The Feast of Valentine.

I know how, day by weary day,
Hope fades, love fades, a thousand pleasures fade.

I have not trudged in vain that way
On which life's daylight darkens, shade by shade.

And still, with hopes decreasing, griefs increased,
Still, with what wit I have shall I, for one,

Keep open, at the annual feast,
The puppet-booth of fun.

I care not if the wit be poor,
The old worn motley stained with rain and tears,

If but the courage still endure
That filled and strengthened hope in earlier years;

If still, with friends averted, fate severe,
A glad, untainted cheerfulness be mine

To greet the unruly time of year,
The Feast of Valentine.

Priest, I am none of thine, and see
In the perspective of still hopeful youth

That Truth shall triumph over thee -
Truth to one's self - I know no other truth.

I see strange days for thee and thine, O priest,
And how your doctrines, fallen one by one,

Shall furnish at the annual feast
The puppet-booth of fun.

Stand on your putrid ruins - stand,
White neck-clothed bigot, fixedly the same,

Cruel with all things but the hand,
Inquisitor in all things but the name.

Back, minister of Christ and source of fear -
We cherish freedom - back with thee and thine

From this unruly time of year,
The Feast of Valentine.

Blood thou mayest spare; but what of tears?
But what of riven households, broken faith -

Bywords that cling through all men's years
And drag them surely down to shame and death?

Stand back, O cruel man, O foe of youth,
And let such men as hearken not thy voice

Press freely up the road to truth,
The King's highway of choice.

HAIL! CHILDISH SLAVES OF SOCIAL RULES
HAIL! Childish slaves of social rules

You had yourselves a hand in making!
How I could shake your faith, ye fools,

If but I thought it worth the shaking.
I see, and pity you; and then

Go, casting off the idle pity,
In search of better, braver men,

My own way freely through the city.
My own way freely, and not yours;

And, careless of a town's abusing,
Seek real friendship that endures

Among the friends of my own choosing.
I'll choose my friends myself, do you hear?

And won't let Mrs. Grundy do it,
Tho' all I honour and hold dear

And all I hope should move me to it.
I take my old coat from the shelf -

I am a man of little breeding.
And only dress to please myself -

I own, a very strange proceeding.
I smoke a pipe abroad, because

To all cigars I much prefer it,
And as I scorn your social laws

My choice has nothing to deter it.
Gladly I trudge the footpath way,

While you and yours roll by in coaches
In all the pride of fine array,

Through all the city's thronged approaches.
O fine religious, decent folk,

In Virtue's flaunting gold and scarlet,
I sneer between two puffs of smoke, -

Give me the publican and harlot.
Ye dainty-spoken, stiff, severe

Seed of the migrated Philistian,
One whispered question in your ear -

Pray, what was Christ, if you be Christian?
If Christ were only here just now,

Among the city's wynds and gables
Teaching the life he taught us, how

Would he be welcome to your tables?
I go and leave your logic-straws,

Your former-friends with face averted,
Your petty ways and narrow laws,

Your Grundy and your God, deserted.
From your frail ark of lies, I flee

I know not where, like Noah's raven.
Full to the broad, unsounded sea

I swim from your dishonest haven.
Alone on that unsounded deep,

Poor waif, it may be I shall perish,
Far from the course I thought to keep,

Far from the friends I hoped to cherish.
It may be that I shall sink, and yet

Hear, thro' all taunt and scornful laughter,
Through all defeat and all regret,

The stronger swimmers coming after.
SWALLOWS TRAVEL TO AND FRO

SWALLOWS travel to and fro,
And the great winds come and go,

And the steady breezes blow,
Bearing perfume, bearing love.

Breezes hasten, swallows fly,
Towered clouds forever ply,

And at noonday, you and I
See the same sunshine above.

Dew and rain fall everywhere,
Harvests ripen, flowers are fair,

And the whole round earth is bare
To the moonshine and the sun;

And the live air, fanned with wings,
Bright with breeze and sunshine, brings

Into contact distant things,
And makes all the countries one.

Let us wander where we will,
Something kindred greets us still;

Something seen on vale or hill
Falls familiar on the heart;

So, at scent or sound or sight,
Severed souls by day and night

Tremble with the same delight -
Tremble, half the world apart.

TO MESDAMES ZASSETSKY AND GARSCHINE
THE wind may blaw the lee-gang way

And aye the lift be mirk an' gray,
An deep the moss and steigh the brae

Where a' maun gang -
There's still an hoor in ilka day

For luve and sang.
And canty hearts are strangely steeled.

By some dikeside they'll find a bield,
Some couthy neuk by muir or field

They're sure to hit,
Where, frae the blatherin' wind concealed,

They'll rest a bit.
An' weel for them if kindly fate

Send ower the hills to them a mate;
They'll crack a while o' kirk an' State,

O' yowes an' rain:
An' when it's time to take the gate,

Tak' ilk his ain.
- Sic neuk beside the southern sea

I soucht - sic place o' quiet lee
Frae a' the winds o' life. To me,

Fate, rarely fair,
Had set a freendly company

To meet me there.
Kindly by them they gart me sit,

An' blythe was I to bide a bit.
Licht as o' some hame fireside lit

My life for me.
- Ower early maun I rise an' quit

This happy lee.
TO MADAME GARSCHINE

WHAT is the face, the fairest face, till Care,
Till Care the graver - Care with cunning hand,

Etches content thereon and makes it fair,
Or constancy, and love, and makes it grand?

