GpightF _IL' S 
 
 CfiEmiCHT DEPOSnV 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 FLORENCE NASH 
 
FLORENCE NASH 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AND OTHER POEMS 
 BY 
 
 FLORENCE NASH 
 
 NEW ^^S^ YORK 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 
 
x.^-^ 
 
 
 
 Copyright, 1918, 
 By George H. Doran Company 
 
 ^" 
 
 Printed in the United States of America 
 
 SEP 16 1918 
 

 TO 
 
 MOTHER AND MARY 
 
 FOR WHOM MY LOVE IS TOO 
 BIG TO PUT INTO A POEM 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SONG OF THE THESPIANS 13 
 
 A COMEDIENNE 15 
 
 THE CALL OF THE ROAD 16 
 
 A PRAYER . 1''' 
 
 LINES TO A DEAD POET 18 
 
 WHEN I AM DEAD . 19 
 
 WHEN THE DUSK-HOUR HERALDS NIGHT . . 20 
 
 A VISION 21 
 
 what the wind finds 22 
 
 a confession of faith . . . . . . 25 
 
 an apology 28 
 
 Peter's smile 29 
 
 to the sun 30 
 
 A LETTER 31 
 
 AT DREAM-LAND INN . 32 
 
 THE WRECK OF DREAMS 34 
 
 AN AFTER THOXJGHT 35 
 
 ODE TO A MUSICIAN ON HIS BIRTHDAY . . 36 
 
 [vii] 
 
CONTENTS ^ 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PAN FASHIONED YOU 38 
 
 CONCERNING CONJUGATION 39 
 
 A lover's plaint 40 
 
 SHOULD YOU VOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME . . 41 
 
 A REQUEST 4^ 
 
 I LAY AWAKE 43 
 
 I DO NOT BRING YOU ANYTHING .... 44 
 
 MY LOVE THOUGH SMALL IS EXQUISITE . . 45 
 I NEVER KNEW THAT LOVE COULD BE LIKE 
 
 THIS 46 
 
 YOUR LOVE HAS GONE 47 
 
 WHY DID YOU SEND ME BACK MY HEART? . 48 
 
 FINALE 49 
 
 ASHES OF INCENSE 50 
 
 I HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU 52 
 
 AFTER A QUARREL 53 
 
 LOVE STOLE MY YOUTH 54 
 
 FOR I WAS BLIND 55 
 
 I FOUND THE GOD OF LITTLE THINGS ... 56 
 
 AN ADIEU 57 
 
 LONELINESS 58 
 
 SOMETIMES AT NIGHT 59 
 
 WHY MUST I LOVE? 60 
 
 I WHISPER TO THE VOICES OF THE DAWN . 61 
 
 [viii] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LET ME COME 62 
 
 A LOVE-SONG 63 
 
 GATHER ME CLOSE IN YOUR ARMS ... 64 
 
 BEWILDERED 65 
 
 SINCE I AM FLESH 66 
 
 I FEAR MY HEART GROWS LAME .... 67 
 
 MY worship's over 68 
 
 TO MY IDEAL 69 
 
 CYNTHIA TO ENDYMION 71 
 
 THE YOGI IN THE FOREST 72 
 
 THE TALE OF MOHAMED ALI 73 
 
 EVENING 75 
 
 A MAGDALEN IN THE DESERT 76 
 
 FROM A HOTEL WINDOW 78 
 
 AFTER A CONCERT 79 
 
 A SEA-SHELL 81 
 
 SHAKESPEAREAN SONNETS 82 
 
 I 82 
 
 11 83 
 
 III 84 
 
 IV 85 
 
 THE GODS PROTECTED ME 86 
 
 l' THE MYSTIC MOOD 87 
 
 FLOWER O' YOUTH . 88 
 
 [k] 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 JUNE-DUSK 89 
 
 ALL NIGHT WE WATCHED THE SUNSET . . 90 
 
 THE DUSK RE-CAPTURES YOU 91 
 
 SHOULD YOU SPEAK NOW 92 
 
 A TALE WITH A MORAL 93 
 
 TO A GHOST-MAN 95 
 
 OH, FIE ON me! 96 
 
 MEMORY MY LOVE DOES BORROW .... 97 
 
 YES, DEAR 98 
 
 A POEM WITHOUT A HERO 99 
 
 I AM IN LOVE WITH LOVE 100 
 
 WHEN WE DID KISS FOR THE EMOTIOn's SAKE 101 
 
 THE WEAK'nING STRENGTH OF LOVE . . . 102 
 
 IF YOU WERE DEAD 103 
 
 WITHIN YOUR DULCET EYES OF GREY . . 104 
 
 W 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SONG OF THE THESPIANS 
 
 We ministered rites religious 
 Ere most modem creeds began 
 And our pulpit is agnostic, 
 Teaching ev'ry creed to man. 
 
 We have pledged us unto nature 
 And no artifice of art 
 Have we learned to show the future 
 That we mined our pain of heart. 
 
 We^re content to serve our altars; 
 Many vestals watch the flame 
 Who have sacrificed their beauty 
 For a water-written name. 
 [13] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And beside them, there are many 
 
 Who do serve the temple well 
 
 By a wantonness alluring 
 
 Which brings gold for what they sell. 
 
 You may scoff at us and scorn us 
 But you bow to us as gods 
 When we sway you with emotions, 
 Paying life-force for your sobs. 
 
 And of all the lives we live here 
 We may choose the best to keep 
 As companion in our coflSn 
 Should we dream in our long sleep. 
 
 [14] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A COMEDIENNE 
 
 I HAVE no dignity nor claims on art, 
 I'm but a clown who capers for awhile, 
 And yet I know my humour gift of God 
 For, once, mine antics made a sad man smile. 
 
 [15] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE CALL OF THE ROAD 
 
 It's real fall on the one-night stands ; 
 It's only colder weather here. 
 I'm getting lonely for the road, 
 We've played New York a solid year. 
 
 I'd like to take to trains again, 
 Now that the country's red and gold, 
 I guess we can't get out just yet, 
 Not while this standing-room is sold. 
 
 I'd like to see the fields run by 
 
 And watch the farm-house chimney's smoke; 
 
 I'd like to take an early jump 
 
 And see the sunrise for a joke. 
 
 [16] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A PRAYER 
 
 God, let me drifting go adown this world 
 As now, just wandering in dreams, nor see 
 Aught more of passion than what poets' songs 
 Have gently voiced unto the soul of me. 
 
