide apart By viewless monsters, down which tripped and plunged A limpid brook fed by the exhaustless snows. Where jutted a peninsula of green In that aerial bay, two forms uprose; And drawing near, one I discerned was he 26 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Some ani^cr, to my j^rief, had driven away. There on the lcdi;e, he wiped his frothy hps With amaranth dip])e(l in the icy pool; Bnt ever leai)ed the white inmiortal spray On that red l)ank. His tntelar, dee]) in ai^e, With locks blown white and tliin by winds of time, Skin creased and i)arched as some old document, From bendini^- over him, tnrned and exclaimed: ''Why, mortal, do yon come to harass him With vain entpiiries, hatinii;- as he does All yonr delusions? Listen, rmd depart! He was condemned by natm^e to that life Illusion-starred, wherein a mockin^^ fate Fixes a ^ulf between our h()])cs and lot Wide as the i^rave. r»etter that he had been A stabler, scullion, plowman, what you will, Since these vocations brini;-, at any rate. Bread, and a ])lace at nii;ht to lay the head. Then had he dwarfed and jailed his i^enerous nature, The mark of artist souls; closed friendship's i)urse; And trained his character in worldly ways! And so had found before the bar of time Uedress, and judi^nient ta'en for future ])eace IN VALES OF HELIKON. 27 Against the league of chance. But such a life, So deadly to the flowers of Otway's mind, Was happily short — his only fortune there. A gorgon breathed into his fiery veins, As fatal as the serpent-circled head Which, in the fabling days. Turned into stone all those who on it gazed. What do I say? It was starvation grim That planted in his blood her hideous flag, And recompensed his services to art." His words at first pitched in a shrilly key. Closed tremulous and slow, as when the winds Battling all night with bands of centuried oaks, Their warfare cease when dawn sedately leads Her pageant up the east, and sink to rest. I heard in silence, and in silence turned, Departing. I had left the cheerful vales Rapt and absorbed, and uplands trod of song, By aspiration called and beckoned on To airs beyond my breathing. As I stood In doubtful musing, softly down the slope Stole warbled notes in one clear strain to me. In purest outline there the regal skies 28 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Those hoary heights were shaping. Graceful rose, Below the desolate ivory fields which frost Sows on the summit, columns white as they, Supporting a pavilion where the forms Of airy creatures moved in mystic dance. Ethereal, radiant and music-veiled. SONG. He leads no more the choric dance Upon Parnassus side; No more our woven footsteps glance, In harmony and pride, To that sweet lyre which he of yore From the celestial mountains bore. Tho years have past away Since we did part, Faithful to thee I stay, Friend of my heart. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 29 And now but burns a feeble flame Caught from his glorious fire, Which may, in age of lower aim. Recall the matchless choir That brought below the heavenly lore Men may admire but not restore. Tho fate may never give Thy dear control, . Ever for thee I live, Friend of my soul! Came eve demure, and shut with dewy hands The gates of day. Night followed at her heels. Her swarthy children on her back. The stars, Studding her purple baldric with their gems. Dropped radiance down. I drank that lower air, Not moulded to ascend the difficult ground Where genius held her court. A simple song, A vagrant verse accost on fancy's road, Is all I know, and all I wish to know. Beneath those doddered trees, a musing mood Revealed the world of feeling which must make 30 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Peace with that other world, since I have given These strange iambics greeting. They have drawn From serpent of my Hfe its poisonous fangs; And in the close and dungeon of the world Companions been to me. Perchance they led Friends to my side, in mirror of whose verse I saw the forms of beauty, prized the thought Whose plummet sounded in our human deeps, With highest art contending. And if age Shall drive into his fold my flock of years, I deem this well, altho to others naught. Or past observing, will refresh my days With waters ever sweet; and spread the sward And palms of bright imagination far Amid the sands of this material time. •? •? IN VALES OF HELIKON. 31 MORNING- I saw the graceful figure of the morn Come thro her amber gate; And pausing timid on the airy lawn, The golden car await. Around, the dewy fragrance of the earth My spirit bathed in joy, As if I had received the purer birth That time can not destroy. From morning's smile and fair ambrosial hand My nature drank new power; Like Antaeus when he touched the strengthening land, And knew his conquering hour. O sacred morn! upon the mountain's brow Pouring thine urn of light. How beauteous art thou in my memory now Beneath a starless night! 32 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE LOST ARCADIA. The notes of Pan come floating down the hill In silver melodies. Beside a tree A dryad bends, and listens rapturously; And where an oread stoops to sip a rill That Alpheus feeds, those notes her bosom thrill. Thro halls of perfume sings the pollened bee; Down in the fragrant meadows lazily The sacred sheep and oxen take their fill. O days of youth that time has ravined down! O fond illusions that persuaded still Life is a pleasant business, not an ill! To stricter school we go; beneath the frown Of science sit, constraining to depart Fancies that once beguiled the mind and heart. •s »? IN VALES OF HELIKON. CHATTERTON. The fatal wreath of genius was entwined Around thy brain. It drove thee forth to seek A fame and fortune on the rough and bleak Mountains of life, pursuing forms that wind From haunts of fancy to the ardent mind; While on the antique muse thy heart did wreak Itself absorbing, like the vulture's beak Deep in the Titan's breast — of course to find No recompense on earth. Starvation crept With eyeless hate in chambers of thy blood; And pride w ent hand in hand to nip the bud Of charity, ere love thy lot had wept; Or from thy lip the poison wiped away That curtained up at morn thy radiant day. ^ ^ 34 IN VALES OF HELIKON. A BANK OF VIOLETS. i? I? I found you o'er the brooklet peeping Demure in purple vest, While yet your laggard peers were sleeping Calmly in nature's breast. As soon as spring, from winter fleeing, Had passed across the land, You shyly came, scant welcome seeing, A gentle, lovely band. And fancied I the sky was lending A fragment of its blue. As o'er your bed of moisture bending Such beauty met my view. n ^ IN VALES OF HELIKON. 35 BEREAVEMENT* Its shadow falls across my heart Whatever way I go, — In silent study, noisy mart, Or where still waters flow. Aye rises from the grassy mound The form I loved so well; And comes, whatever scenes surround, Within my soul to dwell. I never ask that time may cure This wound, or bring relief: I wish to keep that memory pure In deep eternal grief. 