MUSIC AT THE VILLA MARINA
FOR some abiding central source of power,

Strong-smitten steady chords, ye seem to flow
And, flowing, carry virtue. Far below,

The vain tumultuous passions of the hour
Fleet fast and disappear; and as the sun

Shines on the wake of tempests, there is cast
O'er all the shattered ruins of my past

A strong contentment as of battles won.
And yet I cry in anguish, as I hear

The long drawn pageant of your passage roll
Magnificently forth into the night.

To yon fair land ye come from, to yon sphere
Of strength and love where now ye shape your flight,

O even wings of music, bear my soul!
Ye have the power, if but ye had the will,

Strong-smitten steady chords in sequence grand,
To bear me forth into that tranquil land

Where good is no more ravelled up with ill;
Where she and I, remote upon some hill

Or by some quiet river's windless strand,
May live, and love, and wander hand in hand,

And follow nature simply, and be still.
From this grim world, where, sadly, prisoned, we

Sit bound with others' heart-strings as with chains,
And, if one moves, all suffer, - to that Goal,

If such a land, if such a sphere, there be,
Thither, from life and all life's joys and pains,

O even wings of music, bear my soul!
FEAR NOT, DEAR FRIEND, BUT FREELY LIVE YOUR DAYS

FEAR not, dear friend, but freely live your days
Though lesser lives should suffer. Such am I,

A lesser life, that what is his of sky
Gladly would give for you, and what of praise.

Step, without trouble, down the sunlit ways.
We that have touched your raiment, are made whole

From all the selfish cankers of man's soul,
And we would see you happy, dear, or die.

Therefore be brave, and therefore, dear, be free;
Try all things resolutely, till the best,

Out of all lesser betters, you shall find;
And we, who have learnedgreatness from you, we,

• daylight [´deilait] n.日光；黎明 (初中英语单词)
• annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
• triumph [´traiəmf] n.胜利 vi.得胜，战胜 (初中英语单词)
• minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
• christ [kraist] n.基督 int.天啊! (初中英语单词)
• freely [´fri:li] ad.自由地；慷慨地 (初中英语单词)
• highway [´haiwei] n.公路，大道 (初中英语单词)
• childish [´tʃaildiʃ] a.孩子的；幼稚的 (初中英语单词)
• careless [´keəlis] a.粗心的；草率的 (初中英语单词)
• abroad [ə´brɔ:d] ad.海外；到处；广泛 (初中英语单词)
• welcome [´welkəm] a.受欢迎的；可喜的 (初中英语单词)
• perfume [´pə:fju:m, pə´fju:m] n.香味 vt.使发香 (初中英语单词)
• hasten [´heisən] vt.催促；促进 vi.赶紧 (初中英语单词)
• sunshine [´sʌnʃain] n.日光，阳光 (初中英语单词)
• breeze [bri:z] n.微风；不费力的事 (初中英语单词)
• contact [´kɔntækt] n.接触；联系 v.联络 (初中英语单词)
• wander [´wɔndə, ´wɑ:n:dər] v.徘徊；流浪 (初中英语单词)
• strangely [´streindʒli] ad.奇怪地；陌生地 (初中英语单词)
• rarely [´reəli] ad.难得；非凡地 (初中英语单词)
• cunning [´kʌniŋ] a.&n.狡猾(诡诈)的 (初中英语单词)
• virtue [´və:tʃu:] n.美德；贞操；长处 (初中英语单词)
• remote [ri´məut] a.遥远的；偏僻的 (初中英语单词)
• selfish [´selfiʃ] a.自私的，利己的 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• cherish [´tʃeriʃ] vt.珍爱；怀有(感情) (高中英语单词)
• decent [´di:sənt] a.体面的，正派的 (高中英语单词)
• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
• kindred [´kindrid] n.亲属关系；同源关系 (高中英语单词)
• anguish [´æŋgwiʃ] n.(极度的)痛苦；苦恼 (高中英语单词)
• pageant [´pædʒənt] n.露天表演；虚饰 (高中英语单词)
• sphere [sfiə] n.圆体；天体；范围 (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• greatness [´greitnis] n.巨大；高尚；卓越 (高中英语单词)
• hopeful [´həupfəl] a.有希望的，激励人的 (英语四级单词)
• hearken [´hɑ:kən] vi.听 (英语四级单词)
• trudge [trʌdʒ] v.&n.艰难地走 (英语四级单词)
• noonday [´nu:ndei] n.正午 (英语四级单词)
• contentment [kən´tentmənt] n.满足；使人满意的事 (英语四级单词)
• sequence [´si:kwəns] n.继续；顺序；程序 (英语四级单词)
• lesser [´lesə] a.较小的；次要的 (英语四级单词)
• raiment [´reimənt] n.衣饰 (英语四级单词)
• cheerfulness [´tʃiəfulnis] n.高兴，愉快 (英语六级单词)
• unruly [ʌn´ru:li] a.不守规则的 (英语六级单词)
• perspective [pə´spektiv] n.望远镜 a.透视的 (英语六级单词)
• dishonest [dis´ɔnist] a.不诚实的 (英语六级单词)
• scornful [´skɔ:nful] a.轻蔑的，藐视的 (英语六级单词)
• fireside [´faiəsaid] n.炉边；家；家庭生活 (英语六级单词)
• constancy [´kɔnstənsi] n.坚定；坚贞；坚久不变 (英语六级单词)
• tranquil [´træŋkwil] a.平静的，稳定的 (英语六级单词)
• resolutely [´rezəlju:tli] ad.坚决地；果断地 (英语六级单词)