 [H] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 LINES TO A DEAD POET 
 
 Come hold my hand across the space of death, 
 Dear, gentle singer whom I read so well, 
 Surely mine anguish does inform you now 
 Of all that love I had no chance to tell. 
 
 Gather me close within your spirit's arms, 
 Soothing my fears with your enchanted hands. 
 Whisper some song there was no time to sing 
 Before your journey to the shadow-lands. 
 
 Flowers were laid upon your last low bed, 
 Soft-petaled violets of dusk-time hue, 
 I have no knowledge where your grave may be, 
 I only know it has not prisoned you. 
 
 So hold my hand across the space of death. 
 Soothing my fears with your enchanted hands. 
 Though in this life you knew not of my love. 
 Such love must triumph in the shadow-lands. 
 
 [18] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHEN I AM DEAD 
 
 When I am dead, sing me no requiems, 
 Chant me no dirges, nor weep for me tears; 
 I shall pass over the flesh-chilling border 
 Soul singing joyously, empty of fears. 
 
 When I am dead, I shall wander on gleefully, 
 Free from this burden of sense-fettered flesh, 
 Wander along on the highway Elysian, 
 Drunk with the waters of Lethe afresh. 
 
 I shall go fleeting along with the breezes 
 Twirling the dust of what erstwhile was I, 
 I'll fall in love with the scent of the roses 
 Which I shall capture but lose when I sigh. 
 
 When I am dead, I shall wander on merrily 
 Timing my feet to the pipe-flutes of Pan, 
 Wander along with Dryads and Fairy-folk 
 Wander, unseen, in the green haunts of man. 
 
 [19] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHEN THE DUSK-HOUR HERALDS 
 NIGHT 
 
 There's a path I love to wander 
 When the dusk-hour heralds night 
 And the day, earth's vanquished lover, 
 Wanders out in rosy light. 
 
 For when day dies, all the flowers 
 Seem to change to saddened hue 
 And their voices' fragrant incense ' 
 
 Wafts their promise to be true. 
 
 And the wind then moans quite softly 
 But with sobbing sound so drear, 
 That my soul can guess that message 
 Which my senses cannot hear. 
 
 [20] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A VISION 
 
 I HAVE seen fairies in the city's park 
 When Pan's pipes fluted through the star-lit 
 dark. 
 
 Their eyes were luminous forget-me-nots, 
 Like lac^ies' blackened with mascara dots. 
 
 Their faces, rose-leaves on a lily-stalk; 
 And silver bells chimed when they seemed to 
 talk. 
 
 Their little bodies were fantastical — 
 
 I think God made them feeling whimsical. 
 
 [81] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHAT THE WIND FINDS 
 
 Deae Wind, 
 
 What da you find in your journeying? 
 
 What do I find in my journeying? 
 
 Much that is good 
 
 And much that is bad, 
 
 Causes to weep 
 
 And those to be glad. 
 
 Everything, in my journeying, 
 
 I find. 
 
 I see the whole world 
 
 In its beauty and dinginess 
 
 And summer is rich ; 
 
 Winter knows naught of stinginess, 
 
 And she'd grieve that the generous gift of her 
 
 snow 
 Was the cause of the death of the flowers 
 
 and so 
 'Tis, in autumn, I blow 
 [22] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And bid them to go 
 
 And stay playing with fairies till spring-winds 
 
 I blow. 
 And the birds of the North 
 I woo with my voice 
 Till they follow me South and, in chirpings 
 
 rejoice, 
 At the wondrous new beauty which round them 
 
 does grow. 
 To springs and to rivers 
 I whisper, and lo! 
 With their ice they protect the dear fish from 
 
 the snow 
 Which winter, through wisdom, 
 On earth does bestow. 
 To cool off its summer-learnt passion; 
 For 'tis fashion 
 
 In summer, to love with great passion 
 Be ye human or beast. 
 Be ye flower or bee, 
 Or even, alas and alack, 
 Be ye me. 
 
 [23] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 For when summer is come, 
 
 I love the whole world 
 
 For its niceness and naughtiness 
 
 And it loses its haughtiness 
 
 'And wo OS me in manner like this : 
 
 "Oh, Wind, gently purring. 
 
 Be stronger in stirring 
 
 And grant me the boon of thy kiss." 
 
 [24] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A CONFESSION OF FAITH 
 
 Unto the question "Wlio created thee?" 
 My baby-lips were taught to answer "God." 
 And then they taught me what great God was 
 
 like, 
 Endowing him with envy, anger, greed. 
 And all dread passions that we loathe in man. 
 And, now, I know that mingling with my 
 
 prayers 
 Were loathing thoughts I feared to recognise 
 Because I feared the God of fearsome hell. 
 I knew, for me, 'twould not be hell of fire 
 But constant wand'ring down a dawn-grey 
 
 waste 
 Where steady moaning of a dreary wind 
 Filled me with longing for the human-kind 
 Of which none were existent, saving me. 
 'Twas thus I thought till fear made me rebel 
 Against a teaching which could bring such 
 pain. 
 
 [25] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And then I thought "In death, is end of all." 
 But pansies withered and then bloomed again; 
 The violets seemed sweeter every spring; 
 The rose-bush, which in winter aped decay, 
 In June was fragrant with new blossoming; 
 And in their beauty they bespoke a God 
 Whose mercy touched decay and made new life. 
 'Twas when the birds seemed hymning in the 
 
 trees 
 That God was intimate and made of love. 
 Such revolution burning in my brain 
 Was often quenched by thoughts as orthodox 
 As "God rules hell and hell knows naught of 
 
 love 
 So God, being known there, can't be made of 
 
 love." 
 And yet the birds kept hymning just the same; 
 The winds kept breathing ghostly worship- 
 ping; 
 The flowers, in an odoriferous voice, 
 Kept praising God and naming him "Great 
 Love;" 
 [26] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And streamlets whispered to their own selves' 
 
 shores 
 "He, who created us, directs our course 
 And, sometimes, makes us muddy that his love 
 May find us dearer when we're clear again;" 
 'Twas thus in nature that I heard God's voice 
 Bidding me bring my burdens to His feet 
 And rest me there while He would make them 
 
 light. 
 
