Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“
[blocks in formation]

The Stranger.

HER door stood open all day long,
And as the men went past
They heard her wheel, her gentle song
That said: "He'll come at last!"

A stranger halted at the gate

One evening and smiled;

Said she then: "He for whom I wait
Is winged, and a child."

He turned from her with wondrous mien,
And never a word he spoke;

But from afar she saw the sheen
Of wings beneath his cloak

[ocr errors]

Love and the Maidens.

He seemed asleep; his wings were wet.
With dew; he lay among the flowers,
Sweeter than Spring; his radiant curls
With primrose and with violet

Were crowned; and in a silent ring the girls
Watched, all an April morning's misty hours.

Not one dared wake him-yet each breast
Yearned to be pillow to a thing

So fair. "How will he smile?" thought they,
"In waking? . . . ' But between them pressed
One who with laughter bore the rogue away,

Ere they had touched a feather of his wing.

The Common Wealth.

O VOICES of the sea and land, How sweet upon my ear you fall ! The curlew's cry, the heron's call, The grey gull's chatter on the strand, The robin on the mossy wall, The coal-tit almost at my handHow I thank Heaven for you all!

O wonder of the hills and sky, How dear your beauty to my sight! The wintry noon, the sea's delight, The ruddy moorland far and high, The pendant larch's silver white, The golden wind-blown leaves that lieHow I thank God for all this light!

Faces of the Dead.

I DREAMED that, wandering by a river's bank,
I came across a lonely ship that sank

In lifeless waters. Day was dim ;-in dreams
We see nor sun nor moon; unearthly gleams
Of deadened light fall strangely from the sky.—
There were but three that struggled not to die:
A man, a woman, and a tender child;

He sought to save them both with effort wild
And dragged his love to the entangled shore;
But down the slimy weeds she slid once more
Into the water, and her lover's breast

Received her, and together they found rest.
The child was saved; my hand towards her hand
Outstretched, drew all her sweetness to the land,
Where naked, like a lily wet with rain,

She sank and loudly wept at her life's gain.
Quite small she was, and light; I bore her fast
To what seemed home, and there she smiled at last
And sat upright within my arms; I found
A bright-hued veil wherein to wrap her round,
Tissues that far in morning-lands were spun
By those who love the flowers and the sun.
I laid her softly in a silken bed,
Strewed fragrant violets about her head
And left her.

'Twas my dream then that I slept. But when at dawn unto her bed I crept,

The child was lost.

Her pillow was all wet

With tears that still

flowed on; and faster yet

They flowed in quickening rills, until I thought
I stood beside a torrent wide that sought

An unknown sea. The day was sad, tho' young;

Upon a misty branch some bird had sung
And left a trembling silence; all around

I saw the little daisies on the ground
Fast-closed, with folded arm-petals in vain
Shielding their yellow hearts from the cold rain.
-A voice invisible made murmur then:

"Come here and look upon these poor drowned men!

The ship was sunk a year ago to-day.

But I stepped back and shuddering turned away,
For I had never seen the face of Death.

Yet Fear itself soon drew me with quick breath
Back to the place, even to the river's brink
Where I had seen that lonely vessel sink.

And there in waters deep I saw them lie,

With hands at rest and eyes that sought the sky: Clear eyes wide open to an unseen day.

In wondrous silence motionless they lay,

With white lips smiling on their spirit's bliss. "Is death but this?" I cried, "no more but this ?" And answer came: "Among those faces there,

Are all unknown?"

'Twas then I saw him, fair

With perfect peace, my enemy, even he

Of all the world who most had tortured me.

He lay there, blessed among the blessed, and smiled

With eyes more pure than any wakening child.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »