PS 3513 .R7n 1897 .!••> <^ : tP-n*.. •. ** ..'••. '^- *Ao« .^' V* .'^&°t ^./ -^ . "^ .• ^^ ' y .,^ V *•-• f° .... V"-' TRIALOGUES Copyright, 1897, by William Griffith. TRIALOGUES WILLIAM GRIFFITH 33 KANSAS CITY, MO. HUDSON- KIMBKRI.Y PUBIvISHING CO. mdcccxcvii \^-^c4,.l^'^^ *^ ^^ Of this Limited Edition of Tria- logues two hundred and fifty copies have been printed. This number is T n^7 /^^ PREFATORY NOTE. In introducing the oi.d form of k1.izabkthan dialogue in america, i have attempted to outline three phases of character or, more particularly, of life in our large cities. With the exception of "Summer," and ''Autumn" none of the Trialogues have appeared, heretofore and these are now reprinted with the permission OF Mr. Walter Bla^ckburn Harte, Editor of "The Lotus." Gladly I live^ and gladly did I weave And gather all these dreams for nothing more Than for my friends zvho came to 7ne. They leave — And I have pressed each hand and shut the door. CONTENTS PAGE Spring i Summer 19 Autumn 35 Winter 51 TO The Hon. Charles L. Dobson i\ SPRING Sckn:^ : A Western City ; Room in a Public House. Time : The Morning. SPRING. {AlvAN, Norman, Gii.es. Alan. I am unwell; some shadow daunts My dreams: where I should see, That vasty, uncouth vision haunts Each budding memory. Norman. An ill-starred mood. A1.AN. Its presence grows; Takes height; a whisper peals, — Thence up, for days, unnumbered woes Come snapping at my heels; 3 TRIALOGUES. While elfin-footed fancies race Down labyrinths immense, Of awful glooms where errors gaze On smiling innocence. Norman. Reveal the image: it is dim. My faith! I cannot see. A1.AN. Fo fico! It is Fortune's whim To jest at misery. And still, in spirit, I expand; Till now uplifted O Here at the sun, from where I stand, The earth swings far below! Light floods the world: each filmy mote; Each star up-swimming high — SPRING. Norman. Good-lack! Alan. I watcli arising float Across the day's great eye. Norman. And now? Alan. Ah, see the twilight swo on Now from her eastern bowers, Her face unveiled, a chastened moon Steps forth among her flowers. Norman. The image tails; each starlit steep Sweeps slowly into view — Uncurtained clear, yet wherefore leap, Coercive unto you, 5 TRIALOGUES. These dreams in melancholy dreamt, Though prophecies to see ? Cambyses' vein — Alan. I will attempt To tell you faithfully. A child, at home to country ways, 'T is here these many years, A sickening sun has led my days Through uncongenial spheres. At eve, its sprawling avenues Upreaching through the gloom. One nest, the writhing city views Its over-arching tomb; Where happy harlots nightly throng, Obscurely disarrayed. With glaring, high, fantastic song While virtue weeps dismayed; SPRING. And each poor beggar, day by day, Amid tbe sights that breed Through uncouth alleys, strolls — the prey Of every crouching need. Imagination first waylaid These unenticing themes; Eftsoons deep sympathy had made Them shapers of my dreams. When soft! remembering that hope Is haply to forget, I spun each sighing, sandy rope For happiness and yet — Once here when, raving in his cell At some gaoler's nod. They said the prisoner prayed to hell, I almost doubted God. 7 TRIALOGUES, Norman. All reason rests unreconciled When melancHoly broods, And, Alan, why to-day these wild. Premeditated moods? To-day! — when forth the starling's lauds Through heaven's rafters ring. Till ho! yon very sun applauds The jocund shout of Spring? Al^AN. Stay, camarado ! On the street This drowsy afternoon, Across the way, I chanced to meet Our apparitioned June. It was a lady, O to see. One beautiful delight ! SPRING. Unknown a lilied prophecy Had blossomed on my sight, As vanishing, another face Was summoned up to me, Of one whose smile shall only grace A treasured memory : And all in silence I have felt The magic of the lark ; And here, these many moments, dwelt With other days — but hark ! {Singing heard without?) SONG. They have asked me why the flowers^ Lady mine^ Fill my days with saddened hours ^ As they pine. TRIALOGUES. Surely they know not the room^ In Dreani's chambers^ where the gloom May be sweetened by their bloom ^ Lady mine! If I plucked the stars for roses ^ Lady mine^ And told all that Day discloses^ As the shine Of the sunlight strikes the shade Round the golden petals laid On your bosom^ they would fade ^ Lady mi^ie. But if I could run a brook^ Lady 7nine^ That with chatters through each nook Would entwine In its silver^ laughing flow All