 [«7J 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AN APOLOGY 
 
 If I did stay too long, 'twas not my fault ; 
 For when I entered in, my brain did halt 
 To reason and enjoyment crowned as king. 
 You charmed me and the pleasure, dear, was 
 
 such 
 The passing hours did but lightly touch 
 Me, as they passed with folded, silent wing. 
 Gave I offence? I would indeed atone 
 By any punishment save one alone; 
 And that one is my future banishment. 
 That one alone I really cannot stand 
 So, I do pray you, make not that demand 
 Or sin were lesser far than punishment. 
 
 [38] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 PETER'S SMILE 
 
 Small Peter, with the tender wistful eyes, 
 Where did you find a smile so kind and wise? 
 
 Where did a baby learn such winning art? 
 But then, you lived, for months, near Mother's 
 heart. 
 
 For months, your soul might mingle with her 
 
 own, 
 A thing of beauty seen by you alone. 
 
 You heard the inner echoes of her voice 
 
 No wonder that your smile makes God rejoice. 
 
 [29] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 TO THE SUN 
 
 Sun, when the earth has turned towards thee 
 
 France, 
 Bid thy rays seek out Aime, let their warmth 
 Seem like the benediction of my love 
 Which is so vast no passion could enhance 
 Its value in the sight of us or God; 
 Whisp€r his friend can sometimes find his soul 
 In the oft glamour of thy setting self, 
 And in the rosy glory of day's death 
 Can find the laughing glory of his soul. 
 
 [30] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 Let others kiss your lips. 
 Let others hold your hands. 
 Just let me have your love ; 
 That love which understands 
 That hidden 'neath this flesh, 
 Which cloaks the soul of me, 
 Is one small streak of good 
 To last eternity. 
 
 [31] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AT DREAM-LAND INN 
 
 Oh, hush! Little Clean Heart, 
 Lest you wake your grosser self, 
 Wrap yourself in wraithiness, — 
 To waste our sleep were sin. 
 I have doffed my fleshly cloak 
 And in my mental mantle 
 I wait, for you to follow me, 
 At Dream-land Inn. 
 We can hire the minstrel. Wind, 
 To sing us songs of Arcady 
 Or wander into Cricket Hall 
 And hear the fairies jazz; 
 We can charter moon-beams 
 To sail upon the sea of sky, 
 Or listen to the scented speech 
 That every flower has. 
 We can hear the shiv'ring leaves 
 Telling tales of burglaries, 
 [32] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 Columbine just ran away 
 
 With Pierrot's heart; 
 
 We can wander, hand in hand, 
 
 Through some shadow meadow-land 
 
 Till the dawn of day-time wakes 
 
 Our thoughts apart. 
 
 [83] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE WRECK OF DREAMS 
 
 Peechance you too are looking at the clouds 
 And telling your new loved one what each 
 
 seems ; 
 To me, they seem like driftwood made of down, 
 A flimsy texture but the wreck of dreams. 
 
 [34] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AN AFTER THOUGHT 
 
 My love brought nothing, dear, at all to you 
 
 But, unto me, a cleansing fire 
 
 Moulding desire 
 
 Into aspirations higher 
 
 Than I had known without my love for you. 
 
 For, though you've gone from out my life. 
 
 Your memory has led the strife 
 
 Against the baser elements in me. 
 
 I can't explain love's wizardry 
 
 But I'll love you eternally. 
 
 [35] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 ODE TO A MUSICIAN ON HIS 
 BIRTHDAY 
 
 Were I that mystical unknown thing, Fate, 
 On this, your birth-day, I should grant to you 
 Emotions to be tuned to melodies ; 
 For your past sins, I'd grant you penitence 
 And the shamed memory that they were sweet 
 So that your art, in minor cadences, 
 Might show that j oy is stronger than one's will. 
 And for your good deeds, I should grant you 
 
 pride 
 That joyous pagans might on men impress 
 That good has beauty in the major key; 
 And for your future, I should grant your soul 
 Its every wish, then let it wish for more 
 Lest surfeiture should your sweet soul-songs 
 
 duU; 
 And for your masterpiece, I'd grant you love. 
 Love all complete yet incomplete because 
 [36] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 No soul on earth could quite absorb it all; 
 It should be variant in mood that you 
 Might find a theme in every single kiss, 
 Abandoned and ascetic, each in turn. 
 Should claim a melody from out your brain 
 And jealous thoughts discordant crashes make 
 Till men cried out, "His music voices pain 
 Such as the damned must feel if there be heU." 
 Then an ecstatic wonderment of bliss, 
 In sighing strains, should tender finish make. 
 
 And after I had granted you those gifts. 
 Were I that mystical unknown thing. Fate, 
 I selfishly should grant a simple theme 
 Suggested by a few fond thoughts of me. 
 
 [37] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 PAN FASHIONED YOU 
 
 I THINK the god who fashioned you was Pan 
 And that he mixed the springtime's sunniness 
 With the grave moods of little elfin folk 
 To find your smile its merry wistfulness. 
 
 [38] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 CONCERNING CONJUGATION 
 
 When I did go ta school, 
 I thought it such a bore 
 To learn to conjugate 
 The verbs love and adore. 
 And since I've met you, dear, 
 I know 'twas waste of time 
 For tenses have they none 
 Save that of present time. 
 And they have but one form 
 I can affirm as true, 
 'Tis that which does express 
 My feelings, dear, for you. 
 
 [39] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A LOVER'S PLAINT 
 
 Peetty light, dancing around the sun, 
 Tell me how many kisses youVe won 
 From the sun. 
 
 Pretty shore, guarding yon little lake, 
 Tell me how many kisses you take 
 From the lake. 
 
 Pretty star, nestling near to the moon. 
 How many times have you had that boon 
 From the moon? 
 
 How many kisses you all have won! 
 Whereas I, poor soul, I have won none 
 From "Some one." 
 
 [40] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SHOULD YOU VOW YOUR LOVE FOR ME 
 
 Would that I knew some god or fay 
 To whisper to your heart to love me ; 
 For should you vow your love for me, 
 Eternally, dear one, you'd love me. 
 
 For I should love you in such way 
 That my love never should grow boring; 
 'Twould first be sad, and then be gay. 
 But, always, it would be adoring. 
 
 And when our lips should meet to kiss, 
 My kisses, dear, should be quite many 
 But of so many difTrent kinds 
 You'd never have enough of any. 
 
 My love should be the poet's dream, 
 That's too elusive for expression, 
 But I should tell it, dear, to you 
 In wordless way of sweet confession. 
 
 [41] 
 
JTUNE DUSK 
 
 A REQUEST 
 
 I PRAY you give me back my heart, 
 Since you have Jiearts a-plenty, 
 I should not like to feel it break 
 At some odd years and twenty. 
 
