Hiobert Bridges
POOR WITHERED ROSE

I will not let thee go.

Had not the great sun seen, I might;
Poor wither'd rose and dry,

Or were he reckon'd slow
Skeleton of a rose,

To bring the false to light,
Risen to testify

Then might I let thee go.
To love's sad close :

I will not let thee go.
Treasur'd for love's sweet sake, The stars that crowd the summer skies
That of joy past

Have watch'd us so below
Thou mightst again awake

With all their million eyes,
Memory at last.

I dare not let thee go.
Yet is thy perfume sweet ;

I will not let thee go.
Thy petals red

Have we not chid the changeful moon,
Yet tell of summer heat,

Now rising late, and now
And the gay bed :

Because she set too soon,

And shall I let thee go ?
Yet, yet recall the glow
Of the gazing sun,

I will not let thee go.
When at thy bush we two

Have not the young flowers been content,
Join'd hands in one.

Pluck'd ere their buds could blow,

To seal our sacrament ?
But, rose, thou hast not seen,

I cannot let thee go.
Thou hast not wept,
The change that pass'd between

I will not let thee go.
Whilst thou hast slept.

I hold thee by too many

bands :

Thou sayest farewell, and, lo!
To me thou seemest yet

I have thee by the hands,
The dead dream's thrall ;

And will not let thee go.
While I live and forget
Dream, truth, and all.

UPON THE SHORE
Thou art more fresh than I,
Rose, sweet and red :

Who has not walk'd upon the shore,
Salt on my pale cheeks lie

And who does not the morning know,
The tears I shed.

The day the angry gale is o'er,
The hour the wind has ceas'd to blow ?

call

.

I WILL NOT LET THEE GO

cin.

I WILL not let thee go.
Ends

all our month-long love in this ?
Can it be summ'd up so,
Quit in a single kiss ?
I will not let thee

go.

the day;

e:

The horses of the strong southwest
Are pastur'd round his tropic tent,
Careless how long the ocean's breast
Sob on and sigh for passion spent.
The frighten'd birds, that fled inland
To house in rock and tower and tree,
Are gathering on the peaceful strand,
To tempt again the sunny sea ;
Whereon the timid ships steal out
And laugh to find their foe asleep,
That lately scatter'd them about,
And drave them to the fold like sheep.

I will not let thee go.
If thy words' breath could scare thy

deeds,
As the soft south can blow
And toss the feather'd seeds,
Then might I let thee go.

see,

Makes all ears glad that hear ;

O YOUTH WHOSE HOPE IS And short my joy : but yet,

HIGH
0
song,
do not forget.

O Youth whose hope is high,
For what wert thou to me?

Who doth to truth aspire,
How shall I say? The moon,

Whether thou live or die,
That pour'd her midnight noon

O look not back nor tire.
Upon his wrecking sea ;
A sail, that for a day

Thou that art bold to fly
Has cheer'd the castaway.

Through tempest, flood and fire,
Nor dost not shrink to try

Thy heart in torments dire,-
AWAKE, MY HEART!

If thou canst Death defy, AWAKE, my heart, to be lor'd, awake, If thy Faith is entire, awake!

Press onward, for thine eye The darkness silvers away, the morn doth Shall see thy heart's desire.

break, It leaps in the sky : unrisen lustres slake Beauty and love are nigh, The o'ertaken moon. Awake, 0 heart, And with their deathless quire awake!

Soon shall thine eager cry

Be number'd and expire. She, too, that loveth awaketh and hopes for

thee ; Her eyes already have sped the shades that SO SWEET LOVE SEEMED

flee, Already they watch the path thy feet shall So sweet love seem'd that April morn, take :

When first we kiss'd beside the thorn, Awake, O heart to be lov'd, awake, awake! So strangely sweet, it was not strange

We thought that love could never change. And if thou tarry from her, if this could be,

But I can tell — let truth be told She cometh herself, O heart, to be lov'd, to That love will change in growing old ;

Though day by day is nought to see, For thee would unasham'd herself for So delicate his motions be.

sake : Awake to be lov'd, my heart, awake, And in the end 't will come to pass awake !

Quite to forget what once he was,

Nor even in fancy to recall Awake! The land is scatter'd with light, The pleasure that was all in all. Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and His little spring, that sweet we found, tree;

So deep in summer floods is drown'd, And blossoming boughs of April in laughter I wonder, bath'd in joy complete, shake :

How love so young could be so sweet. Awake, O heart, to be lov'd, awake, awake!

thee;

and see,

ASIAN BIRDS

Lo, all things wake and tarry and look for

thee : She looketh and saith, “O sun, now bring

him to me. Come, more ador'd, O ador'd, for his com

ing's sake, And awake, my heart, to be lov'd, awake,

awake ! ”

In this May-month, by grace

of heaven, things shoot apace. The waiting multitude

of fair boughs in the wood, How few days have array'd

their beauty in green shade!

of years,

THE FAIR MAID AND THE SUN

She taketh from the lands, as she may

please, O sons of men, that toil, and love with All jewels, and all corals from the seas ; tears!

She layeth them in rows upon the rocks ;

Laugheth, and bringeth fairer ones than Know ye, O sons of men, the maid who

these. dwells Between the two seas at the Dardanelles ? Five are the goodly necklaces that deck Her face hath charm'd away the change The place between her bosom and her

neck ; And all the world is filled with her spells. She passeth many a bracelet o'er her

ħands ; No task is hers forever, but the play And, seeing she is white without a fleck, Of setting forth her beauty day by day : There in your midst, O sons of men that And seeing she is fairer than the tide, toil,

And of a beauty no man can abide, She laughs the long eternity away.

Proudly she standeth as a goddess stands,

And mocketh at the sun and sea for pride : The chains about her neck are manypearld,

And to the sea she saith : “O silver sea, Rare gems are those round which her hair Fair art thou, but thou art not fair like me ; is curl'd ;

Open thy white-tooth’d, dimpled mouths She hath all flesh for captive, and for spoil,

They laugh not the soft way I laugh at The fruit of all the labor of the world.

thee."

and try ;

She getteth up and maketh herself bare,
And letteth down the wonder of her

hair
Before the sun ; the heavy golden locks
Fall in the hollow of her shoulders fair.

And to the sun she saith : “O golden sun,
Fierce is thy burning till the day is done!
But thou shalt burn mere grass and

leaves, while I
Shall burn the hearts of men up every one."