•« ^^B: Class _^S__ 35 Ic Book. ^"^ U 5 CopightN". '^OS COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV THE UNFORGOTTEN By ANSTISS CURTISS GARY DE LAURENCE, SCOTT & CO. CHICAGO 7^3 ri3 .^^^^f, LiBRAHY of CONGRESS Two CoDies Received Copyritfnt Entry CLASS CU ^Xc- No. J Copyright 1909 BY ANSTISS CURTISS GARY To That Other One Who Has Lost a Friend. FOR NONE OF US LIVETH TO HIMSELF, AND NO MAN DIETH TO HIMSELF. Romans 14-7. And no man by himself alone journeys unto the Silent Land. For, of his friends, one may forebode the sep- aration, and some may accompany him to the Borderland, and to another one the world can never seem the same again because of his de- parture. THE PARTING OF THE WAYS. Your way and my way The parting waits, Life's way and Death's way And Love's way and Fate's. Your way and my way Yet may come right. Love's way and Fate's way May reunite. Life, Love and Death's ways Meet once and then — Never the same ways, Never again ! w HEN the twain are one flesh And the flesh is riven Where shaU peace be found again This side heaven ? When the twain are one soul And the soul is rent How shall one God's heaven find ? How one be to earth resigned Through time's banishment ? THE SEPARATE. At the parting of the ways Life goes on with Love, nor stays To behold where Death makes claim To his habitude and name. Day by day, and year by year Death exacts an homage drear. "What was Love's is mine," says Death. And his right none gainsayeth. At the parting of the ways One goes on with Life, one stays Talking on with wearied breath Of old memories with Death. 11 12 THE UNFORGOTTEN COMPARISON. Two are better than one For the labor's own reward For, if one fall, a hand Is near to help afford, And if one call a voice Gives answer to his need. But woe to the one alone With none to aid or heed.* Two are better than one — Unless it may sometime xhance The light of the sun grows dim As the bitter days advance, When the comradeship is rent And the power of the grave is shown. Can a man his past forget. Or be warmed or cheered alone ? *RcclesiasteR 4-9-11. THE UNFORGOTTEN 13 Two are better than one, Until one stands bereft Viewing the mantle worn And the staff that his friend has left. But not till the journey's end Shall this truth attest the one. Till the grave-clods reunite, And the numbering is done. 14 THE UNFORGOTTEN IMPERFECTION. All dim and blurred the pictures came, That should make visible to me The cause of honor and of shame, The mills of mirth and misery.* On went Life's grinding while I lay — With halting heart and failing breath — In solemn majesty of clay Waiting my guest, the angel Death. I had been told by wiser men Than I, that at the last I should Review Life's varied pictures then, In still, unfretted quietude. But, though the pictures came and went, I partly glimpsed, nor wholly saw. Because a sense of discontent Infringed upon the ancient law. *"The mills of the gods grind slowly but they grind ex- ceeding small." THE UNFORGOTTEN 15 It must have been a hindering sound — As some one near me grieving wept, 'I cannot give you to the ground," That blurred the pictures ere I slept. i6 THE UNFORGOTTEN BECAUSE. Because you never saw this place I rest me Within its walls. No memory whispers, ''Here his arms caressed me." When twilight falls 1 do not hsten for the sound of feet That never, nevermore my ears shall greet. Because the eyes I loved ne'er saw the lighting On door and sill Of foreign sunlight, our lives disuniting Grows fainter still. Ah, now the sight of bush or rock or tree We saw together smites and tortures me. Because no echo of your voice drifts sharply Across my sense Within these rooms, where my life goes on darkly In vain pretense At being life — I transgress being's laws, And breathe — though you are dead, because — because. THE UNFORGOTTEN 17 ACROSS THE WOLD. Across the Wold uprolls the mist, And the famihar scene of old Waits, changeless, through a twilight cold Of changing grays and amethyst. By a last, loitering sun-ray kissed, Ere Night's advancing hosts enfold. Across the Wold, across the Wold, The day-viewed scene to grief changed eyes Smites with a lagging, dull surprise. All unfamiliar is unrolled Home's clustered sphering manifold. As seen for the first time it lies. Across the Wold there shines the light That should mean Home, if Home could be On any rood of earth for me. I move toward it through the night And know the while that, on my sight, A wisp fire flaunts its mockery. THE UNFORGOTTEN THE SHADOW. The man first noticed it the day Love came to dwell with him. Thereafter he saw it every day. It lay between them — always between them. It was not subject to the law of shadows, it made no difference where the sunlight gleamed, the Shadow was always before Love; and when the man understood this he was unhappy. "Do not notice it," said Love ; *'See, it does not harm me." ''Not yet," said the man. "Forget it," said Love, ''do not let it spoil our joy." "I do forget it," said the man. "I could not live and always remember that some day it will surely separate us. O Love, we cannot tell which one it waits for ! It matters not in one sense — since the parting is while Life lasts — ronly one of us must live on, and remember." "Forget it," said Love. "I do forget it," said the man. "I could not live and remember." But he did not forget, and he lived many years with Love, and the Shadow rested before Love and Time passed on. And then one dav the man called Love and THE UNFORGOTTEN 19 Love did not answer him ; and he sought Love and Love was not in the garden. And then he knew he must find comfort in the thought he had so often held when Love was with him in the vanished years. "Now it has come," he said. *'I need no longer fear. The Shadow will have gone with Love," he cried ; ''I shall never see it again." He lifted up his head and his eyes sought all the places where the Shadow had lain. But the Shadow had gone with Love, and there was no trace of it in the garden. The Shadow and the fear it had held for the man were gone from Life and the man was free from them. He told himself this as he walked to an fro. 'M am free," he said. 'T am free forever- more from the Shadow." And he turned to go on. And as he turned there smote upon his face and shone upon the future years, the change- less glare of the sunshine. 20 THE UNFORGOTTEN PREFIGURED. O Death, where is thy victory ? Thou hadst it long before Were shut the windows of his soul And sealed the Temple door. Thou hadst it in the fear that cast A shadow o'er the years, Thou hadst it in my prescient, Anticipative tears. O Grave, where is thy victory? O Death, where is thy sting? Since I no more thy menace fear And ceased his suffering. THE UNFORGOTTEN 21 LIFE'S MOCKERY. There was a jest, and somebody laughed, It was not I, and it was not you As Death's chill cup of defeat you quaffed — There will be others ere Time is through. The Great Designer was satisfied, And the plan stupendous moved on apace, Though every morning some lover died And the evening desolate proved his place. There was a jest, and somebody wept, It was not I, for my tears were shed. But, through Life's joyance a horror crept. And the living envied the quiet dead. The Great Designer made worlds anew. Nor paused to hearken an old world's scorn, But one was glad when the tale was through. And the dead smiled on at tl;ie jest outworn. 22 THE UNFORGOTTEN THE TRAITOR. Before you went to that country- Ever so far away — The land of the great Hereafter, Where God and the angels stay, Time, in the old, sweet living, For trusted friend we had. And never his hours were weary, And ever his days proved glad. Time, through his sunlit seasons. Granted our hearts' delight. Or, if the mist or the tempest Blotted the world from sight, Never his garb we noted, . Hearing only his speech Uttering Love's evangel Within the heart of each. THE UNFORGOTTEN 23 But now, the friend that I trusted Is turned mine enemy. A thousand years seems the daytime, And the night eternity. The sunHght shines on my sorrow, The mists hide not my pain Since you went to that far-off country, And Time and I remain. 24 THE UNFORGOTTEN REALITY. When I touched you, Heard you breathing, Saw Love's signal gleam Through your every act and feature, Life was but a dream. Now I miss you, List'ning vainly, While I reenact All the vanished, sweet illusion, Death the onlv fact. THE UNFORGOTTEN 25 THE BARRIER. Sometimes I can forget — For a brief moment's space- Sometimes for me life yet Summons its former grace, Sometimes you seem but gone From my sight for a day, And time moves gently on In the old tranquil way — But when I lay my hand On the latch of the door, Ah, then I understand. Never again, no more! When the wind and the sleet Bluster and wail and sigh. When on the dreary street Hasten the passers by, 26 THE UNFORGOTTEN When the fire and the lamp Beckon, softly agleam, Out of the dark and the damp, Into the twilight's dream — Then for a second's time I greet you, claim you, Oh, then Stilled is the heart heat's chime Never, never again! Shadows thicken and fall, Footsteps loiter or haste, Voices murmuring call While the slow moments waste. You may be there, be near, With me it may be well, Lulled from the Future's fear. Lapsed in the Present's spell. THE UNFORGOTTEN 27 Hoiv can the heart withstand, In the shade of the door, Knoivledge of griefs demand? Never again, no more! Barrier, final, strong, Bar of the commonplace, Destined to hold Death's wrong Ever before Life's face. I can believe away From the grim portal's shade, Fashioned to swift betray Hopes of the Spirit made. Hark to the step I hear! Open to Love the door. Barrier, fatal, drear, Never again, no more! 28 THE UNFORGOTTEN RELINQUISHMENT. In the old days — before you went Where time is not — I mind me well The merry moments that we spent In one dear, foolish pastime's spell. When the sun rose to fill the brim Of our lives' joyous loving-cup, We stood each morn to welcome him, The while we wound the watches up. And who was right, and which went slow? The grave discussion waged, until We set them both, with laughter low. Adjusted to one moment still. That moment will not come again. Lost is Time's spell, drained is the cup. No more within the world of men I stand to wind the watches