PS 554-3 \ \\ h' ■) .;? ' ' .i \/ !^ M Class 'y^^S.'r'^ Book .A<=i5S4 Copightlj". a E 'I CfiPyRIGHT DEPOSIT. SOUL SHADOWS 0f SOUL SHADOWS SONGS AND SONNETS BY ROSE M. DE VAUX-ROYER AUTHOR OF 'Long Distance Telepathy" "Influence TMepathique" NEW YORK THE BOOKERY MCMXIII T5 3? Copyright, 1913 by the Author Rose M. de Vaux-Royer [Printed in the United States of America] All Rights Reserved €C!,A330704 Tarn corde quam manu [As much by the heart as with the hand] in the spirit of loyalty and love i dedicate this book to the Cameo Club Expression is life, and repression is death to faculty, and the only death we need believe in. Life is one continuous radiant expression, and we are all creators, chiseling the clear-cut en- semble of our lives into the perfect cameo of our own ideals. FOREWORD Many of the verses in this volume have been published in the newspapers and magazines of Washington, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Philadel- phia, Paris and other places. These collected thoughts might be called episodes on life's highway, except they are not all my actual ex- periences, but came from out the silence, unsolicited. "Enormous shuttles of the dark! That weave the everlasting dream." To some, life is translated through poetry. It is the song in the heart that is heard above the tumult and tempest of everyday affairs. Hudson Maxim says, in his "Science of Poetry," that "The imagination must be enlisted in the understanding of poetry which neces- sarily involves a creative act, an act of invention and an exercise of the imagination for the comprehension of the expression." I have dared to give these out first hand, as they came to me, in their earliest dress, unadorned. R. M. de V-R. jFacing tfte infinite Facing the Infimte! we arise Facing the Infinite; who shall say Our sun goes down at the close of day If we travel with the skies? Time is not when action shall cease! Time is not when the circle ends; Hasten ye slothful oneSy make amends; Of Eternity ask release! Mother of mystery! Child of Life! The midnight stars are piercing through- All that was hidden, revealed to view — The temples of Earth, and its strife. Living by faith in the lifted prayer — Faith that restores us the riven dream — Passing the ships on the Lethean stream. Our Father reigns everywhere! CONTENTS PAGE To THE Master Mind 13 Resurrection 14< From the Beyond 15 Calling 1^ To THE Dandelion 1"^ To A Field Poppy 18 Concrete Ideals 19 Autumn Notes 20 Pastorale 21 Materialism 22 A Fancy 23 Unstrung 24 Aspiration 25 Affinity ^^ The Invisible Presence 27 Consecration 28 Reciprocity 29 Reconciliation 30 Life's Phases 31 Compensation 32 To A Philosophical Friend 33 The Universal Essence 34 Dead Love 36 The Loom of Life 37 To AN Easter Lily 39 Poetic Perception 40 Sometime 4-1 The Law of Opposites 42 Dream Faces 44 Birth of the Rose . 45 "La Mort de L'Amour" 46 Reassurance 48 Parting 49 Within ^^ To A Wild Ross 51 PAGE Heart Hunger 52 Transformation 53 Crepuscule 54 Courage Undying 55 Masques 56 At the Play 57 Attraction 59 Wild Roses 60 Retrospection .... 61 Requiem 63 Change 63 Revelation 64 At Flood Tide 65 Extract from Ballad to the Flowers .... 66 The Universal Spirit 67 "Aimer" 69 In Absence 70 Abnegation 72 Determination 73 Ambition 74 Nightfall at Oscawana 76 Spring Showers 77 June 78 The Will of Love 79 Love's Message 80 Destruction of the Temple 81 Renunciation 82 Idol Affections 83 Oscawana 84 Peace 85 Memory's Visions 87 Heredity 89 The Call of Spring 90 Consummation 91 Aftermath 92 Non-Resistance 94 Chanson 95 Love's Vision 96 The Shadowy Third 97 Petite Papillon 98 Telepathy 99 SOUL SHADOWS Co tfte 9ia0ter Qgittli AKE us to hear Thy call through every plan ; In each low note ascending as Thy word (Intoning harmonies within, unheard), That issues from the striving heart of man. O let us sound a chord as deep and true As rings adown the hymns of morning stars ! When earth awakens — breaks her prison bars — May bards of songs celestial bear us through. And let us learn to see in every eye Where unshed tears are held, Thy soft command To love ; in every nation, clime or land, That Thy great will may greet each passer-by. Take us by hand, O Master, that we see Thou art our inspiration and our source. Each soul we meet along our daily course Doth but reflect — in being, breathing — Thee! [New York City, October, 1912.] 13 Witmntttion iELODY, laughter, and dreams ; The wide world-wisdom seems To be hidden in these, As the pearl in the seas Of the deep-drift Meza streams. In the quickening woods, 'mongst the flowers. And the whispering wind, with its showers Of fluttering leaves Where the wild streamlet weaves Its singing way through the hours, Past the springtime meadows of life — Of shadow and sunshine and strife — Sweet violets grow. At the "end of the bow"— Spring where they once perished ; yet rife With the essence of song and of bloom ; Resurrection is robbing the tomb; For the spirit serene In this magical scene Brings to birth, life from death and the gloom. [OacaiDuiui-on^Hudson, 1912.] 14 jTtom tfte IBeponD \_l7i Memory of Adele Rafter^ |HATEVER you wish, my love ! my love ! It is not for me to say — I've given my heart to you to keep Through the day of song, though at night we weep. Together, the long and tranquil sleep Shall lighten the cares of day. I'm singing to you, my heart ! my heart ! The self-same song anew. That has echoed for ages through hearts of men — The song that awakens again and again: It comes at love's bidding. Life's fullness is when I'm singing this song to you. ******* The sun went down, and the day grew cold, When she went home, beyond the sea. Oh, God of Life! am I then alone .'^ Oh, World of Death ! give me back my own ! The Voice came in murmuring monotone : "Forever I am one with Thee !" \Mus%c by Lamhord.] 15 Callinff AN I call you, soul of mine, From the woodland of the Pine? Will you come and claim your own, Shadow-mate to shadow grown? For I see your face to-night — Feel you in the pale moonlight ; In the tender voiceless air, In the silence — everywhere ! If I turn, you fill my thought ; In my prayer your image's wrought ; Like the waves upon the beach In their wash and endless reach ; With their ripple or their moan , Calling, calling for their own ! Thus my soul is like the sea Calling home, eternally ! Can I call you, soul of mine. From the woodland of the Pine? Will you come and claim your own. Shadow-mate to shadow grown? [Tangiers, 1911.] 