Class 2^ 5s? 7 faiyiightF J 9 II COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT FOAM FLOWERS J By the Same Author The Essential Life Soul and Circumstance FOAM FLOWERS POEMS BY STEPHEN BERRIEN STANTON NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1911 Copyright, 1911, by STEPHEN BERRIEN STANTON All nights Eeserved %-i^^ ©CI.A3034 G5 CONTENTS PAGE FOAM FLOWERS 3 POETRY 4 OUTLOOK 5 A MOUNTAIN LAKE ... 6 AH, LIGHT OF LIFE 7 SORROW AT A HOLIDAY 8 A CALM 9 MID-SUMMER 10 HEARTS MUSICAL 11 FELICITAS 12 HEART'S CONTENT 13 THE YEAR'S REVEILLE 14 THE BUGLE OF THE BLOOD 16 IN A LIBRARY 18 THE STREAM OF LIFE 19 SEAS AERIAL 20 DECLINING YEARS 21 THAMES' EMBANKMENT 22 STANLEY 23 BRITISH MUSEUM 24 SYMPATHETIC SKY 26 MATURITY 27 MOLOCH MAN 28 FRESH BREEZE SEAWARD 29 "r'**s™«n«r'~flHK»i(H> CONTENTS CHIAROSCURO: p^ge I WEARINESS 33 II STRENGTH 34 " THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR THEM IN THE INN " . 35 VIA VITAE 36 THE DISMANTLED YEAR 37 SNOW-FLURRY 38 MIDNIGHT MOMENTS 39 SNOW-DROP 40 APRIL 41 MARGUERITES 42 TRANSITIONAL 43 AN UPLAND LYRIC 45 NOON 46 NIGHT'S OUTLAWRY 47 SKY-KINDRED 48 JUNE GRASS 49 A MARINE 50 SEA SOLITUDE ..." 51 A WOODLAND SPRING 52 UNDER THE OLIVES 53 FROLIC OF THE WAVES 56 SUMMER SAILS 57 SIROCCO 58 SOUTH SEA 59 ST. ANN'S BAY 60 THE GOOD, THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE TRUE . . 61 THE KEY OF JOY MAJOR 62 PRIVILEGED CLASSES 63 THE NIGHT EXPRESS 64 CONTENTS PAGE FAREWELLS ARE FEW 65 THE SEASONS' TOLL 66 TWILIGHT OF THE YEAR 67 LOST YOUTH 68 EVENING 69 MYSTICISM 70 PEAK AND PLAIN: I AMBITION 73 II CONTENTMENT 74 IDEALISM 75 'TIS ONLY IN SPRING THAT THE AMARANTHS GROW 76 REMINISCENCE 77 ARS ET LABOR 78 MATERIALISM 80 THE ONE THING MORE 81' OBSCURITY 82 THE MUSE 83 THE PRECIOUS HOURS 84 HALF-TRUTH 85 TO A ROMAN STATUE LABELLED " UNKNOWN " . 86 MARE ANTIQUUM 87 ON LEAVING THE RIVIERA 88 THE BARREN INTELLECT 89 FULFILMENT 90 NOTE Of the poems appearing in this volume, three have been published before : " Foam Flowers " in Appleton's Magazine; ^' Hearts Musical '' in the New England Magazine; and ^'A Mountain Lake'^ in the Harvard Advocate. For permission to reprint these the author's thanks are due to the editors of the periodicals men- tioned. ^ • >-».,'^-- .jv >^^>:,"~» v^ xv.-^-^ ^ ^ ^-^v;i. ^ ^^~«> - FOAM FLOWERS FOAM FLOWERS The sea is white with marguerites — • A sudden garden of the breeze, The driven flowers of the foam Like gusty blossoms off the trees. My hedge is e'en a white-capped sea, A squall of fresh-blown marguerites; A floral mere of petalled foam Whose tempest 'gainst my garden beats. FOAM FLOWERS POETRY Music imaginative, spirit a' fire; Plummet of depths in unfathomed sea; Wing of the soul that can never tire ; Wand of a magic potency. Flame of a lambent, trembling tongue ; Sesame of the turn-key word; Star of hope in the heavens hung ; Harmony by immortals heard. Rent in the cloudland canopy; Break in the brass of human bands; Window set in the Western sky; View of Elysiau, sun-lit lands. FOAM FLOWERS OUTLOOK The distant view unlocks the eye And leads the thought away from care, And spreads an amplitude of sky Above our little day^s despair. FOAM FLOWEKS A MOUNTAIN LAKE A little lake lay in the hills, Far away, away; Fed by mountain brooks and rills ; " Hush ! " it seemed to say. The trees came to the water's edge, Whispering, " Let's look in ! " They bent their boughs far o'er the ledge And saw themselves therein. The wooded hills swelled all around, Each towering o'er its brother. And over all broke ne'er a sound, For God dwelt here — none other. FOAM FLOWERS AH, LIGHT OF LIFE ISTow comes the dark and I must close my eyes And go again into that spirit night To which my senses ever take their flight When day departeth down the western skies. I hate the parting, though I know not why For I have had o'ermuch of life to-day, "Nor is there some great hope that hids me stay, Yet — somehow if it cease, I seem not I. Ah, light of life, thou art as 'twere a shore Upon a sea of nothingness and night Beyond whose verge