up. THE UNFORGOTTEN 29 This one was yours and that one mine. Mute, silent lie they 'neath my hand. Why should I seek to still combine Their sounds I dare not understand? Broken and jarred the Perfect seems Where I alone life's anguish sup. rill with you where God's sunlight gleams No more I wind the watches up. so THE UNFORGOTTEK IRREVERENCE. Last night I made a mock at Death I visited and laughed With one who but this morn his cup Of quietude hath quaffed. If I had known Death drew so near, With what respect had I Touched reverently the hand of one Who was so soon to die. The words we said, the very tone Of voice she used I keep. I might have sent some better word With her to voiceless sleep. THE UN FORGOTTEN 31 SUBSTITUTION. Marry again? and what should marry, A frame outworn and a grief-strained breath, A heart that labors and strains to carry Some half won hope from the grasp of death? ''Thus did we : Here kissed we :" what new lover Is strong to fashion a life anew? The best is hid in the great Earth Mother : The worthy living is done and through. Marry again? to trick and cheaten The sullen sense with a fainter fire, To fool the thought when the life is beaten, To quicken loathing to base desire? 'Thus did we: Here kissed we" — what new striving May waken love when his truth is dead ? What strain, what effort, what new conniving May quicken passion evanished? 32 THE UNFORGOTTEN Marriage call not the second cleaving ; Name it convenience, liaison, pact. The heart that turns from its great bereaving In lesser union to reenact Chastity, purity, knows not marriage ; It lives unworthy, it dies unmourned. There is one union and its miscarriage Makes all life's discord, by virtue scorned. Law was given, the Word was spoken : ''A man forsaking all else must cleave To one." This union lives on unbroken By death or time, though they both bereave. God given, man taken, once, once only, Through life and death is the bond made true. I love you, darling, though life be lonely, I wait, as elsewhere for me wait you. THE UNFORGOTTEN 33 SEPARATION. There is not a word that you could say, Or I would care to hear, To bring you near to me, day by day, As the Silence brings you, dear. What shall I do that the hours be sped And the waiting time be past ? How could I bear it if you were dead? O God, if this should last ! 34 THE UNI'ORGOTTEN THE REQUISITE. Could I have kept the sound of your voice I had given God the rest, Nor mourned, since with angels you rejoice, And life in heaven is best. I could have borne my life, could have said, We are not riven apart, And whom my soul loves, he is not dead But speaketh unto my heart. I could renounce from the daily sight, Could yield from my empty arms, Nor question aught of the spirit's right To shield you from earth's alarms, If, through the hours of the lonely day, Or once in the age-long night Your voice could sound, where I cannot pray. I would grudge not touch nor sight. THE UNFORGOTTEN 35 UNVISIONED. heed my calling! the sun shines bright, The white clouds float in the azure sky. 1 linger near, but you have no sight For that which seen would but cause affright. O I stand and ,wait_, close by, close by, O listen dearest ! and heed my cry, I may but linger till falls the night. let me in, for the wind moans low ! The night and the cold draw close and near. The dark'ning air has a hint of snow. 1 wait beside, but you do not know, For you cannot see me, O my dear ! And if you could you would feel but fear, And so I turn from your door and go. 36 THE UNFORGOTTEN WIDOWED INDEED. Pity the widowed in her desolation : What sadder fate than such Could overtake ? What further desecration Befall from Sorrow's touch? Yet wins she something for her consolation From out the Grave's fell clutch. What greater blow could fall ? but one, one only. Grief hath one subtler form ; She might walk through Life's paths more crushed and lonely, In a yet fiercer storm. Now she has memory through Life's lasting winter To keep her sad heart warm. But if her dead yet lived, were parted from her By only night and day, If the sun shone and winds blew soft upon her, As sometimes chance they may. From some near-sundered land, where from his summer Her love were thrust away? THE UNFORGOTTEN 37 Grave's mouth is naught beside the sadder parting Disloyalty doth show. The dead are true, where 'neath the daisies start- ing They lie and wait below. If they could speak they'd ease the bitter smart- ing: "Beloved, grieve not so." She who hath lost her trust is widowed truly — And bitter is her need. She v/ho keeps faith with Love is strengthened duly, This is Love's simple creed, Not death but life proves Love ; un faith makes newly The widowed and indeed. 