16 Co tfte DanDelion ^gUMBLE little Dandy- Lion of your class — Sprinkling your blooms about 'Mongst the simple grass ; Featuring the landscape Gold with mingled green ; Opening at morning tide With a dewy sheen. Vieing with the sunlight — Day-stars o'er the sod — Cheery-faced and tender, Turning up to God. Soon your head is whitened — Poised a spectred wraith; Yellow turned to silver — Patriarch of the Faith! (Chemistry of Nature, Patterned but to change — Growth through death and re-birth Is the gamut's range.) Thus, your mission ended. Simple little flower — Sweetheart of the innocent — Spent is your brief hour. 17 But indexed in nature — Strong the eternal ways- You are living ever Numbered not in days. Little golden blossom Springing from the sod, You and I together Both belong to God ! Co a JFielD Poppp OU dazzling one ! — all scarlet, black, and gold ! Nodding your wayward head in truant style ; Flutt'ring your silken petals to beguile The passer-by with pouts and pretense bold! By day you beckon to behold your charm ; But dew-time finds your sails unfurled for sleep; This is the potion that you give, and keep; — Drenched in the moonlight — dreamless sleep's sweet balm. 18 Concrete 3Deal0 [Man's Kingdomi |OVE on the heights is such a fragile plant, Requiring sustenance of its own kind; The Edelweiss, implanted in the snows Of centuries, sends forth its virgin bloom And beauty ; perfected in its own clime. In chaste conception thus all true love waits, Exultant in its strength and purity ; Steadfast above all brief joys. Hope Here holds to self a lasting purposed power; Builds unto man his best, for here resides All that shall follow and be his through life And on through dim unknown eternal ways. Man is his own creator! love a means — When it takes concrete form — to stimulate, To measure, large or small capacity Within ; to work and will and dare and do ; To forge a character, create a home With joys of merry voices — pictured saints! Why scatter this upon the desert wastes When God proclaims the man who conquers self. King of his empire — Ruler on his throne? 19 autumn Jl3ote0 [/w New England} lED-TURRETED the trees stand in the wood; Fair golden-rod and asters fringe the hill ; Black wasps are buzzing 'bout the cornices Of barns, and nesting in the rafter-sill. The apples lie low dropping to the ground; The grapes cling clustering to the garden wall, And ripened nuts are falling all around ; September sounds the opening note of Fall ! [Boston, Mass., 1893.] 20 pastorale |HESE are the notes the poet knows From cymbal tones, and sounding brass. Of human obloquy, and woes Of worldly ways. The growing grass Breathes sweeter symphonies of sound ; The trees bear stronger evidence Of God's great purpose all around ; — These simple signs His monuments! 31 9©atenali$m [''Till Death Do Us Parf'] ERE! Take this body, then; 'tis yours "tiU death—" Though we live far apart as sun and earth ; You can but claim the shell : no touch or breath Of life's impulse where soul has given birth. Not mine to give, nor yours to wrest away By promises that sound to men most fair; Though you be Shylock seeking for his pay Not one small claim hold you on love ! Beware ! Let the play on ! Ring up the curtain now ! Who shall divine that hope bleeds, unfulfilled. Beneath this glittering burial place, and brow Begemmed, where love lies murdered — killed! [Pasadena, CaL, 1889.] 22 a Jancp wo idle eyes ! Two paths — to paradise or hell? Impetuous, tempestous, Or clear as dawn at birth of day. What mysteries and histories, And lingering wild memories. And shadows of serener skies. And vast forgivingness and truth, And hope, and love's sweet fire, and youth; 'Till all the soul within me cries To idolize! Twin cups of mirth and mad delight. Where mischief murders pain at sight, And Cupid sits in rapt disguise — Two idle lies ! [New York City, 1895.] 23 On0trung IKE strains of music, vibrating among The heart's deep places, instruments unstrung Lie in the dusk, await the master-hand — As human souls await the high command. Unsung the songs by hearth and home once told ; Unstrung the lute that held life's story old ; Responding only to the magic touch Of some fine presence. Loving over-much The lesser things, we strive to turn aside And worship where the pure in heart abide. O life-worn worker enter fearlessly This new-world haven of hushed sanctity ; Where, vibrant with diviner atmospheres. We stand attuned to "music of the spheres." [New York City, 1912.] 24 ^^w a0piration HY should I pause to look at little things? Why should I let them stop me in their pas- sage ? Were it not better holding always high Our vision on the point we would attain to? And live on in that altitude where we No more are tortured by the tired earth-groanings, Or weary word-voicing of pain, foreshadowing That out of which we grow to fuller being. In grandeur the new-born ideas sweep down And hold in spell-bound reverence the unvoiced Brave utterances of thought from mind and heart That bid us stand out in full majesty Of soul, resplendent! I soar away on clear-clipped wings of love To realms ecstatic, breathe the breath God ; And lie in rapt embraceure of a new And lasting light — Intelligence divine Awaiting but the spark within to rouse In comprehension! [Pasadena, Cal., 1891.] 25 |0T as all other men are you to me, But like some breath of fresh, new morning air; Buoyant with hope, sustaining, strong to bear. And pregnant with high-purposed energy. As streams from different source turn toward the sea, And there unite, so our emotions blend — More tranquil than the fitful currents trend — Suffusing all in a glad ecstasy ; Rejoicing that to each the others need Was given; flowing side by side Inseparably, in silent majesty; Safe-sheltered in the happy, full-souled pride Of twain grown one ! A sweet security And heaven's rest where heart and honor lead. 26 C!)e 3ntJi0i6le pre0ence PRESENCE that difFuses warmth and glow- Even as the sun's gold ray doth penetrate — Commands my being ; and the pulses wait Fulfillment, for life's sweeter ebb and flow. Subtle the fragrance of the mind attuned In thought and feeling ; blended as the tone Of some grand vibrant melody we've known In vast cathedrals where fine souls communed. The heart finds food in images of hope ; That which inspires approaches the divine Creative impulse — which the arts define. Untold the ways wherewith the masters cope. A Presence! which with each shall reunite Like glad hand-clasps, that hold us with no word ; Giving in full surrender, to afford The other's happiness — at its true height. [New York City, 1911.] 27 Consecration |0 back to life's Eden, To earth's natal dew : Flesh and form were but symbols For life to play through. Read and know what I say ! How a woman can feel When the heart of love's sunshine Is turned to cold steel. When the hunger of intellect — Brain, body, mind — Stands stagnant and dying For want of its kind. To life's fateful challenge She gave of her years ; To mercy and greed Of her gold and her tears. Of a gold that the coinage Is not known of men; Such as blends in the heart-beats Of maid, mother, when The promise is given To love and obey — Consecrated to heaven — A law for alway. 28 No poets gainsay me ; No prophets foretold The Sappho song hovering 'Twixt new and the old. It is true of God's fire- Fed souls that can feel ; Their heart is the lyre And their heart's blood the seal ! jaeciptocitp T birth of morn, a pearly drop of dew Stood poised upon the petals of a flower. God placed it there its mission to pursue — Directed by love's insight, keen and true — Deep in this thirsting heart it spent its power. The rose bloomed on beneath the scorching rays Of noontide; fed by this one tear from heaven. Heart-comforted by token of His praise It sent its fragrance through the close byways, Cheering the day from dawn till tides of even. [New York City, 1911.] 29 irsi Reconciliation ^As I have sins forgiven. Father, forgive T^ ORGIVE each passing word or lighter tone Than that which springs heart-tempered, pure and strong. Forgive ; and see, as I have dared to see. That in thy noble freedom am / free. Or yet more closely in thy strong embrace Hold me so pure that faith the fault erase. For loving overmuch some earthly things. My thought grew careless of the heart whose strings Vibrate my being's truer, nobler strain: And pride intruded where but peace should reign. Believing now all ends are good and just, Soul-pacified, in love I wait and trust. [Santa Monica, Cal., August 11, 1891.] 