my being balks in fright Lest, plunging in, it find no foothold more. Good-night then, day, but do not leave me long Fail not to meet me at the first bird-song. FOAM FLOWERS SORROW AT A HOLIDAY The summer sky, the sun, the laughing throng, Such things complete the sad heart's bitterness And turn it sick as with a sense of wrong And cruel mockery at its distress. Oh, give instead the sympathetic grey That drapes the sky of some December day Wherein to hide my mutilated heart ; How grateful then to every wounded part Descends the balsam of the saddened air; Then is the cheerless earth as we are — bare, And hurts no longer with her heartless laugh ; Then woe is spared the pang that envy adds. For kindred lines of joy's deep epitaph Are graven on the face of myriads. FOAM FLOWERS A CALM The bated air is still and breathless lays A bushing finger on its lifeless lips : The smooth enamel of the calm doth glaze The waters and the sleep-o'erf alien ships. FOAM FLOWERS MID-SUMMEE What ! fading grass so soon, and falling leaves - Scarce fully blown, sun-blighted fails the jear; A note within the scanty birdsong grieves And from the air has fled the early cheer. Thus fails humanity's mid-summer leaf; There falls a calm upon our pristine stir. Scarce had we thought the gaiety so brief — Already we look back to days that were! 10 FOAM FLOWERS HEAETS MUSICAL Thou only tuner, Lord, of hearts o'erstrung, Reduce these tones that treble to excess; And where in turn we fail for languidness, Key true again the strings that life has wrung. n FOAM FLOWERS FELICITAS To seek a little and enjoy it much — xAh, this were wealth heyond a Midas' touch ! The bee within the blossom of a weed Can sip the very cup of Ganymede. 12 FOAM FLOWERS HEARTHS CONTENT More softly nowhere blows the breeze, No sweeter flowers grow than these ; No happier could the moment be — Nor bless another more than me. 13 FOAM FLOWERS THE YEAR'S REVEILLE Wlien spring flings the windows wide, The dead days are o'er; Then joy waits for ns outside, And June holds the door ! For the sun gems the water, The sails are wing-and-wing ; And hope's off the quarter Where siren voices sing. Ko longer now the earth is cold, The air no longer mute ; For Flora spreads her cloth of gold, Apollo brings his flute, — And the in-tide is flowing, The sap stirs the trees ; The young year is growing And love is in the breeze. 14 FOAM FLOWEES The gladsome days are glistening, The heavens have no cloud ; Awakened worlds are listening, For life is calling loud. And the sun gems the water, And joy seems a'wing; And in the weather quarter Lies blue expanse of spring ! 15 FOAM TLOWERS THE BUGLE OF THE BLOOD Let us fling life high a' shoulder And swing out along the way, With the rolling drums of courage In the vanguard of the day ; though the unknown e'er confronts us And though death may e'er befall, Fearing nothing march we forward To the quick blood's bugle-call. True, mankind's a mighty foeman And the chances oft are slim, And entrenched behind indifference Fate's defiant guns look grim ; Yet within the heart some hero, Oft as falls the flag of hope, Snatches up its riddled remnant And leads fearless up the slope. 16 FOAM FLOWERS With a cheer, then, and undaunted Go we forth into the fray. Marching gallantly to meet it, ^N'othing doubting of the day; Though the unknown e'er confronts us And though death may e'er befall. We will move unfearing forward To the quick blood's bugle call. 17 FOAM FLOWERS IN A LIBRARY Thank God^ there are aloof from garish life Such deep retreats of healing to be found As this — this dim and mellow vault of books, This dusk that dreams with all imaginings. O spirit mine, here only art thou whole ; Here only dwell'st in tropics of the soul And feelest airs of thine own clemency. The softened lights, the rich subdued hues, The muffled sounds — these soothe the ruffled sense And rob environment of all offence ; As when the waters of some fair lagoon That lie becalmed within a coral reef Break gently lapping on the blessed shore. 