A gray and tiny boat

Moored on Chaos-shore,
Where nothing else can float

But the Wings of the Morning strong
And the lilt of laughing song

From many a ruddy throat:
"For the Tree of Laughing Bells

Grew from a bleeding seed
Planted mid enchantment

Played on a harp and reed:
Darkness was the harp --

Chaos-wind the reed;
The fruit of the tree is a bell, blood-red --

The seed was the heart of a fairy, dead.
Part of the bells of the Laughing Tree

Fell to-day at a blast from the reed.
Bring a fallen bell to me.

Go!" the maiden said.
"For the bell will quench our memory,

Our hope,
Our borrowed sorrow;

We will have no thirst for yesterday,
No thought for to-morrow."

The Journey Starts Swiftly
A thousand times ten thousand times

More swift than the sun's swift light
Were the Morning Wings in their flight

On -- On --
West of the Universe,

Thro' the West
To Chaos-night.

He Nears the Goal
How the red bells rang

As I neared the Chaos-shore!
As I flew across to the end of the West

The young bells rang and rang
Above the Chaos roar,

And the Wings of the Morning
Beat in tune

And bore me like a bird along --
And the nearing star turned to a moon --

Gray moon, with a brow of red --
Gray moon with a golden song.

Like a diver after pearls
I plunged to that stifling floor.

It was wide as a giant's wheat-field
An icy, wind-washed shore.

O laughing, proud, but trembling star!
O wind that wounded sore!

He Climbs the Hill Where the Tree Grows
On --

Thro' the gleaming gray
I ran to the storm and clang --

To the red, red hill where the great tree swayed --
And scattered bells like autumn leaves.

How the red bells rang!
My breath within my breast

Was held like a diver's breath --
The leaves were tangled locks of gray --

The boughs of the tree were white and gray,
Shaped like scythes of Death.

The boughs of the tree would sweep and sway --
Sway like scythes of Death.

But it was beautiful!
I knew that all was well.

A thousand bells from a thousand boughs
Each moment bloomed and fell.

On the hill of the wind-swept tree
There were no bells asleep;

They sang beneath my trailing wings
Like rivers sweet and steep.

Deep rock-clefts before my feet
Mighty chimes did keep

And little choirs did keep.
He Receives the Bells

Honeyed, small and fair,
Like flowers, in flowery lands --

Like little maidens' hands --
Two bells fell in my hair,

Two bells caressed my hair.
I pressed them to my purple lips

In the strangling Chaos-air.
He Starts on the Return Journey

On desperate wings and strong,
Two bells within my breast,

I breathed again, I breathed again --
West of the Universe --

West of the skies of the West.
Into the black toward home,

And never a star in sight,
By Faith that is blind I took my way

With my two bosomed blossoms gay
Till a speck in the East was the Milky way:

Till starlit was the night.
And the bells had quenched all memory --

All hope --
All borrowed sorrow:

I had no thirst for yesterday,
No thought for to-morrow.

Like hearts within my breast
The bells would throb to me

And drown the siren stars
That sang enticingly;

My heart became a bell --
Three bells were in my breast,

Three hearts to comfort me.
We reached the daytime happily --

We reached the earth with glee.
In an hour, in an hour it was done!

The wings in their morning flight
Were a thousand times ten thousand times

More swift than beams of light.
He Gives What He Won to the Indian Girl

I panted in the grassy wood;
I kissed the Indian Maid

As she took my wings from me:
With all the grace I could

I gave two throbbing bells to her
From the foot of the Laughing Tree.

And one she pressed to her golden breast
And one, gave back to me.

From Lilies of the valley --
See them fade.

From poppy-blooms all frayed,
From dandelions gray with care,

From pansy-faces, worn and torn,
From morning-glories --

See them fade --
From all things fragile, faint and fair

Are the Wings of the Morning made!
Sweethearts of the Year

Sweetheart Spring
Our Sweetheart, Spring, came softly,

Her gliding hands were fire,
Her lilac breath upon our cheeks

Consumed us with desire.
By her our God began to build,

Began to sow and till.
He laid foundations in our loves

For every good and ill.
We asked Him not for blessing,

We asked Him not for pain --
Still, to the just and unjust

He sent His fire and rain.
Sweetheart Summer

We prayed not, yet she came to us,
The silken, shining one,

On Jacob's noble ladder
Descended from the sun.

She reached our town of Every Day,
Our dry and dusty sod --

We prayed not, yet she brought to us
The misty wine of God.

Sweetheart Autumn
The woods were black and crimson,

The frost-bit flowers were dead,
But Sweetheart Indian Summer came

With love-winds round her head.
While fruits God-given and splendid

Belonged to her domain:
Baskets of corn in perfect ear

And grapes with purple stain,
The treacherous winds persuaded her

Spring Love was in the wood
Altho' the end of love was hers --

Fruition, Motherhood.
Sweetheart Winter

We had done naught of service
To win our Maker's praise.

Yet Sweetheart Winter came to us
To gild our waning days.

Down Jacob's winding ladder
She came from Sunshine Town,

Bearing the sparkling mornings
And clouds of silver-brown;

Bearing the seeds of Springtime.
Upon her snowy seas

Bearing the fairy star-flowers
For baby Christmas trees.

The Sorceress!
I asked her, "Is Aladdin's lamp

Hidden anywhere?"
"Look into your heart," she said,

"Aladdin's lamp is there."
She took my heart with glowing hands.

It burned to dust and air
And smoke and rolling thistledown

Blowing everywhere.
"Follow the thistledown," she said,

"Till doomsday, if you dare,
Over the hills and far away.

Aladdin's lamp is there."
Caught in a Net

Upon her breast her hands and hair
Were tangled all together.

The moon of June forbade me not --
The golden night time weather

In balmy sighs commanded me
To kiss them like a feather.

Her looming hair, her burning hands,
Were tangled black and white.

• maiden [´meidn] n.少女 a.未婚的 (初中英语单词)
• thirst [θə:st] n.渴，口渴；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• purple [´pə:pl] n.紫色 a.紫(红)的 (初中英语单词)
• desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
• indian [´indiən] a.印度的 n.印度人 (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli] n.谷；河谷；流域 (初中英语单词)
• sunshine [´sʌnʃain] n.日光，阳光 (初中英语单词)
• quench [kwentʃ] v.熄灭；平息；压制 (高中英语单词)
• universe [´ju:nivə:s] n.天地；全人类；银河系 (高中英语单词)
• daytime [´deitaim] n.白天 (高中英语单词)
• sweetheart [´swi:thɑ:t] n.爱人；情人 (高中英语单词)
• silken [´silkən] a.丝制的；柔软光滑的 (高中英语单词)
• treacherous [´tretʃərəs] a.虚伪的；不忠的 (高中英语单词)
• naught [nɔ:t] n.无；零 (高中英语单词)
• flowery [´flauəri] a.多花的 (英语四级单词)
• grassy [´grɑ:si] a.多草的；青草味的 (英语四级单词)
• fragile [´frædʒail] a.易碎的；虚弱的 (英语四级单词)
• forbade [fə´beid] forbid的过去式 (英语四级单词)