38 THE UNFORGOTTEN REALIZATION. I thought that I knew, when the sun shone upon you, When your form cast a shadow and Death was a threat, I thought that I knew (God have mercy upon me) Ere blackness of darkness encompassed me yet. I thought I could know with your foot on the stairway The sound of a Silence that never abates ; That I could surmise with your face in the door- wav The meaning of loss when Death's touch de- vastates. I thought I could know, when the sound of your laughter Dispelled my despair and made mock of my tears. The force of the blow when, in days to come after, I should stagger beneath it through limitless years. THE UNFORGOTTEN 39 I thought — and I said in my haste, what an angel Might fear, in his Hmitless learning, to tell — One could feel, with Love breathing beside his evangel, The terror, through fear, of a compassing hell. I thought, but I knew not the depth of disaster, The height of despair, or the anguish to come. What shall separate us from the love of the Master, Shall our love for our dead and the parting therefrom? 40 THE UNFORGOTTEN IGNORANCE. O never tell me of it, if you miss me, when the blue And gold of summer fold me from mortality and you. O never tell me of it, if you miss me when the night With its star-strewn floor between us hides me from your human sight. For I could not sense the color, nor the starry reaches blue. If I heard my asking echo in the heart and soul of you. And the many mansioned heaven, reached through tardy, dragging years Like earth's pent-house would enclose me, if you called me through your tears. THE UNFORGOTTEN 41 APRIL WEATHER. April' weather, you'd jes' think the sun Never meant to shine agen, skies all dark and dun, Then a blaze of glory, not a cloud in sight, Seems like what is runnin' things 'd never git it right. April weather, pretty close to May, Hear the robins jawin' 'bout it every day, Perkin' up and tellin' all about the run Of bad luck they're havin' sense the spring begun. April weather, jes', and no man knows When the wind's a kitin' from which way it blows. Awful tryin' season. It don't seem to me Sky's as bright and clear and blue as it ust to be. Got to quit my speechin' and see about the work. Neighbors mebbe have some right, callin' me a shirk. Alius laughin', sneerin', cause I hear and know Other things in spring than rain, while the green things grow. 42 THE UNFORGOTTEN There's no use a talkin' wisht' I'd never had One more sense than other folks, makes me so blame mad. Wisht' the work was further, wisht' I'd time to say Jes' how glad I am the year's gittin' into May. April Weather, jes' a year to-day — God ! to think about it — sense she went away ; 'Nd me a beggin,' prayin,' I might go with her. Er else she'd tell me 'bout the place she was start- in' fer. "Where's your Christian faith, man?" all the preachers say, Rubbin' in a smartin' wound when they come to pray. I can't make them understand hdw it run aground Such a little slab of stone and a tiny mound. Wonder ef she's found out ! wonder ef she's sure ! Wonder ef she feels now all that I endure ! I knew more of heaven when Lucy Janes could speak 'N a raft of preachers could tell me in a week. THE UNFORGOTTEN 43 I don't doubt that heaven's somewhere, shinin,' strong, Can't be changed ner altered jes' by one man's wrong. Know this, sure and certain, lived once in that state, 'Fore last April left me all disconsolate. Yes I'm sure of heaven, but what tries me more Is jes' what a man kin do when God shets the door. There's so much of hunger and so little food, Mebbe ef he's been there once, that is all he should. Mebbe there warn't quite enough — seems so when its found — Bliss to last forevermore, 'nd it's passed around : Jes' a taste of rapture, then an awful thirst For an endless time of love, stronger than the first. I don't know egsactly what I'd say or do Ef she'd come and kiss me, ef my dreams came true, Ef some April mornin', when the sun shines bright, I should see her standin', shinin' on my sight. 44 THE UNFORGOTTEN Think I'd go plumb crazy, wouldn't need a word. I'd forgive the year that's gone, sense I've seen or heard. I'd forgive a Hfetime, all that men endure, Ef only, while I'm waitin', I could jes' be sure. THE UNFORGOTTEN 45 SUBTRACTION. This world's a mighty lonesome place When you take one from two. It seems a never endin' space For one to wander through, Knowin' he'll never find the face He's been accustomed to. This World's the lonesomest they make When you take one from one. Some folks'll say when this you take It leaves naught for your sum. I've tried, I know, through the heartache The answer that'll come. When you take naught from naught there's still A somethin' even then That moves with weakened hope and will Among his fellow men, Somethin' left grindin' at the mill For no life's use again. 46 THE UNFORGOTTEN There's somethin' left that don't know how To learn, and can't forget. He drags his has beens into now, Nor solves his problem yet. Come, Master of the ignorant, And some new tasking set. THE UNFORGOTTEN 47 THE VISIBLE. I watched, as far as I could see, The form that held Love's worth for me Go onward to the daily task ; And something in my soul did ask — As one by one the questions came — "How could you live, what should you do If this, Love's meaning, ceased for you? If no tomorrow were the same. If this, one atom 'mid the vast Unquiet universe were cast Aside? as daily many pass From light and Hfe and love, alas!" I thought, throughout the busy day, Of this dear symbol, Love had sent. And what perpetual banishment Would mean, until I could not pray. Until, at last, a legend sweet — Read long ago and carelessly — Came to my mind to comfort me.