36 IN VALES OF HELIKON. OTHO- I? n Martial I think of him As minister to every vice. Statius. So to the world he seemed, But thro his mind a vein of greatness ran. Martial, Truly he was a son Of these degenerate days. For Nero's sake He pawned his ancient name to infamy. Galba had favored him; and even now To sup with father Dis has Galba gone. Statius. How could he always hear The voice of virtue on his sworded throne! He was a man as various as the world, Versed in all ways, stoic and lover too. The Gracchi's spirit lived again in him Who threw away his empire and his life, To give the nation peace. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 37 Martial. He cast a wondrous spell on you! Statins. He was that rarest bird — a friend; And tho I blame the conduct of his youth, His end was noble in mine eyes. Martial. Rumors we heard of that, Ascribed to his despair. Statins. He sought to keep his mind Above his fortunes. All that day he sat Nervous and taciturn within the gates. As evening fell, and shafts of crimson light Transfixed the somber pines, and trembling hung On Adda's chilly stream, he could no more Abide the dread suspense. Then sharply rose Cries on the air, and tramp of hurrying feet. He passed without. Enveloped in white dust, A crowd of fugitives poured in the town; Wounded and faint, and on their ashen cheeks Fear sitting; dying, yet their zeal for him Deathless. Cold was his glance; and on his face Grief for their flight. The legionaries groveled at his feet; They kissed his hands; called him their Imperator, Alone worthy to reign; and begged him not Forsake them now. 38 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Martial. This am I glad to hear, And pay to it the tribute of a tear: Him had I buried in unhallowed sod, But now I praise him as a god. Statins. Well, dip this blossom of the heart In wine of epigram. Yet hark the rest; And it may from your stilus wipe Its crust of raillery. So was he loved, one plunged in his own side The fatal steel; and sprinkled Otho's hand With his heart's dew. A momentary glow Flashed in the Emperor's breast. Then he whose life Had often wandered in the paths of shame, Earning the anger of the sun-housed gods, And hate of pious men, a counsel plucked From the deep bosom of nobility. He gazed around, and said in voice unshaken: "To thrust into the jaws of war again A spirit such as yours, puts on my life Too high a price. The more you flush with hope The future years, if I should choose to live, More glorious still will be my death. For now Fortune and I each other truly know. If I threw off the yoke of moderation, IN VALES OF HELIKON. Call it the curse of quick prosperity. Vitellius began the civil war: To bandage up with peace our country's wounds, Belongs to me. And do not think I need Revenge or consolation. Longer time Others have sat upon the blood-stained throne; But none has laid, with fortitude like mine, The scepter down. To Pluto's sunless halls Travels with me this thought, that you would die For Otho willingly. I counsel you: Bear with the world, and drain your glass of life. To say too much about one's end I hold A mark of cowardice. Take as a proof Of my resolve, that I complain of none: Accusing gods or men is but for him Afraid to die." Martial, Those sentiments I have not read in Epikurus' creed. Statius. His words, in their charmed minds, Dilated him to stature of the gods. His person, unacquainted with a grace, Vied with Apollo when he drives his steeds Thro gates of orient pearl. They turned away, Laden with sorrow. Otho, firm, serene, 40 IN VALES OF HELIKON. Who could command the arms of twenty legions, But bowing proudly to the will of fate, Drowned silently in sleep his host of cares. When slowly in the east the pilgrim day Climbed up the sky, he rose with tranquil mien, Examined carefully two weapons there, And with unfaltering hand baring his breast. Fell on his sword. Some kneeled, and kissed his wound; Some clasped his arm; and others threw themselves Prone on the ground, and him adored as one Passed into deity, — nay, hacked their forms, To follow him, in pieces on his bier. And Plotius wept, and heaped on his gray head Ashes; and wise Paulinus said: "He chose The nobler part, and now is with the dead." May not this end, in minds of highest thinking, Grant amnesty — Martial Requiescat in pace!: The day for man most truly fortunate, Is when they lay him in the tomb. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 41 THE TABLES TURNED. Love in his bower lay fast asleep. I grimly said: ''Now will I creep Behind that bank of flowers, and steal The arrows that such misery deal To heart of man, and them destroy, That never more so sweet annoy Perplex our life." With trembling pace, Parting the vines that interlace His pleasant bed, I neared the god; When lo! up from the fragrant sod He sprang, and laughter in his eyes Flowing, in mock alarm he cries: *' Nearer to death I never came!" Then to his cheek a shaft of flame He drew, and in my breast it sped: I who had thought revolt to head, Am now in gentle bondage led. •I H 42 IN VALES OF HELIKON. ROBESPIERRE. »? »? Intolerant of life, her blind command You yet too well obeyed. Deeply the air Was loaded with the accents of despair: The people saw that dagger in your hand Dilated to a huge supernal brand To lop all human heads: and the ancient heir Of misery smiled, for that the ghastly fare Of hate and fear was spread upon the land. Yet other were you bred ! Steeped was your youth In fount of fairest lore; humanity Sat with you on the bench; the face of truth And wisdom shone thro glass of penury; And pressed your mind to the Utopian isles Upon whose citizens perfection smiles. •5 •! IN VALES OF HELIKON. 43 BELISARIUS. 'Twas in your dreams a monarch would repay Such services! Load you he could with chains; Drinking his sycophants' empoisoned strains That doomed you in a noisome cell decay. Now let his arm avail to keep at bay The hordes of Vandals from the Dacian plains; And close the reeking mouth of war that drains His subjects' blood — if he can learn the way. Tho chained, be chainless in the thoughts that feed Upon your heroic past; your victor sword That carved out empire for a faithless lord; The kings you led in triumph; and the meed Of purer glory that could only frown On them who offered scepter and a crown. •5 »l 44 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE SEA GULL* I saw thee cleaving thro that crystal tide The sun pours on the sea; With wing undrooping o'er the waters wide, In lonely liberty. Far from that icy nest, thy place of birth. Where screamed thy hungry brood, On tameless pinions rovest thou the earth — A guest of solitude. Or, comrade of the tempest, in thy heart What solemn joys abide. When riven are the clouds, and lightnings dart Flame arrows by thy side. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 45 Amid the storm thy voice arises high, Unterrified and free, As if the genius of the frenzied sky An organ found in thee. But when the anger of the homeless wave Is soothed by touch of Hght, Thou gently ridest on that tempest's grave. Like some aerial sprite. Or some cold spirit of the vasty deep Come to the upper air, Escaped those halls where shapeless monsters keep Watch o'er the Nereids fair. •? H 46 IN VALES OF HELIKON. A QTIZEN OF THE WORLD* His nation's borders do not trace A line of hatred for the race; His franchised heart o'erleaps the sea In tempered praise and sympathy. A priestly dogma can not blind To native worth his tolerant mind: He deems religions spring from seeds Of human character and needs. His hope it is to see unfurled The flag of justice in the world; The blossoms of the social tree Bear fruitage of equality. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 47 Of manners strange he is the guest; Takes every custom to his breast; In peasant's hut or prince's hall, He calmly meets occasion's call. It is his faculty to live Days active or contemplative, — In shadow of a throne, or where Another yoke the people bear. His sense of liberty deplores A wreck of natural rights on shores Of tyranny; yet knows the chains Will fall when the oppressed ordains. He can not teach his lips to praise Laws that the eye of freedom glaze; But standing on some mount of time Discerns beyond an age sublime; An age in which the earth may shine With glories thought before divine; Careless if man this pledge redeem, Or it remain a noble dream. 48 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE MARCH WOODS* When sunny days have torn the bitter rime From winter's beard, pleasant it is to seek The gray March woods. Falls from the paly sky A cold light which clasps on the trees' bare boughs Bracelets of gold. Not yet the caltha buds, In yellow hoods, bend laughing o'er the brook; Nor could the red man find a frail blood-root To stain his cheeks for war. But hallowed here To a dear past that in my house of dreams Forever dwells, the silence and the gloom Invite my steps. Hard by a rivulet The diffident ferns part, with dark green fronds, A roof of withered leaves, and drink the light. Squadrons of rank cord grass clamber on bogs. And point their emerald spears as to defend Some fairy of the glen. There creeps the moss, IN VALES OF HELIKON. A brother to the rock, where dampness bides; Or gently binds upon the oak's strong feet Sandals of green. A fatuous butterfly, His purple wings mottled and trimmed with silver, Flutters from tuft to tuft, and woos the sun. A blue bird nestles on an ashen branch. Mute since the dawn; or down a shaft of light Swift slides, to seize a beetle refugee From his old home of night. I see the fields, Thro chestnut corridors, stretch, clad in brown. And turn my footsteps back. But well I know The keen intrepid marshal of the storm Will ride, with winter's warrant, thro the sky. And of these genial days make bold arrest; And bail his surly minions out again. K^ 50 IN VALES OF HELIKON. KARNAK* There was a glory once upon her brow. The light of art and arms, when sceptered kings Turned thro her hundred gates the golden springs Of half the east. Went up the pious vow In temples whose dimensions might compare With nature's work. The marble soared above In sculptured obelisk; or calmly strove In sphinx the genius of the world to snare. And myriads there her market place would call; And commerce came and built her peaceful throne; And wealth spoke in her proud imperious tone; And grandeur threw her purple gleam o'er all. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 51 Now strays the moonlight solemnly and slow Along her aisles of ruin. Solitude Is startled only by the prowling, rude Hyena to whose fiendish laugh the low Arches surrender up a querulous band Of echoes in some viewless prison pent; While endlessly o'er cornice, pediment And fallen column flow the seas of sand. K n 52 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE YOUNG MAGICIAN. Echo, heart free, no lock put on her tongue; Fled quietude, and silence gave a groan: But when into her breast love's flames were flung, She pined away, and clad her voice in stone. ^ ^ IN VALES OF HELIKON. 53 THE GREAT LEVELLER. Pride, turn thou up the ashes of the grave Where high and low the debt to nature pay, And show me there the difference in the clay That once had clothed the monarch and the slave. H H 54 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE SUiaDEL With face in pallor framed the sufferer lay. The xanthous locks strayed on his dampening brow, And hid the wound thro which the spirit's prow Steered into unknown seas. Light of a day Faith prophesies, had paled and gloomed away From those sad traits, if this contempt allow Such dwelling there, o'er whose decay the bough Of coldness shall forever bend and sway. Why creeps a tremor round my heart for him Whose bark of life was wrecked upon despair? Few were his years; yet even to the brim They filled his cup of misery, loss and care, Until he summoned peace. Now, never more Shall tides of grief beat on his mortal shore. ^ IC IN VALES OF HELIKON. 55 CLAUDIAN. Shorn were the tresses of the Roman sun That lit the world, by the Barbarian night ;i Her line of generals, artists, men of might, Gnawed by decay; a web of dullness spun In palace of the mind; the state undone By civil rage, despair, corruption's blight, And all the birds of weakness that alight On fields of life when evil's bands have won. In this arena you undaunted sprung. By genius armed alone; and rolled the tide Of thirty decades back, to show how sung The epic masters from their place of pride; Shedding on art that bound in darkness lay, A glimmer of the rare Virgilian day. ^ t^ 56 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE LOCOMOTIVR ^ »i With gleaming flag of lurid red, He charges thro the vale; And trembles earth beneath that tread Cased in such iron mail: His course no mighty rivers stop; No arm of sea; no mountain top. Thro regiments of steely rain, Thro ranks of blinding snow. He dauntless bears his winding train, With primal heart a-glow; And motion graceful as the dance Of planets in the starred expanse. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 57 In smoke he robes his giant form, And screeches loud and shrill; And under vengeful sun and storm, Pursues his journey still; The while his thews and muscles gain New vigor from the mortal strain. All thro the,night with clang and roar, He travels on his way: The winged steed on Grecian shore No swifter course could lay; Nor be, when thousand miles are past, Unwearied as the viewless blast. The tongue of fable has not told What here in fact we see, — A genuine power that mocks the old Bewailed divinity: Yet shall this power be overthrown. And still a greater rule alone. H I? 58 IN I'Al.h.S ()!• lll'.I.IKON. A RED am:n AiN. Thoy friii^Hit lilcf li^fors when iIkh Mood J'aiiimc III v.'iflc',; lil.c Li:iv<- men, vvlicii llic fr)C, Willi ( I iirl Ii.'iikI',, |»oIIiiIc', I licir ii.il i v<- land. 