18 FOAM FLOWERS THE STREAM OF LIFE From daisj-dotted fields of Spring Where early flowers grow, Between the city's sordid banks The upland waters flow. 19 FOAM FLOWEKS SEAS AERIAL The boundless sea of open skies (Green leaves against its azure blue) Spreads out before mj finite eyes Its vast, illimitable view. A surf I hear amongst the trees, — The dashing spray, the distant roar, The soothing sound of airy seas That break against a leaf-bound shore. And looking up through limpid deeps. Full-facing that pellucid sea, Mine unimpeded vision sweeps The confines of infinity. 20 EOAM FLOWERS DECLINING YEARS Here halts the gently flowing stream of time And in these locks by gradual degree Is lowered to the meadows maritime And led into the level, lockless sea. 21 FOAM FLOWEKS THAMES' EMBANKMENT Where Egypt's Needle in a northem land No more the Nile's insistent sunlight knows, No more across a sea of desert sand Surveys the marvels of the Pharaohs; But gazes scornfully on newer stones And hears the time proclaimed from Thames-side towers, Its hieroglyphics girt by English tones, Its sun-scorched sides beteared with English showers, — There radiates an empire-ruling race With sovereignty o'er distant lands and seas — Ah, Obelisk, thine exile well befalls : Thou knowest not that this imperial place, This kingly seat of countless satrapies, Now rules thine Egypt from its council-halls. 2» FOAM FLOWERS STANLEY May 10, 1904 "No other continent there was on earth, Untrodden, unexplored, unknown to man; That darkest one, so long beneath the ban Of Night, where first the light of day had birth When thou didst open to its baffled ray The Afrie black of jungle density And, traversing its dread immensity, Didst blaze athwart the wilderness a way — That was the last ; no other worlds there were Which thy heroic spirit might explore Upon this globe. So, dauntless traveller. Thou seekest now a trans-terrestrial shore, From whence, oh, canst not even thou return To lift the veil from that mysterious bourn? S3 FOAM FLOWEES BEITISH MUSEUM Firm-set upon the earth, inviolate; 'Not merely holding fast by dint of clutch As is the newer way, but massively A part of nature's rock ; its columned front In posture resolute and yet relaxed, A poise established for eternity — Here is the treasure-house of history, The mighty domed abode of Man and Muse, A nation's bulwark 'gainst the hand of Time And safe asylum from impiety. Within this shrine there keeps the sacred fire. The spirit's flame of continuity — Where echoing corridors of Art proclaim The crescent glory of creative man. What constant climate dignifies the mood Among these monuments of proto-time; And from these classic figures of repose Breathes forth an equable philosophy. Behold the Marbles of Athenian hand, The hand of one now countless ages dead, 24 FOAM FLOWEKS 5ince whom we lesser mortals in our turn Eave come and gazed upon his work and gone Like him; yet these imperishable ones Live on, immortal though by man create, serene and strong they look upon a world 3f passing pigmies, their heroic eyes Far-focussed on the blue ^gean sky. Eere shall the future find them gazing still ; ^d here this changeless palace of Mankind 5hall stand its sacred ground when this To-day Sas stepped without and gone its busy way. 25 FOAM FLOWERS SYMPATHETIC SKY O sombre day, That wearest the weather of my o'ercast soul, A grey-clad nurse art thou to human -woe, A ministering nun that quietly doth go Sharing the sorrows she may not console And letting tears of sympathy overflow. 26 FOAM FLOWERS MATUEITY Time was, when time was young; Youth once a draught of fire — Far now the chalice flung, Drained of its red desire. 