30 HAT is't of fear thou boldest here, O Death? Thou imaged dread lone stalker of the night ! 'Tis night indeed in the sweet soul's fine place If it believe in thee and not in life ! Thou art a form that's conjured of th' unknown — A phase of life that fills the interim And meets the progress of a conscious soul Even as a gentle friend in solace meets Unconscious good. The necessary law By which all Nature's plans are circumscribed. For flower, and tree, and man, eternal change Encompasses the measure we call life. And energy divine doth mark our course When erstwhile we would rest as dreamers do, Responsive to calamity or joy; Requesting that our paths be margined out In placid peace into the dim unknown — The country where at last the souls are held — Foregoing not one carnal wish, nor sense Of pleasure, toward the endowment of this state. When will the mind of man maintain this truth.'' He is the architect of his estate ! His future rises from the stepping stones That he himself has builded in the past. And mounted from in tortuous round by round; 31 The minarets and lofty towers of thought His temples are, — the ones "not made by hands!" ****** And Death comes gently, as the dews of night, (To comfort souls who traverse earth's parched sands), And bears each calmly to the great Beyond! [April 24, 1910.] Compensation ^NTO the world of thought I went And gathered therefrom a branch half bent, And grafted it on to a life half spent; Then journeyed my way along. The years went went by, and the thought returned Bearing the fruit it had justly earned — A smiling face for the heart that yearned — And a life that was jfilled with song. [New York City, 1911.] Co a pi)ilo0opf)ical jFrienH g^^HOTT faithful one of word and deed, Quick to divine the world-souls need ; Unbarred the roads where progress came In your own time and need and name. Unsealed the vision; "Eyes of God" You have beheld in ways you've trod ! ****** Two may be born with but short space between, Yet half a life-time here may intervene Ere they meet face to face, or heart to heart. (So strange the ways of nature at the start.) Two may be passing and repassing near — Vast continents are traversed — crossed the sphere — An impulse prompts us, and we know not why. We turn ; behold, Love's face stands bared close by ! 33 Cbe Onrter0al aB00ence [In One and in All~\ NREAD, unlettered though I stand alone — (Barbarians e'en would but defend their own). Sacred and sweet is life's new citadel As the first blush Aurora sends at dawn — Fulfillment of the promise, a new day Is ours ; and all we comprehend And can express of life shall mark its course And make each one, and yet the next, our day! Oh, earnest souls, arise and purify, — Make clean your standard, burnish your ideal Until its lustre luminates the skies And, by reflection, overshadows earth- In symbol or antithesis the two Stretch far apart, like an opponent's view Awaiting but the alchem}^ of mind To reunite. There is no far or near For those united in a purpose strong. The good and evil are degrees of growth — (Interpretation of the laws of life.) The fitting in of things to our own code — This does not broaden, but contracts the view. Be universal, grand, sublime in soul! And sing the Song of Nations, not of one! For law is law, unsought or unexpressed — And we are held subservient to a will That works regardless of our small intent. Turn with the tide ! Seek harmony, not strife ! 34 All labor gains where love doth supervise. Freedom itself is man's great motive power, — The soil where character alone can thrive: Reward and punishment, the bribe, the claim, For children are ; not for man's full estate Through discipline of penalties to walk The path observed by modem truth ; a goal Fixed for to-day, — not for all time — a scale That slides befitting the advancing trend Of thought and mind and work and worship. When Man shall be great enough to know the truth. And strong enough to live it; when. As cycles of each carnate life lap by And over-lap into the next of kin — (For few there be who penetrate beyond The time limit of years and worldly cares ; Material limitations, they call life) — Into that broader, higher consciousness Where victory and its adherents dwell. Then each shall sound with trumpet blast the cry "Oh, Universe of Life ! There is no death !" [Written for the Cameo Club, New York City, 1910.] 35 DeaD iLotje HOSTS in the air ! Ghosts of the dead Love words once spoken; And death the token Of all you gave or said. Mere flesh ! and their's the breath that used you. Mere flesh! — their spirit interfused you; Loved — or lied! Love was the word you used to fetter — Nay, to deride; For had you loved e'en well, or better, Love had not died! [New York City, 1894.] 36 Cfte Hoom of HiU REINCAENATION [To Floyd B. Wilson] N the beginning of flesh and spirit, In the world of time and space, Evolved as a unit from aeons Into one of the human race ; Enveloped for one blissful moment In the merciful arms of love — I was held by the cosmic forces — By the God who rules above! With the groaning and travail of earth come The registered growth of man — The birth of the soul immortal — A part of the Infinite plan. We may see but the image in passing ; Receptacled therein the mind — \^ Creative and pro-creative \ A chalice to mortals assigned. Each centered soul is a key-board For the heavenly harmonies, Where the unseen claim cognition — Reembodied in life's mysteries. 37 Where those who have been translated To the bright Beyond, may send To each a conscious greeting Through the universal trend. Oh, to lie in the lap of Creation ! To drink of the spirit divine. Encircled by richest unfoldment When water again turns to wine! 'Neath the dome of civilization — Where the record of lives must be kept ; Where the mother-heart broods o'er her children, As the Christ o'er the world when He wept — I see — as a fiery comet — The meeting of ways that diverge ; See the hordes of opposing forces Held and led by the mystical urge. And I sweep through the storied ages — Through the luminous worlds — from the sod — As I pass by the dimly lit stages To the great subconscious One — God! 38 Co an (Bamt ILilp |0W chaste the lily! Did long centuries free Its beauty, with its cold, pale chastity? Poised, golden-stamened, stately swaying head Like bell-cups, hanging silently. Instead Of music, floats a fragrance on the air — A subtle language, potent, deep and rare; Sending its soul in silence through the night: A "wireless" message — 'reft of sound or sight — Appealing, as if incense's faint impress Impinged on memory, in a flower's caress. [Oscawana-on-Hudson, 1912.] 39 Poetic perception [To Prof. Chas. Mills Gailey- California] -University of HAT mind we of the Cause or Reason why, So we enjoy the present at its best, In richly rounded impulses that rest As syllables, while sentenced life goes by? Our builded hopes were lasting did we try To fashion them from serious soil, not jest; Being matched in stature to the soul, las test — Illumined live, when lesser lights shall die. [Berkeley, Cal, 1892.] 