New Poems
by Robert Louis Stevenson
CONTENTS
PRAYER
LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ
THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE
MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACKBIRD SINGS
I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR
ST. MARTIN'S SUMMER
DEDICATION
THE OLD CHIMAERAS, OLD RECEIPTS
PRELUDE
THE VANQUISHED KNIGHT
TO THE COMMISSIONERS OF NORTHERN LIGHTS
THE RELIC TAKEN, WHAT AVAILS THE SHRINE?
ABOUT THE SHELTERED GARDEN GROUND
AFTER READING "ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA"
I KNOW NOT HOW, BUT AS I COUNT
SPRING SONG
THE SUMMER SUN SHONE ROUND ME
YOU LOOKED SO TEMPTING IN THE PEW
LOVE'S VICISSITUDES
DUDDINGSTONE
STOUT MARCHES LEAD TO CERTAIN ENDS
AWAY WITH FUNERAL MUSIC
TO SYDNEY
HAD I THE POWER THAT HAVE THE WILL
O DULL COLD NORTHERN SKY
APOLOGETIC POSTSCRIPT OF A YEAR LATER
TO MARCUS
TO OTTILIE
THIS GLOOMY NORTHERN DAY
THE WIND IS WITHOUT THERE AND HOWLS IN THE TREES
A VALENTINE'S SONG
HAIL! CHILDISH SLAVES OF SOCIAL RULES
SWALLOWS TRAVEL TO AND FRO
TO MESDAMES ZASSETSKY AND GARSCHINE
TO MADAME GARSCHINE
MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA
FEAR NOT, DEAR FRIEND, BUT FREELY LIVE YOUR DAYS
LET LOVE GO, IF GO SHE WILL
I DO NOT FEAR TO OWN ME KIN
I AM LIKE ONE THAT FOR LONG DAYS HAD SATE
VOLUNTARY
ON NOW, ALTHOUGH THE YEAR BE DONE
IN THE GREEN AND GALLANT SPRING
DEATH, TO THE DEAD FOR EVERMORE
TO CHARLES BAXTER
I WHO ALL THE WINTER THROUGH
LOVE, WHAT IS LOVE?
SOON OUR FRIENDS PERISH
AS ONE WHO HAVING WANDERED ALL NIGHT LONG
STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF MEN
THE WIND BLEW SHRILL AND SMART
MAN SAILS THE DEEP AWHILE
THE COCK'S CLEAR VOICE INTO THE CLEARER AIR
NOW WHEN THE NUMBER OF MY YEARS
WHAT MAN MAY LEARN, WHAT MAN MAY DO
SMALL IS THE TRUST WHEN LOVE IS GREEN
KNOW YOU THE RIVER NEAR TO GREZ
IT'S FORTH ACROSS THE ROARING FOAM
AN ENGLISH BREEZE
AS IN THEIR FLIGHT THE BIRDS OF SONG
THE PIPER
TO MRS. MACMARLAND
TO MISS CORNISH
TALES OF ARABIA
BEHOLD, AS GOBLINS DARK OF MIEN
STILL I LOVE TO RHYME
LONG TIME I LAY IN LITTLE EASE
FLOWER GOD, GOD OF THE SPRING
COME, MY BELOVED, HEAR FROM ME
SINCE YEARS AGO FOR EVERMORE
ENVOY FOR "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES"
FOR RICHMOND'S GARDEN WALL
HAIL, GUEST, AND ENTER FREELY!