1^7 FOAM FLOWERS MOLOCH MAN The foot of fate across the meadow strides, And each small insect in its terror hides Or flees or gazing np in mute appeal Is caught and crushed beneath the heedless heel. FOAM FLOWERS FRESH BREEZE SEAWARD The white wolves of the Ocean pack Are in full cry toward the West And flashinglj each foaming hack O'erleaps the scudding billow's crest. So go my thoughts on equal quest And seek in vain a far-bound shore And like these waves forego all rest And rise and fall forevermore. CHIAROSCURO EOAM FLOWERS WEARINESS gulf of deep oblivion, receive Unto thy hospitable spaces vast This lacerated soul that longs at last To quench sensation in thy Negative ; Thou lightless, soundless black abode of bliss, The bliss of losing what to have is hell, Permit no consciousness to break thy spell Or pierce the emptiness of thine abyss. O aching eye, now filled with soothing night, What seeing ever gave such glorious sight! O frenzied ear, delicious quiet fills Thy silent chambers ! Soft cessation steals O'er all the twitchings of the tortured sense; And thought returns to restful nescience. 33 FOAM FLOWEBS II STRENGTH Kow blooms the new-blown morning like a flower, All life is straining at the leash of night ; The glow of expectation gilds the hour And tips the peaks of purpose with delight. Once more activity imprints its zest Upon the fresh-spread tablets of the sense: Each swelling power, exuberant with rest. Exults for joy of very competence. Perception gladdens at the least employ — Mere sound is pleasure and mere sight is joy; Yea, even grief forgetting its distress Partakes a moment of brief happiness. With buoyant feet hope treads the untried day And fronts with confidence the doubt-strewn way. 34 FOAM FLOWEKS ^^THEEE WAS NO EOOM FOR THEM IN" THE INN.'^ " The world is full ; not men, the need, but space ! " So speaks despondency. " Superfluous stands Ability with unemployed hands The day-long idle on the market-place. Try what you will — 'twas better done before ; Look where you may — the seats are occupied : Crowds lie in wait, and waiting stand outside And surge against the fast, debarring door." ]^o room for us ? l^or was there once for Christ ; !N"or ever shall be but for him to whom The chance to be himself is ample room — This and this only hath great souls sufficed. Let but the loyalty to self be strong And lo, to us both earth and heaven belong. 35 FOAM FLOWERS VIA VITAE Over the meadows of dear delight, Over the desert of woe, Through the deep forest of dark affright, All of us mortals go. 36 FOAM FLOWERS THE DISMANTLED YEAR Fires of Fall on the SuinacE bum red; Stark on the stubble-field Summer lies dead. Dirges the lingering Chickadees voice; 1^0 more the thrushes sing, 'No more rejoice. No more the lyric air Ripples the trees; Only their branches bare Sway in the breeze. 37 FOAM ELOWERS SNOW-FLURRY The snow-flaJies fall uncertainly As if reluctant to alight — Brief birds whose short, capricious flight Consigns to long captivity. 38 FOAM FLOWEKS MIDNIGHT MOMENTS From all inclemency exempt, Mj thoughts entwined in rising smoke, Deep in my study nook I dreamt — The blaze upon the hearth awoke. No outer sound an access gained; The clock alone, soft-sandalled, broke The stillness. Relaxation reigned: In unheard words the silence spoke. 39 FOAM FLOWERS SNOW-DEOP Far-sighted seer of the coming year, First stroke of nature's never-erring clock; Upon the winter's door earth's first faint knock While still the snows deny that spring is near. 40 FOAM FLOWEKS APEIL Half-filled with storm and half with fairest blue The doubtful sky enacts its double part: As ever, Nature, dost thou show how true A likeness of the inward life thou art. 41 FOAM FLOWERS MARGUERITES Gay children of the lawn, whose joyous bands Acclaim in gleeful unison the Spring, With ecstasy out-stretching glad white hands And radiant hearts of gold wide-opening. 42 FOAM FLOWERS TRANSITIONAL •We mourn the daisy and the daffodil And all the sweet successions of the Spring As one by one their joyous blossoming Fails ere we can take of each our fill. Yet nature's teens turn into fairer youth : The rose of June consoles for loss of May — Such flowers scent the summer's lingering day As make of earth a paradise, forsooth. These also pass ; the busier birds grow dumb. Is this the end? Ah no, our joy is long; A ripe maturity succeeds the song — Where blossoms promised, now the fruit is come. Anon, the orchards bear their luscious store, The crops are garnered from the gleaned fields - Now surely earth has given all it yields And now at last its joyousness is o'er. FOAM FLOWERS short of sight this oft-recurring fear That reads cessation into every change, That sets to happiness such narrow range ! — One season's end but brings another's cheer: When leaves are fallen and the ground is bare And o'er the earth reigns calm expectancy, The barren skies bring forth, and suddenly — The snow! the very fruitage of the air. 