40 Sometime ^^^OMETIME when all life's lessons have been ^^^y learned, = ^f^^^^i^ And we shall know each one without the name ; When cheek and shoulder, pressed by lips that burned, Shall be resolved to dust from whence they came: I wonder then, if bared there, each to each, Our souls are held, will shudders of regret Come tremulous from out the past to teach. Not words, but sacrifice, and lashes wet Will purify and prove the love professed. Born of the soul, then shall it live for aye; But love of flesh must perish with the flesh; Divine exists forever — now, alway! [San Francisco, Cal., 1892.] 41 Cfte Lato of 2Dppo$ite0 HERE is a window from which we look out And gaze upon the passing scenes with doubt, To gauge our own security about. Its diamond panes are wrought of purest glass ; Lit by the soul, the lights that through them pass Clairvoyant — vision of the world en masse, I looked without in deep solicitude ; To guard a friend from grievous wrong I stood, — To turn her thought toward higher forms of good. For at her feet a fearful serpent lay! — Built link on link its massive vertebrae, A "Mastodon" in growth, from day to day. And as I gazed this hideous shapen thing. Grew many headed for its fatal sting. Grew double voiced; with but one song to sing. Then conscious fear's first impulse was to beat Life from this form of terror and deceit. She flung with force the reptile at my feet ! I stood prepared to meet the poisoned tongue ; For principle — to suffer keener wrong; But look ! 'Tis dead ! Like faint grey mists among 43 The morning dews, its wraith arose and passed As ashes moves before a chilling blast. And here behold a law which frees at last. Love only lives, by virtue of its state In universal purpose; — love, not hate — For God is love; and "only God is great!" Dissensions come that out of them shall grow (If we would only understand and know) A plan more perfect, from the thought we sow. Have faith in the eternal forms of grace; Forgive each flaw in this great human race; For all shall stand as one before His face. 43 Dream jFace0 S echoes of a thousand thoughts Drift down the aisles of time ^^Mi I greet old dreams of mine again, And fetter them in rhyme. I see in dreamy reverie A line of spectral faces Rise up and pass before me, In slow and measured paces. I know that they but claim their own; Those half-averted glances — My own dead past they each reflect — Its follies and its fancies. I fain would call each one by name, And check them in their going To link the present and the past's Eternal ebb and flowing. But never one can I recall, I can not e'en detain The present soon to be the past In life's eternal chain. So solemnly they all pass on With slow and measured paces ; And silently we one by one Are each assigned our places. [San Francisco, Cat., 1889.] 44 TSittb of tfte JRo0e ^'God thought and the world was born!'* PERFECT thought hung, hovering, in the air Seeking expression visible, and found A chaste young shoot of green, from virgin ground All budded, and gladly entered there. He filled her soul with beauty, and at morn Drew warmth of love from the young Sun-God's ray ; The dew from night, the secrets from the clay ; She sighed — the petals burst — a rose was born! [Hotel Normandie, Paris, 1898.] 45 ^O more : let there be no more said : Silence is best; you did not prove That crime was crime, that love was love Until — until 'twas dead! It lay there white, and oh, so still ; No sound betrayed its agony; No motion — that the heart was free, Free from the ruling will. But like the plaint of mating doves — Or tossing, turbulent waves at sea Chanting their own miserere For love, for sweet lost loves — There comes the wail upon the wind Borne inland to the soul-sorrow; Shall we clasp it or let it go? Go, higher faith to find! If one could speak the noble truth And, speaking, thus resuscitate This love (gone early, coming late). And turn the years to youth! We'll build for this no burial place; Its birth was from the unknown source. When love ignites, a burning force Moulds into one, each grace. ii& « ft^ « « # 46 From out the long and tangled years In some remote, untitled land By love refound at last, we'll stand, Beyond the tide of tears. Beyond ! In that new sphere of light ! The dear lost hands shall intertwine In paradise, thine clasped in mine, Where souls have gained their height. 47 iaea0$utance HERE are no dead! Those loving voices — hushed — Speak plainly to us could we understand; They counsel us in ways we know not of, And in dark places hold us hand by hand ! [Written after reading Maeterlinck's "Tresors des Humble," in which he sa^s: "We know that the dead do not die. We know that it is not in our churchyards they are to be found, but in the houses and habits of us all."] 48 patting [To My Dear Father^ HEN we must go, We linger loath, for yet an hour or so : Seeing beauties new; some good in friend and foe. And then "good-bye" Is said. AfFection's mist quick dims the eye; And joy's light laugh turns plaintively a sigh. So, at the last. When life's full numbered pages all are past But closing ones— then laggard time flies fast. Here, almost through, We pause; past scenes flash up in mute review. Our crosses, conflicts, and the love proved true. O change, delay A little ! Life, give but one more fair day I Too soon thy crucible turns gold to grey. Autumn is here! Its tawny touch turns russet, brown and sere Bright Summer's blooms; and yet with unknown fear We say "Good-bye!" Nor know if winter's chill and frost will he Less kindly, 'neath some new-found foreign sky. [New London, Conn,, 1893.] 49 mUbin [To Francois Coppee^ T evening when the shadows fall And sultry clouds sink slow to rest, Above the new-night's tranquil breast In one great all-enclosing pall, I think of those whom I loved best. And bring them to me. One and all They come like answering echoes' call From memory's chambers of the blest. Faint lined against the silvery mist Of time's long pages — time long gone — I greet again the lips I've kissed In that past age, and held my own ; And pray that one remembered bliss May still be ours in the Unknown ! [Paris, 1897.] 50 Co a OJilD iao0e OSE of the sweet, wild way, Rose of the roadside hedge ; Hidden the sweet-briar thorns 'Neath her ribboned and fluted edge. Many an inconstant bee As play- fellow, dips in her heart ; Filled with her fragrances, he Has lingered there, loath to depart Lingered till night-fall and dew Closed her leaves over his head; Fashioned a canopy new — Lending her heart for his bed. Up with the call of the bird, Breath of the morning, a-wing! (Beauty a prison house) — stirred With all living nature to sing. Rose of the wild sweet briar! Born of the sun and the dew; Unfurled her petals at morn — Opened to God, and to you ! 51 f^tatt J|)unger LOUDED its birthright of gladness, Drooping and sobbing with sadness, Drifting, Shifting This soul like the sands of the sea ! Dragged by the teeth of the tide down; Suddenly day into night grown. Wearily, Drearily, No human heart haven for me. Oh, for the anchor that love gives ! Only to know that some heart lives! Hungering, Murmuring, For that it were my joy to be. 52 Cran0formation "Fair soul, in your fine frame hath love no quality, if the quick fire of youth light not your mind, you are no maiden but a — monmment." AM no monument, but truly human ! Containing all that flows from life divine ; Which thrills from farthest star to heart of mine — And echoes past proclaim that "You are Woman !" We are the soil, regenerating man ; By God implanted throughout earth's broad lands; The soul and tissue here unite — join hands — Nature ordains, we follow out the plan. The body — formed by mind from dust of earth — The positive the breath of life breathes through The negative; a potent force and true, For lo! combined, a soul is given birth! [New York City, 1886.] 