the roses ^ do you know What the breeze would whisper low^ Lady mine? SPRING. Norman. What odd musician doting there In Fancy's train, beguiles The zephyr's harping of an air To Phyllis? Al,AN. It is Giles. (^Enter Giles still singing^ Ah! the falling years grow heavy ^ Lady mine, Thd the blossoms in your bevy Still are fine: Do you know what Time will do To the roses plucked for you^ When the sun has left no dew^ Lady mine? II TRIALOGUES. Al.AN. A-ha ! with Cupid from tHe woods ! The king-cups you have seen, Approaching, dofif their little hoods Before the fairy queen. Norman. Queen o^ the fairies ! You allow Such rhymes? GlI.ES. I^ faith ! I seem To see the fairies even now As in a boyish dream, There deep down in a sylvan dell, All trooping through the shade, Step by step to the cowslip's bell, A gorgeous cavalcade. SPRING. The little warriors gathered round, Their leafy lances bent, A beetle shrill, his bugle wound, Proclaims the tournament. While hushed as now the airy sprites Upraise a muffled cheer, Twinkling dim, the glow-worm lights His swinging chandelier. Norman. Alack ! Our jocund friend, returned From where the twilight veils A countryside, has only learned To label fairy tales. G11.KS. Stand to your ears ! A starry fay. With heaven listening Out on the hills, taught me to-day A song the linnets sing. 13 TRIALOGUES, Norman. What? Al,AN. What ? Proceed ! GlI.ES. \ Stay, let me think ! Norman. Yea ! — Alan, would you pin The angels down? Come, let us drink — Our comely Spring. A1.AN. GlI.ES. Begin. Norman. Up comrades then, and shut the door In Melancholy's face ! This game of life must end before 'T will out who drew the ace. 14 SPRING. A Stout heart is tlie merry heart ; Your weeping heart is frail ; So ho ! with fellowships for part, I sing the humming ale. Chorus. We sing the humming ale, good friend ! But here 's a health to you. With one more, when the game shall end, To show the cards we drew. Heigh-ho 1 the bowl, from brim to brim, Lies full. Fill a cup. While now the rosy apples swim, All hael ! Drinc it up. A1.AN. The city holds for some, mayhap, A jolly life, but O 15 TRIALOGUES. As early Spring forefeels tHe sap Awaken through the snow, Give me the sturdy roving foot, Then with a shouldered load, When Hope brings in an easy boot, I sing the open road. Chorus. We sing the open road, good friend ! But here 's a health to you, With one more to the nappy blend Of Saxon in the brew. Heigh-ho ! the bowl, from brim to brim, Lies full. Fill a cup. While now the rosy apples swim, All hael ! Drinc it up. i6 SPRING. GiLKS. The clamor of tHe towns may sleep A thousand years and still — Dreams in a thousand hearts shall leap, Touched by the urging Will. The east may blight the winds that bless ; The wander-child may rove ; But O for hope and happiness, I sing the song of love. Chorus. We sing the song of love, good friend \ But here 's a health to you, With one more to the hopes that send The parting moments through. 17 TRIALOGUES. Heigh-ho ! the bowl, from brim to brim, Lies full. Fill a cup. While now the rosy apples swim, All hael ! Drinc it up. 5 UMMER Scene : The Same. Time : At Night. 19 SUMMER. r Gii.Es, Person^, < Norman, I Al,AN. Gii,e:s. A clear soprano, filled of sun, The skylark weaves his wedding-song. Norman. The redbreast's throated musics throng At Summer's wand and Spring is done. Sweet marigolds, a pledge of hope, Adorn the marshes at her tread. GlIvKS. A thousand gardens now are spread With showers of pinks and heliotrope. 21 TRIALOGUES. Norman. And daisy-blossoms fringe the lanes. Giles. And where the drowsy primrose naps A livelong day, the preachers' caps Are filled once more with summer rains. While soft ! the orioles have made Their marriage-hymns. Alan. Alack ! you would Out-summer Summer at your mood Of preachers, weddings! Heaven's aid! A distant sound of weary feet Arises slowly to my ears ; Yon deepening fountain-head of tears Afar off playing up the street. 22 SUMMER. GiLKS. Mark there the redstart's alto ring ! Al,AN. You 'd have me watch the roses blush. G11.KS. About this hour a conscious hush Spreads shattered where the linnets sing. Norman. A conscious hush. Gii.:es. Yea, through the land, Each from his shell-releasing rift. The nested little songsters lift Their singing worlds at Summer's wand. A1.AN. A threadbare topic hackneyed. 