And says it is a last farewell.
A BIRTHDAY GIFT
No gift I bring but
worship, and the love
Which all must bear to lovely souls and pure,
Those lights, that, when all else is dark, endure;
Stars in the night, to lift our eyes above;
To lift our eyes and hearts, and make us move
Less
doubtful, though our journey be obscure,
Less
fearful of its
ending, being sure
That they watch over us, where'er we rove.
And though my gift itself have little worth,
Yet worth it gains from her to whom `tis given,
As a weak flower gets colour from the sun.
Or rather, as when angels walk the earth,
All things they look on take the look of heaven -
For of those
blessed angels thou art one.
CYCLAMEN
I had a plant which would not thrive,
Although I watered it with care,
I could not save the blossoms fair,
Nor even keep the leaves alive.
I
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strove till it was vain to
strive.
I gave it light, I gave it air,
I sought from skill and
counsel rare
The means to make it yet survive.
A lady sent it me, to prove
She held my friendship in esteem;
I would not have it as she said,
I wanted it to be for love;
And now not even friends we seem,
And now the cyclamen is dead.
LOVE RECALLED IN SLEEP
There was a time when in your face
There dwelt such power, and in your smile
I know not what of magic grace;
They held me
captive for a while.
Ah, then I listened for your voice!
Like music every word did fall,
Making the hearts of men rejoice,
And mine rejoiced the most of all.
At sight of you, my soul took flame.
But now, alas! the spell is fled.
Is it that you are not the same,
Or only that my love is dead?
I know not--but last night I dreamed
That you were walking by my side,
And sweet, as once you were, you seemed,
And all my heart was glorified.
Your head against my shoulder lay,
And round your waist my arm was pressed,
And as we walked a
well-known way,
Love was between us both confessed.
But when with dawn I woke from sleep,
And slow came back the unlovely truth,
I wept, as an old man might weep
For the lost
paradise of youth.
FOOTSTEPS IN THE STREET
Oh, will the footsteps never be done?
The
insolent feet
Thronging the street,
Forsaken now of the only one.
The only one out of all the throng,
Whose footfall I knew,
And could tell it so true,
That I leapt to see as she passed along,
As she passed along with her beautiful face,
Which knew full well
Though it did not tell,
That I was there in the window-space.
Now my sense is never so clear.
It cheats my heart,
Making me start
A thousand times, when she is not near.
When she is not near, but so far away,
I could not come
To the place of her home,
Though I travelled and sought for a month and a day.
Do you wonder then if I wish the street
Were grown with grass,
And no foot might pass
Till she treads it again with her
sacred feet?
FOR A PRESENT OF ROSES
Crimson and cream and white -
My room is a garden of roses!
Centre and left and right,
Three several splendid posies.
As the sender is, they are sweet,
These lovely gifts of your s
ending,
With the stifling summer heat
Their
delicatefragrance bl
ending.
What more can my heart desire?
Has it lost the power to be grateful?
Is it only a burnt-out fire,
Whose ashes are dull and hateful?
Yet still to itself it doth say,
`I should have loved far better
To have found, coming in to-day,
The merest scrap of a letter.'
IN TIME OF SORROW
Despair is in the suns that shine,
And in the rains that fall,
This sad
forsaken soul of mine
Is weary of them all.
They fall and shine on alien streets
From those I love and know.
I cannot hear amid the heats
The North Sea's freshening flow
The people hurry up and down,
Like ghosts that cannot lie;
And wandering through the
phantom town
The weariest ghost am I.
A NEW SONG TO AN OLD TUNE--FROM VICTOR HUGO
If a pleasant lawn there grow
By the showers caressed,
Where in all the seasons blow
Flowers gaily dressed,
Where by handfuls one may win
Lilies, woodbine, jessamine,
I will make a path therein
For thy feet to rest.
If there live in honour's sway
An all-loving breast
Whose
devotion cannot stray,
Never gloom-oppressed -
If this noble breast still wake
For a
worthy motive's sake,
There a pillow I will make
For thy head to rest.
If there be a dream of love,
Dream that God has blest,
Yielding daily treasure-trove
Of
delightful zest,
With the scent of roses filled,
With the soul's
communion thrilled,
There, oh! there a nest I'll build
For thy heart to rest.
THE FIDDLER
There's a fiddler in the street,
And the children all are dancing:
Two dozen lightsome feet
Springing and prancing.
Pleasure he gives to you,
Dance then, and spare not!
For the poor fiddler's due,
Know not and care not.
While you are prancing,
Let the fiddler play.
When you're tired of dancing
He may go away.
THE FIRST MEETING
Last night for the first time, O Heart's Delight,
I held your hand a moment in my own,
The dearest moment which my soul has known,
Since I
beheld and loved you at first sight.
I left you, and I wandered in the night,
Under the rain, beside the ocean's moan.
All was black dark, but in the north alone
There was a
glimmer of the Northern Light.
My heart was singing like a happy bird,
Glad of the present, and from forethought free,
Save for one note amid its music heard:
God grant,
whatever end of this may be,
That when the tale is told, the final word
May be of peace and benison to thee.
A CRITICISM OF CRITICS
How often have the critics, trained
To look upon the sky
Through telescopes
securely chained,
Forgot the naked eye.
Within the
compass of their glass
Each smallest star they knew,
And not a
meteor could pass
But they were looking through.
When a new
planet shed its rays
Beyond their field of vision,
And simple folk ran out to gaze,
They laughed in high derision.
They railed upon the
senseless throng
Who cheered the brave new light.
And yet the
learned men were wrong,
The simple folk were right.
MY LADY
My Lady of all ladies! Queen by right
Of tender beauty; full of gentle moods;
With eyes that look
divine beatitudes,
Large eyes illumined with her spirit's light;
Lips that are lovely both by sound and sight,
Breathing such music as the dove, which broods
Within the dark and silence of the woods,
Croons to the mate that is her heart's delight.
Where is a line, in cloud or wave or hill,
To match the curve which rounds her soft-flushed cheek?
A colour, in the sky of morn or of even,
To match that flush? Ah, let me now be still!
If of her spirit I should
strive to speak,
I should come short, as earth comes short of heaven.
PARTNERSHIP IN FAME
Love, when the present is become the past,
And dust has covered all that now is new,
When many a fame has faded out of view,
And many a later fame is fading fast -