LO, NOW, MY GUEST
SO LIVE, SO LOVE, SO USE THAT FRAGILE HOUR
AD SE IPSUM
BEFORE THIS LITTLE GIFT WAS COME
GO, LITTLE BOOK - THE ANCIENT PHRASE
MY LOVE WAS WARM
DEDICATORY POEM FOR "UNDERWOODS"
FAREWELL
THE FAR-FARERS
COME, MY LITTLE CHILDREN, HERE ARE SONGS FOR YOU
HOME FROM THE DAISIED MEADOWS
EARLY IN THE MORNING I HEAR ON YOUR PIANO
FAIR ISLE AT SEA
LOUD AND LOW IN THE CHIMNEY
I LOVE TO BE WARM BY THE RED FIRESIDE
AT LAST SHE COMES
MINE EYES WERE SWIFT TO KNOW THEE
FIXED IS THE DOOM
MEN ARE HEAVEN'S PIERS
THE ANGLER ROSE, HE TOOK HIS ROD
SPRING CAROL
TO WHAT SHALL I COMPARE HER
WHEN THE SUN COMES AFTER RAIN
LATE, O MILLER
TO FRIENDS AT HOME
I, WHOM APOLLO SOMETIME VISITED
TEMPEST TOSSED AND SORE AFFLICTED
VARIANT FORM OF THE PRECEDING POEM
I NOW, O FRIEND, WHOM NOISELESSLY THE SNOWS
SINCE THOU HAST GIVEN ME THIS GOOD HOPE, O GOD
GOD GAVE TO ME A CHILD IN PART
OVER THE LAND IS APRIL
LIGHT AS THE LINNET ON MY WAY I START
COMIC, HERE IS ADIEU TO THE CITY
IT BLOWS A SNOWING GALE
NE SIT ANCILLAE TIBI AMOR PUDOR
TO ALL THAT LOVE THE FAR AND BLUE
THOU STRAINEST THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN FERN
TO ROSABELLE
NOW BARE TO THE BEHOLDER'S EYE
THE BOUR-TREE DEN
SONNETS
FRAGMENTS
AIR OF DIABELLI'S
EPITAPHIUM EROTII
DE M. ANTONIO
AD MAGISTRUM LUDI
AD NEPOTEM
IN CHARIDEMUM
DE LIGURRA
IN LUPUM
AD QUINTILIANUM
DE HORTIS JULII MARTIALIS
AD MARTIALEM
IN MAXIMUM
AD OLUM
DE COENATIONE MICAE
DE EROTIO PUELLA
AD PISCATOREM
New Poems
PRAYER
I ASK good things that I detest,
With speeches fair;
Heed not, I pray Thee, Lord, my breast,
But hear my prayer.
I say ill things I would not say -
Things unaware:
Regard my breast, Lord, in Thy day,
And not my prayer.
My heart is evil in Thy sight:
My good thoughts flee:
O Lord, I cannot wish aright -
Wish Thou for me.
O bend my words and acts to Thee,
However ill,
That I, whate'er I say or be,
May serve Thee still.
O let my thoughts abide in Thee
Lest I should fall:
Show me Thyself in all I see,
Thou Lord of all.
LO! IN THINE HONEST EYES I READ
LO! in thine honest eyes I read
The auspicious
beacon that shall lead,
After long sailing in deep seas,
To quiet havens in June ease.
Thy voice sings like an
inland bird
First by the seaworn sailor heard;
And like road sheltered from life's sea
Thine honest heart is unto me.
THOUGH DEEP INDIFFERENCE SHOULD DROWSE
THOUGH deep
indifference should drowse
The
sluggish life beneath my brows,
And all the
external things I see
Grow snow-showers in the street to me,
Yet inmost in my stormy sense
Thy looks shall be an influence.
Though other loves may come and go
And long years sever us below,
Shall the thin ice that grows above
Freeze the deep centre-well of love?
No, still below light amours, thou
Shalt rule me as thou rul'st me now.
Year following year shall only set
Fresh gems upon thy coronet;
And Time, grown lover, shall delight
To
beautify thee in my sight;
And thou shalt ever rule in me
Crowned with the light of memory.
MY HEART, WHEN FIRST THE BLACK-BIRD SINGS
MY heart, when first the
blackbird sings,
My heart drinks in the song:
Cool pleasure fills my bosom through
And spreads each nerve along.
My bosom eddies quietly,
My heart is stirred and cool
As when a wind-moved briar sweeps
A stone into a pool
But unto thee, when thee I meet,
My pulses
thicken fast,
As when the maddened lake grows black
And ruffles in the blast.
I DREAMED OF FOREST ALLEYS FAIR
I.
I DREAMED of forest alleys fair