* ^ - It .was of one whose hands and feet In some past agony were lost To pay, for his soul's sake, the cost. ♦Olive Schreiner's, ''Dreams/' 48 THE UNFORGOTTEN And, through the nearest heaven of all The angels carried him, with call Of praise and shouts of joy, that each Who heard should, jubilant, draw near Unto the maimed to see and hear, And on their shoulders help to bear His triumph through the heavens there. While from the stricken stumps there shone A dazzling light and warmth that made The maimed one a mighty aid. And where in heaven existed need This shining one was borne indeed That flowers might hasten to put forth Their fairest bloom., as this, Love's worth Drew near, acclaimed by Love's own. But one made question : *T had thought Of heaven as perfectness and here The greatest is found incomplete." And one made answer low, yet clear, ''Think you Love needeth hands or feet?' THE UNFORGOTTEN 49 Slowly, from out the heavens' sphere I turned to daily duties near, And yet, upheld by rarer air, I walked, no more oppressed by care. Since Love made all things that are made How can I be by Love betrayed? O nobleness, that asks until Men reach in turn the greater Will ! O Love, that yearns, vv^hile worlds are made. For understanding! until man Grasps through his soul the mighty Plan, And strives his God to render aid. The symbols fade, the symbols fall. The symbols pass, and yet, and yet Love is not lost — till we forget. POEMS OF THE BORDERLAND 51 \^y ATCHES at night, when the lights burn low, And shadows stealthily stir and slink — Whisperings dread of a nearing foe — Airs from an unseen river's brink — Something cold in the firelight's gleam, Something strange in the wonted place, Fears prescient — while loved ones dreami — Of a tomorrow that comes apace. No man knows of the day or hour, Who shall be chosen, no man knows, Meeting singly the foeman's power Into the Silence each one goes. 53 TRANSITION. A cruel thing, a hard thing Life's grip proves upon men. In their last, losing struggle Life yields by inches then. At evening and at morning, Slowly and yet more slow, Driaining'the lees of being. Life's vanquished victims go. But sometimes, O sometimes Comes an unguarded day, And an unnoted portal Gleams through Life's cruel sway A moment swiftly passing, The ceasing of a breath — Life's tyranny eluded — - May bring the peace of Death. 55 56 THE UNFORGOTTEN THE SUMMONSING. The awe of it! and yet as Death, In all his pomp and power, draws near To ease me of my failing* breath — Since his great rule none gainsayeth, Why, of all nature, should I fear ? There were so many little things To no one's harm in my intent, Such store of vain imaginings To work into accomplishment, Such plans and hopes that should befall. Had not Death come to end them all. The awe of it ! that unto me The mystery should swift descend That, through the years, remorselessly Hath gathered to Eternity Lover and comrade, kin and friend. THE UNFORGOTTEN 57 There are so many things undone, So man'}j words I might have said, Such wealth of Love left all unzvon Front hearts I might have comforted: The ozve of it is great, and yet — Greater than awe there looms regret. 58 , THE UNFORGOTTEN INTERMEDIATENESS. First I sank down, space after space, It seemed an endless way. Around the verge of my descent Men moved, and it was day. (But I knew neither day nor night. Nor could I zvill or pray.) And then for me all motion ceased, As it had ne'er begun. What was it that my life had missed? What was it it had won? (/ knew not, in the silences Loss, gain, they are as one.) Will something shock this senseless thing To fresh activity, To any further reckoning Of life's supreme decree? THE UNFORGOTTEN 59 (/ knozu not, come ye zvho would know And reach — uncertainty.) 6o THE UNFORGOTTEN THE SOJOURNER. When I came to live with Life She was rich and fine ; All she had she offered me, Mine to play with, mine to be, Mine, all mine! Life had other guests to please, Offered all her store. Stronger grasp than mine had they, Stole her largess day by day Until Life grew poor. Now the time has come for me Some new friend to choose ; Grantor who will let me keep, Through the mists of Death and Sleep, All Life let me lose. As I go from Life's domain. Of her wonders shown And withheld from each demand. Of my hungry heart and hand What is made my own? THE UNFORGOTTEN 6i All unwise I came to Life, All unwise I go, From the sunlight and the day, From the mirth and song away, Whither, none may know — Or if One shall comfort me When Life's jest shall cease; If the dark shall hide a friend, Waiting at the journey's end, Prodigal of peace. 