 Yet, it is such a little thing 
 And worn so weak with weeping, 
 I know 'twould die were it moved now 
 So hold it in your keeping. 
 
 But, by whatever gods you have 
 I humbly do implore you 
 Be kind and lie and humour it 
 Since it does so adore you. 
 
 [42] 
 
JUNE DUg 
 
 I LAY AWAKE 
 
 For yester eve you made some show of love, 
 I lay awake throughout the entire night 
 And wove me dreams out of mine ecstasy, 
 Ecstasy free from sensual delight. 
 
 [43] 
 
JiUNE DUSK 
 
 I DO NOT BRING YOU ANYTHING 
 
 I DO not bring you anything, 
 I've only come to get 
 A little hour of your life 
 Which I shall not forget. 
 
 Which I shall not forget, my sweet. 
 So prithee do be kind, 
 Plant kisses, like forget-me-notsi, 
 To bloom within my mind. 
 
 Plant kisses like forget-me-nots, 
 And little roses too. 
 Warm kisses that shall bloom beside 
 Sad separation's rue. 
 
 [44] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 MY LOVE THOUGH SMALL IS 
 EXQUISITE 
 
 My love, though small, is exquisite 
 And very pure. That's requisite! 
 
 My love, though pure, is passionate 
 So towards me be compassionate. 
 
 Lean down your lips — but gingerly! 
 Kiss me — but only tenderly. 
 
 [45] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I NEVER KNEW THAT LOVE COULD 
 BE LIKE THIS 
 
 I NEVER knew that lave could be like this ; 
 That I could sit, alone, and know your kiss 
 Was on another's lips and never care 
 But be contented that my own sweet share 
 Of you was mine and, kissing, was aware 
 Of something helpless that you missed in this 
 Embrace so learned in the school of bliss. 
 
 [46] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 YOUR LOVE HAS GONE 
 
 YouE love has gone — gone somewhere with 
 your smile, 
 
 Gone from your eyes, and from your lips 
 astray, 
 
 Gone from your speech, and from your hand- 
 clasp too; 
 
 And my sweet bliss has turned to dull dismay. 
 
 [47] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHY DID YOU SEND ME BACK MY 
 HEART? 
 
 Why did you send me back my heart? 
 I have no place to put it now ; 
 My breast is nourishing a dream, 
 A little dream with placid brow. 
 
 A dream that's small as pure things are 
 
 But O ! so very, very sweet, 
 
 I bow mind head, in ecstasy, 
 
 And kiss my small dream's baby-feet. 
 
 And must I put that dream aside 
 And gather up mine heart instead? 
 My little dream has been so bright 
 My heart will seem a thing that's dead. 
 
 [48] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 FINALE 
 
 Never again, however we endeavour, 
 Shall you or I find any love like ours ; 
 When we were young we wove it out of fancy 
 Nor broidered it with passion's purple hours. 
 We were content with Rapture's pastel 
 
 shadings. 
 Fed love on sunsets or a poet's line, 
 Held hands and wept at Pagliacci's ending — 
 The comedy that's ended now is mine. 
 
 [49] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 ASHES OF INCENSE 
 
 My heart holdeth naught but the ashes of in.'- 
 
 cense 
 Wherewith I made fires for your shrine; 
 And you, who were erstwhile mine idol and 
 
 worshipped 
 With rapture ecstatic and fine. 
 Had found the indelible proof of my loving 
 Grow purer and finer with time. 
 
 For mine was no passion of sensual longing 
 
 But something poetic and rare. 
 
 I brought you my soul and I laid it before you, 
 
 I stripped every inch of it bare; 
 
 I showed you the dreams that I wove me of 
 
 fancy, 
 You fashioned each dream, unaware. 
 
 I likened your soul to the breath of the roses, 
 I pictured your heart as divine; 
 [50] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I gave all the best of my life to a worship 
 
 That wearied you out in due time. 
 
 Mine idol withdrew then though friendship was 
 
 left me. 
 Pale ashes are cold things, but mine. 
 
 [51] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I HAVE FORGOTTEN YOU 
 
 I HAVE forgotten you 
 
 And all the time I gave 
 
 To thinking of you 
 
 I now save 
 
 To think of spring and little things 
 
 Like lilies, roses, sunsets, tunes. 
 
 The humming sounds of angels' wings 
 
 And poets' sadness told in runes. 
 
 I have forgotten you 
 
 And all the time I gave 
 
 To loving of you 
 
 I now save 
 
 To weep for things that cannot live 
 
 Like bliss we weave from dreaming's strands, 
 
 The understanding love can give 
 
 And God's gifts held within our hands. 
 
 [52] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AFTER A QUARREL 
 
 I HAVE found my strength and your weakness 
 In this rupture between us twain. 
 To you, 'twas a nettle of anger 
 While to me 'twas a flower of pain. 
 
 And I found this joy in my sadness; 
 To my love, 'twas a pure white flame 
 That melted the dross from the metal 
 And has made it all god-like again. 
 
 [53] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 LOVE STOLE MY YOUTH 
 
 Love, which was bom within my breast, 
 Did steal my youth, to build her nest. 
 And wakened me from sleeping. 
 
 Then one, who loved my bird's soft nest. 
 Stole bird and nest from out my breast 
 But sent the bird back weeping. 
 
 Her cries are mournful in my breast 
 And, from them, I shall have no rest 
 Till, in death's arms, I'm sleeping. 
 
 [54] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 FOR I WAS BLIND 
 
 Because you saw my love and knew me blind, 
 You lied to me. Ah, lying that was kin<i ! 
 For though I pay your kiss with all my years, 
 I am not poor who have so many tears. 
 
 [55] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I FOUND THE GOD OF LITTLE THINGS 
 
 Lo, I found the god of fairies and the little 
 
 things of spring 
 And he gurgled at my burden and 'twas 
 
 changed into a string, 
 Which hung upon my loving's lute, could tune 
 
 the saddest thing 
 Into a song of all that joy which now has taken 
 
 wing. 
 
 [66] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AN ADIEU 
 
 My love for you is such a spirit thing 
 I need not hold your hands nor kiss your lips 
 Nor even watch the soul-signs of your eyes 
 To keep it living and not mem'ried thing. 
 My soul can find your spirit in the skies, 
 In scented breeze, wind-wafted from a rose, 
 In cadences of soft tuned melodies. 
 In all there is seductive and yet pure. 
 Therefore, beloved one, I can leave you now 
 And, in the doing so, bespeak my love 
 Which is so vast it has no human bonds. 
 If, in some future time, a slight caress 
 Seems wind-imprinted on your soft sweet cheek, 
 'Twill be my spirit on the wind conveyed 
 To whisper that I live and love you yet. 
 