'Nov is it death that quiets earth at length But mere transition to another Spring: Its deathless heart unseen is fostering, The chrysalis of reawakening strength. U FOAM FLOWERS AN UPLAND LYKIC IVe a tryst with the sun where the berries grow, Where the pines smell hot and the wind speaks low And the summer lingers as lothe to go — I've a tryst with the sun, I say. IVe a tryst with the sun where the pasture lies With open heart to the burning skies And the kine look up in a mild surprise — IVe a tryst with the sun to-day. IVe a tryst with the sun till the day is done And the hill-top hides the parting ray, Till the twilight hour and the last-closed flower, — IVe a tryst with the sun each day. 45 FOAM FLOWERS NOON The daylight's splendour deepens hour hy hour ; The gradual petals of the morning part And spread their growing heauty more and more Till lo, the full corona of the flower Unshrines the glory of its golden heart ! i 46 FOAM FLOWEKS NIGHT^S OUTLAWEY Deep in the woods Down the ravine, Solitude broods, Dwelling unseen. Eoaring, the brook Muffles the breeze; Croaking, the rook Flaps from the trees. Ghostly, the air; Ghastly, the light — Here is the lair Of outlawed night. 47 FOAM FLOWERS SKY-KINDEED Star of the lawn, whose steady upward gaze Outstares the effulgence of the noonday sky And meets unflinchingly the dazzling rays From which thy flower-mates avert the eye, Didst dot the firmament before thy fall, One constellation with the stars on high ? And art still mindful of a stellar call And conscious of some kinship with the sky ? 48 FOAM FLOWEKS JUNE GRASS To feel the sun, to hear the wind, To see the ecstasy of flowers; To know that nature's heart is kind And that its heritage is ours. 49 FOAM FLOWERS A MARINE Upon a canvas of cloudland white Lay on the brush of blue ; Luminous with a diffuse light — So paint the ship-side view. 50 FOAM FLOWERS SEA SOLITUDE Out of the waste no moimtains rise But cloudland imagery; Over its fields no flower grows But the wind's anemone. Out of the wave some fin or form Tells of a peopled sea; And in the air the gathered gulls Follow us greedily. 61 FOAM FLOWEKS A WOODLAND SPRING All fringed with fern and arched bj birches o'er. The mossy-margined spring outspreads its store; And gazes up like some cyclopean eye Beneath long lashes to a leafy sky. This waiting water that no trouble knows And here in quietude like crystal grows, Dispels our restlessness and anxious fear And speaks tranquillity to turmoil's ear. FOAM FLOWEES UNDER THE OLIVES Under the olives' pallid leaves, Ah, how soft is the shadows' play^ What the gloom when the glare aggrieves What escape from the blazing day ! Under the olives — Lord, I see How in a land of garish light It must have been like balm to Thee Hither to come and quench the sight. Beneath the olives — what a boon, When no cloud in the sky may foil The fierce shafts of the cruel noon, Here to turn from the mid-day toil ! Under the olives — Lord, I see How in a land of torrid heat It would a respite seem to Thee Hither to come for brief retreat. 53 FOAM FLOWEES Within the olives' quiet close, Ah, what silence of restful sound; What a welcome of glad repose May by travel-worn feet be found ! I Yea, I think in such peaceful spot Thou must have been a frequent guest What time the way was long and hot n And Thy disciples bade Thee rest. Under the olives — Lord, I see How in a world of hateful strife It must have seemed a truce to Thee Here to elude the blare of life. Under the olives — who can forget That sad hour of agony Upon the Mount of Olivet, Who can forget Gethsemane? 54 FOAM FLOWERS Ah, what solace the foliage breathes, What sweet plaint in the breeze is heard, Like the beauty that death bequeaths, Like some tragedy gently stirred. As mankind at a sage's feet, Life's antipodes here unite In a mystical watersmeet — Time, eternity : day and night. Under the olives' ancient spell Years divisional fall away; Past and present together dwell, Far antiquity seems to-day. Under the olives' classic shade Linger still, as within a shrine. Deathless thoughts that can never fade Kome and Athens, and Palestine. 55 FOAM FLOWERS FROLIC OF THE WAVES Upblown by the breeze o'er summer seas, The dolphins are riding to-day! I see the curve of their gleaming backs And the crest of their fins of spray! In feigned pursuit of a quest they course, These unleashed hounds of the sea ; And roll upon roll toward a fancied goal Go on in unwearied glee. How fain would I, o'er my dull task bent, Be one of that merry crew. And follow the salt of the seaward scent Across those meadows of blue ! '56 FOAM FLOWERS SUMMEE SAILS The yachting clouds go gliding hj Upon the Bay of Upper Blue, And hold regattas in the sky Around some stake beyond our view. 57 FOAM FLOWERS SIROCCO The wind is hot off Africa, Sirocco pounds the shore; The mountains stare through the crystal air And distance stands at our door. 58 FOAM FLOWERS SOUTH SEA Outside, the surf on coral reef Intones the sea's eternal roar, And mixes with the rustling leaf Of palms upon the blessed shore. 59 FOAM FLOWERS ST. ANN'S BAY Jamaica Once anchored in this peaceful bay Columbus' weary sail; But now, a' down the moon-lit way, Thunders the Eoyal Mail. 60 FOAM FLOWERS THE GOOD, THE BEATIFUL AND THE TRUE We have only to live Avith a simple zest, To keep self true to the heart's high quest, And to touch all men on the side that's best — To know the God that is good. We have only to notice the grass nearby Or the birds that sing or the winds that sigh Or the matchless blue of the arching sky — To know the God that is fair. We have only to think of the hero's death, Of the mother's love, of the martyr's faith, Of the patient pluck that conquereth — To know the God that is true. 61 FOAM FLOWEKS THEKEYOFJOYMAJOR There comes no night but a morning Breaks, and a day is at hand ; There dusks no soul but a dawning Wakes it to new command. Though sorrow be great, to greet it Solaces are disclosed — Whatever our fate, to suit it Happiness is transposed. 63 FOAM FLOWEKS PRIVILEGED CLASSES The tramp-ship, balked by angry seas, Appeared and passed and disappeared; The while the liner at its ease Kept steadily the course it steered. 63 FOAM FLOWERS THE NIGHT EXPRESS When life was at its lowest ebb, and light And sound both slept their hour of emptiness; And all along the winding hills of night Sweet slumber curled — the spectral night express With deep sonorous signal of approach Broke on the far horizon of the ear, And brewing its quick thunder did encroach Upon the valley's quiet far and near With ever growing, rest-destroying roar That, onward echoing the country wide, Rolled its subsiding waves from shore to shore And muttering still among the mountains died. Ruthless it speeds in meteoric flight Along the metalled miles of ceaseless way. Rifting the darkness with its blaze of light And city-due before the break of day. 64 FOAM FLOWEKS FAEEWELLS AKE FEW Farewells are few; we simply bid good-day To friends on parting — simply turn away From scenes to which we nevermore return, 'Nor dream that we are taking leave for aye. So many times we parted thus before And met again; so often closed the door But to re-enter — how could we discern That finally it was forevermore? 65 FOAM FLOWERS THE SEASONS' TOLL When summer says September, All sombre is tbe soul : Eacb transit of the season Exacts a mood for toll. We too were song and sunshine When June was in the heart ; Alas! the year becoming drear Keeps us its counterpart. 