'J lit* halllc la^'rd ,0011 a^, lli<- miii''. rc(| face Peered o'ei Vii I'inia''. lulls, iiiilil il sank, < >ii iliai ( )( lol.ci day, wearied, a^^hast, I iilo Ohio';, ',1 icaiii. And I -o|'an's voice Arose ahove Ihc i\\\\ Knives dreiK lied wil h I inn Your hrolhcrs' hraiiis; then !.owed a eroj> of steel, To hrealv lli<- |)on llir cailh; aii lialloo, The pledges of the slain." Tlio hrave Cayuga struck A pale-face down, and garnered in his belt The reeking scalp; and in (he hrain of one Who turned to flee, planted his tomahawk. But all in vain; for fate around his band Coils of destruction wove, anrl Dunmore's plans Conversed with victory. Deep in the forest sat the Chief. CJver his head a canopy of gold The maples spread; and from a mossy rock A silver rivulet trickling, gleamed and ran Babbling before his feet. He scorned to meet The whites in council; but their messenger Awaited a1 his side to know his will. The eagle's plume that drooped on his shaved head, An errant ball had cut in twain. The paint That j>ictiu-ed in dull hues, on face and chest, The story of his wrongs, was blurred and streaked By deeper tides than tears. In silence long 60 IN VALES OF HELIKON. He sat, while tossed his mind on memory's seas; Then lifting up his eyes, like smouldering coals, In guttural tones he said: "Can any pale-face say Hungr}/ he entered Logan's lodge, and he Gave him not meat; or if he came to him Naked and cold, and Logan clothed him not? When Pontiac's thirst for war brought to an end The quiet days, sat Logan in his wigwam, An advocate of peace. Such was my love For them unworthy, grieved my tribe would say, As I passed by, 'See there the white man's friend!' I even thought to go and dwell with you. When Cresap in cold blood, and unprovoked, Murdered the family of Logan, all, Women and children, hurling in the grave: There runs no drop of the Cayuga's blood In any living veins. This called on me For terrible revenge — nor called in vain! On countless lives I threw the noose of death, My vengeance glutting! Now the beams of peace I welcome for my country. Yet do not Harbor the thought mine is the joy of fear. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 61 Fear Logan never felt. To save his life, Pale-face, he would not turn him on his heel. For Logan, who is there to mourn? Not one!" Upon the air his mournful accents died. From the dim woods, the shades crept out and stole LTp to the sky. The stars with golden feet Stepped, one by one, forth on that purple floor. And the chill dews dropped from their crystal home, A cloak of vapor to wrap up the form Of the bronzed chieftain where, thro the long night. Companioned by despair, rock-like he crouched In silent grief. n H 62 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE HOME OF GOD* Ben Ali sought for God on sea and land; In dawns where, on the elysian fields of light, Day^s champion struggles with the dragon night,. And drenches with his blood the hyaline strand; In the oases where the brow is fanned, The lips refreshed, as death begins to write His codicil on the heart; in storms that smite The unflinching earth: all this was nature's hand. Then the Arabian paused, and looked within, Looked on that battle plain where met in strife Armies unseen, where stretched the form of sin Mangled and dying; and his perfect life. The home of justice, made him now aware His quest was ended, since he found Him there. •I «? IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE MAJESTY OF DEATH. In life his features wore a callous, shrewd Expression, born and bred of love of gold. Crawled to his lips a sneer that oft unrolled Upon the ear a phrase contemptuous, rude, When patient faith for charity has sued. In circle of his eye a season cold Had ever reigned; the passion that had sold Humanity, kept it in servitude. But when the fatal hand of death was laid Soft on his brow, it wrought what wondrous change ! Vice and its cohorts raised their long blockade; Nobility unwonted came to range On that sad plain: the mortal plant decayed, Budded a spirit flower, pale, solemn, strange. n n 64 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE RELEASED CONVICT. The prison doors closed on him in his youth When tides of hope ran high; They opened; when he scorned both men and truth, With cold maUgnant eye. Behind his grated window sprang to view The ravaged face of hate — Despair — and all that gloomy retinue Which crowds misfortune's gate. He felt within his breast the brand of wrong Burn deep and deeper still; While unavailing rage, with scorpion thong, Beat down his feeble will. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 65 A flock of curses lit upon his tongue To vent his bootless grief; His heart, by agony and sorrow wrung, In hatred found relief. With leaden step marched on the bitter years, And set him free again; Yet he, an outcast in this world of tears, Would longer wear the chain. He hated men, and spurned at gracious ways; Forgot the name of God; Mocked law, nor dreaded if his latter days Should feel her chastening rod. •? H 66 IN VALES OF HELIKON. APRIU *i •? Now, rest, fair harbinger of May! Dies out the winter's cry. Dream on this bank where sunbeams play: And pales yon cloud-swept sky. Pursuit of March no longer fear — His steps have gone astray: For thee the brook runs pure and clear; The bird sings on the spray. The patient earth is roused at last, And breaks the chain of sleep, To hear thy heart beat wild and fast — To feel thy pulses leap. Thy tears have robed the grass in green; Thy breath has waked the flowers; And falls a gleam of days serene Amid these leafing bowers. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 67 THE DAWN MAIDEN* •? I? On amber couch the maid of dawn In gentle slumber lay, When on his golden chariot borne Drove up the god of day. He saw, and loved the maiden bright, And stretched his arms in love: She, waking, fled his throne of light, To realms of blue above. Long time he sent his vassal rays The darkness to invade; And there where evening slowly strays, They found the lovely maid. Her brow gleamed with a tranquil star That multiplied her charms; And, bending from his blazing car, The day leaped in her arms. 68 IN VALES OF HELIKON. A SUNSET ON THE SEA* The sun, a crimson shield, dropped down the west, And thro a golden haze, flashed on the sea A lane of rosy beams. Each billow's crest Flaming with aerial rubies, modestly Stooped to a brother wave, and smoothed its brow; Until the waters, iris-hued, displayed Such mirror opaline you might avow The fancy — heaven in arms of ocean laid. On a cloud isle, some wreck of fairy land, Some blest abode where love might raise his throne, Rippled the fading rays. Slowly the night In violet cloak came on, studding her zone With silver stars; and on the pearly strand Of parting day, setting a vase of light. 1^ •« IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE CHALDEAN PLAINS. ^ *s Here nature scattered wealth with lavish hand; And from the bosom of darkness constant drew Horns of fertility. The retinue Of greatness followed, — cities on the strand That noble rivers washed; arts to disband The troops of savagery. The softest blue Dwelt in their sky; and on the mountains grew Colors that wrapt in mystery stream and land. Dead is their empire; but a spirit born Within those fastnesses, has wandered wide, The wrecks of time surviving. The forlorn, Those that in halls of lowliness abide. Have hailed it as the Persian hails the morn When o'er the hills her crimson banners ride. n ^ IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE EAGLK »^ »s No crowded streets with hum of Ufe; No human haunts where vice is rife; No vulgar pomp of tyranny, — Are liege to thee! To stand in frown of so much ill, Thy fretful spirit quick would kill, Thou comrade of the earnest night, The priest of light! There, visions entertain thine eye Made guest of beauty, — earth, and sky, And loneliness that doth parole A noble soul. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 71 Larks follow spring. The swallow dwells Footman to summer. Thy heart swells To war with nature, make thy prey The steeds of day. Drink only blood. Thy feeble breed Fling from the nest. Yet Ganymede Shall praise thee on Olympian snow, And I below. t^ y^ 72 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE OLD YEAR. Go, wander with thy pack of ills Upon oblivion's shore; Bent double with the grief that kills, The thoughts that death adore. Day ever flees the arms of night; And time our purpose jeers: The year that came with promise bright, A perjurer disappears. I turn me to thy smiling heir. As once I turned to thee. For days that shall the soul declare In peace and liberty. And I will crown him in my heart With diadem of truth; Since hope has quaffed, despite thine art. The fount of endless youth. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 73 LORELLA. She is a queen upon a throne Not made by human hands; She conquers by a smile alone, And by a glance commands; And all the tribute of my soul Is laid upon her shrine, While bending to a new control I grow, like her, divine. I may not ask her heart to give What mine has given her: Enough it is that I may live Her beauty's pensioner; May gaze upon her spotless brow, And in her glorious eyes; And deem that fortune grants me now A glimpse of paradise. 74 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE FIELDS OF ASPHODEL. I trod the joyless land; I saw the hopeless shades; I felt the stern, the iron hand No human heart evades: I heard the souls that roam, Beneath a solemn spell, — Still conscious of their earthly home- In fields of asphodel. No golden light of day Falls on these meadows green; No star, the realms of night to sway, On ruby throne is seen; No smiles, no looks that chid The fates which domineer, No hope that comes to men unhid, Visit the dweller here. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 75 But here to grief succeeds An age of mournful calm, And breathes an air across these meads That brings the spirit balm, — Such peace in mortal hours The mind had never known. Which grows while grow those sacred flowers By tender memories sown. I? •! 76 IN VALES OF HELIKON. ARIADNK I look upon the sea, the treacherous sea, But deem its breast is innocent and free Compared with man's. O Aegean wave! Whose azure feet dance on the shore and lave The sullen rocks and blinking sands with foam, Within thy liquid mansions is no home For her who loved not wisely, but too well! Naxos! believed a heaven and found a hell, On whose proud hills with vines and olives crowned. The Bacchic train leaped to the tabors' sound. In flush of happiness with Theseus trod. Fancied in honor equal to a god, — A sty of horror art thou now to me. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 11 A refuge of all lies and perfidy, Wherein I stagger with a blind despair, And love and life forswear. The lightning blast these hoary oaks and pines; In myriad pieces splinter all the shrines Where sacrifices man ! A pestilence Tread with red foot, and burn his every sense, Till he shall feel within his heart of hearts. Tenfold the pain that thro my bosom darts! Then sink this isle beneath the restless wave, And bury love and me in one wide grave! •s •? 78 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE BURNING THRONK •I ^ What tho he now possessed a separate throne Cushioned and draped with fire; and the new world In which he was sole king, had seen unfurled The grisly flag of death; and wail and moan Made music to all ears, except his own? Even the spirits downward with him hurled, Contented walked those mystic halls impearled With hopeless tears, while he remained alone! He was but lord of half the universe. The part of darkness; while in realms of light His great antagonist pronounced the curse Of banishment. And ever, in despite. He dreams, with sleepless eyes, to reimburse His fortunes — be supreme by fraud or might. •I I? IN VALES OF HELIKON. 79 AUGUST. •? •? Methinks a matron crowned with fruits and flowers Is latching summer's gate. Thy golden hair Streams to the earth; thine eyes glance soft as rare Sapphires that gleam in Ceylon tides. The towers Of snowy clouds in which the radiant hours Wait for the night, are fillets thou dost wear Around thy brow; while deep thine ankles bare Stand in the corn, and in the purpling bowers. Thy days are so serene that autumn makes Reprisals for his own. Before thy glass He bids the eldest of his months to pass, And robe her like to thee,— with crystal lakes Of azure in her sky, and amber light Like sunset rolls upon the coast of night. •? •! 80 IN VALES OF HELIKON. ANDRONIKUS. Around the human tigers stood, Their eyes ablaze with hate: To tear his heart — to lap his blood — With snarling lips they wait. They ravished out his teeth and hair, Wrenched off a hand — an eye; Then hung him by the feet in air, While curses drowned his cry. His parching throat' this hour of need Uttered one humble word: "Why will ye bruise a broken reed? Have mercy on me, Lord!" IN VALES OF HELIKON. 81 A bloody mist crept o'er his brain, A torment rived his heart; Till pain was subjugate by pain, Falling by its own dart. The prison, throne and army now In shadows fade away; A hueless dampness streaks that brow Where beauty held her sway. The queens who laid their innocence On altar of his love. Flicker before his wildered sense. Beneath, around, above. His glazing eye turned on the crowd, Mute asks some friendly hand To send his spirit still unbowed. Back to its native land. That mournful glance plunged in his side A soldier's generous sword, Who, 'mong the faithless, did abide Still faithful to his lord. 82 IN VALES OF HELIKON. BRITOMARTK The bosky wilds; Ihe solitude With trifles waging endless feud; The haunts of darkness; liberty, Enamored thee. The breast of snow where Dian held Young purity, thine own excelled: Love, scorned and famished, did depart Thy marble heart. That cup of beauty do not quaff, O Kretan king! The epitaph Of all thy gladness she will write, In thy despite. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 83 She is no maid of mortal mould, But one unfeminine and cold; A sprite or lamia who will spurn Thine art to learn. No dawn, calm chamberlain of day; Nor purple sea; nor thine array Of duties to the shades below, May balm bestow. Her pallid face, her dripping hair, Shall make thee prisoner of despair; And every jury of the years Condemn to tears. K 9t 84 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE CAVE DWELLERS- Folded in gloom they crouched and munched a bone; Or tore apart the quivering limbs of deer To drink their blood. The club, the flinted spear^ Leaned by the cavern wall; and in the lone Watches of night, the rain's unloosened zone Their rocky bed was flooding. Smote their ear The forest cries, their brown cheeks paled with fear; And in their door they rolled the massive stone. Yet in this soil the seed of art and law Fell from an unseen hand. These soulless ways Were paths that led to lives of halcyon days; And as by progress slow the mask of war Was drawn away, man, by a strange device Worshiped the past and called it paradise. I? •? IN VALES OF HELIKON. 85 THE DORIAN LINK Let not the eager vanities betray Thy dedicated life; feed thou thine art, In compensation, to thy famished heart Which sentiment and passion make their prey. He dies to fame, who bows him to the sway Of fashionable days; he mounts the cart For a new guillotine, who seeks a part Upon that stage where men their pride display. Listen, betimes, and hear the Dorian line In solemn grandeur rolling! Freedom, here; Beauty for which the generous soul will pine; And hopes that can the mind despondent cheer, Despite of human baseness; — all are thine To indemnify thy birth on such a sphere. •t »l 86 IN VALES OF HELIKON. CUBA* I? •? The despot's hand is on thy throat, His dagger at thy breast; And in thine ear his savage note, To yield — or take thy rest! Was it for this our fathers found A home beyond the sea, Where they on whom the tyrants frowned Might dwell in Hberty? Has so much blood been shed in vain — Set free so many slaves — Thy right must now be taught to Spain Upon her children's graves? IN VALES OF HELIKON. In blinded passion let her rage, And clank thy broken chain: Thou canst not, with such heritage, Put on that yoke again. Blood can not quench the holy fire That burns within thy soul; But higher shall it flame, and higher, Till thou reach freedom's goal. Then falter not! And let thy blows, Sad isle, fall swift and strong; Till everywhere thine ancient foes Lie buried with their wrong. ^ ^ 88 IN VALES OF HELIKON. A SLAVE OF PLEASURK Her brow is fair as in the days Played on it rays of innocence; Her lips the witching smile frequents With which the debt of love she pays. She lives beneath the blaze that flares From gilded domes in midnight hours; And recklessly the subtle powers That lurk in wine, confronts and dares. Insouciant and gay, her tongue Forbids her memory dark to go Back to her past; an endless flow Of banter keeps her spirits young. She wins the cold with pleasing wit. Or fascinates with repartee: I furl my sorrow's sail on lee Of wonder — to her spells submit. IN VALES OF HELIKON. m What is that harshness in her tone, That sudden boldness in her eye, Which ne'er before could I descry, And tells her finest charm is flown? Ah! in that eye the maiden light Is troubled by a viewless cloud; In lonely hours her head is bowed, And sinks her soul in seas of night. The light that from the altar fell Her veil of passion turned to gloom; But proud she walks the path of doom, And careless goes with grief to dwell. ^ ^ 90 IN VALES OF HELIKON. WASHINGTON. We may not say that all the virtues dwelt In thy great soul — human it was, and bowed To stately faults, living above the crowd Whose hearts at warm affection's altar knelt. Yet in that cloud was nurtured the complete And perfect will no storms of danger bent; When confidence was fled, still confident; Drinking the bitter chalice of defeat, And still achieving. Nations may worship them Who stride to glory over human graves: Be our praise thou who put a scepter by, Choosing to wear the nobler diadem Of worth, for buffeting oppression's waves, And adding one great star to freedom's sky. ^ n. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 91 THE SEA OF DARKNESS. »? I? Broods over it the o^loom of endless night; And wander there, with sad, mysterious sound, Winds from the outer realm. The cureless wound Of desolation bleeds upon the white Sands peering o'er the waves, with aconite And mandragora drooping on the ground; Or monstrous heads stretch from the depths pro- found Unvisited by sun, or petrels' flight. Here no sail comes, and passes safely by; No prow this ocean ploughs, by human hands Fashioned and steered. The cloudless ebon sky Is rent an instant; angry, sulphurous brands Descend, destroying; while, in quick reply, The billow opens, and its prey demands. «? I? S2 IN VALES OF HELIKON. ARMENIA. ^ I? And here where first the saving cross Was lifted to a nation's gaze, The Sultan tramples on her corse, And smiles that Christ his faith betrays! The Tigris, the Euphrates stream. The rock-bound Van, the Khabodan, Flashed back the deadly lances gleam, And dyed with blood of martyrs ran. That Moslem spear, that Moslem sword Which broke against the Pyrenees, Are burnished by the Hves that poured To seal a bigot's dark decrees. IN VALES OF HELIKON. Prom Caspian wave to Kurdistan The mountain's breath is freedom's home No more: the laws of Islam ban Her feet upon that soil to roam. And idly by the nations stand, Nor seek to cleanse that reeky den: We live beneath a new command, We see the age of sordid men. tp. s? 94 IN VALES OF HELIKON. OLYMPIAN DAYS* *s *? When Hercules, admitted to his rest, Slighted the deity of wealth, and lived In that eternal spring, that cloudless clime, As he were not, among the sacred host Amazement ran; and Jupiter exclaimed, His cypress scepter shaking: ''My Theban, what is this! Not only strength And beauty must be worshiped, but the wand That charms the ugly beast of poverty, Be dedicate in temple of the mind." And then, uprising from his ivory throne, He said in kinder tone: *'If he, with hand capricious, pour on men IN VALES OF HELIKON. 95 A golden rain, consider he is blind; And even so lame he can not overtake The foot of merit. Yet a recompense Hides in those restless wings that bear away Riches more rapid than they come." He sat him down, And stroked his eagle's head. Smiling replied The strong of arm: "O Father, be it so! But I have seen so often on the earth That god with rascals going arm in arm, I feared to soil the gloss of my new life Addressing him in heaven." ^ •? 96 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE SOLDIER'S GRAVEL The rays of peace fall on the land — The land for which you died; And where your life flowed in the sand, Rivers of verdure glide : And tho your form fades into dust, Obeying time's decree, Our memory fondly holds in trust Your valor's legacy. We see your battle fields again; We hear the cannon's roar; While half those serried ranks of men Sink down to rise no more; Or, spite of mercy's anguished calls. Paled on the bayonet; Or, 'neath the dungeon's fatal walls, In death their ills forget. IN VALES OF HELIKON. Your part is done. Tis ours to bring A chaplet to your grave; A word to speak, a song to sing, That tell how died the brave; Whose deeds on scroll of fame are spread, And graved on honor's urn; While round the campment of the dead The fires of glory burn. K »? 98 IN VALES OF HELIKON. SAINT BERNARD. Nay, do not pray that I may live — Pray rather that I go! The earth has nothing more to give When Hes the spirit low — Except a grave within her breast, Where one may drink his fill of rest. Bear witness, Christ, my love for thee; How I have borne thy cross; And drained the dregs of poverty; And counted sleep a loss. So I might spread thy gracious name- Thy kingdom to the world proclaim! I was not in the purple born. Nor taught to wield the sword; But I a cloak of power have worn That few who called them lord Have ever worn, — a spiritual power Kings envied in their proudest hour. IN VALES OF HELIKON. My mandate filled the Roman throne; I silenced keen Abelard; And kings hung on my will alone The scales of peace and war; And more, I preached the great crusade That Europe 'gainst the Turk arrayed. How often have the worldly sires Their children hid away, That thro religion's purging fires, My tongue has led to day! But now that tongue is moved by breath Lent only by the victor death. Dear friends! my sands of life are run; The grave is made for me: The web that earth and time had spun Torn by eternity! My work is done. With willing heart Unto my Master I depart. 