 [57] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 LONELINESS 
 
 Hour after hour went by 
 Till time knew change o' day 
 And Love seemed just a cruel thing 
 Which used our hearts for play, 
 But whispered softly "Time 
 Though fools these mortals be 
 To let me hurt them, surely they 
 Feel pain exquisitely." 
 
 [58] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SOMETIMES AT NIGHT 
 
 Sometimes at night, beloved one, I long 
 Enwrapped within your slender arms to lie ; 
 Passively, purely; as an infant might 
 Save for the stifled breathing of some sigh. 
 
 [59] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHY MUST I LOVE? 
 
 Why must I love 
 
 When all my love does bring 
 
 Is sorrowing 
 
 And wistful hopes that wing 
 
 Their way to you adown the hush of night? 
 
 For my poor hopes 
 
 And all the love they bring 
 
 Find your heart ice 
 
 And come back perishing 
 
 With cold and pain before the day grows light. 
 
 [60] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I WHISPER TO THE VOICES OF THE 
 DAWN 
 
 Beloved one, I whisper to the voices of the 
 
 dawn 
 To hie them forth and harry you until you hear 
 
 the song 
 Of mingled hope and moumfulness I always 
 
 hear at dawn 
 Because another day has come and lonely 
 
 nights are long. 
 
 [61] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 LET ME COME 
 
 Even if it should bore you, let me come 
 And spend a little hour at your side 
 For I should turn those minutes into dreams 
 And parentage of dreams should bring you 
 pride. 
 
 Even though it annoy you, let me come 
 And whisper out my burden once again ; 
 For, hearing it, I know you'd kiss me and 
 I'd realise the poetry of pain. 
 
 [62] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A LOVE-SONG 
 
 Love, make some sign that you did hear me 
 
 pray; 
 Gently caress me with soft love-blurred eyes, 
 Or touch mine hands with your live finger-tips 
 And I shall feed my dreams upon my sighs. 
 Or, which were best, pray let me, as of yore. 
 Kiss your. soft throat just where the pulses 
 
 throb 
 And all night long they'll pulse upon my lips 
 Tni lonely dawn does wake me with a sob. 
 
 [63] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 GATHER ME CLOSE IN YOUR ARMS 
 
 Gather me close in your arms, oh my sweet, 
 And shelter my head on your breast 
 For I've loved you long, with a bitter pain, 
 And my constancy crieth for rest. 
 
 Shelter my head on your breast, oh my sweet, 
 And bend down your lips to my brow ; 
 For I've waited long for your sweet soft kiss 
 And my patience is perishing now. 
 
 Bend down your Hps to my brow, oh my sweet, 
 And I'll lift my lips unto thine, 
 For I've thirsted long, with enfevered lips, 
 For your mouth and its amourous wine. 
 
 [64] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 BEWILDERED 
 
 I NEVER felt SO far from you 
 As when you held me in your arms 
 And I awoke to mine own self, 
 Roused by my pulses' mad alarms. 
 
 I never felt so self-engrossed 
 As when your kiss fell on my lips 
 And I grew fevered as one must 
 Who Aphrodite's poison sips. 
 
 I never felt your soul so pure 
 But when, to save me from myself, 
 I clung to you with all my strength 
 I woke your body to itself. 
 
 [65] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SINCE I AM FLESH 
 
 I LOVE your spirit yet, since I am flesh, 
 Between your soul and mine there ever stands 
 The outer semblance of your inner self 
 To rouse my senses with most sweet commands. 
 
 I love your eyes when love's glance softens 
 
 them 
 Until they seem deep pools of Hjebe's wine 
 Whereof mine eyes drink tiU my soul is drunk 
 And all my flesh leans achingly towards thine. 
 
 I love your hands when love's touch wakens 
 
 them 
 Until they seem a vibrant torch of flame 
 Whereto my pulse leaps till my blood's an fire 
 And I become divinely mad again. 
 
 [66] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I FEAR MY HEART GROWS LAME 
 
 Dear, place jour hand to steady my poor heart 
 That runs so fast I fear me 'twill grow lame, 
 But let no word, beloved, from our lips, 
 Delay the hour from turning into flame. 
 
 And place your mouth adjacent to my lips 
 That when love's flame consumes me with mad 
 
 thirst 
 From that dear goblet, filled with lover's wine, 
 I may drink deep without beseeching first. 
 
 [67] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 MY WORSHIP'S OVER 
 
 My worship's over but the whole world seems 
 An empty thing whereof all joy is spent. 
 Oh cruel fate ! Why were you not content 
 To let mine eyes stay bandaged with their 
 dreams ? 
 
 [68] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 TO MY IDEAL 
 
 Art thou some stranger whom I have not seen 
 Or do I meet thee whilst thy face is masked? 
 When shall I know thee? Where, my love, and 
 
 how? 
 It matters not for it shall come to pass 
 As our wise destinies have ordered it. 
 We may be atoms in Nirvana then; 
 But, sweet, I should prefer it here and now 
 For till I meet thee, all things lead to thee; 
 And having known thee, nothing more shall be. 
 
 Sometimes, in gazing eyes, I see thy look; 
 Sometimes, in handclasps, I divine thy touch ; 
 And one there was who borrowed thy soft 
 
 speech 
 And used thine accents for his whispered lies. 
 For though mine ears have never heard thy 
 
 voice 
 My soul can sense it in the tuneful wind ; 
 
 [69] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And though I have not looked into thine eyes 
 I sometimes see them high up in the skies, 
 Wee wisps of blue which bid me cherish thee — 
 And yet, for all I know, thine eyes are brown — 
 Though I have never seen thy lips, my love, 
 In the night's silence I have felt their kiss. 
 But when I sought to kiss them they were gone. 
 And yet, I shall not come with mouth unkissed. 
 But each kiss lost has made my lips more sweet 
 For each kiss spent has bought them lure of 
 love. 
 
 [70] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 CYNTHIA TO ENDYMION 
 
 Thy wish, thy wish ! 
 
 I would that it were granted 
 
 And thy dear arms 
 
 Did tightly me enclose. 
 
 I would our lips in love's sweet kiss were meet- 
 ing 
 
 And all our throbbing pulses madly beating 
 
 Unto the god-like ecstasy of love, 
 
 And that our sighs, now lengthy and now fleet- 
 ing, 
 
 Were, in love's fashion, wordlessly entreating 
 
 For still more kisses so replete with love. 
 
 [71] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE YOGI IN THE FOREST 
 
 Great universal Spirit, man-named God, 
 
 I bow, in pride and great humility, 
 
 Who am a part of all, which is Thyself. 
 
 My pride is this, that I am part of Thee 
 
 Though but the slightest atom of Thy might. 
 
 Mine humbleness has root in this sad fact, 
 
 I am impure therefore material. 
 
 Let thy great mightiness assist me, now, 
 
 To cleanse me of impurities and flaws; 
 
 Let the corruption, which encases me, 
 
 Depart from me and, in a vile decay. 
 
 Resolve itself into a nothingness 
 
 Which shall be all since it shall be Thyself. 
 
 [TO] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE TALE OF MOHAMED ALI 
 
 Sharp, hellish torments agonise his soul 
 For his torn heart has under it that bowl 
 Whereon is written, in a raging flame, 
 "I catch your blood and fate flings back the 
 
 same 
 Into your heart to ooze out, drop by drop. 
 For death not always comes when life does 
 
 stop." 
 
 So he whose life has stopped, lives on; a man 
 Living in hell ; for only there one can 
 Endure the torments which do wrack his frame 
 Which loved her so yet never once the same 
 Shall lie beside her, in a lover's way. 
 From sunset till the night pales into day. 
 
 Yes, longing now lies in his arms, once filled 
 With her soft body whose love-pulses thrilled 
 To a divine, ecstatic, passioned beat 
 
 [73] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 The while their souls did journey forth and 
 
 meet. 
 So, lonely now, he muses on her hair 
 And wonders whoso lies entangled there. 
 
 fT4] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 EVENING 
 
 Dying, the day sank on a couch of dusk 
 And clouds did lower curtains, 'gainst the sun, 
 Of rosy gauze, then darker velvet ones ; 
 Gently, the trees spread over her who slept 
 A fairy covering of filmy lace 
 Which vandal night destroyed the while I 
 watched. 
 
 Sighing, the wind brought scent of fragrant 
 
 musk 
 To that vast chamber, curtained from the sun; 
 Nor lit by moon-lamp nor the starry ones. 
 Gently, the breeze pronounced that nature wept 
 (A summer showering fell on my face) 
 For day found rest eternal while I watched. 
 
 [•75] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A MAGDALEN IN THE DESERT 
 
 Sometimes, within this desert gloom so dense, 
 The naked beauty of my soft young limbs 
 And rose-tipped blossoms of my budding 
 
 breasts 
 Do hypnotise mine eyes till mem'ry's gaze 
 Doth look upon a sinful softer time 
 When all my senses slowly swooned beneath 
 The evil unction of caressing hands. 
 
 Is it my fault that memory doth live 
 Rousing my senses wide awake again 
 Until in shudd'ring shivers of delight 
 They cause dead moments to revivify? 
 Not mine the fault, who mortify my flesh 
 Until I weep at its disfigurement. 
 But that of all those lovers in my past 
 Who loved my body till their strength was 
 
 spent. 
 For I had many lovers in that past 
 [76] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 And some were subtle masters of delight 
 
 Who thought me mistress of the art of love 
 
 The whilst we loved throughout an entire night. 
 
 The colours of the sunset do recall 
 
 The rose-tinged silken cushions of my couch 
 
 Whereon in snowy nudity I lay 
 
 Priestess well-versed in Aphrodite's rites. 
 
 And at that altar, many devotees 
 
 Did bow them down and worship her with me. 
 
 Now Aphrodite lies unpedestaled, 
 Her altars stripped, by conscience, of delight 
 But I, who was her priestess, recollect 
 The soft erotic beauties of her shrine. 
 
 [77] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 FROM A HOTEL WINDOW 
 
 Though late the hour, far below, 
 I see lone, straggling women yet 
 Upon the pavement, cold and wet, 
 Parading sex that's fallen low. 
 
 And men there are who stop and buy 
 That tainted draught to quench the thirst 
 Of lust, and give their manhood first 
 To those who sell to passers-by. 
 
 For these will sell, while one will buy, 
 To gain their daily tithe of bread. 
 Poor fallen sisters. Better dead 
 Than slaves to lusts of passers-by. 
 
 Was it for this that Jesus died? 
 That Buddha fasted while he sought 
 The law of Karma? Which he taught — 
 Vain hope to save the crucified. 
 
 [78] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 AFTER A CONCERT 
 
 I HAVE gone, sadly, through this dreary world 
 
 Searching, assiduously, all the way 
 
 To find a soul which did idealise ; 
 
 I searched afar, on by-paths as on roads, 
 
 But, natheless, never did my searching find 
 
 Aught save some souls I had idealised. 
 
 And I grew weary and my soul cried out, 
 
 "Must all this searching simply go to find 
 
 The bitter meaning of futility?" 
 
 Just then your music stole within my soul 
 
 Voicing out dreams I dared not dream to 
 
 have 
 Because so difF'rent from the common trend 
 Of thoughts which throng the brains of com- 
 mon men. 
 Yes, all the tender moodiness of one. 
 Who dreams of things he cannot hope to be, 
 Seemed, in your music, to proclaim itself. 
 
 [79] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 Did your soul journey through a million years 
 
 To gain the knowledge — to yourself be true 
 
 Though you should lie to every other one — ? 
 
 And did it know a myriad of loves 
 
 Before it learned that love must always end? 
 
 And did it worship many difF'rent gods 
 
 Before it learned God creature of one's brain 
 
 As high or low as was one's worship's name? 
 
 Did your soul show its beauty unto men 
 
 Who jeered at it because from them estranged, 
 
 As poets' souls are from the souls of men, 
 
 That you do hide it now in seeming shame? 
 
 Is it because you've reached great spirit-height 
 
 And find it is too lonely to be bliss, 
 
 That in your sobbing soul there dormant, lies 
 
 The force to love in an abandoned way? 
 
 Or do strange voices from the land of Dis 
 
 Wantonly woo you to strange ecstasies? 
 
 I feel you've had the courage to proceed 
 Along that path, whose borders are insane, 
 Until you've found the ending of those thoughts 
 Which I have left in chaos, to my shame. 
 [80] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A SEA-SHELL 
 
 Born of some passion hidden in the sea, 
 
 My life is love which only lives in song. 
 
