They haunt me--her lutes and her forests; No beauty on earth I see But shadowed with that dream recalls Her loveliness to me: Still eyes look coldly upon me, Cold voices whisper and say-- He is crazed with the spell of far Arabia, They have stolen his wits away."
THE SLEEPER
As Ann came in one summer"s day, She felt that she must creep, So silent was the clear cool house, It seemed a house of sleep.
And sure, when she pushed open the door, Rapt in the stillness there, Her mother sat, with stooping head, Asleep upon a chair; Fast--fast asleep; her two hands laid Loose-folded on her knee, So that her small unconscious face Looked half unreal to be: So calmly lit with sleep"s pale light Each feature was; so fair Her forehead--every trouble was Smooth"d out beneath her hair.
But though her mind in dream now moved, Still seemed her gaze to rest From out beneath her fast-sealed lids, Above her moving breast, On Ann, as quite, quite still she stood; Yet slumber lay so deep Even her hands upon her lap Seemed saturate with sleep.
And as Ann peeped, a cloudlike dread Stole over her, and then, On stealthy, mouselike feet she trod, And tiptoed out again.
WINTER DUSK
Dark frost was in the air without, The dusk was still with cold and gloom, When less than even a shadow came And stood within the room.
But of the three around the fire, None turned a questioning head to look, Still read a clear voice, on and on, Still stooped they o"er their book.
The children watched their mother"s eyes Moving on softly line to line; It seemed to listen too--that shade, Yet made no outward sign.
The fire-flames crooned a tiny song, No cold wind moved the wintry tree; The children both in Faerie dreamed Beside their mother"s knee.
And nearer yet that spirit drew Above that heedless one, intent Only on what the simple words Of her small story meant.
No voiceless sorrow grieved her mind, No memory her bosom stirred, Nor dreamed she, as she read to two, "Twas surely three who heard.
Yet when, the story done, she smiled From face to face, serene and clear, A love, half dread, sprang up, as she Leaned close and drew them near.
MISS LOO
When thin-strewn memory I look through, I see most clearly poor Miss Loo, Her tabby cat, her cage of birds, Her nose, her hair--her m.u.f.fled words, And how she"d open her green eyes, As if in some immense surprise, Whenever as we sat at tea, She made some small remark to me.
It"s always drowsy summer when From out the past she comes again; The westering sunshine in a pool Floats in her parlour still and cool; While the slim bird its lean wires shakes, As into piercing song it breaks; Till Peter"s pale-green eyes ajar Dream, wake; wake, dream, in one brief bar; And I am sitting, dull and shy, And she with gaze of vacancy, And large hands folded on the tray, Musing the afternoon away; Her satin bosom heaving slow With sighs that softly ebb and flow, And her plain face in such dismay, It seems unkind to look her way: Until all cheerful back will come Her cheerful gleaming spirit home: And one would think that poor Miss Loo Asked nothing else, if she had you.
THE LISTENERS
"Is there anybody there?" said the Traveller, Knocking on the moonlit door; And his horse in the silence champed the gra.s.ses Of the forest"s ferny floor: And a bird flew up out of the turret, Above the Traveller"s head: And he smote upon the door again a second time; "Is there anybody there?" he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller; No head from the leaf-fringed sill Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes, Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners That dwelt in the lone house then Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight To that voice from the world of men: Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair, That goes down to the empty hall, Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken By the lonely Traveller"s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness, Their stillness answering his cry, While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf, "Neath the starred and leafy sky; For he suddenly smote on the door, even Louder, and lifted his head:-- "Tell them I came, and no one answered, That I kept my word," he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners, Though every word he spake Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house From the one man left awake: Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup, And the sound of iron on stone, And how the silence surged softly backward, When the plunging hoofs were gone.
JOHN DRINKWATER
THE FIRES OF G.o.d
I
Time gathers to my name; Along the ways wheredown my feet have pa.s.sed I see the years with little triumph crowned, Exulting not for perils dared, downcast And weary-eyed and desolate for shame Of having been unstirred of all the sound Of the deep music of the men that move Through the world"s days in suffering and love.
Poor barren years that brooded over-much On your own burden, pale and stricken years-- Go down to your oblivion, we part With no reproach or ceremonial tears.
Henceforth my hands are lifted to the touch Of hands that labour with me, and my heart Hereafter to the world"s heart shall be set And its own pain forget.
Time gathers to my name-- Days dead are dark; the days to be, a flame Of wonder and of promise, and great cries Of travelling people reach me--I must rise.
II
Was I not man? Could I not rise alone Above the shifting of the things that be, Rise to the crest of all the stars and see The ways of all the world as from a throne?
Was I not man, with proud imperial will To cancel all the secrets of high heaven?
Should not my sole unbridled purpose fill All hidden paths with light when once was riven G.o.d"s veil by my indomitable will?
So dreamt I, little man of little vision, Great only in unconsecrated pride; Man"s pity grew from pity to derision, And still I thought, "Albeit they deride, Yet is it mine uncharted ways to dare Unknown to these, And they shall stumble darkly, unaware Of solemn mysteries Whereof the key is mine alone to bear."
So I forgot my G.o.d, and I forgot The holy sweet communion of men, And moved in desolate places, where are not Meek hands held out with patient healing when The hours are heavy with uncharitable pain; No company but vain And arrogant thoughts were with me at my side.
And ever to myself I lied, Saying "Apart from all men thus I go To know the things that they may never know."
III
Then a great change befell: Long time I stood In witless hardihood With eyes on one sole changeless vision set-- The deep disturbed fret Of men who made brief tarrying in h.e.l.l On their earth-travelling.
It was as though the lives of men should be Set circle-wise, whereof one little span Through which all pa.s.sed was blackened with the wing Of perilous evil, bateless misery.
But all beyond, making the whole complete O"er which the travelling feet Of every man Made way or ever he might come to death, Was odorous with the breath Of honey-laden flowers, and alive With sacrificial ministrations sweet Of man to man, and swift and holy loves, And large heroic hopes, whereby should thrive Man"s spirit as he moves From dawn of life to the great dawn of death.
It was as though mine eyes were set alone Upon that woeful pa.s.sage of despair, Until I held that life had never known Dominion but in this most troubled place Where many a ruined grace And many a friendless care Ran to and fro in sorrowful unrest.
Still in my hand I pressed Hope"s fragile chalice, whence I drew deep draughts Shaping belief that even yet should grow Out of this dread confusion, as of broken crafts Driven along ungovernable seas, Some threads of order, and that I should know After long vigil all the mysteries Of human wonder and of human fate.
O fool, O only great In pride unhallowed, O most blind of heart!
Confusion but more dark confusion bred, Grief nurtured grief, I cried aloud and said, "Through trackless ways the soul of man is hurled, No sign upon the forehead of the skies, No beacon, and no chart Are given to him, and the inscrutable world But mocks his scars and fills his mouth with dust."