23 TRIALOGUES. GlIyKS. Nay, nay ! Alan. Then, comrade, let us see These blooms that flush your memory — Norman. With blossoms of the countryside. Quick, shade the lamps ! Alan. Ay, turn them out ! GiLKS. A moment's breath ! You may not see. Norman. Dive deep ! We 're pledged to secrecy. Alan. Begin while silence soothes the doubt. We wait. 24 SUMMER. No more ! The vision fills, Afar, with clouds of azure foam : I watch the ploughboys winding home Where twilight washes on the hills. A distant ridge : with shaded eyes, I stand, I gaze ; a herdsman's call Fades far away — one rapturous fall, Ere faint lo, lo ! the echo dies, As softly yonder drifting slow, Now throated full, now clear and lone, The dim thrush drops a trembling tone With peals of musics laughing low. Thence murmurous hark! the night- ingale Chaunts forth in strong, melodious ease, 25 TRIALOGUES. Till higH, there — white with galaxies, The queen-moon dons her silver veil; Whilst slowly dying out again, Again the wildish wood-notes break With throbbing waves : the zephyrs shake — And darkness overruns the plain. Alan. A climbing vision. Norman. Ay, a dream ! I saw the very shapes take wing. Al,AN. 'T is strange — of shepherds you should sing, While yonder hellish whistles scream . 26 SUMMER. Norman. A rara avis sight to see When skylarks carol in the street. GlLKS. Extremes, wide-circling, often meet — And discord strengthens harmony. Now, Alan, why forever dwell On direful woes and ancient wrongs ? Your dreams a-ha ! wing many songs. AlvAN. I hardly know. I cannot tell. Above me, latterly each day. Some couching sorrow grimly peers, With hanging jaws. Norman. Defenseless fears. Unleash the dogs and trudge away. 27 TRIALOGUES. A danger, wooed in willfulness, Caps vanity. Giles. And once decoyed, Decisive moments, unemployed. Make rapid runners of distress. Alan. I cannot move, and O the sting Of final doom wHen all is done And He has said — ''Yon drowsy one, Yon lowly one did only sing" ! Norman. Nay ; come, pour out the ruddy ale. While foaming there the billow breaks Giles. And while the distant boscage shakes With long, clear whistles of the quail. 28 SUMMER. If duty has been reckoned least, A song is nobler never sung. Norman. Right, comrade, rosaries are strung For penitents as well as priest. Al,AN. Delay me not ! Tho' feeble speech May touch the story clumsily. Some brooding image follows me — Prodigious in its subtle reach. I gaze from Heaven's lowest gate Adown Her vasty, starlit hall : I watch the nations rise and fall. Like shadows, at the whim of Fate. A moment near, a moment gone. Beneath ten thousand watching eyes, 29 TRIALOGUES. One tliunderous rush rings out and dies — And still the world moves on and on ; While sweeping down each azure road With banners fading one by one, The cohorts pass and — here alone, I dream the solitude of God. GlI.ES. Unreal reality. Norman, Ha!— Yes. The very phrase, the very phrase. But come, a health ! One more — to raise This siege of Alan's moodiness. GlI,ES. Dread Ercles' shade ! 30 SUMMER. Norman. To Alan ;— then, Good-nigHt. GiLKS You leave? Norman. My holiday. GlI.ES. And whither? Norman. England. G11.KS. What? Hooray! Come fill — to all true Englishmen. A1.AN. A health to England ? Why not, pray ! Oar great America? I fear — 31 TRIALOGUES. G11.KS. No more, we drink I Al,AN. Then let us Hear, All standing now, from Norman. Norman. Stay ! We have heard the toast to a people Who inherit the English tongue; By the men of the world'' s four-quarters Their praises have been sung, — And a day may yet see the nations^ In the West^ wield a kindred sword ^ With the strength as of brothers braving An oriental horde. For the East ^s a Babel erected By the yesterdays^ thousand years^ Where a current slowly gathers The rhythm now that nears 32 SUMMER. Where the Western waters are chanting Songs under the golden sun^ With a nebulous chorus singing — The end has not begun. But I toast not the West ^ her children, — Nor the East^ nor the South^ nor North; But to-night, as the starry cohorts Break ranks and sally forth^ With a health to a greater kindred On either side of the sea^ I drink that the sun forever Light all the nations free. So fill up to the brim your glasses^ And now^ as brothers may, While the fellowship of the nations Swings down the broader day, Let us drink to the Earth^s fore- fat hers; To the Universal Plan; To the Law of a kindred children, From the Straits to Hindostan, 33 AUTUMN Scene : The Same. Time : The Afternoon. 35 AUTUMN, PERSON^, ] GlI r,-.. -^^ :• ^^^ eO\C^^% ^. L^* o*/.<»*^'<>^ . -^ov* *AX« .^^'^ . ' ^-^vO^^' ^. r