100 IN VALES OF HELIKON. LAW- H I? Your hand has led, with faltering steps and slow, Man from the forest, the desert and the cave. Your face so stern, so pitiless and grave, Within his breast has weakened streams that flow O'er beds of violence. The cities grow On that land where your peaceful banners wave; And wealth is harvested where man was slave To poverty, or laid the weaker low. Now you are shrined in temple of the mind. Let all your oracles to justice pay A fitting tribute, that the scorners find No blemish on the ermine of your sway; Nor show the people in their passion blind. Beneath your golden vestments feet of clay. ^ 9i IN VALES OF HELIKON. 101 SPAIN, •? I? In caverns of decay she dwells, mid bones Of peoples she has slain. Her hands are red With innocent blood; her tiger soul is fed, As death diseases feed, by Cuba's groans. They ask for freedom's bread. She gives them stones; And threatens to wave her scepter o'er the dead, Ere she will shorten by a single shred That cloak of tyranny the age disowns. And there is one in apathy sits by, Who clothed in power could make her will a law; Or turns upon this woe a callous eye. And bends the shrine of riches to adore; While every wind an agonizing cry From liberty bears to her deafened shore. 1896. •? •? 102 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE MELOUNA PASS. Again, the Asian hordes pour down, Again the thrilling cry Rings thro the vale and thro the town ''Arm, Hellenes, or die!" At Europe's gate ye fearless stand Where erst your fathers stood, To guard your sad devoted land. To stem the Othman flood. Ye reck not if the Moslem creed Give Paradise to all Who in the cause of Islam bleed, On field of battle fall. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 103 Nor reck ye if the Christian powers Draw for your foes the sword; And plot, while hate their breast devours, To keep the Turk your lord. Your fatal passion is the fame Of that superior time Which set, thro art and arms, your name In crown of the sublime. On Marathon arise the dead, And in Thermopylae; And by your side in battle tread — A spectral company. But if ye fall beneath the hand Of numbers, treachery cold. Your deeds must haunt your glorious land Like theirs who bled of old. 1897. s? s? 104 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE ABDICATION. We loved, but parted in the hour That anger ruled my heart; Nor deemed that pride possessed the power To rend our lives apart. We met again when time had bent My mind to wisdom's sway; But absence had in exile sent Her thoughts of yesterday. Her lovely eye was calm and clear; Her hand cold touched mine own; And as her voice fell on mine ear, I knew that love had flown. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 105 CONSOLATION. If, 'neath a load of grief and care, Upon the road of life you fare, And quondam friends betray; Say to your soul depressed and low With man's unfaith and fortune's blow: This, too, will pass away. Against the regiments of change There is no guard; for ever range The bandits of decay: And if your life is hard and sad, Remember, heart in sorrow clad, It, soon, will pass away. »i *t 106 IN VALES OF HELIKON. A THRALL OF VICK In drunken sleep the mother lay, Her garments torn and vile; Her coarse and matted hair astray; While wounds her face defile. The mother lay in shameful sleep; A child played by her side, Sought in her nerveless arms to creep, And prattled, laughed and cried. The wind came thro the broken pane; Sputtered the candle's spark; The embers sank in ashen rain; The room grew cold and dark. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 107 The child had ceased its playing now, And fretful plained for food; As hunger burned its pulse and brow In that dread solitude. The night wore on. The woman slept A heavy sodden sleep. The child no longer moaned and wept, But sank in slumber deep. The sun stole in. The mother woke With flamed and aching head; And stretched her hand, and faintly spoke To one who now was dead. ^ I? 108 IN VALES OF HELIKON. MACBETH. My name no longer conquers, and I feel Burning the crown from hand of honor won; In paths accurst my drunken fortunes reel: I grow to be a-weary of the sun. The fatal hags have pressed their drops of bane Upon my hope, and juggled with my soul; Since Birnam wood now comes to Dunsinane, And clouds of doubt upon my spirit roll. For Banquo's children have I called remorse Into my mind, and made my futile sword Wealthy with blood drained from my country's corse: Still followed by lip-service, but abhorred. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 109 Yet do I wear, prophetic voices tell, An unseen mail that laughs my foes to scorn. To conquer me they must unpeople hell: I may not yield to one of woman born. Time shall confront these terrors with a smile, Disarming them, or robbing them of power; So I may walk once more the happy isle Of peace, and know again a tranquil hour. Does one the hopeless combat now demand? MacdufT, torn timeless from his mother's breast! Then in this house of blood invite thy brand, And be with Duncan dissolution's guest! ^ VL 110 IN VALES OF HELIKON. ORESTES* With hand yet dripping with thy mother's blood, What now unnerves thee? The polkited ground Opens, that drank the parricidal wound; And blossoms to thy sight the fatal bud Of retribution — that grim sisterhood In black and gory garments, temples bound With hissing serpents, eyes of flame that round Volley despair, and pour a scorpion flood Upon thy soul. Flee thou the spot accurst! The temple seek of him who lives in light; Who counseled thee, and can enstar thy night With rays of hope. Then may these bonds be burst That chain thy life to horror, and release Come at the end when time shall whisper — peace! n •? IN VALES OF HELIKON. Ill THE AONIAN MOUNT. Time was when streams of song poured down thy side, And ravished every ear. Thy barren land Defied the peasant's tminstructed hand, But fertile grew when claimed and made the bride Of rich imagination. Soul replied To soul; the mind was raptured by a band Laureled and ever young, at whose command The doors of inspiration opened wide. But now thy founts are dry. The oak, the pine. Guard silently the haunts of fancy's child; The snows that crown thy brow are but a shrine Where desolation by the storm is piled; Those notes of music that were deemed divine, Strains of the forest by the wind beguiled. •5 I? 112 IN VALES OF HELIKON. TO THE CUBAN RECONCENTRADOS. n I? Driven from home, your fertile fields despoiled, Your houses wrapped in flames, and the fair scenes Beloved made desolate, you slowly die Within the Spanish walls, by Spain's decree. You may not labor, may not in the sea Cast hook and line, fell hunger to appease; Or turn to flee. A meager charity Relieved, a while, your woe; but, unlike crime. That spring ran dry. The refuse of the streets, And animals unclean, were all that war, And man, allowed your lot within a land Nature had made the richest on the globe. Soon in your ranks starvation stepped, and slew More than the sword. His dank and dismal wing Flapped on your cheek, and blanched it with despair; A fire burnt in your eye, — the strange, wild fire IN VALES OF HELIKON. 