 I croon a dirge throughout the whole night long 
 
 Nor, at the dawning, ceases threnody 
 
 Save when my lover. Wind, breathes themes to 
 
 me. 
 When he moans low he woos me from the song 
 Of sterile love-life and does make me long 
 To reach life's end when he shall mate with me. 
 
 Yet, like a lute, I do betray the wind 
 
 And sing my song of purest ecstasy 
 
 Beneath the spell of a caressing touch 
 
 From one who hears my singing and has mind 
 
 To see my singing's inmost secrecy 
 
 Is a vain hope which to my heart I clutch. 
 
 [81] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SHAKESPEAREAN SONNETS 
 
 I COME to thee with tale which I'll now tell 
 Unto the soul I envy most on earth 
 For ev'ry one who knows thee knows as well 
 That love for thee in ev'ry heart has birth; 
 Thine eyes unsearchable, whose wondrous hues 
 Are like a glimpse of heaven before death, 
 Do, from our hearts, our loves exact as dues 
 To God for thine annuity of breath. 
 I come to thee to tell my tale of woe 
 In hopes thy mercy may enlighten me 
 By showing me the spirit that doth glow 
 Behind those love-compelling eyes I see. 
 
 Ah ! should you show me what that spirit is 
 In aping it I might then conquer his. 
 
 [82] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 II 
 
 He is my love for whose love I do long 
 But other things than longing purchase love 
 So sometimes do I whisper, "God it's wrong 
 Not to direct our longings from above." 
 And yet, I would not have my love for him 
 Be God-directed to another man. 
 No, for it is my poor life's sweetest whim 
 To think that win his love, some day, I can. 
 Sometimes, from dreaming, wake I with a start 
 And realise what sorrow waiting is 
 When one is waiting with a longing heart 
 For some sweet love-sign that shall come from 
 him. 
 Therefore I come to thee and beg thee tell 
 What I may do to save me from this hell. 
 
 [83] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 m 
 
 One time, I knew his heart was filled with love 
 For one so difF'rent from the mould of me 
 That I cried to my soul, in rage of love, 
 "If it must be why need mine eyes to see?" 
 I went along with nails clenched in my palm 
 Yet people, seeing the gay smile I wore 
 Did swear I never had known one love's qualm 
 Whereas my soul was suff'ring from a score. 
 But in the night, when prying eyes were closed, 
 My smile was lost in agonised frown 
 And if, perchance, in sleep my body dozed 
 My spirit went to Hers and bowed it down. 
 For his loved one was hated holy thing 
 To whom my soul did rueful worship bring. 
 
 [84] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 IV 
 
 Thou canst not picture to thy soul I know 
 How one may love where love is wanted not 
 Yet in such love a beauty great doth grow 
 Which others that are happy loves have not. 
 It has a sweetness only pain can give, 
 Which is like a great minor-written tone; 
 It only asks the right to be let live 
 And cherish its desire some place, alone. 
 It only seeks the right to hide its life 
 In some sequestered nook where naught can 
 
 come 
 To show it that it is a hopeless strife 
 To try to drown, with hope, fate's hateful hum. 
 And yet, one hope another hope does bring 
 Which hopes my hope to bliss doth prelude 
 sing. 
 
 [85] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE GODS PROTECTED ME 
 
 Pshaw! I had bartered my common-sense 
 (And that's the best of me) 
 For a foolish love that was not worth while 
 But the gods protected me. 
 And yet, there are times when I almost wish 
 That the gods had neglected me. 
 
 [86] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I' THE MYSTIC MOOD 
 
 Through the mists o' doom, 
 
 I hear the fate-bells pealing, 
 
 Calling me to worship 
 
 On the still cold height. 
 
 Aye, I hear the fate-bells pealing 
 
 Through the mists o' doom, revealing 
 
 A visioning in loneliness 
 
 That fills my soul with fright. 
 
 [87] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 FLOWER O' YOUTH 
 
 Flower o' youth, shall I fling you away 
 And sit me down in a corner to pray ? 
 Nor sip of your perfume while I may ? 
 Flower o' youth, shall I do that? Say. 
 
 "Flower o' youth, is like flowers of May, 
 They are cheap to get till they wilt away. 
 But sniffs o' their perfume and 'twill stay 
 To bloom in your heart when life grows grey.' 
 
 [88] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 JUNE-DUSK 
 
 Your eyelids trembled for some pulsing thing 
 Of subtle sin vibrated In your eyes, 
 And all your breaths were gathering In sighs 
 Which seemed to gasp, "Let ecstasy begin," 
 You stooped to kiss me — Was it strength of 
 
 soul 
 That tinged your lips with icy innocence 
 Or was it flower of experience ? — 
 I never knew more exquisite a sin. 
 
 [89] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 ALL NIGHT WE WATCHED THE 
 SUNSET 
 
 All night long you were close to me 
 And we watched the sunset and heard the sea 
 And you held my hand till my senses blurred 
 Into the light for the dawn had stirred. 
 
 All Sunrise poured its light on me 
 But I closed mine eyes and I still could see 
 Your eyes as they flooded with passion's light 
 And the night burned out in a fire less bright. 
 
 [90] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE DUSK RE-CAPTURES YOU 
 
 Love, ev'ry day the dusk re-captures you 
 And that dim room wherein you sat so still — 
 Without one movement, save where throbbing 
 
 pulse 
 Made your throat's anguish stronger than your 
 
 will. 
 
 That will which prisoned sin within our eyes 
 And fed our lips with unassuaged desire 
 But made my soul-sin damnable 
 Because our bodies' purity was so entire. 
 
 [91] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 SHOULD YOU SPEAK NOW 
 
 Should you speak now, i' faith 'twere very truth 
 To state she has no feelings to be hurt. 
 For my heart broke and all my soul grew numb 
 To think you knew my love and mocked at it. 
 You knew your will, though volatile, was mine 
 And that mine actions were controlled by it ; 
 That sometimes, when I longed to kiss your 
 
 mouth, 
 I did not dare so much as touch your hand 
 For my sworn love was really love itself 
 And sought your pleasure not mine own de- 
 light. 
 You knew my heart gave all it had to give 
 Of love that had not perished sorrowing, 
 And that my soul gave all it had to give 
 Of holiness and of its power to sin. 
 So, when you mocked my painful passiveness 
 And all the depth of longing it contained 
 My rage flared up and, in a blaze of hate. 
 Consumed my love and left my feelings dead. 
 [92] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A TALE WITH A MORAL 
 
 I HEARD it said stage-folks were naughty 
 And that their manner, which was haughty, 
 Was merely scorn for folks' opinions 
 And that of vice they were the minions ; 
 That they loved lobster, wine and whisky. 
 And 'mongst themselves were very frisky ; 
 In fact, of morals that they had none — 
 The prudish way for saying "had fun." 
 