53 Crepuiscule TWIIilGHT \_To Jules Massenefl REEFING gently at the close of day, Through the twilight's silvery refrain, Come the shadows from the "far away" Linked in memory to the present's chain. Oh, the visions of the days gone by ! In the dusk their dancing feet keep time To the muted music ; now a sigh, Now a moan, or minor chord in chime. Gaily sailing o'er the fitful foam ; Evanescent dreams of love's delight; But at twilight turns each soul tow'rd home, Trailing shadows in the wake of night. From the sombre duskiness and gloom Smiles some face of reminiscent days. Held in reverie — woven in time's loom — Heart's-blood fabric, where God parts the ways. [Music by Frank E. Ward, 1911. \ 54 Courage (UnDping THE TITANIC DISASTER [In Memory of William T. Stead] HERE came the common hour of death's release To larger life, from the dark grey sea's dim Long weary watch: death's portal-ways to peace — When human spirits seek their peace in Him. If we could feel assured thus, without fears, That each one went — a child of God — "gone home!" And lessen by this truth the weight of tears — The agony of loss, by gain to come. Earth holds no silence such as fills the sea; Oblivion waits there with abated breath. The disembodied soul seeks climes more free. Back to the Giver, Lord of life and death ! See now the dear one, as you saw of old. Draw near the soul by love's telepathy; Picture the presence, yours to have and hold; Conquer by courage ! God rules o'er the sea ! [April 11, 1913.] 55 ^a0que0 MAN! Thou'rt fitted for diviner things Than that of which the carnate world-sense sings, O soul ! and nobler far thy swift, sweet reign, Partaking of life's chastened joy or pain. 66 at tfte piap T was "Midsummer Night" At Shakespeare's play, Where, held by the music's intoning, The key and the quest Of love's behest, And the viol's and basse's low moaning, That the liquid spent With mischief's intent. Reached my eyes and my senses robbing. For my soul could see You bending o'er me — Could feel your heart's tense throbbing. For a moment between The acts, next scene, My head drooped back and rested Where the cushioned seat And the box rail meet ; And sleep all my senses infested. By a dim star-gleam. With you, I could seem To float in a world of ether ; — You stood there, white. In the faint trance-light. Then we wandered away together. 57 'Twas the soul of me there, In the scintillant air, You had captured and held it in tether. Steadfast; prone to possess, In its deep sacredness. Soul and shape, as God fashioned it. Whether The spirit of dreams. Or mesmeric gleams Induced, by their magic, your staying — I awoke with a start ! All of Mendelssohn's art Pouring forth from the orchestra's playing! The portrayal chaste. In Ben Greet's taste — Of Shakespeare's "Dream" danced before me ; But which was the real. And which the ideal? And which wove the spell that came o'er me? (You stood there, white. In the dim trance-light!) It was Mendelssohn's music still crashing; 'Twas the Wedding March Of the triumphal Arch, And the World the procession there flashing! [New York City, April, 1911.] 58 attraction HERE are no bonds, there are no ties to break For souls united ! Roused from that long sleep Of death in life, the dismal vapors creep Away ; unveiled, the truer self awakes. Like clings to like, love holds its own in love; Spirit with spirit meets ; attraction blends. Enwraps, transmits, — for nature's purposed ends — To sensuous earth, from listening mind above. [Hotel Wentworth, New Castle, N. H., 1887.] mm iao0e0 IWEET— As the wild rose By light winds beat Its fragrance throws In petals at your feet, 'Midst Summer's waste of blows, Dying, incomplete, Dear- So would my life Be transient, drear, But strong love's strife Hath cherished presence here. I kneel to pray — "O God, Give faith, not fear!" Liove Loyal and blessed. All loves above! Rose-petals pressed I send you, which may prove (Sweet odors clinging like red lips caressed) The breath of love. Heart— q^i, hapless quest! The tired tears start — So long repressed — For haven in your heart. With one quick sob I'd close my eyes and rest, Healed of the smart! [Written in the old Wild Rose Lane, East Lyme, Conn., June, 1893.] 60, Ketro^pection EARS come and smiles go ; my emotions are stirred By thoughts that lie deep and that never are heard. As I look on the world and the faces of men There is one that I search for, and long for, as when But a child, he caressed me close clasped on his knee. His smile held the gladness of sunlight for me, And his songs had the melody never yet heard In the countless new strains that my soul have since stirred. My first and best lover, my hero in rhyme, My Father! in childhood and love's pure springtime. [Long Beach, Cal, 1891.] 61 Kequiem |Y lover has gone, — gone down to the sea! The whistling wind makes moan, And the saddening wail of its miserere Haunts the silence — and me — alone. So closely I hold to this hungering thing, This sorrowing pain in my breast. It seems to pulse into life and fling Its shadow o'er my unrest. The winds blow inland from the sea; The solemn waves intone, Bringing their messages back to me From the place where my lover has gone. He has passed beyond the reach of my hand. Or the touch of the kisses he taught. But in either world of spirit or land, He shall reign in this temple of thought. And days like this when the wind-fiends shriek In their maddening monotone, I watch the waves on the shore-sands bleak, — I and my soul — alone! [On the Pacific, 1893.] change DRIFT upon a shoreless waste of time We downward look from summits where we climb, And from that Mount of Isolation cry : "Can this lone self be I?" Oh agony! We shudder and we shrink from the abyss That lies 'twixt that glad other life and this ; Lest suddenly keen memory should rend The veil that shrouds the past, which, as a friend. Stands guard between the midsun's piercing ray (Whose shadow falling, cools the burning way). Where too great radiance burst upon our gloom Would make us blind. From resurrection's tomb We call but faintly, for our strength is yet Too small to taint with longing and regret. [Califorma, 1890.] Ketjelatiott HIS is the moment for which I have prayed ! Throw off disguise, Past prying eyes, Stand face to face as by one impulse made ! Hold me so close to you that I can live ; Breathe of your breath — Foeman to death — (Rich with the blisses Of unuttered kisses) Die in forgetfulness Of the world's fretfulness ; Live in the confidence one soul can give. How did I come to you? God knows that best ; Through the dark mystery Of life's tangled history; Out o'er the distance Conquering resistance Of time and space to be held yours at last! [Hotel Amidon, Los Angeles, Cal., June, 1891.] 