113 That plays upon the tomb. You raised your face Up to the stony skies; and never fell Manna to save, nor lightning to destroy. Your masters stood, with calm impassive brows, Hearts fed by human blood, as I am told, And in religion nursed, to see you sink, With throes of agony, into the earth. A few more pangs, and you that yet remain Will sleep beneath the sod. There, human hate Can never reach you more. The liberty For which you vainly sighed in this strange world, Will be all yours. A guilty throne may still Stand in its subjects' blood, and coldly slay The child of freedom in its very birth. You will be natives of another clime, And subjects of another king; and may. With mute lips in the chambers of the grave, Say to the nations when the avenger comes, There is no sure foundation set in blood. January, i8p8. 114 IN VALES OF HELIKON. TO THE MAINE, Not when the genius of the storm had flung His pall of blackness on the sea and land; And from its cloudy sheath the lightning's brand Plashed broad and crimson, while the thunders rung Majestic anthems, was your requiem sung; Nor when, in battle, the cannon's hoarse com- mand Bade all the baleful fires of death be fanned To furnace brightness, with its stentor tongue. No, not to you was meted such a fate! But in a peaceful harbor, when the night Was counsel to your foes, their treacherous hate In your destruction gluts its appetite; No chance to answer in war's fierce debate; And on your sudden end no glory's light! February, i8p8. ^ ^ IN VALES OF HELIKON. 115 MANILA. *S •! When dawn unloosed the purple robe of night With rosy fingers, there the Spanish fleet Its colors waving proud, her glances meet. With pride disdainful, in its gloomy might, It saw the western foe prepared to smite, Ranged on the bay. Descends the fiery sleet; The forts, with ball and shell, the assailants greet; Columns of smoke repulse the morning light. Ere reeled the wearied day thro sunset's gate, That pride was blasted, that squadron was no more. Closed over it the sea insatiate, Those decks commanding, in its mufBed roar; While on the waters, scathless, calm as fate, The victors rode, resistless as of yore. May, i8p8. »? «? 116 IN VALES OF HELIKON. SANTIAGO. Their fleets destroyed, the Spaniards said: *'Our valiant army will not tread Ways of defeat. Let it but face The foe, it cancels this disgrace." We landed men; we drove them back Along the rocky roadless track, Seamed with ravines. We scaled the hill San Juan, steep, lead-swept, trenched with skill; And planted, in their fiery hail. Our flag upon the heights. The vale Spread at our feet, disclosed the town On which our guns began to frown And thunder. In burning shot and shell. Death in his ghastliest manner fell; While famine, heading other pests. Sat like a vampire on their breasts. It was enough. Their dream of pride Sank in surrender's hideous tide. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 117 WAR* H I? I drench the world with bloody rain; I mow the ranks of human grain With burning scythe; I harvest men, Then turn to reap new fields again. My fires are fed by pride and hate; My spectral riders penetrate To countless homes, and drag the brave Thro tears, into the silent grave. But man is man; and I have lent, For life-blood in my service spent. That diadem of sad renown With which the nations soldiers crown. My crimson sea sinks in the earth. And gives the flowers of glory birth; While time, my adjutant, will weave Balm garlands round the hearts that grieve. 118 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE DEAD WARRIOR. Upon his bier, beneath the fading skies, How quietly he Hes! He can not hear his comrades gentle tread Around his narrow bed; Nor see the debt of love their glances pay His cold and senseless clay. The drum's reveille, and the cannon's roar Shall waken him no more; For he, all battles past, is drinking deep Of the eternal sleep. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 119 In morning of his life, he prompt obeyed The call his country made; His spirits soaring high, his heart aflame To climb the hills of fame ; And brilliantly upon his sea of dreams Fell glory's mystic gleams, — The charge, the escalade, the banner torn Thro storm of bullets borne, Until at last implanted high it wave Above the foeman's grave. Now ended are those dreams; the heart is stilled That once to glory thrilled; And all the deeds of prowess he had planned In airy fields disband: Death was importunate, and seized his prey Ere fortune had her day; But one will lock in dim oblivion's vaults His noble, generous faults, And keep, some little time, his virtues green In memory's sad demesne. 120 IN VALES OF HELIKON. THE LAST LEAF. •5 ^ The frost has set his seal In flaming colors on thy brow; And, one by one, thy comrades steal Meekly from every bough. In green I saw them dressed, Soft rustling in the airs of May; Yet thou, by cold decay caressed. More beauty dost display. Still bend the rain-loved skies In fading glory o'er thy head; Thro pallid airs the robin flies, Altho his voice is dead. But soon the winds will fall In fury on thy mother tree; And thou to earth, at nature's call. Wilt flutter silently. IN VALES OF HELIKON. 121 NIGHT* A pilgrim thro the world I go, Observing tides of passion flow From human hearts; with salvaged pen Their flotsam bringing back again. And oft the presence of the night Wakes in my soul a sad delight, Routing the proud command of day Which kept my better sense at bay. 'Tis then we feel how poor and weak The prizes are we anxious seek; How vain is all that time can give To nature's slaves condemned to live. Let night be then a solemn sign Of that condition to be mine, When, from this net of being freed, I taste at last Nirvana's mead. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. J- ^ PHILIP OF POKANOKET: e^ ,^ AN INDIAN DRAMA* This blank verse drama treats of the war waged by- King Philip in 1675-76 against the English colonists. The leading characters in that memorable contest are introduced, and made to live again in these pages. A careful study is undertaken of the Wampanoag chief- tain ; the tragic situations are utilized to bring out his human traits of gentleness and ferocity, his unbounded hopes, his bitter despair. For a moment the notes of war are hushed while the reader visits the Seconet village where dwells a peaceful tribe ; and between the rattle and report of musketry is heard the voice of affection and love. It is a varied and striking picture. 12 mo., i36 pp., cloth, antique laid paper, gilt top, price $1.00. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 907 396 8 '