Through every fibre of my brain, I hear the wind among the trees Towards yonder cloud-land in the West, Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms! O Life and Love! O happy throng SOMETHING LEFT UNDONE. LABOR with what zeal we will, Something still remains undone, Something uncompleted still Waits the rising of the sun. By the bedside, on the stair, At the threshold, near the gates, With its menace or its prayer, Like a mendicant it waits; Waits, and will not go away; Waits, and will not be gainsaid; By the cares of yesterday Each to-day is heavier made; Till at length the burden seems Greater than our strength can bear, Heavy as the weight of dreams, Pressing on us everywhere. And we stand from day to day, On their shoulders held the sky. WEARINESS. O LITTLE feet! that such long years I, nearer to the wayside inn O little hands! that, weak or strong, Have still so long to give or ask ; O little hearts! that throb and beat With such impatient, feverish heat, Such limitless and strong desires; Mine that so long has glowed and burned, With passions into ashes turned Now covers and conceals its fires. O little souls! as pure and white Direct from heaven, their source di- Refracted through the mist of years, How lurid looks this soul of mine! FLIGHT THE THIRD. FATA MORGANA. O SWEET illusions of Song, I approach, and ye vanish away, The melody soundeth on. As the weary traveller sees In desert or prairie vast, Fair towns with turrets high, And shining roofs of gold, So I wander and wander along, In the beautiful land of dreams. But when I would enter the gate Of that golden atmosphere, It is gone, and I wander and wait For the vision to reappear. THE HAUNTED CHAMBER. EACH heart has its haunted chamber, Where the silent moonlight falls! On the floor are mysterious footsteps, There are whispers along the walls! And mine at times is haunted By phantoms of the Past, As motionless as shadows By the silent moonlight cast. A form sits by the window, That is not seen by day, For as soon as the dawn approaches It vanishes away. It sits there in the moonlight, Without, before the window, As wave these thoughts of mine. And underneath its branches Is the grave of a little child, Who died upon life's threshold, And never wept nor smiled. What are ye, O pallid phantoms ! That haunt my troubled brain? That vanish when day approaches, And at night return again?. What are ye, O pallid phantoms! THE MEETING. AFTER So long an absence At last we meet again: Does the meeting give us pleasure, Or does it give us pain? The tree of life has been shaken, And but few of us linger now, Like the Prophet's two or three berries In the top of the uppermost bough. We cordially greet each other In the old, familiar tone; And we think, though we do not say it, How old and gray he is grown! We speak of a Merry Christmas And many a Happy New Year; But each in his heart is thinking Of those that are not here. We speak of friends and their fortunes, And the living alone seem dead. And at last we hardly distinguish Between the ghosts and the guests; And a mist and shadow of sadness Steals over our merriest jests. VOX POPULI. WHEN Mazárvan the Magician, But the lessening rumor ended When he came to Khaledan, There the folk were talking only Of Prince Camaralzaman. So it happens with the poets: Every province hath its own; Camaralzaman is famous Where Badoura is unknown. THE CASTLE-BUILDER. A GENTLE boy, with soft and silken locks, A dreamy boy, with brown and tender eyes, A castle-builder, blocks, with his wooden And towers that touch imaginary A fearless rider on his father's knee, Of heroes and adventures manifold. There will be other towers for thee to build; There will be other steeds for thee to ride; There will be other legends, and all filled With greater marvels and more glorified. Build on, and make thy castles high and fair, Rising and reaching upward to the Listen to voices in the upper air, CHANGED. FROM the outskirts of the town, Of the dark and haunted wood. Is it changed, or am I changed? Bright as ever shines the sun, THE CHALLENGE. I HAVE a vague remembrance Lest the sweet delight of dying Unto him who finds thee hateful, 4. Glove of black in white hand bare, AFTERMATH. WHEN the Summer fields are mown, When the birds are fledged and flown, And the dry leaves strew the path; With the falling of the snow, With the cawing of the crow, Once again the fields we mow And gather in the aftermath. Not the sweet, new grass with flowers Is this harvesting of ours; Not the upland clover bloom; But the rowen mixed with weeds, Tangled tufts from marsh and meads, Where the poppy drops its seeds In the silence and the gloom. EPIMETHEUS, OR THE POET'S AFTERTHOUght. HAVE I dreamed? or was it real, What I saw as in a vision, When to marches hymeneal In the land of the Ideal Moved my thought o'er Fields Elysian? What are these the guests whose glances Seemed like sunshine gleaming round me? These the wild, bewildering fancies, That with dithyrambic dances As with magic circles bound me? Ah! how cold are their caresses! Pallid cheeks, and haggard bosoms! Spectral gleam their snow-white dresses, And from loose, dishevelled tresses Fall the hyacinthine blossoms ! O my songs! whose winsome measures Fair they seemed, those songs sonorous, Disenchantment! Disillusion ! Must each noble aspiration Come at last to this conclusion, Jarring discord, wild confusion, Lassitude, renunciation ? Not with steeper fall nor faster, From the sun's serene dominions, Not through brighter realms nor vaster, In swift ruin and disaster, Icarus fell with shattered pinions! Sweet Pandora! dear Pandora! Why did mighty Jove create thee Coy as Thetis, fair as Flora, Beautiful as young Aurora, If to win thee is to hate thee? No, not hate thee! for this feeling Of unrest and long resistance O'er the chords of our existence. Him whom thou dost once enamor, Him of Hope thou ne'er bereavest. |