64 at JFlooD CiDe HE waves come dashing inland to the shore With all the eager lapping love of life ; But coy, resisting this new influx rife, It sends the waters back with sullen roar. But tireless wooer of seductive charms, That lie unfathomed on the upper beach Beyond the enamored sea-wave's ardent reach, With one bold rise it gathers to its arms And holds engulfed in its desired embrace; At each retreat advancing but the higher. Till earth receives and welcomes his desire — Flooding her borders in relentless chase. [Long Beach, Cal, 1891.] 65 (Bntntt from OSallaD to tfte JFlotoerg H, flowers ! sweet sacred things, That speak from heart to heart. I'll bind you close to my bruised breast. That out of heart's-ease may come rest To heal it of its smart. Such peerless, petaled sweets. Lie folded in your chalices. Pure buds of heaven that bloom on earth, To herald love with death and birth; Voiceless, you breathe unspoken things In vocal silences. [Golden Gate Park, 1890.] 66 Cfte aniV3et0aI Spirit 'When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home." — Tennyson. HILE there's mourning in the valley Let us look toward summits bright, For we know the law of nature Works from darkness into light, And the soul's eternal mission Changes weakness into might. Life in tiny germ enfolded In the mystery of the womb Still to other life is moulded In the shadow of the tomb ; As the seed in earth enrolled Springs to life in fruit and bloom. Death's no break in our existence ; Just a stepping stone above ; 'Tis the link that binds the lower With the higher forms of love. It is birth into eternal Life, evolved from the Great Love. 'Tis the law of love, uniting With the spirit at its birth. "Dust thou art, to dust returnest Leaves the ashes to the earth ; But the spirit, life transcendent Claims, in its immortal worth. 6T 99 As the sunset to our vision Is but sunrise farther on, So-called death is but transition — Is the re-birth from the form Into the great universal Life, from which the soul was born. [East Lyme, Conn., September 6, 1901.] "aimct" ^^^^O love means not surrender! Love means more — to endure — Yet for each word you send her, Or thought from soul so tender, You may rest safe and sure Where heart throbs pain engender Love will remain secure. If love cannot surrender It can do more — endure! [Music by C. de Vaux-Royer.] [Hotel Raymond, Pasadena, Cal., 1888.] M a60ence HY are the hours filled with a loneliness, Haunting the days and nights in vague dis- tress, Now that his voice, his presence, has grown less? 'Tis not alone the imaged form I see, Craving to meet the deep necessity; But something more enduring yet — more free. A subtle force comes from we know not where, A radiance flung, like music, on the air. Giving to life its purposed strength to bear. In our high moments, soul-immersed are we; Untouched by earth's restless turbidity — Of world commotion and intensity. Eternally surprising to each sex. Are those stern inner qualities that vex Or toss us, high and dry, like sand-bar wrecks. Some oasis or some new isle we seek, Where, shared, the blasts of Winter seem less bleak. And Summer tides will temper hearts grown meek. This human heart, whose ever tender strain Beats trustfully ; its frailities and its pain Bared; tears of anguish here the truth make plain. TO A new horizon ! For us a new star ! Our aspirations fired by distance are. Though unattained, joy signals from afar. Here is the Light, within the transient clay! Man, the immortal, holds the flaming ray! A high divinity transforms his way. And thus again, 'tis not the form nor face — But that which throbs within; a latent grace- Moulded of God, "His Image" to encase. [Lancaster, August 31, 1911.] 71 a&negation ^AST night as you lay in the dusk — In the dusk at my feet, I thought that this wide world could hold No rapture more sweet; That only a lover's strong fold Could make life complete. But now in the cool rays of morn, Deprived of the charm Of emotions that keep the heart warm. And the thrill of your arm That vibrated through form to form. To shield from alarm ; I know that my duty lies here; Yet all love that's given Will help us, and make the way clear For our hopes of a heaven ; Will hold us each closer and near To our longed-for lost heaven! Oh, God! in Thy pitying might, I pray to be kept Close-clasped to the rigid-laid right. Where strong hearts have wept, — That my soul shall rise fair in Thy sight. From the furnace that slept! [San Francisco, Cal, 1892.] n Determination HOLD no destiny shall claim me here ! Poised in the hollow of a mighty hand Beneath the sunlight of a strange, new land, Reposed serene, I wait for skies to clear. ****** Not by the blow of breath nor wave of hands Are our great deeds accomplished, but they grow As tiny buds of feeling burst to bloom : Or as the bounding brooklets first have come From out their creviced mountain source to flow Onward through dark ravines to sweep broad lands. [San Gabriel Valley, Pasadena, Cal., May, 1891.] 73 amfiition g|HE was a fragile vine, and he — He rose a strong and towering tree Superb in manhood's majesty. ***** Right at this sturdy column's foot Where its firm trunk had taken root A slender vine had sprung. His young sap-blood went pulsing high At touch of one so coy and shy Who, loving, crept and clung Close to the rugged bark he wore, And trailed her graceful tendrils o'er In sweet timidity. He proudly spread his boughs about Pride shutting every sun-ray out From her, insensibly. She, pensive, pined in discontent Hid from her native element. Which gave her strength to cling; And day by day she paler grew As deeper in the shade he threw This tender, faithful thing. He reared his branches broad and high ; Ambition lured him to the sky ; (The vine looked up and sighed) Forgetful of youth's tenderness When life was fed with love's caress — (The vine drooped low and died). 74 True to her nature, even in death, She clung until a rude wind's breath Consigned her to the ground, To be again to mother earth The same as ere 'twas given birth To rise above its mound. The strong, staid tree grows gnarled and bowed ; Its shadow falls, like sorrow's shroud. O'er love that died so young; And from the place where one pure spark Had perished in the mould and dark A poison ivy sprung! [San Francisco, Cal, 1890.] 75 iQigftrtall at 2D0catoana [To Dr. and Mrs. Gillinghaml FLUSH of sky, a field of grain, And the lily-bells ring a long-lost strain. Where the hillsides lie fresh-drenched in rain, The wild sweet clover nods its head And marshals its serried ranks, where fed The rover bee, to honey wed. Tall, stately poplars throw their shade In long lines by the ancient glade; And nature's voices — unafraid — Ring jubilant at parting day. As distant sun-gleams fade away From winding roadways where we stray. One lone star heralds from on high The new-born crescent in the sky; And night falls near us, tranquilly. In murmurous breezes, languorous air, God all around us — unaware: The great world rests in silent prayer. Out on the night a cricket's "cheep" And heart-ease comes as shadows creep Like guardians over all that sleep. 76 w Spring ^f)otoer0 jHEN some mad gust of feeling overleaps The boundary line and plunges in the deep 3 Of dreams — tear-laden by delayed desire- Then nature, in her mercy, bids us weep. Kind mother, in her course of numbered hours — Who knows life's brief unrest and troublous showers, From out the darkest mould her secrets shrined, Once more released, behold transfigured powers! The aftermath brings music, and the trill Of robin-mates in air ; the high free will Of fairy fingers wreathing nights and days With Spring's rare miracle, and souls a-thrill! [May, 1912.] 