66 FOAM FLOWEKS TWILIGHT OF THE YEAE Sly Autumn swoops around the woodland coign And swirls the surface of the dusty way, Or mouths the organ of the wailing pine That mourns in loneliness the year's decay. Forth goes the hunter with his eager hound, And gun-in-hand, devising sport or gain, Patrols the ploughed field's uneven ground Or impiously invades the covert's fane. With frosty brand Fall sets the world ablaze And Harvest heaps its colours on the stall : In carnival the year concludes its days — A flash of glory ere the end of all. Far down the west behind a curtained sky The pallid sun succumbs to early night ; Externally all nature seems to die — Lo, how the home then opens warm and bright ! 67 FOAM FLOWERS LOST YOUTH Late splendour of Autumnal flowers, Thy brave pretense cannot avail To flush, again the sunlight pale And summon back the blood-red hours. 68 FOAM FLOWEKS EVENING Dusk fills the room: the vanguard dark invades Unfinished tasks — and mid-day's prose is o'er ; And now the poet, night, knocks at the door For in the west the flower of daylight fades. See ! down the street some little lamp of man With sudden gleam outstrips the gTadual stars; And through the gathering darkness there appears A thousand-fold response unto the one. 69 FOAM FLOWERS MYSTICISM The soul is like the sail that I descry Far seaward shimmering — adrift in dream - Where hlne of ocean blends with blue of sky, Two heavens interwoven without seam. 70 PEAK AND PLAIN FOAM FLOWEKS AMBITION "No stroke of work have I this many a day Been fit to do; and now the time draws nigh When once again the light of day must die, And still no step am I along the way. Ah God, undo this clutch of somnolence — Bid flow again within my veins thy power! Dispel this calm that sickens every hour And make thy gales to beat against my sense! So shall I spring with joy to grasp the helm, Shall seize the sheet and sit the windward rail And feel the flick of motion on my face; N^or fear the cresting waves that overwhelm. But crowd the very sky with spreading sail And venture all for victory in the race. 73 FOAM FLOWEKS II CONTENTMENT Tranquillity and quiet guard the way That leads into the garden of my peace; Beyond their gateway troubling voices cease And in my mansion chosen memories stay. Afar I hear, as 'twere hull-down at sea, The clashings of the world's ignoble strife, The struggle and the rivalry of life. And joy the more at my nonentity. Here will I dwell amid contented days Nor envy men the fruit of their unrest — Vain blessings, seeking which men go unblest, Themselves the forfeit to ambition's craze. Mine be it rather with unanxious mind Within life's commonplace its joy to find. 74 FOAM FLOWERS IDEALISM The fancy may dwell in a region of roses Whatever the waste that the feet must explore, As oft-times mirage in the desert discloses Cool waters that sparkle the burning sands o'er. 75 FOAM FLOWERS 'TIS ONLY IN SPRING THAT THE AMARANTHS GROW The valleys in verdure, the mountains in snow ; Blue sky in the heavens, white blossoms below; The showers and flowers and odours and — oh, 'Tis only in spring that the amaranths grow! The summer may deepen in colour and line; The autumn may ripen and redden the wine; Pale winter may purify life and refine — But ah, 'twas the spring that made living divine ! 76 FOAM FLOWERS REMINISCENCE In the wild gusts of the winds of November Dreams of sweet summer-time come to console ; And 'mid the snows it is joy to remember Days of delight that were June to the soul. yy FOAM FLOWERS ARS ET LABOR A silly little butterfly Was flitting round a flower And naught cared he how fleetingly Might pass the ebbing hour. These butterflies can have no sense, — They never seem to work And foolishly prefer their play, Quite shameless how they shirk. Just think of stopping all day long To look at pretty things ! And then, the foolishness of flight, The senselessness of wings ! Come down and grub along the ground And fight with all you meet. And maybe if you fight enough You'll get enough to eat — What, have you something to reply? We thought you couldn't talk; Wo thought that was reserved for