62 THE UNFORGOTTEN THE GATEWAY. It's a good way out, and I do not fear — When the door is swung for me — To leave the realm of the certain here For the future mystery. If naught awaits us the end is peace, And one knows, and one is sure. It's a good way out for the soul's release When it need no more endure. It's a good way out, and there is no need For my soul to harbor dread. Thus, ere my birth, were earth's millions freed. And shall be when I am dead. I cannot tread on an untried path, Nor suffer an unfelt fear. So I know in mercy and not in wrath Was the exit made from here. THE UNFORGOTTEN 63 It's a good way out, and you must not think, If you think of me at all, That I was not glad to lie down and sink In the outer darkness' pall — For there was not room, and I did not know, And my soul was sore amazed, Yet am I sure that the way we go Is a good way, God be praised ! It's a good way out, for my friend has gone^ And his friend, and many more ; And every one in the past has won To his freedom through this door. I called my friend woman, child or man ; But we are in truth all one. And I can go where my brother can, And do as my friend has done. 64 THE UNFORGOTTEN LET IT BE SUDDEN. If I have won the right to ask a guerdon, If in life's losing struggle I have won Right to one kindness, easing of one burden, This were my asking ere the chance is done. Let it be sudden at the last, the wrenching Of soul and spirit from the house of clay, Let there be no time for a vain retrenching, Yielding by inches, seeking still delay. Let it be sudden, that my friends be saddened, Shocked at the summons, lest indeed they be, Worn and out wearied, at the last but gladdened At Death's subduing soul and frame of me. If I have won the right to ask a guerdon — I who have lost all else beside such right — This would I ask when I lay down the burden Let it be sudden — the darkness and the night. THE UNFORGOTTEN 65 Let it be sudden, that I may not falter — This change that Wisdom preordains Ufe's best, This mystery that hope nor fear may alter — Sudden and swift my entrance into rest. 66 THE UNFORGOTTEN A WEARINESS. It grew upon me, when the sun Sank westward, or the orison Of birds proclaimed the eastern light; It claimed my being day and night. * If I would love, or pray, or bless, God's meed from me — a weariness. It strengthened with the months that stole Resolve and purpose from my soul. Until at last I ceased to care Another's joy or grief to share; And all regret and all distress Merged for me in a weariness. It seems almost, when I lie dumb Through darkened hours till mornings come, Or while I draw each laboring breath Through light that comfort gainsay eth. That sharpest agony were less To bear than this — my weariness. THE UNFORGOTTEN 67 I make no plaint, the world swings on, I watch awhile — my journey done — Life's mighty, surging forces fill The spheres of good, the planes of ill. Waiting God's touch I acquiesce Till Love shall end my weariness. 68 THE UNFORGOTTEN WHEN I AWAKE. I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy like- ness. — Psalms 17-15. I shall be satisfied when I awake, Not when the mists of Death o'ercloud my brow, When I, in spirit, of God's life partake, I shall be satisfied, ever and now. When I awake from dreams of earth and care, When I have turned from pleasure's sense aside. When I to Conscious Love surrender, there Transformed, renewed, I shall be satisfied. When I awake I satisfied shall be, The time, the place, the will, these are my own. O Christ of God, triumphant ! quicken me, Until I waken in Thy likeness shown. THE UNFORGOTTEN 69 THE SPECTRE. It rises with my waking, It sinks into my night, Only in dreams forsaking The terror of its blight. Its footfall has no sounding. Its horror has no form, And yet life's strength abounding Nor makes, nor keeps, me warm. My eyes have never seen it, My ears have never heard, And evermore between it And me there is no word. I pile the firewood higher Upon the hearthstone warm. The lamplight and the fire Shine bravely o'er the storm. 70 THE UNFORGOTTEN I gaze from sheltered ingle Where other home fires bright In galaxies commingle And vanish through the night. And still the questions thicken From voiceless, unseen foe, "What will you do when stricken ? Where will you, helpless, go?" THE UNFORGOTTEN 71 MINE ENEMY. Hoping at the turn Where the road is steep That I some day unprepared Mine enemy may meet — Not my famiHar friend To bring me woes anew, But mine honest enemy Stanch-hearted, leal, and true ; The one whose threatened blow I from my life must fend — Hoping to see mine enemy. Not my familiar friend. Hoping when we meet I may be alone, The blow be sharp and fleet When I to him atone. 72 THE UNFORGOTTEN That I may bear no shield, No sword to cause delay When, debtor to mine enemy, I turn from life away. THE UNFORGOTTEN 73 INCOMPETENT LOVE. Incompetent Love went into the earth, Taking the woman who scorned him or craved, Stilling life's passion and quenching life's worth Naught of Love's effort was captured or saved. Incompetent Love went into the sky, Taking the soul from earth's empire away ; What did Love seek to life's need to supply? Ask the tomorrow that conquers to-day. Incompetent Love went unto God's throne — God alone knew and God only cared That, when the living and dying were through, Love and the human His mystery shared. 