77 ill 3func IHY name must always bear, dear June, ^^J Faint incense of a deep content ; wT''^, ^^ °"'°"''* "«'**"' rose-hedges scent, When the heart of the great world beats in tune. [Oscawana^on-Hudson, June, 1912A 78 Cfte mm of Lotje LL precious things it strives to interpose For its beloved: protection seeks and fame. Glamour of glory and high-sounding name; Applauds perfection wheresoe'er he goes. Guards prejudiced convention of his foes — Holds ever to the highest her lord's aim. Feeling and thought sent broadcast, as the flame, Attracts, burns and consumes. ('Tis love that knows!) Accepts with tenderest grace this high control, — For at the centre truth and goodness reign: — Mutely awaits the flowering of the soul. When finite shall the infinite attain. — And dew-drenched asphodels appoint the goal — The sweet and bitter of love's joy or pain! 79 N secret places, in the olden time, I Love found its way, surmounting space and clime ; To-day 'tis science that applies the torch And scalpel, searching for Love's wounds, and scorch, To analyze and learn its source; but stay! Love, snatched bald-headed, turns and runs away. The soul will ever find its own and mate ; Regardless, it embraces all with fate, And hallows every walk and inch of ground It traverses, — with its ideal found: Perpetuates in graven image — stone. In lines of beauty, where it claims its own: And animates cold marble into warm Semblance of pulsing life, in chiseled form ; Illuminates in color, thought and heart United, on the canvas brushed by art. And thus, throughout the universe, Love blends, Endows with magic man's deep purposed ends ; Attunes the soul to its melodic chime. And rings untrammeled down the aisles of time ; Wreathes golden halos round the commonplace. Enhances virtue with a new-found grace. To you, Oh! Artist-poet, let resound Through all the world, the message you have found! De0truction of tfte Cemple TINY match ! A force in ambush lay ! An accidental heel that trod that way Awoke the slumbering tyrant's conscious power. It leapt from low-born source to highest tower, And wrought swift devastation in an hour. At first a spark — 'twas like platonic love — Controlled it served; but let at random rove, Its fiery nature quick enamored, flew From primal source ignited, till it grew Into a flame, a roving, amorous sheet That wraps its mistress, turret, dome and feet; Brings her proud form low down into the dust Of ashes; fruits of its destructive lust. And thus it ends, desire extinguished, fled! A brief fruition lies burned out and dead! Cold embers only mark where once was fire, A vultured greed — a smouldering funeral pyre! [Written on the burning of the Unitarian Church at Los Angeles, Cal, 1890.] 81 JRenunnation OOD-BYE ! Good-bye, at last ! And draw a curtain deep as night Across the tortured tear-dimmed sight To hide that misspent past. In years, when you recall, You'll hold her then as one you felt As pure as any babe that knelt, Or Eve before the fall. If sin it was, forgive With God, and look within the heart — 'Tis hard from life all love to part And be condemned to live. Sometime, — God wills it so — In some far, bright unfathomed land, Bared each to each our souls shall stand Where we're known as we shall know! [189g.] SDoI affection0 "Our idols are our executioners" HAT count these earthly baubles, things of state, When one loved best of all that's loved on earth Has left us to a present desolate? Where courted pleasures' place to pain gives birth! I peer into the darkening, silent night. Some eager thought or mute, unspoken word Draw from your soul to mine, perchance I might, To quell the battling of a hope deferred. But chill and strange stands Silence there impaled! No way past common ways to bear me out By that grim sentinel so deeply veiled. I sink into a dreamless sea of doubt. I know — as one who listens after death — Our distant paths were led apart, that we Who hung for life upon each other's breath Might greater faith through long endurance see. From cold pale graves, and empty shrines shall roll, Into some new-born brighter world of ours The ripened growth from gardens of the soul — Where once were weeds will then spring fairest flowers. [Written at Castle Felsberg, Lucerne, 1897.] 83 ffl)0catoana jAWN and a dewy hush! With a charm that bids us stay — Where Oscawana lies Near the portals of the day; Where the sun-kissed hills arise Till their summits far away Blend with the azure skies ; And the soul of the upper world To the spirit of earth replies. Dreams and a flood of gold, — Valleys of bloom and shade ! Monarchs of centuries stand In the groves where God's temples were made- ["Temples not made by hand."] And here lost beauty strayed — Trembled through all the land; And far through the silences played The music that we understand! 84 peace [Dedicated to Andrew Carnegie] ^gOW much, Oh soul of my life! my own — soul of ^)J my sleepless dream; ^M May we know of the great Beyond ; or know — as we hear the mystical call — Of the commoner things at hand, revealed through the iridescent gleam? The prophets of earth who foretell, will they say when the dews of peace shall fall? Oh, shadow soul of my day and my night ; soul of my deep desire! Light of my faith in the ultimate scheme, through- out the incalculable years! I hear the unseen waves on the strand — the grey dusk, the white dawn's fire — The innumerable dead who have gone before, through the silences. Dew of tears From the longing mind, fills the heart's deep place. The inevitable tides of life Are surging with passionate love and its lure, from the depths to the lonely height. The drifting stars, o'er the face of earth, illumine its tremulous strife, And the soft low chant of the sea wave's beat washes the shores of Night. 85 Night of my soul and night of the years ! Oh, darken- ing world desire, That haunts the sad wan multitude in the silent portal ways — When shall we banish the thrall of the spell of the blind, by the luminous fire? Fire of the wonderful Word! aflame, since the dim immemorial days. In that timeless age, when the thought of His mind moved through the worldless space. And Light was born in the "image of God," and the craving spirit freed. When Man uprose and claimed the earth ; — immortality for the race: And crowned himself with the Infinite, and gave his soul its need. His prayerful songs ascend to heaven and sweep the immaculate ways ; Their phantom echoes penetrate the deeps of the air and sea, As sound upon sound reverberates the hymn of eternal praise — The music of manifold release; the new world-har- mony! [Harmon-on-Hudson, 1911.] 