those Who keep to earth and walk: 78 FOAM FLOWERS " How now, you fools of footed things, " Would not the earth seem bare " Without such things as butterflies " And other things of air ? " Isn't a little beauty worth " As much as all you do ? "And are you not just envious ^- Because you can't fly too | " 79 FOAM FLOWEKS MATERIALISM All dry and waste our gardens lie o'ergrown. Where streams of cool refreshment flowed of yore The forests of the soul have "been cut down, The fountains of the muses spring no more. ]N"o more in myrtled Greece survive the groves — Apollo wanders elsewhere with his lute; Dodona's shrine and Delphi now are mute ; Amid the trees what nymph or dryad roves? 80 FOAM FLOWERS THE ONE THING MORE However abundantly blessings befall, There is always some want to deplore — We're as wretched as if we had nothing at all For lack of some one thing more. *^ But 'tis only this one little thing," we explain, " Give us that and we'll ask nothing more." Yet how quickly, if granted, we're stricken again By some want that we knew not before. Be we Croesus or pauper, a prince or a slave, We are equally wealthy or poor : Forever is lacking the thing that we crave — The mythical one thing more. Ah, did we but know what good fortune denies This something we covet so sore; That the lack of this one thing withholds from our eyes The lack of a thousand more! 81 FOAM FLOWEES OBSCUEITY Blinded bj sun, all blank my sight — I stood and groped my way: Yet went my steps in blackest night !Ne'er from the road astray. 83 EOAM FLOWERS THE MUSE What's wrought at leisure Is fraught with pleasure : He only preaches Whom nature teaches. 83 FOAM FLOWERS THE PRECIOUS HOURS When the world lias been disbanded And its pieces put away, And the last retreating hansom Marks the ending of the day, Then beneath my lamp's red roof-tree, On my desk's inviting floor. Throng the dreams to midnight revel Through my fancy's open door. 84 FOAM FLOWERS HALF-TRUTH As when a watch-dog bays a passer-by And all along the road successively Each other dog takes up, he knows not why, The sound's contagion and barks furiously; Or horses one by one will plunge and rear, When hitched on market-days before a store And down the row a sudden crest of fear Runs like a sideling wave along the shore — So o'er the land there spreads some shallow craze, Some new-preached doctrine or some specious phrase That passing speedily from mouth to mouth Outruns the slower currency of truth. Till scarcely now on any hand is heard The voice of reason or the sober word. 85 FOAM FLOWERS TO A ROMAN STATUE LABELLED ^'UNKNOWN^' That one word, " Unknown/' recordeth All the world can tell of thee, Noble Roman, clad in toga, Posed in classic dignity. Famous once among thy fellows. Honoured thus in ageless stone, Destined for august remembrance — Read thine epitaph, " Unknown." On that pedestal of honour Raised by Rome, — ah, cruelly Hangs that word, " Unknown," replacing Chiselled lines of eulogy. Here as in a morgue of sculpture Wait thy lineaments a name. And the marble that was glory Now doth disaffirm thy fame. 86 FOAM FLOWEES MARE ANTIQUUM The sea is the sea of Phoenician days, The moon is the moon of the Greeks; And only the nowaday ship betrays The new-peopled port she seeks. 87 FOAM FLOWERS ON LEAVING THE RIVIEEA Farewell, ye hills of Estarel; Farewell, ye Alps of snow; And ah, thou fairest sea, farewell — Par, far from you I go. Forever here, e'en as to-day. Immovable ye dwell; Into eternity your stay — 'Tis I who say farewell. 88 FOAM FLOWERS THE BARREN I N T E L L E C T When the eyes are sore with seeing And the brain is sick with thoiig-ht And the vanity of being By each circumstance is taught, Then alone the heart brings healing, Then alone is action sure — Thought must abdicate to feeling, Doubt must find in life its cure. 89 FOAM FLOWERS FULFILMENT Love, and the world is wooing; Give, and the gifts pour in; Do, and the act of doing- Dowers with deeds. Begin! 90 19 1911 One copy del. to Cat. Div. DEC l» *^^w LIBRARY OF CONGRESS lilil 018 378 260 5