74 THE UNFORGOTTEN INEQUALITY. There is a distant place that men call Heaven, It is so far away ; Beyond the changing portals of the dawning, Beyond the realm of day. Beyond the utter darkness of the midnight, And past the evening star, And no one ever turns from it to tell us What Heaven's raptures are. And no one ever cares to share with others His certitude of bliss, And so the living are unsure of Heaven, Of what and where it is. THE UNFORGOTTEN 75 It it were not so far ! if one were certain Of that strange, distant grace, Who would endure the loss and limitation That thwarts the human race? If it were near, as near as Hell! if only It could be understood, Save through the smirch and soil of evil's know- ledge That turns our souls to good. If it be naught, indeed, save a pure fancy Of rest evolved from pain. Yet Oh, to feel, nor lose the sweet illusion While life and thought remain. The realm of Hell is near, so close, so binding. We cannot 'scape to see What God may hold for us of greater living Than Hell's fierce ecstasy, Closer to us than breath that fills our nostrils, Than limbs or feet or hands. Is this that nourisheth the human spirit. And granteth its demands. I(i THE UNFORGOTTEN If it were far, if Hell were far as Heaven! If only for a day . To change the worlds — or were they equidistant, Not one so far away. THE UNFORGOTTEN 77 PRESENTIMENT. He did not know it was to be the last That he should see — the summer that is past. He did not fear there was no other one For him — but Oh! "The southing of the sun." He did not hope, for Hope assurance brings, He was sure only of vague whisperings, Premonitory hints of unknown cheer. Of everlastingness, grown strangely near. 78 THE UNFORGOTTEN MY OWN. In what far star live they to whom My spirit calls by night and day? How shall I find them through earth's gloom, Ere cease the hours of my delay? How lapsed I from my place within The mighty ranks whose call I hear? Why am I distant from my kin ? How am I fallen from my sphere ? Sometimes I hear soft whisperings, Or faint, far strains of music blown, Or feel the rush of passing wings — These echoes reach me of my own. But never in my deepest sleep . Have I beheld, or glimpsed, or known An image in the silence deep Of form or feature of my own. THE UNFORGOTTEN 79 Sometimes I hear the words they say, I can remember voice and tone, And then I know, not far away, But close beside me are my own. But Oh, to see the legions bright. While here on earth I walk alone ! To know, though once, the spirit's sight That separates me from my own. 8o THE UNFORGOTTEN THE COMFORTER. put your arms beneath my head, For I no more can lift and raise Myself as in the former days. 1 would be comforted. There is no friend to still the pain That living causeth heart and brain. Monarch of the dead — 1 call you with my faltering breath ! Ease me from Pain's domain as you The w^eary and the useless do, With peace that comforteth. I long for you, who walk apart, Come near and clasp me to your heart, And love me, love me, Death ! THE UNFORGOTTEN 8i THE SHADOWS. Where I lay upon the grass I saw three shadows wave and pass, And one was Youth and one was Hope, And Love the last. Where I stood before life's end, Striving Honor to defend, I fought where shadows meet and blend. Fought and grappled with Despair, Followed Fear unto his lair. Found Defeat the monarch there. Where I lay beneath the sod On two shades the angels trod Life and Death, the light was God. 82 THE UNFORGOTTEN THE INCENSE OF THE BURNING. The Incense of the Burning Goes up to God on high ; The sacrifice, the yearning For life of men that die. And back unto the nostrils That breathed in man his Hf e Ascends the plan's resulting, The Incense of the strife. The Incense is compounded Of sweet and bitter things, Of hopes, by life confounded, And tears that sorrow brings. Of rapture and of anguish, • Youth's lute and Age's pen, And griefs that never languish While on the earth live men. THE UNFORGOTTEN 83 The Incense of the Burning Ascends, a savor sweet, To God whose clear discerning Views earth and heaven complete. Men's souls, God's image spurning. Send forth a bitter cry. As Incense from' the Burning We rise to God on high. 84 THE UNFORGOTTEN THE MESSENGER. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that pubHsheth peace, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth ! For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight : for the Lord will go before you ; and the God of Israel will be your rereward.* One came unto the prison house — Who conquered long ago Its bars of flesh and pangs of pain — Its bondage to o'erthrow. One came unto the prison house, In no man's sight stood He, Yet slowly swung the gates and wide, And set the prisoner free. One came unto the prison house Undaunted by its gloom. With faces lifted to the stars. With feet upon the tomb. Invisibly and soundlessly, Forth to eternal day, From pain to peace, from night to light, Two went therefrom away. *Isa .52-7-12. THE UNFORGOTTEN 85 WHO SHALL COME? Who shall come, knocking at my door, When my hand may lift the latch Never, nevermore? Who shall come, seek to be my guest. When I, from a fireless hearth Turn unto my rest? Who shall come, in some future day. When, my need immerged in rest, I have gone away? Who shall