 Miss Sapphic Kiss, in whose support I 
 First trod the boards, gained great renown by 
 A kiss which really made her famous 
 Because the clergy cried, "You shame us." 
 And people said, "She has no morals." 
 And 'mongst her leading men are quarrels 
 As to just which one knows the huge bliss 
 Of getting her most-highly-damned kiss. 
 
 [93] 
 
 w.i> » iir j " "t^ M» ' ' r " ■» ■ « H! ' " '-J- "• 
 
 •v.- ..... ■ -^ 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 She read old Chaucer for diversion, 
 For cigarettes, expressed aversion 
 As likewise, for all wine and whisky 
 And people who were classed as frisky. 
 
 And lobsters? Why, she never ate them 
 (Although as backers doesn't hate them) 
 She wore no jewels, only coral, 
 Most ladies do, when strictly moral. 
 
 Knowing that somewhere lay a moral, 
 I asked Miss Kiss, with question oral, 
 How it came that she, stage-reprobate, 
 Should, in private life, be so sedate. 
 Unto that question so bromidic 
 Miss Kiss made answer— 'twas specific — 
 "You'll grant my murder-scenes imagined. 
 Then why not love-scenes though impassioned .f*" 
 
 [94] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 TO A GHOST-MAN 
 
 I THINK it is a sorry thing 
 
 We did not die in fact 
 
 Who then might wander with the dead, 
 
 Unconscious of each act, 
 
 Because the dead have never talked; 
 
 Death's ennui taught them tact. 
 
 [96] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 OH, FIE ON ME ! 
 
 When I was young, with chuckling glee, 
 I read such things ! oh, fie on me ! 
 
 I read Boccacio to discover 
 The things that Byron failed t'uncover. 
 And joyed in their descriptions graphic 
 Of love-scenes that were^ — not phlegmatic. 
 
 I read old Horace nor was haughty 
 Because his morals were so naughty. 
 I knew the ancients weren't seraphic. 
 They say the ladies' odes were — Sapphic. 
 
 Yes, I found classics most magnetic, 
 I read them and became^ — esthetic ; 
 But here my tale becomes pathetic, 
 I've since that time become ascetic. 
 
 And so I say, "Oh, fie on me. 
 To read such things with chuckling glee!" 
 [96] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 MEMORY MY LOVE DOES BORROW 
 
 I LOVE to-day but to-morrow 
 Memory my love does borrow, 
 Oblivion does steal it after that; 
 And I know, much to my sorrow, 
 Such will be the case to-morrow 
 For constancy with me has never sat. 
 
 [97] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 YES, DEAR 
 
 And hast thou loved 
 Before this love for me? 
 
 Yes, dear, I've loved 
 
 And each love was a school 
 
 Whereat I learned a touch, 
 
 A sweet caress. 
 
 Some subtle gift of bliss 
 
 With which to win 
 
 And hold thy love to me. 
 
 Should one be loved 
 
 If ou^ love ceased to be? 
 
 Numbers be loved, 
 And thy love be a school 
 Whereat I learned much ; 
 A sweet caress. 
 And wherein I did miss, 
 When I did win, 
 To hold a love to me. 
 [98] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 A POEM WITHOUT A HERO 
 
 Most poets, when they write, extoll a hero 
 But my chaste muse prefers to chant a lady. 
 The reason that my muse has given is 
 That ladies' lives are free from aught that's 
 
 shady. 
 What? For applause, you think that state- 
 ment sung! 
 No 'tisn't that. My muse is pure — and young. 
 Oh, gentle reader, prithee do read on 
 Perhaps my muse may change her ways anon. 
 
 Now poets, when they write, evolve a pet style 
 And mine, though still in stage that's embry- 
 onic. 
 Must, to the reader who does know such things, 
 Proclaim itself as something soon Byronic. 
 But style and heroine are all I've got 
 I lack a hero so you lose a lot. 
 For Byron's style was not like Nelly Glynn's 
 Which writes in dots when interest begins. 
 
 [99] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 I AM IN LOVE WITH LOVE 
 
 I AM in love with love, not thee, 
 So soon thy kiss will bore me 
 And hastily from thee I'll flee. 
 Who seemingly adore thee; 
 For I'm in love with love, not thee, 
 And soon thy kiss will bore me. 
 
 [100] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WHEN WE DID KISS FOR THE 
 EMOTION'S SAKE 
 
 I DID not love you 
 
 Neither did you me 
 
 When we did kiss, for the emotion's sake, 
 
 One idle moment of an idler day. 
 
 I did not love you 
 
 But that kiss, in me, 
 
 Did all the passions of great love awake 
 
 And they have bided with me to this day. 
 
 But though I love you, 
 
 I can't let you see 
 
 For I'm a woman with my pride at stake 
 
 And pride's road lies a. silent, saddened way. 
 
 [101] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 THE WEAK'NING STRENGTH OF LOVE 
 
 If but my mind could take the tangled skein 
 Of thought made from the threads of my life's 
 
 deeds, 
 And by unraveling, convert it to 
 An ordered sequence where now chaos leads, 
 I'd write a poem for thine eyes to read 
 Which would convey the weak'ning strength of 
 
 love^ 
 For aU my deeds since my heart went to thee 
 Are actioned thoughts with, somewhere in them, 
 
 love. 
 
 [102] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 IF YOU WERE DEAD 
 
 Dear, Love, if you were dead, 
 
 I should not mourn for you; 
 
 But, selfishly, would deem it again 
 
 That death, for you, had knowledge wrought 
 
 Of my great love for you. 
 
 Since the dear dead must surely know 
 
 And, understanding, whisper low 
 
 Their pity for a love unsought. 
 
 [103] 
 
JUNE DUSK 
 
 WITHIN YOUR DULCET EYES OF GREY 
 
 Within your dulcet eyes of grey 
 
 A million little poems play 
 
 And most of them are blithe and gay ; 
 
 But 'twas a little pensive fay 
 
 That made me stoop, that other day, 
 
 And kiss your eyes in wistful way. 
 
 [104]