86 UR life is dual; twice assured: in memory and reality. Though what we are becomes obscured by others claimed identity : Contorted by their own minds eye — revealed by little- ness or great Deeds or misdoings, — joy or sigh — measured by jeal- ousy or hate. Thank God, we stand for what we are before some high eternal throne Of reason; freed from curse and jar of envious minds — - even tho' alone. The poet sings that "sorrows crown of sorrow sweet remembrance brings" By some strange alchemy 'tis shown that memory holds the happiest things. Old scenes came back to me last night, placed like a painting on the wall ; The canvas beamed in colorings bright, and faces dear — familiar, all Were brought to mind, in word and song. The world was fair, rose-hedged the way — And flowers were blooming all along; life seemed one bland eternal day. 8T In memory's picture, smart and slight were banished; each one at his best As man to God, strove for his height: as God to man had marked his crest. Not creatures they of circumstance; proud-messaged — borne beyond the "now" — Eternal-present ! with them blent new meanings ; that a trumpets blow Heralds us not ; our birth and death divides not life into a span — A section of the whole — a breath abiding but a space with man. For life is all eternity — and time a measurement in mind. Change intervenes — Infinity ! to-morrow we new worlds may find. 88 l^ereDftp [The Common Cause'] LL creatures from a common source, We live and love and laugh, and sigh. A jest spent on the passer-bj Propels life's wheels in even course Sans choice! True service lasts. Pent in Each frame and form, humanity Still palpitates. No worldly sin Or power of place or thought can free — (Ambitions perquisites, to he!) Can penetrate this pedestal, Which holds — God's will — a soul in thrall. To rob it of its type or kin ; Descent from dim ancestral tie — Stamped by a high heredity! Cfte Call of S)pnng THOUGHT I heard the other day, The throb of spring. It echoed round the moss-grown wall In joyous ring Of happy-hearted children's call, And birds a-wing. To-day it nestles in my heart — Heart of the rose — And bids the tiny petals start To buds and blows ; And growth becomes God's great fine art All Nature knows ! 90 Con0ummation ^^g|TAND still mj soul and be recharged again! ^^^ Be animated with the heavenly fire ^^^ That flows from the Eternal Source to thee — And bids from all earth-bondage to be free — Life's purpose known through purified desire. The little forms of love come back to me And sanctify each act, and call it blest — A benediction from the brief unrest ; God's way made ours — in final glad refrain. Wrong has no place where hearts are purposeful; Communing strengthens each the other's need; Insight grows keener as the forms recede. From out the silence and the void His face Comes forth, life's needless turmoil to annul And holds the lesser things in chastened grace. And from the conflict, forces moral right To herald victory — and faith requite! 91 aftermati) [To Mirza Ali Kuli Kakn, Attache Persian Legation'] LL life is but a servitude! The rulers of the world are slaves ! And labor does but garland graves While daylight lingers. Lone and nude — Dissolved in shadows of a night — The mists of morning find them bare; Adorned one moment in the glare Of broadest day, then lost to sight. Our only friend is Memory! Youth lures us on, his bride to-day; To-morrow Age commands us stay! That sweet-voiced guest of sympathy Will sit beside us and will sing The songs of yesterday, and dwell On glories of the past, and tell Of that old time when Mirth was King I Will look into our dimming eyes, — Recall the friends who joined so free — Who shared life's love and revelry And passed beyond to other skies. Oh, Ghost of Youth ! Hebe divine I Old age is not too great a price For having once been young. Suffice Our cup holds naught of Lethe's wine. 92 When time has taken us so far That Memory's voice no longer wakes ; And Time — tomb-builder, — too, forsakes The path we tread in some new star; And you and I shall wander through Life after life and plane by plane, Perchance we'll meet, and memory's reign — Wafted through years long passed from view, Will rush like rose-scents o'er the wind; And we who laughed and sang before Will sing together here once more ; And so farewell, farewell, fair mind! [Greenacre, 1901.] 93 [Response to a Friend] THORNLESS rose would unprotected be, Before the world's cold blasts compelled to stand ; Shedding its fragrance over earth's broad land — God's inborn breath o'er life's immensity — Guiding the soul toward its eternity. Perchance in other spheres by kindlier hand, Where Summer's voices breathe the high command. It grew within that world's hushed sanctity. Faint influences of pasts, and lives to come, Throb inward, through a vain futility To leave their impress ; borne resistlessly By the swift Light; whirled onward to their doom! [Forgetful of the twisted thorn or bloom], Guarded by God — in native purity. 94 [To Alma Webster Powell] VEN as the birds, that herald to the morn Each day's approach, each new delight of dawn : So you, fair singer, waken in my breast A music, sweeter that it comes caressed From your fine soul, — your thought that moulds its form — And sends it forth in strains vibrant and warm; A kindred note from the vague world of sound That floats in hallowed circles far around In mystic charm of vocal silences. Sweet singer of the untold melodies ! 95 \_To Baroness de Bazus'\ WOODLAND njmph came thirsting to the spring Where once the God of Lore had dipped his wing, Leaving his impress ; that the passer-by Might look and see Love's true reflection lie Tranquil, in waters undisturbed and deep, Where longing souls might drink, refresh, and keep This image in their heart, and deeds and life, To quench the thirst of selfishness and strife. Love came one day and took me by surprise ; I knew him not, in masterly disguise ; But oft had dreamed of something near — akin — And then grew fearful lest I let him in. So, slowly, after years of duty, art Came near, to be of life an earnest part. In fancy only, as a poet may, I'd quell the battlings of that other day; But still I long to look within the spring — To feed the hungering heart's faint whispering — Where is the nymph? the dancing woodland elf? I look once more — and only see — myself! ****** And now I know, as one who paid the price. That love's true meaning is love's sacrifice! 96 n Cfte §)f)aDoU)p CbirD [To Edwin Markhami HEN poets meet There comes the mingling of the sweet Incense of mind to mind ; replete With fancy, imagery, and word By sympathetic union stirred To life. When two shall — blending — meet They image forth a shadowy third ! For from this chemistry of thought A magic minstrelsy is wrought. 97 Petite papillon H, belated butterfly ! Something in me stirs to sing As you spread your yellow wing, Floating 'neath the sky; Like a breath from out the South Into cool November's drought Ere you fade and die. Holding yet one more day's life In that shape where God is rife. Nothing more am I! [Music by Clarence de Vaux-Boyer.] [Mt. Allison University, New Brunswick, November, 1899.] 98 Celepatftp LONE ! Unbroken silences ! Far out across the void to me Beyond sense-sight and hearing; free From speech's faint influences ; Borne on the fine etheric waves From battery of mind to mind, True as the arrow, to its kind, Your life- thought comes and saves. Flows like the lighter waves of love Sent through this medium of the air — Pregnant with purpose, strong to bear — The subtle law to prove. Who shall acclaim this as the end? Or limit here the heart's desire? The heavens, with all their finer fire, Respond where prayers ascend. Behold man's powers multiplied! Mind penetrates the fleshly screen Where Earth and Essence meet — convene- Unite, soul-pacified! JAN 15 1913 f LIBRARY OF CONGRESS