come, asking love of me, When I neither know nor want. Neither hear nor see ? Who shall come, many men or few? Where no grieving mars Love's worth All may Life renew. Who shall come, iwhere no voice is heard, Who shall seek and who shall find My love's given "Word?" 86 THE UNFORGOTTEN Who shall come? Lo, Love's very own, They to whom is Love declared And its purpose shown. Who shall come to Love's empty gate? Every one for whom Love sought, Though the time is late. W^ho shall come? all for whom I lack- All my own shall enter here Though I come not back. THE UNFORGOTTEN 87 DECORATION DAY. The scorching of the sun, the wild wind's raving, The mantle of the snow, The tempest's scourging and the rain drop's lav- ing The changing seasons know. All these are past, again the summer lingers A moment, while the spring Drops of her bounty, through slow, trailing fin- gers. Her wealth of blossoming. And once a year we pause and life remember, And once a year we spend The flowers and blossoms that the spring days tender On kinsman and on friend. On soldier and civilian rests the token, The heart will have it so. On him whose life laid down for right hath spoken. And on his vanquished foe. 88 THE UNFORGOTTEN We celebrate with speech and song and story, With blossoms of the May, Those who have passed beyond earth's meed oi glory, , Or Decoration Day. And once a year we give of time's swift measure A day to memory, A thought to those who hold the endless treasure We call Eternity, THE UNFORGOTTEN 89 TERRA INCOGNITA. Far up it lies, up the lone mountain side, Far as the soul can see, it shines alone, No pathway reaches to its portal wide. No milestone unto men the road hath shown. The homes of men lie at the mountain's base. In my home still among them I abide, Yet not with them is my appointed place. Lo, I have seen it, when the mists were gray Upon the valleys and my strength was low, Suddenly, while I rested, all the way Was flashed upon me that my feet should go; Between us stretched no miles of conquering space, No irksome bond of hindering night or day. Serene I gazed on my appointed place. 90 THE UNFORGOTTEN And I have heard the music surging through Its many courts and m.ansions while I stood Absorbed in longing — and the fruit that grew Within its stormless gardens has been good Unto my famished lips. Then not a trace Remained, while o'er my path the night winds blew Between me and my own appointed place. Among its many corridors is one That I have helped to fashion with this hand. I know the pattern of the Corner Stone. Through nights and days of labor I have plan- ned. Each portion of that Mansion's wondrous grace. Through Life's long, bitter bondage I have won The freedom of my own appointed place. 1 shall lay down upon the mountain's side The broken tool that helped me win my own, For unto it the portal is denied Within whose shelter I must stand alone. I may take with me nothing that is base : For flesh and blood are alien, nor abide, Nor share with me in my appointed place. THE UNFORGOTTEN 91 Yet do I reverence that without whose aid My place were not my own, nor fairly won : At Death's transcending moment, sore afraid At parting from it, shall I journey on Through the vast realm of darkened, starless space Beyond whose terror Love waits undismayed My entrance into His appointed place. 92 THE UNFORGOTTEN VICTORY. As I lay a dying, a dying, The noise rolled up from the street, Where men were selling and buying — For the day was incomplete — Till the quiet chamber echoed With the tread of their restless feet. As I lay a dying, a dying, The faces came and went, The living faces were crying, But the dead ones looked content — 'T was the only way I could tell them, So closely were they blent. As I lay a dying, a dying, I took back the words I had said Against God's grace in denying The hour for which I had prayed. I was strong to forgive my existence, The hour before I was dead. THE UNFORGOTTEN 93 As I lay a dying, a dying, Was hushed Life's bitter moan. The heartache ceased from its crying At Life's injustice shown. I had thought at the last God would hear it, But I iwent on alone. As I lay a dying, a dying, O friends, / never died. I reached Love's truth, whose denying Had caused all griefs betide. But I lost all griefs in the passing, Lo, with Death's self they died. CONTENTS Page DEDICATION 3 UNITY 5 THE PARTING OF THE WAYS 7 VERSE 9 THE SEPARATE ii COMPARISON 12 IMPERFECTION 14 BECAUSE 16 ACROSS THE WOLD 17 THE SHADOW 18 PREFIGURED 20 LIFE'S MOCKERY 21 THE TRAITOR 22 REALITY 24 THE BARRIER 25 RELINQUISHMENT 28 IRREVERENCE , 30 SUBSTITUTION 31 SEPARATION 33 THE REQUISITE 34 UNVISIONED 35 WIDOWED INDEED .36 REALIZATION 38 IGNORANCE 40 APRIL WEATHER ■ 41 SUBTRACTION 45 THE VISIBLE 47 VERSES (FOREBODING) kt, TRANSITION crc: THE SUMMONSING 56 INTERMEDIATENESS 58 THE SOJOURNER 60 THE GATEWAY ....62 LET IT BE SUDDEN 64 A WEARINESS ....66 WHEN I AWAKE 68 THE SPECTRE 69 MINE ENEMY 71 INCOMPETENT LOVE -jz INEQUALITY 74 PRESENTIMENT ^77 MY OWN .78 THE COMFORTER 80 THE SHADOWS 81 THE INCENSE OF THE BURNING 82 THE MESSENGER 84 WHO SHALL COME? 85 DECORATION DAY 87 TERRA INCOGNITA 89 VICTORY 92